Only once this week?

Okay, well, I've been quiet because I'm kind of trying to get myself into the headset that it's best for me to back off of running too much right now. Although I don't think I'm over-exercising as an individual in the least, I do think it might interfere with fertility somewhat so I'm trying to just pull back a bit. You know - running a comfortable amount each week rather than training and trying to do just a bit more every time.

So while I definitely still ran this week, I did so less, and I just never got around to writing about it. Starting with Saturday: I really, really, really was tired on Sat. I could not make it to work out, so I just accepted that I was not going to. Instead I ran 5 miles on Sunday! Yay! That was kind of a "last hurrah" in a way... I might do that again in one run but I'm not going to go over it for a while.

Monday was very busy since several coworkers were out, plus I had to make a sudden appointment, so I didn't have time to work out. Boo! But I have been fine since then; I did about 4 miles on Tuesday (including some sprints), 3 miles straight on Wednesday, and yesterday I went outside and got in 4 miles. AND! I came closer to conquering that damn last half-mile! I actually made it close to 2.9 miles before stopping. I spent the last part of it counting, which kinda worked.

Tomorrow I am running a 5K and since I never run the day before a race I just walked a lot today. I went on the treadmill and put up the elevation, and carried a couple of weights for part of it. I feel pretty good about it because it was *hard work*.

Diet habits are... complicated lately. I've been trying for about 2 months or so now to lose around 5 lbs, and although I guess I've lost between 1 and 3, most of it has come back bit by bit. I'm right around where I was when I started, I guess maybe a pound less. I've decided this is because I am SICK OF BEING ON A DIET. :P So I admit it: I'm not actually sticking to dieting. I'll do okay for half the day and then blow it at night, or do okay for half a week and then go to a wedding or something on the weekend. Remember what I was saying about binge eating? :P So I think I need to just let it go and start trying to eat regularly for a while, 1800-2,300 calories a day, nice and normal. That gives me a nice window, since I'm pretty active. Anyway most days I don't actually go *over* 2,000 or so calories, it's just I'm trying to do, say, 1300-1400. So forget it! I need to learn to just eat normally!

Also I certainly don't need to be dieting if I'm trying to get pregnant (even though hey, it didn't hurt last time). Now I'm just going to be tremendously paranoid that it'll result in me putting on weight over the next few weeks instead. Ugh. Too much to stress over! :)

Just quickie mileage

I did basically what the Runner's World plan said to do today, so there's no real need to write a whole post on it. 4 miles with 3 "GPs"; they measure them in metres on the plan, and my treadmill only shows miles, so I sort of estimated 1200 metres to be around .075 miles and ended up doing them as .1 mile jumps, upping the pace until I got to 10.0 mph and then sprinting there for maybe 5-10 seconds. I dunno. I got the mileage anyway.

Today's mileage (run): 4.3 (approximately)
Today's mileage (total): 4.9
Total mileage this week (run): 11.95
Total this week (total): 16.25

Goal mileage for the week (run): ~17.5

Oh, forgot. I've been lax in the push-ups because I got so far behind, so today rather than try to move on to Day 2 of Week 2 I repeated Day 1. Next week I'm going to start Monday with Day 1, Week 2 again and try to do the whole week; this week I'm just going to try not to lose any more ground. *G* It was a struggle to do Day 1, actually! :P

Anyway, tomorrow is a Rest Day and then Saturday is a "long run"! By which I mean 4.5 miles straight, which isn't that long to many I guess, but it'll be a record for me. :) I hope I can fit it in; we have kind of a packed day...

Fun With Fitness!

I have to confess, I was worried about committing to the 10K training program up until today because I was half-thinking (hoping, wondering, etc) I might be pregnant. But, I'm not. :P So I've got at least another couple of weeks before I will be and therefore can "train" until then.

The downside is that the training might affect my fertility, but I was really kind of itching to try and get my running up a notch so I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity.

Now! that we've had TMI, just to check in...

I've unofficially started going by this plan on RunnersWorld.com; it's paced over 5 weeks, and I have 6 until the 8K, so this week I'm following a sort of modified version of Week 1. Instead of running yesterday's plan, I ran outside yesterday, though I did include a couple of small sprints (not as many as I have in the past - I feel like I'm slipping :P) and I did total a bit over 4 miles. Today I did the 3 miles instead of a Rest day, and ran the first two at 6.5 mph and the final 1 at 6.0, then tacked on an extra 0.1 mile at 8.0 mph just to see what my time would be if I were in an artificial 5K with no hills or uneven terrain. ;P Anyway, my time was 29:15 for the 3.1 miles, which is okay with me! I also, after walking for about ten minutes, did three of the "Gentle Pick-up" sprints they describe in the plan. I didn't feel like they were doing much. I guess I will feel them more tomorrow when I do them directly after the run, which will be a longer one than it was today.

