Back In The Saddle

I've been doing better with eating after last week's mess ups which, combined with my lack of running, landed me in 130lbs-land. After the half marathon race, I was beyond drained and tired. Didn't eat enough post-workout food for recovery. And NOT have the energy to run at all. Body was screaming "take a breaaaak!!" So I did. Last Wednesday was my first real run. I did 4 miles at a 7:30 min/mile pace, which I was pretty pleased with. I've been taking 65mg of iron daily since the race. I don't think I was eating enough of it even though myfitnesspal said I was. I read that endurance runners need alot more and last time I tried to give blood, I came up as anemic so I wasn't able to donate. So iron pills it is! And I really think its helping alot. That 4 mile run felt effortless at that pace, where before my legs would be burning and feel really tight. It may also be because I had over a week of rest but I've done that in the past and didn't feel as great coming back.

Sunday (yesterday) my mom and I decided last minute to do a 10k race in Sonoma called "Hit The Road Jack". She took first in class and I got 2nd! We had alot of fun and I beat my human race time! I put up 51:26 with an 8:17 pace. The first half was hard, my legs burned and felt heavy (not much sleep the last few nights may have been a contributing factor) but once I took my "2nd surge" Accel Gel I took off. I reallyyyy want to be able to do a 10k in 45 minutes or less. That is my goal. I'm sure if I had a better start in that race I could have made that goal. First half of the race I was doing between 9:30 and 8:48 min/miles. Sloooowwww for me, for a race.

I will probably be doing the Kenwood Footrace on the morning of July 4th, so maybe THEN I will meet my goal!! I'm starting to expect to place now in races ha... realizing I am more than capable. It would be REALLYYYY cool to take first place of all the women. THAT would be sooo cool!
Oh! And June 14th i'm doing a fun 5k relay race at Riverfront Regional Park in Windsor with my friend Danneca Skandera so that will be suuuuper fun!! Lots to look forward to!!

I forgot to weigh myself over the weekend. My pants are looser again though, so I know I'm losing but i'll just wait till Saturday to weigh in. Welp, until next time!

March Madness! (I know, I'm corny)

Well here we are. The third month of the year is almost halfway over!
I haven't had the best week calorie-wise. Went out for drinks with the girls on sunday night and had a few nights where I ate too much. Not TOO bad... only a few hundred over goal... I gotta have fun SOME times!

And I had some good long distance runs this week and ran Petaluma Hill Road again. I also did pushups yesterday... 3 sets of 8 "girl" pushups (haha). I am soooooore! Quads and armpits. Which I read being really sore can mean your muscles are swollen and therefore retaining water... which would explain why the scale said 126.6 today. No matter. I'm in the frickin 120's on a "fat" day. No complaints here!!

Ugh I seriously need to do abs! What's my problem!? Ok I'm just gonna do some today. I've been super busy but that's no excuse! If I can find time to run, I can find 5 minutes to do some abs!
Here's why I need to do 'em! My un-worked-out abs are starting to show through my blubbery stomach finally!!

So yeah, I'm VERY stoked! NOTE: these pants rock cause they hide my saggy, stretch marked lower belly. Where abs are still invisible. But that doesn't stop me from being stoked about the progress I'm seeing! See, if I would just frickin buckle down and work 'em! 

Oh yeah, so I think it was Monday of this week, I did 7 miles again on Petaluma Hill Road... guess what, they were 8:11 minute miles!! That's almost my 5K speed!!! What the heck! I don't know how it happened. Sometimes you just have a day where it all just "clicks" and you float through your run and magically PR. I got a lot of sleep the night before. Maybe that had something to do with it. 

