There are lots of announcements today. For one thing, I am very sad that it's Sunday. I enjoy sleeping later than 5 am. For another, I am so close to picking my wedding dress. My mom and I took my dad to Volle's Bridal yesterday so that he could see my two favorite dresses. As it turns out, the one that I thought was THE ONE may not be the one after all. One of them makes me look very elegant (my first choice), and the other makes me look like a princess. When our consultant asked me how I imagined myself as a bride when I was younger, I said that I always wanted to look like a princess. That pretty much made up my mind for me. I may have to try them on one more time just to be sure.
For breakfast on Saturday, I ate a Panera whole wheat bagel with cream cheese. We were in a hurry to get to Volle's, so I had to eat it in the car. I took the plate to minimize crumbs.
For breakfast on Saturday, I ate a Panera whole wheat bagel with cream cheese. We were in a hurry to get to Volle's, so I had to eat it in the car. I took the plate to minimize crumbs.
I also did a workout before Volle's. It was something like this:
20 minute warm up on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 pushups (body weight, 20 on my toes, 20 on my knees)
3 sets of 15 alternating dumbbell rows (12 pounds)
30 tricep dips (body weight)
30 tricep dips (body weight plus 8-pound weight balanced on my hips)
3 sets of 15 military shoulder press (10 pounds)
3 sets of 15 bicep curls (8 pounds)
30 squats with 8-pound weights
30 plie squats with 8-pound weights
10 back lunges on each side
10 single leg squats on each side
10 single leg deadlifts on each side (8 pounds)
20 lying-down side leg raises on each side
5 minutes of abdominal work and stretching
I try not to do too many lunges, because they really irritate my right leg. Boo.
20 minute warm up on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 pushups (body weight, 20 on my toes, 20 on my knees)
3 sets of 15 alternating dumbbell rows (12 pounds)
30 tricep dips (body weight)
30 tricep dips (body weight plus 8-pound weight balanced on my hips)
3 sets of 15 military shoulder press (10 pounds)
3 sets of 15 bicep curls (8 pounds)
30 squats with 8-pound weights
30 plie squats with 8-pound weights
10 back lunges on each side
10 single leg squats on each side
10 single leg deadlifts on each side (8 pounds)
20 lying-down side leg raises on each side
5 minutes of abdominal work and stretching
I try not to do too many lunges, because they really irritate my right leg. Boo.
After Volle's, I went to Costco with my parents. Since it was a Saturday, I had my lunch there. There are samples everywhere you turn, so I had a blast.
I still wanted a snack later on, so I ate Chobani Greek yogurt in the pomegranate flavor.
I think Chobani packaging is so pretty.
I was expecting a lot from it, but I honestly didn't like it as much as I like the other flavors. The yogurt tasted fine, but the pieces of pomegranate arils just didn't seem right on the taste buds. They seemed a bit stale. Who knows, it could have just been my batch.
My parents met friends for dinner, and I stayed home with the pups. Have I mentioned that I am nerd when it comes to studying? I'd go out up to five days a week when I was in college. When I started graduate school a few months after graduation, I didn't go out for months. That was certainly part of the reason that I was so unhappy in my psychology program. I was confined to my room all the time.
I'm very busy with this summer program, but at least I'll be able to get out more. I'll try to keep one night per weekend to study. I think it's equally important that I go out and see my friends. I seriously ran the risk of losing my friends the last time, and I don't want to do that again!
For dinner last night, I put leftover pizza from the night before in the toaster oven. I put it on top of foil so that I wouldn't have the same cheesy mess that I had the last time I did this.
I'm very busy with this summer program, but at least I'll be able to get out more. I'll try to keep one night per weekend to study. I think it's equally important that I go out and see my friends. I seriously ran the risk of losing my friends the last time, and I don't want to do that again!
For dinner last night, I put leftover pizza from the night before in the toaster oven. I put it on top of foil so that I wouldn't have the same cheesy mess that I had the last time I did this.
It was a big-ass piece of leftover pizza. My dad does make great pizza, though. This one had eggplant, grilled onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and some other goodies. I'm not sure what kind of cheese he used.
Sunday
Today has been very eventful. Another reason I stayed home instead of being a social butterfly in the city was because I wanted to see my mom finish the North Shore Half Marathon. My mom can run 13.1 miles on any good day, so it wasn't like I was worried about her finishing. I just wanted to see her do it.
I woke up at 8:36 am, got ready, fed the dogs and ate breakfast. Our pantry is full of Kashi cereal right now, because I can't stop requesting it. It's so, so good. I was eating this Go Lean Crunch by the handful yesterday.
I woke up at 8:36 am, got ready, fed the dogs and ate breakfast. Our pantry is full of Kashi cereal right now, because I can't stop requesting it. It's so, so good. I was eating this Go Lean Crunch by the handful yesterday.
I took the two young and sprightly dogs, Mickey and Cody, with me. They were so happy to experience a change of scenery with new smells.
Cody could not wait to see Mom finish the half marathon.
Mickey tried to lift his leg and pee on everything.
My dogs made friends with that dog below.
I've never even seen a long race before in the flesh, so I had a great time watching people go over the finish line.
It fueled my desire even more to run a half marathon.
