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May 26, 2010

WiW: Week 9

Weight: 148.0

Waist: 30.5
Hips: 38
Thigh: 24

It's late, so I'll make this quick.

I cannot BELIEVE that I started working out 9 weeks ago, and that on Friday I'll run the last of my C25K program. It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but the state of my lungs and the length of time I can run begs to differ. So do the temperatures! It's getting hot, and even by 9pm it's still hot enough to make running hard.

I've started running late to try to avoid the heat. It's not ideal, getting back at 10 and trying to cool down and fall asleep (or write about exercising!)

I'm starting to see a pattern on my runs, too. I'm not sure if it's because it's Wednesday, and my legs haven't had enough rest, or because it's Day 2 of each week and my legs haven't adjusted to the new distance, or if it's something entirely coincidental and/or unrelated, but mid-week I have a really hard time finishing my run. My legs feel like lead, I'm working hard to breathe, and my side cramp comes back. I don't look forward to mid-week so much anymore.

Posted by me at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2010

WiW: Week 8

Weight: 148.8

Waist: 31
Hips: 38
Thigh: 24

Not much exciting happened in the last week, except that I ran my FIRST 5K! I'm up to a 28 minute run, so I guess that means I even had a fairly good pace. Go me!

I threw in a little sprint at the end of week 7's run. I think I'm going to try to add in more speed rounds whenever I feel like I have any extra energy.

My weight is still disturbingly high, but at least moved in the right direction this week. More importantly, I'm finally starting to feel like my body might be tightening up.

Posted by me at 9:42 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2010

WiW: Week 7

Weight: 149.8

Waist: 32
Hips: 38
Thigh: 24

I've already covered how my first 25 minute run went. I'm happy to say that my second attempt went much better. I pushed it to Saturday morning because of a dinner of Mexican and the girls' TKD belt tests (WAY TO GO, GIRLS!). Saturday was crazy, with cake baking, shopping and prep for Katie's birthday party, the actual party, and then the after party. I fit the run in somewhere between baking the cake and lunch and groceries at Sam's. I'm not a big fan of people seeing my look of painful desperation while I run, so I prefer not to run during the day, but Saturday was cool and beautiful. First time I felt like I should have brought sunglasses, though.

Monday was CRAZY windy and I wasn't feeling so hot, so I downgraded to a long walk to check the distance on a new route.

And now to whine. What the hell is up with my weight? I expected a little fluctuation because of my weekend eating, although I wasn't nearly bad as I could have been, given the circumstances. And I did get my period (way early), but still. I'm 7 weeks into this, and I weigh more than when I started, and none of my measurements have decreased. I'm not making a big deal about watching what I eat, but I've definitely cut back since I started. It's hard not to get discouraged. I'll finish out this program, but I'm not really sure what else I can do if I don't start losing in the next couple weeks.

Posted by me at 9:54 PM | Comments (0)

May 6, 2010

Well, crap

This is one of those things I can't believe I'm going to tell the world, but it's too funny to keep to myself.

Tonight's run was supposed to be 25 minutes with no walking intervals. I was...concerned, but eager to get started and get it done. I felt great when I left the house, but about 5 minutes in, I started to wonder if my gut was going to take over this run. By 10 minutes in, I was debating stopping and getting my business done with while I still had some control over the where. I decided to try to tough it out, which seemed like a mistake immediately after I passed my last good stopping point.

About 18 minutes in, I tried pushing the button on my iPod to see how long I had left. Between there and the end of my run, I mispushed something several times. Both apps seemed to continue in spite of my mistakes, so I didn't really worry about it.

With maybe 5 minutes left, the stomach issues became desperate. The upside is that I was in a section of neighborhood that is only developed on one side of the street. The downside is that I went behind a thigh high barrier and copped a squat up against a low rock, from which I had an awesome view of all 4 houses in the cul de sac across the street. Luckily, no one walked by, drove past, or took their trash dow to the curb while I was, uh, busy.

Crisis past, I pulled up my shorts and got back to my run. (Note to self: fanny pack with tp worth the fashion faux pas.) I finished the run, started my cool down and pulled out the iPod to check my distance. That's when I noticed that the distance had stopped on the Nike+ app, even though the time was still running, and the C25K app seemed to be a bit off as well. The hell I'm not counting this as a complete run, though. I figure the minute I stopped was totally offset by the 15 minutes of clenching to that point.

I got home, stripped down to jump in the shower, and found this:

I'm either totally badass for finishing the run with a rock in my panties, or really pathetic for having to stop in the first place.

Mostly, I'm pissed that my Nike+ stats are off, and I smudged THREE TOES of my brand new pedicure.

Posted by me at 11:00 PM | Comments (1)

May 5, 2010

WiW: Week 6

Weight: 147.8

Waist: 31.5
Hips: 38
Thigh: 24

Wednesday's run was shitty and amazing, all at the same time. Amazing because I completed 20 consecutive minutes. Shitty because, well, I was running. I had headwinds at the beginning and end. One minute in, I wasn't sure I was going to make it to three minutes, much less finish 20. I felt like my pace was slow from the beginning, and by the end I was positively crawling. I was setting goals for myself all the way through (I can make it to the end of the street, I can make 10 minutes, the end of this song) until by the end I was running because the sunset was so pretty and I couldn't let it down. If you had dangled a Tic Tac in front of me, I would have run for it. I would have run for THE LOVE of the Tic Tac.

I think I was losing it.

It didn't help that I had downloaded a 20 minute podcast for the run, and a 5 minute song for the warm up/cool down, and I ended up listening to the same s l o w song SIX times in a row. I was hoping to concentrate on the words of the podcast, and instead I was trying to tune out this sad song about suicide.

The other two runs were intervals, which no longer have the power to scare me. Running 10 minutes is still hard, but it's so much easier than 20 it feels like cheating. Sadly, starting tonight I don't have any more interval runs left, just solid jogs for 25, then 28, then 30 minutes. *skeered*

I also seem to be on a downward weight trend. I hope it keeps up, even if it's slow, because it's much more motivating to go down instead of up. I'm actually slightly under my day-before-my-official-weigh-in weight. And in just 6 weeks!

Posted by me at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

May 3, 2010

Better, but still not good

I think for the first time since this running thing started, I can see some improvement in how I feel when I run.

Don't get me wrong. I still find it...unpleasant. But where before it was a tie which pain was going to take me down first, my lungs or my legs, now the two alternate. In those very brief moments when I can overcome those pains, that stinkin' stitch that I thought I was done with comes back.

There are times, though, when I can forget that I'm huffing like a steam engine pushing through the Rockies. Times when my legs are tired but not feeling like marble columns, heavy as lead but way less flexible. Times when my aches recede and I can bring myself to just relax and enjoy the freedom, the peace, the solitude.

Except I don't. I don't feel free, I'd rather have some good adult conversation, and I'm bored with my own company. All I can think during those times is that I would rather be just about anywhere but here. I could be reading, sitting, comfortable. It's not like I'm seeing any actual results (read: weight loss. I'm still shallow enough not to care about the rest of the health benefits.)

And just how long am I going to do this, anyway? Once I hit my goal, do I get to stop? If I stop, I'm wasting all the pain and suffering I've put myself through the last 5 weeks. But if I keep going, I'm just continuing the discomfort cycle. If I were hitting my thumb with a hammer, I'd be stupid not to stop, right?

Right now, I'm just going to console myself knowing that things are getting better.

Posted by me at 9:11 PM | Comments (2)