This week I’m feeling much better.  I actually didn’t have a Weight Watchers (yet) meeting this week.  My usual meeting is at the church my mom attends.  This week is the parish retreat so everything that’s usually held at the church during the week (Weight Watchers, scouts, etc.) was cancelled.  My usual leader does a meeting a couple blocks from my office at noon on Fridays so I am planning to attend her meeting tomorrow.

I also ran this evening for the first time in 10 days.  It was a short and easy paced run.  I was trying to determine if I could/ should go ahead and run the half marathon I never actually told you all I’m signed up for on Saturday.  I was already doing the bare minimum as far as training goes, and combined that with the fact that I’ve been sick at least half of this month, I wasn’t entirely confident in my abilities.  I was also concerned about over-doing it and undoing all of this week’s recovery.  There was also that pesky 3 hour time limit that had me worrying.

After much deliberation this afternoon, I decided that the 3 hours time limit and under training aren’t good enough excuses.  I finished my first half in 3 hours, and despite my barely adequate training for this race, I’m still in better shape than I was going into that first 13.1.  As far as the making myself sicker goes, I’m feeling almost 100% again.  I decided I would run tonight and as long as I was okay, I would race.  I didn’t want to die so it’s on.  I’m also pretty sure it’s going to be on via 5 minute/ 1 minute run/ walk intervals.  Since I am under trained, I think this may be my best approach for a reasonable time and not injury myself or overdoing it.

So there you have it.  Saturday morning I will be running the Fucking Freezing Frozen Lake Half Marathon.  (And if we’re being perfectly honest here, my decision was at least 57.4% influenced by the fact that I want that finishers medal.  Seriously, click the link and check it out.)

I came across this article (That one, above, click the link and read.  I’ll wait.) today which I found really interesting.  There’s a new law in Georgia intended to combat childhood obesity.  Students will be weighed in PE classes, and their BMI information will be sent home to their parents.  The information is also being reported to the state.  There’s definitely an element of privacy/ personal rights and responsibility here, but that’s not something I really see as a huge issue.  In the age of Facebook, Twitter, and the airing of your personal business all over the internet, I often struggle to buy into the invasion of privacy argument.  I’m not saying that isn’t a concern for some: just that it’s not a concern for me.  My concern is whether or not this is an effective method or a wasted effort.

I tend to agree with one of the individual, Randy Weiner, who was quoted in the article.  I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad law, particularly because the information is being provided to parents not the children themselves.  I think the intention is good, but ultimately I don’t think it will be highly effective.  If the parent’s don’t value good health and nutrition then giving them information about their child’s BMI probably isn’t going to change much.

While I think much of the responsibility for childhood obesity falls to the parent’s, I do think schools can impact change.  Personally, I think the more effective way for schools to combat childhood obesity is through education, better nutrition in school lunches, and increase activity for students.  Those are the kind of laws I would like to see passed because those are the kind of laws I think would have the biggest impact overall.

Honestly, I don’t think there’s any sort of “quick-fix” or immediate way to reduce childhood obesity.  Obesity in general is deeply ingrained in our current culture, and I think it order to really impact change, we need to be focusing on more long-term efforts like educating our children so they can, hopefully, grow into healthy(ier) adults and raise children who are healthier than they were.

What do you think?  Do you think this is a good law?  Do you think it’s an effective way to impact change in the current childhood obesity rates?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Reflections

I don’t have much to say about the gain itself.  There’s a high probably it’s a direct result of the fact that I was wearing workout pants rather than the Old Navy compression capris I usually wear for weigh in.  That said, even though this .4lb gain probably wasn’t a “real” gain, I don’t expect I would have seen a loss this week regardless of the pants I was wearing.

First of all, I went a little overboard this past weekend at the boy’s annual Festivus party.  All the Jameo and ginger ale certainly didn’t encourage the scale to move in a downward manner.  I didn’t track a good chunk of the weekend which is always a kiss of death for me.  Along with just plain not tracking, I also did a lot of “secret eating” over the past week.  It wasn’t so much that I was activity hiding the fact that I was eating so much as it was self-denial.  I would “forget” about things I ate and not track them.  There was definite undocumented mindless munching happening last week as well.

For this week I’m focusing on dealing with the tracking issues.  In addition to tracking, I’m going to journal my eats – hunger levels, moods, etc.  This requires me to be even more cognizant of what goes into my mouth.

