Today, I was scheduled for 30 minutes of walking/running. It was in the high 80s, extremely humid, and possibly going to storm, so I was a bit apprehensive. Luckily, the storms came and left by around 6pm, so I had plenty of time before sunset to get in a run. I waited as long as possible so it would be slightly cooler and slightly less sunny, and then around 7:45pm I headed out for a run.
Isis was apparently not in the mood to join me - she refused to come to the door when I called her, so I decided to leave her home and go solo. I've been using RunKeeper on my iPhone because of the intervals feature, and I decided to stick with my 90 seconds running / 60 seconds walking intervals.
I started out feeling pretty good, and I knew my running intervals were faster than my usual pace. Without Isis, I could focus more of my attention on form and breathing, which was nice. However, somewhere around the 12 minute mark, the pain started. I'm kind of used to it by now - usually around 12-15 mintues my calves start to ache and feel tight, so I stopped to stretch. Usually, this helps and then I'm able to finish out my 30 minutes without much pain, if any.
Not today. Every time I started running again, my calves ached. Then I started to feel it in my anterior tibs, or on the front of my foot. Even when I stopped to walk, I still had pain shooting up the front of my foot, and no amount of pausing to stretch seemed to be helping. I managed to push through and finish all 8 of my running intervals, but I was definitely hurting. During my walking cool down, the pain continued, and then the bottoms of my feet started tingling/feeling numb.
Not good. After I came inside, it took several minutes of me massaging my ankles and stretching before the pain subsided, and it was still achy/uncomfortable 20-30 minutes later.
Suffice to say, today I had a bad run, and now I'm grumpy. That's all I got right now, sorry y'all.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
wrapping up May
As May winds down, I'm actually fairly proud of how I've done on my goals. Since my last blog post, I've mostly stuck to my exercise plan and done something nearly every day:
May 19 - 30 day shred, level 1
May 20 - 30 minute run/walk
May 21 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 22 - 30 minute run/walk and played kickball
May 23 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 24 - 30 minute run/walk
May 25 - moved a lot of heavy furniture / rest day
May 26 - 30 day shred, level 2 and 20 minutes of yoga for runners
May 27 - biked on the stationary bike for 30 minutes (thunderstorms)
May 28 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 29 - ran 1 mile, played kickball
May 30 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 31 - 30 minute run/walk
If you count kickball and moving heavy furniture, I've done 30 minutes of some sort of physical activity every day since May 8th. That's a massive improvement from my April.
Meanwhile, running is HARD - I'm still doing 90 seconds running, 60 seconds walking, and I'm still feeling a lot of tightness in my calves. Right now, my plan is to not increase my running until I have less pain, but I was hoping I'd see improvement more quickly than I have. I was able to run a full mile last week in 10:23, although I did stop to stretch at the half mile mark for a minute.
I've also been pretty good at tracking what I'm eating. I haven't been perfect every day, but I think logging just heightens my awareness and helps me eat closer to the 'right' amount for me. This weekend was tough because I was out of town, but I still think I managed to do alright.
I prompty broke the streak by not working out yesterday - we spent the day with my parents and then drove back to Durham, and didn't get home until 10:30pm. Oops. I did work out today, though, so I don't feel too bad about it (level 2 of the shred - which is finally getting easier - might be time for level 3!).
So, I should probably commit to some June goals, but I'm not sure my goals are all that different than May, especially since June is going to be a busy month for me. I'd like to...
Lastly, as I prepare to say farewell to Durham, I thought it would be fun for me to review some of my most favorite restaurants... so look forward to those posts throughout the month of June, alongside updates on my running progress and other goals!
Anyone else have June fitness goals, or suggestions for things for me to try?
May 19 - 30 day shred, level 1
May 20 - 30 minute run/walk
May 21 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 22 - 30 minute run/walk and played kickball
May 23 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 24 - 30 minute run/walk
May 25 - moved a lot of heavy furniture / rest day
May 26 - 30 day shred, level 2 and 20 minutes of yoga for runners
May 27 - biked on the stationary bike for 30 minutes (thunderstorms)
May 28 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 29 - ran 1 mile, played kickball
May 30 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 31 - 30 minute run/walk
If you count kickball and moving heavy furniture, I've done 30 minutes of some sort of physical activity every day since May 8th. That's a massive improvement from my April.
