three

Week 3 Recap: By the time this week has completed I feel like I am gaining a lot of strength and starting to see results. I have registered for both the half- marathon in June and a 5 K in January for extra "organized" run experience. I am realizing that this training process is not a sprint and despite saying it before I now know some days will be easier than others and I have to look at my overall progress rather than getting fixated on the little setbacks! I am excited for week 4 which falls the week leading up to Christmas. This week will be challenging but also nice in that I will have my family, friends and my training partner (my Dad) by my side for support!

Monday, December, 13th: After getting a cramp in my thigh at work last night and the joints in my legs barking at me I decided to take an unexpected rest day. I visited with friends, ran a few errands, made my contribution for my work party on Thursday, and caught up on sleep, back to the schedule tomorrow!

Tuesday, December, 14th: P90X Pyleometrics Video. I had been warned about the difficulity of this video from a friend but I wanted to see for myself and get a good workout in. I was able to finish 40 minutes of the 60 minute video and then to top things off I did some crunches and push ups. Because the exercises in the video are very high-impact I followed the low impact version of the exercises to preserve my neck and knees, for where I am at in my training this was still difficult, resulting in a very fast heart rate and i'm sure some sore muscles tomorrow.

Wednesday, December, 15th: The soreness from my workout yesterday set in about 1 am while at work. My only motivation for working out today was to get my muscles warmed so I could stretch them out and get some of that built up lactic acid out. For my workout today I did: Elliptical (10 minute warm-up)/Treadmill (20 minutes, 50% run, 50% walk)/Weights/Stretching in the gym, and then went to work nights as charge. After my muscles were nice and warm from the cardio, I stretched out and a lot of my muscles soreness went away. As soon as my muscles cooled off the soreness set back in which made for a interesting sight when I went from sitting to walking all night at work, needless to say I'm excited for my scheduled break day tomorrow.

Thursday, December, 16th: Morning meeting, some sleep, afternoon class, evening work party.

Friday, December, 17th: Today I had to dig deep for motivation to workout, I was sitting on the couch, it was raining outside and the last thing I wanted to do was get sweaty. I find that the day after I have a rest day it is hard for me to get the motivation to get my workout in but somewhere though I found the motivation to complete the entire P90X Kenpo X Video. Upon completing the video I felt good, proud and happy that I had found the motivation to do my workout.

Saturday, December, 18th: Big Workout for the week, Walk/Run 4 mile loop from my house to and through Balboa Park. Today I woke up and immediately put my workout clothes on so I could not be tempted later to miss out on this run, especially since it was not raining when I woke up and I wasn't feeling sore from yesterdays workout. I ate a little something and got going on my run. I took a reverse route of my loop than I usually do to keep things interesting. I ran more than I usually do but I find when there is any kind of wind (as there was today) or once my heart rate gets to 180's (I wear a heart rate monitor) I have a hard time to keep going. What I did today was let me heart rate come back down to the 160's and then would start running again. I definently have a long ways to go before I'll be able to run this half-marathon and I'm trying to have hope that it will get easier as the training progresses but I'm just not so sure it will. I guess all things in life aren't easy and the ones you have to work for are that much more rewarding! (I'll keep telling myself that...LOL)

Sunday, December,19th: Unexpected rest day for an unwanted and unexpected migrane leading to waking up right before time to get ready for night shift :( Good news is I was not sore from my run/walk yesterday, which probably means I need to push myself harder to be running longer.

Excitements for the Week:
- Being told I look like I'm losing weight, by 3 co-workers now!
- Felling that I have more energy (most of the time!) and not needing as much sleep.

Downfalls for the Week:
- Not following my diet as I want to.
- Not drinking enough water.

Goals for Next Week:
- Keep on track with training schedule despite being week of Christmas and going home for a week (starting Dec. 22nd).
- Focus more on following a balanced diet.
- Drink more water!!!