Happy Morning Run

Surprisingly, I’m really enjoying the pre-sunrise run. During the day, you pass by these commercially provided landscaped grounds on a college campus that are dull and hardly worth admiring because they are so incredibly common. Annually planted expanses of white and red pansies are hardly breathtaking. The thing with the early morning is that the air is modestly perfumed by these flowers, and the wild flowers and flowering “weeds” provide the stronger aromatic backdrop. The cool air and the gentle breezes that are barely noticeable provide the perfect environment for these scents to mingle. Today was only my second early morning run, but I’m slowly loving it.

The animals are out there too. I saw the cutest skunk this morning at a good 20 yard distance. It looked like his white bangs needed a trim, and he had to stick up his nose in order to get a good look at me before scampering away. I also passed by a happily married mallard couple, waddling about near some bushes. Maybe they’re not married yet, and I had saw them in the middle of their waddle of shame!

As for the new shoes – no complaints here. The Kayano was a bit harder on the first run than the 1120s, and the 1120s offers way more medial support. I’m tempted to say that I actually like the 1120s more than the Kayano, but it’s far too premature to give that as my formal opinion because the trial comes in around the 200th mile.

Speed Work #2 and a 5 AM Run

Memorial Day Weekend was fantastic, and a separate entry is pending. To my dismay, the work outs weren’t too great on account of random junk food consumption and servings of alcohol here and there.

Last night, I made up for the Speed Work that was originally intended for last Thursday. Given this recent development, I think Tempo Runs are now permanently slated for Thursday evenings.

The Speed Work was a challenge, but I stuck it out.

Fellow gym members probably think I’m a bit quirky in the least. Since I had my IPOD cranking to Power Metal, my self talk was bit loud. I noticed the walker on the treadmill next to me jolt every now and then. I’ve been feeling a bit self conscious because a few pairs of my running shorts are a bit on the short side, and I have noticed some people looking at me with a somewhat scandalized expression. These shorty shorts are normally reserved for speed and tempo days. This is on account of the phenomenon that occurs when my legs rotate at a slightly accelerated pace - the interior of the shorts tend to rise. Hence, the shorty shorts are a good option because there’s not much rising going on to begin with, which also means no more tugging. By the end of these sessions, the shorts get a bit longer because they are dripping with sweat, so really the net amount of time that I’m somewhat indecent is while I’m stretching before I start the run. Despite my rational ... I don't think I can dodge the judgemental looks tossed my way.

On a more positive note, I’m also proud to report that I did my first 5 AM run this morning! Thanks to the motivation by example from GottaRun, I finally got myself up and logged 4 miles at approximately 10 minutes per mile. Yes, I was doing my happy running pace, and my heart rate was around 75 and did not exceed 80%. Maybe I can crank out a faster pace when I’m adjusted to this early morning routing.

I also attribute this little accomplishment to my revamped diet plan. Prior to this week, my average daily caloric in take during the work week was around 850, but definitely under 1,000. My carb count was around 60 grams, so I was perpetually tired. Even after 10 hours of sleep, I still felt exhausted, and my work outs were excessively draining. My nutritionist increased my calories to around 1,110 total per day, and my carbs are around 120 grams. In addition to the added calories and carbs, I’m also using supplemental drinks to aid in muscle recovery and to alleviate the feeling of fatigue that I’ve been dealing with. I’m using Size On for recovery, and Pure Vitargo for carb loading / replenishment either before or right after my work out. Judging by my energy level this morning after last night’s speed work and this morning’s light run, I think the combination of all those things are working pretty well for me.

The biggest indicator that the supplements are not a joke is in my calves. This past weekend, I spent a lot of time walking. Since Sunday, it felt like the skin on my calves were being stretched in attempt to creat space for the newly expanded calves. The calves weren’t sore, but it felt like the skin running three inches deep were tightened for the past three days, and it was particularly uncomfortable yesterday morning. This morning, when I got out of bed, that uncomfortable feeling was entirely gone.

So if nothing else, I highly recommend the combination of Size On and Pure Vitargo.

Tempo Run #3

I had a bit of a false start to this work out on Thursday thanks to a treadmill that short circuited twice. Once during the warm up mile, and again while I was in the first mile at tempo. Thankfully, the AZN Asian Excellence Awards on E! was on when I switched machines, so I barely noticed the pain I was in during my make up missed tempo run. The award show was rather hysterical, and some of my favorite entertainers were on, which includes Kal Penn and Margaret Cho.


