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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Getting through a cramp

Cramps stink!  I mean all cramps, even premenstrual!  However, running cramps can feel like you are about to have a heart attack!  I had one of those yesterday.  It was about 5 minutes into my run and I started to feel a cramp in my upper tummy then in my arm/shoulder.  What do you do?  Well what I do is run through them.  I was only going 3 miles last night so I knew I wouldn't have to deal with these long if I couldn't shake them, but I did.  What I do when I have runners cramp is slow my pace slightly and really focus on my breathing.  Usually a couple of burps help ease the cramp and in last nights instance they went away about mile two.  I made up for slowing my pace in the middle of my run to basically sprint the last mile. It felt awesome.  It is weird but sometimes having a cramp can give you something to focus on other than running.  When I got rid of the cramp, I was already at mile two and it felt like a flash because your focus is solely on the uncomfortable feeling, not that I would want cramps while I'm running ever again, just a thought. 

I have 95 days until my Marathon and 395 days until my wedding!  These are both very exciting countdowns and ones that I think about pretty much everyday.  I want to be mentally, physically and emotionally prepared to conquer both of them and I find the more that I focus and put energy into these events the more clear my overall life feels.  I have been feeling a sense of calm for a while now.  At first I was like ok, why am I so calm all the time, when will the ball drop, but for now I decided to just accept and be happy that I am in a good state.  A clear state of mind. 

There is plenty of sadness and hardships in every ones life and mine is no exception, but sometimes it is good to focus on just the good, just the happy, just the best things in life.  It doesn't make sadness go away, I think for me at least it is only enhancing the appreciation for the people and experiences I can right now.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Wonderful Weekend

Friday night I got home and ate a salad with left over steak.  No cheese, very healthy....then I went ahead and ate about 6 fig newton cookies, 4 packages of Mott's fruit snacks and a whole bag of Paul Newman light butter popcorn!  FAIL!  I really do not know what my problem is sometimes.  If I do not literally eat slower than my grandma or leave the apartment as soon as dinner is over I am completely putting myself at risk for over eating!  So frustrating but hey, who knows it might have fueled my run Saturday morning.

I woke up at a reasonable time (around 7:45ish) and took Clyde for a quick walk.   I knew the weather was going to be ok all morning so me waiting to run wouldn't be the end of the world.  After C was nice and bathroomed out I changed filled my water belt up and started my run (around 8:15).  The first quarter of a mile my shins where bothering me slightly but they eased up and it was easy breezy for a while.  The weather by the water was perfect, not too hot with a nice breeze.  The music was interesting.  I ranged from listening to Korn, Bob Marley, MGMT, Rolling Stones and god knows who else.  I really need to make play list.  Currently I keep it on shuffle and never fast forward because if anything it makes me focus on a new song that I haven't heard in a while.  I knew I was running farther than I had ever in any training so I was really happy when I got home and saw it was 10:20.  I ran for two hours straight and it felt great.  I am consistent to between a 9 and 10 minute mile, but I did have a bad step and twisted my ankle a bit about an hour and half into my run so I sat for 5 minutes to turn it around and stretch it out before I got back on it.  I am thinking I ran 11.5 miles and closer to a 10 minute mile pace.  It felt great!  I am really so excited with how great my body is feeling to the long runs!

After the run I had lunch with my friends at Havana in Hoboken.  I have read some not so good reviews and some good reviews.  We went for Saturday Brunch and I loved it.  The food was cheap and very tasty.  I definitely would get the chicken empanada again!  After brunch B and I made roasted chicken, mashed sweet potatoes and salad for dinner.  It was amazing!  B went out for the night but I was just way to tired to spend the night on my legs and drinking so I opted to stay in.  Mistake!  I should have went to the movies!  I repeated the same thing I did on Friday night! Eat, eat, eat!  I went to bed pretty early.  But god bless him, B came home around 2am feeling like a over 30 yr old man who had way too much to drink feels.  So I was up for an hour fussing with him because he was A HOT MESS.

