perspective

I'll preface this by saying I've never been an ATHLETE. Never serious, never super competitive. No one is calling me up for select sides, wishing I'd move to their city, hoping I run in their race. Et al.

But, for 10 years I played rugby semi-competitively, and for a lot of that time, I worked out with rugby in mind. I didn't lift heavy enough or often enough, but when I did it was thinking ahead towards the season, looking at it as training. Not my hobby. Rugby was my hobby. Running ridiculously long races was my hobby towards the end of that too.

Now?
Now I'm lifting for the hell of it. For fitness I guess. But, not with an end goal, not with purpose of being better at something else.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

sidebar: this is not the most worldly, introspective perspective post ever. first world issues for sure.

last week's training

Boring, boring I am sure.

Monday: weights. same as last Monday.
Tuesday: practice, and I ran 2.4ish miles over lunch.
Wednesday: weights, same as last Wednesday. I did upgrade to 10 lb dumbbells for the shoulder move though!  I also keep running into this guy from work - this guy who is second in command at my school - and its a little awkward. At least we both always have on the same clothes and are equally dirty!!!
Thursday: practice. I think I also ran 2.5 this morning.
Friday: 2.4 or so miles.
Saturday: 2.2 miles via HIIT intervals.
Sunday: 4.4 miles with 200x10 with 2 min walking rest. I was below a 7:30 min/mile pace for all the intervals, peaking at a 6:15 pace for 2 (about 48 seconds). You can kind of see in my splits where I went uphill and where I went downhill. It is a little sad though. I was working pretty hard and can't hold a "fast" pace for long. I think the dream of a 21 min 5k is far, far away (of course, I still need to achieve a 24 min 5k!).

14.1 miles for the week, plus 2 crosstraining (practice) and 2 weight sessions of 30 min. OK. I still need to get back to 15 miles/week for the "non-training". My goal is to do the 15 miles in any form as long as it includes one 5+ easy run.

Food wise I did ok. I did have two giant (expensive) salads for lunch, but I also had too much in the way of (unhealthy) snackies. I tend to munch when bored/frustrated/etc at work (definitely the culprit last week). I need to bring more fruit and such to combat these moments. More water won't cut it...I already drink about a 3/4 to 1 gallon of liquids a day (depending on workouts).

Weight: 169.8 Monday am. Good, back to 2 weeks ago and 2.2 lbs below my "restart" 3 weeks ago. I'll take it.  15 more to out of overweight :)

last week's workouts

Not as good as the week before, plus I wasn't as on the wagon with eating. After finally dropping below 172 last week (to 169.8!) I was 171.4 this morning. So, still down 0.6 in two weeks but the week of not really watching what I ate showed. Whoops. It's largely a result of a few sizable poor choices. I really need to get a handle on my emotional and stress eating. Being tense does not mean I need half a bag (a big bag) or pretzel or 6 huge cookies! So this is a new week. My short term goal is to lose 15 lbs or so (ideally 17 to put me out of "overweight") by Thanksgiving in 3 months.

Anyway, its a new week now, so a look back:
Monday: nothing I recall
Tuesday: practice. We did a fun ten minute fitness drill I think I performed well in too.
Wednesday: lifted for about 30 minutes. Front squat with push press, 1 point DB rows, 1 leg squats on the v-squat machine (mostly because I'm working on my range of motion).... I can't recall what else but there was 2 other exercises.
Thursday: 20 minute treadmill run at lunchtime (2.29 miles), practice. We did sprints by position and I didn't know who to go with - I'm prop sized but play mostly second row and this is a new coach and I basically panicked. So I ran a lot of 20 and 40 m out and back sprints (so 40 and 80 I guess). I wanted to die. The last set I looked like a big loser, but I guess I did almost double everyone else so that that make my lack of speed less terrible? I don't know.
Friday: lifted about 30 minutes. Wide grip deadlift, underhand lat pulldowns, shoulder raises, lunge with elevated front foot and pushups. All 3x8. 30 minute treadmill run in afternoon, 3.45 miles.
Saturday: nothing. I planned to run but my hamstrings felt awful. Like I could barely keep up with my wife walking around the grocery store awful. I'm not sure if this is from the sprints or the treadmill (both of which runs were much faster than I've been doing outside lately).
Sunday: unlike last week's semi-accidental 7.75 miler, I squeaked out 3 or so miles. My watch died around mile 1 so I'm not totally sure. My hamstrings were still displeased and I decided it would be more responsible to only do 8.5 miles for the week and not pull anything. This was probably a good choice, since I feel good today.

time to get moving

Today is Friday, 7/9.

I have 10 weeks until fuel time for my fall half marathon.
and 7 until fuel time for our first rugby game of the season.

