by admin on January 29, 2010
I fell off the wagon for about two weeks. It started with the end of last week – I started to get a bad cold that left me out of commission and because it was like 20 degrees and I had a sinus headache the size of Texas (and one blocked nostril) I bailed on the five mile race. I would have likely ended up with bronchitis and well…no one wants that.
So I’ve still been working with my trainer (yay!) but I haven’t been running.
Thankfully, I’m not yet within the 16-12 week mark for my 1/2 and full marathons (that are about a month apart in april/may) so I’m not REALLY missing out on any training. I’d rather take a week off now than when my mileage starts really increasing.
So tonight, I went for a speed workout – I’m still working up those yasso 800’s – tonight I did 3×800 (800m warm up, 3×800 @ 9:22/mi pace w/ 800m rest periods @ 11:30/mi with 800m cd) – with some circuit training afterwards.
My run went like:
warm up (run to gym): .64 mi 7:48 12:08/mi
800 @ 9:22/mi (4:44)
rest 800m @ 12:00/mi (6:01)
800 @ 9:22/mi (4:44)
rest 800m @ 11:31/mi (5:37)
800 @ 8:44/mi (4:22)
cool down (run home) .68 mi 8:31 12:09/mi
total: 3.82 miles 43:20 avg pace: 11:33/mi
Not too shabby.
Circuit training included:
2 sets of 15 seated rows 45lbs
2 sets of 15 seated dips
2 sets of 15 high row 30 lbs
2 sets 15 squat/curl/press 15lbs (2 7.5lb dumbbells)
2 sets of 15 upright row (2 7.5 dumbbells)
2 sets of 15 back dumbbell row (2 7.5 dumbbells)
2 20 second planks
2 sets of 15 pushups
2 sets of 20 crunches
Yowza! I fell off the wagon because of my cold but i am thrilled to be back on it. I likely won’t get a long run in this weekend depending on what time we get back sunday (junior league service tomorrow AM, house hunting, party up in Boston for a pal of mine, then a Pampered Chef Party sunday afternoon before we come back to Stamford. Unfortunately for me, our gym closes at like 7 on the weekend so depending on if I can get my headband/gloves this weekend, I’ll probably not get a run in. However, I may be able to get in EA Active (which seriously? kicks my ass everytime. Jumping Squats and Jumping Lunges? I lose EVERY TIME. OH EM GEE!)
This weekend I am pretty excited though, I get to get new sneaks! The treadmill running has been killing my shins which I know means I need some new sneaks – each time I buy them I go get my feet checked out (because I can never remember exactly what type of feet I have, though I’m pretty sure I need stability shoes) and I’ll buy them online in the next day or so from Runningwarehouse.com (which is where I got my last shoes at a great price – if you don’t use them for running gear, you should!)
So this weekend I’ll revise my training plan a little bit, and next week? Back on the wagon I go!
by admin on January 20, 2010
My first race of the spring is this weekend on Sunday – a five miler, nothing hard, I’ve been maintaining 5 milers as my long run while I get into training. After this weekend, I’ll slowly start increasing my mileage since I have a ridiculous number of weeks before Vermont City.
This week though, my trainer kicked my ass with a relatively tough circuit workout – I can feel myself getting stronger, I’ve been working with him for about a month now so that’s exciting. This brings me to…The Fitnessista’s Winter Shape Up 2010. Are you in?
I’m going to keep track of everything up here, mostly I’m going to stick to her tips, since I’ve been doing strength training/XT 2x/week and running 3 days. I give myself two days of rest (as opposed to her 1 day of recommended rest) but still find myself getting a decent amount of working out in there.
So, yesterday, my workout:
{sets of each at 20 reps}
Knee Raises
Jumping squats
jumping jacks
pushups
crunches
plank (2 @ 20 seconds)
dips
seated knee raises
low row (45 lbs)
high row (25 lbs)
then, he worked my core with the crunch machine (2 sets: 1 @50lbs; 1 @40lbs) and 2 sets of 20 standing crunches.
Yowsa!
Unfortunately my eating has been awful being that we’ve been in Vermont, travelling and I haven’t had a chance to go grocery shopping. The other night we ordered chinese after getting back to Stamford – new favorite dish (which is horrible but oh so good) General Tsao’s Tofu. Mmm. We went out to lunch yesterday and and I had a slice of caprese pizza – mozzarella, tomato, basil and red peppers. Mmmmmm.
