Just Workin on My Fitness

Hey blog friends~ I’ve finally been getting my fitness on over here ;)

As stated in my last post, I had slacked off the latter part of last week and ended up taking 3 off days. Last night was going to be no different after I logged offline and ate dinner with my family. I ate lots, watched some t.v., played with Mochi, and was going to go to bed at the late hour of 9pm.

Then, I started feeling guilty for not sticking to my workout routine, especially with my first half marathon only FIVE weeks away.

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Obviously, there was no way that I couldn’t go to the gym. Damn motivational photos. I called the gym to make sure they were back to normal hours (just in case I couldn’t go hah), got my ass into my workout gear, and went to the gym. I only intended to do 3 easy miles and then call it a night since it was already 9pm, but once I got going, I was on a roll.

I did my 3 miles, and then completed the below upper body workout and still had energy to burn, so I ran 2 more miles, bringing my daily total to 5 miles. (Note: each exercise in each superset was complete 3 times.)

Today, I decided to get in the long run I did not do yesterday. Unfortunately, my Garmin battery died on me after 7.7 miles :( I forgot that I didn’t charge it for a week…oops. Since I was kind of in-the-dark about my mileage, I tried to estimate as best I could so that I could map the rest when I got home. Well, I failed kind of on purpose. I took a route I knew would get me close, but then it was already almost 5pm, and the temp was dropping quickly, so I high-tailed it home. My fingers were so numb and purple from the cold. Overall, I got in 10 miles, which is great, but I was supposed to cover 11 miles.

Regardless of the lost mile, I had a fantastic run! I had no stomach issues, and the miles were flying by, literally (for me anyway). This is one of the most comfortable faster runs that I’ve done, and all of my miles (minus my uncertain last miles) were under 11:30, with several below 10:50. Not bad for a tortoise like me, and my breathing and energy levels were fantastic. Now I fully understand why people taper before a race. I fake-tapered for 4 days, and it looks like I had a lot of energy to burn and high glycogen stores. Woohoo! Next time, I just have to remember to charge my Garmin :P

Oh yeah, and I also decided to follow a new training plan for the last 5 weeks. I tinkered around with SmartCoach on the Runner’s World website, and I loved how it gave me pacing goals for all of my different types of runs. I’ve just been sort of running at whatever pace I feel like and have done a few tempo runs, so it’s nice to have more structure and virtual guidance.

On a final note, I brought Mochi home with me today! He’s making himself back at home in my place and finally laid down in the bed that I got him about 6 months ago. He has not touched the thing until today.

"The bed and I have made peace."

Attached to my hip...literally.

And now it’s really late, and I should be heading off to bed. Good night!

Question of the Day: Have you been working out to kick-start the new year? Any workout goals?

Table for One

Thank you all for the encouraging words and advice from my weekend posts regarding the Surf City Half Marathon! Even though it’s Monday, I’m happy because it’s a short work week :) Don’t you wish every week was a 3-day week?

Eats

I was STARVING today (what else is new?), so I decided to get Chipotle…yum! I love that you can order online and go to a separate window to pick it up because their lines during the lunch hour are literally out the door.

I got a barbacoa burrito bowl with half the rice, extra lettuce, black beans, fajita veggies, 3 kinds of salsa, and guacamole. This is my go-to favorite thing there, but it was a bit salty today. It didn’t stop me from demolishing the bowl though lol.

It’s a bit lonely in the office since so many people took this week off to travel home for Thanksgiving, so I went to lunch by myself. I don’t mind walking around solo downtown to grab food and head back to the office, but I really just wanted to be away from my desk today. The thing is, I’m a little weird about eating alone haha.

If I’m driving somewhere, I usually get it to-go and either take it back to my place or eat in my car (even if it’s in the parking lot like a creeper). I also don’t mind grabbing my lunch to head to a park or some sort of sit-down area to eat all by myself, but there’s something about physically sitting alone in an eating establishment that doesn’t jive well for me.

