Back from a long hiatus!

Sorry about no blogging for like forever!  I was getting on here too much, and felt like I needed a break.  Bloggyland is very addicting, and I have an addicting personality..

I wanted to just say that I am still running and eating healthy.  Also, I have gotten new running shoes!!!!

Sauncony Progrid Guide 4's!  And I looove loooove them!  My feet don't hurt at all after my runs anymore!

And I have set a new 5K PR of 27:09 on some hilly trails at Kiroli park!!!!!  I think its a combination of the new shoes, plus the training program I have been doing, "Run Less, Run Faster." 

Well, I just wanted to do a little update real quick.. and to let you know that I may or may not blog as much.  I just get too into it and then all my time is wasted on the computer!!  I am on summer break though, so you may hear more from me :)

Happy Memorial Day friends!

Aint no party like a Holy Ghost party....

HEY IT'S MAY!  Wow April sure did fly by.  I shall do a post on meeting my goals in April, and my new goals for May.  I am doing just one 5K this month.  I hope to get a sub-30 time!


Life's been busy between work, working out, basketball games, etc... so sorry I haven't been on here to stalk your blogs and update mine!  I will start out with my workouts since this is a running/fitness blog :)

WORKOUTS

THURSDAY=TEMPO RUN

I ran my tempo run on the track.  Have I mentioned how much I love my Garmin so I can do these track workouts now!?!? The workout called for 2 miles of running a short tempo pace of 9:56.  I ran it a little faster and felt good about it! Here are my splits:

Mile 1 Warmup - 10:44
Mile 2 Tempo - 9:43
Mile 3 Tempo - 9:42
Mile 4 Cooldown - 10:54

Ran the 4 miles in 41 minutes with an average pace of 10:17.  I enjoyed this tempo run much much more than my interval run from the other day.  I don't know what was wrong with my legs at the beginning of the week, but I am glad that they finally got their act together.  Can't have that anymore, ok, legs!?!

FRIDAY=REST DAY

I did some foam rolling and stretching and did my pushups:

5 sets of 4-5 reps on each set to equal out 22 pushups on my knees!  My rest interval is about 120 seconds between each set.   My arms have been sore since Wednesday.  I love the feeling.

SATURDAY=LONG RUN DAY

This is the day I live for all week.  I love my long runs the best.  The workout called for 5 miles at long tempo pace of 10:30.  I did my run on the treadmill since I had a workshop that morning.  I could've gotten up early, but I am just not an early morning runner.  Here is how I paced myself (the best I can remember)

Mile 1 - 5.3 mph
Mile 2 - 5.7 mph
Mile 2.5 - 5.8 mph
Mile 3 - 5.9 mph
Mile 4 - 6.0
Mile 4.5 - 6.1
And then I sprinted it out the last quarter mile at about a 6.7 mph speed!
Mile 5 - Averaged out at a 10:22 pace! :)

This was probably the best long run I have ever had on the treadmill.  Usually I go slower on the treadmill for some reason, but this run went well.  I really think this Run Less, Run Faster program is already working!  I can't wait to see if I get a faster 5K time this month.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

So yesterday we had a technology workshop for school.  I don't go to these quite often on Saturdays, so I was kind of not looking forward to it.  I really wasn't looking forward to it because it was about technology and I already know a lot about that.  But when I got there, I found out that we get a digital camera for our classroom.  SWEET!  Getting up to go to a workshop on a Saturday morning was worth it.  I also had fun laughing with my co-workers.  It's nice being around them with no kids around, ya know?  They are the best!  We had sandwiches and chips for lunch... there goes the whole foods diet again! :) 

So after the workshop, I went for my long run that I talked about already :) and then came home to clean up for the Big Al concert! 

Big Al is this local Christian hip hop/gospel singer.  I always have a lot of fun at his concerts.  He came to the ministry program I was a member of during college a few times.  This concert brought me back to those fun college days.

Donnie and I at the concert.

Me and Kelley showing how gangsta we are!

And then a cute picture!

Big AL!

Get low! This was awesome to see the whole crowd do it!

