Turkey Trot 5k Recap

Hi! Remember me? I know it's been a while again but I promise I haven't forgotten about this little space of mine in the blogging world.

The last time I was here I talked about how I was struggling.  I continued to struggle up until Thanksgiving Day.  I ran a Turkey Trot 5k that morning and since then have gotten up before 5am for my first Body Pump class in two months, had my butt kicked with a personal trainer, and actually went into a grocery store to buy ingredients to actually cook something. I think it's safe to say that I am officially off of the struggle bus!

But backing up to Thanksgiving... I completed my first 5k and in a tutu no less! The weather wasn't ideal as it was incredibly foggy and was misting the entire morning. I ran the first mile in 11:35 and then began my run/walk strategy which I really had no plan for. I slowed down to about 13 min/mile for the next two miles. Sure, it wasn't a superstar performance but for my first time I'm damn proud of what I accomplished. And the most important thing to me for this first race was to cross the finish line. But you can bet I have goals for a year from now when I plan to run this same race again. And when I say run I do mean run...the whole thing!

Turkey Trot 5k is in the books! 40:01 is the official time and a new PR for me. 😁 #turkeytrot #running #justdoit #5k

A photo posted by Amy (@lnlbyamy) on Nov 26, 2015 at 9:33am PST

My mom and some other awesome ladies walked (also in tutus) and I was able to cheer them on as they crossed the finish line. So despite the crappy weather it was a great way to start off turkey day.

Unfortunately, sometime after the race ended my Fitbit bit the dust and wouldn't light up at all when it wasn't on the charger despite being fully charged. Rather than worrying about it I chose to take advantage of Black Friday and splurge on myself by getting a new Charge + HR! I felt kind of naked without a Fitbit on my wrist and a challenge going for a couple of days. But I finally was able to pick it up today and I can't wait to put it to good use. I only wish I had been able to pick it up yesterday so that I could have used it to record my personal training session tonight.

I invested in myself by purchasing two one-on-one personal training sessions and tonight was my (second) first meeting with my trainer Chelsea. She definitely kicked my butt and I'm excited to put the information and routine I learned from her to good use. We even had a good chat while I was warming up on the treadmill and discussed some of the mental battles that come with making a lifestyle change. I am meeting with her again on the 16th and definitely want to be able to tell her that I did a good job with working out since she saw me last.

And real quick before this post gets too long... I joined a challenge group hosted by Erica to help with the accountability. It started Tuesday so I'm only two days into it but so far so good. I know it definitely helped get me to the gym Tuesday morning for Body Pump before work because I had told the whole group (plus my mom and friends) that I was going. No way do you want to check in at the end of the day and say that you didn't go.

Starting Weight: 224.4

October 16: no weigh in

October 23: 218.6 (+1.6)

October 30: 218.6

November 6: 215.2 (-3.4)

November 13: 218.2 (+3.0)

November 20: no weigh in

November 30: 221.0 (+2.8)

October Goals

Not that I want to wish away time but gosh am I happy it's Wednesday.  Work has been kind of slow lately so the days seem to go by extra slow for me. But I know things will be picking up in the future so I just have to keep plugging away.

Even though I am glad we're halfway through the work week I cannot believe that it's the last day of September already. As an adult it seems that the months and years just fly by compared to when we were kids and only summer seemed to fly by.  With the end of the month comes the perfect time to set some goals for October.

- Finish the C25K program!  I had a slow start to my 5K training but since coming back from vacation I've been running every day that I'm supposed to.  And I've been enjoying my runs and feeling good on them!  I've started C25K multiple times but this time feels different, like it's finally my time.  To cap off the program I'll be running the I Ain't Afraid 5K on October 31st. And I'm following up my virtual 5K with a Turkey Trot 5K Thanksgiving morning!

- Track with Weight Watchers.  Since last week all I have been tracking on the WW app has been my workouts.  It is well past the time to get back to tracking my food.  The Weight Watchers program works for me, but only when I'm working the program.  By not tracking my food I am only hurting myself as proven by my weigh ins the past month or so.

- Drink 64oz of water a day.  I have been drinking more water this past week than I have in a long while but it still hasn't been consistent.  When I'm chugging water I don't have time to have a Mountain Dew and that is exactly what my body needs.

- Hit my step goal 4 days a week.  I should be running three days a week so it shouldn't be a problem to reach my 5,000 step goal on those days but that fourth day I will have to push myself.  It's time that I make it happen.

And before I forget, here's my weigh in from Friday.

Starting Weight: 224.4

September 11: 217.8 (+0.2)

Total Loss: 6.6

I Ain't Afraid - Halloween 5K & 10K

How is it the last day of August already?  Time has just been flying by unless it's those eight hours I'm at work because those almost always seem to drag by.  I have plans to update you later this week on where I've been this past month and what I've been up to.  But today I have something exciting to share with you.

Lately I've been thinking about signing up for a 5K race in order to give myself something to focus on training for.  I was searching the Internet for one that would fit into my life and just could not find one that gave me enough time to train or wasn't months away.  Shannon from Tatlock's Truth came to my rescue and tweeted at me about doing a virtual race which we could both do and be accountable to each other.  They even mail you a medal!

Because we couldn't wait to get going we chose the I Ain't Afraid - Halloween 5K & 10K.  This race is going to celebrate Halloween AND bring awareness to Breast Cancer as October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month.  The great thing about virtual races is you can run it when it works with your schedule during the month of October and where ever you are (you choose the course)!  The registration cost is $18 which includes your medal and shipping.  Plus, at least $4 of every registration will go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Shannon and I didn't want to have all of the fun ourselves so we wanted to invite all of you to join us!  A closed group page has been created on Facebook so we can support one another, share training schedules, struggles, and a picture of ourselves at the completion of our run.  No matter your skill level we hope you join us!

I signed up to run the 5K and plan to follow the Couch to 5K program via the free app by Zenlabs.  This is an eight week program that I am beginning this week and will complete the last week of October.  I also plan to run my 5K during the last week of October, maybe even on Halloween.

Don't miss out on the fun, get signed up and join the Facebook page so we can get to training!

Weigh In Wednesday: July 30

I'm back as promised!

Encouraging news from the scale these last two weeks. After getting knocked on my ass two weeks ago by seeing a number I've never seen on the scale these last two weeks have been slow progress away from that number. I skipped "class" last week and didn't post about my weigh in so this week you get a double. Lucky, huh?

Height: 5' 7.5''

SW: 208.1

July 23: 207.7

Today: 207.5

Change: -0.2

Total Loss: 0.6

It's slow progress but progress still so I'll take it!

Way back in June I posted about my comeback which was basically how I was going to get myself back on track with this whole healthy lifestyle thing. I wasn't quite successful with sticking to it even though I never told myself I was giving up. After some reflecting on why I wasn't successful in sticking with it I believe it's that crappy plan I had. I said it was the foundation that I could build on. Basically it was, just the ideas behind the plan I needed to build. With a little help from Carolyn I've taken the ideas behind the plan and actually turned it into a plan (built on that foundation I laid).

With Carolyn asking the questions and offering advice and guidance based on what I told her I came up with the following to be my plan.

Fitness

• C25K - T/Th/Sat or M/W/F or Sat
• Home workouts for non-running/strength (DVDs or Sworkit)
• No TV, laptop or reading until workout for the day is DONE!

Food

• 2-3 meals per week (ex. 2 recipes, 4 servings each)
• Winging it: protein (chicken, turkey, sausage, lean ground beef) veggie and whole grain
• 80/20 rule for better eating
• No Mountain Dew or ice cream will be bought from the grocery store.
• No Mountain Dew vending machine purchases at work.
• 1-2 (12oz cans) Mountain Dew on weekends ONLY.
• No gas station stops for Mountain Dew or grab & go food (junk).
• Monday = grocery shopping day
• 64+ oz of water a day

I believe this is a much better plan than what I came up with two months ago which was just the basic concepts of what I needed to be doing. Now I have some set "rules" to follow. And I use the term rules very loosely because life happens sometimes and I am not going to beat myself up over an indulgence that takes me off plan.

