Muscle Memory

Okay, the formal definition of Muscle Memory, at least according to Google, is: motor memory: your memory for motor skills.  In my case it's more like 'remembering muscles I forgot I had'.

You may have noticed that I haven't posted race recaps for the first three races in the Great Lakes Running Series.  That's because I didn't do them.  After I got back from France, work went from crazy to batshit crazy, the weather went to crap, and the holidays hit.  In short: I didn't train, therefore I didn't race.  I should have known that trying to work around 50 hours a week, train, and keep my assorted family commitments was a recipe for disaster.  It's not like I haven't had this problem before.  So here I am: work has calmed down immensely and I'm working closer to 40 hours a week, the holidays are over, and I haven't done much in the way of exercise in about 2 months. I'm about 4 1/2 pounds over my happy weight and about 7 1/2 pounds over my "fighting weight".  Oh...and the Expo Run  is on January 27th.  Clearly I have my work cut out for me.  This week is all about getting back in the habit of being aware of what I'm eating and why I'm eating it (damn you delicious holiday cookies) and ramping up my level of physical activity - essentially another Wiggle War. I'm really not expecting a PR from the Expo Run, but I'd like to finish without completely embarrassing myself!

So this week I've gone back to tracking calories in vs. calories out (I'll probably post a review of the app I'm using if I decide to stick with it), making a point to drink more water, attempting to get on a decent sleep schedule, and trying to spend less time on the couch and more time moving my butt!

Here's a little breakdown of my week:

Monday, December 31: 40 minute Sun Salutation/Yoga Flow DVD.  Discover exactly how much flexibility has been lost since ceasing in-studio practice several months ago and how much I miss yoga.

Tuesday, January 1: Alternate house-cleaning and couch-laying on last vacation day for a while.  Whine about delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) from above yoga flow.  Vow to practice yoga more often.

Wednesday, January 2: Back to work.  Park self in chair at 8am. Get up only to microwave soup and refill water bottle.  Get home with every intention of working out, but then get one of those phone calls that leaves only one acceptable course of action: drink wine.

Thursday, January 3: Get home from work. Contemplate driving to indoor track since it's a frigid 19 degrees outside.  Opt for bike trainer/strength workout DVD in the basement. Struggle to complete it.  Experience jello-legs immediately.  Feel good about having done it - even if it kicked my ass!

Friday, January 4: I never pay attention to how many times a day I get up to run to the printer/copier/water cooler until I have sore legs. Apparently I am a human Jack-In-A-Box.  Realize at 4:30pm that I'd gotten so caught up in a project that I never ate lunch. Consider gnawing on office furniture.  Arrive home, order pizza, and proceed to spend the rest of the night with Mr. R&R sorting through the guest room closet (aka: miscellaneous catch-all space) and drinking wine.

Saturday, January 5: It's a sunny, reasonably warm (34 degrees), not too windy day. Pile on layers and go for a 3 mile run for the first time in...well...too damned long.  The first 1 1/2 miles feel pretty good.  The last 1 1/2 miles are hellacious: uphill, into a bitter cold wind that has sprung up out of nowhere...and some jerk who didn't think that city shoveling ordinances applied to them, thus leading to running over a large patch of ice.  Crawl through door feeling thoroughly humbled.  I'm pretty sure a septueagenarian with a limited mobility could have out-run me today.  There's only one way to fix it: Quit slacking, suck it up, and RUN!

Sunday, January 6: Wake up to a thin sheet of ice covering every flat surface in sight and quads that feel absolutely shredded.  After a near death experience on the aforementioned ice while walking a bag of trash 15 feet from the back door to the bin, determine that today is a lost cause since I don't want to walk on the ice, much less drive or run on it!  Continue guest room cleaning project, bake egg muffins as a grab and go breakfast for the next week, make lunch for Monday and Tuesday, and generally spend the day getting my metaphorical ducks in a row.

And there you have it...my week in a nutshell.  Was it perfect? No.  Was it better than the 8 weeks before it? Hell, yes! 

