Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Power of 2

After nearly dying on Saturday, yesterday was remarkably a walk in the park.

Ok, maybe not a walk - probably more like a jog which involved lots of huffing and puffing and attempting to not pass out due to lack of oxygen, but still, none the less, it was easier.  This I chock up to two things: 1) it was the second time running 4 minutes and (attempting) walking 1 and 2) Alyssa and I ran together

Here is the vital information from yesterday's run:
  • it was Day 24, halfway through week 4
  • on the schedule was run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat 6 times
  • we ran at Baldwin Whitehall track at approx. 7:30 pm
  • we followed the schedule to a T
  • we both felt surprisingly good this morning
The plan for today is another trip to Amazing Yoga.  So at 7:15 tonight, Alyssa and I will be sweating bullets, while trying not to slip and slide our way around the yoga studio. 

Hopefully someone told the instructor since the last time we went that this is in fact supposed to be a beginner's class!

Monday, June 28, 2010

This Past Weekend

Saturday (Day 21) I was convinced I was going to die.

Seriously!!!

I'm not exaggerating!!!

As I was running along the SouthSide trail, the first 4 minutes were super-duper-uber easy.  And then it all went downhill from there.  The second 4 minutes was when I was whole heartedly convinced that I was going to die.  I would be found later that morning, dead, in front of my favorite store in SouthSide Works - REI.  I was sure of it.  Around that time I realized, to hell with the schedule I needed to walk.  And I walked, and I walked, and I walked....  It felt like forever, but it was only 2 minutes, and then I was off running for my third set of 4 minutes - which by and by was the easiest of the five sets!  I decided that for my next two recovery sets I would give myself an extra 30 seconds - it made a world of difference.  I still ran for five sets of four minutes, and hopefully tomorrow when I have to run six sets of four minutes I won't die again.

Today is Day 23, a rest day, thank heavens for it too, 'cause I may die tomorrow and at least I'll have had a day off before that occurs!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Productive

I'm beginning to think maybe running early is not quite the way to go... It leads to other things, like productivity later in the day.  Now, I'm not one to complain, but it just doesn't seem right to: run/walk at 5:30 am, go to work at 8:30 am, work until 5:30 pm, go home, cut the back lawn with a weed whacker, sprayed the weeds with Round-up, washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned the living room, changed the sheets on the couch (these are for Ellie, so she doesn't destroy the couch), vacuumed the living room and the stairs AND did 2 loads of laundry.  All before 9:30 pm.

Apparently I'm CRAZY.

My body is still wondering whatever happened to our old ways of not doing anything but collapsing on the couch after work. 

That said, obviously Day 19 was a success.  My calves were burning as we ran 3.5 minutes and walked 1.5 minutes 5 times in a row at the Baldwin Whitehall track.  I did discover one very nice thing about running in general.  That would be the friendly other runners who say good morning to you as you're sweating buckets and gasping for breath along the way.  What's even nicer is when these other runners are very fit men with 6 pack abs and no shirts on.  Yeah, I went there.  Alyssa said I lit up - I like to think I was just being friendly doing my best to smile and say good morning back all the while attempting to not hyperventilate and die in the process.  And in my defense the hyperventilating and dying was not in regards to the other runner it was in regards to having just run for more than twice as long as I walked.

Today is Day 20, I was originally going to meet Alyssa at the gym bright and early this morning to do the elliptical before work, however being poor I decided it best to save my gas and just do a video at home.  I finally was able to do the beginners Core Rhythms DVD.  The ladies on it are crazy.  I feel they deserve an entire blog entry just to explain how crazy they are, and don't worry - there will be!

Tomorrow is running/walking again - this time run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat 5 times.  That'll happen in the morning, 'cause Dad's coming down to help work on the house, and Alyssa's got a garage sale, and tomorrow evening in Andrea's birthday happy hour.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Countdown Happy

I may be getting a bit carried away with the countdowns, but whatever, they're fun!

The newest countdown is to the ZooZilla 5K on October 3rd at the Pittsburgh Zoo - should be fun!  That is if I don't want to die after the nine mile run the day before...

