catherine's running efforts

I haven't FRBed since we left on our vacation, so I'll try to catch up. 

In the winter, running in warm California is a million times better than running in Utah. And I love running around the Rose Bowl. It's almost exactly a 5k, there are potties that don't stink too much, and there are lots of people to watch and weave through. A couple of days I took Elliott and Tigger in the stroller, and they liked it too. It's so much easier to run every day when it's nice outside. And when there are grandparents to watch Elliott.

Our drive back home took about 5 hours longer than it should have because of all of the people going to Vegas for New Year's Eve. That part sucked a lot.

And tonight I had my free fitness assessment at the gym. The trainer spent about 30 minutes building to the big finale which turned out to be that if I do weight training 3 times a week I'll be 2.2 pounds heavier in 6 months (not worth it), and then he led me through some exercises that trashed my quads. I didn't think I'd feel like running after that, but Maid in Manhattan was on in the cardio cinema and I figured it'd be good to shake out my muscles. I'll probably be pretty sore tomorrow, though.

Happy New Year!

Another 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym, this time to Biggest Loser and some show on E making fun of Biggest Loser. Both motivated me to complete my run. 

What *didn't* motivate me was the incredible soreness in my legs from yesterday. It's like my muscles are on fire. After the little training session I was thinking to myself, "Self, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to do some weight training and stuff." But today I remembered why I'm okay with no muscles. I really hate being sore. 

Kind of a doubles day - 4.5 miles in the morning(ish), and 1.5 in the evening. Robin Hood was in the cardio cinema and I could only take it for about 2 minutes. I hate movies that are heavy on woods, bows and arrows, or elves. That's why I've never made it through any of the Lord of the Rings movies. But then I watched that Scouted or whatever show and was happy. 

My new favorite quote: "And I got to wear these amazing Christopher Dior sunglasses. But you probably don't know who that is." 

Elliott is 7 months old today! And we think we see her first tooth. 

On Fridays this semester Eric works in Salt Lake, so he takes Elliott to stay with my mom so that I can have the whole day to work. I'm thinking that I'll be most productive if I just go to my office on campus all day, but then I have to figure out what to do about pumping. 

I ran with music for the first part of my run and wanted to match the beat of a song so ended up doing .4 at 6:13. Later I did another .1 to make it an even half mile at 6:13, but other than that it was a pretty boring 3 miles. I can't even remember what was on TV. But I'm on track toward my second 20-mile week in over a year. Eh. 

Remember how I was all sorts of on track toward a 20-mile week last week? Big fail at the end. 

So I'm trying to front-load this week a little bit so that I don't end up missing the chance and thus screwing up my week on Saturday again (poor planning). Tonight's was a good run, and it made me look forward to when 5-6 miles every day will be no big deal.

A long time ago I had a coworker who had played football in college. He was pretty strong, but also pretty soft. Now and again he'd talk to me about weight lifting and such, and I remember that he would do only 15 minutes of cardio three times a week because he was afraid of getting too small. This is what I think about when I see the big guys at the gym. 

It was a pretty good run tonight. I'm very grateful for our gym membership in the winter.

As part of my free fitness assessment thing at the gym last week the guy had me do one of those hand-held body fat testers. It came up as 17%. I told him I thought it was closer to 25% because I had done the bod pod before I got pregnant when I was in a lot better shape and it was 22% (ish, I think). He said that it was +/- 3% and so I could be 20%, but not more than that. I still thought he was wrong, so today I did a bod pod test at BYU. And oh my gosh it was 28%. 

