2:48:17

I finished the Hampton's Half Marathon (in the rain) in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 17 seconds. It's not fast for most runners, but it's the best I've done so far. While I'm happy that I finished within the time frame that I wanted to finish in, I also feel I could have done better. My legs started to feel very tight in the last two miles. I'll have to start doing a lot of flexibility training. I'm confident that if I had done that in the last couple of months it would have made a big difference in my performance yesterday. My next planned race isn't until January 2009 and that's a FULL marathon. While I was running yesterday, in those last two miles I found myself thinking "Do I really want to tackle a full marathon? At this rate, I'll be on my feet for close to 6 hours. Who wants to be on their feet for six whole hours?" For the life of me I couldn't manage to convince myself that doing a full marathon actually is a good idea. But alas, I already paid the entrance fee.

Four More Days To Go

I've been horrible at updating this blog. I never would have thought that committing to updating a blog on a regular basis would be work.
I've been mostly keeping up with my training plan, but not eating as well as I should be. I feel like I'm getting stronger and more efficient with my running, but I guess the proof will be in the run this weekend, the Hampton's Half Marathon. I'd like to finish it in 2:45, but as long as I finish it in less than 2:53:58 I will be satisfied. It's supposed to rain over the weekend, so please pray to the rain Gods and ask them to hold off until Saturday afternoon.

I Need to Do A Long Run

I've been trying to keep up with my training plan which calls for 2 days of cross training and 3 days of running each week. I wish I could say that I've been keeping up with all of my training, but the truth is that I haven't done a long run yet. I haven't hit the road in a long time and running on the treadmill is just so darn boring. My plan is to get up early tomorrow morning and go out for a 12 mile run before work.
I had been eating really well and I lost a few ponds, but I fell off the wagon big time in the past week and I put a couple of those pounds back on. I gotta climb back on that wagon.
Wish me luck...

Cross Training

I took a rest day yesterday. Today I did 35 grueling minutes on the spin bike and then some upper body exercises. My legs feel a little heavy right now, but I think they'll feel fine in the morning.

I came home today and in the mail there was a letter / voucher from Road Runner Sports saying that thanks to my purchases and my friends and family's purchases I've earned a free pair of sneakers up to $100 - YEAH!!! I can't wait to get them. There was a time when I thought $100 was absolutely absurd for a pair of sneakers. I swore I'd never pay more than $40 for any pair of sneakers. Then I started jogging and now I try not to go over $100. So this weekend I'll go to the Road Runner Store in NJ and pick out a new pair of sneakers, I can't wait. Maybe I'll even treat myself to a new pair of shorts too. :)

It's So Easy To Slip Back Into Bad Habits

It's after 1:00 in the morning, I didn't exercise tonight, and I'm still awake and I really don't know why. I watched Venus and Serena duke it out on the court, it really was a great (heart wrenching) match because obviously there can only be one winner. I silently rooted for Venus, but in the end Serena won. The truth is, I'm just as happy for Serena as I am sad for Venus.
Good Night

Today's Workout

Today's workout was a 1 mile warm up, 4 - 800 meter runs with a 2 minute rest interval in between each 800 meters and then a 10 minute cool down. It didn't seem too hard, I wonder if I should be running these workouts at a faster pace. I ran at the pace that I want to do the half marathon in. Maybe I should hold off and see how I feel tomorrow before I call it an easy workout.

Treadmill Running is Sooooo Boring

I went to the basement yesterday with a very ambitious goal of running 12 miles on the treadmill. Yes, 12 miles on the treadmill. Well, I did at least make it through six miles. When I run on the treadmill I try to come up with games to play to get me through the miles. I decide to run a mile, walk for 1 minute, run a mile walk for a minute... then I switch it up and run a 1/4 mile at one pace and then increase the pace every 1/4 mile until it's just too difficult, then I start decreasing the speed every 1/4 mile. Then I start to play with the incline, but the truth never changes, that treadmill running is just soooo boring and I still haven't done a long run for the week. I really need to get out of the house and hit the streets for a nice long run with sun and breezes and changing scenery.
Tonight I'll get on my spin bike for some cross training. I'll stay on the bike for about 30 minutes.

You Asked...

A couple of people asked me what I've been doing to lose the weight. They clearly think I lost more than I actually did, but I'll take the compliment just the same. I gave pretty generic answers, you know - 'exercise, eat less...' so I decided to start posting my exercise routines. I don't know the name of all of the exercises, so I'll do my best to describe the ones that I don't know the name of.

