It's all mental

Now I have said this more than once, but today, in my scientific endeavor, I discoverd just how mental it is. I set out to do 4 miles today...which I accomplished quite easily. Then I decided that I was going to walk 2 miles because it was nice out today and I figure my legs need the miles. But after walking about 3/4 of the first mile I decided I would run back. Now I had not mentally prepared my self to run another mile today. SO 20 steps into the run...I stopped. My brain decided since I had not thoroughly informed my legs that I would be running an additional mile, that they did not have perform their duties. WHEN THE HELL DID MY LEGS JOIN THE UNION OR GET A LAW DEGREE!!! Seriously I couldn't run.

SO from now on I just need to REALLY think about what I want to run so that I can give them "proper notice" so that they don't revolt! I finally know what those ultra union teachers feel when they have to work outside their contracted hours. (As you can tell my teacher's union pissed me off today! Whole different story).

But I do have fancy graphs to insert here. Hopefully! So the drastic drop in the graph is from the hill that I encounter on my way back! It totally interrupts the flow of my run. They need to remedy that for me!

Not a fun run

Ugh...6 miles SUCKED! I just didn't want to run today. I was supposed to go out to the Canyon this morning and run. But then my DH's sister called and wanted us to meet up with them. Plus I wanted to get the Nike+ so I could be cool like Losing Jusme and post my runs on the website. So we went into the next town, went shopping, went to the musical we were planning to see and then I came home and ran. Well the wind was whipping at home so I can't even imagine what it would have been like in the canyon so I went to the gym for a 6 mile run on the treadmill. If nothing else it is giving me a mental workout...the treadmill is BOORRRINNG! A 1hour 9 minute run and burned 650 calories. Then I had to come home and eat strawberries and granola to try and get my calories up. I had only eaten 1150 for the day and I need to be at around 1800 to try and maintain. I lost another pound this week which isn't necessarily a good thing. My PS really does not want me below 150 going into surgery. I am at 154 now. So I am good and ready to embrace maintenance now. I figure there is no way I am going to gain weight if I stay at 1800 calories and run/walk over 20 miles per week, plus have 2 days of cross training...both which burn around 600 calories.

So the Nike+ seems pretty cool, but I didn't seem to have luck with it this afternoon. I think it was because it was on its side in my shoe. We are going to modify it by attaching some velcro to it tomorrow. That is my DH's job. We are going a little Macgyver on the shoe. I can't wear Nike's and I just bought a 100$ pair of shoes so I was not going to buy the ones that the little transmitter fits into. I think this is going to be a big help when running. Though I did have to break down and buy an ipod. After dealing with these things in class everyday I was totally opposed to them...however this gadget looked like it would really help the running. I think in the long run it will be more useful to me than the body bugg that I was trying to decide if I was going to buy. I am hoping that I will become more and more comfortable with food in the next few months and with the bodybugg I think that I will eventually not need it. The nike+ is something that will be helpful to me wherever I go. I will be able to run in foreign places and not have to worry about how far I have run. Thanks for the heads up LJM!

Don't Adjust Your Monitor

Your eyes do not decieve you...My running ticker DID in fact move 10 miles today. I ran 4, walked 5 and ran the last one...Yes that is right you don't need contacts...I ran the last mile.

My legs hurt like HELL. But I feel on top of the world. I am convinced that while this half-marathon will not be EASY, it is most certainly doable. The worst part of the entire thing was how long it took. (2 hours 9 minutes). The best part of the entire thing was that according to the machines I burned over 1000 calories. I had to start the treadmill 3 times!

I Hate Licorice

Okay not really...that is the problem. I broke down and ate licorice today. My first unfilled band misstep! I would NEVER have tried licorice when filled for fear that it would get stuck and feel like I swallowed a golf ball, but since everything goes down with ease now, I ate it. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.

However I am still with in my caloric limit so I didn't totally blow it. Even though I was exhausted tonight I still went out for my 4 mile run. No records set but it felt really great to finish the entire thing. I LOVE SWEATING!

How Did I Get Start

So I have been asked many times how I got started and I thought I would just post this as a main post so that other people could see.

I had lap-band surgery in August 2007 and from that time until January I was BROKE and couldn't afford to go to a gym so I used things that I could cheaply aquire at Wal-Mart. I did the exercise ball, weights, and the Biggest Loser DVD. Then in January I joined the local gym and started by walking 1/2 hour a day. At the end of the first week I knew that walking was not going to cut it if I wanted to really start dropping the weight. So I added running to the mix. The treadmill that I use has a "track" that you can virtually watch yourself walk/run around so I would do everything in .25 mile increments.

