95 Days of Summer - Days 5 and 6

One thing that has really surprised me about my time off is just how fast the days go by. I thought I'd be bored at home (and am sure some days I will be) but these first few days have just flown by. I haven't done anything monumental each day and yet before I know it it's 8 or 9 and I have no idea how it happened.

I haven't really set a schedule for myself other than to keep up with my marathon training, cross train on non-running days and try to do one productive thing a day. Oh and take a walk every day. Sidebar - taking walks the last few days in the evenings has been SO amazing. I am just in complete awe of the fact that I actually live here. Yes, ok, I've lived here for 4.5 years, but the last 3 of that have been lost to school and work so I am really completely appreciating the awesomeness that is around me and it's fantastic.

Today is a "get two productive things day" because I didn't get a dang thing done yesterday. I have already cleaned the kitchen and am trying to convince myself to tackle the laundry in our room. Thrilling I know. Ha.

I've gone swimming twice since joining the gym on Monday and man is that an adventure. Swimming is hard, but I love it. I am sure my form sucks and I know I'm a slow as a turtle (just like my running!) but I love it. It wears me out and I don't get bored like I do on the elliptical machine or the treadmill.

Tomorrow is another running day and unfortunately I think I'm actually going to set my alarm to get up early enough to run as the high is predicted to be 98 tomorrow. Ack. I'll get back to my regularly scheduled sleeping till I wake up in the morning schedule on Friday (probably the single most best thing about having the summer off.)

95 Days of Summer - Day 4

I have 95 days off before I start my new job, so hence the 95 Days of Summer Title. I thought it might be interesting to try and chronicle as many of my days as I can along with my training schedule. Who knows if I'll ever get another opportunity to have time off like this so it'll be nice to write about it to help remember it.

Today I joined a local gym for the summer to have a place to do all of my cross training while I'm off this summer. I'm pretty excited about it because this particular gym has a lap pool (a rarity around here) so I can start swimming. I love to swim, but man I forgot how hard it is. I also forgot how important it is to have a swimsuit that fits and is for actual swimming (not just laying out) when you are swimming laps. Wearing a takini that was too big for me was an interesting experience today. Must buy goggles and a real swim suit or two since I'm planning on keeping this up.

Not sure what the rest of the day holds but am planning to take it pretty easy. Might take a walk later this evening to enjoy some of the weather and do some shopping. I still can't believe I'm lucky enough to be able to have this kind of time to myself. It all feels very surreal.

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!

Weigh in Update 1

I'm going to treat this weigh in like its the first because well, it's the first time I've updated in a long time! But just for reference, I started out this whole journey back on Halloween of 2009 at an all time high of 185.8 pounds (it still shocks me to see that number!)

After a year and a half or so of trying to lose weight last Friday I weighed in at 159.8, but unfortunately I think that was fluke and have been well above 160 since then. My first goal is to get to a healthy weight of 155 (highest in the BMI range for my height.) My next goal is to get into the 140s, and my dream goal is to be in the 130s, but that may or may not ever happen.

My plan is to get into the 140s before the end of the summer. I'm hoping that training for the half marathon and the full marathon along with having time off and a lot less stress in my life I can meet that goal. I'll weigh in here on Fridays to keep myself accountable and keep a better record of my journey. I wish I had done that like I said from the beginning, it would have been nice to be able to read back about my progress along the way.

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!