Meh! Today is the first day of lent and already I am craving candy. My annual lent challenge is to give up sweets /dessert and fried foods. This is my fourth year. The first year I made it the full 6 weeks without cheating. The next 2 years are a totally different story. Both 08 and 09 were super stressful times at work. Yesterday I felt I had renewed vigor to make it through the challenge but right now im dying. I'd kill for some brownie mix. Meh.
Making it worse, I totally bonked during my workout tonight. I was trying to repeat my treadmill interval workout from last week but it didnt work out so well. I was dying after 5 intervals and had to walk it out for 3 min. I tried to finish it off but could only make it through 3 before I set it back to walking. Overall it was about 3 miles of running.
After going back and forth with myself I signed up for the Haiti benefit race. You get 2 marathon credits, and you do your humanitarian duty all in one. Im nervous though. This will be my first race totally by myself and also my first winter race. Not sure what to expect. I guess we will see.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Long Weekend
So the long valentines day weekend has come to an end. sigh.. I had an excellent relaxing and lazy weekend. Ate a lot of food and watched a lot of olympics. Pretty much spent 24/7 with the BF and it was great.
Backing up to last week, Wednesday 2/10 was the big snow day. It looked worse than it was in the am, no issues on the train or anything. But as the day went on it was apparently getting worse and worse. Work excused everyone early, so I left and got home fine. I was planning on trying out an interval workout on the treadmill but I canceled it in favor of hibernating on the couch.
Thursday 2/11 I debuted my interval workout on the tread. I nipped the program from a blog I read. Here is the plan:
1-5 6.0
5-10 6.5
at minute 10 start 1 minute intervals of 8.0 followed by 1 minute rest at 6.5. 10 repeats
31-end at 6.5
This workout was tough! also humbling. I though I was in better shape. When I was planning it I thought I could do 8.5 intervals no problem but after 1 I switched to 8.0. I did finish up the last 2 at 8.5 though. After the final rest interval I walked it out for 2 min and then started running again at 6.5 until i hit 4 miles. The Nike+ data for this workout is strange. The graph is like completely straight across, making it look like I had a super even pace. Whatever.
Stats: Nike+ = 4.02 miles, 37'06" 9'13" pace. incline of 2%
I had half planned to head to the gym after but it was late and the BF was waiting for me to eat and watch our shows so I just headed home.
Friday 2/12 - Wii Fit day. I boxed it out and hula hooped for an hour. The next day my arms killed.
Sat 2/13 - Met with KM at the gym for lifting. Then did 30 min cardio on the elliptical. I felt like I had no energy at all. I had wanted to do a longer run today but decided to switch to Sunday.
Sunday 2/14 - Valentines day. Great 6 mile run. Beautiful weather. I had too much on actually. I was wearing my warm tights and a tank, and then I had a Nike core pro thermal half zip and on top of that a new black zip up fleec lined jacket. plus gloves and a headband. It was around 20 degrees with the windchill but the sun was blazing and I was definitely regretting the double layers. I was nervous, as I was doing the same 6 mile loop that cause my mystery 2 day knee pain last time. No problems this time though.
Stats: Garmin = 6.06 miles, 54:51, 9:03 pace, avg HR 152; Nike+= 6.45 miles, 58:14, 9:01 pace
Monday 2/15 (Today) Home today, thanks to Presidents Day. Another beautiful day for a run.
Stats: Garmin= 3.54 miles, 31:37, 8:57 pace, avg HR 148; Nike+= 3.75 miles, 32:28, 8:38 pace
Best thing about todays run was that I barely had to stop at any stoplights. Unlike yesterday when I stopped at every single one.
Ok time for more olympics
Backing up to last week, Wednesday 2/10 was the big snow day. It looked worse than it was in the am, no issues on the train or anything. But as the day went on it was apparently getting worse and worse. Work excused everyone early, so I left and got home fine. I was planning on trying out an interval workout on the treadmill but I canceled it in favor of hibernating on the couch.
