Hog Heaven

OMG, you know it's a boring day in the news when they have to resort to reporting on the hog problem in my neighborhood! Check it out:

Feral Hogs Run Rampant in Spring!

Upscale? Puh-lease!!! LOL!

I can honestly say I've only run into one hog in the early pre-dawn hours. Fortunately, our yard still remains untouched by these vicious vermin. :-)

Post-Holiday Run

Saturday the weather was supposed to be horrible, so Coach Bill planned for a 6.4 (?)mile route with an option to add an additional 3-mile loop if the weather held up. Fortunately for me and my non-12-miler-running self, the weather was fine...well, except for the nasty heat and humidity. As usual, my Garmin was off so I'm not sure of the exact mileage, but we seemed to pick up the pace a bit at the end and overall the run felt great! I only felt a little twinge of pain from the knee here and there and it even felt fine this morning. Go figure.

I need to get back into my routine and do P90X tonight, but I have a baby crawling here under my feet as I type...and it's 9:20 pm! That little munchkin has been under the weather the past few days and today he took a LONG nap...which might explain why he won't sleep now. The workout might have to just happen in the morning. That is, if the kiddo will stay asleep...she'a the early bird. Sigh!

Workout Stats
Woodlands Fit Run, 9.5-ish miles

Belated Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!! I've been taking Coach Bill's advice and been resting the knee. My only other workout this week has been the 16 minute Ab Ribber X on Wednesday morning, so I feel like a slug! I'm planning to do a good upper body workout later tonight, then take it easy on the Wfit 10-miler tomorrow morning.

A little of this, a little of that

The knee is feeling better...still hurts, but not as bad as Sunday night. I postponed my Dr's appointment and figured I would ice, rest and take some Aleve. Of course, I am not resting enough...I did the P90X "Legs and Back" workout last night! Luckily, none of the exercises caused the knee any trouble. We'll see how I do tonight with a super-easy 30 minute run.

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I'm happy to report that our holiday shopping is complete and all the gifts have been wrapped. We do have to put together the kiddo's dollhouse from Santa, but other than that we're all done! Probably a good thing, since the in-laws are all coming over tomorrow for our usual Christmas Eve gathering. I have lots of baking to do tonight...now if I can just keep myself from eating it! I'm officially down 10 pounds since I started tracking my food on Calorie King, so I think that will be enough incentive to stay on track over the next few days.

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Here are a few of the kiddo and munchkin's holiday pictures...not the best we've taken, but we still managed to get some cute ones. Do you know how friggin' hard it is to get your 7 month old to look at the camera and smile the same time your 4 year old does? Impossible, I tell ya! (oh, and there's also the kiddo's 4-year picture!)

Monday, 12/22 - Workout Stats

P90x - 60 minutes - Legs & Back

Saturday Run

It was one of those "Oh Crap!" "Oh my God!" mornings!

I woke up late on Saturday morning - usually I am out the door by 6:00 am and because we were being joined by Kingwood Fit this morning, I was planning to leave no later than 5:50 am.

6:10

When I woke up to the sound of Jason Mraz, I saw 6:10 on the alarm clock. For whatever reason, the volume was really low. I immediately jumped out of bed and said "Oh $@&%*!". I threw on my clothes, grabbed my PB&J from the fridge along with my fuel belt and ran out the door. During this craziness, I tossed around the idea of going back to bed, but there would be NONE of that! LOL!

I pulled in at Luke's right at 6:30, but everyone was already gone. The guy on the radio just said it was 6:30 am, so it confirmed the time for me. I jumped out of my car and thought, "Man, I need to pee. I didn't pee!". But I saw runners heading out of the parking lot and I just ran. I saw Coach Bill as I ran by, but for whatever reason forgot to grab a route card. I just thought to myself, "Run! Run and maybe you can catch up!" I really thought I could catch up. After awhile, I looked at my watch and my average pace was 10:18. Then, I stopped to walk briefly so I could ask another group of 5/1ers the route. I toyed with the idea of running with them, but they were running a bit slower. So, I ran some more. I didn't want to stop, but I HAD to stop at the bathroom at North Shore...it was the only one that I knew of that would be on the route. Then, I ran some more. I ended up running the 1st few miles at a 10:20 pace. I decided that if I found my group, I'd run the entire 12 but if I didn't I would do the 8. It was about that time that I decided I'd better slow down or I wouldn't even finish 8! I had gotten conflicting information about the 8-miler route, so I just decided to run 4 and turn around.

My Garmin hit 4 miles and I decided to go a bit farther. I finally decided to turn around...I don't even remember where I was. According to one person I knew who was still going forward, I was a little less than a mile from Kuykendahl. I toyed with the idea of continuing on, but the adrenaline from the rushing around was wearing off and I decided to stick to my 8-mile plan. Lucky for me, on the return trip I met up with another Wfitter, Bittney, who was running 4/1s and was running exactly my pace. We ran the rest of the route together and talked about our kids, work, etc. (She has a 2-month old and has already worked up to 8-miles!!!)

When I made it in, it turned out that I had run 8.8 miles in 1:43...an 11:37 pace and I am sure I did not have a negative split! I felt a bit like a weenie for not doing the entire 12 and even toyed with the idea of doing a lap around the neighborhood when I got home just because. But, I didn't. Once I made it home, I was done. The kiddo wanted eggs, the baby wanted me :-) and I decided to just call it a day.

This morning, the first time I went up the stairs I felt an awful pain in my knee! It felt like my IT Band, but it's weird because it didn't hurt at all during the run yesterday. This evening, I laid down with the kiddo to read a book at bedtime and when I got up, it hurt even more. I was all dressed to do P90X, but after pressing on my knee a little, I can barely walk on it! I even called my Dr's office, but the next available appointment with my doctor is January 6....so, I ended up making an appointment with some random doctor for Tuesday morning and will call a different orthopedic in the morning to see if I can get in there tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed that it's nothing!!!

Lil' Update

Sorry the posting has been sporadic at best this week...between the hubby's parents being in town to visit and trying to get all the gifts wrapped, it's been hectic!

This week's tip from Catherine...

Cake or wine, not both :)

(She's referring to my eating at our company's holiday party....but hey, I had the chicken sandwich rather than the burger and I skipped the fries, the smallest piece of cake which I shared with a co-worker and 2 glasses of wine with diet coke in between rather than 3 or more glasses!)

We need to make a Mexican food plan: Can you do two fajitas in corn tortillas, skip the chips and maybe have a light beer? I wouldn't mind if you splurged at the Mexican food as long as you didn't do it again the next night with wine and cake.

(Here she's referring to my eating at the Ladies holiday luncheon at work...hey, I only had 12 chips and salsa! I skipped the friggin' queso and enchiladas...I had Tilapia and grilled veggies!!! Who eats Tilapia and veggies at Pappasito's anyway??? I WANTED enchiladas or fajitas with FLOUR TORTILLAS! And the margarita? It was free... the company paid for it!!! Healthy eathing or not, who can turn down a FREE margarita???)

If you are going to do muffins I would prefer you buy the Fiber One muffin mix or try vitamuffins (www.vitalicious.com).

