❤You are viewing the topic ‘Fitness ’❤

This is why I run happy!

This is why I run happy!                

For Christmas I got a Brooks run happy long sleeve tee (Thanks Mommy!) This is seriously one of my favorite new shirts. It may be one of my favorite shirts ever. Flattering, great fit, great material for running. So I wore it around New Year’s and at the end of the night, my husband noticed the giant gaping hole in the back of the sleeve! I was really, REALLY upset about it. I’d not only already taken the tag off, but I had worn it all day! I knew my mom had ordered it from Brooks, so I couldn’t try to exchange it at a local store that carries it. So after some poking around on brooksrunning.com, I decided to give their live chat a try.

Within minutes I’d had a great conversation with a customer service rep, uploaded a picture live so she could see the damage, and she had an order in to get a new shirt out to me. I was really super impressed at how helpful and fast it was to get a replacement. My new shirt came today! Only a week after my chat with them. It’s perfect and I couldn’t be a happier customer right now.

Thanks Brooks for making my runs happier and my life easier.

The New Plan

The New Plan                

No, this is absolutely not a New Year’s Plan, or some kind of useless New Year’s Resolution.

But my game plan is changing a bit and I think embracing that is the best way to go right now. So for the moment, I’m running more.. 3 to 5 miles a few days a week, but at least one mile daily (except on Sunday, and usually Saturday because I’m all kinds of full of excuses to not get up that early on a Saturday). And to run that much and more I am going to have to start eating to support it. I’ve been playing with and tweaking the HCG diet to allow for things like more food and more variety while still rapidly losing weight since last summer. And it’s been great and I have lost a lot. But I don’t have the stamina to keep running when I’m on it, and I want to just keep running and running right now…

So it’s back to keeping track of calories, making sure I eat enough to support my workouts without overdoing it either. I’m going to go high on protein, moderate to low fat and carbs. And I’m going to pay attention to what kind of carbs I consume, making as many of them as possible fruits and veggies and as few as possible processed foods. This isn’t really too different than the way I was eating on HCG, except I get more calories and don’t have to feel guilty if I eat a few more carbs than I meant to.

This morning while formulating these plans, I went to one of my favorite nearby parks to run. Added 4 more miles to the one I’d started my day with. Since then I’ve been eating on my new plan and I feel so good. Lots of energy. I’m usually starting to lag by now. But today I feel fine.

I’ll be working with this plan for a couple of weeks before I reassess. I’d really like to up my mileage while still losing weight. Hopefully this will be the right combination for me.

What new things have you added into your plan lately? Or is the same plan still working for you?

Today

Today                

Today I feel like I could just keep going forever.

This morning I had my last class of the semester. My A in Personality Theories is so high that if there was a letter grade above A, I’d have it. I left school in the light, misty rain, with an urge to go run more. Running in the rain has really never been my thing, but I’ve been making myself get up and do it the past couple of mornings. And it was so light, what’s a few sprinkles?

Naturally, I got home and the rain picked up. Out of curiosity, I snagged my rain jacket that I’d given to my daughter to wear and tried it on. It shouldn’t fit me yet, but somehow it does. And the rain lightened up again. So off I went to the park. I kept a slow, comfortable pace and just kept going. I felt like I could keep going like that forever. I’m hoping this is the beginning of a return to more miles. I’ve been wanting this for awhile, but not found the time or the will to make it happen.

Everything just felt right. My breathing was natural instead of being something I needed to think about. The music was making me happy. I wasn’t tired at all until a little into the 3rd mile. After that, I felt the blister coming. And then the rain picked up. I made it home, 3.1 miles in 37 minutes.

I’d like to work on my 5k time and improve it by spring. But I have no complaints about a steady, comfortable run that I enjoyed. If the rain held back and the blister didn’t happen, I’m not sure I’d have stopped running anytime soon. I like that.

How do you feel about running in the rain? 

The Tuesday Experiment

The Tuesday Experiment                

I decided last week to try something new. Since the semester started, I’ve spent much of my 2 days a week off up at school trying to get all my work done because it’s been harder to focus at home. I did this especially for the couple of weeks of nonstop construction at the bottom of my driveway. There’s still construction on the other side of our street, but there’s less of it and it isn’t interfering with my life as much as it was. Getting my work done is a great thing, but I have other goals, and I hadn’t been working towards them at all. So last week I made the decision that if I’m going to do things like run more miles, I’m going to need at least one day off a week. A day to myself, to both get my homework done and work toward other goals. To work at my own comfortable, relaxed pace, without so many looming deadlines or strict times I need to be finished.

This is week two of Tuesday being mine. I ran 2 extra miles after taking my daughter to school. I’m getting ready to run some errands with a happy smile on my face for a fast mile that broke my recent best time. After that, I’ll come home and do some homework. Maybe even find time for a nap. Maybe exercise some more. Maybe do something completely different. The point is, I’m making Tuesdays about my own personal wellness. Getting my work done reduces my stress level, but it also leaves me feeling like I’m leaving so many other things unfinished. Thursdays if I need to, I can go to school to study, or just sit here until it’s all done. But today is just for me.

How do you make time for yourself in your busy schedule?

lifesaver 5k

lifesaver 5k                

This past Saturday I ran the Lifesaver 5k at my college. The purpose? Scholarship money for our nursing students. I didn’t really see anyone I knew there. I’m just a runner who goes to school there and thought it would be fun. It was my first 5k event in over a year. I didn’t really train for it, and have really only been running a mile at a time for the past several months. I’m ready for that to change, and wanted to see how I would do. And it sounded like fun to me.

It was REALLY windy out Saturday morning. I kept telling myself I’d be hot once I was running. I was right, but I froze until then. They brought out the zumba teachers to warm up the crowd with some pre-race zumba. That’s how my kid kept warm, by dancing. She had a blast. They also had fun kid friendly stuff like face painting.

Oh, and did I mention there was a race there, too? Right. The race. This was the most pleasant event I’ve been to yet. Nice and small. Most people were there because they wanted to support the nursing students, not just to spread their egos around. The amazing volunteers that cheered everyone on had the best signs to get us through it. I smiled through a good portion of my 3 miles. That isn’t typical for me. The weather was perfect and the sky was amazing. I’ve been known to start snapping pictures of the sky when pulling out of that parking lot after my classes, because the clouds are often quite perfect there. Running with that view was incredible.

No one ran over me or shoved me. I didn’t feel compelled to outrun anyone around me or compare myself to them. I only needed to walk through one water stop to re-hydrate. I set a nice, steady pace and stuck with it. In the end it turned out to be my best ever time at a 5k event. 36:25. I was the 50th female, 12th in my age group, and 100th runner overall. This may not sound like a big deal to some of you, but it’s very good for me. I was more than pleased.

I will definitely run this event again next year, I think it’s my new favorite! I’m feeling a renewed sense of longing to run that I hadn’t been feeling as strongly for awhile. Feeling the ache in my muscles this weekend reminded me of how badly I want to get out there and run like that more than just once in awhile. Looking forward to adding in some more miles this fall.

I’m ready.

I’m ready.                

Or maybe I’m not, but I’m going to do it anyway. I’m running the Lifesaver 5k at my college this Saturday. After overcoming an ankle injury and now feeling completely, happily adjusted to my fairly new shoes, I can’t resist the thought of getting out there and running a race for fun. My last 5k in public was over a year ago. I haven’t been running more than a mile or two at a time lately, and it might take me forever, but I’m getting out there anyway, just because I want to. I don’t do nearly enough things just because I want to.