Just kidding. Unless a vacation is getting up every day at 6:30 to go into work for 10-12 hours.
This past week has been a vacation from running, though. I seem to need these breaks every couple months when I'm being serious about working out. This time around, I started to see the results I wanted - I was definitely getting stronger (bench pressing 15 lb dumbbells!) and could see the muscle curves (not nasty ape muscles, but cute girl muscles). But then I woke up on Monday morning and still had a dull headache, probably caused by drinking a little over the weekend, and just couldn't get myself to go. Tuesday was a recovery day from headache, and by Wednesday, I thought maybe I'd just take the week off.
Things do turn around, though. By yesterday, I really wanted to run, but decided to sleep in after a 12 hour day at work. I packed a gym bag with full intentions of going to the gym because work was supposed to be back to normal. Unfortunately, it was another long day, but while driving home, I started to think of how nice it would be to wake up extra early (5am!) to go for a run and also get into work early to finish things up for the week. I didn't get up early, BUT I considered it a small success and a sign that I wasn't totally dropping my workouts - I just needed to take a break.
So, tonight I'm going to fully enjoy going out for dinner and maybe even get a snack at the movie theater. And on Monday, I'll be back at the gym, rested and ready to go.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
A little self-control
I work really well on rewards. I've written before about how I used to make a regular bag of M&M's last for days because I'd reward myself with one M&M for every accounting problem that I did. And now, I've found my reward for running each week.
My credit card gives me points. Usually I redeem them for a giftcard to Target since I seem to go there multiple times a week and walk out with way more than I meant to buy. Last week, though, I decided to redeem some of my points for an iTunes gift card. I figure I'll let myself buy one song for every week that I keep to my running schedule. There is nothing like a new song to motivate me and I've been making note of songs on the radio that have made me sing along and dance in my car. A few of them are:
Hopefully these songs will keep me moving this week. Just two more runs--and I've already planned an interval set for my two mile run tomorrow. Since it's the first time that I've run this far (and it's not even that far...), an interval run with some recovery will probably be the best way to go.
My credit card gives me points. Usually I redeem them for a giftcard to Target since I seem to go there multiple times a week and walk out with way more than I meant to buy. Last week, though, I decided to redeem some of my points for an iTunes gift card. I figure I'll let myself buy one song for every week that I keep to my running schedule. There is nothing like a new song to motivate me and I've been making note of songs on the radio that have made me sing along and dance in my car. A few of them are:
- "I Like It", Enrique and Pitbull
- "Firework", Katy Perry
- "Higher", Taio Cruz
- "What's My Name?", Rihanna
Hopefully these songs will keep me moving this week. Just two more runs--and I've already planned an interval set for my two mile run tomorrow. Since it's the first time that I've run this far (and it's not even that far...), an interval run with some recovery will probably be the best way to go.
Friday, January 14, 2011
This gluten thing...
As I mentioned in my catch-up entry, I found out last summer that my body has some sort of issue with gluten. I haven't actually seen a doctor yet, so I don't know for sure what it is.
I first noticed that there was a problem when I went for a normal three mile run. I was almost near the end of the run when my palms and feet started getting really itchy. Then I started feeling nauseous and the itchiness spread. I made it home just in time--there was some major rumbling going on--to make it to the bathroom. And then I called my mom to find out what was going on. The itchiness so bad that I almost wanted to cry, there was nothing I could do to make it stop. She told me that I might have what my dad and aunt (his sister) have--an exercise-induced wheat allergy. I had had two sandwiches that day for lunch, so I decided that from now on, I'd make sure to avoid eating wheat for a few hours before a run.
Unfortunately, the symptoms accelerated and I started having problems earlier in my runs and even when I wasn't running. I started doing some research and found that the symptoms of celiac sounded familiar. While it's comforting to think that a lot of "issues" that I have could go away by avoiding certain foods, I'm trying hard to not self-diagnose. I went completely gluten-free from Thanksgiving to Christmas, mainly so that I'd actually feel good for the holidays.
