Interesting facts courtesty of Runner's World & other mags

I check out Runner's World and other magazines at the library. I like the little tidbits-y parts like:
1. For every two-pound gain in weight, the risk of developing arthritis increases nine to 13%
2. A sustained 10 percent weight loss will reduce lifetime medical costs of an overweight person by as much as $5,300
3. To determine how many calories you need, multiply your weight by 10. Add 20% of that number if you sit at a desk all day, 50% if you're moderately active or 70% if you're moving all day. Add the # of calories burned during your workouts. Reduce the total by 15%.
4. A 10-minute post-run ice bath's coldness will decrease swelling and inflammation and has an analgesic effect.
From Men's Health:
1. "Life's like a video game — you have to finish one level before you get to the next." - Adam Yauch, Beasie Boys rapper
2. Massages may add years to your life, according to a new study in th eJournal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. People who went for a single deep-tissue massage showed an average 7-point drop in both their systolic and diastolic blood pressures, as well as an 11 beats-per-minute decrease in their resting heart rates. Over time, these subtractions could add as many as 6 years to a person's life span.
3. Peppermint oil can alleviate IBS symptoms. When IBS sufferers took a dose of peppermint oil three times a day, 79% had a significant decrease in abdominal discomfort.
4. Take your multivitamin after a workout when your body is primed to absorb nutrients.
5. "The time to relax is when you don't have time for it." - Sydney J. Harris
6. "Your job today tells me nothing of your future — your use of your leisure today tells me just what your tomorrow will be." - Robert H. Jackson
7. "There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Mohandas K. Gandhi
8. Facts of Life: "Percentage of Americans who exercise less than 6 minutes every day - 34" Source: Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise

August 30 - 7 Miles & So Humid

Not a bad photo for being completely soaked all the way through (the shirt is usually a very light grey) after 7 miles!

Tim (green shorts) & Donna Deegan (the race founder and our local news anchors)

Up at 3 a.m. to down a piece of toast, some PB, and water, then back to sleep til 4:50 a.m. As anticipated, I was tired and unprepared for the run since I'd been MIA from running since Monday. My stomach was a little rumbly and weird, as it was last night too. I brought along some paper napkins in a plastic baggie, thanks to my friend Katie's recommendation ("just in case you have to go"). Summer and I carpooled and arrived at the parking lot around 5:35, and the humidity hanging in the air was gross. Group 3 headed out shortly after 6, in the dark, and I ran with Jennifer, an ER nurse, for the first few miles, making small talk and aiming to ignore the impeding humidity. At our second water station around the 3 1/2 mile mark, I anxiously drank my cup of water. From then to the finish I was ready to call it a day. Somewhere between mile 4 and 5 I was starting to fall back and hang with the back part of the group instead of the front. I took another small cup of water and three blueberry Luna Moons about 48 minutes in. I had goosebumps. I was so sweaty - my dri-fit shirt was completely soaked as were my shorts and dri-fit (ha!) hat (Bad call on the hat. Note to self: do not wear hat again unless raining). Mile 6 couldn't come fast enough. I was struggling, though nothing was hurting and my lungs seemed okay. I knew where we were and that the parking lot was right around the corner so I trucked along (slowly), and finished the 7 miles (watch time: 1:20), and grabbed water and a new orange Gatorade G2 which was quite tasty much to my surprise (not usually a Gatorade fan). So glad to be home eating oatmeal & Chia Goodness now and I am contemplating a nap!

A brief intermission

After a crazy draining week, I am gearing up for seven miles tomorrow at 6 a.m. I haven't run since I attempted to Wednesday morning when I was was sleep deprived and it was 75 degrees with 100% humidity (according to trusty weather.com). I literally felt like someone poured concrete into my body, let it harden, and then said "Okay, now go run!" I somehow managed to jog for a mere 7 minutes at a snail's pace, then walked to the mile point, uttered a few minor expletives under my breath, and then I proceeded to walk back a mile. Horrendous. I played volleyball after work Wednesday but that's not running. So, I did 6 last Saturday and 5 on Monday but that was it for the week. So yeah, it's been a long week with some unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully things will go well tomorrow morning...we shall see.

August 25 - 5 mile Monday

Did not sleep well last night at all. Got up at 5:25, ate a piece of toast, and off to run 4 or 5 miles on the treadmill. Wasn't looking forward to running, would have preferred to go back to sleep. Ran the first three miles without stopping - in 29 minutes. Walked a minute, then ran. Finished in 49:06, HR of 184! HR stayed mostly around 176-180 throughout the entire run. Mostly ran 6.1-6.5 pace with occasional sprints up to 7.5 m.p.h.

