A Day of Rest

For all of those who are keeping an eye on me... I'm just blogging to prove that I am resting today.. no sneaky workouts... nothing :)

I am going to attempt to spin tomorrow... Off to take my Emergencee and Echinecha :)

When Sickness Kicks You Down...

kick its ass right back....

So you guys probably don't know this (or maybe you do now) but I've been pretty sick the last couple of days... It started on Thursday (which I decided to ignore its symptoms) and so I moronically ran 2 miles as my last cool down before the half marathon.. Yeah right I should have relaxed and not run at all.... So Friday I woke up and I felt like poo. Yes poo. I couldn't get out of bed and my headache from hell woke me up in the middle of the night- about 7 times. I was actually pretty concerned and I thought about going to the hospital. I felt dizzy and couldn't think coherently but I still tried to sleep it off. So Friday morning when I woke up, I was tired and not happy. I napped about 4-5 times throughout the day and the only venture I made outside was to get my race packet with G, Walgreens and work to have a friend handoff my earphones I stupidly left at my desk.

So I decided early on that I would not let whatever this was get the best of me so I did what I know best- Google "How to beat a cold in a day" bwahahaha yes I actually did that. So after reading about 10 different sites, I went on my merry way to Walgreens. I bought OJ, vapor rub, and Emergencee. Now I learned a good tip about Emergencee from my friend T- mix it with OJ and it won't taste that bad. She is pure genius (and on that note I want to say a special thanks to my friends who are moms and were thinking about me and giving me advice on how to feel better).

So Saturday rolls around and the headache from hell is still not letting up and neither is the grossness in my lungs. So I take my Emergencee and go back to bed (I even missed a tire changing clinic which sucked because I have no idea how to fix a flat). I was so sick I just needed to go back to bed. My husband went golfing in the morning and before he left I had admitted to myself and him out loud that the race was probably not going to happen and that I was defeated. So I kept napping, trying to eat and googling more ways on how to get better. I found some other good information, and so my sick butt went back to Walgreens to buy- Echinecha. So with all my drugs and supplements I took Ibuprofen, Echinecha, Emergencee, and Zinc and just napped off and on through out the day. By the end of the night I was feeling better and so I thought that there was a chance I could actually run Sunday. So I prepped myself a little and started downloading music, tried to eat more (I literally didn't consume more than 1000 calories each day nor was I hydrating myself to the point I should have been), and got my head together. Now, I was only going to race if I felt okay, and not like the death the two days before lol. My parents came up to watch me and they all tried to talk sense into me before I went to bed and set my alarm for 2:40 a.m....

So I wake up on Sunday, and felt okaayyyy.... and so I made the decision... to run :) Now, I know that I wasn't exactly 100% and so I decided no matter what I had to take it easy- for real. This wasn't a 5K or anything- it was 13.1 miles, and I know that kind of mileage is trying on anyone- healthy or not. So I tried eating half a piece of bread with peanut butter and some gatorade (this is am improvement from my usual not eating anything before a race) to have some fuel before the race. So I got all my stuff together for the race (along with my awesome Jelly Beans I LOVE) and set off for the race with my parents! It was crazy 13,000 runners or more mostly women. I LOVE it. The race is fun and amazing and so entertaining the whole way through. I definitely took it easy but was so glad for it to be over. My official time was 2:20 which I have to say is amazing for how awful I felt. I am still on the road to recovery and still trying to be smart but I'm happy I did it!... One important thing in those races is to really listen to your body.. and I did- so it worked :) Heres a look at my medal (which I frickin deserved):




Training Tip #1: When training hard, your body's immunity is at its peak, once you let up training hard your body's immunity becomes susceptible to viruses/bacteria (which is probably what happened to me). If you are letting up, consistently take immunity supplements to keep your immunity defense high.

Training Tip #2: On race days (any race not just half marathons), don't try anything new. No new clothes, running techniques, drinks, gels - NOTHING. You might not react well to it and either do poorly or feel poorly.

Taking it Easy

Sunday is the half marathon ahhhhh lol...

I feel ready but there's always that seed of doubt. Can I really do it? Did I train hard enough? I think I did AND if anything I overtrained probably lol. Heres a quick recap of my workout.

