Consistency is a runner's best friend

I'm pretty sure I'd rather run two 12 minute miles than one 10 minute mile and one 14 minute mile, even though the pace is still the same. 

When I run, I try to use splits so I have more to go on than just the average pace.  It gives me a pace at different times of my run, and helps me with smaller goals.  Instead of "I want a faster pace", I can start small.  "I want to run that segment faster".  Work on one at a time, and eventually, the average pace will follow. 

I also try to split in the same spots - makes sense right? :).  Today, I had two 1 mile segments because apparently today I'm technologically challenged.  To give myself credit, I was RUNNING trying to push buttons.  Maybe I ought to get one of those little fancy-schmancy split watches.  WISH LIST! :) Back to my splits: one mile was 12:23 and the other 12:24.  Um, yes, please.  This is especially awesome because my overall pace was 12:18 :).  Yesterday, I ran a .31 segment in 3:45, today 3:47.  Sweet.  Yesterday .43 in 5:05, today 5:06.  Woot! 

As my times become faster, the over times will go down, and not be the same day to day, but it's nice to see that for now; and it's always nice to see consistency inside a run.  :)

Until next time,
:)

Look out world - I'M BACK!

I've got my running groove back!!!  And it's better than ever!

This freedom of not training for anything specific:  No race deadline or goal marker, except of course to beat my previous times, is...well freeing!  It also helps that I'm not running in circles around my parking lot anymore.  While that had its time and place while I was getting my running legs back under me, I'm on to bigger, better, and more importantly, more exciting things.  I'm running on campus now.  The far outside loop of campus is over 3.5 miles, and I have several smaller loops mapped out. 

My play list?  You know those songs you hear in movies that give you goosebumps and motivate you to take over the world?  The ones that you turn up all the way and sing along in your car (or wherever)?  For example, in Legally Blond, when she's becoming the successful bookworm proving everyone wrong, the song they play is Watch Me Shine by Joanna Pacitti.  My play list is made up entirely of those.  Upbeat, awesome, I rule the world songs.  Um, because I so do.  I end up smiling while I run, and I can't wait until the next time I get to hit the pavement.  I'm in my running clothes now, trying to get to a good stopping point in a program I'm writing, so I can go run! 

I don't hurt.  I avoided running for a while because I was convinced it hurt my shoulder and back and on and on.  I'm being careful, but for the most part, since I'm concentrating on my form and breathing, it doesn't hurt to run.  Which is fabulous.  :)

And because I'm the mix-master in the h-iz-ouse (couldn't resist), I have them timed just right so when I'm needing a special boost of motivation, the next song is just that. 

So I'm sure you're curious to the results of all this dedication.  Yesterday I ran 2.5 miles in 30:20.  I'll help you with the math, because I'm a geek.  That's a pace of 11:59.  That would be over one minute FASTER PACE than my fastest ever 5K pace.  EVER.  Like all of them.  Here we go again.  :)

I am participating in a challenge on Map My Fitness (www.mapmyfitness.com).  I may have mentioned it in a past post.  The challenge is to do 30 minutes of some kind of activity 20 days out of the month of December.  It's a motivation to keep moving through the holidays.  Yesterday was day 1.  Today will be day 2.  And look at that.  It's December 2nd.  I'm on a roll :)

I think I figured out the motivation behind all this change.  I changed the rules of my own life.  No more games, no more bull...stuff.  :)  I am no longer putting up with it.  From anyone else, or me!  I deserve better.  I deserve the best.  And it starts with how I treat myself.  Anyone is welcome to try to play games with me, but you better watch out; the house always wins :) and I WILL come out on top!

I DECIDED I would be happy, no matter what anyone said or did.  And I am!  I had left it up to other people, then wondered why I was disappointed.  I'm making friends with the voice inside my head.  I'm making friends with her.  And no, I don't have multiple personalities, and I am not weird.  I think we all need to talk to ourselves a little more.  That voice makes a lot less trouble when she gets attention.  She plays nice now :)

I have a few quotes, some I've heard, some I've come up with.  I keep them on my white board and look at them regularly.  I always thought that things on a white board or mirror wouldn't work because once you see them so many times, you know they're there.  But if you look in that direction, you know what's there, and it puts it at the front of your memory, whether or not you have to actually read them.

