Running with Pixie Dust

Today was one of those days... the kind of day where you wake up and despite the fact that the bananas are on the counter, the eggs are in the fridge and the whole grain toast is begging to be toasted, all you want is something greasy and fried.  I'm hoping I'm not the only one who has these days.  I have them regularly. Normally I try really hard not to give into them, but sometimes the opportunity presents itself, and you find your car driving to McDonald's to get an Egg McMuffin and hash browns.  I would be lying here if I said I was proud.

I absolutely love Amylee's "Weekly RUNdown" that she posts on Mondays, so as usual, instead of thinking up my own clever ideas, I'm going to steal someone else's.  This might not happen every Monday, but since I was particularly lazy about actually writing about my workouts this week, I thought it might be nice to attempt to remember them!  Here goes...


Monday:  A much needed rest day after getting my 5K PR on Sunday!!

Tuesday:  My first fartlek run!  I ended up running for 35 minutes, or a total of 45 minutes if you include a 5 minute warm up walk and a 5 minute cool down walk, and I went 3.62 miles.  My average pace was 12:26, but since it was a fartlek, my pace was really all over the place.  I did feel a little bit like I favored sprinting, and wasn't including slightly longer bursts at a slightly slower than sprinting pace, so that is something I will work on!


Wednesday:  The beginning of Cinderella Boot Camp - yeehaw!  I did HIIT 20 and Ab Ripper X.  Both are really tough workouts, but if I'm going to be back in my skinny jeans (which, by the way, are a gorgeous pair of Joe's jeans that I found in a thrift store) by the time Cinderella opens, I need to get tough.  Especially because I did the math incorrectly (read: was a space cadet and got my days mixed up) and we actually open a week before I thought we did.  So my grand plan of 6 pounds in 6 weeks needs to be accelerated to 6 pounds in 5 weeks.  Possible?  I think so!


Thursday:  Thursdays are tempo days, and the plan was a 5 mile tempo run.  I finished 5.65 miles at an average pace of 12:08 (including walking to warm up and cool down).  It went well, though I struggled to maintain a good pace.  For training purposes, I'm trying to maintain a 10:15 pace for my running intervals during the tempo runs, but it was not happening in this run... I was either running at a 9:45 pace or a 10:30 pace.  I am glad this is not rocket science.


Friday:  Unplanned rest day because the day got away from me!  Too busy shopping for a ball gown for Cinderella to be bothered to exercise.  Sigh.  My life is super hard.


Saturday:  HIIT 25 and random ab work... meaning several of the moves from Ab Ripper X, but only 10 or so reps of each move instead of the 25 reps that Tony demands.  My abs were still slightly sore from Wednesday, so I thought taking it down a notch would be okay.  It was my first time trying HIIT 25, and I have to say, I didn't love it.  I'll give it another chance when I'm more prepared for it (I was stressed on Saturday, and not really feeling the whole exercise thing), but the combos were more complicated, and you're working hard enough that complicated is just frustrating.  I might have to work up to this one by doing HIIT 15 and HIIT 20 some more.


Sunday:  The long run for this week (which is week three of the FIRST training plan) was 10 miles.  I ended up cutting it a little short and doing 9.51 miles at an average pace of 12:29 (with warm up and cool down).  I wanted to complete all ten miles, but I got out the door a little later than planned and the sun went down while I was out running.  When I started the run, it was about 55 degrees and sunny outside, so I wore capris, a tech t-shirt, and sunglasses.  Like a moron.  Needless to say, when the sun went down, so did the temperature, and I was a struggling unit.  By the time I hit 9 miles, it was getting very cold and very dark, so I decided one mile would not make or break me and went home.  Overall, I was extremely happy with the way the run went - since the half marathon in October, the longest run I had done was 6 miles.  There were some tough parts of this run (miles 5 and 6 were mostly uphill and right when the temperature started to drop) but as a whole, it went incredibly well.  It did make me very tired though - I slept 10 hours last night!  Maybe for each mile I run, I need an hour of sleep...

