I don't know what that means. For all I know it's obscene. I hope not. :P I just like the idea of a kitty cat in between two other objects, durnit!
Well, not a lot going on... I did my run on Tuesday, but though it totaled about 4.5 miles it was very broken up (generally about a mile at a time with a little rest in between. The 0.5 was done in four sets of sprints). Yesterday I was going to just do a three-mile run and then do some Minna Lessig workout but I ended up changing my plan and doing five miles on the treadmill non-stop. This was easier for some reason than it had been - I was on a different treadmill, to start with - so I think there's some thing going on with the elevation on the treadmill I use at work. Again. Sigh. Well, no biggie, if I'm working harder than I think I am that's cool!
And finally, today I was back at the usual treadmill and although I did 4 miles (and the first two straight through) I still had to stop at the start of the third, and again about about 3.2 total before finishing. So there's got to be SOMEthing going on with that sucker.
Tomorrow is a "rest" day, meaning I'll just do a DVD, and then Saturday I'm aiming for another five-miler. I'd like to get these things a little more commonplace. By next Saturday I'm hoping to do a 5.5 mile run. The problem of course is that I do them on the treadmill so I'm kind of "on the clock". :P I'm just not really sure where else to go - I know there are places to go in the area, but it's the extra time of getting there and getting back and etc that puts me off. The treadmill is RIGHT there, about a two-minute walk from my apartment. Yes, I could certainly jog the perimeter of the apt complex, but for five miles that would be like six times around and I get effing BORED. ;D Oh well! I'll figure it out!
The Thanksgiving race that looks the best in this area is actually a 10K. I am all up for that - I have two months to prepare after all, and it's only a little over a mile more than what I've already done - but are the people who wanted to join me for it still up for it if it's 10k instead of 5k? (I know Mom is out, because it's on the morning of Thanksgiving, but it's early enough that the rest of us could still get back and get things done.)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Baby's First 8K
Well I had my 8K! I had predicted I would do obscenely poorly, because I preceded the race not with lots of training and concentration but with a half-week of beach vacation and bad eating. I *did* work out while I was there - only on two of the days, but in my defense, we were travelling for parts of the other two and so the time those days was limited. But I ran two miles on Monday and did some x-training, then on Tuesday I ran a total of five miles (about two on the beach, three on the treadmill). So that helped somewhat. But I was on the vacation meal plan, meaning I was stuffed full of things not condusive to running; so on getting home I decided to "detox" and catch up on my fruits and veggies. I managed this for approximately a day and a half before falling off the wagon on Friday evening. But I did eat reasonably healthy on Saturday night, including plenty of salad and fruits, and lunch was sushi! Yay! Sushi is so surprisingly healthy. We also had company on Saturday night and I'm pleased to say that, even though this did include plenty of chocolatey-pastry type stuff for dessert, it was much much better than eating out. We had cheese ravioli (store-bought) with a butternut squash sauce (homemade), which was designated by all as "tasty".
So, the 8K! First of all I sincerely thought it started at 8:30 am. All morning long I thought so. At about 7:45 while riding in the car to get there I realized it started at 8am. GAH!! Well, I made it about five minutes before the race started and all was well. In all I did a pretty good job - I was aiming for about 50 minutes to do the whole thing, but I surprised myself: even though I stopped (walked) twice, I finished in just under 47 minutes! If I hadn't stopped I probably could have hit 45 minutes, which is around my current pace for 5Ks - 9min/mile. To be able to sustain that pace for 5 miles is a lot more than I thought I could do!
I'm going to go back to training harder. I think I can shave some more time off my total and really improve my 5K time. :) My next one should be 10/4, right near the neighbourhood where I grew up!
So, the 8K! First of all I sincerely thought it started at 8:30 am. All morning long I thought so. At about 7:45 while riding in the car to get there I realized it started at 8am. GAH!! Well, I made it about five minutes before the race started and all was well. In all I did a pretty good job - I was aiming for about 50 minutes to do the whole thing, but I surprised myself: even though I stopped (walked) twice, I finished in just under 47 minutes! If I hadn't stopped I probably could have hit 45 minutes, which is around my current pace for 5Ks - 9min/mile. To be able to sustain that pace for 5 miles is a lot more than I thought I could do!
I'm going to go back to training harder. I think I can shave some more time off my total and really improve my 5K time. :) My next one should be 10/4, right near the neighbourhood where I grew up!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Latest and greatest
Hey! Today I ran outside (so lovely) for 3.5 miles without stopping!
