kaqphin (Super Cat's) Mentor group - CLOSED (Page 17)

Hurray For Running in the Snow!!

Woke up to several inches of snow and it was till coming down. Almost talked myself out of going on the group run, knowing most people wouldn't show-- but I got my rear out there at 7:30 and my friend who's training for the half marathon came out. It was a lot of fun. She ran slower than her usual pace and suggested a 5 min run 1 walk. It still felt pretty hard and I had a hard time finding my lungs, but thanks to Brit and all you guys I am smiling and thinking: Hey, I got to go for a run in the snow!! Lucky me!

As soon as it warms up a few degrees and starts to rain this afternoon the winter wonderland will be gone but here's what it looks like right now.

Or us Aussies.... its never snowed anywhere Ive lived.....

Ok so I have a further question.... we have all been talking about what we eat but what and when do people aim for?

One of the things I always find hard is putting it all together... especially around work leaving time which is danger time for me (5-6ishpm is when I seem to be most likely to eat junk!)

I try to eat like this:

B: Smoothie usually, occassionally Peanut Butter on Toast

S: Fruit with a coffee (treat) or hot chocolate

L: Fruit salad and yoghurt, Toasted sandwich or salad with protein, dinner leftovers, baked potato (on the weekends), WW meal

S: Dried Apricots, Muesli Bar, 100 cal chip snack, rice crackers, cruskits more fruit or sometimes a Pria Bar etc

D: varies a lot but some of my favourites are : Steak and salad, Baked potato with a bit of light sour cream, Lean Roast (sometimes just the vegies!), Fajitas, WW Lasagne, Chicken and Egg Salad,

S: Sometimes 70 cal ice cream slice, FF mousse or one of the snacks Ive mentioned above...

I do wonder if I need an extra snack in there though.. because I so often end up eating more and differenty to what I planned... maybe a snack would stop the 5-6pm issues!

mm your snacks sound tasty Kat. microwave popcorn is one of my favorite snacks and had some with diet coke an hour ago (better than binging on sweets!!) and am still counting down the minutes til dinner is served. 

Melissa I'm a california girl.. Last year I went around telling everyone it was the first time snow ever came to me!  this is the first snowfall I've seen all winter (was out of town for the other two).  I don't think I could survive anywhere where the snow last for more than a day or two.  Never want to be anywhere where I have to shovel my driveway!

For all of you gladiators with the mental fortitude to do your bike rides on a trainer I doubly salute you!!! 

I broke down and bought one last weekend because they called for a massive storm (which mostly fizzled). Pulled it out day. Set up a movie i rented pushed play... and lasted 20 minutes.  So bored!!!  and I couldn't get my heart rate up and couldn't get my cadence up to its usual- everything just felt wrong! Just couldn't do it!
So i think it will go back to the store since I don't mind riding in any and all kinds of rain storms, and the snow only comes in for a few days at a time so I can wait it out. But to those of you who have made friends with your handy drainers I am in awe of your greatness.

excited2tri - 2008-01-31 1:07 AM Trainers are a little hard to get used to.  But once you do, it is all good.  Mostly, the reason I ride on my trainer is convenience and two, I am entirely too chicken to go ride on the roads.  I hear about too many bikers getting hit and killed by cars, people throwing things at you, etc.  I am nice and safe in my living room on my trainer. 

Just dont forget you have to learn how to handle a bike too!

I use mine for similar reasons... I live on a major traffic arterial so during the week its a time saver!!!

The boredom... yeah I found that initially.. but you do learn to cope... although its always going to be a bit mind numbing...

The trainer is more efficient than the road in some regards though because there is no down hills, no coasting... you are CONSTANTLY pedalling!

For those of us participating in the January Challenge... How did we do?

I just looked over my stats and realized that in all of 2007 when I started really swimming and keeping track after surgery I swam a grand total of 41,000meters in 14 hours! 

In January of 2008 alone I swam 30,000m in under 11 hours! I am blown away with myself right now!

this caused a moment of reflection:  4 months ago I could swim 1000m swimming but any longer than that felt like a huge barrier to cross.  At the beginning of december 2000m seemed like a huge barrier.  At the beginning of january 3000m felt like a huge barrier.  By the second half of this month most of my swims were over 2000m and I swam 3000m workouts twice!  WOW... just wow!! 

I hope everyone's January was equally satisfying! 

WOW!!! WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT!!!!!

Proves that anything is possible!!! CONGRATULATIONS!

Great job on the 2.2 pound weight loss this week!  I know you will hit your goal.  I am looking forward to getting into the 140's (and then out of them a few weeks later )!  Hopeully next week. 

January was good for me.  Not quite the consistency that I wanted to hit workout, but will work on that for Feb.  I did do well in my eating, better than I thought.  So for the past 30 days, there has been no fast food, no soda (excpet for 1 coke zero maybe every other day and only if I had my 75 ounces of water) no alcohol, and kept my calories between 1,200 - 1,500.  I did lose 6.8 ounds in 4 weeks, so not too bad, I guess I was hoping for a little more with all that I gave up.  Will keep at it and see where Feb brings me!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. 

