Fab Fit Squad

I am once again running the Falmouth road race with my husband. Last year was our first year, now we’re thinking about making it an annual thing.  We are just a little behind in our running schedule, but we’re planning catch up this week. My first run was last Saturday night when the temperature was roughly 85 degrees. FUN.. Which is really funny given the last time I ran any long distance (January) we were looking to see when the warmest part of the day was going to be.

So the run we good but really hot, we ran again yesterday and the 3.5 miles felt much better. I am experiencing so side stitches, need to work getting my breathing in synch as well as my food timing. I think the last two times I had large meals that didn’t fully digest before I went for my run.

We’re suppose to run tonight to make up for our missed run on Sunday, but mother nature had another plan for us. It’s POURING, so we’ll be running both days this weekend to play catch up.

I’ll keep you posted on our progress.  Goal this year is to run 7.1 miles in less than 1 hour.

I ran the Miami ING Half Marathon exactly 20 days ago and its taken me this long to write about. Before January 31st the furthest that I ever ran was 10 miles.  I got to tell you that it felt good! Whenever I tell the story I am still refer to it as my first half marathon because I’m still unsure if I will EVER run that far again.  I will run again, I know that is true , but a half marathon, hmmm.  Most fitness things I do after I finish I’m so PUMPED to do it again. I got to tell you not this time. I was WIPED OUT! I just wanted to sit down and  get my shit together! Let’s go back to the beginning, why did I decide to run a  half marathon?  Well..

• I use to run about 6 years ago and a half marathon was goal of my and then my sciatica got to bad so I stopped. Read My Ass Doesn’t Do What?
• I ran in Falmouth Road Race (August and November) (7 mile race) and felt really good — I thought what’s 6 more? Hmm boy was I naive
• I needed a goal to get me through the holidays
• It was something that my husband I could do together — which was AWESOME to finally a hobby together.
• The race was in Miami in January (I live in Boston) who doesn’t like a little warm weather.

My training included running in a snow storm, running in 20 degree weather and finally we caught a break our last 2 long runs we got to run in 40 degrees. I know a virtual heat weave in New England.

The first 10 miles of the run were good. Especially mile 6 when the drag queens were out giving a show, that kept me going for a mile.  Okay maybe 2. Then mile 10 hits and the walls come crashing down! I was DYING! My ankles were hurting and I had major heartburn from the GU.  At this point I was praying to any God I could think of help me get through the next 3.1 miles. Two things got me thorough.

1. my husband and I agreed to meet at the finish line and I knew if I didn’t finish within 15-20 minutes after him he would be worried
2. there was this women in front of me that didn’t look like a runner (for the record neither do I) and she was struggling just like me, but she kept going! So, I decided there and then if she keep running so would I.

Once I crossed the finish line I thought that I would feel this runners high that would keep me going after I finished. Well…. I’m still waiting for this runner’s high. I didn’t get it.

Everyone keeps asking would I do one again. I say maybe.  But here are some changes.

1. I would do short runs at marathon pace
   • this time I only did long runs, not doing the short runs really hurt me in the endurance
2. I would not do a race in the winter
   • motivating yourself to run on a cold and/or snowy day SUCKS out loud
   • I also like running in the AM, and running in the cold and dark SUCKS too
3. I would conserve my energy early in the race
   • Don’t try to fight my way through the crowd early on, take your time and wait for the crowd to think
4. I would run 12 miles as my last long run
   • Those last 3 miles sucked, and the runner’s high and crowds energy didn’t get me through so I would definitely add 2 more miles so I know how my body will feel and react

If you’ve run a half marathon I would love to hear any tips you would like to add. If you are new to the half marathon, good luck!

Most people think because you are a personal trainer you are super human… UMMM NO.

image fitsugar

We have those days when we don’t want to work out and sometimes even when we set a fitness goal and get in the middle of training we say to ourselves, what did I sign myself up for.

That is me right now. Literally I signed up to the Miami half marathon. (I am registered, have a non-refundable plane ticket and hotel) Just 6 short weeks ago I thought it would be a fun challenge and keep me motivated through the holidays. WELP.. not so much. Today’s 19 degrees with a wind chill of 4 and I had to do 4 miles. Go ahead and call me a wimp, but this kid wasn’t going outside. So.. instead I decided I could suck it up and run on the treadmill for 4 miles how hard go it be.  In a word FREAK’N HARD!!!

Well.. even though the Jessica Simpson E True Hollywood story was on I still felt like a Gerbil on a wheel  so…4 treadmills, yes 4 treadmills every mile I moved one, because I was BORED out of mind and thought that would help not so much. This weekend I have to do 8 miles.. I really need to check the forecast… there is NO WAY I can do it on the treadmill.

