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Training Update

A week ago, I reported that I’d finally managed to do the prescribed two rounds of jog 10/walk 5 in a row for a total of 30 minutes of activity. That was on a Wednesday. I did it again on Friday and on Monday. Not bad considering it wasn’t that long ago that I struggled to jog for 5 minutes.

But the news isn’t all good. The one thing I continue to struggle with is making sure I am sufficiently fed and hydrated before my sessions. I need to make a conscious effort to drink enough water on a daily basis. And I need to figure out if I need to eat extra carbs before going to bed (that can’t be good for my weight loss efforts), get up extra early, like 5:00 AM, to eat something (Power Bar), or just forgo food until after the run. I’m leaning toward the latter. Because both Monday and today I ended up with really bad abdominal cramps.

On a positive note… I jogged for 15 minutes straight this morning, covering just about 1.25 miles. I walked for 5 minutes like I am supposed to then started to jog again. I was only 5 minutes into the second run when the cramps hit.

They were really bad on Monday, so today I stopped jogging immediately and started walking toward home. I knew if the pain intensified like it had on Monday, I would’ve never made it home.

Once I did make it home, I recovered fairly quickly. I’m pretty sure it was eating less than an hour before the exercise that did it because my body has never handled the combination of food and heat very well. So, tomorrow, I won’t eat right before going out and will see what happens.

One thing I forgot to mention, I can’t put off training until later in the day because it gets too darn hot. When I run at 7:00, temps are at about the mid 60s. By 9:00 over the last couple of days, it’s been around 80, sunny and humid. It doesn’t cool down until well after nightfall, so doing it in the evenings isn’t an option either.

Wish me luck figuring this fuel thing out.

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It’s Getting Closer

The date for the Army Ten Miler—October 4th—is fast approaching. And I am still struggling to get in shape for it.

Monday’s training session went okay. Actually, considering I’d only slept four hours the night before, it went well. I managed to jog 10/walk 5/jog 8/walk 7. The goal was to do two rounds of jog 10/walk 5.

My failure to do the two 10-minute jogs is frustrating. I feel slightly better after reminding myself how far I’ve come. I still have a long way to go though.

But know what? I actually did TWO rounds of jog 10/walk 5 this morning. Two. One right after the other. It felt good. Mentally anyway.

I hope I turn into one of those people that says, “I have always hated to run but after training for and completing this marathon, I love it! I can’t wait to get out and run every day!”

I keep waiting for the transformation. Maybe it’ll come one day. Right now, I’m still at the point where I’m not really enjoying this. It’s a necessary evil. My penance for letting myself get so utterly out of shape.

The next step is two rounds of jog 15/walk 5. But I need to do at least one, maybe two, more of the jog 10/walk 5 sessions. Because though I did it today, it wasn’t easy. I’m supposed to do that three times in one week before moving to the next level. I think if I do that, accomplishing two jog 15/walk 5 on the first try will be more likely.

And being able to do that would sure be nice…

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Worth Blogging About

Finally, something worth blogging about. I hit a milestone. Wanna guess what it is?

Oh wait. Never mind. I hate when you have something exciting to share, ask people to guess, and they come up with something way more exciting, which just spoils your fun. (I know Amy can relate to that one!)

It wasn’t a running thing. While I did manage to complete my first jog 10/walk 5 this morning, for the second round, I ended up with jog 5/walk 5/jog 5. I’m getting there. I need to do two of the jog 10/walk 5 rounds in a row. At least I did manage to jog for a total of 20 minutes.

I could get discouraged. But I keep reminding myself how I struggled to even jog for 5 minutes a couple of weeks ago. I’m getting better. Just slowly. It would be so much easier if it weren’t so hot. I think I need to drink more water, too. That’s pretty much all I drink, I just don’t drink enough.

Anyway, no running milestone. But, in addition to the running, I’ve been trying to lose weight. That also affects my energy levels, I think, but I am figuring that out.

I started focusing on the weight thing in early May. I am simply eating smaller portions and trying to avoid junk. By smaller portions, I mean, when I get full, I stop eating. It seems wasteful, but the dogs are usually happy.

I allow myself things like a candy bar, ice cream, popcorn, etc., every now and then. And I try to limit my snacks to fruit or pretzels. It’s easy to maintain this strategy because I am seeing progress. How much progress? That’s the milestone…

Since May 4, which was 59 days ago, I’ve lost 20 pounds! Yep, the big two-oh. That’s 0.338 pounds/day or about 2.35 pounds/week. I’m almost halfway to my goal (I told you I’d packed on some pounds).

At this rate, I might actually be able to rejoin my soccer team in the Fall. Oh yeah, and run a 10-mile marathon. (Ten miles isn’t technically a marathon, or even a half-marathon, but it’s a marathon to me!)

Losing another 30 pounds would be nice. It would make me lighter than I’ve been in years. Just losing another 20 would make me happy. If I can keep whittling slowly away at the pounds like I have been, it might actually happen.

