Rest

The weekend had been quite hectic and yesterday I found that I was exhausted!

So I decided to forego my workout and just relax with Mr. Boyfriend and chill before having dinner with my Most Level Headed Friend at a fabulous little Authentic Chinese restaurant where she spoke Chinese to waitress and ordered our dinner.

Today, it's back to the grind though.

Also got a surprise call and may be starting a new house hunt ;} things are getting exciting.

Have a great day!

J4★Weekend

Well, the 4th of July Weekend has come and gone and so did the J4★5K.

I was underwhelmed by my result of 36:58.

Pretty much no change from a month ago.

I also logged a distance of 3.6 on my Garmin meaning that I still have some more calibrating to do.

It also means I have alot more training to do.

But looking for the positive points:

• I was able to keep up with people who looked alot fitter than me.
• I felt no shin pain or shin splits
• I ran without my Ipod and it felt good (so no more excuses when I forget it in the future).
• Mom ran a good race and again I went back for her and helped her finish strong. :)
• Mom is totally excited about our next race 13.1 Fort Lauderdale
  

So I was dragging a bit after that but I so totally did not allow that to ruin my weekend!






We got our JAM on, I took some outstanding photos and watched some fabulous fireworks! :)

Have an Outstanding Monday!

2009 Mid Year Review

Well, today is the exact day in the middle of the year.

There are 181 days behind us and 181 days before us in this fine year of 2009.

So I've decided to do a re-cap of my goals and see how I've been doing:

Health:

• Run the 7 Mile Bridge Done April 25th ... set a PR too.
  
• Run a sub-35 5k
• Run a Half-Marathon
• Pass the A.P.F.T.
  • 17 Push-Up: I can do it!
    
  • 45 Sit-Up: Working on it!
    
  • 2 Mile in 20:30 min: Almost there!
    
• Pass the FBI P.F.T.
• 22 Push-Up
• 300 Meters in 60 sec
  
• 50 Sit-Up
  
• 1.5 Mile in 12:59 min

Financial:

• Decrease Liability by $5,000 - Very close!
• Pay off Blue Credit Card Completely - Very close!
  
• Start an Emergency Fund and save enough to cover 3 months of bills
  

Career:

• Do the best work that I can
• Merit a raise
• Figure out if I want to go back to school
  

Relationships:

• Love my friends/loved ones unconditionally
• Be more social

Knowledge:

• Learn to ride a Bicycle
• Practice/Learn to Swimming
  
• Study C#
  

Spiritual:

• Read one motivational book a month (or Audio Book) - Been keeping up with this one
  
• Make an effort to be more positive - Been trying and it's been changing my perspective :)
  

Travel:

• Go to Saint Petersberg, FL Done - January
  
• Go to Austin, TXDone - March
• Go to New Orleans, LA Done - May
• Go on a Trip for Thanksgiving or Christmas (not sure where yet ... maybe New York at Christmas! :)
  

Exploratory:

• Do a Photo shoot See it Here
  
• Record 3 live songs Hear it Here
  
• Play at a Live Venue

Not bad ... but still got a lot to do and plan for!

Have a great day!

Happy Hour At The Gym?

Today, I could not wait to get out of work and go to the GYM!

I never thought I would ever say that!?!

But I could not wait to workout! I was very much looking forward to my challenge sets today and even my 1 mile run.

Set 1:

* 14 Push Ups
* 21 Sit-Ups
* 27 Squats (Sumo - 25 pd)

Set 2:

*

19 Push Ups
* 28 Sit-Ups (Broke finger-inter-locking for the last 8)
* 27 Squats

Set 3:

* 14 Push Ups
* 21 Sit-Ups (did without fingers interlocking)
* 32 Squats (Sumo - 25 pd)

Set 4:

* 14 Push Ups
* 21 Sit-Ups (did without fingers interlocking)
* 32 Squats

Set 5:

* 19+ Push Ups (did 15 before I dropped to my knees and did 5
more )
* 28+ Sit-Ups (did 20 without fingers interlocking)
* 24 Squats (Sumo - 25 pd)

Set 6:

* 30 Plank
* 25/25 Under-Leg-Lift
* 50 Crunches
* 24 Squats

Set 7:

* 45 Plank
* 30/30 Under-Leg-Lift
* 50 Crunches
* 30 Squats

Set 8:

* 45 Plank
* 30/30 Under-Leg-Lift
* 50 Crunches
* 63+ Squats (did 75)

Then I hit the track upstairs for some laps.