Thursday 2/11 I debuted my interval workout on the tread. I nipped the program from a blog I read. Here is the plan:
1-5 6.0
5-10 6.5
at minute 10 start 1 minute intervals of 8.0 followed by 1 minute rest at 6.5. 10 repeats
31-end at 6.5
This workout was tough! also humbling. I though I was in better shape. When I was planning it I thought I could do 8.5 intervals no problem but after 1 I switched to 8.0. I did finish up the last 2 at 8.5 though. After the final rest interval I walked it out for 2 min and then started running again at 6.5 until i hit 4 miles. The Nike+ data for this workout is strange. The graph is like completely straight across, making it look like I had a super even pace. Whatever.
Stats: Nike+ = 4.02 miles, 37'06" 9'13" pace. incline of 2%
I had half planned to head to the gym after but it was late and the BF was waiting for me to eat and watch our shows so I just headed home.
Friday 2/12 - Wii Fit day. I boxed it out and hula hooped for an hour. The next day my arms killed.
Sat 2/13 - Met with KM at the gym for lifting. Then did 30 min cardio on the elliptical. I felt like I had no energy at all. I had wanted to do a longer run today but decided to switch to Sunday.
Sunday 2/14 - Valentines day. Great 6 mile run. Beautiful weather. I had too much on actually. I was wearing my warm tights and a tank, and then I had a Nike core pro thermal half zip and on top of that a new black zip up fleec lined jacket. plus gloves and a headband. It was around 20 degrees with the windchill but the sun was blazing and I was definitely regretting the double layers. I was nervous, as I was doing the same 6 mile loop that cause my mystery 2 day knee pain last time. No problems this time though.
Stats: Garmin = 6.06 miles, 54:51, 9:03 pace, avg HR 152; Nike+= 6.45 miles, 58:14, 9:01 pace
Monday 2/15 (Today) Home today, thanks to Presidents Day. Another beautiful day for a run.
Stats: Garmin= 3.54 miles, 31:37, 8:57 pace, avg HR 148; Nike+= 3.75 miles, 32:28, 8:38 pace
Best thing about todays run was that I barely had to stop at any stoplights. Unlike yesterday when I stopped at every single one.
Ok time for more olympics
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Bummin'
Im so mad at myself. I kept putting off registering for the NYC Womens Half in April and now its full. Meh! Im an idiot. I need a race. Im considering doing the Race for Haiti.
Sunday - Elliptical 30 min
Monday - Back to the usual schedule of the Monday run. It was cold and dark at 9pm, so I headed to the gym. Still going to old gym to do treadmill work. Not looking forward to weaning myself off from it. Since I had planned on starting to up the mileage for the half I decided to do 5 miles. Started off fine but then I got the mother of all cramps on my left side. Being the crazy person I am I started to think things like, what if Im having a heart attack. It didnt help that my left arm also started going numb. Inside I was totally panicking, but I forced myself to keep running. I ended up doing a mile and a half at my minimum pace - 6.0 mph before I got some semi relief and could start to increase the speed. The end result was 5.01 miles, 48'24", 9:38 pace. 2.o incline.
Tuesday (tonight) - 30 min elliptical, then lifting alone.
Tomorrow we are supposed to get buried in snow. Fun commuting!
Sunday - Elliptical 30 min
Monday - Back to the usual schedule of the Monday run. It was cold and dark at 9pm, so I headed to the gym. Still going to old gym to do treadmill work. Not looking forward to weaning myself off from it. Since I had planned on starting to up the mileage for the half I decided to do 5 miles. Started off fine but then I got the mother of all cramps on my left side. Being the crazy person I am I started to think things like, what if Im having a heart attack. It didnt help that my left arm also started going numb. Inside I was totally panicking, but I forced myself to keep running. I ended up doing a mile and a half at my minimum pace - 6.0 mph before I got some semi relief and could start to increase the speed. The end result was 5.01 miles, 48'24", 9:38 pace. 2.o incline.
Tuesday (tonight) - 30 min elliptical, then lifting alone.
Tomorrow we are supposed to get buried in snow. Fun commuting!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
A Tale of Hibernation and Other Short Stories
I've been a very bad blogger this past week. I got on the computer many times to start writing something but ended up either being too tired, not feeling like it or just forgetting to - oops. The good thing though is that I've been getting the runs in albeit my schedule got a little wonky.
Summary of the past week.
Thursday 1/28 - Day off. Had a restaurant week dinner with my dear friend Tim at Smith&Wollensky steak house. Very tasty.
