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Thursday, January 31, 2013

January Recap + February Goals

It's the last day of January. I logged my last run of the month this evening. I thought I was going to get some quality time with the husband by running with him, but I spent the entire 2 miles choking on the trail of dust he was leaving behind.

I don't think I'm made for night time running, I always feel off. But I needed to get in the extra miles to log for #TeamEscapades in the Chilly Challenge.

So let's get to why we're really here. I don't know about you, but 2013 is off to a fantastic start for me. So much good stuff has happened in only 31 days - I can't wait to see what else is in store.

I kept the RunStreak going that I started in December and managed to get in a run every day this month. I ended up logging 110 miles this month! I can hardly believe it.

My 2013 goal is to run 808 miles (doubling what I logged last year). That goal equates to 67 miles a month, which seemed pretty doable. I'd say I totally crushed that! I knocked out 13% of my goal in one month.

In addition to running, I also got back on back on track with my boot camp classes. Although, I took this week off from any strength training and was a little light on the miles since I have the Kaiser Half Marathon on Sunday. But after Sunday, it's back to work, the count down for the Tough Mudder is on - only 24 days!! Crap!

I found the virtual challenges in January to be fun. It was nice to know that their was this virtual community out there working towards similar goals. For February I wanted to see what other challenges I could find. I was happy to find Taji100 benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. There seems to be a theme in February - as the Tough Mudder also benefits the Wounded Warrior Project.

So what is Taji100?

The goal is the walk, jog, run, hike or elliptical 100 miles within the 28 days of February. The first Taji 100 was held at former Camp Taji, in Al Taji, Iraq in February 2010. You can find the full story here. You can unofficially join the challenge for free or by making a $20 donation to the Wounded Warrior Project, you are officially enrolled and can qualify for the Taji 100 Awards.

In addition to the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon this week, the Tough Mudder later in the month and the Taji 100 challenge I am going to challenge myself to eat healthier. I have the fit part down, but the cupboard full of M&Ms at work calls my name far too many times a day. This month I am going to focus on incorporating more fruits and veggies into my diet, bringing my lunch more and lastly drinking more water and cutting out a few sodas. I think I may start keeping a food diary - not a strict one - but just some notes to make me more aware of what I'm stuffing in my face on the daily basis.

Hope your year is off to a rockin start!

What's on your calendar for February? Any big goals?


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Weekly Workout Summary

Um, how is it already Tuesday night?! Meant to post this Sunday, but was feeling lazy and then I had class last night. So here we are, Tuesday.

Monday
Don't you just love 3-day weekends! I feel like Monday was a free day, all my weekend obligations fullfilled and this was an extra day just for me.

Ran Outside: 2 miles
Bikram Yoga: 90 minutes
Plank: 1:09.0
Walk: 2.5 miles

Tuesday
Getting back into my boot camp streak. My foot was kind of bothering me, so I took it easy on the jumping portions - didn't want to accidently land funny and further irritate my foot. After class went over to the treadmill - wasn't quite ready to break my runstreak, but I jumped off less than 3 minutes in. It was not pretty. I was feeling better after work, so made it out for a quickie.

Boot Camp: 60 min
Ran Outside: 1.05 miles
Plank: 1:20.2
Walk: 4.5 miles

Wednesday
Tried to be conservative with the miles this week so as to give my foot a break - without really giving it a break.

Ran Outside: 2.86 miles
Plank: 1:10.1
Walk: 1.5 miles

Thursday
Wore my compression socks to bed last night, foot was feeling okay in the  morning. Again, tried to skip out on the jumping and crazy agility drills in boot camp. After class went for a slow jog on the treadmill.

Boot Camp: 60 min
Ran on TM: 1.01 miles (10:01/mi)
Plank: 1:02.4

Friday
Foot was finally feeling better! Yay! Had a half day from work, so I slept in and saved the run for the afternoon.

