Let me tell you about how I almost died on the treadmill tonight ... and not by throwing a blood clot to my lung (thank the Lord, I was praying the whole time).
There I was, just running along on the treadmill at a nice, easy pace, jamming out to a little Joss Stone and people watching down below on the sidewalk, when none other than the treadmill monster jumped out and grabbed me, making me trip over my feet and almost bust it right in front of everyone. Lucky for me, I happened to have cat-like reflexes and caught myself right before my face was permanently imprinted into the germ-coated floor.
Whew, recovered from that one.
With a 1/2 mile left to run, I thought I'd pick up the pace a little. Where my head was, I don't know. Maybe I left it back at clinic with my last patient of the day, very young teenager, who needed birth control. Or maybe I left it in my car this morning when I reached over to throw my ice scraper on the floor (seriously, I have had to scrape ice off my car way too often this winter living in SC--and my ice scraper must have been built back when my grandparents were my age, because it definitely doesn't work) and knocked my entire cup of coffee onto my floor and gym bag. Or maybe I left it in bed, where I might should have stayed a little longer today.
Anyway, wherever my head was, it was not focused on the fact that when I went to increase the speed on the treadmill, I just kept my finger on the button, all the way up to 8-something. My legs do not run at 8-something. I was almost a pancake on the other side of the gym wall. Smashed. Cat-like reflexes save me again, but I'm certain not before the people next to me decided I should take a treadmill-f0r-dummies class.
Good news, I made it out alive. Even better news, I was actually supposed to run 2 miles but forgot and ran 3. Not so good news, P90X ab ripper is really hard when you have neglected your midsection for months on end.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
2.07.2010
Half Marathon ... maybe?!
I've been seriously contemplating training for a 1/2 marathon, but am in need of some advice from those more experienced with this than me (which doesn't take much)! I've been searching around for training plans that I could best make fit into my weekly schedule, and I've narrowed it down to 3. Here's where y'all come in ... those of you who have trained and run a half before, what type of plan worked best for you? Here are the plans I've found, in a nutshell:
1. MarathonRookie Plan
(*I am definitely not an advanced beginner, but this plan is still an option)
So obviously the differences between these are minimal (total weeks and CT days). I think I prefer a plan with 2 cross training days worked in, because I have been going to spinning classes on Wednesday and Friday mornings. The 3rd one would be great because it already has W/F as the cross training days, so I wouldn't even have to tweak it.
Any advice?
Here's the second place that I need your help: I can't find a half-marathon in the NC or SC area (or somewhere within 3-4 hours driving distance) around the end of April/beginning of May. There's Charlotte RaceFest on April 10th, but that's a little soon. Does anyone know of any races around that time on the east coast, preferably NC or SC?
Even if I can't find a race to register for in that time frame, I think I still want to start training. I think it will give me a little more structure and motivation for my workouts, as right now I'm feeling a little lost! We also are planning to run the bridge run on March 27, so it will help prepare for that (last year before the bridge run, I went out a week before the run and ran (and walked) 6 miles down to the beach, then the day before went out and ran 2 miles--that was the extent of my "training").
One potential obstacle: Somehow, like the clumsy klutz that I am, I have hurt my leg. By running? Nope. Spinning? Nope. Something at least remotely exciting? Nope. I was sitting at lunch with my husband last week and reached down to scratch my knee. When I did this, a horribly painful shooting feeling went up my thigh. Since then, my thigh fills like someone took a baseball bat and beat me until I no longer had use of my right leg. But only when I sit on my knees, bend my right leg at a certain angle, or put pressure over that area. But when it does hurt, it HURTS. And there's some sort of knot under the skin. I don't think it will hurt when I run (although I've been paranoid to try for the past couple of days), but my mom has me unreasonably suspicious that I have a blood clot that's going to shoot to my lungs and kill me (extreme, I know). I think I'll just take it as it comes and see how it feels. Best case scenario, it doesn't hurt at all. Worst case scenario, I die from a pulmonary embolism (let's all cross our fingers that worst case scenario doesn't happen!). Most reasonable scenario, it stays like it is now and eventually goes away on it's own. I don't have a doctor in Charleston and refuse to go to urgent care unless it's actually urgent (which obviously this is not, as it's now been hurting for 5 days). But I do have a doctor's appointment in Charlotte next Monday so if it still hurts then, I'll have him check it out.
