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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Weekly Workout Summary

Monday (10/22) - Instead of doing my regular morning run, I decided to check out a Fun Run with Sports Basement. I don't have a lot of friends that are into running, so I thought this would be a good way to meet some local runners. The run was short and fast and I met some new people. Hoping to make this a regular part of my routine.

Ran Outside: 3.2 miles / didn't track time
City Walking: 4.0 miles

Tuesday (10/23) - Had a lot going on this week - so I skipped my workout today.

City Walking: 5.5 miles

Wednesday (10/24) - Gearing up for vacation, had to get in a good run.

Ran Outside: 5.5 miles / 53:23

Thursday (10/25) - Does walking through the airport and sleeping on a plane count as a workout? Maybe I walked enough to counter out the peanuts on the plane.

Friday - Sunday (10/26-10/28) - Well I brought my running shoes with me to Detroit, but I haven't used them yet...

Total
Running: 8.7 miles
Walking: 9.5 miles

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco

Short and sweet afternoon post...

Have you heard the news?! The Rock n' Roll Marathon (half) is coming to San Francisco in 2013. It was announced today that The US Half "The Other Half" Marathon is NOW the Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco Half Marathon. (Read the news for yourself here).

I'm running the US Half Marathon in 2 weeks and have been contemplating signing up for the US Half Marathon 2 in the Spring - guess there will be no more contemplating - this is going in my 2013 lineup. I've wanted to participate in a Rock 'n' Roll Marathon since it was introduced in Arizona years ago - long before I started running - it just sounds really cool.

Have you run a Rock 'n' Roll Marathon? Did you like it? Are there any races you would love to run?


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Weekly Workout Summary

Monday (10/15) - gah! what a slow start - but hey, atleast I managed to roll out of bed

Ran Outside - 4.5 miles / 43:54
City Walking - 2.0 miles

Tuesday (10/16) - dragged myself out of bed to make it to Nike Training Club at the gym. Got to class and the teacher didn't show up! Total bummer! A buddy from class and I decided since we were already at the gym, we might as well stay and do something. We spent about 30 minutes on the treadmill and then made a pathetic attempt to recreate some boot camp moves - mainly we worked on abs and triceps.

Ran on Treadmill - 3.19 miles / 30:01
Abs & Triceps
City Walking - 4.0 miles

Wednesday (10/17) - well I didn't really get out of bed, so I just walked to/from work/school.

City Walking - 3.5 miles

Thursday (10/18) - Second attempt of the week for Nike Training Club. Luckily the substitute instructor showed up this time. Not as good as the regular instructor, but got a rockin' core workout. Gotta love the planks!

City Walking - 4.7 miles

Friday (10/19) - Yay, my favorite day of the week. Forgot my headphones at work, so this was my first real run with no music. I was surprised at how well it went. I didn't get bored or have any crazy fights with my mind, it was quite a nice run.

Ran Outside - 5.14 miles / 50:15
City Walking - 6.5 miles

Saturday (10/20)- my long runs used to be on Sunday - but think Saturday is the better day. Tried running again without music, I think it's growing on me. Made it 9 miles in silence, then turned on Pandora so I could pound out the last few miles.

Ran Outside - 10.94 miles / 1:50:17
City Walking - 1.5 miles

Sunday (10/21) - just some light city walking

City Walking - 1.5 miles


Total
Runs: 23.77 miles
Walking: 23.7 miles


Monday, October 15, 2012

Granola Goodness

I've had a productive evening - not only did I do a load of laundry and some homework, but I also whipped up some homemade granola bars - yum!

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com - don't you just love this site?

Ingredients:

2-ish cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I cut this down to 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup wheat germ (I substituted 1/4 cup flax seed)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup raisins (I cut this down to about 1/8 cup and also added mini choc chips)
3/4 teaspoon salt (I cut this to 1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins, chocolate chips and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow bars to cool completely before cutting otherwise they will get hard and you'll be cursing yourself as you try and cut the little buggers into pieces.

This recipe is a good one for experimenting - lots of opportunities to make substitutes or additions. Next time I may try added chopped almond or banana chips, and maybe use some cocoa nibs instead of chocolate chips. Also, thinking about switching to whole wheat flour, but gotta kill the what seems to be life time supply of all purpose flour before I go buying new stuff.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Weekly Workout Summary

This week had some ups and downs, but I felt really good about my workouts. Tuesday was overall a crappy day and Thursday and Friday I was traveling for work - but even on my trip I was able to get in a good run (a really boring treadmill run, but still good).

