Don’t Judge

Hi!

I’m so excited currently. I have a half marathon tomorrow and I am so ready for it. I even spent, like, $128 on running clothes today. It’s not like I don’t already have twenty Nike Tempo shorts. What’s another three more? Seriously.

When I went to pick up my running packet, the guy said, “Wait. You’re running this half marathon?” Granted, I was in my skinny jeans, Ray Bans, and black hoodie, but come on. Don’t judge a runner. We are all different. Some small, some big. Some wear Nike, some wear Adidas. In the end we all finish the race. In the end we all listen to Justin Bieber while running. No shame. I love that kid.

My point it, I was pissed that he said that. Little does he know that I was nicknamed the Flash. Don’t judge me. I’m faster than most runners. 

Since being back in Portland, I all want to do is run everywhere. My legs are so fried from running so much in Virginia, but I want to run more in Oregon. I need to cover ground I haven’t covered in a while.

I ran Thursday (eight miles) and Friday (nine miles). Saturday and Sunday I did spin class, weights, and the elliptical. I miss spin class. The spin classes on Saturday and Sunday were somewhat crappy because the instructors weren’t that great, but it kicked my ass. After not spinning in a while, my legs were feeling it. I’m going to do a long bike ride Tuesday.

Also, since being back in Portland, I got a tattoo.

Appreciate my side boob. I apologize.

Anyway, it’s the skyline of Portland with Mt. Hood in the background. I’m such a Portlander. It’s not even funny. I love this place and I miss it every time I leave it.

I’ve been hanging out with my dog a lot too. I took him on an hour walk the other day and I drive around aimlessly with him in my car.

Well, I hope I get back into my blogging routine again. I have no motivation to blog. I have so many good blog posts in my head, but I just don’t write them out. It’s either I have no motivation or I’m just lazy.

Have a good Memorial Day.

Honorable eats:

Fuel Me Up

Happy Saturday!

I started my day off with 15 minutes on the elliptical, an hour spin class, and a five-mile run. I felt fast so hopefully my pace was up there. It will be my last run until God knows when.

Well, I am riding 45 miles tomorrow.

I have never rode my bike that far. I think the furthest I have gone on bike is 30 something miles. I’m rather excited to ride 45 miles in the lovely city of Portland.

Being away from Portland for three months made me realize how much I love Portland. I seriously could live here my whole life I think. As long as I get to travel, I’ll be fine with living in Portland and the weirdo’s.

Enough of my love for Portland.

As I was saying, I am beyond pumped for tomorrow except I have no idea how to fuel myself before riding 45 miles. I know on bike rides you can eat more and not have to worry about stomach issues. Fueling for a bike ride is different from fueling for a long run.

If you guys have any suggestions on what to eat before a long bike ride, hit me up. I don’t think I’m going to have a bagel or anything to carby. Maybe just my usual breakfast of cereal, cottage cheese, and a banana? I’ll be bringing gels and fruit with me on my ride. Also, there will be plenty of rest stops with food from local food places so if I get hungry, I’ll be okay.

In all honesty, I hate fueling during a long run/bike ride. I never do it. Even during two-hour runs, I don’t eat or drink anything (unless it is water). I know that’s wrong and not healthy for training purposes, but I never get hungry on my runs. However, I do eat immediately after I work out.

I will start eating properly for training purposes when I finally settle down at wherever the military places me. When I arrive in Virginia, I plan on finding a marathon to train for. I know I am ready for marathons. Before, I was just physically ready for a marathon, but now I know I am mentally ready for a marathon. I am fully prepared and I want to start training for a race.

I also plan on stricter eating habits. I do eat sweets daily (at night), but I want to cut that out once I settle down. I want to go on the Paleo diet too. I ordered The Paleo Diet for Athletes, written by Dr. Loren Cordain and Joe Frie off of amazon.com. I won’t get it until I come back from MCT. I have been reading a lot on the paleo diet and I like a lot of the aspects of it. I read about it in Triathlete magazine. A lot of athletes follow it. As much as I would like to be vegan, I need dairy. Without dairy, my body suffers. It suffered enough while I was in boot camp because I wasn’t getting enough iron. I had a clump of hair fall out. Disgusting. Anyway, once I settle down wherever I am, I am going to start training hardcore and eating like a professional athlete. All and all, if I want to be one, I have to act like one.

