My Fitness Pal

On Monday two weeks ago I started using My Fitness Pal on my Ipod.  The Ipod is pretty new to me and I am having fun trying out the different functions.  This one allow you to put in your height and weight and maybe age, I don't recall for sure, and then you say how much you want to lose a week.  It give you a calorie goal and you can record what you eat and what you do for exercise.  It just needs to balance out at the end of the day.  I am loving it and have done really well with it so far.  For the past two weeks I have ended up over my calories, but only by 30 calories the first week and 13 the second, which I am counting as success.  This week I put in my lowered weight, which is four pound, two more than what my goal was, which is great!  But is also lowered my daily calorie allotment by 20 calories.  While I do have off days where I eat too much, I usually even out the next day so I am hoping it is the overall picture of what is eaten over the course of the week and not just on a given day.  Being focused at this time of year is always hard for me with Halloween candy around and Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, so I need this accountability to keep me honest with myself.

5k number 3 and counting!

I know this picture is a proof, but I did buy a copy of it, just not a digital copy.  This was from the race I was getting ready for this summer.  As of last weekend I have run in three 5K's and registered for two more 5K's and one 10K.  I haven't gotten as much faster as I would like, but I am also trying to look at what I have accomplished so far.

The first 5K was in August and I ran it with my husband.  At the one mile mark I was already feeling tired and running quite a bit faster than my usual pace.  I think I might have been better not knowing my time because it got into my head and then I ended up taking a few walking breaks, pretty brief ones, but breaks just the same.  I completed it and felt good about the accomplishment.  My time was 33:13 which was better than I expected.  I came in number 206 out of 260 runners.

In September we were signed up for a 5K the day after a terrible rain storm that caused a lot of flooding.  The race went on, but there were quite a few spots of puddles and muddy areas on the course and next to the course.  This time my husband and I started out together, but halfway through we split up because I was having to walk again and I could tell he was itching to go faster.  This time was my worst at 35:46 and I was number 75 of 105.  This race had a lower turn out because a lot of people thought it was canceled because of the storm.

Last weekends race had another weather issue, we got an early snow storm.  Luckily the worst hit after the race happened.  We got 6 to 10 inches of snow and tree limbs were falling all over the place because they were still covered with leaves.  Many people lost power and school was canceled Monday in many places.  We lost power later Saturday and didn't get it back until the afternoon on Tuesday.  Looking back maybe we should have skipped it, but it really wasn't that bad while we were running and it was kind of neat to have my first snow running experience on a race day.  My goal last week was to run without stopping.  I can do this on the treadmill with no problem, but don't get too many chances to run outside to try it out there.  I ran the whole way with no walking breaks.  My time was 32:56 and I was number 64 of 93.

I had one more race already registered for this month but I know me and I need motivation to keep me from finding an excuse to quit, so today I registered for one more 5K at the end of December and, this is the scary one, a 10 in February.  10K sounds really scary to me.  I've run that far without stopping on the treadmill twice now, once last week and then again today, so I know in my mind that I can do it.  Plus February is three months away, it is actually exactly three months away.  If I gave myself three weeks to get ready for a 5K, 3 months should be more than enough for a 10K.

Am I ready to run a 5K? I think so!

So back at the beginning of the summer I decided I was going to run in a 5K that is coming up in two weeks.  There was plenty of time to get ready and my best friend said she would run it with me.  So I started getting ready and felt good and then I stopped.  There was always tomorrow.  It was too hot.  The heat index was above 100 degrees for over a week.  Then i looked at the calendar last weekand saw that there were three weeks left.  So I was going to quit.  Until I decided to see if I could still make it happen.

