Oh Boy

I haven't reported in a great long while. Here are the walks I can remember, I'm sure there are some I can't, but that's just too bad:

Total miles for the (few) week(s): 11.18
Total cumulative miles: 76 even

   Workouts:

      4/30: 2.41 walk

      5/?: 1.1 walk

      5/6: 1.58 walk

      5/9: 1.59 walk

      5/13: 1.84 walk

      5/16: 1.56 walk

      5/18: 1.1 walk

Only 23 days left, and 24 miles to go. I'll have to go nearly every day between now and then (and finish homework and pack and move!). If I can do it, you can.

I Hate Hills

I hate hills. I can walk forever on the flat, no prob. But once the incline starts, I pretty much stop. I guess I just don't have the lung capacity? Is that it? And how do I improve that? Just more hills? Just more cardio? Help!
Dad and I did an 8 mile HIKE...it was a true hike, not just a walk. On trails with lots of hills. It was hard work, but fun.

Half Marathon = Suicide

I decided to do the half much later than everyone else, and I'm hoping the lack of training won't hurt me too much. Like I keep saying, I'm not entirely sure how sane I am after I decided to do the half. I've never been a runner, and I'm still not! A couple days ago I ran for an entire hour-- and I was so proud of myself! Until I realized that I had only gone 4 miles. That's more than I've ever run on purpose in my whole life, but it's nowhere near how much or how fast I should be able to run!

My biggest problem with running: I get bored really, really fast. I can only go about a mile without wanting to quit out of boredom, and then I start thinking about running, and it's downhill from there. 
My solution: The treadmill is right next to a TV upstairs, so I've been watching movies as I run. The other day I watched Batman Begins while I ran, and I barely even thought about the fact that I'd been running for so long. It's too bad the the half isn't equipped with TVs along the route.

Weekly Check-in

I'm getting back on track, and now that I don't have taxes any more, I two more free afternoons/evenings. Neil and I love to take walks in the spring and admire the gardens, so I bet we'll get out more now. Here's the summary:

Total miles for the week: 6.0
Total cumulative miles: 64.82

   Workouts:

      4/13: Pilates + 2.0 elliptical

      4/14: 1.9 walk

      4/18: 2.1 walk

Making progress!

10 miles on the Snail Trail

Dad and I did our 10 miles today.  We have been walking/linear-hiking the Banks-Vernonia Trail for the past few months. It is 21 miles long so we have been tackling it in Saturday morning chunks. As of today we have walked every inch of those 21 miles, some portions several times.

Today's adventure took us through the usual amazing old-growth forest and a very recent rock slide complete with huge downed trees & boulders across the trail. We came across the original Snail Trail: dozens of little snails with their shells on their backs crossing the path! And we saw beautiful little white and even pink trillium. We did see a handful of other folks, mostly bikers.

Good times were had by all but Dad's favorite part was the Dairy Queen at the end. (And I didn't hate the Midnight Chocolate Truffle Blizzard.) Interesting tidbit: my pedometer says I walked 22025 steps.

PS: It didn't rain! Just a few sprinkles, but a very pleasant day in the woods.

Week Something ... Oh boy.

For obvious reasons, I'm not doing the Halfer. But I'm still committed to doing one hundred miles. And I've been working on it, though not very quickly. Here's my report for the last few weeks:

Total miles for the (few) week(s): 13.69
Total cumulative miles: 58.82

   Workouts:

      3/16: Pilates + 3.19 elliptical

      3/19: 3.16 elliptical

      3/24: canoeing

      3/27: 3.4 walk

      3/30: Pilates + 2.44 elliptical

      4/7: 1.5 walk

I still wish I had a workout buddy, but it's just not to be. I noticed after my workout today, though, that I feel great when I'm done, but I need to work out a routine for when I get home that includes getting food and a shower, otherwise I just end up feeling crappy and exhausted.

Goals and bellies

"I run so my goals in life will continue to get bigger instead of my belly."
--Bill Kirby

Why do I run? Okay, I haven't run in two whole weeks (thanks tendinitis) but when I DO run there's too many reasons why I do...

• I sleep better
• I have more energy during the day
• Sense of accomplishment might be one of the best feelings ever
• I don't feel so guilty when I eat junk food
• Running + music turned up + thinking = solace
• No pain no gain (or loss in this case)

i
CAN'T WAIT
to start running again

Why do YOU run? (or walk or ride or jump or hop or skip or move)

Canyonlands Half Marathon: Done

2:28:37 -- not amazing but I'll sure take it! My time last year was 2:34:13.

Next please.

