Fitness Update (Take 2)

We just went for an 8 mile bike ride (round trip) to Target. It was great! I bought a new sports bra (for biking) and some sunglasses. Now we are off to Disney.

I'm going to start posting my updates on Saturdays/Sundays for the previous week, so they coincide with the calendar week. This will make it easier to post total miles I run/bike straight form the program I use that reads and organizes the data from my GPS watch. Below is an updated list of accomplishments for last week.

Accomplishments for week of 5/25 - 31:
- Completed my 3rd 5k
- Ran 30 minutes--C25k Week 9--without walking (3 times)
- Ran 2.31 miles without walking
- Ran/Walked 8.5 miles total
- Biked 16.83 miles total
- Fit into a size 2 skirt
- Lost 1 pound
- Met mini goal: 20 lbs lost

Fitness Update: -20 lbs in 120 days

Starting Weight: 152 (1/29/08)
Previous Weight: 133
Current Weight: 132
Weight Loss: -1
Total Loss: -20 in 120 days
Current Goal: 130
Lbs to go: 2

This has been a great week! I completed the C25K program (though I am redoing a few weeks to get up to the 3 miles mark), I fit into a size 2 skirt, and I lost another pound--meeting my mini goal of 20 pounds lost! That is incredible. To think, in early 2007 I was 160 lbs (probably more but that is the highest I have recorded). I was almost obese. To this day, I have no idea how this happened; but I vow never to let it happen again. I should check with my doctor and see what the highest weight she has recorded for me is. I bet it was higher than 160.

I mostly focused on the running this week and only got to ride my bike to work twice. I still neglected weight lifting and yoga, so I lowered that goal to just one day each this coming week. I should really be able to fit that in somewhere. I've been doing a bit of yoga before and after each run, but my body feels tired and really needs a full yoga session.

Accomplishments this week:
- Completed my 3rd 5k
- Ran 30 minutes--C25k Week 9--without walking (3 times)
- Ran 2.31 miles without walking
- Ran/walk 12.6 miles total
- Biked 9 miles total
- Fit into a size 2 skirt
- Lost 1 pound
- Met mini goal: 20 lbs lost

Goals for the upcoming week:
- Run 2.5 miles without walking
- Bike at least 12 miles
- Run/walk at least 10 miles
- Lift weights at least 1 day
- Yoga at least 1 day
- Eat out at most twice

W9D3

Well, I'm technically done and have my C25K GED =P Now I plan to redo weeks 7-9 for distance and get my diploma :)

Sadly, today's run was not the strong finish I hoped for, but I think I pushed myself this week and my body is letting me know it. I was so tired that it took every ounce of strength and determination I had to even make it to the 30 minute mark. I only covered 2.2 miles, but I did it! And that is all that matters. I think I may take the weekend off entirely to give my body a much needed rest, do some yoga, and resume running on Monday. We'll see how I feel Sunday. Here are my splits for today, compared to the rest of the week.

	5/30	5/28	5/26
Distance	2.2	2.26	2.31
Time	30:01	31:01	30:28
Avg Pace	13:39	13:43	13:09
Mile 1 Pace	13:52	14:16	12:44
Mile 2 Pace	13:26	13:28	13:41
Pace to Finish	13:40	12:36	12:49

Crazy women sizes

I went to target to buy a size 2 pair of pants--that I already have and fit into in a size 4--because they are on sale, and I wanted a spare in a smaller size in case I go down a size again (if I don't in 3 months I can just return them). I saw the matching skirt and shorts, and on a whim tried on the size 2. The pants and shorts technically fit (I can button them) but they are not yet comfortable; however, the skirt fits beautifully! Hell yeah!

I know, I am one of those people that wears size 2s, but I'm really not that skinny (and have a belly I am still trying to get rid of). I am convinced that size numbers (not the clothes) have gotten smaller because I do not ever remember wearing a size 2, and I could have sworn I was a lot skinnier in High School. My clothe sizes still vary greatly, depending on the item of clothing and where I buy it, but I'll take 2-8 any day over 10-14 (I think 8 is actually too big now, but doesn't look ridiculous on me).

W9D2

Today's run was great! I was up by 6 a.m. and out the door shortly after 6:30 a.m. Surprisingly, I was not sore yesterday from Monday's run; so that pace was not too far off. I ran alone this morning (Jason doesn't get up this early), so I started off a bit slower, but I wanted to push myself a little bit to see what I could do on my own--but not too much.

I ran 2.26 miles in 31 minutes at an average pace of 13:43. Below are my splits from today compared to the ones from Monday.

	5/28	5/26
Distance	2.26	2.31
Time	31:01	30:28
Avg Pace	13:43	13:09
Mile 1 Pace	14:16	12:44
Mile 2 Pace	13:28	13:41
Pace to Finish (.26/.31)	12:36	12:49

I like this much better than Monday's where I started so fast that I finished the first mile in 12:44 but that made the entire run more difficult. This pace, with a slow start and the gradual constant increase, worked much better and my pace was not affected that much. I also ran stitch free!! Except for having to wake up so damn early, I really enjoy morning runs much better.

I only have 1 more run on Friday before graduation! But, as someone else's put it in their blog, that is for the GED version =P I can run 30 minutes straight as the program prescribes, but not 3 miles (though I haven't tried but I am not going to push myself that much that fast). I plan to continue increasing the distance by 1/4 mile each week until my next 5k on 6/14 where I plan to run the entire thing. That will be my graduation ceremony :)

C25K Resources

The Couch to 5K Running program is amazing and I would recommend it to everyone who wants to be a runner but thinks they can't because of [insert reason here]. The clever design of this program gradually eases you into running, starting with 60sec/90sec run/walk intervals in week 1, until you can finally run for 30 minutes straight in week 9. It will change the way you think of yourself in terms of fitness and is a great confidence booster. Since I am constantly referring others to this program, I thought I would repost these links in their own post to make it easier for new visitors to find.

• C25K Running Plan - This sites describes the program and what to do each of the 9 weeks.
• C25K Checklist - This site is just the chart of the 9 week program with checkboxes to track your progress. It uses a browser cookie so it remembers what you checked from one visit to the next.
• C25K Podcasts by Ullrey - One of my biggest worries was how I was going to keep track of when to run, when to jog, and when I had done enough intervals. These podcasts make it super easy and include workout music to keep you motivated.
• Podrunner: Intervals - Another great C25K podcast with more upbeat music. Instead of telling you when to run or walk, this podcast uses a sound to alert you when to switch.
• Couch to 5k LJ Community - this wonderful community is full of people doing the program and offer an endless source of inspiration, motivation, support and advice. Even if you are not following the program exactly as prescribed, they are a great resource. The same goes for the lj runners community.
• c25k.com - even more great links about the program and running in general.

