Almost Day 3

Looks like I'll be giving Day 3 another go on Monday. I'm OK with that though. It's substantially warmer today than it was on Wednesday. And I was pushing a jogging stroller with a strapping boy in it this time, which I haven't been before. Even with that, I still did 9 of 10 sets. I did take several 3 minute walks (today's pattern was run 1 walk 2), but I don't feel at all bad about it. I have sweat rolling down my back and I've definitely worked. My pace was 17:06 - a little slower than last time, but still substantially faster than the first day. Plus, the various stats that I've got on my workout list are starting to add up, and it's fun to see how long/far I've run over the various time periods they track for me. Computers can be so cool.

Accomplished: Road to Running Day 1

I did it! I did day 1!! And it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be when I put on my shoes this morning. I hurt So Bad after running on Monday. I thought this was going to be awful. But it wasn't. In fact, it felt good. I could already tell that I've learned a few things about running. I'm sure there's going to be plenty more to learn, but so far the first is the worst. We'll see what sort of soreness punishment my muscles put out this time. And I have to look at what comes next. I know that tomorrow is a walk and I don't run again until Day 3. But I don't remember any more than that.

One really fun thing is that with using Runner's World's workout tracker they count a bunch of cool things. For instance, I have done more than 25 hours of working out since the end of May. And I've run a total of 7.2 miles. Those are fun. But the best part is that it'll map the route that I run and then tell me the pace. And the very first time that I tried running back in May I was "running" a 20 minute mile pace. Today my pace was 16:43!! And that's already improved from Monday's 18:03 pace. And those paces include time for warm-up and cool-downs. So I'm actually running a bit better than that. I'll probably get me some sort of stopwatch to get better times. My watch isn't very well marked for doing this sort of thing and I think I could get to caring about how fast I'm going. One of my favorite parts of doing this program is that it's time based: run 1 minute, rest, run 1 minute. This works a lot better for me than other ways I've tried to run.

Weigh-in & Progress Report

OK, actually, I didn't weigh myself this morning. But I am taking measurements.

Bust: 44 inches
Waist: 38 1/2 inches
Hips: 46 inches

I don't have any older measurements that would work to compare these with, so I can't say that I've lost so many inches yet. But hopefully next week there'll be some difference.

As far as my progress, I'm doing better with eating healthy. That is, we're home again so I can do some cooking! Plus, the garden is starting to produce. We had our 1st decent tomato sandwiches since we lived in Kaysville in 2002. Oh yes, those were YUMMY! There will be more. Just as soon as the rest of the tomatoes turn red. Would you believe that Monkey wouldn't eat one? I knew he wouldn't, so I didn't waste a tomato on him, just offered him a taste of mine. He spit it out. Obviously his taste buds are still immature. This time of year with all the tasty tasty garden veggies, it's petty easy to eat well.

I'm also more or less please with how the exercise is going. More pleased because I've been getting it in (Andy helps with the Monkey), and less pleased because the new running thing is killing me. This HURTS!! I just keep drinking my water and reminding myself that this too will pass. Andy says that it takes about 2 weeks for the body to get used to a new activity and until then it's gonna hurt. I've done 2 days now. Only 12 to go before my body realizes that I'm serious about getting skinny and running and it'd better just suck it up. Preferably suck it out of my various fat cells. I'm planning to repeat days 1 and 2 until I can actually DO day 1. Hopefully it won't take more than 2 or maybe 3 tries.

Article: How to Become a Runner

The training plan that follows is designed to get you to the point where you can run 30 minutes (about 2 miles) at a slow, relaxed pace. It's a simple, progressive program that begins with more walking than running, and gradually evolves into more running than walking.

Read more...

Pondering

I said a while back that I was going to post a "before" picture. Here it is! It's one of the ones that Nicole took when we were out to the Great Salt Lake. That was lots of fun & we got some great pictures & I think this one does nicely as an honest before picture, without being completely awful. So there's that.

Our Relief Society is going to be doing a 5k. I'm pondering. I've thought about doing one of those things before. I think I even signed up to do this one, although then I went on 2 big trips and sorta fell off the wagon as far as training goes. But there's most of 2 months before the race, and I'm pondering. Two months sounds like it should be long enough to learn to run 5k. The big question is, am I motivated enough to actually go through with it? Running isn't typically my thing. I'm a bit nervous about this whole idea. But at the same time, what an accomplishment! I'd like to someday do a marathon. In order to get there I have to start with where I'm at...