Meanwhile, running is HARD - I'm still doing 90 seconds running, 60 seconds walking, and I'm still feeling a lot of tightness in my calves. Right now, my plan is to not increase my running until I have less pain, but I was hoping I'd see improvement more quickly than I have. I was able to run a full mile last week in 10:23, although I did stop to stretch at the half mile mark for a minute.
I prompty broke the streak by not working out yesterday - we spent the day with my parents and then drove back to Durham, and didn't get home until 10:30pm. Oops. I did work out today, though, so I don't feel too bad about it (level 2 of the shred - which is finally getting easier - might be time for level 3!).
So, I should probably commit to some June goals, but I'm not sure my goals are all that different than May, especially since June is going to be a busy month for me. I'd like to...
- Continue getting 30 minutes of exercise daily, or as close to every day as possible (target: at least 6/7 days)
- Run (err, run/walk) at least 3x per week - hopefully increasing my running over time, depending on how I feel
- Strength train at least 3x per week - whether that continues to be the 30 day shred or something else, we shall see
- Yoga (or yoga/pilates) at least 3x per week - probably the Yoga for Runners video I found, but maybe I'll get more adventorous
- Continue to track what I'm eating and stay within my 'caloric budget' most days. I want to be flexible when I am on trips/etc., but I also don't want to go way over every time I eat out.
Lastly, as I prepare to say farewell to Durham, I thought it would be fun for me to review some of my most favorite restaurants... so look forward to those posts throughout the month of June, alongside updates on my running progress and other goals!
Anyone else have June fitness goals, or suggestions for things for me to try?
Sunday, May 18, 2014
weeklyish update
This week, I've had significantly more success in my goals. Maybe public shaming via blog writing helped?
30 minutes of exercise per day:
Monday through Saturday I alternated doing the 30 day shred (level 1) with a 30 minute run/walk. Sunday, I deemed to be a "rest" day, but I didn't want to break the streak so I took Isis for a walk and did a 20 minute Yoga for Runners video.
Getting back into running is harder than I had hoped. Even though I'm only running 90 seconds at a time, by the end of my last interval I'm definitely feeling tightness in my calves/shins. I'm hoping by doing plenty of stretching and strength training and taking it slow, I'll eventually be able to get back to running pain-free for more than a few minutes at a time.
Track what I eat / Reduce caloric intake:
I started using loseit.com again to track my food, and by setting a caloric budget on there I was able to stay "in budget" 6 out of 7 days this past week.
Saturday was my friend Shelley's bachelorette party, and the combination of delicious Korean food, champagne, and nutella cookies set me "over budget". On the flip side, I probably burned off at least a few of those calories singing and dancing the night away in our private karaoke party room.
In other news, today was my 100th day of the #100happydays challenge. I looked back at my Instagrams of the past 100 days and found that 30% of them were pictures of Isis, 26% were either with Scott or of something I was doing with Scott, and 27% were of food or drinks. So apparently my life in a nutshell is puppy, husband, and eating/drinking. Sounds about right. (Also, if you are wondering why that adds to more thna 100%, it's because I often had pictures of Scott+Isis or pictures of Scott+I eating something delicious for dinner).
In keeping with the "teaspoons" half of this blog, this week I hope to write a bit about what I've been cooking lately. I haven't been as creative in the kitchen as I used to be, but I feel like I've recently gotten better about cooking regularly.... except for Thursday when a tornado came through Durham and our power went out. Then we got take out from my favorite burrito place :-)
30 minutes of exercise per day:
Monday through Saturday I alternated doing the 30 day shred (level 1) with a 30 minute run/walk. Sunday, I deemed to be a "rest" day, but I didn't want to break the streak so I took Isis for a walk and did a 20 minute Yoga for Runners video.
