C25K – W7 Complete!

Yesterday I ran my third day of 2.5 miles making a total of 7.5 miles for the week.  Not bad but soon I hope to run that in one day.  Progress, slow and steady.  My knee is hurting today but I am sure that will go away.  I did W7 in three consecutive days, I hope I don’t have to do that again.  I missed Monday and Tuesday because I was sick and I don’t have time to run over the weekends so I had to squeeze the running week into Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Things will be crazy for the next two weeks so I hope I can keep a bit of a run in somewhere.  Next week is 2.75 miles I feel I am ready.

C25K – W7D1 – Whoa! Two and a half miles!? ME?

As usual I took the weekend off from running and happened to get sick at the same time.  Everyone suggests you shouldn’t run if you have a chest cold but it’s okay if you have a head cold.  I kinda had both so when Monday came around I didn’t run.  Not like I could have either way since my headache put me in bed all day (I even went home from work 1 hour after I got there).  Yesterday same deal but I worked.  Being so new you don’t want to mess up anything.  Running to me is a baby I am caring for, nurturing into something this is a life long commitment.  So I don’t want to mess it up!  Today I had enough waiting, I still didn’t feel 100% but I figured the last 10% would benefit from a good run.  Thing is, today is day 1 of week 7, 2.5 miles.  I never ran that far before.  I never ran that far before EVER IN MY LIFE.  With diminished expectations of the run ahead of me I pony’d up to my treadmill.  A little too anxious to get moving I only warmed up for 3 minutes (1/4 mile).  At the one mile mark I felt better.  I was moving at an easy pace I think it was 10:45 or something around there.  I slowed down after that, I didn’t want to push it too much but I was still running at about 12:00 pace.  I bounced around a bit, little up, little down.  Played around with the incline.  Once 2.25 miles came I could feel the end near but wasn’t struggling I was just running.

I feel better now.

A Word On Weight loss…

I guess I should say something about my weight loss progress.  I was a major goal of mine in the beginning but has quickly lost importance.  I still want to lose weight and my goal is to be about 145 to 150.  I figure this is a good weight for me since I know I will be adding some muscle as the fat comes off.  Being 5′5″ my “ideal” weight is said to be 134, no way!  So by Thanksgiving I would like to be at 155.

Yesterday I ate whatever I wanted.  Pizza, Greek wrap, pancakes, bacon, it goes on…  This morning on my daily weigh-in I hit a record 163.5, that’s down another 1/2 pound from yesterday!  So this running thing really works!

C25K – W6D3? I think that’s where I am.

Yesterday I successfully ran 2.25 miles all at one time.  Yes it is amazing but I’m not done yet.  My goal with the C25K plan is a full three mile (5K).  Once I have accomplished that it will be on to five miles (8k), then on and on.  My speed is okay for now, for the 2.25 miles I averaged about 11:10 minutes per mile.  Anyway, I happened to be running next to a guy who obviously has been running for a while.  It helped but hurt a bit.  He is where I want to be so I was motivated by him.  Yet a bit intimidated by his ability.  In the end the motivation won out over the intimidation.

Next week starts week seven of the plan, a full three days of running 2.5 miles, no walking intervals just run and keep running.  I think I am going to change my schedule a bit so I run M W F with some weights on T and Th.  I seem to have dropped the push-up and Crunch challenges but will reintroduce them in about one week.  I won’t let it get the best of me I WILL be back!

Today is my “rest” day.  Lots of activities for the family (the kids need their workouts too – Soccer, gymnastics, etc).

Nicotine Free!

Today I forgot to put a patch on.  Trying to get the boys moving in the morning and out the door to catch the bus it slipped my mind.  I didn’t think about it until the ride to work, I then immediately wanted a cig.  Soon I  forgot about it and went about my day.  It went well.  Hope I can keep it up but I do have the patches near by just in case.

W1 D2 – Push-ups Make Me Strong!

Pfft, The plan calls for 12, 12, 10, 10, Max.  I did 12, 12, 10, 5.  I will have to try again tomorrow.  I could barely push out the fifth push-up.

C25K – W6 D1 – Completed

I noticed I have been working out with my heart rate in the low 170’s.  Everyone is telling me I am running too fast and I need to slow down.  So today I did.  I ran the Week 6 Day 1, an interval run with 1/2 mile run, 1/4 mile walk, 3/4 mile run, another walk and finish with a 1/2 mile run.  I ran at a 10:55 – 11:45 pace.  It felt really easy until the last 1/4 mile.  But that is good to struggle a little. So I completed the day.  I am not excited because it was such a slow run I am used to running much faster.

Tomorrow I will do some light weight training.

W1 D1 – Road to 100 Crunches -And Rock Solid ABS!

I think I mentioned that I was going to transfer over the ideas of the 100 push-ups plan to a 100 crunches plan.  Today was Week 1 Day 1 of my seven week journey to rock solid abs.  Or at least great abs covered by some belly (which in time will go away – to reveal my rock solid abs!).

Today I did; 10, 10, 8, 6, 10 crunches with 60 second rest between.  At about crunch three of set four my stomach cramped up.  A quick stretch and I was back on track.  Seems okay now, but I’m sure I will feel it tomorrow.  Then again tomorrow is Week 1 Day 2 of the 100 push-ups plan!

C25K – W5 D3 – Success!

Today I ran W5 D3.  I was delayed last week because I was a little too eager and ran too hard on D2, plus I started some light weight training on Wednesdays.  So I missed my Friday run.  Saturday morning (only time I could possibly run) came and went, Sunday was a bust.  After three day off of running I was a bit nervous I wouldn’t make the 2 mile run.  WOW, I ran two miles!?  It just sunk in literally this instant when I typed it.  I started with a 10:00 pace for the first mile then dropped to a 10:55 pace for the second.  First mile with an incline avg of 2.5% and second mile avg of 1.5%.  I finished the run in 23ish minutes?  I sprinted the last 0.10 mile (I forgot to check my pace – 8.0 on the TM).

I messed up the weeks for myself.  like to run Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday (or Saturday if I missed Friday).  W6D1 has intervals again so I think I can just run tomorrow as usual.

W1 D1 of my road to 100 Push-ups

Yesterday I did W1 D1 of the 100 Push-ups plan.  There are five levels for each day; you should do 10, 10, 8, 6, Max (minimum of 7).  I did the plan with a max at the end of 10.  It seemed to get easier because I could hardly get level 4 (six push-ups) out.  Then level five I felt like I could keep going.  Today I will use the 100 push-up as a guide for 100 crunches.