I really need to get my butt in gear.
Due to the heat (104? in Philly? WTF?) this week, I haven't run a bit, but I did do Insanity videos 4 days, so that is something!  Monday starts my half plan, and I'm starting stage 3 of my lifting program as well. This time I plan to do it 2-3 days/week...seeing as its taken me about 12 weeks to do 8 weeks of the program so far. Oops!

I am also, not kidding this time, going to get moving to drop the excess mass. I'm 5'6" and 172 today. My goal is 150, just under "overweight" on silly BMI. I am extremely self conscious admitting this "publicly" - well, admitting that I want/need to lose weight; I'll tell anyone what I actually weigh! - so perhaps this is good motivation to not be a doof and keep telling myself I can start over tomorrow?? :)

Readers, what motivates you to eat well and be fit? I think I need inspiration outside the packaged answers.

see that??

Look at my widget. 2.15 miles today. 20:15 minutes.

Today was my first run since the doctor told me my sprain was really a small fracture. 10 days ago she told me two more weeks, but close enough. She was wishy washy about it anyway, and I'm not going back (per her saying I didn't need to), so I decided to see how it went.

1 mile in 9 minutes.
4 400s at an 8 min pace (2 min per 400) with 1 min walks between them.
AND I didn't feel like dying.

Felt good. Sweated. Am now continually looking at my foot to see if it is swelling. So far so good.

Now tomorrow, we'll see how practice goes (assuming its not swollen tomorrow, which would prevent playing this weekend...)! I have a feeling short sprints will be harder having only trained with the elliptical and pool the last month +.

goals for the week...

Its August. How did that happen?

August 2 = two more weeks till rugby camp = 4 weeks till StL/Labor Day = 3-4 weeks till the floodgates at work = 4.5 weeks till the semester starts for me = approximately 28 weeks till this peaceful existance that allows for Wii and reading fiction on the train ends till late December (since the busy parts of work, rugby and school come in waves).

I've had almost a month school free, and since its off-season, I've had a lot of time on my hands for the last two weeks (we were away for a while). What have I gotten done? I've watched all of Jericho, done some gardening, and spent a lot of time not being anxious.

But its time to get moving...the kitchen makeover we started in MARCH still has some cosmetic touch ups to finish, I need to get serious about working out even though I am not allowed to run right now, and I really want to get the den wired and painted.

For this week, my goals are to finish the kitchen paint touch ups, do the kitchen ceiling, and lift three times & do at least 3 cardio sessions of some sort...

things that are hard

getting to the gym when you can't do any valuable cardio.

eating well when there's no workout to be mindful of.

making a souffle.

taking a breather

Today, I had an 8 am appointment, spent 45 minutes running errands, 3 hrs gardening, then about 7 hrs with my parents who came to visit. We didn't do a dang thing on the house. Poor folks, every time they come over, we work for 6+ hours (electric, shed demo, etc.), so Princess Charming and I decided today we'd suprise them - take my dad's loaner tools hostage in the garage (we do need them for tomorrow) and spend the afternoon having lunch, shoe shopping and discussing fitness. I know that sounds bizarre, but since his triple bypass my dad's entered a major health "kick," so he really NEEDED good shoes for all the walking he's doing and a good lesson on proper lifting...and exercises besides shoulder raises and bicep curls.

Its nearly 9 and since we cleaned like nuts this AM, there's nothing pressing to do except for tomorrow's projects, which can wait till tomorrow. I've decided to remote into work only on worknights, as I am becoming on of "those" people, so today I will not. But mostly, its weird AND relieving not to having schoolwork hanging over my head. Since I'm not taking class Summer II, this is my longest "break" since fall 07, when I didn't take anything. There's 5 more blissful, school-free weeks. Although I am still too busy to mop more than once a month or so, it is nice to not realize I forgot to do something and nearly hyperventialate...the camel's back breaks pretty easily at certain times during the semester.

Sadly, now that I have the time to really get back to exercising, I can't. My foot is STILL puffy, and while it only hurts after exercise, a series of semi-related doctors appointments has determined its still broken. Treatment TBD. So no running, and as my parents didn't leave till 8, I didn't make it to the gym tonight. Maybe tomorrow. I should take the pup for a walk, but I've been trying to keep even those to 1/2 mile, as (since I've been paying more attention now instead of ignoring the nagging pain) more than that does up the pain level somewhat...and I'd like my foot to work properly again sooner rather than later. Sigh.

up and down

The summer semester will be over in less than 12 hours since I've opted out of class summer session II. I kind of love summer school, because the classes are a little lower maintenance...the final project for this class is a poster presentation (I am clearly not that artistically inclined and much prefer powerpoint...). Quite a bit less work than the 20 pagers I typically write. Maybe I should have taken more classes from the counseling department...Regardless, I'm pretty excited about my 8 school-free weeks. Maybe I can tackle my inbox at work now...