Sunday was so nice, we woke up early and hit a local diner (Brownstone, was on Diner, Drive ins & Dives) with B's best friend and his family.  I love being around their family, they are such great little kids and just really nice people.  I ate like a football player would eat.  This weekend was such a bust with food I'm just ashamed!  After dinner we walked by the water with the kids and talked.  It was really fun.  When we got home we napped, woke back up and ate dinner around 7pm.  Thank god dinner was ok for me and I didn't binge afterward.  This morning I woke up ate toast with peanut butter and am going to keep it really simple this week.  Lunch, salad, dinner shake.  I didn't run this am, but I couldn't get to sleep last night because I napped so long and was excited about the Olympics, so I checked the weather and it is supposed to stay cool tonight.  The plan tonight is come home, run, shake, walk C & bed!  That is the plan....

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Groundhog Day Blister

Did anybody see Ground hog's Day with Bill Murray?  Well I am pretty sure I am reliving the same blister over and over again.  I got a blister on my long run this weekend, gross alert, I popped it and let it heal on up then on Monday Whamo blister is back, rinse and repeat.  Well this am I did my four miles and there she was all riped and ready after my run.  I am going to hit up CVS and get a serious bandage so that puppy will be on it's merry way already. 

My run this am was beautiful, so nice out and clear.  It was a great way to start the day, but a late one :)  I had 6:15 on the alarm, and I snoozed until 6:30, but the time I was up and out the door it was 6:43, sigh.  I did my mileage but had no down time after the run so I left for work with complete red face and still hot even after my shower.  What are ya going to do, waking up earlier than 7 is not my forte, although in my defense waking up after 8am is unheard of for me.  7-730am is my go to time.  I must say it is nice to see the miles adding up on my count.  I didn't update it on Monday so I have my long run and two short runs added today, wahoo!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Weekend Recap

This last weekend was easy :)

The weather cooled off a bit and my run on Saturday morning was in a word amazing.  I ran 8 miles but felt like I could have gone forever.  I am still running at a pretty slow pace (around 10 min mile) but that is just fine with me.  Eventually I am going to get sick of the same route I take but this Saturday when running next to the Hudson was so peaceful and refreshing.  A lot of it has to do with the weather.  If it was 10 degrees hotter or humid I would be singing a completely different tone.

This weekend I am supposed to do 8 but it seems that I'm moving one more mile than my training schedule each weekend so I'm going to go for 9 :)

After the run, B and I relaxed around the apartment and then we went down to my Dad's house for dinner.  The traffic was horrible :(  I thought maybe if we left in the later afternoon there would be less traffic going down the shore and maybe there was but there definitely still was a lot of traffic.  Dinner consisted of summer veggies on the grill and grilled chicken followed by watermelon.  After dinner my Dad, B and I went for a long bike ride.  About two minutes in I realized my bike had a flat!  The bike ride was miserable!!!  I was dying!  We stayed for an hour after the ride to look through pictures of my Dad and my step mom's trip to Norway.  It was an early bedtime for B and I for sure.

Sunday B left to visit his friend in Mass for two days so I was left to my own devices, which means I watched movies all day ha!  I am lazy by nature my friends!  I did meet up for my girlfriend for an early dinner which was really nice and I called it a day early again.

One thing I haven't mentioned is B is currently unemployed :( Although I put a sad face, I'm not sad.  It is absolutely going to be the best thing for him and us.  He was working at a place that was killing him slowly, so I was actually happy when they downsized.  I know I may be feeling different later on but we are one of the lucky ones where our responsibilities are minimal right now and he already has a bunch of prospects.  Keeping the positive outlook for a while!  I must say though a girl can definitely get used to coming home to great meals, clean apt and laundry done!  B is definitely not the type of guy who likes to just waste time so when he is not searching for a job, he is keeping busy which means doing everything around the apartment!  I am really loving it ha!

Ok....back to the grind!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Heat Wave!

I woke up at 6am today to try and beat the heat....FAIL!

I still managed to run my 4 miles, but I really felt bad after.  My body definitely has a bad reaction to bad heat.  It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow am, so hopefully it will cool off.  I have to do 3 tomorrow.  I am actually hoping it will be raining tomorrow so I can cool off as I run.  I will let you know how it goes.  If it is raining, I will be busting out my old sneaks :) 

Here are some pictures from the Warrior Dash I did this weekend!  Again, it was really so much fun!


This is me and B pre race:


This is all of my friends pre race:


Feeling good on the walk to the start:


Post race glow????


