Today was day 2 of Operation Las Vegas.
I got up feeling pretty tired. I checked the weather at 7:45 am, and the humidity was 92% and the heat index was aready 86*, which meant there was no way I was getting a quality run in. Today's scheduled mileage was 5, so I opted to ride my bike to the gym, and hit the treadmill. Great decision!
I believe the key for me running distance on the treadmill is to read. I used to watch tv, but that just doesn't let my mind wander. Plus, the angle forces me to arch my back and messes up my breathing. So, I read Runner's World that I'm 2 months behind on. Before I knew it, 3 miles clicked by and I upped my speed a little. By mile 4, I felt awesome, and kicked up the speed again. I finished 5 miles in 54:45, which is a triumph for me! That's a sign of how fit I really am. And I must say, to still be 200#, I'm freaking fit!
I'm also ending day 4 of being sugar free. I think I'm through the worst of the cravings, so hopefully I should do pretty well with this. Although, the new fella is bringing me a beignet back from New Orleans, and it's a fried sugary thing that may ruin me. But, I'm tracking and saving my points for it. A girl deserves a treat from time to time.
Tomorrow is a new day and a spin class!!! Yay!!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
OPERATION: Las Vegas
A lot of exciting things have happened today, and it's not even over yet!
I officially restarted my Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon training program. This week's mileage is 25, which totally doable, I just have to get up and get it done. After running 9 miles yesterday, running 3 today seemed like a near waste of time, except that anymore would've made my legs too tired. Tomorrow I will run 5.
Whilst at the gym, my personal trainer came up to me asked me to this really awesome relay!! It's part of the Ragnar Relay series, and it's insane! A 12 person team runs 120 miles over 24 hours, running 3 legs each! We pile into 2 cars/vans with 6 ppl each, and 3 volunteers who go ride with us and feed us, and cheer for us. It sounds just so insane I have to do it! It was just really cool that she even thought of me.
I'm on day 3 of the no sugar life again. I have such strong cravings for sugar that I just get out of control with it. My body drops weght so fast when I'm "clean" and I feel so much better. its gonna take me a week solid to detox, but if I can live through it, next week will be so much better! Plus, with me working more, my stress levels will be less, therefore making sugar cravings better, I hope. But, jeez is this a tough habit to break. I don't know honestly why I went back to it after having given it up for Lent. I may allow myself some treats here and there, but I'm gonna continue it as long as I can.
I hope the rest of the week keeps on as well as today is going.
I officially restarted my Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon training program. This week's mileage is 25, which totally doable, I just have to get up and get it done. After running 9 miles yesterday, running 3 today seemed like a near waste of time, except that anymore would've made my legs too tired. Tomorrow I will run 5.
Whilst at the gym, my personal trainer came up to me asked me to this really awesome relay!! It's part of the Ragnar Relay series, and it's insane! A 12 person team runs 120 miles over 24 hours, running 3 legs each! We pile into 2 cars/vans with 6 ppl each, and 3 volunteers who go ride with us and feed us, and cheer for us. It sounds just so insane I have to do it! It was just really cool that she even thought of me.
I'm on day 3 of the no sugar life again. I have such strong cravings for sugar that I just get out of control with it. My body drops weght so fast when I'm "clean" and I feel so much better. its gonna take me a week solid to detox, but if I can live through it, next week will be so much better! Plus, with me working more, my stress levels will be less, therefore making sugar cravings better, I hope. But, jeez is this a tough habit to break. I don't know honestly why I went back to it after having given it up for Lent. I may allow myself some treats here and there, but I'm gonna continue it as long as I can.
I hope the rest of the week keeps on as well as today is going.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A rough week
This past week has been a little stressful.
The guy I'm seeing left on a church youth trip to New Orleans for five days. One of my best friends relocated to New Orleans permanently. And I found out that the ex's family is coming to town next week on vacation, and it'll be the first time I'm excluded from visiting, and I"m kinda having a hard time with that.
I didn't get much exercise in. I'm just so unfocused.
Tomorrow officially restarts my marathon training program. In preparation, I cranked out 9 miles today. Running in the heat is awful, but it's still better than the treadmill. I'm gonna keep running outside as long as I can, but I may have to do some treadmill work over the next few weeks, since the heat is really getting out of hand down here.
I must admit that I'm a little nervous about being able to get my discipline back. My life has changed so much. It was easy hitting the road/gym 6 days a week when I was miserable at home. But now, my personal life is so happy and some days I just don't wanna get out of bed and go run. We'll see how it goes, but I'm just hoping I can get my mojo going again.
