Trials and Tribulations « Watermelon Waistline

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Chugging Along

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

I’ve completed Week 2 of my 12-week half marathon training program! It wasn’t easy, but I’m proud to say that I didn’t miss a single workout. I had to rearrange things a little bit here and there due to weather and… life, but I got in every single run.

The first week was difficult, but had the benefit of being exciting: I was starting a new training program! To prepare for my longest race yet! And I had all sorts of new running clothes!

That excitement was enough to propel me through Week 1, even though I was forced to run on the treadmill, which can be torturous. You see, one of the things I like most about running is being outside: The breeze (but not wind!); the sun (as long as it’s not too hot!); the people (as long as they don’t look at me funny!). And with the snow we were hit with, running outside wasn’t an option.

So Week 2 was even more difficult than the first: The excitement of starting the new program started to wear off, and I was still stuck running inside on the treadmill.

Until yesterday, when I ran OUTSIDE.

The sun actually emerged. My city had been shrouded in gloom, and then – remarkably – the sun came out! And, as I tend to do, I took advantage of that sun.

It was fantastic. It felt so good to be outside and running in the elements – not on a conveyor-belt inside a stuffy gym. It also was like running through an obstacle course: While many people have cleared their sidewalks, many still haven’t. This led to a lot of hopping and stretching and jumping. That part was difficult, but was still kinda fun.

What wasn’t fun were the sections of my route that don’t have sidewalks. Usually I run on the shoulders in these spots, but as the shoulders are filled with snow (not run-on-able snow, either), I had to run ON THE ROAD. Decidedly un-fun.

Tomorrow I’m scheduled to run 5 miles. It’s supposed to be a decent day here weather-wise, and I am planning to get outside again, foregoing the treadmill as much as possible. But this time, I’ll plan my route better, so as to avoid those pesky roads without sidewalks.

Week 3: Here we come!

PS – Yesterday’s weight was 169.5. Finally in the 160s!! 7.5 more to the big 1-0-0!

Posted in Half Marathon, Personal Stories, Training, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | Comments

The Tortoise Becomes The Hare – Kind of.

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Yesterday I went to the gym immediately before my Kung Fu class for my scheduled 2-mile run – the shortest distance I’ll run over the course of the next 3 months.

When I got to the gym, it was pretty crowded. The row of treadmills was full except for one that was out of service and another that had my name on it: Not only was it available and in working order, but it was between two girls who were both running.

I love running beside people who are really putting in effort – it pushes me to try harder. So this was perfect: The girl on my left was going 6.2 and the girl on my right was going 7.8 (yes, I peeked. I always peek, don’t you?). My usual starting pace these days is 5.5, so that’s what I put it on. I generally end up slowing to a 5.0/5.2 , and I average about 11:30 – 12:30 per mile.

Not yesterday, though.

After just 30 seconds or so at 5.5, I bumped it up to 6.0, where I stayed for a bit. It was tough, but the girls on either side of me kept pushing me. Not literally, of course, and not even verbally, because we didn’t talk at all. You know what I mean…

The treadmill I was on had a virtual track with a light that moved around it showing my progress; each lap equals 1/4 mile. For at least 2 of the 4 laps in my first mile, on the second half of the lap I bumped my speed up to 7.5.

If you’re not a treadmill runner and don’t have swanky technology that helps determine your pace (I don’t, and regular watches don’t count) it’s hard to know exactly how fast you’re going and get your precise pace for each mile. For me, 7.5 is fast. That’s an 8-minute mile. Recall that I average approximately 12 minutes per mile.

I’m happy to say that bumping up the intensity during that first mile got me my fastest (measured) mile at 9:27.

Of course, I couldn’t keep that up for both miles, but I was able to finish both miles in under 20 minutes! 19:28 total. So the second mile took me just 10:01, which is far faster than my typical pace, as well.

Believe me: By the end of that second mile I was dead. Clearly I’m not at the point where I can run at that pace for long distances, but it’s a start! It’s nice to see what I’m capable of.

