Call me Crazy ... with a capital "C"

It's been one hell-a-vuh-week! I am definitely running out of time here people! I have only two "free" weekends between now and the end of May that I can get a lot done... that is, free to pack/move, apply for jobs, and complete four projects for school. Ahhhh!

But, on a side note, it's been a few days since I have posted. So here is a brief update. "Brief" being the opperative word.

Monday: I squeezed in a 4.05 mile run when I got out of class at 9pm-ish. Averaged 10:48/mile. Right leg was a little sore, possibly due to the fact that I ran 3 days in a row... with an accumulation of 11.4 miles.
Tuesday: Wasn't able to squeeze in any lifting or light running, since I was going and going from 7am until 5pm. Just had enough time for spin class from 5:30 - 6:15 before my 7pm class. Total, 9.26 miles spin.
Wednesday: Rested. Ahhh.... Actually, I did laundry and some dishes, watched American Idol and was to bed by 9:30pm. :)
Thursday: Was hoping to do a 4 mile run this morning before school, but overslept a half hour past my usual wake-up time. Oops. So, I had to run before spin tonight. Since I knew I wasn't going to get in my hopeful 4 miles, I opted for doing a few intervals. (Doing a total of 2.25 miles)

• 800 M warm-up jog = 5:31 (5.7 mph)
• 200 M walk = 1:51
• 400 M run = 2:29 (6.5)
• 200 M walk = 1:50
• 400 M run = 2:23 (6.7)
• 200 M walk = 1:38
• 400 M run = 2:17 (6.9)
• 200 M walk = 1:36
• 400 M run = 2:10 (7.4)
• 400 M cool down jog = 3:00 (5.5)

After running, I grabbed my sports beans and hit the bike. All went well, was a little tired though. Intervals are probably not the best thing to do before spinning. I ended up spinning a total of 9.6 miles. Afterwards, I hit the weight room and worked on the arms. This teacher can't have those things jiggling when writing on the board... how embarassing!

Friday: I plan to run, and then lift legs. I would like to do it before school, but I don't know if that will happen! We'll see. I might have more time to do 4 miles and lifting after school without feeling rushed. That way I can do a thorough job!

One of my RT friends invited a bunch of us over to barbeque tonight at 7pm. I had told him earlier this week I was going to come, but that was before I realized that thursdays are usually my long work out day (2+ hours). I didn't get home until 7 and then showered and had to fill my body with some carbs. I knew that I wasn't going to drink or eat at the barbeque. I told him I didn't think I would make it as I needed to ice and eat some good pasta... He just told me he was disappointed! Will they ever get it? I am trying so hard to make a lifestyle change here, and I go and say NO one time and they don't get it. Peer pressure sucks, people!! As much as I would have loved to be hangin' out with all those guys tonight, I knew that I needed to take care of my body first. I wanted to ice and eat well so I could get in a nice run tomorrow. In the back of my mind I knew that I had a lot of paperwork that I wanted to get done tonight for my mentor to look over tomorrow. I am sick of trying to explain myself. They call me crazy! Crazy for running before spinning; crazy for being able to find time to workout 5 or 6 days a week with all of my classes and teaching; crazy for running... period. So, call me crazy. Call me crazy with a capital "C"! I don't care. You know why? Because I feel a whole lot better when I do it... and if that makes me crazy... so be it!

Happy Running, y'all! Tomorrow's friday... jeans day is here again!

P.S. Check out another one of my favorite songs below. Lucky Man by The Verve.

Thunderstruck

I went to the gym tonight with all intentions of lifting, running, and spinning. And ladies and gentlemen, that is what I did.

I arrived at the gym shortly after 4pm and did a little lifting. I wanted to have enough time to get on the treadmill for 40 minute before grabbing a spin card at 5:15. I only did a few machines before I headed for the thrillmill. It's amazing how time consuming lifting can be, especially when you try to do 3 reps of what-ever. In 40 minutes on the thrillmill I was able to pound out 3.65 miles.... an average pace of 10:57.

From there, I finished just in time to grab a spin card before they ran out (there are only 20 bikes, and usually more "spinners" than available bikes). On the way up to the spin room, I scarfed down a packet of orange jelly beans...the energy ones! Yummy. Love those things..

