Day 52: Ran My First Mile!

I really didn't think I would make it through the workout.

Last night, I checked my C25K app, just to see if the workout changed like it did yesterday. Imagine my surprise when it said 22 consecutive minutes! This is not really a huge deal, I suppose, but 22 minutes has always been my barrier. When I was 15 pounds heavier, I tried adding consecutive time several days in a row and by 2 weeks, I had added 22 minutes of running on the treadmill. Unfortunately, I burned out quickly and couldn't get past that barrier. I remember one day I broke down crying and left the gym because I couldn't get past 7 minutes! So needless to say, 22 minutes has always been a little bit of a tough barrier for me, and I was nervous. But I decided to try out the app anyway, almost convinced it would be the one workout I didn't finish.

I started out quite weakly, and tired fast. But I pushed through. One of the benefits of having a timer is knowing exactly where you stand in the run. I ran through 10 minutes, then 15, then 20. By two minutes left I had a death grip on the cellphone, sweating profusely, and exhausted. But I made it to 22 minutes! I ran about 1.3-1.5 miles of it, but since my C25K app doesn't track distance I couldn't tell exactly how much of it I ran. I walked the remainder of the course, and then added another 1.7 miles, for a total of 3.2 miles. :-)

No double chin! Covered in sweat.

 

I was pretty shocked. I have gotten past the 5k distance, for a total of 5.14 kilometers. I have only gone past 5k distance once before, and I walked the entire time, for a total of 3.7 miles. That's the only time I have ever done it before. I could have technically could have walked/ran the entire trail if I would have added another half a mile, but by that time I was so exhausted it probably would have taken a slight breeze to knock me over. :-D

 

Tomorrow or Friday, depending on how long the lab takes, I will do 25 minutes consecutive. If I get through it, it will be my first time getting past 22 minutes. Thankfully the C25K app stays at 25 minutes consecutive for awhile, so I will be able to get used to that distance. I'm excited, and feeling very awesome.

 

I hope everyone has a great day. Be blessed and go outside!

Day 51: Upping the Ante

I started off my workout this morning with the C25K W6D2. I was expecting all the workouts for the week to be the same, as they usually were for the past five weeks. Imagine my surprise when I look at the workouts and it says to do 2 10-minute blocks of running! I have never done that much running before, except on the treadmill some time ago. I suddenly got nervous and seriously considered doing the W6D1 again. I thought for sure that I would not make it. But I decided to try it anyway. To my surprise, I was able to do both 10-minute blocks without stopping, for a total of 20 minutes of running. I'm not going to lie, I was definitely out of breath and definitely considered stopping a few times. But then I would look at the clock and say, I'm halfway, I've got 3, 2, 1... minutes left, and so on and so forth. That has always gotten me through some difficult runs. Some folks think it's counterintuitive to look at the clock, that you should just enjoy the run. And I do! There are times when I look at the scenery and just love running. Other times I'm so out of breath that it's a struggle to get through it! I find that looking at the clock gives me a goal. :-)

I was definitely sweating after that workout.

 

I decided to up the ante and walk an additional mile for a grand total of 2.55 miles. It got easier as I went on, and I would have gone longer than that except it began to drizzle a little and I was concerned about my cell phone getting completely drenched or at the very least a little moody, so I packed up my gear and headed home. (Much to my dismay, it stopped raining as soon as I left! :-P)

 

I was a little sore after my workout, and I decided to take a little break. I drank my protein shake and did some homework, and texted my fiancé for a few hours. Then I got bored. Mind-numbingly bored. I am low on fuel and have to wait to fill up the tank again, so I've mostly been at home all day. I got the crazy idea to ride on my dad's stationary bike for a little while, since it is in the basement anyway and so am I, most of the time. I thought that I would do a short 10-minute ride and be done with it, but as usual I made bets with myself (as in, I bet I can go longer than 10 minutes!) and ended up doing 9.11 miles in 36 minutes. Not a bad deal, though I have to admit I'm still a bit sore. Sometimes I do two workouts on the bike for a total of 1 hour, but since I have been upping my run time I'm just going to stick with 36 minutes.

 

I hope everyone has a good day. Be blessed, and go outside! :-)

Day 50: The Day After

Surprisingly, I am actually feeling quite fantastic after my 5k. I wasn't sore at all and my feet felt great in my favorite shoes. I am surprised but not entirely as I am getting used to running/walking more than 2 miles most days.

