Three Things Thursday: Running, Push Ups, Bike Bus

Sunrise during morning run
on Research Parkway

1) I had a great run this morning, which  let me enjoy the cool weather and see the sunrise! I usually do not have time or enough sunlight to run before catching the bus to work, so I got creative :) I took an earlier bus (which meant leaving my apartment just after 6 am), then got off on Alafaya and ran 3 miles to work. Running down Alafaya is not the best, but running into the sunrise on Research Parkway and the nice morning breeze was well worth it. It was good enough to make me run a little faster and have negative splits: 11:55 -11:51 - 11:29.

2) I did day 2 of the push up challenge last night, and managed 17 full push ups (3 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 5)! Yes! =D I almost forgot to do it. I was so sore from Sunday, that I had to take 2 rest days in between. I'm hoping that next week my muscles will start to adapt and I can do them every other day. I'm actually not too sore today. I've also been rocking the yoga and stretching every chance I get. The foot is achy from time to time, but overall it feels good more often than not. Yay! :)

3) The UCF Bike Bus is still riding strong, and we'll be representing at the One Less Car Expo this Saturday. Check out my latest Bike Bus Update at Commute Orlando.

UCF Bike Bus

One Less Car Orlando Expo

One Less Car Flyer
(click to enlarge)

Jason and I will be representing the Central Florida Bike Bus at the One Less Car Orlando Expo this Saturday, September 25, from 10 am - 4 pm. at The Center – GLBT Community Center of Central Florida located at 946 N. Mills Avenue.

ONE LESS CAR ORLANDO is a celebration of transporation alternatives like your bike, the bus, your feet, your skateboard, your scooter, carpooling, etc. The event will have two components: an expo where you can learn about the various groups and resources available to you, and a line-up of speakers called Park-n-Chats.

This is your chance to learn more about the Bike Bus and other resources available to you in the Orlando area if you want to try alternate transportation. We hope you stop by to say hi, and please spread the word!
Facebook Event

Creative Time Management

Living without a car has forced me to make creative use of my time, but it has taking some time to come to this realization. When we began commuting by bike and bus regularly almost 5 months ago, some aspects of my workout routine (yoga/core/strength) began slipping because I spent most of my time commuting--that's what I told myself anyway. Bull! That's just an excuse; I'm simply not making it a priority. Well, it ends now!

If I want to run a marathon in February, and I desperately do, then I need to take care of my body now and stop cutting corners. Even if I don't want to get up earlier to exercise before catching the bus, I can spend less time screwing around on my computer after work and use that time to do yoga or cross train. I've made this a priority this week, and I've gotten creative with how I squeeze in my workouts:

• do yoga when I get home from running or cycling, even if it's a quick 10 minute stretch. It's a lot easier to get this out of the way before I shower, while I still have endorphins motivating me to workout, than after I'm cooled off and clean and ready to chill and eat.
• do yoga before bed while I lay in bed. I've been using this routine from Chaz but I just did a quick search and found a ton of other options I may try, like this 8-minute routine. My favorite pose before bed is to lay with my legs up against the wall. 
• run to the bus stop from work. If I go one stop further, it's a full mile. I much prefer this than walking, but it sucks to then sit on the bus for an hour before running again. Since the bus is always late, I may trying running to other stops so I spend more time running and less time seating on a bench waiting for the bus.
• get off the bus early and run the rest of the way home. This maximizes my time and I don't waste any walking home first, changing, then going back out. I'm also less likely to loose motivation and stay home instead of going out for my run, and I can't cut my run short because it takes longer to walk home :) In fact, I can run further because I don't have to rush off to work. This takes a bit of planning, but I now have the routine down. If Jason is on the bus with me, he carries my stuff home. If not, I change into running clothes at work and bring my fuel belt and race ready shorts to carry the essentials: iPhone, ID/money, bus pass, water, towel.
• do yoga at the bus stop! The bus is always late, so jason half suggested when I was complaining about not having time for yoga that I do it at the bus stop. While I'm not about to do downward dog on the sidewalk, I can certainly do some of the standing poses, upper body poses (for back and shoulders), and stretch those calves and feet!
• do yoga on the bus. I don't do this often or if the bus is really crowded, but YOGAmazing has yoga on an airplane (or chair yoga/yoga with a desk) that would work well for this. Again, they are mostly seated upper body poses to stretch the back, neck and shoulders.
• stretch in the break room while heating up my lunch. Instead of just standing there watching the microwave, I'm using up this time to do some wall push ups and calf raise to stretch my legs. I often also making popcorn in the afternoons, so that's over 3 minutes I can use to stretch my calves/quads/hamstrings/feet.
• do yoga at my desk. I work at a computer all day, and my shoulders/back get tense a lot. When I got a massage on Monday, he commented on that and suggested I take breaks during the day to stretch. It only takes a few minutes, but doing a simple twist or interlacing my arms over my head and doing a backbend does wonders. I also have the office fitdeck, which I should use more often.
• I restarted the 100 push up challenge, but with full push ups this time. I started at the easiest level since it has been a while, and I am still sore from the 14 I did on Sunday. But I'm going to stick with it, even if I have to take 2 days off between workouts until I get used to it again. 

