Starvation vs. Victory

Tomorrow is my final chance to reach my goal weight and win the challenge against Curtis. I was pretty sure all week that there was no way I would be able to achieve this goal. But as of this morning I was down two 3.5 pounds left. This is a new low for me, and totally unexpected. I have all day today and all day tomorrow (until 9pm) to make that weight appear on my scale. So now I am contemplating starvation. By no means do I think that this is a real way to lose weight permanently. I understand that this is the stupidest thing you can do for your body. But it would only be for a day, and I could win! On the other hand, it would make today and possibly tomorrow morning pretty unbearable and wouldn't I like to say that I lost every pound the slow and simple way? The strangest thing about this weigh-in is that I have eaten poorly this week. I have only worked out for one hour. Perhaps I have begun losing muscle mass. Or maybe I just don't eat quite as much if I don't have to fuel a 1000 calorie-burning session twice a week, and three runs.

I Need More Time

I have been really busy this week. It's the last week of Summer Reading and in some ways it's just as stressful as the first week, except without all the excitement. Well, unless you count being excited about being done. Monday evening I missed my first class at the gym because I had to go home to record The Bachelorette. I should have had time to drive home, change clothes, hit record and drive to the gym. I could have been 3-5 minutes late, but I still would have gone. Technical difficulties kept me home for the next forty minutes trying to get abc to even come in on my television set. Finally it did, and I was able to make it to BodyPower.

Tuesday I thought about getting up in the morning to run; I really should be taking advantage of these wonderful temperatures. But alas, I was sleepy and ignored the alarm when it went off early. Tuesday afternoon brought on a very stressful (indeed traumatic) day for me, which is really more of Jennifer's story, so I won't post it on here. But it involved lots of blood, an ambulance and stitches and even typing it makes me want to cry now. After work we celebrated Erin's upcoming birthday with fattening Mexican food and delicious Margaritas. It was well deserved after the stressful afternoon, but did nothing for my fat-burning needs.

Again today I had hoped to get up and run in the morning. It was only 60 degrees when I got out of bed. But I easily convinced myself to sleep a little more. Tonight I have a library function until 7:00, so no classes as the gym for me. I do have plans to ride my bike to the park and play tennis for a while. Hopefully I can burn off a lot of calories doing that somehow. Tomorrow is a 11-hour work day for me, and Erin's actual birthday, so I said we should go out for Ice Cream. If I don't get up in the morning to run, it's looking like I won't be working out then either.

Also in the I need more time category: I still have six pounds to lose by Saturday's Challenge Finale. That's not going to happen. I just need to hope it doesn't happen for Curtis either and that way I will have only failed myself!

Columbus Downtown Runaround

Columbus Racers

The Columbus Downtown Runaround is over and boy am I glad I did it. I think it was the best race I have ever been part of. The fact that the three of us ran together is what sealed the deal. The weather was pretty good; the terrain was near perfect; the view was wonderful. We had tons of great supporters out to cheer us on. Jennifer was a trooper and got up at 5:00am just to make the ride up there with us. My dad's house on the lake was midway through the run, and he and my grandma and aunt were waiting for us with bells and whistles. Erin's family was waiting at mile 4.5 with even more clapping. My goal was to run the five miles in less than an hour. Of course this is difficult to time when we aren't starting at the starting line and instead are beginning thirty seconds or more later. According to my IPod I finished the five miles in 58:38, according to the finish line clock I finished in 60:42, so I'm taking the average of these times and calling it 59:40. That's twenty seconds faster than my goal time. What's most important is that I ran the entire thing. This was the first time I can say that I actually ran the whole race. I am very proud of myself and thankful for my Columbus running partners. As Erin told one of the volunteers cheering us on: I couldn't do it without them!