For right now, I'm going to sit by the pool and rest my legs. I might even take a poolside nap!
The guy I'm seeing left on a church youth trip to New Orleans for five days. One of my best friends relocated to New Orleans permanently. And I found out that the ex's family is coming to town next week on vacation, and it'll be the first time I'm excluded from visiting, and I"m kinda having a hard time with that.
I didn't get much exercise in. I'm just so unfocused.
Tomorrow officially restarts my marathon training program. In preparation, I cranked out 9 miles today. Running in the heat is awful, but it's still better than the treadmill. I'm gonna keep running outside as long as I can, but I may have to do some treadmill work over the next few weeks, since the heat is really getting out of hand down here.
I must admit that I'm a little nervous about being able to get my discipline back. My life has changed so much. It was easy hitting the road/gym 6 days a week when I was miserable at home. But now, my personal life is so happy and some days I just don't wanna get out of bed and go run. We'll see how it goes, but I'm just hoping I can get my mojo going again.
For right now, I'm going to sit by the pool and rest my legs. I might even take a poolside nap!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Focus, or total lack thereof.
As I'm reading about everyone picking races for the Fall months, and getting started on new training plans, it's coming into sharp focus that I'm not focused at all. My brother handed me a new training plan on vacation that is ambitious and greuling at best, but will have me in amazing shape and able to run a 5:00:00 marathon by December. The problem? I thought it started July 5th, but we miscalculated the weeks, and it doesn't start until July 17th. So this leaves me with another week and a half to wander around doing as I please, which is never a good thing.
Aside from that, being on my own is hard stuff. The summer months are the hardest for my business because a lot of students tend to take off the summer from private piano/voice lessons. So, I'm struggling with money when i'm used to having another person's income to help me. That stuff weighs on me heavily, and it's so easy for me to turn back to my immense and overwhelming love of sugar to get me through. I think I'm gonna have to go back off sugar completely in order to get my brain right because if really does mess with my moods and such.
On the up side, my YMCA is hiring a front desk person for part time, and they basically told me I have the job, since I practically live there anyway. Who else is better to sell memberships than one of their most devoted and grateful members? Nobody. So, that will help some. Plus, If I'm in a healthy environment instead of sitting at home, I'll be more likely to eat better and be more motivated to workout. Is that logic flawed? I think not.
With all that said, I'm gonna try harder this next week to get out of bed and go running or at least hit the bike. I've recently discovered spinning and I love it so much! So, that may be what gets me through the summer months here in Florida. And, although today's run was hot, the humidity wasn't too awful, so if I just suck it up, I'll get my miles in every week.
I really, really want to run that marathon on my birthday, so I'll do what I have to do to get my body in shape for the race requirements. It scares me to death to think about paying all that money for the race and to get to Vegas and not be able to finish in the max time. But I just think back to last year when finishing in 6:00:00 was the goal, to now thinking about 5:00:00, and I know I'll do it. I just need to get focused.
Aside from that, being on my own is hard stuff. The summer months are the hardest for my business because a lot of students tend to take off the summer from private piano/voice lessons. So, I'm struggling with money when i'm used to having another person's income to help me. That stuff weighs on me heavily, and it's so easy for me to turn back to my immense and overwhelming love of sugar to get me through. I think I'm gonna have to go back off sugar completely in order to get my brain right because if really does mess with my moods and such.
On the up side, my YMCA is hiring a front desk person for part time, and they basically told me I have the job, since I practically live there anyway. Who else is better to sell memberships than one of their most devoted and grateful members? Nobody. So, that will help some. Plus, If I'm in a healthy environment instead of sitting at home, I'll be more likely to eat better and be more motivated to workout. Is that logic flawed? I think not.
With all that said, I'm gonna try harder this next week to get out of bed and go running or at least hit the bike. I've recently discovered spinning and I love it so much! So, that may be what gets me through the summer months here in Florida. And, although today's run was hot, the humidity wasn't too awful, so if I just suck it up, I'll get my miles in every week.
I really, really want to run that marathon on my birthday, so I'll do what I have to do to get my body in shape for the race requirements. It scares me to death to think about paying all that money for the race and to get to Vegas and not be able to finish in the max time. But I just think back to last year when finishing in 6:00:00 was the goal, to now thinking about 5:00:00, and I know I'll do it. I just need to get focused.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Marathon training and life in general
So today officially started my second full marathon training program! I'm super stoked about it, except that it's really intense, which I asked for, so I can't really complain much. My brother gave me a lot more slack to create it this time around, and it took me forever to put it all together today, but I got it done.