Oh yeah, I gotta tell you guys about this amazing pre-workout powder!! (I wasn't using it for that 7 mile run... but if I had they probably would have been 7 minute miles haha)

But yeah, the stuff is called C4 oh my gosh, you will PR if you use it! Costco has the best deal! $38.99 for TWO tubs! I paid $36 at GNC for ONE. What the heck. The only downside is Costco only has the fruit punch flavor and GNC has tons of flavors (LIKE WATERMELON OMG NOM). I'm not kidding though, this stuff is incredible. You have SO MUCH ENERGY. Its super powerful. If you aren't already working out when it kicks in, you get this bad "pins and needles" feeling all over your body. The more sedentary you are, the more it hurts. So yeah, just a little tip for you. Drink it and get moving asap!! I'm not gonna use it every workout. For races, yes, and maybe every now and then when I'm adding mileage. Cause I don't want to feel like I "always need it" and stuff. But if you want a good pre-workout drink, "C4 Extreme" is the stuff, I tell ya!

Anywaaayyys, enough plugging products. Hope you are all having a fantastic week! I'm gonna go eat some old fashioned oatmeal with 1/4 cup of whole milk in it with a dash of cinnamon, as my breakfast. Have a great week, all!

Day 152

Well I hopped on the scale this morning and it said 133.6! So I lost like 3 or 4 punds this week which is more than I should be losing. So I'm upping my calories to 1600/day. But I  am now sub-previous goal!
I assume its from the 10k training... massive calorie burn.

Speaking of the training, its going very well! My trusty running buddy and cousin, Rebecca and I are up to running about 5 miles now (with our short walks every 2000 yards, as prescribed by our program). That doesnt include warm up/cool down distances. We are almost finished with week 2. Just need to run tomorrow. 10k is the equivalent of 6.2 miles, so we have a little ways to go before we're putting up that number. 4 more weeks to be exact. Then its on to speed training! Its way more fun to run with a friend than to run alone. To me anyway.

It has been easier to eat clean now with my husband on board doing the same thing as I am. No more junk food temptations in the house haha.
So I just wanted to give a little update. My stomach has noticeably gotten flatter. Here's my measurements:

Last time (12/13)           Today:

Arm: 10.5"                      Arm: 10"

Waist: 29.5"                   Waist: 29"

Hips: 34.5"                     Hips: 34.5"

Thigh: 22"                      Thigh: 21"

Calf: 14.25"                    Calf: 14"

So I have definitely lost inches everywhere but my hips! Fine by me! I feel so free! Its fun :)

So yeah that about wraps it up for today.

Here's some motivation:   :)

Back on track

Not sure if it was because I had the stomach flu on Wednesday, or I worked really hard (probably mostly the stomach flu)
But the scale on Thursday (yesterday) morning said 137.2!!!
But... because I'm sure I was still dehydrated from Wednesday, I'm going to use today's weight of 138.6.
I said last week that I was going to use Thursday morning's weight because I thought a huge thanksgiving dinner would throw off my weight but that was before I got sick.
I still wasn't myself last night and I could hardly eat at all. Pretty disappointing. I didn't even eat dessert. But it works out great for my weight loss. I only have 3.6 more pounds to go and 3.5 weeks to do it. I'm so close! Light at the end of the tunnel is in sight.

I haven't worked out since tuesday. I hope to be strong enough to run tomorrow. I had a new 5k PR! It was 27:38 on 11/23 (last Saturday) my previous was 28:55 so that was a big improvent!

I was a lot less stressed this past week. I felt much happier and confident. I'm really trying to enjoy the new me more, and be proud of myself.

I found a $10 bill out on the sidewalk on wednesday. I was going to try to go for a walk (even though I was sick) because I set my GymPact app pact for 7 days/week. So if I didn't walk at least, I'd get charged $5 for not working out that day. But since I found the $10 I figured that was from God so I didn't have to go haha
:)

So all in all, its been a good week! I'm very happy with where I'm at and confident that I will reach my goals!
I have high hopes for winning my
http://www.dietbetter.com/games/28061
Games! (That link will take you to the game I'm in with the highest pot. Really cool)
So there we have it. Little post-Thanksgibing blog for y'all :)