I’ll keep y’all posted.

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Mostly Uneventful Weekend

Not a whole lot happened this weekend. Not that’s worth blogging about anyway. But I didn’t want my faithful fans wondering at my absence, so here’s a summary.

Friday pretty much stunk. It was supposed to be my day off, but I ended up working. And even though Hubby took off early specifically so we could leave by 1:00 p.m., we didn’t get to leave until about 2:30. We hauled the motorcycles along in the trailer, which slowed us down, and had to stop at two different Lowe’s stores to buy a screen door. Then we had to find a place to eat. It felt like it took us forever to get there. But we finally made it around 7:00 p.m. At least it was still daylight, which was nice for a change.

Saturday was a great day. The weather was perfect for a nice motorcycle ride through the countryside. We topped it off with a nice meal at El Puente, the yummy Mexican restaurant in Capon Bridge.

Sunday was our day to goof off. Well, it was my day to goof off anyway.

I read a large chunk of a very good book… Seabiscuit. Yeah, I know I am very late on that bandwagon, but I had no idea it would be so good. I bought it months ago at Ollie’s for $2.50. It’s been sitting on my nightstand at the WV place as my fallback book. Who knew non-fiction books could be such gripping page-turners? I kind of want to see the movie now, but I know I’ll be disappointed. There are way too many character nuances and too much key background info to come across on film. It’ll probably be entertaining though.

When not reading, I did some walking with the girls, which is when I snapped the cool bug pic you see above. I pretty much stick to the roads since it is summertime and I’m scared of ticks.

Speaking of the girls…

Belle has a new nickname. Pigpen.

I realize this isn’t a particularly good picture (blurry). I had to snap it quickly, because she hates posing for pics. But if you look closely, you’ll see the top of her covered in grass seed and her underside covered in mud. My cute little princess of a Tinkerbelle, who we also call Killer sometimes since she’s managed to dispatch both a squirrel and a groundhog, just loves running through tall grass and boggy swampland.

She has so much fun doing it, I can’t get mad at her. Once she dries off she isn’t so bad. Plus, it gave me an excuse to read some more while I sat outside waiting for her to dry.

On a final note… I drug myself out of bed at 6:10 today so I could train before it got too hot. I made the first 10-minute jog/5-minute walk. Then I pooped out and only did 3 jog/2 walk/3 jog/7 walk. But I am still plugging away. As I was finishing, the sun was rising above the trees. Even when temps are in the mid-60s, the sun beating down on you makes quite a difference. I guess I’m just going to have to become a morning girl. Either that, or run at night. I’ll have to see which works best.

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Now I’m Invested

It’s been such a busy week that I forgot to update you on my training progress.

This week was to be my 10/5, 10/5 routine (jogging minutes/walking minutes). Remember, by the end of last week, I’d made it to 5/5, 5/5, 5/5.

Monday started off a bit rough. I didn’t make my 10 minutes. It turned into 8/7, 4/11. But at least I’d managed to jog for 8 minutes. A week prior, I couldn’t make 5. I missed yesterday. But I did get outside today. And, despite the 80 degree temps and blazing sun, I did manage to do the first 10/5. But then I pooped out and only did about a 3/12. It was hot. I really need to get out there either early morning or just before dark.

But I did jog for a whole 10 minutes. You know why? See for yourself.

Yep my new shoes, the Supernova Sequence, have arrived. They worked, too.

Maybe they’ll work even better next time and I’ll be able to do two, 10-minute stints.

I wish I was progressing faster, but at least I am progressing.

And for my photography fans who think the above shot is kind of boring, less artsy than the stuff I usually share, check this out…

Click on the pics and you’ll see the full size image.

Seriously, though. I need to figure out what I can eat for breakfast, at the crack of dawn, that will give me energy but not be sloshing around in my belly and making me barf. All ideas are welcome.

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My Food "Issue"

I have this thing about food. I get cravings, hankerings for a particular thing, and that’s all I want to eat for a week or so. Not “all” as in eat nothing else, but “all” as in can’t get enough of.

My latest obsession? Blueberries.


Throughout most of the year, fresh blueberries are prohibitively expensive. I mean, I could buy some if I really wanted to, if I could get past paying like $6 for half a pint.

Now that summer is approaching, blueberries are coming into season. So they are much more reasonably priced.

Case in point… last night, I got an 18-ounce (about 2 pints) box of fresh California blueberries for $4. They are the fattest, juiciest, most perfect blueberries ever. Click on the image above to get a close look at my beautiful blueberries.

Since I am trying to lose weight, I try to snack on lower-calorie, healthier fare. My strategy is working, too. Just from eating less, eating better, and exercising a bit.

I’m sure the blueberries, help. Lucky for me, the sale runs through Tuesday. I’m envisioning daily trips to Safeway…