40!!

Well, I've done it again...waited too long to blog. Now I have to recap all of my workouts!

Thursday 6/27 - 3.2 miles, heat and humidity!

Saturday 6/29 - couldn't sleep the night before. At 2am, I was still awake! Brian said, "It might be time to think about sleeping in a little and running on the treadmill." I decided to go ahead and TRY to run with my Marathonfest group, but when the alarm rang at 4:15, I knew I would NOT have a good run on 2-ish hours of sleep. So I ran 4 hot and boring miles on the treadmill.

Sunday 6/30 - I TURNED 40! Insane.

Notice the giant cup of water behind me. There's always one nearby!

Strawberry shortcake with a ridiculous perfect amount of whipped cream!

Oops. I may have eaten out for lunch and dinner on my birthday and had dessert both times. (I also may have eaten out the night before...)

Monday 7/1 - weights with Bruce. We did lots of upper body and core. I am really starting to see some definition in my arms! :)

Tuesday 7/2 - my first workout on the track. We were to do 6 to 8 sets of 400s, walking or jogging a 200 in between each; then a 4-minute water and rest break; then another set of 6 to 8 400s. I did two sets of 6. I actually enjoyed it! It was nice knowing I only had to run around the track once before I got to walk a half lap!

According to my half marathon goal (2:30), I was supposed to be running my 400s at an 11:20 pace. Amazingly, I averaged about 10:25-10:35! I think the walk breaks helped, though - I know I couldn't maintain that pace right now. But it was nice knowing I was almost a minute faster than I was supposed to be!

I did have a few giggles about my eclectic running playlist. I ran my second set with a friend, but during my first set I heard songs by Cake, Afro Blue, Harry Connick Jr., Jody Watley, Pentatonix, The Allies, Beyonce, Maroon 5, and more that I can't remember right now. :)

OK! Today I'm going to do weights with Bruce again. I usually do Mon-Thurs with him, but tomorrow is a holiday and I'm actually taking the day OFF! It will be weird not to run, but I know it's good to rest my legs. My group is also not running on Saturday, since it's a holiday weekend. But I'll definitely be meeting up with someone somewhere to get my 4 miles in. Next weekend it goes up to 6 - look out!

(I've done 6 a few times, but never more. What will I do when it gets to 8?!)

Exercise and weight GAIN

OK, first things first.

Saturday - good 4 mile run at 6am in the heat and humidity, followed by breakfast, a quick stop at the Track Shack expo, (where I bought a neon yellow Marathonfest shirt. I don't wear yellow. EVER. Running is changing me!), and then a trip to Aquatica where hubby and I spent most of the rest of the day. I've decided that swimming after running is a good thing. :)

Monday - weights with Bruce. He worked my legs some, but mostly upper body, core, and back. It feels really good to be getting stronger. He also has me doing some crazy 20 second sprints on the treadmill at a ridiculous incline (20-25%) - but since it's not prolonged running it's not hurting my legs. It's really nice to not have sore legs all the time! (Even though I am icing the hamstrings today!)

Tuesday - good 3 mile run at 5am. I did mile repeats. My first mile I ran without walking in 10:20! That's really a confidence builder, especially since I was having so many bad runs in a row. With the heat and humidity, I felt pretty good that I was able to do that. My other two miles I walked some, but that was ok - it was SUPER humid, especially for 5am! I was surprised because it was much better last week.

Today is a rest day, but I'm hoping to do a little swimming and some ab work.

I weighed in this morning and gained 2.2 lbs. Seriously. I am so frustrated! I'm burning more calories than ever before. I do realize that I'm also building muscle, and everyone will tell me that "muscle weighs more than fat." OK. Whatever. All I know is that I'm killing myself and GAINING weight. When I got back from Italy I had LOST weight. And I had pasta for every meal, sweet croissants and cappuccino for breakfast, and gelato every day, sometimes twice a day.

I've done an awful lot of reading and research on running, eating, weight loss, and etc. I've talked to a lot of people about it, too. I know that nutrition is very important. Apparently, some runners see that they are burning so many calories, and then they give themselves permission to eat whatever they want. I can say that I have NOT been doing that. I may not be eating perfectly (last night I went to a birthday party and had cake and ice cream and cupcakes!), but it is very rare that I let myself eat a bunch of crap.

