Almost Done W9D2

I can't even begin to tell you how I feel. I went out this morning to run the trails. I am in Week 9 so I do a 30 minute run with a 5 minute warm up and cool down. It felt so comfortable. It felt natural. In minute 18, where I usually feel like stopping, I felt like dancing. Well Janet Jackson was playing at the time...and who doesn't like to dance to Janet?

It wasn't too hot for this time of year. It was 79 degrees and there was a breeze coming off the water. It was a Saturday morning so there were more people today than there were during the week but who cares! I no longer dread seeing people on the trails or when cars pass by or the landscapers are outside. None of that matters anymore.

If you are reading this and you are just starting Couch to 5K, be prepared to see some changes in your life. Be prepared to have more confidence. Be prepared to know how to listen to your body. Be prepared to start seeing food as not a comfort when stressed but fuel for your body. Be prepared to flood your body with endorphins and feel joy. Be prepared to be able to push through the hard runs because you know it gets eaiser. Be prepared to call yourself a runner. Pin It

W8D1 The one that got away...

I went to the gym tonight and ran my first 28 minute run. I tried running at a faster pace and succeeded. I was so proud. I ran about 2.8 miles. It was great. However, I didn't want my last minutes of cool down to be reflected on my run, yah know...PR junkie. So, while I was still on the treadmill, I felt around the buttons and I thought I saved it. But when I synced my Ipod, nothing happened. No updates. Bummer. That is what I get for becoming a junkie...I cheated myself out of a run. I feel like the fisherman that boasts about the one that got away. But it happened...really. Pin It

Week 6 D3

Let me start by saying, I missed the Michael Jackson Memorial. I hear it was beautiful and I have caught bits and pieces on CNN. His children are beautiful. It is so easy to forget that to them, he was just a father. He was daddy. They probably have memories with him like we have with our fathers. Laughing, playing, and just passing time. May he finally have peace.

Well I did Week 6 Day 3 last night while I watched track and field on Universal Sports. Was it easy? Heck no!!! I wanted to stop at 5 minutes, 11 minutes, 14 minutes, 16 minutes, 19 minutes, 22 minutes and 24 minutes...and probably every minute in between. There were times that I really had to talk myself through it. I would say, "Come on.....do it.....come on....come on....don't stop." My husband must have thought I was crazy. I would review in my mind my first weeks of this program. I would review how I cried in week 2, wanted to quit in week three and how I wanted to quit now. But now I know, I can't listen to my mind. Sometimes it will lie to me.

I am reading Born to Run and I am really loving it. Well, when I say I am reading it, I mean I am listening to the audio book. The author mentions a female Ultra Runner who calls the pain and mental anguish she goes through during her runs, the Beast. She says she loves the Beast and loves when it appears because each time she finds new and better ways to deal with him. Good analogy. I like it and will think about it when I run.

It felt good to go against my beast and win. I was drenched in sweat and felt alive. However, on a side note... I have to figure out a different way to wash my bras. They are fine until they are drenched and then they just smell funky. I tried washing in hot water, cold water and just soaking them and still....funkified. Any suggestions? Pin It

W6D2 and the IPhone 3GS

So, I ran W6D2 yesterday. It was pretty uneventful. I must say, it is harder to run on my treadmill than it is to run anywhere else, including outside. I also realized I am looking forward to W6D3 because it is a straight run. Say what?!?!?! Yes, you read it right. I like getting into a rhythm and and just going. I don't want to start and stop. It is hard to get going again.



But this week and last week my thinking is kinda skewed. I am "squeezing" time to work out. Funny how I don't think I am squeezing time to brush my teeth or take a shower or watch Rate My Space. I don't want to lose my momentum. They say the busiest weeks at a gym are the first six weeks of a new year. People, trying to fulfill New Year's Resolutions, will usually stop after six weeks.



That is why I am glad I have all my online running friends, wonderful blogs to inspire me, my Nike + and my Polar F6. I am surrounded by motivation and encouragement.



But the best news, drum roll please, the new IPhone 3GS has Nike+ built in software. Yes, you read that right. If you run outside and like to use the Nike + but also like to carry your phone, now you can do both... in one device. That is right, apparently they saw my review of the Nike + and hating that it was not compatible with my Iphone and the acted immediately. I am kidding. But I am sure there are many Nike + users celebrating. Now if I can just convince my husband that a new IPhone is beneficial to my health and safety.

Nike also launched their new running site. I haven't played with it much but you can be sure that I will share any information that I can. Pin It

W6D1 and Ode to a Legend

Tonight I graduated to week six. It was a good run. There were no inhibitions about it because it seems easy (5-5-3-8-3-5-5). There were no double digit runs for this day. I think running on my treadmill at home is harder than running on the one at the gym. Maybe it is because my treadmill is over 10 years old. I am not sure. And yes, I have owned a treadmill for 10 years and moved it to six different homes and never used it to its full ability.