I was inspired to write this after reading SUAR's latest post - hers is a lot more serious, but it gave me a nice reminder that just because you blog about running and fitness doesn't mean that you have to avoid blogging about anything else in your life.  And since other parts of my life have been overshadowing any running and fitness, I thought maybe another speak da troof was in order.

This is not to say that I haven't been trying to blog.  I started a 15 Thing list on Friday, beginning with my decision to halt Insanity for a while and try it again at a different time.


Although I normally would agree with what the lovely Amylee (who just got a new half marathon PR, YOU GO GIRL!) said about needing to give something a while before you make a decision on it... after day 3 of Insanity, my decision was made.  No more Insanity for Jessica right now.  And I really do mean right now - I'm not throwing it in the garbage or selling it on Craigslist or anything.  It will stay in my workout DVD collection and I think the time will come that it will be the right thing for me to do and it'll be great.  But now is not that time.  Even just three days into it, I was dreading the workouts.  Honestly, they're not that much harder than TurboFire (my heart rate was about the same for the Insanity workouts and the TF workouts), but what TF has going for it that Insanity doesn't is fun.  TurboFire is super hard, but the music is awesome and you're too busy shaking your booty to notice.  There are no distractions in Insanity.  You know that your life sucks a little and that your muscles hate you.  It's a little stressful.  And I do not need stress from exercise right now, I need exercise as a release.  So I'm starting TurboFire again tomorrow, and will throw some running in when it works.

The reason I am trying to minimize added stress is because I've got a whole lot of it weighing on me right now.  But instead of hiding away and not blogging, I felt like it might help me to get it all down and out there.

About a week ago, I was checking the Disney Auditions website, which I do regularly, and two different auditions caught my eye.  The first is in Orlando on November 7th, and it's for an a capella group called Voices of Liberty that performs in Epcot.  I've heard them before, and they are an absolutely incredible ensemble that I've always wanted to audition for, but I'd never gotten the chance.  But my parents had already made plans to go back to Orlando in just a few days, so adding on some extra time so that I could do the audition seemed like a no-brainer.  The second audition, though, was even more exciting to me - it is scheduled for November 10th, and it's for two brand new a cappella groups that will be added to Disney's California Adventure next year.  The website describes them as follows: "Minnie’s Fly Girls Charter Airlines, a four-member charter airline crew that sings and swings to songs from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, and The Friendly Sisters, a talented trio from the Midwest who epitomize the innocent, optimistic “can-do” America of the 1920s."  They are looking for singers of all ranges and types, and the benefit of auditioning for a group that doesn't exist yet is that you're not trying to fill someone's shoes.  The problem?  The second audition is in Hollywood.  So now instead of going to Orlando for a few days just to relax and then come home, I'll be going to Orlando for a few days to relax, then do a big audition, then hopefully have callbacks the next day, then fly from Orlando to Burbank, do a big audition bright and early the next morning, and then probably cry a lot.  And I leave in four days.


It sounds silly, but these auditions are taking a serious toll on me.  These are big league auditions, much bigger than what I'm used to, and I know that.  So the first step for me was to get some headshots taken, because I really didn't have anything that was perfect.  Luckily, I was able to make arrangements with a photographer to get some headshots taken on Friday, and I have since chosen one and she is getting it retouched and sent off to the printers so I will have copies on Wednesday (fingers crossed).  But it's me, and I'm high maintenance, so it took hours for me to pick the right shot after she'd put them up on her website.  And then I asked for opinions from my parents and David, and sure enough, more hours spent changing my mind about which was the right shot!  I'm also completely unsure about what to sing for both auditions because they're not what I'm used to... for a specific musical, I'd sing something from a similar show, but for vocal groups that do a variety of things, it's a lot harder.  


