New Blog To Read

So, I started reading a new blog I found through those "Friend Making Monday" posts I do.  I'm really liking how she writes and that she writes almost solely about her running.  Something she does that I wish I was in the position to be able to do is run her commute to and from work.  I live like 20-something miles away from where I work, so it would just be ridiculous to even attempt to run that for even one day, let alone every day.  If I lived inside the city where I worked, say, 5 miles from where I actually work, I would totally run to and from work at least most days.  I can hope and wish, but it won't make it so.  I simply cannot afford to live that close to where I work because I work in downtown Austin and downtown Austin living is rather expensive.  Oh well.

Overtime, Running & Breakfast

I’ve talked before about my strength training sessions suffering and being pushed to the side in favor of working overtime at work.  It’s rare that I’ll say “no” to offered overtime.  It’s really hard to pass up on almost $200 after taxes for an easy 8 hours of work.  Sure, I’ve got to work for 16 hours straight most of the time when I’m working overtime and I lose sleep, but I think for the most part I’m doing alright.  I make sure to relax and even take naps on my days off.

 

When I miss all my strength training sessions during the week, I usually try to do a full body strength training session on Saturday.  And that’s exactly what I plan on doing this Saturday.  I’ll make it to that free CrossFit class at 11:30 and then, in the evening, I’ll head to the gym for a second workout and get that full body strength training done.  I think it’ll take me about an hour and a half.  I don’t remember.  It’s been over a month since I did my full body workout.  In fact, I need to post that full body workout on here in case you guys are interested in checking it out and maybe doing it yourselves. 

 

So, my favorite thing about working overtime on the morning shift is the breakfast.  There is a cafeteria in the courthouse and I can get 2 eggs, a sausage patty (nope, not turkey, but it’s not like I’m eating this every day), homefries, and a biscuit with jelly for $2.99.  That’s a really good deal.  I’ll usually also get a muffin to eat later in the morning and a mocha latte.  I ate that when I worked the overtime yesterday morning and I wasn’t hungry all day until it was time to go home.  I did eat my 2 apples I brought at about 4:30pm even though I wasn’t hungry.  Then, when I got a little hungry around 8pm, I ate my 0% Greek yogurt with strawberries and blueberries. 

 

Today, I’ll eat the same breakfast as yesterday.  It’s up in the air as to what I’ll actually eat this afternoon, but I brought a bell pepper and tuna salad, 2 cucumbers with hummus, and a 0% Greek yogurt with the strawberries and blueberries.  I’m sure I won’t eat all of that, but I have it in case I need it.  I’ll eat the bell pepper and tuna salad for sure.  And then I’ll probably also eat the yogurt and fruit.  The cucumbers I’ll probably bring with me again to eat tomorrow.  And then, for dinner, I’ll have a turkey patty with some ketchup and some steamed veggies.  All in all, around 1600 calories.  Nice!

 

Oh!  Because I’m working another shift of overtime today, I won’t be able to do my planned 5 mile run this morning and will be tacking it onto tomorrow’s 4.5 miles for a total of 9.5 miles tomorrow.  I’ll have to get up by 8am so I can be on the trail no later than 9:30 so that I can finish up around or shortly after 11 when it’ll start to warm up.

Run Schedule for June!

Decided that since the end of the month was approaching that I should put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as it may be) and come up with my running schedule for next month.  And here it is!

 

6/2 – 10

6/4 – 8

6/7 – 6

6/9 – 10.5

6/11 – 7

6/14 – 5

6/16 – 10.5

6/18 – 6

6/21 – 4.5

6/23 – 11

6/25 – 8

6/28 – 5.5

6/30 – 11

Total: 103 miles

Slump? Burn Out?

So, I’ve been feeling a little “blah-ze-blah” lately.  For about 2 months now, it’s been getting steadily more and more serious.  At first, it was just I would get up at my designated time of 7:30 or 8am without a problem and then I would just lounge on the couch for longer and longer times.  Then it morphed into me sleeping later, until about 8:30 or 9am and then still lounging on the couch until about 10 or 10:30am, or even as late as 11am sometimes.  Now, I’m staying in bed until 10 or sometimes 11am, therefore sometimes completely “missing” my workout for the day.  I only do that on gym days because I don’t want to fall behind on my running mileage, so I refuse to skip a run day.  However, just because I don’t skip it doesn’t mean I don’t wait until the last possible second to head out the door, which is exactly what I’ve been doing the last few weeks.  And it’s getting on my nerves.

Another thing that’s been happening lately and has been getting worse is my eating.  Thankfully I’m a runner or I’d be gaining some serious weight.  Instead, I’ve stayed at the exact same weight for over 2 months now.  It’s very frustrating, but I can’t complain about it because I’m doing it to myself.  But as I’m eating all this food, I feel powerless to stop myself from doing it.  It’s not true, but it’s how I feel it.