So that puts us at a race the first weekend of September, one the first weekend in October, and the big one the first weekend in November. 

Woohoo!!!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A New Appreciation

Day 17

It's official, I have a new appreciation for the morning. Huh?!?  Yup, mornings definately have their perks. 

Take today for example:
After forcing myself out of bed at 4:45 this morning, and severely confusing my basset hound Ellie, I got dressed, drove to pick up Alyssa, and the two of us got to Baldwin Whitehall High School at right around 5:30.  The sun was not yet up, so we were able to watch it rise on the horizon as we made our laps around the track, it was warm, but not too hot yet, and the rain had not yet started.

We ran/walked for 30 minutes - run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes, repeat 6 times.  I won't lie, it hurt.  Mainly because of my hamstring pain. 

Afterwards I went to the grocery store and the gas station before showering and heading to work and getting there almost 30 minutes earlier than usual.  Mornings are good!

Not good this morning however was the aforementioned rain.  It started just as I got in my car to go to work.  By the time I was walking across the bridge to downtown the rain was coming down in sheets and when over the river was blowing it sideways.  I walked into work with morning with just the left side of my lower body and both feet soaking wet!  Luckily Wendy had a hair dryer so I was able to dry out my skirt, if she didn't I'd probably still be sitting here in a sopping wet skirt being miserable.

The plan for the rest of the week is:
Tomorrow (Day 18) rest day
Thursday (Day 19) another early morning run/walk (3.5 minutes run, 1.5 minutes walk, repeat 5 times)
Friday (Day 20) cross training of some sort
Saturday (Day 21) run/walk (4 minutes run, 1 minute walk, repeat 5 times)
Sunday (Day 22) cross training of some sort - possibly weights, although I am very angry with Bally's right now because they double billed me this month

Monday, June 21, 2010

New Countdown and a Not Well Thought Out Plan...

New Countdown

First things first, did you notice the new countdown?  At the request of Alyssa, I have posted a countdown for our first real race.  The race is a 5K which benefits the Luke Hadley Foundation.  Alyssa has dubbed it the Sock Monkey Race due to their logo being a sock monkey.

If you're not familiar with the Luke Hadley Foundation, you should check out their website, Luke's story totally made me cry (but then again, I cry easily).  Luke Hadley was born premature with a rare chromosome disorder, he died at the age of 2 and his parents started the foundation in his name as a way to raise money to be able to bring smiles to other disabled children.  They work closely with the Children's Home of Pittsburgh and the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.  They help arrange field trips for the kids, bring in visitors, and one of my favorite things is they made art carts for Children's Hospital.  The art carts are able to go to kids who can't leave their rooms, and they're fully stocked with crayons and paper and markers and paint and even scrapbooking supplies for the older kids!

Back to the race: it's a 5K (3 miles) run/walk (we're going to run it since we're scheduled to run 5 miles that day - we'll have to do the other 2 at some other point that day too) at South Park on September 4th (Andrea is planning on joining us for this race too).  It's very exciting because this will be our first officially timed race, they're doing the chipped timing.

http://www.lukehandleyfoundation.org/

Not a Well Thought Out Plan

During lunch I had what I thought was a brilliant idea - since my hamstrings were so tight, maybe a nice long walk is just what they need to loosen up a bit.

It wasn't.

I walked over to the North Shore via the Andy Warhol Bridge and back via the Rachel Carson Bridge.  It was ridiculously hot, and I realized my pants are much more winter pants than summer pants.  Walking 2 miles on a tight hamstring in the sun on a really hot day is probably not the best move in the world.  Oh well, you live, you learn - right?

Day 16

Today is Day 16 - we're past the 2 week mark!!!!  And luckily it's a rest day.  My hamstrings are so tight today, even though I stretched like crazy yesterday.

