Saturday, February 23, 2008

1 Week, 1 Blog?

Hello again! Wow, what a busy week!! Can I get everything into one blog? Let's try.............

Running............14 weeks until the San Diego Rock 'N' Roll Marathon!!



  • Wednesday night I ran intervals around the island; 1 mile warm-up and 3 reps of 1/2 mile, with a 45 second rest in between. My best interval was 3:45, not too bad considering the temperature (80's).

  • Friday was scheduled for a "strength/tempo" run of 4 miles. I headed to the jog park after dropping Lauren's off for softball practice. There was a light breeze when I ran heading south, but overall, it was a bit warm (mid-80's). So, I didn't really push the tempo and instead, went for distance. I ran 6.15 miles in 1:00:54 for an average pace of 9:54.

  • Saturday; didn't get in a run. But good news, no muscle soreness from the 6-miler, yeah! And, the knees felt pretty good today. I think running on the gravel path of the jog park is gentler on my knees than the asphalt around the island. Tomorrow I'll have to get in my long run; I'm going to try for 12 miles!!!

  • I'm putting my workouts on a really cool website, buckeyoutdoors.com. The site allows you to put a sidebar of the workouts on your blog, as well as some other really neat stuff (races run, PRs, etc.)! I'm in the process of entering all my workouts going back to January 1st.

Karate



  • Got in my 3 classes. Normally, I like to go on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. But this week Mark worked on Friday which meant I had to take Lauren to softball practice. So, I ended up going on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I was a bit nervous about taking back-to-back Monday/Tuesday classes. The last time I did that was on October 2nd and that was the night I ripped my right calf muscle. But I was cautious and stretched the calves extra good. Thursday night Bugo (sparring) class was very good. I noticed an improvement in my cardio and did a total of 5 rounds.

  • I was able to get in my 3 days of "extras" this week on Mon, Wed, & Thurs. This week the extras were 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 5o round kicks off each leg.


No Smoking Zone!



  • Today (2/23) is day #18 of no smoking! I've tried to quit more times than I can remember. The longest I ever quit for was 9 months. When I tell people that, they are always amazed that after 9 months of not smoking that I could go back and start again. But, I had quit that time for a boyfriend. And when that boyfriend "dumped" me, I lost my "reason" for not smoking. This time, I am quitting for the right reasons; I am quitting because I want to be a non-smoker. I want to be a non-smoker for my health, for my kids, for my running and for my karate. I want to be able to run 1 mile in 7 minutes and 2 miles in 15 minutes. I want to be able to Bugo at 2nd degree level and for as many rounds as I am asked to.

  • Coincidentally, about the same time I quit smoking, I began having pain in both my ears. My initial thought was "sinus". I took some decongestants but did not get any relief. Next, I thought that I might be grinding my teeth at night. I started wearing my dental night guard again, but no relief. I ruled-out inner ear infection since there wasn't any fever or swollen glands. But, could it possibly be an external ear infection. I finally saw a doctor and he ruled out ear problems. He seems to think it is TMJ. Maybe it has something to do with all the gum I chewed while trying to quit smoking...... I guess I'll be making an appointment to see my dentist.

Sports, and more Sports, and then some more Sports

  • Sports overload week: For Ryan, this week ended volleyball season at St. Jerome but was the beginning of baseball for the city league. Lauren started softball. She's on the Twisters again and it looks like she'll be the primary pitcher this year.
  • Lauren joined the St. Jerome track team. Today was their 1st and only meet for the year. There were about 14 of the county Catholic schools in attendance; grades 4-8. Lauren participated in the long jump, the 4o0 meter (pictured!), and the 4 x 400 meter relay. I was very pleased with her effort!! One of Lauren's classmates finished 2nd in the girl's mile and another classmate came in 6th (out of 30) in the 100 meter! The team only had 4 practices; imaging what they could have done with more training!

Well, I realize I can't get everything from this week into one blog, at least not into one blog that some people might actually read. I want to thank all those who read my 1st blog entry. And, give super thanks to those who read it and actually came back for more!!!! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think; good or bad!

1 comment:

  1. Your extras are putting me to shame -- If I do the miles -- no strength; if I do the strength -- no mileage. All of our bike rides are getting rained out -- so that training isn't going well either (one month to go...)

    ReplyDelete