I realize that 28% is in a normal, acceptable, average, whatever range. It's nothing to freak out about. Also, I'm still pumping for Elliott, so I'm sure I've got some fat stores or something going on with that. But first of all, what's up with the big difference between the two types of measurement? If I would have believed the gym guy, I'd be skipping around all happy as a bunny with my cookies/pop-tarts/diet soda diet thinking that I'm one of the lucky ones with a crazy metabolism. Second, what the heck? This is what's wrong with thinking that BMI is a good indicator of health. I wrote a few weeks ago about having to dress heavy for our health insurance physicals so that my BMI would be in the normal range. But I'm about 3 pounds (of fat) away from the "excess fat" category. That doesn't seem to match up with being "underweight." Third, say I have a goal of 20-22% fat (according to the chart I saw today, this would put me in the "lean" (but not the "extra lean") category). And say I get there by mostly losing fat (and not so much by gaining muscle). Seriously I'd have to weigh less than 100 pounds? That doesn't seem right. Finally, back to the idea that 28% is average and stuff, who wants to be "average"? Probably no one on this blog. By the way, did you know that (according to the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5431a5.htm)) between 1960 and 2002 the average weight for people in the US increased by 24 pounds?

Anyway, after the test I was pretty bummed so I pigged out on some yummy bread from Kneaders (makes sense, right?). Then I did a mile at the gym because I'm coming off of two 6-hour nights in a row and that's how I roll.

Three miles before a meeting and 2.6 after (was supposed to only be 2 after, but Pretty Woman was on and I like that movie (maybe because I wasn't allowed to watch it when I was younger?)). 

The second time I went to the gym there was a guy I recognized as a runner - he didn't look super boundy like a lot of people do, he was very lean, and he was wearing shorter shorts. I thought to myself, "Self, someday you should look like a runner." Then I went to the store where I usually see this checker who always asks me about my runs (I often stop by the store on the way home from the gym) and tells me about how he's planning on running the Salt Lake Marathon. He doesn't run very far or often, though. And I realized that he probably sees me as a runner in a similar way that I saw the gym guy as a runner. But maybe not; I've never done a marathon, and to a lot of people that's what runners do.

I was disappointed about how today went, but I guess this is the kind of thing I was planning ahead for earlier in the week. I thought I'd leave campus to come home at around 4 or 5, but I was being a tiny bit more productive than normal so I left at around 7:30 instead. By the time I was ready to go to the gym after taking care of Elliott it was only about 15 minutes until closing time, so I ran down the block a bit so that I wouldn't have to have a completely zero day.

Five in the late morning, 3.3 just before the gym closed. I was going to do 3.3 in the late morning so that I'd hit my 20 for the week and then go back later if I had time, but once I was there I figured I should run as much as I felt like running. I started to feel a little bit tired as I was nearing 5, so I quit while I was still having fun. After that I was pretty close to 25, though, so I went back in the last half hour that the gym was open to get the rest.

See Elliott's teeth? :)

For the first mile and a half I was pretty bummed about post-baby stuff that I've talked about a bunch already on this blog, but then I decided to suck it up (at least until the next time I get bummed). I figured that I'm doing what I can, and beyond that I should just focus on reaching my goals. Some things I have control over, and some things I don't. And some things I have control over but I psych myself out about them, but that's another story. 

As I was nearing 5 miles I was having a good time so I thought about continuing to run until I didn't feel like running anymore, but then I thought that I'd probably be more likely to be consistent through the week if I kept it to 5. Afterward I told my core who's boss and did 60 hanging leg tucks and 40 crunches on the incline.

There are few things that motivate me more than watching Biggest Loser. Also, I think I've said this before, but I love going to the gym because I see people I'd like to be like and people I never want to be like, and watching everyone around me helps me want to keep going until I get to where I want to be. 

Also 40 leg tucks. 

Two miles in between getting home from school and my online class meeting. Really I wanted 3 today so I thought about going outside for a mile after Eric came home, but it's way cold and dark and stuff. And it doesn't seem worth it to drive back to the gym for just a mile. Even though some days that's all I do anyway.

Elliott has funny bald spots.

At the gym on University in Orem because it was late (our gym closes at 7:00 on Saturdays) and because I was curious about the new treadmills Running After Babies had blogged about. It's nice that there are new treadmills. I didn't try any of the incline options, but Eric's super excited about the +30. 

At the gym. It was supposed to only be 5, but I had to see who got the final rose. I was happy with his choice. 

Also 40 hanging leg tucks. While I was over there there was a pretty hot woman doing ab exercises. It was kind of fun to watch how everyone (even the girls) kept looking over at her.

