Pre-Race Day

It felt good to sleep in my own bed last night, and to go to my regular gym this morning! Vacation was great--don't get me wrong!! But, it's nice to return to my regular routine a bit.

I ended up going a little longer than I meant to on the treadmill, 25 minutes for 2.02 miles at a 1% incline. It felt good to run, but I finally made myself stop! To round things out, I rode on the recumbent bike for 6 minutes and 1.02 miles.

After the workout, I went to the ladies restroom, and low and behold, there was a WIG hanging from one of the hooks! It caught me by surprise, to say the least! :D

From there, I went to Cary to get my Weight Watchers weigh-in for the week in. I usually go to meetings near work during the week, but since I missed this past Wednesday, and that location is on the other side of Durham from where I live, the Cary location turned out to be closer. According to the scales, I'm down 3.2 lbs from my last weigh-in about a week and a half ago! Mind you, this time I was in workout clothes and hadn't eaten anything today, and when I weigh in after work, I'm in work clothes and jewelry, and have had a couple of meals by the time I weigh in. So, probably not much of a difference, really, but okay since I've been on vacation.

Tomorrow's the race I've been working toward for months, the City of Oaks Half Marathon. I'm excited, and pretty nervous! I'm going to the expo in a while, which should be fun. I've never been in a race big enough to have an expo. Wow.

Vacation Exercise

George and I have returned from a surprisingly active vacation in Winston-Salem! On Saturday, I got up early and hit the hotel fitness center's treadmill and ended up running 10.31 miles in 2:28:09, a 14:21 pace. For me, that's pretty good! I did more running than walking, instead of doing my usual walk 1/run 1 minute for long runs, because I was in a hurry to finish the 10 miles on my marathon training schedule. I ended up overshooting the 10 miles because I ended up doing the running in segments. (First I had to make a pit stop, then the treadmill would only go 65 minutes, then my paper training log slid off the ledge on the treadmill and got caught in the little red "stop" cord, which made the treadmill stop after 4 minutes and change, stuff like that.)

After that, my legs were pretty tired, but George and I set off for Pilot Mountain State Park. There, we started down an easy path with several scenic overlooks (and chances to rest!). When we came upon a sign for another trail, a "moderate" 0.8 mile loop, George was eager, so I agreed. On THAT trail, we came across yet another trail sign that marked a 2-mile "strenuous" trail. George was beside himself to do it, saying he wanted some strenuous exercise like I'd already had, and he wanted me to come along. I balked in a major way, but finally agreed to go along. Boy, was it strenuous! I thought I was in decent shape, but learned a lot about my legs and 10-mile runs followed by hiking. I was pretty uncomfortable by the end of the hike, and was thankful for an offer of water from another hiker along the trail. I was glad to make it to the end, and learned something about my mental as well as physical stamina.

I didn't get up early to exercise yesterday morning, but George and I visited Old Salem in Winston-Salem yesterday afternoon, and though it entailed more walking, it was informative and delightful, really. My legs and whole body were still tired from Saturday, but I'm glad I did it.

This morning, still in Winston-Salem, I got up early and headed out for a run, but my legs just didn't have it in them. I tried several times to get going, but it just wasn't in the cards. I ended up walking 2.54 miles in 50 minutes around part of the Wake Forest University campus. I'll try running again tomorrow.

Treadmill Run

Eventhough I'm on vacation, I got up just a little later than usual, and headed for the gym. I did 30 minutes on the gym to warm up, then hopped on the treadmill for 30 minutes. It felt so good I bumped up the speed, as well as the incline, and clocked 2.55 miles! Granted, it helps some having the treadmill belt pulling you along. Still, I'll take the 11:45 avg. pace (no walk breaks!) today.

Thinking about running a Friday race. Suggestions from my North Carolina readers are welcome!

Meanwhile, I'm off to explore the NC countryside in an effort to visit some more counties on my North Carolina Odyssey Project. I'll be posting pictures and what not on that blog soon.

Back from vacation

My week of restful vacation is over! It's nice to be back in a more normal routine, though, I must admit. I did keep up with daily exercise last week, but also took a nap nearly every day. Boy, did that feel great!

This morning I was back ont he elliptical machine for 50 minutes.