Done...done...and done..

Monday night the weather was absolutely gorgeous when we left class shortly after 9pm. A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go for a run with him... I said no. I don't know if I am comfortable running with a guy. I am afraid that I will hold him back or not be able to go as far as him! I am probably just being silly.

Last night, I made it to the gym before class. Yes, the gym. I hate going there once the weather gets nicer, but I wanted to get in one last spin session before the class is over. So, I ran 2 miles first and then did 10.7 miles on the bike. Too much fun! It's been a couple weeks since I have done that! I am back!

Last night was my last night of class. For good. I have all assignments in, tests taken, and projects presented. I AM DONE! All I have to do is finish up the year at school with my students and show up for graduation! I am sooo pumped and ready to celebrate! Anyone want to join???

My current goal right now is to find (get) a job before the end of the month and get back on track with my running!

Tonight?.. ... .. I plan to run in the glorious 70 degree weather .... ahhh.

Happy running, y'all!

Another one bites the dust

You ever have those moments where you have all these ideas for posting, and then when you start, it's just a bunch of garbage? I have done that. Multiple times tonight. What does Stacy really want to talk about tonight? What do fellow bloggers really want to read about? Work? School? My job-searching adventure? Life? Running? Spin? I just can't get my creative groove movin'. I know I have lost all motivation for school, but I didn't realize I was struggling with ideas for my posts!

Anyway. I am recovering wonderfully from my 8 miles yesterday. I forgot to mention that during the last couple miles, I began to feel sore on the ball of my right foot and the pinky toe of my left. The soreness/pain has subsided today. But I didn't like it. I was afraid it was going to lead to blisters, which I have only had once after a 5 mile run last summer. I instantly blamed it on my socks and will not wears those ever again for a "longer" run. I know I am not the only runner out there that has specific socks, shorts, shirts, for short runs, long runs, biking, etc. Right?

Tonight I was to the gym about 20 minutes before spin and did some weights for the arms. I then went to Spin with all intentions of working my butt of so I can take tomorrow off. Yeah, either the tension on my bike was really touchy, or my semi-sore thigh, hip, and butt muscles where more sore than I realized. My sister didn't go with because she didn't want to go to the same instructor two times this week when she knew what we were going to do. Little did we know, our instructor was going to change things up a bit. And that is what she did. Tonights warm-up, which usually takes 10 minutes, was quite a bit of freezing in a hovering position. We did quite a few reps of 30 secs with some light jogging on the bike between. Oh boy. I felt that in my thunder thighs.. Ouch! We also did a lot of sprinting throughout the session and I liked that. Something different. I conquered 10.2 miles tonight.

The rest of my evening, which there isn't much left (approximately 1 hour), will consist of job searching and reading some fellow blogs! I might get talked into going out for apps with a friend.

On a side note, I am pumped. A friend from college is coming back to GF for the weekend! He already informed me to get my drinking hat on. Whatever that means. I will be ready though. Ahh!!

Y'all have a wonderful friday!

Q and A's

My workout yesterday was quite successful and I felt great afterwards. I left school a little early to pick up some transcripts and was able to head the the gym earlier than I usually do. I hopped on the thrillmill, only planning on doing a couple warm-up miles. Before I was finished, my sister showed up and we ran the track for a while. Between the thrillmill and track, I was able to log 2.5 miles. We hit up a few weights and then headed to spin. It was a wonderful spin session and I was able to spin 9.2 miles. The worst of the evening was heading to a three hour class. Only three more weeks...and I am done!

I feel as if there have been a few questions lately that I haven't been able to respond to, so I am going to try and do that now.

From Joe: A Wednesday long run? Did someone kidnap Teacherwoman and replace her with Bizarro Teacherwoman? --> Yep, a wednesday long run. I seem to be more motivated during the week, and it works out perfectly because I don't have night class. I can go home, stretch, ice, and relax the rest of the evening. Plus, there are usually things going on over the weekend that I don't get those long runs in as planned. This way, if I am feeling up to it, I can do a nice 3 or 4 miles saturday and sunday...outdoors!

From Jess: So, any plans for the future after grad school? --> If all goes as I would like, I hope to have a job lined up before the end of May, in the area of Special Education (at the Elementary level). I don't know where, but I am applying in multiple places.

