1.8 miles - gotta get up earlier

Due to various complicated child-supervising schemes, which I will not bother to describe in detail, I had limited running time this morning and was not able to fit in my whole run. My own darn fault, I just like sleeping too much.

I also totally blew my "training diet" last night with a visit to our local diner. Mmmmm burger and fries, so yum yum yummy. I did manage to go without the shake, does that earn me any points? But I'm back in the saddle today, deciding right now what delicious and healthy meal to prepare for my dinner.

2 miles and mid-day running is not my favorite

I skipped cross-training yesterday. Combination of hubby being away and a 3-hour library board meeting in the evening just made it too complicated. But, as I was preparing dinner, I got a little "time to go to the gym" urge. Saturday AM run to Monday evening cross-train is my longest stretch without a gym visit, and my body and mind were definitely feeling a little lost without the regular injection of pain and sweat. Seems I've formed myself a little habit here! Now if I could only drop the one that involves eating handfuls of chocolate chips while standing in front of the pantry...

Anyway, Grammie took Max to lunch today while I hit the gym for my 2 miles. As much as I DO NOT LIKE getting up early, I've realized that running mid-day is just not good for me. I get home, shower, and then suddenly my whole body is screaming that it is nap time. This would be fine if I could fit in a nap, but I can't. With the early AM running, my body is still in ramp-up mode, so I can deal. But if I run mid-day, as soon as 3pm hits it's all I can do to prop open my eyelids.

Thanks all for your rave reviews on the hair. :-)

2 miles and strength training

... and boy am i tired. Most days that I run, I don't really feel it much the rest of the day. Once I get back from the gym and shower, I'm pretty much recovered from the experience. But today is another matter. I'm TIRED. Not sure what is different, I ran the same amount, and I didn't to a very intense lifting routine... maybe it's just a week's worth of blah hitting me on a Saturday morning.

Got my hair cut yesterday, I kinda like it. A little shorter than I was planning on, but it has some pizazz. I like pizazz.



Happy Saturday all!

2 miles - I'm not sure if I can do this...

So here's the thing. I try so hard to keep the negative thoughts away while I'm on the treadmill. I know they don't do me any good. But today I just wanted to lie down and rest after 1.5 miles, and that little voice in the back of my head is saying "oh yeah, and a week from Saturday you'll be running 3 miles - you'd only be halfway at this point!" and I just want to give up altogether. How on earth am I going to run 13 miles? Well, I guess the truthful answer is that I'm not, I'm probably going to walk a good chunk of it, but I really want to run stages of it. Sigh. I'll do what I can do I guess. I just keep repeating what M said to me at one point - "I know that I'm going to feel better once I stop, so why not just run a little longer first?"

On a higher note, I can at least feel satisfied that I made it to the gym today. My hubby is on a business trip, which means no running to the gym first thing in the AM before he goes to work. My wonderful sis-in-law and training buddy K took Max for two hours while I did the deed, and I'll pay her back sometime in the next week. It would have been really easy to not go, but i didn't think twice about it, so I'm proud of that. I've also scheduled coverage for my Saturday and Tuesday workouts, so those are set. I'll probably try to squeeze in some yoga at home during the day on Monday for my cross-training, and I won't have skipped a beat. So yay for me on that one!

Wk. 1 - 2 miles - we've hit the big time!

This is the first week of official training! Yay! (I think?!)

So far, so good. I made it to the gym on Saturday, my last workout before training commenced this week. And, not only did I run my two miles, but I started out with some weight training. Finally, right?!?! There's a great room at the back of the gym, a "quiet room" so to speak, that they recently moved some treadmills into. I've been doing my runs there and I'm usually the only person in there, and they also have a number of weight machines in there. It's a whole lot less intimidating than the weight room, which I have yet to tackle!

Last night I did my first official cross-training day, pilates as usual. I think I'm getting better actually. At least a couple of the moves were not quite as ridiculous as in past weeks. Now I just have to move my arms and legs in the proper position while contracting my (less-than-stellar) abdominals and breathing properly all the while. No problem, right?

And then, today, 2 miles down. On to two miles on Thursday...

Happy Valentine's Day!

