HYC Check In & Fitness Update

I keep forgetting to post these on Sunday. Oh well, better late than never :) Maybe is best that I post them on Tuesday so they coincide with my HYC Check In. I didn't meet all my goals last week because I went camping and didn't bike to work 2 days due to having to go to the doctor and camping. It was still a pretty good week though, and now I am ready to take on the new week at full force. I started off great with a 3.5 miles long run yesterday morning.

Accomplishments for week 6/15 - 6/21:

• [9.66] Biked: 9.66 miles
  
• [7] Run/walk: 7 miles
  
• [pre/post run poses] Yoga: 45+ mins (20 or 45 min sessions)
  
• [7] Meatless Meals: 3+ for lunch or dinner (breakfast is always meatless)
  
• [4] Eat Out: <=5 (this means eating out AND leftovers)
• [✔] Push Ups: Week 1 (3 days) of Push Ups Challenge
• [✔] Crunches: Week 1 (3 days) of Crunches Challenge
• [✔] Water: 64+ oz per day (averaged 90 oz/day)

Goals for this week (6/22 - 28)

Activity	Goal	Progress
Run/Walk	10 miles	4 miles
Bike	16 miles	5.58 miles
Meatless Meals	50% of 3 main meals/day (10/21)	5/6 = 83%
Home Cooked Meals	75% of 3 main meals/day (15/21)	7/9 = 78%
Push Ups	185	50
Crunches	370	120
Veggies/Fruit Servings	21 (3/day)	6.5
Water	448 oz (64+ per day)	202 oz

I'll leave you with these before and after photos (so I can show off my new haircut and highlights ;)

Before: 12/18/07
I don't have an exact weight for this date, but I have a recorded weight of 157 lbs on 11/15/07 and 152 lbs on 1/29/08, so it was somewhere in there.



After: 6/22/08
My weight is currently hovering around 133 lbs. So this is what a 20+ loss looks like :)

Push Ups/Crunches Week 1 Update

Week 1 is done! (I finished it on Friday, but I was camping and couldn't post and then I got lazy =P). I think I will post my progress weekly with a nifty little chart like this instead of after every work out. I love seeing the comparison and seeing the total numbers grow, so I'll probably just keep adding rows at the bottom of the table.

Modified push ups / Rank 3 / Column 3

	Max	Total	Diff
w1d1c3	10 (+3)	44	--
w1d2c3	10	54	+10
w1d3c3	20 (+5)	68	+14
Week 1 Totals	40 (+8)	166	--

Crunches / Rank 3 / Column 3 (doubled)

	Max	Total	Diff
w3d1c1	20 (+5)	69	--
w1d2c3	20	108	+39
w1d3c3	40 (+10)	136	+28
Week 1 Totals	80 (+15)	313	--

Long Run: 3.5 Miles

I ran 3.5 miles yesterday morning! This was my longest run yet.I've decided to take a page from Jeff Galloway's book and incorporate walking breaks into my long runs. Here is an excerpt from the page in his site about walking breaks:

Why do walk breaks work?
By using muscles in different ways from the beginning, your legs keep their bounce as they conserve resources. [...] By shifting back and forth between walking and running muscles, you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles, increasing your overall performance capacity. [...]

Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair. The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate overuse muscle breakdown.

My 1st mile was a warm up at a very slow pace, so I ran that whole time, then walked briskly for 1 minute. I then ran the rest 2.5 miles with 1 minute breaks after each 1/2 mile. It took me 51 minutes and I only walked a total of 5 minutes (that's about 1/10th of the distance, or just over 1/4 mile, so it is pretty insignificant). I may try it every mile next time, but I think this worked really well. I still got the same workout as if I ran the whole time, and I was able to easily increase my distance. The walk breaks allowed me to catch my breath, give my legs a quick rest, and even run a little faster knowing that I had a walking break coming up in less than 1/2 a mile. I also seemed to recover faster during my cool down walk.