Today I ventured out and did C25K Week 6 Day 1, which was 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, 8 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, and 5 minutes running, for a total of 34 minutes plus warm-up and cool-down. Since it was a longer distance, I decided to take my Sports Beans with me. They help keep the muscles in my legs from being too sore and give me energy for long runs. The first five minutes weren't that bad and the eight minutes subsequent were only difficult during the last few minutes. I explored some different parts of the trail, and enjoyed the scenery. I ran all the way from City Hall Park to my gym, which is at least 0.5 miles or more. I am still super slow, lol. :-) I decided to continue after 34 minutes and fartlek (I love that word!) for the next 20 minutes. Doing fartlek for the last part of the run keeps me running about 5k distance, and doesn't exhaust me to the point that I can't walk to my car afterward and have to be dragged. (In case I'm found unconscious, pause the Runtastic app!) Anyhoo, I did 2.26 miles in 53:17, not the best time but I can deal. I have done almost 30 miles this month, and the month is still going! :-)

 In my favorite Outdoors Inc shirt from Memphis!

Afterwards. Either my glasses are akimbo or I am, lol.

 

The fiancé and I have talked about making some homemade hummus and pita for our night together since we don't like to spend a ton of money on eating out or eating unhealthy. My influence is somewhat rubbing off on the fiancé (or maybe vice versa since he lost 25 pounds way before I did, lol) cause now he likes to run with me and cook and eat healthy. He is finishing up his externship this week and I couldn't be happier for him. With any luck, he'll get a job offer, but if not, he is very talented and will find somewhere that will enjoy having him. As for me, my job search is temporarily on hold while I concentrate on me and getting through my third semester of college, but once I feel ready to do so I will definitely entertain the possibility of working again. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a great day! I am going to my chemistry class in a little over 20 minutes, then will be putting some gas in my car on the way back. Nothing real Earth shattering, as long as the car doesn't run out before I get there, lol. Be blessed all and enjoy the weather! :-)

Day 49: Lemon Drop 5k and Race Results

Sorry about the delay in posting. I took care of my sister all day yesterday and the day before I was just in a foul mood and couldn't shake it. But today I'm in a great mood and can't wait to post more on my race today.

My fiancé and I went to Frontenac, MO this morning (about a 20 minute drive from my house in St Charles, MO) for the Lemon Drop 5k. We saw our guys at S2 there, and we decided to enter the drawing for a BMR Bliss Go Pack. Sadly, I didn't win even though I had my fingers, toes, and everything else crossed, lol. :-D We were the last to pace, since we run around 20 minute miles on a good day, but we were off. I ran some of the race (about 0.75 to 1 mile worth) and walked a lot of it. I wanted to pace myself so that I wouldn't tire in the middle of the race and have to not finish. The fiancé was ahead of me most of the time but I was okay with that... most of the time. I brought my Sports Beans and was popping them periodically throughout. They were a little sour but otherwise pretty awesome. :-) They definitely gave me the energy to get done with the race.

The final results were as follows:

Me- Time: 57:15 Pace: 18:26/mi Rank: 154
Bryan- Time: 56:45 Pace: 18:16/mi Rank: 33

I think we may have come in dead last in both our divisions but the fun thing was that we didn't finish last overall and we had an awesome time. We both missed our Phormula-1 shakes because they ran out but I may go hassle my supplement guy sometime this week and get some of that stuff. I would love something for a recovery shake. :-) But I digress. Bryan had some bread and oranges at the free food counter but I didn't, lol. :-D

Here is a photo of me from after the race. Not the most flattering of photos, but hey, I don't mind:

Yes, I'm wearing ACTUAL running clothes this time. :)

 

I am so glad I got to do this, and Bryan and I will be running a 5k later in December called the Hot Chocolate 5k. We are both totally looking forward to that one because there will be a chocolate expo and all kinds of goodies. And that one will be more crowded and a bit flatter. And cold, I'm sure, lol. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day. I will be doing some chemistry homework to catch up with the stuff I missed this weekend, and having an awesome protein shake for dinner since I missed mine this morning. (We went to Denny's, for shame! But at least I got the healthy egg white omelet.) Be blessed all and enjoy the nice weather!  

