I have not been able to run very much in the past three months, because of the excruciating hip pain I felt in November and again in January. I’ve been keeping somewhat fit with hooping and dance class, but not fit enough to avoid gaining four pounds. However, I went into yesterday’s half with the hope that I at least had enough fitness to finish! I worried that my hip would act up or that I would have trouble with my lungs because I just got over a bad cold. The night before, I was very careful and ate dinner at Chipotle, since I knew that was safe running food for me. I went to bed early, but was awoken by driving bass from outside the hotel window. That went on from 11pm to 2am. I gave up on sleep and chatted with my husband on Skype. I finally got back to sleep around 2:30.

Up at 5am to bundle up in my warm running tights, a long sleeve shirt under a short sleeve shirt, and two jackets. I went to get my coffee and wandered toward the start area. It didn’t take me long to realize I was overdressed. Back to the room to change to my running skirt and Air Force t-shirt. Back to the start line, where I got a text from my husband and sent him a picture of me.

I started behind the 5 hour folks. If I had trained, my hopes were to start closer to the 4 hour folks, but I knew there was no chance of that now. Start was as expected… took 17 minutes to cross the start line. I took the first five minutes slow to warm up, then settled in to an 11:15 pace. That pace felt really good, except my stomach started acting up within the first mile. Porta-potty lines were VERY long (there were only about four or five porta potties every two miles or so.) I spent a total of about 15 minutes in two lines, but finally got my gastro issues sorted and was able to run. I walked the hills (see above re: detrained) which I would have run if I had not been detrained (the hills in my subdivision put Austin to shame.)

There were some very interesting runners in my area of the run. Two women were ruck-sacking it in their Army boots. One woman was wearing full firefighting gear and a tank. An engaged couple ran together in sashes, the woman in a veil and white tutu.

It was a nice run. Green Bay is still my favorite, but I would come back and do this one again. I particularly liked the “water monsters” at the aid stations– I carry my own bottle when I run, so it was nice to be able to refill it and waste one (or five) fewer paper cups. I hope to see more races adopt that. Aid stations are still awesome, and if I ever try to run less than 2 or less than 4 for a marathon, I will probably not carry a bottle, but it’s nice to have the more sustainable options for those of us who can lose a minute or two.

Lessons learned: you can never predict which part of your body will fail on the run. I guess that’s part of the fun of it! It was also nice to know I could finish a half on last year’s training. Not as fast as I would have liked, but I finished.

I don’t have another run lined up. I need to take the time to work on my base. You could say 2012 will be my base year (I’m also doing foundational work for my dancing and hooping.) I really need to work on losing that 20-30 pounds and balancing my muscles in the lower body. I’m also working on flexibility in my lower body (more for dancing and hooping, but that can’t hurt my running!) I’m going to try to do the local running club’s monthly run (choices of a mile, 5K, and 10K.) I might take on the local half in October, but more as a long run than as a race.

I know I need to figure out how to lose this weight. I don’t mind the slow and steady loss, but I’m very aware that my potential for speed is declining now (I’m 40.) I think that one key will be eating more regularly. I still have all those challenges with food (including the worry that in addition to wheat, I can’t eat oats.) It’s too much work to think about, so I don’t. But I know that if I ate three to six small meals a day, I would probably see results. (Also, a recent blood test showed low blood sugar, so my doctor advises eating three meals a day.) I’ve already failed at that today. It’s 11am and I’m still working on a medium soy latte. But I am going to lunch with Candi in an hour (after she walks her five miles.) I really don’t know how to get myself on track with the food thing. I know that would be the best thing for me, though.

Oh, my race times:
Clock: 3:17-ish
Chip: 3:01-ish
Actual non-porta-potty time: 2:47-ish

I’ll upload my Garmin map when I get my new cradle (managed to lose my old one.)

The good things today: the weather was PERFECT. About 70 degrees, breezy, sunny. The course was hilly (of course. There’s a reason the club is called the 7 Hills running club.) It was a very nice course, with a challenging hill just before the 5K turn-around.

The bad: I nearly got sick trying to climb the hill without walking. I had to walk a bit while my body dealt with it. Also, the finish line is up a slight incline, so I was unable to give a final kick.

Overall, it was really fun and I met some nice people.

My somewhat ambitious training plan for the next month is to pay attention to my diet to lose about 5 pounds and to work up to 15 miles a week (from my current average of 9.)

