Week 8, Day 1

OK, so I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't been doing well with my training. Last week I didn't run at all (or anything else by way of fitness for that matter). I weighed in this morning and gained 2 pounds .... so I'm up to 178.5! Ugh! With Christmas coming up, I really need to get to the gym because I'm struggling with my eating. So, I've kind of started over with my training. I'm starting with Week 1 ..... this is still week 8, but I've adjusted the weeks on my training schedule as follows:

Week	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
8	Rest	3 m run incline	Strength	3 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	4 m run
9	Rest	3 m run incline	Strength	3.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	4.5 m run
10	Rest	3.5 m run incline	Strength	4 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	5 m run
11	Rest	3.5 m run incline	Strength	4.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	5.5 m run
12	Rest	4 m run incline	Strength	5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	6 m run
13&14	Rest	4 m run incline	Strength	5.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	Rest	5-K Race
15&16	Rest	4.5 m run incline	Strength	6 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	3 m fast run	7 m run
17&18	Rest	4.5 m run incline	Strength	6.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	3 m fast run	8 m run
19&20	Rest	5 m run incline	Strength	7 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	Rest	10-K Race
21&22	Rest	5 m run incline	Strength	7.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	3 m fast run	9 m run
23&24	Rest	5 m run incline	Strength	8 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	3 m fast run	10 m run
25	Rest	4 m run incline	Strength	7 m run	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon

So, I ran 3 miles this morning, in just over 32 minutes, which really isn't that bad since it's been about a week and a half since I have done any running. I didn't do an incline, though, but that's ok. I ran! Tomorrow morning, I plan on running again, even though my schedule calls for Strength training. I may go back to the gym later and do some weights.
Like I said, my diet hasn't been very good. I don't drink milk anymore, and I stopped eating meat. Except ...... I had a cheeseburger last night. I felt horrible afterward and it didn't take long for me to regret eating that meat! Tonight is Jim's work Christmas party. I plan on having a big green smoothie before I go so that I am full, and if I HAVE to munch on something at the party, I will eat as healthy as possible.

Anyway, normally when I don't do well, I just don't post here ...... for MONTHS. And if I don't post, I don't hold myself accountable. On the other hand, like I said, posting when I don't do well is really embarrassing, because it happens so often. But ..... I'm posting. And I'm going to get back into it.

BTW, I'm planning on doing a Biggest Loser competition for couples beginning January 1st. I think it will be fun and the competition will give us some motivation to lose weight and get healthy. So, let me know if you're interested =)

Week 6, Day 2

I can't believe it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted! FYI, when you see that I haven't posted in awhile, that pretty much means I haven't been doing well. Last week I ran a total of 1 mile. Ugh. I weigh myself every Monday and had not been losing any weight (not gaining, either, so ... that's a plus. Right?). So, yesterday I weighed myself and I lost a half of a pound. I'm now all the way down to 176.5. Even though I haven't been running, I've been doing a little better with my diet. So, yesterday, I went to the gym intent on running 4 miles. Right before getting on the track, I go to turn on my mp3 player. It won't turn on. Dead battery. No warning. And I'm like ..... there is no way I can run 4 miles without something to listen to ..... so I'll just do 2 miles today. I start to run ...... when I realize that I had put on the wrong bra. It's IMPERATIVE that I wear my sports bra when I run. Those of you who are well-endowed know what I mean. Ugh. I ended up working on speed and ran one mile in less than 10 minutes. But I just could not leave the gym like that. So I did a brisk walk for another mile. I came home feeling ok about what I did, based on what was going on. This morning I went to the gym with the RIGHT clothing, and a battery in my mp3 player. I planned on running 3 miles, but was only able to manage 2. Then I walked (briskly) 1. I've decided that if I don't run the entire distance that I have planned, I'll finish it with a brisk walk. But I really need to run! So, tomorrow I'll do 3 miles.

I am keeping myself hydrated, and since my vegetarian step-daughter is visiting for a few days, the whole family is abstaining from meat during her visit (yay!). I am finding some awesome recipes, too =) I have been doing better with having a green smoothie for breakfast. Jim and I have also decided we will be a dairy free family, so we are transitioning to that very slowly. First to go? Milk. I have been making almond milk for myself for awhile, but now I'm making it for the family too =) After we get used to being without milk, it's goodbye to cheese.

