pittsburgh great race

My fitness efforts have been sporadic for the past few months.  While I have been swimming and running here and there, my diet has been good at all.  I have restarted my goals numerous times and failed to follow through every single time.  Couple of weeks ago, which we were relaxing in the steam room after swimming, a friend of mine encouraged me to sign up for the Pittsburgh Great Race in late September.  Feeling invincible after a great swim, I had regrettably said yes.  Now a couple of weeks later, enough friends and family know about the race that I can’t back out anymore. 

So with that being the goal, I am restarting my training (again).

Goal: run the Pittsburgh Great Race (10K) on September 30th (in 21 weeks)

Training: 10K Runner App & Get Running App (14 weeks)

Although the training schedule is only for 14 weeks, I will probably have to repeat some of the weeks, so I am giving myself 17 weeks to be able to finish the 10K.  The rest of the 4 weeks, I just want to be comfortable running the 10K so that I will be able to finish race.  I will not be doing any speed work or training.  Just finishing is enough for me.

swim for fitness

Recently my only form of exercise has been swimming.  I love to swim, much more so than running.  It’s a high intensive yet low impact workout.  I can only swim the breaststroke and backstroke across the whole lap without stopping.  Backstroke is not my favorite way to swim, but it can help mix it up when doing laps.  I am now learning to swim freestyle and found some great resources online that is helping me to learn the style on my own:

1. Wikipedia – I was surprised by the detailed description of each technique and I even improved my breaststroke by reading it.
2. Swim Smooth – this website is full of valuable tips, best of all a animated Mr Smooth shows you how to do it right
3. Swim 1 mile in 6 weeks – similar to couch to 5K except it’s for swimming. Great resource for planning a workout

The plan right is while trying to learn the freestyle and how to do flip turns; I will try swim a mile with breaststroke, although it will probably take me more than 6 weeks. After I can do a mile with both breaststroke and freestyle, I want to learn the butterfly style.  I really hate it when the person in the lane next to me make a big splash swimming, so I want to be able to splash back.  Ok, I was just kidding.

 

I get knocked down

But I get up again.

I quit exercising and eating right shortly after thanksgiving. A combination of the winter blues and frustration for hitting a plateau finally got to me. Weeks and pounds later, I dusted off my running shoes and joined the Y near my work.

At first eating whatever I fancied seemed great, after a while even the most delicious foods wasn’t tempting anymore. I was also feeling less energized and would spend almost the whole weekend in bed. Even with all these, I was dreading restarting yet again. It took me almost 2 months to work up the courage. Even on Sunday I was debating delaying yet another week. I hate getting up super early and the boring exercises. I made a few adjustments this time regarding exercise is instead of trying to run 4 times a week I have decided to cut back to 3 times a week. Running 4 times a week doesn’t give me enough time to really recover. Besides this means I only have to be up super early twice a week. The reason I joined the YMCA is because they have a pool very close to were I work. Instead of walking 7 times a week (boring) I am going to swim or walk only 5 times a week. It sounds like I am cutting back, but the exercise routine I have planned before is just unrealistic for right now. Whenever I can’t follow it, which is often, I feel guilty.

In addition, I discovered a great web tool called MindBloom. It helps motivate me to stay on track while appealing to my sense of gaming and beauty.



my first real 5k race

After the disappointment last week, my runner friend asked me to run a race with her on Saturday. Of course I will be running the 5K while she will tackle the 10 miles. The only question I asked her before signing up was: “Is it on a paved road?” She thought my question was hilarious, but then she never ran on a hiking trail before.

The race went better than I expected. The course is on the road in a commercial park. It was flat for the most part with numerous small hills throughout. Some of the steeper hills I walked the rest I ran. I found that the first few minutes after I start running is the hardest. After I find my rhyme it actually felt pretty good. I expected running outside to be much harder than running on the treadmill. Actually I think it was a little easier, because there were other people around and I wasn’t bored at all. The 3 mile went by pretty quickly. While I am running on the treadmill there is nothing to really concentrate on other than my burning lung and muscles. I came in at 35:20 which translates to 11:24 min per mile. It is slower than my treadmill speed of 10 min per mile, but there are hills to deal with on a treadmill.

beef kimchi jjigae

The first time I had Korean food, my reaction was I can't believe I have been missing out on one of the best cuisines in the world.  Ever since then I have been addicted to Korean food.  Korean restaurants in the US tend to be rather pricy, regular visits end up putting a sizable dent in my pocket.  The good thing is most Korean dishes are normally fairly easy to make, and the ingredients are readily available.  Kimchi jjigae is one of the first Korean dishes I successfully cooked.

