BOOM!!! First in my age group, bitches!!!

Okay, no, I wasn't fast. But I still came in FIRST in my age group in this morning's 5K.

Ye-ah, boooy, that's right.

Full race report to come soon once the pictures are up and someone knocks me off of my pedestal.

For the time being, I will continue riding up on my high horse and annoying Martin everyone around me with my pompousness.

What the hell happened to all my time?

First, forgive me for being in the foulest mood, but a sucky run, a person impinging orders upon you that should have been taken care of earlier and iTunes taking a freakin hour to update (I kid you not. I started the update at 11 pm. It is now freakin midnight and it is just now asking me to restart the computer to finish the install. Sigh.) will do that to you.

I don't seem to have enough hours in the day anymore to run or work out as often as I would like. However, this afternoon (evening?) after work was one of the few times I could. So I planned on doing an easy 10 miles. I could barely eek out 5! And I wanted to stop and walk so many times at that. It was a struggle to force myself to finish just the 5. I was and still am so disappointed in myself.

I know it's just one bad run, but my last run was like this, too, the one where I couldn't even finish 3 miles. I'm worried that I might be in a slump, and I have a freakin 5k race the day after tomorrow! Sigh.

So I decided to pick myself up and download some new tunes to inspire me. And yep, that's when iTunes decides to be a bitch and antagonize me even more.

I'm just feeling all seven kinds of craptastic right now.

Fuckin great. Blogger decides I need to be kicked when I'm down, too, and refuses to post this entry.

MARATHONER IN TRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!

I checked my email this morning with great anticipation. It was there! The email I had been hoping for!

Yes, my technically challenged ass just took a pic of my iPad with my phone. I can't figure out how to upload pics and screenshots from my iPad to photobucket.

Anyway ... I GOT IN!!!!!!! To get into the Nike Women's Marathon, you have to be chosen in a lottery if you're not a college student or part of a Team in Training (fundraising group).

I started jumping around like crazy when I saw the email. I am so excited!

MY FIRST FULL MARATHON!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

04/26/11 Weigh-in: 126.0, 25.6%

Holy moly!

I hopped on the scale before I jumped in the shower. Wow! 126. My weight has been fluctuating between 121 and 124 the past week.

126.

Well, I guess that correlates with my giant spare tire and tight jeans.

And I'm sure the Chinese food and peanut butter M&M's today didn't help matters any. Oh, and the lack of exercise, too.

Jeez, I never used to worry about my weight. As long as my fat percentage was low I didn't care. But now both are up.

Alright, time to get back on track.

But first I must finish the rest of my M&M's. Waste not, want not, right?

Insanity - Round 2

Alright, with gym time limited nowadays, my fat ass is attempting doing Insanity again.

First I did 40 minutes of weights on my own. I'm skipping the Fit Test, because I always found it too stressful trying to beat my previous numbers. So I did Plyometric Cardio Circuit tonight.

I was sweating buckets as expected, and couldn't match them move for move, and had to take a few extra breaks, but all in all, it wasn't especially horrible, probably because I remember the super torture workouts from Month 2.

Alright, Day 1 done!

Not looking good

I took Katie on a walk this morning with my Garmin to see how far our normal route is. 1.65 miles done in 30 minutes.

Then I left her at home and set out to do my regular 3 mile hilly neighborhood route. Ugh! I had to take a walk break after the first hill. I attested it to me running it up really hard - 1:48, normally I do it in about 1:5X. Unfortunately many other walk breaks ensued. I didn't want to run anymore and cut it short. 2.64 miles in 27 minutes. I was completely disappointed in myself after seeing the distance. If I would have just stuck it out a few minutes longer I could have finished the full 3 miles.

Later I took the kids to Target to try and score some discounted Easter candy since neither of my stingy children wanted to share their chocolate bunnies with me. I got there too late and all they had left was Easter marshmallows, which I still bought for the kiddos. So I just bought regular candy. Yum!

Don't worry. All is not lost. If you look closely, you'll see some fruit in there. I love clementines.

I couldn't find scissors and tore open the bag of M&M's. They started spilling everywhere so I just emptied it into a zip lock bag.

How deceiving! This is all you get in that big ol bag! Well, okay, I might have already gobbled up a few handfuls first. But still!

Anyway, I suppose I should cut back on all the sweets and junk I've been eating.

My spare tire is looking large. Eek!

See spot run

I didn't listen to my tired legs and set out to do 7 miles with Katie this morning. Well, we did it. But there was a helluva lot of running/stopping/walking involved, heavy on the walking. 7.11 miles in 1:24. It's really tiring running/walking with her. It's hard for me to find a rhythm running with her not heeling properly yet. One time I set out to pick up my pace and she darted in front of me trying to get to some animal in the bushes on my right. I almost face-planted.

