Multi - Tasked Post

Since it has been over a week since I posted, just a few thoughts to get caught up:

.finished the week of 1/16 - 1/22 with 2.5 miles (45 minutes) of walking, and 3 cross-training sessions (78.5 minutes). Not the best week, not the worst.

.This past week (1/23 - 1/19) was a total bust. I stayed up past 10 one night; only to do paperwork from home. I was achy and exhausted, and hope that whatever cold or flu I was fending off is gone for good.

.I can say I know that diet can work. Despite the sickness and lack of workouts (or maybe because of it?) I am down 2 pounds this week! Total weight loss since the beginning of the year is 4 pounds! Not as high as I was hoping, but not complaining!

.Goal for the week of 1/30 - 2/5 (boy, is the crazy to write already!) is mainly just to get back into the swing of things. Get some cross training in, and hopefully some miles, too. Maybe even outside considering the forecast I looked at earlier today!

:How are you ending your first month of 2012? Still on track with goals?

:Do you maintain workouts when you are sick, or let yourself rest up?

.Have a splendid week!

Weight Check: 1/16

Another Monday. Another week to track my progress.

In Biggest Loser fashion (I love that show), this second week of recommitting myself to weight loss and lifestyle changes was not as impressive as the first.

I wasn't expecting it. As I monitored my weight throughout the week, I saw a lot of fluctuating. That has always been my biggest deterrent to weight loss. Up. Down. Up. Down. It's enough to drive a person bonkers.

The slowest weight I saw this week was .4 down from last week.

That equals a total of 2 pounds in the right direction for the year so far.

This morning was up a tad from that.

I blame the stress the Packers put on me yesterday.

At any rate progress is progress.

Planning 1/16 - 1/22

Getting a little more specific with my planning and the type of run I want to do when.

I am still not sure if I want to plan my runs by the amount of time I want to work out, or by the number of miles I want to run. How do you plan your workouts?


Monday: 1/16 - XT Session
Tuesday: 1/17 - Tempo Run (goal 12 min/mile)
Wednesday: 1/18- XT Session
Thursday: 1/19 - XT Session & Easy Run
Friday:1/20 - Rest!
Saturday: 1/21 - XT Session
Sunday: 1/22 - Long Run

Have a great week!

Weekly Recap: 1/9 - 1/15

Here is what I had planned for the week:

Monday: 1/9 - XT Session (XBox Active)

Tuesday: 1/10 - Temperatures above 40 in the forecast? I'll plan a run! Goal: 2.5 mile route, 30 minutes + Strength training.

Wednesday: 1/11 - XT Session

Thursday: 1/12 - Run + Strength training.

Friday: 1/13 - Rest

Saturday: 1/14: Run + Strength training.

Sunday: 1/15: XT Session

Here is what I accomplished:

Monday: 1/9 - Rest day. Sort of unplanned. My fault because I didn't get up in the morning. And our evening was booked. We watched our cousins for the evening, and that was fun.

Tuesday: 1/10 - I set out on my 2.5 mile route with the goal of finishing it in 30 minutes (or a 12min/mile pace). As you may have already read, I ended in 31.5 minutes, and was pretty darn proud of that.

Wednesday: 1/11 - Despite struggling, yet again, to get up in the morning, I did my XT session after Ava and Chad went to bed. My shins, which had started to hurt after Tuesday's run, were definitely activated by the side-side jumps. I set the program on easy, figuring I will do the 9 week program on easy, then repeat it on medium, and finally doing it again on hard. At first I was doubting if this was the right level, but by the end I was feeling good about the decision. And I think the overall plan will be good.

Thursday: 1/12 - Rest. I was beat Thursday night. I made the decision to go to bed with Ava and call it a day.

Friday: 1/13 - I was more tired than I thought, as I slept from about 9:30 - 6:20. Talk about a rushed morning. I did do my XT session in the evening again. I don't know if was poor hydration/nutrition levels, the time of night, or something else, but the workout kicked my butt. I tried to double up workout and do an easy 2 miler too, but I just couldn't.

Saturday: 1/14 - Headed out for a run. I did 2 miles in 30.5 minutes. My shins hurt throughout, but overall the workout felt good.

Sunday: 1/15- I made the decision to cut today's run after yesterdays and how bad my shins were hurting. I don't know why I am so prone to shin splints. If it is something to do with my foot fall, or just the recent increase in intensity. Either way, I figured this was the best decision for overall progress. Instead I did another XT session. It was actually a scheduled one, I've just been off my planned schedule. It was a fun one, with new activities (remember I am using Active 2 on Kinect.) Sadly, my shins were still sore, which I am debating on how to best handle that.

Final stats for the week:

. 4.7miles ran

. 62 minutes of running.

. 3 XT sessions

. 66.5 minutes of cross-training.

Positives from the week:

. sticking with it despite not sticking to my preferred schedule

. making the best decisions for me - listening to my body and knowing when to push it and when to back off.

. seeing progress

What to work on:

. getting in the swing of a morning workout. I just feel better about morning workouts, and feel like I see more progress with them.

. I realized sometimes I just need to give myself more credit.

. How to handle injuries.

Get Fit Challenge

The United Way of Mower County hosts an (I think) annual Get Fit or Be Fit Challenge. You sign up as a team of 4-8 people, and compete against other teams. Get Fit and Be Fit are two different challenges.

