I've been asked a few times how to get back into running after a hiatus.


Well since I'm in the same boat...here are my thoughts:


#1: Start slow


Ugh I dread the thought of having to break in my running shoes again. This last hiatus left me with a killer blister after my first long run.


#2: Unless you're super human, or Chuck Norris, you're probably going to have to work back up to your endurance, mileage, & speed levels...don't get discouraged.




#3: Figure out your motivation - it will be what drives your runs



Other related questions....

I get bored so quickly now. I run past 5 houses & then I want to stop!

Are you utilizing an ipod or are trying to really soley on your thoughts to motivate you? I have to run with something...when left to my own thoughts I quit within 5 minutes.

Get music here that is paced to your minutes per mile.
Get workouts here that you can use to run with - they also have swimming, elliptical, and various others.
Get a workout buddy if you need the extra push & accountability.

What about losing these pounds that I've gained since taking a break from exercising?

Be aware of your calories in / calories out. If you're consuming more than you're burning...that will be the culprit of any weight gain.

When you weren't being active, chances are good you were still eating like you were.

If you're able to, record what you eat, the calories that you consume, and the calories that you expend. There should be a deficit....if you want to lose weight.

Most importantly, remember that the number on the scale is contingent upon numerous variables at any given point. Don't let your self worth, self image, or attitude rest heavily on the number the scale shows. 

If you focus on any number, focus on your body fat percentage. But use a reliable method to obtain your body fat percentage...like body fat calipers.  

Yesterday I logged 4 miles!

Again, just focusing on the mileage, not the speed...because it definitely took me 2 episodes of FRIENDS.

It's always sad when a wedding is called off....no? Well I think it's sad...Matty normally cheers when there is one less wedding on the calendar.

Whatevs.

Alas though, Hugh is back on the market.

The wedding was called off. It was set for this Saturday...300 guests.



Poor Hef. I can't imagine having to deal with that mess.

Should have stuck with Holly....

I never knew all the words to that BareNaked Ladies song...

Today I ran. Not hard, not fast, not far...but I ran lightly jogged.

It was kinda ironic: I started at 10:00pace, got to 1.5mph, then Dr.Matt called to tell me "take it easy". Bleh. I dropped the speed & my pace went to 11...and then I played with the incline for a bit.

So I jogged, walked, inclined, a total of 4 miles.

I'm almost back.

Oh, and it's attempt #2 for the dentist tomorrow morning.

Kinda reminds me of the FRIENDS episode where Phoebe won't go to the dentist, because every time she goes "someone dies". ( Here's the video )

Hopefully that won't be the case here: going to the dentist causes car wrecks.

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Okay so Dr.Matt just so nicely pointed out that I laugh at the dumbest things.

Case & point: I took 1 bite of a slice of leftover pizza, put it back in the box, in the fridge for him to find as soon as he got home from work.

Which reminded me of this other incident...



Preface: I had a bad experience with Chinese take out, and did not eat it for 4 years. During that time I only ate Chinese food that my friend Nickie's mom made. Literally.

nickie & me

So when Nickie encouraged me to "give it another shot", Matt was ALL ABOUT IT (since he lived off of it pre-marriage). So we did.

Matt arrives home with a bag of Chinese take out. Matt leaves it on kitchen counter, then goes to bedroom to change. I'm sitting near kitchen & can smell it. I sneak into kitchen, pilfer through the bag, locate a spring roll, take a bite, put it back in the wrapper & put it back in the bag; then I exit the kitchen. Matt returns from the bedroom...
Matt: ready to eat?
Me: bleh, I suppose...
Matt then empties the contents of the bag & puts my portions in front of me. (Which include an un-eaten spring roll - he unknowingly takes the one I bit into. It's still in the wrapper.)

Fast forward to after dinner...
Matt: well? did you like it?
Me: i prefer Nickie's mom's, but i guess it will do
Matt: great! i didn't want to tell you, because i know you probably would have freaked out; but someone took a bite out of my spring roll!
Me: why didn't you tell me!?
Matt: because i thought then you'd definitely never have Chinese food ever again
Me: but you ate it!?!?
Matt: well yeah! i just ate the other end...not the part that was bitten off of!
Me: laughing hysterically it was me.

It doesn't take much to make me laugh.

Please tell me you laugh at dumb things. Or at least at yourself?

Have you ever had a "bad experience" with take-out?