Today:
Breakfast:
cinnamon swirl oatmeal w/1 t of brown sugar
1 glass of OJ
snack:
banana protein smoothie
lunch:
leftover pizza (after my workout yesterday I had eyes bigger than my stomach and ordered two slices but only ate one. I didn’t have time to eat lunch before a job interview so I was STARVING)
snack:
fruit of some sort?
dinner:
whole grain shells, cheese (low fat cheddar) with steamed broccoli
spinach and tomato salad
Am sooo excited.
I need to go grocery shopping – we’re low on fruits and veggies which I’ve been trying to keep stocked, and since we were traveling end of last week, I’m trying to get caught up.
Finally, last week’s weigh in had me at 147. That’s down 3 lbs for those of you counting. Gah, I always feared the day when I’d be 150. I’ve gotta get this all in check. Also! Last week I tried on a pair of pants that hadn’t fit me in months – they were a little tight but I could get them on and zipped/buttoned without worrying about dying. A small step for mankind (well. Me.) amidst the battle against the bulge. Go me?
by admin on January 12, 2010
I don’t like to run with a goal in mind. I find I push myself too hard in those instances and that I don’t enjoy running. If you don’t enjoy running, then you won’t do it. And not doing it just isn’t an option right now.
So I’m trying hard not to run for time. I have a goal for marathon #4, and 1/2 marathon #1 and the 5 miler. I have goals obviously – I want to finish the 5 miler in less than an hour, the half marathon in less than 2:30:00 and the marathon in sub 5:00:00.
This? Takes a lot of work and dedication on my behalf. I know this.
So yesterday, I was really pissed at myself for pushing myself a bit harder than I should have for my easy run of the week. You see, monday’s are my short runs – usually 3-5 miles. In the early stages of training 3 miles.
I did three miles in 32:00. This is good, not too awful right? Right.
Except, I hurt. I should be doing 11:30/mi or so,
10:22 – mile 1
10:35 mile 2
10:43 mile 3.
3.02 miles. 32:00 not too shabby. 10:48/mile – srsly!?!
Not too horribly but realistically, I shouldn’t have been shooting for sub 11:00 miles – those are for speed days. At least not until I’m certain I can run those without sending my heart rate into the roof and leaving myself huffing and puffing like a pyscho. No one likes a psycho on the ‘mill right?
In college, a pal of mine that I used to work out with (when I worked out) would do 1 mile as hard as her stubby little legs would take her (think like 7.4) and she would be super red, and huffing and puffing as if she was going to die. Seriously. I never saw the true value in her workouts – I get speed workouts but speed like that? Doesn’t help you at all.
Meanwhile, I’d do my 30 minute run on the treadmill, followed by weight training, followed by another 15 on the elliptical.
Too bad I didn’t have more self-discipline and perhaps I wouldn’t have gained 20 gazillion pounds in college if I had kept that up (and laid off the Brubakers).
by admin on January 10, 2010
I ran the longest distance that I’ve ran since…May.
{insert shifty eyes and an embarassed look}
I know, I know, I’m ashamed too.
But! I ran 5 miles today. On a treadmill no less.
Don’t even get me started on my hatred of the treadmill and the gawd awful winters in Connecticut that have thus far kept me from running outside (I need mittens. And a headband). When I finally stopped reading and got out of bed and had my oatmeal and banana breakfast, I decided that I was not in fact going to run when it was only 19 degrees outside. Brrrrrr.
But today I ran – even if it was only on a treadmill – and i was determined to keep a sub 12:00 pace. 12:00 has been the average pace of my marathons (well…ish). By the way, apparently the gym is not necessarily the place to be on a sunday afternoon.
Splits:
mile 1: 11:39
mile 2: 11:31
mile 3: 11:28
mile 4: 11:21
mile 5: 10:31
time: 56:30
total workout: 60 minutes. 5.17 avg pace: 11:32
All in all, I feel pretty good about everything. My legs a little tight, but I made it a point to use my last 3 minutes walking to stretch out my legs a little bit. I feel really good about everything else and know that I should be good to run a 5 mile race in two weeks. I just need to get some gloves and a headband before then. Cause baby? It’s cold outside.
by admin on January 8, 2010
I trained with a trainer today.
I’m really enjoying the super awesome 30 minute workouts with my trainers.
Warmup: 10:00 on treadmill (1 mile)
workout:
legs/core/abs. And a little bit of arms to boot.
