playing catch-up

Recently, I presented my research at the EPA.
Here I am with my dear friend Shirl celebrating
a successful talk:) (Yes. I know that technically,
my tree pose was off. However, the dress was
kinda short and I'm not a big fan of inappropriate
displays of my underpants. It would be
Weinergate all over again!)

Oh my. Apologies for being out of blogger touch. I didn't realize how long it's been. In case you're wondering, yes. I've been training. Here is what I've done since my last post:

Friday, June 3rd
Today's Small Victories
I've been doing awesome with keeping up with healthmonth. Tracking with my iphone makes a world of difference.

Today's Workout
1 hour of yoga
3 mile run

Notes (to myself) about this workout: I did everything in the morning in one shot. I started with the run and then headed to yoga. Since I've been struggling, I decided to do the interval running. It turned out to be a good thing. Though slower than usual, it was good to build my mental strength. It's still frustrating to me because I'd like to do my usual 5K without stopping. But there's a mental block in me and I need to figure out what it is.

Another thing, if I do the run/yoga thing again, I need to plan better. There was barely any time in between. If I'm going to do yoga right after running, I need some down time to prepare for yoga. Otherwise, I just feel like a hot, sweaty mess (which is what eventually happened).

Sunday, June 5th

Today's Workout

Hike at GG Park

Notes (to myself) about this workout: Though leisurely, I decided to log this in as a workout anyway. The SO (significant other) and I decided to take a hike at GG Park. We were at Stow Lake, which has a gradual hill-like area where you can keep going up toward the top of the waterfall. It was nice. PLUS we got to see FOUR owls that day. Very cool.

Monday, June 6th

Today's Small Victories

Despite my laziness and the horrific traffic, I made it to Crissy Field

Today's Workout

3 mile run

Notes (to myself) about this workout: My original intent was to do this run on Sunday. But I just got lazy and opted for the GG Park hike. Also, I've been freaking out about the whole running thing and getting too winded too fast. After some soul searching, I realize that one of the main reasons why my running hasn't been up to par is that I haven't been enjoying the run. 

Truth be told, the Mermaid Run kinda freaked me out. During the second half of that race, I got really winded. Like, REALLY WINDED and I had to stop and take a walking break. From there, it was a struggle to the finish. This doesn't usually happen to me. I don't get that winded or that freaked out because I'm really good at listening to my body and pacing. After that run, I realized that the second part was so difficult because I was trying to keep up with Miss Lyn and Miss Lori, who were running at a 10:30 pace. My usual pace is about a minute (or so) slower than that. When I'm off pace, I'm completely off balance and it wrecks my entire system.

Since then, I've been freaking out because (1) I'm freakin' slow and (2) that reality has been stressing me out (3) that stress has been negatively affecting my running mojo. Right now, I'm trying to find footing again. I'm trying to actually enjoy running and get mentally prepared for the Nike half. With that, I did this run at a 4:1 interval, while walking the hills. It was good. Still slow, but I'm running slightly faster than the last time I trained for a half (and that's with walking the hills). Though hazy, SF was beautiful. I wish it wasn't such a huge trek to make it out there to run.

Tuesday, June 7th

Today's Small Victories

After a million years, I FINALLY made it to CrossFit

Today's Workout

Run 1.1 miles; stretching (includes doing my yoga salutations with Annelisse hanging on my back. Yeah. You try doing downward dog with a small child on your back. With that, I officially declare myself a yoga warm-up badass!)

Complete the following for time:
50 American kettlebell swings (20#)
20 jumprope skips
40 kettlebell swings
40 jumprope skips
30 kettlebell swings
60 jumprope skips
20 kettlebell swings
80 jumprope skips
10 kettlebell swings
100 jumprope skips

Notes (to myself) about this workout: Since this was the first time in a LONG time I did a CrossFit anything. Therefore, I decided to go way light. In retrospect, I should have gone 25# (or more) because I did everything unbroken (which I think defeated the purpose of doing these many KB swings). However, when taking a long CF break, I feel it's always better to be safe than sorry:) This was a good start to coming back. Tonight I run and tomorrow I plan on going to the 4pm CF class. OMG. The night classes are so big now. I'm spoiled. And I can't handle the crowds. Also... I kinda like going in on my own and not timing the WODs. But shhh... Don't tell anyone I said that!