Getting back into running is harder than I had hoped. Even though I'm only running 90 seconds at a time, by the end of my last interval I'm definitely feeling tightness in my calves/shins. I'm hoping by doing plenty of stretching and strength training and taking it slow, I'll eventually be able to get back to running pain-free for more than a few minutes at a time.
Track what I eat / Reduce caloric intake:
I started using loseit.com again to track my food, and by setting a caloric budget on there I was able to stay "in budget" 6 out of 7 days this past week.
Saturday was my friend Shelley's bachelorette party, and the combination of delicious Korean food, champagne, and nutella cookies set me "over budget". On the flip side, I probably burned off at least a few of those calories singing and dancing the night away in our private karaoke party room.
In other news, today was my 100th day of the #100happydays challenge. I looked back at my Instagrams of the past 100 days and found that 30% of them were pictures of Isis, 26% were either with Scott or of something I was doing with Scott, and 27% were of food or drinks. So apparently my life in a nutshell is puppy, husband, and eating/drinking. Sounds about right. (Also, if you are wondering why that adds to more thna 100%, it's because I often had pictures of Scott+Isis or pictures of Scott+I eating something delicious for dinner).
In keeping with the "teaspoons" half of this blog, this week I hope to write a bit about what I've been cooking lately. I haven't been as creative in the kitchen as I used to be, but I feel like I've recently gotten better about cooking regularly.... except for Thursday when a tornado came through Durham and our power went out. Then we got take out from my favorite burrito place :-)
Monday, May 12, 2014
May goals so far
Well, I haven't exactly stuck to all of my May goals so far.
Goal #1: Get 30 minutes of exercise per day:
In addition to having failed for 4 days, I need to start doing something besides walking. See: today's 30 day shred, and tomorrow's goal of going for a run.
Goal #2: Track what I'm eating.
I started using loseit.com again, and I've logged food 7 of the last 12 days. Not terrible, but definite room for improvement.
Goal #3: Reduce caloric intake in some vague way
I told myself I was going to drink less alcohol, but I had at least one drink on 6 of the last 12 days. I can probably reduce this - but there always seems to be a reason: free beer when we win kickball, Cinco de Mayo tequila, trying the local bar's new blueberry beer... abstaining from alcohol is hard! Yet, I know alcohol is empty calories I could cut out if I really tried.
As for other ways to reduce my caloric intake, I have snacked a bit less, so that's a pro.
I'm thinking about looking for a new app to use to track workouts (mostly walking and running). I think ideally, I'd like an app that can help facilitate my workouts - e.g. has the ability to set up run/walk intervals and tell you on your headphones when to run/walk. I'd also like it to be able to store info on distance/time/pace/calories burned I think. Bonus points if it interfaces with some way for me to track what I'm eating, so that I have one central place for workouts + caloric intake. Any suggestions, blog world?
Goal #1: Get 30 minutes of exercise per day:
- May 2 and 3: 30 minute walk
- May 4-7: FAIL
- May 8: kickball!
- May 9 and 10: 30 minute walk
- May 11: kickball
- May 12: 30 day shred
In addition to having failed for 4 days, I need to start doing something besides walking. See: today's 30 day shred, and tomorrow's goal of going for a run.
Goal #2: Track what I'm eating.
I started using loseit.com again, and I've logged food 7 of the last 12 days. Not terrible, but definite room for improvement.
Goal #3: Reduce caloric intake in some vague way
I told myself I was going to drink less alcohol, but I had at least one drink on 6 of the last 12 days. I can probably reduce this - but there always seems to be a reason: free beer when we win kickball, Cinco de Mayo tequila, trying the local bar's new blueberry beer... abstaining from alcohol is hard! Yet, I know alcohol is empty calories I could cut out if I really tried.
As for other ways to reduce my caloric intake, I have snacked a bit less, so that's a pro.