Big AL in his "fresh" jacket!

Love this one!

Overall, we had a blast singing and dancing and just praising God. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Today I have cross-training and cleaning on my schedule.  We have family coming over later this evening!  Hope everyone has had a great weekend!

Thunderstorms, tornadoes, and floods...

So last night I was scared out of my mind!  Here in Northern Louisiana we had a tornado watch from like 9 PM until 7:15 AM this morning.  There were several places that had small tornadoes spotted, one place within 2 miles of us.  Thankfully, we didn't experience the tornado full on and have any damage from water or trees.  Only one branch fell in our yard and our basketball goal was knocked down.

School was canceled today because of flooding... so no work for me!  My prayers are with those who experienced damages and even loss of loved ones.  There were 2 deaths last night after the severe weather.  One of the bodies was found floating near the school where I teach.  Very sad....  I went to the newspaper's website and looked at the pictures of all the trees down and damages.  It is very sad, and we are so blessed that nothing happened to us or our house.  This really opened my eyes to things and that severe weather CAN happen here and affect us. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

On a lighter note, I have incorporated some more "healthier" foods in my diet.  I have been hearing more and more to stay away from processed foods and eat whole foods.  So for supper, I have had salads twice in a row.  I knew that I have always liked baby spinach, but I really LOVE baby spinach!  Last night I had a shrimp salad with baby spinach, carrots, and cucumbers with a splash of lemon juice and olive oil.  I am not really sure if the olive oil is ok, but I figured it is better than the light ranch I usually use.  Sorry, no pic of my salad. :(  My only problem now is lunch foods.  I know that packaged dinners aren't the best thing, but it's so much easier for me to bring a "smart ones" or "lean cuisine" to work. I save on money and time, both of which I don't have a lot of!

Do you have any tips for easy and cheap WHOLE foods lunches for a tired little first grade teacher ;) ???

But anyways, I want to read more up on this whole foods thing and start to incorporate more of the foods into my diet.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I have also started on the FIRST training plan from the "Run Less, Run Faster" book that I got this past weekend. 

You may have heard about it already.  It's a big thing in the running blogs right now.  Its a training program that they call "3plus2" where you do 3 days of quality runs a week and cross-train 2 days a week.  There are 3 workouts for the runs that they call "Key Workouts." 

Key Workout #1 is your interval run or track repeats.  Key Workout #2 is your tempo run.  And Key Workout #3 is your long run.  You base your paces on each of these workouts according to your 5K time.  If you are interested in it, they have some charts on their website that you can look at for free right HERE!

I am starting with the 5K one, since its mileage starts at about what I am running now.  I thought it was pretty insane that the 5K training plan had a 5 mile run for its first long run.  But then it does say that you shouldn't start any program until you have been running 15 miles/week for at least 3 months and have already completed several 5K's and maybe a couple 10k's.  So the 5K training program was just perfect for me!

The FIRST program does have a novice program for 5K you can start with. Also there is plenty of info for a beginner... lots of information on  things like form, flexibility, stretching, nutrition, recovery, treating injuries, etc.  I have really enjoyed it so far, and cannot wait to build up my running mileage and speed with the training program I am starting on!

I also wanted to share the website that helped me get to where I am at with my runs.  I used some of the training plans from Hal Higdon.  They are pretty easy to use, and basically you just build up your runs until you are running the required mileage for the race you want to do.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

WORKOUTS

I know this post is getting long, but it's been a while.  I wanted to update you really quick on my workouts....

I have been doing GREAT with my pushups challenge so far.  I had a couple of people wish me good luck on here.. THANKS :) My days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to do my sets of pushups! I haven't been doing that great on my runs :(  I had a HORRIBLE run this past Saturday.  I talked about it on DailyMile here.  To put it short, I felt like knives were driven into my ribs!!

Sunday - EASTER! Had a great time with family.  Maybe I will do a picture post tomorrow about our Easter adventures!

Monday - 16 total girl pushups (done in sets of 2-4 with rest intervals) and worked on arms and created my very first circuit for arms and abs.. Maybe I will post my workout plan later. 