(Okay...I'll try healthy muffins. The kiddo wanted them and of course I ate my share of them too! )

Avoid the cookies in the afternoon. I like the hot chocolate for a sweet treat, but if it leads you to eat something sweet and high fat then we might not want to do it. What do you think?

(Yes, I had a cookie at work...but, I still hadn't touched the chocolate at this point! Do you know HOW MUCH crap they bring into my office???? Do you know how much I've sacrificed and not eaten ANY of it Lady? Last year, I would have sampled everything...three times!!!)

Then, I had to remind myself...this is exactly what you're paying her to do. It's nothing personal,

IT'S.
HER.
J-O-B.

She knows I am working to meet my goal weight by a certain date. To do that means giving up some of the crap I used to stuff my face with. I know I can have it in moderation, but Catherine is making sure I am aware of the choices I could have made. She did agree that compared to what I would have eaten, I did pretty damn good.

It's all cool.

I still lost almost pound last week.

I've done freaking awesome this week...despite the 1 Godiva cherry cordial I had this week. But hey, last year I would have had at least 10 pieces of Godiva. I'm making progress!

Workout Stats

Monday, 12/15 - no workout
I kept waiting and waiting for the in-laws to go to bed, so I could hop in the treadmill. In the meantime, I was wrapping presents...I should have just gotten up and done P90X, but I really didn't expect them to stay up so late! LOL!

Tuesday, 12/16 - 35 minute OUTDOOR run, 11:15 pace
Okay, I got smart and took my running clothes to work and ran after work. I had to be sneaky about it too...I had to change at work, drive home, park at the rec center and then run. If I go into the house, it's all over...the kiddo will beg me not to leave again! Silly, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

Wednesday, 12/17 - P90X -Kenpro X, 58 minutes
This is always a fun workout! It's a bit like Tae-Bo with the kicks, punches, etc. Great cardio!

Thursday, 12/18 - Treadmill run, 30 minutes
Having a low motivation day, so this was a slow run.

Friday, 12/19 - rest
Today is a rest day in preparation for tomorrow's 12-miler. Ugh, and the weather is going to suck! Oh well, I know we'll get-er done regardless, it just might not be pretty!

Weekend Re-Cap

Saturday’s run went well….we ran approximately 10.8 miles at an 11:27 pace and had a definite negative split. Of course, we followed the run with Starbucks, because what would Saturday morning be without Starbucks? This weekend we’re doing 12, which to be honest, I am not looking forward to due to the warmer temps we’re expecting. Looks like I need to get out the running skirt again.

Saturday afternoon was the kiddo’s 1st ever dance performance. She did awesome, as did the rest of the 3-4 year old class. I volunteered to be “stage mom”, which meant I had to be backstage with the kiddo’s class from the time the show began until intermission. I hadn’t really thought things through when I originally volunteered, because I really wanted to see the other performances too. It was a bit crazy with all the dancers running around, but the other stage mom was smart enough to bring crayons and several coloring books to keep the smaller kids occupied. Luckily, when it was time for the kiddo’s class to perform, we were able to watch from the wings. They did their “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” dance so well! It was so cute! I was able to see the company dancers perform after intermission, which totally confirmed that I had chosen the right school for Riley – they were awesome!

Saturday night the hubby and I headed to my company’s holiday party. This year the company decided to do something fun and out of the ordinary for us – bowling! The company gave every employee and their guest a bowling shirt, plus when we arrived they also gave us a bag full of goodies. The hubby and I had a total blast bowling, then we watched my co-workers sing karaoke…imagine that with an open bar! Hahahaha!

Workout Stats
Saturday, 12/13 – 10 mile Woodlands Fit run
Sunday, 12/14 – P90X – Chest and Back – 51 minutes, Ab Ripper X – 15 minutes

What the funk?

Much like Cassie and Viv, I've been in a bit of a funk this week. I am having motivation issues with my workouts and I can't seem to get the eating thing down this week! (graphic borrowed from shinybinary.com)

For the workouts, I've made myself do them , but it's been more of a "just git'er done" thing. Last night, I hemmed and hawed - I cleaned the kitchen (because I have OCD and the hubby just didn't quite get it done to my liking, hahaha) and then I watched about 30 minutes of ER. At 9:30 I finally convinced myself to get my butt on the treadmill...and even then it was slow. I just worried about getting in the 30 minutes and didn't worry at all about my pace.

For the nutrition, it's not that I've been eating bad foods...in fact, I have been chocolate free and stuck to the "100 calories of sweets a day" thing. The problem is that it's been a bit busy at work, so I haven't made the time to eat my snacks - which are when I get in my fruits. In fact, I have been having a really hard time getting even close to the amount of calories I should be eating. When I look at my stats on the Calorie King website, I have not been eating enough protein, carbs, fiber and even fat! I have been exceeding the sodium I should be eating, probably because the company has been bringing in sandwiches from places like Jason's Deli and the lunchmeat has tons of sodium! Also, for the 1st time in a long time, I have not been drinking enough water. I will try to do better next week...it's all about planning and I have not done much of that this week.

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It's going to be a busy (but very fun) weekend...I have the Wfit long run tomorrow and later that day the kiddo has her holiday dance recital, followed by my company's Christmas party. Sunday, I'll probably squeeze in some Christmas shopping in the morning, a trip to the grocery store and then we're heading to LaPorte to visit our friends who live in a subdivision that had a lot of Ike damage...that should be interesting, since many of the homes there were lost or are now unlivable.

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Sometime in the near future I would like to go look at road bikes! As much as I want my bike today, I have a feeling this purchase will have to wait until all the holiday craziness is over. If anyone has suggestions for where to buy a bike or on any special components to look for on a bike, please let me know!

Have a great weekend!!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

The house and our snowman...


The kiddo's playset...


Our Texas Snowman


The kiddos in their winter gear...I just ordered this and it came in today. Talk about perfect timing!!!



And if you're not a native Texan/Houstonian and happen to be from a snowy location up north...keep your snide comments to yourself. Yes, we ALL act like children when it snows here. Even us adults. We don't see the white stuff here often...the last time was 4 years ago on Christmas Eve. The time before that was actually more of an ice storm in February '93 and before that we had a nice snowfall in December '89, before that it was at least a decade....see what I mean? Yeah, we also can't drive with a tiny bit of ice on the road. What do you expect? We can't drive here when it rains and you expect us to drive in snow and ice? LOL! Anyway, it was cool to have over 5 hours of snow. We'll see it again in a few years!

Another day with no chocolate!

I did it...despite all the holiday goodies coming in from our vendors, I managed to stay away from chocolate both yesterday and today. Actually, yesterday I had the day off but I'll post about that later...it was a crazy, crazy day and I completely blew off my workout. (and thanks to wildlifeonline.com for the graphic)

For some reason, my motivation to eat healthy is extremely high this week, but my motivation to work out is extremely low. I think I may have to move my P90X workouts back to the mornings, because I am sick and tired of starting my workouts at 9 or 9:30 pm. It leaves no room for evening downtime, which I'd really like right now. Today, I made it to the treadmill at 9:40 and decided that I was only going to do 20 minutes. After lolly-gagging around for the 1st 2 minutes, I decided that I would at least make this a good 20 minutes...you know, the whole quality over quantity thing. So here are the results...

