Monday night

Wow, this was a COLD weekend!! I didn't get to the gym this past weekend at all, so I made sure to go last night. Although it wasn't a steller night, I did get 3 miles of running in total. I'm still doing the 'run 1 walk a 1/4' workout. I was hoping to get 4 miles in last night, but I don't know if it was the cold or not working out in 5 days, but MAN my knees were SORE!! They hurt from the get go so it didn't make the going very fun. So when I was done with the 3 miles, I decided to screw it and went home. :-) (I know, I know, I need an attitude adjustment here soon. I'm thinking I'll be better after the first of the year comes...)

I'm thinking I should be able to get in tonight too - maybe even feel a little better about things since it's not stop-you-in-your-tracks freezing cold out too!!

5 mile night!!!

So I didn't quite get in to the gym Monday night as my roommate and I were running much needed-to-do errands around town.

So Tuesday night I was a very motivated girl and went. And boy did I go! :-)

I was determined to do something big again, so thanks to the Biggest Loser finale being on, I decided I wasn't quiting until I had run 5 miles (total, not straight through) that night. And gosh darnit I DID IT!!!

I stuck with my .25 mile walk, 1 mile run routine, and sure enough after a little more than an hour, I had run 5 1-mile stretches with a 1/4 mile walk in between each one, for a total of 6.5 miles total that night!!!!! AHHHH!!!!

I was SOOOOO sore after it and I think I over extended my knee as it wasn't feeling to great yesterday, but it's since come back to normal and I'm feeling great about my accomplishment!

So yeah, after I had the 5 mile night on Tuesday, I decided to let my knee take a night off last night (wed.). And tonight (Thursday), I'm going out to eat with my roommate before she moves this weekend, so I actually got my butt out of bed this morning at 5:00 and went! I only got 2 miles of running in before I needed to head home, which was probably more than I should have done though because when I got home,well, the leftovers that I had the night before weren't sitting to well and I wasn't feeling the hottest. But I slept it off and am feeling a little better now.

So we'll see what happens Friday. I'll do my darndest to get in to the gym Friday night, and if not, for sure on Saturday then!

Saturday

As promised, I went today! I'll make this short and sweet...I got 3 miles of running in - each mile seperated with a .25 mile recovery period. So now you can't kick me tomorrow Tiff!! ;-)

well...

my intentions were good, but once again, no gym last night.

Here's the story...
I've been seeing so many girls at work here in these cute little dresses - sweater dresses, wrap dresses, all sorts of cuteness. So I decide that I too need to be part of this fashion craze. So I headed to the mall right after work. I had talked to my old roommate who had just gotten a cute dress at Penny's, so that's where I went. After trying on about 10 dresses, I decided the sweater dresses are NOT for me (and seriously wonder how anyone with any sort of curve on them can wear these things - I swear - you have to be a rectangle to pull those off). Anyway, by the time I was done with that, and a little more shopping at the mall, it was 8:00. I still needed to go to Target though too and get food for tonight (Brock's brother and friends are coming over for a poker night). Well by the time I was done at Target, it was 9:00. I then still had to go home, make brownies, and clean up my house before I have company over.
So, the gym was out of the picture. I was rather mad at myself for taking so long trying on dresses (although I did find a super cute black dress that I ended up getting...). :-)

And once again, no gym tonight as I have to finish cleaning and making the rest of the food now tonight. But I AM getting in on Saturday. I absolutly 100% am getting in on Saturday. If I don't, Tiff, you have permission to kick me when you see me on Sunday!!!

yeah....

Well once again I've been able to shoot an entire week down the drain!! Since my 4-mile day Thursday of last week, I haven't been motivated to go at all.

Last Friday I went home to my Mom's house, and totally could have gone on her treadmill, but decided to do nothing. Same thing on Saturday. Sunday was my only day of seeing Brock last weekend, so we hung out and sure enough, I didn't get a work out in.
Monday night I did go to the gym, but was NOT in to it at ALL. I managed to squeeze out a mile of running and that was about it. Tuesday night I was planning on going after a friend's jewelery party, but by the time that got over, it was 9, I wouldn't get to the gym until about 9:15 from her place, and would have only got 1/2 an hour in before they closed, so once again, I decided to skip it. Last night, Wednesday night, I was all about going up until about 7:30 when I was snuggled in my blanket on the couch, was still cold, and so once again, I talked myself out of going, and ended up falling asleep on the couch about 8:15 (which was pretty nice actually).

