I get knocked down, but I get up again...

So yesterday was one of my official days off of running (I didn't run on Thursday, but between the 4.5 I ran on Wednesday and the 4 I ran on Friday, I made up my missed miles for the week). Now normally Saturdays are my completely no training day, and I like it that way. Yesterday, though, was just plain fun - I took a rock climbing class. I now know several things: how to tie the appropriate knots, that old running shoes with ginormous toe boxes aren't good for climbing, that I have no upper body strength, that I can belay someone even if they weigh more than me, and that some of the guys that climb are way cool, but that others are just jackasses.

After our initial lesson (which took about 2 hours and only involved about 20 minutes of actual climbing on either my friends end or mine), we had open access to the entire climbing gym. The gym is a pretty big climbing gym and they have can accomodate all climbing levels. I did ok during the lesson, but the shoes were a problem...my toes/feet just kept slipping off of my foot holds cause my shoes were far wider than my feet. So we got shoes (they were free with the lesson). Anyway, we started climbing one of the easier climbs and I was actually doing pretty great, until this jackass on autobelay did two things. One, he took my foot hold as his hand hold even though it was clear I had the right of way (I was above him on my way up) and two, on his way down he swung wildly away from the wall, literally knocking me off the wall. It wasn't cool. I now know that when you are on autobelay, you have to be extra careful cause you really don't have much control of how you come down. The jackass managed to get himself kicked out only moments later when he did a backflip on autobelay and almost kicked 5 people in the head...like I said, not cool.

There were guys who were super cool. There was this group of guys, probably my age or a little younger who were bouldering. They were literally hanging upside down just from the tips of their fingers clinging to the rocks. Now they also almost all had their shirts off so it was quite a spectical to watch...mmm eye candy. Anyway, I'm amazed at what some people can do in the climbing gym. Watching other people do lead climbing (and miss a place where they were supposed to clip in and fall four feet and smack into the wall) was pretty outstanding. I plan on going back to the climbing gym, and since it is just blocks from my work I could go after work.

As a result of the climbing, I've got a pretty sore upper body. My arms really aren't accustomed to doing much of anything, apparently. Also, I'm afraid that I'm getting shin splints. My right tibia has been hurting (in classical shin splint style) for the last day or so. I'm gonna try stretchign a bit more. I think maybe its just my mind playing tricks on me as a result of the training for the half marathon. I've never had shin splints before.

Foodwise, yesterday was pretty bad. I celebrated my friend's birthday with her family. Celebrating involved lots of mexican food, plus cake and ice cream. It was good cake though....so it was worth it. On good news on the weight front, yesterday I had a doctor's appointment and the dr.'s digital scale weighed me in at 155.5 - whooo!

Running to do today: 5 miles
Weight (dr.'s office): 155.5
Weight (home): 156
Flex points used yesterday: 10

and I left my shoes at home

So yesterday I had a great run with a guy who has sort of become my friend. He and I sort of dated for a little bit and then he just wanted to be friends. So far so good on the friends front - not something I do very often. We met up at the history museum and then went from there. We ended up running a trail that was entirely new to me, probably about 4 miles. It took us 40 minutes and it had plenty of hills. He certainly pushed me to go faster than I normally would have on all of those hills, and there were only a couple times when I had to tell him that I couldn't keep up. All in all it was a pretty good run on a nice evening. I look forward to having more runs like that in the future.

Tonight I was supposed to get two more miles in. I was completely prepared. Even though my iPod wasn't working (don't worry, I took it to the ipod store, the guy flipped the hold button like 8 times and then it worked fine), I borrowed a shuffle from a friend and was totally ready to go...until I started to get dressed and realized I didn't have any shoes. That's right - I had brought two sets of clothing, had gone to the trouble of borrowing that shuffle and couldn't run for my wonderful forgetfulness and the fact that my shoes were sitting on the kitchen floor.

I'm gonna try to get my two miles in tonight after I pick up my best friend at the airport.

