April 12 - 7 Miles

Rachael and I decided to meet and run 5 miles Sunday, but it quickly turned into 7. The weather was a nice improvement over Saturday, with a nice breeze and 73 degrees/63% humidity. It was leisurely and we chatted the whole way, running 3:30 to 1 min rest. My calves and hamstrings were tight and sore from the previous 10 miles on Saturday and from Friday's personal training session. But in the end Panera hazelnut coffee prevailed.

April 11 - 10 miles

7:45 a.m. comes around too quickly. That's the time that Kelly, Blythe, Rachael, Ike and I met to run 10 miles. Blythe's first marathon is just three weeks away. (hence the photo of her and the "26.2 - Been there, done that." sticker) The sky was cloudy and the humidity was high. Imagine running through a cloud. We ran sub-10 minute pace for most of the trek. It was tough, and seemed long and never ending. As we ran past the shops of the town center we noticed small children and parents with Easter baskets in hand. We were part of an Easter egg hunt! Fun times. Kelly was kind enough to stretch me out at the end and I returned the favor. What great friends I have. Rachael, Blythe and I refueled on a delicious breakfast at Mimi's.

April 10 - Personal Training Day 8

What could be better than starting a three-day weekend with a bright and early 8 a.m. personal training session? Starting off with 2 minutes of wall sits, followed by 15 dead lifts (50 lbs) then walking lunges with overhead ball (6 lbs) twists? Or incline bench press with two 12s followed by modified pull-ups (under the bar...20 reps...owww!)? Or the standing chest press using the resistance band? Or the side lunges with 8-lb. bicep curls on the way up? Or the inner thigh machine (70 lbs) with simultaneous overhead 8-lb. shoulder press, followed by this crazy ab exercise where I lay on my back with hands above me gripping a handle and then I bring my knees in and up 25 times? I even got to repeat the circuit three times before doing a mile on the elliptical at level 20 and incline 10. When being stretched I began seeing flashing, blinking lights. I asked Byoung what this was, since it had happened on two other recent occasions when leaving my session. The culprit? Low blood sugar. I refueled on a Myoplex light bar and my sight was back to normal. I enjoyed today's exercises far more than those on Wednesday. My scowls were at a minimum.

April 8 - Personal Training Day 7

Here we are, post-workout. Oh, and flexing with our trainer, Byoung. We make him proud. He makes us want to cry!

Today was tough. Not sure if that's due to yesterday's 6-mile run or if I'm just a big wimp. It's debatable. Kelly did different exercises but she said hers were hard too. I started (after 5 min. bike warm up) with squats - 20 seconds continuous then 10 seconds hold, then repeat until 2 minutes is up. Then I did squats with overhead press (25 pound bar) then immediately went into chest press (30 lbs total) then plie squats with 30 lbs (40 reps!), then a 20-pound kettle ball swim (read: torture) then 15 lat pulldowns with 60 lbs. Then single arm triceps overhead while laying down — taking caution not to whack myself in the head with either 8-lb. weight. Then modified burpees (read: almost cried) — push up position, jump legs up to arms then jump up then back down. It was terrible. Then I was atop one of the big balls and did a pelvic tilt/lift while holding a 15-lb. dumbbell. Last in the cycle were these horrible "V" crunches that made me scowl! Then I repeated that fun set of stuff two more times before biking a mile at level 10 at 65 rpm (I was more at 60, but shh!). It was one of the hardest days thus far. Just when I thought it was getting easier...nope. But dinner was excellent. Leftover whole wheat bowties with low-fat ricotta, basil, sundried tomato and lemon and a big salad with shrimp, avocado, black olives, craisins, raw okra and flax seeds. Mmmm. Protein!

April 7 - 6 miles

Ugh.

