Okay so after nearly a week I finally decided to do the race report. I was too tired Saturday and Sunday to do it and Monday & Tuesday I had to work.
So anyways here it is.
If you didn't realize by the title, this was race dealing with Halloween, I don't celebrate Halloween, I just wanted to run. Anyhow people were actually there running in their costumes, I thought it was cute. I wish I would have brought my camera but since I was by myself I din't feel like carrying it with me.This race took place at a park. It was still dark when I first got there, which was nice. Anyhow the race started on time, I think. The only thing that I didn't like is that there was no official starting line, so no matter what time you actually started the race, what time you finished was the time that counted. So according to the race chip I finished the 5K @ 35:30( which is not bad) and according to my Garmin I finished @ 34:44. Which was my 1st goal to beat my personal record and finish a 5K in under 35:00. Technically I did finish in under 35:00 min but not having official proof, I feel like I didn't meet that goal, maybe next time. However my long term goal is to finish a 5K in under 30:00 min. It will happen one day!
Anyhow so the run was pretty good, I enjoyed myself. I took two one minute walk breaks. I started out pretty strong, probably too strong because I was struglling towards the end. Which was prooved by someone speed walking and passing me, lol. I think he was a professional speed walker, lol. Anyhow I think I have learned my lesson which is to preserve my energy in the beginning and then use it when I need it most towards the end.
I think I need to start using my Garmin for what is is good for because I'm sure it can help me get better @ running by keeping my pace , During this race I actullaly noticed my Garmin tell me to speed up, lol, I have never seen that before and seeing that message did help me to speed up. Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention, I was photographed during the race and my photo is posted on the site, but I don't like the picture so I'm not going to share the link, but I do feel special because my photograph was taken.
So now I'm trying to plan my next race, I so look forward to it because no matter what it takes I will beat my personal record of 35:00 min.
On to other things, I did not step on the scale this week because I'm afraid and I forgot. I did terrible with my eating towards the end of the week. I do fine during the day but once the night hits, my eating goes down hill. At least I'm exercising right? Speaking of exercising I completed another 9 miles last week. Today I completed 3 miles, unfortunately I have to run 3 days in a row again because of my work schedule. Anyhow I did it before, I know I can do it again.
When is it going to click in my head that exercising and eating healthy = weight loss. Until I do the both together it's not going to happen. I guess doing one of the two is better than nothing. I'm going to hang in there though, and you all should too!
Well I've written more than enough, you all take care
This will be my fourth 5K, and I'm exicited. When I first started running I had a goal to run a 5K a month and in July and August I kind of fell off track. I can't let myself slip anymore if I want to get better at running.I decided not to set a time goal this time around because everytime I do I end up going slower than the previous race. So I plant to just run my heart out and do the best I can.
Anyhow I didn't do to well with my eating choices today and I went over my cal intake by 150 cals. I'm not going to beat myself up. I do realize that I had the opportunity to make better choices and I didn't and now I feel awful well my stomach does. I feel like I've punished my body for putting too much sweets(chocolate chip muffins) in my body, oh well lesson learned. It was so not worth it.
I wanted to leave you all with one of my favorite videos that's out right now its called Single Ladies by Beyonce. I so love this song and Beyone so rocks!
Well hopefully I'll be back Saturday to give you a race report. Take Care
I just finished another back to back workout and boy am I tired!
I ran another 3 miles today. I ran outside because I couldn't face the treadmill again. Maybe I'll make it a point to run on it at lest once a week so I can get some of my moneys worth. Although I like running outside, I think I like running at the park better versus running around my neighborhood, maybe it's because of the scenery,the time also seems to go by faster. Hopefully the next time I go to the park DH is with me and the weirdo is gone.
Anyhow my run was ok I thought I could do better, but I think my run was sucky due to the fact that I worked out twice yesterday and only got like 4 hours of sleep. I really need to stop procrastinating so I can get some sleep around here and hopefully produce better quality workouts.
Anyhow I finished 3.0 miles today @ 36:10 with two, two minute walk breaks in between. This Saturday I want to run in the Spooktacular 5K but I havent signed up for it yet. First I need to see if the kids grandma will watch them if so, then that means I need to go register today so I can get the chepaer price before the actual race day because I won't have time the remainder of this week.
So I wrapped up my workout with some strength training! I'm proud to have completed 4 workouts in 2days. It wasn't easy but it can be done!
Today I took it a lillte easy due to the fact that I worked out yesterday and I spent more time on strength training than I originally planned.
