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.