Thursday, April 29, 2010

vacay is upon us & an easy 6

I wish that I could think of better titles. I think that I used some form of the word "busy" several times already. I should basically just put boring. I mean with a title like that no wonder no one reads this thing!

This week I am supposed to do 11-12 miles for my long run. The problem is that we will be flying out early Saturday and I can't see myself running around a foreign island for 11 miles. I had originally planned on doing the long run today. I think I already wrote about this right? Anyway I had a normal work day, up at 3:15 am and doing a lot of lifting and physical work, ect. Plus, my wobbley knee is still unsteady! Who knows what this is? There is no pain, it just feel wobbly, weak, or unsteady. If I wear an ACE brace/bandage I am fine. weird. After my dad read about the knee on the other post he asked, "what the heck does a wobbley knee mean"? I honestly have no idea! It's just the word that pops into my head when I think about what my knee feels like feels like. Sorry. Anyway, I decided that I didn't want to do anything stupid and wobble my knee worse so I voted for a nice easy 6 mile run. It was great! who thought that almost 2 months ago I would be going for a fun 6 miles. The weather was perfect and it was super easy. I had to wear my ACE buddy and of course by the end my other knee was sore. Oddly enough the original wobbley knee (left) isn't wobbley anymore, just sore. Now I know why people take ice baths after they run! I have been icing every few hours when I am home so hopefully it will be fine for the trip. I am looking forward to getting in a few short runs, lots of swimming, reading, sleeping, eating, and relaxing on vacay! This may be the last post for a while. My phone will most likely not work on the island. James' phone will so maybe I will give a quick update.

spring tree

Here is that same tree from "signs of spring & seven miles". Look at all of the leaves!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

trail pic

This is part of the trail the I shuffle on. The lighting was terrible and the picture is awkward since it was taken quickly from my phone but you get the idea

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

busy busy!

Vacay is almost here! YAY! I have to make this a quick post, James is almost done cooking dinner (whole wheat pasta and veggies yum). I love when he cooks! Yesterday I completed my run on the treadmill. I was running errands all day after work and didn't get home until 5 p.m. It was rainy, cool, and I just didn't feel like being outside. Plus, I had last weeks episode of LOST to catch up on. Even with LOST the treadmill was rough. It takes me about 15-20 minutes until I become accustomed to it and by that time my run is almost over.

I did yoga abs and Mrytle today.

I think I may have runner's knee. It feels like my knee is weak. Previously, I had been wearing an ACE knee bandage at work when I knew I was going to be lifting all day or on the latter. I forgot to wear it last week on an especially difficult day and since then it has been weird. I'm just going to ice it, wrap it, and probably only do an easy 8 miles Thursday. I have to do my long run Thursday becuase of vacay. No time to proof read or anything. Hope this makes some sense!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

week 7 recap

Week 7 Recap:


April 19 - 25

Training:

Monday: 30 minute. Due to my schedule I literally had no time for anything other than 30 minutes of running. I didn't even have time for a warm-up or cool down.

Tuesday: I went to visit awesome friend Jen and here precious bebes! They live about an hour away which means that I didn't get home until 7 p.m. I still had to get lunch and clothes ready for work and spend some quality time with the hubby and therefore didn't XT. There are no excuses for not cross-training but I'm not upset about it since this never happens. I did dance to songs on Yo Gabba Gabba with a toddler, is that a form of XT?

Wednesday: 40 minutes total (30 running). It was a great day. There were rumblings of thunder, crazy storm clouds, and the air felt electric. What a great day to be a runner.

Thursday: Happy Earth Day!!! My mom would sometimes take this day off of work because it was a special day. I grew up with motto "Earth Day is everyday"
Yoga Abs & Mrytle

Friday: Rest Day! it's funny because when I started training I hated taking a rest day. Now I feel like I need it.

Saturday: 10 miles!! total time 2:27 hours

Sunday: Yoga Abs, Mrytle, and shopping! wait, does walking around retail stores for hours count as XT?

Health:

This week started poorly. My husband and I made lots of poor food choices on Monday. It's still hard for me to not eat junk when he brings it home. I think it was easier when I wasn't training. Now I'm so tired all of the time I will just eat anything. Luckily the rest of the week was better. After my initial weight loss I have just hit this plateau where I eat too much or too little. I wasn't concerned about what I ate in the beginning because I wanted training to be my main focus. I think after vacay next week I will try to plan my meals better. I still 16.2 pounds. How crazy is that? You would think I would have lost a little more after I ran 10 miles yesterday!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

10 miles!

