28 mins non-stop!! CRAZY!

Week 8/Run 22
1.81 miles
28 Minutes

Today’s run was awesome! I ran for 28 minutes non-stop without feeling like I needed to quit. I went at a speed of 3.9mph which was perfect for me! I think by Thursday I will be able to bump it up to 4mph. I think I just try to advance myself too fast, I need to let my body adjust to the run before I start increasing speed.


I should have no problem running 30 minutes next week! I am just bummed that I won’t be able to jog a 5K on graduation day. But this isn’t called the “Couch to 30 Minute” now is it. So no matter if I have to walk after 30 minutes. I am graduating with a 5K under my belt.


I figured I could jog the 30 minutes which will be probably about 2 miles for me (I am so slow) then I could walk for another .75 miles and finish big by jogging the last .25 mile. It is going to take me FOREVER to run that 5K but I am going to do it.


Its so funny to me that at the beginning of this program I was unable to even peak at the last few weeks training. I was so scared to see it say “Jog 28 minutes Non-stop”. Now I am getting through and looking at weeks ahead! I am so proud of myself!

A silver lining

Week 7/Run 21

1.68 miles

25 mins

So this week pretty much stunk. It reminded me of that book Grover's Bad, Awful Day". Everything just seemed to happen to me. Notice that I didn't even blog about Tuesday run. It was such a crappy week and its not even over!! Its only Thursday. What was so bad about my week, you ask? Please let me tell you:

- I forgot my Nike+ tracker at home during Sundays run, so for the first time this year I couldn't track my run

- Both Sunday and Tuesday I could not finished my 25 minute run and had to walk with only 5 minutes remaining.

- I was really trying hard to be on time for work this year (I was late 33 times last year!!) but today my car wouldn't start and I was 8 minutes late for work

- Due to being late AGAIN my boss told me if I was late one more time I would receive a warning. I almost started to cry. I guess it doesn't matter that in 9 years at that place I only called in sick maybe 5 times or have never taken advantage of my sick time like other people do.

- My ex's cousin IMed me to tell me how sorry she was with the divorce. This was nice until she told me that my ex told her all about his new girlfriends. This p- me off a bit to know that he can find a girlfriend and I'm still single.

- My work has blocked almost every website I visit. So now I can't keep up with my blog at work.

So that was the highlights of my bad week. I thought it was all going to carry over to my run tonight. But I got on that stupid treadmill and I pushed myself. I ran all 25 minutes at a pace of 4mph. I was so happy to end the run week with myself pushing through.

Before I went to the gym, I tried to break it down why I couldn't finish the last two runs. I really wanted to get down to the problem and fix it. I know I could do 25 minutes, I did it for week 6/run 17. So what was the problem. I came up with the following conclusions:

Sunday: I woke up with a horrible headache and slight hangover. I really was not in the mood to go running at all. The icing on the cake was forgetting my Nike+ tracker. It was as if it popped my running balloon. Oh and I running with TOM which is never a good time.

Tuesday: I didn't have a very good weight loss and that bothered me. I also got on the treadmill thinking I was going to really push myself and was jogging at a pace of 4.1 which doesn't sound like too much but I think I was going too fast too soon. I should have not tried to push myself. I could barely finish this run, it was way too much for me.

So with this in mind, I jogged tonight with a steady pace of 4mph and refused to go any faster (even though the last minute I did race the pace up to 4.1) and I just let the run happen. When I was done I was feeling pretty darn tired. But I did it. Now I figured that as long as I can finish the week without walking, then I can advance in this program. I am starting Week 8 Sunday!! Only 6 more runs till I graduate!!

TOM came to visit

Week 7/Run 19
1.68 miles
25 Minutes

Dear TOM,

Thank you for coming to visit me on Friday night. I would like to say that it’s a pleasure to have you around, but I just can’t. Not only do you make me feel bloated but whenever you come to visit I seem to gain weight. I was happy to see Friday morning that I lost 5lbs and proudly walked around with my head held high. But then when I checked again on Saturday and Monday it seems I have gained back 4 of those pounds. I am not saying that it was you, but it was just a strange coincidence.

So because the scale did not drop like I thought it did, I was really grouchy on Saturday. I mopped around and was happy to be invited to a bar to celebrate my friend’s birthday. Despite you wanting to stay home and eat ice cream all night. My friend even said I looked really nice last night even though you were right there with me. It made me feel a lot better. Why don’t you even make me feel nice like that?

