Sunday, February 26, 2012

La Costa Half

The La Costa Half is something new that you have not heard of?
Me either - until yesterday.

D took all 3 boys to Pee Wee soccer so that I could check off my long run for the week.
I was going to drive down to the coast - running from La Costa to Cardiff and back.
8 miles was my target.

After gearing up (in all black mind you - it was a foggy start to the day) I thought I would make a spontaneous change to my plan.  With gas prices at well over $4 a gallon it hardly made sense to drive down to the coast to go running.  I hopped on mapmyrun.com and figured out a course that would total 8 miles and end at Pee-Wee soccer.

With a quick text to D to let him know my plans - I was off.
(Had I been truly observant I would had realized that the text that I sent generated a response within my own home...)
Looping through cul-de-sacs and neighborhoods, running along busy streets, listening to the baywatch theme song (still old iPod - not sure why I downloaded that one several years back...) knowing that in just a little bit I would be in the air conditioned car, drinking water, being taxied back home.

I hadn't received a response from D, but I was certain that they would be waiting for me (even cheering me on) upon my arrival.
As I approached the field, exhausted, I kept running, eyes darting from side to side inspecting every car I passed, knowing that the Tahoe and my fan club had to be nearby.
I made it past the fields - still nothing.  Checked out the park by the field - knew no one.
I had no money, no water, no id (should I pass out along the way) and wanted nothing more than to sit my booty down.
I creeped around for a while, hoping I had missed them - texted again, called - went to voicemail, called home - that went to voicemail too.  Called again, and then again - about 15 phone calls in, it began to sink in...no one was coming to get me.

It was 10:15 - my spontenaity did not account for the fact that this was my first time training outside and not on a treadmill.  There would be environmental factors such as hills, stop lights, car exhaust that would all slow my pace down.  I was 15 minutes late to the soccer party and everyone I know had gone home...

It is 2.5 miles home from the field to my house.
The sun had come out in full force.
My Men in Black running getup began to adhere to the sweat that was coating my body.
I was SOOOooo thirsty.
I evaluated my options - walk home and get home in over an hour or start running again.
I chose option b and began the LONG road home.
I cranked up the iPod and the songs that came on could not have been more appropriate -
Fall Out Boy "Where is your boy tonight..." - Good question - Not at soccer, not picking up his cell and not at home.
Dixie Chicks "Without you..." - Yup, I was left alone to forge for myself without food or water in the middle of the dessert...

In order to make it to my house in the shortest amount of time possible, I had to run along the busiest streets in town.
I kept trying to inconspicuously undo the perma-wedgie that had formed within my sweaty pants as I ran.
After about a minute of running and tugging - I gave up.  I would definitely have made it on the glamour dont's as the runner with her pants up her booty - I didn't even want to know what the front of me looked like...
As I got about a mile within our house - I started feeling light headed.  I was sure I was going down on the sidewalk and was panicking that my "ICE" was not picking up his phone.
Was this my punishment for cheating on my Lenten sacrifice only a day after I made it?
I mean, it was only a blow pop and my throat was killing me, could that really be considered "sweets"?
My phone started to ring - it was D.
D:  "Where are you?!"
K:  "I don't know on the side of the road somewhere struggling to make it home since you didn't pick me up as planned"
(Definitely up to interpretation- "somewhere" defined a stretch of road that I drive no less than 20 times a day and "plan" was one that I made and shared, but he just happened to not receive)
He volunteered to come get me, but at that point I had come too far - I was almost home.
As I made it into the home stretch, I had to preserve my energy and I pretty much crawled in through the front door - sweaty, smelly, bright red faced and super upset that I had to run all of the way home.
Let's just say that it was not a pretty picture.

After downing about 6 glasses of fluids, showering and upping my blood sugar, I promptly hopped online and purchased a fanny pack that had a harness for water bottles.
I am now a "serious runner" - it was time to gear up.
So I didn't officially run a "half" but clocked in almost 11 miles yesterday.

For next weekend's long run I joined a meetup group.
They'll know I'm serious once I strut in with my fanny pack accessory kit.