HYC Check In

I have a lot to celebrate since last week's check-in. Below is a list of my accomplishments with links to the relevant posts for full details.

• I ran 2 miles straight on Wednesday
• I lost another 1.6 lbs, for a total of 19 in 113 days
• I completed my 3rd 5k on Saturday
• I ran 2.31 miles straight in 30:28 minutes yesterday
• I had a truely Meatless Monday yesterday
• I didn't eat out and cooked lots of yummy & healthy recipes

Other notable posts:

• Overcoming Challenges
• Blog Name Change
• Website review: Tweet What You Eat
• Website review: foodsel

Goals for the upcoming week:

• [DONE] Run 30 minutes without walking (C25K Week 9)
• [DONE] Run 2.25 miles without walking
• Bike 16-20 miles
• Run/walk a total of 5-10 miles
• Lift weights at least 2 days
  
• Yoga at least 2 days

True Meatless Monday

I have been trying really hard these past few days to eat more fruit and veggies. I have had great success, but today was the jackpot because it snuck up on me. Without even trying, I ended up eating no meat today -- not even seafood!

I had planned to make a tofu stir fry for dinner, but after the run I didn't feel like cooking. This was fine because we had leftovers and all the fixings for a salad. Jason chopped some onions and carrots for the salad, and I warmed up some chicken and rice. While the leftovers were heating up, I spruce up my salad with some green olives, feta cheese, and cashews (instead of croutons). I found the salad so tasty that I didn't even want the chicken. Then I remembered it was Meatless Monday and I hadn't yet eaten any meat so I thought I'd keep it up. I feel so great after my run and that salad.

Here is what I had today:

breakfast: 1/3c egg beaters & 1 morning star veggie sausage patty
lunch: Pita Pizza (had to introduce Jason to it, and I am still in love with it)
dinner: salad (lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, green olives, red onions, cashews, greek dressing)
snacks:
- chips ahoy crisps
- special K granola bites
- strawberry shortcake
- banana

We also went to the movies today and that is when I had the chips ahoy crisps and granola bites that I brought with me and a bottle of water. I was going to buy some cookie dough bites, because they were $1 with a coupon they gave me, but Jason tore it up so I wouldn't. *lol* I was kinda ticked because I wanted a taste and was going to save the rest, but he is right I didn't need them.

W9D1 - 2.31 miles!

Holy frak! I just ran 2.31 miles in 30:28 minutes at a 13:09 pace with NO walking! This is my fastest pace and the longest I've ever ran in a row by .31 miles! I can't believe it. I am going be feeling this tomorrow, but it feels fantastic right now!

I was scheduled to start week 9 tomorrow, since I usually give myself 2 days off from running after a race. However, aside from some minor soreness in my calves, I felt fine since I didn't really push myself on Saturday (my pace for the race was 13:33).

The reason for my amazing time is because Jason came running with me. I was a few feet behind him the whole time, but was keeping up with his slow jog the whole way. I had a slight side stitch almost the whole time too, but not bad enough to make me stop.

I am not sure I could run like this every time, but at least now I know I can do it and just have been holding myself back a bit. It just goes to show that this really is a mental thing and my heart just wasn't in it on Saturday. By the time the next 5k comes around in 3 weeks, I'll be ready to run the whole thing!!

Roasted Zucchini & Carrots

Another easy one.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 c carrots, cut into them strips (23 cal)
- 1/2 c zucchini, cut into thick slices (9 cal)
- 1 tsp olive oil (40 cal)
- 1 clove garlic, minced (4 cal)
- 5-10 sprays of Ken's Lite Accents Balsamic Vinaigrette (1 cal per spray)

Total: 86 calories

Instructions:

1) Since carrots take longer to cook than zucchini, cut them into thin strips and I cut the zucchini into thick slices.
2) Toss them in a bowl with a little olive oil and minced garlic
3) Seasoned them to taste with the onion powder and garlic powder (You can also add salt and pepper).
4) Add a few sprays of Ken's Lite Accents Balsamic Vinaigrette and toss to coat evenly.
5) Broil for about 5 minutes, flip the zucchini and broil another 5 minutes, or until carrots are tender.

Greek Cucumber, Carrot & Olives Salad

Ingredients:

- 1/2 c cucumbers, cubed (7 cal)
- 1/2 c carrots, cubed (23 cal)
- 1 tbsp black olives, sliced (25 cal)
- 5 green olives, sliced (25 cal)
- 1 clove garlic, minced (4 cal)
- 1/8 c onions, finely chopped (8 cal)
- 1/2 tbsp greek dressing (50 cal)
- 1 tsp feta cheese (13.3 cal)


Total: 155.3 cals

Combine all ingredients and toss to coat with dressing. Sprinkle feta cheese on top and serve.

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberries are on sale at Publix this week and they had these short cake shells next to them, so I bought some. I didn't follow the recipe in the package exactly (it said something about crushing the strawberries, adding sugar, and refrigerating for a few hours. Forget all that!).

I simply cut one large strawberry into small pieces, mixed it with some cool whip, then scooped that on top of the short cake. I added another strawberry cut in half on top to make it look prettier :) All this for only about 140 calories (the short cake was 100, 25 for 2 tbsp of cool whip, and the strawberries are about 12-15 depending on size).

Easy Pesto Salmon

I love that Publix puts recipes in the packages of meat and fish. Sometimes they are just general cooking instructions, but other times it is a full easy and delicious recipe, such as this one. I used the bake option because it somehow seemed wrong to microwave this (and it seemed like wrapping it would get messy--plus baking it gave me time to clean the dishes I used and the counter before sitting down to eat).

Ingredients:
- 1 lb salmon fillet, skin removed
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 package of prepared refrigerated pesto sauce

Instructions:
1) Rinse salmon fillet under cold water and pat dry.

2) Place in a glass pie plate and baste with olive oil and minced garlic. (Although fresh garlic is always best, I think the pesto sauce was flavorful and oily enough that you probably do not need this step. I may just season it with some garlic powder next time before adding the sauce.)

3) Spread an even amount of pesto sauce until the fillet is well coated with approximately 1/4 inch layer of sauce (I don't think I used this much and it was plenty rich and tasty).

4a) Cover in plastic wrap and place in microwave for 3 - 3 1/2 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

OR

4b) Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Do not cover or turn if baking.

5) Serve hot. I served it with the leftover veggies from last night, which where skillet potatoes and green beans.

Pita Pizza (revisited)

I just can't get enough of this pita pizza and I love how this picture came out. I've made it 3 times now; and it's never the same pizza twice. After the race, I went to the farmer's market and stocked up on fresh produce then made a veggie filled pita pizza.

