I'm still learning

All these posts and blogs about resolutions have spurred some wonderings in me.  Over my last 30 years I've gotten to know myself pretty well.  Part of me wishes I could make goals like normal people do...lose 30 pounds, go without sweets, workout 5 days a week every single week, or get pregnant and know that I will succeed in those goals.  But I know I won't.  I'm not normal.  I'm a special kind of crazy.  Yes, I know how that sounds.  There's no doubting it though.  Those above are goals I've made for myself in the past.  Many times actually.  I've even been able to stick with them for long lengths of time.  When goal setting, one issue for me lies in maintenance.  Just because a goal is set and attained, this doesn't mean the goal goes away...a new goal slides into place or it must continue.  For instance, I've lost 30 pounds five separate times in my adult life.  Yes FIVE. Now there are two ways to look at this. 1) I achieved my weight loss goal five times!  Whoo hoo!  Way to go!  2) I did five times as much work as I would have needed to and put my body through a lot of unnecessary stress. Had I maintained my goal at age 21 when I lost the weight the first time, I wouldn't have had to deal with the last 9 years of yo-yo weight loss and weight gain.    A second roadblock in goal setting is attainability.  Are the aforementioned goals attainable for me?  Well, yes I could probably lose 30 pounds, but not if I continue to weight train.  I will most likely lose fat and gain muscle, which could put me at a 10-15 pound weight loss and be healthier than if I would have not gained muscle and lost it along with the fat.  Can I go without sweets?  Yes, I did it for 7 months.  Is it a lifestyle for me?  No.  I love food and through all of my battles with food and migraines, I have come to believe that it's all about moderation.  Will I be able to attain the goal of working out five times a week every week?   Possibly.  Will I get sick?  Yes.  Will I get hurt?  Well, if my broken finger proves anything, it's that one little broken digit can put you out of the weight room for 3 weeks.  What about pregnancy?  That was my goal last year.  Silly.  Just silly.  I have absolutely no control over whether or not I can get pregnant.  So why make that a goal?  There are things I can do to help, but I can't make that happen.  Only God can.  Now, onto my biggest personal roadblock with goal setting...failure.  At one point or another I will fail.  And when I fail, I stop in my tracks and throw in the towel.  It's mental.  I know it.  When I see a goal, I want to achieve the heck out of it and the perfectionism in me just can't deal.  As I said before, I have gotten to know myself pretty well and here are some things I've learned so I CAN make attainable, achievable, maintainable goals...
>I know that just because I make a goal, it doesn't mean I'll stick with it. 
>I don't do well with group accountability...you know like running groups or workout buddies, etc.  >Comparing myself with others doesn't push me...actually it makes me want to sit down with a bag of oreos.
>People telling me what to do makes me dig in my heels (personal trainers, books, motivational speakers, etc.)
>Rewards don't do much for me.  It's all about personal pride and accomplishment.
>I do really well with a plan.  I love plans and lists and calendars.  They help me set up my days and weeks with everything from things to accomplish, things to buy, food to cook, etc.  Heck, I make lists about my lists and write things down I did yesterday just so I can cross them off my list!
>Meal prep is huge for me.  I buy what I know I will eat and I make it ahead of time so I am poised to make good choices.
>If it's not in the house, I won't eat it.  If it is I'm ALL OVER IT like white on rice.
>It's me vs. me that really pushes me to succeed. If I can make a better version of the same meal than I did the last time it's a victory.  If I can run even 5 seconds faster than I did last Tuesday, I'm on cloud 9.  If I can look at a picture of myself from this summer and see my face is thinner now, than it was before, I'm set.  If I have a deeper relationship with my friends than I did last year, then it's all good.
>Food is a comfort to me, but I've learned and my husband has learned that it doesn't matter what kind of food you give me...chocolate or cauliflower...they both have the same calming effect. 

Reading these over shows me just how stubborn, anti-social and self-absorbed I can be.  Honestly, I think it's really healthy to take an honest look at yourself every once in a while...introspection at it's finest.  But I digress...

Looking ahead and taking all these things I've learned about myself into account, I can now attempt to make some goals for 2014.  They will probably sound pretty vague to you, but I've learned that I don't do well with specific, detailed goals.  When they are vague, usually I blow them out of the water...for instance, in November my goal was to work out more days than not.  I worked out 23 days.  See?  There's a method to my madness.