Man, have I mentioned before how much I HATE winter?

I'm going to do my darndest to get in tonight. I've decided to start trying something new here...usually I get home, eat, watch a little TV, then go to the gym around 7:30 or 8:00. Well since I seem to sit on the couch and have a hard time getting out from under the blanket then, I'm going to start going right as soon as I get home from work. We'll try it tonight and see how it goes!!

Wow, what a night

So last night was a good night...

I was sooooo tempted not to go to the gym as I had taken Wednesday night off due to a bad pain in my side, and the fact that it was so flipping super cold last night - it would have been SO easy to stay in and watch Grey's curled up in my blanket. But, I was good and got up and went to the gym.

I figured I'd just start going and see how things went. So I started off with a walk for a couple minutes, then sped up and started the run. I got a mile in to it and barely was tired!!! So I figured ok, go for another 1/2. I got finished with that 1/2 then and figured ok, push it out and go for 2! And I did!!! After the 2, I slowed down and walked .25, then sped back up. I was tired by this point, but I surprisingly pushed out another mile run, so I had my 3 miles of running in that I usually get to. I slowed down again and walked out 1/2 a mile, then figured ok, just go for 1/2 a mile running more here. So I started in to it again, and although I was super tired and sweating like no other - I pushed out that 1/2 mile, and was so happy with myself that I said go for it - try the other 1/2, and I did it! I had just run 4 miles!!! I slowed down again and walked out the remaining distance that got me to 5 miles total that night!!

I was so flipping proud of myself that I cranked out 4 miles of running - and 5 miles total distance!! It was definitely a positive night that I needed again to keep me wanting to do this.

I don't know if I'll be up to doing another run tonight as I'm headed back to my Mom's. . . although there is a treadmill in the basement...we'll see!!

Little bit farther!

Well so far this week I'm doing good getting in to the gym! I went in last night and actually ended up going the furthest I've ever gone so far!

I started out with my quick warm up walk, then started in for the first part of the run. I had been going 1 mile stretches the past couple days, so I decided to push a little bit and go for 1.5 for the first one, which I did! After getting done with that, I walked for .25, then got up and ran another 1 mile, slowed down for .5, then sped back up for the last running stretch. I was so stinking tired by now though. I was hoping to do another full mile, but didn't think that was going to happen once I got about 1/2 done with it, so I pushed myself and finished out with another 1/4, for a total of .75 for the last running stretch - so my total of running last night was 3.25. I did decide to go a little longer on the walking stretch at the end though and finished out with a total of just over 4.5 miles!! I think it's the furthest I've gone so far to date! I was thinking of staying on and going the full 5, but my legs were SORE and I was a tired girl, so I decided to duck out just a bit before getting there.

I'm definitely feeling the extra push today too. I woke up this morning and man my legs were not ready to get up. My calves are tight and my quads are achy, but I'm still planning on getting in again tonight, so we'll see how that turns out!

I will be better I will be better

Ok, so I took a little more time of in November than I probably should have with my running stuff...and man did it hurt.

I AM going to be better about getting in this month. I'm used to the cold so that's no longer an excuse (although I still hate it...). Christmas shopping is done so I can't pull that excuse out either. And yeah - I'm less than 6 months away from this wedding and I need to get going on my goal again!!

So, we're starting December out right. I went to the gym last night. While I don't feel I can run 2.5 straight right now anymore, I'm still getting at least 3 total miles of running in (which is what I was at earlier too). I started last night and decided that instead of doing the 'manual' program on the tredmill, I'd do the 5K button and see what that was about. mmm...yeah - not ready for that one yet. It started out slow, sped the walk up a little bit at a time, then started you running at a 10 minute mile shortly there after. I thought Ok, let's try this. I actually got to about .75/.8 of the running doing the 10 minute mile pace (which I was really surprised at), then had to back off as I felt like I was going to run out of air. So I slowed up to my 5 mph pace and finished out the rest of the mile. I walked for the next .25 miles, then sped back up and did another mile running at my more comfortable 5 mph pace again. After finishing that one, I was super tired, but wasn't going to give up, so I walked out another .5 mile, then sped up and ran out my last 1 mile stretch. After that I was so extreamly pooped!! I cooled down with another .25 mile walk and headed home.

Hopefully things will start picking up for me again here soon and I'll be able to run these 3 miles straight by the end of December. Yeah - I think that'll be the next 'short term' goal now... this could be interesting... :-)

Yeah....

