HBBC Log Week 7

For the final week of HBBC I did alright. I was traveling and my work out schedule was disrupted by conferencing as well, but I did manage to get in lots of veggies several days and took a couple of long walks in Chicago. I earned 27 points.

December 31: 8 points.
- I ran 6 miles.
- I did 25 minutes of walking.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

January 1: 3 points.
- I ran 3 miles.

January 2: 1 point.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

January 3: 6 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I walked for 20 minutes.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

January 4: 3 points.
- I walked for 60 minutes.

January 5: 3 points.
- I walked for 60 minutes.

January 6: 3 points.
- I walked for 40 minutes.
- I had 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

I'm back after a day on the road and have to teach my first class of the spring semester at 8am tomorrow, so I'll wait until tomorrow to recap my Chicago adventures. If you did the HBBC challenge, did you find that you were pretty consistent with the number of points you earned each week?

HBBC Log Week 6 and December in Review

In spite of Christmas gluttony and being in the car for way too many hours as I drove from a state on the southern border to a state on the northern border, I managed to do okay this week with the HBBC. I earned 18 points.

Delicious Mint Chocolate Cookies....

December 24: 0 points.
- See the picture above.

December 25: 3 points.
- I ran 2.5 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.

December 26: 5 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.
- I did 10 minutes of yoga.

December 27: 0 points.
- I spent 10 hours in the car.

December 28: 1 point.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga after a day of driving.

December 29: 6 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.
- I did 10 minutes of stretching and foam rolling.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 30: 3 points.
- I took Bailey for a 40 minute walk.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

Since it's the last day in December, I'll also briefly review how I did with my goals this month.

My professional/writing goals were:
1. Revise and Resubmit an article. In progress. I have made a lot of progress, but I'm not quite there yet. I've finished the necessary research and have been working on revisions, but I didn't work on this while I was in Louisiana, so I haven't cleared it from my desk yet. I might be there by Tuesday, though, and if not by then, for sure by the end of January.

2. Draft a proposal of my book manuscript. Accomplished. I still need to do the chapter outlines and do some polishing and tweaking as different presses ask for slightly different things, but I'm happy to say that I have a basic template for this drafted.

3. Prep the first two weeks of the new upper level class I'm teaching spring semester. In progress. I have finalized the syllabus with the exception of a tracking down a couple of page numbers. I have parts of several classes prepped, but I'm not quite finished with anything beyond the first week.

My fitness/health goals were:

1. Maintain my food journal each day. Mostly accomplished. I kept my journal far more days than I didn't, but I did miss a couple of days while traveling. I just didn't keep track in the moment, and several days later I couldn't remember exactly what I had eaten to fill in the gaps.

2. Run 50 miles in December. Accomplished. With my 6 miler this morning I've logged 52 miles this month.
3. Continue working on being present in the moment, expressing gratitude, and staying positive. In progress. I am finding that I am most productive when I switch off my laptop or at least my internet connection, set a time for 50-60 minutes and immerse myself in my work with no distractions. I'm trying to keep my computer closed when I watch tv, but sometimes I decide to just check one thing and end up distractedly multi-tasking for an hour. I am working to continue to express gratitude and stay positive when things are good and when things are kind of shitty. I was not at all grateful that my dog picked up some fleas this month and that we had to spend a week dealing with that. (Hopefully, it's over.) I also experienced something this month that left a sour taste in my mouth and my eyes rolling, but I'm trying to just let it go. No unnecessary baggage going into 2012.

I didn't quite get there with all of my goals this month, but that's okay. I made progress on all of them, and in terms of my writing goals, I might have accomplished them if I had not decided that it was more important to enjoy a week of downtime and hanging out with my mother who I usually only see about once a year. I have no regrets about doing that. 

I also drove 2000 miles, graded lots of final papers and exams, bought my mom a refrigerator for Christmas, did lots of baking, participated in a writing workshop, killed lots of fleas, hosted a dinner party, started training for a half-marathon, and finally kicked my mom's ass in Scrabble.

Happy New Year! I hope your celebration of the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 is fabulous!

HBBC Log Week 5 and Running Questions

This week presented the first true tests to staying on track with HBBC. Between being in the car for two days and visiting family, I have been unable to fully control when I get in work outs and what is on the table. However, I still managed to earn 17 points.

December 17: 2 points.
- I walked for 40 minutes.

December 18: 6 points.
- I ran 5 miles.
- I walked 10 minutes.
- I did 15 minutes of yoga.

