Resolution Run Race Report

Hi all! As I said, this weekend was a little on the crazy side on top of the race! This is the first time I have been able to sit down and relax and it's just long enough to write this post. Gotta love college life though! :)

So, race day recap!
I decided to run a few errands in the early afternoon so I could get a good idea of what the weather was like since it's been so wacky lately. It was cold but not freezing so I laid out a tshirt and running capris for the race with a zip-up hoodie for the drive over. Well that was not the best of ideas because it dropped a good ten degrees between then and when I left for the race! It even started snowing on the drive downtown, ugh.

Car photo shoot!

My brother and roomie came to support me which was awesome! My mom told me the other day that her and my sister were planning on coming down to surprise me but it ended up not working out since it was an afternoon race. But oh well, I'll be seeing them in just over a month (how crazy is that?!) for Spring Break so it's all good. :)

My face just screams "What am I about to do?!"

I definitely got to the race WAY too early but I wanted to be on the safe side. It was 2:15 when we pulled in and the race didn't start til 3 so we just kind of hung around the Boys and Girl's Club until people started going outside at around 2:45. Of course there was a lot more families there than college students but I was there to have fun, even if I stuck out like a sore thumb a little bit! :) 

I go outside and do some "stretching" for the camera and they start lining people up! By this point I was extremely nervous and it was freezing, snowing, and I had to take my jacket off because the metal zipper doesn't work well with the race chip. Sweet life. I tried to pick towards the middle of the pack since I'm not a super fast runner but I didn't plan on walking either. I should of been further forward though because I dodged little kids and some people who got exhausted early for the first half mile or so. I tried. But I was talking to people in line and of course I got asked about my shoes. My running shoes are those toe-separated shoes. They are so comfortable (and I don't have to wear socks!) but they aren't quite like the 5-finger shoes where you can feel every little thing you step on, just some things. So I am used to all of the questions by now haha.

Again, I am terrible at hiding how nervous I am

"OMG I'm cold!"

Waiting for the gun to go off was the most nerve-wracking thing ever and once it did I just did what I normally do, I didn't even feel the pressure of it being a race because I was just there to have fun--and I did! When I registered, I looked at where the race course was and since I know the area, I knew how crazy it was going to be. Lynchburg it known as "Hill City" and I was very thankful for running outdoors around campus and running with an incline on the treadmill. 

The first half of the race was entirely downhill. Not even kidding. I hate how my face jiggles when I run downhill too, it's just so weird! So you go down a few streets and end up alongside the James River on a trail and do about a quarter mile on the trail before turning around. There was a clock at the turn around point that gives you an idea of your pace. Mine was 8:45! I was not joking about those hills for sure! Since it was  a turnaround route though, the entire second half was uphill. Steep hills, really low temperatures, and snow (moisture) is the opposite of what my lungs like. So I died and fought back tears during every single hill. No doubt did I feel defeated before I rounded the last corner. My vision was going blurry and my lungs felt so tight. Then I saw Joshua and Kelsey, slapped on a smile and waved to the camera. I knew
I had to finish strong and it gave me just the right push to finish. I may of been a wreck after I crossed the line but it was SO worth it! 

After my lungs had a moment to calm down...

My goal for the race was to finish in under 21 minutes and I finished in 19:32! Also, I came in 2nd place in my age/gender category! Not a huge deal since that only contained about 20 people, but I still am so proud of all that I have accomplished these past few months. If I can do it, I'm certain that anyone can. It was such a great experience and I'm already looking forward to the next race, a 5K (when it's a little warmer and not so wet out hopefully...)!

Some more pictures to enjoy... 

So there's my exciting first race, one last shout out to Joshua for being a champ and coming, Kelsey for listening to me go on and on and on about how nervous I was and for taking pictures and of course to my wonderful family and friends for being so supportive on this journey. I love you all. 

And I'll just leave you with this wonderful video of me crossing the finish line that Kelsey took...again I'm terrible at hiding my emotions but I did want to share my moment on here. 

Inspired by Others

When I take time to stop and think about it I realize how crazy it is that as the self-proclaimed "least athletic person" I am now running 5x/week. Honestly, it's pretty insane how I started out just exercising more to accompany eating right and now I'm pretty much addicting to running. It's kind of funny actually.

