Week 9 Complete and A New Goal

I finished a modified version of Week 9 of C25K today. I counted the 5K on Thursday as Day 1, since essentially the whole gist of Week 9 is to warm up for 5 mins, run a 5K in 30 mins, and then cool down for 5 minutes, so since I ran Thursday's 5K in 30:03 I am saying that is sufficient for W9D1. The other 2 days I actually ran above the allotted 30 minutes, I ended up running for 35 minutes straight! I am so super pumped! I spent Friday and today making best friends with the treadmill and seeing the distance ticker on it and my Nike+ turn passed 4 miles!

So now my new goal is to train for a 10K. I set up my Nike+ account to "coach" me for it for 12 weeks. I want to start next week after we come home from North Carolina where we are going to visit my BFF Jessica for Thanksgiving, but we leave for Vegas five days after we get back, and I don't know how much running I am going to get done there, especially since Paris apparently charges an astronomical daily fee to use their gym. I may have to just stick with walking on the strip amongst the throngs of people and resume running when we get back. Hopefully I can stay on track and see about getting some running in. On the weight loss front, I am down 1 lb this last week, not bad if I do say so myself, considering my eating isn't always great. Here are the stats for this final week:

Week 9, Day 1: 3.1 miles, 30:03
Week 9, Day 2: 4.25 miles, 45:30
Week 9, Day 3: 4.25 miles, 45:28

I am so happy to be a C25K graduate! Bring on the 10K and eventually half marathon! 

Turkey Trot 5K

I ran my first 5K this morning, it was a fun run Turkey Trot on base. It was so much fun! I have been looking forward to this race for about a month now. Originally Tony signed up to run the race with me and I was happy that I would have him there to keep me motivated and keep me company. However, he had to back out due to an important conference call he couldn't miss. So I was all set to run the race on my own. I got to the location, Tony still agreed that he would be able to meet me there before the race and at least see me take off before he needed to be back in the office for his call. Well little did we know four of his coworkers also signed up for the race! So Lisa, Cmdr. Haupt, Steve, and Dave were there with me. I was so happy. Dave ended up being my running partner and kept pace with me the entire time. He was so awesome!

The weather was beautiful! I was worried about what to wear considering it hasn't gotten above 45 degrees in the last two days and has been cloudy/rainy. Today it was forecast to be 64 degrees and sunny, and it held true. I stressed last night about what to wear since I haven't run outside in the last month and a half, I don't have any technical shirts (this is at the top of my xmas list) and barely any long sleeve t-shirts, but I have always heard dress as if it's 20 degrees warmer, so I settled on yoga capris, a good wicking sports bra, and a racer back tank. I went with a jacket on, but I quickly knew I wouldn't be needing it. I also stashed some gloves in my bag too, but I definitely wouldn't be needing them either.

But I digress, so we all lined up and "Ready, set, GO!!!!!" and we were off. I had my Nike+ and ipod set to 5K to keep track and make sure we were good with our agreed 10 minute per mile pace. The first half was pretty good, Dave and I were spot on at 6 min/km ~ 10 min/mi. I had my tunes to keep me going and was doing pretty well. At the halfway point there was a water stop. I drank and ran, spilling half the water on me, but no worries. Then it was looping back around for the second half. The second half kicked my butt! At about 2.25 miles I was feeling it, I wanted to slow down, but Dave wouldn't let me. Finally at about 2.85 miles maybe, I just couldn't keep running, I had to slow down and walk for a few seconds. It was probably about 30 seconds or so that I walked and as I rounded the corner the finish line was in sight! So I sprinted to the end...and I finished in 30:03!!! My goal going into the race was to finish in 30 minutes, and I did it!!! My Nike+ was underestimating again though, it registered the race as 4.85 km, so I will have to recalibrate again. But I definitely maintained my 10 min/mi pace! I am so proud of myself and feel so good!

 

After all our team crossed the finish line we all filed into the dining room at the rec center to enjoy a delicious turkey dinner. The food was pretty good. It was a perfect end to an awesome race! Oh and I won a 13.2 lb turkey! After the lunch there was a raffle and the prizes were a 30 minute massage (I wish I had one that!), a $15 Subway gift card, a $30 Starbucks gift card (I wish I would have gotten that one too!), and 4 turkeys. Cmdr. Haupt and I each won one of the turkeys!! So now I have a frozen turkey in our freezer waiting for our early Christmas/Tony's grad school graduation celebration with the in laws. All in all it was an amazing first race and I can't wait to run another one!! I leave you with the image on the back of my new shirt:

So true!!