I just switched from 8 pound weights to 10 pound weights and I do 12 reps each. Today I did


Upper Body

- 3 sets bicep curls (1 full, 1 half up and 1 half down)
- tricep extensions
- tricep isometric lift
- rotator cuff exercise where you keep your elbows close to your side with your arms at a 90 degree angle and you move your arm back until your arm is lined up with your side and then return it to the starting position
- one arm dumbbell row
- arms at shoulder height at a 90 degree angle, then pull your elbows together
- lateral dumbbell raises
- push ups

Lower Body

- squats
- forward lunges
- backward lunges
- hip abduction exercise where you stand straight and move your foot out to the side a few inches and then back to starting
- inner thigh exercise where you stand and sweep your foot across the front of your body
- 3 sets of leg curls
- 2 sets of dead man lifts

Abdominal

- crunches
- laying on your back you lift your legs and slowly lower them down to about 2 - 3inches from the floor and then lift them back to starting position
- laying on your back bring opposite elbows to knees
- footprints to the sky
- laying on your back with your feet together and in the air, make circles with your feet

So - that's what I did today.

I'm Back

Hi,
I was away on vacation for one week, one very busy yet very relaxing week in the Dominican Republic. During the week I actually read my book on eating clean as well as read a complete issue of FitnessRx and some of my book on training to run a marathon. (Oh, did I tell you that I'm doing the Disney Marathon in January 2009?) For the last few years, the thought of having enough time in the day to actually read more than a few pages at a time has been a fantasy for me, so having the time was great.

I also exercised while I was away. I didn't do as much as I wanted to do but I did get up early and swim a couple of days as well as lower body exercises in my room a couple of days. I wanted to do more, but the exercise room at the resort had non working exercise equipment.

When I got back I started trying to eat clean but I don't think there were enough carbs for me. I was feeling tired and light headed by the end of the second day and didn't feel like I had enough energy for a workout so I decided I'd stick to the basics of eating clean and add some healthy carbs to my diet as well. It seems to be working so far. Since there's no one size fits all healthy diet I know it'll take some tweaking.

I enjoy food, I enjoy ALL types of food and I usually gain a few pounds when I go on vacation, so that was a real concern for me. I tried not to overeat or to eat too much junk food. When I got back I went to the medical department for a weigh in. Here are my results -

August 27, 2008 vs. July 16, 2008

Weight - 178.5 lb vs. 184.0 lb
BMI - 27.1 vs. 28.0
Fat % - 30% vs. 35.3%
Fat Mass - 53.5 lb vs. 65.0 lb

I'm making progress but I still have a lot of work to do. The hardest thing for me is staying away from junk food, so if anyone has any suggestions at all or recipes for somewhat healthy snack foods, please pass them along to me. I'm not talking about snacking on nuts, fruits and veggies. I'm talking about cake or cookie recipes that are low in fat and still taste good.

I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but I registered to do the Hampton's Half Marathon on September 27th and the Disney Marathon; my first full marathon on January 9th. I'm not worried about completing the half marathon, but I would like to complete it in 2:45. At this point I've never ran more than 13.1 miles at a time, so the thought of the full marathon makes me nervous. I really wanted to register for the half but it was all filled up, and for some reason unknown to me and without giving it any thought I clicked on the tab for the full marathon, so now I have four months to prepare to run 26.2 miles. Ugh...

MOSTLY ON TRACK

I know it's been a long time since I've logged in. I've been a bit preoccupied with the hole in my ceiling and then the water that came down onto my computer. To make a long story really short, the water that fell on my computer has disabled my period (also known as dot) button so every time you see one of those little punctuation marks you can be sure I had to paste it in.

I have however been keeping up with my exercising and as of this week I started the FIRST marathon training program. I know I said I'd wait until the end of the month, but I'm one of those people that need structure in their lives. Somewhere along the line I'll just repeat a couple of weeks to make up for the extra few weeks at the end. Eating and nutrition is still a problem for me so I bought a book called The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. I do a lot of reading on the Internet about working out and weight training, and one thing that keeps being mentioned is eating clean, so I decided to learn more about it and to give it a try. It seams that eating clean is basically a lot of fresh fruit and veggies, protein, whole grains, no sweets and eating about 6 times a day. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying it, but right now that's all I can tell you since I haven't actually read the book yet. I've only skimmed through it. My plan is to read it while I'm on vacation and then to grocery shop and get started when I get back.

My sister has been exercising with me and has lost 6 pounds so far. I don't know how many inches she lost but I can definitely see a change. (Woo hoo) I plan to post a new set up pictures of myself around the end of the month or early September and I really hope you guys can see a change.

