5K Homecoming Alumni Race

I haven't participated in any races since the end of December 2006. I just seems wrong that it has been that long. I guess grad school, applying for jobs, and other summer events took over my life!I knew that registration started at 7am, but I thought the race didn't begin until 8. Good thing I like to be early for things as I got there shortly after seven, only about 15 minutes before the race began. I grabbed my bib, pinned it to my shirt, turned on my ipod, stretched, and began to mentally prepare myself.

I never know how to dress for races in ND. The one's I have done have either been in fall or winter and the weather is always unpredictable. The temp was 61 degress with a bit of humidity and a lot of wind. Yuck. It doesn't take long for my body to get extremely warm when running and I hated the idea of wearing a heavy top, but it was just too cold without it. I chose to wear my short yoga pants, tank top, and a longsleeved running shirt over the top.When mentally preparing myself for this run, I thought about what I wanted to accomplish. I didn't train enough to really expect to break any records so I was hoping for a good steady, strong run. In the back of my mind, a part of me wanted to beat my extremely slow pace from last year.... 39:46. Yuck. Looking around, I noticed the crowd consisted mostly of very young college students who probably could have been on UND's cross country team. It seemed as if there were only about 30-40 people running the 5K race. The starting gun went off and as people were flying by me, I kept telling myself "pace yourself...pace yourself" ... prentend someone is running with you.The route was very similar to last year's race.... starting at the wellness center, running through campus, making one large loop. It was absolutely gorgeous. The leaves were falling, the weather was crisp and but quite breezy. I kept playing tag with a father/daughter team. They were running a bit faster than me, but taking walk breaks every couple minutes. I felt that we were going to be the last 3 to cross the finish line. I didn't see anyone but a couple walkers behind us. It was during the last mile that I really felt that I had a good steady stride and it became my goal to cross that finish line before the father/daught team.And I did. With a couple minutes to spare. I pushed myself hard in that last half of a mile and just wanted to finish strong. Of course that was when the wind was the strongest and against us. If I calculated correctly, I think I might have PRed, beating 37:14. I don't know for sure, and I haven't found the race results online yet. I am almost positive I came in under 36 minutes. We'll just have to wait to find out! All in all, it was a good race and I am not as sore today as I was expecting to be.
Tomorrow starts Octapolluza! I am so pumped!

The Premiere

Last night was the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. A bunch of us decided it was necessary to get together to watch it. I offered to "host" GA season's premiere at my place and serve dinner before-hand. There were six of us; a couple brought wine, I had some beer on hand, and we just relaxed and got to know each other better! In addition, the premiere proved to me that this could be a good season!

After work today I will be heading up to GF! I have a 5k tomorrow and even though I am not feeling as if I am going to be breaking any PR's, I am looking forward to just getting out there in the race atmosphere! I look forward to seeing some family as well.

Go wish Neese good luck on her race this weekend!


Have a great weekend, y'all!

Rain...fall...

While heading home from work today, I noticed heavy blue and gray clouds rolling in; attempting to keep the warm sun from shining. A warm sunshine we haven't seen much of lately. The clouds were rolling fast across the western sky; looking as if they were ready to drop a river's depth of water. I was going to beat this storm if my life depended on it. All I wanted was 2 good miles under the warm sun and in the company of a cool breeze. Just me, my ipod, and the nature around me. I might have gone out too fast, but as I turned the corner to return home, I noticed the clouds rumbling as if they were an empty stomach desiring food. Just a quarter of a mile, that's all I had to do to get to my destination. Just a quarter of a mile. Just in time. After climbing two flights of stairs to my apartment, walking through the living room to open the patio door for fresh air, there it was. Nature at its best. The sun was still peaking through the thick, heavy clouds, but rain was coming down hard and fast; leaving behind that fresh smell of a good rain in fall. The run was wonderful .... the rain was better.

Driven or Crazy?

As I sit here watching the Biggest Loser, I have been thinking about short term goals and what I want to do with October. I am feeling good with things at work; I am on top of all paperwork, I am feeling organized, and I believe I only have one IEP meeting in October.

Feeling on top of things at work will make a huge difference in regards to sleeping better, eating better, and training better. All three having an effect on the others.

