4 Pain FREE Miles!

After Sunday's running debacle I've been a bit hesitant to run again so I took two days off to let my knee rest and hopefully keep healing. I did hit three miles on the elliptical on Monday and have done about 7 miles worth of walking between Monday and Tuesday, but no running. So today was a test to see how I'd feel and I'm THRILLED to report that I ran 4 pain free miles! And I ran them relatively fast (for me that is!)

Here are the stats from this run:

4.0 Miles

46:11

11:32 avg minutes/mile

149 avg bpm

472 calories burned

Not too shabby! I can only hope and cross my fingers and toes that this is the beginning of getting back on track for me. I've only got 25 more days until the half and this weekend's set back really made me wonder if I'm actually going to be able to run it. Only time will tell.

Falling Down the Stairs Part 2

No, I did not fall down the stairs again.

But yes, I am still having trouble with my right knee 2.5 weeks after I fell down the stairs with Petey. So much trouble in fact that I ended up having to take a ride home today from my run, with a total stranger because I couldn't walk home and no cabs I could find would take a credit card (and apparently running with cash today didn't seem like a thing to do.)

Today's post was supposed to say 12.5 miles! Except it doesn't, because I ran exactly 4 miles before my knee hurt so bad that I had to stop random strangers in Weehawken to ask if I can use their cell phone to try and call Jeff to have him come pick me up. Unfortunately Jeff was hanging out with Petey on the deck, so he didn't hear the phone which meant that I ended up letting a random stranger drive me home. Maybe not the smartest thing I've ever done. But I made it home in one piece so alls well that ends well right? Right.

But this doesn't end well, because I think that after 2.5 weeks of heavily lessened training, lots of rest and icing of my knee I should be feeling better than this if there was nothing actually wrong with my knee. Now I'm starting to think there is something actually wrong with my knee, which is troubling for lots of reasons, not the least of which that I signed up to run the NYC marathon in three months and have asked for financial support to do so, which means that I won't just be letting myself down if I'm truly injured, but I'll be letting others down as well. Awesome.

Oh and did I mention I don't have health insurance again until Sept 6th when I start my new job? Cause I don't. Double awesome.

Alright, maybe this post is a little heavy on the drama. I'm walking around and my knee hasn't hurt THAT much over the last 2.5 weeks so maybe all I need is more time. And taking a step back in training doesn't ruin everything right? I hope not. I'm biting the bullet and calling a doctor tomorrow to see if I can at least get an opinion on what's going on without it costing me an arm and a leg. And I'm crossing my fingers that the opinion comes back as give it another week and you'll be good as gold. Or uh, something like that.

Until then, I suppose I better find other ways to keep up with my training that don't hurt my knee. I'm thinking the elliptical machine might be a good place to start. Or maybe the pool. Or both.

Here's hoping the next post has some better news than this one :-)

Summer Goals Update #2

Well I made some progress on the goals I posted two Fridays ago, last Friday I was in Vegas!

I've included my updates in colors:

Green = success

Blue = plan

Red = failure

Fitness Goals:

1. Run 3 days a week, follow my half marathon/marathon training schedule 100% - Weeks 2/3 - 75%, missed two runs due to knee injury

2. Cross train 3 days a week (yoga, swimming, elliptical, strength training, etc.) - Week 2/3 - done! Yoga and a ton of walking - need to do better with things other than walking, but Vegas was a good chunk of this time so I'm giving myself a break

3. Go to the gym a total of 30 times to get the most out of my membership - 1 more time gone, 24 left to go (yikes may need to rethink this goal or get a move on!)

4. Activate my Local Barre Groupon and attend at least 10 classes (will help with #3!) - planning to do today/tomorrow

5. Activate my Boot Camp Groupon and attend at least 5 classes (will help with #3!) - planning to do next week

6. Stretch regularly and use my foam roller every day - Stretching yes, foam rolling no, but I did find my foam roller

Health Goals:

1. Set up bi-weekly massage appointments at Massage Envy to help with my hip/leg tightness - still haven't done, need to set up for Sunday or Monday after my next long run

2. Log food into myfitnesspal.com every day - week 2/3 half check, yes for every day I wasn't in Vegas

3. Stay at or under my net calories for the day 6 days a week - no, not if you include Vegas!

4. Experiment with vegan cooking, purchase 2 vegan cookbooks - got one cookbook in the mail! had veggie lasagna today and it was excellent, also been experimenting with veggie burgers, YUM

