Pump it up!

Tonight after work I went to Body Pump class. Last week I did great in class, but my chest was sore the next day. Today I added a bit more weight to each set, and again, felt like Jell-o when class was over, but it's a great feeling! I absolutely love how all of the classes at the Y are centered around music. In spinning, each song is either full of sprints, or a climb, or jumps, in body pump each song is focused on a different body part or exercise. Lunges for a whole song.... hurts! But hurts so good!

So I have a random story to share. On Saturday, I grabbed my sneakers from my gym bag, put them on and left for my run. About 1/4 mile in, I felt something weird in my toes. At first I thought my toes pierced through my socks, then I thought maybe I lost a toe nail. I could feel something in there bobbing around, and it was just driving me crazy, so I stopped to see what it was.
I took my shoe off and found a hair band with 2 bobby pins strewn on it! I guess it was in my gym bag, and somehow got into my shoes. I'm so happy that it wasn't either of the things I thought it could be!

So tomorrow is hump day... yay! This weekend is going to be pretty crazy, but fun, I'm excited! Tomorrow is another spinning class with Carlos, who I adore and gives me a great workout.

One too many bell peppers...

This morning when I woke up, I was so bloated. I think it was because of all of the bell peppers in last night's dinner, plus all of the raw fruit and vegetables I eat on a daily basis. For some reason though, it was awful today. I drank about 100 oz. of water from when I woke up to about 2pm, trying to flush out any excess salt or whatever it was. I was definitely a little dehydrated when I woke up. I've started feeling a little better, but I feel like my stomach is full of gas bubbles that just won't go anywhere. I know, totally TMI. If you're a clean eater with a diet heavy in produce, does this happen to you often?

Around 4pm, it was getting pretty painful, so I was on the fence about going to spinning. But I just decided I had to go, and if it got too painful, I'd leave. I felt great at spinning though, and pushed myself SO hard! I was so tired when I was finished, I definitely gave 110% today. I love to finish a workout and be so spent that I want to collapse. That's when I know I've really given it my all.

When I got home, I made the rest of the roasted tomatillo enchiladas, but forgot to photograph them again! I don't know what my deal is!
Tomorrow is Body Pump, which I'm looking forward to. My chest isn't sore anymore, and I'm ready to really get some strength training in.

Watch out, here come the geese!

I started out my morning with a nice 4.25 mile run. It was a great run, nice and steady around the neighborhood. As the weather gets warmer, I'm sweating more and more though, so I'm going to really need to keep myself hydrated and keep the electrolyte levels up. 

Breakfast was a banana, strawberry oikos, and 2 giant cups of water. I read a few chapters of my book, did a little work in the yard, and then woke JJ up so we could go to church and the farmer's market.

For lunch, he suggested Ruby Tuesday  for salad bar. Yes, please! 

His plate is on top, mine is on the bottom. I had salad mix, edamame, peas, garbanzo beans, beets, tomatoes, red bell pepper, feta, cottage cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, and a few croutons. My second plate was grapes, apples, some more bell peppers and tomatoes. Yum! 

At the Farmer's Market, I mostly got peppers! Tons of red bell peppers, green bell peppers, poblanos, jalapenos, red onion, zucchini, tomatillos, and plums. 

When we got home, I did a little bit of work in the garden. I meant to get a trellis for my peas, but forgot... again... so JJ said I could just use some twigs for now (bottom left). I know, it's pretty sad... but it works! I can't believe how great the garden is growing. I planted it about a month ago.

While I was in the garden, I noticed the ducks head to the front yard area, so I grabbed some tortillas (I had a ton of extra) and I fed them. In my front yard!!! JJ snapped some photos, and took video... haha

When I wasn't paying attention, the geese started to venture over. I HATE geese, they're mean and scary... but these guys were pretty timid. The ducks actually chased them away after a while! 