In no particular order...

Pray more.
Spend more quality time with my husband.
Call my friends and family more.
Send more cards.
Make a monthly calendar and exercise more days than not.
Make meal plans for most meals.
Avoid the chocolate/candy aisle.
Eat more veggies.
Eat more protein.
Up my weights.
Get faster at running.
Get faster at swimming.
Get faster at biking.
Keep going to counseling.
Read more.
Play with my dog more.
Stay off of my phone more.
Doubt myself less.

No Run October

As you are well aware, these migraines of mine are sticking around.  I track them and can't make sense of them most of the time.  I've had one so far for the month of October and I am VERY happy about that.  Interestingly enough I haven't been running in the month of October.  Correlation?  Possibly, but hopefully not.  Afterall, I have been getting migraines for 15 years and have only been running for 6 months.  However, I have implemented hormone therapy as well as TMJD therapy in the meantime, which are both supposed to aid in migraine prevention.  I have found that I get a migraine about 50% of the time after I run.  It's quite possible that there is no correlation between running and migraines because I had been running 3-4 times a week and getting an average of 2 migraines a week.  I may have had those migraines anyway regardless of whether or not I was running.  The migraines and running may have nothing to do with one another, but I can't know for sure unless I stop running for a period of time to see if the migraines still come regardless of my activity. 

Now, this doesn't just apply to running.  I used to think I got migraines after I went to Jazzercise and when I did other  high intensity activities such as Zumba.  So really, "No Run October" should be more aptly named "Low-Intensity October".  A doctor once hypothesized that my migraines could be caused by a sudden rise in blood pressure triggered by high intensity exercise.  So this month I am going to do low-intensity exercise like Aqua Zumba, slow and steady lap swims, flat course bike riding, walking, and yoga to see if my activity level makes a difference. 

I kind of feel like a scientist with all of my experimentation with my migraines, except I feel like I am just grasping at straws in the dark.  One day I will figure out these migraines.  I am determined that with prayer, common sense, consistancy, and persistance, I will figure out my triggers and be able to better manage my migraines. 

Motivation, come out come out where ever you are!

You know how I was rocking the motivation from January through July?  Well, it's long gone now.  I have had zero energy to exercise and have been seriously lacking in the eating department.  What happened?  I don't know.  Maybe it was starting back up with school.  Maybe my motivation just ran its course.  We joined a gym and ever since, I have had very low motivation to exericise.  Running is something I love, but I get migraines sometimes when I run.   I'm just sad.  I suppose motivation, like many things in life, has its mountains and its valleys.  My motivation was there for a long long time and it was powerful.  I was able to abstain from all sugar for 7 months.  I know I can get it back.  I will get the motivation to eat healthier and go to the gym on a consistant basis.  And when I do, watch out! ;)

I've been looking for you.

 

Thorn Sweating Race Recap

Sweat.  So. Much. Sweat.  This virtual 5K was appropriately named, "Sweat Your Thorns Off." Well if I had any thorns, they would have been sufficiently sweated off for sure.  I started the morning by rolling out of bed around 8:00am, slowing changing into my sweat wicking running duds, strapping on my Timex, taking a couple of good inhaler puffs and turning on my iPod.  Tiniest red speck of battery left.  Whoops.  Plan out route on www.walkjogrun.com.  Try to set route to memory so I end up right at 3.1 miles.  Fill up the water bottle, grab my phone and head out the door.  Here we go! Gorgeous morning!  Slight breeze, but pretty humid and 82.  First mile was smooth sailing, by mile two everything was soaked and I mean everything (sorry TMI), headed into mile three sweat dripping in ears, nose, eyes and mouth....yummmm sweat.  Delicious. Forgot which street to turn on towards the end and actually went a couple of blocks too far so ended up a bit longer than 3.1.  Kept checking my watch though so I was able to check the map when I got back and see where my 5K actually ended so I could figure my pace.  Finished 43.55 minutes later.  Subtract 3+ minutes for extra blocks and we've got a PR by a minute!  3.1 miles in 40.33 minutes. YEAH! 

Happy 3 month runniversary to me!  It's been exactly 3 months since I began the Couch to 5K program.  Very cool.  Plus I'm feeling pretty good too.  We'll see if the migraine beast decides to rear its ugly head. 

Here's my sweaty self post run sporting my AWESOME race bib. 

