Diversification

It was late last night before I had an opportunity to write, so I left it to this morning.  Because I'm voluntarily up very early.  Because I'm crazy. But it has nothing to do with exercising.  I still have absolutely no desire to get up any earlier than I have to in order to go exercise.

It's hard to say what's come over me.  The running is coming along nicely.  As I increase my activity/fitness level, consideration of other activities has entered my mind. 

I finally got my bike fixed.  It had been in a state of disrepair for years, ever since I discovered the gear shifters no longer worked and I attempted to fix it myself.  What I learned - I'm not a bike mechanic.  So I broke down and got a bike rack for my car so I could both get my bike to the bike shop and be able to transport my bike various places.  At the same time, I took L's bike to get fixed also.  He received the bike a couple of years ago and I could never get the handlebars secured properly.  It's no good to aim the handlebars one direction and have the tires pointing in a different direction.  So, off to the shop with his bike, too. So now we have two working bikes.  And L is very excited to ride his bike.  I've even bought a little trailer for C to ride in as I tow her around.  Now we need to find good places to go riding.  And for my husband to get a bike.

Why the interest in my bike all of a sudden?  Branching out.  A co-worker is hosting a mini-triathalon he's dubbed the Tin Man.  It will be sprint and super sprint distances.  And I've decided to do the super sprint distance.  Even though I don't really swim.  I enjoy being in the pool, but I don't know any proper strokes.  So don't look at me while I do the swim leg.  And I need to build up some time on my bike.  The Tin Man will be in mid-June.  I'm hopeful that I will be at the point in my running that I can run the entire distance.

And I am considering another long bike ride for the fall.  More on that later.

Yesterday's workout:
5W/2R/8W/8R/7W/1R/4W
Distance: 2.3 miles
Weather: Sunny

Just the facts, Ma'am

Ok, I'm tired and I have other things to do, so I'm just going to put up today's workout stats:

(3W/2R) x 5, 5W
Distance: 2.5 miles
Weather: Mostly cloudy

Thank the Saints

I'm not Catholic, but I'd like to take this chance to thank Saint Medard of Noyon, who it both patron saint for good weather and patron saint against bad weather.  One of the stories associated with him is that he was once sheltered from the rain by a hovering eagle.  I have been extremely fortunate in that during the three full weeks since I began working out, it hasn't rained during my chosen exercise time.  Knock on wood.  Be with me Saint Medard.  It's not to say that it hasn't rained at all.  In fact, the area has had some nasty storms (not as nasty as others and even less so where I am).  And there may be some severe weather in the next couple of days.  As long as it isn't raining during my designated workout time (generally, between 11 am and noon, or so), I'm a happy camper.  So, Saint Medard be with me!

Today's workout:
5W, (1R/4W)x5
Distance: 2.3 miles
Weather: Sunny

Accessories make the outfit

Yesterday was my off day.  Had a fun day with the family at the aquarium and hunting Easter eggs.

Besides my iPod and Nike+ sensor, I have some other essentials for my workouts.  My favorite thing is my Jupiter Freedom bag.  It's a little pouch that can hold my cell phone, my ID, and a key (probably a little more, too).  It straps via an adjustable elastic strap to my upper arm.  It can also be worn on a narrow belt or on your upper thigh.  I had been carrying my phone before I got the case, running the risk of dropping it.  Which I did once.  Luckily, no damage.  It would also be handy at the park so you don't have to keep track of a purse or other bag.

I also got some new running clothes.  Not by particular design, I'm now outfitted nearly head to toe in Nike gear.  Given that I live in the South, and it's only going to get hotter, I wanted some clothing that would wick away the sweat and dry quickly.  I also got a visor.  I was already using sunglasses, but I wanted something to help when the angle of the sun is such that it's getting past the sunglasses.

And perhaps the most important accessory is the sunscreen.  Even though I'm only outside for ~30 minutes, it's in the middle of the day and I've already had pre-cancerous moles removed.  I don't want to encourage any to go cancerous.  To speed up application time, I've been using sunscreen wipes.  Wipe, wipe and I'm done.  The ones I've been using have been Supergoop! wipes.  They're a bit pricey, but very handy and easy to use.  Also excellent for getting sunscreen on kids' faces!  I'm not married to this brand.  I've got another on the way to try that's less expensive.

Today's workout:
(3W/2R)x5, 5W
Distance: 3.5 miles (farthest to date!  Over 37 miles since I started three weeks ago)
Weather: sunny 

Even on Saturday

I'm going to make this quick, as the new Doctor Who is on!

Despite having L's Taekwando belt testing and helping with the little kid's belt testing take almost all day, I managed to fit in a workout.