Tuesday - RUN DAY!  My first time doing the interval workout from the FIRST program.  My hamstrings were hurting soooo bad . I stretched/foam rolled a lot the night before and after this run, so I don't know why they are so sore.

But here is the interval workout:

10 min warmup at 5.3 mph (11:20)
8 x 400m repeats at 6.7 mph (9:00) with 400m RI
10 min cooldown (I walked because my hamstrings are on fire!!)

Took me a good 42 minutes to do, and I didn't even do the actual prescribed program... it had called for 8 repeats, but my hams wouldn't let me, so I did 6 repeats. It was tough, but I am going to keep up with it.  Lots of bloggers swear by the program and have seen results!

* * * * * * * * * * *

Well I am off to do my Jillian video and my sets of pushups.   And then cancel it all with pizza... so much for my whole foods diet today ;)

100 push ups challenge!

Ok, so I can't even do a push up like this girl is doing, but I have started a plan to get me there. *hopefully*  I googled "I can't do one push up, please help" (no joke) and this website came up.

www.hundredpushups.com

I don't even care to get to the 100.  I will settle with 10-15! This website has a nice little plan that you choose based on your initial test.  Well my initial test was 1 very very girly push up.  And not even a nice looking one at that... My arms are not strong at all and its very sad.  I want to build my arm muscles up SO bad.  So here is week one's plan.  I put a yellow box around the sets that this wimp I am doing.

I did day one, so I happily put a red check by it :)  I did the push up on my foam roller, which seemed to help since I seriously cannot go all the way down to the floor.  I really want to get a step so I can do them off of the step.  I took a video of me doing one so I could get a picture to put on here.  Here is my glorious push up, bad form and all. 

 

I hope I get stronger and better at these with this plan.  My back just cannot get straight enough, my butt sticks out, my arms can't go all the way down... its a mess. 

So this is going to be my challenge for the next few weeks.  If you want to, you should totally try this challenge with me!!  I hope I keep it up.  The best part about it, there is an app for it on my iPhone!  They also have other phones like droid and such.  Just check out the website. 

Please ask me how I am doing on this if I don't talk/blog about it!! 

I want 

really 

nice

arms.

Like these.

J U S T   K I D D I N G !    

Haha.. I don't want to scare my first graders away...

....or my husband. I don't want veins bulging out... ew.  I just want to be toned.  More like this...

Jessica Biel has the perfect toned arms in my eyes.  They're just a little toned, but not too much.

* * * * * * * * * *

How many push ups can you do?

- Today I did a total of 12 girly push ups on my foam roller. It took me a good 6 minutes, but I did it.  I hope to get to 10-15 REAL pushups by the end of this plan.

Are you working on something that is a bit of a challenge?  What are you doing to make it better??

- Working my arms and abs is the hardest thing for me.  I am such a weakling when it comes to lifting weights, crunches, pushups, situps, planks, and all that mumbo jumbo. I am doing this 100 pushups plan 3 days a week and a Jillian Michaels workout video 2-3 days a week.

Daily Vitamin F's Giveaway by Degrees!

Daily Vitamin F is having a HUGE giveaway where you get more stuff if she gets more followers.  So go check her out and enter her giveaway.  The main prize is a Run necklace, and if she gets enough followers she will give away a bondi band, itunes gift card, gum, and chapstick! SWEET!


Go check this giveaway out

HERE!

Ends April 30!

The Jelly Bean 5K - A great way to start Easter weekend!

Ran my first virtual race in bloggy land on Thursday and set a new PR for 5K!  I tried so hard to go for a sub-30 min 5K, but I started out too strong and tuckered myself out.  I  know getting faster takes time, but I am stubborn.

So I ran the 5K in 30:08!  8 seconds away from my goal!!!  This is an average pace of 9:46.  My fastest average yet.  I am going to start working on a speed a little bit with interval runs and tempo runs and see if I can get that coveted sub-30 min 5K next month.
 
Here are my splits.

Mile 1 - 9:16 Too fast!
Mile 2 - 9:51 Slowing down....
Mile 3 - 10:13 UGH!


