Super Lengthy Update

Hello All, its Monday here:( All weekend I kept meaning to get a post up, but it just got too busy that I never could get it finished, so here is most likely the longest update ever!!!

FRIDAY

Friday came, work, rest day (no gym), ate bad food. John and I went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner and I had 2 pieces of our regular sausage with pineapple- YUM! We also picked up the Time Traveler's Wife from Redbox to watch for the evening. It was sad, like really sad, even John agreed! Very good, but so sad. I have tried to stay away from sad/sappy movies because they always make me cry, and sure enough it did.

I also began The Great Closet Clean-Out of 2010!

Friday night with the easy ones like the old ratty tops or things that I never touched, and the clothes that were WAY too big. Said Clean-Out would continue through the weekend. I managed to get in bed at a reasonable hour and had the alarm set for 5:15am to get up and out the door for my scheduled 8 mile run.

SATURDAY

5:15am came and I was awake. I knew John (and Peachie) were leaving early to head to Lawtey and I was weary about doing my 8 mile out-and-back run in the arctic cold blackness with nobody waiting for me. Well I went outside to see if it was really as cold as iPhone was telling me, and sure enough 33degrees is DAMN cold! There was even Ice on my car!!!!! That solved the debate I was having right there.

I knew I had no time later that day to get my 8 miles in with nice weather so I sucked it up and headed to the gym to try and accomplish something on the T-Mill. The longest I can really tolerate on TM is about 6 miles, after that I would rather watch my calculus lectures. I have done 7-9 on TM before but only when there had been football or basketball on the BIG tv, and at 6am the only thing was revolving sports center about NBA and and some mediocre college hoops.

I told myself I would do 6 miles on TM and then run the last 2 outside since it would have warmed up by then. I started my 6 miles and was not feeling it at first, and reminded myself it was ok to go slower than the 9:15-9:30 pace I have been pushing at since it was a long run. After about a half mile though I was ready to bump it up to my 9:30 pace and get it done. I managed to give myself a reward at each mile which really broke it up and helped it go MUCH quicker. Mile 1 was turning the fan to low, mile 2 was to fix my hair that was falling down. Mile 3 turn the speed up from 6.3-6.4 (why I was happy about this I am still unsure).

Mile 4 was putting the fan from low to high, mile 5 was yet another speed increase to 6.5 and then I was done:)

After mile 6 I was feeling good and accomplished for getting in a long run at such a good pace. I didn't want to ruin TM enforced pace by attempting to recreate it myself so I hopped into the other room and got on a different TM to watch Fox News Saturdays. The last 2 miles got really tough, mentally I had lost the edge I gained in the ESPN haven, and found myself having to give myself incentives for every half mile- Water, slowing the pace for 1 minute before bringing it back up, etc. But I finally finished and I was proud I had done 8 miles as planned even if the weather did ruin my ideal run, and Garmin felt neglected again :(

Since Garmie was not used :( I took TM screen shots...Totally not the same! Don't worry Garmie, it will be warm soon and then you will be complaining that you are over-worked!

After the run it was time for work, boo for 6 Saturdays in a row- this is not my idea of fun. I did manage to get in some reading and studying for the GRE which is coming up awful quick.

Next up was the outlet mall, I am in desperate need of some better fitting clothes that fit. I had a little luck, but ended up with mostly tops and only 1 bottom which is what I really needed in the first place. I went straight from the outlet mall to Lawtey. We hung out, had burgers, and then came home with the Doggie, she was exhausted!

SUNDAY

Both tired from our very busy weekend, John and I said no alarms and slept in. I opted out of my first thing workout and decided to enjoy breakfast with John. After breakfast we came home, started laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and further began my clothes raid. I cleaned out a TON of my closet, and had plans to pack it all up to bring to Heather for shopping. Next up came Costco, Vitamin Shoppe, and Publix. Groceries were purchased, put away and dinner was slowly prepped. I ventured to the mall while John watched the Gators lose, and I came out with 1 pairof work pants and 1 pair of jeans. The jeans are being returned during my lunch break tomorrow.

I decided I wasn't trying to do enough so I came home and wanted to bake the spice cake I had been wanting, but a big cake is such a production and hard to eat, so spice cupcakes were made.

I made the traditional size as well as minis (minis for me). I finished baking and decided instead of 2-3 miles easy I wanted to run 1 mile as fast as possible to see what I could handle, and then use the 2nd to recover. I started super fast between a 6:00 and 6:30 pace and about died after .4 miles, but it sure went by quick. I managed to do 1 mile in 7:35 and I wanted to die as soon as I stopped. I managed to run a recovery mile, but it was super slow and easy. It's crazy to think that there are plenty of people out there who can run a marathon at that pace with no major difficulties. After the crazy mile I went to the gym to get in my Sunday leg workout, I was beat by the end and skipped doing abs, but they will be made up tonight- no worries!

Dinner was next John and I had big plans: He wanted grilled chicken and mashed potatoes. I am not a fan of chicken with taters so I made a small steak for myself (about 5-6 ounces).

I also wanted some real veggies so I roasted myself some mushroom and squash to have as well.

All the while I had big plans cooking in the oven...

I bought this beast at the grocery store last weekend, but didn't get a chance to cook it last week as planned, so I baked it last night in order to have a few lunches for myself this week. It shredded super easy as everyone told me it would, and yeilded about two 1 1/2 cup servings of squash which I am subbing for pasta noodles.

Last for the night was putting away laundry and packing up the discarded clothes to bring to Heather.

I told you there was a lot!

MONDAY

Monday came per the usual, and I had to be at work super early today. I had breakfast early so I was starved by the time lunch rolled around. I had previously mentioned spaghetting squash for lunch with marinera sauce and parmesan cheese- WOW! It was amazing!!! Tasted like spaghetti with really thin noodles, and it was so good for me too, and Super filling! I devoured it before a picture was had, but don't worry it will be making many more appearances.

I managed to leave work on time and get home while it was still light out. I had a 5 mile tempo run on the schedule today, but knew after a long day of work I didn't have the mentality or motivation to pace myself for a tempo for the full 5 miles so I made myself a little deal: Rock a 3 mile tempo outside and finish the last 2 miles on TM letting it pace me where I need to be.

3 miles done! It was great to still have the sun out a bit as well! I must say I was quite pleased with my pace for the 3 miles and at that moment truly felt that I gave that 3rd mile everything I had in me.

3 miles- 26:56, Average 8:58pace
HR- Avg 177bpm, Max 194bpm
   Mile 1- 9:10
   Mile 2- 9:09
   Mile 3- 8:34  woo!

Those negative splits look SO nice!!

I did manage to get 2 more in on TM while John did some weights. Last 2 miles done in 18:43 or 9:22 pace. I ranged my speeds between 6.3-6.7, and sprinted at 7.5 at the end. Woo!

Thanks for listening to my super long ramblings of my uber-productive weekend! Night!!!