I hate push-ups (and I'm not that fond of my husband right now either)

TGIF everyone

Here we are, the end of another week; it's been a busy one but they usually are. I'm feeling very fortunate that I have a three-day weekend as Monday is a Federal holiday :-)

I'm very frustrated with my push-up challenge and now I am letting my husband ruin it for me. For months he has been asking me why I always go upstairs to do my push-ups and sit-ups & he's curious why I won't do them in front of him. I have explained to him MULTIPLE times that I don't want him to tell me that I'm doing them wrong and that I feel self-conscious if I feel I'm being scrutinized.

I know that my push-ups aren't perfect and I am o.k. with that.

Well, I finally broke down the other day and started to do my Push-Up Fit Test in front of him; I had just finished Week 4 and this test was to determine if I was moving up to Week 5 or repeating Week 4 (again). My arms were a little sore and I wasn't really feeling it anyway; I should have known better..............

What was the FIRST thing out of his mouth? Keep your back straight.

What was the SECOND thing out of his mouth? Go lower.

At this point I tried, nicely, to ask him to leave me alone and not provide input into my push-up form; he then launched into a speech about if I was going to do them I should do them right and he was just trying to help. Didn't I want to do them right? I did not do enough to move on to Week 5 and I haven't done one push-up since then. Oh well..........

I am looking forward to a fun and hopefully relaxing weekend. Tonight I will be celebrating a dear friends 50th Birthday; tomorrow I am going to watch my son (who is a senior in college) coach his YMCA Youth Basketball Team; and on Monday I will be getting together with a few friends for scrapbooking and card making. I don't know yet what Valentine's Day will bring :-)

I have a 70 minute easy run scheduled for today; an 80 minute hill run (still easy pace) scheduled for tomorrow and a rest day on Sunday. I will get a full week's schedule from my new coach later this weekend and I'm excited to see what my running future holds. It will be interesting and challenging; right now he wants me to work on building my stamina, and trying to get me to be less fastidious about my pace, distance, etc. And what does this mean in the short term.........slow down, relax and listen to my body.

I'd like to start a "bloggy" mailing list; if you'd like to be included please send your Birthday and mailing address to kathyrafish@comcast.net

I did it!

I jumped off the deep end and hired a coach; I'm committed for 6 months now. I really want to get my BQ this year and I think this kind of accountability will help me.

The guy has a 2:23 Marathon PR and thinks he can hit 2:20.....he is obviously doing something right. I wonder why he wants to coach a mere mortal like me; a 4:00 hour marathon isn't considered that fast to the purists, but I know I can reach that goal and I am looking forward to the extra motivation and shaking up my training regime. He will be incorporating strength training into my plan as well and I know this will help me; my core is weak.

My training plan will vary from week to week, based on the previous week's results so it definitely won't be stale.

We're going to start out going longer during the week, at a slower pace - everything at an easy effort, feeling like you could do more when you're finished. I'm supposed to go for minutes as opposed to miles. I just feel like I'm getting faster (for me) and now I will need to slow down; it feels a little counter productive but I am willing to give it a try.

I got two great hills runs in this week at a pace that I am very happy with; tomorrow I start the "Official" training plan..............Day 1 = 70 minutes for Wednesday.

Go check out this amazing giveaway that Beth has going on; the fine folks at Champion have sent her some really cool gear to share with her peeps. Plus, you will roll on the floor laughing at her poop stories.

Have a great evening

Random babbling

Alisa pointed out to me that all the Oregon photos I posted were taken on nice, sunny days and she is right :-) We don't get as much sunshine as the rest of the world; but when it is sunny in Oregon, it is TO DIE FOR and nothing beats it. This is coming from a born and raised Southern California gal...........

Marcia talked about stalling the other day; about how hard it can be to get your rear in gear and out the door; I think we have all been there. I was there myself today; I had an hour to kill while I waited for my carpooler. It makes perfect sense for me to get a run in during this time, I've done it a few times, I had my gym bag with me, I didn't run yesterday, I probably can't run tomorrow - I fully intended to run. As the time got closer I did all the negative self-talk; it's windy, it's raining, I'm tired, I don't want to go - you all know the drill. Finally, push came to shove and I just forced myself out the door and got a decent 5.25 mile run in. I don't know about you guys, while sometimes it is hard to get out the door, I never regret getting the run in and I always feel so much better.

The Fitness Challenge that I was going to do at the gym was cancelled due to low participation; I'm really bummed. It was a great, affordable way to get in some personal training and a little friendly competition. I am now looking for Plan B. I'm considering hiring a coach, someone who incorporates strength training into a running regime; what do you guys think?

Julie has been doing this terrible thing recently ;-) She's posting about blogs she enjoys reading that she thinks others would enjoy; and she is right - they are all awesome. I can barely keep up reading all of these wonderful blogs, forget commenting on all of them. I'm a bad girl and read them at work most of the time (let's keep this as our little secret) but for some unknown technical reason I can't comment on all of them from my office. This is actually probably good as I might not ever get any work done.

I got a 4 mile treadmill run in on Monday evening; it sure seemed to me that it was much, much harder than running outside. In fact, I put the treadmill a full minute per mile slower than I would normally run. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I had an awesome 7+mile hill workout on Tuesday night; it was brutal, but felt so good.

My long run this weekend will be on Sunday; we're planning on 13 miles. A good way to start the day before all of the Superbowl festivities kick off.

Have a great day.