Me @ 30: Goals for Week 4

Here are my goals for the upcoming week -- (thanks AM for the idea!)

Physical Activity

• Go to the gym twice
• Run 3 miles
• Get outside and play with my son

Motherhood

• Truly enjoy my week alone with him
• Allow myself to get lost in his kiddie world a few times
• Treat him to someplace he really likes (Chuck E. Cheese, maybe?)

Personal Growth

• Journal at least 4 times
• Meditate at least once
• Don't fall behind on my work and studying
• Work on stress reduction strategies
• Start working on my list of things that make me happy (see this post by one of my blog pals)

Nice thing for myself

• Do something off of the happiness list (see above)

Eating

• Limit to 1500 calories a day -OR-
• Aim for 60 grams of carbs or less
• Try to eat fruits or veggies every day
• Drink 8-10 glasses of water a day

Home/Life

• Unpack and arrange my closet

Fun/"Me" Time

• Make it to my sailing course this weekend.

Me @ 30: Week 3

Physical Activity

I ran 5.5 miles today... my first physical activity since dance class on 7/20. I've just been so tired between driving to/from Jersey and working that it's been hard to motivate. But, I got a good look at my scale today. I need to get back onto my workout routine!

I haven't been running since early July. I registered for a 10K that's two weeks from today. I know I'm out of shape, but I knew if I didn't put money down and commit to this race, I would never get back into running. In general, I feel like I've been letting myself down and breaking so many (running) promises to myself. Truthfully, running is getting lonely, and I lost my love for it.

Motherhood

I got to watch the kiddo swim at his swimming camp earlier in the week (I love his camp). He couldn't swim a lick before this camp and now he's swimming in 9 feet of water. He really wanted me to watch what he can do, so I went an hour early to pick him up so I could watch. It was fun, especially to see him jump off the diving board! I picked him up today, and I have him 24-7 for a whole week. This should be fun.

Personal Growth

I have been very introspective. I journaled a few days this week. No meditating (sorry). I've come to harsh realizations about my deficiencies, both personal and in my career, and have been working overtime (literally) to remedy those.

Nice thing for myself

Can't think of anything.

Eating

Still traveling to/from Connecticut every week, I did eat at McDonald's twice this week, but both times I got a salad, sliced apples and fresh fruit smoothies (an improvement). I was doing great regulating sweets and aiming to stay under 1500 calories a day. But, Thursday night while working overnight, I raided the snack closet and had 12 Oreos and 1 Fig Newton. Terrible, I know. But, one day at a time.

I started keeping a food diary. It is amazing what one can eat in a day. It's also amazing how small "serving sizes" are. When's the last time my overflowing bowl of cereal had only 3/4 cup of cereal in it? Why does my salad dressing have the same amount of calories as my salad? Why was my sizzling chicken and shrimp dinner at Friday's 1200 calories? It's no wonder that we Americans are overweight. Our portions are out of control, and I'm the biggest culprit.

My scale puts me at 140 pounds today (yes, I gained 5 pounds since Cancun -- 3 weeks ago), and I've lost a lot of muscle in the last 2 months, so it's actually more than 5 pounds.

Home/Life

No moves in the unpacking department.

Fun/"Me" Time

The girls and I went to see Eat, Pray, Love and had brunch afterwards to unload our thoughts.

The Year In Review (Jan until July 2010)

Since starting this blog and picking up running as a hobby, I have:

- gone from being able to run 1 minute without getting winded to running three 5K's (link, link and link)
- run a total of 136 miles (my best month was February at 39 miles)
- run a total of 30 hours
- burned off the equivalent of 107 donuts (thanks dailymile.com for that statistic)
- gotten my fastest pace down to 9:08/mile
- run 4.07 miles (my farthest run)
- turned 30 (why 30 is so important)
- lost 17 pounds
- done something special for myself on each of the 25 days leading up to my 30th birthday
- started dancing again (ballet and tap)
- learned valuable life lessons, included greater insight into myself and those around me

Then: Now:

What I didn't do (yet):
- Run a 10K or a half-marathon
- Get back down to my pre-baby weight

But, the year isn't up. It's only the beginning. My birthday marked the true beginning of my "year." Join me on the journey that is to come over the next 12 months.

The Busy-ness Continues...

Exhaustion. Why??

My last 8 days...
Monday: 10-hour workday
Tuesday: Training and meetings before 10-hour workday
Wednesday: 5 hours of lecture, then 9-hour workday
Thursday: Ran, worked on projects, kiddo's 5th bday @ Chuck E. Cheese
Friday: ~3 hours in the gym, 9-hour workday
Saturday: Drove to NJ, ran 5K, drove back to CT, then 10-hour workday
Sunday: 9-hour workday, drove back to NJ to get the kiddo
Monday: Drove back to CT, worked on research project, picked up kiddo, gym

Exhaustion led to me falling asleep on my research project today, waking up late to pick up the kiddo which means I missed the chance to run 3-4 miles before my Group Power (barbell) class.