Even though I had enough time to cover the fourth mile at tempo before the strength class (see the previous post), I just didn't have it in me.

I'm feeling a bit antsy because I was suppose to go to the gym this morning, but because of our excursion plans for Brooklyn, I decided not to. This amount to two full days of rest, and I didn't get the mileage I was targeting this week. Oh well, maybe next week will be better.

To the Other (and my former favored) Matt

Dearest Matt B.,

I’m sorry to have to do this, but I must. That extraordinary something that I had with you is now over. Every girl eventually has a fantasy man, a mental boy toy, and you were mine … just in a different sort of way.

I knew you to be kind and gentle - a teacher to children by day, and an instructor to adults by night. Your sweet face and charming smile accented your gentle nature, and your nimble and toned body provided evidence of your physical competence and abilities.

Out of the other instructors, I deemed you to be the one who is pure and without evil. You provided options for the grueling tricep exercises, which offers a touch of grace and amnesty for your weaker students. You made sure that all programmed breaks were properly administered, and you allotted the most amount of time for stretching in between sets.

I would think of you during other Power sessions, and longed for your presence. When Debby skips the breaks in the bicep track, I yearn for your generosity in permitting them. When the only option is to punk out during the last set of tricep dips because you have lost all capabilities in maintaining proper alignment, I covet your grace and amnesty. You became a source of comfort and affirmation during the more foreboding hours known as Power.

The cusp of my alternative lust for you is evidenced in my training schedule. I have planned for a speed session every Thursday before your special hour, and I have done so over the past several weeks. You have been instrumental in my high count of calories burned on the day before my weekly rest.

This past Thursday, you changed EVERYTHING. In a single track, you shattered every single notion I had of you, and you revealed yourself as the demon that you are. You revel in seeing pain. You saunter the studio enjoying your twisted sadistic pleasures, just like the rest of them. You have betrayed me with your tweaked shoulder track, and don’t think I didn’t notice your smiling dimples when you indicated that you will be bringing other modifications within your next sessions.

You cruel, cruel man. You HAD me and I wanted you, but it’s over. It’s entirely OVER.

How in the hell am I suppose to fit in my speed sessions now you Wretch!

Yours No Longer,
The Muscularly Dyslexic Girl Who Had Inadvertently Developed Her Shoulders While Doing Bicep Exercises

PS - Despite your shared evil among fitness instructors, you are still a cutey ... objectively speaking.

A Bit of Wine Should Do It

I made plans yesterday. I wanted to make up the Tempo Run after the strength class last night. I had the extra set of clothes, and I was fully ready to go. The thing is, I knew that the body didn’t want to, and the body knew that I knew that it didn’t want to. I still hadn’t recovered from that Monday night 9 miler, but I ignored the internal dialogue, and fully intended to execute my plans.

The toughest instructor teaches the class on Wednesday nights. She always adds something extra to the program and took away a couple of the intended breaks in between the sets of bicep curls. Last week, she added an extra five minutes of continuous clean and presses at the end of the class. Last night, there weren’t that many people in her class. The majority of them were new to Power entirely, which was a good thing because it made her go a bit easier on us. Just a bit.

After the session, I just knew that my legs, lungs and heart would not cooperate with me on the treadmill.
Four miles at a minimum of 6.8 MPH? There isn’t enough creotine in the world that can make it happen baby.
So I submitted, and headed home. That was when I noticed that I was hungry. No, hungry does not precisely describe the feeling. It was more like a starvation type of hunger, and my normal salad with a Boca burger and an egg white wasn’t going to cut it. So I called up H to see if he would be interested in eating out, and we decided to hit up something downtown. As it turned out, Harvest Moon was our final destination. The vegetarian chili was excellent, and the Harvest Burger with yam fries was also pretty good. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the chocolate molten cake. Now that was super tasty.

The food was great, but what really did it for me was the Merlot. I’m not really a wine drinker, and when I do, I normally prefer white wine just for the dry and chilled factor. I find it refreshing at times, but last night, for some odd reason, I was interested in red meat and tepid red wine. Something in the line from Les Miserables was on my mind, “There is wine here to revive you,” and I doubt the Bishop was referring to the white stuff. So I blindly picked the Powers Merlot, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. Mid way through my glass, it was as though I was drinking some type of liquid berry and floral potpourri, and I liked it … a lot.