400M: Slow
300M: 1:32.255
400M: Slow
300M: 1:18.560
200M: Slow

Totaling 1 Mile.

The sets were kinda hard today. I didn't have trouble with the Push-Ups until the last set but I started having trouble with the Sit-Ups on the second set and I finally started to push a bit with the Squats (it had been kinda easy before!) but today was good.

I was visiably dripping in sweat! Loved it!

The run was good too. It was a kinda pre-test for the F.B.I.P.F.T to see where I stand. Not terrible but I need to get it below 1:00.000 to pass. I pushed but not 100% because I had the IPOD in my hand and I kept pulling back because I didn't want to hurt myself before the race but atleast now I have a feel for what the 300M is.

I'm not doing my next challenge set until Sunday (instead of Saturday ... due to the race) and I am considering repeating this day (not nessesarily a bad thing).

Now on to resting up for the race and a little Guitar practice for the JAM on the 4th!

Have a wonderful LONG weekend!

Garmin Forerunner 50: Perfect For This Beginner

I am a gadget girl.

I love bells and whistles and all the data I can get (which explains how this English Major ended up working as a Techno-geek at a software company).

So when I started running, I absolutely coveted one of those nifty watches that logged your heart rate, speed, distance and all sorts of other great information.

But I made myself wait.

I wanted to be sure it was not another one of my whims that would get used two or three times and then end up at the nether region of some box to be found a year from now and discarded.

So I waited ... until I got the running bug and decided it was worth the investment.

So I bought a Timex Ironman heart rate monitor and I liked it.

It told me how many calories I burned and how long I ran from which I could figure out my average pace but it wasn't one of those nifty watches that told you how far you ran or gave you a break down of how fast you ran each mile.

But I honestly thought those watches were too expensive and only for "REAL" runners.

I keep hoping and wishing ... but I didn't think of myself as a real runner. I'm chubby (my subconscious screamed: "Not a REAL RUNNER"), Slow (It screamed again: "Not a REAL RUNNER"), and only run two or three times a week (Again it ROARED: "Not a REAL RUNNER").

Then I ran the 7 Mile Bridge Race and I realized: If I want to be a runner I just have to think of myself as a runner! There are no requirements but to run. You don't have to run fast or every single day ... all you have to do is RUN!

So I ordered my Garmin Forerunner 50 Workout Sports Watch w/ Heart Monitor + Foot Pod

I was so excited.

When I got it I wanted to use it that same day!

But ... I don't like reading instructions ... so when I got it I was pleased to find that it was quite simple to use and figure out.

It's first use was slightly tainted by the fact that I could not pair the Footpod originally which I later found to be due to a dead battery. I suspect this is due to the fact that the Footpod is activated based on motion and shipping is not exactly a stationary process. (I googled the issue and found that it is quite common to experience this out of the box).

So I had to wait.

The next day though, I got a fresh battery into it and the footpod worked perfectly.

But I realized that to see my pace and distance I had to keep using the buttons and toggle back and forth ... I hated that!

I loathed it honestly!

So almost as soon as I got it I started to covet the Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS-Enabled Sports Watch with Heart Rate Monitor (Black) but it was too expensive and I'd already invested alot of money and wasn't seeing rewards yet.

I kept using the Garmin Forerunner 50 and actually started to like all the features and breakdowns and started to realize I was running faster and faster (Something that was not as easy to tell using the combined time but rather using the breakdown of each mile).

