Update on training and fitness

Yeah, I was going to write about each training session. Yup, I was going to update the blog with my fitness stats. Whoops, haven't done either for a while, leading some to think that possibly I've fallen off that fitness wagon. Again.

I didn't! I'm right there on the wagon, churning along. I continue my twice weekly sessions with the trainer, continue my long runs on Saturday (or Sunday if it's a race weekend) and run or run/walk or walk 2 additional days. Some days those additional run/walks are the afternoon of the day I've trained, sometimes it's the between mornings.

My current training is, all things considered (including my improved strength, flexibility and balance), easier than the earlier sessions. Don't tell Katie I said that. I think because my miles have been so long and my races so frequent, we've been careful to not injure me. My "easy" routine is a set of wide leg squats while holding a 10 pound ball, superset with a combo mountain climber/side plank move that Katie made up the night before she sprung it on me. I was shocked I could actually do it, me, the woman who couldn't even do a regular plank when she started. Three sets of those, then into v-ups superset with this thing where I'm on my back, my feet are on a big ball and I roll it up toward me while my hips are elevated (was that clear?). I can feel those from my ankles up through my glutes. Three sets of those, then into side twists with the 10 pound ball (I do love those, I have waist definition for the first time ever), and one-leg squats (which are really one-leg sit-downs because otherwise it hurts my knee). If I speed through all of those I'm rewarded with push-ups. I'm now up to 25 girly push-ups on the floor (plus many more on the bar). If you remember, when I started I could do a total of zero girly push-ups on the floor. I'm aiming first for 30 girly floor push-ups, then I'll start trying to do real ones.

My food consumption continues to be healthy, for the most part, and I'm still logging every single bite I swallow on Lose It!, a great program. I'm less strict about my food quality or nutrition balance after long runs or during long run weekends but I've mostly managed to stay within my calories. Right now, I aim for 1500 daily calories with a 60 carb/20 protein/20 fat balance. If I've exercised I'll up that depending on how much I've burned (and mostly I aim to add protein calories), but I try to not eat every single exercise calorie. That means if I'm starving, I'm more likely to get my ass in gear so that I can eat more.

It's working since I've lost 15 pounds. My weight is now just a couple of pounds from the lowest I've been able to be since I stopped smoking in 1992. I know I can lose more since I'm highly motivated (and just a little obsessed with logging my food intake and activity), I just don't know if I'll be able to keep that weight off. I look in a mirror now and even though my pants are literally falling off, I feel fatter than I've ever been. I truly feel like I have more fat and flub and lumps and jiggle than I had before I started this, even though I have more energy, move better, feel healthier and run faster than I have in a long time. It confuses the hell out of my rational brain.

I'm not quite ready to throw out the fat clothes yet. Hopefully by spring I'll be ready for a new wardrobe, and hopefully I'll feel thin enough (or at least not too fat) to shop for it!

Nike Women's Half Marathon 2010 Race Report

I was trying to come up with some new way to describe the very same race I wrote about in 2009, 2008 and 2007. All I could think of was to say "... as I said in my report last year ..." and that was boring. So pretend that I said the same things all over again: dumb expotique Thursday night, shopping at the Nike store where most things were very small, getting up early Sunday morning (this year the parking at the ballpark was not available; we had to pay $30 to park downtown); crowded start area, ridiculous corral system that everyone ignores, wait for 20+ minutes after the start before crossing the line, weaving and bobbing among all the walkers, WORST RACE ETIQUETTE EVER, gorgeous views, lovely scenery, walk the uphills, run the flats and downhills, laugh about the impending rain, laugh less as it started to really rain, cross the finish, get the blue box, small tech shirt (not as small as usual), food, retrieve bags, wait forever in line for the bus, freeze my ass off and turn blue.

This year for the first time Bree was with me. Our paces are different enough now that we don't usually run too far together, so was fun staying with her the entire race. I wasn't in the slightest bit worried about my time and didn't want to walk the hills alone again. The weather for most of the race was perfect: high overcast, cool temps and a breeze. Perfect for running, not bad for walking. A few drops of rain fell here and there until about mile 12, then the rain began in earnest. By the time we walked past the food at the end we were wet. Luckily we had warmer things and rain ponchos in our checked bags, but we got wetter and colder. I felt very bad for anyone running her first 4-6 hour marathon in that wretched weather.

Here are the highlights in pictures:

very cute goody bag, doubled as sweat check bag

finish bag, big (and dry) enough to hold our Tiffany box, shirt and food

hot pink tech shirt, slightly larger than most years

THE BOX

THE NECKLACE

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon Report

This past Sunday was my third running of the Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon and my best run there to date. The route was identical to the past years, and other things were the same or similar to the last time I ran it in 2007.

I went to the expo with Bree early Saturday morning before the crowds hit. Bib pickup was first, with the D-tag timing device attached to the big green bib. Next was the race branded clothing, none of which appealed to me (except for my usual race hat). The goody bags were the usual Competitor large plastic sling bags filled with the usual assortment of ads and a couple of samples. Tee shirt pickup was at the back of the expo. They've done away with the white cotton beefy tees and now have unisex tech shirts. As a word to the wise, these are big. And this year, they were very very green.



The expo surprised me again this year by not being very large. I guess since fall is marathon season, October being the height of it, vendors can pick and chose where they want to display and sell their goods. Since I had done some spending at the Women's Half expo a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't too disappointed to get through there and out in a hurry.

We arrived for the race nice and early the next morning and we wandered around for a bit while Mr. Garmin tried to pick up a signal. Sadly, Mr. Garmin is on his last legs and in addition to eating some of my run results, he takes forever to locate a satellite. Looks like I'll be getting a replacement soon (any recommendations?). We saw several friends in our wandering. The start area was mostly very well organized and laid out, except for one glaring foul-up. We were in corral 13, out of (I think) 16 or 18 (or possibly more). The corrals up to about 10 were nicely spaced with banners separating them. After that they were completely shmushed together. Several thousand people were crammed into space enough for just a couple of people. It was like they had decided they couldn't block the next cross road, so they just piled the corral signs next to each other. It made the early line-up feel like a cattle drive and we all know how I feel about cattle.

This year it didn't seem that they spaced the starts out at all, I think they were all let loose at once. While it meant we started quicker than I had anticipated (6 or so minutes after the gun) it also meant the crowd never thinned out. Ever. Even with the use of full wide streets there was still a lot of dodging the entire route.

Bree and I started out at a quick pace and decided we should slow it down some. Then we sped up. After a couple miles of this Bree decided we should run our own paces and sent me on ahead. I figured I'd just run at a comfortable pace until I was tired and then slow down. This was supposed to be a training run for me, not a race.

The weather was again almost perfect. Aside from a little drizzle in the first miles, it was mostly coolish and overcast. The sun peeked out here and there before making a full appearance in my last couple of miles, but the breeze kept me cool enough. The air was clear and my breathing was very good. I wore a sleeveless shirt and my running skirt, along with a cap and a couple of buffs for my neck and wrist and felt like I was dressed correctly for the weather.

Water stops were plentiful and, as far as I could tell, well stocked with water and something-ade. I was able to run past the first few since I was carrying a bottle with my own Ultima. The weather earlier in the week had been breaking the 100's and I'm not sure if there were more fluids than normal because of that. One thing that was definitely added was the salt stop where they were handing out little packets of salt. I grabbed one of those and, after spilling it all over myself, licked the remainder off my fingers. I think I managed to ingest about half the packet which helped.