Week 10 Question Mark

I'm losing steam, that's for sure. My mileage this week was pretty dismal. Finals are coming up, after all. But I need to recommit, decide if I actually want to do this again. Last time I tried for a half marathon, it was about at this point that I really ramped up my workouts and ended up injured. I know I don't want to do that again. But maybe it's okay if I walk it? I don't know. My other predicament is timing, of course, since it looks like we're moving the weekend of the Helvetia Half. Hm. I'm tempted to just stick to 5k's for a while longer, but I don't know when I would really be ready to jump to the half. Any suggestions?

My week in numbers:

Total miles for the week: 2.07
Total cumulative miles: 45.13

   Workouts:

      3/9: Pilates

      3/13: 2.07 walk

Good luck, Gent! Post pics when you're done.

T-minus One Week

One week until the Canyonlands Half Marathon. Will I survive? Stay tuned...

In other news, I'm sure you've heard about how you're supposed to "taper" your workouts and distances in the 1-2 weeks prior to a big race. This helps your muscles (which have torn during the previous months of training) heal and recover and become officially conditioned for the upcoming distances.

HOWEVER, the coolest thing ever is a phenomenon that can happen called "phantom aches" -- depending on how regular your training sessions were, your body most likely has developed a sort of addiction to the activity. During these taper weeks, your body goes through a withdrawal and starts to crave that increased level of activity. You might feel like certain muscles and joins are sore or achy but it's quite possible that it's just these phantom aches: your body's way of telling your brain to EXERCISE ME! Is the human body the coolest thing ever or what?

So, this week being my taper week, I am trying to restrain myself from running more than 3 miles (who would have ever thought those words would come from me?). I'm also hoping that my achy hip and knees are just phantom aches. I'm not 90 years old YET.

Don't worry though, because the forecast for Moab next Saturday is 50 degrees and sunny!

Week 9 Injury Report

I haven't been able to run at all this last week because my left knee and hip are killing me. Doesn't hurt when I walk, but as soon as I pick up the pace, I hear about it. I also missed out on Pilates because I had to take Neil's homework to him (he left it on the kitchen table). But I am going tomorrow. All in all, not a bad week, as I was able to up my mileage considerably. Here's the numbers:

Total miles for the week: 6.37
Total cumulative miles: 43.06

   Workouts:

      3/2: 2.5 walk

      3/3: 0.93 walk

      3/5: 2.94 walk

Anyone else? How's the training going, Ma? Gent, are you ready for your early half? Carole, are you out there?

Week 8 A Day Late and a Dollar Short

This is late, so I'll keep it to the point. I'm having a hard time pushing myself to increase mileage, intensity. Here's what I did this week:

Total miles for the week: 3.9
Total cumulative miles: 36.69

   Workouts:

      2/23: Pilates + 2.4 treadmill

      2/26: 1.5 walk

Maybe this week will be better. I just hope the rain stays away a few more days.

Week 7 At School, Too

Ugh. The quarter is winding down. But I'm still getting in some workouts. Here's the short and sweet:

Total miles for the week: 7.1
Total cumulative miles: 32.79

   Workouts:

      2/15: 2.8 walk around the lake with Mom + 4 boys

      2/19: 3.2 elliptical

      2/21: 1.1 walk around the park

The weather lately has been unbelievable. The trees are pink and white, daffodils are already blooming, and I don't think tulips are very far behind. Yay! I think this is my second favorite time of year, or maybe it would be my favorite if I could snap out of the winter blahs enough to realize that I should look forward to it. But I mostly find myself daydreaming about autumn. Spring is pretty darned wonderful itself, don't get me wrong. I wish I could figure out how to keep those lovely pink trees around longer, and I think the only solution is to spend as much time outside while they're blooming as possible. So I'm thinking lots of walks are in my future.

In other news, I made these this week, and we now have a new stand-by pancake recipe. Sooooo yummy, so hearty, so easy. I added cinnamon to the second batch, which just put them over the top. They're delish with frozen blueberries, yum with chocolate chips. Next time I think I'll try blackberries. The batter also keeps pretty well in the fridge if you don't eat them all at once. My only complaint is that they were so thick and hearty that they really took forever to cook. Next time I'll turn up my electric skillet-thing.

Week 6 Getting Stronger

I hit up two Pilates classes this week, and was reminded at how big of a difference the instructor makes. The Tuesday morning teacher is great and fixes your form if you're doing things wrong, which I love.