I’ve been working on aligning my back and dealing with my tight right hip. I feel like if I can get things straightened out there, I can get faster. I’m doing Trigger Point therapy on myself, along with foam rolling, yoga, and stretching. (Since I also do vertical fitness– AKA pole dancing– the stretching is focused on flexibility for that, too.) I’m holding off on significantly increasing mileage until I can get that hip loosened up.

Of course, I also need to lose weight. I did an online weight calculator (which decided based on my wrist size that I am small-framed) and it said I should weigh between 120 and 132. Sigh. It’s probably right. If I want to see how fast I REALLY can go, I should probably aim for the lower end of that range. I’m trying to lose about 20 pounds before the Austin half in February, if I can do it in a safe and healthy way and keep my energy up. I think the added mileage for training will take off about 10 pounds, so the diet will be the other half. If I am successful, I’ll be at 140, with 15-20 left to lose before trying a marathon. I think I’ll stick with half-marathons or shorter until I get to 120-130. My main diet focus is juicing, salads, and eating enough early in the day so I’m not starving in the evening. I also have to be careful that my eating doesn’t get disordered, which is very likely for me. Often when I’m dieting, I stop eating regularly and my calories drop below 1200. I can’t exercise OR lose weight with that kind of intake. So keeping the intake up at around 1700-2000, balanced throughout the day, is a challenge.

We also invested in a good indoor cycle. I’m going to use it on cross-training days (like tomorrow) specifically for leg turnover and cadence. It doesn’t seem to be suited to pedalling slowly while reading or working, but that’s fine. I want to get some spinning workouts I can do, since it’s that kind of bike. I could get a way better spinning-type bike than standard exercise bike.

Today was a run day. Had a good run to the post office and back with Blackie. I think on Saturday we can try our regular run– I seem to have gotten my fitness back pretty quickly this time. I’m doing 5 minutes running, 1 minute walking right now.

My “diet” is going well except I’ve kind of lost my appetite. It’s hard enough to eat that much healthy food, but even harder when you can’t eat! It might be a side effect of medication or just my body getting used to the new diet. Being vegan, I already got plenty of fiber, but I didn’t eat a whole lot of salad. I hope this is just temporary. Luckily, there are always smoothies! And delicious hemp protein.

I’m vegan, hypothyroid, and asthmatic. The second two are not excuses, just an acknowledgment that my process for attaining fitness might be slower and meet more setbacks than someone who is not asthmatic or hypo. Those conditions are not stabilized, but I am much better than I was a year and a half ago!

I’m also pushing 40 (October) and would really like to get faster. I also want to run a marathon next year.

My current training scheme is running four days a week (2/1 intervals on hills, since we have hills.) Two to four days a week, I do interval body-weight strength training (http://www.bodyrock.tv.) The bodyrock workouts also involve 20 minutes of rope-skipping. I’ve been doing the running since October, the bodyrock since January. I have noticed an improvement in both my speed and my ability to push myself. Next month, I’m going to 3/1 intervals and might add a weekly long, slow run. I have two goals for my exercising– to stay fit, healthy, and strong is the main goal, and to successfully finish marathons under four hours is the secondary goal.

As for the diet, at this point, I’m not doing any serious dieting. Being wheat allergic helps cut out a lot of empty calories, and being vegan really cut out all the foods that disagreed with my running (especially cow’s milk.) I need to cut back on pop and try to eat less food more often (I’m still eating one major meal a day, which is probably not healthiest for me.) Moving really shook up our lives and we’re only now getting back to something we might call normal. If, later on, I can diet in a reasonable way that doesn’t activate any eating disorders, I might consider it to help me get faster. For running purposes, it would probably help to lose 20-40 pounds (I’m currently at 164.) But that’s something to consider later, and only if I can do it in a healthy way.

However, I don’t have as much energy as I would like and I’m beginning to realize I’m going to get old someday! So I’m rededicating myself to a healthy diet and more exercise. My right shoulder has been acting up the same way my left shoulder did way back in 1998. It took years for my left shoulder to heal. So, I’m incorporating some special shoulder-strengthening exercises into my routine to try to avoid problems. We still go to TKD every week. I can only go on Tuesdays until the end of the semester, and then I can go twice a week. I love TKD and I want to get better at it, so my daily exercise will be practicing all of my patterns, punches, and kicks. I also want to get back into running once I get over the latest cold that burned through my family.

I miss my Middle Eastern dance class, but the schedule conflicts with my Scout meetings. Sad.