Well, I'll try to be better about blogging. At least it was only a couple of weeks that I missed. Usually, it's MONTHS!

Week 4, Day 3

OK, so I haven't been doing well with blogging every day, but at least I'm doing it more often than I have done in the past. My weight this week was the same, but I've really slacked off on my training and, even though I'm doing better with my diet, I'm not where I need to be. I just feel lucky I didn't GAIN weight!

I didn't run Saturday, Monday nor did I run yesterday. Ugh. I was supposed to be up to 4.5 miles on Saturday. Since I haven't been running, I went to the gym thinking that I'll probably just do 3 miles. But after the 3 miles, I knew I could go the entire 4.5, and I did. As a matter of fact, I believe I could have gone all the way to 5! So .... when I do my long run on Saturday, I'm going to do 5, for sure. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but the gym is open from 6 to 11 in the morning, so I'm going at 6 to do a short run (3 miles). and then do my fast 2 mile run on Friday.

For Thanksgiving, my goal is to give myself small portions (except for the salad. gotta have a big one!), not go back for seconds, and not have any dessert. I'm cooking the entire meal, and since my family is really fired up about a traditional dinner, that's what I'll give them, with some extra healthy stuff mixed in. Hopefully, I can slowly wean them to a more healthy dinner by next year. I think I can be sneaky that way =)

I have a note posted on my bathroom mirror that says
HALF MARATHON
(13.1 miles)
APRIL 21, 2012
2 1/2 HOURS

It's been a good motivator for me, but I'm considering changing it to 2 hours and 15 minutes, because I think I can do that. But I don't want to focus on my time for my first half ..... like I should focus more on finishing (which I have NO doubt that I will!). Any thoughts from anyone out there?

Week 3 day 4

Well, I've been procrastinating blogging. I just got caught up in life the first couple of days, and then I just keep thinking that I had to catch up on my blog, and that seemed like a too difficult of a task to do. But, here I am. So, let's get up to speed:
Tuesday, I didn't do my muscle boot camp class. I didn't really do any working out that day. Which is probably why I didn't blog that day. I just had a hard time getting up .... I don't know why. Wednesday was the same. Just too hard to get up. So, we all went to the gym later in the day. They have a kids Zumba class on Wednesday afternoons and Kelli loves it. So, while she was in her class, the boys were in their child care, Jim played racquetball and I ran. I pushed myself to do 2 miles, but really wanted to do 4. I was bummed that I didn't do more. But then I ended up playing racquetball with Jim. There was no one else for him to play, and he asked if I would be willing to hit the ball with him. There's some history there ..... he tried to teach me about 15 years ago. He was really hard on me, and I'm not very athletic. I gave up. But I decided that I'd play for a bit. I ended up being much better than I was way back when. Jim seemed kind of impressed with some of my hits. He gave me some pointers and I really focused on my stance, and my follow through. I played for about 20 minutes, and MAN! What a workout!! Thursday, I actually got out of bed at 5, but I didn't want to do the R.I.P.P.E.D. class. Since I hadn't really done a lot of running this week, I felt I needed to run. I did 3.5 miles yesterday in 36 minutes. Not too bad! And then today, I didn't go to the gym early because my mom asked if we could wait until later in the morning as she wasn't feeling well. We went at about 9-ish, brought the kids with us and put them in child care. Friday is my "speed" day, only 2 miles, but increased speed. I didn't want to make the same mistake I did last week, starting out really fast. So, I started running a bit faster than I normally would. I completed the first mile and looked at my stopwatch. 9 minutes and 45 seconds!!! Woah!! I was tired, and knew that I was running fast, but I expected 10 minutes. So, I kept up my speed and did the whole 2 miles in 19.5 minutes. I was so excited!! After my run, I went and got the kids and took them to their play center. It's kind of like a McDonald's playplace on steroids. Except, even better! Anyway, Jesse was crawling around in those tube things way up high and he couldn't get down. So, I crawled up there and helped him get through to the slide. That is a SERIOUS workout! The tubes are too small for me to stand up straight, and my knees hurt from crawling, so I hunched down and walked, climbed, slid ..... my thighs were SCREAMING at me by the time I got down! It was hard, but FUN! LOL

My diet still leaves a lot to be desired. However, I have been doing really well at eating one serving, and trying to make sure I get enough carbs. I just need to try to stay away from chips, and sugar!