My plan was to add one mile a week to "our" long runs to acclimate her. But I don't know if both of us can handle 8 miles next week.

After our "run" I drank my recovery drink.

I used to drink chocolate milk, but it just seems gross after a run. So I like to drink a yummy concoction of milk (1/3 cup), oj (2/3 cup) and a half scoop of protein powder. It tastes just like an orange julius. Yum!

When I showered after my run I noticed all these red spots on my torso. WTH?

It doesn't look that bad in the picture but those spots were really red and itchy. They've since disappeared, but I thought it was weird. I blame my allergies.

And just because I love her gap-toothed smile and sense of fashion ...

My day so far

Woke up a bit late this morning since my daughter didn't have school and took Katie out for a nice leisurely walk.

Scarfed a brownie down before heading to the gym to try to replicate the previous "strong" feelings. Didn't work. My run was tiring. A little over 3 miles, hill intervals. Hard. I had to walk on the recoveries. Did about 45 minutes of weights with Steph.

My legs are feeling tired. I think they are telling me to rest.

Went to Target with Martin and hurriedly bought some stuff for the kiddos for Easter. Sorry, didn't take any pics of that exciting event.

Came to work and saw our new Costco work stations. Fancy.

Mine is the one on the left with the plastic bag full of food on it. I now get to stare at my office mate all day long. The place is closing down (Although there has been no official announcement, but come the fuck on! How can we not know?) and they have been slowly selling off all the office furniture.

This is how my work station looked yesterday.

Please excuse my dorky faces. Of course, this was after I had cleaned off my desk and walls. My cube usually looks like a tornado went through it.

This pic was also taken yesterday and I'm probably the only one who thinks it's funny.

It looks like the see-saw fell over and knocked my dog out. Truth is one of the kids knocked it over and my dog just likes sleeping in a hole in the dirt that she and my son dug up. The pic still cracks me up.

I got a freakin bug stuck in my eye!

I went to the trails Tuesday afternoon to do a nice six miler in the fresh outdoor air. At about Mile 2 I felt something fly in my eye. I rubbed it quickly and saw a black spot on my finger. Phew, I thought, thank goodness I got that bug before it got into my eye.

After my run I checked my reflection in my car mirror. My sweaty face and neck was COVERED with dead gnats! Gross! I wiped off as best I could with the wipies I kept in my car. When I pulled into my driveway, my left eye felt a bit irritated. I checked it in the mirror and pulled down the bottom of it so I could check where it stung. There was a freaking dead gnat stuck in the bottom crevice! I rubbed the hell out of it, tried getting it out with a q-tip and tried letting the water hit it when I was in the shower. Nothing! It was stuck!

Finally, a friend told me to try flushing it out with water. I went over to my bathroom sink, held the eye wide open with one hand and threw cold water into it with the other. Yay! It was gone! That was so disgusting!

My last two runs have been really great. This morning, the plan was to do any easy three. Well, I just felt like letting my legs fly about a mile and a half into my run. I kept increasing the speed every quarter mile during the second mile and the third mile I increased it every tenth of a mile. I finished the three miles at a 7.4 speed, which means I did the last mile at sub 9! Speedy for me!

Yesterday I was feeling strong on my run, and decided to do inclines. I kept gradually increasing the incline and felt so good! At times I wondered if the treadmill was broken because it felt so easy (and I was doing 6.0, too!). The last incline was 6.5. Awesome!

I hope this strong feeling stays. Maybe it was the brownie I had prior to each of those runs.

A horrible sense of smell

I took Katie to the trails this morning for a run. The first mile of the 5K coming up at the end of this month is all uphill. The first mile of the trail I run is all uphill so I thought it'd be great practice for the race.

Normally in the past I've been able to run up the hill nonstop. Not today. I would like to say it was because I had Katie and all that dragging and pulling took a lot of energy, but that really wasn't it. I hadn't run the trails in a while and I was ill prepared.

However, I was able to run back up the hill going back so I didn't feel like a total loser. My garmin read 4 miles in 48 something minutes. Not too bad for me, especially considering the hills and walk breaks.

I figured this hill would be comparable to the upcoming 5K's hill. Well, I checked the course elevation. The hill I did this morning had an elevation gain of about 300 feet. The elevation gain in the 5k hill? 800. C.R.A.P. That is more than twice as steep! What the hell?!

Ah, well. It will be a challenge.

I have always had a horrible sense of smell. I guess with my super bad allergies this time of year makes it even worse. We let Katie inside the house this evening, and I thought everything was all fine. Until I saw my husband cover his nose with his shirt. I guess Katie's strong doggie smell is back with a vengeance. The bad part is that I didn't even notice it. Wonderful. I'm going to be one of those people whose houses smell horribly and I won't even know.