Day 45: R is for Runner

It's been a busy day, or rather, a busy evening and a ho-hum type of day.

Except for my run, that is. I finally passed the 2-mile mark after about 15 minutes of extra running just so I could get the number where I wanted it. For those of you who don't know, I run C25K for the beginning of the run, around 25-30 minutes, and then I spend the last few minutes cooling down, and then I go into power sprint intervals. Basically I pick a point in the park and say I want to go from point A to point B, one landmark to the next, and I run it at full tilt. Then when I get done, I walk a few minutes and repeat. It's a lot of fun and changes up the monotony of run, walk, repeat. It was a beautiful run this morning, it had just rained a few hours ago and it was muggy for sure but not too hot. And running at 7:30 am it was dead as a doornail. Eventually once I got through the first part of my run people started showing up. The good thing about the park is that everyone is really nice, and often the same people show up more than once. There's this adorable old couple with two yappy dogs that always say hello to me in the morning. There's also another old man who wears an old camo marine cap that blasts oldies out of the speaker in his cell phone. He is there almost every day as well. I haven't really introduced myself or anything, but I notice them and they notice me.

Chemistry homework and chemistry class ruled the latter part of my day, and then I went to see Sue Grafton at Maryville University. I am a huge fan of hers and have been since I was around 13 or 14, when I picked up a copy of A is for Alibi at a bookstore in either Memphis or London, I bought a lot of books in both places when I travelled in Europe. I met her when I was 14 and got my photo with her. If I can ever find my photo with her from 1999 I will post a comparison. My dad took the photo on his cell phone and honestly, I cracked up when I saw it. Sue is looking off to the side at something and I'm kind of half-grinning, half-flinching with my eyes shut. I will definitely cut my dad some slack cause he is older and his eyesight isn't that great, but I have to admit that that picture is hilarious. :-D I would post it on here but for some reason I can't seem to upload it on my phone.

Tomorrow I am going for an early morning (VERY early morning) run and I am going to my Chemistry lab. I am determined that this time I will not forget I have a lab in the morning, and make it on time or early. Then I will finally go to Lululemon and pick up my race packet, as I have been neglecting it all week. The 5k is in four days, and I will be sure to post my t-shirt and bib and race outfit, even though it is somewhat nondescript. :-)

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening. I am going to hit the hay, as I am getting tired. Be blessed all!

Day 44: Why I Am an Overcomer

Some days, God tests me.

The following is very spiritually involved, so if you're not interested in that sort of thing, I give you permission to overlook that bit. But still read on, you may learn something.

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I am a huge Joyce Meyer fan. I think she is hysterical, and preaches a good message most times she speaks. I admit there are times when I've turned off the program because I wasn't yet ready to hear what she had to say. But most of the time, she brings it on home.

God seems to like it when I watch Joyce on the internet and seems to give me "homework" after viewing one of her shows. As in, well you've learned the lesson mentally, so let's see if you can put it into practice.

One of my favorite lessons by her is not to become offended at oneself. To become determined that no matter what kind of things are thrown in your way, to not become derailed from the purpose that God has called you to. She advocates being active and articulating things aloud, and she mentions having a very determined sit-down with herself and saying that she is NOT going to be kept by the devil from enjoying her life. She said there was a shift in her attitude from that point on.

Well, I experienced a more benign but similar episode today. For whatever reason, this nagging feeling inside me was that I was a loser and I was a horrible runner. I don't usually think that, normally I'm so excited to be running I can look past the fact that I'm slow. It nagged on and when I got to the hard part of my run,  I was fighting it and just so disappointed that I was, in my opinion, too slow. Eventually, it got intense and I just said to myself for about 5 minutes, "I'm an overcomer," like the Mandisa song. Sometimes I had to say it to myself more harshly than other times, sometimes I had to yell (to myself) at the devil that he was NOT going to take me down. About halfway through my cool down my insistence took, and I realized that yes, I was an overcomer, and yes, I was good at what I did. I decided to continue walking and put in an additional 35 second run at high speed. My total was 1.70 miles, 495 kcals, and 40:18, 9 minutes over the C25K time. :-) I also found out that I had beaten my original fast pace on the run at 2.7 mph instead of my usual 2.3.