Week 8 Complete

I am feeling super accomplished and back on track, I finished Week 8 of C25K today! I am still behind thanks to my never ending illness, I have the Turkey Trot 5K on Thursday, which will be one day after I start Week 9, in fact I may make the race Day 1 of Week 9. But anyway, Week 8 was pretty good, I have gone by longest distances this week and some pretty steady paces. Week 8 was definitely challenging, it was straight running for 28 minutes, the first two days I had to stop at different points, whether it was slowing down to a power walk for 30 seconds, or pausing the treadmill and stretching, or on Saturday I was in pain with a blister on my arch and had to stop for a minute to examine what the hell was hurting in my shoe so bad.

I also had some issues with my Nike+ first overestimating and then underestimating my distances, I am happy to say after calibrating it for a third time, it now is spot on with the treadmill in both the distances and the pace now. Weigh in this week was the same as last week, but I'm not really surprised considering my eating hasn't been so great lately, I definitely need to work on that this week. I am so excited though to run the race on Thursday, I will definitely be back with a full race report! Until then, here are the stats for this week:

Week 8, Day 1: 3.24 miles, 39:12 (my Nike+ was off this day, the treadmill said 3.35 miles when I was done, plus I also decided to calibrate the Nike+ following the workout due to this error, I did an additional .50 miles of running and .25 miles of walking, so total mileage for today was 4.1 miles and time was 48:15).
Week 8, Day 2: 3.62 miles, 40:00
Week 8, Day 3: 3.63 miles, 39:59

Week 7 Complete...Sorta...

So I have been super sick for the last few weeks, I managed to run the first day of W7 of C25K on Tuesday Oct 27th, then I just couldn't do it anymore, I was tired, in pain and just feeling plain old icky. Then it got worse, I managed to also pick up a cold flu that weekend which brought more fever, drippy/runny nose, and the worst of all chest congestion and cough. I missed running, but I seriously did not feel like doing it and all articles I read said if any symptoms were below the neck or you had a fever over 99.0 degrees to not run. So I heeded the advice and sat the week out.

I finally feel better and most of my symptoms have disappeared, so Saturday I finally got back to the treadmill. I picked up on W7 again, thinking the 11 day hiatus would not have affected me that badly, but sadly I think I was wrong. It was very difficult for me to get through the 25 minute run, in fact I slowed down to a brisk walk for about 45 seconds when I was about 15 minutes into the run. But alas I trudged on and finished. Today I ran what would be W7D3 technically. Again, it was super difficult. I paused to stretch about 15 minutes into the run, and then I felt like I was doing well, but I wanted to change my playlist on my ipod, I couldn't do it still running, so with 6 minutes left to go I again paused for a couple seconds to fiddle with the click wheel. I ended up running for a full 25 minutes after all, but I don't know if I am ready to move on to Week 8 yet. I think Wednesday I will begin Week 8, but if it proves very difficult for me, I will stop at the 25 minute run mark and not run the extra 3 minutes that W8 entails, thus repeating one additional day of W7.

Fingers crossed I do well. I feel so behind now on my training and my 5K is in 10 days, yet I won't be done with C25K by then now like I would have been if I hadn't gotten sick. I am really disappointed and I just hope that I finish the 5K in the 30 minutes that is my goal. Anyway, stats for Week 7:

Week 7, Day 1: 3.25 miles, 34:48 (my farthest distance and fastest pace ever)
Week 7, Day 2: 3.19 miles, 34:59
Week 7, Day 3: 3.19 miles, 35:12

The plus side is, even though I was sick and ended up losing another 2 lbs, I thought for sure when I finally felt better and started eating again I would gain some back, especially since I haven't been eating healthily, but nope, still down 2 lbs!! Yay! I am hoping that now that I am back to running and finally getting back to eating right that I will drop even more.

