Back on track

I've spent a couple weeks partially sidelined due to illness and minor injuries, but I took that time to discuss my goals and schedule with my personal trainer, and to slow myself down. I have this fairly newfound drive and determination that I can't always control. If I'm not pushing myself to the limit, I feel like I'm not doing enough. If my body is sore, I feel sucessful. If it's not, I feel lazy. While this will come in handy when I get to training, right now it's just slowing me down. I really had to listen to my trainer and take a step back. I'm now using her sessions to push myself hard twice a week on M/F, plus an abs/strength class on Weds, with running just 3x a week on T/Th/Sa. I honestly feel like I'm not doing enough, but I'm going to stick to this schedule until I leave and see what it does for me. I strained a hamstring and lost a lot of my running progress, but I'm more rested and focused in my goals so I feel like I can make that up in the next 3 weeks. I also need to pay closer attention to my diet, because what I eat really affects my energy level. I already know these things combined are my key to success, I just hate when I let them slide!

I love my boot camp team!

Boot camp class is hard, make no mistake. It hurts, every time. So why do I keep coming back for more? Two reasons. A) I love the satisfaction of knowing I did it, and B) I love my team. I love being partnered up with Andrea because at least one of us always has the motivation to keep us both going. I love when Matt or Hemal slow down to encourage me to keep running. I love when Alison notices my weight loss. Or when Elizabeth notices my improvement. I love when Daphne makes me sprint, even though I know we both hate it! I love that Marie gets to know each of us as individuals, learns our goals and limits, and then proceeds to push us further than we ever thought possible. I don't always look forward to it, but I always love doing it. :)

Yikes. And Bleh.

After taking an entire week off due to sickness, I'm really struggling to get back into my running routine. It is not fun. I managed a mile on the first day, a very painful mile. Did 1.5 miles today, which felt better, but was still hard. And will try for 2 miles on Friday. All my other classes feel great, though boot camp is tomorrow so that will undoubtedly kick my butt. Oy vay.

I've been lazy with lunches and falling back on protein shakes. It does cut about 100 calories out of my day and adds about 10g of protein. I won't do it for long, but it's sure easier than making all my lunches in advance. I think I'm still tired and recovering from sickness, and thought I'd be feeling much better by now. Maybe next week.

5 running events in 4 months

I decided to be proactive today and registered for 4 more running events over the next 4 months. I may have been a little overconfidant about the Cindo de Mayo 10k, but I wanted to push myself for distance at least once. All the rest are 5k runs that I will use to push my speed. Here's the line up:

March 13th - Shamrock Run 5k
April 16th - Young Life 5k
May 8th - Cinco de Mayo 10k
June 4th - Starlight Run 5k
June 18th - Freedom 5k

And that following Tuesday I'll be headed for Basic Combat Training. I'm pretty excited! I just hope I can talk Amber and/or Kirsten into running a few with me.

Sickness begone!

I spent the entire week with a bad cold and hacking cough, so decided to give my body a break. I skipped all workouts except my Friday personal training, and did no running. I'm going to pick back up again on Monday as if I had been running 2 miles this week, and forge on ahead to 2.25 miles. Oh boy! I really want to stay on track for the Shamrock Run.

I was sworn into the Army on Thursday, and my dad got to swear me in, which was amazing. And I finally got my job and training dates nailed down. I don't leave until late June, but then I'll be gone through February. That gives me 19 more weeks of training and running, so I'm pretty happy about that. It also means I'll miss Hood2Coast and Warrior Dash this year, but will be back in time for Shamrock Run 2012! LOL. I will plan on the 8k or 15k next time. Bought tall green striped socks today for Kirsten, Amber and I to wear. Pretty excited!!

I'm done another lb, 158 and 31% body fat. I'm about 3 lbs away from being within my healthy BMI limits so that's exciting. I've been slightly over for a while and happy that I'm finally whittling away the body fat. In theory, I've got time to lose another 20 lbs before I leave, but I'm more interested in building strength and cardio endurance than I am in hitting a certain weight number. It will be interesting to see where my healthy weight lands though.

I'm also working on a new Hawaiian chicken salad recipe. Will post that when I have it perfected.