Since today is the end of the month, I won't post my weekly weigh in now. Instead, I will cover everything in my monthly update tomorrow.
I'm sure you have all been on pins and needles waiting to hear about my official Cowtown 5K time. :) Well, I mentioned that I was quite sure I beat my last time, but I wasn't sure by how much. Well, the results are in! My time at the Jingle Bell Run 5K in early December was 44:21. It wasn't a particularly challenging course as it was mostly flat. My goal was to beat that time by 30 seconds, so 43:51.
I think I told you in my last post about how much more challenging this course was. It was the hardest I have done (thanks to the hills of Louisville, KY), but the entire first mile was uphill! My gun time (the time from when the gun went off to when I crossed the finish line) was 44:02. So I did indeed beat my last time even by the gun. However, my chip time (the time from when I crossed the start line to when I crossed the finish line) was 42:26! Not only did I meet my goal, I smashed it!! I beat my last time by 1:55 and not on a flat course! My time equates to 13:36 per mile. Since I started around 16 minute miles and I could only run one (less than a year ago!), I'm so proud I just can't even tell you. Here is a pic of Katrina and me at post-race breakfast.
Don't you love the sexy midriff sweat stain?!?! My next 5K is on May 1 which is still 2 months away. I would really like to run it in 42 minutes flat or at least 13:30 pace.
New topic: hair and makeup. I have really started to like my short hair. However, it is HORRIBLE for working out (and trying to go back to work after.) When my hair was longer, I could put it up in the afternoon after a workout, but now it just lays there and drips. Awesome. So I either have to grow it back out or chop it off.
For those of you that remember how devastated I was when I first got my haircut, you may be surprised that I'm leaning toward chopping it off...Natalie Portman style. I think it looks better on skinny mini girls, but I figure I can just do it for the summer, get to my goals by Fall, then start growing it back out to this length for winter. While I will always continue my evening and weekend workouts, I think that when I reach goal, I might not do the ones at lunch. So, the hair won't be as big of an issue. We'll see.
Anyway, my point is this. One of my biggest concerns is looking like a boy. If I'm going to have super short hair, I need to learn to apply makeup. I think it looks so pretty when a girl has a severely short haircut, but beautifully made up eyes. I went to the MAC counter at Nordstrom, stocked up on supplies and had a lesson. It's so funny, because at first, I felt one (very classy) step from a hooker all made up like that. But then I got used to it and I felt kind of sexy. I took a picture to post for you and what cracks me up is that you really can't tell in the picture. I mean you can tell I have on makeup, but it just looks normal. Well, except for a little bit of crazy eye I have going on trying to ensure I don't blink when the camera flashes. :)
Last night I picked up Kat and Thomas and we drove to Ft. Worth to pick up our Cowtown 5K packets. It was a bit of a drive during Friday night rush hour (especially for a 10 year old) so I made up a game and they had to find words on signs that start with each letter of the alphabet in order. Q and Y were tough and I don't think we ever found Z. Ha! I relented on X and they just had to find it somewhere in the word. I'm nice like that.
We came back home and met Cori for dinner at Chili's. In the spirit of having a great, non-cheat weekend, I had a 1/2 rack of ribs with black beans. I only ate 1/2 of the portion, so it was very calorie effective. I totally wanted to go for ice cream after but we refrained. We dropped Thomas back at home and Kat & I headed back to my apartment.
We were up bright and early. Quite possibly the BEST NEWS OF THE WEEKEND, Kat informs me that I do not snore at all. How awesome is that?? I have had sleep issues forever and now it really looks like they are going away. This alone would make the whole band experience AND tonsillectomy worth it.
We made our way to the 5K start and got in line with about 12 minutes to wait. Once it started, we slowly weaved through traffic. I run around 14 minute miles, so I started in the 11+ section. It amazes me how many slower people start closer to the front. I HATE to slow people down so I really try to start back and stay out of the fast folks way. I guess not everyone feels that way. Plus, it bugs me when walkers walk 3 and 4 people across. I'm not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but I like to do my best.
Anyway, the first mile sucked. I think I didn't stretch out well and was all tensed up. At the first mile marker, I told Kat to run ahead. She was having a hard time staying back with me anyway and I wanted her to do her best. At that point, I started loosening up (and the course started going downhill), so I felt so much better. From mile 1 to about mile 2.5, I felt good. That last half mile or so was tough again. I usually run 2-2.5 miles in my workouts so my body was expecting it to be over. Ha!
I could see the finish line and just had no kick left in me. My goal was to finish in 43:51 which was 30 seconds quicker than the last one. I knew I was sucking wind and there was no way. As I approached the finish, I heard a girl tell her friend she was going to finish in under 45 minutes. I glanced at the clock and it said 43:45. I found a turbo in me that I had no idea existed. I saw the clock pass 43:51, so I'm guessing my gun time was around 44:10. But my chip time should be less than that!! I feel like without a doubt, I beat my last time. I just have to get the official time. Monday, I will post pictures and let you know my time! :)
We stopped for breakfast on the way home. I splurged just a little and got a small orange juice and a skillet meal that had ham, onions, mushrooms, potatoes, cheese, & over medium eggs. I ate roughly half of the portion. After breakfast, I got a Starbucks Skinny Vanilla Latte and started catching up on my blog reading.