Week 6 Complete

So another week has gone by and I am feeling super accomplished. In big news this week, I signed up for my first 5K!! There is going to be a Turkey Trot 5K for fun on base this November and I am super pumped to run in it! I will be a one week graduate of C25K by then, so I can't wait to put my training to the test and run the race. I am hoping I can do it in 30 minutes, that's going to be what I shoot for, but I won't be upset if it happens to take me a few minutes longer, I just want to be a finisher. After the race there is going to be a celebratory Thanksgiving dinner, but really more like lunch due to the time of day. My wonderful hubby has decided he wants to run the race with me, so it looks like he will be right there with me for it!

I really want to go on to run a half marathon and eventually a marathon. I found out that the Rock and Roll half marathon will be happening in Vegas the week that we are there this year in the beginning of December, but I highly doubt I will be able to go from running 3.1 to 13.1 miles in the course of 2 weeks. Sadly, I don't think we'll be heading to Vegas next year, so it seems I will have to find another half to compete in maybe in the Spring of 2010.

Anyway, back to Week 6 of C25K. I have been terribly under the weather this week, my lymph nodes in the left side of my neck swelled to the size of a baseball and I had a low grade fever all week long, so running wasn't exactly something I wanted to do, Day 1 and Day 2 were extremely difficult for me this week. This was also the last week of interval training, next week it's the big time, running for 25 minutes straight! So, Day 1 started with the 5 minute warm up walk, then a 5 minute run, then 3 minute walk, 8 minute run, 3 minute walk, and a final 5 minute run and then the 5 minute cool down. It wasn't terrible, but I was definitely ready for the walk after the 8 minute run. Day 2 involved the 5 minute warm up, 10 minute run, 3 minute walk, and then another 10 minute run, and then the 5 minute cool down.  Day 2 I definitely thought I was going to die during the second 10 minute run. I had to stop for about 20 seconds to stretch out my legs and ankles. I was so happy when it was finally over. I ended up doing Day 3 today instead of yesterday because Tony dragged me to the urgent care clinic yesterday finally after a week of my aforementioned illness. I ended up getting a steroid shot and the swelling has gone down a lot, so I felt a bit better and really wanted to stay on track, so to the gym I went. Today was the usual warm up, 25 minutes of straight running, and then the cool down. I must say I felt much better and so proud after finishing today! It gives me hope for next week. So here are the stats for the week:

Week 6, Day 1: 3.04 miles, 37:14
Week 6, Day 2: 2.99 miles, 35:13
Week 6, Day 3: 3.16 miles, 35:06

And on the weight loss front, I am back down to my wedding weight! Lost 3 lbs this week. Although I don't know if I should trust it just yet as it may have been a result of my illness and barely eating yesterday, so we'll see what the scale says next week, but I am hoping it stays and drops even more.

Week 5 Complete

I finished another week of C25K! This was definitely the hardest yet. Again, I ended up running the whole week on the treadmill at the gym, which I am enjoying much more in this cold rainy weather. I put the incline up to 1.0, but it's still way easier than running these steep hills here. I also discovered how much better it is for me to run in toe socks. I have been wanting to buy these expensive ones online by Injinji, but they are $12 a pair, I couldn't justify spending $48 on 4 pairs of socks just to keep me from getting a blister on my second toe; so to Walmart I went and found short toe socks for $3 per pair, I bought 2 pairs to try them out. After the first day there were no blisters! I was in love! So today I went and picked up 3 more pairs. Yes, they look a little silly having bold bright colors and little animals on them, but I don't care, no one sees them in my shoe anyway! So toe socks it is from now on!

Week 5 is really weird because the intervals change every day, Day 1 you run for 5 mins, then walk for 3, then run for 5, walk for 3, and then a final run for 5, plus the usual 5 minute warm up and cool down. Day 2 it gets a bit harder, you have two 8 minute runs with a 5 minute walk in between and the usual warm up and cool down. Day 3 is definitely the hardest, 5 minute warm up, 20 minute straight run, and then 5 minute cool down. Well I always ended up with more like a 10 minute cool down just because the podcast kept going. I have to say though, after running for 20 straight minutes today I am feeling great! I can't wait to indulge in my homemade pizza tonight and finish it off with a piece of the homemade chocolate rum cake that is currently in my oven! Can't wait to start Week 6 on Monday; I hope to continue running 3 miles per run this coming week, we'll see how it goes. Here are the stats for this week:

