Day of rest

Not sure that is what I really need after 2 weeks of not running, but that is what I am doing today. I have plans for a run tomorrow so I can get back on track for Week 7 on Mon. I have been trying to loose weight and that has not been happening. This has been very discouraging for me. So this week I have started to keep track of what I have been eating. I have "an app for that" on my phone. After only 2 days of keeping track I and see why I have not lost any weight. I love this app, it shows me in graph format what my intake is verses my exercise. My intake is way more the my output (so to speak). I either need to decrease what and the amount that I eat or increase my physical activity, or both!!! So I plan to start anew on Mon. I know, I know why wait until Mon, but I have no will power and so if I set a date I can plan for it and I am more likely to stick with it. So for a few more days I'll continue to track my foods, so I can formulate a plan of change for next week.

Climbing a mountain

At least that what it feels like to be on the treadmill again. I can still remember week 1 and how hard those runs seemed and how far I've come. But stopping for 2 weeks had me slowly slipping down that mountain. I ran on the treadmill yesterday. I choose a pre-programmed run. It was for 30mins, with a max speed of 4 and a max incline of 6. Sounds easy, huh? Well let me tell you, it most certainly was not, but I made it through the whole program. What I am most proud of is the fact that I did it without holding on to the railings to get me through the tough climbs and I actually ran during the running segments instead of stepping off and letting the program continue. Although I completed the run, it was difficult and I was tired. I thought it was because it was so late, 9:30pm. I was awake for hours after that, it was close to 1:30am before I fell asleep. Needless to say, I was tired cranky and exhausted when I woke up. So today I decided to run when I got home. This time I choose a shorter but more intense program. It was 20 mins, with a max speed of 4 and max incline of 6. I once again was able to complete the program without cheating, but thought I was going to fall over from exhaustion when it was done. My legs were numb and my chest was tight. I think tomorrow I will go back to the "easier" 30 min program. I plan to resume week 7 next week, if all goes as planned. I have decided that running for 10 mins on an incline is harder then running 23 mins on a flat surface. So I should be in good shape to resume. I still don't enjoy running but I know for my own health I need to continue.

Wake up call

It's been obvious that I have not been running. There have been no posts. I could make up a million excuses for why I didn't, but the truth is, I just didn't want to. I really don't enjoy running, but I was getting better at it. When I say better, I mean the runs were becoming easier for me in terms of breathing through them. I knew I couldn't pick up where I left off 2 weeks ago, so I thought I would do pre-programed run on the treadmill. One I have done many, many times before. Only 20 mins. But I didn't make it all the way through. I gave up. My chest started to get tight and it was hard to breath. While I was running 20 mins straight on my last week of C25K, it was all with no incline. The program had me doing inclines and I just couldn't handle it. I will try again tonight to do a program with inclines. I think ultimately it will be good for me. But boy do you realize how quickly you loose that endurance of you stop. So when I do get back on track and finish this, what am I going to do to keep it up? I need a plan.

The reality (or finality) of H1N1

It been a long week. My daughter's friend from school died of H1N1 on Wed morning. It is the most heartbreaking story I have heard. I didn't know the boy. She just met him this year. He graduated last year but came everyday to help in the drama dept after school. He was like a mentor to these kids. He loved acting and wanted to be an actor. He was also loved by most everyone in the school, I think. He was Homecoming King last year, what makes that amazing to me is he was not a jock, not particularly handsome and he was even gay. But he had charisma and charm, so much so that everyone wanted to be his friend. Now he is gone. His parents did everything right. After he got sick with fever and cough that didn't get better in a few days they took him to the emergency room. They gave him an antibiotic and sent them home. The next day he had difficulty breathing so they took him back. He was immediately transported to a trauma hospital. He journey from there is something you only hear about in movies. He went into resp failure after his lungs filled with fluid and was placed on a ventilator. He body couldn't fight the infection and ultimately his legs were amputated to help conserve blood flow to his vital organs. If he had survived, he would have lost his hands/arms next. But his heart gave out and he died at the age of 18. From everything that I know, he was healthy and had no underling conditions. My heart breaks for his family. I am afraid to send my children to school or out in public because I don't want them to be next. The H1N1 vaccine is not readily avail in our county yet. A very few have gotten it, but there are many children out of school each day with what is prob the Swine Flu. While most cases are mild, you just never know. Tonight is the viewing. My daughter wants to go, so I will be going with her. I will be coming face to face with the reality of this virus. Please keep his family in your prayers.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

As you can plainly see I have not been running, as I have not been posting. There does appear to be some direct correlation there. I knew I was going to have a busy week this week and had already planned on probably not being able to get all my runs in. Since Sunday I have been working on the rainbow cake and then icing it on Monday. Tuesday was the big birthday day. The birthday girl woke up with a runny nose, so I sent her to school with her cupcakes to share and a new pack of tissues. Luckily I was able to leave work a little early to come home a clean up for the party, only to get home and find out the birthday girl now has a fever, sore throat, headache and cough. Who knew turning 10 could be so difficult. After some medicine the fever was down and headache was gone so the party was still on. But since then the fever has come and gone a few times and the cough gets pretty bad at night. All of this wouldn't be so bad if we weren't going away tomorrow to Great Wolf Lodge. So here's to hoping for the best. Hope you had a Happy Birthday anyway baby girl!!!

