Last long run

Yup.  Today I had my last long run before the Philly Half NEXT SUNDAY!!!! Crazy!  It seems like yesterday I started training (end of July really). 

Today's taper run had me going 5 miles. I really wasn't feeling a run this morning, but as I knew I should I went.  And it turned out to be a great one!  Half mile had me at 6:12, which is really good for me.  I then set a goal of hitting a mile in the 12 minute range.  When Garmie went off, I was at 12:48.  Woohoo!  Next goal was 1.5 miles under 20 minutes.  19:38.  Nailed it!  So of course I set the next goal of being in the 26 minute range for 2 miles.  That's been my good time for 2 miles.  26:39 - hells yea!  I reached 2.5 miles around 33 minutes and had high hopes of hitting 3 miles under 40 minutes, but that half mile was all uphill and I didn't make it (41:08 :-( ).  I was slowing down.  Bah!  But, I kept at it and reached 4 miles in about 56 minutes, which while not my fastest, it wasn't too far off.  Then I started thinking I could hit 5 miles under 1:10:00.  Sadly, when I reached 4.5 miles, I realized if I did the math, I would come in at 1:11:something.  This made me sad, but I kept going.  When Garmie went off at 5 miles and I looked down imagine my surprise at

1:09:49

Woohoo!  I was almost jumping up and down on the sidewalk!  Wouldn't that have been funny?  Especially since I was on the busy road near the high school.  And oddly enough, there were TONS of cars on the road today.  Weird.

Overall a great final long run before Philly.  Afterwards, we hit Dunkin Donuts (as is our tradition).  After last week's awful stomach issues, I started out with a egg, cheese, and turkey flatbread, a gingerbread iced coffee and then an apple cinnamon donut.  I am happy to report that my stomach is fine.  Phew!  My friend (who is all-knowledgable about running) analyzed what I ate last week and said I had too much sugar.  So, I tried hard to cut back on the amount of sugar around today's run - no dessert last night, no pre-race meal, and only one 3-piece serving of Sports Beans before the 5 miles.  I had protein with the eggs, cheese, and turkey sausage before having the donut and I'm happy with the results.  I am going to concentrate on more protein in the mornings this week overall.  

One week tomorrow is the Philly Half Marathon.  Eeeeee!!!!!

End of week wrap-up

Well, it's Friday again. Time to see how I'm fairing.  I'll be honest, it was a rough week.  I ate more than I should have and skipped my "long" run (3 miles) last weekend.  But, I tried to make up for it the rest of the week.  I ended up getting both of my weekday runs in (which I haven't done in about 2 weeks); yea!  And Thursday's run rocked!  I did 2.30 miles in 30 minutes, which is my second best distance at that time ever.  And I didn't really feel like I was trying to run fast.  Maybe that means I'm speeding up in general?  And at the end of the week, I was down a pound.  I'm still 1.4 pounds up from before vacay in August, but I'm getting there.  I would really like to see a 1.4 pound loss this week to get me back to where I was mid-August.  Fingers crossed!

We had some nasty weather here in the Northeast.  The county I live in  has been on the national news because of it!  Which is kinda crazy.  If you saw anything that said York, PA that's me.  We had some driveway issues.

This is what the driveway and yard looked like during the day on Wednesday.  Lovely, no?

Then on Thursday night, I headed off to get my 30 minute run in.  I wasn't sure I could because I really expected the skies to open up again and pour.  I lucked out and was able to get my great run in.  But, I took some photos of the Conowago Creek on my way home.  Not so great for the people who live on its banks.

The Conowago Creek flooded over its banks.  To the left of this image in a house.  Basically, the Creek destroyed their backyard.  While it looks like it reached the house itself, I'm hoping that it didn't cause them too much trouble.

There is a little tributary that comes up between two homes that's just a little bubbling brook normally.  Thursday, it was almost to the road.  Hubby believes the house to the left of this photo may have damage to their shed, but I think both houses are high enough up to not have damage, at least I hope so!

We live on a dead end road.  At the end is one house on the river with a big circular turn around area at the end.  The Creek is usually a good 10 feet from the road under normal circumstances.  On Thursday, you couldn't see the turn around at all.  Thank heavens the people at the end of the street really have their house up high because the creek was pretty well up their front yard.  I wasn't the only one who wanted to see what it was like.  I followed someone else down the street who was checking it out, and then someone came right behind me. 

When I got home, I decided to take some photos of our driveway.  We have a gravel drive that when it floods, we lose gravel.  And did we ever!  Check out the ruts that the rain and flooding caused!