With all that in mind, I am contemplating something along the lines of Octapolluza. You heard me. I know KelsaLynn has been rockin' her Septapolluza, and I thought it would be something worth while. Something to give me that extra push. Just one month.

The requirements I have put on myself??

1 workout per day. That being a minimum of 2 mile run, a 10 mile bike, or 30 minute swim.

1 optional rest day each week.


1 strength training day each week.


no SODA. I like the carbonation, but it makes me feel like CRAP. I want it gone. PERIOD.

Anyone want to join me in the craziness?

Consistency and Base Building

Now that I am starting to feel comfortable with work, I have started thinking about my training. Once again. Sometimes I feel like that is all I do. I think about it, but I am not consistent with it.

I have been looking over my traithlon books in the past couple days. I am trying to think about what I want to do. Right now I think I am going to focus on my running and cycling with a little bit of swimming here and there. I have a race this saturday, and I don't know if I feel as ready as I would like. My next 5k will be thanksgiving day, unless I find something else between now and then.

After the turkey trot on turkey day, I would like to really buckle down with some triathlon training; something more consistent and base building. Part of me would like to do my first triathlon in late winter/early spring. But, if I want to do that up here, I need to find something indoor, and I don't know if I am too keen on the idea of the indoor triathlon at the U of M because it is based on time not distance. They give you 30 minutes in each discipline.

With that in mind, I will continue to look for other indoor races in the area. I know some have asked what my plans were for races in 2008, and I am still up in the air. This is so new to me. I would love to do a few sprint triathlons next spring/summer and use it as an excuse to travel. So if anyone knows of any good triathlons or any that they plan on doing, let me know and I might be willing to travel!

I was looking at some training schedules in my books as well as online, and I was kind of disappointed with what I saw. Some of them were based on minutes, which is fine with me, but some of the schedules start with 10-15 minute runs. To me that doesn't seem worth it. I really like the idea of bricks and have been doing some brick work already. Any suggestions or advice in regards to training schedules? For those triathlete's out there, what has worked or is working for you?

The Old Apartment

Instead of running today, I took the opportunity to clean my apartment from top to bottom. I have lived in this place for a couple months, but it is finally starting to feel "homey". Because there were requests before, and because some people still haven't come to visit yet, I thought I would put up some photos of my very clean apartment!

View from front door.

The Kitchen

View of Living room from kitchen.

Living Room
View from my couch!

The bathroom

My favorite room.... mostly because it was the most expensive to decorate!
....And, I have a door that leads to the patio!

....walk in closet.

There you have it!

Crazy Train

Last night a few friends and I went to a local bar to see a 70's/80's coverband.

HAIRBALL.

It. Was. Awesome.

I didn't realize there were so many 80's songs that I loved... especially the early 80's. There was quite the mix of people in the crowd there. The band dressed the part of every song and artist. It was crazy! All the dancing left my legs feeling a little sore. Which is kind of weird because I was expecting to have a headache from some minor head-banging!

Maybe that run will happen later today.

It's a good thing

Well, I have survived the haircut trauma, long week at work with meetings every night, and all and all I can say it was a pretty good week. I was flattered when I received this message via email:

Stacy,

Pop down tomorrow when you have time and we can visit about TAT team. [SPED COORDINATOR] stopped in and we had a good visit and she indicated you might be interested in joining this team with your fresh ideas and experiences.

[PRINCIPAL]

I was very excited and had thought about the possibilities of joining this team. The purpose of the team is to meet on students that teachers feel are struggling, wether it be in the area of academics or behavior, or both. The team meets to discuss possible interventions that can be tried to help this student. From there the team will meet back again to discuss if the interventions implemented were successful or not. If not, then the student would be referred for special education testing/evaluating.

This is a huge thing and being a first year teacher I was somewhat hesitant at first, but I think it would be great to be a part of this team. Far too often, teachers have difficulties with students and would rather pass them off to special education for testing than making changes in their classroom or instruction to help that student.


On a side note, I made it to spin today but felt somewhat dehydrated and passed on the run afterwards. We really focused on resistence and building strength rather than the speed today. There's nothing better than jello legs after a good workout! This week I am going to have to get in a few runs before my 5k saturday. Now, I am heading to school to get some paperwork done. Yep, third weekend in a row that I have put in extra time. But, it's just been crazy with two IEP meetings last week, and two coming up this week.

