Accountability Day 10

Pretty uneventful day today. It stormed overnight so it wasn't too terribly hot this morning, or so I thought! I ended up running 5 miles outside. I had considered doing more but by the time I got a mile away from my house I had so much sweat pouring into my eyes that my eyes were burning so I called it good at 5.

Accountability Day 9: Orange Theory

 

Today was Orange Theory day.

I signed up for Orange Theory last month. Orange Theory is a fitness studio. I know a fair number of people who have worked out there and like it so I decided to give it a try. Quite honestly, before I signed up last month I wondered whether I was "fit" enough to work out there. I didn't want to feel like death 10 minutes into an hour long class...

Well, never mind. That has yet to happen.

Orange Theory workouts are based on heart rate monitoring and the concept of Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption. The "theory" is that if you are able to spend anywhere over 12 minutes in your "orange" heart rate zone your body goes into an oxygen debt and your body can continue to burn extra calories for up to 36 hours. The recommendation/goal is 12-20 minutes. Your "orange" heart rate zone is 84 -91% of your "maximum" heart rate. Your "maximum" heart rate is calculated by subtracting your age from 220. I'm 50 so that makes my "maximum" heart rate 170. I say "maximum" as this is a calculation. I have had my heart rate up over 220 lots of times while doing speed work.

Anyway, my first class was free. After that it's $59 a month for 4 classes and goes up from there. You have to use their proprietary heart rate monitor so it was $69 to buy one that goes around your arm or $5 a class to rent. Quite honestly, after the first class I seriously had doubts I would do this for any length of time so I chose to rent the heart rate monitor.

After my second class I questioned whether I even needed to wear the heart rate monitor. The class is divided up into workouts on the treadmill, rower, and weights. The minute I started running, even at the 5.5 mph (10:54 pace) warm up pace, my heart rate shot up to over 100%. In fact during my first class my instructor even came over and asked if I was OK. My thinking is that if this is their "theory" then I don't need their heart rate monitor to tell me my heart rate is over 143 (which is the bottom of my orange zone).

My heart rate has always been in the orange zone for over 20 minutes every class I've taken. Basically whenever I'm running I'm orange to red. Red is 92-100%. This lead me to another question... if my heart rate is in the orange zone every time I go running, and you only need 12 minutes of orange for a 36 hour after burn, doesn't that mean I'm always burning extra calories? I think not.

Seriously, I even went and looked through my Garmin records to see what my heart rate was when I was in marathon shape as I wanted to know if my heart rate was high because I was out of shape. Nope. It's always that high when I run.

I had to commit to a minimum of a two month membership so I did. My second month expires at the end of June. Until then I'll be going once a week to change up my exercise routine a bit. After that I might look for another recovery day activity. I guess I'm just not as enamored by the work out like some of my friends. Don't get me wrong. I'm a sweatball by the time class is over. I just don't see the value in it.

Accountability Day 8: Personal Coaching

Today was a better day. I got up feeling well rested. I was all set to run outdoors when it started raining. My favorite time to run in the summer is right before it rains; when you can smell it in the air and the wind is starting to kick up and it's overcast out. Well, I waited too long this morning. Raindrops were falling as I went outside. Water doesn't bother me but lightening does. Since I had no idea whether the skies were about to open up with a thunderstorm or if this was just a little spring shower, I took the safe route and drove myself to the fitness center.

7 miles on the indoor track. No problem.

This afternoon I had a call with Matt Ebersole. He is who I called up in 2015 after I missed a BQ at Napa by 3 seconds and wanted another shot at it at the Kentucky Derby Marathon 8 weeks later. He coached me and I got my BQ. I decided I was ready to have a little more structure to my training so he is going to coach me again. Sometimes it's just so much easier to have someone else tell you what to run everyday. There are days I feel like I already have enough decision fatigue in my life.

Cheers for giving up some control today.

Accountability Day 6 and 7: Bleck!!

So it's not been a great two days...

