4 mile run in the rain, and a bunch of other stuff!

I've had quite the adventurous day, fitness-wise.  I started out my morning with a bit o' Jillian (Michaels) and her 30 minute Yoga Meltdown.  I haven't done that DVD in a while.  I'd forgotten how hard core she is.  After that, I geared up and headed outside to go for a run.  I had intended to do the 9 mile loop.  As I started out, things seemed fine, though there were some very scary looking clouds rolling in - quickly.  I got out a little over 2 miles and when the rain and fierce wind started, I decided to just turn around and head back before I got too far and had to call in hubby for a ride back home.  So, back home after just 4.5 miles at about a 10 min./mile pace, I took off the wet clothes, and put on different workout clothes, started some laundry then got on the treadmill where I did run/walk intervals for 45 minutes.

Then, late this afternoon, after feeding the kids dinner and getting them all started on their homework, etc., Chris and I went in to the gym to do some weights.  We got right to work doing our usual rotation: bench press (I'm up to 60 pounds, by the way!), bicep curls with free weights, tri-downs, lat-pulls, sit-ups, and shoulder press.  After about 45 minutes, we saw our favorite spin instructor heading down the hall towards the spin room.  I asked Chris if we could go take the class, even though we weren't planning to because we usually go to spin Tues./Thurs. mornings.  He was reluctant, knowing how tough it is, but he conceded and we jumped in on the class.  Man, I LOVE spinning.  Tonight's class seemed particularly tough.  I mean, I literally had pools of sweat accumulating on the mat under my bike.  But I always feel so great afterwards.  It's kind of empowering.  And we're still planning to hit the 8:30am class.

Spin class, post-long-run update.

Looking back on Thursday's run, I'm so very happy about how good I felt during and after.  It is so rewarding to be able to track palpable improvements in my fitness and endurance, when most of the time I feel like I'm on a plateau.  Yesterday I continued to recover, with minimal soreness.  I was feeling a bit 'blah' in general with an overlying mental fogginess as well, and some oddly shaped patches of sunburn in places like my neck, collar bone, and one arm, but my main complaint has to be my stupid toes!  I took off my pretty, neon pink nail polish last night to find not one, not two, but three black and dying toenails.  I've heard urban legends of distance runners who have had these kinds of problems with their toenails constantly dying, so they went to the doctor and had them removed, and in such a way that they don't grow back.  It's tempting.  Though not really.  I'm not sure I could handle the creep-factor involved with looking down at toes sans nails! Ewe.

Anyway...I did some walking yesterday to help stay loose while my body recovered.  I walked on the treadmill for an hour and a half while I watched this week's Biggest Loser, then in the afternoon I took the kids to the park and walked about 2.5 miles worth of laps around the track.

This morning I woke up feeling 100%...well, maybe more like 89% (again, the toes and sunburn).  I fueled with my staple of oatmeal with blueberries and almonds and headed into town for a spinning class, followed by 45 minutes of weight lifting.

23 glorious miles!

Here I am, before we left the house this morning.  I can't even tell you how much I fantasized about our run today, particularly about getting out and enjoying the weather.  I even sported a tank top under my long-sleeved, so as to be able to strip off layers as necessary. ;)  They were wrong about the wind, though.  It was blowing.  Fortunately, it was a warm-ish breeze.

The first 12 miles or so flew by seamlessly.  I helped the time pass by jibber-jabbing away to my husband, hoping to distract us both enough to keep our minds off any fatigue we were feeling.  At some point around mile 12 or 13, we made a turn and the wind was immediately in our faces.  Even though it wasn't cold, there were very strong gusts, which became kind of annoying after a while.  Chris had put out Powerade and water at various locations along the second half of our route, and we continued along pretty well for another 5 or 6 miles.  I have to tell you, I was actually feeling surprisingly great.  We were doing a 3 minute to 1 minute Run/Walk ratio from the very beginning of our run, and even up until 20 miles, I felt pretty strong.

 (Here we are when we stopped at a gas station around mile 9 to use the restroom and get a drink.  Total stop time: about 5 minutes.)

Unfortunately, Chris was struggling by the time we reached mile 19.  He had been having issues with his knee/IT band, and it was flaring up and becoming an acute pain.  We took some additional walking breaks for a few minutes, hoping his pain would settle down, but it didn't seem like it was going to happen.  Finally, we decided I would go ahead and run on home the remaining 3-4 miles, then come back for him with the car.  I went on, running, starting to feel tired, a couple of my toenails were really bothering me, too, but I was still feeling mostly good.  When I reached the house, I called Chris on his phone and asked how he was doing.  He said he had been able to run through some of the pain and had less than 2 miles to go, so he didn't want me to come get him.  He persevered and finished the job.  I'm so proud of him for not giving up (though he has been doing A LOT of moaning, limping and laying down the rest of the day)! :)

(Chris stopping for water.)

Here I am again, after our run...

And here is Chris... ☺

At-home cardio workout.

