Today was the first of my two days off before the weekend. I got a lot done that I have needed to do. I went running in the morning. I wish I could run in the morning about 8:00 everyday. It is nice out and not crowded. Work just keeps getting in the way! I had to do 3 miles at a 11:40 pace, according to the plan. However, about a quarter of a mile into it the Garmin went dead. I guess I need to charge the thing every once in a while. So, i just ran and listened to my podcast.
After that I went down to Spartanburg and 1) got my oil changed and tires rotated 2) got the car washed and vacuumed 3) got my hair cut and colored and 4) stocked up on a few things from Costco.
I had lunch at Jason’s Deli – it was great. They have a really nice salad bar.
Tomorrow I weigh-in and I would love to see at least 2 pounds gone. I have exercised a ton this week and ate good. You just never know.
The garden seems to be off to a good start. There are plenty of sprouts coming up. I watered a bit today, but since rain is supposed to be coming tomorrow I didn’t over do it.
Okra sprouts! I can't wait to see these full size. The are supposed to get over 4 feet tall!
This is the green bean bed. You can kind of see the sprouts coming up.
A close-up of one of the bean sprouts!
Watermelon
Look closely - the bit of green sticking up is the start of a carrot! Well, it is coming up where I planted the carrots, anyway....
Just a view of one side of the garden... I never got a picture from this angle before.
Here is another angle I haven't captured before. The bad thing is you can't see any plants.
Before all of this I did my nightly run. Tonight was hill night so I headed out to the hill behind the pond again. The goal tonight was to run up and down 6 times. I didn’t bring the Garmin or the I-Pod, just me and the hill. It good. I felt strong the first 4 hills and my legs were really feeling it the last two. I ran about 7:30, after dinner… probably not a great idea. I was starving at dinner because I didn’t have a huge lunch and I missed my afternoon snack. By the time I got home and made dinner I was famished. I had the best taco salad. Calorie-wise it was not so bad, but I did eat a lot and I felt full. That was at 6:00. I still felt full at 7:30. I hate it when I get that hungry.
The best part of today is that today is my FRIDAY! I took of this week because I thought we were going to Florida for John’s race. But, he just found out that it was canceled due to high forest fire risk. So, I am taking off anyway! Tomorrow I am going for a run, getting my oil changed in my car and my hair cut. Then, if the weather holds up I am going to mulch more of my garden.
It’s Tuesday again and that means speed training. I waited until after 7:00 to head to Harmon Field and it paid off. It was crowded for a bit, but by 7:30 most were gone and I had the track to myself. Speed training is much easier on the track mentally because you know exactly where you have to run to. When I try to do speed training on the path I start losing focus while I keep checking my Garmin to see how far I have left.
Tonight I had to:
warm-up
2 x 400 in 2:09-2:14 w/200 m in between
3 x 1000 in 5:44 – 6:00 w/200 m in between
cool down
I didn’t have my times at the track and I thought I had to run the 400 m in 2:45 -3:00. I have no idea where I got those times from. Thinking those were the times I was thrilled to run my 400 m in 2:30. Only when I got home did I realize that I was at leas 15 seconds off. Oh well.
The 1000’s were good. For the first one I ran it in 5:30, the second one not so good 6:20, then the last one in 5:39. During the second one I kept getting cramps in my left hamstring. I had to keep stopping and walking it out and stretching. I need to start doing a better job of stretching after my runs, becuase I have not been doing it at all. I also need to get the foam roller out. I was doing good with it but it went away with my morning workout. Now that I am sleeping in my Core Performance routine is gone. I really like doing it so I need to find some time to fit it in. There are just so many hours in the day and I am really enjoy the extra sleeping time.
I believe my run was enhanced tonight becuase of my new compression shorts. For the past couple of weeks, since it has been getting warmer, I have been suffering from some unfortunate thigh chafing. I cannot find a good pair of shorts. So, I bought some compressions shorts to wear underneath my regular shorts. They made all the difference in the world. It felt weird at first – like wearing short pantyhose under my shorts. I quickly got used to them and will keep using them.