What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?

Mine was none other than...

Gone are the days are of lazy morning Saturdays, watching cartoons & then Saved By the Bell.

I could sleep in on Saturdays if: I wasn't training for a half, if Dexter would let me, and if I didn't eat a lot the night before.

Last night we met up with our good friends Emily & Casey for some dinner at Ballyhoo's!

We started off with a mile high pile of nachos - delish!! And then I ordered their seared tuna salad - which they might as well have just brought me a plate of spinach, tuna, and wonton strips. By the end of the meal I was just picking off the wonton strips garnish to eat. Leaving behind the carrots & water chestnuts.

Since we were right by a mall, we swung by there so I could pick up a baby shower gift, left a car there, and carpooled to get some froyo!!!!

I had gone in to the evening with the expectation of getting froyo...mainly because I had never had it & the part of town where Matt "the Situation" & I live has diddly squat.

I was really excited when Emily found this place:

appropriately named

And then it had to be weighed.
womp, womp.



I tried to stay conservative with the toppings since it had to be weighed. I didn't want Matty having a 'situation' at the counter & exploding about the weight of my froyo.

That just wouldn't be nice.



Since FroYo was having a 2 person concert inside we opted to eat in the car. Hotel California & Killing Me Softly just shouldn't be sung unless you're at a Chinese restaurant that has karoake, in Italy. (Am I the only one that's done that?)

Needless to say, when the lady was singing Killing Me Softly we got our Fugees on & said "one time" & "two time" when needed. 

Yes we can be obnoxious. 

              Some shots of us getting our froyo on in da Honda:

pretty Em!

you can't have him. he's mine.

caseface & the garbage...i didn't act fast enough to get him with his froyo

Since we had left our car at the mall, Emily & Casey drove us to pick it up...and naturally Matt had a "situation" and found a stroller / cart / buggy thing.

the epitome of ridin' dirty

Casey encouraging the delinquancy of...Matt

thumbs up - he found the best parking spot. again, he's mine, try not to be jealous. 

Training Run Recap:
Saturday - 8 miles, 10:10 pace
Monday - 5 miles, 10:00 pace

Ha, I'm totally killing the 10 minute pace that the plan is telling me to stick to! Actually it's supposed to be 10:30 pace, but whatevs. It just seems like I should be running faster.

My Physique57 goods arrived today!

Super excited to try out those workouts.

My goal is to look like Kelly Ripa in 30 days....

Don't worry...I understand the fundamentals of "realistic goal setting".

Try any new workouts lately?

In case you missed it, this past weekend was Matty's 29th birthday.




Those gift bags are "HIS" gift bags. Literally, when I bought them (a pack of 12, have you) he said "these are mine", "my gifts go in them". Ha, I remember using 1 as a gift bag for someone else & when he saw it, he instantly corrected me on my error.

I LOVE giving gifts. I think giving gifts is my love language.

Gary Chapman has a book called the 5 Love Languages - where you can learn which language most makes you feel loved & the one that you most often use to show love to someone.
There's a quiz that you can take to discover which love language makes you feel loved, here.
So like I said, I show love by giving gifts, but I feel loved through words of affirmation.

Pretty much I need you to tell me the extent of my awesomeness in order for me to understand that you do love me.
Just kidding.

Do you ever take online personality assessments?

Yesterday's run...was dreadful.

It was a 'mile repeats' run: 1 mile warmup, 1 mile @ 8:25, .5 mile recovery, 1 mile @ 8:25, .5 mile recovery, & 1 mile cooldown.

Here's what actually took place:
1 mile warmup
.75 mile @ 7.2mph - - > look at ipod to check my pace & see that it's reading "10:00/mile"....I then start cursing the day it was created.
Hop off treadmill to get other ipod...oh, yes, I DO have a dark cloud over my head...the other ipod is DEAD.
Back on treadmill for .5 mile recovery while trying to correct the ipod's calibration.
.5 mile @ 7.2mph - - -> super frustrated that I can't get an exact judge on my pace.
1.5 miles @ 6mph - - > which my ipod interprets as 11:34/mile

Needless to say, I want to get all Office Space on my ipod & destroy it with a baseball bat.

We'll see how today's "easy run" goes.

I love how Dexter looks at me when I start yelling at the ipod nano.
You have the option of using a kettleball or a dumbbell. I chose to use my new 5lb kettleball. I think 8lbs would have been better for me, but whatevs.

