I had a pretty good day as far as food. I did slip up with a bag of M&Ms but I am not going to punish myself that hard. I also made sure I added in more fruit and veggies.
Let's see:
Breakfast: Multigrain Cheerios and skim milk
Snack: Small Apple
Lunch: Lean Cuisine, apple juice, two large carrots, grape fruit leather, gardettos...
Snack: Handful of M&Ms
Dinner: Chicken sandwich on sandwich thin w/lettuce, light swiss cheese, light mayo and mustard, Gatorade (to help me get rid of some leg cramping ive had all day), handful of Sunchips, and a piece of the somewhat light carrot cake I made for a party last weekend.
I didnt want to talk about the carrot cake, or the M&M's or the Gardettos. But I ate them and I have to own up to them.
I wanted to tell you all about my first brick workout on Sunday. It was short but it was hell! A brick workout is a workout where you do two different exercises in a short period of time. Since I will be doing a duathalon (run/bike/run) I decided to try the bike to run transition. So I went for a short, but hilly, 5 mile ride near my house. (I need to get my bike in to be fitted again because my knee was not feeling good on these hills). Once I got back to my house, I got off my bike and changed into my tennis shoes. Now I understand the jelly leg feeling once I got off the bike. It is the strangest feeling but I just kept going with it. The goal was to run just one mile. I could barely get 1/2 mile before my legs started to cramp in my shins. It felt like the muscles were going to pull off my bones, they hurt so bad. I ended up walking the last 1/2 mile home. I assume there will be more brick workouts, with hopefully less pain.
I also got a chance to try out my new tri shorts. I was apprehensive of them at first because they seemed to run a bit small but they were perfect when I was running. I just couldn't think about how they were plastered on my thighs and tried not to worry about what I looked like in them. I hope to run tomorrow morning in them. The other goal is to run 2 miles tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
A Good Day
Breakfast:
Multi-grain Cheerios with skim milk 150 Calories
Morning Snack:
Handful of Frosted Mini Wheats 90 calories
Lunch:
200 Calorie portion of Digiorno Pepperoni Pizza - 200 Calories
Snyders of Hanover Pretzel pieces - 140 Calories
Minute Maid Apple Juice Box (I bought these as an inside joke with my hubby) - 95 Calories
Yoplait Light yogurt - 100 Calories
Stretch Island Raspberry fruit leather - 45 calories
Afternoon Snack:
One mini snickers (the little square ones) - 45 calories
Dinner:
Pat and I went out for dinner for the first time in a couple of weeks. *I remember the times when we would go out for dinner 3-4 times a week* We opted for the Great Dane Pub because we had a gift card. I ordered a glass of water. We split an order of Hot Soft Pretzels and I ordered their Cobb salad with the dressing on the side. The jalapenos caught me off guard as they were buried in with the lettuce. The salad was great and I was surprised how full i was. I have no idea what the calorie count was on this. I'm going to say the salad was around 400 calories and the pretzels...300 calories???
That puts me at almost 1600 calories for the day. That is about right where I want to be. I am aiming for 1650-1700 calories a day.
So Yea! Go Me!
Tomorrow night, I talk about my first, hellish, brick workout!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
It Started Out So Good!...But then...
I know that a major part of this journey has been a success for me. My working out has been good, for the most part. As I look over the last year on DailyMile, I have had exercise every month, whether it is 3 miles or 111.
The other part has been harder for me, the eating part. There was a time when I lost 10 lbs nearly from just eating and not changing my working out at all. So I know I can do it. I've determined it is all mental; the running is mental, the riding is mental and the food is mental. The problem is the mental part of working out has become so easy for me because I just need to get through that 5 minute thought of staying in bed and the few second block of wanting to walk when I should keep running. The food block is so much harder and hits multiple times through out the day. It's not as easy to get by.
I made the decision last Sunday night to be stringent about my eating. I did so well on Monday, eating mini wheats when I wanted something sweet that would fill me up. After Monday it all went down hill ending with me buying a box of Glazers doughnuts from Kwik Trip. I never eat doughnuts! Never!
