Pity Party

Please join me if you please as my mind is back at week 1.

Things that made my run/walk tough today...

• Its been at least a week since my last run
• I have been sick from jet lag and something I must have caught on the plane
• For the last 3 days I have only been laying and standing as I can not sit in a chair due to a pinched sciatica nerve (self diagnosed) I think I did it on my 24 hours of siting while flying
• I have only eaten Yogurt and Soup for the past 2 days and the cream of broccoli cheese soup that I kept burping up and forcing not to puke wasn't helping anything
• Its 96 degrees and when there was shade it covered all of my body except my head and the sun would shine into my sunglasses
• A wasp landed on my lip, I hit it off and stepped on it all while running
• I had the wrong socks on (Karyn was right- socks do matter) and my balls of my feet burn
• My feet fell asleep
• My water bottle was gone before the first 30 minutes was over
• My water bottle fanny pack thingy rubbed a raw spot on my stomach
• Its Halloween

But lets look at the positives

• I did go out today
• I ran for the first 25 minutes without stopping
• I only allowed myself to walk a minute at a time and then made myself run then walk then run then walk
• Im proud to post 53:32 mins and 534 Kcals burned

Tomorrow is suppose to be a rest day but I am going to ride my bike to keep my blood moving and to get my mind back into liking to work out again.

Lisa G is NOT Running

With the Jet Lag, not sleeping and my body not knowing what is going on, I am taking yet another rest day. Ugh! This is the worst round of Jet Lag yet, the nausea is killing me and not letting me sit up for a long time without having to lay back down.

It is said that working out helps with the Jet Lag, but first you have to muster up the energy to do that and to be honest I do not have any muster in me.

I will start again hopefully tomorrow. I'm also hoping it won't send me back a week in training. I am going to stick with the plan as is and run the 110 minutes this weekend at some point or at least try and see how far I get.

I have a lot of Halloween parties to be part of this weekend too but I am thinking if I drink a little bit, it will help me to sleep and then I can start the Lisa G is running again.

I will keep you posted and Have a Happy Halloween!

Massage turned into a 5K run

Greetings from Jakarta.
I decided to take the last 2 days off of training only because my body was and is on the verge of telling me to f- off. 
With that I decided I would treat myself to a $24 1hour reflexology spa Massage. (yes that cheap- everything is cheap even in a 5 star hotel with non-potable water) Well when I called the spa, they didnt speak english so I thought I made an appointment for 8:15am. When I got down there I found out they opened at 9am and I didnt have an appointment after all.

I have 2 golden rules when on a trip for work (aka running the events)
1. Dont eat shrimp- I have had many planners down after eating shrimp the night before the event at the hotel- so I will not eat it!
2. Dont go for a spa appointment because everyone seems to have a radar and tries to contact you the entire hour you are trying to relax.
This was probably God's way of having me stick to golden rule #2.

Anyway, after trying to speak english to the non-speaking english spa attendant, I decided to forgo the massage and go for a run in what they call a fitness room. First I had to walk past 2 naked Asian men as the men's locker room was wide open and after I came down from that shock I found my way to the ancient treadmill.
I couldnt figure out the treadmill and I saw the button 5K so I pushed that and ran for 38:16, 466 Kcals burned. So realistically I did a 5K in 38Mins. Yay me!

I did not bring water with me and below is what they offered for the thirsty worker outters. Based on the fact that in our hotel rooms in the shower and above the sink it clearly states Non Potable Water- Do Not Drink Water it even has a cup and faucet with a universal red circle with a line in the middle so I am sure this water cooler was not reversed osmosis OR purified.  I took my chances on possibly dying from dehydration.

I am off to Singapore the country closest to American Culture, food and safety. I will run again tomorrow!

PS the guy in the room next to me is smoking and its seeping into my room BARF!!!

Running in Manila

Greetings from across the world.

As promised, I am continuing with my training (be proud).
I thought running period while traveling would be a challenge and that running on a treadmill would be even tougher, but when you get a good nights rest and have a view like this... it makes it very easy to be motivated and day dream OR in my case look for sea creatures to appear- didnt see any!

Yesterday I ran for 40mins, I would have stats but I didnt realize the machine only let me go for 30mins at a time and it was in Kilometers. So I am assuming I ran for about 3 miles. Yay me!