I did Level 1. Both Level 1 & 2 are 30 minute circuits (25 minutes of hard work, 5 minutes of warmup / cooldown).

It's circuit training but with bursts of cardio. Plus the weight training moves are pretty explosive...meaning it's not just a bicep curl or overhead press, you're literally swinging that kettleball around.

The house made it out alive after the workout. I feared a bit for the television at times, but alas, I gripped that kettleball like there was no tomorrow.

I'm interested to see how much more advanced Level 2 is.

Have you tried this dvd before? Or do you ever incorporate kettleballs?

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So, have you heard about the summit?

Is anyone planning to attend????

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I fell asleep during Modern Family last night...which led to me sleeping through Cougar Town.

I hate when that happens.

Yesterday was my tempo run:
1 mile warmup, 10:00 pace
3 miles, 8:54 pace
1 mile cooldown, 10:00 pace

I felt absolutely craptastic afterwards.

Does that ever happen to you?

I ate plenty throughout the day. At 3pm (ish) I had a Luna Bar, and then I ran at 4:45pm. By that time I had about 1 liter of water to drink (drank that throughout the course of my work day)...a little less than where I'm normally at, at that time of the day.

Immediately after my run, I felt fine. Great actually! I stretched for 10 minutes, and that's when the crud-factor set in.

I was exhausted & just wanted to sleep. By the time Matt got home I had developed chills & was ridiculously lightheaded. Once I showered & had milk, I started to feel better. So it could have been a "refueling" issue, & I just didn't do it quick enough?

I didn't do anything different than I normally do yesterday - except that it was my first tempo run. Normally I would just try & run all 5 miles at my goal pace or faster, without the mile warmup/cooldown.

hmmm, maybe I'm going about this all the wrong way?

Today I'm supposed to run 4 miles at an "easy pace". I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm not even worried about feeling cruddy after.

Do you ever experience anything like that? Have you been able to narrow it down to certain causes?

We had our Mexican meal 2 nights ago, or else I'd definitely be noshing on something Mexican themed for dinner. I made something on the lines of an open faced quesadilla bake?

I really don't know what to call it, but it was good.
Cooked 2 chopped up chicken breasts with rosemary/garlic, and 2 tsp EVOO
Heated up some black beans on the stove while the chicken was cooking
Once everything was heated/cooked, I layered all my ingredients in a pan like this:
Baked it for 5 minutes at 400*, then another 5 minutes at 350*

I consider it a good meal when:
1. Matteo goes back for seconds
2. Matteo asks "is there enough left for lunch?" as opposed to "you'll eat this for lunch tomorrow, right?" (the second question pretty much implies, "it's on you babe to finish this hot mess or toss it")
3. Matteo says "this has good flavor" (he says that I'm hard-to-please, but he's just as hard-to-please when it comes to food)
4. Matteo doesn't eat a bowl of cereal right after dinner or at any other point that evening

So, if you're going Mexican tonight in honor of the festivities, here are some helpful tips:
**Guacamole ~ even though avocados are a great source of good fat, they still have to be consumed in moderation. Don't eat all the guac! (preaching to myself here)
**Chips ~ if you can't skip them, be modest & pick a number in your head of how many you'll eat. Stick to that number (like 12, 14...not 50)
**Watch out for the taquitos / flautas / chimichangas, since they tend to be deep fried
**If you're a sucker for sour cream (like me), try using Greek yogurt instead
**Try sticking to black beans as a side item & skip the rice, especially if you're craving chips

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I opted to take a rest day yesterday rather than do any circuit trainings. So instead, Matteo & I went up to Dick's Sporting Goods, Ross, & TJ Maxx.

I don't know what it is, but the fishing section of Dick's Sporting Goods, really makes me want to take a nap.

Anyone else?

Matteo picked out more fishing lures...(as if he needs more)

I did my "easy run" yesterday - 4 miles at a 10:15 pace. (I was supposed to do them at a 10:30 pace, but I'm a nar nar & couldn't quite nail down that pace.)

I really, really, REALLY appreciate all your input from yesterday on the half's. Surprisingly, I'm leaning more towards the Wine & Dine...I think I would be okay with it being at night. I've been doing 90% of my runs in the evening, so hopefully I'll be okay.

The only thing I'm a wee bit worried about: my bedtime.

