My first Learn 2 Run Session

Last night I attended my very first Learn to Run clinic at the local Running room with two of my co-workers. I’ll admit I was nervous about it because I knew this old body might have issues pounding on the pavement versus pounding on a cushioned treadmill. I didn’t know what to wear for clothing as we are still pretty cold here and had another big dump of snow on Sunday so I wasn’t sure how the sidewalks were going to be. Turned out the layers I wore were good enough and I was toasty but not too hot because at the end had I been wearing less, I would have gotten cold because of the sweating, and the cooling down at the end. And they took us on pretty clear sidewalks so there were no slipping hazards.

We got to the clinic a little early so we sat at the back of the store along the benches and waited for it to start. Turned out there were going to be 67 of us there, WOW, that’s a lot of newbies learning to run. As more and more people showed up, I became less and less apprehensive as there were people of all sizes and shapes there. I was no longer feeling intimidated, at least not by my weight/size.

After the half hour introduction session, we started out with an easy walk to the main road, then we started off on our first 1 minute jog. We went fairly slow, and I felt I could have jogged faster, but was more than pleased with the speed as I really wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to keep up (before we started jogging that is, turns out I didn’t need to worry at all). During that first 1 minute jog, we go honked at (67 people running down the sidewalk must have looked pretty cool, I think), anyway, we then got MOONED… some people just have no couth… : ) (hee hee). But the episode seemed to add to the joviality of the entire lot of joggers.

So from there we walked 2, jogged 1, and in total it was only 7 minutes of jogging but at the end of it, I felt I could have jogged a lot longer. It was a good feeling. In fact that feeling stayed with me for the rest of the night and I’m still feeling it today. I feel good.

I was totally psyched up about this last night and again this morning with talking with my new running partners. There is nothing like running in a group like that, with someone you know and the time just flew by. I absolutely loved it.

My lower back is sore today and I’m not sure if that is because I was lightly leaning forward, or the impact on my knees/legs/back – or what (anyone have any ideas I’d appreciate the comments). But otherwise, I feel pretty good.

I woke up at 4 a.m. as per my usual this morning, and thought to myself, I’ll just lay here a few more minutes because I’m only going to do an upper body workout and no cardio so I can wait a few minutes before getting up. Sure… next thing I knew it was 5:15 and I had to get ready to go to work. My body pretty much told me I wasn’t doing anything but sleeping this morning. I listened : )

And I did not get on the scale this morning – this is a big step to this scale junkie but I promised myself I would not get back on until Saturday so that I don’t focus on those numbers anymore but focus on how I feel and how my clothes are feeling.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day.


Ttyl

Yuck - cold still..

Well here it is the end of March and we are still getting tons of snow – people are getting pretty depressed. Normally I’m thinking about going camping, cleaning out the yard, watching the grass turn green… not this year.

Tonight after work I start my first learn to run clinic - outside - I hope the sidewalks are clean of snow as I don’t want to break anything on my first outdoor jogging session. I don’t even know what to wear – too much and I’ll get to hot, not enough and I’ll get chilled… layers... that’s what I’ve got in the bag, I just hope they are the right layers. I am looking forward to it though; I bet the weight will come off a bit faster.

So this past weekend was the weigh-in, measure and dreadful picture taking weekend. In a month, I’ve lost little over 4 lbs (I am disappointed it wasn’t more), but I did lose quite a few inches in my waist and stomach area – I think it is about 4 inches between the two. I don’t have my results here at work with me. I’m good with the 4 inches, and I figure I’ve gained muscle so less noticeable scale difference. I think the Turbo Jam sessions are what is whittling my waist down. That workout really works the core.

I got up this morning and did my normal 4:00 a.m., workout but it really wasn’t worth much. My HR was at its highest at 134 and averaged at 107 – can you tell I hardly put any effort into it? I don’t know why, but I was just tired this morning and I had more sleep than I normally would – maybe that is why, I actually got 8 hours of sleep AND I knew I was doing the LTR clinic after work.