After Christmas, I decided to go back to gluten. It wasn't that I was having these crazy cravings for it...by then, those cravings had gone. But I want to go to a doctor and get tested for celiac. And to do that, I need to be eating gluten. It certainly doesn't make me feel good, but I have reasons for wanting to get tested--1) I want to know whether having a beer every now and then will just upset my stomach, or damage my body, and 2) I want my family to know their true family history. My family isn't very good about talking about health issues, which has made it difficult in the past to talk to doctors about my digestive problems. If anyone in my family starts having these same symptoms, I want them to be able to say, "well, someone in my family has been diagnosed with this". I plan on seeing a doctor sometime next month and going from there...
I first noticed that there was a problem when I went for a normal three mile run. I was almost near the end of the run when my palms and feet started getting really itchy. Then I started feeling nauseous and the itchiness spread. I made it home just in time--there was some major rumbling going on--to make it to the bathroom. And then I called my mom to find out what was going on. The itchiness so bad that I almost wanted to cry, there was nothing I could do to make it stop. She told me that I might have what my dad and aunt (his sister) have--an exercise-induced wheat allergy. I had had two sandwiches that day for lunch, so I decided that from now on, I'd make sure to avoid eating wheat for a few hours before a run.
Unfortunately, the symptoms accelerated and I started having problems earlier in my runs and even when I wasn't running. I started doing some research and found that the symptoms of celiac sounded familiar. While it's comforting to think that a lot of "issues" that I have could go away by avoiding certain foods, I'm trying hard to not self-diagnose. I went completely gluten-free from Thanksgiving to Christmas, mainly so that I'd actually feel good for the holidays.
After Christmas, I decided to go back to gluten. It wasn't that I was having these crazy cravings for it...by then, those cravings had gone. But I want to go to a doctor and get tested for celiac. And to do that, I need to be eating gluten. It certainly doesn't make me feel good, but I have reasons for wanting to get tested--1) I want to know whether having a beer every now and then will just upset my stomach, or damage my body, and 2) I want my family to know their true family history. My family isn't very good about talking about health issues, which has made it difficult in the past to talk to doctors about my digestive problems. If anyone in my family starts having these same symptoms, I want them to be able to say, "well, someone in my family has been diagnosed with this". I plan on seeing a doctor sometime next month and going from there...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
2011 Resolutions
For 2011, I made a few resolutions. I feel like I've done pretty well on them so far, but I'm going to try to check in once a month and report on the status.
- Read at least 3 classic books. I chose Wuthering Heights, Atlas Shrugged and Anna Karenina. I've started reading Wuthering Heights and I have all three downloaded on my nook.
- Take a picture every day. They could be random, or taken on my phone, but I'll take a picture. Today was Day 2 - I took a picture of my dinner.
- Make budgeting (and following that budget) more of a priority. I'm an accountant, so this should be easy, right?
- Run a half-marathon. I've already signed up for it and made a plan, now I just have to run!
Where has the time gone?!
Haha...it's been almost nine months since I last posted. Wow. So, since then, I...
- GOT ENGAGED!!
- Ran the Madison half-marathon that I had been training for. It was okay.
- Realized I have either a gluten allergy/intolerance or celiac. Major bummer.
- Injured my thumb two weeks before the Madison Mini and didn't run.
- Completely fell off the running wagon.
- Moved. Not major, I can almost see my old place from my new apartment.
- Started getting serious about running again and signed up for the 2011 Madison Half-Marathon
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Crazylegs Race Recap
A funny story first--they posted the times for Crazylegs yesterday and my boyfriend, J (I'm tired of calling him "boyfriend") and I got the exact same time! We weren't running together at all--in fact, he started probably about 15 minutes or so after me.
Here's the race shirt from this year:
Better than it's been in previous years.
