And... we're down

Well, that hip soreness got a lot worse, and some people with medical degrees told me I need to take 1-2 weeks off.

So frustrating... but just in time for Spring Break.

Bogus

A huge thanks to Paul Bahnson, a colleague in the Accountancy department, for sharing his extra free pass to Bogus today.  I survived my first ski day in over 12 years and loved every minute of it.  I took Grand Targhee for granted back in the day and never realized how much fun skiing is.  (As my mom pointed out, my last few years were as a ski instructor, so much of my time was spent skiing backwards, which may have contributed to my lack of excitement.) 

I ended up meeting a bunch of nice ski patrol folks, who showed me around the mountain.  I am happy to report I can still ski almost as fast as I used to, and after a few runs, was keeping up with the fastest in the pack.  And loving it.  We've exchanged info and may meet up for an outing at Brundage. 

I stopped at the top of the lift before my first run and took a picture, just in case I never made it back up. 

I only skiied for 4-5 hours, then called it a day.  My legs were sore (but a good sore!), but my hip started bothering me.  It wasn't bad on the skis, but I have a definite limp when I walk and it hurts.  So running training may have to scale down.  Sigh.  Just when I start moving again.

Workout: Day 6

Well, my left hip is seriously sore.  Maybe hurt.  I jogged the first half mile today, then walked the last half mile, hoping it would help stretch it out.  No such luck.  I was planning on skiing half day at Bogus - we'll see how that goes. 

today's 1 mile:  15:15/mi, 154 bpm

No P90X.  I need to get work done. 

Workout: Day 5

Today's running training was another 2mi walk - 1mi jog - 2mi walk.  Overall, I did the 5 miles in 1:07:58, with an average speed of 4.4 mph, an average pace of 13:34/mi, and an average heart rate of 152 bpm.  Per mile:

• 14:16/mi
• 13:55/mi
• 12:00/mi
• 13:39/mi
• 14:02/mi

If you haven't noticed, I'm liking my new toy, the Garmin.  Toys are always a good motivator for me.

Unfortunately, my ITband on my left hip got pretty tight for the last mile, so I'll be doing Yoga tonight for P90X instead of legs and back (plus abs).  I could use the stretching and don't want to wear my legs out too quickly, especially after a long volleyball game last night.

UPDATE:  An hour and a half for yoga is just too long.  I can only clear my mind for so long before I start thinking about all of the other things I could be doing.  That said, I do like the stretching and poses and stuff.  I'm thinking about replacing P90X with my good old pilates DVDs.  

Workout: Day 4

Today was my day off of 1/2 marathon training, so nothing new to report there.  I was planning on Yoga X with Shelley, but temporary single parenthood (her hubby is away for 6 weeks for work) threw a wrench in our plans and we only did 15 minutes of stretching.  I'll move it to tomorrow.  But we did have a volleyball game (we lost, but played well and lost to a very good team), so I did move around. I haven't played on a women's net in years (aside from two or three random pickup games) and I think I'm finally figuring out my timing. 

In other good news, my eating was right on, if a bit low on calories.  This was a feat, considering the amount of food (and brownies) throughout the Accounting department for March Madness. 

I will say that this much working out is taking a lot of time.  Some of that has been spent driving to Shelley's and back every day for P90X (which takes an hour), so I'll probably start doing more of the workouts at home and may cut out some P90X workouts if I'm strapped for time.

Workout: Days 1 - 3

Okay, this makes three days in a row.  Not bad.  To keep myself honest, I'll be posting my progress.  No laughing or pointing.  I'm just hoping to see improvement.   As mentioned previously, these workouts are based on the 8-week 1/2 marathon training I'm subjecting myself to and the P90X workouts.

• Day 1 (Monday):  2 mile walk, 1 mile jog, 2 mile walk.  I should note that in the stellar shape I'm in (ha!), my speed remained pretty constant between the walk and jog, but my heart rate went way up.  
• 5 miles, average heart rate 145 bpm, average speed 4.2 mph, average pace 14:16/mile.  I also noticed that my ascent/decent was about 1,647 ft/1,675 ft. 
• P90X: chest and shoulders.  Shelley laughed at me.  We got through a few minutes of the Ab routine, but the power went out and the DVD player didn't recover fast enough.  
• Day 2 (Tuesday):  30 minutes of low impact cardio, on the bike.  I didn't wear my Garmin, so I don't know what my heart rate was.  But I'm taking credit for doing it. 
• P90X: Plyometrics.  I still feel like I wussed out a bit, but Shelley wasn't laughing at me as much.  I'm also motivated to get my vertical back.  
• Day 3 (Wednesday, today):  1 mile jog.  Again along the greenbelt, though a different way with a few ups and downs.  
• 1 mile, average heart rate 159 bpm, average speed 4.7 mph, average pace 12:45/mi.  Ascent/decent was 236 ft/213 ft. 
• P90X tonight will be Shoulders & Arms, followed by Abs.  
• Tomorrow is a rest day for the running training, but is Yoga for P90X.  Yay for stretching.  

Update:   I had planned on wussing out (tired, lazy), but did both P90X workouts.  I figured after my quick bite of ice cream turned into a cup and a half, I needed to do something active.  On the plus side, I had a lean cut of steak with onions and peppers for dinner.

Ow. aka I'm getting old

So, I finally decided to suck it up and train for the half marathon in May.  (For those of you in the know about Boise runs, I will not be doing Robie Creek.  That stuff is insane, though I might be tempted if I could actually partake of the shot of something special at the top of the hill.  I hear it makes the run much more tolerable.)  

I was flipping through fitness magazine (love it - thanks Ann!) and came across an 8-week training schedule here.  I'm realistic enough to know that I should do the beginner training (sure, I've done the Honolulu marathon, but that was 7 years ago)... thinking it would be a nice, easy way to get ready.  I started yesterday, and man are my hips sore.  Those five miles (2mi walk, 1mi jog, 2mi walk) weren't fast (I'm a lot slower than I used to be), but at least they were pretty:

Here's hoping I stick it out and keep up the bouncy walking.  I'll keep you posted.

On a side note, I've also been talked into doing P90X* with a friend.  Last night was shoulders and back, and she had a pretty good laugh at my wussy push ups.  We'll see how tonight goes (plyometrics).   I've lost 10" of vertical since college** and I plan on getting it back.  

UPDATE:  I did my 30 min of cross training today on a bike. 

*I'm doing a slightly modified P90X:  I'll watch what I eat, but with all of the running I'm doing and my weekly volleyball game, there's no way I'm giving up carbs.

** I would like to point out that while I've lost 10" of vertical, I can still probably jump higher than you.  :p