Here is the variations used in this incarnation:

- base sauce: pesto sauce, tomato paste, chopped garlic, chopped green onions, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, black olives, oregano

- toppings (chopped): mushrooms, orange bell peppers, red onions, fresh basil, grape tomatoes, feta cheese

Blog name change

I changed the name of the blog from "Road to Fitness" to "Lifestyle Change" because I feel that better reflects the focus of this blog. While it will still be largely about getting fit, and therefore losing weight, I also want to post about healthy eating, green living, and saving money. These are all related because changing one aspect of my life has inevitably changed other aspects as well (for the better we hope). More on this soon.

Race Report: Run for the Trees 5K

I completed my 3rd 5k today. It started at 7:30 a.m. and it was a very warm and humid morning (probably due to the rain last night/early this morning). It was even warm when I left the house around 6:30 a.m. (usually I have to wear long pants/jacket until I get to race because its chilly when I leave the house, but not today). Needless to say, I did not meet my goal of finishing in under 40 minutes and it actually took me an extra minute than the previous race. In all fairness, I think this was a harder course than Disney. The last half mile or so was on a hard-packed sand road with a brick road for the last .2 miles or so.

I ran the entire first mile, then took a walking break for about 1.5 minutes. I ran another 1/2 mile or so to the water stop, walked for another minute or so to drink some water and throw some in my face, then started running again until the 2-mile marker. The last mile was rough and I kept having to stop. I think I started off too fast and didn't have much left at the end. (I finished the first mile in 13 minutes (well, the 1st mile by my watch--about 14 minutes to the first mile marker--my watch calculated a total of 3.17 miles). I also think that since I had already given myself permission to walk I didn't feel pressured to push myself (that and it was just me this time so I didn't feel that competitive). Even though I finished strong, I didn't sprint nearly as much as I did last time, but the heat was really getting to me (and since it was already past 40 minutes I didn't feel like killing myself for a few minutes). At least I didn't feel sick when I stopped. I just kept drinking water.

Yes, I am a tad disappointed but it was a good race and is only a frakin' minute so I'm over it. The important thing is that I am out there doing this and I completed another 5k! Oh and I supposed to get a tree, but they were out by the time I got done eating (I didn't want to carry it around). Oh well, given my very brown thumb, the tree is probably in better hands.

I've really been thinking about and researching training programs for a 1/2 marathon early next year. I know I am crazy, but this running thing truly is addictive. I have no idea how on earth I am going to manage 13.1 miles, but every time I hear about one of these races I want to experience it. Running for that long might suck and be boring as hell, but I know I'll feel amazing when I cross that finish line -- even if Jason has to carry me to the car afterwards :)

Stats:
Distance - 5K
Chip Time - 42:57 (Clock - 43:30)
Pace - 13:49 minutes/mile
Overall Place - 1144 / 1344
Gender Place - 602 / 761
Division Place - 93 / 108

Fitness Update: -19 in 113 days

Starting Weight: 152 (1/29/08)
Previous Weight: 134.6
Current Weight: 133
Weight Loss: -1.6
Total Loss: -19 in 113 days
BMI: 24.3
Current Goal: 130 (mini goal: 20+ total loss)
Lbs to go: 3 (1 to mini goal)

I finally show a substantial loss, and I didn't even work out that much this week. I guess it really is the muscle growth that is contributing to my non-loss, but I also ate a lot better this week. For the past 2 days I've been eating nothing but veggies and fruits for my snacks instead of sugary things or granola bars. I only ate out twice this week, both at Sweet Tomatoes and had one slice of pizza at Saturday's party.

I have my next 5K tomorrow morning. I am excited and nervous, as usual. The weather calls for rain, but I am hoping that won't start until after the race is over since it's called for rain all week and we've just had short scattered showers. My plans is to run between each mile marker or water stop, then walk for 1-2 minutes, then repeat this pattern until I reach the 3 mile marker and then I'll sprint to the finish. I really want to try to improve my time a little bit and finish under 40 minutes.

Accomplishments this week:
- Ran 28 minutes--C25k Week 8--without walking (3 times)
- Ran 2 miles without walking
- Ran a total of 5.86 miles (7.88 miles including walking)
- Biked a total of 11.74 miles
- Only ate out twice
- Ate lots of fruits and veggies
- Lost 1.6 lbs
- Workout Log
- Food Log

Goals for the upcoming week:
- Complete a 5k in under 40 minutes
- Run 30 minutes without walking (C25K Week 9)
- Run 2.25 miles without walking
- Bike 16-20 miles
- Run/walk a total of 5-10 miles
- Lift weights at least 2 days
- Yoga at least 2 days

Tomato Chicken

This is a super quick and easy recipe I got from Mel.

Ingredients
- skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 1 can diced tomatoes (or you can use fresh and dice them yourself)
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- other spices (to taste)

Instructions:
- Season the chicken with salt & pepper or your favorite spices.
- In a big pot, combine the chicken and tomatoes and throw in any other spices you want (I used fresh basil and thyme).
- Cover and cook on medium heat for 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Turn chicken at least once to ensure even cooking.
- Serve with rice and your favorite veggies (I satee the snap peas in a little olive oil and garlic.

Mediterranean Pita Pizza

Someone posted this recipe in one of my communities and I just had to try it. It was absolutely delicious and super easy to make.

Ingredients:
- Pita bread (I used Toufayan whole wheat)
- black olives
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- basil leaves
- spinach (I omited this)
- feta cheese
- mozzarella/parmesan cheese (forgot about this)
-tomatoes (omited this, the paste was enough for me)
- crushed red pepper (omited this--didnt have it and don't like spicy)
- oregano
- garlic clove
- tomato paste
- anything else you'd like to top your pizza with (I added onions)

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.

- Spray the pita with olive oil cooking spray and place in oven for about 5 minutes.

- While its heating, in a seperate bowl, mix sliced olives, balsamic vinegar (2 tsps), oregano (to taste), crushed red pepper (to taste), and one minced garlic clove (or more if you're into garlicky), and one teaspoon olive oil (you can skip that too if wanted), and lastly tomato paste (about as much as you'd like it to be tomatoey).

- Smear this mix on the pita.

- Now top with spinach, cut tomatoes, fresh chopped basil, and whatever else, about as much as each will take. Sprinkle some feta cheese on each and some mozzarella cheese if you want.

- Put it back in the oven for 5-8 minutes, or until cheese is all melted.

Overcoming Challenges

What has been your greatest struggle for your journey? What has been the hardest hurdle to pass and accomplish? Is this also your greatest victory?

