Mr. Pukey and Tabata

No worries. I am not going to write about vomiting. Nor have I actually vomited to bring up this subject. 

On Sunday night I was craving a work out on the spin bike.  I NEEDED it. I hadn't gone to a spinning class since early November. I really NEEDED it!  I needed it because we haven't gotten my bike up on the trainer yet this year. (Yes, I do know that it is already January and the bike should have been put on the trainer in early November when the first snow flew.)  Thank goodness there was a spinning class at 5:30 on Monday morning because I had to be at work by 7:15.  I yanked my body from the bed at 4:30 to make sure I had ample time to get some food in me and get to the gym early enough to secure a bike under a fan. I was thinking class would be full but it was only about half full so I was able to get the bike I wanted.  I was nervous about this class for two reasons. One was that I had never taken a class with any other instructor except Erin.  I was used to her. This was led by someone new to me.  I had no idea how she structured her class.  The second reason for my nervousness was because I had always skipped the gym on the mornings I have to open at work so I wasn't exactly sure if I would be able to make it to the gym and make it to work on time.  Showering at the gym alleviated that problem. 

The first worry did creep up on me in class.  I wasn't sure how this instructor was going to do things but when she said we were going to do adjusted Tabata Intervals, I was lost. She explained what the intervals were.  She adjusted the intervals from 20secs/10secs to 1min/30 secs.  She also switched up the type of hard riding we were doing during that 1 minute on.  We did a warm up, did intervals for most of the hour and did a 8 minute cool down.  She said we should be close to "Mr. Pukey" when we were pushing ourselves hard.  Oh boy! What did I get myself into that morning?  I pushed myself on the work intervals.  I pushed myself harder than I had ever imagined I would push myself at 5:30 am on a Monday morning before work. I did NOT throw up! Maybe I should have pushed myself a little harder?

I felt amazing after that class.  I barely made it to midnight on New Years Eve.  I was exhausted that night. I was happy to have New Years Day off from work so I could watch the Badgers play in the Rose Bowl, even though they did not win.

The "Mr. Pukey" phrase has come back in my thoughts during my other workouts this week. I did get to the gym last night for an interval work out on the treadmill.  I ran 1 minute at a sprint and then slowed it to a jog for another minute and then a two minute walk.  Rinse, and repeat. The gym was packed with the "resolutioners".  NPR was saying yesterday morning that most people stop going to their gym by the end of March.  This is why I go in the morning when I can, it's quieter.  If I go at night, I want to be there before 4:30.

Tonight, I got out of work late and couldn't make my 4:30 cut off time.  I opted to go home. I was going to do the Biggest Loser on our Wii but that wasn't sounding all too interesting.  So I found some interval training via a friend's Facebook page.  Another person that lives in MN to follow.  Here is her Facebook page. She posts most of her workouts on YouTube.  I opted for the "24 Minute Tabata".  There is that weird word again!  It keeps creeping into my life.

I set up my living room, moved the tables, shut the blinds. I wouldn't want any one to see my haphazard moving around in my house trying these moves.  And thank God my husband wasn't home to see the spectacle that was about to happen.  I watched the whole video first, downloaded an app to my phone for interval timing.  I got that app set up for 20/10.  I watched the first set again, started my timer and started going.  Eh, this wasn't horrible. I was able to do the first couple of rounds.  Then it got hard! I mean really hard.  I couldn't finish the rounds. How come she can make them look so damn easy?! How come my belly is too large for me to get my knees up to my elbows like she can? How come I can't drop my legs far enough down for a jack knife? I hate feeling like this.  No wonder people quit when they can't do it.  I worked as hard as I could. I worked until Mr. Pukey was trying to get my attention. I stopped. I felt my heart pounding. I stopped.  I drank some water. And I just stopped, sat, and listening to my phone beep through the intervals....I failed to complete.  Ugh!

But...I'm not feeling defeated.  It should only get easier at some point. Or at least that's what I hear.  There will be a work out at the gym tomorrow and another one some time this weekend.  And then next week, maybe a week from today, I will try this again, without Mr. Pukey.

Garmin Cycling & Running

I got a Garmin for Christmas from my Hubby. I'm sorry if I've already written about this but I don't believe I have. It was something I had wanted for a long time. It is a great tool to use for training. Of course, it's not necessary but it does make things easier.