Mile 1 - 11 minutes...not happy with that at all

Mile 2 - 10:14...much better!

So, it was a tad bit over 20 minutes. For me, it seems like anything under 11 minute miles these days is good. Maybe if I did some speedwork....lol! I'm sure I was completely anaerobic during the 2nd mile, but it felt good to get the legs going faster than normal.

Workout Stats

Monday, 12/8 - no workout

Tuesday, 12/9 - Treadmill run, 21:14 minutes

Day 4 & 5 - No, ummm, some chocolate

Saturday we were to run an 8-miler with Woodlands Fit. Dang it was cold! When I left the house, I watched my temperature gauge drop and drop after exiting the toasty garage. 37. Brrrrrr!

The 8 seemed extra easy, as there was lots of great conversation going on. But, turns out that the route was only a bit over 7 miles. Oh well, it was a good run anyway and we followed it up with Starbucks. Our little group of 5/1ers are planning another running weekend, this time at the Zooma 1/2 Marathon in Bastrop. The best part (besides hanging with a group of really fun gals)? The finishers receive a special silver necklace and mini-spa treatments!!! Also, I usually get a non-fat, no-whip mocha at Starbucks, but did you know a tall "skinny" Cinnamon Dolce Latter is only 96 calories??? That's 72 calories less than my usualy mocha! On days when I run, I might splurge on the Mocha, but for other days, I'm going with the fewer calories! (Huge thanks to Wfit peep, Katie, for suggesting the drink in the 1st place!)

After our run and Starbucks stop, I had to head over to Toys R Us for some shopping for the kiddos. I was expecting the worst - millions of customers, fist fights over the latest and greatest toy, madness at the registers - but, it was actually not bad! I think there may have been 20 customers there and I found almost everything I needed pretty easily. The one item I couldn't find, an associate was super helpful and found one in the back. So, huge kudos to the TRU in the Woodlands!

As for the chocolate, I broke the streak and had 10 of the kiddo's M&M's....technically, I don't think it was even enough to count, but still...it was chocolate. I did manage to get back on track on Sunday...except I did have a couple of Margarita's at lunch. Oops! The good news? I'm down another 1.8 lbs! That certainly beats my recent losses of .8 and .5 lbs!

My tip this week from nutritionist extraordinaire - " ...continue to work on your sugar intake. What do you think about eating 100 calories of sweets per day? To help with this try not to eat a fruit or starch by itself particularly as a snack. Add nuts, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese or peanut butter to your fruit or crackers in the morning or afternoon." Sounds easy enough, right??? After reviewing Sunday's log, she also suggested staying away from the margarita's as they are hundreds and hundreds of calories for just 4 ounces...and yes, I had way more than 4 ounces! I'll try to remember that at the holiday parties I'm going to this weekend!

Workout Stats

Saturday, 12/6/08 - Wfit run, 7 miles

Sunday, 12/7/08 - P90X - Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, 50 minutes & P90X - Ab Ripper X, 15 minutes

Day 3 - No chocolate

Wow, I am seriously proud of myself to have made it 3 days without any chocolate! And, day 4 is going well too. I'm using Calorie King to track everything I eat and it's amazing how easy it is to stay within your allotted amount of fat and sugar each day when you're not scarfing down a bunch of chocolate and 100 Calorie Snacks! Of course, the real test will come on Monday when it's time to weigh in again.

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Not much new stuff to report...I swear the kiddos are plotting together to postpone their bedtime as long as possible, because neither would cooperate when it was time to go to bed. As a result, I didn't end up getting on the treadmill until about 9:45, so I shortened my run to 20 minutes....hardly seemed worth it, but I figure it was better than nothing.

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Maybachs galore...you know, before seeing the Lil' Bow Wow episode of My Super Sweet 16, I never even knew what a Maybach was. (Yeah, I watch that show from time to time, so what? It's trash-tastic, okay?) But since seeing that episode, I've seen two Maybachs on the roads in our fair city - both the Maybach 57 which looked something like this:

And yesterday on my way home from work I saw this beauty:

I'm really not into cars, but every now and then one stands out (the Maserati, not the Maybach in this case). But Jesus, I would not pay the $100 plus to buy this one, much less the $350 - $1 mil to buy a Maybach...even if I could!

Workout Stats
Treadmill run - 20 minutes, 11:16 pace

Day 2 - No Chocolate

I survived a 2nd day without chocolate. I'm purdy darn proud of myself. In fact, I've been staying away from the 100 calorie snacks too...they don't do you much good when you eat 3 a day, lol! And, I've actually eaten all 5 of my fruits and veggies for the 3rd day in a row. I'm usually pretty good at getting 3-4 servings, but would rarely get in all 5. Yay me!

Workout - 12/3/08
P90X - Chest, Shoulders & Triceps - 58 minutes

Day 1 - No Chocolate

I made it...well, almost. It's 9:30 pm and I haven't had any chocolate today. The day's not over, but I am pretty sure I won't give in. :-) I don't even feel any different, lol! Other than that, not much new to report.

Workout Stats - 12/2/08
Treadmill Run - 30 minutes

Monday Bike Ride

Looks like I'm back on schedule...sort of. My friend Kristi and I managed to get in our regular Monday bike ride again after a 2-week hiatus. However, the ride was cut short due to the time change and it getting dark so darn early. The last time we rode, it was the Monday after the time change and we managed to make most of our 10-mile route before it got completely dark. Today, it seemed like it was getting dark before we even started. It started to get pretty creepy, so we turned around early. We may have to move our ride to the weekend, just to get in more mileage without worrying about the dark.

I came home and was determined to get in a bit more workout in, so I did the Ab Ribber X...that is, after the kiddos finally fell asleep. Is it possible that someone gave my soon to be 7-month old caffiene? He would not go to sleep! Same with the kiddo, but that's normal for her. :-) In fact, I can hear that the baby is awake again on the monitor - at 11:20 pm!

Workout Stats - 12/1/08
Cycling - 7 miles, 34 minutes - 12.35 mph
Ab Ripper X - 15 minutes

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I got my first bit of feedback from the nutritionist extraordinaire after she reviewed last week's food log...."Let's break the chocolate habit right now :) It is December 1st, we don't want this to go on all month. Try getting a chocolate Balance Bar or Luna Bar to help you with your chocolate cravings in the afternoon." Gotta love a gal who shoots straight from the hip. See, there's this little container of chocolates in the kitchen at work. The kitchen is where we also make copies, get supplies and get water. Every time I walk by there, I grab something - a hershey's kiss here, a Dove chocolate there...you get the idea. It's time to step away from the chocolate!

World AIDS Day

Here's a list of events going on here in Houston to commemorate World AIDS Day 2008.

Whew!

