Cowtown Half recap...a disappointing PR

First of all.... The Cowtown celebrates my 1st Runniversary!!!  The Cowtown 5k was my very first race!!! 

Aparently running a HILLY Half Marathon with no hill training leads to a slightly disappointing, crying crossing the finish line PR....(Thats what I get for not looking at the elevation more than an hour before the race...)

Team Got The Runs!!! 



I finished in 2:35....my BIGGEST goal was to finish the whole thing without walking.  I accomplished this, well sorta..... I walked through the water stops (that was in the plan) RAN up the BIGGEST hill I've ever seen (maybe I'm being a LITTLE sarcastic...) but seriously it was almost a mile long.  And when we reached the top and thought it was over....Noooooo we turned a corner and kept going up hill.  SERIOUSLY?! Who does that?!  The only walking that happened that I didn't plan on was within the last mile.... my back spasmed.  Big time....and it hurt....so bad I cried for the last .75 miles.  (I have 2 unhealed fractures in the bottom of my spine from falling through my parent's attic in highschool....the injury was so bad I had to quit playing softball...)

The sad thing about all this is my legs felt good for the most part.  I did 10 miles last weekend and felt good....they were a little sore and tired but not my biggest problem.  UGH frustrating!

This was not my goal race....I still have 4 weeks left of training.  So I can't be THAT frustrated.  But I am....and I PRd....and my ankles didn't bleed!!!!.....so what's to complain about?

I'm going to the Dr. tomorrow to get my back checked out (I'm being a responsible blogger/runner!) When I got home today I was ready to give up....BUT I'm not going to get defeated THAT easily!

However Olivia got her 2 hour goal!!! 

HIIT Training

Let me start this off by saying HOLY BUCKETS OF SWEAT, followed ever so kindly by HOLY BURNING QUADS!

I have been doing some reading into H.I.I.T. High Intensity Interval Training.  According to the research I've done (let's be clear....not the "published specific research information" required for my nursing job, but the "reading lots of blog posts/sports nutrition/training website" type of research.)  Anyways the research I've found has lots of  good things to say about HIIT.  Basically you are doing short bursts of maximum intensity with recovery in between.  This is AMAZING for fat burning.... again according to the research I've done. 

The past 2 weeks I have been in serious Half Marathon training mode, but managed to work a few HIIT runs into my training plan.  Last week my legs were extremely tired the day or two after my first HIIT run, so I took a few days off to recover for my 10miler I did on Sunday.  This week is TAPER MADNESS!!!!!!!!  And I'm struggling BIG time at it!  So Tuesday night I completed this workout.....and have not run much since! (that's what we call FORCED recovery!)

I do these on the treadmill

Warmup : 5 minutes @ 3.5mph

15sec. @ 9pm

45sec Recovery @3.5

Repeat 10 times

(I varied my sprints between 15sec and 30 sec, but always kept the 45sec recovery)

Cooldown : 5 minutes @ 3.0-3.5

The object of these types of workouts is to GIVE IT YOUR ALL!  You should be feeling like you're going to die at the end of your sprint, and you should be sweating BUCKETS!  Now I have a pretty good cardio base already, so if you're interested in adding a few of these into your workouts you might want to start your sprints a little slower.  You should be able to finish them, but it needs to be HARD!  I seriously sweat more than I have in a LONG time doing these!  It took me 26 minutes total (warmup and cooldown included) and was around 2.5 miles. As this starts to get easier, I will increase my time, the interval speed, and the # of intervals! 

Here are a couple of the resources I've found information on.....

BePrettyThinkPretty (search HIIT on her blog...)

Blonde Ponytail
www.intervaltraining.net/HIIT.html

Let me know what you think!  I will repost an update in a few weeks and let you know if I'm seeing any results!
Here's a little motivation.....

This pic came from FitPit's facebook page!

My new Inspiration = a KILLER butt workout!

My addiction to Pinterest has recently been rekindled....and now I have NO CLUE why I ever lost my obsession....

Anyways while playing on Pinterest during some much needed "Girl Time" the other night we stumbled upon this picture....

SOURCE

My new fitness goal is to have this ass....ask my friends, I've been showing all of them!  The great thing about Pinterest is it shows you the results, and all you have to do is click on the picture to get the workout that is attached!! 

This workout is a few workouts with a stability ball.  The key to these not-so-easy workouts is BALANCE!!  It's so easy to find a workout, and do it, without putting the full effort into it.  This workout REQUIRES you to squeeze your ass muscles (aka your glutes) as well as your abs to maintain the balance to complete the workout!  So here's the workout link!!

Great Glutes in 20 Minutes!

Let me know what you think!!!

Changing things up a bit...

So my "training" has taken a bit of a turn.  I have been doing a lot of reading/research into different types of fitness/training IN ADDITION to my running.  It has definitely been an increase in time comittment, but the results I'm seeing in my body are WAY different than when I'm running only.

So I've decided, in an attempt to interest more people/gain more readers....I'm going to gear my blog more towards an all over fitness blog than just a running blog.  I want to include more of my workouts (strength training AND running,) give readers workout ideas, as well as an insight into my running training plans. 

