I have often heard people say "in the zone" when referring to exercise, and I didn't know what the heck they were talking about. Well, yesterday, I finally realized what it means. I was IN THE ZONE.
I was meeting hubby at the track to run. He wasn't there yet, so I did one lap without him. My Ipod was dead so I decided I would leave and just go to the work gym and watch TV while running on the treadmill....because there was no way I was running without my Ipod.
Hubby ended up driving up as I was leaving and convinced me to stay even without my music. I told him that I couldn't run far, maybe one mile, without my music. He said that was fine.
We did a warm-up lap first, then we began a nice jog, about a 10-minute mile pace. We finished a mile and neither of us said we were stopping, so we just kept going.
After we finished a mile and a half, I asked hubby if he wanted to do 2 miles. He said okay. We continued on and continued on. So when it was all said and done, he did 3 miles (2.5 jogging and .5 walking) and I did 3.25 (2.5 jogging and .75 walking). I felt GREAT. Not out of breath, not tired, not sore. GREAT.
Remember, this was without my Ipod. I think I realized something.....sometimes I try to keep pace with the music and end up getting too tired. But yesterday I kept the same comfortable pace (let my body decide and not music) the whole time. I never even felt the urge to slow down or walk. Usually I'm doing a lot of self-talk to keep myself going...."Just one more lap." "Okay, make it around that corner." Stuff like that.....but not this time.
So hubby had to leave to shower for an office dinner. I still had so much energy.....what I think now was a "runner's high"....that I wanted to keep going. I said I would do another mile.
Guess What? I did 3 more miles. So total for me was 6.25 miles. I could have kept going too...the pace was just right, but I was scared I might not be able to walk today. Surprisingly, so far, no pain or soreness!
It felt like I was on cruise control. Weird, huh? You know how when you are in your car and you put on cruise control.....the car does the work, you just sit there and focus on the road. That's exactly what it was like. I wasn't pushing my legs, they felt like they were just going by themselves. I just enjoyed the view and sunshine and kept going!!
I can't even believe I'm typing this. It still feels so weird that I could experience such pleasure from exercise. Never in my life did I think I would say that!!
I now know what two terms mean that I never understood before, "In the Zone" and "Runner's High." And let me tell you, they are great things!! I really hope it wasn't just a fluke experience, I hope to report back many more episodes of "In the Zone" and "Runner's High."
If you missed my post earlier this morning, I posted the "gun show". :)
I'm so excited, PEOPLE. My run time is getting faster. Yesterday, hubby and I ran on the track and my mile and a half time was 12:57. I shaved another 9 seconds off.
Hubby did a great job of pushing me. He claims I'm a workout machine (if you've seen his blog called keepingupwithmom), but when it comes to running, he's the one who is the machine. He pushes me!
It was sooo hot on the track, so it made the run seem that much harder. Around 90 degrees! But it felt GREAT to finish quicker than last time!!
So this is the week before my extremely stressful week. Ugh. I have a lot to do this week to get ready so I'm sorry that I'm neglecting some of you. :( I promise to make up later.
It was a relaxing weekend. The weather was beautiful.
Friday night we watched Freedom Writers. That's a great movie.
Saturday, as you know, I got my hair done and hubby and I went out to dinner and a movie.
Sunday we cleaned the cars and stayed outside most of the day. My son and I relaxed in the hammock for a bit. I gathered a ton of clothes and dropped them off at the thrift store. We bought a few things while we were there. I got a pair of jeans, an Ann Taylor purse, and a Kate Spade purse! :) I love bargains!!
I also had my weigh-in on Sunday. It didn't go so good. I gained .4. I was a little disappointed but when I got home I took my body fat measurement and found that in the last 2 weeks my body fat has dropped. I'm now at 22.5%. So I'm happy that the fat is leaving for good!! I'm fine with gaining muscle weight but sometimes I think I will never reach that magical goal number.
I hope everyone had a great weekend. Oh yeah, in case I didn't tell you, hubby now has a blog! Stop by and visit him. His name is keepingupwithmom. LOL. You can connect to him under my friends list....I don't know how to add a link. :(
I posted another photo of my hair in the same photo album. It's a little closer so maybe the highlights and lowlights are more visible.
