March 12, 2009

New Shoes Today! I went to Fleet Feet yesterday in Schereville, Indiana and had a gait analysis and foot analysis to pick out the right shoe (Misty was awesome). I think I tried on 8 pairs of shoes till I settled with the Saucony's. I test drove them this morning on the elliptical for 5 miles and no signs of blisters coming back. If I like them after road wear this weekend, I'll probably go back and get another pair for Indiana and leave the new ones in Virginia! Not to mention that the prices seemed more reasonable than Northern Virginia too. There is a TREK Bike store next door, I may go by there tomorrow night to do some exploratory searching on bikes.

I could have gone to a Brooks brand (I now wear Brooks Arial), but it was like buying the same car in a different color, so I tried a new brand.

Snow showers today but no accumulation. Another night in Indiana before heading back to Virginia.

March 11, 2009

It sure is easy to get out of practice of blogging. Its been a good month in terms of fun and fitness. This past weekend I clocked 8 miles on the W&O Trail from Vienna to Falls Church at 12:00 per mile which was a PR for me. This week I'm back in Indiana and have used the elliptical at 5.0MPH for 2 hours logging 10 miles over the past two days.

We had two great weekends of Cornell Softball down at George Mason for tournaments. They've started out the season 6-0 with hot bats as they head down to Florida.

February 18, 2009

Wednesday morning - back on the "normal" path of 5AM CDT at Fitness Pointe. 4.8 Miles in the 65 minutes -- a little soreness in my knee today on the last 3 minute run so I pulled it back and walked. Took a couple advils and we'll see how the day goes. Lots of rain here in Indiana today, and I have to say I don't mind it a bit ~ thinking that it could be snow instead. I'm looking forward to a couple days on the SE coast of Florida at the end of the week.

February 17, 2009

An evening workout. For some reason, I was awake at 2:30AM CDT today and I got up and worked for a couple of hours and then tried to go back to sleep around 4:00AM CDT..As a result I missed my morning workout and told myself I had to go tonight. I do not like evening workouts. I really struggled on the treadmill tonight - was trying for walk 2, run 3 and managed that for 35 minutes and then went down to walk 3 , run 2...total of 4.8Miles which was good, but I really felt it. The Fitness Pointe site was much more crowded and there was certainly more activity to watch. I'll be back at it tomorrow morning at my normal 5AM workout time.

February 16, 2009

9 Miles within 12 Hours :) I procrastinated my Sunday workout until 8PM EDT and did the 65 minutes while watching the kickoff of the Amazing Race at the Fairfax Lifetime Fitness. Back on the treadmill at 5:45 am this morning in Chantilly to squeeze in my Monday workout before the flight to Chicago. I'm hopeful our new President stays put this morning so that the air traffic in Chicago doesn't get messed up.

Great party Saturday night hosted by Nancy in NW DC.

February 14, 2009 -- 10K

George Washington 10K in Alexandria VA today. A personal best completing the 10K in 74:49 minutes (11:42 per mile)! I did it by walking for 3 minutes and running for 2 the whole way out. I came in 630 out of 659 runners, and 60 of 66 in my female age group. Its amazing how folks on intervals tend to pass each other but really stay together the whole race. It was a chilly 35 degrees when we started but my body heated up pretty quickly.

Great progress for me from a year ago, and I felt pretty confident that I could do the course again (maybe not at the same interval) so that I can get through the 1/2 marathon. Right now, I'm thinking I can complete the 1/2 in 3 hours (which would be about 40 minutes quicker than last June). Time will tell.

A great workout and a great race course (pretty flat)!

February 12, 2009

A good workout at Fitness Point..4.8 miles, I trimmed back on the running and split it with walking (30/30). Will most probably take tomorrow off to get ready for Saturday. Looks like it will be cold on Saturday morning for the 10K.

Found a mall in Illinois last night - what a trip back to the retro 50's mall. I felt at home in Macy's but when I went into the mall it was like going into the twilight zone. I didn't stay there long at all.

The scale appears to be working in the right direction for this uptick in training!

