Pages

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Fear Is Setting In....

Okay, so the half marathon is over and I promise I will eventually stop talking about it ;) I really appreciate....who am I kidding? I absolutely LOVE all of the support you guys have given me through this whole journey! I am back in the blogging/commenting swing of things...FINALLY.

So, my foot began hurting really badly after the half marathon. Being the smarty pants that I am, I decided to take the time to rest it. I took a whole 8 days off of running and exercise. 8 FREAKING DAYS!! The most I have taken off from exercise in the past 9 months is maybe 3 days between workouts.

Anyway, the whole week I got a feeling I have yet to feel on this journey. WORRY! I was sooo worried that in those days I was going to gain weight. In fact, I was sure I was going to. I missed exercising. I missed the way my body felt after a tough workout. I missed my "me time". I just missed everything about it. I did panic a few days. I would tell myself 'You are going to gain weight'....'All of that hard work is going to have to be done again'! Ahhhh....it was driving me crazy.

So, I jumped on the scale to see the damage that I had done from 8 days of no workout and eating what I wanted.

124 

That almost made me crap my pants. My lowest weight thus far(on a weigh day) was 124.6. The thing that made me more excited was I weighed 127-128 the days before and the day of the half marathon.

I have lost 3-4 pounds in that week. Holy crap! HOly crAP! I am soo happy with that. However, tomorrow morning is my official weekend. I don't know what that number on the scale is going to be, but I know I am still eating when my body says I am hungry and I will get to my goal in due time!

I did run Monday. Mile 1: 9:05  Mile 2 & 3: 9:34 Mile .1: 1:00. Best 5k time yet. I am getting better and more focused everyday!

Now, above I said those 8 days were spent eating what I wanted AND they were. I wanted salad, sandwiches with lots of veggies, oatmeal, chicken, greek yogurt, and tons of fruit. My brain has officially made the change from wanting fast food, to wanting the good foods for my body. I did eat sweets and deserts in the 8 days. However, I would eat until I felt satisfied(about half the treat) and handed the rest to My Love. Now how is that for support?

I feel I battled with wanting sweets quite often before I did my 2 week sweet bet with myself. The sweet bet was prompted by the weekend I ate really poorly. I decided I wasn't going to eat sweets for 2 weeks and don't you know it, I didn't. Not one desert, even though I really wanted fro yo everyday! Since then, I eat desert most days, but I do it differently than I used to. Tonight, desert was cottage cheese, fruit and a little agave nectar. I did have a yummy bowl of thin mint ice cream last night.

Now that the scale is moving down, I am kicking it up a notch. I want to get to goal and I want to be in the 110's by my friends wedding in 3 weeks! I have 5 pounds to lose. I have a plan, oh yes, I have a plan.

*I will continue to be eating the way I have. Mostly clean, correct proportions, instinctually, and not too obsessively. I listen to what my body wants and make good choices.
**I am going to run 4 days a week.

***Love leaves for work and I have enough time to do the 30 day shred before showering. So, I am starting that tomorrow AM.
****I am also going to do 8 minutes abs every other day. I love the old school workout videos. They rock!!

That's my story and I am sticking to it!

What is your greatest fitness accomplishment?

Sunday, April 25, 2010

SLC Half Marathon Race Recap.....

I woke up at 4:30AM on race day. After showering and getting ready, the best friend showed up for breakfast. We had oatmeal with banana, protein powder, and vanilla soy milk. Then, Love(he is a trooper!), BestBud and I headed to the trax(which is like the San Fran trolley) station. After boarding, I ran into my brother's ex girlfriend whom I love. She has always been an inspiration to me. We hugged, talked for a few and rode trax to the starting line. Well, we decided that a pre race potty brake was needed(TMI: I took epsom salt 2 days prior to clean me out and it was still pretty active). We waited in the porta potty line until about 20 minutes after the race had started. My official start time was 22m10s after the gun went off.

Mile 1: I felt like Best Bud and I were starting out too fast(9m26s mile pace), but the adrenaline was really apparent. I felt amazing, so happy, proud, and better than I ever have in my life.

Mile 2: This was a touch slower at about 10m13s. I was feeling great though. Everytime I felt blah, the supporters would be right around the corner cheering you on! It rocked my nation!

Mile 3-5: Not much to say about these miles. We kept our pace in the 9m and low 10m mile paces. I took a gu at about mile 4.5. They were out of cups at the second water station and that blew.  Best Bud was still by my side. We were flashing the I love you signs, high fiving, BSing and RUNNING!

Mile 6-7: I don't think I stopped smiling. We hit the half way point and I was feeling great. I felt like I could keep going strong and pushing hard. At mile 7, I was so flipping hot. I took off the race technical tee and shoved it down the back of my pants. My shirt underneath was soaked with sweat. It was awesome!

Mile 8-10: Nothing to write home about. Slowed down a little, but then picked it up again at Mile 9. Lost BestBud at this point. She was kicking ass though for practically no training. I also took a Gu at mile 10.5.

Mile 11 & 12: These were my toughest miles. Mentally, my mind was screaming you are going to do this, you rock! My knees were calling me a B*TCH pretty hard core, but I kept trucking. Mile 11 was all uphill. This was my slowest mile at 11m35s. I had to stop and walk for 2 minutes. Mile 12 was pretty flat and started going downhill for a bit.

Mile 13-13.1: I was on top of the world. I was about to finish my first half marathon and I could not believe the euphoric, amazing feeling that swarmed my body and mind.

