Tag: mlfitness

I have a 17 miler this weekend and I’m nervous.

I’m confident in my physical ability. I mean I rocked 15 miles 2 weeks ago, but running is SO mental. I’m committing to running over 3 hours. 17 miles – I could like run to the AL/GA state line (not really, but practically). 

I need to stock up on some GUs, sleep well and “get my mind right” – a favorite quote from one of my spin instructors. 

I have 4 miles to run after work today because I didn’t run yesterday and I’m hoping to hit up my first yoga class in ages on Sunday – I blame Robin for that!

Wish me luck!

I may not be Eminem, but I rocked 8 mile

Tonight’s run was one for the record books. Perfect 40ish degree weather, fresh legs and a great pace.

I did 8 miles in 1:25:18.

That is nearly 10 minutes FASTER than the last time I ran exactly 8 miles back in early October. 

My splits were all under 11 minutes. My last mile was my 2nd fastest. I’ve really been working on conserving my energy so I can go balls to the wall the last leg of a run.

Splits (can anyone tell me how to drag the picture from the garmin connect site?)

  • Mile 1 – 10:27
  • Mile 2 – 10:37
  • Mile 3 – 10:31
  • Mile 4 – 10:33
  • Mile 5 – 10:57
  • Mile 6 – 10:55
  • Mile 7 – 10:49
  • Mile 8 – 10:31

*I did pause my Garmin at my halfway point to eat a GU

Remember that time I ran 4 miles with my ass cheeks hanging out?

Oh wait that was tonight. I wore these tiny compression shorts that worked their way up my legs as a ran. I also had a blue flashing running light clipped to the back of my shorts which really alerted the world to my exposed flesh. 

Regardless of the peep show Freddie and I knocked out 4 miles in 40:54. Stellar run with a negative split ta-boot(y). 

New Running Shoes!

Yesterday I went to my local running shore to go through their “fit process” for new running shoes. With 9 weeks left of training and increased mileage I knew it was time. I do plan on running the actual Marathon in my Brooks Racers, but I needed a new training shoe. 

I pretty much have befriend the 2 guys who manage the store so we got right into shooting the shit. I talked about how my feet are a crazy size and how I’ve been happy with my Nike Pegasus and previous Nike Max Moto + as well as my Brooks Racers. 

First they had me get on the treadmill and filmed by feet for 30 seconds once I got to a comfortable pace. I was “horrified” to learn and see from the video that I overpronate – especially on my right foot. Overpronation is basically how your foot strikes the ground then lifts back up. The inside of my feet hit the ground first and the outside of my foot hits second (lifts first). He also talked about how overpronating affects your Achilles. Ideally you want your want the middle of your shoes to be aligned with your Achilles tendon when running.

I somewhat perplexed the guys who work their since my Nikes are neutral shoes, but my Brooks are structured. They were caution to change too much since my Nikes are working for me (no injuries/issues) as my main trainers. They agreed that some light structure would be best for me at this point and my overpronation.

I tried on a bunch of shoes. Ascics, Saucony, Mizuno and Brooks. I liked both the Mizuno and Brooks, but the Brooks were prettier. I was driving the guys crazy with my aesthetic needs for my shoes (aka I didn’t want any red and black combos which there were a lot of). 

Due to the size of my feet I can wear mens or womens. However they (and most stores – the guys joked that don’t carry 11.5s because they like big footed woman and want them to have to come back to the store for them when they ship haha) only carried up to a women’s 11 and they were a touch too snug (which I knew). I didn’t like the aesthetics of any of my options for mens shoes, so I went with the Brooks Ravenna 2, but had to order an 11.5 womens. I have been happy with my Brooks Racers, so why change up from a company that I’m happy with. 

One thing that was cool when I was trying on the Ascics and had some complaints of how my heel was sitting in them one of the guys showed a “trick” to how he ties shoes sometimes to help with heel support. It’s hard to explain, but basically you loop the lace around itself on each side and pull before you tie them. 

I hope when I go back for my new kicks once they arrive that I can get filmed running on the treadmill with them again. I was a touch nervous the first time I ran too, so I want to make sure my running is as accurate as possible. 

Running people are so interesting. I wish I had more hardcore runners to “talk shop” with in person.

Tummy Troubles

My training with my students went well today. Went to a dinner social after, but still needed to run. So cut to me runing 4 miles just 30 minutes after eating dinner (which I have RARELY done). Somehow FLEW through the first mile which lead to my stomach hating me mile 1.75-2.75. I was able to pull myself back together at the end.

Mile 1 – 9:47.4

Mile 2 – 11.38.6

Mile 3 – 14:01.4

Mile 4 – 10:38.4

2 year weight loss kick off anniversary

January 11, 2010

I dove into blogging privately on blogspot to track my weight loss. 2010 – in my mind it was now or never. I never intended any of this to be public, but in April I learned about the Fitblr Community from Mr365 and TracyTakesOn (or whatever name she is using these days!) I migrated over in May and never looked back.

I just looked through all my facebook tagged photos and it’s really amazing to see what losing 45 pounds, gaining confidence and having a passion (in running) ignited looks like in photos. 

