Day 47 -- 40 minutes straight!

I did 50:07 for 3.16:

1 @ 2.5
3 @ 3
1 @ 3.5
40 @ 4
3 @ 3.5
1 @ 3 - 2.5
1 @ 2 - 1.5

I ran this long run on the treadmill and I felt great!! I had received some advice from one of the runners, Scott, on the Courage to Start Yahoo group who told me to build up endurance BEFORE trying to increase my speed. He told me to run 1.5 times more distance than I have been at around 1 - 1.5 mph less than what I normally run at. Unfortunately that means I would be running at 3 mph which I don't think I could do because I walk faster than that so I just gave it a go at 4 mph and kept at it until I hit 40 minutes running which is 10 minutes LONGER than I did last week so I am just thrilled, thrilled, thrilled!!!!

The only sour note of my day is I weighed myself at Pete's doctor's office and it said that I weigh 157. Yes, my dear friends, that means I have gained 8 pounds...how in the hell???? I can see that some is water weight....

I am going to weigh myself tomorrow on the Wii Balance Board and see what that says since that is what I have been using. I expect a bit as it is that time of the month, but 8? I will be super-duper-pissed if I have been working my butt off running for 47 days to be right back where I started. I know that Dawn Dais says she did not lose a pound but at least she could see the difference. Me, not so much. My husband says he can tell but he is supposed to say that...sigh...

Tomorrow is my son's BDay and we have scheduled to get his hair cut and dyed blue (just the tips) and mine cut as well. I have to bring my mother-in-law with me but at least she can stay with him at the salon while I go to Wal-Mart to get him a card and a few small presents. He has already received a ton of stuff and he gets to go to Fujiyama this weekend.

If I get up early enough, I am going to get on the recumbent bike that I got my husband for Xmas 2 years ago that he just finished assembling last night with my son's help. I would really like to run again so I may tomorrow night. See you then!!

Day 42 -- another 30 minute run...woo hoo!

I did 39:39 for 2.65 (approx):

5 minutes brisk walking
30 minutes running
4:39 cool down walking

This one was a bit harder probably as it was warmer. I had my son with me again and that really does help! He told me that I was probably running at 5 mph and I was thrilled to hear it! I could tell at times that I was speeding up...open road and all that. I am running up and down two different streets and timed that it took me to do my brisk walking 4 minutes up and back on the road I live on and when I ran it it only took me 3:30. OK not much faster but heck I thought I was running slower than I was walking! I did notice that I was not smiling like a loon...bummer as that was a good feeling! Oh well!

Tomorrow I am going to speed training again but with shorter walk times in between AND then upper body and core work with My Fitness Coach on the Wii. See you then!

Day 41

I did 33:39 for 2.17:

1 @ 3
4 @ 3.5
5 @ 4.5
5 @ 3.5
5 @ 4.5
5 @ 3.5
5 @ 4.5
2 @ 3.5
1 @ 3 - 2.5
30 seconds @ 2 - 1.5

Today I, again, am just to build up my speed but since I am struggling so hard to finish each of the 5 minute runs, I am not sure it is working. My time might be better spent just running outside for 30+ minutes and then some upper body work. I have to tell you it is frustrating! It may have something to do with the 5 minute walk break in between the runs. Who knows!

I am rereading The NonRunner's Marathon Guide for Women and am loving it just as much this time. A lot of things that she faced during her training I hadn't yet when I was reading it and now I either have or am facing them. Remember my IT Band pull....yyyyoooouuuuuchhhhh! But, I am very happy to report that it is gone. Hmmmm....maybe I should start up on the yoga on Wii Fit again.... Chafing? Check! I am wearing the loose fitting running shorts she warns about the rise and bunch up, yep that's what happening...but spandex....sigh...

Tomorrow I run outside, have a job interview and then meet with my bride for the wedding I will be doing for a friend the weekend of the 25th. Full day!

Day 28

I did 30:11 for 1.82:

1 minute @ 3 mph
14 minutes @ 3.5 mph
3 minutes @ 4.5 mph
2 minutes @ 3.5 mph
2 minutes @ 4.5 mph
2 minutes @ 3.5 mph
2 minutes @ 4.5 mph
2 minutes @ 3.5 mph
1 minute @ 3 - 2.5 mph
1 minute @ 2 - 1.5 mph

This one was a bit tougher as I ran longer at the beginning clearly evidenced by me going farther, 1.82, as opposed to yesterday where I went 1.75 and I ran for a total of 16 minutes yesterday and only 7 minutes today! That extra .5 of mph in both my walking and running really makes a difference. My heart rate on the other hand much prefers the slower mph! It is what is getting me through the longer runs for sure! Tomorrow I have to run for 20 minutes straight..yikes...