In the down...
About 2 weeks ago I stepped off a curb and twisted my foot again. Its still swollen. I am getting worried. Its not a trick of lighting that there's visible veins on my left foot and not on my right... I'm getting tired of the elliptical, but every time I try to run, the swelling gets worse.

arghhhh

I finally located some motivation. Headed out for a run after work, planning on doing 3, picking up the puppy for 2 more, popping by the dog park for 20 min, lifting, then going to intermediate doggy class.

And then I stepped funny on the edge of grass/sidewalk. Audible pop. Walked the mile home. Let the dog out. Spent 30 minutes obsessing over swelling, trying to remember what the break did (pain & time wise) 11 months ago, and mentally planning what I would do about work if I ended up on crutches again.

4 hours later, I'm still mobile, so I have pretty good confidence I just sprained some little ligament like I did in January. Apparently I really weakened something when I broke that 5th metatarsal. Its still sore to walk on though, so while we did go to the dog park & puppy class, I missed that other 2 miles and the lifting. Maybe tomorrow. Heck, maybe Saturday, since if it doesn't feel 90% better by tomorrow, I'm not driving 3+ hrs each way for the 7s tournament.

Sigh....

It was a good run too, 2 miles under 9 minutes despite the humidity. Another 0.25 mi. Then a hobble home. Sigh.

motivation problem

I cannot seem to get myself to the gym or with my running shoes on. My goal for this week is just 13 miles (2,5,7) as per my training plan (which I recalc'd on Runners' World's Smart Coach for my 10k time and current milage of 10-15 mi/week, so its less than I was sort of planning) and lifting twice. That isn't much.

now if only I could get myself out of bed.

tonight, 5 miles, will happen.

fitness D

ok, we're moving up

Miles: 10/15
Weights: 1/2
Pushups: 1/3
HIIT: 0/3

On the upside, I did a 10k to establish a baseline for the training for the September half. 15 week + SmartCoach = getting back to a sub-2 hr half. (not that my 10k time is promising for that, but I'll make it happen).

fitness D-

While D- exists at only a few institutions, I'm going with it. Did 7 of 15 planned miles this week, 1 of 2 lifting workouts, and 0 HIIT workouts (but I did go to 7s practice, that's close, right?). Better than last week overall, and since I felt like caca today thanks to the pollen, I'm going to take it.

This week:

Week 1 of my 16 week "Smart Coach" (runnersworld.com) half marathon program. A little tougher than Hal Higdon's novice program but more realistic for me than the 5 day/week intermediate program. 2 2 miles, 1 5 miler, and 1 7 miler this week.

2 days lifting (T/Th)

2 HIIT (really.)

Week one of the 100 pushups program. I think I'm going to try for level 2 but might move down to level 1. Plan is to do this M/W/F am after the puppy's short walk.

I have some new motivation, after a massive shopping failure this weekend. I did get a pair of (larger sized) capris and heels at Kohls...I don't usually like department stores for clothes, but since I was looking for pants I hope to only fit into this summer, I decided to bit the bullet. I've been in the market for red patent heels for a while to replace my (sob) broken slingbacks, and just stumbled upon them. Synthetic and plastic soles, and black heels not covered, but for $22.50, I'll take them. I also found a pair of yellow patent peeptoe kittenheels for $6. Out of character for me but Very summer.

Part B of my motivation: swapping out my winter/summer clothes in the closet. I re-discovered my collection of cute dresses, but sadly, by black silk polka dot and gray linen dresses are too small now...damned sleeves (thank goodness most of my summer stuff is sleeveless and just calls for cardigans and scarves for work...).

training fail

Goal last week:
run 15 miles and lift twice.

Done last week:
ran 8 miles.

OK, moving on. Goals for this week: 15 miles, 2 lift, 2 HIIT (probably at end of a couple of runs)

bleh

About 18 months ago, a 3 mile run at a sub-9 minute pace was an easy quick day for me.

Today, 3 miles at a sub-10-minute pace was a workout.

What happened? About a year ago I got fat and happy. Actually, scratch that. I'm generally happy, but about a year ago I got lazy. And complacent. And stopped training regularly. (And started commuting farther, taking more classes, and being interested in various things at our new house...) And so, in the last 15 or so months, I've put on 15 or so pounds. Bleh. And, bleh, gone from being pretty fit to well, not. I really doubt I could knock out 10 pushups right now (seeing as I haven't lifted or do any strength training to speak of in, oh, 3 months? maybe 6 months? I honestly can't tell you the last time I lifted.). Last spring I could knock out 25 good ones. In a row. Not on my knees.

