Archive for the Exercise Category

You got this!

I nearly talked myself out of running last night. I totally did not want to do it, but I hadn’t run since Friday night, and figured my hip had recovered enough. The humidity was awful, and it is probably a good thing I used my inhaler first otherwise I might have quit the many times I wanted to.

Someone stopped and asked me for directions while I was running. You know why? Because I also hadn’t shaved my legs since Friday. Fail.

Anyway, last night was tougher mentally than physically. I was barely done with one “lap” before I wanted to quit. I was slow, and my legs felt like they weren’t going to hold me up. I kept telling myself, “You got this! You can do this! You’ve done it before. You’ve run farther. It’s only a 5K, and you aren’t doing it for time tonight! KEEP MOVING!” Even if I hadn’t had to stop long enough to give that lady directions, my time would have been bad. It was one of those runs. The quitter runs. The ones that have always defeated me.

Not this time.

I am determined to run the timed virtual 5K tomorrow night, and push myself for a good time. I am determined to run my butt off in a “live” 5k 4th of July, and another virtual July 21. I am determined to run a 10k followed by an 8k the following weekend in Aug/Sep. I am determined to run a half marathon in November.

And I think I am going to attempt a full marathon next year.

Unless the half sucks so bad I swear off running that far ever again. LOL

And yes, I finished the run last night, and woke up just after 3am with killer cramps in my calves. It was enough that I eventually had to get up and walk it out because rotating my ankle wasn’t calming down the right leg.

Maniacal Monday #9

1. Day 18. I will eventually explain this for everyone.

2. I was in a really bad mood Friday. I’m talking craptastic. So I would have gone for a run Friday night even if I hadn’t already planned on running that night. I really pushed myself hard that first mile trying to burn off some of the anger. Then I pushed myself the remaining 2.4 miles just to keep moving. It did wonders for my mood…until I went to sleep… The bad mood lasted pretty much all weekend, and today is Monday…

3. I’m running a 5K this week:

The way my running schedule turned out last week & this weekend, I will be running this on Wendesday.

4. I also start a marathon this week:

This has me nervous, and means I have to step up my working out and be diligent about sticking to my diet, ie, stay out of my daughter’s french vanilla ice cream. 😉

5. I got my whole yard mowed yesterday, except for the little bit that has to be push mowed and weed eated.

6. Excited that this is only a 4 day work week for me…and next week also…oh, and the week after that also!

5 things I’m loving

I was going to do this, and then I decided not to do it, but I have decided again to go ahead and do it. Over at Shut Up and Run, she has a post up called 5 Things I’m Loving Right Now, and she wants folks to blog their 5 things and tag 5 more to do it. Well, you know I never miss an opportunity to link whore, so here goes.

1. Raw almond butter. First of all, I hate peanut butter. I hate peanuts. So while I can eat a pb&j if I am desperate, it will be just that – desperation. But I thought I would give the almond butter a try since I love almonds, and WOW! That stuff is the bomb!

2. Running 3 miles straight. I’ve never run that far in my life. Previous record was 2 miles and that was only out of fear of getting washed back in basic training.

3. Egg sandwiches. Note that doesn’t say egg salad, which I hate. I fry a couple of eggs like an omelette, and put it on toasted bread with some mustard and a slice of swiss cheese. Yummy!!!!

4. Watermelon. This has always been a love, but here lately it’s been like a craving. I can eat a butt-ton of it, get filled up, and it’s a zero or negative calorie burner so it’s win-win. Yes, I know it’s mostly water, but it’s naturally sweet water.

5. My inner circle of friends. These are the ones who know most (if not all) of my dirt, and love me anyway. 🙂 They listen to me whine about my problems, tell me straight up when I am screwing up, make me run when I don’t wanna, encourage me, make me laugh when I want to wallow in self-pity, and pray for me.

Being the nonconformist that I am, I am tagging 6 of yuns (yes, pronounce that just like I spelled it because that’s how I said it in my head). Diane, MacBros, Opal @ Celebrate Life, Teeni, Molly, Petra

Eye of the Tiger, baby

Yes. 3 posts in one day.

That’s how I felt when I finished the run tonight. Ok, that’s a lie. I felt like I was going to die because that last hill about killed me, and I barely managed to keep running up it. But I did, and after nearly a year, I have finally managed to run a complete 3 mile Tribe run.

Just because:

“It’s gonna rain on yo head.”

Bonus points if you can name the movie, unless you Google it. 😉

I brought my running clothes, so the question of the day is, will the DragonLady be running in the rain? She won’t run in a storm, I can assure you. She may end up having a craptastic run even if it doesn’t rain on her. I haven’t run since the fail that was Saturday. Sunday is a rest day so I wasn’t going to do anything anyway. However, I intended to do something last night. I ruled out a run, but I have a stationary bike and elliptical so if I don’t run, I can at least do some cardio.

Except I did laundry. Oh, sure, there was time to work out while washing clothes. I did it last week. However, my hip joint pain was back. It’s the pain that I seem to only get when I do laundry. But the way my joints are hurting today, it’s probably the weather…and a dab of not being so young anymore. 😉

My goal tonight? No walking, even if I end up running slower than I walk.

Oh, and I know. 2 posts in one day. Shocking! 😉

Funday Friday #8

Yes, I have managed a post every day this week. Take note because this rarely happens. 😉

Ok, this can’t wait until Tuesday. I forced myself out for a run last night, you know because I have a 5k week after next.

Of course Molly talked me into running it with her even though my record distance was 1.5 miles running before having to walk. But since I had managed 1.5 miles twice since Saturday, I was determined to go for 2. I did my hill training route, which is back and forth between the hills on either side of the house. I treat it as a really oblong track since it is on the road and I always run facing traffic so as not to get hit from behind. Anyway, it turns out that 4 laps is 3.1 miles – a 5k. Perfect for training and I’m never more than a quarter mile from the house. Saturday, I did 2 laps before walking, and last night my goal was 3 – a little over 2 miles. Well, once I made the 3rd lap, I heard Molly’s voice telling me, “YOU GOT THIS!” I decided I would try for the full 4…and I did it. I barely made it up that last hill, and can walk faster than I was running, but I made it, and finished off the last quarterish mile all downhill. FINALLY!

I’ve had this stuck in my head most of the week:

In case you haven’t heard, Bob Welch has died. In case you have heard and still wonder who he is, he was one of the Fleetwood Mac guitarists, post Peter Green & Jeremy Spencer, and pre Buckingham Nicks. He had a couple of solo hits in the 70’s after leaving FM. The following song is one of them, but this isn’t his solo version, it is the original Fleetwood Mac version which I like much better.

“Put one foot in front of the other…”

It was really difficult not to write about running yesterday. It would seem I have caught the running bug, even though I am still kind of sucking at it. But anyway, at the end of this post, I listed out my 3 (so far) running rules. Last Tuesday night I negated rule #1. The DragonLady will run in the rain. I think temperature will be the determining factor for that one. It was hot, and the rain was light, and the run felt great. I was so stoked, even the next day that by Thursday I was convinced I could do this half marathon.

So I set out Thursday evening all fired up and ready to go, and I was good for a mile. I made it just a little over a mile, and I couldn’t get enough breath, so I dropped to a walk. I never could get my groove back after that. I was out of energy, I couldn’t get my stride right, and then I got mad. Not mad enough that I could muster the energy to run, but mad enough to ball up my fists and cry a little bit because I didn’t feel it was appropriate to yell and scream the f-bomb. By the time I straggled myself home, I was even more determined that I was going to do this…still mad.

The boy had an event at school Friday night, so I didn’t do anything but sit at the house ready to throw on some shoes and leave immediately in case he called me to come get him. This because I knew he didn’t really want to go, and I told him if he wanted to leave to call, otherwise I’d be there at 10:30. Anyway, that’s all beside the point. I was in a much better mood Saturday morning, even though I knew the day was going to be packed with busyness from start to finish, but I made sure to get me a run in while the hubby started weed-eating. I did my hill-training 5k, and made it a mile and a half before I walked and I had predetermined to make it at least to that point. Run 1.5(ish..it’s a little over), which was 2 “laps”, walk 1, then run the last. That’s 4 times up each hill. The 4th time up the last hill, I barely made it, but the key is I made it. I walked down the hill and then ran the remaining bit, so I ran in total a little over 2 miles. I broke below the 13 min mile, and managed a 12:24 pace. I was still able to mow, clean, & grocery shop before calling it an evening and watching a movie with the hubby (he fell asleep).