Somewhere around mile 9 or 10 was a Gu stop, with several flavors being handed out. I grabbed one just in case but didn't need it to supplement those that I had with me. I'm now taking a Gu every 40 minutes during a run, varying between the double caffeine Espresso Love and the single caffeine Tangerine Orange, Tri-Berry or Vanilla flavors. I sure would like some of the flavors that they have in their Roctane but after the disaster when I took the Pineapple, I won't try them again (and as a complete side note, their new Chomp flavor, watermelon, is yummy).

There was a lot of music along the course, some of it quite good. The Cocktail Monkeys, in particular, were good enough that I was sad to have to pass them by. Both times, since they were playing along a stretch that we ran past in both directions. It seemed that there was more music this year than in the past, but maybe it was just louder. I started listening to my own music at about mile 9 but half the time I couldn't hear it because of the bands. I would have turned it off but it was too much fussing and fumbling.

I felt good. I ran along at my usual 9:1 and kept telling myself that sooner or later I'd be slowing down. Well, not at mile 10. Not at mile 11. Not even at mile 12. After that, I decided the hell with it, I'd just go for it. I didn't see the point in running hard and fast and slacking the last bit. So I skipped my last walk break and powered it through. I wasn't sprinting down the finish line until I saw lots of people trying to pass me. Nuh uh, I don't get picked off in the home stretch! I had to speed up too.

I crossed the line, stopped Mr. Garmin, looked at my time and started giggling. I was 7 minutes faster than my unstated goal, 7 minutes faster than my course PR, about 15 minutes faster than what I expected. The funny part was how good I felt. Yeah, my knee hurt (don't tell anyone), but it was sore from my second step. I wouldn't have wanted to run much longer at that intensity, but I was feeling good from the 13.25 miles my watch told me I had run.


Once across the line I was handed a bottle of water, which I promptly chugged down. Then they again had ice cold wet towels, which I used to wipe the crusted salt off my face and arms. I knew it would be a few minutes until Bree finished and I didn't want to go too far and risk missing her. I walked down the secured area a bit and got my medal, then saw that they were handling out bags of ice at the medical tent. They were also wrapping ice on various limbs and I thought that might be a good idea.

I waited a couple of minutes for someone to be free and then placed my cold towel under the ice, and had her wrap it onto my knee. The woman doing the wrapping couldn't understand why I would want to use the towel against my skin. Cautionary tale, folks, freezer burned skin hurts. It's very easy to damage yourself with ice and I was surprised that more care wasn't being used. I saw dozens of folk with melty ice taped to various body parts and I don't think they were even paying attention to the condition of their skin underneath. I only left the ice on for about 10 minutes but it was perfect and I didn't have any swelling or any more pain.

After Bree finished we walked down toward the food tables where they had exactly 3 bananas left (and they were icky looking), many many bags of Wheat Thins, granola bars, bagels, maybe something else. We grabbed a couple of things. I was starving, something very unusual for me after a long run (normally I'm vaguely nauseous and don't want anything for a while). We walked over to the beer tent and got our free MGD Light (or maybe it was some other 64 calorie tasteless beer) of which we took a couple of sips and then dumped out.

I enjoyed the run, enjoyed the race. My only complaints would be about the other people doing the race. How completely oblivious does someone have to be to come to a dead stop in the middle of the road when they're surrounded by runners moving forward? Or when then don't finish their water and drop the half full cup directly in front of someone who then gets soaked? Or when they walk 4 abreast right where the road narrows and nobody can get past them? Or when a 14 minute mile runner starts with the 10 minute milers and everyone has to dodge around them for the first few miles? And on and on. A handout on race etiquette should be distributed at every Rock 'n' Roll race since they get so many beginners. Or maybe people should just listen to their mothers and be POLITE!

Ahem. Where was I? OhyeahIremember. Enjoyed race, enjoyed run, would do it again if it falls on an empty part of my schedule. Even as cookie cutter identical as the Competitor races have become, the locales and weather play a big part of the race. Having a nice one in my back yard is convenient, and will be again in future years.

Women's Half Marathon Race Review

I dreamed that I was running through a sea of Pepto Bismol. Pink --- pink everywhere! Soft baby pink, bright hot pink, flamingo pink, Barbie pink, cotton candy pink, bubble gum pink; pink pink pink. Then I came to my senses and realized that I wasn't dreaming, I was running the inaugural Women's Running Magazine's Women's Half Marathon in Nashville and pink was the girly color of the day.

We all know I love to run races, we know I love to see my sis. This race offered the chance to do both. It sorta kinda fit right into my training calendar, between my longest training runs. So I registered, bought my plane ticket and headed to Nashville for a weekend of family and fun.

We went to the expo Friday, arriving early enough to be first in line when before it opened. For us, it was simple to pick up our (pink) bibs, emblazoned with our names and race number. We moved along and picked up our very cool goody bags:


They were filled with an assortment of stuff and the usual ads and papers. The expo was definitely womencentric with all the girly clothing and gewgaws a (female) runner could want. I spent a teensie bit of money there, walking away with a pair of shoes, a running skirt, a couple of headbands, a couple of boxes of Gu, a pair of sunglasses and my usual running hat. We remembered to pick up our race shirts which were, surprisingly, pink. They were also, surprisingly, big enough. A very nice tech shirt with some shaping and no ads.


In total disregard of the old saw that you never do anything new on race day, I decided to wear my new running skirt and my new cap. I figured this was going to be one of my shorter runs for a while, I was supposed to treat it as a training run, so no big deal. I crossed my fingers and hoped I wouldn't regret the decision.

Early Saturday we arrived at the starting area. Still dark, it was bustling with excited runners and walkers preparing for the race. We headed over to the line of porta potties and the sky exploded. It was truly bizarre; the potties were lined up under a row of trees that were apparently the resting place of a very large flock of birds. There were many hundreds of these birdies who took wing as the sun started to rise. Sweeping back and forth and back again, the birds wheeled around the sky as runners and walkers and spectators covered their heads and hoped.

My sis and I knew we couldn't run together since she isn't running these days but we lined up together in our corral. Then we noticed that we were ahead of the pacers holding up signs for 2:30, 2:45 and 3:00. That was wrong so we moved back. My goal was to take it easy, have fun, not get hurt. I didn't want to start too fast. Her goal was to finish walking a half marathon when she just wanted to run.

Finally the race started and we split up right at the mat. The race was, to be brief (hah!), great. It was well organized, well supported, well routed. The course was varied through business areas, residential and parkland. We ran on streets and trails. The police were wonderful keeping the routes clear of cars, the volunteers were friendly and helpful, the water and ade stations plentiful. It was hillier than I had expected from the course profile but it wasn't bad until about mile 12 when we had to run on an overpass in the blazing sun in the heat and humidity. But after that it went downhill or flat until the end.

I ran:walked my normal 9:1 until that overpass when I walked and ran when I felt like it. My splits were pretty even (except for my fumbled water bottle fill at mile 8 that took an extra 2 minutes) until then, and my last 2 miles were slow. I had realized finally that I was running a little harder than I had intended, it was hot, it was humid, so I slowed down. That's my story and I'm stickin' with it!

I crossed the finish line to the sound of my name (according to my bro-in-law who was waiting, there were lots of finishers with my name), had my huge medal draped around my neck, and was handed a bottle of water. I wandered down the line, greeted my bro-in-law, had my picture taken and headed to the food tables. They were filled to bursting with bagels, muffins, granola bars, bananas, apples, probably more that I didn't notice. There were buckets filled with icy water and bottles of energy drinks and water. I grabbed a cold one and went back to wait for my sis to finish.

After a while I saw her and her friend cruising across the finish line. They had made excellent time on their walk and both looked fresh and happy to be done. We hung out taking pictures for a bit, then moved along to the food tables which still were groaning under the weight of lots of food - even after 3-1/2 hours. I'm not used to anything being left at a half when I finish, let alone much later. Then we walked over to the cookie place. Yes, a set of tables just for cookies. Not quite a beer tent, but second best.