I made some good decisions at some meals. Friday night, my coworker had a bunch of us over to eat some Salmon he caught while on vacation in Alaska. The salmon was served with some rice and corn on the cob. It was delicious and I kept desert down to one small piece of carrot cake. I was pretty proud of myself that night.
I guess I just have to start with dinner tonight and see what happens every time my tummy is looking for food. One decision at a time right?
The other part has been harder for me, the eating part. There was a time when I lost 10 lbs nearly from just eating and not changing my working out at all. So I know I can do it. I've determined it is all mental; the running is mental, the riding is mental and the food is mental. The problem is the mental part of working out has become so easy for me because I just need to get through that 5 minute thought of staying in bed and the few second block of wanting to walk when I should keep running. The food block is so much harder and hits multiple times through out the day. It's not as easy to get by.
I made the decision last Sunday night to be stringent about my eating. I did so well on Monday, eating mini wheats when I wanted something sweet that would fill me up. After Monday it all went down hill ending with me buying a box of Glazers doughnuts from Kwik Trip. I never eat doughnuts! Never!
I made some good decisions at some meals. Friday night, my coworker had a bunch of us over to eat some Salmon he caught while on vacation in Alaska. The salmon was served with some rice and corn on the cob. It was delicious and I kept desert down to one small piece of carrot cake. I was pretty proud of myself that night.
I guess I just have to start with dinner tonight and see what happens every time my tummy is looking for food. One decision at a time right?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
1.85 Miles!
I was struggling tonight to find the motivation to write. This seems to be common occurrence lately. Maybe because I have been so busy at work I just don't want to come home to sit down to a computer.
I had a non-scale victory today, which is good because the scale has been brutal to me over the past couple of weeks (I've gained 4 pounds). I woke up this morning, dragging myself from the bed because it was still dark at 5:30am. I always make sure I look out the bedroom window to check for rain cuz if its raining, I am going to crawl back into bed. To my luck, there was no rain and the sky was a bright but deep red from the soon to be rising sun. With half shut eyes, I pulled on my workout clothes and brushed my hair up into a ponytail. I opened my eyes wide enough to put in my contacts and headed downstairs.
The weather guy from NBC15, David George, told me last night *via the tv* that there was a strong change of thunderstorms this morning. So I had to make a point to check the radar for rain before I left. There it was, a huge swath of thunderstorms about 20 miles west of my house. I was pretty sure I could get a 30 minute workout done before it would start raining, atleast I was hopeful. So I turned on my iPod and walked out the door. I could see the sky was kind of dark to the west but it wasn't threatening.
I hadn't run since Friday so I knew I would be able to push myself a little bit but because of the impending rain, I would have to do a shorter route than what I had been doing lately. I picked the 2.3 mi route, downhill the whole way out and uphill the whole way back in. Sometimes it annoys me that we live on the highest point in the neighborhood, just saying. I did my usual 5 minute warm up walk and starting jogging. I jog/run really really slow. But I just kept going. I was aiming to go 15 minutes without stopping. I was really hopeful I would be able to go longer than that but I didn't want to set my sights too high. At my usual turn around point, I decided to take a left and ran up the hill a little bit, just long enough to catch a bolt of lightening hit the ground to the west. That was just enough to make me decide I needed to start heading back to the house.
I want to say thank you to the bug that flew down my open mouth right after I turned around. It was at that point in my throat that caused me to instinctively swallow. So swallow I did, until it got stuck and caused me to cough, hard! But I kept running. Hack hack..no bug. So I swallowed again. I have no idea what was in my stomach the rest of the day. I hope it died quickly. I wanted to stop running and walk up the hill leading into my neighborhood. Trust me, this is not much of a hill and more of a casual grade. But I kept going. I rounded the corner into my neighborhood where it flattens out for just a little bit. My legs felt good, my lungs did not. But I just kept going. I didn't let myself eye the next mailbox and say "I will run until that mailbox and then walk". I just kept looking onto the next corner. Looking at my watch, I was past the 15 minute mark. I was going to keep going.
