Trying to get your butt up and run after a night of drinking is difficult but almost needed more than on a non-hungover day. It helps me push past the icky-ness and feel like a real human again. Nicholas was kind enough to join me this morning and although our run was very slow and kind of short (2.2 miles), it was still a run and I feel a lot better having had done it.
I am looking forward to the weather getting a little warmer and not having these rainstorms every couple weeks. Yesterday was pouring, and even snowing in some neighboring towns. Because of this, I skipped my run and did an hour of Zumba in my living room instead. My Wii reminded me that I hadn't done Zumba since November (thanks, Wii). It's nice to know that even my game systems keep me in check. After doing my ridiculous Zumba moves, I did a 5 minute ab workout. I could feel the workouts I had been doing these past couple weeks on my body by about 6pm last night. This morning, I could feel it even more. Walking up the stairs, I feel the burn in my ass from running and squats. Re-positioning in bed, I can feel the soreness in my arms from the weights I have done. I love it. All of it. I love that the reason I am in pain is because my body is getting stronger and I have done this to myself. I did some weights for my back and arms after our short run this morning, so I am sure to feel that by tonight as well.
On Thursday after class, I had wanted to squeeze in a quick one mile run before eating dinner and getting ready for bed. I did increments of 45 seconds of my standard running pace, followed by 15 seconds of a sprinting pace. It was exhausting, but I managed to do a 10:55 mile! That may not seem that fast, but it is the fastest mile I have done in a very long time and being able to do that only a week back into it, makes me pretty darn proud of myself.
Now I am off to enjoy a beautiful Saturday with my amazing man, visit some family this afternoon, and then spend some time with great friends tonight. Good day, all!
Miles to date: 22.2.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Sometimes it's just plain hard.
The end of 2012 proved difficult as far as eating habits go. The beginning of 2013 proved difficult because of this damn cold that did not want to leave my body. I was sick of feeling like a blubber face and (more importantly) my clothes fitting way too tight. Although I couldn't work out, I knew eating healthy would help alleviate some of these problems. I started watching what I was eating again and being very strict during the week and letting myself indulge a little on the weekends. It worked a little. My clothes are starting to fit better, but I am still not allowing myself to step a foot on the scale. I have a love/hate relationship with that scale. Well, more like 5% love, 95% hate, but still...All of this is fine and dandy except for one huge factor: I COULD NOT WORK OUT.
There is nothing more frustrating to me than wanting so badly to get in shape and continue my running, than to have my body completely betray me. I fought the cold as much as possible: eating healthy, drinking orange juice, taking vitamins, cold medication, sleeping a lot. After about 2 weeks or so, I thought I was starting to feel a little better, so I figured I could work out some. It started off by me trying a couple runs here and there. They were only a couple miles each but very difficult. It was incredibly hard for me to breathe and my nose just wouldn't stop running. Then I tried a yoga class. I was doing fine until about 45 minutes into it. I started to feel dizzy and thought I would pass out right there in the studio! I positioned myself in child's pose for the remainder of the class and went straight home after. I chalked it up to my body still trying to recover (although it was clearly giving me warning signs to completely stop). Then that Sunday, Nicholas and I took a hike. It was a relatively easy hike in Yucaipa and we walked 3 miles, ran 3 miles. The second we were done, I knew I had pushed myself too far. I felt like crap from the moment we returned home and then the coughing began... This continued on for another 2 weeks. I knew better this time not to push myself, so I haven't worked out. I have just been waiting for my body to decide to be nice again. Well this week I am feeling like myself again. The cough lingers a little, as does the runny nose, but minimal compared to what it was. That, and I have a lot of my energy back. Which brings me to my running goals:
This is going to be my year. I am saying it now. I do not normally make New Years resolutions but I thought this one was fun and was shared with me by a friend last year. I am going to run 365 miles this year. A mile for every day. Now obviously I will not be running one mile every day but a couple miles at a time, multiple days a week, should do it. I ran on Monday this week and again today. So far this year (due to my hiatus), I have accomplished 17 miles. I am confident I will reach my goal this year. Another big goal I have is to complete a half marathon by the end of the year.