Turning 26 has me a little freaked out ... seems so close to being out of my 20's forever. Ahh .. but more on that when it's actually my time to turn another year older (which in just 2 weeks away--again, a little freaked out).
Everyone have a happy Superbowl Sunday ... we don't have a team in the game, since the Panther's didn't even make it to the playoffs this year. But I guess I'll be rooting for the Saints, since Jett says I should support the team in our division.
1. MarathonRookie Plan
- 10-week program
- Longest distance run during training = 12 miles
- Days per week to run = 4
- No cross training days
(*I am definitely not an advanced beginner, but this plan is still an option)
- 12-week program
- Longest distance run during training = 12 miles
- Days per week to run = 4
- 1 CT days
- 11-week program
- Longest distance run during training = 12 miles
- Days per week to run = 4
- 2 CT days
So obviously the differences between these are minimal (total weeks and CT days). I think I prefer a plan with 2 cross training days worked in, because I have been going to spinning classes on Wednesday and Friday mornings. The 3rd one would be great because it already has W/F as the cross training days, so I wouldn't even have to tweak it.
Any advice?
Here's the second place that I need your help: I can't find a half-marathon in the NC or SC area (or somewhere within 3-4 hours driving distance) around the end of April/beginning of May. There's Charlotte RaceFest on April 10th, but that's a little soon. Does anyone know of any races around that time on the east coast, preferably NC or SC?
Even if I can't find a race to register for in that time frame, I think I still want to start training. I think it will give me a little more structure and motivation for my workouts, as right now I'm feeling a little lost! We also are planning to run the bridge run on March 27, so it will help prepare for that (last year before the bridge run, I went out a week before the run and ran (and walked) 6 miles down to the beach, then the day before went out and ran 2 miles--that was the extent of my "training").
One potential obstacle: Somehow, like the clumsy klutz that I am, I have hurt my leg. By running? Nope. Spinning? Nope. Something at least remotely exciting? Nope. I was sitting at lunch with my husband last week and reached down to scratch my knee. When I did this, a horribly painful shooting feeling went up my thigh. Since then, my thigh fills like someone took a baseball bat and beat me until I no longer had use of my right leg. But only when I sit on my knees, bend my right leg at a certain angle, or put pressure over that area. But when it does hurt, it HURTS. And there's some sort of knot under the skin. I don't think it will hurt when I run (although I've been paranoid to try for the past couple of days), but my mom has me unreasonably suspicious that I have a blood clot that's going to shoot to my lungs and kill me (extreme, I know). I think I'll just take it as it comes and see how it feels. Best case scenario, it doesn't hurt at all. Worst case scenario, I die from a pulmonary embolism (let's all cross our fingers that worst case scenario doesn't happen!). Most reasonable scenario, it stays like it is now and eventually goes away on it's own. I don't have a doctor in Charleston and refuse to go to urgent care unless it's actually urgent (which obviously this is not, as it's now been hurting for 5 days). But I do have a doctor's appointment in Charlotte next Monday so if it still hurts then, I'll have him check it out.
In other news, we celebrated Jett's birthday last week.
Happy 26 years to my wonderful husband!
Turning 26 has me a little freaked out ... seems so close to being out of my 20's forever. Ahh .. but more on that when it's actually my time to turn another year older (which in just 2 weeks away--again, a little freaked out).Everyone have a happy Superbowl Sunday ... we don't have a team in the game, since the Panther's didn't even make it to the playoffs this year. But I guess I'll be rooting for the Saints, since Jett says I should support the team in our division.
