Sunday, August 29, 2010

>Running for the Cure

>

Last year I ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k in my city (well, the one closest!). I plan to do the same this year. In fact, I made it official on Friday when I registered. At that time I also set up my personal fundraising page HERE.
Last year I was able to raise $400 for breast cancer research. Many friends, family and even awesome blog readers like YOU helped me in my cause. And I am here again this year asking you to do the same. My Nana battled this wretched disease and sadly lost the fight. I know you and many others have been or even will be affected by breast cancer. So, I want to thank you in advance for supporting me and this great cause.
You can find my personal fundraising page here.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

>8 days!?!

>That's how much time has passed since my last post here! Yikes! But I have been busy and active so at least I am not just wasting time doing nothing.

First things first..

Scale:
Has not budged. Well, in fact it is being rather ornery lately. I thought it needed new batteries so I put that at the top of my list yesterday and went to the store after the gym and got new ones. Put them in as soon as I got home and that little booger (the scale) was still not acting right. I'm pretty sure the scale is barely a year old so I took it as a sign to get off the darn thing and keep moving forward concentrating on how I feel and how my clothes fit. Don't get me wrong though I still know the goal is in sight and that is to be 155 -160 by the end of the year. That means I still have 129 days to reach my goal.  32.25 weeks if you want to look at it that way. In order to lose 22 pounds in 32 weeks I would need to lose less than 1.5 pounds a week. I can totally do that!! YES I CAN!

Activity:
Since the first of August I have logged  29.7 miles between running and the elliptical. Most of those are running miles though and I think about 8 miles is elliptical. Apparently I am no where near the 80 miles I had hoped to log for the month of August but I think I still have until September 2nd to make Tall Mom's 80 mile challenge goal. So, hey I have 50.3 miles to go. HAHA That means in 8 days I would need to get in 6.28 miles a day. That's not likely to happen. Eeek. I am just not that type of runner (yet).
I have been trying my best to get in at least some lunges for the Legs Love Lunges  challenge but again I am not getting in nearly as many as I had hoped. So, that means my progress pics for the challenge may not show much of a change. And just because the challenge may come to an end doesn't mean my legs have to quit lunging so I think I will keep it going (for me) and see what kind of progress I can make on my own.

Eating:
It's off and on with the eating. During the week I do great...6 small meals a day and a good balance of carbs, protein, fruits and veggies... you know the essentials. The weekends are where things get tricky. We are a busy and active family and tend to be on the go a lot. So, 6 small meals is hard to fit in. Some weekends I get 2 meals on Saturday and at least one of them is not the healthiest. But I am making an effort to work on that!

Hope you all have had a great week! Keep pushing towards your goals.. you can do it!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

>Melting

>Friday night after the football game/event my Sweet Girl and I headed to Walmart. I had had yoga and a yoga mat on my mind the entire week after doing a couple pilates workouts. SO, I decided that I wasn't waiting any longer to get a mat and a new dvd.  My Sweet Girl was as excited as I was because I had told her she could join me some for yoga. :)

However, she has yet to join me for a couple of reasons...
-she has been sick
-good gravy did I ever choose a yoga dvd!

Now, I do not know that much about yoga but I am certain this is not your run of the mill yoga dvd. And I think it is titled perfectly! I felt as though I was melting while I did it. After the first time doing level 1 I was a sweaty mess and looked as though I had ran a good 2 miler. The next day my body was sore in places that haven't been sore in a long time and that is a good thing! It means it is working.

Last night I was unable to make the gym (again!!) because my girl was very very sick all day long. So, I rolled out the yoga mat again and did YM level 1 again. This time it was a bit easier on me but I did notice some pain in my elbows and knees. Now, I do not know all of the moves names but am pretty sure the dolphin is what caused the little mark on my left elbow. Ouch. And tiny bruises on my knees may be due to the fact that we have wood floors and even though I am using a yoga mat the surface is just hard which is something I am not quite use to. I'm sure I will adjust.

