Tag Archives: Couch 2 5k

News Years Promises Updates Week 7

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Just a quick update!  I will have a recipe for you tomorrow, a “Healthified” Frittata that I created myself.  I have tested it out and have put it together as a formal recipe.

  1. Jog an entire 5k (See the tab Rubenesque Ladies Running aka RLR)-Finished up week 7.  Doing well on this.  It might take me an entire year to get there, but I am doing the work!
  2. Lose 60 pounds in 2010 (would love to see 40 gone by the wedding!)-I’ve lost 5.8 so far in 2010, that is 9.6% of the way to my goal!
  3. Focus on not binge eating.  Binge Free 48 of 50 days in 2010
  4. Try one new recipe each week, and do my best to post photo’s of it on the blog, at a minimum share the recipe with you!  7 for 7 on this one! (See tomorrows post!)
  5. Give myself 2-3 goals for each week.  7 for 7 on this one!
  6. Go vegetarian 1 day each week. 7 for 7!
  7. Continue to blog throughout 2010.  I think I’m doing well on this one!  I’ve started a new project at work, so the last two weeks have been a bit less consistent, however I have continued blogging.
  8. Pack my lunch 4 out of 5 days every week that I am working.  6 of 7 on this one.  This week was a challenge since it’s always hard when youre on a new site to know what to pack and when you will have lunch and where, but I managed!
  9. Journal my food EVERYDAY, regardless of how good or bad the day was.  Everyday but 2 in 2010!
  10. Make 2010 healthier than 2009 was; just as 2009 was healthier than 2008!  Doing the best I can!

How are your new years resolutions or promises doing?  I think we’re getting to the point or even past it already where a lot of people have given up.  Have you?

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Rubenesque Ladies Running Week 7 Recap

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Holy crap, Week 7 of Rubenesque Ladies Running is done.  I can’t even begin to believe it.  I am not even entirely sure how I got through this week.  The running jumped from 9 minutes to 16 minutes, consisting of 2-3 minute intervals and 2-5 minute intervals.  It wasnt easy, in fact, I couldn’t make it through the sessions (more on that later).  I’ve mastered 90 seconds of running, I can do it without much issue.  Three minutes, I’m still finding really hard, five minutes, forget about it.  I know this isn’t supposed to be easy, but I also know it shouldnt be this hard.

*Reminder, I write each of these recap posts the day that I do the run, so they are written in the present tense of when the run actually occurred.

Saturday February 13th, 2010- The longest 30 minutes of my life (dramatic much?)  The three-minute intervals, I did ok on, the first five-minute interval I got through, even though I was practically choking for air by the time it was done.  The second five-minute interval I knew I wasnt going to make it through, so I walked the third minute.  That means I only jogged 15 of the 16 minutes scheduled.  I am still pretty amazed that I can do the 15 minutes.  My goal is that by the end of these two weeks, I can do all 16 without wanting to throw up.  What I can tell you, is that my lungs feel amazing, it’s like they’re able to get in so much more oxygen in (this is AFTER the run lol, during the run, completely different story.)  Walked at 3.1 and jogged at 4.0 for the first two intervals and at 3.9 for the second two intervals.  Total distance 1.92 miles.  Pace 15:37 (HOLY $hit!)

So the best part of this run, was moving from the Yellow Level to the Orange Level with my Nike+.  I love earning points, moving through levels, etc.  Yellow Level with Nike+ is 1-30 miles!  Orange is a much longer level, it’s 31-154 miles.  YOWZA’S!