Running Inspiration

Three years ago, and I might be off a year because they all start to run together, Jen was down visiting and sitting in my living room. I had checked out a book about running from the library. As we were sitting around the house Jen picked up the book and asked me about it.
Her: Why do you have this?
Me: I'm gonna become a runner
Her: Oh yeah? I've thought about doing that.
A year later Jen was off running 10ks while I was still sitting around the living room. Finally I realized that if she could do it, I could do it. Jen is my running inspiration. Today's her birthday, and it makes me think of how lucky I am to have her inspiration in my life. Still to this day, and I'm not exactly sure why, whenever I hear The Killer's song: Mr. Brightside, I think of Jen and run just a little faster. So it is fitting that I celebrated her birthday by doing a three mile run. And I am celebrating this weekend with a five mile race, just before I head out to her birthday party. I would be honored to some day run a race with her.
Here are some of my other running inspirations:
- Setting a record for speed.
- The feeling of going further than I ever had before.
- Hannah, who is excited to go for a run whenever I suggest it.
- Having my 87 year old grandma get up extra early on a Saturday to come see me cross a finish line.
- Watching Erin go from running half a mile to a whole five miles in less than two months.
- Actually wearing out a pair of shoes instead of just wanting a new pair.
- Brandy, who could probably run five miles in 40 minutes, but would rather slow down and enjoy the ride with us.
- Seeing the way that fitness can truly change your life.

Back in Business

Today's Running Goal: Three-record-breaking-miles
Accomplished: 3 miles in 32:40 (10:54 miles)!
Before I run the race on Saturday I really wanted to get in a fast run so that the easy 12 minute mile pace I hope to keep up for five miles doesn't seem like much. And that is precisely what I did. Up to this point the fastest I had ever done three miles was somewhere right over 33 minutes (maybe 33:06). The improvement isn't huge, just twenty-six seconds, but there are several factors to weigh:
1. I did that two months ago in the height of my running training: running three times a week at various speeds.
2. I did that two months ago when the weather was beautiful and even though tonight's wasn't bad, it still wasn't spring.
3. I think I took a small break during the last record setter (some kid wanted to pet my dog) and this time I ran the entire thing straight through.
4. Did I mention I had a blister?
I am proud of this accomplishment, and have to thank Curtis for running with me and pushing me both at the beginning (when I wanted to "save some of it") and at the end (when I thought that I couldn't move just one more step). I should be brutally honest here - I felt like I was sprinting for 32 minutes. The first mile was fine, the second mile was long and tough and the third mile I felt like I was going to puke and passout at the same time. I was breathing so hard and pushing my legs as fast as they would go even though I don't think they were barely moving. I absolutely can not imagine running faster than this; when I picture myself I am flying through the air. But honestly, eleven minute miles are nothing. Don't get me wrong, I never thought that I would get there. But I still have a long way to go. I really hope to make running three or four miles part of my weekly workout routine. I burn tons of calories and get done in less than an hour. But it really does help to have someone to run it with. Someday not to far in the future I hope to write an entry about how I did in in under 27 minutes and it was tough, but I felt like I was flying.

Oh and being the powerhouse that I am: my blister is almost healed. There is still a little pain but the (gross notice!) fluid retention is minimal. Tonight I went back to wearing my old running shoes and plan to stick with them through Saturday's race. Then they can be retired and I can work on breaking in the new ones.

My First Blister

Last night's Running Goal: Four Easy Miles
Accomplished: 4 miles in 49:01 (12:15 miles)
Our goal was to log another four miles and do it without a sprint at the end to show Erin that she would have plenty of energy to tag on another mile come Saturday's race. It was easy, for all of us. I suggested doing the last mile when we got done, taking us up to five, but Erin was ready to quit at the point. Still, she agreed that she could have done another if she absolutely needed to. I am getting excited for race day. It is supposed to be a high of 79 degrees that day, so the morning will be beautiful. Of course there is a chance of rain; I don't know how to run a race that doesn't involve potential rain. We still haven't seen a map of the course, but most of Columbus is flat. And we're all running it together. It's going to be fun!

However, last night I tried to break in my new running shoes. I have had this pair since March, but was waiting until after my June race to break them out. Well, after that I did most of my running on the muddy/dusty trails around town and would hate to get my new shoes dirty on my first run. I really want to wear them to Saturday's race, and had been wanting to break them in. I figured I should start with a short run. However, I don't seem to have time to do those two mile runs anymore. So I wore them last night. Within the second mile I could feel some rubbing on my right toe. And sure enough I had a blister by the time I got home. Now I am worried. I am planning on two more runs this week, both three mile. Tuesday I will wear my old shoes, Thursday I might try the new ones again and see how that goes. I guess safety will have to trump vanity for this event!