Wiggle War Recap: Week 4

Is it just me, or did January fly by? I'm a solid month into my Wiggle War and overall, I'm pretty pleased.

Total Weight Lost: Approximately 6 lbs.
Total Miles Run: 38.38 Miles
Races: 1 ( I refuse to call the Tundra Challenge a race)
Race PR's: 1
Number of Active Days: 20 (the goal was 24)
Pants: Fitting Much Better
Injuries: 1 (nagging muscle strain in the back of my left leg - fine when I run, hurts like a beast during yoga)

Areas to Improve:

• I need to get better about eating at home, but sometimes I just can't resist the siren song of my favorite restaurants!  In the grand scheme of things, going out to dinner isn't the end of the world, just something I need to do less frequently.
• Activity level. I enjoy being active, but the cold weather provides me with endless excuses to stay on the couch under a blanket.  I need to quit making excuses and get my butt out the door! 

I'm looking forward to see what happens in February!

Wiggle War Recap: Week 3

Week 3 was a good week.  I didn't quite hit my mileage goals, but I did: eat at home, have a lot of fun, feel really good, and I'm less than 5 pounds of my 'fighting weight' (total weight loss: 4 lbs)!  

The Dirty Details:
 
Miles: 6
Week 3 included my return to the indoor track and 400 meter repeats (to build speed).  Unlike last year, I have a new tool in my training arsenal - my Garmin Foot Pod.  I like it, but I think it's going to take a little tinkering to get the calibration right. At any rate, I was really pleased by my splits for the workout since they ranged between 8:16 and 8:52 pace.   I definitely need to improve my mileage over the next few weeks.

Other Activities:  2 
I had yoga on Tuesday night and I went to a sledding party on Saturday night.  I love when a fun activity like sledding can double as a workout.  Lots of dashing up the hill was involved.  I was sore after that party! Fortunately the hosts planned ahead.  A friend of theirs is a massage therapist and she was offering massages for $1/minute.  She managed to loosen up my slightly strained left hamstring and she got all the knots out of my back and shoulders.  That may be the best $30 I've spent in a while!

Eating: I mostly ate at home this week, which is a huge improvement.  I indulged over the weekend, but not nearly as much as I have in the previous 2 weeks.  Menu planning has definitely helped in this department.

Overall, I'm calling Week 3 a win! 

How are your health/fitness resolutions coming along?

Wiggle War Recap: Week 2

Week 2 was a definite improvement over Week 1, but it has become obvious that the odds of achieving my goal of 20 active days this month are slim.  As of today, I have 13 days left in the month and need 12 more active days.  Simply put - NOT GONNA HAPPEN.  However, I've always believed that goals are just that: goals.  They are something to shoot for, but not something to beat yourself up over.  My new goal is to come as close to 20 active days as possible.  To that end, here's the run down on last week:

Miles: 10.13 (including the Tundra Challenge which I've learned was actually 4.1 miles as opposed to the advertised 3.6!)

Eating: I was pretty good all week, but completely fell apart on the weekend.  This is an area that needs some work!

On a more fun note, I registered for my first road race of 2012 - The Great Lakes Expo Run! I'm really hoping to improve on my 10k time from the New Year's Eve race.  The weather has turned from spring-like to a true Wisconsin winter - complete with snow, ice and temperatures that make a freezer seem like a sauna.  In order to cram in some miles, it looks like I'll be getting reacquainted with the indoor track.  Fortunately, I should have a new toy to help me out while I run in endless circles.  I received a Garmin Foot Pod for Christmas and I'm looking forward to trying it out - possibly as soon as tomorrow.

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This nifty little device attaches to my shoe laces and transmits pace and distance data to my Garmin, so I can still use my favorite training tool indoors (GPS doesn't work so hot inside!). 