Today I'll be taking stock of my pantry and fridge, looking up recipes, and making a grocery list. I need to head to the store and spend more time fixing nutritious meals and snacks that will fuel my body for these hard workouts. Lucky for me that my Saturday runs take place right by an awesome Farmers' Market!

If anyone has any advice, I'm SO open to it. Leave me a comment. Send me an email. Share articles, recipes, and anything else you can think of! This is my SUMMER OF EXERCISE, and that includes learning to eat like a runner! :)

Off to a good start!

It would seem that my mental block is broken!! I don't want to speak too soon and jinx anything, but I've finally had a couple of really good runs!!

(I've got to do better about updating my blog more often. I keep having to go back and see what the last workout was that I blogged about!)

OK, so...workout with Bruce on Thursday, June 13. We spent a little bit of time talking because I had gotten an email from Marathonfest. I decided to sign up for Marathonfest, which is a training program through Track Shack that targets marathons and half marathons. They train on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. (They train on Sundays too, for people who can't do Saturday. But I can't do Sunday so I often forget about that.) Anyway, I was planning on sticking with Bruce for Tuesdays and Thursdays, and doing my long run with them on Saturdays. But then I got the plan - they run significant mileage on T-Th, where I run usually between 1.5 and 3 on those days. I started to worry that I wouldn't be running enough.

Bruce took a look at the plan and advised me to run with them for one whole week and see where I was in relation to the group. Neither of us was sure I would be able to get up at 3:30 and be in Winter Park for a 5am run. But I decided to give it a try. Plus, my friend Barbara is doing it, so it's easier when there's some accountability!

We proceeded to do some warmups, arm work, and a short 15-20 minute slow run. The warmups hurt, I'm not gonna lie. I hadn't run for 11 days and was still somewhat recovering from jet lag. The run was awful - I ran for 5 minutes, walked for 1, and then couldn't do more than 2-3 minutes at a time for the rest of the run. I was so discouraged - I was hoping that the rest over vacation would help.

Then I went for my Saturday long run with Marathonfest. We were doing 4 miles, running 5/1. (5 minutes running, 1 minute walking.) I was pretty nervous because I couldn't even remember my last good run. We ran with a different group that day - there are a BUNCH of different pace groups. This one was a 5/1 group with an 11-12 minute mile pace. I did fine for awhile, but it was SO humid. I mean you could CUT the air. By the end I was just running as much as I could and walking quite a bit. I did the 4 miles but with more walking than I wanted. Again, I was pretty disappointed in myself.

Fast forward to Tuesday. I got up at 3:30, left the house at 4:00, picked up Barbara at 4:15, and was warming up on the track at 4:40. I decided to run with yet ANOTHER group, one that does 3/1 with a 9:30-10:30 minute mile pace. They were running slower than that on Tuesday and after awhile I just left them and ran alone. (No worries, with Marathonfest you're never truly running alone because there are like 500 people on the course.) But I wasn't with a particular group - I would just find people here and there to run with.

About 30 minutes in, I realized I was having a great day, so I really pushed myself! For awhile there I was keeping a 9:20 pace without stopping. That's unreal for me and I was so happy! But I tried not to get overexcited! By the end I had done almost 4 miles and my calves and Achilles' tendons were hurting pretty bad. I knew I had pushed it so I texted Bruce and he didn't seem too worried. I came home and iced my legs and went about my day. I did fall asleep on the couch while eating lunch! LOL! 3:30 is EARLY! But I can totally see the benefit! It was still mostly dark when I finished my run, so the temperature was SO MUCH BETTER!

I did the whole thing again on Thursday, but this time we were doing a 3 mile run on hills. Luckily it wasn't hills the whole time, but I really need to do them because they scare me to death. I wasn't feeling it when I first started, but somehow I got in my groove and had another great day! I did 3/1 again and this time was at the front of the group with a super nice lady named Sandy. I ran the hills smoothly and without stopping and shocked myself!!

Later that morning, I went in for a session with Bruce. He promised to take it easy on my legs, but he did sneak in a few leg exercises. I felt that! We decided that I would come in twice a week to do core and weight training/cross training with him, and then continue running with Marathonfest. So it looks like I'll be getting up at 3:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays all summer and most of the fall!

I did lots of arm/shoulder/back stuff and today I'm SUPER sore! It feels great, though! I feel like I'm finally back and off to a great start for my Summer of Exercise!