Maybe I should scrap my little training plan for this week and just focus on getting 15 miles IN a week. Speedwork without a base is probably asking for trouble, and as much fun as my (freak accident) injury was last summer, I'd rather stay cast-free this summer. 15 miles/week till my 10k June 7, then build to 20/week till I start half-marathon training in July? Is that reasonable? Start speedwork again then?

Why do I obsess over this so much?
Part of me doesn't even want to do the 10k in 2.5 weeks because I don't think I'll make my 54 minute goal (much less my 48 minute speed demon goal) :(

getting moving again

So I haven't really been running. Or anything at all. The last few weeks, I've ran once/week (the weeks of April 6 and 13 were two runs) , plus 1-2 days of rugby. This week, one 2 mi run, one moderate practice, and 40 min of playing time. And I wonder why I'm not fitting into my pants and am gasping for air after anything more than a walk. Oye.
So I have one more week "off" (just work, no class). Time to get with the program, so to speak.
Princess Charming and I are doing a 10K June 7, so I have 3 weeks to get into some sort of shape. I'm shooting for Hal Hidgon's Intermediate10k plan's first 3 weeks. Clearly not ideal, but its similar (but more aggressive) to the last 3 weeks of the novice plan, so I think its doable.

On the plate for this week (modified to be realistic about the schedule)
Mon - 3 mi
Tues - 3 mi + lift (first time in 3 months! oye)
Wed - 35 min tempo
Thurs - 3 mi + lift
Fri - 4 mi
Sat & Sun we'll be out of town working a rugby event, so hopefully I can drag myself out of bed all week for this moderate schedule. Its been a while since I've done 16 miles in a week (which should be maintenance training for me, oops).

Going to get back in shape. Going to get back in shape. Going to get back in shape.

new training

I was thinking about a sprint tri, but EEK,$$$! And I thought marathons were expensive....

I'm toying with this women's tri though - its perfect timing to do right before half training starts for September/November (I'm planning on a 12 week schedule and "racing" in November). The catch? I'm a pretty crummy swimmer. Maybe I should do the duathlon? I need to make a committment and start training soon. For that matter...I should start running again if I'm going to do a 10k in 4 weeks....

two months

till I turn 28 and two months and a week till we go on our (belated) honeymoon.

I should work on getting back to the shape i was in 2 yrs ago. I seem to have fallen in the engagement & marriage is fattening trap (though I'm not sure its related to either of those things) and so far my commitments towards fitness this year have been futile. And not that commited.

good, bad and ugly

good:
dad is going home 3 days post-triple-bypass

bad:
I discovered this morning I more or less twitch with anxiety when disconnected from technology. Our power went out at work for 45 minutes and I couldn't find a single thing to do, other than clean my desk, which would have been futile, since none of it can be REMOVED until I complete it...on the computer.

the ugly:
(or at least unpleasant). I haven't lost a dang pound this year and 60% of my pants don't fit. Upside: I haven't gained any more. I also haven't been trying that much (unless you count the 7 cookies + box of nerds I had for dinner last night as counting...).

fit challenge?

Jessica posted this new fitness challenge. I'm entertaining it. I am definitely going to go through the steps, though committing to 20 lbs in 20 weeks? 20 lbs is my ultimate goal (and would make me 7 lbs under overweight according to the governments ridiculous BMI chart!) but I haven't gotten to losing 5 lbs in 20 weeks! heck, it took my 52 or so to gain 15, and gaining is easy :)

But self evaluating and at least entertaining a challenge is a step in the right direction, so I'll play along :) So the Ash is Fit 20 lb Challenge...

Step 1: make a plan
I'm going to keep this simple. I've been a Weight Watchers member on and off for years as I've always yoyoed a bit (from normal to somewhat overweight). I've put on 15 lbs this last year, and need to lose it. I'm actually going to stick to WW (with my friendly flex and activity points) instead of just paying them 15/mo to use their website! :)

and I'm going to stick to my half marathon training program!

Step 2: set rewards
I haven't had a pedicure in Months. I'll take a pedicure for each 5 lbs, and new jeans when I (theoretically) hit 20.

Step 3: plan
Due to the turmoil of the late spring (rugby playing + coaching, school x 2 classes, work, and because I'm crazy, half marathon training), I feel good that I plan 3-4 dinners/week. For now, I'll keep my meal planning to not grazing at the open refrigerator (which would be an accomplishment for me!)

and, of course, not being lazy and skipping out on my running program!

Step 4: measuring and nutritional info
I'm actually pretty good at knowing what in in what I eat. The bigger thing for me here is portion control, particularly with desserts (since I will not give up sweets. I have a sweet tooth and you don't want to talk to me sans cookies).

Step 5: before photos...

maybe tonight. I do have some longggg before photos from my heaviest when i gained the freshman (slash I had terrible dietary habits and a borderline eating disorder in high school) 50 (about 25 lbs over where I am now) but I'll have to find them on my laptop.