4 miles Down....8 more to go

4 miles down! I managed to run 4 miles on the treadmill today. It’s wasn’t so bad, but I doubt I could have ran further. Okay maybe a little further but I didn’t want too. I ran that in 37:47 which is about 9:26 minute mile. The come back is going well. I figure I will be running 5 miles in a few weeks. Although I had my work Holiday party last night I kept the drinks to a minimum. For appetizers I had one coconut shrimp and a piece of this Artichoke thingy (small piece because it was cooked in mayo and something else). No bread or butter, however I did have a Chocolate log which was very very good. The dinner was fairly healthy, chicken and broccoli with a few small red potatoes. It was also very tasty.

When I came home from the gym, which I worked out my legs a about 6 leg machines and worked my abs and ran 4 miles, Josh was cooking a pizza. I figured if I had two slices that would be 400 calories. Then I opened the oven and it didn’t look that good so I decided that a chicken burger would be much tastier. So I had me a chicken burger on a whole wheat bun with pickles, grilled onions, fat free cheese, lettuce, ketchup and mustard. On the side I had grilled onions and zucchini. I managed to have about the same amount of calories but a lot more food and a lot better.

I am pretty sure if I keep on track I will be at my 117 goal on January 1st 2008. I am getting ready to prepare for my year follow up blog. It’s been a truly difficult year but a truly great year. I look forward to recapping and hopefully I can find some great pictures to show my progress, but it’s going to be hard because I lost a lot of them when the computer crashed.

New Year's Resolutions

Today is the last day of dogsitting. I think I'm actually going to miss having all three dogs around. Titus is going to be extremely happy to have the apartment (and his toys) to himself. He has just finally gotten used to having the other dogs come and cuddle with him, although he is still not all that happy with it. He still goes off to another room after a couple of minutes. Yesterday we took them all to the dog park and tired them out. I'm hoping to get Titus really, really tired tomorrow so he doesn't freak out during the fireworks. He usually gets really excited and barks and shakes. He jumps up on your lap in between sounds. I'm thinking a really long walk and maybe having him swim for a little while before we head over to Hawaii Kai to watch the fireworks show. Luckily that house is far enough away from most fireworks that it's not too bad for him. But, Hawaii does fireworks like I've never seen before. Everybody has their own fireworks and do their own shows from their houses. It's not like New York where all you can have is your little sparkler. We've already been hearing little private fireworks going off, which, every single time upsets the dogs. We're probably going to have to deal with it for a couple of days after New Years while everyone uses up all of the fireworks they bought. It's crazy like a war zone. Not as bad as the first year we were here though. They banned people being able to buy the really high flying fireworks after that year. But, you can still buy all kinds of crazy fireworks. Long story short, people set off fireworks all over the damn place and it freaks my dog out.

Okay New Year's Resolutions.
I met my pre-new year resolution of running 8 miles. I did not learn how to play tennis, but you can only do so much in a few weeks.

My first New Year's goal is to run 10 miles before February 1st. I think I can do it. I just need to be better prepared for the longer runs. Vaseline for the bra chafing. Water bottles set up so I'm not so dehydrated. And a gel energy pack. My new shoes are very nice for running distance.

My second New Year's goal is to lose those pesky last 5 pounds. Maybe 10 by the end of the year to get down to my true weight. But for now 5 pounds. Of course, I also have to lose the 2 I gained over the holidays. I think I can lose 5 by.... the Aloha Run, on February 18.
To meet that goal I have to lose about 1 pound a week until then. It also gives me a little time to screw up if I have a bad week. So my short-term goal is to get back to my pre-holiday weight of 135 by Jan 7. That shouldn't be too hard.
After that, I can lose the next pound, be 134 by Jan. 14. I'll check in with my goals soon.

