Out like a Lion!

Went to the pool this morning. Had to share a lane with Flailing Arms Woman. Someone commented to me in the hot tub afterwards that I could have shared with him because he swims straight and keeps his arms to himself. I told him "No worries, it was good practice". He said "good practice for what?!?" Ha! I guess it's just a triathlon thing. LOL .

After the pool, I went to the gym for my abs stuff (rope crunches and ab curls) and a little bit of upper body work. Remember in February when my goal was 3x15 ab curls unassisted and I got to 3x10 assisted (and could do ZERO unassisted)? Well I'm now doing 3x10 unassisted and I'm confident that I'll get to my goal soon. Plus I think it's time to up the weights on the rope crunches. I'm convinced that determination is enough to overcome lack of natural ability.

Then after work I met up with my running group. I thought I was scheduled for 4 miles easy, but instead it was 1 mile warm up, 4 miles steady, and 1 mile cool down. My run was awesome!! I felt soooo good the whole time. I think the key was the warm-up. I'm going to try to remember to include a warm-up on my long run this weekend as well.

So yeah, I think the month came in like a lamb and went out like a lion. ROAR!

March Totals

Ran 39.75 miles with two weeks off - not too shabby
Swam 7100 yards - Yeah, baby!
Went to the Gym 11 times - Booya!
Yoga - 1 session -
Cycling - nada.
Races - nada

Thoughts

Happy with my running, swimming, and progress with strength work. Swimming and Push-ups have replaced yoga for me this month it seems; that's probably not ideal. Also really need to get back on my bike

[Edit to add] Of course the highlight of the month was the 20th anniversary trip to Moorea with Husband (alone!).

Plans for April

Main focus is Dash-Splash-Push which is now three weeks away. Then I'll get ready to Run for the Zoo. Hopefully get back on my bike too. And of course keep up with the strength work at the gym.

Random Thoughts during Monday Lunch

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks sending a kid + parent to traffic court for a burned out headlight seems like overkill. But the law is the law...and there's no way around it, so to traffic court we will go!

Did Week 4 Day 1 pushups this morning. Yowza, these are getting tough. I kinda cheated this time around. Decided to start at week 2 (instead of column 2) based on my initial test and I haven't done an exhaustion test yet because I have no plans of moving out of column 1. But I'm making progress! Today was 12-14-11-10-16 for a grand total of 63 pushups. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Came home for lunch today after returning a pair of driving glasses (long story) and I have another eye appt tomorrow to check on my updated mono vision contact prescription. I wish my eyes weren't so complicated.

Speaking of lunch, I had a much more reasonable lunch than on Saturday: turkey and hummus on a whole wheat english muffin with a side of low fat cottage cheese and blueberries.

As some of you know, I succumbed to the land of Facebook yesterday. Feel free to "find me" but understand that I'm still figuring that out.

The Run Group is starting hill repeats this week on Thursday. Am I strange for actually looking forward to that?!?!

We've had crazy weather lately. It even snowed on Friday. Wahhhh!! I want spring to come back.

The kids had spring break last week. This week is standardized testing, which doesn't apply to high school freshmen, so Daughter goes to school Mon & Tues this week and has another three days off. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but she's certainly happy about it!

Good - Bad - Ugly

The Good

While we were on vacation, Son landed himself a prom date for next weekend and successfully got a tux ordered yesterday. Went dress shopping with Daughter for a different event (M88 Swing Thing) and found the cutest dress for her at a reasonable price. As challenging as teenagers can be sometimes, I must say that in some ways these are also the most enjoyable years for me as a parent. I love watching them grow into the wonderful young people that they have become.

The Bad

Son got pulled over at a sobriety check-point on his way home from work last night. He wasn't drinking, he wasn't speeding, he didn't run a stop sign or red light, but he did get a ticket. Apparently the passenger side headlight was out. Because he is under 18, he is required to go to traffic court with a parent. Sigh. The officer said that they will likely drop the citation if we come to court with proof that we promptly repaired the vehicle. It's at the shop right now.

The Ugly

As you may recall, I had six miles on my calendar for today with a pace target of 11:20 which should have been resonable. We had a false start earlier in the day, walked out to run and got a text from Daughter that she needed a ride home in an hour from a place 20 minutes away. Ran some errands, picked her up, had a truly awful lunch of hot dogs, fritos, and an apple (haven't yet had time to for proper grocery shopping since coming home from the trip) and tried again.

At around mile 2.5 I felt like I was going to puke and stopped to walk for a little bit to try to get my stomach settled. I tried running again for about another mile. Felt like I was going to puke again and kinda wished that I would so that I'd feel better! I was belching the whole time too. I finally gave up and walked the rest of the way home. bleh!

This has NEVER happened to me before, so I'm blaming it on my terrible choice for lunch.


After coming home, I plotted the run in half mile segments. Wouldn't you know, the run started off well and I was ahead of pace target before I started feeling sick!

Have a good weekend everyone!! Just remember, hot dogs, fritos, and an apple is not a good choice for a pre-run meal. LOL

Part 2 - Lessons from Moorea

#1) Empty Nest May Not Be So Bad

Okay, so I've been a basket case since discovering that my son will most likely go to an out-of-state school for college. In my mind worst case now is that he graduates from high school, goes away to school and I never see him again. Sad Mommy.

Daughter is two school years behind him. In my mind she follows and both are gone never to be seen again. Wahhh!! I want them both home for Christmas. Makes me sad.

But after out trip, I'm thinking....hmmm...maybe the whole empty nest thing won't be so bad.

I'm just sayin'....

#2) Sunscreen. Everywhere. No, I mean it. EVERYWHERE.

Nobody told me, but French Polynesia is topless at the beach. What the Font?!?! I wore mine mostly because I'm way too conservative not to, but also because I figured it was a very bad idea to expose skin to the sun that had never seen it before.

Having said that....Got sunburned on the tops of my feet while we were kayaking because I didn't think to sunscreen my feet. Owie! Trust me...Sunscreen is your friend!

3) Learn the Language

I feel HORRIBLE that I didn't take the time to brush up on my high school French. My goodness - these people speak at least three languages (Tahitian, French, English) and I know enough French to at least order food and yet we are forcing them to speak English because I was too lazy to brush up on my French before this trip. I feel really bad because we went to France 7 years ago or so and I could order and talk to the hotel people and the taxis and such...but this time I was frozen...all English all the time. sigh.

4) Premium OverWater Bungalow = worth the expense.

Yes this is strictly an opinion thing. We stayed at the Moorea Pearl Resort in Bungalow #402. I think the beach bungalows would be nice as well. Service was awesome; no complaints. :-)

5) It's a Remote Island - things are expensive!

I think we learned this early on. Our boat from Tahiti to Moorea included cargo such as milk, cereal, bread, etc. No wonder things cost so much! My gosh. If you go there, expect and understand the pricing. That's all I'm saying.

Cruddy Run and Push-Ups

Tomorrow I'll try to post again about our trip, but this evening I must babble about a few things training related. But I will say one thing, yes that was me climbing down in the water in a bikini (gasp!). And thank you for the words of encouragement - I was hesitant to include that photo , but apparently all the time at the gym is paying off if a middle aged women such as myself can pull off a bikini with some dignity. :-)

I did get out to run today. That's the good news. I was supposed to do 4 miles easy. Doesn't sound too bad. However, the wind kicked up and the whole run basically sucked. It was the slowest most miserable run that I've had for a few quite some time. I gave up at 3.75miles and walked in. On Saturday I'm targetting 6 miles with a pace target given to me by Coach. I sure hope that run goes much better than today's. Sigh.

Tomorrow I have an appt with Trainer Guy at the gym. I'm also scheduled for Week 3 Day 3 push-ups. Which brings me to my next topic. I want to talk about these "modified" pushups that I've been doing.