After my run. Day 32/50 and 23.2 miles into the Lazy Girl Marathon! :-)

 

 

Mandisa has also put out a series of pictures on her website, and I have used one of those repeatedly on my page. This is the picture in question:

I can't even tell you how many times I've felt that way on the elliptical, lol. :-) But it just means that everyone who has been on a weight loss journey at some point has felt like that picture. But thank God that we are overcomers and have Someone who has overcome even the worst of circumstances. So, if you feel like giving up sometimes, remember that Christ has made us more than conquerors and we can overcome anything! :-)

I hope everyone has a terrific day. True to form, I'm going back to chem homework, lol. Be blessed everyone! :-)

Day 42: Happy Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to me.

I celebrated my 29th birthday with not a lot of pomp and circumstance. My fiancé and I went running this morning, clocking 1.6 miles. Bryan is a super fast runner and I was impressed. He ran the first leg of C25K and didn't even break a sweat. We went to the mall, where he got my gift: pearl earrings with a small diamond that he got from the same place we got my engagement ring. We ate at Charley's subs, where we got some small subs and happily noshed away. :-)

A snack at the mall.

 

We then went mini-golfing at Swing Around Fun Town, the St Charles location, where we got a nice 18 holes in, barely beating the rain as we got into the car. It was a lot of fun and it became quite obvious that I hadn't played in awhile. We ended up hitting the ball too hard and too soft and got our butts handed to us by the kids in front of us. Still, we had fun and plan on doing it again sometime soon. :-)

 

I strike the golf ball sort of in the right direction.

My gorgeous fiancé poses in front of a waterfall.



I don't look half bad myself.

 

 

We then went bowling as our last stop. It was actually quite amusing because we were next to seven kids about 9 or 10 years old, all boys, and two grown-ups. They were hurling the balls across the lane and they were coming down with a resounding CRASH each time. One kid got the idea and threw the ball so hard it went over the bumpers and got stuck in the gutter. I have never laughed so hard in my life, and Bryan was having a hard time keeping a straight face as well. Eventually a well-meaning employee suggested he use a 7-lb bowling ball if he was going to chuck it across the line, and so they made a beeline for the pink bowling ball I was using. I didn't know whether to snatch it back or just laugh that 7 boys were using a pink ball that belonged to a girl. :-D I decided it would be less drama just to laugh it off, and then the dad (or the chaperone) returned with a second pink ball.

 

The pink ball in question.

Photobombed! Bryan takes it in stride.

 



I had a fun birthday but I am definitely glad we are only having a few celebrations. I believe last year we went out at least 6 times and by the end of it we were all feeling kind of bloated and gross, lol. :-) Next Saturday I am going out with my future mom-in-law and on Sunday Bryan and I are running the 5k. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day. Me, I'm going back to chemistry land and enjoying the view. Be blessed all!

Day 41: New Running Records

I did NOT want to run this morning. Do you ever have those mornings, where the body is somewhat willing and the spirit says forget it? That was me this morning. I made excuses, numerous ones that were somewhat satisfying to me, but none of them really fit the mood I was in.

Let me explain.

I can't get past 207. I have been trying to get past 207 for some time, and it goes up to 208 as soon as it gets there. No clue why, I am almost positive this time it was water weight after my lunch date with my best friend, but still, after a few days of consistent weight loss, it gets stuck at 207 again! I'm determined to push past that number, even if it takes a little tweaking of my diet.

Anyhoo, seeing that number ticked me off and I did NOT want to run. I just wanted to take a rest day and veg.  But like I said, none of them really fit the bill. I decided I would just quit my drama and lace up my shoes for my run.

I ran C25K W4D1, which was composed of a 3-minute jog followed by a 90-second break, then a 5-minute jog followed by a 2.5 minute walk, repeated twice. I'm not going to lie, that was a difficult run. There were times when I was panting so hard I thought people would think I was having an asthma attack. Still, I made it through, walked for an extra 5 minutes, and then ran back to my car, for a grand total of 37:45 or so. I burned 464 calories and walked/ran 1.55 miles.

That was a new record for me. :-) I have only run about 1.32-1.46 in the past, even with the shorter bursts of running when I was at a higher (much higher, lol) speed. I was excited for that, and even more so that I got out and broke records when I was in a horrible mood. Which goes to show you, even if it sucks sometimes, you can still get it done. :-)

Me after the run that almost wasn't. Ignore the lip funkiness, I get it every time I run.