I won't be going into work next weekend... I will be in GF!

Today's Workout:
OCN: 13.5 miles

Panic Attack: Terminated

Okay, so after washing the crap out of my hair this morning and styling it on my own, I think am pretty satisfied. It's the length I wanted, layered, and thinned out immensely. And, it was a whole lot easier to work with today. That haircut is still one of my worst experiences. I will have to think twice about going back again.

Today we had a meeting scheduled at 3 and I was hoping to get to the gym by 430 for spin, but that didn't happen. The parent didn't show until 330 and I didn't get to leave the school until 430. Grr. Getting to spin on thursdays is going to be more difficult than I thought. But, this left me with extra time in my evening to run some necessary errands and get home to make a good dinner.

With baseball season coming close to an end (sniff, sniff).... I am longing for my other favorite pass time. No, not football. Can you guess? Just take a look at my 15+ year old sweatshirt in the photo for a hint......

In less than two months and my favorite college team will be starting... ya...you heard me...

Wacky Wednesday

Sometimes I think I work in a zoo rather than a school. Has any other teachers felt that way? Geez... Kids can be crazy.

Tonight I went and got my hair cut. It has been about 5 months since the last one. Prior to this cut, I have had my hair cut by the same person for the past 3 or 4 years. I hate trying to find someone new. Well, let's just say that this girl (girl being the operative word), looked about the age of a 16 year old (not that I judge someones knowledge or experience on age....as I may look at times younger than I really am), but damn... she was young. She couldn't find her scissors, and then when I asked her to thin out my hair (as it is extremely thick) she reached for her regular scissor and not the other scissors used for this process, and almost started to cut... I think she heard me gasp and realized what she had almost done. Then she couldn't find the hair gel, and proceded to have difficulties putting the diffuser on the blow dryer. Ahh! By the time she was done diffusing my hair, I looked like a lion and couldn't tell if I liked the cut. The second I left the salon I threw it up in a pony tail, thankful I am still able to do so, and went on my merry way to the grocery store.

I will let you know tomorrow if I like the cut. After I am able to wash all this sh*t out of my hair and style it myself. Then.. . and only then will I decide whether I will got back to her!

Endurance + Resistance =

.... one helluva workout!

That pretty much sums up our spin session tonight.

Before you read any further, listen to this song and imagine yourself on the bike. This is how we close each and every spin session. Full out sprinting for almost 4 minutes. The only time we slow down is to take a breather.... when the music slows down. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Our instructor forgot her shoes and she took advantage of the opportunity to work with us on proper form from head to toe, reaching or fat burning zone, increasing our endurance, and doing a bit of individual coaching. My mileage didn't get as high as in the past, but I could tell that my thighs had an intense workout with a higher level of resistance on the bike.

I had committed to running afterwards, but didn't know how much I could do. So I went into it with the idea to see how fast I could do a mile. Well, it only took less than a minute for my legs to transition from the bike and I was well on my way. This mile trial made me realized that if I push myself a littler harder, I know I will be able to drop some time on my 5K. Once I finished my mile, I slowed down a bit with a half mile cool down. I was wiped... and starving.

Today's Workout:
OCN: 15.98 miles
ORN: 1.55 miles (mile 1-->11:04 mile)

Tomorrow? I get my hair cut! All of them!

All is good

Tip of the day: Don't wear cute shoes. To school. Period.

I have worn these shoes twice before to school and haven't had any problem with them. Today? My pinky toes were sore before the day even started. And there really isn't much of a heal on these. It's definitely hard to beautiful. Or to try to be beautiful! Ha!

Last night it took forever to fall asleep. I woke up at 2am, fell back to sleep and was up shortly before 5. I couldn't sleep and all I could think about was my first meeting today. Needless to say, I was at the school before 7am.