Friday 1/29 - Took most of the day off work to do some chores, run and get ready for the Millrose Games starting at 4pm. It was super cold and windy outside. Silly me chose a route going down by the water so my face could get wrecked by the wind.
Stats: Garmin= 37'00" 4.10 mil 9'01" pace; Nike+= 38'22", 4.3miles, 8'54" pace
Had to pop into work to do a few things before rushing over to meet AG at MSG. I've been to several elite meets in my day but this was the first as a spectator and the first that featured current US track allstars and olympians - hello bernard legat!!. It was expensive to go, I had to get seats at the finish and wanted them to be close, but it was worth it. Legat won the mile for the 8th time (record) and a high schooler set the mens HS USR for racewalk. Fun times all around
Saturday 1/30 - With the BF out of town skiing I hibernated all day. Me and baby Chloe watched an abundance of ID (Identification Discovery channel) and I caught up on my tivo. I also watched the new Final Destination which was as bad as I thought it would be. Was supposed to go to gym with KM, but she needed to catch up on some work. I contemplated going alone to lift but decided hey, let me actually use the Wii fit to work out and see how it is. Did an hour of programs including boxing, stepping and my new personal fav hula hooping. Im slow to learn but caught on to these and think I was pretty decent. The balance stuff - no way. I suck horribly. I tried to snowboard and was awful. I need a lot of practice. My Wii age was 38:(
Sunday 1/31 - Lifted at gym with KM. Was actually sore after the Wii Fit experience. I think it was the boxing moves. Did approx 40 minutes of walkking at incline on treadmill after the lifting. The BF came home early and we had a nice night of TV.
Monday 2/1 - Rough day at work and cold as balls outside = evening hibernation. Did not go for run.
Tuesday 2/2 - Groundhog day. Missing my run the day before made me committ to getting it in today despite being colder and snowing. KM and I were on for a lifting date when she got back around 930, so I hurried home from the office to do a quick run before meeting her.
Stats: Garmin = 33'36", 3.72 miles, 9'02" pace, avgHR-153; Nike+=34'57", 3.88 miles, 9'00" pace.
The only thing I remember about this run now is that snow was hitting me in the face and I was afraid of slipping. Otherwise it was uneventful I guess. Made it out and back in time to meet KM at gym for our lifting session. Feeling strong, I think its paying off.
Wednesday 2/3 - Was planning on running again tonight, as I had dinner plans scheduled for Thurs but again, hibernation won me over. Stayed in and watched the weeks 2 eps of idol with the BF. Shockingly, a girl who I went to HS was featured which caused me to freak out and call people i know. and No, she did not make it to h'wood.
Thursday 2/4 - So again, the days previous laziness had me committed to running despite having no time. My commute is approx 45 min and I was meeting KM at 8:35 at the train. I thought if I left at 5:30 I could run no problem. Didnt get out of there until 6, and didnt walk in my door until 6:50. By the time I changed and helped hold Chloe down for her meds (she is getting tired of taking it and has started to rebel) it was 10 after 7. Ahh - time to spring out of there. I was conflicted bc I was pressed for time but wanted to do atleast 4 miles. Since it was earlier I had different route options and I was tired of the old faithful Id been doing lately. I figured I'd do the loop I used to do with KM that I thought was almost 5 but Id cut up to S'way 2 aves earlier to knock it down to 4. I set out and was running faster than I had wanted to, but felt I had no choice had to get back and shower. On the way out baby Garmin told me he was low on batteries but there was nothing I could do. I was hoping this was like an early warning type thing and that I could still get the run in before he died. Nope. He died after 7 minutes. I didnt know this though until more like 25 min in. Normally this wouldnt have been that bad, besides the loss of the HR info and more accurate data. However, tonight I hit every single light. I seriously was stopped at any possible intersection. It sucked. So while Garmin will autopause in these situations and keep my data solid, my Nike clock keeps ticking and my avg pace info gets screwed. Stinky bc I think this would have been great stats on this one. Plus it would have been itneresting to know how much time I spent hopping around on street corners. Oh well.
Stats: though its hardly worth mentioning, Garmin= 7'49, .83mi, 9'22" pace; Nike+ = 42'06", 4.71 miles, 8'56" pace.