Tuesday February 15th, 2010-It took everything in me to get up and do this one.  I am starting on a new project at work today, and I just didn’t want to deal with running.  I’m dreading runs now, and I don’t like that.  I don’t like that this isnt really fun.  Until this week, I seriously looked forward to each session.  Once I was done with this I did feel amazing, I felt like I could conquer the world.  I walked the third minute of the second 5 minute jogging interval again.  I’m going to let myself do that this week and then next week try to do the full amount of each of the runs.  I walked at 3.1 and jogged at 4.0 for a total distance of 1.84 Miles.  Pace: 16:17

Wednesday night, I did what I do every night, I sent Bella an email with some thoughts and my daily food journal.  I needed to vent, and I needed to get some RLR related things off of my chest.  This is some of the text from that email:

I’m doing Day 3 of this weeks RLR training tomorrow morning.  I decided to look ahead and see what week 9 is going to bring since it’s just four sessions away and I’m seriously more than scared, I know I’m not ready for the next step.  I don’t want to let you down, I dont want to let me down, but I dont know how I am going to do it.  I can only get through one of the two 5 minute sessions without having to take a break, how am I supposed to get through two 8 minute sessions on the second day and then a solid twenty-minute session?  I just dont know what to do.  I’m starting to wonder if it’s possible for me to ever be a runner, or at least someone who can run for thirty minutes, at this weight.
 
This is all a fear that I’ve been facing for a couple of weeks now.  I’ve been dreading week 9 coming up, it’s hard to put it into words.  I was actually loving everything about this until this week.  I enjoyed my walk run intervals, now I just dread doing them.
This email lead to a series of emails back and forth between Bella and I.  We were both having the same feelings about proceeding  with the training schedule as it is.  I only make it through the five-minute sessions by gasping for air, not just breathing heavy, but legitimately gasping for air.  I can’t make it through the second 5 minute session.  I know physically that I can not keep up the schedule.  My knee is hurting for days after the sessions, my ankle hurts, I’m not recovering well. 
 
So where does this lead us?  Well neither one of us are quitting our goal of running for 30 minutes as a New Years Resolution/Promise, instead we are modifying the training program even more.  Right now we are going to what we can and reassess in a couple of weeks.  My plan that I am going to follow for the next few weeks is:
 
5 Minute Walk to Warm Up
2 Minute Jog
2 Minute Walk
2 Minute Jog
2 Minute Walk
2 Minute Jog
2 Minute Walk
2 Minute Jog 
2 Minute Walk
2 Minute Jog
7 Minute Cool Down Walk
 
Total of 30 minutes, with 10 minutes of jogging.
 
I’d like to reiterate, that I am not quitting, I’m just modifying what I am doing.  At 273 pounds, the training schedule was just too overwhelming and I dont want to get to a point that I quit because of either an inability to proceed or because I am dreading each session so much.  Which leads me to tonight;
 
Thursday February 18th, 2010-I woke up this morning before all of the above decisions were finalized.  I decided to just go back to sleep and figure out a day to do my RLR run at a later date.  That is how much I was dreading doing the 5 minute intervals again, so much that I was willing to skip the run all together.  I havent skipped a single session in 7 weeks.  I felt such a huge weight lifted off of my shoulder when Bella was feeling the same way, I knew I wasnt alone.  As soon as the decision was made to modify the program, I once again REALLY looked forward to running again.  I couldnt wait to get home, get the dog walked, and get on the treadmill.  No the 2 minute jogging intervals weren’t easy, yes I counted down the seconds towards the end of each of them, but I did it.  I sweated up a storm but I did it!  I walked at 3.1 and jogged at 4.0 for a total of 1.70 Miles.  Pace: 17:35
 
Tata for now,
 
Scale Warfare

Rubenesque Ladies Running Week 6 Recap

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We are one-third of the way done with Rubenesque Ladies Running people!  Seriously 1/3 of the way done.  I can’t even begin to believe it.  This has already been such a fun and challenging journey that I can’t imagine what the next 12 weeks will bring.  To think that I could barley make it through 60 second jogging sessions 5 weeks ago and now I am managing to make it through 3 minute jogging sessions just blows my mind.