I do notice though that my 4 a.m. workouts compared to the ones later in the morning or day are not as good because it must take me a couple of hours to get the motivation juices flowing through the body. And I'm still in fast mode. My Saturday 9:00 a.m. workouts are much better but I have gotten into the habit of waking up early during the week to exercise or else it might not get done…

So my goals for this week are to:
· NOT get on the scale (decided I’m too addicted and it sways my attitude during the day).
· Give my best at the 3xLTR sessions
· Workout at home in the a.m., 4 mornings (Friday will be my day off)
· Eat clean all week except Thursday night when we go out for beers (hence why Friday is day off).
· Have a good attitude.

Hope everyone else has a fantastic week!

ttyl
Sandra

What a way to start the Day!

Even though I get on that stupid scale every day and check to see what my weight is and even though it sits around the same +/- 1-2 lbs each week, I've obviously made some steps forward.

Today is "jean" day at work and the only pair of jeans I have is a pair that I purchased about a year and half ago that were too small. Not sure why I bought them at the time, probably incentive- something to look forward to.

So this morning, I got them out and tried them on and they are too BIG!! :) I almost waited too long to give them a try. So I'm wearing them today with a big smile on my face.

I think that's a good way to start a day!

ttyl
Sandra

Week Goals and Ramblings...

Well I didn’t make my goals from last week because I was down with the flu. But I am recovered and raring to go this week. I am feeling much better but still have a bit of the sniffles. That didn’t stop me this weekend though.

Having three days off set me on a roll on Saturday. I did my Cardio Party and then went out and walked the pup for 45 minutes. It was such a beautiful day, our first nice sunny day in a long time. So I spent as much time as I could outside and cleaning up the yard (remember I mentioned that we have a pup, and that’s a winters worth of logs in my yard).

Then on Sunday, I did a strength training session and 30 minutes interval on the TreadClimber. Once that session was done, I rearranged my basement, which is my work out area, then vacuumed, dusted, cleaned, and did laundry for the remainder of the day. Overnight we had a foot of snow drop on us so there was no walking the pup today. And what a contrast – sunny and warm on Saturday, snowing and blizzard on Sunday – no wonder folks get sick around here.

I think I burned a ton of calories yesterday, which is a really good thing because we went out for beers last night and ended up having pizza as well. I only ate 2 pieces but I KNOW that is still a ton of calories. So today, I got up and did 30 minutes of my week 2 of the learn to run series. I start the actual outside clinic next week so all I’m doing right now is trying to gain some strength in my legs to ensure that I can successfully jog outside. I realize jogging on a treadmill versus outside is completely different but I wanted to at least give it a try so I don’t totally fall behind when we run as a group. They have practice runs on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings and I’m hoping I can bring the dog to those sessions. It would be good for her to learn to run with me as we will be partners when the clinic is finished. She is 6 months old today and heels really well on a walk, I need her to watch where I am though when I start jogging as she gets all excited and gets a little crazy when I start jogging so if we do it together, we can learn together.

I joined BlogtoLose today and will likely just copy by blogs from here to there … thought it was another cool website to learn from others and to log my journey.

Plans for this week
• Keep calories to 1500 a day and log absolutely everything I eat in my journal
• Exercise 6 x this week
o 3 LTR sessions
o 3 Cardio Party sessions
o 2 Strength training sessions
o Abs everyday
• Walk the dog 3 x this week

I hope everyone else has a wonderful week!

Feeling Better Today!

Wow, glad that is over. I’m still feeling a bit off, not as much energy as normal but overall, much better than the last two days. I really don’t like getting sick but I must admit, sometimes I do like the “do absolutely nothing” day (as long as it is only one day). I guess sometimes I just need that and if that is the only time I can do it, well so be it!

But man do I have the exercise bug. Even knowing I felt like crap with absolutely no energy, I still wanted to get up and at least try to exercise. I know I would not have done myself any good nor been very productive but the bug was there. Kind of like a craving. It was weird and yet a pretty good feeling. Maybe this time I will lose this weight after all.