On the garden front… still no pictures. After work everything is so rushed. I get home and start dinner then run over to start the sprinkler on the first half of the garden, come home and finish cooking and eat, run back and move the sprinkler, go to the track, go back to the garden and pull weeds and water the corners where the sprinkler doesn’t hit, then back home. The good thing is that I am probably burning a couple of hunderd extra calories a day with all of this. Especially the watering part. Since the spicket is so far away I make a point to run back and forth to it to save time.
There are many new little sprouts today! It is so exciting. The beans are coming up all over the place, there is more okra, the winter squash has made it’s first appearance and I really think I see the first signs of carrots!
My tomato plants look a yellowish green – I do not think that is good so I am going to do some research to see what they need.
Once again I was not ready to go back to work today. I am enjoying my new hobbies so much and being outside that the thought of being cooped up for 9 hours a day in the office is really not appealing. I need to start going outside on my lunch hour and walking or running down the road or something. Instead I stay inside and get on the elliptical. I enjoy the elliptical, but some fresh air would probably help.
Today I worked out at lunch and tonight I planned on running 3 miles. In an effort to try to lose a few more pounds this week I decided to go light on the calories and eat at the lower end of my range. I wasn’t terribly hungry all day, so that was good, but my running tonight was not so good. Between my hard workouts this weekend, the 5-6 hours of gardening and cleaning, by the time I set out for a run tonight my legs were pretty tired. Plus the fact that I had probably one serving of carbohydrates and the rest vegetables… I was out of energy. Cutting my calories isn’t really going to do much good if I do not have the energy to workout hard.
I ended up doing 2 miles. The first one was at a 10:30 pace, but the last one was about 11:30 due to some misc. walking breaks. I got there about 6:30 and that was just too early. It was still pretty hot and crowded as usual. There were little kids having soccer practice in the middle of the track and it seemed like there were parents every 10 feet smoking cigarettes.
Of course, it was either cigarettes or the rotting horse manure on the other side of the park. On the other end was a trash can that I think contained a dead animal. Seriously, I almost threw up. It was gross. Then, running down the center of the park I had to pass by the exhaust of the cars and the concession stand that was frying something that smelled greasy and disgusting.
So, those were two miles I will never get back.
On to better things…
I found the sprinkler for the garden and set it out on half of the garden before I went to the track. On the way home I moved it to the other half while I ate dinner. I went back later on the ranger and the garden looked so refreshed. Poor, pitiful lettuces perked up a bit – I can actually imagine them being salad one day. I also found sprouts in the green beans, the watermelons and the okra. I think there might be some in the winter squash, but I am not sure yet – they might just be weeds.
I spent a bit more time watering sections that the sprinkler didn’t reach. The little neighbor boy came down and talked to me the whole time. He is a cute little kid. I guess I will be seeing a lot of him this summer. He said my garden was “looking good”" – I thought that was sweet.
I forgot the camera again. Tomorrow I will bring it to try to get some shots of the little sprouts!
I had the most productive Sunday and now I am beat! I got everything done I wanted to today and more.
I started my day by heading to Harmon Field at 8:30 for a 5 mile run. I wanted to beat the heat. I barely did – by the time my run was over it was 83… that was at 9:30. I felt good the whole time, but took a couple of walking/drink break. I definitely am going to get used to this heat. I finished in 59:59. I had issues with my shorts again. I cannot seem to find a comfortable pair that doesn’t ride up. I was much happier in my running capris.
I drove home and quickly got ready to go to the garden. I didn’t want to waster any time as the temperature was rising. I packed lots of water and brought my sunscreen. I worked one hour creating the first of the last two beds. I got it ready and planted the yellow wax beans and the cowpeas. By that time I was pretty hungry so I hopped on the Ranger to go get some lunch.
After an awesome tuna sandwich I put in another load of laundry and headed out.