The most important thing in making this change was realizing that I don't need to immediately go back to doing 30-60 minutes of additional exercise every day (on top of running/bike commuting). I was getting overwhelmed thinking about how I would do that, but just adding 10-20 minutes of yoga when I can is a step in the right direction. Pretty soon I'll remember how much I love yoga, what it does for my body and I'll start finding the time to do it more often :) Now if I could only find time for some kickboxing again. All in due time ;)

Road to Recovery & Week 37 Recap

I'm almost afraid to post this, but I think my foot is on the mends. I woke up with zero pain today, even when I took my first steps out of bed, and it's felt great all day! Every now and then I think I feel a twinge, but that's probably in my head because it feels too good to be true and I don't want to get my hopes up too soon.

It is a strange sensation to finally feel a body part healed. When you have an injury, the pain decreases both in intensity and frequency as it heals, but you still have that nagging dull ache until it's fully heals. Then all of a sudden you wake up one day and it is completely gone. You almost miss the pain because you barely remember what it was like to not have it and wonder all day if it's really gone or if stepping the wrong way will suddenly bring it back. It's a wonderful feeling!

Even though I ran 9.5 miles this weekend, I took really good care of the foot. It was bothering me a bit on the ride Friday night, but I stretched it well and taped it before the run. The taping worked wonders. Not only was I not in pain during most of the run, there was no pain after. I kept it taped most of the day while we were out, and I think that helped too. What I think really put it over the edge was that I finally did yoga and lots of stretching on Sunday.

Apparently thunderbolt pose (where you sit on your heels) is great for this, and I did that a few times without knowing it. I did yoga before bed last night, wore the splint, and was sure to stretch and flex the foot before stepping out of bed and I could not believe it when I didn't feel pain even on that first step. I'm still going to be cautiously optimistic, continue to stretch every chance I get (e.g. when waiting for my food to heat up in the break room) and do yoga regularly again in hopes that the pain stays away for good!

This makes me feel much better about the upcoming Half Marathon in 6 weeks, and that I'll be able to train for a full marathon in February! I was going to run a 15k this weekend, but decided against it earlier this weekend. I am tempted to register now, but I don't want to push it too soon, so I'm going to sleep in, go for a short(er) run and enjoy running :)

Week Totals (rounded)

• run - 17 miles
• walk - 6 miles
• bike - 39 miles
• strength/core - 14 (full) push ups (oh yeah, I'm restarting 100 push up challenge, but with full push ups this time)
• yoga - 40 min
• totals - 10 hrs / 61 miles

Workout Summary

See details on Dailymile

• Monday - 1 hr massage :)
• Tuesday - ran 3 miles; biked 1.3 miles (publix)
• Wednesday - walked 2.5 miles (bus)
• Thursday - ran 4 miles; walked 1.25 miles (bus)
• Friday - walked 2.5 miles (bus); biked 17.25 miles (ice cream)
• Saturday - ran 9.5 miles; biked 20 miles (fm, lunch, gms)
• Sunday - 40 min yoga (2 sessions); 14 (real) push ups!