With that being said, I do need to remember to actually stick to the plan and push through when I'm not feeling it. I started off great last week by running Tuesday and Thursday as planned but then life happened and I missed my run Saturday. I had the opportunity to make it up but didn't. Then the plan for this week was to run Monday but I decided not to and told myself I'll just do it Tuesday since I'm going to be busy Wednesday after work anyways. Well Tuesday has come and gone and I did not run.

Going forward, so this doesn't happen again, when I'm on the verge of talking myself out of a workout I need to ask myself: do I want to give up (again)? Or do I want to be triumphant? And in addition to that I need to remember that letting myself live with trade offs (I stayed strong and said no to Mt Dew so it's okay that I don't run) is letting myself settle for where I am. My healthy decisions need to propel more healthy decisions and then I will see a change. (Thanks Carolyn!)

It's in my hands. The greatest support system in the world does not make decisions for me, I do. I have a great support system but they can't do a damn thing for me if I don't support myself and push through the mental garbage that gets in the way of doing what needs to be done.

I've been loosely following the plan I made and it's helped me to see the little changes in the scale these last two weeks so I can just imagine what would happen if I followed the plan 100%. I'm going to find out, that's for sure!

My Comeback

Can you believe it's June already? I can't. May just seemed to fly by. In fact the whole first half of this year has just been flying by. Before this next month and the remaining half of the year are over it's time for me to make my comeback.

I let my vacation derail me from my weight loss and fitness goals. Jessi wrote a post all about making a comeback that I'm finally going to put into action. So here we go, I'm going to put Jessi's five steps for making a comeback into action right here so you all can help keep me accountable and when I'm doubting myself or feeling lazy I can come back here and remember everything I said I would do.

Step one: decide to succeed. Consider this blog post the contract that I am signing with myself that says "I WILL succeed. I CAN do this. I AM worth it."

Step two: Realize that you don't need a miracle, you just need a plan. So many times in the past I have thought I needed a miracle because there couldn't be any other way I could lose the weight. Or I was always thinking there would be this miracle moment {moving into my own place} when everything would just magically click with me. But thanks to Jessi and Carolyn I'm beginning to learn that it won't take a miracle. It only takes me making a plan and sticking to it. This is my plan: weekly goals, meal planning, workouts, no less than 64oz of water a day. It's not a very detailed plan at this point but it's the foundation that I can build on. Potentially I'll be getting a 7 Day Jumpstart from Jess at Operations Skinny Jeans which would include 7 days of coaching from her, a clean eating meal plan, daily emails that include encouragement, a workout and tips for staying on track, and a private Facebook group with other jump starters. I'll keep you posted on whether I'm chosen to try out this free trial which is starting soon.

Step three: toss the junk, introduce the healthy. I drank the last Mountain Dew that was in my apartment yesterday. I'm going to try my best to not keep it around in the apartment now to tempt me. All of the other food in my apartment is mostly healthy so I'd say I'm pretty set on tossing the junk.

Step four: enlist your helpers. All of you are my helpers. Tammy Jo, Carolyn, and Jessi especially are my helpers. These ladies are always there for me when I need some encouragement, words of wisdom, support, and just a friend to be there for me.

Step five: do it. I have everything in place now. Today begins the journey that I will be on for the rest of my life. This is not a just a journey just to reach my goal weight. This is journey to change my life to a healthy one. Now it's time to just do the damn thing. Watch out world. :)

I know this post has gotten pretty lengthy already but it's Wednesday so I've got to share my weigh in. And really it goes hand in hand with this post anyways. This is where I'm starting from...

SW: 207.7

May 28th Weigh In: 204.4

Today's Weigh In: 204.6

Gain: 0.2

Overall Loss: 3.1

One more thing real quick before I end this post, three goals I'll be working towards achieving today through Sunday.

1. 100ozAday. I've slacked a lot with my water intake lately. No more. I need to be drinking water not empty calorie sugary beverages. I have yet to make 100oz happen on a Saturday or a Sunday but there's a first time for everything.