So here I am 7 weeks away and wondering seriously who do I think I am. Should I be running a half  marathon?

Last week I ran my 1st Turkey Trot, just 4 miles through a neighboring town on Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving it was a nice day here in New England. I typically run mid morning, so this was my first early run, so I was testing what to eat. I decided on having a banana and a cup of coffee. Come on. I can’t leave the house without coffee, so it a must have! I ate it 1 hour prior to the race so that I plenty of time to digest it right!

Well at mile 4 I get sharp stabbing pains in my back, but I didn’t STOP I

kept going and finished the race in 39 min. My goal to run less than 10 min/mile and I did despite the stabbing pains in my back and having to pee. Yes, at mile 2 the coffee that I had to have needed to make an exit. So.. I guess my motivation to run a fast as I could was there.

Lesson learned for the Miami 1/2 Marathon — figure out my food and pee management.

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So, my first week went well..and the second week is going well. I just need to complete my last long run 5 miles for the week.

Now you may want to know what one of my interval cycles looks like.

• 2 minute warm up
• 1 1/2 min sprint
• 30 sec rest
• 2 1/2 min sprint
• 1 1/2 min rest

Repeat 5 times (should take you 30 minutes.
This can easily be done on any piece of cardio equipment, I did this on an elliptical.

Now here’s the plan for my third week  — November 22.

Monday — intervals and strength
Tuesday — 3.5 miles
Wednesday — rest
Thursday — Turkey Trot (4miles)
Friday — rest
Saturday 6 miles

Source: About.com

I am in the process of completing my wellness coach certification and during this process you are to create your own wellness vision so that you can better understand what its like to create one and how to guide your clients in the process.

So you may be asking what is a wellness coach?  Wellness Coaches not only support your fitness efforts, they help you understand and take steps to embrace and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The crux of understanding how to embrace and maintain a healthy lifestyle is painting a picture of what your life would look like and how would you feel when you achieved your healthy lifestyle.  While painting this picture you will also look at what is YOUR motivation, not someone’s for achieving this lifestyle and what steps are you willing to take to make this picture become a reality. The vision helps you think about how you are going to motivate yourself to achieve your wellness vision.

Here is my 3 month wellness vision.

• To fix my muscle imbalances so that I may stay active for a long time
  • What is motivating to achieve this goal. I’m (like it or lump) getting older and still want to be as active as possible
  • My main obstacle is finding the time to take care of myself– yes you read that correctly. I struggle with that life balance, taking care of myself versus the needs of my clients, business and family. Just like you I will and can find plenty excuses to do other things, like train my clients or work or things around the house. Yes, as much as I love working out I too struggle with this.
  • My strategy around this is to put my workouts in my calendar and make an appointment with myself, this isn’t an option.

The key to achieving my wellness vision is to break my vision into small digestible goals. I will break them in what I want to achieve in 3 months and the steps I will take weekly towards achieving my goals. If you notice my goals are SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

Specific = My goal is phrased in a way that answers these questions — Who, What, How, When, Which, Why and Where

Source: Beginner TriAthlete.com

Measurable = This is how you are going to measure progress and action towards your goals
Attainable = This is where I look to you want to challenge yourself, but if there set your goals too high you may lose interest in attaining them
Realistic = The goal needs to be realistic for where you are, as stated above it should challenge and motivate you to keep moving forward, but should not kill you to achieve your goal.
Timely = You need to set a timeline, a goal without a timeline is just a dream.

3 month goal

1. To compete in the Women’s TriFitness Competition on July 10th
   
   • I will focus on the areas of the competition that I am weakness
   • I will bench press 3x/week
   • I will do the box jump 3x/week
2. I will be able to complete 10 squats with weight in good form
   • I will begin doing corrective exercises 3/week
   • I will take a yoga class 2x week to increase my flexibility and stability
3. I will rid myself of sciatica pain
   • I will make an appointment for the week of July 12th to meet with Aaron Brooks, posture specialist
   • I will stretch for 30 minutes a day
4. In the off-season, I will not exceed 10 pounds above my contest weight.
   • I will stick to the 7 day sugar shutdown program devised by my coach. This will help me with my sugar cravings, yes I do CRAVE sugar
   • I will workout 5 day/week by doing a combination 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight training

Weekly Goals:

• I will update my Falmouth Road Race training schedule
• I will review my Tri Fitness training and see how to improve
• I will read 1 chapter in my wellness coach manual
• I will make an appt with my training buddy to practice coaching
• I will update the Fab Fit Squad blog 3x/week
• I will take 1 yoga class/week

Each week, I will keep you up to date on how I progress on my wellness vision. Need help crafting yours. Let me know.