Overall I am happy with January.  My training has been REALLY consistent and not only are things feeling easier but I am recovering a lot faster!!!

My diet on the other hand will have to be my focus for February!  Overall for January I actually gained a pound. HOWEVER- pulling out the tape measure I actually lost an inch from my waist, and inch from my hips, and a half an inch on each thigh!  And I am definitely seeing more muscle definition in my arms, shoulder and back thanks to all the swimming and being good about doing weights for the last week and half.  So body composition is improving and have more lean muscle mass but I WILL work on melting down that fat layer.

Avoiding the stress eating will be a goal for February... last night my computer completely crashed and I at a t least a half dozen cupcakes...

February focus:
1) EATING WELL!!!
2) RUNNING!
3) Maintaining swim and bike endurance.
And for the first two weeks I want to work on improving my speed before easing off to prep for my sprint in march.

Feb. 16th- 8.5km run and my first race ever!! 

January was pretty good for me running wise.  I really accomplished more with the 1/2 Marathon and my training runs than I could've possibly imagined. I hope that carries through the marathon.  I missed some bikes and swims I should've done, but at the same time my running has been my focus cause I've been planning on this marathon for over a year.  I didn't eat nearly as healthy as I should have. I didn't necessarily eat a lot of bad food, just possibly too much good food. 

Anyhow, Feb focus is fully on the Marathon up till 17 Feb, and then it'll totally move to focusing on biking/swimming with maintaining my run fitness.  I also am focusing more on my core/lifting time as I haven't been as disciplined with it as I want to be. 

Avoiding stress eating is important, I agree with Jeni on this one.

So for Feb:
1. Conquer my first marathon, the Austin Marathon (3:40-3:45 goal, if I can do 3:40 I Boston Qualify) on 17 Feb.
2. Get outside on the bike more
3. Miss NO swim workouts
4. Get in 3 core/abs workouts a week
5. Apply my workout discipline to my house! Argghh.

TexasMPGal - 2008-02-03 6:34 AM BTW- I got my first "hardware" today when I won Overall Female Finisher for the Ft. Hood Great 5K today...the trophy is ridiculously huge that it made me laugh!

Hooray for hardware!!! Hope you have somewhere to put it! 

GREAT JOB on the five km.  You've earned a few hard core stickers for fighting the weather.  I overindulged at a cocktail party friday and missed my club ride saturday morning.  By saturday night I was feeling human again and bored so decided to go for a run at 8:30pm. (who is this person that I've become who thinks "lets go for a run saturday night!"- I don't know, but I kind of like it!) ended up running along what will be the run portion of a sprint and had a great time.  Ran faster than my usual pace.. and then just kept going and did my longest run ever! Had a great ride today too.

And a story from today:  My grad residence is fielding a team for the Vancouver Sun Run in April.  It's a 10km run that well over 50,000 people participate in (that's like a quarter of the city!!) So I'm signed up and paid. But my coached ride this morning conflicted with a group run and breakfast.  A friend gave me a bad time at dinner for missing the run and I responded that I went for a bike ride instead. He asked why they didn't see me, and I said I left an hour before the run started. So he said I should have come to breakfast and I said "well, I was still on my bike at that time."  He started to do the math and asked curiously "so how long did you ride?"  I said "85km, I got back at 2".  Well his jaw hit the floor!!  Sitting next to him was a friend who I passed near the end of my ride while she was out on a walk. She bikes quite a bit and is in amazing shape and she said "Really?... Truthfully?..." I nodded. She countinued "Like I believe you, but that's just awesome."  The other friend was still picking his jaw up off the floor and was at a complete loss for words.

It was at that moment that I felt like an athlete.  (especially since I was so happy with my workouts)

Brit - congrats on the hardware!  Enjoy it!  Very well deserved.

Melissa - congrats on the 5k!  Way to stick it out and finish!  You are the definition of an athlete my friend.... 

Jeni - Rock on with your 85km ride!  It is always fun to make people's jaw drop.    I think that is so great.  And you are not nuts to go for a run on Saturday night.  I went for a run Sat evening, at about 5:30 myself. 

I think everyone is just doing an outstanding job.  Thanks to this group, I have been more dedicated to my eating and training habits then I have ever been before.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Everyone have a great week! 

I really love your story.... try to rememer how yuo feel right now becuase not many people could do the ride you did today!!! Congratulations!!!

I get that feeling with swimming... I like to occassionally just swim for an hour or an hour and a half... and I love the reaction when someone says how far did you swim.. .and I say 4.5kms... its a pretty cool experience....

Now if the torrential rain and storms will stop sometime this week I might even get into the pool sometime!