From Aggie Jogger '77: Ok, I've just got to ask, and I keep telling myself my wife is from North Dakota and I've never heard her mention "funeral potatoes" before. What are they? --> I knew someone was going to catch that and ask about it! It is what our family and a lot of other germans in the area call funeral potatoes. Basically it is hashed browns, baked in a 9x13 pan with cheese and then corn flakes sprinkled on top. I think they are called funeral potatoes becuase they are easy to make and show up at funerals... a lot.

From Joe: Was there lots of eye candy at the gym? --> This is in response to my 7 miles on the thrillmill. And Yes, there were lots of eye candy at the gym. Especially when you are on a thrillmill looking over the weight room! But, that is not why I was there, Joe!

I kinda like this Q&A's thing. Keep 'em coming! Now, like I said before, I am planning on doing my long run tonight, eat a nice hearty pasta and veggies dinner, watch Friday Night Lights and the results to American Idol, and hit the hay!

Music Freak!!

If you haven't noticed, I am a music freak. I love music. All kinds. I could listen to music all day! ...punk, rock, country, rap, R&B, swing, 60's, 70's, sometimes 80's, 90's, jazz, blues, reggae, funk, etc. And it most definitely depends on my mood. Last week I burned a CD of O.A.R. music and love it. I have been playin' it in my car all week on my commute to and from work. Tonight, I was able to download music by James Morrison (in picture - right). He is a new artist from the UK that has a real talent. "The Times" say that "it's as though he's stolen the soul of an 80 year old black American blues singer...". And that is exactly how I would explain his music/voice. And the fact that he reminds me a lot of Johnny Lang, another favorite of mine from right here in ND! (pictured below) Boy Wonder is what they called him... as he had at the experienced/powerful voice of a musician at the age of 16!

On a workout note, I took yesterday off. I was so sore from lifting before and after my run Friday, just as I was hoping! Ahhh. Today, Sis and I hit up spin. We usually don't do that on Sunday's but she wanted to go since she was going to be gone this week. Okay with me! We were not impressed with the instructor, he was kind of a snobby cyclist who was not fun! He just shouted out orders: Okay, uh, get your cadence up to 110+, tension at 7, and we'll go for 4 minutes. Not cool. And the music was okay; Sis called it 80's Butt-rock... she's so funny! Plus, I was disgusted with my bike in the back row. It said I only did 6.2 miles when I know that I did more than that since we did a whole lot of sprinting. I usually average 8-10 miles each session when we don't do a lot of sprinting. I am sure I did more than 10. Oh well. It wasn't working well, as I watched my cadence go from 0 to 254 to 14 to 110 to 0 to 56, and so on.

Now tomorrow, I have been blessed with having one of my classes canceled... the 4-7 class. So, I am planning on doing a long run between school and my 7pm class. Since I didn't get my long run in last week, and who knows what I will accomplish Easter weekend, I figured I would attempt one tomorrow. How long? I don't know. My plan is 6-7 miles. We'll see how it goes.

And since I have the vision of doing a long run on the thrillmill, I knew that I needed to change my music on my nano. I had 300+ songs on there, but were just sick of listening to them! So I have downloaded a bunch from the 60's and 70's .... and then some random songs .... and made a nice play list for tomorrow... Here's what it looks like, if anyone is looking for different (but old-is-gold) music!

• Aerosmith - Come Together
• Alice Cooper - Schools Out for Summer
• Brownsville Station - Smokin' In the Boys' Room
• Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star
• CCR - Bad Moon Rising
• CCR - Down on the Corner
• Dion & The Belmonts - The Wanderer
• Eric Clapton - After Midnight
• Foghat - Slow Ride
• Four Seasons - Stay
• Four Seasons - Walk Like A Man
• Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons - Oh What a Night
• Journey - Wheel In The Sky
• The Monkees - Dream Believer
• The Monkees - Hey Hey We're the Monkees
• Ram Jam - Black Betty
• Simon & Garfunkel - Mrs. Robinson
• Steve Miller Band - The Joker
• Stevie Wonder - Superstition
• Wyclef Jean & Refugees - We Tryin' to Stay Alive (Remix)
• Time of the Season - Blake Lewis (American Idol version)
• Pride & Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughn
• Everybody Needs Somebody To Love - Blues Brothers Band
  
• Jackson - Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon

With that, I am signing off... and wishing y'all a happy monday!