Needless to say, I have a lot of runs I am planning on doing and can't wait to do all of them. The soreness I have felt this week from running has been such a motivating, amazing feeling. I am feeling like myself again, which is completely uplifting. The tentative schedule thus far is:
Mesa View Middle School 5k next Saturday (already signed up)
Angels Baseball 5k at the end of March
Run through Redlands 10k in April
Survivor Mud Run in Sept- 9 miles (already signed up)
Rock 'n Roll half marathon in November (mere days before my birthday!)
*Due to budgetary reasons, I couldn't sign up for all of these at once, but I will be signing up for the Angels run soon.
I hope to keep track of my goals here now that I am actually able to exercise and meet those goals :P I hope to try and record some healthy recipes that I try as well. Tonight, for example, I made skinny chicken enchiladas and they were delicious! Pics to come soon...
There is nothing more frustrating to me than wanting so badly to get in shape and continue my running, than to have my body completely betray me. I fought the cold as much as possible: eating healthy, drinking orange juice, taking vitamins, cold medication, sleeping a lot. After about 2 weeks or so, I thought I was starting to feel a little better, so I figured I could work out some. It started off by me trying a couple runs here and there. They were only a couple miles each but very difficult. It was incredibly hard for me to breathe and my nose just wouldn't stop running. Then I tried a yoga class. I was doing fine until about 45 minutes into it. I started to feel dizzy and thought I would pass out right there in the studio! I positioned myself in child's pose for the remainder of the class and went straight home after. I chalked it up to my body still trying to recover (although it was clearly giving me warning signs to completely stop). Then that Sunday, Nicholas and I took a hike. It was a relatively easy hike in Yucaipa and we walked 3 miles, ran 3 miles. The second we were done, I knew I had pushed myself too far. I felt like crap from the moment we returned home and then the coughing began... This continued on for another 2 weeks. I knew better this time not to push myself, so I haven't worked out. I have just been waiting for my body to decide to be nice again. Well this week I am feeling like myself again. The cough lingers a little, as does the runny nose, but minimal compared to what it was. That, and I have a lot of my energy back. Which brings me to my running goals:
This is going to be my year. I am saying it now. I do not normally make New Years resolutions but I thought this one was fun and was shared with me by a friend last year. I am going to run 365 miles this year. A mile for every day. Now obviously I will not be running one mile every day but a couple miles at a time, multiple days a week, should do it. I ran on Monday this week and again today. So far this year (due to my hiatus), I have accomplished 17 miles. I am confident I will reach my goal this year. Another big goal I have is to complete a half marathon by the end of the year.
Needless to say, I have a lot of runs I am planning on doing and can't wait to do all of them. The soreness I have felt this week from running has been such a motivating, amazing feeling. I am feeling like myself again, which is completely uplifting. The tentative schedule thus far is:
Mesa View Middle School 5k next Saturday (already signed up)
Angels Baseball 5k at the end of March
Run through Redlands 10k in April
Survivor Mud Run in Sept- 9 miles (already signed up)
Rock 'n Roll half marathon in November (mere days before my birthday!)
*Due to budgetary reasons, I couldn't sign up for all of these at once, but I will be signing up for the Angels run soon.
I hope to keep track of my goals here now that I am actually able to exercise and meet those goals :P I hope to try and record some healthy recipes that I try as well. Tonight, for example, I made skinny chicken enchiladas and they were delicious! Pics to come soon...
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Loving your workout
Because I had skipped body pump on Tuesday, and I was starting to feel better by yesterday, I thought “I could still get a body pump in tonight at Thursday’s class.” I also had strayed away from any other workouts this week, so I wanted this one to be worth it. The weather was beautiful- nice and chilly and sprinkling just a little. I haven’t ran on wet pavement in over 6 months, so I had forgotten how refreshing it is. I knew I could save a little money by not driving to the gym and get an extra running work out in, so why not just run to the gym for body pump and back? I could feel every bit of the run: my feet as they hit the pavement and make a splashing noise, the cold air as it rushes past my arms, neck and face, and my numb hands as they try to circulate blood to keep warm. Because there is no music to listen to, the only rhythmic noise is my steady breathing and, soon, that is all I am concentrating on. I love every bit of it. These feelings are why I continue to run and have ran for the past couple years. This is why I have accomplished four 5ks, one 10k, and three mud runs.