Weekend Recap:

Saturday (Day 14) - We were supposed to run, but given that Alyssa's softball team was in the championship, we decided to swap running and cross training days this weekend.  Alyssa got her cross-training in with the two softball games she played (her team won the championship!!!) and I headed to the gym.  Andrea and I agreed to meet at 10 to do some weight training, I arrived a few minutes early and while I waited for her I did a quick 5 minute warm-up on the elliptical and did 3 sets of 15 crunches - nothing too crazy.  When Andrea arrived we began with legs: squats, calf raises, leg presses, etc... Next up was arms, neither of us being aficionados on the machines we pretty much just stuck with the cable machines and followed the instructions, which let me tell you was plenty.  My shoulders were quite sore the next morning, and Andrea reported that her arms were killing her!

Saturday evening I paid a visit to one of my favorite stores: REI.  I love it; walking in there just makes me want to be outdoorsy and go camping and hiking and biking and kayaking all at once!  I spent a good 45 minutes just slowly walking through looking at everything - REI is right up there with the LL Bean factory store in Freeport Maine in my book (maybe not quite on par with but darn tootin' close and only being 2 miles from my house as opposed to 702 miles, I suppose it is a good stand in).  I found the main thing that I had gone there for: Body Glide - it looks like deodorant and feels like a slightly slimy sticky version of that, but is used for anti-chaffing (one of my 3 main concerns along with black toenails and needing to pee mid-race).  I also picked up the recent edition of Runners World magazine - very interesting and informative!  I'm actually thinking about getting a subscription.  The last and possibly most frightening thing I got there was a product called GU.  GU is a gooey substance that's supposed to give you lots of energy and stuff.  It comes in all sorts of flavors some that sound appetizing and some that don't, REI carried these flavors:  Jet Blackberry, Orange Burst, Mint Chocolate, Chocolate, Tri-Berry, and Vanilla.  I bought blackberry for myself and orange for Alyssa.

Sunday (Day 15):
I picked Alyssa up a little after 9:30 and we were off to South Park for our run/walk.  This was a very important one too, this was the first session where the running time was more than the walking time.  It was run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes, repeat 5 times.  The first 3 minutes of running wasn't bad at all, the second 3 minutes was a little harder, but still doable, the third 3 minutes caused my calves to start burning, the fourth 3 minutes was pretty torturous, and the fifth 3 minutes made me want to die.  That being said, it went great!  I was surprised at how easy the first set was - yay!!!  Alyssa had a bit of a rougher time than me, but we're going to chock it up to the 2 softball games the day before. 

Soreness Report:

Me:  My hamstrings are so tight today - and I stretched!  My knee is still bugging me, but I'm learning to live with it.

Alyssa: Just an all over soreness.

At the end of our last run session we decided to try the GU as we were walking to the car - it was nasty. A similar consistency to rubber cement, just without the strong odor and with artificial fruit flavoring. Alyssa took hers in one big gulp, but I couldn't do it. It took me about 4 or 5 gag inducing swallows to finish the whole packet. Gross, gross, gross!!! I think I'll wait until we're in the higher mileage rage to try it again I think.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Day 12/13

Day 12 was yesterday, and last night we both sucked it up and ran/walked.  Never has yoga kicked my butt so much! 

Here's a quick run down of the facts:  we ran 2.5 minutes, walked 2.5 minutes and repeated 5 times.  We averaged about a 15 minutes mile - not very good, but hey we were hurting from yoga - a lot!  We ran at the Baldwin Whitehall track, since it is so close to Alyssa's house we used the walk to and from there as the warm-up and cool-down.  Stretching ensued following and I used my trademarked freezy pop icing technique on my knee (first ice the knee, then eat the freezy pop) - which I am glad to say did some good, because I did not wake up in pain!

Today is Day 13 and it's a rest day - woo hoo!!!  In celebration of almost being done with 2 weeks of training (only 20 more to go!) Alyssa, Bob (her husband), and I are going to see Toy Story 3 tonight followed by dinner at Quaker Steak and Lube - yum....

