Week 2 Health Recap:

The beginning of this week was a struggle. Let us recall that I ate a ton of pizza and garlic knots on Monday. Other than that I was fine. I'm not upset that I ate all that pizza, it was delicious! On a better note, I discovered a terrific lunch; quinoa and Green Giant steamer vegetables in light sauce. My job and work schedule make it difficult to eat lunch. I need something that won't leave me feeling too full. The Green Giant steamer packs are a little over $2 and I eat one a day so it's not ideal financially but I love them and they make my life easy. In addition, I made some good food choices at McDonald's (salad and a few fries) and parties (ate a little of my favorites without going overboard). This upcoming week I am going to try to incorporate even more raw fruits and veggies into my diet. I made a fabulous raw caesar dressing which will make greens really tasty!


Sunday 3/14: 120.5


Sunday 3/21: 117.8


Still going strong!

Caped Crusader

This is what I looked like upon completion of my run.

I awake feeling hungover from an excess of caffeine, sugar, and Christian worship. I try to recall all the amazingly positive feelings from the night before but all I can do is crawl out of bed and get ready for my 5 mile run. I have a ton of stuff to do today and I cannot delay any longer.

Everything bothered me at the beginning of this run. Which is odd considering the weather was beautiful. If I recall, I was more upbeat last week while I was being lashed by rain and wind. For whatever reason little things kept bothering me. My shoes were too loose then too tight, my hair kept falling out of the buns that they were twirled into, I was dressed too warmly, I had to pee (sorry for being honest!). My jacket was the first situation to be addressed. For some reason I simply cannot wear discarded garments around my waist. Placed there, they seem to act as nets waiting to entangle my swimming arms. Due to the fact that I was on a well traversed path I tried once more to suck it up and wear the stupid jacket around my waist. Alas, it was no use, I was going to have to cape it. I swung the garment into a more rope-like device and tied it over and under my shoulders thus creating a weird cape. Who knows the origins of this idea, but it works for me. This was the final touch to my outfit of misfits. Who wants to wear clothes that match anyway? Also of note, are my over sized black sunglasses. While I assure you these look fabulous laying on the beach or strolling by shops, they don't seem to have the same effect while running. I bet Wallmart has some more technical looking ones. I make a note to get some asap.

Right off the bat I wanted to go to the bathroom. At one point I passed a dog training facility with a portapotti on the other side of a chain link fence equipped with barbed wire at the top. I pictured myself climbing to the top, whipping my jacket/cape off, throwing it on the barbed wire, and reaching the other side just like in the movies. My only deterrents were the dozen or so people and dogs actually training by the portapotti. Instead, maybe I could just run off of the road and into the woods or knock on a kind stranger's front door? None of these seemed like valid possibilities. Something more important was happening anyway. Where was my turn around point? I vaguely remembered picking a telephone pole as a half-way marker. Really? A telephone pole? What a great idea seeing as though there are about 20 on this road. Maybe it was the one by the sign? No, it is definitely the one by this person's driveway. Whatever, I'll just turn around and know that I either did slightly more or slightly less than 5 miles.

On the way back I adjusted my shoes one more time and promised to stop for the rest of the run. My mental circumstances were much improved on the way back. I may have even been jogging, I sure felt like I was flying. Towards the end it seemed that I could keep going for miles and miles longer. I guess Galloway's plan is working because he believes that you should never feel exhausted after a long run. All in all, despite the whining in the beginning of the run everything worked out wonderfully. I learned that I should run in shorts from now until winter, buy new "running" appropriate sunglasses, and make sure my hair is secure before venturing out. With regard to my clothes in general, I simply do not care if I match or clash.

MYRTLE hip routine

This is what my pup does when I do any form of workout at home. He brings his toys, puts them all around my "workout" area, and plays. This makes my workout a little more interesting to say the least. The other day I was doing the yoga boat pose and he catapulted onto my stomach to go for a ride. I should just put him in the other room but I'm a sucker for his cute antics.

It's another fabulous day! I was extremely busy at work which I would consider an 8 hour workout. Unfortunately, it's not in my training plan and I stuck with my XT regimen when I returned home. My hip was doing very well today and to make sure I was 100% better for Saturday's "long" run I only walked for 15 minutes and did some core and hip work. I completed the core workout with much less trauma than last time. Woohoo! I like to look in the mirror and pretend that I see muscles developing already! I also decided to get crazy and add a hip routine into the mix. On the advice of a very nice blogger from runnersworld.com, I added the MYRTLE workout by Coach Jay. It is 12 exercises that increase strength and range of motion in the hip area. I usually detest any form of strength training but I enjoyed this workout. It consists of fun things like donkey kicks and leg swings, and there is even a video on youtube so I could see what every move looks like. My legs weren't swinging like the girl's in the video but now I have something to aspire too!

Shuffling is hazardous

My hip is feeling much better! I did some research and discovered that it is a fairly common injury and I think doing some strengthening and stretching will help in the future. Someone suggested a sports massage therapist which would be awesome! I guess if I could afford a massage therapist I wouldn't have to run in a poncho.

