Becoming more mentally tough.

I haven't had much time to blog in the past few weeks, but I have had time to workout! Despite having three jobs, I have found that there is almost always time, even if it's just a quick 30 minute run. Heck, sometimes it's only a 20 minute run, but guess what ... it's better than absolutely no workout at all.

Yesterday Josh and I hit the treadmills, side by side. Lately I have taken to using the 'Trail Blazer" setting. I enter the maximum speed and maximum incline and it varies both for the amount of time that I entered. Lately I have been doing a maximum speed of 5.5mph, a maximum incline of 2.5 for 30 minutes. On days when I am not working, I try to do 45-60 minutes.
When I was on the treadmill yesterday I wanted to quit after just 5 minutes because I was so mentally and physically exhausted from having worked all day. But once I got past the 10 minute 'brick wall' (a psychological mind-set which tries to get me to give up), I am good for the 30 minutes. The 'brick wall' will try to creep in from time to time, but once you get in the rhythm, it's hard to stop  :)
I think that being able to fight that 'brick wall' is proof that I am growing mentally. I am developing a toughness that helps me push past the difficult moments and continue so that I can succeed. In turn, that success makes me feel more confident in my running, which in turn develops my mental toughness even more.
If I can keep growing mentally, it will become easier to push past the 'weathers' when I start running outside. I don't have much tolerance for the cold, or wind or heavy rain (hahaha, wow!), and so that is something new I will need to learn to push past. Once I am dealing with that stuff, there will be no time to battling with the running 'brick wall'. There will be enough to deal with when it comes to the 'weathers brick walls'!

Anyway, I have a day off work today and so I must run! Happy Running!!!

Change change change.

Quite a few changes going on in my life. I don't like too much change, especially if it brings a lot of stress. I have taken on a third job because I am sick of stressing about money and have taken more shifts at one of my existing jobs. I am working every day of the week, but for usually no more than 6 hours. It's funny how suddenly it feels like I have no time to workout. Well, it's more like I'm too lazy after a day at work.
I've also still been dealing with student loan issues. They wont give me the money because well ... I won't finish that sentence. But anyway, that has been stressing me out. Though I think I have pretty much given up on that. There is only so much you can take/do before it's just not worth it anymore.

So after my minor quad injury I took a few days off of working out. Then I took an extra two days to get over an ear infection. But thank goodness, I am now back in the gym. I don't seem to have lost too much, though runners itch was back in full swing yesterday. Today's workout was much more productive and without the sensation of ants crawling all over my skin.

When I got off work today, I had a headache, sore feet and was exhausted. But I still very much wanted to workout. And awesomely enough, all those aches and pains went away for the hour I was in the gym  :)   I am now, however, very much ready for a full nights rest!

So hopefully I am back on track with no more interruptions. Onwards and Upwards!

The Changing Routine

 Nothing messes up my workout motivation more than when my routine changes. I don't mean my workout routine, I mean my work/life routine. This week has consisted of a lot of training for new jobs or new positions. The information overload mixed with the general anxiety of something new has left me exhausted to the point where I am ready for bed before 9pm and just want to lay on the couch.
I did manage to get a workout in on Tuesday with Josh. We did the bike for 24 minutes. We were planning on 30 minutes but my right thigh went from being sore to me getting sharp pains extending from my hip down to the middle of my thigh. I guess it's called my quad muscle. I didn't want to risk injury so I stopped. I then just focussed on upper body strength. Then on Wednesday I was training to be a server at the pub and a few times when I was squatting down the sharp pains came back. So I didn't workout yesterday either, though after working two jobs I can't imagine that I would have had the energy!

So for the next few days I am going to take it somewhat easy. I have training for my new job at the Vegan restaurant at 7am for the next 3 days as well as my night job at the pub.Once I have my new work schedule I will settle back in a workout schedule. Though if I am feeling up to it, I will get in a few workouts between now and Monday.

This is just a minor set back. I will be back on track really soon :)

And on the forth day I shall rest ... I can't wait till the seventh.

I woke up this morning with an exhausted body and a few sore muscles after yesterday's run. I wasn't 100% sure if I would workout today but I ate a salad for breakfast just in case. Sure enough 2hours after breakfast I was ready to go.
I decided to do some cross training today. I did 30 minutes on the sit down bike and then some strength training for my abs and obliques as well as some dips and pull-ups for my upper body. Having done that, tomorrow is most definitely a mandatory rest day  :)
May the awesome workouts continue!

Okay ... Where is the pie?!