The way my half marathon schedule is structured, there is one run each week that is much shorter than the rest (2 miles for the first 6 weeks; 3 miles for the last 6 weeks). My plan is to work on endurance on the other runs each week, and really push the speed on the short runs.

Just to see what happens.

For now? You can call me Flash :)

Posted in Half Marathon, Personal Stories, Road Races, Training, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | Comments

Curses!

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Due to the large quantities of snow dumped onto my city over the weekend, I am unable to run outside for the time being (we’re expecting more tonight, too…). And, due to the power outages that resulted from the snow, my gym was closed on Sunday. Which meant I wasn’t able to start my training for the half marathon until yesterday.

But start I did: My schedule called for 3.5 miles, which I completed, but holy hell: It was HARD. (that’s what she said…)

I believe I’ve mentioned that I’ve made excuses for not keeping up with my running lately. Well let me tell you, it showed on the treadmill last night. I was struggling, bad. I didn’t have to walk, but I had that belt moving pretty slowly for a while there.

Previously, I was at the point in my running that 3.5 miles wasn’t too difficult. It seems I’ve lost a bit of fitness in the last month or two. Blast!

It’s good that I’ve found this out now, and I’m certainly not going to let it stop me. In fact, knowing that I’m not where I was is just more motivation to get back there – and then surpass it. I’ve found that my running improves only through consistency, and I’m terrible at being consistent without a schedule.

And now I have a schedule for the next 3 months, so that should help!

Posted in Half Marathon, Personal Stories, Road Races, Training, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | Comments

It Begins.

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Tomorrow marks precisely 12 weeks (84 days!) before the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon I’ll be running. The majority of training schedules for the half are 12 weeks, and therefore, I’ll be starting to seriously train for this event tomorrow.

After checking out a number of different options, I’ve decided to use Hal Higdon’s Novice Half-Marathon Training Schedule as a guide. I’ve used some of his other training schedules in the past (8k and 10k) and have been happy with them, so I figured I’d stick to what works.

It’s been over a week since I’ve really run and – believe it or not – I actually miss it! I’m looking forward to getting out there again, and since I’m so much more consistent when I’m following a schedule, I know this is just the beginning.

Here’s my current concern, though: Pittsburgh got hit with a major snow storm last night and this morning. I’m from Buffalo, originally, so I’ve seen snow like this before, but not in the 10 years I’ve lived in the ‘burgh has as much snow come down all at once. A lot of trees were downed and thousands of homes and businesses were – or are still! – without power. We lost power for almost 24 hours… big pain in the butt.

The roads aren’t very well plowed and many sidewalks haven’t been shoveled yet; clearly not ideal conditions for running outside. And, my gym was closed today due to a power outage. I’m concerned that they will be closed tomorrow as well. If that’s the case, where do I run?

I guess I’ll call my gym in the morning and see if they’re open. If not, I’ll do a quick reconnaissance mission around the neighborhood to see if it’s safe to run outside. If neither of those prove successful, I may have to put off my training start until Monday (unless anyone has any other suggestions for me!).

I’m confident that one of those two options will be available to me. I’m pretty optimistic that I’ll be running tomorrow, one way or another.

Btw: Thank you for all the props at my 90-pound loss milestone! Between here and my Facebook page (wanna be a fan?!) I’ve received a number of congratulations and I’m humbled by your support. I feel great about how far I’ve come, and having finally hit this number that has eluded me for so long has reenergized me in my quest to lose the next 22 to get to my original goal of 150. So yeah, thanks :)

Posted in Personal Stories, Road Races, Training, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | Comments

Two Steps Forward

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Good news, friends! After months of dancing around – but never hitting – 172, this morning I hit the elusive 90-pound loss mark!

That’s ninety. NINE-OH. Holy smokes :)

I’ve been focusing much more closely on what I’ve been eating. No more crackers, for one thing. I’ve also been eating out minimally again. Thankfully, for the next month or so I have no plans that will take me out of town (always a huge challenge food-wise), so I’m confident that I can not only maintain this lovely breakthrough, but surpass it.

Now that I’ve lost 90-pounds, my next mini-goal is to leave the 170’s behind me as I bust into the 160’s. Hopefully that’s just a week or two away!