 

I am sooo looking forward to the rest of my day as well! The fiancé is spending the night for my birthday and we will go out tonight and tomorrow. :-) I think we are going bowling and out to eat. And he apparently has an awesome present for me that he got through the mail that apparently has his name on it. :-D Either way, I'm totally looking forward to seeing him and getting some interesting presents. Today while I'm hanging out on my own (fiancé has to work til 4) I will probably goof around and do some chem homework. :-) I seem to be nice and ahead on my chem homework, and even got a 95 on my exam! I do need to do some makeup work on the lab though, cause I was a goof and totally forgot I had class! Way to go, Shelly. Either way, got some work to make up, lol. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day! I know I will. Be blessed, and don't be stressed! xx

Day 37: Revenge of the Nerds

I hope everyone is enjoying their day. I have a day off from school, as I only go to school 3 days a week, so I've been hanging around the house studying for my exam on Wednesday. I am really enjoying my chemistry class thus far and I'm hoping for a decent grade on the test.

I have been thinking about what I want to do with my degree. Since the fiancé and I are getting married in a little over a year, we've been making rudimentary plans about what we will be doing after we get married, namely how my schooling will look. Bryan graduates in November, but I have been looking at various aspects of biology and chemistry and I have switched from Microbiology to Biochemistry to Marine Biology and so on and so forth. It's been really hard to narrow it down to one field because I'm such a geek about all kinds of different types of science. I have narrowed it down to Biochemistry and Microbiology at the moment with a leaning toward the biochemistry side. There are not a lot of straight biochem jobs in the StL area but there are a lot that will take a biochem degree. So, my schooling will probably be that I finish up either a biology or chemistry AA degree at SCC, I haven't really decided which yet. I will go to UMSL for my Chem/Biochem BS and Mizzou in Columbia, MO for my biochem PhD. The whole program will take me around 8 years to finish from this point.

It will be nice to get these basic courses out of the way. I went to an advisor in the Biology department at another school and explained to her my situation, that I was coming from Memphis as an English major. She basically said that I was wasting my time trying to earn a science degree if I had come from the humanities department, and why didn't I try something simpler? Ooh man, the quickest way to light a fire under my butt is to tell me I can't do something. I didn't pass the first time, because I was basically told to go straight from an English degree to General Bio I, with no refresher courses in chemistry or math! I never would have listened to anyone who told me to do that now. I hadn't taken any Algebra or Geometry courses since the 11th grade, and I hadn't taken Chemistry in 7 years either. So, if you're doing a Biology/Chemistry degree, get the basic courses out of the way first!! You'll thank me later. :-) And now I'm aceing chemistry and would have aced Biology if I wouldn't have had all the problems at the end of the semester. Who's laughing now, Biology advisor? :-)

Anyhoo, vicarious vengeance aside, I am excited that I will get the opportunity to do that again. It would be weird to finish a degree with no drama at all involved in the getting thereof. Because of severe reactions to various meds I had been put on (more about that in previous entries, if you want to know), I missed a lot of school and had to retake several courses because of it. Hopefully now though the worst of it is behind me and I'll actually be able to graduate with honors and get my life back on track.

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I apologize for a completely off-topic post, but I will update you on some fitness-related stuff as well. I did C25K Week 3 Day 1 (I usually run every day and spend 3 days on a "week") and I did fairly well. I have to say I was a bit nervous about that one because I hadn't run over 3.0 mph doing 3 consecutive minutes in a long time. I got in there and did it anyway, and it was tough! I was sweating fairly profusely and although it wasn't unbearable by any means, it was definitely more than what I was used to. It should be super fun though when the weather cools down to get back out on the track, I miss running outside! (However, I'm not sure I miss almost falling over from the heat, lol.)

The usual shot, day 25/50. Halfway done!

 

You know you love my shirt. C'mon, admit it! Lol

 

 

I guess I will get going, I gotta head to Wally World and find a new pair of running shorts that aren't bright pink, lol. :-D I hope everyone has a fantastic day, and I hope you'll be blessed! :-)



Day 36: Sweaty Monday

I got back on my antidepressants.