Happy running!

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!

The Suns are Hot

Tonight Sis and I had to pretty much force ourselves to go to spin, both of us feeling sluggish/tired from our back to back runs sunday and monday. We got there and the only two available bikes next to each other were in the front row. Lovely. The first five to ten minutes were incredibly difficult for me. I just didn't have the drive today. But, after a few hill workouts and some frozen spin cycles, I was feeling great and lovin it.. ... even with my hair drippin' sweat onto my legs and handle bars! The end of the spin session consisted of 4 or 5 intervals of zero to ninety ... just ... like... last . ... . week... I pushed myself even harder, watching my cadence go from zero to 125!!!! How awesome that felt! I am just glad we didn't do anything with the imaginary weights today... that would have sent me over the edge! All in all, I accomplished a decent 9 miles!

Where does the night go. I am so completely wiped between spin and school. I am going to finish the night with a couple loads of laundry, the rest of American Idol, and then I will crawl into bed to watch my Timberwolves take on the Suns... I don't know how the game will turn out. I still love my 'wolves, but the suns are hot! (no pun intended!) Especially Mr. Nash! That one's for you Mr. Joe!

I think tomorrow will be a day of rest. Maybe....

Happy running, y'all!

Zero to Ninety

Went to the gym today. Blah. I didn't really want to go there, but I wanted to get in a session of spin. I haven't been to spin in two weeks. So, I went straight to the gym when I got back into town, hoping to do a couple miles on the thrillmill beforehand. Well, I started with doing a couple reps of weights on a few different machines and realized I didn't want to overdue it on the arms before spin. Oddly enough, I get quite a workout in the arms when spinning. We usually spend some time "pretending" to lift weights while spinning and that is quite the workout. I also like to have my handlebar quite low, which makes it for a more challenging work out.

After I was done lifting, I hit the thrillmill and was only able to get in 1.66 miles. Oh well. It was a nice little warm-up before spin. I met up with my sister and we headed to spin. I couldn't believe how much I was sweating! It was just dripping on me onto my legs, my handlebars, and everywhere else. That was definitely an indication that I was drinking enough water today.

Towards the end of the workout, I felt myself reaching a point of exhaustion. And then she did it. She made us do 5 sets of some sort of intervals. We had our tension cranked up, mine was at about a 5 on a scale of 1-6 with 6 being the most difficult. She wanted us to to speed up to a minimal cadence of 90 for 30 seconds and then coming to a complete stop for about 5 seconds. Then doing it again and again...five times. With so much tension, it was really difficult to start again after coming to a complete stop. But it felt great when I was done! Actually, after my three miles yesterday, a little running today and then spinning 10 miles, my legs are definately feeling it. I am afraid I might have to take a rest day tomorrow. It's amazing how a week off from physical activity can really affect the body!

Maybe I will go for a walk tomorrow if the weather is nice. We are supposed to get a few flakes, but nothing significant...

Happy running, y'all!

Overall workout: 1.66 mile run, 10 mile spin

P.S. I now know what Wes was saying in regards to feeling lopsided... my right glute is so sore compared to my left... weird.

February In Review

(Picture: UND Fighting Sioux Englstad Hockey Arena)














I can't believe it. February is pretty much over. So, it is time for...

February Stats:

• 24.325 miles running... . ... once again I was hoping for 40, but had to deal with some leg issues in the middle of the month, throwing things off. March will be better, I know it!.
  
• 58.18 miles spin .... this was greater than January's near 22 miles. Hopefully I will be able to pull off 60 miles in March!..
• NO swimming. Again. But, to tell the truth, I don't know when I will get back in the pool. The pool schedule here is rediculous and I don't have much free time in the evenings the way it is.

