Miss Me?

Oh my gosh.

Hello!

Did you guys miss me? Well, I didn’t miss you…

Just kidding. I still need to catch up on reading all your blogs. I’m so behind due to work and working out and turning orange…

I have had pumpkin soup every day this week. 16oz worth of pumpkin soup. I’m going to turn orange. 

Anyway, my workouts have not included running a billion miles. I am in the worst running rut currently. I hate running. I never been in this terrible of a running rut before either so it is frightening me.

I have no desire to run, but I force myself to at least run on the treadmill for as long as I can handle it. I wish I was still running 50 miles a week, but I love running, but I don’t want to now.

I just don’t want to run. Boooo to me. Has anyone else ever been in a super dull running rut?

So, if I haven’t been running, what have I been doing?

Eating Bonbons and watching soaps all day.

I start my workout with some plyometrics in my 20 pound weight vest. Yeah, plyometric workouts are tough and sweaty, but try with it a 20 pound weight vest.

I went through two shirts during my workout. Now, all the guys at the gym start talking to me. Not the senior citizen dudes, but young cute guys. They only go, “Sup?”, but still. That’s better than nothing.

Then, all the women are like, “What does that skinny ass girl think she is doing?”

I’ve been doing plyo moves like this:

• 2 sets of 15 jump squats
• 2 sets of 15 jumping jacks
• 2 sets of 15 alternating jump lunges
• 2 sets of 15 high knees
• 2 sets of 15 mountain climbers
• 2 sets of 15 running butt kicks
• 2 sets of 15 wide push ups
• 2 sets of 15 jumping jacks
• 2 sets of 15 bicycle crunches

And…

Julie’s track workout…

• 2 miles or 8 times around the track: jogging (running or walking whichever you prefer)
• 1 mile of sprinting the lengths of the track (8 sprints total)
• in between the sprinting (for the ‘widths) i did the following:
• backwards jog (2 widths)
• sidestepping (alternating sides) – 2 widths
• high knees – 2 widths
• butt kicks – 2 widths
• 10 bleacher runs (up 15 steps, across, down 15 steps)
• 30 seconds bleacher up-downs (times 2)
• squat jumps 15 (3x)
• pushup with leg side crunch 15 (3x)
• 1 minute planks (3x)
• reverse crunches alternating with leg lifts (25 each) 2x
• squat jumps 15 reps (2x)
• box jumps (using bleachers) 15 reps 2x
• 1 lap around the track, jogging

And…

	Single Leg Hops	Bleacher Hops	Double Leg Bounds	Alternate Leg Bounds	Squat Jumps	Depth Jumps	Box Jumps
1	2 x 10	2 x 10
2	2 x 10	2 x 10
3	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10
4	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10
5	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10
6	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10	2 x 10

What are some of your favorite plyometric workouts? 

Supposedly, plyo is great for runners.

According to Running Times, Plyometric training has been shown to be an important part of training a distance runner to recruit muscle fibers most efficiently. Dr. Karp explains this, saying, “Increasing the rate at which muscles can produce force helps improve how oxygen is used to maintain any given speed. It’s really about exploiting the elastic properties of muscles and tendons and how they utilize elastic energy.

After doing some plyo moves, I hit up the stairmaster or the elliptical. Then, I lift some weights for 45 minutes.

Today, however, I switched it up. I rode my bike to the gym (7.25 miles), ran 4 miles, lifted 35 minutes, ran another mile, and then rode my bike home the long way for a total of 16 miles of bike riding. 

Lifting has been going great. My arms are feeling it. I love it. Lifting > running as of now.

Well, anyway. If you e-mailed me in the past few days, I’ll get back to you soon. 

I apologize for my absence  and how boring I am now, but even six shots of espresso and Irish cream doesn’t wake me up.

To make my blog worth wild again, I have some upcoming posts on acupuncture and… whatever else you guys want to see. Let a sista know.

Enjoy the rest of your week, guys! I miss you all and let’s hope work calms down. I signed up for part-time and I’m working full time. Oh wee. What’s up with that?

“Out on the roads there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons we were destined to be.”

Outrunning Yourself

Let’s not even talk about Race the Reaper.

Well, okay. I suppose I could mention it and how disappointed I am in myself. I finished in, like, an hour. I was the second woman, fifth in my heap (I believe). I lost to the other woman by very little distance.