Because today is Thanksgiving, I figured the gym would be quiet, but to my surprise there were quite a lot of people there. The gym closed at 2:00pm today so I guess anyone that wanted to get a workout in had to do so early in the day.
I went in with the plan to just hit the 'quick start' button on the treadmill  and run until I felt I couldn't go anymore. But I didn't want to over do it so I hit 'manual' instead and entered in 60 minutes. I said to myself that as long as I got to 30 minutes I was good.
So I started with a 2 minute warm-up where I worked my way up to 5mph (12 minute mile). I did that for 30 minutes and then upped the pace to 6mph just for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. I then brought it back down to 5mph and continue until I reached 37 minutes. I was getting a little tired but at this point I knew I could reach the 60 minutes, so I did a 2 minutes and 30 seconds recovery walk at 3.6mph and re-hydrated a little.
The last 20 minutes consisted mainly of 5mph with 2 more sets of 6mph for 2 minutes and 30 seconds and a final cool down for 2 minutes.
As exhausted as I was, I felt accomplished. In 60 minutes, I ran 5miles and burned just over 400 calories. Somewhere just before the 30 minute mark I very much wanted to give up, but I am very glad that I pushed past that because it was clearly psychological. I not once felt out of breath and my legs didn't really burn or feel tired so I know for the future to check all those before calling the workout complete because chances are that it is just psychological and I could very much just keep going.
After that I did just 5 minutes of the rowing machine so that I would feel that I got some upper body work done.

So having done all that .... please pass me the largest slice of pie!!!  ;)

"Hello Motivation, welcome back!"

After a few days of no motivation what-so-ever, I finally enjoyed my workout today. Yesterday ended up being an unplanned rest day during which I napped and just rested on the bed often. The day before, I got to the gym, did 10 sulky minutes on the treadmill and went back home. After all, there is no point in doing something if you're not enjoying it.

Today I woke up feeling tons better and much more positive. With my head stuck in the fridge wondering what to have for breakfast, I remembered about the lady who eats salads for breakfast. We had spinach etc so I decided to give it a shot. And what a pleasant surprise I had when I loved it! It felt refreshing and light and I felt more re-hydrated when I was done. My salad consisted of: baby spinach, peppered turkey, a few pita chips, sliced almonds, dried cranberries, dried apricots, veggie cheese, salt & pepper, topped with a little bit of raspberry walnut vinaigrette. That with a glass of water and I was fully satisfied!

It kept me going all day long! I didnt feel the need to eat again until early evening when I had some fish before work. Once Josh got home we headed to the gym. My day had felt so positive that I expected to have a fantastic workout. I did just 30 minutes on the treadmill. 25 of those minutes were at 5mph and 5 minutes of it were at 6mph. I never actually became out of breath. The 30 minutes were over before I knew it. I then did some strength training for my hips and chest. 

I hope I can have another awesome workout tomorrow. My plan is to run longer!

Fuel!

Along with running, strength training, stretching and resting, EATING RIGHT is very very important. The book I've been reading the book 'Born to Run' which focuses on a tribe in the Barancas called the Tarahumara. They are the 'running people' and have tremendous strength and endurance. It seems (what I am getting from the book) that this is due to their pure love for running, their need to run (after animals or to get from one place to the next), their running gear (sandles) and how they eat!
The Tarahumara eat what most Americans would probably consider bland food. Their diet consists mostly of rice, corn tortilla, beans, pinole and fresh fruit and vegetables. Through eating this way they can run better than most Olympians and don't suffer the ailments of most western civilizations.
So while I am not converting to their diet 100%, I have been incorporating their ideas into my daily meals.

Above is one of my favorites. Whole grain pasta, fresh & lightly sauteed vegetables and some yummy tilapia fish. This and variations of this is a typical lunch for me ... or sometimes dinner depending on my day. 

In the chapter I was reading last night it talked about the idea of eating a salad for breakfast. The reason being that you can eat until you cant eat anymore and still go workout an hour later. You are getting the daily recommendation of veggies right from the get go and something I didn't consider: Vegetables are made up mostly of water, and what better way to rehydrate yourself after 8 hours in bed! So this morning I tried it (my own variation due to the lack of spinach) and this is what I ended up with: 

1/2 red pepper, 1/2 green pepper and some onion roasted for a few minutes with rosemary and garlic. I also added some frozen veggies (heated up of course) and had 1 slice of multi-grain toast with peanut butter. It was pretty good. I had that just about an hour ago and I feel that I would be able to workout now without any problems. Oooooh the art of eating!