What are you views on the Paleo Diet? If you didn’t know, the paleo diet is based on lean meats, seafood, fresh fruits, and fresh vegetables, which can promote peak athletic performance. Obviously I would not be eating any meat. No meat for me.

I hope everything goes smoothly for me on the Worst Day of Year Ride. It will be my last day in Portland. I’ll get a post in tomorrow too before I take off. I think I may do a vlog because I got my laptop! It has a webcam and all that cool stuff all the cool kids have.

I leave you with my recent eats:

Eggplant, Indian rice, onion rings, asparagus, crab cake
Crab and shrimp

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pacing

Hi! What’s up, ya’ll?

I’m such an awful blogger. Not only do I leave for three months, I come back and I don’t even bother blogging. Truth be told, I don’t know what to say! That’s a lie. I could talk about running… and I will.

The thing that sucked about boot camp was the most we ran was three miles. We barely worked out. For me personally, that messed with my head big time. However, that’s a whole different blog post I have planned. Anyway, I love running. Obviously.

 I run despite my mood, the weather, the pain, and the voice in my head that tells to stop.

I have a billion and one running photos on my computer…

Not running for three months was terrible. I feel like now I have to make it all in this single week before I leave for North Carolina.

Already on Saturday I ran 16 miles @ 7:29 pace.

The rest of the week, so far, has looked like this:

Monday: 9.84 miles @ 7:25
Tuesday: 8.94 @7:16
Wednesday: 12.06 miles @ 7:29

Tuesday I did a speed workout that consisted of…

• 1 progressing mile @ 6:07
• 3 500′s @ 1:40
• 3 400′s @ 1:20

My pacing is totally off! I just keep thinking if my calves weren’t so sore and I have been running consistently, I could being doing a mile in less than six minutes. It’s crazy. My long runs are messing with me mentally. I was doing 14 miles at a 6:59 three months ago. I don’t know when I’ll get back to that.

Whateva, whateva.

Yesterday was my birthday! I’m 19, ladies and gents.

My mother ordered me a Dell laptop, which I should receieve on Friday. Unfortunately, I cannot take it to MCT, but I can take it to my MOS school. I can continue to blog then as well as stay in touch. By the way, my blog needs serious updating. I am aware. Moving on…

Also, for my birthday, I celebrated by going to a restaurant called Zeppo. It’s an Italian restaurant and it is delicious.  I got…

with

fresh salmon thin crust pizza that had garlic, goat cheese, spinach, and capers. It was amazing. I seriously ate the whole thing then went to Coldstone.

With food, I am just enjoying myself although it is a struggle for me to not step on the scale in the morning. I’m starving all the time though. I came home from boot camp and I just want to eat. My stomach is a pit I think.

It will be even more so since I signed up for the Worst Day of the Year Ride.

It’s a bike ride in Portland. There is an 18 mile course and a 45 mile one. Guess which one I did?  The 45 mile one. I may kill my legs. Oh well. I’m excited despite the guilt my mom placed on me for leaving her by herself all day. It’s the day before I leave for North Carolina too. I feel somewhat bad about it, but I don’t know if I will have another opportunity.

Well, I hope all of you are doing well. Share anything you like with me because I’m very lazy/busy/tired to stalk your blogs.

I’ll leave with you some past eats…

 

“Common sense is necessary … more so than high tech. Race to the
finish not race from the start, pace yourself, run your own race and
don’t get sucked into someone else’s, walk when you need too, run when
you can, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we will hurt.”
- Kevin Sayers

Reviewin’ the Good Stuff

One week. 

Next Monday I will be on a plane for boot camp for the Marines. 

Oh my gosh. I can’t believe it.

I have these moments where I am deadly afraid and today I actually wanted to go. 

I’m done working. Boo. However, that means I can blog and bug you guys instead. Lucky you. 

And, I didn’t do anything for Halloween. I was invited to a party by a guy at my work, but I was working that night then my mom told me no. Uh, I’m 18. If  I can decide to join the Marines and I can go to a party.