This morning before I ate I did the body test on the Wii Fit and I weigh 149! Woo hoo!!!!! My Wii age is 24....wow...if only...

I know I am not supposed to care about my weight but after exercising 5 weeks straight AND eating well (rice cakes aside), I was beginning to worry! My darn jeans are still tight...what the heck??

Today was a much better day for me emotionally as well thanks to my son, my uncle and a dear friend from my youth. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Day 20

I did 31:02 for 1.86 miles:

1 minute @ 3 mph
4 minutes @ 3.5 mph
3 minutes @ 4.2 mph
90 seconds @ 3.5 mph
5 minutes @ 4.1 mph
2 minutes 30 seconds @ 3.5 mph
3 minutes @ 4.1 mph
3 minutes 30 seconds @ 3.5 mph
3 minutes @ 4.1 mph
2 minutes @ 3.3 mph
1 minute @ 3 - 2.5 mph
1 minute @ 2 - 1.5 mph
1 minute @ 1.5 mph

This was a very tough one for me. I received a great email from a very nice woman named Pam from a Yahoo group that I belong to and I decided to slow down on the mph for my runs and was raring to go. Problem is, I made the mistake of weighing myself afterward on the Wii Balance Board before my work out so I could accurately record that number while creating my personal profile on My Fitness Coach and found that I had managed to gain 3 pounds. I was devastated....I cannot even begin to tell you how much...

Added later in the afternoon: I did feel yucky last night and didn't sleep very well so I had 4 cups of coffee with nonfat milk and Stevia, 1 banana and breakfast bar then another banana and a piece of flax bread shortly before weighing myself so that might have had something to do with my weight...who knows...it's just frustrating to work out 6 days a week for 3 weeks for 30 minutes each day to have only lost a total of 1 pound as I started at 158, you know?

Added later in the afternoon: My husband is trying to convince me that it is muscle weight which I know to be hogwash, but sweet for him to say nonetheless! He tells me that I look like I have lost weight and I did the belly pat and it does not jiggle as much as it did before I started so that is something, right?

Back to original post:

Then I started my workout, bummed, and did the first 3 minutes at 4.2 mph, did OK, then did the 5 minutes at 4.1, still OK my heart rate was a bit high, then did the second 3 minutes and it was very difficult. Not to mention that my heart rate was at 170! So after the 3 minutes, I decided to walk more and only do another 3 minutes at 4.1. When I was cooling down from that with the 3.5 mph walk, I thought for sure that I was going to pass out. Not a good feeling!

I also found that I pulled the IT Band again in my right leg so after I stretched, I decided to do 15 minutes of Yoga on My Fitness Coach and found that I am having problems doing some of the moves, but I did it!

I decided to shower first then record this or this log would have been filled with a lot of Woe Is Mes! Sigh...tomorrow is another day!

Day 16 with fried legs!

I did 31:05 and (I think 'cause I did an extra minute) 2.0 miles:

Because of that darn EA Sports Active frying my legs yesterday, I hit a wall on the second of the 3 minute runs...I also had to kill a spider that decided to watch me from above my head...freaked me out! It probably was attempting revenge as I saturated his brethren in my bathroom with hair spray about 10 minutes before. Hey, I don't mess with bugs on the outside, don't come in to MY inside and mess with me!!

1 minute @ 3 mph
4 minutes @ 3.5 mph
90 seconds @ 4.5 mph
90 seconds @ 3.5 mph -- here is where I saw the spider above my head
3 minutes @ 4.5 mph
3 minutes @ 3.5 mph
90 seconds @ 4.5 mph
90 seconds @ 3.5 mph
90 seconds @ 4.5 mph -- here is where I hit my 'wall' and didn't do the 3 minutes
3 minutes @ 3.5 mph
3 minutes 30 seconds @ 4 mph -- here is where I made up the 90 seconds
4 minutes @ 3.5 mph
1 minute @ 3.0 - 2.0 mph
1 minute @ 2.0 - 1.5 mph

Tomorrow I will definitely do something not so hard on my legs so I can do the correct schedule on Thursday!

Can I stress again how pissed I am at the EA Sports Active? I am definitely returning it on Saturday. After suffering through the bugs in the software and getting a little aggravated that there was no cool down or stretching after the work out, I did some research online and dozens, almost a hundred people, are as pissed as I am about how incomplete and faulty this game is. More people than I can count on two hands had the flex band break and the same and additional people had trouble with the strap not staying on the leg. This is not a problem I encountered but my son did have problem with the leg strap.

More people than my family has hands encountered the same problem with the software not recognizing movements. It was particularly stressful when I had to do some weird yoga move to have it recognize my left side lunges. The pause in between reps was waaaayyyy to long and I found her positive comments about how well I was doing when I clearly wasn't was really annoying! Major bugs in this software!

