So something rather unexpected and exciting has happened recently. Last month on June 18, I posted about finally breaking the 12 minute mile mark. It was something that I was shocked to finally do since I have been so slow for so long. I had just gotten to a place where I was consistently running a 13:30 average and the thought of running just one mile in 12 minutes seemed impossible. Well, the next running milestone seems to have come much sooner than I expected. I have not reached it yet but on Monday night, I ran a mile in 11:06 WITH INTERVALS!
When I finally broke the 12 minute mark, I did it running straight through. I was still around 12:30 with intervals. Since then, I have been running intervals more because I am also doing Insanity and running straight through burns out my legs. I started noticing that as I got farther into Insanity, my run intervals were getting a lot faster because I was building strength in my legs. I cannot maintain that pace for a long time but a one minute interval is very doable. I also started focusing more on making sure I am walking at a good pace and not slowing down too much. The first time I really pushed myself. I finished the mile in about 11:30. I knew that if I kept working and focusing, it wouldn't be long before I was faster.
I still need to shave 6 seconds of my time and I think that is going to take a little while. After the mile on Monday I was spent. I really pushed myself to get that time so I know it will probably be a few weeks before I see it drop much more. I am fully aware that this is just a one mile pace. I do not have the endurance at this time to maintain that kind of average pace for long. I am planning on working on that in a few weeks when I finish Insanity. I've come to far to quit now so in August, when I finish it, I will start working back up to running a full 30 minutes like I did in May. Once I can run my short weekday runs straight through(or close to it since I may be changing plans up a little) I know that it will make my intervals stronger and allow me to keep a good pace for longer periods of time. I have just over 10 weeks until the Tower of Terror 10 miler and I want to have a strong race that night. It will be the first of a very busy race schedule over the following 5 months and I want to start it off strong.
Sometimes it's crazy how quickly you can see some changes. I feel like this is a reverse of the beginning of the year when I wasn't seeing much change with my running or fitness but I was losing weight very steadily. Now my weight has been stuck for a while but I am making major strides with my running and strength(I can actually do a push-up now). I just wish I could get them both to work at the same time. Maybe one day.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Just suck it up
That's what I had to do when it came to last night's workout because I REALLY, REALLY didn't want to do it.
It had been a frustrating day and I just wanted to go to bed and sleep for the rest of the week. All day I felt drained. While some of that may have been due to the crazy workout the night before, it mostly was caused by the lack of sleep I had gotten. I was up all night worrying. You see, a month ago, I went in for an annual physical and all the fun things that come with that for women. A few weeks later, I received a call that I had an abnormal result from my PAP. It freaked me out to say the least. They referred me to Women's Health so that I could have a more thorough screening to find out what was going on. I spent last week playing phone tag with them to set up an appointment which was complicated by Furlough Friday which meant no one was there to answer the phones. Finally we connected Monday morning and set and appointment for Wednesday afternoon. That's why I didn't get much sleep.
Fortunately, the screening went well and they think it is either me recovering from a mild infection or some other minor thing. They took tissue samples for more testing and I will get the results in two weeks. It was a relief to hear these things but it doesn't change the fact that the procedure required was very invasive and uncomfortable. I came home after and just wanted to curl up and sleep. Taking tissue from those areas means you cramp and feel just plain cruddy for the rest of the day. I had a little pity party after dinner and ate some things I shouldn't have. When time for Insanity rolled around, I just didn't want to do it. I finally forced myself to get dressed to workout and then realized I was either going to have to do the warm-up on the video, which I hate, or go out for a run. I was lucky to be upright, I definitely wasn't going for a run. I got everything set up and pushed play.
The workout was tough and I had to modify a few things because I started getting a headache. I had to cut out some of the jumping because the stormy weather has my knee acting up and there was at least one exercise that I skipped all together. But I did it. I did the best I could with all of the exercises I did do. Skipping an exercise was a bigger deal last month but now that the workouts are 45 minutes long, skipping one or two 1 minute sets isn't going to kill me. It actually allows me to do some of the other moves better. Once I was done, I was glad I did it but making myself do it was not easy. After the workout, I even sat down and recorded everything I had eaten into MyFitnessPal, the good and the bad and my daily totals weren't pretty. At least I was honest.
I'm planning on sitting down and going through some recipes I have so that we can try to make a meal plan for next week. I think if we have a better idea of what we are going to eat each day and shop accordingly, it will be easier to get the food side back on track. All of the junk food is out of the house again and I am not planning on buying any more. I need to pick up some more fruit to snack on as well.
Yesterday was one of those days when it all really sucked but I'm not going to let one day get the best of me. I turned it around at the end by at least working out instead of giving in completely and wasting the entire day. Today I will do better.
It had been a frustrating day and I just wanted to go to bed and sleep for the rest of the week. All day I felt drained. While some of that may have been due to the crazy workout the night before, it mostly was caused by the lack of sleep I had gotten. I was up all night worrying. You see, a month ago, I went in for an annual physical and all the fun things that come with that for women. A few weeks later, I received a call that I had an abnormal result from my PAP. It freaked me out to say the least. They referred me to Women's Health so that I could have a more thorough screening to find out what was going on. I spent last week playing phone tag with them to set up an appointment which was complicated by Furlough Friday which meant no one was there to answer the phones. Finally we connected Monday morning and set and appointment for Wednesday afternoon. That's why I didn't get much sleep.
Fortunately, the screening went well and they think it is either me recovering from a mild infection or some other minor thing. They took tissue samples for more testing and I will get the results in two weeks. It was a relief to hear these things but it doesn't change the fact that the procedure required was very invasive and uncomfortable. I came home after and just wanted to curl up and sleep. Taking tissue from those areas means you cramp and feel just plain cruddy for the rest of the day. I had a little pity party after dinner and ate some things I shouldn't have. When time for Insanity rolled around, I just didn't want to do it. I finally forced myself to get dressed to workout and then realized I was either going to have to do the warm-up on the video, which I hate, or go out for a run. I was lucky to be upright, I definitely wasn't going for a run. I got everything set up and pushed play.
The workout was tough and I had to modify a few things because I started getting a headache. I had to cut out some of the jumping because the stormy weather has my knee acting up and there was at least one exercise that I skipped all together. But I did it. I did the best I could with all of the exercises I did do. Skipping an exercise was a bigger deal last month but now that the workouts are 45 minutes long, skipping one or two 1 minute sets isn't going to kill me. It actually allows me to do some of the other moves better. Once I was done, I was glad I did it but making myself do it was not easy. After the workout, I even sat down and recorded everything I had eaten into MyFitnessPal, the good and the bad and my daily totals weren't pretty. At least I was honest.
I'm planning on sitting down and going through some recipes I have so that we can try to make a meal plan for next week. I think if we have a better idea of what we are going to eat each day and shop accordingly, it will be easier to get the food side back on track. All of the junk food is out of the house again and I am not planning on buying any more. I need to pick up some more fruit to snack on as well.
Yesterday was one of those days when it all really sucked but I'm not going to let one day get the best of me. I turned it around at the end by at least working out instead of giving in completely and wasting the entire day. Today I will do better.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Stuck
Two posts in one day technically, crazy I know but like I said the other day, there are several posts floating around in my head and I have a chance again to get one out.
I have been SO CLOSE to being under 200 pounds for so long now but I just can't seem to cross that line. It's starting to get VERY frustrating. I had originally hoped to cross that milestone for my birthday. A few weeks before the big day I had gotten down to 207 but I new there was no way for me to lose the last 7 pounds in time. I was ok with that because at least I was close. Well, here we are two months later and I am still just close. I know that a lot of it is due to a normal plateau since I lost about 30 pounds in 4 months but it is still frustrating. I have been trying to break the plateau but I haven't been as on point with my food lately as I should so I am maintaining more than losing now. I have fluctuated a little these past few months but it has never gone up more than 2 or 3 pounds and then I will stick there, lose a little, stay there, go up a little and the cycle repeats. A couple weeks ago I finally got down to 202.5. I was so happy and sure that I was finally going to make it. Nope, a few days later I was back at 204 and I haven't seen anything lower since then.
Unfortunately, because I have been frustrated I have let my eating slip a little more. It hasn't been horrible but I have been eating more carbs and less protein than I should. I had gotten really good about making sure dinner each night was mostly protein and veggies and if there were carbs, it was a small gold potato. Lately, I have not been getting nearly enough protein in my diet which I know isn't helping me build muscle with Insanity. The good thing though is that I recognize the problem and I know how to fix it. Even though eating a Krispy Kreme donut yesterday wasn't the most help to my plan, it also isn't the only reason I'm stuck so there is no reason to beat myself up over it. I need to make sure I am still allowing myself a little indulgence here and there to help me stay on track. I think I was so focused on hitting my goal for my birthday, I cut out the cheats I allowed myself before and I felt so deprived that I over did it after the big day.
As I enter into month two of Insanity, I am trying to refocus on my nutrition because I know it will be a big part in how successful this month is. Also, now that the end is somewhat in sight for it, I am starting to focus and plan more for what I will start to do with my running. I had a plan already set up but I found a new one through RunKeeper that I really like. It's their beginner HM plan, which I know I'm not a beginner, but I like the layout of it and the miles that it covers. It's a little different than Galloway but not by a lot. The main thing is that you run one more day a week by having back to back runs on the weekends. I like that because I know that it will help me prepare for the two back to back races I have coming up with Tink and Princess. It's a 16 week program and if I start it the end of this month, it ends on the weekend I will be running the RnR San Antonio. Plus the training run on ToT weekend is 10 miles so it works out perfectly.(This reminds me that I owe you a post about all the races I have lined up starting this fall.)
I'm hoping that as I start to seriously focus on these things I will find my groove with food again. Once I get settled back in, I know that I will finally hit the milestone I have been waiting so long to reach.
I have been SO CLOSE to being under 200 pounds for so long now but I just can't seem to cross that line. It's starting to get VERY frustrating. I had originally hoped to cross that milestone for my birthday. A few weeks before the big day I had gotten down to 207 but I new there was no way for me to lose the last 7 pounds in time. I was ok with that because at least I was close. Well, here we are two months later and I am still just close. I know that a lot of it is due to a normal plateau since I lost about 30 pounds in 4 months but it is still frustrating. I have been trying to break the plateau but I haven't been as on point with my food lately as I should so I am maintaining more than losing now. I have fluctuated a little these past few months but it has never gone up more than 2 or 3 pounds and then I will stick there, lose a little, stay there, go up a little and the cycle repeats. A couple weeks ago I finally got down to 202.5. I was so happy and sure that I was finally going to make it. Nope, a few days later I was back at 204 and I haven't seen anything lower since then.
Unfortunately, because I have been frustrated I have let my eating slip a little more. It hasn't been horrible but I have been eating more carbs and less protein than I should. I had gotten really good about making sure dinner each night was mostly protein and veggies and if there were carbs, it was a small gold potato. Lately, I have not been getting nearly enough protein in my diet which I know isn't helping me build muscle with Insanity. The good thing though is that I recognize the problem and I know how to fix it. Even though eating a Krispy Kreme donut yesterday wasn't the most help to my plan, it also isn't the only reason I'm stuck so there is no reason to beat myself up over it. I need to make sure I am still allowing myself a little indulgence here and there to help me stay on track. I think I was so focused on hitting my goal for my birthday, I cut out the cheats I allowed myself before and I felt so deprived that I over did it after the big day.
As I enter into month two of Insanity, I am trying to refocus on my nutrition because I know it will be a big part in how successful this month is. Also, now that the end is somewhat in sight for it, I am starting to focus and plan more for what I will start to do with my running. I had a plan already set up but I found a new one through RunKeeper that I really like. It's their beginner HM plan, which I know I'm not a beginner, but I like the layout of it and the miles that it covers. It's a little different than Galloway but not by a lot. The main thing is that you run one more day a week by having back to back runs on the weekends. I like that because I know that it will help me prepare for the two back to back races I have coming up with Tink and Princess. It's a 16 week program and if I start it the end of this month, it ends on the weekend I will be running the RnR San Antonio. Plus the training run on ToT weekend is 10 miles so it works out perfectly.(This reminds me that I owe you a post about all the races I have lined up starting this fall.)
I'm hoping that as I start to seriously focus on these things I will find my groove with food again. Once I get settled back in, I know that I will finally hit the milestone I have been waiting so long to reach.
Apparently I lost my mind
What was I thinking when I started Insanity? I'm not sure but as I started month two, I seriously started questioning my own sanity. Now I know where it gets the name from.
One of the posts I have owed you is a report on month one. On July 6, I finished month one and last week was the active recovery week. Shaun T and I have VERY different definitions of the word recovery. I started the week hating the workout but by Saturday, it had grown on me.(You do the same workout every day for 6 days) I made it to the end of the first 4 weeks feeling really good about it. I started out shaky and felt like I was really doing great by the end. I hadn't perfected every move and I couldn't make it through the entire workout without taking a break but I was taking fewer breaks and doing much better with the moves. My biggest problem is still the floor work. I am slowly building my upper body but I have a very low limit when it comes to how many push-ups I can do before I have to drop my knees. That was one of the things that scared me about month two. I didn't lose a ton of weight in phase one but that's ok. My measurements did change some, I did lose a few pounds and I became noticeably stronger so I was ok with it.
By finishing the recovery week, I made it farther than I have ever made it before with Insanity. I have tried this program twice before. The first time, I got a severe sinus infection at the end of week four, then there were problems with the meds and I ended up never starting back up with the workouts. A few months later, I tried again but I just wasn't in the right head space and stopped after a few weeks. I was frustrated that I had not maintained and that it was so hard starting again and the discouraged me enough to quit. I kept thinking about starting again but never did.
The reason I began Insanity this time was because a few months ago, my friend Amy over at Pumpkin to Princess asked a few questions about Insanity. She wanted to give it a try but was scared she wasn't in good enough shape to do it. I told her about me trying it and that if I could do it, she could. I told her that I had never finished and that I struggled a lot when I started but I that I was still able to do it and see results. Then in the first week of July she mentioned on FB that she was going to start it. I decided I would drop her a message and talk about it a little more. I also decided to do it with her. Both times that I tried it before, I joined an online support group of others doing the workouts at the same time but I didn't know any of these people. Also, many of them had done it two or three times before and are in amazing shape. Being over 200lbs and fighting just to get through the warm up and make you feel a little intimidated by those kinds of groups. They were very nice and very supportive but we were in very different places. When the opportunity to do it with someone that I had a lot in common with came up, I decided to give it a try. We both got into running with a little help from Disney and the Princess Half and that is actually how I met her. We met online through a FB Princess HM group and then met in person at the 2012 Princess HM. I knew when I started Insanity the first time that I would have loved having someone to talk to about it one on one that knew what I was going through. After a few messages, we decided to check in with each other a few times each week and to keep each other accountable. I have even told her when I have skipped workouts because I am trying to be completely honest with all of this. Everything was going great, until tonight.
MONTH TWO SUCKS, and I am only a day into it. When I hit play on the DVD and saw 60 minutes on the workout countdown at the bottom, I almost passed out and quit right there. I always skip the workout because I go for a short run and then do Insanity. When I did Insanity in the past, I noticed the warm-up moves were the ones that hurt my knees or feet the worst and since I was doing a run streak when we started, I decided to use my one mile run as my warm-up instead. It really does work best for me. Anyway, so I skipped through the warm-up and got to the actual workout and noticed that it still said 45 minutes. I'm used to the workouts being 15-23 minutes after the warm-up, not 45. I was scared. I did it though. It was brutal and ugly and I had to modify things a lot. I only did two repetitions of the second and third circuits because I just couldn't do those moves for that long. When it was over, I sat on the floor thinking, "What did I get myself into?"(I sent Amy a FB message asking this, too.) I felt like I was back at day one.
The cool thing is though, I'm not at day one. I'm at day one of month two which is day 36. And even though I feel like I did after the very first workout, I know that four weeks later, I was able to do those workouts and if I stick to it, four weeks from now I will be able to do this one. He designed this program for you to work hard and build your strength so that he can make it harder and push you farther. I'm still terrified of the rest of this week as I keep doing new workouts but next week, I will do them all again and be a little better. I'm scared, but I'm determined to finish this time.
One of the posts I have owed you is a report on month one. On July 6, I finished month one and last week was the active recovery week. Shaun T and I have VERY different definitions of the word recovery. I started the week hating the workout but by Saturday, it had grown on me.(You do the same workout every day for 6 days) I made it to the end of the first 4 weeks feeling really good about it. I started out shaky and felt like I was really doing great by the end. I hadn't perfected every move and I couldn't make it through the entire workout without taking a break but I was taking fewer breaks and doing much better with the moves. My biggest problem is still the floor work. I am slowly building my upper body but I have a very low limit when it comes to how many push-ups I can do before I have to drop my knees. That was one of the things that scared me about month two. I didn't lose a ton of weight in phase one but that's ok. My measurements did change some, I did lose a few pounds and I became noticeably stronger so I was ok with it.
By finishing the recovery week, I made it farther than I have ever made it before with Insanity. I have tried this program twice before. The first time, I got a severe sinus infection at the end of week four, then there were problems with the meds and I ended up never starting back up with the workouts. A few months later, I tried again but I just wasn't in the right head space and stopped after a few weeks. I was frustrated that I had not maintained and that it was so hard starting again and the discouraged me enough to quit. I kept thinking about starting again but never did.
The reason I began Insanity this time was because a few months ago, my friend Amy over at Pumpkin to Princess asked a few questions about Insanity. She wanted to give it a try but was scared she wasn't in good enough shape to do it. I told her about me trying it and that if I could do it, she could. I told her that I had never finished and that I struggled a lot when I started but I that I was still able to do it and see results. Then in the first week of July she mentioned on FB that she was going to start it. I decided I would drop her a message and talk about it a little more. I also decided to do it with her. Both times that I tried it before, I joined an online support group of others doing the workouts at the same time but I didn't know any of these people. Also, many of them had done it two or three times before and are in amazing shape. Being over 200lbs and fighting just to get through the warm up and make you feel a little intimidated by those kinds of groups. They were very nice and very supportive but we were in very different places. When the opportunity to do it with someone that I had a lot in common with came up, I decided to give it a try. We both got into running with a little help from Disney and the Princess Half and that is actually how I met her. We met online through a FB Princess HM group and then met in person at the 2012 Princess HM. I knew when I started Insanity the first time that I would have loved having someone to talk to about it one on one that knew what I was going through. After a few messages, we decided to check in with each other a few times each week and to keep each other accountable. I have even told her when I have skipped workouts because I am trying to be completely honest with all of this. Everything was going great, until tonight.
MONTH TWO SUCKS, and I am only a day into it. When I hit play on the DVD and saw 60 minutes on the workout countdown at the bottom, I almost passed out and quit right there. I always skip the workout because I go for a short run and then do Insanity. When I did Insanity in the past, I noticed the warm-up moves were the ones that hurt my knees or feet the worst and since I was doing a run streak when we started, I decided to use my one mile run as my warm-up instead. It really does work best for me. Anyway, so I skipped through the warm-up and got to the actual workout and noticed that it still said 45 minutes. I'm used to the workouts being 15-23 minutes after the warm-up, not 45. I was scared. I did it though. It was brutal and ugly and I had to modify things a lot. I only did two repetitions of the second and third circuits because I just couldn't do those moves for that long. When it was over, I sat on the floor thinking, "What did I get myself into?"(I sent Amy a FB message asking this, too.) I felt like I was back at day one.
The cool thing is though, I'm not at day one. I'm at day one of month two which is day 36. And even though I feel like I did after the very first workout, I know that four weeks later, I was able to do those workouts and if I stick to it, four weeks from now I will be able to do this one. He designed this program for you to work hard and build your strength so that he can make it harder and push you farther. I'm still terrified of the rest of this week as I keep doing new workouts but next week, I will do them all again and be a little better. I'm scared, but I'm determined to finish this time.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Oops
Sorry I have been so quiet lately. I actually have a few things I need to blog about but I just haven't found the time and motivation to do it yet. I will do my best to get something real posted soon.
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