Chest (two - four exercises) 1 set of 12 reps ex. chest press, pushups
Back (two -four exercises) 1 set of 12 reps ex. lat pull down, cable row
5 min of cardio
Lower Body (three - four exericses) 1 set of 12 reps
ex.lunges, squats, dead lift (all done wih barbell) and calf raises
5 min of cardio
Core Exercises (three -four exercies) 1 set of 20 reps
ex. cable crunch, reverse crunch, oblique crunches( I do 100) and regular crunches (another 100)
Pretty intense right...? Not so bad once you get the hang of it and have some good music to listen to. My body is so sore right now, I guess I'm doing something right, lol. Well I'll probably won't be back until this weekend, hopefully to bring to you all back a race report. Take Care
I lost 2.5 pounds! Finally the scale has move from 188 the last time I seen 185 was in 2004. It feels good to see those numbers move again, there is hope for me! I couldn't believe my eyes when I stepped on the scale this morning. I was just 188 on Thursday, for me to lose that much weight ( yes for me 2.5lbs is alot) I was amazed. I'm thinking when I weighed in I was still holding on to some post TOM weight, who knows, who cares, the weight is gone thats all that matters! I had to step on the scale a million times to confirm , wait 20 mins and then try again just to be sure, lol.
So what does this tell me? It tells me that you can eat whatever you want( in moderation) and still lose weight. With exercise of course!
Okay so I know I have been in onederland for sometime now, however I said I wouldn't consider myself in onderland "officially" until I reached 185 that's because at that time I was too close for comfort, but now I feel safe!
So last week I met my goal of running 9 miles and this week I plan to do the same. I have completed 3 miles so far and boy let me tell you those 3 miles were not easy to come by. I decided to run at home on my treadmill because I didn't want to run into that weirdo at the park again. OMG! That was a work out, it was difficult for me to run on the treadmill and I'm not sure why. Is it because it's been a minute since I've used the treadmill? I always thought it was easier to run on the treadmill than it is outside but today that was not the case. I will try again tomorrow, thats if I don't change my mind. Anyhow today I started the timer after my 5 min warmup and according to my treadmill I finished my 3 miles at 35:14. As you can see not a big difference from last week with the 5mins in the entire workout. Because I was running on the treadmill I had a difficult time concentrating and I had a lot more walk breaks than planned. I also ran with my Nike Plus and boy was it off by a long shot, come to find out I need to calibrate it for walking & running which I didn't do so I will do it before my next workout. ( I admit I was having a "duh" moment, lol.)
Anyhow as planned I also did strength training, oh how I missed it but that too was also a struggle. I'll get better, I know I will. I did what you call circuit training when you add cardio in with the strength training. I love it because it keeps your body guessing. I'll ellaborate more on my workout tomorrow because I plan to do the same thing. Anyhow both my workoouts were great, I burned over 1100 cals! I only plan to eat half of those back. I'm so tired and I have and assignment I need to turn in today so I better go work on that ASAP beacuse I don't want to be up all night. I will catch up on all you gals blogs tomorrow!
I'm happy to report that I have completed my 9 miles for the week. I finally achieved my goal, now if I can keep this going, I might actually start to lose some weight, lol.
Those nine miles were not easy to come by, especially 3 miles 3 days in a row. Today was a challenge but you know what I had even better time today then I did yesterday or Wednesday! I finished my 3 miles at 37:13. That time does include my 5 min warmup walk. I decided to wait until next week to start my timer after I warmup just to see how I would do on a 5K, hopefully running the whole thing. I must admit those 2 min walk breaks in between my 10 min of running really help, but I know if I continue to train hard eventually I won't need them.
I had a lot of time to plan and think about my goals to get the remaining weight off so here is what I came up with so far.
Eat & Drink
Drink 10-12 cups of water per day
Counting Calories (1300-1400 cals per day)
Eat 5-7 servings of fruit/veggies per day( mostly veggies)
No Eating after 7pm ( this is going ot be tough on the days I work, get off @ 7:30pm, I might have to make an exception.
Running/Exercise
Exercise 3-4 days per week
Run 9 miles per week ( 3days run 3 miles)
Strength Train 2 days per week 30 -45 min ( 2 of the days that I run I will also have to strength train, I know it's a lot but I have to make it work)
200 crunches and 20 pushups daily ( I havent done these in so long and they are a necessity)
I will plan my eating at least 1-2 days in advance and plan my exercise 1 week in advance (nothing really to plan about running well actually there is, however I need to do some research, and I already have my strength training plan on paper, it just needs to be revised)
I actually faced the scale yesterday, weighed in @ 188lbs, I'm glad I'm still maintaing. I was thinking that although I have lost 25 pounds, why is it that I still feel fat? 25 pounds is a lot of weight to have loss. Oh well I just hope my body hasn't gotten used to the 180's/190's. I never want to see the 200's again or the 190's for that matter!