I'd like to do this dvd about 3 times a week. My Sweet Girl keeps asking me when I am going to do level 2! HAHA Baby, Mama just has started this!  I did tell her that when level 1 gets easy or I feel I need more of a challenge I will switch/move on to level 2. So, that is my plan.

-Yoga Meltdown 3 days a week
-Run 3/4 days a week
-Cross train 2/3 days a week
-lunges and squats 3 days

That's the plan I have in my head at least. Days/times and the whole nine yards are not quite set in stone since my schedule with working out seems to be fly by the seat of your pants the last couple of weeks but I will get there. I did take pics for the lunges challenge but have not taken new measurements. That is on my to-do list though.

Oh and if you are wondering about the Yoga Meltdown dvd and Jillian....she's not mean on it like she is on the Biggest Loser! ;)

Friday, August 13, 2010

>The M and a tale from my scale

>This week in workouts has not been great and my eating has only been ok, but it has been what I would consider a most successful week for me! And this makes me rather giddy. :)

I went shopping a week ago today for a few things for myself to get me through the summer and into the fall. My favorite place to shop currently is Old Navy. I like being able to walk in, browse the racks and pick my size and go. I go for comfort usually...this means jeans and tees. Anyway, I shopped with my kids so I didn't really have time or patience to try anything on. I bought tops since the day before my shopping trip I had cleaned my closet again and discovered several pairs of jeans that I can fit!!!  Excitement over the fact that I hadn't worn said jeans in at least 6 years. Thank goodness denim doesn't go out of fashion. So, to the tops..I snatched Larges because my XL's were now tents on me (yay, goody goody). There were a couple of the tops I tried on in the store over the tee I had on that day and to my surprise the Mediums fit but out of stubborness I went with the L's anyway figuring by buying the L's I would have room for an accidental trip to the dryer. teehee

Moving forward to today. I needed a new shirt for football season. I had looked for a more girly style shirt rather than the standard adult tee shirt (you know the unisex ones) and came up empty handed. However, today I walked a block to the local sporting apparel store to see what I could find. Still no luck at a girly top but I did get a tee shirt. I was considering cartwheels for the block back to work rather than walking. Why? I bought a Medium. A dadgum medium people. Not a L, not and XL but a M. I think I've been giddy ever since. I text my hubby right away to which he replied "cool." He knows how this excites me because it doesn't seem so long ago that I was snatching 2XL tees from his drawer. Seriously.

I still have on my size M tee shirt. I don't even care that it is a unisex basic adult tee shirt. The tag still says M.

A pic of me (wearing my new tee) and my girl from the game tonight.

As for the scale tale, I weighed in on Thursday. I've decided this will be my new weigh in day each week. I am going to try really hard to make it a point to only weigh one time a week rather than daily.
This week's magic number
177!
I'm so thrilled with my successes this week. Even though I didn't get in as many runs or other workouts like I had hoped I still feel like I well considering everything we have had going on. Now, my goal for the weekend is to keep to my plan (eating wise). Tomorrow will be a run day no matter what I have going on!

Have a great weekend!

>The post where I get brave...

>
and show you my legs.
Why?
Because I am half crazy.

No, really. I joined another challenge. 
Amanda @ 5 Miles Past Empty has issued a Legs Love Lunges Challenge.
It sounds fun and you know it! 
Lunges and squats are great for the legs and bootay. So, join us?
Check out the link to Amanda's blog above for all the fabulous details.

And here I go for my bravery. My legs...front, side and back.
I don't have the most lovely legs in the world and probably never will. But I am anxious to see what kind of changes I might see in them at the end of this challenge. And since I have never taken pics like these of my legs before I am happy to have them for the future to look back on as progression of this journey.