11.20.2009
lost your cookies, check the pavement
I haven't run in over a week, because of my leg pain and then that crazy cold I got. But at some point, it's just time to stop making excuses and get over it. When I start something new, it's always either all or nothing with me. I either want to go all in and then get burnt out, or take too long of a break and give up. I am working on finding a healthy middle ground. I've been sitting here for the past few minutes trying to motivate to go out for a run, and then negative self-talking myself out of it.
Does this happen to anyone else? You take too long of a break from something and find it harder to get back out there?
Today my motivation will come from my brother. We are all officially signed up for the Charlotte Turkey Trot 8K on Thanksgiving morning. We are going as a family--Jett, my brother, sister-in-law, and myself will run the 8K. And I think my mom, dad, and aunt will walk the 5K. When I emailed my brother yesterday telling him we were registered but that I hadn't been running this week, this is the email I got back from him:
Does this happen to anyone else? You take too long of a break from something and find it harder to get back out there?
Today my motivation will come from my brother. We are all officially signed up for the Charlotte Turkey Trot 8K on Thanksgiving morning. We are going as a family--Jett, my brother, sister-in-law, and myself will run the 8K. And I think my mom, dad, and aunt will walk the 5K. When I emailed my brother yesterday telling him we were registered but that I hadn't been running this week, this is the email I got back from him:
lost your cookies, check the pavement
Just that, nothing else. HA. My motivation for today is to run so that in the race next week, I don't have to check the pavement for my lost cookies.
11.13.2009
Goals
Thanks for the comments and suggestions from my last post.
Wednesday night was cold and rainy here, thanks to Ida blowing through. So with no desire to run on the treadmill and no desire to run in the cold rainy darkness, I thought I'd try my rested legs out on the indoor track at the gym. I just did a mile, and aimed to do it as fast as I could.
The mile took me 8:59:44. (I love how it was under 9, even though really this is a 9-minute mile).
While this isn't a fast mile to many people, this seemed relatively fast for me. I tend to average around a 10:30ish mile. When I used to do the dreaded mile run in elementary and middle school, I'm fairly certain that I never ran it quite this fast.
Now, of course it took me a half a mile of walking around the track afterward to recover, so I wouldn't have been able to keep this pace up for much longer. But I think with some serious work I can get faster, eventually. And of course, I also still don't have much of a distance running base to work with, so I will continue to work on that too.
My tentative goals include:
In other news, the germy little kiddie germs seem to have caught up to me. My immune system has not let me down thus far with all these crazy flu and strep germs breathed in my face at clinic, but it seems to be trying to decide if it's going to throw me under the bus this week. I have a nasty cold and sore throat, but at least no fever or other flu symptoms. I guess I should thank my immune system for bailing me out once again.
Happy Friday!
Wednesday night was cold and rainy here, thanks to Ida blowing through. So with no desire to run on the treadmill and no desire to run in the cold rainy darkness, I thought I'd try my rested legs out on the indoor track at the gym. I just did a mile, and aimed to do it as fast as I could.
The mile took me 8:59:44. (I love how it was under 9, even though really this is a 9-minute mile).
While this isn't a fast mile to many people, this seemed relatively fast for me. I tend to average around a 10:30ish mile. When I used to do the dreaded mile run in elementary and middle school, I'm fairly certain that I never ran it quite this fast.
Now, of course it took me a half a mile of walking around the track afterward to recover, so I wouldn't have been able to keep this pace up for much longer. But I think with some serious work I can get faster, eventually. And of course, I also still don't have much of a distance running base to work with, so I will continue to work on that too.
My tentative goals include:
- Running at a comfortable pace 3 days a week
- Some type of undetermined speed work 1 day per week
- Re-running the mile once per month (hopefully with improvement)
In other news, the germy little kiddie germs seem to have caught up to me. My immune system has not let me down thus far with all these crazy flu and strep germs breathed in my face at clinic, but it seems to be trying to decide if it's going to throw me under the bus this week. I have a nasty cold and sore throat, but at least no fever or other flu symptoms. I guess I should thank my immune system for bailing me out once again.