"Remember why you're on the journey, and how you'll feel at the finish line"
"It is a marathon until the finish line is in sight.  Only then is it a sprint"
"Focus on form and distance.  The speed will come"
"Don't hurry, don't worry, and don't forget to smell the flowers"
"Don't think about how far away the finish line is, think about how far beyond the starting line you are"
"It's a CHOICE"

Until next time,
:)

Having an audience does wonders for one’s running performance

I find the title to be somewhat self-explanatory, but for the sake of …well I like to talk to I'll explain it anyways :). 

Yesterday, I decided to run on campus instead of in my parking lot.  So I got dressed, planned my route online (www.mapmyfitness.com), and drove to campus.  And ran an 11:28 minute mile.  Uh, that would be a pace that is 45 seconds FASTER than my fastest time to date.  TO DATE.  That’s all of them.  ALL.  Every.  You get it :) 45 seconds!  Okay, now I’m done. 

I was performing for an audience.  Take driving.  Never mind, I should stay away from driving :).  You get the idea though.  

I have come to a turning point if you will.  I am choosing to eat healthier, to listen to the signals my body sends me.  It’s quite fascinating really.  I have green beans.  I choose to eat all of them instead of just half.  I’ve had chocolate in my apartment for weeks.  Ice cream?  Not interested.  Munching.  No longer a problem.  Thanksgiving.  Didn’t overeat.  I’m not sure what happened, but I’m not messing with it.  Maybe it's because I don't watch TV anymore.  That's mostly because I don't have time.  No, this would not be a "you don't make time" instance.  I quite literally do not HAVE time. 

I don’t know what my total weight loss is.  I couldn’t tell you how much I weigh.  All I know is in the month of November I lost 5 pounds.  3 of the 4 weeks were losses, and I maintained (true maintain) one week.  That’s all I know.  I’m not focusing on the big picture long term goal weight almost a year down the road.  I’m focusing on right now.  Today.  Tomorrow.  This week.  That’s it.  That’s all the brain power I can allocate anyways.  Lose weight daily.  Exercise regularly.  Make choices.  Sit in a bouncy desk chair :).  (Just thought I'd throw that one in for fun).  Last night, I actually only bought the items on my list at the grocery store.  I didn’t even think it was possible. 

I think sometimes we try to equate “healthy” with “complicated”.  It doesn’t have to be, but you have to WANT it.  It's not a diet.  It's a life style change. 

Until next time,
:)

What happens when you don't eat for 12 hours?

Good question.  I know people who can go all day without eating and not blink an eye.  Yesterday I would have told you I couldn't make it 6 before not being able to function.  Guess you could either call it anemic, blood sugar issues, or God's blessing me with the inability to have an eating disorder because he knew I get distracted.  College has taught me a lot about eating, and the issues that I face eating at odd times.  Last week, it had only been 2 hours since I had eaten, but stress, anxiety, and adrenaline running out made me totally crash. 

Today, I ate breakfast around 7.  I went to class, came back, worked on a few things, left for my next class at 11, just like normal MWF.  Then after class I had a heart to heart with one professor, got help from another and by the time I made it home to change out stuff and head back to school to work on a project, it was almost 2.  No food since 7.  I worked on school stuff for hours, until time flew and it was time to leave the library for my 6pm class.  Still no food.  Still walking.  I made it home without incident around 7:30, and fixed two pieces of pizza.  I had to force myself to fix it, much more to starting eating it.  It had been so long since I'd eaten, I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of food.  I've made it through the first piece and I think I might just be sick.  I'm hungry and full at the same time.  No appetite at all.  I don't even want to eat the chocolate cake I brought in here to save my sugars if they started going haywire.  Now that's just depressing all on its own. 

I think this might have something to do with the fact that the last 24 hours have made me ridiculously happy, I have had 3.5 hours of sleep on the day, and I still have hours of homework to accomplish before getting shut-eye. 

ONLY 10 class days left.  I can make it, but where did the semester go?!?!?

If I had been careless, who knows how long this could have gone on before my body gave out!  I guess, for the most part, that's why I'm lucky enough to not be able to go long periods of time without eating before my body starts shutting down, guess today was the exception, but I can't count on having this good fortune in the future.  Crashes really freak people out, they tend to overreact and send me to the ER, and that's the last thing I need. 

I'm off to finish homework, try to eat some more to fight off a losing cycle of no food, no strength until I get sick. 

Until next time,
:)

I kindof don't like carrots.

