I Forgot How Hard It Is

It's funny. I have been looking at 5k races and getting myself all excited to run one and I was thinking, "it's 3.1 miles... I can do 3.1 miles." I even signed up (and paid) for my first 5k with the 5k Crew and I was super excited to get out there on Monday and run.

I got a text from Leigh Anne saying that because of the rain, she didn't want to take her twins out and have to deal with them and the rain. I can't blame her. So she said she'd train on her own later in the day and she'd catch up to us another day.

Lesley and Ann were still game for W1D1 of C25K, so we met at the Haynes Bridge Greenway. It wasn't raining too hard (yet), but it was sprinkling. We started out and it was good. I'm not sure when I started to realize how hard it was, but I definitely did.

I had forgotten how hard it is to start up again. All the sore muscles, the burning in the legs, all forgotten. Then I mentally started to beat myself up. If I had just stayed with running over the summer last year, this wouldn't even be an issue today. But I didn't. I stopped because of the weather (it gets SO HOT in the summer here) and because I was afraid to run at 5:30am by myself.

We finished our training and we were soaking wet, but I felt good. I was happy that I had successfully finished day one and we went a total of 1.6 miles (I ran .6 and walked 1.0). I was feeling good and then when I got home, I sat on the couch and tried to relax.

That's when everything started to hurt. 

Today, I am hurting.m My back muscles hurt, my abs hurt, my inner thighs hurt, and my hips hurt. 

 

So I decided to read back to when I started this blog back in May of 2012. Surly, the pain I'm experiencing is similar to the pain from the first time I started, right? Well... what I discovered kinda amazed me.

Yes, the pain is the same. It's normal and as I was reading, I realized that the pain WILL go away eventually, and the first time out is REALLY hard. I've done it, and I can move forward.

What excited me though, is that I ran W1D1 as expected on the app. I ran a full minute and walked 1.5 minutes. After reading past posts, I realized that when I started last year, I did 30 seconds of running then 45 seconds and finally worked my way to 1 full minute after like a month. 

I am proud of myself. I am happy that I got out there for the first time in over a year and I survived. As I told Lesley, "I can do just about anything for 30 minutes."

In other news, my brother Dave and/or his wife Heather have said they'd like to join me in the Turkey Trot, and my dad is thinking about it. So it will be me and Jessica for sure and then hopefully a few others in my family too. I am really excited, but a little scared to run in such cold temps. Jessica said she's going to talk to someone about how to prepare ourselves for the cold, so we don't injure ourselves.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, which is my crazy day. Hugh has a baby playgroup at 8:30am, so I won't be able to train in the morning. Instead, we're going to try to run after the kids are in bed, so we'll meet at 8pm. The good news is that it's without kids, and later, so should be cooler. The bad news is that it's the end of the day and I'm afraid my motivation to train will be gone. We shall see. The good news is that by tomorrow night, (HOPEFULLY) I won't be as sore and I'll be feeling better.

I'll post again after tomorrow!

Back in the Saddle Again

Aint that the truth?

Okay, so the important thing is that I'm starting back up. What prompted this?

Well, a few months ago, Steve approached me about doing a 5k walk/run with his work in memory of their co-worker that died from brain cancer. I said sure, and we got a double-jogging-stroller. We used it in MI and IN and it's perfect (I like it better than my single). Anyway, we're doing the 5k on October 5th.

I'll be 37 on October 2nd. I think there's no better time to run my first 5k than just after my birthday. I stopped running last year because it started getting hot and I was afraid to run by myself early in the morning. Then the summer came and went, and then it was fall and we were in the middle of preparing for Hugh's adoption and I just had no motivation and no one to run with me anymore.

Fast forward to this past week. I'm not sure what got me motivated, but I decided that it's going into fall, cooler weather, and there are a lot of 5k races coming up. Why not?

I asked a few friends in my MOMS Club if anyone wanted to train with me. To my utter surprise and delight, I've got four other friends who will be training with me and we're going to do 5ks. We are the 5k Crew.

We have a FB private group and we've been discussing races that we want to run and what ones look fun. We found one on October 19th that's a Color Run (not an official part of The Color Run, but a knock-off race). I signed up today and I am registered for this race.

I am so excited and hopeful. I CAN do this. I WILL do this. I will run my first "real" 5k and I can 't wait to start preparing.