I hopped on the bike, only to find a different instructor than usual. Won...der...ful... We had a video rolling but didn't follow it... we just went along with the tempo of most the songs ... I was thunderstruck... .. We did this cool thing when listening to the song thunderstruck. We started at zero resistence, and every time we heard the word thunder, we had to turn up our resistence. Crazy! The key here is to do very little increments, very little! All in all, the word thunder was said 34 times! After that, we did some more speed intervals. 4 times he had us sprint at a cadence of 100 for 30 seconds with 15 seconds recovery in between. On the fifth one, he had us go for a minute at a cadence of at least 100. All 5 times, I had my cadence at 125...again! It felt so good to finish strong. 12 miles... and done.

After spinning, I still had a little in me so I hit up a few more weight machines. Then I grabbed a strawberry/banana smoothie from The Well and went home to cook a nice dinner of pasta and chicken! What an awesome 2 hour workout! Couldn't have been better!

Tomorrow's friday... which means jeans day... which means the weekend is here... which means more fun with college hoops (my Tarheels play friday night, yeah!!)....which means time for fun with some RT's as well!.... ahhh!

Happy running, y'all! Have a wonderful weekend!

Rainy Days...here comes Spring

Yesterday it rained most of the day. I ended up sleeping in until past noon since I didn't go to bed until after 430am! We went out and then hit up the truck stop for "breakfast" which was oh so yummy after a night of drinking beer. I got home shortly before 4am and popped in the moving The Notebook! One of my all-time favorites, based on a book by my favorite author, Nickolas Sparks! So after spending most of the afternoon doing homework, I was kind feeling pretty awake and hydrated, thinking that I should do something... physically constructive. Wes' comment kept playing over and over again in my head "where there's a will...there's a way". So I pulled my butt off the couch and went to the gym a little after 7. Such a wonderful motivator he is! I ended up doing 3.5 miles and a tough session of weights! Wahoo!

Today it didn't rain, but the temperature dropped from 26 this morning when I woke upt to 14 when I got to school and it was snowing. Only in North Dakota does the weather change ... just ... like ... that. Just when I could almost feel the presence of spring with the rain yesterday. When I got out of class at 9 tonight, I was itching to run again. I thought I could grab one of the thrillmills with a little tv screen attached to it, and watch my show from 9-10, attempting to do a longer run. That wasn't too successful. I knew that my right calf was a little tight and I didn't want to push it.... I have spin tomorrow, ya know?! So I only did a very very slow 3 miles! Go me! On the down side.. I am a little upset with myself... as I was filling my nalgene bottle before the run, I think some of the water dribbled down the side of the bottle and touched my nano! It has this "diagnostic" screen on it now that won't go away. Darnit! Now I have to take care of that... and run without music for a while. I could just slap myself for that... grr.. If anyone has any advice for me before I contact apple ... that would be greatly appreciative!

Happy Spring, y'all!

Feelin' Fine...

I woke up to -4 degrees this morning. I didn't want to wait until mid afternoon for the expected high of 20 degrees. So, I drug myself out of bed and went to the gym. There was no spin today, so I knew that my options were pretty limited as I didn't want to do the EFX machine, stairstepper, or bike. I wanted to run, but I was upset I couldn't do it outside. I was teased with the warm weather on monday and didn't want to revert back to the thrillmill.

Once I got to the gym I knew I wanted to do some lifting as well, but didn't want to do it first, as I usually do. I was afraid it would have killed my motivation to run. So, I attacked the thrillmill and did a wonderful 40 minutes... 3.5 miles.... I was feelin' fine! I could have gone farther, but didn't want to push it. I want to run tomorrow as well. After running, I went down to the weight machines and went to town. I think I am going to have to start keeping track of the machines I am doing and how much I am lifting. I wasted so much time adjusting the machines and figuring out what weight to use...

Now I am going to do some paperwork while watching basketball. Don't worry, I can multi-task! I am lucky I have today off!

Happy running, y'all!

I'm BAAACKKK!

We didn't have school today, so after a long weekend of bachelorette party fun, I got back on the horse and went for a run. I was going to try 2-3 miles on friday morning, but my sister and I just weren't feeling it. So, we did a little over a mile around the track and then went to shoot some hoops.

Today I was hoping to get up at a decent time, around 7ish and head to the gym. I didn't get there until after 10, mostly due to being extremely tired from the weekend. Yesterday I had a really sore throat, so I wanted to get as much sleep as I could last night... and I did.