Week 5, Day 1: 2.85 miles, 35:30
Week 5, Day 2: 2.88 miles, 35:08
Week 5, Day 3: 3.01 miles, 35:00 (this was also my fastest pace ever! 11:35 min/mi)

Week 4 Complete

I am very proud, I finished Week 4 of C25K today! This was definitely the hardest yet. Although this week, since the weather here was so bad, I decided to finally brave the gym on base. Tony has been telling me for months to go there, that it is so nice, blah blah blah. I always have gym anxiety, I don't know, I think it's the fat girl in me that worries I am going to be judged by some little stick girls who look like supermodels and here I am, looking 4 months pregnant, when really it's just my fat belly. But, to my surprise, I loved it! The gym was really nice and big, and I did not see one supermodel there! Plus, I discovered running on the treadmill is much easier than running outside with these hills here, and when I run outside, especially in the cooler weather, it seems to irritate my sinuses/bronchial tract and makes me a snotty mess with too much post nasal drip, gross! This doesn't happen in the controlled environment of the gym. Today was the only day I ran outside, hubby went with me, and I was much slower and much more tired, although not as sweaty, running outside. So, I think this winter and possibly at least half the time, I will be sticking to the treadmill and the gym! So here are the stats for the week:

Week 4 Day 1: 2.87 miles, 33:53
Week 4 Day 2: 2.87 miles, 33:52 (I also calibrated my Nike+ this day and did an additional 0.60 miles after c25k)
Week 4 Day 3: 2.86, 38:37 

On the weight loss front, not much has changed, still playing the gain 0.8 then lose it again all this week, part of it I'm sure was brought on by the Chili's dinner on Monday and the cupcakes. Last night and the night before I didn't make exactly healthy dinners, so weight is pretty much staying the same. Hopefully next week I will have a loss and push me into the next "decade" finally. Until then I will be trying to stay within my points and eating better!

The End of Another Week

When I started Week 3 of C25K I thought I was going to die. The intervals this week were 90 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking, 3 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, to be repeated twice. I thought there was no way I could run for 3 minutes straight. I was dying last week running for 90 seconds. Well Day 1 was really hard, Day 2 a little easier, today, Day 3, I think I could have kept on going! I was so proud of myself! So Monday I move on to Week 4, 5 minutes of straight running! We'll see how it goes. Granted I think this lovely weather may be contributing to my less stressful runs. It's been in the 60s here all week! It's sunny and breezy and just all around enjoyable to be outside! I have been loving it, it definitely feels like Fall now! So stats for this week:
Week 3, Day 1: 2.27 miles, 29:42
Week 3, Day 2: 2.38 miles, 30:06
Week 3, Day 3: 2.34 miles, 30:14

The other thing I have been working on this week is pacing myself, hubby has convinced me that I run too fast when I run, and that's probably why I am ready to die at the end. So this week I have been really working on keeping a slower pace during the running interval so I can go farther and longer. Day 2 and today I think it made the biggest difference. I've also been working on keeping up a faster pace when walking, trying to stay between 13 and 15/mile, I've definitely noticed a difference. And the biggest difference? I lost 3 lbs in the last 3 weeks! I am now at my lowest post-wedding weight! Only 10-15 lbs to go. I really want to get to 15, but I will settle at 10.

Another Week Down

All in all it was a good week. Despite being sick and feeling pretty icky for most of it, I was still able to finish Week 2 of C25K! I was very pleased with myself for that! So, stats for the week:
Week 2 Day 1: 2.23 miles, 31:40
Week 2 Day 2: 2.37 miles, 31:05
Week 2 Day 3: 2.42 miles, 30:42

Yesterday was a nice day, it finally stopped raining and I was feeling better, so I went out for my run at about 11 am and it ended up being the best run I had all week. After the run I got ready to go out with the husband. We went downtown and spent about 2.5 hours at the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum. Earlier this month my mom had sent me a link to sign up for free museum day sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute. I knew Tony would love this, as we both enjoy going to all kinds of museums together. So armed with our free pass, this time on the right day, we headed down there. It was really interesting. We learned a lot about how Memphis was pretty much the capital for Rock, Soul, Blues, and Country back in the 1950s and how integration was pretty much a done deal in the music industry here at the time, while society was still segregated. I was glad we got to learn a lot and enjoy ourselves and the best part, it was free!