Part of why I'm easing into this plan is because, to date, I have yet to run more than 4 miles straight and I don't think I can jump straight up to 5 miles this weekend. So I'm going to do 4.5 miles on Saturday (if I can), and then try for 5 next Saturday; this might not work out because next Saturday is my 5K. But that's a workout in itself, eh? ;)

Anyway, I plan on following the plan tomorrow and Friday (Friday will be a workout video day with no running), then 4.5 miles on Saturday, and I'm going to deviate again on Sunday and do one lap around the apartment complex to get some hill work in. I would do more, but I don't want my mileage to be a huge jump from my previous high. I can go up from here.

Well. Whew. Totals!

Today's mileage (run): 3.4 (approximately)
Today's mileage (total): 4.35
Total mileage this week (run): 7.65
Total this week (total): 12.35

Goal mileage for the week (run): ~17.5

Progress is being made

So I did go outside today, since it was lovely again. Still not my greatest run ever but I'm back to about where I had been before, which is good. I made it probably about 2.6 miles before I stopped, walked slowly for 30 seconds, then ran a little bit more, walked another 30 seconds, and finished the third mile. So I don't know exactly how much I walked - at that pace, within a minute, maybe as little as .05 mile.

Beyond that, I had set a goal to try to run a total of 4.5 miles, but that's kinda hard. ;) I did the 3 miles and then kind of estimated beyond that; what I tried to do was walk for a quarter mile, then run a quarter, etc, for a mile (totaling .5 miles run), then run the final mile. But then I was tired so I made my goal 4 miles total instead, and just stopped with a half mile left to walk. Towards the end I did end up running the last quarter mile, so my total running mileage was 4.25 (approximately) in about 42:30 minutes; the total mileage as usual was 5.0, in about 53 minutes (not including a couple of necessary stops to cross streets).

So, that's progress! I'll still be happier, though, when I can do that stupid route without stopping before 3 miles. ^_^

I haven't made up my mind yet whether I'm going to do the 10K program tomorrow or just do the Minna Lessig DVD I (finally) got in the mail yesterday. :P

Me so seepy

Ahhh yes. Well the wedding was very nice, but apparently someone there was an energy vampire, because ever since Saturday night I've been exhausted. I mean drop down on the floor and start snoring exhausted. It didn't help any that I slept badly on Friday night (and went to bed late), got up early Saturday AM to run 2 miles (only exercise I got all weekend, raaaaay!), then shared a bed with a preschooler Saturday night. A preschooler who has only ever slept in a crib and found the whole "bed" concept utterly frightening, by the way. Here's how that went:

To bed at 10 pm. Wake up when daughter has kicked you in the kidneys. Check her, find she's slightly diagonal now, try to move over a bit to give her space; check the clock, it's 11:30 pm. Repeat this four or five times, with variations on what woke you up; sometimes it's because she just spoke a sentence cheerfully and loudly, as though she was awake (and capped it off by kicking you in the back), and sometimes it's because suddenly her feet are comfortably lodged under your chin. (MY CHIN. HOW?) Then, wake up at 5:30 when daughter wakes up just enough to realize she's not in her crib and freak out. Try to comfort her while she's so tired and disoriented that she is pushing you away while begging you to hug her. The next hour was basically an ongoing effort to calm her down, arrange myself so that I was holding her the way she wanted to be held (if ANYthing was wrong she would cry some more), and try not to fall out of bed while she went back to sleep for 20-25 minutes. Finally at 6:30 we decided to turn on the TV and let that calm her down (sadly, it works).

