Winning!

Today ruled. I woke up and was out the door running at 5:30am.  My first thought was "Awesome, this weather is perfect and cool!".  My next thought was "oh crap I can't really see the sidewalk, hope I don't bite it".  I managed to log my easy 2 mile run in and feel great at the end. Sweaty, but great.  I then took my time getting ready for my first day of internship. It took longer than getting ready for the gym.  I have to get used to the whole wearing real clothes, doing my hair, and putting on makeup routine again.  

My internship started off great. I feel comfortable with my supervisor and the school just seems like a great fit overall.  The best part of the day, however, came while I was sitting in my supervisor's office and I got a text telling me to check my email - our comp exam scores were in.  I didn't study for this big important exam and so I was ready to see that I failed and not cry. But I was wrong! I passed! Can you believe it? (because I sure can't). So to celebrate I treated myself to Subway and Starbucks for lunch and smirked the entire time. Muahahaha I'm a lazy genius ;)

And to finish off my great day I taught Body Pump and got to pick up my rehydrate gels. Score!

Back to School

Tomorrow is my first day of high school.  Well, my first day as a school counseling intern at a high school.  While the students haven't started yet, I'm going in to work with the administration in prepping for the new school year.

I have to fit in a 2 mile run before I head to the high school so I have my running clothes all picked out and laid at the foot of my bed.  I made sure to choose the most obnoxious neon colors since it will be dark out at 5:30 and I really don't feel like getting hit by a car. Not on my first day anyways.

I have my school outfit picked out and my lunch is packed. (Note to self, buy groceries that are acceptable to be seen eating in the school lounge)

I even got new school supplies! This is always the best part of going back to school and I couldn't not participate in the tradition.  I decided to treat / bribe myself to go back to school with a new fancy schmancy day planner.  I ordered this beauty from www.erincondren.com two weeks ago and have been patiently waiting (complete and total lie) for it to arrive.  I may or may not have obsessively checked the order status and tracking number?

Anyways it came! It finally came!!!! And it is wonderful!  It even came wrapped up all adorable looking.

Not only is it personalized with all my favorite things listed on the cover, but it makes my life feel organized for a minute.  I thoroughly enjoyed spending my afternoon writing in my half-marathon training schedule and all the other million things I have to squeeze in a day. I'm just going to pretend that since I color coded everything with my new pens, that everything will easily get done and miraculously fit into 24 hours a day.

So now it's time to get to bed. It is a school night after all.

Slow Mo

I started the day off with teaching a Body Pump class bright and early at 6am! For once I felt like everything went smoothly and I wasn't nervous beforehand.  So with my cross training out of the way, I just had to do an easy jog for 20-30 minutes.  I decided to be a champion and go for 30.  I quickly regretted that as I was huffing and puffing along a hilly trail in the blazing sun. Seriously when is it going to stop being so hot and humid? Doesn't the weather know that I work early in the am and need some cooler weather in the afternoons for training? I honestly felt as if I was running in slow motion.  But slow and steady wins the race...no wait, that actually doesn't happen in real life, but slow and steady does FINISH the race and that is what I'm working towards.  Well that and working towards burning off all those carbs I consumed over the weekend. Ooops.

Change in Persepective

Yesterday was an off day for me and I fully took advantage of it. I rested my legs and ate carbs to my hearts content (it's important for runners right?).  I was prepping for my first "long run".  While 3 miles isn't exactly all that long, it is the start of my sunday ritual where I will be increasing my runs by a mile every week.  I mentally prepared to wake up and get a start on the day before it got to hot, I ate pasta for dinner, and I picked out my neon running outfit.  Were these things necessary for a 3 mile run? Not really, but I'm trying to get pumped and into a routine for the future big runs.

I woke up this morning at 7 (not 5 like I had originally planned). It was overcast and looked like it was a little cooler than the rest of the week but it was definitely still muggy.  I took my spark and vitamins and grabbed my ipod.  Someone gave me the advice yesterday to just not worry about time at all.  And you know what, that perspective helped.  I've been trying to push myself the past couple of runs run at a set pace.  Today for the the "long" run I was just going to go as slow as I felt comfortable and enjoy it.  I zigzagged through the neighborhood and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful houses where the other half live.  And guess what, the run went by fast and easy! Well ok, not "fast", I actually was about 40 seconds slower per mile, but still, I didn't hate the run. I enjoyed it.  I even ran an extra .5 miles just because I wasn't home yet and still felt good.