For dinner, Leah and Jay came over. I made roasted tomatillo enchiladas with rice and a chopped TexMex Salad, which I totally forgot to photograph. We have leftovers though, so I'll get that photographed and blogged tomorrow, hopefully! Sometimes I just space out and forget photos and such when we have dinner guests. 

Oh well, that's life! 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! 

Beautiful girls, all over the world...

So last night while watching basketball, I completely passed out on the sofa. I think it was around 9:30. I woke up at 11, and made myself get up and go to bed. My bed is like... 25 feet from the couch, but it was hard work! This morning I woke up at 7:30 with all 3 dogs in bed with me. So I didn't blog last night, didn't put the dogs in their houses, and slept 10 hours. What?! I guess I was really tired and needed the rest. 

So let's rewind to last night. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, so I made this delicious dinner and ate al fresco (that means outside, right?) Anyway, these recipes will be up on the cooking blog soon! Which reminds me, shameless plug time - I just ordered another 10 cookbooks, so if anyone is interested in purchasing one of my cookbooks, shoot me an email. I don't make any money off the books because all of the recipes are online in my blog, it's just something nice to have and a lot easier than looking up a recipe online every time you need it. I'm constantly using it for my own sugar cookie recipe! 

In the last post, someone asked if I eat before I run. Personally, I tend to get cramps if I eat or drink much before a run, so it depends on the run. When it's 6+ miles, I'll eat a banana, take a few sips of water and then go. If it's less than 6 miles, I prefer to run on an empty stomach. This morning, I had half a banana, some water, and then set out on my run. It was gorgeous out this morning, I had a really nice, calm, relaxing run. However, my lower back muscles were really sore, so I need to do some stretching tonight. I want to just lay in child's pose for an hour! 

*Random Tangent*

Right now my absolute favorite song for running is "Nothin' On You" by B.O.B. featuring Bruno Mars. It's so so so good. But always stuck in my head.

Another great one is "Whattya Want From Me" by Adam Lambert. 

And for not running, zen stuff, Mat Kearney is who I'm listening to. 

After my run, I ate a blueberry chobani, another banana (they were small) and lots of water. It was pretty warm and I sweat a lot, so I knew 2 bananas plus water would help with the dehydrating and electrolyte recovery. 

Then I showered and set out on my morning assignment, to observe (and take part in) another cooking class for kids for the article I'm writing. This one was at Publix's Apron's Cooking School. It was an Easter family cooking class. 

On the menu:

Peanut Brittle

Butterscotch and Chow Mein Noodle Birds Nests

Fruit Salad Bunnies

Rice Krispie Eggs and Aquarium Jello

And for a good laugh, me with the Easter Eggs Chef Patrick let me dye...

Yeah, I got to keep the hat! 

And I never wrote with all colors of crayon on eggs, they look pretty cool! We used to only use white crayons... but apparently any color works! 

After cooking school, I did my food shopping at Publix. Then I went to Whole Foods for the rest of my food shop. It was already 1:30pm, and my stomach was growling, so rather than make a lunch, I grabbed some Cucumber and Avocado rolls and had 2 egg whites. The rolls were fantastic, lots of delicious avocado! 

After lunch, I went outside to check on the dogs, and Pumpkin had a mole that she has been tracking and trying to dig up for weeks. It didn't make it... which made me so sad. But then I realized that it meant Pumpkin might not dig up the yard anymore... so I was a little relieved. The mole is currently under a bucket because I don't want to touch it. JJ's going to have to take care of that.  :( 

I decided to go out and run some errands. I just happened to end up at the Town Center... and Mochi... 

This week they had Almond and New York Cheesecake, so I sampled both of those, then got a cup of regular with kiwi, blueberries, mango and blackberries. It was 12 oz., so about $5. Not cheap, but the berries  make it worth it. And I estimate this cup is only about 200 calories, totally worth it! 