I woke up today with a small hangover which I do not blame you for. I do blame you for discouraging me to go to the gym today. Because of you my run is much more difficult and I actually had to walk with only 5 minutes left! I was so mad at myself. You didn’t help. You always make me feel sad and depressed. I am always on the verge of tears when you come to visit. When I left the gym, I was so mad at myself. I can not believe I
quit jogging with just 5 minutes left.

So my run was disappointing and my weight loss was small. I know that you come to visit me every month, but the next time you visit can you please just be a little nicer to me. I am trying to lose weight and feel better about myself. I can’t have you coming and bringing me down. Its just not nice.

See you in February. Remind me to buy some aspirin before you come if you don’t mind. You have a way of making me get cramps when your here. It also makes going to with you more bearable.

Love,
laurie

Bye-Bye Walking

Week 6/Run 17
1.50 Miles
23 Minutes
20/23 Jogging

This was my last jog with intervals! No more walking for me. Thursday starts the real deal training. I have a 25 minute jog this Thursday! Yikes!! But I have come so far, I am pretty darn confident that I can finish this program. I only have 10 more runs!!


For some reason, I walked around with confidence all day. I just felt really good. It may have been because I tried a new thing with my bangs or that I was dressed really nice. It could have been that my pants are not as tight anymore. Whatever it was, I liked the feeling. I hope to feel like that more.


When I got to the gym I wore my new workout clothes. The shirt was very snug and did not hide anything. Since I didn’t get the treadmill in the back, I felt like people where staring at me. It didn’t help that I was on the treadmill right next to the mirrors! Talk about facing yourself!!


During my warm up, I calibrated my Nike+. Then my TV decided to stop working so I would have to do this run minus the TV. I can’t always have a TV during my runs, so I just went for it. The first and last few minutes where torture to me. I was sweating like a pig on the treadmill, but I did it. I looked forward, with my ipod blaring and just jogged.


My workout was simple: Run 10 minutes, Walk 3, and then run 10 minutes. I did all the jogging at 4mph and the walking part at 3.5. I was finally able to say that I could do a half of a 5k without a problem!! Now to start aiming for 2 miles!!


The best part of this jog:

From a Blog entry dated: December 8, 2009

As I was leaving the gym I saw her. She was on the treadmill. I went over to say hi and noticed that she was jogging at a speed of 4mph and was jogging for 10 minutes straight! My heart just sank. I can't even run for more then 60 seconds right now :( . Suddenly my training felt stupid and my goals felt so far away. Now all I can think of is how I am going to be the one that begs for us to walk and that I will be the one holding us back. My friend also is like 50 pounds lighter then me.

I can finally say that I too can jog beside my friend!!

Got to pick up the pace

Week 6/Run 16

1.48 Miles

24 minutes

18/24 Jogging

Why is the first 5 minutes of my workout always the toughest??!! I have to just keep telling myself "I have jogged 20 mins non-stop....this is just 5 minutes!!" It really helps me push myself knowing that I was able to run that 20 minutes before. After about 5 minutes my legs got their wings and I was able to finish the workout with no problems. I even upped my pace to 4mph and walked at 3.5!

Speaking of pace, lately it has me concerned. I am afraid that I am jogging so slow! That's why I upped it to 4mph and actually didn't feel the difference. Maybe I am just so afraid to push myself because I never did before. So I am planning to keep the pace at no less the 4mph from now on. This may not work on Thursday when I have to jog 25 minutes non-stop!! But if I need to, I will lower it to 3.9 or even to 3.8. I DO NOT want to jog less then that!! I would love to get my pace to 4.5mph eventually.

So far training has been great! I only have 11 more training days!!! I can't believe I have worked through this program without having to repeat a week! I am going to have to think of something special to do when I graduate, which happens to be on Valentines Day weekend! I am going to have to something extra great for myself. Maybe a new bag or a pair of great boots.......

BL Wii Challenge: Week 1

This was my first full week at the "Ranch". So far, so good. I am following the 12 week program and have to say that it makes me sweat. See for yourself.
Ewww! This has to be the first at home workout that I actually sweat like that. So it must be doing something for me.

My schedule with the program is Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Tonight I had a weight-in and challenge.

After a week of following this game I have a few complaints:

- Jillian only has 5 sayings in this game. None of them are harsh like she is on the show. I think is she tells me one more time "Give me all you can" when I am pushing myself already, I am going to mute throw something at my tv.

-I got calories for doing nothing. The game basically is an honor system. I am only cheating

myself for not doing the exercises. But I expected Jillian to yell at me or something, but she actually said she was proud of me when I was just standing there.

- The game doesn't explain how to do exercises. I basically have no time to learn how to do an exercise and I some I don't even know if I am doing correctly. I wish the game would explain how to do an exercise at least once!