Weigh in tomorrow - time to locate the tongs.

Monday, February 13, 2012

We got more bounce in California

Meant to be posted on:  Saturday!

P90X turned out to be more than I bargained for.
By that I mean I anticipated not being able to get through the entire video from the get go.
In all actuality after about 15 minutes, I had to shut it down.
Turns out I am not as flexible as I used to be (let's just say I cannot even touch my toes) and there will need to be some yoga blocks purchased stat.

Last night we headed out to a party with some friends.
It was a blast.  As we were heading out the door, I realized the night was still early and we headed to the bar to whoop it up a little longer.
It's embarrassing how giddy we were to be out.  At a bar.  After midnight.
What is more embarrassing is the fact that I could not peel myself out of bed this morning and remained there until after noon.
Give this girl a beer (or three) and things go downhill.

Today was supposed to kick off my first long outdoor run along the coast.
By the time I crawled out of bed, I had no interest in running outdoors.
Fresh air, after being indoors in bed all day, I was sure would somehow be too clean for my body to handle in it's present state.
I headed to the gym.
I cannot for the life of me run without music.
If I hear the sound of my feet hitting the pavement, treadmill - it exhausts me (I cannot explain this) and I lose the urge to run.
Before heading out I frantically searched for where I had placed my iPod and through all of the digging, lifting, prodding around I found my old school iPod that was D's Christmas present to me the first year we met.  (Sadly, i was hoping to find my rings which I also misplaced...we are an organized bunch at our house...no success)

One of my BFFs growing up always swore by coming up with an alias when you work out.
She was convinced that if you listened to music when working out that you normally did not listen to, it would motivate you.
My alias, turns out, was someone living on the mean streets of the intercity.
That's right.
I used to love working out to rap music, well, mostly rap music.
As I was breaking back in the old school iPod, I was greeted by the likes of Eminem, Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg mixed in with some other selections like the theme song to Laguna Beach.
Running 7 miles on the treadmill gives you a lot of mental down time to travel down memory lane.
I couldn't quite remember when or why my music selection had changed until "Welcome to Detroit" popped into the mix.
I had been that guy from the beginning of the movie Office Space.
Working as a marketing associate right out of college had me on the road continuously.
Despite the fact that I technically lived in Kalamazoo, I was on the road 28-29 days out of the month.
One of the first surgeries I had to cover was in Detroit.
I had my iPod plugged into the radio (with D's other Christmas gift the adapter) and I was blaring tunes as I made the 2+ hour drive at dawn into Detroit.
When Eminem's song came on I was pulling into a Subway parking lot.
Windows down, music blaring.
I thought I was pretty cool, I mean come on, Welcome to Detroit, when you're in Detroit for the first time?
As I stepped into the Subway there was a lot to take in.
Plexi glass separated me from the person taking my order.
A net connected the top of the plexi glass to the wall.
I paid for my order and received my sandwich through a rotating lazy susan.
I was NOT in the suburbs anymore.
As I got into the car, I quickly closed all of the windows and continued on my journey in silence.

As I reached the end of my run, another Laguna Beach song came on.
I remember downloading it when I was planning on moving to SD after D and I got hitched (girl dreaming after the first or second date)
I have to chuckle thinking that last time I was singing the tune of "We got more bounce in California than all yall combined" I was running on a treadmill.  Daydreaming.  In Kalamazoo.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Dear Regulars

I haven't posted in a couple of days but I have gotten some good running time in !
I've kept up the every other day run and last night completed 5 miles and burned over 600 calories.

I am not sure what defines a regular at the gym.
I'd like to think that now, after working out every other day for an entire two weeks, I fall into that category.
But, despite my frequent recent attendance, there are several questions I have that I would love to ask someone who has been a regular for over 3 weeks.