10 miles

Start: 7:55 a.m. Finish: 10:22 a.m.

Total: 2:27 hours

I started off feeling good except for my wobbly knee and this caused me to not be so great mentally. I kept thinking that my knee was going to wobble out of place and I was going to be stuck somewhere unable to walk. It sounds cheesy but I started up a mantra "I am strong, my body is strong" to bring the focus to something positive. Hey, if mantras work for Kara Goucher maybe they will work for me! About 2 miles into the run I arrived to a really beautiful place in the woods. There were mini fluff balls floating in the breeze and the light was filtering through the trees and dancing on the stream. It looked like a Fairytail Forest and I was content to drink it all in.

Let me clear up any confusion here. I say that I run on "trails" but it is actually a myriad of paved paths that extend for miles in the woods. I would run on dirt paths in the middle of nowhere but I fear that I may become lost. I am not that confident in my navigational abilities and the "map" on my GPS is meerly a line on a screen. Right now the park suits me just fine and I am usually passed by other people on my run.

After miles I finally came to the end of a trail and ended up running on a busy road with no shoulder. This seemed to break up the monotony of the run but after a half mile I was thrilled to be in the woods again.

On a side note, I am in love with my strawberry banana GU. I feel like a GU addict because I crave its sugary goodness and the boost of energy that it brings. I squeeze out every sweet sticky drop!

I was a tad bit annoyed that I stopped the Garmin for a potty break (there is a decent porta john) in the parking lot of one of the trail heads) and I forgot to restart it which messed up my mileage. Luckily, I knew where I had turned around last week at 4:50 miles and was able to deduce that my watch was about .20 miles off. Furthermore, the battery on the Garmin began to die around mile 7 but ended up having enough juice to keep going for the remainder of the run. The face read "low battery enter". It took me about 5 minutes until I realized that I had to press the enter button to clear the message. Duh!

Serious Closing Message:

Up until last weeks run my long runs were something of a lark. I mean, I had my challenges, we all remember "Poncho Princess", but something changes when your mileage increases and you are out there running for hours. Let's face it, at 15 minute miles I was shuffling for almost 2:50 hours today! I don't care how slow I am going, that's a long time. The mental part becomes as hard as the physical part. It is challenging in the beginning to know that I will be out there for such a time, and towards the end I don't even feel my body (which is kinda cool and weird at the same time). There are highs and lows on every run now. I still love running and I have become much more serious about the whole endever. I ran 10 miles today, I am a runner

Friday, April 23, 2010

8, 9 Miles & Gadgets-Oh My!

April 12, 2010 - 8 miles


I have to backtrack a little here since it has been so long since I posted anything of note. In April I decided that I would splurge and purchase a Garmin GPS watch. From the beginning I have had a strong desire to run in the woods, off-road, or anywhere besides the boring route on the road which I had mapped out using my car. I was going to wait until I had been training for a few months but I honestly felt that I was completely dedicated to my goal in addition to running for life (or as long as my legs hold up). Plus, Amazon had some really fabulous sales on older Garmin models! I was so excited when the package finally came!
What is in the box?

YAY! A Garmin!!


It is huge and the graphics remind me of technology from the 80's, but I LOVE it!
Although I was thrilled about hittin' the trails with my Garmin, I still had hydration concerns. I mean, I'm running 15 minute miles here so 8 miles will take me about 2 hours. There is no way I was going out in the woods without my own water supply. I come from a family of "outdoorsy" people and you never venture out on a hike or whatever without enough water in case you become lost or injured. It just so happened that I was running some errands which took me past REI. I went in for a look around and I found an entire wall of hydration backpacks. Exactly what I wanted! I tried on a few styles and settled on one that holds 2 liters and is equipped with 2 zippered pockets and another thing to hold a jacket or something. Now, I was all set for a run!
I was slightly concerned that I had 2 new gadgets and I was attempting to run in the woods for the first time in a long time. My pack felt great! I was ecstatic to not be holding a bottle or wearing something around my waist. It was a beautiful day and I was happy to be outside. I don't have too much else to write about. I LOVE my pack and Garmin. This was by far the BEST run that I have had since I started. Oddly enough, I didn't really think at all. Normally, I have a running dialogue in my mind which is why I always have fun stories after my long runs. I'm not sure what I will write about now!
My watch is ginormous!