The medals were made just for this race in Music City. They're a two-piecer, with a center piece that could be removed and put on a necklace. Which coincidentally they were selling at the expo and after the race for a mere $10. Yes, we had purchased them at the expo and worn them during the race with the intention of having the charm hung after the race. There was a booth with helpers transferring the charms and there was no line so we were through there quickly.


Final thoughts: great race. It's not east for an organization to put on such a successful inaugural race. Soup to nuts, everything went right. There was a medical tragedy on the course that was quickly handled with sensitivity. The expo, while not as huge as the bigger races, carried just about anything a runner or walker could want for a race or other fun run. Packet pickup was efficient. Amenities (bag, shirt, medal, food and drink afterward) were ample and fun. Course support, both police and volunteers, were ample and cordial and friendly. Participants ranged from newbies who had never done a race to experts hoping for a PR. The weather even cleared up; hot and humid to me but cooler and drier than it had been. I'd do this race again, and I'd do another of their races if I had the weekend free. Give it a try!

Race season starts this week

Most of you know I love running races. Even if I'm just planning on cruising along at a slow(er than normal) speed, I love the hoopla, excitement, fuss, course support, other runners. Yes, I like small races too, the ones without the hoopla, excitement, fuss. Give me course support and enough other runners that I don't get lost and I'm happy. Throw in a shirt and a medal and I'm thrilled. Easily excited, that's me.

That's how I find myself with 6 upcoming races, starting this weekend in Nashville. Run a half marathon with my sister? Sure! Run a half marathon in San Jose? Yeah! Run a half marathon in San Francisco? Heck yeah! Run a marathon in DC? You betcha! Run a half marathon in Monterey? Of course! Run a half marathon in Las Vegas? Bring it on!

On top of that I have a couple of long training runs for the full marathon, the first of which was this past Saturday. My 20 miler went just about as expected: it was long and tiring. I was slower than I had hoped but I finished, always a victory. Bree and I were lucky with the weather (again) which was drizzly and humid and warm to start and overcast and humid to finish. Good training weather, if warmer than optimal. We ran together for about 5 miles then split off to our own paces and routes. As a treat I listened to music the last 8 miles, hoping it would give me a boost to keep going. It did. But 20 miles is 20 miles and it's a long time to keep running. I was happy as a clam to finish.

Along the way I had a close-up and personal encounter with a Great Blue Heron. This huge, majestic bird was posed along the trail, not 5 feet away from where I was running my 19th mile. I slowed to a walk so as not to scare it away (and because hey, it was my 19th mile) and it remained there, ignoring the passersby on the crowded trail. Amazing. I was also treated to views of all the other seabirds including the pelicans sunning their wings on pilings and egrets shuffling along the shallows. I saw one silly wabbit (fine, it was a jack wabbit) (I mean rabbit) playing chicken with cars along the road. In the dark the jack wabbit -- er, rabbit -- looked like a very misshapen kitten since I couldn't see the dark tips of it's ears. Once it got lighter out it was more obvious what type of critter it was.

I tried a new gel a mile 15, wanting to see how it was during a long run. My go-to gel is always Gu, normally the Espresso double caffeine flavor, sometimes the Berry or Vanilla or Tangerine or Blackberry. At some expo or other I had tasted one of their Pineapple Roctane gels and thought it was yummy. I hadn't tried a Roctane before and wondered if the added ingredients would boost my performance. It gave me a boost all right; almost boosted the contents of my stomach all over the trail. My mouth was happy with the taste but my stomach rebelled almost immediately. Luckily I had just 5 miles to go. Unluckily that would take me over an hour to do. Note to self: stick with the regular Gu that works so well.

A couple of days after the run my legs are still somewhat fatigued, a fact I noticed clearly while working with the trainer this morning. Since my knee is very tender (that same old problem) we skipped the toe taps and jumps and I'll be resting instead of running for a few days. I don't have time for any injuries or aggravations.

I fly to Nashville to join my sis on Thursday. The race is Saturday and I'm looking forward to it. It'll be interesting to run in the hot humid weather that's expected. We've had such a mild summer here I've forgotten how ugly it can get when it's hot and drippy. That should be enough to convince me to keep my speed and ambitions in check. This is supposed to be a fun race, a rest week, so I need to be smart about how I run. But it's a race. I never know until I toe the line how I'm going to feel, what the conditions are, how it will go.

Do you like races? Will you do anything for race bling? Would you sign up for 6 races in a season?

The marathon of my dreams

In the past I've had many marathon anxiety dreams. Mostly they involve starting late: "oh no, I forgot my shoes!" or "oh no, I got caught in traffic!" or "oh crap, I can't find the start line" although I have gotten lost on the course a time or two and I've taken several days to finish once or twice. Last night I had the marathon dream of marathon dreams.

I got lost. Over and over and overandoverandover again. I think it was a smaller race, , possibly in the 5,000 runner size, and probably a Team in Training benefited race (we were all wearing TnT colors and logos). Because the course was routed through several shopping malls, and a couple of international monuments, and through some very dense forests, it was hard to find which way to go. Not to mention all the twisty, winding streets which branched out in several directions. Despite very good water stop support - almost a buffet of food at every one - none of the nice volunteers had any idea which way I should go. And then the elevator got stuck on the roof and I couldn't get down the stairs because they were blocked with furniture (and wouldn't the Fire Marshall be angry about that!). And the hills in the park turned into a loop and I couldn't get out. And then it got dark and they made me stop even though I was at the finish line (I still had about 10 miles to go) which was next to a food court and a very fancy restaurant.

I'd awaken and fall back into a restless doze and the damn dream would continue, often in a different venue. I got up and went to the bathroom and when I fell asleep again the dream went on. It was relentless and when my alarm went off I was exhausted, as if I had really run 20 miles overnight.

I'm wondering if that counts as my workout for today. What do you think?

Little of this, little of that

That didn't last long. I enjoyed our 4 days of summer, could use a little more. I feel like I should be wearing boots and a turtleneck with gloves and a scarf. I'm confident we'll have at least a day or two more of heat this year, but it'll probably show up mid-November.

The craptastic weather has been good for one thing only: running. Good thing that my favorite running conditions are overcast and mid-50's since almost every single weekend run this year has started that way (and most of them have ended that way). Last Saturday was no different. I was running alone since my running buds had better things to do, and I needed to get 14 miles in. Well, I needed to get at least 12 but since 14 was on the schedule I wanted 14.

Bright and early I met up with Nobody at the Lafayette-Moraga Trail and told myself that I had to at least get to the Commons and back. Unusually for me I listened to music almost the entire time. With one ear bud in, one ear bud dangling, I ran a little faster than usual and made it to the 7 mile turnaround with no problems. The return trip took more effort but I was very happy with my consistency and effort.

I'm only getting a little faster but running is much more comfortable to me these days. Go figure, running on a regular basis, cross-training on a regular basis, eating right and losing weight improves running. Who knew? Oh wait, I did. I don't get a runner's high, but I have great enjoyment plodding along. A couple of times I'd see graceful runners flowing along the trail and think that I look like that too. Then I'd see my shadow galumphing along and realize that I'm a runner of a different species. No matter, mostly I can ignore that and just stay happy within myself while I run.

Cross training is hard. The stronger I get, the harder it gets (my trainer makes certain that it gets harder, that's her job). But the results are so obvious that I bought another training package so I'll be going for another 4 months. There are days when I feel strong like ox, days I feel weak like silly putty. Today I felt like I could be pressed onto the Sunday Funnies and lifted with multi-colored pictures. What?? You never did that with silly putty? WHAT??? You never HAD silly putty? Sheesh. Kids today. Hmmph, go play with your electronic gadgets and get off my lawn.

