Wordled!

Seriously, how cool is this?! I'd love to make it a t-shirt. Better yet, maybe I'll wait until after the 70.3 to do it. I'd love to see how the words change.

This was on another blogger's site. What you do is go to the link on http://www.wordle.net/ and then copy in your blog link. It'll look at all the words you use on your blog and orders them by how often they appear. Beautiful, isn't it? You can change up the colors, fonts and even the way they're all layered.

1 week until the half in Vegas. I'm so not ready! LOL! Plow through it!

I need help: How to break the food cycles?

I'm so frustrated with my weight. But I have nobody to blame but the person in the mirror.

Yesterday I was in the doctor's office for a regular checkup and while waiting, noticed a book on a shelf nearby, "You on a Diet: The Guide to Waist Management" or something like that. I thumbed through it as time ticked by.

One page about two-thirds of the way caught my eye. It had to do with particular types of snacks and what eating them blindly meant. It struck me hard. Soft sweets, like ice cream, which are the bane of my existance supposedly mean that you're depressed. Salty filler snacks, like Cheez-It's or pita chips, mean you're sexually frustrated. Damn! I guess I need to get happy and get a date, huh? LOL!

Workouts have been haphazard the past month. I've been having issues with waking up at night for about an hour, which causes me to set the alarm back to normal wake up time (5:45) instead of workout time (4:45). I've been frequenting lunch and happy hours with friends in the few times of being social. And to top it off, school is kicking my butt and I tend to munch while sitting at the computer.

I try to eat a good meal at lunch, preferably making this the largest of the day. The problems come when I get home and get into the habit of eating just to eat. How do you break that cycle? And how do you break the cycle of wanting something sweet after a meal. It's not big, sometimes just a bite of a piece of chocolate or even a cookie, but how do you get past that?

Many times at the end of the evening, I feel full and still not satisfied. It's frustrating. And I see it showing in my weight and how the clothes are fitting worse these days. You'd think someone who is good at planning and organizing might be good at doing the same things in her own life, but it's just not happening.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? I'd love to hear from you all either in the comments or even off line. adventurechick3@yahoo.com You rock!

200 days

Tomorrow marks the 200 day countdown to the Kansas Half IM. 200 days to prep. 200 days to agonize. 200 days to train.

I'm just thinking out loud here. Okay, the keyboard clatter is about as loud as it gets over the crackle of the fire.

I'm wondering if trying to do a 70.3 next summer is feasible?

I'm wondering if it's too much to tackle that and continue with my current school schedule?

I'm wondering if it all makes sense?

I'm wondering what has to give? Most likely it'll be what little social life I have. "But it's only temporary", I tell myself.

I'm struggling to find time to train for just a half marathon, so I'm wondering how I'll fit it all in.

I'm wondering where this doubt is coming from because I KNOW once I put my mind to it and commit, I can do it.

I'm wondering how many people I'll pass? How many whose ass I'll kick? Will it be just one or several?

I'm wondering...

10.5 miles

I've resigned myself to just finishing the half marathon in a few weeks. I'd hoped for about a 2:15 finish, but after today's long run, I'll just settle to finish. It's been a busy few months and I just haven't put in the time necessary to do well. That said, I'm okay with it. :)

Today I did a 10.5 miler, much to my own surprise. I'd mapped out a run at 10.3, but somehow got turned around a bit, so I rerouted on my own. I thought I might have only done about 9-9.5, but when I remapped the route I actually took, I was surprised to see 10.5. Yay! Here's what it looks like.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/tx/highland-village/588125830713335446

Starting temperature - 68. Breezy south wind. Above average humidity. New shoes (1/2 size larger because of rubbing with the old ones).

I always hate the first mile or so of my long runs. It takes a while for stuff to stretch out and settlle into a good pattern. But by mile 2-3, it feels great. This is a new route I've been wanting to do to really change up the scenery. It's perfect for at least the first 5 miles or so. There are rolling hills through the Highland Village area, miles 3 through 6. Some of these hills kick my butt. I store this info so that I use routes through here in training for the half IM next year. Kansas is hilly.

