So far so good

It's been a good week so far. I went for my first outside run in a while on Monday and did pretty well considering there were lots of hills. I bought a Nike Plus for my iPod (because I refuse to switch to AT&T to get an iPhone with the GPS so I have to go old school) Now I can track my progress outside which will be fun.

It would have gotten used for the first time this morning if it weren't for the hot Pranakriya yoga class I took last night. I'm am extremely sore from head to toe. The only thing I might manage later is a dog walk. Hoping tomorrow won't be worse!!

I have been trying out different classes in the hot room and so far this one was the most ass kicking of all. I managed a forearm stand (against the wall of course!) for at least 30 seconds. Being upside down is liberating! I'm thankful for my teacher who is SO encouraging and calls me by name. Her interest really makes me want to keep practicing.

I'm proud of myself for making time for my exercise despite my 12 hour workdays. Sometimes it's the hardest thing in the world to do but it really does help in so many ways. Off to eat some soup and do a little stretch if I can even stand up! Have a great day everyone!

Thanks again Al!

There's nothing like a little inspiration on a Monday morning! I saw Al on the today show this morning being pampered after finishing the NYC marathon and I'm feeling really inspired again.
It's too bad I'm sitting at my desk because I would go run right now! Al you are my hero.

I never run on a Monday morning and now I wish I had. I got some walking in but it didn't really do it for me. I have so much to do to get ready for the half marathon in March and while I've made great progress, I'm nowhere near where I need to be. The plan is to kick it up a notch this week, leave the treadmill behind and take it outside. Maybe a change of scenery will do me some good.

The weekend was so fun. I had a blast with my husband and blew off all my work. I will pay for that today but one can only work so much. The only bummer was I didn't get to have dinner with Tammy as planned. My upstairs shower was leaking through the ceiling downstairs and my brother-in-law was coming over to have a look at it. Turns out it's nothing more than having to re-grout the shower which I will do over Thanksgiving weekend. Good times :)

Good luck to everyone this week. I'll report on my outside running progress later in the week. Luckily we have some fabulous weather on tap.

Thanks Al Roker, my neighbor Jason, Shelley and all my other runner friends who inspire me every day!!! I will do this and I will make you proud!!

just okay

I can't believe how fast this week has gone by. Before I know it, Christmas will be here! I've realized I have entered into a new phase of adulthood - buying gifts early. What a concept!!

I did just okay this week. I ate pretty well and did a Bikram class and some running. Both seriously kicked my ass because I've been slacking. Just okay doesn't cut it because I gained a pound this week. I blame it on hormones (oh and the pizza we ate last night after another 12 hour work day)!

Back to Body Pump for me on Saturday and some sort of outdoor run walk combo on Sunday. Lots of social obligations happening this weekend so I need to earn my fun :) I'm desperate to go to Bikram tonight. The 4:30 class is a lovely way to start the weekend but I cannot spend the money to go twice a week. I will save it for the Tuesday night class with my favorite teacher.

Have a great weekend everyone!

November 1st: Step away from the candy...

It's gone. It's out of the house. I ate so much of it that I didn't even want any more.

I'm finally going back to a more normal schedule and plan on a great week of butt kicking workouts. Combined with the meal planning and cooking I've done, we should be in for a good week.

I'm looking forward to catching up on my blogging. In the mean time, here are my cute dogs!!
Have a great week everyone!

back to reality

In case anyone was wondering where I've been, I finally got a few days at the beach! I haven't been on a vacation in a year and a half and desperately needed it. I was at total burnout stage but I seem to have come back with a renewed energy.

I've managed to maintain my weight loss but my running progress has suffered due to not running. Imagine that! Eating in Florida was pretty much flawless since I had nothing but grouper, oysters and sushi. The drinking however, pretty much non-stop. I'm thankful that doesn't happen very often.

Other than that, I've been working full time at the agency and still working on my own company projects which usually amounts to about 12 hours of work a day- 7 days a week. I'm thankful for the income so I can't complain too much.