Another thing that my research found was that there are NO ab specific work and no stretching. Are you kidding me? You fry our entire body and there are no cool downs and no stretches?

I researched other Wii fitness games and know to never buy the Jillian Michaels software as no one seemed to be happy with it. So, thank you Game Stop guy for talking me out of it and shame on the same guy for talking me into putting the EA Sports Active on hold...well, maybe not shame as it wasn't out yet and he could not have known all the bugs were going to occur.

I think I will get the Wii Personal Fitness Coach as it has Flexibility as one of the options and seems to be a good compliment to the Wii Fit. Personally I don't see myself using the Wii Fit for most of it as I do not need to Hula Hoop. But, I haven't explored all of it yet other than to add to my Activity Log for my runs and walks.

Day 15 cross training with EA Sports Active

I did the Easy 30 minute workout on EA Sports Active. I was trying to avoid running altogether on my 'days off' but there were two quick runs in the workout so I faked it. I am supposed to be doing low or no impact exercises on the days that I am not running. I cannot believe how many lunges there were and how bad I need them!

Also the first exercise was dancing which confirms my belief that I have no coordination when it comes to these things...must be why I love running!! And that my good friends is exactly why I will be a runner forever...no embarrassing workouts in front of other people, just one foot in front of the other for a period of time...ahhh, peaceful bliss!

I almost want to do some more cardio as 'they' say you should do 30 minutes of cardio a day. I may walk later, we shall see!

The one thing that I do not like about the EA Sports Active is that there is no official cool down but a few seconds and no stretching which should be crucial when working these major muscle groups. If anyone has found them, let me know. Maybe I should jump onto the Wii Fit and do some yoga?

Tomorrow I run!!

P.S. I am proud of myself for doing all of the workouts when the going got touch...remember I was a major couch potato!

Day 14

I had Saturday as a workout day but we ended going up to Olympia to see Land of the Lost, buy EA Sports Active, buy a Nathan Speed 3R belt, walking shoes and socks at Big 5 for my husband, two running mags from Barnes & Noble and grocery shopping.

So, today, Sunday the 7th is my Day 14. I did 30:02 for 1.86:

1 minute @ 3 mph
4 minutes @ 3.5 mph
90 seconds @ 4.5 mph
90 seconds @ 3.5 mph
3 minutes @ 4.5 mph -- that's right, I ran for 3 minutes straight. Woo hoo!
3 minutes @ 3.5 mph
90 seconds @ 4.5 mph
90 seconds @ 3.5 mph
3 minutes @ 4.5 mph -- I ran 3 minutes again!
3 minutes @ 3.5 mph
2 minutes @ 4 mph
3 minutes @ 3.5 mph
1 minute @ 3 - 2 mph
1 minute @ 2 - 1.5 mph

I have to admit that the last 30 seconds of the last 3 minutes, I thought I was going to yak. I looked to see how my much I had drank of my sports drink and it was not much at all so I must be pushing myself to that Big Brother throw up moment...

I am a little puzzled as to why if I ran more today, I went less of a distance...

I have this schedule written down and I originally had 2 more minutes of running but I didn't do it and retooled the schedule. On Tuesday, I am going to shoot for 2 more minutes of running!

I am really proud of myself! I also have to admit that the music during the last 3 minutes did not do much to distract me and what did was thinking that 4 times around a track is one mile, right? But is that the inside of the track or the outside? If it is the inside, then those that walk on the outside are actually putting in more mileage than the faster runners on the inside! My husband was behind me while I was typing this in and saying "not by much"...I told him to go away. It was what distracted me, I don't need exact distances...sigh...this is why we don't talk much...

Regarding the Nathan belt:
1. It is ridiculously expensive at $50 at South Sound Running
2. Yes, it has 3 bottles but they are only 7 oz (and plastic!). I drink 7 oz in a gulp...
3. I knew I would need it for the 5 Mile run
4. I bought this one for my son because my waist is too big for the small (not for very much longer, right? ) and that is all they had other than a large.

I was originally going to grab the one that goes around my wrist, but if I am planning on running outside, I will need a place for a key and my cell phone.

When I look at the schedule for training for a marathon, you do 45 minutes of RW and then approximately 4 hours later a 40 minute walk. I am wondering whether I should add another activity to only 2 of my 'running days' per recommendations from a few sources. I just bought EA Sports Active and they have some workouts I can do that as well as the Wii Fit which I already own. I have been reading that strength training is super important, especially upper body, to aid in running. The Wii Fit also has yoga which I could use for the stretching, right?

Tomorrow I will either walk the above schedule changing the 4.5 to 4 mph or an activity on one of the Wii games that is sustained for 30 minutes. See you then!!