Snow Storms = Worthless

I get it, I live in Minnesota. To many, that supposedly means that I am unable to complain or vent about the massive amounts of snow we've had lately. We've had a particularly large amount in December. In fact, there have been more weekends of snow than of no snow. Right now, all of you who say, "You live in Minnesota. It snows. Get over it" or, "Get used to it," are receiving evil death stares from me. I will not get over it, nor will I get used to it. How does one really get "used to" cold and wet chunks falling out of the sky? Plus, it's typically not a gentle fall. The cold, wet chunks are generally accompanied by 30 mph winds. Stellar. Thanks, Minnesota.

Here is a pretty extensive list of why winter is awful. Maybe for fun I'll include a list of why it's nice. That list is guaranteed to be shorter.

1. Snow - It's pretty self explanatory really. It makes travel unbearable. Traveling down the block has been treacherous. To all those people mentioned above who say, "You live in Minnesota, get used to it." I say, "You live in Minnesota. It snows. Learn how to drive in it." Now, I fully understand the freakout factor of 4 inches of snow for drivers from anywhere below the Mason-Dixon line. I do not however, understand it for people living in Minnesota. I also understand slow cautionary speeds. What I do not understand is the idea that suddenly rules of the road do not exist when it's snowing. I'm talking to you in the Land Rover who turned left in front of me, as I was in the left turn lane and you were in the right lane. Did you see the red light at which I was stopped? I'm also talking to you in the white sports car, parked in an accessible spot when you have neither an accessible license plate, nor parking tag. By the way, not only did you park that way, you parked crooked, making it difficult for people with an accessible vehicle to open a ramp, or even simply get out of their car. I hope Target towed your sorry butt. If you forgot your hang tag at home, I apologize for the rant, except for the crooked parking. Even though you can't see the lines on the ground, you can tell that you're not perpendicular to the curb or parallel to the car next to you.

2. Cold - Miserable. Plain and simple. Some people try to tell me it's equally miserable in the summer when it's 95 degrees out with 80% humidity. It may be "uncomfortable" however, last time I checked it doesn't physically hurt to breathe like it does when it's 10 below zero.

3. Darkness - Though I thouroughly enjoy darkness when I'm sleeping, I do not enjoy leaving for work when the sun is barely up and returning when it is most definitely down.

4. Impedes Exercising - There are a lot of excuses for not exercising. Cold weather and snow don't help. I can't run outside due to my lungs feeling like they're being stabbed every time I take a breath. It's difficult to get to the gym because it takes me an hour to get there in snowy traffic. Then, once there, I most likely will not find a parking space due to mountains of snow taking up the spots. I do not care to park in another parking lot, or down the street due to having to walk in the cold. Refer to number 2. I also do not care to put my life in danger in order to get to the gym. In conjunction with this, winter brings holidays, holidays bring overeating, overeating brings new year resolutions of weight loss, new year resolutions bring an over crowded gym. I've got serious business to attend to on that treadmill/stair stepper/ bike/leg press/bench press. If you're not going to be here by March, you shouldn't be here now. You're wasting both of our time.

5. Sickness - Closed quarters and people are germ magnets.

For all that is wrong with winter, here is what is good

1. Christmas!!! Best. Holiday. Ever. But, let it be known that the birth of Jesus more than likely took place in the spring.

2. Working for the Gophers - Now most don't associate work with pleasure, but this part time job pretty much rocks. It's easy and the people I work with are great. I make extra money to sit in a ticket office and spend time with fun people. This job only happens Sept-May, which often equates to Minnesota winter. It's fairly perfect since I'd probably rather enjoy my summer than worry about shifts with the Gophs.

Short list of positives huh?

Now, all of this ranting and raving aside, the month of December, despite it's snow, has been pretty fruitful with workouts. Jill and I have been fairly faithful in our trips to the gym. We've been pretty good at doing a strength workout and a cardio workout in one trip to the gym. This means we're getting optimal results from our efforts. Don't forget, combining strength and cardio in one trip to the gym burns significantly more calories than doing just one or the other. It has to do with stored energy usage but I won't go into that now. Mental note for a future post. Always remember to do your strength training first. It provides the maximum usage of stored energy. It's most efficient, and your less likely to fatigue during your strength training portion. This means one will get the most out of a bout of strength training.