The Dash-Splash-Push rules state that women may have bent knees, which is clearly easier than regular pushups, but I'm not 100% sure how I'm supposed to do them.

I've drawn a little picture to show what it looks like with me in the "Up" position. Pardon my lack of artistic ability LOL. Anyway, my knees are touching the ground, but I'm trying to keep my core straight. My feet are slightly elevated. Is this what modified pushups are supposed to look like? Or at least, is this an acceptable version of modified pushups? Anyone know?

Oh, and about training...

We went to the gym the day we left on our trip. It was a good workout session. I also completed Week 3 Day 1 pushups.

I made sure to pack my running shoes, shorts, and two sleeveless shirts, sports bra, socks, running cap, swim cap, goggles, and week 3 pushup schedule.

Swim cap and goggles got plenty of use. No drills, but I did laps at the pool several mornings. I also did a little open water swimming. All in all, I'm logging 3800 yds of swimming for that week.

As for the running clothes and pushup schedule... All they did was waste space in my luggage. Admittedly, I'm a weather wimp. It was simply too hot/humid even in the morning for me to think seriously about running. I really don't know how some of you manage in the summer time where you live!

Planned on running with the group yesterday. Somehow it didn't happen though. I was out doing errands with my daughter and time got away from me. Oops.

I think I'm finally back on track, though. I was at the gym bright and early today for lower body, core, and Week 3 Day 2 pushups.

I'm running tomorrow. This time I mean it.

Moorea Part 1 - Snorkeling

The island is surrounded by a coral reef, so the water near the shore is a calm lagoon. I bought each of us a set of snorkel gear and an underwater camera for the trip, knowing that we had an overwater bungalow in a prime snorkeling location. It was definately worth the splurge! Not only were the ocean views magnificent from our bungalow, but we were able to snorkel straight off our deck every day. How cool is that?!?

On Friday, we went on a lagoon tour by boat to a motu (small island). That day we saw a bunch of sting rays and some sharks. The water was shallow and clear, producing some of the best underwater photos.

I'm a desert-dweller, so experiencing the ocean in this way was quite a treat.

Back from Moorea

A proper post later. For now, I'll simply leave you with a few images from paradise. :-)

Weekend Run

Met up with the running group yesterday morning for my 6 mile run. Since I'm soooo slow compared to the other runners, I tried to get a head start. It wasn't enough to keep me from being the last of the 6 milers to come in.

Average pace was 11:14, basically the same as last weekend. The good news is that I'm fairly consistent. And not injured. That's enough to keep me happy for now, but I'm getting really tired of being the last one in. Sigh.

Today was a much needed rest day. Thought briefly about going for an afternoon swim, but changed my mind about that. Spent the day packing instead.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the gym. Plus I've got a date with some pushups. If I'm really ambitious, I might even go to the pool first. Or not. Guess it depends on how I feel when the alarm goes off.

Ready for Relaxation

For those of you who guessed Tahiti, you guessed correctly!!

I am so excited I can hardly sit still. And yes, I'm packing more than just that short list. LOL.

Meanwhile, I'm working through my training mostly as planned. Yesterday I did W2D2 pushups in the morning and a slow 4 mile run in the early evening. Didn't bring Garmin, but I'm guessing roughly 11min miles.

Since I didn't go to the pool Thursday, I got up early (5am) so that I could swim this morning before my 7am appt with Trainer Guy. I also decided to complete W2D3 pushups so I could polish off week 2.

Wow. Maybe it was because I was already worn out from swimming, but my workout at the gym was extra tough today. By 9:00am, I was ready for a nap! Sadly, there has been no rest for me today and tomorrow doesn't look any easier. I may just have to wait for vacation to catch up on my rest and relaxation.

That's all for now. Happy Friday everyone!

Vacation Planning

For reasons I don't want to get into, I'm not swimming today. Maybe tomorrow instead. I still plan to do my pushups though. And I run this afternoon. So I'm not a TOTAL slacker.

Husband & I are going somewhere that's four time zones away. Somewhere we haven't been before. Fairly long flight. It's just the two of us going - that's unique - haven't done that since having kids! We'll be there on our anniversary and staying in a bungalo (is that romantic or what?!?). No, not Jamaica (nice try, but actually the wrong direction). Any other guesses?

Working on gathering some of the things we need. Here's a sampling:

Inlaws to mind the household while we're gone - check!
Passports - check!
Snorkel gear - check!
Disposable underwater cameras - check!
Bathing suits - check!
Water shoes - check!

Getting Plans in Order

Thanks everyone for your comments and encouragement. I'm feeling good about the upcoming event now. I'm also getting excited again especially since I got confirmation today that my registration was received!

I think I have my training in order now. I've had to move things around to accomodate swimming and pushups. Yoga won't be happening as much this month.

Today I returned to the pool in the early morning (6:30am) for another short swim (800yds). I focussed on form and counted strokes. I was swimming with purpose.

From there, I drove to the fitness center at work. I started off with my rope crunches and ab rolls and some stretches. Then I had someone that I trust check my form on modified pushups. When I was satisfied that I was doing them correctly, I picked up W2, D2 of the first column from the One Hundred Pushups program. I actually have this all laid out in a different format in excel for my tracking purposes. Each row is a day (they use columns). I will use this to guide my pushup training in the short term and mark off each row as I complete it. .

I may only do two rows per week, but that's okay. Also, if I get stuck, I won't advance. If I get really stuck, I'll modify the plan. I don't know how far I'll get, but whatever happens, this should be decent pushup training for the event

Oh yeah, and I'm heading out the door soon to meet the running group for a 4mile run. [EDIT - done! 4 miles @10:42 pace]

Then tomorrow is strength day at the gym in the morning and rest in the afternoon.

Now that I have my training figured out, it's time to focus on the upcoming trip. More hints in next post!!

Calming my nerves

While I’m happy to have an event on the horizon, I’ve been troubled because I feel like I’m much farther behind in my training that last year. And this quirky triathlon is in six short weeks! Funny how quickly I transitioned from excited to anxious.

Thanks to wonders of modern technology, specifically my Garmin and Blog archives, I found a way to do an objective evaluation to try to calm my nerves

RUNNING - This time last year, I posted about a 7 mile easy run at 12:28 pace. This year, I completed a 6 mile easy run at 11:16 pace. A little behind on distance, but my easy pace has picked up. Another data point is the sweetheart run 5K. Last year I ran the 5K in 30:14 uninjured vs. 30:08 this year with a hammy injury. I’m probably right where I need to be with running at the moment.

SWIMMING - This time last year I was swimming regularly, and doing about 1600 yd structured workouts including a lot of drills. This year, I’m just barely back in the pool and doing 800-900 yd unstructured workouts. For example, I went to the pool this afternoon and accomplished 900yds. That was enough to make my shoulders sore. I’m definitely behind in the water. This event has a short 300M swim so I don’t really need to be focusing on distance at the moment. I’d probably be better off focusing on form. Also, Sunday afternoon is a good time to swim, but I need to figure out one other day during the week when I can show up at the pool reliably. Once a week isn’t going to cut it! I’m thinking Tue or Thu morning.

PUSH-UPS - This time last year I couldn’t do a single “real” pushup! I’ve slacked off a lot on my pushups recently, but my upper body strength is much improved. I’m way better off today compared to last year. I had no problem doing 15 “modified” ones on Friday. If I simply add these into my regular strength work at the gym, I should be in good shape for this portion of the event.

Conclusion – I’m doing okay with running. I’m much better with push-ups and have a plan to work them into my strength work 2-3 times a week. I just need a plan for swim training and I should be fine!

Saturday Summary

Decision made. My registration for the Dash-Splash-Push Tri went out in the mail today. Woot!!

Sore and sleepy after six mile easy run (Garmin says 11:16 pace). I was hoping to swim this afternoon, but took a nap instead. Oops. Guess I'm swimming tomorrow instead.