Walk comfortably for .25 miles
Speed up for the next segment
Increase incline
Slow down
Speed up

And then I started jogging. The first time I couldn't do more than 0.1 miles. I was so dissappointed, but I kept trying. And soon I had finished .25 miles straight. Then by the end of the next week I was at 0.5 miles. I remember coming home and be so AMAZED because I had just completed my first straight mile. At this point I had NO intention of doing much more. My goal was to run 2 straight miles by my "bandiversary". (Kinda blew that one out of the water!) Finally I was running 1.75 miles at a time, but I got bored of running. I think I have cardio ADD. I don't like doing cardio for long periods of time. (Yes this is posing a challenge for the half-marathon!). Anyways I switched to the eliptical and weights and figured I would pretty much leave running behind. That was actually only about 1 month ago! Then the elipticals were full at the gym when I got there so I got back on the treadmill and decided to try and see if I could run 2 miles and I did. Then the next day it 2.5 miles. Finally I said...I am going to run a 5K or at least die trying. When I did it I got such a high. Then a co-worker told me about the Redmond 5K that I ran in and after that I was TOTALLY hooked. I knew that by running in races I had something to TRAIN for. I have never trained for anything in my life. By having the goal and not just "working out" I get a lot more out of my exercise session. I am a very goal oriented person.

Now I have done this without a trainer, but I don't know that I would recommend that, especially if you have BIG dreams of running a marathon. I am not going to use a trainer for the half-marathon, but I may consider getting one after I have recovered from the TT and start training for the full marathon.

Okay...gotta get to work!

Another Personal Best!!

I finished the Eugene Marathon's 5K race this morning with yet another personal best.

The following is from official Race Results

MY FINISH TIME: 31:42 (personal best!!!!!)

AVERAGE RACE TIME FOR ALL RUNNERS - 35:42 (yeah!!!! I beat the average time!)

OVERALL PLACE 260 out of 522 (pretty much in the middle of the pack! Yeah not dead last!)

DIVISION PLACE (20-29 year olds: both male and female) 31 out of 53 (Not the best, but not last!)

GENDER PLACE 132 out of 322 (Not to freaking shabby!!!)

OFFICIAL PACE TIME: 10:14/mile (Holy Crap, I almost ran 6 miles per hour!!!!)

I was very happy with my outcome today. Unfortunately we don't have pictures because they changed the course on us and I had no way of telling DH so he was in the wrong location to take in progress pictures and by the time he realized it, he didn't get to the finish line on time. He felt horrible! I felt so bad for him. He thought I was going to be upset because there was no one there to cheer me on. However, I figured he wasn't going to make it so I didn't count on him being there. I have another race set up for June 1 and since that one starts and finishes in the same place it won't be a problem.

My foot is much better. I got proper shoes that were fitted for my feet and they did the trick. No foot pain when I was running this morning. My foot is a little sore tonight, but nothing I can't handle.

Half-Marathon training continues this week.

Monday: Weights and 1/2 hour eliptical
Tuesday: 4 mile run outside
Wednesday: Rest day (I have a conference to attend)
Thursday: 4 mile treadmill run followed by 6 mile walk (I have to start building up to 13.1 miles)
Friday: 1 hour eliptical
Saturday: Light exercise (tennis or walking with DH)
Sunday: 6 mile run outside

Phew...Minor Injury!

It appears that I just have a case of tendonitis probably caused by improper shoes. I did go and buy new shoes but because I have a high arch and run primarily on the outside of my feet I need to have "special" shoes.

Doctor did say as long as I didn't run this week he thinks it should be fine to run on Sunday. If there is more pain then I need to come back for x-rays but based on the lack of swelling and the fact that I wasn't getting shooting pains that it was most likely NOT a stress fracture.

We are going to Eugene today and are going to stop in at a local running store there that does gait analysis from a video they shoot while you are running on a treadmill. From there the figure out the best kind of shoe for you to buy. So I will most likely be plunking down at least 100$ today, but it is worth it if I want to do this half marathon.

On a side note...I officially HATE morning workouts. I was fine after 15 minutes on the eliptical...but the first 15 minutes were HELL!

Off to work...Thank goodness NO kids today!