If you have seen my lost MOJO, please return as soon as possible

Yeah, okay...well, Mojo seems to have taken a vacation or gone on strike or something, cuz I've totally lost it. I biked to work last Sunday, felt great and then could not get motivated to workout at all...to make matters worse I had a week of junkfood.

So it's Sunday, the start of a new week and hopefully new motivation. Last night I bought a bag of chicken, some brown rice and will fix my lunches for the week. Got some sweet potatoes and apples/bananas for snacks. I know if I can get myself back in a groove I can commit to this, but I've got no accountability going, apparently even to myself. I started a new motivation poster yesterday and instead of putting it where I'll never look at it, I put it where I can't help but look at it every morning...

I still want to do tris next spring and summer so I know at some point I really need to swim but the pool is really a difficult option with their hours. So I'm going to make mini goals for the week.

1. Lose from the 157.6lbs to 155lbs
2. Run 10 miles
3. Bike 1 hour (on the trainer)
4. 3 cross-training workouts.

I don't think these are unreasonable goals and am going to start my chicken & rice, then go for a 30 minute run...outside while the gettin' outside is as the rain has stopped for a tiny bit.

Back at it or Starting to Listen to my Inner Parent

So after the revelations from my last post, which was made after my swim last Tuesday, I had a week to refocus and decide what I was going to do. I did the half last Monday, swam with Jeff on Tuesday, forced myself onto the treadmill Wednesday, ran with Jeff on Thursday, yoga on Friday and did a swim while camping on Saturday. All in all, not a bad week, but there's no real strength building there for one. My arms were actually sore on Wednesday from the swim, hello? Not so bad on Sunday from Saturday's swim, but it didn't feel quite as much of a work out at Tuesday did. And to make matters worse, I gained weight. I swear everytime I do an event I gain weight the week after because I reward myself with really unhealthy food.

So to get started again: Today's weight was 157.4lbs and my BMI is 30.7 which counts as obese.
I've laid out a plan for the week and thankfully the Biggest Loser and Survivor start this week which are always great to work out to.

Monday: I calibrated my new Nike+ sensor finally so I have two, one for each pair of shoes. Then I ran 2.3 miles at a pace of 13:02/mile
After that I got started on the Gleason Gym Boxing Workout for Women. I've completed the 4 week program before and did lose weight and the punishment I get to unleash on the bag is great so I'm up for doing it again. I did the week one, day one workout today which included:
6' jumping rope
3' of running the cross, 1' rest
3' of running the circle, 1' rest
3 x 8 jump squats
3 x 5 alligator pushups
3 x 10 side scissors
3 x 10 crunches
Accomplished it all in under 1.5 hours.

Tomorrow's goal will include yoga at lunch, then while watching the newest season of the Biggest Loser...a 30' run, then week one, day two of the boxing workout. And no more weighing in until I've completed the four week program.

Official Results

Drum Roll Please! The goal was 2 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds. Previous personal best for the half marathon was 3 hours 4 minutes and some change. I wasn't just looking to break that! And I did! 2 hours and 50 minutes on the nose. And that was gun time, there was no chip time for this race. I'm a bit sore the day after and all those people who said,"oh, this is a flat, fast course." All I can say is,"LIARS, LIARS, LIARS." The race starts on an incline, then you get flat and some downhills until you get to mile 7 which was a beeyotch...then rolling hills (whatever that's supposed to mean) from miles 8-10, then down and flat on the way back. After 10 it took me to 11 to get my legs back, then 11 and 12 were not horrible, 12.5 stuck to the run walk plan and then ran out the last .5 mile, passing all the people that had already finished and were heading back to their cars.

Learned a lot about myself. I understand now why I've been unable to meet my goals in the past. It helped immensely to have the Jeffinator (Jeff Moore, my running buddy, swim buddy, all around work out buddy & he makes awesome wine & beer) run with me. He was convinced he couldn't finish in under 3 hours, I knew he could so I knew if I could keep pace with him, I'd finish in under 3 hours. We stuck together the whole time and he ran in the whole last mile, finishing 3 minutes ahead of me.

So lessons learned: Uhm, you can't quit if you feel a little exertion. I'm not talking pain, I'm talking exertion. I realized what I had been doing in the past and that was not pushing myself. I've put the hours in for the training and could accomplish the distances but was never going to meet my time goals cuz I just gave up when it got too hard. Having Jeff there showed me that, because I was having trouble keeping up with him for the second half of the race. I finally stepped outside of the comfort zone and said to myself that it might be a little uncomfortable right now, but you're not going to get to the finish line by your goal if you don't test yourself. So the correlation here is simple, it's the whole reason I'm not losing weight either. It's like saying, I walked on the treadmill for two hours last night and then leaving off the part that it was set on 1 mph. Or saying you did the stationary bike for two hours but you never even got it going fast enough for the power to kick on. I can push myself and need to, so this winter isn't going to be about accomplishing an endurance race, like a half or full marathon. It's going to be about getting stronger mentally and physically. Becoming a more efficient swimmer. Spending more time exerting myself on the bike. Speed drills on the treadmill, to get faster at the shorter distances, then at Christmas, I'll start to build the distance to go with the speed. Finally, strength. I'm weak, the hills totally kicked my butt and it doesn't matter if it's running or riding. I can go all day on the flats, but if you get a .5% grade I start huffing it. I'm 36 and haven't smoked for years, so there's no reason why I shouldn't be more capable.

Tonight, I had a great swim with Jeff too. Something I would never dreamed I'd do. It was 60-65F outside, the water was freaking cold, but I went out hard for the first 300 meters across and got there in 13 minutes. Then on the way back, did some mentally challenging things like swimming with my face in the water. It was the first time I'd even used my goggles for looking down. I have a lot of obstacles to overcome this winter and I hope to challenge them all and accomplish 4 tris and maybe 2 or 3 half marathons, as well as some 5K and 10K races.

CARPE DIEM! Funny it sounds cliche' but always appropriate!

Injury-Free (well, less anyway)

I am amazed how an injury can totally derail me. I don't know how professional athletes do it, well except that they don't have to "work" while re-habbing. But after my 12 miler last weekend and my foot was killing me, I was totally done. It really had started before that. The pain had been lingering and just making me dread the running. But what I learned last week that I felt really guilty and anxious all week for not working out. It also didn't help that work was super busy and our extra hands in the house were gone. So my schedule wasn't as flexible as I'm used to. Well all excuses aside, I haven't been getting it done.

So what do I do now? Well hopefully I didn't overdo it today, we'll see how I feel tomorrow. I won't run tomorrow, but I would like to get a ride in, if possible. I'll bus to work, then home, and hopefully get a 12 mile ride in the evening. The garage is back in winter mode, which means the workout gear is all accessible. I took advantage of that tonight and did my second run for the day on the treadmill.

So this week's goals, which I'm going to make flexible as I don't want to derail when I miss something:

3 more runs
2 rides
1 swim
1 yoga & some cross-training.

I want to start working in more cross training to build strength over the winter and work on increasing speed, not distance for the running.

We'll see how it goes, another busy week at work but I'm going to work on managing my time better and getting workouts in early instead of late!

Wasting away

So as you can see from the lack of blogs things are not going as well as I'd hoped as the last time I blogged was the 4th. Food tracking has completely gone out the door, fortunately the working out bit isn't completely gone.

My interval run last week went really well and I was hoping to get one in this week, but with my work picking up I'm finding it hard to fit in the length of time it would take to do 14 intervals, thus, tonight I'm just going to go out for a one hour run.

We went to the Olympic Peninsula for the weekend and I did get a 4 mile run in on Friday after we got to Sequim. It was beautiful as usual. The sun was out and setting on the mountains and I ran along the river. On Saturday after finding our campsite and pitching our tent we went out on the beach for awhile but unfortunately it was raining and cold so we went back to the campsite and sat by the fire for the rest of the evening. On Sunday though we totally lucked out and as we were cleaning up our camp-site (where it rained all night long) the sun came out. We packed it up & headed back to Rialto beach where we hiked for 3 hours (for a total of 3 miles). We climbed out on the rocks and checked out the tidal pools, saw sea anemones and barnacle hotels. It was amazing! Of course afterwards it took us about 6 hours to get home.

As for since then, nada...I haven't gotten in one workout. Monday was to be an off day, then Tuesday I was going to bike to work and do intervals in the evening (neither happened) and now I'm on Wednesday where I was supposed to bike to work and then have the evening off from working out (now I WILL get a run in). Tomorrow, hopefully I can bike to work as my 8am telecon with Copenhagen has been cancelled. And I'm running at lunch with Jeff. Friday will be an off day & Saturday is usually a long day but since Jeff is willing to run with me on Sunday I'll get a 1 hour run in & do my long one with him on Sunday. Hopefully Saturday the weather will be really sucky too and I can go out on the lake and no one else will be there.

Better Day

It wasn't easy, being home alone, I could have easily talked myself out of the workout, but I got myself motivated to go do the run which was the most important workout in my mind today.

Much cooler temps today was motivating. Yoga was a little hotter than I would have liked but it wasn't unbearable. Good stretch that my body definitely needed and I'll be glad when my boss starts doing it twice a week. It was a little uncomfortable on the knee, but not too much I couldn't push through it. And unlike my foot it's a temporary injury that won't hurt me in the long haul.

Tonight's run was better than I expected. My last interval run was 3 weeks ago and I had worked my way up to 10 intervals. I should be up to 16 this week, but I decided not to over-do it. So I stuck to 12. My overall stats for the run were 1hour, 6minutes & 40 seconds; 4.66 miles total; overall pace of 14:17/mile.
http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=runners,runs,821960940,runID,1477194402 (This is the nike link for my run)

My best interval was a 9'19"/mile pace and my slowest was 10'47"/mile pace. Now if I can translate this to my race I should easily be able to come under 3 hours for the half.

Now my diet was better than yesterday for sure.

