Hubs Lunches and A New Training Plan

I know this is 2012 and this may seem very Mayberry but I still pack Hubs a lunch almost every morning. It saves us money and keeps him from eating fried food from the Chuck Wagon (Allsups reference for the Texans). I'll admit that I also like the feeling of doing something sweet for the Hubs first thing int he morning.  It starts our day off right. Especially when I leave sweet and/or scandalous messages in with his goodies. What husband wouldn't like a side of sexy with their sandwich??

Anyway....
Here is what his lunch looked like today:



Cajun Turkey Wrap, PB Crackers, 1/2 Corn Muffin (usually there is a snack bag of chex mix, pretzels or a protein bar but we were all tapped out)

 

I can always tell when I've done an especially good job on his lunch when I get a call from him really early to tell me he loves me or is thinking of me in the nude.

Who knew Sack Lunches = Happy Marriages?? Nice.

On the the new training program.
As I mentioned in an earlier post I am way past the 5K training program now and am going to move on to a 10K program. I like the one by Hal Higdon: Click to view and print!

It is a really good intermediate level training program.  There are also programs for Beginners, Advanced and people who want to Walk a 10K.

Projected Workout for Today:

1. Run 3-4 miles
2. 15 Minutes - Core

What are you training for right now?

Have you ever done a Hal Higdon training program before?

Running and Drinking

Yesterday I ran to drink.
Really . . . I had an anniversary party to go to and I knew I wanted to drink a few beers. So, I ran 4 miles so that I could drink them without feeling bad about the empty calories.
It was great!! We had a blast I got to drink 5 or 6 beers and I didn't go over my calories for the day. VICTORY!

I am wondering how it is going to affect my run today.  Hopefully it won't suck too bad. We will see.

Projected Run For Today:

1. 3 Miles - Up time by 15 sec. per mile

Actually Workout for Yesterday

1. 4 Miles - Uped time by 15 sec per mile

VICTORY!

So, yesterday's projected workout was 3-4 miles and some core work.
However, instead of just going with the plan I listed to what my body was telling me.
After 3 miles I still felt great so I kept going. After 4 still felt good so why not go some more...I made it to 4.5 miles (my personal best) before I stopped.  4.5 MILES! WOOT!

I was (and am) so super jazzed!
Happy dance? Check. Party Boying the Tredmill? Check. Call the hubs to tell him of my accomplishment? Double check.

I actually think I could have even run for another half mile.  I had to stop though because I was already running 20 minutes late meeting hubs and my family for the college football kickoff at 6:00.

I think I may still be glowing from my Thursday victory run. I am so pumped and proud that I have come this far.  I have now lost 23 pounds and am able to run 4.5 miles and in May I could barely run for 5 minutes without having to stop and walk. Just...awesome.

Today I am going to pick up Bud from his mom's for our weekend.  So, depending on what time I get back, here is the projected workout for today:

1. 30 Minutes - Cardio/Core Circuit

Please feel free to share one of your recent victories so that we can all bask in each other's victory glows!

Weigh in Wednesday - Yesterday's Run

Morning Weight: 171.0
Happy Dance?? Don't mind if I do... Beep boop beep bee boop boop boop beep beep and fist pump pump.
So I have lost the weight from the vacation plus a few more ounces. Woopie!

How was this accomplished you ask? Well as I said yesterday my brother asked me to run with him.  More like him running with me. He runs about a 7:00 - 8:00 pace and I run about a 12:00 pace. He runs outside in the heat, I run inside on the TM with the a/c. His short run is 4 miles, my long run is 4 miles. He was running at about 30% and I was running at about 90%.

My brother super pumped for one of his races.

Shirtless running = Digits from sexy spectators??

Long story short - Austin = Massively-dedicated-kickass-motivating brother

He ran at my pace and helped motivated me through the last mile when I was just praying for it to be over.

Even though he had to slow way down to run with me and never seemed to get the least bit winded, running with him made me feel like a mega champ. He is one of the big reasons I started running and it felt really good and definitely boosted by self esteem to run with him. It also go me super motivated to work on getting my time down to 10:00 and my long run up to 6 miles over the next 6 weeks.

It was an excruciating, hot (94), side-stitch-inducing, mind grapling, craptastic 4 miles... And I was STOKED after I did it. Perma grin all the way home. It was an awesome way to wrap up the work day.

Big thanks to my dedicated brother.  You're a beast.

Projected Exercise for Today:

1. 1-2 Miles - Easy Pace
2. 30 Minutes - Core & Abs Circuit Training

Mini Goals:

1. Keep it under 1,600 calories
2. Drink 2.5 liters of water
3. Bring my time down by 20 sec. per miles this week

Change of Plans: Level - Intimidating

Just got a call from my training-for-his-umpteenth-race brother.  He is really supportive and excited about my taking up running too and has asked me to go on his short run with him today. "I'm only doing four miles," he says, "We can go at your pace," he says, "No pressure," he says.... Well.... You are my big brother/running role model.... No pressure my less fat ass.