Since I have the Wee Little Virtual 5K this weekend, I'll use that as my long run and try for 4 miles next week. The plan is to run 2 miles 4 days a week and long runs on Sundays. I may switch the long run to Saturdays since that is when most races are held or if things come up. I want to stay flexible with this schedule. I also want to incorporate a bit of interval speed training once a week. I think I may try that tomorrow morning and see how it goes. I am not quite sure when I want to increase the distance of the short runs. I may keep them short for now and continue increasing the long runs until 2 miles seems too easy. At some point I'll start to seriously train for that 10K in October, but I have a feeling I'll already be running that distance long before then.

Morning Run & Wee Little Virtual 5K Questionnaire

I do not know how I did it, but I got up just after 6 this morning and was out the door and running by 6:40 a.m. I took it really easy and didn't set any pace alerts or goals. I just ran. That was great. I did 2 miles in 28:40. I know I can do more if I push it, but I wanted to enjoy this and I think 2 miles will be my standard runs (3-4 times a week) with 3 miles long runs once a week. Once my long runs reach 3.5 or 4 (in about 2-4 weeks or so), I'll up the daily runs by 1/4-1/2 mile.

***

I am running the Wee Little Virtual 5K next weekend. Here is a little Questionnaire the organizer put together.

1. When did you start running?
   I completed day 1 of the C25K running program on April 4, 2008.
   
   
2. Did you follow a plan (C25K etc.) to get you started running? If so, what plan did you use? If not, how did you go about getting started?
   I used the Couch to 5K Running program, which I 100% recommend to everyone. It slowly helped me progress from walking to running and it was a huge confidence booster.
   
   
3. Why did you start running?
   In February, I started slowly working out to get in shape and lose weight. I was mostly doing kickboxing and some walking. On March 29, I entered a 2 mile race as a way to keep me motivated that I planned to just walk. I jogged here and there then sprinted through the finish line. Running through that finish line with all those strangers cheering me on was so exhilarating that I decided then and there that I wanted to become a runner. About a week later, I started C25K.
   
   
4. Now that you are running regularly, what do you find to be the biggest benefits?
   I have a lot more energy and I feel fit. I used to get winding going up stairs, but now I run 2-3 miles 3-4 days a week and bike 4 miles at least 4 days a week. I never thought I could run a mile, let alone 3, and that feels fantastic.
   
   
5. What are your future plans for running? Short-term and Long-range.
   I plan to continue running regularly 4-5 times a week, slowly increasing my millage and pace. My current pace is 13-13:50 if I push myself. I would love to get down to a 10 minute mile, but I also want 2-3 miles to feel easy :) I am aiming to run Disney's Race for the Taste 10K in October and a Tampa's Half Marathon in March (or maybe the OUC 1/2 Marathon in December). I may train for a marathon in a year or 2, but I'll get through the 10K and 1/2 first before making that decision.
   
   
6. What are your personal goals for the Virtual 5K?
   I've completed 4 5Ks so far, but only ran for the entire time during the last one and finished in 41:25. I want to increase my pace a little bit and run a sub-40 5K.
   
   
7. Do you have a music “theme song” that you will use for this race?
   I usually have my ipod shuffle with a random selection of my "workout" music, but have a few songs I ensure always make it on there. As cliche as it is, "Eye of the Tiger" (and Weird Al's parody, "The Rye or The Keiser" ) really get me moving. There are a few other songs that do the trick too, such as "Not Gonna Get Us" by Tatu, "The Loco-Motion" by Kylie Minogue, "Dancing with Myself" by Billy Idol. I think there are a few others, but I can't recall what they are right now.