I'm really going to try to document my training online this time. So, in that spirit, here goes.
Today I got up much later than anticipated, and didn't get outside until 10 something......Lucky for me, it was totally overcast with a breeze, so it wasn't a miserable as it could've been. My legs felt really good, but I hadn't run in 4 days so I didn't want to over do it. I only 3.25 miles, but then did some major core work and squats just for good measure.
On to the life part.
I've kind of been seeing someone, which is for me a sure sign that I was way over my marriage before I really knew it. Sad, but true. Anway, he's older and has two daughters who make life a whole lotta complicated. I'm not good at dealing with other people's stress on top of my own. I have enough to deal with just managing my life. Throw someone new into that mix, and it's kind of volatile. I knew he was going out of town with his girls for 3 days starting today, then mid way through the day, after I'd already made plans, he tells me he's dropping off his girls at his mom's and is coming back to town tonight. So, I get all excited about it, and then, again at the last minute, he backs out. And so now, I'm pissed. I just don't really know how to not let someone else ruin my mood. Can someone explain that to me? So my great evening out with a girlfriend just got trashed by someone else. Awesome.
Bed is a reboot button. I think I'll hit it now.
I'm really going to try to document my training online this time. So, in that spirit, here goes.
Today I got up much later than anticipated, and didn't get outside until 10 something......Lucky for me, it was totally overcast with a breeze, so it wasn't a miserable as it could've been. My legs felt really good, but I hadn't run in 4 days so I didn't want to over do it. I only 3.25 miles, but then did some major core work and squats just for good measure.
On to the life part.
I've kind of been seeing someone, which is for me a sure sign that I was way over my marriage before I really knew it. Sad, but true. Anway, he's older and has two daughters who make life a whole lotta complicated. I'm not good at dealing with other people's stress on top of my own. I have enough to deal with just managing my life. Throw someone new into that mix, and it's kind of volatile. I knew he was going out of town with his girls for 3 days starting today, then mid way through the day, after I'd already made plans, he tells me he's dropping off his girls at his mom's and is coming back to town tonight. So, I get all excited about it, and then, again at the last minute, he backs out. And so now, I'm pissed. I just don't really know how to not let someone else ruin my mood. Can someone explain that to me? So my great evening out with a girlfriend just got trashed by someone else. Awesome.
Bed is a reboot button. I think I'll hit it now.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Vacation Recap
Being back home is harder than I though it would be, even though i thought I was soooo ready to be here. although, being on vacation was really hard, too, so I guess I'm just at a point where everything is hard on me.
Let me just say that getting trapped in van for 10 hours with my super religious step sister and her husband was not my idea of a great drive to Myrtle Beach, but it turned out mostly ok because I slept A LOT. The fact that they wouldn't listen to the radio unless it was christian pop was enough to make me wanna kill myself and no amount of reading Cosmo could spice up the conversation. That said, the trip down was mostly uneventful.
Once we got there, we got rooms picked out, and yours truly got sent to the kids room, since I didn't have to have my own room this, me being single and all. FUN! So that not only meant not having a car, but also not having any private space that wasn't also shared with kids. And me in a house with 9 kids 3-13 was also not optimal because withough the hubby around, I had no buffer to be able to get away from it all. Needless to say by Monday, I had cabin fever so bad I was about to start walking back to Orlando.
My mom is awesome at crafts and so every morning we had craft time with all the kiddos around the table, and of course I helped. Sunday was "foamie" day, and Monday was "paint your own picture frame" day, which was so much fun to help with, watching the kids mix and match paints. The idea was to find sea shells and glue them to the frames as a reminder of our trip. We also went for the first crab hunt Monday night, which consists of our group wearing crazy crab hats wandering around the beach looking for poor, unsuspecting crabs to chase.
Tuesday was "paint your lobster day". Not nearly as fun as picture frames.
In the midst of all the craft craziness, I did manage to spend an enormous amount of time at the beach and spend some quality time with my oldest brother and SIL, who are the marathoners. And I managed to run Sunday and Monday. It was kinda fun to listen to my brother whine about how hot it was, especially since I have been training in this heat for weeks now. Did I mention that Monday after my run my iPhone fell off the second story railing to its concrete death?? Yeah. That pretty much killed my vacation mood. It still works, the screen is just destroyed, as in the liquid crystal stuff inside exploded. Fun.
