Family Affair

One of the things I love about where I live is there are several places were I can run. If I go outside my front door I'm on a marked side walk that loops around a neighborhood for a total of 2 miles. If I drive 5 minutes I'm close to a few paths and an entrance to the big preserve in the area, which is where I did my long run on Sunday. Once again it was a beautiful coolish day and once again I pushed through the run. However, I noticed that my wall came later in the run...progress!

I looked at the calendar and I'm on track to finish training mid-March...which means a St. Pattys Day run!

I'm excited at the prospects of dressing up in a ridiculous green costume for my first run! I called my dad to see if he'd be up celebrating our ancestry via a 5K. He was. My stepmom who has watched my dad run many marathons, even a 50K trail run, seemed adamant against anything other than a power walk said she would join us. Then I got a call from my stepmom yesterday..."Guess who is going to join the run!" The youngest stepbrophes.

Suddenly this has turned into a family affair! My stepmom joked, "We better get a good dinner out of this!" I reminded her that it's a morning run so maybe a brunch...sayings it's St. Patty's Day I wonder if  we could find some green Mimosas?

Pump you up

After my many failed attempts at trying to become a morning workout-er I have come to the conclusion that thus I am not! Monday morning I had set my alarm for 6:30 with every intention of attacking my long. However, as per usual I reset my alarm for 8:30 and fell back to sleep.

This morning I woke early enough to get my run in. Some how I always find myself on the couch sipping coffee and lounging till it is time to get ready for the day. When I was in college my typical routine was school, work, home, workout...at 8:30...not getting home till 9:45. After a long day I needed some down time to veg before attacking the gym. I'm just not a morning workout person...and I'm ok with that. At the end of the day all that matters is that you get your workout in. No matter what is going on in your life you've got to find time to squeeze in a workout...even if your workout is strapping the kido in the stroller and going around the block. Or if you're like a crazy friend of mine whose family opened a restaurant and swings by the gym at 1 am on his way home!

As I lounged on the couch this morning I a read an article via Runner's World about building your base, long slow runs that allow you to build up your milage. I'm in like the pre-pre stages of that, lol. But I enjoyed reading it because it reminded me that someday I'll be in doing a base building plan. I also ready one of my favorite blogs, Meals and Miles. I love reading other people successes and the things they overcome as they strive for their running goals.

Between the Runner's World article and Meghann's blog I am pumped up for tonight's run! I'm hoping to avoid the dreadmill however when I checked the weather this beast is making its way through town.

There is a 80% chance of thunderstorms most of the day. Luckily it goes down to a 30% chance by the time I'll be ready to run. A little drizzle is nothing...let's hope it's just a drizzle by 7:30! From what I can tell I've got my normal 5 min warm up, then something new; 1 min run, 1 min walk, 5 min run, 1 min walk, 1 min run, 5 min cool down. Whether I'm outside or on the treadmill I'm ready to attack this run!

Find what time of the day works best for you to workout and make it work. Also find people who have similar goals and that inspire you...that Pump you up!

Exciting news coming to SSB tomorrow! I wouldn't miss it if I were you!

Till then, 

Belle

A real runner?

I had originally planned on doing my long run last Friday but (yup a but) Wednesday I had hopped on a cycle bike at the gym and my knee had not been happy with that decision. So I let my knee rest the remainder of the week. Sunday my knee felt that it could handle a kettle bell workout, which was pretty awesome!

So last night after watching the Blurs most of the day and training a client I hoped on a treadmill...and talked to a good friend on the phone for like 10 minutes. He is doing some graphic design (Wait...what...why!?! For that you are going to have to read on Thursday!) for me and now lives in NYC so we had to squeeze in a phone call to discuss the direction things were going. We were almost done when I realized I was one of THOSE ppl. Yea the ones that sits on a machine and talks on the phone the whole time. However, I've been a gym goer for three years and it's the only time I've every done that! I did however apologize to the lady next to me...

Anyways we wrapped things up and I started my MiCoah app for my long run...which was a whopping 12 minutes long! OMG right!?! I knew this wasn't going to be a fun run because 1. I was running on the dreadmill 2. I never can figure out the right speed on those stupid things. Ok partly because I never run on them to figure out what speed I need. 3. For whatever reason it was really hot in the gym. So I got my game face on...which according to some co-workers I really do make a mean looking face when I'm in a tough workout, lol! I picked my favorite band, August Burns Red to scream at me to keep going...which they did.

