Weeks in Review: Jan 30-Feb 7

Jan. 30th: treadmill run.  Ran for an hour and managed to get in 5.11 miles  and a bruised toenail.  I think all in all I slowed down to walk only a half mile for water breaks.

Feb. 1: I used the rest of my gift card from Dicks and bought a Nike+ and a running hood thing.  They worked great!!  With Nike+, I managed to run a total of 2.75 miles and it breaks down as follows:

• 0.85 calibration run (which failed because I was being not smart)
• 0.50 re-calibration run
• 1.40 mile run after the fact.  that was in 17.02 minutes for a 12.02 mile pace

Feb. 3: I had some blood work drawn in the morning, so i couldn’t run.  I did manage to walk on the treadmill for 4 miles in an hour.  It was kind of hard to NOT run.

Feb. 4: I did get another outside run in with my Nike+ and hood.  I was trying to find my Stride Rate with this easy Stride rate finder and I think it’s between 150 & 155.  I did run 2.13 miles in 26 minutes.

If we do get all the snow that they say we are to get, I’ll not be running so much, but probably pretend riding instead.  I have fallen of the crunch/fire hydrant wagon for now.

Demotivated

Strains of Chariots of Fire were not reverberating.  There were no crowd cheers (in my head).  I couldn’t hear Jillian Michaels on my shoulder screaming to keep moving, you can do this. 

You know what there was? Pain. Sweat. Trouble breathing. Praying for it to end. Ejected lungs flopping on the floor in front of the treadmill.

Well… maybe not the prayer.

Truthfully, the days that everything is in sync, muscles pump fluidly, feet don’t shuffle but fly, grace is just there (except in my midsection which is still very jiggly), those are the days where I feel badass, that I can do this, that I am someone for whom this is worth doing.  I am worth it.

Then there are days like today, where I felt gangly, my shorts kept creeping and it just reminded me that even if I could afford Lululemon running pants, I couldn’t FIT into their biggest size.  I couldn’t catch a breathing rhythm, and my old car accident injury in my right foot was causing me to underpronate, so I’d try to compensate and end up overcompensating.  My hair was in my eyes.  One of my earbuds is broken and I can’t really afford the power cord to my gifted gently used iShuffle right now let alone that plus a new set of earbuds. Normally the earbud thing isn’t a problem, unless there’s one coworker there who cranks the in-house stereo loud.  I can’t get into a run with the Allman Brothers’ Ramblin Man drowning out my Muse songs.  And to top it off, I forgot to take home my clothes after my last workout and they’d become quite…savory in their bag as they dried of the sweat from my last workout.  So every now and then I’d get a whiff of myself and nearly pass out.  I feel sorry for the kind girl from Marketing on the treadmill next to me. Sorry, R!

Every step resulted in a whimper from my shins and calves as I deal with the shin splints.  Last week I wore a painful pair of boots and my toes are still whining about it.  I hate that I even need toes.  Today didn’t go well and I’m still trying to get comfortable here with this ice pack. 

So what’s a miserable runner to do?  Sign up for a 5K. Holy shit, you guys. What’ve I done?

Links, links & more links!

Here are some very informative sites if you are a runner, no matter your skill/fitness level.

For keeping track of your workouts and for motivation:  Dailymile

Bodies in Motivation I have not fully looked at this site yet.

Wii Mommies For those that use Wii Fit for the majority your workout.

Hellasound Has GREAT music and an informative blog with some pointers.  He’s on Twitter HellaSound

Runner’s World The magazine Runner’s World web site.  Information for EVERY stage of runner and every distance.  Runner’s World Twitter

Fitness Depot Ray Gill is one of the writer’s here.  More tips and such, for running in cold weather, hot weather and all sorts of tips in between.  He’s on Twitter Ray Gill go and follow him!

Any that you recommend?  Leave them in the comments!

WoYo Week#4

Here we are.  WoYo is winding down.  Here’s my WoYo for the last week.  If you also count crunches and 100’s, I’ve started to do them daily starting Sunday.  100 crunches (25 each:  regular, double, right & left) and also the hundred’s with Kapalabhati breathing.

Jan. 24: a total of 15 minutes, but done in two chunks.

• Sun Salutations (twice)
• Down dog
• Kapalabhati breathing (4 rounds of 25)
• Sun salutations (holding each pose for 3 breaths)
• seated spinal twisting
• bridge

Jan. 25: about 10 minutes

• Sun Salutations (twice)
• extended leg balance series (holding each pose for 2 breaths)
• Moon salutations (holding each pose 3 breaths)

Jan. 26: nearly 20 minutes!!  I grabbed the Yoga Deck (finally) and did the first couple poses, holding each for 7 breaths.

• Sun Salutations
• Triangle
• Warrior II
• Chair
• Tree
• Standing forward bend
• Standing Yoga Mudra
• Mountain
• Half Moon
• thunder bolt

Jan. 27: Not quite 20 minutes with the Yoga deck.

• Plank
• Runner’s stretch
• Downward dog
• sphinx
• child’s pose
• Crunches (100)
• Hundred’s with Kapalabhati breathing
• Hare
• Locust

Jan. 28: Namaste Yoga “Sun Wind”

• Extended leg balance
• forward fold
• downward dog
• Pigeon
• one-legged downward dog
• downward dog
• Forward fold
• back up to standing

Jan. 29: Namaste Yoga “Sun Moon”

• Straddle forward fold
• Warrior I
• Monkey
• Extended hamstring stretch
• Needle

Jan. 30: freestyle two different chunks.  a 5  minute chunk and a 15 minute chunk

• Sun Salutation (Twice)
• Sun Salutation holding each pose 3 breaths
• Sun Salutation
• Moon Salutation (Holding each pose 5 breaths)
• Knee down spinal twisting (10 breaths each)
• crunches
• hundreds with Kapalabhati breathing.