TTYL

S

Down with flu :(

Want to start off by saying thanks to everyone that has left comments lately. It is a very nice surprise to get this support - kind of feel like a part of a "blogger" faminly now :)

Well I finally succumbed to the flu. The man has been sick recently and I was really hoping my new fit (ok getting fit), healthy (ok working on the healthy) body would be strong enough to fight off the flu... but I was wrong. I guess with all the extra exercising, and putting the body under a little bit of stress, it said "you need a couple of days off". So poof - I've been forced to lie around... and quite honestly - it sucks. My back hurts, my hips hurt, and my entire body hurts not in a good way. Oh well, I do believe I am on an upward mend and do feel a bit better this afternoon.

I got on the scale yesterday morning, and it has been creeping down this week, yesterday has been an all time low so far for this years project. When I see that, after staying the same for the last month, the last thing I want to do is stop exercising - I want to exercise MORE!!! Let's burn this fat baby! But what is one more day to heal and then hit the treadmill, turbo jam and my new favorite, weighted hola hoop - has anyone tried those suckers ?? They get them abs working (and kind of hurt as well because of the weight)....

Well off to go back and lie down for awhile. I'm hoping to have this kicked by tomorrow.

TTYL

Yuck! My Lunch

Once in awhile, one of my peers goes to a restaurant that specializes in Wonton soup etc., and today she was doing a "run". So I ordered my usual, no noodles, just veg and chicken (no wontons either). It finally showed up and I eagerly dished out half an order as I knew a full order was too much. Then I sat down to munch and all I can say is “yuck”! It was so salty, I could hardly stomach it and this was something I used to find very tasteful. In fact, another peer who sits close by was also eating soup and I asked him if he found it salty and he said “no, it’s pretty good”. Now I know he also eats fairly healthy, maybe not “clean” but healthy. I on the other had have been eating as clean as possible with also means I’ve been watching my sodium intake as well.

So I’m thinking eating clean is paying off as my taste buds are changing and things that are not really healthy for me (like this soup because of the sodium), I seem to not be able to tolerate as well.

I think this is a good thing.

AND I’m noticing the last week my weight is starting to slowly creep down. I don’t celebrate any pound loss until I’ve been at the same scale weight for more than 3 days in a row… I think the workouts are starting to work! Yahoo!!

TTYL

Monday... again!

Well, last week was a pretty good week all around. I worked out hard and met all my goals more or less. I worked out 6 days, and did the following.

* Keep calories around 1500 per day (except one date night)
Did better this week than most however, went out for Sushi on Friday night and had a bit of a carb fest last night, so know I went over my 1500 per day. I’d say I was successful 4 days out of 7. I need to work on this one the most....
* Turbo Jam 3x week (45min sessions)
Complete
* L2R (learn to run) 3x week (30 min sessions)
Complete
* Strength Training 3x week (Turbo Sculpt, Lower Body workout, Bowflex Upperbody)
Complete
* Treadclimber 2x week (3 min)
Only once
* Walk the dog 2x week (hubby gets the rest of the walks).
Only once (she wasn’t feeling well the last couple of days, lame leg, so I only took her out once)

Goals this week are very similar:

• Calories at 1500 6 days a week, around 2000 one day (cheat day)- Track everything in Fitday and post weeks total's....
• Turbo Jam 3x week (45 min sessions)
• L2R 3 x week (30 min sessions)
• Strength training 3 x week
• Treadclimber 1 x week
• Walk dog 2 x week (or more)

All in all, my body is tired and stiff. I sleep really well at nights but my weight is not going down. Now last week was not a good week for me as for bloating, water retention so hopefully that is the reason the scale didn’t budge much at all. But when I look at the whole scheme of things, I’ve only lost 21 lbs since October 1st. Ten years ago, by this time, doing almost the exact same thing, I had lost 50 lbs. 10 years in age seems to be making a difference. My metabolism must be really slow….. I am going to be 50 in a couple of years, so I guess that would explain it.