I've also returned to the studio this week - the yoga studio that is.  My teacher is in the process of obtaining her next level of certification and she'll be sharing some of what she's learned with her students and incorporating some new elements into the class.  This should be interesting.  All I can say so far is that my abs are sore after yesterday's class.  From what she described, it sounds like developing 'core strength' will be a central feature of this session. I'm hoping that added core strength will finally help me achieve a full Crow Pose.

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At the moment, I can kind of sort of get my feet off the ground, but I lack the arm strength to hold my weight completely on my arms, and the abdominal strength to pull my legs all the way up and balance - I immediately tip forward!  I was a little impressed with myself when I discovered that I'm finally comfortable doing one of the Headstand Poses without positioning myself against a wall as a safety net!  I guess you win some, you lose some. 

So there you have it, all the goings on in Rabbits and Runs land.

Wiggle War Recap: Week 1

So here I am, one week after I declared War on The Wiggle.  It hasn't been easy and I've been far from perfect in my efforts, but I am definitely seeing progress. 

According to my scale (which has never worked right and I'm seriously considering buying a new one), I'm down a couple of pounds - which is probably water weight, but I'm not complaining since my pants seem to be a little less tight. I was pretty good about watching what I ate (if you don't count going out to eat a few too many times over the weekend). And I managed to drag my butt out in the cold and run a whopping total of 6 miles and The Husband and I logged another 4 miles walking on Friday night.

If this is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Obviously, I have a lot of room for improvement, but I'm not entirely displeased. 6 miles beats the crap out of 0 miles.  Eating better is better than eating like a teenager.

Week 2 of the Wiggle War is going much better.  The Husband and I went grocery shopping on Sunday and restocked our bare kitchen, so we've been eating at home (a huge win). I've already logged 6 miles this week (and my speed and endurance seem to be improving a little bit) and I know I'll be adding to that total before the week is over. Most importantly, I'm continuing to feel better and better - which to me is the most important part of the Wiggle War.

And now, just because, I'll leave you with a gratuitous rabbit picture!

Spot - half in the bag!

Waging War Against 'The Wiggle'

It's that time of year.  The holiday decorations have come down.  The presents are put away.  But something remains: The Wiggle.  What is The Wiggle? It's the illegitimate lovechild of too many holiday indulgences and slothful couch-dwelling.  It leads to formerly toned body parts developing a jello-like jiggle, pants that feel a little too snug, and generally feeling crappy.

In my case, it means that I'm several pounds over my happy weight and I've lost a lot of fitness.  The way I see it, I have two choices: buy bigger pants or declare war on The Wiggle.  I've chosen option number 2.  My battle strategy is simple.  I'm cleaning up my eating habits and increasing my activity level.  The ultimate goal is to be back in top form by the start of the spring racing season (and fit comfortably into my pants).

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I began implementing my battle strategy yesterday.  The clean-eating was easy enough.  The activity part took a little more effort!  After work, I piled on several layers and set off for an easy-paced 3 miler around the office.  My rationale was that if I didn't go home before I worked out, there was no chance that I'd get sucked in by the gravitational pull of the couch!  The first mile was interesting.  I enjoyed feeling like a total badass   I laughed when a guy waiting at a bus stop shouted "You're crazy!"  I was not happy about the playing  - it usually does. Frogger when I encountered a freeway on ramp.  By Mile 2, I was sweating and the cold, dry air was beginning to make breathing a little difficult.  Then came Mile 3. Somewhere at the beginning of that mile I found my rhythm and the run finally started to feel like fun instead of a chore.  I looped through the parking lot at work back to my car and called it a day.  The overall pace wasn't very good compared to where I was a few months ago, but it was a start.

To further enhance my 'battle plan', I set up a "Goal" on my Garmin.  In the period between January 3rd and January 31st (28 days), I'm going to attempt to do something active on 20 days.  I'll be defining 'active' as running, hiking, practicing yoga, hiking, lifting weights, and walking (minimum distance is 5 miles).  The goal tracker is essentially a 'star chart for grown ups'.  What do I get if I get all 20 gold stars?  Stay tuned to find out!

What do you do to motivate yourself?  What do you do to reward yourself for achieving goals?