But it's to cold...

I knew it was going to be cold so I threw on my sweatpants and a long sleeve t-shirt. I stepped outside and thought this won't be so bad. Then I got out of the car at my daughters school and the wind hit me, burrrr. That's it, I am not running today!! So I get back in my car and start to drive home. But something made me get over in the other lane and pull into the park. I get my mp3 player, ready my watch and off I went. I kept telling myself, "just 1 mile, just 1 mile". I finished my mile and I thought just 2.5 more laps and it's 2 miles, I can do it. So I kept going. The wind chilled my face and made my eyes water. My hamstrings felt like they were burning and for the first time, in a loooog time, I felt my calf muscles (maybe that was muscle forming... because if you have seen my legs I have thighs and then bone down to my feet... it sure would be nice to put some muscle back there!). Feeling my muscles means that my legs are working. I began to think of the pain as something special. The pain means my body is getting stronger.

Feb 28th 2 miles in 26:21:05
Mar  8th 2 miles in 24:40:38
Mar  9th 2 miles in 23:43:05

Do you see what is happening with my time? Yeah!! Even though I took a week off, because I am lazy, my time is still improving. This does not mean that every workout will be faster than the last but it means I am improving. All of these runs have been at the same park with a nice flat surface so when I do get back to my favorite park with the hilly trail run I expect my time to go back up some. Or maybe it won't because I love running on trails... I despise running in circles on a track. So why don't I run on a trail everyday? Good question. The park I run at is convenient. I have to pass it every day after dropping my daughter off so it guilts me into stopping and running. If I can run on this surface then when I do get to run somewhere else it will feel special and fun... right?

Jog.fm

I found this site via Pinterest http://jog.fm/workout-songs/for/10:00/minute-miles . It is a site where you can enter in the pace you want to run and it tells you songs that will help you stay on pace.

The song that kept me going today is called "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts" by T.Pain at sportsmusic.org.

Feel the Burn

I ran yesterday so I thought I might take today off. The more I thought about it the more I realized a little over a mile hardly counts as something that I need a day off from. So around 1:30, when I usually would be ready to take a nap, I put on some shorts and my running shoes... drove to the park and ran 5 laps, which equal 2 miles!! My first mile was 10:10!! Finally under 11 minutes!! I did not time my second mile because I wasn't even planning on running it. Who cares what my time was. I was just happy to go 2!

Ok, so yes I ran the whole first mile. Started walking and then realized I needed to at least try to go a little more. Got to a good beat on my playlist and before I knew it I was finishing up mile two (walked just a tiny bit during mile 2). But I can only get better from here. My next step is to run 2 miles without walking and then push it to 3 miles. I am going to work on a 10 to 11 min mile pace for now. Once I hit 3 miles then I will try to shave off time. I am not looking to run a marathon so 3 miles sounds like a great goal for now. The first 5k I ever ran was finished in about 32 min so I would love to get to the point where I could beat that time.

Running

Jake suggested that we start a running diary so that we can all (Jake, Caleb, and myself) keep up with the miles we run per week. This is a great idea! Then when I remember I can transfer them on to here. I ran today but it was a new course for me and I read the sign wrong. I though I ran 2 miles but it was probably more like 1.5 - 1 3/4.  Whatever it was it took me 20min 31sec. I decided today that my favorite place to run is a wooded, dirt/gravel trail. We have a park not to far from our house that I think is wonderful but it makes Jake nervous for me to go there alone. The park today was nice but most of the path is paved :( However it is much better than the other park I have been running at that is also paved and I have to run 3 laps just to make 1 mile... BORING!!