When I was running this last Spring and Summer, I was using a combination of a watch with a timer and mapping out my distances when I got home from my run. The numbers weren't exact but I am hopeful they were pretty close. It took some extra work but it was the only way I had available to me for tracking my progress.

Well so Hubby bought me this Garmin watch for Christmas along with all the accessories. He got me the foot pod, the heart rate monitor and the set up for my bike.

The first time I put this one on, I thought it was really bulky. I've gotten used to it the more I wear it.  I like how it is able to keep track of my running while I'm inside with the foot pod. During the Summer, when I'll be running outside, it has a GPS feature that I am sure I will be using more often.

The accessory that I am really just starting to use is on my bike. My wonderful Hubby, that keeps buying me healthy Christmas gifts, got me a Cyclops trainer for indoor training for my bike last year. The problem i was running into was tracking my speed and distance. When I ride my bike outside, the computer that is attached tracks from the front tire. On the trainer, its the back tire and not the front tire that rotates. Since the front tire isn't moving, I'm not getting any numbers on my computer. I really didn't want to buy another wired computer for my back tire since it would only be for the Winter months. So Hubby thought this would be a great compromise because the Garmin has a bike kit that will allow me to use the watch to wirelessly receive information about my cadence, distance, and speed while I work out.

Numbers are always a good thing for me. Having numbers pushes me to push myself a little further. This is what Garmin gives me to track my numbers.

Check out this link for my readings.

What do you use to track your workouts?

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.

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!

To Eat or Not to Eat?

I typically do my work for Couch to 5k in the morning before work because that is when I have the most energy and I feel great through out the rest of the day. Most of the time, I get out of bed, get dressed, eat a bowl of cereal, let it sit for about 10 minutes and then I hit the pavement and I usually feel pretty good.

I was watching reruns of the Dr. Oz show where he was talking about the best times to wake up, eat, workout, etc, throughout a day. His advice was to wake up, do your morning stuff, and then workout without eating before. I found this so odd because I had always thought I would want food in my belly to have energy to get through the running. Well, Tuesday morning I hit the pavement without eating anything before. I don't really go any further than 2.5 miles when I workout so I was pretty sure I would make it through. I actually felt pretty good while I was running. I didn't feel like I had any less energy than when I do eat.

Most of what I have been reading up on this says that whether to eat or not to eat really depends on the person and the work out. So my question to you is, do you eat before you work out in the morning or not?

Get Out, Get Out, Get Out!

A few weeks ago, our good friend Jay from the PriorFatPack, took a digger on his bike and his head hit the pavement pretty hard. His helmet saved him from a head injury and maybe something much worse!

I tell my husband "All the cool kids are doing it" when it comes to wearing a bike helmet and they are! If you look at all the professional racers, they all wear one. Sure, almost every bike race requires them but still everyone wears them when they train. It was not cool to wear a helmet when I was growing up. I would find every opportunity, which were few, to not wear my helmet. I would usually get caught and would be grounded by my dad, so I usually just kept it on. I laugh a little and shake my head now when I see families that are enjoying the weather on two wheels where all the kids have helmets on but not a single parent is protected! What is the child going to do when the parent has a brain injury?

Another thing that really bothers me is how people wear their helmets. If you really want to protect your brain, wear that helmet correctly.  See the following image if you need some help.

Kinda outdated but it works!

The title of this entry...I needed a ride after work.  It was really stressful today and I just need to get my legs pumping hard and get the blood flowing. The path by our house is lined with wild flowers so it's not uncommon to have various bugs hit my legs and arms as I ride. I had a few of those before a big bee decided it would like to fly into my helmet and insert itself in my hair. Well, it decided it didn't like it there very much and decided to stick it's stinger in my scalp. I had a great time trying to get my helmet off at 18mph and break at the same time! I was riding with the helmet strap in my teeth while my fingers were working their way through my hair, just trying to get the damn bee out of my hair and away from my scalp. I don't remember the last time I was stung by a bee and had no idea if I would have a severe allergy reaction to it. I also forgot how much it hurts! I relaxed for a bit after I realized the bug was gone and hopefully dead. No reaction happened so I popped my helmet back on and kept riding. The spot stung for most of my ride and is throbbing now. It is a painful reminder of an otherwise great ride.