About seven years ago I started working out and would walk on my treadmill for 20 minutes about three times a week. But about four years ago, my business suffered a small setback and it caused alot of stress. The stress took a toll on my lifestyle. I couldn't focus, I started eating comfort foods, and I stopped working out. Four years and sixty pounds later, here I am.

But I am starting to see alot of changes in me and my family. Not just in my improvements in my runs but my home life. I am happier and my family is happier. I have the energy to keep up my household and my family helps more. Since we started working out, we encourage each other. Everything is a group effort as oppose to keeping score to see who did more or less in the household. We are far from perfect we are better.

I was shocked yesterday at the sudden death of Michael Jackson and Farrah Faucet's death. Farrah was part of my seven degrees of separation. Her parents were clients of my father. Farrah was often seen around our neighborhood doing everyday things. I grew up far from the Hollywood lights...small town in Texas so it was unusual to see anyone famous. But she was kind enough to give my daughter an autograph and we are both survivors...or we were both survivors. It still shocks me when someone that had cancer after I had cancer, gets cancer again and passes away. It just makes me wonder why I am still here. But only God knows. She will be missed.

Michael Jackson defined my generation. He defined how music videos should be produced and choreographed. I danced and sang to his songs throughout my teenage years. Yes, I know what they say he has done recently, I don't know if it is true, even so, another truth about him is that he was a great performer and I will celebrate that part of him. So, in honor of him, I put together a playlist of Micheal Jackson songs and ran to them today. Off the Wall, Black or White, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, Wanna be startin something...wooooo those songs took me back. Pin It

W5D3

I struggled with what title to give this entry. This entry has soo much for me.

• First time to run twenty minutes straight
• First time to run a complete mile
• First time to cry at the gym
• Tiger woods congratulated me on my best mile ever

Tuesday I was suppose to run my first full 20 minutes and I was scared. So on Tuesday night, I cleaned house like a mad woman and did the weekly grocery shopping. In other words, I tried to keep myself busy so that I didn't have to do it.

Wednesday rolls around and I know it is now or never. My Mini is giving me smack and the weight of the fear is worse than not even trying. I mean, in reality, if I have to start walking in the middle of it, who cares? How many times did I stop in W2, when 90 seconds seemed too hard, or during the three minute runs, I felt as if my legs were going to give? It happened too many times to count. So at 10pm, I got up enough nerve and went to the gym with my family. ( I love 24 hour gyms).

I got on a treadmill, decided I was going to do the run without the C25K prompts on a podcast or on my Iphone application, changed the TV in front of me to Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and started. The warm up was usual and then I started to run.

My pace was 3.3 on the treadmill. Believe it or not, the first 7 minutes were the hardest to run and I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. To take my mind off the minutes, I started to read the closed captioning on the TV and before I knew it, it was 12 minutes into the run. I remember looking down at 14:51 minutes (this is the girl that died on the 90 seconds and now 171 secs go by and I don't even feel it.) I felt amazing. Because it was dark outside and the blinds were open, I could see my reflection in the mirror...I looked like a runner. When I hit minute 15, I knew I could do this. Mentally, I was saying, 5 minutes is nothing. Two weeks ago, 5 minutes seemed like so much to me. I am getting better and I am loving it.

At 19:01 minutes of running and the treadmill was at 1.21 miles, I hit my first big milestone. I had run a complete mile. I started to cry and yelled out "I just ran my first mile". Thank goodness the only people in the gym were me and my family. Oh, no, I was crying so much that I couldn't catch my breath and I was still trying to run...I had 50 seconds left. I felt great but just couldn't catch my breath. But I did it. I finished my run. My family heard me yell and they saw me crying so they gathered around me to congratulate me.

But you know what was my proudest moment? When I was looking at the reflection of the gym in the glass window, I saw my daughter behind me on an Arc trainer. She was watching me and smiling. Every once and a while, she gave me a thumbs up. And when she came over to my treadmill, she said, "Mama, I am proud of you. You did it." My husband said he was proud of me. He said he remembers me dying on 90 second runs and now through patience and perseverance, I am able to do twenty minutes. Even Tiger Woods congratulated me on my best mile ever.

This gal, whose comfort zone was the fact that she was too big to run, just ran 20 minutes. I couldn't believe it. I didn't stop when I got tired and pushed through. It felt good to run. It no longer was a struggle.

Running has given me back my confidence. Who knew I would become a PR junkie? I have to be honest with you. I have seen those initials everywhere in magazines and didn't know what they meant. They mean Personal Record. Yes, I am a PR Junkie. I also started biking and I want to Kayak. These are things I didn't think I could do and the Kayak thing scared me last summer. Now, I can't wait to try it.