So how's the weight loss going. Jake is almost under 220 for the first time in several years! I lost 4 pounds since my first post on the 16th and I have been holding steady. I measured myself the other day so I can start keeping up with that as well. Like I said, it's not about the pounds; it's about the inches. I don't even have a goal for how many inches to loose. I just want to see the layer of fat replaced by semi-toned skin with some type of muscle underneath (not looking for a six pack). To me it's very frustrating when people look at me and say you don't need to loose anything... or you don't need to diet. Tall people can hide it better. We look thin until one day "Poof" there is a big ole belly. My family has a history of skinny arms, legs, and no bottom. All of the fat cells collect around the belly and moved towards the back... we don't really get fat in our faces either but just put on water weight. From what I have heard is that belly fat is the worst! So in order to prevent that build-up that can takes years to shed I would like to diet and exercise now.

A couple of products we have used to kick start our diet/exercise:
Slim-Fast Plan: We are trying to follow it but it's not always easy. I have had great success with it before.
5-hour energy and Spark (by AdvoCare): To try to combat my lack of energy I have taken 1 dose of one of the energy supplements around 2pm several days this week. It has helped a lot!! I don't really feel like I have extra energy but it kept me focused and not taking a nap!
Green Tea with Ginger and Ginseng: Instead of drinking one of the above energy supplements today I drank this and it seemed to have the same effect. A whole lot cheaper (and I am sure healthier) so I will stick with this as long as it's working. I will have to update later on to let you know if it's still helping.

Health Assesment

Our insurance requires us to have a yearly physical (we get a discount if we do!). So 2 weeks ago I went. Blood Pressure 104/72, Cholesterol 162, Weight 154... 154 Yikes! So I have definitely put on some pounds. I wish it was muscle, then I would not care. But the fact that I can't fit into any of my summer shorts lets me know that I have to shed a few inches because I can not afford new clothes. I don't care about the number because I know it's in the healthy range for my height. What I do care about is that most of my clothes no longer fit and I am tired all of the time. Key phrase is that I am tired ALL of the time. I had the Dr test my iron, thyroid, and b12 which all came back fine. So maybe it's just laziness? It seems like I was tired even when I was in good shape but I have decided that I have to try again because living the lazy life just makes me feel worse. I don't want to have a goal weight because my goal is to loose inches, not pounds, and add some muscle. I am terrible about keeping up with my blog but I do like to look back and see progress I have made. So I post my weight today hoping that in a few months I will see improvement... and who knows I might be back to blog about it along the way.

Ha Ha

I will begin by laughing because it's that bad. I was all "athletic", did my triathlon, and then... nothing. August 8th, 2010 was my first and only sprint triathlon and I was apparently to tired to even blog about it. I did great, stunk at the swimming but made it through, did awesome on the bike and decent on the run and I finished in the middle of the pack. So why did I just stop everything after that? Maybe it was the fact that it was volleyball season and I had no one to watch the kids so I could continue to train or the fact that I just became straight up lazy. So now Feb, 2012 - almost 20 pounds heavier - I am ready to get active again.

I ran once in January. I ran a mile in a little under 11 minutes. Then I got sick, stayed sick for a month so I did not do anything. A couple days ago I broke out my Billy Blanks and did my 8 min Tae Bo workout. Yesterday morning Jake and I got up early and did the workout together. Then last night we made up our own "Just Move" workout. We joked about posting a how to video online but I think I can explain it. You just get up off your lazy tail and move. As we watched tv we walked laps (big or little living room it does not matter as long as you are moving), then we did some stairs (Now don't laugh because that's not nice). I would like to say we finished it off with some crunches and push-ups but I felt like I was going to fall asleep as I was walking so I will have to add that to todays routine. So far today I ran 1 mile, it took me almost 11 minutes but I was up and moving and that's what matters. I plan to watch my caloric intake today because I am pretty sure the potato chips I ate yesterday minused out any exercise I did.

Calebs first IRON KID

My IRON KID was fun. My favorite part was the run. I got in 87th place. On the bike my shoe lase got stuck around the pedal. But a policeman was there to help me. It was kind of scary. My friend did it to. At the end I got a medal for finishing. Me and my friend played for a little bit. Then we left.

-by Caleb