Week 2's Run #2

Go me! I just completed my second run of week 2. This will probably be the last one of this week because I check out of the hotel tomorrow morning and won't have access to a gym till next Monday (no, I don't want to run on the streets of Taipei).

This second run was done correctly. I put my math skills to use and calculated according to the "plan" I am to walk/run 0.8km, run 0.4km and walk 90 seconds (repeat 7 times), then finish with a walk/run of 0.8km. This time around, I was about done during my first 0.4km run but it became a game of mind vs. body. I convinced myself to keep going by shifiting my focus away from what I was doing. Instead of my usual "what am I doing here!?" way of thinking, I focused on breathing and relaxing my shoulders. I suppose watching TV helps but why do they put that thing so high up that my neck hurts after 5 minutes? Next thing you know, I'm on the 5th set thinking I have to finish so I can blog/talk about it. I do worry about falling off the treadmill when I'm not paying attention.

Today's run/walk was 6.1km or 3.66m in 45 minutes including approximately 10.5 min of walking time in there (90sec * 7), wam up 0.8km run/walk and the cool down 0.8km.

Week 2 to 5K

Congratulations to myself for entering week 2! I ran my first run this week per the following:

1/4 walk
1/4 run
90 seconds walk*
1/4 run*
*repeat 7 times
1/4 run
1/4 walk

I grabbed the above plan from the Shape mag "5 Weeks to a 5K" mentioned in my previous post, the measurement above was for miles but I misread and ran kilometers instead. According to my calculations, I ran just 1.7 miles and walked 1.4 miles to come a total walk/run of 3.1 miles. At least this walk/run of 5K or 3.1 miles is faster than my last one, it was completed in 45 minutes!

While 45 minutes seems lame, I'll tell you this is a lot more running than I ever did in one setting before. I used to only be able to run one mile and never ventured out of that comfort zone. Having a "plan" made a dramatic difference as I am able to count down the sets. I was about done after my second set of 1/4k run but I kept going, telling myself "5 more to go," "4 more to go," "3 more to go," "2 more," "LAST ONE!" Also, my pride got in the way because I really wanted to finish it so I can blog about it. =P

Since I'm a loser and misread miles for kilometers, I feel I inadvertently cheated. Therefore, my next run will be the same but actually in miles!

Running, or trying to

I ran my first race on September 21, 2011. It was the 3.5miles JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in San Francisco. We started at 7pm from the AT&T park around this huge lot behind the new UCSF building. I always wanted to run around SF like the many others I see when I drive by, especially when the roads are blocked off all to myself. But boy was I embarrassed. Not only was I out of breath, I was the most physically out of shape person in all the participants from my firm. You can never tell of course; people thought I was joking when I was preparing for the race that I just ran a 20 minute mile last night. I would probably be faster if I walked. Then again I tend to walk slow, more of a strolling pace than a brisk walk required by cardio workouts. God I hate to sweat. There was a moment though, when I sprint through the finish lines hearing all the people I don't know cheering for me. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's cheesy as hell there are people saying "good job!" to a not-overweight 27 year old that just finished huffing and puffing a 58 minute 3.5 miles walk sprinkled with light jog, it did feel pretty good.

A number of reason could have caused my "I'm-an-angry-fat-lady-on-the-inside" problem such as excessive work hours, increased stress, lack of excersize, eating lots of snacks, was a smoker for approxmiately 6 years, etc.  While the weight gain is an issue worthy of another posting in itself, the overall decrease in my "healthy-feeling," i.e. strength and energy level, or worst of all, body shape, is enough cause for any non-doctor's concern. That's right, you don't have to be a doctor to tell that I'm snowballing towards my sad ugly death that is, hopefully, at least 50 years away.

With that said and my clothes all feeling too tight, I have a goals in mind.

GOAL: Start Running (and blogging about it)

I avoided running for years because I always had pain in my knee caused by a horrible cross country coach when I was in 6th grade. This is until my husband the Chiropractor/PT told me to strengthen my leg muscle all together. I followed instructions and started working out non-running style. Work got in the way and I got lazy so that all stopped until the JPMorgan run. With that pathetic experience explained above, I am now going to start the Couch-to-5K plan. Very sad I didn't hear about this before the JPMorgan run but never too late. Hopefully next year I can run the whole 3.5miles at JPMorgan.