I also ended up at Old Navy. They had some amazing sales going on this weekend! I got myself a cardigan to wear with the dresses I got, and then a shirt and some Bermuda shorts. I got some cute stuff for JJ, hopefully he'll like what I selected! He's not much of a shopper, he'd rather have me pick everything out and dress him when we go out, so it's easier this way. 

When I got home, I had a lot of work to do in the kitchen to prep some meals for this week. Now that I'm going to the gym right after work, I don't get home until about 7pm. It's nice to have more things made ahead of time and ready to go. I made pierogis, extra pumpkin ravioli, and pumpkin pasta.

I started dinner with a giant salad - spring mix, tomatoes, snap peas, goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.

And pumpkin ravioli in a leek and vegetable broth. It was delicious, and will be on the blog soon! 

Well I'm going to go read my new Vegetarian Times and then do some laundry. Hopefully I'll make it to my bed tonight :) I'm planning on a 4-ish mile run in the morning, then church, farmer's market, errands and dinner with Leah and Jay tomorrow night. 

Hope you have a lovely weekend  :)

Is it Friday yet?

Today was a snafu. All of my plans changed, I had some scheduling conflicts, and I didn't get to go to the gym (and to be totally honest, my shoulders/chest are still pretty sore from body pump on Tuesday, and that's the class I was going to go to). I was going to work out at home (NMTZ), but as the night went on, it just didn't happen. I'm mad at myself for not working out, but I think I needed a night off. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow though. There are no classes on Friday evening, but I could go do a cardio machine. I'm planning on a 6 mile run Saturday morning so if I do go, I need to take it easy. Perhaps I'll go elliptical for an hour... we'll see!

On the bright side, I had to stop by the store to get a bag of dog food because I remembered we were out. I grabbed 2 Cadbury Creme Eggs impulsively, got the dog food, and then had a change of heart and put them back before I checked out.
Baby steps!
This is exactly why I never go to the store unless it's for my weekly food shop... too much temptation to just grab stuff I don't need or want!
I'm so ready for the weekend...

It's Official!

Today at lunchtime, Lou brought me back a bag of gummy bears (my all time favorite candy). Whenever I get them, I try to find the smallest bag possible because I just can't stop eating them. He got me a 1 lb. bag. It was ginormous. And the gummy bears were so soft. Oh my.
So I didn't open them for 2 hours, but then he wanted some, so he opened the bag. It went downhill from there. I had about 1/3 of the bag, or 400 calories. Not good!
By 4:30, I felt like I had been drinking. My vision was fuzzy and my stomach did not feel well. I wanted to bow out of spinning, but I knew that I absolutely had to go to burn off those calories! The remainder of the bag is still in my office, so tomorrow I'm going to have to put them in the break room so I don't see them. With food, out of sight, out of mind.

So after work, I went to the YMCA and joined! It feel so good to be "home". I've always been a member of the Y wherever I went, so it just feels like things are complete again. Tonight at spinning, I had a different instructor. He was Latino, and very flamboyant. His accent made it a little hard to understand, but he was SO full of energy, he pushed us hard, but also was so motivating. He was awesome, and I really enjoyed myself! Tonight's workout was definitely harder, but I also knew I could use more resistance, and push harder than last time. It was an excellent workout! The only part of my body that was sore was my butt from the seat, not the actual muscles. Tomorrow I'm planning on going to Body Pump again.

Now I know I'll be talking a lot about classes in the future, but I do want to say this: I lost the bulk of my weight WITHOUT a gym membership. And I am doing so well in these classes now because of the workouts I've done at home! The instructors and fellow classmates were sure I was going to be so sore and not be able to do a whole workout because I was new, but what they didn't realize was I have been working out at home, and my workouts there were just as good, if not better!
I believe spinning will help me with my runs because of the sprinting. I think it might correlate to runs, being able to sprint and run faster. But I could work on sprints myself at home too. I think I'm going to get some great muscle definition in Body Pump, but I've already got some nice muscles because of No More Trouble Zones! So in all honestly, yes, I'm loving the Y right now, but it's totally doable at home, so don't fear if you don't have access to a gym.