He had me do:
1 legged cross leg press (2 sets of 15 @ 40lbs)
1 legged squats (machine) 2 sets of 15 @ 30 lbs
2 sets of 30 second figure 8 squats (using 5lb weight doing figure 8’s between legs while squatting)
1 set 30 calf raises (using medicine ball against wall)
1 set 15 leg lifts (using step bench. Stepping over without lifting one leg, and without touching the bench with the other)
1 set of 20 squats using medicine ball
2 30 second planks
2 20 second pulls using rope (engaged abs)
2 sets of 12 figure 8’s using 4lb medicine ball while squating. only using arms.
Next week, it’s back to the other trainer I was using before the holidays. I don’t like that i’ve had like 3 different trainers in 3 different sessions. I’m ready to have one and stick with him/her. Mostly my fault but m’eh.
After my workout, I indulged myself in a little window shopping at Old Navy to check out their workout line (it’s on sale! but I didn’t find anything I liked) then popped over to get some groceries.
In other news, I ate really well today -
breakfast: cheerios. I haven’t been doing a mid morning snack since it’s usually 10-10:30 before I eat breakfast anyhow (need to start eating first thing).
lunch: leftover TJ turkey chili and brown rice from yesterday’s lunch
post-workout snack: smoothie (protein powder, bananas and low-fat chocolate ice cream)
dinner: steamed green beans, baked potatoes and zesty tomato soup.
All in all, a pretty decent day eating wise. I don’t keep track of my calories – i just don’t have the energy to. But making sure I eat 5 small meals a day has gone swimmingly and I have been much better about eating more vegetables and less carbs.
I weighed myself today – I’m only going to do it once/week so that I don’t become obsessed. I’m training for a marathon, not actively trying to lose weight. I want to be in shape but whether that’s at 120 or 130 or 145 doesn’t matter. Though I’d love to be closer to 130 but not obsessing over numbers. Not going to do it, I’m just going to keep track on a weekly basis so I can keep track of my fitness levels.
weight, end of week 1: 150 (!!! I hate that number. That’s the most I’ve ever weighed EVER)
by admin on January 8, 2010
I pushed up my rest day to Tuesday. Not intentionally, I tend to go to the gym when Hubs gets home from work, and I just didn’t have the time (I also went up to Bridgeport to apply to a subbing job).
Day 2 – Strength training
I used my EA active today – Hubs got it for me for Christmas and I had been wanting to try it for a while now. OH. EM. GEE. Whenever I’m too lazy to go the gym, 30 minutes on hard will work just fine for me kthx.
150 calories burned in about 33 minutes, 17 strength training workouts with a couple of cardio moves thrown in – high knees, butt kicks and boxing (a la Jillian Michael’s in the 30 day shred). Seriously, it kicked. My. Butt.
Day 3 – Speed training
I decided with marathon #4 that I wanted to try the Yasso 800′s. So today, I did 2×800 at 4:45. Let me just tell you…my legs feel amazing. Like jello, but amazing.
Warm up: 5:00 @ 11:34 pace
800 @ 9:22/mi pace (4:42)
rest period: 5:00 @ 11:34 pace
800 @ 9:22/mi pace (4:42)
rest: 5:00
cool down: 1:30
Also, ran home from the gym – .66 miles in ~7:05
workout summary: (not including run home…up hills)
25:16 total time
2.36 miles
10:42/mile average time
Eating wise I’ve been doing pretty good – today I had cheerios for breakfast, some TJ turkey chili and brown rice for lunch (i saved some for tomorrow too) a PBJ sandwich on whole grain bread for my afternoon snack followed by broccoli/onion/mushroom stirfry with shrimp. Oh mah gah. Soo good. I’m having a small bowl of ice cream for dessert. Everyone deserves a small reward right?
Tomorrow, I’m meeting with a trainer again (3 trainer. Out of 3 meetings I have had three different trainers. Not. A. Fan.). I’m hoping to find a trainer I can stick with. I dunno, I’m really finicky about my gym – I worked at one for over a year, I know what a good quality gym is when i see one. My gym? Not it.
Gym pet peeves?
1. People who don’t use locks on their lockers. I opened up SIX lockers without locks that had stuff in them tonight. People…use a lock!
2. When I pay to work with a trainer? I really want to work with just one. Not three. I know this can be remedied but still.
3. No towel service? Really???
4. Who uses FM radios anymore? Why have TV’s up if people can’t listen to them unless they tune in to FM station listed on the TV.