 What's awesome though is the number of friends of mine that have started becoming more active and even starting the Couch to 5K program because of little old me! Four of my friends have told me in past weeks that they have started as a result of my efforts and that just blows me away. Two of them will be running this intense race with me over the summer. :) And of course my family got gym memberships while I was home and I went to the gym with my parents a few times a week! The hard work of others is definitely motivating me to keep moving as well.

Yes, my cereal bowl does include a drinking straw

Anyways, I've become a big supporter of breakfast. I've always known breakfast was important but I'd just kind of eat it because it's bad to have coffee on an empty stomach (duh). But it's SO important to have breakfast or else your body goes into this crazy fat-storing starvation mode and nobody wants that.

My breakfast is becoming predictable though. 80% of the time I'll have oatmeal mixed with fruit and a very little bit of peanut butter. YUM. And the other 20% of the time I have Greek yogurt (It would be more if it wasn't so darn expensive!) or a fried egg on toast. Or both. All that is just to say that breakfast can be splendid and it really starts your day (and your metabolism!) off on the right foot.

The condition this treadmill was in made me miss the YMCA

Today I continued my interval running and I'm actually starting to notice a difference. When I started running for distance, I cut off all interval runs. That was okay, but it seemed to take a while to improve my distance without feeling like death. I've noticed a difference since adding intervals though and that was just last week! Yesterday's distance run went so much better than even shorter ones that I have done before. Also, I had to push the incline during today's run to get to the right level of nasty gross nobody-dare-look-at-me mess that I just love. All this to say, intervals really do help. Now only for it to get warm enough to do the non-interval runs outside! UGH.

On a completely random note: today I discovered Cold Turkey and I'm thinking it'll help cut my procrastinating back this semester...maybe? Time to go put it to use!

Determined to Succeed

I have been back at school since Saturday afternoon and I didn't realize how much I missed it here until I was back. But I'm going to be completely honest, I pushed off this blog post because I was ashamed in myself. And it's silly. I know most people won't get the way that I think but those who know me well for the most part understand. I am my worst critic and that is something I have been struggling with as far as I can remember. I automatically stress when I don't go above and beyond, it can be such a roadblock in my life. 

Anyways, that brings me to this week. I get back to school and I have met most of my goals. SO awesome. The only goal that I didn't meet was going to the gym 3 times/week because I was sick the last week I was home and it got to the point it was affecting my asthma. When I started running I made the commitment that I was not going to put my health on the line, so I rested until I could sit on the couch without wheezing and feeling like there was no air in my lungs. Real sweet feeling. 

I met all of my other goals. I should be happy, right? Not the case. I spent the beginning of this week beating myself up over so many things. Looking back I feel foolish but it's just my mentality. I hate my asthma and I was freaking out about how hard it has been for me to add distance. In perspective, many asthmatic people don't even attempt to run, so it should be something to be proud of. But I was just having such a hard time with that. Also, I'm five pounds from goal, which means I lost 3-4 pounds in the month I was home. That's fantastic for the time of year where most people are worried about putting on weight. But I was bummed that I didn't lose more and bummed because I feel like these last five pounds are going to take forever. How dumb is that? I've already lost close to 30 pounds but I'm beating myself up over 5??! In all honesty though, that's just the way my mind works. Putting it into perspective, I feel much better. 

All that to say--today I ran 2.5 miles straight! And to think a month ago I had never ran more than a mile straight! That was definitely the confidence boost I needed and put me right back on track. I've got this. Soon I'll hit 5K length then maybe I'll add more distance. I've also been working on speed again this week by adding in interval workouts, so fingers crossed that those help a little bit. I'm going to be realistic with speed because of my asthma, but it would be nice to be able to do a 5K in under 30 minutes. 

Yesterday's interval run! I didn't get a pic of today's 2.5, ugh!

Hopefully I'll have some exciting news soon! And to those of you that began school this week like me--happy first week back! 

Running in the Snow

Well yesterday I started doing something that I have been terrified to do since Day 1 of this whole working-towards-a-race thing: I ran OUTSIDE! And it felt so dang good!