Overall it was a good race.  I had water at every mile because it is very hot at 5:00 in the evening here in Louisiana.  I am not used to running in the heat since I started in November of last year.  I will get my fair share of the heat from now on... good thing I have a hydration belt. :)

I went to the track and did my run and felt stupid wearing my bib there on the track, so I put it on at home and got a picture of me running down our street.

I'm excited to see how everyone else did in the race.   Jess did an awesome job with her 25:58 time!!  I am also excited to see if I win any of the prizes! :D

* * * * * * * * * *

Have you ever competed in a virtual race?  How was it?

- I competed in my very first one this Easter weekend and it was fun.  It has a really cute name and some awesome prizes like bondi bands, ryders eyewear, GU, books on running, and other things that are going to be given away at random, not by winning times.  I will definently be doing more of these!!

My blog's got a fresh new look for y'all

Found my cute new design at 

Loving it! :)

And I created the new header title using Paint!  Took forever, but I'm happy with the outcome.  I feel like I have a real blog now.

Cinderelly cinderelly!

SCHOOL'S OUT... but not for the summer yet.. but it is out for EASTER!  5 more weeks and then I will really be singing this song by Alice Cooper! :)

*WORKOUTS*

Wednesday - I took on Jillian Michaels and survived 35 minutes with her this time.  I will finish this 45 minute video some day!  This is before the workout... I am trying to look intense and ready with my gatorade.

And then this is after :)

Yeah, so I cancelled it all out with some smore's dessert pizza from Papa Murphy's.... It was well worth it. :)

Thursday - RUN DAY and a RACE DAY!  I ran my virtual 5K, The Jelly Bean and PR'ed.  I will do a full race report later.

Ran it in 30:08 with an average pace of 9:43!  So excited that my pace is getting faster.  Maybe someday I will have these 7:00 and 8:00 paces that I see all over bloggy land.  All that 10K training has paid off.  So close to my goal of getting a sub-30 min 5K!  See a short report here on DailyMile.

Fabulous Friday - And today is my rest day... ah I love Fridays.  Especially the ones that I don't have to go to work on.  It is a rest day for working out, but not a complete lazy day.  This is what I have planned for my day.

Spring cleaning... yipee!  I am gonna go all cinderella on this house.  When I get in the zone with my cleaning, you better look out.   I love to clean/organize when I am off work for some reason.  I am ready to get started on this cleaning, so hopefully it will be done by the time the hubby gets off.  

The rest of my weekend plans are to just relax and spend time with my family.  I am just going to be prayerful  and remember what this Easter weekend is really all about.  

* * * * * * * * *

As you may know, I am a beginner runner and started running in November 2010.  It has seriously become my hobby if you can't tell. ;) I wanted to end this blog with some pics of my accomplishments in running so far.  It's nice motivation to keep going when you look back at how far you have come, and what accomplishments you have made.  

My bling!

 

 

The pink medal - My first 5K, Ashley St. Romain, February 5, 2011 - Won 1st place in my age group.

The black and white medal - Finisher medal from my first 10K, Run to the Cross, April 16, 2011

The first place medal - Won first place in my age group at the Run to the Cross 10K!

Me with the first place medal from my first 10K.

You can do  A N Y T H I N G  you put your mind to.  You just have to believe in yourself.  Most of the times when you fail it is because you think you can't do it.  But I am telling you that you CAN.  You can! You can! YOU CAN!!!! The only thing holding you back is you.  Believe and you will succeed. I am proof of this.

* * * * * * * * * 

What are your plans for this weekend?

- I am cleaning this monstrosity we call our home and relaxing with my family.  I will be going for a run, too, of course. ;)  And I will spend Easter being prayerful and looking back at what Jesus did for me.

What are some of your accomplishments, be it in running, work, or life in general???

- I turned my life completely around by becoming healthy and fit.  I have won a couple of medals and running and improved my own PR's each and every time.  I have never been successful in my fitness, so this is a big accomplishment for me.

Jillian, please scream at me!!

