Stick with it Saturday

Well, Stick with it Saturday is here again. This was a rough week.  I needed to get my final runs in before running my first 5K (today).  I ended up doing something to my neck while running on Wednesday and have had pain in my neck, shoulder and down to my shoulder blade.  I wasn't sure I'd even be able to go.  I finally decided that I'd go even if all I could do was walk.  I was SO disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to run.  I woke up this morning with my neck really hurting a lot and almost decided not to go.  I took a hot shower, took some ibuprofen and put a heating pack on.  It helped a lot.

picking up my t-shirt at registration

I did it!

I ended up going and running at a 30 second ratio.  I had a problem with my 5K app at the beginning of the run and spent some time fiddling with that so I lost some time there...also had to stop to tie my shoe (I even double knotted them).  My goal was to finish in under 40 minutes.  I didn't make it.  I finished in 41:28.   But, I did it!  I'm not really in a hurry to sign up for another one, but I think I will run more races in the future.  I came in 23rd for women (not sure out of how many, but I think there may have only been one other woman runner that came in after me..the others were all walkers.)  Hey, somebody has to be last.  Once my neck feels better I plan to get back to my 10K app.


The kids had fun waiting..there was a bouncy house, face painting and a firetruck to climb into.  They also were holding a blood drive.

Connor

Ellie driving the firetruck

Sadie and Ellie

I was down .4 at Weight Watchers this week.  I still wish the weight would come off a little faster but every week I'm down a little so I guess I can't complain.

Goal for the week: stick to the plan!

Link up your own diet/exercise post over at Sam's Noggin.

Stick with it Saturday

 It's Stick with it Saturday again.  I finally saw a good loss on the scale at Weight Watchers this week and I'm down a total of 78.8 lbs.  I am so close to 80 now I can taste it.  I just keep continuing on the program and slowly, but surely the weight keeps coming off.  I'm still considering dropping out and just doing it on my own, but I'm not sure.

Last week, I couldn't decide if I should continue running with my Jeff Galloway 5K app set to "improve your time" since I finished the entire training program OR switch to the Jeff Galloway 10Kor Half Marathon app.  At first, I thought I'd just try to improve my 5K time but it involves using a track for speed drills etc. and with school starting up and lots of fall sports it will not be easy to find a time that the track will even be available.  So, I ended up purchasing Jeff Galloway's 10K app.  I've done the first two training runs with it.  I am happy that I found these apps because I really love running with them.

The plan for this week is just to stay on track with my program.  I do have to go to a dinner at a Chinese restaurant this week.  I haven't figured out what I'll order to stay on track. I also plan to run every other day (weather permitting) and get a minimum of 10,000 steps on my pedometer every day...except Sunday.  I don't worry if I don't get all of my steps in on Sunday though I do try.

Link up your own diet/exercise post over at Sam's Noggin.

Stick with it Saturday

 It's Stick with it Saturday again.  I've still been going to Weight Watchers and I've been wearing my pedometer and I've been running with my Jeff Galloway 5K app. I actually only have 1 run left on the app.  I should be finishing it today, but it's pouring rain so I'll just wait until the weather improves. It's an 8 week app. At 7 weeks you finish the the 5K training.  The 8th week is a maintenance week.  I am not sure where to go from here.  I can either buy the Jeff Galloway 10K app or the Half Marathon app or I can just start over with the 5K app using the "improve your time" feature which really makes the app almost brand new again.

I've lost 77.2 lbs which is down .6 from last week.  I'm still feeling frustrated at losing so slowly.  I know that it is the "right" way etc. I just feel frustrated.  At WW they say you can expect to lose .5 to 2 lbs a week.  Why do I have to be the one to lose less than a lb a week??  I have been contemplating not going to WW anymore.  While I do love it, it is very expensive and with school starting again I'm not sure how I'm going to fit the meetings in.  It's something I am trying to figure out.  I don't really feel that I need the weekly accountability honestly. Not sure what I'm going to do. I think I'm already paid up until the beginning of October so I guess I can see how it works the next few weeks and then make my decision.

Link up your own diet/exercise post over at Sam's Noggin.

Stick with It Saturday

It's Saturday and time for a Stick with it Saturday post. I lost .8 at Weight Watchers this week which was a pleasant surprise since I thought I hadn't lost.  Last  week I mentioned that my shin hurt.  After my run last Saturday I was in a lot of pain for a couple of days.  I ended up taking 4 days off from running.  I've done 2 pretty easy runs since and am doing OK.  My leg didn't hurt at all after I ran last night.  I really love using Jeff Galloway's Easy 5 K app. I am able to continue running but lessen the intensity and it just makes it fun.

Sunday- 2.62 miles on my pedometer- surprising since it hurt so much to walk

Monday-4.76 miles on my pedometer

Tuesday-3 miles on my pedometer.

Wednesday- 3.43 miles on my pedometer (including a short run)

Thursday-7.18 miles on my pedometer. We took a 3 mile walk on the beach.  My shin hurt when we got home but after putting ice on it I was fine.

Friday- 7.0 miles on the pedometer.  We went to a historical museum in the morning and I ran at night.  This makes it easy to accumulate lots of steps.

Saturday- No planned exercise.  I hope to accumulate a minimum of 10,000 steps today.

Link up your own diet/exercise post over at Sam's Noggin.

Stick With It Saturday

It's Saturday and time for a Stick with it Saturday post. I lost another 1.2 this week!  I have almost reached 2 WW milestones and will likely get 2 stickers at my next meeting (2 weeks from now since I go on Wednesdays and this week is the 4th of July.)  I am all about the little rewards.

Oh and I went down another pants size too!

Sunday- 6 miles on my pedometer including a C25K run

Monday- 4.57 miles on my pedometer. I was having some sciataca pain and needed to take it easy for a few days.

Tuesday-3.75 miles on my pedometer. Still having some sciataca pain and needed to take it easy for a few days.  I was worried about losing all I had built up to in running and wondered if I would  be able to run again.

Wednesday-4.11 miles including the first day of the Jeff Galloway 5K program.  (more on that in a minute)

Thursday-4.4 miles on my pedometer

Friday-  Did a Jeff Galloway 5K training program.  I ran/walked 2.5 miles then I walked home 2.5 miles.  I also swam for 20 minutes and ended the day with over 15,000 steps (over 6 miles) on my pedometer.

Saturday- I have no formal plans for exercise today.

So, I have been spending some time reading about running.  I came across the Jeff Galloway method for running and was very intrigued.  I ordered one of his books from the library and after reading half of the book I got the 5K app for my iPod Touch.  I have had a bit of trouble familiarizing myself with it and yesterday when I ran I ended up doing something to it and had to do part of one day and then start another day.  I also downloaded the music that comes with the app but I hate it.  I think I figured out how to get it to just play my music now.

One of the really cool features of this app is that it takes your music and syncs it to the beat you should be running to.  I love that!  I also like how it tells you how many minutes have passed at each minute.  I ran less total time today but I'm sure I covered more ground because I took walking breaks.  It was wonderful.  I am very excited about the possibilities with this method of running.  My last C25K run had me running 10 minutes with a 5 minute walking break and then another 10 minute run.  It was ROUGH.  But today I went further and didn't feel half as exhausted. I honestly cannot wait until my next run.  Who'da thought??

Link up your own diet/exercise post over at Sam's Noggin.