Jill and I switch between 3 strenth training rotations. This isn't the only way to train, but for us it's most effective. Since we aren't looking to build significant amounts of muscle (gross) we trade up muscle groups each day. Here's what we do:

Day 1: Triceps, chest and shoulders - This includes most things that require a "pushing" motion away from the body. Pushups are a good example of this. We also do a lot of skullcrushers (sounds awesome right?) and chest presses/flies.
Day 2: Biceps and back - This includes a "pulling" motion towards your body. Pull ups with a closed grip are a good bicep and back workout, as are standard bicep curls and rowing motions.
Day 3: Lower body/legs - Both of us have pretty strong legs so we can crank this out pretty quickly, with minimal amounts of soreness so we don't break it up into 2 days. This reminds me that we havn't done our glutes for a while. Mental note for next week. :)

You may be wondering about abdominals and core muscles. Well, as it turns out, those muscles are some of the fastest to recover so one can work on them daily. Usually Jill doesn't want to hear that.

I like to be sure we have a lot of variety in our workouts so we've been keeping a log. We also log our weights so we can see progress and adjust if need be. Variety is key to not getting bored. Boredom often leads to quitting.

Everything seems to be paying off because I am seeing some definite results in our bodies. Both of us are significantly stronger. My arms haven't been this shapely since I worked at the warehouse. Mostly because I never cared to work out my upper body. Jill no longer groans when I mention most exercises. She suggests doing wall sits. That has been a groaner in the past. She even runs without me telling her to! I'm happy to hear that she's at a point where she gets bored with simply walking on the treadmill. A two minute run then two minute walk, repeated multiple times, is a great step for someone who is not a runner by nature.

On a marathon note: It seems that registration through my office has been delayed a bit. I'll now be able to register by the end of January. I'm excited to get started on fundraising. Real training commences in April. Wahoo!

I will not be at the gym until Monday due to going to South Dakota for Christmas. I will try to get in a workout at the Heber's. Erich's mom said I could use the treadmill so that is FANTASTIC! Now, let's see if I actually do it. Thanksgiving was not so productive. I shall report back later.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cookies, long runs, and Afghani pizza

Since Thanksgiving I've been getting into the Christmas spirit. This is pretty normal for me. To start, I tuned the car radio to the 24/7 Christmas music stations both on XM and regular radio. It annoys Erich to no end but I allow him to change it if we're in the car together. On Saturday I decorated the apartment including putting up the tree. Sunday brought about cookie baking with Jenna!!! We made peanut butter kisses, ginger snaps, shortbread, frosted sugar cookies, monster cookies, peppermint bark, peanut clusters, pretzel hugs and rocky road fudge. Woo hoo! I brought a lot of the cookies to work today so I wouldn't have to eat them all, however I just ended up eating them at work. :) Christmas baking is awesome.

The excessive amounts of Christmas treats must have been great fuel for my run today. I did 45 minutes of running and it felt really good. I had great form, got into a groove quickly and stayed there. I can't wait to make 60 minutes! When I was done I had a serious runners high and was ridiculously sweaty! Grotesquely sweaty actually. So sweaty that I felt really bad sitting in Crescent Moon waiting for my pizza to be done.

This leads me to the Afghani pizza portion of my post. I've been given a recommendation from two people to visit Crescent Moon which is just down the street from my apartment. It's an Afghani restaurant and I really like Middle Eastern foods. Hence my love for Holy Land which is coincidentally down the street as well. My supervisor told me to try the house special, Afghani pizza, spicy. It was one of the best recommendations I've ever received. Holy wow. We decided to finally give it a try as a celebration for Erich getting a new job (more later) and it turned out to be a great celebration for my tongue as well. If in Minneapolis and craving a different kind of pizza, definitely check out Crescent Moon on Central and 23rd in Nordeast.

As I mentioned above, Erich got a new job. On December 20, he'll be starting with the Timberwolves. He's going to be doing box office operations. We're looking forward to the change and to Erich having his summers back. Also, we can now carpool to work!

On to be unproductive and finish my evening with many episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Thanks Meredith.