Of course, after the meal, we walked home and I was a bit more than tipsy. I went off to dream land, and this morning, I woke up feeling fully revived. It was probably a combination of the fat and carbs, but I believe the Merlot had something to do with it.

A Missed Tempo

I knew it before I got into my car yesterday to go to the gym, but being the stubborn person that I am, I insisted on giving it a go anyway. After all, you never really know until you try.

At 6:20 PM, I climbed on to the treadmill and started the warm up. That feeling was all over me, but I persisted. By the end of the one mile warm up, I was at 6.6 MPH, so I eased into the 6.9 MPH the tempo run. Focused on form, which was entirely absent just twenty four hours ago, I mentally checked off the list of items that made me an inefficient runner. I concentrated on symmetrical cadence starting with the foot strike, then the roll / midstance, and finally the propulsion. I have a tendency to favor my hip flexors over my obliques, so I spot checked that my sides were in fact contracted just a bit after the midstance.

Just after a third of a mile at tempo, I was exhausted. Not a single part of me was enjoying the ride, and I felt far more fatigued than what my heart rate suggested. It felt like I was working at 88%, when my heart rate did not exceed 83%, and actually dropped down to 80% at a few measures. I called it quits by the end of the first mile at tempo, and brought the whole thing down to a walk. I was on the treadmill for a total of 20 minutes.

Not wanting to waste the trip to the gym, I decided to hit up George’s program. It normally takes me about an hour to finish the stability and core work, but it took about an hour and a half yesterday even skipping the one footed push-ups. It really should have been a recovery day, but I couldn’t figure out a way to maneuver this week’s schedule to make that work. I guess one missed work out wouldn’t have been terrible, and it might have garnered better performances for all other successive work outs this week. But no, I was too stubborn to see that yesterday.

To perk myself up, I decided to go out to buy a pair of running shoes. It’s just about time to retire my current active pair to the treadmill, and get something new for the roads. I would normally go to the running store, and hop on their treadmill to try out whatever they recommended in stock. Since it was late, and I’ve enjoyed my Asics Gel Kayano VII thoroughly (though I liked darker blue ones from the fall of 2006 way more than the pinkish orange ones from the winter of 2006), I went over to Dick’s to pick up a replacement pair. That was such a good move. I had a $10 coupon, and the Kayano’s, which are normally in the area of $130 and $145, were on sale for $80. After paying $70 at check out for the shoes, I really didn’t feel so bad about the tempo run.

I’ve also been meaning to have a different pair of shoes. It’s been almost a year with the Kayano’s, so I was thinking it is also about time to change it up a bit. This is just for the sake of strengthening different parts of the foot, and assorted other tiny muscles and parts. This is another way to help improve overall efficiency. So I went online and found out that Runner’s World Editor’s Pick for overpronators (such as yours truly) is the Asics Gel 1120. I opened a new window and looked them up at Dick’s, and low and behold, the 1120s, which goes for $90 or so, were on sale for $63 with free shipping and handling. Considering that I would normally pay $130 or so for a single pair, I thought it wasn’t entirely unjustifiable to pick up a second pair. The total amount I spent on both pairs is still within the vicinity of how much I would have spent on just one pair, and with that reasoning, I clicked and purchased.

A review comparing the two stability shoes is now pending.

9 Miles in 86:11

Last night's run was probably the hardest run of the year. My goal was to finish 9 miles in 88:30 (or 9:50 minutes per mile), and I was stressing about it even before I started. My normal pace is 10 minutes per mile, which is my happy, life-is-good-look-at-how-pretty-the-world-is-when-running pace, with the heart rate hanging around 75 to 80%. The thought of cranking the speed up by a mere 10 seconds gave me all kinds of pre-run grief.

So it took me about twelve minutes to finish the first mile, which threw me into hysterics.
That just means you have more time to make up over the next eight miles, so now what are you going to do?

By the second mile, I just bit down and started to pick up a little speed and wouldn't let it go. My form was horrible, my breathing was all over the place, and forget about controlling the heart rate. This is basically what it looked like (ala Garmin).

