Today was my first check-in on eDiets.com. I have followed a great meal plan for 7 days now, and I really did it! I stuck to the plan and I didn't cheat! That's a huge deal to me because I always cheat on diets....maybe that's why I have always failed to lose weight?!?! Anyways, I can't praise eDiets enough for the menu plan. There are thousands of meal combinations for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, that I'm never eating the same things and everything is fulfilling. There is usually a mix of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and protein at each meal and snack. Luckily, I'm not hungry on this diet! I start to get a little hungry right before my next meal. The real hunger comes at 10PM at night when I want to eat again, but I haven't! I have told myself each night that I will be going to bed soon and don't need to eat, and so far it has worked.
Seriously, nobody from eDiets is paying me to say any of this, lol. I realize now why I always had problems with diets in the past. I mean, I know what I'm supposed to eat! Lord knows how many fitness magazines I read and how much research I've done on running and nutrition. My problem is the planning part. That's where eDiets comes in. It puts all my meals and snacks together each week. All I have to do is sit down in front of the computer for about 30 minutes at the beginning of each week and review the week's menu, making any changes I want to it. I then print it out, along with the grocery list it creates based on my menu. I go to the grocery store, get the week's worth of food, and I am set for the week. It takes all the guessing out, and it takes all the chances of me wondering off to a fast food restaurant out. Plus, if I do happen to forget my food, I know I am supposed to eat 420-450 calories at each meal, so I grab something in that range.
Anyways, I am proud to say that I have lost 2.5 pounds my first week!! I am now at 157.5 lbs. My weigh-ins are every Wednesday. My goal weight is 140 pounds, and I started off at 160 pounds. I am really hoping that I can stick to this. This meal plan, in combination with my running should get me there, as long as I don't deviate from the menu. I will be running a half marathon at the beginning of June, so my mileage will be increasing back up into the 30+ mile/week range. Of course, I will run the CDR again in September, so I will maintain that mileage for a good while. I'm almost at 20 miles per week now. If I'm feeling spunky, I may jump up to 40 miles per week while training for the CDR.
I have found a nice group of girls in the eDiets forum. We are in a group on the forum called Remarkable Runners. They are really friendly, and post about their daily runs and life in general. It's nice to find people on there to talk to who are doing a diet and who like to run races.
Aside from all my eDiets posts, I guess I should post something about running! I had been sick for like 10 days with a chest cold, and it really kicked my butt on the running front. I got my runs in, but not the whole distances and goal paces. One of the runs, I had to do 1/4 mile intervals, running at a slow pace and walking. My lungs just coudn't handle running the entire time. One of my runs was supposed to be a 6 mile speed workout, and ended up being a 2 mile easy run. FINALLY on Sunday, I had a fantastic run. It was a scheduled 8 miles on my training plan. I headed out the door with the intention of doing 7 IF I felt ok. I figured that 8 wasn't an option considering the quality of my recent runs. Plus, 8 miles is the longest I have run since October! Well, as soon as my feet hit the pavement, I felt great! So, I went for the 8 miles. I felt great the whole time and was so happy! Unfortunately, I had done lunges Friday. Needless to say, Monday at work my legs hurt so bad I had to break down and take some ibuprofen. That stuff works like magic! I have never been so sore before! Not even the day after the CDR last year. I guess the lunges and the long run together kicked my ass!
I have a 4 mile race next Saturday. It's called the Joker run. I ran it last year and am excited to run it again. No real goal time, I don't guess. Maybe under 40 minutes? I'm not sure what kind of pace I can maintain for 4 miles. I haven't been doing any tempo runs, and have only done a few speed workouts. I'm pretty sure I can keep a 10 min pace, maybe. We will see.....
Sunday's long run stats:
Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:32
Ave pace: 11:32
Calories burned: 1259 (as calculated by dailymile.com) I assume it's closer to 800-1000 calories?
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Day 1 of eDiets
Well, I have made it through the first day of my eDiets meal plan. I have to admit, it wasn't toooo bad, but I was very busy at work, so I really didn't have time to think about how hungry I was. My hunger peaked before lunch time, but lunch was very fulfilling. I was pretty hungry right before dinner, also, but that's because I missed my afternoon snack. Gasp! I usually never miss food, but again I was slammed at work.