What really makes it feel like fall to me, in addition to the lower angle of the sun and the fallen leaves underfoot (... and the cold air), is my list of races in the next few months. Look at the list over there, on the left. No, the other left. Yeah, that one, the one most people call the "right." I'm going to attempt to not race every single race and just treat some of them as fun 13.1 mile outings. We'll see how that goes.

I'm having house renovations done. Originally I was just going to replace some carpeting with tiles but then I saw the lovely work the tile-setter does and I had him re-face my fireplace. I've always hated the fireplace; the bricks were impossible to clean, even to dust, and they just looked dated. Now it looks spectacular. The process was messy and dusty and smelly but the result were worth it. I'm looking forward to new bathroom floors. I'm not looking forward to the process.

before, and

AFTER

Which do you prefer?

Random not quite Friday

The oddest thing happened as August ended: summer arrived. Heat and smog and pollen, hand in hand like old buddies. I'm enjoying wearing sleeveless tops and capri's but there's a slight hitch. In early May I bought a few pairs of shorts and capri's because nothing in my closet fit (uh, as in too tight). Then I spent a few months exercising in fact like I had only been doing in theory, and very carefully watching every bite I ate and now those new pants are very loose. Like, falling down loose. Like, I look like a teenage boy with pants on the ground loose. I'm not complaining, especially since I'll be able to wear older stuff now. Also, I'm pretty sure the heat won't last. Prove me wrong Mother Nature, 'k?

The twice weekly training continues and I like it so much I just signed up for 4 more months. I like me some commitment! And I still think that word should have 3 t's instead of 2. My workout routine changed on Tuesday, right when I was getting the hang of the old one. Katie kept some of the oldies but threw in some new stuff too.

When I started this I couldn't do one single girly push-up, let alone the real ones. Now I can do 3 sets of 15 girly push-ups. Plus the ones I'm doing on the bar. Yippee and ouch. I didn't say I can do them painlessly, just that I can do them. I went from being able to hold a plank for a grand total of about 2 seconds. Now I'm doing them on one leg. Yippee and ouch. Still doing the twists with the 12 pound ball, the one exercise I can definitely see benefits on my body. I'm back to doing sit-ups with the 8 pound ball. Since my knee whined when I did up-and-over a bench, I'm doing quick deep squats instead. The mountain climbers made a surprise appearance at the end of the workout.

A new one for me is jumping onto a ledge. Mind you, this ledge is maybe 6 inches high and is part of a piece of gym equipment. I jump up with both feet together, then step back down. That is, I jump when my brain allows me to jump. To my combined amusement and horror, my body completely froze when I tried to do it. I swayed forward, then backward, then forward, then back again. I was pretty sure I was telling my knees to lift and my feet to move but they weren't listening. A combination of errant depth perception and a bit of vertigo tied up with acrophobia kept me locked in place for what seemed like 20 minutes - although it wasn't. I managed to jump/trip once, then to jump correctly. I even made it through the set. But the first time each set I'm still needing to convince myself to jump. Hopefully after a month of this my brain will catch up and get with the program. At which time Katie will probably increase the height.

I had a great run last Saturday, almost all 18 miles of it. Again the weather cooperated by staying overcast and cool, albeit quite windy. I ran with Bree for about 5 miles and alone for the rest of it. I love running with my buddies but I'm remembering that a few hours running completely alone isn't too bad. Lots of time to think, and lots of time to not think. And then just lots of time.

The sock is coming along well. At this rate by Thanksgiving I'll have knit one complete sock in this pattern with this yarn. I love the yarn so I'm hoping I don't end up with second sock syndrome. A pair would be very nice.

I'm going to be starting some home renovations soon. Don't be silly, I'm not doing the work myself, I'm paying someone else to do it. After 12 years of high sun (and that one flood) my carpet is rotting out and needs to be replaced in a couple of rooms. As much as I'd love a whole house overhaul I know the mess and fuss and noise and dirt and schlepping stuff around would drive me crazy. Not to mention drive me broke. So I'm just doing flooring now and maybe someday I'll do more. I can't believe I've lived here for 12 years.

I'm looking forward to only running about 13 miles this weekend. I love that finally it's back to "only" running 13 miles. I'm still glacially slow (although with global warming I think the glaciers might be quicker than I am) but I'm enjoying running as much as I ever have. Since I'll be running alone I think I might try running with some music, just in case I get tired of my brain jabbering at me.

I think I should go try to sleep now.

A little late: San Francisco Half Marathon Report

I haven't really said much about the race, other than how much I enjoyed it. I think I mentioned that I missed the race last year because of family issues and missed it the year before because of injuries. I ran the second half in 2007 and wrote all about it afterward - I'm not going to repeat all the details of the route since you can read it there. I'll just note the changes and my own personal thoughts.

The expo was at the Design Center again. We went early Saturday morning. Packet and shirt pickup went very quickly. The shirts were different for each race and sex. The Half shirt was cute, although girly sized (which we all know I don't like much):

front

back

The goody bag was a very nice backpack. One side had blanks for writing your bib number, so that the bag could be used before the race for sweat check. I'm afraid I don't remember exactly what was in the bag, but there were lots of freebies at the expo.

We wandered through the booths, registered for the San Jose Rock n Roll Half Marathon, bought some shorts, bought some gels, looked at other races, tried some foods and drinks. A very nice expo.

There was a little problem Sunday morning - the approach to the bridge on I580 was closed for repair. Thanksalot Caltrans. I met Bree at her house at what seemed like the middle of the night and we detoured our way over. We had allotted oodles of time to get there so of course we were early. We ended up parking at the Embarcadero Center (which would later prove to be a mistake) and walked over to the bus.The line-up for the bus was long, wrapping around the corner. Loading was going very slowly but as we approached the next bus the people in charge figured out a faster way to load the people. We boarded and took the long ride across town.

We arrived at the second half start nice and early and immediately lined up at the porta potties. We wandered over to the route and saw one of the nicest things I've ever seen at a race start: propane heaters. There were several, all with formerly shivering people huddled around. We found a spot on the periphery and tried to warm up.

There were a few waves for the half and somehow we managed to start with the wave before the one where we should have been. That, and the first half mile being downhill, got us off to a way too fast start. I told Bree we had to slow it down and we did, but our first mile was a smoker.

I like the route a lot (probably the reason I've run that second half in 2010, 07, 06, 05, 03 and 02 and the full in 2004). The weather was good for a race: cool and overcast without being cold, with a light breeze. I was feeling pretty good. I stuck with 9:1 run:walk, except for a couple of bigger hills. I'm very careful on big downhills so where other people bomb away, I mince my way along, trying not to re-injure my knee or crush my quads. Or fall.

There's really not much to add about the race itself that I didn't say last time. I got tired around mile 12 and told myself to just run and get it over with. I finished in 2:47, much better than I had anticipated and my fastest half in years. I got my medal and space blanket, a bottle of water, had my picture taken a couple of times, grabbed some food.


The food available was impressive: scones, bagels, chips, fruit, Jamba Juice, granola and yogurt, and much more. I walked through the choices and grabbed this 'n' that, wandered on and looked for the sweat bag pickup. Along the way I noticed a race booth for the Loyal Runners. I figured since I had run the race so many times, maybe I'd be included in that group. I told the volunteer my name and was handed this lovely water bottle. Nice!


I tracked down the baggage and quickly retrieved my bag. Bree arrived shortly and we sat down on the curb and chatted for a bit. Then I noticed the beer tent. I have a rule after races: if there's free beer, I have to have one. It's the principle of the thing. Heh. So we walked over and convinced the guy checking IDs that I was indeed old enough to drink (I don't carry my license when I run). Sheesh, I haven't looked under 21 for a few years. Or decades. We got our beers and sipped enough to make it clear that we were really hungry and wanted to leave. The balance of our beer was dumped in the trash since we couldn't walk down the street drinking.