My weigh in will be on Mondays and I'll take measurements once or twice a month.
I need to find another park to run at, I've noticed some(might be weird) man that goes to the park just to read. He comes at the same time everymorning and I noticed that when people leave he always looks back, I'm assuming to see what car they are driving. I don't know call me paranoid but I have always paid attention to my surroundings, and I don't run with my Betty Sue because it's too heavy. I could just be trippin but I'm not going to wait and see to find out, so for now until I find another park. I will run around my neighborhood or on the dreadmill! (Why did I by that thing?) Oh yeah just incase I have to run when the kids are home or its raining. Anyhow I'm exhausted and sore, I just wanted to blog about my achievment, I'm going to take a nap now! Take Care, all
Okay so today I went for my second run/ walk of 3 miles and I did great!
I'm getting better and better,at the route I'm going I will meet my goal of a 5K under 30 min, just don't know when it's going to happen, lol.
This weekend I really wanted to run in the Race For the Cure but unfortunately I have to work. I have found another race the Waterford 5K for next week Thursday however it's an evening race and its in between days that I have to work. I'm not sure if I want to torture myself. I think there is a race that weekend but I'm not sure if it's close. I might just bite the bullet and do that race on Thursday. What ever race I do I hope to run in under 35min, closer to 32 min. Since I have been running in 5K's I noticed that my time is getting worse. Which I think is due to unproper training. So I think the recent goal that I set for myself to run 9 miles per week 3 miles on 3 days will get me to my goal!
As of now I'm running with walk breaks I hope to be able to run those 3 miles straight by the end of November (hopefully sooner). When that happens I also plan to increase my mileage to 4 miles. When I reach that goal then I plan on adding a longer run to one of the days, maybe 5 or 6 miles. But anyway let me just focus on the goals that I have set for now.
Today was a great run. I finished my run a lot sooner than yesterday but I felt like I was running slower today. Anyhow I ran with my Garmin and Nike Plus again today and they were off today and I'm not sure why. According to my Garmin I finished 3.0 miles in 39:27 and according to my Nike Plus I finished 3.04 miles in 37:51. I'm not sure who to go with at this point, maybe the Garmin. I guess that's why I should only wear one tracking device at a time. Anyhow it doesn't matter because last week I was a lot slower and I have improved alot. I think the music also had something to do with that!
Today my run included 5 min of walking at first and then running 10 min with a walk break of 2 min in between until I reached 3 miles. Just think if I would've have ran from the beginning and not count the walk, I wonder how my timing would have been. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I'll still walk my 5 min but I won't start the timer until I start running.
Today it clicked in my head that me and diets don't work, recently I have been trying different diets and I have been failing them every time. It's not the diet it's me. I notice that I do well at work but when I'm home it's a disaster. The sad thing is that I really don't have anything at home to cheat on. I basically overeat, my last mishap was rice. How do you cheat on a diet with rice? Well I did. Anyhow the sad thing is I know that me and diets don't work but I still insist on trying them. Well no more! Me and diets are history. I'm going back to what I know works for me, which is CALORIE COUNTING! Then I can have anything I want just in moderation.Although I hate it for being time consuming, I know it works.
So back to calorie counting I'm not sure what number of calories I plan to take in but it will be a low number but not less than 1200. I don't like calorie counting because it is time consuming and you have to plan in order for it to work. I guess I have a few sacrafices to make because I'm tired of being in the 180's and I want to see the 170's already. Anyhow so today I will plan and make a shopping list and go shopping tomorrow.
At the beginnning of the year I just new that I would be done with this weight loss battle, I was sure to have reached my goal by June or July, but although I havent. I'm proud of myself for not giving up. I'm thinking about changing my preferred weight to 150. I've always wanted to be 150 and it's sounds better, lol. It's just time that I refocus and get goals in order. So I guess that's my home work for tonight. Revise my goals and plan my meals. Gotta go, sorry for the long post
So I finally got my NikePlus sports kit and I couldn't wait to use it along with my IPod.