Hydration Pack
April 17- 9 miles
I had a long week but I went to my first Yankee's game on Friday night! I had a great time even though it was rain delayed half way through and finally called off. It was a win for the Yankee's! Needless to say I didn't get very much sleep and decided to run on Sunday. I had a long day Saturday and I awoke pretty tired Sunday. I mustered all of my energy and went anyway. I felt like I was dragging through the whole run but the weather was pleasant and the scenery was great. Once again I was thankfully for the freedom that my hydration pack and Garmin allowed me!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Sleep!

My hubby took this picture on his phone last night when I fell asleep on the couch. I wish that I was still sleeping!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Monday, April 19, 2010

Time Flies

I'm currently at the vets awaiting the doctor so I am trying to get a quick post up. I ran 9 miles on Sunday! Woohoo! It was really rough and I was very tired before I even began but at least I did it. Today I had a bunch of appointments after work and I literally had exactly 30 minutes in between things to go for a jog. It was either a nap or a jog and I begrudgingly choose the run. I didn't even have time for a warm-up or cool down. I walked out of my house and started shuffling. When I arrived home I had just enough time to splash some water on my face, put the laundry in the dryer, and get out of the door. I was not sure how I would feel since I did my long run yesterday and technically today should have been a XT day. I'm so weird because I didn't want to mess up the run & XT days that I am used to. I didn't even have time to stretch and it is very likely that my legs will hurt tomorrow
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Thursday, April 15, 2010

another week almost gone

I cannot believe that it is Thursday already! I have kept up with all of my usual workouts this week. I am glad that I was so dedicated to my training plan for the first month because now it has just become a part of my life. I don't even think about missing a workout even if I am tired (except for last Thursday but it was only a XT day anyway). I feel really great. My hubby and I are going on a vacay in a little over 2 weeks and this is one of the first times that I haven't had to scramble to get into bikini shape. I feel good the way that I am. That doesn't mean that I don't hope to lose a few more pounds before we go, but I am fine if I don't.

I started back up with my yoga abs dvd. My neck is feeling much better so I am trying not to overdo it. Oddly enough, my abs are much stronger now. Although I shake from the effort, I am able to hold all of my poses! The other weird thing that I noticed is that the rest of my body is much stiffer. This may be due to the fact that I haven't been stretching enough after workouts. All in all it feels good to back working on my abs with Rodney Yee

Monday, April 12, 2010

Week 6 Recap

Week 6 Recap: April 12-18

Training:

Monday: 30 minute run + 10 minute warm up/cool down. I keep falling short of 3 miles in 30 minutes. Today I ran 2.95 miles in 30 minutes. Ugh! I don't know what I can't just sprint at the end. I guess I am a little nervous about breaking my shuffle, sprinting, and injuring myself. After all, I obviously don't care about my time anyway (How You Doin 15 minute miles!) I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.

Tuesday: Yoga Abs DVD, short walk with pup. I had to keep it short today because I am going to see Third Eye Blind in a few hours.

Wednesday: 30 minute run + 10 minute warm up/cool down. I went super slow today. My knee is bugging me a little and I just felt like taking it easy.

Thursday: 15 minute walk, Yoga Abs, Mrytle

Friday: Rest Day and Yankee Game!

Saturday: In order to get my long run in today I would have had to wake up at 5 a.m. My other option was to run on Sunday, since I had nothing else planned. I was up late Friday night and decided that I would only run on Saturday if I was feeling "bright eyed and bushy tailed" This was not the case so I ran on Sunday instead of my usual day. I actually did no form of training today. In fact, I ate and sat at a Bridal Shower for the majority of the day! Congrats Monica & Paul!

Sunday: 9 miles! Start: 7:02 a.m. Finish: 9:12 a.m.


Health:

I've been doing well this week so I guess I can officially blame my carb overload last week to lack of sleep.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Busy day!

My agenda is jam packed with fun filled activities today! Of greatest concern is that fact that I already shuffled through the most amazing 8 miles! That's right, I awoke and hit the trails by 6:30. What a splendid idea I had two weeks ago when I decided to get up super early on saturdays. I don't even really have anything to blog about because it was just so fabulous. There are a few pics to post & new gadgets to discuss but that will have to be at a later time. For now, we are on our way to drop Little Guy off at my brother & sissy-in-law's house for a sleep over test run. They generously offered to babysit while we are in St. Martin. Hopefully he gets along with them, their dog, cat, and being in the city. Then we are driving down to the shore for lunch and a movie with my mommy-in-law.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Need Sleep

Today I am going to take Little Guy for a short walk and then sleep, hopefully for hours. I've been showing symptoms of sleep deprivation and I know that I just need to sleep.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Blazin!