I am normally out cold by 10pm. (If not before...I've been known to narc out at 7pm)

Hopefully I won't be the ding dong that falls asleep at the 5 mile marker. (You'll know where to find me, Matt, if I never cross the finish line!)

Per your suggestion, I checked out the OUC half...& the only thing with that is, it's scheduled 1 week before the inaugural Rock n Roll half in Miami.

I'm not Skinny Runner who can bust out 2 fulls in the same weekend...I have to choose, one or the other...& this is only halfs! It really stinks, because the Rock n Roll half in Vegas is also 1 week before the Miami one...and that one would be A-MAZ-ING

Have you ever run a Rock n Roll half or full?

My next "planned" run, according to this training plan is tomorrow. I'm inner battling right now because I really need to do some strength training today, but I also really need a manicure. My cuticles are all kinds of jacked.

Oh the turmoil.

Do you use certain training plans for races?

The one I'm using is one I found in Runner's World mag a few months back.

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I have to do it...

Dancing With the Stars results were last night...


I liked Kendra ~ I was sorry to see her go.

But I'm super glad that these cool cats are still on...


I really have no clue who Chelsea is, except that she's an actress & she was on a Disney show (according to articles). 

Sorry, I don't really venture away from the ABC channel...they currently have all my favorites (with the exception of Criminal Minds).

Either way, her & Mark are such an awesome duo.

I'm a misinformed ding dong. As I mentioned before, I thought this race was starting at 4/27/11 at 4pm EST....um no, that would be 4pm PST.

womp, womp

So naturally, I started getting really aggravated when I synced my run & it didn't automatically apply. And then I saw the time difference...


Naturally, I have a dark cloud that looms over my head & my run still didn't appear. So today, I re-ran the 10K.

This was my first 10K...I'm super proud to have finally done something other than a 5K....even though this was only a virtual 10K. And hey, I ran it twice!

Prior to the race, the organizers sent out a "challenge" email associated with the race. Challenging me & others in my area / region, to run the race in the shape of the letter "R". I opted to not partake in the challenge for a few reasons:

1. I could not get Nike+ website to cooperate when I was trying to use the map feature
2. In order to start at my house & run the required distance in the shape of the letter "R" is impossible. The letter "S" however IS possible...& I didn't want to be the only tard monkey running an "S" route.
3. Mattpew had meetings today, which meant he couldn't stay & work from home = Dexter in his crate for 8 hours. I felt guilty coming home, letting him out, and then crating him again so I could leave & run an "R".

I had a great supporter....


The race route entertainment was superb....


I didn't get anxious over the issue of "will there be port-o-lets or not??"...because I had one right down the hall...

And I even got some well wishes from Mr. Bass on my way out of the potty...

I ran this race without receiving a finisher's medal. That right there is a big deal folks.

Does anyone else have issues with their ipod?
I just synced my run for today....4.56 miles & went to review my mileage for the month. It only logged today's run for this week.

FRUSTRATING

I ran 2.4 yesterday, & it's not showing up.

It could be operator error...but honestly, it's the same routine after every run.

I just hope it doesn't do this tomorrow. I have the 10K...


Yes I have until 4pm on April 28th to sync it...but I only have a small window of time where I'm able to run.

Is anyone else planning to run this event?

Speaking of - my shirt arrived...

Cute!!!
And if you're in the market for new running tops - these Nike tops are great. Super comfortable & great fabric.

I'm off to entertain Dexter until Matteo arrives home from work.
I have a weird hankering for sweet potato - - - dinner is planned!

Do you ever get weird cravings after a workout?
I always crave milk after a long run.

Saturday's post that I was too exhausted to post on Saturday:
7 miles on TM

My MIL & I threw a baby shower today for my SIL, Jen!! It was such a sweet time, and she got some great goodies for little Garrett.

And I learned a fun fact! (No, not how babies are conceived...I know the stork brings them!)

BUT that, every daughter / granddaughter that my MIL has, has the middle name "Nicole"! How crazy is that!? There's 1 daughter, 2 daughter-in-laws, and 1 granddaughter. So pretty much Matt's single brother will know he met "the one" if her middle name is Nicole. (Jarrod take note!) I'm just the odd ball that goes by their middle name.

So back to the shower...I used my decorations as gifts to Jen. Aren't I practical?

Here's her clothesline for baby Garrett: