Week 8 of Half-Marathon Training

Week 8 of half-marathon training done! YEAH!! 8 miles today, and they felt pretty great. My first 3 miles were at a 9:30 pace, then the next 3 miles at a 10 minute pace, mile 7 was surprisingly at a 9:30ish pace, and mile 8 was at 10 again. The weather man was calling for rain and snow, so I really was not looking forward to my run this morning. Thankfully, he was wrong and it was just cloudy with the sun popping out every now and then (I wore only one pair of pants and had to remove layers from the top as I went along). Last night (or rather early this morning) my daughter (she's 4) also decided that she wanted to sleep walk. I found her at 4am downstairs calling for me asking why I left without her. I put her back in bed and she just rolled over and kept right on sleeping. Of course I couldn't get myself back to sleep - I just kept having visions of her running down the street. At 6am I gave up and just got out of bed. Made some coffee and Chris made breakfast sandwiches - note to self NO BACON on long run days. YUCK! My running partner was not having such a good day either and forgot to take her Advil for her ankle, so she cut out a little early (she still knocked out almost 6 miles with me before breaking off for home).
Regardless of every thing that seemed to be going wrong this morning my run was actually really good. Once I got home and showered I had a ton of energy too. Now what to do with all this energy?!
I can't believe there are only 4 more weeks until my first half! I certainly hope all these training runs are going to pay off and make it somewhat easier on race day. Either way I'm super stoked for March 16th and the Rock 'n Roll half!!!!

February Challenge Update:
I'm still doing really well with my February challenges too. I took one rest day so far (last Sunday) and I've only missed two days of planks (I got all the other exercises those days, but put off the plank until later and then never got to it, no more putting it off until later!). I'm really proud of myself for sticking with it and knocking them out each and every day. They are starting to get harder as the month goes by, but I'll keep on keeping on.

Sprints

Part of my half-marathon training is speed work (or as I like to say sprints...just sounds cooler). Every Thursday I head over to the track on post and I warm-up with one mile (around 8:30-9 minute pace). Then I'll do a mile of sprints (I believe they call it 100's) - I sprint the straight section and then walk the curves. I repeat this for an entire mile or 8 times. I follow it up with a slow jog for another mile.
I came across an article on bodybuilding.com about sprint training. This is what they recommend:

For beginners, it is advisable to start sprinting at 50% speed until you feel comfortable and gradually increase your speed after every sprint. A typical sprinting workout that any average person should be able to do is 6-10 100-meter dashes. Each 100-meter dash can be done at any speed.
After each 100-meter dash, you should walk back to the line slowly; your rest between each sprint is your walk back to the starting line. When you get to the line if you are still fatigued then rest a minute or two before starting again.

Looks like I'm right on track with doing 8 sprints. I might increase it to 10 soon. It certainly couldn't hurt any. The biggest reason I do sprints is because it makes me faster. It also doesn't hurt that it slims my quads, butts, hips, and abs! I'll do any exercise that's going to help get rid of my saddlebags.

Yesterday when I was at the track I had the coolest encounter! It's exactly why I love running and runners. The past three weeks when I go the same two guys have been there chasing each other around the track. They are there when I get there and still going strong when I leave. Usually the guy with shaggy hair and beard is chasing the black haired guy and I always imagine one day he'll catch and beat him. As I was walking the last curve and getting ready to start sprint #8 the black hair guy sprinted past me followed by shaggy guy. I was a little tired but since it was my last one I needed to give it all I had, so I was happy to have someone to chase. I hit the starting line and took off. I surprised myself because I actually caught up to the shaggy guy and we 'raced' to the finish. He gave me a big grin as we finished (I was barely half a step behind him) and then thanked me for pushing him. Of course I thanked him too! He totally pushed me on that last sprint and it was awesome!

Noticeable Changes

My friend Patti put these images together for me. The one in the middle was taken July 2011. The outer photos were taken this January. Down 44 lbs and many, many inches.
I've been starring at these photos a lot over the past 24 hours. When I first saw it I smiled and thought I've come so far, but then I started thinking that really there isn't much of a change. Chris got mad at me. Patti got mad at me. Jenn got mad at me. "YOU LOOK GREAT!", they all said. Okay, okay. Fine. Thanks. Why do I have such a poor self-image of myself?!? I'm sure it has something to do with years and years and years of telling myself that I'm just well proportioned and big-boned. In high school I weighed 155 and wore a size 12. I've never been smaller then that, even when I was in the military. I am actually in the best shape of my life right now, and it's time to step back and appreciate all that hard work.
I took a deep breath and started looking at the photos from bottom up, glancing back and forth from one to the other. First noticeable difference - my calves. I've never measured them, but they look about half the size they were. Then I started thinking that I actually do have the difference in most of my measurements...Chris and I took them in May 2011 when we were going to start P90X. Here is my before photo...so flattering, and taken about 2 months before the one above.

May 2011 / January 2013
Weight: 202 / 158
Chest: 41" / 36"
Waist: 41" / 32.5"
Hips: 45.5" / 38"
Thighs: 32" / 25.5"
Arms: 16" / 12"
Photo from now. Tabitha said I need to show the one with my abs...it does look like I have them. I also have a before photo taken without my tank top, just in my sports bra, but, um, yea, not going there.