Jan. 31: Yoga Deck

• Sun Salutations (of course)
• Triangle
• Warrior I
• Chair
• Straddle Forward Fold
• Crunches/hundred’s with Kapalabhati breathing
• knee down spinal twisting

I made it!!  Well, with the exception of 2 days, but I DID manage to at least get 5 minutes of yoga in.  We’ll see what happens in the month of February.

Weeks in Review: Jan 18-Jan 28

Oh.  It’s been a while since I’ve updated other than yoga, huh…

Jan. 21: Was a treadmill run at Cardinal Fitness.  I ended up running 2.65 miles in 30 minutes with another 0.30 miles walked in the cool down.  nothing profound.

Starting Sunday Jan. 24th, I have done 100 crunches daily as well as the hundred’s.  I have managed to keep that up.  I’ve mostly done that before bed.

Jan. 27: Another 30 minute treadmill run.  Mileage: 2.70 miles.  For the most part, I stayed at 5.5-5.8.  I did have a half mile burst of 6.0!  My only problem is getting that pace to the street!  I know I can do it.  I am so close to getting a 5K in under 35 minutes.  Hopefully I can do one in under 30 minutes.

Jan. 28: I managed to get in not only my crunches & hundred’s, but a McDonald’s Strength DVD workout, without watching the DVD!  YAY ME!!!  Ease me into it with hand weights.  I hope that all the plie squats don’t come back to haunt me, although I’m not planning on running until Saturday so that’ll give me a day to recover.

PSA #2

Here we go!  I’ve changed themes again.    How do you like this one?  It’s called Mistylook.  Any complaints?

The World IS Round

So many times in the past, when I’ve tried to get fit, lose weight, be healthier, I’m strong for a few weeks and then I reach the edge and fall off, the end, no more motivation = no more exercise or healthy eating choices.

Not this time.

I am actually enjoying myself.  I feel great.  I love getting off the treadmill feeling accomplished and badass and noodly limbed.  It means I’ve done something.  The weight, it’s budging and even in the right direction! 

So why haven’t I been around, having apparently found the edge of the Earth and fallen off?  Well, I think it was shin splints.  My shins hurt something fierce and the recommended course of action for them is rest.  Well, shit, pardoné moi.  Just when I was getting a groove, increasing my stamina and feeling like I was making progress and that I might actually be able to run more than 1.5 miles at some point.  I was not happy.  And yet, I am in this for the long haul.  I do not want to use this as an excuse to be derailed.  So I took 2 weeks off.  I hated every minute of it.

Then, Monday found me back on the treadmill.  I felt like a gangly chicken with Tourette’s of the Wing the way I was running, all flailing and uncoordinated.  I only went a mile.  I walked about half of it.  I backslid something fierce in my stamina and I could tell I lost a lot of ground in just 2 weeks.  But instead of getting discouraged and making it become the reason to quit, I made it my reason to keep going, to get back into the groove, to start over with the stamina building.  And you know what?  A mile feels just as badass as more distance if I’ve put everything into it that I can.  Just as I know ten miles will feel badass when I get to that point. 

So instead of finding the edge and falling off as I always have in the past, something clicked in me and I think I finally realized this healthy lifestyle is just as rounded as the Earth, that if I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, there is no edge, just like there is no spoon.  It is what I make of it, and I’m going to make the most of it.

WoYo Week #3

Jan. 17: An episode of Namaste Yoga, “Head to knee”

• Forward fold
• Monkey (extended runner stretch)
• Hamstring stretch
• head to knee
• needle

Jan. 18:  An episode of Namaste Yoga, “Heart Opening”

• Warrior II
• Lateral angle
• extended warrior
• Triangle
• Head to knee

Jan. 19:  10 minute freestyle practice

• Sun Salutation (twice)
• Moon Salutation (holding each pose 5 breaths)
• seated spinal twisting

Jan. 20: An episode of Namaste Yoga, “Lord of the Fishes”

• squat
• rollback
• seated head to knee
• sage twist
• another version of sage twist (arm around the leg and behind the back)
• roll back
• squat

Jan. 21: 15 minute freestyle practice.

• Sun Salutation
• Extended Leg balance series
• straddle forward fold
• squat
• hero
• yoga mudrā
• fish
• knee down spinal twisting
• seated spinal twisting with side bends

Jan. 22: 5 minutes only 

• Sun Salutation
• forward bend
• seated spinal twisting

Jan. 23: 10 minute freestyle

• Sun Salutation (twice)
• Moon Salutation (holding each pose 7 breaths)

Nike+?

Does anyone out there use Nike+ on their runs?  if you do, do you like it?  Pros?  Cons?

Week in review: Jan. 15 – Jan. 18

Jan 15: I did some Wii Fit.  21 minutes bank time.

• Advance Step.  Perfect: 317;  Ok: 19;  Total: 653.  (Not sure if I’ll ever beat this!)
• Basic Hoop:  293
• Boxing 6 minutes
• Super Hula Hoop.  Left:  420;  Right: 368 (I missed 2 hoops early on!)

Jan 17: I went to the gym to treadmill for an hour.  I ended up running for 4 miles (48 minutes) with several slow downs.  I did start at 5.5 and ramped it up to 6 for several minutes.  I did settle in to finish at 5.3 or 5.0 for the duration.  I walked the last 12 minutes plus 5 minute cool down for 1 more mile.

Jan. 18:  Pretend Cycle ride while watching Hoarders.  I rode 10.5 miles in 49 minutes or so.  It was pretty good.