I wanted another 5 today, but last night was kind of an all-nighter* and even though I got a couple of naps today (thanks, Eric!) I felt extra tired. So I was just going to do 3, but Biggest Loser was wrapping up (ah, Biggest Loser...remember when that girl sat on the steps and cried because she didn't want to work out?). 

*Until 5:00. But Elliott does this thing where she wakes up at about 5:15ish and fusses/cries until we put her in bed with us for the last hour or two until we get up (I know, we shouldn't have ever let this start). It sucks. We're trying to make it stop. Two mornings ago we let her fuss for an hour and a half. She'll fall back asleep if we go in and hold her hand or comfort her or whatever, but somehow she knows when we leave her room. Tomorrow we're just going to try getting her (and us) up when she wakes up. Even though we're so so tired.

Also, if anyone knows how to make her want to eat solids...we've been trying for about 3.5 months, and she's still not interested in rice, oatmeal, bananas, apples, mangoes, pears, carrots, avocados, peas, or sweet potatoes. In a spoon or in her hand. Sometimes a mesh feeder works for a few bites, but that's not really a sustainable solution.

Remember how yesterday I talked about how Elliott wakes up early in the morning so today we were just going to get up when she first woke up? Today she didn't do it. And we slept through our alarms. And Eric missed a class. And I didn't prepare for my class. But at least we weren't tired (for probably the first time this semester). 

I was going to go for 4.5 but at about 4 I felt a tiny twinge in my IT band. I haven't had IT band pain since about two years ago when I switched to a forefoot strike; before then I'd have it pretty consistently every time I ran more than about 6 miles (though stretching made it better). So I stopped and did the foam roller when I got home.  

Yesterday I was the only person in a row of 9 treadmills and a girl picked a treadmill right next to me. Tonight there was a group of guys near me who were stinking up the gym with their cologne. These are my biggest gym-related peeves. Buffer zones should be respected when possible, and fragrances are inappropriate when people are sweating together in an enclosed space. 

Tonight I had a rough start when my [former] favorite treadmill started wigging out (you know how sometimes they'll do that thing where they start decelerating on their own?), but I moved to a new one (and got away from the stinky guys!) and had a good run to Sex and the City and the Republican debate. I don't know enough about his politics to say for sure, but I kind of like Ron Paul. And if we're not going to have a woman president, at least we could have one who knows a vagina inside and out. 

"I'll sit in the chair, but you can't make me eat."  - Elliott

Probably Fridays are my least favorite day to run. I don't know why. 

I'm a little disappointed in my Kinvaras. For awhile I thought they were my favorite shoe ever - they felt super light and springy, and I liked how the flexiness made me feel really grippy - like I could dig in or something. But they seem to have a really short feeling-nice life. My old ones have fewer than 300 miles on them, but they feel like my Launches did after almost 600 (I start to get little pains when I'm running, and they've lost their springiness. I know this isn't very "born to run" of me, but I prefer a bit of cushy springiness). Anyway, my newer ones feel great (except for a hot spot I got today that probably had more to do with my socks and the shoe tongue), but I think after this I'm moving on to something with a little more staying power. But I think Jun posted something on facebook about insoles, so maybe I'll try that. We'll see. 

6 miles at the gym, treadmill switch at 3.5 to maintain some personal space, and last mile at 6:58.  

Another all-nighter last night. I told myself that night is socially constructed. It worked until the afternoon when I felt like I was going to break. But at least I got done a lot of what I needed to do. 

I was inspired by RAD's recent post on running on an incline, so tonight I did my 5 miles with the incline set to 6, nice and slow. I'm not sure if I'll be sore, but in another strike against the Kinvaras I got a blister on that one spot and a bloody toe (gross!) on the other foot. It was one of those things where I didn't know anything was wrong until I took my shoes off. 

And is it just me, or does Courtney have kind of thick legs for a model?  

I wasn't sore from yesterday, but my hips and feet were a little tired. For sure I need to eat better and sleep more. 

I was home all day today so I didn't shower. This morning or last night. Even though I got pretty sweaty last night at the gym. I still don't want to shower (but I'm going to). I hate showering. Eric thinks that's weird.