Some days I just can't sit still - I love designing and computers but sometimes I wish I could work outside, or be standing. (or at least get a comfy, supportive desk chair...a girl can dream I suppose) Oh well. After work I headed to the gym (favorite treadmill was taken) and grabbed a treadmill looking out the window. It was super windy and chilly, but sunny today. Not great outdoor running weather. Denae was next to me for the first 2 miles, and we chatted about her recent trip to Guatemala. I felt good, running at least 6.2 mph and my HR hovering below 150 the entire first few miles. I upped the speed to 7.0, gradually, completing 6 miles in 57:40, and that included 4 one-minute walk breaks. With a bit more than a mile left to run, two ladies, obviously from the same workplace, were on the treadmills to my right. They were annoyingly loud and what bothered me most was that I had already run 5 miles and was running 6.7 mph while they walked at 3.5 miles per hour (slower than my cool down) while holding onto the rails. They were burning more calories with their foul mouths! The conversation (if I had to hear it, you do too) started off with one lady chronicling her day and how she did "so good" by having a shake for breakfast and some "blocker" pills (oh now that's healthy) and then gorged on food in the afternoon. The other lady replied with a very detailed list of all the Easter candy that's in her office. By the time she got to Whoppers and Twizzlers (really?) I considered flinging myself off the treadmill, but decided against it. Because it got better. I bit my tongue. Hard. Now granted I usually don't run with headphones, and today was no exceptiion, but seriously — do people not realize the person right next to you overhears everything you say? And when you're not talking PG, or even PG-13, it is not the best conversation for the treadmill at 6 p.m. (or anytime!) These ladies needed to be huffing it and attempting calorie burn and cardiovascular fitness, not galevanting along discussing raunchy topics. There's a time and a place...and this was neither. Despite that, overall a good run. 10 minutes on elliptical after then stretched. I'm surprisingly not sore from yesterday's personal training session. With that being said, we'll see what lies in store for me tomorrow...

April 6 - Personal training day 6

After a teambuilding at work (read: many cookies consumed), I headed to day 6 of personal training. After a 5 min. warm-up, I was given the run down on the workout ahead of me - seven exercises, which would be performed in a row six times. First set I'd do 20 reps of the 7 exercises, next set 19, then 18, 17..16..15. The first was leg press w/ 130 pounds. Next up was lunges w/ overhead shoulder press. Then ball squats, then lat pull down (60 lbs) then sit ups then push ups (which later turned into chest press) and finally, seated rows (4o lbs). My goodness. I managed to bang my knee pretty hard on the third set of leg press, which caused a little blood and a bit of uneasiness to my stomach. I felt dizzy. The worst was the lunges with overhead press. Oh, and when Trainer Byoung told me how many reps I'd done - five hundred and something - I felt slightly better.

April 5 - Double digits - 10 MILES

Yesterday I took off from physicial activity and rested my legs. Last night I had pizza and beer (one porter, one PBR) and it was excellent. Oh, and a salad. I stayed up late and had to be up early to run with Blythe, who was going to run 20 miles. Rachael and Kelly would meet her for the first leg and I'd join in at 8 to do 5 miles. I did not want to go, but I got up at 7:30 a.m., ate a few cashews, and off I went. Timing was impeccable and the girls were rounding the corner as I rode up. Kelly stuck around and did five more with us then I decided to do 10 and finish the run with Blythe. It went well and we did 3:30 to 1 run/walk ratio. I hadn't run 10 miles since the Gate River Run, which was about a month ago. I felt pretty good. It was overcast, about 70 degrees.

April 3 - 1/2 mile run - Personal training Day 5

Yesterday was a challenging workout with personal trainer, and when he offered Kelly and I a "boot camp" workout the next day, we thought, that can't be too bad - right? I was late and started 30 minutes behind, but Kelly and I had the same regimen. A yellow, lined piece of paper sealed our fate. Eight exercises, in order, performed four complete times. The first time all 8 are performed with 25 reps, the second 20, then 15, then 10 (much better than round 1). The first was legpress (130 lbs!) then squats with overhead press (30 lbs), incline chest press (10 lbs), squat with overhead ball throw, squat to row (20 lbs), lat pulldown (60 lbs) then walking lunges with 10 lb. ball, alternating sides. Oh, then 4 minutes of hardcore cardio. The first time was 4 min on the elliptical, the second time was 4 min. on the stairstepper (heart rate to 170-something!) and the final one was the kicker - a half mile jog outside, two big laps around the neighborhood. My legs felt like bags of sand. Sweating would be an understatement!