Looking back on my 3 miles I ran last night, I couldn't believe how smoothly it went. I can really see how this Spin is playing into my running and endurance. If all goes well, I hope to continue spinning twice a week, trying to get an easy 3 miles in before the spin session. It actually works best for me to do this sort of workout, rather than workingout four days in a row, doing the same amount of work. Thus, I can have a rest day between and after those days, and hopefully allow for me to start building some miles on my longer runs. That is what I would like to do.

I believe that I have about 72 days until graduation! That is unbelievably craaazy! I am getting quite excited, but overwhelmed as well. I need to work on some big projects, and really buckle down on applications. Just for giggles, I was looking at some races, which there really isn't much around here, but I was looking. I really think I am going to do the St. Patrick's Day 5K race in Fargo. I haven't participated in a race since New Years Eve and to tell you the truth, I feel as if I am stronger and have made great gains. From there, I don't know what race I plan to do next. It's too hard, especially with moving out of our apartment by May 1st (I think), and finding jobs, graduating, etc... But, I was looking into the Fargo Half Marathon. Which would be in 12 weeks. It's still up in the air. We'll see. I am not going to set my mind to it, but if I can start pumping out some longer runs, I think it could definitely be doable.

On a weather note.. It is starting to snow. They let us out of school today at 2pm to go home and "wait" for the snow to fall. Crazy. That's okay, I attempted to take a nap while watching Walk the Line. Love that movie. But, now it is snowing. I don't know if we are still supposed to get as much snow as forcasted originally, but it is still supposed to snow through Friday night. The temperature right now is 31, which is great, but when you mix it with heavy, wet snow, it gives us nice slippery roads in the morning once the temp drops a few degrees. Lovely.

This picture is from Monday... showing one of the random fog pockets that I drove through that morning!

Maybe I will have a great picture in the morning to post of all the new snow!

Tomorrow, with the proper nutrition and hydration, I hope to do what I did tuesday. Run 3 miles and spin. Hopefully the weather will be okay enough for me to drive across town to get to the gym!

Happy Running, y'all! Spring into March!

Just wonderful....

It's coming. .. ... I don't know when, but it is coming. As I drove home from class tonight (approximately 9:50pm)... I could see it. In the sky. It's definitely there. But is it going to share with us? It's that icky color. The color you get when you mix red and green and maybe a little grey. It's that grey-ish brown color. Why is it that color? From what I have learned, it is that color because it is so abundant and so low(close the the ground). Yes. I know it is coming. Some said that it will either by-pass us or just "fizzle" out. .. .. ... last week they didn't tell us it was coming, until it was too late. Now they have been telling us about is since I cracked open my eyes this morning.... .. . . take a look for yourself...

... Winter Storm Watch remains in effect from Wednesday afternoon through Friday afternoon...

Snow will spread into the area Wednesday afternoon and could become heavy by evening. Snow totals by Thursday morning may be in excess of 6 inches. Roadways may become snow covered and icy. Visibilities could be reduced due to heavy falling snow.

Light snow will continue through Thursday... with another round of heavy snow returning to the area Thursday night. Additional accumulations could result in storm total snow amounts between 8 and 12 inches... with isolated areas having the potential of seeing up to 18 inches. Gusty north winds are expected to develop on Friday and may reduce visibility in blowing and drifting snow.

A Winter Storm Watch means there is a potential for significant snow and wind. This storm has the potential to make travel very hazardous or even impossible for an extended time.

I know it just a Watch, but in this state, you never know. Plus, the driving conditions haven't been the best already this week, especially on the two-lane, 11 miles, near-to-none visibility, pillow-pocketed road of hell... Anyway. Especially that darn wind. Ugly... just plane ugly. And, there are really NO shelter belts along the roads I drive on which makes it worse when it is windy. Any... I am driving alone. My mentor is home with a sick child, and I am driving alone. All. Alone.

Thank God we have friday off.

On a lighter note, tonight I hit up the gym. I had a little bit of a headache this afternoon and felt that it was due to dehydration, so I attempted to drink as much as possible between noon and 3... Once I got to the gym, I had plenty of time before the 530 spin class so I decided to do some running, figuring out how far I would go after a few minutes on the thrillmill. Well, to my surprise all was wonderful and I kept it up. I had just enough time to do 3.1 miles (in 35:15) before hitting the bike. Yeah! Then I was a little apprehensive. I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it on the bike for a near 50 minutes after 35 minutes on the thrillmill. I wish I would have brought in some powerade or something. I got on the bike and boy I felt great! I went all out ... as usual .. until the last 5 minutes. I was just getting tired and couldn't put much effort forward. Total bike miles = 10.2! But, all and all, the overall workout was great. Unfortunately I had to hurry, shower, grab something to eat, and head to class. The only option for dinner was subway and lets just say that gave me some pretty bad stomach cramps.