After the museum we headed over to a nice little place called The Silly Goose, I've been wanting to go to this restaurant/bar for a while now, especially since I like buying certificates off restaurant.com and had purchased a certificate for this establishment and was really looking forward to trying some of their pannins and flatbreads. Well we get there and the waiter tells us that they don't accept the certificate, that restaurant.com put them up on their website without permission. I was fuming! Granted the certificate only cost me about $1 when it was 90% off a few weeks ago, but still, it irked me. So we ended up just getting a drink there and sitting out on their patio deciding where to go eat dinner. We decided to try another place I had a certificate for about 2.5 miles away. So we get into the car and head over there, only to find them closed! Seriously?! Tony was having a fit, and he was right, any restaurant that is in business would not be closed at 7 pm on a Saturday night. So now I get the task of writing restaurant.com a nasty email and hoping to get some of my money back. It was frustrating and we were really bummed.

From there, hungry and annoyed, we headed on to the Mid-South Fair down in Mississippi. I really didn't want to go and eat fair food, especially since we had just gone to the Delta Fair a few weeks ago, but Tony was insistent. So we got there, and I ended up gorging on a corndog, a cone of homemade cookie dough ice cream, and a few bites of Tony's funnel cake. I was really upset with myself for eating such unhealthy foods, and I much would have preferred just going to a restaurant for dinner where at least I could try to make some healthier choices. But in the end, the fair was okay, we got to see some animals and a concert and people watch, plus I got to spend some quality time with the husband. Hopefully this next week will be better!

More Gifts and Not Feeling Well

Wednesday I ended up getting two more gifts from my extraordinary aunt, she is so thoughtful. I was super excited when the UPS guy delivered this: 

Yes, that is an entire freezer shelf of Omaha Steaks frozen delights. Included are 2 sirloin steaks, 2 Fillet Mignon steaks, 10 burgers, 6 stuffed potatoes, 2 stuffed sole fillets, and 1 chocolate lovers cake. There was also a knife set and cutting board in the cooler too! I can't wait to cook and enjoy this haul of deliciousness!

Later that afternoon the FedEx man arrived delivering this:

This my friends is a chocolate dipped wine bottle, and I am now the happy recipient of two of them! A cool company named Sweet Traders apparently specializes in this, they hand dip wine and champagne bottles, to then enjoy them you rip a ribbon to "unzip" the chocolate coating and then open the wine, and allow the chocolate to melt in your mouth while drinking the wine. I got a riesling and a merlot. I can't wait for Tony and I to "unzip" these babies! 

As far as c25k goes, I am behind one day, hopefully I can complete Week 2 Day 3 tomorrow. I haven't been feeling well this week. I've had a sore throat since Monday, I tried to get an appointment at the Branch Health Clinic, but unfortunately they were closed to seeing patients this week, so I was directed to go to the local urgent care clinic. The doctor there insisted I didn't have strep, but was probably only getting a cold, well here we are 4 days later and I still have no other cold symptoms, but the sore throat is getting worse. I just hope it clears up soon.

Tomorrow Tony and I are going to participate in this, free museum day at participating Smithsonian museums! We are going to go to the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum downtown, and possibly going to check out the Scoop Fest Ice Cream Festival downtown as well! All you can eat ice cream, I love it and I hate it! I love ice cream, but all you can eat means havoc for my trying to eat right.

As far as the house is concerned, we are almost done! We've been renovating since I moved in in July. We've basically had to repaint every room in the house and recarpet the whole thing. We had the downstairs recarpeted about 4 weeks ago, and have been waiting to finish painting the upstairs before getting the carpet installed. We are almost done. I can't wait to be finished and then rearrange the furniture and start decorating and making this place more of a home. 

