Friday, March 30, 2012

Shocker

oh geez. I was reading an article about the fattest cities in America and low and behold. Number 9 just happens to be right smack dab where I live. Lovely thought isn't it? Yeah. Slightly irritating. I'm changing me however. Still obese, yes, but on the downhill slope of it...

Here is the link to the article if you want to read it. Is the city you live in one of the fattest cities in America?

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wednesday Weigh in week 14






Irritated today. Irritated that for the whole month of March I gained .4 pounds.  Irritated that I have to be all or nothing.

Needless to say it's been an irritating week for me. I made choices to eat things I should be this month and it shows on the scale. And that the scale can say 217.6 for two days up to Wednesday and then it jumps back up on Wednesday. But hey mini binges the day before weigh in will do that to you.

I think I am ready to put March behind me. And ignore the fact that I feel like I am 10 pounds behind my goal. This just proves that I have to be more deliberate in my food choices. And figure out how to get a workout in on weeks like this week when I haven't been able to get out and go run in almost a week.

I am ready for spring break next week. I am ready for some time away from my preschoolers and seriously get some spring cleaning done in my life. I am in purge mode in my life, and that part has nothing to do with food. I am cleaning out and getting rid of stuff like it's no ones business. I think I cleaned out almost 1/3 of my filing cabinet last night of things that I no longer need. And once that gets done I am gonna be in tip top shape :)

Is it June yet ;)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Running while sick?

I'm in that weird balance of not being healthy, but not really feeling sick? I know that I have just been super exhausted lately. I came home from work Monday and took a 5 hour nap. I knew the other person in my room's entire family was sick, so she was gone Tuesday and part of Wednesday so I knew I had to go to work, and today my teacher was gone a half day. Gotta be there today too. What's a sorta sick, but mainly tired girl to do?

Take nyquill and sleep for 12 hours! LOL. That's what I did last night. Went to bed at 6:30 pm and got out of bed at 6:30 am this morning. I'm still feeling slightly edgy like I'm not feeling well. But I'm not coughing. My throat isn't as sore. But I am making sure to use the Neti pot, and salt water gargles and getting my vitamins in.

And what did we wake up to this morning? SNOW! In March. Craziness. And then by the time I got off work it was sunny, beautiful and a good 52 degrees. Perfect time for a run! I hadn't gone running since Saturday when I finished c25k. And I decided to push myself (uh when do I not?) to see if I could actually run 3 miles today. Which is sort of a half truth? I mean I do a 5 min warm up and cool down? So I walk 10 minutes of that 3 miles but still! 54 mins 51 seconds. Pretty proud that its under 55 mins LOL. And I ran about 2.5 miles of it without stopping. I get about a quarter of a mile walked before I start running. So yeah. under 55 mins :) And I didn't even stop when the stupid bug flew into my eye. Hard to get a bug out and keep running fyi ;)

I also cheated, or was insanely brilliant today. Instead of parking where I normally do, at the busy part of the park, I found the spot close to the 3.5 mile marker, which is usually where I turn around. I started there today and ran down to the 2.0 mile marker, and then back of course. The best part is that I got to walk up the insane little hill before I started running. Then I got to stop right before it and walk back down for my cool down. Brilliant? I think so! Although it's kinda hard to actually walk down it without jogging, so next time I think I am actually gonna just start walking after I make it down the hill. But I liked starting at the non busy part of the park. And it's actually just right up the street from my work, so it's a shorter drive to get there, so I can start my workout sooner! Yeah!

And today I only ran with the mapmyrun app, instead of the c25k one, and I got it figured out to only talk to me in 5 minute increments. That made me a happy little runner. Although I need to get on my itunes and make a decent running playlist. That might help me increase my speed ;)

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Wednesday Weigh in week 13

These are those days where you go really? Why didn't I pay better attention yesterday to my salt intake, or did I really get enough water in. I am still fighting off being sick, so I haven't been the best girl in the world. But yesterday the scale said 217.6 and of course today it didn't like me.



Granted its .04 less than last week, so I will definitely take it. It's just irritating to see that the one day a week I want it to show a good number it goes up, and most likely tomorrow it will be back at 217.

The joys of losing weight :)

I also haven't worked out since Saturday when I finished my c25k course. Yesterday I made it back to work and one of my co-workers was gone. Today I would love to stay home again because I'm not 100%, but I don't know if she is going to be at work, and I can't leave the teacher with two subs in the classroom. So off to get ready to work I go.

Hopefully eating less salt :0)

Monday, March 19, 2012

A sick day and comfort food

I have been just so exhausted lately that I don't know what to do with myself. It finally caught up to me today and I ended coming home early from work. I do not handle children well when I am exhausted. I don't like being a mean teacher. So I came home. And slept from 12:00-5. Geesh. I hope I can fall back asleep soon and sleep all night. I kept waking up last night. I know when my eyes are burning that it was time to shut it down for the day LOL. So that's what I did.