We've basically been alternating between cardio and strength training, I started with five pound dumb bells then moved to seven and now I'm using the eight pound weights. Since I just started using the eight pound weights this week they're quite challenging but a challenge is good, right?

Oh yeah, how can I forget to mention that I'm down to about 180 pounds and a loose fitting size 12. Go me!

OK - it's late and tomorrow's workout is a six mile run that I'd really like to do in the morning before work so over and out folks.

SINFULLY DELECTABLE

Between July 21st and August 3rd my family has 3 birthdays. That translates into at least 3 cakes and at least 3 servings of ice cream, but since I like both cake and ice cream I can assure you that I had far more than my 3 servings of each - and yes, now I'm paying for it. Instead of losing weight, I've gained about 2 pounds. Needless to say, I'm pretty glad the birthday season in my house is over. Oh, and on top of the cake and ice cream that we have in the house, and on top of the cake that a friend made at work, there's also the free ice cream from Coldstone Creamery when you join their birthday club. Seven and a half ounces of a delicious creamy ice cream creation, and I went for the gusto. I had the Cookie Doughn't You Want Some - vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, cookie dough, fudge and caramel. It started out tasting like heaven, but toward the end the guilt was hitting me hard, I really wanted to stop but I just couldn't do it. I ate it all. If you'd like to sign up for the birthday club yourself, then here's the link. http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/mycs/myCS_pub_home.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fmycs%2fmyCS_priv_home.aspx

The good news is that I have been working out. I just have to work a lot harder on the nutrition aspect. It's much easier to go out and jog a few miles or to strength train than it is to change your eating habits. I like to snack all day long. I'll have to get more healthy snacks to eat at work.

If anyone has any ideas for healthy and tasty snacks, please send them to me. I like fruit, but I can't just eat fruit.

Two Days with Six Tenage Girls

Today is my daughters 15th birthday, so to celebrate my sister and I decided to take her with five of her closest friends to the Poconos for the weekend. I thought it would be a bit chaotic, a little bit of attitude, maybe even some bickering but it turned out to be the total opposite. There was no chaos, no attitude and no bickering at all. It was an enjoyable, drama free and thankfully uneventful weekend with six teen aged girls. I on the other hand am feeling a little bit guilty. I let the girls eat a lot of cake and ice cream, chips, cookies, and Philly Cheese Steak and not one vegetable was to be seen for the entire weekend. I somehow convinced myself that the fried peppers and onions on the Philly Cheese Steak and the onions and peppers in the eggs counted as servings of veggies. Oh wait, what about the ketchup that some of them put on their macaroni and cheese? Does that count? Well, I've also managed to convince myself that it was only for a weekend, it was barely 48 hours, and in those barely 48 hours my daughter was happy spending time away with her girlfriends and I was happy watching her be happy. I can only hope that when she grows up she doesn't forget the joy of spending time with her favorite girlfriends.
Oh, and if you were wondering, yes I did work out in the gym at the resort. I worked out in their old, tattered, hardly maintained gym.

Rest and Recovery

We all get to a point in our lives, whether we've been working long hours, exercising very hard or just staying up late and getting up early that we realize that we need to take time to rest and recover from whatever it is that's wearing us down. Well, I certainly needed some rest and recovery time after Sunday's run. While my body hasn't been extremely sore it has definitely been extremely tired. It's amazing the wonderful effect that rest has. I can feel my energy coming back and I'm definitely ready to get back to working out.

During my rest time I've been doing some reading on nutrition and the dangers of a low carb diet. I read that if your body doesn't have enough carbs to use as fuel then it uses protein as its main energy source which isn't good because your body needs the protein to build muscle and repair tissue. Why did I find this so interesting? Maybe because I know that so many people have gone on low or no carb diets and after reading that I realized that not only is it not good for you, but it's counter productive as well. If the goal is to be healthy, then we can't cut out any important nutrients. We have to make sure we have a well balanced diet at all times.

Tonight I rode my bike after work. It was my first 'real' ride of the year since I've been spending most of my time running. I rode about 12 miles from home to downtown and back. I thought for sure that my legs would hurt, that I'd struggle up the hills and that I'd be so winded that I'd have to take breaks along the way. But to my surprise (and enjoyment) none of that happened. It was a nice comfortable ride, even on the uphills. There must be something to this whole cross training thing.

