Week 3

Today I finished my last day of week 3.  Week 3 was a 5 minute warmup, running 2 minutes, walking 2 minutes, running 3 minutes, walking 2 minutes, repeat this cycle twice, and a 5 minute cooldown.  I definitely found week 3 to be challenging. I guess every week will be challenging.  I am nervous to move on to week 4.  I have even thought about staying on week 3 for another week but I've decided to give week 4 a try. 
I was pleased with my running schedule last week.  I took last Monday off, trained on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, took Friday off, then trained Saturday and today.  I also did 2 days of strength training which is progress for me.  I have been doing the Green Mountain Express which is one of the DVD's I bought at GM, it was designed for busy people.  The GM Express is a full body strength training and is only one set of 15 for each exercise.  I paused the DVD after each exercise and repeated so I could get in 2 sets. 
Most days after work, I have found that the easiest place to run is the track across the street from my apartment.  I don't mind the routine of running around the track.  It's actually good for me to measure my progress.  When I started week 1, I was only able to run around about 1/4 of the track.  Now that I am on week 3, I've been running around about 3/4 of the track.  I'm hoping that by next week, I will be able to run around the entire track once without stopping. 
I picked up a really cool new water bottle today.  The strap fits around your hand so that you don't have to hold the water bottle.  It also has a little pouch on the front that fits a phone, keys, and ID.  I have an armband for my phone that I really like but I liked that I could put my keys in the pouch.  I totally copied Beth because she already has one but I don't think she'll mind :) 

Today I went to run on a trail called the Mount Vernon trail.  It is in Old Town Alexandria and runs along the Potomac River.  The trail itself is 18 miles long.  My favorite part of the trail is near George Washington's home Mount Vernon.  There are lots of trees and usually a nice breeze off the river.  The trail today was busy with runners and bikers.  It was nice to get away from my usual track and the scenery was so nice during my run.  I completed the 5K training program and then continued on for a total of 2.3 miles.

My favorite part of the run today was running over the bridge.  I took a

 scenery break on my way back to capture these shots.

I was aiming for a total of 3 miles today but I ran into a little problem.  And in this problem, I learned my lesson for the day.  After parking and walking over to the trail, I realized I needed to use the restroom.  I was less than excited to use the provided bathroom facilities and decided that I would hold it.  This was a bad idea.  By the time I made it back to my car, I was in misery.  The fact that I was drinking water during my run did not help.  Had I put aside my bathroom standards, I probably could have finished the entire 3 miles. So, on race day, I need to suck it up and use porta potties if that's all there is.  For some people, this may be no big deal.  For me, this is a huge deal.  I'm the girl who walked the entire St Jude Half Marathon without stopping to use a porta potty. 
Next week I am starting on week 4.  I am planning on running Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and possibly Friday.  The program is actually only 3 days a week.  Week 4 is a 5 minute warmup, running 3 minutes, walking 3 minutes, running 4 minutes, walking 3 minutes, running 5 minutes.  It has not gone past my notice that, as of this week, the 5 minute cooldown is gone.  I'm ok with that because I can always walk a cooldown on my own.  I am also very nervous to see a 5 minute run and think that will definitely be a huge challenge for me. 

 

On to week 2

This evening I moved on to week 2 of Couch 2 5K.  Week 2 is a 5 minute warmup, then jogging 90 seconds, walking 90 seconds, jogging 90 seconds, walking 2 minutes, repeat this cycle 3 times, then a 5 minute cooldown.  This equals a total of 9 minutes of jogging and 21 minutes of walking.  I walk/ran 1.87 miles.  I was definitely winded after each jog but found that I was able to recover sufficiently during the walk and was ready to start jogging again when the next cycle started.  I felt very proud and, at the end of the run/walk, I had to reflect on past attempts with this app.

Having tried to do the Couch 2 5K app in the past, I never made it past week 1.  Last fall, I attempted to do the app with my (now former) coworkers.  I found that because I wasn't consistent with doing 3 days a week of training, I was never able to work up the endurance to get past week 1.  In fact, I really think that I only got in one run/walk a week.  I remember not being able to do all the runs in week 1 in the beginning.  (If I didn't say before, week 1 is a 5 minute warmup, then jogging 45 seconds, walking 90 seconds, jogging 45 seconds, walking 60 seconds, repeat this cycle 5 times, then a 5 minute cooldown).  I do think that I managed to complete one full run/walk without having to walk any of the runs last fall.  Probably around that time, I gave up and stopped the training.  I specifically remember that this was sometime around last October or early November because it was getting cold and getting dark earlier.  Around this same time, I found out that I had gotten the scholarship and that Green Mountain was finally going to become a reality instead of a dream.  

