Look at my clavicle! What do you mean, you can't see it?

Plans have changed a bit. I realized that tomorrow the school's fitness center will be closed (they're changing out all of the aerobic equipment for new machines, wee!), so I've got no workout plans. In lieu of this catastrophic news, I decided to forgo shoveling today so I'll have something to do tomorrow, and instead decided to kill it on the treadmill.

I ran two miles at 21:30, did a hill workout on a stationary bike for 12 minutes, and then did 16:30 minutes of interval work back on the old treadmill (one mile of intervals, .4 mile recovery). Intervals were separated by 1:00 @ 4.0, and went as follows: 2:45 @ 5.5, 1:00 @ 6.0, 1:00 @ 6.2, 1:00 @ 6.4, 1:00 @ 6.2, 1:00 @ 6.00, 2:45 @ 5.5. So today was a 3 mile day. Not too shabby. I haven't run that far since the Turkey Trot I did with my sister on Thanksgiving, so I'll take it as a win, even if it has to come in parts. A mile is a mile is a mile.

This is me post-shower:

Ignore the goofy face and peace sign, and look at the index finger pointing to the imaginary clavicle. I've always wanted a clavicle. That would be a nice spot for one. Okay, I know I have one, I just want to be able to see it. I'm touching it in this photo, but you really can't tell. Add that to the list of goals. Goal-related post coming soon.

Recipe for a good day

Today was good - work was positive, I got in a solid workout, my roommate took me out for a belated birthday dinner, and my team won trivia night at the local bar. Good thing I'm an alcohol-free vegetarian, or else our winnings may have been too tempting to resist (beer and fried wings).  Really, I just play for the glory of winning.  That, and I'm pretty trivial.

After finishing my workout, I was only moderately happy. I suppose I thought I was a lot slower than I was, but I did the math and for my workout I averaged an 11:04 pace. Looking over the numbers, I am very happy! I ran two miles (5.5 mph & 5.6 mph) and then did some intervals. I thought for sure the walking in between running intervals would have brought me down a lot more, but apparently not. I did 3.75 miles in 41:30. Not too shabby! Right now, there's no way I could keep up that pace for more than 4 miles or so, but I'm working on it!

I also did some squats and lunges last night, which I am most definitely feeling in the quads and glutes today.  Tomorrow could end up being a rest day, but in all honesty, I think my body is runnable.

Also, Miss Zippy is hosting a GU giveaway - check it out here.

You know you've had a good workout when...

...you look like this:

A miracle that I still somehow manage to appear happy (I kid!).

Now don't get me wrong, I am an exceptional sweater by society's standards. It could be the dead of winter, I'll be sitting in a t-shirt, and I'll still have sweat stains. However, I would consider this t-shirt a mark of greatness. I nearly saturated the whole thing! Anyway, today I killed it at the gym - I ran 3.0 miles in 34:25, which is a good time for me. Then I biked for a while, and I finished up with 2.0 miles worth of intervals, working up to 6.2 mph (super speedy!) from 5.0 mph and then back down. One of the better gym workouts I've had. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the treadmill and gyms? Maybe not recently, but I hate them. Today was positive, though!

Also, this was my second workout of the day! After watering my garden this morning I went to visit a couple of friends I haven't seen in a while for a kayaking adventure! One friend lives on a lake, so we spent an hour and a half circumnavigating the shoreline and a couple of little islands. All in all, a pretty awesome day!

Let me leave you with some more post-workout views (because I know how much everyone loves a good sweat sodden t-shirt):

I like how the pit stain is indistinguishable from boob and/or back sweat.

This is my victorious pose!

P.S. - The back of the t-shirt reads, "Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees."

Follow Through

This week was sort of a bad one for me in many respects. I let my school work get the best of me - instead of working hard on my studies at a moderate rate, I saved all of my work for last minute and exhausted myself. I had a 10 page paper due on Tuesday and my first project in my hardest class due on Thursday. I sacrificed eating well, getting enough sleep, and exercise for my school work. Now, I know that school is important (if for no other reason than I'm paying tons of money to be here), but it should not keep me from living well. I have to learn to balance my life in a more effective way.

My runs were less than stellar. I'm slowly upping the speed at which I run (this week I moved up to 5.1 from 5.0), which makes my runs a bit harder, but I am nonetheless disappointed in myself. I skipped going to the gym on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and because of that, I only got in 3.75 miles this week, and compared to last weeks 6.67 miles, that's pretty bad. Today I ran 2 miles, which is over half of last weeks total. That's kind of ridiculous. It's okay though, it was just one week.

This week I'm going to focus on getting comfortable with my 5.1 mph runs. It hasn't been too bad, but I'm not nearly as comfortable running at 5.1 mph as I was at 5.0 mph. Today I did a little bit of interval training: 12 minutes at 5.1 mph, walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes at 6.0 mph, walk 5 minutes, run 6 minutes at 5.1 mph, ending with a 5 minute cool down walk. It was a pretty good work out, and I was proud of myself for pushing myself to run half a mile at 6.0 mph. It was hard, but I could have gone a couple minutes longer. I don't think I could push myself to run a whole mile at 6.0 mph, though. In time! One of my long term goals is to work up to 6.0 mph, which is why I'm slowly increasing my speed.

I'm also having trouble keeping myself hydrated, so I really need to work on that. Especially because I like to run in the mornings, I need to make sure I'm adequately hydrated before I go to bed each night, so that when I wake up I don't have to chug a ton of water and hope that it doesn't slosh around in my belly.

Edit: I was just reading through a post from December and realized that I achieved a goal without realizing it! To run 1.5 miles on the treadmill without stopping. Woo! I've gotten up to 2.0 miles, so that goals been reached. How about running straight for 25 minutes on the treadmill as my next goal? I've done 24 minutes once, but it was hard and I would really have to push myself to go further. Sounds like a plan!

Finals

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Haven't you heard? Finals are here! Hooray!

But seriously, I'm really tired. Yesterday I had three papers due. Thursday I was pretty much writing for a full 24 hours aside from my one hour radio show, meals, a meeting, and the 5 hours of sleep I managed to get (and I'm pretty darn cranky when I don't get at least 8). I made an effort to get to the gym on Thursday, but the world seemed to be against me. It's probably better that it happened that way in any case, because my quads and glutes were pretty sore from lunges on Wednesday. When I say pretty sore, I mean I felt it with every step I took. So I couldn't get to the gym yesterday morning (finals were all due in the afternoon), so I went right after I handed my last one in. I was pretty tired, having only slept 5 hours, but I managed to run about a combined total of 13 minutes during intervals, I rowed for 25 minutes, and I biked for 10 minutes as a cool down. I really wish it were warmer and not so icy (Massachusetts was just hit with a HUGE ice storm - power is out all over the state) so that I could run outside, but I suppose I should just suck it up and shut up about it. The weather won't change just because I want it to.

I haven't been eating well lately. Finals time prompts a lot of my friends to bake, and I consequently eat whatever they decide to throw in the oven. Tonight is one of my best friend's birthday parties (good thing I don't drink, what a waste of calories!), and beforehand they're going to be making gingerbread houses at her apartment. My goal for the night is to not pick at the candy laid out and to make a house for someone else and not myself.

I got the keys to my new apartment yesterday (a block away from where I currently live) so I'll be moving starting tomorrow, hopefully. I have a little bit of time before I have to go to work, but I'm going to get in a workout. No point in starting to move when I don't know which bedroom I'm taking and I've barely started to pack.