Important updates!!

On the marathon training front - I have good news! Yesterday we did 12 miles in 2:08 - YES!! This was a better average mile time than last weekend of about 10:34 minute miles. Our run 12/walk 1 method really helps with recovery and endurance running for longer distances. I'm slightly sore in the legs today, due to my lack of weekday training for the past 2 weeks.

Upcoming races and training sessions:

- 12/29: 8 mile timed run

- 12/31: 5 to 8 mile timed Goodbye 2007 fun run on the Newport Beach to Huntington Beach boardwalk (only in Orange County - Holler)

- 1/6: ORANGE COUNTY HALF MARATHON!!! I think our team is ready - let's do it girls!

****ON THE HOME FRONT*****

For Christmas this year, Mark and I have decided to open our home to Caleb, a 2 year old Boston Terrier. He has had a sad life so far. He has obviously been abused and neglected, because he came to us very skinny and very scared and sad. He would cower and pee when you'd come near him, and would run into his crate.

After just a few days with us, we're happy to report that he is doing well. Caleb is learning commands quickly and takes quick hints from his 3 year old sister Sophie.We've decided to see for the next few weeks how things work out with Caleb in our household. If things go well, we will be formally adopting him, otherwise, we'll find him the best forever home possible. Our main goal right now is to try to get him happy and healthy.

No rest for the weary

Seriously this adult/real world thing is no joke.

Sorry to be so delinquent on posting but I started my new job on 11/27ish and it's been nonstop ever since. In a nutshell, I'm tired but I love it.
Highlights of the past month
- training for the marathon is going great! My mile times are getting slower, but we're going longer distances too so it's ok! 10 miles last weekend and 11 today - HOLLER!!! 2 hours straight running with Andrea. I'm so pumped that she is doing the marathon with us!
- work is awesome! It's busy, challenging, and completely fulfilling.
- friends ROCK! We had a successful Hooters gtg and got so much support from our fabulous OC Nesties
- Mr10yt has been super supportive and tailor makes my carbload dinners before our big Saturday morning runs. He's sweet in his own way.

Lowlights
- why ruin the momentum?

Hooters GTG in Costa Mesa

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

What's the best way to prepare your body for a marathon ANNNNND for Thanksgiving goodness? TURKEY TROT! A team of OC Nesties decided to run the Dana Point 10k Turkey Trot together. And we did it!

Festivities began at 5am-ish at Kate's place, Lordie that was early but the energy was intense! It was so nice of some of the husbands to come and support us as well as Katie and Kam.

So much to be thankful for this year =)

Claire, Jessica, Diane, Kim, Kate, Andrea, Cat & Aline
aka: ihearttim, Young_Love, 10yearstogether, AsianPrncssKim, Blu-EyedWife, USCgirl, Yeahimcat & Mrs50%


So OA:


How cute! Matt, Jon, Robert, Corey & Ringo


Can you say "hardcore"?


Hilario:




Holler!


I'm also grateful that after having a slight knee scare after last weekend's run, I still met my goal of finishing in under an hour - 56:58min/9:02 per mile for 6.31 miles (unofficially).

I AM READY!!!

10k - tomorrow morning - BRING IT!!!

I can't wait to run with my OC NESTIES!! Wish us luck: Cat, Jess, Kim, Kate, Claire, Aline & Andrea!

Marathon rest day = Eat, shop, eat...ok eat again...

Omg what a fantab day!!

I was going to work out and then realized my body was begging me for another day off to rest. Ok fine.

So, I went to Walmart, Target, and several grocery stores to hunt down their sales. At 7am!! I love that Walmart opens at 7am on Sundays.

Buffalo Wing Girl made...guess...BUFFALO WINGS!!! My first batch of homemade wings EVER thanks to Kate's suggestion. And they were SO GOOD!! I tried to make them healthy but I don't think that's possible:


A new addition to the family: Miss Hello Kitty Barbie:


And finally - my favorite recipe of 2007, hands down. It's SO GOOD and HEALTHY!!! Best part is, you really can't mess it up. If you add more or less veggies, olive oil or balsamic, it will still taste great!! For my runners and diet-conscious readers, I've included the nutritional information and recipe:


1 package of Lentils (pre-cooked!) from Trader Joes
2 cups cherry tomatoes
5 medium celery stalks, diced
2 cups chopped parsley
2 cups chopped cilantro
2.5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 garlic cloves, finely minced

THROW IT ALL TOGETHER and toss! Chill as desired. I've made this in the past and it stays good in the refrigerator for more than a week in a proper storage container. Yum.

nutritional totals/per serving:
- 1045 cals/209
- 35 fat/7
- 132 carbs/26.4
- 48 fiber/9.6
- 50 protein/10
(Each serving is about 1.5 cups)

If you'd like to modify my recipe, try the following:
diced onion (red, green or both - however much you like)
red bell peppers if you'd like

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend

Running, Brunch & Retail - YES!