Today was tiring. I woke up in time to be on the road for my 6-miler. The run went better than expected....I always dread running alone, but in all honesty it wasn't that bad. I ran the 1st 2 miles around the neighborhood loop, the 2nd two miles on the trails in the neighborhood, then decided to get back on the flat pavement thanks to my screaming right IT band. It made itself known at the San Antonio 1/2, but it wasn't too bad. Then, it got a bit worse on last week's 5-miler. Looks like I will have to do some extra stretching to get things back to normal. I also felt that weird tug in my lower back. The one that was there before I got preggo with the munchkin. The same stinkin' pain that drove me to do PT 2x a week. I was hoping all the core and strength training I've been doing for the past 4 months would help me keep the hips all aligned, but it doesn't look that way. I'll see if I can make it to January without too much trouble.

Then, I came home and made the family some eggs and bacon - egg beaters and turkey bacon for me, of course. :-) Next, we got everyone dressed and headed out to Garden Ridge for Christmas stuff...what a PITA! People were everywhere and there was not much of the stuff we were looking for left. The hubby hates crowds, so he was a joy to shop with...plus, the baby was fussy and the kiddo wanted to run all over the place. Ugh! Next stop - Krogers. Not as bad, but still stressful with the not-as-fussy baby and the kiddo who wants to see and wants you to see everything. Damn Disney for putting characters on just about everything - cereal, fruit snacks, bubble bath, ice cream, you name it.

Next, we came home and ate some lunch before starting on the Christmas decorations. The kiddo and I managed to get the tree up and decorated, but it was kinda hard with the munchkin trying to crawl all over the place. I tried the swing and the Exersaucer, but he wanted nothing to do with either one and would scream bloody murder if I tried to make him sit in either. Due to that, I put the rest of the decorating on hold until the kids were fast asleep. What now? I'm off to fold the kid's clothes before getting the last 100 pages of Breaking Dawn, the final book of the Twilight series.

As for the Twilight movie? It sucked. I don't think I was expecting a lot, so that was good...the acting was mediocre and the special effects were cheesy. The guy who plays the male lead did not live up to my expectation at all. Don't get me wrong, the guy is a cutie, but he's not the Adonis that's described in the book. Oh well, what do you expect for a teen movie based on a "young adult" novel? My Sister-in-Law and I did get a chuckle when all the teen girls in the theatre gasped the 1st time the male lead appeared on the screen. The same thing happened when he first spoke and once more when he kissed the female lead. Yes, I am rolling my eyes now just thinking about it. LOL!

Home Sweet Home

It feels great to be back home, even if my pocketbook is much, much lighter. That's what happens when your in-laws live less than 5-minutes from the San Marcos outlet mall! ;-) I love me some Ann Taylor outlet sales...gotta love it when you can get 2 new suits, a pair of slacks, a shirt and two sweaters all for under $300!

We had a great time seeing the family in Round Rock for Thanksgiving dinner. Even two cousins came in from South Dakota! I hadn't seen them in at least 7 years, so that was an awesome treat. Later that day, we met up with the hubby's side of the family. I am proud to say that I kept my eating under control better than ever - no pre-dinner snacking, loaded up on white meat with the turkey, had a ton of green beans, only a taste of the bad stuff, and just a sliver of dessert to satisfy the sweet tooth. Not perfect by any means, but much better than any past holidays!

As for the workouts...it's been 3 days! I discovered that the hubby wanted to get on the road MUCH earlier than expected on Thanksgiving morning, so instead of doing 5 miles that morning, I opted for 4 on the treadmill the night before. I was going to do 5, but realized mid-way through that I still had a cake to make for the next day. Doh!

Tomorrow - the goal is 6 miles solo through the 'hood followed by some Christmas decorating.

P90X

Tuesday, November 25 - P90X, Plyometrics, 58 minutes
Yesterday felt like a P90X day. I looked at the schedule - plyo! This workout is pretty intense and for the 1st time, I wore my heart rate monitor for this one. My heart rate got up to 160 at one point...now I just need to figure out my resting heart rate, so I can know where my targets are. My goal is to learn how the whole target heart rate thing works and start tracking it - something I've never attempted before. Hell, I bought the Garmin 305 because I also wanted to use the heart rate monitor...it's about time I get to it!

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Looks like that bonus back in September was just a partial bonus. I recieved the rest of my bonus on Friday and it looks like I will be getting a road bike after all! Woohoo!! If anyone has suggestions on brands, what to look for, etc. let me know!

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Don't laugh, but my Sister-in-Law and I are going to see the movie Twilight this afternoon, since my office is closing early. She's gotten me into reading those damn books! I just started reading the 4th and final book last night. Hey, it's no Anne Rice, but it's an entertaining read that's fo sho!

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I wanted to do the Run Through the Woods 5-miler tomorrow morning with the Wfit peeps, but that would meaning leaving to head to Austin later in the morning than we planned. Oh well! But, I need to burn the extra calories, so I'll get in the run tomorrow morning in the 'hood before we head out of town. Happy Turkey Day!

Playing Catch Up...again

Tagged by Viv...


Pick the 4th folder and then pick the 4th picture and describe it. Now you're it!




















This is a pic of the Munchkin with my Father-in-Law taken the weekend of the San Antonio 1/2. I love that the way they are looking at each other!


Okay, so it's been awhile. Here are my most recent workouts:


Monday, November 24 - Outdoor run, 31 minutes, 11:01 pace
Woohooo, a glorious outdoor run during the week - a rare occurence for me. It felt fan-freaking-tastic to be outside running. I took the day off work to re-decorate the kiddo's room for her birthday surprise, but managed to squeeze in a quick run. I started out too fast - 10:23 pace - but managed to slow it down to an average of 11:01.


Sunday, November 23 - P90x - Chest and Back, 55 minutes
Getting back to my weekly routine. I am beginning to see a little definition in my arms, which helps me see that this is really starting to pay off. I imagine as I loose more weight, the results will be even better!


It was also the day of the Kiddo's 4th birthday party, so I think I got a pretty good workout chasing kids around! Here she is getting ready for some cake.




















Saturday, November 22 - 5-miles with Woodlands Fit, very slow!

The night before, most of my fellow Wfit peeps went to a Soiree hosted by another Wfit peep. The Champagne punch was flowing, which might be why none of us (who showed up) felt much like running on Saturday morning. We had the choice between 8 miles and 5 miles....at the beginning of the night, 8 miles sounded doable. However, as the evening progressed (and the punch began to disappear), 5 miles sounded much better! Luckily, we had Starbucks to look forward to after the run, so we got it done.


Saturday afternoon, I took the kiddo to a "Fancy Nancy" birthday party. Here she is dressed all fancy...




















Saturday evening, the hubby and I celebrated our anniversary with a night out. We had dinner and then headed to Cru for lots of wine.

Friday, November 21 - Rest

Thursday, November 20 - P90X, Kenpo X - 1 hour
Good cardio workout! I actually used my heart rate monitor, which hasn't been used in over a year.

Wednesday, November 19 - 30 minutes, easy peasy treadmill run

Tuesday, November 18 - Rest
I was soooo stinkin' sleepy. Must have been the lack of sleep on Sunday catching up with me!

Monday, November 17 - Rest
Just resting the legs after the 1/2....they definitely needed it!

San Antonio Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon Race Report

Sorry this race report is so late! I have had a busy week traveling for work, then this weekend was the Kiddo's birthday party, plus DH & I celebrated our 11th anniversary. Never a dull minute, I tell ya!