2. Two workouts. The weather forecast is looking gorgeous these next couple of days so I fully intend on taking advantage of it by getting outside and moving my body. I would like to make one of these workouts a run since it's been over a month since my last one. The second workout can be another run, a workout DVD, a walk...whatever. I just really want to get back on the fitness wagon any way that I can.

3. Make Santa Fe Chicken. I bought all of the ingredients to make Skinny Taste's Santa Fe Chicken but have been too lazy to make it yet. I don't know how much lazier I can be considering I make it in the crock pot and the most work comes from shredding the chicken after it's cooked. Must make real food this week!

Now I'm done. I swear. :)

Freak Out

I'm back! Vacation was great and of course I never wanted it to end. The only bad thing I have to report about vacation is I came home sick. Such horrible timing! But I'm on the mend and feeling better every day.

Vacation was a fantastic way to reset and come back to work refreshed. But now I also feel like I am starting over with running and changing up my eating habits again. If you recall I skipped out on running and grocery shopping the week before vacation so I am now trying to get back on the wagon after two weeks off. It's damn hard.

I lost the momentum I had going during the month of April. I know I need to just get out there and do it. But I'll be honest, being sick is holding me back. Grocery shopping really has nothing to do with being sick other than I just really felt like doing absolutely nothing since I got home Saturday night. Running on the other hand I feel like it does have a lot to do with being sick. I'm hesitant to get out there when I feel like I wouldn't be able to carry enough tissues on my short little runs to handle my running nose. Being able to breath when running is a requirement and with a cold sometimes that's hard to do.

So this post is me committing to myself and to all of you that while it's slow going I will be back on the wagon soon. I haven't given up! Just give me a little bit to regroup and catch my breath.

Before I leave here today I have to share my surprising weigh in results.

SW: 207.7

Last Weigh In, Apr 23: 205.3

Today's Weigh In, May 7: 203.5

Loss: 1.8

Overall Loss: 4.2

Freak out with me for a second, okay? Who takes two weeks off from exercise and really caring about what to eat, including a week of vacation which included eating out quite a bit, and then sees a loss on the scale?! I'm rather shocked. And I hope it wasn't just a lucky fluctuation of the scale this morning and that I can maintain the loss next week. With hard work I know I can. Here comes that first 5 pounds lost!

And with that I'm out of here. I need to get over to the jewelry store to pick up my mom's mother's day present!

Vacation Mode

SW: 207.7

Last Week's Weigh In, Apr 16: 205.0

Today's Weigh In, Apr 23: 205.3

Gain: 0.3

Overall Loss: 2.4

Not really much to report this week for my weekly weigh in. I stayed the same because less than half a pound doesn't really count as a gain in my book.

I didn't go grocery shopping this week because I really didn't want to deal with having to throw food away or eat it all before I leave Saturday. Not exactly the healthiest way to live but it's going to get the job done. {I have frozen waffles and cereal to live off of.} When I come back it will be back to meal planning and prepping!

As far as running goes I haven't pounded the pavement in a week now. I let that winter weather last week knock me off track and I just haven't gotten back to it yet. Horrible I know but with vacation ahead of me, knowing that I was planning to take that week off, I just feel like what's the point. I know that's not the right way to think about it but it's where my head is at right now. I'm not giving up on running, just putting it on hold until I come back from vacation.

I'm happy with my weigh in this morning considering I'm not putting in any effort to really lose weight right now. Now the real trick will be to see how I do while in vacation mode for a week.

Winter Wednesday

Oh Wednesday, you're not really a friend of mine this morning. Sure, sleeping in was great but waking up to seeing more snow on the ground and it's still falling from the sky just put a huge frown on my face. Winter Wednesday, you can go kick rocks!

But on the bright side, it's Weigh In Wednesday and I have some good news to share!

Starting Weight: 207.7

Last Week's Weigh In, Apr 9: 205.7

Today's Weigh In, Apr 16: 205.0

Loss: 0.7

Overall Loss: 2.7

If you recall last week I had gained slightly so you can imagine how happy I was to see that I lost that slight gain plus a half pound! Looks like I'm back on track guys!

