Crossfit and Christmas

December flew by!  I can't believe Christmas is over and New Year's is in a couple days.  I've been so busy that I haven't had time to update, sorry.  But I'm happy to report that I've been at Crossfit for two weeks now.  After the first class, my boyfriend got me a two week gift card for beginner classes that they were giving out to members.  He also got one for his mom!  I didn't go until the next Thursday, because that worked for his mom.  But it also worked out for me because I caught the nastiest stomach bug Tuesday night into Wednesday.  It was going around my job and I could barely eat until Saturday, so needless to say the workout was that much tougher without substantial food in my belly.  In the beginner class we didn't do the same workout as the regular class.  We did a little strength and then we rowed 500 meters, and in the rest of the 10 minute workout we did 10 KB swings and 10 box jumps.  His mom was a trooper.  I went the Monday the 23rd and I got to experience the "12 days of Christmas" workout.  The teacher only gave up 15 minutes to do as much as we could instead of finishing the whole thing.  I got up to the 10th day, but didn't finish it.  That was a brutal workout, but I felt so good afterwards!  Christmas messed up my schedule a little so I ended up going Friday night.  Starting with Clean and Jerks (I'm slowly working on the names!) followed by AMRAP in 10 minutes of 5 push presses, 10 body rows, and 20 sit ups.  It's crazy that a workout is only 10-15 minutes yet I'm so exhausted after completing it.  Tomorrow may be my last beginner class.  I'm debating on if I want to do the 2x a week or 3x a week membership.  I have to remember that I need to train in between all of this so that's why I'm debating.

For Christmas I got a couple running things!  Pro Compression socks, an iFitness hydration belt, a foot massager, and a running vest.  Yesterday my friend and I went for my first run since December 2nd, ouch!  We did a nice slow 3 mile run and ended with a pace just under 12 minute miles.  I need to get back into my routine, end of November I was doing 2-4 miles with a 9:30 pace!!  I'm either doing a 12 week or 10 week training plan, so those would start either second or last week in January.

Crossfit... Attempt #2

So today I ventured to my boyfriend's box.  It's a 25-30 minute drive, which was why I was wary to try them first.   I had scheduled to go the same time he usually attends.  Unfortunately, he got stuck at work and couldn't make it.  I knew his friend was teaching the class so I felt more at ease than I had going to the other gym last week.  As soon as I walked in I felt more comfortable than I had previously.  The gym was much larger and seemed more put together.  The warm up was done as a group, instead of solo, major plus in my book.  People were so much more friendly and willing to help and encourage each other.  Although I'm sure it helped that I knew the coach, I believe he would have taken the time to help anyone new.  They already took down the workout so I'm not sure what everything we did was called.  But we did 30 squats with the barbell, 30 toes to bar, 20 lifting the bar, 20 toes to bar, 10 squats with the barbell, and 10 toes to bar.  I wish I had the proper terminology, but I'm sure that'll come in time.  We did a stretch at the end which was nice.  I know I'm still going to be super sore for two days like last time, but hopefully it'll help a little.  There's a box a little closer, but I'm not sure I even want to go through that awkward first workout when I liked this place so much.  Now I have to suck it up and pull out the credit card and go!

Cross Fit

So I just got home from my first Cross Fit experience.  There aren't many boxes in the area, so I found the closet one and e-mailed the owner.  My boyfriend's cousin started there in the summer, but she goes to the morning classes.  She seems to like it so I had high hopes.  The class started at 5:30, but I showed up around 5:15 because I had no freaking idea what I was getting myself into.  I filled out a form and signed a waiver.  The owner was very nice and welcoming.  He had me do a different warm up than everyone else.  I almost did a pull up!! (I've never done one before in my life.)  He had two workouts planned, I don't know how it's supposed to work so I went with it.  First we did three sets of 30-second handstand holds, 60-second forward leaning rest, 90-second side plank (each side) but they turned into 45 second during the second set.  Then for time we did four rounds of 10 dead lifts (@60%) but I just used a kettle bell and I don't know how heavy it was, 5 barbell roll outs but I had an ab roller, and 400 meter run.  Ouch.  That is all I have to say.  The first part wasn't too bad except I'm horrible at side planks.  And the second set of workout was more difficult than I had pictured, probably because I'm used to just running but now I was using muscles that I haven't used in a long time.  The I didn't come in last, so that was nice.  A couple of the people were nice, but others I didn't get a good vibe from.  Being a smaller gym, they had to know I was new.  Maybe I was expecting too much, but I've heard so many great things about cross fit people being welcoming and encouraging that only two out of 12-15 people even speaking to me wasn't what I had pictured.
I think I'm going to check out my boyfriend's box next week.  It's farther and more expensive, but he rants and raves about it so we'll see how I like it.

