I went to the gym instead of running. I spent the morning, first, cleaning up dog vomit from my yellow lab, Sandal. Then Tino, our Rottweiler-chow pup, jumped into bed, and I found three ticks on him. So much for me sleeping in until 7am.
The house needed cleaning and decluttering badly, so I did that first. Then I went out and mowed around my raised garden beds. Then I decided I needed to spread more hay around the beds to keep the weeds down. Then I decided to mow the area behind our house (which is on a 45 degree slope.) So by the time this all happened, it was about noon, and I wasn't looking forward to a long run.
And since I don't really have a schedule or firmed up short term goals, I decided to go to the gym today and do my normal core workout. I'm glad I did, because the gym owner was there, and I had asked him to help me with squats. This is his specialty, and I wanted to make sure I had good form. So I did three sets, with him watching and correcting my form.
I also tried reverse crunches on the incline bend, which was new for me--these are tough!!
I came home and revised my core workout, I'm going to try some new excercises just to mix it up.
My quads are a wee bit sore now. My gym owner said it would probaly be my glutes that will be sore. We'll see. I am pretty well developed in my legs and glute area already.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Ecothon 10K Race Report
[This was the Ecothon 10 K Trail Run, where I fell in love with running on trails last year... But as I drove up to the http://www.thewilds.org/, I noticed the start/finishing line was right beside where we parked. Uh huh! New course! You could not ask for nicer weather. It was in the 60's, a wind blowing slightly, nice sunny day. A little chilly in a singlet and shorts at the start. The 5K and 10K runners went off together, so it was a bit of a crowd until the two groups split about the one mile mark. My friend, Marina, who I lost at the start, passed me around here saying she was now warmed up, and was at least 1/2 mile ahead of me for the whole race. I almost forgot, this was a cavewoman run for me. I took Garmin out at race time, and noticed the battery was dead! Oh well, time for a race accordingly to how I felt. It felt strange yet liberating not to be starting a watch at the start. Unlike last year's course, this race was completely over strip mined pasture land, over nicely rolling up and down hills. Some really good hills!! It was both pleasant yet boring, as it was a very gentle trail. The footing was soft, due to recent rains, but not muddy at all. I did feel my IT band a bit as some of the hillsides had us on a slanted surface, but I did stretch after the race. I clocked in at 1.11, which was two minutes off last years course of 1.09. Pretty good considering I knew no splits and had no way of monitoring myself other than the race.
1.11 was also good enough for 3rd in my age group!!
1.11 was also good enough for 3rd in my age group!!
Friday, April 28, 2006
Core workout
I know, when am I hitting the trails?? Tomorrow!
Another trail run! http://www.thewilds.org/Events/EcoThon/
This is a 10K race at the Wilds. This was my first trail run, ever, last year.
Last year's race report:
10K Ecothon at the Wilds: A Trail Run I have never run a trail race before, and actually didn’t know that this was a trail race when I signed up for it. http://www.thewilds.org/ Race day was cold and wet, temp somewhere in the 30-40’s (you could see your breath, that kind of cold.) It rained all night and rained on and off for the whole race. This was a 10K, 5 K Race and 5K Walk at the Wilds, and you got a free safari tour afterwards, so there were lots of family people about. The 10 and 5K Race both started together, which made the first ½ mile fairly crowded. We split off finally and the race started in earnest. We ran up and down a big meadow, which was pretty similar to some of my running areas at home, except theirs were better mowed….at the bottom of first hill was the first water attraction. People were trying to run around it, and me and the guy next to me just stepped right in..socks and shoes soaked, got that out of the way. Check. We disappear into the woods and this is where the race got fun and dangerous. It was total mud. We were slipping and sliding up and down slopes. I got past about 8 people who were again not trying to get their shoes muddy-I simply stomped through the middle of the puddles. This was really a lot of fun! My total concentration was on the trail and my running. There was no time to think about the rain coming down, whether my hat was on straight, did I have a side stitch starting-it was all about the trail here! It was also a great body workout. Around mile 2 or so I thought to myself “ I am NOT doing a long run on Sunday as planned, this one is going to count as the long run…” We came out of the woods, hit a graveled road for a 200 foot respite, then back up a hill again. Miles 3 and 4 were mostly on a very muddy, somewhat graveled road. It was rolling up and down, but this was pretty similar to some of my normal runs. I pulled away from the group I had been with on the mud trail and just concentrated on picking off the women