Two Down, Seven to Go!

Of course, I’ve been busy! Since last time there has been a trip to Vermont, to Mexico, and numerous once or twice a week trips into Ohio.

All through January and February my running was sort of light. I would do 3-4 miles when I could on weeknights and maybe a little more on the weekend. My first race, Super 5k, was good – not the time I wanted- but under 30 minutes so I can’t complain.

Once March started, spring/summer sprung in Michigan and I ramped up a bit looking towards the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5k on March 11th.

I beat my best 2011 5k time by over two minutes! Finished in 27:46, which is an average 8:57 min mile pace… which means that some of my running was below that! Pretty awesome. Two of my friends that I prodded into running drove in to join me for it as well.

Megan and Karen before the start

Since that race, I have started upping my mileage for the Capitol City Half in May. My legs were a little bit unhappy since I made them run this past Saturday (~4 miles), Sunday (long run, 6.7 miles), AND Monday (3 miles). Tuesday was a no-running day filled with meeting with my trainer at 6am, yoga with Amanda at 6pm, and then some more “strength” work when I got home. Just some rows, lunges, planks, and some ab stuff.

This week’s running schedule looks like this:
Monday: 3 miles (done!)
Wednesday: 4 miles (going to do some trail running)
Friday: 3 miles
Sunday: 7 miles

Hopefully I can make it through! Last week’s long run was closer to what this one should be (did I get lost in the neighborhoods?), so maybe this Sunday’s will run over a bit. My goal for my long slow runs is still to average around 10 minute miles. I would love to have a 10 min mile pace for the half marathon (2hr 11min).

Back on Track

First week of 2012 is officially gone!

I spent a little bit of time before the holidays and then on New Year’s Day figuring out my race schedule for this year.

Big goal: Free Press FULL Marathon.

Goals along the way:

• Super 5k: February 5th, Novi, MI
• Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5k: March 11th, Ann Arbor, MI
• Martian Marathon 10k: April 14th, Dearborn, MI
• Roads’ End 5 Miler: April 29th, Pinckney Rec Area, MI
• Capitol City Half Marathon: May 5th, Columbus, OH
• Back to the Beach 10k: May 20th, Shelby Twp., MI
• Flirt with Dirt 10k: June 9th, Novi, MI
• The Legend Half Marathon: August 4th, Lansing, MI
• Free Press Full Marathon: October 21st, Detroit, MI/Windsor, Ontario

I’ve got my 2012 calendar all kitted out with my running plan for the year and the white board below it for each week + our meals and other appointments.

Week 1 Planned

Week 1 Actual
Sunday 1/1: Drove home from skiing up north
Monday 1/2: 3 mile run (treadmill, 10:56 pace)
Tuesday 1/3: 6am-7am workout with personal trainer, 6pm-7pm beginning yoga with Amanda
Wednesday 1/4: nothing, glorious nothing.
Thursday 1/5: 6pm-7pm beginning yoga with Amanda
Friday 1/6: 3.86 mile run to Amanda’s house (10:05 pace)
Saturday 1/7: 3.25 mile walk at Gallup Park
Sunday 1/8: 2 mile run to the Rec Center (9:54 pace); 20 minutes of abs, 2.85 mile run back home (11:04 pace)

This week is a short week since we’re leaving for Vermont on Wednesday after work. I’ve only got a run for tonight, personal training session and yoga tomorrow planned, but I’ll be taking my running stuff out east with me too

A Long Time Coming, Update Part #1

Well, it certainly has been a long time since I have done one of these “update” things.

It has been a busy spring so far, so I’m going to do a little rundown (in a few posts) of what has happened in the past three months or so.

Races and Exercise
In the beginning of April, I ran the Martian Marathon 5k in Dearborn, MI. Sad that I still had to wear my long underwear because of the cold but GREAT because I met my goal of under thirty minutes! It was 29:51 overall. Also, the shirt was awesome.