An unexpected email

So it's the week I've been waiting for... the drawing for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in DC.  They said we should know by December 6th, which is Friday.  I sat down after a long, exhausting day and open my email on my phone and the first thing that pops ups is from "Nike Women's Half Ma..." and below says "Your Entry to the 2014 Nike Women's..."  I was so nervous to open it.  I had actually been having second thought this morning about the race, wondering if it was a good idea that I had even entered.  So I clicked on the email and I have been ACCEPTED!  Needless to say all that doubt went away in an instant!  Good thing I'm already training, this half is four weeks after the one I have been training for.

Now, I have been debating the idea of cross fit for a while.  But lately my boyfriend has been pushing the idea on me more than usual.  I'm really scared of the idea, but also so intrigued to try.  I found two boxes, my boyfriends and one that is a little closer to me.  I'm debating between the two.  I know his is a good place because he's been there for a long time and they have about nine classes a day that I could attend so it's nice to have options, but it is a half hour away, and slightly more expensive.  The closer place is obviously closer (only 15 minutes away), cheaper, but they only have 3 class times I could go to (realistically I hate working out late so it's more like one, maybe two time slots that work for me).  So I finally made the decision to try it but now where do I go?  I want to start before I change my mom, but I am way too indecisive for my own good.

I just needed to share my post workout victory

I didn't run this weekend.  Saturday I went Bridesmaid dress shopping and didn't have enough time and when I woke up Sunday it felt like nine degrees outside so I stayed cuddled in bed.  So my last run before today was Thursday, not too bad.  But today is my first below freezing run of the year, so needless to say I was a little worried.  I had purchased new leggings that I've been waiting to try for two weeks!  They're fleece lined and by far my new favorite.  I had set out to complete two or three miles, but shortly after beginning my run I changed my mind to four.  First mile was a 10:17 pace, not too bad but I figured I would burn out like I always do.  My huge problem is starting too fast and then fading very, very quickly.  But I was wrong.  mile two came with a 10:05 pace.  What was going on?  During mile three I had felt my speed slow.  My Garmin beeped and told me my third mile was done in 9:53!!  I have never had a mile be under 10 minutes that wasn't a first mile.  I thought I gave up at 3.22 miles and once more during the fourth mile.  I literally stopped and turned off my watch, but in a couple seconds told myself that I could not quit.  I felt like I was barely moving towards the end of my run, and that last .2 miles was a big struggle.  I felt like I wasn't moving but I also knew I was pushing myself to be done, it was a weird feeling.  The final mile was done in 9:22!  Two weeks ago I struggled to complete four miles in 45 minutes.  Today I did it in 39 minutes and 40 seconds!  I don't know what happened and I'm not sure that'll ever happen again.

Food for Runners

I'm addicted to Pinterest, who isn't these days?  I found one pin that tells you the best minimally processed food for runners and why each food specifically helped.  Their list included:

• Sweet Potatoes
• Eggs
• Black Beans
• Salmon
• Berries
• Yogurt
• Bananas
• Lean Beef
• Almond Butter
• Quinoa
• Coffee

Now I already eat these, except Almond Butter because it doesn't compare to Peanut Butter and I'm not a huge beef eater.  For everything I do eat already, I want to up my intake and I want to sneak some more beef in (boy, will my boyfriend be happy about that)!

Last night I made a Black Bean, Corn, Quinoa "Salad" (again found on Pinterest).  I omitted some of the ingredients because my frig was lacking and I made it my own  It was delicious and so simple!  I just made a little over a cup of quinoa because that's what my open bag had left.   When that was almost done I sauteed some red pepper and jarred jalapenos with some salt, pepper, garlic, and online powder.  After about five minutes I added a can of black beans and almost a full can of corn.  I then let that heat through and then added the quinoa.  The jalapeno added just enough heat and everything worked very well together.  I didn't need to make quite as much as I did, but I have about three to four portions leftover, but I will gladly eat it all.  Yum!

My leftover lunch!

On a side note, I somehow lost two pound this week, and eight total since the end of July.  I'm definitely going to weigh myself again tomorrow because I don't believe it.

