Catching up

I've been running, I swear.  I even had a running partner for one and did some speed work another day.  See, this is what happened after the amazing Pocatello 1/2 Marathon: I ran my typical crappy post-half run (2.14 miles at 11:28 avg pace) and then we went on a week long vacation on the Middlefork of the Salmon River where I did nothing but fish, row a boat, and sit around and drink beer.  It was awesome.  We came back from vacation a day early, so I laced up my running shoes and took myself out for a 7.7 mile run (avg pace 11:33/mile) the day after we got back.  It was a little rough and there was some walking, but I did it.

And then I didn't run for 8 days.  I will say that Josh and I did start going back to bootcamp at Warrior Fit during that week, so I wasn't completely lazy.  I was, however, rather sore.  So the running took a break while my muscles figured out how to function.  It was then that I got the bright idea to run to bootcamp.  Bootcamp starts at 6:00 AM.  We live 3 miles from Warrior Fit which means I need to leave the house by 5:25 to get there in time to cool down before I push myself to the max for another 20-25 minutes.  And that means I need to be out of bed by 5:10 so I feel just the slightest bit awake for the run.  Here are the dates I ran to bootcamp (all at 5:30 AM unless otherwise noted):

9/26 - 10:34 avg pace
10/1 - 10:40 avg pace
10/10 - 11:17 avg pace (after work)
10/12 - 10:52 avg pace

The kid was not doing particularly well with school stuff and there was a lot of lying going on, which is one that that really, really pisses me off.  On 10/3 I couldn't handle being in the house stewing about how much lying was happening that I decided to go out and do some speed work to take my mind off it.  This was what I did without any planning.

1/2 mile run @ 9:55
1/4 mile walk
1/4 mile run @ 8:26
1/4 mile walk
1/4 mile run @ 9:10
1/4 mile walk
1/4 mile run @ 9:11
1/4 mile walk

Josh went rafting the weekend of 10/8.  I wanted to run to bootcamp but that meant I would have to borrow a huge hiking fanny pack from the kid to stuff my boxing gloves and water into it.  I did that once earlier this year and swore I'd never do it again.  Instead, I loaded everything into the truck and drove to Warrior Fit.  Then, I went for a run in that area (2.29 miles at 9:57 avg pace) before heading into punch and kick some stuff.  I drove home and did pretty much nothing for the rest of the day.

On 10/9, I made plans to go for a run with a gal I know.  Tamara has been injured lately, so I figured it would be a nice easy morning even if we had 7 miles planned for the morning.  We walked quite a bit because her doctor demanded it, but even with the run/walk business we averaged 11:37 mile.  It was nice to have a partner for the morning!

On Friday I took my running gear to work and took a long lunch so I could get in 5 miles.  I averaged 10:29 for that run and it was a fairly warm day, so I was surprised at my pace.  I had plans to run 10 miles on Saturday morning but that just didn't happen because it was lefse-making day at our church and I promised my mom I would come help.  Of course, there's always a party after lefse, so Sunday was spent 1) hungover and 2) not running.  I needed to run more than 7 miles and I hadn't.  So today I did something I've never done: I did a long run on Monday morning.  Today's 8.12 mile run felt fantastic!  I was well rested, well hydrated, and took some Clif Shot Bloks with me (I had 2 at mile 6).  I finished in 1:27:11 and an average pace of 10:44/mile.

Maybe what I haven't mentioned is that I have another race planned - the Chicago Monster Dash on 10/29 with my favorite running friend, Jamie!

This is officially the longest post in history and I'm cutting myself off.  I'm promising myself that I will not let my running blog get backed up like this again because the thought of anyone actually reading through this whole thing without falling asleep makes me cringe fall asleep.

Vegas, detox, and getting back into the groove

Holy Vegas.  Seriously.  I drank, I gambled, I watched men give my sister lap dances.  I ate German food, I ate Italian food, I ate Fatburger.  I drank German lager, I drank house wine, I had headaches.  I came home feeling like I had smoked a few packs of cigarettes and was NOT looking forward to working out on Sunday, even though I knew it needed to be done.  The good news is the scale wasn't all that horrible upon my return, and I have no idea why it didn't tip up 10 lbs.  In fact, two days later I was almost back to my pre-Vegas weight, which means my Vegas gain was mostly retained water.

Anyway, back to the work out.  I had planned to run the day after our return, which was probably aiming a little too high.  After sleeping off whatever alcohol was left in my body, I threw on my running gear and drank a little water.  My stomach gurgled and churned.  My lungs wheezed.  My knees ached.  How in the world did I get that huge bruise on my left knee?  Damn strippers.  After much thinking and hemming and hawing, I made the executive decision not to run.  I trotted upstairs and hopped on the elliptical for 30 minutes.  I felt pretty good after that....not 100% necessarily, but pretty good.  So I did the "Ab Burner" and "Leg Sculptor" workouts on my Nike Training Club app on my phone.  I felt mighty fine by then, but still not good enough to run.  That was good enough for me for the day.

Monday rolled along and Josh and I went to boot camp at Warrior Fit Body Boot Camp, which kicked both of our asses.  I can't even begin to explain how much Darrin worked us.  I left wondering how in the world I was going to be able to get dressed for work because my arms hurt so much!  Thankfully, the pain only lasted a short period of time and I that "hurt so good" feeling for the rest of the day.  Even though I had work until 7pm that day, I knew I needed to run.  I hadn't done so for over a week and I was nervous.  I hooked up the dawg and off we went for 3.23 miles.  Pace was OK, but not great.  I felt OK, but not great.  When I got home and Josh asked me how it went, my response was "it was OK."  And that's it. 

