Rowing

I am again enjoying the erg. I did the Skeleton Crew challenge in October and currently doing the Holiday Challenge. It is a good incentive to get a little extra workout between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It would be easy to get 100k in but I wanted to keep a running schedule too. My DH has been a great sport about the extra time I have taken on the erg.

I would like to continue to Erg 3x a week into January and February and then use it for my cross training days working up to the Fargo Half Marathon in May.

Boddy Composition After 1 Year

I have been trying to assess body composition every 6 months. I have the tanita scale but it is way off for me. I used to think that I could follow trends if not actual numbers but this too seems to be a false notion.

My Tanita has held me steady at about 30% since summer. So I was surprised and happy to learn that it had dropped from 26% to 24.6% according to the Bod Pod measurement.
I have gained over 4 pounds of muscle since last year and dropped almost 5 pounds of fat. So even though my scale says I haven't improved, I know otherwise.

Injuries

I have been working out regularly this month and still the scale just goes up. It is frustrating to say the least. Ben says that my stomach looks flatter and I guess I agree but the numbers matter to me even though I know it is irrational.

I have been suffering from plantar fasciitis for the last few weeks. I have dropped the treadmill for now. I did a long (4.85 mile)run outside on Sunday but other than that, I have been rowing. I switched to my outside running shoes for everyday wear this week too and that helps a lot. Going barefoot at judo was uncomfortable and I know that my no-support slippers should probably be replaced. I am hoping that the rest will make drastic permanent changes unnecessary.

This week is the "Skeleton Crew" challenge at Concept 2. The goal is to row 31,000 meters in the week before Halloween. Some people did this in one day but 31k is a lot of rowing for me. I was on track until today. I have a dentist appointment and will miss my lunchtime workout. Also, I am pretty sore from the last two days of hard rows. I will try to do a short row tonight at home and make up the other meters another night.

Fargo Half Marathon

I signed up for the Fargo Half Marathon in May 2011. I save a few bucks by registering early and now I am locked in and won't back out.

Paying for Summer

As expected, working out over the summer was difficult.

We rode bike to work many days and took walks to the park but it wasn't enough to maintain conditioning.

I gained back almost 4 pounds and have to begin building up mileage anew. Even with 1 hour lunch hours for the past month it has been difficult. My cholesterol was high and I am subclinical hypothyroid.

Now I am committed to a new beginning. My goal is to run a minimum of 10 miles/ week for the next 6 weeks.

We also installed our weight set in the basement. I am looking forward to lifting and rowing at home - if I can ever find the time.

Half Marathon

Saturday was the Fargo half marathon. I told my family that I planned to run 10:30 miles. It started cool and rainy and I secretly hoped to be a little faster. The first couple of miles were but as the rain stopped and it got warmer and more humid it was harder and harder to keep the pace. I ended up with almost exactly 10:30 miles. 2 hours 17 minutes and 21 seconds.

I was sore and had a long nap on Saturday. Sunday a little less so. Monday it only hurt to take the stairs and today I am back to normal.

The challenge now is to stay in shape now that I can't run over my lunch hour. I would kind of like to do another half marathon in the fall. I am going to do short weight training workouts over lunch.

Training and Rest Days

My half marathon training is going great! I have lost weight and can fit into some of my old clothes and size 6 jeans again. My longest run so far is 7 miles. It was a tough one with 25 mph winds but it felt good.

Today is a rest day. Hal Higdon really knew what he was doing scheduling rest days. I am so happy not to run today but I am looking forward to 8 miles on Friday (Cross training tomorrow.)

I fixed the hitch on my bicycle and now we can commute to school with my little angel in her side car. It is a short trip but a great start to the morning. It doesn't take much more time than driving either!

Fargo Half

I am officially signed up to "Go Far" for the Fargo Half Marathon. I am going to walk the 5K on Friday and run the Half Marathon on Saturday morning. I am hoping to bring as many people with me as I can to walk the 5K.

So far the longest run that I have done is 4 miles.

Fitbit

I got my Fitbit on December 7th and have loved having it. The fitbit is a glorified pedometer that interfaces with their website. It is an incentive to take that few extra steps that leads to success. Monday it died. Nothing has changed in my life - just a loss of a metric but I am anxious to get it replaced.

On the plus side, I am finally seeing some progress in weight loss. I am down almost 2 pounds from last month and almost 5 pounds from September. All I have to say is woo-hoo.

I really want to do the Fargo Half Marathon in May. Long runs are going to be a challenge to schedule but I am thinking a little PTO will extend lunches long enough for a few long runs.