Splurt.

A good runner will take care of her wounds, nay- will get ahead and prevent these injuries from happening.

I got a blood blister on Thursday. It was horrific. Big, bubbly and blood red. Tell me why I didn't even see this coming? I don't know.

I'm going to guess this happened because of my socks. And my worn out shoes.

On my quest to getting fit / healthy / athletic picture. Jul 30, 2011. (Yeah, I'm a dork. :P )

Reminder to self: Get new shoes (Go to NIKE!). Look up Sugoi Apparel in Vancouver for socks and sports bra.

My training program starts in August; It's a 18 week long program. I've tweaked the original Tom Holland's program to adjust to my fitness level. Lengthened the miles and added more core workouts (to strengthen my abs and lower back for better running form/gait/endurance).

Quitting ALL negative habits starting august 1st. I'd stop this weekend but this weekend is very important to me and my best friend. Birthday bash all weekend so over indulgence may be required.

xoxo

Back to my old roots (pun intended)

After talking to my friend / marathon and training mentor online along with some more expected research, I'm beginning to comprehend the clockwork and the motor of my body: What works for me and what doesn't. The body really doesn't work in mysterious ways; If you feed it the right amount of fuel and deliver the right training, you can reap the rewards of learning more about your body and fixing mistakes along the way.

This running process has given me a lot of insight; It has provided me with the recollections of the mistakes that I've made such as punishing my body for frivolous and unrealistic goals (ie. naive weight loss goals).

In fact, it's amazing to me, even today, that I can pull myself out of bed at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning to go running, despite how I feel (emotionally).
Wait, no. I take that back. I look FORWARD to my runs almost every day. Yes, I used to have days when I thought I COULD compensate for it by doing a harder workout the next day.
No. It doesn't work like that.
I've lightened emotional burden (negative thoughts regarding eating and weight loss), rid myself of bad habits that resulted in an abused body and made things simpler and healthier. It really isn't so hard.

Training 

Wednesday
- 2.68 miles in total
- Ran 2.18 miles in 21:43 minutes with 1 minute of walking in between miles

Thursday
- Rest day

Friday
- 2.18 miles in total
- Ran 2.13 miles in 21:17 minutes with 1 minute of walking in between miles
- 30 regular crunches
- 30 bicycle crunches
- 8 girl push-ups

Nutrition

I'm having a hard time adjusting my diet. I have some off days but my days are usually affixed to a vegan diet. I haven't gotten too far into researching about how many calories and how many servings I should eat as a runner.

This is what I have gathered so far:

- 2 servings of meat/meat alternatives

- 2 servings of dairy

- 4 servings of fruit

- 5 servings of vegetables

- 11 servings of grain

- 2 servings of fat

- 1 serving of sugar

Will figure this out soon enough as I run many more miles. If anyone has any suggestions / advice, I'll eagerly take them.

It's been a long day (with work, hair change, marketing information) so I'm off to bed.

Good night, world.

Thanks for reading.

A week of firsts

My apologies for being the worst blogger.

What can I say, I've been busy. Working non stop, getting reading in as much as possible and running.

Exercise/Training

Two reasons why I've been going crazy lately. One, I still have not been able to formulate a training program for the half marathon. Albeit, I have been running consistently and I am proud to admit that I can now run 2.0 - 3.0 miles without looking like I'm going to die.
Two, I've been so triggered lately with food. I can't seem to get these damn thoughts out of my head. I will confess, I did screw up a couple of days ago but... I think I'm okay now.
I am in the process of severing the ties with my eating disordered thoughts / actions that  suffocate me so.

This week has been motivating so far, running/workout wise.
Monday:
- ran 2.0 miles at a comfortable pace of 6.0 - 6.7 mph @ incline 4%
- 40 crunches / bicycle crunches
- 5 girl push ups

Tuesday:
- ran 3.25 miles at a comfortable pace of 6.0 - 6.4 mph @ incline 4.5%
- 40 crunches / bicycle crunches
- 5 girl push ups

After work today, I'm going to probably run another 2.0 but increase my speed. And more push ups and crunches today.

Loving this: Ari Gold. Ari Gold. Ari Gold.

Seriously, what's not to love?

HALT.

Last night was wonderful.

Vintage antique shopping followed by some much needed girl time with my girl, N. N decided to use up the last bit of her chicken for the dinner (great idea) and finish the batch of baby potatoes (greater idea !). N cooking? This means one thing: high anticipation for all involved.

Great conversations, yummy nibbles (thanks to my guacamole and N's fabulous onion marinade chicken and potatoes) and fabulous company.

Sounds like a friggin' good night to me, no?

Exercise / Training

Running has been going extremely well. I have seen a lot of progress in stamina and endurance. I'm trying my best to incorporate weight training in my regime as well to strengthen all of the major muscle groups (especially the legs and back/arms).
This will improve my performance immensely.

I ran from monday to wednesday, did a cross fit exercise (cycling) on thursday and had a full rest yesterday. Back to running today. I'm thinking about a long and moderate run for the evening after work. (Moderate meaning keeping my heart rate at 164-178).

I'm also VERY excited to use this audio coaching program my friend, Jon, sent me the other day. I love that I found him on twitter and kept pestering him with questions. :P
It paid off in the end and he's provided me with a great deal of knowledge/information about running. Thanks Jon!

Whatever evenings

It's been a very busy week. Figuring things out for school, work and other personal things I needed to take care of.

For the past month or so, I've noticed that I've been drinking more often (and maybe too much in too little time) than I should be.

After a certain even from last week, I decided to cut back on the cocktails and resort to two or three glasses (not full, mind you) of wine/two cocktails maximum.
Happy hours are good though, like the one I planned for this friday with my darling forever-lovely friend, N.

I'm also very happy to note that things have been going well with the non-disordered eating. I've been counting less and less of the calories that I consume.

Loving this: After school finishes, I think I'll move away. Far, FAR away.