Instead Softcup Challenge - The Jogging Jawa Review (and a giveaway!)

For those of you with more delicate sensibilities - menstruation talk ahoy!

I signed up for the Instead Softcup Challenge through For the Love of the Run in October and I have certainly had more than enough time to test it out - so here's my loooooong overdue review.

I think I managed to keep it on the low-squick factor side of things so don't be too scared about encountering horrifying levels of personal detail.

Bloom County by Berkley Breathed
Img via http://www.thecomicstrips.com/subject/The-Female-Comic-Strips-by-Bloom+County.php

As much as procrastination figured in, I'm actually pretty glad of the extra time I have taken to write this because I think after one or two months I would not have given it the same review I'm giving it now. I've been using Insteads on and off for the last six months and I think I've got a pretty good handle on their place in my monthly repertoire.


This was actually not my first time trying Instead Softcups. Way back lo these many years ago in the olden days I like to call "college" I learned that there were environmentally and body friendly alternatives to the usual cloth/paper based disposable feminine products and started researching which would be the best for me. I considered the mass market menstruation products available extremely uncomfortable and wasteful (not to mention of dubious health benefit), so finding that there were alternatives out there opened up a whole new world for me.

I was pretty sure I wanted to get a product called the Diva Cup because it has low environmental impact and unlike some other reusable cups it is silicone (and hence sterilize-able) but at that time a $30+ investment was a rather a big hit to my miniscule college student-type bank account for a completely outre left-field totally weird hippie granola thing.

img via http://www.yumyucky.com/2009/10/healthy-hippie-natural-food-store.html

If I remember correctly Instead Softcups were a fairly new item at the time, and were being talked up on various message boards as a good test run product if you were looking to get a reusable cup but were not sure. It doesn't require a big initial investment to try it out so I figured I'd give it a shot. I got a sample package and tried it out for a couple of months. While I found it a bit too uncomfortable (and disposable) to be my first choice product at the time, it did give me the practice and confidence necessary to believe that a reusable cup could be the right choice for me.

Shortly thereafter I got my Diva Cup and mostly forgot about Instead Softcups for my purposes, though I did recommend them to other people looking to test out a menstrual cup without the initial investment. They're are definite differences, but it'll give you a good feel for using cups. I've been using my Diva Cup fairly happily since. Menstruation is now MASSIVELY cleaner, cheaper, more comfortable, and far less of a hassle then I could have ever imagined using tampons and disposable pads.

Fast forward to 2012 and my discovery of fitness bloggers (notably including For the Love of the Run).

I saw a few posts about the Softcup Challenge and thought to myself that there probably weren't too many other people doing this from the point of view of a long time dedicated menstrual cup user; so why not sign up?

I received my sample package and while I can't say they will replace my Diva entirely, they have definitely been worth having around. I fully expect I'll keep them available for regular use in the future.

They are apparently more compact this time around and DEFINITELY seem more comfortable then the last time I used them, though admittedly a good part of that may simply be due to increased familiarity with the product type. Either way Insteads have gone from something I can see someone that wasn't me using, to something I found really helpful and plan to use with some regularity.

A big limitation of the reusable Diva cup is that you have to have it on hand. Unless you buy a backup there's only the one available and it has to be properly cleaned, so it's not really the sort of thing you can toss in your pocketbook at the beginning of the week like a tampon and grab it to run to the bathroom just when it's necessary. You also can't take an early lunch break to run out to the nearest drugstore to pick up a nice sanitary individually wrapped Diva Cup if you happen forget it on the day you need it.

There's only so much predicting one can do when it comes to menstruation so having the option of tossing a sealed disposable product in my bag for when I need it has been a GREAT help. This freedom alone has made this whole challenge worth it for me.

If you've ever had the thought that you were literally throwing your money in the garbage for products that leak and chafe and can potentially cause serious illness you may want to think about trying out a menstrual cup.

Instead Softcups are not for those who are ultra squeamish about the functions of the human body, but this is not exactly that crowd. If you can deal with all the sweat, blood, chafing, blisters, trail squatting, and *ahm* potential for stomach upset that goes hand in hand with regular running it follows that most of you are a fairly hearty lot with few illusions about the day to day details of human bodies.

There is a bit of a mess factor but... how to put it nicely... it's a bathroom mess (hence easily cleanable) as opposed to a laundry mess (hence get out the bleach and cross your fingers that your favorite pants/sheets/whatever are salvageable - because you know it's ALWAYS your favorite).