The key part of my healthy diet right now is working on making my lunches again. I’ve gotten into the VERY bad habit of eating nothing all day except soy lattes and a Chipotle vegetarian bol with guacamole. It’s not that those foods are inherently bad, but I’m not fueling my body appropriately. My eating out choices are very limited… Chipotle is pretty much it for me, unless I want to eat french fries all the time (and at a lot of places, those are not vegan– I’m looking at you, McDonald’s!)

I’ve ordered some new bento accessories and will start planning a week’s worth of bento meals at a time. Last time I did that, I kept packing foods that needed to be heated to be tasty, but this time, I’m going to pack more foods that can be eaten at room temperature. I’ll incorporate my raging love for avocados into onigiri and veggie rolls, for one thing. If I have the time and energy, I will try to photograph these works of art and post them here.

I also managed to get out for a run today. Even though I haven’t run since November, I was able to run continuously to the beauty shop. I then ran-walked a little further, then went back to the beauty shop and ran home. A total of 16 minutes. I was pleased to have that level of running ability after neglecting my running all winter. Then, we walked the dogs for a while.

I’m intending to get back to running at least 3 times a week in the morning, and walking the dogs for at least 20 minutes every day. We have a back yard, so they do get chances to stretch their legs, but they sure love to walk!

My official weight for the week is 82.8. My body is doing what it wants, and I’m okay with that. My goal is living a healthy life and letting my body get to its natural healthy weight.

At the Y tonight, I started to obsess about how weird my thighs look in the mirror (which I think is designed to make the viewer look and feel fat.) Then on the way home, I started thinking about a girl I know who was paralyzed from the waist down a few years ago. I realized just how terrible it is that I don’t appreciate what my body can do.

I’m going to let my body do what it needs to do and not impose an artificial deadline on it.

I had a milestone run this week.  Thursday I timed myself doing a 3-mile run on the 1/3 mile track on campus.  I did it in 32:28. Not too bad, considering how overweight I am! I’m pretty happy with that time, though I hope to get it under 30 by the end of January.  So much of running is mental!  Of course, it will also help that I’ll be 10-20 pounds (4-9 kilos) lighter by the end of January.  I’d like to lose a kilo a week, and if I can understand the effects of my eating and workouts, I might be able to manage it, but if not, I’m just going to focus on being healthy.

My Spark buddy and I are trying to lose 1.3 a week until the end of the year. That’s at the high end of the range at which I am successful, but I’m willing to give it a try.  I’m trying to reserve some tricks, so I’m currently only doing cardio 4 days a week at most.  I want to have room to increase it when I stop losing.  I’m also not doing any step, so I can use it later to shock the system.

My biggest issues right now are not getting enough sleep and not eating enough.  The low-fat, mostly vegan things I eat are pretty filling, so I’m not really all that hungry.  Plus, I don’t always have time.  Even when I do go over on calories, my fat content is still good.

I would like to get back to doing more yoga.  The running (since April!  Yay!) is showing me that I need to work on my flexibility.  As for running, I’ve downloaded another Nike mix from iTunes.  It’s the speed mix with Alberto Salazar and techno-ish music.  I don’t like the music as much as I like the endurance hip-hop, but it’s definitely a doable workout once a week.  I had to walk one of the six speed sections, but I’ll get there.  Luckily, Thursday is just a regular run.  (Or treadmill or elliptical if the weather is icy.)

Running is going great. I think I can consistently fit in a 40-50 minute run three days a week, then a Saturday run is optional. I’ve really been itching to get out there and run, even on non-running days, but I don’t want to hurt myself, so I’m not really running two days in a row yet. I’m so glad to be enjoying running again, and I’m glad to live in an area with decent enough sidewalks.
Did the upper body work from the new Cathe Body Max DVD yesterday. Can’t wait to try the rest, but with school and running, don’t know when I can fit that in. Over Thanksgiving break, I might do two-a-days, and combine a shorter run with a Cathe DVD each day.
I’m hoping to lose 9 kilos by Christmas. At least I know if I don’t focus on weight loss, I can maintain and not gain. In the past two months, I have not focused, but I have maintained, so that is great to know. Now, if I just focus, I can get to 75 by Christmas. If I do, I’ll take January off as a plateau month, to practice maintaining the weight.

My whole attitude toward food has changed. It’s just food. That’s the most amazing part. I’m eating just one serving of most foods (except fruits and veggies) and I’m satisfied with that. That really makes me happy. It’s like I’m getting my head on straight. But the real health breakthrough will be when my family is fit, healthy, and active too.