Saturday February 6th, 2010-We will call this Snowmagedon Run.  We have somewhere around 28 inches of snow on the ground.  I shoveled the porch and walk way three different times now and will have to do it one or two more times.  I havent even started on the car yet that looks like an igloo.  Because of the shoveling I considered putting off this run until tomorrow.  After sitting around for a couple of hours I decided to just get up and do it.  I wont lie, the third minute of each of the 3 minute jogging sessions I had to work myself through, telling myself, no jogging for one more minute will in fact NOT kill you.  I walked at 3.1 and jogged at 4.0 for a total of 1.78 miles!  Pace 16:49 (that’s right….16:49!)

Tuesday February 9th, 2010-After two days “off” this one felt pretty great!  I am still having a tough time with the last minute of the 3 minute intervals.  90 seconds now feels like a breeze!  I am not entirely sure how I am going to move to the next training level starting on Saturday if I am still having such a hard time with the 3 minute intervals.  I am going to keep trucking along though.  Hopefully I don’t run into a set back!  What I’m not liking about Weeks 5 & 6 is that the running intervals are done by about minute 21, and since I am keeping the sessions to 30 minutes, I have a longer than desired walk at the end of the session.  I’m just going to keep going with the plan though! Walked at 3.1 until the last 5 minutes or so where I bumped it to 3.2, jogged at 4.0 for a total of 1.77 miles.  Pace 16:53

Thursday February 11th, 2010-Another day working from home due to the snow.  I’m so incredibly over the snow.  I’m heading into work tomorrow because I need to clean out my cube since I am moving onto a new project downtown.  Yay for getting out of the house!  The treadmill has been a life saver, at least I can get my excercise in, even though there isn’t a patch of sidewalk or pavement to be found outside.  Today I walked at 3.1 until the last 5 minutes where I bumped up to 3.2, jogged at 4.0 for a totally of 1.76 miles.  Pace 17:00

And now for the HOLY SHIT BATMAN portion of this post, we are moving onto Week 7 (Week 4 on the traditional C25K Program), which means we are upping the running intervals:

7 (2/12- 2/18); 8 (2/19-2/25) Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: 

  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  • Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: 

  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  • Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: 

  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  • Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

Five minute jogging sessions?  Mixed with three-minute jogging sessions?  People, I can hardly make it through the current three-minute sessions, how am I supposed to make it through five-minute ones?  FIVE MINUTES….and THREE MINUTES.  What happened to four minutes designers of C25K??  Heck what happened to just letting us finish out the program with three minutes being our longest intervals?  Ugh I’m scared…really really scared.

Make sure to head over to Bella’s site to see how her Week 6 finished out!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Weekend Recap and a Change!

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This weekend has been a doozie!  We were pummled by about 30 inches of snow in the DC Metro area, and we are still digging out.  Guess what?  Another 5-10 inches are coming Tuesday/Wednesday.  As much as I love snow, this is just out of control.  We are 35″ above our annual average, and its only the beginning of February.  This is going to be a long long winter.  Fireman was out with the kids all weekend so I had a lot of alone time, which is both fabulous and not so great all at the same time.

The good news is that I’ve been racking up the activity points with shoveling.  Did you know that 3 hours of shoveling when you weight approximately 275 pounds is 16 activity points?  Yeah that pretty much rocks.  I’ve been keeping up with Rubenesque Ladies Running and am on track to finish up Week 6 on Thursday of this week.  The bad news?  I’ve been making horrendous eating decisions most days.  Being stuck inside has weakened my resolve, I have been tracking, but the scale is up.  I am out of Flex Points and have dipped into my activity points, which I try to not to do.  I havent been making smart choices, I’ve been making really bad choices.  I have earned a record number of activity points this week (47!) but I don’t think thats going to make up for the bad food choices I’ve been making.  I’m a bit worried that the scale is going to be up this week due to my poor choices, because that’s what happens folks.  You eat poorly, you gain weight.

One of the big plusses of having this much snow and being stuck inside are the number of wedding projects that I’ve been able to work on!  I’m about 75% done with our invitation assembly, I spent almost 10 hours cutting tissues paper for the tissue pomanders (ugh, it was a LOT of cutting!)  All of these things were nice to work on!  Puts me a little ahead of schedule, which is nice.