Now a quick update on where I'm at with my fitness and diet.

I had a plan for running this week and it looks like mother nature is deciding that it wasn't a good idea. If you were here yesterday for Tough It Out Tuesday you know that I ran on sidewalks that were not shoveled after Sunday night's snow showers. It wasn't ideal and I really hoped I wouldn't have to do it again. Sadly it has snowed again and it is predicted to keep snowing through tonight. So while the forecast for Thursday has looked good all week it seems like my running route won't be in such great conditions. I may have toughed it out Tuesday and completed my run it also wasn't the most safe conditions for me to be running and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Which includes myself. As much as it frustrates me I will be putting my running on hold if the sidewalks remain in poor condition.

Huge thank you to everyone who commented on last week's WIW post with suggestions for how I could make some changes to my diet! I went to the grocery store on Sunday with a list of better choices and even did a little meal prep that evening. Things have been going well with the diet as a result. The hard part though is that I think I underestimated how much food I really need in a week. I might need to make a second trip to the grocery store for a few more things to eat. Lesson learned I guess!

How do you know how much to buy at the grocery store if you're not following an exact recipe?

For those of you runners that contend with winter, any tips for not letting the snow stop me?

April [Snow] Showers Bring Snow Plowers

Last night and even this morning before I got out of bed I was wondering what I would blog about today. I didn't really want to write about running again because that seems to be all I've been doing lately. But then I took my ass outside for my run and knew right then and there I would be writing about running. And it fits in perfectly with Tough It Out Tuesday.

As part of my goals for the week I made sure I went to bed early. I'm talking in bed by 9 and lights out by 10. According to my FitBit I was able to sleep for almost 8.5 hours. It was wonderful!

And then my alarm went off at 6:30 and I was whining about having to get up. I just can't win when it comes to sleeping. No matter how much or how little I will always want to sleep more. Or maybe that's just part of being an adult?

Anyways, so I managed to get up and out the door. Boy was it chilly! You would never guess it's the middle of April right now unless you're from Wisconsin and this crazy weather is somewhat normal to you. I decided I could handle the cold since I've done it before. Not even 5 minutes after I started I was seriously doubting if I should continue though.

It snowed Sunday night and I guess because it's April people decided they didn't need to shovel their sidewalks at all yesterday. I didn't know if my whole route was going to be like this or if it was just this section. Falling from running on ice/snow was not in my morning plan so I wasn't sure what to do.

Pretty quickly I decided to tough it out and just get it over with. I knew at around my half way point I would be done with sidewalks for a while and that I was going to be on a less busy street on my way back so I could run in the road if needed. It was less than ideal but I got it done.

Hopefully that's the last of these April snow showers so I don't see any more snow plowers!

Now please excuse me as I'm off to take a hot shower to warm up!

The Struggle Is Real

Last night was a rough one as far as sleep was concerned. After getting sucked into the end of a book {because that's when it gets really good don't ya know?} then realizing that my FitBit was dead and frantically running around my place looking for the charger. And deciding once said charger was found that I couldn't sleep without my FitBit to track my sleep so I started a new book to pass the time. Before I knew it it was almost 1am and I was just deciding that I better get to sleep with a half charged FitBit if I wanted to run in the morning.

Fast forward to this morning, I was so close to saying f&%$ this shit and sleeping in. But I dug deep and thought about what all of my supporters would say to me if they knew I was being a lazy bum and wanting to stay in bed instead of run on a perfectly good Thursday morning. I am pretty sure I dragged my own self out of bed at that point. {I'm picturing a ghost like version of myself being up and pulling me from bed.}

And now that it's over I am so glad I just got up and did the damn thing. I do not doubt the power of a work out after what just happened in roughly 30 minutes. I went from being dead tired and grumpy about pulling myself from my nice warm, comfy bed to run to being in such a good mood that I thought today was Friday. {Because good moods on work days are only appropriate on Fridays, right?}

This map looks so much better than the one I posted from the actual app to Instagram, no?

Shameless plug time...if you want to follow me on Instagram and see what I mean about the difference in the way the maps from Nike+ look you can follow me here.

