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!

Week 2, Day 3

Since my mom decided not to go to the gym this morning, she offered to keep an eye on the kids so that Jim could go with me. When my alarm went off, I contemplated not going. My muscles were SO SORE. I thought it would be a pretty good excuse. But the more I lay there, thinking about it, the more convinced I felt that if I slacked off today, it would be easy to slack off later. And then I'd end up getting out of that habit. So I forced my achy body out of bed and dragged Jim to the gym. Today is my "long run" day and I have it set to run 4 miles. Jim got on a stationary bike and I hit the indoor track. After my first mile, my leg muscles were telling me that I was crazy for running 4 miles today. Usually I would think, "I can't do 4 miles today, I'll just go for 3" but I decided that saying "can't" would hurt me more than help me. So instead I was thinking, "I'm gonna have to really push myself to do the whole 4 miles." During the 4th mile, I was in agony. My leg muscles were SCREAMING at me. I slowed my pace a bit, but I still struggled. Jim had moved from the bike to the elliptical (my enemy), and he was doing really well. I had 2 laps left before I was done when Jim showed up to run alongside me. I told him (ok, more like PANTED), "2 more laps," and he decided I was running to slow and he told me to pick up the pace, so I did. He was beating me and I just cannot have that! I kept up with him and then there was 1 lap to go. I always try to sprint my last lap, so I just took off. He kept up with me up until the last few feet, and he held back some. I win =) I ended up doing 4 miles in 42:09, which is better than I thought I would do. It was awesome having Jim there to push me for those last couple of laps. I wish he could come to the gym with me every morning!

As far as my eating, I did OK, yesterday. I had that green smoothie for breakfast. I had planned on only having a salad for lunch, but that salad didn't really fill me up and I didn't feel satisfied at all. I knew that if I didn't eat something else, I would end up binging all day long. So I ate half of a serving of leftover shrimp and rice, and it really hit the spot. I am a cub scout leader, and yesterday was our den meeting. For our activity, the boys made teepees out of those pointy cones, decorated with frosting. Well ..... I LOVE chocolate frosting. And ..... I tasted some. Then ended up having a spoonful ................ or 2. But then I had a light dinner of salad ........ and sausage. Yeah, my diet could use a lot of improvement.

Week 2, Day 2

I ended up not doing any weights yesterday. With the kids being sick, it was difficult for me to squeeze anything in. But, this morning, I had remembered that I would switch Tuesday's and Wednesday's workouts this week to see if the Tuesday class was more challenging than Wednesday's. The class is called "Muscle Boot Camp", and BOY! Does it live up to it's name! It's ALL strengthening, but my heart rate was raised quite a bit during the class, too. It was one of the most challenging workouts I've ever had. I can't wait to do it next week! LOL There was someone in that class that mentioned the R.I.P.P.E.D. class on Thursday mornings. He said that it's a really hard one too. So, I'm thinking about trying that this week. Maybe I'll do my 4 mile run tomorrow and then do R.I.P.P.E.D. on Thursday and then a 3 mile run on Friday. Maybe I'll try to sneak in a run on Saturday too. I may need to change my entire training plan!

Yesterday I had that yummy green smoothie for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, I made Salisbury steak with lean ground beef, mashed potatoes with almond milk and margarine, and a salad. Last night after we put the kids to bed, my husband mentioned that I "forgot" to buy ice cream. I told him I didn't forget. He ended up having a bowl of strawberry yogurt topped with bananas. It's not easy to keep bad food out of the house .... especially ice cream. Jim LOVES it so much! And if it's in the house .... I will probably have some too. But, it's going to be an occasional treat, instead of an every day staple. Today, I'm going to do a different green smoothie for breakfast and a salad for lunch. Today is leftover day ..... so I'll probably have some shrimp and rice, with some green beans.

I have a feeling I'm going to be SORE tomorrow!!

Week 2 Day 1

Well, it's day 8 of my training. The scale shows a 2.5 weight loss since last Monday, so I am pleased. I didn't run or do any type of exercise over the weekend. Life kind of got in the way, but that's just an excuse. I didn't make it a priority. I'll do better this next weekend. Today I am to run 3 miles and some strengthening. I went to the gym at 5:30, with the intention of doing just that. I ran my 3 miles, but I did it in 30:09, which is the fastest I have ever done! I was SO exhausted, I came home without doing weights. I kept thinking I'll just take the kids to the gym later, put them in the day care and do my weights. But when I came home, I could hear Jesse coughing in his sleep. He's been trying to fight this cold for a few days, and his horrible cough sends the message that I can't put him in day care. So, perhaps I'll use some free weights that we have here and look up some stuff I can do either on the internet or my Fitness magazines I have.

