The power of...

positive negative thinking?...or the power of hunger?

Today was my first morning workout (part of the new evil plan to make myself love morning workouts).

I envisioned I would be running, enjoying the sun, listening to my music and thinking about all the things I'm grateful for...the birds flying and little squirrels running around. I thought I would pass fellow runners or walkers and wave gladly at them, with a smile form ear to ear...because well, what a beautiful morning to get out there and run.

ehmmm, well, it wasn't exactly as I have envisioned.

It was warm (I've been getting used to the awesome night runs with the cool winds!), my Nike+Ipod decided to not give me my stats during the run, I was hungry, thirsty and couldn't not wait to get this over with and just get home!!!.

I finally was in the home stretch...I swear I could start tasting the coffee and stove top oatmeal (with bananas, cinnamon and pecans) I was about to make when I got home!. I end the run, start walking, end my workout on my Ipod...and there it was:

• Average pace: 9'47'' Mins/Mile
• Distance: 3.09 Miles (.01 miles short of 5K)

9'47''!!! That's a record for me. I only hit that average pace or lower when I'm on the treadmill, but never ever I had broke the 10 min/miles on concrete!!!

So whatever power got me through it, I'll take it. I do know it wasn't the power of positive thinking, because the entire workout I was thinking "this is NOT a good run"/"I much rather workout at nights"/ "this sucks"/ "I'm hot"/ "How much longer", etc, etc, etc.

So well, of course I want to enjoy my runs so now I have to work on my morning attitude (the hard work never ends does it!), but maybe once my body gets used to it I will actually start loving it, and would be able to give other runners/walkers/cyclists a true honest smile that says "I'm loving it!!, isn't this great!?"

Until then, I'll rely on the power of hunger for improving my pace ;)

• On a side note...
  
  I hope everyone is having a great week and finding all the reasons to be grateful this week. This Thanksgiving I will have my sister, brother in law and nephews at our house!. This is the first time ever I spend a Thanksgiving with my family!!. We didn't celebrate it back home since this is an American tradition...but after being in this country for almost 14 years, it has become a special time for me too. I can't wait to introduce them to this awesome Holiday and that's something to be grateful for :)
  
  Happy Tuesday!
  -

Running Update - Week 3

I have officially completed Week 3 of my 12-week program to get ready for the 10K!...The last update said week 1, but that was actually week 2!

This week was awesome. I actually stuck to my exercise plan (just moved the last run to today). So here is the summary of results for the week:

• Mon: 3.81 Miles / Time - 39'30'' / Pace - 10'20'' per mile
• Tue: 1.69 Miles / Time - 16'34'' / Pace - 9'47'' per mile + PUMP Class
• Wed: 4.30 Miles / Time - 44'05'' / Pace - 10'13'' per mile
• Thu: No run, PUMP Class
• Fri: No run, Kickboxing Class
• Sat: Rest (well deserved I may add!)
• Sun: 5.07 Miles / Time - 52'16'' / Pace - 10'18'' per mile

Oh yeah, that's 5.07 miles today! Yep...5.07!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I couldn't believe it. I got a famous person talking to me again on the Nike+ (a woman) but I have no idea who it was and can't recall the name!. It felt great to go pass 5 miles and I am happy to see some improvements on my pace. I made sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day and it was a beautiful late afternoon...perfect for a run!.

I was supposed to do the long run Saturday and take today off. Instead, yesterday I did some gardening while Alejandro got the outside of the house cleaned. This change may actually screw up my plans for the coming week. I guess have to sit and figure out what to do (was supposed to do a long run Monday, but I think after today I should probably do something else and give the good ol' legs a little rest)

It really is crazy how quickly your body becomes stronger. Just a couple of weeks ago 3.75 miles seemed like a stretch goal!.

Here is my Nike+ summary...sorry about the quality, not sure what happened there!. The gray columns are the plan, the green columns is what I actually did. You can see my plan for tomorrow is a long run, so I will have to modify that (although I am not sure the plan can be changed....will be asking my super Nike+ know-it-all friend Emy tomorrow)

The box on the bottom is the detail of the run I did today. The drops are stoplights. You can actually see the second half of the run (after that stoplight) I picked up the pace and maintained a good pace until the end. I think a good song came on and I realized I had already done over 3.3 miles and was feeling good!.