I crossed the finish line at 2h16m18s Garmin time. Official time was 2h16m on the nose.

I did it. I had just ran a half marathon. Did I cry? For a second, when I saw BestBud. I saw Brother's Ex, and hugged the crap out of her. Then, I found the love of my life and he gave me the best hug in the world. He is so proud of me for doing this and it means the world to me, because I have NEVER been so proud of MYSELF as I was the day I completed My First Half Marathon!!

 I totally hammed it up for every photog I saw!!

Post Race: My knees were kicking my trash. I took a hot bath and rubbed some icy hot on them. The next day they felt amazing. However, 1 week later and the bottom outside of my left foot is still hard to walk on. I get shooting pains every time I step on it. So, I have rested all week.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Half Marathon!

Well, I did it! I am a half marathoner finisher!!!

Or shall I say, my best friend and I are half marathon finishers! I completed the half marathon in 2 hours and 16 minutes flat!! I have never in my life been so proud of myself!

I didn't get nervous before starting. Maybe in the days leading up to the race, but not on the actual race day. I went into this race knowing that I was going to do great. I was prepared, mentally and physically. I never "hit a wall" or thought 'how am I going to do this?' I always thought, '8 more miles, I got this'. I was positive the whole time, stayed on track and finished 4 minutes faster than my goal. I wanted to do it in 2hours and 20minutes.

It may have been a fluke, but I feel my first half marathon was flawless!!

My knees killed me the rest of the day. My foot on the bottom outside stings everytime I walk. My muscles are slightly sore. All in all, I feel pretty good!

Thank you so much for all of your encouragement during my training and even up to the last 2 comments I read Friday night. You were all in my heart during that race, thinking of the comments and support really kept me going :)

Monday, April 12, 2010

"It's Alive" and 25!

Ahem, I am alive.

It's been a crazy 11 days! I have a few things to catch up on!

My half marathon is just 5 short days away. I have been constantly doing training runs. I had the WORST training run(10 miles) Saturday April 2. I wanted to die the last 5 miles, it sucked. I finished, but was disappointed with the run. Then, this past Saturday, I attempted a 12 mile run. I ran 11.5 and had had enough. There were a lot of reasons why I stopped, most of them excuses. I was discouraged because of the wind, I felt sluggish and slow. I knew I could go faster, but I just wasn't in the groove of it. I usually run by myself, but this one took place with a friend. We ran by her house and did a run, with the route being whatever we came up with. Bad idea because then I am constantly in my own head. Bottom line, I just felt discouraged, I had the thought in my head that I couldn't do it. I have never doubted myself in that way since the beginning of my journey to the half marathon. I finished 11.5 miles and didn't feel much pain or soreness. Woke up with NO pain and NO soreness Sunday morning which rocked.

Like I said, the half marathon is on Saturday and I am ready! I know I am. This week I will be picking out my outfit, downloading new music, finding my iPod arm band case(been looking for it forever!), finding my camera, hydrating, carb loading, putting my house back together(remodel is almost complete), running the last runs, getting a good nights rest and on Saturday I am Coming Out!! As in, the first time you see the face that is "Continuous Changes", I will have a half marathon finishers medal!! That's right, Kids! I am confident that I will finish!

Like I said the remodel is almost complete. Love and I's weekends for the past 3 months have been full of hardware stores, DIY Projects, Training Runs(for me), new fish tank set up(for him), puppy loving(for the puppy kids), yard work, and have I ever mentioned I also have a part time job? Geesh, I feel like I am lazy all the time, but listing that assures me that I am not. I used to take naps every Saturday and Sunday! I can honestly say, I don't remember my last nap period.

Lastly, I turned 25 on Friday! I am a quarter century old. This birthday was kind of tough, but kind of not. As I have blogged before, my parents are in a bitter divorce battle right now. My mom text me happy birthday, my dad kind of forgot. I had to tell him my birthday was Friday(I am closer to my dad than to my mom, as well.) and it really made me sad. They are very consumed in their own lives so I let the hurt go away and refused to let it ruin my birthday! Love took me to "The Melting Pot" and it was delicious! I ate way too much, but it was my birthday :) So, I splurged! I am excited for what 25 will bring!

I have been reading all of your blogs, I am just not full of comments at the moment. Just know I am still routing all of you on and I love reading about your successes and downfalls(because they are making you stronger)!

Best wishes, y'all! :)

Thursday, April 1, 2010

3 Days In...

I have tracked everything....EVERYTHING this week. 4 days. That is my record, so tomorrow I am going for 5 days in a row ;) I ate 1200 calories on Monday. I ate 1400 calories on Tuesday(see what happens when you underestimate *tisk tisk*), I ate 1200 calories yesterday(and ran 5 miles in 51 minutes, thank you), and am right on track to eat 1200 today. Maybe Sunday I will post a list of all my meals this week. What do you think? It's been a yummy food week.

I weighed this morning and I am 124.8. Which is a lot better than the 126 I saw Tuesday. I know I can lose 2 pounds before my B-Day(Thanks for all of the Birthday Wishes, I feel special :) !!)

I had a great idea of a post earlier today and forgot it....oh, wait! I remember it, but I really need to catch up on YOU! My reader is 500+ posts to read. So, I am going to get to work and come back later for a post on Determination :-)
For now, here are some cute pictures of my fur babies when they first came home! 
 I didn't know Abigail when she was this little, but gosh, I die from the cuteness that she is!
Lenny on the other hand, I was surprised to find out he was member #4 of our family, but it was love at first sight :)