One of the questions I was asked recently was about C25K and how to tell the timing on it. I used the stopwatch feature on my iPod, and could remember the time splits. However, there are C25K podcasts and apps you can get for ipods or iphones. JJ uses these because he can't remember the time and splits.
Also, there are podcasts you can get from Nike+ if you want to start working on sprints or gaining mileage. There are so many resources out there, and though I know some, you might just want to try google!

I was going to post some of my deep, meaningful thoughts tonight, but I'll save it for tomorrow, I'm exhausted!
I just have to finish folding the laundry and then I'm headed to bed. Look who I found in the lanudry basket!

Jelly

Today at the Y, I went to a class called Body Pump. It's a great strength training workout that really gets the heartrate going. Basically you get a bar and weights, and you work out a specific muscle group nonstop for a song at a time. The class was an hour long, full of squats, lunges, rows, bicep curls, crunches, pushups, and oh.my.god. more shoulder presses and chest presses than I've ever done. I'm not sore, but my arms feel like jelly. I can barely pick them up. I'm so glad that I've getting a great upper body workout with this class!
So it looks like my tentative schedule is going to be

Monday - Spinning
Tuesday - Body Pump
Wednesday - Spinning
Thursday - Body Pump
Friday - off or Elliptical
Saturday - Run at home 5-7 miles, Yoga at the Y
Sunday - Run at home 4-5 miles

I think that this will be a good schedule to keep for at least the next few months while I'm working on losing the last bit of weight. After that, I'll probably go to working out 5 days per week.

I am so tired, so I'm off to watch The Office....

Reflections

Last night when I was half asleep, JJ got home and the first thing he told me was the Health Reform Bill passed. I'm not going to get into any political issues here, and I haven't even done much deep research into to. However, I will say that I am so happy that I have taken my health into my own hands. I can't say what the future will be, I've heard horror stories, but then I've heard how so many people, even those with pre-existing conditions, will be covered.
 There are so many illnesses associated with obesity, illnesses that can be cured or prevented with daily exercise and a healthy diet. If you're currently obese, or even over-weight, maybe you eat junk food, smoke, drink too much, or life an unhealthy lifestyle, let the healthcare reform light a spark under your butt to take matters into your own hands before you have to depend on insurance companies! I am so happy I did!

Ok, I'll step off my soapbox!
After my last post, and quite often, I have people comment on the amount of produce I consume. There are a few reasons for this. One is that I love fruit and vegetables! I haven't always, but there are so many things I've really come around to liking (fennel, blueberries, beets, parsnips, yellow squash, pears, to name a few). I have always been a big vegetable eater, and was never picky. Secondly, studies have shown that a plant based diet is the healthiest option. If you eat at least 5 different colors of produce daily, you should be coming close to consuming all of the vitals vitamins and nutrients your body needs. A plant based diet is also better for the earth in producing less greenhouse gases, using less water, and leaving a small overall carbon footprint. Lastly, I physically feel better when I eat a great variety of fruit and vegetables every day. My skin is clearer, my body feels better, I don't get sick as often as I used to, and my GI tract is...um, healthy!
I've seen many people hop on the Meatless Mondays bandwagon, but I basically do the opposite, and have meat only once a week, if that. And when I do, it's organic or grassfed meats from Whole Foods (unless I get meat when I'm eating out). I know it's not for everyone, but I honestly feel great, and I know I'm getting everything my body needs from the earth. Also, it's so fun to try new produce, and new recipes!