 About 4 minutes into the run I knew I was going too fast and wouldn't make it through the workout...stupid machine! So I bumped the speed down a bit and I consecrated on breathing deeply since my breathing was not sounding good. As my breathing got better was when I hit the wall. While there really is physical wall that people hit, all that lactic acid science stuff, I think my wall is more mental. My eyes kept drifting to the red stop button and at one point rested on it. Once again I knew that if I didn't push through I wouldn't run again. I looked at the time left...a little over half way...WHAT!?! I turned up the music and got mean. I thought about anything else but what I was physically feeling. I thought about the fact that this would be easier outside so just push through this one workout. I thought about finishing and then adding miles...which might seem odd. All I want to do is to be able to run 3 miles and the only way to do that was to finish this tiny 12 minute run. Finally I made it!

Later as I was getting in my car I thought to myself, "Well that wasn't too bad. Why was I such a pansy?" It's funny how soon after I had pushed out the pain I had just been in and thought to myself "Can't wait till the next run." I wonder...does this mean I'm a real runner?

See ya later kid

There is a group retired gentlemen that sit outside my favorite Starbucks, about 10 of them. They smoke, drink coffee, and shoot the breeze. They always seem like a jolly group. Yesterday morning as I was approaching one guy yelled at me, "What happened to your hands?" I looked down, I had pulled the sleeves of my pullover down so far that you couldn't see my hands. With a grin I yelled back, "Frostbite while out running!"

My morning started early...very early...4:30am early...4:30 has an am? The night before I had been looking forward to sleeping in a bit, I didn't have to be at nannying till 11:30 and then my manager texted me that I had a new client at 6am. Since I transferred gyms people have been asking me, "Are you moving back into the city?" Basically I had been telling them that I had 9 months to decide when my lease goes up...I think yesterday morning it was decided for me.

After my session I decided to head to the park and get my run over with...I mean in. ;) It was beautiful out. Mid 40s with the sun just beginning to rise. On tap was 5 min walk, 8 min run, 5 min walk, with the loop its more like an extra 20 minutes. I felt great! My legs felt strong and cardio wise it was a push but nothing I couldn't zone out of. I was a little cold towards the end...mainly my rear end! I wonder if there is a butt warmer for runners...well I guess walkers since I was walking by that point. 

I had sometime before nannying so I stopped by Starbucks to warm up with oatmeal and a SF caramel soy latte. Which is when I had my previously mentioned conversation. Starbucks oatmeal maybe my new on-the-go snack. I love it because they put the oats and water in the container...

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Then you can add what you want. I love it so much because I can decide how many points I spend. Yesterday I just added some Splenda and with my latte it was a nice post run snack, saving the nuts and fruit  for another on-the-go snack. 

As I left Starbucks I yelled, "Look I warmed up!" as I waved goodbye. Which I got a, "See ya later kid!"

See ya later kids!

Belle

I'm not that dedicated!

How was yall's weekend?

Mine was peachy! Friday night was my birthday extravaganza! We had dinner at Freebirds and then some of us went down to Washington to get our groove on. ;) There are pictures on my camera but I can't find the cord...fail I know.

Saturday I had a client and the rest of the day lounging around watching movies and cooking. I watched Midnight in Paris

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Which was a HUUUUUGE disapointment. I love Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson but it quickly became background noise while surfed the web. 

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It was better than Midnight in Paris...but for a while I was totally lost. I had trouble following the science meets technology thing going on. But overall I liked it.

This all of this was going on I decided to cook some WW meals. It's been hard to find time to cook. I usually am getting home around 8:30 or 9:00 and who wants to cook that late. So I whined up eating a sandwich...and I get bored real quick of the same food over and over again.

On top is Sage Chicken and Potatoes, which turned out to be a stew. Bottom is Lemon Rice Salad. I went ahead and put them into serving size containers ready to grab for lunch or for plopping on the coach. I also made cornmeal pancakes, half of which I froze. 

Sunday night I mentally prepared myself to run early-ish Monday morning. I awoke the next morning to the world ending outside my window...

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It was nutzo how loud the storm was. I'll run in the rain but I won't be swept off to Oz...I'm not that dedicated to running! Needless to say running outside was out and I was in no mood to fight the storm to the gym. I rolled back over and sleep a bit longer before heading to work. The rain had calmed a bit but by that point the streets of Houston had flooded. Also not before a few houses got flooded and a tornado touched down. My little coupe and I charged our way to work despite the SUVs who were pansies and blocking the streets. 

I did finally get a run in last night on the dreadmill. Easy 1 min run, 1 min walk x 3 repeat. Tonight is some stairbeast/ellitical crosstraining. 

Big news in the works stay tune!

Till then,

Belle

Mesley Half Mile

Ahhh yes the New Year is here! Both the gym and my favorite park is packed with people. Let me set the scene for you at my favorite 3 mile loop yesterday. It's a cool sunny day in Houston, ideal for running. The park is alive with runners of every form.

The true runners who lap you 10 times it takes you to get around once. Who wear compression...everything from socks to shorts to headband, who wear water belts that are packed with GU...

ok that's an over exaggeration. 

Also making their way around the loop are the "Rezers", New Years Resolution people, those who pull out old shoes that haven't been worn in about 10 years. That's run is closer to a walk than a run, but hey they are out there moving! They find those old pair of running shorts that are more suited for the pool than a jog...

Eek!

Among both extremes was me. Someone who would love to just finish a race, would like to lose a few lbs, but is more prepared than some runners. However, whether you are at either extremes or middle of the road I think all runners have days like I had yesterday. 

The plan for the day was a "long" run. Which in the beginning stages means 5 min walk, 5 min run (about half mile), 5 min walk. Not too scary. Going into the run I knew it might not be as good a run as it could be. By the time I had pulled up to the park at 10am I was so exhausted that I already in want of a nap. 

Despite this off I went...and oh my! I've run some loooooong runs before. The longest I think was 6 miles. That mesley little half mile felt like FOR-EV-ER!

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My chest had that "I'm not ready for this," feeling; I can't think of any other way to describe it. The killer was my quads. They just wanted to give out on my the whole time, they lacked any sort of energy. I thought to myself "You want to run a half someday and are struggling with 5 minutes!?!" However, I reminded myself, "If you don't finish today you will give up altogether. Just keep going." I zoned in one the music that was playing and just putting one foot in front of the other. Finally I heard the magic words "Blue zone 5 minutes." I could have cried...ok that really is an exaggeration. 

In the end I was proud of my mesley half mile run. It's half a mile more than I could have run a few months ago. It's a half mile closer to my goal. It's a half mile closer to me being a real runner. It was a physical and mental wall that had to be broken through. 

It's been a long week, 40 hours in 4 days but after today I'm done for the week which means sleeeeep! So here is to hoping that I'll be nice and rested up for tomorrow's run. 

What is your mesley half mile run?

Till then,

Belle

Life as of late

Happy New Year!

I thought I would recap the last week or so via pictures!

So I went short...super short for me at least!

I haven't had my hair this short since high school when the guy kept creeping up shorter and shorter. After that traumatic experience, I've had my hair long ever since. I had had my hair in a pony tail for two months, it takes FOREVER to dry my hair and straighten it, so I decided that enough was enough. Now it takes HALF the time to do my hair!

Happy Merry Birthday to me!

One of my favorite clients...I mean um I don't have favorites!...brought this back from SA for me...just into for this...

Rockets home opener vs. SA SPURS!

A friend from college has season tickets and awesomely (is that a word?) let me tag along! The doors opened an hour prior so we got to sneak down close and watch the boys practice...

GIIIIIIIINOBLI!

La sigh! Manu is my fav! She is even more awesomely letting me come to the game on the 21st...which is a Saturday game and they let us in and hour and half early. So maybe next time I'll be able to get his autograph!

GO SPURS GO!

We got creamed! By the end of the 2nd quarter we were down by at least 15...and our big three were on the bench. I think it's going to be a rough year us. Our main defender has been in the league for 15 years and playing three games back to back is rough so I think Pop is going to be even more cautious. 

Mama Bea belting it out on her birthday aka New Years Eve!

So I party hopped from dinner with church friends to Mama Bea's bash, who is seven and half month pregnant, isn't she hot!?!, and back to ring in the New Year with my church friends.

HAPPY 2012!

Time for big boy boxer briefs!

Yesterday one of the Blurs and I ran some errands, one of which was his first pair of boxer briefs. His favorite were the Rock N Roll pair, which he declared "Are cooler than God!" After a deep theological discussion with a  4 year old we came to the conclusion that nothing is cooler than God! 

On that note,

Belle