We got back to the car and were completely blocked in. We were on the bottom level of the lot and there was gridlock. For over a half hour there was no movement at all. Not even an inch. We pulled the car back in a spot and went out to lunch. By the time we returned, we were able to slowly exit the lot.

I like this race and I think it's improved every year that I've participated. At times I've thought of running the first half, but since it's normally too foggy to see a view from the Bridge, and since the route is hillier than the second half, I'll stick with with I know. I plan to run it again next year!

Random thoughts for Wednesday

I stayed out too late last night. In my world, "late" on a workday means anything past 9 pm and I wasn't home until about 10 pm. I had a very fun girls' night out; drinks, appetizers and the girly movie du jour, Eat Pray Love. Despite the evening having 4 complete flaws (1: staying out late; 2: drinking a cocktail during the week; 3: eating fried and gooey food whilst dieting; 4: chick flick) it was a lot of fun. Surprisingly enough I enjoyed the movie and stayed awake the entire time. Now I have to read the book.

I didn't get up to run this morning because I got to bed too late (see above). I didn't get up to run Monday morning either so I ran after work. I kept telling myself to take it easy since I had a trainer workout early Tuesday, then I ended up running 4 outside miles faster than I've done for a couple of years. D'oh!

That didn't translate well to Tuesday's training session. My legs were still fatigued and my arms decided to keep them company. I made it through the workout but wasn't my normal sparkling self. Wait, I don't normally sparkle, no sparkles here. I made it through the squat/ball tosses without dropping the 10 pound ball on my head (or dropping it at all, for that matter), I made it through the mountain climbers without pulling my groin (which I did last week), made it through the traveling lunges without toppling over (it was close, I had to keep grabbing the rail to get my balance), made it through the v-ups, twists, push-ups, tricep pull-downs, bicep curls without collapsing on my face. I wasn't a happy camper like I usually am when I finish, just relieved to be done.

Saturday was a long run, the first 18 miler of the season. We lucked out again with the weather. The cool, overcast, drizzly, breezy conditions were perfect while running. Kinda sucked when we finished; it took a half hour in a hot shower, warm sweats, thick socks and a blanket to warm me up afterward. Summer? Not here. We ran on the always lovely Alameda Creek Trail in Fremont. Since we hadn't run there yet this season we didn't know that the trail going toward the Bay is closed, while the other end's construction is cleared out.

Refueling and rehydrating on Saturday were amply supplied by dinner at my bro's. I picked up my mom and we went to one of my bro's and sis-in-law's patented food fests, this one Tacos Two Ways. Which could also have been called Margaritas Two Ways. Or Dessert Four Ways. Good thing I burned a couple thousand calories running so I could eat (fish and carnitas tacos with the trimmings), drink (ginger/tangerine margaritas and blackberry/mint margaritas), pray (that I wouldn't fall asleep during the meal), love (that I was still under my allotted calories for the day).

I missed knitting so I picked up the sock I started so many moons ago and tried to figure out where I had left off. Somewhere in the gusset so I continued on the row I thought was correct. I'm not sure the pattern is written right for across the instep but I'm going to blindly follow it. Heck, I can do it correctly on the second sock if this is wrong. Nobody looks at my feet anyway.

Now that I've worked out with the trainer a couple dozen times, gotten up at the ungodly time of 5:15-5:30 am to train or run during the week, counted every single thing that I put in my mouth, I'll have to say I'm seeing results. I've lost some weight (lots more where that came from), gotten a bit faster with running (it's relative, I'm still snail-slow), gained some upper body strength (some day I'll be able to do a real push-up). I detest getting up so early but I'm getting better at it. "They" say it takes a couple of months for a pattern to become habit. I'm still waiting.

Where oh where has our summer gone?

When I look out the window it's hard to remember that it's August. Overcast, windy, cool, drizzly. Yeah, lots of Bay Area summer days start this way, but this year it doesn't clear out. Except for a few days where the sun shone and the temps rose to the 90's, it's been cool and gloomy. I'm not complaining (oh wait: yeah, I am) because it's perfect for those morning long runs, but it's strange to have SAD in the middle of summer. I wouldn't want the sweltering heat that the eastern and southern parts of the country are experiencing, but sunshine would be welcome.

Saturday morning I wasn't complaining about the weather (oh wait: yeah, I was) while I was running. I deeply appreciated the cool temps in the 50's, appreciated the overcast, didn't mind the mist that made water drip off the brim of my cap, but I wasn't too thrilled with the constant wind in my face for the first 7 miles. I was running merrily along in my tank top and shorts, passing walkers bundled up for the arctic. These people had on parkas and gloves and scarves while I sweated my way past them. We all looked at each other as if the other were crazy.

The run went well. I met Bree at the Lafayette-Moraga Trail at 6:30 am (yawn) and we started running together. We ran together for less than 2 miles and then I sped up to a more comfortable pace and she slowed to her own comfort zone. I stopped at the bathroom at Moraga Commons to release and refill fluids, then continued on. The trail that was so beautiful in the winter and spring was dried and weedy, with only the prickle vine weed (whatever it's really called) and blue star thistles showing any color. A few of the oleanders are still in bloom, adding bits of brightness to the overcast gloom. Strangely enough, I really love the look of dried California summers. Whether you call it golden or brown, it looks like home to me.

I kept up the 9:1 run:walk except for the 9% grade hill leading to the end of the trail where I extended my walk break. That gave me a chance to talk with a little bunny hanging out on the side of the trail. No, he didn't talk back (sheesh, bunnies don't talk!). I ran to the end of the trail, tagged the post and started back the other way. I passed Bree going the other direction, continued on.

Back at the Commons I refilled my fluids again and then went on. With the wind at my back it was easier to breathe but I was getting a bit bored. Luckily the trail was busy with walkers and runners and I stayed busy saying "good morning" or "hi" to everyone. There weren't many cyclists on the trail (except for family groups), probably because those weeds are excellent at puncturing tubes.

Another way I kept myself busy was tying to figure out how far I had to backtrack to get in my 16 miles. My math skilz are absent once I've been running for an hour or so. I really didn't want to run more than 16 but I wanted at least that 16. Lessee, according to Mr. Garmin it was 7.3 miles to the turnaround. That makes the trail 14.6 round trip. That means I need an additional 1.4 miles. If I turn around at mile 2 and head back toward mile 3, I only need to run ... oh! lookit the rose blooming in that yard! Wow, I'm thirsty. Is it time to walk yet? What was I doing? Oh yeah, it was 7.3 miles to the turnaround. That makes the trail ...

Pitiful. I ran past the Senior Center, deciding that I'd run to the 2.25 marker and back and then stop to refill and empty fluids. All of a sudden I saw the 2 mile marker and realized I'd gone too far. I certainly wasn't going to run an extra half mile so I refilled my bottle at the fountain behind the fire station. Bree and I encountered each other again (hey, how'd she get ahead of me??) as I headed for the last couple of miles.

I ended with 16.2 miles. The sun was just starting to peek out and it was getting warmer (oooh, it was in the 60's!) so timing was good. I stretched out and waited for Bree who wasn't too far behind me. I was happy with the run; it was the most consistent long run I'd done in ages. Consistent not in the TnT definition of slow (although it was that) but in the true meaning of equal (and almost negative) splits.