My Internet is Back

My Internet really shouldn't (and doesn't) effect my fitness, so it's hardly worth devoting an entire blog entry to the fact that it was not working and now it does. But it does indeed effect my ability to blog about my fitness levels, so the fact that it is working again is very important to the life of this blog in general. I haven't been able to access the Internet from home for over a month now. I exhausted every level of computer repair I had in me, which isn't a lot, but hey, I do have a Master's Degree in Information Technology. I was about five away from taking my computer in to a repair person (that's what I learned with that Master's degree: seek help from a specialist!) when I finally found my back up discs and the user's manual. Now I am in the process of reloading all the information I had to take off of the computer, but what is the first thing I did: was re-acquainted with my blog! It's so good to be back!

I really enjoyed my three-day weekend and I am thinking that I need to take more of these. I was fairly productive and that helps. Often I find that I waste time when I take it off and then I feel like I might as well have been at work wasting time. This weekend though I was able to do tons of exercising, cleaned out my closets (two bags of clothes to the DAV), restored my computer, cleaned my kitchen, made two new recipes for my 30 Things list (I am quite behind), saw a musical with my mom, sat in a pool despite the 80 degree weather, went shopping and got a new pair of shorts (tight enough to wear) and began another great book. But I suppose all you really care about on here is the working out I did.

Friday evening I went for an hour and a half bike ride (14+ miles). About half way through my knee started hurting, I got off and tried to stretch it some, but it's very difficult to stretch a knee. It's not exactly inner/outer thigh muscles and it's not really hamstring or calf muscles. About three-fourths of the way through I had a sharp shooting pain in it that made me want to cry. Again I stopped to let it rest. I made it the rest of the way home, but had to use my right leg to do all of the work. Saturday morning I woke up and it was pretty sore. I went to BodyPower anyway, and went light on my squats, but it still hurt. Lunges were hard too, and even though we used the bench, and I have been wanting to use the bench for a while, I had to do most of it without. Sunday it was fine though. So I don't know if it was just a tired muscle, or if I hurt something and am just such a powerhouse that I fixed myself already. I am eager to get back on the bike saddle and try again. Finally tonight I am going for a run with Brandy and Erin again. I don't think we've decided how long it should be. Another four miles would be great. Part of me thinks we should just go all five and see if we can make it. Another part of me thinks a nice easy three would be a better way to end the weekend.

All in all, I worked out 9.5 hours this week. I didn't eat real well though. There were three occasions when I went out to eat and didn't choose the healthiest things. Other that that though things are good. I am just not so sure about those last few pounds that have to come off in the last two weeks.

Two Weeks till Slim.

The worst thing about weighing in on Friday morning is that I have to work late Thursday evening. So if I do any eating after eight o'clock that food is generally still on me when I weigh in on Friday. And if I do more eating than necessary, which I have been known to do, then the scale is way off. Well, last night I got to spend some time with Jennifer (which is seems I never do anymore). We celebrated by having margaritas and chips and salsa, and more! Needless to say, the salt nor the scale was my friend this morning. I was up a pound from last week. Still, I believe that I am going to have a healthy weekend and an even healthier week, and by next Friday I will have passed the four pound mark that I was at earlier this week and be down to two or three. I have to. I am just two weeks from my goal date.

Today's Running Goal: 4 miles (with Erin and Brandy)
Accomplished: 4 miles in 47:54 (11:57 miles) ALL OF US!
Turns out Erin can run four miles. She was worn out at the end, but it's only because I made us sprint and she probably didn't have as much left in her as I did. But I absolutely know that we'll be able to do all five miles next weekend for the big race. I just need to convince Erin of that. We met at a new trail at 7:30am. It was absolutely beautiful this morning. We were even cold before we started running. The trail had quite a bit of sun directly on us, but there were patches of shade as well. It was all level and the breeze was lovely. I don't even think that I broke a sweat. Is that possible? Brandy talked talked talked, just like I expected her to do, and by the time I knew it, we were done. I defiantly could have gone another mile or two and I am excited that Brandy has agreed to run the race at my pace! I have set a goal of one hour and I'd really like to meet it. Still, I am willing to walk if Erin really needs to; I wouldn't want her first race experience to end in the back of an ambulance. And I know that if weather conditions are not as optimal as today, it will be harder. Obviously I am not so much faster than the 12 minute mile pace that I can allow myself to do much worse. Either way, it's all for fun and I am looking forward to it today, unlike yesterday when I didn't think it was even possible. Thanks girls, for a great morning run! I think we should make some sort of habit out of it.