I thought it was going to be difficult to set up but it was very easy. Since I don't own of pair of Nike running shoes and I'm very happy with my Brooks running shoes I bought some type of holder for the sensor( from Amazon) that attatches to the shoe laces.
I must say it worked very well. During my run today I wore my Garmin as well to see how how accurate the Nike Plus was and it was very close. I enjoyed the audio feedback that I recieved because it encouraged me to keep running, it was like a personal trainer right in your IPod. I also enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to look down at my Garmin to see how many miles I had left to go.(Although the Garmin does alarm @ every mile it's hard to hear that over running, listening to the IPod and my heavy breathing, lol) Another added bonus is that some time during the workout it will play your choice of powerhouse song, when you need a little picker up. I'm not sure if the sensor can tell when your slowing down or not but my song seemed to play at the perfect time today. You can also play the song if you need it sooner.
Don't get me wrong I still love my Garmin and still plan to use it but I think I will use it less often (maybe that's what was slowing me down, lol just kidding) It still has extra features I think I will use it for races and once a week to see if my running is imrpoving.
Now do you see how huge that thing is compared to a ladies watch?
Anyhow I was very happy to run with the Nike Plus/ IPod. It's very motivating and I look forward to running again tomorrow. Although I didn't have my playlist ready, it is all set for tomorrow. Today I actually enjoyed my run and I did better today than I did last week .My speed has increased which also means my timing has decreased which is great! I was able to get my 3 miles in I started with a 5 min brisk walk and then ran for 10 min with a 3 min walk in between and I did that so forth until I reached my 3 miles. My best pace today was 8:22, to bad that pace wasn't consistent but one day it will be!
Last week I was suppose to run/walk 9 miles however I only completed 6. something. I didn't run because I couldn't run outside and I didn't want to run on my treadmill, I know excuses, anyhow hopefully this week I will meet my goal. Since I have the opprotunity to run outside tomorrow and Friday I have no excuses. I still haven't faced the scale TOM is here again and he's early AGAIN ( he's starting to piss me off, well actually I was happy to see him, but now he must go! ) I promised my self to face the scale on Monday.I don't feel any heavier so hopefully I have maintained. I need to get my ish together because I have no structure right now as far as eating is concerned, I'm kind of doing whatever and my exercise is okay but it could be better.
Today's run/walk was a challenge. This week I decided to make a change in my running routine because in the past I felt like I wasn't doing enough. At first I was undecided if I should go by setting a specific time to run or go by mileage. I chose milage. I decided in order to get to my goal of running a 5K @ 30 min or better I need to get used to running 3.1 miles. So I made a new goal last week to run 9 miles a week which will give me three days to run 3 miles. Last week I almost met my goal I did complete 9 miles however 3.2 of those miles where skating.However, I had so much fun.
Anyhow this week I 'm back and focused and I completed 3.25 miles this morning. Those miles were hard to come by I didn't think I would make it but I did. It's been a week since I last ran so maybe that's why it was a struggle. At first I was going to try to run the whole thing but it didn't happen so I had 2-3 min walk breaks every 10 min of running. Eventually I hope to be able to run the whole 3.1 miles without stopping.
Tomorrow I plan to run 3 miles again, I might go to the local park. I need to take advantage of being able to enjoy the outdoors while I can.
Didn't weigh myself this week, kind of avaoiding the scale. Maybe I will face my fears later on during the week.
Well my DH surprised me with the IPod Nano the other day and it's in my favorite color, purple. I guess he got tired of my nagging,lol. Anyhow I was able to use it on today's run and I really enjoyed it. It is so lightweight. I can't wait to get the Nike Plus Sport Kit, it's on it's way. Not like my Garmin isn't enough, but sometimes that big ole computer get's heavy on my arms it could be slowing my pace, lol just kidding. I'm also waiting for the armband, once I get my playlist together I'll be all set and hope to have better runs. There is no excuse! I'll be back to visit.
Wow I can't believe I have ran 3 5K's so far never in a million years would I have thought to eventually become a runner.
Well last Sunday me and my DH ran in the Race for the Kids 5K. It was a race to support the kids in Latin America. I must admit when I first went out to the race I felt out of place because there are not that many African Americans who run, well at least there weren't that many at this particular race I could count on one hand including me and my DH how many were there. Anyhow I didn't let that get the best of me nor did my DH.