Day 5 started on 4 hours of sleep. Hubs and I are night owls by nature. I needed to go to bed early so I could be up at 4 am but he didn't... so he stayed up til midnight and so did I.

I tried to go to sleep earlier by laying down on the couch down in our living room but our bedroom (where he had the TV on) is a loft so I could still hear everything. I ended up spending the time reserving our rooms for our Grand Canyon trip in October. I needed to reserve three separate hotel rooms. I had exactly six choices of hotels right outside the South Rim. If I looked an hour away there were a bunch more choices but I wanted to be right by the park. All the hotels inside the park have been sold out for a year so I figure I'd better make my reservations now before these sold out. Anyhoos, hotel reservations got made and TV got shut off at midnight.

4 am came really fast. Work was not bad. I got out on time. The drive home was a horror show. I was so so sleepy. It was one of those drives where I had the air cranked up on high blowing in my face so I could keep the car on the road. I got home at 4 pm and dropped over. Woke up at 8 pm cause hubs needed me to help him drop a car off at the tire store. Tornado sirens then went off as we were driving back home. Welcome to Spring in Indiana! Luckily we didn't get any bad weather but there was a touch down on the north side of Indy. Needless to say I didn't get any running in.

I slept in this morning. It was sunny and in the 80's by the time I got up. Then I had all my day off errands to run. I was still exhausted so I ended up laying around the house all day. Finally, this evening, I managed to peel myself off the couch and go to the fitness center. I really had no desire to run but I also didn't want to go three days without running. I managed three miles on the indoor track. I felt fine but I just didn't want to run any longer so I came home.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Accountability Day 5: Rest Day

No running today.

Got up at 4 am to be at work by 6 am. Packed a salad for lunch and had time to eat it. Got off on time at 3 pm then drove to Columbus for a family event. Back home by 7:30 pm and super sleepy.

That is all.

Accountability Day 4: Double Digits

Yay! I ran 10 miles today. It's the longest distance I've run this year.

After my totally craptastic run outside yesterday I opted to run on the indoor track. I'm getting my sleep cycle turned around after working nights the last 2 nights. Last night I got to sleep around 2 am. Woke up at 10 am today but was still groggy and stiff. I did a "warm up" by vacuuming my entire house. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise - vacuuming is hard work. I completely soaked the shirt I was wearing.

Made it to the fitness center just after 1 pm. This is the last weekend of their "winter" hours. After Memorial Day they close at 1 pm on Saturdays. Ran 10 miles on the indoor track. Even indoors though I could feel the heat coming through the windows. It started raining outside as I was completing mile 7. The rain stopped by the time I was done. It was pretty much a sauna outdoors.

Hopefully I'm tired enough now that I can go to sleep earlier tonight. I'm back to day shift tomorrow with a 4 am wake up time.

Accountability Day 3: Something is Better Than Nothing

I was tired today.

I got home from work at 7:30 am but only slept until 11 am in account of being too cold to sleep well and the sirens going off for their weekly test at 11 am.

Last night was another win at work. I ate a couple pecans but that was it.

I laid around the house until 4 pm then went out for my run. What I really wanted to do was do laps on the indoor track because it was hot and humid out...

...but I made myself run outside. The Grand Canyon would be hot and the rolly road would be good for me.

3 miles. I had to walk a short distance going uphill just before the 2 mile mark but I completed 3 miles. Something is better than nothing.

Accountability Day 2: Getting Rid of My Food Crutch

My win from last night - I made it through a night shift at work without eating anything.

I think it's a habit I picked up in medical school...

I went to medical school at a large academic center in the days where there were no limits on how many hours a person could "work." Some days there was no guarantee on when you might get to eat. I took to the habit of always carrying food with me. Something I could stuff in my mouth in no time flat.

Remember these? I think they first came out in the 1990's.

I always had one and a thermos of coffee with me.

I also developed the habit of eating whenever I had a chance, whether I was hungry or not, if I knew I might get too busy to eat later on. For instance, when I work from 6 am to 3 pm I have to get up at 4 am to be out of the house by 5 am. I am never hungry this early but I make myself eat a full breakfast because I know there is a chance I might not be able to eat again until I get home.