Today after work, I went straight to the Y. It was so convienient, and I can tell this is going to be a great decision. I went to spinning class, and loved it! My instructor played great music, and I felt really good. I know it's totally different from running, but I can tell cardio-wise I was really holding my own. I am not arrogant at all, but the instructor was like, oh take it easy, don't push as hard as everyone else, you'll be so sore. I wanted to say "woman, I ran a half marathon, I've got some stamina!" But we'll see how my glutes feel tomorrow :)
I'm thinking I'll either try the Body Pump class tomorrow, or go back to spinning again. I feel like a kid in a candy store, I'm excited to try all of the classes! And I can't wait to use the pool (April 17!) and the cardio and weight room.

Well, that's it for today. I was thinking at work this morning it's going to be the longest week ever... and it just might be...

Rain or shine

I woke up this morning around 8am, which is much later than usual. I think I needed the sleep though, yesterday was a long day! It was warm and overcast out, so I decided to go for a 4.5 mile run, hoping to beat the rain. At first I was thinking I should do 7 or 8, but when I run that far, I get so hungry or feel sick and have to recover. Now that I'm in weight-loss running mode, I need to keep my runs around 4-6 miles, where I get a great  calorie burn, but still have energy and can keep my calories low for the day. So that is just what I did! 

I ate breakfast outside while reading my newest organic gardening issue. It makes me wish I had acres of land and rich soil, but I do what I can! 

Then I went to church, Starbucks, and the Farmer's Market. Around 10, the sky opened up and it started pouring. I was worried the farmer's market would be empty, but my favorite sellers were there with their goods! There were only 2 vendors there! But they told me they're always there, rain or shine! 

Here's what I came home with for $22 - red bell peppers, tomatoes, lemons, Japanese eggplant, limes, pears, apples, zucchini, squash and an onion! I grabbed the Heirloom tomatoes in whole foods since they didn't have any at the market. 

When I got home, I decided to do some cleaning and decorating with the stuff I got for Spring! I love Spring, Easter, Bunnies, Chicks, Flowers... love it all! 

Since my china is pink flowers, I set the dining room table with the dessert plates. I love them :) 

So I contemplated just buying the expensive race photos, but when I was at Michaels, I found these shadow boxes for $12. I decided rather than spend $23 per photo, I'd spend $12 and make a box with my medals and other trinkets from each race. I think whenever I run a race where I get a medal, I'll make a shadow box. I'll probably put these in the office where JJ has his millions of plaques and things from all of his athletics.

For dinner tonight, I made a salad with tofu croutons and curry dressing, and then I had a baked sweet potato  with greek yogurt, cinnamon and honey. It was pretty good! 

This afternoon, I visited the YMCA. It is absolutely gorgeous! The cardio room is huge, and the weight room is even bigger. There are tons of tennis courts and a decent pool. I am going to go to some classes this week and make sure I want to join, but I'm 99% sure that I will. I need to get some new, fun exercise into my routine, and I want to try spinning... which is the class I'm going to tomorrow! 

So for coupons! Every week I buy a Sunday paper, if it has some good coupons, I'll buy 2 or 3. I also use www.coupons.com for printables. I am on mailing lists for so many companies, like Horizon, Stonyfield Farms, Organic Valley, Kraft, Contandina, Muellers, Barilla, etc. I try to sign up for as many newsletter type things as possible, they always have great coupons. Also, I look for peelie coupons on products. Muir Glen (organic tomatoes) always have peel off coupons, as does Organic Valley and Cascadian Farms. Publix also takes competitor coupons, so any time I see coupons for Food Lion or Winn Dixie, I can use them there. 

It's always important to look at any buy one get one free items, and try to match coupons, that's where the most money is saved. 

Hope you all had a great weekend, I'm off to watch New Moon, I finally figured out how to work our TV / reciever / bluray player! JJ's going to have to have orientation for me :) 

Here, there, everywhere...

So last week seemed so long. Lou told me he and Christian were going out for drinks after work at an Irish bar, happy hour seemed necessary. I ran home, let the dogs out, changed and met them there. I started out with a Guiness, then another, and another. I was pretty buzzed, so I ordered a Tempeh Reuben, which was really good! I've made reubens with tofu, but the tempeh was awesome. After I ate and drank a bunch of water, I felt much better. 