Friday, November 14

I managed to sneak out of work a bit early, but somehow we didn’t manage to get on the road until after 4 pm. We headed to the in-laws where we spent the night. I went to bed early, because I was up until 1am the night before working on my revised budget for work.


Saturday, November 15 – The Expo
5:00 am.

That’s what time the Munchkin woke up.

He must have noticed that he was in the pack and play rather than his crib, not to mention that he wasn’t in his room. He did not want to go back to sleep and as a result, he also woke up his sister who also refused to go back to sleep. Sigh.

Around noon I headed to San Antonio to meet the Woodlands Fit peeps. I was the 1st to arrive at our hotel, which was an old house that was converted into a condo-ish type of hotel. It was in an older neighborhood with lots of restored, historic homes – very cute with a Spanish-tiled roof and hard-wood floors! Once everyone arrived, we decided to take care of our stomachs first and headed to the tea room around the corner. Yum-my! Of course, the 1st thing on the menu to catch my eye was the "fishbowl" mimosas…if only!

After lunch, we took the 1-mile trek to the Alamodome. The expo was extremely crowded and the lines were long, but it was well organized and the lines moved quickly. Compared to other marathons of this size, I wasn’t all that impressed with the vendors there. However, I did buy some sunglasses which proved to be a very, very good idea. After the expo, we headed back to our hotel to look through our swag. Again, compared to other marathons, not that impressive – gloves (which did come in handy), an utter butter sample, a cold medicine sample, a $10 PF Changs gift card and what appeared to be information about every upcoming race that had a booth at the expo. We decided to head back to the same tea room for some dinner, then headed back to the hotel where we all talked until about 10 pm.



Here we are at the Expo!











Sunday, November 16 – Race Day
Brrrr, it was in the 30’s when we woke up! We decided to head to the shuttle lines no later than 5:30 am, since we had a 1-mile trek to get there. It’s a good thing, because a bus was just leaving and the line was not too long. However, 10 minutes later, the line was all the way down the block! Unlike NYC, where a half-dozen buses are waiting at any given minute to shuttle people to the start, we had to wait for awhile before more buses came. I forgot my Garmin in the hotel, so I had no idea what time we finally headed to the start. We chatted with some fellow runners and even sang "Happy Birthday" to a guy we met who was from Florida. We saw tons of traffic on the interstate, so it was pretty obvious that there were going to be some people who were not going to make it to the start in time.
<- On the warm and toasty bus!














Once we arrived, several of us needed a porta-potty stop. By the time we were done it was time to head to our corrals. We were all in corral 17…there were a total of 30 corrals. Honestly, the entire weekend, I was stressing out about whether I could run the race, get back to the hotel, get back to the family in time to get back to Houston in time to meet up with my friend for dinner before the Madonna concert. We were in our corral about 15 minutes before the race was scheduled to start and people were still arriving and sprinting to their corrals. The race actually began about 15 minutes late, probably to allow those stuck on the shuttle buses in traffic. Once the gun went off, it took exactly 30 minutes for our corral to cross the finish line….I felt sorry for those people in corral 30!



Here we are before the race....do we look cold? And another pic of 30,000 of our closest friends....

















We were off! It seemed to take me forever to loosen up...I think my entire body was tense from
all the shivering I had done while standing around in the cold. Early on, 2 of our 9 folks went on ahead of us. Then, another two. I was in the group of the remaining 4 and somewhere around mile 3 or 4 (I think), we had to head to the porta-potty. Fortunately, there was only one person in line at the 2 porta-potties. We probably lost 5 minutes there, but the relief was soooo worth it. I usually don’t have to make a stop on our long runs, but I think a combination of the cold and waiting for so long to start did me in. The bands were at every mile and sometimes more frequent, which was a nice distraction. Early on, we passed the Alamo and took a quick picture.

















I don't know if it was the weather or just the adrenaline from the race and crowds, but I felt great. It was really hard to remember that this was a training run and to not speed up. Plus, I knew if I sped up too much, I would lose steam at the end. I kept reminding myself to just take it easy. A majority of the route was in downtown and we faced the sun quite a bit - that's where those sunglasses were a Godsend! The mile markers seemed to pass quickly, which was a great feeling. Eventually somewhere around mile 8 or 9, our group of four became two groups of two. Katie and I stuck together for the remained of the race. We passed the mile 10 and 11 markers and knew we were in the home stretch! Finally, we passed the mile 12 marker and began to see the Alamodome. We hear the crowds tell us that the finish is just around the corner...about that time we can see the mile 13 marker - placed very cruelly at the top of a steep ramp near the Alamodome. Yes, someone very evil planned the final stretch of the route! Bastards! :-) Katie and I said we were going to run the rest in, but I was a wuss and stopped running about 1/2 way up the hill and walked. But, once we were up the hill, the finish was in sight and there was no stopping again. We were done!

All in all, I'd say this was my best 1/2 in that I felt great the entire way. It was also my slowest 1/2, but not bad to a training run. I hope I feel 1/2 as great in Houston in January...with a flatter course, I am sure I can better my time quite a bit.

















We made our way through all the crowds to get out medals. We were even interviewed by a TV crew! We grabbed some bagels, bananas, etc and made our way to our friends, where we had a bit of celebratory champagne.

After that, I pretty much speed-walked the mile back to the hotel. I was off to San Marcos to meet the family and then off to see Madonna....more on that later!

Gee your cell phone is crap

Tomorrow is my 11th wedding anniversary! The hubby sent some flowers to my office...what a sweetie!
I took the pic with my cell phone. Yeah, it's crap!

Amazing Weekend

I had an awesome weekend - 1/2 marathon, Madonna - it was fan-freaking-tastic.

I'll update more later with pictures!

Almost there...

Wednesday, 11/12 - P90X, Legs & Shoulders - 58 minutes
OMG my butt and legs hurt today. I must have stepped it up a bit on this workout, because I am not usually this sore! But, it was a great workout!

Thursday, 11/13 - Treadmill run, 20 minutes, 11:30 pace
Easy peasy run on the ol' dreadmill. The hill and shin are aching a bit, but nothing to worry about.

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It's almost time to head to the hill country....I have mine and the kiddo's stuff packed up and ready to go! I'll be at a Wellness Symposium most of the day, but will be sneaking out early so we can hit the road before the traffic gets bad. I decided on my new long-sleeve under armour top with my capris...but, I'm bringing the running skirt too just in case. LOL!

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In other news, I went to see nutritionist extraordinaire, Catherine, today! She did a metabolic rate test and gave me some great tips. Apparently, my metabolic rate is slightly higher than average, which means if I do what I'm supposed to be doing, I should lose the weight!

And, I found out that I am not eating enough calories! I've lost over 5 lbs in the past 4 weeks and that was eating only 1400 calories a day. Based on the amount of exercise I do, I should be able to eat 1800-1900 calories a day and still lose weight weekly! But, I have to eat the right foods, which is my big challenge (ummm, remember the Halloween candy?). If I keep eating the 1400 calories, I will keep losing weight but I could eventually slow my metabolism.

And, she recommended this cookbook - Cooking Light 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook - which I have already ordered from Amazon.com. We also talked about getting the kiddo to eat our food instead of chicken nuggets and macaroni everyday.

I think I can hit my goal weight with a little help from the expert!

Workout Update

Monday, November 10 - Treadmill run, 21 minutes

No Monday cycling this week thanks to Mother Nature and the torrential downpours. I couldn't decide what type of workout I wanted to do instead and finally decided on a run - especially since I hardly ever get in all 3 weekday runs between the cycling and P90X. Unfortunately, my run was cut short when the baby woke up. Must have been the teething, because he usually sleeps all night with no wake-ups at all!



Tuesday, November 11 - Treadmill run, 35 minutes

All my runs this week will be at an "easy" pace, because the left shin pain I've been noticing after my runs has decided to make itself known during my runs all of a sudden - even with my new shoes. Ugh! I iced for 20 minutes after my run using the kiddo's Cinderella ice pack, lol! Also, my right heel has been sore for weeks now. I don't know what's up with that, but luckily it doesn't bother me too much during my run. I iced it too just in case...but for the heel I used the Nemo ice pack. :-)

Let the obsessing begin!

As before any race, especially an out of town race, I am obsessing over all the details - checking the weather forecast 2x a day - too cold, too hot or just right?, deciding and then re-deciding what to wear - the capris or the skirt?, fixating on what to eat - more protein or carbs?, etc.

The weather forecast (per wunderground.com) appears to be perfect:

Saturday Night and Sunday
Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 30s. Highs in the upper 60s.

I don't know why I am obsessing so much. I'm treating this race merely as a training run, but at the same time I want to be comfortably dressed, well fed and have a good time...so that requires some amount of obsessing, right?

Thank You Vets!

Especially my favorite Vet of all - my Dad! Love ya Papa!

Insert Evil Laugh Here...

Okay, so the kiddo's Halloween candy was getting the best of me. The kiddo wasn't even asking for it, but I sure was consuming it! So in an effort to get back on track with my eating plan, I decided to gather up all that candy and bring it up to the office. Let the rest of the office eat it...hehehehe!

I'm down over a pound this week, so I am definitely back on track!

First, let me say congrats to everyone who ran the HMSA 25k this morning! I volunteered for that race last year when I was preggo and loved watching all the runners come in! I worked the relay area awhile and then removed chips from peoples shoes. I figured it was the least I could do after having so many people cut the chip off of my sweaty self. :-) Again, congrats to everyone who ran it and finished...you're almost done with the warm-up series and ready to for your big day! And, if you've never run the HMSA 25k, they have awesome finisher's shirts!!!

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The Saturday Woodland's Fit run was 8 miles. Thank God for good company because I was really not feeling it in the last mile. I don't know why, but I was so worried about the 10-miler last week and had no problems whatsoever. Then, I bonk at mile 7 this week. I think it's all mental, because after running 10, I think that 8 is no big deal and get myself thinking that it will be even easier than it really is. This run brought back memories of last year...I did about the same distance the day before I found out I was preggo. It's great to be back! Oh, and it was great to see Karen and Jon this morning too!

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Next weekend is the San Antonio Rock & Roll 1/2! We worked out all the logistics for the weekend - where to meet, what to wear, what to bring, what not to bring, etc. I am sooooo looking forward to this weekend with the girls! (Well, I will have part of the weekend with the girls - I'll take what I can get!) I found out the official race drink will be Cytomax, which I have never tried. After my experience with Accelerade, I think I'll play it safe and bring my fuel belt.

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As for the rest of the weekend, we had lots of family time together. Today we went to Discovery Green for the 1st time. While it's no Central Park (as if anything could be), it was pretty cool. The hubby, munchkin and I hung out on a big blanket while the kiddo played like crazy on the playground equipment. She also had a blast rolling down the "big hill". I have lots of pics, so I'll post a few later this week. I am about to spend the rest of the evening addressing birthday party invites for the kiddo. Disney Princess seems to be what it's all about this year...:-) Ugh, and don't even get me started on A&M's ass whooping this weekend....

Workout Stats

Saturday, Woodlands Fit LR - 8 miles, 1:28:50, 11:06 pace?

Sunday, P90X - Shoulders & Arms, 58 minutes -and- Ab Ripper X, 15 minutes

Woohoo

The weekend is almost here, baby! Yes, I'm practically dancing in my office with the realization of this. And, the weather is gonna rock. We're taking the kiddos to Discovery Green at some point this weekend....it's the only drawback to kickin' it in the 'burbs - we hardly ever get to the big city on the weekends. Hell, after driving there all week, I don't really want to drive there again on Sat or Sun. Sorry.

Tomorrow is an 8-miler with Woodlands Fit...by the way Coach, what was up with the "Oh my God!" when I said I was running the 10-miler last weekend? LOL! Then, the gang is going for coffee to chat it up about San Antonie next weekend. Damn, it's NEXT WEEKEND! Where oh where does the time go?

Thursday workout - 30 minute treadmill run
Workout went okay...shin splints are killing me! But, I'm picking up my new shoes today at Luke's, so hopefully that will help!

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I'm proud to report that I began my Christmas shopping this morning. I bought DH & I a new point and shoot camera...I will still get that SLR, but I need more time to do some research first. And, I bought my parents a new camera as well. They need one. They have what I think might be a 1st generation Kodak digital camera and it's horrible! I also picked up some stocking stuffers for the kiddo today.

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Okay, so the Madonna concert is next weekend. I have made pretty good progress in losing more of the baby weight thanks to Viv's weight loss challenge. I am down almost 5 more lbs...which is great, since I hadn't lost any weight since returning to work. I refused to buy new jeans, because I know I can get back into my old ones. But, I had to give in and get my "interim" jeans. I decided to make it a super cheap purchase and went to Target for a $27.00 pair of Mossimo jeans. When I get back to my goal weight I will reward myself with some awesome jeans, woohoo! When I loose another 5 lbs I will treat myself to a mani/pedi...something I used to do all the time, but that was before kids. Progress, progress....

About last night...

What a night - I was hot, sweaty and gasping for breath...



















Wednesday, 11/5 - P90X, Plyometrics, 1 hour
Get your mind out of the gutter people. I was doing the P90X Plyometric workout. It's the 1st time since Ike that I've done it and man, I could tell! For the past 6 weeks, I've been skipping the cardio P90X workouts and only doing the strength training and core workouts. I justified that by thinking that my training runs were enough cardio for the week. I didn't realize until last night how much I was cheating myself out of an awesome workout. I think I will start incorporating at least one P90X cardio workout into my weekly exercise schedule. Seriously ya'll, I was dying before the warm-up was even over. I know running is a cardio workout, but this is a totally different kind of cardio. The hour-long routine is comprised of lunges and squats but with jumps in between, plus a just a lot of jumping and hopping. I just need to remember to wear my heart rate monitor from now on. Anyway, it's crazy tough and I LOVE it. I forgot that in the past 6 weeks, so there will be lots more plyo to come!

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Tonight I'm heading to Luke's for a little party just for the store's 4th anniversary. There are supposed to be some nice discounts on everything and there will be tasty treats and cocktails. Woohoo! It's time for new shoes, so I am definitely taking advantage of that discount. I might even get a new running skirt too!

