January in full swing

There are a ton of reasons that I am getting off the lazy train and finally making my life healthier and more active. The main one - I'm not happy with how I feel. Another great motivator - a LOT of pictures will be taken this year, and I want to be happy with how I look and feel in them. I'm Heather's maid of honor,and I want to look and feel good for myself, and in her wedding! 

I promise our dresses will be prettier than this -- and no bonnets. 

Last post was 12/29. I ran the next day too! Then it was a bit colder, so I skipped the run, and enjoyed New Years. Back to the daily grind -- I went to the gym on Tuesday night, then spin on Wednesday. Then Spin Friday morning with Lauren from work. Friday was a huge struggle. 

 5:25 am text to Lauren: "are you really going?"

Lauren: yes.

me: did not sleep well, I am struggling

Lauren: Haha, if you can't make it - I won't make you come. but you're awake already! 

me: I am awake but still in bed! I should go. 

Lauren: If you go you will be happy later.

And that is why you make plans with friends for early AM workouts. I really would not have gone if Lauren hadn't encouraged me to get up! 

Also - I said good bye to: 

weekday drinking. 

Those few happy hours, or glasses of wine with dinner add up! So, I'm cutting back. I'm sure I'll hit a happy hour or two over the next few months, but I'm not going out of my way to have it on hand, or have that casual glass of wine on a Tuesday night. After just one week, I felt better from this quick change. (And, there will definitely be times when we have to get a drink after work to catch up, vent, or regain our sanity! ) 

Day One

Well I did it - I got off my lazy vacation butt, and went for a run. I used the new Garmin watch, which I love! I used to use Map My Run but was never that confident that I was going as far as they said I was, and honestly - I like just going, and then turning around when I'm halfway through! 

I have not run since the Turkey Trot, so today was a run /walk for me. I did about 2.5 miles. Not stellar timing, but at least I got out there. It wasn't even that bad out -- not as windy as yesterday, and not that cold. 

On my run I passed this cute red house. I love the old flat front colonial (? ) style, and color. 

Tracker

I downloaded this app to my ipod touch last night. Basically - you enter your height/weight and goal - and it tells you how many calories you can have that day. Then, you enter in what you eat, and it tells you what you have left. Such as - my teaspoons of peanut butter were 99 calories last night! I never thought about how many calories one spoonful gave me, and now I will always have it in mind if the pb addiction kicks in. 


I feel like this will be a great educational tool - to understand what I am really eating, and determine where I want to use my calories. Of course when you work out, it factors that in too, so hopefully this simple little tracker will keep me in line a bit more!  I really think I overeat without realizing it, so I'm excited to see if this helps me change! 

So inconsistent in the blogging of this. Guess that is part of retraining myself - workout consistently, track it consistently. 


Anyway. 
09/28 - Spin at 6a
10/01 - 2.5 mile run
10/02 - 2 mile run 
10/03 - 10/05 were rough. I traveled for work, straight from work to the airport, 6a - 11p work day in Chicago, 6a -airport for 8a flight, meeting all day in Boston. 
10/10 - 2 mile run
10/11 - 2 mile run -- looks like I need to step this up a bit, challenge myself to move forward. 


This weekend - nothing. No excuses. No bad weather. Just didn't. :(

back at it

Friday - spin
Saturday - run! 2 miles in 21:07
Half of it was downhill, which was super easy. Coming back was a nice incline that made me slower than molasses. I probably looked like an old lady shuffling along. But at least I did it!

5ks and what not to drink before spinning

So annoying - I pretend I'm going to track workouts and progress and then I sort of forget. I literally did not even think about this blog or blogging in general for weeks, (clearly) even though I have a mild obsession to Google reader and a million other blogs. wth.

Anyway.
Sept 17 - ran the Gulf Beach 5k. This is the first annual 1/2 marathon and 5k at Gulf Beach. MONTHS ago, I thought, I can train and run the half marathon. Then I just - didn't. Maybe my sister is right - that if I haven't done it, and don't train for it, I don't really want to do it. But everytime someone tells me they did one, I am jealous. I guess I want to say I have done it, but don't want to do the work.

So, since this was year one - there were some kinks. The major one - the cop at the turn for the course didn't tell anyone to turn! The road wasn't marked well, so people ran straight. Luckily - one of the front runners had some sort of gps on so they turned around at 2.5 miles or so , and the 5k times were usable. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure where they had turned, and went a little too far. oops. I ran about 3.5 miles in 40 min. Not fabulous, but not the worst.

Results

Back in the work week, I thought - I'll go to the gym everyday! whoo hoo! And I went twice.  Friday AM my friend and I got up early for spin. I made the mistake of drinking some sort of Odwalla smoothie on the way to the gym. I felt SO SICK! I had to leave the spin class with about 15 min left for a quick bathroom break. Bad decision. I finished the class and felt like I hadn't put in a great workout bc I felt sick, but at least I did something!

Sunday

I ended up on the Dunkin Dozen Pan Mass Challenge team this year!  I expressed interest, and when they needed a 12th, I was it! 


I definitely have not trained much, but the ride we are doing is about 50 miles. I'm NERVOUS, but think I will be ok. I did the MS bike the Vineyard 100k ride (which ended up being about 65 miles) and lived to tell about it. 

It starts super early, 7:30 and we ride from Wellesley to Sharon, MA back to Wellesley. 

Wellesley to Wellesley

This route began in 2007 to accommodate riders who could only ride on Sunday or those looking for a less grueling ride. The ride starts with, what seems like a 15 mile descent following the classic Wellesley to Bourne route. Then the route heads east through Walpole and onto the Sharon water stop where riders returning on the two day ride from Bourne are arriving at their second water stop. The ride then heads back to Babson College. Fundraising minimum is $1,000 This ride begins at 7:30 am and depending on pace and rest times, can last from 2.5 hours to 6 hours. Most riders arrive back at Babson College between 10:30 am and 1:00 pm