...haven't been good again. Planning on getting back after the Thanksgiving weekend.

Wednesday night

Yeah the Wednesday night workout didn't happen...I decided to stay home and play with my new VERY cool cell phone!!! :-)

Tuesday night

Well surprisingly I've been able to get back 'on track' (hehehe - running - on the track...nevermind) fairly easily. I went to the gym last night again - even though I really just wanted to stay home and watch TV. But I went and it went pretty good. I started out with a quick warm up walk then started in with the run. I was doing pretty good and started to wonder if I could do 3 miles straight. Well about 1.5 in to in, I knew that wasn't happening. But I did crank out another 1/2 mile, to get 2 straight miles in. I felt like I was about to die then. :-) I slowed down and walked for 1/4 mile, then sped back up and went for another mile, to get my 3 miles in. I wondered if I could crank out another 2, but my legs felt like they were seriously about to fall off by the end of that 1, so I didn't push it any more. I walked out another 1.25 miles for a total of 4.25 for the night, which I think has been the farthest I've gone so far in my hour workout!!

I'm planning on going agan tonight so we'll see how that goes!!

Back in it

Alright - I'm back in the game.

I will admit - the last couple weeks have been a nice little break - although I totally could tell I wasn't doing much. It's crazy how much a couple days off can affect things.

I got back in to the swing of things Sunday night. I was totally planning on going to the gym at 7, come to find out from my roommate who had just been there, that they close at 7 on Sunday! So I was mad about that but not about to just give up another night (especially after having my family's Thanksgiving this past weekend and eating entirely too much and so starting to feel it...)

So I decided to try the exercise programs on On Demand on TV. I feel like a FOOL when I do these, but it actually turned out to be not too bad! I found a Biggest Loser one, which I found to be REALLY good. It's nice to see 'normal' size people doing the workout (and making mistakes and not doing it perfectly all the time) instead of the fit, toned, muscular people that you usually have on these types of things.

So anyway, it was a 20 minute program that was geared more towards toning with weights than a cardio workout. And I actually broke a pretty good sweat doing it, which either proves I am still completly out of shape....or I needed to turn down the thermostat in the house. :-)

After doing that Sunday night, I decided to start doing this On Demand thing in the mornings before work. So Monday morning that's what I did! I woke up at 5:45 and went out and did the weight toning one again. Then last night I went in to the gym as well. I figured I would be all sorts of out of shape because I hadn't had a good workout in a good 2 weeks. I warmed up a bit then started running. I was hoping to get a mile in running wise. Sure enough I did, and was doing ok, so I kept going for another .5, to get 1.5 under the belt. I slowed down and walked for about .25, then sped back up and was going to try to get another mile in. Sure enough I was still doing ok, and was able to get 1.5 in. So I got 3 miles of running in total, which I felt great about! With another 1 total of walking, I was still able to get back to my 4 miles total for the night.

Oh yeah - the morning weight workout didn't happen this morning either. I was actually a little sore from doing it, and when the alarm went off at 5:45 this morning I said "nuh-uh" and shut it off and crawled back in. I'll do the weight workout tonight before I go to the gym again. :-)

slacker

So I've been a slacker lately. :-)

As much as I'd like to say I have been super busy and haven't had time to get in to the gym, well, it wouldn't be entirely true. I have been a little more busy lately with various wedding things, but if I really wanted to, I could have gotten in to the gym.

A LOT of my procrastination has been on the craptastic weather we've been having here. Have I mentioned before how much I HATE the cold? Yeah - HATE it. And the past couple nights it's been rainy out too. Fan-freaking-tastic. All I've wanted to do is curl up on the couch in my blanekt and sleep - which I've done the last 2 nights!

I'll get back in the swing of things soon. I'm going to try to get in after work tonight and tomorrow and maybe sometime Friday.

I'm still not giving up. Just taking a little break. :-)

Tuesday night

Well I got back in the swing of things - sort of.

I did my American duty and voted last night (yay Obama!!!). And yeah - you can be totally jealous that it took me less than 5 minutes to get in, vote and get out!