I am not much of a TV watcher, but I love The  Biggest Loser.  I am sad that Courtney and Arthur and some others that NEED to be there aren't there anymore.  Having a trainer is so important, and the way that Courtney had to go home proves that.  I would LOVE to have any one of those trainers come do some work on me.  My upper body and core are just so weak.  I can't even do a push up... it's sad really. 

Dear Jillian,  please get a hold of me. I need you to scream at me like you do on on the Biggest Loser.  K? Thanks.

TUESDAY = RUN DAY
I didn't do my Jillian video yesterday like I was supposed to since I had such a bad headache.  Today I did a 3 mile trail run at the park and then did a foam roller workout.  That foam rolling is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Holding myself up with my weak arms to do some of the leg messages was hard and the abs workout was very hard.  Tomorrow I AM going to do my Jillian workout. Promise.

Glad that I have 2 more days until my Easter Break and PAYDAY!  And then on Friday, I am going to run my first virtual race in bloggy land, The Jelly Bean!  I am excited about this race and can't wait to go out and run it.  You should go sign up and do the 5K or 10K NOW!

Race Recap: My first 10K and Donnie's first 5K !!

This past Saturday I competed in my first 10K and I had a blast!  It feels so great that I am getting up there in my mileage and I am just that much closer to doing my first marathon.  This race was also Donnie's first 5K!  So excited for him!

My Race Recap

So our morning started bright and early of course... Here we are after we've had our breakfast (waffle with peanut butter and a cup of coffee) and we are dressed with our gear ready. Note my new garmin on my wrist!

This was my first time getting to use my new Garmin.  Can't you see the excitement?

We headed out to church where the race started and ended.  We got our bag with some freebies and our race bibs.

Dad came to cheer me on!

I warmed up a little in the parking lot.  Dad got a nice picture of this.  I don't have any pictures of me just running, so here is the first one!

So the race began! Donnie and I stuck together for the first mile, which was fun.  I ran it a little under 10:00 pace, so I slowed down a bit because I had to conserve my energy for these hills I had been hearing about.  Mile 2 and 3 I stayed around a 10:00 pace, and it felt good.  I wasn't tired at all.  And then came the hills.  Mile 4, 5, and 6 were mostly big long hills.  It slowed me down to a 10:20 - 10:30 pace.  I took my GU Energy Gel at mile 4, which helped me out a lot.  After one big hill, I saw the mile 6 sign and I couldn't have been happier.  I sprinted it out to the finish line and found out my time was 1:02:14!!!!! That is an average pace of 10:02 for 6.2 miles!!

I had beat my time from a training run!!  And my hubby finished his 5K in 35:25. So proud of him because he didn't even train that much!

We took some more pictures with my mom, stepdad, brother, and sister...  They were at the finish line cheering us on!

So we waited around for the awards ceremony just to see how we did.  Donnie won 2nd place in his age group for the 5K!!!! The medals were in these cute little Easter eggs.  How original!

We had to wait what seemed like forever for the 10K female winners... and then I hear my name called for 3rd place in the 20-24 age group.... but I'm 25!  So I tell them that, and they are like well just take this and we will figure it out in a minute... So here I am with my little 3rd place egg, all smiles anyways. 

So we go up there after all the names were called to figure out what happened.  And we found out that I actually won 1st place in MY age group 25-29!  So I got my rightfully earned egg/1st place medal!!!!

YAY!  First place in my age group AGAIN!  I have only done 2 races and have won 1st place in my age group both times.  I don't see this happening too many more times.

We went and got our FREE massages, which were AHHH-MAZING.  I will definitely be visiting those girls again :) Before we left, we got a quick shot of us together with our eggs/medals.

Overall it was a great race and I cannot wait for my next race!  I knew I was hooked to running already, but I am loving it more and more after each race.  I just get such an awesome "high" from it.  But running is a good thing to get addicted to, right???? ;)



After the race, we continued to have an awesome weekend filled with FOOD!  We had to recover you know.  We went to the new Chinese buffet in town.  It was so good and had chocolate fondue.  Mmmmm....  



