Adjusting

I am making an executive decision about my running goal (I'm allowed to, it's my goal, that makes me the one responsible for any executive decisions). Due to hating running with inversions, and just generally being bored with my routes, I have decided to add spinning as part of my goal. My sweet husband (and parents and parents in law) got me my very own spin bike for my birthday! I really didn't know much about spinning when I got it, other than it burns a trashload of calories in very little time, but I've been researching, making playlists and spinning like crazy since then.

If you haven't tried it and you have a gym membership, you should totally take a spin class. It is fun, fast and surprisingly not monotonous. It works well for me since it's in my house, and I can either get up early or spin when Gunner is taking a nap.

Getting back to the point--I need to log 500 miles this year, and I'm way behind schedule. While I hope that most of my miles will still be running, I am going to count some of my spin mileage as running mileage (cheating? maybe, but it's MY goal!) Spin bikes do not tell you how far or fast you go, but I'm quite certain I spin far faster than I run, so I think a time equivalence is more than a fair way to count spinning. I have decided to count every 30 minutes of spinning as 2 miles. I usually run more than 3 miles in a half hour, but I still want my goal to be challenging, so I'm shorting myself on spinning mileage to force myself to continue running. I log most of my workouts, so I have a pretty decent record of how much I have ridden my spin bike so far this year. I am adding 16 miles to my counter tonight to represent spinning miles. I hope to get a little running in this week, but I know I will definitely spin! I'm still behind on my mileage goal, but getting closer!

500 Miles

2011 was a year of significant physical fitness progress for me. The interesting thing is that I didn't actually set any significant goals in this area when the year began. I knew I wanted to increase my physical fitness, but I had no idea how much I would actually accomplish in the year. It all began with a switch to part time teaching. Without that one major life change I would never have been able to devote the time that I have to fitness. Normally my physical fitness goals are saved for summertime when I don't have work, but being home for an extra 20 hours each week gave me time to pick up on my exercise habit earlier. I stuck to my traditional routine of circuit style training with Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels (lonely living room workout style). Sometime in late spring I read about an iPhone app for running. It claimed to be for non-runners. I don't know what made me think that this time around running would be different for me, but the plan sounded reasonable and I wanted to increase my cardio routine, and get outside more, so I splurged ($3) on the app and went for it. The app was great and truly delivered results. I found myself actually feeling successful running for the first time ever and I stuck with it. I have decided that I am not interested in super long distances, but in general, I enjoy running a few miles (3-5) a few times a week to add variety to my workouts.

In November I went for a run and ended up going farther than I had planned. Nothing huge, but it was just under 5 miles and felt great. I decided that running was a permanent part of my life and in 2012 I would run 500 miles! The next few weeks yucky air quality and terrible winds resulted in a temporary hiatus from running, but the new year has come and I'm ready to start logging those miles. 500 miles in 1 year averages out to just under 10 miles each week. I'm hoping to get 10 miles in each week so that when the crazier weeks come along and I miss runs I will still be on track for my goal.

I should mentions that I cheat. I run and walk but consider the full distance as a run. My current pace is 4 min run 1 min walk, and it feels pretty good. Today I ran my longest distance yet: 5.6 miles. It was great! Earlier this week I had a much shorter mostly walk run (due to taking ibuprofen on an empty stomach) that was about 1.6 miles. Total so far is 7.2. I'm hoping that my body isn't too achy tomorrow from today's run so I can go for a short run and finish strong for week 1.

2012 Mile Counter: 7.2/500

Jack-isms

I can't get enough of the funny, cute and sweet things my little Jack says all the time. Here are a few that I don't want to forget:

"Mommy, I'm not a quitter. I never give up!"

When we told him that his new shirt says best bro and that bro is like brother he protested, "But I'm not the best brother, Hayden is."

"Mommy, roll-up sandwich is an option for dinner, and I DO want to have this conversation!" - I have NO idea where he would have gotten that one from ;)

Mommy: "Jack, what does CTR stand for?"

Jack: "Do the right thing"

There are so many more, in fact I specifically remember that I sat down to write this post because of something he said as I was putting him to bed... but I can't remember what it was. Oh well. That's all.