This questions was posted in one of my communities and I thought I should post this here too. I need to post some of my posts from there here too so I have the whole picture when I look back on it. I've had to overcome quite a bit in my journey since February.

Bring lunch to work
First is bringing my lunch to work and not eating out as much. I've tried this numerous times before and I always faltered within a few weeks. All I needed back then was Jason being out of town for a few days and somehow that translated to me eating badly because I hate cooking for one. This time I was determined, and I just looked at it as an opportunity to cook what I liked and ensure leftovers for the next day or two.

Eating Out
Limiting how often we eat out is hard, because it also limits my ability to socialize. However, just bringing my lunch to work cuts down on eating out immensely, so I usually limit eating out to weekends and now we usually eat out an average of 3 times a week, which is a lot better than it used to be. I am also trying to order more seafood dishes whenever I eat out since it is so new to me and I find it harder to cook seafood at home with some variety. The list of seafood dishes I can make is pretty limited: baked or pan fried tilapia, shrimp, and crab.

More Fruits & Veggies
Another huge struggle has been eating more fruits and veggies. I've never really liked veggies much, but lately I've been trying new things so I can expand my options and is working out great. It just seemed so much easier to reach for that pre-made snack (granola bars, nabisco 100 calorie packs) but I finally realized that's just a crutch so I am cutting up fruit to have at the ready. This is really helping. The variety of fruits and vegetables I now eat on a regular basis has grown too.

Less Sweets: Chocolate & Ice Cream
Finally, my biggest struggle is probably sweets. I love chocolate and ice cream; when I started this I said I was not going to deny myself anything because it would just make me crave it more. Instead, I decide to just control it. This is why I bought those nabisco packs and oreo granola bars, etc. I figured, I won't be able to cut it out entirely, but at least I can try a healthier option. Well I am getting sick of that and going to try to limit even these now. I did not replenish my supply of any of these or ice cream the last time I went shopping. Instead, I stocked up on yogurt, fruits, and veggies.

Exercise
Surprisingly, exercising has not been the struggle I thought it would be. Once I got into the groove, I was working out regularly. Once I found running, its become part of my life.

W8D3 - 2 Miles!

I finally did it!

I just ran 2 miles straight!

I can hardly believe that 8 weeks ago I could barely run for 1 minute; now I am considering training and registering for a half marathon.

Today was supposed to be the last of the 28 minute runs, but I've been so close to 2 miles that I really wanted to reach that today, so I ran an extra minute and a half and made it. I probably could have made it closer to 28 minutes (after all, I covered 1.96 miles in 28 minutes before) but I wasn't running that fast.

I didn't get up early enough this morning to run, so I had to do it tonight. Since I don't like running in the dark, I went around 7:30 as the sun was going down. The heat was not much of a problem, but I had to eat dinner when I got home about 1 hour prior. This gave me a nice little side stitch, but it was manageable.

Overall, the run felt really good. I felt I was going at a good steady pace. I averaged 14:42 min/mile. I cannot believe I only have 1 week left in the program. Of course, when I get there I will at best be running 2.25 miles. I don't know if I should count running 30 minutes by W9D3 graduation, or if I keep increasing the distance by 1/4 mile every week and graduate when I hit 5k. Either way, this running thing isn't over :)

foodsel

http://www.foodsel.com/welcome/



This is a great site to get nutritional information about the foods you eat and what it will take to burn them off with some really nice visuals. Instead of just telling you how many calories and other nutrients a food contains, it also shows a nice graph of the breakdown of the nutrients. In addition, it uses pictures of batteries, sugar cubes, and sticks of butter to visually show you how many calories, sugar, and fat the food contains. Lastly, you can enter your weight and it will tell you how much of any given physical activity you need to do to burn it off. It also has a visual BMI calculator and you can search for foods by group, manufacturer or nutrient.

Motivation

I am feeling very unmotivated lately. I still have some weight to lose and some unhealthy eating habits to kick. I have no problem keeping up with the running or biking to work, but the rest seems like a chore. I don't seem to have energy to think about lifting weights or doing more yoga. I am tired of thinking about what I should be eating and when or trying to come up with new things to cook or snack on. I am trying real hard to make good choices and not get bored and it is all very exhausting. I am even tired of the self portrait project, but I don't really want to give any of it up.

Keeping track of what I eat (minus the calories) is a great reality check for me. I see the amount of snacks I have some days and its absurd. So now I am really trying to focus on having fruits and veggies at the ready for snacks instead of reaching for another granola bar or nabisco pack. I think I've used these "100 calorie packs" and granola bars as a crutch and it has to stop. But doing the right thing just seems so time consuming at times, you know?

This weekend I went and bought all sorts of things to help with this, including fresh fruits and veggies from the Farmer's market and some edamame and tofu at Target. However, preparing it all just seems daunting. I finally cut up all the fruit so it is ready for me to just throw into a fruit salad when hungry or into a smoothie, but now I am out of ice. I think I got overwhelmed by the amount of food in my fridge and that all this stuff would go bad before I get chance to eat it because my brain is not yet wired to think fruit/veggies when I am hungry and I keep reaching for the granola bars or nabisco snacks. At least I did not replenish my chocolate supply when I went shopping, so that is something.

In addition to eating more fruit and veggies, I want to cut down on the amount of meat I consume. I think this is another crutch for me, so I want to start eating more vegetarian meals and seafood. I am doing good on the seafood, but the veggies still need work. So I bought an egg plant. I've never eating egg plant before, so any suggestions to ease me into it would be much appreciated.

If you made it this far, thanks for letting me vent :) Sometimes we just need to get it out so we can move on =)

Tweet What You Eat

Tweet What You Eat (TWYE) is a very simply food diary that you can update from twitter, which means you can log what you eat from IM or your cell phone. I use it because I just want something simple without the bells and whistles and I can update it in a snap from Quicksilver on my Mac. It doesn't have food look up or anything like that, but I use the USDA website to get that data (or read it from the package). Lately I just keep track of what I eat without the calories; I just find all that calorie counting exhausting and never use the data for anything. But if you do, then there is a place for that here. The site can record what you eat, the date, calories, and time you post it. It has a nice print version and you can also download a spreadsheet of the data.

You can see my food diary at http://tweetwhatyoueat.com/diary/user/kitzzy and my twitter account at http://twitter.com/kitzzy

Anyone else use twitter?

HYC Check In

I don't have much to update since Friday's update. Since it was a pretty busy weekend, I didn't get much exercise other than my runs. I have not ridden my bike since last Thursday (wow), but I intend to ride 4 miles tomorrow.