All in all, I’m 3 for 3 as far as my workouts go, tomorrow was supposed to be a rest day but since i’m training, I’ll have only slightly altered this week’s schedule. Go me.
by admin on January 4, 2010
Training for realz. I did the pre-training. Meaning I tried to get myself back in the swing of things but now I’m in it for real.
I added another upcoming race – a 5 miler up in Milford on the 24th of this month so I’m pretty excited about that.
So day 1, since I have little outdoor, cold weather running gear, was indoors.
Oh how I LOATHE running on the treadmill. I like to think I can go faster than I really can. Nothing against the ‘mill but, well, no. Everything against the treadmill. I hate the treadmill.
However, it will be useful for my speed workouts until I get my garmin. Which, I’ve asked for valentine’s day. Woo! Since it’s my first garmin, I’ve decided to go with the Forerunner 205, mostly because cost wise it seems better and the added features on the 305 or 400 series seem…unnecessary to me. I don’t really track my heart rate, though I know I should, when I decide to start keeping track, I’ll look into getting a mini HR monitor or something similar. Do you have a garmin? Any advice?
Overall, a good day to get back into it. Except my little siggy bottle likely won’t do for my workouts. Need better option. Splashed all over myself while trying to drink and run.
Coming up this week, a review from the good people at POM. Mmm fruit juice!
3.4 miles @ 10:30/mi pace
35 minutes
Meals:
breakfast: cheerios w/ skim milk
lunch: ….i kind of forgot to eat lunch at a reasonable hour.
had lunch/dinner around 4:30 or so: steamed vegetables, and leftover general tsao’s tofu Mmmmmm.
Post run: banana, chocolate/vanilla ice cream smoothie.
Decided also, that I need to get some protein powder to make smoothies with post-run. Any suggestions about post-run smoothies?
by admin on December 16, 2009
My legs are getting a beating. Fortunately, it’s not from upping my mileage too quickly.
Yesterday, I quite literally got the crap kicked out of me by a trainer. It seems, at LA Fitness, that you may not always have the same trainer at your sessions. This…does not please me. But the trainer I worked with, worked me pretty hard in my 25 minute session. He got right to work, and gave me 2 short rests. I felt really sore afterwards, and definitely got a quality workout in despite what felt like a super short session.
I did:
2 sets jumping jacks with 5lb medicine ball
2 sets squats with 5lb medicine ball
2 sets of sprints across gym
2 sets of running up/down stairs
2 sets of knee raises on bench
2 sets of push ups
2 sets chair dips
2 sets crunches
2 sets knee to ab crunches
followed by the following ab workout: leg lifts, slow crunches, side crunches, and a couple other ones i forget.
I did about 10-15 reps of each workout. Except the sprints/ stairs.
I was…quite sore.
Yesterday was a good day food wise, oatmeal (horridly cooked), banana post workout, a small salad and a few ravioli’s with a pal for lunch and 1/2 a slice of chocolate cake, followed by whole wheat pasta with sausage and vegetables. Today? not so much.
Big sister and I went into Manhattan to be on the today show (and we totally were! Proof will be over at the main blog later): i had a diet pepsi, and an egg and cheese sandwhich on an english muffin at 6am when we got on the train. At 8:30 i had a squagle and OJ from Cosi, followed by lunch at noon with dad at TGI Fridays (i had chicken fingers, i ate like 3/4 of the plate, i was APPALLED by the freakin’ calorie counts. Thank you NYC for making the calories mandatory on the menus), and now we’re ordering chinese for dinner. I’ll keep my indulgence to a minimum.
I do feel good however, that I mapped out where we walked on Google Maps Pedometer, and we walked just under 4 miles, not including the 9 stories of Macy’s we walked around. Holy walking BATMAN!
Tomorrow, not sure I’ll make it to the gym, I do hope to, but I dunno. If not, I’ll go Friday for a short run. I’m holding off on building up my mileage til I can put new sneaks in my budget. The ones that are still okayish (need to be replaced by Febish once I start putting mileage on) are missing a shoe. Sometime in the move, I lost one. I can’t find it anywhere. #&#(*&!!!! It’s okay, because the former pup that we gave away (pup #2 didn’t get along with pup #1) ate the tongue on one of the shoes. But the sneaks I’m using? Are old. And they hurt. I can feel it in my shins. I especially felt it yesterday.
