Month: March 2011

End of March Measurements

The bolded numbers are Mar 31, the other numbers are Feb 1 and March 1 respectively.

  • Under Breast: 35 / 34 / 33.5 (-.5)
  • Smallest Waist Point: 34 / 33 / 32.5 (-.5)
  • Belly Button: 38 / 41 / 40.5 (-.5) 
  • Hips (under belly): 41 / 40.5 / 40 (-.5)
  • Neck: 13 / 13 / 12.5 (-.5)
  • Mid Upper Arm: 11.75 / 10.5 / 10.25 (-.25)
  • Upper Arm: 13.25 / 12.5 / 11.5 (-1) 
  • Wrist: 6 / 6 / 6 (-0)
  • Upper Thigh: 24 / 26 / 25 (-1)
  • Above Knee: 16.5 / 16.75 /16.5 (-.25)
  • Mid Calf: 15.5 / 15.5 / 15.5 (-0)

Holler for progress back in the right direction – these measurements pretty much line up with the “before I had a rocky patch” measurements.

I do have to say my favorite part of my body these days is above my knee to my thigh. I’m starting to get some awesome definition.

excuse me did you say fartlek?

Once I DOMINATE my half this weekend I plan on working on speed training for my 5K on May 1. I haven’t done much speed training or even understand what a fartlek is (however I do giggle every time I read/say it). I found some of these words of wisdom on speed training from a non tumblr blogger who asked her readers, but I’m open to all input. Speed is NOT my strong suit and I’d love to really shave some major time off my 5K

Speed advice from others:

  • Warmup (5-10 minutes) – 2min, 4min, 2 min (repeat) – Cooldown
  • The first 2 minutes are at your regular running speed, the next 4 minutes are at a pace you would never consider and you cannot talk, cool down for 2 minutes. Repeat as many times as you want. I added a repeat every week starting with 4 the first week. the most important speed work I do is my tempo runs. I am now a big fan of the “split tempo” because it’s easier to handle mentally. start small and do 1.5 miles @ tempo pace (I use a 5kish pace but really just going FAST) and then a mile easy then another 1.5 mile tempo and keep increasing.
  • 2 Min easy, then, 30 seconds ‘Demons are chasing you’ fast. – Repeat 5-10 times.
  • I also like doing small bursts of speed when I’m just getting back into speed work- one of my fave early season runs is 1 min fast 1 min easy, 2 min fast 2 min easy, 3 min fast 3 min easy all the way up to 6, 7 8 or so and then back down. Really awesome workout and no pace goal just pushing it!

Speed advice from you…

WIW

Last Week: 182.0

This Week: 180.2

Change: -1.3

I’m happy the scale is moving the right direction, but I really need to get out of this losing and gaining the same 7 pounds cycle. I hope I can see the 170s before my half on Sunday – it would be a nice little confidence boost. My lowest weight thus far has been 175 and I need to get back down there and then start to losing “new weight.”

Gyms of the Future???

I was looking up some Nike+ sensor info for a friend when I stumbled upon this Nike+ feature on the Apple website.

Take Nike + iPod to the gym and minute by minute, mile by mile, you’re motivated by more than music. Connect your iPod nano, iPod touch, iPhone 3GS, or iPhone 4 to your cardio machine. Record your pace, time, and distance as you work out. And every trip to the gym becomes a new challenge.

http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/workout.html

Where to go. What to use.

Head to a select 24 Hour Fitness (U.S.) or Virgin Active (Europe) health club. Jump on a Nike + iPod compatible treadmill, elliptical machine, stair stepper, or stationary bike. Connect your iPod nano, iPod touch, iPhone 3GS, or iPhone 4. And take your workout to a whole new level. Nike + iPod Gym Locator

Innnnteresting. It also charges your ipod too so no dealing with a dead battery.

Quarter 1 of 2011 in Review

I came into 2011 with a lot of momentum from 2010. I had run over 700 miles and lost over 40 pounds. I raced in multiple 5Ks, 10Ks and 2 half-marathons. I was on top of the world.

To be honest December was when I started to fall off the wagon – cold weather, holidays, new boyfriend, etc.

I really hoped 2011 was going to be even more stellar than 2010. Despite not loving now the first Quarter of 2011 has gone, I have very high hopes for the rest of 2011.

My weight: I have been gaining and losing the same 7 pounds since December. I’m ready to FIRMLY and STEADILY be in the 170s and then hit my GW of 168 in this second quarter.

My Mileage: Including my last 2 March runs today and tomorrow I’ll have 163 miles for the year thus far. I BARELY ran in January and part of February. I’ve put most of this mileage on the board in the past 7 weeks. I really want to run 1,000 miles in 2011 which meant I needed ~250 per quarter. So I’m BEHIND. Hopefully once I start Marathon training later this year I will rack up the the mileage I lost.

My Body: Although my weight and measurements haven’t changed much (I will measure on Thursday) I feel good about how I look. I am easily in size 14 pants with hopes of soon making the movie to 12s. I am wearing large and medium shirts. My boobs look absolutely fantastic. I was THIS CLOSE to taking a picture of them yesterday and then using the magic of PAINT or something to make it psuedo appropriate. We’ll see, but trust me they look awesome.

My Attitude: Regardless of the numbers on the scale or mileage I’m laying down I feel good about myself when I’m working out regularly and eating well. I vividly remember stretching at the gym maybe in early Feb when I got back to working out and I felt so fat and gross. Then a few weeks later I was checking myself out in the mirror and felt so confident and fit. The funny thing is that the scale hasn’t moved much. It’s the inner confidence of knowing I am putting in the work and “running laps around all those couch potatoes.” (I love that quote I saw I tumblr a few weeks ago).

My Plan: I have my half marathon on Sunday and then I plan to take the rest of April to really work on speed training. I have a 5K on May 1 (aka the first anniversary of my first 5K back on the same course) and I really want to be FAST. In a later post I will be asking you all for speed training fartlek advice. I really hope to be out of the 170s this quarter and see my GW of 168. I want to reach my UGW by my 28th Birthday on August 4th.

WHAT A WEEK! 32 miles! Who am I?

This is by far the most mileage I’ve logged in a weekend thus far.

The funny thing is that I ran 32 miles in 4:58.

When last week I ran 26 miles in 5:04 and the week before that I ran 23 miles in 4:08.

This is some great perspective. I often get frustrated because I’m not as fast as I’d like to be, but it’s cool to see in the grand scheme of things I’m still ~11min/mile and I’m more than fine with that for now.