I ran to the gym for 1.64 miles at 12.04/mile. This is not as long as my run home because I needed to warm up a little by walking some of the distance there. Once I got to body pump, the room looked different. Finally, 24 hours fitness saw how sad our gym is and were finally painting the room and getting new weights. Right now, I use these sand weights for body pump mostly because all the iron weights are taken first. Since they are now getting rid of the sand weights, I need convert from the kilograms I am used to, to pounds. Bare with me as I calculate this out loud- one kilogram is 2.2 pounds (roughly). If I have one 2.5 kg weight, one 1 kg weight on each side of the bar, that would be equivalent to 5.5 pounds plus 2.2 pounds, which is 7.7 pounds. That is warm up weight- I add one more kg after that, which would make my heavier weight at 9.9 pounds. Good to know, so I know what I am working with. I spoke to my friend, Kathleen, and asked her if she noticed results faster when she was going twice a week. After a couple texts back and forth with her (and how amazing she looks), I decided I was going to give that a shot. So starting next week, I will try and do body pump Tues and Thurs. This will not only be beneficial because I will be lifting twice a week but both nights are taught by someone different, so it will switch it up just a tad.
My run home was more enjoyable than the run there because my muscles were nice and warmed up and it helped that none of it was uphill J This made it possible to shave 40 seconds off each mile and do 1.83 miles at 11.36/mile. After an hour and 40 minute workout, I felt amazing. Even this morning I still feel amazing because I know I gave a great workout the effort and drive it needed. I will give my boy a rest today, but Saturday morning will be the day I do a longer run. I need to start tacking on more and getting my mileage back up, so I figured bumping it up to 4 miles would be sufficient.
Run there: 1.64 miles at 12.04/mile
Run home: 1.83 miles at 11.36/mile
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Believe Walk 2012
The Believe walk was more than I had expected. The streets downtown were shut down and filled with thousands of people, sporting the breast cancer color of pink. People's dogs were dyed pink and wearing tutus, grown men had pink wigs on, and even the kids were getting in on the fun. I felt honored to be among all these people supporting and raising awareness to such a giant cause.
I was not feeling well when I got there but I was too determined to run to let that deter me, so I popped in a cough drop and went on my way. Somehow, I even managed to do my best 5k time yet- just under 32 minutes! This isn't too far off from what I was doing a couple months ago, but for how hilly it was and me not feeling good, I was ok with it. I recorded my times I could find for the 5ks I have done thus far... I still REALLY want to get to my goal of 30 minutes before the end of the year.
April 2012- 32 min, 8 sec
November 2011- 34 min, 35 sec
June 2011- 37 min, 37 sec
I was not feeling well when I got there but I was too determined to run to let that deter me, so I popped in a cough drop and went on my way. Somehow, I even managed to do my best 5k time yet- just under 32 minutes! This isn't too far off from what I was doing a couple months ago, but for how hilly it was and me not feeling good, I was ok with it. I recorded my times I could find for the 5ks I have done thus far... I still REALLY want to get to my goal of 30 minutes before the end of the year.
April 2012- 32 min, 8 sec
November 2011- 34 min, 35 sec
June 2011- 37 min, 37 sec
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Sometimes.
Some days I just don't want to go to the gym. Sometimes, I am so exhausted that all I want to do is lie in bed. It's these same days that I know I have to go. Tuesday was long and exhausting and the last thing I wanted to do was workout. I knew I didn't want to skip a week doing body pump, because it's even harder to pick up the next week. So I dragged my lazy ass there, moping and pouting the whole time. As soon as that class started though, I was fully focused and gave it all I had. It paid off and will continue to pay off. I was sore yesterday and still am a little today and feel myself getting stronger each time.
I am making it official. Next month my birthday gift for myself will be going to the running center and buying new shoes. I am way overdue but this month's bills/activities won't allow for such a purchase. I may try and find a type of runner's utility belt. I swore I didn't want to run with my gigantic smart phone but I finally gave the Map My Run app a chance. I love it. It's accurate, it stores all my runs, and keeps track of the routes I do. Last week I ran a little over 3 miles and saw I was still at my same running average- 12 min miles. I ran with Nicholas Sunday morning and we added sprints and were able to get those miles down to a little over 11 min. Granted, when I do the sprints, my runs become shorter because I wear myself out faster.
Below is a picture from last year's Survivor mud run along with a picture of this year's. It's nice to see how far along I have come.