I know, I know, I'm not supposed to be depressed if I'm working out, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Besides, I have a bit of a one-track mind when I don't take them. Blame whatever you want, I just feel better that way. (As long as I'm taking all my supplements, mind. Otherwise it just turns me into a freakshow, lol.)

Anyhoo, got a nice long run in today, about 30 minutes worth. I got up to 4.3, but only for a little while because I didn't want to amp it up for so long that I couldn't finish the workout. I averaged around 3.8-4.0 mph, which is fairly normal for me. I am on W2D3 of C25K at the moment, and I'm about to do week 3! That scares me ever the slightest bit, because I have never gotten past week 2 the few times I have done C25K. I have no issue running for 3 minutes, I have done it on the treadmill before, but it should be interesting running it at normal speed! I have always run it about 3.0-3.2 mph but I haven't gone any faster than that.

Nice and sweaty! If I look tired, I am! :-)

 



I have chemistry class today, and will have my first exam on Wednesday! I am not super nervous, but I will definitely be studying hard for that. It's fun stuff like calculations and significant figures, and I will have to know a list of elements (though not all 117 of them!) that is listed on the school website. So far I have done fairly well, got one 88 but I guess that's okay. Otherwise I have gotten all As this semester. I keep hoping to pull off another 4.0, so I can get my GPA back into the 3's. I had some issues the second semester, and I'm hoping to get as close to a 4.0 as I can before I get done and go to UMSL. :-)

Well, don't really have a diary to write this morning, got some studying to do and gotta get in the shower. Cause let's face it, working out makes you stanky, lol! Have a great day all, and be blessed!

Day 33: New Scales and Old Demons

It's been an interesting, up-and-down day. I won't get into all the particulars, but let's just say it's been interesting and leave it at that. All kinds of things went wrong and all kinds of things went right.

Anyhoo, I went running for day 22/50 over at the gym. I will probably be running in the gym for the next few days just because it is supposed to be ridiculously hot and I don't really want to miss my run but don't want to die doing it either. :-) I ran about a mile and a half on the treadmill, which is not bad considering I've only run about 1.46 miles while out on the track including both the warm-up and cool down. I did more like 1.51 today on the treadmill and had a top speed of 4.1 mph. I think it's safe to say I no longer walk and run at the same speed. Cause honestly, I have to slow the treadmill down when I get close to ending my interval because the thing's going so fast that if I try to walk on it, it'll take me out with the garbage, lol! :-D So that's a major accomplishment right there.

Speaking of major accomplishments, I went out to Wal-Mart today and bought a scale. It's not a fancy scale, but it at least reads better than my mom's evil thing that'll give you a 5-7 lb deviation depending on where you stand on it. I tried my new scale out and then went back for a second weigh-in, and it gave me the same measure: 212.2. I guess that's not bad considering it's a new scale, but I would have liked to see a lower weight. Ah well, that is the whole reason why I don't use the scale to begin with. I start obsessing over the weight and wondering why it keeps staying higher than I like, without realizing I've put on about 3 lbs of muscle just by running every day. It sucks! So I have the scale but I'm not touching it for another few days. Next Wednesday I'll be able to see a bit of differential and see if I need to make adjustments in my schedule or add some different types of workouts in. :-)

My awesome scale. I wish this was my weight on the side! :-)

 

I seem to be getting better at balancing the schoolwork/real life/exercise aspects of things much better. I always tended to lean towards one thing or another, no real balancing act involved. But if I have learned anything on my journey to weight loss it's leading a more balanced lifestyle. My diet was definitely the first part of that, because I eat a balanced diet. A lot of protein, decent amount of carbs, and lots of fruits of and veggies. The way I sometimes talk about my diet, a lot of folks assume it's a low-carb, low-fat diet. And to a certain degree that is definitely true. But the important thing is finding balance. I've also (mostly) stopped the five-hour studying binges. I know it sounds weird to call studying a binge but I have seriously spent all day studying for a class when there isn't even an exam coming up! Now, I try to study when I get some time to do so and yes, I still type notes from the book. :-D

 

The exercise balance... well, I'm learning. The interval training has been my best friend because my natural inclination is to run/bike and keep adding time until I get so exhausted I just quit doing it altogether. I was actually very close to quitting training until I discovered C25K and interval training on the bike. So I am definitely not leaving the gym crying anymore because I can't seem to maintain a 22-minute running time seven days into the process! I run/walk for 30-35 minutes and that seems to work for me a lot better. I have been trying to pace myself on the bike after a rather lengthy and heated discussion with my better (much better) half about why I knew what I was doing and didn't need his advice. And what do I do? I listen to him and pace myself and everything's fine again.

 

Real life balance is always a challenge for me because let's face it, I had a lot of imbalance most of my life. I have been fighting the residual demons of PTSD and childhood sexual abuse for a lot of my life, and trying to reestablish my equilibrium even to this point has taken me almost 20 years! That's why there is a great pleasure for me in treating my body well and making sure that I give it some TLC as well. Most of my life I have been punishing myself I guess, for ending up in the situations I did and in a way saddling a lot of the blame that I really didn't need to. It isn't so much about learning to love myself in a balanced way as it is to love myself at all. But I am getting there, slowly but surely. :-)

 

Wow, deep stuff today, lol! :-) I hope everyone was able to wade through that emotional baggage. I will be back later on in the day, I suppose, hopefully with a little less seriousness. Have a great day all!



Day 30: New Records and a Month of Blogging! :)

I decided to go for another run this morning, because I'm awesome that way. I didn't really want to go running around my neighborhood, since it's basically lots of houses and big dogs. Not very exciting to run in. :-) So I packed up my car and headed over to City Hall Park in St Peters. There is a backstory behind why I love this park. My fiancé and I had our first date at India Palace and then we came to City Hall Park before going to see a movie. We were sitting around and I asked him to be my boyfriend, being the blunt person that I can be at times. He said yes, and you know how the story has ended thus far. Anyhoo, we go to City Hall Park every half-year and year anniversaries and geek out about how much we love each other. So, what better place to go than City Hall Park to go run?

Getting my run on! Sorry about the pile of clothes. ;-)

 

 

It was an absolutely beautiful day for running. Sunny, cool, and low humidity. I got my run on and completed the C25K app for the day. Here are my stats according to Accutrainer:

 

Mileage: 2.04 miles

Steps: 3,870

Calories Burnt: 202.2

Total Time: 26:34

 

It's about average time for what I run, but much better mileage! I think I was getting up to 4.0-5.0 mph or more, which relieves me to know I actually do run faster than I walk. :-) I broke two records today: mileage and Calories. I have never burnt above 133 calories on the dreadmill nor have I gone above 1.50 miles. This is the first time I have broken the 1-mile and the 100s-calories barriers and I couldn't be happier about it. And the scenery was so beautiful, (small) waterfalls, creeks, bridges, animals (I saw several squirrels and a rabbit), and a pond. I really enjoyed running here and I think it may be a place for me to run for the next few days. I plan on getting my mileage up a bit and then going to Creve Coeur Park, which is a 4-mile trail around a lake. It is one of the prettiest (and longest!) trails I've ever been on, and I can't wait to take it on.

 



Nice and sweaty after a 2-mile run/walk. :-)

 

My fiancé and I have designed a team shirt for our run in the Lemon Drop 5k and Hot Chocolate 5k in December. We are Team Fire and we have two shirts, one in navy and one in pink. I can't wait to order mine later on this week, when and if my paycheck ever shows up.

 

Speaking of which, I have an interview with Lululemon tomorrow. I am geeked out because I absolutely love their clothes and just the company culture. It is very laid-back and more my style. For my group interview, I am supposed to teach the group how to do something that relates to me. Since I love to strength train and work out in general, I am going to teach them how to do an abbreviated form of the workout that I'm doing to strengthen my arms. I can't wait to do that, it will be so much fun. I don't know what I'm more geeked out about, getting an interview there or teaching people how to work out. :-D I will let you know how it goes. :-)

 

Speaking of the Arm Challenge, here are my stats for today:

 

10 push-ups

10 dips

20 bicep curls

20-second punches

 

The workouts are definitely getting more challenging, especially doing push-ups. I am no longer doing girl push-ups but full on push-ups, so adding more is definitely challenging! Nevertheless, I'm doing pretty good at it and keeping it up. Tomorrow will be a rest day on the arm challenge (except for when I do it at Lululemon tomorrow) so I will not be posting stats. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a good day! My day looks to hold... well, not very much really, just keeping busy around the house. It's always a bit limiting when you don't have much gas in the tank, lol. Be blessed all!