2:53:58

Two hours: fifty three minutes: and fifty eight seconds, that's the time it took for me to complete the half marathon today. For some people it wouldn't be anything to brag about and for others it would be a major accomplishment. I fall somewhere in between, and I'm satisfied with my results.
I finished the race feeling tired but not totally wiped out although I did take an unplanned two hour nap this afternoon though. I'm not feeling any major soreness, (at least not yet) and the only things that really hurt were the balls of my tootsies. My next half marathon is in exactly two months, then there's the Disney Marathon in January 2009. My plan is to start training for the marathon at the end of August, and use the half marathon as practice for the full. I'll be using a training plan from a Runner's World book called Run Less Run Faster. The plan calls for three days of running, two days of cross training and two days of rest. Over the next four weeks I'll try to shed between four and six pounds with cardio and strength training and also work on my flexibility with yoga. I'll post new pictures at the end of August so you all can see my progress. I'll also use the time to try to work out a decent diet. I'm such a junk food junkie that it's really hard for me to totally deny myself.
Hey, for anyone that remembers the Hydrox cookie, did you know that Hydrox came before Oreo, and at the end of August Kellog's will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Hydrox cookie by putting out a limited edition of them. Yep, check out their site

http://www.hydroxcookies.com/index.shtml

Eight Hours Before the NYC Half Marathon

It's eight hours before the NYC Half Marathon, and I'm still up. (What a surprise.) I've been adding music to my Ipod with a computer that kept freezing for the past 45 minutes or so. I'm as ready as I'm going to be, and as usual I wish I had trained more. One of these days I'm going to do a run and actually feel totally prepared and totally rested the day before. In any case, my breakfast of oatmeal sweetened with honey, a banana and some Gatorade are mostly ready for me when I get up at 4:30, my clothes are laid out on the chair, my number is on my shirt, my chip is on my sneaker and my fannie pack is packed. The only thing I haven't figured out yet, is which pair of socks I will wear. Decisions, decisions. I think I'll go with the black socks with the women dancing in hot pink dresses.
The weather forecast said thunderstorms for tomorrow. I'm just hoping that the thunderstorms don't start until after 10 am.
OK - wish me luck...
Good Night

Free 14 Day Vitamin Supply

If you're anything like me, then you like freebies - so here's a link with an offer for a free 14 day supply of liquid soft gel vitamins from Nature Made.

Enjoy

http://riteaid.naturemade.com/

Before...

Here are my before pictures and stats -

Height 5' 8"

Weight 184 lb

BMI 28.0

Fat% 35.3%

Fat Mass 65 lb

Desirable Range

Weight 160

BMI 20-25

Fat% 23-34%

Fat Mass 35.5-61.5lb

Of course, when I reach my goals I'll take those after pictures wearing makeup, pretty clothes, be in a bright sunny place and I'll even do something to my hair. OK - maybe I'll do something to my hair.

Let's Get This Party Started

I'm a 40 something year old relatively active woman that wants to get into much better shape so that I can be a very active woman in the years to come. Since 2006 I've completed four half marathons, I have two more planned this year, and in January 2009 I plan to complete the Disney Marathon in Orlando FL. The mere thought of being on my feet for 26.2 miles makes my stomach turn, but the half was all filled up and before I had given it much thought I clicked on 'Marathon' and was registered.

So here I am, about 25 pounds overweight with five months to train for a full marathon. I have no illusions of grandeur, I don't expect to break the finish line tape, like most first time marathon runners I simply want to make it to the finish line. My real goal in all of this is to become a healthier more fit version of myself, and to learn enough along the way to be able to share with, educate and motivate others to reach their goals.

I'll post pictures of myself along the way so you can see any progress I make.

Surprise - Surprise

A couple of days ago I logged into http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Index.html. I calculated my caloric needs, started tracking my eating and exercising and started maintaining a journal. I've been logging as accurately as possible everything that I've put into my mouth, and to my surprise I'm not eating enough calories but I am definitely eating far too much fat. I'm not as surprised at the fact that I eat too much fat as I am the fact that I'm not eating enough calories. After reviewing what I ate for the last two days, one thing is abundantly clear - that a bagel with cream cheese and jelly is not the way to start the morning. In lieu of my delicious bagel, this morning I had Trail Mix Crunch w/ almonds and raisins cereal with fat free calcium fortified milk. The two servings that I had is still better than one bagel with cream cheese or butter. I'm hungry already, so I'll have some blueberries in a little while.

Sleep

Here it is almost 2:00 in the morning, and I'm still awake. This is certainly not good. One of the things that I have to work on is getting more sleep. I truly am a much better person when I'm functioning on a full night of sleep, unfortunately I very rarely get it. Sometimes life gets in the way and other times television gets in the way. No matter what the reason is, the truth is that I, like so many others just don't get enough of it.
If anyone has ideas for making evening duties faster so that bedtime can come a bit earlier, please share your ideas. I'd love to hear from you.