After standing there for about an hour with the pups, I got a call from my mom's cell phone. I was confused. Why would she call me while running? As it turned out, she was home already! My parents were looking so hard for me that they split up and started looking for me, the dogs or my car. I guess there was a terrible miscommunication when we talked about what time I should get there. She finished right before I even arrived. I was livid when I found out, but I was calm by the time that I got home. It wasn't anybody's fault. In the end, I just felt bad. She was so excited to see me and the dogs, and it didn't happen.
I still had a lot of fun there. I got emotional watching people finish. I cry at everything these days, so it doesn't surprise me. In marathons (and half marathons), there are so many people who run for causes. One of the biggest fundraisers, for example, is the American Cancer Society. You may want to run on their team if you lost a loved one to cancer and if you or someone you know survived it. It's those things especially that make me emotional. Then, I saw so many children greet their parents to walk over the finish line with them. Obviously, everybody put in a lot of effort to be able to to finish the face. You can see it on their faces when they cross the line. It just makes me tear up. I can't help it.
When I got home, I didn't eat a real lunch. I just snacked. I melted a piece of Finlandia Chipotle Jack Cheese onto a corn tortilla, for instance. My mom also made a smoothie, and I had some of that.
I still had a lot of fun there. I got emotional watching people finish. I cry at everything these days, so it doesn't surprise me. In marathons (and half marathons), there are so many people who run for causes. One of the biggest fundraisers, for example, is the American Cancer Society. You may want to run on their team if you lost a loved one to cancer and if you or someone you know survived it. It's those things especially that make me emotional. Then, I saw so many children greet their parents to walk over the finish line with them. Obviously, everybody put in a lot of effort to be able to to finish the face. You can see it on their faces when they cross the line. It just makes me tear up. I can't help it.
When I got home, I didn't eat a real lunch. I just snacked. I melted a piece of Finlandia Chipotle Jack Cheese onto a corn tortilla, for instance. My mom also made a smoothie, and I had some of that.
Later on, my dad made grilled corn on the cob, grilled turkey breast with mushroom sauce (thickened with black beans instead of flour) and a green bean salad with turkey sausage and porcini mushrooms. What a great summer meal!
Rock N Roll Chicago Half Marathon
A lot happened between lunch and dinner today. When I was eating the gigantic smoothie with my mom (I say "eating", because it was thick), we talked about the possibility of me running the Chicago Half Marathon in August. My mom, my dad and my brother Jon are all signed up. My mom has been asking me for a while if I want to do it, but I keep telling her that I need more time to train. Also, I am very worried about my leg.
Well, something interesting happened. I went outside after lunch, and I ran at least 6 miles. I've been saying for months that I can't run more than 3, but I was somehow able to do this. A few hours later, I signed up for the race. If I do one long run per week for the next 8 weeks, I should be ready to run it. There is just one problem: the sartorius muscle on my right leg.
This muscle has been giving me hell for a year now. The pain comes mainly from running and lunges. I've rested it for up to six weeks at a time, but it still won't heal completely. I could even feel it flaring up today during my run, but it made such a difference when I turned my foot inward (I naturally run with my feet turned out, and that may be part of the reason that I get the inflammation).
The good news is that when I am on top of my stretching, icing and foam rolling, it makes a significant reduction to the discomfort. For the next two months, I will have to be extremely vigilant with that. Otherwise, I won't be able to run the 13.1 miles.
Of course, if my leg gets so bad that I can't walk, I won't run it. I'll have to rehab it until I am able to run another one. I've wanted to run a half marathon for so long, though. We'll just have to see how everything goes. Please feel free to send advice my way if you have had similar experiences or know about the issue.
P.S.- Flights are grounded in Australia and New Zealand from the volcano eruption in Chile! I'm pretty sure that fights can't fly to/from Melbourne, Tasmania and New Zealand. That sucks! These tectonic plates have been getting very temperamental lately.
Okay, bed time at 9 pm! I'll tell you more about my training schedule later. Not much is going to change except for adding one day of interval training and one long run. Be good to me, leg!
Well, something interesting happened. I went outside after lunch, and I ran at least 6 miles. I've been saying for months that I can't run more than 3, but I was somehow able to do this. A few hours later, I signed up for the race. If I do one long run per week for the next 8 weeks, I should be ready to run it. There is just one problem: the sartorius muscle on my right leg.
This muscle has been giving me hell for a year now. The pain comes mainly from running and lunges. I've rested it for up to six weeks at a time, but it still won't heal completely. I could even feel it flaring up today during my run, but it made such a difference when I turned my foot inward (I naturally run with my feet turned out, and that may be part of the reason that I get the inflammation).
The good news is that when I am on top of my stretching, icing and foam rolling, it makes a significant reduction to the discomfort. For the next two months, I will have to be extremely vigilant with that. Otherwise, I won't be able to run the 13.1 miles.
Of course, if my leg gets so bad that I can't walk, I won't run it. I'll have to rehab it until I am able to run another one. I've wanted to run a half marathon for so long, though. We'll just have to see how everything goes. Please feel free to send advice my way if you have had similar experiences or know about the issue.
P.S.- Flights are grounded in Australia and New Zealand from the volcano eruption in Chile! I'm pretty sure that fights can't fly to/from Melbourne, Tasmania and New Zealand. That sucks! These tectonic plates have been getting very temperamental lately.
Okay, bed time at 9 pm! I'll tell you more about my training schedule later. Not much is going to change except for adding one day of interval training and one long run. Be good to me, leg!
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