I got an encouraging email from the worlds nicest ex-boyfriend asking how my training is coming along for the half marathon and the honest answer is that it isn't. It was the kick in the butt I needed to get back at it. Funny how quickly you can forget just how good it feels though getting up at 5:15 never seems to get any easier.

I'm going to try a yoga class at my gym tonight to ease back in. I've been enjoying Bikram so much but it's an expensive habit so I can really only do that once a week. I figured I should just try it at the Y and if it's terrible, I won't go again. No lavender scented cold towels there! :( Then it's back to running in the morning.

I'm looking forward to getting back to blogging more regularly and spending some time catching up on what y'all have been up to. Hope everyone has a great week!!

namaste

I haven't been around much this past week because of endless piles of work combined with social obligations out the wazoo. That makes not a lot of time for the gym and way to much eating and drinking.

It really wore me down to I started my week with an amazing hot Vinyasa yoga class at 6 am to detox. I swear, if I was a celebrity or just really wealthy, I would do this every single day. I was coming out of the building just as the sun was rising on a really chilly morning and I could still smell the relaxing lavender from the cold towel you get lovingly placed on your face at the end.

This was a new class for me and I was nervous because it's a bit more complicated and intense than Bikram. I think I did pretty well for a fat newbie and even managed a hand stand (against the wall of course!) What a fun and freeing feeling. Speaking of freeing feelings, I wore a tank top for the first time ever in public (if you count the yoga studio at 6am as public) I have just made up my mind that I deserve to be comfortable and I've seen fatter women in worse things. I enjoy the class more when I'm not paying attention to how I look and just moving through the poses doing as much as I can do. Sweet little Astrid, the instructor, has been really helpful making me feel comfortable there. I can't imagine being able to do some of the things she does with her body though!!

I'm running intervals the rest of the week and will attempt another 20 minute run on Friday. I'm hoping this one is better than the last now that the dreaded heat has finally gone.

Getting up at 5:15 is tough and I'm fading fast. This was a boring post due to lack of energy (and brain cells) Hope everyone has a great week!!

a little rough patch

It's been a little bit of a frustrating time for me and I have to admit that I've been letting it get the best of me this past week. I've been making all kinds of excuses not to work out and slipping back into some bad eating habits. I know from experience that these are dangerous times.

Luckily I'm aware of it and ready to take control before it gets worse. I had a nice relaxing weekend at my moms in the mountains, the temperature has finally gone out of the 90's and I feel a little more like I can pull myself out of this.

As hard as I try I will never understand the way my mind works. I haven't lost a pound in over a month so what does my brain want to do? Give up. I never give up on anything else so what makes this different? I'm even showing some signs of jealousy towards my husband who has lost 20 pounds and is running 4.5 miles at a time. Everyone tells him how good he looks while I nod my head in agreement but can't help thinking how I've done twice as much and eaten half as much without any progress at all. Don't get my wrong I'm SO happy for him but sometimes it's hard to be a cheerleader when I'm feeling this way. My mom said I looked "glowing and healthy" but that's because I've wiped away the top layer of skin with my incessant sweating.

A week (or so) ago I did my 20 minute run and I haven't run since. It was so hard and I didn't feel well after and I think it scared me a little. It may have been the heat that got to me even though I was in the gym. The longer I go the worse it will be so I'm going to do some intervals tomorrow and see how I feel. I've also got my yoga class tomorrow night and I'm really excited to go again. I do see the irony in that I'm complaining about the heat but choose to do yoga in a 105 degree room. It's just so relaxing and if I close my eyes I can pretend I'm at the beach :)

Enough with the whining. It's a new week. Hope everyone has a good one!

I leave you with 2 great dog pictures from my weekend in the mountains.

Ups and ups.

