Well, for all of my complaining at the start of last week, everything is getting much better.  I ran 2.5 miles last week (straight and slow).  This weekend, I went on my first bike ride of the season (and since I barely rode last summer because of injury, my first real ride in probably a year and nine months or so.  I was expecting it to be bad: the air was still a bit chilly so my lungs would be grumpy and I expected screaming quads.  Instead, it was amazing and pretty easy.  I felt aerobically stronger than almost any other time I have been on the bike and had several periods of biking 16-20 mph that didn't seem difficult at all.  We did two hills at the end, which were hard because I hate hills, but I wasn't wheezing when I got to the top and recovered pretty quickly. 

 

Today, I was planning a longer running, but decided to try a shorter less-slow run and did a mile in 10 MINUTES!!!  I was so excited I thought I would burst (though perhaps that was my lungs, who knows). 

 

The only problem I am experiencing are the excercise hunger pangs.  I am hungry (or eating) all the time.  All I want to do is eat.  Nom nom nom.

Why is it that it is the first day back from break and I feel more
worn down than when the break began? I went to the gym to do 2.5
miles on the treadmill and failed miserably. After 10 minutes I was
hurting a lot, after 12 my lungs were on fire, and at 15 I finally
stepped off wheezing and panting. Then both my ears clogged up and
remain so.
I am not sure how I am going to make it through the rest of the
semester sometimes.

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I ran... So far on the treadmill

After a bad last week for my running schedule with midterm,
travelling, springbreak, and laziness, I got on the treadmill
yesterday and today. Yesterday I ran for 20 minutes and hurt at the
end. Today I did 2 miles and felt pretty good. The new asthma med
makes me extra phlematic (tmi I know), so I have to step of too the
side to get a sip of water every few minutes.

I picked up a multi sport training book to help me figure out how to
do duathlon training.

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Well today was interesting. I had been having problems with my
inhaler not seeming as effective when I ran so I decided to go into
the doctor. After doing some air flow tests, he determined that I am
normally getting about half the air in each breath that I should be
able to. He seemed pretty surprised that I was able to run at all and
put me on a daily inhaler. The good news is that I should notice a
big improvement in about a month and running should become
significantly easier.

Maybe this means I will be a lot faster! Probably not.

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Today was very difficult and I think I need a rest day tomorrow. I
ran 20 minutes and it was like pulling teeth. I had to stop a few
times and catch my breath and got overwhelmingly hot 5 minutes into
it. Hmmm.

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I have also started a SparkPage over at Sparkpeople. The page has (egads) links to my daily food and exercise diary so I can keep track of what I'm eating and what I am burning. And, having it public makes me accountable (though I am going on a trip this weekend for my anniversary so don't expect any updates then)!

My SparkPage

Today was not the greatest workout day. I did my strength training
and was wiped out after 2 sets. As I was cooling down, my stomach
started going nuts and I remembered that I had not eaten dinner last
night.

D'oh.

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Tweaks

So this weekend, I started getting back on the (spin) bike to try to
get ready for the Ironman ride. I met with Jenn, personal trainer
extraordinaire and got a core routine to do on one of the bike days.
This routine included a plank on a balance ball, but when it seemed
likely I would fall off we switched to doing it on a Bosu. For the
first time in my life, I am able to do a side plank and not topple,
which I was really excited about.

Oh, and I ran 2 miles straight today in 23 minutes!!!!

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1.75 miles woohoo

Yesterday I woke up after a second night of haing slept horribly and the thought of a) getting up and b) working out almost drove me to tears. So I decided to take the day off and sleep in. I awoke to find the bed covered with 2 cats and a dog! (the dog is NOT allowed on the bed). I was, however, very warm.

I went in this morning and was not going to run but I really wanted to. And, I was feeling incredibly anxious, grumpy, and whiny, as my friend NGS can attest to. SO I ran for 21 minutes with he first half at 5 mph and the second half at 5.2 mph. Then I walked for the remainder of the 45 minutes at 4 mph. I changed something today with my running stride because it feels really different and I seem more efficient. I, however, have no clue what I have done. I think I stopped moving my hips, perhaps.

I was planning on going outside for a bike ride this weekend, but that is looking unlikely. Instead, I will ride the spin bike and play music the boy hates. He walked in when I was blasting the dance version of "Unchained melody" and just looked at me in horror. I have not yet subjected him to the dance version of "Don't Stop Believing." I think that will have to wait for a special occasion.

I am really whiny today. I woke up with a loud "no" in response to
the boy saying he was going to bus in. Therefore, I couldnt catch a
ride with him to school and leave at 8. Instead I had to be ready to
catch the 715 bus. Whine whine whine. Then the animals were extra
hyper and knocked my laptop and phone off my desk. While I was
checking those for damage, the cat ate my breakfast.

I did, however, have a really good workout. Today was strength
training and I am up to 3 sets. It was the first time I have lifted
in front of my mirror, and I lessened the weight on a couple of
exercises to improve the form. I am up to 45 seconds on the plank and
25 lbs for step ups. Take that mr. "slow jogger." (I try sometimes
to pretend that I am not competitive, but its a lie).