So even though helmets can be great traps for bees, they will save your head from damage! They aren't badly priced at $35 for a good helmet!

Week 1 of C25K

So lastnight I stopped at Target to pick up a watch to wear while I am working out. So far, my idea of learning how to run is to push myself as far as I think I can go and then walk for a while, then push myself again. I have looked at the Couch to 5k program a couple of times and didn't think that I was fit enough to even handle the first week. I decided lastnight to just pick up a watch and just start doing the plan. I have noticed a little bit of improvement over the last months but not as quickly as I would have hoped. Now as my first 5k approaches in a little over two weeks, I am not ready to run the whole distance.

The first week of C25K is 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking. Well, I did it backwards. I did 90 seconds of jogging and 60 seconds of walking.  I think this worked well for me so I think I will keep it going the backwards way for the next two work outs this week. Week two is 90 seconds of jogging with 2 minutes of walking. Maybe I will do week one for two weeks. Hmm...what to do, what to do?

Thank you to my cousin Lynn, who will be doing the Iron Girl Duathlon with me in September, for suggesting that I do a formal training plan. I was against it at first but I think it might actually work out for me. If you are interested in the training schedule for the C25K, check out the Coolrunning website. There are many other C25K plans but I think this one works for me.

By the way, I did the same 2.15 mi loop tonight that I did on Monday. On Monday, I finished it in 29 minutes. Tonight, using the interval training, I did the same distance in 27 minutes! Go me!

Failure and Success!

I'm not sure what I'm about to say is me admitting to failure or not.

I gave up being a vegetarian about 3 1/2 weeks into the adventure. I was finding that my legs were cramping up far too much during my jogging and thought that maybe it was due to my giving up meat. I'm still not very sure if this is really the real reason for the leg cramping. The real problem is probably that I actually find that I am gaining weight instead of losing it. I think I replaced a lot of the lack of meat with carbs, carbs, and more carbs. The carbs just wore me down. I found as I slowly worked some protein back into my diet in the form of meat, I felt like I had more energy.

This vegetarian thing has really opened my tastebuds to try new things. I learned that I love marinated onions and peppers. I learned that I really like to try new things and that vegetarian items are worth the try and really do taste good! I think I will be trying to incorporate vegetarian meals into my daily menu. My hubby is still doing the vegetarian diet and even opted for a vegetarian meal at Taco Bell today, which he actually liked!

When I got home today from work I was in a bad mood and on the fence about working out. I didn't really want to get out and run, even though the weather was perfect for it. I really just wanted to sit on the couch. I knew my bike was still set up in the basement and that my bike shorts were up on the bedroom floor. But I really just wanted to sit on the couch and watch the news.  But then I thought to myself that I could watch the news while I rode the bike. So that's what I did. I marched up the stairs to pull on the wonderful black spandex padded shorts, my sports bra and a tee shirt. I threw my hair up into a ponytail and slipped on my bike gloves. I turned on the tv and got moving. I pedaled so hard at one point that I broke off the plastic part that holds my foot in place. I suppose it is time to get my bike affixed with those nifty shoe cleats. I wanted to stop so many times but I just kept going. I did 40 minutes...and felt AMAZING when I was done.

Dinner was ready for me after I was done on the bike. It was so yummy and all I could talk about was how glad I was that I got off my ass to work out. I really want this to become a habit and I think I am slowly getting there.

I Caught Myself...

....dancing around the kitchen to some of my favorite songs!

 Calvin and Hobbes

You thought I was going to say something along the lines of "I caught myself binge eating today". I can't say that today was the best food day for me but I am passed that already and onto better feelings.

I've heard of friends that talk about the post-running good feelings. Sheesh, while I was "running" today, I just wanted to rip my legs off and stop! My legs hurt so much, and I'm going to have to figure out why my left foot goes numb about 35 minutes into my workout. That's for another day I suppose so I will add it to my list of blog ideas! I think I must be having one of those post-run euphorias.  Usually when I come home from work, I sit myself down on the couch, right infront of the tv and only get up to make dinner. The moment I got home after doing  3.22 miles (a little more than a 5k) in 49 minutes, I made some mini meatless pizzas out of English Muffins and some traditional toppings. While those were heating in the toaster oven, I cut up two acorn squash that have been sitting on my counter for too long. Those are now cooling on the counter and the pizzas have been eaten. They were quite yummy.