I MIGHT even go as far as to include pictures of myself along the way (Keyword : MIGHT!!)  I have found a lot of inspiration and workout ideas through blogs and I hope my blog is a way for others to find the same ideas and inspiration!

What do you think?! Maybe in the process the look of the blog will get a little makeover too.....

Skinny Fat

I found this blog on Pinterest the other day, (PS if you're not on Pinterest we need to talk, and I need to help you enjoy my obsession) and decided to take a look at it tonight. The Pinterest tag was “skinny fat to fit” or something like that. The blog is ThinkPrettyThoughts and I am ADDICTED to her now! She got me thinking about a lot of stuff tonight. Her name is Katy, and she started a blog to journal her journey from skinny fat to fit. I feel like I am completely in the same shoes. I have always been “skinny fat” and I’ve actually called it that for a long time. She brings light to the fact that there are tons of “regular” girls out there who eat like crap and do minimal exercise. She talks about how they are just as at risk for heart disease and what not as obese people are. Their lifestyles are just as sedentary, but God blessed them with “eat what you want and don’t get overly obese” genes. Fortunately & Unfortunately I have those geans (I accidentally spelled that "jeans" - lucky I caught myself!). I can do minimal exercise and eat crappy and not get huge….however I feel tired all the time (more so than usual with my night shift schedule), I have no energy, and I don’t feel good about myself.
Katy has inspired me to kick up my workouts and completely clean up my eating….not just mostly clean it up like I’m doing now (I feel real guilty for that cookie I ate when I got to work…Ooops!!) Especially because today was a rest day.

So I want to keep up with my running, it’s something I’m learning to enjoy, something I have watched myself get better at, and has health benefits all of it’s own. However now I’m going to kick up my “non-run” workouts. Katy does a lot of HIIT workouts (Blonde Ponytail does these too!!!) I think I want to add an extra speed work day and incorporate more HIIT style runs. I also want to kick up my weight lifting. I never increase my weight, or my reps. I do the same workouts and weight and reps every time. I get lazy in a way….Time for that to change! I don’t want to go all Body Builder Betty on you, but I want to be more fit, and more lean/toned!

Katy has logged her progress and discusses what has worked for her. Hopefully some more intense strength training will help with my distance running too!!

I want to be as “obsessed” with being healthy as she is….a good healthy PASSION as she calls it for being healthy! I will still have rest days and I will still have ice cream (occasionally….)

So here is what I had for dinner at work tonight. I felt pretty good eating this after reading her blog for a little while!!

What was left of my tuna salad when I got all "creeper taking a picture of her tuna salad" like in the breakroom.  Tuna, red bell pepper, onion, and pickle, a SMIDGE of olive oil mayo (Yes Smidge is a word...duh) and spicy mustard.

A good ole bowl of blackberries (I've had a TON of these lately because they were 4/$5 last week!

And this little yummy delight kind of tricked me.  So on my Primal eating thing I limit my carb intake (I don't eat grain....unless I'm being bad) this yogurt had 27g of carbs. No biggie, I need carbs and I need them from things like this.  However my "lowfat" yogurt forgot to mention on the front that it had 23g of SUGAR....Please see my Dear Sugar post to see why this is a problem for me..... I stopped eating it (about half way through - as soon as I read this) because I just didn't want the sugar!  I'm proud of myself for that one!!

My Iphone food pictures are FABULOUS I know….email me if you’d like to hire my MAD photography skilled self to shoot your next event (Bahaha yah right!)

Go check out Katy's blog!

Anyone have any feedback on this?  I think I'm going to start gearing my blog toward a more "healthy living" blog that strictly running.  I want to start posting my recipes, more food pictures, and my workouts.  Wish Me Luck!!!

How to be a "not" fat fat kid

When we got up this morning The Hubs and I decided to ride our bikes to the gym.  I've missed my lovely Trek.  We bought our bikes in September and were doing a REALLY good job riding them everywhere....to the gym, to grab dinner, to the Vitamin Shoppe.  Ya know, making use of the $800 we spent!

Then The Hubs bike got a flat tire, and we kept forgetting to take it to get it fixed, then he broke his ankle....well last week we finally got it fixed!  And today was our first gloriously leg burning ride!!  We rode to the gym, but we took the LOOOOONG, super hilly way.  Not cool for my first time on a bike in a few months....SO.NOT.COOL.  My legs were burning before we ever made it out of the neighborhood! 

At the gym we did a shoulder and back workout, then took the short way home!!

Tonight The Hubs and his friend were upstairs playing XBOX and I was bored so I decided to go for a little run.  I hooked up Knox and The Hubs friend's dog Aspen and took them for about a mile.  When I got back the boys said they wanted ice cream.....Ooooh I have serious problems saying no to ice cream.  So I justified my Root Beer Float by running to the ice cream place.  It was only about a mile away, but the boys drove....so that makes it ok right?  I ran about 2.5 miles tonight, that I wasn't planning on running....to get ice cream.  This is how I avoid being a "fat" fat kid! 

Sorry for the terrible Iphone picture!!  Doesnt look it, but it was SO good!!