So all in all, I’ve done okay. The scale at the gym yesterday said 149. I hate weight fluctuations. I hate them. I hate them. I hate not having a scale I can count on, and I hate using the wiifit as a scale. I’ll stick with the gym one. I’ll use it once/week. I will not weigh myself again until next week. I will not let myself be obsessed with a number because ultimately, it’s about how good I feel about myself – not my weight, and definitely not necessarily the size of my jeans (though the size 10 cords I bought at the JCrew outlet, are already a bit loose. Though they were loose when I bought them, they’re just kind of looser. Go me.).
Not about a number. Not about a number. Ever feel the need to keep repeating that to yourself??
by admin on December 12, 2009
I had defeated the idea of going to the gym. You see, because we recently moved, we haven’t been confident enough in our incorrigible dog Ellie to not destroy everything in the house – see below.
So rather than submit to the idea that I was a. going to have to wait til this afternoon to go for a run on the treadmill, I decided that instead of waste 2 hours, I’ll shred with jillian Michaels (*shudder*), know I got in a good workout, drop pup off at daycare at 2 and still make it to Ikea and back hopefully in time for saturday night mass. Doubtful about the Mass part, but I can hope.
I’m trying to find alternative routes, because sometimes, the gym just isn’t in the cards. As much as I loathe that attitude, I need to stay on track.
So despite me searching for my sneakers for 45 minutes, and the wii fit not quite working right (thanks to the move.) I think i did good today. Thanks Jillian for kicking my ass, and thanks wii fit for not being too mean to my sedentariness.
Food wise?
Breakfast had a whole wheat english muffin and a banana. Skipped my mid-am snack in lieu of a late breakfast. For lunch I had leftover chili from last night (omg was soo good) with a dash of cheddar and a small dollop of sour cream (low fat!) then I had 2 clementines for a mid afternoon snack. Not sure what we’re doing for dinner but I know I’ll keep it on the healthy side.
Starting weight this week: 150ish (i was recently weighed at the doctors, right when I was PMSy so I’m sure I had some water weight there)
Saturday weight: 146.5 (according to the wii fit)
Total loss: 3.5 lbs
Goal weight: 125lbs. (BMI of 23 as opposed to the 26.5 it’s at now)
Now I know results are slow coming, but in order to lose those 20 lbs in 6 months it puts me at about 2lbs/ week. Entirely doable if I keep up the trends of this week. Not to mention when I vamp up my training, I’ll focus more on
by admin on December 12, 2009
Today, I didn’t make it to the gym. I did however, clean my house for two hours and was incredibly sore from yesterday’s workout with my trainer. Tomorrow, I’ll hit up the treadmill and do some arm work.
Eating wise, I did much, much better. That is, if you don’t count my Cap’n Crunch in the morning for breakfast. I figure, skim milk, not so great cereal, hell, at least I’m EATING breakfast right? Right.
I did however, do better at eating the suggested 4-6 meals my trainer suggested.
I had a clementine around noon for my mid-am snack (what breakfast was at 10am).
For lunch I made tuna fish sandwiches with low fat mayo on wheat with lettuce. I also brought us each two clementines and a handful of celery sticks and carrot sticks with some low-fat creamy peanut butter. At least I think it was low fat.
For dinner, we had slow cooker turkey chili that I really have to add was DELICIOUS! (recipe below). I always put my chili over brown rice, I think it adds a certain heartiness to it (and it was a go to meal in college because of the simplicity, granted then I was eating cans of chili not the homemade stuff). After dinner, I allowed myself ONE woodchuck amber cider (i’m seriously trying to cut back my midweek drinking so i figured ONE was okay). Then for dessert I had a chocolate/banana milk shake made of about 1 1/2 c. chocolate/vanilla ice cream with 2 bananas. Tasty goodness is what that is my friends. Tasty. Goodness.
Laura’s Quick Slow Cooker Turkey Chili
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground turkey
2 (10.75 ounce) cans low sodium tomato
soup
2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 pinch ground allspice
salt to taste
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place turkey in the skillet, and cook until evenly brown; drain.
2. Coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray, and mix in turkey, tomato soup, kidney beans, black beans and onion. Season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, allspice and salt.
3. Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High.
Bon appetite! Happy friday! Tomorrow calls for a 3-4 mi run, not sure if i’ll add some weights in there, I guess it depends on how sore I still am, either way, my goal of shooting for 3 days at the gym this week = win!