Too Many Mashed Potatoes

Well, now that Thanksgiving is over, I can say I've learned a few lessons. But before I begin I must say that Thanksgiving is awesome. Dang I really love the food. It's the amount that really does a person in. I'm pretty sure there is a fear of starvation when the family gathers. I think it's an unfounded fear, but it still seems to be present.

Also, in my family we drink socially. And when everything around the holidays is social, that comes out to be a lot of drinking. Not all at once mind you, but spread out over a few days. My mom keeps wine flowing like it's water, and even busted out the chocolate martinis on Saturday night. I don't drink those. They kick me in the pants. I did help my dad bottle and brew some beer though. Erich and I got a quick lesson. We started brewing a pilsner that is going to be ready around New Year's Eve, so that will be nice timing. It's currently bubbling at my parent's house so we'll pick up some bottles around Christmas. My dad had a batch of IPA ready to be bottled so we did that too. I'll have pictures up on Facebook soon. Erich and I took a 6-pack home and will be able to drink them in a couple of weeks. Mmmmmm...

So, all this being said, I did not do any sort of working out for a week. Stirring a vat of wort does not count as a workout. I thought I'd at least hop on my mom's elliptical while we were home but it didn't happen. That coupled with lots of food was not good for yesterday's workout.

It all started out just fine with Jill and I doing a triceps and chest circuit. This is what it was:

• Triceps pull downs with a rope
• Incline chest press with dumbbells
• Lateral dumbbell raises
• Behind the head triceps extensions with a dumbbell
• Incline chest flies with dumbbells

We did a circuit doing 17 reps then switching to the next exercise. We completed the circuit 3 times. The lifting was just fine After this we did a quick 30 minute run/walk. That is where I about died. Now, on normal days, I do not have troubles running 3 miles. I barely made it yesterday. There was even some walking involved. How disappointing! Only 3 miles!? My stomach literally hurt, my legs felt like they weighed 100 pounds each and my form felt completely off. It just felt terrible. The guy next to me was running at a good clip and I was so jealous.

These are the lessons I learned and will need to employ over Christmas:

• Eat less. I thought I did a good job with portions but thinking back, I really was only conscious of this during our actual Thanksgiving meal. I didn't apply it to the other meals or to snacks. No one needs to sit down and eat a giant bowl of Chex Mix or a plate full of olives or a plate full of pickle/cream cheese/ham appetizers. I did only eat one slice of pie all week. That's an accomplishment.
• Drink less. This is tough considering the culture of my family and my love for good wine and home brew. But, I realize that not only did I have an issue with alcohol, but with soda as well. I drank a lot of soda. It's bad because I so very rarely drink soda. I have to keep conscious of this. I need to replace with water. I was probably dehydrated from the week.
• Continue exercising. This is probably the most important. Even if it's just a quick jaunt on the elliptical since I hate going outside. This might be more of a challenge over Christmas since we'll be with Erich's family. I might have to run to my parents' for a quick workout on a couple of the days.
• Stay away from the cats! Seriously, you think I'd know better. I always get so stuffy and sneezy when we're at Erich's parents'. It's unfortunate because I like their cats and I like to play with them. Especially the new little one. I just have to remember to stay away. The less hair I have on me the better. Not only is it more helpful while we're there, but it also ensures I don't bring cat hair home with me and continue to be stuffy. I also must remember to bring Claritin. It helps so much. I'm quite bummed and I know Erich is too that I've developed this allergy. For a while I thought it was only long-haired cats that bother me, but it seems to be all kinds. :(  Jill's cat, Merlin, makes me go crazy too and he has short hair.

I think all of the above will help me to get through the holidays with more enjoyment. I'll feel so much better when it's over. On Sunday, Jenna, Katie and I will be having cookie day. We'll be making at least 5 types of cookies. We all split them. Hopefully I show some restraint and also keep myself at the gym.

Tonight's workout is biceps and back and hopefully we'll get in some decent cardio since last night was so terrible. I just have to be sure to get home before Glee starts...it might be a quick workout. Tomorrow will probably be cardio only. I'll be spending Thursday night at a hotel in Fergus Falls so it seems like my workout will be in their fitness room. Friday will be an off day and maybe I'll get my butt into the pool again on Saturday. It sounds so nice and I haven't been there for a long time. I also need to wear the fishy swim cap I got from Gina.

I hope everything pans out for the rest of the week. Here's hoping for some improvement.

First post illness workout

On Monday, Jill and I went to the gym to get a good workout in. Since I'd been ill the week prior, this was my first workout since and I didn't have high hopes for it. However, it went great!

I really like to try and get some cardio in even on strength days. It really boosts the metabolism and ensures I'm still getting in some good runs. So, here's how our workout went:

Strength Training Circuit - we're working on lower weights with higher reps. We did a set of each, then repeated the circuit 3 times.
Leg press
Calf raises
Hamstring curls
Wall Sits

Cardio-
30 minute run/walk

I told Jill that since we had done a lower body workout, her legs might be a little out of it and she should walk as she felt she needed to. I was quite impressed when she told me that she ran 2 minutes then walked 3. That's pretty good after lower body strength training. Especially for someone who doesn't particularly care for running.

As for me, I ran 35 minutes at an incline of 1. I haven't been going at high inclines or high speeds since I'm prone to knee problems and last time I ran my shin was in pain. I ran at a level 6 for 15 minutes, then a level 5.5 for 10 and slowed down to level 5 for 5 minutes. 5 is really slow (12 minute mile pace) but my outer quads were a little jelly-like from the workout so It was good to just get through both. I felt great after the workout and had a definite runner's high when I got home and felt like I could do it again. I ended up getting in just over 3 miles in the run. I'm pretty pleased with that. The best part was that I barely coughed at all throughout. YES!!!

I missed yesterday's workout because Erich and I decided to drive to South Dakota early because an ice storm was on it's way. The ice storm is currently here so I won't be running outside anytime soon. If I get motivated, which is unlikely due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I might hop on my mom's elliptical machine. I brought my workout gear so we'll see if I get the motivation. Good luck to any of you who try as well!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Sick Days

The weekend was a bad one in terms of motivation to get to the gym. On Friday night I worked for the Gophers volleyball game, right after I got done with my real job. It was raining and dreary when I left and I wasn't motivated to go to the gym. I just wanted to get home before 10. Saturday, that rain turned into snow. Roughly 10 inches of it to be precise. I wasn't driving in that until I had to. Late in the afternoon I had to in order to go to the grocery store and yet again to get to another shift with the Gophers. Sunday I worked a chilly shift at Gopher soccer. With the snow the day before, everything was cold and wet. it even flurried a bit during the game. Going home to spend some time with myself while Erich was watching football was so much more appealing. So, as you can see, I lacked a lot of drive this weekend which is a shame because I was finally able to move my arms again after an excruciating body works class on Tuesday.

Yesterday Jill and I made it to the gym after work. We did a light bicep and back workout then hit the cardio machines. LA Fitness seriously disappointed me when we did this. Any open treadmill was out of order. There were at least 5 of them. Not cool. Not wanting to bike, Jill and I headed to the stair steppers. All but one out of order and it was taken. We ended up settling for the bikes because the ellipticals were full too. Now don't get me wrong, I like biking but we really wanted to get on something different. Anywho, we biked about 20 minutes. It wasn't a largely satisfying workout but it was good enough for a Monday.

I had high hopes for Today. A full hour or so on the treadmill would have been awesome. Unfortunately last night I started feeling like crap and that certainly carried over to this morning. I can't breath and my throat is not feeling so hot. The coughing is just starting up now so that's great. Looks like I'm not making it to the gym today. Usually it's good to breathe when you're running.

Boo sick days!

News I must share

As you know, part of my marathon training goal is to raise $1000 for the MS Society. I just found out that the MS Society released news of their research funding goal for the next 5 years. It's $250,000,000. That's $250 MILLION or a quarter of a BILLION dollars! I think it's pretty cool. If you'd like to check out the video of the announcement you can visit the MS Society's web page dedicated to the National Conference. The video is the one from today (11/11/10) that is 55:37 in length.

Getting Started

Well, today is when I really am getting into the beginnings of my training for the big event. I'm simply trying to get to the point where I'm comfortable with a 6 mile run on a treadmill. I have always had an issue with translating my comfortable speed outside to a treadmill inside. I'm much faster outside. It must have something to do with my stride length. Tonight I did a Body Works plus Abs class at LA Fitness. It was OK. Not sure how much of that class I'll do. It works you pretty hard but has little to no cardio aspect. I'm not really interested in that.

To prepare for my actual training program I'm planning to run about 4 miles 3 days a week and then do a longer 5-6 mile run 1 day a week. I'll cross train one more day a week for a total of 5 days a week of working out. I think it's going to be a huge adjustment in my time schedule and I want to get into the habit of doing it before I start my training program.

Speaking of training programs, I'm debating between two different ones I've found. There's the 26-week program which I think looks very manageable. I like how it starts with 2 days a week of cross training, then works down to 1 day a week. It also has nice gradual increases which I feel is great for a complete marathon novice. On the other hand is the 18-week program. 18 week programs seem to be very common. This particular one is from Hal Higdon who writes for Runner's World and has developed numerous marathon programs for many levels. It's a tough choice. I'm still trying to decide what to do.

After some thought, I anticipate some serious challenges while taking this on. I'm going to try working on them one at a time so I can get over them by the time I start a training program. Here they are:

1. Making time for a workout 5 days a week. This is difficult because I love coming home and vegging out and cooking dinner after work. I also am not a morning person so that's not ideal either
2. Nutrition. My eating habits are going to have to change dramatically. Don't get me wrong, I don't eat too poorly now, but I really need to begin thinking of my food as fuel for my workouts. Since more will be expected of my body than day to day activities and a quick trip to the gym, I need to have good fuel. Premium over ethanol if you will. I'm removing soda and worthless sweets from my diet. Looks like the candy dish in my cube will not get any more visits from me to curb a sweet tooth. On a somewhat related note, I just saw a commercial for the McRib and nothing seems more disgusting than some crappy meat-ish substance coated in low grade BBQ sauce on a sesame seed bun. Blech. Glad I don't have a soft spot for those things. Their French fries on the other hand is a different story.
3. Not getting bored. Sometimes I get bored easily with running. I'll get bored before I get tired. This is mostly true for running inside so whenever I can get outside it will be ideal.
4. Summer training. Minnesota gets hot and humid in the summer. This does not bode well for trying to train in the summer months. As a fix for this and making time for a workout 5 days a week I might need to learn to get up early (AAAAAAAAAAAH!) so I can run before it gets hot. 
5. Summer training II. There's another aspect to summer training that will be difficult for me. It's by far the busiest time of the year for me. I'm often tired as it is and if I'm getting up early, yikes!
6. Potential injury. I've had some shin issues lately. My left shin, just below my knee has a little bump on it that becomes sore while running and after I run. I'm hoping it's not something bad like a stress fracture. I plan to get it checked out in a few weeks so I can get on the mend if it's something that needs time to heal.
7. Fundraising. As I mentioned in my first post, in order to run this marathon for the MS Society I need to raise $1000. I'll set up a fundraising page as soon as I can actually register through the MS Society and that will be helpful. Don't forget to check it out when that time comes. It will be very important!

Above are my major issues. I'm hoping to overcome them and really rock this thing. And by rock it I mean finish it with a respectable time. I don't want to be the last person crossing the finish line. I feel like the best way to tackle these is with a good night's sleep. With that, I'm off to bed for the night.

Day one

Before I start, I must admit that I have never really blogged before. I had a short relationship with Xanga my freshman year of college. That was as close as I got. 


That being said, I'm excited to start a couple of new endeavors; marathon training and blogging! I hope to chronicle my training and what I encounter in the next 11 months prior to the event. Did I mention the big day is on Oct. 2, 2011? Here's how it's playing out: 


My current employer, the MS Society, partners with the Twin Cities Marathon as a fundraising opportunity. TCM sets aside some registrations for us and we recruit runners. In order to run for the MS Society you have to raise $1000 in donations. To be honest, the $1000 fundraising minimum is the the most intimidating part of this whole thing. 26.2 miles seems easy compared to getting people to donate to me. I'll be setting up my fundraising page soon and I'll link it here so be sure to donate to me when that happens! 


I don't have much going on right now so I'll update later when I have more to share!