Week of 8/4 training blog

Well....here we go. Down to the wire for the Detroit Free Press Marathon/Half Marathon on October . Two months and 13 days until the starting gun goes off on my first half marathon!Since many of my friends are athletes, I thought I would keep a training blog of both training runs, cross training and nutrition as I go through this process.

Some of you are already snoring (really, you should get that looked at) but fear not!!!! I promise to also write about food and cooking from time to time, as well as my occasional snarky rant, sarcastic missive and Monday Moanin'.

This blog will be updated daily and a new one will be posted weekly.( I promise to swear like a sailor from time-to-time because you have all come to expect it.)

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I'm following as closely as possible a Hal Higdon training plan to build up to a half marathon. I'm beginning the program in week six since I have already done the distances called for by this week's program.This week calls for: a 4 mile run, a 2 mile run or cross training, another 4 mile run and a 6 mile run. There is one day for stretch/strengthening (probably tonight I will swim and do weights), one day for rest and another rest day where I also have the option of an easy run. I would probably use this day to Spin or ride instead. Friday is scheduled as a rest day as of right now, but I'm taking the day off so I might swim.I always do my longest run on Saturday or Sunday when I have the most time/flexibility in my schedule. Since I'm teaching Spinning this Sunday (which counts as cross training) I'll probably run on Saturday.

TRAINING BLOG:
Monday, August 4th;

Exercise:Run; distance: 4.19 milesTime: 52 minutes (slow and steady)
Weather: Hot but mostly overcast; very humid. Light headwind on the outbound section...that I sorely missed on the return because I felt like the temp rose 10 degrees when it wasn't blowing in my face anymore.

Nutrition:

B: Oatmeal (the real stuff)L: Grilled salmon patty on whole wheat toast with light mayo; salad of spinach, red peppers and tomatoes, fresh watermelonS1: Handful of Skittles and 2 strawberry twizzlers (what? I can't count those as a serving of fruit? Shit. You people have no sense of humor.)

S2: 2 apricots (have you seen those "black apricots" with the dark purple skin? OMG, sweeter than the Skittles!)D: 5 oz. boneless skinless chix breast, grilled eggplant, steamed green beans, baby bok choy, corn on the cob (no butter), blueberries/watermelon for dessert

S3: Couple handfuls of blueberries

Comments: Nothing like having to publish what you're eating to help keep you honest. (And I stand by the "Skittles as Fruit" theory.)

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Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Exercise: 25 minutes swimming laps.
I really don't enjoy swimming. I even bought a SwiMP3 player. Doesn't really help. I suck at it. I mean, I look ok in the water, I just have no endurance.

B: Oatmeal (the real stuff) cooked with fresh blueberries...YUM
L: Leftover eggplant, green beans, 4 oz boneless, skinless chicken, black bean/corn salad, watermelon
S1: Mini-box of cheerios, 3 twizzlers, coffee at 3:30 pm
D: 6 oz water packed tuna with 1.5 tbs light mayo and tbs sweet relish on a low-carb spinach tortilla; apricot, handful of blueberries, iced coffee with lowfat milk
S2: This was really more like a second dinner; 2 bowls of Uncle Sam cereal with blueberries and lowfat milk. (I usually drink skim but I'm out of it at the moment.)' 8 cashews

Comments: Note to self: Confucious say: She who eat high fiber cereal at bedtime spend morningtime on crapper.

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Exercise: 7 am 2 mile run (in just under 20 minutes, not bad!)
Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg, 1 serving oatmeal with blueberries and a little maple syrup.

(That high fiber cereal last night is not sitting well in my stomach. Oh wait, must have been the milk...I was out of lactaid.)

L: Late lunch at 2 pm of 4 oz boarshead honeymaple turkey (yum) on a low-carb flax roll-up (not-so-yum...I think I may have accidentally eaten a Fedex box) bread with honey mustard and baby greens; grilled asparagus and roasted red pepper salad with a light vinaigrette, an overly salty roasted vegetable soup (half of which got poured down the sink); sliced fresh peaches and blackberries with fat free greek yogurt.

Comments: Don't get me started on oversalting food, especially soup! This soup was from a high-end market with a great prepared foods section. I think sometimes restaurants use prepared soup base for their stock (and these are already usually rather salty) and then they go at it with the salt shaker anyway. Ugh.

Going away party tonight for a client; there will be booze and plenty of bar food. I'm going to have to really watch myself! Figured eating a late lunch and snacking on fruit and veggies this afternoon will help me resist potato skins and buffalo wings (neither of which I really like anyway).

D: 1 mini crab cake, 2 small pieces of king crab, 2 coconut shrimp, 2 beers (that's MY kind of dinner!)

S: Watermelon (we were out of Skittles)