Life Updates and Other Things

Hey hey hey!

It's been a bit since I've posted last; life has been keeping me pretty busy.  I'm happy to say that I'm well on track to finish up January strong, without missing a day of running.

The biggest challenges I've had now come from Vegas (which holy crap was so much fun.)  Nothing says pushing your limits like having to get out and run a mile while in Vegas and decently hung over.  I imagined the Rocky theme song playing the whole time though and that helped me get through it.  The night we came home was another super low motivation day but it's checked off the list.

Other than that I've been feeling quite good about running recently.  I really should stop waiting until it's like 11:30pm to go though, as that puts a bit of a rush on it.  On the days I've done it at a more normal time I'm really hitting that 'this feels pretty good' stage, so I'm excited to see how that will translate into February once I can add some rest days in and give my bitchy right calf a bit of a break.

Coming up in 5 short days I'll be dropping all soda and energy drinks.  I'm figuring this will probably take out an average of 800-1000 empty calories a day, which hopefully will get me looking all purdy before a planned Hawaii trip in March.

Getting the One Mile down

So it looks like I can consistently complete a single mile in under 10 minutes, which is a nice accomplishment on its own.  I'm still running most of it with some sprinting and some walking mixed in, so if I can get it to a steady and quick pace I'm hoping to get under 9 minutes by the end of the month.

Halfway done with month number one!

Yesterday was my 15th run in a row so I am officially one half of one twelfth of the way done with my year's commitment!

Really though, it felt good.  I have a nasty habit of starting new routines and keeping up with them for a couple days and then letting them fall by the wayside.  This is one of the longest continuous exercise schedules I've kept up and I'm really looking forward to it being a jumpstart back into much more frequent running post January.  I've got to train up for Tough Mudder in July!

Looking forward, I need to figure out what to do for February's 30 days. (Yes, it will bleed two days into March.)  I'm currently leaning heavily toward zero soda or energy drinks; basically making the beginning of 2013 a kick in the pants for getting healthier.

Anyone have suggestions for what else could be exciting?

Slowly working it up (That's what she said)

I'm starting to remember that a lot of the challenge of running is in my head and has to be mentally overcome.  After running with Malia on Sunday and being able to make it for a mile straight without walking it I gained more confidence in my improved abilities.  This translated over to running for a mile and a quarter without walking last night and maintaining a quick for me currently speed of eleven minutes per mile flat.

It's small gains but I can feel myself improving.  Add in that the pants I was having trouble getting into a couple weeks ago are fitting much more nicely and I'm pretty hyped about this.

Running with a buddy gets me motivated :)

Thanks Malia for running with me yesterday!  The shame of looking weak in front of you kept me from walking at all in our first mile;  this is the first time I've jogged that mile straight for probably four to five months at least.

1 Mile Test

I was able to mostly run with a couple short walks to give my shins a break and finished up a mile in 9:30 flat!

1/4 of the way done! (With month 1)

As of last night, I've now run eight days in a row, officially putting me over 1/4 of the way complete with my January challenge.  Woowoo!

It's definitely been a challenging week+, with snowboarding and being sick thrown into the mix.  Sunday has probably been the hardest day so far just because after being up at the snow from 9-3:30, driving two hours back to Fresno and then another two and a half back to Santa Clara all I really wanted to do was fall face first onto my bed and snooze.  Follow that up with two days of 100+ temperatures and it really was not a fantastical start to running...

Regardless, I feel like I'm starting to get back into it a bit more.  My breathing is more controlled and not as much of a block, now I am hitting the point where my shins and calves are the new limiting factor.  I really feel like this thirty days is going to be defined by rotating through assorted body parts grumbling at me.  :P  

I'm going to keep an eye on distances and times over the next week but I think my goal will be to be doing consistent two mile runs at eleven minutes a mile.  Nothing super crazy for speed or length, which is good since I'm not giving my body proper time to really recover and build up new muscles.

(As an aside, this is also now officially the most posts I've written for one blog.  Rest in peace Bad Movie Thursdays, Happy Hour Quest, and Video Game Completion thingy [the last I want to get back to, but after finishing Zelda 1, Halo 4 came out :P ] )

Still sick yesterday

and yup, still sucks.  It was definitely more of a quick shuffle by this point... :P

I'm feeling better today so hopefully can get back to a more normal run.

Running while sick

sucks.

That's pretty much all.

Life tries to interfere

So today, for the first time in about two years, I got out and went snowboarding. For anyone who knew me a couple years ago, the hiccup in my previous 'boarding plans was brought about by fracturing my T7 vertebrae; it kind of puts a damper on a lot of things...

Anyway, cold but gorgeous day, spent it with some great people, and other than a bit of getting lost and having to trudge through powder for an hour it was a fantastic day. Hurray for no injuries!

We went to China Peak, left a little after 4, and then grabbed dinner on the way home at Shaver Pizza. (Amazing pizza by the way, check it out.) Got back to Fresno around 7 and then back to Santa Clara around 10:30. By the time everything was unpacked and hung up to dry it was past 11 and my motivation was about zero. I reeeaaaallllyyy wanted to just count the hour of powder trudging for the day and pass out but somehow rallied and got my battered body out for an admittedly very short run of 1.1 miles.

Here's hoping that was the worst I have to deal with. :)

Maybe not the best plan...

Heading snowboarding at 7am tomorrow and due to a busy day I waited until 11pm to get today's run in.

On the plus side I think I'm starting to work through the grouchy shins and have been needing to take walk breaks less and less. :)

Day 3 - 2 miles

Ouchy :(

Halfway through I was feeling good and decided to stretch it out a bit. My ankles now regret that. :p

Kicking off 30 in 2013

So here I am, 30.

The first Thursday of each month my company has our infrastructure meeting;  we go over how things have been, clients, business, etc etc.  Today we branched out and did something a bit different toward the end and watched a couple of TED videos.

For any of you not in the know, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is, as they put it, "a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. The two annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Edinburgh, Scotland, bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less)."  We watched this video here, and it got me to thinking.

I normally suck with New Years resolutions;  I'll stick with them for a bit and then futz out after a month or two.  This 30 days thing got me thinking about it in a different way.  (Credit where credit is due, Malia mentioned doing this last year and getting through about half of it, so the idea was bouncing around already.)

Anyway, moral of the story is, for the duration of 2013, I'm going to commit to one life change or new thing 12 times for 30 days at a time.

Starting yesterday, January 2nd, I'm running every day for the rest of January.  I'm currently two days in and have made it only about 1.33 miles per day so far as I hadn't run for probably a month and a half before that and apparently being 30 has caught up with me a bit.  The big test will see  how climbing stairs at Delivery Agent goes tomorrow.