Rock 'n Roll Dallas - it's time!

I am 4 days away from race day. It's hard to believe that 12 weeks have passed since I agreed to do this. Since I pushed myself to do this. 

Am I ready? I think so. I give myself a C in the training department. I ran consistently, more consistently than I ever have. I did a couple 5 mile and 6 mile runs, and I felt great. I also did a couple runs where I felt awful, and I forced myself to stay miserable for a little longer than comfortable. I'm pleased with all of those things. I'm less pleased with not having run further than 6 miles. I didn't do as much (..any) cross training as I would have liked. 

So, wish me luck in Dallas this weekend, as I will need it. I'll be back Monday with a recap and hopefully a whole bunch of awesome pictures. I'm just hoping they don't have to carry me across the finish line (or at any other part of the race). 

PS - my goal is to finish in under 3:00. Do you think it's possible?

I challenged my family to a Christmas Day 5k

The rules are there are no rules. Everybody has to participate, everybody has to finish, but there are no winners and no losers. Some will walk, some will run, some will train and some will not. I am going to have sweet prizes for everyone who finishes.

 

I needed a little oomph going into this holiday season, and a reason to get back on the wagon, if you will. I can eat and drink as much as I want when I'm doing cardio exercise regularly, which might explain the extra cushion I've inherited in the last 5 months, as I'm pretty sure the last time I found myself in a gym was about that long ago. #brokenfoot #notagoodexcuse

 

So, that's that. Our 5k is just for our little family, although if any of you find yourselves near Lake Hartwell on Christmas Day, you should by all means join us. We're a pretty fun bunch!

 

 

Triathlon Training Update

So, we're less than a month away from the first triathlon. Crazy how time flies, right? Training has been going better than I thought it might. I was sidelined for about 10 days after an unfortunate ankle sprain in Las Vegas and a rib that somehow popped out of place. The sprain still bothers me from time to time, although not enough to stop running, swimming or biking, and the rib is back where it belongs and causing me no more problems. Hooray!

GT swimming facilities

So in terms of training...I knew I had to join a pool so I could swim. I explored a couple different options (LA Fitness, YMCA, and Georgia Tech's CRC) and landed on the CRC for a couple of reasons. Mainly price - as an alum, it was $30/month with a 3 month minimum. For $90, I'll be able to swim whenever I want all summer long. What a steal. The only downside for non-alumni is that, well, you can't join. I guess it's what one might consider a perk? The other 2 were also a little less convenient to get to. Not that the CRC is exactly close, but I've been going in the mornings and usually there is parking, the lesiure pool has been quiet, and it only takes about 15 minutes total to get from my house into the water. I also bought a bathing suit, goggles, and a swim cap. Bathing suit rocks, goggles rock, swim cap sucks. (I linked to them mainly because if anyone reading this has no idea what to buy and wants to buy based on someone else's recomendation, go for it. I couldn't find any recommendations from the blogs I read on either of the above, which was incredibly annoying to me.)

As for the swimsuit, I tried about 7 before settling on one I liked. Some were too tight, others had weird straps, others were too low in the back, on and on and on. But now I have one, it was ~$60, and I'm happy.

I also found a training plan that I am following really loosely. And even that might be an overstatement. I found it here and I'm half-heartedly following the 10 Week Sprint Distance Program - Beginner. I spent one night adding all my training goals to my calendar. Let's be real, I am a list master, so if it's on my to-do list, it's way more likely to happen. Somehow my reminder list still looks like this:

 

 

So overall, I'd give myself a B- on triathlon training, but that's adding a lot of "A for effort" points. I try to swim at least once a week, and hop on a treadmill or run outside at least 3 times a week. The bike part? Ugh, I don't want to talk about it. I bought my bike in February and have taken it outside a grand total of twice since I bought it. I can ride the indoor bike for about 15 minutes before I get tired and bored and do something else. I really don't have high hopes for the bike part of this race. Any tips on bike training?

 

 

 

BUT, I plan to join my parents at the lake at least 1 night every weekend for the rest of the summer, and will bring my bike along and ride it in the country and hope for the best come race day. I figure if I can get up to 6 miles on it, then I can manage the 8 included in the triathlon course.

