Lovely day for a stroll thru the park

I completed another 5K on Saturday. The weather was perfect. I felt better for this one that I did for the one a few weeks ago. My time wasn't great - still consistent with my sub-45 minute time. LOL.

I've got 2 more 5K this month so maybe I increase my time. 

Plan to Plan

I know one of the keys to healthy eating is to plan out your menu and get things ready the night (or the weekend) before. This article has some really good tips for planning for a week of clean eating. Now if I could just have someone make my plan for me...

To time or not to time...

When I enter a race they are generally timed. That is to say there is some kind of timing device to tell me my start and end time. I like to keep track and challenge myself to do better the next race; even if it's only by a minute (or sometimes even half a minute). While I enjoy the non-timed events (i.e., The Color Run) I know I don't push myself, I just go along at a leisurely pace until it's over.

When I read this blog post from BKB Limited it made me think about the difference between merely participating and actually competing. One the one hand I think any event that gets people off the couch and moving is good. It shouldn't matter if it's timed or not. On the other hand I see his point about the lack of investment in training to see a payoff in the finishing time. Do we need competition to make us push ourselves? What about if it's just competition with ourselves?

Don't get upset, get it done!

Lately I've been upset about a number of things - not losing weight (and actually gaining: up about 15lbs since my lowest in September), not being able to get faster times in my 5K events (I think I've done 9 so far this year with varying results), not finishing my dissertation by May 16 (only about 75% of the way done) and then I read the above quote. So simple yet so true. I'm upset but I'm not doing the work so it holds true that I'm not getting the results I want. Let's face facts, I haven't been eating the way I need to in order to lose weight, I haven't been putting in the workouts outdoors that will lead me to faster times in my 5K events, and I haven't been spending the amount of time required to be done with this dissertation on time. What's a girl to do? Quit being such a lazy a$$ and get with it!

My plan? First I'm writing up the results that I was upset I didn't get followed up by the work I didn't do and THEN my plan for making those results happen. Let's begin, shall we?

1. I'm upset I can't get faster times on my 5Ks.
Result I didn't get: better time (i.e., < 40 minutes)
Work I didn't do: train for runs OUTSIDE, eat clean

What I can do about it:

• Set outside running schedule for next 2 weeks
• sign up for this 5K on May 31st
• Pledge to eat clean
• make a food plan and stick to it

2. I'm upset I haven't lost any weight and have actually gained about 15-16lbs since my lowest weight in September 2012. 
Result I didn't get: weight loss (or even maintenance at this point)
Work I didn't do: didn't track my food, make good food choices, consistently exercise

What I can do about it:

• Make a food plan and stick to it
• Track all my food 
• Make workout schedule and stick to it

3. I'm upset I have not finished my dissertation by now
Result I didn't get: Finished dissertation - oral defense completed
Work I didn't do: spend the amount of time needed to get it done, stop endless distractions

What I can do about it:

• Schedule time (Saturday 5/18, Sunday 5/19, Monday 5/20, Tuesday 5/21)
• Talk with adviser about reschedule date
• Stop screwing around on the internet (this blog today doesn't count since I'm posting my goals)
• Get draft to editor by end of day Tuesday 5/21

I also need to realize I can do anything, but I can't do everything and that's what I keep trying to do. I want to be able to work, workout, sleep, finish dissertation, watch TV, go to movies, spend time knitting, hang out with friends, etc and I can't do all of that all the time. Some sacrifices are going to need to be made if I want to get the results I say I want.

So there it is internet world. I wrote down my goals for right now, made a plan and now I'm going to get on it. I'll check in later in the week to report my progress. 

Venting

Ugh, even though I keep saying I'm recommitting to my health liifestyle choices I really just want to say ... F*** it.

I think I've been on this train for awhile. And what's really frustrating is I'm only 3 lbs less than I was this time last year. I suppose that's better than being 3 lbs over but still, a year's worth of work for what? Eating clean is so tough when there are so many bad choices all around. Exercise can be fun but it's also time consuming. Trying to work on my dissertation, keep up with knitting, getting in my sleep, working 8 hours a day, etc gets to be so much that I'm frustrated I can't do it all.

Maybe my trip here in a few weeks will make me feel better.