Today I needed to run 60 mins. I went down to the gym fighting it all the way and having my mind game until I saw a Marketing Executive from our company on the treadmill and I went right next to her to show her who runs. I forgot she doesn't wear deoderant and once I got passed the normal hotel smell of fish and waste burning plus the B.O, I was on my way and the time really flew by.

I also I figured out that I could change the Kilometers to Miles on the treadmill. I also brought my blackberry so after the first 30 mins I entered my stats into my phone and then again after the last 30 mins. Therefore; I am proud to report I ran for 60 mins- 4.64 Miles (12:49 mile) and burned 553 calories. Not too shabby.

Tomorrow is an early morning and the gym will not be open at 4am. There is no way in hell I am running on the streets of Manila- I can see the headlines now- American girl killed in Manila while training for the Phoenix 1/2 Marathon.

I will take my well deserved rest day tomorrow and pick it back up in Jakarta- hopefully the view from the gym will be as nice!

Group Runs are Fun

Saturday I found the courage to go meet my cousin at Sole Sports at 6am for a group run. She wanted to run 12 miles and said she would run with my for my 25mins and take off with the group.

I arrived at 5:55am and there were about 30 people already there. I sat in the car for a second because I was worried about bringing my fanny pack water thingy but I noticed a few people who were getting out of their cars with theres and immediately felt good about bringing mine and relieved at the same time. If I didnt have my water bottle full of Heed I probably wouldnt make it.

I got out of the car hoping to see Barb and I kind of hid out observing all of the people. They ranged from young to old to fit to not so fit to tired to super enthusiastic stretching guys. I found it pretty cool that the store was open and they provided water jugs for us to fill our bottles, allowed anyone to keep their keys etc at the counter and they have showers for anyone to use free of charge.

I waited for a few minutes and there she was- My cousin Barb.. I saw her and said "surprise" we both said we didnt sleep the night before because if we have something going on in the morning, we cant fall asleep.

Anyway we didnt have time to chit chat as a guy announced that they were leaving so Barb put her keys at the counter and we were off. We started running and the group went ahead but I think I was going at a good pace because I was hurting right away. That hurt soon passed as we reached the canal and began running on the trails. We talked, well Barb talked more because I cant do both yet and the time really went by fast.

We hit the 25min mark and ran a few more to get to a place I could turn around AND to my surprise Barb said she would run back with me the 25min and then turn around again and finish off her 12mile run by herself.
That was so sweet and nice, I think she secretly knew I would have walked if she didnt go with me and she was right! BUT as I turned the corner, I continued to run without my huge supporter. I will admit, I did stop and walked a little until some of the people from the group started passing me and I couldn't allow that.

So I am proud to say I ran 57min- 512Kcals and approx 4.9 miles with a group!

I will agree the group runs are much easier and will probalby do them every saturday from here on out because when I went today it was a total mind game again, but I was able to log 42:11 and 440Kcals burned.
Im assuming I did not do an 11min mile so I only probably ran 3 or so miles. Still good in my mind

Tomorrow I leave for Asia for 12 days. I do have my schedule all mapped out and ready to follow. It will all depend on the Jet lag, schedule of events and how I feel. -Wish me luck!

I will keep you posted!

Its the Carbs!

In a previous post I indicated I had gained 7lbs. I thought I was losing my mind and there was something seriously wrong with me. So I went to the drs asking what was wrong as I am following Weight Watchers and running 4 days a week and am gaining weight.

When I told her about everything she said it might be the carbs and that a lot of people who join weight watchers gain weight because they eat what they want as long as its within the points range and a lot of what we eat are carbs. She wanted to rule out everything and after a battery of tests, it ends up Im perfectly healthy (I was going to say normal, but thats not true haha) and that it must have been the carbs. She advised me to follow the South Beach diet- not to an extreme but to cut out a lot of my carbs and I should see a difference.

And wouldnt you know it, 3 days of very limited carbs I am back down 6lbs to my starting weight.. Hopefully if I continue the running and low carb diet, I will be at my high school weight. What? One can dream...

Tomorrow is a 50 min run and I am attempting to run with a group at 6am... very scary!

I know I can.. but my mind isnt ready today.