This meeting wasn't just a simple annual IEP meeting, but a transition meeting for a new student from a different district, and an annual IEP meeting, as well as a meeting for us to discuss further testing for the three-year reevaluation. I think my anxiousness and not feeling prepared was written all over my face. One of the other special ed teachers offered to sit in and take notes. Thank you. Despite the anxiety and pressure I put on myself leading up to this meeting, I have successful lived through it and walked out of the conference room with a smile on my face!

You know, I have been teaching special education for the last two years, but this year I am completely on my own. No one forcing me to have my IEP's looked over (only to be marked up by red left and right) before submitting, no one to tell me to reword something, no one to be a step above me at a meeting and guiding me through it. It's not like I am unable to get help when I need it, because that is definitely available. And was offered prior to this meeting. It's just a different feeling to have expectations (probably stemming from myself) to do well and give all the impression that I know my stuff.

I have another meeting next tuesday, and after today, I know it will go just fine!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday....

My new kicks were definitely a good purchase. My workout yesterday was hard, leaving me with a feeling of complete exhaustion. I would rather end a workout feeling exhausted, than hurt. So I was happy with it.

This morning I went to the gym with a girlfriend. A girlfriend of mine who doesn't really run regularly wanted to try the Galloway way. She wanted me to do a little coaching, and it was one of those do as I say, not as I do type coaching (It took me forever to realize how benificial this is, and just started it myself). Well, she attempted the run 2/walk 1 method and ended up doing a little over 3 miles; the most she has ever run. I was so excited for her! My date with the thrillmill was a planned 5K time trial. I haven't ran that distance in a long time. I shouldn't have included my 5 minute warm-up walk as it lengthened my total time, but I was pleased with the overall results considering this.

As much as I don't want to, I will be heading to the school this afternoon for a couple hours. 3 hours max. I have three things I need to do for the week, and then I am spending the rest of the day watching football. I have my first meeting tomorrow, and want to be as prepared as possible. Monday and Wednesday will be longer days, as I don't want to put in any hours next weekend. We'll see how it turns out.

Today's Workout:
3.5 miles run

I am kind of excited as the weather is supposed to be in the 70's all week. Yes! last week it was in the 50's ... very chilly in the am and pm. Enjoy your Sunday, y'all!

Finish Strong

Our spin session this morning consisted of an imaginary ride along Interstate-94 into Medora. We went through the badlands, around the elk and buffalo, through narrow clearings between buttes, over rocks and through riverbends and small streams. This was a different spin session, with a different instructor, but I enjoyed it. Having been to Medora multiple times, the last being my 5K Badlands Race a year ago, I was really able to imagine the scenery.

Afterwards, I changed into my new shoes, stretched a bit and hopped on the thrillmill. It took about 4 minutes for my knees to transition from the bike to the run. I didn't have a number of miles I wanted to do, I was just focussing on time. I wanted to go 30 minutes and that is just what I did. My run was slow and easy but I finished with a little extra speed and an incline in the end. I wanted to finish strong. I could hear my Dad saying that in my head. When I have run with my parents, Dad has always said "finish strong" at the end of a run. It kind of annoys me how well both of them run. Last time I talked to them about a run, they had done 6 miles with about 10min splits. I don't do long runs with them... I like to stick to a few miles! Ha!

Today's Workout:
OCN: 19.5 miles
ORN: 2.5 miles

I was thinking I would get to the school today to take care of some stuff. But, I am just not feeling it. I don't want to be putting in tons of hours every saturday, as there is always something that could be done. I might skip it this weekend, work a little later after school during this coming week, and see how it goes. I need my me time. Plus, errands need to be run, clothes need to be washed, college football is in full speed, and my Twins play this evening. Today is Stacy's day. Ha!
P.S. I think my Twins lost last night because I had washed my shirt. Damn it. You were right, Scott!

Friday Fun Facts

Okay, so this may not be so much as FUN Facts, But it will be the facts.... bear with me people... I am trying to change it up a bit!

• Woke at 4am. Again. Make that 4 out of 5 days this week. Tomorrow is one of the few mornings that I could sleep in if I wanted, but I have plans to leave for spin at 830. Who wants to make bets on whether I will be up during the 4am hour tomorrow? Any takers? Come on.. I know there are some of you out there just dying to make a bet!
• 6:00am ... was debating on whether I should wear something Twins, Vikings, or Sioux to school for favorite sports team/jersey day. I wasn't feelin' in the mood for the Vikes, and opted to play it safe and wear Twins rather than Sioux. I am in Bison territory. *Yuck* All that green and gold.... How many of you think I washed my "Cuddy" shirt before wearing it? Hmm?
  