Last note: I have new upstairs neighbors. When I first moved in, I had a very quiet girl. When she moved out, she was replaced with the loudest family ever. They were up at 5am every morning and up until 2am every night. It was exhausting. When they moved out, I practically threw a party! It has been blissfully quiet for months. A new family moved in last night with at least one child. They are loud walkers and make a lot of noise during the day, but they seemed to wind down by 11pm last night. If they are quiet from 11pm-6am, I will try not to complain about anything else.
Have a super weekend, everyone!!
Hugs!
Tomorrow is the Cowtown 5K and I'm excited! I'm running with my friend's 15 year old daughter. Tonight I'm picking up Kat and her brother Thomas and we are going to go pick up our packets for the race. Then we will join my BFF Cori for dinner after. I'm still committed to my two week food focus (thank goodness since it is only day #2!!) so hopefully I can steer them somewhere I can get something tasty AND healthy. I will make it work.
Speaking of my food focus, today I am having my leftover Olive Garden for lunch. Turns out my crew went to Boston Market, so I could have eaten healthy out, but I'm proud of myself for eating (AND ENJOYING) my leftovers. Baby steps. By the time I leave here today, I will be under 1000 calories for the day. So as long as I don't go crazy for dinner and eat a Blizzard or something, I should be fine.
** Good News Alert ** I spoke with my sleep doctor's office over the phone yesterday and they told me that there is no need for me to come in to the office, because I NO LONGER HAVE A DIAGNOSIS OF SLEEP APNEA! Can I get a "what, what"? I don't even really know what to do. Ha! I'm no longer sleeping on my CPAP. YAY! I have a really hard time falling asleep, but I think as I get used to it, that will fade. I think I snore during REM sleep, but I'm hoping that additional weight loss will help that as well. Now I will say that I believe that the tonsillectomy had as much to do with this as my weight loss and it certainly makes that whole experience worthwhile. I'm very pleased that many of my health woes are fading!!
I think almost all of my followers are familiar with BYOC. But for the few of you that arent...Drazil is a kickass blogger (that you should be following anyway.) :) Every Friday Drazil posts 5 questions for us all to cut and paste to our blogs to share and learn about each other. She calls it Bring Your Own Crazy and I'm down with it!
1. Are you a heavy or light sleeper?
- Interesting question. I seem to sleep through most disasters, so I'm going to say that I'm a heavy sleeper. Although there are some things that are so minor, yet they wake me up. Based on the results of my sleep study, I wonder if I'm a light sleeper during REM, but heavy during deep sleep. It's hard to completely know when you live by yourself.
2. If you were made into a pofessor for a day, what topic would you lecture on?
- Most of my family are educators. Mom, Dad, aunts, uncles, cousins...all in education. So, naturally it was something I thought about in college. But I don't have the patience for it. If I were to be a professor for a day, I think it would be about history. I love history! I'm such a nerd and I love to fill my head with all sorts of interesting things.
3. What's a skill you've always wanted that you don't currently have?
- I wish I could dance. Not just keep a beat type dance, but So You Think You Can Dance type dancing. When I was little and everyone was dreaming of becoming a famous singer, I would fantasize about being a dancer. In my mind, there was this thing called the American Dance Team that would travel and do shows and I was one of the stars. :) I'm not sure that I have ever told anyone about that. HA!
4. Have you ever been in a real cat fight?
- My first elementary school (yeah, you read that right) was on the wrong side of the tracks. My friend Shanna got into an argument with a couple of girls that turned into a "meet at Lester Square Park after school" sort of thing for the whole class. I was delayed but when I got there Shanna had gone and her grandmother had ran off many of the kids. But there we some left and ready to take out their anger on someone and I was her best friend and the next option. I was holding my own against one of the girls and one of the boys, but then an older boy picked me up and threw me on my bicycle. OUCH. I realized at that point I was more of a lover than a fighter and pretty much avoided confrontation that could get physical after that.
5. Repeat question: Summarize your week in real life and in blog land.
- Blogland is super fun for me. I'm excited about going to BOOBs and am just trying to sort out the roommate situation. I've pretty much stopped watching TV because I'm keeping up with all of your fun postings. That's a good thing!
- Real life is good too. After the 5K tomorrow, I'm going to rest up. Then my BFF Cori and I are gong to see a musical that is a spoof of a Golden Girls episode done by guys in drag. That should be interesting! Then on Sunday, we are going with our friend Ben to a much more classic play that his niece is in. Lots of theater this weekend! I'm two days in to my 14 day food focus committment. So far, so good. One day at a time!
