I completed this week's 9 mile long run in 104 minutes. It is slower than I'd like but at that pace, I'd still net a 2.5 hour half marathon. So, I'm not going to complain. At least not overly much. Distance first, speed second.



I'm writing this at work. On a Saturday. During overtime. Because we have some clients from hell who want stuff NOW - no matter that things only arrived two days ago and that I had to be called in to get this shit done. Stupid job. Stupid people. Stupid stupid. Oh well, my overtime here will just about pay off Karen's ticket out to do the half marathon with me in February.



Tomorrow Nanowrimo starts. I am excited. I am participating (and so is Kimberly) and while I have a plot, I really only have a very very vague plot. No plot outline, no character sketches and no idea where (if anywhere!) this story will go. I'm a brave soul, I guess. But I figured, classes don't start until mid-December, I might as well actually DO Nanowrimo this year, instead of wanting to do it and avoiding it again. I will be blogging bits and pieces of the story, I think. Well, maybe. I guess it depends on how bad it sucks!

So I'm officially accepted into the program at Phoenix College that I applied to.



This is pleasing to me.



I'm continuing with my half-marathon training, after a very disappointing (and hot!) 5k on Saturday. I managed a 32:21 and had to WALK parts of it. I was indignant but didn't wish to die from heat exhaustion. There was NOT enough by way of aid stations. Joshua managed a much more respectable time than I - coming in under 29 minutes. I'm jealous.



So far this week, I ran with Ripley to the dog park on Monday (3.5 miles) and I ran with Mr. Dog this morning (2.25 miles). Tomorrow I'll run with Ripley to the dog park again and hopefully Thursday I'll squeeze in some lifting. Then Friday I'm going to run to the dog park again and follow with my long run on Saturday of 8 miles.

So this week has been rough.



Monday - AM - 3.5 miles with Little Dog, PM - Challenges W3D1

Tuesday - AM - 2.5 miles with Little Dog, PM - FAIL! (no dog walking)

Wednesday - AM - 4.5 miles (half with Little Dog and half with Mr. Dog), PM - FAIL! (no challenges)

Thursday - AM - FAIL! (no dog walking), PM - FAIL! (no dog walking)

Friday - AM - 2.5 miles run at the gym, PM - Challenges W3D2

Saturday - AM - 8.5 miles (half with Little Dog and half with Mr. Dog), PM - Challenges W3D3

Sunday - AM - Lift & Cross-train, PM - REST!

Maybe I was a little overly optimistic? That's a lot of fails so far this week - four of them! Oh well. I've got lots of thought provoking posts floating around in my head but no motivation to write them down. Maybe someday? We'll see.



Otherwise, I'm waiting for word from Phoenix College (3 weeks to go!) and not doing much else. There's a 5k coming up next weekend (Frank Kush 5k - same one that I did last year as my first 5k!).

As cross-posted on Xanga and Facebook!
The week of 9/28/2009:

• Monday: AM - 5k on the treadmill and stretch, PM - challenges
• Tuesday: AM - at least 2 miles with Little Dog( 2.5 actually!), Afternoon - 1 mile walk to Kokopelli's for lunch, PM - Rest FAIL!1.5 miles of walking all three dogs at the same time.
  
• Wednesday: AM - 5k on the treadmill (32:05 compared to Monday's 29:14), PM - challenges FAIL!
  
• Thursday: AM - Lift at the gym (core and pullup!) FAIL!, PM - Rest
• Friday: AM - 3.5 miles with Little Dog, PM - challenges
• Saturday: AM - 8 miles with Little Dog and Mister Dog, PM - Rest - FAIL! challenges!
  
• Sunday: AM - Lift at the gym (core, pullup!) FAIL!, challenge test and cross train - FAIL!

Well, I managed all my running and clocked in a total of 23.7 miles this week.

The challenges were harder since Ripley's poo explosion threw Wednesday out of the loop and resulted in me doing Day 2 on Friday, Day 3 on Saturday and then the Challenge progress test for pushups, crunches and squats today following it with Day 1 of Week 3 tomorrow evening. Four days in a row of body weight exercise is hard on anyone I think.

I did manage 22 pushups (tier 2 next week), 30 good crunches until my bra hurt unbearably and I was strongly reminded as to why I wear a sports bra when I normally do crunches (tier 1 next week) and 41 squats (tier 3 next week). I could have done more crunches in a better bra and more squats except that I want to run 3.75 miles tomorrow. So I did the minimum to put myself in the top tier for next week.

I also did monthly measurements for the first time in two months. And boy, can I tell.

Weight (post delicious Japanese food): 158.8lbs
Bust - 39.5"
Waist - 37.5"
Hip - 42.25"
Thigh - 25.5"
Arm - 12.25"

As posted on Xanga and Facebook


The week of 9/28/2009:

• Monday: AM - 5k on the treadmill and stretch, PM - challenges
• Tuesday: AM - at least 2 miles with Little Dog( 2.5 actually!), Afternoon - 1 mile walk to Kokopelli's for lunch, PM - Rest FAIL!1.5 miles of walking all three dogs at the same time.
  