Ready to Register

I think that it's time that I registered for this race. I am pretty apprehensive about it. I am unsure if I can run the whole five miles and I'm not sure who will be running with me if anyone is at all. I am also not looking forward to the hour-and-a-half drive I have to do before the race, and the family activities I will need to do in the afternoon. Then I have to hurry home to get ready for Jen's birthday party. It will be a busy and exhausting day. Will I have time for a nap to rest my tired muscles? And what's the point in doing a race that I am not looking forward to already? But I have already told people I know (my grandmas) that I will be there. Can't let people down... that's my life story.

Last night was an excellent Kickboxing/BodyPower combo. I let myself go light on some of my weights, because I was pretty sore from Monday. My back had been feeling tight so I lowered my squat weight. And my biceps were really sore from kickboxing, so I tried just using a Medium again on those. It was so easy. It's nice to be able to do every rep again.

Unfortunately I didn't eat very well yesterday. Jennifer had a coupon for this horrendous meal at Arbys. Mixed with getting home late, eating some junk food for dinner, my scale was back up two pounds today. Like it was just playing a little joke on me. A teaser. Oh well, it will become a permanent number soon enough.

I am taking today off from working out, and taking Friday as a vacation day from work. So it's up in the air if I Will be able to post anything before Monday. But I have a great weekend of workouts planned. Friday: Running four miles in the am with friends, biking in the evening with Curtis. Saturday: Bodypower in the morning, more running? Sunday: more running. Hey, we have a race to get ready for! I'm already at five hours this week, and it's looking like I might be able to get to nine or even ten. That would be a record. My weight would have to respond to that.

"Normal Weight"

This morning when I woke up and weight myself, I was pleasantly surprised by the scale. A pound or two had finally dropped off of me taking me down to 4 pounds left to lose. This is a new number for me, and it made me remember something that I had calculated a long time ago. Just to be sure, when I got to work this morning I looked up Body Mass Index online to find out what mine was. I am finally in the "normal weight" category. I am no longer "overweight". Isn't that amazing! That's really more important than any number that the scale says, or any size pants I might be wearing. I am now healthy. Still, I have four more pounds that I want to lose to get down to that ambiguous "goal-weight" that I came up with so very long ago. And if I do it in the next 16 days, I get $20!

Sorry that my posts have been so rare; my Internet is still down at home and I find it difficult to waste precious work time (not that I am against wasting work time, I am just having a difficult time finding time to waste!). Here is a recap of my workouts this week.

Sunday's Running Goal: Three miles
Brandy met me after work for a late run on Sunday evening. We didn't get started until around 9:00 so the sun/heat wasn't such a problem, although the humidity was still there. We ran around a park we used to frequent as children. The loop around the park was two miles, and was really nice. As always when running with Brandy, she is excellent at talking the whole time and keeping me entertained as I plug away at my three miles. The first two sort of flew by. The third one was much more difficult, but we managed. We averaged somewhere just over 12-minute miles. Not great! This just re-affirms my ideas that I will not be able to do the five mile run in less than an hour. Should have trained harder... or planned a run in the fall.

Monday I went to Kickboxing and Body Power. Both excellent classes as always, although sometimes they seem so much harder than others. I had a hard time with the squats and it seems that the large amount of weight I am using stresses my back. I will have to watch that. I have done such a great job of keeping all of my weights about medium and smalls for all tracks. I really think that I can tell in my shoulders. They have gained a lot of definition in the last couple of months. I am excited that this will be a three-bodypower-class-week.

