I bit the bullet and did it, I signed up for a REAL RACE. I actually registered, despite being dubious about PAYING to run my butt up a huge hill with other people, and being restricted from using any audio device to motivate me to keep moving.
On April 11th, I'll be hauling myself from Stinson Beach to Muir Woods and back. Check out the course here: http://www.envirosports.com/exec/enviro/maps/mwprintmap.pdf
Yes, I'm running the 7 miler. Quite a hop from my original idea of doing 5k races. We'll see how I do, I'm now routinely running a relatively flat 5k a few times a week, and I anticipate doing at least one 6ish mile run on a trail this weekend to see how it goes. Worst case scenario, I walk part of the 1800 ft. incline, and make up my time zooming downhill. I'm really nervous, but really excited for this. If I'm not dead tired afterwards and the weather isn't too bad, I'll hop on my surfboard and cruise the sharky Stinson waves, too!
In other news, my scale saw me at 155 when last I weighed. This, dear friends, is a mere ten pounds above my high school/college norm to low weight. I am pleased, and hoping to continue the downward trend. Clothing has become fun again.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Spring is on the Way
This weekend was the first time we've seen consistent sun for what feels like EVER. I celebrated by spending lots of time with my horse on Saturday, then going for a hike for an hour and a half with my boyfriend on Sunday.
Because we catered to his comfortable pace (drastically slower than I would have needed/preferred) I felt like I didn't get AS good of a workout as I would ideally have wanted, however doing things together is important, as is getting him on the Workout Wagon, as a means of mutual support in our fitness goals.
Yesterday, though my hips were a little sore from the hiking, I ran the lake at lunch (again, between 3.1 and 3.4 miles, no one's sure.) It took me a little longer than it has in the past, between 35 and 45 minutes, but I didn't take traffic/in/out of building into account either.
The good news:
The transition period on my face with the Clarisonic seems to be tailing off, and my skin looks better by the day. YAY for Clarisonic.
I was trying to wear an accustomed outfit to work today, was all ready to go, when I looked in the mirror and saw my skirt was sitting too low to wear, about an inch of tummy was showing between my LONGISH fitted office blouse and my skirt. I usually like wearing skirts low (on the hips, I'm a surfer-style chick and I'm most comfortable in low-rise) but this was bordering on indecent, particularly for the office. To wear it at a normal height, I'd have to get it taken in at LEAST two inches.
Needless to say, I'm thrilled. My other pants/bottoms are fitting looser/better as well, and if I stay at this pace, I anticipate being able to wear my size 8/6 work pants within the month. TERRIBLY excited.
Because we catered to his comfortable pace (drastically slower than I would have needed/preferred) I felt like I didn't get AS good of a workout as I would ideally have wanted, however doing things together is important, as is getting him on the Workout Wagon, as a means of mutual support in our fitness goals.
Yesterday, though my hips were a little sore from the hiking, I ran the lake at lunch (again, between 3.1 and 3.4 miles, no one's sure.) It took me a little longer than it has in the past, between 35 and 45 minutes, but I didn't take traffic/in/out of building into account either.
The good news:
The transition period on my face with the Clarisonic seems to be tailing off, and my skin looks better by the day. YAY for Clarisonic.
I was trying to wear an accustomed outfit to work today, was all ready to go, when I looked in the mirror and saw my skirt was sitting too low to wear, about an inch of tummy was showing between my LONGISH fitted office blouse and my skirt. I usually like wearing skirts low (on the hips, I'm a surfer-style chick and I'm most comfortable in low-rise) but this was bordering on indecent, particularly for the office. To wear it at a normal height, I'd have to get it taken in at LEAST two inches.
Needless to say, I'm thrilled. My other pants/bottoms are fitting looser/better as well, and if I stay at this pace, I anticipate being able to wear my size 8/6 work pants within the month. TERRIBLY excited.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Building an arc
It's been raining off and on but mostly on for the last 2-3 weeks. I'm a self-admitted sun-addict, and this is KILLING me. The irony of purchasing new trail running shoes, taking them for one dang trial trail train, and having the mud return with the stranght of Atlas is extremely antagonizing to me.