1.  Why is it that when there are 10 open treadmills people feel the need to choose the one right next to mine?  Does this fulfill their need for a running buddy?  I do not consider myself to be claustrophobic but having someone running right next to me feels extremely confining.  This has now happened several times and I had never considered up and moving to another treadmill until a few nights back.  The guy running right next to me must have eaten a pound of sausage.  Every time he exhaled, I inhaled at least 100 calories from that said sausage.  It was disturbing enough for me to move.

2.  Is there some benefit to straddling the treadmill belt, crank up the speed and then jumping on?  Last night for the first time I saw someone start two treadmills going at two different speeds and then proceeded to move from one to the other.  Is the pause button passe?  Is ramping up speed wise out of date?

3.  Is there a schedule out there of the "it" times to work out at the gym?  My running time is completely based upon when the hubs can watch the kiddos.  It varies from 5AM to 10PM.  During these times the gym has been completely empty or completely packed.  The Monday following superbowl there were time limits on the treadmills. It automatically shut off after 30 minutes.  I flashed back to the days of when people on the playground would count for you to get off of the swing.  People were literally circling to see how much time was left on each person's treadmill.  I have to admit...after my treadmill shut off, I would stretch, look around to see if anyone was looking and restart up again.  I did this twice. I'm pretty sure other people noticed.

This morning I will be blowing off the dust from the P90X videos we purchased almost 2 years ago.
I did one eighth of one video and never went back.
Let's do this Tony.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Down on my Knees

After some IB profin and a hot shower, the back pain thankfully disappeared!  
Today was supposed to be a 5 mile run per my training schedule.
My mom is in town and we spent most of the day chasing the kids around Legoland.  

I was unable to sneak away to complete the run but plan on doing an alternate exercise that I do not do quite often enough - dropping to my knees in prayer.
This week two of my friends lost their dear, sweet, innocent babies.  
My heart is heavy and hurts for them and their families.  
I am praying that the Lord wraps his arms around baby Drake and baby Kolb - their parents, their families.
I cannot even imagine how hard it is to say goodbye, to experience that great of a loss.

I so often get caught up and stressed about the chaos of the day to day - often forgetting how truly blessed I am.  I complain about having to deal with the minutia of the day but rarely ever express how grateful I am to get to experience it in the first place.

I will be back on the plan tomorrow - but will be adapting it to include much more time on my knees.


Thursday, February 2, 2012

Down for the Count

The scene:  12:15PM, L is in preschool, B&C are out on a walk with my mom
I am on the phone with my sister, both of us are perusing the anthro website for cute clothes and discussing our finds
I am surfing the site while laying down on my bed
I have no idea why, but I decide to see if I can try to get my toes to touch my head, backwards, as I am laying on the bed
Doorbell rings - mom and the kids are home
I get up to answer the door and cannot walk straight
I crawl down the stairs to the door, let the family in and literally feel what I imagine it would be like to be stabbed
I call Das and my bro, our resident spine surgeon, and when I try to describe what I was doing, I can't help but laugh - but laughing then turns into the stabbing pain
I had to call the director of L's preschool to say we would be late in picking him up and explain the situation.  Let's just say it was one of the most awkward conversations we have both had to date.
Thank goodness my mom is in town - needless to say, I will not be hitting the gym this afternoon.

Weigh In

Studio Barre last night did not happen - I am convinced my Groupon will never get used.
Just as I was hop, dance, pulling my yoga tights on - I heard D inquire if it's possible that C has a fever.
Yes, it definitely was possible and turned out to be the case - we had gotten vaccines earlier in the day
and the poor kiddo was on fire and remained fussy for the rest of the evening.
I will attempt the journey again this evening -

Out of all three pregnancies - it has been the most difficult to drop the LBs after this one.
I am not sure if it is age, the fact that my body has now done this 3 times in such a short amount of time, or my body becoming efficient by keeping the lbs in anticipation of another pregnancy in the next couple of months.
I am not someone who typically stands on a scale very often.
It's not that I avoid them - but with the limited "free time" I have, I don't make it a point to seek them out.
To be honest, I don't even know what pre-pregnancy weight I am actually striving for.
During all of my 8 week check ups, when asked how much I started off weighing, my default answer is always 122LBS.
Where did this number come from?  I have no idea.  It's on my driver's license too.
(Could definitely explain why at the end of the pregnancy with C they were concerned about how much I was eating because I "gained" close to 45 lbs)

