Sunday, May 26, 2013

Here We Go Again ...

... in more ways than one.


Anyone else? I've tried the past 2, but never got very far for a host of reasons, 
but I REALLY want it this time!

P.S. - Please excuse my dust (and A.D.D.) while I try to get everything updated and running again. I've been filling up page after page with my writing, but sorely ignoring my poor (apparently and annoyingly) out-of-date laptop.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

I'm Serious This Time. Haha


Hi. Yes, I fell off the running bandwagon again. Sort of. I’ve still been running, occasionally, but work and school have been pretty much ruling my life. Thankfully, I’ve been “hired in” at my part-time job (I was technically working for a temp company August – mid January), which means I’ll have a steady schedule I can schedule my life around. And have health insurance and days off. Yay. Plus I added a new skill to my resume – forklift driving. Oh yea, I can load freight in the semi trailers now. It’s kind of awesome. Haha.

Quickly, I just want to touch on my fitness goals for the next couple months …

1. My 2nd half marathon (The Glass City/ Owens Corning Half) is April 28th. That’s less than 3 months away. And there are quite a few people I know (including my ex) who are also running it. I have a training schedule written out (and adjusted once already) that is similar to the once I used for the Boy Scout Half last year. It worked well then, so I wanted to stick to something I was comfortable with (for now). In a nutshell, my week looks like:
Cross-Training/ Rest/ 3 miles (trails, mostly)/ 4-6 miles (progressive)/ 3 miles (sustained speed – mainly Thursday night group run)/ Rest/ Long Run

2. Be able to hold a (modified – forearms and toes) plank for 5 minutes by the end of the year. I’m doing this progressively, obviously. I plank at least once a day and each week I add 5 seconds to my “goal time.” If I’m able to hold it longer than my “goal time” for the week, I do. This week is 1 minute 5 seconds.

3. Tone up my arms and upper body. I’ve been “researching” on Pinterest and have a couple circuits I want to start doing consistently. I spent close to an hour Saturday night printing them all off and organizing and evaluating them.

So … These are all attainable, right? I tried to keep my goals simple to make it more likely I’d stick to them. I want to update here at least once a week to just keep up to date on my progress and remind myself how far I've come.

Group run this past Thursday was kind of my “coming back to running” kick in the pants. It was bitterly cold and windy, but I was excited to get back to group and see my “friends”. Now that I have Thursdays off work, I have no excuse to NOT go. And running with all the faster people challenges me and pushes me to run faster. Hehe. Since I hadn’t run in a while and it was SO windy, I decided I was just going to be happy if I ran the whole 3 miles with an average pace of 11:00/ mile. When I finished and looked down at my Garmin, I was in shock. 3 miles in 0:30:39.  That’s an average pace of 10:12/ mile. The first 2 miles (with a headwind) were around 10:30 and the third was 9:36. Holy cow. I’m not quite sure if my legs just remembered what speed feels like or I was so cold that my body didn’t realize how hard I was pushing. Haha.

My long(er) run yesterday almost got sabotaged by the snow. I love running in snow, I really do, but I saw the condition the roads were in when I drove over to feed my friends’ cat (they’re out of town for the weekend) and I was actually scared to run on the roads. The municipalities really hadn’t anticipated that much snow and the snow plows were slow to react. My “saving grace” (as mom put it) was the “dreadmill”. 7 miles in our basement with just my iPod, staring at the wall. Oh, and did I mention the hot air vent directly above me blowing (what felt like) 80* air on me. Yea, it was miserable. But I got it done. And I was proud of myself afterwards. Every couple minutes I was mentally calculating how early I could quit without feeling like a failure and then a rocking song would come up on my playlist and I’d be rejuvenated. As usual, my pace on the treadmill is slower than what I normally run (still can’t figure that one out), but the mileage got done.