Update and Belated August 2010 Recap

There seems to be a direct corrolation between my motivation to blog and my ability to run. Since I've not been running as much, and certainly not racing, I find that I don't want to blog about the negative so I just don't blog at all. The truth is there are plenty of positives in my life, and even the running is progressing. I ran 8 miles this weekend and it felt good. Yesterday I ran 3 miles non-stop @12:10 pace without really pushing it and it felt great. I still have a glimmer of hope that I'll run BCM in February, but I'm playing it by ear and will see how the Miami Beach Halloween Half goes first.

See more birthday photos

I celebrated my 32nd birthday two weeks ago, and that week was a blast. I took a few days off from work and fully enjoyed my birthday:

• Wednesday - Birthday lunch with coworkers at First Watch
• Thursday - Took the day off for some much needed me time. Started the day with yoga, then easy biking to get a facial. My sister came over early so I could spent time with my adorable niece, then went to PF Chang's for dinner when my parents arrived.
• Friday - This was my actual birthday and Jason took it off from work too. I slept in a little (7 am) and started the day with an easy 6-mile birthday run, then Jason and I had a lovely time enjoying the outdoors on our bikes and making fresh ice cream with my new ice cream maker :) We finished the day with the First Friday ride for civility, which was a huge success, followed by dinner at Ethos. I was exhausted and glad I could sleep in the next day.
• Saturday - Slept in and then went to the Trek Tri expo with Kelly.
• Sunday - Rode the bus to Disney to cheer and take photos at the Trek Women's Triathlon.

In other news, Jason completed his first Half Ironman Triathlon this weekend and he rocked it! He gets extra credit hard core points for doing it in Clermont (read hills) and in Florida in September (read hot and humid). It was brutal, but he got it done and is even contemplating a second one already :) I of course was there cheering him on, taking lots of photos, and volunteering. It was a very long day, but lots of fun and it made me crave running a marathon again. *sigh*

August Accomplishments

• 31 Photos in 31 Days
• 10 Day Real Food Challenge
• Began UCF Bike Bus
• Commute Orlando Author

August Stats

• walk = 42 miles (3 < July)
• run = 34 miles (7 < July)
• longest run = 6 miles
• bike = 218 miles (22 > July)
• longest ride = 16 miles
• total = 294 miles / 38.5 hrs (avg 1.2 hrs/day)

This Friday is the next night ice cream ride, and I can't wait. Join us!

Week 33 Recap

Jason wearing his "Polite Escort" shirt

Despite only running once, I had a great week. I more than made up for the lack of running with plenty of biking, including a really fun social ride with Bike/Walk Central Florida for the opening of "What Moves You?" (photos). Today was the inaugural ride of the UCF Bike Bus. Although we did not have any passengers, it was a great ride to AND from work. I'm thrilled to find there is still civility in humankind :)

I'm happy to report I got through the 10 Days of Real Food Pledge,and it went far better than expected! Granted, we already ate very little processed food before this, but we had to get creative with snacks and desserts and had a blast in the process. I'll post more details and recipes later.

Overall, a fantastic week and this one is shaping up to be great too. I'm seating on the couch relaxing after a delicious homemade meal of aloo matar still basking in the joy that was the bike ride home :)

Week Totals (rounded)

• run - 3.5 miles
• walk - 6 miles
• bike - 69 miles
• total - 8.5 hours / 78 miles

Workout Summary

See details on Dailymile

• Monday - biked 10 miles (errands)
• Tuesday - walked 2 miles (bus)
• Wednesday - biked 33 miles (work)
• Thursday - walked 2.5 miles (bus); biked 7.5 miles (art ride)
• Friday - biked 7 miles (errands)
• Saturday - ran 3.5 miles; biked 10 miles (farmer's market)
• Sunday - biked 1.5 miles (publix); walked 1.2 miles (publix)

Inaugural UCF Bike Bus Ride

After taking the Cycling Savvy course, I've felt empowered and more comfortable riding on the road. Some of our coworkers have ridden to work on occasion, but are not as comfortable riding down University Blvd. I have to admit that neither were we at first.

Taking the Econ trail is an option, but no one should have to go several miles out of their way to feel safe. Jason and I want to help anyone interested in commuting to UCF by bike to feel safe riding down University Blvd, and thus the UCF Bike Bus was born :) We've successfully completed two recon rides with Keri, and Jason rode by himself on Friday without incident. We're now ready to make this official and take on passengers!