December 19: 0 points.

December 20: 0 points.

December 21: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I walked 20 minutes.

December 22: 1 point.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 23: 4 points.
- I ran 3.5 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.

The other day Miss Zippy wrote a blog post discussing some of her running experiences in 2011 and asked her readers about theirs. Although I wrote my 2011 running recap the other day, I decided it would still be fun to answer these questions.

Best race experience? Without a doubt, it was crossing the finish line of the Madison half-marathon with my dear friend Suzie. You can read my recap here.

Best run? I had a lot of great runs this year, but my best was a 6 miler on a summer morning with my running group. We ran on the trail along the river and it was early in the morning. The moon was still in the sky and the sun was coming up.

Best new piece of gear? I'm going to go with my Brooks winter running jacket on this one. I'm very pleased with this purchase.

Best piece of running advice you received? I think the best piece of running advice I received this year was to join a running group. I had pretty much always run solo or with just one other person. Group runs added a new dimension to my running.

Most inspirational runner? I would say it's a tie between Miss Zippy, who has been through an injury with grace and patience and still blogged such great content and inspired and supported other runners, and my group's running coach, Chris. She rocks!

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? Learning to kinda love hills.

To all my readers who celebrate Chanukah or Christmas, I wish you a very happy holiday weekend. May it be full of latkes or Christmas cookies or both!

HBBC Log Week 4 and Forerunner 405 Update

This week was not my best week on the challenge. I was doing a writing workshop that lasted 3 days and disrupted my regular schedule in a few ways, including the times that I tend to eat and what I tend to eat. Still, it wasn't a total loss and I earned 20 points.

December 10: 6 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I walked 15 minutes.
- I did 15 minutes of stretching.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 11: 0 points.

December 12: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

December 13: 1 point.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.

December 14: 4 points.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.
- I ran 2.5 miles.
- I did 15 minutes of yoga.

December 15: 2 points.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 16: 3 points.
- I ran 2.5 miles.
- I walked 10 minutes.

In other news, it worked out easiest for me to return my 405 to amazon, and I purchased a new one in black (at a slightly cheaper price). I took it for a little test run on Friday morning and it seemed to work fine. Hopefully, this one isn't buggy like its predecessor and we will have many runs together. I'm taking it with me to Louisiana this week and plan to get in at least four runs while I'm there. Frankly, I can't think of a better gift to give myself than a run on Christmas day unless it was the sports watch that I'll be wearing when I run.

What are you up to in this penultimate week before Christmas? Are you done with your shopping? Most importantly, do potatoes count as vegetables under HBBC? Chanukah starts Tuesday night and no doubt I will consume many latkes.

HBBC Log Week 3

Another week of the HBBC challenge is down. As you can see, I'm still struggling with 7 servings of fruits and vegetables, but I'm getting there. I didn't run as much I would have liked this past week. Final exams always disrupt my routine. However, I still earned 22 points. I also did two of my runs outside in some legit winter weather. Sunday was a short two mile slog through snow to test out my Yak Trax and Friday was a two mile lung burner in 1F with my friend Suzie. The good news is that my newly-purchased Brooks jacket layered over a long sleeve tech t-shirt kept the upper half of my body comfortable. The bad news is that my face nearly froze off and I need to invest in some better running gloves. The terrible news is that my Garmin never worked on my run yesterday. I have used it on fewer than 5 outings. Multiple attempts to reset it have resulted in a black line and a blank screen and then nothing at all, so I may have to send it back to amazon.

December 3: 3 points.
- I ran 2 miles.
- I walked 10 minutes.
- I did 15 minutes of yoga.

December 4: 3 points.
- I ran 2 miles.
- I walked 20 minutes.

December 5: 2 points.
- I walked 20 minutes.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 6: 3 points.
- I lifted weights for 30 minutes.
- I did 30 minutes on the stairmaster.

December 7: 5 points.
- I walked 20 minutes.
- I ran 2.5 miles.
- I did 15 minutes of yoga.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

December 8: 3 points.
- I did 30 minutes of weight lifting.
- I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.

December 9: 3 points.
- I ran 2 miles.
- I ate 7 servings of fruits and vegetables.

Do any of you have problems with your Garmin 405? Did simply resetting it work for you? Are there any other trouble shooting methods you can recommend?