So what is the change?  I can feel myself pulling away from Weight Watchers, which I do whenever I start to get bored and unfocused.  I’ve decided to switch over to Sparkpeople.com for a while to track my calories.  I’m hoping changing how I am tracking will help me to regain my focus.  Between that and starting the Beck Diet book this week, I am making some smart changes.  I will continue to email my journal daily to Bella to help keep me accountable, it will just be in a different format (calories instead of points.) 

I’ve also started a new page, which you can link to over on the right (see the chick eating the apple), called Scale Warfare Eats where I will post my daily food journals.  Feel free to check it out starting on Wednesday February 10th, since that is when I am making my switch to Sparkpeople.com  I will continue tracking my Weight Watchers points until then.

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Rubenesque Ladies Running Week 5 Recap

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Week 5 is DONE!  Only 13 more weeks to go before jogging for 30 minutes straight.  I’m getting more and more eager for the weather to get nicer and there to be more day light, so that I can take this show on the road.  Even once it get’s nice I will primarily stick to the treadmill, but once a week might be nice, at least to get myself ready for the outdoor 5k in June.

Week 5 Recaps:

Friday January 29th, 2010-This was the first day of the next step in Rubenesque Ladies Running.  Starting today I had to walk for 5 minutes, jog for 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, jog for 3 minutes, walk for 3 minutes and then repeat this twice (minus the warm up) followed by a 5 minute cool down.  If you do the math, the cool down was actually 7 minutes so that I could reach a full 30 minutes.  I was really worried I wouldn’t be able to make it through the 3 minute intervals, but I was able to do it!  I was glad to have the 3 minute walking intervals though, it took me longer to recover than I expected.  I enjoy the Friday sessions the best, and I feel great now that this is done!  Walked at 3.1; jogged at 3.8 for a total of 1.71 Miles.  Pace 17:27

Tuesday February 2nd, 2010- I was worried that I was going to hate this one since I was a day late with my scheduled run.  I mixed things up a bit by listening to music with a timing application, and I felt like the sessions went faster than normal.  The first 3 minutes session went great, the second one I was counting down the time after I hit 2 minutes…only 50 more seconds…only 40 more seconds..  But I did it.  If I could just figure out how to turn the Closed Captioning on, on my TV, I’d be in treadmill heaven!  I walked at 3.1, did the first two jogging intervals at 3.9, did the last two jogging intervals at 4.0.  Total 1.74 miles.  Pace 17:07 (Fasted yet!)

Thursday February 4th, 2010-This run was almost a comedy to me.  I have a new phone and I set the alarm on it, but I guess I set the alarm to silent (useful eh?) luckily my normal alarm clock went off, but it goes off a few minutes later than I like to actually start moving and getting ready for working out.  I got on the treadmill, managed to forget to stretch, stopped stretched, got back going and once the running intervals were over, I somehow managed to yank the emergency stop cord off, so I came to a startling halt, got back going and walked the last ten minutes.  Like the previous run, I’m finding the 3 minute jogging intervals very do-able, the last-minute I really have to push myself through.  The good thing is, the 3 minute intervals really make me realize that the 90 second intervals are so much easier for me than they once were!  I walked at 3.1 and jogged at 4.0 for a total of 1.76 miles.  Pace 17:02 (yay for improvement!)

Did anyone see The Biggest Loser this week?  Did you find it strange the speeds that they were given to walk and run?  It was sort of nice to know that I am not so far behind them (or even ahead of them) regarding the speeds I use on the treadmill.  Granted they workout 8 hours a day :)   I just sort of found it interesting.