Lets also not forget all the weird family dynamics that take place on one of these "shove your whole family in a house for one week and see who survives" vacations. 21 people who don't see each other much makes for some very interesting interactions. Although, I've always been the black sheep, so that didn't really change much, and I just kinda did my own thing as much as possible and the let the parents keep their kids. I did not offer to babysit. I don't babysit.
By Tuesday, I was ready to come back. The kids were on my nerves, I was anxious to get back to work, and I was generally over the beach. My mom, step sister and I went to our favorite gift shop Tuesday afternoon to peruse the AMAZING Christmas store they have, and shop for various other gifts and such. One of our favorite artists/ sculptors, Jim Shore, has a cat collection that I just love, and two years ago she bought me the Curiosity killed the cat angel. This year, we decided we would buy "Patience" the cat, since that's what I need most in my life right now. That evening my two brothers, their families and I went out to a Japanese steakhouse for our bi annual dinner, and had a pretty good time. Tuesday night was music night, which was actually a lot of fun. As the kids get older, they get more fun I think. Listening to them sing and watching them dance was just a hoot.
Wendesday morning I was up early to help my mom prepare tie dye t shirts. I'm pretty sure my fingers will never be the same after tying rubber bands around a dozen shirts. But she said they turned out amazingly and I can't wait to get mine in the mail! Although, she bought me an XL, and was kinda disappointed when I told her I'd have to use it as a night shirt, since and XL is too big, thankuverymuch.
By 10, I was itching to get on a plane. so, I said my goodbyes, got on the plane and came home. By the time I got back, my other step sister was in labor 4 weeks early, and boy was I glad to have gotten outta the house before that all went down. That would have just been too much for me to handle. I was having a hard enough time dealing with the kids as a freshly seperated woman whose biological clock wakes her up every day.
Between the TOM coming on and leaving my family, I went through a really rough couple days Thursday and Friday. I'm still not completely myself. And since I sprained my ankle Wednesday I'm not able to run for a couple more days just to make sure it's healed. And since it's TOM, I'm eating everything in sight, so I'm not really into tracking right now. But, tomorrow is the start of a new week, and I'll get back on the wagon.
Another vacation gone. Back to reality.
Let me just say that getting trapped in van for 10 hours with my super religious step sister and her husband was not my idea of a great drive to Myrtle Beach, but it turned out mostly ok because I slept A LOT. The fact that they wouldn't listen to the radio unless it was christian pop was enough to make me wanna kill myself and no amount of reading Cosmo could spice up the conversation. That said, the trip down was mostly uneventful.
Once we got there, we got rooms picked out, and yours truly got sent to the kids room, since I didn't have to have my own room this, me being single and all. FUN! So that not only meant not having a car, but also not having any private space that wasn't also shared with kids. And me in a house with 9 kids 3-13 was also not optimal because withough the hubby around, I had no buffer to be able to get away from it all. Needless to say by Monday, I had cabin fever so bad I was about to start walking back to Orlando.
My mom is awesome at crafts and so every morning we had craft time with all the kiddos around the table, and of course I helped. Sunday was "foamie" day, and Monday was "paint your own picture frame" day, which was so much fun to help with, watching the kids mix and match paints. The idea was to find sea shells and glue them to the frames as a reminder of our trip. We also went for the first crab hunt Monday night, which consists of our group wearing crazy crab hats wandering around the beach looking for poor, unsuspecting crabs to chase.
Tuesday was "paint your lobster day". Not nearly as fun as picture frames.
In the midst of all the craft craziness, I did manage to spend an enormous amount of time at the beach and spend some quality time with my oldest brother and SIL, who are the marathoners. And I managed to run Sunday and Monday. It was kinda fun to listen to my brother whine about how hot it was, especially since I have been training in this heat for weeks now. Did I mention that Monday after my run my iPhone fell off the second story railing to its concrete death?? Yeah. That pretty much killed my vacation mood. It still works, the screen is just destroyed, as in the liquid crystal stuff inside exploded. Fun.
Lets also not forget all the weird family dynamics that take place on one of these "shove your whole family in a house for one week and see who survives" vacations. 21 people who don't see each other much makes for some very interesting interactions. Although, I've always been the black sheep, so that didn't really change much, and I just kinda did my own thing as much as possible and the let the parents keep their kids. I did not offer to babysit. I don't babysit.