Regarding the hacking of the Ipod to recover lost runs...I never really got around to it and I guess I came to peace with the fact that I lost a run (lol!). My super running friend, Emy, has uncovered what we think is the root cause for losing workouts in Ipod cyberspace. Apparently, all the times she has lost her workouts, she played music right after ending her workout. Similarly, I did the same thing the day I lost my workout. Sooo...we think we may have solved the mystery. We are not 100% sure, but just in case we are not listening to music right after ever again! haha ;)

Not happy tomorrow is Monday, but pretty happy with the way my week ended in terms of my running. It was actually a very good week all around :)

Hoping everyone enjoyed the weekend!!!. I leave you with some pictures of the little one, the Chepster! (look at those perfectly trimmed eyebrows and beard!)

Tiger Woods is my friend!

He did scare the heck out of me today...but still, he is my friend!. My friend Emy (the one that got me into this running 'thing') warned me about him...but I forgot!. Every time you finish a run, the lady on the Nike+Ipod gives you a summary of your workout (distance, time, pace and calories). Once in a while, when you reach certain new goals, the Nike+Ipod "talks" to you after this summary...but it's not the same lady...instead you get a known athlete talking to you to congratulate you. I knew this, but I forgot about it completely.

Then today it happened. Tiger Woods. He talked to me!!!!!!. I set out to run my 3.75 miles today. I took a different route and my new loop ended up being a bit too long so I decided to just keep at it (it would have taken me too long to walk back home!!). So I reached a new goal and ran 4.3 miles! (6.92 km)...not only that but I improved my pace!!...went from 10.20-somethings to 10.3 miles/min!!!!.

Anyway, back to Tiger. So I listened to my Summary and then he starts "Hey!" (he seriously scared the bejesus out of me!!).."This is Tiger Woods. That was an awesome workout!! you burned some serious calories!"

WOOOOHOOOO!!! I was (am) so excited. I know, I know...it's not that big of a deal...but it is!!..he is after all THE Tiger!.

Just needed to get that out of my system. Back to watch the Presidential debate with THE Husband.

Andreina

Note: Check out the new recipe below!!!

Back Home!

It was a long week (out travelling for work!)...but I'm back!. It feels good to be home, I feel like I have been gone for ages and it was only 5 days!.

I did manage to squeeze one run while out there (a short one -2.7 miles-, but I still get an A for effort! ;)). So today when I finally got back (after waking up at 5am and taking a connecting flight)..I actually put my running shoes on and got out there!.

I am not going to lie...it was HORRIBLE. For a short moment I thought I was going to pass out and wondered what the heck I was thinking when I thought it was a good idea to run after the day (and week) I had!.... I think I was dehydrated from the plane (and also because I had been in the desert for a few days!)...so I was a little slower than I was on Monday. I ran 3.75 miles (about 6 km) in a little over 39 minutes...the same distance took me 38 minutes on Monday...you are probably thinking...who cares!...that's just one minute. I care, my Nikeplus thingy tells me my pace and I should be getting better, not worse...lol. Right now I average about 10.25 miles/minute. When I told my dad he said that was horrible...but of course that's coming from the guy that successfully finished full marathons all over the world!. I do plan on working on the speed, just not quite yet. I want to give myself a month of just getting my body used to this running thing. I am hoping by 12/20 (the 10k!) I am running steady at 10 miles/min. Yeah dad, I know..that's still pretty slow and you can probably do that on a brisk walk!! but let's take baby steps ;) hehe

This Sunday is the Walk for the Down Syndrome Association of Miami. I am so excited to meet up with my old friend and meet her beautiful son!!!. You can still sign up and join us!!! (you can even register that same day) Let me know if you would like to come!...we will be there at around 8am and the more the merrier!! (I'm bringing my sister and nephews along!).

You can also just donate (I know times are tough, but even the smallest contributions count!). Join me in supporting Niko :))

http://www.firstgiving.com/teamniko2008

Off to bed!