One Week Down...

I completed week 1 as of yesterday. Yay! I feel it went pretty well... I'm sore anyway, so that's gotta say something, right? On day 3, I decided to try adding a little extra by going out for a short run in the morning. The problem though, was I didn't get out till later than I had planned (I like the snooze button, what can I say?) so it had started to warm up outside. It was also extra humid due to a big rainstorm the night before, so it got sticky pretty quick! I kind of wimped out and only ran a mile. I walked one more mile, then headed home. After all, I still had Shoulders, Arms, and Triceps to do... I got back to work, already sweating like crazy from my run. The warm up seemed redundant, but oh well. I found that I can do most triceps and biceps exercises at higher weights than I can do with the shoulder exercises. I don't know if that's common, or if I'm just a pansy.... don't answer that... :P I skipped the bonus round for this week, my arms already felt like Jell-o! Overall, though a good upper body workout. I can't wait to see what kind of definition I might get in my arms over the next couple of months! After the cool down, I put down my weights, drank a bit of water, and was ready to hit the shower... until the screen faded back in with a shot of a very well defined six pack...

Oh, @&$(%#!

I forgot all about Ab Ripper X! This is done at the end of most of the strength training workouts! It's a short workout, only about 15 extra minutes... but... I just... I dislike it so, so very much! It's a great ab workout, but quite brutal, and I suck at it! I can barely do regular sit ups, let alone the jacked up stuff Ab Ripper X has you doing! Ugh, oh well, I gotta do the work if I want to get anywhere, right? And my abs and core are one place I need all the help I can get! Ha! I plug through it as best as I can. Most of the moves I can only do about 10-15 of the 25 reps they do on the video, if even that many, and they're not pretty! But I'm only just starting, it'll get better with time, right? ....

Day 4 brought Yoga X. I haven't done yoga in quite a long time. I used to take classes in college and really enjoyed it. It kicked my butt, especially the first half, which did all the sun salutations, vinyasa moves, so you were pretty much moving constantly! The second half did mostly balance postures, and core stuff (because apparently Ab Ripper X isn't enough, harhar). Although it was a hard workout (duh, they all are), and it's the longest one at an hour and a half, it reminded me how much I really like yoga, and how much I was missing it! 

Day 5 was an interesting day. It falls on a Friday, and I decided that the best way to make absolutely sure I do my workout on a Friday is to do it first thing in the morning. During the week, it's not really a big deal for me to do my workouts in the evening because I don't normally have much of anything going on at night during the week. On weekends, however, we more often than not end up doing stuff at night after everyone is home from work and everything, so it would be really easy to skip a workout altogether if I put it off. Of course, doing it before work is a challenge in itself because that means an extra early wake up call, and I'm not much of a morning person! I forced myself up at 5:30, though and got my Legs and Back workout done! I was running short on time afterwards, however, so I did put off Ab Ripper and did that later that night. Not that I will make a habit of that, however. I just underestimated my time that morning. At least that particular workout is easy to squeeze in at another time because it's so short!

Day 6 was my Kenpo workout. Fairly straight forward. I had been doing this workout on its own from time to time when either it was too dark or the weather was too bad to go running, and I just wanted to do something at home. It's a good fun cardio workout, and kind of nice stress relief because I to get to pretend to punch and kick stuff!

So Week 1 I would say overall, was a success! I have to admit, however, I got a little lax in my eating towards the weekend. Not terrible, but I can do better. I was doing really well early in week when I was writing everything down. I started to slip when I slacked off on tracking everything I ate. So there's the problem! I know how to solve it, I just need to, you know, actually do it, and quit just talking about it! Haha! it's okay, though, I'm not too discouraged, I'm not beating myself up about it, because I know what it is I need to do. Plus, hey, I stuck to my workouts! Lots of positive things to be proud of this week!

Day 2: Cardi-OOooh!

Today was Cardio X. I went into it thinking "This shouldn't be too bad! After all, I'm a runner!" ...Yeah, I was sweating bullets within the first 10 minutes! What I had sort of forgotten was that the Cardio program for P90X kind of does a little bit of everything. You warm up with power yoga, do some kenpo, plyometrics (jump training, yowza), and then repeat some of the core exercises from yesterday! So yeah, this kicked my butt. Was it hard because I'm doing something so different from what I've been doing the past year or so, or am I just not pushing myself hard enough when I do go running? Hmmm... probably both!

