Conquering Couch To 5k

So, apparently you guys like when I post fitness stuff on here!  Who knew?  A couple of my most recent posts (Run Around and Fit to be Tied) got a bit of a buzz.  Yep, I’m getting all sleek and in shape over here at OGT.  I’ve got a few months til summer and I will be spending as much time in a bathing suit as possible.  I have a little fishy of a son, so you can bet we will be saying hi to Grandma from the pool as often as we can.  I better invest in sunblock now…

Back to the runnin’.  I touched on the Couch to 5k method of “learning” to run earlier this year.  I said I had never once completed the program the whole way through.  Well, I am thisclose to completing it this time!  Let me give you a little back story.

I have never been on a team sport.  Not growing up, not in high school, not in college, not ever.  The closest I came to being on a “team” was when I was in a singing group when I was 10.  Nope, I didn’t play any sports.  I worked in high school.  I was never one for running or really even into fitness for that matter.  It wasn’t until I was in college that I started realizing how out of shape I was.  My freshman roommate and some of the other girls on my floor would convince me to go workout in the gym in our basement.  I had no idea what I was doing, so I just kind of made stuff up as I went along.

Fast forward a few years.  OK, several years.  In the summer of 2009 I was at my highest (then) weight of 165.  I knew I needed to do something because I was unhappy.  I felt fat, lazy, and had no energy.  I started walking and lifting weights.  My sister had started running earlier in the year and she lost a ton of weight.  She also started running in some 5ks and she inspired me to want to try running too.  I began the program (I actually use an app called Ease into 5k instead of the c25k one) and I think I got through about week 4 or so.  Then I gave it up.  Can’t remember why, but I did.  I probably thought my body wasn’t built for running.

Despite not completing the program, I ended up losing 30 pounds by walking and doing various other activities at the gym like the arc trainer.  I started the program a few more times but, as before, stopped it by week 4 or 5.  When I got pregnant with Jake, I ended up gaining a ton of weight.  I believe my highest weight was 204!!!  Geez, Louise!

After I had him, I lost about 30 pounds naturally, but I hovered around the 170 mark for a loooooong time.  Finally at the beginning of this year I had had enough.  I wanted my 135 pound body back.  My best friend and I got serious and we’ve been eating right and exercising ever since.  I’ve lost 12 pounds so far and feel a lot more lean and mean.  I still have a ways to go, but I can see the results and I’m determined to reach my goal!

Well, that was a long winded way to get on the topic of my current experience with Couch to 5K.  This time, it’s all different.  I started out pretty strong on weeks 1, 2, and 3, but then I started having some pain on the inside of my shins.  My friend told me she thought they were shin splints and suggested I rest and not run for a while.  This is one of the reasons why I had stopped running period in the past, so I was nervous to take a break.  On the other hand, I didn’t want to hurt myself, so I quit running for a few weeks.

When I got back on the treadmill, I was still a little sore, but not so much I couldn’t run.  I completed my run with ease!  After that, I just kept progressing and progressing.  Some days were really tough, others weren’t so bad.  Last night, I went to the gym fully expecting not to be able to complete the day’s run.  Week 6, day 2 is run 10 minutes, walk 3, run 10.  I did it, but struggled with it.  Week 6, day 3 (last night’s run) was warm up, then run 20 minutes.  Straight.  No breaks.  There was no way.

Well, I was wrong.  I KILLED my run!  Not only did I run the 20 minutes it said to, but I kept going and ran an additional 6 minutes so I could say I ran 2 miles straight!  (Yes, right now I run a very slow 13 minute mile, but I run the whole thing.  So there.)  I was so pleased with myself I put it all over social media!

I’m not completely done with Couch to 5k, but I’m so close.  Now I feel like I could actually, potentially be a runner.  I know they say if you run even one minute, you’re a runner, but in my head that’s not the truth.  That’s not the definition of a runner I see.  My sister?  She’s a runner.  Know what I do believe in?  The term runner’s high.  There’s no other feeling like it.

On a side note, did you all see Google Reader is going to be shutting it’s doors on July 1? 

What blog reading platform will you be using when that happens?

Do The Damn Thing

I have never been a lover of exercise.  I wasn’t in team sports in high school.  I never was one to say “my favorite thing to do is go for a run.”  But I do, however, love the way I feel after a really good workout.  You know…the endorphin high.  There’s really nothing else like it in the world.

A few years ago, I woke up one day and decided “today is the day I’m going to change my life.”  I had had this thought several times over the years, but for some reason this time felt different.

I needed a plan.  I made a pact with Carolyn that we would check in with each other every week to discuss gains or losses, challenges we’d faced, and to get encouragement to keep going.  I told myself “you are hungry again a few hours after you eat whether you choose junk food or healthy food so why not choose healthy food?”  I made myself workout as many days as I could.  And you know what?

It worked.  (Weird picture, I know!)

From August 2009 to May 2010, I lost 30 pounds.  I looked and felt great!  I had one of the best summers of my life that year.  I felt so healthy that summer.  One of my main reasons for losing weight was to be at a healthy starting point for when I got pregnant.  As luck would have it, I ended up getting pregnant in September of 2010.

Then, after a tragedy, I started spiraling.  I ate what I wanted, stopped working out, and lost my direction.  When I got pregnant again in March of 2011, I had put almost all of my weight back on.  I never gained my direction back even though I tried many, many times.  By the time I gave birth to Jake, I was 70 pounds heavier than I had been at my healthy weight.