I'm the Jogging Jawa, and I approve of this message. Even though I received this product free of charge, the opinions expressed in this blog are 100% mine. Feel free to ask topical but terribly personal questions in comments. I will try to answer as frankly as I can.

So here's the part where those of you who bothered to read all the way through get to come in.

I coincidentally happened to win a giveaway via From the Love of the Run at the same time that I signed up for the Instead Softcup Challenge so I actually received TWO packages of Instead Softcups.

As much as I'm a little tempted to keep them all for myself it would be pretty unfair of me to hog all the freebees, so anyone who posts to say that they are interested before midnight of June 1 will be entered in a giveaway for a free sample box of Softcups to be chosen in some highly unscientific randomized way. This will most likely involve one of my cats or possibly a dart (but not both - my cats are stabby enough all on their own thank you).

Gentlemen this includes you too, but I'll leave it to you to figure out what to do with them or how to explain them to whoever you pass them along to.

img via: http://www.spabeautyschools.com/blog/mens-holiday-gift-guide/

Evidence of Liking my Facebook and/or pimping the blog may get you extra chances/brownie points/ and maybe a sparkly sticker or two if you're the winner.

Bloggerfail!

Okay, so I have totally been a piss poor excuse for a fitness blogger for the last month and a half, and while I can't say I have any good excuses I will say I have some contributing factors I'd like to put on the table and hopefully you'll forgive me.

img via http://www.myconfinedspace.com/2010/09/16/sad-puppy-wallpaper/sad-puppy-wallpaper-2/

As I mentioned in my last post oh these many moons ago I got a Kindle (Fire) and as a result I've literally read more books in the last two and a half months than I had in the previous two and a half years. So that was totally cool for my brains, but not so good for sitting down for hours at a time at a computer.

I also started busy season at work - I work for a company which deals heavily with schools and the ends of the semesters are astoundingly busy, so I've been trying really hard to keep my daytime internet abuse down. Blogging takes a bit more attention than I can reasonably divert during billable hours and still look my boss in the eye.

Here is a barely relevant photo of David Bowie. You're welcome.
Img via http://www.mademan.com/how-to-look-busy-at-work-without-actually-doing-anything/3/

Mainly I've been distracted by some personal stuff that came up in late February/early April and have been TERRIBLE about regular exercise and I am FEELING IT. My legs are doing okay but for the last month or so I've been running at most once a week. Because of this I'm running out of gas or severely side stitching and walking it in after two miles and that needs to stop.

Clearly I cannot be trusted to keep up consistently without some sort of training program so I think I'm going to have to figure out a new goal to commit myself to. I do want to start hitting the ZombiesRun! app and I may repeat some of the 5k to10k weeks just to work back up to some distance. I think it's time to start looking at some half marathon programs as well.

The really good news on the overall fitness front is that I have a new source of motivation and as a result I am going to have to *finally* take up some sort of that long needed cross training. As much as I DO enjoy it, running is only going to do so much toward giving me wedding-dress-ready shoulders.

Pro tip: don't announce your engagement on April Fools Day - It takes a good week before anyone will fully believe you

Happily I'm already pretty sanguine with my overall shape and am not worried about having to do any of the "bridal diet"craziness, but I would like my arms and shoulders to look tip-top for the day (which isn't going to be until next fall anyway) so I would like to add some more disciplined yoga and weight practice into the mix.

Fear not, this isn't going to become "Jogging Jawa runs to the Altar", I'm keeping things strictly fitness here. But it happened and I'm pretty excited and it's been eating all of my internet time for a bit and it WILL be shaping my workouts, so I thought I'd let you know what was up.

I do have a few random races already on the docket (see over there on the right!) and Gigi of Running On Candy finally get me on board for the New York State Parks Summer Run Series, though I've apparently missed out on regging some of the races.

So what have y'all been up to?

How fuchsia footie pajamas made me a runner.

I've been feeling a little more off every day for the last couple of weeks.

To be fair there has been a *bit* of stuff going on in the world around me, so at first I passed everything off as temporary reactions to the immediate environmental stresses.

By this past Thursday it became clear that regardless of what was going on my body had just plain settled into full on Bleah! mode; complete with allergies, tiredness, crappy eating, random adrenaline spikes, headaches, and a solid case of the HULK SMASHes.