I've been terrified for multiple reasons:
1. My asthma--this time of year the cold really quirks with my lungs and it's been super cold.
2. Dogs---I've read lots of stories about people being bit by dogs while running so I was a little terrified. 
3. Pavement---Okay I'm not really scared of pavement, but I've read how bad it is on your knees. I have researched some trails but I don't want to venture too far from home right away.

Right now I am planning on running my first race this spring and the weather was supposed to hit the 30's this week (SO warm compared to the negative numbers last week!) so I figured why the heck not.

Of course, yesterday's run was my worst nightmare as far as a first run goes though. I was antsy to go for a run before work but didn't have enough time to drive all the way to the gym and back and shower before I had to leave again for work.

Issue #1: My Nike+iPod app sucks. Seriously. I was planning on running around my neighborhood since it is a quiet loop and figured it was a quarter of a mile. I did a warm up walk once around and the app kept saying to walk around to activate my sensor. After the warm up lap it hadn't activated so I turned it off and put on my music to run with instead. So annoying.

Since I figured out each lap was about a quarter of a mile, I figured 4 laps would be one and I would see how I was feeling after that. I ended up doing 5 or 6 then decided to run on this other quiet road next to my loop to finish off the run. 

Issue #2: Big Dog. I was halfway down the road when this massive dog starts running down the road after me. AWESOME. So I screamed like a thirteen year old and kept going. 

Issue #3: Busy roads. I didn't want my first run to be on a busy road at all. I hit the end of the road and the road next to it is significantly busier. But there was no way around the dog. So I sprinted down that road, turned and sprinted on the next busy-ish road and was back into my development. What a workout!

If my app had been running, I'm almost convinced it would of read 3 miles especially after I learned how long my loop really is today. 

I downloaded this app: MapMyRun and it was perfect! Today was significantly colder but I decided to give the app a try and see how far I could go. I was able to set it to do half mile splits. After each mile a voice would come over my phone telling me I had run a mile, how much time had passed, and what my pace was. Since it was via GPS I trust what the distance was and it told me that each lap around the block was .35 miles! So I definitely had to of run 3 miles yesterday, woohoo!

Today's run was so much better than yesterday's! I ran 2.25 miles despite the cold and definitely could of done 3 if I wanted to push it. But I didn't, not yet at least. 

So yeah, there's a long boring post about running outside. I hope everyone's break is going well! I'm starting to get pumped to leave for school this weekend.

Setting Goals

As a direct result of Sunday's fiasco, I decided to take this week a little slower and I repeated Day One yesterday. Today (Tuesday) I was feeling much more confident so I moved onto Day Two and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting! I still felt like a gooey mess after, but it's progress. Day 3 is supposed to be running 2 miles straight. I don't know if I will do that or do 1.5 miles for a couple of days, then 2. I'm just not a fan of it suddenly going from 2 different 3/4 mile intervals to nearly doubling. We'll see though because I'm definitely going to repeat Day Two another time or two first.

Tomorrow I leave for Christmas Break! Woohoo! I'm a little excited that the semester is over. I really think being as active as I have been helped me endure finals week. Sitting still for hours on end builds up so much energy that I use to get distracted on the computer. Taking a break to run relieved some of that. Fantastic. 

My advice for getting through break without falling off the horse is to set some goals. Write them down and put them where you can see them every day, like your mirror. And tell others about the goals you are setting too, that way you are less likely to avoid them. It's just another way of keeping yourself accountable. :)

If you don't like running outdoors then researching a gym back home might be a good idea as well. I found some back home that I'm interested in that have student discounts and memberships that you only need to get for a month. It's perfect for my situation and I plan on becoming a member by Friday. Boom, goal.

So here are my goals between now and January 13:

1. Go to the gym at least 3 times/week
Since I will be paying for a gym membership (something I'm not used to) I don't think it will be difficult to at least guilt myself  into going, I'm pretty frugal. It will be nice to stick to a routine though, which is the whole purpose of this goal, keeping to a form of routine. 

2. Be within 5 pounds of goal weight
Right now, I'm about 8 or so pounds from goal weight. I originally had to lose 5 pounds over break. That would be awesome but I'm just not so sure about that happening. Being within five pounds would make me very happy though because then I could (hopefully) hit goal next semester! It would be a great way to start 2013.  

