Sweating to Lunch

Posted on August 19, 2009 | Leave a comment

I haven’t decided yet if it is a good thing or a bad thing that many of the people that I work with have started frequenting the same gym that I do at lunch time.

It is good to workout, and a workout at lunch relieves stress and makes the afternoon fly.

It is good to be in a gym where people are there to work out and not to be seen at the gym… where imaginary sweat isn’t wiped away after three peddles of the stationary bike and a sip of latte.

I feel like a goon, though, with everyone watching me sweat my butt off (almost literally) every day.

I guess it means that they know I’m dedicated to being healthier.

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Posted in Health, motivation

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LunchTime Run

Posted on August 17, 2009 | Leave a comment

This morning I pushed through what I had to get done as quickly as I could so I could run at the gym at lunch time.   I got in 30 good minutes before I got called back upstairs to see what some idiot was doing on the database.

Found out it really was an idiot doing something.  Ended up “only” gettng to run 2 miles but at least it was a good two miles.

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Posted in Half Marathon, Journalling

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Cross Training Day 1

Posted on August 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Okay, so I have the pager, and I opted for not running today, but going for a swim workout.  60 min of swimming and water aerobics.  Tonight, I’m wiped.  I’m not sure what it is about working out in the water, but it always makes me really tired.  I probably would have stayed and worked out longer, but it got to the point where I was starting to be really chilly in the water, even though the water was pretty warm.  The walk down to the pool was very sweaty, the walk home was just enough to warm me back up to normal feeling.

Went hunting for workout music this morning.  I found a bunch of Nike workout music on iTunes.

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Gallery

Am I Crazy? Signing up for the Austin Half Marathon on the Susan Komen team

Posted on August 16, 2009

I’m trying to decide if I’m crazy or not. Don’t get me wrong… THAT I’m crazy (or at least a little left of center) is a given.  But I’m trying to decide if my lunacy has gotten to the point … Continue reading →

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Feeling like I’m making Progress

Posted on June 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

This morning I got up early (yesterday I ran… today I probably won’t becuase I want to try to stay on the one day run one day not run schedule) and weighed myself.  I’m down another 4 pounds (and it is when I should be weighing a little high).  Measured this morning too and my thigh is down to 21 1/4” and my waist is down to 32”.

I’m actualy starting to feel like I’m making forward progress… it is a good feeling.

It really is starting to feel like a habit… something I really look forward to.

If I can do this… anyone can do this.  One morning at a time.  One drink of water at a time, one choice at a time.

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Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig

Posted on May 28, 2009 | Leave a comment

65 min workout this morning.  I’m starting to have to get createive with my routes becuase I’ve hit almost every street in the housing area now and I’m “only” up to Podrunner Intervals Gateway to 8k week 4.  By the time I get to week 8 or 9 I’m going to have to start hitting the same streets over again… or chance running where I’m less comfortable (where there are fewer houses and fewer street lights and that does not excite me at all.

Now, I’m home and STARVING.  I think an egg sounds devine before my shower.

I’m looking forward to the weekend when I can run in the daylight again.

I was talking to one of the women that I did the Race for the cure with last year and she wasn’t sure if she was going to do the timed race this year or not.  I think, even though I’m not “officially” doing what normal people call runing (merely walking at 4.3 to 4.5 mile an hour if the lunch time treadmill is correct) I think timed is where I want to be.  I need to get ready and be more sure if I’m going to try for the half marathons… I don’t want to spend all that money (even if it isn’t a huge amount for the first race) and then end up being swept.

I realized, when I was casting a shadow in the streetlight, that I have a waist.  I’m not sure if it is becuase my butt is really big and my shoulders are broad or if I really do have a waist (Stacey, Clinton… at What Not To Wear… how do I tell if I have a waist???) .  I probably would notice it more if I wore the ‘bike’ shirts more often to run in.  I am glad that they are finally getting some use again (it has been well over a decade since they have gotten any use at all, and I’m finally back down into fitting them).

OH!!! and on the subject of being back down to something… I’m not 178 pounds… that makes my BMI 29.6 and I am back down to “merely” being overweight, I’m no longer considered obese… at least not for a few days until I eat the wrong thing or get my period and end up going back up over the very fine line that I just managed to get below… knock on wood…

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Posted in Fitness, Journalling, motivation

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Feeling Positive

Posted on May 25, 2009 | Leave a comment

A positive feeling is a good thing.  Today, after an ENTIRE weekend off from work, I’m feeling very good.

This past week (2 weeks really) were bad because I was on pager patrol and putting in boocoo hours.  Even though, I tried on some Capri pants at the second hand store and realized that, when I’m in a bad mood I totally believe that I look like a hippo.  Mirrors are not your friend… especially when you are tired.  I got totally disgusted and left.  Maybe next year I will be willing to buy a couple pairs of second hand Capri pants… this year I will stick to jeans and khakis.