In other news, did I mention that I signed up for the Disney Princess Half? My awesome college friend, Angie, is coming down from Ohio to do it with me. I can't wait!

Also, just today I signed up for Twitter. It's about time, right? Follow me @run_aunt_sis!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

A Professional Exerciser

Wow. It's been a really long time since I blogged! I'll quickly finish out my exercise log after my last post.

May 23 - workout with Bruce. Pretty normal day.

May 25 - 6 mile run. Lots of walking during. I was feeling pretty tired and because my running group had a week off, I was on my own. I left a lot later than I had planned, so I had to deal with the heat and the sun. But I did run into my friend Staci who did 4 miles with me, so that was an awesome surprise!

May 28 - workout with Bruce, during which he absolutely KILLED my quads. I mean KILLED them. I was sore for 6 days after. :(

May 30 we left for Italy to celebrate my upcoming...um..."milestone" birthday. Yep, I'm in the last few weeks of my 30s, folks. It's weird. But the trip to Italy was awesome! I had planned to run 3 times while we were gone, but I only ended up running once. At the risk of sounding whiny, it's really hard to plan for a run when you're staying in a hotel. I couldn't stay hydrated like I do at home, and I couldn't eat normally. And we did a lot of walking every single day, with lots of hills and stairs! Anyway, I ran once in Lake Como and it was beautiful. I ran right on the lake, and even ran out a little pier and back - so fun! I love having that map on my Garmin. Here are a few pics from that run:

So now we're home and I took a short walk this morning. I have a workout scheduled with Bruce tomorrow. I'm feeling a little uneasy about my running - it seems for the last month I've been super tired and found it hard to keep up my pace. I'm hoping that over the summer I can increase my endurance (although that will probably be difficult in the Florida heat.) It seems like my legs are fine and can keep going, but I just can't catch my breath. I need to improve my cardiovascular system.

The plan is to keep up my workouts with Bruce on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and do my long run on Saturdays with my group. I'm also hoping to add another day with Bruce. My group also does Tuesday and Thursday early morning runs, so I'm going to talk to Bruce about that tomorrow. I feel like it's time to re-evaluate and get me back on track. And I also plan to walk on some of my off-days. Hopefully that will continue to improve my cardio, while also speeding recovery and burning calories.

This summer, my job title will be "professional exerciser"!!!!

No workout today.

At this very moment, I'm supposed to be at the gym working out. But instead, I'm sitting here at home with a purring cat on my lap. I have some sort of stomach thing going on. It's not contagious, but it is a situation where there could be an "accident" on the treadmill...(oops, TMI, sorry)...so I just didn't want to risk it. It's been going on since Sunday and I'm quite tired of it!

I'm pretty bummed. I'm eating better thanks to the nutritionist, and I was hoping to have a great workout today (especially after last week), and that I would be better fueled by my healthy food choices. (Before you ask, my food choices are not causing my stomach problems. I'm very used to a high fiber diet and I haven't changed much except I'm eating more carbs.)

The OCD thoughts are bad when something like this happens. I'm afraid I'll lose my progress. I'm afraid my trainer will think less of me or think I'm making excuses. I'm afraid I'll revert back to the old me and give up on exercise altogether. I know in my heart that none of this is true, but it's pretty hard to explain that to my brain. Add the stress of work, church, and an upcoming trip, and the OCD is getting out of control.

I need exercise to help me control it! Maybe I can do some sort of workout tonight when I'm finished teaching. It will be easier at home with the bathroom close by! We'll see how I feel. I could probably do some weights but I'm not sure I want to try running or anything that will bounce things around in my stomach. :P

Until I feel better, I'm just going to focus on some good quotes that will hopefully help me tamp down the OCD thoughts.

See, that one doesn't make me feel any better, because I'm not going to feel sore tomorrow. I'm going to feel sorry. I guess it was my choice, but I think it was a smart one. Even though I don't like it.

Lesson Learned

It was a bad workout week overall. Tuesday, I went in for my regular workout with Bruce and when we got to the treadmill, I just couldn't do what he wanted me to do. And he wasn't asking a lot - it was just half mile repeats at my normal pace! I couldn't even make it through the first run. And it wasn't my foot that was bothering me. It was my breath. I just couldn't catch my breath!