On top of the stress of actually getting ready for the auditions, I also have my responsibilities here hanging over me.  I feel terrible when I miss Friday mornings with my Weight Watchers members, because I've been in their shoes and I know how important it is to have your leader to depend on.  But doing these auditions means that I'll be missing two more meetings, and the guilt is overwhelming (before you ask - yes... I am Catholic).  And that's just the guilt I feel going to the auditions.  If either audition leads to an offer, everything changes.  I believe a position with Voices of Liberty would start immediately, meaning that I'd be quitting my job with Weight Watchers with very little warning and leaving the cast of Cinderella (which we FINALLY started rehearsing for and I will update more about later) with no Cinderella.  The Disneyland situation wouldn't be much better - those contracts start in January, which means that I could give Weight Watchers plenty of notice, but I would still have to leave Cinderella.  On the flip side, it would mean that I'd be moving out to California in January, which would mean the end of the long distance for David and I, and I'd be doing it with a great job already secured.  Not to mention the fact that I'd be getting paid to sing.  For Disney.  


Regardless... that's what is hanging over my head right now and why Insanity is going to have to wait.  It does actually feel kind of nice to put it all out there and not keep it bottled up.  Hopefully everything works out the way it is supposed to... but I'm not sure what way that is right now!

First of all, WELCOME NEW FOLLOWERS!  I can't even begin to explain how exciting it was to get so many comments and watch my list of followers grow today.  I was checking my email and punching David in the arm all day.  I'm sure he was thrilled.


For those of who you are new, I feel the need to explain this post a little bit.  Originally, I stole the idea of Triple Tangent Tuesday from this beautiful blogger, but I failed at blogging on Tuesdays.  Tuesdays were dead to me, apparently.  So I started doing the tangents on Wednesday and calling it Triple Tangent Twednesday.  The end!  Now it's 11:57, so most likely this will end up being a Triple Tangent Thursday, but... we do what we can.

1.  My pretty, shiny bribe to trick myself into tracking my food for a week WORKED, kids.  I tracked for a full seven days, every single day, and I didn't even use all of my weekly allowance!  I love bribery, works like a charm.  Dangle something lovely in front of me and I'm so much more likely to get off my chubby parts and get moving.  I now have my Tervis tumbler!

I know it's not Triple Tangent Twednesday or 15 Thing Friday, but a list seemed easier to write than actual paragraphs.  Paragraphs feel like work.  And we all know how I feel about work.

I am starting Operation Suck Less in honor of Suck Less, Whine More.  But I can't add more whining to my regimen because, as you know if you read my last post, I am already in tip top whining shape.

1. Stop beating yourself up for not constantly being God's gift to exercise.  Miss a workout?  Life goes on.  Ran 1 mile instead of 10?  It'll be okay.
2. Don't allow rule #1 to turn into "I don't feel like running 10 miles, so I'll do 2 crunches instead and then take a nap."  While beating yourself up is no longer required, effort is still required.  You don't feel like doing a HIIT workout today?  Too bad.  You are required to at least attempt it.  If you start and you are in pain or feel awful, that's one thing, but no skipping workouts just because you don't feel like getting sweaty or you'd rather eat Chick-fil-a.
3. Listen to your body.  When your knees hurt, ice them and stop jumping around like a maniac trying to impress Chalene Johnson.  When you're tired, rest.  When you are thirsty, have some water.  When you are hungry, don't listen to the voice that tells you to buy Oreos.  Eat a freaking banana.
4. Floss.  Seriously.
5. And, perhaps most importantly given yesterday's emo kid post... FINALLY REGISTER FOR AND RUN THE ROCK 'N ROLL DENVER HALF MARATHON.

Okay... that's a little dramatic.  But they do take away my will to blog.  So... that explains yesterday's silence.

It's a miracle!  Now I just have to hurry up and finish this nonsense so that I can go to sleepy time before I get grumpy pants.