Weekend and Nutrition
Jason leaves for the BABE Rally soon and we had a send-off party on Saturday. That means I didn't eat the best that day, but I didn't do too bad. I made a tray of veggies and healthy-ish crackers/chips with hummus (never you mind about that slice of pizza and handful of cheese puffs). I am hoping to not eat out again until after Jason returns next week. I also really want to start eating more veggies and fruits and less snacks made by nabisco (even if each pack is only 100 calories), so I went to the farmer's market this weekend and loaded up on all kinds of fruits and veggies. I keep meaning to make a fruit salad, but haven't gotten around to cutting up all that fruit yet. I did get some yogurt that was on sale at Publix last Friday and made some smoothies. Yum! Oh yeah, so I think I like yogurt now :) I think maybe I just had crappy yogurt or something before.

Running
I am up to 28 minutes of straight running and came very close on Saturday to running 2 miles (1.96 mi). I have W8D3 on Wednesday and I plan to run 2 miles regardless of if it takes me longer than the 28 minutes. At this point I am thinking of switching to distance and just increasing it by 1/4 mile each week until I reach 5k. If my calculations are correct, that would match up exactly with th 5K in June with the first 3 mile run being on that Sat.

5K on Saturday
I have a 5K this weekend and I am wrestling with what I want to get out of it. I will be running it alone, so I won't feel like I am competing with anyone. I wanted to try to run the whole thing, but I just don't think I am ready for that yet and don't want to rush it. So is it more important to run the whole thing or to throw a few minutes of walking here and there and try to better my time? I am thinking that trying to make it in under 40 minutes, even if I have to walk some, is an easier goal right now and my body will thank me later. We'll see how I feel come Sat a.m. I am leaning towards running most of it with a few walk breaks after each mile or so (or at water stops).

Goals
So here is a recap of my goals for this week:

• [DONE] Run 28 minutes without walking (C25K Week 8)
• Run 2 miles without walking [Almost there -- reached 1.96]
• Bike a total of 16-20 miles (~4/day)
• Run a total of 6 miles (~2/day) [3.86 down, 2.14 to go -- I'll be a little short, but that's ok]
• Light weights at least 2 days [I've really been slacking on this]
• Yoga at least 2 days [I really need to get in at least one long session, but I'm doing yoga pre and post running to warm up and stretch]
• Kickboxing at least 1 day [I think I may stop trying to fit this in. The running and biking takes up enough time, so I better focus on strength and flexibility training for now]

W8D2

Today's run went much better. It was overcast, so that made it nice and cool. I did not feel out of breath at all; my legs just felt a little tired at the end but I finished strong and didn't feel ill at the end. I didn't cover as much distance today, but that is ok because the run felt great. (I also wonder if the overcast weather conflicted with the GPS and my data today is not quite accurate, but whatever.) I think instead of 28 minutes on Wednesday, I am going to run 2 miles regardless of the time. I think it will only take me 1 or 2 more minutes.

I can't believe I only have 4 more runs before I am a C25K graduate! Of course, I won't be running 3 miles by that time, but I will be running 30 minutes and that is good enough for me! :) I'm hoping it will probably only take a couple of more weeks after that to get to the 5k distance. I have a 5k this weekend, which I am actually not that thrilled about since I'll be going up there alone, but I'll make the best of it. I have another 5k 3 weeks later and I am hoping to be able to run the entire time then.

Stats:

Run Only
Time: 28 min
Distance: 1.9 miles
Avg pace: 14:45
Best pace: 10:16
Cal: 133

Total w/Warm up & Cool Down
Time: 44:13
Distance: 2.76 miles
Avg pace: 16:02
Best pace: 10:16
Cal: 197

W8D1

Everything was against me this morning.

I of course did not want to get up this morning, because what sane person willingly gets up before 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning? I was tired and just wanted to go back to sleep, but I knew I had to get up or else I'd have to skip today because it would be too hot later and we have a party tonight.

So I get up and I can't find my running clothes. Then I get a low battery message when I turn on my watch so it can begin acquiring a satellite signal as I finish getting ready. Crap! I place it in the charger while I do some yoga stretches. Now the time is ticking away and is already past 7:30 a.m. I look at the watch and it looks like the battery is half full. I leave it in for a bit longer while I check my mail and such. I hope that's enough and head out. Then I realize today's workout is not setup right in the watch and everytime I connect it to the computer the damn Garmin software crashes. So I manually fix it and then I am on my way. Thankfully, it does not feel too warm yet, even though is almost 8 a.m. already.

About 8 minutes into the run, I get the low battery warning again. I hit enter and press on, hoping that low battery means it still has enough juice for at least 20 more minutes so it can finish recording my run. Now of course I feel compelled to look at my watch every few minutes to ensure it is indeed still on and recording, all the while worried about what the hell will I do if it dies before I finish because I'll have no idea when to stop.

As I am nearing the end of the run, the watch is still holding up; the distance is slowly nearing 2 miles as the time quickly nears 28 minutes. I really want to make it to 2 miles today, but I am tired and hot and getting slightly out of breath. I give it my all (which is not much at this point) as the watch starts its beeping countdown to alert me this lap is almost done. It finally beaps and I come to almost a complete stop (against my better judgment) because I can't go on and the beep just seems to flip a switch in my brain that immediately makes my legs stop running.

I begin my cool down feeling a bit nauseas--this tends to happen to me lately when I press too hard at the end then stop suddenly, but it passes quickly as long as I keep moving. Of course the watch immediately resets to the cool down lap as soon as it hits 28 minutes so I have no idea if I made it to 2 miles, although I am certain I didn't.

When I get back, I just want to pass out but the cool down has worked and I already feel better and full of energy. I decide to set my watch to charge and download the data before stretching. The damn Garmin software keeps crashing! Arg! I get the data uploaded to motionbased and see that I indeed did not make it to 2 miles! Grr! But the damn website does not give me the avg pace per lap, only overall, so I have to keep fighting with the Garmin software to know this information. It finally works!

Stats:

Run only
- Time: 28 minutes
- Distance: 1.96 miles (so frakin' close)
- Avg Pace: 14:16
- Avg Speed: 4.2 mph
- Max Speed: 5.8 mph
- Calories: 141 cal

Total w/warm up & cool down
- Time: 40:25 minutes
- Distance: 2.66 miles
- Avg Pace: 15:13
- Avg Speed: 3.9 mph
- Max Speed: 5.8 mph
- Calories: 193 cal

Coupled with yesterdays lack of weight loss, and today's challenging run, I am rather frustrated lately. I was hoping to show a loss yesterday and be able to let loose at the party tonight, but now I don't know. I'll just have to play it by ear. Monday will be another day and I will surely make it to 2 miles then.

