Running Thoughts

Today was free for me, but I'm so excited about the trails that I scoped out to run soon!  They have been too snowy to get to, but now, they are open and hilly and secluded and great!  And I'm psyched that I think I've found a good pace for running distances now!  

I'm really happy that people are using the community gym (it's free and fairly well-equipped), but I miss the good ol' days when I was the only one in there.  I tried twice today to go, but I had to take both boys with me and when other people are in there, 2 bouncy boys are not welcome.  Both tries were futile for us because there were groups of people working out in there!  That's exciting, but inconvenient for me.  And isn't it all about me, after all?  No? Well, we came home and I did "giant sets" of body weight leg exercises.  Giant sets are doing 3 exercises for the same muscle group in a row with no break between for 15 reps.  Then, rest about 30 seconds and do it again and then again.  So, I may not have gotten to do my heavy legs day squats with the barbell like I'd planned, but I did manage to fatigue my muscles...even my calves which are not easily fatigued.  So I'm happy. Today is the last day of school, too.  So we have walked all over...

I knew that today was the day.  I slipped into my *hot* pink running skirt and headed out to run/jog the entire 3k distance.  No walking.  I DID IT!!!!  :)  I even kicked into high gear for the last 100 meters.  I shaved over a minute off my time and Tiger Woods said, "Congratulations!  You just hit a new record for the mile!"   Reading in the Running for Women book, I realized that I've never had any instruction on running (especially with hills) and the info there helped me tremendously.  I also realized that, with running sprints (my favorite) and running hills (which I also love/dread), I've never tried to find my pace.  Today, I think I found it.  And now, I can bump it up as I get better and better.  I'll be improving my time and shooting for 5K.  Abwork later!!

I said in my last post that I want to run faster.  I still have the goal of running/jogging the whole way too.  I know that it will take a long time for both goals, but I wanted to add that I haven't dropped the first goal for the second.  I figure that as I work on running/jogging the whole thing, my time will improve.   Also, I went to the library and checked out 2 books that I've checked out before...Running for Women and Sculpting Her Body Perfect.  Both are good reads.  Here is something I read in the Running book that I wanted to share: "A positive self-image is important throughout our lives as runners.  Chances are, your running will take you in a variety of directions over the years and your running identity will change.  You might have taken up running to lose weight but later find that running has become important to you for many other fitness reasons as well.  You might try some trails one day and find yourself seduced by the sport of ultrarunning.  YOu may dec...

I ran 2 miles today.  I'm not fast, but at least I'm out there!  I jog/walked part of it and threw in some sprints.  My goal is to run 5 runs at a pace of faster than 11.34 per mile in one month.  I'm not there yet!  But I will get there!  Then, I'll make another goal, etc! Can't believe Ruth is still on target with workouts while on vacation!!!  Yay for Ruth!  I go visit family in a couple of weeks, and I plan not only to take my jump rope, but to take one for hubby too!  Sneaky plan...don't tell him!

Those push-ups and super sets of abwork had me very pleasantly sore.  I was planning on cardio yesterday, but hubby is only home a short time and I decided to skip it and take the day with him.  He leaves this afternoon and I will be doing legs.  This is the last week of school here!  That is so exciting!  My kids only go part of the day and homeschool the rest, but I'm so looking forward to no more going back and forth!!!  I forgot to tell you that I went shopping over the weekend and tried on size 2 stuff that fit, but didn't buy cuz they weren't on sale.  I did buy some things...shorts (my new usual size 4), some shirts, a GREEN hoodie...I also bought some long dangly earrings that will be cute with my short hair.  I tried to pierce my ears about a year or so ago and my ears rejected the earrings, and I haven't tried again.  I bought clip earrings; you can't see my ears anyway, just the dangle below my hair.  OOOH, I'll try for a picture. Oh, and Sara is off ...

Last time I did push-ups, I could only do 12.  I just did one set of 20 and another of 15!!  I don't have time to run to the gym today because Hubby missed his flight and now he gets in later and in another town from the one he flew out of where his jeep is parked...so, I have to get things together and drive to go pick him up.... Anyway, that to say that I'm doing push-ups, tri dips, and bicep curls for my upper body workout today.  I'm down a little on the scales, so maybe I'll eventually join Ruth in the 120's!!  there's hope!   Have a great day!  (it's snowing here...hahaha)

Today was cool and a little snowy, but there was a slip of time with some sunshine, so I took advantage of it and jumped rope.  I had planned on running 3K, but really was in the mood to jump my rope instead.   I plan to do supersets of abwork when I get off this computer!   Silly Ruth, there aren't tigers.  Just bears and mountain lions.  And I try not to run in the morning when it is likely to see a bear.  Mountain lions are skittish and rarely seen anywhere near town or common trails.  Hopefully, I'll never see one!!