I was so disappointed in myself that I almost cried right on the treadmill. Bruce said it was just a bad day. I was pretty upset when I left. So later that day, I decided that I should run on Wednesday to make up for it. I texted Bruce, and he said for me to go ahead and run 3 miles on Wednesday. I felt better.

I got up Wednesday and did a 5K in the neighborhood. I pushed myself and I beat my best 5K time by 43 seconds! I was feeling pretty good about that, but when I got up on Thursday, my legs were pretty sore.

I went in for my Thursday workout with Bruce. We did plenty of weight training, and I even did 20 pushups! GUY pushups, from the toes! :) They're still really hard for me, but it's a great feeling just knowing I can do them!

And then we got to the treadmill. I was to run for 3 minutes at pace, and then 1 minute at pace on an incline. I didn't even get through the first 3 minute run before I had to stop and stretch my calf. I was having some pretty bad pain in my left shin. Bruce showed me how to stretch my calf because apparently tight calves cause shin splints.

After the first incline I thought I was going to die. I just couldn't get my breath. I huffed and puffed and asked Bruce if I could walk. He said yes, after my current run, but I had to walk on an incline. So I did that for 1 minute and then it was back to the circuit. As I was running, Bruce said, "So now are you going to listen to me? You needed to rest yesterday. Your body told you to rest. You need to listen to your body and to me." I said, "Yes <pant> sir <pant pant pant>!" He said, "Are you going to rest tomorrow?" I said, "Yes <pant> please <pant> let me <pant> rest <pant huff puff pant>!"

I didn't realize that by agreeing to let me run on Wednesday, he was proving a point. I'm still a new runner. I've only been working out this hard for 8 weeks! My body does need to rest, especially when I'm adding mileage! Bruce is a good trainer and a patient man. I am lucky to get to work with him. I just get so excited, and I want to exercise every minute of every day! But I DON'T want to get hurt. So I have to remember to listen to my body. And my trainer.

I rushed home after stretching and made my post-workout shake, took a shower, then hopped in an ice bath. I have to ease into it, but once I'm in, it makes my legs feel amazing!

I told Bruce on Thursday that I thought for sure that my belly fat was contributing to my breathing problems. Belly fat is the unhealthy type of fat - the type that surrounds the heart. I'm so sick and tired of dealing with it. It's been this way my whole life. Even a few years ago, when I was a size 4, I still had my belly. It causes muffin tops EVERY DAY. It doesn't match the rest of my body anymore. My arms and legs and shoulders are getting muscular. My belly is the same. I look like one of those flip books where you can experiment with un-matching parts:

My middle just doesn't match. I have to buy bigger pants and shorts because of how big my waist is, and then they look ridiculous on my legs and butt! Ugh. I'm beyond ready to do something about it. So that afternoon I made an appointment to see a nutritionist.

Friday I did some work and rested. Max even helped me ice my legs. And he took a drink from the frozen pea condensation.

Saturday I was up at 4:15 for my long run with the Marathon-fest group. I didn't sleep great on Friday night - it's just REALLY hard to fall asleep early! Plus I get super excited about running and then I just can't turn my brain off. Brian was at the movies, and of course I woke up when he got home. And then I woke up again. So I got about 4 hours of sleep, maybe less. The 4:15 alarm was not pleasant, but I was not going to stand Barbara up!

We got there at about 5:30 and I did my warmups and chatted with folks. We started running and my shins felt like they had rubber bands on them. My hamstrings felt like they had industrial-sized rubber bands, and about 10 on each leg! After about 2 miles I was hurting pretty bad and Barbara wasn't having a great time either. Just when I was about to say I needed to walk, she said, "OK. I have to walk." I was so thankful! LOL! 

We ended up running a little more, but we walked for about the last mile. Altogether we traveled 3.58 miles and walked for about a mile of it. I felt bad - I was supposed to do 5-6 miles. But I actually listened to my body, and that's a step in the right direction, I think.

Afterward, we went to the Winter Park Farmer's Market, which was REALLY cool! We had an amazing breakfast and shopped around a little before heading home. When I got home I decided to run a few more miles. I went outside, ran about 20 steps, and turned around. My hamstrings were in horrible pain. Listening to my body.