The rest of April and May were filled with not much running and a lot more mountain biking and road biking, that is, when we weren’t getting constantly rained on.

my valiant steed

The weekend of May 21st brought our first ride in the Zoo-de-Mack, a 51 mile bicycle ride from Boyne Highlands Resort near Petoskey, MI to Mackinaw City, MI. It took us 3 hours and 15 minutes of ride time, with an hour in the middle for lunch.

spandex ftw

still lots of energy

Crazy enough, the next day I ran the Back to the Beaches 5k at Stoney Creek Metropark in Shelby Twp, MI. I was also under 30 minutes this time, at 29:53 overall. I was really surprised that I was able to run that quickly after such a long ride the night before… and once I saw that I was only two seconds slower than my record, I wished I could’ve just pushed a little bit more to beat it. Oh well. Next 5k isn’t until the Warrior Dash in July and I have no time goals for that one.

A week from tomorrow is the Tour de Cure Century Ride and you should donate to me, it’d be lovely of you

After that, I’m trying to figure out which running races I want to sign up for next. I’m thinking about the Romeo to Richmond 5k and the CRIM 8k. I need to start amping up a little bit after the Century in preparation for the half marathon.

Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5k Update

Today I ran in the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5k in downtown Ann Arbor.

I’m really glad that it didn’t start until 11:30am, especially since last night was the Spring Forward night and we lost an hour of sleep. Got some breakfast and then headed out to the parking lot behind Conor’s to wait for the start. Temperature wasn’t that bad, either, it was about 36F out. Much warmer than my last race!

My knee felt pretty wonky this morning when I woke up. Really odd since I didn’t work out yesterday so I figure I just slept on it wrong. I figured I wouldn’t be able to beat my time from last month’s race but…..

I BEAT MY TIME!

Time: 30:16.9
Pace: 9:45 minute miles

I shaved 30 seconds off of last month’s run!

I also signed up for two more runs as well.
4/2/2011: Martian Invasion 5k in Dearborn, MI
5/22/2011: Back to the Beaches 5k in Shelby Twp, MI

That’s all for today! Hope your weekend was good too

Goal Keeper: Dressed to the Nines

The only way that you can keep your goals is if you keep yourself accountable – not only to yourself but to those around you. That’s why I post my goals on here, that’s why I update my Twitter. Even if no one responds, I feel as if I have an obligation to keep my goals.

Whether good or bad, I’m going to try to check-in on Sundays to go over who my goals when the past Sunday to Saturday.

I haven’t done one of these in a while, so I’m not entirely sure which number I am at…. I’ll have to figure that out.

2011 Goals
1.) Lose 13.5 pounds (from 113.5 to 100 pounds)
Current Weight: ~109 pounds
Still at 109 pounds. Not sure right now if the exercise needs to be upped (as if it could anymore!) or maybe if the food needs to be looked at. Maybe I’ll check out the calories more often this week. I don’t eat a lot of packaged foods, so it’s more work to count calories. However, I wouldn’t trade that work for the processed foods.

2.) Work out five times per week.

• Monday: 6am workout with Sarah
• Tuesday: Six Week Six Pack (morning); 4 mile run (outside, afternoon)
• Wednesday: 5:30pm work out with Sarah (1 hr)
• Thursday: Six Week Six Pack (morning)
• Friday: Six Week Six Pack (morning)
• Saturday: off day
• Sunday: Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5k (real update later)

Well, the bike came off the trainer yesterday. The weather is warming up and I have had less than zero motivation to ride the bike on the trainer… even if it is not quite warm enough to do it outside yet. This week is supposed to hit 50F (can you believe it!?) so with all luck I’ll get out there.

3.) Run a 5k
Done! Completed on 2/6/2011 with a time of 30:48.

New Goal 4.) Run the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon, without walking. For my run this past Tuesday, even though I didn’t go farther than I had before it was a big success for four reasons:

-got to run outside!
-nothing was sore or hurt during/after the run
-no stopping! not even to cross the road
-did 4 miles but I felt like I could keep going at the end

5.) Eat meat only once per day or not at all.

• Sunday: 0
• Monday: 0
• Tuesday: 0
• Wednesday: 0
• Thursday: 1
• Friday: 0
• Saturday: 0

6.) Eat dinner out once per week or not at all.
We ate dinner out twice this week, which doesn’t meet this goal, but I was able to eat meat-less both times.