• 6:45 am ... Picked up a Caramel Highrise from Caribou Coffee on my way to work. Great way to start a friday. Nice and warm fuzzy feeling in me....
  
• 8:30am-ish... feelin' dizzy. I wonder how many shots of espresso were in that drink? It was such a weird feeling.
• 8:30 thru mid-afternoon .... time flew by with the kiddos... but the highlight of the day was intervening with a student and a para. I was working with my group and heard some commotion coming from the other side of the room. Supposedly the para was trying to get this student to go back into the room next door to work with another special ed teacher(who wasn't in the room at the time to take care of this situation). When I stepped in, the student attempted to bite me, kick me, slap me, and to top it off he called me a freak. "Shut up, you freak," he said, to be exact. Poor kid. He obviously doesn't really know me! Good thing he was the size of a 6 year old.
• 4:30ish ... finally left school and got to breath some fresh air and see the sun! I couldn't have thought of a better way to end a friday than with a couple friends, a drink or two, and dinner!
• 6ish... ventured over to Scheels. Had a great salesman help me... I tried on every kind of shoe similar to my Asics Kayano's; Saucony, Brooks, Mizunos, and of course the new Kayano. I didn't care for the Mizunos, Saucony wasn't very stable, the Brooks were really comfy, but I was shocked to see them more expensive than my kayano's. As you can see... I chose my kayano's. I just have to remember to replace them sooner... rather than later...
  
• 7ish ... came home to find these ..... in front of my door. (Triathlon Training: In Four Hours a Week, Triathlons For Women, and Total Immersion). Thanks, peeps, for the advice on good books. I am sooo pumped.I have a lot of reading to do! And a lot of learning!
  
• Now... I am going to read y'alls blogs... and watching my twins hopefully beat some tigers to the ground!
  

Happy Running, y'all!

Nothing far from a crispy, fall day

The day started out with my internal alarm waking me at 4am. Now that has been three days this week that I have woken up between 4 and 430 without an alarm. The next time this happens, I am just going to get up and hit the gym at 5. Once I wake up like that, I don't sleep very well from then until my alarm goes off. My mind starts to wonder and I end up making mental notes of what needs to get done at work.

It felt like friday today and I was very disappointed to come to the realization that it was only thursday. The weather this morning was a chilly feeling with a bitter cold wind. Don't get me wrong, I love the change of seasons. It's one of my favorite reasons to live in the Midwest. The temperature is dropping, the colors will be changing, and the trees will start to become bare as the grass begins to turn from green to dark. Nothing far from a crispy, fall day.

This evening I made it to spin as scheduled. It had felt as if I hadn't been there in forever. It had been a week. Afterwards I got on the thrillmill and went at it. I wasn't too tired and still had some gas in the tank. I didn't have a plan as to how far I wanted to go. I got going and it took a few minutes to get my stride down, after being on the bike for almost an hour. But, I got into it and felt comfortable. As comfortable as one can be on that machine. I only did a very slow steady mile but it felt good.

Today's Workout:
18.23 miles OCN
1 mile ORN
one happy chica!

I can't believe I haven't realized how long I have had my current shoes. What the heck? I calculated that I have probably put 375 miles on these shoes running... more than I thought. Plus, I have worn them for spin over the past 11 months as well. Definitely time to purchase new ones.

Tomorrow ... is friday. And it's jeans day as well as favorite sports team t-shirt day. I suppose I should probably wash my Cuddyer shirt before tomorrow, huh?

I did it...

I ran tonight. At the gym. On the thrillmill.

2.5 miles ... only.

I realized a couple days ago, it's probably time for new shoes. I bought my shoes last fall. Maybe that's why I was having troubles with my knees starting in July.

Tomorrow I will spin. And maybe a couple miles on the thrillmill to follow.

Right below, is my real post for the day.

P.S. I am excited because my sister has not only updated her blog, but has been posting regularly!

