Olympic Fever and Big Time Game Planning!

I love Track and Field.

Seriously, I really, really love Track and Field.

I am sitting here with goosebumps despite the 80 degree weather.  I've been watching the Olympic Trials events I missed this weekend and I am getting SUPER excited for the Olympics!  The end all be all of Track and Field is just 40 days away!

I'll be wrapping up a trip to Lake Michigan the day the running events start (Aug 3), so while everyone is out on the water, I'll probably be a stones throw of the tv.

All this T&F made me think about how little I have been running.  And when I say little, I mean- not at all!

I have two races on the books- a 5K on July 4th and the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon on Oct. 21st.  I'm not too worried about the 5k.  While I have not been running much, I have been spinning, so hopefully that helps.  I plan to run with the Royal Oak Area Runners on Tuesday and that's a pretty fast run for me.  I'll  finally try out my new Garmin!

Now, I am starting to worry about the half marathon.  I ran it last year- or I should say I completed it last year, as I did do some walking, for sure.  My time completely sucked and I was sore for days!  This is probably because I didn't train much.  I started training, it was going great, I increased mileage and that plus a improperly fitted shoe (yes- I did get fitted at a running store and they gave me a shoe a full size too small), I ended up with a stress fracture in my foot.

I had to take 16 weeks off.  I did, and never really got myself back on track.  Before the race, my longest training run had been 5 miles.

This year I not only want to destroy my time, I want it to be, well..kind of easy. I don't want to suffer and struggle for 13.1 miles.  Yes, I expect to be uncomfortable, but I don't want to be miserable. I also don't want another injury.

I am injury prone, I always have been.  When I ran years ago, it seemed that the only way to get better at distance, was to run, run and then go run some more. That always led to injury.

I have felt that there has to be a way to train less, yet get faster and stronger.  I stumbled upon Run Less Run Faster .  In a nutshell, you run 3 times a week plus cross train two other days.  I saw that and was intrigued.

I looked to see what other bloggers had written about the book, read reviews and finally decided to buy it.  It was less than $10.00 on Kindle, so I gave it a shot.  I just started it, but I think it's going to work out perfectly!  There is a 16 week half marathon schedule, so I officially start training Sunday July 16!

Anyone want to join me?

On to my fitness plans for this week:
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Spin- "GoChubChub"
Tuesday: Go Barbell AND ROAR 3 miles
Wednesday: Go 60
Thursday: Go60
Friday: GoBarbell and GoCycle Abs
Saturday: Spin
Sunday: Peanutbutter Finger's 1000 Rep Workout

If you are wondering what these new "Go" workouts are, there are classes at GoCycle.  I bought a summer unlimited pass, so I'm working out there a lot! I plan to describe these classes more on Tuesday.

Speaking of the upcoming week, the blog plan is:
Monday: New Egg Cups and Muesli recipes
Tuesday: Planning my vacation workouts and talking about the new classes I'm taking
Wednesday: Craft Room Reveal and some talk about getting our house ready to sell
Thursday: How to pack for vacation and house hunting
Friday: Swimsuit shopping. What a difference a year makes.
Saturday: Book Review: End of an Affair; Race Music; New books (new to me): Fit to Fat to Fit and Skinny Rules


Have a great week and see you tomorrow!

Game Plan: April 2-8

I'm running the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon in October, so it's time for me to start building a base for my half-marathon training.  This means more running. Now, this is not the actual training, this is just building a solid foundation.  I won't start the actual training until July.

Because of this, you will see more running and less cross training workouts.  I'm still doing GoBarbell twice a week and Nth Degree twice a week and my boot camp on Thursdays, but all of my "personal" workouts are going to be runs. Not so fun for you, BUT- I have a surprise for you.  Julie, over at of my favorite blogs, Peanutbutterfingers has a ton of fun workouts to hold you over!  Here's the direct link to her workouts, but she is absolutely worth subscribing to- if only for her dog!

April 2-8

Monday: 4 mile run and extensive stretching afterwards.
Tuesday: Go Barbell and "Tempo Tuesday"- 800 m warm up, 4 x1600 repeats "Tempo style", 800 cool down
Wednesday: Nth Degree plus (plus means try to get early and do a mile warm up)
Thursday: "Three on Thursday"- easy 3 mile run and Bootcamp
Friday: "Friday Fartlek 5" - (5 miles of Fartleks)
Saturday: Nth Degree plus
Sunday: "Easy like Sunday Morning" 50 minute run & GoBarbell

Prior week Stats:

As far as last week went, here are the stats:
Weight change:+.5 lb
Minutes of working out: 375
Calories burned (while working out):2550
New Stat: Miles run: 13.5
New Stat: Calories +/- goal:1313 under

Review of Stats:

Want to up my mileage, minutes and calories burned.  I missed a 5 miler on Friday, so that has a big effect.
My calories were too low- but I'm afraid that may not be accurate.  I was really sloppy with journaling last week. That's really the only way I can explain a .5 lb gain.

No, that's not true.  There are a few ways it could have happened.

1) Weigh in a week ago was a dehydrated weigh in, as I had been drinking the night before (Saturday). It was a good .5 to full lb lower than any of the days around it.  I know this because, I *gasp* step on the scale every morning.  I only count it once a week, but I find that the daily weigh in helps me get a feel for what does what to my body.  For example, I was 2 lbs heavier today than I was yesterday.  That let me know that either my scale was crazy or I needed more water. When I work out hard, I see a bump in my weight.  I know this is because my muscles are retaining water in an effort to repair themselves and I don't over react. But, if I see several days at an increased weight, I know that I better look at how honest I am being about my calorie input/output.

2) It is possible, though doubtful, that I am not eating enough.  Again, proper journaling should resolve this issue.

3) Increased Muscle.  I know I am stronger lately and my close are not tighter.

4) Jacked up HRM readings.  This is very possible.  I am having a lot of trouble with my HRM.  I will post more on that later.

5) Sodium? I did go over a bit yesterday, but I don't find that I'm very affected by this.

6) Another likely contributor: It's just part of the weight loss journey.  There are ups and downs and you don't lose every week.

Plan: As I mentioned, I slacked with journaling. I also slacked with meal planning.  I have been so busy and excited with my projects around the house that I have let things slip, so I just have to recommit!

Tell me, how do you handle little gains?
What do you think causes them?
Do you have a "Game Plan" for this week?  What is it?
What are you going to work on this week? 

These workout posts need some pictures- I'll work on that! Here's a completely random and unrelated picture to hold you over till I figure something out.