11.17

Dress: H&M, Necklace: Target, Boots: Famous Footwear

Even though I went to sleep close to 8PM, I slept until 10am. Around 6:30 I thought I should wake up but decided to go back to sleep for a little.  Next thing I knew it was 10 am.

Note how I eat the old fashioned kind of donuts. I eat the piece that sticks off around the entire thing then eat what's left.

11.10

I dressed for fall. I was so hot after I got back home though that I had to put on shorts.  I like this outfit more than I thought I would when picking it out.
Jeans, Sweater, and Necklace: F21, Cardigan and Belt: Target, Boots: Famous Footwear

The highlight of my day was the donuts.  The old fashioned are my favorite.  I eat them weird. I eat the part around the edges that is like a folded part or something. Then I eat the rest of the donut after I've fully circled the donut eating the part that sticks out.

10 Running Questions

My friend, Jen, sent me this blog post with 10 Running Questions and asked if I'd answer them on my blog. I can't turn down a request.  I wouldn't read her answers until I answered my own because I thought her answers might influence mine.

1. Best Run Ever
I have no idea.  The most scenic run was my run in Washington, DC. My 18 mile run with Adrienne and her running group gave me the confidence to do the 20 mile race and the 50k so maybe that is the Best.  Or maybe when I actually placed overall for females in a 5k should be my best.  I like so many runs this is too hard to decide.

2. Three words that describe my Running
sporadic. crazy/insane. Fun.
I have a poor vocabulary so I kept thinking of phrases not words. I came up with 3.  I say sporadic because I go through phases of a good week or month and then almost nothing. Or I skip a week totally.  I say crazy or insane because I put up with pain and keep going nowadays. I say fun because I just like getting out there and doing it. I don't know why but I do.  Back in may I gave a speech on running changing you and there I said how I don't feel a sense of accomplishment when I'm done with a big race. I still have fun though.

3. My go-to running outfit 
Tank top and shorts.  Now the shorts may be capris if it's a little chilly. I also do running skirts.  The tank top is most likely one of my Forever 21 tank tops that cost me 4.80.  When it is chilly, I wear a long sleeve race shirt. (Not the Philly marathon shirt because that wasn't a women's cut so it sucks)  I often think I should get some dry fit tank tops but I am too cheap for that. I always wear Brooks Adrenaline shoes. Right now I have the 11s. I like them better than the 10s. The 10 was tighter at the ankles and gave me bruises/dents.

4. Quirky running habit
Playing bonus seconds/penalty seconds.  I have my Garmin set to .25 intervals. I set goals and if I beat the goal I get bonus seconds. If I'm slower than the goal, I get penalty seconds.  I usually add these up for the mile and hope to end with bonus seconds.  I usually start over at 0 after each mile but sometimes I don't. It depends on my mood.

5. Morning, noon or night? 
Morning. It's too hot at noon. When I worked, it took too much time to run and shower and get back to work.  Evening is good in theory and when I used to prefer it but if I get home from work, usually I need some food in me. If I eat then I get roped into the TV show I watched while I ate, then next thing I know it is too dark.  But I hate mornings too. I do like getting the workout done and out of the way.  Lately 3 PM or 10 am are my common running times but that's just what I do when I have on life.

6. I won't run outside when it's...
35 degrees and rainy. OK I won't do it when it's below 40 and rainy.

7. My worst running injury and how I got over it
I guess it's the trochanteric bursitis in had in the winter/spring.  I would say it is the worst because it was the most painful. But also I was dumb about it and when I was told to rest, I ran a 20 mile race 3 days later. Then I ran a 50k a few weeks later.  It bothered me for over 4 months.  The year before I had a similar injury and went to PT for it and didn't run for awhile. Rest usually heals things. I didn't get to run the marathon in 2011 so maybe I should say that injury was worse because at least I ran all the races I planned to this year.  Both times rest helped. I went to PT in 2011. I did PT type exercises in 2012. But I do think it was the rest that did it. I am probably about to end up with the same type of injury again.

8. I felt most like a badass runner when... 
Never.  I think I felt most accomplished when I finished my first half marathon. I've run further since with better times. Maybe running in the mud with Callie because that's not for the faint of heart. I sure wanted to quit.  I'm not really sure though.

9. Next race is... 
Probably in late February. I haven't decided yet. Maybe a half marathon on February 16

10. Potential running goal for 2013
Running 720 miles. This year my goal was 600 miles with a monthly goal of 60 miles/month. Now if you do the math 60/mo = 720/year but I was taking into account injuries so I'd have some low months or even a month with 0.  For 2013, I hope to actually hit 720. Therefore I'll make my monthly reach goal of 70 miles/mo and hope I hit it enough that I'll get 720 in the year.

BodyMedia Fit Data

A few years ago I did a post about the calorie burn based on different exercises.  This post is just about the BodyMedia fit data itself not really based on each activity.  BodyMedia fit is similar to Body Bugg but BodyMedia fit does sleep duration and sleep efficiency. 

The night of 11/25-11/26

I set my own goal to 8 hours but I think that might be the default goal though.  The dark gray is when I was sleeping and the light gray is when I was lying down.  Sometimes when I toss and turn a lot, I will look at my data and it shows it.  Note if you sleep with your arm above your head, the armband won't register that time as sleeping or lying down.  This doesn't seem to affect me unless I wear my armband on my right arm but it affects my husband nightly.  For the most part this is accurate.  Sometimes I am lying down almost asleep watching TV and it registers as sleeping, but that is rare.  

Each day you can view your calorie burn.  You can see when your calorie burn was higher.  Most likely you know what you did during that time so it's no surprise.  Sometimes it's interesting to see the elevated calorie burn when you are socializing, shopping, or cleaning.  Shortly before 4:00 when my calorie burn is the highest that is when I went for a run. Over an hour later I'm elevated again because I went ot the gym. I started with elliptical and then did weights.. 

11.4.12 Run

You can move the slider at the bottom to zoom in on part of the graph.  Above shows when I went running (and a little before and after).  Note there are dips. Those dips are each walk break during my run.  The 3 dips that are down further than the rest are actually when we stopped at water fountains.  Normally walking wouldn't be anywhere near 8 calories an hour but your heart rate is still elevated from the run so you keep burning calories but you get some recovery time so you can run longer.

Also on the website you can see your physical activity. Moderate activity is from 3-6 METs and vigorous is over 6.  I mainly get vigorous exercise when I run.  In the past I've gotten maybe 3 minutes out of a 45 minute spin class as vigorous and maybe 18 minutes of a Body Combat class as vigorous.  A lot of normal activities count as moderate for me. Meetings at work, walking, cleaning, and some socializing are all things that count as moderate activity for me.  METs is not calories per minute but it is very smilar for me since I normally burn 1.0 or 1.1 calories a minute so everything is very similar for me.

 Here's another screen shot of calorie burn.  By default BodyMedia fit only shows me what I told it at one point are my standard waking up and going to sleep times.  They are way off based on my current jobless state.  The increased calorie burn there after 8PM is when I went to the gym.  I ran 1.25 miles. Then I got water and decided to run more. You can see the dip.  Then the next 20 minutes were lifting weights.  Then I increased again at the end because I ran another half mile.  I could probably guess my calorie burn and what the graphs would look like based on what I did because I'm so used to seeing these.

 I love when FIT coach tells me Great work but it barely happens. About a month ago I changed my calorie burn goal to make it lower since I was never meeting it.  Back in March my average calorie burn for the month was ~2400 calories and for October it was under 1900.

FIT coach really does give you some interesting tips.  But as you can see by all these screen shots, I don't listen to any of them.

I don't only get warnings about my poor eating habits but sometimes get warnings on my calories burned for the day. I do notice that it will give me different amount of times to use the exercise bike to meet my calorie burn for the day.  I haven't actually done their suggestions yet but maybe some day.  The other day at the gym, I ran an extra half mile at the end because based on my mental calculations I would be a few calories short of my goal otherwise.  

