Sum it up

Weds- Nothing- worked second job...too tired.
Thursday- Bally's Kickboxing class! Great work out! Incorporated punches, kicks, lots of push-ups, and abs.
Friday- Nothing
Saturady-Nothing
Sunday- Nothing
Monday- 5 mile run on TM at Bally's
Tuesday- x-train: 1.5 mile trail run, 15 minute bike, 3 sets of 25 dips, 3 sets of 15 chair push-ups, tempo track run- 4 warm up laps/2 speed laps (15minutes), Stadiums (7 full).

On a side note, I am doing much better with my sweet tea consumption and my serving sizes. I get full a lot faster now. I have not been eating breakfast everyday though. It seems like I skip out every other day at work for some reason.

Goals Revised

Friday- neighborhood run. Down old bay rd and then service rd and back. Approx 4 miles

Saturday- xtrain at Derek’s. (Abs, push-ups, tricep dips) x 2. Run 15 mins, stairs x 13, bike for 15 minutes.

Sunday- day off

Monday- Golds Gym- Ran on tm for 3 miles, elliptical for 13 minutes, arms

Tues- Bally’s- Ran on tm for 2 miles, abs.

Also, I think I need to start tracking what I eat/drink. I don’t know what is going on, but I have gained 3 pounds in the past week or so. I have a feeling it is the addition of sweet drinks into my diet and not passing over the banana pudding and chocolate cake during office meetings, as I was doing before. Those extra calories really do add up after a week.

I am suspicious that that could equal a 3 lb weight gain for me though, there is just no way! Especially with all the running I do. I think I have some pre-menstrual bloating and water weight going on right now to be honest, but it definitely opens my eyes to the little things I have been doing lately…like taking a couple bites of swiss roll when I get home from work. I have also noticed that I have a bigger appetite now too. I used to be VERY full off of a half sandwich and not feel hungry again until dinner. Now I am still hungry after I eat and I am hungry before dinner as well. I hate this! It makes weight loss way harder! Last night I had a larger than normal plate of unhealthy BBQ from Bono's…it is so hard to pass up free food!

Goals:

-Eliminate sweet drinks like Starbucks frap bottles and replace with coffee with sweet n low and good cream. It will still taste good, but without as much sugar or milk. Replace that sweet tea I’ve been drinking every day at lunch with water or a water with a propel packet. In general, I need to drink more water.

-Eat less! Get back to feeling full on that half bagel and half sandwich!

-Eat healthier! You were doing so good before, than those bad foods started slipping in there. No French fries with your sandwich at lunch…no more potatoes at work for bfast…too many carbs Alacia! Do you want that 6 pack? Grapefruit for b-fast or fiber cereal. Lunch- sushi or healthy sandwich (wheat bread) and dinner have chicken or fish.

-No more heavy beer and reduce the amt of lite beer! I want the other 6 pack! To get Crunk, drink straight liquor without the carbs

-Incorporate Whey protein back into my diet. Have it as a mid-afternoon type snack.

-Start taking a multi-vitamin every day. To remind myself I will keep it at my desk in my office.

-Abs everyday!

When I finally decide on a gym, I am going to have my body fat percent taken and my measurements so I can keep track of my progress. I plan on keeping a log book for my weight training days as well.

La firm

Well, Tuesday I ended up doing butt and legs with the firm. A great leg day and I had the next day to show for it...I could barely walk around!

Wednesday I worked my second job and had no time for working out…I was physically exhausted!

Thursday I made it up with a 5 mile tm run at Gold’s. Yes, that is right…I’m back at Gold’s. I really like it there…I have not committed yet, but I am pretty sure I am going to do a month to month. I will also check out Bally’s and Baileys though before signing on. I did abs after I ran, but felt I was kinda antsy to get out of there and get on with my night. I would like to go into a little more detail about my runs from now on so I can keep in track of my progress. I started out with a five minute walk warm-up at 4.0, then I went on to a 6.5 for approximately 2 miles and then 7.0 until I reached 3.75 miles, when I picked up the speed to 7.5 and finished off at 4.75 with a cool down in increments the same way I went up...until I reached 5 miles when I slowed to a walk at 4.0 again. Clock was at 44 minutes when I got to five miles, which isn't to back considering the 4.0 pace warm-up for five minutes in the beginning. All together running, I averaged about a 8.5 minute mile for the majority of the run. The tempo was very good though, and it makes the run a lot harder than a straight run at the same pace. Looking forward to hitting the trails soon!

The past few days in a nutshell

Looks like another day of catch-up. Let’s start with what I did on Weds, because it was not what I had planned. Again, it had gotten dark on me, so I could not run outside my house. Instead I went to the University gym and did the elliptical for 30 minutes and then I did an intense upper body workout…mainly my arms and chest. I finished strong with my abdominals. Bad new is I can’t go back to the gym unless I want to buy a membership! They figured out I was not taking classes this semester.

On Thursday I ran around the University for 2 miles and then I did stadiums (6x), then I ran another 2 miles. It was a good work out!

On Friday and Saturday I relaxed.

On Sunday I had an awesome day! We went out to Hanna Park and ran trails for 15 minutes and then we biked the trails for 45 minutes. It was sooo fun! I bruised up my legs and got eaten up by the mosquitos, but overall it was a great workout. We finished off in the ocean taking on the waves. A great day! On a side note, I cannot do a full pull-up. I get half way up and fatigue. Maybe next month!? Might I add that Derek treated me to Olive Garden and I ate way too many breadsticks! I couldn't stop stuffing my mouth! I had four at the table and then 2 the next day for lunch!

On Monday I ran around my apartment trail 4x. Equivalent to just over 4 miles, I believe. It was a good run, but my breathing was a little heavier than usual. I started getting bored going around the same track. I think next time I am going to switch it up and find another route.

4 miles and the wave

Yesterday (Tuesday) I enjoyed a night at the University gym. Ran into a friend and spent 20 minutes chatting on the tm. Did two miles at a 6 min mile pace because we were talking. After that I tried that new wave machine that looks like an elliptical but moves differently to isolate the outer and inner thighs and buttocks. It works well because after ten minutes I was ready to get off, and that I did…but in my defense, I wanted to get in a two miler outside around the university. Was out for aprox 17 minutes,but I took a different course than normal so I am not sure about the distance. It may have been over two miles, but I will track it as two. Today (Weds) I plan on running the trails outside my house (four laps around) equivalent to about 4 miles, then I will do some arms and abs again.

Where I left off…yeah, so, um…didn’t get to that longrun on Friday. Damn! In fact, I didn’t even get myrunning shoes on! I was lazy lazy lazy and worried more about “other things”!!! Anyway, Saturday I ran a three-miler in the hot Florida heat. It was dreadful.The body just cannot cool off when there is so muchhumidity in the air. Today (Monday) I am running the trails behind my apartment~ 2 mile and stairs, and then abs. But first I plan to go home and relax alittle from a hard day at the office. xoxo

Yesterday I released my pent-up anger through the best outlet I could …running! At first it was punching thetm, and then I realized I looked like a madwoman, so Imoved the show outside and ran along the dark roadsfor three miles. I really didn’t care because I felt like I could take on anyone that dared to mess withme. My adrenaline was pumping and I had the anger tobring it home. Not too bad on time, considering I wason a tight schedule. I would have done more had timepermitted. I cannot tell you how good it felt to punch that treadmill. I didn’t think I had it in me before all of this. This makes me revisit the kickboxing idea I was looking into the last couple months. I just really don’t want to part with 120 dollars every month. That is a HUGE chunk of change for hitting abag 2-3x a week. I am thinking about buying a bag for myself and hanging it up on my patio. I’m not sure if it would be secure enough though. Plus, I only knowthe basic forms and I don’t want to injure myself one day from getting all pumped up.Now, on to my weaknesses…my arms and upper legs look much better, but IMO they are my weak areas that are taking longer to shape. My arms are shapely, but they are a bit chunkier than they should be. I think I will post some pics to watch my progress. Today I plan on doing a long run, probably 6 miles or so, but I will keep you updated.

X-Train

It dried up enough yesterday to cross train outside! It was a great work out that started in the gym (abs, arms) --->climbing stadiums (6x) --->biking (15mins) --->running around campus (16mins). The stadiums are always the worst part for me. I probably could have pushed myself to do one more, but everything in me wanted to stop and I did. Maybe next time I will fight that inner quitter and make it back up for one more excruciating flight of stairs. The bike ride was a walk in the park, but I still felt my upper legs and quads engaging and getting a good work out. Somehow I managed to injure the back of my lower right leg when my foot slipped forward from the pedal. I went forward on the bike and avoided a bad crash and fall, leaving only a bad bruise on my leg to show for the incident (which my workout partner had no idea about). It is actually pretty swollen today and you can feel the knot inside spanning across the back of my lower leg, just right above the ankle. Do I bruise easily or am I just too rough on my body? The run was great. We did something very different and ran up the parking garage, back down the stairs and across the 2nd floor of the campus. Great workout!

Marathon Training Schedule:

Note: I am going to do two days of cross training per week instead of one.

Rainy Day...stuck inside

It rained like mad crazy yesterday. The roads to my apartment were flooded and I have a little sports car. All I could think was “accelerate” as I was praying the water would not get into my car. When I stepped out, my feet sunk below the water and my nice business shoes were near ruined. Ah, and I had plans to run the trails. Rather, it would be swimming the muddy trails. Not gonna happen! I wish it looked more like that <------

I was on the way to initiate plan B after cleaning up and doing my “after work” routine. This included getting off the uncomfortable clothes, feeding the cats, doing the dishes, and cleaning out the litter pan. Dressed for a run on the good ol’ tm, and I was out the door to my lil’ apartment gym. Its really not a bad gym for an apartment. It has cardio equipment with the little televisions built in…love it! It also has really good arm machines, not like other gyms that just have one universal machine. Anywho, plan B was not going down tonight…gym was locked down, closed shop, noone home! What? To my outrage, I got back into my what should be a boat, car and paddled my way back to my apartment. I sat there for a while, wishing I could do cardio because it had been three days, then I realized they might open it up later if someone with a key comes along to work out! Surely enough, around 7:30 I tried again and it was open. I busted out 30 minutes on the elliptical to get the legs movin’ and burn some calories and finished off with the tm for 2 miles. I would have done a long run, but my ipod was dead and the tv on the tm was not working. Hey, I need some form of entertainment!

Deciding on doing a....

MARATHON!!!!

Catch up…I have decided to train for my first marathon!!! It will be on February 17th, so I have four months to train. Initially, I only planned on doing the half, but I feel like I will be prepared to do the full if I start my training now. I already run on a regular basis, and currently my long runs span from 5-7 miles depending on what I have done that week. I am excited about training, but a little worried about burning out before the race. I have to mix it up and keep it interesting so I won’t lose interest too fast. I have really been enjoying cross training because I have a great partner to do it with.

My eating habits have improved, as I stated before, I do not drink sodas or eat sweets like I used to. I have been eating more fruits and vegetables and more well rounded meals. I don’t obsess about food because I am not on a diet…I just eat less and I eat three meals a day. I don’t feel hungry in between meal times, so I do not have the urge to snack. One improvement I could work on is drinking more water and less coffee. I drink about 40 ounces of water per day, but I would love to double that amount by replacing some of my fruit drinks and sports drink with water. I will never give up coffee entirely, I need to cut down on the portion size of my “one” cup in the morning though. J Those large iced McDonald’s iced coffees and Starbucks ventis and/or grandes get me every time!