Aside from the tracking and “secret eating” issues, I actually had a pretty good week.

In terms of last week’s goals, I did most of the things I was hoping too.  I averaged 5 a day on my fruits and veggies.  (Some days I was short, but other days I had substantially more.)  I attended the Kettle Bell Intervals class at the gym and did a core strength session; however, I missed my long run because I was really sore from the Kettle Bells class.  I also did a much better job of drinking water on the weekend.  I didn’t actually track so I don’t know how much I drank, but I did go out of my way to drink more water.

I also had a pretty awesome non-scale victory this week.  On Saturday, I went shopping for a dress for my friend Val’s wedding.  Not only was it not the usual soul-crushing experience for me, but I also left the fitting room feeling almost giddy.  I found two dressed both in a size 10!  One of the dresses is a bit tight, but since they were both a great deal, and I only need one to fit right away, I bought both.

Here’s to a fantastic week because I am so ready to see 150lbs!

As I pondered, it became increasingly clear what I wanted 2012 to be all about.  I wanted 2012 to be about learning and growing, expanding my horizons, testing my limits, and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, taking on things that scare me and trying new things.

I actually had a difficult time settling on a single verb, but ultimately it boiled down to one: DARE.

verbal auxiliary

: to be sufficiently courageous to

intransitive verb

: to have sufficient courage

transitive verb

1

a: to challenge to perform an action especially as a proof of courage

b: to confront boldly : defy

2

: to have the courage to contend against, venture, or try

From Merriam-Webster

2012 will be the year I dare myself to take on new experiences, to push myself further, to move beyond my comfort zone, and to have the courage to do things I never thought I’d do.  You know, like sign up for a marathon.

Of course there are other things I will dare to do this year: reach my goal weight, try something different with my running, become a Weight Watchers Lifetime member, stick to a strength training routine, volunteer my time, finish out items on my mission 101 list, and so much more!

At this point, my training plan is basically complete.  I have my mileage and long runs planned out for the next 18 weeks.  I intend to schedule my cross training and strength training month to month or even week to week, and I’m sure even the days I’m running will change from time to time.  I set up my 26.2 training page which has my marathon Google calendar embedded in it.  The calendar on this page should, in theory, update every time I update my Google calendar to schedule my workouts.  I will also be archiving my Marathon Monday posts on this page.

Moving right along… Since I’m not really into marathon training yet – technically it has started, but I’m actually still in half marathon training for the F^3 Half on January 28^th – I thought this would be a good time to put some of my thoughts, goals, and expectations down on paper…or the internet.

I’m happy to report that for the most part my “oh my god, what have I done” anxiety has settled.  I’m sure it’ll be back in a month or two when I’m facing new personal distance record runs, but for now I’m feeling good.  I’ve received tremendous amounts of support from everyone which has really helped bolster my confidence.  I was super nervous to tell Laura I had signed up because, in my mind, telling Laura made it really real.  However, she was so supportive and excited for me that I actually felt less anxious over all.  My training and racing buddy and I have been emailing back and forth.  We’ve found a good location for us to meet up for long runs.  I feel like there is plan for success in place, and now all I need to do is stick to the plan.

I don’t have a lot of expectations for myself in this race which is kind of nice.  I’m sure it will also be a great source of anxiety at some point.  I know training will be a challenge.  I know it will require a level of self-discipline that I know is there but doesn’t always show itself.  I know sticking out this training and finishing the race will be something I’ll never forget and be proud of forever.  I know training and the race itself will have its share of twists and turns and emotional ups and downs.  I’m sure there will be Friday night’s that I am terrified of the next day’s long run.  I’m sure there will be long runs where I feel great and long runs where I just want to give up and die.  I’m sure of a lot of things, but I’m also sure that I’m not really sure of anything at all.

As I mentioned in my post on Saturday, my only real goal for this race is to finish all 26.2 miles without dying or seriously injuring myself along the way.  There are definitely two major sub-goals that go along with just getting my ass across that finish line.  The biggest of these sub-goals is consistent training.  During my Dallas 13.1 training I definitively learned that consistency is key with training.  I’ve never seen such improvements in my running as I did during that training.  I’ve been running long enough to know that good, consistent training is enough to get you across the finish line of any race.  The other big sub-goal is incorporating cross training and strength training.  Consistent training will get my across the finish line, but cross training and strength training should help me get there injury free.  My goal is, time permitting, 2 – 3 days of cross training/ strength training.  I can already tell it’s going to be a bit of a challenge learning to balance this with my running so I’m not making myself too tired or sore to tackle my running.

