Week 5 - Monday 6/7

I'm going to be honest and say I don't know how I'm going to do this week. Not even kidding. Do you see Day 3? Run for 20 minutes with no walking??! I'm going to die. I know it.

I really don't want to be negative, but yesterday's workout was tough enough. I don't know what it was, but I think just the mental knowledge of running for 5 minutes is throwing me off. I now understand why people cover the timer on the treadmill with a towel - so they don't focus on that all of the time and just focus on the running instead. Because when I got past the first 5 minute and 3 minute stints, I was already ready to just give up. But, I didn't. Except for the part where I only ran 4 minutes instead of 5 for the last stretch.

I know I'm not getting the "correct" mileage in, and for some reason that bothers me. I know it's more of a "get the time down first, and then worry about speed", so we'll see what happens. I think once I finish these 9 weeks I'll go back to week 3 or something and start working on going faster and getting the distance in.

On the plus side - for tomorrow I downloaded a few new podcasts - two of which have interruptions for the 8 minute and 5 minute stretches, so I can cover the timer and see if that'll do me any good. :)

A delay of Week 4

So.

In all honesty, I did go to the gym last Thursday and did W4D2, but didn't write about it because I pretty much felt dead after I came home. Thursday was a crappy day anyways where I had literally 10 minutes to myself at school between an extended recess duty, making copies, and no music. Ugh. Needless to say, I didn't eat lunch, and that really affected my work out that evening. I was barely able to complete my run without thinking I was going to keel over. I walked so many times, it's not even funny.

And then life happened, and I haven't been able to get to the gym in a week. Bad Emily.

But! I went today, and decided I might as well keep going with Week 4. So, technically this is W4D3, but I think I'm going to do a "repeat" of it on Saturday to make up for the week of running I missed.

Today though wasn't that bad. I tried to keep my iPod focused on songs that were either 3 or 5 minutes long to help me during the long stretches. I'm still not making 2+ miles in 26 minutes (like I'm supposed to), but was close at 1.8 miles today. I did reach 2 miles when I did my cool down walk though.  I figure at this point I should get at least the endurance up. Speed will come later.

I did end up "liking" the Couch to 5K plan on Facebook, and that seems to be pretty good. Nice to get my motivation up, since there are so many other people doing it too.

On the plus side too, I've lost 5 lbs since starting. It's not much (I love food waaaaay too much), but at least it's something!

Now to peel myself from the couch and go to bed. :)

Week 4- Tuesday 5/25

So I don't know if I'm doing this right at all, to tell you the truth. By my calculation, I should be running/walking 2+ miles in about 26 minutes. I did just 2 miles today, but it took me 29 minutes. I don't know if that means I'm running and walking too slow or what the deal is. I did try running faster today (up to 5.5 miles/hour) and that seemed to be okay, but I had to work my way up to it. Either way, I know in my head I should start speeding up my running / walking a bit. I guess I'll try it out on Thursday, and see how it goes.

On the plus side though, I didn't feel like dying during my run today! I'm not gonna lie - it was hard, but I didn't get to the point where I didn't think I could make it. That feels like a good accomplishment to have, since every week I'm complaining about how I feel like death when running. 

The only thing I see now that could be standing in my way is the use of a treadmill instead of running outside. I know I should be running outside to get used to it, but I'm kind of afraid to. At least on a treadmill I can see my time. I get so red faced and sweaty when running, I kind of feel self conscious. Oh well.

Until Thursday!

Sidenote: Self esteem and self perception

Honestly. This is just a rant I needed to get out of my system before it eats me alive. It's depressing and awful. I wouldn't blame you in the least if you wanted to skip it entirely.


***

As I put on my Facebook status tonight: "*ugh*fits the bill for so many things right now."
Ugh, because it's hot and sticky and gross, and ugh, because my self esteem and self perception is in flux, again. And ugh, because this entire rant is stream-of-consciousness. I apologize if this doesn't make any sense.