It’s funny: I’ve begun so many diets in my life. I remember in particular starting a diet when I was about 14 (cabbage soup diet, anyone?) and weighing 164. Obviously, at 14, 164 is overweight. But now? That will be a fabulous weight. Hell – when I get back to that I’ll be 2 pounds away from 100-pounds lost.

It’s absolutely insane to me that I once started a diet weighing 164… and then gained 100 pounds instead. Talk about a failed diet!

Today I had lunch with a client and two of her colleagues who I had never met previously. My client (who I hadn’t seen in a while) asked if I had lost weight. I told her that yes, in fact I have lost weight. Then she asked how much and – high on my new goal – I was happy to tell them. Not surprisingly, they were all pretty surprised. One of the women was a bit overweight; the other not at all. The one who wasn’t overweight was very interested, asking questions about how I did it, how long it took, etc, and the one who was overweight seemed to be dying for a subject change. I was happy to move on to another topic myself, as I could sense her discomfort, but the others kept asking questions. I felt bad for her: It’s not easy to lose weight. And it’s definitely not easy to be around folks who have lost weight while you sit there with a plate of beef enchiladas covered in sour cream in front of you.

However, I refuse to feel bad about my success. I’ve worked hard. And even though I know it sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable or envious, I’m damn proud of myself.

I’ve lost 90 pounds!

Posted in Personal Stories, Trials and Tribulations, Weight Loss | Comments

The Munchies

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

One of the challenges that I’ve always faced when it comes to my weight-loss efforts is a simple truth about myself:

I like to eat. A lot.

This creates some serious difficulties considering I’m trying to limit my food intake. What I have to do to accommodate this penchant for eating is 1 – find foods that are low in calories so I can eat a lot of them, or 2 – foods that take a long time to eat. That way I can prolong the eating process as much as possible to feed this weird passion.

One thing that does not fit into either of those two categories is crackers. As you may know, crackers are evil. And silly me, I continue to buy them. They’re fine if you can limit yourself to 5 or 6, but I have an extremely difficult time doing that. I love them. And again, I love to eat. Therefore, I inevitably end up stuffing my face with cracker after cracker, until I’ve eaten hundreds of calories worth of them… or finished the box. It’s like I have this insatiable urge to munch and even though my head says “Enough, already!” my fingers and mouth say “Shut up, Head – crackers are delicious!”

It’s gotten to the point that I have forbidden myself to purchase any more crackers until further notice. Maybe in a few months I’ll try them again and test my resolve. For now, though, I know having them in the house is just asking for trouble.

It’s far easier to avoid temptation in the grocery store than in your kitchen.

Remember that.

Posted in Diet, Personal Stories, Trials and Tribulations | Comments

A Vicious Cycle

Friday, January 29th, 2010

I weigh myself a few times each week. Friday is the day whose weight I actually count, and the other numbers I use as a gauge to see how I’m doing.

You may be aware that today is Friday. My weight today was 174.5. That’s not awful, but it’s not good, either. I say that it’s not awful because on Monday, I was 178.5. It’s not good though, because last Friday I was 173.5.

This has been a common theme for me, unfortunately. In fact, my weight has yo-yoed between 174ish and 178ish on Fridays and Mondays, respectively, for roughly two months. TWO MONTHS!

Let me paint you a picture:

On Friday I weigh myself. It’s a decent number – I’m not horribly disappointed or upset with myself. Then it’s the weekend! I go out to eat, and get basically whatever I feel like eating. I go out of town, and am not in charge of preparing my own meals, and therefore eat basically whatever is available. I slack on my exercise.

And then it’s Monday and I weigh myself. It’s a terrible number – I’m horribly disappointed and upset with myself. Then it’s time to get down to business! I stay in town, don’t go out to eat, and instead, cook something healthy and delicious. I go to kung fu. I go to my aerobics class (or now Hip Hop). I go to the gym. I go running.

And then it’s Friday again. The scale shows a decent number – I’ve basically made up for last weekend’s indulgences, so I’m not horribly disappointed or upset with myself. Then it’s the weekend!

You get the idea.