5. Stay away from meat as much as possible - complete FAIL, ate more meat than I'm proud of in Vegas

6. Take and track body measurements every two weeks - got a tape measure today and will start tomorrow with my weigh in

Personal Goals:

1. Take more pictures - FAIL, need to do better with this

2. Blog 5 days a week and post pictures most of the time - sucked here, need to get back on the ball

3. Do one more big purge of junk in the apartment and take stuff to goodwill - still on my to do list

4. Fix computer before the warranty runs out - Check!! DONE!

5. Petey, training - find a local trainer we can work with - did find a dog walker, but still need to find a trainer

6. Read Harry Potter Books 1-7 (new! started on book #1 yesterday) - already halfway through book 4

7. Download and read books recommended to me for "self improvement" - still on my to do list

Educational Goals:

1. Purchase Rosetta Stone French once computer is fixed and spend time learning French - purchased, now need to download and get started

2. Watch Damodoran's Corporate Finance Class in it's entirety - haven't watched one class yet

3. Start playing the piano again (find a new teacher?) - haven't done anything with

4. Start playing the flute again (find a teacher?) - haven't done anything with

5. Read Joyful Wisdom - on page 230, 30 pages to go, should be done by next Friday

6. Review the level 1 CFA books - found a friend I can borrow them from, now just need to actually get them (same status)

Well, you win some you lose some. I'm not as far along with some of these goals as I'd hoped, but am hopeful that I can make a pretty good stand at getting most of them done before I start work in 5.5 weeks. I'm making a promise right now to myself to at least try as hard as I can (even if I know I won't quite make it, ahem 30 visits to the gym) and log in every Friday to track my progress. Until then...

11 MILES!!!!!

I believe running 11 miles deserves to be in all caps don't you? I'll say it again, 11 MILES! I ran 11 miles today and I did not die! I ran for 2 hours and 20 minutes and lived to tell about it. My first double digit run and my longest distance to date. I may or may not be quite proud of this fact!

Very similar to my run two weeks ago (9.5 miles) I got less than 8 hours of sleep and was exhausted and felt like crap and didn't want to run. I was also intimidated by the distance ahead of me and worried that my sore knee wouldn't let me accomplish it. But I'm thrilled to report that while my knee was a little sore (but nothing bad at all!) and I did feel like crap when I was getting ready, I got my butt outside and ran those 11 miles. And I feel awesome!

Here are my stats from the run:

11.01 miles

2:20:09

12:44 min/mile

1253 calories

150 avg bpm

As my reward for conquering the distance I ordered myself a gluten free pizza from my favorite pizza place here in town. I even got pepperoni on it, which goes against my new vegetarian ways, but it was a treat and I enjoyed every bite of it. I did give Jeff two of the 8 slices, so I didn't eat the whole thing myself, but I'm pretty sure I polished off at least 1000 calories worth of pizza after that run.

Today was one of those runs where I really do feel like I'll have what it takes to finish the half marathon in a little over 6 weeks. I love runs like this, they really are so much better than the 3 mile runs where every single step feels like torture. Maybe there is something to getting up early in the morning and running??? Food for thought!

Falling Down the Stairs is a Humbling Experience

Thursday started off as a great day (well minus the whole Petey peeing on the bed thing, but that's another story for another blog entry titled "Adventures in Potty Training a Puppy from a Fourth Floor Walkup"), the weather was great, I got an excellent workout in at the gym, 3 miles on the elliptical and 30 minutes of swimming laps, and I have the whole day ahead of me to look forward to. Truly an awesome day.

I was thinking about what I was going to do with my awesome day while carrying Petey down the stairs to go out (yes, we have to carry him down the stairs because he's still too little to climb them), next thing I know I'm falling down the stairs and all I can think about is not landing on the 8 pound dog I'm carrying because I'm pretty sure it might have killed him. I didn't for one second think about how I was going to land and ended up doing a very awkward throwing the dog in front of me so I don't crush him thing.

I then landed directly on my right knee cap. Not one other part of my body took the impact. It was shockingly painful. And of course, Petey was no worse for the wear, he just stared at me with his head cocked to one side while I yelled for Jeff to come and help me because I just wasn't sure if I could get up. Of course then I burst into tears. Not because it hurt (it did) but because I was terrified that I had injured myself and I would no longer be able to train for the half or the full marathon and all of the goals I'd been working towards would be shattered. Dramatic much? Ha.

