Injuries Injuries ... whats going on.

I have not been able to train regularly because of the problem with my heel. Now I all of the sudden have an issue with my lower back. I can barely get out of a sitting position. Going to the chiropractor tomorrow I got to get back to some serious running soon.

Turkey Trot 5k Run

I was so excited to run another 5k yesterday. I was excited to try and better my time from the first one I ran almost a month ago and also the fact that I would feel invigorated and a lot better about all the food I was going to eat.  ( LOL)! Well those were the emotions I was feeling leading up to yesterday. However once in the midst of the run I had quite a few different thoughts.

They were as follows: 

1. Holy Moly its starting to rain and its cold

2. Oh NO I made a fatal mistake trying to start this fast and I am already tired. 

3. Dang it there is a hill.

4. Dang it I am having to really huff it to get up this hill.

5. What?! Another hill .... 

6. Oh my goodness I am crazy for trying this after no training for 2 weeks because of an injury. 

7. WOW I am getting passed by alot of old people ...

8. Dang it another hill. 

Well when it was all over I have to say that, I was glad it was all over. (LOL)  I have to say my fear of hills is gone as I was faced head on with the toughest run I have had to date. Glad I finished again with no walking. 

Looking forward to losing more weight and getting faster. 

Be blessed everyone. 

Injuries are no fun

Well this past Saturday was the end of my original program. I had to take a day off running due to a temporary injury. It feels a lot better and so today I was going to start a new program but decided to still take it a little easy. So I only ran 20 minutes. It felt incredibly good though to run and get my cardio up but not be so exhausted at the end. I decided that maybe I have been pushing to hard so I am going to work on speed not distance. With more speed you cannot help but go longer distances but I have been learning that its best to gain mileage from building speed not just pushing yourself to just gain distance. I am running that Turkey trot next week so I am hoping I build some speed and push for a much better time then the last 5k I ran. 

We will see. 

A little bummed ...

Very excited that I finished the Couch to 5k program. Unfortunately I pushed a little too hard the last week and especially the last day. I ended up with a temporary injury and now have to lay off running for a few days until I get some healing in my foot.  I have a 5k coming up on Thanksgiving Day and am really bummed I cannot train for it but maybe the break will be good for me. I am still working on cardio on an elliptical which does not cause pain to my foot so hopefully I wont lose any endurance during this down time.

Week 9 Day 3 Complete! Couch to 5k Complete! WOW!

I am so proud of myself. In the past I would not want to say I am proud because I never want to come across arrogant or conceded but with this I don't care how I sound. I know how hard I worked and how hard I pushed when no one but me and God knew what was going on. I ran in the rain and when I was running a fever and in the freezing cold. I never missed a run out of 27 workouts. I never stopped to walk during run sessions and I never tried to shortcut.

I have already ran one 5k two weeks before finishing and will be running another 2 weeks after finishing. How about that I will have gone from a couch potato to having finished two 5k runs after 11 weeks. The fun part is I get to try and beat my time from last time which will have been 4 weeks prior to running the second one.

Anyone out there reading this who may think they could not do this, you can. I will tell you this. You have to put your mind to it. You have to make the decision at the very beginning before you start that there is nothing that will prevent you from doing this. I told so many people that I was going to this before I started that I would have felt pathetic to not given it my all at least 1 or 2 weeks. The accountability really helped. Once I finished the first week there was no going back. 9 weeks later I have lost 14 pounds and a lot of inches.

I started this at 240 pounds and finishing it at 226. No one can tell me that they can't do this. I mean 226 pounds is still very heavy and today on my graduation run I ran 4 miles just to see if i could on my last day. I was so excited. 4 miles has always been what I looked so forward to seeing when I log my runs. I have achieved so much more than I could have dreamed.

Duration: 45:47
Pace: 11:15 (Fastest Ever)
Distance: 4.07 miles
Calories: 586

I am going to continue to blog my running journey. My long term big goal right now is to run the NYC Marathon in 2012 ..... Can't wait!

Come on lace up those shoes and lets run for our life!

I am so proud of myself. In the past I would not want to say I am proud because I never want to come across arrogant or conceded but with this I don't care how I sound. I know how hard I worked and how hard I pushed when no one but me and God knew what was going on. I ran in the rain when I was running a fever and in the freezing cold. I never missed a run out of 27 workouts. I never stopped to walk during run sessions. I never tried to shortcut. 

I have already ran one 5k two weeks before finishing and will be running another 2 weeks after finishing. How about that I will have gone from a couch potato to having finished two 5k runs after 11 weeks. The fun part is I get to try and beat my time from last time which will have been 4 weeks prior to running the second one. 

