Two New Milestones!

I went to the gym alone last night - nothing new, but I wish that Trish were there to share my excitement!

I was not going to run, but at the last minute I turned right rather than left and hopped on a treadmill. I cranked up my ipod and began my run. I have been pushing myself to get thru week four and seriously work towards progress in my 5K goal. Today I finally just about did the real week 4 workout! I ran 3/2, 5(!!!)/4, 3/3, and 2.5 (drop ipod and stop treadmill in the middle of Theme From Rocky) 2.5 and then about 8 mins of walking on a 4-5 incline.

So - the big milestones I'm talking about: I ***finally*** did 5 minutes on the treadmill. I also hit the 2 mile mark at 27:14!! That is the best ever for me! Now, I did not do the official week 4 workout because 1: I was having ipod issues that caused me to walk longer than scheduled, 2: at one point (I think after the 1st 5 min run, but not sure any more) I was caught up in the TV and lost track of time and therefore walked longer than scheduled, and 2: It too me a long time to recover from my 2nd 3 min run just because I was still feeling winded and such. Regardless, I did the running!! Well, I did take a small break on the last run when I caught the cord of my ipod and thus yanked it off the shelf and unfortunately also unplugged the earphones and sent the poor Purple Pal clattering to the floor. So I pressed pause, got off and grabbed ipod and rehooked earphones, and unpaused the treadmill to resume said run.

I was hot, tired, and red-faced - but it felt good to finally concur that beast of week 4!

Chicago is Full of Yummy Food

Since the girls were on Spring Break last week, Bill decided to take a few days off and we all went to Chicago for a few days. Bill and I made a point of staying at a hotel with a fitness center and we took our running shoes and clothing along with every great intention of running.

But we walked our asses off, so no running occurred!

The first day we walked from our hotel (in Grant Park) to Navy Peer - I just figured out that was approx. 2.5miles! Then we walked another 2 miles (round trip) to our restaurant for dinner. The girls were supper troopers and gladly walked all that distance ... in fact on the way home from dinner, at like 10pm mind you, Annika was dragging a bit and I was cold so I started jogging a bit to warm up. She jogged with me. Then I thought I'd run up past Lauren and Bill for fun. Well, that started this very good natured "running challenge" and we ended up jogging half the way home, laughing and having a good time. Which was a good thing (the running part) because I ate two pieces of deep-dish pizza! Oh so yummy and good!!

The next day we walked to the Aquarium, stood in line for 2.5hours, then walked all over the aquarium until 5pm when it closed. It was fun, but by then my knees and legs were tired and I had little desire to go running. Besides, we had plans to go to Ed Debevic's for dinner. We successfully navigated the train and walked the few blocks to the restaurant, only to be met by the largest crowd ever! My frustration level was beyond tapped!! So we left and walked a few blocks to another restaurant type place. I ended up eating an Italian Sausage dog, fries, and a large beer. None of that was on my diet; it was all pure frustration eating.

Lunch and breakfast meals were semi-ok. I did a good combination of eating something tasty, yet not too high on the calorie list. But man were there tons of temptations all over the place. Luckily we walked and walked and walked and walked the entire time we were there. Big cities are good for that, I guess. Around here it is hard to walk anywhere. And feel like you wont be run over by crazy drivers on 59! :)

So ... today I thought I'd finally get enough gumption up to weigh myself. Mind you I did this after eating breakfast and lunch. What do you know, I am one full pound lighter than I was last time I weighed myself ... so like last Wed. probably. Whoo Hoo! Now I only have 6 pounds to go, and three weeks, till my 44th birthday. I believe I should make my goal of loosing 25lbs (from February) by my birthday. That will put me at 50lbs total since the beginning of the year. wow!

I Really Hate the Treadmill

I met Trish at the gym last night. It has been a while since either one of us ran on the treadmill, and it showed! I started out strong, running my first 3 minutes at 5.3 no problem. Well, I was tired but I did it ... I really wanted to stop at 2 minutes, but I kept going like a good kid. (chuckle) I walked my 90 seconds, which goes by SO very fast, let me tell you! Trish pushed herself hard and finished her 3 min set too. However, her heart rate was in the 180's, so "Coach Kay" helped her get it under control before she began again.

I never ran my 5 minute set ... I have not managed to go 5 minutes on the treadmill yet! I just do not understand what is going on, but I cannot make myself do it; on the track it seems so much easier. I did a lot of 2 minute runs and one minute breaks between.

I finished with two runs of 5.7 and one run of 6.0 to get me to the 2 mile mark. I did my 2 miles in 27:30-45 (I was not paying that much attention to the time, just the distance!) and in my 35 minutes I did over 2.25 miles. Oh, and I ran one extra minute at 5.7 just because I could! I did not really want to, but I felt I needed to do a bit more.