Going the distance

My first event for March Madness was the Runnin' of the Green in downtown Denver on Sunday March 10th. And guess what, it was a 7K (not my typical 5K) so I was going for distance (but not speed, so much). That Saturday we had a big snowstorm with blowing snow and very chilly temps. Lucky for me (and the other 4000+ runners) Colorado can get kind of crazy with the weather - dumping snow one day, sunny and warm the next. That's what we got. But when my sister and I got there we just weren't feeling it. We decided even though we had signed up for the 7K we would just do the 2 mile Leprechaun Leap. In my typical "fool myself" fashion I started out saying "I'm just going to do the 2 mile, I'm just going to do the 2 mile" but when the turn around came up I was feeling really good so I thought, what the heck, I'll do the full 7K (4.35 miles). And I did! I allowed myself to walk most of it (and not at my usual race/walk pace but just a brisk walk). I jogged a little bit.

It was great and I felt awesome. My time was slow (15:11 min mile pace) with an overall finish time of 1:06:01 but I was okay with that because you know what? I went the distance.

March Madness

I've decided to really amp up my work outs during the month of March and that includes adding more 5k events to the line up. Here's my plan:

1. Goal: to walk 15,000 steps each day
2. Complete three 5K events and one 7K event
     a. Running of the Green 2013 7K on Sunday, March 10th
     b. Lucky Laces 5K on Saturday, March 16th
     c. 2013 Spring Fever 5K, on Saturday March 23rd
     d. Hippity Hop Easter Trot 5K on Saturday March 30th
3. Spin class at 24 hour fitness on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (5:30am-6:30am)
4. Orange Theory Fitness on Monday nights and Thursday nights (and maybe throw in a few Sundays)

In addition to these workouts I'm going to walk for 30 minutes each day at work (and if the weather is bad I'll try to head to the mall on my lunch hour to get in 30 minutes)

Bad habits be gone!

If only it were that easy, right? Oh sure I can identify the bad habits that have lead to my regaining of some of the hard lost weight 2012 (about 9lbs). But it seems more difficult to actually DO something about them. And now it's almost the end of February. This blog post on LiveWell Colorado's website today was a helpful reminder that although those bad habits may creep back, it's up to me to do something about getting rid of them and getting back on track. Here's another good post about getting back on track.

So the first thing I have to do is resume the good habit of faithfully tracking ALL my food each day. I resubscribed to WW online in January but have been very lax about consistent tracking. Oh I'll track breakfast and lunch but then forget about dinner or know that I've gone way over my points allowance so I will just "forget" to track a meal. I know that when I do track and keep my points in the target range I do lose weight. So why don't I do it? It's not difficult (goodness knows I've got internet access most all of the time and I have the app on my iPad) but I just get lazy about it. Thursdays are my weight tracking day and first day of the new week so I've gotten back on track and tracked my breakfast, lunch and snack along with my workout from this morning. Tonight is my OTF night so I'll probably just do some soup for dinner.

The second thing I need to do is come up with a more consistent workout plan. I have been better about getting to the gym but I think I really need to focus on what I want to accomplish and what exercises/activities will get me there. It would be great if I could work with a fitness coach or something - maybe I should check into 24 hour's trainer program.

The third thing I must do is get rid of the Girl Scout cookies and other such food in the pantry and refrigerator.. I just can not have that stuff in the house. At all. If it's there it calls to me and before I know it I've eaten a whole box of cookies, or chocolate covered peanuts, or potato chips (which I don't track because that would just put me way over in my points). The bad thing is I do like to have a treat once in a while so perhaps I will put them in the garage in the cooler which will require major effort to get so I'll only do that when I really want the treat.

And I really need to keep this song in my head:


Okay, I'll keep you posted on how I do getting Back on Track!

Lunch 1/18/13

Friday usually means leftovers. Here I have some salmon, asparagus, quinoa, spinach, and feta cheese. I really needed something sweet but nothing was to be found.

Breakfast 1/18/13

My favorite pumpkin oatmeal with turkey bacon and coffee.

Commitment Day 2013 5K

The Commitment Day 5K was held in over 30 cities on January 1, 2013. I thought this was a great idea for a New Year' Day fun run. While it was fun it was also freaking freezing! I think it was maybe 10 degrees. As with the Christmas Carol run my quads were totally frozen even though I had two layers on (3 layers for the top and that was fine, maybe I need another pair of pants).

It wasn't an officially timed event and I have yet to find any photos online but they did have a video so I did a screen capture. Let me just say that seeing myself running was pretty well summed up in this photo:

I think my time was my typical 41 minutes or so. Next race I'm gonna shoot for a flat 40 minutes! (that's on January 27th so wish me luck)