And just to keep my Sunday ritual routine off to a good start, now I'm going to allow myself to replenish my carb levels with a Sunday Brunch.  (Will Run for Waffles).

Long Way to Go

After teaching a class at 6am and working until 1:30, I had to do my run.  Boy was it hard to get myself to head out the door. I felt so fatigued. Not sure why, maybe not sleeping well, or teaching 5 classes this week plus running, or just the fact that it was getting close to my 3:00 hit the wall time. Whatever the reason was, it sucked.  I needed motivation.  I tried to find music but don't have anything good. So I drank my spark and after that set in I was able to lace up my shoes and head outside.

Unfortunately it didn't immediately get easier.  I really struggled and I only had to run 2.5 miles (but i forced myself to do 2.75...yeah I could only muster up .25 more) How on earth am I going to make it further if this short distance was so hard? My leg throbbed and to make matters worse I was having trouble with my phone/playlist/running app. It was driving me nuts! Note to self, buy new ipod armband immediately or a phone chucked at a tree out of rage might occur.

Anyways, I made it. It wasn't fun nor pretty, but it's done.  And now? My legs are throbbing even more.  I need to buck up because this is only going to get harder.  Help.

Rest Days

I now get why my training program has built in rest days.  At first, I thought it was odd that the program didn't have me running every day, but now I totally get it.  I couldn't get comfortable last night and tossed and turned.  I woke up stiff and achy. I'm tired, cranky, and fatigued.  I don't think it's so much just from the 3 miles I logged yesterday, but the combo of doing moksha yoga the night before, running in the am, and then teaching a body pump class last night. I over did it on the weights because my shoulders are killing me.  So while I somehow managed to get myself out of bed at 5:00, I now sit here trying to muster up the energy to teach a barre class at 10.  The only thing getting me through is my spark drink and the thought of an afternoon nap.  While it isn't fully a rest day since I'm teaching a class, I fully intend to give my body a break before another double workout day tomorrow.  This is definately going to be a learning process for me and my body.  I have a feeling we are going to have a few arguments along the way while we figure this whole schedule out.


.......
It's the second half of the day and I couldn't help but update because of how differently the afternoon turned out than I planned.  An hour before I had to teach I took my Advocare Muscle Strength supplement and man did that make a difference! I had more energy and my muscles were ready to go for another workout.  With this little support I was able to enjoy the class and feel like I connected with all the ladies who came.  It was probably one of my best classes yet!
And I have yet to take a nap! Instead I finally made my dreaded chore trip of grocery shopping.  Can I just take a minute to brag here? I mean I don't know what is more impressive to me...
1) I chose grocery shopping over a nap
2) I remembered my reusable bags
3) I pretty much stuck to my list
4) I did NOT buy any wine even though there isn't a drop in my apartment (they even were making announcements about a new brand they have!)
5) I only bought a small jar of peanut butter even though I was itching for the giant canister....i'm weaning myself off....
6) I have no money in my bank account but had some cash due to tips etc from work...I wasn't adding in my head and it came within 1 dollar of all I had in my purse.
7) I came home, put everything away AND CUT UP MY FRUIT! (I have a habit of putting this off and then I don't eat it and it goes in the trash along with my money)

Ok maybe now I'll take that nap :)

Workout Buddies - Off and Running!

I've been so lucky to have my cousin, Courtney, in town to jump start this training routine.  She is also doing a half in the fall and while she will be in school and training on the west coast, we are going to be long distance training buddies (get it? long distance! haha oh man I'm cheesy).

Last night we went to our first hot yoga class at Moksha.  Boy they aren't kidding when they call it hot.  I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole thing.  While my muscles felt  great and warm and stretched easier...my breathing was difficult and I couldn't hold postures when my body was all slippery from buckets of sweat. Not pretty.  But I felt awesome afterwards so I can definitely see the benefits. I still think I just like a good hatha class instead.

This morning we got right back at the workout routine with our first official training run.  My program said I only had to run  two miles.  Courtney said we were going to run three. So we did. I wasn't going to question her on this because I can't be the weaker cousin! I am, however, the slower cousin so I felt bad that she held back for me.  This did motivate me to push it a little harder knowing someone else was slowing down for me and I knocked a couple seconds off my pace from last time which is pretty good considering I added another mile on.  I'll take it! Hopefully I can keep it up when Courtney isn't around.  Anyone else want to be my buddy?