I'm thinking about looking for a new app to use to track workouts (mostly walking and running). I think ideally, I'd like an app that can help facilitate my workouts - e.g. has the ability to set up run/walk intervals and tell you on your headphones when to run/walk. I'd also like it to be able to store info on distance/time/pace/calories burned I think. Bonus points if it interfaces with some way for me to track what I'm eating, so that I have one central place for workouts + caloric intake. Any suggestions, blog world?
Friday, May 2, 2014
restart.
1. Get 30 minutes of exercise in every day. This will primarily be a combination of strength workout DVDs and run/walking as I try to get back into running shape.
2. Track what I'm eating. When I track it, I am better at eating healthier.
3. Reduce my daily caloric intake by cutting out things that aren't good for me / are unnecessary. This is kind of vague and will be an experiment - but I'd like to snack less, eat out less and cook more, and drink less alcohol.
And, to make this post a bit more interesting, here are a few photos to sum up my past 9 months or so:
 |
| Went to the UMD @ VTech football game (November) |
 |
| Isis got to play in the snow in Maine (December) |
 |
| Attended a wonderful winter wedding (January) |
 |
| Went to the National's home opener (April) |
 |
| Attended another beautiful wedding (April) |
 |
| Visited my alma matter to celebrate 100 years of Greek life (April) |
... I guess April was eventful! :)
Thursday, August 22, 2013
adventures in cooking.
ahhh cooking. i'm doing some cooking. it's going okay. here's the thing: i used to like making elaborate new things. but money is tight [not like, omg we can't pay bills tight, but more like, oh let's not shop at whole foods and spend $1,000,000 on groceries tight] and scott does not have very adventorous tastes. plus, i'm busy. these factors have all contributed to my kitchen being a little.... boring.
okay, let's be real, it's mostly scott's lack of adventorous tastes that's driving this. everyone shake a finger at scott and tell him to start eating more vegetables. and fish. and beans. so, it's hard to make food that is simultaneously healthy and interesting and meets scott's culinary tastes. thus, our average meals tend to be baked chicken, rice/pasta, and a side of steamed green beans for him + a side of steamed whatever type of vegetable i feel like. or a casserole. there are a handful of veggies i can sneak into casseroles without getting into trouble, so i go that route sometimes too.
speaking of casseroles, i recently made a major life discovery. this will PROBABLY not be new news to any of you, but i learned that you can put rice, water, a can of cream of soup, and chicken into the oven and out will pop a casserole. let me rephrase that. you can put UNCOOKED rice and UNCOOKED chicken, in a casserole dish, with water/cream of whatever, and the rice and chicken will come out done. MIND. BLOWN. [thank you campbell's for teaching me new things.]
okay, i knew you could put raw chicken in the oven and it would come out baked, duh. but i seriously just never knew i could BAKE my rice like that. do you know how much time that saves? am i the only person on the planet who was unaware of this magic?
unless of course, you leave your husband in charge of the baking part. i made the above-linked recipe on tuesday, and i pre-made it at home before i left for spin class. i told scott to bake it covered at 375 for 45 minutes. when i got home, it was just about ready to come out of the oven. perfect. i had time to shower real quick and then get dinner on the table. except the rice was only sort of done. parts were fine, but parts were still a bit crunchy. [luckily, the chicken was plenty cooked]. so while we are eating our half-cooked dinner i remark that i guess it needs more than 45 minutes, maybe i needed to use a shallower dish or something. and scott goes, "well, did i need to pre-heat the oven first, and then bake it for 45 minutes?" ...uhhh, how ELSE would you interpret "bake at 375 for 45 minutes"!?!?!? apparently, he turned on the oven, put in the casserole, and set the timer simultaneously, rather than letting the oven preheat.. no, dearest husband, that is not correct. LE SIGH.
luckily, this was easily remedied by an additional 5-10 minutes in the oven. the casserole was much less soupy and the rice cooked quite nicely. but y'all, be careful when you instruct your kitchen-illiterate husbands [or wives or friends] to help with dinner.