P.S.: I will take a better photo next I make it again, I was too hungry to really pay attention to photograhy.

Recipe: Beef Kimchi Jjigae

Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 25 min | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 1
Nutrition Per Serving | Cal: 418 | Fat: 23g | Carbs: 17.6g | Protein: 33.4g

Ingredients:

• 2 oz beef
• 1 cup kimchi (preferably old)
• 1/4 cup kimchi juice
• 1/2 small onion
• 1/3 block of tofu
• 1 cup mushrooms (optional)
• 1 large egg (optional)
• 3 tbs scallions
• 1/4 green hot pepper
• 2 tsp Korean hot pepper power
• 1 tsp Korean hot pepper paste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Instructions:

1. Cut the kimchi into 1-inch pieces.  It is important to use well-fermented kimchi.
2. Slice up the tofu and onion.  Dice the scallions and chili pepper.
3. Heat up a shallow pot or Korean clay pot, put in the sliced beef. Stir until cooked, until it is no longer pink.
4. Add in the chopped kimchi, sliced onions, mushroom, kimchi juice, hot pepper flakes, hot pepper paste and sugar. Pour in water to cover and boil for 20 min.
5. Add in the slices tofu and mushrooms and boil for another 5 min.
6. Switch off the heat, crack in a raw egg, drizzle some sesame onion and add in the scallion.  

Tips:

• I forgot to add the raw egg in the picture, but it is just as delicious without.
• Traditional kimchi stew calls for pork or seafood.  I am particular to beef, but you can use whatever suits your taste.
• You can use any shallow pot to cook the stew, I prefer the Korean clay pot.

my first 3 mile run

I finally ran 3 miles this morning after at least two failed attempts (which I wrote about in the previous post). I just want to say it was god awful. I was supposed to run yesterday morning, but I overslept. After an impromptu to happy hour that last until 10pm, I was too stuffed and tired to run. Even this morning, my stomach was still protesting the crap I fed it the night before. Anyways, the run was hell. My muscles were burning, my chest hurts and my throat was so dry that it still hurts 10 hours later. But I am so glad I was able to accomplish it, especially since it’s so much later than I expected.

I have been trying to follow the Couch to 5K (C25K) plan for the past 7 weeks. I have had success with it in past and this time was no different, although I did have a harder time than before. One of the things that make it so successful is how unintimidating it seems when you are starting off. The first week consist of running only 1 min intervals, and it gradually increases from there. If you would like to start running, I would highly recommend the C25K plan.

Since the 5K race last weekend left me feeling unaccomplished, I have registered for another 5K this Saturday, this time it will be on nicely paved asphalt road.

cravings and laziness

I haven’t been doing so well the last couple of weeks. I can’t seem to work up any energy or enthusiasm for exercising. I have never tried and failed to run 3 miles so many times before. It’s not due to physical stress; it’s just so boring that I have trouble doing it for 30 minutes straight. I have mentally lost the battle before the run even starts. Grrrrr, I want to be able to run 3 miles darn it! According to my accelerated plan, I was supposed to run 3 miles on Saturday. I even signed up for a 5K race on that day, determined to run the whole 3 miles. When I got there I realized the race is not on a road, or even a nicely paved flat trail, it’s on a hiking trail. There is mud, slippery leaves, tree roots and lots of hills. Some parts are so narrow only one person can pass at a time. I thought best case scenario I trip and twist my ankle; worst case scenario I fall and break my leg. So I ran whenever I could and walked the rest of it. It was gorgeous out, especially with the fall leaves and hills. I wanted to bring out my good camera and capture the magic of fall.

Anyways, I attempted to run 3 miles at home that evening and only made it to 1.2 miles. I think I understand why I quit after 7 weeks last summer. The newness of a diet is wearing thin, especially since I have hit a plateau. Last night and this morning, I am so hungry. I don’t think I have ever been some hungry before. Before this, I was able to control my hungry with small and frequent meals. But for some reason, my stomach felt like a growling bottomless pit. For the first time in two months I considered taking a week break and eat whatever I wanted. This morning, I ate at least twice as much breakfast. Guess what, I felt really stuffed afterwards. I think my stomach is getting used to accommodating smaller portions (which is great). Despite being under my caloric budget by 2,400 last week, I only lost 0.6lbs. I am hoping it’s just my body retaining water. Either way, I have to work harder this week to burn more calories.