I'm only going to say this once and not dwell on it because I already shed enough tears over it this morning. I GAINED 2 pounds again this week after 8.5 hours of work outs. I wasn't flawless with my eating this week - had Chick Fil A one day and Moe's one day but neither of those should be a problem. Maybe it was the 12-15 hour days of work I put in. The only thing I can think to do is to really start keeping track of calories again. I thought I had that down but I guess not.

In other news, I JUST (about 20 minutes ago) finished my first TWENTY MINUTE RUN. 1.25 miles without stopping. I try to be honest here in my blog and truthfully, it was hell. It was neither enjoyable nor rewarding but now I think it's starting to sink in and I'm quite proud. I'm really looking forward to it getting easier though. Losing some pounds would help (crap... I said I wasn't going to speak of that again!)

Bikram Yoga on Tuesday was fabulous and I can't wait to go back. I was by far the fattest person there but 3 people left and I sailed through it. Someone asked me how I could stand it and I said that there's something so empowering about watching your own sweat pour off you onto the mat. Plus my skin looks awesome from it :) It's an expensive habit but once a week should be okay for the budget for now.

When we were leaving the yoga studio, there was a personal training studio across the hall. There were 2 people working out and they looked absolutely miserable. I wanted to walk in there and say "y'all are never going to get anywhere with that sh*tty attitude!" Of course I would never really say that but today I realized I need to keep practicing what I preach. In good times and in bad.

Have a great weekend everyone.

first day jitters

It was hard to get up this morning for the second day in a row. Yesterday I got up and went back to bed. I needed a morning off but I went for a swim and a 3 mile walk later in the day because I really missed that morning workout.

Today was a struggle again but only because I didn't sleep very well. The dogs were having some sort of power play between their beds and ours which is unusual. I was also nervous about starting week 5 of couch to 5k and even more nervous because tonight I start Bikram yoga again. I promised my sister when I lost 20 pounds I'd go with her and I'm going to keep my promise.

For anyone that doesn't know, Bikram is usually a 90 minute yoga class done in 105 degree room. This is the third thing in the trilogy of activities that helped me to lose 100 pounds before. Running. Body Pump. Bikram Yoga.

Did I mention that after this class tonight I will have spent 2 and a half hours exercising today??

I shouldn't have been nervous about week 5 of C25k. Today was "only" three 5-minute runs so I did week one for the 2nd half hour. I was dripping wet but I felt really strong. Two 8-minute runs tomorrow then the next day will be my first 20 minute run. If I can make it through this I'll have run longer than I ever have.

Lots of firsts this week.

Eating wise still doing really well. I had a little too much dark chocolate and 6 of those damn 2 bite brownies but when I think about what a weekend consisted of before it's huge progress. I've really enjoyed cooking again and it seems both my husband I like my food better than a restaurant so it makes it easy to be really good and not feel deprived of anything. Part of it is falling into a good routine where we BOTH do a ton of prep work on a Sunday to get ready for the week. If you have a significant other, I recommend putting them to work chopping things up even if you are a control freak :) It's ALL about the planning.

So between working 2 jobs, working out, yoga, chiropractor and cooking and shopping for every meal, I have very little time left but I'm okay because I have the energy to deal with all of it from treating myself right. Huge progress people!!

non-scale progress

I've come to the conclusion that there's going to be 1-2 weeks per month that the scale does not cooperate so I'm just going to accept that because I'm a woman, it is what it is. Up 2 pounds for the week. It's all water retention. I still rock so I'm focusing on all the non-scale victories for the week :)

1. All week I have been doing week 4 of couch to 5k. I repeated this week due to my sickness the week before. I found it too easy so I did week one for the second half hour. Every day. Week 5 starts Monday.

2. I made myself take a day off from the gym today after 7 days in a row again. I'm missing it terribly!

3. I have elbows and I think I see my knees.

4. The armrest in my car is now where I rest my arm instead of it being the barrier between my side fat and the passenger seat.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Tammy, Crys and I are all meeting for a workout then a trip to the farmers market. Can't wait to catch up with my girls!