One challenge I do expect to face, at least initially, is slowing down.  I’m by no means a Kenyan and I won’t be winning awards anytime soon, but I definitely picked up my pace in the last half of 2011.  I can pretty easily maintain a 10:00 minute/mile pace for 5 – 6 miles.  It takes effort, but I can do it with confidence.  I finished Dallas at just under a 10:30 minute/ mile pace.  However, I have absolutely no intention or desire to run this marathon that quickly.  I believe the goal pace is somewhere around 12:30 minute/ mile.  Again, my goal is to finish, and I feel like in order for that to be realistic, I need to slow it down.  I can worry about speed and PRs and time should I decide to do a second marathon.  However, sometimes slowing it down can be just as hard as trying to speed it up.  I’m definitely going to need to pay attention to my pacing.

Those are just some of my initial thoughts: things that have been floating around in my mind for the last week and a half.  I’m sure there will be much more marathon related word vomit to come.  I don’t know much about being a marathon runner, but one thing I know for sure is it’s going to be one hell of a ride to 26.2.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Please, take a moment to collect yourself and pick your jaw up off the floor.  Grab mine while you’re down there too please.

I know I’ve said it time and time again; I really enjoy the half marathon distance, but I’m just not interested in completing a full.  In fact, I’m quite sure the word “never” has left my mouth more than once.  I just couldn’t picture myself running for 5 – 6 hours straight.  (I still can’t actually.)  Then a couple months ago, actually it was the day I received the email announcing registration for the 2012 race was open, I started kicking around the idea of doing a full – particularly the Wisconsin Marathon.

I really loved the WI race last year: the course, the crowd (runners and non-runners), the scenery, the small size, the low cost, the bad ass medal, etc.  I couldn’t recommend this race enough to other runners.  I felt like the Wisconsin Marathon would be a great race for a first 26.2.  Michelle tried to convince me for a bit on Twitter, but I still wasn’t sold.

The Christmas happened.  The boy’s cousin Kira is a runner, and we started talking shop.  She’d been considering the Wisconsin Marathon, and just like before, I couldn’t say enough good things about it.  By the time we started talking about the race it was late and I’d had a long day, but I don’t think we ever actually discussed the idea of running the full together.  We talked about me potentially running that half again but not the full.  However, I continued thinking about our conversation.  The more I thought about it, the more I was seriously considering it.  The idea of running 26.2 miles with someone is less intimidating than running it alone.  So I hopped on Facebook and asked Kira what her expect pace and finish time were.  A few Facebook messages were exchanged, things started falling in place, and the next thing I knew I was dropping my $68 registration fee on Wednesday night.

I am incredibly nervous.  Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure my brain has actually accepted the fact that this is happening.  I’m still in holy-shit-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into mode.  I am also incredibly excited.  I have absolutely no expectations for this race.  My only goal is to finish without killing myself.

I’m currently working on my training schedule.  To steal Kira’s term, I’m “Frankensteining” together a plan using her plan, the Hal Higdon Novice plans, and the plan that the Runner’s World Smart Coach website put together for me.  My plan is to run 3 – 4 days a week. Right now I’m thinking I’m going to alternate 3 day weeks with 4 day weeks. If I run more than that I start to get a lot of soreness/ pain in my knee.  I also really hope to incorporate some solid cross training and strength training for this since that’s always the weak point in my training plans.  My goal is to focus on well-rounded, consistent training without overtraining.  Since my goal only goal is to finish without severe injury,  I definitely think strength training and cross training become key elements.  Kira and I are also planning to meet up for as many long runs as possible which I hope will really help keep me motivated and on track.

I do plan on tracking my training and progress on the little ole blog here, but I haven’t quite decided how.   In any case, things are probably going to get pretty running-centric around here for the next 18 weeks.

You have been warned.

In 2011…

…I wanted to dedicate myself to my health which I definitely did in the second half of the year when I joined Weight Watchers and started seriously working toward finally reaching my goal weight.  I finished the year feeling pretty damn good about my progress and myself.