I missed my hair stylist today! Although the new girl did a good job with the color, she didn't style it like my girl usually does. She blowed it almost dry and called it a day. I had to come home and straighten it myself. My girl always flat irons it for me. The thing is they charge an arm and a leg at this place ($180.00 with tip)....I don't think I should have to come home and flat iron it myself. But that's just my opinion!!
Hubby and I went out to eat at Ruby Tuesdays. We both had a salad and then shared a steak. It was really good! Then we went to see Vacancy. VERY SCARY. I couldn't even eat my popcorn because I didn't want to let go of the death grip I had on hubby's hand! LOL. Good movie to see if you're on a diet!! :) It's one of those movies where you are constantly waiting for someone to jump out and scare the crap out of you....so it's a little intense. I enjoyed it, but then again, I love scary movies. We had a good time tonight. It's always nice to have a little bit of alone time.
Okay, so I had quite a few people vote YES for the gun show! Good news....the gun show is coming to an EP blog near you soon! ;) Stay tuned.
Good night, all. Oh, by the way, tomorrow is weigh-in....keep your fingers crossed for me. Tonight probably wasn't a good night to eat out, huh?
Wednesday I decided that I want to improve my running yet again. I decided this time to pick a distance and run the entire time, staying at a steady pace, without walking, and then improve on that time. I decided the distance would be 1.5 miles and then in a couple of weeks, I will increase it to 2.0 miles and so on.
So Wednesday, on the treadmill, I jogged 1.5 miles in 16:30 minutes. I wasn't happy with that time so I cooled down and did it again. The second time I ran it in 14:40. This proved that I do better once I'm really warmed up.
I was sick on Thursday, so I didn't run. But on Friday, I did 1.5 miles on the track. It seemed so hot and I was so thirsty, but I didn't stop. I was very proud to finish at 13:06!! Yippee.
This morning I got up and went to one of the high schools to run. But I had a few problems going on. I had to pee, but the bathrooms were locked; my pants were a little big and kept falling down; and they were about to start track practice. I only got three laps in before I decided to call it quits because of the problems!
I came home and had hubby measure 1.5 miles around the neighborhood in the car. I went pee, changed into shorts that fit, and was ready to go!
I tried out an old pair of shoes for my run today (with arch support) and they felt great!
The only problem with the run in the neighborhood was hubby didn't communicate where the stopping point was. I assumed it was our driveway, but apparently it was three houses before our driveway. So when he was telling me to stop (he was riding a bike beside me), I thought he was saying sprint (I had my Ipod on loud)....so I sprinted all the way to our driveway for nothing. But it felt good anyway.
So I'm not sure what my time was today because I didn't sprint when I should have, but it was somewhere in the range of 13:00-13:15....so close to the same as yesterday. I was very happy with that.
I have my hair appointment in a little while. Yeah!! Relaxation time!!
I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. It's warm and sunny here!
Okay, I can't really tell you what my job is, but I will say that I'm in the law arena. Well, I have a murder case coming up in a little over a week. I'm really starting to stress about it already!
I know that it will mean sleepless nights, long hours, and lots of stress. I guess that's a big reason why I'm looking forward to my hair appointment.....ME TIME. :)
I really need to focus on ME this week as the following week will mean no me time. Unfortunately, it will also mean little time for my EP buddies. :( I will miss that! I love you guys. You're all so supportive.
I wish everyone a Happy Friday. Please wish me a happy weekend and following week. I'm going to need it!!
Aw, man, my stylist is out sick, so my hair appointment was canceled!! Bummed. I can't wait to get squeezed back in with her (could be weeks), so I'm seeing a different girl tomorrow. I hope she's good. YIKES, I hate changing stylists. But this is a salon/spa so all of them seem great. I haven't had a bad experience there, so hopefully it will go good.
If I end up with green hair, I'll let you know. ;)
I will post a picture since you guys requested. And thanks for the compliments about my hair. You guys know how to make a girl blush.