We will start training on Monday and do MWF mornings. I am aware of how hard it's going to be to start all over, but it will only get easier.

So be looking forward to more updates from me. I have been watching what I eat and using my FitBit and I've lost a total of 8.5 pounds. I'm happy to see numbers going down and with more exercise it can only help things.

I emailed my family to see if anyone wanted to run the Turkey Trot which happens before the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade. My cousin Jessica, she is so awesome and supportive, wants to run it with me. So if no one else wants to do it, she and I can do it together. I am so excited for that one. Ever since I went to the parade for the first time, I wanted to do it. I'm really excited to think that I might get to make a dream come true.

Ready for Week 3??

I didn't go for a run on Wednesday because Gus and I have been sick. I have had a headache and just felt run-down, so I decided on Wednesday that I wasn't going to do anything. We didn't go to my MOMS Club event and we stayed home and rested. It felt great.


I was ready to get back out today and thankfully, Pilar met me at the Greenway at 9am so we could go. I did week 2 again, and did the full minute and a half each cycle. I'm so proud of myself!!


So I think on Monday, I'm going to attempt week three. It's a five-minute warm up and then two repetitions of the following: jog for 1.5 minutes, walk for 1.5 minutes, jog for THREE minutes, walk for three minutes. We'll see... it's a 28 minute workout but I'm not sure about the distance. So far I've been getting about a mile and a half (1/2 way to a 5k) and it's been challenging.


I am contemplating running (alone) in the mornings when Steve gets up. It'd be like 5am and should be cool outside... and I could run without Gus (it's a lot of extra work to push a 30 pound child in a jogging stroller). Maybe just for July and August I could try it... I do LOVE running with Pilar and Christy, it's just hard with Gus sleeping until 8:30 and then by the time I get him up and dressed, it's a quick breakfast in the car while we drive the 25 minutes to the Greenway. By the time we actually start running, it's already in the mid 70s and humid. It's only going to get worse as we get into the summer.


So we'll see. I'm still waiting on Christy to give me her code to join the Y. Once I can join the Y, it'll be awesome because I can take Gus with me and go work out while he plays in the kid zone (it's supervised). Christy said she didn't know if they'd be sending out codes during the summer though, so I might have to wait until the fall. I think it's worth waiting because it's 20% and would make our monthly fee like $60. :-)


Anyway- I ran today and while I was super slow, I did it and when I finished I was glad that I did it. I'm looking forward to the zoo tomorrow and we'll get to walk around (I'll get to be active) and then we'll see what happens on Monday.

Back on Track

So our vacation to MI and IN has come and gone, and I'm pleased to announce that I only gained 1/2 a pound while we were gone. Not too bad. I will say that I tried to make good choices when it came to dining out (except for those fried pickles at Sidetracks) and I was able to go running with my dad and we got outside and played soccer and enjoyed ourselves at the park many times on our vacation.

Today I met Pilar and Christy at the Greenway and I decided to move into week 2 of the C25K program. For the last almost month, I've been repeating week one over and over. I started doing 30 seconds of jogging with a minute and a half of walking. Then we moved to 45 seconds of jogging and a minute and a half of walking. I did that for two weeks and then I tried one full minute of jogging with a minute and a half of walking, but it was really rough to sustain a full minute of jogging.

Today, my friends, I pushed myself the farthest so far, and I was able (for EVERY cycle) to do a minute and a half of jogging with two minutes of walking. I was so proud of myself. I had not been able to do a full minute for every cycle (there are usually 7 cycles), so pushing myself to do a minute and a half was incredible.

I'm not TOO excited about it because in the big scheme of things, it was not much, but for me it was tremendous. A month ago I wouldn't have guessed that I'd be able to run for a full minute and a half without dying. 

I was a sweaty beast today. It was hot and humid and I think we're going to have to do something about getting out earlier. I don't know how this will effect Gus and his sleeping. I don't want to have to wake him to go run, but I don't want to be running in the heat either. So I don't know what I'm going to do.

I burned 923 calories this morning. I started my monitor at 8 and then turned it off when I got home at 12. I ran from 9-9:45 and then headed to Kathryn's for a meeting and worked on some MOMS Club things with her. By the time I got home it was 12 and I was amazed to see 923 calories burned. 