Ok, back to the gym...so I started off with a 5 minute warmup then started out running. I knew I wouldn't be at full-strength since I had been so bad about getting in the last week. But I thought I'd push and try to get 2 miles of running straight in. So I sped up and started going, but oh the going was tough. About 3/4 miles in to it, my side/stomach was cramping up something FIERCE!!! I finished out a mile of running, but had to slow down and take it easy as I couldn't breathe well because of the pain in my side. So I slowed down and caught my breath and walked it out for a while, then thought I'd try a run again. Yeah that wasn't a good idea. Same thing. So I decided I'm not blowing another night of working out and that I'd just walk the hour out at a fairly speedy walking pace and at an incline. That seemed to work. Towards about the last 15 minutes of my hour I was feeling a little better so I decided to try to run again and was able to get another 3/4 miles in of running.

Although I was mad that I couldn't have run more, I was happy that I pushed the walking pace and did an incline though because I still got 4 miles total in.

Tonight better be better... :-)

Last couple days

Ok so the last couple days haven't been good.

Las Friday was Halloween and by the times the kiddos stopped coming around it was 8:45ish and I was a tired girl, so I didn't go. Saturday I was good and went and got a workout in. Wow - I could definitely tell I hadn't been in in a while though! But I got through it.
Sunday Brock and I decided to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather and went golfing. Now I could pretend and say I got my workout in then, but no, we used a cart so there wasn't much exercise involved at all! :-)

Last night I wanted to go, but once again, that didn't happen. I had an appointment to talk with the flower lady for the wedding at 6:30. I was thinking it would take 1/2 an hour at the most. Yeah it took 1 1/2 hours. So I didn't get home until 8. I still hadn't eaten, so I had a bowl of cereal. By the time I was done with that and got around, it was 8:45 and with this stinking time change, I was TIRED.

I AM getting in tonight though. My roommate and I are voting on our way home, so I'm hoping that doesn't take too tremendously long. As long as I'm home from that by 8, this girl is getting back in the gym!!!

Busy week...Uuuhhhggg

Wow. I can't beleive this week is almost done. And that I only had one chance to get in to the gym on Monday!
Tuesday night I got a massage (it was my Valentine's day gift from Brock this past year that I finally had a great time to use) - it felt AMAZING! Especially after having ran 2 2.5 mile stints in the last 3 days.
Wednesday night I stayed in Lincoln and went house shopping with my roommate as she's looking to buy down there. We didn't get home until 9:15ish and I was a tired girl.
Tonight, Thursday night, I went to look at wedding invitations when I got in to town. I was there until 7:00. Then I had to get groceries, so by the time I got home it was 8. I am in desperate need to do laundry too so that's getting done tonight in place of a workout.
Tomorrow - Friday night - Halloween - I will be handing out candy to my neighboor kiddos. I'm hoping to make it in to the gym tomorrow after trick-or-treating slows down.

Uuuhhhggg...yeah I'm ready for this week to be over and have my normal 'I have no life' life back. :-)

I did it again! :-)

Yep, I did it again... I ran 2.5 miles straight last night!! I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to do it again, but sure enough, I started right out running last night at the gym and wanted to see if I could do it, and I DID!! Man it felt good too!

I slowed down and caught my breath for 1/2 a mile after it, then figured to keep pushing and picked up and ran another mile. So I got 3 1/2 miles of running in last night - as well as .75 of walking, so I had a total of 4.25 miles last night - all in an hour!!

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good right now! :-)

Good weekend

This was a good weekend.

Friday night I got to hang out with Brock as he got off of work early and decided not to do school work that night (yay!!!), so I didn't get a workout in that night. It's ok though cause I ROCKED it Saturday!

Saturday afternoon we weren't doing much (Brock was doing homework) so I was just hanging out watching TV by myself. I knew we were going out that night for his sister-in-law's birthday and that we were eating at a steak house, so I decided to be good and hit the gym. The Nebraska game was still on and I was really hoping the Y would have it on. Sure enough they did.
I started off running right out of the gate. I don't know if it was that I took Friday off or that I just had more energy because of working out in the afternoon rather than the late evening, but it felt good. I only had about 45 minutes for time though, so I figured if I could maybe get 2 miles of running in I'd be good. I figured I'd do my run 1, walk a bit and run the next. But I got going and the going was good, and I kept on it. A mile passed and I was just fine, so I figured I'd keep going for 1.5. That came and I thought go for 2 or more - and I did!

I GOT TO 2.5 MILES STRAIGHT!!! At the very slow running pace that I go - that was 30 minutes of constant running!!! I totally remember when I could barely go for 5 minutes before feeling like my legs were out of energy - and now I just went for 1/2 an hour!!!