By Tuesday, I was ready to come back. The kids were on my nerves, I was anxious to get back to work, and I was generally over the beach. My mom, step sister and I went to our favorite gift shop Tuesday afternoon to peruse the AMAZING Christmas store they have, and shop for various other gifts and such. One of our favorite artists/ sculptors, Jim Shore, has a cat collection that I just love, and two years ago she bought me the Curiosity killed the cat angel. This year, we decided we would buy "Patience" the cat, since that's what I need most in my life right now. That evening my two brothers, their families and I went out to a Japanese steakhouse for our bi annual dinner, and had a pretty good time. Tuesday night was music night, which was actually a lot of fun. As the kids get older, they get more fun I think. Listening to them sing and watching them dance was just a hoot.
Wendesday morning I was up early to help my mom prepare tie dye t shirts. I'm pretty sure my fingers will never be the same after tying rubber bands around a dozen shirts. But she said they turned out amazingly and I can't wait to get mine in the mail! Although, she bought me an XL, and was kinda disappointed when I told her I'd have to use it as a night shirt, since and XL is too big, thankuverymuch.
By 10, I was itching to get on a plane. so, I said my goodbyes, got on the plane and came home. By the time I got back, my other step sister was in labor 4 weeks early, and boy was I glad to have gotten outta the house before that all went down. That would have just been too much for me to handle. I was having a hard enough time dealing with the kids as a freshly seperated woman whose biological clock wakes her up every day.
Between the TOM coming on and leaving my family, I went through a really rough couple days Thursday and Friday. I'm still not completely myself. And since I sprained my ankle Wednesday I'm not able to run for a couple more days just to make sure it's healed. And since it's TOM, I'm eating everything in sight, so I'm not really into tracking right now. But, tomorrow is the start of a new week, and I'll get back on the wagon.
Another vacation gone. Back to reality.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Vacation
This is just a short post whilst on vacation to check in and share the complicated life I'm leading with my followers.
So far, vacation has been great! I'm pretty relaxed, despite my phone getting destroyed yesterday, and having to figure all that out. I'm having a great time hanging with my mom, and brothers, and just chilling out. Although, I'll admit that being single has its drawbacks. For one, I have no car and am at the mercy of everyone else when I wanna go somewhere. For another, I've been demoted to the "kids" room, to sleep in bunkbeds with my nieces..,....fun. And, I kinda feel like everyone is feeling a little bit sorry for me and tip toeing around me a bit. EESSH.
I have 3 "sisters" here, two sisters in law and one step sister. What amazes me about them is that one is a marathoner and super skinny and athletic and the other two are what they consider "fat". What cracks me up? They refuse to wear bathing suits and swim and enjoy their children or the beach because they perceive themselves as fat. And then there's me. The former fatty turned athlete who flaunts what she's got, size 12 or not, proudly for all to see. So, I can imagine that doesn't do much for their self image, being that I'm loving the way I look right now. Even two years ago at size 26, I still put on my bathing suit and rocked the beach.
Whatever.
I'm heading back to Orlando tomorrow to work, and will post a comprehensive vacation recap once back and getting some spare time.
So far, vacation has been great! I'm pretty relaxed, despite my phone getting destroyed yesterday, and having to figure all that out. I'm having a great time hanging with my mom, and brothers, and just chilling out. Although, I'll admit that being single has its drawbacks. For one, I have no car and am at the mercy of everyone else when I wanna go somewhere. For another, I've been demoted to the "kids" room, to sleep in bunkbeds with my nieces..,....fun. And, I kinda feel like everyone is feeling a little bit sorry for me and tip toeing around me a bit. EESSH.
I have 3 "sisters" here, two sisters in law and one step sister. What amazes me about them is that one is a marathoner and super skinny and athletic and the other two are what they consider "fat". What cracks me up? They refuse to wear bathing suits and swim and enjoy their children or the beach because they perceive themselves as fat. And then there's me. The former fatty turned athlete who flaunts what she's got, size 12 or not, proudly for all to see. So, I can imagine that doesn't do much for their self image, being that I'm loving the way I look right now. Even two years ago at size 26, I still put on my bathing suit and rocked the beach.
Whatever.
I'm heading back to Orlando tomorrow to work, and will post a comprehensive vacation recap once back and getting some spare time.
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