I think I broke it.

So two days ago I was planning on running three 10-min miles on the treadmill, and all was going well until I hit 2 miles, and the treadmill tried to kill me. Basically, it was like every step I took retracted the belt in the opposite direction it goes, while making this terrible sound. So. Two miles it was.

Yesterday: ran one tempo lap around the loop and it was cold and windy in my ears. I have this thing where even if its not that cold, the inside of my ears start aching. I don't get it, but it painful and uncomfortable. Anyways, it was a good run.

Today: ~3 miles on the path/trail behind our apartment in what I'm guess was maybe 31-33 minutes. It felt good.

Tomorrow: I'm not sure. I have a doctor appointment early, so I might just take tomorrow off.

PROBLEM: I EAT EVERYTHING IN SIGHT AND CRAVE UNHEALTHY FOOD ALLLLL THE TIME. This is something I really need to rectify. Starting now. Ok? Yes. Ok.

Love,
Emme

PS Claire just ordered the cutest little mp3 player ever...hopefully she'll chime in and post a link!

Sad but True

Today I learned that it will probably be ANOTHER 2 weeks before my toe is ok.

LAME!!

Today I did go on a leisurely walk around the circle. It took about 30 min, including a couple breaks to let my kid push the stroller when he wanted. The main reason we went is that it is so GORGEOUS outside! Yay fall!

The treadmill flipped out on Emme today so we may be in the market for a new one. Sad day.

My toe needs to hurry up and heal so I can get back on track! I was inspired to run today but a) no one was home to watch my kid and b) my toe is still broken.

On the bright side, the weather is beautiful and October is coming. Yay.

Weekend Yo.

So, the weekend's over, and I didn't do especially well. But on Saturday I did manage to exercise for an hour, which was the plan. I ran around the loop and once and headed for the running path behind near our house. i think I ran about 2 miles, walked some, then ran/walked another mile or so until i got to some hills. I would jog down the hill, sprint up the hill, then walk to the next one. Afterwards I jogged to cool down, and it all added up to about an hour. I was pleased. It was a good workout but I didn't over-do it at all.

Today I didn't run in the morning, but Will (boyfriend) and I went on a short but fast hike through the woods, and his legs are really long so I really had to work to keep up with him. It was nice to have an alternative work out, though!

Tomorrow: 3 miles in 30 min. Yep. Its happening. Or at least 30:30. Just less than 31, ok??

I made this delicious potato soup tonight! One of my friends shared the recipe with me: throw some potatoes, cauliflower, and onion together in a big pot, cover the veggies with water, and boil for 20-30 minutes. Then mash them up or put the soup in a blender and voila! I added some yummy things to make it less healthy: some light sour cream, butter, garlic powder, basil, salt and pepper, and bacon bits. SO GOOD! Plus its a fairly cheap/healthy meal the comes out with lots of left overs.

Love,
Emme

3 miles down!

So today, I feel very accomplished because...my goal was to run 3 miles and i DID! I went with the treadmill today, which I'm starting to like better but don't want to like it better. I ran at 6mph for the first two miles, and then on the third mile i toggled between 5mph and 6mph, and my total time was 31:45, which is ok with me!

Tomorrow is Saturday...haven't decided what I want to do to make my workout extra hard. Maybe some sprints. I want to exercise for an hour, at least.

Here's another exciting thing I did today: made goal charts for me and claire! I made it on powerpoint, and I don't really know how to attach it to a blog post or else I would put it up here to show. Maybe once I figure it out you can see.

Love,
Emme

A Day Off

Yesterday: 2.5 mile run on the treadmill, went really well and i definitely booked it at the end. The thing is about the treadmill -- i sweat like 8 times as much as when I run outside. I guess because there's no air flow or wind maybe. Nasty.

Today: My first day off in about 2 weeks! I still did my daily squats, lunges, sets of situps, butt lifts, and arm exercises. But no running today. Tomorrow, I'm going to go for 3 full miles, whether outside (3x around the loop) or inside on the treadmill. Its been raining alot soooo we'll see.

Race update: I'm not running this weekend in a race, but Claire definitely found one that is coming up in November for a 5k! So we are signing up for that asap! Its totally do-able. There is a 10k the first week of December that I'm contemplating. I can do 6 miles by December, right?? Right. :)

Love,
Emme

PS make me eat better.