The following are from 11/27

Look at these FIT coach warnings. No wonder I'm fat.

Fit coach tries to be encouraging. I've gained weight since I set up my weight loss goal.  My goal is higher than I was mid September so don't get any ideas that I'm trying to get too skinny or something.

This is a pie chart that you see daily if you enter your food online.  Today I had a lot of fat because I had dinner at 5 Guys. (This was actually before I ate a S'mores ice cream sandwich.)

Is there anything you'd like me to show or explain about my BodyMedia fit? I have more graphs at the bottom of my weight graph page if you want to see some other stuff I didn't mention here. 

Week of Working Out (11.19-11.25)

Monday: I ran 3.33 miles in the afternoon.  Then later I went to the gym and did 21 minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes of weights, abs, and stretching.  My legs were very fatigued after it all. 1:25 and almost all focused on my legs.  I was pretty spent by the end of the workout. For weights I can tell I'm way weaker than I used to be.  I've only been doing 2 sets of each exercise instead of 3. I haven't incorporated all of the stuff I used to do either.  In addition to that, I miss not having leg press, abduction, and adduction machines.

Lately the first 2 miles are fine and then I struggle. The third mile was a real struggle to get 9:22. I know I set out to have my goal be 9:30 but since the first 2 miles were better, I didn't want the third mile being totally slow by comparison.

Tuesday:  I walked to Safeway, shopped, and walked back.  Then later I walked to Target with Dave.

Wednesday:  I ran with Hilary after she worked.  We were considering 6 miles but I suggested we cut it short and run extra if we wanted.  I didn't want.  We ran 2.75 miles then we started doing run:walk intervals at 3:1.  For some reason it was a huge struggle for me.  I think because I was still fighting my cold.

Thursday and Friday:  Rest

Saturday:  In the afternoon I went for a walk with Dave.  We did a little run/walk but since it was the first time Dave's run in months we just did a little running.  We did that for 30 minutes.

Later in the day I went to the gym and ran a mile on the treadmill. I was going to run further but my kindle died so I finished the mile and went to weights.  I ran the first .75 at 6.6 mph then I ran at 7.2 mph until .9 and then I finished at 7.6 mph so I ended up hitting 1 mile at 8:53.  My Kindle died just before .75 which is why I sped it up. I did weights for my upper body and abs. The workout at the gym was 36 minutes.   Even with working out twice, I didn't hit my calorie burn goal for the day because the rest of the day was spent sitting on the couch.

Sunday: I put on workout clothes but didn't end up working out until after dark so I went to the gym.  I ran 2 miles on the treadmill. Then I did weights for my legs and abs.  I felt like I could have done a little more so I decided to do another half mile at the end for a little more mileage.

I ran the entire first 2 miles at 6.6 mph while reading.  During my second time running I ran .25 at 8 mph and .25 at 6.6 mph.   My total run time was 22:27.   My total workout time counting stretching was 53 minutes.

Summary: Overall I'm impressed with my mileage considering I felt like a slacker all week.  I only lifted weights twice but that is better than nothing.  I haven't been dropping any of the weight I gained which is a little shocking to me. I still haven't decided on a race but I've found some that I want to do. I might make a training plan for the soonest one and then revise my plan if I pick a different one.

If I would have realized I was so close to 12 miles, I would have ran another minute on the treadmill just to hit it this week.

I guess not losing any weight makes sense since I documented my calories. I did round up sometimes I guessed but it sure looks like I consumed more than I ate, just barely. My weight was  exactly the same on the 19th and on the 26th (136.9).  (In mid September I was over 10 lbs lighter. That is why I changed my calorie intake to be 500less a day. I figure if I gained weight in 2 months I should lose it before my body gets too used to it. Plus my clothes don't fit me anymore.)

I was pretty close to my goal of 1:30. My 2 total rest days really were rest. I didn't even walk to a store or something.  Next week I will kill my goals because on Saturday and Sunday I will be out and about showing someone around.  My steps will also be a lot higher too.