I was checking my time, distance and heart rate starting at mile four, just to verify that feeling like death was giving me the results I wanted. A little bit into the fourth mile, I realized that if I could just keep the pace going, eventually, I can finish off the run at my leisurely 10 minutes per mile pace and still make it in at 88:30. So I checked and rechecked every quarter mile or so, feeling the need to hurl as I progressed along. By mile 7.19, I felt as though I had nothing left in me, but I plodded along thinking in terms of the number of times around a track I had left, and approximating the amount of time I had to complete the loops. I finally relaxed at mile 8.9, when I was basically done for the day, and I had killed my goal time.

Although I'm happy that I was able to average 9:34 minutes per mile for 9 miles, and I was able to keep it just under the anaerobic threshold (maximum heart rate was at 88.7%), it's also incredibly discouraging. After the run, it felt like I had lost a chunk of my mid section on the course somewhere. I truly felt like death, and I'm amazed that I overcame the need to hurl.

To qualify for Boston, I need to have my time down to 8:15 minutes per mile for 26.2 miles. I just don't know if that is going to happen this year.

Rest Day ... Finally

There were some severe work outs in the past two days, and I am looking forward to going straight home after work today. I need to clean up the remnants of my daily tornado-ing through the 800 square feet of space, which seems to shrink as the week progresses, and promptly enlarges after a bit of tender loving overhaul.

Wednesday

Power session with Debbie. She's the toughest instructor out of the bunch, and she assaulted our shoulders that night. There were a couple of participants who couldn't get the proper form for the clean and press, so she spent 5 minutes at the end of the class doing continuous clean and presses. It's like running, but on your shoulders ... so actually, it's not like running at all. It was far more painful, especially when you tacked on five extra pounds of weight in the beginning of the class.

After Power, I went into the Kinesis Studio to do the program that George wrote up for me. I had my IPod on, and I was doing my Bosu core work with Madonna ala Austin Powers. People were going in and heading out of the tiny studio, but a small group of three looked like they were there to stay. I eventually took off my headphones, said hello, and one of the trainers told me that class was about to start. The older white gentleman looked at me, and said, "If you want a good work out, you should stay." He probably didn't mean anything by it, but I interpretted it as, "I doubt that you can hang with us." Of course, I had to join to prevent the voices in my head from mocking me .

Knowing NOTHING about Kinesis, and I had no idea what I was in for. It was probably the hardest strength conditioning work I have EVER endured. It basically looks something like this ...


You go at each exercise for a total of 30 seconds or a minute per set, and you pull the cords as fast as you can. There are four stations, and we did four sets per station. The first set is done while standing at a high squat, the second set at a low squat, and the third and fourth set at a lunge position. The different positions gives it the total body component because the legs and core are actively involved with each rep.

We had a total of ten seconds to switch positions between sets, which made it somewhat cardio intensive. Since it was my first time, I had almost no load on each of the machines, which was slightly embarassing because my cables were flying all over the place and making a lot of noise. The worst part was the exercise that focused on the shoulders, which had already been thoroughly beaten by Debbie.

I'm not really sure if the pain was worth being able to say that I didn't punk out.

Thursday

I finally get to the program that George wrote up, and the tiny little muscles around the shins and ankles were screaming at me, pleading me to stop this one legged business. I plodded on, and even though my heart rate didn't go past 70%, I was sweating A LOT and it was a struggle to go through.

After the program, I engaged in a little interval.

I was originally scheduled for an easy five miler, but I decided to cover the five miles through a little interval work. This is mainly due to my nutritionist's insistance to fit it in somewhere. He had originally set up a profile that was cardio for the first half hour (65 - 75% heart rate), and three sets of three minute sprints at 95% with two minute recovery periods in between. Since it was my first go, I decided to hang at 90%. Next time, I'll probably push for 93% ... 95 kinda scares me. There seems to be something supremely unnatural in pushing the heart rate up to 190 beats per minute, when your inside ... on a treadmill. Actually, it's unnatural even outside in the middle of anywhere, and you're not being chased by a bear.

In any case, I finished both work outs, and I'm looking forward to having a day of rest.

Tempo Run #2 and the Last Tuesday

It was tough, but I got through it.