I finished up the last bed – I just do not know what I am going to plant in it yet. I will have to head back to the farm supply store this week to find something else. After that was done I headed to the mulch pile and mulched the tomato beds and the lettuce.
Oh the poor lettuce…. I meant to take a picture of them. The ones John planted look good, but the ones I just planted in the bed look terrible. Not a delicious looking salad, that’s for sure. Well, at that point I felt like how the little, withered lettuces looked so I headed home.
I was a relief to get out of the sun. I got back to the house at 1:00 and started in on my household chores. The house has been neglected while I have been off running and gardening these past couple of weeks.
Here is what I managed to get done:
grocery shopped
ALL laundry done, folded and PUT AWAY
bathroom cleaned – including tub and floor
stairs swept and mopped
living room and bedroom dusted, included ceiling fans
living room and bedroom vacuumed (sprinkled the carpet with baking soda with a few drops of lavender essential oil – it smells great)
sheets changed and bed made
refrigerator cleaned out
All kitchen counters cleaned up of clutter and wiped down
dishwasher loaded, run, then emptied
kitchen sink cleaned to a shine
kitchen mopped
After all of this I went back to the garden to water it now that the sun was heading down. I can’t find the sprinkler. I found one, but it really didn’t do the job. I just stood there with the hose and watered for awhile. I have to come up with a better plan.
Got home again and made myself a delicious hamburger on the grill. It was amazing.
John finally called – he won first place in his race! Now he has a long drive home from Tennessee – almost an 8 hour drive. Thankfully he is riding with others. He was happy to hear that now, because I can operate the Ranger, I took the trash down to the end of the driveway since tomorrow is trash day. His most dreaded job after races is the trash – so I spared him.
Well, it is almost 8:00 so I am going to take another shower and I might even go to bed.
I had a lovely day today doing a variety of things. The day started with the race in Spartanburg that I volunteered for. I got to run the little timing machine. I was pretty fun – a beautiful day and lots of nice people around. I really like being at the finish line and cheering for the runners as they come in.
While at the race I learned of a farm supply store in Spartanburg that sells tons of garden plants. I went there after the race and I have to say it is the best farm supply store I have ever been to. Well, that’s not saying much I guess since I normally do not go to farm supply stores, but I will definitely start. This place has everything – from your standard flowers and vegetable plants to fish for ponds, chicks, plants for water gardens… I could go on and on. Most of it useless to me, but it was still neat to see all the stuff.
The best part was all the vegetables they had. Practically every type of tomato I have read about and the PEPPERS… I cannot even say how many pepper varieties there are there.., Mexican, Brazilian, Thai… more than I even knew existed. I had to resist buying too many, – what they heck would I do with 50 different types of peppers? I did buy some, you will see that in the video.
I also finished up my tomato plant shopping. I got some Romas, San Marzano and a Pink Lady – I really wanted some Amish Paste – they had the sign, but they were all out. I also got a honeydew melon, eggplant and another cucumber. They were out of sweet potatoes but they are supposed to be getting more next week.
I headed home with my new plants…. it was after 2:00 by this time. I figured if I waited longer it would cool off – no. It was still really hot out there. I stayed out a couple of hours and got all my plants in the ground, but not much more. Digging the last two beds was out of the question. After sitting out in the sun all morning and then working for a couple of hours, I was tired of being in the sun.
I hung out in the house awhile before heading out on my run. My plan was to run 3 miles, but I did not want to go to the park. No doubt it would be crowded and I really wasn’t in the mood to dodge people for 3 miles. John has been telling me to go over to Tryon Estates – the retirement community next door has a beautiful pond with a paved loop around it. It is exactly .25 miles from my doorstep to the pond. I figured that this would be as good of time as any. I have to head down the gas line, jump over a small stream, and run through the woods before reaching the pond. I wore my new Supernova Riot trail shoes for the adventure. I have not done a lot of running in them so I was curious to see how my feet would hold up (They did great!)