Does anyone have a good ideas as to what I should be eating before and after a workout like the such? I felt as if I could have used some more pre- and post- "fuel"!

Happy running, y'all!

*UPDATE* Got out of school, at about 2ish, but by the time I packed up and was ready to go, it was already 230. Roads were okay and it is beautiful back here in GF. I don't know what is going to happen with this so-called "storm"... we'll just have to wait and see. I am going to go and pop in a movie and take a nap... not feeling to hot. Darn stomach crampage goin' on...

running crazy

My workout today wore me out. Royally. I am not even kidding. I felt great afterwards and as if I could have ran another mile, but I quit. I had to run an errand before Grey's Anatomy was on. Anyway. My PLAN was to run atleast 2 miles, and then head to Spin class. I know, I know...crazy. But, I didn't get to the gym in time to do 2 miles, so I did 1.25 and then went to Spin. Once again, Spin was an awesome workout. Who would have known holding your arms in the air and moving them as if you are lifting 5 lb weights would actually be a hard workout while peddling?! My quads were burning through most of the workout, especially when she would make us freeze...thus only moving our legs, none of the upper body. Ouch! When I was done with Spin, I actually still had more in me ... Here is where crazy enters the picture. I got back on the thrillmill! I was just planning on doing .75 to make my 2 miles for the night, but I did 1.25, again. Oofdah! In a nutshell, my workout tonight consisted of 2.5 miles running and 9.8 miles of spinning! Yeah!

Every once and a while when I am at the gym, I notice things that appear out of place to me. I thought I would share a couple and see what others think. When I was on the thrillmill for the second time tonight, I noticed a girl wearing something unusual on the eliptical. She was wearing a speedo swimsuit with those "swish, swish" kind of pants. Weird? or Just me? And another thing that I noticed tonight that I have noticed before was this: A couple holding hands. Is that really necessary in the gym? I find that really odd. Don't get me wrong, I love holding hands, but do you really need to hold hands when walking through the weight lifting room? Now that takes a real man!

Tomorrow is a rest day. I was going to do an easy 3, but since I 2.5 tonight, tomorrow I will take it easy!

Happy running, y'all!

Building Self-Esteem

Today was my long day of the week. I think sometimes I make it longer. I teach all day. Head to the gym to workout and then go to class until about 10pm. By the time I get home and settle down, I am so wound up from the day, that it takes me quite a while to fall asleep, so I usually do some blog reading to tire my eyes.

Tonight was Spin night. I like doing Spin on tuesdays rather than wednesday. It gives me a better chance of getting it in two times a week. This way, I can spin on thursday too. So, tonight I met my sister at the gym. I somewhat wanted to lift first but remembered last tuesday's spin session and the resistance band. Nope. Wasn't going to lift. So we warmed up with a nice 1 mile jog and then went to spin. It felt great. I took Jodi's advice and lowered my seat a bit. I asked my sister if my knee was somewhat bent and she said "barely". Huh? I was only able to lower the seat about a 1/2 inch more before it was all the way down! But, I lowered it a little more and began peddling. What a wonderful workout! 8.68 miles later, I was feeling it all...the running and spinning! Doing both really works all parts of the legs! I can see why triathletes love what they do!

On an educational note, in class tonight we talked about building self-esteem in our students. We did an activity where we had to put our name on top of a piece of paper, pass it around and everyone had to write something about us on that paper. Yes people, these are the kind of things we do in class.... don't make fun! So, on an ending note... here is the list that was written beneath my name:

• kind hearted
• great friend
• I like your hair color - is it natural? - - > is this for real?
  