This morning I started my workout with some simple Pilates, for warm up and stretching.  Then I got on the exercise bike and pedaled away while I watched Dancing with the Stars from Monday night.  I tried to keep my heart rate up around 115-125, which is a "fat burning zone" for me.  At regular intervals I got off the bike and did sit-ups and plank holds for 1-2 minutes.  I also used my 5 pound hand weights to do bicep and triceps curls while riding.  I did that for a total of about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

My husband and I are all "geared up" for a big 22+ miler tomorrow.  The weather is supposed to be perfect - no wind, mid-60's for a high, sunny.  On the surface, I am excited about our run.  I've been looking forward to it, actually.  But for some reason I've been in sort of a funk all day.  I woke up with a headache this morning and feeling some new hip pain, and even though my head was feeling better by about noon, I remained in a grumpy, irritable state the rest of the day.  I was snappy with my kids after school, sent them to bed by 8pm, and not without some yelling.  I was super hungry all day, but nothing sounded that appealing to me so my diet today consisted mostly of a variety of cold cereals with vanilla soy milk, butter toffee peanuts, and Tostitos Chips.  I did fix an egg and ham "Thinwhich" for lunch, but that was the extent of my cooking today.  Of course, I've considered the obvious cause that it is hormonal issues, but it's not really likely, timing you know.  Anyway, I'm not sure what the deal is, but I hope I can sleep it off tonight.

Tuesday morning, spin class.

This morning, after all the kids were at school, Chris and I went in to the gym for spinning.  And normally our routine has been to do at least an hour of additional cardio after the hour long spin class, but today we went straight to the pool/hot tub afterwards.  I swam laps for about 25 minutes, soaked in the hot tub and then we went grocery shopping.  Chris' work schedule has changed this week and he's back on night shift, so while he's at work tonight, I'll be doing some walking on the treadmill.  I felt much better today than I did yesterday.  Some days I feel really strong.  I like those days.  We're still gearing up for a 22 miler later this week...

Two-a-day.

This morning I woke up feeling sooo tired.  It was like my body was finally realizing what a busy and stressful week I had last week, and it was rebelling.  I got up at 6am, made the kids their lunches for school, did about 15 minutes of Pilates, ate a bowl of oatmeal, took the kids to school, then came back home and climbed back into bed.  That only lasted about 20 minutes, though.  Then I got up and got on the treadmill for an 8 mile run, which took me almost an hour and a half.  The rest of the day I did laundry and got caught up on things from the weekend, then this evening after dinner, Chris and I went to the gym.  We did an hour of weight lifting, then we did a 3 mile run on the treadmill, which took 29 minutes.  For as tired as I was this morning, I'm feeling pretty good right now.  Hopefully a good night's sleep awaits me, as I get ready for spin class in the morning! :)

Busy weekend workout.

This morning I was busy from about 8am until 11am with Pinewood Derby for cub scouts.  So, after lunch I got on the treadmill and walked for about an hour and 20 minutes while I caught up on this week's episode of The Biggest Loser.  Then later this afternoon, I was able to meet up with my husband at the gym, where we lifted weights for an hour, then we both did the elliptical for another hour.  We spent that hour talking about and planning for the 22 miler we're doing next week! :)

You know you're a distance runner when...

...you realize that having toenails is overrated. :(  OUCH!  Again.  I have one that is in the painful stage of death and blackness right now, and that makes a total of 5 toenails lost, 6 if you count that one has died, grown back and died again, since I started training for marathons.

This morning, I sucked it up.  Even though it's a dreary, drizzly day, I geared up and went out for a run.  Alone.  It was great.  Refreshing.  Not too cold, a little windy, but not bad.  I set out to do our usual 9 mile loop, but added about a half mile out and back at the turn around point, so by the time I reached back home I had gone a total of 10.17 miles.  And other than my annoying toe, I felt pretty dang good.  I even noticed that a hill that usually gives me lots of trouble, felt a little easier than normal.  I think that I can attribute my new-found cardiovascular strength to spinning.  I hope it only gets better.

Spinning, weights and running.

This morning's spin class seemed even harder than usual.  I think our instructor likes to see us on the verge of passing out. ;)  After one hour of pure sweaty torture fun, Chris and I went into the weight room where we spent another hour lifting.  Guess what?  I can bench press 50 pounds!  I know, that doesn't sound like much to most of you, but considering where I started and the fact that I only weigh about 120 pounds, I think that's pretty decent.  After we finished with the strength training, I hit a treadmill for a 3 mile run.  Now I'm getting ready to help my son celebrate his birthday with some yummy looking chocolate fudge cake. ;)

9 mile walk.

Today I used as a slow-burn type of cardio day.  I had been hoping to go out for a run, if you remember, I was so excited about the wonderful weather we were supposed to have this week, ahem...so, when I woke up and it was raining, well, I wussed out.  Besides, I was still feeling a tad tired from my spinning and 5 miler yesterday, so I decided to go at an easier pace.  I got on the treadmill, put it at a decent incline (I can't tell you the % incline, my treadmill's not that high-tech), and walked at 3.7 mph for about an hour and a half.  Then I got on my elliptical and did 30 minutes, at which point the "pedal" completely fell off and broke, from what I can tell, it's now un-fixable.  :(  So, I got back on the treadmill and walked some more, when I finished catching up on a couple of shows on Hulu.com, I had gone a little over 9 miles.