in the distance ahead. My running through mud puddles almost did me in at one point..I ran through one, which was quite deep and I thought I was going to end up taking a header into it! I passed one woman and then caught up to the other two I had been trailing at the great mud field. This is where the road gravel disappeared and there was nothing to do but slog through the mud, picking up pounds of mud on my shoes. I managed to clean them off while running though. I passed the two women on the next hill, a very steep one. I actually power walked part of it, then gave up and ran near the top. I was actually all alone at the point, I could see the next runner up on the next ridge line. At mile 5, after ascending the ridge, I caught up with the last of the 5K walkers (the courses converged.) This was kind of annoying since we’re running through a meadow, they are trying not to get too muddy so they are leaving the worse part of the trail for the runners to go through. I’m sure I splashed a few of them on my way past. Final .4 is back on the road and downhill, so sprinting for the finish: 1.09.10 (my arbitrary goal was a 1.10!!!) Splits 10.39 13.39 10.45 10.10 (the road mile) 12.06 10.36 1.12 Thoughts on this first trail race: It was a lot of fun. It was hard! I feel completely whipped after this. I think all my hill training really paid off for this race.
Another trail run! http://www.thewilds.org/Events/EcoThon/
This is a 10K race at the Wilds. This was my first trail run, ever, last year.
Last year's race report:
10K Ecothon at the Wilds: A Trail Run I have never run a trail race before, and actually didn’t know that this was a trail race when I signed up for it. http://www.thewilds.org/ Race day was cold and wet, temp somewhere in the 30-40’s (you could see your breath, that kind of cold.) It rained all night and rained on and off for the whole race. This was a 10K, 5 K Race and 5K Walk at the Wilds, and you got a free safari tour afterwards, so there were lots of family people about. The 10 and 5K Race both started together, which made the first ½ mile fairly crowded. We split off finally and the race started in earnest. We ran up and down a big meadow, which was pretty similar to some of my running areas at home, except theirs were better mowed….at the bottom of first hill was the first water attraction. People were trying to run around it, and me and the guy next to me just stepped right in..socks and shoes soaked, got that out of the way. Check. We disappear into the woods and this is where the race got fun and dangerous. It was total mud. We were slipping and sliding up and down slopes. I got past about 8 people who were again not trying to get their shoes muddy-I simply stomped through the middle of the puddles. This was really a lot of fun! My total concentration was on the trail and my running. There was no time to think about the rain coming down, whether my hat was on straight, did I have a side stitch starting-it was all about the trail here! It was also a great body workout. Around mile 2 or so I thought to myself “ I am NOT doing a long run on Sunday as planned, this one is going to count as the long run…” We came out of the woods, hit a graveled road for a 200 foot respite, then back up a hill again. Miles 3 and 4 were mostly on a very muddy, somewhat graveled road. It was rolling up and down, but this was pretty similar to some of my normal runs. I pulled away from the group I had been with on the mud trail and just concentrated on picking off the women in the distance ahead. My running through mud puddles almost did me in at one point..I ran through one, which was quite deep and I thought I was going to end up taking a header into it! I passed one woman and then caught up to the other two I had been trailing at the great mud field. This is where the road gravel disappeared and there was nothing to do but slog through the mud, picking up pounds of mud on my shoes. I managed to clean them off while running though. I passed the two women on the next hill, a very steep one. I actually power walked part of it, then gave up and ran near the top. I was actually all alone at the point, I could see the next runner up on the next ridge line. At mile 5, after ascending the ridge, I caught up with the last of the 5K walkers (the courses converged.) This was kind of annoying since we’re running through a meadow, they are trying not to get too muddy so they are leaving the worse part of the trail for the runners to go through. I’m sure I splashed a few of them on my way past. Final .4 is back on the road and downhill, so sprinting for the finish: 1.09.10 (my arbitrary goal was a 1.10!!!) Splits 10.39 13.39 10.45 10.10 (the road mile) 12.06 10.36 1.12 Thoughts on this first trail race: It was a lot of fun. It was hard! I feel completely whipped after this. I think all my hill training really paid off for this race.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Core workout today
I had a doctor's appointment after work, so I just did a core workout instead of running. It was a good workout, I added some legs into the routine tonight. Tomorrow should be a run day, then maybe take Friday off, the one day taper before the 10K race.