The next time I looked at my watch, it was 2.5 minutes later at 17:30. My mind was fighting with me. I really wanted to walk so I slowed down my already snail pace. I knew I could probably walk faster than I was running. The next time I looked at my watch, I only had 90 more seconds to make it to 20 minutes of straight running. I could do 90 seconds! It was really the longest 90 seconds of my life! It was like I was looking at my watch every 10 seconds. I really pushed myself during the last 30 seconds. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy talking out loud telling myself to just keep going. I counted the last 10 seconds to myself, probably a bit faster than what my watch was telling me. I DID IT! I ran 20 minutes without stopping. It was time to walk.
I finished the rest of the route with another minute of running and a few minutes of walking to cool down. It just started to barely sprinkle when I walked up my driveway. The thunder was getting pretty loud at that point. Maybe a little thrill of fear ran through me before I brushed it off.
I mapped out my distance for my 20 minute run and it came out to 1.85 miles! Go me! I ran my first mile only a couple of weeks ago. This is huge for me!
I had a non-scale victory today, which is good because the scale has been brutal to me over the past couple of weeks (I've gained 4 pounds). I woke up this morning, dragging myself from the bed because it was still dark at 5:30am. I always make sure I look out the bedroom window to check for rain cuz if its raining, I am going to crawl back into bed. To my luck, there was no rain and the sky was a bright but deep red from the soon to be rising sun. With half shut eyes, I pulled on my workout clothes and brushed my hair up into a ponytail. I opened my eyes wide enough to put in my contacts and headed downstairs.
The weather guy from NBC15, David George, told me last night *via the tv* that there was a strong change of thunderstorms this morning. So I had to make a point to check the radar for rain before I left. There it was, a huge swath of thunderstorms about 20 miles west of my house. I was pretty sure I could get a 30 minute workout done before it would start raining, atleast I was hopeful. So I turned on my iPod and walked out the door. I could see the sky was kind of dark to the west but it wasn't threatening.
I hadn't run since Friday so I knew I would be able to push myself a little bit but because of the impending rain, I would have to do a shorter route than what I had been doing lately. I picked the 2.3 mi route, downhill the whole way out and uphill the whole way back in. Sometimes it annoys me that we live on the highest point in the neighborhood, just saying. I did my usual 5 minute warm up walk and starting jogging. I jog/run really really slow. But I just kept going. I was aiming to go 15 minutes without stopping. I was really hopeful I would be able to go longer than that but I didn't want to set my sights too high. At my usual turn around point, I decided to take a left and ran up the hill a little bit, just long enough to catch a bolt of lightening hit the ground to the west. That was just enough to make me decide I needed to start heading back to the house.
A little side note here. For those of you that knew me when I was younger, thunderstorms freaked me out! I was so scared of storms, I used to make my friends' parents drive me home in the middle of the night if there was a storm because my bedroom was the only safe place in the case of lightning and thunder. I know I was pretty lame. I used to hide under my covers of my bed during the heat of the summer because I thought that if I was under the blankets the lightning couldn't get to me. I've gotten a lot better, I actually enjoy the sound of thunder as long as it is not associated with rotating wall clouds. So me being outside during an impending thunderstorm with lightning is a huge thing for me.
I want to say thank you to the bug that flew down my open mouth right after I turned around. It was at that point in my throat that caused me to instinctively swallow. So swallow I did, until it got stuck and caused me to cough, hard! But I kept running. Hack hack..no bug. So I swallowed again. I have no idea what was in my stomach the rest of the day. I hope it died quickly. I wanted to stop running and walk up the hill leading into my neighborhood. Trust me, this is not much of a hill and more of a casual grade. But I kept going. I rounded the corner into my neighborhood where it flattens out for just a little bit. My legs felt good, my lungs did not. But I just kept going. I didn't let myself eye the next mailbox and say "I will run until that mailbox and then walk". I just kept looking onto the next corner. Looking at my watch, I was past the 15 minute mark. I was going to keep going.
The next time I looked at my watch, it was 2.5 minutes later at 17:30. My mind was fighting with me. I really wanted to walk so I slowed down my already snail pace. I knew I could probably walk faster than I was running. The next time I looked at my watch, I only had 90 more seconds to make it to 20 minutes of straight running. I could do 90 seconds! It was really the longest 90 seconds of my life! It was like I was looking at my watch every 10 seconds. I really pushed myself during the last 30 seconds. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy talking out loud telling myself to just keep going. I counted the last 10 seconds to myself, probably a bit faster than what my watch was telling me. I DID IT! I ran 20 minutes without stopping. It was time to walk.
I finished the rest of the route with another minute of running and a few minutes of walking to cool down. It just started to barely sprinkle when I walked up my driveway. The thunder was getting pretty loud at that point. Maybe a little thrill of fear ran through me before I brushed it off.
I mapped out my distance for my 20 minute run and it came out to 1.85 miles! Go me! I ran my first mile only a couple of weeks ago. This is huge for me!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Sweat Will Get You Change
Sweat! We all do it. I never used to sweat. Sure, my face got red and I looked really warm but I wasn't really sweating. I mean really really sweating.
Lately, when I have been running, I've been really sweating. My face is sweating, even my arms and legs are doing it. I HATE the feeling of sweat! I hate it when it drips down my face. I hate it when it makes my arms slimy. I know it's my body's natural way of cooling itself down and I know it's healthy. I just hate the feeling of it. This makes me laugh because I don't really care if I look sweaty while I'm working out. I just don't like how it feels but then I'm also proud it because it means I'm working my body hard. Go me, go sweat!
 |
| I hate this picture. |
"Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change. "
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Yummy Fruit
I was searching for ideas for things to write about tonight until Mariah over at Unstoppable Mariah asked me if I bought anything good at the store. It got me thinking about my grocery list *the shopping list I most inconveniently left on the kitchen table*. I have been really working on eating better and my cart definitely showed it. It was filled with fruits and veggies and other healthy good eats.
I would have to say the best thing I bought this evening was a few Pluots! If you haven't tried these, I would strongly suggest you do.
They pretty much look like plums and they are very similar. They are a cross between a plum and an apricot and they are delicious. I eat everything except for the pit. So yum, yum, yum!
 | |||
| Pluots |
Monday, August 8, 2011
I Did It!
I ran a mile!
I don't know why I couldn't seem to find the time last week to write about my big accomplishment. Can you guess what I did?...I finally ran a mile without stopping! Oh the simple things in life. I ran 1.06 miles in just under 13 minutes and I am extremely proud of myself. I was slightly disappointed with my total time originally because I had been injured the week before but a friend pointed out that I ran a mile. I really didn't believe her until I actually mapped it out. I mean it didn't feel like a mile...well...actually it did. I was struggling and my legs hurt, and my back hurt.
I've really come to believe that this is all a mental game. My body feels so much better than it did a year ago. Now I am just trying to get through the mental negative talk while I run. "I can't go any further, I can't do this, this sucks, its hot out here, there's sweat in my eyes!" Those are just some of the things that run through my mind while my feet are hitting the pavement. Lately, I have been able to work through those negative thoughts with the idea that I am most likely not going to pass out. The shin splints are gone and my knee feels a little better. I know I just have to keep running.
This morning, I went for another run. After my five minute warm up walk, I started running and just kept going! I felt good! My knee didn't hurt at all! When I got home and mapped out how far I had run, I ran for 15 minutes straight for 1.5 miles! That is a new record for me. I'm sure I was able to run that far in high school but since I started really running last fall, that's the best I've done and I'm proud! I enjoyed the run enough this morning to look at how the fog settled on the corn fields around my house. I actually wish I had a camera with me to capture the moment the sun rose over the trees and the fog caught the beams of light. But I just kept running. I ran half of my 5k goal! I ran more than half of the 2mi distance I need to be able to run by September! Yay!
I also had a good food day today. I will write about the event I went to this weekend. It was so motivational and inspiring and well worth the trip to Minneapolis.
I just wanted to thank everyone for their pushing and supporting me. It really does help a lot!
48 days until my race! Eeek!
I don't know why I couldn't seem to find the time last week to write about my big accomplishment. Can you guess what I did?...I finally ran a mile without stopping! Oh the simple things in life. I ran 1.06 miles in just under 13 minutes and I am extremely proud of myself. I was slightly disappointed with my total time originally because I had been injured the week before but a friend pointed out that I ran a mile. I really didn't believe her until I actually mapped it out. I mean it didn't feel like a mile...well...actually it did. I was struggling and my legs hurt, and my back hurt.
