Monday, September 22, 2008

Healthy Energy


I signed up for a free 2 week trial of FRS Healthy Energy. I'm trying to get away from the diet Rock Star I've been drinking the last couple of weeks. This, after a hallucinogenic dream involving Las Vegas, Susan Sarandon and hermaphrodites. I'd rather not get into it. Let's just say the therapist has been called.




In my pack, I received:
30 lemon-lime chews
14 packets of powdered drink mix, diet orange flavored, 10 calories 2 g carbs
1 can FRS peach mango drink
10 oz concentrate drink, enough for 5 drinks.



I've been using the concentrate and yesterday tried the chews on my run.

So far, I haven't sensed the energy from using the concentrate, but it may be due to my giving blood on Saturday.

During my 8 mile run, I tried the chews. My pace was slower than usual, but again I attribute that to the blood donation and the heat. The chews however, were much better than the Clif Bar Shot Bloks I usually take on my long runs.

The taste was bearable and the texture much better than the gummy chew which I remember almost choking on during an 18-miler last year. The Clif Bloks remind me of the gel candies that were recalled back in 2002 because 6 children died from choking on them. Also, the FRS chews are 60 calories less per serving than the Clif Bloks.

Anyway, what is up with Clif bar misspelling everything? Is that supposed to be cool and cutting edge?

I've still got 10 days left in the trial before they start sending auto-shipments. I might just have them ship the chews and some drinks for the first month then cancel. That should be enough to last me through training.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

500 Kilometer Mark

After this morning's 4.5 mile run, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Paula Radcliffe talk to me. "Congratulations! You have reached 500 Kilometers."

Wow! 500! I love my Nike+ pedometer!

This is my second pedometer, so the 500K doesn't include the 64 miles on my first sensor. Yup, the first one only lasted me less than two months. Apparently, some battery issue Nike needs to fix, but they were nice enough to send me a new one, that so far has lasted 7 months.

This means my tennis shoes have well over 300 miles on them. I think it's time to get a new pair.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Back On Track

After this morning's 7 miler, I'm only 1.6 miles shy of getting back on track to meet this month's goal of 60 miles. With the weather cooling off, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do this no problem.

I don't think I've run over 7 miles since my last nike+ sensor, so I was treated with Lance Armstrongs voice after my run. Lance said "Congratulations! You've just completed your longest run."

Woohoo! I'm sure I'll be hearing that a lot now because training looks like I'll continue to add distance each week.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Still behind...

Just as I suspected. I wasn't able to run until Friday when I did 5 miles. I was hoping to get some more running in this morning, but I had to catch up on sleep. As I've said in the past, I have a hard time sleeping when he's out of town. I remember opening my eyes long enough to see the clock telling me it was 6:00 AM. And for a fleeting moment, I thought about dragging myself out of bed. Instead, I closed my eyes and didn't open them again until 8:30.

Sleep. So nice. Working out is good, but getting enough rest is just as important. So, I'm don't feel bad about that at all.

I'm behind about 4.5 miles on my September goal, but I can catch up to that no problem.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A moment of weakness

Yesterday, I had a moment of weakness. I woke up at 6 AM, looked at the 87 degree temperature on Yahoo weather laughing at my face, and I broke down. I said "No Way! I'm not running in these conditions anymore. I'm sick and tired of it!"

But later that morning, I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt like such a wimp. Maybe it was my own little sadistic way of punishing myself, but I ran. The sun was already up, so it was probably even hotter than 87. See, that's what I get for wimping out earlier.

Today, I've learned my lesson. I'm up at 5:30 waiting for just a little more light. It's 81 degrees. My husband will be leaving for the airport in just 90 minutes, so this is my chance. I may not be able to run again until Friday.

Monday, September 8, 2008

So over it!

It's 87 degrees at 6:00 AM. I am officially tired of training in this weather. The sun's not up and it's still 87 degrees with a humidity of 30%. I know we've probably got a month of this weather left, but I'm not going to take it anymore.

I found my little city fitness center for $2 a day. So what if there's only 3 treadmills and they ladies on it don't follow the "30 minute limit" rule. I'll use the elliptical, I'm not picky. I'm just sick and tired of running in this heat.

Hahaha! Wait, just 3 months from now, I'll be begging the heat again.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Falling Behind

Two days behind on my training now. Yuck.

Things get so crazy when my husband travels. I can't sleep. Last night I finally made it upstairs to bed at 1:30 AM. Only 5 hours of sleep. Am starting to invest in RockStar.

No way I can run today. Work, kids, no sitter.

He'll be home tomorrow afternoon, then I leave at 5 for San Francisco, so tomorrow's looking bleak, too. I've got to find the time somehow.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Training Hurdles

I don't know how I'm going to train this week. My husband is out of town. My oldest son, who I can usually get to watch the 4 year old is away in college. And I've got a trip to San Francisco scheduled Thursday - Saturday.

I'm on week 6 of my half marathon training from Hal Higdon's site and I'm supposed to run 4 miles today. There's no way I can make it into the gym, it's my daughter's first volleyball game, and it's an away game...far away.

I hate falling behind.

Now that the Human Race is over, I'm now training for the Nike Women's Half Marathon on October 19th. Then, after the half marathon is done, I'm going to transition into Week 6 of Hal Higdon's Novice II Marathon training program.



I love the Nike Women's Marathon tagline. Also, anyone who registers and runs gets a special Tiffany key chain. Love it! Of course, I won't be running in San Francisco. Since I'm using Nike+, I can run the race anywhere I want. I'll probably run the Scottsdale Greenbelt and Arizona Canal, from Shea to Chapparal Rd. It's a beautiful run, through lakes and golf courses. And by late October, the weather should be perfect.

Now if only I could find the time to train for it.

Monday, September 1, 2008

September Goal

Human Race Training Review

I didn't actually start recording my 10K training until 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately, these last two weeks of training coincided with a few personal obligations that may have interfered:
Son moving in to ASU dorms and starting school 8/21 - 8/23
Youngest son's 5th birthday 8/23
Family trip to Las Vegas 8/24 to 8/26
Prepping house for Fantasy Football Draft on 8/30

I was scheduled to run 36 miles and only ran 29 these last two weeks. I was short 7 miles in my training.
I guess that's fine considering how busy I was.

And I did hit my goal for the month of August!