I met my fat, cholesterol & fiber goals. I went over my cals and sodium (although not as much as yesterday). I still need to take in more protein, potassium, calcium, magnesium, folate & iron. It would appear supplements are in my future.

Not off to a very good start

Well, I got the softball game in and burned my obligatory 1800 calories to survive today, but I consumed over 2000. Was doing pretty good until the Snickers before the game (240 cals) but I wouldn't have made it. Then post game I was so hungry, I had a bacon cheeseburger at the pub. I was good though and had only one beer. So I burned 430 cals playing tonight, esp since our team was always in the field, as we just couldn't get a string going. Tomorrow, hopefully my leg won't be so sore I can't run. Took a good throw right to the left shin/knee area and it's swelling up quite nicely. Iced it, but I think too little too late. Well, I've got my badge of courage for the season and glad it's wrapped up. Time to focus whole-heartedly on the running & tri.

So take home notes from the day as far as nutrition goes:

Carbs & Cholesterol: pretty good
Cals, Fat & Sodium: way too much
Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Protein, Folate, Fiber & Iron: way under

There is a protein shake in my future tomorrow. Ick!

Let's Get This Party Started Right....

So I'm beginning my journal for fitness, a complete makeover of the mind, body & spirit. After posting my weekly schedule I already have to alter it. But that's one of the mental aspects I have to get over. Going with the flow has never been my forte' so we can start right now. In the past, if my schedule had to be changed on Monday, I'd shelve the whole week and just let it pass, then get geared up to start again the following week. Which explains part of the no weight loss issues.

Michele & Jules are leaving at 730am tomorrow for a camping trip so I'm driving in tomorrow instead of biking so that I can say my goodbyes and help them get in the van, etc...cheesy family stuff. Thus making my new schedule for the week:

Sunday: accomplished :) of course, not terribly difficult to take a day off
Monday: Championship Softball game (glad this is the last of the season, don't know yet if I'll play next year)
Tuesday: yoga @ lunch, intervals in the evening
Wednesday: bike to work, bike home (might try & take the more back way home than usual which would add about 5 miles to the ride, so that would be 9 in the morning and 14 or so in the evening)
Thursday: bike to work (if my butts not too sore), run in the evening; if said butt is too sore, then I'll run before work.
Friday: off & we're headed to the coast
Saturday: may just end up doing a lot of hiking, but if not and we hang out at the beach, I want to get a 2 hour run in

My August goal for mileage running is 60 miles. My biking mileage goal is 70 miles. My swimming goal is 3200 meters, with at least 2.5 hours for the month in the water.

Super Jock N Jill Half-Marathon is September 7th, 2009 with a time goal of under 3 hours.
Cottage Lake Triathlon (Super Sprint Distance) is September 19th, 2009 with a goal of finishing.

Accountability

So I started running in 2007, one to get in shape (fail) & two raise money for charity (total success). I ran a total of 320.76 miles, which since I had never run before was pretty impressive to me. In 2008 I decided to run a marathon on my own, thus I started my individual training. Got off to a decent start but no weight loss & injuries kept me from being successful. Total mileage was only 227.46 miles. Well 2009 blossomed into a new year. I talked family into walking a half marathon & decided on what marathon to run and hit the training in stride. Off to a blazing start, but of course injuries cropped up, so February had slow down, picked it back up in March, then in April recorded record mileage for me (118.47 for the month), May backed off and June was just about getting through the month and the race. So picked back up on the mileage in July in training for a half and took the leap to do a super sprint tri. I'm loving the training for the tri and already planning on doing 4 in 2010.

The problem I'm having is still little to no weight loss (however I'm not gaining) and I really want to lose close to 40 more pounds so I know I need more accountability. Since some have shown an interest in the training, I'm going to use this blog as a training journal and hope I can keep people interested enough to hold me accountable for my training. To start my diet is atrocious and I know this. So I need quick, easy, healthy ideas for food. Michele & I are going to start grocery shopping together and I'm going to get my training more geared toward my lifestyle than training for an event.

This fall & winter I might do the Seattle Half Marathon in November. I'll gauge based on the weather. My training won't change either way though. I want to do a minimum of 50 miles per month. Cross-training will become more intense as well. I want to throw in some weight work-outs & cardio boxing (since we got the heavy bag & speed bag in the garage). Swimming will be my primary focus. I will never have a full Iron-Man in me, but I think an Olympic distance tri could be in my future if my training is spot-on. I'm going to re-start Total Immersion and take the drills seriously this winter. I'll utilize the pool more and get myself comfortable with the water because ultimately that's my problem. My fear of the water. It can be almost paralyzing at times. So I'm going to tackle the pool with mostly mental exercises to start. I may even do swimming lessons depending on how the mental work goes.

So the buck starts here:

Week of 8/2/09
Michele & Jules will be out of town at the beginning of the week until Thursday, then all of us are going to the coast for a holiday. This will be a good opportunity for trail & beach running.

Sunday: off
Monday: Championship Softball Game
Tuesday: bike to work, yoga, bus home, interval training at the track
Wednesday: off
Thursday: bike to work, bus home, evening run
Friday: off
Saturday: long run (2 hours)