Rose Bowl Loop - 3.3 miles @ Pasadena, CA

 I ran the 3.3 mile loop at the Rose Bowl, averaged about 9 mins/mile! I still can't believe I can consistantly keep up that pace now. I remember when a 12 min mile was zooming fast for me. :)

Down over 80 pounds since I started in July 2011. And yesterday for the first time ever... I did 25 pushups in a row! Straight back, strong arms! Woot! If I can do it, anyone can. I used to taste blood walking a 15 min mile, back when I was a teenager. Now look at moi!

Do it!!!!

V

Oh Yeah.....

(I won this mug in a race!!!!)

Not to brag... but I ran 14 muthafocking miles this week!!!!

Oh yeah, and did I mention that I came in 2nd place in my weight class in the Fat Boy 5K??? With a PR, no less! 31:23 
I won a mug (see pic on the left) and a trophy! Trophy pics coming soon!!!!

Oh Yeah!!!!

Great Run Sunday!

(This is the kind of terrain we have been enjoying at Mary's)

Wow. Today's run was so awesome. It was the 30 min EZ run day today on the 10K training calendar. So me, Max, Lucy Dog and Max's mom Mary went for a gorgeous 2 mile jog. Mary is just starting to run, and Max and I were blown away with her 2 miles @ 13min/min pace. She's a rockstar! (And she has the tattoos to match!)

We're visiting Mary in Hood River, Oregon. Hood River is a mountainous place, so Max and I have finally gotten a crack at running on hills. In NOLA, the closest you get to a hill is running up one of the levees. :-)

The air is so fresh here... and the views! Oy! I promise to take a picture of the snowcapped mountains we can see when we run so all y'all suckers in the humidity can feel some of the coolness we are basking in. You're welcome!

10K Training

Hello World! Sorry for the long lapse in communication, but I've been on the road for a couple months. We've stopped (for now) in Hood River, Oregon!

I'm back now, and running my butt off! Max and I have decided to train for a 10K. There isn't actually a 10K on the horizon for us, but we figure if we start training for that, it'll be easy to do the jump to a half marathon in the spring. If we end up back in NOLA, we will do the Rock n Roll Half Marathon.

Here's our week's training and how we've done so far:

2 miles @ 11:50 mph

Ran 2 miles this AM with Max and Lucy Dog. My leg muscles were so tight that it was hard to get moving, but by the last mile I was almost 100%. Glad I didn't opt to sleep in another hour instead.

I suppose it's because I upped my miles slightly, but I have been getting beaten down by my runs lately. They've lost that "yay" feeling and are back to feeling like "why?????"

The good news is that I have a 5K on Saturday that's keeping me motivated. If I beat my PR, I'll want to train hard for the next race on the 27th. If I don't beat my PR, I'll want to train hard for the next race on the 27th.

It's the motivation version of win-win. :)

3 miles @ 6mph

I am getting faster!!! I can't believe I'm actually running a 10 minute mile consistently now! I was stuck at 12 mph for so long!

The secret is Max. He's stupid fast and his stupid fastness is rubbing off on my plain stupidness.

Or, what I meant to say was: Max's speeds pushed me to keep up with him. And even though I still can't keep up with him, I am running faster. I guess I wasn't pushing myself hard enough to go faster before!

3 miles @ WTF MPH

Did 3 miles before work today.

Am I the only one who wants to kill the Nike+ app sometimes? And I'm not even hating it because of the sucky GPS (I'm pretty sure that's NOLAs fault...?)

I'm mad at Nike+ app today because before my run, I purposefully went into settings and changed it so that clicking on my headphones would pause my workout (so I could eliminate the minutes from my workout where I'm just waiting for Lucy Dog to do her business) and yet BOOM, I go to pause the workout when Lucy needs to pee and TA-DA! no pause. So now my MPH are all fucked. I swear, I don't run an 11:30 mile anymore! I'm better than that!

I went to run 3 this AM to prep for the two 5Ks I have coming up, but now I have no way of knowing if I was going faster or not. Thanks, Nike.

I guess if I compare the Nike+ app to the Nike+ website it's a dream come true, though. For a company that loves Apple, they have the clunkiest Flash website of all time.

They keep promising a new, better, faster, smarter website...

Still waiting, guys!

ED NOTE: Turns out the reason it wasn't working is because I put my phone to sleep before I put it in my nike running shorts pockets. Still stupid.

2 miles @ 5.6 mph

Woke up and went for a run with Lucy this morning. Even though I didn't want to get out of bed, I reminded myself that I would regret it all day if I didn't run. Max is injured (calves, as usual) so that made it even harder to justify getting out of bed and running...

I got myself out of bed, though, and had one of the best runs ever! I felt great. I can really feel my legs getting stronger and faster.

Lucy and I got back home panting and sweating, respectively, and then I showered, got dressed, poured Max and myself coffee, made whole wheat pancakes, ate breakfast, did my makeup and listened to the Stern show.

Life is good.

2 miles @ 10mph

Another good morning run. Getting in to a routine is the difference between success and failure. The more days in a row Max and I get out of bed and run the more likely we are to continue the streak.

Felt good today, although Max and I were both feeling a little sluggish. Personally, I was held back by the heat. Max was held back by his calves. Even though we've been using The Stick on him, they were still tensing up. So the plan is for him to really stretch and massage them all day today, and then we'll take tomorrow off so he's in good shape for the 5K Étouffée race this Sunday in Audubon Park.  

2.18 Miles @ 6mph

Max, Lucy and I did 2.18 miles this morning along the Mississippi River. Lucy got to try out her new doggie backpack. Of course, she loved it! She loves getting suited up for runs. And obviously, because she is the best dog ever, she got lots of smiles from passing strangers!

