A few quickies

I bought a Garmin Forerunner 205 from Amazon. It is a rather expensive gadget but I really wanted something to replace my dead Nike+. I just realized the 205 doesn’t have a heart rate monitor…doh! Oh well, it still does really cool things and will definitely encourage me to run outside more. In fact, to help further encourage my running outside, I think I’m going to go buy some new over the counter Zyrtec. I have really bad allergies to basically all things outdoors, so if the pollen count is high or other allergens are running amuck my nose is running, I’m sneezing, and my lungs feel like they are about to collapse. It’s not pretty. And I really want to run outside because I was discussing with my roommate, you only run on the treadmill as fast as you set it. Maybe I can run faster and I just don’t know it because I’m not pushing hard enough on there. I want the freedom of just going outside. So…by next week I’ll have that!

Two, I did not run in the 5k yesterday because of the previous night festivities (my law school friends did an awesome bar crawl…we don’t have much time left so I thought it was important to hang out with them). However, I did run a 5k in the afternoon at the gym. I did it in 32 minutes! Which for me is definitely a PR. I really am excited for Garmin because it will make tracking my running easier. I have kept okay track in an excel log I keep, but sometimes I’d like to know what the fastest 2, 3 or 4 miler I’ve run was and I don’t know.

Three, I think I’m going to run the Chicago marathon! My friend Taureen, who I ran the Mini with last year, was asking me to do it last year and I said no, but when she mentioned it again this year I thought why not? I’ve always wanted to run one, and having a future BIG race keeps me on track with running (which is good for the weight loss), maybe I’ll even be at my goal weight by the race! Hopefully, Chicago won’t be having a heat wave again this year. It’s October 12th, so 7 months from now and 5 months after the Mini. I think that’s pretty good timing.

Classes, classes, classes

No not law school classes. I’ve been going to ‘group fitness’ classes at the gym. Work outs thus far:

-Monday: cycling (45 minutes) & running (45 minutes)

-Tuesday: muscle up (60 minutes), stair machine (15 minutes), elliptical (15 minutes)

-Wednesday: cardio csi (longest 60 minutes of my life) & running (30 minutes)

-Thursday: cycling (another long 60 minutes) & running (30 minutes)

Cardio CSI was the hardest class I have ever been to. It’s a combination cardio and weight class, and, because I am so inconsistent with my weight training, I think a class structure is the best way to go for me. The instructor also teaches on Mondays at the same time for a class called High-Intensity Training, but I think they are the same class. He also teaches boot camp at the gym, which I think is kind of the mentality he uses at these classes. The class was packed (it’s really popular) but the instructor still managed to give people personal attention, and for some reason (haha, this is quite obvious) I got lots. I’m definitely going back to his class. I want to do both the Mondays and Wednesdays.

The cycling class on Thursday was also really hard. We did a 9 minute quad work out in the middle where we were standing the whole time and trying to keep our head steady, which is really hard and requires great strength in the quads. Unfortunately, something went astray for me yesterday (I think the lack of sleep I’ve been getting) so I had drank NO water throughout the day (damn Diet Coke) which I think led to a horrible charlie horse in my calf about half way through. I didn’t do so hot on that part. But overall I liked the challenge of the class.

Tonight I am going to do 90 minutes of easy-medium cardio (treadmill, stair machine & elliptical most likely), and then Sunday I’m running a 5k.

I think this weekend I will also reach a milestone…20 pounds lost since I started! I’m so pumped. The weight is finally coming off again. I can even see differences and especially feel differences in my clothes. It’s really motivating. I wish I knew how much more I had to lose, but as I have never been really in shape (and when I was at like 15 I don’t have the slightest inclination what I weighed….oh to be young and not care again…) I don’t know what my ideal body weight is, and I REFUSE to set some unrealistic and possibly unhealthy goal for myself. So basically I’m going to work on it until I’m bikini-ready. At that point, I will be content with my weight and start working on maintaining it. I’ve never worn a bikini, so that’s always been a fantasy and goal of mine. It would be great to do it this summer, but I think next summer is a more realistic goal.

I also think I found a new gym for when I move back to Indiana. Check it out. They have lots of classes (including spinning and body pump, which is “certified” and I think similar to cardio CSI) which I’m obviously interested in and it’s fairly close to the apartment. The downside is that it’s probably more expensive than Cardinal Fitness but they don’t have any classes.  What do you think??

The move home is only 6 weeks away!

8 weeks out!