Saturday: One of my friends was going to try on her wedding dress for the first time and I so we were going to make an early morning venture to the bridal shop. I wanted to get a quick run in so I tried to pound out 5 miles. I got the 5 miles in, and rushed out the door with my eggs and protein shake. Needless to say her dress looked beautiful on her!!! On a side note, my husband and I finally tried out our new kayak :) What a frickin arm workout! It was so fun though, and I can't wait to take it out again.

Sunday: My friend G and I attempted an 8 mile run. It was completely horrible.... so we cut it 6. Talk about a shot to our confidences. I think we can do it, but man what an awful training run... However, sometimes you got to take the good with the bad... and so I'm glad my bad training run was this past Sunday so I can have an awesome half marathon this coming Sunday...

Monday: I went on an 18 mile bike ride and then a mile run afterwards.. Even though I haven't been on my bike it felt soo smooth.... I love my new bike :) I didn't feel sore or anything so that was definitely a plus.

Tuesday: I went spinning (Best part is my friend E came with me)!!!!! The teacher wasn't that great.. Giant Sad Face :( It's okay though I told the instructor I wasn't going hard since I had a race this Sunday... I kept it nice and easy and then E and I did abs after class. Tomorrow's workout: the usual three miles....

Quick Run

So since next weekend is my half marathon, I decided to just do 5 miles today.

I had to go with one of my friends to try on her wedding dress this morning so I wanted to get a quick run in :) I did 5 miles at a pretty decent pace (I didn't have my watch so I don't know specifics). I felt great though!!! Nothing too exciting or eventful happened on my run..

So in honor of my quick run, what do you do for a quick workout?

Happy Trails

Tuesday I had to go on travel and I was totally dreading how this would affect my workouts.

We all know traveling and working out does not go in the same sentence. Between taking flights, working, and driving from place to place, it's almost impossible to find time to workout. So Tuesday I left for work, I spun on my trainer for about 45 minutes. It wasn't hard, but I just wanted my heart pumping and my legs moving. I showered headed into work for a little and took my flight out. After taking our flight, I had to drive to three hours to get to where we were working. With the time change and everything else, we didn't get to the hotel until about 5... My team wanted to drive to our work location and grab dinner, but since they know I'm a workout-aholic they gave me an hour to do what I needed to do. Since I worked out that morning, I thought I could get a quick 3 mile run in and maybe do a little bit of arms. I thought this was especially crucial since I ate Wendys for lunch (I had two homestyle snack wraps and a 5 piece nugget pack). WHAT?? I eat alot don't judge me lol.. We had Outback for lunch and since I still felt gross fromt he Wendys I only had an appetizer.

Wednesday: I got my typical 3 miles in on the morning at the gym in the hotel :) Whenever we're on travel I always make sure to have some sort of gym to workout in. We had a SUPERRRRRRR long day that day, so I was so glad I had gotten my workout in before starting out my day.

Thursday: We were coming back home and I was super excited. I was sooo tired though. I got to stay home, but I was dreading tri-club. I knew I had to go though. Whenever your body is telling you no, your mind should tell you yes. Well not always, but don't let your body get the best of you. Especially for the type of racing I want to do, I need to push my body when its tired. The funny thing is once I'm out there I'm fine. It's just getting up and going that I have a problem with. I finally got moving though and got some sprints/hill work in. I felt great and this type of workout had some speed/endurance work intertwined in it. I felt great though and this made me happy. I'm realizing that I might be ready for this half, even though I doubt myself continually. I've got to keep this up though, I still got three months to go...I forgot to mention that J made me do arm workout after stretching. He is sort of my slave-driver, but you need one of those. I'm glad someone is keeping me in check.

PS ... This week made me laugh... I had one of the guys at work telling me about his caveman diet... Don't even ask.. but if you do.. be prepared for this crazy type of "lifestyle" change.