Supernova Riot - Trail running shoe
There were no people at the pond. How glorious! I had the place to myself and it was great. I felt great starting out and my shoes were so comfortable! I maintained a nice 10:30 pace around the loop. About 3/4 of the way around this .75 mile loop I was wondering to myself why I don’t come here more often! Well, no sooner did I have this thought and it hit me….
The Geese!
I rounded a corner and came face to face with a large goose. The goose was looking at me intently and I just knew it was going to come after me. I tried to avoid eye contact. Do you walk by a goose or keep running? I figured it would be like a dog – you shouldn’t run by a dog lest you get chased. I figured the same applied to geese so I slowed down. He was on the edge of the path and my only way around him was up a steep bank. I veered off the path as he squawked at me. (Actually I could not really hear him squawk as Nelly Furtado was signing “Get Your Freak On” quite loudly in my I-Pod). BUT, I could see his beak open quite aggressively at me and I have to think a squawk was coming out.
I carried on and couldn’t bare to do another lap and pass him again. So I ventured off into the woods. At this point I still had my I-Pod on, but soon had to remove it. Jogging though the woods with music is not good because sometimes the beat of the music sounds like someone is behind me. yes, paranoid… I know. So, I turned the music off and ran, well, ran and walked. I am still too clumsy to run too much and risk falling. I did have my phone with me (thanks to my new Spibelt).
I ended up doing 2.5 miles. I should have done another small loop to log that last .5 miles, but I was hot and thirsty and I didn’t want to. I got a heck of a workout with the trial running with the hills, etc. so I was happy. Tomorrow I am going to go to the park early (hopefully all the people will be at church) and run 5 miles.
When I got home I hopped back in the Ranger and headed over to the garden to document the progress. I love driving the Ranger – it satisfies my need to get a convertible!
So, the first good news tonight is that my one pound loss this week finally brought my to a total loss of 60 pounds. I am very pleased. 40 more to go!
The next good news is that my radishes are sprouting in my garden! I just planted them last weekend so this was a surprise.
Here are the little sprouts:
I got all the tomato plants planted yesterday, today I caged them and planted the marigolds around them. Apparently pests do not like marigolds so they are beneficial to the garden. Here are some random garden pictures:
Katheryn's tomato plant!
Kat's plant on the left, Black Krim on the right
Two Brandywines on the left and a "Morgage Lifter" on the right
The exciting "Kung Pao" pepper!
Newly planted lettuce and zuchini in the background
Another nice thing happened yesterday that I forgot to mention. I nice lady I work with brought me some flowers… not just any flowers, but “Moose Turd” flowers. These flowers were grown from seeds that I brought her back from Alaska about 6 years ago. They were a touristy souvenier that had seeds inside little moose manure pellets. It was cute, and since she was a gardener I brought them back for her. Every year she tells me how great her “Moose Turd” flowers are doing, but I have never seen them. Yesteray she brought me some for my desk. It was nice treat to have my dreary little office brightened up by some flowers:
Moose Turd flowers
A view of my very messy desk!
Working at my computer was more enjoyable with my flowers, until I started sneezing!
Tomorrow I am going to work at a 5K race in Spartanburg with the Spartanburg Running Club, then I am going to Lowes for more manure and mushroom compost to spread in my garden. I have a few more beds to create and seeds to plant!
Today was a long day. I had to work 8:00-7:00 and got a good bit but done despite having to sit in the meeting 4 hours this morning. It was not as dull as yesterday. I learned that adidas is a Foreign Trade Zone and that seemed to be a pretty important topic. We are now highly regulated. Apparently if the customs people come to our facility and they catch someone that is not wearing a badge then there is a $1,000 fine! WOW.
I got in a good elliptical workout at lunch. I knew I had to fit some cardio in during the day because I would get home too late to do much after work.
I got home, ate something quickly and headed to the garden. I woke up today and felt like today was the day that I had to get the plants in the ground. I was thinking about it all day. I got out there and planted them and strung out my long hose and watered them. I just about took out one of the little lettuce plants near the gate of the garden. Poor thing. I will have to put some rocks around it so that doesn’t happen again. About a half hour into it the bugs started coming out in swarms and attacked me. So far no bites that I can see, but I will definately bring my new Burt’s Bees Bug spray!