Hosed off, B is hydrating (with beer ha)


Yeah we are some tough cookies ha!



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

In the midst!

This weekend was eventful!

Friday was a low key pasta dinner.  We sat at a local staple in Hoboken, Leo's and chatted with friends and ate loads of pasta and antipasti!

Saturday was an early rise.  I wanted to beat the heat and I had to get going early so I was up at 6am.  I walked the dog and then went for my run. My goal was to do 5 miles since I was doing a 5k mud run later that day.  Well, I did 6 in the am.  I felt so great!  The heat wasn't bad at all that early, my breathing was great and the path was clear!  I definitely was cruisin.  I did run into a problem around the last mile.  I kept my Ipod in my water belt and a song came on that was slow paced.  Normally I just listen, but since it was towards the end I wanted something upbeat.  Well when I pulled the Ipod out something happened and I am not sure what!  Only one side of the headphones worked!  I know it has to do with the Ipod because I tested the phones out on B's Iphone.  I chalked it up to everything being so sweaty and didn't think about it again until last night.  Ok so after the run, I showered, changed and went to my girlfriends house so she can french braid my hair tight.  I was NOT going to let my hair get all nasty mud caked up!  After that it was a blur from meeting up with friends organizing our stuff and getting to the start.  The race itself was soooooo FUN!  B and I did it really slow.  I was already tired from my 6 miles in the am and he is not in the best shape.  We had a lot of fun getting gross and doing the obstacles together.  I have a bunch of pictures and will post as soon as I upload them.  If you haven't noticed I'm not that good at pictures!

After the run, we cleaned up and went to a bbq at my friends house.  It was really low key and really fun.  I can do that every night.  Just bbq, chat and have fun.  I really do have the best friends!  Food wise, I did ok.  Didn't completely binge but definitely ate to my satisfaction and didn't look at calories as much.

Sunday was a nap day.  Really, B and I got up, ate, walked the dog and napped slept for 4 hours!!!  Can you say tired!  All that running and chatting caught up with us big time!  After our "nap" we went food shopping for the week and planned out some meals! 

Monday I had the alarm set for early am to beat the heat, but couldn't get out of bed.  UG!  I hate when that happens!  Anyway, I worked, got new sneaks at lunch (love them, Saucony), went home and ran.  I DIDN'T WANT TO GO.  It was brutal.  It was so freaking hot and I just wasn't in the mood.  Running in the AM is energizing and an amazing feeling, running for me in the PM is exhausting and a chore!  I did my 3 miles anyway, but I was not happy about it!  My reward:  an amazing dinner that B made!  We had roasted chicken, italian string bean salad and rice.  It was so tasty!  Tonight we are taking the left over chicken and making chicken salad/lettuce wraps for dinner with sweet potato fries!  Hell yeah!  Not sure what our plans for tonight are, originally we were going to the movies (using our Optimum card for free Tues night movies) but B lost the card so now not sure.  A walk would be nice, however it is HOT AS BALLS in Hoboken right now and Clyde won't make it with his big black fur coat!  Perhaps some Wii is in order????? 

Hopefully tomorrow I can get up when the alarm goes off....I have 4 to complete!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Post Surgery...training begining

I had a septoplasty on Thursday June 28th.  It took a bit of healing but so far I am super happy with the results.  I also had sinus surgery and I can breathe much better already and my nose looks straighter to me, even though no one else can tell, I'm happy with it.  I didn't want to change my appearance at all anyway.  The surgery did however derail my running.  I took about a week off.  I started up again yesterday running 4.5 miles.  It was HOT!  Super hot!  I got an early start but I still was so hot I ran out of water around mile 3.  I wear the belts with several water bottles attached.  They are small and evenly proportioned so I love it.  I think once I get to higher mileage it might chaff, but so far I'm totally fine with the belt.  Other than the heat, I felt great.  Even though I felt great, I didn't feel like I could run much further.  This kind of stinks because in April I ran 13miles and felt great and now at 4.5 I'm not coasting, but that is the way running works for me and I think most people.  If you take your mileage down, you feel it, period.  So I'm going to truck slowly back up.  I am right on target for my training schedule and that is really all I care about at the end of the day. 

I am going to do a quick 3 miles tonight, the weather has cooled off and I have some stresses in my life today so I'm welcoming the run! 

Love!