Holy Crapoli

I had some really great runs lately!  I've tried to push myself a little harder either on long runs or with my pace, and it's paid off.  In addition to that, I've been going to boot camp six days per week, so on the days I've run it's been my second workout of the day.  My workout gear has definitely been getting washed more often than any of my other clothes.  Anyway, here's a breakdown of the past few runs:

4/19/11
4.08 miles in 43:13
Avg pace 10:36

4/22/11 (my birthday)
3.22 miles in 33:06
Avg pace 10:17

4/24/11 (Easter)
6 miles in 1:02:04
Avg pace 10:21

My birthday run was by far the best run I had ever had....until 2 days later, that is!  Really though, those 3 miles at a 10:17 pace was what really made me stop and think to myself, "I'm a runner."  I think this is something most newbie runners struggle with, and I'm no exception.  Even after finishing a 1/2 marathon and running the whole damn thing, I struggle with calling myself a runner, since I tend to be so much slower than anyone else who runs.  After my birthday run, I definitely felt like a runner, and that is truly such a crazy feeling!  Man, and THEN Sunday happened!  I had a goal to run 5 miles at a 10:45 pace or faster and just before I left, I planned a different route and set out to run 6 miles.  I trucked right along and every now and then would pause my music to hear my current pace, average pace, and distance (via the Cyclemeter app on my iPhone) and was pretty happy to know my pace was staying pretty consistent.  In fact, my first 3 miles were all under 10 minute miles, and that's a first too.  I will say that there was a section about 1/2 to 3/4 mile long that was a downhill stretch, but there was also a 1/2 to 3/4 mile stretch that was uphill, and my pace was consistent throughout the run, with the exception of mile 4 when I spent some time recovering from that uphill stretch. 

On another note, Lent has come and gone and there were only a handful of times where I REALLY wanted to have a beer, but I didn't.  Easter was celebrated with a few (ok, several) glasses of wine and lots of water.  I wasn't necessarily drunk, and I certainly wasn't hungover the next day, but I definitely felt off-kilter at boot camp on Monday morning.  So off-kilter, in face, that I went home and slept for another 2 hours afterward.  I've never felt that way after boot camp, and I don't want it to happen again. 

I'm a few tenths of a pound from reaching my goal weight, which is awesome.  I don't think I'll be making it to my goal weight this week, as my birthday, birthday celebrations with my parents, Easter, and Josh's birthday have resulted in poor food decisions.  I did take photos back in January/February and have an "after" picture I took on 4/23/11.  I'm still not confident enough to post them, mostly because I have no idea who is reading this blog and I don't need my sports-bra picture to show up in the hands of my clients at work.  So, I don't think I'll be posting those on here any time soon (or ever).  I will say there is a noticeable difference in my shape, and it's really fun to look at the differences between then and now. 

First hill training and week 1 boot camp success

Thursday must have been meet-up-with-your-former-co-workers day.  I was able to have lunch with my friend, Erin, (who left our wonderful Probation job a year ago to sell insurance).  Lunch was great, of course, and so was the company.  After work I met up with Molly (who left to complete grad school and now works for another corrections agency) for a run.  Not only had I been putting off the 4-mile run, I've been procrastinating on hill training, which is crucial for the Sawtooth Relay.  Poor Molly had to put up with my sloooooow arse on our 2.7-ish mile run; Molly is a 9:30-ish mile runner (or faster) and I'm...well...I'm not!  I'm OK with that because I've really improved over the past few years since I really started running, which Molly was so kind to point out.  Anyway, we did the tiniest bit of hill running, and I didn't die, so that was nice.

On another note, I made it to boot camp every day this week at 6am with my friend, Malia.  I think I'm in love with boot camp. I love that everyday is different and that I get to punch and kick stuff and that it's all over in just over 30 minutes.  Even more, I love that even though I'm sore in a few different spots I was still able to go through my daily activities with no problems and am still able to go for a run that afternoon/evening.   Sure, the trainers can be pretty cheesy, but I don't get the feeling that they don't know what they are doing or anything.  Plus, today I did 4 different 30 second rounds of push-ups and I've never been able to do anything like that ever! 

I think this weekend will be fairly low key.  Josh is rafting the Murtaugh this weekend, so I'll be going to boot camp at 10am and am contemplating going to hot yoga tomorrow.  We'll see how that all works out.  Happy weekend!

I've been dreading the 4 mile run...

...Mostly because I haven't felt like I've been running often enough to even make it 4 miles.  I've been off my schedule lately and haven't been running on the days I planned to run on the calendar and even though I've run 3.5, I've been ridiculously exhausted when I got home.  I realize now that taking the dog with me really slows my pace and makes me more tired.  After what felt like the longest day EVER today, I finally bit the bullet and set out to run 4 miles without Seymour.  Poor thing...I know he needs to get out for a walk, but I needed to do this alone today and clear my head.  I finished my run and felt like I could have gone out for another 1/2 mile to a mile, but I turned into the subdivision and came home. 