Not many miles to report this week, but I'm still moving forward. I think I'll actually be glad when tax season and school is over so I can have my evenings back. I think evening is one of my favorite times to work out. Well, here's the report:

Total miles for the week: 4.16
Total cumulative miles: 25.69

   Workouts:

      2/8: 1.1 walk around the park

      2/9: Pilates + 3.06 elliptical

      2/12: Pilates

So I bought myself some new headphones with Christmas money, and they're working so much better for me. They hook over the ear and are just the regular flat kind (instead of the "buds" that fit inside the ear). BUT I'm having a hard time with the headphone cord flopping around, which had resulted in my iPod on the ground more than once. (My hands flail and tug at the cord, which makes my iPod tumble. It's sad.) All that to ask: What do you guys do with your headphone cords while walking/running at the gym or outside?

What the Kale Soup

1 T. olive oil

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and black pepper

8 c. chicken broth

1/2 c. pearl barley

1 bunch kale, ribs removed & leaves chopped

4 red potatoes, diced (skins left on)

1 pkg. sweet apple chicken sausage (Alfresco brand), cubed

1/2 tsp. paprika

Heat oil in large soup pot over medium low heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Add broth and barley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to boil and cook barley for 15 minutes. Add the kale and potatoes and cook for another 15 minutes, until potatoes are almost tender. Stir in the sausage and cook until sausage is heated through and potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 5 minutes more. Serve with crusty bread. 

We had this soup at Christmas, remember? I love it! Yummy and healthy. I think it's true name is something like Barley, Kale, and Sausage Soup, but Dad's name is so much better, don't you think? This is my own version of the recipe I found in the Oregonian.  

A Good 6 Mile Saturday

I've been fair-to-middlin' on the whole workout thing. Lots of walking but nothing else this week. Dad and I did our Noah's trek on Saturday and added an extra 2 miles so we did our necessary 6 miles. It's so much easier for me to walk when it's not rainy. And it's rainy again.

Guess what?! You know how they are building us a new 24-Hour to be completed in the summer? Well, they decided to close down our little gym at the end of February. The closest gym will then be the Beaverton one until the new one is completed. Now I don't have to feel guilty about not going to the gym more often...it's just too dang far away!

6 Weeks til Canyonlands

= AHH!

I'm starting to freak out a little bit - I only have 6 weeks til half marathon #1. I've been doing pretty terribly with increasing my mileage. I've probably done about 10-12 miles the last couple weeks (each week) but I've gotten my treadmill base run to around 5 miles at a steady (read: VERY slow) speed. SO now my goals are to 1) increase my base mileage and 2) increase my speed little by little.

I've still been doing yoga and I even swam last night (amazing) but this week WILL be the week - I want to get back into the swing of thangs. And I would be okay if all you (two) readers out there held me to it and checked in on me. Yes, my work schedule is awful and I'm exhausted after work BUT if I just keep going to the gym and being consistent, I will reach my goals.

One day at a time. I have several options for tomorrow: snowboarding, yoga, cycle, running, swimming. I sure as heck better do at least one.

PS, Let me bear testimony of the importance of changing up your workout-- maybe it's new music or a new workout outfit or a new technique or something, but I've found that if I get variety in my workout, I feel a whole lot better about doing something as monotonous as running 5+ miles on a treadmill staring in front of me at nothing. This week's trick was new music (see my personal blog).

xoxo and happy training!

Week 5 Is anyone out there?

I've started volunteering to do taxes for low-income people twice a week for class, and that's taking lots of time out of my week. My workouts this week were limited, but good. Here's the synopsis:

Total miles for the week: 7.44
Total cumulative miles: 21.53

   Workouts:

      2/2: 3.13 on the elliptical

      2/6: 3.21 run on the treadmill + 1.1 walk around the park

At least I've increased my overall mileage! It was really hard to do 3 miles on the treadmill all at once (and, admittedly, I walked the first little bit and the last lot bit ...), so my goal for the month is to work up to three-mile workouts at least twice a week.

Other good news: I'm down 5 pounds from when I weighed myself before Christmas! I'm pretty sure some is just due to normal weight fluctuations (especially since I dropped two pounds between Tuesday and Saturday workouts), but it's still progress towards working off that school weight. I'd love to drop five more before I have to go work-clothes shopping ...

Are you guys still keeping up?

Week 4 Progress

Despite battling the winter blues, finishing a midterm and having to write a talk for Sunday, I managed to get in three workouts this week. I'm SO proud of myself. Without further ado, my check-in:

Total miles for the week: 5.75
Total cumulative miles: 14.09
   Workouts:
      1/26: 1.5 mile run
      1/27: 2.8 mile walk
      1/29: 1.45 miles on the elliptical + pilates


Pilates still feels sooo good, I wish I could get myself to class more often. My class schedule changes this week, so I may try for Tuesday. How are the rest of you doing?

Week 3 I'm Regressing

Yup, more homework got done, but definitely not more exercising. I'm actually mostly okay with that.