So I got up at 5am (yes, that's A.M.) to go to our little gym at my apartment, and did 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer after 2 minutes of a sprint on the treadmill to get the heartrate going. Went about 3 miles on the elliptical while reading a Fitness magazine. Did a few cardio intervals, squatting lower on the machine while increasing my pace and resistance, definitely felt the burn. I'm figuring that since my boyfriend is off the exercise wagon (damn men for being able to lose weight by doing next to nothing to change their habits, I swear it's utterly unfair) and his influence makes it harder to exercise when he's awake, I'll get up ass-early to work out before going in to work. Workouts at lunch are great options too, but sometimes I need to work through lunch, or don't feel motivated to haul my butt down to the gym at work.
In order to ensure I get at least 30 minutes of cardio in, I'm doing the morning thing this week to see how it goes.
To further motivate me, I've also printed out a blank calander of the month, so I can visually SEE at my desk every day that I do or do not go to work out, and let that be a cue to see how much I'm REALLY putting into the fitness effort.
The good news is we're really keeping to the healthy eating plan. My 1 "cheat meal" this week has been SUSHI, and mostly vegetarian sushi at that, so I'm actually quite proud on that front. We also indulged by going to Whole Foods to pick up some of our groceries this week, so that will be tasty and fresh and different.
CLARISONIC progress: Love it. Use two cycles twice a day to wash my face and just under my jaw, and have seen drastic improvements in my skin. Areas that started out clear, have remained clear and look luminious, areas that were clogged (nose, chin in particular) are opening up and clearing out, and things are NOT coming back. The larger hormonal-related areas that are currently located just above my jawline on my left cheek are studiously fighting back against my attempts at control, but I estimate that once my hormones die down, so will those stubborn buggers. It's been just one week of use, and I'd thoroughly advise anyone with problem skin to consider this product as an option. No chemicals, just thorough cleansing.
So I got up at 5am (yes, that's A.M.) to go to our little gym at my apartment, and did 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer after 2 minutes of a sprint on the treadmill to get the heartrate going. Went about 3 miles on the elliptical while reading a Fitness magazine. Did a few cardio intervals, squatting lower on the machine while increasing my pace and resistance, definitely felt the burn. I'm figuring that since my boyfriend is off the exercise wagon (damn men for being able to lose weight by doing next to nothing to change their habits, I swear it's utterly unfair) and his influence makes it harder to exercise when he's awake, I'll get up ass-early to work out before going in to work. Workouts at lunch are great options too, but sometimes I need to work through lunch, or don't feel motivated to haul my butt down to the gym at work.
In order to ensure I get at least 30 minutes of cardio in, I'm doing the morning thing this week to see how it goes.
To further motivate me, I've also printed out a blank calander of the month, so I can visually SEE at my desk every day that I do or do not go to work out, and let that be a cue to see how much I'm REALLY putting into the fitness effort.
The good news is we're really keeping to the healthy eating plan. My 1 "cheat meal" this week has been SUSHI, and mostly vegetarian sushi at that, so I'm actually quite proud on that front. We also indulged by going to Whole Foods to pick up some of our groceries this week, so that will be tasty and fresh and different.
CLARISONIC progress: Love it. Use two cycles twice a day to wash my face and just under my jaw, and have seen drastic improvements in my skin. Areas that started out clear, have remained clear and look luminious, areas that were clogged (nose, chin in particular) are opening up and clearing out, and things are NOT coming back. The larger hormonal-related areas that are currently located just above my jawline on my left cheek are studiously fighting back against my attempts at control, but I estimate that once my hormones die down, so will those stubborn buggers. It's been just one week of use, and I'd thoroughly advise anyone with problem skin to consider this product as an option. No chemicals, just thorough cleansing.
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