I recognize that this is insane and not all that difficult to fix. I simply need to stop throwing a week’s worth of effort and positive actions out the window for a few moments of gratification on the weekend. And to be honest, much of what I’ve yielded to food-wise hasn’t even been all that tasty. Just convenient.

This two steps forward – two steps back B.S. has got to stop.

So here it is: I’m not going to go crazy this weekend on the weekends. Difficult as it will be at times, I will keep myself in check and not indulge in food that is not good for me… or my waistline. And I’ll keep up the exercise on the weekends, too.

Mark my words, internets!

Posted in Diet, Personal Stories, Trials and Tribulations, Weight Loss | Comments

Taking Advantage

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

At about 3:30 this afternoon, I realized that there was sun streaming through my office window – for the first time all year. That was all the prodding I needed.

I donned my new cold weather running clothes (good buys!), filled my pockets with tissues, grabbed my iPod, and headed out the door.

Usually when I run I have a specific route/distance in mind. But not today; I went out with zero expectations. I simply wanted to run.

It was great running weather: Cool and sunny. Not windy. Not icy. Of course, far too often I came across sections of sidewalk that were still covered in snow (it hasn’t snowed in days). What are people thinking? Shovel your damn sidewalk, folks. Running in snow is tough – like running in sand, but with an added sense of danger (I’m a bit of a klutz, remember?).

Anyway, it was an enjoyable run. I ran more than my typical route, but didn’t set any records. Of course, it’s the first time I’ve run outside in Pittsburgh (ie: with HILLS) in a few weeks, so I feel great about what I did: 3.78 miles in 44 minutes, with no walking. It’s good to know that I haven’t lost too much of my fitness to the cold. Of course, that’s what the gym is for, though I don’t take advantage of it like I should.

But the rare January sun? That I took advantage of.

Posted in Personal Stories, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | Comments

Playing Catch-Up

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Perhaps you’re wondering what’s become of me since I haven’t posted anything since the third when I said how bummed I was. Well? I’m fantastic. Tired, but fantastic. Busy, but fantastic.

I’ve been meaning to assure you all that I did, in fact, stop feeling sorry for myself upon completing my last post. I’ve been eating great (most of it cooked in house), getting in a bunch of exercise (despite the deep freeze), and accomplishing a ton at work (a necessity given my week-and-a-half-long hiatus). It has really made me feel better about myself and get over my holiday/vacation indiscretions. Which is good, because life is meant to be lived, not regretted.

I still haven’t made any real goals for the year. Usually I take some time to reflect at the start of the year, but I swear to you: I haven’t gotten an opportunity to yet… and it’s the 6th. Crazy. All of my free time has been spent doing things that are not conducive to reflection. Like sleeping.

There are, however, some new things I want to try this year, some of which I’ve already started or have signed up for/committed to. Like the half marathon(!) on May 2nd. And a hip-hop class(!!) that starts in 3 weeks. And hiking, which I did in Arizona last week, and plan on doing more of when Pittsburgh is no longer frigid. And racquetball and/or tennis.

That seems like a good list for now. I’ll keep you posted.

Though, not with photos of me attempting hip hop, so don’t get your hopes up.

Posted in Personal Stories, Trials and Tribulations | Comments

Feeling Sorry For Myself

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

I’m finally home, following a wonderful trip out west to visit with some great friends. For the first time in roughly 2 weeks, I’ve been able to weigh myself at home, and it’s nasty.

181.

That’s extremely bad. I don’t even want to do the math on that – it might make me sick.

But there it is. I’m sitting here going over every decision I made in the last week or so. Most of them were bad. I DID exercise a decent amount, but clearly not enough to counteract the immense amount of crap I ate (and drank): Cookies, pizza, ice cream, chex mix, Disaronno, etc etc.

So here it is: January 3, 2010. I’m going to call today my official start to a healthy new year. And as soon as I hit the ‘publish’ button on this post, I’m going to stop feeling sorry for myself and just fix it. I’ve been thinking about it for days, and it’s time to get back to it. I’m ready, and I know what works: Eat right – and log everything (hello again, My Food Diary!) and exercise – often and intensely.