Please join us for our first official UCF Bike Bus ride this Monday, August 23. We'll be leaving the Cady Way Trailhead by the Fashion Square Mall at 7 am and picking up passengers along the way. If you are riding that morning anywhere along the bus route, we'd love for you to hop on when you see us coming even if it's only for a few miles.

Visit the Official Inaugural UCF Bike Bus Ride Event for more details and to sign up.

Coming up for Air

I can't believe I have not posted anything in over two weeks, so here's a quick post to catch up.

Photos

The daily photo project has been keeping me really busy. I can't ever do anything halfway, so after the first few they required a bit more planning. One of the photos inspired me to break out the legos and now they have consumed my life :) I still need to upload photos from the past few days, but you can see what I have so far in my 31 Photos in 31 Days Album. Check out the other pics in my Flickr Photostream too because I've been having way too much fun with legos :)

The word "Lego" written in Braille

Real Food Challenge

homemade granola

I took the 10 Days of Real Food Pledge starting on Saturday, which focuses on eating whole foods following these rules. We eat mostly this way already, with the exception of some vices (ice cream and candy), so this forces us to really pay attention to labels, and avoid heavily processed foods or things at restaurants that seem healthy but aren't. So far this has not been too difficult, but we've made all our meals at home. We'll see how we do when we go out to eat. One big challenge for me is bread. I love it so, and thankfully I found a great local source at the Winter Park and Maitland Farmer's Market. I really need to just make my own, but I keep putting it off. What I did do was make my own granola this week using this granola recipe from The Food Illusion, and it was amazing! I will never buy it at the store again. 

Running

I haven't been running much because of the foot and the knee twinges at me every so often. The last time I ran was last Tuesday. Something came up preventing me from running on Thursday, and then I got distracted over the weekend by legos, volunteering at the Celebration of Running 5k, and dealing with my broken iPhone. I have no excuse for yesterday; I just can't seem to get back into the groove of waking up early to run, and having to run in the dark doesn't help. I've also ditched all my racing plans for the near future, so there is no pressing motivation to follow a running schedule. I can surely tell that not running affects my mood, and I was a little down yesterday. I realized that it wasn't just the no running, but that all these little things have been happening that are out of my control and I don't like it when I'm not in control :)

Bike Commuting

I have been biking quite a bit on errands and to work testing out a new route for a UCF Bike Bus we're organizing. I'll post more details and a link to the site when it's ready, but check out this article at Commute Orlando in the meantime with some of the footage Keri took on our first test ride last Friday: Bike Bus: Reclaiming University Boulevard for Human Power. It went much better than expected, and we did another test ride this morning that went even better. We even picked up our first passenger today! We're getting pretty excited about the possibilities of this bike bus.

Social Cycling

We've been participating in and helping organize some social rides with Commute Orlando that have been a lot of fun and had great turnouts. The first was an S-Cargo ride to the Maitland Farmer's Market on a Sunday morning. We had over 2 dozen people, including some children, pets and inflatable penguins! Check out my S-Cargo Photo Album to see how much fun we had, and the S-Cargo video at Commute Orlando.

Last Friday we went on a night ice cream ride from the Cady Way Trailhead to Twisted Bliss for a yummy frozen treat, then rode through downtown Orlando. It was quite a site to see over a dozen bikes all lit up. Riding down Orange Ave in the dark on a bike gives you a totally different experience and perspective than in a car. It is awesome! Check out my Ice Cream Ride Photos on Flickr and Keri's Ice Cream Ride video at Commute Orlando.

Tomorrow night we're riding with the group to City Arts Factory for the opening of What Moves You?, and art exhibit about transportation including the Orlando Bike Kitchen. Check out this post for more details: Ride to City Arts Factory.

