Taking it one day at a time

 

It’s not the end of the world. So today I didn’t work out or I didn’t eat well, tomorrow is still another day to make it work.

My new goal is for my weight to go down. To become healthy and most importantly to ran longer and faster.

If I have done something good for my body then it has been a good day.

 

My goal for this week is to track every single morsel that enters my mouth. I used to be very good at this. I think at one point I have a run of over 200 days logging into my fitnesspal. And those were the days when I was most successful.

So, one goal this week. No need to make it more complicated than it has to be.

 

TEN commandments for the runner

Definitely broken #10.

It’s the first of the month ergo challenge time

My goal is to defeat the demon that keeps me from finishing this 30 day challenges. I am going to really try and keep myself accountable and finish it this time. i think I should motivate myself with a little reward after. if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

I got this from the 30-Day challenge website. they have challenges for everything. check it out http://30dayfitnesschallenges.com/classes/30-day-abs-challenge/

I also started my Run everyday November challlenge. Im still recovering from my Half marathon so I just walked 4.5 miles this morning.

since its the first of the month I also weighed in at a saddening 181.0 lbs. This just makes me want to cry since i was doing so well last year. My goal is to get to 175  by the end of the month. I think giving myself small goals is the way to go. this was I am  not putting too much pressure on myself. Still haven’t decided wether i will be weighing in weekly or at the end of the month.

Today i have a meeting with my gym instructor. we are going to come up with a full body strength workout session that I can do 3 times a week. I also have my friday kickboxing classes that are MURDER.  So there is my fitness plan for the month. Now if I can only get my eating in check i think this month might just be killer. especially since it’s my birthday month.  which is 3 days away… :O getting older.

 

Cinderella duties

Today was a good day. First weigh-in and I am at 176.0 That is down 3.8 pounds from my first beginning of the month weigh-in. that is  a HUGE drop and I am pretty sure I wont be seeing numbers like that very often. I think its because my body was jump started after being off plan for so long. Going Low carb and getting back to my minimum 3 miles a day seems to be working. I wish I could say the same for the 30DS.

Today was a day full of chores. I did my laundry, cleaned the house and went into to town to run some errands. I got in 4 miles of walking today and I felt rusty. I need to pump up my millage and start back on those long runs. I also went grocery shopping and got enough food for the week. I made a menu before hand and so knew exactly what to get. No carbs in my house (except the good kind fruits and veggies). I did however had some potato chips. a lady at the store was handing out free tiny sample sizes and i indulged especially after the long day with nothing to eat. It was only 4/5 tiny chips in it.

I also got some sweet smelling candles at the store. I haven’t done this in a while and though it might perk up my mood, scented candles have that effect on me.

I also fund out that a mall is opening up within a five minute walk from my house and it has my favorite coffee house in it.(their carrot cake is to die for- Lord give me strength).

The plan for tomorrow is food prep and uploading pics and my menu plan. I hope I don’t get sidetracked, I just got season 1 and 2 of breaking bad in the mail.

Plans, plans and More plans……..

SOrry for the absence. AGAIN. I had made a pledge to blog daily in may but i failed on the first day. To make a long story short, I had been moving apartments, just got my internet set up and finally settling in. As a result, I have neglected everything. Running, exercise or any remote type on being on track.
my internet is still choppy but I shall attempt to try posting on a regular basis. I have made plans, plans and more plans………

I can’t seem to cure myself of making grand plans at the beginning of the week, month or year. The only problem is that so far, I haven’t seen any of them through.
So today begins a new month and yet more plans. So by following the same old script, the plan includes a food plan( mostly the low carb or more correctly reduced carb plan). The second is a pledge to try an go to the gym( I got my gym membership back because I have no self discipline to do workouts at home (the result being an almost 10lb gain over the past 6 months I have been without a gym membership.) and finally my ever ending quest to finish 30 consecutive days of the 30 day shred. This month i has no excuse to finish as I have no plans of any out of town plans or disruptions to my schedule.
The food plan is done and the workouts scheduled. Will this be the month I stick to plan?…..

Before I forget I weighed in at 179.8 yesterday. So that is my start point for may. I am back to my weekly weigh-ins. Not weighing in proved to be disastrous for me.

That’s it for now. I Plan on doing some major grocery shopping this weekend, have a major food prep and plan a whole weeks menu. Look out for that soon and lots of pics too.

Picking the right exercise shoes

Day 186: marathon training Day 9, week 2

I really had planned on cataloguing my daily marathon plan but the days seem to have run away from me. However, fret not because I have been running and have kept up quite well with my runs. I even managed to finish my 8-mile run (Just barely) on Sunday, which I was thoroughly dreading.

This week is quite similar to last week except my Sunday Run goes up from 8miles to 9-miles. Sweet baby Jesus help me. But all I can do is take it one mile at a time.

 

My eating hasn’t been as great as I had hopped. I really want to break my meals down to 6-300 calorie meals but I keep forgetting to eat at the appointed times and once I get hungry, I go over my calories. What is it about prepping for a marathon and suddenly you turn into the cookie monster.

My plan this week is to actually prep all my meals the previous day. have everything packed and set up my timer for when i am to take the meal. I just need to fit it in with all my work and school stuff.

Happy running.

Day 178: Marathon training day 1, week 1/18 and the importance of cross training

 

Today marks day one of training.  Cross training was insanity cardio. As I embark on this journey, I want to be as well informed as possible. The first thought when training for a marathon is that all you need to do is run as much as possible and you will get to the finish line. However the reality is a bit more complicated than that.