Tuesday's Running Goal: Three miles
Oh my goodness. Do not attempt to run after work, when the sun is still high in the sky and the temps are above 90 and the humidity is at 100%. I think I just about died. Curtis joined me for a run down to the park and back. We had wanted to run three miles straight, but ended up taking a couple small (.25 mile) breaks. When I returned my shirt was completely drenched as if I had been running in the rain. I'm going to wait for dawn or dusk for my remaining summer runs. Even more proof that I won't be setting any records at the Columbus run. Better to just do it for fun. Brandy, Erin and I (the "Columbus Racers") are planning a four-mile run early Friday morning. Erin has never run that far and I need to see if I am still capable of that many miles. From there we will develop a plan to excel on race day. Do you think I need to have practiced the five-miles before I actually get to the race? If I can do four, what's another one?

Five Mile Race

I'm pretty certain that I am going to do the five mile Columbus Downtown Run Around, which is just two weeks from yesterday. I am not looking to beat any times, or set any records. I don't even plan on running the whole thing. What I am hoping to do is convert Erin into a runner. I am trying to convince her that we could do that five miles together. This means that we would come up with some walk/run combination, but at least we'd do it together! I am thinking we could run 2.5 miles, walk .5 miles, run 1 mile, walk .25 and finish with a .75 mile. But maybe if we practiced just a little bit more, we could run 2.5 miles, walk .5 and finish off the 2 miles. Who knows; I will have to check with Erin. Either way, I know that I am going to have to beef up the running in the next two weeks. I am a little disappointed in myself that I didn't work harder for this race, and that I won't be improving my time and effort. But it just snuck up on me, and I just cannot make myself do this running in the heat. Maybe when the fall comes around I will start looking at running again. Now I am just thinking about summer and sitting by the pool.

Three Weeks till Slim

The scale moved in the right direction this week, which honestly is a bit of a surprise with the holiday weekend and the margarita night. Still, it only move a half of a pound. I was down to 5.5 this morning. That is going to be tough with only three weeks left, but still manageable. Curtis had a much worse weekend and actually ended up two pounds higher than when he started. So chances are, even if I don't accomplish the goal, I will beat him! Moving downward is really all that is important to me. And this next week is going to be much better. I have no family celebrations, no going-away parties. Just regular life. Hopefully I can see a 2-3 pound loss this week.

Last night Erin agreed to run with me. Even though we waited until after work (8:30) and the sun was almost down, the humidity was in full swing. The breeze that seemed to be so prevalent during my dinner break (when I was trying to read outside) was nowhere to be seen. Sweat was dripping off of my by the first mile. It was running down my face and blinding me. I must buy a headband or at the very least start running with a towel. At least then I could worry about the lack of running that I am able to do instead of the amount of sweat in my eyes. We ended up running 1.5 miles, walking a half a mile and running another 1.5 miles. For a total of 3 miles run. We did it slowly: 38 minutes (12:40 miles). But at least Erin is briefly contemplating running the five-mile race in Columbus. Apparently she is a fast learner. And if she was willing to do it with me, I would much more eager to run/walk it than if I was doing it on my own.

This morning I had the day off, but needed to stop by work to check on something. I decided to bike to the library. It is approximately 3.5 miles away from my house. The sun isn't even out today, so it seemed like it would be wonderful. I was soaked with sweat by the time I arrived. I had been wanting to ride to work more, but I think that might have to wait until September, when this awful humidity subsides. Still, it makes a good 40 minute workout. I am planning on heading to Gold's this afternoon to get some weight lifting in as well. Guess, I better get going.

Running Partners

I need help. I really want to run this Five-Mile Columbus Downtown Run-Around on July 25th. But I haven't been able to run more than two miles on my own. I need some running partners. I need someone that can push me to go four or even five miles. I need someone that can go slow enough (my speed) without feeling like I am holding them back. I need someone that had enough conversation skills to keep me preoccupied while we run for the better portion of an hour. If you feel that this is you: please let me know.

Tonight I am hoping to run four miles. I don't get off of work until 8:00, but I wouldn't want to run earlier than that anyway, with this heat. I will probably use the trail, because that is where I can do my best running. I am behind in my workouts for this week, and am beginning a stretch of working eight out of the next nine days. But I absolutely know that if I go home after work and sit on my couch and eat, the scale will not move in the right direction tomorrow. My only hope is that I get off work, move my butt and see the scale slide down.