Okay, strictly speaking that's a lie: I stopped once at a traffic intersection, but I jogged in place while waiting. Then I stopped for perhaps a minute or 30 seconds or so to fix my hair; this was right around 1.75 miles or so, right at the halfway point. What matters is that I made it! I didn't stop again after that! Woowoo, I'm Mrs. Fantastic, and everything I touch turns to gold! ;P
No, but seriously, it's a nice feeling. :) I feel at this point like I can do the 8K - I don't know how long it'll take me or anything, but I know I can *do* it and enjoy it and not toss my cookies. And anything that doesn't involve the tossing of cookies is an automatic win! ...Unless it involves, like, the kicking of puppies or something awful. Then again, I think if I did something awful like kicking puppies, tossing cookies would just naturally follow since I'd be so disgusted and horrified with what I'd just done. So I stand by my first statement!
Oh, and I could go for some cookies right now.
Okay, strictly speaking that's a lie: I stopped once at a traffic intersection, but I jogged in place while waiting. Then I stopped for perhaps a minute or 30 seconds or so to fix my hair; this was right around 1.75 miles or so, right at the halfway point. What matters is that I made it! I didn't stop again after that! Woowoo, I'm Mrs. Fantastic, and everything I touch turns to gold! ;P
No, but seriously, it's a nice feeling. :) I feel at this point like I can do the 8K - I don't know how long it'll take me or anything, but I know I can *do* it and enjoy it and not toss my cookies. And anything that doesn't involve the tossing of cookies is an automatic win! ...Unless it involves, like, the kicking of puppies or something awful. Then again, I think if I did something awful like kicking puppies, tossing cookies would just naturally follow since I'd be so disgusted and horrified with what I'd just done. So I stand by my first statement!
Oh, and I could go for some cookies right now.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
What kind of foooool am Iiiiii
1) I didn't get to work out today because of an all-day meeting. I knew this would be the case at the beginning of this week, much as I knew that the meeting was catered and I would therefore overeat, AND I knew I'd be going out to dinner with my parents tonight and thus overeat some more. I decided not to care, because I did really well earlier this week and most of last week. And I'll do really well tomorrow and Friday. So dere.
2) I did Day 2, Week 1 of the push-up challenge even though I didn't work out! I got them done just about 45 minutes ago. Woo hoo. :) That's 12-12-10-10-10. I've started carrying the program in my workout bag so I will have it with me on Friday, it's just a matter of remembering to do it while I'm in the gym.
3) Next week I'm on vacation. The hotel we're staying at has a fitness room (did I mention this already? It feels like I did) so I'm a little less worried about getting exercise and mainly worried about keeping up with the pushups. I bet I'll forget to bring the dumb program with me. :P
4) Registered for my 8K on 9/21. *gnaws fingernails*
2) I did Day 2, Week 1 of the push-up challenge even though I didn't work out! I got them done just about 45 minutes ago. Woo hoo. :) That's 12-12-10-10-10. I've started carrying the program in my workout bag so I will have it with me on Friday, it's just a matter of remembering to do it while I'm in the gym.
3) Next week I'm on vacation. The hotel we're staying at has a fitness room (did I mention this already? It feels like I did) so I'm a little less worried about getting exercise and mainly worried about keeping up with the pushups. I bet I'll forget to bring the dumb program with me. :P
4) Registered for my 8K on 9/21. *gnaws fingernails*
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Wussy-girl-running.
I will make this short and do it just because I want to write something today.
Anyway I ran a total of 5.0 miles or so on the treadmill, though that wasn't without stopping. I feel kind of like a wuss, because I've gone without stopping before, but admittedly that was on the treadmill in my gym and the settings may be different there. Ah, well, not a huge deal; I still did it, regardless. :)
Anyway I ran a total of 5.0 miles or so on the treadmill, though that wasn't without stopping. I feel kind of like a wuss, because I've gone without stopping before, but admittedly that was on the treadmill in my gym and the settings may be different there. Ah, well, not a huge deal; I still did it, regardless. :)
Monday, September 8, 2008
The Return of ME!
The Return of the Push-Ups Challenge
I kept forgetting to do these and fell waaaay behind. Last week I did remember them midweek but thought that instead I'd just do an "exhaustion test" and see what my results were. Turns out I could do just about 19 before wanting to die. ^_^ Ackshully I probably could have squeaked out 20 if I'd really really really really really tried but I thought eh, 19 is okay to start with. So today I started up again, doing day 1 of week 1, which is 10-10-8-6-7. Lalala...
The Return of Talking About Running
I mentioned earlier that I was sort of pulling back from running so much b/c I don't want to overdo it. I was going back and forth on doing the 8K on 9/21, and I've ultimately decided to do it, but not competitively. I'm just going to try to run the five miles in 50 minutes or so, and then I'll have run an 8K! Yay! I think I can do it if I run slowly enough; I can do 6mph pace easily for 5 miles on the treadmill, and of course I know outdoor courses are harder, but I just need to remind myself I can go as slowly as I need.