I shuffled through an easy 30 minute trek and strolled along on a 10 minute walk with my pup. I wanted to take it easy so as not to aggravate the ole hip. Everything was going rather smoothly, I even wore a green shirt for St. Patrick's Day. Before I continue I would like to add that if you have not read my profile I would just like to mention that I am awkward in all aspects of life, especially running. Not only do I shuffle, but I lean forward while maintaining a straight back and haphazardly swing my arms. All in all it must be an unsettling sight to those passing by. So, I'm floundering along when all of the sudden BAM! I am lurched forward, limbs flailing. It was only by Divine Intervention that I caught myself and didn't smash my face into the cement. I did a mental check: arms, legs, knees, hips, everything was okay. YAY! I looked back at the cursed piece of sidewalk that tried to foil my run, it was barely a blurb in an otherwise smooth facade. I realized that maybe if I picked my feet up when I ran I wouldn't trip so much. Then again what fun would my daily journey be if I couldn't shuffle along and enjoy the scenery?

When I returned home victorious over the sidewalk, I went through some yoga stretches. I was doing some relaxing breathing thing laying down with my arms in the air. When I brought my arms down I realized that I couldn't actually turn my left arm. It was stuck! I mean it was really stuck. Once I figured out that I didn't dislocate my shoulder or anything I decided just to bit down and force it to move, whereupon something cracked. Maybe not the best idea but it worked! I iced it just in case but everything seems fine. This is what happens when an awkward person tries to do yoga!

Week 2 Recap

Week 2:

Monday: 40 minute jog including 10 minute warm-up/cool-down

Tuesday: RICE rest, ice, compres, elevate. My hip was bothering me enough to take an extra rest day in hopes that it would feel better

Wednesday: 30 minute easy jog and 10 minute walk with Little Guy

Thursday: XT-15 minute walk, core workout, MRYTLE hip routine



Friday: rest day!

Saturday: 5 miles (alternating 5 minutes shuffling/3 minutes walking)

*start: 9:37 a.m. end: 10:54 a.m. 1hour and 17 minutes

Sunday: 40 minute walk with Little Guy

This week was a little more of a struggle than last week. My hip was a problem in the beginning of the week and I am happy to report that it is almost 100% better now. In Runner's World I found a marvelous yoga routine made specifically for the iliotibial band. I felt strong on my long run and I am looking forward to continuing my training plan.

Another rainy run and now the SUN

I apologize for the folowing written mess. I just wasn't in the mood to blog.

I know, I didn't write yesterday! sooo bad because now I am feeling completely different than I was.

MONDAY recap-


Sunday night I had bad dreams about Shutter Island, a movie I've never seen, I have no idea why. I slept poorly and awoke VERY CRANKY!! Let me tell you, I was in such a mood. Good thing no one else is up at 3:20 a.m. except my pup and he is too precious to be mad at. I have to take him out for his walk and for some reason I feel that 3:00 a.m. is a really creepy time to be outside. I can't even explain why. So, I'm outside and then there are some cats (I hope) fighting which sounds like an evil banshee coming to eat me. This did nothing to dispel my foul mood. Did I mention that it was raining? I began to drive to work and found that the highway was closed due to flooding. Really?! Therefore, I had to detour myself all over the place in a town I'm not even that familiar with. I finally found a cop to give me directions and made it to work. I was cranky all day and appeased myself by promising to eat a pie of pizza when I got home. I was lucky that it only took me an extra 30 minutes to get home with all of the flooded disasters. This is where some big decisions came into play. I sure didn't feel like running and my hip hurt all day so I had an excuse. But I ran anyway, again in the rain. This time it was about 10 degrees warmer and there was no wind so it was pretty nice. To get myself out of the door I said that I would only run for 15 minutes. Of course once I started I felt great and ended up doing my usual 40. By the time I got home I felt much better. My husband and I still got pizza though and I ate 3 1/2 slices and 6 garlic knots. Pretty crazy. I couldn't help it, I wanted pizza and there was no stopping me. There are just certain times of the month that you don't want to get inbetween me and my pizza and chocolate!!! hey, at least I ran.

TODAY-

What an amazing day! After being bombarded by rain since Friday it was amazing to see the sun shinning. My heart goes out to all of the people cleaning up their homes after the big storms. We were so blessed not to be affected by this. It would have been a great day to walk for hours but I decided to take the day off. My hip was bothering me pretty badly yesterday, I ran anyway, iced it, took ibuprofin, and although it felt better today I figured I would give it a rest. I even had to modify my core work-out because half of the moves are done standing on 1 leg and that wasn't going to help my hip. The good thing is that the pizza monster went away. I had no problem going back to eating healthy. Well, that's a slight lie. It was kinda tough but the rest of the week is probably going to be like this so I'm just going to have to find a way to deal with it!

Week 1 weight loss

My main goal is to positively change my life which of course includes eating better and losing a few pounds. I decided that I was not going to be on a restrictive diet or deny myself anything. After all, training is my main priority and I don't want to overload myself with too many things at once. I just focused on eating lots of fruits, veggies, and whole grains. It worked! I was never hungry and after Tuesday my junk food cravings subsided. One day I really wanted a Mahi Mahi taco from Baja Fresh for lunch so I had it. Another day I thought that I really wanted some ice cream cake after dinner. Instead of just eating it right away I told myself that I could eat it if I still wanted it after 30 minutes, and in 30 minutes I didn't want it anymore. I treated myself to a Kashi pizza and snacked on Rice Krispies (love them!) this weekend. It was a fabulous week.

I wasn't going to do this but I think if I put my numbers out there it will be another motivation to keep up training.

Monday: 124.4 lbs

waist: 26 inch
hips: 32.5 inch
thighs: 21.5 inch

Sunday: 120.5

YAY! 4 pounds slimmer!