But it is sooooo frustrating. I’m really working out hard, maybe I can work out harder, I don’t know, maybe I need more strength training sessions? Build up that muscle so that I burn better. But I’d really like to get rid of some of that fat before I build up too much underneath it. I don’t want to be a fat fit person . I can feel my abs getting stronger but there is still that layer of insulation on top….

Sometimes I think I try to hard, think about this too much, and am causing stress or something. Maybe I need to just let it go for awhile and just go through the motion. Just eat clean, healthy and keep up the exercising. Something has to move and soon.

Goals for this week..

Week March 9th
* Keep calories around 1500 per day (except one date night)
* Turbo Jam 3x week (45min sessions)
* L2R (learn to run) 3x week (30 min sessions)
* Strength Training 3x week (Turbo Scuplt, Lower Body workout, Bowflex Upperbody)
* Treadclimber 2x week (3 min)
* Walk the dog 2x week (hubby gets the rest of the walks).

Sounds like a lot but I double up on the weekends for some of the above.

My Reasons for Losing Weight

Reasons I want to lose weight:

Important:
I’ll be healthier
I’ll feel better physically
I’ll have more stamina
I’ll have more energy
I’ll be less inhibited about my body

Less important but are still valid:
I’ll look better and more attractive
I’ll have more confidence
I’ll be able to wear a smaller size
I’ll feel happier when I look in the mirror
I’ll feel better in a swimsuit
I won’t feel so self-conscious
I’ll like myself better
I’ll feel as if I’ve accomplished something important
I’ll be less self-critical

Monday Check-In

Well I had a pretty good weekend, worked out way too much and wanted to work out more. Kind of crazy if you think about it but it's true. I have to force myself to stop or work harder to end my workout sessions as I want to just keep on going. I actually think it is out of boredom. Other than cleaning my house, laundry and walking my dog, I don't have a whole lot of stuff to do! I like working out as it is my own space, my own time... Too bad my weight didn't reflect that..

I ate fairly well on the weekend but not enough again. Because I get up later (normally 4:00 a.m. during the week), and I exercise for about 2 hours, I don't eat all my meals like I do during the week. And this past Saturday, we went out for some beers - that alone makes me go over my daily allocated calorie amount. My head says "well you worked out enough to have the beers and then some" but with that mindset, I won't be losing any weight anytime fast.

I jogged on the weekend for the first time in over a year. I'm not a jogger, and did the 1 minute jog, 90 second walk, through to 30 minutes in total (including warm up and cool down). That equaled 7 minutes jogging. Not much to most of you but a big deal to me. A year ago, I only made it through 4-5 minutes and hated it, this past Saturday, I pushed myself and by minute 6, it actually seemed easier. Maybe this Learn to Run clinic I start in 3 weeks won't be so bad after all :)

Today I wanted to also list my reasons for losing weight so am going to post that in a different blog so that I can review it when I need to (and where ever I am).

Hope all of you have a fantastic week!

OK, I did it and I could be Crazy for it!!!

I am not a runner - never have been but it has always been a dream for me that one day I would be able to go outside and jog along the paths for an hour or so. I thought "what a great and cheap way to lose weight". But each time I tried to learn on my treadmill my legs felt so weak, my lungs would burst and it was just too hard! So I always went back to just walking. I like walking mind you...

Today I joined a 'Learn to Run' clinic held in my local Running Room. I start in 3 weeks and I'm already nervous about doing it. 47 years old and overweight and just learning to jog? What was I thinking??? Crazy woman!

A secret part of me is very excited about it. I'm going with a couple of co-workers so I won't have any excuses not to go (one of them will picking me up at home), and I'll have someone to moan with the next day when I can hardly move, and talk to during the walk/run sessions ... and so on.

So here's to me giving it a go and hoping I don't hurt myself!

Wish me luck.

WTF am I doing???