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HERE I GOOO AGAIN ON MYYYYY OWWWWNNNN......

It is 8:01 pm and I am in bed. I ran the 1.5 miles today and became convinced towards the end that I might die or throw up. Neither happened nor came remotely close to happening. At one point, I attempted to pump myself up by telling myself that there was ONLY 1 mile left. I did, however, do some intervals in there of 5.3 mph so I felt like a bad ass. I worked until 6pm, got home, waited for the boy to go running, then we made a delicious dinner of turkey tacos that I had with a glass of wine. Now, I feel very relaxed, and exhausted, and my legs are pleasantly sore. There is a decent chance I will fall asleep by 9:30.

I have decided that I am going to ride the Ironman on April 27. The boy is riding the 100 mile version (on a singlespeed, because he is crazy), but I think I will try out the 30 mile one. This does mean that I need to add some cycling a couple of days a week to my training to get back to the 30 mile riding range and to be able to endure 2 hours in the saddle.

I made a new workout playlist for running today and was happy to run along to songs I haven't heard in awhile. If you have any ideas for additions, let me know! Here is some of what is on there:

Whitesnake -- Here I go again
Apotgyma Berzerk -- Kathy's Song
REM -- Bad Day
Dj Someone or another -- Unchained Melody
Squirrel Nut Zippers -- Ghost of Stephen Foster
Run Lola Run -- Wish Kom Zu Mir
Beastie Boys -- Sabotage
Rolling Stones -- Paint it Black

I have begun to get even more antsy for bike season. I have been
sneaking down into the basement and lovingly petting the road bike. I
have ordered new tires for her and think I will get a nice computer
that measures cadence. She news a tune up, so I will be putting her
up in the rack, cleaning everything and letting the boy take a look.
I have also found a local bike team/shop that offers a beginner
program in road racing that I may sign up for. I can't get the boy to
go to the info meeting next week but I think I will still head out
there.

I keep trying to convince the boy to start doing some strength
training but I dont think he has been convinced.

I am looking forward to getting up to the 5k distance because then
hopefully I can work at getting faster. On some workout blog I read
someone referred to 5mph as a slow job and I wanted to write "it
doesn't FEEL like a slow jog, @&$)(;:@!!!!"

And today I will be running 1.5 miles at the slow jog pace. Uff da.

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I bought a Dyna disc for home last night at target, so I could do a
strength workout at home on the weekends. I am really starting to
wish it was warmer because I want to go riding.

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Today I learned that the gym is pretty dead at 7 am on Friday. I got
a treadmill immediately and run 17 minutes and spent the rest of the
45 minutes walking between 3.7 and 4 mph. There are a bunch of army
guys lifting weights and I felt bad for the littlest army guy of them,
though they didn't seem to be picking on him. Indeed, there was a lot
of butt pats.

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So i have been going to the gym 4 days a week and think I may need to
increase that, if only for one reason. On days when I dont go, all I
want to do is eat. And eat I do, often in Matt-like quantities. I
also have no resistance to foods that are bad for me. I ate a
snickers today (I blame Destrago for this because he was talking about
them last night). Uff. Tomorrow I run 17.5 minutes. I am hoping I
sleep well tonight.

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I ran for 15 minutes on the treadmill and the walked another 20
minutes at 4 mph. Why is it that I feel like I could walk forever at
4 mph but 15 minutes of running at 5 mph is exhausting? I think I am
going to pick up a dynadisc so I can do a strength session on the
weekend. Last night I impressed the boy with my biceps of steel. I
also went and bought some running shorts on clearance at REI. They
look really goofy, but are much more comfortable than pants or
capris. Today, I did learn that a breakfast of bacon and whole milk
was not the best idea before working out. Then again, the boy ate a
turkey burger and then biked ten miles to work.

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I did my strength training workout today and noticed that my balance
has already majorly improved. I have also noticed that I am more
committed to working out then perhaps I have ever been before. If I
am going to miss one, I will find a way to make it up. I think I
experienced my first real runners high yesterday. After running in
the morning, I felt great all day. Then again, yesterday was the
warmest day we have had for awhile. My plan of trying to get going in
the morning without caffeine seems to be going well, though this
morning I was so out of it that I put my sportsbra on over my regular
one and didn't notice until I got changed.

If anyone would like to come to my house and tell Mr. Prancy Pants to
stop getting hyper and barking at the cat in the middle of the night,
I would appreciate it. (and that's his nickname bc he seriously
prances).

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I ran 1.25 miles today. Straight. In 14 minutes. It was the first
time I didn't feel like I had to summon all of my mental energy to
push myself to the end, which was great. I picked up "running for
mortals," which is basic but very very encouraging.

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I ran 10 minutes, then walked some, then another 5, averaging about
5.7 mph. Yesterday I wasn't able to get to the gym so I did that
workout today. For some reason, on days that I dont workout I want to
eat everything in sight (like last night's mashed potatoes), but days
that I work out, I am much less hungry. I do, however, kinda want to
make mac and cheese tonight, so maybe my observation is incorrect.