I am making it official. Next month my birthday gift for myself will be going to the running center and buying new shoes. I am way overdue but this month's bills/activities won't allow for such a purchase. I may try and find a type of runner's utility belt. I swore I didn't want to run with my gigantic smart phone but I finally gave the Map My Run app a chance. I love it. It's accurate, it stores all my runs, and keeps track of the routes I do. Last week I ran a little over 3 miles and saw I was still at my same running average- 12 min miles. I ran with Nicholas Sunday morning and we added sprints and were able to get those miles down to a little over 11 min. Granted, when I do the sprints, my runs become shorter because I wear myself out faster.
Below is a picture from last year's Survivor mud run along with a picture of this year's. It's nice to see how far along I have come.
This year.
Last year.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Time to Run Again
The weather is still hot, but it's just starting to cool down enough later in the day for me to run outside. I haven't done a good run outside in months, so when I got a small taste of it at the Survivor mud run on Saturday, I wanted more.
I have appeared nonexistent on here but I assure you, I have been alive and well. During the summer, I was working out or doing some kind of active sport about 5 times a week. I would love to be able to boast that I have completely transformed my body; slimmed down and toned up. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The past couple months, I have remained the exact same size and shape. I can feel the muscles and I feel stronger but it's all remaining under this shell of fat, so to speak. To keep myself from going insane, I've simply chosen to not step on the scale. I wish this was good enough, but what's really bringing me down is my lack of energy. I want to sleep all the time and there are moments in my day that I have found myself completely checked out, going through the motions but having no real excitement or feelings for it is I am experiencing.
This is why I finally made a dr appointment. I went in today and he said I should do some blood work. I hope I can get that done soon and figure out what the heck is wrong with me. Even if I don't start loosing weight, I just want to have energy and feel alive again.
So tired and much homework to do, so I shall post more later in regards to pictures from the mud run and (possibly?) results from the blood work.
Til then...
I have appeared nonexistent on here but I assure you, I have been alive and well. During the summer, I was working out or doing some kind of active sport about 5 times a week. I would love to be able to boast that I have completely transformed my body; slimmed down and toned up. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The past couple months, I have remained the exact same size and shape. I can feel the muscles and I feel stronger but it's all remaining under this shell of fat, so to speak. To keep myself from going insane, I've simply chosen to not step on the scale. I wish this was good enough, but what's really bringing me down is my lack of energy. I want to sleep all the time and there are moments in my day that I have found myself completely checked out, going through the motions but having no real excitement or feelings for it is I am experiencing.
This is why I finally made a dr appointment. I went in today and he said I should do some blood work. I hope I can get that done soon and figure out what the heck is wrong with me. Even if I don't start loosing weight, I just want to have energy and feel alive again.
So tired and much homework to do, so I shall post more later in regards to pictures from the mud run and (possibly?) results from the blood work.
Til then...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Update on the 10k
So I made a decision not to do the Run through Redlands because a more exciting (at least I think so) opportunity presented itself. I received an email from Angels Baseball about their 5k. The race included a shirt, a free ticket to a game, and most importantly, the chance to run on the field! Since I hadn’t signed up for the 10k Run Through Redlands yet, this was perfect. It was like everything was set just right for me to do the Angels run. The only thing was that the Angels run was only a 5k and I still wanted to prove to myself that I could do a 10k.
So on Saturday the 14th, I routed out what the Run Through Redlands would entail and… I ran it. I ran the whole way and I felt really good until about the last mile or so. I started to get tired (and a little bored, I have to say). I decided to run past where the finish line would be and continued home, making the total run about 6.5 miles. The longest run I have done yet! Not to mention, this accomplishes one of my goals for the year. The next day, however, I was having a little pain in my hips. The next Monday I was sick, but feeling antsy at night, so I did some squats. I was starting to really feel my right hip by then. The rest of that week, I took a break from running so that I could be prepared for the 5k on Sunday. All the way up until the race my leg (I discovered the pain wasn’t actually coming from my hip), was still there. I ran through it and as soon as I was done, I knew that maybe running wasn’t the best idea.
I am still in pain and still taking a break. I hope to be back to normal soon, because I really want to focus in on one of my other goals, and that was to do a 5k in 30 minutes. My time on this one was 32.08, which is pretty decent, considering where I started. On April 4th of last year, I had recorded that my fastest 5k was 37 minutes (and some-odd seconds), so I have shaved over 5 minutes off! Keeping my fingers crossed that this recovery time is speedy.
Until then!
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