Its been a while since I posted and this past week I hit a rough patch as I caught my first virus (of what I will assume will be several) this fall from my kids. I was throttled with a tremendous head cold which made it hard to breathe through my nose and hear out of my ears. I ran at the beginning of the week, but missed my workouts for tempo and speed on Wed and Friday, and my Thursday Bikram class. I did manage to get myself to yoga class on Saturday and then run my planned 10 miles today.
During Bikram all of the sinus issues went away, gotta love a room that is 104 degrees and 90% humidity! Bikram just makes you get all of the junk, including boogies, out of your body. Yet this morning as I ran, I felt with every step a real challenge to breathe. This got me thinking that I am really lucky to be healthy person. I cannot fathom trying to exercise and not being able to breathe properly. When I got home I pondered even further what would it be like to be an athlete with asthma? Then in research I find that Paula Radcliffe lives with asthma and is the current world record hold in the marathon and has won 7 races.
That just hammers home the sentiment that with commitment anyone can persevere to succeed.
I am optimistic this virus is on the way out and that in 2 weeks I will finish my 3rd half marathon of the year with a PR. Today I was faster than my past times for 10 miles. So even with booger fest 2010 raging in my head my mind pushed my body excel.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
getting my sh** together- time to set some goals
Okay, I have been meandering through the last several weeks trying to figure out what to do with myself and making up every excuse in the book to avoid committing to "exercising" or training for anything. I kicked around doing a tri, but didn't seem uber motivated.
I should comment that I did do a 50 mile bike ride, http://www.venusdemiles.com/ about two weeks ago. I am glad I did the ride as I learned a lot. I learned that I am just not happy on my bike (specifically out on a road with cars whizzing by me at 60+MPH) in comparison to other forms of exercise. While I can bike fairly efficiently, I never, not even once, relaxed the way I do when I run or swim, or even more importantly, achieved the endorphin rush. I can see myself still doing short distance and maybe even Olympic distance tri's, but I know the bike really is the big deterrent to doing a half or full http://www.ironman.com/.
I was a complete SLOTH over this Labor Day holiday, eating and drinking, eating and drinking, sleeping, eating more and more....ugh. Today I spent the day reading http://www.facebook.com/ updates, http://www.runnersworld.com/ articles, and learning about the http://www.posetech.com/ running method. One of the facebook updates came from http://www.lululemon.com/ and put out a challenge to go out and set some goals, and even better to take a picture of yourself with a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). And that is what prompted this post. Following is the list of my goals for the next 12 months, well at least 6 months, I will see how far I get at the end of the post with identifying 12 months out. I do plan to write up my BHAG and send it to Lululemon to see if they post it.
1. Sept 30 : I complete all of my outlined daily training plans, which includes strength training, stretching, and resting.
2. October 17: I have a personal best in the Denver Rock N Roll Half Marathon, http://denver.competitor.com/, with a time of 2:38:27. I know this is not super fast, but it is improvement over both of the half marathon times I have put down this season.
3. November 7: I lose 12 pounds from my starting weight from Sept 7, 2010. This loss will also include a 2 percent reduction in body fat.
4. December 30: I finish the year at 100% of quota - $750M while continuing to exercise a minimum of 4xtimes a week.
5. January 15: I learn to snow shoe and have gone 5x times, twice with Riley.
6. February 14 (or thereabouts): I complete my first 5K snowshoe race, the Screaming Snowman, http://www.racingunderground.com/sssnowman.html with Riley.
7. Mid March (date TBD): I compete in the Boulder Spring Half Marathon, http://www.bouldermarathon.com/27.html and improve my time by finishing at 2:35 or faster.
8, 9, 10, not really sure, there will be another marathon in there, with the goal to finish at 5:25, taking 14 minutes off of my time in 2010. I need to decide on a summer race, some place fun that I can bring the family so they can cheer me on and even see me finish!
Just the exercise of writing this post really makes me stop and think about what is possible and not, and again I remember that the only thing holding me back from anything is me.
I should comment that I did do a 50 mile bike ride, http://www.venusdemiles.com/ about two weeks ago. I am glad I did the ride as I learned a lot. I learned that I am just not happy on my bike (specifically out on a road with cars whizzing by me at 60+MPH) in comparison to other forms of exercise. While I can bike fairly efficiently, I never, not even once, relaxed the way I do when I run or swim, or even more importantly, achieved the endorphin rush. I can see myself still doing short distance and maybe even Olympic distance tri's, but I know the bike really is the big deterrent to doing a half or full http://www.ironman.com/.
I was a complete SLOTH over this Labor Day holiday, eating and drinking, eating and drinking, sleeping, eating more and more....ugh. Today I spent the day reading http://www.facebook.com/ updates, http://www.runnersworld.com/ articles, and learning about the http://www.posetech.com/ running method. One of the facebook updates came from http://www.lululemon.com/ and put out a challenge to go out and set some goals, and even better to take a picture of yourself with a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). And that is what prompted this post. Following is the list of my goals for the next 12 months, well at least 6 months, I will see how far I get at the end of the post with identifying 12 months out. I do plan to write up my BHAG and send it to Lululemon to see if they post it.
1. Sept 30 : I complete all of my outlined daily training plans, which includes strength training, stretching, and resting.
2. October 17: I have a personal best in the Denver Rock N Roll Half Marathon, http://denver.competitor.com/, with a time of 2:38:27. I know this is not super fast, but it is improvement over both of the half marathon times I have put down this season.
3. November 7: I lose 12 pounds from my starting weight from Sept 7, 2010. This loss will also include a 2 percent reduction in body fat.
4. December 30: I finish the year at 100% of quota - $750M while continuing to exercise a minimum of 4xtimes a week.
5. January 15: I learn to snow shoe and have gone 5x times, twice with Riley.
6. February 14 (or thereabouts): I complete my first 5K snowshoe race, the Screaming Snowman, http://www.racingunderground.com/sssnowman.html with Riley.
7. Mid March (date TBD): I compete in the Boulder Spring Half Marathon, http://www.bouldermarathon.com/27.html and improve my time by finishing at 2:35 or faster.
8, 9, 10, not really sure, there will be another marathon in there, with the goal to finish at 5:25, taking 14 minutes off of my time in 2010. I need to decide on a summer race, some place fun that I can bring the family so they can cheer me on and even see me finish!
Just the exercise of writing this post really makes me stop and think about what is possible and not, and again I remember that the only thing holding me back from anything is me.
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