I didn't get in on Sunday but I am planning on going tonight - we'll see what I can do then!

Thursday night

So the day off I took on Wednesday from working out was a good idea. I felt MUCH better yesterday.

I started off last night's work out with my .25 warm up walk, then started in for the run. I decided I was going to do the 3 1-mile runs again. As I was going I was watching The Office, so the run didn't seem as bad. I got to my mile marker and figured I could keep going a little more, so I pushed to 1.5. Then I slowed down for another .25 walk, then back up again for another mile run. I was really starting to feel it by the end of the 2nd mile run. Slowed down again for another .25 mile walk, then started back up on mile 3's run. I was dead. I got .25 in to it and my legs were killing me. I decided technically I only needed .5 to do 3 miles of running, so I finished out that .5 and cooled down with a walk the rest of the way out.

Although I didn't get my last mile of running in, I did step up the speed of the first 1.5 miles from what I've been doing, so I feel good about that!!

Sore and achy = no workout

Not much to report for last night - as you can see by the title of this one i was NOT feeling like running 3 miles last night. My entire body just ached for the past 2 days so I decided to rest and not do anything - and I'm glad I did. I feel much better today - not sore, not achy, and totally ready to go to the gym tonight and watch a little Grey's Anatomy during my run!!

Cold weather sucks

I know, I know...I've been bad about keeping this updated. 1/2 of it is because I kinda forgot to keep it updated the past couple days, but I guess the other 1/2 is that I haven't been good about going to the gym!

Last Thursday I had to stay in town for work so I went to the gym there, but when I started my run, I knew I wasn't going far. I ran 1/2 a mile and felt like keeling over. Now mind you this was the day after I had ran my 2 miles straight, so I was sore and tired and didn't feel like I had anything left in me. But I decided to not make it a total waste and ended up getting a 2 mile walk in still.

Friday night I went out to supper with an old friend in Omaha and when I got home I sat on the couch and fell asleep at seriously 8:30, which PS felt AMAZING!
Saturday Leigh came in to town and Brock and Leigh and I went and watched the game at DJ's Dugout, then Leigh and I did some shopping in the afternoon and didn't get home until 7, which by that time the Red Sox game was on and that was about the only time I got to spend with Brock that weekend, so I stayed and in and watched that with him.
Sunday there was a bridal fair at the MAC in Council Bluffs, so I went to that in the afternoon. If I would have been good, I would have gone to work out after I got done with that, but eh - why do that? I decided to wait another day.
Monday night was another night I really should have gone, but I told myself I needed one more day of not doing anything (as if I hadn't not done enough of not doing anything on Sunday)... :-)

So, that gets me to last night - Tuesday night. I went. And I did better than I thought I would!
Started off with a 1/4 mile walk warm-up then sped up for my run. I didn't know how long I'd be able to go since I hadn't done much the last couple days. As I was chugging along I decided I'd do 3 1-mile legs with a little walk in between them. So I finished out that mile, walked for 1/4, ran another, walked a 1/2, then ran the final mile, then cooled down with another 1/4 mile walk. I was EXAUSTED!! But proud that I did 3 miles with very little walk-time between them.

And now sure enough I'm feeling it today. I'm sitting here at work thinking how great a back massage would be right now...good thing Brock got me a gift certificate for one last Valentine's day that I hadn't had a good opportunity to use yet! Yeah I called this morning and have an appointment next Tuesday to get one. CAN'T WAIT for that!!

Oh yeah - and I hate the cold weather that's coming. HATE IT! Not looking foward to snow, not looking foward to 10, 20, 30 degree weather. The 50 degrees that it was down to last night on the way in to the gym was bad enough. Grrrrr....maybe I should move down to AZ and live with Meg this winter... ;-)

Another MILE-stone

So last night was a pretty sucessful night. I delayed going to the gym for just a bit to go check out the new fall boots at DSW (and found about 4 pair that I want...). Oh so much fun. Anyway - then I finally got to the gym and wasn't too excited since the only thing on TV's was the debates, a soccer game, or some other show I didn't want to watch. So I decided to do a little music instead. I started off with a .25 mile walk to warm up, then started running. As I got going, I was somewhat watching the debate anyway, and it looked like Barack was doing a good job, so I decided to tune in for a while. Surprisingly I actually watched it for a good while.