My meal breakdown for the day:
Breakfast - the plan called for a protein shake, an english muffin with PB, and an orange. I bought the Slimfast powdered protein shake mix in chocolate. I mixed that in the blender with light Silk Vanilla Soy Milk and some ice. It was rather yummy! Between the shake and my english muffin and the orange, I was very satisfied. I kind of anticipated that it would stay with me, but at the same time I was doubtful because it seems like breakfast never stays with me no matter what I eat, unless it involves the Shoney's breakfast buffet. I ate this at about 7:45AM, and was very hungry by noon, but didn't get to go to lunch till 1:20.
Lunch called for a Lean Cuisine chicken meal of about 200-220 calories. The one I chose had rice in it. In addition to the frozen meal, I had a mixed greens salad with tomato, cucumber, celery, and a raspberry vinaigrette, a light fruit yogurt, and some grapes. I was decently full after the Lean Cuisine and salad, and thought about saving the yogurt, but went ahead and ate it because I figured I would be hungry in an hour, haha.
My snack was supposed to be between lunch and dinner and was supposed to be celery with PB. I ended up not eating it till right before dinner, as I was preparing dinner. This actually was a good idea because I tend to graze and eat lots of junk while I'm cooking dinner, and the celery w/ PB kept me from doing that.
Dinner was a total surprise! It was a true home cooked meal, and was delicious! I had Chicken and Pepper Saute with Rice Pilaf, recipe courtesy ediets. The rice pilaf was amazing, with garlic, onions, and mushrooms. It had a great flavor. The chicken and pepper saute was yummy, with onions, green peppers, and chicken stir fried with light soy sauce. On top of that, I had another salad. Dinner also called for some strawberries, but I'm saving that for later in the evening when I watch television. Dinner was definitely satisfying, and like I said was very delicious! I am very pleased with the recipe and hope that the others are just as good!
Total calories for the day was about 1500. I didn't exercise today, but I'm off Friday thru Sunday, and I plan on getting lots in over the next few days.
Yay for me for my first day of the diet. I didn't feel deprived and the meals were very filling. I wasn't expecting that!
My meal breakdown for the day:
Breakfast - the plan called for a protein shake, an english muffin with PB, and an orange. I bought the Slimfast powdered protein shake mix in chocolate. I mixed that in the blender with light Silk Vanilla Soy Milk and some ice. It was rather yummy! Between the shake and my english muffin and the orange, I was very satisfied. I kind of anticipated that it would stay with me, but at the same time I was doubtful because it seems like breakfast never stays with me no matter what I eat, unless it involves the Shoney's breakfast buffet. I ate this at about 7:45AM, and was very hungry by noon, but didn't get to go to lunch till 1:20.
Lunch called for a Lean Cuisine chicken meal of about 200-220 calories. The one I chose had rice in it. In addition to the frozen meal, I had a mixed greens salad with tomato, cucumber, celery, and a raspberry vinaigrette, a light fruit yogurt, and some grapes. I was decently full after the Lean Cuisine and salad, and thought about saving the yogurt, but went ahead and ate it because I figured I would be hungry in an hour, haha.
My snack was supposed to be between lunch and dinner and was supposed to be celery with PB. I ended up not eating it till right before dinner, as I was preparing dinner. This actually was a good idea because I tend to graze and eat lots of junk while I'm cooking dinner, and the celery w/ PB kept me from doing that.
Dinner was a total surprise! It was a true home cooked meal, and was delicious! I had Chicken and Pepper Saute with Rice Pilaf, recipe courtesy ediets. The rice pilaf was amazing, with garlic, onions, and mushrooms. It had a great flavor. The chicken and pepper saute was yummy, with onions, green peppers, and chicken stir fried with light soy sauce. On top of that, I had another salad. Dinner also called for some strawberries, but I'm saving that for later in the evening when I watch television. Dinner was definitely satisfying, and like I said was very delicious! I am very pleased with the recipe and hope that the others are just as good!
Total calories for the day was about 1500. I didn't exercise today, but I'm off Friday thru Sunday, and I plan on getting lots in over the next few days.
Yay for me for my first day of the diet. I didn't feel deprived and the meals were very filling. I wasn't expecting that!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I signed up for eDiets!
Well guys, I have officially admitted defeat in the world of healthy eating. Haha! I am unable to plan my meals and count my calories for more than 2 days. When I do well and abide by the ~1500 calorie diet, I am generally hungry all day, and then crash on day three, eating everything in site. I am still teetering about 10 pounds heavier than I usually am, and even though I have began exercising 3-4 days per week again, it hasn't been enough to compensate for my dietary intake.
