CDCC Week 5 Update and a Breakthrough

This has been a good week.  There were a few less than stellar food choices the last couple days, but nothing extreme.  I am still behind in my book.  It's not hard to read, I just forget about it.  I commented on a few of my fellow challengers blogs this week.  I hope to get to a few more this week.  A few of you are struggling, but for the most part we are doing great.  Keep up the good work everyone.  Keep your motivation in the forefront of your mind whenever you feel weak or off target.

Last weeks weight: 230.6
This weeks weight: 229.2
Loss: 1.4 pounds this week.

The break though this week came in form of running.  On Friday morning I did workout 13.3 of 5k in 100 Days and it involved (3) 11 minute intervals although I only did two of the intervals I still ran for 11 minutes at a time.  I was really proud of myself for running for 11 minutes at a time.  The workout today (14.1) I was to run for (3) 13 minute intervals, well I decided I was going to keep going until I reached a certain spot.  It turns out I ran for almost 20 minutes straight.  I rested for about 2 minutes and then I ran for another 19 minutes.  The distance was about 2.6 miles.  Towards the end I did feel like my legs were going to give up, but I just kept pushing on and telling myself I could do it.  I could run the whole thing.  AND I did.  I can't believe I went from 11 minutes to 19 minutes.  I basically just skipped the whole last week of the 5k in 100 days program.  My next goal would be to run the whole thing without the break.  I really didn't think I would be able to run that long.  So yeah for me!!!  I owe this to Brad Gansberg for this great learn to run program.  If you are the least bit interested in learning to run, I highly recommend his program.  The best part is it was totally free.  If you are a beginner runner skip the whole C25K program because it's just to fast. I tried it so I should know.

Have a good week everyone.

Shrinkvivor Week 2 and Running

I completed W13.2 of 5k in 100 days this morning.  It could have gone better, but I just didn’t have the energy.  I only ate one slice of bread before I left for the workout.  I managed to do (2) 10 minute intervals and then my last interval went like this.  Jog for 5 minutes, walk 2, jog 3 minutes, walk 1, jog 1 minute.  It’s all I could accomplish.  I still had the distance to compete the allotted time; I just didn’t have the energy to.  I’m ecstatic that I was able to complete (2) 10 minute intervals.  I really struggled to complete them though.  My next workout (on Thursday) is supposed to involve (3) 11 minute intervals.  I must try to eat better before I do it.

I am down 1 pound from last weeks Shrinkvivor weigh in.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to show a loss this week, but somehow I squeaked by.  

I racked up 247 exercise minutes for the challenge this week.  We are to log our exercise minutes again for the coming week and our mini challenge this week is to eat something green with every meal.  I ate a salad for lunch today so that’s one meal down, many to go. 

Completed unrelated to this post, I just had to share a picture of Little Lady from Sunday night at my parents house.  

Isn’t she just the cutest Rockstar?!  That is all, have a great day!

CDCC Week 4 update

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Mine was nice and I feel I got things accomplished this weekend.  However I did eat to much at my parents house last night.  We went over there for dinner and I just over did it.  So today my weigh in is 230.6.  Last weeks weigh in was 233 so that is a loss of 2.4 pounds.  If you have been following my Shrinkvivior posts too that means I'm up .6 pounds from Wednesday, but who's counting.  I'm still down 2.4 from last weeks CDCC weigh in.  So go me!!

I had a non scale victory this week though.  I fit into a smaller size pair of jeans.  Woohoo.  I have one more smaller size one in my closet and I can't wait until I fit into them.

I am doing my best to keep up on my water.  I struggle the most on the weekend.  I am didn't read my book this weekend, but otherwise I'm caught up.

My exercise is going well.  I did Yoga for the first time this week and I did two of my 5k in 100 days workouts.  I actually jogged more than I walked today.  That's another accomplishment for me.  I actually ran for 9 minutes for three of my intervals and the other interval was 8 minutes.  My next run/walk will be 10 minute intervals.  I still can't believe I'm running for that long at one time.

