Motivation

I've lost my motivation since training last year. It might have to do with full-time work and school, but that's beside the point. I need help, and bad.

What gets you out the door (or on the treadmill)? What are your pump-you-up tunes?

Happy New Year!

It's time to resurrect the blog and renew our training! 158 days until the Helvetia Half, so we need to average just under 3/4 mile each day until then to make it to one hundred. Don't forget to report your progress!

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.