Not Doing So Hot

I'm really looking forward to when Andy comes home again: I'm not doing so hot and he is always such a help. In my defense, Monkey nor I are feeling terribly well. He's got a cold and I've got a tooth that needs a root canal. But I should still be drinking water. Odd that the dentist was able to put a tiny little smoking cold cotton puff on my tooth and it didn't bother me in the least, but drinking water makes it feel very weird. Not painful, exactly, but definitely odd. Fortunately this isn't something that's going to last as I'm going to have the thing fixed up. Anyway, I haven't exercised all week. I've had barely any water. On the positive side though, I think that I only gained 2 pounds while we were out East, so that's something.

Be Strong!!

To be honest, I've never really been very good at the whole sustained self motivation thing. Sure, I'll get excited about a project, but that excitement generally will wane and often, eventually fade and then what's left is one more thing on my list of "Phases".. heh. My life is peppered by the various different phases that I've gone through over the years: Trolls.. Tye Dye.. Animal Prints.. and that's just for starters. Not that it's a bad thing by any means, I think I've become a more well rounded person (at least more quirky for sure) because of it, and I like that about me. However, it does mean that I do struggle from time to time with continuing with this whole workout regime.
Not that I ever forget that I'd like to loose x amount of pounds before November 6th, just that sometimes that motivation seems less pressing than my desire to order a pepperoni pizza for dinner (for just myself) on a quiet Friday night after a long week.

However, there are precautions that I've put in place to avoid such pitfalls as that. In addition to this blog, I have a sort of network of people that I randomly tell things to, when I need it. For example, at a church activity recently, they were serving tasty tasty brownies as refreshments. (big ones. without frosting... mmmmmmmmm) However, I'd already been very bad with my eating that day and I knew I ought not indulge in yet another unhealthy food. So, I turned to this nice boy who was there, a friend of mine, and said "Chris, I'm saying this out loud so that someone else can hear it: I am NOT going to eat a brownie." He laughed and said "Ok, you can't eat one if I don't eat one." Which worked out nicely because he can't eat chocolate in any form.

Then, just yesterday, I was standing on the platform waiting for my train on the way home from work and I was struck by this HUGE desire to eat some pepperoni pizza. I found myself justifying why it would be ok, even though it would be just for myself (Little Caesar's pizza is just $5.. that wouldn't even blow my budget!) even though, left to my own you KNOW I would eat the entire thing in two (maybe three) sittings. So, I sent a text message to my old college buddy that said "Karina, tell me not to order a pizza for dinner tonight". She responded beautifully "Two words.... Wedding Dress." Hahaha.. well said.

And I was good. Though, clearly I was having cravings. So, recognizing this as truth (and knowing it to be a recurring thing) Rather than suppress it and deny myself completely of all that is tasty and risk binging later, I decided to splurge. Splurge, yes.. Binge, no. Instead of a tasty pizza, I bought a little bag with four brownie bites for dessert to my healthy dinner.. brownies, yes.. but only four. I figured that was infinitely better than eating half of a pizza.. heh. And I enjoyed every one :)
Whew.. made it through another test.. Now to continue onward! Be strong!

Oh, also while I was feeling all less than motivated, I remembered that my little workout regime said that this week I was supposed to write myself a little note congratulating myself. So, I did that last night as well and attached it to my mirror. Surprisingly, it helped!

Set-backs

So, it's nothing I didn't expect. We went on a long trip, and this time instead of mostly being in family's homes, we were mostly in hotels. Hotels that don't have kitchens. So there was a lot more eating out on the Eastern States trip than there was on the Utah trip. I came back feeling like I looked similar to when I was 4-5 months pregnant. Happily, that feeling has passed! I've lost 9 pounds of water weight in the past couple of days. Hopefully I'm not done yet, because I'm still 203 pounds this morning, and that is not a happy place to be. Especially since I bought my jeans about about 185-190. Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate! That's my mantra. That and I need to get back into the swing of exercising.

I planned my menus yesterday and I think that it' going to be some good healthy eating over the next 2 weeks. My garden is starting to come on: we got our "first fruits" yesterday. I brought in several squashes an ivory bell pepper and an onion. It's been yummy eating stuff that we grew ourselves! We have lots of green tomatoes, but so far there are no red ones. Not even any pink ones. So I bought some of those. And lots of fruit. In the summer time fruit is my "diet food" of choice. Tasty, low calorie, and full of good vitamins & stuff! Yummy.