Ran Outside: 4.2 miles (9:27/mi)
Walk: 2.5 miles

Saturday
I joined in the Pamakids / Kieser Training Run through the Sports Basement again. It was a little chilly when I left the house, but once I got running it was gorgeous. The course for this run was different from last week and we ran through Chrissy Field, over the Golden Gate Bridge and into Sausalito. Heading into Sausalito was great, because there was a great decline, BUT the climb back up to the bridge was pretty brutal. I'm really proud of this run as I actually ran the WHOLE way - even up hill and through the hard parts! So excited for the race next week - I feel a PR coming!

Ran Outside: 11.77 miles (9:41/mi)
Walk: 3 miles

Sunday
Felt pretty good considering Saturday's run was long and hilly. Got in a short run and spent the rest of the day chillaxing.

Ran Outside: 2.11 miles
Plank: 1:13.6

Saturday, January 26, 2013

January Photo Dump

So I have this thing called an iPhone, I take pictures of everything and never do anything with them, they just sit there....do you have this problem too? Anywho, I decided maybe I should share some of them, so I gathered a few photos from my Tough Mudder workout in the park a few weeks ago and some from my run yesterday.


Weird pull up bar thing...
surely, I looked really cool doing this


Chin Up! 


My sister doing some weird balancing acts

    

Partner carry (aka piggy back ride)! It was really fun, 
then she showed off and did some squats


Clearly, my sister thought I was going to drop her while taking this pic. 
No worries, I didn't drop her...just that one time


Boats and city scape


Love this view!




Monday, January 21, 2013

Weekly Workout Summary

How has half of January come and gone already. 2013 is flying by!! I'm going to try and be more diligent about posting my weekly workouts. I felt pretty good about my workouts this week, happy to have gotten in a few strength training sessions. Kaiser Half Marathon and Tough Mudder are just around the corner. Eek!

Monday
Ran Outside: 2.76 miles (9:37/mi)
Plank: 1:02.7
Walk: 3.5 miles


It's been really cold the past few weeks, I feel like this has been the coldest winter I've had in San Francisco....or maybe it's the first winter I've gone outside before 8am.

Tuesday
Boot Camp: 60 min
Ran TM: 1.25 miles
Plank: 1:00.6
Walk: 4.0 miles

Finally made it to Nike Training Club (a.k.a. Boot Camp) at the gym. I dragged myself out of bed last Thursday only to arrive and see that class was cancelled. The last class I went to was probably the week leading up to Christmas - so needless to say, this workout kicked my butt!

To keep up with my RunStreak - I headed over to the treadmill after class and knocked out a quick 1.25 miles.

Wednesday
Ran Outside: 4.0 miles (8:48/mi)
Plank: 1:17.7
Walk: 2.5 miles

I was dragging my feet and didn't get out the door until close to 6:30, I was going to keep the run short (2 miles), but I was feeling really good, so I went for 4 instead.

Thursday
Boot Camp: 60 min
Run TM: 1.5 miles
Plank: 1:02.6
Walk: 3.0 miles

With the Tough Mudder just 5.5 weeks away, skipping Boot Camp is not an option for the next month. I'm confident my legs are strong enough to carry me through, but ask my to lift myself over a 12 foot wall and I'm not so sure. For the second time this week, I got my my butt kicked - but I wouldn't have traded that for the extra hour of sleep.

Again after class, headed over to the treadmill to get in my mini run. Logged 1.5 miles.

Friday
Run Outside: 3.23 (8:47/mi)
Plank: 1:06.2
Walk 3.0 miles

Legs were a little tired, so was pretty conservative with this run. Didn't want to burn out before my 10 mile run on Saturday.

Saturday
Ran Outside: 10 miles  (9:29/mi)
Walk: 4 miles

10-mile training run with Sports Basement and Pamakids. I had a great time on this run and it was in good company. I finally found a running club to join - yay!

Sunday
Ran TM: 1.0 mile
3 sets on the circuit (arms & legs)
Bench press: 45lbs

Decided to take it easy on the legs (and feet yesterday). Jogged a slow mile on the treadmill as warm up, then just went through the circuit and did some chest presses. The side of my right foot was bothering me, so after the gym I made sure to elevate and ice...hoping it's not anything serious.