So here we are less than 8 weeks from the Mini Marathon, and less than 3 weeks until I have to wear a bathing suit on the cruise.  In anticipation of both of these things, I’m going to attempt to do 90 minutes of cardio 5-7 days a week. I know this sounds crazy but I am excited. Tonight, I went to spinning and then ran 3.5 miles (each for 45 minutes). Tomorrow, I’m going to go to spinning (60 minutes) and then do some interval training (30 minutes). I haven’t thought beyond that.

Last week I managed to run 4 times while I was away. I’m pretty glad I made myself do that. I hope I can do the same thing on the cruise (it should be okay because there are a lot of treadmills, at least that is how it appears on the drawing of the boat). My goal for the half marathon: NO walking and a time of 2:15 (I think this will be tough but last year I did it in 2:36 and I had a training snafu with my messed up leg).

In other, non-running news, I wish I hadn’t had to fly back to DC today. I just want to permanently be back in Indiana.

6 miles & a new apartment!

The good news thus far this week is that I ran three times. The bad news is that I didn’t run four times.  Runs and times this week:

Monday: 3.5 miles at 42 minutes on hills (which I NEVER do)

Wednesday: 2 miles at 20:30 minutes. I had to do this as a quick run because my dad was picking me up earlier than planned

Friday: 6 miles!!! at 68 minutes. Not a bad time. I’m pretty happy about that. Last week my 5 mile run was at 58 minutes so I increased one mile with only 10 added minutes.

The treadmill at this hotel sucks, so after my first run on it on Wednesday I had no hope for a long run. However, the 6-mile run today was actually great. I felt like I could go further.  Also, usually when I do my long runs one of my feet falls asleep. Today that didn’t happen which is great! I’m feeling really good for the mini marathon!

 Hopefully this training continues injury-free!

 As a personal aside, I found an apartment! I LOVE IT. I’m going to make it official this afternoon.  I was going back and forth between the one bedroom and the one bedroom with a den/bedroom (that’s pretty small). To be honest, I think it’ll be a last second decision. I really want the two bedroom for guests and an office, but I can also see the financial responsibility in getting a one bedroom and saving some money, but to be honest it’s only $50/month I’d be saving and I tihnk the added benefit might be worth it.

Here’s the link to the complex: Waterstone. This is the one bedroom, and This is the two bedroom. They both have a washer dryer! That was my big thing. I can also get a garage at any time if I want one and it’s in a good location — same distance to either office (I still don’t know which office I’ll be working at) and pretty close to my parents. And it’s by a Target and a Marsh, so I love that convenience factor. I’m pretty excited. Now I just need to buy some furniture and figure out how I’m going to paint it!

January & February Wrap-Up

During January, I ran 42.75 miles! I’m happy with this. If I keep it up I’ll run over 500 miles this year, and obviously if I start increasing my mileage, particularly on a long run a week which except for last week I haven’t been doing, maybe I’ll make it over 600 (kind of a goal for me b/c it’s the distance between DC and Indiana).

During February, I ran 30.5 miles. I actually started this post at the end of January and never finished it. I was so excited at that time with how much I had run.  I had thought February had gone well, until I counted up my mileage. A bit of a disappointment.  However, I have run 2 4 mile and 2 5 mile runs and I’m completely on track with my half marathon schedule, so there really isn’t much to complain about.

My goal for March is to run 60 miles! I’m going to run 4 times a week, minimum, and hopefully some of that will be outside. Unfortunately, my Nike+ died, so I have to buy a new one OR I have to buy a Garmin. The Garmin is obviously more expensive ($150-$200) but they last longer, are more reliable, and can give you some pretty cool statistics if you know what you are doing (including heart rate, which I think is very important!). The Nike, on the other hand, goes with the iPod (although I’m beginning to think I like running without the music more) and is pretty good for the price ($30).

This week is my first challenge of March (and probably my only significant one). I’m going to Indiana to go house hunting. I’m staying with J though, and there is a treadmill at his hotel so that should work out fine. The plan for the week:

-Tonight: 3.5 miles

-Tomorrow: Tomorrow I’m working a full day and flying out so I think I’m going to call it a rest day.

-Wednesday: 3 miles

-Thursday: 2 miles

-Friday: 6 miles

-Saturday/Sunday: whatever I can get in; I’m building all the running into the week in case I can’t run on the weekend

-Total Mileage: 14.5 (which 1/4 of my goal for the month — perfect!)

Focusing

Well the wedding has come and gone. The dress not only fit but it was too big (but it was too big in the chest, not the waist, unfortunately). The wedding & bachelorette party weekends sort of threw off my running, but I managed to get my long runs in both weeks. This week I’m completely back on track. Here’s what I’ve done so far

-Monday: Ran 3.5 miles + 1 mile warm-up/cool-down + weight training (I’m doing Body by Glamour’s weight training program)

-Tuesday: Cycling + 15 minutes on the stair machine

-Wednesday: 2 miles (in 20 minutes!) + weight training

-Thursday: was too sore to cycle and was not going to work out at all — but I did! I ran 2.5 miles and biked/stair machined for 15 minutes.