Today's workout:
6W/4R/6W/4R/5W/1R/4W
Distance: 2.3 miles
Weather: Sunny

It has a good beat and you can run to it

Today, I'm going to share my playlist with you.  Today was the first day for this particular playlist.  I was using a generally upbeat playlist, but wasn't entirely happy with it for my workout.  So I put together a new one.  I already had most of the songs, but had to buy three of them (I'm not going to tell you which is which).

Submitted for your pleasure:
Elevation - U2 (something to get moving to)
Starry Eyed Surprise - Oakenfold (if you don't know this song, it was used in a Diet Coke commercial a while back)
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
Let It Rock - Kevin Rudolf and Lil Wayne
Here It Goes Again - OK Go (I always picture them on their treadmills)
Rock the Casbah - The Clash
Raise Your Glass - P!ink
Uprising - Muse (this is the song they did at the Grammys, though I've like them from before.  Saw them when they opened for U2)
All I Do Is Win - DJ Khaled (feat. T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, and Rick Ross)

All together, the playlist runs just under 34 minutes.  So it covers my 30 minute workout time frame plus a little extra.  I quite enjoyed it.

Today's workout:
W5, R1, W4, R1, W4, R1, W4, R1, W4, R1, W4
Distance: 2.3 miles
Weather: Cloudy and cool

We have the technology

As I mentioned before, my previous exercise routine consisted of walking for 30 minutes inside around the hallways at work.  Not a good venue for running.  And now that the weather has been fairly nice, I wanted to get outside.  Before, I was eating my lunch then going for my walks.  Not the best for motivation.  Especially if I got to talking to someone or reading something or just letting inertia take over.  Directly leading to very frequently not achieving my goal of 3 walks a week.  In a mental shift that has helped tremendously, I now got workout before I eat.

I work on a military base.  Very close to my building is an unused airstrip.  So this has become my venue of choice for my workouts.  A great feature of the airstrip is that it's mostly level.  As working up to a run is daunting enough as it is, I didn't want to have to contend with hills also.  Once I've achieved running, I'll start adding in some hillier terrain.

I had to go out and get some new shoes.  I had some old, worn-out sneakers.  And some made for walking.  So I wanted some geared for running.  I was interested in the Nike+ shoes which have a place to put a sensor in the shoe that syncs with my iPod Nano.*  Then, when I sync my iPod, the data gets uploaded to the Nike+ website where my sessions are tracked.  I can set up goals, track my runs, and establish a coaching program.  Conveniently, one of the coaching programs is a Walk to Run program.  That is the coaching program I am following, with some modifications.  The right now, the workouts call for less than 30 minutes, so I modify them to fill 30 minutes.  The coaching program runs 6 days a week.  I've been able to achieve that so far, but weekends can be a bit crazy for trying to fit in the workout.  In fact, in the 17 days I've been doing the training program, I've been able to do a workout for 15 of the days (yea me!).

* All products mentioned are completely unsponsored.  I have to buy it myself.

Today's stats:
Workout: 6 minutes walking (W)/4 minutes running (R)/6 W/4 R/5 W/1 R/4 W
Distance: 2.3 miles
Weather: Cloudy

O, hai! I can haz running

Well, I know this type of blog is not a new one, just judging by the difficulty I had in selecting a name/website address for my blog.  But it's my journey and you can help me stay motivated.  What is my journey?  So glad you asked!

I am a 34-year-old female in reasonably good shape.  My main mode of exercise up until about two and a half weeks ago was to walk for 30 minutes around 2-3 times per week.  And that was a good week.  But then, I decided I wanted to do more.  I would have to say that my co-workers have had at least some influence on me.  A lot of the people I work with are active types.  They run.  They do triathalons.  They play tennis.  They cycle.  Whew.  It's all very tiring.

So let me say at the start, I do not have a goal at this point in time to run a marathon.  The thought of hours of running does not appeal to me in any way, shape, or form.  That I even want to take up running is unusual for me.

What are my goals?  Why did I decide to start running when my general attitude up until this point has been run when chased?

Well, I want to be in better shape.  I would be lying if I said I wouldn't like to shed the last 10 pounds or so of baby weight that I've been carrying around (even if it's not like I NEED to lose any weight).  I would simply like to be more tone and not have any muffin top.  And it's good to have goals.  Right now the main goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes.  With some other minor goals associated with it.

I've already started my quest.  And I'm going to try to log my progress each day with some side commentary for flavor.  I need to get caught up, so for the first couple of weeks or so, I'll record my daily progress along with some catch-up from the beginning my my journey.  Some things to look forward to:

Gearing up and setting the scene
The TinMan and the bike rack
Why I'm so excited my Jupiter Freedom bag came today
Making of a play list
So far, the weather gods are on my side
The aches and pains

Briefly, I'm using Nike + iPod to track my workouts and the Nike Plus website for training assistance.  More about that tomorrow.

Today's stats:
Today workout consisted of walking for five minutes then running for a minute each five minutes for 30 minutes total
Approximate distance: 2.2 miles
Weather: cloudy