Random other notes: 
- I charged my camera battery, so I'll be able to take and post some pics in the next week
- Depending on weather, we may move our running day from Saturday to Sunday and have cross training on Saturday.  This is because Alyssa's softball team has their championship game this weekend and we figured that would be cross training enough for her on whichever day her game is, so the other day will be the day we run.
- I'm going to meet Andrea at the gym for my cross training day to do a little bit of elliptical and lift weights.
- Andrea is going to run the 5k with us on September 4th at South Park for the Luke Hadley Foundation.
- Running this weekend is: run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes, repeat 5 times. 
- We're going to run at one of the riverfront trails (most likely South Side), just to have a different surface to run on.  I think it's a good idea to mix it up (track, cinder, asphalt, dirt...) because race day it won't all be one surface.
- Thinking about it more, my calves were stiff as can be this morning, but with a little stretching they felt better.
- I think I'm having an allergy flair up, I keep needing to sneeze, and I've been snotty all morning.  I don't think I'm sick though since it's just all in my sinuses.
- As I told Alyssa yesterday, I am still concerned about what to do if I have to pee mid-race since the only port-a-potties are at the end of the race... hmm... I may have to perfect my peeing behind bushes... yuck

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Last Night

Last night I think I was in hell - seriously - it was hot enough!  Alyssa and I went to Amazing Yoga.  Now when you think of yoga, don't you think of nice and relaxing poses - possibly by a cabana on the beach at some relaxing spa somewhere?  Not Amazing Yoga - there it's 90+ degrees, in a crowded room where you're about a foot away from the person next to you, on the 2nd floor of a building on Carson Street.  And for those not familiar with Carson Street it's where a lot of bars are located - so it's busy, crowded and noisy.  I especially liked the revving of motorcycles while we were trying to focus on our breathing.

Anyway the instructor - Michelle - was really nice, but she totally kicks your butt.  The class lasted over an hour, and I think you spend about 1/4 of the time in downward dog.  It's not that bad of a pose, but when you're sweating buckets, I find that my hands and feet like to slip and the sweat just pools on the mat below you.  By the end of the class I was soaked through with sweat and my mat resembled a slip'n'slide.  It's sad when you go outside into 80 degree heat and it feels refreshing and cool.  Leaving class, as we walked past the bar next door to the studio, I overheard the bouncer trying to explain to a couple of guys about 'hot yoga', they didn't really seem to be getting the point.  Although I can understand their initial confusion, we (the class as a whole) must look like quite the motley crew after a class, soaking wet with pained expressions on our faces. 

Afterwards Alyssa and I went to Giant Eagle, with a pit stop by my house to change shirts, and as my body cooled down my wet clothes became more and more uncomfortable.  Yes I had changed my shirt, but I still had on the pants and sports bra I wore to class.  And let me tell you there is not too much pleasant about cold clammy boobs.  Especially when walking through an air conditioned grocery store.  Note to self - after next class before going out again, change out of sports bra too.

Soreness report:
Me:  Still having problems with that one knee.  I iced it last night, which seemed to help some.  And by icing it, I mean I put a freezy pop on it while I ate my 1/2 of a wrap for dinner.  I then ate the freezy pop - it was awesome.

Alyssa:  Sore in general, in particular her shoulders.  She doesn't want to do yoga again, but I told her we only have 7 more yoga sessions, but 72 more running sessions, so yoga shouldn't seem too bad.  To this she said she would prefer running.  Haha.

This morning when I was putting in some laundry I saw my shirt from last night lying on the floor and when I went to move it into the laundry hamper, it was still soaking wet.... gross....

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Day 11

Day 11 - that's today!!!

I bought new shoes during lunch today - yay!!!  Hopefully this will help my knee/ heel problems.  Since I am nearly as broke as broke could be, I went to Burlington with my fingers crossed that they would have something.  They had only about half a dozen styles of running shoes, and only 2 or 3 of these came in my size.  I got a pair of adidas, which is what I had before, but it's easy to forget what a difference new shoes makes until you're walking around the store with one new shoe and one old shoe on!