Weekend Recap

So this weekend was my social run weekend which was super fun :)

Saturday: One og my friends V and I went on a 10 mile run.. My half marathon is in two weeks (AHHHH) and so I wanted my distance to be up. She is training for a half in 7 weeks and she wanted to try out 10 miles... We pretty much talked the whole way which made time pass pretty fast. We did see ROTC doing drills again this morning which was fun to watch. I also had a brief moment at the end where I almost ate it. Other then that, an overall productive 10 mile run :)

Sunday: My friend G and I went on a 6 mile run.. Now I know I usually spin also, but I'm still super sore from practice on Wednesday.. what the crap right? I'm going spinning tomorrow so at least I get to get some sort of biking in. Our 6 mile run was pretty good and faster than our past runs! She's doing her first half (the same one I'm doing). We took pictures by my car after our run.. and then had the most delicious brunch :)



I'm going on travel during the week so that sucks :( I usually eat out and don't get to do the same workouts. However, I make time to get workouts in. You have to.

Travel Tip: Look at the hotel gym ahead of time to plan for your workouts. If you want to do something other then the gym, then bring a portable DVD player/Laptop and a workout DVD like P90X abs or one of Jillian Michaels DVD. It'll definitely get it done!

First Tri Club Practice!!

Itttsssss backkk....

So today was the first actual practice of tri-club, but first let me recap yesterday's workout.

Wednesday: So I thought my friend E might join me in the morning, so instead of running on the treadmill I went to the gym. I woke up pretty early and got my butt to the gym, even though I was so ridiculously tired... I ended up doing 3 miles (on the treadmill) in 24:45.. woot woot lol... I wish it was faster and also outdoors lol.. Regardless, it was good for a Wednesday morning!!

Thursday: I joined tri-club with their practice... I was kind of nervous, but I rocked it :) Practice consisted of doing abs first... Next, I did a couple of laps weaved in with lunges, squats, and up/downs. I'm not going to lie, I tried to be hardcore, and I'm soooo sore right now lololololol. I was excited to start practicing with them, it is definitely going to give me my kick at the half-iron...

Side note: At work we're doing the Biggest Loser and it has been so much fun. A big group actually got together to start it (about 20-24 people). As time progresses, we keep getting some stragglers who have "heard" about us and want in.. Crazy huh? The good thing is that it's motivating people to lose weight. Now don't think this is all for fun and games... let's just say it's not free and there might be an incentive at the end :) Good news: I'm in third lol.... Yes me... I've lost almost 6 pounds in 4 weeks... I guess watching what you eat makes a difference lol...

Tip of the Day: Have a way to keep yourself accountable. Run with a friend/group. If you don't have that option, track your workouts.

Bringing It Up a Notch

Soo... I decided today that I will do all kinds of working out...

I first began my workout after work by running my dogs probably a little over a mile and a half... They like to sprint hardcore at first and then are dead at the end.. amateurs lol... After my dog "run" I went to the gym to do some weights and get my spin on.

I did some arm weights and then also did some walking lunges, butt kicks and other fun leg exhausting exercises.... afterwards... I went spinning and got my butt handed to me....... now 12 hours until my last workout.... joy...

If you fall off that trainer.. get up and try again..

So heres a recap of my Sunday workout...

Sunday: Let me start off by saying that the weather was ridiculously crappy which completely ruined my workout plans... I really wanted to go biking before running with my friend G but that obviously didn't happen. So I decided to do what I always do when there's crappy weather... spin on my indoor trainer.  So I set everything up and got on my bike, and right as I started pedaling... I fell flat on my a$$. I guess I didn't  set the bike up properly... and seriously ate it... I even have bruises on the side of my leg... So after my "accident," I got right back up and biked for over an hour. After biking, I went to meet up G. It was drizzling/raining  as we set out on our run, and so we decided that instead of running 6 miles we'd only do about 4. We did probably about 1030 min/mile. After our run, we went to breakfast where I ordered an egg white omelette with fruit :)

Monday: It was Superbowl Sunday yesterday, and needless to say my husband and I went out to watch the game since we're Steelers fans. Knowing we'd be out late, I asked work to come in late. I still ended up waking up semi-early and could schedule a 40 minute spin on my indoor trainer... I didn't fall this time.. so that was a plus...

Sometimes You Just Need to Laugh

This morning I did a 5K :) I rested yesterday to be ready for today. I tend to take all races seriously which isn't fun. This morning I was secretly wishing that something would happen so I could just relax and not take these races so seriously.. Well I guess my prayers got answered lol.

