A Smashing Good Time

I love smashing my own records. (Hence the title)

Running on a treadmill has been good for me as it helps me push myself to do just a little more than I think I can. I look at the time, and if it's at 19:00 I say, "I can push it to 20:00" or if I feel I've gone as long as I can, but I'm only 2/10 of a mile away from the 2 or 3 mile mark, I push it.

So between those ever-changing mini-goals, and the runner's high itself, somehow I manage to do things just a little different, just a little better each time. Today was a good day in that sense.

I know a few people have been following my progress, like how I went from running 1 mile without a walk break...then 2, etc.

Today, I had originally set my goals to: 1) run for at least 40 minutes without a break, and/or 2) run 3 miles in a row without a break.

*SMASH*
I was over 2 miles at 30 minutes, and as I approached the 40-minute mark, I was feelin' good and knew that I could make it to 3 miles. I hit 3 miles at 43:36 (another record for me), and I realized, "Hey...if I keep going, not only can I hit 4 miles, I can get it under an hour!" So I did. The last few minutes of that leg were pretty tough, but I had come so far, I didn't want to lose that goal.

So I reached 4 miles at 57:50...the entire time at my standard pace of 4.2 mph (cuz my favorite number is 42)...the whole time running without stopping for a walk break. I would have thought it would be a few more weeks before I could run for an hour at a time. Now I know that I can.

And 4 miles is the majority of the 6.2 miles (10k) of the Bolder Boulder race I'll be doing in May. Not only do I know that I'll be able to do it, I'm planning on trying to get into one of the "Running Waves". Those are the under-70-minute waves. I just need to go from a 14-minute mile to just under a 12-minute mile by then.

I'm mixing up my runs a little too, on advice from my trainer. I've got my "long distance" runs like I did today, and then once or twice a week, I do an "intensity" run where I go for high speeds (like 6 or 7 mph) for short durations, with rests in between.

Cosette

Aaaagghhh!!! I can hardly stand her cuteness.

This morning I've spent a little time giving Cosette a golf lesson, and she was really cute trying to remember how to hold the club and getting all excited when she hits the ball right.

Then while coloring and watching iCarly, there was a scene where Carly kisses Freddie. (Yes, I know I'm admitting that I've watched quite a bit of iCarly...it's the kids fault.) But the Cute Cosette part is that she turns to me and makes the cutest face saying "That's boring. That kissing is boring." Hilarious.

But the piece-de-resistance is what she said last night...

She was talking in the car on the way home about a dream or something, that went kind of like this:

Cosette: "Jesus is sad."

Us: "Why"

Cosette: "Because his family is going to California"

Us: "And he's sad because he's alone and will miss them?"

Cosette: "Ya, but then they come back!"

Us: "Oh good, so then Jesus is happy again."

Cosette: "No, Jesus is crying"

Us: "Why?"

Cosette: "Because his children are lost."

Us: Stunned silence...I tear up a bit.

I know she doesn't realize the import of what that means, and she probably didn't mean it that way, but something about hearing your 3-year-old say that Jesus is sad because his children are lost...

Fitness Report

I was just going to do a Facebook status update like I usually do, but wanted to go into a bit more detail.

I'm officially one week into my 24 Hour Fitness so far, and being analytical, I like looking at the raw data. You should see my spreadsheets...

So in the 7 days since I joined, I've gone in 5 days. I know that there can be a lot of enthusiasm early on that peters out over time, but I'm thinking that if I keep it up for 3 or 4 weeks it'll become habit/routine.

Friday I had my free/introductory session with a personal trainer. I kinda liked it. She had me working pretty hard, and I have a feeling that if I continue with her, I'll get good results soon. So I took the new member special where you get 3 1-hour sessions for $99 (regularly it's $60 per session).

Anyways, it seems like each time I've gone running, I try to do just a little bit better by going a little faster or a little farther.

New accomplishments for today: 2 miles in 29:46...and 3 miles in 46:47. That last mile took a bit longer, as it had more walk breaks and my phone fell and broke open and I had to rescue it.

By the way, in case I hadn't mentioned it, I plan on doing a 10k race at the end of May called the Bolder Boulder. (6.2 miles) So far, I'm on track for a 90 minute race time. I'd like to get under 70 minutes to get into a different "wave".

After the treadmill, I did a few reps of weights and crunches just for good measure. Then, hit the sauna.

Holy crap! How do people do the sauna?! I could only stand about 5 minutes of it. It got difficult/uncomfortable to breath, and I knew a few minutes more would've put me at risk of passing out. Maybe it was just because I had worked out for an hour, but even so...don't know if I'll try that again. I'll just still to the jacuzzi.

All in all, it felt good. I'll rest on Sunday, then try to get 3 miles again on Monday, then I meet with my personal trainer again on Tuesday. Looking forward to it!