This guy usually runs at a 7:00 - 9:00 pace depending on the length of the run. Me?? Oh, I run at a 12:00 pace. So basically you could speed walk beside me. Great match we are huh?

So to this nonsense I of course responded, okay.

So now I am going on a 4 mile run (a distance I have only run once) with my big brother at 5:00pm today. I am, by no fault of his, intimidated and just a tidge petrified.

Never the less, I will run with him to prove to myself that I can do it and to kick start running outside. I have been talking about starting to run outside now that it is down in the 90's again.... so, what the crap, why not today?

Wish me luck and Pray for me.
Pray for me lots.

Seriously Healthy vs. Serious Heifer

Why is it that on the days I don't workout I eat like a total heffer?! (for non-Texans that is a lady cow)
Is it just me or does food taste better when you aren't going to burn it off later?

For the past 3 days I have rested due to some intense shin splints suffered during my previous two runs. All three rest days have been 1,800+ calorie days? What the shiz?!

I am really going to have to start practicing some self control on my rest days instead of considering them binge days and going completely ape on any and all food within my reach. Not Good.

Today I am getting back to my regular running schedule.  I am starting a new 10K training schedule since I finished the 5K Novice Plan. My longest run so far is 4 miles, which I did at the slugs pace of about 12 minute miles. Lame sauce time? Maybe. Ashamed? HELL NO! I ran 4 bleepin miles! I even had enough energy left to party boy the tredmill. Eat that couch potatoes!!!

So, now that I have done my 5K plan, the new goal is to run a 10K which is 6.2 miles. I am very pumped about the prospect of running over 6 miles. I NEVER thought that would happen. Ever. But here I am excited about not just running but runner farther. Squirrel Poop.

So on the menu today:

1. 3 Mile Run - Easy Pace: 35-38 minutes
2. Arms - Low Weight, High Reps: 15-20 minutes
3. 2-3 Liters of Water (throughout the day)
4. Don't eat like a damn heffer!

Will report back on what actually happens.

What actually went down:

1. Ran 2 miles - Easy Pace
2. Went to the Purcell's and ate some deliciously unhealhty food.
3. Shit...

Does anyone else have the same problem of eating bad on rest days??

My Exercise Routine in a Nutshell

About 5 weeks ago I started exercising regularly. Well, I guess I should say that I worked up to "regularly".  When I first started I used Tony Horton's Ten Minute Trainer, which is great by the way, and made it for about two weeks.  Then I did nothing for two weeks.  Then i did it for another two and slacked for another two. During these two months of on and off workouts I lost only 6 pounds.

Bummer

I was eating right but not staying dedicated to my exercising. So, one day, I found an amazingly do-able running guide.  It was the "8 Week Beginners Running Program" from Runners World magazine, which is a magazine my brother subscribes to.  It's fantastic.   Now believe me, I was the lamest of the lame when it came to running when I first started.  I don't even think the word "novice" quite covered the extent of my running rookie-ism. Som, don't believe those voices in your head saying "Running is out of the question," and "There is no way I can do this," because it can be done. No matter what condition you are in, it can be done if you just start moving.

So, here is was, 180+ pounds starting a running program. Climbing onto that tredmill I felt what I imagine Indiana Jones felt in that pit of snakes, scared and reluctant to move. But I knew that if I could just start somewhere and go at a pace I was comfortable with - slow - the rewards would be well worth the suckitude of working out.

So I ran. I ran exactly how the training guide said for 5 weeks.  Then I told myself "You know that you could go ahead and run 30 minutes.  You are just being a lazy ass."  So I got on the tredmill on day 36 and ran for 37 minutes without stopping.  I felt the way that Chuck Norris must feel on a daily basis, BAD ASS! On a scale of 1-Awesome I was STUPENDOUS!

37 minutes to many people is nothing to write home about, but to me it was the climbing of Mount Everest. I had had to work my ass off to get there and no matter what anyone thought I was proud of myself. Very Proud. Then this Tuesday, July 16th, I ran 4 miles. I don't think, in my 26 years, I have EVER run 4 miles. I was giddy! I jumped off the tredmill and did a well deserved happy dance. I dipped into my gusto reserves and gave that happy dance all that I could possibly give it. It was fantasmic.

Now, I don't want you to think that I never slipped during my 6 weeks of awesomness.  I did.  I would cheat with my eating on weekends, on walking days I would skip all together, and on some running days I'd say screw it.  However, the longest I went without a workout was 2 days.  I always made myself get back on the horse.  One of the best ways I found to combat the lazies was to weigh every Wednesday.  Its a day in the middle of the week, which gave me a couple days to undo what I had done on the weekend and see how much I had lost.  Knowing that I had gone down 1, 2 or sometimes 3 pounds was enough to keep me going.  Not only going but going harder.  Losing weight and gaining stamina just made me more motivated to run longer and eat better so that I could keep seeing those positive results.