Thanks Adam from www.theboringrunner.com for designing it and for hosting this great virtual race!

I know some of my fellow bloggers are racing with me today.  Can't wait to hear all about your race experiences!!

Sweating My Thorns Off!!

That's right!  I'll be sweating my thorns off this Saturday in my very first official virtual race.  What is a virtual race?  Well, remember when I ran a 5K the morning of Relay and had this beautiful pic taken? 

Don't you just LOVE the purple crown!!??  I do!!  I mean seriously...when do you have the opportunity to wear something like this in public??  I couldn't attend my running club's Birthday 5K so I did it on my own at the same time, but 30 miles away.

So now this is an official virtual race.  Everyone is running on their own in their little corner of the world.  There will be people from across the globe running on the same day just to celebrate being healthy and the ability to run.  Pretty cool.  Plus, there are some seriously great prizes.  A fellow blogger, "The Boring Runner" is in hosting it.

Check it out and you can join me (virtually) ;)

Exercise on vacation...yeah. about that...

I've heard all about how much exercise people are getting while on vacation...runners throwing on their sneakers and watching the sunrise as they run around campgrounds...bikes being strapped to SUVs and lots of hotel gyms being sweated in.  I decided I could do that on our vacation too, so with a couple of exercise capris, sneakers, my inhaler and some good intentions, I was ready.  A perfect campground for running, plenty of gorgeous shady trees and the quiet beauty of nature. 

However, shopping, boat tours, swimming, mini golf, ski shows, campfires, riding "Ducks" and hay rack rides trumped formal exercise. 

At first, I was disappointed in myself, but then I started adding up all of the activity we did over the three days of our stay.  There is absolutely no reason to be disappointed! 

We had an amazing trip, all but one of our meals were planned out and nutritious, and we were active almost the entire time.  I'm so glad I didn't stress myself out to try to squeeze in "formal exercise".  I didn't need it and I didn't need the stress.  We lived it up and loved our trip with lots of fun, lots of activity, and lots of memories made. 

Lesson learned...relax without stress, enjoy your trip and make the best choices you can. 

I'm glad I did :)

Guest poster!

Good morning!!  This is my first post of July and I had intended to go out and run this morning before it got to hot, but well those comfy sheets and soft pillows got me and that didn't happen.  So....it's off to the elliptical for me.  I finally figured out how to amp up the incline so I will be a sweaty, calorite burning, fat shrinking woman when I finish but it's going to be great.  I love the elliptical.  It's one of those exercise machines you either LOVE or HATE with a passion. 

Does it feel like Tuesday to anyone else??  Since Tom was off work on Wednesday, yesterday felt like Monday and now it still feels weird and I'm all off, but it's all good because I had a GREAT 4th!

On the 4th of July, I celebrated by running my very first race!  The Firecracker5000 5K!!!  Woot woot!  I finished in 3.1 miles in 41 minutes and I was NOT last...in fact, 90 people finished behind me.  :)   I cooked up a new recipe this week and my teaching brain is starting to fire back up after having a month of rest.  But you will have to wait to hear all about it because I'm going to be featured as a guest poster for Divya at http://www.eatteachblog.com/ and will be sharing all about my race, my new recipe and some teaching tips there on MONDAY!  So exciting!  Divya writes a great blog for you whether you love to eat, love to run, love to teach or just love the ups and downs of life.  Definitely check her out.  She made these AMAZING banana bread pancakes that look incredible.  The recipe is on her blog.  So be sure to check out http://www.eatteachblog.com/ on Monday and you can read more about my race experience and get a new recipe!

In the meantime, I'll update you on my progress.

The Great Migraine Battle Continues...

Jan. 4

Feb. 4

Mar. 12

Apr. 5

May 11

June 10

July 1 (to date)

I really don't know what to make of all the migraines in May and June, but hopefully my hormone therapy will start to kick in and if it's what the doctor's hypothesize, the migraines will diminish!  I can only hope!

As for the "Lose a Marathon Challenge", I have lost 1.8 pounds since June 25, when the challenge started.  So I have 24.4 more miles (pounds) to go!  The next weigh-in is Monday so we will see how far I've come then!  I've still been logging all of my food and exercise on http://www.loseit.com/.  It's really helping me to better understand portions and keeping me accountable of everything I am putting in my mouth. 