• Wednesday: AM - 5k on the treadmill (32:05 compared to Monday's 29:14), PM - challenges FAIL!
  
• Thursday: AM - Lift at the gym (core and pullup!) FAIL!, PM - Rest
• Friday: AM - 3.75 miles with Little Dog, PM - challenges
• Saturday: AM - 8 miles with Little Dog and Mister Dog, PM - Rest
• Sunday: AM - Lift at the gym (core, pullup!), challenge test and cross train!

Ah, for the best laid plans of me!! They don't always work! You may have noticed that I planned previously to run Little Dog to the dog park on Monday and Wednesday - but this did NOT happen. And why is that? Oh my beloved job, that is why. I had to be in early on Monday and Wednesday to process some samples that came in with NO notification (well, I guess one business day in advance is SOME notification...) and that have VERY short (24 hour) shelf lives. So that means getting work before my normal 9am time - since the samples are supposed to be there by 830am and have to be done ASAP.

Yeah. The trip to the gym was fine - though I'd forgotten how long time is when on the treadmill as opposed to running with Little Dog. Even showering at the gym was fine (though there was this little girl with a towel and a thong...but that's another day and another store). But on Monday, FedEx delivered the WRONG package and had to be hunted down so the samples were almost two hours late and on Wednesday, FedEx swears they tried to deliver at 0716, when there were three of us in the lab, and none of us heard them. So again, the samples were late. Almost 3 hours this time. Gack.

Disrupting Little Dog schedule makes her nutty with lack of exercise and it disrupts the boys' (Mr. Dog and Skinny Dog) schedule as well since one person cannot take three dogs to the dog park. Well, they can but not these three without wanting three shock collars and an industrially strength dog repellent. The nice thing about going in to work so early is that I get to leave early though.

Well, at least that's what I thought, until I got home last night. Ripley had been up the previous night at 1100, 0200, 0245 and about 0400. At least one of those times she had to poop and the other times I just ignored her or sent her outside without observing her. Yeah, apparently I should have paid more attention because I came home to the poop explosion in her kennel. She was covered, her kennel was covered, Mr. Dog's kennel was covered, her bedding was covered, Mr. Dog's bedding was covered, her chewie squirrel was covered, the FLOOR and the GROUT and the WALL were also liberally doused. It was a major ick factor that took about 2 hours to clean up. And meanwhile, Little Dog was still squirting, as it were. Poor thing. All the way up until about 7 or 8pm she was having diarrhea. And occasional vomiting.

So, I didn't work out last night or this morning. But I did get to stay home from work - it didn't really seem fair to put her in her kennel just on the off chance that she might have another bout of the poopies. No one and nothing should have to lay in their own feces for an entire day. That's just not fair. Thus far, she's been healthy and so has Mr. Dog and Skinny Dog. Let's just hope it continues and that Little Dog keeps down her dinner (which will be like her breakfast, 1/4 of what she normally gets liberally mixed with pumpkin). Assumign that she's okay tonight, we're going running tomorrow morning!

Tuesday

As cross posted on Xanga and Facebook. The week of 9/28/2009: Monday: AM - 5k on the treadmill and stretch, PM - challenges Tuesday: AM - at least 2 miles with Little Dog( 2.5 actually!), Afternoon - 1 mile walk to Kokopelli's for lunch, PM - Rest FAIL!1.5 miles of walking all three dogs at the same time. Wednesday: AM - 3.75 miles with Little Dog, PM - challenges Thursday: AM - Lift at the gym (core and pullup!), PM - Rest Friday: AM - 3.75 miles with Little Dog, PM - challenges Saturday: AM - 8 miles with Little Dog and Mister Dog, PM - Rest Sunday: AM - Lift at the gym (core, pullup!), challenge test and cross train! Okay. Those of you with multiple dogs - how the crap do you walk more than one (or even TWO) at a time? I mean, at least without tripping over dogs, wanting to kill dogs and having to stop about every 5 steps to disentangle them? Are my dogs (MR. DOG, I'm looking at you here) just that ill-behaved on leash? Probably! And sadly, I don't get to run with Little Dog tomorrow. Now, I'm sentenced to the treadmill again. Stupid job with stupid early morning stupid rush jobs for stupid clients who don't even pay their stupid bills. STUPID. And if you couldn't tell, I'm still cranky. And grumpy. And more than a little bitchy, irritable and just plain MEAN. I don't know what my problem is but I'm about three doggie "interactions" away from throwing all six of the four-leggers into the little bathroom and having a pet thunderdome event.

As cross-posted on Xanga and Facebook:

The week of 9/28/2009:

• Monday: AM - 5k on the treadmill and stretch, PM - challenges
• Tuesday: AM - at least 2 miles with Little Dog, PM - Rest
• Wednesday: AM - 3.75 miles with Little Dog, PM - challenges
• Thursday: AM - Lift at the gym (core and pullup!), PM - Rest
• Friday: AM - 3.75 miles with Little Dog, PM - challenges
• Saturday: AM - 8 miles with Little Dog and Mister Dog, PM - Rest
• Sunday: AM - Lift at the gym (core, pullup!), challenge test and cross train!