Not to make light of any serious mental disorder, but I honestly think the part of my brain that controls self esteem and self perception is bi-polar. I know many, if not all, people have some sort of issue with the way they look - either weight, or not liking their hair, or whatever.   However, there are days when I look in the mirror and don't like what I see at all. Today became one of those days.

I went to Target after having coffee after school, and decided to try on a skirt. But after I took a look at myself in the mirror before I changed, the first thought that ran through my head was "Why didn't anyone tell me I looked this awful today?", which I know is bad. And it completely contradicts what I did hear today - that blue is my color and I did look nice. But all I could focus on was the negative - my shirt was too big (it's stretched out from wearing it), my hips are too wide, I have a fucking stomach roll, my thighs are huge, and I hate the way my hair is right now. And from there, everything started to go downhill.

Now, there is no logical reason for this to be happening. As far as I can remember, I've never been called names about my weight, or had negative things said about the way I look. It's just all in my head. And it's a mental block I just can't get past. My ex could never understand why I had such a negative view of myself, but I cant' really remember that he ever told me explicitly that I was pretty. I know that's really, really shallow and I mean, I'm sure he did at some point, but nothing really sticks out in my head.

But as I get this negative self esteem in my head about the way I look, how much I weigh, and so on - my self perception also starts to deteriorate. And I start thinking that that is the reason why I'm still single after how many fucking years, and how I haven't been able to even attract a guy, or even get one interested in me. That's the sad thing that I hate even thinking about or mentioning. I've been single for four fucking years. And I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.  That I'm going to be perpetually single for ever. That I just must not be that attractive and so on, so forth. It's a vicious cycle, really. I'm afraid I'm going to become bitter and jaded. I don't think I'm a strong enough person to be perpetually single and be okay with it, honestly. That's a totally anti-feminist stand point, and I don't care. It sucks being the odd person out sometimes.

And so I know, in a few days somehow, someway my self esteem and self perception will start to be built up again, and things will go back to status quo - feeling generally okay with myself, but having that nagging feeling of not "measuring up". The sad thing that goes along with this, is I don't know what I want to "measure up" to.

I don't know if I'll ever think of myself as attractive, or ever get over this negative perception.  I'm certain it will always be there, and it will come in waves like this. But I just hope that one day I can get this all tamped down, and locked away in it's own little box.


We'll be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow - I promise.

Week 3- Thursday 5/20 and Sunday 5/23

So, I totally didn't get around to blogging about Thursday's work out. Oh well, better late than never, right?

Thursday:
Thursday's workout went well. Did a quick work out on the cross ramp, and then did my run, as I had places to go, people to see. :)  Since my run on Tuesday was a little difficult, I decided to ramp up my running speed little by little. So, when the first 3 minute run came around, I started at speed 4.0 for the first minute, 4.5 for the second, and 5.0 for the third.  That actually wasn't half bad, but I still felt like death doing the second run. It was a lot of staring at the TV's and the clock across from me and trying not to look at the timer on the treadmill.

Sunday:
Today's workout went a whole lot better. I did 15 minutes on the cross ramp, and started upping the resistance a little more. It wasn't half bad, honestly. My run today was actually easy, the 3 minute runs today weren't bad at all. I did the same thing I did on Thursday and kept upping the speed that I was running. I actually felt good running the 2nd 3 minute run. I was proud of myself.  I think that might be the motivation to actually do week 4 next week.

However, I thought I should demonstrate how red I actually do get from running.

Here's me, pre- workout:

And then post- workout:

I just gotta say: Ew. While both of these are not really attractive pictures, I have to say, I'm not attractive once I'm done working out. Oh well.

Week 3- Tuesday 5/18

Oh dear lord.  That's all I have to say about today.

Honestly, it wasn't too terribly bad - just that my face was beet red after I was done today - even after my two walking laps around the Y. I just hate that my face gets so red. I do like the downtown Y though a little better than the West Suburban one. Less chance of running into families from school. 

On the plus side, I ended up getting new shoes, so my feet aren't as sore as they have been, and my legs too. I guess absorbing the impact is always a good thing.

What did me in today was the second 3 minute stretch. Here's how the workout went:

5:00 walk - awesome! No problem!