The race started 5 min late but it wasn't a big deal. This race we used different timing chips which we put on our shoes. I didn't too much care for it because I the timing was not accurate the timing chip said we finished at 38:05 however our Garmin and Polar stop watched said we finished @ 37:00. Due to the fact that was a new timing system I'm not going by that time, I think it still has some issues to be worked out. The point is that we finished. I think our timing was pretty decent considering neither of us properly trained. I wanted to beat my personal record of 35 min but since this was my DH's first 5K I decided to stick by his side so with that we took a few walk breaks in between the race. The first two miles were easy but that last mile seem to have taken forever. I enjoyed myeself, some parts of the race was along the beach and it was such beautiful scenery. As far as my DH is concerend he has a new respect for runners and is now hooked.
As far as future races I would at leat like to run in a 5K every month. I would like to run in the Race For The Cure this month on th e18 but I have to work , maybe I'll get someone to switch with me. We also want to run in the Turkey Trot 5K/10K on Thanksgiving but I'm not sure if I will have that day off. Anyhow please believe there are many more races to come. I have taken running more seriously now and I've decided to put more pep in my step.
After race day I think me and DH were still so hype that we decided to run/walk another 3 miles! I honesly don't know what we were thinking because we were so sore and running again made it worse but it felt so good, lol! Anyhow today we were suppose to run again but I was catching up on sleep from working 2 twelve hour shifts. For sure we will be running tomorrow.
Treats?
I've been thinking about treating myself to an IPod Nano especially since they have one in purple now, lol. I bought my husband an IPod a while back and now I regret it, lol because I was jeoulous of him beacuse he had some motivation music to use while running, I was old fashion and used my cd player which quit on me in the first 5 mins, lol. I know some people can run without music but music honestly helps motivate me and helps me move faster. My initial plan was to get an IPod once I lost all my weight but that is taking a little longer than planned. I really love the Nano because it has the extra gadgets with NIke Plus not really sure how it works yet but I have heard great things about it, and I have learned that you do not have to by Nike shoes just to enjoy the benefits.
Anyhow my weight has stalled again but it's my fault, I let my DH sabotage my efforts. He recently bought 2 packs of my favorite cookies and he knows they are my favorite but bought them anyway. Lets just say I sabotaged those cookies, lol. Men can't live with them, can't live without them. I have kind of been off my diet all week but plan to make up for it by ending the week strong.
I decided to take my running a little more serious because it's the only way I'll get any better. I plan to run and walk(mostly run) 9 miles a week, meaning 3 days out of the week I need to run 3 miles a day. So far so good. Sticking to the C25k plan is kind of difficult. I just want to get out there and run, and if I need a walk break so be it. So as of now I'm just doing my own thing and if that doesn't work I'll go back to some sort of structured plan.
Yesterday I did do my second workout as planned. I ran on my treadmill at home. I started C25K week 3 day 1 and it was a little challenging, however I think it was because I ran/walk earlier that day. Oh well I'm glad I finally caught up on my workouts. Today I did week 3 day 2 and I had the opportunity to run outside again, so I took it. I prefer running outside than running on the treadmill I enjoy the scenery, although my treadmill has a tv, it's less easier to cheat outside, lol. Today's run/walk was somewhat challenging towards the end, and I think it's because 1) I didn't get enough rest and 2) I worked out twice yesterday. I think working out twice is going to become a way of life. Because I'm not getting in the all the workouts that I really want to. Although I only work 3 days out of the week, I work long hours and by the time I come homne, I'm ready to go to bed. So on my days off I guess I will have to work extra hard. My main issue is that I want to strength train again, I really loved the results I was getting, and getting toned is one of my goals. Or I will have to put the two workouts together, I don't know, I will figure it out one of these days. Today if the time permits I will have a second workout I will either go skating outside or do strength training, I really want to do both so it's a hard decsision. I figure I'll probably be better off strength training in the garage, because by the time I go back out it will be too hot! Well I'll catch up with you all later.
Finally the scale has move from 188 the last time I seen 185 was in 2004. It feels good to see those numbers move again, there is hope for me! I couldn't believe my eyes when I stepped on the scale this morning. I was just 188 on Thursday, for me to lose that much weight ( yes for me 2.5lbs is alot) I was amazed. I'm thinking when I weighed in I was still holding on to some post TOM weight, who knows, who cares, the weight is gone thats all that matters! I had to step on the scale a million times to confirm 
, wait 20 mins and then try again just to be sure, lol. 
) I promised my self to face the scale on Monday.I don't feel any heavier so hopefully I have maintained. I need to get my ish together because I have no structure right now as far as eating is concerned, I'm kind of doing whatever and my exercise is okay but it could be better. 