Today, as I completed week 2 day 1, I realized that even with my issues with inconsistency, I am in better shape now than I was last fall.  After coming home from Green Mountain, I was disappointed that it was so easy to fall back into my old habits.  It was actually much harder than I WANTED it to be to keep up the workouts and healthy eating.  Obviously we were prepared by the staff at Green Mountain not to expect a sudden and miraculous transformation and to set small and attainable goals. Even though I came home repeating to myself, set small goals, be kind to myself, I still thought, in the very back of my mind, maybe I could have a miraculous transformation, that it would somehow be different for me.  And as usual, I was unrealistic in my expectations, setting myself up for disappointment.  This something that most of us women struggle with.  

While I definitely have my challenges and days and even weeks where I  don't work out and don't eat healthy, what I learned and what I gained at Green Mountain is still there.    

So enough of all that mushy reflection.  

Successes for this week:  I did fit in one day of strength training this week and one day last week.  Which is more strength training than I had done in a while.  So next week, I hope to fit in 2 days of strength training.  I was disappointed that my yoga class was cancelled last Tuesday because I really enjoy at least one day of yoga a week.  I also successfully tracked my food on My Fitness Pal Monday through Thursday.  Even though I wasn't trying to track my calorie intake, I seemed to get about 1700 calories on average every day.  I packed my breakfast and lunch every day except today, took my coffee to work (because if I go to Starbucks to get coffee, it is physically impossible to not buy a blueberry scone.  Seriously), and ate a salad with my dinner.  I got a chance to play tennis with Allison (my Green Mountain DC friend) and we actually got a few good volleys going.  I'm hoping that means my tennis game is improving , however, it could just be because we were using a foam practice tennis ball.    

My GM BFF Beth and her sister have both started their 5K training.  We also picked up an extra team member, a participant at Green Mountain that was there after I left but while Beth was still there.  We are all registered for the 5K in Boston at the end of October.  We have started an ongoing group text message between the 3 of us to motivate and share our successes.  Thanks to unlimited text messages, it is, in fact, possible to train for a 5K together even though we live in 3 separate cities.  We have also come to the conclusion that our lives would be much easier if we lived in the same city but I don't think we can agree on what city that would be (go DC!!).  We are planning to wear costumes in the 5K (it does fall at the end of October so a lot of runners will be dressed up for Halloween).  I'll keep the costumes we have settled on secret until the big 5K day.  

Well friends, have a great weekend!

Making big decisions, losing my way on the path, finding my way back...