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Great Thought and a Book

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I had noticed on one of Seattle Runner Girls comments that she mentioned the book “The Courage to Start” by John “The Penguin” Bingham and after her recommendation to one of her commenters and with the reviews I found for the book online, I went ahead and ordered a copy.  I am so glad that I did!  On page 13 of the Introduction, I’ve already found a passage that really resonates with me:

“Successful “adult-onset” athletes are made, not born.  To those of us who simply want to run, the value of genetics is highly over-rated.  Running doesn’t require an extraordinary combination of muscle and bone.  It requires only the desire to move our bodies and the wisdom to accept the difference between our will and our won’t”

This is so true, me becoming a runner is a matter of me choosing to become one.  No I don’t currently think of myself as a runner, but I am diligently working at the process to become one.  I am truly enjoying the process even when it hurts to breath.  I am enjoying seeing what I can bring my body to do, the unexpected things that I feel like I never would be able to do.  As a small kid, I was always outside playing, always outside running around and I loved the freedom that went along with it.  Once I was in about the 6th or 7th grade, I lost that joy, I lost that feeling of exhilaration and of freedom.  Hopefully I can recapture that, even at 30!

Here is the Amazon.com excerpt from the book (FYI-I am in no way benefiting from this!):

“Has the idea of running crossed your mind, but you haven’t acted on it because you don’t think you have the body of a runner? Have you thought about running but quit before you started because you knew that you would be breathless at the end of your driveway? Well, put aside those fears because you can do it. John Bingham, author of the popular Runner’s World column “The Penguin Chronicles,” transformed himself from an overweight couch potato who smoked into a runner who has completed eleven marathons and hundreds of road races.

Forget about the image of a perfect body in skintight clothes, and don’t worry about how fast or how far you go. Bingham shows how anyone can embrace running as a life-enhancing activity — rather than as a competition you will never win. In an entertaining blend of his own success story and practical advice, Bingham provides reasonable guidelines for establishing a program of achievable goals; offers tips on clothing, running shoes, and other equipment; and explains how anyone can prepare for and run distances ranging from a few miles to marathons.

After all, in running and in life, the difference between success and failure sometimes comes down to a single step. Waddle on, friends.”

I’m sure as I work through this book, I will mention more about it, especially when I find excerpts that really ring true to me. 

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

PS I did Day 1 of Week 5 of our modified Couch 2 5k (Rubenesque Ladies Running) and I managed to make it through the 3 minute portions!  It wasnt pretty, but I did it.  I’m SO glad that we are doing each week twice!

Rubenesque Ladies Running Week 4 Recap

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Week 4 down, 14 more to go.  Now that I am actually signed up for a 5k, this feels a bit more real.  There is a goal to reach, a target to hit, and I couldn’t be more excited.  It’s amazing to me that 4 weeks ago, the 60 second intervals were tough to get through, two weeks ago, I could hardly get through the 90 second intervals and now I’m moving onto what I think of as insanity….

5 (1/29-2/4); 6 (2/5-2/11) Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: 

  • Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
  • Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: 

  • Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
  • Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: 

  • Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
  • Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)

Jog 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, JOG THREE MINUTES, walk three minutes.  Do you see that?  JOG THREE MINUTES!  Seriously, how am I going to get through that?  The 90 seconds are easier for me than they were to begin with, but they aren’t easy at all.  Now we’re doubling that time?  What happened to easing me into it?  How about 120 seconds first?  Either way, I’m going to do it, I know I can.

Here are week 4′s Recaps:

Friday January 22nd, 2010- So far I’m finding that Friday runs are my favorite or at least they seem to be the easiest for me.  I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I know I have two days off coming up.  This run felt like I did better with focusing on making sure that my steps were even and that I didn’t focus on the clock the entire time.  I didn’t dread each jogging session.  The 30 minutes went by pretty quickly.  Maybe that’s because I was watching Real Housewives of Orange County and wowza’s those women are crazy!  The distraction totally helped me get through the training session though lol.  Walked at 3.1 jogged at 3.8.  I went 1.67 miles (I felt like I was going faster than that.) Pace 17:40

