Friday, November 30, 2012

Weekly Recap

This week I started running again.  I went to the YMCA with my Mom on Sunday, jumped on the treadmill, and listened to the music on my iPod Nano.  The plan was to do 2 miles on the treadmill.  Since I haven't run since June I had expected to feel some discomfort and have to walk some of the 2 miles.  Well I was in for a surprise.  I felt great, had no discomfort in my legs at all, and I jogged the whole 2 miles.  The time seemed to fly by while I jogged and watched people swimming in the pool.  Where the treadmills are set up was facing a window that overlooked the pool.

On Monday my Mom and I headed back to the YMCA and I decided to try out their Zumba class that evening.  These types of classes always remind me how uncoordinated I am but I had a lot of fun.  It was a big class, about 30 people.  It is definitely a work out, I was sweating, but you have so much fun doing it you don't realize you are actually working out.

After the run on Sunday and the Zumba on Monday my legs were stiff and a bit sore while walking around at work.  By the time I woke up on Tuesday my legs seemed to be back to normal.

Tuesday I didn't make it to the YMCA as my daughter had a Sparks meeting.  She officially became a Spark and it was the cutest thing ever!

Wednesday my Mom said her foot was bothering her so she wouldn't be able to make it to the YMCA with me that night so I waited until my hubby got home from work and headed off by myself.  I did another 2 miles on the treadmill while watching do Aqua Zumba and listened to my iPod Nano.  Aqua Zumba might be something I look at trying out once I get the courage to get a bathing suit.  I haven't worn a bathing suit since 2005 when we went to Disneyland and not feeling comforable while wearing the bathing suit.  The run on the treadmill felt great and this time no stiffness the day after.

Thursday was another day I didn't make it to the YMCA.  My daughter had a Demonstration of Learning at school.  A Demostration of Learning is where your child shows you what they have been doing and learning at school.  They show you around their classroom and such.  She was so excited about showing us around. =)

I decided last week to sign up for the Santa Shuffle that is happening this Saturday.  When I looked at the weather forcast the weather didn't seem like it would be that bad.  It is for a good cause, the Salvation Army, and it will help feed families over the holidays.  It didn't hurt that they are also giving out a medal to everyone that finishes.  It will be the first medal I will receive for a race.  Unfortunately the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it looks like I will be freezing my bootie off on Saturday.  As it stands right now with the wind chill they are projecting -23C (-5.8F).  Yikes it is going to be cold!  Going to have to bundle up.

Tonight I am thinking of going to the YMCA to do another 2 miles.  I will be going by myself as my Mom has plans but I want to stay somewhat consistant with my running.

Plans for the upcoming week are:
Saturday - 5k Santa Shuffle race
Sunday - 2 miles and possibly a Yoga class
Monday - Zumba
Tuesday - Rest Day
Wednesday - 3 miles
Thursday - 2 miles
Friday - 3 miles

I am considering doing the Resolution Run (5k) on January 1st and the Hypothermic Half Marathon on February 24th.  The problem is after Saturday, Dec 1st the price goes up and as it is the 2 races will cost me $115.  How to convince the hubby this is a good idea. =)

Monday, November 19, 2012

Planning for 2013

It is looking like I will get a membership for the Y with my Mom.

I have been doing pretty good with eating healthier.  I have been using the My Fitness Pal app on my phone. It has a great feature that lets you scan the barcode on an item and it will input the nutritional information for you.  I love it!  I was playing with it all weekend long.

I have been looking at races to aim for in 2013 and here is what I have come up with so far:

Jan 1 - 28th Annual Resolution Run (5k)
Feb 24 - Hypothermic Half Marathon
Mar 17 - St Patrick's Day Trail Run (10k)
Apr 28 - 3rd Annual Spring Thaw Run (10k)
Aug 18 - Canadian Derby Edmonton Marathon (Half)
Oct 20 - 30th Annual Fall Classic (10 miles)

I spent a couple hours tonight putting together training plans for each of these runs and now my exercise schedule is planned from Dec 3, 2012 to Oct 20, 2013.  Now to just stick to these plans, that is the hard part. =)

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Crawling Back Onto the Wagon!

I fell off the weight loss/running wagon big time.  I haven't run since I ran the 10k race with my Dad back in June.  I haven't watched what I eat since before that.  I just ate whatever I wanted not thinking about the consenquences.

My birthday was this past weekend.  My family got together and we had chinese food and cake to celebrate.  My Mom took a picture of me with my cake and posted it on Facebook. I love my Mom but she knows I hate getting my picture taken and I was not happy she posted it on Facebook.  I have purposely avoided pictures and especially avoided putting them up on Facebook.  People can see what I look like than and I am far from proud of how much weight I have gained.  A lot of the people I have on Facebook don't know what I look like and know that I am fat.  I was hoping to keep it that way.  Guess I can't hide from it forever though.

This weekend I watched an Ironman Triathlon documentry type show.  I can't remember what it was called but it didn't just follow the elite athletes but also the ones that just finished.  It was amazing to see the age and size ranges of the participants.  It made me think that if they could do it so could I.  I don't think I will ever do a Triathlon never mind an Ironman Triathlon because I am far from a strong swimmer but it got me thinking about running a half marathon again.

So between the horrid birthday picture and the inspirational Ironman Triathon show I have decided it is time to get my big butt in gear.  I need to lose this weight and I want to start training for a half marathon.  I would like to get my weight down to 130 pounds.  My dream half marathon run would be a Disney one but I don't see that in the cards at this time so I will look into a local half marathon for this summer.

My husband and kids got me a gift card for my Kobo so while I was still inspired by the show I got a couple of books about running.

My Mom has been talking about getting a membership at the local Y for a few weeks so I think at least for the winter months I will be getting a membership there with her.  I plan to run or do cross-training 5 days a week with 2 rest days.  I found a 20 week training schedule for a half-marathon in one of the books I got this weekend that will most like do my best to follow.  Athough I might hold off on starting it until I get back into the swing of running again.

I haven't weighed myself in about 3-4 months because I knew I would not like what I saw.  I decided to dig the scale out from under its hiding spot under the bed, brought it to its new home in the bathroom, took the plunge and weighed myself this morning. It was not a pretty sight and I have a lot of work to do.  The scaled showed me I weigh 192.8 pounds at the moment.  So if I want to reach my 130 goal I need to lose 62.8 pounds.  Yikes!

Usually I start my work day off by going to Tim Horton's and getting a Cafe Mocha and some sort of baked goodie or breakfast sandwich for breakfast.  This morning I decided that I am going to stick with water today and got myself a strawberry yogurt with berries at Tim Horton's instead.

So I am starting to crawl my way back onto the weight loss/running wagon again!