Suddenly as I was cleaning the dishes for the night, I caught myself grooving around the kitchen sink to the music coming from my computer! I don't do things like that! Especially in a well lit kitchen where all the curtains were open where my neighbors might see me! My friends know I am a horrible dancer and can't seem to get my body to move to the correct beat. That's why while I was in college, the dance club wasn't visited until the end of a night at the bars. I'm even bobbing my head here as I type this! Ahhh!

I think I am enjoying this post-run good feeling even if it sucks major while I am doing it. I guess those are the endorphins that are making me feel better. And as I type this I'm slowly getting tired. I guess maybe I am coming off that euphoria? Or not. I plan to keep the tv off this night. It's very rare the tv doesn't get turned on in my house; it's usually turned on by me. Not tonight. I have other things I can do tonight, like read blogs and books. I'm making a choice.

Days 'till race: 172 Eeek!

Fake It and Nike +

It's finally starting to get nice outside again. I'm hoping that maybe this is finally the end of winter. It sure has been a brutal one!

Well, because the weather has been a little bit nicer, 42 degrees today, I decided to call up my friend Kinsey to see if she wanted to go for a walk/jog with me. She is the person that helped me get moving in the fall. She had an injury which had her laid up for quite a few weeks. I really needed someone there to push me and having someone there depending on my showing up helps me immensely.  The goal for the afternoon was to do 2 miles in 30 minutes. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off since I hadn't worked out for over a week. And there were hills! Oh boy, were my calves killing me when we hit that hill but I pushed through and finished that interval. My calves were tight but I walked through that too.

I was reading Jen's blog over at Prior Fat Girl.  She said she's been in "Fake it till you make it" mode. I've been feeling that same way lately...a lot! That's really why I need someone there to push me through those times where I really just want to stop and lay down. And the motivation I got from my successful 2 mile run in just over 27 minutes will push me through tomorrow's work out. AND according to Kinsey's Nike +, the first mile was run in a time of 12 minutes and 18 seconds! I think that's pretty good motivation to keep going.

Speaking of Nike +, they are pretty neat. I can really see why to get one, or something similar. The things I keep track of on Dailymile are automatically kept track for you on the Nike +. I think I eventually would like to get something like this because of how easy it is but it is definitely not in the budget right now. I do really like how it keeps track of your pace from mile to mile. I know I could get that from a watch that has some sort of GPS system, once again, not in the budget. Hopefully sometime soon! If you have any recommendations for gear like this, let me know.

Workout Together!

Pat and I worked out together tonight. It really made the time go by quickly. I've been doing the Biggest Loser Wii when I haven't been sick. Tonight was the first workout in about a week since I got sick...again.

I am really looking forward to getting back on the wagon and working out every night or in the mornings, even if I have to force myself. It's been hard sometimes doing this on my own. I really really appreciated having Pat there next to me tonight. We both looked like dorks in our basement, punching imagined punching bags. It was great watching him sweat with me and now it's great to hear him complain about how much his thighs hurt when mine don't. I just attribute that to my working out more than him lately. I really need his support all the time.

It's been cold lately. Today was relatively warm at 25 degrees. When I walked out of work tonight, I had briefly wished I had brought my work out gear with me so I could go for a run. I haven't actually run since Thanksgiving. That is far too long! It's hard when it's been so dang cold and it's been dark by the time I get off of work. That is starting to change now. The sun goes down right before the end of my work day and the temp is supposed to be a balmy 32 degrees on Friday and its supposed to be sunny. I think I might take my work out gear with me to work that day so I can get a run in after work. I guess it will be interesting to see how much have regressed.

Overcoming Temptation

Two things tonight...well three. 

1. I'm watching the Biggest Loser.

2. My very own husband told me that he finally caught up on his reading of this blog. My very own husband also told me that in my video last week, it looks like I have no neck. I guess I am going to have to work on that.

and 3. I came home from work ready to wimp out of my workout tonight by skipping out on it. Until I read a friend's Facebook post about skipping a nap to get on the treadmill. So, after throwing a load of laundry in the machine and getting some dinner into the oven, I did a 35 minute work out on the Wii. I really only have three nights to work out this week and I need to take advantage of that. So I'm really happy that I overcame that temptation to sit tonight.