I've really come to believe that this is all a mental game. My body feels so much better than it did a year ago. Now I am just trying to get through the mental negative talk while I run. "I can't go any further, I can't do this, this sucks, its hot out here, there's sweat in my eyes!" Those are just some of the things that run through my mind while my feet are hitting the pavement. Lately, I have been able to work through those negative thoughts with the idea that I am most likely not going to pass out. The shin splints are gone and my knee feels a little better. I know I just have to keep running.
This morning, I went for another run. After my five minute warm up walk, I started running and just kept going! I felt good! My knee didn't hurt at all! When I got home and mapped out how far I had run, I ran for 15 minutes straight for 1.5 miles! That is a new record for me. I'm sure I was able to run that far in high school but since I started really running last fall, that's the best I've done and I'm proud! I enjoyed the run enough this morning to look at how the fog settled on the corn fields around my house. I actually wish I had a camera with me to capture the moment the sun rose over the trees and the fog caught the beams of light. But I just kept running. I ran half of my 5k goal! I ran more than half of the 2mi distance I need to be able to run by September! Yay!
I also had a good food day today. I will write about the event I went to this weekend. It was so motivational and inspiring and well worth the trip to Minneapolis.
I just wanted to thank everyone for their pushing and supporting me. It really does help a lot!
48 days until my race! Eeek!
Monday, August 1, 2011
100th Post - A Little Music
This is my 100th post! I had hoped in the 10 months of writing that I would have done more posts than that but it's better than not posting at all.
I'm planning on hitting the pavement tomorrow morning for the first time in a week. It's been a week because of hurting my knee last Tuesday when I pushed myself a little too hard on my bike. My knee hasn't hurt since Friday. Saturday, hubby and I even walked 3 miles with no pain. But I will admit, I did take one Advil in the morning before we left, but only one.
As far as Couch to 5k, I should be doing week 6 day 3, 25 minutes of running. I wasn't able to complete the week 5 day 3, 20 minutes of running. So for now, I am just going to try to up my increments. I can do that 10 minutes of running, er jogging slowly, day. Maybe I just need to increase that each day. I would like to be able to get up to a mile straight. It's like the finish line is there, like I can almost see it but my brain gives up just a minute or two too early! Maybe tomorrow, although I shouldn't push myself too hard and risk injuring myself again.
I was working iTunes tonight, getting my playlist to have a little more variety. I decided to add in Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra. I'm sure you've heard this song lately on a Glidden Paint commercial as well as in a Volkswagen commercial a couple of years ago. Hubby and I spend a lot of time listening to this song the second summer we were dating. I have no idea where he found it but we instantly fell in love with it. It's quick and uplifting.
What are you favorite songs to work out to?
I'm planning on hitting the pavement tomorrow morning for the first time in a week. It's been a week because of hurting my knee last Tuesday when I pushed myself a little too hard on my bike. My knee hasn't hurt since Friday. Saturday, hubby and I even walked 3 miles with no pain. But I will admit, I did take one Advil in the morning before we left, but only one.
As far as Couch to 5k, I should be doing week 6 day 3, 25 minutes of running. I wasn't able to complete the week 5 day 3, 20 minutes of running. So for now, I am just going to try to up my increments. I can do that 10 minutes of running, er jogging slowly, day. Maybe I just need to increase that each day. I would like to be able to get up to a mile straight. It's like the finish line is there, like I can almost see it but my brain gives up just a minute or two too early! Maybe tomorrow, although I shouldn't push myself too hard and risk injuring myself again.
I was working iTunes tonight, getting my playlist to have a little more variety. I decided to add in Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra. I'm sure you've heard this song lately on a Glidden Paint commercial as well as in a Volkswagen commercial a couple of years ago. Hubby and I spend a lot of time listening to this song the second summer we were dating. I have no idea where he found it but we instantly fell in love with it. It's quick and uplifting.
What are you favorite songs to work out to?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)