okay, let's be real, it's mostly scott's lack of adventorous tastes that's driving this. everyone shake a finger at scott and tell him to start eating more vegetables. and fish. and beans. so, it's hard to make food that is simultaneously healthy and interesting and meets scott's culinary tastes. thus, our average meals tend to be baked chicken, rice/pasta, and a side of steamed green beans for him + a side of steamed whatever type of vegetable i feel like. or a casserole. there are a handful of veggies i can sneak into casseroles without getting into trouble, so i go that route sometimes too.
speaking of casseroles, i recently made a major life discovery. this will PROBABLY not be new news to any of you, but i learned that you can put rice, water, a can of cream of soup, and chicken into the oven and out will pop a casserole. let me rephrase that. you can put UNCOOKED rice and UNCOOKED chicken, in a casserole dish, with water/cream of whatever, and the rice and chicken will come out done. MIND. BLOWN. [thank you campbell's for teaching me new things.]
okay, i knew you could put raw chicken in the oven and it would come out baked, duh. but i seriously just never knew i could BAKE my rice like that. do you know how much time that saves? am i the only person on the planet who was unaware of this magic?
unless of course, you leave your husband in charge of the baking part. i made the above-linked recipe on tuesday, and i pre-made it at home before i left for spin class. i told scott to bake it covered at 375 for 45 minutes. when i got home, it was just about ready to come out of the oven. perfect. i had time to shower real quick and then get dinner on the table. except the rice was only sort of done. parts were fine, but parts were still a bit crunchy. [luckily, the chicken was plenty cooked]. so while we are eating our half-cooked dinner i remark that i guess it needs more than 45 minutes, maybe i needed to use a shallower dish or something. and scott goes, "well, did i need to pre-heat the oven first, and then bake it for 45 minutes?" ...uhhh, how ELSE would you interpret "bake at 375 for 45 minutes"!?!?!? apparently, he turned on the oven, put in the casserole, and set the timer simultaneously, rather than letting the oven preheat.. no, dearest husband, that is not correct. LE SIGH.
luckily, this was easily remedied by an additional 5-10 minutes in the oven. the casserole was much less soupy and the rice cooked quite nicely. but y'all, be careful when you instruct your kitchen-illiterate husbands [or wives or friends] to help with dinner.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
training update: week of 8/11-8/17
Thanks for all of your suggestions about future posts. I'll try to incorporate everyone's suggestions! I think I will also try to keep a "diary" of how much runs/workouts are going.... so here's last week:
Monday
I meant to run before work, but, well, I like to sleep. So after work I checked the weather and with a heat index OVER 100, I headed to the gym. My plan was to walk for 5ish minutes to warm up and then run 3 miles, with 1 minute walking breaks between each mile. After walking I started off at what I thought would be an easy running pace - 5.5 or 11:00ish minute miles - and OMG it was hard. I think the gym was hot. And humid. Or [insert some other excuse for why it felt so hard]. I did manage to run 3 miles, but I let myself have 2 minute walking breaks in between each mile. I varied my running pace from 5.2-6.2 throughout, but mostly stayed in the 5.5-5.7 range. I'm pretty sure every single minute was hard, but luckily I had an entertaining podcast about the season finale of the Bachelorette to listen to (courtesy of Jamie Golden and Knox McCoy).
When I got home, I did a little bit of strength: a front plank, side planks, leg lifts, leg circles, bridges, and pushups. Not a million reps or anything, but hey, I did it!
Tuesday
I woke up with some sore hamstrings and shoulders. Nothing too terrible, but I definitely felt it, and was somewhat surprised... that isn't normally a place I feel sore after running! Today, I went to spin class for cross training. The gym has new bikes which track more stats on your workout. I was on the bike (moving) for 68 minutes, during which time I went 22.1 miles and burned 751 calories. I totally do not buy that calorie count - I didn't enter my height, weight, or gender, so who knows what algorithm they are using. Still, I bet I burned over 400 calories (maybe 500+) and that's pretty good in my book. Also, I'm not sure how they determine distance (it tracks RPMs?), but that seems more straightforward and more likely to be accurate. Anyway, the class was pretty good. It's a teacher I've been to before. She does a lot of mini routines that she repeats 3-5x in a row, usually making them a bit harder each time. It's not my favorite, but I don't mind it and she plays decent music. So, overall a good class! Afterwards, I was tired and a little sore, but not TOO bad, and I made sure to stretch extra when I got home.
