Food and Workout Log

Workout: Track work. I met with a new group this morning. I had so much fun. I feel like a rockstar!! I sort of just showed up. Now, I have tried to join running groups before on track days and always ended up more discouraged than inspired. I was only slightly afraid that this would happen, so I showed up anyway. I need to find a group to run with. What could it hurt anyway? I also need the work. I was lost a bit when trying to find the location but thankfully a good person pointed me in the right direction. I found the group. They were all standing in the dark on a track. I couldn't really make out any faces, but approached anyway. Brave soldier, I know, I didn't really know what I was walking into. So I ask if they were part of the group and they all answered with a response like "yeah, who are you?"I told them who I was, am, and that I might be interested in joining the group. They all just laughed and said, "All you have to do is show up and you are part of the group." So I smiled back and said okay. A women off to the side said I just got here too, I will warm up with you. And just like that I found myself "part of the group". No one left me, some despite their own pace hung with me just to get to know me. Some are marathoners, some just like the work, some are 5k 'ers. It was a mix of people. I completed the warm up (a slow easy 800) and waited to see what's next. I figured I would just do what ever they were doing. I quickly found out that they were all doing different things ranging from 400's to 1 mile repeats. I knew for sure that a 1 mile repeat was not going to be an appropriate choice. I am just not there yet. A 400 seemed like the wiser choice, after all it hasn't hardly been 2 weeks yet since completing the race in Chicago. I did my first 400 in 1:53. I am thinking to myself, this is too easy. So we milled about trying to recover and then got ready for the next one. They like to ask everyone what distance they are doing, so when it came to me, I quickly shouted out 800. I didn't even give it a thought. Immediately I began questioning myself. What was I thinking? I don't like sprints and I am not even sure if I can run an 800 without crapping out before finishing. I had my MP3 player on so I could not hear everything that was being said. I sort of like to tune out life when I am running. It is my time to escape. But I heard mumbling and just like that everyone took off. Before even realizing what was happening I was behind. Oops. Here is a bit of history about me: I am a volleyball player, that is what I did in high school and part of college. I have never run track or been competitive in track. This sort of training is somewhat foreign to me. Some of the women in the group, actually almost all of the other women, were faster than me despite my starting behind everyone. I made every effort to hang with them, but they were just much faster than me. The second time around, I turned my music off to hear what they were saying. We all lined up again and announced our sprint of choice. We are all standing there hands on our watches and leaning forward like we are at the beginning of a major race. It was probably pretty funny looking. I heard someone say: 5, 4, 3, 2, go and we all took off. I started with them and lagged behind quickly, again despite my efforts. The second time around I noticed that my legs are tired and my lungs kind of hurt. I just kept chasing after everyone in front of me. I can hear the women in front of me cheering me and each other on. I think, wow this is really cool. I don't think I have heard that before. In races, I usually see my husband cheering me on then I run up to him and we chat for a brief moment, but this was different. I found it extremely motivating. These people whom I had just met are cheering me on by name. Cool!! I check my time as I finish: 4:04!! What??? Can't be?? How?? Not sure. So I am milling about trying to catch my breath and eating a Glucerna bar, remember the Blood Sugar thing. I feel great, other than breathlessness I am fine. No dizziness, no drunk feelings. We line up for the 3 time around (my 2nd 800) and again announced our sprint of choice and took off. I think announcing what distance you are running is kind of funny, but it is accountability at its finest. I push myself through my 2nd 800, and check my watch after finishing: 4:05!! OH MY GOSH!!! What??? Two times in a row?? Holy smokes, this is cool!! Again with the wandering around and eating the Glucerna bar. At this point my legs are tired. I am beginning to think I am finish when someone walked up and said, how many more are you going to do? I answered, "don't know, how many more is everyone else running?" She rattled off "oh I think so and so is going to do a few more, do you want to stay?" I said sure, but I am not sure how many more I can do. I am game for 1 more. So we lined up again, made our announcements and took off. My legs felt like molasses. I am definitely slowing down. I thought, I made for 2 800's, that is 2 more than expected I can slow down and finish knowing that I worked really hard. So I stopped chasing everyone and just ran. I finished and checked my watch: 4:05!! I am in total shock. I am so pumped!! I walk off the fatigue and another lady said "another?" and I quickly said I don't think so, I am tired. 3 is good for me for right now. So she said, if you watch and cheer for me for one more, I will do a cool down with you. I am thinking cool down? I never really cool down. So I said okay. I cheered her on and she was like "I need someone like you to cheer for me more often, it really helped. Thank you." I failed to tell anyone that coaching is second nature to me. I love to give encouragement in any way I can. We cooled down (easy 800) and chatted some more. I hope to be able to run with them again. I had a great time!! I did not have any dizziness or disorientation at all through the whole thing!! Yay!! I think munching on a Glucerna bar throughout the workout was great!! I also took about a teaspoon of Glutemine (protein supplement). When getting in the car I drank a Glucerna shake. I was shakey, but not dizzy so I wondered if it would help. It did. I still need to check my Blood Sugar levels, but this was a breakthrough. I felt great. I am recovered already. I don't think I need to run anymore today, but I am not exhausted.
Workout:
Muscle Fuel, Glutamine (before workout), Glucerna Bar, Glucerna Shake
Breakfast:
Organic Brown rice cake, Mango Honey (less than a teaspoon spread on rice cake), 1/2 cup fresh pineapple, 1/4 cup red grapes, 8.45 oz Fresh Squeezed Tropical Fruit Juice
Lunch:
Left over Pork roast with veggies, 2 fun size Snicker bars
Snack:
Protein shake, banana
Dinner:
Chicken Ceaser Salad