Feels Like Spring (Finally)

Feels like spring!! Yay! Hopefully no more snow.
I lost two pounds this week so maybe I've broken through my plateau. Eating a bit more seems to have helped.
I finished the Burn phase of Chalean Extreme. I'm looking forward to moving onto the Push phase. I might write a bit more about my experience with the Burn phase later.
My 10K is coming up next Sunday so I'm going to take things a bit easy this week. I won't be starting Push phase until the first week of May as I don't want to try anything new prior to my race.
Last week:
Monday: Burn Circuit 1 & Ab Burner
Done
Tuesday: Rest
Took the rest day - I was feeling antsy, but rest is good.
Wednesday: Run 10K
Ran 9.5K. So close.
Thursday: Burn Circuit 2 & Ab Burner
Check
Friday: Run 6K
Did 5 instead
Saturday: Burn Circuit 3 & Ab Burner
Check
Sunday: Run 5K
Ran 6 instead.
Next Week's Plan:Monday: TF Sculpt 30 & Core 20
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Run 5K
Thursday: Fire 55 EZ
Friday: TF Tone 30 & Core 20 (this might be skipped though to watch the royal wedding)
Saturday: Some form of yoga
Sunday: My first 10K!!

Practice 10K

Yesterday was cold, very windy, overcast, muddy - not exactly ideal conditions for a run, but I wanted to get in a practice 10K before my race next Saturday.
I set off going at a decent pace, but since this was my first time doing this distance, I slowed down a fair deal and took quite a few walk breaks.
I completed 9.5K in an hour, 25 minutes (I am a turtle). I was going for 10, but my route didn't work out that way. I had mapped it out on map my run but hadn't realized that there was a staircase at the end of the trail. Ah well.
I felt pretty good. My legs were a bit achey when I got in but I stretched for 20 minutes which helped.
Hopefully the weather is better next week.

Week-End

- Had a non-tracking food day yesterday. I ate whatever I wanted all day and didn't track anything. Surprisingly, I didn't eat anything horrible other than 4 butter tarts (so good) and more cheese than I would normally eat.
- Attended a yoga show that's happening here. Nothing too exciting - if I go next year, I'd bring my yoga mat and do some of the included classes. I did pick up a Passport to Prana card which gives me access to a lot of yoga studios for a year. I need more yoga in my life.
- Did Fire 55 EZ today which was such a nice break from long runs.
Last week's Plan:
Sunday: Fire 30 EZ and Stretch 30
check
Monday: Burn Circuit 1 & Ab Burner
check
Tuesday: Rest?
Actual: 43 minutes of running.
Wednesday: Burn Circuit 2 & Ab Burner
Actual: did Burn Circuit 2 but didn't have time for Ab Burner. Ran for 43ish minutes after work (calibrating my nike+)
Thursday: Fire 55 EZ
Actual: Rest Day
Friday: Run 10K
Actual: Ran 8K
Saturday: Burn Circuit 3 & Ab Burner
Actual: Burn Circuit 3 & Core 20 to mix things up a bit.
This week's plan:
Sunday - just finished Fire 55 EZ and a bit of yoga
Monday: Burn Circuit 1 & Ab Burner
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Run 10K (dependent on weather - it snowed again today so who knows what'll happen later in the week)
Thursday: Burn Circuit 2 & Ab Burner
Friday: Run 6K
Saturday: Burn Circuit 3 & Ab Burner
Sunday: Run 5K

8K and A Plateu

I went out yesterday and did my 8K run - for real this time! I mapped it out before I went. Nike+ is now overestimating the distance. According to mapmyrun.com, the route was 8.05K and Nike+ says it was 8.15k. Ah well, better than running 7K instead of 8k.
Yesterday's run was super slow, but I really need to focus on adding distance rather than my speed. I kept thinking how this time last year, I was running 2 - 3 km so I've come a long way.
Today was my weigh in day - I seem to be stuck at 153 pounds. The scale has been hovering between 153 to 153.8 for the past 5 weeks. My food tracking has been good, but I'm thinking that I might not be eating enough. I usually finish the day having ate between 1560 - 1590 calories, but maybe I should aim more for 1600 - 1700. I am exercising 6 days a week, so maybe my body is hanging onto the weight. I'll increase it a bit next week and see what happens.

Frustrated (Nike+ Fail)

I'm feeling rather frustrated today.

I've been wondering how accurate my nike+ shoe pod is. I run the same route all of the time and every time I do 5K, I seem to turn around at a different point. So I headed off to a nearby track to calibrate my nike+. Going there, Nike+ says I've gone 2.03K at a pace of 7:26min/km. I run around the track once, walk around the track once to calibrate. Coming back following the same route - distance = 1.73km at a pace of 8:23min/km. I'm thinking nike+ is on crack. So I pull up mapmyrun.com to check the distance =1.79km. So calibrated run is more accurate, ok.