A shower and a nap would have been a good thing, but Saturday means Momday so I headed over to see her. We're in the process of putting her condo on the market and she's decided that she needs to be in control and sign everything, so I took the massive pile of forms to go through with her. I read them to her, explained them to her, showed her where to sign. We answered the gazillion disclosure questions, marked those that were questionable, she initialed and signed. In the middle of it all she insisted it was lunch time so we went out for some truly mediocre Chinese food (which had the added benefit of being a zillion calories). Back to reading, explaining, re-reading, more explaining, signing and initialing. We had a major difference of opinion when it came to setting a price; my mom wants to list the place at about $100,000 more than anything has sold for in the past couple of years. I think that's ridiculous and a waste of everyone's time. I told her she needs to speak with the agent who can hopefully get her to see the light.

Next weekend's run will be 18 miles, starting the long runs early. I'm looking forward to it!

New routine in training

My personal trainer switches her trainee's routines on the first of the month. That meant that the old routine, the one I was just getting to be able to do, is mostly out the window. I was a little apprehensive and a lot excited about the change, just looking forward to something new.

Of course, the first exercise this morning was almost my last. Hold a ball (10 pounds? I don't really remember) and squat. At the top of the squat jump a little, raise the ball and thrust it over your head; catch the ball and lower while squatting. If you're picturing this correctly, you see a loose ball hovering over my head for a second or two. Further, you see the loose ball slipping through my fingers and clonking me on the forehead. Ow. At least that part only happened once, in the middle of the first set. Still, ouch.

Superset these with traveling lunges. That means climb the stairs, lunge along the walkway, climb down the other set of stairs. Be very careful of the bad knee. Watch your balance. Don't knock your trainer over the railing. Avoid other people doing their own workouts in the same area.

We're sticking with push-ups. I've been doing them on the bar railing and doing them well (ok, I've been doing the first couple of sets well, the third set notsomuch). I decided to see if I could now do a girly push-up on the floor. Bended knees and lookie there! It wasn't pretty, it wasn't totally down to the floor (... or close to the floor) but I went down several inches and back up, 10 times, before I collapsed. The next 20 repeats were back with the bar, and I did 3 sets that way. My goal is to ace the modified girly push-ups, get to true girly push-ups, then to modified real push-ups, then to a full set of real push-ups. Maybe by the end of the year.

Along with those are the twists with the 10 pound medicine ball. It's the one place on my body where I can actually see a small difference since I've been working out, so I'm glad to continue with them. But boy, that ball gets heavy and I get dizzy after twisting for a minute.

But that's not all! In the challenging to me department, Katie introduced another floor exercise. Lie on my back, arms and legs extended, hands holding big ball. V-up, switch ball to feet, lower arms and legs to floor. Repeat and switch ball to hands, lower. Yup, there was ball droppage involved here too. At least this big ball wasn't painful when it landed, just frustrating. I was not able to complete full sets of those without modifications so I'm looking forward to August 31st when there's been improvement.

Oh wait - somewhere in there were mountain climbers too. I can do full sets of those now without falling on my face, but when she extends the time on them there's still a chance of collapse. Hopefully I'll get strong (and balanced) enough that I'll improve quickly.

As a last treat there was running up the stairs and coming down. People who know me well know that stairs are not exactly my forte. This is a coordination and balance thing, along with a bit of vertigo. But I'm tough! I can do it! There was no grace or delicacy involved, probably looked like a drunk elephant lumbering upward, but I got it done.

I don't think you can convince me that this workout only lasted 50 minutes. Sky-high heart rate, trembling limbs, flushed and drippy face. Jeez, no wonder I never wanted to work out in public. (Note: running in public is different; I don't care in the least how I look when, or after, I run.) This whole gym-going, personal training thing is eye opening (especially when a ball is dropping on said eyes) in many ways. I'm glad I'm doing it.

Now I need a nap.

Early race report (without any detail)

I had a great San Francisco Marathon (Second) Half Marathon today. While I pushed (... it was a race, after all), except for the finish line sprint I never felt like I was killing myself. The result was my fastest half marathon since March 2006. I was 6 minutes faster than my best case scenario.

I guess all this "training" stuff really does work!

Three weeks in

I'd like to report that after 3 weeks I've lost 20 pounds, reduced my minutes/mile to 10 and lost 12% body fat. However, seeing that I live in the real world and not some fantasy Biggest Loserland, that hasn't happened. What has happened is that I'm slowly dropping bits of pounds, gradually increasing my running speed and endurance and meanwhile getting a little stronger. That counts, right?

Seriously, I have GOT to stop watching those quick weight loss shows which skew my vision of normalcy. Since I've dieted in the past (... once or twice) (... yearly) (... since I was a teenager) I know how my body reacts to calorie restriction and increased activity: by (figuratively) yelling "Help, I'm stranded in the Sierras and out of food and I must conserve all my resources by holding onto all this lovely life-saving blubber so that I don't have to eat my neighbors, the Donners." It's a big annoyance but sooner or later, quarter pound by quarter pound, I lose weight. Along with that I lose fractions of inches. I just need to be patient.

Training is going very well. I have indeed gained a bit of strength; I no longer fall flat on my face during planks. In fact, I no longer fall at all during planks (but don't ask me about mountain climbers). I'm doing so well at the little girl push-ups that I might soon graduate to big girl push-ups (not so close on regular push-ups though). I'm getting through the sets quicker, easier, and less exhausted. Katie is able to correct my form since I'm getting strong enough to actually have form. Still not liking the whole getting up early, but I don't think I'll ever be a happy early morning person.

I've made it through another week of also getting up early on Mondays and Wednesdays to run on my treadmill. This is also going better. I'm slowly increasing my speed while cutting out walk breaks. Since my legs like it better I'm also running at 1 degree elevation (whatever that really is on a treadmill). This has the added benefit that I can catch up on my recorded television shows.

It just gets more and more fun to enter my foods into my Lose It! app. It was strange on Saturday when my activity wiped out all the calories I ate; negative calories for the win! I spent a very long time on the internet last night trying to figure out a fair nutritional basis for the very large fruit salad that I made. Deliciously ripe cantaloupe, watermelon and honey dew with some blueberries, raspberries and bananas. I finally tracked down something like the Melon Council and just averaged out several melons per cup. Tasty and all I have to do is make sure it isn't the only thing I eat all day.

Saturday's run went very well. Bree and I again met at the Alameda Ferry, this time to run 15 miles. We only stuck together for the first 2 and then I continued on my 9:1 way. I kept up the 9:1 through 13.1 miles and was happy to see my half time was much quicker than it's been recently. I slowed to a 4:1 for the last couple of miles and it was a struggle, but I mentally wanted to get through the run without unscheduled walk breaks. It was luckily still mostly overcast when I finished although the sun was flirting with a grand appearance. The wind was unnoticeable when it was at my back, but the last 2 miles it was in my face. Although it felt nice for the cooling effect, it made my breathing worse and slowed me down. It was about 60 degrees when I finished, a vast difference than if I had run in my own neck of the woods.

It was great to see Iron Phil out there running with his Iron Team (although he was the only person I recognized). I'd been running along and trying to figure out what team had chalked the "TI" on the sidewalks. Then I realized that without dyslexic-vision it was really "IT." I still didn't know what team that was until I was crossing the bridge and heard someone behind me call my name. Luckily Phil was taking his 1 minute walk break so we could chat for a second. At the foot of the bridge he broke left while I broke right, but we again passed each other around the other side of the island. Good grief, he's gotten speedy as hell and is going to kick ass and take names when he does the Iron.

This weekend will be the San Francisco Marathon, where I'm running the second half as usual. I always like this race and was sad to miss it last year at the last minute. I didn't run it the year before either, since I was in training for the tri and my knee wasn't healthy. The year before that I had a great time running it. I ran the Half (always the second half) in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and the full in 2004. I've finished between 2:42 and 2:55 (with the full at 5:39) and more than likely this weekend will be toward the slower end. I don't mind. Being able to run a half marathon just because makes all the the early mornings and food journals worth it!

