MIA

I admit it, I fell off the blogging wagon for a while, even with my son's blog. That's going to be a pain to catch up on.

The good news is that I have been running, and all is going really well. I occasionally get a little twinge at the knee, but this is just a reminder to work on my form.

I ran 3.5 on Saturday, 2 on Monday, and 3 tonight. I missed the first 4 runs with my running group due to vacations and one really rainy Saturday where I chickened out and ran inside. I'm really looking forward to seeing them for 4 on Saturday.

I'm still running in the Brooks Pure Connect but I am thinking I will trade them out for my regular New Balance for the long runs now. I am keeping up with the intermediate training plan for this 8k, and I don't want anything setting me back.

I wish it was half-marathon training. The 8k was the smart thing to do for this cycle. I will conquer the half in 2013.

So happy to be running healthy!

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Liquid Awesome

I have gotten up early two mornings in a row - while we are on vacation. What has gotten in to me? Well, other than trying to escape the heat in any way we can.

Yesterday, I did 10 miles with the hubs on the bike. He went back out to ride a few more miles while I headed back to practice riding through cul-de-sac. They freak me out, and I can't believe I'm contemplating doing a triathlon through too many short neighborhoods. I survived the turnarounds and some gravel in about 48 minutes.

So today I planned a 3 mile out and back while the hubs planned on biking again. It was 81 degrees when I headed out. Ugh. 3 miles in just under 30 minutes. I think I ran faster just so I could get to the shade. Average steps per minute = 176 in my new Brooks

 

Can you feel the liquid awesome? My hubs said this is the first time he really saw sweat on me in 12 years. Again hubs, it's not sweat.

 

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Busy day

After watching a little Tour de France this morning, I hopped onto the trainer to do some bike intervals. I am slowly adding in a mix of speed with distance. Today was 5.5 miles with 4 30 second sprints mixed in for just under 23 minutes.

Then the fun began. I got to take my new Brooks Pure Connects for a spin at the gym. They felt so light, loved them. I only went a mile in right over 10 minutes with an average cadence of 178 steps per minute.

I slipped the Brooks off and went back to my New Balance to finish off the run. They felt like clodhoppers after the light weight Brooks. The plan was to do 3 miles, but I felt a slight tweak at my ITB during the bike sprints. I did the smart thing and stopped at 2 miles total.

I finished up with 17 minutes on the Octane elliptical for another 2.12 miles. 9.6 miles for the day, and I felt great. After some fun times with friends and my husband this evening, I did knock out my 83 push-ups (on my knees). I am using the push up app on my phone, and loving the progress I have made.

I also behaved by icing the knee twice. Fingers crossed for no issues tomorrow.

Run happy.

 

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Bad blogger

I have been MIA for too long. The good news is that I have been working out and using My Fitness Pal religiously. I even have been getting up for early morning workouts so the hubs can go in the evening ... except for this morning because I stayed up too late last night.

The hubs wanted to go mountain biking this evening, and little dude wanted to play in the backyard. So to make me happy, hubs volunteered to bring my bike and trainer out of the basement for a little patio spinning.

I call it the no excuse workout.

All setup and ready to ride.

My view from the bike. Little dude was happy to dig in the dirt.

Yes, I let a 4 year old take a picture of me. Not bad. Is that a tricep I see there? Maybe the pushup app has started to pay off.

To humor him, he wanted a silly face.

7.48 miles in 30 minutes. I'm working on increasing the time while keeping the cadence up and the heart rate in check. Glad I've got all this fancy Garmin stuff to keep me on track. Love geeky technology.

National Running Day and Missing Mojo

I have lost my running mojo. My excuses are pitiful. I let work, TV, sleep, etc get in the way. I have run twice this week, Sunday and today. My cadence was pitiful both days. Disappointing because I worked so hard, then let it slip away. So there is my awareness.

I made the decision I was going to run just 2 miles, just to get the legs moving. Yes, the cadence stunk, but I was running and it didn't hurt. And as I was heading back, I met a nice neighbor with her two kids and hubby headed out for a run too. And guess what, we both felt better just for getting out. And I know I need to stop using the word "just."

When I got back and realized it was National Running Day tomorrow, I knew the stars had aligned ... or maybe it was Venus to get me back on the running train. I am off to a business trip the next three days, so running may be not be possible but strengthening WILL happen.

I'll let you know what happens.

 

And then I struggled

After having a terrific run/yoga combo on Saturday, the run on Monday sucked.

I can't belief this is all I walked.  At several points, I actually just thought I will give up and walk the rest of the way home.  I couldn't get my cadence right to save my life. I kept starting and stopping until I was so close to home, I thought what the heck.  I was able to pull out the last three minutes to finish.  


I'm glad I didn't give up, but this run side-tracked me the rest of the week.  I let work become the priority or the excuse so much that I didn't even strength train or cross train except for a measly 20 minutes on the bike trainer.


I did get up on run Saturday morning before hubby left for work.  He had to work both days this weekend, so I knew this was my shot.  And so glad I went.  The next neighborhood over was having a yard sale, and it happened this was the weekend I decided I needed a different route.  

Much better.  Had to dodge a number of people and cars but hopefully this slowed me down a bit.  I don't know where this need to be faster has come from.  I try to slow myself up so I can focus on the cadence, but it's not working so well.


There's always this week.  


The plan is:
Monday - Strength training
Tuesday - Run 3 miles
Wednesday - Strength train, 20' on bike trainer
Thursday - Run 3 miles
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Run 4 miles

I'm a Runner

I was looking at my schedule for this weekend. I wanted to try a community yoga class offered by Lululemon, and it was close to my house. So a crazy thought crossed my mind, maybe I could run to yoga. When I mapped it, it came out to 2.8 miles. I thought, I could do that. Except for a very large hill. And how would I get my yoga mat there because I'm too weirded out to borrow a mat. And how would I get back home because running there is one type of crazy but running back would be insane.

So what does a crazy person do next, casually bring up this idea. To which, my husband threw out every excuse blocking my way. Except the hill because even he can't move mountains (not really a mountain, but you know what I mean). He said, "I'll bring your mat. And I'll pick you up after the class." Well, maybe my idea is not as crazy as I thought.

Then I mentioned it to a couple of other people who were nothing but encouraging. Dang it, now I should probably just do it. I tried to talk myself out of it, but guilt got the best of me. So, I'm glad people knew of my pseudo plan, because that's what actually made me do it.

Yoga class starts at 10:45, but because the class and instructor is popular, I knew I should be there a little early. I left the house at 9:52, and hubby would meet me at 10:30.

First mile 9:37, what the heck? Too fast even for a short run, slow down because there is really big hill coming up.

Second mile 10:15, still fast for me and I did walk a few seconds up the hill when my cadence dropped. But I made it to the top. I stopped to catch my breath and get some water because I haven't mastered running, breathing and drinking all at the same time.

0.53 mile 5:09, little shorter than I thought. And I made it there with time to spare.

Total time 25:02, 2.53 miles, avg SPM 170

Then I had a great yoga class. It was almost New York style (two fingers between mats) because it was so crowded. The instructor had us laughing at the end.

I'm so glad I did this. It's great to break out of your comfort zone. Even if it's so you can say, "Yeah, I did that." The old me wouldn't have had a ITB healthy enough to try crazy things like this. Glad everything is working as it should.

So, what's next? And I know many of you do much crazier things than this, so I don't think I'm tough. I'm just inspired by those I read.