What a great day today!

FIRST day of official marathon training with Team in Training - nice 45ish minute run - 4.21 miles at a 10:09 pace. I'm not happy with the pace but it included stoplights which sucked.

Thanks to Kate for such a yummy and healthy brunch - it was nice to get together for some downtime with her, Cat and Aline.

I had major retail therapy too - hooray for paydays!

I got a much needed haircut:


Target is so great for snacks and random food for CHEAP:


Added another little iron bike to my collection, I named him Winston, his brother's name is Harry:



Cutest black leather and patent leather peep-toes:


And a girl can never have too many black suits, so boring, but that's where the new peep-toes come into play:


Now I can exhale - hope you're all having as great a weekend as I am so far!

"Your ribs are sexy"

What a sick thing to say to a woman, no? I was at the gym tonight and at the water fountain, I was activating my chest strap for my heart rate monitor. I had to lift my shirt to do it. I got on the treadmill and this dude comes up (not cute, btw) and says "your ribs are sexy" - SICKO. Collarbones, sure. Ribs? Whatever.

It's been a shitty week mood-wise, but otherwise excellent training-wise. The other day I did 5.5 miles in 50 minutes - HOLLER!!!! I've also made it a point to do yoga, stationary bike AND precor in the past 4 days. En feugo.

Weekend was great - training, massage, gtg with my nesties at karaoke, good food. =)

Other than that, my life has been uneventful. Here are some of my fave pics over the past few days (ghetto photoshop thanks to weezermonkey):

how fitting that it's Cat and Kate in the background laughing at me


In case you ever wonder how my workdays feel:

Karma is real

Monday and Tuesday I didn't feel too great. Not bad enough that I should have stayed home, but I called in sick Wednesday anyway. Well here it is, Thursday morning, and I've promised I'd go in. Then an alert came on my blackberry - court today - WTF? I thought my request for a continuance had been granted - NOPE. So having not filed objections to the opposition's petition, I am passing bricks about going to court today, especially since I feel like hell.

Aside from that, I really am sick now. Can barely breathe (I have asthma) and my workouts have been subpar and I have no energy. It's difficult to believe that I have my first race in a month and I don't feel anywhere near ready.

That's it, I'm off today, as I have been the rest of the week. Hopefully I'll just come home after my 2pm hearing. Wish me luck. Ugh.

Btw - I saw this and loved it. So true, so true.

Marathon REST day; crappy mood too

I'll make this brief - I feel like hell. Congested, headache, sluggish, allergies. It blows. I made it to happy hour to meet am old friend, and I feel bad that I wasn't my usual self.

I had planned a rest day today for marathon training anyway, so hopefully the funk wears off soon. I think a large part of my mood is due to the fires that are STILL raging right now in LA, OC and SD counties.

That's it. Sorry for being lame.

Oh yes, I got a picture of the "Zendo" diet pills that my cousins are taking. Made in China and distributed in the Philippines? YIKES.


Here's me doing a flip (somewhat successfully) in jeans and my cowboy boots. Don't try this at home.

Frisco Frolicking!

I hate when people call San Francisco "Frisco" - but it sounded good to me.

Spent the weekend in SF for family functions. I ate terribly but I was good about working out!!

Saturday: 5.5 miles total outdoor run; 9:39 pace for 4 miles - hooray! It was hilly so I'm happy with this!
Sunday: upper body strength training and 1.75 light jog.

Frolicking:

Friday - TGIF calls for TGI Fridays! I ate like a pig and drank a bit, oopsy.

Saturday - birthday party at Jollibee's - Filipino heaven consisting of spaghetti, fried chicken and mocha chocolate crunch cake. I got a picture with Jollibee himself, wuuuhuuu.


Also saw one of my bridesmen Sunil and we (along with my cuzzos) frolicked downtown at the Sugar Lounge - isn't he pretty?


The "joyride" home, yikes:


Sunday - my cousin's baby shower - more food. Ouch. This is just ONE of the 3 tables of food. Ugh.


And yes, I'm wearing the same shirt from the night before - dual purpose packing - I'm all about it:


I'm home now and I'm pooped. And sad because of the fires. I can't wait for Friday.

