Training Week

This week has been crazy busy for me.  I’ve hardly had a minute to myself outside of working out and running.  I was in my biannual training for work to keep my state license up to date.  So, instead of my usual 2-10pm shift, I was on the clock from 8am-5pm.  I took healthy food to eat on our lunch breaks, however, every day (with the exception of Monday) I ate out.  Tuesday I had a pizza buffet.  Wednesday I had Subway.  Thursday I had Mexican food.  And Friday I had Chinese food…twice.  I went out to dinner with some friends after I got out of training. 

What I *am* proud of is that I did all my workouts as planned last week.  I ran 9.5 miles on Sunday and it was a great run.  I did strength training on Monday, Wednesday and yesterday.  I ran 7 miles on Tuesday and 5.5 on Thursday.  I had wanted to do the strength training I did yesterday on Friday night after hanging out with the girls, but I stayed out talking with one of them until 1 in the morning.  So much for that idea.  I wanted to do the strength training Friday night because I really wanted to ride 16.8 miles on my bicycle yesterday.

For our last day of training (Friday), we had to run an obstacle course in the morning and then we had a wellness block in the afternoon.  This year, they had “vendors” presenting their particular gyms and fitness varieties.  There was a CrossFit gym there, a boxing gym, and a running coach that came to give their schpeals.  There was also a powerpoint about another boxing gym and Camp Gladiator, both of which were unable to make it to do their presentations to our class.  I am highly interested in the boxing gym that was part of the powerpoint presentation.  It’s called Title Boxing.  They are very close to where I live (on my way to 24 Hour Fitness, it fact).  They offer numerous classes all day long and are only $59 a month for unlimited class attendance.  If I go with this gym, I figure I can go to a class somewhat early in the morning, then continue on my way and go strength train at 24 Hour.  That way, I still get my strength training in and my 3 days of running.  And then, on the 7^th day I can either choose to rest completely or I can cross train on my bicycle.

On the obstacle course, we have 2:45 minutes to “pass” it.  My official goal (for the fitness competition I’m participating in) was to complete it in 2:15 or less…however, my hope was to complete it in 2:05 or better.  Well, I was able to reach my official goal by getting a time of 2:13.  Dammit.  I really wanted that 2:05.  But, really I’m just happy that I made my official goal. 

Okay, I’m all over the place…but, back to the wellness block in training.  That is my absolute favorite part of the whole week of training.  I was very interested in what the running coach had to say.  He talked about how to make running suck less.  HA!  The actual title of his presentation was just that…How to Make Running Suck Less.  Love it!  I really do want to find a running group to go on a once a week run with.  I really should look into that.

My hopes for this week include my ability to repeat last week’s success at getting all my workouts in.  The other thing I hope to accomplish is to stick to what I’ve planned on eating.  I didn’t step on the scale yesterday because I didn’t want to feel the sting of disappointment if I had gained any weight, even if it was only a pound or two.  I don’t plan on stepping on the scale until it’s time to weigh in for the fitness challenge on June 1^st.  That gives me 2 weeks to get myself back on track and make sure that I don’t exceed the 176.8 that I weighed in at for my last fitness challenge weigh in.  I had honestly hoped that I would have lost 5-7 lbs by the next weigh in, but that obviously isn’t going to happen…and I’m okay with that, so long as I don’t go up.  After the weigh in on June 1^st, I’ll have 2 months until the end of the competition to see how much more progress I can make.  Hopefully, I can lose at least another 5 pounds, that way I can reach my final goal of getting below 22% body fat.  I know at 174 I’m at 21.7%. 

OH!  The other thing that happened this week is I bought a new pair of running shoes.  YAY!  I have about 350 miles on my Mizunos that I’ve been running on.  They’re not completely shot yet.  I can probably do another 100 on them before I should retire them thanks to my midfoot strike when I run.  Anyway, the shoes I got are Sauconys.  They’re very colorful and have both of my favorite colors on them: pink and yellow.  I wore them on my 5.5 mile run Thursday evening.  They feel pretty good.  When I was trying them on in the store, when I put them on and laced them up, they felt like they were made specifically for my feet.  They fit perfectly!

Another thing I bought was a water belt.  It has four 7oz water bottles on it.  It will come in VERY handy on my longer runs so I don’t have to carry two water bottles in my hands as I run.  I’ll carry my water bottle that has a coozie type case for it with a handle to make it easy to hold onto (this is the one I bought at the expo for the Capital 10K at the beginning of April) and then wear the water belt.  I’ll have Gatorade in my hand bottle and in two or three of the bottles on my belt (depending on how many times I need to refuel while running), then I’ll have water in the other one or two bottles.  I’ll take plain water with me to drink when I take in a PowerBar gel to refuel…one for each gel I take in. 

Today, I had 9.5 miles scheduled but ended up with a total of 9.9 instead.  Woot woot!  It was a little slower on average than last Sunday’s run and I had an issue with abdominal cramping that slowed me down and forced me to stop a couple times so it would go away.  I didn’t feel tired or like I was dreading today’s run, but I wasn’t feeling the run either.  I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, it just wasn’t as fun as it could have been for me.  That probably has to do with what I ate just a few hours before running (Indian food and cheesecake…yummy, but not exactly great pre-run foods).  But, that food was my last splurge hoorah as I fully plan to stick to my food plans this week and not buy anything that isn’t on that plan and not accept anything from someone else at work that isn’t on that plan.  I will control myself.  I will take it day by day, of course, because I don’t want to get overwhelmed, but I will put forth my best effort and I will succeed!