Blob-o-rama

Yeah, that is me right now! I had Chipotle for lunch and it made me bloated as heck! I feel like I'm breakin' out of my britches over here! On the upside, nothing is more motivating to get to the gym than having the waistline of your pants gouging into your stomach all afternoon. Yeah, that's right...blob-o-rama!

I think I might actually make it...

to the gym on my lunch break! I keep telling myself I'm going to go up there on lunch and get a little weight training session in, but somehow I never end up getting out of here. My lunch is generally spent at my desk shoving a bite in my face every few minutes. But today? Today I am going to make it a point to get my butt up from this desk and go get half a workout in! And that will leave less to face after work :)

Also...I think I can say I'm officially decaffienated! I've still been getting a coffee or hot chocolate in the mornings, but its always decaf. Except Sunday morning because I went to my little neighborhood coffee spot and the guy knows me and just started making my usual. I didn't have the heart to stop him! Now, if I can just kick the morning expensive drink altogether and drink water, I'll save myself about $100 a month! Oh yeah! And I also FINALLY stopped driving to work...which costs $16 a day for parking! That was a truly bad habit! This bad weather was too much for me to endure in the morning. But following along the same lines as the new running philosophy, I can choose to drive or I can choose to suck it up and freeze!!! I choose to FREEZE!! And frozen I am :)

Inspiration

I'm forever looking for inspiration. I'm weak. It is hard to find it within myself to accomplish some of my "life" things and I'm just always forcing people to give me words of wisdom :)

It was Valentine's Day. My friend and I happened to end up going out to dinner that night and being that we are a man and a woman, having dinner together, on a holiday for couples, well...it seemed to be assumed by the waitstaff that we were in need of a little romatic push. So, when we ordered our usual huge bowl drink, it came much more alcohol infused than usual! And, of course, we both proceeded to drink more than we ate :) Ah...I love Valentine's Day!

Anywho, this little buzz-fest led to a really, truly inspiring conversation after dinner. My problem with this whole running thing is multi-tiered. First, there is the getting up in the morning to run. I am forever trying to figure out how to be a morning person. Why is this so important? Because when the weather gets hot, I'm also not one to force myself into suffering through a night run. Therefore, if there is no run in the morning...and temps make me call it that night = NO RUN. Next is the whole laziness factor. I admit it! I am lazy! Marathon + Lazy = Failure. It goes without saying that that missing one run during the week makes progression hard enough...but missing multiple runs? That is recipe for disaster...and for some reason, I guess I liked living on the edge :)

So, the conversation. He just put it all so simple. I am in charge of my actions. I can do whatever I CHOOSE to do. Choices. I have to make them. For the right reasons. And another thing he put so simply...don't you want to be able to face the day and everyone in it and think about how much you already accomplished before 9am, that they didn't? YES! Yes, I do! I want to walk into the office and look at everyone and scream, "I ran 8 miles this morning! What did you do?!"

And so what if I can't pig out on pizza everyday? I've got years and years and YEARS beyond this marathon to eat pizza. Can I really not handle passing it up right now? I think I've just been looking at this all wrong. I am in charge of me, my time and my abilities. Not my job. Not the weather. Not my heart rate monitor that rubbed me raw...I am! And I will do what I need to do, to do this right! And everytime I begin to falter, I will think of that buzzed conversation that made it all sound so easy. Just like he made the marathon look.

Decaf: Day 2

That means that yesterday was Decaf: Day 1. And it sucked. I just went to 7-Eleven and grabbed a cup of decaf, threw in some splenda and lots of yummy flavored cramers and was off. It tasted less than appealing, but it was something to satisfiy the hand-to-mouth habit I have in the morning. I thought things were fine. Until 2pm struck. Out of nowhere came the worst headached I've had in I don't know how long! Right in the front of my forehead and in my temples. I don't like medication and I tried to fight through it. I had to go see my chiropractor so I thought maybe a distraction would get rid of it. NO. Instead, walking around in the non-human temperatures there and back seemed to make it worse.

The day wore on and the headache persisted. Finally, at 6:15, when I was ready to leave work, I spotted a little bottle of Advil at the bottom of my bag. I gave in and took 2, thinking of how by the time I got home, my little (huge) headache should be gone. WRONG. It was still going strong when I got home. I made dinner, ate dinner then finally just laid down on the couch. I'd guess somewhere around 8pm it finally ceased. A 6 hour headache! Augh!

So, today is day 2. I gave in and got a decaf Starbucks...that 7-Eleven decaf stunk! I will assume that the torture yesterday will not again occur. At least it better not! Now, my next step is figuring out how to make my tastebuds like tea :)

Morning *cough* Coffee

This morning I went and met my friend for coffee...well, he had tea because he's already knee deep in his training mentality, but I told him I wasn't giving up coffee until Monday :)

We started talking about our training differences and he made some valid points. He wanted to clarify that the reason he wanted to wait until August to train with me was because he wants to make sure that I'm doing it for me. He said that if he is my crutch the whole and and something should happen that he can't continue, he doesn't want me to fall off because I was using him as my motivator. And you know, that is a very valid point. He basically wants me to make sure that I'm doing it for me and that nothing will get in my way.

Then, of course, he addressed my morning issue. You all know how many times I've tried to conquer the early morning thing, but it just doesn't seem possible! I love to sleep! Again, he made another valid point here. We both felt sort of cheated out of our summers in the years that we trained because running had to come first and forced us to miss out on various events and whatnot. But, he says if we can make sure that we run in the mornings, that will leave our weekends and evenings free to take advantage of the good weather and still enjoy ourselves while also getting all our training in. Hmmmm...this guy is kinda smart!