In the end I was late meeting KM by 20 min and had to throw my body into the train doors in order to prevent being seriously late to the reservation. We had our bi annual friend restaurant week dinner with other BFF AP. This year was at Fig & Olive. We realized as our train was about to go underground that I made the reservation at the wrong one, and now poor AP was going to show up at a diff restaurant. It all worked out though, we made it only 20 minutes late to the restaurant, had a delish dinner - yummy lamb skewers and couscous with greek yogurt and honey - and got home before 12.
Friday 2/5 - was planning on doing the gym for some cardio upon arriving home but instead for some reason walked from my office in chelsea to soho to the bloomies down there to pick up more trish lotion. got home after 8 and just wanted to hibernate again. so i did. BF and I watched our shows and ordered indian.
ugh, am I done yet? this is the longest post ever. must finish!
Saturday 2/6 (today!) - plan was to lift at 11 with KM. Her regularly scheduled sat morning event was postponed due to the mega snow we were supposed to get. my own plan was to get out and run before meeting her. Woke up and it was clear of snow but balls cold again. Decided I would go to my old gym, since i still have access until 2/20 to run on their treadmills (they have built in fans that im really going to miss) and then go over to lift. Gym was busier than I thought it would be but I got a tread and got to work. I read recently that 2.0 best mimics outdoor elevations. So i thought what the hell will try it.
Stats: Nike+ - 38'11", 9"32", 2.0 incline
Run was ok. My bunion foot was sore after my walk last night in less than desireable shoes (stupid). By the end it was really hurting and so was my knee, a bit similarly to the last time. I stretched right away and then headed over the lift. Then had KM stretch out the IT band after we were done there. So far no pain but it def got me worried. I need to be careful about my foot.
I wonder if I had gone a few more miles if the pain would have been back in full force.
The rest of the afternoon today was spent in hibernation mode again. Where is spring?? Im lucky I have a personal heater (aka baby Chloe). She was laying on me all day keeping me warm and Im sure vice versa.
Yay Im done catching up. Now its almost 10, Im starved and need to kick BF off of Xbox so we can order food.
Summary of the past week.
Thursday 1/28 - Day off. Had a restaurant week dinner with my dear friend Tim at Smith&Wollensky steak house. Very tasty.
Friday 1/29 - Took most of the day off work to do some chores, run and get ready for the Millrose Games starting at 4pm. It was super cold and windy outside. Silly me chose a route going down by the water so my face could get wrecked by the wind.
Stats: Garmin= 37'00" 4.10 mil 9'01" pace; Nike+= 38'22", 4.3miles, 8'54" pace
Had to pop into work to do a few things before rushing over to meet AG at MSG. I've been to several elite meets in my day but this was the first as a spectator and the first that featured current US track allstars and olympians - hello bernard legat!!. It was expensive to go, I had to get seats at the finish and wanted them to be close, but it was worth it. Legat won the mile for the 8th time (record) and a high schooler set the mens HS USR for racewalk. Fun times all around
Saturday 1/30 - With the BF out of town skiing I hibernated all day. Me and baby Chloe watched an abundance of ID (Identification Discovery channel) and I caught up on my tivo. I also watched the new Final Destination which was as bad as I thought it would be. Was supposed to go to gym with KM, but she needed to catch up on some work. I contemplated going alone to lift but decided hey, let me actually use the Wii fit to work out and see how it is. Did an hour of programs including boxing, stepping and my new personal fav hula hooping. Im slow to learn but caught on to these and think I was pretty decent. The balance stuff - no way. I suck horribly. I tried to snowboard and was awful. I need a lot of practice. My Wii age was 38:(
Sunday 1/31 - Lifted at gym with KM. Was actually sore after the Wii Fit experience. I think it was the boxing moves. Did approx 40 minutes of walkking at incline on treadmill after the lifting. The BF came home early and we had a nice night of TV.
Monday 2/1 - Rough day at work and cold as balls outside = evening hibernation. Did not go for run.
Tuesday 2/2 - Groundhog day. Missing my run the day before made me committ to getting it in today despite being colder and snowing. KM and I were on for a lifting date when she got back around 930, so I hurried home from the office to do a quick run before meeting her.
Stats: Garmin = 33'36", 3.72 miles, 9'02" pace, avgHR-153; Nike+=34'57", 3.88 miles, 9'00" pace.
