Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

AM - 50 minutes on the bike trainer

PM - 50 minutes on the elliptical, then I FINALLY forced myself to go to the 60 minute Centergy class I put on my calendar every single week and never go to.  My muscles were shaking by the end, that class is so good for me and I need to remember that.  I went to bed super early because I was so tired after this.  

AM - 45 minutes on the bike trainer

AM - 40 minutes on the bike trainer

PM - 3 mile neighborhood slow run outside with Cooper, I missed running so much!  I hope I'm better now and can keep running.  After I came back in I walked 3.2 miles on the TM while I watched The Office.  

AM - 30 minutes on the bike trainer.  Meant to do some more in the evening but started cleaning and doing errands and didn't make it.

AM - 6 glorious miles at Phillip Arnold Park with Jordanne.  I wanted to try to find some trails and googled what was around book club brunch (which we went to after) and came across these mountain biking trails.  It was perfect!  It was a pretty tiny place so they weren't that long and I would never go there alone but I loved it, definitely will go back.

Afterwards had some delicious Irish brunch at A Terrible Beauty with the book crew.  

AM - The only good thing about daylight savings time is that at 5:30am on a weekend I don't feel like a complete zombie!  30 minutes on the bike trainer before we headed off to the airport for VACATION!

AM - 40 minutes on the elliptical at the hotel gym (that's a laugh, it's 2 treadmills, one elliptical, and one bike).  Was hoping for some dumbells, but at least the machines have TV built in!  Now we're off to Universal Islands of Adventure!

AM - 5 mile run in a loop around the hotel, not exactly scenic and there was some worrisome potential alligator habitats. :-)  It was pretty hot with the sun beating down already even at 8am.  Then off to Wet n' Wild!

AM - 40 minutes on the elliptical.  Then off to get Blasco at the airport and head to Universal Studios!

I forget what time this was, probably afternoon.  Lovely 4 mile run with Leandrea through the amazing streets of Atlanta.  Felt slow, I am out of running-fast shape.  Turns out doing cardio like crazy doesn't really keep you from becoming a slower running.  It probably helped me maintain my ability to run for a long time, but not fast.  

AM - 10 minutes on the elliptical at Leandrea's gym, then a 1 hour interval class which I really liked, it alternated cardio stuff (jumping on bosu balls, jumproping, shuttle runs, steps) with weights, and I bet my calves will be sore tomorrow.  Afterwards did a 1 mile (or so) walk on the running path.  Cold here today!

I barely did anything today.  My shin kind of hurt all day (I think from all the jumping at the interval class yesterday) which really worried me.  At night I took Lucky out for a 35 minute walk to keep the workout streak alive.  

Ran the Atlanta Girls on the Run 5k with Leandrea this morning - although we weren't really feeling it as we dragged ourselves out of bed early and drove 40 minutes to downtown Atlanta (on some sketchy streets no less!) I was so glad we went, I just love Girls on the Run and am dying to be a leader, if I can swing it spring quarter I'm definitely going to apply.  Seeing all those girls out cheering, out running their first 5ks, reaching their goals, so happy to be running, was so inspiring.  Leandrea WON these race entries, so a completely FREE race (even though no tshirts, just huge gloves that I probably won't ever wear) is always a fun time. 

Did a 1 mile warm-up, got a whole bunch of freebies (which I ate most of, my banana only breakfast was leaving me hungry! cherry pie larabars are the best), then lined up in the first wave, and took off.  First mile mostly downhill, 3rd mile mostly uphill.  With about .4 miles Leandrea told me to go and at first I protested but then I thought about how lovely it would be to go hard, so I took off, but she finished just 20 seconds behind me so she was hauling at the end as well.  Great morning for a run!  My shin is kind of bothering me after Friday's weights class, I guess from all of the jumping around, and that is a little worrisome.

TT: 26:23   AP: 8:23

Splits: 8:01, 8:55, 8:31, 6:28 (.15)

Love being on East Coast time still.  Woke up at 5:30am on my own, worked out, and still got to work by 7:30am, which is great since I'm so behind!

AM - 40 minutes on the bike trainer

PM - I meant to do something but I just worked, I'm so behind.

AM - Woke up at 5:30am on my own again!  50 minutes on the bike trainer.

PM - Traffic was horrible and didn't think I would make it but got to the gym for Centergy with 2 minutes to spare.   1 hour Centergy class, my abs hurt so bad.  Was so incredibly tired and hungry at the end. 

AM - 30 minutes on the bike trainer, was not feeling the bike this morning

PM - After a lovely babysitting session with Denali, finally dragged myself to the treadmill at 9pm.  I HATE THE TREADMILL!  1.25 miles running, 1.75 miles walking.  

What did I do on Thursday?  It's hard to remember, but I'm pretty sure it was a PM 60 minute elliptical jaunt.  

4:00 PM - Met Jordanne, Anya, and Lisa (& Denali!) for an absolutely lovely BPA run.  I got to push Denali for the first half but after the first treacherous hill on the way back I pawned her off on Anya because pushing it is EXHAUSTING!  I seriously felt GREAT today, I kind of wanted to run more except it was dark and literally probably 35 degrees out.  My shin didn't hurt! (knock on wood)  Garmin fail, I have no idea how far we ran, but it was probably around 5. 

(I did 15 minutes on the elliptical before the run because I got there a little early AND I did 15 real push-ups in a row!  It's amazing how fast my push-up skills have improved!) 

A productive Saturday of work, raking leaves, and approximately 10 loads of laundry.  I attempted to go through the large quantity of boxes my parents dropped off that have just been sitting in the entry way but after about 15 minutes I just moved them to the office to die a slow lonely death with the rest of our stuff we never use but can't seem to part with.  We'll call my workout the 30+ minutes of raking leaves (my arms were sooo tired, you've never seen so many leaves, we will never be rid of them since there's enough to fill about 5 of our yard waste bins) and a 2.2 mile walk around the neighborhood (1 big loop 1 little loop with Cooper).  

10am - Met Jordanne for a lovely 28-degree run at BPA trail.  I was way prepared with clothing and after 2 miles we stopped at the bathroom and I left my sweats (on top of my tights), my under armour long sleeve (just kept on my sweet Gatorade jacket Leandrea gave me), my hat, and gloves behind.  Beautiful blue sky and mountain views, difficult BPA hills, overall a great run.  I felt good again!  I LOVE RUNNING!  Don't worry, I'll try not to get carried away...

TD: 7.55 miles  TT: 1:16:25   AP: 10:07

Splits: 10:13, 10:02, 10:15, 9:41, 9:56, 10:29, 10:13, 10:08 

Afterwards we went to 50 minutes of Centergy (we were 10 minutes late).  

AM - 40 minutes bike trainer

PM - 65 minutes elliptical

AM - 30 minutes bike trainer

PM - Lovely 4 mile run with Lisa around the dark dark streets by the community center.  BUT after POURING POURING POURING all day long it did not rain on us one bit.  I do like when it does not rain, when it rains it is a shame. (what?!)  I digress.  I was 15 minutes late due to stupid traffic (SORRY LISA!!!!).  Afterwards I did one more mile on the indoor track - hard effort, I should have timed it.  

AM - 30 minutes on the bike trainer

IT'S ALMOST A 4 DAY WEEKEND!  And did I mention I turned in my first 3 dissertation chapters on Monday?  Although what's happening with them is still frustrating and up-in-the-air, it's still off my plate!

I really wanted to do a turkey trot today but paying $30 and driving somewhere and doing it at a certain time just did not seem too appealing!  So I decided to invent Nicole's 1st Annual Virtual Turkey Trot 5k, and invited some friends to participate too (as of now I only know of 1 other participant though, sadly!  Thanks Rachael!).  

Ran down to the dog park (1.3 miles) as my warm-up.  Although I maybe could have run just a tiny bit faster I was suffering pretty bad most of the time.  I almost quit after 1 mile because it was so hard!  I am out of shape and have a lot of work to do if I want to get a 5k PR any time soon (which I do!).  

TT: 24:55  AP: 8:01

Splits: 7:58, 8:11, 7:58, 7:27 (.11) 

Then ran one more loop and back home (2.6 miles, for a total of 7 miles).  The last 15 minutes or so it was fairly wet, which was miserable only because I didn't wear my hat (like an idiot).  My legs felt like lead this whole time, and I walked part of the Hillside hill on the way home.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I have much to be thankful for: family, friends, health, Cooper, a job, a home, food, RUNNING, the list goes on. 

AM - 30 minutes recumbent bike with push-up breaks before some lovely shopping with my mom in Salem. 

PM - A lazy 30 minutes on the bike trainer after we made it back to Seattle.  This should hardly count as a workout... I barely broke a sweat!

9AM - A lovely 8.5 mile jaunt in the pouring rain (I felt hard core!) with Lisa this morning.  I expected she would bail (and Jordanne did bail) because of the crappy weather, but it actually was quite a nice run, not too cold (though my thighs were beet red by the end) and just lovely along the Cedar River.  After Lisa left I decided to do some tempo miles, did 3 of those and then the last mile was a recovery mile but speedwork magic happened and that mile was nearly as fast as the tempos!  I want to get fast again!

TT: 1:17:40  AP: 9:08

Splits: 9:49, 9:57, 9:25, 9:22, 8:46, 8:22, 8:27, 8:48 

Decorated our Christmas tree!  I want to decorate the house too but it's still pouring and I don't have that much self-hatred! :-) 

PM - 80 minutes on the elliptical.  My right foot kept falling asleep which was really annoying!  After the required 60 I wasn't bored yet so I said I would keep going until I was ready to die of boredom.  Wanted 90 minutes but the boredom-to-death was there at 80!

PM - 40 minutes on the elliptical, 55 minutes of centergy (was a little late, stupid traffic).  It felt hard today!  My push-up skills have already left me. 

PM - Lovely run with Lisa around the community center.  3.5 with her, after she left I did 2.5 more on the indoor track, the last mile I did 1 lap on 1 lap off, did the mile in approximately 8 minutes flat.  

Is it the weekend yet?