Part of the impetus was having to rush home for the last Tuesday night. I have been a loyal Gilmore Girls fan since it's debut episode seven years ago. I watched Rory stumble through her class schedule on her first day at Chilton, I cried during her well crafted and equally well executed valediction, which was rich in literary allegory, and I fell head over heals in love with Triston (and yet I feel NOTHING for Lucas Scott), Max Medina and the more recent Logan Huntsberger (personally, I would have said yes).

I managed to hook my Beau on to the show through Take Out Tuesday I instituted many moons ago. I decided that the only proper way to watch the Gilmore Girls is to eat like the Gilmore Girls. So over the years, there have been numerous pizzas with fancy beer in tow, fake Chinese food loaded with MSG, Thai food that is probably a little less unhealthy and wee bit more authentic than the Chinese stuff, Boston Market, more pizzas, and there was even a Sundae Tuesday.

On one special Tuesday, after being so tenderly nursed by my Beau for several days, I dragged my fevered-sweaty-flu-stricken person to the market and crafted Sugar Night. It was adorned with M&Ms, brownies, Twizzlers, Twix, cookies, and a myriad of other items that was washed down by a steamy mug of Ovaltine hot chocolate (I was sick after all). Somewhere along the way between Sugar Night and the first Tuesday Night Pizza, my Beau became a Gilmore Girls fan. He came up with a song to express not only his fanship, but also his love for Tuesdays with the Girls. The song is merely the word Tuesday sung to the melody of Deutschland Uber Alles (direct translation is Germany Over All, which means Germany above all other countries), more commonly known as Hitler's anthem.

Yes, Tuesdays and the Gilmore Girls have been something really special in our lives together. Unfortunately, with my training efforts over the last year, take out Tuesday has fallen by the wayside, and the new episodes were taped to be viewed on a day other than Tuesday. The spirit of Tuesday had perished, and the Tuesday Anthem had not been sung for many moons. But with the series finale last night, I ran through the Tempo Run in an effort to revive Tuesday one last time.

We ordered the Somerset pizza from Panico's, and had picked up Twizzlers as a straw for our Boylan sodas, brownies, a lot of ice cream and organic Oreos at the market over the weekend for the occasion. We munched away on our Tuesday Take Out as the Gilmores engaged in Friday Night dinner. I gobbled down a big huge bowl of ice cream (so much for thinking that I'm lactose intolerant ... I'm so not) at Rory's Bon Voyage party as an online magazine reporter tasked to travel with Barack Obama's campaign trail. It was a bittersweet Tuesday night, and yours truly suffered from a severe belly ache immediately afterwards.

The Return of the Toe Sprain with Some Knowledge on Top

On Saturday morning, I decided to do a little alternative cross training. I'm not really interested in the Cycling program that my gym endorses (I prefer Spin ... and really just Janet's and Muse's way about it), and I would like to pick up a few swim lessons before I head into the lap pool. So I did a step / kick class before Power. I don't really know when it happened, but by the time that Power started, I knew my toe was in trouble again.

I took a dose of Naproxen right when I got home, and I was walking around gingerly for the rest of the day. I am NEVER doing step or kick boxing EVER again.

On Sunday, I had my first full hour with George, and it turns out that he really isn't the devil. I thought that he would revise my speed work schedule and go crazy with a crap load of sprints, but he was focused on other things. The program that he wrote up for me is geared on core strength (upon my request based on Janet's recommendation), joint stability, balance and focusing on weaknesses. The focus on weakness completely captivates me, and it actually pulls everything else together.

Everybody favors a leg to kick and the opposite to stand on. I prefer to kick with my right foot and I always plant with my left. With this favoritism, my body has evolved to handle balancing on the left foot, but the right foot poses as a challenge. This has a negative impact my running because I am more susceptible to injury whenever I plant with my right foot on slightly imperfect surfaces. To rectify this situation, a large section of the program is strength conditioning on one foot. So I will be doing some bicep curls, dead lifts, shoulder work, etc with lighter weights on one foot, as well as some one legged push ups. George is particularly excited about the push ups, which is VERY difficult for me. Right now, I can do around ten solid long TWO legged push ups with relatively good form, and I normally go to my knees whenever I need to see fifteen or more push ups in a single go. He has 3 sets of 25 one legged push ups on my program. It isn’t impossible, but it won’t be fun … at all.

During our session, we discovered that I favor using my triceps when doing push ups (when it should be more about biceps), and my hip flexors when running on a hill (when it should be all about the obliques). He isn’t concerned about the push ups too much because the form is still good, but the hip flexor thing is a nuisance. So I’m doing some things on the Bosu to help further develop the oblique muscles, and also to get accustomed to actually using them when running.

All said, I think I will be able to get to Boston next year. The speed will come, especially with my diligent training schedule, but the key component is George helping me becoming more efficient and smarter with my body when running. At this point, it isn’t even about getting to Boston. I’m excited about how running is going to feel when I do it right, and when I can use both legs effectively. I have a feeling that this program is going to change everything.

Speedwork #1 and a Piece of Bread

I've been limiting my carbohydrate consumption down to something in the area of 60 - 70 grams per day. Because of what happened during the last couple of months, and not being able to burn up the stuff I was eating, I'm still a little paranoid about eating more than I use. So basically, my only source of carbs per day is a serving of oatmeal and half a cup of brown rice, and the rest of the time, I'm eating vegetables and some kind of lean protein.

Given my dizzy spell from Tempo Run #1, I added a piece of whole wheat bread into my meal plan, which bumped up my carbs up to something like 75 grams yesterday. Let me tell you, I felt amazing. It was such a tiny little alteration, but it had a huge impact. Look at what happened:

I was amazed that my maximum heart rate at 7.2 MPH is the same as it was when I was going at 6.8 on Tempo Run #1.

After the speed session, I attended the Power class and went up to 44 lbs in weight for the squats. The back was feeling a bit tight and strained, but I'm disappointed to report that my legs are still not sore. I definitely need to work on my core so that I can put more load on my legs.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with myself. It all happened just because of one single piece of bread.

Some Strength and a Little Speed

The Power class last night was a bit odd. I increased my weights, and the exercises were tough with the additional load, but I'm not that sore. Keep in mind that this class was crafted for lighter weights with a lot of reps.

Legs - Aproximately 35 lbs
Chest - Aproximately 30 lbs
Shoulders, biceps and back - Aproximately 25 lbs
Triceps - 1.5 sets of long leg dips, 1.5 sets of half leg dip, 3 sets of 10 lb plate

I know I need to bump up the load for my legs (probably go up to 45 lbs, maybe even 50 to get the right amount of soreness), but I'm worried that my lower back can't support that kind of weight. The chest press was a challenge at 30 lbs, but the lack of soreness tells me that maybe I should go heavier. The others are fine for now because I am sore in those areas.

I may go back for another Power class tonight to try out 45 lbs on the legs and 35 lbs on the chest. I do plan on a speed session tonight, we'll just have to see how this is going to work out ... if at all. I'm not very optimistic about the 8:24 pace.

Taking it from the Top: Tempo Run #1

This is the first week of my sixteen week training period for the marathon in Quebec. The Runner's World training schedule asked for 8:54 minutes per mile tempo run, but I was having a hard time settling into the work out.



During the warm up, I was feeling dizzy, and I really didn't think I could do the work out. I tried pushing for 7.0 for half a mile, but my heart rate shot up to the 90s almost immediately. So I turned it back down to my warm up pace (10 Minutes Per Mile / 6.0 MPH) to regroup.

I decided to switch treadmills after the dizziness passed and I had regained control of my heart rate. I don't know if it was the treadmill, or if my body found a piece of carb in the recesses of my storage areas, but I cranked out 2 miles on the other treadmile at a solid 6.8 MPH pace. The heart rate didn't exceed 87%, and it felt like I was cruising. Right after the second mile at tempo, the energy faded, and I struggled to pull in that last half mile at pace.

Overall, I completed more than the prescribed 5 miles ala Runner's World, and I did get 3 miles worth of tempo in, although with a bit of a break in between the first half mile and the second 2.5 miles. I guess I can't really complain, but I hope it will be smoother at the next go around.

Tonight is all about strength conditioning at the Power class. Maybe a little boxing to follow, but I'm not entirely committed.

A New Look

I've been feeling a little brighter these days, so the previous black layout was starting to feel a wee bit drab.

I'm also trying to figure something out in terms of my wardrobing needs. Nothing fits because of the combination of a size 2 waist, size 4 hips, and a size 6 rump. I'm taking a serious look at skirts these days because pants are just plain painful.