Today's 5k on the treadmill went well - 29:14. That is a time I'd like to see in a couple of weeks at the Frank Kush 5k. We'll see though - I'm going to distance lately. Not for speed! (Ha! Did you see what I did there?)

I certainly don't think it's fair to have candy bars AND cinnamon rolls in the breakroom. My resistance is only so strong. And I really like cinnamon rolls.

Here's hoping tonight's challenges come fairly easily. It's been a long day and I'm poooooooped.

This weeks schedule (which I wish I could find a better format for posting online): Monday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges Tuesday - AM - Lift with focus on assisted pull ups and core - FAIL!, PM - REST Wednesday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges Thursday - AM - Lift with focus on assisted pull ups and core - FAIL!, PM - REST Friday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges Saturday - AM - Long Run - 7.5 miles, PM - REST Sunday - AM - Cross train (row, mostly likely) and lift if feeling good, PM - REST Not too bad really! The downfall of working out so much though - LAUNDRY. I'm going through 2 outfits minimum on workout days and sometimes, if I change before my pushup, squats and crunch challenges - it's THREE. Also, I think I'm going to have to buy more sports bras. Again. And those little suckers aren't cheap!

This weeks schedule (which I wish I could find a better format for posting online):

• Monday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Tuesday - AM - Lift with focus on assisted pull ups and core - FAIL!, PM - REST
• Wednesday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Thursday - AM - Lift with focus on assisted pull ups and core - FAIL!, PM - REST
• Friday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Saturday - AM - Long Run - 7.5 miles, PM - REST
• Sunday - AM - Cross train (row, mostly likely) and lift if feeling good, PM - REST
  

So the problem seems to be Tuesday and Thursday so far. My behind is just lazy and there is no Little Dog agitating to go. Oh well. Wednesday I stayed home from work but managed my best run to the dog park yet - 41 minutes to go about 3.5 miles (including traffic lights and pit stops). I'd like to get it down to a 35 minute run - eventually.

I'm still all sinus-y gross. That's been three weeks of YUCK in my sinuses. Apparently I need to get my lower sinuses roto-rootered or something...

This weeks schedule (which I wish I could find a better format for posting online):

• Monday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Tuesday - AM - Lift with focus on assisted pull ups and core - FAIL!, PM - REST
• Wednesday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Thursday - AM - Lift with focus on assisted pull ups and core, PM - REST
• Friday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Saturday - AM - Long Run - 7.5 miles, PM - REST
• Sunday - AM - Cross train (row, mostly likely) and lift if feeling good, PM - REST

Yeah. So I rocked out with the challenges last night, even being tired and late getting home. And even with my poor right quad being all sore from Sunday's initial test. And then this morning, I couldn't get my hiney out of bed and my quad hurt even more.

Indeed. Those are excuses. They may even be valid. But I still made a choice to be lazy this morning (and my husband even went to the gym - go him!). Everyday, every morning, every meal, every workout (or lack thereof) is a choice.

So my choices today have sucked.
No workout. I ate a candy bar and chips from TJ's even though I had a healthy lunch packed, including snacks. The PMS monster reared it's ugly, hormone-y head and I chose to listen.

Yeah, choice is a big deal for me. I think I may actually tattoo it on my person to help reinforce the importance of that one little word. You may not choose your lot in life but you can always choose how you react to events in your life.

Luckily for me, tomorrow I will run no matter what - because Little Dog is a demanding bitch and NEEDS her run to the dog park. Four-leggers are great motivators.

Of course, what remains to be seen, is what tonight's choice for dinner will be.

Well, I did 7 miles on Saturday but in split format. That is, I went 3.5 miles to the dog park with Ripley. Took a potty break and a 15 minute breather and swapped out Ripley for Indiana and then went 3.5 miles home. Less than 90 minutes for 7 miles. In theory that means I could, right now, finish a half marathon in less than 3 hours. Yeah, and then my feet would fall off and I would cry. But you know, theoretically!

This weeks schedule (which I wish I could find a better format for posting online):

• Monday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Tuesday - AM - Lift with focus on assisted pull ups and core, PM - REST
• Wednesday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Thursday - AM - Lift with focus on assisted pull ups and core, PM - REST
• Friday - AM - Run 3.5 miles, PM - Pushup, squat and crunch challenges
• Saturday - AM - Long Run - 7.5 miles, PM - REST
• Sunday - AM - Cross train (row, mostly likely) and lift if feeling good, PM - REST
  

What are the challenges I refer to above? Well, I've done the 100 Pushup Challenge and the 200 Sit-up challenge (or crunches, whatever) but now they have the 200 Squat challenge. Same idea - train yourself to do MORE of certain actions. However, the squats are going to be easier I think. We did the initial test yesterday - I did 100 squats, 14 military style (and GOOD form) pushups and 44 crunches. I'm in pretty darn good shape, if I do say so. I do think I need to start throwing in the occasional timed mile run, though my 5k on October 17th will help keep me on target for speed, I hope!