I just couldn’t climb this rope in the very, very end of the race. I could not do it. I was way ahead of the other woman and she caught up with me because I just couldn’t climb the rope. All you had to do was climb the rope and touch the top. No. I got frustrated. I started swearing up a storm. (I’m Italian and Irish. Not a good a mix.) Everyone that was watching was trying to offer me pointers and my mom was yelling at me. I just feel like a huge failure. I am not looking for a pity party.

I did it eventually, but I felt like shit since the woman beat me.

I’m just super pissed at myself. I feel like a let down to myself, which I am. I don’t feel strong, fast, or even capable of making the Marines.

I don’t know. It’s whatever at this point.

The course itself was rather tiring. It was more about strength and pulling yourself over walls after climbing giant hills (perhaps I should call them mountains).  My arms are sore and I don’t want to eat.

It was fun though, until the end where I gave up basically.

I have come to the conclusion of this:

• Work on upper body strength more. Not just with lifting weights, but doing pulls up, push ups, etc.
• Eat better. I eat really well as it is, but I think I am going to cut out a lot of sugars, desserts, ice cream, and cookies.
• Maybe eat more? Maybe I could have done really well in the race and had more energy throughout if I ate more. As it is, I really don’t know how much to eat. I just eat to eat or when I’m hungry.

I am going to switch up my workout routine to something like this…

Day 1: Back/Biceps

• Deadlift: 5 sets of 5 reps
• Pullups: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Cable Row: 2 sets of 12 reps, 1 drop set of 12 reps, 65% previous weight
• Lat Pulldown: 2 sets of 12 reps, 1 drop set of 12 reps, 65% previous weight
• Dumbbell Row: 2 sets of 12 reps, 1 drop set of 12 reps, 65% previous weight
• Preacher Curl: 3 sets of 15 reps
• Hammer Curl: 2 sets of 15 reps, 1 drop set of 15 reps, 65% previous weight

Day 2: Chest/Triceps

• Incline Dumbbell Bench: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Barbell Flat Bench: 2 sets of 12 reps, 1 drop set of 12 reps, 65% previous weight
• Wide-Grip Bench Press: 2 sets of 12 reps, 1 drop set of 12 reps, 65% previous weight
• Cable Flyes: 5 sets of 12 reps, 1 drop set of 12 reps, 65% previous weight
• Pushups On the Ball: 3 sets to failure
• Skull Crushers: 3 sets of 15 reps
• Tricep Pushdown with Rope: 2 sets of 15 reps, 1 drop set of 15 reps

Day 3: Legs/Abs

• Barbell Squat: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Leg Press: 2 sets of 20 reps, 1 drop set of 20 reps, 65% previous weight
• Stiff Legged Deadlift: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Lunges: 3 sets of 15 reps

Superset:

• Leg Curl: 3 sets of 20 reps
• Leg Extension: 3 sets of 20 reps

• Calf Raises: 5 sets of 20 reps
• Hanging Leg Raises: 5 sets to failure
• Rope Crunches: 3 sets of 20 reps

Day 4: Arms

• Barbell Curl: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Close-Grip Bench Press: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Seated Hammer Curls: 3 drop sets of 12 reps
• Skull Crushers: 3 drop sets of 12 reps
• Preacher Curl: 3 drop sets of 12 reps
• Tricep Pushdown: 3 drop sets of 12 reps

Day 5: Shoulders/Abs

• Military Press: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Arnold Press: 3 sets of 15 reps with drop sets
• Front Raises: 3 sets of 20 reps
• Lateral Raises: 3 sets of 20 reps
• Shrugs: 5 sets of 12 reps
• Russian Twists: 3 sets of 20 reps
• Obliques Crunches: 3 sets of 20 reps

I suppose we all have ‘bad‘ races where we feel like we didn’t perform our best.  I know the day of XC Regional ‘s, I thought I raced terribly. I felt awful about it too. I wouldn’t eat and I wouldn’t talk. That’s how I felt today. I’m such a competitive person that I get sick when I feel like I could have done better.

The  thing is, I feel this way often. I feel like I can always push myself just one more mile, minute, second. 

“The important thing is the attitude of the athlete, the desire to get to the top.”-Herb Elliott

I know I have a shitty attitude. I can be a bitch. It’s just that I want to win. I simply want to impress and feel good about myself. 