Fitness Update: no change

I weigh today the same as I did last week. I can't say I'm not disappointed, but at least I did not gain any weight. I did eat out 4 times last week (CPK, Longhorn, Perkins, and Sweet Tomatoes) so I shouldn't be surprised. I was just very active, so I was expecting some change.

Anyway, I took my measurements and I seem to have lost a few inches, so that is comforting. I really hate measurements because I feel I never do them consistently, but I think these are accurate. I was able to wear a pair of size 4 pants from Target yesterday, so that's definitely a win. So let's forget the scale and focus on my goals and accomplishments.

Goals for the upcoming week:
- Run 28 minutes without walking (C25K Week 8)
- Run 2 miles without walking
- Bike a total of 16-20 miles (~4/day)
- Run a total of 6 miles (~2/day - I have a 5k on Sat, so I will only run 3 days this week)
- Light weights at least 2 days
- Yoga at least 2 day
- Kickboxing at least 1 day

Accomplishments this week:
- Workout Log
- Food Log
- Ran 25 minutes--C25k Week 7--without walking (4 times)
- Ran 1.75 miles without walking (3 times)
- Ran a total of 6.95 miles (10.42 miles including walking)
- Biked a total of 21.84 miles
- Lifted weights twice
- Practiced Yoga 3 times

W7D3

Today's run was great. It is amazing how much weather can affect your performance. I got up closer to 7 this morning, did some pre-run yoga posses to warm up, then headed out. It was nice and cool out, which made the run very pleasant and keeping up with my breathing very easy. I am still only covering 1.75 miles, but I felt like I had a good pace the whole time. It actually felt pretty good when I sped up during the last 5-10 minutes.

The way I setup the splits in my watch makes it hard to figure out my overall pace from the online data, but I'll look into crunching the numbers tonight. I think my pace for the first mile was 14-14.5 and about 1 minute less for the .75 miles (last 10 minutes). For my next run I am setting up a custom workout with the whole run portion as one lap; I split it into 2 this time so it would alert me when I had 10 minutes left to pick up the pace a bit, but I can just look at the watch when I think its been long enough. I run about the same route, so this won't be too hard.

I tried the 20 mintue Yoga for Runners from YogaDownload after my run. It was nice, even though there are some poses I can't do yet. I am not sure I will do this after every run because it takes so long, but I'll do it at least on the weekends and try these Post-Run Yoga Stretches for the other days.

Yoga for Runners

I really want to incorporate more yoga into my fitness routine, so I looked into yoga for running and found some links that may interest some of you. I am thinking of doing yoga as my pre and post run stretch. I think it would be more beneficial for my whole body instead of just simple static stretches. If anyone has any other resources, post them in the comments.

• RunnerGirl.com - Yoga on the Run
• Runner's World - 3 Pre-Run Yoga Poses (with Video)
• Runner's World - Yoga for Runners Page
• YogaDownload.com - Yoga for Runners Podcast (also on iTunes)
  This site has tons more yoga podcasts (both audio and video) and most also include a printable pose guide.
• Yoga Basics
  This site is a great resources to look up poses and sequences.

W7D2

I did not want to get up today. I woke up around 6:30 a.m. (same as usual) but I refused to get out of bed because it looked too dark outside. I need to realize that there is plenty of light and that by the time I get ready it will be perfect. It's really just a mind game. So I didn't get to start running until after 8 a.m. which means it was too warm and that makes it harder for me to keep up with my breathing.

I still completed the 25-minute run with about the same distance as last time (1.77 miles). The run itself went fairly well, except for when I wasn't in the shade. Thankfully, I had no side stitches today. I pushed it a little during the last minute and I probably shouldn't do that because then I feel like crap when I stop. I felt a little dizzy, but I was fine by the time I finished my cool down walk. I doubt I'll get to 2 miles in 25 minutes before the week ends, but that is ok. I'll probably finish the program at 2.5 miles and then just add time to the end until I can do 3 miles then work on speed. Still loving the watch :)

HYC Check In

Welcome to all the new readers from HYC! You can read about my journey so far in the archives. My weigh-in day is Thursday/Friday, so I'll post a mid-week fitness update for HYC on Tuesdays. This weekend was very busy and I ate out quite a bit, but I think I made ok choices (if we don't count all that chocolate). I was fairly active though, so I am hoping that will balance things out. I got new street tires for my bike and that makes a HUGE difference. It only took me 13 minutes to get to work today (it's usually 15-16).

Accomplishments so far this week:
- Ran 25 minutes without walking (3 times)
- Ran 1.75 miles without walking (twice)
- Ran 5.15 miles (7.68 miles including walking)
- Biked 12 miles (including the ride home today)
- 10 min weights on Sun
- 45 min of Yoga Sat, 20 min on Sun
- Swing dancing on Sat

Goals to meet before Thursday/Friday:
- Kickboxing at least 1 day
- Lift weights at least 1 more day
- Bike at least 4 more miles
- Run at least 1.75 - 2 more miles

W7D1

Another 25-minute run down, 2 to go! I did a little better than last time and covered 1.75 miles at a 14:17 pace. I am hoping to push it a little more on Tuesday and cover 2 miles, then 2.25 on Thursday. We'll see.

I did 45 minutes of yoga on Saturday and 20 this morning; that really helped get rid of the soreness and made tonight's run much better. I biked 4 miles yesterday, then went swing dancing; I was afraid that would make my legs sore again, but I guess the yoga this morning helped. I really need to remember that and do it more often, especially now that I have increasingly long runs ahead.

I was a bit rushed during this run, and probably did not control my breathing as well as I should have because I got a side stitch on the left towards the end of the run. I've never had one on that side before. I remembered reading that putting your arms up helps, so I was running with my arms in the air because I refused to stop. It did help and I finished the run.

I am really loving my new Garmin watch and all the awesome data it give me.

Bike-to-Work Week & Bike Month

May is National Bike Month. The League of American Bicyclists is promoting Bike-to-Work Week from May 12-16 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 16. There are events going on all over the country. Orlando & Starbucks are celebrating Bike-to-Work day by offering free coffee if you ride your bike and bring your own mug on Friday, May 16 (see flyer).

50 ways (large PDF) to celebrate Bike Month

Reasons to bike to work:

• Save time: biking the same distance is often shorter because you do not have to sit in traffic or find a parking spot. Taking back roads can often make the distance shorter than driving.
• Save money: you won't be using your car as much, so you won't need to fill up the gas tank as often.
• Help the environment: less driving means less pollution.
• Get fit: Biking to work is a great way to make working out a part of your daily routine and get at least the recommended 30 minutes a day.
• Enjoy the weather: you see more of the world when you are not stuck in traffic and can explore the scenic routes.
  