Happy Friday!
11.11.2009
Wacky Wednesday
It's obviously been a while since my last post ... it's the same 'ole story, different week. Clinic hours, catch-up reading, paper writing, and driving back to Charlotte for the past 2 weekends for various celebrations have kept me busy in my "free time" (haha--free time, yeah right!). But have no worries, only 3 1/2 weeks left until this semester from hell is over : )
In running news, there is none. I know, I know. I'm just barely getting started and here I am, no running in over a week. I could give you a lot of excuses, but I'm just going to give you one (I'll save the others for another week where there's sure to be another lapse in running). MY SHINS. They kill. What gives? So here I am, asking for a little help. For the past few weeks, my shins (both of them, but the left more than the right) have been hurting. It started out with just a little ache in the mornings and at the start of a run. They always felt better as my legs warmed up. For the past couple of weeks though, they haven't been letting up as much. The ache doesn't completely stop while I'm running, and after a run--oh after a run--they are so painful. Going up and down the stairs to our apartment is not so much fun, especially with 120 pounds of dog pulling me down the stairs. So ... I iced them after my last run, and bought some Tiger Balm. But I've also been letting them rest this week, hoping it will improve. Does this sound like shin splints? Does anyone have any experience with this and recommendations on how to make it go away!?
Runway 5K Race Report:
On Halloween, Jett and I drove back to Charlotte for the weekend to celebrate my dad's retirement with a combo Halloween/Surprise Party for him. He's only 54, and lucky him, has put his service into the post office and was able to retire after 28 years. I'm so happy for him.
In running news, there is none. I know, I know. I'm just barely getting started and here I am, no running in over a week. I could give you a lot of excuses, but I'm just going to give you one (I'll save the others for another week where there's sure to be another lapse in running). MY SHINS. They kill. What gives? So here I am, asking for a little help. For the past few weeks, my shins (both of them, but the left more than the right) have been hurting. It started out with just a little ache in the mornings and at the start of a run. They always felt better as my legs warmed up. For the past couple of weeks though, they haven't been letting up as much. The ache doesn't completely stop while I'm running, and after a run--oh after a run--they are so painful. Going up and down the stairs to our apartment is not so much fun, especially with 120 pounds of dog pulling me down the stairs. So ... I iced them after my last run, and bought some Tiger Balm. But I've also been letting them rest this week, hoping it will improve. Does this sound like shin splints? Does anyone have any experience with this and recommendations on how to make it go away!?
Runway 5K Race Report:
On Halloween, Jett and I drove back to Charlotte for the weekend to celebrate my dad's retirement with a combo Halloween/Surprise Party for him. He's only 54, and lucky him, has put his service into the post office and was able to retire after 28 years. I'm so happy for him.
(The awesome cake my sis-in-law made)
(My dad's "CONGRATS" pumpkin)
(My dad's "CONGRATS" pumpkin)
On Halloween morning, I met my friend and old college roomie at the Charlotte-Douglas Airport for a 5k race, the Runway 5k. Jett ran it with us too! I'm hesitant to post when I'm planning to run a race, or a report afterwards, because at this point I'm not really racing. I'm really merely running to finish and loving the atmosphere of the race community. I'm not fast, and I struggle with whether I should actually post any of this here, or wait until I've gotten a little better.
I finished the race in 33:05. This run was fun because we were actually running on one of the runways at the airport. We were side-by-side with planes taking off. They had all kinds of neat planes and helicopters to check out after the finish. And, it was flat--a big plus! It was also raining, but not as cold as the last run in Charlotte.