!!!!Fires in Orange County, San Diego & LA Counties!!!!!

Most of you know that I was in San Francisco this weekend so I have some stories to tell and pictures to share. But for now, I just want to take today to be mellow and appreciate the gravity of the Southern California fires.

Dear God I can see the red sky in the distance and it is SO WINDY right now. How scary. As if 10:21 pm, the news is reporting that the fires in Foothill Ranch are not dying. The news is also saying that we will be having the worst winds over the next 24hours - I just want to cry. I am about 9 miles from the Foothill Ranch fires.

Many people have been evacuated in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange Counties, as well as up in Santa Clarita and Lake Arrowhead. A few of my family members have been evacuated from their homes in North San Diego, and I have several friends that are also close to the fires. Foothill Ranch is a few miles from me and I too am scared. As I drove home from the gym, I could see the red flames.

Sending good thoughts and wishes for health and safety to our friends and family that have been affected. What a sad few days it's been.



Foothill Ranch fires about 8-9 miles away:

Thank you for the pictures Dawn.

The morning after....oh God! & diet pills

My food intake for last night was appalling. I started off so well too. This is why I hate going out to eat. I flew to San Francisco for the weekend, and I went to TGI Fridays with my cousins. I ALMOST said no to alcohol, but COME ON.

Here was the damage - CONSERVATIVELY about 2,800 calories. I seriously hate myself right now. I won't be looking like Leann Tweeden anytime soon, I'm so sad:



On another note, I saw my cousins for the first time since August, and I couldn't believe how much weight they have lost. I'm talking 20 to 30 pounds APIECE in about 2 months. I am so jealous because it's taken me almost 10 months to drop 30ish pounds and I've worked my ass off for it. They are in to this new diet pill, something called Zendo and it's from the Phillipines. Eh, oh well.

Yegchy day - thank goodness for Sophie and my Garmin!

Today sucked kinda. I'm really feeling the effects of this stupid nicotine withdrawal. But I digress.

I ran with my Garmin watch for the first time today! I love it - it accurate tracks my pace and mileage. Although it's bulky, I felt like a real runner wearing it! I didn't pick up too many miles today - 3.7 - although broken up into 2 workouts (Sophie jogged with me for 1.65 miles). My pace is still slower than I'd like it to be at a 9:49 mile, I'd like to get it around 9 to 9:15 in order to finish the 10k Turkey Trot in under an hour.



On a lighter note - I found this old picture of Sophie and just had to share. I love my little peanut.

T-E-A-M...GooooOOOOO TEAM!!

That's right - TEAM IN TRAINING!!! Holla!!

Finally a group picture of the fabuloso nesties that are shooting for the LA Marathon! I love these girls (well, most of the time)!

Please feel free to leave a comment with suggestions as to what we can do as a team to raise money for Leukemia. We're running to save lives, and hopefully, to find a cure for cancer. Please show your support and encouragement, we NEED IT!

Jessica, Cat, Aline, Kim, and Princess, oops I mean Diane (me, 10yt):


Special shout out to my bestie Jamie who will be running the December 8th marathon in Hawaii! How awesome! She has truly inspired me to do the marathon in LA, and she's proven that if you have the heart to believe it, your body can achieve it. Thanks Jamie!

Dear Nest, you're killing me.

NFT

You CAN lose weight while training for a race - and I will PROVE IT

The secret? BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate. In a nutshell, it tells you how many calories you burn per day even if you were to sit on your bum the whole time.

How to calculate it:

665+ (4.35* your weight) + (4.7* your height in inches) - (4.7* your age)

My BMR = approximately 1411. So without exercising, I burn 1411 calories a day. If you are very sedentary, you will probably burn less, consequently if you're more active you'll probably burn more. These are just average numbers, and they don't take into account what your body fat % is.

I will round my BMR to 1400.

Determine your daily caloric needs:
If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

So to maintain my weight, I have to consume 1400*1.375 = 1925 calories a day.

Use the above to calculate your MAGIC NUMBER.

One pound = 3,500 calories.

So, if I want to lose 5 pounds by the end of November, I have to have a calorie deficit of 5*3500 = 17,500 calories in 6 weeks.

What I will do for EACH DAY until the end of November:

- log ALL calories consumed

- subtract my magic number

- subtract any calories burned during exercise

= my calorie deficit (or "above budget" if you will)

I will try to cap my calories at 1600 so that any calories I burn during exercise go into my calorie deficit basket. I CAN DO THIS!!