The race ended up being a lot of fun. I didn't get to run with my friend from work--it was a little cold and I wanted to get going as soon as possible. My parents, sister and her boyfriend came up for the run as well...it's kinda become a family thing. My parents were walking it and my sister and boyfriend were running it in the same wave as me. I wore my new booty shorts with my new long-sleeve running shirt and a t-shirt. It was pretty exciting to have some new clothes to wear!
The race started at the Capitol square, just a few blocks from my apartment. You'd think that being so close we'd have definitely been on time, but by the time we got there, they were already sending out wave G. The thing, though, is that wave G was barely the beginning--the waves went all the way to KK! They set a new record for participation--almost 20,000 people! It never rained, but it was a little cold and windy. I wanted to jump in to an earlier wave, but I didn't want to disqualified and lose my opportunity for some free beer at the end. We patiently waited until wave Y came around and then went through the gates to join our group. As we headed towards the starting line, they had some of the Badger football players giving high-fives to the people as they walked through. They were huge! These guys were all at least 6'5" and I'm pretty sure at least one of the guy's hands was bigger than my head. It definitely helped pump me up going into the starting line.
We lined up at the starting line and waited for our turn to start. They had to space out the waves since they hadn't completely shut down the first road we ran across. Finally, though, we were off! My sister ran cross country in high school and, despite her claims of not running a lot recently, she's got a pretty good pace. She's always told me that I can probably run faster than I think, so I was anxious to see if I could keep up with her. I also got a few tips about my running--loosening up my form and "letting go" on the downhills. The first mile included running down Frat (and sorority) Row and the guys definitely came out in full force. At one of the frats, the guys were standing outside in their boxers and one guy wore a Speedo! It was great to see everyone in Madison out to cheer on the runners! We eventually came to the first mile marker way before I expected. I looked at my watch and it said 8:30! That's definitely the fastest mile I've ran since my one year of track.
The end of that mile, though, meant the crazy awful monster that is Observatory. I tried to keep up with my sister, but I'm not quite used to those speeds (8:30!). The first part of the hill wasn't too bad, just a long gradual incline. The next half, though, is where legs are killed. It's so much steeper and it curves around so that you can't see the end. I walked up that part of the hill--if I had run, I'm not sure my legs would've lasted the whole race. Fortunately, there was a nice downhill after that hill--which immediately led to another big (but short) uphill and then another big downhill. This is the hardest part of the race and it's nice to just get it done at the beginning.
So, then came the out and back near the UW Hospital. Even though I've done the race before, I once again got sucked in to thinking that the turn around was earlier than it really was. As I was coming back in from the out and back I looked at my watch and started to wonder where the hell mile 3 was. I had already been running for over 30 minutes and started to wonder if I had slowed waaay down. I tried thinking back through the out and back to figure out if I had just missed it, but I couldn't remember seeing one at all. I focused on finding people ahead of me that looked like they were running about my pace or slower and worked on passing them. I didn't push it too hard, but I needed a goal to make sure that I kept moving. I also kinda wanted to walk, but I kept telling myself that I'd walk after I passed "blue headband girl", "old man", or "talkative sorority girls". They had one water station during the run, so I took advantage of it and tried out my water station skills. It went pretty well--I almost missed grabbing the cup, but once I got it, I pinched it in half to make it easier to get the water in and took a sip. And then immediately threw it. I didn't want to push my luck and get water all over.
Eventually I was heading towards the stadium and I saw a mile marker coming up. I couldn't tell whether it was 3 or 4, and when I looked at my watch it said 38 minutes. My mind quickly went to work trying to calculate what pace I must be running if it was only mile 3. Eventually the mile marker came into view and, thank God, it was mile 4. Just 0.97 miles to go. As I got closer to the stadium, there was a guy out on the street who was playing the Rocky theme song. Apparently, he's been doing this since 1989 and comes every year to cheer on the runners. Finally I got to Breese Terrace, the street that runs along Camp Randall. It has a slight incline at first, but as soon as I got to the top of it, I kicked it into high gear and started going full out. I passed a bunch of people and flew down the chute into the Camp Randall. The finish line is right at the 50-yard line. Almost right when I passed the line, I ran into my sister and we started looking for the rest of our family.