August 23 - 6 Miles (Treadmill Style)

After being cooped up inside for days due to Tropical Storm Fay, part of me hoped for a cancellation e-mail last night and part of me was ready to meet with my group and hammer out the 6 mile run at 6 a.m. Well, the cancellation e-mail came, and due to flooding in the area we were supposed to meet in, it was the first-ever cancellation of the Jacksonville Jeff Galloway program. Usually it's rain or shine, no excuses (except lightening). That meant 6 miles on the treadmill (borrring!) but that I could sleep in past 6 a.m. (excellent!) And I did exactly that. In bed at 10 last night, up at 8:15, popped in a piece of toast and quickly headed to the gym to put a thick line through the "6 mi" that glared at me on my Galloway calendar. I tried the shoe lacing "trick" my friend and former UNF runner, Jo, told me about so that the top of my left foot wouldn't hurt - and it worked. I skipped the part that typically presses across my bone, and laced it up the rest of the way. The first mile was good - didn't take a walk break until minute 9. About the 2 mile point I felt the..uh... "I need to GO now" urge. But I pushed through, telling myself I could have been halfway up a bridge and there's no place for an urgent "GO" to happen up there. I told myself to get to mile 3 and reassess. Mile 3 ended at 29 minutes, and I kept going until mile 4. I ran off the treadmill and quickly went to the restroom, then hopped back on to complete the 6 miles in 57:59. My heart rate even saw 184 today. For the most part it hovered around 176-181. But everything was good - got the treadmill I like, tried the new shoe lacing, wore my new New Balance dri-fit shirt, microfiber socks. I also find it funny how I ate literally any and everything in the house yesterday in a fit of boredom. Somehow I managed to get through 6 miles with all sorts of stuff sloshing around - chocolate, a Morningstar Farms chicken patty, watermelon, an entire BAG of soy crisps, cereal with peanut butter and honey, a Larabar, oatmeal, etc. But - six long treadmill miles - over and done!

August 19 - The calm after (and before) the storm

Long day, grr. After spending far too many hours indoors (10 hour day, meetings galore, lunch @ desk, e-mail crashing) I needed to be outside. Unfortunately, Hurricane Faye is on her way to us. Fortunately, I took the last bit of daylight to jog out the day's frustrations. Two miles in 19:11, no stopping. Nothing extravagant but I needed to sweat. (and it was humid, ugh, even at 8:15 p.m.) But it was the calm before the "real" storm and the calm after the proverbial work storm. Four miles today. 

August 19

After attempting cross training at the gym on sore legs and being unsuccessful, I jogged 2 miles - but later - around 7:25. I *thought* it seemed nice out, when I left the gym, but upon the 3/4 of a mile mark I realized...nope...humid again. Though at the gym I chatted with Amy, the new wife to the gym's old fitness director, Anthony, who I used to play basketball with. She's my age and mentioned she'd done ELEVEN marathons. Yes, 11! Aside from the compartment syndrome she experienced that put her in a wheelchair for 6 months (caused by overtraining), she's enjoyed her marathon experiences and is looking to do a marathon in each state. Her best advice: don't warm up, you're going to run 26.2 miles so there's no point in running a warm up but just use the first 3 miles of the race as one.

Paying Sunday's consequences

Apparently working out - even lightly - was not a good idea yesterday. At all. I'm soooooooo tired and worn out today, and my poor thighs and legs are sore. Note to self: don't do that until after the marathon is o-v-e-r.

August 18 - 89% humidity

Bleh. Weather.com told me it was going to be 75 degrees with 79 percent humidity as I'd set out to run this morning. And I felt each and every percent of that 79 percent. I did 3 miles, and was a bit sore from trying to work out yesterday for the first time in a month, instead of the usual 4. My left calf was also weird for the first half mile or so. I ran the first mile in 10 minutes, then walked a minute, then ran to the mile and a half mark, walked a minute, ran to the two mile mark, walked a minute, then ran the rest of the way back - 30:35 total. I walked to cool down for 10 minutes, stretched, showered, then iced both calves and shins for 10 minutes on each side.