Today wasn’t about myself running the fastest, although that was a factor. It was about having strength. Clearly, I lack upper body strength. Today was also about confidence. I have zero. It’s difficult to perform well when you don’t like yourself.

Today was not a bad race. I was just not strong enough mentally and that was the most difficult part. The only thing that entered my mind today was failure, which led me to it.

Warrior Dash

Hiya!

I bet you want to hear all about the Warrior Dash. Well, that’s gonna have to wait. I’m going to rewind a bit.

Friday: No work! I woke up at six anyway to workout with some Marines. You know how that turned out. After that, I rested for a bit before I headed to my acupuncture appointment. It was incredible! The back of my legs (hamstring, calves, part of foot) was done. It didn’t hurt at all. I’ll have a single post on acupuncture for runners later on. I also got a massage. The woman giving the massage told me my right leg was extremely tight and so was the arch of my right foot. Go figure because that’s where my current problem is now. My right foot/toe area is bugging me. Now it’s not so terrible and I feel like I could run, but I’m holding it off.

Anyway, I’m hoping to go to another acupuncture appointment soon. It seemed to really help.

Friday night I went out to dinner, too, with my folks as well as my brother and his girlfriend. My family usually doesn’t eat at commercial restaurants, but we went to Outback Steakhouse. That use to be my favorite place when I was meat-eater. Besides, they have delicious bread. I got the Mahi with a salad and grilled onions.

Let me tell ya, I love onions. I seriously thought my meal was so good. I was really surprised and impressed.

After that, we raided fro-yo.

Saturday: I worked all day. No joke. After work, however, I did get Voodoo Doughnuts. In case you never heard of Voodoo Doughnuts even though they appeared on Food Network and the Cooking Channel, they are the best donuts ever.

They are rather popular in Portland. Voodoo Doughnuts makes some of the awesomest (yeah, I said it) donuts.

I just got the classic Voodoo donut as well as cereal one.

Sunday: Warrior Dash!

 

It was rather hectic getting there. My mom decided to bring two of our dogs and it was 90+ degrees out. We were trying to park and there were 200+ cars in a single file line trying to drive down a dirt road to a giant field where there would be parking. My mom was freaking out since we were running out of gas and she’s just a spaz. I got angry and left the car, got my bib number, lined up, and raced.

It was tougher than I imagined! It started with giant hills. Not like any hill, but hills that were so steep I could not run up them. I was running in a shuffle, luckily passing others. There was so much dirt too. I was eating and breathing dirt.

The first obstacle was going into deep water and climbing over logs. I was too short to even reach the bottom of the creek/pond/whatever it was water.

The next obstacle was jumping over cars. That was simple. There were plenty of wall climbing and running through hanging tires or ropes. I know it sounds like a piece of cake, but I was so out of breath from the running. Amazingly enough, my foot did not hurt until I dropped a few feet from climbing over a wall.

I was passing people like crazy though. It was the most I have ever cussed in a race. Also, it was the first time I walked in a race because I swear it turned into a hike. I felt like I was crawling up a mountain.

The last obstacle included jumping over fire then swimming in mud.

Exhibit A:

The price I paid for getting into that mud… hives. I have little red bumps all over my chest and back right now. I am itching like crazy that I went home from work early today. I couldn’t take it. I am not on enough medicine that I am passing out while I type this.

Warrior Dash was hella fun and tough. I don’t know why I thought it was going to be easy. I finished in less than 30 minutes though.  Some people took over an hour. It all depended on your fitness level. I know mine could definitely be better.  I can’t blame myself though. All last week I did not run. I was on the elliptical because of my damn foot.

It’s just odd that I felt nothing running in the race. Then, today, it felt okay. It didn’t run still and now I really want to run. I do not understand how I can run 50 miles for a month then reduce mileage insanely and that’s when I get hurt. It angers me.

Anyway, Warrior Dash was a blast! If it is different next year, I will definitely do it again.

After I finished the race around 3:00 (I’ll have more accurate info when I get my results), I went to look for my mother. Yeah, she was not there. I sat by a tree for two hours. Turns out she left and didn’t even watch me race. I suppose she was a terrible mood that day, which caused me to be a terrible mood today too.

Well, here’s the review of August 5th through August 11th:

Monday: Ran 8.58 miles @ a very slow pace
Tuesday: Ran 5.71 trails
Wednesday: Elliptical + Weights
Thursday: elliptical and strength class
Friday: Elliptical + stair master + weights
Saturday: Elliptical + weights
Sunday: Spin class + Warrior Dash (3.1 miles)

Total mileage: 17.39 miles

I wish it was higher, but whatdaya gonna do? When you can’t run, you can’t run. Good thing I don’t mind the elliptical and good thing I am giving up desserts.

Honorable eats:

Apple tart
Spicy fritata
 Apple quinoa
Sweet potato cakes + eggs
 

That’s it for now! I hope you  all are having a fabulous week.

“Just do the best with what you have, and you’ll soon be doing it better.”  -Gil Hodges

I Know You Care

Howdy!

This week I am busy and I’m not even running.

Oh my god. I know you care about my running and how it is not happening. Yeah, I don’t know why all of a sudden my foot hurts, but it does and I don’t want to run because of it. First it was just my second toe that was hurting and now it’s below my second toe on the top of my foot.

Like I said, I have too many problems. 

I don’t plan on running until Saturday if everything feels okay because I do want to run before my 11 AM shift. Either way I will be running Sunday for the Warrior Dash.

On Friday, I go to the gym at 7:30 to train with my Marines recruiter then afterwards I have tutoring. I’m not done yet. I have an acupuncture appointment. I’m rather excited about getting needles stabbed into me. Hopefully it will help my foot.

Are you guys interested in a post on acupuncture for runners? I got some good details on it. I almost said ‘I got some good deets on that’. It was odd. I also wanted to do a post on eating before bedtime and some other jazzy shit stuff. Just let me know what you want to read/see. So whatcha whatcha want. 

Anyway, it’s Wednesday! I now love Wednesday because of…

I don’t have a proper WIAW, but regardless, I have had some good eats in the past few days. 

Spinach pie + fish
Spicy fish + spinach + veggies + rice
Giant oatmeal cookie + Muscle Milk
Detour protein bar (so good!)
Trix cereal + cottage cheese
Chocolate coconut water 

Not pictured: fro-yo from Yogurtland

What I worked Wednesday:

1 hour on the elliptical + full body lifting

My great cell phone photography skills. Enjoy. 

Well, if I was in the blogging mood I would totally bore you guys with my life and what’s going on, but I think I might hold off.

Until then, happy Wednesday! 

“You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.” - PREFONTAINE

How Low Can You Go?

I’m throwing you guys for a loop here.

You ready?

I only ran three days this week. Oh my god. Someone call the loony bin because I went off the  deep end.

Or maybe not.

I’ve been in a bit of a running funk lately. All my runs suck. I feel slow and, yeah, I was slow for my own terms. I was running seven minute miles or more (less?) and I barely wanted to run farther than a mile.

I obviously needed a break from running since I have been running 50+ mile weeks for a month. My mind wanted to continue, but my body didn’t. Then my mind started to concur with my body.

So, I ran three times this week. I’ll probably run about the same next week too and I’ll see where I should go from there. Also, my big toe area has been feeling odd. I don’t know. I have too many problems.

Active rest is so important. I was feeling sluggish and I thought it was just me. It wasn’t my body, I thought. I believed I was just a huge failure. Then, I read this article. “With all this talk about running, it’s easy to forget about weight training and core work. Summer is a great time to gain strength and work on weaknesses. Even if you can’t get to a gym or weight room, there are plenty of exercises that can be done at home—chair dips, push-ups, stair step-ups, squat jumps, etc. Pair two leg or arm exercises with two ab exercises and do three sets of each. Or choose six exercises and do two circuits of everything. “

I still weight trained three times this week, but I just added in the elliptical, a strength class, and  spin class.

It’s funny how not running as much caused my appetite to spike. I feel so hungry all the time now. It could be the weight lifting though. I have been adding more weights and the next day I feel it.

So enough blah blah blah. Here’s my week in review:

August 29th through September 4th

Monday: Hour elliptical + 45 minute RIPPED class (strength training, plyo, and abs)
Tuesday: 12.25 mile run @ 6:59 pace (fastest pace – 6:36)
Wednesday: 7.78 miles @  6.59 pace (fastest pace – 6.40) + Weights

Thursday: Approximately 9.60 miles @ 6.51 pace (I forgot to start my Garmin at one point.)
Friday:  Elliptical + weights

Saturday: Spin class + elliptical
Sunday: Weights + spin class

Total mileage: Approximately 29.

Yeah, that’s a huge difference from fifty. It almost frightens me.

I plan on running tomorrow and I hope it goes well.

Honorable eats:

Peppermint cake
Salmon cakes and Indian rice
Oat bran muffin + custard
Tofu + tamale
Peanut butter cheesecake

In case you missed it:

• My view on salads.
• Recovery Running.
• My second WIAW.

“If you train your mind for running, everything else will be easy.”
                                  –Amby Burfoot 

And You Thought You Knew Me Already

Hey, buddies!

Did you miss me?

I have been super busy working and trying to get my running game back on.

By the way, it’s not.

All my runs just make me feel awful. Afterwards, I’m like, “Alright. I bet I could get back out there tomorrow.” I do and then I start running…

My body is just like, “Slow down. Stop. Go again. Slow ‘er down.”

I even tried listening to music during my run and that simply gave me a headache.

I don’t know. Perhaps I’m just going through a running funk. That happens, I suppose. I would give up running for a week, but I wouldn’t know what to do instead besides lifting.

Also, another bee-tee-dubs for you, lifting is going fantastic. I am getting stronger. I love not being able to walk or lift my arms after strength training.

I do not want to be all down in the dumps about it. I’ll just complain about my running tomorrow.

I got something else up my sleeve. 

I was tagged by the super speedy Tara for the  “Blissful Blogger Award” and the “fresh fruition hungry blogger tag”.

The  “Blissful Blogger Award” requires 9 facts about yourself and tagging 7 other bloggers.

The “fresh fruition hungry blogger tag”  calls for before and after pictures of some of your eats, then tagging 6 other bloggers!

Well, I’m just going to stick for the first one for now and modify for the second award with just showing pictures of my food. I am too lazy to take a picture of my food after I finish demolishing it. Besides, who wants to see a photo of an empty bowl? You can see that any time. Just open up your cabinet.

Let’s get this started.

1. I haven’t cut my hair since the third grade. Of course I get it trimmed, but never have I cut more than, like, three inches.

2. I use to eat meat and eat at fast food joints all the time. Taco Bell was my all time favorite and because I ran too, I would eat like three burritos.

Hey, sometimes running does that to you. Ex: go read Dean Karnazes’ first book.

3. Not only do I not take photos seriously, I really enjoy to bomb other people’s photos.

4. I have made four documentaries during high school.

My first one was about teenagers trick-or-treating and how it isn’t acceptable. My second documentary was on a woman tattoo artist and my third was about a Mexican food cart. My final documentary was about a young girl with an eating disorder. Go figure.

5. I always carry a piece of reading material with me as well as food.

By the way, in the Hunger Games, I absolutely adore Peeta. I’m sorry, but Gale does nothing for me. Maybe it’s because his name is Gale and that just reminds me of Oprah’s best friend. I don’t know.

6. I have a rather strange taste of music. I listen from to everything from heavy metal to pop. I prefer alternative music though.

Christy the grunge kid.

7. I must admit it, I have read the whole Twilight series and at the time, I did enjoy the books.

Of course, they are not the best books ever and the movies totally blow, but I did like them. Go ahead and hate me.

8. Just as I went through a Taco Bell phase, I went through a dirty diner phase.

I only ate at scummy diners and ate loads of eggs with toast.

9. I love my job.

It will seriously be the number one thing I will miss when I leave in October. I will miss it more than this blog. No offense. I dream about my job. Really. I love it that much. Well, I dream about these certain people I work with… and they are a certain type of dreams… and that’s enough now.

Now onto the next award…

(I feel like a celebrity. Oh, thank you. You’re too kind.)

Instead of showing you before and after photos of my food, I’ll just show the before and you can imagine what the after looks like, kiddos.

Berry bread pudding

Eggplant w/ eggs

Well, that sums it up!

I tag anyone who wants the challenge of remembering to take a photo of your food after you eat it. Go for it. 

I’m off now. Have a good week!

Sunday Funday

Howdy, ya’ll!

It’s Sunday, which equals funday!

I have no work so it’s a fun day and I”m begging my mom to take me to Dairy Queen before I cut a ho.