Lose It!

My run this weekend was a vast improvement from the week before. Last weekend I ran 4 good miles before hitting a brick wall; this weekend I ran 8 great and 2 good miles before getting tired. That's (for the mathematically compromised) 6 more at-least-good miles. I also continued for another 4 miles and they weren't horrible, just tiring and slow and somewhat more uncoordinated.

Helping the quality of the run was that Bree and I ran in Alameda this weekend, a cooling improvement of about 20 degrees. It was overcast almost the entire run and I don't think it got much above 60. There was a slight bay breeze - incredibly stinky at the start since the tide was way out. We did the first few miles together and then split up, meeting back at the lot after 6 miles. I did those at 9:1 and had a good average. I slowed down after heading back out but kept up the 9:1 until I passed 10 miles. I rejoined Bree at that point and we finished at 4:1 and all of those "1" times made me very happy. My last 4 miles were about 1 minute per mile slower than the previous miles but my overall average was still about 25 seconds/mile faster than last week.

Also helping the quality of the run was that I was so tired during Thursday's workout that I was slower than before and didn't mange to complete the extended workout of Tuesday. I was sweating like a Miami thunderstorm and sliding all over when I was on the mat. I fell on my face twice while doing planks. I'm weak enough that I do it on my forearms and they kept sliding out from underneath me. Katie had to keep correcting my form. Since my legs are so much stronger than any other part of my body, my unconscious tendency is to let them take all the weight and effort. As the purpose of all of this is to build some strength in my core and upper body, it can be a problem. I was pooped when we finished and worried about the run, needlessly as it turns out.

I'm not loving the whole get-up-at-5:15 am thing. I'm barely tolerating it. The good part is when I wake up at 4 or 5 am, I know I'll be getting up soon and I'm not as anxious about getting back to sleep. The bad part is -- well, the getting up. One thing is not sleeping, another is moving. But I'm determined to continue the running on Monday and Wednesday and training on Tuesday and Thursday, and hoping to throw in an after work walk or run.

A very nice side effect of this is I'm losing weight. No, not from the consistent workouts alone. I'm dieting. Yup, real live honest to pete dieting. Holy Food Journal, Batman! I've been using Lose It!, a free app on my cell phone, and I really like it. Between being able to input full nutritional data on my own foods and their own extensive database, I feel I'm keeping honest track of not only calories, but the balance of protein, carbs and fat. I think their calorie burn for exercise is high but I try not to consume those calories anyway. I really don't think I burned 1,871 calories during my run yesterday but it's a fun number to see. The website has some incredible reports for those of us who like to obsess about what we've consumed. I could spend an entire day playing around with this.

I miss my lazy way of eating. These days there's no popcorn and wine for dinner. No late night 100 calories carb-loaded snacks. Hardly any chocolate. No cartons of ice cream on my lap. Instead I'm roasting veggies and eating fruit. Except for yesterday when I splurged with a soft shell crab sandwich (and kettle chips and cole slaw) after the run (yes, I had an almost 1,000 calorie lunch and it was goooood!).

Anyone want to place bets on how long I can keep this up?

"You'll get used to it"

I didn't have a great run on Saturday along the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. Apparently ramping up my training, especially the Tuesday and Thursday workouts with the personal trainer, took a big toll on my legs. The first 3 miles were good, then I sped up a tad on mile 4. Then I ran smack dab into a big freakin' wall. I thought that perhaps I was a little late on gu'ing, or maybe I hadn't eaten enough breakfast. Probably I'd get a second wind once I passed the little hills. Or I'd feel better after taking a short break to refill my water bottle at the 5.5 mile fountain.

As I was under the little delusion that any minute now I'd be feeling better, I continued on to the 6 mile mark before turning back. On the contrary, when I got back to the water fountain I had to take a break and refill the bottle again, just to take the 60 second pause. Walk a little, run a little, walk, run, take more gu, drink more water. At the Senior Center at the 3 mile mark (9 miles down) I refilled again.

Did I mention it was considerably warmer than I'm used to? Wahhh, boo hoo kitty poor me. While one part of my brain was actively thrilled at the beautiful day, the flowering oleanders, the deep green of fresh grass and shrubs, the other part of my brain was in whine overdrive. It's quite tough trying to run on legs that feel like grossly overcooked linguine. Not even al dente. Wobbly and shaky I continued along the trail, trying to keep my pace within something resembling a run.

I finished the 12.1 miles with my average almost 50 seconds/mile slower than the previous week when I'd been feeling great.But I finished, which is a good thing.

On Monday to celebrate my day off I treadmilled at home. I'm once again having Comcast issues (I'm on my third cable box/dvr for the exercise room) so I ran for 40 minutes while watching the local morning show. I even managed to not throw my shoe through the television screen out of sheer boredom.

Today was another workout with "Katie." Although I've been sleeping a little better recently (almost 5 hours each night!) last night was back to old habits. I think I managed an interrupted 2 hours total and when the alarm went off at 5:15 dark am, I wasn't too happy. Money talks though, and told me to get out of bed and to the gym.

The first thing I told Katie was that my legs were toast for my run on Saturday. She told me that it was just my first week, I'd get used to it. It wasn't until a couple of hours later that I realized I didn't know if she meant my legs would get used to the extra workouts and running would be easier, or if she meant I'd get used to running while my legs were toast. I don't think I'm going to ask her to clarify, I might not like the answer.

The workout was hard because of the lack of sleep. It was the same as Thursday but because of the lack of sleep my heart rate kept rising and my breathing wasn't smooth. I did all the exercises while Katie had to continue correcting my sloppy form. As I won't not try to do something she asks me to do, I was at definite risk of falling flat on my face. Shaky arms and legs made this workout -- uh -- interesting.

There were still a few minutes left after completing the sets I had done last week so Katie threw me a curve ball (not literally). She added a set of mountain climbers (I think that's what they're called) and I did indeed fall on my face. These were superset with oblique situps. Maybe superset is a misnomer since I managed one set of each this time. She generously called it a test set. Something to look forward to on Thursday morning.

I was tired all day and had a lovely nap after work. I've also been starved all day and have eaten every single calorie allowed, and then some. I think I've been shorting myself (I really liked seeing that scale drop last week) and I know that's a bad idea when I'm increasing my activity.

This is going to take some practice before I get it right, but I'm going to keep trying.

All that, and more

Yesterday I rolled out of bed and was surprised to realized that nothing hurt. That lasted exactly until I finished my 40 minute run on the treadmill. Then my legs were aching and my arms hurt and my abs were tight. I spent the entire day feeling the effects of Tuesday's workout and feeling smug that, once again, I was working out enough to make things hurt.

When I awoke this morning I lay in bed trying to pretend that I was still asleep, thinking it was my usual 3-4 am wake-up. Imagine my surprise when I peeked at the clock and saw it was already 5:15 am, mere minutes from my alarm going off. Time to get up!

I had set my alarm a few minutes earlier since Tuesday I was so rushed and that's not my favorite way to start a morning. I made it in to the gym in time to weigh myself before my workout, something I plan to do every Thursday. Since my weight fluctuates so much on a daily basis, I'm happy with just a weekly weigh-in so as not to drive myself crazy. I was hoping for a sizable drop since I've been excellent with my consumption and burn this week and was rewarded with a 3 pound loss. Although that isn't Biggest Loser big, it's huge to someone who always averaged no more than .25-.5 pound loss weekly on previous bouts of Weight Watchers. I don't expect that much in the future but it's nice to see for the first week.