:90 run - awesome! Look at me! I'm running!

:90 walk - still no problem!

3:00 run - okay, gotta ramp up for this. I can do it!

3:00 walk - thank god, I can walk.

:90 run - I can do this... this isn't too bad.

:90 walk - okay, I know I have 3 more minutes to run.

3:00 run - oh dear lord, I'm going to pass out. Is that sweat running under my glasses?

3:00 walk - thank the lord, I can walk and catch my breath.

Total time today on the treadmill: 23 minutes, and 1.6 miles. 

Which is ultimately less than last week, but didn't seem like it.

I know I'm off on the time / mileage though, because I was not doing the math correctly in my head and started the treadmill over half way through, then I dropped my iPod about a minute in of walking (oops), and had to start that over again too.  So Thursday will have the correct stats.

Not that I can tell I've lost any weight (or that the scale tells me any differently - but that's another entry for another day), but my work out pants are actually feeling a little big on me. That's a good feeling to have.

Other stats:

20 minutes crossramp on a "performance" preset: up to 13 incline, and 1.36 miles.

No weights today - too red in the face. :)

Week 2 - Tuesday 5/11

Holy crap, I'm tired.

Usually, I go every other day (or every two days) to the gym. I know that's not gonna happen this week, so I ramped it up a bit and went two days in a row. Ugh.

Same stats as yesterday. Nothing new to see here.

Week 2 - Monday 5/10

I may have been going about this all wrong.

While on the treadmill today, I realized the numbers don't match up. If you do a total of 20 minutes then it looks something like this:

0 - 5:00 - walking
5:00 - 6:30 - running
6:30 - 8:30 - walking
8:30- 10:00 - running
10:00 - 12:00 - walking
12:00 - 13:30 - running
13:30- 15:30 - walking
15:30 - 17:00 - running
17:00 -19:00 - walking
19:00 -20:00 - ???????

What about the extra minute? Was I doing my math wrong?  So, today I decided that the 5 minute walking is probably supposed to be the "warm up" (like the pic says...yay for reading comprehension!) and that the running and walking should be for the total of 20 minutes. So that means:

19:00 - 21:30 - running
21:30 - 23:30 - walking
23:30 - 25:00 - running

Aha! This matches up now! Silly, Emily. So, I guess I'm  up to 25 minutes on the treadmill. I can live with that.

This seems to be getting easier though. I don't know if I'm just psyching myself up more, but I didn't feel like dying halfway through today.  I think this circuit I have going though is pretty decent too. I barely broke a sweat on the cross ramp today, but I've also been at a very low resistance, but steadily upping the incline I worked my way up to a 10 incline today. I think I need to start stepping that up a bit more - incline and resistance.

Because of my mix-up, I think I'm going to extend week 2 one more work out. Just because I want to get used to the 5 minutes of warm up walking instead of counting it in the overall goal. So I guess last week's workout was just a bonus then. :)

Overall, I did 1.45 miles on the cross trainer (20 min) , and 1.68 miles running/walking (25 min) today. Add some strength training in there, and it was a pretty okay work out.

I do need some new music. If anyone out there is actually reading this (if you are, hi!), wanna suggest something?

Week 2 - Thursday 5/6

I fail at going to the gym this week.

In my defense, however, I've been all kinds of stuffed up with sinus issues. Today has been the first day I've been able to breathe normally without the "sniffles". Yay!

So, I haven't been to the Y since my semi-disastrous workout on Sunday morning. Even though it's only been a few days, it seems like a lot longer that I wasn't there... considering I've been going on a more semi-regular basis now. I can actually feel it when I haven't been going. I guess this is how people can get addicted to working out.

So, I did 20 min on the elliptical (1.1 miles) before starting. I have to say though, I do like the cross ramp machine better than the elliptical. I think there's less stress on the body. And besides, I can get up to level 10 on the cross trainer without killing myself, whereas I only got up to level 7 on the elliptical before feeling like death.