They're not as pretty looking as my old shoes, which were grey and pink, the new ones are white and blue.  Oh well, at least they'll make my feet happier :-)

Yesterday was Day 10

Like I said in the title, yesterday was day 10 - we're up to double digits now baby, woo hoo!  Luckily it didn't rain, and we were able to run/walk at the Baldwin Whitehall track.  It was a bit awkward though because they were having track & field practice.  Huh?!? Yup, track & field practice.  I suppose they're trying to get a head start on next school year, months before the other schools even think about the season.  Luckily they were only running sprints for part of the time we were running, and we were able to go around them on the inside of the track.  At one point, probably during around the 4th rep, my calves started killing me!  Seriously, I think that if they could have disconnected themselves from my legs they would have strangled me.  Since that is not physically possible (I don't think anyways), their choice of torture was just to hurt - a lot.  I still have that slight twinge in my left knee, and this morning I woke up with a pain in my heel.  The heel pain concerns me more than the knee pain - maybe I've been reading too many articles about running, but Plantar Fasciitis has me concerned.  I'm going to go shoe shopping today so hopefully getting new shoes will help shop the pain before it develops into anything horribly wretched.

This morning Alyssa texted me to inform me of the Brentwood 5k on July 3rd - to this I replied "Hell no.  Too soon, too soon."  Ok maybe I didn't say that exactly, but you get the gist.

Tonight we're going to Amazing Yoga - I haven't been in a few months, but it should be fine.  They won't need to turn the heat up too much, it's been in the 80's for a while now, and since they aim to have the studio at 90 degrees that won't be too big of a change.  We're going to the one on the SouthSide which is nice, but if you get there late than you're stuck having a spot close to the window, and the problem with that is all of Carson Street can see you workout if they are inclined to just look up.  And let me just say, that after 30 minutes of doing yoga in 90 degrees, I look far from pretty, so as far away from the windows as possible is ideal.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Rain

This morning it was raining, and so I did what any dutiful running buddy would do, I texted Alyssa.  This is how the text conversation went:

Me: "So unfortunately the rain plan is: we run - in the rain :-( "

Alyssa: "I figured as much"

Me: "I know, it stinks, but the race won't be cancelled for a little rain!"

Alyssa: "Yeah and rain ain't so bad in 80 degrees"

Me: "Nope and I don't think either of us will melt ;-) "

Alyssa: "Haha, no I'm probably more like those little sponge animals in capsules... I'll just expand!! LOL"

Remember those things?  They were awesome!  I followed this text up with a little tour antidote about a time when me and another crew member may or may not have bought a few packs of them, and we may or may not have expanded all of them one night, and we may or may not have stuck them to the ceiling, where we may or may not have left them as an interesting surprise for the maids when we checked out.  But this may or may not have happened... I'll never tell ;-)

So hopefully tonight at around 7 pm when Alyssa and I are about to start our run around the Baldwin Whitehall track, please think of us and pray for no rain (fingers crossed).

FYI tonight is run 2 minutes, walk 3 minutes, repeat 5 times

Monday, June 14, 2010

Rest Day

Rest day! Rest day! Rest day!

My what a glorious couple of words.  Although I am not yet into the crazy running schedule yet, rest days still are a nice thing to look forward to.

So the plan for this week is: Tuesday - track day - run 2 minutes walk 3 minutes 5 times; Wednesday - Amazing Yoga (hot yoga) @ 7:15 on the South Side - classes run between 45 minutes and an hour; Thursday - track day - run 2.5 minutes walk 2.5 minutes 5 times; Friday - REST DAY!!!; Saturday - either run 3 minutes walk 2 minutes 5 times OR cross training of some sort (it all depends if Alyssa has to play her last softball game or not); Sunday will be whatever we don't do on Saturday

Busy week, but totally do-able. 

Although I don't think I've lost any weight I have found my posture improving, which I think is a result from the training.  It would be nice if I lost weight though, but I suppose that would involve actually paying attention to what all I eat then.

Oh well...

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Day 6/7/8

Ok, so much for trying to write everyday - oops...