February 11, 2009

Wednesday Morning at Fitness Pointe, IN

A good 65 minutes with 33 of running (5.5) and the rest walking (4.0). For some reason its getting harder (versus easier)...might be because I need a break. I'm thinking I will take Friday off before the race on Saturday to give my legs a day to rest.

Found a Red Lobster restaurant here in Munster Indiana which was excellent. I had their new "fired" tilapia, broccoli and a baked potato. I did manage to eat only 1/2 of those delicious cheese rolls and called it a night.

February 9, 2009

5 Miles Interval!

Early morning at Lifetime Fitness, and this time I cranked up my run time to walk for 2 minutes (4MPH) and then run for 3 minutes (5.5MPH). I was ready to quit at 36 minutes, but I pushed through and when I finished my 5 minute cooldown I had clocked 5 miles! That gives me some confidence for getting through 6.2 miles next Saturday in an hour and a half in celebration of Washington's Birthday. We'll see how the rest of the week goes, but it looks like my quads survived the spin class.

Nice Sunday dinner last night in Burke with a crowd of 5..some discussion of the upcoming softball season and the end of February visit by Big Red to play at Mason.

February 8, 2009

Spin Class
Okay so I bit the bullet and tried the "Spin Class" this morning. OMGosh! it was quite a workout and a great deal of fun. I was very upfront that it was my first class so everyone was watching out for me. I was able to complete the 60 minutes without my quads falling off, but they are still screaming a bit right now :) I will absolutely do it again, but not probably until the end of the month due to scheduling.

Did 30 Minutes run/walk afterwards in prep for next Saturday's 10K in celebration of Washingtons Birthday. My goal will be to complete it in less than 1.5 hours (its 6.2Miles in distance). It will be a good guage for how I'm getting ready for the 1/2 marathon.

Pretty sure a nap is in my plan for today and I'm thinking about taking an Aleve just to be preventative. It is a gorgeous day here in DC today - should be up to 60. Could still be a walk around Burke Lake in my future today.

February 7, 2009

Chocolate Festival in downtown Fairfax today and I resisted the temptation!

I went to my favorite CRT class today and it was quite a workout. Increased the weights to 5lb when we were doing weight exercises and I can feel it in my arms now. Finished with 35 minutes on the treadmill (3 Miles) with 20 minutes of running at 5.5 (4 minutes of running to just test it out)

Great time last night at GGN in DC, a small crowd, but we had a good time catching up. The new food choices were excellent. Its a gorgeous day here in the DC Area -- might get up to 50.

February 5, 2009

Fitness Pointe -- Munster, Indiana, a pretty nice fitness facility. I found out mid week that it comes along with the HI since their workout facility is so terrible, so this morning I decided to try it out.

Same drill as the past couple days 65 minutes on the treadmill. I'll have to be ready to walk in the door at 5AM if I want a treadmill with a personalized TV set, but for this morning I caught up on last week's NPR Wait Wait which was good.

I'm counting on the huge boost in activity to make an impact on the scale too! Back to Fairfax tonight.

February 4, 2009

So today I learned a bit more about "Lake Effect Snow" ~ I am lucky to be west of where it normally drops, but its a pretty amazing phenomenon where this stream of snow dumps (18" today) down across a swath of Indiana and heads east. Luckily I've moved hotels and the work site so that for this week, we avoided it.

Early bird caught the worm this morning -- on the treadmill at 5:00AM (6:00 AM EST) for a 4.9 Mile 65 Minute trek, walking at 4MPH, jogging at 5.5MPH in walk 3, run 2 intervals. This one really got to me, maybe because I've been at it for three days straight with no break. May take an easier trip tomorrow morning. I'm pushing hard to try to break through a decade on the scale this week. (One I've been sitting in since December!)

February 3, 2008

Happy Birthday Peggy!

Orland Park, Illinois Lifetime Fitness this morning at 5:30AM. I almost took the "totally strength" class in lieu of the treadmill - but will think about that next week. 4.8 Miles in 65 minutes (I think a record for me) 3 minutes walking at 16:00 (4MPH) and then 2 minutes running at 11:XX (5.5MPH) with the last interval of 4 minutes running. Man that was difficult.