Also, much to my displeasure I saw the bats circling around the night sky. I guess the good thing is that they were probably eating some of the bugs that were attacking me.
I was really on a rolll but ran out of time. I didn’t get the last few trays of lettuce planted or the marigolds. I really wanted to get them all in but I also didn’t want to drive the Ranger home in the dark. So I packed my my tools and cranked up the Ranger and headed home. I did have to use the lights, but it wasn’t completely dark yet. I got hit in the face a few times with things – I think they were bugs. I guess I better get used to it!
Sorry no pictures today. I will take some tomorrow – especially of Katheryn’s fancy third place tomato plant. It is lovely!
Tonight was cross training night and I really wanted to be outside after a long day of sitting in a stuffy meeting room with 12 other people. I wanted fresh air and I didn’t really want to go anywhere or be around a bunch of people. I decided to put on my trail running shoes and head for the hills. There are a couple of medium hills by my house so I thought I would run up and down them a few times. I warmed up by walking to the first on the road behind the pond. The trusty Garmin told me the hill was 500 feet/150 meters. It is pretty steep. For some reason I envisioned myself flying up the hill effortlessly…. it was tough. It took me about 1 min 15 seconds to run up it. I felt like I was crawling. The hill is pretty consistently steep. I was sucking wind at the top and jogged down. I did that hill four times.
Then I ran to the other side of the pond road and ran up another hill that was just over 200 meters and not quite as steep. I was sucking wind and the top of that one, too. My legs were pretty tired after that since I did my speed training yesterday. I walked the rest of the way home. I will probably try to do this at least once a week. Apparently hill running is a good way to increase speed – and that is what I am after!
One the way home I stopped by the garden. Nothing has really changed. I am looking forward to getting my plants in the ground this weekend!
SPEED TRAINING! Tonight I went to the track for my speed training. I haven’t done any speed training since 3/17 so it has been awhile. The park was crowded around the track, as usual, so I had to plot out 600 meters. I did my warm-up and found my .37 mile stretch that I would run. Just as I did when I first started out three months ago I started strong and withered away. I need to get back into the speed training mode and start pacing myself again. My goal tonight was to run the 600 meters in 3:17. Here’s how it went:
1st lap: 3:20
2nd lap: 3:21
3rd lap: 3:34
4th lap: 3:34
If I was shooting for a 33 min 5K these would have been pretty good times. But I am shooting for a 30 min 5K so I need to work a bit more. Hopefully after a few weeks of these my body will get used to it again. I have to say that my recovery laps between these sprints were much better. I can tell that I get my breath back a lot faster than I was before. That is always a good thing!
Needless to say I am going to spend the rest of the night coughing with a bit of t tickle in my throat from breathing so hard! It was a tough, but good workout.
Thoughts on the Boston Marathon….
Not that I am comparing myself to the elite athletes of the Boston Marathon, but I was thinking how amazing it is to run just enough faster to gain those precious few seconds. For my first lap I was 3 seconds away from my goal and I was going as fast as I could for 600 meters – not even a half a mile. My pace was about a 8:30 min mile – for .37 miles. The women in the Boston Marathon on Monday ran 26.2 miles in 2 hours and 32 minutes. (that, apparenlty, is considered a SLOW pace!!) First place (Kosgei – Kenya) beat second place (Tune – Ethiopia) by ONE SECOND and beat third (Goucher – USA) place by 9 seconds. You know that the second pace and the third place women gave it everything they had and could not pass her. Kara Goucher lost the race in the last 800 meters of the 26.2 miles. Her average pace for the race was 5:49! I cannot even run that for a fraction of a mile. They are all amazing. I was so sad for Kara Goucher – she was devasted with her third place finish. Considering this was only her second marathon though, hopefully next year she will come back even stronger.