BodyMedia fit is awesome. I plan to do a separate post about different things that make it awesome. I should also plan to actually hit all my targets in future weeks.  

White Skinny Jeans (11.20)

Pants: F21, Sweater: Express
Long Necklace: F21 (I think)
Shorter Necklace: Lia Sophia
Earrings: Target
Boots: Famous Footwear (Mudd)
Shoes: Famous Footwear (Natural Soul by Naturalizer)

Same outfit. Different shoes and necklace and gives the entire outfit a different look.

I was going to switch it up even more but it gets dark too early and it was already too dark after I got back from Safeway when I changed into the red shoes.  I like the boots better and the long necklace better. Which do you like?

11.9

I woke up early and got out of bed because my normal routine is to look at my phone quickly before getting my computer but I noticed I had a missed call and a voicemail.  It was from the bank so I got out of bed to handle that.   Dave was still home. He said he was sick of getting to work on Fridays way before everyone else (and leaving at the same time) so he was going to work at home for a little before going in.  (I'm not sure how working at home or going in to work are that much different.) A bit later Timmy called. He never calls.  Then we did facetime for over an hour.

Sometimes I wonder how weird my family is. Today my brother and I used facetime on our iphones so of course one of the things we do is show each other our scales while weighing ourselves. We also both showed each other what was inside our refrigerators.

I was cleaning when my brother called. I was about to vacuum. I never did get to that.   I did dust and put away the dishes while on the phone.

Later my mom called and we ended up talking for 40 minutes.

I worked on my project and barely watched any TV.

I cooked dinner but Dave was late. I mean he didn't tell me when he'd be home. I tried to guess and ask him about it and then ask again. then I told him when it was in the oven.  Then I tried to call him.  15 minutes after it was done he finally called.  It wouldn't be so bad if he was WORKING but he was playing games with his coworkers.  The casserole got dry since I was trying to keep it warm.  To top off all the awfulness, we left the rest of the leftovers on the stove all night so I didn't even get my leftovers!

We watched some TV. We went to sleep early.

11.8

Necklace: Lia Sophia, Sweater: Express, Pants: VS, Shoes: Famous Footwear

I have no idea what I did all day.  I assume I left the house since I got dressed.  I actually remember taking the picture close to 4pm because Dave was picking me up near 4 pm. But I have no idea why.  I branched out and took my daily picture outside. I should have paid more attention to the dumpster behind me.  Maybe next time I'll do better.

11.7

Pants: VS
Shirt: F21
Sandals: Kohl's
Necklace: Lia Sophia

I was getting ready to go running and Poly got on my lap so I stayed there for hours.  It was very uncomfortable.

After dinner, Dave and I went to karaoke with his coworkers.  Except we got there and the karaoke guy never showed up so we just sat there for hours talking.  There were 7 people total.   I was so tired by the end.  I am not used to so much social interaction in one day.

Yellow Skinny Jeans

I've had yellow skinny jeans for a little over 6 months and have only worn them a few times. Granted in the summer I wore mostly shorts and they were also too big for awhile.  The outfits to the left are actual outfits I've worn with my skinny jeans.  Well the white tank top outfit is actually just  me trying on new clothes I bought at the store that day.  What outfit is your favorite? Mine is the bottom right with the orange and yellow but with the white cardigan so it's not so orange/yellow.

The trouble I have with my skinny jeans isn't so much what top to wear with them but what shoes. (I mean I still have a little trouble with what shirt to wear but not as bad as when I first got them.)

I tried doing a google image search for some ideas but most of them are impractical. I want to wear shoes with my skinny jeans that I can handle walking to and from Target in. The dressy pumps shown below might not be comfortable enough for that.

Below I tried a few different shirts, some different accessories, and different shoes.  What do you think? Would you wear bright yellow jeans in the fall?  I feel like I should be wearing more fall colors like browns and mustard but the only colorful jeans I have are bright yellow so that's what I'm working with.  