The rest of the week:

-Friday: weight training + some cardio

-Saturday: LONG run (5 miles again)

Since I started running I have wanted two things: (1) to look like a runner when I run. I think I look like a fat person trying to jog. I know that’s pretty demeaning, but I am not built like a runner, and the reason I want to be is because I absolutely LOVE how runners look. I want to look that way because I like it — not because I care what anyone else thinks (although I’ll take that too ) and (2) to be fast. I have been running for over two years. I will be the first to admit though that my running has been anything but consistent. I am really good for 3-4 months at a time and then I stop for some reason or another. The sad part is that right when I get to the end of the 3-4 months I’m finally doing good. This is all related to being fast because I have recently admitted to myself (I don’t know what’s taken me so long) that the reason I am not fast is because I am just carrying around too much wait AND everytime I stop running for whatever reason I put the weight back on. This has made me realize that I just will not be fast until I stick to running and eating well and until then I have to accept being slow. This morning I reached a milestone — I am back to pre-meeting Jason weight. I was doing really well right before I met him but totally fell off the wagon for the first 3 months of our relationship. However, as this blog indicates the last 2 have been much better SO the point of this was, I need to lose some weight before I run faster and really I can’t think of any better motivation to lose weight. I will run faster. I really would love if I could drop 20 pounds between now and the Mini Marathon. The ONLY reason (and it’s a big one) that I think this may not happen is the cruise. I do plan on running on the cruise, but frankly I also plan on eating all the delicious food (I’m certainly paying for it so why not?). We’ll see how much that effects the overall weight loss goals.

In other news, as part of my training, I signed up for two races:

Equal Justice Foundation’s 5K on March 16, 2008

Pepsi’s International Race to Stop the Silence 10k on April 13, 2008

Not only are both perfect in my training schedule (which actually calls for me to do both a 5k and a 10k at about the same time as I’m doing them) but they are both for good causes

She lives!

This isn’t really the post I need to make, but I wanted to quickly say I’m alive and kicking. The eating is going better and the working out is going great (I switched gyms to one with more spinning, which is great and gives me much better options).  I also started my mini marathon training. I have to do a little switcheroo this week and next because of some travel back to Indiana I’m doing but I’m making it a priority to get the running and spinning in. I hope to have some more significant posts/insights in the next few weeks after everything calms down.

A Wednesday Post — OH MY!

Well I can safely say that goal number one for this week will not be achieved, again.  I didn’t make it up for spinning yesterday. I LOVE working out in the mornings but have difficulty waking up the first morning at 5:30 a.m. (because I have trouble getting to bed early enough the first night). By first night, I mean first night before I plan on waking up at 5:30 a.m. I always say I’m going to go to bed at 9:30 a.m. but it just never happens. And even sometimes when it does happen, I rarely fall asleep before 11. Now the second night is never a problem.

So Monday I got up at 7:30 a.m. to work out (so I went to work late, which isn’t actually late as I don’t have a schedule, but it’s not something I like to do because that means less money), which obviously didn’t require me to go to bed earlier than normal (normal wake up time: 7:15 a.m.). But Monday night I could not fall asleep so Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m. was just not happening. I did however manage to get up this morning, exhausted, but up, and imagine my surprise when I had a great work out. I felt energized, ran a fartlek on the treadmill, which went much better than expected, and did some really good weight lifting on the lower body.  So, despite my setback Tuesday morning, I’m feeling pumped about the week. And it helps that I’m losing weight, thanks to the calorie counting!

Week 4 (or 5? not sure)

Last weeks goals:

1. Work out 5 times (at least) this week — cycle twice, run/lift thrice. I worked out five times, but only went cycling once. I couldn’t make it up on Thursday morning and when I tried to go Saturday the class was full. However, I did run 5 miles on Thursday night, which I felt like was a huge accomplishment. I was shocked I could do it, and I didn’t even walk!
   