Now, seven months postpartum, I am still about 30 pounds away from my “goal”.  I still haven’t found my drive or motivation, but I have started to search for it.  After a friend’s husband told me he’d signed up for a local 5k, I decided I would too.  Then I began training using the couch to 5k iPhone app.  (This was about 2 weeks ago.)

A few days after that, I began seeing advertising all over the blog world about some boot camp thing.  Brittany had done it before and raved about it.  I have always complained that I needed to add strength training in to my cardio but never knew what to do.  This was my sign!  I signed up and convinced Carolyn to sign up with me.  We both need our butts kicked into gear.

So, to make a long story short (too late), I am starting the process to get healthy again.  In addition to training for a 5k and “going to boot camp“, I have begun logging my food.  I am focusing on eating more whole foods and choosing water over soda.  I am trying to remember to take my vitamins and get my sleep.  I am trying to do this.

No.  I am going to do this. 

For my husband, for my son, and for me.  I deserve it.

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Update:
Went to the gym this morning (7.23) and KILLED IT!  Did Couch to 5k W1D3 and BBBC Workout A.  Feelin’ it!  I CAN do this!

Encouraging the Masses

I’m not normally one to get on my soapbox and spout my beliefs for everyone to hear.  I think everyone is entitled to their opinion and I try to respect everyone’s point of view.  The fact that we are all different is what makes each of us special and unique.

That being said, I must pull out the soapbox and dust it off today.  I’m not sure how many of you watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on ABC last year.  If you didn’t, you missed out.  Luckily, it’s on again this year targeting the LAUSD school system in Los Angeles.

LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) is the largest public school system in California and second largest public school system in America (NYC’s public school system being the first).  They are responsibly for molding, shaping, and most importantly feeding nearly 700,000 children in the LA area.

With that amount of children’s health at stake, Jamie decided to try to improve the dietary guidelines in the school district.  California, after all, is known for healthy, active lifestyles, so you would think the school district would be concerned for their children’s health, right?

Guess not.  The reason I’m so irritated this morning is how obtuse the Superintendent and his staff are being as far as Jamie coming in and trying to improve the situation.  He was barred from entering the schools and was told if he tried to enter, the police would be called.

Here’s my question…if you believe you are doing a good job and you have nothing to hide, why are you not allowing just one person to inspect your cafeterias and the quality of your food?

I am a huge advocate of the prevention of childhood obesity.  I believe we should give our children wholesome, healthy foods as much as possible.  Whole grains, bright cheerful fruits and veggies, lean proteins.  That’s where it’s at, man.

One of the main topics of last night’s show was the prevention of sugar laden milk in the schools (think strawberry and chocolate milks).  Jamie did a presentation where he piled one week’s worth of the sugar found in flavored milk alone into a school bus.  By the time the sugar was emptied into the bus, there were HUGE piles of sugar flowing from the cracks and crevasses of the bus onto the ground below.  It was appalling.  All that sugar is unnecessary.

Granted, I am not a mom.  Yet.  I don’t have kids.  Yet.  But I do know what it’s like to buy school lunches every day.  I remember very clearly what my school’s lunch program was:

Day One:  Pizza
Day Two:  Cheeseburgers
Day Three:  Frito Chili Pie
Day Four:  Chicken Strips
Day Five:  Pizza
**Every day french fries were available and most of the time I would get those covered in ranch dressing.  It’s no wonder I have had weight issues my whole life!  (Disclaimer:  my mother did her best to encourage healthy eating at home, but she wasn’t there to slap the fries and ranch out of my hand at lunch!)

In fact, when I moved out and went to college, I lived on cheeseburgers, fries, pizza, chicken strips.  Typical college fare.  It didn’t help that I worked at a diner that made these foods readily available.  Luckily, in my third year of college, I began rooming with Carolyn, who slowly and gradually helped me see what exactly I was doing to my body.  Thanks, friend!

I really want to encourage everyone to pay attention to the health of the humans (and most importantly the children) around you.  Yes, it can be hard to eat healthy all the time, especially when you are used to eating fat and sugar and CRAP.

Make little changes.  Swap out whole grains for white bread and pasta, pick a yogurt that has more fiber protein in it (Chobani versus Yoplait or Dannon), drink one extra glass of water instead of that soda. If you made one change a week for one year, think of how much healthier you’d be by April 2012.  If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for your kids.  Promote a healthy image for them!

If you feel like helping Jamie’s cause to bring healthy food to the children of America, visit his website to sign the Food Revolution petition and get tips on being active in your community.  Over 23,000 people have signed the petition in Ohio alone, yours truly being one of the few and proud!

Do your part, America.  GET MOVING!

(That is all.  Storing my soapbox under my bed for at least a week.)

It’s Crunch Time

I spent a while a few years back as a scrapbooker.  I made two albums and started a couple others before I got bored.  Or uninspired.  Whichever.  With the dawn of the digital scrapbooking age my inspiration returned.

I’ll tell you a little secret:  I’m slightly a perfectionist when it comes to scrapbooking.  That’s probably another reason why I stopped creating.  With digital scrapbooking, however, I can move, add, delete, rearrange, and scrap entire projects without wasting my money.  I love that!

Thanks to Kristina Werner‘s digital scrapbooking videos, I find myself creating little mini projects here and there.  One of those projects was a countdown to our next trip:

You can look at this countdown in two ways.  In one way, there is just a little over a month until our vacation!  In another way…I have 37 days to lose the “insulation” I added to my 5’2″ frame over the last few months.  Aside from the basics (eat right, drink water, exercise) what tips can you guys give me?  I need all the help I can get!