I check a couple of websites where you enter in the distance and the time it took - pace is 8:04min/km. So its quite possible that my wonderful running breakthrough from last week was just my nike+ being inaccurate. And the 8K run I did on the week-end was really 7km.

I'm feeling pretty frustrated as I thought I had made all sorts of progress. I'm glad that I found this out now and not at my 10K in two weeks. Would have been an unwelcome surprise that A - I'm running slower than I think and B - that 10K is further than any of my training runs.

I'm trying to tell myself that I shouldn't be concerned with how fast I'm going. That three years ago I was in so much pain from my arthritis that I could barely walk. That when I started last year, I could barely do 3km. But its still frustrating that I haven't improved my time at all since last year. Ah well, at least I have a more accurate start point now.

Week Plan April 10-16

Last week:
Sunday: Run 6K
Check
Monday: Burn Circuit 1 & Extreme Abs
Yes, but I've realized that its Ab Burner I'm doing, not Extreme Abs. I'll save Extreme Abs for next month.
Tuesday: Run 5K
Actual: Fire 45 & Stretch 10
Wednesday: Burn Circuit 2 & Extreme Abs
Yes, than did 20 minutes of yoga after work.
Thursday: rest
Ran 5K.
Friday: Burn Circuit 3
Check
Saturday: Run 8K
Yep.
Upcoming Week:
Sunday: Fire 30 EZ and Stretch 30
Monday: Burn Circuit 1 & Ab Burner
Tuesday: Rest?
Wednesday: Burn Circuit 2 & Ab Burner
Thursday: Fire 55 EZ
Friday: Run 10K
Saturday: Burn Circuit 3 & Ab Burner

Saturday

I was too tired out to blog much yesterday.

Saturday morning, the husband and I trekked out to go to a race & event expo. I was hoping that some of the races would be offering discounts to register, but no such luck. I didn't find anything that I didn't already know about.

The husband, however, is pretty keen now to do a Spartan Race which looks a bit insane. It's a 5K but with the added fun of crawling through mud, jumping over hot coals, gladiator style fighting. I wanted him to do a race with me at some point, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind.

I came home than set out on my long run for the week - 8K. Weather was absolutely perfect, 15C, sunny, tiny bit of a breeze. It was my first time out this year in a t-shirt so my arms got a bit of sun.
I kept up 4-1 run/walk intervals for most of the run with a slightly longer walk break around 6K and then picked it up a bit at the end. The whole run took about an hour which is pretty much what I expected. I finished off both water bottles from my fuel belt and ate some sport beans as I went.

I spent 20 minutes stretching when I got home but I was still sore last night. I'm feeling better now as I had an amazing sleep. Cure for insomnia - run for a long time.

8K

Beautiful sunny day out. Spring is finally here!
(I'm touching wood - don't want it to snow over night like it did last Sunday).
Just back from an 8K run - my longest run ever!

Running Break Through

I had a bit of a running break through today.
Two things lead to this:
1. I mentioned to someone at work that I’m considering a half marathon. He said something about “its all about watching your pace”.
2. I was sitting in the waiting room for my annual x-rays, reading a running book. The beginning program leads up to running 5 minutes and walking 1. I started thinking that I’ve been running for a year now, why am I still not even able to complete a beginners program??
So on today’s 5K run I decided to try two things:
- slow my running pace down for the majority of the run
- try doing 5-1 intervals instead of the 3-1 I had planned
The results? I ran 5 kilometres in just under 37 minutes at a 7:15min/km average pace. I normally finish in 40 minutes at an 8 min/km pace.
Best. Run. Ever.
This really proofed to me that the only thing that’s been holding me back with running is myself and feeling like I can’t do this. I’m 30 years old, carrying an extra 10 pounds, I have rheumatoid arthritis so why should I be able to do anything less than an 8 minute kilometre.
Well I can.
Score 1 for me.
In your face arthritis.

Tuesday

You ever have one of those days when your workout is exactly what you needed?
I was supposed to run last night, but the weather was a bit wonky all day. It was sunny, it was cold, it hailed, it was super windy. So I decided to stay inside and did Turbo Fire instead.
I haven't done a regular (non HIIT) TF workout in about two weeks and it was so what I needed. Chalean Extreme is tough, running is great but also hard work. Fire 45 was challenging but just so much fun. It was a good break from weight lifting and running.
After Fire 45, I did Stretch 10 - again, exactly what my body needed. Felt very zen like afterwards.

Goals for April

• Chalean Extreme - 3 times per week
• Do an abs workout 3 times per week
• Cardio workout - 3 times per week
• Focus on eating fruits and veggies
• Cook dinner twice a week
• Keep running! Increase distance gradually so 10K race on May 1st isn't painful
• Stretch 4 times a week