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Week 5 Day 1 and Muddy Buddy

It has been a really long day, so I will start out with the good. I was in Dallas, on business, and dropped by the state park that is hosting the Muddy Buddy. Here is a picture of the terrain for the bike portion of the event. I will definitely need a mountain bike. Where are the paved roads or the dirt paths that I am accustomed to riding? This is full of rocks and hills and rocks. Did I mention rocks? Well, Dallas is 5 hours away so we can't train on this trail. We are looking for some in the area. However, the Gulf Coast is pretty flat so I will have to do the Kemah bridge for hill work.

Now the bad. I went to the gym today for my consultation. We just joined the gym last week and the consultation is free. I found out that I am over 50% fat and that I can do 9 sit ups in sixty seconds, my cardio endurance is good and that my flexibility is poor. So basically, no surprises. My work on Couch to 5K has paid off. But I knew I was in poor shape...which is why I started C25K and why I joined a gym. I have spent the last month working on that and I have made some great improvements.

So why did this trainer talk to me as if I was a lazy a$$ and was pretty much hopeless?!?!? He was shocked at how well I did on the treadmill test. He waited for me to break down when he mentioned that I failed all the other tests and kept repeating over and over again "that" while pointing to my percentage of body fat, was too high, life threatening, really bad, horrible, scary and that I would have to change my eating habits. When I said I had started, he said, not enough and that it was hard and he wasn't sure I could do it. Say what? And he kept asking me if I was okay? OH, and after he spent 40 minutes telling me how horrible I ate and how fat I was, he decided not to do the fitness test. He said that I would fail and probably couldn't handle the results? Can't handle the results? I knew I wasn't fit. Why else would I join a gym? Nonsense...lets do the test....that is when I failed. Hey my measurements said I had failed and my physical tests said I had failed...at least I was consistent.

He kept saying over and over, "Geesh, you are taking the news pretty well. I expected you to break down and cry." I simply said, "No, why should I? I know where I stand, it is my fault and now I need to make some goals. But I already started that with Couch to 5k.

I finished my day with my W5D1 run. I did pretty well. I was able to complete the 5 minute runs. During my second run, I did stop for about 20 seconds. On my third run was better. I felt like stopping but I noticed I only had 14 seconds left so I continued. I even did a second short run after completing C25K ( I usually stay on the treadmill for about 10 minutes after it).

Here is how I did:

Duration: 38'50"

Distance: 2.11 miles

Average Pace: 18'23" minute mile

Calories burned: 401

Max HR: 171

Average HR: 154

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Lost Nike Plus receiver...Reward if found

Sigh. Today is W3D3 of my C25K and I couldn't find my Nike Plus receiver nor my armband. I know, I know. Why aren't they in your chest, you know the one you posted about last week?

I'll tell you why, because I was in a hurry on Saturday and took my nano to the beach in a pink belkin case I got at the dollar star. That's right. You know those cases you can get at Target or Best Buy for the Nano, the previous one to the newest version, for about twenty dollars? Well, because it is not for the latest and greatest version of nano, you can buy it at the Dollar Tree. No joke.

Anyway, back to the day it all happened. I was in a hurry and I remember switching cases but I don't know what I did with the armband one. And inside the armband, is the receiver. It has a place to hold a key while you run but I used it for the receiver when I am not using it.

So, I searched high and low for it and I can't find it. I wanted to use the new application I got for free for my Iphone that allows you to use your own playlist as it verbally prompts you to do run, walk etc. It was great and maybe when I stop fretting about my Nike Plus, I'll tell you about it. So I will give you the cliff notes version

• No nano
• Used C25K program on Iphone ( I really did like it)
• Played my own playlist
• I had to stop running on the last 3 minute run (stopped at 90 secs--another reason I love the application--tell you when I stop fretting what it does)
• Can't use IMapMyRun while using C25K app...bummer
• Couldn't get real time information on my pace...that really helps me stay motivated
• If I had my receiver I could use C25K and still get real time pace and distance information
• Used MapMyRun to map my run...Did 2 miles in 35 minutes.
• Bummer: My mini won't be updated
• Bummer: My goal of 24 miles this month will probably be reached but not recorded because it tracks from my Nike +
• Darn you Nike for getting me addicting to this too cool gadget. If I don't find it tonight, I'll have to go tomorrow and get a new one

So I will do W3 a few more times. So I didn't finish the last three minutes. Doing the 90 seconds was easy and it was hard last week. So I am improving.

Oh, on a side note A friend of mine asked me if me and my husband want to join her and her boyfriend in a Muddy Buddy race in Dallas, in October. Sounds like fun so I am going to do it. See if there is one in your area and sign up with a friend. It looks like tons of fun.

So much to say but I am bummed about the Nike +, need time to look for it.

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W3D1

Okay I finally moved up in my C25K and it felt good. It was hard but it was good. Here are my stats:
Distance: 3.34 km
Duration: 40'38"
Pace: 12'09"
Calories: 458
Average Heart Rate: 144
Maximum Heart Rate: 182

I can't believe it there were moments (that only last a few seconds) but there were moments where I felt in rhythm and seemed graceful. There was a song that was about 13 to 14 minutes into the podcast that really had a nice pace to it. I also noticed that my fingers no longer swell when I run.

Afterwards, I did Yoga for runners for the first time. I read an article in Women's Running Magazine that mentioned yoga helps counter some of the stress caused by running and it also strengthens the core. I tried yoga once before in my life and well...I just tried it. This article has about 9 poses and one builds upon the other. They were hard for me. (Fluffy has a lot of fluff that gets in the way but I focused on my core and that in turn improved my balance.)

Tip:
I have read some threads on the Weight Watchers Boards about lacking a routine for working out and thus not working out. One of the things I do I learned from my scrapbooking hobby. I keep my post important tools in one area. I have this small chest on my desk in my bedroom. It sits next to my computer. It contains all the gadgets I need and use to work out, my IPod, my hotsync chord, my armbands for my IPod and Iphone, my HRM, and my HRM band. I also leave my shoes on the treadmill. If I go for my run outside, I still take my shoes off and put them on the treadmill. Knowing where my tools are is just one less frustration and one less excuse for not working out.




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So you want to run....where to begin

I know I have mentioned Couch to 5K in a few of my posts, but I haven't explained what it is. Couch to 5K (aka C25K), is a beginner's training plan. It is plan designed to get you from being a couch potato to running a 5K in a little over two months. You can find all the details here.

You start at a pace that is comfortable for you and then build upon that pace or distance. My advice is to not look to far ahead. I scared myself out of doing this plan several times because Week 9 seemed impossible. Now, if you are like me, you clicked the hyperlink above and looked at Week 9. I told you not to do it. But now that you have, forget about it and focus on week one. And from this point forward, only focus on the week that you are running. And yes, call it running. I don't care how slow or how little distance you cover...you are a runner from this point forward. Oh, and if you feel you need to repeat a week or two, go ahead and do so. There are no C25K police that are going to hunt you down and force you to move to the next week. Remember, do this at your pace.

Along with C25K on paper, you can get an audible version of it. Robert Ullrey, is a gracious man that put the program to songs and he has audible prompts to tell you when to warm up, run, walk and cool down. You can find his podcast at his website or you can search them at Itunes, if you have an IPod. They are free...I know, I know. he is really gracious. If you don't have an Ipod but do have an MP3 player, no worries. You still can download them and use them. I love them because I don't have to keep looking down at my watch. Which, when you are running for the first time, can feel like watching a pot and waiting for it to start boiling. It just seems longer than it really is. So I love his podcasts. Pin It

W2D4

That's right...you read it correctly. I did another day in W2. I forgot to change up my workout playlist to include W3 instead of W2 so I just ran it. Here are my stats:

• Distance: 2.76 km
• Avg Pace: 13'05"/km
• Time 36'10"
• Calories Burned: 305

So the mind came along late in the game. But I am glad I did it.

ON A SIDE NOTE: I was on a message board talking about legs rubbing. I wear capri or crop length pants that I got from Wal-mart, Danskin Now. I would like to eventualy wear shorts. Now, I know I can buy a product called Body Glide, and it will help with the rubbing. But here is the deal. I have fairly large legs. I am pear shaped and I gained most of my weight on bottom. So it isn't just my thighs that rub, it is my thighs and all the way down to my knees. So, for now, I am going to keep wearing crops until the knees stop knocking. I also think the size of my legs cause me to run funny. I find that I have to carry my left leg around the right leg. Now, I don't know why I don't have to do that for the right leg....maybe because I start out with my right leg. Who knows?

Here is something I have noticed since gaining weight. My normal pace for walking has slowed down. I know this because when I started dating my husband, we would take walks at Niagara Falls or Lake Ontario and I never complained about him walking fast. Now, that is all I do. "Slow down this isn't a race." But beyond me having to lug around more weight, I think there is another reason. Another part of the slowness comes from the effort my legs have to take to walk "around" each other. My gait is shorter because part of the momentum of putting my leg forward is being used to go around the other leg. Now, I know it has been said the sexiest line between two points is a curve (Mae West) but it is not the shortest distance. So one leg having to curve around the other leg to go forward....well you see where I am going with this. That being said, I can't wait until my legs don't rub together.

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