Monday January 25th, 2010- This one felt a bit like torture.  My legs felt so heavy, I felt every muscle and bone in my legs and I wasnt sure I was going to be able to finish it.  The first four of the six jogging sessions I did really well not looking at the time, the last two I looked at the clock almost every 20 seconds.  I’m glad I finished!  I think I need to do some sort of activity on Sundays to help make these Monday morning sessions less jolting on my system.  I might change my schedule around to make Thursdays and Saturdays my “off days,” of excercise.  I walked at 3.1 and jogged at 3.9 and somehow managed to go the same distance as I did last Friday when I went at 3.8 MPH.  Total distance 1.67.  Pace 17:40

Wednesday January 27th, 2010-Yesterday I didn’t wake up for my walk, I was just so tired.  I have learned that if I don’t start getting ready for bed by 9:30 and have the lights off by 10:15 (I read for a while) I won’t wake up at 5:15 the next morning.  I woke up just fine today, got dressed and hopped on the treadmill.  My shins were pretty sore for a while, so I made sure to stretch extra well after my RLR Session.  I am really diggin’ my Nike+ and have set a few goals for myself up on their website.  One of them was to burn 4,000 calories by a certain point, and I’m about 1,000 calories away from that.  Another one is to complete 30 miles in 30 days.  I’m doing it by both walking and jogging.  Somehow I went further again at 3.8 than at 3.9.  Maybe I go slower during my walks trying to recover from 3.9?  I have no idea! Today I walked at 3.1; jogged at 3.8 with the last interval at 4.0 for a total of 1.71 miles.  Pace 17:29

In the first four weeks, I’ve done 15.04 miles during my RLR Training sessions, this number doesn’t include my walking miles on my days off.  I think it’ll be interesting to look back at this post in another four weeks to see how many miles I was able to do in the next four-week period!

Starting today, I am going to focus on number 2 of these three ‘tips” to start improving my running form.  I figure any thing that I can work on to improve in the beginning will really help me in the longer term.  As for number 1, I don’t know how much more I can bend my knees at 273 lbs.  These tips were obviously written for real/true runners, which I am not…at least yet!  I found these tips through another bloggers site (can’t remember whose site now!)  But they are originally from HERE.

1. Increase the knee flexion during the swing phase. Knee flexion means towards your butt during a run. You want that angle between your butt and heel as closed as possible. Think of a weight on the end of a string – the shorter the string the faster it can swing. If your leg is the string and your foot is the weight, by having a shorter string you can move your foot faster and with less effort. This results in a faster foot turnover.

2. Push forward through the hips. All the power comes from your hips. Instead of focusing on deliberately pushing off of the ground with each stride, focus on moving your hips forward. Pushing through the hips not only combines the strength and power of your gluteal and hamstring muscles during the push-off phase, but keeps your center of gravity constantly propelling forward.

3. Maintain flexibility in both the quadriceps & hip flexors. I can never stress the role of flexibilty enough and in this case, the quads and hip flexors. These muscles help straighten your leg in the push-off phase and if these muscles are tight, they inhibit your ability to fully extend your leg when pushing off the ground. This causes your stride to shorten and every foot matters.

We can’t all run perfect but we sure can get close!

Head on over to Bella’s site to find out how her Week 4 went, we both need all the support that we can get!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

New Years Promises Update-Week 3

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I woke up this morning and decided that I was going to sleep through my scheduled walk.  I feel sort of guilty for missing it, but I also know that I will meet my requirement of 3-4 days of exercise a week (already have 3 done!)  So I dont feel TOO bad lol.

I’m thinking this might start getting a bit redundant posting my New Years Promises every Thursday, but at least for the first month for two of 2010, I am going to keep up with these weekly.  Maybe once I get a bit more settled, I’ll start doing every 2 or 3 weeks.  I still feel like I have the same gusto that I brought 2010 in with, and I really don’t want to lose sight of my goals!