I got home and drank some more water, and went to bed around 11. I knew going on a run this morning was going to be rough, I don't handle alcohol well, and don't drink often. So when I got up at 7am, I considered throwing in the towel... but it wasn't really an option. I hadn't worked out all week, and I wanted to get a good run in... just to see how I was feeling. The first mile I felt great, my legs weren't sore, and I was loving it. Around mile 2, I started to feel queasy. I almost stopped a few times because I felt sick, but I pushed through. Around mile 4, I felt back to normal, but decided to cut my run short from 8 miles to 5.75. 

I'm not sure what I'll run tomorrow. Maybe I'll shoot for 7 or 8, I'll see how my legs feel. It was a tough call deciding whether to go out or not. I knew I'd be consuming more calories than if I ate dinner at home. And alcohol really isn't good for weight loss... but sometimes I think I just have to have fun and live life! It's all about moderation and balance. And I still did get my run in this morning, so it probably cancelled out last night's indulgences! 

Oh wait, did I mention the round of car bombs? Yeah. There were car bombs. 

Well I got an email with link to the River Run photos. I'm so mad, I really want to buy RR and Disney photos, but 1 5x7 photo is 16.99 plus $5 shipping. I just can't justify $46 on two photos from the races. It seems a little ridiculous to me.  (PS - I've started posing in races. I guess smiling with arms in the air is better than the old non-pose-grimace-look-like-i'm-in-pain-face)

Anyway... 

I had a super full, busy day today, so after my run, I finished my shopping list and got on my way. I decided to photograph my groceries today for 2 reasons. One is to show you what my normal shopping trip looks like, and the other is because I did SO WELL with savings this week on my receipt. This doesn't show the farmer's market, which I will go to tomorrow after church, I'm planning to spend $20 and get 10 baskets of produce. I'll photograph that tomorrow.

Here are the groceries. Most of the things here I got at Publix. JJ and I eat breakfast at home every morning, lunch I pack on weekdays, and dinner is home 6 nights per week. It takes a lot of food, and I try to stay under $100. But that budget also includes dog food, cleaning products and toiletries. I love couponing, and I work really hard each week to get them matched up so I can get many staples for free or close to free. 

As you can see, my breakfast is oatmeal with bananas and soy milk, JJ's is cereal with milk. I had $1 off coupons for both the Horizon Organic Milk and the Silk Soy Milk. The wheaties were buy one get one free, and I had coupons for them. The Irish Oats are kind of expensive at $5, but it lasts 3 weeks and I had a $1 off coupon. 

For lunch, I have my standard yogurt (I had 5 $1 off oikos coupons), hummus (homemade, can of organic chickpeas is $1), fruit and veggies will be bought at the farmers market or store. JJ has peanut butter and jelly, I buy him whole grain bread (buy one get one free with coupon) and organic peanut butter from whole foods, where it's cheapest.  Some other things I got were the All Small and Mighty, they were buy one get one free and I had a $2 off 1 coupon and a $1 off 1 coupon, so I paid $2.99 for 2 bottles of laundry detergent. That's a major deal! Kashi cereals were also 2 for $5, plus I had a buy 2 get 1 free coupon and a $1 off coupon, so I got 3 boxes of Kashi cereal for $4! The pasta was also buy one get one free, as was the wild rice and I had coupons for those as well. Seriously, a little planning and you can get good, whole food groceries for cheap! The only splurges this week were the bacon from whole foods, which I need for a recipe, and the La Croix isn't cheap either.

So here's the breakdown. I spent $60 and saved $66 at Publix! I love when I save more than I spend :)

At whole foods, I spent $22, so that leaves me $18 for the Farmer's Market, but I know I'll spend $20. 