I spent the next 5 or so hours on the couch wallowing in my own pity and icing my knee. I couldn't believe how upset I was or how vulnerable I felt. It really hit home for me just how important all of this training is to me and how important my goals are to me. It also really hit home just how quickly things can change in an instant. I was lucky, I don't think I'm seriously injured but I could have been and that scared the crap out of me.

I will try and be more careful when carrying the little guy down the stairs. The next time I might not be so lucky to end up with only some rug burn and a couple of good bruises!

Why I'm Running the NYC Marathon with Fred's Team

The NYC Marathon is notoriously hard to get into. They have a lottery and the odds aren't great, in fact, I don't know a single person that has actually gotten in via the lottery that lives in the NYC area. The only people I know that have gotten in were from out of town (they have two separate lotteries, one for those of us who live in the area and one for those that don't - the one for those that don't has better odds.)

There are of course other ways to get in besides the lottery, if you lottery three years in a row and don't get in you can get in on the 4th year automatically, or you can run 9 races with the NYRR throughout the year and volunteer for one race and you can get in the next year, or you can be really fast and get a qualifying time (never going to happen), OR you can run for charity which is obviously the option I chose.

I've wanted to run a marathon for a long time, and I've really wanted to run the NYC marathon and do it for cancer in both memory of and in support of people I love in my life who have or are fighting a battle with cancer. Since I'm turning 30 next year (GULP) I figure doing it before I turned 30 was a good goal to set for myself. So I signed up to run with Fred's Team and opted to put my donations towards strategic need research as the people in my life have been affected by many different types of cancer so I didn't feel like I could choose just one type.

Both of my grandparents on my mom's side died within 3 months of each other back in 2007, my grandfather from liver cancer and my grandmother from a decade plus battle with a rare form of intestinal cancer. Since then my stepmother has been battling breast cancer and my great uncle has battled prostate cancer. Of course, these are just a few of the people in my life who have been affected by the disease. And they are the people I think of when I am a quarter mile into a hot and miserable 3 mile run and don't what to run another step. They are also the people I think of when I don't want to get out of bed and train. Training for the marathon is more than just about a goal for me, it's also about honoring people in my life who have been affected by cancer.

I will admit that fundraising is incredibly intimidating for me. Asking people for money is scary and not something I find comfortable at all. But being out of my comfort zone is a good thing! And quite frankly, the more people I have supporting me the more people I feel like I would let down if I don't end up crossing the finish line on November 6th which is much needed extra motivation.

I'm still working on coming up with idea of how to fundraise. I've thought about getting back into painting and selling the paintings to raise money towards my goal. I've also thought about trying to partner with a local restaurant and hosting a dinner with a percentage of proceeds to go towards my fundraising goal. I'm not sure how feasible either of these ideas is, but at least they are thoughts in the right direction. And if all else fails, Fred's Team has my credit card number and they will graciously charge me the balance of the goal if I don't make it. Ha. Just another type of motivation for this girl!

In training news, I had another tough run today. I don't know what it is about running down at the shore but it's much harder for me than running around good old Hoboken. Today I just had three miles on the schedule and it took me an embarrassingly long time to finish them so I'm not even going to post my stats because I'd just like to forget them. All I can hope is that come half marathon time down here in August I'll be in better shape than I am today or I might be crawling across the finish line.

Back to the Beach we Go!

Have I mentioned I love the beach? (or rather, the shore as it's affectionately called in Jersey) One of the things I looked forward to most in taking these three months off is the ability to get down to the shore as much as possible. Jeff's parents have a house down there and they graciously let us stay down there with them. Talk about lucky!

I'm looking forward to another weekend full of walks along the beach, playing fetch with Petey and just relaxing. Life doesn't get any better than that I don't think.

But, while I'm down there I do plan to focus on some of the goals I mentioned in a previous post. I'm taking down the book Joyful Wisdom so I can read it while I'm on the beach. I'll of course do one or two training runs while I'm down there just depending on how long we are there for. I'm vowing right here on the interwebs that I will also spend time strength training (planks/pushups/squats/etc.) and doing some serious stretching. So in between all that relaxing I plan on making some progress towards those goals of mine.

In exciting goal related news I DID make it to the gym today even though I really really really did not want to go. So that's 4 trips so far this summer. Only 26 more to go. Yikes. I'm going to have to start going a lot more often if I want to make that goal even a possibility.