Why is my toe taking so long to heal?

As Emme mentioned, we played tennis this past weekend. It killed my toe, but it felt good to do something besides sit on my butt.

Monday I went on a walk around the circle, but it took me 25 minutes to get around the whole thing.

My toe needs to heal so I can get out and run!

Good run today!

SO today I didn't go any further than I've gone -- twice around the loop -- but I went at a faster pace, mostly due to my running playlist I had forgotten about and the fact that there were a million people waiting for buses around the entire loop and I didn't want to linger by them.

Here are some of my favorites from my running playlist:

Forver - Chris Brown
Honey - The Hush Sound
Break the Ice - Britney Spears
Woman - Wolfmother
Stranger - Hilary Duff
One More Round - BarlowGirl
Check Yes Juliet - We the Kings
Hips Don't Lie - Shakira
Clumsy - Fergie
Psalm 73 (My God's Enough) - BarlowGirl
Dead Serious - ZOEgirl
Middle of the Night - Sherwood
Little Bitty Pretty One - Bobby Darin
U & Ur Hand - Pink

:)

Love,
Emme

Temporarily distracted/race??

Sooo this weekend claire and i played a little tennis- which was my passion in high school but which I am not actually that good at anymore (after not playing for 2.5 years..who would have thought.). Yesterday I ran two miles on the treadmill, which is good. But i felt like all weekend i was completely FULL of unhealthy food. This morning's run wasn't great...my legs got sore and I didn't quite make it the full 2 loops without walking for a bit, but i ran after walking. So this week I need to step it up and get out of my rut!

Here's something..my school is participating in a race to raise money for cancer research this weekend. Its a 5k (~3 miles) and it would be just for fun. I still haven't decided if I'm going to run or not, but I'm leaning towards yes! We'll see.

Thats all for now.
Love,
Emme

Fail.

I just got back from my run, which was supposed to be a faster-paced mile. I was aiming for about 8 minutes. But, from the very beginning I took off way too fast, like at a 6-min mile pace rather than 8, and I got way tired really fast and had to walk...3 times :( Finally, at about 300 m to go I'd say, I found the right pace, and it felt good, and I did kick it in at the end, but my time for ~1.2 miles was 10.22 minutes, which is a bit less than 9 minutes/mile. Boo. Plus my blister is hurting me a lot! Bad day for a jog, but hopefully those spurts of high-cardio exercise has primed my mind for my exam in 4 hours!

Tomorrow: long run/walk. I want to run 2 loops, then walk/run for about 45 minutes after that.

Love,
Emme

Marathon Guide

So while I am out of commission due to my stupid toe, I looked over a marathon guide that Emme had from a Fitness magazine.

It is a chart on how to train for a half-marathon in 8 weeks, starting as a beginner (meaning you currently run less than 15 miles a week or not at all). Since we are giving ourselves months instead of weeks, I am not too convinced with this guide. However, it might be a good benchmarking guide as we set goals for ourselves.

Instead of doing the week-to-week training, I think Emme and I should strive for meeting each goal every three weeks. Of course, Emme is already ahead of schedule, and we can't let it keep us from reaching higher. I am going to have to catch up as soon as I can walk comfortably again.

At the bottom of the page, there are running shorts, shoes, and shirts...I kinda want to get all of them, but I think for now I am going to work on getting running shoes and shorts.

Emme and I can go shoe shopping together :)

Let's hope I am back up and running (haha) soon!

~Claire

First Goal: CHECK!

So today (thursday, not saturday) I ran the full two laps! YES! I ran it in about 23 minutes, so it comes down to just over 9 1/2 minutes per mile, if my calculations are correct. Which is better than I thought I was doing! So tomorrow I have a big test, and I'm going to try to run just one lap around the loop in 8 minutes. We'll see if I can!

Sad news: My feet are telling me its time for new running shoes. I've got a big nasty blister on the arch of my left foot, I guess where the insole is rubbing it. I like my shoes though! I have had them for over a year though...I guess its time.

Love,
Emme

Updates

So this morning I did pretty good, about 1.5 around the loop! Tomorrow hopefully I'll go 1.75 and then two laps by saturday! woot!

I ate a looot of food today I feel like. Tonight I made stroganoff hamburger helper + mashed potatoes + cinnamon apples, and it was all really very tasty, but woah, i ate a lot of it. Unlike Claire's 2-year-old, who I was babysitting, and who ate....a few pieces of apple. Maybe I should take some tips from him??