I think I commented on everyone's CDCC update last week and I hope to get to many this week as well.

Sore Thighs

I tried Yoga for the first time Wednesday night.  I was at home using a TV show my husband taped. It was interesting.  Definitely moves I have never attempted before.  My quads were a little sore yesterday, but I decided to go ahead and do my 5k in 100 day workout 13.1 since I hadn’t run at all this week.  Well that might have been a huge mistake.  I could feel them tensing up during my run.  I was supposed to do (4) 9 minute intervals, but instead I squeaked out (1) 9 minute, (1) 8 minute and (1) 3 ½ minute before my legs gave up on me.  Even walking the rest of the way back home I could feel the soreness setting in.  My quads are SORE today.  I’m glad I got in the workout though.  The total exercise time was 40 minutes. I also got in a 10 minute work walk during my break.

I have about 15 days until the Run the Hood Virtual 5k so I want to be sure I’m keeping up with my run/walks.  I’m still not ready to complete it in my desired 45 minute time frame.  There are mini hills in my route so they zap my energy and momentum.  My jog pace is already super slow so add a mini hill in and I can walk just as fast up the hill without all the heavy breathing.  I see runners on the street and they look so graceful with big strides and I admire them.  I want to be able to run like that.  Maybe after I lose a good 50-60 pounds it will be easier.

I don’t have any big plans this weekend. I really need to work on a menu for next week.  I feel like we are eating the same thing all the time because it’s convenient, but there are so many great recipes just waiting to be tried.  Then tomorrow night we are having dinner at my parents’ house.  My mom is having grand kid withdrawals.  Hehe

I’ll be back on Sunday for my CDCC weigh in.  Have a great weekend everyone.

Workouts and Races

I’ve been really tired lately.  Yesterday my alarm went off at 5:05am so I could get up and do W11.1 for 5k in 100 days (run/walk) before work.  I turned off my alarm and next time I looked at my watch it was 5:22am.  For the next 10 minutes I contemplated not getting up and just sleeping in.  I played all the scenarios over in my head about how I could do it today instead and then my next one could be on Thursday night after work, etc.  Somehow I managed to convince myself to get up and just do it.  I left the house later than I should have because of this and got in 4 of my scheduled 5 intervals before I ran out of time.  I’m happy with that considering I was tired after the 4 intervals anyway.  After I did the workout I was glad I didn’t just sleep in.  Tomorrow I’ll get up early again to do W11.2.  I hope I don’t have as much trouble getting up tomorrow.

Yesterday was also my brother’s birthday so we all went to a steak house for dinner.  I ate pretty well there by ordering the chicken and steamed veggies, but I did partake in a little too much bread and a few bites of his birthday dessert.  My eating has been pretty good lately, but there is some room for improvement.

So my 5k in 100 days program ends on October 19^th if I continue as the schedule shows, so last week my husband and I signed up for a 5k and a 10k.  I will do the 5k and he will do the 10k.  This 5k takes place on 11/6 and it fits in well with the 5k in 100 days end.  It even gives me a little more time if I decide to drag out these last few weeks if I feel I can’t keep upping my interval time.  However, today I signed up for the Run the Hood Virtual 5k/10k that shrinkingjeans.net is hosting.  When I saw the word virtual in the title I thought…huh? That is weird.  But when you sign up you will be sent a race t-shirt and when you finish and report your time you will receive a medal.  Who doesn’t want some race bling?  I think the biggest only reason I signed up was for the medal.  I can do a 5k any day of the week, but add a medal to the mix and you have reeled me in.  hahaha  If you want to participate you have to sign up my tomorrow 9/22/11.  The race is on 10/22/11 and I hope to do it in under 45 minutes.  That is the goal I have set for myself as of right now when I haven’t completed my 5k in 100 days program. 

Does anyone have any races set up in the near future?

Camping Recap

I had a lovely weekend camping.  We brought a tent to sleep in, but the first night (Friday) we got there too late to set it up so we slept in my parents 5^th wheel.  My two kids were on the table bed and I was on the sofa bed.  Sleep was awful that night due to my daughter falling off the bed in the 5^th wheel twice.  The first time wasn’t a big deal, but the second time caused her to cry and then she was awake for at least 2 hours, probably longer.  I felt so bad because I knew my daughter was keeping my parents awake as well as myself.  She is only 16 months and after the second fall she came to sleep with me on the sofa bed. 

Saturday we had a nice breakfast and then walked around the camp.  There was a craft bazaar and a classic car show.  The kids played at the park for a little bit until my 3 year old son got bit by a bee.  The stinger was still sticking out of his ear.  The poor guy was a trooper though.  He didn’t cry that much, but he was pretty clingy for awhile.  We had lunch and then just hung out for awhile.  My husband got off work and showed up about 1:30pm.  He took a nap with the kids and I had some me time reading a book.

We all hung out for the evening, ate dinner and played a couple games.  This time we slept in the tent and sleep was much better besides the oh so inconsiderate girls sleeping in a cabin on the hill above our camp site.  They were making noise on and off until after midnight.  UGH…some people are so clueless to other people.

On Sunday morning we ate breakfast and my husband and I went for my walk/run workout 3 of the week. (W10.3 of 5k in 100 days) I’m really glad he was with me because I really would have cut my intervals short had he not been with me.  This workout involved a 10 min. fast walk and then 4 intervals of 7 minutes each.  I really had to push myself.  Even though it wasn’t much of a workout for my husband, he jogged beside me and encouraged me several times.  He didn’t even break a sweat.  I was just really proud of myself for doing my workout while camping.

The rest of the day was pretty mellow, lunch, nap, kids bingo, clean up, and go home.  As soon as I got things situated at home the kids got a much needed bath.  Unfortunately, the pictures we took while there were on my mom’s camera.  But, I’ll leave you with a few I took on my IPod before we left.  The kids decided to play in the dirt while my dad emptied the trailer water.  This is what they looked like before we left the campground.



Look at that face and shirt



You can see the dirt on her leg too





Look at her skirt caked with dirt, she's a mess!



Dirty but having a good time!



Another Early Morning Workout

When my alarm went off this morning all I wanted to do was continue sleeping.  But, its workout day and I knew I had to get up and just go.  So I did!  I did workout 10.1 today.  I had to do (5) 6 minute intervals.  I was struggling during interval 4 and didn’t know if I was even going to do #5, but I just kept telling myself it’s only one more interval.  You are almost done.  You can’t wimp out now.  Somehow I pushed through and completed it.  It was my first time doing 6 minutes and I have to admit it was a long 6 minutes.   I know the time is just going to get longer and longer, but I’m not sure I’m up for it yet.  I still have so much extra weight to carry around and my poor legs get so tired. My lower back also starts hurting towards the end of my workout.  I’m not giving up, but I just might take longer than the 14 weeks to complete this program.  I’m already in week 10 and I know that in week 14 we are to run 17 minutes.  WOW…17 minutes.  That seems like an eternity to me right now.  I’ll just keep pushing along and see what happens.

In other news, my book for the CDCC challenge arrived yesterday.  I will start reading it tonight.  I did good with my water and food yesterday as well.

Only two more days to enter the Calphalon giveaway at All the Weigh.

Workout 9.2 and a Challenge

I did my Fartlek workout today.  I couldn’t remember what the time frame was for this workout since I watched the video a couple of days ago, but I started out with a 20 minute fast walk.  Then:

a 5 minute my regular pace run (I wanted to set myself up for workout 3 of this week)

walked

2 minute faster pace run

walked

1 minute 30 seconds run with a small portion of that running as fast as I could (I felt like I was going to keel over after the fast running)

walked

4 minute regular pace run

walked some more.   I took a shorter route today and that is what fit into getting me back home.  There were a lot of people out and about this morning so I felt a little insecure doing weird Fartlek stuff. Haha

I will be starting a challenge on Sunday called Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge 2011.  It will run from Sept. 11- Dec. 18^th.  You can check it out here. I’m looking forward to setting my “weight wagon” off down the hill.

Today I did workout 9.1 for 5k in 100 days.  I am past the half way point of this program and feeling good.  Today I did 5 intervals of 4 minutes each.  My next workout will be 5 intervals of 5 minutes each.  I will also do a Fartlek workout for my third workout of the week.  It will be interesting to see how long I can run or how fast with no time constraints placed on me.  The mornings are getting darker and darker as the days go by. I find it incredibly hard to get out of the house when there is still some darkness outside.  I’m going to have to get over this, but my mind just thinks I should be asleep still. Haha  But, one benefit of getting up so early is being able to catch a picture of the sunrise. 

The sun was hiding behind the cloud as I was finishing up my run and then it showed itself and lit up the sky so I could take this picture of me after the workout.  This picture is literally 5 minutes after the picture above.  Weird how bright it is on me.

So-So

So I haven’t posted in a few days.  I have been a little under the weather with a cold and just haven’t felt like posting.  I have only done one of the two workouts scheduled for 5k in 100 days, but luckily it’s the recovery week and they are shortened anyway.  I will get the other one in probably Sunday if my cold feels better.

My eating this week has been okay.  Not great, but not horrible…as usual.  I think this cold has aided in that.  I do feel a little lazy since I am behind on my run.  It’s amazing what missing a workout does to motivation.  I’m not losing my motivation, but it’s been a little delayed with the cold. 

It’s a three day weekend due to Labor day on Monday so I’m looking forward to an extra day off and some family time on Monday.  We are going to my mom’s house for a BBQ on Monday.  Most of the family is supposed to be there this time which is nice because the last few get togethers not everyone came.  I’ll do my best to make smarter meal choices and not go overboard on Monday.  I hope you all have a great weekend.  Any big plans?

Weekend

We decided to go to Venice beach on Saturday.  It was supposed to be about 104 at home and only 82 in Venice.  It was a good decision.  It was beautiful at the beach, although a very busy place too.  We sat by the water for awhile and my husband went boogie boarding.  Here are a couple of pictures.



My husband after the water fun.




Little Lady playing with brothers shoe. The husband and son are directly behind her by the water.



We then walked around and down through the Venice Canals.  I had never seen the canals before.  The movie “Valentines Day” with Ashton Kutcher had a scene from those canals.  It doesn’t even seem like the city when you are by the canals.  Pretty cool thing to check out if you are ever in the area. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them.

On Sunday morning I did W7.3 for 5k in 100 days.  I hadn’t eaten breakfast and I wasn’t able to complete the last interval.  I just didn’t have the energy.  It was also getting hot already and it was only 8am when I finished.  Next week is a recovery week and there are only two workouts for 40 minutes each.  That will be super refreshing compared to the 65-70 minute workouts in the last couple of weeks. 



Yep, my facial expression about sums up how I felt after the workout.  I was tired!



The rest of the day consisted of Church, a nap, TV and vegging out with the kids.  What did you do with your weekend?

Success!

I went on W7.2 this morning.  I succeeded in running 5 intervals of 4 whole minutes each.  I said in my last workout post a couple days ago that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to jump up a whole minute in my intervals, but I did it!!!  I wasn’t even as tired as I was a few workouts ago when I was dragging to complete my entire workout.  Granted the other day I was talking about 7 intervals of time instead of 5 like today.  My lower back did start to hurt in my 5^th interval.  I blame this on all the extra jiggling of the “junk in the trunk.”  I’m sure that will be better when I lose the extra “junk.” I couldn’t help but smile and say “I did it” out loud after that first interval was over.  I didn’t even look at the timer to see how much longer I had to go. I totally rocked this workout and I couldn’t be more proud of myself.  The total distance was just shy of 4 miles.  WooHoo

A Good Workout

My alarm went off at 5am this morning.  It’s STILL dark at 5am.  I knew I needed to get up to go do my walk/run, but I really just wanted to sleep for another hour.  Well, I’m proud to say I got out of bed at 5:05am and dressed for my workout.  This was workout 7.1 of the 5k in 100 days program.  I’m running for a full 3 minutes at a time now.  My next workout I’m supposed to run for 4 full minutes. UGH.  I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to jump up a whole minute.  We shall see.  I did manage to go 4 miles in just over an hour.  Here is today’s post workout picture.

My eating has been good that last few days.  I made some Lighter Eggplant Parmesan  from Skinny Taste the other day and it was yummy.   It has provided me leftovers to take to work as well.  The kids even liked it.  At first my son didn’t want to eat it, but he was told he had to eat it to get anything else so he forced some down.  Well he did like it, even though he didn’t want to admit it.  What’s not to love with all that cheese in there.  I must admit I didn’t use the fat free ricotta because I was at target and they didn’t have any there.  Mine ultimately had more calories, but oh well. It did have Eggplant in it, which I’ve never really eaten before.  I’ve been eating more fruit, but I do need to work on getting some more veggies into my diet.  The kids are being picky lately and it’s making it hard to feed them.  That’s about all I have for today.  Have a great day!

It's Friday

I did my 5k in 100 days workout 5.2 yesterday morning.  I struggled through the last two minute intervals.  I did however complete them.  Tomorrow I will do workout 5.3 in which I will be running 2.5 minute intervals and 35 minutes of a fast walk.  I’m really not looking forward to such a long fast walk, but I know that it is helping me increase my aerobic capacity. 

I hope to do the Leslie Sansone DVD on Sunday.  I watched a preview of the DVD last night and it looks like I’ll get pretty sweaty.  I didn’t want to do the video the day before a run in case I get really sore legs from it.  By doing it Sunday, I’ll have time to recover if it proves to be a little trying on my body.

My food intake has been okay this week.  Again, not fantastic choices, but not horrible choices either.  I need to find some easy go to healthy meals that are kid friendly.  Have any suggestions? 

I don’t really have any plans for the weekend.  Maybe I’ll tackle cleaning up the laundry room, it’s starting to get this funky odor.  Ewww.  Don’t judge…I’ve got a kid who is potty training and isn’t successful sometimes and the wet clothes have to go somewhere!

Inspiration and other things

I was reading through Ben’s blog from 2 years ago and came across a great post.  Here is what it said:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hardest part

Is starting.

And it’s not just about weight loss. I’m talking any form of getting your life together. All aspects.
But here’s what worked for me.

Think about four months ago. Think about where you were. What were you doing? Now think about how cool it would be if the four-months-ago version of yourself decided to start at that moment. Think about where you would be now. Four months of diet and exercise. Four months without a cigarette. Four months of doing life. A lot can improve in four months.

Think about how fast the past four months have flown by. These next four are going to go just as fast. Why not start right now?

This post really spoke to me.  I have been slacking so much in the food department.  I have been allowing myself to eat more than I should.  I’m not gaining weight, but I’m not actively taking control of my food intake.  Where would I be weight wise if I had really set my mind to it over a month ago when I started this blog.  I’m down about 4 pounds in that month.  That’s really sad!  I believe the only real reason I’m down anything is because I took up the 5k in 100 days program and am actually exercising 3 days a week.  Again, if I had added some more exercise in to my week that would help me lose even more weight.  Where do I want to be in 4 months from now??  I would love to be in or near onederland!!  If this is going to become a reality then I need to GET STARTED!

I do have to say that I have gained some stamina from the 5k in 100 days program.  This program is keeping me accountable to workout 3 days a week and before I started it I wasn’t really getting any exercise besides a short 10 minute walk at work on my break.  I did workout 3 of week 4 today and I had to push myself to complete all my intervals.  Today I ran for 2 minutes at a time.  Two minutes sure is a long time when you are a beginner runner.   I’m glad the program has progressed slowly and allowed my body to gain aerobic capacity.  I’m excited to keep progressing.

Tomorrow I head to San Diego for my Anniversary weekend which we put off a week due to a wedding we are going to attend on Sunday night.  We are going to go on a Segway tour of the gaslamp district and a boat cruise of the harbor.  I’m really excited for the Segway tour. I’ve always wanted to try one out.  I’ll be sure to report on it next week.  Have a great weekend!

Weigh In Wednesday

Nothing spectacular to report today. I am only down .2 pounds.  I know it’s because I haven’t done the best I could do.  I still haven’t added in extra workouts between run days.  I have a Leslie Sansone video coming through Netflix.  I’ll add that into the mix when I get it.  It should come in a day or two. I had planned to go home yesterday and do some sort of exercise, but then dinner was ready and my husband suggested going in the pool.  I opted for the pool rather than workout.  I did try to use the water resistance to exercise my arms a bit. Haha

I did rock workout 4.2 today for 5k in 100 days.  I’m doing pretty well with it.  I’m sure our run lengths will be going up faster than in the beginning.  We will be running for two minutes in workout 4.3.  I haven’t seen next weeks schedule, but it’s my bet that we are going to jump up 30 seconds.  Guess I’ll have to wait and see.  I’ll leave you with this picture of me after my run/walk this morning.

Friend Making Monday and W4.1

I went out for my first workout of week 4 and did about 2.8 miles today.  It was much easier without the kids.  I didn’t look at the clock on my intervals today.  I just let the buzzer tell me when it was time to run or walk.  I did have to talk myself through it a couple of times.  I kept telling myself “this is good for you, you want to be 40 pounds lighter by January, it’s not much longer”  My legs were tired by the time I was done with the 25 minute fast walk.  I think my endurance is increasing, but my legs aren’t keeping up.  I mean…I feel like I can run the time, but my legs feel really heavy and don’t want to keep going.  I did it though and felt good afterwards.  I worked up a good sweat too and here’s proof.  (The shinyness is all sweat glistening in the morning sun) :-)

 

Now on to Friend Making Monday

Friend Makin’ Mondays: Girly Stuff

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

1. Do you like to shop? I wouldn’t say that I’m a big shopper, but I do occasionally spend too much time perusing the isles of Target or Walmart.  I can go to a mall and not even look at three quarters of the stores because they just don’t interest me.  I think part of that has to do with a lot of clothing stores in malls with clothes I don’t fit in to.

2. How often do you wear makeup? Rarely.  I used to wear makeup when I was trying to impress my now husband, but he likes me just the way I am so I don’t usually bother.  If I am going somewhere special then I’ll through some on.  I’m going to a wedding this weekend and I’ll probably doll myself up for that. 

3. How do you feel about nail polish? I like it, but I don’t usually wear any.  This is due in part to the longevity of nail polish.  It just doesn’t last very long before it’s chipped and looking funky.

4. Do you consider yourself to be a feminist? I don’t think feminist is the right word for me. I like the chivalry of men and of them being the head of household and such, but I know that I can do things myself too.

5. What’s your biggest challenge as a woman? Probably TMI here, but having to deal with periods and shaving. Haha  Men just don’t understand what we have to deal with. 

6. Do you wear skirts and dresses? Not often.  I don’t really like the way my legs rub together in them.

7. How do you feel about high heels?  I don’t really like them that much.  They are torture devices for the balls of your feet. haha

8. Do you subscribe to magazines? If so, which ones? Not currently.  I was getting parenting and first years, but that was only because I got free issues when I was pregnant.

9. Do you shave your legs/wax/ use depilatory creams or go au naturale?  I shave and go au naturale when I’m being lazy.  (which is often)  I don’t show my legs much so shaving isn’t as necessary when they don’t get seen by the world.

10. What do you like most about being a woman? Hmmm…..Being able to cry at sad things and not be looked at as weak.

Now it’s your turn to answer the questions! And don’t forget to link up at alltheweigh.com!