In that vein I actually conquered the 3-mile run on the outdoor trail last week! :D For the firstest time EVER, I did it! I just made myself go sorta slower than usual for the whole thing. Plus it wasn't very humid at all, which helped a lot. I guess it's also helped that I've been doing well in the 5Ks lately; the second to last one I actually placed third in my age group! :D I won a PRIIIIZE! It was a great race, and I have my best official time from it (28:46 - it was a smallllll race and in a larger one I never would've placed but it's all good). The last one I did was on 8/31 and it was also rather small. It turns out it was not a full 5K - I don't know exactly how long it was but I heard something like 2.8 miles instead of 3.1. I still did extremely well, 25 minutes or so for the whole thing, so I guess you could estimate my time would have been around 28 minutes for an actual 5K. Wheeee!
Anyway, right now my "training" if you can call it that is to go ahead and run 5 miles once or twice a week, and have shorter runs two other days (generally it'll be Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays). I didn't, however, run yesterday because all weekend my hamstrings have been killing me. I guess it's because I used the elliptical for the first time on Friday but it's just... wow... they REALLY hurt. And don't seem to be getting much better. Well, I guess running "long distance" on Saturday didn't help 'em.
The Return of The Other Stuff
And in between I'm tryin' to do the strength training stuff, or at least some form of non-running kind of thing. Friday and today both I did the elliptical (today mostly b/c I wanted to get some calorie burning done) for about 40 minutes and then followed it up with a portion of Minna Lessig's workout DVD... Friday I did the total body and today I just did the upper body workout. I also hope to keep doing the Winsor Pilates DVDs, and maybe some other workouts.
I don't know if there's anything else worth posting about right now... I'm going to try to keep up with workouts on our vacation next week. The hotel we're staying in has a fitness center so I intend to try and use it! Other than that... ummm... live long and prosper.
I kept forgetting to do these and fell waaaay behind. Last week I did remember them midweek but thought that instead I'd just do an "exhaustion test" and see what my results were. Turns out I could do just about 19 before wanting to die. ^_^ Ackshully I probably could have squeaked out 20 if I'd really really really really really tried but I thought eh, 19 is okay to start with. So today I started up again, doing day 1 of week 1, which is 10-10-8-6-7. Lalala...
The Return of Talking About Running
I mentioned earlier that I was sort of pulling back from running so much b/c I don't want to overdo it. I was going back and forth on doing the 8K on 9/21, and I've ultimately decided to do it, but not competitively. I'm just going to try to run the five miles in 50 minutes or so, and then I'll have run an 8K! Yay! I think I can do it if I run slowly enough; I can do 6mph pace easily for 5 miles on the treadmill, and of course I know outdoor courses are harder, but I just need to remind myself I can go as slowly as I need.
In that vein I actually conquered the 3-mile run on the outdoor trail last week! :D For the firstest time EVER, I did it! I just made myself go sorta slower than usual for the whole thing. Plus it wasn't very humid at all, which helped a lot. I guess it's also helped that I've been doing well in the 5Ks lately; the second to last one I actually placed third in my age group! :D I won a PRIIIIZE! It was a great race, and I have my best official time from it (28:46 - it was a smallllll race and in a larger one I never would've placed but it's all good). The last one I did was on 8/31 and it was also rather small. It turns out it was not a full 5K - I don't know exactly how long it was but I heard something like 2.8 miles instead of 3.1. I still did extremely well, 25 minutes or so for the whole thing, so I guess you could estimate my time would have been around 28 minutes for an actual 5K. Wheeee!
Anyway, right now my "training" if you can call it that is to go ahead and run 5 miles once or twice a week, and have shorter runs two other days (generally it'll be Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays). I didn't, however, run yesterday because all weekend my hamstrings have been killing me. I guess it's because I used the elliptical for the first time on Friday but it's just... wow... they REALLY hurt. And don't seem to be getting much better. Well, I guess running "long distance" on Saturday didn't help 'em.
The Return of The Other Stuff
And in between I'm tryin' to do the strength training stuff, or at least some form of non-running kind of thing. Friday and today both I did the elliptical (today mostly b/c I wanted to get some calorie burning done) for about 40 minutes and then followed it up with a portion of Minna Lessig's workout DVD... Friday I did the total body and today I just did the upper body workout. I also hope to keep doing the Winsor Pilates DVDs, and maybe some other workouts.
I don't know if there's anything else worth posting about right now... I'm going to try to keep up with workouts on our vacation next week. The hotel we're staying in has a fitness center so I intend to try and use it! Other than that... ummm... live long and prosper.
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