• I enjoy your outgoing personality
• funny
• you rock girl! I love your energy and enthusiasm!
• cute
• I love the way you are always punctual! :)
• Sincere and honest!
• always willing to help and know what's going on.
• ambitious (where do you find time to workout?)
• I love your obnoxious laugh - I heart you! - - > This could only come from my obnoxious laughing partner!
  

Happy running, y'all! Tomorrow is a rest day!

I HEART life

Before I get into the main purpose of this post, I want to quick make a comment about my injury. I have to give my Mom some credit here (and Wes) for putting in my head that my difficulties with my leg could possibly be stemming from Spin. Oddly enough. My Mom had mentioned to me that she struggles with bicycling becuase it bothers her knees (but she is able to run half marathons)... and then Wes had mentioned how when one gets on their bike, you use different muscles and can also injure different parts of the body. So, tonight I went to the gym hoping to get in a Spin class at 430 but didn't get there in time. So I had an hour to kill before the next class and chose to do some walking. I walked a little over a mile and then decided to test the running. I will admit, I was scared, but I did it. I went a mile and decided to stop. I didn't want to push it and knew I was going to Spin so I didn't want to wear myself out. All and all, I put on 2.25 miles on the thrillmill. Afterwards I grabbed a bike, adjusted everything to meet my needs and started moving. Yep. Kinda felt it. That feeling behind the back of my knee on the outside. Not pain. Just tightness. What the heck! I pushed through and did 8.6 miles. Tuesday night Spin is a whole lot different then Wednesday night (besides the different instructor). Tonight I knew it was going to be difficult when she passed out those elastic stretch bands. Oh boy. We used those to strengthen our arms while cycling slower a couple times throughout the session. Hence the reason why I only put on 8.6 miles. But, it was wonderful and I am already feeling the soreness in my arms! So, I came home tonight after class, stretched, iced and will be looking further into why my leg is bothering me. I am almost sure it is Spin now... but I don't want to quit that either!


Once again...Valentine's Day is pretty much here. Ah, the over-commercialized big day of the year! Don't get me wrong, I love the big Valentine's Day, but sometimes it can be too overrated! And I am not just saying that becuase I am single... Even when dating, it wasn't that great. With being single this year (first time in 5 years) I am going to make the most of it with a couple friends...I think! Dinner and a glass of wine? In honor of Valentine's Day, I made a list of things I love...to remind me of what is important in life!

1. LIFE!
2. My parents - they have given me so much and I must say they did a wonderful job on molding me into the superb adult I am today! ;)
   
3. My sistas! Oh how I have learned so much from them as they are both so different...as we all three have our differences...and similarities as well!
4. The rest of my family... sometimes we all take for granted how lucky we are to be so close!
   
5. My lovely friends.. Those near and far.... Those who support me in my running ups and downs, ins and outs (RBFer's, family and other friends)... Those who are there to wind down with after a long and stressful week, especially my "shaken' on the dancefloor partner, k-dog".... Those who I can vent to, because they know exactly what I am going through...
6. Did I mention LIFE???
7. I HEART learning... Education was probably the best field for me to go into... I will be required to constantly educate myself to become the best teacher I can be... next on my list of education: work towards my ASD credential (Autism Spectrum Disorder)
   
8. My students...oh how I have learned so much from them and hope that they learn a little in return!
9. I love watching my sports... especially basketball... I HEART my Tarheels!
10. I love being active. Running... cycling (spinning)... swimming... (basketbal, volleyball, etc.) ... Is there a possibility of a Tri in the future???

Happy Valentine's Day, 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!

Head Spinning

Went to spin last night with a weak stomach. Didn't know how well it was going to go, but all and all it was qutie successful and my quads and glutes were quite sore after a near 12 miles! What a wonderful workout!

Sis and I decided to make a nice dinner of spaghetti with some garlic bread! Mmm. That sure hit the spot. Once dinner was over, I waited patiently.

Patiently.

Patiently for the biggest rivalry game in NCAA basketball.

Yep, it was time for the UNC vs. DUKE game.

Let me just say, the first half was really hard to watch. I couldn't beleive how poor they were playing. But the Heels persevered and pulled through in the second half. They were rebounding better, had more steals, and just darn right played better!

79-73 baby! DUKE is going down!

Tonight I hope to get in an easy three miles. We'll see!

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.

"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!