Well Friday night I couldn't get my DVD to work.  Apparently you need a clicker - I think Sancho ate mine months ago - all my other DVDs have worked just fine with me just hitting 'play' on the actual player.  So to replace the DVD I did a workout called the "Lean Body Workout" by Women's Health magazine.  It wasn't too bad, it involved 3 sets of varying reps of: squats, butt lifty things, kinda like a sit up but twisting while holding a weighted ball, lying on a balance ball while lifting my arms up, incline pushups, sit-ups on a balance ball, and jumping rope.

Saturday morning I ran/walked at the Riverfront Trail on the SouthSide - I went fairly early (7:30 am) so it wasn't too hot yet.  It was a combo of run 2 minutes, walk 3 minutes.  Having a more upbeat playlist definately helped (I listened to Mamma Mia!), and I did about 2 miles or so in 30 minutes (10 minutes of which was warm up and cool down, so I wasn't really moving too fast).

This morning instead of doing an hour of Turbo Jam like we had planned, Alyssa and I met at the gym where we lifted for about an hour.  A 5 minute warm-up on the elliptical, then we worked on legs and arms.  Once home I threw in a few sets of sit-ups on the balance ball, just to get a little bit of abs in as well.

Tomorrow is a rest day, which is well deserved after 4 days in a row.  I made up calenders for Alyssa and myself and blew them on 11x17 paper.  I have posted mine on my fridge.  It feels like such a sense of accomplishment to be able to cross off each day with a big red "X".  I now have 8 X's in a row and still going strong!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Day 5 - a recap

Well yesterday was Day 5 - after getting stuck in horrendous Baldwin-Whitehall graduation traffic, I picked up Alyssa and we headed for the Brentwood track.  The parking for the track is located up above it and the track itself is down in a little valley.  Since neither of us had been there before we were unsure of how to get down to the track, and the first way we went took us up to some baseball fields but not to the track, so we considered that walk our warm-up and turning around we began our first minute of running.  I took off like a shot (relatively speaking - my shot more resembling that of a slug) and only after Alyssa yelled at me and told me to slow down did I realize I was perhaps starting too fast.  Jogging along, we discovered a path towards the track that went down along by the pool.  The walk time was filled with descending through the bleachers to the track and halfway around the track.  It was in the third minute running that we really discovered we were running too fast - if we had been able to keep up that pace we would have been running an 8 minute mile!  That's almost 1/2 the time we were aiming for (for the race you have to keep up a 16 minute mile to make the 3.5 hour cutoff) - way too fast. 

I need to work on my playlist - far too much slow music on there.  I need something with more of a beat, and as much as I like She & Him, they just aren't really good for running to.  I have Mamma Mia! on my ipod, so I'll cue that up to run to on Saturday (which will be 4 reps of run 2 minutes/ walk 3 minutes).  The issue with music is A) my 160gb ipod is dead - it won't charge, B) my other ipod is only a 1gb shuffle, and C) my laptop's hard drive fried and so I lost all the music that was on there and I don't have itunes on my desktop.  Eventually when I get a new hard drive for my laptop and I get itunes back and I am able to download/ upload some music, I'll have a better playlist.

I discovered yesterday that it is also much easier to run with a buddy, after having run/walk by myself on Tuesday it made a world of difference having someone to talk to.  Another thing that was better yesterday than Tuesday was running (I use the term loosely) in the evening.  After being in the scorching midday sun on Tuesday the early evening was soooooo much nicer.  As for a soreness report today there really isn't one.  Alyssa's knee was hurting a touch yesterday, mine was hurting a tad today, but no quad, groin, glute pain like after Tuesday.  I believe this is because Alyssa is a self-described "stretch-aholic".  We stretched for ages after the run, which is what I needed I suppose.

On the agenda for tonight - Day 6:

For me:
a 30 minute video - Core Rhythms: Getting Started
I bought these videos from Target after seeing an infomercial about them ages ago, but have actually never used them.  It is a 4 disc set: Getting Started (30min), Full Workout (45min), Quick Workout (20min), and Latin Dance (?min).  They're taught by 2 crazy perky ballroom dancer ladies, and pretty much it's supposed to work your core (thus the title) through different dance moves - we'll see how this goes. 

For Alyssa:
a 30 minute video - Turbo Jam
This is part of the series we worked out to on Sunday, its a combo dance/ abs/ martial arts type workout, taught by a very perky blonde lady.  After seeing the behind the scenes footage though, it's hard to hate her for being perky.

A quick shout out to Manda for all the support - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!! I totally appreciate it!!!

Wish me luck tonight!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Day 5

So nothing has happened yet on Day 5. 

Ok, so I guess I have been to work, which involves walking across the bridge to get to, so that's something.  And at lunch Jonnie and I walked to Market Square to check out the farmer's market.  I think if I'm going to want to buy anything good at the farmer's markets downtown I'm going to have to take lunch earlier than 1 o'clock!  Well, I bought sweet potato gnocchi which I'm pretty excited about, I do like it so.  Unfortunately being in Market Square also meant I was in close proximity to yummy (read - fattening) restaurants, and we went to Moe's for burritos for lunch.  At least I only at 1/2 of mine, which leaves 1/2 for dinner tonight, which means the chicken I have defrosting will have to be for tomorrow - oh well. 

And I may or may not have bought a piece of baklava.  Which I may or may not eat in about 1 minute.  Don't hate me, I love sweets!

As for training - Alyssa and I are going to the track tonight.  1 minute running, 4 minutes walking, repeated 5 times, hopefully it won't be too bad.  My goal for tonight is to stretch better than last time, so hopefully I won't hurt as bad. 

Speaking of hurting, around 4 pm yesterday, I discovered that I really should stretch my groin - OUCH!  Who knew?  I never assumed running for only 4 minutes total could hurt so much.  What the heck have I gotten myself into?!?  21 weeks and 2 days until race day.

I'm almost done with The NonRunner's Marathon Guide for Women - Get Off Your Butt and on With Your Training, and Alyssa and I have already dubbed it our running bible.  Dawn Dais is hilarious!  I have busted out laughing so many times while reading it, I feel that her sarcasm will help us survive this thing.

Wish me luck tonight!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Soreness - An Update

As the day goes on I am more and more aware of how sore my ass is.

Day 4 Soreness Report

Today is Day 4, it's a rest day, Hallelujah. After today though we have 4 days in a row: walk/run, cross training, walk/run, cross training, and then the next rest day. I'm glad yesterday's weather was not like today's weather. I walked in to work across the bridge, and it was raining buckets - I hope my sneakers dry out before I have to go home.

On to the Soreness Report:
Jenny:
My back is killing me (but I think that may be from yard work)
I could definately tell my quads exsisted this morning as I walked up my stairs
My bum was definately feeling it a bit as well
One of my arms hurt (but I think that's from how I slept)

Alyssa:
Doing well
Just tired
Has a godawful upset tummy (Bad Fajita Rollup!)

Recommended Reading:
The NonRunner's Marathon Guide For Women (Get Off Your Butt And On With Your Training)
by Dawn Dais
- hilarious!!! She's so sarcastic, it's great - I'm only on page 70 (of 245) but I can't wait to finish it!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I did it!

I did it! I ran/walked all by myself :-)

My brain hurts, and I had a stitch in my side, and I thought my lungs might explode during the first minute, and I was sweating in the most unfeminine way, and my feet now smell; but other than that I feel great!

For my warm-up I walked to the Andy Warhol Bridge, it was there I said, "Hello Bridge, how are you today? You better watch out, 'cause I'm gonna run across you!"

My first minute of running consisted of me making it halfway across the bridge all the time thinking to myself, "I should be at my desk, surfing the internet, eating a cupcake, but noooo, I'm here running, WTF?!?!"

4 minutes of walking took me down to the Riverfront Trail, the next minute of running took me to under the Roberto Clemente Bridge. Bridges are good points to aim for I've found, they're big and hard to miss. 4 more minutes of walking took me past the kayak-ers (which I totally want to do on a Sunday - hint, hint Alyssa - good cross training!) and a whole bunch of kids fishing.