I'm already sore, but I'm having fun! I'm excited to see what the next few weeks and months will bring, and the changes that I will see take place as long as I stick with it. The tricky part is going to be staying motivated a few weeks, months, etc. down the road to stick it out! I'm trying not to think too far ahead about stuff like that, though. I mean, of course I'm planning my workouts and meals and stuff (I've actually put my workouts on a calandar, just like an appointment!), what I mean is not letting my mind wander and think about things that may get in the way down the road. What if I get sick, what if I have a really crazy day and just can't get a workout in? What do I do about eating at family gatherings or parties? Blah, blah, blah. If I do that too much, I'm practically making roadblocks for myself, and giving myself an out to fall back, or even quit. While it is important to have a plan of action when the unexpected comes up, at the same time, I have found out for myself from past experiences that worrying about something that hasn't even happened yet isn't going to get me anywhere but stressed out and feeling daunted for no reason at all! So sure, I'll have a couple of ideas to turn to for when (if) something weird comes up, but mostly I just need to be in the moment. Focus on the workout I'm doing right now, each breath, each move, the feeling I get after I finish one! That's a great feeling, and always a good reminder of why I do this stuff in the first place!

And So I Begin Again...

So I completely dropped the ball on reporting my progress preparing for my second Utah Valley Half Marathon. I will say it went very well. I beat my time last year by almost exactly fifteen minutes! It was a very fun and rewarding race! I'm 11 days away from running my fifth half marathon, the Timpanogos Half Marathon. However, I'm not writing to tell you about that... I'm returning to this blog once again to begin another round of P90X. Despite all the running I have been doing, I simply haven't been losing weight. I hope that by doing this program again, as well as cracking down and watching what I eat more closely, I can finally slim down again.

I decided to do P90X Lean again instead of the classic program, because I feel that it will help me burn more fat, and tone muscle, as opposed to adding a lot of muscle size. I began today with Core Synergistics, which is the first workout of the program. Wow. I forgot just how hard these workouts are! Here I am thinking I'm all in shape because I run half marathons! Ha! I've been slacking on strength training, and I'm feeling it now! Prison Cell Push Ups, Steam Roller, what am I getting myself into??

Oh, and did I mention that I run another half marathon in less than two weeks? I'm an idiot.

Here are my beginning measurements! They're not pretty, but I gotta start somewhere!

Weight: 164 Lbs
Waist: 33.5"
Hips: 42.5"
Right & Left Thighs: 25" each
Right & Left Biceps: 13.5" each

Wake Up!

Well, it's been a long time since I've been on here. I last posted about my experience with my first half marathon last June! I've done two more since then, both were successful! I've signed up for the Utah Valley Half Marathon for the second time!

While I have continued running, I have to face the facts that I haven't been really paying attention to my diet, or other exercising for that matter... and it's starting to show. This last week, my family decided to start a "Biggest Loser" style competition to lose weight before a vacation we're taking in March. Last night was our first weigh in. I stepped on the scale, and it read 165.3... well, I knew I had gained some over the past few months, but I knew that reading wasn't quite accurate. It was in the early evening so I would have already eaten, I had clothes on, so I knew that was going to add some weight! At home, I would usually weigh first thing in the morning, before I ate anything, no clothes on, all that good stuff. Last time I weighed myself at home a few weeks ago, I was about 158. So not fantastic, but definitely not the 165 I was getting at my parents'!

This morning, I decided to weigh myself at home first thing in the morning. No clothes, no food in my stomach yet, the whole drill to get a more accurate idea of where I was at. I stepped on the scale, figuring it would probably still be around 158, maybe 159...



164.4.



Crap.

Alright fine! Apparently, I was in denial this whole time! I gained more than I realized. My clothes all still fit, it's nothing that drastic, but still. Some of my jeans are a little snugger than I remember. I can tell just by looking the mirror, you know what I mean? So okay. This marks the beginning (again) of my fitness blog. Since I'm doing the UV Half again, I'll be talking about my prep for that, plus I am going to be more accountable for my food. I'm a snacker, and that's where I get into trouble. To help me keep better track, I have an app on my phone, Myfitness Pal. I can use it to log what I eat, and the calories those foods have. It gives me a daily calorie goal, so it keeps count of what calories I've eaten, my exercise and how many calories I have left for the day.

Put One Foot in Front of the Other!

