Month: February 2011

>Sat, Feb 26
8:30am – ish – Ran the track at LifeCenter
Distance: 5 miles; Time: 51’57”; Pace: 10’22”

Good run this morning! I felt strong and it felt a little bit easier to run 5 miles this week than last week (my first time at that distance). And I think I was a bit faster today so that is always good, I suppose. I was trying to make a mental note about how I felt throughout the run.

Here’s the breakdown of today: I felt good and warmed up after the first mile. Then, by the half-way point I felt like I was flying. Between mile 3 and 4 was the hardest part – I really had to push it through. Probably partly because this has been my “go-to” distance for so long – 3 miles. Good thing I had my son’s crazy frog song version of “Cotton-Eyed Joe” as well as some Dixie Chicks (“Good-Bye Earl”) to propel me. Oh, and I can’t forget the 80’s throw-back, “Money For Nothing”, by Dire Straits. Those were all good motivators. I’m pleased with my new long run track I created last weekend. Then between 4 and 5 miles I felt like I was on autopilot. I told myself…just one more mile. I mean, it is just one more mile, right?? Just one more mile. Simple. Sound like a new mantra to me!

>Fri, Feb 25
9am – Ran 30 minutes on the Indoor Track at LifeCenter
Distance – 2.95 miles; Pace – 10’13”
Racquetball and Basketball fun – about an hour

So today was a gift in a lot of ways. Hudson schools had a snow day (again) so Z was off and, miracle of miracles, John Carroll was actually closed!! Hallelujah, I still can’t believe it! I got home at about 10:30pm last night due to late events at work and so I didn’t get to bed until about midnight – way beyond by 10pm bedtime that I’ve come to enjoy (and need in order to get up at 5am). As I went to bed, getting up to run at 5am was not looking promising, especially with the snow in the forecast. But, like I said, I had a snow day! Ahhhh…I got up late (6:30am), had breakfast and coffee and for a hot minute thought of not running today. Relax, I said a hot minute. I quickly shook that off as I called LifeCenter to find out they were indeed open and were holding a racquetball court for me and the Z-man. After I finally convinced him that shorts and sweatpants were a much better option than wearing jeans to work out in, Zach grudgingly shut off the computer, shoved in a bowl of cereal and off we went.

I ran for my 30 minutes – Zach joined me for like a lap and a half. Then after “way too much stretching, Mom”, we finally hit the racquetball around for a bit, and then played some hoops. He had to teach me the proper way to shoot that he has learned in gym class and I was a quick study, apparently, as I held my own in our game of “Around the World.” It was so much fun! Not only did I insure that I was getting my workout in today, but I also had some physical fun with my dude. Much better than a morning filled with video games, me thinks. Oh, and I have to add that on our way out of LifeCenter the woman at the front desk made a point to tell me that Zach was a very polite little boy (asking for equipment, etc). Music to any Mom’s ears.

Our afternoon was lazy, but equally delightful. We picked up some Subway and headed over to spend lunch, and the afternoon as it turned out, with Grandma P. and little Brittany. We watched some lifetime movies, Z played Legos and yes, I even took a nap. Ahhh, what a good day. I hope yours was equally good!

>Thurs, Feb 24
5:30am – Bootcamp at LifeCenter

That was a great overall workout! I think Troy was happy we were all there this morning and made up a kick-butt workout for us. We did lots of different circuits featuring some of our faves…many, many push-ups (lost count)…back exercises and lots of circuits using the whole gym. Those are fun – bring on the lunges. I had to bust out a story during the two minute plank…ugh.

We did a fun new thing Troy made up called the “UNFIT”. It is sorta like the game “horse”. We had to do a certain exercise (five different ones) for like 60 seconds and if any of us couldn’t do it the entire time we would earn a letter. All of us had one bad one and each earned a “U”, but hey, not bad! If we would have gotten all the letters, we would have had to run. No, not that! It is a cross-training day! I earned my “U” during the plank hold. We were supposed to do a plank hold for 2 minutes…with no breaks. We usually do one minute at a time. I made it with like 20 second left. Next time I’ll get it!

>Wed, Feb 23
Approx 6am – Ran the track at LifeCenter
35 minutes; 3.44 miles; Pace: 10’13”

Today felt like a hard run. My legs were sore during my workout. Now, they are fine, but they felt sore during the run. I felt slow today too – probably because there was a really fast woman who kept passing me on the track. I started feeling badly about my speed, but then realized that I recognized her from a 5K in October, I think. She placed for her age group (I think first!). So, speed is all relative I suppose. I have to just remember that it is not about speed for me. It is about getting it done. Showing up and completing the run – check. Maybe at some point I’ll be about the speed, but for now it is all about going the distance, baby!

>Tues, Feb 22
5:30am – Bootcamp at LifeCenter

Good overall workout, but focused more on legs today. We did this one workout that Troy called the 200 rep workout which rocked! It consisted of 50 plank pushups, 25 dips on the steps, 50 squats, 25 regular pushups and 25 squat jumps and 25 of something else, I can’t remember what! We could mix it up however we wanted so we broke it out. We had to do extra stuff at the end of the hour because we got done quicker than Troy thought – so he has making stuff up on the fly. Yeah, that’s right – we bad!

>Mon, Feb 21 – Week 3 has begun!
Morning
Ran 35 minutes at LifeCenter track
Not sure about distance or pace because my iPod got stuck…ugh!

You know that phrase, trust the process? Is it part of a 12-step program mantra? Not sure where I heard it from a long time ago, but I couldn’t get it out of my head this weekend. I kept thinking about it for two reasons, the first in terms of weight loss. Sometimes we can be doing all the “right” things, but it takes a while for it to show up on the scale. BUT, eventually it does…in time. Trust the process. The other reason I kept thinking about it was in terms of training. After my first 5-miler on Saturday, I had a little bit of ankle pain or stiffness really later that day. I was a bit nervous always worrying about injury, etc. But I just kept thinking “trust the process” or trust the training. There is a reason there is s day of rest after the long run day. By Sunday morning after I walked the dog, my ankle was back to normal and totally fine during and after my run today. Trust the process and the training.