Sunday, September 8, 2013

Hurts so Good...

The weekend has been quite entertaining. I was supposed to run 8 miles Saturday morning... that definitely did NOT happen. After about 5 miles and some change, i thought my legs were going to fall off. I guess leg day at the gym before a big run isn't the best idea! haha oh, but it was soooo much fun! I even got some play time on the bag. Good times :)
I'm not going to lie, though. I was very upset i didn't finish my 8 miles. Yes, i know it's a process. Yes, i know it takes time, but dammit maybe i'm a little impatient. I want it so bad that i'm afraid i'm going to mess it up somehow. This week will be a little different. I've gotten some good advice from people over the last few days so I'm feeling better now having some more direction for this half. I've also gotten a lot of support from friends and family. A lot who have asked to come out and cheer me on. I love that they all believe in me. I tell them how nervous and excited I am about 13.1 miles and all i hear is "oh you're fine! you got this! you'll be fine!" i'm here like are you kidding me? i mean sure i'll finish, but i'm not trying to finish in 5 hours either! i guess it's a good thing that i actually want this. Training is painful, but i love it. I love pushing myself and seeing how much more I can push myself. They key is to be better than yesterday. Always progressing and never falling back. Having new free runs has been very fun as well. Keeps me energized! Must be the bright colors! Actually, I think it's because they're 5s whereas before I was running in 7s. I feel closer to the ground and it's a cleaner free-er run. I would love to share running pics, but it's hard to always have someone on your route snapping pics. If only i had my own personal photographer. Usually my pics are taken before or after the run ... beautiful shots of course! you know all sweaty and gross. Oh yea... brings all the boys to the yard! hahaha 
I have been keeping up with the MoveYoAsana challenge and I have to say I'm quite impressed with myself. I didn't know I could do some of these poses and it's been fun to discover these little treats. Keeps me motivated to keep doing what I'm doing and push harder. Sure i'm sore just about every day, but at least i'm working! It'll pay off in the end for sure. Right now I'm just loving life. Every minute of it. I also had a cheat session with the BFFs on Saturday. We pretty much devoured large amounts of sushi. So much sushi that the chef/sushi roller (i don't know what they're called) made us something special on the house. It was one of the best meals I've had in a while and to top this all off... FOOTBALL HAS STARTED!! HAIL YEAH!! I don't know if i'll get any sleep tonight from the excitement of tomorrow's game. Season opener. Wish i could be at the stadium to cheer on my guys, but i'll go see them in a few weeks. Until the next post... happy training week, guys!! :)

Thursday, September 5, 2013

I'm only half crazy! 13.1

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been a few days since my last post  :(
haha it's not that serious. So what's been going on? Well A LOT. For me at least. I'm working real hard to up my mileage for the half coming up in 6 weeks. I added a mile today which was awesome! This now makes 6 miles at a time. Made it in great time too!! yea except for i'm still walking part of it. I can't keep my focus and I'm finding my biggest challenge to be pacing myself. Sure it sounds so easy... just slow down, but as soon as my feet hit pavement I just want to take off like a cheetah. Weird... me? a cheetah? ha OK bad analogy, but you get what I mean. I get out there and I get so excited about the half that i basically go into a sprint and then what happens? I get gassed out. ugh but then 30 seconds later i'm back to running. I know, I'm a hot mess. The good thing is, this used to happen to me a lot when i first started running and I was able to fix it. So, just gotta make a few minor tweaks and get back in the game. Another thing that's killing me... i can't run everyday. At least not the usual mileage. Something about a rest day? ughhhh so I have to switch up my cardio throughout the week for the days I'm not running. Which reminds me!

IG: sunshine_memoirs
OK story time! So yesterday I was at the gym doing a mini weight session before my cardio. I decided to use the stair master. Those who know me, know i have the worst luck on this machine. Not because it tires me out, but because I never can figure out the settings leaving me to battle death. No I'm serious. It happened again yesterday. Here's this machine that asks for all my stats. Asked me for my target heart rate, so I put 180. Then it asked for resting heart rate and so on and so forth... WELL! when the machine started, those little stairs were FLYING! Apparently it wasn't my heart rate the machine was asking for... it was my step rate. Let's just say i'm not at 180 and God bless those who are! So here I am about to completely mutilate my face when i take a giant leap of faith, jumped up and slammed the stop button. Yes, it was quite a show. It's OK you can laugh. I was laughing at myself too. Finally settled on the manual setting and went about my workout. I gotta say, I feel pretty useless on the days I'm not supposed to run... #hotmess

So aside from my running, I've also been doing this yoga challenge on Instagram. I'm not great at yoga and if you check out my Instagram you can see the proof of that lol but I am enjoying the stretches and adding something else into the daily routine. Keeps things interesting. I'll share a few pics of what i've been up to and if you have ANY advice or tips for my half marathon training... PLEASE!! I'M ALL EARS  :)

Monday, September 2, 2013

Team No Days Off

So this past weekend has been one for the books when it comes to training. Going harder on my weights giving it everything I got. By Sunday i was completely sore. I'm talking legs weak, arms sore, chest heavy and body in P.A.I.N. For some reason, running just seemed like a great idea! So how about seeing how I do on the 5+ mi loop i used to run... oh boy. Well, I have to say i'm really surprised i did it all in under an hour. I really thought it was going to take a lot longer. Not sure what's changed the most. my running or walking speeds! haha either way, i'm glad it was just under an hour. Means i'll be back to my old pace in no time. Hopefully sooner than later because this half marathon is coming up fast! I have a bout a month and some change to train for it. By the time I got back from my 5mi loop i fell to the ground and couldn't move. i think i laid there for about an hour. ok fine... half an hour. Point is, i could not move! Unfortunately for me, that was not an option. We had family over this weekend so i had to be up and about walking around. I also got tagged in this yoga challenge on IG by one of my BFFs. Basically they post a new yoga pose daily and you have to do it too. I gotta say, it took everything in me to get it done last night, but i did it! #soproud #teamnodaysoff hahaha well this week is not going to get any easier. Must keep training! It's also time to learn about these energy gels and the other joys of marathon training. Wish me luck... advice welcome!!  :)