I have 6 weeks starting this weekend, October 20th. So for each week, I have a goal to have a calorie deficit of 2,916. YIKES.

If I keep up my daily activity rate, without exercising at all I will have a deficit of 2275 calories. So I need to exercise during the week, obviously.

If I don't make it, that's ok too. But I will put this BMR mumbo jumbo to the test.

RECAP THE FORMULA TO FIND YOUR CALORIE DEFICIT!!:
BMR + Calories Burned = (your BMR + ____) = (____)
Calories Consumed = _____,
Calorie Deficit = (____)

Thank you to Jillian Michaels and Magda for the helpful information and inspiration!

Training rest day today - NOT

As you know, I've been trying to work out really hard lately. Today I decided to make a rest day since an old friend of mine was coming to visit that I haven't seen for about 8 years!! She was my college roomie and was with me the day I met Mr.10years =)

She came with her hubby and THREE kids. Yikes, I'm spent. We made pizza and salad for dinner, with LIGHT ice cream for dessert. I even had an oreo cookie with mine. I made sure to eat light during the day so I could splurge a little tonight.

I'm glad Mr.10years and I will be waiting a little while longer before having a kid, after tonight I don't think I'm ready at all. Sophie isn't used to kids so she got a little overwhelmed but the exposure is good for her. But they sure were cute as hell!!:


My pooooor poooor mariachi harpist is crippled, from the set that Kate got me from Mexico. It'll be a quick fix though:

Running Progress - 8:20 minute mile!

WOOOOOO!! I've ran my fastest mile yet - 8:20 paced mile! I'm very excited. Now it's time to be able to sustain that pace for 6.21 miles (for the 10k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving) since I'm shooting to finish the race in under an hour.

Other than that, I lifted weights at the gym for my lower body. I want to build my calf and hip flexor muscles so I don't injure myself, especially on downhill parts of the race.

Total calories consumed today: 1553
Total calories burned: 175+150+275 = 600
Want to see what I ate? I still need a lot of work in this dept.: http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/nutrition_food_chart.asp?sid=L%2C3+%3Fbvx0b%278W%2D%3DIi%2B%3C%7CRl%27QrqU%40Rm&iMTGoalNum=23820779&dteDateShowing=10/15/2007&bGetElementByID=TRUE

Along with training for the 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon, I STILL want to lose about 5 to 7 pounds (get into the 120's!!) by New Years Eve. This entails staying within my calorie range, which is really hard to do for someone like me who loves to eat.

No relevant photos, so since Sophie is feeling a little neglected, here is her being a good little girl while waiting for her "release" command to get her new bully stick as a treat! She has the most pitiful face. Don't let her fool you, she gets treated very well.

Run Nesties RUN!!

What a RUSH! This morning at 730, the OC Nesties/Sparklers went for a 4.58 mile run around Costa Mesa. It was fabulous! We met at the gym since we were doing yoga afterwards. Let me tell you, it was so fun. Speedracer Claire led the way, and the rest of us were good sports following in tow. I was so proud of everyone that we finished the whole route. We did yoga afterwards, minus the headstands, which was a great way to end the workout and start off the day.

I'm super proud because we did this run BEFORE official training has even started. What troopers.

Here's us at 730am - don't we look cute? Just FYI - this is the team that will be doing the Orange County Half Marathon in January and the Los Angeles Marathon in March - wish us luck!



As my extra inspiration, my bestie Jamie ran the San Jose Half Marathon today with a personal BEST time! I'm so proud of her! Gooooooo Jamie!

Marathon Training KICKOFF!!

Today was a great day! Aside from beginning my new smoke-free life, we had our first marathon training event - the Kickoff!

It was Kim, Aline and I since Jess and Cat are on vacation. We got goodies at the morning meeting (donuts and Team in Training Gear), and I only ate 1/3 of the donut, thank you very much:



The best part of the day came next - SOUP PLANTATION - HOLLA!!! We figured that once formal running training starts, we won't be doing much more piggyfests like this, so why not enjoy it while we can?

Blueberry muffins - be still my heart:


MUAHAHAHAAA....


Yummy!! Don't knock us - we have a 4.58 mile run tomorrow so we were carb-loading...


I also:
- did 3 miles with incline and speed training
- took my Sophie for a nice long walk
- spent time detoxing in the sauna.

To make a good thing even better, Mr10years made us a fabulous, healthy and lowfat dinner: salmon, rissoto and green beans. He's the bestest!




All in all - a great day!