W6D3

I completed this run out of cheer will; looking back on it now, it wasn't so bad. My body may not agree though. I really need to do some yoga soon. I didn't even ride my bike to work today, which pains me. I am considering starting week 7 on Monday instead of Sunday since tomorrow will be hard on my body too with a trip to Disney and swing dancing at night. I hope I have the energy for all that.

I got my new watch yesterday and was really excited to try it out this morning. Yesterday was a crappy day in general, but as the evening drew near my right knee started acting up. I was upset that it might prevent me from running today. It wasn't very painful, but bothersome enough that I may not want to risk it. I iced it for a bit; I figured it couldn't hurt. My calves also ached. I am not sure why, except maybe from biking, but I only biked a total of 4 miles (2 each to and from work) at a leisurely pace.

This morning I woke up all achy and did not want to get up to face the fact I may not be able to run. As a result, I got started late and it was already rather warm. I was sweating within the first 5 minutes. I warmed up and stretched a bit inside, then took a 1/2 mile walk to warm up. My new watch says that took about 8 minutes. Then I started to run very very slowly. My knee felt fine, but I didn't want to take any chances. The watch kept beeping at me to speed up, so I finally turned off that feature. The funny thing is that towards the end I was speeding up and it beeped at me to slow down *lol* I think I am going to leave those alerts off until I get used to it, or set them to something custom that works better for me.

Anyway, I ran 1.63 miles in 25 minutes at an average pace of 15:22 with speeds ranging from 3.9 to 5.2 mph. This does not count the warm up and cool down that I recorded separately. Including these I covered a total distance of 2.65 miles in 43:36 and burned 190 calories (this seems low to me, is it?).

I may have covered less distance than the 20 minute run, but that was during a race and I had to estimate the distance, so who knows. I am thinking I may get closer to the 2 - 2.5 mile mark towards the last run of the week, but I am not going to worry too much about it. I'll try to push myself a tad each run to try to get there, but I was not about to do that today and risk real injury to my knee.

The watch worked out well. Read my review here.

Garmin Forerunner 305

This is my new running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 305 (which I got on sale at REI). It is a bigger than I thought, but not really too heavy (until you've ran for over a mile and a half and are ready to collapse). I love having all this data on my wrist while I run. It can track real time distance, time, pace, speed, and so much more. It can even map your routes and stores all this data for 1000 laps in the watch itself.

Using the Garmin Training Center, you can download the data for archiving purposes and to see graphs of your performance. You can also create custom workouts and the watch will alert you at each step. It comes preloaded with a ton of workouts already to get you started. The watch also has alerts you can turn on to tell you when you've reached a certain distance or time, as well as when you go above/below a specified pace or heart rate zone.

Here is a screenshot from today's run. Click on the image to see the details in the bigger version.

Fitness Update: -17.4 lbs in 98 days

Starting Weight: 152 (1/29/08)
Previous Weight: 135.2
Current Weight: 134.6
Weight Loss: -.6
Total Lost: -17.4 lbs in 98 days
BMI: 24.6
Current Goal: 130 (mini goal: 20+ total loss)
Lbs to go: 4.6 (2.6 to mini goal)

Not a huge loss, but not bad considering it's that time of the month, I ate out several times last week (Buca di Beppo, Sweet Tomatoes twice, Disney) and went to a BBQ. I only rode my bike twice to and from work since the last weigh-in, but continued with my every other day runs (C25K). I've been slacking on weight lifting and yoga, so I need to pick that back up.

I joined the Healthy You Challange and Up for the Challenge to help me in my journey. It is great to hear about the success of others and share mine. I think I am also going to do this Virtual 5K and we may organize our own at the Couch to 5K Community. What a great idea!

I completed W6D2 of C25K yesterday, my last interval run. From here on out, I'll be doing increasingly longer runs from 25-30 minutes (and beyond until I reach 3.1 miles). I am excited and anxious.

I decided to keep track of weekly goals and accomplishments. So here goes the first installment.

Goals for the upcoming week:
- Run 25 minutes without walking (C25K Week 7)
- Run 1.5 - 1.75 miles without walking
- Bike at least 16 miles (4 days to/from work)
- Light weights at least 2 days
- Do yoga at least 1 day
- Do kickboxing at least 1 day

Accomplishments this week:
- Workout Log
- Food Log
- I weigh less than 135 lbs (I am no longer overweight)
- I fit into size 4/6 pants (down from 10/12)
- I can run a mile without walking
- I ran 20 minutes without walking (~ about 1.5 miles)
- I finished a 5K in less than 42 minutes (ran ~ 1/2 - 3/4 of the race)
- I continue to inspire people to start C25K or their own exercise program

W6D2 - Last Interval Run

I just completed my last interval run of the program; from here on out, it's all running, all the time! Yay! I am so happy and amazed I've come this far. Today's run went really well; Combined with the warm up and cool down walks, I covered 2.5 miles in about 40 minutes (I usually just cover 2 miles in about 30-35 minutes). This is slower than my 5K, but I took that first 10 minute run and the cool down walk very slowly. I covered 1.5 miles during the interval portion (10-3-10) in 23.5 minutes.

I got really sick of the podrunner podcast music on Monday, so I decided to use my own music today and use my crappy Target watch (that doesn't even have a countdown timer) to keep time. I was worried this may make the run harder because I'd have to keep looking at my watch and agonizing about how long I had left, but it worked out well. I walked one full loop for the warm up (.5 miles) then reset my watch. I knew the loop takes me 7-8 minutes to complete, so I did not look at my watch until I completed the loop. This meant I only had to keep looking at my watch for the last 2 minutes or so and I wasn't really dying to look at it all the time either. The runs felt pretty comfortable.

My new GPS watch (the Garmin Forerunner 305--still on sale for $164.99) should arrive tomorrow, so I'll have it in time for my 25 minute run on Friday. I am really excited because I'll be able to focus on my running and breathing and let the watch focus on my distance, pace, and time. This will hopefully make running those long times and tracking my progress easier as I work up to comfortably running 5k and then train for a 10k.

W6D1

I wasn't feeling well this morning so I was going to postpone today's run until tomorrow. It would give me 2 rest days after the 5K and because I have a buffer day, W9D1 would still coincide with my next 5K. I was feeling better so decided to give it a try tonight once the sun started going down.

First of all, what the hell is up with the music in this day's podrunner podcast? The warmup song was awful. I couldn't stand that guy saying that line over and over and over. I was so glad when the chime went off to start running so I'd have something else to focus on. Once the intervals are over, I am using my own music.