I woke up this morning and went for a run. I had made the New Year goal of running 8 miles before Jan 1. I tried to wake Ananda up, but she was still sleeping. I decided to run 8 miles. It was hard and I made the mistake of running down Kalaheo first and I did the loop second. The problem with that is on mile 7 you get to the hills. Then you're already exhausted. I ended up having to walk for about 30 seconds because my heart started racing going up the first hill. I just slowed my speed down on the hills and I was able to run the rest of the way. I ran it in 1:20 and 21 seconds. Not horrible. A 10 minute mile pace. What I'm hoping is that the next time I run it, I can do it in less than a 10 minute mile pace. Bye the time the Aloha run comes I want to be able to beat my last year's time by a few minutes. I think if I look back I'll find my time written down, but I remember it being around a 10 minute mile. My other goal for the Aloha Run is to look a little better crossing the finish line. They take pictures of everyone crossing the line, and I have pictures from last year and the year before. Maybe I'll actually wear a running outfit this year. I generally wear a men's Ashirt undershirt when I run.
This week we've been watching Li`i and Riley. It's been nuts. It's fun to have more than one dog though. Titus is finally getting used to having friends. He's seemed so sad all week because the other two are getting all of his attention. They also keep stealing his toys from him. He figured out early that Li`i can't get up onto the bed, so he usually takes his toys there. Riley doesn't really care, so she won't chase him onto the bed either. He's going to be so happy when he has the house to himself again. He's become much more cuddly though, because if he wants attention he has to come curl up next to us. And he has finally been able to sleep next to another dog. He's a very individualistic dog, and usually can't relax when there's other animals around. He has gotten used to the other dogs coming up onto the couch and basically laying right on top of him. It used to bother him alot, but now he just opens his eyes for a second and falls back asleep.
I am loving watching how dogs interact with each other. I have definitely decided however, that three dogs is way too many. And it's okay now that they all want to cuddle with you when it's pretty cold outside (cold for Hawaii anyway), but in a few months I wouldn't want three dogs curled up next to me on the couch.

My Goals

I made it back to the gym today and did a 3 mile run on the tread in 26:30, which is way better then my 29 but before I stopped working out I was in the 22 range so I have a long way to go to get back to that. I was running fast too or at least I thought I was! I also worked my legs and my abs. My goal is to have abs like that chick in the picture (top left). Yeah I don't know who she is and she may even have a personal trainer but I want to work towards it.

The sad part is I was doing so well with my abs and then just stopped going to the gym because it got cold and I got lazy. Unfortunately I won't bring in the New Year in the best shape I have been this year but I am trying for my goal weight which I spent more my time at when I was at the gym lifting and doing cardio all the time, which is 117. I have about 2.5 pounds to lose before Jan 1 which I think is doable. I been doing cardio every day. If I don't go to the gym I jump on my elliptical machine for a 45 minute workout. I have lots of free time because I am working part time and school is out. I am hoping to keep it up once school is back in session. I have about a 2 hour break in between school and work but it isn't enough time to workout, eat lunch and shower and get ready. So I will have to do all my workouts at night after work around 7ish or do them on the weekend and Thursday. Thursday is my day off of school and work. So that will be my day to clean and do laundry too. I also have Sunday off of school and work.

I am going to set a schedule and stick to it. My goals for 2008 are the following:

1) Get killer Abs (like the girl in the picture).

2) Run a half marathon.

Hopefully training for the half marathon will help with the killer abs.

My 5am Christmas Run

I woke up this morning at 4am and couldn't fall back to sleep. I kept thinking about my family all together opening presents. I probably could have called them, since it was already 9am NY time, but I didn't want to be loud. So I waited until 5, took Li`i for a walk and then went for a run. It was really dark out, so I didn't run down the path at the beach, I just ran the sidewalk down to the canal bridge and back to the house. It felt good to get out and run. I didn't get to run yesterday because I started cleaning and didn't want to interrupt that rare behavior.
Christmas was great today, I got a lot of great gifts. Nate and I are going to be certified to scuba dive! Nate's parents are buying Nate a package and he's paying for me to go as well. I can't wait. They do a full class including ocean dives. Then we're certified for life.
For breakfast this morning I made Nate the breakfast he wanted- special bacon from R. Fields, sausage and homemade home fries. I can't wait until all of the fatty food is gone from the house. I can handle the candy a little better. I may give away the cookies that are sitting on the counter. I had to throw away the rest of the chex mix that Dane made. I couldn't stop eating once I started and twice I ate so much of it I felt sick. I might pour the egg nog down the drain. I don't like it all that much. Nate doesn't like it at all. And it has 220 calories per serving! I usually only have a small taste of it, but that's a hell of a lot of calories.
I'm also excited to give Ananda her gift. I won't write what it is on the off chance that she reads the blog before I give it to her tomorrow, but it should hopefully help me reach my New Year's goals stated previously on this blog.

Day 1

I went to the gym today. Ran 3 miles on the tread and it took me 29:20! And then I came home and showered, ate lunch and napped for a very long time. I am going to go to the gym everyday except for Christmas because they are closed until the New Year. No need to wait until the new year to get started.