So......
I signed up for http://www.ediets.com/. Yes, I am paying a website to pretty much plan out my meals for me, lol. It's less than $20 per month, which isn't bad, and there are forums and groups and such on there for me to mingle. It gives me one week at a time, and I can change up my meals and pick and choose from a very large list of meals. I picked the combination plan, which is a mixture of fresh foods and packaged foods, and dinner is usually an easy recipe that I can cook. I opted for this plan because I would most definitely fail if I had to cook each meal everyday. At least this plan is good for those who may be on the go and work, but like to cook dinner.
To give you an idea, here is an example of my meals for tomorrow:
Breakfast: Strawberry protein shake, english muffin w/ PB, and an orange
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Cafe Classics Honey Dijon Grilled Chicken with salad, yogurt, and grapes
Snack: celery stuffed with PB
Dinner: Asian Chicken with Rice, salad, and an orange
The breakfast is quick and easy to make in the morning, for lunch all I have to prepare is a salad the night before, and dinner is a nice recipe with fresh vegetables, chicken, and rice. I went grocery shopping this evening, and when I got home I prepared little ziplock baggies of carrots, celery, grapes, and such, so I can just grab them in the morning and go. I'm kind of excited about this because I don't have to sit here and think about what I'm going to eat for the whole week. The website compiles my menu, and if I don't like something, I can change it. It also generates a grocery list for me, based on my menu for the week. That is nice too.
Back in the day, ediets used to only offer one diet plan, and that was simply ediets. I will admit, I tried ediets about 10 years ago, haha, but didn't do it very long. I was a teenager, so I can't really remember what became of it. Now, they off a bunch of other diet options, such as a diabetes diet plan, a Mediterranean diet plan, a low-fat diet plan, a vegetarian plan, and lots others. You can change your diet plan at any time. I think I'm going to try the eDiets Weight Loss Plan for a while. When I get bored with it or hit a plateau, I may change it to the Mediterranean plan or the vegatarian plan. I just like that I have different options.
They do have nutritionists available for live chat and email. I will more than likely utilize them once my weekly mileage increases and I'm at 10 mile long runs again. I figure that 1500 calories isn't going to be enough, or I will have to change some things around. It will be interesting to see what kind of advice they give me.
I canceled my personal training session for today and tomorrow. I feel bad about it, but I feel like I'm wasting my money as long as my diet is in shambles. Once I prove to myself that I can stick to this diet plan, I may go back. Or, sticking to the diet plan may provide me with the motivation I need to get my own butt into the gym on non-running days to get some high intensity cardio and lifting done without the need for a personal trainer telling me what to do. Let's be honest, I know what I should be doing!!
Oh, by the way, Eric and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary on Monday. We went away to some cabins in the woods for 3 nights, which was super nice. We went on a hike one day, and the other day I ran 4 miles outside. The weather was amazing while we were gone, and it hit 70 degrees! Unfortunately, they drain the lake during the winter, so the lake wasn't very pretty. We were the only ones renting cabins while we were there, so we pretty much had the park to ourselves. It was nice, and in the evenings we cuddled up on the couch and laughed and talked. We are going to go back with friends this spring to get the full cabin experience.
So......
I signed up for http://www.ediets.com/. Yes, I am paying a website to pretty much plan out my meals for me, lol. It's less than $20 per month, which isn't bad, and there are forums and groups and such on there for me to mingle. It gives me one week at a time, and I can change up my meals and pick and choose from a very large list of meals. I picked the combination plan, which is a mixture of fresh foods and packaged foods, and dinner is usually an easy recipe that I can cook. I opted for this plan because I would most definitely fail if I had to cook each meal everyday. At least this plan is good for those who may be on the go and work, but like to cook dinner.
To give you an idea, here is an example of my meals for tomorrow:
Breakfast: Strawberry protein shake, english muffin w/ PB, and an orange
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Cafe Classics Honey Dijon Grilled Chicken with salad, yogurt, and grapes
Snack: celery stuffed with PB
Dinner: Asian Chicken with Rice, salad, and an orange
The breakfast is quick and easy to make in the morning, for lunch all I have to prepare is a salad the night before, and dinner is a nice recipe with fresh vegetables, chicken, and rice. I went grocery shopping this evening, and when I got home I prepared little ziplock baggies of carrots, celery, grapes, and such, so I can just grab them in the morning and go. I'm kind of excited about this because I don't have to sit here and think about what I'm going to eat for the whole week. The website compiles my menu, and if I don't like something, I can change it. It also generates a grocery list for me, based on my menu for the week. That is nice too.
Back in the day, ediets used to only offer one diet plan, and that was simply ediets. I will admit, I tried ediets about 10 years ago, haha, but didn't do it very long. I was a teenager, so I can't really remember what became of it. Now, they off a bunch of other diet options, such as a diabetes diet plan, a Mediterranean diet plan, a low-fat diet plan, a vegetarian plan, and lots others. You can change your diet plan at any time. I think I'm going to try the eDiets Weight Loss Plan for a while. When I get bored with it or hit a plateau, I may change it to the Mediterranean plan or the vegatarian plan. I just like that I have different options.
They do have nutritionists available for live chat and email. I will more than likely utilize them once my weekly mileage increases and I'm at 10 mile long runs again. I figure that 1500 calories isn't going to be enough, or I will have to change some things around. It will be interesting to see what kind of advice they give me.
I canceled my personal training session for today and tomorrow. I feel bad about it, but I feel like I'm wasting my money as long as my diet is in shambles. Once I prove to myself that I can stick to this diet plan, I may go back. Or, sticking to the diet plan may provide me with the motivation I need to get my own butt into the gym on non-running days to get some high intensity cardio and lifting done without the need for a personal trainer telling me what to do. Let's be honest, I know what I should be doing!!
Oh, by the way, Eric and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary on Monday. We went away to some cabins in the woods for 3 nights, which was super nice. We went on a hike one day, and the other day I ran 4 miles outside. The weather was amazing while we were gone, and it hit 70 degrees! Unfortunately, they drain the lake during the winter, so the lake wasn't very pretty. We were the only ones renting cabins while we were there, so we pretty much had the park to ourselves. It was nice, and in the evenings we cuddled up on the couch and laughed and talked. We are going to go back with friends this spring to get the full cabin experience.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Last week recap
Last week was my first big week back to working out, running and cross training. I have been running regularly for a couple of weeks now, yay! I'm so glad to be back, and now it's March and it's only a matter of time before we see some decent weather. The days of being able to run till 8:30PM are just around the corner!! All this dark, cold winter weather sucks!! So, this last week I worked out everyday, except Tuesday and Saturday. Sunday, I ran 7 miles, Monday I went to the Fitness Center for my first personal training session. I got my ass handed to me there! It's awful starting back into strength training because you are sore for 4 days after your first few sessions. The trainer had me do lunges up and down the hallway, and every inch of my legs from ankle to butt hurt so bad till Friday. I could cry everyday, lol. Tuesday, I took the day off, then Wednesday I woke up early and ran 2 miles and did 20 min on the elliptical. I was still really sore, but knew I should work it out. Thursday I went to Zumba. Friday I ran 5 miles, which included a fartlek run, and then had another personal training session, where I got my ass handed to me again. I hope this starts to get easy soon!
I had never done a fartlek run before. I get emails from McMillan Running, and I had received this message about 'the lost art of fartlek'. You can read the article here. First of all, the word fartlek is really funny to me, and I don't like saying it. Try telling your friends you did a fartlek, and then you have to explain what the heck you're talking about. The article talked about how your running peaks during the fall, and then in the winter you usually are just doing maintenance miles and not much track workouts. When spring hits, you hit the track again, but have no where close to the speed you had during your peak the season before. And it's not a bad thing, obviously winter is a time to recover. But, you shouldn't be discouraged, such as I was, that when you get back into the training, you aren't as fast as you were during peak. Rather than jump back into track workouts and kill yourself because you try to run the same times as when you were peaking, you should do fartleks to ease your way into track workouts. The article made a lot of sense, so I decided to give it a shot. I mean, I tried to do some speed workouts on the treadmill and didn't last very long, which made me pretty discouraged.