My Journey

This has been a great week with lots going on.  We had Relay for Life this weekend, which is always a wonderful time of reflection for me.  It reminds me of all the blessings I have in my life and how blessed I am to have an amazing and strong family and support system.  Thinking about all of my blessings made me think about my own journey over the past 6 months and how far I've come. 

I haven't done it on my own and couldn't possibly have been successful on my own.  God has been holding me and guiding me as well as Tom, my mom and the rest of my family and friends.  Praise God for an amazing support system. 

Here's an update on my migraine and weight loss journey over the past 6 months...

The Great Migraine Battle

Jan. 4

Feb. 4

Mar. 12

Apr. 5

May 11

June 8 (to date)

I've been doing more research on trigger foods for migraines...they are primarily bananas, preservatives, nuts, chocolate, citrus fruits, lunch meats and sausage (among other meats containing nitrates and nitrites). Since I'm already avoiding preservatives, nitrates, nitrites, nuts and chocolate, all I have left are citrus fruits and bananas.   We just ran out of bananas so I just won't buy anymore for a while.  I'm going to eliminate them for the next month because there seems to be an overwhelming number of people who's trigger is bananas. 

There's a book I've been wanting to read...Heal Your Headache: the 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Headaches.  The author is a doctor at Johns Hopkins.  It sounds really interesting and helpful so I'll have to check it out.

As for my weight loss journey, I am part of the Marathon Weight Loss Challenge.  This was the first week of it and I lost 0.2 pounds so only 26 more to go!  It's slow going, but slow and steady wins the race!

Total pounds lost: 25

Inches lost:

Hips: 5

Belly Button: 9.5

Waist: 5

Bust: 7.5

Total inches lost: 27!!

Pant size: 12!!!!  Just bought some new shorts and capris and they actually fit!!  So excited :) :)

 

My clothes are fitting better and I feel a lot more toned since I started running.  I'm feeling healthier and overall better in my own skin.  I got my hair cut and highlighted today, which is a sure way to put me in a good mood :) 

New highlights and a trim!  YAY!

I'm planning to treat myself with a massage too and just relax this week.  I have a stack of books to read and am looking forward to being stress-free.

I also got some brand new running shoes and went for my first run in them this morning.  Love them! 

Life is good.

I hope you are having a great week and enjoy the beautiful sunshine :)



Official Sole Sister!!!

What is a "Sole Sister" you ask??  They are an amazing group of women who get together every Wednesday night to walk, jog or run together at a local trail.  They not only workout together, but they support, encourage and lift one another up.  As of last night I signed up to and I am now an offical Sole Sister!  I'm so excited!  They do local runs and are part of Peoria Area Track and Field Club, which is great because they get the benefits of that organization as well. 

One of the wonderful things about this group is that they never let anyone run/walk/jog alone.  I was still recovering from my cold this past weekend so I was part of the walk/jog group.  My friend went with me and even though she is on a way different level...(she just finished her 3rd Triathalon...wow she is one amazing woman!) she jogged when I jogged and walked when I walked at the pace that I needed.  At first it was tough because I didn't want to hold her back, but I knew she was supporting me and not wanting to push me farther than I could go so I accepted it and so enjoyed my time with her!

                                               

   Here we are posing before our run last night!

Can you find me?? I'm towards the middle in the back wearing the blinding white tank top.

      Check out the website at http://www.peoriasolesisters.com/

              Happy walking, jogging or running!



Race me?

Run a 5K.  That's the goal.  Now the question is...which race to run???

I am overwhelmed at the number of 5K races there are just in our area. 

I know I want to run the whole thing...no walking.  The longest I've run so far is 30 minutes and the longest I've run without stopping is 24 minutes.  My pace is between 12-13 min/mile.  Clearly, I still need to do more training so I can run the entire race.  I am kind of hard on myself because I think I should be faster, but then I need to remember that I've only been running for a month and according to my "Couch to 5K" plan I am just starting on week six, which is walk 5/ run 11/ walk 5 min.

Also, should I wait to sign up for the races until the last minute because we are trying to get pregnant?  I don't want to do anything unwise.  Of the research I've done, the studies seem to be inconclusive.  Many studies say that if you are already running then there's no problem, but just don't over do it.  Some studies suggest not running at all while pregnant, but just sticking with the eliptical, light yoga or walking.