WOW is it HOT out! I was not prepared for this kind of heat so soon. I assure you that I am not exaggerating, it is literally 90 degrees! Only a short time ago it was in the 40's. Running in this type of heat is rough. At one time I was happy to be home from work and running by 3 p.m. the latest. Now, I'm not having as much fun running with the blazing hot sun beating down on me. On the plus side, I am really glad that I brought water on my run because I might have passed out without it, and there was a breeze at times. For some reason my 30 minute run felt like hours. I started out okay, actually happy to be running, but became fatigued very quickly. From there on out I just took it nice and slow.

In addition I gave my pup a bath today! He's only 5 pounds and therefore fits nicely in the sink. I love when the weather is warm because I can give him a bath and take him outside to dry instead of torturing him with the blow dryer.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter Weekend


EASTER WEEKEND


Dinner at Carmine's



He is Risen!

Happy Easter


My hubby, Me, Trevor (brother), Julia (sister-in-law), Krystal (cousin)



My mom and Gloria (one of her sisters)



Uncle Tony- we celebrated his birthday



Krystal and Gloria- Krystal has a great blog about becoming a vegetarian and living healthier
wwwhealthy4life.blogspot.com


Naptime!

Week 5 Recap and Sleep Update

Week 5 Recap: April 5- April 11

This week was a bit of a mess. By Thursday I was showing full fledged signs of sleep deprivation. For the full info see Background Info: Never Enough Sleep. I have been getting 6 or less hours of sleep for over the past month. Now according to the doctor, some people only need 5-6 hours a night, others need 7-8, I fall into the latter category. Can you tell that I have already had problems with this? I am usually pretty good about catching up on sleep on the weekends or taking a nap during the week but for over a month now I have just been going, going, going and I finally crashed. Early warning signs were the intense starch carb cravings i was having. Of course I think about pizza sometimes but I should have known something was wrong when I actually went out of my way to eat it on a Tuesday, in addition to wanting potatoes and white bread. Later in the week I was literally passing out for a few seconds/minutes at a time and my anxiety was starting to become slightly unmanageable. Not good! Finally, on Thursday I started to have a low grade fever, was barely moving at work, forgetting things, and I even thought I saw my dog run by in the living room in the morning even though he is gated in another room. That's when I knew that I desperately needed sleep. Thursday and Friday I took really long naps and went to bed early. I woke up feeling much better on Saturday and had the best run ever. I slept even more on Sunday and feel like myself again.

Training:

Monday: 30 minute run + 10 minute warm-up/cool down. It was really hot out today and I felt like I was going to pass out by the time I returned home. I guess I overheat easily. I am now going to bring water on every run no matter how short!



Tuesday: 40 minute walk. I was feeling super lazy today and could not force myself to do any form of DVD, ab work, or even my beloved Mrytle. I'm lucky I forced myself out of the door for a walk!



Wednesday: 30 minute run + 10 minute warm-up/cool down

Thursday: maybe walked for 15 minutes and slept

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 8 mile run! I forgot my start and finish times and I accidentally erased them from my Garmin (still working out the kinks) but I believe that I completed my shuffle in 1:52

Sunday: 30 minute walk & Myrtle




Health:

Monday: lets not even talk about what I ate today :/



Tuesday: today was even worse! I picked up pizza and garlic knots. oh well, at least I am still shuffling!


Wednesday: doing much better with my food choices. I did have cereal for dinner but that is better than pizza! I wrote this before I ate a box of Cherrio's

I gained a pound this week! Oh well! I don't even know what I ate for the rest of the week but I now know that the food choices in the beginning of the week were due to sleep deprivation.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Signs of Spring and Seven Miles


Please stay for the entire post. At the conclusion of my story you will be treated to my amateur photography skills, as I attempt to capture the first tiny signs of Spring!



I kinda look like a runner!

My plan to wake up early was successful! I puttered around the house for over an hour, drinking tea, cleaning the kitchen, playing with the pup, and all of the other things I love to do in the morning on my days off.