I was in the zone for an hour and six minutes, and my highest heart rate was 168 and my average was 123. I'm not as sore as I thought I'd be, but my thighs are a wee bit sore. It feels good though, and I have to stay focused on the big picture... I WILL RUN A 5K.

The Color Run (the race that got me off my arse) is going to be in Charlotte, NC (three hours north of us) at the end of October and first Saturday in November. I think I'm going to do it. Lacey said she'd do it with me and Steve said he'd like to come and cheer me on. I think we'll get a hotel for the weekend and make a nice get away. I'm eager and nervous and excited. 

This is my new mantra. I have come too far to stop now... and I feel liberated knowing that I'm doing something for ME that's going to help me get fit and healthy.

A New View

This morning, Christy and I met up at the Greenway at 9am to run. We decided to see what the path looked like if we went to the right at the end of the entrance instead of our usual of going left. 

It was a different route, and I liked seeing new scenery. I was tired from a lack of a good night's rest and it showed with my energy this morning. I mustered through the run, but it was rough. I need another "GOOD" day so I feel re-energized. 

To make things worse, 1/2 way through my run, my heart monitor stopped working (not sure what happened). So when we were in the cool down phase, I looked to see my heart rate and it said I didn't have one. Apparently, I died on the run. I knew I felt like I was dying, but I guess I literally did die.

I have no clue how many calories I burned. I guessed in the 600 range, but I'm guessing it might have been more. Who knows.

Since we're not leaving for MI until Saturday, I will be able to run again on Friday and then I'll be on my own while on vacation. I will be going out with my dad and maybe my mom will walk with me on Tuesday and Thursday. 

I anticipate vacation being hard to stick to my calories and monitor what I'm doing, but I'm determined. I've lost almost eight pounds... and I am not going to gain it all back from being lazy on vacation. There's no rest for the weary!!!

I Am A Runner (Who Knew?)

I got a comment last week from Christy and she said that at some point I'm going to have to stop calling it walgging, and call it what it is: running. She's right. I don't want to discount the effort I put into jogging. It's hard. It hurts. 

This morning I was supposed to meet Pilar at the Greenway at 9:45. We had our last playgroup today at 10:30 at Christy's, so she wasn't able to join us. I got to the Greenway at 9:40 and pulled the stroller out, got Gus loaded up, and then Pilar called. She was running a bit behind, and she said to just get started without her. 

So I did.

Did you read that? I could have flaked. I could have cheated and just walked, but I started without someone else there to push me. I am so proud of myself.

I decided to try to jog for the full minute and see how it felt. The first two cycles were okay, but it was going on 10am and it was VERY humid. I had to take my glasses off because they were fogging up, and it felt incredibly weird to be walking and jogging without my glasses. My vision was skewed a bit.

I did a total of four cycles of doing a full minute. The rest of the time I did 45 seconds at a time, and then once Pilar arrived, she and I finished the session together. I did one 30 second cycle because my legs were starting to hurt and I was just tired. But I didn't give up.

I weighed myself yesterday and I am down another pound. I'm proud of myself and I have to just stay focused on each week. I decided to make Saturday my weigh-in day from now on. I'll weigh-in Saturday morning and then I'll be able to not worry so much during the remainder of the weekend. I'm on a MWF running schedule, and it's helpful to have Monday to get me back on track for anything over the weekend.

I've learned that soda is a killer when it comes to calories. I drink it too easily and it's empty calories. I'm learning to rethink about food. There are definitely times where it's worth it to indulge, but for the most part, I need to redefine my relationship with food. I don't NEED it to be happy. I need it to survive. 

I'm making better choices, and I'm starting to see results. I ordered a sports bra and a pair of capri running pants to wear in the summer (I have no exercise clothes). I had a pair that I was wearing in my usual size, and when I wore them running, they kept falling down (along with my undies). So I ordered a new pair, in a smaller size.

I was worried that they wouldn't fit, and would be too tight. I wore them today and they're actually comfortable. :-)  My bra is almost too big (weird right???). So things are happening inside me... but it's not always visible which is hard.

 

I saw this and thought it was so appropriate. I started running three weeks ago. So by this time next week, I should start to really notice some changes, and I'm excited.