Weight (home-scale): 157.5
Miles yesterday: about 4
Miles to run today: 2

chunky highlights

So, for the first time since my sophmore year of college I got highlights done on Saturday. I didn't keep them up when I was in college because I didn't want to be blond (and that's what my stylist had made me). This time, the stylist did a good job of keeping me a brunette, but I'm still not in love with the highlights. My hair does look more rich and has more depth, but it looks "highlighted." I guess I sort of expected hair like my sister-in-law's where its just sort of a blending of several different shades so that it just looks very natural and bright. Mine looks like I have big chunks of caramel in my hair. The stylist who did it is supposed to be very good, and I've been told that it will get better after a week or so. Also, I've heard that highlighted brown hair doesn't get that same look. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm willing to spend that money every couple months for something I don't love. Guess it will depend on what kind of reaction I get from the opposite sex.

Today was one of my two days off from running for the week, my weigh in day for weight watchers, and (stop reading if you don't want too much information) the first day of my period. So of course I was bloated. While I did lose weight from my weigh in last week (down 1.2 pounds - YAY), my weight was higher than it was last Saturday when I weighed myself at home. I knew this was going to happen because my home scale said the same thing this morning (its basically identical to the weight watchers scale). Therefore, I was slightly disappoint, but none of it was unexpected.

Tonight after some time on the elliptical and the bike, I had a session with my trainer. My strength has improved and my abs are getting better. I really like my new trainer, but I'm not sure I'm gonna buy more sessions. I don't know if its worth the money.

Anyway:

Official weekly weight: 159.2
Running for today: none
Cross-training: 30 min. elliptical, 30 min. bike, 30 min. weight training

Farewell to the old me

I've been listening to a lot of Dar Williams lately so somehow this seemed like an appropriate blog title for today.

Yesterday, I ended up getting my four miles in outside - in four inches of snow. It was a really hard run, but I felt so proud when I was done. I was amazed that we hadn't really gone that slow. We finished the four miles in about 45 minutes with the snow drag and slipping and sliding.

Tonight I hurried through my two miles on the treadmill. I had forgotten my iPod so all I could think about were the seconds ticking by. Even with my nice slow warm up, I got my two miles done in 20:02 - pretty good. I think I'm starting to be able to handle a 10 minute mile pretty easily again. It feels good to be back to my prior fitness level (if only I could get the weight back under control).

Foodwise, it was a good week. Although I used every one of my activity points (and with the running I have used a lot), I only used ten flex points. Hopefully the scale will reflect that tomorrow.

Weight as of this morning (home scale): 158.5
Miles run: 2 (20 minutes 2 seconds)

Accountability

Again, I haven't posted on this thing in a while. I think that it is because I spend so much time on the computer when I'm at work that I don't want to do this when I get home. Anyway, I decided recently to make this blog my accountability factor.

I've got two major life goals right now: (1) to run a half marathon on April 15 and (2) to get back down to my lowest weight I ever acheived on weight watchers (and possibly lose another ten pounds from there). Therefore, I've decided that I'm going to account for my journey on this blog.

As far as the half marathon goes - so far so good. This past week was my first week in training, and I got all of my miles in. I've got to admit that the paced workout really kicked my butt. I really needed my rest day to recover. Today I need to run 4 miles for my long run this week. It shouldn't be a problem, but I was hoping to do it outside. We got about 4 inches of snow last night, so the sidewalks really won't be a good option. I might try running on the street, but I think it might just be treadmill running for me :-( Running outside would be so much better because then I would be running with a couple of friends.

Now, there's also the weight issue. For the past 6 weeks or so I've maintained exactly the same weight (and gasp - I'm gonna post it here) - 160 pounds. While the scale has varied like .4 from that in either direction, pretty much that's what I've done. Now for this time of year, that's actually pretty good. I managed to make it through the festivities of Christmas and New Years without gaining any weight - for me a nearly impossible feat. Still, that puts me about 10 pounds heavier than I was this time last year, and by now I should have not only maintained some of my pre-Christmas weight, but lost some poundage. The good news is that my home scale has shown some good movement this week. According to it, I'm down to 158. Hopefully, that will still be true when I weigh in on Thursday at my new meeting time and place. I need to get back to 150 for weight watchers to be free, and my lowest weight was 142.5. Getting back there is a very doable goal. Ultimately, I'd like to weigh 130ish, but that's a weight I've never seen in my adult life, so I don't know if its something my body could really maintain. For anyone who doesn't know me, even though I am significantly above my lowest weight, I'm definitely still a weight watchers success story - I've maintained about 60% of my weight loss. At my highest I weighed 192.2, and I refuse to go back to that weight.

Milage to run today: 4 miles
Weight: 158 (home scale)