The scale we have at our house is one that D and I bought together when he was visiting Kalamazoo.
Who doesn't do that with someone they are dating?
It was Kalamazoo.
Our date options included hunting, Walmart, laundromat (GREAT people watching) and Walmart again.  (The scale was procured at one of the journeys to Walmart)

This "high end" scale calculates percent body fat in addition to telling you your weight.
Simply enter in your height and age, step on it and after performing some differential equations (seriously, there is a "thinking" display and it takes about 2 minutes to get an answer) all of your data is displayed.
The nice thing for me is that I have never entered in my age or my height.
I go off of D's, which leaves me with like 2% body fat every time.

So, today it is going to be legit -
Supplies:  Tongs, Ruler, Scale, Measuring Tape, Camera

I remember doing something like this in grade school with calipers on our stomach, under arm and side.
I am trying to recreate this with the tongs and ruler (this definitely is NOT scientific)
Under Arm: 1"
Side:  1.5"
Stomach:  2.1"

Scale Read Out:  138.4LBS

Waist circumference:  34"
Booty circumference:  38"

While performing the "weigh in" I am pretty sure I answered my own question.
After L&B I went back to work at 12 and 6 weeks respectively.
I would raid the candy bowl at the reception desk and journey to the vending machines several times a day.
I can recall more than a few times (at least 3x a week) when breakfast consisted of pop tarts followed by a lunch of mms chased down by some Mountain dew.
Good thing I was pumping - I'm sure the boys REALLY appreciated the nutritious meals I brought home.
I digress - bottom line is with my poor eating habits following the other two babes, how could I possibly be losing weight at a slower pace now?
Could it be the empty boxes of girl scout cookies that line our recycling bin (Entire box of Samoas downed in less than 24 hours) or the 1LB box of chocolates my mom shipped for the boys to enjoy that I consumed single handedly and the boys never saw?  Or maybe it is the chocolate covered almonds my mom just brought that I am popping like grapes while typing this post?
I have an addiction.  I have always had an addiction.  Chocolate calls my name.
I realize, now it's just more readily available to me since I can journey out at all hours during the day to procure it.
At the office, I had a limited selection and our super sweet receptionist, Karen, would give me "the look" at about 2PM that would let me know that I should step away because she had no interest in refilling the bowl yet again.

Workout:  Cross Training Day:  Will be hitting up the machines at the gym for the FIRST time ever this afternoon!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Training: Day 1

Let's be honest - I am not a runner.
I enjoy running jogging to relieve stress and to clear my head.
The distance I jog typically equates to no more than a whopping 2 miles or so.  
I am definitely not a marathoner.
I am not sure when I became convinced that running a marathon was something that I wanted to do.
The Dirty 30 list was put together when I was 22, but I am pretty sure even before then on several occasions I was "training for a marathon" - it just sounds good rolling off of the tongue.
Now for the ugly truth - I signed up to run the Chicago marathon through the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.  I trained for a few weeks, never raised the money I was supposed to and never ran the marathon.  My family still reminds me to this day that there is probably someone out there that was relying on my fundraising and my follow through all of those years back that I failed.  To that said person, I am sorry.    

So where do I stand to this date as a "runner"?
I have completed a half - 8 years ago, AND since advertising to everyone that I was training, in January, I have been hitting up the gym off and on these past couple of weeks running random amounts of miles on the treadmill.  My friend lent me a book, which I did indeed read - but I have not been implementing any of  the running schedules that it laid out.  When I am too lazy to head to the gym, I tell Eric that the day is an "off day" and that I don't need to be running.  Just last night he commented how this is the craziest "schedule" he's ever heard off since some weeks I have up to 4 off days in a row.  I sense he has me figured out.  

