A good update

You would think that my absence for the last week means that I’ve lost sight of things, but the truth is that I’ve really been busy, and I haven’t lost sight of anything. In fact, on Saturday, I had a triumph: I ran my first timed 5K in 31:42. That’s 10:13 min per mile! I was, needless to say, THRILLED that I did it. And I’m already excited about my next chance to run a 5K. I’m not sure when that will be – maybe not until the spring – but I loved the energy and the excitement of running with a huge crowd of people. I was so nervous before the gun off, and then felt like I was going to accidentally overexert myself in the first five minutes. I forced myself to listen to my body and find my pace, without paying attention to the people passing me or the people I was passing. I took careful strides, listened to my music and concentrated on my breathing.

The biggest triumph? I didn’t take a single step at a walking pace – I jogged the entire way! I was so worried I would allow myself to slow down, but I didn’t. I kept my pace and felt good up until the very end of the race. Now that I know I can do it, I’m going to try again this week on one of the courses I have worked out around town, and see if I can run it without stopping. It helps when I have someone to run with, however, and Greg isn’t big on running.

I definitely felt like a rock star after that was done. Now, if I had only stopped acting like a rock star, it would have been all right. Unfortunately, I drank and ate for the rest of the day, and nothing that held a lot of nutritional value. That was a mistake. I could have done so much better.

I think I’m going to return to weekly goals now that I’ve gotten myself back in the swing (sort of), but continue updating throughout the week. So this week’s goals:

1. Bring my lunch and avoid the company cafeteria to reduce calorie intake as much as possible - no desserts at work other than fruit!
2. Drink coffee black if I drink it at all.
3. Try running 3.1 miles without stopping at least twice during the week. (Tuesday and Friday?)
4. Go to the gym twice during the week. (Thursday and Saturday?)
5. Start doing exercises while reading – bicep curls, squats, lunges, leg raises, etc.

That’s a hefty list, but it’s doable and by no means too much for a single week. I’ve only got a little over a month left to get my butt in gear for this wedding. I haven’t tried on the dress recently, but I have a feeling I’m on the right track.

Yesterday I experienced success, and disappointment.

Yesterday afternoon, I looked at a set of goals I made a few weeks ago when I started running again. Here they are:

Running Goals:
By April 30th: Run 1.5 miles at 5.5 mph easily
By May 31: Run 2 miles easily
By June 8: Run 2.5 miles
By June 22: Run 3 miles

June 22 is my birthday, and I want to see what it feels like to run 3 miles before then. I’ve only ever run 3 miles once in my life.

So, after seeing that yesterday, and knowing that I was going to the gym last night, I decided that I’d better try to run 1.5 miles. I hadn’t tried it before yesterday for probably… 2 or 3 years. But, I did it! At 5.5 mph (around an 11-minute mile), I ran 1.5 miles, without batting an eyelash, really. Then, I cranked up the speed a little and exhausted myself before doing my cool-down.

I’d been reading, too, about the knee pain I’ve been having when I run. Turns out it’s my IT band (a band that runs along the outside of the leg), which is rubbing against my knee joint, causing pain. There were three recommendations for helping this pain – stretch, shorten your stride, and buy better shoes. My shoes are awful, so I’m going to have to remedy that soon, but I couldn’t do it right away. But I could shorten my stride and do the stretches needed, so I did those two things, and – miraculously – no knee pain! Nice.

After my excellent achievement, I continued my workout with some squats, stretches, and a few tricep extensions. The great news here is that now I know I can run 1.5 miles, so I can start working my way toward 2 miles.

And for the bad news… I got on the scale before I left. 152 pounds. Yikes. I’m pretty sure that’s the heaviest I’ve ever been. My ideal weight is 138-ish, so I’ve got some serious work to do. So far, though, I’m doing pretty well with my resolutions that I began this week. The last few nights dinners have been light, snacks have been few and far between, water consumption has been up, and I’ve been feeling pretty good. If I can get myself up tomorrow morning to go to the gym, I’ll be doing really good for this week. 5 workouts in a week is awesome. If I do that, I think I’ll give myself Sunday off for some rest.