The faster I ran the more I wanted to run.

Sometimes I would run just because I had the Forerunner not because I really wanted to ... and some of those runs have been my best to date.

But something was still missing.

Then came that fateful day when I was googling around (something I do to pass the time) and I decided to see if there was any way to change the display to see the distance and pace at the same time and BAM! I found it!

I just had to play with the display features and I got exactly what I wanted.

You can have the display show almost any combination you want of: heart rate, pace, distance, cadance, time, lap time, etc etc.

I am in love with this thing.

It is easy to use and perfect for beginners but robust enough to provide features for more experienced runners ... and plus it's very affordable.

It's definitely something I recommend!

Testing Out A New Path

Yesterday, after work, I headed straight for the gym as I do most days.

I had completely changed into my workout clothes when I realized not only did I bring two different shoes (i.e. not a matching pair) but both were right shoes ... so absolutely no way of me working out. Mind you if they had been a left and right shoe I would have worn them with no shame even though they'd be un-matching just to prove to the Universe that nothing that silly is going to stop me from working out!?!

I was lividly mad the entire way home!

I got home and grumbled at poor undeserving Mr. Boyfriend and got my shoes on, tied on my Garmin Forerunner 50 ... fixed the little issue of the display and got it to show both my completed distance and my current speed (which is exactly what I wanted ... YAY!)

I had plotted a run from my front door to the Golf Course that covered 5.2 and took advantage to give it a test drive.

Turned out to be a great run!

Sceanic, running through Coral Gables (my absolute favorite area). Had a couple of run ins with clouds of nats but otherwise a spectacular path.

Mile 1: 09:47.7
Mile 2: 09:20.7
Mile 3: 11:20.4
Mile 4: 09:28.8
Mile 5: 10:40.5
.3 Mile: 03:14.7

Hit the 5k mark at about 31:30 ... if I do that good this Saturday I will definately hit a new PR.

I got a blister though ... another badge of honor ... but I didn't really feel it happening or even feel it now so I doubt it will cause me too much trouble this weekend. Putting lots of A&D ointment so should be healed almost completely by Saturday.

Today I have my challenge sets and will jog 1 Mile but plan to take it very easy so I can prep for the race on Saturday and being that tomorrow if the Observed Holiday for 4th of July we get to start the weekend!

Happy Weekend!

Back In The Game

I feel like I haven't worked out in ages. Being that last Friday was a Cross Day (did the Elliptical) and Saturday I didn't go to the gym (did Tae-Bo) and Sunday either (Did P-90x) and Monday was a Rest day (watched my True Blood :) . Reality is I have worked out ... I just haven't run!

I do need to keep my running up though to at least every other day. I am still in the starting modes of running so I need to work on that more than anything else so I need to keep up the consistency in that.

Case in point:

Yesterday's workout was pretty good considering I started it with absolutely no motivation at all.

I did my challenge sets first figuring that I could at least get those done.

Set 1: 12 Push Ups, 18 Sit-Ups, 49 Squats (Did Sumo Squats with 25 pound weight)
Set 2: 17 Push Ups, 25 Sit-Ups, 54 Squats
Set 3: 13 Push Ups, 19 Sit-Ups, 40 Squats
Set 4: 13 Push Ups, 19 Sit-Ups, 32 Squats
Set 5: 17+ Push Ups (did 17 with 5 more on my knees), 25+ Sit-Ups (did 28 ), 54+ Squats (did 75)

Then I added a set of 25 Under-The-Leg Lifts and a set of 25 Back Lifts for good measure.

After which I hit the treadmill.

It wasn't one of my most balanced runs and I even had to pause for 30 sec a couple of times, I could not get my breathing and speed figured out for some reason.

Ended up doing 4.04 Miles in 50 minutes which still ends up on the NOT BAD end of the scale :)

But it makes me realize I can't skip my runs ... I need to keep those consistent.

I am back in the game!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!