Anyway, I decided not to take my watch today. I wanted to focus on getting through this and not worry too much about time. That worked out pretty good. I probably won't do that too often, but it's nice every now and then. The runs went well and not having the watch helped me focus on the run instead of how long I had left.

I also tried out the running skirt tonight. It was ok, but I hate feeling my thighs rub together. I wore Blister Block so there is no chafing, but I don't think I will feel comfortable wearing it again until my inner thighs slim down.

Just one more interval run to go, then is all running all the time! w00t! I've come a long way.

Meatless Monday - Day 2

I had another successful Meatless Monday:

• Breakfast: quaker oatmeal bar, banana
• Lunch: white rice, tuna and pesto sauce
• Dinner: Steamed Snow Crab and veggy salad

I snacked an awful lot during the day, but I don't feel like listing them all. They were all meatless though.

One advantage of meatless Monday is that it usually leads to at least one meatless meal the next day from leftovers. So maybe there is something to this starting the week off right thing. Not to mention, it is going to force me to try new things so I don't get bored with Tilapia and tuna every week :)

interest vs commitment

There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it is convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.

- Kenneth Blanchard

I saw this on lilhlfpint's journal and I just had to repost it. It is a great quote!

Race Report: Disney's Go Red for Women 5K (W5D3)

Today was my 2nd 5k and W5D3. I treated this as another workout day and began the race walking very briskly for 5 minutes. The truth is, I was itching to run but wanted to pace myself so I could run to the finish line.

The 20 minute run went great. I started slowly and sped up towards the end, but not too much because I knew I still would have over a mile to go after I finished the 20 minutes. I was going to keep running until the 2 mile marker, but I did not know quite where it was (it was about .1 miles from where I started walking). I am kinda kicking myself for this because if I had just slowed down to a slower jog instead of walking, I am sure I could have run the entire thing. After catching my breath for a song or two, I ran for another song then walked a bit more, then ran about half a mile to the finish line. Once I could see the clock, I gave it my all and started sprinting. As I was nearing the finish line, the clock was quickly turning to 43 and I pushed even harder to try to beat it (I missed it by 2 seconds) then I stopped and I got this rush of feeling over me as I struggled to catch my breath. I felt like I was going to cry--you know that feeling you get when you are crying so much you can barely breath? It was that kind of feeling minus the tears.

I estimate I ran at least 1.5 miles straight (during the 20 minute run) and a total of at least 2 miles, maybe more. Not too bad considering 6 weeks I could barely run more than a minute. I can't wait until I get my forerunner watch so I can know exactly how far I run. I improved my time greatly and finished under 42 minutes. I will definitely aim to run the entire time at the next 5k in 3 weeks and finish under 40 minutes.

Running at Disney was very cool because I knew the area and could easily see my progress. They even had music blasting so I could have done without my ipod, and we got a cool goodie bag and finisher's medal. I definitely want to do the Race for the Taste 10k in October.

Stats:
Distance - 5K
Chip Time- 41:46 (Clock - 43:02)
Pace: 13.47 minutes/mile
Overall Place - 1119 / 1796
Gender Place - 998 / 1632
Division Place - 994 / 1627

Fitness Update: -16.8 in 91 days (3 mo)

Starting Weight: 152 (1/29/08)
Previous Weigh-in: 136.2
Current Weigh-in: 135.2
Weight Difference: -1
Total Weight Loss: -16.8 in 91 days (3 mo)
Current Goal: 130 lbs (5.2 lbs to go)

I am no longer overweight! Yay! Actually, I miscalculated and anything below 136.4 is normal for my height, albeit on the high end. Since I am so close to my 135 lbs goal (and I actually weighed less than that at one point this week), I'm setting a new goal of 130 lbs, with a mini goal of 20+ lbs total loss.

I think I may stop posting weigh-in updates (or do them less often when I show a significant loss or meet a goal); I need to put less stock in these now that I am more active and building muscle. I need to focus on inches instead and the fact that I can now wear size 6 pants (depending on the store, I can also wear size 2 and 4). I used to be a size 10/12 when I started this, so this is awesome.

My activity since last weigh-in: C25K 2mi run/walk every other day, 4mi bike 4 days, lift weights 2 days (I've been slacking on my strength training, so I need to do a bit more here).

Tomorrow is the next 5k at Epcot, and I am so ready! It will coincide with W5D3, in which I run 20 minutes straight. I am actually looking forward to this and a day at Disney afterwards.

Read W5D2 Update.

W5D2

I did it! I ran 2 8-minute intervals and I survived; I feel amazing! I can hardly believe I am running 16 minutes! I remember when one minute seemed like an impossibility, but now I am going to tackle 20 minutes in 2 days.

The run went great; the weather was beautiful. It felt a little cold and I almost wore long sleeves, but I am glad I didn't because I worked up quite a sweat by the time I was done. Now I wish I hadn't wussed out and tried out the running skirt.

I ran the first 8 minutes fairly slowly. I wanted to get used to running that long first and have enough energy for the 2nd run. Just before I began the 1st run, I realized that it should take me about one loop (1/2 mile) to run the interval; so I told myself not to look at my watch until I was at least close to were I started to run. When I completed the loop and looked at my watch, I only had about 30 seconds to go and I still felt good. I walked the 5 minutes faster than usual and breathed a lot, though I was not really winded from the 1st interval.

When the 2nd interval started, I picked up the pace a bit. This actually felt easier than my snail pace, though a tad more tiring of course--but totally doable. It was just a nice stride and I think I was in the running zone for at least a short while. My biggest problem when I pick up speed is that I have to get used to taking shallower breaths to keep up, but I managed it fine. I know this will come with time. I kept looking at my watch 5/6 minutes into it, not because I wanted it to end, but because I wanted to sprint the last minute. I gave it my all for that last minute. It was great. I realized that I finish these runs winded because I sprint at the end, not because I can't keep up with the long runs.

I am feeling really good about running the 20 minutes at the 5k on Saturday. I plan to bring my own music to help the time go faster. Since I know I'll have to walk part of the 5k, I'll still start with the 5 minute brisk walk (or a very slow jog), then tackle the 20 minutes. I'll probably run the 1st 10 minutes at my snail's pace and then pick up a bit for the last 10. I'll walk briskly and catch my breath for 5-10 minutes, depending on how far I have to go to finish the 5k and how winded I feel. I estimate I'll be at least half way through by this point. If by some miracle I've cross the 2 mile marker, then I may walk less. I'll try to jog some more after I catch my breath for however long I can and then alternate running and walking until the 3 mile mark, then I'll sprint to the finish!

I am beyond excited for Saturday to be here already! I really want to finish in less than 40 minutes, but I'll be happy with anything between 40 and 43 minutes.