Gipis Update

After a week of using Gipis and pondering over what I thought of the plan it created for me, I decided that it's not for me.  I want to keep the app and update it with the runs I do.  My friend, who is running the half with me, is using it and I found that seeing her workouts are motivation for when I don't want to get out there and run.  For now I'm going to get out there whatever days I feel like it.  I'm aiming for at least four days a week.  I know with the cold and possible snow approaching in the upcoming months that may not always happen, but I won't beat myself up if I miss a couple workouts.  My training long runs will start ten weeks before the half, which is the last weekend in January.

The Philly Marathon was this weekend.  Getting the tweets about it made me excited that I'm getting back out there.  I've always had the dream of running a full... one day.  I don't know how I would do, but I could always try just once, right?  Maybe that'll be the Philly in a year or two.

Training Plan

So for my last two races, I made my own plan.  I found the one that fit me the best and made it fit my life.  I settled for a 10-week plan that I found on Pinterest.  I skipped most of my weekday runs and focused on the long runs.  I thought that was what mattered.  I'm also a firm believer in using intervals.  It took a while but I found what worked for me, 2 minutes running and 1 minute walking, this allowed me to run the best.

This time around I'm taking a whole new approach.  One night sitting on my couch I decided to look up fitness apps.  I stumbled across one called Gipis and I downloaded it.  I went through the prompts and it asked what my last timed run was and what my new goal is.  It made a detailed plan from that day until the day of my half marathon.  You get to choose the four days you want to run every week. I got to select Easier, Recommended, or Harder.  By accident I chose harder but decided to stick with it (you can change it).  According to the app my new half marathon finish time will be 2 hours 11 minutes... that's 17 minutes faster than my last half.  I thought why not give it a shot.  The first month is running... slow, 13:30 minute per mile pace.  I physically can't seem to fun that slow, I tried.  I'm also supposed to be running the whole time allotted which is new for me.

First week down. 35 minutes, 45 minutes, and two 15 minute runs.  Ran straight through every run, which is something I have not done in a while, since I'm such an interval girl.  The runs were nice, too!  I can't get the app to work when I actually run, that's my goal this upcoming week.  I just manually input all my information from my Garmin.  I rely on that watch, but when the runs start to vary in speed at different intervals I would like the app to tell me what to do.  This plan is a trial and error.  I'll have no problem returning to my old plan when there are ten weeks left until race day if I don't like how Gipis is going.

Where to Begin

I began my “official” running journey a year and a half ago.  I had always played sports, a Tom Boy if you will.  I started running to lose weight after my freshman year of college.  I was determined to not gain the freshman 15, rather lose it.  I took summer classes and stayed at my family’s shore house.  I was down there alone during the week so my schedule was school and running.  Although I played field hockey, I hated running.  Something changed that summer.  I started to really enjoy it.  Before I knew it was out there running 4 miles straight!  I stayed on that path for about a month or two and then running became more of an occasional thing.  That was until I heard that Disney had a Princess Half Marathon.  I’m a huge Disney fan, and what girl wouldn’t want to be a “princess” for a day.  So I signed up for that race the moment registration opened.  I knew I didn’t have to start training until 2-3 months before the race, but of course I started (again with the emphasis on occasional).  When it was time to get serious, I got serious.  I made a plan and stuck with it the best I could.  I always did my weekend long runs.  I may have slacked off on my couple short weekday runs, but running in the cold and snow was new to me.  I guess I’ll add that I hate treadmills and I do not belong to a gym.  The time came in February 2013 to head down to Disney, a mother daughter trip!  We did the 5K together, mostly walking because she’s not a runner.  And the next day was my day to shine.  I knew I wasn’t fast and I had a plan to just have fun.  I wanted to stop at the character and take pictures and enjoy my accomplishment of running 13.1 miles.  I think my time was somewhere around 3:30, but I held that medal with so much pride.  I had done something I never thought I could or would do.  I got home a couple days later and immediately began looking up more half marathons to do.  I found one in Atlantic City just about six weeks away.  I jumped back into training; this one was going to be for time.  The day came and went and I wanted to finish under 2:30.  What was my official time, 2:28!  Although I had so much fun I decided to take some time off from running, so I could enjoy it again (training does get tedious for new runners, I think).  We had a hot, hot summer so I wasn’t out there too much.  Then the race bug hit again in November.  I found a new half coming to Philadelphia in March 2104.  My boyfriend convinced me to register and here I am starting my training all over again.  I found an app so I have a new plan this time around.  I’ll have no problem switching back to my old one if need be, but I figured I’d try it out.  This time around I’m going to try and focus more on nutrition to see if that helps me.