Some dislikes of the race: the water stop! Now I know I don't really need a water stop in a 5k run. But, the cold air isn't something I run in often living in Charleston, so my mouth was dry (does this happen to anyone else running in cold, dry air?) and water sounded SO good. They appeared to have a water stop set up at the half-way point, but apparently they closed it/moved it/ran out? No big deal, only 1.5 miles left. So after I ran past the closed water stop, I just thought I'd drink at the end. But then, probably about 2.8 miles into the race or so, low and behold, a water station. I assumed I'd grab a cup on the go, throw a little back to wet my mouth, and keep going. That's what I get for assuming. There were no water cups to grab. As I approached (mistake #1), the guy at the station was filling the cups up one by one as each person came by. At this point, I had already slowed/stopped so thought I might as well get the water (mistake #2). He literally was doing the 2-handed, prop the container with one hand, fill the cup with the other hand, as the water jug was obviously running low. After he filled my cup about a centimeter, I said "that's good", grabbed the cup, and finished the run. That probably added at least 10-15 seconds onto my time. The other disappointment I had was the timing system. We had d-tags for our time, but they only posted clock time--no chip time. We started out probably mid-pack, and I would guess it took us close to 45 seconds or so to cross the start line. And I didn't start my watch this time, thinking I wouldn't need to because I could just check my chip time after the race was over. No such luck. Any other race I've run has posted both clock time and chip time. Is this typical or is it more the norm just to post clock time?
(Veronica and I before the start)
(Jett and me after we finished)
For those of you who are experienced runners, what do you recommend? Building more of a running base before trying some speed work, or incorporating speed work into my runs now? I would love some advice.
I'm planning to go out for a run this evening, so here's to hoping that my legs feel great! I also just discovered that we have exercise tv ... sweet!
I finished the race in 33:05. This run was fun because we were actually running on one of the runways at the airport. We were side-by-side with planes taking off. They had all kinds of neat planes and helicopters to check out after the finish. And, it was flat--a big plus! It was also raining, but not as cold as the last run in Charlotte.
Some dislikes of the race: the water stop! Now I know I don't really need a water stop in a 5k run. But, the cold air isn't something I run in often living in Charleston, so my mouth was dry (does this happen to anyone else running in cold, dry air?) and water sounded SO good. They appeared to have a water stop set up at the half-way point, but apparently they closed it/moved it/ran out? No big deal, only 1.5 miles left. So after I ran past the closed water stop, I just thought I'd drink at the end. But then, probably about 2.8 miles into the race or so, low and behold, a water station. I assumed I'd grab a cup on the go, throw a little back to wet my mouth, and keep going. That's what I get for assuming. There were no water cups to grab. As I approached (mistake #1), the guy at the station was filling the cups up one by one as each person came by. At this point, I had already slowed/stopped so thought I might as well get the water (mistake #2). He literally was doing the 2-handed, prop the container with one hand, fill the cup with the other hand, as the water jug was obviously running low. After he filled my cup about a centimeter, I said "that's good", grabbed the cup, and finished the run. That probably added at least 10-15 seconds onto my time. The other disappointment I had was the timing system. We had d-tags for our time, but they only posted clock time--no chip time. We started out probably mid-pack, and I would guess it took us close to 45 seconds or so to cross the start line. And I didn't start my watch this time, thinking I wouldn't need to because I could just check my chip time after the race was over. No such luck. Any other race I've run has posted both clock time and chip time. Is this typical or is it more the norm just to post clock time?
(Veronica and I before the start)
(Jett and me after we finished)
Overall, it was a fun morning! I always struggle with my feelings about my speed when I run with Jett. He doesn't regularly run, but when he does he's always way faster than me (his time was somewhere in the 27 minute range, I think). He was an athlete in high school, but that's been over 7 years ago now. I wonder if I'll ever be able to speed it up!?
For those of you who are experienced runners, what do you recommend? Building more of a running base before trying some speed work, or incorporating speed work into my runs now? I would love some advice.
I'm planning to go out for a run this evening, so here's to hoping that my legs feel great! I also just discovered that we have exercise tv ... sweet!
10.29.2009
There aren't any hills in Charleston ...