I'm trying out the Blogger app, so show mercy on my spelling, please? :)

I'm pretty sure when I see carrots, I become a 5 year old, whining and all. Truth is, I don't like carrots unless each bite includes ranch dressing, or something. Which really defeats the purpose of eating them, since that purpose is an almost zero calorie snack. Why can't there be almost zero calorie ranch dressing? Maybe because then we would have to add something tasty. So I think I'll just stick to my raw green beans (the ones that snap) for my zero calorie snack. I could eat a bushel of those!

I'm not sure why this little fun factoid about me seemed like a good post, but it seemed like a good idea, so I went with it. Maybe it's because I just felt like talking, and since that itself was a rare thing, I decided to run with it. That and it was a perfectly good excuse to try out this nifty app. :)

So I've decided that when I eat dessert, it's a really good idea to eat it in a very, very, very small bowl. If it comes close to the top of the bowl, I feel like I'm indulging, but not in a guilty kind of a way. That kind of way that you curl up with a blanket in a comfy chair and your dessert and you can really appreciate the taste kind of way. Of course the best dessert for this is a warm brownie with a small scoop of ice cream. YUM.

Today really threw me off, I'm not sure I buy that it's Thursday night, maybe tomorrow it'll sink in; hopefully I go to the right classes! I think, well heck, I don't know, there's a lot going on upstairs, so I'm gonna log off before I start rambling. :)

Until next time,
:)

The amount of sugar I consume is inversely proportional to my running performance

Yes, I'm a math geek.  So what inversely proportional means is when one item gets bigger, the other gets smaller at the same rate.  Directly proportional is when the two items grow or shrink together.  Just a little math lesson from your neighborhood math geek. 

Okay, now to what it really means: on Monday I got distracted and I went a little overboard on a sweet treat. . .right before I went for a run.  BAD idea.  Just a really bad idea.  I felt it from the time I took the first step.  I had a terrible pace (uh 2 minutes total time SLOWER than average), and I was only able to do 2 laps instead of 3.  BLAH.  But it was a good lesson learned.  But the good news is that the inverse of this is true.  Holding off on fast food and sugar provides great results!

Now, Imma brag on my self.  So I went lax, if you will, on my goals.  No more specific timeline for weight loss.  I just want to have a net loss each month.  I want to be consistent in tracking and exercise.  I don't want to have any specific fitness goals, I'm not running to train for a race, I'm running to be healthy, to push myself, and most importantly, FUN!  I have a specially chosen play list that pushes me and makes me happy. 

So what did I get for all my effort: -2.2!  How exciting.  Then, today, because it was such a good day, I got my car back yesterday, and I had an impressive loss (all adds up to one HAPPY camper), my pace was fabulous!  I did the whole 3 laps 2 minutes faster than average.  That shaved more than a minute off my pace.  Hello 12 minute pace!  WOOHOO!!  And all 3 laps were within 30 seconds of each other, so I was a lot more consistent then I have been. 

All in all, a fabulous start to another great week!

A side note on my car, if I ever have to part with it permanently (*sniff*), it will be a very sad day, week, month, you get it.  Very, very sad.  9 days and I missed it so much.

4 weeks from today is the last day of classes for the semester.  Where did it go?!?!

Until next time,
:)

You can take the girl out of the race, but not the race out of the girl

I know.  It's cliche.  You're allowed to use cliche statements when they're true.  The title the way it's phrased makes more sense that what I really mean: "You can take the girl out of the run, but not the run out of the girl."  I had a couple of other options for titles, but this was the most applicable.

You might have been wondering what I've been up to lately since I haven't posted in more than 3 months.  Well I moved, I'm in school full time, living out on my own again, and in a new city.  I'm only moved an hour away, but I moved far enough to be in a new County (which as a sidebar, means I got a new county sticker for my license plate.  The dork in me was way to excited for that :D ), but I digress.  There's a lot going on.  I spend 20 hours per week in class (only 17 of those are graded hours, 3 are audit hours), I work about 15 hours a week, I have homework for 17 hours, and all are upper division classes, which means the homework isn't busy work anymore, it's actual work, that involves actual thought.  Like 800 lines of code for one assignment.  Yea, no jokes over here.  Anyways, on top of all this, I'm trying to get out of debt and manage my finances on approximately 1/3 of the hours/pay I was working before I went part time.  AND then on top of all this, I'm trying not to gain weight, and when humanly possible, lose it! 

I say all this to say it's really easy to get discouraged.  Sometimes, with this much going on, something gets dropped.  And I've dropped something in just about all the areas except school (guess that says I have my priorities straight?).  I haven't been making any groundbreaking strides with paying off debt, and I didn't expect to, I just try to stay afloat and not get any further behind, and I can hit that area hard when I'm on school breaks working full time. 

However, I've been making strides in the exact wrong direction regarding my weight.  I certainly haven't had a net loss of weight since I've moved, if anything it's been a net gain.  I thought I had hit my breaking point a few weeks ago and I made a really aggressive workout schedule and eating rules.  Because that tactic has worked so well in the past.  To top it off, I calculated when I wanted to hit my goal weight.  Since that's more than 45 pounds away, that was foolish.  BY now, I should know myself well enough to know that as soon as I put a goal of a certain amount of weight loss by a certain amount of time, it becomes a head game, that I've yet to win.  So, as you might imagine, the first schedule became unused within a week.  I got upset.  And I ate.  So I decided it was too aggressive, and so I made a less aggressive schedule.  Why oh why.  That one went out the window too.  And I ate some more.  I had the nerve to feel sorry for myself.  That and I was whining that I had put on my workout schedule to workout on the elliptical.  I hate the elliptical.  Sure it's effective, but I don't enjoy it, and I maintain if you don't like your exercise, you won't do it. 

Now to the context of this post, I know that was a lot of (necessary) back story.  If I could figure out how to put jump links in this, I would, but until then, you're stuck reading the back story.  Some of you may know I've had an off again on again relationship with running.  I ran for a while, had shoulder surgery, which put me out for almost a year, and then I started running again late last year.  I made great strides, ran several 5Ks (I lost count, but they were all fun!).  Somehow it became something I had to do instead of something I wanted to do.  I had to train so I could meet a certain distance by a certain date.  Sound familiar?  (If not, refer to the paragraph above, again, I would use links....).  After one of my dreaded elliptical workouts a couple of weeks ago, I decided I wanted to take a try at running a lap around my apartment complex.  So I did, and made it all the way around.  Then came back and figured out it was 0.6 miles.  WOOT.  I didn't have to go anywhere, or pay anything.  I used resources I already had where I lived.  That and I wasn't running on any roads, I was basically running in my neighborhood.  Which was nifty.  :) And a huge confidence booster.  I still had those voices in my head that I shouldn't be running because I could injure myself (specifically my shoulder). 

Then today, I was laying in bed watching football, which is where I had been all day, I had a spark of motivation to workout.  I hadn't decided what, but I got out of bed and put my workout clothes on and decided I was going to run.  I said 1 lap.  I got to the end of the lap and felt really good, so I did another, and another.  Inside that third lap, I had the intuition that I needed to not overdo it, and that that needed to be my last lap.  That was smart.  I think I could have done another, but 1.74 miles in 22:38 (that's a 12:38 mile average) out of nowhere was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. 

While I was running, I discovered something.  I really enjoy running!  I always have really.  Just me and the road, working out whatever stress is bothering me. 

My Dad told me recently "you can't schedule your whole life".  You can imagine my initial response.  (It looked something like a 5 year old pouting, I won't lie).  But he's right!  I don't ever know what my day is going to look like.  Turns out, life doesn't just leave me alone just because I'm back in school full time.  I have to deal with life, at unexpected and sometimes downright inconvenient times.  I just need to suck it up and move on. 

So I'm not going to set up another schedule.  As crazy as this sounds, I'm not going to set specific goals.  Yes, I know that goes against everything teachers teach about goal setting.  Oh well.  I've got to make decisions right for me.  Does this mean I won't be accountable?  Absolutely not.  My goal is non-numeric, not non-existent.  It's to have a net weight loss.  NET.  Meaning, not every week will have a weight loss, but I have to do my best to make sure that it does.

No more feeling sorry for myself.  I know I've said it before, but it's the trying times when you find out what you're made of, and frankly, I'm tired of being made of wimp.  I know I'm better than that, and anyone who wants to argue can....use your imagination, but the bottom line is I'm not putting up with it, starting with me!

I found the exercise I love, and yes, there's risk of injury.  That just means I have to make the effort to make sure my shoulder is healthy, and that I don't overdo it. 

Well I think that's about enough ground breaking for one day. 

Until next time,
:)