BUT…

I have run several times in the last week… and I did weights on Thursday.  Yesterday we walked to HEB for koolaid and jelly and chewy bars.  Today we walked to next to walmart for  small one’s orthodontist appointment.  Yesterday afternoon I swam.  This afternoon the kids and I walked down again to swim.  Swimming always makes me feel good and it always tires me out a lot.

Squirrel got a sun tan.  MPOG got a burn on his neck (he swims in his t-shirt).  I got a bit red where my tank top didn’t cover and where my swimsuit didn’t cover.

Swimming made me feel even better.  The LAST last swimming suit I bought (not the newest one… it has big blue flowers and a skirt… but the one before that) fits again and doesn’t make me look massive.  Maybe I don’t look like I used Jenny to loose lots of weight so I want to parade around in a little suit, but I feel like I don’t match shamu when I swim and my splash wouldn’t drench the first 10 rows.

Tomorrow, it is back to realiity.  I want to get up and run (and I feel like I probably will) and maybe workout at lunch time.

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Posted in Family, Fitness, Health, Journalling

Not Paying for the Same Ground Twice

Posted on May 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

We had an all hands meeting at work.  It was a pep talk… go team.  The primary theme was war movies.  Patton for the most part.   Shoot the donkies and push them off the bridge to get them out of the way…

One of the quotes that struck home with me, though was “I don’t pay for the same ground twice” (Patton quote).  One of my other favorites… Whether you think you can or you think you can’t you are right.

This morning was the first morning in about a week that I really got to work out… it was the first time I had the time to run.  Last week I tried to “do” the Gateway to 8k week 3 workout for the Podrunner Intervals.  I made about half the podcast and gave up.  It really did me in.  I thought I wasn’t going to be able to use the rest of the podcasts to work out to.  I was really depressed becuase I enjoy my workouts to this music even though it really isn’t music that I would pick out for myself.

This morning, I figured I would try one more time.  I was going to fall back to week 2 and work my way up to week 3 to see if I could ever do it, but I rememered the quote… I don’t pay for the same ground twice.  So, I turned on week 3 and set off.

I decided that I would push if I could (it was a beautiful morning for a run) and I was going to treat myself to my favorite trail (the road less traveled through the trees… gravel… hillier… creek… rabbits… trees).  By the time I made it to the creek, I realized that I was going to actually pull it off.  I was going to be able to finish at the quicker BPM pace… 1 min per interval longer.

Sweat… OH MY GOD I was sweating.  My sleeveless shirt was soaked, my bra was soaked… I drank my 10 oz water bottle… half of it half way through, half of it at the end when I was stretching.  I stretched out and felt fantastic.

Tonight… I have spent another whole satruday working on projects at work.  My eyes hurt, my head hurts but I feel way better about everything in general, and I feel better about myself.

Tonight… These little Hour… These twists and turns of fate…

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Suddenly Realizing that I did 4.5 miles in an hour

Posted on May 8, 2009 | Leave a comment

When I started out on this adventure, I was making laps around the culdesac street in front of the house.  I was incredibly proud of myself being able to make it 7  laps without getting bored and still being able to breathe to one degree or another at the end. I was also looking for excuses to not go out front because I looked like a dork going round in circles and because I didn’t think I would EVER be able to do this with any regularity and I had my doubts about my ability to make any progress.

I don’t know when it happened, but I realized this morning that I look forward to my jaunts (most days) and they are getting easier.  I looked at my pedometer this morning and it said that my hour today was spent going 4.45 miles.  If I can maintain that, I can finish a half marathon at the appropriate pace to not be swept.  I just need to work on more time and distance at that pace now.

I am feeling tired this morning (two mornings in a row like this have my legs feeling tired) but good.  Now, I have um-teen hours to work today but I feel great and it should be a good day.

Now for a cup a coffee and a big drink of water.

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Posted in motivation

Runner’s World Quote for Today (May 7, 2009)

Posted on May 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

Today’s quote (which was waiting for me when I got home from my run) was…

Many People shy away from hills. THey make it easy on themselves, but that limits their improvement. The more you repeat something, the stronger you get.

Joe Catalano

As my body cools down (it was a balmy 76 degrees and humid while I was out this morning) I think back over the hills I tackled this morning (small hills if you are from a place that really HAS hills… but hills) and smile.  You do get stronger… and it does get easier.

And I think about my hills at work… the hills that I’m facing a lot with my project coming due in just a couple weeks… and I realize that is the case their too.  I watch the people who shy away from the hills… the ones who work at avoiding hills at all costs or trying to push hills into other people’s path… and I realize that, more and more, running is really starting to be my metaphor for life…

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