I want to always remember the woman who wrote these words two years ago. I never want to go back, but I am so thankful she started the journey of taking back control of her life! I hope I can honor her this year by finally hitting my UGW and getting those radio head lyrics tattooed on my ribs!

How Do You Measure a Year?

I knew in 2010 I wanted to make big life changes. Aftering a conversation with a friend during a long roadtrip I took the challenge to measure my year in “cups of coffee” as per the song seasons of love in RENT.

For the past 2 weeks I have been tracking my coffee intake and it got me thinking about tracking other things as well. This blog will be my living journal as I track these aspects of my life:

My weight
How often I go to the gym
What I did at the gym
How many miles I run on a tredmill
How many calories I burned at the gym
If I have not eaten after 9pm
How many times a day I wake up early to take a long walk with my dog

I’m committed to changing my diet and lifestyle this year.
I have been on a half ass diet for most of my adult life, that has yielded limited or temporary results.

I’d say the last time I really felt good about myself was my sophomore year of college/beginning of junior year. Looking back I really looked pretty great. Strangely enough I have no idea how much I weighed then either, therefore I don’t have how far off I am from getting there again.
I’d say I was also in decent shape my last semester of grad school. I even have TONS of great clothes from that period that I would love to wear again.

Well I’m dedicated this year. I’m testing my self, my mind, my body and my soul.
If I’m not successful in OH-TEN than I think I’m going to commit to being fat.

My dad struggled most of his life with weight and yo-yoing. He was heavy for most of my youth and then in high school he lost 100 pounds with slimfast, diet, and exercise. He even kept it off for 6-8years. It was when he retired that he started putting on weight again and obviously defeated he let him self gain nearly all of that weight back. His unhappiness with his body ultimately led him to get gastric bypass surgery which killed him.

I want to love my body, whichever body I am supposed to have and maintain. So if things don’t work out for me this year (which is a trial run, which if successful I plan to keep up for the rest of my life) than I want to stop trying to reach for something that is impossible and just learn to love myself where ever I’m at.

Now don’t get me wrong I will always want to stay healthy…I want stay active and try and eat right, but I think this is a test of my state of mind, body and soul.

Seriously, why halfway diet if you get no results. My body tends to like where it’s at regardless of what I eat or don’t eat, exercise or don’t exercise. So in 2011 if big changes haven’t happened I think I’m going to be content with how I look, but I can’t be content unless I try my darnedest within reason.

I have no plans to act like a biggest loser contestant, but I do plan on monitoring my sugar intake (my mom did that and transformed her body and her life),I also want to eliminate late night eating (only liquids after 9pm), in addition to going to the gym at least 4 times a week (I would like to try and get to a 10 minute mile on the treadmill), I want to walk more (morning walks with Freddie before work to get my blood pumping, parking farther at work, etc).

Ideally I’d like to lose 5 lbs a month (which means 40 pounds by my birthday which would be magical). I am only going to weigh myself on Fridays, instead of obsessively weighing myself. I’m on a kick of writing lots of things down (thanks in part to my coffee count) I have made a nightly checklist so to speak to keep my self accountable. I also think writing all this in blog form also makes me accountable. I not only said it, but I WROTE it for the whole world to see (not like the whole world reads this), so it’s pressure, but good pressure.

My mantra may come from a weird place, but it has been speaking to me nearly a year now:

I don’t care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul

It’s from Radiohead’s song “Creep”, but the lyrics really stood out to me when David Cook covered it in his old band Axium. Obviously I’m not looking to fit popculture’s definition of perfection, but rather the best version of myself.

If I meet my goal, I would also like to get those lyrics tattooed on my side/ribs. Recently I been to writing the lyrics everywhere to serve as a reminder of the task at hand.

I think this is all truly attainable. The only way I could fail is if I LET MYSELF FAIL.

I encourage you all to ask me how I’m doing and to keep me in your thoughts and prayers on my journey this year

Weekend In Review (Thus Far)

  • Had a date last night with the Army guy I’ve been casually seeing for a few weeks. We’re not exclusive, but we have some established rules so to speak. 
  • Ran 15 miles at my EXACT marathon-goal pace in nearly 60 degree perfect weather.
  • Worked/ing on a presentation for a job interview I have on Monday in the DC area.
  • Briefly logged into OKC for the first time in a few days and stumbled across a cute guy who I’d never seen before in my “search results” he messages me and we end up talking on OKC for an hour (turns out he just moved here last week from Nashville). Then we talked on the phone briefly and now made plans to get coffee with him in 2 hours  – because I’m “so beautiful/hot he can’t stand the thought of waiting any longer to meet me” (should I be flattered or scared? however he’s 6’5 and very cute, so I’m going with flattered).
  • After coffee date I need to go to Khols to buy a shirt for my interview, but the rest of my interview suit is perfection. 
  • Still need to work on my presentation because I’m flying to DC tomorrow afternoon for the interview that is Monday.

So yeah, there’s that. WHO AM I??????????

(Answer: I don’t care, but I love her)