In addition to weighing, I have also been keeping my measurments on this chart:

Body Measurement Chart

I keep my Training Program Chart, Measurement Chart, and Food Diary Sheets in a 1" Binder so that I can keep up with everything no matter where I go. I helps keep me honest . . . most of the time anyway.




Meal & Exercise Diary

Starting is the hardest part. But once you start and begin to see the results of your hard work, it is a lot easier to get motivated to get your ass moving. Just start. It is so worth it.

Thoughts? By the way if you want any of the charts/sheets and can't print them like this.  Just let me know and I will figure out how to make them printable for you ASAP.

Here's the Skinny . . . and Not-So-Skinny Of It.

I'll start off my story with the great stuff...
I am 26 years old. I have a completely amazing, sometimes maddening husband whom I love dearly.  I also have a 7 year old son that is the most fun and hillarious thing that has ever happened to my life.  Hopefully there will be siblings for him in the very near future! I have amazing parents, siblings, and friends.  They make my life so colorful and in more ways than their use of foul language.  I also have an amazing job working for hospice as a volunteer coordinator.  My co-workers and volunteers live in service to others with a smile on their face and love in their hearts. They make it easy to believe in the grace of God. All of these people rock my face off.
Now for the not so great...


Being Fat
I know what you're thinking, great family, great friends, wonderful job . . . I hate this hooker!  Well, now for the not so marvelous. Starting in my second year of college, which was about 7 years ago, I steadily put on weight until I topped 190 pounds (194 to be exact). (That was so incredibly hard to type, and much harder still not to go back and dial down or just delete all together. Gross.) While in college I drank WAY too much beer, ate WAY too much fast food and was a complete lazy ass. It was my own damn fault that I got so big.

Then at age 20 I started having intense panic attacks that completely screwed me up mentally and physically for a while. The ONLY good thing about that scary as hell experience was that I lost 30 pounds.  Then I met my future husband and after about a year of us being together and me finally learning to control my anxiety I was back up to 180. (Thank God he loved me for my personality too!) Then after I got married, well, I basically did the same things that screwed me in college minus the drinking. That's how I got back up to 194 AGAIN. I went through a mentally dark period of time where the only things I thought about myself were completely self depricating and aweful. I lived in a perpetual state of being completely disgusted with myself. I would avoid full length mirrors, scales, and sex with the lights on, at all cost.  I haven't been under 180 now for about 4 years. Anytime I would lose weight it would only last a short amount of time and then I would be right back in the 180's and 190's. It was a shittastic cycle fatassery and until now I was never willing to do what I knew had to be done to fix it.

I hated myself for letting it get so out of hand. Then I hated myself more for knowing how fat I was and never doing anything to change it. I attended family functions with all my tall slender/fit siblings and dreaded knowing that someone would want to take family pictures. Scratch that. I hated anytime someone wanted to take a picture with me in it. I hated how it felt to wonder if my husband could really find me attractive. Wondering if he was just saying all those sweet things to make me feel better but really just hoping to God I didn't get any fatter. I even worried what my family thought about how I looked and if they secretly pittied me for ballooning up like I did. I Hated Being Fat.
So, one day in February, I woke up and knew something had changed.  A switch had been flipped in my head.  I'm not even sure why that day or why out of no where I was finally so motivated to change my life but I just woke up and knew that it was going to change and that I was not going to make anymore excuses for my weight.  I was going to change it for good. I woke up and all I thought was FUCK BEING FAT ANYMORE!! It felt awesome!

That day I started eating healthier. I didn't say "Tomorrow's the day. I'm going to start tomorrow for sure," I started immediately.  I worked my metabolism by eating 5 small meals a day, I tried not to take in more than 1800 calories a day max, I quit drinking diet coke, and I drank between 2 and 3 Liters of water a day.  (I will go more into detail on my diet/eating habits in my next post.) Just by modifying my diet I lost 5 pounds in 2 months.  This just didn't seem like enough of a change for me.  So, in May, I started running. Let me just say, WOW! I was like, "So this must be why my marathon-runnin' brother is always preaching the religion of the road!" I dropped 10 pounds in the 4 weeks! CRAZE BALLS! Commiting to running has been the best decision I have ever made for my health. Did I enjoy the excessive and motionsickenss-inducing jiggling that was my thighs, stomach and ass when I first started? No. Hell No. BUT I knew it was going to and DID melt the weight off of me. (More on my running program in next post.)
SO . . . . Healthy Eating + Exercise + The Dance With No Pants = You become a sexy beast.
(If you didn't get that reference...what the hell is wrong with you?! Start watching the Big Bang Theory this instant!)
Hopefully I can help even one person feel and do better by their body and mind through what I write on this blog. If not, well, thems the shits...