Even though I didn't do anything over the weekend, I did really well with my eating. Yesterday was Fast Sunday, so I fasted until dinner, and ate one serving of dinner. I didn't pig out, like I normally would at the end of a fast, so I feel pretty good about that. Last night I made a rice pudding (seriously YUMMY, but really sweet, and lots of fat). I ate some, but only a few small bites. That was my only "cheat" over the weekend, which is pretty good for me =) I haven't really planned out my meals for today, except I'll have that green smoothie for breakfast. Maybe I'll make a double batch and have one for lunch too.

Tomorrow is my "long run" day. I plan on doing 4 miles, but I don't think I'll push for speed. Today was SO hard. I tried to sprint the last lap and ended up sprinting the last half lap. But I'll try to go faster than I normally would.

Week 1 Day 5

I got up early and ran 3 miles at the gym. I did it in 32 minutes, which is actually slower than what I've done, but I just wanted to pace myself a bit. I sprinted the last lap. I think in a couple of weeks I'm going to sprint the last lap and a half. Sprinting is REALLY hard for me, but when I know I'm pushing myself and I succeed, I feel awesome at the end. I walked one lap to cool down and catch my breath, and then I just couldn't get enough water. I need to remember to try to keep myself hydrated all the time, not just at the gym.
I wasn't successful at leaving the Halloween candy alone, but I had a lot less than I would normally eat. So, that's something, right? I had that yummy green smoothie this morning. For lunch I had a quinoa and black bean salad. Tonight is pizza night ..... I know, I know. I plan on having ONE slice of veggie pizza, and a spinach salad. But I'm drinking a lot of water today. My urine is almost clear! LOL
Tomorrow I have full day of cub scout training in Tooele. I have to leave at 7:30 to get there on time, and the gym doesn't open until 7 on Saturdays. So, I'm going to get up early and do my Slim in 6 exercise DVD. There's a stretching section, so I'll probably do that one. And then I'll take the family to the gym after dinner and do some weights.
My issue right now is hydration during the race. When I ran in the 10K last month, I ended up not drinking anything. I tried to down one of those little cups of water they handed me at the 3.5 mile mark. But, when I'm running, I'm too out of breath to drink anything, so I just got my mouth wet and spit it out. So, I ran the entire thing without drinking anything. I KNOW I'll have to continue to hydrated myself during the half. But, if I stop to walk a few steps to try to catch my breath so I can drink, and then continue my run ..... am I actually "running the entire race"? My number one goal is to run the entire thing ..... but if I attempt to run the whole thing without stopping to drink .... I doubt I'll even finish. (Picture collapsed woman, about 5 miles from the finish line, medics on their way with an IV.) Any thoughts?

Week 1, Day 4

So, yesterday was kind of a weird day. We (the family) ended up needing to get away from the house for a bit in the afternoon. I found out that the gym has a kids zumba class on Wednesday afternoons, for ages 5-11. Well, Kelli just turned 5, so we decided to go to the gym ...... again. If you remember, I was there in the morning and did a Zumba class. So, during Kelli's class, the boys went in the child care, Jim played racquetball, and I did some weights. I really tried to push myself, too. I knew I was weak, but I didn't really realize how weak I really was! I had some of those machines at the lightest weight, and could barely do 20 reps! But I really pushed myself and left feeling like I had a great workout, which makes up for the crappy workout I felt I got in the Zumba class. When we were done, we took the kids to the gymnasium and played a little basketball. Jesse really enjoyed it because he LOVES basketball, but all the kids really enjoyed it, along with climbing the rock wall before we left.
I did really well with my diet. Stayed away from Halloween candy, and had whole grain waffles (which were YUMMY!!). I had a light chicken salad sandwich, on whole grain for lunch. However, dinner was a disaster! It's a long story, but we ended up having dinner at Leatherby's. Ugh. I tried to order the healthiest thing they had on their menu ..... but seriously .... have you ever tried their cheese fries?! I think I must have downed almost 2000 calories in that one meal. Fail! Usually, at this point, I'd give up, thinking, "I just can't do this!" but I'm still plugging along.

This morning, I thought Thursday was my 2 mile run, so I did that. I turns out that Friday is the 2 mile run, so I'll do my Thursday (3 miles) run tomorrow. But today, I tried to run a bit faster and sprinted the last lap (*whew!*). I was hoping to do that 2 miles in 20 minutes, but I ended up doing it in 20:25. Darn. But I tried hard. I'll push myself a bit more tomorrow. The kids have had some of their Halloween candy today, and did I have any? Nope. =) I've been good today. For breakfast, I had a green smoothie with spinach, bananas, strawberries and homemade almond milk. For lunch, I had that chicken salad, on a bed of lettuce (I made it yesterday, and it's the BOMB the second day!). Tonight, I'm making some prepared beef sirloin tips with creamy mashed potatoes and some corn. But I'm going to have a quinua black bean salad, and green beans. TONS of protein and just the right amount of carbs.