The first week of fartlek training, the article said to do 10-12 repeats of 1 minute at faster than 5k race pace, with 1 minute recoveries. I needed to get 5 miles in, so I did a 2 mile warmup, then started into the fartleks. Last summer my best 5k pace was around 8:40 (holy cow, I was so proud of myself!), so I decided I would try an 8:30 pace. I thought to myself that wouldn't be too horrible to run for a minute at a time, but I wondered about the 1 minute recovery. Well, I did it! By the 7th repeat, I was really tired and the minute recoveries felt more like 30 seconds, but I pushed myself and finished! And I did a 1 mile cooldown. The 10 repeats ended up being 2 miles, so it worked out perfectly. It was probably the best and toughest running workout I have had in a long while, and I felt very accomplished. I'm pretty excited to do this week's workout! The paper says that fartlek 2 involves 4-5 surges lasting 3-5 minutes each with 1-2 minute recoveries. Each surge should be run at faster than 10k race pace, but not faster than fartlek 1. I think I may run this between 8:50-9:00. That should be fun!
I'm really hoping to get faster this year. I did take some time off this winter, but it didn't take me long to get it back. I'm already at 7 miles on my long run, and hope to maybe run a half marathon May 2nd. With a half marathon under my belt in May, I have no choice but to pick up some speed and train some hills pretty hard by the Distance Run in September. Last year, I just started training for the Distance Run in May, so I was basically building the mileage to be able to run the race. This year, I'm going to have the base mileage under my belt by May, so I just have to maintain my mileage and do some work on the hills. Maybe I can reach my 25 minute 5k goal this summer! Maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but I have some high hopes!
Now, if I can just get my eating under control and lost this winter weight......
I had never done a fartlek run before. I get emails from McMillan Running, and I had received this message about 'the lost art of fartlek'. You can read the article here. First of all, the word fartlek is really funny to me, and I don't like saying it. Try telling your friends you did a fartlek, and then you have to explain what the heck you're talking about. The article talked about how your running peaks during the fall, and then in the winter you usually are just doing maintenance miles and not much track workouts. When spring hits, you hit the track again, but have no where close to the speed you had during your peak the season before. And it's not a bad thing, obviously winter is a time to recover. But, you shouldn't be discouraged, such as I was, that when you get back into the training, you aren't as fast as you were during peak. Rather than jump back into track workouts and kill yourself because you try to run the same times as when you were peaking, you should do fartleks to ease your way into track workouts. The article made a lot of sense, so I decided to give it a shot. I mean, I tried to do some speed workouts on the treadmill and didn't last very long, which made me pretty discouraged.
The first week of fartlek training, the article said to do 10-12 repeats of 1 minute at faster than 5k race pace, with 1 minute recoveries. I needed to get 5 miles in, so I did a 2 mile warmup, then started into the fartleks. Last summer my best 5k pace was around 8:40 (holy cow, I was so proud of myself!), so I decided I would try an 8:30 pace. I thought to myself that wouldn't be too horrible to run for a minute at a time, but I wondered about the 1 minute recovery. Well, I did it! By the 7th repeat, I was really tired and the minute recoveries felt more like 30 seconds, but I pushed myself and finished! And I did a 1 mile cooldown. The 10 repeats ended up being 2 miles, so it worked out perfectly. It was probably the best and toughest running workout I have had in a long while, and I felt very accomplished. I'm pretty excited to do this week's workout! The paper says that fartlek 2 involves 4-5 surges lasting 3-5 minutes each with 1-2 minute recoveries. Each surge should be run at faster than 10k race pace, but not faster than fartlek 1. I think I may run this between 8:50-9:00. That should be fun!
I'm really hoping to get faster this year. I did take some time off this winter, but it didn't take me long to get it back. I'm already at 7 miles on my long run, and hope to maybe run a half marathon May 2nd. With a half marathon under my belt in May, I have no choice but to pick up some speed and train some hills pretty hard by the Distance Run in September. Last year, I just started training for the Distance Run in May, so I was basically building the mileage to be able to run the race. This year, I'm going to have the base mileage under my belt by May, so I just have to maintain my mileage and do some work on the hills. Maybe I can reach my 25 minute 5k goal this summer! Maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but I have some high hopes!
Now, if I can just get my eating under control and lost this winter weight......
Monday, February 22, 2010
7 miler and a personal training session
Yesterday, I ran 7 miles. It was beautiful outside, close to 60 degrees and sunny. I just had to take advantage of that because this winter it has been snowing a lot and has been really cold. We have never gotten this much snow before! The 7 miles was a good run. It was my longest run since October, I believe! Most of you know, I have had a rough winter of not wanting to run. The only thing that kept me running here and there was the Winter Series I signed up for. I think I am finally back! For a few months, I have tried putting a training plan on my calendar, but haven't followed through with anything. The last 2 weeks, I have run every run on my calendar and actually look forward to each run. That's how I know I'm back!