HBBC Log Week 2 and Half-Marathon Registration

I had a pretty good second week of the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge, earning a total of 20 points.  For some reason, it seems harder to eat as many fruits and veggies in the winter, so I typically end up with only 5 servings. This next week I plan to try to make a concentrated effort to get in another couple of servings of fruits and veggies most days.

November 26: 0 points.

November 27: 5 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

November 28: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I walked for 20 minutes.

November 29: 5 points.
- I lifted weights for 30 minutes.
- I did 30 minutes on the stair master.
- I walked for 20 minutes.
- I bowled with the student organization I advise.

November 30: 1 point.
- I walked 20 minutes.

December 1: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.

December 2: 1 point.
- I did 20 minutes of walking.

I have also registered for the Twin Cities Get Lucky Half-Marathon! I'm really excited for this race because it takes place on my birthday and because a number of people who I run with on Saturdays will be doing this race. My awesome friend Lisa has told me that she also plans to register. It should be some fun times!

Rebuilding the Base and HBBC Log Week 1

On Thanksgiving Day, I went for a little 4 mile run. It was a beautiful day and quite warm for late November in the upper Midwest. My heel felt fine, as did my hip. I was so glad that I was able and that I took the time to run. As I ran along one of my typical neighborhood routes, I realized that my base is almost back. I think another couple of weeks of mostly easy runs and extending my (slightly) long(er) runs out to 5 and then 6 miles on the coming Saturdays, and I will be in a position to start a training schedule around Christmas for my next half-marathon and to start pushing myself a little bit more to do some speed work and hills without worrying that I'm trying to do too much too fast. And a new Garmin Forerunner is on its way to aid me in my training so that's exciting! I'm hoping that my new toy will help me to take it outside about 50% of the time even when the winter weather is less than inviting.

In the meantime, I continue to rebuild my running foundation and have been logging my points for the HBBC. To help keep myself accountable and to help me remember when I've already updated the spreadsheet, I'm going to be keeping a weekly log here. During the first week of the challenge, I earned 18 points.

November 19: 1 point.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

November 20: 4 points.
- I ran 3 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

November 21: 3 points.
- I ran 2 miles.
- I did 20 minutes of yoga.

November 22: 1 point.
- I ran 30 minutes of cleaning.

November 23: 4 points.
- I did 30 minutes of house cleaning.
- I lifted weights for 25 minutes.
- I did 30 minutes on the stair climber.

November 24: 5 points.
- I ran 4 miles.
- I ate seven servings of fruits and vegetables.

November 25: 0 points.
- I toyed with the idea of going to the gym, but staying home all day on Black Friday just really appealed to me so much more.

People who have run outside lots during harsh winters with snow and ice, how do you motivate yourself? What gear do you use and find especially helpful?

Holiday Booty Buster Challenge and Training Plans

While I am pretty philosophically opposed to the idea of "dieting" and have a really hard time accepting that thinness equates to beauty, I do try to maintain a food journal so that I prompt myself to eat healthfully and mostly in moderation. I do this, not because I want to see a certain number on the scale or be able to buy a certain clothing size, but because am aware that my weight and the way that I eat has an impact on my performance as a runner (even as a slow one) and as a yogi. If you have ever tried to do a long run after a day of drinking coke and red wine and eating corn chips and cheese, you might know what I'm talking about. The onset of cold weather and the holiday season often give me both reasons and excuses to exercise less and to eat more. In an effort to keep the focus on making healthy choices and rebuilding my conditioning and running base, I'm participating in Run to the Finish's Holiday Booty Buster Challenge this year.

I'm doing the challenge at the level of Doer because I'm shooting to work out 5-6 days a week over the next six weeks. I've had some heel pain this week so I'm taking a few days off from running and icing, stretching, and rolling my foot. In the meantime, I want to make sure that I'm cross training: lifting, riding the bike, doing yoga, and, if I can ever get over my fear of the pool, maybe some aqua jogging. Hopefully, by next week I'll be running again without any appreciable loss in my current level of conditioning.

Over the next six weeks, I plan to continue rebuilding my running base and in December I'll begin officially training for my eighth half-marathon, which I plan to run on my birthday. That's right, friends, I have finally hopped off the fence and made a decision to run the Team Ortho Get Lucky Half-Marathon. Registration hasn't opened yet, but when it does I will be buying myself the birthday present of 13.1 miles. I'll be checking in and logging my HBBC points here on the blog on Saturdays during the duration of the challenge.

Are you participating in this challenge? How do you motivate yourself to commit to your fitness during the holiday season?