Week 6 Day 3

These weeks just seem to be flying by. I now have another week under my belt. It took me until today to be able to get it in. Things have been a little busy here lately with my daughters birthday coming up on Tuesday and also we've been shopping for bathing suits. Hard to find now that summer is over, but we will need them for Great Wolf Lodge this weekend. I spent the weekend doing some much needed cleaning for the party this week and baking a cake. I recently saw a recipe for a rainbow cake, so I thought I would try it. There are 6 layers (for all the colors of the rainbow). I will icing it tomorrow. It was early evening by the time I got on the treadmill. 25 mins seemed like a long time. But by watching King of Queens, I was able to run with out much struggle. I did run at my previous speed of 4mph. For week 7 I will try to up my speed with the longer runs. What I did discover is that my iPhone app really only works if my iPod is playing, otherwise it doesn't tell me when to run/walk unless I look at it to check. Luckily I do check my time pretty frequently. Next time I will have my iPod running as well, even if I am watching a movie. I am still debating whether or not i will do any runs this week or not. I have so much to do just about every night until we leave. If I have time I will run but I'm not getting up early to do it this week. Too much to do!!

Week 6 Day 2

Running, running, running!!! That's what I have been doing. Today was no exception. I have found that on the longer runs, that watching something on my laptop helps make the time go by faster. I have been going about 2 miles each time. I have been trying to up my speed. So far so good. Friday will be tougher.

Week 6 Day 1

Wow, I have been running for 6 WEEKS!!! Why have I not lost a pound? Could the scale be stuck? Seriously. I had to make my watch band smaller today, it was practically sliding all the way around.

Anyway, back to my run. I decided today since I was able to run for 20 mins at my normal speed (4mph) that I should step it up a notch this week. So I ran today at the whopping speed of 4.3mph!!!! I know, amazing I could go that fast!!! But seriously, it kicked my butt. I felt like it was weeks 1&2 again. I really had to push my self to get through my runs. But I guess that's the point of this whole program, huh?!! Apparently by the end of week 9 I will be running 10 min miles. I'm not so sure about that, right now I'm at about 15 mins miles. I am so glad that I have stuck with this. I am psyched about completing this and actually being able to run a 10 min mile!!!

Week 5 Day 3

I can hardly believe I am saying this but, I DID IT!!!!! I ran for 20 mins!!!! I am so proud of myself. I wasn't sure I would get my run in today. We have been so busy. We got up early and took the kids to the museum. The Disney Christmas Carole train was here. We had a really good time walking around and looking/touching the old trains. When we got home, I still had all the cleaning to do, vacuum, dust, straighten, clean the bathrooms, kitchen, etc. It was after 6pm by the time I got all done. After relaxing for a bit, I decided it was now or never. Instead of listening to my iPod, I got my laptop and put it in front of the treadmill. I put a King of Queens DVD in and started my program. Needless to say. The show helped immensely. The time went by and I was able to run the whole time. The first few minutes were rough and I had my doubts but then it got easier. The last few minutes were rough too and I was certainly glad when they were done. Now I will be able to get back to my M-W-F sched nest week. We go back to run/walk intervals on Mon. I defiantly like those better. But at least I know now that I can do it.

Still no luck in getting my husband to run. I'll keep suggesting it though.

Week 5 Day 2

After much thought, I finally made myself run tonight. I am so glad I did. It feels great to have made it this far. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't be able to run the full 8 mins, but I did. What may have helped is that during the the last 3 mins or so I was helping my daughter with her spelling homework. I read her her words while she wrote them in the book. When the 8 mins were up, I was surprised but glad. So when the next 8 min run came up, I knew I could do it. Although this one seemed much longer, probably because it was just me and my ipod. I really need to create a playlist with good running songs, things that are upbeat. That really makes a lot of difference in how long the runs feel. I am a bit nervous about running for a full 20 mins. I will probably put that off until Sat and get back on my regular sched on Mon. Now it is time for me to rest, since my legs are burning. I am so proud of myself tonight!!!

Issues

This should be a post about how my runs went, but I didn't run yesterday. There have been a few things going on this week and I just couldn't do it. For starters my husband and I have been having some issues and now they seem to be interfering with my ability to do the things that need to be done. I have also been having some health related issues going on as well. Nothing serious, but just enough to make running an unpleasant experience. I was planning on trying to run this morning, I set my alarm and everything. But these issues with my husband seem to have me a little depressed and I just didn't want to get up. I am going to try and run today after work. It's also hard to get out of bed in the morning now, when it's so warm and toasty under the covers and it is freezing (I'm a summer girl) outside!! There is so much on my mind, it's hard to think straight, so before I say to much...