I talked to one of my friends who is a marathon/half runner, asking her for some tips, and it was enlightening. She gave me some good tips like:
-Stick to a training plan
-Check out Runner's World magazine's website
-Eat/drink the same thing on race day as you do everyday

I can't wait until I can actually run and run and run without getting tired!

Love,
Emme

New Goal: 2x around the Loop

Today I was really not motivated at all to run and it was really gloomy and a bit chilly outside, but once I started I was totally feeling it and I ran once around the loop and then some, turn around and walked a bit then kicked it in for the home stretch (which is only like 100m but still)! So my goal is that by the end of this week i will be able to run two times around the loop without stopping to walk. If I can accomplish that, next week I will focus on gaining speed and getting my speed up to 9 min miles (I know, that sounds kind of pathetic).

Remember that donut that I bought and was so proud that I didn't eat? Well stupid Will (my boyfriend and Claire's brother) never took it home! And it was just sitting here....so Claire and I split it last night (bad girls). It wasn't even that good. :( Today my eating schedule is going to be off again because I have no time to eat from 1:30 until 9:30...we'll see how that goes.

Love,
Emme

Holding Steady

This morning I didn't push it much and ran the same length as I ran yesterday: once around the loop. It felt pretty good, as if I could keep going, but unfortunately I didn't actually have the time for it.

Today my eating habits were a little weird...breakfast at 8 am, lunch at 3, "dinner" at 8 pm. Its hard because my class schedule is 12-3, so before class I'm not really hungry for lunch, and after class its so close to dinner that I don't want to eat, but I'm sooo hungry. I haven't really figured out the best plan of action in that regard.

Anyways, I'm going to run more than just once around the circle tomorrow hopefully, aiming for 1.5 laps!

Love,
Emme

P.S. Isn't that bad luck for Claire? Her toe keeps getting more puffy and more purple...yikes :(

Off Track...but only Temporarily!!

So I went to the doctor who sent me to get an x-ray technician who then sent me back to the doctor, and I have a broken toe. Can you see the crack? It's right by the yellow dot, on the second toe from the right. The other picture is my poor swollen bruised toe that has to be taped to my other toe.

I am supposed to leave it alone and try to stay off it for a couple weeks (!!!). I tried to put on tennis shoes to see if I could at least go on a walk, but that didn't work out. I am gonna try every day though until it starts feeling better so I don't lose too much time!!

On the bright side, today after I ate my leftover spaghetti I had a hankerin' for some chips and dip. BUT, instead of getting those out, I sliced an apple and ate that instead. It was yummy and it made me feel full, and therefore I no longer wanted the chips. Good choice, self.

I hope Emme had a better day than I did!

~Claire

Sad day for Claire's toe.

So my toe is still killing me, and I don't even think I can go on a short walk today. I am going to the doctor in a bit, and hopefully that'll help...for now, though, I am just going to try to eat well today and maybe do some crunches and stuff!

No toe is going to slow me down! Unless this stupid thing doesn't heal this week, I'm still going for my goal to run 1 full circle on Saturday!

~Claire

I didnt do as well today :(

So Emme's turkey meatballs were AMAZING. Yum.

I went around the circle but I was out of breathe faster than yesterday, so I walked a lot more :( but I am still on for my goal of 1 full circle (1.3 miles) by next Saturday.

Also, this evening I managed to jam my toe into a door frame...and I can barely walk...so hopefully I will be all better tomorrow and I can at least take a good walk!!!

Let's hope for a better day tomorrow!

~Claire

1 down...12 to go!

Today I made it all the way around the loop (~1.3 miles)! And then I went and did some sprint intervals too, because its the weekend and I have time. My legs are beginning to feel it, too!

Tonight I'm going to attempt to make spaghetti and meatballs...the sauce is premade but I'm using this recipe to make the meatballs (except with ground turkey instead of ground chicken). Hopefully they will turn out really well and be tasty and healthy! I'm using sauce from Trader Joe's (i love that place) that is just "Tomato Basil Marinara" sauce. I might pick up some diced tomatoes to make the sauce chunky...I like chunky sauce :)

Thats all for today! Claire will probably let you know how the spaghetti turns out later tonight!