For the most part, I feel pretty good through mile 5. I take a couple of Clif Blox at the 1/2 hour point and they kick in about 10 minutes later, thankfully. The wheels started coming off around 5.5 miles. I was getting tired from the hills and running straight into the wind. There was construction, so no sidewalk, but luckily, a good portion of the road was closed and hard-packed dirt. I stayed there. Downed a vanilla Gu at the 1 hour mark. I thought I'd missed a turn so I thought my route was cut about a mile short at this point. Dangit.

Miles 5.5 to 6.5 were the busiest for traffic around the mall and because of a narrow, busy road with no shoulder. I'm going to have to work around that area again, unless I do it early in the morning. I walked a lot through this time, partly due to the traffic, partly just being exhausted. My Gatorade was nearly out and I couldn't find anything open to just refill with water. Ugh.

When I hit the light at Morris/Valley Ridge, I considered going straight home, but then turned right to adjust the course a bit to make up what I thought were lost miles. At this point, I figured I'd finish at about 9 miles. I forced myself to pass up another shortcut and continued on to College Rd which would give me 2 options on mileage and getting home.

At about mile 9 (which I thought was less at this point) I started to feel a little light headed, probably from the humidity, climbing temps, and not enough water. I decided to cut the run a bit and turn onto Kirkpatrick to come home, rather than go all the way to Garden Ridge. It was a good decision as it turns out. Had I continued on like I thought about doing, it would've added about another mile to the route. I was hot and light headed. It was good to be almost home.

Finally I turned onto my street and made it home. I was disappointed with the time (right at 2 hours) for 10.5 miles. I did walk several times for about a minute at a time. I think the gel and blox were done at the right times, but I wish I'd had more water/gatorade. I kept thinking I needed to just fill up with someone's hose. Next time I probably will.

Next week is 11+, then "taper" for the race. Whew! I can't wait to call the Lufkins to see how theirs went.

The agony and ecstacy

Sunday I had to get in a long run. I theory, it was supposed to be 7 miles according to the training log. I was supposed to meet with my prospective trainer that afternoon in Coppell, where my gym is, and thought about just doing my mileage there after we were finished. I mapped out a run and thought it would be fine.

I met with Alma, the trainer, and had a great time. We talked and I was able to pick her brain on training and tri tips (not the beef, but the race). She even printed out elevation and maps for my Kansas race to discuss. I like her!

Anyway, after we met, I headed out to chase sunset, thinking I'd get my 7-ish miles and/or 7 minutes in before the sun went down. As I started out on the route I'd mapped out, I realized that the Andy Brown park which I was running near, had just over a 6 mile loop beckoning me to run to keep it from getting boring. Sure enough, I succumbed to the whole thing, and added with the mileage to get from the YMCA to the park entrance, it ended up coming to 8.5 miles! WTF!!??

The legs (and side stitches) balked at me at first, like they always do the first mile or two, but then I got into a groove. I kept going, but told myself that I'd do a 1 minute walk once I got to the far duck pond or 35 minutes, whichever came first. Fortunately, I didn't have to choose, as they came at about the same time. I decided to suck down a gel, walk for a minute, then keep going.

It was a great move looking back. The gel kicked in about 10 minutes later and carried me through to the end. I thought I'd end up walking maybe the last 1/2 mile or so, but kept carrying on until I made it back to the car 85 minutes later! Holy crap! For someone not training well this was awesome!

But I paid for it on Monday.

Damn I'm sore. To top it off, I did my first upper body workout with Alma on Tuesday and she pushed me to do weights I certainly wouldn't have done on my own. I'm learning from her and think she'll be great to develop the core muscles I'll need to help set the base for when I start really training in January.

Oh and I'm cussing her name today. I'm so sore, typing hurts right now. Everything from the waist up hurts. It's a good hurt though. It's the agony and the ecstasy all rolled into one.