Getting Ready For Fitmas

You may or may not know Miss Donloree

She is one of the most positive people I have met in the virtual community of twitter and blogging. She is a strong dedicated woman who overcame obesity to become a figure competitor! She keeps me inspired and even on my hardest days I know she is there for help and motivation. Well she is running a fun new challenge for the next 12 weeks which is Fitmas. Read all about it and sign up with me!!

I just think its a great idea. I gladly am joining the fitmas journey!

For me my own personal goals will be a bit different from traditional ones.

1) First is my marathon. Yes I will be running my first official marathon on November 20 right smack dab in the middle of this challenge :) I do have a personal goal for this marathon. Now many people say just be happy to finish, you should not set a time goal especially for your first one. Well if you did not know me by now then you are learning, I do not follow the 'normal' guidelines for things ;) I make my own way, set my own goals and tackle them head on. With that being said I want to finish my first marathon in less than 4 hours.

2) Set a goal wait and move on. I have been teetering around setting goal weight based upon BMI or talking to my primary care physician and going from there. I have my annual physical Monday so it will be a perfect time to discuss and set it and move on. I am guessing it will be around 155. Not 100% sure. Currently I am weighing in at 155.8 so I am there.

3) Work on my inches and body fat %. I have come a long way but I would like to tweak it just a bit.
Date Bust/ Chest// waist/ hips/ thighs/ knees/ calves/ upper arm/ forearm
12/31/2010 37.5/ 35/ 31.5/ 35/ 22/ 16/ 16/ 11.5/ 10.5
2/23/2011 36.5/ 33.5/ 30/ 33/ 20.5/ 14.5/ 16/ 11/ 9
4/29/2011 36/ 34/ 30/ 33/ 20/ 14/ 16/ 12/ 9.5
7/9/2011 35/ 34/ 29/ 32/ 20.5/ 14/ 16/ 12/ 9.5
9/23/2011 35/ 34/ 31/ 33/ 20/ 14/ 16/ 12/ 9.5

My waist is all over the place! Well not literally but I like when it is 30 heck I loved 29 ;) So can I get back there please, that is part of fitmas for me. This also ties in with my body fat % right now it is right around 24% I want it to 19. I will be happy just to get under 20%.

4) Do 10 full pull ups!!! I can do about 4 half ones in a row before I die. I can hang for 30 seconds, I can do negative ones. But it plagues me that I still cannot bust out normal ones. I know I will get there I am just not patient ;)

5) Stay in marathon running shape. Kind of a concept I have been tossing around in my head all month. I am doing all this work to get ready to run a marathon, the race comes and then what is next? Yes I will rest for a few days but then what? I do not want to go through another 18 weeks of training before I can run another one. I want to be ready to run one whenever I want. So I plan to keep running daily and try to incorporate a long run 20+ miles into my routine once a month. I am hoping that will be enough.

That is all for now.

What are your goals for the next few months?

Forced To Rest

Well I have been sick for a few days.

What stinks about being sick the most?

No it is not the fever and chills. Nor the loss of appetite and headache. I could even handle the pain and achy body, if I could go run.

I know I should not be complaining it is only a sinus infection and hopefully I should be running by tomorrow. But it still stinks. I miss it already.

The last time I ran was Sunday morning! I went to the gym Monday morning and cycled and did some weights, but that was the last time I got to work out. I tried to go running this morning but after I began I was having chest pains. I came home and felt like crying.

My problem is I am so used to getting up early in the morning and working out. My body is conditioned to do it. Do you know even on a day off I still wake right around that 4:45AM. I look at my alarm most days and shut it off before it even goes off. I just have gotten into a rhythm of wake up, workout, tackle the day.

So missing a workout even if only for 2 days has left me kind of blue. I noticed today, I was crankier and that old feeling of depression began to sink in. Then in comes that self doubt, the worry and panic of missing a few training runs.

In my rational brain I know it is not a big deal it is only 2 days and it will not affect my marathon in 2 months, but in my irrational crazy brain I am worried about making up those missed runs and how it may hurt me in the long run. It is that inner voice the evil one that I always seem to battle lately.

In reality missing 2 days of running and or exercise is not a big deal to most people and I should be happy it is not more! I am happy it is not and I am hoping to get a run in tomorrow night. But I did learn that rest is needed to heal the body sometimes and I need to listen when the warning signs pop up.

Marathon Training Week 14!

Well here we go!!!

I have been training for one event for 14 weeks!!! That is a pretty long time ;)

I'm not sure if there has been anything recently that I have focused on or worked for as hard as this. Maybe the weight loss yes, but this is so much more. It is mental, it is physical, it requires me to push myself everyday to get up, get out there and achieve my goals. Some-days I feel like why the hell am I doing this, and others I feel excited and anxious for the big race day to come.

I have been sticking to my Galloway method of marathon training and following his training plan in the book Marathon You Can Do It.
I chart it all in my daily planner and on daily mile and it has been working so far so good.

Monday- Cross training day. I have been doing a workout at home just random crossfit workouts I put together for myself based upon the classes I was taking last month. I have gotten pretty good at being able to kick my own ass and push my body to new fitness levels.

Tuesday- A crappy early AM run. I headed out around 5AM and my allergies were bugging me a lot. I took my meds before I ran and this turned out to be a bad idea. I ended up getting 5 miles done in 53 minutes. Not a great one but done.

Wednesday- I did another home workout at night after work. Lots of leg and core work.

Thursday- I got up and hit the roads again for 6.2 miles. This time I felt great and got it done in 54 minutes! Much better :)

Friday- I hit the gym. I got on the treadmill intending to do 5 miles but after 2 I could not bear the pain in my knee anymore. :( I got 2 done in 18 minutes and headed over to the elliptical. I got 3 more miles done on there for 25 minutes and then headed to work for the day.

Saturday- I took a rest day. It was tough but I knew my body needed it, even though my mind did not.

Sunday- The schedule called for 10 x 1 mile repeats. I was going to do them outside but I woke up and decided I would be 'lazy' and head to the gym and use the treadmill. To me its so much easier to run on the treadmill, where I live is hilly so I am always running up hills. That makes speed work tough. And honestly I cannot bear to run around a track for more than a few times. So treadmill it was. I felt good too and I know my knee held up better. I got 10 miles run in 1 hour and 21 minutes. Most of my miles were right around 8 minutes to 7:35. My hope now is to be able to hold onto those 8 minute miles for the long marathon distance!

I learned this week that you need to rest once a week when you workout everyday. Your body needs time to recover and more often than not you will perform better for it.

I am looking forward to the Smitty nose Half marathon next weekend with a friend who will be doing his first half marathon! I like having races to practice longer runs its more fun than those long boring solo runs :)