Olympic Marathon Glory

We watched the women's marathon last night and these ladies are CRAZY fast. Romania's Constantina Tomescu-Dita (left) finished the marathon in 2:26:44!? Congrats! And did I mention she's 38 years old? It led me to ask J what he thought the "toughest" Olympic sport is. We watched the men's 100 meter swim and it's over in, well, seconds. A marathon spans 26.2 miles but you can see your competition approaching, and know when to pick it up. Swimming for 9 seconds — that's all about precision and they just have to go as fast as they can because it's over in a few blinks of an eye. The difference between gold and silver in that event was separated by 1/100th of a second. That's insane. I think gymnastics is tough too, with precision/balance prevailing. Regardless, I'm impressed by it all, and all the mental toughness and preparation that goes into these Olympians.

August 16 - Full Moon + 5

Ugh, today was the first 6 a.m. run - as in be there at 6. Up at 5, piece of toast in the toaster at 5:05, and out the door by 5:30. Was greeted by a vibrant, full moon in the dark morning sky on my way to run downtown. Today I joined group three (7:30-8:20 magic mile), the group ahead of last week's. A friend of a friend, Laura, is in the group, as well as Jennifer, a lady from the gym, and one of Katie's friends from last year's training. Everyone seems fun and outgoing. We did a bridges run today, over the two bridges downtown. It went well, and the pace was much quicker/better than last week. The ratio is 3 1/2 minutes run to 1 minute walk - and we were all able to maintain conversation the whole time. We trotted past a large number of bums, many still sleeping, some awake for a morning cigarette. Pre-run leader Chris charged everyone with coming up with a group name. Some guy in my group threw out "Dawn Breakers" since our leader's name is Dawn and we're up, well, before the sun comes up. Dawn didn't necessarily dig the idea so it morphed into "Day Breakers" (someone had said, "how about "Run Breakers" to which I responded - "it sounds like someone's going to hurt themselves/break something!" Let's not start off in jinx mode, right?). Today I tried a Powerbar (see photo) in the car on the way home. I haven't really had one since my old days playing basketball in high school.
Ahh, memories.

August 15 - A day off and a surprise

What could be better than it being Friday, sleeping in until 6:30, having a day off from working out/running and receiving a package in the mail that contains six pairs of no-show (a requirement in my book) moisture-wicking New Balance running socks? Thanks mom!

August 14 - We're all in this together.

Today was a "cross training" day on the schedule. I decided on spinning since my friend Sarah was teaching it this morning, and it's dark in the spin room which means I don't have to deal with the glaring lights all around the rest of the gym (this is annoying when you've woken up about 9 minutes earlier). So, the lady that was next to me - Tiffany - is also in the Galloway program, and she too decided to do spin this morning as well. We're all in this together I guess!

Marathon, what?

So, my mom is getting more educated on this marathon "thing", apparently.

"When is the marathon? Is this a full 26 mile thing?"

Her next question is probably "Are you nuts?" And my responses would be yes, and yes.

August 13 - 5 miles

Summer and I had made plans to run this morning outside - a 4.5 mile loop - but she canceled on me last night before bed, as she's still fighting off an illness and preparing for a trip to the other side of the U.S at the end of the week. My plan easily morphed into aiming for 4 miles on the treadmill instead. When heading to the gym (5:40 a.m.) it was very, very humid out, so I became somewhat thankful for her canceling. J & I went out to eat last night and had a huge dinner, so I didn't have the typical piece of toast and PB or almonds I typically have before heading out the door. I warmed up for five, walking, then ran 1 mile, walked 1 min, ran another mile, walked 1 minute, ran a mile (3 miles in 28:32) then walked a 1 1/2 minutes, then ran a fourth mile, walked 1 1/2 minutes, then made the game-time decision to go ahead and run to 5 - in 48:08 total. Not bad considering the 6 minutes of walking included in that. My speed, for the most part was between 6.4 and 6.7 m.p.h. (about 9 to 9:30 pace) I felt good, but the gym was really hot and humid too. (translation: me = super sweaty when finished) Heart rate did see 180 today, finally! (only got to 140 yesterday on the bike) When leaving the gym the sky was dark grey with rolling clouds and it began to rain at a moderate pace (7 a.m.) so again, I was somewhat thankful for the cancelation! Sometimes things just work out nicely like that.