We did leg press, calf raises, lunges until near death and that was all we had time for.   I found this wesite... www.mountainrunningfortheaveragejoe.com It has some good advice on training and on races/first races.   It also speaks about taking time to enjoy the outdoors when you run which I am a strong believer in.  There are certain parts of my run where I just slow down, take the earphones down and enjoy the river rushing by.  I don't stop, I just plan to walk there.  I love the serenity of running outside and I've been looking forward to some trails opening up so that I can do some trail running up the mountains this summer.  

or at least I felt cute.  The day was really warm and so I donned my running skirt and rode my bike to memorial park with Brae.  There, I ran 3K's worth of sprints.  It took 22 min.  Then we messed around at the park and the river and rode home, uphill.  So that was great.  I did biceps and triceps too and did abwork.  So, that is that is that.  It was a joyful day!

It was an upper body day. I remember now that I hated BFL upper body days because they are sooooooooooo long.  I use to break them into two parts.  So, that's what we did today.  We did chest, shoulders, and back.  Tomorrow, we will do bis and tris as well as cardio.  Abwork is also on tap, but doesn't take long.  I remember when I was whining about not being able to bench press my 30 pound dumbells, and today, 30 pound dumbells weren't even a 10!  Cool!

We are having some intensely sunny days!  Yesterday, I ran 3K.  I ran just ALMOST the whole thing.  I only walked a couple of times and that was only a few steps.  Still, Nike+ says it took me 21 minutes.  I guess my jog isn't any faster than my walk.  hmmm  I don't understand.  It had to have been a faster 3K, but it wasn't.  I wonder if the calibration gets off between sprints and distance running? Today will be an upper body day this afternoon or early evening with Sara.   I'm sore from abwork and lunges and running.  Feels great!

sprints by the river, health back to normal (except for this crazy headache), and pilates abwork.   Hoooooooray!!!!!!! sara hasn't been bloggin' but she was right there with me!  :)

lunges, lunges, lunges.... Today was scheduled as a legs day, and we did lunges uphill outside and then squats- holding the position until burnout.  I still have a residual headache from being sick, and we didn't have my daughter home to babysit.  So we didn't trek over to the gym.  It was nice to breathe in the outside air, and I think we will feel it tomorrow. We are trying to decide what to do with our workouts...BFL-style weights seem like nothing now. I mean, we do burnout, which is the goal, but the Blitz was an ultimate burnout, so now I don't feel like we are doing enough.  Now, it's true that lately we haven't done much at all...a houseguest and a virus threw us off, but also, we haven't been feeling the workouts enough.  I want to change up the routine from time to time, but what to change it to? On a weather side-note, it snowed again for a few days in a row but today was warm and sunny.  ah, mountain springtime!

I've been sick.  I'm hoping to be back on top of things tomorrow!  I'm just really weak today, but no longer in bed all day.  So, things are looking up.  :)

wow...it's been tooo long since I had a chance to post!!  Friday was wild.  we had to drive 2 hours to an airport to pick up sara's cousin and then Odell later that night.  Then, the kids and O and I spent the night in a hotel because we had soccer games the next day....busy, busy.  And since then, we've been playing.  In fact, we made an exchange with Sara's couz...we flew him here with free miles in exchange for him playing in Kaegan's playroom part of the time he's here.  So, today was playroom day which was super fun and then we had an important backyard show to perform (Kaegan's idea...) for Sara's fella's birthday.  So, as you can see....we have truly been playing.  Today was also supposed to be legs day.  I did lunges and that is all I managed.  And eats have been....inconsistent at best.  Ok, so back at it!  :) Tomorrow is cardio and I won't want to do it because it's been since Thursday that I jumped.  So, I will just do it anyway!! ...

My best guesses of the day: I'm guessing that Ruth has the day OFF from program as it is Thursday and very busy with coop. I'm guessing that Sara hasn't done abwork YET, but she will. I'm guessing that Sauchagirl has thought of her early workout several times today amidst little people chaos. I'm guessing that Flowerpot is busy with end of year stuff for Princess's school and needs to slow down. Weather in mountain country: woke up to sunshine then it rained then it hailed then it was sunny then it snowed then it was sunny again Workout: Jumped rope in the snow (it was fun) abwork coming up soon

I will wake up sore tomorrow....

Cardio Day... I wanted to run my little 3K, but also wanted to run sprints. Soooo, I compromised.  I ran the first half and sprinted the second.  It felt good even if I didn't want to do it at first.  I walked to warm up the first .5K.  Ran/jogged until halfway, ran sprints with short walks between for 5 sprints, then walked/jogged the rest of the way.  Still, my time was 20 minutes.  Seems a little pokey.  Oh well. Tomorrow is lower body, BFL style!  I'm not sure we will go the whole 12 weeks just because I like to change every 6 or so weeks to keep those muscles guessing and responding.  But, for now, I'm happy to be back into my KNOWN Bfl!

Today is the first day of my latest Body for Life Challenge!  We ended our 8 week Blitz, took a week of cardio-only, and now we begin again!  This time, it's straight BFL, and I'm pumped!  We did our upper body workout today and tomorrow will be hiit training.  I'm also shooting for a 5K.  I've begun with 3K, mostly running, and I plan to run another 3K, all running and then work on time.  Then, I'll bump up to a 5K, mostly running, etc.  At least that is my plan.  I've never gone for distance before, so suggestions are good.