Anyway, hi everyone! I hope everyone is doing great.

I barely remember what I did last week workout wise. I’ll try my best though.

Monday: Ran 8.48 miles @ 7:17 mile pace (the day before I ran ten miles)

Tuesday: Ran on the treadmill for 3+ miles and track workout (3.71 miles) I did a mile in under six minutes!

Wednesday: 11.66 miles @ an extremely slow pace. I was tired from waking up at six. It was awful.

Thursday:  Ran on the treadmill for 2+ miles and a track workout. I only did a 3k and some 800′s for a total of 2.80 miles.

Friday: A lovely trail run! It was a great run. I did 6.86 miles.

Saturday: Spin class + weights

Sunday: Spin class + weights

Total mileage: 39.51+ miles.

I’m sure I did more than that by maybe a few miles. I know it is not a lot of mileage as I would like, but all my workouts were varied. I did speed, tempo, recovery, and a medium long run. 

Anyway, as I said, I left my job since I’m leaving in a week for the Marines.  I loved my job. Granted, this is what I worked with daily…

I probably tasted every thing in that case. Best thing? The mint brownies or revel bar, which was like a mixture of a chocolate bar and an oatmeal cookie.

Everyday I got to eat good food at Laughing Planet Cafe.

They have the best burritos and salads.

My work was located next to Saint Cupcake.

  Vegan German chocolate cupcake
Mint chocolate cupcake
Fat Elvis
They also have cookies. That eaten cookie is an alder-smoked chocolate chip cookie.

There a lot of things I will miss, but I am starting a new chapter in my life.

Change is good.

And change starts with an empty peanut butter jar and Greek yogurt.

Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.
-Confucius

 

 

No, Seriously

Who am I? Seriously.

I am not a lazy blogger. I think about blogging a lot, but unfortunately the majority of my day is spent at work behind a bakery case or an espresso machine.

It’s either I am making a 400 calorie drink for someone or burning 400 calories by running.

I’m still in my running rut, but I feel better about it. I no longer feel like dying during my runs, but I prefer the treadmill over the outdoors. Who am I?

I’m also listening to music while running outside. Again, who am I? Before this rut, I would have never put music on while running or even step on a treadmill.

I’m cray cray.

Due to my craziness, I’m going to cover this week’s workouts.

So, Monday…

I don’t even remember that day. I don’t know if I ran or what so let’s just skip that day. Oh wait, now I remember.

I did run. I ran 5.30 miles @ 7:07 pace.

I didn’t even look at my watch the whole time. Go me.

Tuesday: I rode my bike to the gym (7.21 miles) where I did a track workout with a girl at my gym who does Ironman’s and all that crazy stuff I want to do. Her fiance is sponsored by Newton (stay tuned for more Newton news).  I just want to be her.

Anyway, we did two laps as a warmup followed by a mile that was supposed to get faster as we went along. I think I did the mile in 6:03. Next, we did two 400′s, which I did in 1:30. The last thing we did was 6 x 200. All of this totaled out to 4.25 miles.

I can’t tell you the last time I did a track workout. It was awesome.

After that, I went on the elliptical for 11 minutes and lifted some weights before I rode my bike home (9.80 miles).

Wednesday: Another run! I thought I was going so slow, but it turns out I did 8.83 miles @ 6:49 pace. I’m a little shocked.

Thursday: I ran for an hour on the treadmill, probably covering 8 ish miles between 7:03 – 7:13 pace.

Who am I running on a treadmill?

So much butt sweat.

Friday: I rode my bike to the gym (7.23 miles), ran on the treadmill for an hour covering 8 ish miles, lifting for 15 minutes, and then riding my bike back home (9.77 miles).

I did lift some weights on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, but otherwise I was lacking in the weight lifting department. It’s like, yeah, I’m still in this running rut, but if I can handle running on a treadmill, why not do it? 

Running miles: 34+ miles 
Biking miles: 34.1 miles

I definitely want to bring up those running miles to like… 200 miles. Seriously.

In other news, I bought some bike shoes. 

I love it. I’m such a hardcore biker now. Man. Now I just need some stickers on my bike that say “Keep Portland Weird” or “Drink More Beer” and I will fit right in with the Portland crowd.