***

Goals Update

• [9+/16] Bike: 16+ miles
  
• [5+/10] Run/walk: 10+ miles
  
• [0/45] Yoga: 45+ mins (20 or 45 min sessions)
  
• [2/3] Meatless Meals: 3+ for lunch or dinner (breakfast is always meatless)
  
• [4/5] Eat Out: <=5 (this means eating out AND leftovers)
• [2/3] Strength: week 1 (3 days) of Push Ups & Crunches Challenge
  
• [4/7] Water: 64+ oz per day

I'm going to feel this tomorrow

Summary of today's activity

• run/walk: 2.65 miles
  
• bike: 4.58 miles
  
• push ups: 54
  
• crunches: 108
• squats w/weights: 10
  
• plank: 30s (modified)

Great Start
Today started great (except for the fact that I did not wake up in time to run). I was ecstatic that I weighed 131.4 this morning--finally showing a .6 loss since my 132 weigh-in on 5/30. Ever since then, it has either stayed the same or gone up and hovered near 133. We'll see if that holds tomorrow--I somehow doubt it. I drank 24 ounces of water, ate an oatmeal bar and banana for breakfast, and ate a tuna sandwich for lunch, all before noon. But, then ...

"Fried" Ice Cream, Yikes!
Jason said they were going to Maria Bonita (local mexican restaurant) with a friend of ours from Melbourne that is in town. I decide to go and just munch on some chips and salsa and maybe a bite of his food. I figured that since I had already eaten, and I am not a big fan on Mexican food anyway, it would be ok. WRONG! I got a free chicken soup (it comes with every meal--and apparently even if you don't order anything), which was actually really good. But then I spend the rest of the time eyeing the dessert menu and order "fried" ice cream. Is basically a ball of vanilla ice cream, covered in crumpled graham crackers and corn flakes (they supposedly then deep fry this but I had them skip that part). It was SOOO good. Thankfully, I had 3 guys to helped me eat it, but I should have just stayed in my office.

Running, Take I
I had every intention of running on my way home from work, but since we leave tomorrow after work to camp, I needed the bike at home to switch out my tires. So I rode my bike home and promptly went for a run before the rain started. The rain decided to just stay away and it was so hot that all I managed was 1 mile, but I also was running pretty fast (12:41).

Push Ups/Crunches
So I came home and did day 2 of the push ups/crunches challenge. I decided that it would bother me to be in different weeks for crunches, so I am going to do the same week/day for both and just double the numbers for crunches. This was tough, but totally doable. Last time we did the entire push up workout and then the crunches workout. This time I had the brilliant idea of alternative between the two so I would do the crunches during the push ups rest and vice versa. I also did a modified plank for 30 seconds. I was exhausted when I finished, and I could only do the minimum for the max level for a total of 54 push ups and 108 crunches. Not sure if the alternating thing was a bad idea, or if it was just that I had biked 2 miles and ran a mile before this workout.

Running, Take II
Once the sun disappeared, and my dinner settled a bit, I went for another mile run in a light drizzle. It was kind of nice running in the rain, but I don't think I could do it if it was any heavier. I just don't like being wet and cold. I ran this one a lot slower (14:35), but it felt great. Man I had missed running. This is the first time I run since Saturday. I am hoping to get up tomorrow morning and run some more since I've been a slacker lately. We'll see how that goes.

Goals Update

• [9.66/16] Bike: 16+ miles
  
• [3/10] Run/walk: 10+ miles
  
• [0/45] Yoga: 45+ mins (20 or 45 min sessions)
  
• [2/3] Meatless Meals: 3+ for lunch or dinner (breakfast is always meatless)
  
• [4/5] Eat Out: <=5 (this means eating out AND leftovers)
• [2/3] Strength: week 1 (3 days) of Push Ups & Crunches Challenge
  
• [4/7] Water: 64+ oz per day

HYC Check In & Fitness Update

I just realized I never posted my update at the end of last week, so today's HYC post will serve as both. We won't talk about my weight because it is still yo-yoing and hovering around 133. I guess we just talked about it *lol* But I have plenty of accomplishments in the exercise front.