Day 29: Neighborhood Watch

I conquered a huge fear today and went running around my neighborhood. I have not ran or walked around my neighborhood since I was 17, when someone called me Pillsbury Doughgirl and said they were going to kick my @$$ if I went running through again (mind, this was my neighborhood in Memphis, not here in St Charles). Needless to say, never really been super keen on running even though I switched neighborhoods several times. Nevertheless, I started up and began running.

My accountability photo #1

 



I have been taking these photos for several days now, mostly just to show that I wasn't lying or anything, and apparently these pics and the sweat pics have caught on. But I love the accountability of them, and I love showing off the improvement in my body!

 

The weather wasn't too bad, maybe mildly humid but not like it was yesterday where the humidity was so thick you could bottle it and sell it. I ran for about 20 minutes, more like around 19:20 with around 6-7 minutes of running. I have been doing the C25K along with my friend from high school who is also doing it, just because I have used it in the past and liked it. Running outside was definitely different, but not too bad. Even running up the hill was sort of okay, but I was only able to do it for about a minute, which was what the app required of me. (And I made it up the hill too!) I ran around a cul-de-sac which is maybe a half mile around and then ran back to my neighborhood. I then realized that I had run back to my house and basically would have ended up halfway down the street when I got done, so I ran around the block a few times and called it. I wish I wouldn't have though cause I didn't realize I only had six minutes left on the main workout! Silly me. But tomorrow I am definitely finishing the workout! It's about a 20-minute workout plus a 5-minute cooldown on each side, for a total of 30 minutes.

 

Red faced and sweaty again. Gotta get some more done tomorrow!

 

 

I also did day two of the arm challenge, which consisted of:

 

8 push ups

8 dips

15 bicep curls

15 seconds of weighted punches

 

I have to say that it was a bit more difficult after a long run, but it was still fun! Can't wait to do some more this evening!

 

I hope everyone has an awesome day! Be blessed all.

Day 28.5: Goals for September

It's September, and it's time for monthly goals! I have several different goals that I have in mind that I am interested in completing. Obviously, I'm interested in completing the arm challenge, which I have done once today and I intend to do another round of today's challenge this evening. I just want to make sure I'm getting a good workout in! :-)

Speaking of my workouts, here's something awesome right here:

This is a new PB for me! It's about even, 18 and 14 in favor of running. I want to get to about 40 minutes or so, cause I want to get to about that for a 5K time (I know it's a weak time, but I think it's better than walking the whole thing in an hour! :-) ) and then I will add increased running time and speed. :-)

And I have a bit of a weird thing I'm going to for the first time. I'm going to run outside! I have never ran outside before, I've always been a little shy about it. And now that the cooler weather is coming in tomorrow I will go running around 6am! I'm soooo ridiculously excited to run on actual pavement as opposed to the treadmill. It will be more difficult than the no-incline treadmill, I live in a very hilly neighborhood, so I will follow standard C25K and start out with the basic setup for C25K. If it works out then this will be a regular thing!

I have a few goals for September that I think would be super cool. I'm going to run what I've jokingly called the Lazy Girl Marathon, where I will do 26.2 miles in a month. :-) My goal is to do 26.2 miles or more in the month of September. And I will also finish the arm challenge for this month and possibly do a squat challenge as well. :-) Then I will spend more time in the kitchen doing healthy cooking. And finally, I will find a job somewhere I actually want to work! I am thinking of applying at several different sports and running shops in the St Charles/StL area. I don't particularly mind working in retail if I'm more of a floor person than a cashier person. Being a cashier is tough! :-)

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed my first transformation Sunday! I enjoyed interviewing my fiancé about his weight loss. If you want your story shared on the blog and the personal page, please send in your story and some photos and I will pick a winner. I have software that makes all kinds of fancy collages so if you want me to make a collage for your story let me know. I even made one for me.

 

What a difference two years makes, right? I look like a completely different person!

 

I hope everyone has a good night! I'm getting a little tired myself, it's been a long, hot day lol. We got caught in at least three really bad lightning thundershowers on the way home from the farm, which I was glad we did before the rain showed up! Be blessed all!