Lastly, he talked to me about my overall dedication and how far I'm willing to go. I never played organized sports past junior high and he thinks that is why the thought of pushing myself beyond my physical comfort level is so awful to me. I've just never had to. My take on it is to find a way to do this in the least disruptive way possible, while his take is to attack it head on and adjust anything and everything in the way.

Now I'm not sure what to do. I guess my way didn't work so well, afterall...I supposed I could try to push myself harder. But that is scary. I supposed now is the time to test the waters, before the real training starts. Yikes!

Training style

My friend who ran the marathon back in 2006 and inspired me to try for 2007 decided to run it again in 2008. I will be running Portland this year, but they are only a week apart so we would be able to train together.

Last night we got to talking about getting started again and where we need to work ourselves up to in order to be ready when the real training begins in the spring. When he ran it in 2006, he made a complete lifestyle change. He was an athlete, but never really a distance runner and yet in his first attempt, in his mid-30s, he finished in 4:20 without struggling at all. But, like I said, he made a complete lifestyle change. He stopped drinking caffeine, cut his caloric intake by more than I truly deemed healthy :), stopped drinking alcohol and going out (which made for quite the boring summer for me!) and just basically completely devoted those months to the marathon. I was amazed and in awe. He made it look so effortless.

As we were talking, I could tell that he wants me to put forth that same effort he will be in this year's training. I want to. I probably really, really need to. BUT...YIKES! I don't want to give up my coffee! I don't want to run 23 miles TWICE before the marathon. I want to enjoy my summer because I feel like I missed the last one. Does that mean I'm not devoted to this? I just don't know what I should do. Do I give his plan a shot and hope I can hang on? Do I learn from my weaknesses last year and change my approach based on that?

I think I already pissed him off and made him not want to train with me :) He said, and I quote, maybe we should just wait until mid-August to train together. Hahaha! MID-AUGUST! By then I'll know if I'm marathon ready or not and won't need as much help! Oh, decisions, decisions!

Small Steps

So, with my promotion come working on alternating Saturdays. Sucks, right? No! Actually, I loved having Friday off and then going in on Saturday where basically no one is there and I can actually get some real work accomplished!! PLUS...since its a short day (9-3pm) its a lot easier to fit in my trip to the gym! Most days, I'm so drained when I get off that I just want to go home and be a lump!

Yesterday, I totally planned to hit the gym after work. But, as the day wore on and the thought of getting home started to creep into my head, the seemed to become less and less enticing. Right when I had almost made up my mind to forget the gym, it was 3pm and time to head out. I'm not sure how or why, but I found myself grabbing my gym bag and heading upstairs!
I got to the gym and it was deserted. Saturdays in a Loop office building are a little quiet :) The lights weren't even on! But the music was still pumpin' through the speakers and the TVs on the machines were going strong. So, with the gym all to myself, I finally attacked a little cardio. I spent some time on the elliptical trainer and then walked some serious hills on the treadmill. And that there, folks, wore me out! I wanted to get some weights in, but I was too tired!

As disappointed as I am at how bad I've let my cardiovascular stamina get, I still feel a little better with every workout. I know its not possible, but I swear I already feel stronger! When I put my hands on my thighs when standing up from the couch, I swear I feel my little quad muscles coming alive! My butt feels just a little bit tighter. And its great to feel some soreness in my abs since that is a muscle group I have always neglected...no matter how good of shape I've been in! I'm taking small steps, but this is the start of something good! I can feel it!

Oh, me booty sore!

Well, my new job has kept me at the office obscene hours this week so I haven't even made it to the gym except for my scheduled appointments with the trainer :( I don't have have time to eat lunch! I finally get away to grab something between 2pm and 3pm and then slowly eat it at my desk over the course of the next 2 hours or so. I kid you not, I usually finish my "lunch" close to 5pm! Its absolutely crazy!

But, that was not what this post was supposed to be about :) Met with the trainer yesterday morning for another circuit training session. I don't know if its been my crazy schedule this week or what, but this time it all felt a ton harder than last time! We started on the squat machine...I can't remember what its called...the one where you put the weights on the bar and squat with it...Smith machine? Can't remember! Anywho, easy enough. Did free weight for upper back and shoulder presses again. Still not too bad. Then I had to do walking side squats down the length of the gym and back holding a weight. Uh...one time down felt okay, but on the way back, I started to get REALLY tired! I mean, didn't I already do squats today?! I finish and we go straight into abs. I'm not sure its possible, but I could swear my abs were still sore from last week!

Just one circuit had me sweating and out of breath! I was so embarrassed! I really think it was the walking squats that were killing me. After the 3rd circuit, I wanted to die! I went into the locker room and I swear I couldn't stop breathing hard! And my legs muscles were so tired, I didn't even want to expend the effort it took to stand up! How pathetic!

This really is freaking me out about running. If lifting is there hard, imagine trying to do some serious cardio! Oh my goodness! I have to work Saturday so going to be sure to stop into the gym after that and give cardio a go. Maybe do a little lifting on my own too. At least she is stregthening my legs! That is bound to help when it comes time to get serious about training. But for now, my booty is sore like never before and my hammies and inner thighs aren't feeling so great either! Oh yeah, and abs...hurts to laugh :) But its still that good pain...pain that reminds you that you got the job done!