My cross training workout today was as follows:

2 miles on the elliptical - resistance between 6-10, average of 8

3 sets of 10 on the abductor machine with 60 pounds (trying to work on my hip/glute strength)

3 planks for 30 seconds

3 sets of one legged balancing on the bosu ball, 30 seconds on each leg

Ok, so maybe not the most hard core workout out there, but it was something. And I plan to take a long walk on the beach tonight when we get there and spend some quality time playing fetch with the little guy - so not an all together shabby day workout wise. Tomorrow I've got a 3 mile run on tap, and I'm just hoping it's a bit easier than my runs were last time I was down the shore...

To the beach we go!

Week 10 of Training - Complete!

I can't believe I've been training for 10 weeks. I really thought I was on week 7 or 8 when I went to fill in my training schedule today and was shocked when I saw that I was actually finishing week 10 and my next run will be the beginning of week 11. Where has the time gone???

This week was an easy week - the way the training schedule I'm using goes you basically alternate between easy weeks and "hard" weeks. I use them term "hard" lightly as I'm following a very conservative training plan with pretty low miles and only three days a week of running, so the word hard might be a stretch. I do, however, reserve the right to use the word hard later on in my training when the weekly milage starts to get in the 20-30 miles per week range.

The only real cross training I did this week was walking which is not necessarily a good thing. While I got a lot of miles in walking, I really need to get more actual cross training in. I need to add more yoga, swimming, elliptical and strength training into my weekly workouts. There is a yoga class this evening that I'm currently trying to talk myself into going to, but I've already done my 4 mile run for the day so I'm going to need some serious convincing to do a second workout!

If I don't end up going to the gym again tonight (and even if I do) I need to get to the gym tomorrow morning. I freaking paid $300 to join the gym for the summer and my goal is to get there 30 times before I start my new job on September 6th. I've made it THREE times so far. so that's uh, 27 more to go. Yikes.

Running on the Beach is Hard

The beach is my favorite place on earth. Always has been. There is nothing I love more than walking along the shoreline, letting the waves hit my feet, feeling the sand between my toes and looking out at the ocean. I feel completely at peace when I'm at the beach, no matter what is going on in my life.

We made our first trip down to the shore this past weekend to celebrate the fourth of July. It was amazing. The weather was perfect, the company was great and little Petey loved the shore just as much as I do...

Obviously I had a bit of marathon training to do while we were down the shore. Luckily I did my longest run before we left. But I still had a few runs to do while we were there. Let me just say, they were BRUTAL. Honestly, probably some of the worst runs I've had while I've been training. Despite the beautiful weather and scenery the runs were awful which was honestly really frustrating.

I did one run on the sidewalk and one on the beach and they were both hard. There is really no way to describe them other than that. Just hard. I don't know if my legs are still tired from the long run I did, or if they are tired from all of the walking I did on the beach, or it if is some combination of the two, but my training this past weekend was anything but easy.

I'm taking today off from anything other than walking and am planning to do a short run and an hour long yoga class tomorrow in hopes of helping my tired muscles. I'm also thinking about trying to schedule a sports massage to see if that might help. It's a little discouraging to be having trouble with 3 mile runs at this point in my training, but I'm sure its just one of many obstacles I'll face along the way.

The Hardest Day to Get Up = The Best Day to Get Up

I woke up this morning all out of sorts. I had a headache, I felt dehydrated and like I could sleep for another 4 hours and still not feel rested. I also had the longest run of my life (to date) on my training schedule. It felt like a recipe for disaster.

I honestly contemplated bagging it. Pushing the run off until Sunday. But then I thought about how bad I'd feel about myself all day long if I didn't go, and how good I'd feel if I did. Those thoughts plus quite a bit of water and some advil got me out the door 45 minutes later. A little less than two hours after that, I had done it! I ran 9.5 miles! 1.5 miles longer than I'd ever run before.

It really was a perfect morning to run. Bright blue skys, coolish breeze, not humid and beautifully sunny. I ran along the pier for most of the time and the water was sparkling, it was really beautiful.

I will admit to feeling pretty overwhelmed both before and during this run. I ran slowly and never pushed myself too hard, but I wouldn't say it was completely easy mentally either. About 4 miles in I realized I still had to run that distance again plus some more and I wanted to give up. But I just kept telling myself to think about the time/distance/calories burned in small increments because the amount left felt unmanageable. And it worked. Not to say it wasn't hard, it was, but I did it, and I didn't die at the end. In fact the last few miles were the easiest because I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and everything seemed a whole lot easier.