- They don't tell me when to stop! When I am doing planks, its hard enough to focus on what I am doing, but the game doesn't even tell me when to stop and move to the next exercise! So I have to peek at the tv to see when to move on! Its annoying.

So tonight was my big challenge and weight in! I have to admit, the challenge was....challenging!! I had to peddle a bike by doing tire drills and football drills. At first I was kicking butt! I thought I won. But I guess I had to go until everyone was eliminated. So after doing these exercises for over 10 minutes I started to build up a sweat. I had full confidence that I was going to win this.

But then I got cocky and tired and ended up getting myself eliminated! Poop. Its okay, I felt that I had a really good weight lose this week to make up for that. Plus there was not elimination today so its all good.

Time for the weight in! I get on the Wii board. I was not happy about that because it was 7pm and I had food in my belly. I usually weight myself first thing in the morning and I according to the scale I lost 5lbs but according to the Wii Board I only lost 4lbs. Not too bad I guess.

Instead of my player weighing what I was, it posted the weight of the Biggest losers "Ali" that I played as. This annoyed me. Why couldn't it say my weight! Plus I lost 4lbs not 7lbs!!! Grrr!! I wish it was more customized to me! Oh well. So My goal is to try to get her done to 199lbs. I would like to see her smaller.

So I guess my first week was a success! Lost 5lbs! Well according to the game only 4lbs....but its a tough workout and I am excited to see if they can give me the 39lb weight loss it promised!

From Couch to 1 mile!

Week 5/Run 15

1.28 Miles

20 minutes

20/20 Jogging

My Blog entry dated December 6, 2009

Today was my first official training day! Yay me! I am following the whole "From Couch to 5K" program that I found online. My friend told me that she heard alot of good things about it. It seems easy enough as long as I don't read ahead. That's when the program gets alittle scary. Jogging for 20 minutes straight?! Hahaha! I can not see myself doing that. I can't even run 60 seconds without feeling like I am going to die.



I can't believe that just 5 weeks ago I wrote that. I finally jogged a mile non-stop for the first time in my life. I am so proud of myself. I love this training program! Not that jogging 20 minutes straight wasn't hard!


First I forgot my ipod and Nike+ at my apartment. So instead of going straight to the gym after work I had to go home to get them. It wasn't so bad though because I changed for the gym at home and used my nice clean bathroom before I went. Driving to the gym I had a knot in my belly. It felt like the knot that I had when I was driving to get a tattoo. Would I be able to run this mile? Would I quit like I always did? I will be so p-off at myself if I can't push myself.


When I finally got to the gym I was happy to find that it wasn't as crowded. I was able to find a decent parking spot and get a treadmill in the back. When I did my warm-up walk, I tried to pump myself up. I wanted to clear my head and think only of this 20 min jog. I stretched and then it began. I kept my pace at 3.8mph to avoid burnout.


About 3 minutes into the run, I felt like quiting. 3 MINUTES!! But my legs were tired and felt heavy. I just ignored it and hoped it would go away. I jogged 8 mins on Tuesday and I wanted to quit at just 3. Not going to happen. But the idea of doing this for another 17 mins made me want to slow down to a walk. This is what happened when I jogged a mile in sports. I would always see the entire mile I had to do instead of the step that I was doing. Then I would stop and walk until my coach yelled at me to keep jogging.


But something happened. At about 5 mins in I got my power. My legs felt lighter and I just jogged. I was even able to bring the speed up to 4.0mph. When I looked at the time again I saw the time tick away. I can do this! I focused on the song on my ipod and that fact that I could not quit.


When I was almost a mile in (about 13 minutes) my friend Mike came over to talk to me. Not now I thought! I was able to hold a brief conversation with him and lucky for me he didn't linger. I wanted to catch my mile on my camera video. I wanted to enjoy my first mile. To savor it and relish in pride.


When I hit the mile I tried to film it, but ended up not saving it. I did the mile in about 17 minutes. It was a slow mile, but I jogged the whole time. Once I hit that mile my mind went completely blank. Nothing went through my head at all. I finally finished my 20 minutes and did a cool down walk.


I felt really strange leaving the gym. I wasn't thinking of any thing. No work. No ex husband. No family stress. No money problems. Nothing. It was the strangest thing. It was like I was in shock. I felt like I couldn't possible be the one who ran 20 mins straight. I am not a runner...


I really thought when I hit that mile at the gym that I would cry and be super emotional. But the one thing that I thought was 'That wasn't so bad'. Why couldn't I do this in high school during field hockey?