Today, for example, it’s just shy of 50 degrees outside, which is my favorite temperature to run in, but it’s a bit cold to just sit and eat. Rather than sit in the heated Chipotle or back at my desk, I opted to find a place outside to eat. I was literally all by myself.

Oh yeah, and my food got cold in less than 5 minutes :( I probably looked like some post-break up victim hanging around in the cold to freeze my sorrows away lol.

Training Schedule

So I combined parts of several different training schedules to fit what would work with my schedule and goals, and this is what I came up with.

The items in bold are set in stone and I’m committing to them. The other runs are flexible in distance and date. I might switch them around and possibly replace a Friday rest day with one of the Saturdays if something comes up. I’m comfortable with the distances in the plan, so let’s see how it goes!

Do any of you have any suggestions for this schedule? I’m not sure if I’m tapering enough, and I’m tapering more than 3 separate plans called for.

Be Thankful Challenge

Today I’m thankful for short weeks. Bring on the turkey!

Question of the Day: Do you mind eating by yourself? Any additional suggestions for my training plan?

Long Run Sundays: Surfs Up

Happy Sunday! I hope that your weekend has been swell and full of relaxation.

I’ve been semi-MIA from the blog world for a couple of days now because I had a friend from out of town staying with me the whole weekend. She moved for work, so it’s always a great time when she comes back to visit. We’ve been busy eating, shopping, and meeting up with friends all weekend long. Every time she’s here, it almost feels like I’m having a mini vacay since we do so much stuff and hang out with so many people :)

Needless to say, I didn’t get much running in this weekend. Aside from our 4 mile run yesterday, I took a short running break and skipped my Sunday long run. I think it’s best because a) I had a hangover from last night (no puke face today), b) I didn’t want to aggravate my hip since it was achy yesterday, and c) I’m officially moving into training mode as of this week!

If you stopped by yesterday, you should have noticed my race confirmation screen shot for the 2012 Surf City Half Marathon! I’m SO excited because it’s a beautiful course that runs along Huntington Beach (and cute surfer boys *cough cough*).

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So, what gives? I just signed up for the Portland Rock n Roll Half Marathon that will take place in late May, but it feels entirely too far off. I’ve already reached a long run distance of 9 miles, so knowing that I don’t have any reason to be running so much right now was somewhat demotivating. I seriously thought it would take me 8 months to train for Portland, but my body likes running more than I thought it would.

Because I started running about 2 months ago, I figured that February would be a great time to tackle a half marathon. The thing is, there is no way in hell I would run one in Colorado in February because you would probably find me frozen along the side of the street somewhere. I did a search for half marathons in February, and Surf City was at the top of the list. Mild weather + beaches +great food + cheap flight = WINNER. It also helps that I have several friends in LA I can recruit as my hotel, taxi, and cheerleading squad, so it was an easy choice ;) Thanks, friends!

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This race is going to be glorious. I mean, look at that beach! It’s not Hawaii, but I haven’t seen a beach since I went to Spain in April, so I’ll gladly take what I can get since the closest thing we have to a beach here is along a lake. It probably won’t be warm enough to work on my tan, but it’s definitely going to be warmer than Colorado! Plus, I’m sure my running tan lines will not look sexy in a bikini.

This gives me more motivation to work on getting in more runs during the week since I know I’ll have to complete this half marathon in about 10 weeks. No more using work/tutoring or my hate of the treadmill as an excuse to run some other time. As such, I also need to look for a good training schedule, so I’ll post it up once I find one that I like.

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I can’t wait to head to the expo to get my race bib. They give you the option to personalize your bib, so I took full advantage of the opportunity. I might be the only one who thinks I am clever and funny, but mine is going to say “Half Virgin”. Yup, that’s right, and I’m going to be wearing that damn thing proudly. That’s enough rambling for a night, so I’ll catch you all tomorrow!

Be Thankful Challenge

Today I’m thankful for Crystal Light. I normally don’t like the stuff, but I hate the taste of water after a night of drinking because it tastes like I’m chugging vodka or tequila…GROSS!

Question of the Day: Do you have any tips for half marathon training?