Day 259: Check one more off

I've been trying hard to keep up with my running this month, because, let's not lie, the perfect weather is not long before us.  And also, I want to be done with it already.  Just in case you were not yet aware (head under a rock?), I dislike running, and I'm slow.  But it's in my goals. (5k in under 30 minutes)

There is a local 5k at the end of October here, so I've decided to aim for that.  I've been doing short runs (2 miles, 2.5) and a few longer slow ones thrown in there to get ready.  And I have come across the course map so I thought that maybe I could try that out a few times before the actual event.  

Today I decided to run part of the course.  Leaving out the uphill section, duh.   But I was feeling pretty good.  And my iphone music shuffle was hooking me up.  So I decided to keep going.  As I rounded the last curve to my car, I checked the time.  I hadn't checked yet and I was not assuming anything.  But there it was, 29:30.  And I knew that I would have to bust my butt.  I'm not sure that there was any way physically possible that I could have actually gotten to my end point in 30 seconds from where I was, but I was determined to try.   I didn't make it.  Whomp Whomp.  I got to the car at 30:30.  

So I got home actually still pretty proud of myself.  3.1 miles in 30:30 is not bad.  And I'm sure with a few more tries I could do it in under 30.  Then I went on MapMyRun to log my workout.  And guess what!  Turns out that I ran 3.16 miles.  What?!?  With a bit of algebra, I found out that if I ran 3.16 miles in 30:30, then I ran 3.1 miles in 29:55.  Bam.  That's what happens when you bust your butt.  

Day 241: Sweat

Piyo "Sweat" workout:

Yep, look at that nose bead.  Truth.
That is all.

Day 238: Summer Update

What I've learned this summer is this:  summer will never be about me.  Summer for my family is a bit hectic.   Clearly there's no time for blogging.  My oldest son plays a lot of very competitive baseball and as it turns out, his team is pretty good.  So that translates to 95% of my summer days being at one baseball field or another.  Not complaining, I love baseball and of course my kids come first.  Just stating the facts.

It's also really hard to eat well in the summer, right??  I'm never home and I assure you that concession stands do not sell my type of food.  But I did my best.  Definitely gained a few pounds, but now that routine is here again, I'm not so worried about it.  My food mentality is to try to eat as much "real food" as possible.  I will not deprive myself of (a little bit of) homemade mac-n-cheese, but I'm not eating Kraft out of a box.  I need to eat every few hours and keep portions in control.  Fill the ice cream bowl 3/4 up with fruit.  And scoop a tiny bit of chocolate frozen yogurt on top.  That sort of thing.

Confession:  I did not manage to run more than 3 times this entire summer.  BUT, I did manage to sneak in another (almost) full round of P90X3.  I had a friend who wanted to do the workout with me, so we did it together all summer long.  I will not get to finish the last few weeks with her because of our schedule conflicts now that school is back, but I'm ok with that because I did finish it the first time.

I'm very excited right now to start the next phase of my exercise journey: PIYO.  This is a series developed from pilates and yoga with some strength and cardio mixed in.  Right up my alley.  I did the first intro video today, and just from what I saw today, I can tell that I will love it.  I also started the running again.  Only did two miles today, but it wasn't bad and I didn't hate it.  And that's always a victory for me.

In other news, my 39th birthday has now come and gone, so I am now less than a year out from 40.  326 days left to complete my original goals list.

goals abbreviated

20 push-ups

5 pull-ups

addendum: 10 pull ups

bar hang 90sec

right split

left split

center split

bridge

standing split

scorpion

press handstand

run 5k 30 min

run 1 mile 8 min