The good news is that the 6-10 inches of snow predicted for today hasn't started yet so I was able to get my workout in (early).

February 2, 2009 -- Week 5

Schedule (3x per week) 6 Walk Run Intervals; walk 4 Min at 17:00, run 2 min at 12:00 for 36 minutes or a total of 2.6 Miles.

Achieved today: 12 Walk Run Intervals; walk 3 min at 4 MPH (15:00), run 2 min at 5.3 MPH (11:19), distance of 4.7MPH in 65 Minutes! Whew! I got to the health club early this morning and did my 60 minutes pushing myself. Week 9 is when the schedule calls for 60 minutes (at a brisker pace), so all I have to work on is increasing my pace and minutes running. Its fun to think about a schedule and a goal again

Looks like snow this week both in Northern Virginia and in Chicago - for the past three weeks it has snowed in Indiana on Tuesdays - looks like we are going for a three-peat.

February 1, 2009

Ok. Here we go again! This weekend I was getting a bit bored with my treadmill workout and went surfing and found the MoreFitness Half Marathon in New York City for women only in late April 2009. I went to their training calendar - and saw that week 4 was walk for 4 minutes, and then run for 2..so I took this to the treadmill and yesterday and today I walked for 3 and ran for 2! Seems like I can catch up with the schedule and get ready for an April event. I've asked some cousins to come along, so I'm not sure yet whether its a solo trip or not, but I think I've got the bug.

It didn't help that I was also getting all kinds of requests for TNT funding from my California friends who are training for the Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon in June 2009. And I look back at the blog and on 2/2/08 I had my first run in San Francisco and hardly made it a mile. Today I logged 4.2 miles in an hour on top of an hour step class!

Follow along as you want, as I now try this training thing from Virginia!

28 Years of Working Today!

28 Years Ago today I showed up at New England Telephone Headquarters in Boston to start my Management Training Program! While I have left the "phone company" I certainly haven't left New England (or Maine) and still remember fondly all I learned in those first 18 months in Portland Maine, both professionally and personally.

Stadium to Stadium 10K/ 100 Minutes

This was an urban run, from AT&T Park down 3rd Street for almost 5 Miles and then a left turn toward Monster Park (where the 49rs play). It was hard cause there were no mile markers and the volunteers had no idea about distance or where the water stops were. Thank Goodness for the SFPD who had three stations where they would spray you with water and I took advantage of all three of them. It wasn't as hot as the 8K in Fairfax, but for San Fran it was pretty darn hot. I finished #827 out of 930 at a 16:11 pace which gives me a target to get under 16 for a 10K. I was #70 of 86 for my age category.

The transportation back to the start was abysmal and I had to wait 1.5 hours in line to catch an 11 person van back. Regardless, it was fun. Had several "Go Teams" given I had on my TNT shirt. After a bit of relaxing I'll head down to Mountain View to visit with Sheila.

6.75KM Turning up the Heat

Back to the workout room - did the first 2 miles on the elliptical at a 12:00 mile pace. Leads me to believe I could run a bit longer than I do when I'm going for a long distance. Moved over to the treadmill for a more leisurely 2.2 miles. I completed the 4.2 miles in under one hour which is a record for workouts for me.

Signed up today for a "Stadium to Stadium" 10K on Saturday morning. The path goes from AT&T (Giants) Stadium to Monster (49rs) Park through the city. I think it will be fun and it starts right at my condo (like the Fairfax run).

Congratulations to Aimee from my TNT team who has been selected to be a mentor for the Fall Season! She's committed to running a full marathon at the Rock & Roll in San Antonio Texas. Makes me want to sign up again for a 1/2 in San Antonio (or at least think about it!)

Weekend Update

The picture above is from North Beach area of San Francisco where I spent Saturday Morning at the 54th annual North Beach Festival. A juried craft fair with lots of jewelry, pictures, paintings, clothes and food. I made a small purchase, but had fun walking around and checking out the goods. Hopped on the cable car back to Union Square for my first "standing" cable car ride -- at times it was a bit scary, but overall FUN.

Spent the rest of the weekend in San Jose and Mountain View catching up with Karen, Sheila and Ann.