Man, I need to be hit upside the head a few times, or maybe sew my mouth shut :) OK, maybe both of those are a bit drastic but hey! I've got to smarten up. My downfall is not sugar or sweets, it's them darn chips - salty things, tortilla chips (nacho cheese flavor) or pretty much anything crunchy will do. I eat them regardless of if I'm hungry or not.... so why do I have access to them you ask? Because I make conscientious choices to purchase them when I'm grocery shopping. That’s just got to stop… right here, right now. I’m a strong person, but this is my weakness, always has been (can you see the excuses building up right about now?)

I’m working out pretty hard most days, and I eat pretty good most days, but there is about two days a week where I just binge on junk and all in the evening and just before I go to bed. Then there are the date nights (included in these two days) where we go out and I drink beer…. Why? Why do I keep doing this? I’m sabotaging myself…
I KNOW what to do, I KNOW I can do it, What is stopping me? Myself of course…. There is no one else. ME, I’m to blame. And I do blame myself, and I get mad at myself, and angry and depressed, and frustrated and all that stuff. Then I work out great for a few days, eat every 2-3 hours, eat well, then Wham! I eat the bag of chips before I go to bed.

Ok, writing this out and then reading it is actually a good thing. I read this and the first thing I say to myself is “DON’T BUY THE CRAP”, it’s as easy as that! If it isn’t right there at my fingertips, then I have to make an effort to leave the house, get to the store and buy the chips. Hey, I have the answer to all my issues!! Hmmm… might need to think about why I still buy them when I have the chance and why I put them in my cupboard for those times when I get these cravings…. Hmmmm… might need to dig deeper!

I get BORED eating clean all the time – what’s up with that? I like the taste bud challenging crunchy, salty chips… celery just doesn’t cut it. Key word there – bored. I find when I’m bored, I want to munch – even if it is “good” food (almonds, celery, fruit, veggies), if I’m bored, and it’s there (at my desk for example), I’ll eat it. So what do I do ? I’ve got a desk job and about the only walking I get in is to empty the bladder from all the water I drink, but I need to change the environment until the craving/feeling passes. If it’s still there when I get back – am I really hungry? Nah – usually not…’

Okay, enough grumbling for today :) Thanks for listening and I’ve got some more digging to do about why I sabotage myself so much! TTYL

Turbo Jam kicked my Butt... well more my back...

My Turbo Jam package finally arrived and after a two week break from exercising(trip out of the country and all), I hit the carpet on Saturday morning with my very first TJ workout. I was totally uncoordinated and would have failed any form contest, but I had fun doing the first session. Before I knew it, 45 minutes was over and I was feeling like I wanted to do more. So I walked on my treadmill for while and then gave a few minutes of the Ab Jam a try. All in all, I worked out for 90 minutes and had fun (and I felt like I worked out at the end of it all).

Then by the end of the day, my lower back started to hurt, it also included the oblique’s and lat's....

Sleep was interesting on Saturday night, each time I had to move, it was a challenge for my back - but man when I did sleep, I slept good.

So on Sunday, I decided to just take it easy and walked on my treadclimber for 40 minutes and watched a couple of the DVDs so that I could get familiar with the process. And silly me, then did the 20 minute TJ session but took it easy so that I didn't add onto the soreness of my back already.

Ha! By the end of the day, it was pretty sore.

Today it still hurts so I didn't get up at 4 and do my normal exercise routine. While at work, I’ve got a desk job so as I sit there, it continues to get more stiff. I've decided a nice walk at lunch around the river will loosen me up nicely. I'll take up another TJ session tomorrow morning. Once I like something, I hit it head on and I think this is going to be one of those things...

One of the things I need to work out for this exercise program is the reverse kick. My hips just don't allow for it so I've modified it a bit. I'm hoping through this exercise regime, it will help loosen my hips and allow me to be more flexible and eventually do those back kicks!

So here's to TJ kicking my butt and hopefully I (and others) will notice a huge body change in the next two months...