Couch to 5K Progress

 

This is my inspiration. :)

I want to start each day with this mindset.  Purpose is everything.  My purpose is to glorify God and I screw that up so much, but thankfully I have HIS grace to cover all my slip ups, mistakes, and rebellion.

Overall, I need to be more disciplined spiritually and physically.  Running helps me focus and clear my head so I can get rid of all my anxiety and worries and turn them over to God.

I started the Couch to 5K program 4 weeks ago.  I'm supposed to be walking 5/jogging 9/walking 5, but usually I feel like I can keep going so I do.  I figure there's no point in stopping if I am feeling fine and can go farther.  As of yesterday I walked 3 min and then jogged 21 min.  That's the longest I have jogged without a break :)  Plus, it was my personal best pacing at 12.39 mph.  Whew it feels so good! 

Once again, I cannot believe that I went from barely making it 30 seconds at the beginning of May to running 21 minutes at a time within one month!!!  Amazing how God made our bodies to run and exercise!  There are so many reasons why I am loving running...it gives me quiet time to think, pray, enjoy nature and it helps me de-stress while improving my health!

It's also really encouraging because many of my friends and colleagues are getting inspired to start a 5K program because if I can do it, anyone can!   

Oh Yeah! Chicken

Today was "Walk to the park field trip day" at school.  It was way fun and no injuries!  YAY!  However, the 30 minute walk there, kickball, relay races, playground, and the 30 minute walk back with a stop at another little park on the way home did us all in.  Let's just say the kids, parents and teachers will all sleep REALLY well tonight.  No running for me tonight! 

For the past two weeks I've been taking run/walks about every other day.  The other night I hit my highest running time!  I ran 9 minutes to our friend's house, let their dog out and then ran another 15.  It felt AMAZING!  I had no idea running could be this enjoyable.  The next night I attempted to run again just because I had the itch, but ran for shorter periods of time...3 min walk/8 min run/5 min walk/8 min run/2 min walk.  I decided it was time to invest in a running watch because I have a regular old phone with a keyboard for texting (no frills here...been there, tried the smart phone and found out it wasn't worth $30 a month to check FB and play Fruit Ninja) So anyway, it's got a stop watch on the phone, but it will only work with the phone open.  So here I am running around the neighborhood carefully holding my phone open so I don't lose my time.  Silly.  Just plain silly.  So I got this sweet new watch that has a built in stopwatch.  Love it!  Oh and it's purple too, which makes it even cooler. 

Since I'm all tuckered out, it's time for an easy recipe.  It doesn't get any easier than "Oh yeah!" chicken.  Mix sour cream and parmesan together.  Spread on boneless, skinless chicken breast.  Top with bread crumbs.  I really don't know the measurements. Equal parts sour cream and parmesan.  Bake at 350 for 35 min.  DONE!  (This is where you get the name I guess cause when it's that easy you just have to say, "Oh yeah!") 

I know it looks kinda bland paired with the rice, but we did have a big bowl full of colorful salad.  Lettuce courtesy of my Uncle's garden :)

Couch to 5K

This girl was the LAST to finish the mile in high school and hasn't run since....until 2 weeks ago. 

My friend asked me to join her running group and explained that they not only run, but also have a walk/jog group.  I thought to myself, "I can definitely walk and maybe I'll try a little jog." Well, I was at the front of the walk/jog group the whole time and we did a lot of jogging.  90 seconds walk/30 seconds jog/repeat for 2.4 miles!  Wowzers!  I did it!  I ended up with a migraine from pushing too hard at the end, but I did it (with the help of my inhaler)  I was diagnosed with Exercise Induced Asthma last year.  My inhaler has made SUCH a huge difference in my exercise. 

I've always secretly wanted to be able to run a 5K, which is 3.1 miles I think.  Runners please correct me if I'm wrong.  It's running for about 30 minutes and I think that's a good healthy amount of time to exercise.  So I surfed the Internet for a couch to 5k program that I would like and I found one that seemed pretty user friendly here http://www.fromcouchto5k.com/articles/training/the-couch-to-5k-training-plan/

I am on Week 2 :)  I cannot believe how easy and how fast my body has adjusted to running.  Last night I walked 5 min, ran 5 min, walked 5 min.  It felt so good!  I can't believe how much energy I have after I finish!  Grab a good pair of running shoes, a stopwatch (or your choice of advanced technology) and join me! It's always great to have accountability :)