Day 2, Week 1 of training started the same as Day 1, Week 1: weighted squats superset with step-ups, 3 sets. Then medicine ball sit-ups superset with twists, 3 sets. Then push-ups with planks, 3 sets. Since we didn't need to do any time wasting paperwork today, there was time enough for more workout! We added in lying on my back, pulling in my legs (we had tried the raising and lowering of straight legs but my legs were doing the work, not my abs, so she modified it) superset with sideways up-and-over the step. This is a tall square step, not the little aerobic step that I'm used to (and I never did do the 2 risers on that aerobic step). I was huffing and puffing away with that. I managed to not fall over once, quite a feat for someone with my bad balance.

We weren't quite done though. I had to go up a flight of stairs, 2 at a time, then run down, twice. By then my legs were wobbling something fierce and I was toast.

I had thought that maybe doing 15-20 more minutes of cardio after this workout would be a good idea. Until I was done with this workout and realized I had no more cardio to give. This was made clear to me when I tried running across the parking lot to get out of the way of a car and my legs didn't want to carry me.

Thus concluded Week 1's workouts. I'm happy that tomorrow I have an exercise day off, before Saturday's mid-length run. I think this is going to work!

First personal training session: Take 2

I was a little apprehensive after last week's aborted training session. Would the roof fall in? Sprinkler system malfunction and spray the room? Toxic gas release?

None of that happened and I had my very first ever session with a personal trainer. As a little background, I have done absolutely positively no upper body training since my tri season, 2 years ago. That training was shortened because of injuring my back, although I did continue swimming which granted a bit of upper body toning and strength. And last year I did the bike century but the only upper body workouts I did was holding the bike upright, nothing extra. Before that, I might have lifted a weenie weight or two when I started running, but for real weight work it's been since I was married. Since I divorced in 1990 we can see that it's been a while since I've paid true attention to strength work.

All that is to say: oy, what have I gotten myself into? I arrived at the gym at 6:00 am and "Katie" was set up and ready to finish the paperwork and measurements. Again, oy. Dudes. I'm really big. As in, big. I'm continually surprised that I let it get this far (again...) although to be fair, I've been bigger in the past (uh, yeah. Like that matters). We finished the paperwork and headed to the torture chamber workout area.

First up, squats. No problemo since I already do lots of squats, right? Hmm. What's this big old contraption? Squats with weights, huh? Never did a weighted squat before. Fifty pounds?? Are you out of your mind?? These were superset with step-ups. I only tripped the first couple of times on each foot (especially my left foot). Three sets of each and my legs were a little wobbly. Wimp.

Next were sit ups. With a medicine ball. After almost smacking my knees with the ball (and I warned Katie to get out of the way so I wouldn't accidentally knock her out) I made it through the first set. These were superset with twists. After 3 sets my arms were a little wobbly from the ball. Wimp.

Then my nemesis: push-ups. Since I have oodles of body weight and no upper body strength, these are a challenge (understatement). Push-ups were superset with planks. I kept falling on my face. The last set of push-ups were while standing and I still wasn't doing very well. Last plank I managed to hold the entire time without collapsing, but I was shaking so hard the people around me probably thought there was an earthquake. After that my arms were very wobbly. Wimp.

Thus concluded my first session. I felt so wiped out that I signed up for 22 more sessions. Obviously the blood had completed left my brain to do something like that. But to be perfectly serious for once, it's something I have to do. I'm not only trying to build strength, I need to lower my weight to ease my running. I need to be accountable to someone other than myself (in this case, my trainer and my wallet) and this will do it. I want to be pushed in a way that won't make me want to cry or quit, and be taught the correct way of doing the exercises.

I'm happy with how it went, enjoyed working out with Katie. The timing worked well to get home afterward and shower and still be on time for work. The only downside is getting out of bed so early but since I'm normally not asleep anyway it shouldn't be an issue. I think I'll be sore tomorrow but I need to remind myself that it's a "good" sore that I earned with hard work.

Stay tuned!

Powerless

I'm going to try to report on each of my workouts with my new personal trainer at my new gym. This morning I dragged out of bed at 5:30 am, took a quick wake-me-up shower and walked in the gym at 6:00. My trainer, who I'll call "Katie," was there waiting for me with forms and health questions. I filled out the forms and then she weighed me (verdict: heavy). Either she's an excellent actress, or she really thought I weigh at least 20 pounds less than I do.

After finding out that the gym's scale is very similar to mine, Katie took out the calipers and measured my body fat (verdict: lots of it). My guess was that I'd be about 40% BF and I was close, it was 38% (good grief, what would it be like if I didn't run??). Then Kathy pulled out the tape measure to find out my starting dimensions (verdict: none). Just as she was about the wrap the tape around my neck, the lights flickered and died.

The entire gym was silent and dark. And stayed dark. I don't know how extensive the power outage was, if it was just that building or if it was the neighborhood, but the gym was out. All the employees, including Katie, had to scurry around leading people out of the building. Yeah, even those in the dark dark showers.

All I could picture was the power going off and people flying off the back of their treadmills, like a bad comedy. I don't know if there's a fail safe that slows them down, but I bet there was a whole lot of swearing over in the cardio section. And in the pool. And in the pitch black bathrooms.

I went back home and decided that I might as well get to work early. Then I decided the hell with it and got on the treadmill. Three miles later I was tired out and ready for bed again, so I got ready and went to work.

And thus ended my first day of personal training. Hey, not sore at all!

Once more, starting over again. Again.

Sometimes I think I should just rename this blog "Another New Start." Apparently I'm not that great at follow-through and I'm pretty shabby at keeping up with my plans to change my life and improve my health.

After I ran my last marathon I told myself I HAD to make 2 changes before I ran another. First I needed to cut my hair since it was heavy and hot, slapping me on the back and the arms and spraying water everywhere and just an annoyance I didn't need. That was easily taken care of (although if it had been that easy, why did I wait for 8 months between cuts?). Less easy was my second issue which was to lose 10 pounds and get in better running shape. That's where I have to start over.

On Monday I did something I haven't done since I was married: I joined a gym. Yup, the woman who has her own workout room with treadmill and exercycle and weights and a step. The woman who as 3 -- count 'em, 3 -- bicycles in her garage. That woman: me. I not only joined a gym, I joined a gym that will cost me a lot of money. All so that I can pay even more money to work with a personal trainer. In the morning. Before work. At 6:00 am. Holy Early Riser, Batman!

It was Claudia's fault. Just like when I joined the tri team and when I joined the century team. Heh. Way to take some personal responsibility, Amy. Actually, it's all on me with just some friendly assist from Claudia. See, she gets up in the middle of the night and drives to the gym and works out with a trainer. If I had someone to meet I'd actually show up too. Especially if I have to pay for it. So she escorted me to her gym (which is 5 minutes from my house), introduced me to her trainer, and now I'm committed to not only paying the money, but to showing up. And by showing up, to work my ass off.

And since it doesn't make much sense to get back on the regular exercise wagon without paying attention to my food intake, I've started keeping a food diary and counting points. By writing it down I can see exactly how much I'm stuffing in my mouth and get a handle on controlling my out-of-control diet.

I think we all know I'm not good at dealing with new and uncomfortable situations. My anxiety level is through the roof right now (full disclosure: not all of it is due to the gym/trainer, some is due to family). My normal sleeplessness has degraded even further. Even though I'm awake at 5:30 am (... and 4:30 ... and 3:30 ...) I find I'm too weary to get up and run, although I'll be getting up and meeting the trainer twice weekly. When I get home from work I'm so pooped I just want to nap, again getting in the way of my running. The biggest thing I'm going to have to change in my life is to convince myself that even if I'm exhausted, I still have to get in my workouts. Regularly and constantly. Otherwise I'll be back here in 4 months starting over again.