I forgot my iPod this morning as I went running. I listen to books on tape to trick my brain into not counting down the seconds.
But, despite that - I ran 5 min intervals today! It just seemed easy, and something natural to do. I think I will give it another week of intervals then go on to no breaks.
In order to make it back to the house by 6 and get some weight training in, I didn't go for too long, a little over a mile. I will need to figure out the best way to add distance/time and get in some lifting. It might just wait till the weather brightens up, since the club opens at 5am and I need to be back around 6 am. I suppose it will also get easier when I get my car back out of the shop. Since I can go during the day and bring Alexandra to the playroom. Any way you look at it, I still know that I need to dedicate time and effort.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Endurance
I have been getting a lot of encouragement from other runners around me. Most of the advice has been for me to focus on endurance. So, that is what I am doing. I know that I am still in the run/walk stage, so it is good advice at this stage. I need to be able to run longer with out a break.
I ran on Sunday and still feel my muscles in my feet and shins aching. When I tried to run this morning I had two obstacles: 1) my muscles hurt more when I used them for running, I wanted to run through them but 2) my pant kept falling down. Seriously my pants kept falling down and I just couldn't run for more than 1 1/2 mins with out having to stop to pull them up. So I decided it was a good day to do weigh training. Back and Biceps.
I ran on Sunday and still feel my muscles in my feet and shins aching. When I tried to run this morning I had two obstacles: 1) my muscles hurt more when I used them for running, I wanted to run through them but 2) my pant kept falling down. Seriously my pants kept falling down and I just couldn't run for more than 1 1/2 mins with out having to stop to pull them up. So I decided it was a good day to do weigh training. Back and Biceps.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Just get up and do it....you know you can...
Keep telling yourself that, and the fact that I'll never let you live it down and you'll get up in the morning. Set the alarm for 4:45 and think about how good you'll feel after the run. This running on the treadmill will make it easier when we go outside in March....... :) YES!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
back on the Chain Gang
You know that little voice in your head, the one that tells you to keep going to push on and not to give up?
Well sometimes its not just in your head.
Like this morning, the little voice in my head said "that's your alarm" but really it was Kyle's voice telling me that it was 5 am. And then when I was on the treadmill walking, warming up and the little voice that should say "get going" says "put on Brittney and get going". Clearly that was not the voice inside my head, since I was listening to Dave Matthews Band and would not even if threatened voluntarily put Brittney Spears on my iPod. It was Lesley telling me that I needed to start running.
You see last week I felt a little sore and a little like I was getting a cold and running seemed so far away. A different little voice in my head said "eat a piece of cake" and "have a can of coke" and I listened. It's easier to listen to that voice than it is to listen to the one telling me to push harder and eat my veggies. I am not a big cake person but I think there is something inside all of us that says "you better eat that cake before it goes bad" that somehow wasting cake is a terrible sin. Or that "you might as well drink that can of Coke" because "it's only 110 calories", you run that off all the time - the treadmill tells you so.
Some times I think that the more you have to lose the easier it is to just say "oh I'll stay in instead of working out, and eat that Quarter pounder with Cheese". Easier because I know that, well, a quarter pound is just a fraction of what I have to work off. But I have to always remember that if I don't stop with the cake, Coke and Quarter pounders I will never get to where I am going. I don't want to just run in place, I want to run to my destination! Which is why this week was a lesson about how Diet AND Exercise go together.
...now, I'm gonna throw out those Olive Garden breadsticks before I eat them. I'll toss what's left of the cupcakes while I'm at it. :(
Well sometimes its not just in your head.
Like this morning, the little voice in my head said "that's your alarm" but really it was Kyle's voice telling me that it was 5 am. And then when I was on the treadmill walking, warming up and the little voice that should say "get going" says "put on Brittney and get going". Clearly that was not the voice inside my head, since I was listening to Dave Matthews Band and would not even if threatened voluntarily put Brittney Spears on my iPod. It was Lesley telling me that I needed to start running.