Reason #452 as to why I love teaching: Sparking Imagination

As a special education teacher, I work with students for a handful of different things. Some of my groups focus on reading, one focusses on math skills, and a few others focus on writing - including spelling. The past few days I have been drowning my students (that I see for writing instruction) in writing prompts. Well, not drowning, but it just feels that way to me as it has turned out to be more time consuming than I thought!

My goal this week was to give each of my students three writing prompts. I am in the process of getting a baseline as to how well my students can write when given a writing prompt and 3 minutes to write. I am looking for correct word sequences; making sure each sentence is complete with a capital letter at the beginning, ending punctuation and correct spelling. Once I have my baseline, I can figure out what kind of progress they should be making over a 9 week period. And I will continue to give them these writing prompts, 1 a week to measure progress.

With the first writing group I had yesterday, I gave them their writing prompt with 1 minute to think about what they were going to write, and then away they went for three minutes. Two of my students were writing like crazy and I didn't have the heart to stop them after three minutes. Once there three minutes were up, I marked where they were, and then gave them more time to write. Who knew they would continue to write for 20 more minutes. They were asking for more paper, making comments of enthusiasm saying, "Oh! I know what else to write" .... "I love doing this!" .... "Do we get to do this again tomorrow, Ms. S?"

A great feeling came across me as I sat on the otherside of that table. I was speechless. I just let them write. A similar episode happened again today. As I look over a dozen stories tonight, I am not too bothered by their lack of skills with their writing; run-on sentences, uncomplete sentences, missing words, simple spelling errors, ten words piled together, awful penmanship, etc. These are are things I know now that we need to work on in the future. I am so excited over their excitement and joy in their writing. And their unbelievable imagination. Kids are full of surprises and always seem to amaze me, some way ... some how. Just another reason why I love what I do.

Scratchin' it...

I am scratchin' my workout for tonight.

For 2 reasons.

1) we didn't get out of our meeting in time for me to get to spin, and
B) my Dad is staying with me tonight as he has meetings in this part of the state tomorrow...

So, I will run tomorrow evening and then switch my spinning to thursday and saturday. No big deal. Maybe I will put on my Cuddyer shirt ... again... for the game tonight. Pity those in my presence tonight! HA!

Beating the alarm

Another early morning. What the hell is wrong with me? I was up this morning at 430 without an alarm! And I went to bed later than usual. Needless to say, I didn't do anything exercise related this morning. I am still a leeetle bit sore. I have a meeting today after school until 5pm and I don't think I will be able to get across town in 30 minutes, change, and get myself on a spin bike by 530. When these special ed staff meetings fall on tuesdays, I will just have to shuffle the schedule around and hit up spin on thursday and saturday, rather than tuesday/thursday. Tonight I am going to get on the thrillmill again and fork over a few miles. Maybe four miles, if I am feeling hot hot hot! hehehe.

Last night my twins won. Second day in a row. Shocking, I know. But, I would like to take some credit. You see, I was wearing my new Cuddyer shirt during both games. I would hate to have to continue this craziness. But, it can't be worse than Morneau eating macaroni and cheese before every game, can it?

It was an attempt....

The alarm went off at 430 this morning. I was wide awake unlike other mornings that consisted of nothing more than rolling over and reseting the alarm. But, as I began to move I noticed the soreness in my legs. Once I was out of bed, my lower extremities were so stiff and sore from yesterday's workout that I could barely walk.

I went to the bathroom and crawled back into bed to sleep for another hour. It was an attempt. Maybe I shouldn't have gone from not running for two weeks, to yesterday's crazy workout. Oh well! I will rest today, and then attempt a brick tomorrow evening... spinning followed by a couple miles on the thrillmill!

Happy Monday, y'all!

Hard & Fast

There are two Y's in this town, and I usually attend the one that is the furthest away, downtown, only because it has the pools and awesome spin instructor. But, this morning I tried something new. The other Y, that I haven't been to yet, is just a short jaunt away from my apartment. So, with that in mind I wanted to run to the gym, lift a bit, and then run home.