So, where should I start with this post? Hmmm. Let’s see.

I want to clear something up that I was just thinking about the other day because I don’t really have friends or life so thinking is just what I do.

Anyway, remember how I said I haven’t been feeling hungry at all lately?

Well, I don’t ever get that hunger feeling in general anymore. Want to know why?

I messed up my metabolism when I had an eating disorder since I didn’t eat an adequate amount of food. My body got use to consuming less than a thousand calories a day that now I never get that feeling of hunger.

I do know when I’m famished though. I get severe headaches, I become very lightheaded, I’m even more of a bitch, I get cramps, my vision becomes blurry, and I can’t make any decisions.

This is why I would never wish an eating disorder on anyone. Do you really want to screw up your metabolism? Do you really never want to feel hungry again?

It’s like I get hungry, but if I don’t eat something quickly enough, the sensation vanishes and everything is just downhill from there.

So eat when you’re hungry! Eat enough to fuel your body. Eat, eat, eat.  

Eat as much ice cream as you can.

I have to eat a lot of ice cream to fuel my workouts. Here’s what this week consisted of:

8/15 – 8/21

Monday: 12.30 miles @ 6:55 pace
Tuesday: 10.30 miles @ 6:56 pace
Wednesday: 2.19 miles @ 6:57 pace + elliptical + weights
Thursday: 9.80 miles @ 6:45 pace
Friday: 6.16 miles @ 6:50 pace + weights
Saturday: Approximately 14 miles @ 6:47 pace
Sunday: Weights + spin class

Total mileage: Approximately 54 miles. 

Thoughts: Overral, I am rather pleased with my mileage and my pacing consindering all my runs made me feel shitty. I just was not into them. I feel ready to go for tomorrow though. I want to do one mile under 6:30 though.

Weight lifting has been going great too. 

Monday’s weight lifting looked like this:

• Squats
• Bench Press
• Rows
• Shoulder Press
• Leg Extension
• Hamstring Curl
• Biceps Curls
• Side Lateral Raises

Wednesday:

• Squats
• Plie Squats
• Stiff Legged Deadlift
• Split squat
• Walking Lunge
• Leg extensions
• Lunge in place
• Single Leg press
• Leg curls
• Calf Raises

Sunday:

Superset 1:
Upright Rows
Barbell Curls

Superset 2:
Push Press
Preacher Curls

Superset 3:
Bridge Press
Rear Delt Flys

Superset 4:
Incline Front Raises
Skull Crushers

Superset 5:
Shoulder Press
Overhead Tricep Extensions

I’m feeling it today! Whew. I love lifting. 

So, I’m gonna wrap this up like a Chipotle burrito with some honorable eats:

 Salad w/ Green Onion dressing + tofu Cajun sandwich  

Enjoy your Sunday, folks!

Go dancing, shopping, rob a bank, or whatever else your heart desires.

 

 

Switchin’ It Up

 Hello fellas!

What’s happening?

Trust me, I don’t talk like that in real life. I sound a lot dumber.

Whew. I am so glad this week is finished! I had so much to do in so little time. My days were jam-packed.

You know you’re too busy that your car starts to look like a dump. Notice the apple core?

This week, I would wake up at the crack of dawn after getting home from work at 9:30 to eat, work out, shower, eat, go to work, die, etc. 

Here’s my review of this week’s workouts:

Monday: 9.38 miles @ 6:57 pace
Tuesday: 9.52 miles @ 6:49 pace
Wednesday: 8.66 miles @ 6:56 pace + weights
Thursday: 6 hour nap
Friday: 8.78 miles @ 7:01 pace + weights
Saturday: 14.14 miles @ 7:01 pace
Sunday: Weights + spin class + stretching

Total Mileage: 50.48

In actuality, I am very delighted with my mileage. I made it to the 50′s, which was fantastic. The thing is, I didn’t even stress about my mileage. I just ran how long I felt like it and I tried to up my pace. Go ahead and laugh at me. My pace never seems to progress. I felt super speedy on Friday and I was only running seven-minute miles. Ugh. I know I can run faster if I tried in a race so I need to do so in training runs. I think I may do a tempo run tomorrow then.