We're going to MI and IN in a week and I'm excited to see family and friends. My dad said he'll get up with me each MWF and run with me. I don't want to disappoint him... I'm not a FAST runner and my jogging is hardly faster than walking, but I'm trying. I hope he appreciates the fact that I'm just giving it my best shot. I'm glad that I'll be able to stay on track with my C25K training while on vacation.

The eating is going to be a challenge. I think I just need to stay aware of calories, and keep logging what I'm eating.

Speaking of calories. Today... I put my heart monitor on as soon as I was up and dressed. I started the recording of calories/activity right away. Then we went to the Greenway and over to the playdate at Christy's. When I got home and looked to see calories burned... I had over 1400 calories burned in a five hour and fifty minute period of time.

Is that crazy??? I need to do some research on this because I'm scared my watch is broken and giving wrong info. Do larger people burn more than smaller people? Is that why it'd say 1400 calories?I know our bodies burn calories throughout the day, but I was shocked to see so many. Granted, I did jog for a minute instead of just 30 seconds or 45 second intervals, but would that really boost my calories burned so much? I don't know.

Anyway... it hurt and I am tired, but I finished and the feeling after I'm done is so worth the effort. I like feeling accomplished and like I worked myself. I was a sweaty beast, but sweat is good. I feel good.

I am a runner.

Legs Like Concrete

I've read that runners have their ups and downs and good days and bad. So far I've had pretty good days, with the exception of my very first day out. Today was rough.

We decided to meet at the Marconi Drive entrance to the Greenway today. None of us had been on this particular part of the Greenway. It was pretty, and there was a gorgeous bridge to cross, but it was a lot hillier and had more curves than the Haynes Bridge portion.

My legs felt like concrete and I found it so hard to stay focused and not feel like I was dying. I used my heart monitor watch today for my workout and I was pleased to see that I was "in the zone" for 31 minutes and 35 seconds. During my walgging, my heart rate was an average of 116 and my max was 166. Must have been all those hills and switchbacks at the end. :-)

I can't complain too much. I had my monitor running from the time I got up, until we left the greenway, and when I checked my calories burned, it was 640. I love that it's accurate to my body and it gave me some motivation.

I'm eager to spend the next two days "resting up" a bit before Monday. I weigh-in on Sunday and I'm praying that I lost something. Even if it's only 1/2 a pound again, it's something.

Back on the Trail

We decided to meet at 8:30 this morning to walk/jog/walk and I was so afraid I'd sleep too long and not make it on time. I got up around 7:30 and thankfully, Gus was still sleeping. I was able to get ready without having to rush or worry about him. Unfortunately, when I needed to leave at 8:00... he was still asleep!

I had to go in and gently wake him, which is NEVER a good idea. He was pleasant, but definitely out of sorts. As I was backing down the driveway, Pilar called to see if it was okay if I had Gus ride in her double stroller with Logan, so the weight was balanced. I believe she's having issues with her single stroller.

I didn't think it'd be a big deal, and I assumed Gus would enjoy riding with a friend. Of course, as soon as I put him in the double stroller, he was upset. He did not want to ride in the double. He cried the ENTIRE time that we were walgging.

It was definitely different to do it without a stroller and 30 pound child to push. I commented that it seemed to go by quicker today, and both Christy and Pilar said it was probably due to not having the stroller. Or that it could be that my body is adjusting.

We decided to do Week 1 Day 1 again and instead of jogging for 30 seconds each time, I jogged for 45. You wouldn't think that an additional 15 seconds would really make a difference, but by the time we got to the bridge (our turn around spot), I was exhausted. My legs felt like lead and I felt like I did back when I started.

Christy and Pilar like to do crazy exercises on the bridge, so I continued on without them and they caught up to me. I was alone, and could have cheated on my jogging, but I didn't. I know that if I cheat, I'm only cheating myself and it's not worth it.

We finished the cool-down period and let the kiddos out to run and be free. Gus fell not just once, and not twice, but THREE times. He has a bloody knee and took off the bandaid that I tried to put on his scabs. :-(

 

Gus on the path leading from the Greenway to the parking lot

 

Taken seconds before he fell for the first time

I'm back on the trail and starting back up on getting myself in shape. I lost .5 pounds at my weigh-in yesterday and I'm happy that I lost. I was off my plan Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so even with those days of not 100% following my plan, I was still able to lose-- I was pleased.

I'm eager to stretch tomorrow and then it's back to the routine on Wednesday with Pilar. :-)