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So post election, the 1st thing that popped into my head was the song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I feel fine)" by REM. And you know what? I do feel fine. I don't mean it literally, like, it's really the end of the world. I mean it in a good way - optimistic for the best. Some people are so stinkin' dramatic about our new President-Elect and think the sky is literally falling and have that fear-mongering mentality. Puh - lease people, get ahold of yourselves! I didn't vote for him, but hey, I was cool with whatever happened.

Peace-out!

More Shiznit

Monday - 12 mile bike ride, 14 mph
Getting better, but hating the time change. It got dark before we got back to "base" which made for some sketchy riding! (which is probably why the pace looks better...riding faster to get out of the dark faster, lol.)

Tuesday - 30 minute treadmill run
Same old, same old.

Tomorrow - P90X!

That is all.


Glad election day is over...may the best man win.

VOTE!

I've already voted, how about you????



(besides, you can get free coffee at Starbucks and free ice cream at Ben & Jerry's if you do!)

Weekly Update

This blog is turning into a 1x a week update of my workouts! I'll try to do better, but it just seems like by the time I get the kids into bed, get my workout done and get us all ready for the next day, it's time for the 10 pm news and bed! So, here are my updates...

Sunday, 11/2 - P90X - Chest and Back, 52 minutes
First, lemme say CONGRATS to everyone who ran NYC! I recorded the coverage, but have only had the chance to watch a little of the beginning. It's by far my favorite marathon and one I have vowed to do again before I hit the big 4-0....even if it means doing all those long runs in the Houston summer heat. Getting back to my workouts - I started using the hubby's bands on this workout, because they provide much more resistance than the ones I've been using. Wow, what a difference! I could barely do all the push ups by the time I made it to the 2nd round of exercises, because my arms felt like jello!

Saturday, 11/1 - WFit Long Run - 10 miles (actually 10.8),
I was extremely nervous about this run. I wanted to opt for the 7 miler, but I knew I needed to do this. This would be the longest distance since getting back into running after the baby and even though I've run this distance dozens of times before, I was scared. Scared because getting back into running again has been tough. Tougher than after having the kiddo. Much tougher than expected. I needed to do this just to get the confidence back. I needed to know I could do this again.

Things worked out better than I expected. First off, the weather was great. I did panic for a moment when I got all the way to The Woodlands and realized that I had forgotten to eat breakfast. Doh! But it didn't matter, because I felt fine. Well, I felt better than fine - I felt great! Of course that might be partially due to the fact that we were moving rather slow. But, I remember looking at my watch and seeing that we were at the 1/2 way point and feeling great. Before I knew it, we were heading back to Luke's and I still felt great. We finished and I didn't feel like I had run 10 miles! Oh and for the 1st time, I took the advice of a certain nutritionist and had chocolate milk afterwards - she was right, it made a world of difference. And it was also great to see fellow blogger, Viv!

Saturday night, the hubby and I went to a costume party. I was Audrey Hepburn (okay, a non-waifish version) and he was Neo from The Matrix movies. We had fun...the costumes were hilarious - Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, and the my personal favorite - the Mormon. (I know, I know - not very PC, but it was great!)

Friday, 10/31 - Rest day
Seriously, even if it wasn't my usual rest day, there's no way I would have gotten a workout in. With a 3 year old who is sooooo excited about Halloween she can hardly stand it? Nope. My sister-in-law brought over the younger nephew and the kids went trick or treating. They managed to get a TON of candy...which I have been eating since. Ugh! It was fun and the kiddo had an awesome time - and stayed up much too late. :-) I'll post pics when I can.

Thursday, 10/30 - Treadmill run, 40 minutes
I totally felt like slacking off here. After the kiddos were in bed, I laced up the running shoes, but then I sat and watched 40 minutes of ER. Seriously. I almost talked myself out of running at all, but then realized - HELLO - I could not train by only running 1x per week. So, I decided to only do 20 minutes rather than the scheduled 40. But, once I got going my conscience got the better of me and I finished the entire 40 minutes. It was incredibly slow during most of that run, but I sped up in the middle and towards the end and got it done. Woohoo!

Wednesday, 10/29 - P90X - Shoulders & Arms, 1 hour & Ab Ripper X, 15 minutes
Nothing eventful here either, except I have been increasing my weights by a few pounds on most of the exercises.

Tuesday, 10/28 - Treadmill run, 30 minutes
Nothing eventful here. I did manage to maintain an 11 minute pace and only took one walk break at the 1/2 way point, which for me lately is pretty damn good.

I voted!!! I'm such a dork, I get all giddy as I walk into the polls. I won't go into who I voted for, I'll just say I went with the candidate who seemed less shady to me and who aligned well with me on a majority of the issues. I'm still not completely happy with either candidate, but the more I learn about one, the better the other one looks to me.

Monday, 10/27 - Bike ride, 50 minutes, 13.5 mph
Awesome weather for a ride. I was pleased that we did better with our pace too, getting up to 15 mph at times.

NYC Marathon

Today is NYC Marathon day! In just a short time, the runners will be beginning their 26.2 mile trek by heading over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. There will be live coverage here and later, NBC will have a hour long re-cap at 3 pm. Don't miss it!

Catch Up

First congrats to all who ran and finished the Houston 1/2 Marathon! I toyed with the idea of running it, but I had to admit to myself that I am definitely not ready for a 1/2 yet. In fact, I may not be really ready by the time the San Antonio 1/2 gets here next month, but I'm just gonna do my best and finish. It's just a training run and a girls weekend for me, so no pressure. Oh and I found out this weekend that The Cult will be the headliner for the concert Sunday night after the marathon. At first, someone in Woodlands Fit said it was The Cure...I'd love to see The Cure again! I was a HUGE fan in high school and saw them live - at Southern Star Amphitheatre I think (at Astroworld). Or was it The Summit? Anyway, I loved them along with New Order, Depeche Mode, Erasure and all those other "new wave" bands. The Cult? Well, I loved them in high school (especially "She Sells Santuary"), but I can survive without seeing them live 20 years later. LOL!

Sunday, 10/26 - P90X - Legs & Back - 1 hour
Probably not a smart move to do the leg workout the day after a long run. Oh well, I can say that I felt the burn!

Saturday, 10/25 - Woodlands Fit Run - 6 miles, 10:51 pace
What can I say? The weather was absolutely perfect for a run! 58-ish and low humidity, so no complaints from me. I can remember the days, before the baby, when I could run in this weather and not break a sweat. Obviously, I am not in that kind of shape post-baby, because when we were done I was sweaty and my face was all red. I will get back there....eventually. Overall, the run felt good. I have to admit I was relieved that we were dropping in the mileage this week, since I didn't get to run the 10-miler with the group the weekend before. Afterward, the group had coffee together at Starbucks - an attempt to get to know each other before we all room together at the San Antonio R&R Marathon in a few weeks. As I was comparing my day planner to my Outlook calendar last week, I realized something for the 1st time...the Madonna concert is the same day as the San Antonio 1/2! Doh! Talk about a crazy weekend! I am going to have to run the 1/2, speed back to the in-laws in San Marcos where the hubby and kiddos will be waiting, shower, then head back to Houston! Oh well, I always say I love being on the go.

