Week 6: Day 2

August 26

I slacked on the blog this weekend, but I'm feeling much better. Today marked my first day back to training runs, with an early alarm clock and the sun just starting to peek out (I can tell that the days are getting shorter....sigh) I got up and did a 3 mile run today. I could definitely feel that I hadn't been for a run this past weekend; my legs were a little more sluggish and I was quicker to tire. I did my norm: run for 4 min and then walk for 1 which was good. I did try to pick up my legs more and noticed that I got my heart rate up to 190 today. A little shocking because I'd been clocking in at 184-187 tops recently, but I 'll take it a good sign that I was able to push a little harder this morning.

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 30.12 minutes
Peak HR: 190

Sleep last night: 7 hours
Food:
B-fast - Oatmeal w/a nectarine & Coffee with FF creamer
Lunch - L&F Yogurt, applesauce, mini croissant, lorna-doone 100 cal pack
Dinner - Salad by Josh (tomatoes, cucumbers, chickpeas, hard boiled egg, chicken, peppers & feta)
Oh, and a glass of wine at Spamalot that was worth all of the $8 we paid for it. Oh, and sorbet with raspberries :)

Week 5: Day 5

Sick View...August 22, originally uploaded by Becca Elizabeth.

Rest Day, and thank goodness for that. Sick and on bed rest for the day.

Heard from the Doctor late in the afternoon, and they have no idea what was wrong with me. They said it looked like I had an infection, but they didn't know what, so they were just going to give me a Z-pack to kill it.

Thank you, modern medicine.

Still can't do my long run tomorrow (supposed to be 7 miles).

Week 5: Day 4

Early morning run...August 21, originally uploaded by Becca Elizabeth.

August 21

started out so promising! Woke up to my alarm at 5:45am and rolled out of bed to hit the pavement. While I was getting ready, Jack became enthralled by himself in the mirror above my sink. I couldn't resist the photo.

The run went great, I felt great and ran to Lance Armstrong's Coaching Set from Nike. I only walked 3 times, and was really good about increasing my pace when Lance told me to. I stretched outside my apartment, and felt fine all the way up until about 20 minutes into my meeting in the morning.

Downhill. Fast. That's the best way to explain it. I was dizzy, nauseous, clammy, feverish and my stomach hurt more than anything. It was a supreme effort to remain conscious and I found myself in the meeting trying to plan for when I passed out. That's when I realized I needed to get to a doctor.

The doctor took me without an appointment and thank goodness. My fever was over 100 and I had to lay very still to keep from feeling woozy. They took a strep test (negative) and did some bloodwork (we'll see) but until then it's bed rest & the B.R.A.T. diet* for me.

Sleep last night: 7 hours
Food:
B-fast - Dunkin Donuts flat bread veggie sandwich & skim latte
Lunch - Gatorade, Brown rice, applesauce
Dinner - whole wheat spaghetti

*B = Bananas, R = Rice, A = Applesauce, T = Toast

Week 5: Day 3

It's Wednesday, "hump day" and I am exhausted. Just plain beat. Tonight is the 5 mile run, which I'm debating doing at the gym versus outside just for the ease of having the constantly moving treadmill to keep me on track. Literally.
I know it's important for me to make sure I do this tonight, though. They say that 7 days of doing something creates a habit that's easier to keep. I need to get through 7 solid days of actual training and then we'll re-look to make sure that's actually the case.

I made it to the gym, but ended up only doing 2.25 miles today. I attribute that to a couple things, the most being that I felt dizzy, the least being my shoes hurting my feet. I wasn't wearing my normal running shoes, and I definitely felt the difference (in a bad way). I'm not sure what was up with the dizzy, but I did have a cup of coffee before I left work that might have messed with me a little. I took a nap when I got home and felt better after that. Still...

Sleep last night: 7.5
Food:
Bfast - egg beaters (2) and ww toast with ff cheese
snack - Peanut MMs (not good)
Lunch - hummus & tomato pita with watermelon and laughing cow swiss
dinner - Chipotle Chicken Burrito w/o sour cream and only a little cheese

Tomorrow's run: 3 miles in the am before work (because I have a scheduled baseball game that evening. Planning ahead! Foresight!)

Week 5: Day 2

Really, I was all set to do my 3 mile run tonight. It's only 3 miles, right? I can do that in my sleep. Piece of cake. In fact, I've been really excited to start "really" training and today was the kick-off day since Monday I was supposed to rest. The only hitch in the plan is that I came back to my desk sometime around mid-afternoon to find 4 tickets to the Phillies game tonight in the Hall of Fame section...complete with complimentary parking. The Gods just didn't want me to start training tonight.* I struggled with the decision for a little bit, trying to weigh the pros & cons of it.

Pro's - free, baseball, it happens to be Dollar Dog Night at the park, Hall of Fame tickets, fun
Con's - missing training, missing training, missing training

That whole "3 miles, I could do that in my sleep" is what got me to stop feeling 100% guilty about deciding to [graciously] accept the tickets. Tomorrow is a 5 mile run, followed by another 3 miler on Thursday before the long run this weekend.

I fell off the wagon today, but I'll be hopping right back on tomorrow!


*Of course it could also have been my apple in the Garden of Eden...

Sleep last night: 5 hours
Food:
Bfast - homemade scone (HG!) yogurt & coffee
Lunch - PB sandwich, yogurt and (2) roma tomatoes
Snack - popcorn
Dinner - (2) Ballpark hot dogs and (2) Flying Fish I.P.A.'s
Dessert - Helmet ice cream with chocolate sprinkles

Yeah, off the wagon. Sigh.

Week 5: Day 1

REST DAY
Thankfully. The long run yesterday at the beach wore me out, and I really enjoyed the thought of not having to race to the gym after work to get my run in. Instead, I headed over to Josh's and we met up with Duane & Lisa for dinner to celebrate their return home from a cross country road trip. We had a full 4 course meal, starting with a chilled peach & cantaloupe soup (I took the recipe with me) followed by a salad of sundried & grape tomatoes, crumbled cheese and black olives. The main course was roasted chicken and fresh sweet corn, which we finished off with brownies and shoo-fly pie. A culinary feat.

I'm going to bed around midnight, but I want to get some more Olympic Gymnastics in before I give in to sleep.

I'm hoping I don't wake up with a sore throat again tomorrow.