Here are the stats:

9.5 miles

1:59:01 total time

12:32 min/mile

149 avg heart rate

1104 calories burned

I seem to be keeping pretty steady with my 12:30(ish) runs for my long runs. But truthfully, I don't look at my time when I run other than when my garmin beeps to tell me another mile has past. I use my heart rate as a guide for the most part, and when things get really mentally tough (like they did on this run) I also use calories burned - i.e. run for 15 calories burned, walk for 10 calories burned. It helps to break up the monotony. When I run like this on long runs I seem to be fairly steady with my 12:30 pace, but I have to prepare myself that it might get slower as things go on, because the long runs just keep getting longer, and not hurting myself is infinitely more important than keeping any given pace.

I am planning to treat myself to some vegan chocolate chip cookie dough this evening as a reward for burning so many calories (and for getting myself out of bed this morning) - and yes, it's good, I would consider myself a cookie dough connoisseur and this stuff passes the test (and no eggs, so it won't make me sick!)

A Run Where 3 Miles Felt Like an Eternity

You know a few days ago when I was gushing about how easy my eight miler was and how I was sure I'd have an equally sucky run sometime in the near future? Well I was of course right! Today's run was just that. Three miles of pure torture.

THREE miles! That's all. Did I mention a marathon is 23.2 miles MORE than that? I'm screwed. I was in hell. My legs felt like lead. Sweat was pouring into my eyes and I couldn't breathe. My garmin wouldn't "locate a satalite" and then when it finally did it told me my pace ranged from 5 minute miles to 35 minute miles. Now I know my pace varies quite a bit with my walk/run method, but it generally doesn't vary THAT much.

And the worst part of it? I just wanted it to be over as quickly as possible so I could hang out with Petey. Of course, since I wanted it to be over quickly it actually meant it would take me a whole heck of a lot longer than I thought it should have because that's just the way things go.

Oh well. It was miserable but I completed it. And Petey was still there when I got home, and ready to try and lick all of the sweat off my legs. Dogs have a weird idea of what constitutes something that "tastes good."

Hopefully my long run this weekend (9.5 miles, eeeeek) won't be quite as miserable. But even if it is, I'll make it, because well, I've committed and I'm not giving up until I cross that finish line on November 6th.

Week 6 of Marathon Training

So this past week was a big one for me in training for the NYC marathon for two reasons. One is that I was away from home and I've just never really been good at working out when I'm on vacation. Two is that I had an 8 miler on the schedule and I was afraid because that was the longest I'd gone in the past before my injury got too much for me to handle and I had to stop running.

I'm very happy to report that I kept up with my training 100% and even my cross training while I was away and that I was able to do my 8 mile run completely PAIN FREE! It was honestly amazing. I felt incredible the entire time I was running. I ran the entire thing on a trail in Indy that is just perfect for running, easy on the body and interesting enough that you don't get bored. It was a little extra interesting on this particular day because there was a huge rain storm that morning and I had to do my best to dodge puddles the entire time which just kept things interesting. It was by far the best long run I've ever had.

Here are the stats from the 8 miles:

8 miles

1:38:18 total time

12:23 min/mile

151 avg HR

847 calories burned

On this run I just basically listened to my body and took it easy. I probably could have gone a bit faster, but from everything I've read I need to focus on taking my long runs as slow as I can to keep from getting injured. So that's what I did and it felt great. I know that every long won't feel this great, but that's ok, because I know that I have great runs in me...

Sisterly Fun

My little sister came to visit me this weekend to celebrate the end of an era for me - both quitting my job and graduating from NYU. It was amazing. I simply love having her in town. I always beg her to stay and not return to her life in Houston, but as of yet I've never been able to convince her to stay. But I'll keep trying. Someday I'll be successful! (a girl can dream right?!?)

We had such a fantastic time. The weather was beautiful, the company even better and the relaxation was the best. I already feel the stress and anxiety of the past three years melting away. It's the best feeling in the world.

But, she left this morning and it's definitely put a damper in my mood. I miss her already and she left 30 minutes ago...

Anyway, onto happier things! I completed my longest run of this training cycle this weekend on Saturday. Here are the stats:

6 miles

1:13:17

12:12 average pace

152 average HR

679 calories burned

It was a decent run. I had wanted to keep my pace below 12 minutes/mile, but I have to remind myself that I'm starting from scratch and really shouldn't be worried about "speed" (I use the term speed here lightly as none of my miles are ever anything anyone would call speedy!) I should really just be concerned about my distance. I'm just going to keep reminding myself of that.

