Acclimating to life...

What better day to truly commit to a diet of deprivation than Ash Wednesday?! For the past couple weeks I had been slacking, not to the point that I had gained weight, but enough that I was not seeing the changes continue that I had seen up to this point. I decided to forego the lunchtime cardio session to attend a noon church service instead. Yes, I chose church over working out. Usually it's the other way around, I hate to admit.

Something about the physical symbol of smearing the ash on my face helped inspire me. Today was the first day since the first week or so of the diet that I followed the plan to the tee including drinking my protein shake during class tonight (I did get some looks). What's even better was that I managed to force myself to go run AFTER I got home from class (8pm-ish) then come home to crash.

So here's to Ash Wednesday: 40 days of self-deprivation and reflection. Day 1 = success!

Progress

So I'm starting to feel really good about my training thus far. I have figured out why my sports bras fit a little tighter these days: I'm getting some serious hypertrophy in my lats! I noticed it this morning in my running tank shirt that I wore for the Air Force Marathon in September. It was still snug then, but this is a different feeling entirely. I can't believe I let myself get away with not lifting hard for so long. Shame on me.... not practicing what I preach.

That is definitely changing now. I said I wouldn't vow to do another marathon, but after the progress I've seen so far, I'm not sure I can make myself train every Saturday or Sunday for 3-4 hours knowing what it is doing to my muscles... especially since I can apparently have better body fat composition while NOT training for a marathon. I may do it one more time in the future, just to give Boston one last shot, but in the back of my mind, I am thinking "yeah right"....

I will try and take some pictures at the end of this week to "document" my progress. I am really excited with how things are going so far!

Goal achieved!

So after a week or two of setbacks... physical ailments, some side effects from the diet, yadda yadda yadda.... I got 10 reps of 90lbs!!!!!! Two weeks ago, I could barely do 6 reps.Today, I did 10 without a spotter. I am 90% sure it was the lack of carbs in my diet later in the day that was being more of a detriment to my strength than I may have realized. SO, I have made the mental note that in order to perform at my highest level, I simply have to keep the carbs high. Successful day!

A new adventure...

Starting January 2, 2010, I will be starting a plan that will (hopefully) prepare me for a fitness bikini competition in late April or early May. I used to say that I would never do this, that I wouldn't have the willpower or I could just workout enough to maintain my weight. However, things have worked out to where really, if I am going to try a competition, now would be the perfect time to do it. I am lifting really hard at the moment, training for the Arnold Classic Pump and Run on March 7th, so I am already working towards increasing my muscle mass and trying to lean up for the 5k. So... why not? I'm going to give it a shot. If I don't do well, I won't try it again... and I'll try a triathlon instead. At least I will be able to say that I tried it.

Taper week

Monday before the Saturday race: I am ready to get it all overwith. Nerves are starting to kick in, second-guessing my training, regretting the wine that I drank over the weekend... I guess it's too late to go back on anything now and just be confident in what I've done so far. I KNOW I'm in a better place this year than last year, so hopefully that removes the concern that I will end up walking at some point during the race. IF I don't have to walk at all, that alone should shave 10 minutes off my time.

I would love to qualify, don't get me wrong. After I finished my last LONG run (21 miles), I realized that qualifying would be great, but it's not a realistic goal. Last year I walked all of Mile 18 and interval walk-jogged the rest of the way through 26.2. The more REALISTIC goal for me is to try and RUN the entire way. Hopefully that will put me somewhere around 3:45... and IF I can find the strength in the last 1/3 of the race to push myself, that should be just enough effort to get me to 3:40. We will see...

Back to the grind

So apparently even though I ran both at the beach AND at Dale Hollow Lake, the fact that I really haven't lifted in two weeks plus apparent lack of hydration really made today's 15 miles a killer. Here's me today just after I finished up. I did manage to keep a good pace to finish in 2:17, but it was all I could do to not puke my guts up afterwards :(

I can't believe there's only one 20-miler left, the rest is all shorter stuff to taper down to the big day. At this point I just want to get it overwith...

Cramming it all in

This week marks the start of two weeks of inconsistency: leaving Wednesday afternoon for the beach until Sunday night, then the following Wednesday we leave for Tennessee to the lake until that following Tuesday night. Needless to say, it's pretty unrealistic to think I'm going to get every scheduled run in as planned out by the FIRST program.

The past two weeks I've been substituting the speed workout for a run with Rocco. After all, running with Rocco did prep me to place in the overall female winner category in a recent 5k race here, so I figure continuing this method can't hurt. The problem with "Rocco runs" is I don't get a very good warmup, so I'm trying to stretch a lot on Monday nights. I have to hit the ground running, literally, when I run with him. The obedience training is a secondary goal at this point, don't judge my dog-discipline skills in this blog :)

Tomorrow I plan to split up an 18-mile long run into two segments. Wednesday, if I'm lucky, I will get in the tempo run before we leave.