Stats for the run:
4.15 miles in 44:55
10:49 avg pace
HR high - 177
HR avg - 155

Although I haven't been running as much as I should (I vow to get better), I have been busy busy busy working out and doing other stuff.  Here's the run down:

Saturday - Boot Camp in the morning, then a quick day trip rafting the South Fork of the Payette.  It was my first boating trip of the season, and it felt amazing to be on the water.

Sunday - Last day of skiing at Bogus Basin which ended with us in the emergency room with my step-daughter, who got plowed over by an out-of-control snowboarder on Silver Queen, an easy green run for beginners.  SD is ok, just a little sore...but it took a ride down the ski hill in a sled with ski patrol, a stop in the medic area, and then a 2+ hour stint in the ER to find that out.  Oh, and Seymour had his first obedience lesson on Sunday afternoon.   We have a lot to learn! 

Monday - Boot camp at 6am.  

Today - Boot camp at 6am, 4 mile run at 7:00 pm. 

That's it!  The plan is to get to boot camp everyday this week and get down to my goal weight by Friday, which really shouldn't be too difficult. 

Bootcamp and compliments and other things

Tonight was my third night of the 6 week boot camp program I purchased on Living Social, and it's far more strange and entertaining than I ever thought it would be.  Darrin, the owner of Warrior Fit, is crazy excited about everything and just plain makes me laugh most of the time I'm there.  The thing that I really like about it is that each session is only 30 minutes, but I still feel like I got a workout.  Also, I don't leave feeling like I'm going to die and never want to return.  In fact, after the first session on Wednesday, I turned to my friends and said I actually felt like I could go for a run.  I'm not saying I actually did go for a run, but my body didn't hate me too much.  I still have 4 sessions of hot yoga left that I need to use before April 19th, but with boot camp being SO much closer to our house, I might not take advantage of those last four sessions of yoga.  We'll see.  I think I got burned out on it the week I went everyday.

We went to Safety Night for the Idaho Whitewater Association last night and saw a bunch of our friends.  I went after boot camp, so I was dressed in work out gear and thankfully, I wasn't too sweaty.  My figure must have really changed over the last month because several people commented on how much weight I've lost and how amazing they think I look.  While I realize I'm definitely smaller, it's weird to have other people notice and comment about my weight loss.  I have about two pounds to lose before I go back to the doc and have him sign off on the County weight loss incentive!  Woot!

Other things: I ran 3 miles on Tuesday at an average 10:40 pace.  My plan was to run another 3 miles on Thursday, but the weather was crappy, so I went to boot camp instead.  Today I was lucky enough to only have to work about 5 hours, so I grabbed a chicken teriyaki and rice bowl (1/2 the rice, extra veggies, and a generous helping of chili paste!) on my way home from work and chowed down at about 3:45.  I decided to get my running shoes on about an hour later and headed out the door for what I expected to be about a 2-3 mile run.  The chili paste got the best of me during the run and my stomach was on fire!  I cut it short at 2 miles and could hardly finish that distance.  I still had plans to go to boot camp at 6:00 and couldn't figure out how in the world I was going to make that happen.  I drank a ton of water, stretched a bit, and then made the decision to go to boot camp and try to make it work.  Thankfully my stomach calmed down after the water and I survived boot camp for the evening.  Oh, my 2 mile run was at an 11:03 average pace.

I finally went for a run today

I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of rough.  Even though I've been doing hot yoga like a mad woman, I think I've learned my lesson about taking 2 weeks off from running when training.  My pace was actually pretty steady for the full 3.5 miles, but I felt off and ended up with some cramps in my side.  Plus, I was running straight into the wind during my final mile.  The good thing is that I finished without dying...and the dog was happy. 

Wednesday marked my 7th day in a row of hot yoga.  It was a rough one and I decided I needed a break after that, so I haven't gone since Wednesday.  Both Thursday and Friday were absolutely gorgeous here in Boise, so I made my first bike commute of the season on Friday.  It felt mighty fine riding home from work in shorts and a tank top! 

It has not been a particularly good weekend for food and drink in this house.  We went to one of my places, Brewforia, on Friday night.  It was the first time since Ash Wednesday that I really regretted giving up booze for Lent.  I sat and drank Diet Coke while Josh and our friend, Kimra, drank beer after beer from freshly tapped kegs at the store.  It was tough.  So what did I do?  I ate, of course.  Today we met Josh's dad and sister at the Dutch Goose to watch the Butler vs. VCU game, where again, I watched everyone throw back a few pitchers of beer while I drank Diet Pepsi for a few hours.  Thankfully, the game was amazing and I kept occupied by watching that.  I made some crappy food choices in the mean time: Reuben sandwich, onion rings, and fry sauce.  Seriously delicious, but my stomach hurts thinking about the amount of food and soda that went into my belly.


There's not much else to report around here.  It's been a pretty mellow week, and I'm thankful for that.