OK - so I've been silent for awhile

But now, to my big announcement. I got a tattoo. For real. I can't believe it. It hurt. It's pretty. It's not finished. Ok... bed time :)

Slow & Steady Wins the Race

Annie and I continue to progress with our run:walk intervals. A week ago, we did 10 intervals at 4:1... and then on Friday evening, we ran 5 miles at 4.5:1 intervals. Although, there were a couple of times when we took a 2 minute walk or 1.5 minute walk between - but nevertheless, it felt good to go 5 miles! She and I were discussing how quickly we lose our "in shapedness" when we slack off the running. It's unbelievable to me to think that just a few months ago (ok... so 8 months ago), I ran 13.1 miles - really ran it - I think I only walked about 5 minutes of the 2.5 hours of running... and now, sheeeeeesh. But, I feel like I'm making some really healthy lifestyle choices and thinking of this as being a slow and steady addition to my life that will be lasting.

In addition to running, I have also been riding my bike to work - not every day, but I've done it several times over the past week. It's about 3 miles each way. I admit, I am SLOWWWW. It takes me about 25 min. to ride, so that's like 8 min/mile, which many people RUN faster than that, but I am sure that with time, I will get stronger and faster. I got my gears fixed, which is helping quite a bit, too.

So, with the running and bike riding, I have also decided to make some food lifstyle changes. I am a total carb/sweets junkie and that does not do great things for the scale, which in turn does not do great things for the running. So, I have decided that rather than eat whatever I want (which is what I have been doing), I just need to cut down on the carbs/sweets and try to avoid super fatty foods. In practical terms, what this means is that I'm trying to only eat complex carbohydrates (I'm not counting fruit as a carb), and only one serving per day. To satisfy my appetite for my other meals, I am trying to add a lot more veggies - eating a lot of salad and whatnot. I am not going crazy with it, though. So, I still allow myself some natural fatty foods (e.g. olives, avocado), and I allow myself to eat cheese, although much of the time, I eat part-skim string cheese.

I don't have a clue where our scale is, so I don't know if it's actually making any kind of real difference, but I feel like I'm doing a "healthier" thing for myself, and I like it.

I give myself one "off" day per week, too, on which I don't really have to watch what I eat at all - although I do try to temper myself and not go totally overboard. I am not always successful.

Soooo.... now, if I could only force myself to get a little more sleep... so I'm off to bed.

Two Runs To Discuss

Last Thursday, Annie and I did 10 x 3:1 run:walk intervals. It was easy for Annie. Really easy. For me, not so much. I am needing some more consistency. Fo' sho'. I was pretty sore on Friday, which is upsetting.... but oh well. On Saturday, we went for a short bike ride - about 2.5 miles. Now, it's Monday, and Steve and I took the dogs out for some exercise. I did 5 x 3.5:1 run: walk intervals and Steve rode his bike along side of me with the dogs. I was feeling like I could have gone further, but dinner was finished cooking at that point, so it was time to be done.

Steve actually let T-dawg pull him most of the way so that Trumond was TIRED at the end. It was wonderful. I think maybe we'll go for another run tomorrow.

Now, if we could just end the tick infestation, we'll be all good.

A Run of My Own... sort of.

Yesterday, I came home from work and asked Steve if he wanted to go running with me. He said "no," but that Trumond would really enjoy it and NEEDED it. I thought to myself about the last time I took Mr. T running and how I almost died because he kept trying to trip me up. Since then, though, we bought a harness for him... So, I gave it a try. And lo, and behold, it worked out. not perfectly, but we did 6 intervals of 3.5:1 run:walk minutes. So, he and I ran over 2.5 miles together, with some walking breaks. And he almost broke a doggie sweat. But, he did sleep pretty well!

Maybe I'll take him for another run tomorrow; if the weather isn't too bad.

Weekend of Activity

So, Saturday morning, Annie and I went for a run - another 3:1 run:walk. We were only going to do 10 intervals, but we lost count and did 11. Then, we were a bit too far from where we wanted to be, so we added another interval and did a 12th. I admit that I was sucking wind by the end, but it felt good to run a little more than 3.5 miles, which is unexpected! I think the next step will be 3.5:1 intervals. Maybe we'll do that Tuesday.

Today, Jessica, Joonas, Steve and I went for a bike ride on the Portland Parkway. It was a lot of fun and made me interested in riding my bike more. I think I will try do that - maybe it will strengthen my knee, too.

I hope it doesn't rain too much this week so that I don't lose momentum.

Run last night

Annie and I met at Grant Park and decided to run for 3 minutes, then walk for 1 minute, 10 times. That way, we ended up running 30 minutes and walking 10. It was a GREAT workout and at the end, I felt like I had accomplished something without being totally dead. (This was particular good, given that last week, I couldn't run a full mile without dying!) It's nice because on the interval training like this, we can run a little faster than we normally would. I think we'll keep up this for while, with increasing time running and reducing time walking. I'm thinking of perhaps doing something where during the week, doing 10 intervals, and on Saturday, doing 15 with the same run:walk ratio - then the next week, either increasing run time by 30 seconds, or decreasing walk time by 30 seconds. Then, on a third day in the week, trying to do a short run without breaks (start with 1 mile and maybe increase by 1/2 mile every week). Something like that - not sure exactly yet. My goal is to get to a place where we can walk/run the Butte to Butte on July 4 with maybe running 6-7 min. and walking 1 min. Who knows - maybe by that time, we'll be able to run the whole thing. We'll see. My longer term goal is to be able to run the Scandy fest 10K in mid August with Bronwyn at a 10 min/mile pace.

My even longer term goal is to run, again, the Run Like Hell Half, at the end of October, with my dad.

The only bad news = my left knee is giving me a little bit of grief today - stairs are particularly troublesome. I'm starting to do some strength training for my legs to try and stabilize my knee a bit. This is the knee that has been troublesome since I was in high school (and the reason I can't really drive a manual car on a regular basis - despite my preference for them). Ah well. It will get better. I hope.

Tonight, Steve and I are going to a benefit auction with some friends from church. Should be a good time.

2 x 1

So, in the last 7 days, I have run twice. Twice I tell you. It's a miracle. I went about 1 mile each time. The first was hard and horrible; the second, not so bad! I am going to try to run again tomorrow. We'll see if I make it; I'm so tired.

Trial preparations are ramping back up. I had gotten spoiled with 2-day weekends there for awhile, and this Saturday, when I was sitting in my office, I remembered why the 2-day weekend is so much better! By the time Monday gets there, it seems like it's OK to go back... but with only Sunday off, it's so much harder to go back on Monday.

I took the dogs to the dog park twice this week, also. This makes for tired happy dogs, usually. But on Saturday, Parker was so obsessed with this guy who was throwing a ball (whose own dog was also obsessed)... Parker would run, full speed after the ball. One particularly fateful time, however, he was not paying attention to anything, and neither was the other dog - and they ended up pummeling each other at full speed. Parker flew through the air and did about 800 turns in the air (ok, so I'm not even sure he did any flips, but I think maybe he did). He is still limping around. Poor Parky.

OK.... off to bed.