 "Ugh, already?" I say to myself as my alarm goes off at 2:00am Saturday morning. Not that I wasn't already wide awake, though. I was too antsy, too excited to sleep! I probably got about two hours of sleep total that night. Oh well! I got up and got dressed, got all my gear together, packed a couple of bagels and some water and got ready to go. I kissed my husband goodbye and set out to the Provo Towne Center where buses would take us to the starting line for the Utah Valley Half Marathon!

The day has finally come! This is the event I've spent six months training for! All of the sweat, sore joints and muscles, blisters, and the occasional tears from either frustration or uncertainty of whether I could ever be ready for this day; it all boiled down to this morning. I was a bit nervous about how I would do, because the longest I had run up to this point was still only about 8 miles, but I tried not to worry myself about it too much. All that mattered now, was that I did the best I could.

I had gotten to the mall fairly early, only a few other cars were parked and waiting just yet. But that's okay. I didn't mind hanging out for a while. Since this was my first time doing a race where you have to take a bus, as opposed to meeting right at the starting location, I figure it's just as well to be early and maybe beat any craziness! I munched on one of my bagels, and mingled with some of the other runners as we waited. It wasn't long before the crowd started to grow, and soon after that, the buses arrived. I boarded one of the first buses and we were on our way!

Within about a half hour, we pulled up to our meeting spot up Provo Canyon. I was surprised to see several fire pits set up along the hillside, they looked like floating fireballs in the dark. I was soon grateful for them, though! It was still dark and pretty chilly. I parked it near one of the dozens of firepits and got comfortable. It was only 4am and the race didn't start till six, so I had some time to kill! After a little snoozing, goofing around on my phone, and playing with a ladybug that landed on my arm, dawn had broken, and it was almost time to start! Volunteers started to shoo the crowd (which had grown to several thousand!) toward the official starting line, just down the hill from where the buses dropped us off to check our gear bags, and get lined up. Before I knew it, they were counting down to the start of the race, and we were off!

This was it! I'm finally doing it! As excited as I was, I kept an even pace. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and want to push myself faster than I should, but I've learned in past races that only tires me out way too early, and I had a long way to go! I settled into a good pace, comfortable, but not too slow, either, and I started to enjoy the view! It was beautiful! Sunny day, perfect temperatures, and the mountains at every angle! I've driven the canyon about umpteen times, but it's somehow different when you're running it. More time to look at everything around you! I could see bikers up different parts of the canyon, hikers, incredible views of Bridal Veil Falls, and the many rock formations throughout the canyon. Looking at the highway ahead of me and behind was one of the coolest things, because it was FULL of runners! This race was huge!

So many people were there cheering the runners on! Every volunteer at the aid stations gave words of encouragement. Family members and friends waited along the road to cheer. There was one guy who would drive down the canyon to each parking area he could stop at to take pictures of whoever it was that he knew that was running. I don't know who it was, but they were pretty close to me throughout the race, because I passed the photographer each time he was taking pictures! It was great! Motorists would honk and cheer for us, and people had signs set up ahead of time to their friends and family!

As pretty as the canyon is, you don't realize just how long it is until you're running through it! I mean, when you drive, it just seems like, after you go around say, two bends in the road, and you're out of the canyon. When you're running it, it's like "okay, just past this next bend!" but then there's another one once you round that one, "okay, it's this next bend then!" I said to myself. Nope, that canyon just kept on going! That's okay. I didn't really feel tired... yet.

Each aid station had several restrooms, and there was an aid station every two miles. This was great. The restrooms at the earlier stations all had lines, and since I didn't really need to go earlier on, I held off. At about mile 10, I finally decided to stop for a bathroom break. This worked out pretty well, because there wasn't a line at these restrooms, so I didn't have to wait! Less time that I was losing by stopping! I wasn't too terribly worried about losing time though. I mean, when you gotta go, you gotta go! However, the drawback of the bathroom break was the fact that I obviously had to stop running. Totally lost my... momentum, I guess? Rhythm? Whatever you call it, stopping even for just those couple of minutes gave my body the chance to start to feel that fatigue set in.

Oh boy, it was hard to get going again! I started to get scared that it was finally catching up to me. That I may have to walk the rest. Then I remembered something my husband told me about a month earlier. I had a bit of a breakdown because I was having trouble with my knee. I was frustrated and scared that I wouldn't be able to keep training, or even do the race. He reassured me that it would be okay, then he looked at me and said "Buck up Cowgirl. You can do this!" I repeated that phrase to myself, cranked up my ipod a little higher, and dug in!