 



So there you have triathlon training. If all goes well, I will be really rocking and rolling come September! Fingers crossed I can stay motivated that long.

 

Goalsetting.

I went to breakfast with a friend yesterday, and we started talking about our goals. Nothing really specific, just things we wanted to do.

I had the same conversation with another friend earlier in the week. I made some flippant comment about "Well I just want it all" to which he responded "what, exactly, is it that you want, Katie?" and I spent probably the next 5 minutes ticking down a list of all the things I wanted. Some of them were stupid - I wanted it to be Friday, I wanted the day to be over, etc. Others were serious - I wanted certain things at work, I wanted my mom and dad to be happy, I wanted to repair relationships with people that had been broken.

Both friends were so supportive of the things I wanted, and it was such a great two-way conversation with people who love me and care about me and who I love and care about. There's something really liberating about telling someone else your dreams. It gives them meaning. It holds you accountable.

It's why I posted my 101 in 1001 list. It's hard to believe that I made that list almost 2 years ago, and I've checked so many things off of it.

What's remaining? Running 6 5k's. UGH. So, now with about 10 months left, I have to do said 5k's. Anyone want to participate with me? One of my best friends lives in DC and is into running, so perhaps when I go to visit in April I'll rope her into doing one with me. And maybe when I'm in Florida in January I'll do one there. Maybe I'll commit to doing 6 5k's in 6 different locations.

What do you think? What holds you accountable? Do you have friends you can rely on?

Running (Yes, again)

I started running* again today. At least my Change Your Life Challenge gave me something new to complain about!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, likely to be titled: 10 Reasons Why I Don't Run (and why I am quitting again).




*loose definition. 2 miles in just under** 30 minutes
**as in, 29:49, but who's counting

For what it's worth, my ultimate goal is to be able to run a 5k in that same time. So, basically I want to add a mile. I wonder if I'll actually reach that goal. It would be pretty awesome if I did!

Exercise

To expand more on my tips for hobbies, I thought I would share with you all how I have incorporated running into my daily routine.

7am - roommate leaves for work after her hour long AM workout (she gets up at 5 to go run in the morning...she's sick, I know) and I contemplate getting out of bed
8am - I finally get up and contemplate running on the treadmill (again) and justify not running in the morning by declaring that I prefer evening workouts outside
9am - I get to work and wish I had run in the morning so I didn't dread it all day
10am - I gchat someone and tell them that I am going to run tonight (accountability partner by means of force)
11am - I think about the healthy choices I am going to make when eating today since I am running tonight
12pm - I eat nachos and pizza for lunch
1pm - I die
2pm - I start the countdown until 5pm when I go into the bathroom & change into my sneaks
3pm - I gchat someone else about how running really isn't my thing
4pm - Whoever I gchatted at 10am asks what time I'm running, I lie and say I think I've come down with the chicken pox and I can't run today.
5pm - I go change clothes, come back and sit at my desk a while longer hoping someone tells me something that is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL AND MUST BE DONE IMMEDIATELY
5:10pm - I finally go outside and start my measly mile around the complex... twice
5:25pm - I've made it the first mile (what? there's lots of hills and I'm out of shape) and I contemplate going back in to the a/c. Depending on how much I ran in the first mile, I either do the same thing again (if I only ran a little bit) or call it quits (if I ran a lot).

Basically what I'm trying to tell you is that I am just starting out. I have tried to quit running more than once and I keep going back to it. I'm determined to win it over, to be able to do it, and to be able to do it mildly well. And my mom would probably tell you I'm kind of stubborn, so damnit I'm going to do it, even if it takes me forever. I will never run a marathon. I will probably never run a 1/2 marathon. I am perfectly, 100% okay with that. I applaud others who do it, but it ain't my cup of joe. That doesn't mean I'm not going to run though. One of my very good friends said that she doesn't ever want to feel like she can't participate in something because of a lacking physical ability and I agree wholeheartedly, which is why I keep at this whole running thing. I want to be able to go for a hike and survive, or go for a walk/jog/run with a friend and hold my own. So slowly but surely, I am going to conquer this running beast.

Now can someone please come pick me up off the floor, stop my hands from shaking, and feed me ice chips? It's 90+ degrees in Atlanta right now and I might be dying.