And thanks to the pretty button at the beginning of this post you know I'm linking up to share my non-scale victory today. If you haven't picked up on it yet my NSV for this week is that while the struggle is real each and every morning I decide to get up early and start pounding the pavement I'm doing the damn thing! Crazy what actually {dare I say} enjoying my work out can do. Sure my runs haven't been exactly on schedule right now but I'm still getting them done and not totally hating the experience. Much better than I could say for the 30 Day Shred.

What's your NSV for the week?

A Running Update

Good Tuesday morning my friends! Crazy that I can say that before 8am on a work day but I'm in a good mood this morning so I'm just going to run with it.

Remember back on Wednesday when I filled y'all in on how I decided to start running again? Well mother nature decided to not cooperate Friday morning to allow me to get my second run in as planned. Freezing rain and snow Thursday night to more snow Friday morning meant the roads were crap and as I told Carolyn and Tammy Jo, I'm too young to slip and fall or be hit by a car.

And despite the really awesome weather Saturday and Sunday I was more of a bump on a log than a runner. Let's throw in one more day of being a bump on a log on Monday for good measure while we're at it.

Any time I'm at work seems to be the optimal time for me to feel motivated and want to get my act together. And wouldn't ya know, I got bit by the running bug yesterday afternoon while slugging along during a busy Monday at work. I took advantage of it though and set a run reminder on my Nike+ Running App, changed my alarm to 6:30am, and just got it in my head that I would be running the next morning.

It was so in my head apparently that I woke up twice before my alarm thinking, "crap I missed my alarm to run now I can't" only to check the time and realize it was way too early to be worrying about not being able to run.

When my alarm finally did go off I got right down to business and was out starting week 1 day 2 of the C25K program before 7am.

After getting two runs under my belt I'm feeling pretty good about this running thing. Let's hope it continues that way!

I think I just might be crazy but I'm going to run again tomorrow morning to finish out week 1 of the C25K program. I'm a day behind schedule but I think it will all work out in the end.

By the way, I should probably mention what I am training for. It's not an actual organized road race but a virtual 5K race through the SparkPeople website the week of June 8-14. It's free, I can run any 3.1 mile route I choose, and it can be done when it fits into my schedule any time during that week. I figure this way I'm training for something rather than following the program just for the structure of it.

This may just be the time I finally complete the entire C25K program!

Did you sign up for a race to train for when you started running?
What is your favorite part of running that makes you stick with it?

Getting Back To It

Boy do I ever stink at updating my blog on a regular basis.  Goes hand-in-hand with my consistent workouts unfortunately.  I'm working on both though!

Last Monday I did the first workout of Spark's 8-week Rooking Running Program.  Sadly, I let myself down by not working out again the rest of the week.  I had every intention of working out on Thursday but when my poor morning routine led me to not actually getting up until 7:45, 15 minutes before I need to be at work, I had no time to put together a gym bag.  Shame on me for not having this done the night before.  Thanks for that procrastination.

I have very little ambition to workout at home so even though I have plenty of space to do so I didn't.  Something else I need to work on!

This morning was the exact opposite of last Thursday which I am stoked about because it felt amazing to have time to prepare breakfast, lunch and two snacks, eat breakfast, log all of the food I planned to eat up until dinner, flip the laundry from the washer to the dryer, get myself ready for work, and still have time to watch a 30-minute episode of something on the DVR before needing to leave at my regular time.  (< Longest sentence ever because I got so much accomplished this morning before work?  I'll take it!)

Oh yeah!  I forgot to say I packed my gym bag.  I'll be hitting the gym after work for another workout from week 1 of my rookie running plan.  Since it's been a week since that first workout I'm just going to start over with day one and work my butt off to get the three running workouts in this week that I need to actually move on to week two.

I definitely need to do a better post about this training program I'm doing and what I'm training for.  I also have some other things I need to blog about; concerts, friends moving to the East Coast, weight loss, and how my last semester of school is going.  So, be on the look-out for those posts!  I'm going to do my best to update this a little more regularly.