I still always bring food with me when I work. When I work in Bloomington it's a 9 hour shift (that can go longer) plus an hour drive time each way. We have no scheduled breaks so it's eat-on-the-fly all the time. There are days when you don't have time to pee much less sit down and try to eat something or go all the way down to the cafeteria. I always bring food with me so I know it will be there when I get a chance to eat.

Sometimes though, I still don't get to eat. Then by the time I get off work I don't want to sit at work any longer eating, I just want to get in my car and drive home. So, halfway home I drive through Martinsville where there is a McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Arby's, Taco Bell, KFC, White Castle, and Steak'n Shake right off the highway. YUP. Drive thru baby! Never mind the food I have with me. I need a treat for my hard day at work.

My other bad food habit I developed was that I used food as a means of keeping me awake. I'd work a late evening shift and get off anytime between midnight to 4 am. An hour drive is a really long drive when you're sleepy. I had to do something that would keep me actively engaged while I drove - and snacking on food all the way home did the job.

When I work in Martinsville it's not quite as busy. Day shift is 7 am to 7 pm. Again, I always bring my food. However... remember all those fast food joints? Yup, we have time to order out.

Night shift in Martinsville is 7 pm to 7 am. Last night was the first night shift in a row of nights. I can never "pre-sleep" for the first night shift so yesterday I slept in until about 10 am but then I ate a normal breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is no reason I need to eat again until today. However, due to habit, usually I always bring food with me. It's something to do at midnight, 1 am, 2 am...

I started putting the brakes on this eating at night habit in April while I was on the Keto Diet. There was no fourth meal on my meal plan so I didn't eat late at night even if I was up. Physiologically I know my body doesn't need another meal. In fact, a person can go days without eating.

I'm working on getting rid of my food crutch. Last night was a win.

I only got 4.5 hours of sleep today after I came home so no running today but no bad food either. It's back to work tonight.

Accountablility Day 1: Monumental Marathon 2019 - I'm In

It's been a long time since I've blogged here and quite frankly it had been a long time since I ran...

I stopped running sometime last summer. With my hamstring injury during the Carmel Marathon it just wasn't fun any more. I quit going to Run Club. I'd dabble with short runs here and there but overall I just didn't run.

I was happy this way... except I gained a whole bunch of weight. Come November I had to find a nice outfit to wear to my daughter's Nutcracker performance and I couldn't fit into any of my dresses. This Spring I finally decided maybe I should weigh myself when I longer could get into any of my jeans or shorts.

147 lbs. It was an eye opener. I am only 5'2". It was the most I'd weighed since I had my last child over 16 years ago. No wonder nothing fit! I was 120-125lbs when I qualified for Boston in 2015 and around 135 this time last year.

I started exercising more regularly in April and committed to doing the Keto Diet the entire month of April. I have found in the past that structured diets are what work for me - tell me exactly what to eat everyday! I found a free 28 day meal plan online and stuck to it. It was also gluten free, dairy free, and white sugar free. I didn't track calories and I didn't track miles. I just ate what my piece of paper said and made sure I did some kind of exercise. I lost 10 pounds.

OK, but I missed my carbs... so, off the Keto Diet now and just trying to eat good whole food. I have found in the past that journaling keeps me accountable so my goal now is to write a blub every day for at least 30 days. I think in the past my blogging felt like another task because the posts would get so long. My goal now is just to get something down every day on how I'm doing.

So today I registered for the Monumental Marathon on November 9th. It was something I had pondered for quite some time; I even asked off work for that weekend back in January... but somehow I wasn't ready to commit. Until today.

So there. I'm registered. Now I have to train.

I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to go for BQ time.

Oh never mind! Of course I'm going to want a BQ. Sub-3:50 is my goal.
I ran 6 miles today. I weighed in at 135 lbs.

Oh, and I'm running the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim on October 8th so I gotta get in shape for that too.