... only bridges. Seriously, Charleston is flat as a pancake. I miss the rolling hills of the Piedmont of NC and the beautiful Blue Ridge in the high country, but I also LOVE the beach. And running on the flat terrain is an added bonus. But, 2 weekends ago on a whim I ran a 5k with a friend when I went back to Charlotte. (Sidenote: Charlotte is NOT hilly compared to places where many of you live, but it is also NOT flat by any means--especially not compared to Charleston!). After the LungStrong 5k (finishing time: 33:44), I realized I need a few hills to run on.
So, last night my husband and I set off to the Ravenel Bridge that connects Mt. Pleasant to downtown. Over and back is close to 5 miles, and the slope is 4.1% most of the way (but gets up to 5.6% for part of the trek!). Lesson learned ... bridges are TOUGH! I ran the 10K bridgerun last year, but hadn't at all prepared for it and we were so far back in the crowd that by the time we even made it to the base of the bridge we had to walk. There was no way to get through all the walkers. Needless to say, we did make it up and back down alive. But after making it to the bottom of the first side and coming back up, it was hard! I did end up walking a lot of the second part up, but am ok with my first try out. We finished the 4.9 miles in exactly 1 hour. A really slow pace overall, but not too bad for walking so much.
And finally, check out this great giveaway (here) from Mel over at Tall Mom on the Run. Giveaway ends November 1st .. hurry to enter!
So, last night my husband and I set off to the Ravenel Bridge that connects Mt. Pleasant to downtown. Over and back is close to 5 miles, and the slope is 4.1% most of the way (but gets up to 5.6% for part of the trek!). Lesson learned ... bridges are TOUGH! I ran the 10K bridgerun last year, but hadn't at all prepared for it and we were so far back in the crowd that by the time we even made it to the base of the bridge we had to walk. There was no way to get through all the walkers. Needless to say, we did make it up and back down alive. But after making it to the bottom of the first side and coming back up, it was hard! I did end up walking a lot of the second part up, but am ok with my first try out. We finished the 4.9 miles in exactly 1 hour. A really slow pace overall, but not too bad for walking so much.
And finally, check out this great giveaway (here) from Mel over at Tall Mom on the Run. Giveaway ends November 1st .. hurry to enter!
10.23.2009
Long Overdue
Although I haven't been blogging, I promise you I have been running and riding my bike. I admit, it hasn't happened all 7 days of the week like I originally intended, but it is happening. Sorry for the bare minimum of posts, but it's been an intense past couple of weeks with school work, travel, catch-up clinical hours, etc. I promise, I will be back!
This was from a spur-of-the-moment 5K (LungStrong) I ran with my friend Veronica in Charlotte last weekend. She was running the 15k, and when we decided to travel into town last minute I signed up for the 5k portion to run with a lot slower than her. Man, it sure was way colder in Charlotte than Charleston!
For tonight, I'll leave you with this picture . . .
This was from a spur-of-the-moment 5K (LungStrong) I ran with my friend Veronica in Charlotte last weekend. She was running the 15k, and when we decided to travel into town last minute I signed up for the 5k portion to run Check back on Sunday for a special one-year-wedding-anniversary post ... can't believe Jett & I have almost been married for a whole year!
9.24.2009
Hallo, my name is Steven
It's midnight, and this is what my family is doing . . .
(I'm already dreaming of the consequences I will face tomorrow for posting the picture of Jett in all his glory ... ahhh ha ha--payback baby, for deleting all those embarrassing photos I always take! )
And this is what I'm doing . . .
In other news, yesterday I kept getting phone calls from an area code I didn't recognize. Seriously, ever hour from 4 to around 8 this same number called, never leaving a message. This morning I had another missed call, and another call while I was checking the missed call list. I answered this time, and the convo went a little something like this:
Caller: (In a STRONG Asian accent): Hallo, my name is Steven, I am calling from continuing your education online degree.com. I would like to talk to you about about continuing your education online degree.
Me: I am a semester away from a master's degree, I'm not interested in continuing my education online.