And then Sunday we went to see Rio.  SUCH A SWEET MOVIE!  I am such a kid, I know.  But seriously, I loved the movie and even got a little teary-eyed.  During the movie I enjoyed some more chocolate in the form of chocolate covered coffee beans... my new (to me at least) favorite chocolate creation.

And THEN we tried out another new place, Papa Murphy's Pizza.  I was excited about this place because they have this deLITE crust that is lower in calories and fat.  You can't beat that.  We had coupons, so me, Donnie, and my BFF got our own pizzas.  I am going to be eating pizza for days.  It was a great weekend for sure!

I skipped out on my workout today, but I will pick it up tomorrow with my best friend Jillian Michaels.  I plan to work more with the weights and cut back my running just a little bit.  We will see how this goes.

I'm ready for a normal week at work.  But it's not that normal because it is a four day week.  I'm okay with that.  





And I don't want to forget to say congrats to all that ran the Boston Marathon today!!!  I am so impressed with the times that I have read about already.

What a LONG week!

I haven't posted all week because I have just been flat worn out.  We went on field trips all week and I am happy to announce that....

I survived!!

But after 4 days of the park, museums, sack lunches, screaming kids, and movies this little teacher is exhausted.  I am so thankful this week is a 4 day week.  AND there are only 6 weeks until school is out for the SUMMER!

I love being a teacher.

I did have an awesome weekend though! I competed in my FIRST 10K and Donnie competed in his FIRST 5K!  We had a blast, and I will do the full report on it maybe later today.  I have some really exciting news about it!! :) :)

 

Donnie had a few b-ball games this weekend.  They lost both games.  I don't know what is happening with his team, but I am proud of him STILL!  He has improved personally each and every game.  I got an awesome action shot of him (#22).

My sister and I goofing around...

We get bored sometimes, ok? :)

So to recap my workouts for the week... 

Monday- Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones

Tuesday - Ran 3 miles

Wednesday - Zumba, 1 mile on the elliptical, and ran 3 miles! -  I have been eating bad, so I needed the extra workouts!!

I rested Thursday and Friday so I could be ready for my 10K!  

More to come later!

First BIG purchase for running!

So I finally ordered one of these babies...

I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited!!  I have been wanting one for so long and saw that it was on sale today with FREE shipping, so I couldn't pass it up.  The hubby and I will just have to live off sandwiches for the rest of the week.  :)

I had a GREAT weekend!  Got to hang with my bestie all weekend.  We did a lot of damage as always :)  First we had some yummy Orange Leaf yogurt.  I love love love this place.  I cannot wait until they build one closer to my house.  This time I got red velvet yogurt with some festive Easter m&m's and chocolate chips.  Heaven in a cup.

And then we went shopping.  I got some running shorts and some more jeans.  I am happy to say I am down another size!!!  I cannot believe that I am way out of the double digits.  I think the last time I was out of the double digits I was in 4th grade. 

Today I went fishing with the guys.  And I caught 3 fish.  Donnie didn't catch any.  Poor baby.  I guess fishing is just in my blood.  Both my dad and grandpa are like hardcore fisher men.  Dad used to do a lot more than he does now.  He set out nets and everything.  I don't get to go that often, but when I do I always have good luck!

That's me and my man :)  Oh and I forgot to report about his game Friday.  They lost again, BUT it was very close and a VERY good game.  I am still proud and I don't care if they win or not, he is out there doing something and being active.  Here are some pictures from the game....

The bestie and I :)

 

 

 

 

 

Me and Mom!

Donnie's back haha.. He's number 22!

Did my long run Saturday and it was HOTT.  I am going to have to get up early for my weekend runs from now on.  It was a killer 5 miles.  The heat slowed me down a little bit, but I made it in about 54 minutes.  I am soooo excited about the 10K next weekend.  Maybe my new garmin will be in by then!!

Have a great week!!

What was one of your first big purchases for running/fitness??

-A Garmin Forerunner 405!!!!

What outdoors activities do you like to do other than running?

- Fishing and swimming for sure.  I love being  by the water.  I think I was a fish in my past life.