Well, ladies and gentleman....Teacherwoman is back and at full-force! I think. I went to the gym, lifted weights for a while and then hopped onto that wonderful thrillmill (not). My plan was to be on there for 40 minutes, whether I ran most of it, walked most of it, or did a lot of both. I was just hoping that would give me enough time to do 3 miles if I had to do a lot of walking. Results? 40 minutes...and 3.4 miles. Yippee! I did some walking but not too much! My running wasn't too speedy, but that is a-okay with this girl! I stretched afterwards and felt fine! Ahh, how good it feels to be back!

Those of you who have President's Day off...enjoy it!

Happy Running, y'all!

What Goes Around...

For it being Sunday, I was quite busy. I did homework from the moment I got up at 8am, until 3ish in the afternoon. Then I went to the gym to do a really good lift session before Spin. Spin went really well, I cranked the tension up hard during some drills and boy could I feel the burn.

All and all it was really good and I was able to complete 9 miles. I felt a slight pain that appears a few minutes before finishing. Today, the pain was coming from the outer-back of the knee down to the outer ankle area. Weird. So, I went home and iced, and iced, and iced. Is this nonsense ever going to stop??

Now, I am going to have a pitty party for myself and enjoy the Grammy's while doing some IEP paperwork. Did I mention that I "secretly" heart JT....Justin Timberlake?! Yep. Hey, if anyone can write their own music, sing, dance, AND play the piano...they've got my heart!


Tomorrow will be another rest day and then I will spin Tuesday night.

Keep on, keeeping on!

P.S. Congrats to Maryland for defeating Duke! Hip Hip Hooray! Now Duke is faced with their longest losing streak in 11 years!

Wednesday is almost here...

and I am done with class for the week! Ahhhh.....

(ahh...now I have to spend the rest of the week doing paperwork and homework!)

Tonight I went to the gym before my class. I didn't know what I was going to do, especially with my ankle slightly bothering me. But, I felt I could atleast go and get a good lift session in and walk the track to get moving a bit.

So, I lifted my heart out. I really pushed my self hard and can feel it now... what wonderful feeling!

Afterwards, I thought that I would just attempt some *light* running ... yeah... ...only went about 1.3 miles and had to force myself to stop. It wasn't a really bad pain, but it was there and I was afraid I would make it worse.

So I stopped. How frustrating. Oh well. Tomorrow night I will attempt another mile, and do 45 minutes of spin. Then I will try to do a few miles on thursday! If all is well with the ankle that is...

Did I mention it was -36 with the windchill coming home tonight? Brrr. If this isn't more motiviation to really start looking for a job in the Carolina's...I don't know what is! It's so cold that my car didn't get the chance to warm up much between campus and home...which is a good 10 minute drive.. you try icing your legs after being out in these frigid temps! Kind of hard, but you do what you gotta do..

Keep on keeping on!

Lack of Structure

Friday was quite eventful with the CEC conference and then hitting the gym for a nice long run and some lifting. But, I chose to go out with some friends, some of them whom I haven't seen since July and had a few drinks. That totally throws my weekend out of wack, with me sleeping in and wasting a good portion of my day. Plus, I feel completely icky and mostly dehydrated. I was hoping to hit the gym saturday afternoon but just couldn't do it. Not enough structure what-so-ever.

Workout: Today, I did things a little differently. I did 45 minutes of pilates late this morning, went to the gym and lifted arms and legs...then, I did my 3.1 mile run! I have read that lifting before running helps with weight loss....even though this isn't a huge concern of mine, I wanted to see how well I would be able to run after lifting. Results? I did a total of 3.3 miles, with 3.1 being done in 31:49 minutes! An average 10:15 minute mile! Yeah! I have a feeling I am going to be sore tomorrow...but a good sore.

Now, I am saving my appetite for yummy apps and taps at a friends house for the Superbowl! Yeah! Go Bears...or Colts?!?! I can't decide. I am just looking forward to the commercials, a few drinks, a lot of food...and some football!

Happy running, y'all!

ONE SINGLE(ton) SHOT!

Sports Commentary:
I got home just in time last night to watch the last half of the Duke vs. Virginia game. Let's just say it came down to ONE SINGLE SHOT in overtime, made by Virginia's player, Singleton to win the game! Wahoo! Virginia hasn't been able to beet Duke in 9 games (since 2002)!

Workout related:
A bunch of us RT's left the conference a little early so with that I was able to get to the gym at a decent time. Today was supposed to be my scheduled 3.1 miles, but when I was driving to the gym, I felt like I needed to do more. I had the time, why not. So, I decided I would do the run/walk thing for 60 minutes and then lift. And that is what I did! I pretty much ran 5 or 6 and walked 1.... for 60 minutes. I was able to complete 5.3 miles! That is an average 11:19/mile! How refreshing. My knees were kind of making a weird clicking noises at times, but that went away. So I instantly iced when I got home!