Caller: I would like to talk to you about continuing your education online degree. (Proceeded by a bunch of words that I'm sure were a mix of English and some other language that I didn't understand).
Me: I'm not interested, please take me off your calling list.
Caller: Ok, goodbye.
Now, I see many things wrong with this encounter, but here are a few of the most frustrating to me. And let me preface this by saying that I understand that everyone's just trying to make a living like the next guy. But, don't call me over and over. Especially not early in the morning or late at night. Secondly, why would you employ someone to sell your product that doesn't speak the language of the audience that he is selling to? Thirdly, this same company called me over and over again around this same time last year and only quit after my husband matter of factly told them to quit calling or else. And lastly, and most importantly to me, seriously, was this guy's name really Steven? His fresh Asian accent and dual language product pitch sure didn't make him sound like a Steven to me.
And in the news that this blog was actually made for, days 3 and 4 of my 30-day challenge.
Yesterday, I wrestled my bike off of our bacolny where it now calls home after we got a rather rude letter from our apartment complex telling us to move it out of the breezeway or it would be removed for us ... thank you very much. I rode in the area, since it was getting dark and was pitch black by the time I made it home. I found some awesome trails in the neighborhood right next door that I'm sure to take advantage of more often (it's amazing what you find when you actually make it outside to do something). I also discovered that my hind end and a bicycle seat are not like pb&j, lock & key, or hand & glove. Catch my drift? AKA, my butt is largo and my bicycle seat is hardo.
Today, again I waited until 8:30 to remember that I'm trying to be a better person. I also seem to forget every day that it now gets dark at 8. So I took my largo backside to the gym and placed it on the treadmill. For 27 minutes to be exact. And only about 12 of those were actually running. Then I plopped that backside in the recumbant bike seat and pedaled away for the remaining 18 minutes. Lesson of today: when you remove yourself from the couch after being a potato for many many months and then use your legs every day, they will probably hurt. Also, if you eat Chick-fil-a as your only meal of the day, you will not feel fabulous.
However, I will put a check mark in the success box for days 3 & 4.
9.21.2009
2
Having to be up at 5:30 in the morning for clinical = very quick recap of today's 45 minutes.
Didn't stop cleaning, schooling, cooking/eating dinner until after dark tonight, so I went to the gym for a run. I walked 1:30 minutes then started running. My goal was to run continuously until my playlist ran out, but my mp3 player froze at song 5 of 6. I was at around 29 minutes, so my new goal became to run until 30 minutes. At 30 minutes, I was at 2.66 miles, so my new goal became to run until the 5K mark. So I did. I ran (except for the first minute and half) 3.1 miles for a total of 34 minutes, then walked for the remainder of the 45.
Day 2 = success.
Didn't stop cleaning, schooling, cooking/eating dinner until after dark tonight, so I went to the gym for a run. I walked 1:30 minutes then started running. My goal was to run continuously until my playlist ran out, but my mp3 player froze at song 5 of 6. I was at around 29 minutes, so my new goal became to run until 30 minutes. At 30 minutes, I was at 2.66 miles, so my new goal became to run until the 5K mark. So I did. I ran (except for the first minute and half) 3.1 miles for a total of 34 minutes, then walked for the remainder of the 45.
Day 2 = success.
Day 1 Success
Sundays always FLY by for me,and today was no different. After a really long grocery story trip (why don't I ever learn my lesson about trying to save money by shopping at super Walmart for groceries?) and a disappointing end to the Panther's game, I decided I'd start my 30 days off by going to Colonial Lake for a run/walk session. I think it's about 1/2 mile around the lake according to driving distance and mapmyrun.com. My husband even agreed to come with me! The plan was for me to run and him to walk with the dogs. But, the dogs had their minds made up differently. We have two 50-something pound pups (one we're quite sure is a Border Collie/Aussie mix, the other possibly a Australian Cattle dog/Aussie mix). They are spoiled beyond belief and have become even more so since I've been in grad school and home with them a lot of the week.