After waking at 7am to a beautiful, sunny, September morning, I made myself a couple egg whites and peice of toast with peanut butter. An hour later I was out the door and hitting the pavement. It has been over 2 weeks since my last run. Despite the temp of 38 degrees and being able to see my breath, the run to the gym felt wonderful. My legs felt strong and the cool temperature felt good on my recovering lungs.

Once I got to the gym, I attempted to learn how to use some of the weight machines. I wanted to focus on my arms today. After spending a good amount of time on the machines leaving my arms feeling fatigued, I wanted to try something new. I was reading my new Runner's World magazine last night and there was an article in there about building leg strength. To sum it up, you hit the hills, hard and fast. So, I hopped on the thrillmill, warmed up with a half mile run, sprinted 10 seconds at a 7.0 incline (as the article stated), jogged for 2 minutes, did it again, and then followed that with a nice cooldown. Supposedly it's the best way... you avoid reaching lactate threshold and becoming fatigued. It also has the same demands on the muscles as weight training -- glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves.

Afterwards I grabbed a medicine ball and did some ab/arm workouts on the mat. Nothing too exciting, but was necessary! I do feel as if my core is stronger and I give thanks to spinning and pilates for that. On my run home I took it nice and slow, and ran the entire way. It was still pretty cool outside, but the sun was starting to warm up.

This Y that is close to home is going to come in real handy when I want an early morning run (since it opens at 5am). Especially when it starts to get too cold for running outdoors.... which I have a feeling will be here before any of us are ready for it. Yuck.

Today's workout:
3.62 mile run
upper body weights
medicine ball/abs

What's your craving?

My week thus far consists of two spin sessions. Two good ones, I will admit that. No running this week ... yet. I was looking forward to getting up this morning to do a few miles, outdoors, in the cool september morning. I scratched it once I woke to the sound of heavy rain at 7am, slept for another hour, and then headed into work at 9am.

Yep. I went to work this morning. I was planning on working a few hours to get organized and complete my lesson plans for the week. Six hours later, I left there and headed for Target for some much needed teacher supplies. 6 hours on a saturday... good grief. I hope once I am more organized and in the flow of things, these long days and extra hours will only happen sporadically. I expect I will be putting in some longer days or extra hours when IEP's are due or test results need to be looked over and compiled for reports. I know that the extra hours can be expected of most new teachers. It's just the inevitable.

On a different note, I have been thinking a bit lately about how I can change some things around in order to get my ass moving. Literally. I am a true endorphine junky and I "crave" it like any addict craves their substance of choice. I had a doctor appointment yesterday and there is no better way to end your work day by stepping on that damn scale. I have a scale at home and have weighed myself a couple times since moving (with the results of complete disappointment), but when I got on this scale at the clinic, and read the same numbers as at home, I just wanted to scream. Or punch the lady who said "It's your lucky day... you get to step on this scale!" I have never weighed this much in my life; I have gained 20 pounds since highschool (8 years ago), and more importantly 10 pounds since april. 10 pounds! People keep telling me it's probably muscle ... but 10 pounds? good god. On the upside... my clothes still fit the same... but this is still very upsetting. It needs to go. And there is no better time than now.

I love starting my day off with a workout, showering and then heading to work with a good sense of accomplishment prior to the start of the workday. I just need to get in the right frame of mind, and do this. The days that I do spin, can not be morning workouts since it is a scheduled class. But, everything else can be done in the morning, including swimming. I should really take advantage of the fact that the pool opens at 5am most weekday mornings. This coming week is going to be different. I know I have pretty much been saying that for the past few weeks, but this time I gotta do it. I am determined, and it's gonna happen. No excuses! And if not, I leave it to you fellow bloggers to kick my ass!

The difference between the unattainable and the attainable
lies in a person's determination.

Feeling Good

I have been at a loss of words for posting. I know, shocking. But, it is the truth. I hate to waste my time posting, to bore y'all and waste your time. That wouldn't be fair, would it?

Last night was pretty much nothing. I left school shortly after 4 and went to wally world. I am not a huge fan of wally world, but this one is just a few blocks north of my apt and it also has a grocery store. killin' 2 birds with 1 stone, yes! So I got a few much needed groceries, a bunch of items to organize myself at work, and took a few minutes looking in the drug section. It only took me about 30 seconds of staring at all the choices before pulling out the good ol' cell phone to catch my Mom. Yep. 26 and I called mom for help! I had been taking OTC meds for about 4 days straight and all my symptoms changed. It switched from allergies/sinus to coughing and congestion. Thanks to Mom's help, I went home to take some of the Mucinex that I had from last year. Smart woman!

After I got home, ate dinner, I took the drugs and planned on cheering on my Twins. The intensity of my headache from the afternoon(probably from coughing all day) had gotten so bad that I was in bed before 8pm. And, to make matters worse, I woke up at 1am, took some ibuprofen, and woke up again at 5am....with the damn headache.

The day did get better with an intake of caffeine to start the day off! It was all smooth sailing from there! The kids were good, work was fine, and spin after school was a butt kicking episode as all have been! I rode the furthest I have ridden in a spin session...ever! Rock on!

OCN: 20.75
Duration: 47:23
Avg Pace: 2:17/mi

Booooyahhhhh!!

Now, if anyone can teach me their trick to getting their ars out of bed in the morning for a workout rather than later in the day.... that would be wonderful!

MICHAEL BUBLE - FEELING GOOD

What's your game?

In an effort to get myself on a path to better workout routine (hence the word routine), I left for work this morning with my duffel bag. The plan being: to work early, leave work shortly before 5, and on the bike in spin class by 5:30. check, check, and check.

I had put together my week's tenative "schedule" with hopes of feeling the best I've felt in a week. And, after getting a good 8+ hours of sleep last night as well as giving myself a positive pep talk to start the week, I went to work this morning with a smile on my face, feeling rested and a hell of a lot better than on friday. The day just flew by. It wasn't until I had been on the bike for a half hour that I realized my "scheduled" spin session followed by a few miles on the thrillmill wasn't going to happen. And, to be frank, I wasn't going to push it either. I need to fight this cold.

I left spin feeling as if I accomplished more in that hour than I had in days. The distance wasn't the game today. We worked on our triceps and biceps doing many sets of different kinds of push-ups while cycling, deep pushups as well as little pulses. We worked our endurance with a handful of sprints, seated and standing. We worked our core with jumps and some intense agressive riding. This session was definitely mind over matter. After 45 minutes on the bike, we closed with some inner-thigh workouts and some very relaxing yoga positions. I could have fallen asleep right there and then.

OCN: 14.56 miles

Tomorrow I am going to play it by ear. I am hoping to get up at a decent time to do some pilates and strengthen that core. If it is too hot in the evening for a few miles run (it is supposed to be 90 degrees), I will pass on that and go for some strength training in the comfort of my own (small) living room with my friend from Turbo sculpt.

Have a great hump day, y'all!

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"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
~ Winston Churchill

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Weekend Highlights

Sinus/Cold Update: My stuffy nose and sore throat turned into a full blown cold. Saturday while out and about shopping, I was miserable (feeling as if my head was going through a meat grinder) and finally took a time out to find some cold medicine. Today I am feeling a hundred times better and look forward to getting back into my workout routine. I know that my tiredness last week was coming from the onset of this cold.

Moving Sis & Bro-in-law: ....it just didn't work out. But, being the positive thinker I am, I know it will happen in due time.

Saturday: We did a bit of shopping and later that evening we went to the Budweiser's Twins Unplugged at a bar. I was so pumped. It was an opportunity for fans to come and ask questions, and eventually get some autographs! I felt like a little kid standing in line for these autographs!

Me, Dad, Bro-in-law

Twins Players (left to right): Mike Redmond (catcher), Nick Punto (2nd base), Michael Cuddyer (right field)

Those guys looked exhausted. They had just played 3 games within about 26 hours....due to a double header on friday!

Sunday: The whole fam hit up a baseball game. The Twin's lost and it was an awful game. That is pretty much all I can say about that.

The long weekend is almost over, which means it will be the start of another work week. As much as I love my job, I am looking forward to it being a short week. I think once we get our schedules figured out, it will be much more enjoyable! Tonight I look forward to spending the evening looking over some paperwork, doing laundry, and figuring out my workout schedule for the week! Yippee! I am ready to get back to the gym!

Tomorrow?

SPIN!

Happy Labor Day, y'all!