Monday, September 26, 2011

UPDATED: Fitness Test

Push-ups: goal was 26-30, actual: 28
Sit-ups/crunches (they're actually somewhere in-between, like when you cross a mule with a horse and get a donkey, hmm): goal 40-45, actual: 42
1.5mi run: goal when I got up this morning was 16:30 (yes I'm slow), then I saw that there was a 3.7pt difference from 16:22min to 16:23min, so my new goal was 16:20 (just to be on the safe side :p ).
Actual time 16:12 which is in the same point spread as 16:22.

I haven't done the math yet, but the score will be around the same as my last fitness test.
Oh, and I actually wasn't the last runner to finish! I passed a girl on the first lap. When I finished my run I went back and ran her in. She'd picked up the pace by then and finished strong--if I hadn't walked back to meet her I don't know if I could've run that fast. ;)

I took a swing of xtra strength 5 hr Energy this morning, on an empty stomach. I had some toast & milk as soon as I could after, but man! was I anxious this morning. I haven't had any 5 hr energy since early spring.  OK, gotta shower and get to work.

UPDATE:
My last fitness test: sit-ups--42, push-ups--21, run 16:11
And I decided to wear my old shoes; I realized Friday I'm still used to that stride, so there was less stressing about that as I was running.

Friday, September 23, 2011

C25K improvise

I walked 1.5 laps (~.8mi, ~14min) for a warm-up. I was going to run 2 laps, walk some, then run some more, but once I finished the first lap I decided to go for 3 laps (1.65mi) continuously running & JUST made it! Yay! I was getting a heckuva stitch in my side at the end there. 11:05min/mi pace which makes for a ~16:37min 1.5mi which will let me pass the run portion of the fitness test. I'd still like to do it in under 16:30. At least I've finally run 1.5 since moving here. Oh, & I wore my old shoes today. I'd been wearing only my new shoes since I'd bought them, but I was noticing a new tender spot on my left shin lately, so I figured I'd try my old shoes again.

(1 lap = 0.55mi)

Last night I did 5 min long cycle with the kettlebell, 1 switch, somewhere between 25 & 30ish per hand, so 50-60 reps total. Then I did push-ups (2x10) and sit-ups (30). Still have work to do for Monday.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

C25K W5D2 repeat

Much better than yesterday. It also helped that someone stopped me in the middle of the walk between 3/4mi repeats to talk to me about something; that definitely helped me get through the second repeat. No cheese b4 running today, just a Jolly Rancher, mostly to delay the dry mouth. I like running with gum to keep the spit level up. 2 days off/cross-training now, plus su & pu. Then Friday one more run before my test on Monday.

Monday, September 19, 2011

C25K W5D2

1/2mi warm-up walk. Jog 3/4mi, walk 1/4mi, jog 3/4 mi. HARD!!! The 3/4mi repeats took more than 10min each! Felt almost like puking at the end. NO cheese before running. (Usu it\'s ok given a little more time to digest it and lower effort.) I was surprised this run was so hard, Friday's went pretty well. I've been getting about 5:30min on the 1/2 miles. Biggest difference--today I ran first thing in the morning (hence the cheese) instead of in the afternoon. My fitness test will be in the morning, plus it's been harder running in the evenings b/c of cross-country and football practices. I had a headache by the end of today's run, but it didn't get worse over the course of the day. I kept hydrated and ate decently. I plan on getting to be much earlier tonight!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

C25K W5D1 repeat

Last Friday I did a repeat of the couch-to-5K week 5 day 1 workout. It was still rough. I've had a hard time getting a good night's sleep lately. Thursday I jsut kept waking up, then about an hour b4 I needed to get up my nose started running, so I couldn't sleep for that. Friday night and last night I was sandwiched between my two younger kids. I think I may finally have found the motivation for keeping my nearly 7yo daughter in her own bed all night: pierced ears. She's been begging to get her ears pierced. Apparently she's the only 1st grader in school w/o pierced ears. I had been telling her that she had to wait till she was 10, then just that she had to show enough responsibility by brushing her hair and teeth every day. (It's amazing how hard it is to get kids to brush their teeth once they're older than 5.) This evening it hit me: she has to stay in her own bed all night for at least a month to get her ears pierced AND keep staying in her bed or she loses the earrings (& likely the holes they go in). We need to put up a calendar, and I'm leaning toward making her start over after each night she comes to our bed. We've done this before, and once she got what she wanted after 30 non-consecutive nights of sleeping in her own bed all night, she reverted back to coming into our bed. The 3yo, being smaller, is easier to deal with, but he'll sleep on his own better than the 6yo will.