I miss being able to go out on my front porch and leave the camera there while I took some pictures.  Each time I came back in the apartment today I felt odd leaving my camera out in the hallway so I brought it back in half the time.  I was uneasy most of the time. Good thing I took a few pictures with each outfit because I was not smiling in half the pictures.

11.6

I hung out with Poly all day. I did some coding. I watched politics all day.  Poly had a photo-shoot with me.  

Around 11PM I made Ramen. With all the talk of it on facebook, I got 2 other people making Ramen too. It was so odd going on facebook and seeing everyone posting about the election. I was glad so many people were talking about it. It was also interesting to see who favored who.

11.5

I had to get dressed in a hurry so I threw on a dress.
Dress: Athleta
Necklace: Sears
Shoes: Famous Footwear

Poly wanted to go with Dave to work. She was trying to stowaway on his gym bag.
Later Poly tried to hang out in the boxes we use for recycling.

Week of Working Out (11.5-11.11)

Monday: Rest on purpose because I was still recovering from my long run on Sunday AND still recovering from rock climbing.


Tuesday: Rest (laziness)

Wednesday:  I set out to do 3 miles but just wasn't feeling it.  The run was pretty hard and my heart wasn't in it so I changed my 3 mile run to a 2 mile run.

Thursday: Rest

Friday:  I went to a different place and the run felt pretty good. I thought of going more but decided to keep it right around 3.

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: I went to run 9 miles with Hilary.  We accidentally ran too far before turning around. We also made the right turn but thought it was wrong so we doubled back then we realized that was right.  So we hit 10 miles instead of 9.  Overall we both felt so much better on this long run than the one a week prior. We ran better too.  The weather was a lot better but that wasn't the only reason this was better. We didn't start out way too fast so then we weren't dead.

We ran using Gallaway's method of run:walk with 4:1 intervals. At one point my app didn't work and we walked for 2 minutes without realizing. We then ran 4 minutes after that so our intervals were a little off. This was 1:25 into the run.  We skipped the last walk interval because I didn't want to end the 10 miles on a walk.

Thoughts:  I'm happy with my mileage but unhappy with the rest of my working out this week.  I had my highest weekly mileage since the last week of August.  And the second to last time was the first week of May.  Maybe I can keep this up but also keep up with lifting weights.

11.3

Pants: VS
Shirt: Loft
Necklace: Target
Sandals: Kohl's
Earrings: Gifted from Callie

These pants get annoying because of the seam on the left pant leg. They are also pretty long. I only have a few pairs of shoes to wear with them. I have these sandals or my one pair of boots. The weather is so weird around here that I think I can get away with sandals for a little bit.  Some people wear sandals while others have on winter coats and hats. It's all very confusing.

Dave told me I have a ton of gray hair!

Dave invited Poly in my shoe box and she listened.

We went to Outback for lunch. The cheese fries are only good dipped in Ketchup.  Also I try to get fries from the bottom without cheese or bacon.  The creamy broccoli soup was delicious.  I think this is the first time I didn't eat more than one loaf of the bread.  We went grocery shopping after.

We watched some TV. I forget what else we did.

11.2 - Rock Climbing

I watched TV and played Solitaire in bed. Then after I got up I watched more TV.
I mailed my ballot.  I actually ran to a mailbox and incorporated that into my workout.
Then I watched more TV.

While getting dressed I banged my elbow off the dresser. It hurt so bad.Hours later it still hurt.

I went rock climbing for about 2 hours. But there was a lot of standing waiting to get my nerve back up.  The first thing I climbed, I made it to the top. My legs really shook from nerves.  Overall I climbed a few different ones labeled V0 but also didn't make it up a few too.    When we went into the main room I was climbing and got one move from the top and said it was too high and quit and climbed back down. I thought maybe it was the same height and it was all in my head that it was higher but then I was told it really was a few feet higher. It's funny how I could tell when I was up there.  Near the end I made us go to my purse so we could get my camera and take a few pictures. (Rock climbing was a huge thing for me because I'm so afraid of heights. I can barely stand on a ladder 1 step from the bottom.)

I got home and watched TV with Dave.