Now it's time to have a wonderful evening.... I plan on meeting up with some friends that I haven't seen since this summer!

Happy running, y'all!

January.... in review....

I can't believe the first month of 2007 has pretty much come and gone. Crazy. With that note, I was reflecting on my numbers and quite pleased. Even though January has been really busy, as I assume the first part of February will be as well, I am happy with how I was able to get out there and do what I wanted to get done!

January Stats:

• 39.055 miles running... . ... was shooting for 40, so I am okay with this!
• 21.7 miles spin .... this will be better in February. Spin didn't start until a couple weeks ago.. so I have a good excuse!
• 30.52 miles biking... good...good..
• NO swimming. That's okay. the pool hours are rediculous, but I am itching to get back into the pool. I miss the feeling of being totally exhausted from head to toe!

Tonight I made it to Spin. Sis and I got there a little early, so we started with some very brief lifting, only doing a few machines. From there we did some warmup laps around the track. Then we hopped on our spin bikes and went at it! 45 minute = 10.7 miles! Almost a mile more than last week! I pushed myself harder than last week, mostly becuase last week was my first time in over 3 months and I didn't know how much my body could handle! Tonight, my left calf started to cramp up, which has never happened before, so I know I was pushing pretty hard as the lactic acid was building up!

Workout summary: lifted, ran 1 mile, spinned 10.7 miles.

I am very much ready for February!

Happy running, y'all!!

Beautiful pink sunrise as I was arriving at school.

Sweet E "motion"

Last night I spent the evening resting and relaxing (and as usual...stretching). I was hoping to get some paperwork done, but that wasn't as successful as I would have liked. Instead, I spent a lot of time downloading new "old" tunes for my nano. I am sick of the music I have been listening to, so I was looking for songs from my past and found so many that I really liked and miss...you know...like songs I really miss from my high school and early college years! I forgot how much I liked the Goo Goo Dolls, Collective Soul, Blues Travelers, Aerosmith, The Fugees, Godsmack, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Limp Bizkit, Everlast, Oasis, Tantric, No Doubt, Van Halen, Sugar Ray, Tupac, Dr. Dre, etc...

While spending a great deal of time downloading music, I sipped a glass of red wine and cheered Clemson on in a very close game with Duke. If they could have only won, it would have been even a better evening!



Workout Summary: 3.1 miles and lifting.

.25 mile warmup walk

• Mile 1= 11:09
  
• Mile 2= 10:32
  
• Mile 3= 11:07
  
• .1 = 0:55
  
• TOTAL TIME= 33:43 (Avg. pace = 10:52)
  

.15 mile cooldown walk

(Avg. HR = 156, Max HR = 186)
Total Distance = 3.5 miles

What a sweet run, it felt so good. All the splits were better than last week! I did stop between each mile to write down the time, so I know if that were to have been straight through it would have taken a little bit longer becuase the brief breaks were beneficial. I did do some minimal walking during the second mile, but sped up towards the end to make up for lost time... and boy did I!!

Now, I hope to clean up, eat a decent dinner, do some paper work and grab a couple drinks later with some friends!

Happy Running, y'all! Happy Friday!

"Let the Bodies Hit the Floor"....

.....did spin tonight and pretty much felt like "hitting the floor" when I got home! Oh how I remember that song! What a great song for sprinting, I can't wait to load it up to my nano and sprint to it the next time I do intervals!

Sis and I met up at the gym and did some warmup laps around the track before spin. From there we hopped on our bikes and hit the hills! Ahh, how it felt so good. I couldn't believe how much I was sweating! I ended up biking exactly 10 miles in 45 minutes. My cadence reached a max of 126 which I thought was pretty good! I HEART SPIN!

After we were finished we decided to hit another lap around the track to make it 1 complete mile of running tonight. Okay, we didn't just hit a lap...we full out sprinted it! Ahhhh!! I don't think I have ever ran that fast before in my life! It felt wonderful!

After we were finished, I hit up the weights. I ain't gonna lie... I felt kind of intimidated by the large quantity of men all around. So, I pumped up on three different machines to the point of exhaustion and got out of there. It was just too busy to lift at that time of day!

Workout Summary: 1 mile run, 10 miles spin, and brief lifting

Tomorrow's a well deserved rest day as I will need the evening to do some paperwork!

Happy running, y'all!