Couch to 5k.....Check!

So guys, I have officially completed my first 5k!

Crossing that finish line was one of the most rewarding feelings... My unofficial official time was 42:30ish and you better believe I'm super proud of that! I know to some people that time would be a disappointment, but to me, it was a complete and total victory.

I think I've lost my mind, but I can't wait to do another one! My training has sort of derailed as of right now, but starting Monday I'm getting myself back on track. I think I may start C25k over and do it outside....outside is much harder than inside....I want to be able to jog the whole 3 miles someday. I think I can do it, it's just going to take a lot of training and a lot of diligence.

As far as weigh-ins are concerned....Not much has changed in the last 2 weeks. One day I was down 2 lbs, and the next I as back to where I was 2 weeks ago. I think my scale might be on the fritz. Or I haven't been as careful about what I eat lately. ugh. Probably the latter of the two.

I will do better though. I have to. I can hear the countdown to 30 clock ticking louder and louder every day....

Until then, enjoy some photos from my very first 5k! (I'm the pink one)

 

 

Before!

After!

 

After Party! 



12 DAYS. This does not look good....

So, 12 days until the race and I've officially quit couch to 5k. Over the last week and a half I've just felt so BLAH. Lots of lovely digestive issues and headaches. Yesterday was the first time I've jogged in about a week, and like I imagined, it was pretty horrible.

Running outside is way harder than running on a treadmill.

There's just no motivation to keep going. If you stop running on a treadmill you're probably going to hurt yourself, but if you stop running on the pavement, no harm done.

I tried the whole interval thing yesterday and the first few sets were killer. After I got warmed up though it wasn't so bad. Then I got my intervals all screwed up and ended up running while I was supposed to be walking so I ended up just walking the last bit. I was shooting for the whole 3.1 miles, but I ended up around 2.4, which is 75% of what I was shooting for....so close!

Apparently when I get outside, everything I'd taught myself about breathing goes out the window. I had a killer headache last night when I got done. Not sure if I was a little dehydrated or if it was the horrible breathing that got me. Probably a little of both. Either way, it was miserable and I ended up calling it a night around 9.

TMI alert: I quit early because apparently the aforementioned digestive issues are not resolved. And I really don't think I could have made one more lap. Could be because I had an ice cream cone with lunch yesterday and I'm lactose intolerant. Whoops.

BUT, from here until October 5 I do solemnly swear to eat healthy, good food, and nothing but good food, so help me if it's the last thing I do!! I've come too far to give in to temptation now. I'm going to try to cut out all processed foods this week and next and stick to whole, healthy foods. If I've learned anything throughout this process, I've learned that you really are what you eat. Good food is good fuel, junk food is junky fuel. Simple as that.

Well guys and girls, wish my luck! It's almost GO TIME! woo!

Weigh in Day....!

Alright y'all. I've fallen off the couch to 5k band wagon. I haven't done it in a week or so now.

I tried the interval thing this morning and I am positive that 6 mph is too fast. I don't know if I am still recovering from giving blood on Sunday or what, but after running intervals for 17 minutes today, I was done. Totally spent and I felt AWFUL. Banana and bagel almost came back up. I'm quitting the whole breakfast before I run thing btw. Being tired is better than puking any day of the week.

I'm going to keep doing intervals I think until I get up to 3 miles. I've GOT to get it together. 16 days til the race.

I think I'm going to pick back up with c25k after the race. I had such high hopes for being able to run this thing, but I know I won't be able to. I was hopeful, but it's time to be realistic about how I'm going to do this. Intervals it is.

Intervals are faster though. Did my first 13 minute mile today. 3 minutes of that on the beginning was a warm up too, so I think if I can work my way up to 6 mph running over the next 2 weeks I'll be ok. I guess we'll see!

So, the numbers. I was super bummed about this weeks weigh in because I really thought I was going to have nothing to report. I've been SO good over the last 2 weeks I only messed up once in two weeks with Mexican food on Sunday, but I didn't even eat all of it....so when I stepped on the scale this morning and was only down 1.6 lbs for the last 2 weeks I was a little bummed. The numbers on the tape measure weren't impressive either.