Worked on the second week of the running / walking deal. Went for 20 minutes and walked/ran 1.32 miles. Not too shabby. (Or so I think at least. Remember, this is coming from the girl who was not even running a few weeks ago!) It was tough though getting into it. I did think I was going to keel over at about the 8 / 9 minute mark, but as I kept going, for some reason it started getting easier. I guess this is why this plan is supposed to work. Who am I to question?

Now to go Saturday, instead of lazing around on the couch again.  We'll see. :)


Stats:
Elliptical : 20 min - 1.1 miles
Treadmill: 20 min - 1.32 miles
Weights: Arms, shoulders, legs.

Week 1 - Sunday 5/2

Today was not a good day for a work out. I ended up cutting everything short because I felt like I was going be sick because I couldn't breathe. Not a good sign.

First off, if I was following any sort of schedule, I should have gone yesterday to work out. Instead, I started coming down with this awful sinus-y thing on Friday, and was miserable both Friday night and most of Saturday. I woke up feeling marginally better (without my teeth hurting), and went to the Y this morning instead.

Apparently this being sick thing is impacting me more than I thought, because I was only able to make it through half of my normal work out before feeling sick.  I'm still going to count this as the third part of my week 1 work out though, because the week before I started this whole shebang, I "tried" the walking/running bit to see if I could actually do it. So, we'll just count today as a bonus in the grand scheme of things.

Tuesday starts Week 2 of this work out. I just hope I'm still not stuffed up by then to actually get a decent work out in.

Stats:

10 min on Elliptical - .82 miles

10 min on Treadmill - .63 miles

10 min of Weight training

Week 1- Thursday 4/29

Today was one of those days where I'm glad I started this blog and am cursing it already.

I've been so exhausted today (and frustrated with the kidlets, but that's another story for another day), that I was totally ready to skip going to the Y tonight. Hell, after tutoring and a meeting after that, I didn't even leave school until 6:45 or so!

But, the accountability I need to keep (as well as the guilt), pushed me into going.

So here I am, more exhausted than when I started.

Summary of today:

1.5 miles (or so) on the cross ramp. I accidentally reset the machine about 10 minutes in and so that's a guesstimate at about how far I was.

1.3 miles on the treadmill following the 5K plan.

And honestly? The walking/running seemed like it was a little easier today. Not by much, but just a fraction. I was still red faced, sweaty and gross when I finished.

So now to motivate myself to go Saturday morning, instead of sleeping in or hanging out on the couch all day. We'll see if the adage is true that you have more energy for your day if you work out in the morning. :)

Week 1 - Tuesday 4/27

Today was the first day of really trying the 5k plan.

And honestly - it didn't seem too bad. I only try to limit myself to 20 minutes on the treadmill anyways, so this seems to be a good plan. I had already done 20 minutes on the elliptical, and was feeling pretty good when I started out.

By the end of the 20 minutes, I was red-faced and sweaty. That's the sign to me right there that I'm out of shape. But, it can only get better.

At least I hope.

Inspiration and Accountability

When I was little, my mom likes to tell me my nickname was "legs" because I liked to run up and down the driveway.

Now, I'm out of shape. I readily admit this.

Like everyone else, I kinda-sorta made the resolution at New Years to lose weight. Well, it took a few weeks to get started, and I finally got my ass in gear and joined the Y.

Then life happened. School. More school. Family. Sickness. And I "fell off the wagon" so to speak.

But now, I'm really trying. For some reason, I have it in my head that I would like to become a runner. Something about setting off for a run just seems soothing. So I looked around and found the "Couch to 5K" plan, and thought "Self, I can do this!"

If all goes to plan, I'll be running 3 miles by the end of June. Perhaps I'll do the Bastille Days run. I'd like to, if I'll be in shape by then.

I need to get in shape for a few reasons. Firstly, the 15 pounds I lost when I was sick in 2008 has mostly been gained back, and I'm unhappy with it. Secondly, I think I'd have more energy if I actually did start working out more.

However, the problem is now that I need to be accountable for it, otherwise it will be too easy to lapse and say forget it. So, hopefully this will work out. Keep me accountable!