Week 2, Day 3 (revisited)

I ran in shorts and a tank top today! I can practically taste the vitamin D.

I really should invest in some actual running clothes, though. These thrift store finds aren’t really runner-friendly. That’s right, I called myself a runner. I run, therefore I am a runner. Sure, the longest I can run right now is six sets of 90 seconds, but I’m still running. My sister bought me The Courage to Start yesterday, so now I’m even more pumped up and motivated.

That being said, today’s run was hellish. I blame the “heat.” I should have run early this morning, but I kept putting it off. By the time I got down to the track, it was 74°. Suddenly, I’m not cold anymore. When did that happen?? Next week it’s going to be back in the lower 50’s, so I’m going to enjoy the warmer weather while I can.

Anyway. When I got to the track, church was letting out and there were people all over the parking lot. I could see a group of people standing at the northern end of the track, too, so my anxiety was in high gear. It was so bad that I actually started to back out of my parking spot and go home. I knew I would hate myself later if I chickened out, so I just sat in the car for a minute or two and did some deep breathing exercises. I told myself it didn’t matter that there were other people around; I was there for myself and shouldn’t let anyone stop me from doing something that makes me happy. With that, I got out of my car and walked to the track.

I passed the people at the end of the track during my warm up. They were two couples with dogs. One couple had two standard poodles (one black, one white) and the other couple had an Irish Setter. The Setter couple eventually started walking on the track, and it was really weird because the woman was wearing dress clothes and was walking very, very briskly. The man had on a tie dye shirt and cargo shorts and was wearing hiking boots. Not that any of this matters. Just observations from the track.

I guess you could say I had a bad run today. After the first run, my lateral calves were burning, and while I had better endurance and quicker recovery, the runs still seemed to drag on a long time. I really think it was the people throwing me off, in my mind at least. Social anxiety sucks out loud.

But I finished my run and I did well. I’m definitely doing at least one more week of Week 2. Week 3 terrifies me. How will I ever get there!?

I’m running low on provisions, so I just had some soy yogurt for breakfast (I’m outta flax seeds! GRIM!). For lunch I had a big salad of mustard greens, romaine, radishes, tomatoes and cucumbers, plus a slice of pizza (got some Teese yesterday). Not sure what I’ll have for dinner. Pickings are slim.

I was watching the end of the Iron Man triathlon when I was eating lunch and the guy that came in second had 5% body fat. I know that shit ain’t good for a man. That shit ain’t even good for dead people.

Game two of the Eastern Conference quarter finals (hockey) is going to be on nbc tomorrow morning. I can’t even tell you how excited/happy that makes me. The Caps vs. the Flyers. Let’s go, Caps!

Week 2, Day 2 (revisited)

It’s 53° and (mostly) sunny out today: TRACK! I conquered Day 2. Okay. I can’t lie to you. It kicked my ass. Tried to, at least. I did my 20 minutes of aerobics and my ab workout, grabbed a handful of almonds and raisins which I ate outside while I walked Tank around the yard, then headed down to the track. There was another woman already there (walking leisurely), decked out entirely in black. Black down jacket, black pants, black knit hat pulled down around her ears, and I’m thinking, It’s almost 60° out here. What’s with Nanook of the North?

Anyway, I ignored her and got down to business. I felt really good going into it, but when I got to the third run, my asthma flared up and I had to take a pull off the old lung sucker. Felt like I was gonna die. I pushed through the fourth run, and by the fifth run I was feeling pretty damn good. When the sixth run came up, I breathed a sigh of relief. More like a pant, but whatever.

Stretched a little, came back home, stretched a lot more and here I sit. I took a quick shower and now it’s time for lunch. For breakfast this morning, I had a smoothie. For lunch I’ll probably have a boca burger on wheat bread and a big salad. Dinner is up in the air.

I got myself a new cloth tape measure so I can keep accurate track of my weight loss/measurements. I’ve noticed something, though. I find I’m becoming more flexible. I’m able to stretch farther than before. It’s cool. I feel so bendy.

I feel like I should have more to say, but I don't. Guess I'll go make some toffee or something.

Week 2, Day 1 (revisited)

Today my sister and I went to the gym and ran on treadmills. It was my first day back at Week 2, and I have to say, it didn't kick my ass. I blame the treadmill. It's easy to run on a treadmill since you're not really propelling yourself forward. I definitely prefer my track, but it's nice to know I've got the gym as back up.

A word on gyms: I hate them. I belonged to 24 Hour Fitness a couple of years ago. My sis and I went semi-regularly. We'd do the weight machines every now and then, but mostly we did about 25 minutes on the ellipticals and then did our cool downs on the treadmills. A couple of times, I got bothered by an employee pushing protein shakes, power bars and personal trainers. The last straw was when I was doing my cool down walk on the treadmill and an employee came over and started telling me I wasn't going to get a workout from walking that slow. When I informed him that I had HAD my workout on the elliptical a few minutes before, he acted like I was lying and kept telling me I should book an appointment with a trainer.