Now that all the food is done and over with I can get back to eating normally and healthy. I need to drop these 5 pounds that I picked up this season and work towards some killer abs. Plus I miss lifting weights a lot. I was starting to see lots of results after two months and then I just stopped, but now I am back. I love going to the gym. When school starts up again I will have to find or make time to go. The weekends are pretty clear and Thursdays so that is 3 days.

Positive Thoughts

So I was the only one who showed up for the run today. It was a good opportunity to experiment with the mental techniques of using positive self-talk and affirmations. I had read an article not too long ago about coming up with phrases to say to yourself during your run such as "just put one foot in front of the other," or "you can do it," or "keep going," etc. It talked about some of the mental techniques that we can use. Tonight, I used a phrase that I've used that I stole from Josh. Myia will know what I'm talking about- "good for her." Basically Josh was looking at "bigger" girls who were running and commenting on the fact that at least they were getting out there and exercising. For some reason that one has stuck with me. I also at certain points during the run repeated that I am strong and fast. Sounds cheesy writing it down, but during the run it made me feel strong and fast. I would recommend these two techniques for sure. When I felt like running slower I told myself that I could slow down later, but I was going to run fast for now. It worked pretty well. Anyway, I ran 4 miles in 37:17. Not extremely fast, but for me it was the first time since paddling that I actually ran the whole 4 miles instead of jogging part of the way. This weekend I'm going to run 6. Hopefully I can actually run the 6, not jog part of the way.
My goal continues to be not gaining any weight. This has turned out to be quite a struggle after Dr. Rezentes gave us cookies for Christmas. I immediately ate 5 of them. I think it's because I don't buy cookies for myself and I just went totally overboard when I gave myself permission to eat one. I'll just keep eating them until they're gone and I will continue to not buy any for myself. I think Christmas will be a challenge, I know there is a lot of candy and cookies going around the office, but after the holidays I'll be back to normal.

Workout

Still maintaining my weight through the holidays. Went for a run with Ananda this morning. Neither of us were very awake when we got there, so we started out to the Kalapawai Market and did four miles. It felt good right at the end. Trying to eat better at home, loading the plate with veggies. That way there's just less room for the carbs I want to throw on there. Whatever doesn't fit goes in the fridge for another day.

New Shoes

Nate and I went to the mall and he got me my Christmas present. Running shoes! Thank god, mine were falling apart. They actually had a sale and I had an old Food Locker card with $25 dollars on it, so I got two pairs of running sneakers for $95 bucks. Not bad. Last night I wore the Ryka TRI Trainer Lady sneaks (picture on the left). They felt pretty good. They are very light, not too much support on the bottom, but good shorter distance running sneaks. I did 4 miles in 39:31. Not very fast, but it felt really good at the end of the run. It helps to run a long distance and then to drop down to your usual distance. Your regular run will feel so much shorter. I have a goal to do 8 miles before the New Year. We have 3 weekends left for me to do it. This weekend I'll run a little farther than 6, maybe close to 7. Then the week after I'll shoot for 8. In between doing 4 mile runs seems like it's working pretty good. I wish it didn't get dark so early though. I could really use a medium run day. I may have to switch over to running at the gym one day a week. Especially if I ever want to run farther than 8 miles. I can't just do 4 miles in between.
I'm going to have to start planting water bottles again as well. And maybe getting the gel packs for longer runs. That really helped last year. I can't wait for the Great Aloha Run! I already signed up and am waiting on my "in training" t-shirt.

Yoga

Saturday morning Ananda, Debby and I met at 7am and ran the 6 mile course. It is so much cooler at that time of the morning. You still sweat your ass off, but not as much as when you run after 8, when the sun is already up. It was great to be done by 8am. We spotted Jeanie, Dan and Joanna getting ready to go out on the one man. We chatted for a while and then Ananda and I actually got ourselves over to the Y and did a yoga class. It felt good to stretch after running. It was a good class, Kevin's is a lot of stretching, not too much workout. I was really, really sore though on Sunday. One of my back muscles was cramped up from yoga and then sitting at the sewing machine all day. It felt really good to get in that much of a workout.
I actually ate better this weekend as well. That is good because I think I work out enough, but if I start to eat as poorly as I have been, I'm gonna gain back a lot of weight. So this weekend my one badly done meal was the pancakes on Sunday morning. Other than that I ate my regular eggs on Saturday morning, had smaller lunches and did not fill my plate with carbs. Nate and I shared pretzel bites from the Pretzelmaker, but because I ate some of those I didn't put any carbs with my dinner, I just had some steak and brussel sprouts. I feel really good today. It makes your body feel so much better when you're eating right.
Nate bought me new sneakers for Christmas so hopefully my body will also feel a little better after running.
This week:
Run tonight
Tuesday- 4:00pm class at the Y
Wednesday- run
Thursday- 8am Turbo Kick class
Friday- off
Saturday- run at 7am
Sunday- off

I'm Back...for real this time

I’m back….kind of….sort of. I didn’t go to the gym but I did do the next best thing. After being out of the cardio scene for over I month this morning I decided I was getting on my elliptical machine. I burned a CD because it was too cold to go to my car and get my mp3 player. I did 30 minutes and nearly died….kind of….sort of. Okay I didn’t nearly die but it was really hard and afterwards my legs were a little wobbly. It felt really good though. I do love cardio and can’t imagine why I been such a slacker other then the fact that the weather is awful. My elliptical is right here and I can just crawl out of bed and get on the thing.

Once Josh gets back he is going to put the weight bench up and set up the garage for working out but I think we are just going to get him a gym membership so we can go to the gym together. I already have one. Right now we don’t have that much money but we aren’t buying Christmas or anniversary so we might do that. That is actually how we started hanging out a lot in the Marine Corps. We used to be gym buddies and go running on Sunday mornings when everyone else was smart enough to be sleeping.

Although I managed to avoid working out and cardio for over a month, I have maintained by weight at 117-119. Every now and then I go over 120 but once I start paying attention to my eating habits it quickly goes back down. I do however get an okay amount of exercise in by walking to classes daily and my job in not a sit down job. So I am getting more then the normal amount of every day activity.

Slacking off can seriously effect your mood and energy level. Since I been a little depressed I been lazy and being lazy just added to the fuel. I love working out and being active and seeing results after a lot of hard work and although I thought it was stupid and hated it the entire way I am really glad we did the Swamp Romp. It makes you realize how out of shape you really are.

Next step is running on the tread again until the weather clears up, which won't be until late March, but I don't mind the treadmill. It forces me to run faster or fall off.

Keeping off the Pounds

I'm still working on keeping off those pesky pounds for the holidays. I gained two pounds then lost them, then gained them back. Unfortunately I didn't go running yesterday, I just was too lazy. Today I tried to make up for it by going to one of the classes at the Y. I don't know that the pie I ate for dessert helped though. I tried to eat a lot of peas at dinner to fill me up, but the pie was too strong. The good news is that I'm starting to see some muscle definition and wasn't embarrassed by the mirror at the gym. After the class I did a quick ten minute run. I set the treadmill for the hill climbing course and it kicked my ass. I had to keep slowing it down. I resisted turning the incline down though. Tomorrow is another day at work, I've been bringing my Nalgene bottle and it makes a huge difference. Water is surprisingly better than coffee to wake you up. When I'm hydrated I don't get to that drowsy, sick, tired stage. I just get antsy to go home from work.
Anyway, I'm still just working on not gaining weight for the holidays and staying sane at work.
Goals:
Saturday- run at 7:00am. 6 miles
Monday- run at 5:30pm- 3 miles
Tuesday- Turbo Kick at 8:00am
Wednesday- run at 5:30pm- 3 miles
Keep drinking water!

Long-distance Run

This evening is our Marimed Holiday Party at Boardrider's. It is close enough that we can roll home when the party is over. We plan to do some pre-holiday party partying at our apartment first. Since I knew I probably wouldn't be eating all that well today, I went for a run this morning. I had a feeling that it would be just me, since I forgot to email the starting spot for the run until after 7pm last night. I sent out a text at 6:50am, but 10 minutes isn't very much time to decide you want to get out of your comfortable bed and run.
So, I got down to the parking lot and decided that I was going to run 6 miles. I ran out to Dune Road first, down N. Kalaheo, and back, then grabbed a drink of water from the water fountain before heading out to do Lanikai Loop. I tried to pay attention to how my body was feeling at certain points of the run instead of just running as fast as I could. I still did a 10 minute mile, which was consistent for my long-distances last year. I'm hoping to improve on that, but this was my first long run of running season.
Right around mile 4 I started to get really tired. I guess that's expected since that was the former long distance mileage. Hopefully 6 miles will start to feel good soon and I can move it up to 8. I figure I'll have to run the 6 mile run 2 to 3 more times before attempting a longer run. We have 10 weeks until the Great Aloha Run, so that's about 9 weekends that I can wake up early and do a long distance run. Next weekend will be better planned. Maybe I'll even make it to Yoga after.