Signed Up For Another Race!

Well, I did it! Last night I registered for the Tobacco Road Half Marathon in March! The race is a local one (in Cary, North Carolina), and a good chunk of the course goes along a section of the American Tobacco Trail in Wake County. One of the biggest plusses for me is that the half marathon has a seven hour time limit! Not that I plan to take seven hours for a half, mind you! It means that the race, which has the same finish line as the full marathon, is walker-friendly! :)

Meanwhile, training at the gym has been going pretty well the past few days, but it's nice to have a race to focus on now. I'm tempted to do some 5Ks now for speed practice (and, truth be told, I love road race mornings!), but I'd be pretty slow right now.

And yes, I am watching the calendar! January 7 is my podiatrist appointment for casting the orthotics! Woohoo!

More Benchmarks Plus Some Running!

I returned to the gym yesterday, and after a 20-minute walk on the treadmill, decided to try my hand at running for just a little bit and see how my right foot and the rest of my body took it. I ran for 5:03 minutes and covered 0.36 miles. Okay, not very far, but it's a start! My foot's okay today, but the rest of my body is slightly sore. After the walking plus running, I was inspired to get back to some work on my core, plus some work with the 7.5 lb dumbbells, as well as some stretching, especially for my quads, hamstrings, and IT bands. I covered a lot of body-ground yesterday, so today's been a nice rest day. :)

Setting a New Bar

I went to the gym late this afternoon for a change (since I started my vacation around Noon-woohoo), and decided to start with the ArcTrainer, an elliptical-like contraption that's pretty challenging for me. I surprised myself by staying on there and moving for a whole hour! It was slow, but it was a good workout to me! When the machine cut off at 60 minutes, I'd completed 2.66 miles. Slow, for sure, but now I have a distance to beat! Feeling pretty good about that! :) All in all, a good endurance workout for me.

(It did remind me that I need to work on my speed this winter too.)

Back in the Gym

Lately, I've been putting rest days between my workouts, but since we have a chance of inclement weather in the morning, I decided to hit the gym again this morning. Thanks to another stationary bike ride, I have a weekly total of 11.75 miles so far! Okay, so it wasn't as challenging to hit 10 miles for the week as I thought it would be. I am eager to get my base back up, though, partly because I want to be as physically ready for running as I can be. We'll see.

So, tomorrow's a rest day, then I'll have Friday through Sunday to add some miles.

New Goals

Last week's cardio goal was a success, as I was shooting for 10 miles of crosstraining and ended up with 17.94 miles of walking, biking, and ArcTrainer (elliptical thing). Saturday's workout was the best sweat I've worked up since the Outer Banks Half Marathon, and it really felt good.

An artic blast is whipping through my area now, so it's going to challenge my motivation to get to the gym in the mornings, and out for walk breaks in the afternoon. I'm going to shoot for another 10 miles this week, then. Soon, though, I'm going to push for 20 miles of crosstraining as my base.

In other news, I have another appointment with the podiatrist on January 7, this time to be fit for custom orthotics! I'm excited that this is finally going to happen! I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be running again in the next month or so. Running, how I've missed ye!

On My Way Back

It another 30-minute bike ride at the gym this morning, and hit 5.17 miles, helping me get to 10.17 miles of cardio for the week. My goal for the week was to hit 10 miles of cardio for the week, so it feels good to surpass the 10 mile mark with a couple of days to go in the workout week (Monday through Sunday for me). Yes, 10 miles in an hour's worth of biking is pretty easy when you think about it, but part of it, for me, is getting back into the swing of exercise after the half marathon and other things.

Body-wise, my achilles tendon is still a little tender, so I'm going to continue to take it fairly easy, and just work on building my endurance base back up. Speedwork will need to return to my routine soon, maybe after the first of the year.

A New Week

I usually like new beginnings, and Monday always starts the beginning of a new workout week for me. Since Saturday was my birthday, it still feels like a new year for me. Then there's the new work week. :) I'm feeling pretty darn tired this morning from the weekend's festivities, which included my birthday party Saturday night, and the end-of-season Galloway party last night, but am looking forward to the week ahead.

I didn't quite achieve last week's goal of 10 miles of cardio training, but I am down 1.4 pounds since December 1, so I'm pleased enough with that progress. I'm shooting for 10 miles of cardio again this week, in addition to drinking more water!

Does Housework Count?

George and I are getting ready for a party at our place Saturday night, so I've been getting a pretty good workout cleaning the apartment over the past few days! Last night I had a marathon session with a Hoover SteamVac (after vacuuming with a regular vacuum cleaner), and I'm feeling it today! I know that housework isn't a true replacement for cardio and strength training, but it burns off a few calories, I know! :)

In other news, I weighed in yesterday, and my goal is to lose 5 pounds this month of birthday and holiday celebrations. I'll let you know how it goes! I plan to sign up for another half marathon after Christmas, and I want to be ready. Losing weight will help, that's for sure!