After the grocery stores, I went home, cleaned the kitchen, unpacked the groceries, and heated up some bean, cabbage and veggie soup for lunch. I had some random blue cheese crumbles, so I topped it with them, and the blue cheese made the soup really pop! It was great.  I also had an apple, lots of water, and an iced coffee. 

I did a little watering and planted some new plants in my garden. I lost about 1/3 of the plants with all of the cold weather we had. I planted way too early :( Luckily I had more seeds started, so I had no problem filling the empty, dead spots. As bad as it's been, the weather is great now, and my little garden is taking off on me! 

When I was elbows deep in dirt, I heard the ice cream man! I almost ran after him, but I was going for fro-yo later, so I held off. I did snap a photo though :) 

I had some work to do for my article I'm writing on Kids and Cooking, so I sat in on a cooking demo, and interviewed the owner and chef at a cooking school. 

Then I had some errands to run, and I wanted to get the photos and information for a Bite Club blog post, so I went to Mochi and got some fro-yo. They have 10 flavors of self serve fro yo. You can sample them all, then you make your cup, top it with what you want, and you pay per ounce.

I sampled Irish Mint, Mango and Taro

Look at the delicious fresh fruit! 

I had a coupon for 4 oz. free, and looked at the nutritional info and 4 oz. is 120 calories (plain), so I weighed my cup without the toppings and the fro-yo was 4 oz., then I added some fresh rasperries, blueberries and kiwi. It ended up at 9 oz, $2.12  Look at all the fresh berries though, a great deal! And so healthy! I'm going to be going here often I think...They have a frequent buyer punch card! 

It was so nice out, there were no tables outside, so I ate mine in Frau while I read their literature.

After that I stopped by Hallmark to get some cards for family birthdays, and then went to Victoria's Secret for a pair of free underware. I was sucked in by their 7/$25 special on my favorite underware though, and ended up with lots more... Oh well, you can always use more underware, right?

I also stopped by Michaels and picked up some springy/Easter decorations since my home is still Valentine's Day themed. I'm hoping to get that stuff swapped out tomorrow. 

For dinner, I made a BBQ tofu and quinoa and greens pie. They were both good, but not as amazing as I had hoped. Oh well! 

I was all set to watch New Moon, I got it on bluray today at Target, but I have no idea how to work my TV/bluray/receiver. JJ always does it for me. So I don't know if I'm willing to mess up the TV or just wait and watch it when he can tell me what to do... I'm just going to watch basketball until then! 

Excited for tomorrow, but hope I get a little more relaxing time. Plans are run, church, farmer's market, YMCA, clean the house and then hopefully time to sit on the back porch and read while the dogs sun themselves! 

Graphs are fun!

I've had a few people ask me about my training and how I got to half marathon level. Well, it started about 2 years ago when I had finished the 30 Day Shred program, and I wanted to incorporate running into my routine. I decided to start with C25K because I'd heard so many positive reviews. I did the C25K plan exactly as written, and ran my first 5k with a time of about 34 minutes.

I continued to run around 2-3 miles 3-4 times per week over the summer.

As you've read, my family participates in the Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day 10k every year. I had always walked it (or slept in and watched the parade), but I decided I was going to try to run the whole thing. So in September, I started to work on gaining mileage. Each Saturday, I would increase my runs by half a mile from 3 miles to 5 miles, but I would repeat the previous week before upping it, so each Saturday  for 2 months I did 3.5, 3.5, 4, 4, 4.5, 4.5, 5 and 5. You get the point, right? Prior to running my first full 10k, my highest mileage was 5miles, but I had no trouble getting to 6.2 on race day.

After the 10k, it was winter in Indiana, so I started to work on my speed, and did intervals on the treadmill where I'd run 15 minutes at 6.0mph, then I would do 1 minute at 7.5, then back to 2 at 5.5, then 1 at 7.5, and I'd repeat. I got up to going 8.0mph for 1 minute a few times, but that was rough.