3. Run OUTSIDE
I'm terrified of running outside, especially if it is cold out. I just think I look so dumb which is why I don't want to be running around others as much as possible. But it's something I need to get over and my neighborhood is quiet and has a nice loop to run around. So, I want to pick a nice day to run around the neighborhood. If I do get comfortable with that then I can save some money this summer on another gym membership! (fingers crossed!)

4. Run for 2 miles straight
I am so close to accomplishing this goal! Being able to run for 2 miles would not only be the furthest that I have run (as far as I'm aware at least) but it would mean that I'm towards the end of this Couch to 5K business and can start working on speed! I'm a little excited because having to slow down during my workouts (as a result of adding distance) has really bummed me out because I feel so S-L-O-W compared to how I was running with intervals. 

5. Indulge in some treats, but have a plan of attack
All this basically means is that I am going to be a-okay with enjoying myself at parties and get-togethers with some yummy food. But, I want to keep it under control and not just eat because there is food in front of me. If I go into a social situation while keeping in mind that I am trying not to be excessive, then I will enjoy the party more and not go home with regrets later on. This really might be my hardest goal because I love sweets so much which is why I'm going to indulge a little.

6. Enjoy time with family and friends
That's what the whole point of being home is for! I am so excited to see everyone for a whole month and I am going to really treasure this time and relax. 

So those are my goals! I will definitely share about them as I keep going. I will definitely post as much as I can over break. Safe travels everyone.

Progress Update and Interval Workouts

       So I did my weigh in on Saturday and I was down another 3 pounds, which puts me on the other side of the halfway point of my weight loss goal! I know this last half is going to be harder than the first half, but I’m gonna stay positive and power through it.

        Today I want to share some good workouts and what I have benefited from up to this point. Starting out, I wasn’t really sure what to do. As a result, I kinda fumbled through my first few workouts until I really learned what was best in pursuing my goal. Hopefully my experience will save you some of that effort.

        I started off trying the Couch to 5K program. Several of my friends have used it and it’s worked well for them, plus I really want to become a longer distance runner. At the moment, my goal is to be in my first 5K during the spring semester. Here’s hoping!

     At the end of week 2 of the program, I was in bad shape. I’ve had really bad asthma since I could remember and I did have a few small attacks at the end of some of my workouts. So, I had to slow it down and repeat week one several times. I began increasing the speed and the incline on the treadmill as I was working out and eventually increased the length of the runs and length of the overall workout too. What I didn’t realize was that I was training myself using interval workouts. And once I read up on them, I became a strong believer. Here’s why:

       

         1. No asthma attacks! The break in between jogs gives my lungs a chance to catch up, so short bursts of intensity seem to be better for them than longer runs. Granted, over time it is getting better as I increase the length of my interval, but it has been better for my lungs to slowly become stronger in this way.

         

        2. They are so beneficial! I have read several studies that say that interval workouts burn 2-3 times more calories after the workout because of an “afterburn” effect that your body experiences. And I totally believe it because I am usually dripping with sweat by the end of interval 2 and I can normally feel some of the effects for a couple hours afterwards. It's intense.

Here’s a link to an interval workout, although I really just modify week 1 of the Couch to 5K program to an intensity that works for me. So modify and find out what works best for you! Especially if you're a beginner runner, start out slow and add intensity as you get better. I do this about 3 or 4 times a week and another couple of days are spent doing another modified interval workout on either a bicycle or elliptical. I like to keep workouts interesting so I do change it up quite a lot.

Also, I was pretty bad about toning as I lost weight. So, I buckled down these past couple weeks and began toning my stomach muscles so that I won’t look silly. I found this workout over the summer and I did it sporadically. Now I’m doing it about 3x/week and I’m noticing a difference! It isn't too difficult, really works my abs, and it doesn’t only target one area.

Hopefully these exercises will be helpful to you! Like I’ve said before- I really don’t spend much time at the gym because I can’t afford that much time out of my day. I only spend 25-40 minutes on cardio and the ab workout really only takes 15-20 minutes at the very most. All of this gives really good results as cardio is what is always suggested for weightloss, followed by some exercises to tone as well. As I start toning my legs, etc… I'll post workouts that I find beneficial.

That’s just some stuff I’ve learned and has helped so far, I’m sure my knowledge will increase on this stuff as I become more experienced, but this is a wonderful place for anyone to start in an effort for a healthier lifestyle.