Around this time, Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" came on... A little ironic. Here I am, my legs feel like lead, my arms are chafing, I have this huge blister reforming on my right foot (so much for moleskin!) and this song is going on about "feeling alive," and "having such a good time!" ...I wanted to tell Freddie Mercury to shut the hell up! ...I kid, Queen, I love that song! It was actually a great pick me up. I soon was back in my groove, more or less, the crowds along University Avenue were getting bigger, and the finish line was finally visible! Visible, of course, doesn't necessarily mean close. I still had about two and a half miles to go, and when you've been running for over two hours, that feels like an eternity! I got passed by the top three marathoners... That's marathoners, as in, they ran twice the distance I was running, in less than half the time! ...Sick... and by sick of course, I mean awesome. :) I was still running, but the finish line didn't seem to be getting any closer! I kept repeating to myself, "you got this, you got this!" I probably sounded like a looney to anyone that could hear me, but since I had my headphones on, I couldn't even hear myself, so I didn't really care. ^_^

I was finally down to the last half mile. Other finishers were cheering those on that were still running. One guy was pumping his fists in the air with me! As exhausted as I was, I could feel myself pick up in speed, that high was kicking in, the best part of the race! At long last, I was sprinting thru the gates leading to the finish line, I started to scan the crowd lined up, looking for my husband and parents. It didn't take me long to find them! I half pointed, half waved at them, and tried to cheer, but I was running so hard, that I couldn't really catch my breath to do it. So I just kind of made a weird face at them instead. I think they knew what I meant!

I crossed the finish line strong, at two hours, thirty-nine minutes, and six seconds! I did it! I finished, and except for walking a few steps at a time at water stations, I ran the whole thing! My first half marathon was a success! It was one physically one of the hardest things I've done, but I had so much fun doing it! Not just the race itself, but the training as well. It was a fun journey!

I've people tell me that they could never do what I did. They've asked me how I did it. I'm not really an expert, so I'm not going to try to give expert advice. I would suggest however, to start small. If you're not used to running, try going for smaller distances, or short periods of time. Like, running a mile at a time, or fifteen minutes at a time, and build from there. There are a lot of good books about running, I like The Complete Idiot's Guide to Running, lots of good pointers for runners of all levels! :) Most importantly, have fun doing it! Set realistic goals for yourself. Do it one step at a time. Put One Foot in Front of the Other... and soon you'll be crossing the finish line!

T'was the Butt Crack of Dawn Before...

This is a quick one before I head out. Holy crap! It's the morning of the race! Two fifteen in the morning, to be precise! I can't believe the day is already here! The past six months have flown by! I'm as ready as I'm going to be, and I can't wait to run this race and see how I do! The weather is going to be perfect, and I'm feeling great (though sleep deprived)! I'll tell you all about how I do after the race, but right now, I have to get going! See ya at the finish line!!!

Running on Empty... Sort of...

Oh my! I've gone a month without updating on my progress! Sorry folks! I've been making pretty decent progress. My knee is behaving better, although I have been giving it more TLC than before. I wear a brace when I run, and I make it a point to ice it as soon as I finish, even if it isn't hurting. That seems to be working pretty well, and like I said, my knee joint has been feeling a lot better! For the past few weeks, I realized that I had been in a bit of a rut. I hadn't run much longer than about 6.5 miles, and I have less than a month to go! Yikes! So I decided to go for an 8 mile run yesterday to kick it into gear! I geared up with my new running shoes, my hydration belt thingy (whatever those are called), and my trusty ipod, and set out! I completed the full 8 miles! Woohoo! This is officially the longest I've ever run! It was hard though. It was a pretty warm day, about mid 80's, I carried plenty of water with me, but I didn't bring anything else with me to fuel myself as I was on the go. On my shorter runs, I can get by just fine, but yesterday, I noticed a difference, and I could tell I was running out of gas. I got through my workout pretty well, but I felt drained the rest of the night and into the following morning. The worst part, was that my appetite right after was shot! I knew I needed to eat something to recover, but it was all I could to choke down what little I could! I pushed myself too hard last night, but I know what to do to hopefully avoid that happening again. I'll need to be sure to not only bring fluids, but something small to eat on my long runs to give me an extra boost of carbs so I don't completely crash! It'll probably do some good to eat a little something even before I go running. Not a huge meal, obviously, but a little snack between my lunch and running so I'm not running on nothing! I hope this works! I'm down to crunch time, and I have quite a bit more distance to work up to within just a few weeks!