The only thing I remember about this run now is that snow was hitting me in the face and I was afraid of slipping. Otherwise it was uneventful I guess. Made it out and back in time to meet KM at gym for our lifting session. Feeling strong, I think its paying off.
Wednesday 2/3 - Was planning on running again tonight, as I had dinner plans scheduled for Thurs but again, hibernation won me over. Stayed in and watched the weeks 2 eps of idol with the BF. Shockingly, a girl who I went to HS was featured which caused me to freak out and call people i know. and No, she did not make it to h'wood.
Thursday 2/4 - So again, the days previous laziness had me committed to running despite having no time. My commute is approx 45 min and I was meeting KM at 8:35 at the train. I thought if I left at 5:30 I could run no problem. Didnt get out of there until 6, and didnt walk in my door until 6:50. By the time I changed and helped hold Chloe down for her meds (she is getting tired of taking it and has started to rebel) it was 10 after 7. Ahh - time to spring out of there. I was conflicted bc I was pressed for time but wanted to do atleast 4 miles. Since it was earlier I had different route options and I was tired of the old faithful Id been doing lately. I figured I'd do the loop I used to do with KM that I thought was almost 5 but Id cut up to S'way 2 aves earlier to knock it down to 4. I set out and was running faster than I had wanted to, but felt I had no choice had to get back and shower. On the way out baby Garmin told me he was low on batteries but there was nothing I could do. I was hoping this was like an early warning type thing and that I could still get the run in before he died. Nope. He died after 7 minutes. I didnt know this though until more like 25 min in. Normally this wouldnt have been that bad, besides the loss of the HR info and more accurate data. However, tonight I hit every single light. I seriously was stopped at any possible intersection. It sucked. So while Garmin will autopause in these situations and keep my data solid, my Nike clock keeps ticking and my avg pace info gets screwed. Stinky bc I think this would have been great stats on this one. Plus it would have been itneresting to know how much time I spent hopping around on street corners. Oh well.
Stats: though its hardly worth mentioning, Garmin= 7'49, .83mi, 9'22" pace; Nike+ = 42'06", 4.71 miles, 8'56" pace.
In the end I was late meeting KM by 20 min and had to throw my body into the train doors in order to prevent being seriously late to the reservation. We had our bi annual friend restaurant week dinner with other BFF AP. This year was at Fig & Olive. We realized as our train was about to go underground that I made the reservation at the wrong one, and now poor AP was going to show up at a diff restaurant. It all worked out though, we made it only 20 minutes late to the restaurant, had a delish dinner - yummy lamb skewers and couscous with greek yogurt and honey - and got home before 12.
Friday 2/5 - was planning on doing the gym for some cardio upon arriving home but instead for some reason walked from my office in chelsea to soho to the bloomies down there to pick up more trish lotion. got home after 8 and just wanted to hibernate again. so i did. BF and I watched our shows and ordered indian.
ugh, am I done yet? this is the longest post ever. must finish!
Saturday 2/6 (today!) - plan was to lift at 11 with KM. Her regularly scheduled sat morning event was postponed due to the mega snow we were supposed to get. my own plan was to get out and run before meeting her. Woke up and it was clear of snow but balls cold again. Decided I would go to my old gym, since i still have access until 2/20 to run on their treadmills (they have built in fans that im really going to miss) and then go over to lift. Gym was busier than I thought it would be but I got a tread and got to work. I read recently that 2.0 best mimics outdoor elevations. So i thought what the hell will try it.
Stats: Nike+ - 38'11", 9"32", 2.0 incline
Run was ok. My bunion foot was sore after my walk last night in less than desireable shoes (stupid). By the end it was really hurting and so was my knee, a bit similarly to the last time. I stretched right away and then headed over the lift. Then had KM stretch out the IT band after we were done there. So far no pain but it def got me worried. I need to be careful about my foot.
I wonder if I had gone a few more miles if the pain would have been back in full force.
The rest of the afternoon today was spent in hibernation mode again. Where is spring?? Im lucky I have a personal heater (aka baby Chloe). She was laying on me all day keeping me warm and Im sure vice versa.
Yay Im done catching up. Now its almost 10, Im starved and need to kick BF off of Xbox so we can order food.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)