All those times in field hockey when I had to be benched because my coach felt I was to out-of-shape to play. I remember when the coach pulled me aside and told me that I made the team but would not play in every game because I stopped and walked the mile we had to do everyday. I then tried to argue with the coach, saying that I even though I walked some of the mile I still did it faster then this other girl on my team. She was always the last to finish the mile. My coach said that because she jogged the entire time was the reason she would be playing more then me. Didn't seem fair to me at the time. I felt that I was a much better player but because I couldn't jog one friggen mile I was being punished.


But now I can finally say to myself that I ran a mile. I did it and will do it again. I love this running program!


This post is dedicated to Coach McGivney, for making me feel like crap all these years for not jogging a mile non-stop.

Bring it on!

Week 5/Run 14

1.32 miles

21 Minutes

16/21 Jogging

When I pulled into the gym parking lot I was horrified that there was no parking. Did this mean the gym was crammed and I would have to wait for a treadmill? I circled the parking lot looking for a spot thinking that maybe I should go home and go back to the gym later tonight. But a voice inside my head said "You go home, you won't come back." Yeah...I know. Once I got home, there would be no way that I would want to head out into the cold air just to go to the gym. It was now or never. Luckily as those thoughts were racing through my head, someone moved and I took their spot. Yay!

So I suited up and went out to the gym area. I was lucky enough to find a treadmill in the back. I was so ready to do this run. All I need to do was:

Run 8 Minutes

Walk 5 Minutes

Run 8 Minutes

The first half was much harder then the second half. By the last 3 minutes I boosted the speed up 4.2. I was feeling very confident and great on that treadmill. I was dripping with sweat, its like my badge of honor for working so hard. I am so glad to finally do a workout that makes me feel like I am actually working out!! I do need to remember to always bring a hair elastic because my hair was driving me crazy. But besides that I had no cramping or pain. The only thing making me want to stop was my mind. I think its because it is so used to stopping when things get difficult. But my body pushed me forward.

I am ready for Thursdays 20 minutes non-stop jog. I WILL NOT quit no matter how much I want to. If I make it through Thursdays run without quiting, it will be the first time in my life that I ran a mile non-stop. I actually may cry. It would mean so much to me. I can't wait to cross that off my list! Even though the person looking at me in the mirror doesn't look like a runner, the person inside of me is becoming runner.

Here we go!!!

It's like I never left

Week 5/Run 13

1.48 miles

24 minutes

15/24 jogging

Between spending a week in Florida and coming back to Massachusetts sick, I haven't been on top of my training. Today I actually felt pretty good or at least could breath through my nose again. So I went to the gym and started my Week 5 training. This was my training for today

Walk 3 Minutes

Run 5 Minutes

Walk 3 Minutes

Run 5 Minutes

Walk 3 Minutes

Run 5 Minutes

I was really concerned that after having a full week off that I wouldn't be able to complete this at all. But I was not about to quit. I was already one week behind, I didn't want to make it two weeks.

So I entered the gym and was happy to find it pretty empty. Usually at the start of the year, the gym is crowded with new comers. But I was able to get a treadmill in the back and began my workout.

I am afraid to say this.....but.....I found....this run....to be...SLIGHTLY EASY!! Whoa!! Where did that come from? Other then sweating like a big and having some difficulty breathing (my nose was still alittle stuffy) I got through today's workout. I even showed off alittle towards the last 10 seconds and brought the speed up to 4.5mph. I was so happy that I did it. It completely boasted my confidence that I can jog the full 20 minutes this Thursday coming up.

I felt so confident with the way I looked and felt when I was on that treadmill. In my mind I looked like an athlete jogging along with sweat dripping down my forehead. I felt fierce. I even felt like I looked pretty darn sexy running. I loved that feeling.

Reality hit me when I went back to the locker room and saw myself in the very large mirrors they have. The shirt I bought is not very flattering and my butt looked HUGE! It reminded me that I still have a long way to go. Looking at myself in that mirror I remembered a nickname that my ex gave me. He called me "Jigglypuff" after this cartoon character in Pokemon.

Looking at myself in the mirror made me think of this nickname. I hated my ex for calling me that. I wonder if he really knew how much it hurt me. He thought it was a cute name. But again he once called me "Piggily-Wiggily". Names hurt.

Biggest Loser Wii Challenge!

Biggest Loser Wii Challenge

39 lbs to go

Total Weight Loss 0

Today began the 12 week Biggest Loser Wii Challenge. I was very excited about starting this game. This game is supposed to be just like the Biggest Loser TV show and offers a fitness routine for me to follow, weekly challenges, and of course a weight in once a week. I guess in the 12 weeks that I play this game, there is a chance for me to get eliminated from the game. I just wish that I could pull weight lose numbers like they do on the show. Woman on the show lose about 10 lbs per week! I wish!