My "workouts":
1/20/10: 1.6 mile walk
1/23/10: 1.2 mile walk

Total miles for the week: 2.8
Total cumulative miles: 8.34


Um, yeah. I've been wanting to add crazy veggies to our diet, so I did try a pretty yummy recipe for red cabbage on Friday. I totally forgot the apples, might've been weird with them. N hates sweet veggies, meat, etc., so he wasn't a fan, but I kind of liked it. Not crazy, per se, but definitely out of the ordinary.

Hope everyone had a better week than I did!

I am the biggest loser

I am the biggest loser this week (not in a good way) because I pretty much didn't meet any of my goals. Most days were a "rest day" for me. And the chocolate covered pretzels have been calling to me. So glad they are gone! I did make a big pot of veggie soup and huge salad so I had that healthy stuff for lunches and dinner this week.

Walks: total 11.2 miles

Yoga: total 20 minutes

My goals this week:
1. keep to my training schedule (if it's wet outside make the effort to go to the gym or use the treadmill)
2. drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day
3. walk the dogs (be aware of when it is relatively dry out and take advantage of that!)
4. remember to take all my vitamins every day
5. yoga twice this week

Gentry's Update

I did just ok this week...

Monday - ate at Cheesecake Factory instead of working out at all. win?
Tuesday - 3.5 miles
Wednesday - 1 hour of spin/cycle, 1 hour of yoga
Thursday - 4.0 miles
Friday - baked a coffee cake. yes i'm a champion.
Saturday - long run, 5.2 miles and it felt great

Total mileage for the week: 12.7
Cumulative miles: 29.7

Yoga has been g-g-g-great. I was doubting its benefits, but apparently when you strengthen your muscles, you make your workouts more effective. I'm not really sure if it's made a huge difference but the relaxing and stretching just feels good. Not to mention it makes me super hipster...

Also, I read that when you're doing a longer race, you should take the first several miles as slow as possible -- even slower than is comfortable, just to keep your energy instead of burning through your strength all at once. I ran the whole 5 miles super de duper slow and didn't stop or slow down once! I think that's a good sign.

This week WILL be better!

Week 2 Check-in

Total miles for the week: 2.62
Total cumulative miles: 5.54
   Workouts:
      1/12: 2.62 miles on the treadmill
      1/15: Pilates
I was again pretty busy with classes, and I've actually made good progress on my homework, so not much in the way of workouts. But the treadmill workout felt good, and I know pilates will help strengthen all those muscles that have given me trouble in the past (hips, thighs, abs), so I'm going to make a point to keep going.

Hope you guys have had a more productive exercise week than me! No recipes this week. I've eaten pretty poorly, but it's been yummy!

Race ya to the finish

Since I'm doing the Canyonlands Half in Moab, UT on March 20th, I'm on a tighter schedule than everyone else... so consider yourself lucky. Yesterday was my 9 week mark til the (first) big race. My only goal is to beat my last year's time of 2:34... Hopefully since I've already been training this will be possible.

My training schedule is here (except my days will be swapped). It was a rough week getting back into the swing of things, but I ran a total of 17 miles.

From my vast (HA!) running experience, I'm learning the importance of the following things:

healthy eating
(and boy have I been HUNGRY the more I run)

plenty of rest

and
drinking lots and lots... of water that is.

Week 1 Report & Recipe

Thanks for your training schedule, Mom! I must say, I'm not convinced I will actually make it to the Half, since last time I tried I was not in school and I ended up getting shin splints for adding miles too quickly. But it will be nice to get in a more regular habit of exercising, with a goal in mind.

Here's my report for this week:

Total Miles for the Week: 2.92
Cumulative Miles: 2.92 miles
   Workouts:
      1/6/2010: Elliptical, 2.92 miles
      (I claim distraction since this was the first week of classes, and I was busy hoping it really hadn't started. But it did.)

And to go along with my report, here's a yummy recipe you should try:

Healthy/Yummy/Cheap/Easy Recipe for the week: Mexican Rice

1 c. rice

2 c. water

1 cube bullion

1/2 c. salsa

Mix all ingredients together and bring to a boil on the stove. Let boil about 5 minutes, then turn heat down to low and cover for 15 minutes. It's way cheaper and way better than Rice-a-Roni!

The Half 2009

Kelan, Barbara, and Gentry...finishers. I am assuming that since we're smiling we had a good time. Or, we were just remembering the Helvetia burgers we inhaled upon finishing the race.

My walking training schedule

Here is my walking training schedule. Only 22 weeks...yikes!

First Run

We started the year with the First Run.

5k. Next time I definitely want to be more prepared.