I almost convinced myself to just skip it altogether, that I needed the sleep more, but I brought my gym bag anyway, and once the sun hit me I was much more motivated. I also reminded myself that there's no way I can meet my goal this week of running 10 miles and weight lifting twice if I skipped today. I'm going out of town on Friday, so I only have 4 days to squeeze it all in.

I went heavier than usual today, and it felt good. I'm getting stronger. I also ran 1 mile at 10:00/mile pace (6mph). Trying to run after doing 15+ minutes of lunges and squats with 37+ lbs on my shoulders was a bad idea. So, I stopped before I hurt myself. I have 3 more days to run 9 miles. I'll be OK.

41 Days 'Til Next 5k
111 grams Net Carbs (yea I overdid it... although only 1620 calories... I've been ravenous since the race, probably the sleep deprivation.)

Week 14 Tally: 4/5-4/11

I met my exercise goals for this week! I also beat my last 5K time by 2:20. I still haven't hit my weight loss mark yet. My original goal was by the end of March 2010. Hopefully, I'll get there by April 2010.

6.95 miles of running (including a 5K)

90 minutes of strength work

45 minutes of Zumba

2 pounds lost (making 19 lost total, goal: 22-27)

March 2010 Tally

It's been a slow month.
27.1 miles Running
5 hours of Strength work
17 pounds lost total (5-7 more to go)
11 days since my first 5K; 3 more until the next!

Week 9 Tally: 3/1-3/7

Yet another week of taking it easy in the midst of my running back and forth between CT and NJ (not literally). I have made strides in the weight loss department though.

6.2 miles in Run-walk drills 

15 minutes of Strength work

15 pounds lost total (7-12 more to go)

10 days 'til my first 5K

Week 8 Tally: 2/22-2/28

I took it easy this week. Between life stress, fatigue, working a ton, and spending the part of the weekend I didn't work in New Jersey with my family... I decided to cut myself some slack.

7.2 miles in Run-walk drills 

(76 minutes running, 1 walking)

1 hour of Strength work

12 pounds lost total (10-15 more to go)

19 days 'til my first 5K

This time last month, I was only running 11 minutes straight. Now, I can do 30 minutes and even the full 3.1 miles straight without stopping. What a difference 4 weeks makes.

*** FEBRUARY TOTALS ***

38.5 miles in Run-walk drills (in 6.5 hours)

5 hours of Strength work

2 hours of extra Cardio

Week 7 Tally: 2/15-2/21

This is my tally for week 7, including today's run of  2.74 miles in 30 minutes. I ran 27 minutes straight (which worked out to be 2.5 miles), walked for 1 minute and finished up with 2 more minutes of running.

Only one more week left of this running program before I'm running 3.1 miles straight!

I didn't get much sleep today before my run, and from minute 10 to 16 I started to fatigue. But, just like previous runs after minute 16, a second wind kicked in and it felt good. 

Time for a hot, Eucalyptus soak before work!

12.4 miles in Run-walk drills 

(131 minutes running, 4 walking)

2 hours of Strength work

10 pounds lost total 

(Of 22-27... none lost this week)

26 days 'til my first 5K

Week 6 Tally: 2/8-2/14

11.4 miles in Run-walk drills 

         (126 minutes of running, 4 of walking)

1 hour of Strength work

1 hour of Tae Bo Kickboxing

10 pounds lost total (of 22-27)

33 days 'til 5K

Week 5 Tally: 2/1-2/7

7.5 miles in Run-walk drills (Over 3 days only -- due to ankle injury)

1 hour of Strength work

1 hour of Zumba
6 pounds lost total (of 22-27)
40 days 'til 5K

Week 4 Tally: 1/25-1/31

Tallies are a little early this week, but Saturday and Sunday are "off" days, so ain't nothing new happening... It's the end of my FIRST MONTH of training. Remember where I started?


******WEEKLY TOTALS******

10.1 miles in Run-walk drills (I'm up to 11-minute intervals now)

2.5 hours of Strength work
1.5 miles of walking

45 minutes of Zumba
2 pounds lost this week 
48 days 'til 5K

******JANUARY TOTALS******
34.9 miles in Run-walk drills (in 5.5 hours)

4.2 miles walking

9 hours of Strength work

4.75 hours of extra Cardio
7 pounds lost  total (with some muscle gained, pants still don't fit well)


Went from struggling to run 2 minutes at a time, to running 11 minutes at a time... from a pace of 17-minutes/mile including the walking breaks... now between 11 and 12. Progress.

Week 3 Tally: 1/18-1/24

9.9 miles in Run-walk drills (up to 6 minute intervals)

2 hours of Strength work

1 hour of extra Cardio (Zumba)

4 pounds lost (with some muscle gained)
54 days 'til 5K

Week 2 Tally: 1/11-1/17

7.1 miles in Run-walk drills

2 hours of Strength work

2 hours of extra Cardio (Group Groove)

?? pounds lost (temporarily boycotting the scale)