Graduation, Ickiness and Rain

Graduation:
Sunday was my final C25K run. I'm hoping it's my last final C25K run, as I'm trying to listen to my body more and not run, like today, when I want to or cut runs short if my body says no.

Ickiness:
This whole week my body has been saying no. It's my mensus, thanks Kelly, and Tuesday I was feeling crappy, but I went for a 2 miler before having to get ready and drive to Anaheim, via Irvine, to meet up with my Dad for dinner. I felt better immediately. I'm just extra tired this week. I'm not eating well and I'm not tracking my food. I know I'm not eating well which is contributing to my icky feeling. I need to get on that.

Rain:
Forecast for Huntington Beach, CA
Friday 2/1: Partly Sunny and Breezy
Satday 2/2: Partly Sunny and Cool
Sunday 2/3: Cool and RAINY
Monday 2/4: Mostly Sunny

My first race back and it's going to RAIN. I haven't run in rain. In fact, I joined a gym so I wouldn't have to run in rain. But I'm there and still planning on my running skirt and short
sleeves. I figure I'll warm up somewhere during the 3 miles.

Oh and Ash is slowly getting better. We're back to 3 times a week, but she's dealing.

Conquering the Dreadmill

The internet went out yesterday. What did this mean? It means that I will be home from 4-6pm (or until Jeremy came home) and wait for the cable guy. I was hoping he'd get there right at 4 and fix the problem in 30 minutes or less, so I could get out and run before it got dark.

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans... or in my case, the best hoped plans.

The cable guy came around 5:15. The sun was already setting. Jeremy came home around 5:30, so I left him to watch dinner in the oven and set out for the gym to face the dreadmill.

I went straight to work when I got there, no ifs ands or buts. I figured I had a great dinner that would be waiting for me when I got home, I just needed to get through this.

I took a suggestion offered by a friend of mine's, Jana, trainer and set the incline to 1.0. I've set it to .5 in the past and nothing was different than just running on the treadmill.

It worked!!! I got through my run, it was almost fun! My knees didn't feel funny afterwards. I even added a couple of fast intervals (faster than the 5 mph I usually keep). I was even lip singing to some of the songs. I'm hoping I didn't drop any f-bombs on accident.

So my fear of the dreadmill is over. I know I can make it bearable. I know it might even be fun, in short spurts. Yea me!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

I moved Saturday's scheduled run to Sunday.

Saturday was the walk for TJ. In case you don't know, TJ is an incredibly brave little boy who had to have a heart transplant before he was 2. You can read all about TJ at his COTA page. I was planning on making this walk a trial run for my 5K on Superbowl Sunday.

Instead I walked the mileage with the dogs. I think they enjoyed it.

Friday was my session with my Trainer. Saturday my legs were still sore and I couldn't even think of trying to run. I know better than to push my muscles this time. I don't want an injury to sideline me again.

So back to Sunday. It was a run and I finished it. C25K Week 8 is over and done. Week 9 starts Tuesday. I can run 30 minutes, I know I can. I've done it before.

Oh, and Cloverfield should come with a warning and a barf bag. It was an interesting concept, shooting it all, or at least most of it, with steady cam, but there weren't enough "steady" shots for me. There were sometimes when I was looking at the side of the theatre and just listening to the movie. Luckily you didn't need to watch the screen the whole time to enjoy the movie. If I were to do it over again, I wouldn't have paid full price.

Meh

Today's run was as bad as Tuesday's was great.

I don't know if it was the weather, kinda gloomy, or if it was because I woke up early so I could get home in time to run and pick up Ash from the vet before they closed.

All I know is I kept looking at my Garmin thinking, okay, 5 down, 8 down, 10 down , 13 down, 15 down, only 10 left, ony 8 left, only 5 left, 3 left, DONE!!!!!

The last 8 minutes were the best. I think it was because I knew it was almost over.

So it's done. C25K W8 D2 is in the books. Saturday is a new day.

Oh, and Cloverfield is coming out tomorrow. Godzilla here I come.

Hold your head up high

'Cause tomorrow you may die
'Cause no one's safe around here
No one's safe around here. ~Rancid

How ironic was it that on my run, whilst this song was playing, my Garmin died.
I forgot about my cell, until the last ~ 8 minutes of my run.

Before I realized my Garmin died, I was really pumped about this run. It started off better than any of the 20+ minute runs I've done in the past week. I was flying and even had to dodge a skater boy who bailed off his board and jump over the board! I WAS a runner. I was impressing myself! (I also was wearing my shirt that said Impress Yourself.) When I saw it died, I almost gave up. After all, I no longer had a timing device. Nothing to track my calories. I could run longer than 23 minutes, Macy forbid!

But then I thought, if I stop now I'll just have to do this again. It started out so well, I was going to finish it.

When I last glanced at my Garmin, it was 11 minutes into my run. I figured it would take me at least 5 minutes to run from where I was to the greyhound house, they have 3 greyhounds. I kept using landmarks like that, and checking my time on my cell phone, once I realized I did have another timing device, I had a goal. Run until 5:03.

I finished and felt great. I'm not quite sure if I made the whole 23 minutes, but I was damn close! Who cares about the calories, what I really wanted was the mileage.

There is always Thursday's run. I'll just have to be more prepared.

So Close

We're so close to so many things.

So close to Ash cat's dilemma coming to an end.
So close to a size 6.
So close to the 130s.
So close to finishing C25K.
So close to Chuck coming back on the air.

I can see all these goals. It makes me happy.

I've finished week 7 of C25K. I ran about 2.25 miles in my 25 minutes. I'm still hovering around an 11:30-12 min/mile pace.

Tomorrow is my first day of week 8. I'm going to go into work early, so I can make sure I'm off in time to run outside. I don't like the treadmill, as some of you already know. I'm not sure if there is technique for running on the treadmill that I don't know. I figure, as long as I'm putting one foot down, then the other, and I'm not eating tread belt, I'm doing it right...

We had a bit of a set back with Ash. Some of her stitches busted and the vet had to repair them and inserted a drainage tube to help the liquid find it's way out. We're still better than we were even a month ago. I'm telling Ash she needs to be better by Valentine's Day. We can hope.

The size 6 and 130s are by products of having fun exercising, deciding to cook my meals and freakin' determination. My 8's are feeling a bit loose, but that could be because they need to be washed. I've started a race to 130 with another WW friend. Baby steps. 130 will be within 5-10 lbs of my goal.

If you haven't seen Chuck, check it out. It, along with Life, are my must watches of this new season. Pushing Daisies is in there too. I hope the writers' strike ends soon. Along with destroying the economy of LA, they're forcing me to find other ways to entertain myself in the evenings. Yes it all comes down to me and my needs.

With that I'll leave you.

Frankenkitty... oh and some running

So Monday the vet was going to close up the bottom third to half of her wound. It was moved from the previous Friday due to the vet deciding not to.

So Monday comes and I drop her off, telling her how good she's going to do. I get a call about 4ish they closed it all up! The whole entire thing! It's in the shape of a Y, of all things and she'll be getting her stitches out on the 21st, if all goes well.

Poor kitty!!!

As some of you know, I've been getting back into running from my IT Band incident. I've got one more day of C25K Week 7. This isn't half as exciting as seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in Ash's situation, it is still an achievement. I really wanted to be running the 1/2 Marathon at the Surf City USA Marathon but as Maria says when life gives you lemons, squeeze them in the eyes of your enemy!

My enemy, weak muscles and some over training. How did I squeeze that lemon? I got my orthotics, which helped more than I though possible, and I started to strength train in earnest.

I really don't like the gym so much. There is planning involved and sometimes confusion when I don't plan, which most of the time. I forget which muscle group I wanted to work on. I tend to focus on the machines I like, or the exercises I know. This tends to make my triceps scream, as I'm still positive all these tricep kickbacks will get rid of my upper arm waddle.

So whilst I was taking a break from running, to let my IT band heal up and be less touchy, I joined a gym and got a Personal Trainer. I think this was one of my better ideas. I've got a better idea of what a workout looks like.

I'm still a huge noob about putting one together myself, but I tend to do less tricep work and actually pay attention other arm muscles. I'm still combing the internet for a better push-up, but I feel like I've accomplished things at the gym now.

So after all my babbling this is what it boils down too, I feel better about the gym. It doesn't feel so foreign to me. I just wish my gym had a spin class.

Eating Crow aka A Lesson in Heart Rate Monitors

So I'll admit it. I tried it. I was so taken aback by the idea that my Garmin HRM could be inaccurate, and therefore cheating me out of burning those chocolate cake calories, I wore both my HRMs for my Friday dog walk.

Yes I wore the 2 wrist receivers and 2 chest straps. I verified, as well as I could, that the HRM were picking up their associated straps.

Through out the walk I checked both receivers. Both HRM were reading within 3 BPM of each other. At the end of the walk, roughly 40 minutes, 1.7 miles with an average speed of 2.6 mph, the HRM were within 10 calories of each other.