As I was chugging along though I was felling pretty good and decided - ok, I'm going to try to run 2 miles straight tonight. I knew it was going to b a push since I think the farthest I've went before straight through was 1.5 miles. Granted, when I got to 1.5, I was way ready to be done - but I pushed through and sure enough - I DID IT! 2 miles straight!! I slowed down, walked out another .5 miles, the sped up again and ran out another mile to get 3 miles total running in. Of course when I finished with that I thought my legs were about to fall off, so I slowed down quite a bit and cooled off with a .25 mile cool down to finish out the 4 miles total that night.

So another sucessful night! I'm hoping to go again tonight - hopefully durning Grey's so the time flies by!

Rainy Tuesday night - but I went!!

As promised - I haven't given up. As much as I really didn't want to go last night due to the cold, rainy night, I went (thank goodness Biggest Loser was on TV last night!!). And, as I expected, taking 4 days off wasn't the smartest thing to do.

I warmed up just a bit with a walk, then started off the run. And about .5 miles in to it, I was ready to be done. But I kept on it and continued out for 1.25 miles, then had to slow it down. So I walked 1/2 a mile. I then sped it back up and continued for another run for another 1.25 miles. Again, felt like i was going to collapse after it. :-) But I ran a total of 2.5 so I was good. I had 20 minutes left in my hour so I continued to walk it out at an incline. About 5 minutes into walking, it was the 'last chance workout' on the biggest loser on TV and the trainers were yelling at everyone. So I figured, "ok push yourself Laura", so I started back up and ran out another 1/2 mile. I made it, although it was definitely a push for me. This was the farthest I've ran total so far - 3 miles - so I was feeling pretty darn good about things after that!

I'm going again tonight (hopefully they have something other than the debate on TV...) so I'm hoping to get another 3 miles ran in tonight (plus about another 1.25/1.5 in walking). I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes!!

Later!

wow...unmotivated

I hate cold weather. I realize it's techically only 'cool' outside and not cold yet, but I know the cold is coming way too quick. And when it's cold out, I get unmotivated to do anything, especially go out in it to do anything. And or course this makes it hard for me to want to get out and go to the gym. I wasn't good this weekend and didn't make it in. I messed around the house when i got home from work today instead of just going to the gym right away, and now all i want to do is curl up on the couch with a blanket.

I know this blog is to keep me motivated - and it will. I'm fully ready to go to the gym tomorrow after work and work out even harder the rest of this week. So don't worry, I'm not giving up. :-)

Another night down

This one's pretty much the same - went to the gym last night - started off with a .25 warm up walk then ran for 1.5, slowed down for .5, then ran out another mile and finished the hour out walking another mile. So I'm pretty steady at getting 4 miles in a night.

I'm going to try to get in again either saturday or sunday so next week doesn't start out so hard again.

I'm off now, back to watching the red sox with brock!

Wedneday night - good night

So up until last night, my workouts have sucked this week. Monday night I was tired and didn't really push myself like I should have. Tuesday night I went, but had a really bad side ache that would not go away (which I was very perturbed at), and I only ended up walking a mile and called it quits. So last night I was determined to get back on it. And I did!

I had mowed my lawn when I got home from work, so I considered that my warm up walk. So when I got to the gym, I started right off with my run. I went 1.5 miles and actually felt like it was getting easier to do. Then I slowed down and walked another .5, then sped up again and jogged out another mile, then finished out the hour with another mile walk. I felt pretty damn good after that! I think it's been the farthest that I've gone so far with this, and total running distance was 1/2 of my goal!! I definitely needed a night like last night after the past couple have been less than steller.

Weekend update and Monday's run

Sorry, I've been slacking a bit getting updates up here. . .

Well the first full week is over since setting my goal. Last Thursday I didn't get to the gym as I was busy running around town trying to figure out plans for bridesmaid dresses for the wedding. So when Friday came around, I was tempted to say screw it for the weekend, but I actually decided be to good and went in Friday night. And I have to say - if you want free choice of machines at the gym - go on Friday nights! I think I was the only one there at one point!

anyway, back to the workouts...Friday's workout was a little toned down. I jogged for 1.25 miles, walked .25, then ran on and off again for the remainder of the 45 minutes I went for. I don't know if it was the end of the week getting to me or what but i was done for after that 45 minute workout!

I was hoping to go again then sometime this last weekend (either Saturday or Sunday), but that didn't happen. Saturday was busy running around town doing errands again and Sunday we had our engagement pics taken and, well, I had no ambition to get back in the gym that day.