April 2

After taking yesterday off to rest and recover, today was day four with the personal trainer. Kelly joined and we got our butts kicked (in the nicest way possible). After a 5 minute warm up I was sent to do a two minute wall sit. Two minutes = eternity. Then I did a series of burpees (push up, jump up, raise the bosu overhead), squat jumps, oblique crunches, lat pulldowns (better posture, here I come!), and then rinse and repeat. It was tough. I scowl, I grimace, I sweat buckets. Did I mention two more two minute wall sits? Yeah, that's six minutes of my life I'm never getting back.

March 31 - 2 miles

After being sick for the past few days and being unable to breathe (and, run) it was time again to attempt the treadmill. I took Sunday off from exercise and had done about 45 minutes on the elliptical Saturday, trying to sweat out the sickness. So I ran 2 miles in less than 20 but got bored quickly and saw an elliptical open up and swapped for 40 minutes, keeping my heart rate around 152-162. Still stuffy and tired but it felt good. Monday afternoon went to personal training session number 3 and was scared since I still wasn't feeling 100%. It went well and it was hard (my knees and legs were sweating by the end). A lot of squat and lunge type exercises and the dreaded quad lift. Some lat pulldowns, some incline chest press, a little decline push up, triceps pulldowns, ahhh! My HR hovered around 160-172 for the most part but I was breathing fine.

March 24 - 1 mile

In an effort to not be too sore from the beat down I endured yesterday, I headed to the gym this morning for some sort of movement. That ended up including 40 minutes on the elliptical (HR to 151) and then a 1 mile jog in 10:30. My legs felt like dead weight. My hamstrings/lower glutes are still pretty stiff/sore from yesterday's workout but I figure something is better than nothing. And now I get eggs with spinach and toast with almond butter, so I guess it's okay...

March 24 - 4 miles

Day number two of personal training. I am fairly certain that I'll be crawling to work tomorrow. After a 5 min. warm up I was straight into squats (20 seconds then hold it for 10 seconds, repeat for 2 minutes), then chest fly, then a step up/running arms maneuver, then I was lifting a bar overhead and squatting then lifting. Then laying on the mat I lifted one leg up, then the other. My heart rate monitor consistently read numbers in the 140s to 160s. Yikes! I did ab pulls with a resistance tube - 25 on each side. After about 18 I thought my world was coming to an end. I did hamstring curls and that was pure torture, even with the 30 pounds. I did the thigh machine (not its official name), some crazy sit ups with a small ball overhead, and then was told to run a mile on the treadmill. No lie, it was the longest mile I have ever run. Ever. I was running at 6.2 mph and it felt like an eternity. After I was stretched I decided to jog outside. I did 3 miles. I hope I can move tomorrow. This could be interesting. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?

March 23 - 6 miles!

Between yesterday and today, I'm not sure which day was worse. I am so sore from Saturday morning's strength training session at the new gym. Wow-oh-wow! My neck muscles hurt, my sit-in-a-chair muscles ache, my shoulders are sore, my legs...tired. I took yesterday off and this morning so after work I climbed onto a treadmill and took off. My new Etonic Praya shoes are tiny wonders! This was my first treadmill run in them and it was like running with two personal clouds strapped to my feet. I ran the first three miles in 28 minutes then walked a minute and ran another mile, wrapping up 6 miles in 56:24. I got up to 7.3 mph and my HR got to 178 at its very highest, hovering mostly around 169. I felt good.

March 21 - 4 miles

After all these months of running and cross training, I finally manned up and went for my first personal training session in the morning. I warmed up then did a series of strength training moves, and they looked easy but did not feel easy. The ab exercises? Brutal. The walking lunges with overhead triceps press. Ow. The step up-and-over the bench? Quads were screaming! The chest press? Not too bad. But at several points I thought I was going to die. Ow ow ow...I have to do 25 reps - seriously? Why not 15? It was hard and I was sweaty, and my heart was beating quickly but I felt accomplished when I got into my car and drove off to meet Blythe and Kelly (of the "Fab 5") for breakfast since Blythe just ran 20 miles. I had two cups of coffee and some of their leftover muffin and omlette. I got home and wanted to try out my new shoes since Kelly raved about her (matching) pair. I laced up and put my Garmin on. It was windy and cool - in the 60s and gusts up to 21 mph. I ran 4 miles in 37:27, including the first mile in 8:32. Not bad. Not sure if was the two cups of coffee/caffeine? Or the new shoes and inserts? I felt like a speed demon.