Wednesday
It magically cooled down here, enough so that I thought running outdoors was a good idea today (it was in the mid 70s, somewhat humid). I was super excited to listen to Jamie and Knox's new podcast, the PopCast, so so I got my iPhone & arm band and started with a 5-ish minute walk up a hill before I got to relatively flat terrain and started my run. All I can say about this run is UGH. My plan was to run 3 miles, with 1 minute walk breaks every mile, but I think I probably walked on average 1-2 minutes every half mile. It was SOHARD. WTF running!? I also felt achey - my calves were super tight, and my anterior tibs were not feeling 100%, so I was super nervousabout pushing myself. So, I managed to run/walk around 3.2 miles, with an average pace somewhere in the 11:00 minute mile range (including the walking). Man, I hope this running thing gets easier soon.
Thursday/Friday
Thursday, I was going to play kickball, but instead I went to happy hour for 4 hours. Friday, I was going to run, but instead I worked on my dissertation proposal.
Saturday
I wasn't really in the mood to run Saturday, but I really wanted to run at least 3 times during the week, so Saturday afternoon around 4pm I forced myself out the door. It was raining a little, which I thought would help to keep me cool. Notsomuch. It was sooooo humid. My first mile, I managed to only stop to walk once for 1 minute, but my second mile was much harder, and I ended up doing 1/4 mile run/walk intervals. It was partially due to humidity, but my calves were also really tight and I was worried that was a sign of my lingering injury. I was feeling better for my last mile and managed to run all but 2-ish minutes. Seriously, when did running get so hard? When I got back, I wanted to collapse, but I managed to do a plank and some pushups.
I was hoping that my "long run" this weekend would be 5 miles, but I really was barely up for 3. I also thought I would aim for 4 runs, but, only managed 3. So, I need to work on a training plan for the next twoish months, and I'm trying to decide what makes sense. One current debate: I'd like to cardio 4-5 times per week. This could be: 4 runs, 1 spin class; 3 runs, 2 spin classes; 3 runs, a spin class,and something else.... maybe Zumba? Thoughts anyone?
My other debate is about strength training - I'd like to do strength training more consistently. In fact, I NEED to, because it's the only way to prevent myself from getting injured again. One option is to pick a very small number of things and try to do them every day (e.g. a plank, side planks, pushups, and squats). The pro here would be that maybe I could get in a routine (do it first thing every morning) and actually get moreconsistnt. The cons are that some people say you shouldn't strength train EVERY day, and that if I am going to do something daily it's going to only be about 10 minutes of work - maybe not enough to reallly make improvements? On the other hand, isn't something better than nothing? I guess I could create a longer routine to do at home and do that 2-3x per week to give myself breaks. I've just been SO BAD at staying consistent in the past. I could also try to start doing Jillian DVDs again. Also, Duke's gym has pilates, yoga/pilates, power yoga, core blast, and HIIT classes that I can take. I'm not sure I'm up for HIIT - people tell me they are sore for DAYS after... like, too sore to run. That doesn't sound enticing, but I guess it could be worth trying? Any advice here would be welcome!
Monday
I meant to run before work, but, well, I like to sleep. So after work I checked the weather and with a heat index OVER 100, I headed to the gym. My plan was to walk for 5ish minutes to warm up and then run 3 miles, with 1 minute walking breaks between each mile. After walking I started off at what I thought would be an easy running pace - 5.5 or 11:00ish minute miles - and OMG it was hard. I think the gym was hot. And humid. Or [insert some other excuse for why it felt so hard]. I did manage to run 3 miles, but I let myself have 2 minute walking breaks in between each mile. I varied my running pace from 5.2-6.2 throughout, but mostly stayed in the 5.5-5.7 range. I'm pretty sure every single minute was hard, but luckily I had an entertaining podcast about the season finale of the Bachelorette to listen to (courtesy of Jamie Golden and Knox McCoy).