The important thing is that you look good

I want this!

 

And yes, it's because it has the cutest back! I've seriously been coveting tanks that have super cool backs. I was eyeing one from www.6pm.com for the longest time. It was made by Brooks and had a cool criss-cross type of back. Well, now that Martin's given me the green light to spend some cash, it is no longer there! Waaahhhh!

So I'm thinking about buying that blue and green Pearl Izumi beauty you see above.

Boredom will make you broke.

Welcome to the gun show!

I am so bored, I have resorted to taking pics of myself flexing. Heh. How vain. Well, if you don't count the no make-up and bangs pinned back. I like how you can see my work-out clothes hung out to dry in the background there.

I didn't go to work today because my daughter sprained her ankle, and I had to take her to the doctor's. Minor sprain, nothing serious, and she can go back to school on Monday.

I suppose I can clean up right now, or pay some bills, or homeschool my son. But none of those things sound like fun.

In dog news, I got this beauty for my girl:

I must be like the best dog owner ever! Hehe.

How could I forget? Shorts!

I almost forgot to mention that yesterday's 6 mile run was done in shorts! I have never run in shorts before. I've got thick legs and my thighs usually rub together. I remember a few years ago after a day at the watermark, the inside of my thighs were all red and sore from rubbing together all day. Yeah, slim legs I have not.

But I've been working out a lot and thought I would see if I could get away with it. And I did! Six miles and no chaffing! My thighs did feel a bit exposed though as they are used to being covered.

I did three miles this morning at the gym. It was supposed to be an easy three to recover from yesterday's run. I saw Steph there before her Zumba class and we hopped on the treadmills next to each other. She started off at 6.5 and ran her mile at that pace. I looked at her enviously as I trotted along at 5.8 (trying to up my easy speed a tad). After her mile we said our byes and she went to her class. I felt like a wuss. So at Mile 2 I upped my speed to 6.0. Unfortunately about a half mile in, I got tired and had to take it back down to 5.8 for about a tenth of a mile, then back to 6.0. At the start of Mile 3, I upped it to 6.2, after a half mile I upped it to 6.5 and finished the last quarter mile at 7.0. Woo-hoo! 3 miles in about 29:33. So much for a recovery run.

Six wonderful, wonderful dog-less miles

I went to the gym after work today intent on doing around five or six miles. My last three runs have all been less than stellar:

Saturday - 1.75 miles
Sunday - 5 miles
Monday - 1.75 miles

I mean, come on! Who the hell runs 1.75 miles! I'll tell ya who - someone being dragged by a dog who no longer wants to run anymore, that's who.

I have never been so happy to be running solo in all my life. The original plan was an easy five or six. But I was feeling good so decided to make it a tempo run. Mile 1 was the standard 5.7 easy pace. Then Miles 2 through 4 were done at 6.0, my sorta hard pace. By this time a guy had gotten on the treadmill next to me and was doing 7.0. I was inspired. I took the towel off of my display to see where I was at and saw that I was already in Mile 5. I had wanted to do Mile 5 at a faster pace as I was still feeling strong. So I did the last half of that mile at 6.5. I was so proud of myself. The time read 50 minutes when I was done with the five miles, so I reset the treadmill because I still had my cool down mile to do and I would be cutting it oh so close with the ten minutes left. I started doing my last mile at 5.7, but a really good song was playing on my iPod (All These Things by The Killers), so I picked it up again. "Cool down" mile was done in 9:33. Hehe. I could have let the treadmill continue.

6 miles in less than 60 minutes. Yay, me!

It has gone horribly, horribly wrong

I sit here in my family room trying to be as quiet as possible so my dog does not hear me. She is outside sleeping in the sun. If she detects me she will run to the door and bark until I let her in. I don't mind her inside ... if she didn't chew up all the furniture or stopped jumping on me or the kids when we're just hanging out on the couch.

Walking/running with her is a freakin nightmare! I walked her to the vet yesterday and she yanked me so hard that I freaking fell on the ground. Really! My bag fell to the ground and I was on my hands and knees with my five year old asking if I was okay.

She is not a stupid dog (although that might be what I mutter when I talk about her to my husband). After that day with the trainer, I actually was able to teach her to sit on command in one day. She listens about 75% of the time. I'm continuing to go over it with her, and I'm also now working on "down" with her.

Honestly though? I'm about ready to give up.

My left arm is gonna be so buff!

I took Katie out for our first run yesterday. We did almost 2 miles. Surprisingly she wasn't that bad. As long as I kept up a decent pace she stayed next to me. I couldn't check my pace though because I had to keep my left arm (my Garmin-clad arm) down to hold her in place.