Sundays and Wednesdays are my rest days, so I did not exercise Sunday. Yesterday evening I had to make another grocery run (because I never made it to Whole Foods & Trader Joes over the weekend), so I decided that rather than run, I would do the elliptical and stationary bike since they aren’t dependent on whether or not it is still daylight outside. My intent was 20 min on the bike and 30 on the elliptical. I forgot the elliptical is only 20 min workouts. Anyway, I did the bike first as a 30 min warmup sporting my brand new heart rate monitor watch, and not only did I at no point in the workout feel like I was pushing it, my heart rate never got above 90. (It was 60 when I started.) I was pretty sure I was going to die on the elliptical, but my heart rate never got above 130. What I did notice was that even though I never really got winded, what was happening on the elliptical was muscle fatigue. I think that is what is killing me on my runs – lack of strength. Of course, again, it would probably help considerably if I lost another 20-25 pounds. 😉

And why not a little Christmas in June. 🙂

“Get your motor running…”

I really hate having to eat my words. I remember specifically saying, “Not only do I have no desire to run a marathon, I don’t even have any desire to run a half-marathon.” Then Sunday, Karyn drops a link on my Facebook wall to the Raleigh City of Oaks Marathon and Rex Healthcare Half Marathon, and confidently explains that we will have plenty of time to train for the half. You know, there was some doubt until I looked at the exchange on our wall. I agreed to it. What on earth was I thinking????

I not only have a lot of physical training to do, I have a LOT of mental training to do. I mean, seriously. I can run just a little over a mile, and that not even consistently. I can psych myself out and talk myself into quitting like nobody’s business. Yet I still have to come up with some way to stretch my endurance by 12 miles in the next 5 months. Oh, sure, I can walk that no problem, but the whole point of running is to actually run.

I’m going to need some serious motivation…

Sometimes it’s an adventure

Or maybe I should say “misadventure.” It often is a misadventure when I run. Like tripping on the sidewalk that one day at lunch when I was in a recovery walk and tried to cover with an immediate run. Pretty sure I flailed before the cover run which made it obvious that I am just clumsy. LOL

I forced myself out of the house Saturday evening for a run, and saw this right around the neighbor’s driveway:

Honey badger won't get stung by this cobra...

and sometimes I hit publish instead of preview

Yesterday I again forced myself to run, but ran a slightly different route because my normal route has the potential to run into people and have to chat, albeit briefly. I was not up for that because too many people had told me that it is not a good enough excuse to not run if you haven’t shaved your legs. So, I went the opposite direction, and saw more walkers & met more cars than I ever have either direction. *sigh* Lesson learned. 😉

Maniacal Monday #6

1. How to know you are tired: Friday night I went to bed, and I remember lying down. The hubby was reading, and the next thing I knew, the alarm was going off. Not only do I not remember him turning the light off, I don’t remember him getting up and leaving around 4am-ish.

2. We saw The Avengers Saturday. Nearly everyone I know who had seen it already raved about it. I liked it a lot, but I don’t know that I could really rave about how good it was. I do recommend it, however. It was worth the admission price, and even worth having to sit right beside a total stranger. Yes, I was thinking, “With all the open seats in here, you have to sit right beside me?” I have issues. Anyway, my favorite line was “Clench it up, Legolas!” I was the only one of us who caught the Legolas reference. It probably wouldn’t have been quite so funny for me if I hadn’t been thinking the whole time that Loki looked like Grima Wormtongue. Second favorite line was from the Hulk. “Puny god.”

3. Introduced the hubby to Angelina’s Kitchen Saturday. He loved the Greek salad & falafel.

4. Attempted and failed to replace the deck belt on the mower. Though I guess I could technically consider removing the old one a success, but really, I just cut it and pulled it out. I guess it might have been easier if I had taken the deck off, but that was going to prove to be entirely too much effort. However, it may turn out to be unavoidable.

5. Ran again Saturday. I’ve been working on different form – trying to incorporate what my first TI tried to teach me, and lean forward. I seem to be able to run a little bit (just a little bit) faster, and a little bit farther. I could tell I was using different muscles and dealt with my left calf cramping Sunday & my right shin twinging today. I think both have calmed down enough to run this evening. I still have a love/hate relationship with running. I have to make myself do it, I hate it the whole time I am running, but I feel fantastic after…once I can breathe and am not puking… 😉 And maybe, just maybe, I will get built up enough to be able to run farther than a mile. lol

6. I feel so blessed to know 4 missionary couples, plus a young woman who fresh out of high school left for the mission field with one of those 4 couples. I could write a whole post on that, but not at work because I would end up crying. 😉 But I can’t tell you how hard it was to get up after hearing my friend Karyn speak about her call to the mission field and try to sing this:

I may or may not have almost broke down…multiple times… 😉