And Getting to Business:
Cross Training Day

Power Class - went up in weights, but I think I should go way heavier for the legs. I just have this fear that my lower back can't handle the load.

Cycle - rode at 80% my maximum heart rate, in the range of 200 and 250 watts. I felt incredibly week. I think it has to do with my carbohydrate depletion.

To Do List

Work out training schedule and give it to the Devil George for him to revise and finalize. Send that finalized info over to Pat (Nutritionist and owner of Mindless Meals) to work out a meal plan to sustain training schedule.

Notes from the Weekend

Friday Night
Note to self - NEVER plan a tempo run or speed session on Friday night. It won't work, and the legs will hate you.

Saturday Morning
The Spectacular - Launch of new programs at the RWJ Fitness and Wellness Center. The studios were packed, and the new music and workout profile for Power (endurance strength conditioning class) is great. Fergy definitely makes bicep curls a lot easier to contend with.

Saturday Afternoon
Parts of New Brunswick was closed down for the Coexistence Festival. Before we walked around the festivities, we headed off to Marita's Cantina for a little Cinco de Mayo lunching. I'm not too keen on Mexican or Tex Mex, but my Beau loves the stuff. While we were there, we saw this ...


I was offended by the indecency while my Beau was laughing hysterically internally. He kept on asking me, "How can she not feel a draft?" Just a little lower, and she could totally be in position to relieve herself. Apparently, nothing comes between her and her Gap.

After seeing that, we saw some of this ...


It's the Indigo Girls! Oh, and there were some lesbian loving going on in the crowd during their performance.

Sunday Morning
10 Miles in about an hour and a half. It was leisurely run with a maximum heart rate that didn't exceed 75%.

Sunday Afternoon
I met the Devil. Apparently, he's blond and goes by the name of George. He's going to be my personal trainer. He believes that I can get to Boston, but it's going to require a lot of speed work, which we both know that I won't enjoy. I think my addiction will be cured, and I will soon acquire the healthy all-American aversion for gym going.

My TV World

So the hot pilot man from Nantucket (the type-A older brother, who yours truly was crushing on during her pre-puberty days) lands in LA, becomes an alternative medicine specialist, and is now trying to nail Dr. Addison, who only recently disentangled herself from the grips of McSteamy and McDreamy?

I need to be her in the alternate universe where this is real. Even if she's all dried up and with only two eggs left in her person.

I had a moment when Naomi smashes a plate while doing the dishes, goes into a tirade about doing everything that your suppose to do, and then finding yourself all alone one day, not knowing how to deal because while you were busy doing everything your suppose do, your social development came to a stand still. Now, when you need the social skills that was suppose to be developed and groomed all the while, you are left there, hanging out in the world of hormonal adults with a set of social rituals that are completely foreign to you, and your social maturity is equivalent to that of a college freshman.

My Beau fell asleep when I had this moment. The Addison in LA segment of Grey's bored him, while I found myself interacting with the soothsayers of ABC, who were warning all those type-A females out there who walk on the straight and narrow. It's like they are telling me to inject myself with just one small dose of contemporary liberalism, and show up in California for just a little while.

Up Ahead ...
Yoga and a tempo run. I'm going to try 8:30 minutes per mile pace for 3 miles. Wish me luck.

Addiction

I'm addicted to my new gym. It is becoming an obsession, if it isn't already. I look forward to the time I get to spend at that 55,000 square foot mecca of exercise ... all day. I actually feel a little sad after my workout because I know that there's going to be a-whole-nother day before I get to go back.

Upon my Beau's request and the fact that I haven't taken a day off yet since the half marathon, I'm going to have to deal with not going tonight.

This is going to be rough.

Recovery Run

The spin crew at NYSC Somerset had their extended ride last night. Since I could only be with them in spirit, I planned a recovery run to match their start and end time of their ride. Well, I started with them, but I had to call it quits 45 minutes later. I just couldn't hang since I haven't really rested since Sunday's half marathon. Sorry Ladies, I tried my best though. I covered a bit over 4 miles during my 10 minutes per mile jaunt (excluding the warm up of course).

Tonight, there is definitely a strength class and possibly a short little tempo run.

I also made a personal training appointment with the most badass trainer at the gym. His name is George and I can't wait to meet him. If he can't get me to Boston in 2008, I don't think anybody can.