Friday, 10/24 - rest
I went to Luke's during lunch to look for a new running skirt. I forgot that it was packet pick-up day for the Houston Half and the place was pretty crowded. I did run into Coach Gaye, who is now working there and helped me find exactly what I was looking for.

Thursday, 10/23 - 35 minutes, treadmill run

Wednesday, 10/22 - P90X - Shoulders & Arms - 1 hour, Ab Ripper X - 15 minutes

Tuesday, 10/21 - 30 minutes, treadmill run
I could tell that I hadn't run in almost a week, because it was slow going. My legs and feet felt like lead.

Monday, 10/20 - 1 hour, 15 minute bike ride - 12 mph
My friend and I found ourselves talking way too much during our ride, which caused us to slow down!

Sunday, 10/19 - P90X - Chest & Back - 1 hour, Ab Ripper X - 15 minutes

Saturday - 10/18 - Neighborhood garage sale, so no WoodlandsFit long run for me

Friday, 10/17 - Rest - Garage sale prep

Thursday, 10/16 - P90X - legs and back

Wendesday, 10/15 - 30 minute treadmill run

Slacker

Okay, so it's obvious I've been a slacker. Sorry!

Here's the cliff notes version of the past week and a half:

Friday, October 4 - P90X in hotel room in College Station
Nothing exciting to report here, except that I was mindful about the folks on the floor underneath mine and tried not to jump around too loudly during the warm-up! :-)

Saturday, October 5 - 8 miler with Woodlands Fit
The run felt great despite the higher humidity. Our average pace was somewhere between 11:15 and 11:30, depending on the Garmin you looked at. Mine seemed to be off by a 1/2 mile. Strange!

Monday, October 6 - treadmill run, 2.44 miles
I was supposed to run longer, but had to take a phone call. Bill, just for you, I ran this run straight through with no walk breaks. :-p

Tuesday, October 7 - P90X - back and triceps
I had to go to Austin and didn't get home until about 7:30 pm. Plus, the sinus infection I'd been feeling come on since Friday was finally evolving into a full blown infection complete with sneezing, stuffy nose, sore throat, etc. This was a 1/2 ass workout if there ever was one.

Wednesday, October 8 - Rest day
There are usually no rest days between P90X and running, but I was feeling like complete crap and decided that getting to bed extra early would be the best thing I could do. Plus, I had to be at the airport at 6:15 am for my flight to Dallas, so I was dog tired.

Thursday, October 9 - 35 minute treadmill run
I decided to do 9/1s rather than 5/1s and it felt surprisingly good. There was no difference in my pace compared to when I do 5/1s though.

Friday, October 10 - rest day
Still feeling a bit crappy. Again, I let my body rest.

Saturday, October 11 - 9 miler with Woodlands Fit
Okay, so it was cool (not as cool as the previous mornings), but slightly humid. But damn, I felt beat by mile 7! I was really dragging at the end, which was disappointing after such a great run the week before. I ate the same way, used the same gu, so I'm not sure what happened. Maybe it was just me getting over being sick. Maybe it's the extra 15 lbs of baby weight I'm carrying around. Maybe I'm just getting old. I dunno. All I know is that for the rest of the day, I felt like I had been run over by a Mack truck and then it backed up and run over me again. I did manage to take enough Aleve to feel good enough to go the the Aeros game that night...a couple of 'ritas at the Toyota Center helped too! :-)

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, October 12-14
I am being a total slacker this week! Well sort of...our big community garage sale is this weekend, so for the past 3 nights I've been working on getting all our crap together for this as soon as the kiddos are in bed. I know I should be able to balance this and working out, but dang it's taking forever! I must run on the dreadmill tonight!!! In fact, I am going to have to miss our 10 miler this weekend due to the garage sale. My goal is to do at least 8 on my own on Sunday.

I am working on my nutrition again thanks to Viv's new challenge! Huge kudos to her for getting this awesome challenge going. The motivation for me? I have not lost a single pound since returning to work 2 months ago...in fact, I've gained a few pounds. To help motivate me to eat better even more, I went to a networking luncheon yesterday where nutritionist extraordinaire, Catherine Kruppa, was the guest speaker. She is awesome...and has more letters following her name than anyone else I have met! Since I haven't been motivated to follow WW lately, I am thinking about visiting her for some individualized advice about my weight, eating, etc.

Howdy!

Howdy from Aggieland! I'm here recruiting for work. Talk about exhausting - I was at work by 5:45 am to meet up with a co-worker for the drive to A&M, next we spoke to students non-stop until 1 pm, ate a quick lunch and then interviewed until about 5:30 pm. We headed out for a quick dinner and then I headed down to the hotel gym for a run....no crazy messages from the equipment like Cassie experienced though! Tomorrow is a day of back to back interviews...fun! I am about to hit the hay and take advantage of a good night's sleep, which has been rare lately thanks to a certain 3 year old.

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I am bummed that the 10 for Texas was postponed until November 15. That's the same day as the inagrual San Antonio Rock n Roll marathon, which I have been persuaded to run by the peeps at Woodlands Fit. Will I be ready for it? Not quite, but I am thinking of it as just another training run and not putting pressure on myself about my pace. This is my season of getting back into the game - no expectations, no pressure.

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Workout Stats

Wednesday - P90X - Arms and Shoulders - 1 hour

Thursday - 35 easy on hotel treadmill

Workouts

Saturday - Long Run - 7.4 miles

Definitely a harder run for me, but I think that can be attributed to the poor diet and lack of workouts. I think I've felt entitled to eat anything and not work out because I didn't have power. Well, the power's back on and it's time to get back on schedule!

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Sunday - Bike Ride - 1 hour

Well my group of friends doing the Bike Barn's Haak Winery ride on Sunday fizzled out. Rather than go it alone, I decided to save my gas and some time by riding around the 'hood. I checked out all the new streets in the undeveloped side of the hood, which made for some good, car-free riding!

Sunday night, I met up with some former co-workers for dinner and The Color Purple. Both the dinner and the show were awesome!

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Monday - P90X - Shoulders and Back / Ab Ripper X

I decided rather than start the program completely over after my 2-week hiatus that I'd pick up where I left off...it turns out the 1st week and 9th week schedules are exactly the same anyway! OMG, I thought I was going to die! What a difference 2 weeks make! I honestly felt like I did the 1st time I did this workout. My arms and abs felt like jello afterwards and today my shoulders and back are super sore. It's awesome!!!

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Is it just me, or for the past week has everyone else seen convoys of Centerpoint (and other company) trucks all over town? Those guys are working their asses off, so kudos to them. Hopefully, the remaining 100,000 people will have power soon!

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Looks like I should have gone ahead and bought my road bike with my bonus last year, rather than being sensible and putting the money in our house fund. My company paid bonuses early this year to offset some of the costs employees were facing due to Ike (which was nice)....but, somehow my bonus was half the size of last years! And, I didn't start working for the company last year until mid-April! Looks like the MS150 might be out this year unless I can convince myself to splurge and get a bike...although it won't be the one I really want. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!