You can see the ruts on either side of the driveway here.  There is a small circular hole in the front on the image as well.  They don't look too deep here,  but they were a good 3-4" deep!

Here's that circular hole I mentioned. 

See those ruts?  You can really see the depth as you look further into the photo.  Just crazy!

This is the only part of the driveway we can cross.  This is the part where the water comes up due to the little stream going through the front of the house.  In the left part of the photo you can see the driveway just lost a good 2-3" of dirt and gravel.  You can really feel it when the car dips down when driving across.

We are also dealing with some seepage of water into the master bedroom.  Apparently, it came up through the floor and messed up the carpeting.  We have a big dehumidifier in there with two fans working to dry it out.  I have a feeling we're going to have to spend some time in there cleaning.  Fun.

Dealing with the remnants of Hurricane Lee has not been fun this week.  Though, we are lucky.  Most of our stuff is cosmetic and we are fine.  But, the people in Harrisburg and Hershey have been nailed pretty hard.  Hershey Park's ZooAmerica lost two of its bison due to the quick on-set of the floods.  There are some photos on Facebook of how bad the flooding at HersheyPark was.  Having been there quite a bit over the past 15 years, it's hard to fathom.  So, while our issues at home are annoying, they are small compared to others.  Say a little prayer for those still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Lee.

Amazing Running Week

Today was day 2 of running with the Garmin outside.  I better prepared myself today though.  I wore my cold weather shirt hubby got me for Christmas, as well as my new running gloves (also a gift from hubby).  I always fear that I'll be cold, so I wore a jacket over the running shirt.  Apparently, I didn't need that.  LOL!  Ah well, live and learn, right?

Parked at the same spot as Tuesday, got out and headed off.  I ran a little slower than Tuesday, but that's ok.  I took the same route, but the way the neighborhood is, I could have varied it up a bit.  It's good to know though.  Tuesday, I took a small half block walking break before running again.  I hit the 2.5 mile mark and stopped since that was my goal for the day.  I was a tad bit far from the car at that point, so when I got to the end of the block, I decided to see if I could run back to the car.  I did and hence Tuesday's 3.12 mile run. 

Well, today I am proud to say I ran the WHOLE time, no walks.  Made it up the hill that KILLED on Tuesday and kept going.  I was aiming for 3.5 miles, which is actually Sat.'s run goal, but I figured 3 on Tuesday wasn't so bad, I could aim for 3.5.  Well, I hit it and then some!  I ended up with 4 miles, all under an hour.  I know to most people that's really slow, and it is, but I was happy with it.  Especially since this means I'm WAY ahead of my running schedule!  Woohoo!  I think Sat. I'll stick to a 4 mile run and then up the mileage next week.  Not too shabby for not having run much in the last several months.

Tomorrow is weigh-in.  Wish me luck.  I am positive I've lost, just not sure how much.

Having a good day

I recognize that week days are easier than weekends for me.  Sucks, but true.  My Sat. and Sun. wasn't good.  I ate too much left over Christmas snacks.  But the clock turned midnight on Monday and it all changed.  I am back to eating healthy and exercising without a problem.  What is about Sat. and Sun. that just KILLS me??? 

With that being said, today was good.  I mixed up breakfast with oatmeal today.  Yes, it was instant.  Yes, it was flavored, but it was different and filling.  I had some nice dried cherries with it.  Lunch was a big salad and Progresso Soup.  It was not good soup, which sucks since we have another couple cans of it in the pantry.  :-(  And it's not even 0 points!  Dinner was left over pizza, hence the low-point lunch.  I planned ahead early so I could have the two slices of left over pizza.  And it was good.  :-)

Work out went really well.  I have my schedule all laid out on my calendar and today was the 30 minute run and Day 3 Wii Active 6-Week Challenge.  After Sat.'s run, I had low expectations for the treadmill.  Goal went from 30 minutes to either 1.5 miles or 25 minutes, whichever came first.  BUT, I was getting into the music on the shuffle and didn't notice I had passed both.  So, I went for 30 minutes, which ended up being 1.75 miles.  Not bad.  Then I did the Wii Active work out.  Proud that I did both. 

So, good day.  And I seem to be down about 3 pounds (home scale) from Friday.  Phew!  The scale is going back down!!

Jingle Bell 5k Update and Another New Start

Yesterday, hubby and I ran in the Jingle Bell 5k in Harrisburg, PA. It went really well. Temps were below 32 degrees, not sure what they were though. On the way home, the weather people said the temp was 33, so I know when we started it was colder. We both had great runs! The course was a loop, which was both good and bad. Good since once you looped back, you knew exactly where you were and how much further to go. Bad because when you hit the turn around point, you STILL had another loop to do. LOL! Especially if you're slow like me and the winners passed you before you HIT the turn around point. Ah well. Had a great run in fairly good weather, outside it being cold. The sun was out and the road was dry, which was very helpful. There were two pretty steep hills to overcome...twice. Hubby had a great run at 24 minutes and change! One of his very best. :-) I was about mile 2 when he finished. LOL! And the funny thing was, I knew it too. I hit the mile 2 marker and thought to myself, B should be finishing about now. :-) I finished later than him (obviously) at 38:30ish. This is a HUGE improvement for me over my last 5k. Last 5k was a 42 and change. :-) Must have been the colder temps. Up, that's it. But, it was a great time for me and I'm really happy to finish off my first year of racing with a sub-40 minute 5k. And for fun, hubby and I after the race with the Hershey Chocolate Bar:


And now onto starting over. Been having a rough couple of weeks with the holidays. Need to get back on tract, so I am re-focusing this week on the WW plan. Need to get my butt in gear. I won't loose anything this month, but I can limit the damage. So, back to the plan today. We're eating dinner out tonight, but I know where we're eating and know exactly what to have to stay on tract. The rest of the week, we should be good eating in. It WILL be a good week.

Improved Run

Tuesday was filled with all sorts of stuff. I had a great run AND went out for dinner. Let's start with food, as I always start with food. :-)

I woke up WAY later than I meant to. I normally get up about 9:30 a.m., but I didn't get up until after 10:00 a.m. Oops! Because I was up so late, I saw no point in eating breakfast since I would be having lunch shortly. Probably not the smartest move, but it's the decision I came to. Lunch was good. I had another cheese and veggie filled wrap for lunch. So good! So sad the cheese is gone now. :-( For dessert I had a banana. I thought about having soup, but I decided I just didn't want it. The big obstacle in food consumption involved dinner out. My hubby's parents wanted to see us before we headed out on vacation, so asked to have dinner. We headed out to TGIFriday's, which I might say has a very limited healthy entree menu. I think the food options have gotten better at Friday's, but they aren't great when it comes to healthy foods. I ended up with the Cedar-Seared Salmon Pasta, which was very very good. It was part of their Right Portion menu. I ate half of it - one piece of salmon and half the pasta. Once home, I saw it was 10 points for the whole thing, so not too bad at 5 points for half. I also had one nacho. No idea what the point value on that was. I tried looking it up, but nothing. When we got home, I tried the WW White Chocolate Peppermind Smoothie with milk. I will say, the taste itself wasn't bad, but I would recommend blending it with ice for optimal taste. And that's it. I didn't quite make my veggie/fruit intake, nor drink all my water, but I was on points WITH going out to dinner.

Exercise worked out well actually, as you can tell from the title of today's post. I went to the park that's just up the street rather than using the treadmill or going to the further park. I haven't been to Shelley Park since June. I was thinking two laps, maybe a third, but I wasn't going to be upset no matter how many laps I ran. I headed out with my Avril Laveigne CD playing and had a GREAT run. I hit the halfway mark on the first mile at 5:51, which is what I was doing at Couslor. I was stoked! I've never run under 6 minutes at Shelley for 1/2 mile. At that point, I figured I was going to PR at Shelley. I wasn't going to PR overall, because Shelley is killer due to hills, but I just knew I was going to have a good run. I got up the steep hill, ran around the baseball field and hit the home stretch. When I got to the end, I stopped. Yes, only one mile, but it was a mile at 12:41 - a whole 54 seconds faster than the last time I ran at Shelley. Woohoo! I recognized I should have kept going, so when I came home, I did an additional 20 minutes on my exercise bike. But I was THRILLED with my one mile. :-)

Woohoo Run!

Saturday mornings, unless occupied, are running mornings. This morning I had no desire to get up. It's kinda gloomy out, the bed was warm, I had a kitten. Yea, I didn't want to get out of bed. But, I dragged my lazy butt up and got out of bed. Put on my running gear and with hubby, headed off to the park for a run. I had a feeling it was going to be a bad one. I didn't feel great this morning, so I wasn't sure how long I would last before it caught up to me and I had to stop.

Hit the trail and felt really good. Well, as good as I'm going to feel because honestly, I wasn't feeling a run this morning. Hit the first 1/4 mile marker and was thrilled when the watch said 2:41, that ties my best 1/4 mile time. I was kinda shocked. Kept trucking along and hit the 1/2 mile marker and checked the watch again, this time 5:51 - THE BEST HALF MILE TIME EVER! I was getting excited. I had a shot at have a one mile PR. With that in mind, I kept running. I checked the 3/4 mile marker and I was 8:53, well below my normal 9 minute and some time. This could happen. I booked and pushed myself to the one mile marker. And it freaking paid off! I hit the one mile marker at 11:50!!! My personal best! So excited and happy about that! I had a small goal of getting below 12 minutes before going on vacation and I did it!