So, last time I was at 200.8, this week 199.2. 1.6 seems to be the magic number. 21 weeks til 30 gets here. Last time I reported my numbers I did some seriously bad math. I reported that I'd be on track to meeting my goal by my birthday if I was good, but I was so wrong. IF I continue at this 1.6 lbs every 2 weeks thing I've been doing, I'm looking at being down to around 183 then. Which is about 20 lbs more than goal. BUT, if I get down to 183, I'll be down to my pre marriage weight, which is awesome in and of itself.

So to reach my goal, I'm looking at 42.5 weeks. Which lands me right middle of the summer next year. Which will be fantastic for our trip to California next June/July.

It's really hard to think about it taking that long to lose 34 pounds. I wish I knew what was slowing me down. I suppose getting older has a lot to do with it, but it's still really hard to not get frustrated. I'm eating right, I'm exercising 5-6 days a week....I have no clue what's holding me back.

I've eliminated most processed foods/sugars from my diet, I'm eating whole grains and "good" fats, drinking only water (with the exception of my half a cup of watered down coffee in the morning)....I try to stay around 1600 calories a day, and I rarely, if ever, go over 2000 a day. Even with all the good foods and exercising I'm still tired all the time and this weight isn't going anywhere....

I have an appointment in November to get my thyroid rechecked, so I think I'm going to ask my doc then if there's any other reasons I'm feeling this way other than getting older. Because really, I'm just 29, so I'm not really THAT old in the grand scheme of oldness. There's got to be something going on inside this body of mine that's keeping me down. Who knows. Until then, I'm going to keep on trucking til I get where I want to be! Ain't nobody got time for too small clothes!

Week 8 day 1....failed again

I'm really not sure what's going on inside my body, but being healthy is not it this week. My body is telling me I'm getting sick, but I'm stuck on the outskirts of well not moving much either way. If I'm going to be sick I wish I could just go ahead and get it over with, the suspense is draining me.

I got up Saturday morning with great intentions and lots of motivation. It was a cool 65 degrees outside, humidity was tolerable, I just KNEW this was going to be my breakthrough, "I LOVE RUNNING!!" run....

It wasn't.

I had to quit jogging somewhere around half way through. I just had no energy. It really took everything in me to pick one foot up and put it in front of the other. I jogged in intervals for the rest of the time and actually felt ok until I got back to the house.

When I got back inside I was hit by a tidal wave of OW! and zzzzz. I mean, I was totally wiped out and I was sporting a killer headache. I haven't felt quite right since. Doesn't help that I decided to give blood yesterday. I could really go for a nap right now.

I'm supposed to do W8D2 tomorrow, but I really don't see that happening. I'm 99.99% positive I'm going to do intervals again because I still feel just completely zapped. I think I'll try running for 3, walking for 1 and see how that goes. Maybe bump my speed up to 5.5 or 6 and see how far that gets me. I realize that is regressing quite a lot, but I think I'm actually going to end up going farther that way...we'll see!

19 more days!!!

Week 7 day 3....I'm a quitter

W7D3 got me. It was the first time I've had to quit before time was up. I just couldn't do it.

All week this week I've been going to the gym in the morning. I am SO tired in the mornings, but I do enjoy having the evening free to get things done. I've been trying to get up earlier to wake up a little more and try to eat a little breakfast before I go, so maybe I'll have a little more energy...But so far that's not working out...

I have to take my thyroid meds first thing in the morning and I can't eat for 30 minutes (supposed to be an hour, but ain't nobody got time for that). So, I'm going to have to start getting up even earlier. (think out of bed by 4:15. eww.)

I thought I could get by with 4:45, but after my banana and bagel almost made a reappearance yesterday while I was running, twice, I decided I need a little more time to digest. I don't know exactly what these thyroid meds are doing, but if nothing else they are messing with my stomach. Ahh the joys of getting older.

I also determined this week that doing my c25k days back to back is a BAD idea. When the pros say you need a day in between to "rest" they really mean it. That might be another reason why yesterday was such a struggle.

I love love love the couch to 5 k program and would recommend it to anyone for building endurance, but the closer this race gets the more I'm thinking about how I'm actually going to run it. I'm thinking about doing intervals instead of just running it straight through. I have to keep my pace so slow I think it would actually take me longer to jog it than if I did something like run for 2 minutes, walk for a minute through the whole thing. If I jog the whole thing, I think I'm looking at a time of around 39 minutes. However, if I walk/run, I'm looking more at 35...because when I say run, I actually mean run. I think I may give that a try in the few days in between when c25k is over and 5k day. Who knows.