Last week on Wednesday I started seeing if two weeks plus a little was enough time to get ready.  The first day I ran a mile and a half.  The second day I ran 2.25 miles and the third I ran 3.3 miles.  Then I gave myself a one day break and got back into it today.  I planned to make today a little bit lighter so at 3 miles I let myself ease back into a cool down.  So the plan is to run at least four days a week and get up to four miles at a time so that if the course has hills I hopefully still have the endurance to complete it and there is always the option to walk, not that I want to walk, but as I've never done one of these before just completing it is my first goal.  There are local 5k's in both September and October so I can keep up my motivation.  I'm sure they go past October, I've already seen posting about the earlier months.  Now to keep up the motivation for another 13 days to reach my first goal!

Does timing matter?

Before I had children I would exercise right when I got up or as soon as I came home from work.  When my oldest two were younger and I became a stay at home mom I would work out during their naps and we took a daily walk to the park, weather permitting.  Now that I have four and they don't all nap, I work part time and have a husband who works nights and sleeps during the day I find it harder to prioritize exercise.  Mostly I get on the treadmill or do a workout video around 9 pm when they finally all go to sleep.  Sometimes when I don't have to work I fit in a walk with the kids in the stroller while the older two are at school.    Does it make a difference when the exercise happens as long as it happens?  I guess consistency is the key.

Day 2 (yesterday)

I am not sure if I buy the idea that you need to have rest days if you are only working out for a half hour and most of it is walking.  We all walk all day, on and off.  I can see for people doing really strenuous things or working out for hours a day, but for most of us a half hour or more a day doesn't require a break.  Unfortunately for me if I do take a break for a day there is a good chance I'll take a break the next day, and the next and then I have to start all over.

Yesterday I did a half hour on the treadmill again, this time I ran for 13 minutes of it, so just over a mile.  I'm not sure if I will keep adding a minute a day like I did the other time I tried this, but I am going to commit to the half hour on the treadmill and be a bit more flexible with the rest of it.  Maybe without putting too much added pressure on myself I will stick with it past 11 days this time.

Day 1 (again!)

So at the end of April i decided that I was going to start running.  In 11 days I went from running 4 minutes of my at least 30 minutes on the treadmill to going for 27 or 28 minutes.  That 11th day I ran for 2.25 or more miles and felt really good about it, then I took a break for a day, then it was Mother's Day and I didn't want to do it, then it was a few weeks since I had run last and i realized that I dropped the ball again.  For me, with exercise, I cannot take a break.  Everything I've read suggests days of rest and giving yourself time, but when I give myself time I end up making that time longer and longer until I have to start over, again.

Last week, I ran twice, which was a start.  Tonight I ran again.  This time of my 30 minutes I ran for 12 and went one mile.  I looked up a local 5K for August.  I've never run that far before so I am starting, again, to work up to the point that I can do it.  I guess every race is a new beginning so each day can be a new beginning.  Today was my new beginning!

Making the time

Why is it so hard to make the time to fit in exercise? Shouldn't it just already be a part of our daily life? I love the times in my life when I am taking care of myself and making the time to go for a walk or run, whether inside on the treadmill or more enjoyably outside in the fresh air, or practicing some kind of dance or workout DVD every day. Those days, weeks or months are when I feel the best, but I feel like when I have that ball up in the air and I am keeping it there other balls fall down. I feel like maybe I am not spending enough time with my children, my housekeeping starts to really lack or I never seem to finish reading a book. I wish I could develop a formula to make it all happen within a twenty-four hour peiod of time, without sacrificing sleep of course. The person who does that could change the world!

New Beginning!

I pulled out my food log and looked back to last January and kind of gasped. I was 16 pounds lighter last year at this time than this year and that was already up from where I wanted to be! I started January strong, but I took the second Sunday off because I was tired which turned into three or four weeks off. Tomorrow is new month and today was my new start. I did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred for the first time in a long time and it felt good! Honestly I felt a bit sick to my stomach when I got done, but it feels good to know I did it and good to know that I recorded my food for the day. 1900 calories is probably more than I should have eaten, but most likely is less than I have been eating so there is a small baby step in the right direction. One day at a time right, with baby steps along the way.