In checking out Garmin's site, they use speed, weight and time to determine calories burned. I bet my Nike Imara only uses weight and time, as there is no way for it to know my speed. As there is an added component to the Garmin calulation, it also adds a possibility for error. This is probably where the difference in BPM (and therefore calories) comes from. I can only speculate that the differences in the the calorie calculations increases as the BPM reading increases. I could also be completely off base. But this is the engineer in me and I didn't take Statistics for Quality Engineering for nothing.

What does it all mean? In the end, it's simple.

Less cake or more running.

I Feel Like Day Old Ick

Really, I do. I go through periods of the day when I feel like fresh Ick, then it goes back to the day old variety. But I finished C25K W6D2 anyway.

But Yasmin, you ask, you're sick. Aren't you supposed to take it easy? Well I consulted my Runners' World 2008 calendar and it tells me if it's mostly above neck, go for it, if it's in your chest at all, rest. Mine is all in my head. I bet everyone at work thinks that...

So I warmed up, ran, walked, ran, cooled down. I've now completed the portion of C25K that has recovery walks between runs. I love it. On Saturday I have a 25 minute run. Color me supah excited. I just hope this cold/allergy thing is gone by then. I have a full day of scrapbooking on tap after my run.

In checking the data from my Garmin, I'm hovering around 11:35 min/mile. It's better than my previous average of ~12 min/mile, but I really want to be closer to 10 min. I guess that can be another goal. I'll have to investigate speed work after I've worked up to a consistent 6 mile run.

Changing the subject completely, which I can do as it's my blog, Ash, my wonderful cat, is going under tomorrow so the vet can stitch up 1/3-1/2 of her wound. I'll save you from the flashback pictures that are Saga de Ash, but just look under that post if you want a refresher. The vet wants to close up the area starting from the back of the wound, which is the smallest part. It's also the part closest to her leg/groin and keeps getting irritated by the bandage every time she walks.

Hopefully this will all be done in February. The end of February will be 7 months that we've dealt with this. Ash deserves to run around the house again. We deserve to not have to take her to the vet 3 times a week and worry if she has enough pain medication to make everything bearable (which has been less of an issue since the vet stopped stretching the skin).

What's that in the distance? I think it's light. We're, us and the vet office, are all very happy that it's almost over.

Happy New Year

What I've done in 2008:

1. Played Rock Band (if you don't have an xbox 360, get one just for this game)
2. Slept
3.Fed and medicated cat
4. Couch to 5K Week 6 Day 1 (using the advanced workout feature on my Garmin!)
5. ~15 min of ab work
6. Posting this whilst watching college football

So for a person who usually is in bed by 10:30 pm, 11 if I've slept in, staying up until almost 2 am playing Rock Band at a friends house was not how I thought I'd spend my New Year's Eve, but it was great! I had to concentrate on the scrolling "notes" on the screen so I didn't drink too much and as a result I don't have a hangover!

I slept "in" meaning I didn't get out of bed until 8 am. We were invited to this last minute Rock Band New Year's Party whilst at family's, so we left the dogs with them. This meant there was no animal telling me to get up so he/she could make doggie presents, whoo hooo sleeping in!

I spent the next 45 minutes feeding and medicated Ash and messing around with the advanced workout feature on my new (yeah hubby for a great present) garmin forerunner. I was able to input all the intervals for C25K W6D1. I had a very relaxing, as relaxed as you can be when you're trying to catch your breath, run using this. I didn't have to do any math, the beeping let me know when I was about to change intervals. I liked it so much that I imputed the intervals for the C25K W6D2 when I got home.

I do have a question for anyone using the Garmin Forerunner 305, I'll google this later but I'd like your opinions: Does your calorie count seem low to you?

I was using, still do for the gym, at least for now, a Nike Imara HRM. The difference between the 2 is approximately 50 calories over 34 minutes. It's not a huge difference, but I was wondering if I've been eating too many APs!

I also got a Runner's World calendar for Christmas. In looking ahead to Feb, it's tip was to incorporate more ab/core work into your Strength Training days or after your runs. So I thought, I'll do 30 minutes of abs when I get back. During my run I thought, maybe I'll do 20 minutes of abs. If I did 15 minutes of ab work, I'd be surprised, but I think I did at least 10.

I don't do resolutions, but here are my goals for 2008:

Keep my house presentable - not spotless, but not so messy that it stresses me out
Run at least 3 5Ks (Surf City, Iron Girl, Dinosaur Dash)
Run at least 1 10K (Iron Girl, Run Against Hunger)
Run 1 1/2 marathon (?)
Make Goal - I am not going to be on WW for another year to lose this last 20 lbs.

I'd love for the Iron Girl to be my first 10K as it was my first 5K, but I don't think I can wait that long!

Make the most of this year, month and day peeps.

Oh, and Fight On! Go Trojans, Beat the Illini!