My first double-digit run!

3/5/11 - Day four: 10 miles in 113 minutes (1 hour 53 minutes) Scheduled: 10

I got frozen corn strapped to one knee and green beans strapped to the other with a huge milestone reached today- my first double-digit run is complete!

I borrowed Jonathon's Iphone and used a GPS app I downloaded a month ago. It worked great last time so I expected it to follow the pattern today and didn't check it to be sure. About three miles in, it stopped working consistently. :( This was frustrating because I really wasn't sure how far I'd gone. I didn't want to short change myself, yet I didn't want to go any further than I needed!

I decided I'd just run about 110 minutes and that should be around 10 miles if my calculations were right. Luckily, they were! I got home and checked the map and realized I'd gone 10.3 miles with my cool down walk of .2 miles.

What a great feeling. My knees started hurting around 8 miles but I pushed through it and I'm sure glad I did.

I Love Running!!

REVIEW: MUSCLE MILK

I am obsessed with Muscle Milk. It is SO AWESOME.

On my personal rating scale from 1-10 (1 being the worst, 10 being out of this world awesome) I rate it:

10

No question. It is SO TASTY like a dessert. It is low calorie, high protein. You can get the "light" kind for even less calories and fat. And they've got tons of great flavors to choose from. My personal favorite is the Banana Cream. YUM!!! I can't believe it is so good for you. Oh, you can also buy the little on-the-go size at Costco in a "light" version. These are also delectable.

It's a little pricey, but VERY, VERY worth it!

New running clothes

I went to Sports Authority earlier this week to buy a surprise gym bag for Jonathon as a reward for doing so good in his goals of being healthy and exercising.

I walked into a GOLD MINE in the women's clearance with all sorts of great running shorts! I bought 4 pairs for $35 (Many I've seen are around $30 for ONE) and they are even CUTE!!

I am thrilled! Ecstatic. Happy! It makes me WANT to run even more now that I have some shorts that are high-quality and don't ride up to my stomach. Nothing is more annoying while running than having to adjust things (well, maybe side aches..) like head phones falling out of your ears or shorts riding up to your tummy. You just wanna focus on running. That's it. Plain and simple.

I will post pictures soon of my great new running gear!

Oh, and Jonathon LOVES his UnderArmour gym bag!! Excellent work, Nancy- you've done it again!

Meet the newest member of 24 Hour Fitness.....

JONATHON!!

Yep, my husband is a work-out, running, sweating, protein-drinking machine!

We got him a membership from Costco (they have the BEST deal, seriously. $12.50 per month for 2 years- that cannot be beat!) and he has gone every single day. He's caught the itch. I had this same thing happen when I got mine back in September. There were a couple times Jonathon actually had to come to the gym and drag me out because I just never wanted to leave - I was having so much fun finally working out again after 4 long years of being stressed out studying all the time in school!

I'm so proud of him! And he is so cute. And great! It's been a lot of fun going to the gym with him and encouraging each other.

Oh, he's only worked out for about 1 1/2 weeks and he is already almost up to the same speeds in running as me. Men are so lucky to be able to do that. It's crazy.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

Week Seven:

3/1/11 - Day one: 3 miles in 33 minutes Scheduled: 3 miles
3/2/11 - Day two: 5 miles in 56 minutes Scheduled: 5 miles
3/3/11 - Day three: 3 miles in 34 minutes Scheduled: 3 miles

I am not sure I ever posted the cure to my side aches so here it is:

For my Saturday long runs which I run outside versus during the week that I run on a treadmill, I never had side aches. I thought this to be strange since I run so much further. I realized that while outside, if I start to get a stitch, I automatically slow down until it goes away. While running on a treadmill, you have to physically raise your hand and adjust the MPH to lower it. This is tough to do, mentally, because it makes you feel like you're not doing as well. So you just gotta get rid of your PRIDE and do it. It makes the rest of the run much better if you sacrifice five minutes of going slower to adjust to the run.

I usually start out my run around 4.5 MPH and if I start to cramp a bit, I'll slow it down and walk. This is my warm up. Eventually I will stay pretty consistent around 6 MPH for the rest of the run. About half way through or just past, I adjust it in 30 second increments up to around 7.5 and back down to 6 to work my heart and challenge myself so I can get stronger. It also seems to help the time go by faster.

Saturday will be my longest run ever: 10 miles! Getting into the DOUBLE DIGITS!!! Yah!!!!!

The duck is waddling around once again!

Week Six:

2/21/11 - Day one: 3 miles in 38 minutes Scheduled: 3

2/23/11 - Day two: 4 miles in 50 minutes Scheduled: 4

2/24/11 - Day three: 3 miles in 35 minutes Scheduled: 3

2/26/11 - Day four: 7 miles in 76 minutes Scheduled: 7

I am VERY happy to say I am up and running again! This has been a rough couple weeks. First I hurt my ankle by pushing myself too hard and too fast. Lesson learned. The next week I got food poisoning and was nearly DYING the next four days (I can never eat yogurt again...) See the bottom of the post of you want the details of that lovely story! And this week my knee was hurting pretty badly so I iced it and rested a few days but it's doing okay now.

It felt so great to run again. It's amazing how much I felt I "fell behind" and how tired I was starting up again. Oh, I also tried using Clif Blocks during this long run and it really helped me keep up my energy. Next week I'll try Gu for the first time. I'll keep you updated!

I bought my first marathon sticker this week too... 26.2 will be posted on my car to remind me daily! :D

FOOD POISONING...

Last Friday around 9:00 AM while working at Dr. Ellis's office, I got pretty hungry. I only brought leftover Texas Roadhouse (YUM!) for lunch and didn't want to ruin it and eat that so early. So I decided to eat my healthy, dumb little yogurt I'm never tempted to eat. I opened it up and it looked a little... chunky so I looked at the expiration date. It said MARCH. Being early February, I thought it MUST be safe! So I took a couple bites.. and it tasted kinda funky. I took one more bite and threw the rest away. (Note, it was "Carrot cake" flavor [I know, I know- I don't know why I thought that would be good!] and I wasn't totally sure if that was the reasoning for the weirdness) About 2 1/2 hours later I started feeling funny. I didn't want to eat anything, not even my leftover Texas Roadhouse!! About an hour after that, I had to RUN to the bathroom and I started throwing up non-stop. Then the other end started.. I had two more patients for the day and after each one, I ran to the bathroom again. Dr. Ellis joked and said I was "Glowing" and asked what me and Jonathon planned to name it. LOL. I was 98% sure I wasn't pregnant, but you never know for sure until Aunty Flow comes each month! Anyway, the next two days were hell. I was so weak and couldn't eat anything without it coming back up/out. The next couple days after that were better but I still wasn't myself and couldn't do much of anything. I tried going to the BYU vs Utah basketball game and had to sit most of the time or have Jonathon help me. I even went out and laid on the sidewalk during half time and had to finally get up and go back in after five people asked if I was okay! ANYWAY, I will never eat yogurt again. OR at least not for a LONG, LONG time!!