You see last week I felt a little sore and a little like I was getting a cold and running seemed so far away. A different little voice in my head said "eat a piece of cake" and "have a can of coke" and I listened. It's easier to listen to that voice than it is to listen to the one telling me to push harder and eat my veggies. I am not a big cake person but I think there is something inside all of us that says "you better eat that cake before it goes bad" that somehow wasting cake is a terrible sin. Or that "you might as well drink that can of Coke" because "it's only 110 calories", you run that off all the time - the treadmill tells you so.
Some times I think that the more you have to lose the easier it is to just say "oh I'll stay in instead of working out, and eat that Quarter pounder with Cheese". Easier because I know that, well, a quarter pound is just a fraction of what I have to work off. But I have to always remember that if I don't stop with the cake, Coke and Quarter pounders I will never get to where I am going. I don't want to just run in place, I want to run to my destination! Which is why this week was a lesson about how Diet AND Exercise go together.
...now, I'm gonna throw out those Olive Garden breadsticks before I eat them. I'll toss what's left of the cupcakes while I'm at it. :(
Monday, February 8, 2010
Week 2
It seems to me that the title "Week 2" seems very small. It seems like such a small milestone, but that is just what it is all the same, a milestone. I let my body rest this weekend, by the end of the day on Friday I was feeling my shins and hamstrings. I don't want to start off too much too soon, and get injured.
Today, I improved my time, distance and interval time. I only really kept track of the interval changes this time. walk 1min/ run 3 mins.
It was hard but at the same time, it was easier.
Today, I improved my time, distance and interval time. I only really kept track of the interval changes this time. walk 1min/ run 3 mins.
It was hard but at the same time, it was easier.
Friday, February 5, 2010
5 am
Today was the second day that I woke up at 5 am to work out. This is something that I would have never done in the past. I am not a morning person. Let me say that again: I am NOT a Morning person. But, it's funny how things change. It doesn't seem so bad waking up at the butt crack of dawn to start my day off with some sweat. It actually feels good to have it done and over with. I mean, now I don't have to keep talking myself into or out of working out. Now, I can just relax and plan my day.
Mary
All week I have been interval training on the treadmill during my workouts, I feel able to move to the next level next week :) from walk 1 min/run 2 min up to 3 min's of running (I hope). And as long as I am stating plans, I plan to work out tomorrow and run longer/ even if it means changing my pace etc.
13:52
Mary
All week I have been interval training on the treadmill during my workouts, I feel able to move to the next level next week :) from walk 1 min/run 2 min up to 3 min's of running (I hope). And as long as I am stating plans, I plan to work out tomorrow and run longer/ even if it means changing my pace etc.
13:52
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Day 2
If yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life, today is Day 2.
What do I mean? I mean that I woke up this morning at 5 (actually 4:50) to go to the gym with my sister. What that is really saying though is this: I am dedicated. Some would say that how can you say you are dedicated after two days, but remember I started without dedication a month ago when I signed up for Boot Camp at the gym. Maybe they are right, or maybe being dedicated to my own personal fitness is more like an addict in AA. Everyday I have to focus on my goals, everyday I have to get out of bed and decide that today I am not going to slack, I am not going to eat crap... maybe it's just like AA. If so, then Lesley is my sponser. I would NEVER have gotten myself out of bed this morning to go if I didn't have her expecting me. She doesn't let me slack. She is the voice inside my head that tells me to push through it - but the good thing is, she's louder. Louder than the voice that tells me that I should sleep, louder than the voice that tells me to slow down, and louder than the voice that tells me to drink that milkshake. In fact this morning, my wonderful husband set his alarm, so that I would wake up at 10 min. to 5. I grumbled half asleep, I'm tired, I'm not going to go. He grumbled back Ok, I did my job, snore. Laying there for half a minute I said to myself. "Lesley will be disappointed that I didn't go", I thought, she's just getting back into it too, and it helps her to have a buddy at the gym too. So I went and the wonderful thing, I didn't get any slack. The first thing she said to me as she pulled the Brittany Spears out of her ear: "You're late."