This weekend Pat and I are heading to South Dakota to visit his family. I have never used a hotel workout room before but I think this might be the right time to give it a try. I really need to figure out if our hotel has such a thing. I am really looking forward to getting on the treadmill at my parent's house. I haven't really taken the opportunity to run since it's gotten cold outside. I need to really just overcome that wimp talking in my head. I just need to get over it.

I Hate Working Out Inside

Oh I suppose it was a weigh in day. I am down to 220.2 lbs. I want to live in denial and not post my weight for last week, which was a gain. But I will be happy this week that I am down in poundage overall this week.  So is that 8 lbs lost in 8 weeks? I need to get moving on that number. Blah.

So as many of you know, I have been running (more like walk/jogging) the past few weeks outside.  Somehow I managed to injure my back. It's very random to me. So I decided that tonight, I would work out on the elliptical machine that we own.  It has been living in the basement since we moved into our house. Pat was able to use it down there but I could not. Our basement has a drop ceiling and every time I would get on the thing, my head would pop up into the ceiling.  So, we finally moved the machine into our office, where a higher ceiling exists.

Using the elliptical made sense in my head. It is a low impact work out which is good for my back and it didn't require me bundling up to workout outside. I also have the luxury of turning on the tv and watching some tube while I'm exercising. There I am, working that machine and five minutes into it, my legs already hurt! Sure, I understand that there is some resistance that is has that my body doesn't give me when I'm on the road. It was a struggle for me to go 30 minutes and I only went 1.2 miles!!!!! I feel weak. Blah! I know it's better than sitting on the couch all night but after thirty minutes, I wanted to put on all those thermal shirts and sprint down the street in the complete darkness of my neighborhood, just to release some frustration with the elliptical.

I think I know why I had exercising inside. It's boring! Yes, sometimes I do hate it that I tend to go out-and-back when I'm outside but if I go so far out, I HAVE to come back, one way or another. And yes, I am one of those crazy people that grew up in Minnesota and I love the snow and the cold weather is invigorating.  Although I'm not as crazy as my buddy Christian who runs 6 miles barefoot in the snow and enjoys it. I would rather have snow over sand. For now on, I will continue to workout outside and I will use the elliptical when its raining or windy or just too damn cold (which it sometimes happens here).

Turkey Day 5k is just 10 days away. If you are spending the holiday in the Twin Cities I would recommend doing this event. You can register online or on the day of.  I did it with my family last year and I think it will become a new tradition. So start a new tradition with your family this year. Although it was really hard to get out of bed that morning last year, I didn't feel quite so guilty having two Thanksgiving meals later in the day.  And everyone is sooo impressed that you got up early that morning and did that 5k. It feels good physically and emotionally. Oh and you're bound to run into one or two people you know.

For tomorrow's post: 10 year high school reunion special

7lbs Down and a Workout Partner

It sounds so small when I say it that way. I lost 7 lbs in 5 weeks. That's just a little over 1lb a week. In a year, that would be 52 lbs. I dont think that's too bad of an accomplishment.

Yesterday I posted about what I was going to do about working out after it got dark. I think that was yesterday. A friend of mine decided that she was going to train for a marathon. So I am going to try to train with her.  I told her I'm a horrible runner and that I can't even run 1/4 mile right now. It's horrible. I don't really know if I am going to be able to run the 5k on Thanksgiving. Anyway, Kinsey lives and works in Verona so I can walk/run down the lit streets in Verona with her. Yippie for a partner.

It's Getting Cold Outside

Happy Halloweeny! 

While Pat and I were outside a couple of weeks ago raking the plethora of leaves in our yard, one of our neighbors stopped by to introduce herself. Somewhere in the conversation, she mentioned that Halloween is a little bit quiet around here because most of the parents in the neighborhood take their kids into town.  We live in a rural neighborhood where the houses are fairly spaced apart. But she said she makes her kids walk the neighborhood and they usually go with another set or our neighbors.  She said that they are usually the only ones out on Halloween night. So we took her advice to heart and only bought a couple of bags of candy, which is probably one too many. The bag of Kit Kats was opened about a week ago and the other bag hasn't been opened yet.  Halloween candy is a weakness for me but I think I'm doing pretty well this year.