The temps were in the upper 40's and although it was chilly when I took my dog out, I resisted the strong urge to wear a jacket on my run. It was a good decision because I warmed right up about 10 minutes into it. Due to the fact that 6 miles took an insanely long hour and a half I planned to bring my own water with me. I voted to wear my Camelbak Alterra. It's a hydration system that goes around one's waist. I know, how can I wear this contraption around my waist if I can't even run with a jacket around my waist? All I can say is that there is no reason to my idiosyncrases. The Camelbak annoys the heck out of me, and leaks on account of the fact that it is over 5 years old (I did run back then). After this run, I decided that I may have to permanently retire it. This saddens me for some reason because I have had it for a long time and it was purchased by my parents on a family trip to Hawaii. Weird that throwing away inanimate objects makes me sad. But I digress! Although I started out feeling strong, I was having some stomach issues. Due to the fact that this could easily happen during the actual marathon I simply kept going. I began to notice all of these weird buildings and structures that I had never seen while driving or even being a passenger. There was a brand new set of condos tucked behind the power company, a pretty bridge down the road, and a sidewalk that went behind a grove of trees for a few hundred yards. I was enjoying my musings when all of the sudden a squirrel jumped out from that lovely grove, right in front of my feet. AHHHH! I am not exaggerating for the purpose of this post when I say that I almost stepped on it. Immediately I recalled this story a co-worker once shared: It was a calm day at work when all of the sudden everyone was running around and yelling. Upon investigation she discovered that a guy went out to throw some garbage in the dumpster when a frightened squirrel leaped onto his face!!! I assure you that this is no urban legend, she was there! Luckily, the guy recovered without any outward damage. Let this be a lesson to you unassuming citizens, never underestimate what a terrified squirrel will do. Now I was on edge, on the lookout for a squirrel attack. Thankfully, I made it out of what was once considered a "cute" piece of sidewalk through some trees. I'm plodding along when I think I hear people. I whip around and there is a couple schlepping along behind me. I am slow, and often get passed, which doesn't bother me in the slightest. I do find it irritating though, when people just hang out behind me talking. I kept moving over so they had ample room to pass and yet they would not yield. Just go around you idiots! Up ahead a saw a problem brewing. On our side of the road coming in the opposite direction was another jogger and a cyclist. My trio and the cyclist were following proper traffic rules but what was the other rogue jogger doing?! Three runners, a shuffler, and a cyclist all heading for a shoulder passing of doom. Right before we were to awkwardly make our way around/through each other without getting hit by cars the morons behind me decided that it is time to make their move and pass me. Well at least the tailgate party was gone. Unscathed, I made my way to the paved path off the road. So far, so good. At this point I had to backtrack and add an extra 15 minutes to my route. I hadn't driven around to see where 7 miles would take me so I therefore added 15 minutes to my 6 mile loop in hopes that it would equate 7 miles. At this point I had been shuffling and walking for 45 minutes and established the fact that it was time to have some caffeine free, strawberry banana GU. I was about to discover if this was yummy or yucky. I felt like Popeye with a can of spinach as I ripped open the little pack and proceeded to squeeze some of the contents onto my mouth. Ummm, it was okay. Rather tasty actually, but it did take some practice getting down the hatch. I also had to dispense with my gum which I wasn't not happy about. I love chewing gum on my runs. Tissues for allergies and gum are essentials on every run. It ended up not being a catastrophe because the night before I had a cracked tooth fixed and I wasn't really able to chew the gum very well in the first place. Continuing, I was still feeling great. The GU had kicked in and it was a nice little boost. I was way past the half-way point and thoroughly enjoying myself. The air smelled fresh and new green growth was seen in abundance. I wished that I had my camera but then I would have never finished my run. On the side of the road by the woods I saw a giant, green, glass jug. It looked as if it was from another decade. I wondered if there was a tribe of wine making gypsies behind the chain link fence. Come to think of it, why was there a fence here anyway? When I surmised that I had about I mile left I decided to run the whole thing, even the meandering, deceptively difficult hill at the end. Then I was done. YAY seven miles! That is by far the most that I have ever ran in many years. Once again, I felt a little tired but strong at the end. I even finished faster that I had predicted.

Start: 7:33 a.m.

Finish: 9:09 a.m.

SPRING Has Sprung

These are mainly pictures of weeds and little things but they are green!





My Grandpa was allergic to forsythia and I cannot help but to recall fond memories of him whenever I see it.


This tree obviously has no leaves yet but I will enjoy taking pictures of it weekly to observe the changes