Only then did it occur to me that I had switched from running three 5ks every week (with all the healthful eating and hydrating that entails) to a single 5k in two weeks, eating absolute junk, living in front of my computer (or my phone when the power was off), and drinking a glass or two of wine every couple of nights... and that maybe this had a little something to do with my general feelings of crappyness too.

I have apparently transitioned into the time of my life that living healthy actually feels better than doing whatever. Weird.

I was already determined to run this weekend because I had signed up for the run4nyc virtual 5k,  but this mood shift made me all the more determined to get out and get moving again.

I don't get a lot of sleep on average during the week so sleeping in and chilling out on weekends is key to my sanity. I recently dug out all of my winter gear so for the first time this year I got to rock out my fave winter PJs while kicking around my apartment.

I have clearly cornered the market on everyday sexy. Hope I don't get any of you in trouble at work with the racy content!

I spent the late morning and early afternoon relaxing in my footies. It was starting to get late and if I wanted to get a run during full daylight I would have to GO.

And so it came time to remove my delicious warm microfleece Muppet pajamas to put a meager few layers of cold flimsy tech fabric between me and the universe. I readied to leave my wonderful boyfriend and snuggly cats behind; to venture out into the cold; to test and exhaust myself on messy dangerous litter strewn roads... and I didn't think twice about a single second of it.

I think it was sometime around when I finished painstakingly weaving and tucking my earphones around and through a carefully crafted bra strap/safety pin maze that I fully recognized the decision I had made, and what that meant to me about who I am now and what I'm about.

Running is just what I do now, I'm a runner. Hunh.

Sure I may be a painfully slow runner all things considered, and apparently I set myself up to suck wind big time by going a week with only one short walk for exercise, (who put all that invisible plastic wrap in my lungs anyway?) but if any of that sort of stuff was going to stop me it probably would have done so months ago, and being able to say that feels pretty darn awesome.

Incidentally: if you're looking for some sexy Muppet footie PJs of your own you can get them here.

My Saturday run: run4nyc virtual 5k - a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks
3.10 miles at an average of 11:34 per mile -  total time of 35:53
Positive splits all around! Not kidding, this one was hard.

So, what are my options for running at this point?

Like it or not road running has officially become a weekend activity. I don't typically get home from work until four thirty, and with daylight savings time it's pretty much dark at five now, so weeknight running is pretty much out until spring. The sun rises at about six forty am this time of year, which is less than a half hour before I already get up to be at work at eight. Given the amount of time it would take me to cool down and shower if I ran in the morning I would still be running in the dark then too (I do have to admit I'm immensely happy that's not a remotely viable option).

I have an extremely generous offer from Gigi of Running On Candy to use her treadmill since she lives very close (and is awesome), but transitioning my entire running workout routine to right in the middle of someone's home seems like it would get intrusive right quick and we Jawas are shy, retiring creatures. I love her for the offer but I think I'd be too mortified to actually make good on it. She does have cats which rival mine in awesomeness, (and she has a whole extra one) but by the same token I see treadmill + amazing cat time rapidly devolving to shenanigans.

I had already been looking into a Retro Fitness extremely close to me and I found out that they are running a cash special Thanksgiving weekend that makes the dues work out to ACTUALLY twenty dollars a month. I had already figured out a few things I could easily cut out of my budget to cover that and then my parents offered to kick in a sizable proportion of the membership as a holiday gift, so I'm pretty much decided.

I plan to do a guest pass one day in the intervening time to check it out (make sure they're not a front for trafficking endangered animals or anything like that) and if it seems worth it I'm going for it!

On the road again

Today was my first run post Sandy.

My last run was the Freaky 5K on Sunday so it's been just about a week. The majority of this time was spent sitting on my butt in my tiny apartment (being very thankful I had that option), checking in on friends and family, checking the latest news, trying to figure out when (and how) to return to work, willing the power to go back on, eating starchy pre-packaged foods, and drinking chardonnay.

There probably have been better fitness routines.

By Wednesday I had gotten pretty antsy but I had no idea of the condition of the local roads so I went on a walk with my boyfriend to check things out. We took a brisk walk through my normal running route to get some air, watch trick-or-treaters, and stop occasionally for pictures.