I've been working on push-ups and sit-ups too. I just wish I could progress faster with the running. I just can't seem to reach the endurance--half a mile? Tomorrow I'll do W5D2 which has 3/4 mi stints. I'd better get to bed for that. Oh and I got new running shoes a couple of weeks ago: Asics Blur33s. They have a lower heel so I'm able to get more of a midfoot strike than I could with the 1140s. And my 10yo's doing much better in football practice, plus the weather got a lot cooler for a week. He has a scrimmage this Saturday then the games start. I stayed for a little over an hour of yesterday's practice, & they had 2 water breaks in that time. It still kills me to see the 5yos crying as they run though. It's very physically demanding.

C25K W5D1

I tried to post this the other day from my phone, but it wouldn't publish.

Last Wed:
Walk 1/2 mi then WOD: run .5 mi, walk .25 mi, run .5 mi, walk .25 mi, run .5 mi. Total time 36:46. Nearly had a stitch in my side by the end. Didn't do any push-ups or sit-ups today. After workout ate a banana & had a glass of Ovaltine. Later around 10:30-11 had Greek yogurt w/raspberries & honey. By noon it occurred to me that I hadn't had anything to drink since the chocolate milk; I was getting a headache. It got worse during the afternoon, esp when ever I stood up. Motrin, Tylenol, food & drink mostly took care of it by bedtime, which is now, or rather a hour ago.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Running and football

Saturday I took my son to football practice. He really didn't want to go. He'd had practice the night before and stayed up till between 10 and 11 and was just really tired. Sat practice was at 9am. I made him go, had to drag him there. About 50min into practice he came over begging to go home. I gave him some water then noticed the coach yelling at him. Since he'd gone to get water w/o his team, they *all* had to run a lap. I pulled DS along and ran with him. 5 or 10 minutes later they got a water break (finally).

I took the opportunity to do laps myself. I ran outside the field on two sides where there was a sidewalk, then along the edge or just off it the other two sides: 1 lap = .22mi. I did something akin to my latest C25K workout, but I forgot to stop my watch right after the 8th lap. I caught it after a couple more minutes.

In the second half of practice, the kids were broken out into groups according to their positions, and my son's group was down at the other end of the field. My son was still having a hard time at practice, complaining about a headache too. His coaches checked his helmet, but it was fitting the way it should. In an effort to show solidarity with him, I did another couple of laps. On the second one, as I moved from the sidewalk to the field, he came over to me, crying, so I walked back over to the group, apologizing. His coach and the neighbor pulled him back into practice. I finished my lap but felt like crying too. I already felt they weren't giving enough water breaks.

I continued to watched how practice was going, but without going down near the end of the field again. I saw my son and other boy get pulled aside for some high knees/drop action. My son was actually doing the drill faster than the other boy. (!) Back in the group, they were paired off to do some defensive stuff. I saw my son get pushed way back by another kid. I didn't know, though, if that's how he was supposed to respond or if he should have been pushing back harder. The smallest kids had another water break (2nd) after ~40 min, then the next smallest boys. At the 2 hour mark the other two groups got a break too. My son came over and got a drink; happily, he was feeling much better and finally enjoying himself. Then this "short" practice continued for another 45 min, but the last part was relay races, and my son one at least one of them, so he was back to his old "I'm so good aren't I" self. :P

I talked to my husband later about my concerns about the kids' hydration, esp since they're in their pads and helmets the whole time except for water breaks. (The sweat can't evaporate and cool them.) He talked to the neighbor who was surprised to find out that the breaks were that far apart. My husband said when he played football as a kid, the had short breaks every 15-20 minutes. I hope our neighbor remembers to be more aware of the time between breaks next time. He's not one of the coaches, but he helps out.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Thursday 1 Sep

Walked 44.5 min. Haven't mapped it yet

UPDATE: the walk was 1.73mi for a 25:43min/mi pace! Wow! I knew I was slow but didn't think I was that slow. I'd been up till at least 11 nearly every night last week and was pretty tired.