July 2010 and Week 30 Recaps

I cannot believe I've been eating only vegetarian food for over 4 months now and I don't really miss meat. I occasionally crave something, but it quickly passes and I feel much better about what I consume these days. I still need to wean myself off sweets and other processed convenience foods, but for the most part we do ok. Training this month was hindered a bit by the development of plantar fasciitis and a bike fall that kept me from running for 2 weeks. I did plenty of biking and it seemed to help maintain my fitness as I was able to jump back into running this week without any problems. I'm reevaluating my goals for the rest of the year and focusing on having fun. I have a 5K race this weekend, the same one in which I placed last time, and I'm not sure what to expect because of the break. Maybe the rest will work in my advantage :)

Goals for August

• take one photo each day with my iPhone [Flickr album]
• 95% homemade meals (eat out 4-5x times)
• Cool Summer Mornings 5K #3

July Accomplishments

• Completed Cycling Savvy Course
• Camping by Bike
• Place 3rd in my Age Group at Cool Summer Mornings 5K!
• Ran Watermelon 5K with family
• 2 months living without a car
• 4 months of eating vegetarian
• 89% homemade meals (10x restaurant food; avg 2.5x per week)

July Stats

• run = 41 miles
• longest run = 11 miles
• walk = 45 miles
• bike = 196 miles
• longest ride = 41.2 miles
• totals = 282 miles / 40.5 hrs (avg 1.3 hrs/day)

2010 Goals Progress

To be on track, percentages should be around 58%

• run/walk = 586 / 700 miles (avg 84/mo; 21/wk; 84%)
• cycling = 748 / 1750 miles (avg 107/mo; 27/wk; 43%)
• tri 2010 challenge = 1351 / 2010 (67%)
• total exercise hours = 253.5 / 365 hours (avg 1.2/ day; 69%)
• 101 things = 19 / 30 done (63%); 11 in progress

Week 30 Totals (rounded)

• run - 9 miles
• walk - 7 miles
• bike - 75 miles
• totals - 92 miles / 10.5 hrs

Week 30 Workout Summary

See details on Dailymile

• Monday - biked 22 miles (work + bus)
• Tuesday - walked 2.5 miles (bus)
• Wednesday - biked 12 miles (doc/errands)
• Thursday - biked 32 miles (work)
• Friday - ran 3 miles; walked 2 miles (bus)
• Saturday - biked 9 miles (farmer's market)
• Sunday - ran 6 miles; walked 2 miles (errands)

For the Joy of Running

I finally got to run today! Yay! After 2 weeks of 0 miles of running, I ran 3 miles around Lake Eola tonight. It was super humid and my Garmin didn't cooperate, but I didn't care because I got to run! And there was NO pain! To say that I am super excited is a major understatement. This run reminded me of why I run and put my priorities into perspective.

I had lofty goals of getting faster and becoming a marathon maniac this season by running 3 marathons in 90 days, but none of that seems important now. The only thing I care about is that I keep running for the joy of running and for the rest of my life. Races come and go, but the pure joy I experience when I run will only last for as long as I take care of myself and never forget why I do this.

I started the season with a new faster running group, running 3:1 intervals, and doing track work. Things were going great; I was enjoying the runs and the new routine and felt really strong. Then I developed Plantar Fasciitis and that put an end to speed work and hills for a while. My first thought was how this would affect my training and if I'd be able to try to run a 5:15 marathon and become a marathon maniac. I was initially bummed when I realized I may have to give up on my goals, but then I realized that I was asking a lot of myself for no good reason. Sure it's good to have goals and push myself beyond my comfort zone, but not at the risk of injury.

Three weeks ago I decided to switch back to my beloved 2:1 group halfway through my 11 miler because I was struggling in the heat and there was no reason I should be running a long run as fast as the 3:1 group. It was wonderful and it reminded me why I was doing this. What good is it to get faster if I can't make it to the start line of my next race?

At that moment I was at peace with my decision to step back my pace and run for the joy of running. Everything else melted away and I no longer cared if I didn't get to run a particular time. Then I fell off my bike and I couldn't run, so I took a week off to heal, enjoyed some non-running activities and it was wonderful. I hadn't really had a break between seasons, and it felt good to rest and fill my days with other things. One week quickly turned to two and then I got antsy. My head began to fill with fears and doubts, and it made all those race plans seem even more trivial and arbitrary. I just wanted to run!

So when I got to run today, it was amazing. I didn't care about anything else but the fact that I was out there running again and it felt effortless. Now I am adjusting my expectations and will be content with becoming a half fanatic or not. If I am able to fit in the training to still run the Space Coast Full marathon, I will. But I am not going to put any pressure on myself to make that happen. I am going to enjoy running and the rest will just be a bonus :)