I called my psychiatrist and made an appointment to review my medication dosage with him.  I’m having a general lack of motivation and running is starting to feel like a “chore” and I do NOT want that.  Running is something that is FUN for me and I want it to stay that way because I want to be running for years and years and then some more years after that.

I’m wondering if this slump that I’m in has anything to do with the amount of overtime I’ve been working at work.  I’ve been working anywhere from 8 hours up to 24 hours of overtime each week for the past few months.  I’m wondering if I might not be a little burnt out.  Most likely, it’s a mixture of being burnt out with the work schedule I’ve been keeping and my medication not being *as* effective anymore.  I’m hoping that my doctor will see the need for a slight increase in my dosage when I see him on Monday morning and that within a week of starting the slightly higher dose, I’ll be back to my normal “having no problem waking up and being motivated” self.

Inspiring Story

I just read this incredibly inspiring story about a girl who is a 3-time cancer survivor who triumphed and overcame her fears to run a marathon!  If she can do it, so can you!  And so can I!  My favorite part of the story was at the very end where she quotes a quote: “If your dreams don’t scare you they aren’t big enough.”

Friend Makin Monday 5/27/13

Summer Fun

1. What is your favorite summer fruit? Hmmm…I’m not entirely sure what fruits fall under what season, but I love strawberries and cantaloupe

2. Do you know how to swim? Yes.  I hadn’t done it for a long time and I tried to do it about a month ago and oh my goodness is it HARD!

3. Do you prefer sun or snow? I love the sun!

4. What temperature do you like most inside your home? Around 70-ish

5. Is it humid where you live? It can be

6. What is your favorite food to put on the grill? Steak!  Followed by veggie kabobs

7. Do you prefer to wear a one-piece or two-piece swim suit? Two piece

8. What is your favorite summer drink? I don’t really drink, but I love a margarita…and the new bud light lime-a-ritas are pretty good too

9. Do you prefer the pool or the ocean? I love both….I just love the water!

10. What are you looking forward to most over the summer? Lots of running, some cycling, maybe sitting out by the apt complex pool every now and then

 

2013 Autism Speaks 8K Race Report

As I sat there this morning waiting for the time to eat my gel (I ate one of the gels that I got in my swag bag. It was a Clif Shot...chocolate.  It was yum-o!  Tastes way better than the PowerBar chocolate gel) and then head to the start line in my car in the rain...yea, that's right, it was raining...I was so very happy that i thought to bring my Marmot rain jacket for just this reason.  I was also excited.  I always get excited for a race, as I'm sure most racers do.

Anyway, I've never run in the rain before so it was a little tiny bit nerve wracking that I might have to run in my rain jacket for the first time.  However, about 30 minutes before the race was supposed to start, it basically stopped raining, so I didn’t have to wear it.  But I’m glad I had the jacket, regardless. 

The run took place on Camp Mabry in Austin, TX and was great; the route was beautiful.  There was some boy scouts camping on the base right at the second water stop and as runners came running past them, they all extended their arms and their hands and gave us all low-5’s as we ran by.  That was the coolest part of the run in my opinion!  I ran a little slow this time, but I think that was due to having been at work all night and then having to run in the morning.  But that’s weird to me because I can be awake all day and then go run in the evening and get good split times.  Oh well.  Maybe it was I just “felt” sluggish and wasn’t actually slow.  I haven’t uploaded my Garmin data from this morning yet, so I don’t know my actual average pace at this moment.

I finished in 50:52 which landed me in the 142^nd overall spot (I’m not sure of exactly how many racers there were today, but around 500 registered), and I was 12^th in my age group!  How exciting is that?!?!?!  Of course, I didn’t get a finisher’s medal, they only give those out to the top 3 in each age group, but that’s the best finish I’ve had!  I have a feeling that if I hadn’t been working all night and had actually gotten sleep, that I might have ran a little closer to 10 minute miles rather than the 11 minutes I did most of the way, and I might have gotten closer to scoring a medal.  Oh well.  Next race I’ll make sure not to schedule an overnight shift of overtime before a race.  Doofus that I am sometimes.

All in all, it was a good race and I had fun.  Can’t wait to do this race again next year!  It’s also a little bitter sweet.  This is my last race until September because there are simply no races other than triathlons, mud runs and foam runs from the months of June to August.  Lame.  But, I’ll keep up my training and keep bumping up my weekly long runs.  Maybe I can find a half marathon in August in north Texas to do.  We shall see.  Oh!  Speaking of half marathons…registration for the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon goes live at midnight on June 1^st.  I will be online, waiting for the clock to hit midnight and trying to be one of the first 1000 to register so I can get the $70 rate instead of having to pay $80.  Sure, it’s only $10, but hey, $10 is $10 and every dollar counts in this economy.  I’m sure you agree.

Update: here’s my Garmin stats from the 8K:

 

Overall, I was faster than I thought I was.  YAY!