In April, when all the snow melted away, I ran my first 5k of the new year, and got it around 30 minutes, I kept working on my speed, and then the next 5k in May I did in 29 minutes! That's still my 5k PR (28:56)

I kept with my 3-6 mile runs on the weekends, and did a mile or two during the week to warm up for the shred or something like that. This continued all through 2009, just kind of running in the 3-6.5 mile area. Then in January, I had to start training for the 15k, so I started adding 1 mile on my long weekend runs, which can be seen in the graph below. I went from 6 miles to 10 miles in 5 weeks, much more progressive than when I first started. But I also had a great running foundation, and that helped with my confidence. I was slow to get into running because I wanted to avoid injury and I didn't want to get burned out. Now 2 years later, I'm a half-marathoner with little to no history of injury, and all happy feelings towards running!  (Of course I've had my bad days.... I'll get into that some other time!)

*Click the photo to see it in a full page*

This graph is from when I got my Nike+ at Christmas, but if you remember, I had mad issues with my sensor and had to get a new one, so a few runs in January weren't recorded (2-5 milers) and then my 10 miler the weekend before my half.

Ok, well I've got to get the day started, last night was rough and I'll talk about it tonight. Let's just say I accidently celebrated St. Patrick's Day 2 day late...

And also, many of you asked, here are links to the dresses!

Here's a link to the orange dress: http://www.thelimited.com/detail/strapless-with-twisted-front/3274318


Here's a link to the black/beige dress: http://www.thelimited.com/detail/tiered-strapless-dress/3274737


Here's the one I really want, but JJ would hate the neckline and make fun of me (sad face):  http://www.thelimited.com/detail/folded-detail-dress/3274738

I don't care, what my teachers say, I'm gonna be a supermodel...

Over Easter weekend, one of JJ's best friends is getting married. I had been meaning to look for a cute dress for it, so when I got an email from The Limited last week that all dresses were 40% off for 2 hours, so I did a little online shopping. I was torn between 2 dresses, but decided to go ahead and get both. I love wearing dresses, and certainly get tons of use from them. So be prepared to see many photos of me in these two dresses over the next few months! I love getting things in the mail, and I love online shopping because I hate the crowds! It can be tricky with picking out sizes, but dresses are usually ok for me. Best part - they're both size 8 and fit perfectly!

The first one I chose specifically for the wedding. It's a little bright... kind of orange sherbet looking, but JJ will be wearing a tux with a canary tie and vest (bright yellow), so I figured we'll be like a pack of Starburst...

The second I just fell in love with. It's cute with a bow and sweetheart neck line, but simple enough that I can wear it causually to work or chuch with a black cardigan.

I twirled around in the dresses for a while... but JJ would only take 1 photo of each. He's a killjoy.

So this week has been rough. I've been so not physically active. I don't know why, I've just been in mental and physical decompression mode from the races. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. The past 2 were way off from normal. I love my routine, and though it's been fun, I haven't had any time to relax.

Tomorrow night I'm planning on doing a deep clean of the house, it really needs it. Lots of laundry to be done!

Saturday will be wonderful, a normal, routine day. I'm thinking I'll shoot for a longer run (6-8 miles), then food shopping, BUYING NEW MOON!!!! leisurely lunch, cooking class to observe for my article, then I'm going to make dinner and perhaps go see Remember Me.

Sunday will be run, starbucks, church, farmer's market, tour the YMCA, working in my garden, and some errands.

PS - I am well aware that most people don't care about my weekend plans, but since my blog is like my journal, it helps my mental state to have everything laid out and planned.  :)

I got this photo today from Julie, it's Lou, Me, Julie and Josh before the River Run. Lou and Josh have both come a long way, and each lost about 50 lbs. in the past year through running and diet modifications. They both are hoping to lose more, but they've done a fantastic job to get where they are!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!