Saturday, January 19, 2013

Saturday Training Run

The countdown is on...2 weeks until the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon. I'm really looking forward to this race, I've heard great things, plus I've heard that the course is really flat (yay). I've been training really hard the past 6 weeks and am hoping to crush my PR on this course.

Earlier this week, I was browsing Facebook and a training run for this marathon popped up in my feed.  The run was open to anyone and was being hosted by a local running club. I've been wanting to make some running friends, so this event intrigued me.

I got up early this morning and headed out to the Sports Basement. I love this place, but kind of a pain in the butt to get to. I walked half a mile to the bus stop, took the bus and then had to walk to last mile to Sports Basement. When I got off the bus, so did another girl. She was wearing her running gear and some sweet Mizuno's - so naturally I assumed she was headed to the training run as well. I assumed right.

We became fast friends. Sports Basement was buzzing with people. We had a little bit of down time before starting the run, so we checked out the Mizuno booth. Mizuno was sponsoring today's run and they had test runners (shoes). I was wearing my Wave Rider 15s, so they fitted me with a loaner pair of the new Wave Rider 16s. They are a full ounce lighter and were a rad pink/salmon color. I was a little hesitant to do a long run in them, but the fit was so simliar to my own shoe that they ended up working out.


We headed out to warm up shortly after 9. I did a fast head count while stretching and there were more than 70 people attending the run! Amazing! I signed up to do the 10 mile course and started off at a good pace with my new friend. We were pacing the same as one of the coaches from the running club - she was really awesome. My new friend fell back after the first few miles and I got to chat with the coach. She was really awesome and we were having great conversation which made the miles fly by. Around mile 7 or 8 we were running through Fisherman's Wharf and I saw a guy I went to high school with - guess he is here on vacation...how random.

I finished the run with another lady from the running club. My time was a little slower than my 10-miler two weeks ago (finished at 1:34), but I was still really happy with the pace. If I can maintain a simliar pace during the race, I'll definitely drop some minutes off my PR.

When we got back to the Sports Basement they had a table with bagels and juice. Yum! Plus, all the runners got a 20% discount. I couldn't resist picking up another pair of shoes - so now I have 2 new pairs around for backup. I'm sure the hubby loves this.

So yeah...awesome run today and I'm signed up to meet up for next week's training run. I'm also looking into officially joining the running club. I met so many amazing people today and they pretty much sold me on it.

Are you part of a running club? How do you like it?

Friday, January 11, 2013

Goal Check-In

2013 is off to a great start. I've been reading about everyone's new year's goals on blogs and twitter. It's inspired me to set a lot of mini goals for myself.

First off, I'm continuing my runstreak. I've hit 42 days and I think I'm going to keep going until my body says no. When I did my first half marathon last fall, I was enjoying running, but I wasn't in love with running. But something happened over the past 6 weeks and now I wake up every morning ready to get my run in. I've got running on the brain, pretty much all the time now. Can I quit my day job and just run? Is that even possible?

Also on the calendar for January is the Chilly Challenge via Running Escapades and Purple Giraffe. I love that I found this challenge. It was a great way to start off the new year and inspiration for keeping up with my weekly milage. It's a virtual running challenge, I'm on Team Escapades, and after week one it was confirmed that we are in the lead. Woo!! I love how supportive the virtual running community is - everyone on facebook and twitter has been so nice and handing out daily doses of encouragement.

Another goal for this month (actually more of an ongoing goal) is I really want to work on tightening my core. To get my core nice and tight, I've started doing a plank a day. One Tough Mother Runner is hosting a virtual plank a day challenge this month, so I joined in on that as well. It's the #PlanksALot Challenge - look for the hashtag on Twitter to see how it's going. I really love the plank, it's really minimal effort (ha!) - you can just roll out of bed in the morning and get your stop watch going for a minute or two and then POOF! you're done. Can't wait to see the long term results.

What are your goals for January and the rest of 2013?

Thursday, January 10, 2013

RnR SF Kick Off Party

This week has been pretty busy. My little sister moved in on Saturday afternoon. She just got an internship in the Bay Area and is going to be hanging out on my couch for the next 4 months. Our little one bedroom apartment is a little cramped, but I think it's all going to work out.