7.) Volunteer with Earthworks Urban Farm in Detroit and Growing Hope in Ypsilanti.
I’ll be waiting until Spring to start working on these.

8.) Have my own garden in a Project Grow community garden.
I’ve been accepted! Next weekend I’m going to a seed swap at Downtown Home & Garden and maybe Lisa will go with me

My race starts at 11:30am today…. I’m sure you’ll get a post later today or tomorrow about it

Saturday Planning – 3/12 to 3/18

Planning my menus on Saturday before my grocery shopping trip is my go-to method for keeping organized and saving money by only buying what I need.

With that, here is my meal plan for 3/12/2011 to 3/18/2011, in no particular order. It’s pretty boring, since there is a lot of leftovers and I have no help in the brainstorming.

• Quinoa Chili from (Never Home)Maker (vegan)
• BBQ Tofu, Israeli Couscous, Broccoli & Kale (vegan)
• Leftover Vegetable Korma and Spinach/Potato/Chickpea curry (vegan)
• Beef Stew (link)

It’s the second week in a row that I’m stealing a recipe from (Never Home) Maker. Sorry! I just looks really good. I’ve made lots of chilis before but none with quinoa, or any other grain, in them. Chili cook-off is this week at my work (I think, if it actually happens) but I won’t bring anything in. I’m sort of a non-participator.

I also picked a second new recipe this week – a beef stew that I’ll make tomorrow. It was actually my first time buying wine for anything (since I don’t really drink) and I had to ask the wine lady to help me find a red wine for cooking We’ve got some chuck roast from the quarter of a cow we bought from my husband’s uncle (that he raised!) that we’ll use for the recipe.

Tomorrow’s Race

Tomorrow I am running my second 5k – the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5k in downtown Ann Arbor. There is a Daily Mile meet-up afterwards that I might go to as well. Need to decide… I really need friends in Ann Arbor though. Such a loner.

Saturday Planning – 3/5 to 3/11

Planning my menus on Saturday before my grocery shopping trip is my go-to method for keeping organized and saving money by only buying what I need.

With that, here is my meal plan for 3/5/2011 to 3/11/2011, in no particular order. It’s pretty boring, since there is a lot of leftovers and I have no help in the brainstorming.

• Vegetable Korma from (never home)maker
• Spaghetti with zucchini
• Leftover Potato, Spinach, & Chickpea Curry
• Bean Burgers with couscous, broccoli
• Leftover Mussaman Curry

Exercise Planning

Also, due to the races I’m participating in this year that I am training for, I thought it would be a good idea to make an exercise calendar. Since I need to train for biking and running races, I want to make sure that I don’t do too much of one of the other and am ill-prepared.

Each week will be basically the same in March, with the exception of any other appointments I have.

• Sunday: Six Week Six Pack
• Monday: Gym (morning), Bike (outside or trainer)
• Tuesday: Six Week Six Pack, Running
• Wednesday: Bike (trainer), Gym
• Thursday: Six Week Six Pack, Running
• Friday: Six Week Six Pack, Bike (outside or trainer)
• Saturday: Six Week Six Pack, Running

Now all I need is a heavy dose of motivation to wake up and work out…

Two Miles Up

Despite that the weather in Michigan doesn’t look like it thinks that winter is over, now that the big ski trip is finally done, it is over in my mind. I don’t mind that the snow is still here, but there won’t be anymore ski trips this season.

We don’t bring our iPhones with us skiing and we actually don’t have real cameras (like point and shoots or DLSRs) so we don’t have any action shots, but these sum it up a bit nicely

The Sky Mall Catalog: where you can buy great things, like shoes with sperm on them.

Amanda, Me, Megan. Getting ready to check in to our condo at the Village at Copper

Tim and I at the top of the Super Bee lift at Copper

After going to downtown Denver on Sunday we headed to the airport… only to hang out for three hours, eat some crappy (yet why does it taste so good? Probably the MSG…) Chinese food, we found out that our flight was indeed cancelled!