Accomplishments for week of 6/8 - 6/14

• Ran the Race into Summer 5K without walking in 41:25
  
• Ran 3.1 miles (5k) without walking (3 times)
  
• Biked: 15+ miles
  
• Ran/walked: 11+
  
• Strength : 4
• Yoga: 1-45 m Yoga for Weight Loss + 2-20m AM Yoga
  
• Vegetarian meals: 10
  
• Ate Out: Longhorn + CPK + leftovers

Goals for this week and progress so far:

• Bike: 16+ miles [5 miles]
  
• Run/walk: 10+ miles
  
• Yoga: 45+ mins (20 or 45 min sessions)
• Meatless Meals: 3+ for lunch or dinner (breakfast is always meatless)
  
• Eat Out: <=5 (this means eating out AND leftovers) [3/5]
  
• Strength: week 1 of 100 Push Ups & Crunches Challenge [1/3]
  
• Water: 64+ oz per day (2/7)

Day 1 of Push Ups/Crunches Challenge

After much deliberation, I decided to do the push up challenge with modified push ups first so I could actually get through the program. I did another test this morning and managed 18 modified push ups. I probably could have pushed it to 20, but either way I would still be at rank 3.

So I did week 1-day 1-column 3 (w1d1c1) this afternoon and I made it. Jason and I alternated counting for each other so we could rest while the other did each level. The first 2 levels were easy enough (well, easy is relative). It definitely got harder at the end, and I didn't know where I was going to find the strength to do at least 7 for the last level. But after my boyfriend pushed his max to 20, I had to try for at least 10, and I did it!

I am using the same progression for crunches, but since I could do 25 in a row this morning, I started on week 3-day 1-column1 (w3d1c1). Jason thinks I may not be coming up far enough, but I think he was actually doing sit ups, while I was doing crunches. But it makes me wonder because I got through this fairly easily and managed a max of 20 at the end. Maybe I should have just started in column 2?

Below are my current stats for both. For the "Max" row, the number in parenthesis denotes how many of the total listed is above the minimum required for that day. I sure like seeing that total number at the end there. I think that is what will keep me going through this process. Regardless of how many we are doing in a row, that total number is going to go up every single day we do this and that is pretty damn empowering and encouraging.

Stats:

Version	Modified Push-Ups	Crunches
Rank	3 (18 in a row)	3 (25 in a row)
Progress	w1d1c3	w3d1c1
Max	10 (+3)	20 (+5)
Total	44 (+18=62)	69 (+25=94)

If you are taking on the challenge, be sure to sign up and be listed on the site. Also, there is an LJ community for each to share your progress and stay motivated: 100_pushups and 100_crunches .

Race Report: ORC Race into Summer 5K

Well, I made it. I ran the whole thing, minus the 2 tiny walk breaks (~ 5 sec ea) I took to drink some water. The race wasn't timed (except for the main clock) so I am grateful for my Garmin watch. According to the watch, I finished in 41:25. Jason, who says he walked most of the last mile, still managed to outrun me by 8 or 9 minutes.

I know that I started too fast, but to me it seemed like I was standing still. I simply could not get my legs to go slower than a 13:00 pace, but I eventually settled into a decent pace and finished mile 1 in 13:45. I sped up a tad to finish mile 2 in 13:19, but mile 3 was rough. My legs were really tired and it was HOT, yet I wasn't really too out of breath yet. I somehow managed to go just a tad faster and finish mile 3 in 13:01. I felt like I had nothing left in me to make my legs go faster, but somehow I muster one last bit of strength and crossed that last .1 mile (.12 by my watch) in 1:21, then promptly collapsed (figuratively speaking) =)

My time was about 30s slower than by best practice run this week, but about 20s faster than my fastest 5K race so far, so I'll take it. Honestly, it is a miracle I did this well after the fall from my bike on Wednesday. My hips, thighs and butt are still sore, and my right knee was bothering me a bit. It didn't really hurt while running, but I didn't want to push it. Not to mention that it was a lot hotter out this morning at 7:30 than during my 2 practice runs this week, which I happened to run at night after a rain storm. So all things considered, this was a great race.

I was exhausted when I finished and felt a bit sick to my stomach. The heat was really getting to me. Because this was a hand scored race, they handed us these cards to fill out at the finish line. Seriously, they should not have anything that requires you to stop moving for at least 1/2 mile after the finish line. I did not want to stop walking, so I shoved it at Jason to fill out for me while I went to get some water. Even though I felt really beat and kinda ill, it really did not take that long for me to recover this time. I just couldn't stop walking.

I was going to run in just my running skirt and sports bra, but it was cool when we left the house so I put on a running shirt. Then I didn't know where I'd put my bib, so I just kept the shirt on. I wish I'd taken it off because it may have helped me keep cooler during the race. This was my 3rd run in the skirt and I am simply not sold on it yet. Even with body glide, I don't like the feeling of my thighs rubbing together. It wasn't bad during the race itself, and I am not chaffed, but it was not really comfortable to walk around in it afterwards. So I think I'll stick to my biking shorts from now on.

The race was very low key. There was no timing chip and the start and finish lines were drawn on the grown with chalk. I almost missed the start line to start my watch. It made the finish very anti-climatic. This was also our first out and back race. We were a tad worried because the path was kind of narrow and it didn't seem like it could accommodate runners on both sides. It turned out fine, as I figured it would.

Oh, I almost forgot. There were news cameras there (damn I wanted to get a picture but was too exhausted after the race to form any coherent thoughts) because a local runner was found dead after running in the park just a few days ago. I saw the camera man running beside me as I started the race, so maybe my cute little skirted behind will be on the news. It was nice of the race organizers to have a moment of silence for her before the race started and remind us to be safe while running.

PS - According to the official race results, my time was 40:17. Not sure how there is over a minute discrepancy, but I'll take it! :)

100 push ups & crunches

I just stumbled upon this and thought I'd share, and try to persuade you to try it too ;)

Jason and I plan to start the the hundred push ups training program next week and thought some of you may want to join me. In 6 weeks, we should be able to do 100 push ups in a row! We are going to adapt the program for crunches as well, realizing that we'll probably start at a different level for crunches than push ups as those are easier to do.

Now, this is supposed to be 100 real push ups. However, when I tried the initial test (to see where in the program you should start), I found that my arms can barely hold my body weight and I can't seem to do a single one. However, I can do the girl push ups (with knees bent), so I might complete the program twice. I'd start with girl push ups, and once I can do 100 of those, I'd do the program again with full push ups.

When I tried the test again, I managed 2-3, but I can't come all the way to the ground or I can't lift myself back up. I come pretty close, so maybe I'll try full push ups on day 1 and see how it goes. If not, I'll go back to my original plan of doing girl push ups. I can do 8-10 of those. With crunches I think I'd start at column 3 because I can easily do 10+

So, who's with me!?

Wipeout

Yesterday I fell off my bike when I got to work and bruised my knee. Although the bruise hurt a lot, it did not seem to affect my mobility. However, this morning I feel like I was hit by a truck. My hips and butt feel like they are bruised too and pretty much my entire body hurts. I didn't really feel like this fall was that bad, but I can't think of what else happened yesterday that may be causing these pains. I suppose it could also be late effects from Tuesday's run.

I am taking it easy today and tomorrow, which means no biking or kickboxing, and hoping it all works itself out of my system for Saturday morning's race. I can't help but think that I overdid it and now I am going to pay for it. I know I'll still be able to run the entire race on Sat, as long as these aches go away, but I am no longer sure of the speed. I am just going to focus on running the whole thing and finishing. There will always be other races and my health is more important. I may go for a walk tonight or tomorrow to loosen up my muscles, and because I may go crazy if I just sit around and do nothing.