It was a new doctor I went to, he seems really nice. And I only had a twenty minute delay in seeing him, unlike my old doctor where I sat in the waiting room for one hour. I don't have time to leave my job early, to go sit in a waiting room.
Anyways, they took blood for my thyroid, iron, cholesterol, pretty much the works. I've been concerned about my thyroid, wondering if anything has changed since I cannot get these ten lbs off my body. And I hate to use that excuse "it's my thyroid, that's why I can't lose weight". (Well, I won't use that as an excuse.) The thyroid remark is usually made by some obese woman who, while may have a underactive thyroid, but is also shovelling doughnuts in her face. I get the lab results back in about one week. I'm hoping we'll have to crank up the dosage and these ten lbs will just melt off my body. Yeah right.
It was a new doctor I went to, he seems really nice. And I only had a twenty minute delay in seeing him, unlike my old doctor where I sat in the waiting room for one hour. I don't have time to leave my job early, to go sit in a waiting room.
Anyways, they took blood for my thyroid, iron, cholesterol, pretty much the works. I've been concerned about my thyroid, wondering if anything has changed since I cannot get these ten lbs off my body. And I hate to use that excuse "it's my thyroid, that's why I can't lose weight". (Well, I won't use that as an excuse.) The thyroid remark is usually made by some obese woman who, while may have a underactive thyroid, but is also shovelling doughnuts in her face. I get the lab results back in about one week. I'm hoping we'll have to crank up the dosage and these ten lbs will just melt off my body. Yeah right.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Workout today
4 miles on the treadmill at the gym. I know, you are thinking, "when is she going to the trails? She calls herself a trail runner". Well, okay, that's the ideal situation, which doesn't always happen in real life. If I had driven down to Salt Fork, in the pouring cold rain, the run wouldn't have happened. Besides, I do have a trail race this weekend, at the Wilds, http://www.thewilds.org/Events/EcoThon/ where, last year, I ran my very first trail race and was introduced to the way cool world of trail running.
Coach Kimba had even written and left me a note and a Clif Brownie Bar in my vehicle, which basically said, okay, work may have sucked today, but you are going to do a 4 mile run.
Coach Kimba is my coach. She has a face very similiar to mine but a buff body similiar to the hot female coach on the TV show The Biggest Loser. That's a pretty cool show, but I never remember when it's on. And no, I don't have Tivo or any other gadget to record with. The only Biggest Loserepisodes I caught was a marathon (I always love non-runners using that term, they should be forced to go run 26.2) over New Years.
I guess I should back up a step here and explain myself. In 2003, I found my short frame (5'2") hitting an excess of 225 lbs. Yeah. Here's my web page about that:
http://www.geocities.com/kimba90/weightloss.html.
I had an epiphany then. I joined Weight Watchers, lost 75 lbs and was down to 150 lbs. Yeah me. I now have a totally different life. I work out daily. I run marathons. I lift weights. I am happy. I wear size 6-8-10 clothes.
So I love to watch weight loss shows and see people want to change and suceed, that is so great in my book. And while I don't like the whole "vote them off the island" crap, the Biggest Loser has seemed to help most folks on the show.
Coach Kimba had even written and left me a note and a Clif Brownie Bar in my vehicle, which basically said, okay, work may have sucked today, but you are going to do a 4 mile run.
Coach Kimba is my coach. She has a face very similiar to mine but a buff body similiar to the hot female coach on the TV show The Biggest Loser. That's a pretty cool show, but I never remember when it's on. And no, I don't have Tivo or any other gadget to record with. The only Biggest Loserepisodes I caught was a marathon (I always love non-runners using that term, they should be forced to go run 26.2) over New Years.
I guess I should back up a step here and explain myself. In 2003, I found my short frame (5'2") hitting an excess of 225 lbs. Yeah. Here's my web page about that:
http://www.geocities.com/kimba90/weightloss.html.