I canceled my membership instead. Hey, there's a fat chick on a treadmill! Let's automatically assume she's fat because she knows NOTHING about exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

So it was with a heavy heart that I joined up again. But I did it to support my sister, so I'm okay with it. And if someone tells me I need a personal trainer, I'm going to tell them a thing or two about fat chicks.

But I digress. This was our first time back at the gym, and for the most part, it was quite painless. We got changed and headed out to the treadmills. I started W2D1 and my sister stuck with Week 1. I guess this would make it Day 2 for her. The funny thing was, this tiny little woman hopped onto the treadmill next to me and immediately jumped into her run. The three of us were all going at the same pace, but the tiny woman was holding onto the bars of the treadmill for dear life. Weirdest thing I've seen all week.

Once we'd both finished our runs and cool downs, we stretched and my sister said she wanted to do 20 minutes on the elliptical. So I joined her. Except things have changed since I was last at this gym. They've got all new ellipticals and THEY SUCK. I've had easier times climbing up onto a horse, and I'm barely five foot one. Even after I turned the elevation and resistance all the way down, it still felt like I was climbing a flight of stairs. And the arms were awkward as well. I managed about 18 minutes on the damn thing before my right foot fell asleep and my sister said, "&$% these things, let's cool down on the treadmills."

So we did. All in all, we worked out for an entire hour. Not bad for a couple of fat chicks.

Here is where I would like to talk about what I did yesterday. Yesterday was my strength training day, so I did that along with my 20 minutes of aerobics. Afterwards, I had to take my mom on some errands and we decided to grab lunch at a pub near the university (because she had a coupon). I ordered the veggie wrap (mixed greens, onions, green pepper, cucumber and hummus wrapped in flat bread). It came with fries. I shouldn't have, but I did eat some of them. By the end of the meal I was feeling pretty gross, so I vowed to take Tank for a walk when I got home. My mom did a double take when I told her. Why? Because I live on a mountain. Not only that, but we're on a dead end. The only road to walk goes right down the mountain.

I used to walk Tank and Luke to the mailbox and back just about every day. The genius of that was, going back, I had a combined total of 140 pounds of dog pulling me up the mountain. These days, it's just me and Tank and the dry twist. Still, I felt gross and knew a walk would make me feel better, plus it's good for Tank. I live in a quiet little down. Hardly any traffic up here. Neighbors come and go once or twice a day. So I'm fine letting Tank off his lead for our walks.

Walking down the mountain bothered my knees quite a bit. I had a brisk walk going (which I guess can't be helped, going downhill); felt like it took me two minutes to get to the mail boxes. The walk back up the mountain was a lot easier on my knees, though my heart and lungs weren't too happy about the adventure. S'good, though. Meant I was getting a good workout. I stopped about halfway up, mostly to catch my breath but also to give Tank a chance to run into the woods after some rabbits.

When I got back home, I was surprised to find it had only taken us 27 minutes for the entire walk. I entered it in at Gmaps Pedometer and it is exactly 0.9604 miles, round trip. I burned 132.92 calories, too. What I find shocking is that the elevation at the mailboxes is around 385 feet. The elevation at my house is a little over 590 feet. That's quite a walk, people. (For me, anyway.) How am I not dead today?? My ass was a little bit sore, but I fully expected to be incapable of climbing out of bed this morning.

Very promising. I'm going to make this a regular outing for me and Tank. Here's an aerial of our route:

Oh, and I’ve come up with a reward for myself. I’m planning on running eight miles on August 8th, but given the way my life seems to turn around and bite me in the ass all the time, I’m willing to forgive myself if I don’t reach that goal on that exact date. So basically, after I run eight miles, I’m going to reward myself. And since I am now a hockey addict, and what’s more, a Slap Shot fanatic, I’m going to buy myself one of these:

That’s right. A Chiefs jersey. Number 18 because Jeff is the king of slot car racing and has a pet brick.

Week 1, Day 4 (revisited)

Many’s the day I took for granted
Breathing the air that silenced some
As the North Wind blew
With its head of thunder
Beating its breast with a war drenched song

Screw the gym - I ran outside today!

I made myself another whole wheat tofu scramble wrap thing for breakfast. Three bites into it, my arm decided it would be fun to knock my breakfast onto the kitchen floor (the same thing happened last week at the Red and Black Cafe, except it was a glass of water). Into the garbage it went, and as I was washing my plate, I noticed the sun was out. Without even thinking twice about it, I ran to my room, changed into my running gear, hopped into the car and drove down to the track.