I choose my character from a group of previous Biggest Loser contestants. I really wish that I would have created a custom character that looked more like me. This was the closest that I could find. She does have my glowing pale skin and chubby checks going on. I also wish that my characters size was more accurate to me. So even if you weight 150lbs your characters is still going to look like this. I then got to choose what color t-shirt to wear. I did pink because I thought my character looked alittle manly.

I then choose my trainer. I picked Jillian because on the show she is the most brutal. If I was to ever go on that show I would want her as my trainer because I know she would not take any crap from me. I tend to slack and she would force me to push myself.

It was time to set up my personal profile. I had the option of losing alittle weight, become more healthy or lose alot of weight. I of course choose to lose alot of weight. It then asked me how much I wanted to lose. I choose the max amount of 39lbs. Then I choose the 12 week program even though the game advised me to choose the 4 week program if I was a beginner. I figured that this isn't my first time working out so I feel like I can handle 12 weeks. So this means that I need to lose 3.25 a week in order to lose 39lbs in 12 weeks. Seems crazy! We shall see how this works out. According to the game, I should have 1548 calories a day! Why does this seem so high?! That seems like the amount of calories that made me gain all my weight. So I plan to stick with the calories suggestion per day according to Sparkpeople.com. So according to Sparkpeople.com my daily calories should be between 1270-1620. I did a calorie average of those two and got a daily calorie intake of 1445. This seems more realistic to me.

I plan to follow the 12 week program that the game has for me. Every Friday I have a challenge just like the show does and a weight-in. I can be pretty competitive so I am hoping this game gets me in shape and helps me shed at least 20lbs. I need to lose some weight if I plan on running 5ks. The extra weight is a struggle to carry with me while I run. Every Friday I will post an update on how I am doing on this game. Wish me luck!!

2010 = My year

Happy New Years everyone! This is where I am celebrating the new year, Orlando Florida!! This is the beautiful view from our room. I left freezing, snowy Boston and came to....freezing, cloudy Florida. This is the coldest Florida has been in a long time. I didn't even think it got cold in FL, but the average temp her lately is 42 degree's!! Oh well...


So you know how I planned to go to the gym here in our condo building.... not going to happen. The gym here is terrible. There are only 2 treadmills and one is broken. My friends thought I was crazy to want to go to the gym. They told me I would be getting enough exercises walking around the parks. So this week I will not be running.


Every I make a New Years resolutions. Usually its get more organized, lose weight and be on time. All things that I still have issues with today. For the year 201o, which I am calling "My Year", I really wanted to put alittle more thought into my resolutions and really try to work on them. So here is 5 resolutions that I am determined to stick with. This is all about the "New Me":


1) Give up Soda even diet: As I am getting older, I am noticing that soda is not quenching my thirst and seems to be way too sweet to drink. Even diet soda is getting to sweet for me. So this year I am really planning on giving up soda.


2) Detox from the Ex: I know I will never completely forget my ex-husband. He was my best and only friend for 8 years. But 2010 is a new year and I need to just let go of the past and embrace the future. I have a large box in my apartment filled with memories of the last 8 years. It is hidden in my closet but I know its there. I even am having a hard time deleting my ex's Mii from the Wii (tee-hee). But this year I will be selling, shredding and deleting everything. Its going to be hard but I need to do it.


3) Lose 5lbs a month: That is all I am looking to do this year. I always put too much stress on myself to lose 10lbs or 2lbs a week. When I fail to do this I get upset and depressed and stop dieting all together. But this year I am aiming on just 5lbs a month. By June I was be down 30lbs. It is all about small steps for me this year.


4) Run a 5K: I am training for it, so why not. I don't expect to finish first, but I just want to finish it without walking. I would LOVE to do it under 30 minutes, but the idea of jogging for 3.1 miles non-stop sounds challenging enough.


5) Wear a pair of shorts: I have not worn a pair of shorts in public in.....years. It has to be over 10 years now. Maybe back to the time when I played field hockey in high school and was required to wear shorts with the uniform. But I am so embarrassed of my legs. In the summer I only wear Capri's. So only half my leg has seen sun and I get the worst sunburns on my legs because of the lack of sun they see. My calves are just enormous and my legs are super pale. Whats worse now is because of a really bad sunburn last summer, I have a lovely farmers tan. Plus to top it off I have 2 disgusting scars on my legs. The one on my knee is so gross. I would love to just be normal and wear shorts.

Happy New Years!!