Anyways, I'm hoping now that I'm back, I will quickly drop the 8 pounds I have put on since my running came to a stop. Not just those extra 8 pounds, but I hope to lose close to 20! I have turned my diet around the last two weeks as well, turning down certain restaurants and not touching the pizza that my husband's friends bring in my house. I'm rather proud of myself lately! In a effort to be serious about the weightloss, I jumped on an offer from a local physical therapy/fitness center. It's not a gym, but offers personal training sessions for cheaper than any local gym around here. I went this morning for my first session. She new I was a runner, and I think that's why she kicked my butt, lol. I asked her to take it easy on my due to my 7 miler the day before, but she didn't really. I did 10 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the stairmaster, but at a HR of 170. She kept turning up the resistance, telling me my HR wasn't high enough. I'm looking at her like she's crazy! After the cardio, we did some upper body free weights exercises, 3 sets of 15 reps each. After that, she had me do walking lunges up and down a hallway 4 times. So much for going easy on my legs! Every inch from my ankles to my butt is hurting right now! Finally, she had me do those situps. It was a good workout, I must say. Honestly, it's the same type of stuff that I would normally do on my own at my local gym, but not near the intensity she had me do. I would definitely let myself take it easier on the cardio. But, that's what I need. A kick in the butt to turn up my cardio a notch. Just because I am a runner and can run long distances, doesn't mean my cardiovascular system is trained to do high HR workouts. It's definitely a different kind of cardio that will probably benefit my running in a positive way. I'm going back Friday. Hopefully my butt won't be sore anymore!
Anyways, I'm hoping now that I'm back, I will quickly drop the 8 pounds I have put on since my running came to a stop. Not just those extra 8 pounds, but I hope to lose close to 20! I have turned my diet around the last two weeks as well, turning down certain restaurants and not touching the pizza that my husband's friends bring in my house. I'm rather proud of myself lately! In a effort to be serious about the weightloss, I jumped on an offer from a local physical therapy/fitness center. It's not a gym, but offers personal training sessions for cheaper than any local gym around here. I went this morning for my first session. She new I was a runner, and I think that's why she kicked my butt, lol. I asked her to take it easy on my due to my 7 miler the day before, but she didn't really. I did 10 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the stairmaster, but at a HR of 170. She kept turning up the resistance, telling me my HR wasn't high enough. I'm looking at her like she's crazy! After the cardio, we did some upper body free weights exercises, 3 sets of 15 reps each. After that, she had me do walking lunges up and down a hallway 4 times. So much for going easy on my legs! Every inch from my ankles to my butt is hurting right now! Finally, she had me do those situps. It was a good workout, I must say. Honestly, it's the same type of stuff that I would normally do on my own at my local gym, but not near the intensity she had me do. I would definitely let myself take it easier on the cardio. But, that's what I need. A kick in the butt to turn up my cardio a notch. Just because I am a runner and can run long distances, doesn't mean my cardiovascular system is trained to do high HR workouts. It's definitely a different kind of cardio that will probably benefit my running in a positive way. I'm going back Friday. Hopefully my butt won't be sore anymore!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Where have I been??
Sorry I haven't been blogging lately! The truth is, I have been running, just not blogging! I think I am finally getting out of this winter funk, and really getting excited about running again. I ran the 3rd race of the Winter Series on Valentine's Day. It was a 10k. I haven't run or trained much for any of the Winter Series runs, just enough to get through them. Overall, my times were slower on each of these races this year compared to last year, but I actually trained last year. Here are my times for last year and this year:
2008-2009 Series 2009-2010 Series
5K 29:30 29:35
8K 47:48 52:43
10K 1:01:56 1:03:38
Finish: 117 out of 143 not posted yet
Basically, the 2008-2009 series was when I first started out as a runner, and I was training decently hard for a beginner, and running 3-4 days per week. The 2009-2010 series, I was a huge slacker. I ran my 15 miler in September, and then running kind of took a back seat. My best 5k time during training was 26:50is, so you can see my 5k time definitely slipped. My 8k time sucked this time around, but that's not completely my fault. That race, there was snow and ice on the whole course, so I ran slower to keep from busting my behind! The 10k, I really surprised myself this year. I thought I would be dead by mile 4, trying to run at a decent pace, but I somehow found this burst of energy and maintained my pace till the end. I just want to say that I ran a 10k this summer that involved horrible hills for most of the run, and finished in 58 minutes, so to finish the winter 10k, which is completely flat in 1:03, is pretty pathetic. Then again, I try to tell myself that's not so bad considering I have been running less than 10 miles per week up till then! Not so bad, then, huh?