It was a crisp 46°F, mostly cloudy, wind blowing in from the north (hence the Flogging Molly lyrics). I had on a long sleeved shirt, my fleece vest and a hoodie (plus a baseball hat to keep my head warm/the sun off my face). By the time I got to the fourth run, I had taken the hoodie off and had worked up a nice sweat. That was also when I noticed a battered old red pick up parked in the grass at the north end of the track. Kinda made me nervous, but I’m paranoid like that. I turned my headphones way down until I spotted a guy a few yards away, apparently pulling weeds. Since it was the middle of a field, I thought that was strange, but whatever. I kept going. My asthma was still acting up, but not enough to slow me down.

By the sixth run, a middle-aged man had joined me on the track, and by the eight run so had a woman and her incredibly happy Golden Retriever. I wasn’t too bothered by the company, mostly because we were spaced pretty far apart, and I was finishing up my run anyway.

I pushed myself for the last run, cooled down, did some stretching and then drove home. Had a glass of OJ and then did 20 minutes of yoga stretches. I'm really happy right now. I’ve been reading No Need for Speed, which I got from the library yesterday, and when I woke up this morning, all I could think about was running. And I did it! I ran all three days this week! Next week I’m definitely starting (revisiting) Week 2. It’s supposed to rain on Tuesday, but hopefully I’ll luck out like today and beat the weather.

Now it’s time for laundry and later? Sister Bingo.

P.S. Five minutes after I got home, it started pouring. SCORE!

P.P.S. Sister Bingo was a smashing success.

Rain Delay

I know, I shouldn't let a little rain stop me. I don't know if it's the change in seasons or what, but I've been having really bad asthma lately. I feel like I've come down with a cold as well, but it could be an allergy flareup. At any rate, I decided not to run today. It wasn't supposed to rain, but it is. However, I do have a gym membership, so tomorrow (since it's going to rain then, too), I'm going to drag my sister to the gym and try running on the treadmills. I have to say, though, I'm not looking forward to it. The thought of running indoors on a treadmill makes me grumpy. I want open skies and fresh air, not iPods and TVs.

My muscles are a bit sore today, which makes me happy. I pushed myself when I did strength training yesterday, so it's nice to know there was a payoff.

I was thinking about running when I went to bed last night, and I remember smiling before I fell asleep. Normally I fall asleep anxious with all my worries and troubles racing through my head. But last night all I was thinking about was getting up bright and early and going down to the track.

Week 1, Day 3 (revisited)

This week has been hellishly hectic, but I found time to run today (and I haven’t missed any of my workouts). The short of it is, I was at my sister’s house with an hour and a half to kill before I had to take two of the cats in to the vet (one for pre-neuter bloodwork, another for a possible UTI). I decided that my brief bit of spare time would be best spent running. Because I’m smrt, I’d brought along my running gear (stuffed into a stylish paper bag), so I changed into that and headed out.

It was another beautiful day in the PacNW. Probably around 62°, no wind, lots of sun. My sister couldn’t run with me, so I was able to go at my own pace this time around. I didn’t realize how much faster I was than her until I got to my last run and found I was almost back at her house, whereas when we ran the other day, we still had a bit more road left.

The run went well. I’ve been telling myself I don’t really need to revisit Week 1, but today I almost ate that sentiment. It wasn’t hard per se, but I did have some burning in my right lateral calf. The last two times I’ve run, my right shoelace has come untied, and after I stop to fix it, my muscles start screaming. Dead stops are not good!

At any rate, I felt really, really, really, really, really good out there. I prefer my track, if only for the even running surface, but I make do with what I’ve got on hand foot. After I got back to my sister’s house, I stretched briefly and then did my ab workout (with a proper bout of stretching afterwards).

I didn’t have a lot of time today, so for breakfast I had a thing of soy yogurt with a tablespoon of ground flax seed. For lunch, my mom took us to a local Indian restaurant for the buffet. I hate spicy food, and this place is particularly spicy, but I knew my mom was looking forward to it, so I sucked it up. Turns out the food this time around was pretty mild (to my tastes). I took a little bit of some sort of potato dish and some rice and that was about it. I wasn’t feeling full at all when I finished, but I didn’t go back for seconds. Still, I was feeling pretty heavy afterwards, and running helped.

For dinner tonight I had a big salad with tomatoes, cukes and sunflower seeds (with Braggs as dressing) and another whole wheat “chicken” wrap with lettuce and picante sauce and a side of carrots and red peppers.

When I think back to how I felt a month ago as compared to now, it’s awful. Running makes me so happy. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel once I’m up to running for several minutes at a time. And eventually miles! My clothes are fitting better and my sister tells me I look thinner every time she sees me. I’m really trying to encourage her to at least get out and walk every day. After I got back from the vet this afternoon, I suggested we all go for a walk. My mom was there, too, so Sis walked her dog (and then pushed him in his Doggy Ride) and I pushed my mom in her wheelchair while she held onto Tank’s leash. We didn’t walk as far as we normally do, but we all got out and got some sun and exercise, and that’s what matters. What I love about the Self Challenge workout log menu is that “pushing a wheelchair” is one of the options. Ha!