So that brings us to last night - Monday night. After getting home from work and chilling on the couch for a while, I again had absolutely no desire to go exercise. BUT, I knew if I just got up and went, I'd feel good about it, and so I did! Started off again with a 5 minute warm up walk, then ran for 1.5 miles. Man, taking 2 days off really sucked my energy out of me too from how well I was doing last week. After the 1.5, I slowed down and walked for .25, then sped back up and went another .5. After that my knees were really starting to kill (there will be posts about how much I hate my knees in the future, FYI)...so I slowed down again and walked out the rest of the time, but to keep a good heart rate going I increased my incline a bit.

I'm going to keep pushing for my 'long' run to be 1.5 miles this week, and hopefully the knees will cooperate!

(p.s. - thanks for keeping me accountable on this Tiff!!) :-)

Good TV while running is the BEST!

Ok, I have to start this out saying how nice it is to have new episodes of TV shows again!!! It TOTALLY makes the time go by faster on the treadmill!

Last night I was hoping to push myself to do at least 1.25 miles again, maybe pushing it to 1.5 if I could. Well I was totally in to watching Private Practice while chugging along and got to 1.25 and was doing ok, so I kept going to 1.5. Since I was watching the TV more than my distance, I ended up going over 1.5 when I finally checked it, so I figured, ok, go for 1.75!! AND I DID IT!
Granted I was paying quite a bit more attention at that time to my distance now as I was completelly puttering out at the end now, but i made it!

I cooled down for a bit and walked 10 minutes after that, then sped up and jogged another .5 miles, then continued to walk/jog out the rest of my way. By the end of the night, I had gone a full hour and travled 4 miles total! I was feeling damn good about myself at the end of it, and am excited to see if I can do the 1.75 again tonight!!

Tuesday

well last night's run went pretty good - started off with a 5 minute warm up walk then jogged 1.25 miles, slowed down for a walk for five minutes than jogged another .75 miles, so I'm feeling pretty good that I was able to get 2 miles of running total in. It's pretty amazing how much motivation it is watching Biggest Loser at the same time as my run. I see them working out and know what kind of transformations they're going to be making, which makes me want to do this for myself even more.

I really can't believe how flippin' motivated I am to do this. I sit here at work and think about how far I'm going to try to push myself tonight and how good it's felt to get started with this and what I've done so far.

In the beginning...

Well I'm doing it - this is my first ever blog and my first ever major goal that I've set for myself that I truly feel I can and want to achieve. I'm thinking if I actually blog my way through it, I may actually stay more accountable and on-track to actually get this achieved!



Little history about me -

I'm a 26 year old that is getting married next May. I've been fairly good about getting routine exercise in, but always did it thinking that 20-30 minutes in the gym once or twice a week would somehow work off the 20 to 30 pounds I'd like to loose. I've done the diet thing and HATE HATE HATE to have to count points, feel restricted when going to eat out (which seems to happen quite a bit on the weekends...) and longingly look at chocolate, mashed potatoes, steak, and all of the other wonderful foods out there. I'm the first to admit I could do much better about what I eat to really start loosing the weight. But I'm also not going to sacrifice being hungry and unhappy with flavorless food every stinking day!!! :-)

So, back to the reason I'm doing this blog...
As I mentioned, I've never really set attainable goals in my life. Goals that I had set before quickly became "eh, i'm over that now" thinking.
But I have something to really push myself this time - my wedding in May 2009. Yeah I'd like to loose weight for it - but I'm not setting a pound goal. That's never worked for me and I just get disappointed when I don't reach it.

So as I started my workout last night on the treadmill, I thought to myself, ok, I'm going to run a full mile tonight. While I've tried to be good about working out, I really don't have much endurance built up, so running a full mile was a bit of a push for me. As I was trucking along, I got to thinking - I need something to keep me motivated to keep coming here and doing this all winter. So, that's when I decided - I WANT TO BE ABLE TO RUN AT LEAST 5 MILES BY MY WEDDING!!

Well the rest of my workout last night was successfull - I ended up running 1 1/4 miles straight, then walked a bit, then ran/walked for another 2.75 miles. By the end of it, I was proud of what I had pushed to do that night.

On the way home, my fiance called and I told him about my revolutionay goal of running 5 miles by the wedding. So, now that I've expressed it to him, I figured I really have to go through with it!! So the game is on.

So here I go - running off into the sunsets until May... :-)