I went for a great run this morning. 2 miles. I followed the instruction of my training book and concentrated on completing the distance rather than worrying about my speed, and I took it pretty easy. It felt good though, and I'm looking forward to running on Saturday morning. YAY! It's great to feel that feeling.

And, I'm still only at the wedding in the Harry Potter book (the beginning for those of you who are not fans) so I have plenty of HP runs in my future. Ahhhh...

Max and I celebrated Valentine's day with my sis-in-laws (read: training partners) and nieces and nephews and assorted friends (14 of us in total) on a sledding adventure. A great day. The snow had a pretty thick crust on the top, so hiking up the hill was a workout in itself (cross training?) but the kids lasted for a long time, and we spent the rest of the day eating bad foods and hanging out. A great way to spend a day! Here's my favorite shot of us from the day:



Hope you had a great one!

now this is ridiculous

I did make it to the gym on Saturday, in my new shoes. Maybe at some point I'll update the blog header and theme to match! Anyway, after one outing, I'm happy with them. Very well cushioned, very light, roomy, comfortable. Hopefully I feel the same after 5 or 10 outings! And Zappos is AWESOME. Ordered the shoes at about noon on Thursday, had them just after lunch on Friday, free shipping.

So, I had a decent run on Saturday, but I definitely felt the effects of being away from the treadmill for so long. I was happy to be back in the swing of things, hitting pilates class on Monday night. I'm not very good at pilates, I think I've mentioned this before. I have a difficult time isolating my abdominal muscles, especially in any face down positions. Mostly, it's because my abdominals are so weak, so hopefully as I strengthen them and get more accustomed to the moves, it should get "easier"! :-)

Laid out all my clothes for a Tuesday morning run, feeling motivated. Then woke up Tuesday morning with my throat hurting and achy-stuffy-yuckiness. You've got to be kidding me! Called in some reinforcements for child care (thanks M!) and slept for the morning. Today I'm almost back to health (thank goodness) but a little annoyed that I don't think I've got a full week of training in yet. Sigh.... Well, the real thing starts this Monday, so I'd best be getting my act together!

Working on some meal planning, more on that soon...

the latest excuse

we got a lot of snow overnight, so driving wasn't so great first thing this morning. Okay, so I COULD have gone. But I didn't.

My ticker is freaking me out, it is under the 4 month mark now. Saturday I get serious. No, really. I will.

My new thing is that I'm listening to Harry Potter 7 while I walk/run. I love the book (I've read it 3 times) and Jim Dale does an excellent job of reading it. It is such a gripping story that it gives me incentive to head back to the gym so that I can listen to the next chapter. I'm NOT ALLOWED to listen anywhere but on the treadmill.

I'm ordering some new sneakers later today. I don't have a ton of miles on my Ryka Momentums (seen in the header at top of page) but, they are a good shoe for pronators, and I'm a supinator. No idea what I'm talking about? Here's a good explanation. Basically, it means I have really high arches and I tend to roll on to the outside of my foot. So I need a shoe that has different qualities than the one I have, which may explain some of my knee pain - I'm hoping. I found a listing of recommended shoes for the supinated, and I'm making my decision later today. Thank goodness for Zappos - free shipping and free returns means that those of us in the middle of nowhere can get shoes fast and not have to worry about shipping incorrect sizes back and forth.

uh-oh

no pilates last night for various logistical reasons.

However I went to bed last night with my gym clothes all laid out, ready for me this AM. And then I woke up at 4 with my throat on fire, and then Max started vomiting at 4:30am, and now I'm feeling nauseous.... NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

this has got to stop...

... this once-a-week blogging. How boring is that?!?!?

Yeah, so I kind of took last week off as well, and I hit the gym on Saturday with a 30 minute walk, and so far so good on the knees. Unfortunately, my knee pain hit right at the same time as some January blues, so I just couldn't pull my butt out of bed to get to the treadmill, much less blog about not getting to the treadmill! I do believe I'm back on track now, heading to pilates class tonight and then more walking in the AM. If I can have two more good walking days, I'll go back to running on Saturday, perhaps with some new shoes - we'll see what happens.

I totally over-indulged during the SuperBowl yesterday, and I now think that I've grossed myself out enough that I'm ready for some good eating. Ignore the fact that I snacked on 7-layer dip for lunch today...