One year anniversary of my blog!!!!

Today is exactly one year that I got the confidence and inspiration to start my own blog. The thought of putting my success and failures out there for the world to see was the best motivation I have ever gained. My idea stemmed from the fact that time is going to pass weather I want it to or not. I can make the best of it, or do nothing at all. One year has already passed from when I decided to begin this blog and I am so happy I did.

I find myself pushing harder during workouts just so I can write about the experience. I find myself reading old posts and reliving moments, good and bad. I look forward to coming here and informing my followers of what is going on in my world, and reaching out to all of you who have been in my shoes for advice. I can only hope my experiences inspire others and prove that anything you put your mind to is possible. This whole weight loss thing is just a mind game. Stay positive and everything will fall into place.

I will be starting the carb cycling diet on Monday July 1^st and it seems to be the perfect time. One positive year is finished and another is about to begin. I appreciate all your support and I look forward to another exciting year in the online community!

Again: If anyone has any experience with carb cycling and can give me some feedback I would greatly appreciate it!!!

Action Shots

The cross country 5k just sent some pix from the race I wanted to share!   :)   They have my official time as 48:37.

I just started runnin'

Pretty sure I was on the verge of death here.

Carb Cycling. Help Please.

I started my couch to 5k training app on Sunday. It was hard! The heat and humidity have been brutal lately. I stuck with it and I ran all 8-10 times it requires me to, for a minute each time. Yesterday after work I hit the gym and completed the app again. Even in an indoor gym with A.C and a huge fan I was DYING. Today I am going to do a Jillian Michaels video in my air conditioned house. I miss that crazy woman. I miss my weights, and I want to switch things up a bit since I don’t have any races coming up.

I did sign up for a virtual 5k through Fat to Finish Line’s face book page that I will be completing while I am on vacation at the beach. But other then that I don’t have anything set in stone. I have races I plan to sign up for in September, and October and possibly August I just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

I believe I have officially hit a pleateu in my weight loss and I have been toying with the idea to do Chris Powell’s carb cycling. I bought the book last year and read it, but at the time Weight Wactcher’s was working great for me.  I am now committed and willing to do the work it takes to try and give carb cycling a try.

HAS ANYONE DONE CARB CYCLING BEFORE OR KNOW ANY HELPFUL INFORMATION FOR ME?

I plan to start Monday July 1^st. We just went shopping at my house yesterday so I feel bad wasting so many groceries. Plus, I peeked at the book again last night and it is going to take me about a week to plan and prepare everything I will need.

I leave for a week vacation on July 12^th so my goal is to give this carb cycling a try for two weeks. If I hate it I will quit (I have a feeling I will like it though.) If I can get a good system in place hopefully continuing the diet on vacation won’t be too much of a hassle.

If anyone has any helpful information about carb cycling I would greatly appreciate it!

Cross Country 5K

I will do my best to keep this as short as possible.

My 5k Cross Country race on Thursday night was AMAZING!

MY boyfriend decided 20 minutes before the race started that we he wanted to join.

 

The boy and I before the race

 

 

My parents were there and the atmosphere was great. Even during the race people were saying “good job” “you doing great” the entire way. It was a very positive and encouraging atmosphere.

About 75% of the course was an incline and after .5 miles I thought I was going to die. It by far was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I am happy I trained with some incline but even so, I was not prepared for how challenging this course was going to be. It was hill, after hill, after down hill, after big up hill.

At one point I was cramping so bad and my heart rate was so high I contemplated taking a short break, but I kept going.

The last .5 of the race was probably the most challenging mentally because we zig zagged side ways up a hill and I could see how far in front of me I still had left to go (where as on the trail you couldn’t see what was next.)

Seeing how far the finish line was damaged my spirit hard core but I kept going, and I tried to keep a good pace.

When the finish line was straight ahead I got a glimpse of the time clock. (My goal was to finish this race in an hour or less. If the clock had said 59:59 I would have been happy.) When I saw that the finish clock said 48 minutes I was in shock!!!

I gasped, said “oh my god” out loud, and just started running. I could not (and still cannot) believe I finished in 48:35. I was so over whelmed and emotions were all over the place that as soon as I grabbed flowers from my mother who was waiting at the finish line, I continued to run away from the crowd because I burst into tears.

 

 

I was so hesitant to sign up for this race due to the challenging course. On race day I had the biggest butterflies because I truly did not believe I was going to finish in an hour. (And this is when I thought there were only a few hills involved.) I stuck with it and finished. I finished in 48:35 beating my last 5k time by 6 minutes. And my last 5K was on a normal road/pavement, not grass hills and gravel.

I am high off of life these days and I am so proud of myself.

Three years ago I couldn’t breathe after climbing a flight of stairs, and two days ago I completed a cross country 5k course in 48 minutes. FUCK YES!

 

I discovered I have “runners toe” and I don’t even care. To be honest I am proud of this bad boy.

 

Pre Race Day

Tomorrow is race day. I am so nervous. I think a few different factors are playing into my nervousness.

1.) There will be people at the finish line waiting for me.

2.) The course is cross country, so it’s mostly grass, gravel, and uneven surfaces.