August 11

Original plan was to get up and go to the gym and run. Didn't happen - could not get out of bed. Slept in til 6, waited for it to get light out, then went out in hopes of tackling 4 miles or "30-45 minutes" - whichever came first. Ran all the way to the halfway point, then stopped for a moment, then ran (jogged?) all the way back except for for two 1-minute walk breaks at minutes 24 and 29, coming in at 39:26. The weather was about 5 degrees cooler than it has been lately and it felt great (well, as great at 73 is going to be!) in comparison. And the sunrise was amazing today...reds and pinks and purples...what a nice way to start off the week. Well, that and the coldest possible shower ever to follow up the run.

August 10

Did my "30-45 minutes of cross training" that's on today's schedule. (Cross train machine + spin class) Decided it'd be a good idea to get back to weekly yoga so went to the afternoon class and the instructor decided to do power yoga today instead of the typical vinyasa flow. It was great. She didn't do my favorite (pigeon) but we did some new stuff that was equally wonderful for my tired little legs. And I can fully touch my heels to the mat upon my first down dog. Could not do that when starting yoga!

August 9 - Galloway 4 miles

(Yes...that's sweat...)

Got into our magic mile pace groups - I'm in the 8:20 to 9:15 group. Summer is in my group as well. We did a down and back 4 miles (someone's Garmin said 3.89 but I'll take it), with a 3:1 run/walk ratio. It felt slow, but everyone says as the mileage increases we'll be thankful for the slower pace. I ran with Linda, a lady with a six-year-old daughter, who did the marathon for the first time last year in honor of a 34-year-old friend who had passed away due to breast cancer. 

In an effort to keep tabs on what works/doesn't work, I'm going to jot down what I did each run: had 1 piece of toast w/ peanut butter before leaving, and felt fine during the run. Wasn't too hot or humid since the course was all shaded nicely by big trees in Ortega. Tried out my new New Balance 100% polyester shirt and it was great! Same with the Nike Dri-Fit Gator hat. Also wore sunglasses. Time to purchase a watch though of some sort that can keep my pace/distance covered. Still looking to a Garmin but can't decide. 

After returning home & drinking some water, I decided to go do some sort of "run"/"jog" around the neighborhood. Did a down and back for 2 miles. Stopped at the 1 mile mark to try a Powerbar vanilla gel (actually tastier than expected - like a runny vanilla frosting) then ran back in the hot sun. Overall felt good, shins had a little bit of a tight feeling but overall was fine.

August 6 - 77 degrees/78% humidity

Training in the middle of summer is interesting, seeing as how I've always skipped running from about the end of March until October or November. This morning was a prime example - 6:30 a.m. - 77 degrees with 78% humidity. Not too terrible on the way out, but on the way back I was running right into the sun and it was hot and sticky. I ran for 39:05, a down and back, not sure how far it was - perhaps 4, I will check later. I kept at a fair jog, nothing too intense, and inserted just three walk breaks - one at about 15 minutes, one at 24 and one at 30. I just wanted to keep moving and get out of the warm temperature!

August 4 - part 2

What a bad day. I had extra gym clothes and shoes in my car so I made a detour at the gym on my way home (not a typical occurance)...did 2 miles walking then jogged 2 miles - so 4 miles in 48 minutes. Maybe I'll sleep better tonight. Ugh, Mondays.

August 4

Warmed up 5 on treadmill. Then ran 20 minutes (19:15) then walked 1, then did 5:1's. Ended up at 4.5 miles in 44:08. Averaged about 6.2-6.4 m.p.h. overall. Felt good overall, and tried two Luna blueberry moons prior to the run. Heart rate was normal, and recovered about 30 bpm in the 1 minute walk breaks.

August 2 - "Magic Mile"

Today the Galloway group gathered at the Beach to run three miles including a "magic mile" that would determine what pace group we'll be put into come next week. We all warmed up with an easy mile then took off in groups in a down and back mile. I finished mine in a comfortable 8:25, so I assume I'll be in a 10:25ish group (they add two minutes to your time to determine the pace group). Then we ran a mile back (well, jogged...) to the car. Good weather, no sun.

FRIDAY - August 1

Fridays are rest days on Galloway's schedule. It's weird to take a day off but I know it's essential. And I probably could use one too! But, most importantly, I was able to "sleep in" this morning - yay! Made it til about 7:30 which is l-a-t-e for me (normal is 5 or 5:15, "later" is 5:45 or 6). So 7:30 to me is like 2 p.m. for college kids. After a month of getting bck into the whole jogging/running thing, I feel pretty good. And best of all, I still have 6 months to go until 26.2.