Onto my main topic of the day. That's right, it's that time of the year when it gets cold outside. Daylight savings time ends next weekend so besides getting cold, it's also going to be dark by the time I get home at night. I don't really mind the fact that it's cold, I do mind that it's dark outside. Our new neighborhood is not well lit, well, it's not lit at all! There are no street lights around.  I am usually an afternoon/evening workout person so I am trying to come up with some ways to solve my darkness problem. I have thought about bringing my work out stuff to work and walking/jogging right after work in Verona where they have street lights. That would mean I wouldn't get home at night until 6 or 6:30. The other couple of options I've thought about include buying an Indoor Trainer. The other option is for Pat to help me move our elliptical machine upstairs. It's in the basement right now and I can't use it because the ceiling is too low down there. My head just works its way right up into the ceiling if I try to use it.

I've also thought of outdoor solutions. I'm one of those strange people that actually does enjoy the snow up here in the great north. I know nothing beats sitting inside on a snowy night with a cup of hot cocoa but I also love being all bundled up and making snow angels. So I was trying to come up with activities I could get into during the weekends or on my days off that involved winter weather. I've thought that I should get back into Nordic Skiing. That would require a bit of extra money for purchasing wax and such but not overly expensive. I haven't skied since high school so I have no idea what condition my skis are in and I don't really like to ski by myself and Pat doesn't have Cross Country skis. We could rent him some I suppose.

Snow Shoeing is the other outdoor winter activity I came up with. I haven't ever tried it but it could be fun and a great work out AND it can be done anywhere. I wouldn't have to find specific trails to do it on.

For today though, I think I am just going to bundle up against the 40 degree weather and go for a walk. 

Hills

I did a two mile walk with Pat before dinner tonight. While we were walking it, it didn't really feel like we were walking it all that fast...but then there were the hills. Gmaps doesn't account for the hills. At the entrance to our neighborhood, there is a nasty hill and that nasty hill always comes up at the beginning and the end of the workout. My calves were killing me on the way up the hill. Pat offered to go get the car (jokingly) to pick me up. I love running down the hills, it makes running seem so easy when I have gravity working with me.

I know my body is going to hurt in the morning because of these nasty hills. But the pain is going to be a good pain...I think. I did do some stretching after tonight's workout. I know I have pain issues when I don't stretch. But tomorrow, I might have pain even with the stretching.

I'm really trying to take advantage of the sunlight after work while I still have it. It really is an outside motivator to get myself to exercise. My neighborhood is really dark so I wont be able to work out in the winter. I love exercising outside in the winter. (I know I'm weird) I was thinking I might be working out in Verona, since the streets are lit, and then I'll be heading home after that to make dinner. It's just a thought. While it's still light outside after work, I will be taking advantage of it.

I had weigh in this morning. Just like I had predicted, I did gain some weight. I weighed in this morning at 223lbs. So its only a gain of 0.6lbs.

Biggest Loser

It's not too often that tv shows make me cry but the Biggest Loser so far this season has been hard. I noticed the majority of the contestants this year are between the ages of 23 and 31, my age group. This scares me but inspires me at the same time. I'm really rooting on Jesse. He is a Minnesota boy that went to same college my husband did, although my husband did not know him.

I walked over my lunch period today. I needed to run to Walgreens to pick up some pills that I had renewed. The walk to Walgreens and back is under a mile so I walked into the neighborhood a bit then to Walgreens for a total of 1.14 miles. After that, I ate my portion controlled lunch and read the newspaper.

I was starving by the time I left work, I grabbed an apple out of the fridge at work to eat on my way home from work. Once home, I ate half a whole wheat bagel and then put on my work out clothes. I turned on the tunes and walked 1.4 miles more. I enjoy walking during work. I noticed that during my lunch break I would eat over the whole hour pretty much. The snacking was getting out of control. So now when I feel the need to snack, I put on my shoes and walk. If I dont walk during that time, I'm actually starting to feel like I'm missing out on something. I'm glad there is going to be nice weather over the next week or so.

My legs hurt today. I'm not sure if its the brand new shoes or what. Its probably a combination of new shoes and me being fricking out of shape.

I got on the scale this morning. I weighed in at 228lbs. This is next to the highest I've ever been and that was 1 1/2 years ago. No more. Ive lost weight before and I know how to do it. I just have to do it again.