2. Eat less sugar and refined flour (the white stuff); eat more protein (mostly in the form of protein shakes), fruits and veggies, and drink more water. I both achieved and failed this one. I definitely ate more fruits and veggies, but otherwise major failure. I have decided that I must go back to calorie counting. It is the only way I keep myself “honest.” So back to fitday.com.
3. Lose 2 pounds. I realized this was a DUMB goal because I didn’t weigh myself on Monday or at least I don’t remember what my weight was. I don’t think I lost 2 pounds either, but I will be attempting this again this week, this time with better journaling skills
4. Run 2.9 miles in 30 minutes. I DID IT THIS MORNING! This was huge. I didn’t think I was going to be able to push myself but I did. Relatively speaking, I know I’m slow, but for me this is great. I’m excited

Goals for this week:

1. Work out 5 times a week: 2 cycling, 3 running/lifting. I want to make sure to focus on the lifting this week (and make that 2nd cycling class!)
2. Eat between 1400-1600 calories per day; drink more water. The biggest challenge on this front is keeping the calories down at dinner/night. I have a bad tendency to just be lazy and order pizza with Jason (although when I did this last week, I only ate one piece, which is a huge improvement for me — or not considering that one piece probably had 23957098345 fat grams).
3. Run 5-6 miles one day this week. I’m not going to have a speed goal this week (I’m saving doing 3 miles in 30 minutes for next week).

I’m still pretty mad at myself for my poor eating at dinner and on the weekends. I have counted calories pretty religiously twice before and both times it worked out well. There’s something about having to know how many calories/fat grams are in your food that makes you eat better. I’m going to keep trying to eat more fresh veggies and fruits, with more emphasis on the veggies.

And an update: PT is not happening. I am still thinking of doing a group PT thing, but I’m leaning toward no, because of finances. However, if I don’t lose 2 pounds this week (and do well both with working out and with calories), I will reconsidering the group PT thing.

Oh, and hopefully this week goes okay despite the fact that I am sick again!

New week, new goals

Although I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a blog slacker (still), I should mention that I had written almost an entire post yesterday (except for an image I wanted to upload, see below) and when I logged back in, it was gone! Here’s my attempt at recreating it. (I’ve since found the lost blog, but only after I had written much more in this one…I’m new to wordpress, what can I say?)

Being as honest with myself is hard sometimes, but lets just say I know that I’m not doing the best that I could with this whole weight loss thing. I give myself too many excuses to cheat (the most overused one: there’s nothing on this menu I should eat anyway so I’ll just eat like crap). But this week, I’ve been refreshed and I think it’s going well. I’ve set some specific goals this week, and hopefully next week I’ll be able to report success. Without further adieu, goals:

1. Work out 5 times (at least) this week — cycle twice, run/lift thrice. (this week = Monday – Sunday) So far I’m doing great. Ran and lifted Monday and today, and went cycling yesterday.
2. Eat less sugar and refined flour (the white stuff); eat more protein (mostly in the form of protein shakes), fruits and veggies, and drink more water. I just started this goal yesterday but it’s going well. I have substituted wheat for all white bread/pasta in the house and I bought lots of fruits at the store yesterday (I like fruits way more than veggies, although I’m okay with some veggies). The downside is that fruits are EXPENSIVE!
3. Lose 2 pounds. I have avoided setting specific goals, but I have already hit a plateau, which is lame and my fault at this point. (I suppose it’s not really a plateau, more me sucking.
4. Run 2.9 miles in 30 minutes. When I started running at the beginning of January I was doing 2.35 miles in 30 minutes. Monday, I did 2.8 (I really pushed myself though), and today I did 2.65. I’m hoping by next Monday I can push myself for the 2.9. After the mini training (aka endurance training), I’m planning on starting to run for speed for a while (while keeping the endurance). I know it’s hard to do both at the same time, so I don’t want to push the envelope. See below for my running schedule.

Dinner menu for the week:

• Pork chops (with seasoning), broiled; broccoli (love the microwave steamers kind found in the frozen food section); white rice (with spray butter, the best invention ever) (had this last night, it was great).
• Tacos: meat (7% fat), cheese (2% milk kind — low fat!), and all the other veggies for tacos (no sour cream though!)
• Chicken parmesean: bread crumbs + chicken, lightly fried in olive oil, served with sauce and whole wheat pasta
• Turkey burgers and home made onion rings (baked with bread crumbs). I have an obsession with turkey burgers.
• Stir fry: beef with stir fry veggies and seasoning.

Favorite item at the store this week: Skinny Cows. Low fat deliciousness (not great on the cutting down on sugar though, so they may have to go next week).

And I finalized my training schedule for the marathon. It’s pretty much Hal Higdon’s schedule with the days moved and cycling added. I’m starting it on Feb. 10th and plan on running for 30 minutes three times a week, just trying to increase speed between now and then (which is only a few weeks!). I had been really dreading the mini because I didn’t run all through the fall, but I’m definitely feeling improvement already and know that (barring an injury like last year), I can definitely do it and do it better than last time! Mini Marathon Training