26 Candles

Today was my 26th birthday! It began like any other morning, Tony's alarm went off at 6 am, I stirred as he got out of bed, then about 7 am he crawled back into bed with me like usual for a couple minutes of cuddle time and then kissed me and said "happy birthday" and got ready for work and then left. About 45 minutes later my cell phone rang, it was my mom, of course a mom always remembers her child's birthday, however I was still sleeping; it dawned upon my mother at the moment I answered the phone groggily that I now in fact live in the Central Time Zone and am therefore one hour behind her in the Eastern Time Zone, she quickly wished me a happy birthday and then told me to go back to sleep and she'd call back later. Cut to 45 minutes later, my phone again began to buzz on the nightstand, this time my dad was the bearer of birthday wishes. I couldn't be mad about being woken up, after all, it was my birthday and I had left the phone on for the exact reason that I knew my family would be calling and I didn't want all my phone calls to go to voice mail, I actually wanted to talk to the people on the other end of the call.

So I finally got out of bed around 8:45 am, went to the living room and my computer, of course my inbox was bombarded with about 10 Facebook notifications of friends and family sending their wishes, and the usual 5 or so e-cards from my aunt. I love my birthday! Today was a scheduled day to run. Normally on my birthday I would just be lazy and give myself the time off, but after falling off the wagon this weekend and gaining back the pound I lost last week, I decided I should do it. So I laced up my shoes, turned on my ipod and set out. Today I started Week 2 of C25K, I did 2.25 miles in about 31 minutes, that was including the warm up and cool down, it wasn't a fabulous run, but I was proud of myself for getting out there!

The day continued on, lots more phone calls and text messages, and my aunt told me I would be getting a surprise before the day was through. Tony I knew was taking me to my favorite place, The Melting Pot for dinner, so at about 5pm I decided to go get ready and do my hair and makeup and start getting dressed so I would be ready to go when he got home. In the midst of curling my hair the doorbell rang, I ran to answer the door, outside a portly man stood holding a beautiful flower arrangement, this was my surprise:

A couple minutes later, my adorable husband walked through the front door, card in hand, along with another surprise, a small bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, just because he knows it's my favorite! I love him so much for knowing me so well! He had already given me my gifts last week, I had asked for the Nike+ for my ipod, the sport armband, and the new pair of running shoes. So this was a sweet, unexpected surprise! Then it was time to get going.

We got all dressed up, something we rarely get to do, and got into the Trans Am. Now let me just say, in the 3.5 years we have been together, my husband has never taken me out in this car. The Trans Am is strictly garage kept and gets driven maybe once a year, so going out tonight in it was a big deal! We got to MP and proceeded to stuff our faces full of our favorites for the next 2 hours. I was a little disappointed they got rid of the entrees for 2 and now you either have to purchase the Big Night Out, or go a la carte. We ended up going a la carte, in the end it cost about the same the entree for 2 would have, but still, it was a bit annoying. The best part of course was the cookies and cream marshmallow dream dessert fondue. I think this was one of the few times we actually scraped the pot at the end and ate every single bite of the chocolate. Here's us fully stuffed after being so gluttonous:

All in all it was a fabulous birthday, and I hope this year is one of the best of my life, but how could it not be? I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband, an awesome family and fantastic friends, what more could a girl ask for?!

C25K Week 1

After over a year of being on The Knot and The Nest lots of different workouts are often discussed amongst brides trying to drop pounds for their big days, I was one of these girls. I learned all about Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and the C25K program. But my weight loss journey began before I even got engaged with Weight Watchers (WW) when my BFF asked me to be her Maid of Honor (MOH), I was at the heaviest I'd ever been and was really unhappy with myself. I joined WW and my local Gold's Gym, then 2 months later T proposed, so I had even more motivation! A year later I had dropped 28 lbs, was down 4 sizes and was feeling quite sassy and sexy! I even made Lifetime!

Enter the newlywed phase. I gained 10 of my 28 lbs back., I stopped going to WW and am way over my Lifetime goal. I blame those wretchedly delicious chocolate chip cookies I make for my husband that I just can't resist. And the homemade bread I love to make in my new breadmaker. So I decided to start back on WW, this time on my own, and give the 30 Day Shred and Couch 2 5K program a shot.

So this is my goal now, complete C25K, and work on the Shred. I began C25K this Monday, I was good, was able to do 3 miles in the 30 mins. Today was Day 2, I did 3.02 miles in about 38 mins. My birthday is on Monday, so today T took me to the Exchange (I'm a Navy wife, so we do most shopping on base) where he bought me a new sassy pair of running shoes and the Nike+ ipod thing. I am so excited! I can't wait to do my next 3 miles on Friday and complete week1!