Now that the winter series is over and the warm weather is right around the corner, I am getting super excited. I have a lot of races on my race calendar already through July, and hope to add more. I want to add a half marathon somewhere in there around June. I am definitely getting back into it!
2008-2009 Series 2009-2010 Series
5K 29:30 29:35
8K 47:48 52:43
10K 1:01:56 1:03:38
Finish: 117 out of 143 not posted yet
Basically, the 2008-2009 series was when I first started out as a runner, and I was training decently hard for a beginner, and running 3-4 days per week. The 2009-2010 series, I was a huge slacker. I ran my 15 miler in September, and then running kind of took a back seat. My best 5k time during training was 26:50is, so you can see my 5k time definitely slipped. My 8k time sucked this time around, but that's not completely my fault. That race, there was snow and ice on the whole course, so I ran slower to keep from busting my behind! The 10k, I really surprised myself this year. I thought I would be dead by mile 4, trying to run at a decent pace, but I somehow found this burst of energy and maintained my pace till the end. I just want to say that I ran a 10k this summer that involved horrible hills for most of the run, and finished in 58 minutes, so to finish the winter 10k, which is completely flat in 1:03, is pretty pathetic. Then again, I try to tell myself that's not so bad considering I have been running less than 10 miles per week up till then! Not so bad, then, huh?
Now that the winter series is over and the warm weather is right around the corner, I am getting super excited. I have a lot of races on my race calendar already through July, and hope to add more. I want to add a half marathon somewhere in there around June. I am definitely getting back into it!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Food prep night
I finally ran out of food today, so it was back to the kitchen to prepare some more for the next few days. I made some of those small red potatoes. Baked them in evoo, sea salt, pepper, and paprika. I have a love/hate relationship with making red potatoes. They never get soft enough when I bake them according to the directions, so they are always too hard. Today, I cooked them a little too long, lol. They are a little too soft, but still have a great flavor. I also made some awesome tuna salad with light mayo, red peppers, celery, a hard boiled egg, and some relish. Finally, I made a homemade salsa from Tosca Reno's newest eat clean cookbook. It has tomatoes, onions, red peppers, garlic, cilantro, chili powder, and lemon. I still have cut-up veggies in the fridge. I have to get up really early in the morning tomorrow to go work a pharmacy that's about an hour and a half away. Those days are usually bad for me because I tend to eat out all day. Lunch is typically a Chinese buffet. But not tomorrow! I will have my lunchbox with healthy food packed and ready to go.
On a side note, I went to the gym and ran today. I ran 3 miles. They felt ok. I want so bad to be back to running 10 miles. I felt so good when I was running that much. Not just physically, but mentally. After the distance run, I planned on just taking a little rest from serious running. Maybe a month. But then the idea of running for an hour and a half just overwhelmed me. I simply didn't want to do it. I didn't want to give up my Sundays anymore, haha. Now, I would give anything to be able to run 10 miles, lol. I know I will get there again. I need to quit sulking about it and just get my butt outside. I'm trying, slowly. I'm hoping for a 6 miler this coming Sunday. Thank goodness I signed up for that winter series or I probably wouldn't have ran 1 mile this winter. Oh, spring hurry up and get here!
On a side note, I went to the gym and ran today. I ran 3 miles. They felt ok. I want so bad to be back to running 10 miles. I felt so good when I was running that much. Not just physically, but mentally. After the distance run, I planned on just taking a little rest from serious running. Maybe a month. But then the idea of running for an hour and a half just overwhelmed me. I simply didn't want to do it. I didn't want to give up my Sundays anymore, haha. Now, I would give anything to be able to run 10 miles, lol. I know I will get there again. I need to quit sulking about it and just get my butt outside. I'm trying, slowly. I'm hoping for a 6 miler this coming Sunday. Thank goodness I signed up for that winter series or I probably wouldn't have ran 1 mile this winter. Oh, spring hurry up and get here!
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