Bottom of Peak 8, Breckenridge

The earliest flight home was Wednesday night at 7pm so we made a few quick decision and quick phone calls. Booked a hotel in Frisco and a ride on the Colorado Mountain Express shuttle so we could spend the extra two and a half days at Breckenridge.

Over the course of the trip I also got snagged twice by the mountain photographers! We actually pushed out the cash to buy some pictures from them.

This makes me look so much cooler than I actually am!

There isn’t too much else to say. I’m really glad we got the extra days but I am also glad to be back home. So much catch up.

Not Here!

Okay, well maybe I am not there either! We’re at Copper Mountain in Colorado skiing for a few days! Have a great weekend

Goal Keeper: The Fifth Element

The only way that you can keep your goals is if you keep yourself accountable – not only to yourself but to those around you. That’s why I post my goals on here, that’s why I update my Twitter. Even if no one responds, I feel as if I have an obligation to keep my goals.

Whether good or bad, I’m going to try to check-in on Sundays to go over who my goals when the past Sunday to Saturday. Also, let’s see how long I can come up with cute “number” phrases for the post title.

Random Fun Fact
The Fifth Element, aside from being boron, is a super sweet science fiction movie with Bruce Willis and an extremely cute Milla Jovovich with hunting gear orange hair. Our cat is named Leeloo after her character in the movie!

2011 Goals
1.) Lose 13.5 pounds (from 113.5 to 100 pounds)
Current Weight: ~109 pounds
This was taken Saturday morning. I’ve got some serious super motivation now from signing up for lots of races! I bought Jillian Michael’s Six Week Six Pack DVD and some hand weights from Meijer today and we’ll see what she’ll all about. I watched it today (and didn’t work out) just to see what I was in for. I do many of the moves already with my trainer, so I think it’ll be a good video to work along with at home (as long as the husband isn’t there to watch me!).

2.) Work out five times per week.

• Sunday: 5k in the morning!
• Monday: 40 minutes on trainer (morning)
• Tuesday: 40 minutes on trainer (morning); 2.5 miles (treadmill, afternoon)
• Wednesday: 5:30pm work out with Sarah (1 hr)
• Thursday: 45 minutes on trainer (morning); 3.25 miles (treadmill, after work)
• Friday: Off day!
• Saturday: 4 mile run on treadmill (morning, 46 minutes, 11:30 pace)

3.) Run a 5k
Done! Completed on 2/6/2011 with a time of 30:48.

4.) Run/bike a duathlon
Thinking about signing up for the Willow Metropark Duathlon. I am actually going to start to look for some duathlons later in the summer… because of some big news I’m dropping below!

5.) Eat meat only once per day or not at all.

• Sunday: 1
• Monday: 0
• Tuesday: 0
• Wednesday: 0
• Thursday: 0
• Friday: 0
• Saturday: 0

6.) Eat dinner out once per week or not at all.
This week, since I had planned on the disastrous soup not being disastrous and lasting for more than one meal, we ended up eating out twice: Wednesday night at Great Plains Burger Co (very good bean burgers) and Friday night at Gourmet Garden (veg lo mein!).

7.) Volunteer with Earthworks Urban Farm in Detroit and Growing Hope in Ypsilanti.
I’ll be waiting until Spring to start working on these.

8.) Have my own garden in a Project Grow community garden.
Still haven’t heard from Project Grow…. this goal is on hold until then! It’s out of my hands right now whether I can complete this or not.

__________________________________________________________

I’ve signed up for the Free Press Half Marathon!

otherwise known as, I get to run across an international border and through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel under the river.

I’m crazy, but it’s okay. I’ve got 8 months to add 8 more miles to my longest run. Totally do-able. :)

Also, I’ve been practically meat-free the entire week, save for the ham & cheese soufflé I had at Panera a week ago (they didn’t have the other kinds left, boo hiss…). What’s funny is that we went out to Great Plains Burger Co. for dinner on Wednesday night and I remarked to Tim, while eating my black bean burger, that it has been so long since I’ve had a real hamburger, that I can’t accurately remember what it tastes like. I’m sort of excited about that!