...but only a few minutes.
Mary
Ps. the mile was 14.31 today
What do I mean? I mean that I woke up this morning at 5 (actually 4:50) to go to the gym with my sister. What that is really saying though is this: I am dedicated. Some would say that how can you say you are dedicated after two days, but remember I started without dedication a month ago when I signed up for Boot Camp at the gym. Maybe they are right, or maybe being dedicated to my own personal fitness is more like an addict in AA. Everyday I have to focus on my goals, everyday I have to get out of bed and decide that today I am not going to slack, I am not going to eat crap... maybe it's just like AA. If so, then Lesley is my sponser. I would NEVER have gotten myself out of bed this morning to go if I didn't have her expecting me. She doesn't let me slack. She is the voice inside my head that tells me to push through it - but the good thing is, she's louder. Louder than the voice that tells me that I should sleep, louder than the voice that tells me to slow down, and louder than the voice that tells me to drink that milkshake. In fact this morning, my wonderful husband set his alarm, so that I would wake up at 10 min. to 5. I grumbled half asleep, I'm tired, I'm not going to go. He grumbled back Ok, I did my job, snore. Laying there for half a minute I said to myself. "Lesley will be disappointed that I didn't go", I thought, she's just getting back into it too, and it helps her to have a buddy at the gym too. So I went and the wonderful thing, I didn't get any slack. The first thing she said to me as she pulled the Brittany Spears out of her ear: "You're late."
...but only a few minutes.
Mary
Ps. the mile was 14.31 today
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Lets get Serious
Okay, today I am getting serious about getting in shape and more importantly running my way to my goals.
Today I did some interval training, since I am not quite there for running all out yet. For those of you who don't know, interval training consists of running and walking on timed intervals. Today my intervals were walk 1 min run 2 mins. I did one mile in 14:28 - this is the fastest since I started back at this a month ago. I will keep updating the time 1 mile.
At the gym today I started with some upper body work. I did some chest and arm stuff, followed that with some ab work. It was after that when I hit the treadmill. I was without my companion the iPod, so I was able to look out the window and watch the beauty of the snow falling. As I began running, I really missed the book I was planning on listening to. But then something wonderful happened. Plodding along I focused on the snowy scene of the shopping mall in front of me. I felt like I could take the time to really look at the details. I took the time running to appreciate what I would normally undervalue. The boxy architecture of the department stores began to take on these abstract angular shapes that I was able to see through the veil of falling snow.
I should wrap up with my goals:
1) lose weight by losing body fat.
2) increase fitness - I don't want to huff and puff for any activity anymore.
3) (this is the big one) Run a 1/2 marathon by the end of this year.
Committing those goals to writing makes them stronger for me.
Now off to snow blow the driveway,
Mary
Today I did some interval training, since I am not quite there for running all out yet. For those of you who don't know, interval training consists of running and walking on timed intervals. Today my intervals were walk 1 min run 2 mins. I did one mile in 14:28 - this is the fastest since I started back at this a month ago. I will keep updating the time 1 mile.
At the gym today I started with some upper body work. I did some chest and arm stuff, followed that with some ab work. It was after that when I hit the treadmill. I was without my companion the iPod, so I was able to look out the window and watch the beauty of the snow falling. As I began running, I really missed the book I was planning on listening to. But then something wonderful happened. Plodding along I focused on the snowy scene of the shopping mall in front of me. I felt like I could take the time to really look at the details. I took the time running to appreciate what I would normally undervalue. The boxy architecture of the department stores began to take on these abstract angular shapes that I was able to see through the veil of falling snow.
I should wrap up with my goals:
1) lose weight by losing body fat.
2) increase fitness - I don't want to huff and puff for any activity anymore.
3) (this is the big one) Run a 1/2 marathon by the end of this year.
Committing those goals to writing makes them stronger for me.
Now off to snow blow the driveway,
Mary
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