Anyone out there reading this who may think they could not do this, you can. I will tell you this. You have to put your mind to it. You have to make the decision at the very beginning before you start that there is nothing that will prevent you from doing this. I told so many people that I was going to this before I started that I would have felt pathetic to not given it my all at least 1 or 2 weeks. The accountability really helped. Once I finished the first week there was no going back. 9 weeks later I have lost 14 pounds and a lot of inches. 

I started this at 240 pounds and finishing it at 226. No one can tell me that they can't do this. I mean 226 pounds is still very heavy and I can run 3 1/2 miles without stopping ... well actually today I ran 4 just to see if i could on my last day. I was so excited. 4 miles has always been what I looked so forward to seeing when I log my runs. I have achieved so much more than I could have dreamed. 

Come on lace up those shoes and lets run for our life! 

Graduation Day tomorrow!

I cannot wait to get out there tomorrow and run my last day of this program. I am so excited to finish! I am more excited that I will continue to run after this. I am hooked and what a way to see progress in fitness as you can run faster and longer over time. It is truly rewarding.

Week 9 Day 2 ..... 1 more run day!

I pushed myself to run my first mile faster today and then settled in to a comfortable pace for the rest of the run. I am training for another 5k on Thanksgiving Day. I am so excited this 9 week program is called "Couch to 5k" and in 7 weeks I ran a 5k and now in week 11 I will be running another. My life has been changed forever. One more run day and I will have successfully completed the 9 week program without missing one workout. I ran in the cold in the pouring rain and one day was running a low grade fever with my whole body aching. I am so happy and proud. 

Week 9 Day1 !!!

I am so excited to write today. This is the beginning of week 9. I ran my fastest 3.1 miles today beating my 5k time in Charlotte. Those of you who have been following me from the beginning of the journey may remember that this program is 9 weeks long. It is called "Couch to 5k" and in 9 weeks works you up to running a 5k which is 3.1 miles. I actually was up to 2.5 miles at the end of week 7 and there was a 5k a relative invited me to run so I tried it. I made it and it was a blast. From that day I have not ran less then 3 miles on my running days. This week was when the 3 miles was supposed to begin on my workouts so I started a whole week early.. I am very proud of that. I am also proud to be in week 9 and to be 2 workout days away from completing the whole program. Extremely excited to write about the last day when completed.

Be blessed !

Week 8 Complete!

Well I finished week 8. I had to run after work today. It is Saturday and got off at 1:30 but still not my preference. I like running in the morning. Quickly felt very tired. Got comfortable breathing though after a while. Ran 3.125 miles even though this says 3.66 because my tracker is a little off. I need to calibrate it soon. It was tough today at times. At the end though for the last tenth of a mile or so I sprinted and it felt good to lengthen my stride. I wish I could run like that the whole time. Well next week is the end of the 9 week program. I am just now supposed to start 3 miles and I have been doing it for a week and a day. Thats good I guess. I feel like my times are so slow though. I hope that my times get quicker soon so I can see some progress in that area.

Be blessed everyone.

Week 8 Day 2

Hello everyone. Good day to you all. Today was my second day of week 8. I have been wanting to change up my workouts on days I am not running and I have wanted to add some strength training to my run days as well.. I thought I should probably get my membership to the gym back especially now I have shown my faithfulness to fitness. So yesterday when I heard about the rain for today I decided I am so done with running in the rain so I called up my local fitness center and signed back up. (probably the 5th time in 3 or 4 years... LOL) So this morning my run was on the treadmill. I ran another 5k distance (3.1 miles). Some people say outside is harder because you don't have the belt pulling your feet back and its all you but I felt like the treadmill challenged me because once I defined the speed there is not the option of slowing down without manually changing the speed which keeps you accountable for slacking off as well as annoying. Overall today felt pretty good. The gym for me gives a refreshing experience because it lets me forget I live in such a small depressed county for an hour. I know that sounds crazy but it is so true. I am very impressed with some new changes there as well. If you are local to Rutherford County you should go check out Lifestyles Wellness and Spa. I appreciate their focus on excellence.

Week 8 Day 1

Well the 5k Saturday went much better then expected. It was a very fun experience. This week the schedule says I am to run 2.75 miles all three days of this week. I was dreading that last week.  Today I ran downtown Forest City. The scenery does help the time go by. I thought since I ran 3.1 miles Saturday at the 5k surely I could do it today. So I did. I exceeded my workout and ran 3.1 miles today after dreading this week. It was tougher and took longer cause I had a couple hills but it was good overall. A little less then 2 weeks left in the program and I will have officially finished the program start to finish without missing a single workout day despite the cold mornings and rain. I am excited as I see the end nearing.