Another reason is also reading the entire October 2011 issue of Shape on the plane to Asia and seeing Olivia Munn on there. What the heck, that could of been me. There is also another cool 5 week to 5K plan on pg 159 which have more cross training plans than the couch-to-5K. At this point, any motivation helps so I will use them both as a guide and find my own 5 week to 5K plan.

Another thing I want to committ to start is running trails. There are so many of them in the SF Bay Area, I never realized I was missing out for the past 8 years until it hit me recently (must be the hormones talking) when my avid runner coworker showed me a picture from her run at Outer Richmond's Lands End Trail (or Yelp here) where you are high up with a great view of the SF Bay. So here I am, trail maps in hand. Hopefully my next blog will be about my run at Cave Rock Loop - an unexciting run in the Milpitas/Sunol area that I will start my trail running life with because of its proximity to my house and the short distance. =)

Suze Orman is Crazy

I don't buy it, I'm watching her show on public television and she is asking people to buy a $250 package that suppose to save your life.

On top of that, what I don't agree with is the 20% down for a house and an 8 month emergency fund. It sounds all nice and dandy but WHO in the SF bay area have a $40~80K downpayment (and that's for a $200~$400K POS of a 1~2 bdrm condo) and a $20K emergency fund AND didn't get it from their parents? I've only been working for a few years, contributing max of my employer's 401K match as well as automatic deposit to my saving each month, yet I just don't see myself achieving that for at least another 4 years.

Oh Suze, tell me something I don't know.

Random 12:38am Rant

I just thought of a great slogan and book title

It's after midnight, do you know where your auditor is?

or, for the book I will one day write:

Your Coworkers Are Not Your Friends by Amy Lee

Need I tell you my mood?

Cheers!

I'm so lazy

So I've been sitting on my ass for days now, doing practically nothing but the occasional cooking and daily workouts. At least I'm fulfilling my new year's resolution, which is to take care of ME, but I'm really letting things go in terms of work and cleaning the house, etc. All my coworkers have cleaners, wtf is that? we're not banking at this job so I don't understand why they feel perfectly fine paying some stranger to come in for $120 and dust. I mean, is it that hard to get on your knees and scrub the toilet once in a while?

I made a video blog the other day for my dear friend Kelly, documenting me opening her LOVE PACKAGE!! Oh that sounds bad, it's a package sent from her, to me, via USPS containing items such as makeup and cleanser, etc. Anyways, after this experience, I just want to give a shout out to the Vloggers out there, they are GOOD. It is super hard to make a video and look good, have the right lighing, hair, makeup and clothes, etc. I looked like sh*t in mine. HAHAHA. I told K is her HER EYES ONLY, let hope it gets brushed under the carpet.

Credit Score

Ok, a few years ago I would never thought I'd be writing a post titled "Credit Score", but I want to explain why it's important to keep an eye on it.

Being in the accounting industry, I see numbers all day long and most of the time it's in the millions. Obviously I am not there yet (one day I will, believe it), I have taken steps here and there to ensure that I will get a taste of all the zeros one day in the event I don't die a sudden, unexpected death. Yes we cannot save 100% of our paychecks or even 10% in my case, but we can all be concious in our decisions everyday to better our credit scores.

During my drunken college years I didn't get raped or knocked up, however, I did manage to skip just one Verizon payment for one too many months and that has lived with me every single day till now. That shit stays on there for 7 years! Think about it, I can't get the top rate for my car loan because I put off one bill one summer between moving and traveling and now it's costing me thousands more in interest cost. Who knew it was going to be fucking with me for so long? It is the reason why I am no longer with Verizon because I refuse to give them business after they burned me bad and will continue to do so for years.

Anyways, moral of the story, I've been keeping my eye on it by checking my score approximately once every 3~5 months. It is so satisfying seeing the scores creep up each time. It's amazing how much can change in two years! If you haven't started already, I strongly encourage you take a look and start doing something about it. By the way, all the websites offer free scores by signing up with certain services... DON'T FALL FOR IT! I did once years ago and it was so annoying to cancel AND after I canceled it they still charged me. It took so much time and many phone calls, it's just not worth it. I now pay my little $12~$15 bucks to check the score and believe it's worth every penny!

Another tip, I just check the Experian because that's the strictest one and what the credit unions use. You two other scores, Transunion and Equifax is likely to be higher. It may be different for you, so for the first time just look at all three to gauge what they look at and go from there.