Today is my first real day off of work without any visitors in town. My first order of business is to go join a local gym for the summer so I can cross train and swim (this gym has a pool!) Super exciting!

I Love Central Park

I finally ran in Central Park this past weekend due in large part to some much needed motivation from my friend Amy. I've been wanting to run in the park for a long time, but it always seemed like such a hassle to walk 3/4 of a mile to the path, take the path, walk a mile uptown (or catch another subway) just to get to the park to start running, AND then to have to do all of that again after running. Didn't ever really seem worth it. Or at least it didn't seem worth it until I was meeting a dear friend for a run, and then I put on my big girl pants and we went for a run in Central Park and I LOVED it.

I don't have my garmin with me (and I can't figure out how to access my stats online) but I know I did 4.5 miles at a little more than a 12 minute mile pace. Pretty slow, but it was noon and 85 degrees outside, so I was more than ok with it.

I see a lot more runs in Central Park in my future - especially if I have the extra motivation of a friend to run with!

Running with Mom Part 2

I was lucky enough to get to run with my mom twice while she was in town! I'm pretty lucky to have such an active mom - she is one of the biggest reasons I'm out there running, so it was fun to do together.

Saturday's are my long run days and the weather turned out to be really nice that day, which was a blessing because every other day of her visit was rain, rain and more rain. We did five miles in just about exactly an hour (don't have my garmin with me so I can't remember 100%) and I was pretty proud of that. I know, it sounds incredibly slow, but for me, right now, it's not.

Here are the stats from our run:

5 miles
1 hour
(HR, Calories - don't have at the moment)

It was my longest run in this training cycle. This week now cuts back a bit and the longest run is 2.5 or 3 miles. The training schedule I'm currently following pretty much follows the pattern of two weeks building mileage, one week tapering back. So this is my low mileage week which is good because unfortunately I can feel the twinges of my old injury coming back. Hopefully it's just my body adjusting to running again and NOT the injury coming back. But only time will tell. I'm doing my best to listen to my body and take it easy as needed.

Next up, a weight loss update...

Running with Mom Part 1...

So I graduated from NYU last week. I now officially have my MBA. (and a ton of loans, but I'll try and focus on the positive here!) In honor of my graduation my mom flew into town to watch me walk across the stage. I'd just like to say that I feel really lucky that I have a mom who's so proud of me that she's willing to take time off work, fly half way across the country to watch me have my 5 seconds of fame. Pretty cool.

My mom is actually one of the main reasons I started running again. She and my sister have both really inspired me to run. My mom has run 3 half marathons to date and my sister has run a few herself and one full marathon. I'd like to believe if they can do it, I can, but that has yet to be seen!

Since my mom and I are both currently injury free I thought it would be fun for us to run together while she was here, and it really was! I've never run with anyone before so it was a new experience for me. A few years ago if you'd ever told me I'd be running with my mom along the water with a view of Manhattan I would have laughed at you. My mom and I were NOT runners and living out east felt like a far out dream. Funny how life changes!

Our first run together was actually the day she flew in. I figured we might as well start the long weekend off right. So we did a 30 minute run at a fairly fast pace (for us anyway!)

31 minutes
2.75 miles
11:27 pace
calories/heart rate unknown because my garmin was on the fritz that day

It was honestly awesome. I loved knowing she was out there with me even if we weren't right next to each other. It was a lot of fun! It even poured down rain on us at one point, but even that was fun because it was refreshing, and quite frankly it kinda made me feel like a "real" runner because I was hardcore and running in the rain. Ha.

I'm hoping the two of us can get a few more runs in together when I'm in Indiana in a a few weeks!

Update and Longest Run of this Training

So, what has been causing my anxiety of late? Giving my notice at work. I'm not going to go into too many details yet, but I am indeed quitting my job and taking a few months off. I have never ever in my life not been working (since I was 16 years old, so 13 years!), not a summer off, or even a winter break off, I have always worked. And of those 13 years, 9 of them were spent going to school and working full time. It goes without saying that this break has been a long time coming.

Enough about that for now...more to come later...

Onto my long run this weekend!