When I decided to keep up this blog once I got home from Vermont, I promised to share my challenges and my accomplishments.  In the past month, I have failed in that promise.  Mostly because there have been more challenges than there have been accomplishments.  Today I want to dedicate myself to updating my blog much more frequently. 
Since I've updated in July, I have made a huge life decision and that is to go back to school.  I happened to be spending a fun day at the pool with my friend Annemarie and her 2 little ones.  She was telling me how she wanted to go back to school and I made a flippant comment to the effect of, if you go back to school, so will I.  The next thing I knew, I was going back to school.  I am going to get my Masters of Science in Nursing Education.  This is a decision I have been putting off for years.  I've been out of school for 12 years.  I enjoy my free time, reading whatever I want, not having to worry about papers and schoolwork.  However, I have also reached a point where I realize that movement in my career requires me to get more education.  Now that I have made the decision, I'm excited to get started and also a little apprehensive about what I am getting myself into. 
The program I am enrolled in is an online program.  I will continue to work full time in the job I have now.  I am worried about how adding schoolwork to my schedule will affect my ability to exercise after work.  I do not want to sacrifice my workouts to do schoolwork.  Once I get started with my first class and see what the course load will be like, I am going to make a schedule to get my schoolwork done without sacrificing my exercise. 
While it was a huge decision, once I made it, things seemed to move very fast.  I was accepted to the program, approved for financial aid, and enrolled in my first class before I could change my mind.  I'm sure that there will be plenty of times over the next 2 years that I wish I wasn't in school but I am very sure that I will be happy I did it when I am finished. 
Over the past month, I feel that I have lost my path.  And what path is that, you may be asking?  It's my Green Mountain path.  I knew this wouldn't be an easy path to stay on.  It never has been, the whole 34 years of my life.  Acknowledging that I've lost the path is the first step to getting back on it.  Sometimes I get glimpses of that path and I know I am close to it.
Food has been a problem.  At Green Mountain, we learned that we should eat what we want and not restrict or deny ourselves.  Well, I seem to have taken that in the most literal form possible.  I went for a time in the last month where I just didn't deny myself anything.  If I wanted to eat a donut that a patient's family brought us for breakfast, I ate it.  I ate it and enjoyed it.  Before Green Mountain, I would have denied myself and then craved it the rest of the day.  Or I would have eaten it and then felt horribly guilty the rest of the day.  So I ate the donut and enjoyed it and then let it go. 
When I got on a kick of making little homemade pepperoni pizzas for every dinner for an entire week, I ate them and enjoyed them.  Every night.  Monday through Thursday.  They were good although rather nutritionally limited.
On a good hand, if I can say it is good, I ate those things and didn't feel a bit guilty about it.  But there has to be some moderation there.  There has to be balanced and smart choices.  Green Mountain doesn't say eat a diet of junk and don't deny yourself.  They say, don't deny yourself but eat a healthy, balanced diet of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and lean meats and allow yourself to have the treats on occasion.  Maybe I needed that absolute freedom to eat what I wanted and not feel bad.  Maybe it was good for my mind to know that I would not deny myself what I wanted.  Maybe that sounds crazy and like I'm trying to justify my lapse in good food judgement.
Now I need to step just slightly away from that absolute freedom.  I need to make balanced choices.  I need to stop and ask myself how much I really want that treat.  I need to make sure there are vegetables and fruit in my fridge.  I need to make sure there are healthy choices in my pantry.  I don't want to go back to that diet mentality where I deny myself and feel miserable with every choice I make.  I need to find that middle ground.
On that line of thinking, I have decided that I am going to start keeping track of my food on My Fitness Pal.  I have done this in the past with some amount of success.  I am not going to keep track of my food so I can count every calorie and weigh and measure everything I eat.  I am going to keep track of my food to give myself accountability.  If I decide on a certain day that I don't feel like tracking my food, I won't do it.  On most days, especially during the weekdays, I will keep track of my food.
The way that I am talking about eating whatever I want makes it seem like I must have gained 10 pounds or more over the last month.  I am happy to say that is not the case.
On to exercise.  I feel like I am writing a confessional.  Exercise has been my usual lack of consistency.  Some good weeks and some not so good weeks.  I definitely had 2 weeks straight that I came home from work and sat down on the couch (or my bed) and ended up waking up an hour later after I took a nap.  I guess for some reason my body needed more rest and I gave it what it needed.  However, I also had some good weeks where I got in 2 or 3 days of workouts after work.  I have let my strength training fall to the wayside and want very much to find a way to get that back into my exercise routine.
I have had the pleasure of reconnecting with one of my Green Mountain friends that lives in the DC area.  We have met up a couple of times to play tennis.  We try for every Thursday but our schedules, being what they are, haven't always worked out.  Playing tennis with her is fun because we have a similar level of skill.  That is to say, we both need some practice.  We have a great time, chat the whole time we are playing, and get in some great exercise. 
Talking about tennis, I have found a form of exercise that I really enjoy.  My boyfriend and I play tennis frequently on the weekends.  I have no formal training and I will admit that I play tennis rather poorly.  I'm hoping that I improve with practice.  But I enjoy it and isn't that what matters. 
In the past week, I decided to restart the Couch 2 5K app on my phone.  I have tried to do this training program for running in the past and have never successfully completed it past the second week. Like I said, consistency has always been my problem.  Apparently my motivation to pick up training to run has rubbed off on my Green Mountain BFF Beth.  After a few text messages from her, we've decided to train together.  In a figurative way, of course, considering she is in Denver and I am in DC.  Along with Beth's sister, we decided to sign up for a 5K in Boston in 10 weeks, the last of October. 
Now I know that for some of my friends out there who have completed half and full marathons, a 5K may sound like a small goal.  However, our goal is to run the whole 5K.  I have never been able to run more than a mile at a time and that was quite a few years ago.
I bought new running shoes today.  Those new shoes are my way of taking this step seriously.  Day 3 of week 1 is tomorrow. 
 

These shoes were made for running