Oh! So far, I've logged 47.5 miles in the couch to 5k app! I'm not counting the days in between that I'm walking, but that's a long way! Yay! I've covered a lot of treadmill ground....if the weather does as it's predicted to I think I'm gonna run outside tomorrow. I'm not as good at running outside as I am at running inside, so it should be interesting. I'm a little nervous that it's going to be a train wreck....

In other news, our teams outfits are going to be fabulous. Think tutus and glow in the dark everything. I can't wait!!! 22 days!!!

Week 7 day 2...a lesson in guilt

So, our work sponsored wellness group is having a 5k training class for the next 4 weeks on Tuesdays after work. I decided it might be beneficial for me to sign up and see if I could get some pointers from the coach.

I went yesterday and our only "task" was to do one mile around the track behind the office. I had decided that since I'm doing fairly well in the program that I'd let that be my W7D2 and no one would be the wiser.

But I knew. Yesterday I went home and did chores and went to bed, but this morning I couldn't live with the guilt any longer so I got my hinny out of bed at 4:50 and went to the gym, did W7D2, and felt fairly decent afterwards.

This time I left my pace at 4.5 and around the 10 minute mark bumped up to 4.6. I had decided when I got to the 20 minute mark I would bump up my speed to 5.0 to see what might happen. That left me running for the last 5 minutes, and while it was completely awful, it wasn't fun either. So I'm thinking tomorrow I might bump up to 5.0 at the halfway point and see what happens.

So, laugh at Brandy opportunity of the week: while I was in the shower this morning at the gym after my workout, I realized I had forgotten to pack the shirt I had picked out to wear to work. It was either 10 minutes to Wal-mart or 25 back home for a shirt....So I had to put my smelly work out shirt back on and go in Wal-Mart to try to find something decent to wear to work. I was only 10 minutes or so late for work, which I guess, is better than 30, but I didn't have time to dry my hair so my head looks like a fluffy hot mess today.

Anyway....5k is in 24 days!!!!

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

Week 7 Day 1....this is what defeat feels like

W7D1 was absolutely horrible.

I just want to let you all know before hand, I will be sharing way too much info about myself and nature here, so if you don't want to know, you should probably go ahead and stop reading now.

Yesterday's run was the perfect storm of horrible. Let me lay it all out for you. Friday evening I ate at Macaroni Grill, Saturday I had Arby's and Logan's, and yesterday there was a potluck after church, and I didn't make it to the gym til around 5. Oh and the part where I share too much, Aunt Flo came to town Saturday.

There is only one word I can conjure to describe how I felt during/after yesterday's run: MISERABLE.

I really didn't think I was going to make it. It was a struggle to put one foot in front of the other. I did up my speed a little like I told myself I was going to do. I maintained 4.6 mph the whole time for a total of 2.49 miles. That does include my warm up and cool down distance, so really I'm only running about 2 miles. But still, that's better than no miles.

And here's the part where I expand on the TMI from earlier....So, the 5k is October 5. Aunt Flo flew in on Sept 7. Do the math y'all, that's 28 days. I don't think there are enough words in the English language to describe how sad that makes me. I get SO tired the first few days of my period. Tired, bloated, and whiney. Those are my 3 main symptoms. So last night when I got home from the gym, I did not pass Go, I did not collect $200, I went straight to couch jail. When I walked to the kitchen to fix myself a bowl of cereal for dinner, my legs felt like they weighed 1,000 lbs each. After I downed the cereal, I didn't move until I went to bed. It was awful.

I did get up crazy early and go to the gym again this morning though. Proud of me, even if I was 10 min late getting there. I did ok until I got to work. I'm pretty sure I could take a nap at my desk this morning and not even feel bad about it. I'm just hoping my energy level is back up tomorrow. I've got training to do. I can't let this stop me from kicking some 5k bootay.

So anyway, I'm going to speculate that the rest of this week is going to be miserable, so pray for me y'all. I'm going to NEED it something fierce.

I feel like my dog today:

Anyway. Until next time.....!