My mom is in town this week visiting and helping me wrangle the crew of boys.  I figure it's do or die, now or never if I am ever going to actually begin training for the Rock N Roll (which is now just 4 MONTHS away).  I plan on documenting my day to day activities and any other Dirty 30 things that I knock off to keep myself accountable.  (Side Note:  Despite the fact that I turn 30 in April, due to the 4 years of pregnancy/nursing that I encountered during my 20s, I have redefined "before 30" as December 31, 2012, technically I will still be 30, so it definitely still counts).  

As I think back to what has held me back from actually beginning to train, these excuses come to mind.  I figure if I list them out, then when they pop back into my head, I can come back, review them and then get moving. 

  1. I have a newborn.  No I don't.  Well, not anymore.  When I tell people that (that have clearly not met Cooper) and they ask when he was born and I say November 1st, their expression definitely confirms that he is no longer a "newborn".  
  2. I am an anxious person by nature.  I am pretty sure that it is hereditary and that I inherited it from my mom.  I have done my research and with every marathon your odds of collapsing at the end are increased to 1/50,000.  My mom has reminded me about these people numerous times.  I plan on undergoing a stress test prior to actually ramping up to marathon distances.  I'm sure I am by far my doctor's favorite patient.
  3. Between January, when I committed to running, and now I had a pregnancy scare.  How is that possible with a 3 month old?  Good question.  I convinced myself I must be pregnant because I was extremely tired and super hormonal - um, hello, time to look in the mirror, this is the every day story of my life.  Seriously, I bought two 3 packs of pregnancy tests and was taking them morning, noon and night.  Despite the fact they kept coming back negative, I was convinced that I definitely should not be training for a marathon while pregnant.  (And then someone told me about a woman who was 9 months pregnant and ran a marathon - Who is this shewoman and why does she have to make the rest of us look bad.  Hello, at nine months I was sitting on my big old booty eating boxes of snickers ice cream bars telling my family that it was bad for me and the baby if I exerted myself too much).  Long story short, I am not pregnant.  Sorry friends for my psychosis.
  4. I have a muffin top, have stopped using dryer sheets because of the potentially toxic chemicals they contain (reference bullet point 2) and am cheap.  What does this have to do with running?  A lot.  You see at the gym I belong to everyone, and I mean everyone, looks like they spent at least hour getting ready before showing up to run on the treadmill.  Matching clothes, makeup, perfectly blown out hair - you know like the commercials where the wind is coming straight at the person and their hair is flowing???  Those are the people at my gym.  I was used to running in old t-shirts and boxers back in the day and upgraded my workout wardrobe pre pregnancy upon arriving in California.  SO...because I am cheap I do not want to go out and buy new clothes for my new size.  So I sausage myself into my tight fitting pants (which are now even tighter and I am convinced take all of the excess skin/fat from the bottom of my body and work it all of the way up) and I am pretty sure I am technically ice creaming out of the top more so than muffining (like ice cream on top of a cone) AND due to the lack of dryer sheets my shirt is so full of static it clings to every curve and contour.  Take that picture, put me on a treadmill and all I can think about is if my pants are going to split down the seam!
  5. With daylight savings time running outside at night or in the morning before D has to leave for work has to take place in the dark.  I hate running outside in the dark.  This is what leads me to head to the gym and rack up my mileage on the treadmill.  Let's just say running 10 miles on a treadmill is not my idea of a good time.  I literally watch the hundreths place on the mileage and even though I tell myself I am not going to keep looking at it, I end up glancing back one second later, hoping a miracle has happened and my distance has doubled.  Let's just say it hasn't happened yet.  
These are the top 5 I can think of now.  I am sure there are a lot more.  I am really excited to actually reach the finish line, do some fun cross training activities on the real "off" days and to see if I can kick the left over baby lb's during the training process.  I will "weigh in" with measurements tomorrow.

Let's just say if I can when I finish the marathon come June, I am buying a 26.2 sunshade that covers my entire back car window.  The sticker just won't cut it.  

Workout today:  Ran 3 miles, burned 321.4 calories.  Trying Xtend Barre this evening for the first time - recap tomorrow.