A Body at Rest

Well hey there, it’s been a while! I had a super busy week at work last week and then I took a break from blogging to get back into my normal routine.

A week without working out

It’s true about what they say, “a body in motion tends to stay in motion, a body at rest tends to stay at rest.” This definitely happened to me the other week.  Like I said, I had a really busy work week which left me little time to work on my Cox Half Marathon training.  Because I took so much time off and submitted myself to all of the tasty treats that were available at the trade show, I found it very difficult to motivate myself to workout even when I did have time to exercise.  It was really easy for me to take a nap or catch up on TV when I had a spare minute.  I didn’t workout for an entire week.  It’s been a really long time since I’ve done that.  It took a lot of internal motivation to get back into my routine after that week.  I’m really glad to be committed to this race, or I might still be laying on the couch!

Moral of this story is that it’s very easy to break a routine.  Even though working out is second nature to me at this point, I can still fall out of it very easily.  I realized that living a healthy life is not my norm and that I actually have to work at it.  I really like being healthy and active, but it is not my first nature. This was an important realization because now I know that I have to make a conscious effort to maintain this lifestyle. Lesson learned!

Calorie counting while training

I got into trouble during my triathlon training because I was constantly hungry.  I was working out more than I ever had and I got into the mentality that I could eat whatever I wanted to because I was working so hard.  It turned out not to be the case, and I ended up gaining weight during my training.  I was not a happy camper.  I had signed up for the race to get in better shape (which happened) and to lose weight (which didn’t). This time around, I vowed I am not going to gain weight, which is why I am calorie counting.  I give myself 1500 net calories a day (net means that if I work out and burn 300 calories, I get 300 more calories to eat that day), which seems to be just the right amount for me. I don’t go to bed hungry and I typically have around 100 calories left for the day.

I have been using the My Fitness Pal app on my phone along with the online component.  This is a great, free app that allows you to input your calorie intake, fitness output and water consumption. It has the calorie count on basically every food and even food from many different restaurants. When I am on the go, I input my calorie intake on my phone but when I am at my desk, I keep the website open all day.

Calorie counting keeps me on track during my training and makes sure I don’t gain any weight while I am trying to get in better shape. My goal of this half marathon isn’t to lose weight, but if I happen to in the process of cal counting and running, hey, I’m not complaining!

So those are my ramblings for this week! Have a great day!

I Can Tri

I hope everyone is having a lovely day and a happy Friday! Today at work is the costume before the costume (like the shirt before the shirt a la J-Shore) for Halloween and we’re all dressing up as things from around the office! I’ll post a picture of my costume tomorrow.

Running

For the past 5ish weeks I have been training for a 5k using the Shape 5k Plan.  I’ve never been a natural runner, it’s always been hard for me but I’ve always wanted to be a good runner.  Where I live and work, there are always tons of people running outside and it inspired me to get my butt in gear and get moving! I started with the Couch to 5k plan but saw the Shape plan in their October issue and I liked it because it was more comprehensive and challenging than the C25k. 

I feel stronger and more in shape now and I felt ready for what I have coming for me this weekend.  Dan and I signed up for the Hobooken 5k for this Saturday and I was so excited for the challenge.  I trained really hard to get to this point and I knew I would be able to run the whole thing. 

Unfortunately, this Saturday is supposed to look like this:

 

Pure misery.  It is not supposed to snow in OCTOBER!! I don’t usually run outside and I’ve never run in the rain, let alone the SNOW! I feel like all my training has been in vain because if I can’t breathe due to the coldness, then I won’t be able to be my strongest and finish strong.  I keep worrying about this but there’s something that quiets my mind. 

 

I Can Tri

I’ve completed a triathlon.  I was strong enough to swim .25 mi, bike 11.2 mi and run 3.2 mi all at once. 

I signed up for the tri on a whim but I completed it and it was the first road race I ever competed in. 

So every time I get a little worked up about the impending October blizzard on race day, I just think about this feeling:

(I have the best friends.  They woke up at 6am to be there for me )

Crossing the finish line was the best feeling ever, and while I know I won’t be as proud to finish just a running race, I know it will feel good.

So question for the day:

Have you ever competed in a road race?

How did you feel crossing the finish line?