When I got up today I was tempted to just skip cross training and go out for a run but decided that there is a reason why marathon experts include a day of cross training every week.

What is cross training?

Cross training is any sport or exercise that supplements your main sport. In our case, any exercise that supplements our running.

What is the importance of cross training?

• Helps balance your muscles. Cross training helps strengthen your non-running muscles and rests your running muscles. You can focus on specific muscles, such as your inner thighs, that don’t get worked as much while running and may be weaker than your running muscles.
• Improve your cardio level. In order to run a marathon, your level of cardio fitness needs to be extremely high. This will make it easier for you to run without feeling that you will pass out at any second.
• Reduce your chance for injury. By balancing your weaker muscles with your stronger ones, you’ll help reduce your chance of injury. Participating in low-impact cross training activities, such as swimming or water running, will also lessen the stress on your joints, which are often a sore spot for runners. Cross training can also be a tool to use when suffering from a running injury. By taking up something that has a lower impact to your running muscles such as swimming, you can still build up your cardio fitness and strength while recovering from an injury.
• Beak the monotony. As much as you might love running, you can bored with it if you go for 18wks of running daily. By breaking it up with cross training, you reduce the boredom that can come from the monotony of running

 

Cross training Ideas

1. Swimming. Because you are not bearing your joints with your weight while swimming, you give your joints a break while building strength, endurance and flexibility. Things you will need for your marathon
2. Cycling or spinning. Cycling and spin classes are also great low-impact ways to boost your cardiovascular fitness and strength, especially your quads and glutes.
3. Elliptical. You can program the elliptical to move in either a forward or backward motion, so you can work all the major muscles in your legs. Because the muscles used on the elliptical are similar to those you use when running, the machine is a good low-impact alternative when an injury prevents you from running.
4. Walking. Yes it is similar to running but it puts less impact on your muscles and can be great if you are recovering from a long run.
5. Strength/ weight training. Strength training allows runners to improve the strength in their running muscles, create balance between unbalanced muscle groups, and focus on keeping their legs strong during injury recovery. Strength training is an excellent opportunity to strengthen your core, which helps runners avoid fatigue and maintain their form.
6. Yoga. Yoga offers some of the same benefits as strength training, since you’ll use your body weight as resistance to strengthen your muscles. You’ll also improve your flexibility since it involves a lot of stretching. This is also a great way to relax after a long run.
7. Work out DVD. This can come in the form of yoga, dancing, cardio etc

 

The things you can do are endless. Find something that you love and that will help along the way.

Tomorrow is day one of actual running. 3 miles.

Day 177: T-0 Marathon training starts tomorrow.

I am excited about this. I am making a promise to myself that I will make it through this 18 weeks and I will finish my marathon.

I have also made a monumental decision. I am taking a hiatus on my weight loss journey. I learned the hard way last time when training for my last marathon that I couldn’t keep my mind on running while also trying to lose weight. Trying to watch calories while at the same time trying to fill up on my energy reserves for running drove me mental.

I am sure that with all the running that I will be doing and watching what I eat, I will be losing weight and toning up. I just don’t want it to be a focus that drives me during these four months. I will probably only weigh myself at the end of each month. I hope to be down 4-5lbs per month and just take it nice and slow. I just hope that I can get faster and stronger as the days go by. I will measure my success on how well my clothes fit and how much faster I can run. The scale is on a break.

 

THE PLAN

• So my first day of training is tomorrow and it starts with cross training. For my cross training, I have decided to do a 3 mile walk followed by an hour of any random INSANITY dvd I pick. If this gets boring, I will be getting on my bike and riding a few miles. I think I will be making a weekly plan and so this will allow me to change it up for cross training.
• I will work on following the plan and taking rest days.
• As for my eating, I will be taking a step back from my low carb and upping my intake to about 100-150g.  This means whole-wheat bread, pita and tortillas are back on plan and brown rice with a lot of legumes are back. I will still keep my eating clean, which means no junk.

I’m keeping it plain and simple. Run daily; eat right and stick to plan.

 

I went out this afternoon and got a new pair of shoes. Now I know this was going to be one of my rewards for getting halfway through the plan, but I decided that I needed something to boost my mood and get me focused on the running.

I got the Nike lunars. I got mine in green. it’s like running on clouds.

 

 

 

 

Day 172: Marathon Training is around the corner

And I have only managed about 11 miles this month. Am I fucken Nuts???? I can’t believe how much my running has suffered so far this year. to be quite honest, If I did not have the marathon to think about, running would probably be the last thing on my mind

I am doing the 18 week plan which means Sunday, february 24th, should be my week one. I am not where I wanted to be physically. all my new year plans are pretty much a bust. instead of giving up on my resolutions i’m gonna re-evaluate and get back on task after all the year isn’t done yet and there is still time for improvement.

My marathon is on the 29th of june and I cant wait. registration doesn’t open until the end of this mind and for psychological reasons, i need to register as soon as possible. I think once I pay my fee ( which by the way has doubled since the last time I checked), I will kick it into high gear. I need some type of reward system that will get me through my training. I have changed my screen saver to a picture of my training plan and some weeks look tough.

First 3 weeks don’t look too bad.

I think I will right down a list of all the things I have been wanting to get myself and will put down some money for every mile run. at the end of the week I can then treat myself to it. at least 90% of my rewards have to be fitness or running related. E.g if I complete the half marathon o=on week nine, i can get myself a new pair of running shoes and break them in in time for the marathon. Or i can get a new workout DVD or new set of weights. The remaining 10%, I will just spoil myself 🙂