The next minute running took me to the next bridge - Fort Duquesne maybe? It was there I turned around and headed back. 4 minutes of walking, then my last minute of running to the Roberto Clemente Bridge. I then walked back the way I came - across the Andy Warhol Bridge and through town, back to work.

By the time I made it back to work, my headache had developed and my legs were tingly - ah, such is life. Tomorrow is a rest day, and then it's the same as today for Thursday, just with one more rep of run 1 minute walk 4 minutes.

Side note - that meany Alyssa texted me a picture of a cookie while I was running. She's so mean, how I hate her, haha... I kid, I kid. I'll just send her a picture of a cupcake while she's running tonight!

All by myself...

Day 1 of walk/running and Alyssa has ditched me! Ok, so not really, she's just got to run right after work since they're having a plumber come over at 6, anad since I don't even get off work until 5:30, I won't even be home until 6. So, the current plan is that I will walk/run at lunch. It shouldn't be too bad: 1 minute of running, 4 of jogging, repeated 4 times.

Alyssa emailed me my before photos last night - it reaffirmed my plan to not show them online!

Monday, June 7, 2010

And so it begins...

Alyssa and I began our 22 weeks of training yesterday with 35 minutes of cardio/ab work. I felt fine at the time, but this morning I feel as if I were hit by a mack truck! Today is a rest day, and tomorrow we begin walking/running. Following our workout we did our before photos - needless to say those will not be posted on this website (except maybe of course at the end if the transformation is noticeable enough).

I got Leap Year from Netflix on Saturday, I am slightly (but only slightly) ashamed to say I have now seen it 4 times - since Saturday! It is such a cheesy movie, and yet I like it alot! I think I like it because the Irish guy in it does not like Dublin at all - which was my feelings exactly when I was there last year. Granted he felt that way because a back-stabbing b**** of an ex lived there, I felt that way merely because it was the end of my trip, I didn't want to go home, and I had fallen head-over-heels in love with the highlands of Scotland and so anything that followed would be dull in comparison. Or another reason I may like it so much is because I think the Irish (although technically in real life he's British) guy in it is HOT! What can I say, I like tall scrawny scruffy guys with killer accents - so if you know of any, send them my way.

And so it goes... I feel I may watch Leap Year again this evening while I clean my house, and then maybe I'll be able to seal it in its envelope and send it on its way. Fingers crossed. Just don't judge me if I can't!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Time to turn a new page...

Alright, so I know it's been about forever and day since I've posted anything on here and I'd like to just say now: "I'M SORRY!!"

To sum things up quickly, Sancho the rambunctious bloodhound has moved to a farm in Erie, and I have replaced him with a sweet mild tempered basset hound named Ellie who was rescued from a puppy mill in December and had been living in foster care. I've been slowly and steadily working on the novel I've had brewing in my mind for years now I'm up to about 80 pages written right now. And (drum roll please...) I've signed up to run a half marathon!

Crazy I know, considering I'm about the most out of shape person ever, but I've got a good feeling about this one. I've convinced Alyssa to sign up with me, so we've got 22 weeks of training before the November 6th race. I wanted to do the Disney World half marathon in January but time and budget constraints have forced us to look for something closer to home, and so we chose the Stomp the Grapes Half Marathon at the Maize Valley Winery outside of Canton OH (http://www.stompthegrapeshalfmarathon.com/)

We're going to start the training with 8 weeks of walk to run training - building up the ability to run for 30 minutes at a time - and then follow that up with 14 weeks of distance training.

Goals I/we hope to accomplish in this crazy endeavour:

1. lose weight
2. improve cardiovascular health (now doesn't that sound like it came from a brochure?)
3. not get injured
4. improve overall fitness level
5. meet the 16 minute mile requirement
6. to just finish the damn thing!

And so all this craziness starts Sunday (only 1 more day of being a sloth) - I'll so my best to keep ya posted!