…I wanted to dedicate myself to fitness and running.  Exercise and fitness is always my biggest struggle.  I set goals.  I flake out on goals.  I set high expectations, and fall short.  However, despite my many failed fitness challenges throughout 2011, I still feel like I did manage to truly dedicate myself.  In May, I finished the Wisconsin Half Marathon, crushing my PR by nearly 25 minutes.  In October, I finished Dallas 13.1 knocking another 10 minutes off my PR with a finishing time of 2:24:22.  Then there was my almost 5K PR in April, my definite 5K PR in October, and knocking out my goal of a sub-28 minute 5K a short time later.   I know all of these PRs are a direct result of my increasing dedication to training and fitness in general.  Even fitness challenge failures still have a positive impact.

…I wanted to dedicate time to myself.  I don’t think I did this in quite the way I intended when I set the goal a year ago.  When I set this goal I was thinking about taking time to sit around by myself doing nothing; however, I think I did even better than that.  Dedicating myself to my health and my running was dedicating time to myself.  I dedicated to my Weight Watcher’s meetings every week regardless of what was going on.  I dedicated myself to hours of running, usually alone, when I’d rather be sleeping or hanging out.  I dedicated myself to going to bed early getting adequate sleep most nights.  I used my commute “wisely” to read more than 45 books this year.

…I wanted to dedicate time to my blog.  This is one area I really do feel like I fell short.  I truly enjoy blogging, but I also find myself consistently struggling with it.  A lack of inspiration/ motivation to write, a failure to prioritize writing posts, and at time a complete disconnect with my purpose.  I feel like I’m constantly working and reworking my blog without ever really making progress.  I get frustrated because I feel like I should have figured it out by now, after 2 years.  There will be more to come on this though.

…I wanted to dedicate myself to growing up.  This is another thing that didn’t happen in quite the way I expected, but I feel like I left 2011 more mature and ready to really move forward into “adulthood.”  And honestly, I don’t think I could adequately explain myself much further on this one,  so I’m going to leave it at that.

Honestly, I haven’t made a ton of progress on my 2012 goals.  I wasn’t even sure how I planned on approaching them.  But after writing this post and really looking back at 2011, I think choosing a verb was a great plan which I intend to do again this year.  I’ll be back with my 2012 verb in the next week or so.

Reflections

I’d like to say that this loss is a result of being exceedingly focused and disciplined over the last two weeks, but truth be told, that’s more than likely a lie.  I’m fairly certain the loss is a direct result of dehydration and lack of food thanks to being sick as a dog over the weekend.  Today is the first day I feel truly human since last Friday.  (This is also part of the reason for the complete lack of 2011 review/ 2012 goals posts.  The other part of that is I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about myself, my blog, and my goals.)  So, while I’ll gladly accept this loss, I don’t feel like I can really take credit for it.

There were definitely positives and negatives over the last two weeks.

+     I did track at least some of my food every day.

-          I didn’t do as well with the booze control as I would have liked.  (Especially on NYE)

+     I got back in the gym (thanks to it finally opening!)  I had my first session with my trainer last Thursday, and I tried a new class (kettlebell intervals) which definitely left me extra sore this past weekend!  I definitely got some quality activity points in.

+     I did really well avoiding all of the sweets and treats that came into the office.  I only “cracked” once.  Considering the amount of stuff that comes through my office throughout the month of December, this is quite a feat.

-          I definitely got a bit out of control with my snacking and indulgences between Christmas and New Year’s.  This was partially due to PMS but I definitely could have controlled myself better – or gotten rid of the temptation (aka stocking full of candy.)  This led me to being over my points on several days.

Despite how terrible being sick actually was, I’m kind of grateful for it.  In a way, it was sort of a forced restart.  With all the indulgences of the holidays – even when you practice moderation and rein it in – it can still be hard to “get back on track.”  I’ve found that when it comes to junk food, particularly sugar, the more I have it, the more I want it.  If I can kick the sweets for a few days, I become uninterested in them.  I wasn’t interested in food of any sort on Sunday, Monday and most of Tuesday so I really feel like I have a “clean slate” for the New Year.

So while I don’t feel I can claim credit for this week’s loss, I do plan to claim credit for keeping it off come weigh in next week.  I also plan to lose a little more next week.  I’m focusing on the idea of a clean slate and getting back to basics with a few small goals this week.