This week has been an off week for me due to my daughter being sick but I have done about 80 lunges and as many squats. Heck I even did them last night while I was brushing my teeth. You can pretty much do them anywhere...I've done them in the kitchen while prepping dinner. ha
Side lunges, jumping lunges, alternating lunges with knee kicks. 
Have fun and work those legs!!

 

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

>Rough day or two..

>I've been home caring for the sick. Poor Belle came down with a virus which has about the same symptoms as strep throat. We went to the dr yesterday morning since she woke up sceaming and crying about how bad she felt and upon taking her temp we discovered she had a nice little fever. We thought we were in the clear after a day of rest yesterday but my girl woke up at 5am with a 102 temp this morning. Lovely.

So I have been home two days in a row. You would think being home all day I would have plenty of time to workout, right?! Sure. But I spent the last two days cleaning and doing laundry and hangin' out with the kids.

I DID pull out an old Pilates dvd last night and did 20 minutes of that. I've probably only ever done that one other time so it is relatively new to me.

My plan for today was to hit the gym for my running but Miss Belle still has a low grade fever and that's a no go. Hubby came home early from work so that I could go but I was in the middle of sweeping and mopping and had a good groove so I decided to finish what I was doing and came up with a new plan.

I am going to hop on the Wii for some total body stuff. I have failed at the 30 day challenge I started last week due to a few minor bumps we've had going on in life around here, but I am ok with that. I can just pick up where i left off on that. I am also going to try the pilates again just because it felt good on my abs and we all know my abs need the work. Since I will be missing my scheduled run (training run plan I started) I am going to try to get some hill repeats in when Hubby gets back home from football tonight.

And just in case I didn't report what I had going on Monday...
3.10 miles in 32 min flat. :)

I may not meet the 80 mile for the month of Aug challenge but I am seriously going to work towards my yearly mileage goal of 500 miles. I am about halfway there. This too makes me happy!

Ok, enough of this rambly all over the place post! It's crazy around here.

Friday, August 6, 2010

>Friday Fun

>Not much going on here today just random ramblings from me!

 I didn't get up early to workout and here it is 5 minutes til 8pm and I have still not gotten my workout in. Hey, don't give up on me!! I'm going to get to that once the kids are in bed. It's easier to do without them under my feet.

I skipped the gym today because when I picked my daughter up I decided to take a quick little shopping trip. We headed to Old Navy so I could get a few new things to carry me through the rest of summer into fall. I totally scored about 10 tops for under $50! Rock on!

What really rocked about my shopping trip is that some tops I tried on were a M...M standing for medium! I still however went with a L - large because I didn't want anything in an M to be accidentally thrown in the dryer and shrunk any. It happens around here sometimes. Clothes that shouldn't be tossed in the dryer get mixed in with the hang up clothes. It's not a fun thing when this happens. So, I played it safe. BUT soon, I think I will be able to comfortably purchase some M's. I'm holding out a lot of hope!!

The scale finally moved in my favor this morning and I am back down to my pre-vacation weight. And guess what!??! It's going to keep moving down because I refuse to believe anything other than that! :)


Ok, before I go get my workout on you have to go check out this great giveaway...

Running Diva Mom


On tap for me tomorrow at least 6 miles on the treadmill.  Have a great weekend!!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

>Are ya bored?

>Apparently while having some changes made to my other blog things here changed a little. Grr. I am no good at this which is why I left the changes over there to a professional (teehee). So, now what should I do here?? I have some things in mind, but don't want to copy what I have seen on other blogs. I'm going to think some more but if you have any ideas for a header that is less than boring please comment! I can't be having my running blog be as boring as treadmill running! ;)

>Mid-week progress

>As I said a few days ago I embarked on a new journey in this little journey of mine. I reached out to a fellow blogger who was asking for help! I thought it would be a great way to 1. meet a new friend and 2. help myself while helping her! So, Team JAFG was started and I feel really excited about it. :)

We agreed to text each other to hold ourselves somewhat accountable. So far so good (for me at least). My buddy probably wasn't too thrilled when she got my text at 4:30-4:45 am her time on Monday morning. Can we say oops for not discussing the time zone issue beforehand!?! LOL But as agreed to Sunday night, I was up and in my workout clothes sweating it up by 5:45 am! Thankfully my buddy was able to laugh about the mishap when she got up Monday morning (an hour after me) to get her exercise in. Today seemed to go a little better. We agreed on a Mon/Weds schedule for the two of us. But it has been SO much better than that because we've been able to text back and forth daily for that extra level of accountability.