After showering, icing my legs, and having a short nap, I went to see the nutritionist at the gym. She had some very interesting things to say. I will be eating for peak performance. My nutrition could have been part of my problem this week with my horrible disappointing not-so-great workouts. I'll be eating more of a whole foods diet, with MORE carbs. That's right. The nutritionist told me to eat MORE carbs!! Good carbs, of course. I also need to up the veggie intake and not worry so much about protein. It's all very enlightening. I'm learning so much.

OK. Now that I've written a book, I'm going to get ready for bed. I've got one more day of rest before my Tuesday workout, and I need to go to the store tomorrow and get prepped for my food changes. To top it all off, I'm not feeling super great today. So, off to sleep and hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Bring on the peas!

Thursday I had a hard workout. I almost couldn't finish it. It left me in this shape:

Yep. Ice, ibuprofen, and compression socks. It's pretty normal for me to have shin splints, but something had happened to my foot. See that bag of frozen peas on my left foot? Yeah. It started hurting in the late afternoon and just never felt better until I got off of it and iced it. (I've discovered that frozen peas work best for me! They aren't rigid and they fit where you put them!)

Friday morning I woke up and my foot was still hurting, so I went into full and complete freak-out mode. I texted Bruce, who said I probably shouldn't run on Saturday. That really disappointed me, but it just felt like a pulled muscle or something, so after going on the internet and diagnosing myself with 47 different things, I texted Bruce again and he told me I could come in. 

He massaged my foot, poked around in different places on it, and almost immediately found the source of the pain. It was not an injury - huge relief! It was just a sore muscle. Well, I can deal with sore muscles! I deal with them every day! I was mainly just concerned that if I ran on Saturday, I would make it worse. Bruce said it would probably be more sore, but I wouldn't injure myself. Yay!

He gave me a bunch of stretches and exercises to do while I was there, and then he sent me on my way and told me to ice it and take ibuprofen. So I headed to UCF to pick up my packet for my first ever 10K race! I was so happy! And I was so thankful for an awesome trainer who understands my craziness and agrees to see me on the spur of the moment, just for my own peace of mind!

I was excited and nervous and had some trouble sleeping that night. But I finally fell asleep and then the alarm rang at about 5:00. (I think I got around 4 hours of sleep - not great.) My awesome husband - aka my #1 fan - got up and went with me. I was almost late to the starting line. Stressful! I got there with several minutes to spare, and then it didn't start on time, which frustrated me because, had I known, I could have used the bathroom before it began! 

I was maybe about 15 minutes into the race when my stomach growled and I realized I hadn't eaten breakfast. What??!! That is SO not normal! I think I was in such a hurry, I had a few bites of my overnight oats, but not nearly enough to sustain me for a 10K! I was supposed to grab a Belvita on the way out the door and eat it in the car, but I totally forgot! 

And then the foot pain started. It was not horrible, but I began to walk a little more. The plan was to run 5 minutes, then walk 1, for the entire race. By mile 3, I was running 3, walking 1. And soon after, it was 2/1. Around mile 5, the pain got pretty bad and I started doing 1/1. It upset me, too, because before that I was on track to seriously beat my goal time. But from mile 5 until the end, it was pretty slow going. I loved seeing my sweetie's face cheering for me at the finish line! 

I immediately said, "I forgot to eat breakfast." He ran and got me a banana and a smoothie, and then he took my picture! 

So. Let's recap.

Firsts at this race:

1. First time to forget to eat breakfast before a race.
2. First time running in compression socks.
3. First 10K distance race.
4. First time using my brand new Garmin!
5. First time taking an ice bath (when I got home) - wooooooo it was cold!

No-No's at this race:

1. Forgetting to eat breakfast. That was really dumb.
2. Arriving late to the start line - no time for warmups or bathroom.
3. Running in new clothes - I had never worn that skirt. Luckily, it was fine.
4. Letting my realization about breakfast get to me.
5. Negative thinking.

Once I realized I had forgotten breakfast, I wasn't sure I could do it. Seriously, that is such a mental game and I need to learn how to squelch those thoughts. Also, I was already doubting myself because of my foot pain, and that's another mental game.

So I didn't do my very best. Yes, there were extenuating circumstances, but all in all, I could have done better. I will do better next time. I will learn from this race. And it shouldn't be hard to beat my time, which was 1:19:06. I totally could've done it in under 1:10. 

Now it's Monday and I'm working out again tomorrow. That's 2 1/2 days of rest. My legs and foot are still sore! So what's new??!! Bring on the peas!