Yesterday I met my cousin at Pecos park at 6:45am. This used to be the park that we would do boot camp at 5:30am in the freezing desert winters. Once that was over we used to meet there by ourselves and run/walk until a creepy homeless guy was there watching us and then we stopped going all together.

Anyway yesterday we RAN and talked the entire time 42:11 to be exact and 512Kcals burned. I did it again and proved that I CAN run but always liked the excuse of I can't so I didn't have to. I was so excited that I almost made the next step and committed to a group run on Saturday.. Still thinking about it! Not sure why I am so afraid of the group.

Well today my mind was not there at all AND it was a Bike ride..UGH what is happening. I'm also very sore - my legs and my left knee hurt so bad. Plus I'm exhausted I think from working out this much. OH and to top it off I had to ride on the trainer because I had an early meeting and it was too dark to ride outside this morning. But after all those perfectly pathetic excuses I have to say I managed to struggle through 35:48 mins 302Kcall burned (should have been 45-60) on my bike, on the trainer, in the living room, fighting every ache, bad song, mind stopping tactics and boredom.

At least I did something and will NOT get discouraged!
Tomorrow is a rest day and then Saturday- to run with the group or not, that is my question to myself...

We will just have to wait and see!

Great Job Verdak

I always refer to myself by my maiden name when I pat myself on the back or do something good.

And today I should get 2 Verdaks because I ran 37:07mins 340Kcals without stopping- ok I did stop but only to wait for the cars to cross the street.

Not sure what made my brain let me run the entire time but here are some things that may have helped.

New Shoes- we went to Road Runner Sports on Sunday and I was properly fitted for running shoes. I was not too impressed with the service or the recommendation because they did all of this stuff like having me run on a treadmill, measure my feet, mold an insert custom to my foot and then after a 1/2 hour all they recommended was that I am a neutral foot and to pick any shoe from the neutral row. I thought for sure they would say you need this brand/style/color (haha) shoe for you.. I guess they can't be brand specific.. ANYWAY, with my new kicks Brooks Ghost size 10- I was able to run the entire 37mins

Peer Pressure- Tuesdays are Andys group bike ride and as I was running (yes running) along I saw a group of bikers at the stop light.. So I was trying to run and look to see if Andy was in that group. I must have been smiling ear to ear because they all started waving at me and I waved back, but didn't see Andy. I also happened to be on the same route as the bikers and if they were Andys friends I had to keep running so they wouldnt report back to him that they saw his wife walking this morning.

Heed Sports Drink- I had a brilliant idea the other night, why not try Heed while I run to help me through it. I use it to get me to ride ungodly miles on my bike, it has to work for a runner too.. Well I filled my water bottle up with that and it actually helped too.

So I am happy to say it was a great RUNNING (not walking) day!

Spreading the Word

Yesterday we walked the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure (5K) with about 20 people from work in support of a girl from our marketing department- Heather (age 26). She was diagnosed with Cancer about 3 weeks ago, since then she has had a double mastectomy and learned it has spread into 26 of her lymph nodes.  She starts chemo today and an aggressive radiation schedule soon. So we all went out and walked with and for her. (shes in our prayers everyday). It took us 1:28mins and 294Kcals burned AND yes I used it for my Sunday training.

Before the race, I met a friend Heidi at Starbucks and we drove in together, I told her I was training for the PF Changs 1/2 Marathon and the more I talked about it, the more I convinced her to sign up with me. Then when we got to the Race and started walking, my co-worker Amy told our CEO that I was training and he too wanted to do it, then he told another co-worker that was with us, Luke, and he is going to train for it too.and so on and so on... 
By the time we finished, the majority of my co-workers that came out to this walk, are now training and wanting to run the PF Change's 1/2. We are going to make a company team, order running shirts, start a training program for it at work and send a note out to everyone who would like to participate to sign up! (we are even trying to get the $115 entry fee expensed)

Well there is only one small issue with everyone training and running on January 16th 2011.  The entire company will be in Las Vegas that weekend for a meeting that ends on Saturday night with a dance party. The latest flight out on Saturday (before the race) is 10:30pm and there will be about 10 of us (so far) all trying to get on that flight back only to wake up at the crack of dawn to run the next day!

Good news with this is I now don't have to get permission to leave the event early (even though I am the Events Planner of this event) but since I was the one to start this mess, I better get the first seat back on that flight!