As for my goals--I'd say I did pretty well. Except for the first mile, I really didn't push that hard. In fact, even the first mile wasn't horrible. I felt really proud of how I finished, even though I walked, because I came in at 48:03! It was under 10:00/mile which has been my "goal" pace during my practice runs. I didn't run the whole thing (monster Observatory took care of that), but I made sure to keep running even when I wanted to walk. I feel really confident about the half-marathon now--I was able to pace myself pretty well so that I finished tired, but strong.
~eca.
Here's the race shirt from this year:
Better than it's been in previous years.
The race ended up being a lot of fun. I didn't get to run with my friend from work--it was a little cold and I wanted to get going as soon as possible. My parents, sister and her boyfriend came up for the run as well...it's kinda become a family thing. My parents were walking it and my sister and boyfriend were running it in the same wave as me. I wore my new booty shorts with my new long-sleeve running shirt and a t-shirt. It was pretty exciting to have some new clothes to wear!
The race started at the Capitol square, just a few blocks from my apartment. You'd think that being so close we'd have definitely been on time, but by the time we got there, they were already sending out wave G. The thing, though, is that wave G was barely the beginning--the waves went all the way to KK! They set a new record for participation--almost 20,000 people! It never rained, but it was a little cold and windy. I wanted to jump in to an earlier wave, but I didn't want to disqualified and lose my opportunity for some free beer at the end. We patiently waited until wave Y came around and then went through the gates to join our group. As we headed towards the starting line, they had some of the Badger football players giving high-fives to the people as they walked through. They were huge! These guys were all at least 6'5" and I'm pretty sure at least one of the guy's hands was bigger than my head. It definitely helped pump me up going into the starting line.
We lined up at the starting line and waited for our turn to start. They had to space out the waves since they hadn't completely shut down the first road we ran across. Finally, though, we were off! My sister ran cross country in high school and, despite her claims of not running a lot recently, she's got a pretty good pace. She's always told me that I can probably run faster than I think, so I was anxious to see if I could keep up with her. I also got a few tips about my running--loosening up my form and "letting go" on the downhills. The first mile included running down Frat (and sorority) Row and the guys definitely came out in full force. At one of the frats, the guys were standing outside in their boxers and one guy wore a Speedo! It was great to see everyone in Madison out to cheer on the runners! We eventually came to the first mile marker way before I expected. I looked at my watch and it said 8:30! That's definitely the fastest mile I've ran since my one year of track.
The end of that mile, though, meant the crazy awful monster that is Observatory. I tried to keep up with my sister, but I'm not quite used to those speeds (8:30!). The first part of the hill wasn't too bad, just a long gradual incline. The next half, though, is where legs are killed. It's so much steeper and it curves around so that you can't see the end. I walked up that part of the hill--if I had run, I'm not sure my legs would've lasted the whole race. Fortunately, there was a nice downhill after that hill--which immediately led to another big (but short) uphill and then another big downhill. This is the hardest part of the race and it's nice to just get it done at the beginning.
So, then came the out and back near the UW Hospital. Even though I've done the race before, I once again got sucked in to thinking that the turn around was earlier than it really was. As I was coming back in from the out and back I looked at my watch and started to wonder where the hell mile 3 was. I had already been running for over 30 minutes and started to wonder if I had slowed waaay down. I tried thinking back through the out and back to figure out if I had just missed it, but I couldn't remember seeing one at all. I focused on finding people ahead of me that looked like they were running about my pace or slower and worked on passing them. I didn't push it too hard, but I needed a goal to make sure that I kept moving. I also kinda wanted to walk, but I kept telling myself that I'd walk after I passed "blue headband girl", "old man", or "talkative sorority girls". They had one water station during the run, so I took advantage of it and tried out my water station skills. It went pretty well--I almost missed grabbing the cup, but once I got it, I pinched it in half to make it easier to get the water in and took a sip. And then immediately threw it. I didn't want to push my luck and get water all over.
Eventually I was heading towards the stadium and I saw a mile marker coming up. I couldn't tell whether it was 3 or 4, and when I looked at my watch it said 38 minutes. My mind quickly went to work trying to calculate what pace I must be running if it was only mile 3. Eventually the mile marker came into view and, thank God, it was mile 4. Just 0.97 miles to go. As I got closer to the stadium, there was a guy out on the street who was playing the Rocky theme song. Apparently, he's been doing this since 1989 and comes every year to cheer on the runners. Finally I got to Breese Terrace, the street that runs along Camp Randall. It has a slight incline at first, but as soon as I got to the top of it, I kicked it into high gear and started going full out. I passed a bunch of people and flew down the chute into the Camp Randall. The finish line is right at the 50-yard line. Almost right when I passed the line, I ran into my sister and we started looking for the rest of our family.
As for my goals--I'd say I did pretty well. Except for the first mile, I really didn't push that hard. In fact, even the first mile wasn't horrible. I felt really proud of how I finished, even though I walked, because I came in at 48:03! It was under 10:00/mile which has been my "goal" pace during my practice runs. I didn't run the whole thing (monster Observatory took care of that), but I made sure to keep running even when I wanted to walk. I feel really confident about the half-marathon now--I was able to pace myself pretty well so that I finished tired, but strong.
~eca.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Crazylegs Goals
This is the first time I've ever really put some thought into goals for a race. Usually I just go out and run it--occasionally, I dread it and wonder why I ever thought to sign up (kinda like buyer's remorse--racer's remorse?). Anyways, Crazylegs is upon me. It's an 8K (4.97) run through downtown Madison, mostly the UW-Madison campus, that benefits the UW-Madison Athletics Department. I last ran it two years ago and was not ready. I had maybe run 3 miles a few times before the run and I actually thought I could drink (a lot) the night before and run. No, I felt like shit. And I had to pretend I was just "tired" because how do you explain to your 10 year old cousin that you have a hangover and would love to be in a dark, quiet room to sleep?
I'll be honest, the route isn't my favorite. It starts with a decent hill right off the bat, and within a mile, you run up one of the steepest, longest, curviest hills in Madison. The beast that is Observatory Hill. Because of all the curving, you can never quite tell when you'll be done. Then you run down the backside of the hill and straight up another and down that one. The view is great since the path is right along Lake Mendota, but the hills blow. Then, near the end of the race (around mile 3.5) is the awful out and back. I hate out and backs. I want to feel like I'm going somewhere!
The great thing, though, is that you finish by crossing into Camp Randall (the UW-Madison Badgers football stadium). They have a band playing, free beer (it is Wisconsin after all), and food. As long as the rain stays away tomorrow, it could be a good time to relax and hang out before lunch. Otherwise, it'll be a mad dash back to my apartment.
Back to the goals for this run, though.
~eca.
I'll be honest, the route isn't my favorite. It starts with a decent hill right off the bat, and within a mile, you run up one of the steepest, longest, curviest hills in Madison. The beast that is Observatory Hill. Because of all the curving, you can never quite tell when you'll be done. Then you run down the backside of the hill and straight up another and down that one. The view is great since the path is right along Lake Mendota, but the hills blow. Then, near the end of the race (around mile 3.5) is the awful out and back. I hate out and backs. I want to feel like I'm going somewhere!
The great thing, though, is that you finish by crossing into Camp Randall (the UW-Madison Badgers football stadium). They have a band playing, free beer (it is Wisconsin after all), and food. As long as the rain stays away tomorrow, it could be a good time to relax and hang out before lunch. Otherwise, it'll be a mad dash back to my apartment.
Back to the goals for this run, though.
- First, I want to enjoy it and have fun. I'm not really going to push it, especially since my left shin has been hurting. I'm mainly using this as just another training run that I get to do with thousands of other people.
- I will end feeling good and knowing that I ran decently.
- I want to run the entire thing (should be easy now that I've been actually training).
~eca.
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