Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Running outside Spin class wardrobe malfunction

I got a great run outside today. I don't have much experience running outside and am one of the crazy ones who prefer the treadmill. I put my Garmin on and took off for the park that is not too far away. I got to the park okay after almost killing myself on the road - the shoulder cuts down to almost nothing at one point and you have tree branches trying to push you out into oncoming traffic.

I did 2.51 miles (including walking part way home).
Mile1 - 11.40 (read: OMG this is really fast for me - or the treadmill has been lying)
Mile 2 - 12.02
.51 - 7.18

I felt close to what I do on the treadmill, but when I looked at the Garmin - it was a lot faster time. I know I was going faster because I was breathing heavy. I forced myself to slow down, but then didn't feel like I was going as fast as the treadmill runs that I do. The hills give me some trouble too. I'm glad the 10 mile run is basically flat.

So on to the wardrobe malfunction. I read how Lisa loves looking at the "frog" read - tramp stamp tattoo of the girl in front of her in the spin class. Well, this train wreck shows up one night. Young girl, baby fat with huge breasts. Long curly hair that wasn't pulled back. She had on 2 sports bras and a thin low-cut wife beater. In spin class, you move a lot and things that aren't tied down will jiggle. Well, we will skip right over jiggle and leap to exploding out of top. I was so distracted by her breasts, I almost fell off the bike. I think I saw nipple at one point. I tried not to look, but there are mirrors all around the room. She kept tucking them in and pulling her shirt up. Girlfriend, a wife-beater is not an appropriate boulder holder for you. She would toss her hair around and jiggle some more. I wanted to smack her. More horror - she followed me into the Buts and Guts class. I wanted to poke my eyes out.

30 pounds lost so far - yeah me!!!
Posted by at 2 comments:

Monday, April 12, 2010

5 Mile Run

Last night I got to the gym in time to do 1.5 hours of the Elliptical (they close early on Sundays). Today I did a half hour on the elliptical and then a 5 mile run. It wasn't a fast run. Right now, I am aiming for increasing miles and not so much speed. I am just trying to finish the run - not break any records. I'm getting ready to leave for a spin class in a few minutes. I'm trying to kick up the cardio a notch to get the weight loss moving a little. Tomorrow I plan on another run and weights.

I have been mapping out possible running routes around my neighborhood. I have been using Map My Route . com I found some posted routes near my house too. I have to get outside and run. Only 3 weeks left until the Broad Street 10 miler.

I also signed up for the BA 5K a week after the 10 mile run. I will have to run that one after a 12 hour night shift though. I signed up the whole family - surprise!

I bought a new bike. It's a hybrid, 21 speeds - I'm probably not going to use 15 of them LOL! Time for some serious cross-training.
Posted by at 2 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Getting ready for my very first run!

After I renigged on my promise to run the Broad Street 10 miler with my friend Chrissy D - I decided to make it up to her by running the Ben Franklin Bridge 10k. Did you read below where I NEVER ran before? She told me that if I cancelled on her again, she would drag me across the bridge by my hair. Okaay then.

I was in shape until a work injury side-lined me (a patient decided to herniate two discs in my neck and tear my shoulder in two places - thanks!) So kiss that bikini goodbye. Pain and inactivity followed. I found myself unable to sleep and in front of the pantry at 3am - everything screaming "eat me!" My day consisted of Percocet, Valium, Red Bull. Percocet for the pain, Valium for the muscle spasms, Red Bull so I could pretend to play mommy for my children. So, physical therapy, epidurals, steroid injections and 40 pounds later, I decided that getting ready for this run was going to help me get back into shape. (I decided against 3 surgeries at this time.)

I had already conquered the ellipticals at the gym. I could do them for an hour on level 6 and barely break a sweat. Surely I could run a measely 6.2 miles. I moved on to the treadmill. I couldn't even run .25 miles continuously. This was a lot harder than it looked.

The Ben Franklin Bridge is almost 3 miles back and forth and it went up, up, up!! and then down. The first time I crossed it (walking, mind you) on the pedestrian cross-walk, my calves were cursing me in three languages. What did I sign up for - who was I kidding?

I downloaded inspiring, fast beat music to keep me pumped up and ready (Britney, Buck Cherry's Crazy Bitch (yep that's me), Pink, PCD, etc.) I decided that I would go for distance and not speed. I discovered that I had exercise-induced asthma when I pushed a little too far (anything at that time was too far). Soon I was able to run a mile, then 2 - at once. I continued to "do" the bridge and even took my kids a couple of times. I had to find a better way to keep my iphone close. They didn't make an arm band that I liked so I found a "runner's belt" online and soon had it. I tried it out one day in the park. My 11 year old was with me and started laughing when I put my iphone in it. "Seriously mom, a fanny pack?" It is not a fanny pack, it is a belt. It stays still, doesn't ride up and I can put my keys in it too. So there!

The weight was slowly coming off. I decided to take a drastic measure - no alcohol at all for the month before the race (oh no, what was I thinking.) My goal was 20 pounds by race day. I continued to plod along on the treadmill. I was up to 5k with almost no problems. However, when I tried to run outside, my body rebelled. The park trail was 1.3 miles - however, it was not flat (but hey - either was the bridge). I was a wheezing, sweaty mess .4 miles into the "run." I was running faster than I was used to on the treadmill. (GPS is a wonderful thing - an app I downloaded on my iphone let me know my distance, speed, and even mapped my route - love the gadgets!)

Strep throat struck my son (11) and he generously shared it with me two weeks before the race. I bought new sneakers (Asics Nimbus Gel 11) and my shins and calves let me know it was not a good idea to change things two weeks before the run. So I went back to my Nike Lunar Glides and made everybody happy. My 16 year old decided he would like to try on the Swine Flu one week before the run. My throat was still bothering me from last week and my chest was tight. I was having some serious doubts if I would be able to finish this race. Not to mention Lysol toxicity from degerming the whole house.

I completed 5.5 miles on the treadmill on my birthday, 6 days before the Sunday race, and for the first time I thought I might be able to do it. It rained for the next two days, so I didn't run the bridge (think shuffle up and run down). I worked Friday night and had off on Halloween. Was I ready? I made my goal of losing 20 pounds two days before the run - yeah me! (20 more to go!)
P.S. Read posts bottom up :)

Ben Franklin Bridge

Ben Franklin Bridge

Kids on the Bridge

Kids on the Bridge