Today is a rest day so Happy Monday!

I can.. I can't... I can... I can't

Running is a head game. I think and know I can run, but then my mind tells me I can't.

I woke up at 7:49am this morning way later than any Saturday. I wanted to run at 7 and be done by 7:49am. So right there my brain started the run struggle.

Its too late to run
It will be too hot to run
I won't get back until 9am if I go now

My body took over and went through the motions of putting on my running clothes, my fanny pack thingy, my headphones, shoes all with my mind still struggling with me coming up with all the "poor me" excuses on what I would tell Andy when he asked if I ran.

My body (thank God) is stronger than my mind and I walked out the front door warmed up with a 2 minute walk then ran a full 20 mins. I had to stop to walk for a little bit and thats where the head game began again, I can't run anymore, and then a good song would come on and I CAN run again, then I would stop then I CAN'T run again. Then a good song again so I have to thank Matisyahu for bringing me home with "One Day" 3 times in a row and telling me I CAN!

I am Happy to log 47:02 Mins 463KCals burned

Things that make you go hmmm...and Thanks!

Happy Friday and a very welcomed Rest Day!

I think I am the only human being that can follow the Weight Watchers meal plan, work out 4 days (1 of which I did 2 workouts) and gain 3.6 LBS!

I'm also so tired, maybe its because I did run at the PF Chang's Kick Off Party with my cousin after all AND biked in the morning yesterday (too much activity for this body in one day) PLUS I'm fighting my normal- get sick the week after I start a new exercise routine-

Funny thing, my cousin made me run the 3.5 mile kick off run (she really didn't make me, but I think its funny to keep saying she did) SO I thought I was a slow runner but all the while we were running she kept saying "you run fast" and I kept saying "no, I don't run this fast by myself, I run like this" then I would slow down to show her and then pick it back up...but I think being put into a group and trying to have my cousin get a good workout too, it pushed me and we finished the 3.5 miles in less than 40 minutes. Pretty amazing eh?

I don't know the exact time we finished but we started at 6pm and then while we were drinking our MGD 64's (given out at the event), waiting for the raffle (which we both didnt even turn in our tickets but waited anyway) we heard the MC say," its 6:45pm we will be drawing for the raffle at 7:15pm" and I looked her and said "hey, I think we ran that pretty fast".  I do have to admit, I had to stop and walk some of the way, but my cousin stuck by my side and motivated me the entire time!

We ended our evening like every workout should, at Stax in Scottsdale eating a burger, tater tots, sweet potato fries and an IPA.

Thanks Cousin B for the great night and workout!

Be Careful for What You Wish For!

Yesterday I told my co-worker that I wish a snake would bite me so I wouldn't have to run OR that when I checked my IPod I hope its not charged so I wouldn't have to run OR that there is a scorpion in my shoe that will sting me so I wouldn't have to run?

That's how much I hate running.

I'm so happy today was a bike day AND with that when I went to get my IPod out of my bag, it was DEAD!!! My wish came true on my biking day!!! Why not on a running day? Instead of blowing off the ride because how could I ever ride without music and singing (which we all know would've happened on a run day), I plugged it in to charge for 20minutes got on my bike and hoped it would make it 45mins.

Well it did and I am happy to log 48:19mins and 498 Kcals burned. I also saw a fellow biker stopped on the side of the road and asked if he was ok, but since I had on my said IPod that was still playing, I didnt really hear him and just road off.. Oh Biking Karma, please be it that he said yes he was OK I beg and plead!

Tonight I am meeting my cousin (she is running the full marathon) at the PF Changs Kick Off Party/Expo in Scottsdale, there is a 3.5 mile run in which it will take me 3 hours to run that so I am going to wear my running clothes and maybe run a little bit, but I'd much rather enjoy the expo and get a bunch of SWAG instead. Can't Wait!

Tomorrow is a REST day!!! And resting is what I will do.

Knives Everywhere

Went to bed last night all inspired and pumped up to run 40mins today. I even have all of my weeks clothes lined up on my dresser for each day this week so it makes it very easy to get out of bed and right into my running attire.

So I woke up this morning still excited to run/walk and Andy was really going to be impressed that I would come downstairs with my running gear on and actually follow through with my big plans to finish this training and the half marathon.