So, on my 3rd lap around I came up to the hubster (who's real name is Jett, by the way) at a standstill with Rosemary and Duncan. Apparently they were pulling like crazy (we left their harnesses at home) and trying desperately to find me. So, I offered to take Rosemary along with me to run. Ha. That lasted about 1 mintue before my arm felt like it was going to fall off. We walked the rest of the time with them.
I have no idea how far I went, because my ADD kicked in about a lap into it and I lost track of how many laps I ran before stopping to walk. My watch was at 20 minutes when I stopped to walk permanently, and I'd run all but about 3 minutes of that. One more slip up ... I accidently stopped my watch at 37 mintues but didn't realize it until I looked down to see how long we'd been moving. Although, I'm positive it was at least 45 minutes and probably a bit longer.
So, all in all I'll chalk day 1 up to a success!
So, on my 3rd lap around I came up to the hubster (who's real name is Jett, by the way) at a standstill with Rosemary and Duncan. Apparently they were pulling like crazy (we left their harnesses at home) and trying desperately to find me. So, I offered to take Rosemary along with me to run. Ha. That lasted about 1 mintue before my arm felt like it was going to fall off. We walked the rest of the time with them.
I have no idea how far I went, because my ADD kicked in about a lap into it and I lost track of how many laps I ran before stopping to walk. My watch was at 20 minutes when I stopped to walk permanently, and I'd run all but about 3 minutes of that. One more slip up ... I accidently stopped my watch at 37 mintues but didn't realize it until I looked down to see how long we'd been moving. Although, I'm positive it was at least 45 minutes and probably a bit longer.
So, all in all I'll chalk day 1 up to a success!
9.19.2009
The First Post is Always the Hardest . . .
Ok, so I’ve never actually written a first post. But I have written more first paragraphs than I can count and more first pages for essays than I care to think about. And those are always the hardest. Sometimes I just skip over them and come back at the end. But alas, you can’t skip the first post of a “make yourself better” blog and then come back and write it after you’ve “made yourself better”.
I guess my goal is not necessarily to make myself better, but to help myself feel better. And to help me feel better about myself. So here I am. My husband calls the desire to start a blog just another addiction to the internet. I call it an effort to help me stay motivated, keep me accountable, and give me an outlet (and maybe even to find a little encouragement along the way).
I am not an inactive person. But I am much less active than I have ever been. And my clothes, the scale, and my attitude show it. I like to chalk that up to my desire to spend quality time with my newlywed husband and my never-ending pile of grad school work. But really, I just find myself making excuse after excuse. I’m in a slump and I need to get out of it. So, I’ve put it off and put it off but here’s my plan: do something active for at least 45 minutes for the next 30 days. Starting tomorrow. Now I don’t plan to stop at the 30 day mark, I’m just making that my short-term goal in hopes that I won’t give up and by that point it will be easier to drag myself off the couch. I’ve heard it takes 21 days to create a new habit. But my body seems to be slow to respond to everything else in life, so I better give myself an extra week. I would like for this activity to be primarily running, as I’ve always dreamed of myself as a runner and dabbled in it here and there. I’ve actually run two races in the past (only because I made a promise to the same friend both times, and I don’t break my promises if there’s any way around it). I ran a 5K in 2007 (34:22) and a 10K this past April (1:14:48). But both times I only ran a week or so before hand just to make sure I wouldn’t die on the course. And since then, I’ve run a time or two here and there, but never consistently. So, I will run. But on the days I’m not running, I will do something else active—ride my bike, take a walk with my dogs, swim, anything. I know I can’t run every day of the week (and who would want to!), so I will fulfill my 30 days in other ways as well. Hopefully, my clothes, the scale, and my attitude will all improve in the meantime.
So join me as I take responsibility for how unhealthy I have become and try to get my life back on track. My plan is to start to tomorrow—but we all know what can happen to the best laid plans . . .
Stats
Height: 5’8.5”
Weight: A whopping 161 lbs
BMI: 24
One more thing . . . did I mention that I don't like to run?!
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