My training schedule called for 4 miles this past weekend and 4 miles is what I did. My last mile was my fastest mile I ever remember "running" at 10:49 minutes. I was (am!) pretty psyched about that. Here are my stats from the run:

4 miles
11:29/mile
161 bpm
449 calories

Honestly, after this run I felt great. I even got kind of cocky in my head and thought hey, maybe this time I just won't have to worry about injury at all, maybe losing weight means all of my old problems are gone! Can we just say wishful thinking? Because that's what it was.

I went to see my massage therapist on Saturday afternoon and we determined that while I am not injured yet, I am pretty much walking down the same road I did before and am begging for an injury if I don't fix some of my weaknesses. The session was both frustrating and enlightening. While I'm frustrated about having to constantly battle injury, I am glad to have a plan to try and help me NOT get truly injured this time. My current plan is the following:

• Stretch and foam roll every single day
• Stability exercises for my hips/glutes
• Strength exercises for my Tibialis anterior (which is the muscle in front of your shin)
• Get back into practicing yoga which will help with stability and flexibility
• Transition into barefoot running extremely slowly
• TAKE IS SLOW

GULP

I signed up for the NYC marathon. For as long as I can remember I've wanted to run a marathon (and more recently the NYC marathon in particular) for a charity relating to cancer. Every year I chicken out. Every single year. But this year, since the turning thirty deadline is looming over me, I decided to put on my big girl pants and sign up. So I did. I'm officially going to run the NYC Marathon for Memorial Kettering Sloan Cancer Research. In honor of my late grandparents, my step mother, my uncle and many other dear friends who have fought or are currently fighting cancer.

Did I mention I have to raise money? Because I do. But I'll leave that for another post as I'm currently a little overwhelmed!

In other news, I got up and ran before work again this morning. It's a freaking miracle I tell you. I did a thirty minute run per my Jeff Galloway half marathon training plan. Stats are below:

30:29
2.5 miles
300 calories burned

Oh and I ran in my new "barefoot" Merrell shoes! I'm hoping that transitioning to barefoot running will help me overcome the injuries that have plagued me in the past. So I'll be trading off between these shoes and my normal running shoes for a few weeks until I completely transition over to the barefoot shoes (hopefully!)

Ok, back to freaking out about the commitment I just made...

Third Run - Week "0" of Half Marathon Training Complete

Ok, so I made up the whole Week 0 thing. The training plan I am using starts on week 1, but I wanted an extra week at 3 miles as my longest so I'm calling it week 0. This week starts week 1 - EEK. I'm pretty nervous, but am hoping that my new "don't get hurt" strategy will allow me to do just that - not get hurt!

Sundays run was gorgeous. Simply beautiful. The weather was amazing and it seemed everywhere I turned I saw people walking around with flowers, undoubtedly for mothers day. So sweet.

Here are the stats from my run:

3 miles
36.30 minutes
12:10 average pace
326 calories burned
158 average heart rate

Ok so I'm as slow as a turtle. But I'm ok with it (for now.) This training go around is all about not getting hurt and training for distance not speed. So what if some walkers past me? Right?

Also, I tried out my new foam roller for the first time yesterday. And today I am not nearly as sore as I normally am after I run. Coincidence? Who knows. But even if its the placebo effect I'll take it!

In other news, I received my (very generous) graduation gift from my parents this weekend. It's a watch and it's simply beautiful. As soon as I get it sized and figure out how to upload pictures on here (or rather remember how to) I'll post a pic. Am completely in love with it!

On tap for tonight - training with my trainer (last six sessions, sad!) and a little elliptical action if I have time.

Morning Running

Oh yes, that's right, I got up this morning and ran BEFORE WORK. Seeing as how I hate to get up in the morning any early than is absolutely necessary this is a huge accomplishment for me. Huge! Granted, I didn't exactly go very far because I didn't get up early enough to do so, but I figure just getting out of bed and being out there running in the am before work is a victory all in itself. Here are the stats from this morning:

2.15 miles (+.20 miles before my garmin decided to pick up a satellite signal)
27:53 minutes
12:29 minutes/mile
153 average heart rate
225 calories burned

Ok, so I'm not breaking any speed records here, but I'm ok with it. My goal at this point is to just get back into the habit of running and to NOT GET HURT. Did you hear me universe? I don't want to get hurt this time! So slow and steady wins the race here.

Also, I ordered a foam roller because supposedly those help with tight muscles which I believe to be the single biggest problem I have and the main cause for my chronic injuries. So hopefully foam rolling will help.

Later this week I'll check in on the weight loss front...