  1. Jog an entire 5k (See the tab Rubenesque Ladies Running aka RLR)-Week 3 of RLR is complete!  Week 3′s recap will be posted tomorrow.  Onto week 4!  This is the furthest I’ve ever gone with a training program, so I am feeling great about that.  I should probably revise this goal to be jog for 30 minutes straight.  At the pace I’m going, I wont get the 5k done in the 30 minute time frame that is alloted in the Couch 25k Program.
  2. Lose 60 pounds in 2010 (would love to see 40 gone by the wedding!)  -I’ve lost 3.6 so far in 2010, which is 6% of my goal for this year!
  3. Focus on not binge eating. - Binge Free in 2010!
  4. Try one new recipe each week, and do my best to post photo’s of it on the blog, at a minimum share the recipe with you!  – 3 for 3 on this one!  See yesterdays post about Zesty Pork Tenderloin (or Pork Chops!)
  5. Give myself 2-3 goals for each week.  -3 for 3 on this one also!  I am now posting new goals and recapping the previous weeks goals on Tuesdays.  I’m really enjoying this New Years Promise.
  6. Go vegetarian 1 day each week. -3 for 3!  My vegetarian day this week was yesterday.  I’ve decided that I am not going to include any seafood (as I discussed thinking about in a previous week) but I will allow myself the occasional egg on these days.  Yesterday I used Egg Beaters.
  7. Continue to blog throughout 2010.  -Following a regular schedule!  I really find that the more regularly that I blog, the better I am at my routine with food and exercise in my “real” life. 
  8. Pack my lunch 4 out of 5 days every week that I am working.  - 3 for 3!  I ate out one day, but it was planned.  I didn’t work on Monday due to the holiday, but I did eat at home. 
  9. Journal my food EVERYDAY, regardless of how good or bad the day was. -3 for 3!  I am journaling entirely online this week, and while it has been a bit of a change for me, I am really enjoying not having to ensure that the paper journal matches my online journal and vice versa.  Extra steps never make things easier!
  10. Make 2010 healthier than 2009 was; just as 2009 was healthier than 2008! I feel like I’m on track with this one!

How are your New Years Goals going?

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Rubenesque Ladies Running Week 2 Recap

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Wow week 2 of Rubenesque Ladies Running is already over!  Can I just stay here forever?  I’m scared to move onto 90 second jogs with two-minute walks.  Really scared actually.  I’m wondering if I should work to go a little faster each time, or just pick a speed and stick to it for a week?  Any advice?

I need to work on the little voice in my head that tells me “you’re working so hard, you’ll lose 5lbs a week!”  I want to strangle that voice.  I’m jogging a total of 24 minutes a week now, spread over three sessions, that’s not going to knock huge amounts of weight off.  Hopefully it will help to boost my losses that I see on Mondays though!  I know with Weight Watchers I’m feeling great seeing the Activity Point rack up :)

Friday January 8th, 2010-After feeling so amazing after Wednesday’s run, I was expecting to be feeling the same urge to do the session again.  Yeah, not so much.  I had to force myself to do this one, but once I got on the treadmill, it actually felt pretty good.  Sure I was a bit drained after each jog, but the 90 second recovery did a good job of getting me ready for the next jog.  When it was over I said to myself “OMG I did it.  I suppose I can do anything if it’s only 30 minutes.”  I walked at 3.0 and jogged at 3.8.  Total 1.62 miles in 30 minutes.  Pace 18.31

Monday January 11th, 2010-I was a bit worried that after having Saturday and Sunday off that I’d not do so well during this session, but I did really well.  I felt fantastic all day after this one!  My Nike+ (I love a gadget, and figure it’ll come in handy for when I do some of the sessions outdoors once it gets nicer) came in on Friday afternoon, so I calibrated it over the weekend.  I’m going to use it to track my sessions and produce the time, pace and distance information for me.  It took several attempts to get it calibrated, but it’s now right in line with what my treadmill says!  I walked at 3.1 and jogged at 3.7 (final jog I did at 4.0) Total Distance 1.61.  Pace: 18:38.

