Running With Perseverance

Training For The Cherry Blossom Ten Miler (XTrain DVD Review)

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Coco

For the second year in a row, I was lucky enough to get in to the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, which has a lottery entry system. (You can read my race recap for last year’s race here.) My running so far in 2013 has not been great, but now that my ITB seems to be behaving, I am ready to write out a training plan for the next 7 weeks until the race.

This weekend, I ran about 8.5 miles. It’s a good mileage to be starting from, but it wasn’t easy. It was my longest run so far this year, and the longest by far in over a month. I think I should do another 8-ish mile run next weekend, and then ramp up to 9 and 10 miles over the next few weekends:

March 2: 8-9 miles
March 9: 9-10 miles
March 17: 9-10 miles
March 22: 8-10 miles
March 29: 6 miles
April 7: RACE DAY

That doesn’t look like much of a plan, but I intend to stay flexible and heed my ITB. I’d rather undertrain and sacrifice race-day performance than over-train and risk a DNS due to injury. Plus, my all-time favorite race, the GW Parkway Classic, is only two weeks after the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and I don’t want to miss that one.

The Cherry Blossom course is pretty flat, but the GW Parkway Classic course has some hills that I need to get ready for. My neighborhood running routes are pretty hilly and I will do hill intervals on the treadmill every other week. The other weeks I will focus on my pace. I plan to run twice during the week–one harder run on Tuesdays, and one easier run on Thursdays.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be my strength days. I am going to keep doing those ITB rehab exercises and balance that with upper body strength training with my new Cathe XTrain Burn Sets DVD.

This DVD has two main programs: Chest/Back/Shoulders and Bi’s/Tri’s. For each muscle group, there are three exercises. For each exercise, you do three sets with heavy weights, with a goal of reaching failure by the 10th rep of the third set. I usually do supersets and never work to failure, so this is a new experience for me! I’m not sure I like it, but the DOMS tells me that it is working!

I really like that the DVD is set up so that you can choose individual chapters to work whichever muscle group you want (each muscle group chapter takes 10-15 minutes) and the “bonus” core workout (over 10 minutes!) is killer.

If you haven’t done a Cathe DVD before, you probably will find her personality refreshing. She is encouraging without being too “perky” and has a no-nonsense attitude that pushes you without being insane.

I received a copy of the Cathe XTrain DVD for review purposes. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Are you training for a spring race?

Do you follow a written training plan or just wing it?

Posted in Fitness, Training Log | Tagged Cathe, Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run, DVD Review | 13 Comments

How Can I Pray For You?

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Coco

Have you heard about “Ashes To Go”? On Ash Wednesday, some churches took the ashes to the streets, offering ashes to people outside subway stations, Starbucks, and other busy public places. Personally, I would miss the Ash Wednesday liturgy that I love so much, but I can see how someone who doesn’t attend church regularly, whose schedule conflicts with church service times, or who is just not the church-going type could appreciate this option for observing Ash Wednesday.

I was really moved by Rev. Abbot’s story about his “drive-thru ashes” experience, which he wrote about on his blog. While the focus of his post is about how many blessings he received while giving out ashes, I was struck by the simple question he asked people who came through the ashes-to-go drive-thru line, and by the heart-felt answers that they gave:

How can I pray for you?

It is such a simple question, but it shows a level of concern and compassion that we often don’t take the time to express to each other. Sure, we might ask a friend “How are you doing?” but are we really ready to listen if the answer isn’t “fine”?A few days ago I finally got in touch with a friend whom I kept meaning to call, but only thought of calling at inappropriate times–early mornings, late at night, while I was out for a run, etc. As it turns out, her answer wasn’t “fine,” and I am so glad that I had–and took–the time to hear her out.

How are you doing?

How can I pray for you?

Posted in Life, My Faith | Tagged Ash Wednesday, Christian, Family, Friends, Love, Prayer | Comments Off

Blogging My Heart Out To Go Red For Women

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Coco

The American Heart Association and fitlosophy have proclaimed today Blog Your Heart Out Day, and have asked bloggers to blog about heart disease.

Go Red

I have many reasons to blog my heart out today.

First and foremost, there’s my Dad,

who died suddenly from heart failure almost two years ago.

Then there’s my own experience with deep vein thrombosis (DVT)–blood clots in my calf–
that taught me not to ignore any warning signs.

I’ve also learned a lot about heart disease from my years running in and supporting the Lawyer’s Have Heart 10K in Washington, D.C.

The good news is that many risk factors for heart disease are preventable, and pretty much boil down to taking care of yourself by not smoking, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, eating well (including five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables) and drinking moderately (or not at all!).

Just in case, it is good to know the warning signs of heart attack and stroke–which generally include chest pain/discomfort/tightness, shortness of breath, or sudden numbness, weakness, dizziness, confusion, or other sudden symptoms.

Also, remember that the warning signs for women can be different and include:

Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
Shortness of breath, with or without chest discomfort.
Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
As with men, the most common heart attack symptom in women is chest pain or discomfort. But it’s important to note that women are more likely to experience the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.

Never hesitate to call 9-1-1 at the first warning sign.

I can’t emphasize this enough. A friend’s boss died of a heart attack last week. He was in his mid-40’s, relatively active, and had no known health problems. He woke up in the middle of the night with chest pains, brushed them off as heart burn, and didn’t wake up again. So, please, never hesitate to call 9-1-1 at the first warning sign.

Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of women?
Did you know the warning signs for women?

Posted in Fitness, Life | Tagged American Heart Association, Blogging, Dad | 10 Comments

Hungry And Thirsty Thursday

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Coco

Why do weeks after a long weekend always seem longer than regular work weeks? I did go in to the office on Monday, but I enjoyed being able to go in later and leave earlier without traffic and got a lot done in the quiet of my relatively deserted office. Still, this week is dragging on!

My husband has eaten almost all of the banana bread muffins I made this weekend. I followed my usual banana bread recipe (using all whole wheat flour) but poured the batter into muffin tins instead. I had some extra batter and found these muffin cups in the pantry.

Aren’t they cute!

We are still working on the case of beer that we got for Super Bowl Sunday.

I didn’t like the Alpine Spring variety very much, but I am enjoying the Double Agent IPL. The label describes it as a lager version of an IPA. It has a nice crisp flavor, but it is not as heavy as my usual Belgian ales.