Average pace 10:38
3.23 miles in 34:19

Josh and I made it to boot camp again yesterday and today, and both days weren't nearly as difficult as Monday, and I thank God for that.

Also, my heart rate monitor is officially shot.  I've been looking at the Garmin Forerunner 305 as a replacement HRM plus GPS.  It's clunky and huge, but it has the best reviews of any of the Garmin watches.  Unfortunately, I heard that the HRM won't work unless you're actually running, and that's just not going to cut it.  I can probably do without the HRM for other workouts, but I really really really like knowing how many calories I burn during each workout and I don't really want to sacrifice that.  I did find the Polar FT60F G1 which has a GPS unit that attaches to your shoe or wherever on your person, but the reviews indicate the GPS unit doesn't register very well.  I question if it's worth the money....

I was right (again)

I was exhausted on Tuesday night after my 7 miler and contemplated not going to boot camp in the morning.  I was right; I really shouldn't have gone on Wednesday morning, but I did.  I was absolutely wiped out all day and felt absolutely worthless at work.  I guess the good thing that came of me getting up and going to boot camp was the fact that we really worked our legs, so I ended up getting my legs nice and stretched out so they didn't kill me all day! 

I meant to run Thursday, I really did.  But when I decided I wanted Mexican food for dinner for the lovely May 5 holiday that has absolutely nothing to do with me or my heritage, the run when to the wayside and the chimichanga went right into my belly instead.  Josh's parents came into town for the weekend on Friday and wanted to take us to dinner that night, but I convinced them to push back dinner to 7pm so I could get a few miles in before meeting up.  I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I took the dog out for 2.25 miles.  We averaged 10:27/mile, which was fine.  I didn't really feel like running, but knew I needed to, so I'm glad I got out there.

Josh and I had planned to go rafting today, but our friend who had planned to join us had some unexpected roof-leaking issues, so she couldn't come along.  We ditched our plans for the day and I made my own.  I decided to get a little crazy that morning and ran to boot camp which is about 3 miles from our house.  I busted through boot camp without any issues and then the return 3 mile trek back home.  My pace was pretty awesome both ways, and I'm stoked about that! 

1st leg - 3.15 miles at 9:52 avg pace/mile
2nd leg - 3.02 miles at 10:14 avg pace/mile

Just before I left Warrior Fit to head home, I had a short conversation with a gal and mentioned my big goal is to run a 5k in under 30 minutes and that I was SO CLOSE on my 1st leg of the day.  She almost immediately asked me if I would want to be a coach for Girls on the Run.  Truth is I've actually looked at that website several times thinking how cool it would be to be a mentor/coach for the program.  The gal said she's a coach for one of the schools and they are in need of "faster runners."  "Well, I'm not fast," I said.  She disagreed and said that some girls in the program want to be able to run a 5k in 30 minutes, but none of the coaches can run that fast.  Heh, this might be beneficial for me after all!  The season is over for them right now, but I'm going to try to catch up with her again another time to see what I need to do to get into this mentor thing next year. 

Tina Fey is on Saturday Night Live which means I really need to stop typing and start watching.

Crappy, decent, really good.

Well, after that super amazing set last week I had a terrible run last Wednesday.  I set out for a 3 to 4 mile run with the dog after work and after the first mile, I was not doing well.  Seymour and I took a quick turn and went home.  2 mile run at 11:28/mile and I felt way more exhausted during that run than I have on any of my longer runs.  I know I'm being hard on myself on this one and that we all have good days and bad days of working out, but that was crrrrrraaaaaaaappy!  I didn't get back out for another run until Sunday.

Now Sunday wasn't terrible.  In fact, it was downright decent.  Josh was out of town and Brooke had returned from being with her mom, so I got the dog ready to go out and pumped up Brooke's bike tire so she could ride alongside me and Seymour for the first 2 miles.  I had her take the dog home from there and I went out for another 2.25.  Even after all was done, I still only ran at a 10:58 pace.  I say "only" ONLY because I've run 4 miles at a faster pace than that on several occasions, so I was a tad disappointed.  That being said, it was more mileage than the previous run, so that's alright.

Now for today.  Today at work was not fantastic.  It's not like there were a lot of crappy things that happened or anything, I just felt "blah" and had a lot of catching up to do, which is never fun.  I made a decision early on that I would go out to See Jane Run to get new running shoes.  I figured out that I had 200+ running miles logged on my old Saucony shoes plus all of the cross-training miles and I as due for a new pair of shoes.  I did just that during my lunch break.  I was so excited to take the shoes out for a test run after work that I changed my plan from running 4 miles to running 7 miles, which was a really, really good plan!  7 miles tonight took me 1:13:38 which ended up as a 10:30 average pace!  The shoes, Brooks Adrenaline GTS11, were ok.  They were MUCH lighter than my Saucony ProGrid Guide 3s, but I felt the new pair didn't have much cushion on the ball of my foot, even though I didn't feel any discomfort until after mile 5.  I think I'm going to end up taking them back.  I really hope this isn't a continued problem with running shoes, because that would really stink! 

On another note, I've continued going to boot camp and convinced Josh to start going with me. After my long run tonight, I'm contemplating skipping tomorrow but only because I'm so exhausted right now.  We'll see what happens when 5:30 am rolls around...

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.