And then I had macaroni and cheese and a corn dog tonight. Both things I shouldn't be eating. But feeling a little sick, those are great comfort foods. So we shall be seeing how my stomach feels tomorrow eating foods that I haven't had in 3 months. Macaroni and cheese every three months isn't that bad is it?

Other than that I am about to go find some sheets and make my bed and get ready to crawl back into it. I ended up skipping the run that I was going to do today instead of tomorrow because I was so tired. But I am going to have to change my running schedule around. But not tonight. Right now it's time to go back to bed.

Right after I make it.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Finished what I started.

Major accomplishment today!! I finished my C25K program!!!

I am insanely proud of myself right now. I started this 8 weeks ago with the intention of finishing it in 8 weeks. And I did! I even made up one run this week. So I technically did 4 runs this week. But I didn't stop, I didn't quit, and I didn't make any excuses to quit or skip ahead. Scratch one thing of my list of things to do :) I loved pushing my body and seeing how far it would go, and finding out how strong I actually am :)

I figured out that my mapmyrun app drives me crazy! LOL. I need to fiddle with the settings again because this time I somehow had it set to tell me every 30 seconds all my stats. I was afraid to mess with it during my run because I didn't want it to stop recording my workout. So once again I dealt with it. I hope it's not something I have to set every time that I want to run. That will get old. I want to set it so that it comes on every 5 minutes. That way I know a good starting time after I warm up and a good cool down point after I stop running.

One of my friends immediately suggested I start training for a 10k now that my 5k training is done. I thought about it for a few minutes. But I really want to get a solid 5k done for several times before I start training for a 10k. Right now with warm up, run, cool down I am getting right at 2.35 miles. That's a 40 minute workout. I am going to do a couple of 30 minutes runs this week and then maybe on Saturday try to run a 5k and see how long it takes me. Last week doing the 12 minute runs 3 times I was able to finish 3 miles in about 53 minutes. But I also had some walking in there. I am very interested in seeing if I can push myself to run the majority of a 5k with a warm up/cool down. The part of park path that I run on to do 3 miles has this amazingly wonderful (*sarcasm*)hill that I have to run down/up. It's pretty killer for me. And I usually looked forward to walking shortly after I made it back up the hill. If I ran a 17 minute mile I am still looking at 51 minutes for 3 miles. I think my next goal would be to try to get a 5k in under 50 minutes. And then under 45 minutes. And then I think when I got to a 40-45 minute 5k that I would want to start training for a 10k. I am in no hurry really to train for things. I am enjoying taking it slow. I haven't had any injuries in doing it this way, and I am looking forward to that staying true for all of my running :)

I think the next thing I want to focus on is getting some strength training in. I did a really good job disciplining myself getting 3 runs in a week. Now I need to work on the other end of it. And do a good job getting disciplined at 2-3 days of cross-training on the bike and getting a good strength training going. All while keeping up my 3 running days too. We are on the downward end of school here, I would like to be at a really great routine by summer to keep it going while school is out. I know when winter hits that I probably won't be running outside as much so I want to be able to keep up working out and just having it be part of my routine.  My initial thought is getting one day of arms and one day of legs and then one day of both maybe? I suppose that one day of just a biking cardio is a different move than the running? I don't know. I will sit and figure it out soon. I've managed to lose 20 without toning, but if I don't start doing it now, I am just going to have lose skin. And that is something that I don't really want right now.

I am feeling very rambly right now! So I think at this point I better stop for the night or I am not going to make any sense here soon ;)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Wednesday Weigh in week 12

Well it was bound to happen. I ended up gaining weight this week. I mean it was only 1.4 pounds. So it's not heartbreaking. But it's definitely a mental challenge now to pick myself up and keep going.


See my pretty toe left over from my pedicure? :0) Yeah. I really need to take that polish off.

Anyways. I was prepared for a gain this week. Over the weekend I didn't get to drink my normal water and I ate out a ton prior to the wedding. Plus I indulged a little bit ;) I'm just glad it wasn't the 3 pounds it had been the first couple of days after the wedding. Back on track! That's all I have to say.

My second 30 minute run is tomorrow. I hope the weather stays non windy for it. It was a little hard running in crazy 30 mile wind gusts. But at least it was in my cool down stage. Awesome. Looks like I will be running in the rain. As long as its not blowing gusts. Geez.

This time change is kicking my butt! I have woken up late the past two mornings. Barely enough time to get myself out of bed before my brothers do. I am hoping tomorrow I will get up in time to enjoy my coffee! I would like to have time to do that in the morning before I start my day.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Last week of Couch to 5k!

I started my last week of C25K today!! Day one of running for 30 minutes without stopping. Did I do a 5k? Nope. But I knew I wouldn't. I did do 2.35 miles with the warm up and cool down :) So that was kind of exciting. It means I am increasing my pace. I used to be able to do 2 miles in 40 minutes. Today it was .35 more. That makes me happy.

On a whim I decided to turn on another app that I had that was for tracking runs. Anyone use www.mapmyrun.com? I downloaded the app and turned it on right before I started to run and much to my surprise a voice came on every minute to tell me that I had run for a minute and how what my distance was and what my pace was and how fast I was running. I was a little irritated with the every minute part. Hopefully I switched it to every 5. But it was really cool to be able to use the GPS and figure out how far I was actually running. My fitbit doesn't tell me truly how far I've gone. Like today the app said 2.35 and the fitbit said almost 4 when I knew I hadn't run that far. So yeah. I will keep using it for sure to see how far I go. But the every minute thing was definitely a bit irritating.

BUT I RAN FOR 30 MINUTES!!!!!

Not that I am excited about that or anything. I have two more runs. Two more runs and I will have finished this program. I think I am more excited about actually starting and finishing it. Without really skipping anything. I didn't jump ahead, but I didn't repeat weeks either. It's an 8 week program and I will have finished it in 8 weeks. The only thing I had to do was reschedule one run. But I still will finish it in the allotted time. That makes me feel good.

So I am not too excited about tomorrows weigh in. The wedding this weekend threw me off badly. I didn't go overboard by any means, but I don't think my body is all that recovered. Like it's 8 and I really would love to be back in bed right now. I did manage to get 8 cups of water in today. So that's good. So I am not expecting a loss tomorrow. Considering this morning was an almost 2 pound gain. But I could be thoroughly surprised tomorrow! I wouldn't say no to that!

Monday, March 12, 2012

A stay home day

Today was a stay home day :) As we like to call it, a day where I don't have to go to work or church :) I took today off of work because 1) we didn't have kids today. It's conference week, so they aren't there. And I had trade time I needed to use. Woo-hoo. I am glad I decided to use it all in one day so I could finally recover from the wedding. I was supposed to get up and get the boys ready for school, but one of them was sick, so my Mom ended up staying home too. Bonus! I got to sleep in! I stayed in bed until after 9. It was glorious :)

So after I ate and let my stomach settle for a while, I went and did my run that I had postponed from Saturday. It ended up starting to be quite windy, but that sort of worked to my advantage. Today was the last interval running that I get to do before I start the last week of just running for 30 minutes. So that means this week I am going to do 4 runs. And I have already mentally prepared myself that I won't be finishing 3 miles in 30 minutes, so I am ok with the drop in mileage :)

But today I finished 3 miles in 53 minutes! I had to look up on sparkpeople how long it took me to run my last 5k. It took me 58 minutes and 39 seconds. Now today I didn't do that last 10th of a mile, but hey. It wouldn't have taken me 5 minutes for sure! I am very impressed than in a year I have managed to cut off 5 minutes of running time. I was passing points earlier in my run today. I got to the spot to where I normally start running and had to walk a little farther before my run started. So I am even getting faster when I walk :) It averaged out to an 18 minute mile today. I was very excited. I had figured for sure I would be slower because of all the crap food I ate this weekend, but my friend who runs told me it was probably because I had more carbs and sugar in me :) So hey. I guess we will see what happens tomorrow when I start my last 3 runs of walking for 5 minutes and running for 30 and walking for 5.

3 more runs and I will have finished this program. Something to cross off of my list! Can't wait!


Saturday, March 10, 2012

Unexpected day of rest

The wedding festivities are behind me!! That was a crazy hectic beautiful day yesterday. But after an 18 hour day of getting ready and celebrating, I woke up this morning barely able to walk. I had worn flip flops all day yesterday. And that obviously was not a good choice. I was supposed to do my last day of couch to 5k training for the week and then do our monthly grocery shopping with my sister today.

I ended up going to bed after midnight, so I made myself stay in bed until right after 9 this morning. My sister was ready to go shopping at 10, so I very sadly got ready while still limping along. I took some ibuprofen and put on some real shoes and off we went. 6 stores in 5 hours. ohmygosh. I came home and put the groceries away and finally made my coffee for the day. I was out of syrup. That was one of our stops for today.

I ended up not doing my run for today. I was so exhausted that I knew I physically wouldn't be able to handle it. Plus it was windy again today. I really should have thought this week through a little more and got my run in earlier in the week. But I don't know when. It's not like I am not going to finish the program. It's only one day that I am pushing it out. I did want to finish it on time though and in the 8 weeks. I might be able to sneak it in tomorrow between all my church meetings. Sundays are very very full for me. But since we have to spring forward tonight I get to have more daylight to finish my runs up. Gosh dang it. I just looked at the weather for tomorrow and its supposed to be windy AGAIN. I am seriously tired of the wind...spring fever is hitting!!

So eating wise this weekend. I admit I did some cheating. Yesterday at the wedding I ate one snickerdoodle, and about 3 rice krispie treat hearts. And a couple of homemade mints. All things I probably shouldn't have had. But all in all, I'd say that wasn't bad for a wedding. But at dinner however. Which ended up being at oh, 11 last night. (I had breakfast...at Denny's). That goshdarn cheesecake was calling my name. So I indulged and had a piece. And it was yummy. My stomach did however not like me today. It was a bit gassier than normal and actually was hurting while I was doing some shopping. But that also could have been because I didn't eat a whole lot before we left. But I had a huge headache and stomachache when we got to walmart and I had to end up buying a hotdog from subway and eat it before we started shopping. I think I waited too long to eat :( Not good. And then just now, I caved and had a piece of cake from my grandpa's birthday yesterday. Small piece though. Didn't go completely overboard.

So it's back to eating good. I don't know how Wednesday's weigh in will go. I have not stepped on the scale in the last couple of days. I didn't want to look at the number because I knew that I haven't been eating normally. I have had a lot of salt, and not a lot of water. I will take a couple of days to get back into my normal eating routine again and then weigh myself. Why stress myself out when I know my day was off.

Oh I could probably fit my run in on monday if I can't tomorrow. I momentarily forgot I took it off! LOL! That might work. I could do that interval run. Then start my 30 mins of running on Tuesday. I guess I will see how it all plays out :)

I am going to attempt to go to bed early tonight since we have to spring forward an hour. I'm not excited about losing an hour of sleep on my crazy busy weekend. But it's not really my choice huh?

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Wednesday weigh in week 11

Ok wow! I just so happened to meet a goal this week :) It was my goal to lose 20 pounds before the wedding that I am in on Friday. And as of this morning I have lost 22 pounds :0) Woo-hoo!! Nothing like a bridesmaid dress to make you work a little bit harder ;)


Yep. That's right! 3.2 pounds this week. I honestly don't quite know how it happened but I am not going to argue the point. I am just taking it and moving on.

Also quickly: I started week 7 of Couch to 5K yesterday and ended up doing...almost a 5k. I did 3 miles instead of the 3.1 Which means when I actually go to do one I know I will do it in about 54 minutes ;) Which is definitely faster than the time I did it last year. Woo-hoo once again.

The Wedding festivities start tonight. Hope to post again sometime after Saturday

<3

Thursday, March 1, 2012

I did what?

Oh my gosh. I still can't believe I actually did this, but when I got home from doing my C25K run today and checked out my stats on my fitbit, I realized I had done a 17 minute mile.

Ok, so that's like seriously taken about 3 minutes off of my mile!

I started at the 2 mile marker today, and started my 5 minute walk, and by the time I finished my first 12 minute run I had just touched the 3 mile marker. Yeah. I knew I was sooo close so I booked it right at the last two minutes of my run. And I can't really run all that fast. I was definitely a bit wheezy after the run today. So then after turning around after about halfway through my 3 minute walk, I made it back across the 2 mile marker with about a minute to go to the end of my 5 minute walk after my second run. So all in all it was about a 2.25 mile run in 38 minutes. Equals 17 minute mile :0)

And to top it all off it was windy. Not the 45 miles hour gusts like yesterday, but it was pushing me a bit. Which I am sure helped on the way back ;)

I continue to amaze myself with the things that I have been able to accomplish running. I didn't think I could do the program without repeating weeks, but I have. I didn't think I could run a mile that fast. But I DID. I don't even remember how fast I could run a mile. Probably because I didn't run. I always remember a 20 minute mile. But yeah. 17? Am I gonna run that fast every time? I don't know. It was a little on the uncomfortable side while running. But I'm sure it will get easier.

A while back I started on a list of reasons to lose weight. At the time it was 111 reasons because that's how much weight I needed to lose. Of course I haven't come up with that many yet. I think I have right around 40, so I need to get going on that again. Because who knows...maybe I have crossed some things off without even knowing it.

Oh yeah. And I need some goals for March! This upcoming week is going to be crazy. My friend gets married ONE WEEK from tomorrow. And I still have some stuff to do..so forgive me if I don't post a whole lot between now and then. I will of course still post my picture on Wednesday, but I am not making any promises of many other posts :)
2014. A year without the scale defining who I am. A year of finishing what I start.