Day 38: Running On Fumes

Well, not really, I just thought it was funny. :-)

After going to put gas in the car, I went outside to run. I normally don't go outside to run when it's hot out but it was probably 77-78 degrees and I thought I could swing that. I did C25K W3D2, which is composed of a 90 sec run-90 sec walk, 3 min run-3 min walk; repeated twice. It was sort of easy on the treadmill, but it was definitely harder on the pavement.

I ran very slowly. I was worried about running too hard at the beginning and then petering out right before I stopped running. And trust me, it got tough. I was running at a 22 minute pace, breathing hard and about to stop in the middle of it. But I decided to keep on going, cause I was like, I've only got 2 minutes left, 1 minute left, and so on and so forth. I have to admit that I'm guilty of looking at the clock, especially when I have no pockets to put my phone in. Plus, if I have no guidance for how much time I have left it is much easier to give up! But still, I put in around 1.32 miles, which isn't bad at all. :-) I have done 26/50 of the 50 day challenge and am over halfway through the Lazy Girl Marathon at 14 miles ran this month! :-)

After pounding the pavement in City Hall Park.

 

 



Me and Frodo's butt. He decided he was going to get in the fun too!

My 5K is in 11 days! I am not super nervous, but I know I will not be running the whole time. If I'm lucky I will get to week 6 or 7 (I run each segment of C25K for three days in a row, then amp up the intensity. It's pretty tough, but I make it.) of C25K and at least get a fairly major part of the 5K where I actually run! I'm trying to beat my last time of 58:23 (but I was walking it, so that's not bad!) so hopefully I will be able to do that. My fiancé will be running with me so that will be good at least. He definitely encourages me when it gets hard. :-)

Well, I gotta go study for my Chem exam, but I will definitely check in this evening. I will be biking 9.11 miles in honor of 9/11 victims tonight, so hopefully it will let me record it without there being a glare on the screen. :-) We'll see, my dad's bike isn't very photogenic when it comes to recording times, lol. :-) I hope everyone has a fantastic day and is blessed! :-)

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!