I can do it!

Ben and I went on a nice, recreational bike ride this afternoon on our mountain bikes.  We did ten miles, so I might as well count it.  It was a very enjoyable ride.  We meant to do it slowly enough to NOT get all sweaty, but there was this one, big hill...  :D

I woke up at 4:50 AM this morning to go running with my girlfriends, but I got a text a few minutes later saying that it was raining outside, so they weren't going.  Well, I can run in the rain, but I can't run in the rain all by myself at 5:00 in the morning!  So I went back to bed for another hour of sleep, which is probably what I needed most, anyway.  At 7:30 I decided that I should probably get to my day, so I ate some breakfast and decided it was time to run.  I wanted to do the 5 miles I was going to do with the girls, but I also needed to hit the gym for a lower body workout.  So I decided to run the 5.5 miles to the gym, and have my son pick me up later.  I talked my daughter into running with me, and told her NOT to let me go too fast.  We ran at a very comfortable conversational pace, and I forced myself to take walk breaks after every five minutes of running.  Even at all that, we ended up doing the 5.5 miles in 52:46 - about the same pace that I was running before I had to quit for ten weeks!  This felt SO much easier than it used to feel.  I don't know if all that water-running made me a better, faster runner, but one thing is certain - it didn't hurt me at all!  And certainly all the weight training I've been doing must be making a difference.  If only I wasn't nursing this tight adductor - I'd really like to find out what I can do!

Anyway, when I arrived at the gym, I decided to jump on the treadmill to play with my speed, just a little - and I ran one more mile in 8:38.  It was really easy.  I was so tempted to do more at a faster pace, but I restrained myself.  I don't want to sacrifice my race this weekend for a few minutes of pleasure now.

Then I did my LBWO - leg extensions, lying leg curls, calve raises, and Ab-RipperX.  My legs felt good and tired when I finished.  That is the only leg workout I plan to do this week, other than running and maybe some biking, so I can rest them up for the race.  I think I'm good for the day.  I might do some swimming later tonight, just for fun.  :D

Later....I ended up going to the pool with Ben.  I started swimming, but wasn't feeling it, and I considered quitting at twenty lengths.  But then I thought I might as well do 40, and by then, 50 sounded doable, so I kept going.  I ended up doing 70 laps - almost a mile.  Ben and I celebrated by going to Bajio's for huge ensaladas.  :D

It was raining again this morning, so I took two of my boys to the gym so they could get their runs in.  Hyrum did 3 miles (he's new to this) and Elijah did 4 miles (he's my 12-yr-old marathoner!).  I did 3.1 miles easy in 28:40, then went immediately to the recumbant bike for my HIIT.  I thought about doing it on the treadmill, but I have to run pretty fast to get my heart rate up high enough, and I don't dare do that yet with the half-marathon this weekend.  I felt a little tired on the bike because I had just run, so I don't think my levels were as high as they should have been, but my mileage was the same as usual...so maybe I did better than I think I did.  :D

This evening I did an hour of Zumba and an hour of yoga.  I'm starting my "carbing-up" for the race this weekend, but I'm planning to just add extra fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and keep the fat to a minimum.  I plan to avoid junk food altogether until after the race - then...FREE DAY!  :D

I did a five mile run this morning with Gail.  We did it in 1:00:51 - she's getting faster!  Then I followed it up with P90X Back and Biceps and one final round of Ab-RipperX before the race. I had planned on eating good, but I have been starving again all week - I'm hungry before, during, and after every meal! So I got sick of that, and decided I needed a free meal. I guess there's really no such thing as that, but I took one anyway. It feels SO GOOD not to feel hungry for a minute, but I know I'll need to eat again in an hour or so. Ben and I went to the sushi buffet, and even though I ate MOSTLY clean, I ate in LARGE portions. I did eat some chocolate-covered almonds at the end, but I'm calling it "carbing-up" and will go with it. My plan for Dallas is to pack in the majority of my food, and add extra fruits, veggies, and whole grains to build up my glycogen stores. Ben laughed at me and said "You're CARBING UP? It's ONLY a half-marathon!" Thank you, Mr. Ultra-marathon. Anyway, that is my plan...we'll see how good I am at actually DOING it.

I did my 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike this morning, finishing 5.35 miles.  Then when I arrived home from the gym, I took two of my boys out running.  We did the first 1.88 miles together, with walk breaks, in the first 21 minutes.  Then I semi-ran home, opening up a little more on the throttle, and finished another 1.27 in 10:54.  It felt good to increase my speed a bit.  After the race, I want to implement just a little bit of speed work.  I'm undecided as to how much to give to this race, since I've only been on the road for two weeks, and I DO still have a marathon to prepare for in May.  We shall see.

I've been experimenting a bit with eating some carbs prior to working out, because of an article I read on active.com, which said that you can get more out of your workouts by fueling up with some carbohydrates about a half hour before your workout.  The article said you can work out much harder, thus burning more fat.  I tried a bit of raisen bran yesterday, and about halfway into my workout, I started feeling really nauseated.  So today I tried some homemade granola, and I felt great for the bike, but about a mile into the run I felt like I was experiencing a little hypoglycemia.  I'm thinking I do better NOT eating before I workout...maybe my crazy blood-sugar issues can't handle the carbs without some balancing protein.  I'm going to play with it some more, and see what I discover.  :D

I spent 22 hours in a car to get to Dallas...does that count as exercise?  Yes.  An exercise in patience and long-suffering.  :D

I only had time today to get in a quickie warm-up for the race tomorrow.  I did a little running on the treadmill, starting out slow and gradually increasing my speed.  I ended up doing 2.15 miles in about 19 minutes.