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Today I did 2 sets of the strength training routine with the same amount of weights as before. I have worked up to being able to balance on the upside-down Bosu on 1 leg for 15 seconds at a time, which I was very very happy with.

Since that is about all that I have workout-wise, I will share a story from a few days ago concerning something I witnessed at the gym. I saw a guy on one of the stationary bikes who I wanted to yell at on behalf of his knees. I was on a treadmill and good be nosy and look at the settings on his bike, which I did, because I am in fact nosy. He had the resistance turned up really really high and was pedaling at about 60 rpm. He also had the seat set too high, so he would first jerk his entire body to the left, and then the right in his "ride." I can not convey just how funny this looked, but I finally figured out a good comparison -- it looked like a full body dance version of the head bob in SNL's "What is love, Baby don't hurt me no more" Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan sketch. What made this worse is that the guy would talk to several women who passed him and he totally had the same type "oh hey what's going on, oh yeah, i'm just working my hammies" type vibe.

I ran a mile... straight through.  It took me 11 and a half minutes but I RAN A MILE.

Now I want a nap.  I have also determined that scales lie because I weigh the same but can fir into smaller jeans.  Not that I can ever wear jeans, but that is a whole different story.

Woohoo

I ran 1.25 miles today (divided into 3 intervals)!!!

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Day 2

So today, I did the circuit training strength plan. I got into the gym, found a small corner, stacked all the things there, and growled if anyone came close while I warmed up. I am friendly like that.

First, I warmed up on the recumbant bike for 5 minutes. Then:
1. Bridges with my back on a Bosu ball. 15 reps. This was not terribly difficult so I may add in arm raises with a medicine ball or trying to do it on one leg.
2. Supergirls -- 25 reps.
3. Plank. I am supposed to work up to 1 minute. I did about 25 seconds.
4. Ball squat curl to press. 15 reps with 10 lbs in each hand.
5. Ball dumbell chest press. 15 reps with 10 lbs in each hand.
6. Bosu Ball lateral raise. 15 reps with 7.5 lbs in each hand.
7. Front step-up to balance. 15 reps for each leg with 10 lbs in each hand.
8. 1-leg Bosu ball squat. Ummm, I need to not only work up to the squatting part of this but also to the 1 leg.

Since the circuit only took about 30 minutes, I got onto the bike for 25 minutes. My goal was to keep my repetitions per minutes at around 90. I did 5 miles.

I feel really good this afternoon. The circuit training was certainly challenging. This time it wasn't as smooth as I think it will be since I was trying to figure out which weights were appropriate. After doing some biking, my legs are a bit sore, but sadly all the soreness is in my quads and that is a welcome reminder of biking season.

I ordered a foam roller and can not wait for it to arrive.

Day One

Today, my plan was to go to the gym and do my normal workout on the treadmill (mainly walking at 3.5-4.0 mph with some inclines for 45 minutes) while adding in two 5 minutes periods of running. I armed up for 5 minutes walking and proceeded to start the first one at 5.5 mph. After 4 minutes, I was winded but felt okay and finished up a little gaspy, but fine. I walked for another 10 minutes and did the second one. After a minute, I thought "hmmm this is not as easy as the first one." After ninety seconds, I was figuring out the percentages of how much total running I had done and how much of this interval were complete. After three minutes, I was fairly confident that I, like a dragon, could open my moth and breathe flame because my lungs were on fire. At 4:30, I thought "perhaps I was made for the sedentary lifestyle. I mean, isn't that a lifestyle choice and who is denying me choice. I am pro-all kinds of choices." I did, however finish, and felt really proud of myself and good. I was not able to do a full 45 minutes of inclines and walking quickly, so I was on the treadmill for 35 minutes instead. Tomorrow is weight and core work day which I am especially excited about because I got to try out some of the exercises on Sunday and they seem slightly brutal but effective. There is also a lot of balance work involved which will be incredibly helpful for biking.

Things I learned today:
1. Coming straight inside from -10 degrees and only warming up for 5 minutes might not be enough. Next time I think I will walk for 10 minutes or so before the first running set.
2. I need to bring my inhaler with me. This falls into the "no shit sherlock" category.
3. Perhaps I will bring my heartrate montitor with me so I can play around with the numbers later.
4. The difference a good pair of running shoes makes is incredible. I got new shoes this weekend that stop my ankles from bending inward. I didn't trip at all on the treadmill today and running felt a lot better than it had previously.

Next step: Run 5 minutes, rest, then 10 minutes on Wednesday. Get a foam roller. Right now my legs would LOVE one.

Welcome!

So this is my first post on my all things biking, running, fitness, and training blog. I am working up to doing a 5k race, the Race for Justice on April 13 and then training for a duathalon in September. One of my friends is training to become a personal trainer and is an avid biker and marathon running and she devised a workout plan for me. So, I plan on posting here about what I did each day, how it is going, and what the process is like so I have some record of my progress and what I'm doing right and what is not going well. I may also post some pictures, random thoughts on random things, and vignettes concerning my pets. Oh, and when biking season comes (or even before then), I will definitely post way too may love poems to my bike.