Monday's workout (mine) -
I hopped on my Wii and started the EA Sports Active Trainer game.
Started with an upper body routine and since I still had more time and felt good I restarted the 30 day challenge. I am now happy to say I have 27 days left to complete the challenge.
I also went to the gym after work to get a run in.
Tuesday's workout-
Wii time again. Day 2 of the 30 day challenge. Total workout time was about 30+ minutes and was total body. It included some running, arms/shoulders, lunges (lots of lunges).
 

As part of my July goals I said I wanted to get in more running miles each week. Well, Tall Mom is hosting a challenged us to getting in 80 miles in the month of August. Walk, jog, run... Can I do it? Who knows! But I am definitely going to try.

Monday I managed 2.6 miles on the treadmill. I had to stop short of my 3.1 goal because I forgot to put a pony tail holder on my wrist before I left the house that morning. My long hair was down, drenched with sweat and the more I ran the more sweat was flying off me. This seemed ok until a lady hopped on the treadmill to my left. After a couple of evil glares from her and whispering to her buddy I decided I should end there that my sweaty drops must have been hitting her. Oops!

So, with the running my Wii game has had me doing and my run on Monday I think it is safe to say that I am at least 3 miles into the challenge! Tonight I have another run planned. I figured if I can get in at least 3 miles for 3-4 days a week and more miles on the other day (or two) then I can meet the 80 mile goal. Fingers crossed!

Are you challenging yourself this month?

Monday, August 2, 2010

>New month, new goals!

>First of all let me say that I cannot beleive July is gone and we have moved right along to August already! Good bye summer. My daughter started school today. It just seems way to soon. It is a bazillion and one degrees outside and honestly I think we should all be lounging by the pool for the next week or two! haha

Now onto the weight loss buisness.
I did NOT make my July goal in this department. I am okay with that because I did maintain. Maintaining (for me) is okay because while the number on the scale stayed the same I can definitely feel a bit of a difference in my clothes. I haven't taken measurements in a while though so I am thinking that I may just have to start my month out with measurements!

As far as my other goals -
* increase running miles to 15 per week
* more outdoor running
I did increase my running miles but getting outside more was not doable. The heat and humidity were just too much for me and the few times I thought I would run outside were a no go. I knew how crampy my legs felt during my race in July and I just did not want to risk the same feeling while trying to enjoy my running more. Makes perfect sense, right. ;)

August Goals
-This is THE month that the scale is going to lose, even if it is just 5lbs. I don't really care how much I lose just so long as the scale moves down. This staying the same is going to wear on me until I hit my goal (the BIG goal) I just know it and of course gaining just is not an option at this point in my journey.. nope no way!
- Cut back to ONE (uno, single) Diet Coke a day. I think my addiction has gotten worse lately because it has been too hot that I have not been drinking my coffee. So, I would like to cut back to one 12 ounce serving of the bubbly stuff to make it through the day.
- Go to bed early (by 10:30pm) in hopes to make it up by 5:20 at least 2 days a week (possibly 3) to workout. I have already gotten a head start on this one (today!!!).
- Continue 10k training.

These goals seem absolutely obtainable and I am looking to YOU (seriously) to push me, kick my butt and help me stay motivated to keep reach those goals! I know I can!
Also, before I go, I'm part of a new team.. JAFG..and am taking on another challenge for August but you have to wait until tomorrow to get all the details!