I am going to improve my running pace wise this week as well as switch up my workouts.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are only going to be cardio days. Then, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday will consist of cardio plus weights. On Wednesday I will do full body lifting routine while Friday will be focused on legs and Sunday will emphasize arms. I did arm work today and it was killer. I borrowed a little routine from Julie. By the way, I received some awesome items from Julie in a giveaway.

I always see this stuff on other blogger’s sites, but never have I used it.

How do you guys use NuStevia? Remember, I’m like half ape and cannot bake much so I need easy peasy recipes.

Anyway, as I was saying…

I am changing my workouts this week and that means I will not be performing ab work every night like I have been. I know, I am crazy. I realized, however, that I do not need to do ab work every night when I am dead tired. It takes me twice as long do to so because a) I’m exhausted and b) Seinfeld is more entertaining and I get distracted.

I switched my ab routine and now my abs are feeling it. So, now, I will be doing ab work every other day. There and there.

I don’t sound so cray cray anymore.

If you any killer ab routines, hit me up please!

Remember when I finished Racing Weight and I promised a review?

Yeah, that’s not gonna happen because what I have to say will bother some people and I don’t feel like dealing with it.

All I have to say is, if you are seriously considering any sport like swimming, running, biking as a career, you have to accept the fact that you may be underweight. You may not be a normal weight (by other’s opinions) because you are in peak condition to race. Lightness = quickness. That’s how it works. You may not have to be, like, 100 pounds, but you may have to be under your ‘healthy’ weight.

I personally really enjoyed the book and loved all the facts that were made. The author highlights that if you want to be lean, run 50+ miles a week. I didn’t like that the author, Matt Fitzgerald, said to not gain too much muscle because muscle doesn’t make you light. Then, after racing season, you can gain a few more pounds back, but never too much.

If one was to follow Matt Fitzgerald’s plan of being very lean, you would have a strict life and I don’t really like that. I want a cookie and damn right I will eat it. In the back of the book, there were eating plans of elite athletes and it was a lot. Some runners were eating like 10,000 calories, but Matt Fitzgerald never seemed to say that you could. He made it sound like you had to eat 1,500 calories for ultimate performance. I don’t know. I’m dumb so I could have misunderstood his words.

Overall rate: 6/10.

Hey, Matt Fitzgerald, look what I ate this week:

Of course I had some healthy foods too. 

 Pepper/onion/goat cheese tart + spinach cakes

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

“I was pushed by myself because I have my own rule, and that is that every day I run faster, and try harder.” - Wilson Kipketer

I Never Claimed to be Normal

Hello, Friday!

It may be a Friday for you guys, but not me. I got to work my ass off this weekend.

Oh well. I actually don’t mind work. 

I started my Friday off with an 8 mile run. I wanted to go longer, but my legs were like bricks in the end. They felt fresh since I didn’t run yesterday, but at the same time, they felt super heavy.

It’s funny how that works because I ended up lifting heavy afterwards.

It looked a little something like this. I only added calf raises and front squats as well as some ab work. It took me about 45 minutes even though I finished at 43 minutes. I had to continue with two more minutes or I would be bothered by the time.

I’m a little odd when it comes to numbers, truth be told.

I ran for an hour and one minute today. If it was an hour and two minutes, I would have to do another minute. I don’t know why.

When I get to the gym, I pick the lockers either 119, 120, 123, or 125. I can’t pick 124 because I don’t like that number. 117 works too.

I set my alarm clock at weird numbers. I may wake up at 6:36 or 6:47 because those times just feel ‘right‘ to me.

It’s odd, I know. It also makes me seriously think if that is somewhat why I developed an eating disorder.

When the scale was at 106, I didn’t like it. It felt like a ‘strange’ number to me. I would have to lose more to like the number. It’s so silly and irrational. It doesn’t even make sense. I don’t have anything against even or odd numbers, but certain numbers I do not like.

The more you know…

…the less you care.

Lazy Weekend

Your comments were incredible in my last post. I hope you guys know how beautiful and strong you are. It’s true.

What a lazy weekend I had.

I went shopping…

Check out my new watch, yo.

I also got some new V-neck shirts from Victoria’s Secret and Target as well as Pac Sun. Then, I got another pair of tempo shorts to add to my collection.

Read until I fell asleep…

I drunk a lot of ice coffee…

Thank you, Starbucks, for spelling my name correctly. 