Overall, my goal this week was to up my training for the upcoming half marathon that is now just a short 3 weeks away. I didn't make it to either of my bootcamp classes at the gym, but I hit my goal of running 25 miles. On each of my runs, I tried to focus on pace and work extra hard on the hill climbs.

Since I live in the city, I do a lot of walking. Walk to work, lunch, stores, the movies, etc. I try and keep track of how much I walk each day and mark it on my calendar in addition to my regular workouts.

Sunday 10/7
City Walking: 4.5 miles

Monday 10/8
Ran Outside: 5.04 miles / 48:31
City Walking: 2 miles

Tuesday: 10/9
City Walking: 4.5 miles

Wednesday: 10/10
Ran Outside: 5.01 miles / 47:23
City Walking: 2.5

Friday: 10/12
Ran on Treadmill: 5.01 / 49:33 (this was a really boring run!)
City Walking: 2 miles

Saturday: 10/13
Ran Outside: 10.26 miles / 1:42:33
City Walking: 2 miles

Total
Runs: 25.32 miles
Walking: 17.5 miles



Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Starry Morning

Although it was 6:15 when I started my run this morning, the stars were still out when my feet hit the pavement. It's always a pain dragging myself out of bed so early, even though I know the reward of a good workout is waiting - and today the reward was great.

I think the dark skies calmed me down a bit this morning. My last few runs have been a real struggle, but this morning I was able to turn my mind off. And if you know anything about me - you would know that is just hard for me to do. I always have something to talk about, something to think about, something to worry about, etc. But man, it feels good to shut your brain off once in a while. It was exactly what I needed.

Work has been really slow the last few days and I hate, hate being bored at work. I hate being bored in general. In addition to the work thing, I got some undesired family news yesterday. The news wasn't horrible, but it was just the thing to throw my mood over the edge. I decided to skip my evening class at school and go home and eat tacos and ice cream. Not that delicious homemade guacamole (thank you husband) or ice cream made my problems go away, but it was a nice coverup.

Where was I...tacos...mind, oh yes -turning off my mind, clearly I am easily distracted cause I haven't gotten to the part where turning off my mind really helped my workout.

For the first time in a while, I feel like I was really able to focus on my run. I was able to maintain my pace the entire run - I may have even pulled off a negative split! Granite it was a short run, but I'm usually adding minutes, not taking away seconds to the last half of my run. Around mile 3.5 a crazy thing happened - my music turned off (okay, so maybe not that crazy of a thing). Instead of fiddling with my phone, I just let it be. That was the first time I've run sans music - and I found it quite enjoyable. Living in a noise polluted city, I found it refreshing to listen to the quiet morning. It also allowed me to really listen to my body and my breathing (panting) - I think this is what allowed me to pick up my pace towards the end of the run. My mind and body were running as one. Hopefully I can keep this up.

I thought I had something else I was going to say, but I seem to have forgotten. Probably best, I'm all sweaty now and should probably take a shower so I can leave for work in an hour.

Workout Details:

Ran Outside
5.01 miles / 47:23

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Battle of the Mind

I was hoping to get in 9-10 miles this morning, but my run this morning was a battle of the mind. I was feeling good the first 4-5 miles. At mile 4 I was running into the fog by the bridge, it was awesome. But then shortly after taking in that beautiful view I hit a wall. I didn't just hit it, I went crashing into it.

My mind and body were not synched and I was completely distracted. I wish I could say I was distracted by all the beautiful sailors and Marines hanging out near Crissy Field - but really, all the distractions were in my head.

I started doubting that I can actually run far. I've already proved to myself that I can run far, but my body just wasn't listening today.

Another thing going on in my head - runner's envy. Do you ever get runner's envy? San Francisco has a great community of runners - at any given time of the day you can pass by dozens of other runners. As my body and mind were duking it out, I got a case of runner's envy. Look at that group, they're running so fast - man, that guy makes running look so easy - wow, look at her legs, when will I have legs like that? Blah blah blah.

To mix things up, I decided to switch my route home. This was probably the best decision I made during the run. Mile 8 was pretty much all down hill which allowed me to pick up some speed and finish strong.

I didn't quite hit my goal for the day, but really, how can you be disappointed when you can say you ran 9 miles on a Saturday morning before breakfast. Also, check out this amazing view.



Workout Details:

Ran Outside
8.92 miles / 1:29:27