While putting on my socks, I lifted my neck wrong and pulled something making it impossible for me to put my head back, look right or look left. But that didnt stop me... I walked down the stairs like a palatapus (sp) flapping my feet because my shin, thigh, butt, upper back and neck muscles are so sore all I can do is flop to walk... even that wasnt going to stop me!

I had my coffee, powerbar (which btw is like eating cardboard) packed my water fanny pack and was headed flopping out the door..

I was about 10mins into my 40min training and I started feeling knives in my neck, in my legs, in my shins and the little rock that managed to find its way into my right shoe was not helping either... then what put me over the edge were the stomach cramps that were like a million knives stabbing me in my fat belly. At about minute 13 is where I turned around and walked back the 13 minutes home. I almost called Andy to pick my sorry ass up, but no I hobbled home.

Even though today was not 40mins of pure joy of running, I am proud to log 26:39 mins of agony.

Tomorrow is cross training day- that means I get to ride my bike for 45mins YAY.. I can't wait for that because its easy and Im use to it!

Run on my friends!

What Up with Dat?

I'm not a runner and for the mere fact that I have been trying to get pregnant for 3 years with no results I decided that if I cant get pregnant I am going to get skinny!!!

Then for some reason I think by running a half marathon in January- (the PF Chang Rock and Roll Half Marathon)... I will be able to accomplish one of the two...

In all honesty I was inspired after I had a visit home to my sisters where she is a runner by heart and has already run/ran (whatever the correct grammar is) 2 halves and is wanting to run a full and actually qualify for the Boston Marathon. Long story short, she gave me a book called "The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On with Your Training" by Dawn Dais and I read the entire thing on my flight back home from Chicago.

This past Sunday 2 days after coming back and reading the book, I decided this is it.. Im going to run a half marathon...

I printed out each month (Oct, Nov, Dec and Jan) and wrote in the training schedule from the book. After that, I cut my coupons; a ritual I do every Sunday in an effort to save at least $50 per store visit or else I am not satisfied.. (another blog in itself)... I digress, so back to Sunday... after 45 minutes of trying to find my work out clothes that were buried in my closet, my heart rate monitor, my shoes, my good socks because Karyn said I needed good socks, a hairband, my Ipod, the Ipod armband, and the headphones, I was finally ready to walk/run the first training of a whopping 35 Mins.  No problem.. hahahaha.

I started out walking fast (forgot the stretching before) then picked up the pace for about 2.2 seconds. Why cant I run? What is wrong with me? is all I thought while trying to run. I went around a park close by all the while fighting the aches and pains and my armband and headphones.. 

Couple things to think about for next time:
a. stretch
b. don't run at high noon in AZ (any day)
c. bring a bottle of water 
d. Don't run hahaha.. just kidding.

I walked and ran (a little) a little route which was so little I didn't even finish 35mins. I got to my house at 27mins and couldn't muster up the energy to run one more time around our neighborhood for 8 more minutes- plus I had to go meet Andy (my husband) at his 70 mile bike race before he finished.. (yet another blog in itself).

After meeting with my crazy athletic husband and all of his even more crazy athletic friends (2 girls are training for the ironman to put into perspective) I had a chance to talk to one of the guys who trains the said 2 girls for Ironmans. After I told him about me wanting to run the PF Changs Half, and that I couldn't even finish the first training, he gave me the best advice ever- to run out for half the training time (in this case 17.5 mins) and back the other half.. ding.. great idea.. we also talked more, so after being with that caliber of athletes, I was even more fueled and inspired to go get em...

Monday was my first rest day- Yay I can get use to that... 

Tuesday was another 35minute day.. Sunday night I went and got a water fanny pack holder thingy (just as the book said) and filled up every pocket with my phone, my Itouch, and water it added 5lbs to my already overweight body to push for 35mins. And of course I didnt go out 17.5 mins because I didn't want to run up that hill I had run down on the 17.5 back, so I just did a route and then had to run around my block 2 times to get to 35mins. I struggled with my fanny pack falling and moving and weighing me down and my headband fell off so I had to fun back a few steps to get it, but all in all I finished and I felt great!

Since I am just starting this blog Wednesday (today) I will posts todays not so successful entry in a new post!

Happy Reading!