Dan and I both caught a catnap from about 9:15 to about 10 while we were waiting for the hotel pool to open - this was after we'd all gotten up and dressed and had breakfast with the bride and groom, I should add, we did NOT spend nearly 3 hours just watching TV ;) Anyway, "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" came on and boy did she go nuts. She knows parts of that show by heart. I had no idea. Anyway she watched it quietly for an hour (while lying on the floor near the beds and pushing a chair around with her foot) while I dozed and awoke moderately refreshed, to the sound of her saying "bye Donald! Bye Pu-to! Bye Doofy!" Then I packed everything up while she and Dan went to the pool. That was nice. :)

Well, despite the nap I was a wreck yesterday and today is not that much better. I did that Winsor Pilates DVD workout today and felt a little more awake. Tomorrow I'm going to try either to start training for a 10K (going by a plan on Runner's World) or else, if it's nice enough, just go outside and run as well as I can. I checked out the results from last year on the 5K I want to do, and it looks as though it's fairly small, only 140 people did it last year. And it's all women, so I can effectively compete. :) Not that I'll finish first, but I have a decent chance of finishing high within my age category! Then again that's entirely random and up to chance. So who knows? Also if I'm feeling the way I've been feeling lately - sleepy, and plus on Saturday I had to stop just before 2 miles because I had an odd stomach pain - I don't know how I'll do. :P I'm hoping Race Day Adrenaline kicks in. Dan won't be coming to this one - apparently I kind of sprang it on him - so if it's just me, I probably WILL end up winning something just because fate would think it was funny for me to do it without anyone seeing me. ;D Nah, I doubt I will, but I'll be happy if I can just finish without incident.

I haven't had a good outside run in a while now. I really want to get one done before the race, which is a week from Saturday. So I'm perhaps not doing as well as I could. :P

What is up with the temperature at my office? :P

I won't have time to workout today so this will just recap yesterday.

First of all I did Day 1 of Week 2 of the push-ups challenge. Back down to 50 - 12, 12, 9, 7, and 10. Fair enough. I like that the "maximum" now is a push, above what you had done on the previous two levels. Bet I'll like it less when it's 15 instead of 10. ;)

Secondly I did my sprints. Nothing much to report on that. Afterwards I walked on the treadmill with handweights and put up the elevation a little. Again, nothing much to say.

Yesterday I did some looking into times and things like that on the 8K and 10K I want to do later this year, and I realized for the first time that 5Ks are for people who may want to run competitively or may just want to run that distance - but 8 and 10Ks tend to be more for people who want to run FASTER. It's an actual RACE. I'm used to coming in right around the middle in 5Ks and if I do my usual time and pace on a longer one I'm going to come in towards the end.

So I had to think about that. First I thought "I have to train harder so I can COMPETE!" Then I thought, okay, yes, that can be down the road, but maybe I *do* just want to run the first 8K at my usual speed just to say I have done it. Why not? Who's it going to hurt? Also I'm pretty sure I can do a better pace in a 5K now than I did on the last one - getting under a half an hour now shouldn't be a problem, because I've found that the past few times I've run 6.0 on the treadmill it has not led to me wearing down nearly as quickly as I used to. I'm thinking I might, at some point before my next 5K (which is 8/23, two weeks from tomorrow), try doing a 3-mile run on treadmill at 6.5 mph just to see if I can. An actual outdoor race will be different, with hills and other aspects, and naturally I won't be able to pace myself so exactly, but it's more like a test to see if I am able. I already know I can run 1 mile at 7.0, and two at 6.5; I'm interested to see if I can do the whole 5K at that speed, which would take my total time down by nearly 3 minutes.

Anyway, just some musings. This next 5K is in PG County somewhere - I heard about it from a co-worker. I hope it's a good one, better than the last one! I'm not even entirely sure the family will be able to make it to this one, but if anyone reading this wants to come, let me know and I'll give details...

Now it's off to a wedding! (Well, not yet. I leave in another hour +. But soon!)

Dude, there is no way I can do infinity push-ups!

I didn't do the push-ups today; I'm going to do Week 2, Day 1 tomorrow. Then I'll do Day 2 next Monday, and finish Wednesday or Thursday, and do the second exhaustion test a couple of days afterwards, with some more recovery time to start Week 3 by the subsequent Monday. Is that a plan? it sounds like a plan! :D

I found out that I'll probably be able to get a run in on Saturday morning, too; the bride-to-be thinks it'll be a great way to relax and wants to go with me! Fantastic! (She actually ran a half-marathon the summer before we met, as freshmen in college; she wants to get back into running now so of course I'm all "YEAH you do!")

Aaaand, as for today, I had to put off my workout until later in the afternoon b/c I needed to run an errand for my grandmother, who is staying in rehab/nursing care right around the corner from my office (I could walk, literally; I pass by it on my way to/from work) and this turned into lunch, as well. Which I kind of knew it would. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find anything that was within the calorie range I wanted at a place that would satisfy her, but when I went to Safeway I found some nice LARGE pre-made salads with a really good nutritional count that showed both with and without dressing. You do have to read carefully - the container was approximately three servings - but I ate 2/3 at lunch with only a little dressing and then finished it off as a snack post-workout. Yum. :) (I also had an Entemann's multi-grain chocolate chip snack bar; I am NOT that good, *G*)

Anyway, I did a run with elevation today: a mile on 2%, then 1/2 on 1%, then 1/2 with no elevation. After this I did about 20 minutes of the Winsor Pilates "advanced" DVD and found it much easier and more enjoyable this time, though I suspect I'll like it more when I am not extremely slippery from sweat. :P It's not to say I'm holding perfect form but I am able to do most of the exercises without modificatin, which is something! So my plan now for Monday is to just do the whole workout (with a very quick little warm-up beforehand), which is about 50 minutes long, and see how I feel.

And that's about it! Tomorrow is sprints day. Boy oh boy. :P

The post I wanted to make LAST Tuesday

But first, thanks to Siobhan who works at Blogger, I got to see pictures of cute little babies when I logged in! Hey, it makes my day a little brighter. :D

Anyway, the announcement, dah-dah-dah-DAAAAAH! I ran 4 miles straight today! ^_^ I also did a total of 4.5 miles, but I've done that before with stops and starts. Today was my first straight-up 40 minutes (actually a TINY bit less; I ran a few minutes here and there at 6.2 instead of 6, so I shaved about ten seconds off my total time), 4-mile run! It was on a treadmill, I still have yet to equal even 3 miles straight outside on the trail out there... But I SHALL! I took a little mini-break, doing a little walking and also letting myself stop entirely to get some more water, for about three minutes before doing the last half-mile at varying speeds. I did it mainly between 6.0 and 8.0 with the bulk of it in the middle of that, and it took about 4:30. :)

It was especially nice after yesterday's workout, which was not BAD per se but was so disorganized that I really felt I got almost nothing accomplished. I just didn't have a real plan; I thought I would try one of the Winsor Pilates DVDs that EmLit gave me, but the first was outside my fitness range and the second was actually, believe it or not, a little too light for my liking. I also tried warming up with a Zumba DVD but I don't feel like it got me sufficiently "het up" to actually have burned many calories. But it did get the blood flowing, which was important. In the end I just did bits and pieces of different things, including around 15 minutes of the "Advanced" Winsor Pilates DVD - that is the easiest one of the three I got, the other two were Maximum Burn and I couldn't do 'em yet - that were challenging but I didn't have the time or patience to do the entire 50-minute workout.

I thought then that I would do the Crunch Pilates workout again, and put the DVD in, only to decide instead to do Day 3 of the 100 Push-ups challenge (that's right, I hadn't done it yet... well, they did say "at least" 1 day in between, so no rule said I *couldn't* do it four days after Day 2) and what with the 120-seconds in between each level I realized I wouldn't have time to do the Crunch.

But, you know, I do usually work out 7 days a week, and I don't HAVE to. So having a relatively light workout, while not entirely satisfying to me, isn't going to push my fitness level into the crapper or anything. ;)

I also want to add that I was very pleased with myself on Sunday! Due to a visit to my grandmother I didn't have time earlier in the day to work out, and later on I felt tired and just lay down and read for a while. Later, though, I felt bad; I *want* to work out both days of the weekend, especially because I know this weekend will be touchy on Friday and Saturday (due to the wedding I'm in). It occurred to me that I could potentially go at night, after putting the kid down to bed... so I did. AND? Best part? Wait for it... I decided, since the night was cooling off, to run the parking lot outside. It's just about a mile all the way around, with some really good hills. I did a full three times around! :D

So I just want everyone to know that I'm awesome.

Okay, seriously though, in the face of my last outdoor run where I couldn't even manage 2 miles, this was terrific. I wasn't worrying about speed but I did fine anyway (about 9:30 or so to get a full way around; I honestly don't know the exact distance but since part of it is downhill I think that accounts for some of the speed) and the hills did NOT kill me. In fact, on the half that wasn't uphill I was even able to regain a slower breathing pace! I am in so much better shape than I thought I was after last week's Bad Run.

I know I sound really braggy. But you know, it's just a real accomplishment for me, and I'm really proud of it. I am working hard and I love seeing it pay off. And since I have no idea what the future may hold, and this might be the extent of my achievement for a while, I'm going to celebrate it. :)

For the record, I totalled 5 miles, walking and running, today with a time (not including the 2 minutes or so when I got off the treadmill) of 52:25.

Oh, and also for the record, I did manage those 63 pushups for Day 3. And now I hurt. :P