I’m a member of the Couch-to-5k community on Live Journal, and when I got home I read this entry:

I just read this online: ‘The miracle isn’t that I finished, it’s that I had the courage to start.’ ~ John Bingham

It seems like it should be the mantra for anyone who starts the c25k program! It’s kept me motivated.

I went to his website, liked what I saw, and put one of his books on hold at the library. I really like that line: That I had the courage to start. It hit home, today especially since I was really hesitant to get out there. I was feeling really self conscious. I’m used to my little track, tucked away behind a church in a tiny little down surrounded by foothills and forest. At my sister’s house, there are houses and people all around. But I knew that I would hate myself for slacking off, plus there were quite a few things I was pissed off about, and I knew that running would make me feel better. Once I got out on the road, I felt completely confident and happy.


That's all, folks. See you again on Saturday!

Week 1, Day 2 (revisited)

Totally forgot to post. I'm exhausted.

I ran today! Yesterday I told my sister she was going running with me, so I was hell bent on making that happen. This morning I did my regular 20 minutes of aerobic and then my ab workout. Then I called my sister to see if she was ready to go. I could tell by her tone that she really didn't want to run, but I drove down to her house anyway. We had a few things to take care of first. Sis informed me that two of our three geese had flown out of the yard earlier. One was in the road and the other was in the plant nursery across the street! She got them back into the yard and when I got there, I held them while she clipped their wings. Then we chased Piper off her nest and collected EIGHT of her eggs. The last thing we need is eight goslings to help bring about the Great Goose Apocalypse.

Once we were done with the birds, we took the dogs for a walk, figuring it'd be a good pre-run warm up. We have been taking Sis's dog, Meathead, for acupuncture treatments for the last three weeks, and he is doing amazingly well. We/she walks him for five minutes every day, and when he gets tired, he climbs into his Doggy Ride and cruises while we finish our stroll. My dog Tank walks the entire time, since he's still very able-bodied and also hates anything with wheels. Here's Meatie in his Doggy Ride (with a very happy-to-not-be-in-the-cart Tank):

The Doggy Ride is really an attachment for your bike, but you can also push it like a stroller (for a very large, hairy baby?). My sister and her boyfriend's bikes are trapped behind some boxes in the shed, otherwise we'd be pedaling around Portland with Meathead in tow. (Or even just around the neighborhood.)

Anyway. We walked the dogs for ten minutes, then dropped them off at the house and put on our running shoes. Sis hasn't run in ... I don't know how long. She's never done the Couch-to-5k program consistently, so this wasn't going to be easy for her. I got my iPod going and we set off on the five minute warm up walk. I had the volume up enough so that I could say when to run and when to walk, but low enough so that we could talk.

Usually I run at my old and busted track, but today I was at my sister's, just running around the block. It's a big circle, so it's kind of like a big track, right? Except with dogs and sheep and cows and pick ups with dirt bags behind the wheel.

Not much I can say about the run except that I'm definitely ready to get back to Week 2. I wasn't bored or anything, and my calves were burning a little, but mostly I felt like I was holding back. And I guess I was because I was trying to keep pace with my sister. For her part, I thought she did really well, though she said she was having a hard time the entire run. Mostly it was her shoes, which hurt her feet. She needs to get a good pair of running shoes, STAT. I'm making her run with me again on Thursday and Saturday, though Saturday I may make her come run at my track with me.

It was a beautiful day for running, though. About 50°, sunny with a little bit of wind. Worked up a nice sweat, too. Thursday and Saturday look to be just as gorgeous, so I'm very excited. I have to admit, I'm quite a bit discouraged about my goal of running eight miles on August 8th (at 8:08 a.m.? Too much?), but it's still something I'm shooting for.

Another thing I'm going to do, I think, is bring Tank on the runs with me. My sister accidentally got him fat while I was in Florida, so we both need to get back in shape. Plus, since losing Luke, Lady and Bernie all within two years, I really want to spend as much time as possible with my dog. He's not getting any younger, and how boring is it for him to sit at home while I'm out running?

I'm still doing well on the Self Challenge. My breakfast smoothies are still kicking ass. For lunch this week I've been having leftover Wonderful Winter Squash (plus brown rice and a big salad). For dinner tonight I had a whole wheat tortilla wrap with some grilled Morningstar Chick'n Strips, some picante sauce, lettuce, red peppers and carrots. Yummies. If I get a hankering for something sweet, I'll just have an apple or a handful of almonds and raisins.

Aaaaaand, I'm outta here.