Tomorrow is my long run day. I'll do 4.5 miles in the morning. I'm kind of nervous, because the only time I've done more than 4 miles was at my 10k.

Week 3, Day 1

Well, I weighed myself today. The good news is I didn't gain any weight. The bad news? I didn't lose any, either. It's my diet ..... I'm convinced of that. I have NO willpower when it comes to eating. What I need to do is only keep healthy stuff in the house. Even is Pringles potato chips is on sale and I have coupons bringing the price down to .60 per can. Those good deals are so hard for me to pass up! LOL
So, today was supposed to be my "incline" day. Meaning, I would run on the treadmill at an incline for 3 miles. I lasted 1 mile. In 12 minutes. BAD. I ended up doing a 2nd mile on the track in 10 minutes, and I was pretty done after that. I did sprint that last lap, though. Tomorrow is that muscle boot camp class, but I think I'd like to run tomorrow too. So, maybe I'll go to the gym again later in the day and bring the kids with, utilizing the day care. They need to get out of the house, anyway.
Last night, we had breakfast for dinner. My brother is visiting us from Oklahoma right now, and he has type II diabetes, so I made sausage, and whole grain, sugar free pancakes. I made some sugar free strawberry syrup. It was pretty good. Today, I'm going to make myself some egg whites and ww toast for breakfast. Maybe a green smoothie for lunch. I think I'll make some chicken and polenta for dinner. I'll have to check and make sure diabetics can have polenta first.

Tomorrow's workout will be a better one. Today, I will eat much better.

Week 2 day 6

So, the internet was down on Thursday, so I couldn't blog. Yesterday, the internet came back on, but only temporarily. Grrrr. This morning my awesome husband found out the problem and fixed it! He's so awesome <3 So, here's my update:
Thursday I did that R.I.P.P.E.D. class and it was pretty intense. I had to do modified movements about 1/3 of the time because some of them were so hard. I got a really good workout, and I've decided to continue doing Muscle Boot Camp on Tuesdays AND R.I.P.P.E.D on Thursdays. So, pretty much, I had to change my whole training. This is my new training plan:

Week	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1&2	Rest	3 m run incline	Strength	3 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	4 m run
3&4	Rest	3 m run incline	Strength	3.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	4.5 m run
5&6	Rest	3.5 m run incline	Strength	4 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	5 m run
7&8	Rest	3.5 m run incline	Strength	4.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	5.5 m run
9&10	Rest	4 m run incline	Strength	5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	2 m fast run	6 m run
11&12	Rest	4 m run incline	Strength	5.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	Rest	6.5 run
13&14	Rest	4.5 m run incline	Strength	6 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	3 m fast run	7 m run
15&16	Rest	4.5 m run incline	Strength	6.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	3 m fast run	8 m run
17&18	Rest	5 m run incline	Strength	7 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	Rest	8.5 run
19,20,21	Rest	5 m run incline	Strength	7.5 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	3 m fast run	9 m run
22,23,24	Rest	5 m run incline	Strength	8 m run	R.I.P.P.E.D.	3 m fast run	10 m run
25	Rest	4 m run incline	Strength	7 m run	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon

I put my long run on Saturdays instead of Wednesdays. I thought it would be best to have an easy workout day right before the long run day. Yesterday I did 2 miles in just under 20 minutes, which is my best time ever! I tried to start out really fast, but after the second lap, I was so out of breath! So I ended up walking the 3rd lap, and then continued my run. Instead of trying to run really fast, I decided to run just a little faster than normal. I sprinted the last lap and ended up with a really good time, especially for walking one of those laps! This morning, I ran 4 miles and feel really good. It wasn't hard, and I could have kept going, but I figured I really need to pace myself and follow the training plan as much as possible. But I feel so good that I ran 4 miles and could have kept going! Me! I really feel like a runner!

My diet is a bit better. I'm drinking more green juices, fresh veggies and fruits, and trying to do as much low fat as possible. Last night I made a dish from the Biggest Loser Cookbook that I have, peppered chopped steak. It was really good! I made some roasted new potatoes and a Caesar salad. Yes, I know that a Caesar salad is not low fat. But the rest of the meal was! =)

I won't be posting tomorrow, it's my rest day. Monday is my weigh in day ..... I'm curious to know how my weight is doing =)

Have a happy weekend, everyone!