Wednesday January 13th, 2010- I am sort of sad, this is my last training day doing 60 second jogs followed by 90 second walks.  It’s amazing how much progress I’ve made in the first two weeks.  No it still isn’t ”easy” to make it through the 60 second jogs, but they are certainly easier than they were on January 1st.  I know that I’ll be able to do the 90 second jogs, but wowza’s I’m glad that there is a two-minute recovery walk after each one!  I walked at 3.1 and jogged at 3.7 for 4 sessions, 3.8 for 2 and 4.0 for the final.  Total Distance 1.65.  Pace: 18:10

Good bye weeks 1 and 2, you will be greatly missed.  Make sure to head over to Bella’s Blog to find out how her second week went!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Rubenesque Ladies Running Week 1 Recap

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Week 1 of Rubenesque Ladies Running is now over!  I had a lot of trepidation going into this training program, and in all honesty, if it weren’t for doing the program with Bella, I would have probably given up before I even started.  I am doing this and I will finish the program.  I will reach the goal of running a 5k in 2010.  Granted, I may be the slowest person out there, but that’s not what matters, what matters is that I will finish!

Run 1 (January 1st, 2010)-Being the first run of the program, I was super eager and excited and nervous.  The first three or four jogs were great, the fifth through seventh were tough and the final one felt great.  I walked at 3.0 and jogged at 3.5;  I was immediately reminded why this program should be called Couch 2 Jogging for 30 Minutes instead of Couch 2 5k.  I did a 1.53 miles in the 30 minutes.  Pace 19:36 (scary slow, I know)

Run 2 (January 4th, 2010)- Waking up at 5:20 AM was certainly no picnic, but once I got started I did OK.  The 6th and 7th runs were a little bit like torture, but the rest felt really good.  I wound up being pretty sore after this one.  I twisted my knee a few weeks ago, and I was pretty sore after this run and through out the day.  I’m researching some stretches that I can do to prevent this in the future.  Walked at 3.0 and jogged at 3.6 or 3.7 (four of each) I did 1.58 miles in the 30 minutes. Pace 18:59

Run 3 (January 6th, 2010)-I don’t know why, but this one felt AWESOME.  I woke up easily got dressed and hopped right on the treadmill.  I watched the TLC Show America’s Largest Family while I did the jog.  A bit inspirational I think.  I felt even better once the workout was done.  I’ve been feeling really hungry after each of the workouts but I’ve been waiting until after I’ve showered and walked the dog to eat anything.  This morning I sat and watched the news, ate a banana and drank 24 oz of water.  I feel so much better.  I am going to try to make that a habit.  I’ve been doing a few of the stretches that I researched online (I have a PHD from google) and that seems to have helped with the soreness in my knee.  Walked at 3.0; Jogged 3.7 (all of them) Total of 1.6 miles for the 30 minutes. Pace 18:45

One of the things that I am going to try to do with each weeks recaps of Rubenesque Ladies Running, is to include a tip or two, or just something that I found to make the program a bit easier for me.  This weeks “tip” of sorts, is about proper stretching.  In 2009 I did a lot of walking, and one of the things that I found was that I’d get really bad cramps in my shins and my calves.  I found this series of stretches on Sparkpeople, and while I’ve modified them a bit, they have been an incredible help to me, almost entirely reducing the cramping.  I do the stretches prior to beginning the walk and then again after the walk is done.

The way that I’ve modified the stretches is that I do them on the treadmill instead of using the wall, using the treadmill as a step when needed, but either way works.  Stretching is SO important!

I can not believe that the first week is already done.  Only 17 more weeks to go and we’ll be jogging for 30 minutes straight!  Since we are doing a modified 5k, we are going to be repeating the training schedule for week one a second time.

1 (1/1-1/7);2 (1/8-1/14) Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

The first few weeks, while daunting, are not nearly as scary as when we will hit week 10.  Week 10 is already scaring the crap out of me.  I’m doing my best to focus on the week that I am on though, and getting the most out of it.  Make sure to head over to Bella’s page to find out how her first week went!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare