2 Week Update

Okay, okay, I know...I've been gone for way too long!  Between traveling for work and work and house stuff...I've just been crazy busy!!

I was in Maine for a week and a half for work.  It was a really great time.  The BF came with me, we flew into Boston and went to a Red Sox game (yay!).  Fenway was AWESOME!!!  What a great ballpark!  Someday I would love to get to every ballpark in the country.  That's a fun goal!

Anyway, so after the game we drove to Kennebunkport, where we stayed.  I'll have to post some pictures after I have time to get them off my camera!  The Bush compound is quite impressive.

My favorite part of being in Maine was running along the coast.  It's a new experience for me.  The air was a little bit salty, and I could almost taste it as I was running.  What a great time!  Although it seemed to rain every time I went running, but I love running in the rain. To me, nothing feels more free than running in the rain!

I got back last Thursday night, spent Friday and Saturday cleaning the house and unpacking and doing laundry.  You know, all the stuff that NEEDS to get done after a trip but that you really don't WANT to do!

Saturday night some friends of mine were in town, and my parents came up also, and we all went out to dinner at this great steak restaurant on Lake Wisconsin.  It's grill-your-own steak!  I absolutely love going there.  Not too pricey either.

Sunday was a relax day for me mostly, while the BF put in our garden.  I can't wait until the veggies are ready!  I love making dinner with veggies fresh from the garden.  We'll have kale, spinach, lettuce, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, habanero peppers, chiles, cayenne peppers, beefeater tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, green beans and squash.  Whooo!  That's an awful lot.  BF was out in the hot sun for several hours working on planting everything.  Bless his soul!

Monday was back to work, and it was supposed to be my first personal training session, but the trainer had to cancel.  Now my first session will be next Tuesday.  I'm really looking forward to it, I think that it will really help me get fit and lose the weight I want to.  I think it will also help me train for my marathon! (hopefully!!)

Tonight is Beerkaase night at the bar/general store across the road from my house.  Beerkaase is a kind of cheese.  Stinky cheese to be specific.  One step down from Limberger to be exact.  I personally think it smells like feet.  I can't get past the smell.  I have tried it 4 or 5 times, and every time I wrinkle my nose.  Yuck.  Dear BF absolutely loves it...  But anyway, the bar/general store carries as sort of a "specialty product" and so they devote one night a month to eating it.  A bunch of people from the area and people that have been coming to the store for years and years come and most bring some kind of appetizer dish to pass.  And there are always plenty of chocolate desserts.  Which happen to be my downfall!!  Tonight my goal is to eat the good food and no desserts.  Well, maybe just one bite!  But I most definitely will NOT sample every dessert at least once like I normally do.

I'm starting to get psyched up...my second race (5k) is next Saturday the 5th.  I'm really looking forward to it, and hoping to improve my time from last race.

I've been absolutely loving my garmin as well!  (Although I only wore it once while in Maine because it was raining and I'm still new to it so I didn't want to get it wet.  I know that it's waterproof up to 3 meters...blah, blah, blah...I would be heartbroken if I took it out in the rain and it stopped working! I just got it!!  And yet I can't seem to part with it most days!)  Anyway, I used the heart rate monitor strap with it for the first time the other day, and I really liked that too!  I've noticed a definite improvement in my heart rate and my heart rate recovery time since I've started running.  Which is good...  Yay for progress!!

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Garmin Garmin Garmin!

Just bought the Garmin 305 today. Wasn't sure about 405 vs. 305, but ended up going with the 305 since the only difference really seemed to be the look of the watch, and that the 405 has a wireless syncing option with the computer. Oh, and there was a $170 price difference between the 305 and the 405!! I've just used it for the first time (just got back from the run) I'M IN LOVE!!!!!!!!!!! I used to have the Nike + sensor that hooked up to my iPod, but the sensor died and so I upgraded to the Garmin. I'm super pleased...the Nike + was not as accurate as this Garmin is! Plus it's super motivating when you build workouts in the Garmin Software that comes with it...and it beeps at you if you aren't going the correct pace. I absolutely loved it!


On a different note, I'm here tomorrow, then headed to Maine for a business trip. I'm going to a training class for work. BF is coming with me...we are leaving early Wednesday morning, and he is coming back Monday, while I'm staying until Thursday after that. Then Friday is a furlough day! So I have all next week off. We are flying into Boston Wednesday morning, and then going to see the Red Sox! I'm a huge Brewers fan first, but the Red Sox are my second team. I can't wait to see Fenway...it's going to be great!

I'm really looking forward to running in Maine...I'll be super close to the coast!

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Race Report #1 - Nicolet Bay 5k May 1, 2010

So this was my first race ever!! I finished in 36:16, which is right around what I was expecting!  I had a really great time...now I'm addicted.

I don't normally get nervous for things, but about 5 minutes before the race started, everyone was lining up...and bf was standing there talking to me, and I almost burst into tears because I was so nervous.  Not sure why that was.  Then it started and I was off...and I almost cried again going around the first corner. I felt my breathing start to get shallow, and then I told myself I was just being dumb, it was going to be great.  So I finally relaxed, but man, it was rough.

I had a really great time...but I thought there were some etiquette things that most runners follow.  I read up on this before my race, so I didn't look like a total rookie, but man...I was surprised:

• Walkers and slower runners lined up wherever.  I thought you were supposed to line up based on what you thought your pace would be...It was tough to weave in and out of the pack.  I lined up mid-pack, because that's where I was expecting to finish.
• People would be running and then decide to walk (which is fine, I did it myself) but they would just stop in front of you.  I almost ran over countless people because they decided to just stop running directly in front of me.  When I took a minute to walk, I moved over to the side of the road, and I always looked behind me first.
• Lots of people were wearing the race t-shirt...I thought that was a no-no?

Maybe I'm totally off...any thoughts?

I'll post pictures once I get them off the camera.

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Day 18: Ooops...Been Totally Offline!!

So I've been bad!  I haven't been posting. Things have been super busy around here though!

I've decided to hire a personal trainer for a few reasons:

1. I know next to nothing about what you need to do to prepare for a marathon. (Well, I know about running, and a good training schedule...). 
2. This way he will help me work out all areas of my body to get fit overall. 
3. And he will be able to put together a plan for me that will take into account the fact that I'm running lots of miles.  (Any plan I would have put together could potentially be damaging to my running...since I know nothing about it...)
4. He'll be able to tell me if I'm getting the right nutrition.
5. There is no way that I will do most of the exercises more than once without someone yelling at me to keep going!

I'm looking forward to it.  I'm going to be in Maine for a few weeks in May, so I'll start the last week in May or the first week in June.  I had my preliminary fitness assessment with him Tuesday.  OMG...am I sore or what!!!  I'm sore in places that I didn't even know there were muscles!  Which makes me all the more excited because at the end of the 18 weeks (I'll be going twice a week for 18 weeks) I'll be super fit and toned!!

I was a little surprised though...apparently a healthy weight for me (with 20% body fat, taking into account my height and age) is about 25 pounds heavier than I had previously been lead to believe.  I've seen the BMI charts over and over, and what they tell me is healthy is actually much closer to 0% body fat.  Doesn't seem very healthy to me...  Interesting.

Running has been going well.  I'm taking today off (because I'm still super sore) and then tomorrow I will probably take a walk, but no run.  Then Saturday is the big day!!  My first race ever! I'm definitely looking forward to it!  Although it is supposed to rain during it...but I've run in the rain several times, so it's not that big of a deal to me.  I've got a rain parka-ish thing I can take with me for that.

Which reminds me...I still need to pack for my trip to Door County!! We are leaving tomorrow around noon.  It should be a good time!

Things at work are super busy!  I have so much to do, so little time!  I'm sure that's everyone though!!  It's good...because it makes the days go faster, but when they go faster, you feel like you get less done.  What a vicious circle! :)

Anyway, I need to get lots of good rest.  I haven't been sleeping the greatest lately :(

Hope everyone has a great evening!!

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Day 10: Ready to Run!

I ran last night and it was great!! I absolutely had a wonderful time. I took it slow again, and I only went 2 miles, because I'm still a little sore, but it felt good.

9 days until Race Day in Door County!!  5k, here I come.  I'm super excited for this...it's my first race and I can't wait.

If anyone has any tips they could give me for racing, that would be awesome!

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Day 9: Getting Back!

So my walk last night was great!  BF came with me, and we had a good time!  Except he wore his new hunting boots to break them in a little bit, and he putting on too short socks, so the boots rubbed on his legs a little.  But other than that it was a good time.

I went for a short walk at lunchtime too, and my muscle didn't hurt.  I'm hoping that my run tonight will be okay!!

One thing I'm a little worried about...I've been crashing every afternoon around 1pm.  I'm wondering if I'm not eating enough carbs/protein or something?  Any ideas?

I'm going to try getting up early to run. I've been doing it after work or at lunch time, but it's getting to be quite warm, so maybe in the morning when it's a little cooler would work out better.  We'll see if I can get up in time tomorrow or not!

Next week Tuesday I'm going Anytime Fitness (where I have my membership) and I'm going to get my free fitness assessment from them.  I'm hoping they'll be able to help me with some strength training exercises on my running days off that will help with my running. :)  I think I'll also probably set it up so that I'll be going once a month or once every 2 months to measure progress.  I've been trying to lose weight, but I've just been gaining...Which is really frustrating.  I've been doing really well with running over the last 4 weeks, but I actually gained almost 10 lbs.  That's really frustrating and is not very motivational!!

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Day 8: Yikes!

Okay, so I messed up.  I know I shouldn't have done such a long run when I'm not used to it...but I thought I was at least halfway around the block at the halfway point in my run.  Well, apparently I wasn't close.  I pulled a muscle.  I think it was doing it 2 days in a row that did it, instead of taking a recovery day.  I'm hoping to get back out there tonight, after being off for the rest of the week last week.  We'll see how it goes tonight...start slow.  And I'm not going to just go around the block, I'm going to turn around at the halfway point of my workout!!  Haha!

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