There was only one really hazardous spot on my normal path but it was a doozy. Even on the clear streets the roads were COVERED in shattered branches and other debris, there were many spots where I would probably have to run down the middle of the road to avoid breaking an ankle. Probably the most concerning thing was how many compromised trees and branches were clearly being held up entirely by power lines.

I would have loved to run Thursday or Friday but by then I was back at work and the traffic generated by the gas shortage meant I was leaving too early and getting home too late to run (especially given much of my neighborhood had no power) so Saturday it was.

I ended up going out in the late afternoon and since the street from the pic above was still blocked off I had to make one major detour, but otherwise my path was open. The ground was shockingly clear and there were very few areas with bad footing. I was also pretty thankful at the relative emptiness of the streets given I was in head to toe dark grey, but I feel bad that that is pretty much directly due to the gas shortages.

At 48° and windy (my clear streets came at a price) it was officially too cold for my tropical genetics. I was EXCEEDINGLY glad for my long sleeve Freaky5K swag shirt, leggings, and fleece vest, and I noticed that I'm no longer particularly bothered by being covered in sweaty clothing, so that's a plus... I guess?

The aim was to take an easy run but I did find myself pushing 10:00 a bit more often than I had wanted. It's getting harder to go as slow as I need to to maintain stamina, anything slower than 10:30 feels a little awkward, like I'm running through molasses. I guess it's more fun to focus on the burning in my lungs than whatever is going on in the rest of my body? The cold was a bit hard on my lungs and I was unexpectedly winded for most of my run, otherwise it felt great to be back out on the road. I was however VERY dizzy during cool-down and for a bit afterward, and it took a long time to warm up.

My Saturday run: a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks and negative splits
3.11 miles at an average of 11:01 per mile -  total time of 34:18, max pace of 5:25 (???)

My Nike+Running app has completely lost it's little mind and somehow added an extra mile in to the first mile of my run.

Click image for the runNYC page

I saw this posted via DailyMile on FB a little while ago and as soon as they get their donation page working I'm signing up for the 5k

Per their page:

What is it?

It's a virtual race for those hit hardest by the hurricane. Choose your distance, decide on a donation amount, and lace up to race Nov 4 through Nov 11! Run loops around your neighborhood, through your city… anywhere you please. 100% of all money collected goes to the American National Red Cross relief fund. We'll have a leaderboard and printable certificates for all finishers!

The perils of popularity

Sorry I skipped a day there, yesterday was my mother's birthday and today was a wine tour bachelorette party for my Boyfriend's Sister so I've been out and about of the majority of the weekend. My running schedule for the coming week looks similarly chaotic between a doctor's appointment, providing immoral support at the salon for a friend, my regular game night, and the wedding.

I'm really hoping to be able to run tomorrow afternoon, but if I do it will be in some random spot (probably my old neighborhood simply because I know the streets) and then almost directly to the ophthalmologist.

I'm banking on the power of my deodorant and a fresh change of clothing since I don't have time to go home between. I won't be able to run Tuesday, Thursday or Friday so I have to take what I can get. Luckily I don't tend to get stinky after that kind of run and I'm hoping a headband will hide any hair issues but I'm sure I'll be mortified the whole time anyway. Worst comes to worst I will think of it as their punishment for making me take the air puff glaucoma test.

My ankle pain has resolved as far as my ankle itself, but the soreness has now moved up into the back of my calf and left it feeling the same kind of sore as when you get for the day after you get one of those charlie horses that hurt so bad they wake you up out of a dead sleep. I'm hoping a night of sleep and some gentle but focused stretching over the course of the day tomorrow will work that out in time.

Have you ever had to own your grossness in public for a while in order to fit a workout into your schedule?

Day 29 Recipe time! Share your favourite fall recipe!

 

Easy choice: Garlic Parmesan roasted pumpkin seeds.

I base my methods on the ones posted at Extreme Pumpkins, but I do the seasoning mix to taste. Usually this involves dumping as much garlic powder, salt, and fresh grated Parmesan cheese in to the mix as I think I can reasonably get away with. I used to do other flavors until I found myself wishing I was eating this one instead.

1. Do a mediocre job of separating the goo and guts from the actual seeds. Don’t rinse them or they won’t taste as good.
2. Add salt to the seeds. I suggest 1 teaspoon for every 2 cups of seeds.
3. Add the melted butter. I use 1 tablespoon.
4. Mix the salt (and/or seasonings), melted butter and seeds and then spread them on the baking sheet.
5. Roast them at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Stir them halfway through.
6. Take them out and eat them.

Day 30 Your goals for October

My goals for October are

• run my first 5k race (already scheduled!)  
• get back into practicing yoga and belly dance
• speed up my 5k a bit (no definite goals for that yet)
• figure out and maybe start doing some heart rate training
• more bloggy goodness

Stranger Danger!

Well today was officially scary. 

I was a little under a mile into my run on a nice long wide  neighborhood artery type road when I noticed a newish dark blue Suburban style SUV slowing as it passed me. People seem to have a vested interest in not hitting me (which I appreciate) so that didn't bother me overmuch at first.... except that the SUV never sped back up. 

I noticed that the driver pulled to about 50 yards past me and started pacing me, and after about a block or two of pacing me they pulled sloppily off to the right side of the road, stopping (but not parking) less than two blocks south of a forced left turn with a lot of foliage and no houses right at the corner (the outside corner seems to be some sort of municipal property).

I maintained speed but made a sudden left turn at the next block I passed after I saw that they had pulled over, and watched from around the corner as they immediately pulled back into the lane and drove away.

Clearly, the picture of subtlety.

I keep my phone on my left arm in an armband so I immediately switched my phone to video camera mode and started recording. I described why I had the phone on record, what I had seen, and how I was changing my route to account for the scare and stuck to main roads for the rest of the run (which was pretty hard, and kind of owie). 

Of course I didn't realize until hours later that since the camera was on the *back* of the phone and the microphone was tucked in my bra along with the right earpiece, so I now have an excellent video of the inside of my armband with accompanying audio of my right boob.

At least the idea was there, and I will set up my phone better to account for that in the future. I've always been a bit iffy about that corner but now it's right out. I may also alter my route to avoid a couple of other less populated sections for a bit. Actually I can think of one route tweak which may also avoid a completely insane intersection I currently go through, so at least that's helpful.

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Day 27 Do you use any meal replacements or shakes?

Does cheese count? I replace dinner with cheese on the regular, but other than that no meal replacements. I use Clif bars as midday snacks quite a bit though. I've calorie counted in the past to reasonable effect, but right now I'm finding I'm doing really well with just eating better food.

*******
My run today: 5K run with warmup and cooldown walks
3.17 miles at an average of 11:53 per mile -  total time of 37:42 

My right ankle and knee were kind of... tweaked? for much of the run. Not enough to effect me much at the time but now I'm noticing it in my ankle and I'm deeply annoyed to be missing a nearly full tube of Arnica gel. The weird thing is my right wrist is also hurting, so maybe I slept stupid or something. 

I spent so much time distracted by the creeper car and trying to work my phone without killing myself that I'd call this one of my worst days out. I also didn't cool down and stretch after as well as I should have today or Tuesday.

I wasn't sure when I went out I was even going to do a full 5k today but by one mile I knew I was committed, so there's that. I don't think I'm going to be able to run again until Monday due to my weekend plans which has me kind of annoyed, but we'll see if I can fit something in.

Couch to 5K? CHECK!

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

My run today: C25K week 9 day 3  - LAST ONE - BOO YA I MADE IT!!!!
3.43 miles at 11:39 per mile.

Per Nike today was (again) my fastest 5k so far at 36:00 (including about 5 minutes of walk time during warmup) and my fastest 1K so far at 6'40"

I managed to get the Garmin working how I wanted this time and only recorded the time that I was actually running.

My actual run was 2.71 miles in 30:06 minutes with an average pace of 11:06, a best pace of 5:38, and an average HR of 184 bpm

I was going to get myself this Bondi Band in celebration, but my boyfriend is getting it for me instead. We consider our mutual love of Batman to be the catalyst of our relationship, so what more fitting reward?

Na na na na na na na na HEADBAND!

Cheaper than a dinner out and way more helpful in the long run.

I was mildly disappointed  in the Couch to 5K app for ending with pretty much no fanfare whatsoever. They can take the time to add in the "Halfway done"s "Almost there"s and "Just keep going!"s but they can't add in a final "You did it!"???

I know finishing the C25K program "should" be reward enough, but I was really hoping for some flying Kremlin type action.

 

Why yes, I do REALLY like Tetris.

My next run will be an attempt to actually RUN for a full 5K.
We'll see how that goes!

******
Signed up for the Great Pumpkin Race Virtual 5k/10k run which benefits the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training via RunningInSanity. That will be on or about October 13th. I appear to have missed out on the option to get the orange and white polka dot Bondi Band along with my medal but hopefully she'll get some more.

******
September Blogging Challenge Day 23 - How many hours do you sleep at night?

Ugh. Even reading this question is depressing. I REALLY do not do well with less then 7 or 8 hours a night, yet I am an extremely nocturnal person with an 8 to 4 job.

It is a continuing problem.

I can be pretty functional on six hours a night, not happy but functional; five hours is my dead minimum. Anything less means I end up so tired I have to slap myself every couple of minutes in the car in order to get to work alive, and spent the majority of the morning wanting to vomit all over my desk. If I try to balance things out with coffee you can add a healthy splash generalized anxiety in to that mix.

(Photo: Jupiterimages)

Given that my alarm is set for seven am on weekdays that means functional Jawa bedtime is officially one am. What I find is that I naturally want to hit the sack approximately 1:30 to 2:30 in the morning (later if I'm in the middle of a project); so keeping my own hours is a no-no.

Luckily(?) I'm usually sleep-depped enough that when I go down I go down HARD, so insomnia is NOT an issue.

I do however do my best to make things up on the weekend and will do whatever I can to get a minimum of eight hours of sleep, but as I am still nocturnal that often means my day doesn't even start until well after noon.

The paralysis of perfectionism

My name is The Jogging Jawa and I am a perfectionist.

I know that probably sounds kind of flip, but it's actually a huge problem for me. When what you require is best case scenario and you know that's unreasonable, all you can imagine is worst case scenario and so you freeze up. And by "you" I of course mean "I".

Perfectionism goes hand in hand with anxiety. The projections of doom I place on my ability to actually do a task to my satisfaction are only trumped by the ridicule (or at the very least disappointment of others) I expect based on my lack of complete mastery. And so I stand, frozen in the headlights, so afraid of what is to come that I guarantee my own failure.

This is really pretty stupid on my part as I do tend to be pretty good at things once I actually get around to doing them, but that knowledge almost seems to make it worse, because what if this is The Time That I Fail(tm). Leaving aside all of the times I HAVE failed and somehow clearly survived the apocalypse-like conditions that ensued, of course.

But those were different! Somehow... I guess?

I have a friend (henceforth to be referred to as The Cheerleader, I expect her to come up a lot) who I've mentioned before as my main source of running inspiration. We were talking today about how psyched we are to be doing the Freaky 5k together in October and it occurred to me how unusual it is for me to commit to do something before I'm even really sure I can do it.

Of course I can "do" it, this is a local charity 5k run. It's not a qualifying race, or some side scrolling video game where I'm stuck rolling along at a preset pace until the screen with the giant seahorse Boss Monster with the fire bubbles (not a half bad team costume idea though!). I already know that at the very worst I can walk what I can't run (see today's c25k stats below) but it's my first one and I want to make a good showing of it.  

So very many batteries sacrificed to the Gameboy gods. I miss that thing.

Typically this would be crippling anxiety-ville but maybe there is something to that "mental health benefits of exercise" thing after all. Yeah, I have stepped things up a bit with the additional walk, but that's a reasonable response to a challenge. Unlike freezing, which is only a reasonable response when you're dealing with cinematic Tyrannosaurus Rex and their ilk.

I've got a plan and so far it seems to be doing pretty right by me. Every time I'm out there lately  sweaty and huffing I feel like I blew it for the day, but then I get back and look at my logs and I'm almost always just that smidge farther or faster than the last run. It gives me faith that I'm progressing and that bit of fuel needed to get through my next run.

So maybe I'm not perfect at mastering my perfectionism yet, but I guess don't really have to be, do I?

Livestrong.com Article: Overcoming Perfectionism

Do you consider yourself a perfectionist?

 How do you respond to the things you find emotionally challenging?

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September Blog Challenge Day 4 

Describe your typical training schedule for a week

Currently the active.com Couch to 5K plan (done by time, not mileage) is my only nod to any kind of training schedule. I keep telling myself that I'll start doing yoga or belly dance drills again on the off days but so far that hasn't happened.

I would looooove to join another dance class, but a move and a vacation in July coupled with some current cat and car health concerns have me holding onto the cash a bit more than usual.

******

My run today: C25K week 7 day 1

2.79 miles at 12.33 per mile (or 3.1 miles at 14:06 if you want to count the whole time I was out)

No specific problem today, just felt kinda squished, little to no oomph. It took approximately forever for me to find any kind of groove and I just felt sort of goofy for the first three quarters of a mile.

I love summer for the most part, but having central air at home this summer has messed with my normally herculean heat tolerance. This running in 90% + humidity every time is seriously getting old. It was actually raining today too, though not enough to cool me off or get the sweat off of my face before it gets in my eyes or anything useful like that. A visor is moving up pretty high on the list of the next bit of gear to buy.

I brought water and it was really nice to have, especially once I started cooling down, but I'm ditching the handheld bottle as soon as possible. I HATED it. I felt so stiff and uncomfortable carrying it, but by the time I thought to switch hands I was kind of used to it, so it threw my pace off completely to think about how to move with it in the other hand.

I actually traversed a full 5k, but walked the 0.34 mile remaining after the c25k app was done. I keep feeling like I'm doing worse during the run but when I look back at my time and distance are getting incrementally better with every run, even if those increments are kinda wee.

September Blog Challenge Day 1 - My routine

Woohoo! I found a blog challenge for September! Yes, just now.

Fitness Cheerleader is running a month long blogging challenge so I will be doing that in addition to the usual (hah, as if 10 posts constitutes a "usual", but you know what I mean). I've never done this before so feel free to tell me if this sucks or something (you can also feel free to tell me if you like it, that would be cool too I suppose).

Day 1 
Describe your pre and post workout routine

This actually starts as soon as I finish my morning coffee (which is admittedly sometimes as late as noon) .  As soon as I put away the coffee cup I start slamming water like it was going out of style. If I don't get properly hydrated for a workout I get eye stabbing headaches, and that's a pretty darn good motivator. I have a marked water bottle to pace me out so that I am getting the requisite eight glasses of water per day. I chug water, a cup at a time like medicine, pretty much until I feel like I'm going to float away.

On days when I know I'm going to run I make sure to eat something really solid and nourishing about 1.5 to 2 hours prior. My go-to is a toasted English Muffin with Smuckers Natural chunky peanut butter (I may actually be a peanut butter based life form at this point), any later and I get cramps while running. I run on weekdays so this is usually right at the end of my work day.

Once I get home I chill with my cats for a bit while getting on my workout gear and start stretching out the hinky parts. I had huge problems with shin splints in the beginning so I make a point of stretching out my calves, hamstrings, shins, and ankles really well as it made a massive difference for me. I usually start by alternating between a simple but active kneeling position with my toes pointed to stretch my shins and the Downward Facing Dog yoga pose. Once I get my shoes on I do some of the classic standing "holding up the wall" runners stretches and some heel stretches off of my stoop.

At this point I start up my music and my apps (Active.com's Couch to 5K and Nike+), do a five minute brisque warmup walk and whatever C25K has to throw at me that day. Once I'm done withe the running portions I do a 5 minute walking cool-down which I try to pace to get me back to my front door.

I do a standing hamstring stretch using some handy stairs and repeat the "holding up the wall" stretches. I go inside, sit down with my legs straight in front of me to rest a minute while gently stretching my calves, upload my run results to ActiveTrainer and Nike+ (and consequently Facebook), let my cats rub up against me and plaster me with cat hair (they're so helpful), and pull off my shoes. I try to remember to do the series of cool down stretches recommended in The Complete Idiots Guide to Running (3rd ed) though I have been kind of lazy as of late.

Once I get bored of stretching I grab a post run nosh and drink, hit the shower, and rinse the sweat off of me and the clothes I wore to run in as best I can. Then I devour something with gusto!

Does this differ substantially from your routine?
Got any tips?

This post ended up a tad long but it was kind of interesting to me to think of how much preparation I put into a half hour of activity.

I think I will be making a point of keeping run-day posts on topic with whatever I'm writing about that day with the challenge posts as an add on, and making the challenge posts the focus of my non-run days. Though I'm sure this will vary with time, experience, topic, and feedback.

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What active things did I do today?
I helped a friend move to a new apartment aaaaaalllll day long. I am exhausted and have a few blisters on my feet. Hoping that I'll be good again to run by Monday.