And that was just the beginning of a good run. My 2 mile time was the best I've had at the park at 28:22. My three mile time was the best at the park at 45:01 (stupid one second). I had what I thought was a decent 4 mile time at 1:02:something. LOL! I was so thrilled to see 1:02 that I kinda forgot to look further. I had high hopes of hitting 1:15:00 and chopping 2 minutes and 20 seconds off my previous 5 mile run. So, thinking I stood a shot, I booked it! I didn't look at the first mile marker and just concentrated on running hard. When I hit the last marker telling me I'd run 5 miles I stopped my watch and just breathed. I knew I did good. I headed back to meet the hubby and checked my watch - 1:12:11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Five minutes and 10 seconds better than my last 5 miles! What a run today! I know every run can't be like this, and I'm ok with that. I'm just happy today was THAT day. :-)

Great Running News (a day late)

I am running in Al's Run 8k on October 8th in Milwaukee, WI. We are on vacation then, but since we are visiting friends who were already running it, we decided to join them. In order to do so, I would have to train to run it, since my furthest run had only been 3.25 miles. I have been working hard the last few weeks to get to 5 miles. This past Sunday I did it! I ran 5 miles at the park!! I was so excited! I had a plan and while I fell a little behind last week, I was still able to stay on track this week and do 4.5 laps = to 5 miles. Woohoo! I can run Al's Run! Now it's a matter of getting that 1:17:52 time down. :-)

Awesome Run!

Tonight I went running. I've been going during the day, but it's just so darn hot! I'm not a morning person, so to get up when the temps are somewhat cooler eludes me. So, I've been getting up and running at 9:30 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. for about 50 minutes. This is hot. And my park, while lovely, has very little shade during the day.

So, I decided to try to go at night. I was not happy all day about this. In fact, I was kinda dreading it. As it got closer to 6:30 p.m., my self-imposed departure time, I was just annoyed as all get out. When I worked, I usually went right after work, since it was the only time I could do (see morning discussion above). But, since in reality, I had all day to run, I felt annoyed I had to get up NOW to do it.

I got to the park and it was actually temperature-wise, pretty nice. I was surprised. I did wear light capri pants and a tank top. I wasn't taking any chances after Tuesday! I started off and felt like I was running faster than usual, which was fine with me. This week I haven't had good run times. When I hit the one mile marker, I was at 12:19...3 seconds slower than my PR. I was sooooooooo close! Once I got past that one mile mark, my concentration was on mile two. Tuesday, my two mile time was an abysmal 20 minutes. Horrible. Seriously. I did NOT want another 20 minute mile 2. So, I pushed myself more than usual. When I hit the 2 mile marker I was at 28:55, a two mile time of 16:36!! I was so freaking excited! Mile two has always been hard for me. Then it was off to mile 3, which I worried would be bad, since I really pushed on mile two and with mile one being so good...When I came around to the 3 mile marker I finished at 45:47, a three mile time of 17:52. While it's a tad slower than mile 2, it's sure wasn't that bad! And in honesty, I think I've been running 3.25 miles rather three. The path I take states one full loop is 1-1/8 of a mile and I do two full loops, plus one slightly shorter loop. So, I may be running futher than 3 miles.

Saturday starts 8k training. I'm adding half a mile to my current three mile distance. I'll be up around 55 miles, maybe? Though I do know I'm going to lay off the idea of pushing the time in favor of getting in the distance. I'll keep you posted!

Running...again

Today was my first run in about a month. It may have been exactly a month for all I know, I just know the last time I ran was early July. I did my 5k on June 28th, then did two more runs after wards, but had pain in my knee. I decided it wasn't worth killing my knee over until I could see the dr. So, since I went to the doc yesterday, and she didn't think it was serious, I decided to go out today.

I took her advice before running, I took a Aleve. My goal wasn't too far - just one mile - but I decided it was a good idea to take it since I haven't run in a while. Got to the park and stretched. I'm not a HUGE stretcher, but I did my normal pre-run stretch routine. There wasn't a bunch of runners there this morning, which surprised me. At first, I was the only one and that's kinda sad. LOL! I got started and felt pretty good. I did have one cause for concern when I wasn't even a quarter mile out and I coughed. I was afraid of a full-on coughing jag. But, I coughed once and kept going. Phew! I hit the three-quarter mile mark and thought I could run even more. I actually didn't feel bad. I was breathing heavy, but not having run for a month and dealing with the remenants of this darn cold led to me to believe I was ok. I could breathe, so I could run. I hit the mile marker at 12:39, which isn't the fastest I've run the mile at this park (12:16), but it wasn't the worst either (13:17). It was a decent time actually. I thought I might do one full loop at that point, which would be more than I aimed for when I got to the park. I went to the park thinking a mile, but at the mile marker, I felt good. I kept running. But, once I hit the 1.25 mile marker (16:02), I decided I was done. It was a quarter mile longer than I was going to run and 1.25 miles more than I've run in a month. LOL!

My goal is to run 1 mile two more times this week. It'll be at Shelley, cause driving up to Couselor is just not worth it during the week. But Shelley has hills, so it'll be a good test of how I'm really doing. Here's to getting back on track.

Interesting Day of Reckoning

So, it's Sat. and the day where I weigh-in and attempt a long run. Today was a a draw in terms of outcomes. I had a bad week. I was emotionally upset basically all week with this whole job thing that I did not eat the way I should. I ate too many snacks and didn't really do points this week. I went over pretty much every day. Now in my defense, I never went over more than 3-4 per day, so I suppose that's something. But it still showed on the scale. I was up .2 pounds this week. :-( I was so hoping for a good week, but I really respond negatively to upsetting emotional situations. I need to control that and learn to better handle them.

But, with that being said, off to the park I went. I was not feeling a run today. Not at all. My legs were sore from the Wii Active routine I did Thursday and Friday. The inside of my thighs did not like me one bit. But, I got out of the car and started. I suppose that's all one can ask, especially when you have no desire to run at all. Got to the 1 mile marker and realized I was running only 8 seconds behind my fastest time. This did not bode well for me as I really wanted a slow run. Ah well. At the 1.25 mile marker which is about one lap, I wanted to stop. I wanted to stop really badly. I just mentally didn't want to go anymore. My legs were doing ok and I was breathing fine, I just didn't want to run anymore. So, I had to start talking myself into it. And I had to start calling myself names. I know that sounds odd, but to me, it works. I said I had to get the two laps in this week. I couldn't quit like I always do when things get tough. Yea, I could make an excuse and people would buy it, but I would know the truth and dammit I just had to keep moving. So, I continued on. Not fast, but at least kept moving. The frustrating part was when I hit 2.25 mile marker. Apparently, somewhere between 2 miles and 2.25 miles I had accidently reset my watch to 0. This means, I had NO idea how long I had gone between the two. Ugh. So, I restarted the watch at 0 and kept going, mentally tacking on about 4-5 minutes for the quarter mile. Got to the 2.5 mile marker and kept going. I decided I had to improve upon my last two runs. Brian was waiting for me, but I told him I wasn't done and kept going. I passed two people sitting on a bench and told them if they were considering running, not to. They laughed. Hit the 2.75 mile marker and kept going. Went all the way to 3 miles. FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. I was really proud of todays run. I think it took me about 48 minutes to do it, but I did it. And really, that's what counts, right? I ran the furthest and longest of any run in my life. And almost a 5k distance. Maybe that 5k is in my future!

GOALS:

1. Run 2 nights this week
2. Exercise and additional 5 nights this week
3. Drink 64oz of water a day
4. Eat on points 6 days this week

Since I'm behind in my weight-loss goal, I need to really concentrate this week. These are usually the things I need to do to have a successful week. And so, they are this week's goals.

Running Fool...LOL!

Monday night. The start of the week. This is the first day of summer hours. During the summer we work Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and have a nice half day on Fridays - 8:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. While I love the Friday afternoons off, but this whole 8:00 a.m. start time KILLS! It is times like these that I wish I were a morning person. LOL!

Anyway...headed out to Shelley Park tonight to run. The weather is gorgeous! Sunny and cool, but not cold. Just a really great evening. So, last run at Shelley was 1.5 miles and my run Saturday at Couselor was 2.5 miles, so tonight was 2 miles at Shelley. Decided I felt as if I could do 2 miles last time at Shelley, but didn't want to push it. So, headed off for 2 miles tonight. I did fine! I might have been able to go to 2.5 tonight at Shelley - hills and all - but decided to go slowly. The park will be there all summer. I can get to 2.5 miles eventually. But for now, I am THRILLED with my 2 miles at the hilly park. It's something I honestly never thought I would see since it's so hilly. Apparently I am capable of more than I thought. :)