In Get Fit, there are 3 mini-challenges during which you earn points for completing the challenge, plus you can earn extra points for nutrition challenges. The team with the most points at the end of each challenge wins! The overall team winner is the team with the highest percentage of weight loss. Each person has to weigh in on the first day of the challenge and the last day of the challenge. It runs for 12 weeks starting this Monday, January 16.

I signed up with a team from work. I am pretty confident that the challenges will be easy to meet, so my main point of getting involved is to track my weight loss and to keep myself motivated. I also look forward to connecting with some co-workers.

If you want to read more about it you can! HERE

Does your community have any health and fitness initiatives going on?

That Rocked.

I knew Tuesday was going to be a beautiful day, and I planned a run accordingly.

I also set out with a specific goal in mind: to finish my favorite short (2.5 mile) route in 30 minutes. That would leave me with a pace of 12min/mile. To be there after my brief early winter hiatus, would leave me feeling pretty darn good.

So, I set out. I finished my warm-up and started to run. And I ran. And then I realized how easy it was feeling. And I ran some more. I took a short walk break, and started running again. I was starting to feel fatigued, but knew I couldn't let up yet. When I got to where I would normally start my cool down, I took a look at my watch, did the math in my head, and knew I had to push a little longer.

So I did.

Another quarter mile up the road, I started to slow my pace to a cool down. (I've always just included my warm-up and cool down in my mileage goal.)

I made it home in 31 minutes and 30 seconds. Just a minute and a half slower than I wanted to be.

But still another minute and a half faster than less then a week ago!

Plus, it kept me lower than a 13min/mile pace.

Best of all, I came home feeling like I rocked that run.

And, no matter the pace, isn't that why we set out to begin with?

Weight Check

I try to not make this journey about weight loss, but it is part of the plan. With a couple of big things going on later this year, I am more motivated than ever to get to the goal weight. Or at least be in a specific range. To reach my ultimate goal, I need to lose 2 pounds per week.

That said, my Monday morning weigh-in showed a loss of 1.6lbs.

What a great start to 2012!

Planning: 1/9 - 1/15

Monday: 1/9 - XT Session (XBox Active)

Tuesday: 1/10 - Temperatures above 40 in the forecast? I'll plan a run! Goal: 2.5 mile route, 30 minutes + Strength training.

Wednesday: 1/11 - XT Session

Thursday: 1/12 - Run + Strength training.

Friday: 1/13 - Rest

Saturday: 1/14: Run + Strength training.

Sunday: 1/15: XT Session

Weekly Recap: 1/2 - 1/8

Here is what I set out to do this week:

Tuesday: 1/3 - XT: 30min, Ab Routine: 15min

Wednesday: 1/4 - Run: 45min, Upper: 20min

Thursday: 1/5 - XT: 30min, Ab Routine: 15min

Friday: 1/6 - Run: 45min, Lower: 20min

Saturday:1/7 - Rest

Sunday: 1/8 - Run: 60min

Here is what I accomplished:

Tuesday: 1/3 - Did an easy 1.5mile walk; that wasn't an easy as I thought it would have been. I just felt tired, but it could have been the time of night.

Thursday: 1/5 - took advantage of the mild January weather we are experiencing and headed out for a run after work. I ended up going just shy of 2.5 miles, and made it home two minutes faster than the last time I did the same route!

Saturday: 1/7 - Again, couldn't let the opportunity to run outside in January pass me by. I did another route that I haven't done since late fall, and again finished two minutes faster than I had recorded previously. Finished with 2.8 miles in 38 minutes.

Sunday: 1/8 - Another mid-thirties day. :) These mild temperatures are going to make me cringe when winter really does arrive. I wanted to up my mileage today so planned a route that ended up being 4 miles long. I finished it in 53 minutes.

Weekly Positives:

.no matter where or when I ran, I manged to maintain a consistent pace. Starting out consistent will make it easier to gradually pick up the pace.

.on week 1 of a new training plan, I exceeded my running goals.

.being able to run outside in January? Blissful!

Things To Work On:

.getting up to my alarm and doing some cross training and strength work.

.meeting time goals, not just distance goals. While I had 45minutes planned, I picked routes that took less time.

Happy New Year.

I have been on a big blogging hiatus. Just sporadic posts over here, and clearly nothing at all right here for over half of the past year. What can I say? 2011 was a big year with a lot of changes, and sitting at a computer to type blog posts wasn't at the top of the priority list. But, as we settle into a routine, and start a new year, I want to start posting again.

On the running front, I have been maintaining where I left off. It goes in spurts depending on the week.

As we begin the new year, I am looking to excel forward:

Add more miles.

Plan some races.

Get in better shape.

Eat healthy.

Lose some more weight.

I know I can do it. I just have to take advantage of finally feeling settled into a routine that I don't think is changing anytime soon, and add more intense workouts into the mix.

Posting here keeps me accountable, and connected to others striving to do the same thing.

With the holiday travels over, and the return to a normal schedule: my first plan of 2012.

Tuesday: 1/3 - XT: 30min, Ab Routine: 15min

Wednesday: 1/4 - Run: 45min, Upper: 20min

Thursday: 1/5 - XT: 30min, Ab Routine: 15min

Friday: 1/6 - Run: 45min, Lower: 20min

Saturday:1/7 - Rest

Sunday: 1/8 - Run: 60min

*I am currently utilizing the XBox Kinect - Active for XT (cross-training) workouts.

*Upper-Lower-Ab: focus of strength training

Here's to a successful 2012!