One thing that I'm struggling with is not weighing myself. Normally, I weigh myself daily, and it becomes depressing. My bathroom scale broke, so now it has become easier not to weight myself so often. The gym has a scale and I've been really good and not weighing myself. But after the last couple of days (Halloween Candy, Leatherby's) I'm kind of afraid to weigh. I've decided that Mondays are weigh days. This week (4 days ago) I weighed in at 179.5. Which is what I weighed before I lost weight the last time I lost weight. (Did that make sense?). So, I basically feel like I've started all over. However, with that being said, my dh has mentioned that I look thinner. And when I was working out in that Zumba class yesterday, I noticed in the mirror that I seem a bit more slender. So, perhaps I'm becoming more lean, and gaining some muscle in my legs? Even though I started my half training this week, I've been running quite a bit (in spurts), for the past couple of months. Who knows?

Day 3

This morning I took the Zumba class that is offered at the gym I go to on Wednesday mornings. I was a bit disappointed. Some of it was pretty hard, but most of it seemed too easy. I left feeling like I didn't get a really good workout. So, I may change my training schedule a bit so that my cross training days would be on either Tuesdays or Thursdays. The classes they have on those mornings are hard aerobics classes (R.I.P.P.E.D and Boot Camp).
This morning, I plan to have some egg whites and toast (with margarine).
Last night I had some baked chicken and green beans. For some reason I decided not to eat any carbs, which is weird for me, as I'm trying to train for a race.
I'm still struggling with having all this Halloween candy in the house. I need to be way more self-disciplined! I should just throw them all away ...... hmmmm ..... how to explain that to my kids .....

Half Marathon Training - Day 2

So I haven't blogged in awhile (suprise!), but since I decided to run in a half marathon, I thought it would be a good motivator if I blogged about it more often than every 10 months.
I will be running in the Salt Lake City marathon on April 21, 2012, which is 25 weeks away. I found a training program online and adjusted it to my schedule. The program is as follows:

Week	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1&2	Rest	3 m run + strength	4 m run	30 min cross	3 m run	2 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
3&4	Rest	3 m run + strength	4 m run	30 min cross	3 m run	2 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
5&6	Rest	3.5 m run + strength	5 m run	40 min cross	3.5 m run	2 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
7&8	Rest	3.5 m run + strength	5 m run	40 min cross	3.5 m run	2 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
9&10	Rest	4 m run + strength	6 m run	40 min cross	4 m run	2 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
11&12	Rest	4 m run + strength	6 m run	50 min cross	4 m run	Rest	5-K Race
13&14	Rest	4.5 m run + strength	7 m run	50 min cross	4.5 m run	3 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
15&16	Rest	4.5 m run + strength	8 m run	50 min cross	4.5 m run	3 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
17&18	Rest	5 m run + strength	8 m run	60 min cross	5 m run	Rest	10-K Race
19,20,21	Rest	5 m run + strength	9 m run	60 min cross	5 m run	3 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
22,23,24	Rest	5 m run + strength	10 m run	60 min cross	5 m run	3 m run or cross	Stretch & Strengthen
25	Rest	4 m run	10 m run	60 min cross	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon

It's a 12 week program, but since the race is more than double that, I thought it would be good to do each week twice.

Yesterday morning, I went to the gym, planning to do a 3 mile run, and then do some strength training, focusing on my upper body. I was only able to do a 2 mile run, but I sprinted the last lap, then I walked 4 laps, then ran another 3 laps. I logged myself doing just a 2 mile run. Then I went into the weight room and started with 2 sets of 20 reps on the chest fly. OUCH! Boy, are my muscles weak!! Then I did another machine, working my shoulders and arms, but I can't remember what it's called. It's kind of like the chest fly, except my elbows aren't bent, and I pull back, instead of press forward. Anyway, I did 2 sets of those 20 reps and my arms were shaking, like they were made of jell-o. I did one more set of the same machine, except reverse, and I couldn't do any more. I'm such a weakling!
This morning, my program called for me to run 4 miles. Since I could only do 2 yesterday, I didn't have high hopes of doing 4, but I decided to push myself as far as I could. About a half mile into my run, I was already struggling and decided that 2 miles just might be it for me. But after I did 2, I felt I was doing ok and decided to do the full 4 miles. I struggled a bit, so I slowed my pace slightly, and that helped. I decided to push myself really hard and sprint the last lap. I finished 4 miles in 43:45, which is just under 11 miles/min.
My diet? Well, I'm trying to increase my protein and carbs. I'm not doing vegan while I train (for now anyway), so I've been eating egg whites and sausage (I know ... fatty!) with whole wheat toast for breakfast. Yesterday was Halloween, and I sneaked about 4 pieces of candy from my kids. I know I really need to cut way back on sugar. So, if I can stay away from their candy, I can pretty much do ANYTHING! I put their candy in a bag, closed it, and put it up and away where I can't see it.

I need to lose about 50 lbs. That will help my runs a great deal. So, limit the candy and fat, and keep doing my training ...... I should be able to lose quite a bit of that 50 lbs before the half.