Max and I felt great on the run even though it was freaking HOT at 7a. I surprised Max by buying him The Stick. That thing is magical! His calves and my Achilles were calm during our run after using The Stick last night and this AM before the run. Magical, I tells ya!

I tried adding tempo to my run today. I ran 'comfortably hard' for the first 3/4 mile. Felt good. I'm doing a 10 min mile consistently now, which is awesome considering in August I was running a 13 or 14 min mile.

Now I'm chasing down a 9 min mile.

1 Mile

Max and I got our asses out of bed at 7a and did an easy 1 mile jog today. It was our first run since the race on Sunday.

We ran to the park and let Lucy off the leash for a bit. Lucy is the best.

I was/am having pain in my left achilles. It's been really tight since the 5K.

Max's calves can give him trouble, and they were definitely talking to him this morning. He speed walked most of it while I jogged next to him.

Max is an amazingly fast walker. We were going at a 12/mile. That used to be fast for me. Now? It's my easy pace. Progress!

My First Race - 5K, okay!

Max, Lucy and I ran in our first 5K race on Sunday, the Run, Forrest, Run Bubba Gump 5k. It was exhilarating! Here's how it went down:

The night before, I set out all my race clothes. 

(Two bras. Nike hasn't figured out a way to cease my jiggle with just one.)

(Flash! Reflective!)

Sign in started at 7a, race at 8:30a. The cool thing was that the race was in our neighborhood, so we didn't have to wake up too early on a Sunday. I woke up at 6:30a and hopped in the shower. I hadn't shaved my legs in a couple days, and if I was going to be seen in public in my running shorts I needed to get my gams looking good!

 After I got out of the shower, I got dressed and made Max and myself each a slice of dry wheat toast. Our nerves definitely got the better of our appetites! Max couldn't even finish his slice.

As Max, Lucy and I were walking to the race, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. I had never been so excited to run in my life!

Ironically, signing in to the race was the easy part. We were all set by 7:15a. I forgot to take pictures of the race sign in booth, so use your imagination. It looked like a tent with a folding table under it. It was awesome.

The hard part about getting ready for the race was making Lucy do her 'business'.... yeah. Here's the thing about running with Lucy: she'll stick to my side or Max's side like a pro. She is great about weaving in and out of crowds. The one problem is she's basically a horse so if you don't make sure she goes #2 before the run, she will run and crap at the same time. The LAST thing we wanted was to be the people who let their dog crap on the route. Can you imagine?! Oy vey.

So Max and I walked Lucy around the block for 45 minutes damn waiting for that stubborn girl to go! I think she was aware that we were about to take part in something because normally her morning walks are about 15 minutes long. She never takes that long! It was kind of funny, looking back on it. Max and I wanted to go stretch and get warmed up, but the longer Lucy didn't go, the more frustrated we were getting. Finally, she did her dirty sinful business and we were able to get stretched and ready to go.

(Max and I just before the race started)

(I tried to get a nice picture of Max and Lucy before the race, but Pervy McHandsInHisPants ruined it!)

(Dude, you're so gonna become a meme...)

Friday Weigh In for 4/27/12

(Scary face for vulnerable blogging)

Weekly Loss: 1 lb
Total Loss: 41.2 lbs
lbs left to lose: 58.8
Miles Run this Week: 4.4
Power 90 workouts: Done 3 of 3!

Goals for next week:
Lose 1.5 lbs, Run 10 miles

Confession:

Max and I fell out of running for a couple weeks, and we're just starting to get back into the swing of things. But we had a good reason, and we were still staying active:

I wrote a play and it was just produced in New Orleans (yay!). Max also worked on the play as the composer and sound designer. This means that as soon as I finished up at my normal job (where I work in TV for 60 hours a week), Max and I would then ride our bikes 3.5 miles each way to rehearsals and performances.

This took up all of our nights and weekends for three weeks straight. We were getting home at 11 or 12 at night, and were getting to sleep around 1 or 2am. There's no way in hell Max and I could do all of that and still wake up at 6:45a to run.

So we fell out of it. But we're back now, and gearing up for the 5k this weekend. Yes, I wish we had gotten in a few more miles this week in advance of the race, but we're still doing P90 which is strengthening our legs and our cores, so that's something. Something awesome.

Next week, my goal is to lose 1.5 lbs and run 10 miles.

Run, Val, Run!

I've become something of a runner in recent months. Or maybe something like a runner is more accurate... okay, okay (I see you giving me the side eye, Max!) I have become something of a JOGGER, because let's be honest... 6mph isn't running.

(At my heaviest last summer, with my Mama on July 4th)

It started in the summer of 2011 when I was at my all-time heaviest weight. I decided I was unhealthy, uncomfortable, and ready to change my lifestyle for good. In the past I had done the crash diet thing to lose weight, but that's not a healthy or sustainable solution.

So Max and I decided to begin a workout routine. We started by doing laps in North Hollywood park. Ah, yes- memories! Between the dust in the air (kicked up from the dirt track  by all our fellow joggers) to the smog (the park is quaintly nestled against the 170 freeway- I mean literally between two off-ramps) it was not the most luxurious place to work out our lungs. But it did the trick. We went to that park 3-5 times a week and got stronger, faster, and fitter as the summer went on. At first, I couldn't even jog for a quarter mile. Of course Max is a super human and... you know... wasn't obese... so he could run much longer and faster than I could. After a few months of sticking to it, though, I was up to running 2 miles straight, averaging about 12 or 13 minutes per mile.

Oh, side note and fun story: One time when we were crossing the street to get to the park, Tommy Lee pulled a U-turn and almost hit us! It was so cool. :-P

Cut to today: