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)