Went bathing suit shopping for our trip and totally surprised myself by choosing a bikini (gasp!). As bikini's go, it's fairly modest, but it's been a long time since I've considered wearing one in public. Seriously. I don't even wear a normal bathing suit at the gym. Instead, I usually wear my favorite sports top and tri shorts (which is going with me on vacation, I might add, because it is perfect for snorkelling). I'm chalking this new bravery up to all the abs work and time at the gym.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Friday Follow-ups

ALLERGIES - Allergies are still beating me down. I decided to skip my run last night. Blech. This is particularly bad because I've under a lot of stress this week. Allergies + Stress = Unhappy Lisa

GARMIN - I also recieved my new Garmin cradle in the mail. As far as I can tell, it is working. Guess I'll find out when I try to use the Garmin next time.

DECISION - Leaning toward doing the push-up tri. I can run a practice 10K on my own some other weekend. Guess that means, I need to start doing push-ups again. Just for giggles, I did 15 modified ones this morning at the gym. It was kind of weird because I haven't done pushups like that for a long time. I'm not sure if I was doing them correctly. I was trying to follow the rules for the race. Elbows needs to be at a 90 deg bend in the down position, straight in the up position, and push-ups mut be done continuously with no resting allowed. The rules also state that women may have bent legs which is why I'm practicing them like that at the moment.

ABS WORK- Most of the exercises are getting easier which must mean that my abs are getting stronger. Yay! I wish I could say the same for my lower body stuff. Sadly I'm still struggling with those evil one legged squats.

slow run, decisions, & allergies

Yesterday evening I had 4 miles on the schedule. I got it done, but at a pace even slower than Saturday. I've basically slowed down incrementally for the past three runs. I'm not sure why that is, but I think it might have something to do with swimming on Sunday. I need to take another look at my schedule and figure out where I can double up and still maintain the rest day.

There is a 10K scheduled on April 18th (Sat) that I had tentatively put on my calendar as a "practice" for the 10K in May that I am more seriously training for (would love a PR). The Dash Splash Push event is scheduled for April 19th (Sun). Technically not a conflict since they are on different days, but it's probably not a wise idea to try to do both. And yes, that option is being considered. So now I have a decision to make. Do I do one or the other or both?

The pollen count has been through the rough lately. I think my sniffles/sneezing is allergies and not a cold. To top it off, my skin is a rashy mess ever since using the hot tub on Sunday. Yeah, it's quite attractive. I'm basically allergic to everything and my body is in histamine overload. Part of the wonderfulness of being me, I guess.

More on the PushUp Tri

I emailed the organizer to get more information about how this works with the pushups. Here is what I found out

"We will start with the run (3 miles), then straight to Swim (300 yards) and when you are done we will stop your time. When you will get to the push ups-station we will take 2 seconds off your time/each push up done properly! Push ups are judged by our personal trainers and they are performed according to American Council of Exercise (ACE) standards (where you go to ‘about’ 10 cm off the ground; chest almost touching). Women can choose to perform modified pushups."

After running and swimming, I'll be lucky to do 2 proper pushups, but maybe more modified ones. But based on the way this works I really don't think the push-ups will be much of a factor and shouldn't stop someone (me) from doing the event. Here's why I say that. Let's consider three scenarios: 100 pushups, 25 pushups, and 0 pushups. The 100 pushups will be worth approximately 3mins 20 seconds off your time, 25 pushups will take 50seconds off your time, and 0 pushups will mean your time stands.

I'm going to have to check my calendar, but this is almost too unique to pass up. I'm definately considering signing up! Normally I do "real" pushups, but I just might practice modified ones just for this event.

Monday Miscellany

I *just* got an email moments ago announcing a spring triathlon event in my area, with an interesting twist: "Our event is called Dash, Splash & Push, and it involves 3 mile run, 300 yard swim and Push Ups"

You're kidding me?!? Run, Swim, and then...no bike, but Push-ups?!?!? I definately need to check into this. I wonder what criteria they have for the push-ups. My curiosity is piqued.

Since yesterday was March 1st and I wanted to set myself up to start swimminga gain, I made it a point to actually get into the pool yesterday for the first time in months. Yowza! Swimming is harder than I remember.

This morning, I proceeded to wake up with sniffles and all sneezy. Wonderful. Get over the latest injury and catch a cold or something. Didn't stop me from going to the gym, but I didn't put the same focus and energy into it as I usually do.

Oh, and I tested the freaky frog feet in the hot tub yesterday. They are going to be brilliant as water shoes. Absolutely brilliant!!

That's all for now.

Freaky Frog Feet and Feb Totals

Yesterday we drove up to Santa Fe so we could get these:

What on earth are those? You might ask. They're called Vibram Five Fingers. The model is Sprint. Daughter thinks they make us look like we have freaky frog feet. I agree these aren't the most sexy footwear I've ever owned.

No, we aren't converting to barefoot running, although apprently they are popular for that. We bought them to use in the water.

"But you live in the desert?", you might be thinking. Yes we do. This purchase is for our upcoming 20th anniversary trip. Some place tropical. Think "second honeymoon." Yes, I'm very excited. More info with be forthcoming in upcoming posts, I promise.

February Totals
* Ran 35.5 miles
* Yoga 9 times
* Strength at the gym 11 times
* One race - 5K

Thoughts
* Stupid hamstring tendonitis really messed up my month. I'm so tired of being perpetually injured.
* Still loving the gym.

Plans for March
* Start swimming again
* 20th anniversary trip!!

Short Post about Long Run

Long run "with" running group today. Okay, it wasn't all that long, but it's the longest I've run for at least 4 months. Knee feels okay. Hammy feels okay. But nothing about this run was easy.

It was windy. I didn't sleep well last night. Six miles seemed to be pushin it based on my lack of running lately. But that is what was on my schedule and that's what I set out to do.

Honestly, I was ready to quit at mile 5. I stopped, walked a bit, drank some accelerade and pondered walking the rest of the way in. But then I decided I wanted it to be over more than I didn't want to run, so I convinced myself to start running again.

When it was all said an done, six miles at 11:30 min/mi average pace, although in reality, my pace was all over the map.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Mid-week Pacing Question

Four miles easy was on the schedule and that's basically what I did (included in the mileage is a half mile warm-up at the beginning and a half mile cool down at the end). I'm very happy to report that hammy wasn't much of a bother today.

Also, after talking with the technical support people, I figured out how to strong arm my Garmin into place on my existing cradle so that I could get it charged for my run. Therefore, I have a graph to show my splits (broken down by half mile). Basically, the w/u and c/d was at about 11:30min/mi and the rest of the run was centered around a 10:45 min/mi pace.

Here's where the audience participation comes into play. MacMillan calls 10:45 my steady-state pace. However, I'm not exactly sure what that means! And to be honest, I wasn't targetting any specific pace, this is just what natually occurred when I ran today.

If anyone wants to clue me in on what steady-state pace is, please do so. Is this what I should have run? Or should I have run faster or slower today? McMillan does give paces for easy runs, tempo runs, etc. I know that my long runs on the weekend should be easy pace, but for the shorter runs during the week days I really have no idea what pace to choose.

Garmin Issues

For the past several weeks, I've been having trouble with my Garmin. It doesn't seem to want to get a good connetion to the cradle that it needs to rest in for the battery to charge. The last several times that I've wanted to use it, I have found it to be sitting there with a dead battery.

I really wanted to have my Garmin with me last night when I met with the running group, so I brought the whole contraption with me to work so I could babysit it. I really thought it was going to be okay, but when I turned it on, it couldn't find the satellites - a typical sign of an uncharged battery.

I thought I was fully addited to the Garmin at one point, but what I miss most is knowing how far I've gone. How am I supposed to run 3, 4, 5,6 or however many miles if I don't have a reliable way to keep track of distance? I can do it by running near home at places that I've run before, but the group has been running on some new-to-me trails.

Tonight I will call the Garmin people and see what words of wisdom they have for me. I suspect that it is dead or dying, but maybe it has something curable.

As for yesterday, I decided to stick with yet another new lady who was doing a 5:3run:walk interval. This didn't aggravate the hammy (which is still not fully recovered) and it was nice once again to spend time getting to know someone new.

Oh, and thanks for all the great suggestions from my last post. For this week, I've just decided to let that missed workout on Monday go and stick to the planned schedule here on out.

Domino effect

It doesn't take much to trigger the domino effect that throws the training schedule for a loop.

Today should have been a gym day, but I had an appt with the dentist, so it ended up being an impromptu recovery day.

Maybe that was a good thing because yesterday should have been recovery, but I did the yoga that I missed on Saturday.

Of course I missed the yoga because we went to the gym to pick up the missing upper body exercises from earlier in the week.

But today I missed another strength session because of the dentist appt! Sigh.

And tomorrow is scheduled for 4 miles easy with the run group, but I didn't run last Thursday at all and I walked on Saturday, so I'm thinking maybe I should only do 3 miles this time and shoot for 4 miles next time.

What do you folks do when the domino effect comes into play? How do you know when to write off a missed workout vs. trying to replan to get everything back on track?

Super Saturday

I had a great session with Trainer Guy on Friday. He has some good ideas of what I can do to help with both the knee issue and this new injury to strengthen some of my weak areas. We also worked through my abs exercises.

The one thing we didn't get to was upper body. Husband missed his strength workout on Thursday and had upper body to do as well. So we went back to the gym today. Yay! I know some of you don't do much strength work, but I'm beginning to love my time at the gym as much as I love running. Does that make me weird?

Today being Saturday is one of the run group days. Well, I *did* meet with them and I *was* wearing my running clothes, but I didn't run. I'm fairly certain it would have been a bad idea to run today because the hammy thing is still bugging me. I realize that I'll be better off in the long run (heheheh - pun intended) if I let this heal completely.

So what was I doing there, you might ask? Well, there's a new lady in our group who's doing a run/walk program and today she was scheduled for 60min walk. I decided to join her, and I'm glad I did. It was nice spending some time getting to know her better.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Non-Running Thursday

As I mentioned Tuesday, I decided not to run today. Instead, I simply did my yoga, plus some core, and extra stretching. All of that felt fairly good; I think my body appreciated it.

In trying to diagnose myself, I found and article on Hamstring Tendonitis on The Injured Runner that includes this description:

"Hamstring Tendonitis is a pain that is felt on and just below the boney part of your butt that you sit on. The hamstring tendon attaches to this bone and can become painful. I have seen this develop after a runner stumbles and catches them self from falling forward. The hamstrings tighten to prevent the trunk from falling forward and may result in a pulled tendon in this area."

Yep, that's where it hurts, and that's how I did it! I'm still not sure how long to expect it to take to heal completely.

Tomorrow morning I am scheduled to meet with Trainer Guy at the gym. As always, I'm looking forward to that.

-------------- For Women Only ----------------

In an attempt to deal with this whole perimenopause thing, I have added two new supplements to my diet: 20g soy protein and calcium+magnesium+zinc. Will give it a month and let you know if there are any noteable improvements. [Edit to add: This is in addition to a high quality Fish Oil and Evening Primrose Oil that I recently started taking as well]

The most eye opening thing that I've learned in the past few months is how many different body functions are affected by hormones. It is beginning to make sense to me that the hormonal imbalance that naturally occurs during the aging process would therefore wreak total havoc on the body. The heart arrythmia that mysteriously presented itself in the past year is apparently a fairly common symptom. Who knew?!?!

This, That, & the Other

Clarification from my Abs post:
* My mystery exercise seems to be cat pose, but with abdominal vacuum included - meaning you blow out all the air in your lungs and suck in/tighten up your abs hard as you arch up - hold it 20sec or so - and repeat.
* Rope crunches are done on a machine. Again, tighten the abs as you do these, exhale, and curl down slowly (do not pull straight down). I found a video that basically shows it, but he's not exhaling and doesn't emphasise tightening the abs as he goes, so it's not exactly what I'm doing.

Running and the Injury
* Had a truly dis-satisfying run yesterday. I felt off the whole time and my hammy thing hurt more than usualy afterwards. I think I'm going to skip running tomorrow and give myself some more recovery time from that stupid injury.

Perimenopause
* Why is it that women don't talk much about the transition time up to ten years that leads to menopause? I didn't even know it "perimenopause" existed until fairly recently, yet here I am smack dab in the middle of it with no clue what the heck is going on with my body. Knowledge is power, people! I don't think this needs to be something that's kept hush, hush.

Conclusions from a Month of Abs Work

aka What I learned during the Sexy Six Pack Challenge

* The Yoga DVDs that I am doing do include abs work, but it's not sufficient if you want to target ab strength.
* I still don't like planks (as in I despise them).
* I've been doing crunches for awhile and I don't think they are all that effective either.
* Trainer Guy showed me 3 new Abs exercises recently. Those are the ones that I think are making an impact. He has me doing rope crunches, slow ab curls, and something I dont know the name of (you get on all fours, exhale, suck in your abs and arch up your back - and repeat - it's harder than it sounds!)

As for my strength test.
* I started able to do 20sec plank. The goal is 3 sets of at least 60 secs. I really don't like doing these, so it is unlikely that I'll ever really make progress here. The only way I can get myself to do exercises is by having fun with it and I simply don't find these fun. I don't even want to put in the effort to see where I'm at. Sorry! [UPDATE: I decided to do one plank and made it to 50sec]
* I started able to do 0 slow ab curls unassisted and barely 3 sets of 5 with assistance. The goal is 3 sets of 15 unassisted. I ended able to do 0 unassisted and 3 sets of 10 with assistance. I have a long way to go! But I like these, so I think I'm going to get there eventually. :-)

Bottom line
* I'll still do the yoga, but not because of abs.
* I will continue the exercises Trainer Guy gave me and hope to see additional strength progress in another month.
* Have I mentioned that I don't like planks?

Sweetheart Run 5K Race Report

*Also my FFFK for Nancy

Husband and I have done this run several times. We entered as a team. Somehow doing a Sweetheart Run as a team just seems a bit more romantic to me.

Anyway, the weather was nice this morning. It was about 30deg, sunny, no wind.

The course is mostly flat. Not pancake flat, but there are no actual hills. The elevation changes involve a bridge to go up and over and and underpass to get onto the trail.

I haven't run since last Thursday due to my stupid hamstring injury and wasn't sure how this would go for me. The plan was just to run easy, have fun, and if anything hurt in a bad way or got worse, to ease up and/or walk it in. No pressure. I didn't even bring my Garmin.

I'm happy to say that running was relatively pain-free!

It actually hurts more to sit than it did to run. I'm thinking the injury occurred to the ligament that attaches the hamstring to the bone and not the hamstring itself. When I sit, the weight of my body is right on the sore spot.

I think I saw 30:10 on the clock when I crossed the finish mat. Not bad at all given the circumstances. I will update sidebar later when official results are up.

I'm planing on taking it easy for the next few days and may rejoin the running group on Tuesday. Although, Husband & I may go for a bike ride on Monday since we both have the day off work. That probably depends on the weather.

Have a great weekend everyone! Hug someone that you love. :-)

{EDIT to add: Official results are posted. My finish time is listed as 30:08, a 9:39 min/mi pace. That's basically my 5K pace, so the hammy really didn't seem to affect my running. This put me at 7 of 35 women in my age group. Also, our team placing was 19 of 47 teams. Yay us!}

"Sexy Six-Pack" Progress

Against my better judgement, I've decided to be brave and post a composite photo of my mid-section.

For the before picture, I cropped out an image of my pudgy tummy from the swim exit during a triathlon last September and stuck it up in the upper right corner. The "after" photo is from a few days ago.

I realize it's not really an apples to apples comparison, so to a certain extent you will simply have to trust me on this - I'm seeing less pudginess (probably due to diet changes) and more definition (probably from the ab work).

As for the challenge itself, I had agreed to use "strength improvement" as my measure of success. I'm still planning to do that.

In any event, I'm motivated to keep working on my abs at the same level of intensity. Who knows, maybe I'll even post another photo a month from now...

Aging Gracefully?

Today is Husband’s 48th birthday. I’ll be turning 44 later this week. The kids somehow lost track of our age and were aghast to find out that we’re *that old*. Sure, we're no spring chickens, but I also don’t think we’re *that old*.

So, in honor of our birthday week, I will share a few thoughts on things that make me feel old vs. things that make me feel young.

Things that Make Me Feel Old

1) Watching my kids grow up. As I watch them grow older, it hits me that I must be growing older too. Son will likely leave the house in a year and a half. Daughter will be following a few years later. Where does the time go?

2) Sports injuries. The truth is, over-forties are more prone to injury and take longer to heal. I’m to be reminded of that every 4-6 months or so it seems.

3) Looking in the mirror. The grey hair. The wrinkles. The pudgy tummy. Definitely a different reflection than I saw 10 years ago. Perhaps this relates somehow to my obsession with cute workout clothes?

Things that Make Me Feel Young

1) Strength work at the gym. I’m able to see strength progress at the gym more quickly than speed progress or flexibility progress. I really don’t feel like a 40-something woman when I’m working out at the gym. Instead, I feel strong and youthful.

2) Long easy runs. Sometimes I feel like I can keep going and going at my slow easy pace. Kinda’ like the energizer bunny, only in slow-motion.

3) Being silly - in my mind, this is simply the opposite of being serious. Joking around, wearing an elmo hat on a run, dancing in the living room, making faces at the kids, “woohoo-ing” at friends at races, things like that. Perhaps these things make me look like a fool, but they make me feel vibrant.

Those who can't run...shop!

I went to the gym and was able to do about half of my stuff.

I wore a new workout top that I bought at Marshalls on Sunday.

I seriously do NOT need anymore workout clothes.

But it's really a cute top and was a great price!

Wish I could have snapped a gym queen photo today.

Too many people though, that just would have been weird.

I also bought a cute cashmere sweater, and wore it today to the office.

Oh, how I love Marshalls.

I could NOT get comfortable sitting in my office chair - too much pressure right on the sore spot.

After a few hours, determined that it would be best to work from home.

Had I known that, I would have saved the sweater for another day.

Tomorrow I may try yoga

Highly modified.

Oh, and I'll be wearing the cutest yoga top...

3 Days Later

Husband and I are signed up for the Sweetheart Run 5K this coming Saturday. I'm honestly not sure whether or not I'll be able to run by then.

The pain has changed. I'm fairly certain it's healing, but I don't know how long the healing process is going to take. I have sharp pain during certain movements. Dull pain when sitting. It feels okay when I stand. I also notice that the muscle is very tight. I'm trying to figure out how to stretch it gently without worsening the injury.

I haven't done much of anything for the past few days. Except knit. I'm about 3-4 inches away from finishing Daughter's scarf. That may turn out to be a good thing. The weather has taken a turn for the worse - windy/gusty with rain/snow in the forcast. She'll actually be able to use the scarf if I finish it up tonight.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

I must have jinxed myself with the whole "I feel better than I have for months" statement a few days ago.

Met with the running group for a thirty minute easy run. Everything was just fine.

I had maybe 4 minutes left when I stumbled/tripped/mis-stepped and felt a sharp sudden pain in my upper left hamstring.

If I learned nothing else last year, it was to stop when something hurts. So I stopped.

Stretched a bit.

Tried running again.

Leg screamed at me "Pain! Pain! Pain!"

Stopped again. Stretched again.

Walked on in. This is soooooooo frustrating. I finally feel like I'm doing things right. The next thing you know I prove myself to be a clutz and injure myself.

I'm guessing a sprain/strain of some sort. Hopefully it isn't too bad.

Iced it last night a few times. Iced it in the middle of the night. Icing it now.

Sigh.

Three topics

1) Decision on Spring Tri

I’m not going to do it. My fitness routine is working really well for me right now. I feel better than I have for months. I can't imagine switching things up & I’m not in that big of a hurry to add in cycling and swimming right now.

Seriously - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! I’ll do a few triathlons later in the season just like last year.

I'm happy with this decision.

2) More about my Yoga DVDs

I tested Dance the Chakras. I like the two yoga sets and three of the “dance” portions. Since it has the Matrix option, I can program it each time to deliver this workout to me. The rest of the DVD I won’t use – this turns out to be about half of it. If I paid full price, that would make me unhappy. However, it cost me a grand total of $9 including shipping from ebay so I’m fine with it.

Anyway, when I reviewed these Ana & Ravi DVDs before I should have mentioned something about that. My satisfaction would have been lower if I had paid full price.

Except for Yoga Beauty Body. I really like that one.

3) As promised - Why I moved

As some have guessed, the move was related to a certain wellness site and my decision to sever ties with them. There were several things about the site that made me uncomfortable (including them indicating that I was a “patient expert” - huh?? I'm an IT consultant!!) as well as some shady practices that have been documented on other sites. I was able to put this all behind me by having them remove my profile & old posts and by me shut down my old blog completely.

That’s all I have to say about that.

On a positive note, my blogger domain name now matches my blog title and that makes me happy.

"Group" Run

My running group meets Tue & Thu evenings and Sat morning. Late last night, Coach sent an email saying he couldn't be there, and gave us the instruction to run 30mins.

Then someone else emailed they wouldn't be there. Then another one.

By the time we were supposed to meet up, it turned out to be just me and one other. No worries, we didn't need the others. Ha! We were committed to run.

But neither of us had a watch. I decided to bring my cell phone and use it to keep time. That didn't work out so well. We ended up going long and ran for 50mins instead. Oops.

But you know what? It felt great!

Highlights from the Weekend

* Finished my first ever knitting project - a hat - and I wore it running on Saturday. Yay me! I'll try to get a decent photo, the one I have really didn't turn out too well.

* My easy run Saturday turned out to be at a ~10:30 pace. That's really good for me for an easy run. Might be because I had a running companion which made the run more enjoyable.

* Got about 10-12 inches done on daughter's scarf (2nd knitting project) yesterday.

* I've learned to enjoy the Ultimate Stretch Yoga DVD (my least favorite). It seems I just need to be in the right mood for that one.

* I had another Chiropractor appt on Friday and I must say that I feel fantastic.

* My abs are sore today in a good way.

* I paid attention to about two minutes of the Superbowl - the last minute of the first half, and the last minute of the game. Turns out those were some of the best moments to watch!

* My blog migration went smoothly.

* Son went to a high school dance on Saturday night (his second). I survived.

* My Dance the Chakras Yoga DVD arrived; looking forward to testing it out tomorrow

Jan Tally

The Numbers
- ran 29.6 miles
- 10 yoga sessions
- 13 strength sessions at the gym (upper/lower/core all together)
- 1 race (5K) and got bling!

Thoughts
- By design, Jan was another low volume run month.
- I'm happy with my overall fitness routine and happy to be running with the group again.
- My knee continues to do well and I'm feeling good. I think that's awesome.

Plans
- Keep on keepin' on with the routine and slowly begin increasing run mileage.
- Decide if I'm doing a spring triathlon or not. If so, I need to add in swimming and cycling soon.
- 5K Sweetheart Run with Husband in two weeks. :-)

P.S. Thanks for following me over here. Again, you'll have to follow this blog specifically if you want to keep reading. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Can You See Me Now?

I promise to explain the blog move soon. Right now I'm testing things out. I hope you can see this post and that my old content has moved successfully. I still need to fix the sidebar stuff.

You're going to have to follow this blog specifically if you want to keep reading. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Kick in the Abs

My core has traditionally been very weak. With the Sexy Six-Pack challenge going on, it seems like a good time to talk about ab work. This post is mostly for myself, to document where I'm at and what I'm doing. And for the record, I do focus on more than just abs in my core workouts, but this list is abs-specific.

Contained in Yoga DVDs depending on the DVD
* kundalini stretch pose - legs and head 6 inches off floor held for a target of 60 secs.
* one of the 5 tibetan rites - leg raises bending at the waist - doing these for about a minute
* something I don't know what it's called (helpful, huh?) but you do it laying on your back and bend knees and move the legs slowly up toward the chest then slowly straighten them back out
* plank - 1 set target of 60 secs

Included in my routine for strength days
* 3x20-25 bicycle crunches with ab roller. I want to get to the point where I don't need the roller, but right now I do.

How I will measure ab strength progress
* plank - 3 sets of X secs. Started off only able to hold for 20secs.

* slow ab roll ups with knees bent. Aiming for 3 sets of 15 unassisted. Started off unable to do any without assistance (get stuck rolling up).

I am fairly motivated right now to improve my core strength. We'll see what progress I can make with this routine and/or what modifications I need to make to see faster progress.

Group Run - Take 2

I did Yoga in the morning and had a weekday group run on my schedule for early evening.

It was particularly chilly today due to 20-30mph winds. Brrrrr. I definately would have skipped it if left to my own devices, but I showed up to run because of the group.

The plan was 30 mins easy. My Garmin battery was dead, so I'm really not sure if they slowed down or I sped up, but somehow I managed to stay with the group this time. It was nice to be running together (rather than alone) as it got dark when the sun went down.

We'll be running easy for a few weeks, then speedwork starts. Ick.

Impressions from my new Yoga DVDs

About three weeks ago, I mentioned that I had decided to buy some Yoga DVDs. Well, I've had them for awhile now and am ready to share my thoughts.

What I bought:
I started with an order for three Ana Brett & Ravi Singh DVDs. Specifically: Ultimate Stretch Yoga Workout, Yoga Beauty Body, & Warrior Workout. Ultimate Stretch was backordered, so I ended up adding Kundalini Yoga for Beginners & Beyond to my collection as well. I've liked most of these well enough to order another one (Dance the Chakras) off ebay but I haven't received it yet.

General comments:
- I was initially surprised by the combination of flexibility, strength, and cardio contained within these workouts. It's more challenging that I imagined.
- I chose to use these as my six-pack challenge work. There is definately a lot of core included. I'm doing better with the ab stuff as I continue working on it.
- This is way different from the Yoga I have done before.
- These DVDs are really aimed at women. I have a hard time imagining that a man would enjoy these specific ones, but I could be wrong.

What I like:
- These have the "Matrix" option which allows you to customize your workout from a menu of the various components, or you can just run it start to finish.
- I find this yoga style to be engaging and fun, not boring.
- Something about yoga is also relaxing. I feel positive and upbeat afterwards.
- I enjoy the music track on most of theses DVDs.
- The instructions are fairly clear and they give modifications for many poses.

What I don't like:
- Ana needs to wear more clothes. Seriously. Most of the time I have my eyes closed while I do this, so it doesn't bother me as much as it did at first.
- The "tune in" and "mediation" sections are too new age for me, but I use the Matrix options and have been skipping these sections all together
- Ravi makes some health claims that see outrageous to me. I choose to ignore much of that.

Comments Specific to each DVD:
- Yoga Beauty Body - My favorite of the bunch. Includes "the magnificent seven". I like both yoga sets on this one. I'm guessing that I choose this one every other time that I do yoga.
- Beginners & Beyond - I've been going straight to yoga set 2 (Five Tibetan Rites) after the warm-up. Good stuff. Set one is just so-so.
- Warrior Workout - Super challenging. Even the warm-up is challenging! I haven't made it to the 2nd yoga set on this one yet. I'm going to have to work up to this one.
- Ultimate Stretch - My least favorite. Can't put my finger on it, but this one just doesn't do it for me. Might give this one away at some point; maybe someone else will enjoy it.

Overall, I'm glad I spent the money on these. I've been doing them at least 3 times a week, look forward to doing them, and feel that I'm seeing results.

2009 Season Running Group Kick-off

Today was the first group run of the new year for our running group. I think eight of us showed up. The options were 30mins, 40mins, or 50mins easy. I opted for 40mins easy.

I started off with some others, but fell back after about half a mile because they were going too fast for my easy pace. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to show up to run with a group since most of the time I end up running by myself, but it definately helps to get me out the door and I enjoy chit-chatting before and after running so it's all good.

My stats for today:
* distance: 3.68miles
* avg pace: 11:19min/mi
* elevation change: +280/-275 ft

Knee is still doing well. That's good news. I'm also feeling some pain relief in my low back/right hip that I attribute to the chrioprator. Good stuff.

All in all, a successful run in my book.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!!

Simply Fabulous

I was tagged by Marlene from Mission to a(nother) Marathon with the Fabulous award. Thank you, Marlene.

The rules are to share 5 addictions and tag some others. Addictions, huh?

1) Marshalls. I mentioned earlier in the fall about the new Marshalls near me. Let's just say that the store manager made a point to let me know personally that they were having a special sale yesterday. Let that sink in for a minute. Um. yeah.

2) My Morning Coffee. I quit coffee for 9 months in 2007, but then started again. I'm very particular about it. I make it half regular, half decaf and use lots of half and half. I've been known to bring a french press and my own coffee when we travel.

3) Loose Leaf Tea. I make loose leaf tea and sip on it practically all day. At work, I'm rarely seen without my cup close by. Right now I'm particularly hooked on peppermint leaves. It's quite tasty and no caffeine.

4) The Blog-o-sphere. No surprise here. I love reading your blogs, commenting, posting, and receiving comments. For the most part I find this to be a truly supportive environment. So I'm considering this a healthy addiction.

5) Exercise. I was going to say running, but my addiction is bigger than that. It includes gym workouts, stretching, the events that I go to, even swimming and cycling when I'm triathlon training. Can't go too long without it before withdrawl sets in. Another healthy addiction.

And there you have it. As for tagging other, I'm going to pass on that because I don't know who has done this already and I'm really bad at narrowing down to a short list of names. I want to tag ALL of you. So consider yourself tagged.

Quick Post of a few Firsts

The little gym that I go to at work had the lights replaced for the first time in over 10 years. It's much brighter in there now, almost too bright. If you compare this photo to previous ones you can probably tell the difference.

I think this is the first time I've posted a photo of me in the shirt Husband made for me last year with my bike silouette on it. Pretty cool, huh?

This morning I went to a Chiropractor for the first time in my life. I've avoided it due to skeptism, but have a few nagging issues and I finally decided to try it out. After x-rays and diagnosis, he determined two spots needed adjustments. The first one startled me a little, but wasn't too bad. The second one provided instant relief. I know it takes a while to reprogram your muscles to keep things inline, but I'm now hopeful for some improvement.

Recipe for a Gym Queen

I've gotten several questions over the past few months asking what exactly it is that I do at the gym. I can never remember the names of things, so I usually can't answer, but today I took the time to look things up and will give it my best shot.

My current routine is as follows.

All of these are 3 sets of 8-12 reps unless otherwise stated, and my goals is to do this 2-3x per week (Mon, Wed, Fr mornings). That is very doable now, with running added in Tue/Thu/Sat but it will be challenging when I add swimming and cycling back in for triathlon training.

Upper Body
- Cable Seated Rows
- Incline Bench Press
- Shoulder Abduction (?)
- Bicep Curls
- Tricep Pull Downs

Lower Body
- One legged squats (although I've seen them called one legged lunges)
- Squats
- Stiff legged dead lifts

Core
- Bicycle Crunches w/ ab roller (3 reps of 20-25)

Things that I've dropped over the past few months because of time limitations that I'd like to add back in at some point:
- pushups (real ones, not modified. goal is 15, 12, 10)
- plank (goal is 3 sets of 90 secs)
- rocking v-ups

Other
- I also do at least 15 mins of stretching and use the foam roller almost every day. I usually do this at the gym.
- I've added in Yoga DVDs (they take about an hour) 5 days a week, but probably will have to cut that down to 3-4. This is done at home, but somehow seemed worth mentioning. Not sure why.

One last comment. If there are any women who read this and have been thinking about doing strength work at the gym but are intimidated for some reason, I highly advise working with a Trainer at least a few times to make sure you are doing things correctly. With a little guidance, it doesn't take long to gain confidence. In addition to the physical benefits, I find working out at the gym to somehow be very empowering and good for self esteem (an added bonus!).

Frantic Friday

Ever have one of those days where you wonder where the time went? That was me today.

Day started with an appointment with Trainer Guy this morning. He reviewed my form on the upper body stuff first. He had some minor form corrections, but generally gave me positive feedback. Next we spent time on lower body stuff. I showed him my one legged squats. Those are difficult, but apparently look good. He added regular squats and stiff legged deadlifts. Aye carumba! Tough stuff, but I'm up for the challenge.

Came home and did some yoga with one of my new DVDs. I've actually been working through those DVDs almost every day for a week. In another week or so, I'll write a detailed post about all of that.

Showered and jumped in the car. I needed to drive downtown to pick up my bling. What? I forgot to mention that? Oh yeah.

Well, apparently the event on Sunday was small enough that I actually placed in the women's division for the 5K. Which means the "woman" with the chihuahua was actually a "youth female" And I still think the chihuahua cheated.

Next, I was off for some beautification at the salon. I hadn't had my hair color freshened up since September and it was really bugging me. It looks much better now, if I do say so myself.

Then a quick late lunch so I could head over to friends' house to see their new dogs. Cute!!

Rushed home after that to get Daughter so we could go b'day shopping for Son who turns 17 on Tuesday. Mission accomplished. Whew.

Back home to finally get the Christmas tree out of the house. After Christmas, I couldn't get our tree back into the box, so I ordered a storage bag for it. Meanwhile, the tree partly in the box and partly out of the box has been sitting in the great room. The storage bag finally arrived yesterday, so I was able to get it into the garage and out of the house. Yay.

Now I'm sitting on the couch for basically the first time all day. Ahhhh.

Not for long though. It's just about time to make dinner.

Sigh.

My New Toy

First, thanks for all the insightful comments to my last post. I'm still not sure if 36 hrs is enough, but the general consensus was "listen to your body." Can't go wrong with that!

I've mentioned the desire to monitor my weight and body fat together, rather than weight only. Well, I finally decided on and purchased something for this purpose, the Omron HBF-500, and was able to order it online for under $70 including shipping.

I've had it for about a week now. Here are my thoughts.

I believe the weight is both accurate and consistent. I've stepped on and off the scale and had it return nearly identical readings, better than our other scale. It also returned a number close to the reading from a nurses office earlier in the week when I first got it. And as long as I step on it at the same time each day, I'm getting consistent readings day after day. For that matter, I consistently get a higher reading at night than in the morning. For my own purposes, I've decided that the scale is cranky in the evening and shouldn't be bothered. I now only use it in the morning after it's had a good night's sleep.

The body fat feature is a little tricky at first. It works for up to four users. You have to program in some data before first use and if you want the BF measurement, you have to remember to tell it which user you are before you step on the scale.

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but again, it is consistent. It measures my body fat within a single percentage point each time. It is, giving a reading about 4 percentage points higher than the reading from the nurses office the week I got the scale, but I don't know which reading is more accurate. I figure it doesn't matter if the absolute number is correct. If the scale is consistent, I should be able to tell if I'm making relative progress in the desired direction.

Other features include visceral fat level, skeletal muscle percentage, resting metabolism, and body mass index, but I haven't used any of those at this point.

Overally, I'm pleased. If anyone is considering buying a scale with BF feature, I'd recommend considering this one as you are making your decision.

Rest, how muich is enough?

During the summer, part of my schedule looked like this:
* Thu - speed work with group
* Fri - Rest
* Sat - long run with group

On the surface, it looks like a legitimate rest day sandwiched between two run days.

However, Thu speedwork was 7pm on Thu and the long run was 7am on Sat. That means only 36 hours between workouts.

Is that enough to truly count as rest?

Because today I realized that I could achieve the same thing (36 hrs between workouts) without actually taking a day off.

Example:
* Mon - weight training 7AM
* Tue - Run 7PM

See? It's got the same 36 hrs break in between workout, no off day.

Thoughts?

Up & Running 5K Race Report

Today was a local race called "Up & Running" which had a 10K and a 5K. It started on the walking bridge over the Rio Grande and had an out and back down along the Bosque Trail along the river as shown by the map below:



Pros:
* It was a great excuse to get out and run on a cold Jan morning.
* They set up some tents on bridge & played music. It was a very festive atmosphere.
* Packets were put together in reusable shopping bags. We'll get a lot of use out of those.
* Race venue was very close to home, maybe 6 miles from my house.

Cons:
* Start time 8:00am on a cold January morning. I much prefer a later start time (9am or 10am) during winter.
* Weren't set up to accept online or mail in registration. They expected people to drive downtown to the BCPR office while it was open (mon-fri 8-5am). I called and asked if I could mail my registration in and they let me do it, but it was an exception. I believe they would have had a bigger turn out if they had an easier way to register.

It was about 22 deg when we left the house. The sun wasn't quite up over the mountains either. Brrrrr!! I was going to take a self-portrait with my cell phone, but my fingers were just too cold.

They started the 10K first and started the 5K runners ten minutes later. The first half mile was mostly downhill. The middle was mostly flat. Then uphill at the end.

The field was small enough that there were only a few people between husband and I after mile one, so I could see him up ahead. I tried to keep him in my sights on the way back, but just couldn't keep up.

No worries, I told myself, I was out there to run my own race anyway.

Near the end of the race, I was passed by a woman and a chihuahua. I didn't mind being passed by the woman, but a chihuahua!?!? That's actually pretty depressing if you think about it.

Here's the graph of my splits, courtesy of Garmin. Official results will be posted by tomorrow afternoon. Garmin says I ran 30:31, average pace of 9:55.

If I could run the whole 5K like mile one, I would be a very happy woman. Guess that's something to work toward this year when I actually start training.

Also, while I'm pleased that I had some energy to kick it up a notch at the end for that final stretch, I can't help but wonder if maybe I could/should kick it up a bit sooner...

All in all, it was fun little event. Something I'll consider doing again next year.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Treadmill Run

[Second post in one day. Sorry about that! If you haven't already, you can find out the result my random act of kindness and congratulate the winner by referencing my earlier post from this morning.]

So remember yesterday how I was going to do a treadmill run, then I wasn't?

Well, actually I did.

As I was driving in, I remembered that I had an appt with Trainer Guy today and wasn't sure if we were going to work upper body or lower. I didn't want to be in the situation of running after a lower body workout, so I figured I should just do the treadmill run as planned.

Bleck.

But I tried to make it interesting and devised the following workout. Thirty minutes, broken down by alternating 2 minute thirty second intervals of walking (0% incline 3.8 mph) with running (3% incline 6.0 mph). It was actually a decent workout and something I could do again without too much dread.

So this morning I met with the Trainer and we did upper body. So I probably could have done the outside run today afterall, but better safe than sorry.

By the way, he has me doing five exercises. Two of them are things I was already doing so mostly he just checked my form on those. Three are new to me. I don't know the names of things, so I'll spare the detail of me trying to describe it all. I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling this tomorrow. I meet with him again next Friday. Cool.

Happy Friday everyone and have a good weekend! I've got a 5K fun run planned for Sunday morning. Eek! Expecting temps of about 22 degrees at race time. We'll see just how fun *that* is.

The winner is...

I did this the old fashioned way. Put all the names in a hat (except for a few that asked to be left out of the drawing for one reason or another). Closed my eyes. Mixed them up. Pulled one out.

The photo is a little fuzzy, but as you can see, the winner is JoyRuN. This is what she shared as a learning from 2008:

"Biggest thing I learned in 2008 is that I AM capable of running a marathon!"

Congrats, Joy! Please send me your address and I'll get the DVD out to you. Hope you enjoy it. I've sure enjoyed everybody's learnings.

Quick Updates

* If you want a chance at my Random Act of Kindness, please comment on that post today. I'll be chosing a name tomorrow. Watch this space!

* Spent more time on the phone with the insurance company and finally got somewhere. As of yesterday afternoon, they told me that the claim will be reprocessed and paid. Yippppeee! I'm feeling victorious.

* Another treadmill run on the calendar today. I'll be trying to find a way to make it into a game, but I haven't had enough time to plan a strategy for that. Sigh. EDIT: I'm on my way out the door and I've just decided to skip the treadmill run today and run outside tomorrow instead because I have the day off! Win-win! I'll do lower body stuff today instead.

* I am giddy like a school kid because Husband & I are *trying* to plan something very cool for our upcoming 20th anniversary. More on that later...

Gotta' run. Happy Thursday folks!

Tuesday Tidbits

* I've really enjoyed the comments to my last two posts. I'm feeling encouraged about trying out the yoga DVDs. It's also interesting to read about all of your learnings from 2008.

* I'm having blood drawn tomorrow at 6:30am for the annual health for life program at my work. They actually encourage us by giving us $$ to have some bloodwork done, meet with a coach, and use the mayo site. It's a fasting blood test, so my plan is to bring an apple and some milk with me so that I can snack immediately after the labs and then head to the gym before work.

* How's this for a bunch of crap. A few weeks ago I got a bill from an emergency room visit back in August of 2007. The bill says that there records show that I'm uninsured, self pay. But I also notice that there was some sort of coded comment from November regarding my insurance (so clearly they know I have insurance). Called the insurance company and they told me that the emergency room submitted this portion of the bill in Oct 2008. Since it was over a year from the date of service they denied it. So now I'm stuck with the bill?!?! Anyway, after a lengthy discussion they said they'd reprocess the claim. We'll see what happens, but this is really frustrating.

* Three times now I've done those evil one legged things that Trainer Guy showed me. Not really getting easier yet. Sigh.

* Today I'm scheduled to do a short treadmill run. Yippee (yes, that's with sarcasm). It just gets harder and harder for me to stay motivated on the treadmill. I'll be a lot happier in a few months when I'm running outside in the mornings or evenings again.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Act of Random Kindness

Almost all my readers are runners. I'm sure you'd each like to know how to:

· Expend less energy to run fast
· Begin using your body’s natural shock absorption
· Distribute running workload optimally to avoid fatigue in any one muscle group
· Minimize vertical displacement
· Avoid “braking” with each step
· Utilize elastic recoil for “free speed”

Well here's your chance. I'm feeling generous and decided to perform a random act of kindness and give away a slightly used "Evolution Running" DVD to one lucky commenter to this post.

Simply leave me a comment letting me know one thing you learned in 2008.

The fine print
* only comments to this specific post are eligible
* if you win, you will need to provide your mailing address so I can ship it to you
* leave only one comment to this post or I may remove your name from the hat entirely
* please understand that I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart, not because I'm sponsored. The DVD is used, but good condition
* drawing will be held on the morning of Friday 09-Jan

Yoga?!?

So as I've mentioned before, I've tried Yoga several times and basically hated it. I had basically written it off.

But then earlier this week Trainer Guy said to me "You're really tight. Yoga would be good for you."

"No I don't think so. I don't like Yoga"

"Why not?"

"It's too slow. Boring. I don't like it."

"You know, there are different types of Yoga, maybe you should try one of more active types."

For days I've been mulling this over. Really?!? There are different types of Yoga? I thought Yoga *was* a type. A slow boring type.

So I looked into it. Apparently I've done Hatha Yoga. I am certain that I don't like that Hatha Yoga. But perhaps I may have been premature on writing off Yoga all together.

Without much more than that to go on I did some research and ended up ordering the following DVDs from Amazon.com: "Ultimate Stretch Yoga Workout", "Warrior Workout - Kundalini Yoga", and "Yoga Beauty Body"

Who knows. I may hate all of them too, but what have I got to lose?

The three DVDs together cost about the same as month at the gym with a pool. I wasn't planning to renew my membership there until February (using the work gym for free) so worst case its costing me the same as a month at the pool.

Seemed like a reasonable investment.

I'll let you know my thoughts after they arrive and I've have time to try them out. If you've used them and liked it, let me know. Or really, let me know anything and everything that you like about Yoga. I could use all the encouragement you have to offer!

Smiling

As I was laying out my plans for 2009, I couldn't help smiling. Sure I'm slow and my race schedule isn't all that challenging. But I've come a long way, baby!

Allow me to elaborate.

In the middle of 2005 I made two life changing decisions:
1) that I would celebrate every day that I was blessed with good health by getting up off my rear and moving my body and 2) that I would complete a sprint triathlon the following year.

Unlike many of you, I was not an athlete in my younger years. I couldn't swim across the pool, didn't own a road bike, didn't have a decent pair of running shoes, and had spent the better part of 40 years sitting on my rear.

I bought some running shoes. I took swim lessons. I bought a road bike. I started off slowly and gradually built up my distances. It was challenging, but I never gave up. If you've ever wondered why I use the Slow&Steady moniker, now you know.

This morning I plotted out three things: the number of events that I competed in, my longest run, and my longest bike ride. I wanted to include something about my longest swim, but I couldn't easily find that information, so I left it out. It starts with all zeros in 2004, but shows progress year on year. For that, I am truly grateful.

You've got one life. Live it and enjoy.

Tentative 2009 Race Schedule

Happy New Year everyone!! We started ours off with a trip to the gym while the kids were sleeping over at friends houses. Might go for a run later, we'll see.

This is the year of good health and fun and that's what is reflected in my race planning.

I'm confident that my knee can handle 5K and 10K distances, so that's what I'm eyeing this year. Plus a few sprint triathlons and a couple cycle events. I'm still wanting to add in a few trail races when I find out more about what my options are.

Of course, it's all subject to change, but at this point I'm ready to let the games begin!!

JAN
- Up&Running 5K Goal: Have fun!
FEB
- Sweetheart Run 5K Goal: Baseline performance
MAR
- tbd

APR
- maybe Spring Fling Tri (5k run/30k bike/400yd swim) but I don't like reverse tri's and it's Easter weekend.
- Johnny Rocket 10K Goal: Baseline performance
MAY
- Run for the Zoo 10K Goal: 10K PR!
JUN
- maybe Cherry Garcia 10K it's an evening race, not my favorite
- Albuquerque Century Goal: finish 100K or 100 mile ride

JUL
- Women's Distance Festival 5K Goal: PR!
AUG
- Socorro Sprint Tri (400m swim/12.5 mi bike/5K run) Goal: Have fun!
- Nike Human Race 10K Goal: Have fun!
SEP
- Chips&Salsa 10K Goal: PR
- Patriot Tri (400yd swim/30K bike/5K run) Goal: PR!

OCT
- maybe Chase the Balloons 100K ride
- maybe Duke City Half Marathon, knee permitting
NOV
- maybe Hobbler Gobbler 5K depends on whether or not we stay in town for Thanksgiving
DEC
- Jingle Bell 5K - Goal: Have fun!