I had an epiphany then. I joined Weight Watchers, lost 75 lbs and was down to 150 lbs. Yeah me. I now have a totally different life. I work out daily. I run marathons. I lift weights. I am happy. I wear size 6-8-10 clothes.
So I love to watch weight loss shows and see people want to change and suceed, that is so great in my book. And while I don't like the whole "vote them off the island" crap, the Biggest Loser has seemed to help most folks on the show.
First Running Dream of the Year
I have some vivid dreams. I remember alot of them. And some of the running dreams (or probaly more like running nightmares are pretty funny.
But last night's dream was just me, out there running in the woods, on some smooth path or trail, just running effortlessly. I hit my turn around spot and headed back, and had to run up some wooden steps at the end. Then I realized I had run 20 miles and only had a 12 miler planned for the day. Then I woke up.
I only have four miles to run today. And no, I am not planning on running 20 accidentally either.
But last night's dream was just me, out there running in the woods, on some smooth path or trail, just running effortlessly. I hit my turn around spot and headed back, and had to run up some wooden steps at the end. Then I realized I had run 20 miles and only had a 12 miler planned for the day. Then I woke up.
I only have four miles to run today. And no, I am not planning on running 20 accidentally either.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Today's workout
Today was a core workout at the gym and a couple miles on the tread.
I am a firm believer of core strength. I saw a woman on the trail race on Saturday ahead of me-hunched over, kind of holding her hands on her hips as she wobbled up the hill. She looked like she had nothing holding her upper body up.
Since I spent January and February not running at all due to an IT Band injury, I concentrated on my weight training and core work out. Weight training does fall off when I work on more miles, but I am planning on keeping up with my core workouts.
What I do:
Bicycle crunches 3 x 15
Reverse crunches 3 x 15
Wipers-you lay on your back, and with your legs straight & together, you move them from one side to the other-like windshield wipers 1 x 15
V ups- you lay on your back, arms extended back over your head. You bring your arms over your head and your legs into the air at the same time 1 x 15
Medicine ball biycycles-you hold the medicine ball in one hand, and as you come up in a crunch, you lift your opposite leg and pass the ball under your leg 1 x 15
Back extensions on the stability ball-hold for 30 seconds 1 x 5
Crunches on stability ball 1 x 15
Then I go out into the gym and do front pull downs, seated cable rows, back pull downs, and a machine called the 'pyramid machine'.
Abs and back are all core work outs. You need a strong core to support everything else on your body!
Then two sluggish miles on the tread. Ugh. But, at least I kept to the scheduled workout! Pretty good for a Monday!
I am a firm believer of core strength. I saw a woman on the trail race on Saturday ahead of me-hunched over, kind of holding her hands on her hips as she wobbled up the hill. She looked like she had nothing holding her upper body up.
Since I spent January and February not running at all due to an IT Band injury, I concentrated on my weight training and core work out. Weight training does fall off when I work on more miles, but I am planning on keeping up with my core workouts.
What I do:
Bicycle crunches 3 x 15
Reverse crunches 3 x 15
Wipers-you lay on your back, and with your legs straight & together, you move them from one side to the other-like windshield wipers 1 x 15
V ups- you lay on your back, arms extended back over your head. You bring your arms over your head and your legs into the air at the same time 1 x 15
Medicine ball biycycles-you hold the medicine ball in one hand, and as you come up in a crunch, you lift your opposite leg and pass the ball under your leg 1 x 15
Back extensions on the stability ball-hold for 30 seconds 1 x 5
Crunches on stability ball 1 x 15
Then I go out into the gym and do front pull downs, seated cable rows, back pull downs, and a machine called the 'pyramid machine'.
Abs and back are all core work outs. You need a strong core to support everything else on your body!
Then two sluggish miles on the tread. Ugh. But, at least I kept to the scheduled workout! Pretty good for a Monday!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
It's Decided
Road Run Today
Just a 4 mile road run today, around the block. Since we live on a hill, that includes a 1/2 mile downhill, around 1 mile in the valley, then a 1/2 mile uphill, then some more rolling hills on the ridgeline back to the house.
Joing Blogland
Well, well, well, I have finally joined blogland. But first I have to go for a run before I can work on this anymore.
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