1. 5 servings of fruits and veggies per day – minimum
2. Attend 1 class at the gym, do one strength training session, and run my long run
3. Track daily
4. Drink a minimum of 80 ounces of water on Saturday and Sunday.  I’m great at drinking water during the week, but I always slack on the weekends.

Next week is the final meeting of this session so I’d love to end it with at least 5 lbs lost for the session.

Last week’s weight: 152.6lbs
This week’s weight: 153lbs
Change: +.4lbs
Total Loss: -11.8lbs, this session: -3.8 lbs

Reflections

So, weigh in…  Obviously there was a gain.  I know that .4lbs is nothing.  I also know that it was most likely water weight since I was feeling super bloated Monday and Tuesday morning.  I spent all day Tuesday drinking water and trying to flush out the bloat.

However, in the interest of owning my negative emotions and learning to be a little harder on myself, I was incredibly pissed off and frustrated by this gain.  The previous week I finished with my total points in the red.  I had negative points, and I still lost 1.2 pounds.  This week I still had at least 10 points left, and I gained .4lbs?  what.the.hell.  I’m not trying to beat myself up over .4lbs, but I do want to reflect on last week, see what I can do differently this week, and set my goals accordingly.

The one major thing I noticed was I drank a lot more than usual last week.  I had a beer on four different days.  It’s not like I went crazy or something; it’s just that it was a lot more than normal.  So this week, it’s no booze.  Truthfully, this shouldn’t be a problem for me as I’m not a big drinker anyway.  I have no issue turning down drinks at parties and social settings as long as I don’t have one.  I can have one beer while watching a game at home or even at a bar, but for some reason once I have one drink in a larger social/ party setting, I have a lot more trouble saying no to the next one.  And while I could have one beer watching the game at home or at the bar, I don’t really feel it’s necessary.

The other thing I want to do is make sure I stick to my 26 daily points every day except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Last week, I was over my daily points most days – mostly as a result of the drinking – even though I did have a small balance of weekly points left.   I know there’s no way I’ll stick to 26 points on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but I can mitigate that damage the rest of the days this week.  It seems that for me, things work out best when I use my extra points in one fell swoop rather than little by little over the course of the week.

I also need to get my activity points in this week.  Last week I came in shy of my goal of 25, but this week there’s no excuse.  I have tomorrow and Monday off work and my gym (allegedly) finally opens on Monday.  I have plenty of time to do some epic work-outs.  I’d like to hit 25 activity points for sure if not 30 this week.

My meeting is “going dark” next week so I probably won’t have a weigh in post next week unless I find another meeting/ location that works for me, but I will come back and set some goals for the following week.

I’m still struggling with the fitness side of the challenge.  Remember back in, like, September when I joined a gym that was supposed to be opening in mid- to late November?  Well, November came and went and the gym hadn’t opened.  However, I was then told the grand opening date would be December 15^th.  So, truth be told, I planned this challenge around the expectation that my gym would be open for at least half the month of December.  This was where I was planning to get most of my strength training and cross training done.  Well, it’s not December 20^th and this gym still is not open.  I called the location, and they told me it would be open this Thursday.  I emailed X-Sport corporate, and they told me the 26^th.   In any case, the point is that I’d been counting the gym to be open and it isn’t which means I’ve had to get creative on my cross training and strength training.  I’ve been taking the dog on longer evening walks, and I’ve been running up and down the stairs in my condo at the suggestion of Laura.  (I’m also pretty sure my neighbors think I’m bat-shit crazy.)

The one area I’m lacking in most is miles run which is a bit ironic as I figured that would be a piece of cake goal.  I’m trying to be positive about it, but I think it’s almost unrealistic to hit that goal at this point…at least without injuring myself.  Oh well, I’m going to try.  The month ain’t over yet.

The Goals

1. Run 75 miles – 15/75 (20%)
2. Cross Train 250 minutes – 115/250 (46%)
3. Strength Train 150 minutes – 40 /150 (27%)
4. Hold a 2 minute plank – 45 seconds
5. 2 “real” push-ups – I can get halfway down and back up twice
6. Hold a 90 second wall squat – 45 seconds
7. Track food/ points 25 complete days – 19/25 (76%)
8. Make 15 new healthy recipes from my cookbook stash – 7/15 (47%)
9. 160 servings of fruits and veggies. – 100/160 (63%)