When I got home, I did a little bit of strength: a front plank, side planks, leg lifts, leg circles, bridges, and pushups. Not a million reps or anything, but hey, I did it!
Tuesday
I woke up with some sore hamstrings and shoulders. Nothing too terrible, but I definitely felt it, and was somewhat surprised... that isn't normally a place I feel sore after running! Today, I went to spin class for cross training. The gym has new bikes which track more stats on your workout. I was on the bike (moving) for 68 minutes, during which time I went 22.1 miles and burned 751 calories. I totally do not buy that calorie count - I didn't enter my height, weight, or gender, so who knows what algorithm they are using. Still, I bet I burned over 400 calories (maybe 500+) and that's pretty good in my book. Also, I'm not sure how they determine distance (it tracks RPMs?), but that seems more straightforward and more likely to be accurate. Anyway, the class was pretty good. It's a teacher I've been to before. She does a lot of mini routines that she repeats 3-5x in a row, usually making them a bit harder each time. It's not my favorite, but I don't mind it and she plays decent music. So, overall a good class! Afterwards, I was tired and a little sore, but not TOO bad, and I made sure to stretch extra when I got home.
Wednesday
It magically cooled down here, enough so that I thought running outdoors was a good idea today (it was in the mid 70s, somewhat humid). I was super excited to listen to Jamie and Knox's new podcast, the PopCast, so so I got my iPhone & arm band and started with a 5-ish minute walk up a hill before I got to relatively flat terrain and started my run. All I can say about this run is UGH. My plan was to run 3 miles, with 1 minute walk breaks every mile, but I think I probably walked on average 1-2 minutes every half mile. It was SOHARD. WTF running!? I also felt achey - my calves were super tight, and my anterior tibs were not feeling 100%, so I was super nervousabout pushing myself. So, I managed to run/walk around 3.2 miles, with an average pace somewhere in the 11:00 minute mile range (including the walking). Man, I hope this running thing gets easier soon.
 |
| sweaty, but apparently still able to smile about it. |
Thursday/Friday
Thursday, I was going to play kickball, but instead I went to happy hour for 4 hours. Friday, I was going to run, but instead I worked on my dissertation proposal.
Saturday
I wasn't really in the mood to run Saturday, but I really wanted to run at least 3 times during the week, so Saturday afternoon around 4pm I forced myself out the door. It was raining a little, which I thought would help to keep me cool. Notsomuch. It was sooooo humid. My first mile, I managed to only stop to walk once for 1 minute, but my second mile was much harder, and I ended up doing 1/4 mile run/walk intervals. It was partially due to humidity, but my calves were also really tight and I was worried that was a sign of my lingering injury. I was feeling better for my last mile and managed to run all but 2-ish minutes. Seriously, when did running get so hard? When I got back, I wanted to collapse, but I managed to do a plank and some pushups.
 |
| no smiles left in me after this run. collapsed on my bedroom floor. |
My other debate is about strength training - I'd like to do strength training more consistently. In fact, I NEED to, because it's the only way to prevent myself from getting injured again. One option is to pick a very small number of things and try to do them every day (e.g. a plank, side planks, pushups, and squats). The pro here would be that maybe I could get in a routine (do it first thing every morning) and actually get moreconsistnt. The cons are that some people say you shouldn't strength train EVERY day, and that if I am going to do something daily it's going to only be about 10 minutes of work - maybe not enough to reallly make improvements? On the other hand, isn't something better than nothing? I guess I could create a longer routine to do at home and do that 2-3x per week to give myself breaks. I've just been SO BAD at staying consistent in the past. I could also try to start doing Jillian DVDs again. Also, Duke's gym has pilates, yoga/pilates, power yoga, core blast, and HIIT classes that I can take. I'm not sure I'm up for HIIT - people tell me they are sore for DAYS after... like, too sore to run. That doesn't sound enticing, but I guess it could be worth trying? Any advice here would be welcome!
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