I felt like I pushed myself pretty hard, but not as hard as I did for week 2 or 3. This being in decent shape now makes it harder to push yourself that hard. My heart-rate was up in the 140's and even in the 150's towards the end, but within a minute or two of walking (at 3.7) it would drop back down to 138-ish. That was my arbitrary recovery goal. And I have to say that when I get to the 145+ mark I am uncomfortable; I just do not enjoy anything about pushing myself farther than 145 area for more than a short period of time.

I need to get over that feeling! It is amazing, too, because I can feel when my body hits that heart rate range ... I start "shutting down" and want to quit. Without even knowing where my heart rate is, my body feels it. I guess it is good that I can recognize that physical feeling, but I would like to get past it and push myself just a bit harder.

Maybe I do better outside because I do not get as hot. That could definitely be part of it, now that I think about it. Because I felt far too hot to lift afterward; I was bubbly headed and not feeling "strong." Hmmm, I'll have to think about that for a while.

A New Possible Goal

So, Trish and I have this little "competition" going with ourselves and each other to see how fast we can complete 2 miles. So far we are both right around 27-28 minutes.

I just figured out how to get a really good (read, the quickest!) time:

1. walk at 3.7 - which I have basically upped my speed to 3.7 most of the time.
2. Run my 3 min set at 5.5 - I've recently upped my running speed to 5.2 /5.3 because thats what I seem to average outside on my own. That pace feels pretty good to me, too. And I know that I can do a whole 3 minutes at 5.5!
3. Then, run my 5 minutes at 5.2.

This will have me complete 2 miles just as I finish my last 5 min. run! Talk about motivation to keep going during the 5 minute last run! OK, this is what I want to do this week. HA!

If I ran 2 miles straight at 5.2 it would take me just over 23 minutes. Not going to happen soon, but just a little tiddy fact to keep in my hat for future thought.

Well, I *almost* did it!

I made the decision to go forward with the C25K program full force this week. This means no more putzing around with my pseudo week 4 attempts! So, this afternoon the girls & I went off to the track to run. It was cute, because they both ran some with me.

So how'd I do, you ask? Not too bad. I walked a lap in 4.22.7, then ran a lap, (I am not 100% sure of my time because I had my ipod locked and forgot about that! So that meant I pushed the buttons, but no splits were recorded. duh!) walked a 1/4 lap and began running again. I then ran 1.75 laps, or just short of 5 minutes. I thought it was 5 minutes, but I was wrong. Oh well. Walked my half-lap, then ran a full lap in 2.53.6 - which makes that full lap about 5.7ish mph! For me that is fast! I then stopped and began my walking break, but had to pee so badly! I ended up squatting on the field and relieving myself right there! Hey, when ya gotta go ya gotta go! Then I began my last run, 5 mins or 1/2 mile or 2 full laps. I did not do that run non-stop. I ended up breaking it up into 3 segments.

As I said, the kids were running with me and talking to me, and it was all a bit more complicated to get into my head and run correctly. I always feel as if I am running painfully slow on the track, then my splits prove me wrong; I end up running faster than my treadmill time of 5.0 / 5.2. I have a bit of a learning curve to work thru still. But it is all good, I am making progress and feeling strong out there.

I know I will be able to run a mile by my birthday. And, if I keep pushing myself this month maybe I will be able to run more than a mile.

Windy Run Today

Ran on the track again today - boy was it windy!!

walked quarter mile, ran half mile, walked 110yrs, ran quarter mile, walked 220yrds, ran quarter mile, walked 110 yrds ran 220 yrds, walked 220 yrds ran quarter mile.

Wait - I just did the math and I ran a quarter lap short of 1.5 miles! that means I only walked half mile out of my 2 miles I did! And actually I just stopped running because 1)the wind was really too strong, 2) the rain was starting, and 3)I had to get back to a birthday party and pick up Lauren soon. I was OK for going farther. huh, I do love running on the track so much more than the treadmill. Although, I don't truly love either one :)

I really need to make myself do Week 4 so that I can move forward. Although, I think I have moved forward more than I think I have! Still, not quite a mile straight. To repeat the 3x around performance of the other day!! Just gotta psych myself up for that one!

Its April, I Need to Get Going!

I just realized that it has been a few weeks in a row that I have not been serious about my running. I would really like to make some progress, but I simply am not pushing myself too hard. Yes, I have been plagued with some minor "injuries" and pains and such. But really, I have little excuse as to why I am not closer to my 3/90. 5/2.5, 3/90, 5/2.5 workout. I have done 5 minutes twice now .... just never on the treadmill. The above workout (my week 4 of the C25K program) is also the same as running .25 miles, .50 miles, .25, .5 miles. I could do it on the track pretty easily. Maybe this week the girls and I will go to the track and run. I can do it ... I know I can!!

I have exactly one month until my 44th birthday. I am supposed to lose another 7lbs and be able to run 2 miles non-stop by then. Well, I did adjust it to one mile fairly recently. So ... In 4 weeks I need to be able to run a full mile. I think the 7lbs should be no big problem. I'd like to lose more even, but I'm not getting greedy! Wow - that would be close to 50lbs lost! The sad thing, I have a lot more to go! Oh well. I'll get there.