This morning I planned on taking her out for six miles. I cut it short to five when I saw her starting to pant at about two and half miles in. Today was not so good. She kept pulling like crazy. My left arm is so sore for constantly keeping her in check. We did about 5.2 miles in 62 minutes. There was a lot of stopping and walking involved. Running fast, getting pulled by a dog and pulling a dog consumes a lot of energy!

I tried the sporn halter on her yesterday for a walk. It didn't stop her pulling so I returned it and got a Premier easy-walk harness. I used that for this morning's run. I was going to return that,too, since it didn't work either. Unfortunately, for some reason. I left it outside after our run (I always bring her leash inside), and later when I went to go get it, I found that Katie chewed it to all hell. Bye, twenty-five bucks. Sigh.

Sit fail

Well, my dog is too skittish to sit. Noelle, the dog trainer, tried, God bless her, but Katie just would not get her bottom on the ground. Noelle suggested we wait about a month for Katie to get more comfortable and settled in her surroundings. Katie was pretty nervous. Plus we were inside and Katie is used to hanging out outside. Too bad it started hailing right in time for our lesson.

Regardless, if I can wake my ass up early enough, I think I'll take my girl out for our first run tomorrow. I'm pretty sure she'll drag the hell outta me, but she needs her exercise. She's starting to chew up everything in sight in our backyard.

Suicide drills with a one-eyed hound dog

I haven't taken Katie running with me yet because I cannot for the life of me get her to stop pulling on the leash. Hopefully a few meetings with the dog trainer will fix that.

So to get her some much needed exercise she and I play "chase" around the kids' playstructure.

This pic is from last week. Martin and I finished it over the weekend. But you get the idea - lots of things for a half-blind dog to bump into. Hehe.

I forgot how fun it was to run while playing. I couldn't help but laugh and giggle out loud as I ran around this thing with a dog chasing me. I'd run, stop and turn around and run in the other direction. Katie loved it, even though she would bump her head or some other body part numerous times on the slide or support beams. There were even a few times when I screamed because she surprised me and popped out in front of me.

It was a great workout! I was huffing and puffing after several minutes. Then I'd catch my breath and we'd be off again.

I rewarded myself for this morning's exercise with cinnamon roll french toast, scrambled eggs, bacon and potatoes at one of me and my husband's favorite breakfast spots. I ate it all except for the potatoes. Gotta cut calories somewhere, right?

Yesterday I went to the gym and banged out 6 miles. I had intended on doing all 6 at my nice easy speed of 5.7 (10:32/mile), but when Lil Wayne's "Right Above It" came on my iPod, I ran that at 5.8 (10:20) because it's such an upbeat song. Shut up. Yeah, okay, it's not that much faster but still.

I walked briefly right before I finished Mile 4. Then at the start of Mile 5, I figured I would do it at a faster speed to try and get my muscles to work when they're fatigued. I started at 6.0 and then upped it a tenth with every quarter mile. Last mile I cooled down back at 5.7, well, except for the last quarter mile when I got bored again and kept upping it.

No time for the gym after work today. I'm meeting with our dog trainer, Noelle! Hooray!

04/06/11 Weigh-in: 120.4, 24.4%

I sit here polishing off a chocolate chocolate chip muffin (after eating my usual breakfast of peanut butter toast and a protein shake) wondering why I can't get my body fat percentage to go any lower. Hehe.

I finally got to doing some weights again yesterday. I did an Insanity work-out yesterday morning (Plyo Circuit) and was planning on doing a P90X strength work-out at night. But when it came time to do strength-training, I thought, "F P90X. I can do my own weight moves." P90X work-outs are great, but they usually concentrate on just one major muscle group. And I needed to maximize my time.

So I did a bunch of exercises that incorporated multiple muscle groups like single leg squats on the bosu with a shoulder raise at the top and oblique twist at the bottom (glutes, quads, shoulders, obliques, core), push-ups with my toes on a medicine ball (chest, core), single leg rows on the bosu (glutes, back, core). I was a tired but happy camper after an hour of weights.

Now if I could just make it a habit again to do it 3 times a week...

The jeans are getting tight

So, I've been eating super crappy (like standing at the kitchen counter for 15 minutes eating sour cream and onion potato chips crappy) and not exercising as hard or as often as I have been. I am up around 3 pounds. And no, that's just not in one day. I understand flucuations. Last week, my weight was around 118 - 120. This week? 121 - 123. And my jeans are tight. And I'm too scared to see what my body fat percentage is.

I think I'm getting burnt out on running. Yesterday's planned 6 miles turned into 2.92. This morning's 6 miles turned into 4. I run, and I'm just not feeling it.

This morning, though, I told Martin I had to go downstairs and drink my recovery drink (chocolate milk). He said, "You only ran 4 miles!" That made me laugh. I told him it was more than a lot of people do. It just sounded piddly for me. Hehe. Running 4 miles is short for me.

Maybe I need new music.