I got another pair of running shoes (more on that later).

I got acupuncture done again at this new place. My quad has been killing me so I’m hoping some needles will help. My mom came with. Awesome time.

Let’s see. I haven’t been up to much. I’m going to have a post tomorrow on Newton running shoes and a book review. 

Well, let’s wrap this up with honorable eats. Boooyeah.

   Candy cane mocha
 

“Even if you fall flat on your face at least you are moving forward”
–Sue Luke

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

TGIW

Ello, mates!

Is anyone else’s wordpress reader not working? Mine isn’t showing any blogs. Boo. 

You know how some people cannot run unless there are headphones in their ear blasting Kesha or Rage Against the Machine?

I am not one of the people.

Due to my running funk, I decided to run hills with some music hoping that would motivate me to blast off.

Yeah, I got a headache.

Apparently, Pink and I don’t mix while running. No offense, Pink. I love ya, girl.

However, if I’m just chilling on the elliptical or pumping some iron, I need music. Otherwise, I get bored insanely fast. Just like in spin class. If the instructor is not up to par (cough, cough), the music better be good. If not, I’ll leave.

Currently, here’s my playlist:

I listen to a lot of comedy when I workout. I’m that weirdo who laughs out loud on the elliptical. It’s because I find The View hilarious. (Although I do love The View.)

That’s just a sample. Hopefully that give you guys some new tunes.

So, let’s get this party started again with WIAW (or Tuesday. Whateva.)

Pre-breakfast:

Breakfast:

Egg white omelette, tuna, chocolate almond milk,  banana

I haven’t been that hungry for breakfast, to be honest. I’m not hungry because I get home from work at 9:30 and eat dinner as well as a whole cake. Well, not a whole cake, but it feels like it. My food baby is then produced. 

Insert 12 mile run and cool down on the elliptical.

I decided to run my favorite running path in the hopes that it would take me out of my funk. It worked a bit. I really enjoyed my run for once. I didn’t check my pace though. It could have been definitely really slow despite the fact that I thought I was running quicker than Kara Goucher. 

Also, the weather was perfect!

In the past two weeks, the weather in the morning has been in the 80′s. I’m not use to that. Today it was rather cloudy.

I saw this driving home after my run. I was really jealous. Damn you, Hood to Coast runners. I would have given a lung to run it.

Insert five-minute shower and ten minutes of getting dressed.

Lunch:

  Greek yogurt + peanut butter + cereal + Luna bar + apple + grapes + vanilla protein powder + dates

Insert appointment with Marine recruiter.

I went to the Marine’s office today to talk with my recruiter about jobs. I decided I am going to re-take my ASVAB test to receive a higher technical score because I am interested in air traffic control. I also really like food services, but I don’t know how much I will enjoy it. I think I will, but air traffic control seems rather awesome.

Also, they moved my shipment date to November 7th. I guess I am okay with that. I need to fit in more studying time and memorization of ranks. 

My time management is alright, but I just need to prioritize my time. Reading Hunger Games and watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia need to go on the back burner.

Snacks:

 Sugar free oatmeal raisin cookie
Three shot Americano  

Dinner:

 Tamale x2 + zucchinni + onion rings
Goat cheese + pepper pizza x2

Dessert:

Happy Wednesday, ya’ll!

“It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners.  Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit.” - George Sheehan

Somebody Call the Fire Department

…to hose me down. It’s hot here today in Portland!

Whew.  Hi, friends!

No need to call anyone to force me to take a shower or shave my legs because I did that after being in my own sweat for four hours. I was unconscious for most of that time though since I took a nap after my run.

I ran today starting at 8:30 in Lake Oswego where the snobby, rich people live. It’s one of my favorite towns in Oregon to run in just because I like running by the mansions and Audi’s. I pretend like I belong.

I finished my run a bit before 10:30 due to bathroom breaks and breaks to stop and breathe because I was dying. It was so hot I took my top off. I didn’t put it back on until I started running by a park with children. I felt wrong.

Damn myself though. I forgot to re-press the start button after I stopped at 1:09 so I probably ran for another 10-15 minutes before realizing it.