Ate a lot…

 I am never  going back to regular ice cream again.
Eggs + mushroom leek tart + potato knish

Moreover, I decided to add more weight lifting days in my schedule.

On days that I lift, I will only run for an hour or less (if it’s an easy run day). I really do love lifting and it’s obvious I have gained muscle.

I believe I gained eight pounds in the past few weeks. Initially, I had no idea why. I mean, I was eating the same and working out the same so why was I gaining? Why all of a sudden would I gain weight like crazy? It had to be muscle because I went to shopping and I still fit in all the same sizes. At Forever 21, I could fit in a double zero or zero. (They are cheaply made clothes though.) Then, at Lucky’s, I could fit in a zero. Sorry if a size zero is shocking to you, but it’s what I am. I use to be a size 9 so… whatever.

Anyway, I love lifting weights. However, I hate the weight lifting routines or whatever you want to call them in Women’s Health Magazine. Fitness and Shape have worse examples. They literally say grab a five-pound dumbbell and do a rep 898484 times. Literally that number, guys.

Men’s Health Magazine, on the other hand, has great workouts. My brother gets the magazine, but I end up ‘borrowing’ it from him. I really do not think he uses it, to be honest (not rude), because he beer belly still exists. That’s beside the point. Men’s Health Magazine is for anyone who is serious about lifting and fitness in general. Also, the meal plans are awesome. They are not 1,500 calories, but hell of a lot more.

Besides, Men’s Health puts rather attractive men on the cover.

I know this week, thanks to Men’s Health, I will be doing this upper body workout. If I’m going to be a Marine, I need some arm strength.

WEEKLY PROGRESS TEST
EXERCISE		SETS	REPS
1	Inverted Row	1	As many reps as you can in 30 seconds. Retest weekly.

WORKOUT 1 (WEEK 1)
EXERCISE		SETS	REPS	REST
1	Deadlift	3	3	60 s
2A	Pullup	3	6-8	0 s
2B	Back Raise	3	6-8	60 s

WORKOUT 2 (WEEK 2)
EXERCISE		SETS	REPS	REST
1	Deadlift	3	3-5	60 s
2A	Inverted Row	3	10	0 s
2B	Lat Pulldown	3	10-12	60 s

WORKOUT 3 (WEEK 3)
EXERCISE		SETS	REPS	REST
1A	Scapula Pulldown	4	10	0 s
1B	Barbell Shrug	4	12	0 s
1C	Back Raise	4	12	90 s

WORKOUT 4 (WEEK 4)
EXERCISE		SETS	REPS	REST
1A	Face Pull	3	6-10	0 s
1B	Lat Pulldown	3	8-15	0 s
1C	Back Raise	3	10-15	90 s

  The Payoff   

• Bigger Muscle This workout trains your rear deltoids, rhomboids, and trapezius—all commonly neglected muscles of your upper body. By shoring up these weak spots, you’ll pack on muscle and build a more symmetrical physique. 
• A Wider Upper Back The pullup and lat pulldown in this workout are slightly different from standard versions. You’ll initiate each move by sliding your shoulder blades down. This allows your lats to contract through a larger range of motion, so they develop fully. 
• Total-Body Strength The deadlift is more than just a muscle builder for your lower back and hamstrings. It strengthens your back from top to bottom and conditions your “posterior chain”—all the muscles on the back of your body—to work in coordination.

Week in Review:

Monday: 9.61 miles @ 7.0 average pace
Tuesday: 10.41 miles @ 7:11 average pace (it was hella hot and I didn’t expect to go that long)
Wednesday: 5.15 miles @ 7:03 average pace
Thursday: 11.53 miles @ 6:53 average pace
Friday: Weights + Elliptical
Saturday: 13.66 mile trail run @ whatever pace. My watch says 7:48, but that would be feel like walking for me so I don’t think that is correct.
Sunday: Weight class + 15 minute spin class (I was bored so I left) + 4-5 mile run (I didn’t have my Garmin) + elliptical to cool down
Total mileage: 50.36 plus 4-5 miles 

Hell yeah! In the 50′s finally even though my first three runs of the week were slow. I didn’t really focus on my pace as much as I didn’t my mileage. So, this week I should really focus on both. 

Have a good second week of August!

“Now bid me run, And I will strive things impossible.”
- William Shakespear, Julius Caesar