There are days when I feel like nothing is working, when I just want to give up and eat, eat, eat. On the days that I do indulge and eat crap I always feel bad and it NEVER tastes as good as I remember. I really have come a long way. I have a lot to be thankful for and proud of. I used to journal all my workouts (still do), so when I was looking up my measurements I came across my old workouts.
There was a ton of walking and Exercise tv workouts, but my favorite was on July 26, 2011 when I started C25K. It really was the start of it all. All I could do was jog for 90 seconds. I walked for 2 minutes. Repeated this 6 times for a total of 21 minutes. I was exhausted when I was done, but determined to keep at it. Fast forward to a year and a half later: I ran 10.4 miles this past Saturday while training for my half marathon. It took me one hour and 55 minutes (averaged out to an 11 minute/mile pace). I did that. Me. The girl who could barely run for 90 seconds a year and a half ago. WOW!
I also came across three goals I made for myself:
1. To wear shorts above the knee.
 - not sure I'll ever be comfortable enough to accomplish this one, it's still on my goal list!
2. Lower cholesterol
 - I need to schedule a physical to find out if it's lowered. September 2009 I had a physical and was told I had borderline high cholesterol (it is in my family). It's when I decided to change things. I met with a nutritionist, learned how to track calories, and measure food. Getting pregnant with my son changed a lot of things, but I refocused again a few months after he was born. I really do need to go and get it checked again.
3. Improve overall fitness.
 - I can say without a doubt that I have done this! I couldn't imagine my life without running or going to the gym. I feel stronger and healthier then I ever have and I don't plan on ever going back to the way things were!

Since it's Valentine's Day I figured I'd end with a special valentine that I found on Facebook this morning - love it! So, to you from me - HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY my fellow fitness friends!

February Goals

It's hard to believe we're in February already! January was such a crazy month for me and I really let my emotions take over which made my progress suffer. This month I really want to stay away from daily weigh-ins and anything else that's going to make me crazy; which lead me to this post - it's time to get some goals for the month figured out.
1) Get motivated!
For some extra challenge I went ahead and joined a couple (4 to be exact) challenges on Facebook this month. I figured I could use some extra motivation to get moving so why not. I originally had signed up for more, but once I started putting them all on one calendar I realized how crazy the month was getting, so I dropped out of some; seriously, I wasn't trying to un-motivate myself - LOL. I'm now on day 7 and still going strong. The plank challenge is by far the toughest one! I look like a block of jello while doing them especially since we've hit the 2 minute plus mark. The guy running the challenge (a facebook page called, "Get your ass to the Gym") gave some pretty good advice: hold the plank for as long as you can and then drop down for 5 seconds and then get right back up there. It really does help. My biggest problem though is once I drop down for 5 seconds I have trouble holding it for long periods of time. I try to get to at least 1:30 before I drop. Finishing the month off with a 4:15 plank seems scary, but I know how much stronger my core will be for it.
2) Weekly Weigh-In and Taping
The girls and I are going to do a weekly weigh-in on Wednesday's. I'm hoping this keeps me from going mental by weighing myself daily and freaking out about the numbers. Also, since my biggest goal is not to lose too much more weight (maybe 10 more) I'll be doing my measurements. When I took them this is what I found out:
Beginning January / Beginning February
weight: 159 / 158
chest: 37 / 36
waist: 34 / 32.5
thighs: 26.5 / 25.5
hips: 37 / 38
arms: 12 / 12 (flexed: 13)
Looks like the little bit of LiveFit Trainer I was able to stick with plus my running was working. I was too busy crying about a number on a scale to notice. My pants were fitting tighter because my hips got bigger (probably because my butt was lifting from all the squats/lunges/running). So, my goal for this month is to not focus on the number (it'll just serve as a guide to make sure it's not creeping upwards) but to just keep working hard.
Here I am wearing 2 pair of pants, knee-highs, and 4 shirts getting ready to head out for my 20 degree run this past Saturday.

3) LiveFit Trainer Restart and Personal Trainers
I skipped the last week of phase 1 for LiveFit trainer and started phase 2 this week. The biggest reason is because phase 2 has cardio and I need to work on my running (especially since I've got lots of big races this year). I'll be doing the LiveFit Trainer until my hubby leaves again, then I'll be taking over his personal training sessions. I'm not really sure what the trainer will want to do, so for now I'm focusing on LiveFit and running and then I'll think about the trainer when the time comes.
4) Weight Loss Challenges
I dropped out of the one on post. I think that's part of the reason for the big freak out last month. It was silly to enter when I really don't want to lose that much more weight, my goal is to tone up and just get stronger. The challenge on post is all about the numbers and their scale showed me going up every week for 3 weeks so I decided to drop out and not focus on numbers. I also reminded myself that I joined the Gold's Gym one and I need to get my head in the game if I want to be successful with it.
5) Eating Clean
Today is day 2 of Phase 2 LiveFit Trainer and so far so good with following her plan. Saturday I'm meeting my best friend to celebrate her 30th birthday so I'm going to focus on eating clean until then so I can splurge a little with her (nothing crazy - just Starbucks and maybe dessert!). Yesterday's breakfast: 5 egg whites, 1/2 an Ezekiel english muffin, hot tea.

 Yesterday's lunch: 6 oz chicken breast, 4 oz sweet potato, huge salad, lots of water.

Yesterday for snack 1 I had pumpkin protein bars. Snack 2 (which is more like dinner) was 4 Tilapia tacos with broccoli slaw. My after workout drink: 8 oz almond milk, 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup pumpkin, and lots of ice.
Today for breakfast - 5 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 8 oz almond milk, 1/2 cup blueberries (lovely color isn't it?!?!), and hot tea.

I'm really proud of myself for no junk yesterday! I'm hoping to keep it up for a few more days. I'm very excited for February and positive thinking. Here's to many optimistic thoughts and a month full of great, inspiring blogs!!