Naturally, being new to the city, I decided she needed to see the sites. So last night I dragged her to the Rock n' Roll San Francisco official kick-off party at one of my favorite places - Sports Basement. I mean, who wouldn't want to go there. Seriously, it's one of my favorite stores.

Last night was one of those times that I really wish I had my own car. Getting to the Presido from downtown isn't the easiest. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to take the bus, so we called Lyft - better known as the car with the pink mustache. I've used this service a few times and love it, but last night led us on quite an adventure. We only missed our turn about 3 times and then almost got on the Golden Gate Bridge, but in the end we arrived.

The kick off party was small, but awesome. Sports Basement offers such a great community setting for local athletes. There were a few vendor booths set up (Mizuno, Gu, Gatorade, MarathonMatt), free snacks and beer....yes, free beer....does it get any better? There was also a raffle, although I didn't win anything, but I scored these beautiful Mizuno Wave Inspire 8s for $65!!


Ooooh, so pretty! 


Didn't win the raffle, but the guys at the Mizuno booth saw I was getting shoes and gave me a pretty sweet water bottle. Score!

Also got a cool poster. The iphone pic doesn't do it justice, it's super cute.


I think the race is only 12 weeks away. I'm pretty excited, not only is this the inaugural Rock n' Roll marathon for San Francisco, but it's also my first Rock n' Roll marathon. Can't wait to see the course details - hopefully it's not as hilly as the US Half was in November. That was killer.

Have you run a Rock n' Roll Marathon? Was it awesome?



Saturday, January 5, 2013

Fabulous Run

The Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon is just 4 weeks away, so naturally it's time to really start upping my mileage. This will be my third half marathon and my first race of 2013. My goal is to PR and I think I have a chance. In December I posted my highest mileage ever and I've noticed my pace has been getting stronger, faster.

My plan for today was to run 9 miles. I got off to a late start as I could not get my new Garmin Forerunner 10 to find my location. After 20 minutes I gave up and decided to just us the MapMyRun app on my phone. I guess the frustration was a little fuel to my fire as I set a lot of unofficial PRs this morning!

Mile 1 was knocked out in 7:08! Probably wasn't too smart to start out a long distance run and post that kind of pace at the very beginning, but it didn't feel like I was actually going that fast.

I'm usually pretty happy when I get in 6.5 miles in the first hour - but I hit 6 miles at 51:27 - which meant it was possible to get in a 7th mile in my hour time frame. I made sure to make that happen and hit 7 miles at 1:00:16 - yay!

I was still feeling good about mile 8, so I decided I was going to make this a double digit run this morning, so I ran around the block a few extra times at the end so I could hit 10 miles. I finished 10.12  miles in 1:27! I so hope I can keep this up, if so I won't just set a new PR next month, I will crush my previous times. I plan to work hard the next few weeks so this can be a possibility.

Hope today wasn't a fluke - 'cause I'm on cloud 9 right now! Here's a recap from MapMyRun


Did you run today? If so, how'd it go?

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Welcome 2013

Wow! Where did 2012 go? I feel like it went at warp speed - is that really what happens the older you get? I remember being in junior high and counting down the 100+ days until summer and thinking that was such a long time, I feel like now 100 days goes by in the blink of an eye.

2012 was such a great year, I'm hoping 2013 will be even better. I have a list of resolutions, or goals rather that I'm looking forward to in 2013.

Health & Fitness Related

1) Run a half marathon in 2:10:00 or under (I was just 3 minutes shy of this last year)

2) Run 800 miles

3) Survive the Tough Mudder in February

4) Make an effort to eat healthier - including bringing my lunch to work a minimum of 3 days a week (this will save $$ and calories)

5) Try a new class or sport (last year I tried Spin, Running and Bikram Yoga (all of which I LOVE! Wish there was more time so I could do all of these every day).

6) Find some running buddies

7) Write more and grow my blog

Lifestyle Related

1) Be a better me

2) Pay off all credit cards / Save more

3) Read more books

4) Continue with and progress in German-language studies

5) Volunteer

6) Move to Europe (this has been a long time dream for my husband and I - hoping this is the year)