Drunk Lifting

I came to a revelation today: working out on too little of sleep is more difficult than working out after too much working out. I hardly got any sleep last night and therefore was completly exhausting. I skipped kickboxing so that I could go home a get a couple hours of a nap in; still taking me to only around 4 hours of sleep total. I made myself get up and go to BodyPower, because I am committed to the muscle building plan, and won't be able to go Saturday as I have to work. It was so difficult. You know they say driving without enough sleep is equal to driving drunk. I guess the same can be said for weight-lifting.

After class I met my work-mates at Mazatlan for Margarita night. It was Megan's last day with us, and we were have a send-off party. I couldn't skip it because I love Megan and Margaritas. I was trying to limit the amount of food that I ate, and stuck with a small amount of chips. But I was still hungary, and I knew that if I didn't order food I would just keep snacking. So Erin and I split a meal. It was still more than I needed, but better than eating it all myself. My weight has stayed low all week (after the small gain from last weekend's holiday) but it hasn't gone lower than it was last Friday. I am not sure if I will see a loss this week.

Eight is Great

I worked out eight hours last week. It didn't help lower the scale any when it came to fourth of July weight gain. But imagine what the scale would have said this morning if I had skipped more workouts this week. Monday and Wednesday I made it to both kickboxing and BodyPower. On Monday I counted 30 minutes of a bike ride (even though it might have been more than that) but it resulted in frozen yogurt. On Friday, having the day off, I got up and met Erin at Gold's for some cardio. I had this plan to work on my running speed. I ran for one minute fast (10 minute mile) and then walked for one minute pretty fast (15 minute mile). Ultimately it should result in a 12:30 minute mile, and I thought that maybe I wouldn't be so tired. Nope, just the opposite. I was more tired after running six interval sets than I would have been if I had run one mile and a slow and steady pace. So then I walked a while, and finished with an easy mile. But maybe it pushed my muscles more, or my heart, or something. Then I met my mom up in the women's weight room where we did the entire circuit. On Saturday I made it to the gym again in the morning. I did 40 minutes on the AMT machine, which was tough and sweat inducing. Then I used the bike. I was able to keep my heart rate up the 20 minutes I spent on that, but hardly burned any calories. Sunday, I didn't make it to the gym because I was spending time with my family, but we took an hour (almost) walk in the afternoon. It wasn't fast because my relatives don't believe in power-walking. But it was something.

Unfortunately I indulged in food more than I should have this weekend. I ate too many cookies and chips and not enough fruit and vegetables. I gained two pounds. But I am going to have a great week, so I am even lower than I was for my next Friday morning weigh in. You do know though, today is my half-birthday. So I will have to celebrate with a treat of some kind!

Four Weeks till Slim

Technically it's not Friday. But since I have no Internet at home, I am not able to post until I am back at work. But I want it logged that on Friday my weight was down to six pounds. Another 1.5 pounds down. I am perfectly on track to be at my goal if I continue to lose another pound and a half each week. That's a difficult goal since I have a hard weekend ahead of me (4th of July) but the rest of the week should be fine.

Same but Boring

I think that my blog has become kinda boring. Where are the funny posts, like when I list 15 reasons why i couldn't run today? Or where I list great things about myself? Or when I take new classes and or meet new goals? Nope, just doing the same old same old. And why? Because it's tried and true. Tonight was a fabulous kickboxing/bodypower duo. This was the first time anyone has ever asked me where my friends were. Guess they're starting to notice. Jennifer hasn't been to the gym since April. However, I got her to agree to go on Monday; it's my half-birthday you know!! She'll be in for a challenge.

I have eaten really healthfully this week, and am hoping for a great weigh-in on Friday. Not having Internet at my house anymore is going to make it difficult to post my weight though. I have tried to borrow Jennifer's laptop, but she's not giving it up too easily. I may have to beg some more!

Since I won't be able to take the third bodypower this week (the gym's closed for the holiday) I am going to take on the weight room at Gold's. That will mix things up a little. I read in a magazine the other night that if you want to work your butt: hamstring curls are better than squats. So I am excited to try that machine in the ladies fitness room.

I guess I will just keep on keepin' on!