So the race venue this morning is known for having horrible parking. I knew this ahead of time, so I decided to strategize last night. When I got there, just as I expected, parking was limited and people were just trying to find what they could. I finally found a spot and thought about how easy it was to find parking this time. I made a mental note of where I parked and went off to get my race packet so that I could come back quickly and stick everything in my car. I got to registration, picked up my packet, and said hi to S (a girl who runs with the tri-club group every once in a while- she's usually off doing marathons or ironmans when she's not with us). I  then hurried to race back to my car... Well I tried to... 

Yup- I had no idea where I had parked. So I ran around the area with race packet in hand trying to find my car. I even stopped for directions (not once, but 3-4 times). After realizing that the race time was probably getting closer, I'd figure that I would go ahead and leave my packet at the registration area. So after being frazzled, and thinking about how much it was going to suck after the race to try to find my car, I lined up. So off I went... and as I ran through the crowds and followed the route, there was my mother effing car along the path... Really? Really? So I just laughed as I ran by it, making a sure note of where I was. I finished the race and ended up doing a 26:18. Not bad, but not my best. I figured between the mini-excursion on trying to find my car (I ended up running over a mile trying to find my car lol) and the combination of not sleeping very much + eating pizza at 11PM I didn't deserve to do well. However, it felt good to be out running 5Ks again, my last one I think was last October...

I met up with some other girls I knew were running the race to catch up and go to some of the vendor tents. Needless to say I was SUPER excited when I saw Mix1 there. I wanted to try more of their flavors so that I could buy another pack of Mix1. The lime flavor 12pk is specifically on sale ($19.00) at Amazon and so I really wanted to buy it. The 4pks run for about 9.00...which to me seems a little expensive but hey I don't buy that kind of stuff so what do I know. I tried the lime flavor AND the strawberry-banana flavor and loved them both, so I will be definitely buying those two in the future. One of my friends ended up tasting them too and loved it as well- I think she's going to buy some as well. After my sample tasting, I went to pick up my race event mini tree that I earned and went home.

Tip of the Day: Whenever you're doing a race. Strategize about where you will park. Remember where you park by looking at streets and landmarks. Don't be an effing idiot like me. Lesson learned.

Running with the Crowd...

So today I joined "Runner Club" before tri club starts next week. Today was easy which was great since my body is tired lol.

Today's workout was pretty simple: Two mile run at conversation pace followed by yoga. Now the run was great and I felt great, however, I totally think I did something to my knee during yoga which sucks lol.. In a couple of days we'll see what happens... I also did abs this morning.. trying to get flat and lean :)

Side note: I finally got a 4pk of the Mix1 mixberry protein shake. I've been obsessing over it since the tri-club kick-off meeting. It is delicious. I am all about the taste so the fact that this healthy thing tastes great is amazing.... So excited :) As time progresses, I'll try to branch out and try other flavors.

Small Victories

So here is a reap of my last two days:

Tuesday- I decided to work abs in and figured it would be best if I got them in before work. I woke up a little bit earlier and did P90X abs. (I also felt it was necessary to get abs in since I would be getting an award in front of my whole organization- scary I know). So after abs I showered up,  got beautified and went to work.

Now since I had to go upstage to get in award, I must admit I was kind of nervous. I didn't want to be "that girl" that totally tripped and ate it in front of everyone. Nor did I want to be the girl who gave the "awkward handshake". Needless to say, I did neither and was very proud of myself :)

Ok so to continue with my workout from Tuesday- I did weights with a friend of mine before spinning. I specifically worked out upper body. For weights I did pull-ups at the gym (4 sets of 10 with resistance to hold me up), followed immediately by arm dips (4 sets of 10). I rested and then did arm curls (4 sets of 10 with 10 pound weights), followed immediately by upward rows (4 sets of 10 with 25 pounds). I was running late, so I immediately went to spinning! I totally got my butt kicked at spinning, but I made it :) I know this sounds gross but I sweat so much more than usual. I was pretty proud of myself :)

Wednesday- As you all know (or if you don't), Wednesday is my early work-out days. I did my usual 3 miles on my treadmill at a light steady pace. I would love to tell you my pace, but my treadmill is wrong and so I can't. On a side note, I realized today that on Wednesday mornings by the time I work out, it is only 12 hours since I finished my workout on Tuesday.. Isn't that sad? Well anywho, you do what you have to do :)
 
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