 3.) The race starts later then I am used to (6:30pm, when I usually do my workouts anywhere from first thing in the morning to 4pm.)

I know everything is going to be just fine, but I am still new to all of this stuff and emotions are all over the place!

I saw this race posted online months ago, but was very hesitant to sign up because of the course, so the fact I have entered makes me proud all in itself. I am stepping way out of my comfort zone with this one guys.

I will have a post -5k post on Friday.

Once this race is over I am going to start the couch to 5k training app that I have on my phone. I toyed with it last year but never made it past week two. I think I will do better this time around with the main reason being I know how to shut that negative voice up in my head!

I have a 5k for a family member who passed away happening in October and I have just made the decision as I am typing this that my goal is to run that entire thing. No walking breaks. Running. 3.1 miles. I have over three months to train for it and I have already been working on my running for over a year. People do this all the time , why cant I?  

Race Shirt

 I found a shirt for my race which is 4 days away!!!! I am happy with the shirt. I took it to the gym yesterday and completed 3.5 in one hour. It is amazing how a new, cute outfit can get you excited to go work out. I also put together a new running playlist and it worked out great.  It is defiantly important to switch things up to keep you motivated.

 

Neon Pink for my race

 

 

My workout yesterday had me feeling so amazing I cannot wait to go again today after work. It is not too hot out and there is a nice breeze, so I am hoping the weather will stay like that so I can hit the track. If it is too hot I will just go to the gym again no big deal.

I have done very well this week with my WW points and I am confident about tomorrows weigh in.

I had my first product emerge from my garden the other night which had me very excited!!!

First green bean from my garden!

 

 

Hope everyone is having a nice Saturday!

New Shoes

So on Friday I splurged and bought a pair of over priced running shoes. The store man watched me walk across the floor, and then watched me do a little jog. He came to the conclusion I am “netural” and it does not appear I need any type of corrective support. I should have just left after I got that information and bought a pair of 60$ Nike’s like I have now (which I love btw). Instead I played the game and  bought these.

 

I paid way too much for them but purple is my favorite and I defiantly needed a new pair so whatever. As long as I don’t wear them outside (treadmill only) and there is no significant damage within 30 days I can return them.

 

This was the result of the first workout with them.

I know my face looks weird I was just so tired.

 

I am not sure how I feel about the shoes just yet. Today I plan on doing 3 miles at the gym and I have better socks then I wore last time so we will see how it goes.

Sunday I did 3.23miles at the track in 53 minutes. I decided Sunday was the start of the “nothing less than 3 miles from here on out.” My race is a smidge over a week away and I am getting excited.

I am going tomorrow to get a neon colored shirt for the race. My parents, the boy, and even possibly some co-workers plan to cheer me on at the finish line, so the pressure is on! I am telling everyone it will take me about an hour to complete to course. I really don’t know how detrimental the hills are going to be but I am confident I can keep my time under an hour.

Strange Walk

Yesterday I planned to hit the track for two miles and climb the stairs a total of ten times. When I got to the school there was some sort of practice going on and I could not use the track. There are some neighborhoods around the school that are quiet so I started heading that way. I found a street I had never explored and it looked quite so on a whim I headed through it.  Everything went fine and obviously I am okay but I probably wont go on the street again. It was almost too quiet. All the driveways had cars in them but there were no people what so ever. No one’s lawns where really taken care of like most of the neighborhoods in that area, and it almost looked like a ghost town or something. I even passed two dogs who were in an outdoor enclosed area and they didn’t even bark at me. Two little yippy dogs just staring at me, but no barking.

I then found some street with lots of hills (perfect for what I am training for) so it ended up being a good workout. I completed 2.68 miles and after all the up and down hills I decided not to do any stairs.

My plans for the rest of this week is to do nothing less than 2.5 miles each day, and next week nothing less than 3 miles each day. My 5K is two weeks from today!! I think I will do just fine. I had incorporated some hills for my last 5k training because I knew there would be one hill but during the actual race there where four and I did just fine!  I am nervous for this next race because I know it is going to be challenging, but I am probably just hyping myself up like I ALWAYS do about EVERYTHING!

Googled pic of a ghost town lol.
 

Next 5k

I am still alive people have no fear! The week leading up to Memorial Day weekend was rainy all week. Motivation was hard to come by, especially after completing my first 5K. Then the week after the long weekend my co-worker was on vacation and I worked close to 55hrs last week.  Long story short the past two weeks have been wasted. My eating has been so/so and I have only been working out every other day.

My next 5K is June 20^th so I am on a serious time limit to get in some good work outs in the next two weeks. I started Saturday at the gym using the incline on the treadmill. I am very proud of myself because last night I was stuck at work late (6:40pm) and still made it to the gym to get some incline practice in.

My 5K on June 20^th is on a cross country course. It is very close to my house, so over Memorial Day weekend I went and checked out the course. The beginning of mile two is more like a hike in the woods so I am hell bent on training on an incline so get my legs and lungs stronger!

The wardrobe theme is bright neon clothing so those pictures should be something for ya’ll to look forward to ;-)

So I am still here, I am back on track and looking forward to my next race. The weather is bearable again and I am feeling good.

 

Here are some pix of what I found on Memorial Day weekend when I went to check out my next 5K course.