Alright, I’m off to get ready for work. We moved up our shift time for this evening to accommodate those who want to be home in time to watch the Super Bowl. As much as I love football, if I get the chance to stay later and get some more time on this paycheck, I’m going to take it.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Back at it with a 6er

Today was the first time I've run since my New Years double and the "official" start of my half marathon training. I originally had a 4-miler planned for Thursday, but I was still a little sore ... and I was back to working every night. I guess I was on the "keep around after holiday peak" list after all. Yay. Nothing else new on the work front. Rumors are running rampant and it'd be silly to get worked up over something that may or may not happen. All I can do is keep working hard and appreciate the trust my supervisors have placed in me ... and the paychecks. :)

I was eager to test out my new C9 cold compression gear I bought earlier this week at Target (yay sales and gift cards) and nature definitely provided the cold. Brr! It was right around 20* when I left the house. Thank goodness it was sunny and the wind was completely calm.

So...
Plan: 6 miles
Actual: 6.22 miles in 1:11:37 (average pace of 11:30/ mile)

I'm really happy with this considering I haven't run this far since before Halloween! Yes, I went back and looked it up. Lol. And. I ran the whole time. No walk breaks. :)

And now I need to go get ready for work. I'm thinking compression socks are going to be a necessity tonight. Good thing I bought myself 2 more pairs for Christmas. :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Fab Abs January Calendar

Have you guys seen this yet? Anyone else up for following it?



http://shrinkingjeans.net/2012/12/fab-abs-january-monthly-workout-calendar/

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Hangover Classic and 2013 Goals

Oh man are my legs tired. I can (probably still) run 6 miles with no problems, but "racing" 2 5ks within 12 hours of each other and I'm wiped.

It was cold and sunny for the Hangover Classic today. It cracks me up how many people show up in old-school sweatpants (tucked into their tube socks, of course) and full-outfit pjs for this race. There was even someone running in a robe (like, terry cloth bath robe) this year! Midnight Special might be littered with sparkles, glow lights, and cheesy hats, but the Hangover Classic outfits live up to the race's name. The male and female winners get outhouse bobbleheads and the rest of us sit through the raffle of "leftover race crap". Despite how SLOW I was, I was pretty pleased with my performance today. I didn't walk at all and if I didn't finish exactly on the 33-minute mark, it's because the chick RIGHT in front of me decided to WALK into the finish chute. Gah. I ended up with a cheapy plastic photo frame alarm clock from the raffle (they were Glass City Marathon Relay Winner awards from last year). Hey, why not? I could use a clock in the bathroom or on my dresser ... I guess. Haha. Maybe I'll stick an inspirational quote in the photo frame.

I spent some time during the HC today thinking about my 2013 goals. Here's what I've got so far:

1) Run 2 Half Marathons.
2) Run at least 700 miles.
3) Bike at least 500 miles.
4) GRADUATE!!!
5) Take a vacation.
6) Be creative EVERY DAY. I don't care if it's blogging about my running, ranting in my journal, or spending 10 minutes doodling while I'm on the phone. For me, the best way to practice expressing myself is to JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I'm sure I'll add to the list as I think about other aspects of my life, but these were the first ones that popped into my head (and made sense) today.

Midnight Special 5k

Apparently, the fast girls in my age division were either out drinking or home in bed. In case you can't read the picture ...

#183 overall
3/6 in my age group ... which means I got an award
75/101 in the women's division
Chip time of 32:06, which is an average pace of 10:20

I'm happy with this. Considering I've run 3 times in the last month and a half and the trail was a bit slick with fresh snow, I'm more than happy, I'm ecstatic.

My first mile was a 10:50. I blame this partly on my hesitation and mostly on the number of people I had to dodge to be able to run at a comfortable pace. It wasn't until around the first mile marker that I could really stretch my legs. Mile 2 was at 10:31. Better, but still felt like I was holding back and being cautious with the sloppy trail. Right at the 2 mile marker, the couple I was shadowing took off and I went with them ... 9:42 (which felt amazing, by the way). As soon as I saw the turn in for the finish line, I started hauling and sprinted across the mat.

So ... awesome start to the 2013. Now to get some sleep before part 2 of the New Years hat trick :)