So, I know I ran for over 1:33 minutes today, but I don’t know how much exactly. My Garmin says I ran 13.87 miles, but it had to be 14 point something. Whateva. I know I ran my best.

Yeah, right. I just laughed in my own face.

By the way, I ran in my new shoes!

No better way to break in a pair of shoes than by running 14 miles in them.

I didn’t take a picture of them on my feet yet (because I suppose you want to see that. I don’t know.) because my legs looked like a hippie’s armpit. Anyway, they felt super light and they fit snuggly. I hope that they continue to feel A-Oh-kay. I swear Adidas makes the best running shoes. Nike can suck it.

You know what else can suck it?

Get your head out of the gutter, Pippa. You are better than that.

My hunger. Or should I say my lack of hunger.

Yesterday I was not hungry at all. I didn’t even eat dinner during my lunch break at work. I waited until 9:30 then I had tofu pizza.

During my break, I just had some bubble tea and stuffed mushrooms.

However, in the last few days, my hunger has gone from wanting to eat everything...

 to nothing at all.

I am just not hungry. It blows because I like eating food so I eat it anyway.

I like big burritos and I cannot lie.

Suck it, non-hunger pains. I’m continuing to eat until you come back.

 

Killah Abs

Wanna know my success to a killer core?

Run 12 miles.

I was a hot mess afterwards.

By the way, I’m not the only person who takes photos of themselves in public places.

Jennifer Garner raises the bar for everyone. Hop to it, people.

Anyway, I know I said I was going to do a tempo run today, but I wanted to run this specific path that takes me from Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge to Sellwood Bridge. It’s about 30 minutes on one bike path, but it’s my favorite place to run currently so I went with it.

I died on the way back though. I don’t know why. I was just losing it and I wanted to walk, but I wouldn’t let myself.

But that’s not the only way to a tight core!

I do ab work every other day now before I go to bed. I did do it every night, but that’s insane. I’d rather watch Seinfeld or That 70′s Show.

My ab work is always three sets by 20 reps or more.

I wish I could say I have abs like these ladies,

but my stomach is just flat. It goes from being flat to looking like I am carrying twins in a matter of minutes though.

If you are not used to ab work, crunches do work. I know all those health magazines put down crunches, but they help in the beginning. After that, take it up to a notch.

Also, switching your core workout is of major importance so your core doesn’t get use to your usual routine.

Here are some of my favorite core workouts.

Workout #1:

Three Sets x 20 reps except for planks.

• Regular plank 1 minute
• Plank with one leg up and opposite arm up for 30 seconds. Switch sides.
• Side plank for 30 seconds to a minute. Switch sides.
• Medicine ball twist
• Reverse crunch

•  Scissor kicks – Don’t lift too high. Keep your legs low to the ground.
• Bicycles x 40
• Leg drop w/ medicine ball (my favorite)
• Bridge w/ hip drop on swiss ball – for an extra challenge, set a medicine ball on hips
• Oblique V-Up’s

Workout #2:

• Crunches (preferably on Swiss ball)
• Hanging Leg Raises
• Bicycles x 40
• Suitcase AKA knee in’s
• Russian Twists

Workout #3:

• Leg Raises/drops/whatever
• Bicycle Crunches
• V-Ups
• Knee-Ins
• Twisting Crunches (preferably on Swiss ball)
• Crunches (preferably on Swiss ball)

My other core workout I have been doing is in this months’ Oxygen Magazine. I did it last night and it was awesome.

When I’m at the gym, I do hanging leg raises, captain chair’s, roll outs with barbell, and some others. 

And those are just a few of my core workouts. If you want more, let me know. 

A key to killer abs does not include this:

Or this:

It may include healthy fats.

It may also include gigantic consumption of veggies and falafel too.

 My co-workers think I eat too much.

In other news, I saw 30 Minutes or Less today. 

If you didn’t know already, I have a thing for Danny McBride. While most girls crush over Brad Pitt (he’s okay) or Justin Beaverhead, I prefer guys like Danny McBride and Seth Rogen. I’m strange. I know.

Well, there ya go.

The more you know…

“Long distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.”