Love,
Emme

Better than I thought :)

Today Emme rollerbladed by me as I ran around most of the circle. That's right. I ran more than half way around, and then instead of walking the whole way home I tried to run for a little bit more (although that really didn't last all that long, and Emme then proceeded to make fun of my weak sprint at the end).

I am pretty proud of myself. And I tried to eat well today, which was made easy by Emme who made an amazing salad, but then I kinda ruined it by eating a lot of cheez-its. I need to put a portion in a bowl and only eat that next time.

Basically, today's run gave me faith that if I keep this up, by May I really will be able to run a half-marathon. Yay!

~Claire

Feelin good!

So today I was late for work. And thus did not run in the morning, instead ran at about 2:00 p.m., aka the hottest time of the day. Heat always makes running less enjoyable. Anyways, I ran almost the whole circle, and then walked home. But after I got home, I was feeling kind of rejuvenated and motivated, so I hiked up to the exercise path that is conveniently located right behind our apartment. On the path I did a couple sets of sprint/jog/walk intervals, and then jogged a little bit more and walked home. So...now I'm pretty exhausted! And later I'm going to roller blade alongside Claire as she takes her run after her lame weekend class gets over.

*Brownie Points for Me Today**: At work, I went to the grocery store next door to pick up some breakfast for me and some donuts for my boss. Soo..I was planning on getting a banana and some milk, but the bananas were all nasty green, so I headed for the donuts while I decided what to get. I totally caved at the sight/smell of the donuts and picked one up for me too, but also got some milk and mini-muffins (which aren't THAT healthy but hey, they've got blueberries, right?). When I got back to work, I ate the muffins and re-assessed my situation, and I have yet to eat that donut. I think I will head over to my boyfriend's house and pawn it off on him!

Love,
Emme

Day 2-Claire

So yesterday I ran with Emme (she did much better than I did, and I slowed her down quite a bit) around the circle. Today I took an hour-long walk with my kid, and I tried to keep a brisk pace the entire time. I also tried to jog for a little bit, but the stroller did not like that very much.

I am sore beyond belief. I am feeling muscles I have never felt before. But while it hurts, I am still motivated because if I keep this up, it will be less painful!

Current Goal:run around the entire circle (a little over a mile) on September 19 without taking walk breaks.

Emme and I are going to run the circle again tomorrow, so we'll see how far I can go!

:)

~Claire

Getting into the Swing of Things [[Emme]]

I've run every morning for the past 4 days, and today I think its catching up to me. My body felt tired and my legs were heavy, and my run was just overall not that great. I'm not sure why this happens to me sometimes..it sucks! We have this "loop" near our apartment that is 1.3 miles, and I'm working on running that at a decent pace without having to stop to walk. Seems like an easy goal...and it should be but I'm really out of shape, ok?? Anyways, hopefully I will be able to finish the loop pretty soon and move on to running twice around the loop. My goal for the end of next week is 1.5 times around the loop without stopping...hold me to it!

Love,
Emme

Claire 101

Hi! I'm Claire. As Emme mentioned already, we are roommates who want to get into shape.

I have never been in shape. I have been overweight ever since I can remember. I had a baby a couple years ago and I gained about 40 lbs...and it's still here.

About me:
Name: Claire
Age: 23
Height: 5'10'
Weight: 220 :(

My Goals:
-Lose 60 lbs
-Eat healthier
-Exercise Regularly
-Run a half marathon!

I would really like to be able to have clothes that look good on me, which doesn't really happen ever because I am so overweight. Also, running a half marathon will pretty much be my biggest accomplishment ever because I will have to work so hard to get there.

Now, I'd better get to work! Wish us luck!

Claire

Emme's Hello

Hi!

My name is Emmeline, but I go by Emme for short. My roommate Claire and I got this idea: to start running and eating well to get in shape for a HALF MARATHON in the spring! So we are starting this blog to keep us on track.

A little about me:
-Name: Emme
-Age: 20
-Height: 5'10
-Weight: 145-ish

My goals:
-Ultimately: Be able to run 13 miles for a half marathon in April
-Tone my legs and butt
-Lose ten pounds
-Develop much healthier eating habits

I've been in shape before; I was an athlete in high school. But during the past couple years, my muscle has turned to fat and I let myself get rather out of shape. I'm hoping this year I will get in shape and stay in shape for years to come!

Love,
Emme