Hugs!
If I am going to reach my goal, I need to lower my calories. Period. I'm doing OKAY with food choices, but in order to meet the aggressive goals that I have set, I need to make GOOD to GREAT food choices. Currently, I average 2,500 calories burned per day and 2,000 consumed per day. That should be a good average for 1 pound loss per week.
It is definitely sustainable, but I would like to do a 2 week push to get to Onederland. So, I have come up with a few ideas.
- Breakfast - I typically have a Smoothie King Chocolate Shredder (311 calories) w/ blueberries (40 calories) and coffee with hazelnut cream (50 calories) for a total of 400 calories for breakfast. The Shredder gives me 39g of protein but I've determined that I get PLENTY of protein throughout the day, so there is no real need for a big time protein drink in the morning. However, a shake works well because I'm sometimes tight AND I go to lunch quite early. So, I ordered the low carb slim fast shakes (190 calories, 20g protein). Hopefully I will like them as is, but I can always add some PB2 for 45 calories. With my coffee I will be at 240-285 calories which will save over 100 calories in that one meal.
- AM Snack - Since I eat lunch early, I don't have a need for a morning snack and that should continue.
- Lunch - when I stay in for lunch, I have no problem staying in the 400-500 calorie range for lunch. However, I go out at least a couple of times a week. Since that is some of my only social contact, I don't want to give it up. So, I will commit to working to find 400-500 calorie meals for lunch. My friends are very good about going places where I can make good choices, I just have to ask. *** Interesting note: today, my lunch plans cancelled on me. I was planning to go to Chili's and get the Guiltless Grill salmon with black beans which is under 400 calories for the whole thing (of which I typically eat 2/3.) Deep breath...I am flexible. My new plans took me to Olive Garden. They have a healthy fare menu and I got Minestrone (100 cal) and Chicken Speidini (460 c) depending what looks best when I get there. I ate about 1/2 of both and brought the other half back for dinner. My goal will be to limit my lunch to 500 calories.
- PM Snack - not cookies. Since Girl Scout cookie time, this has been an issue. My snack for the next two weeks will be a granola bar or greek yogurt (or any other filling item I can find for less than 200 calories. And I will only have this snack on days that I work out. Total for the day thus far: 1000 calories.
- Dinner - I would like to limit my dinner calories to 500. Any ideas? I'm sad to say that dinner is often a bowl of popcorn (475 c). Not horrible, but not really the best choice. I also often get 2 tacos from Taco Bell. I think this meal is where I need to focus most. If anybody has some good options, let me know. I need easy and convenient! Oh, and tasty! :)
- Dessert - if I try to have NO treats after dinner, I usually end up doing something stupid, so I will limit myself to 2 ghirardelli chocolate squares (140 c) Total for the day under this scenario: approx. 1635 calories.
Seeing that I'm averaging 2500 calories burned a day, that is over an 850 calorie deficit each day which amounts to a 1.7 pound loss per week. That is the range I was losing for the first 9 months, I just need to get back there. :)
Food has always been my weakness. But I am committing to two weeks of healthy goodness! Achieving little goals will help get me to where I want to be.
Hugs!
First...Read was so kind to tell me that she received my out of office response yesterday. It turns out that since I have my work email linked to my blog, anyone who comments will get my out of office response when it is on. Ha! Oops...guess I need to work on that. Anyway, if you got that and wondered why... :)
I slept without my CPAP machine again last night. I noticed that my throat hurt a little when I woke up. I'm so used to breathing humidified air that I think it is bothering my throat a little. I actually bought a big humidifier that I used when I was recovering from my tonsillectomy, so I might try firing that up tonight to see if it helps. I had a VERY hard time falling asleep. I think it was partly because I'm used to having the machine and partly because I slept so late yesterday after the sleep study. All in all though today, I don't feel any more tired than I have been feeling. In fact, I feel pretty good today...
Which leads me to my next thought. I hit a mini-milestone today! I'm officially the 2nd lowest weight I've been as an adult. It is kind of complicated but at two different times in my adult life, I dieted down to roughly this weight. In 2005/6, I weighed 203 and in 1999, I weighed 197. This morning, I weighed 202.6. (Sidenote: at first, I tried really hard to avoid saying my actual weight. But now I figure, what the hell. I look good for 200+ pounds!) Anyway...yay! 2.7 pounds and I'm in Onederland. 3 pounds from that and I will officially be the smallest I have ever been as an adult.
Since I'm feeling so good today, I set some weight goals. They are kind of aggressive, but I need a push. I really want to be to my goal weight next year. My next goal will be to be at 199.9 by 3/5. That only gives me a little over a week, but I think with a little extra push this weekend I should be able to do it. I'm usually pretty lax on the weekend which is my biggest problem. I'm not saying I will be good EVERY weekend, but I WILL be good this weekend.
I worked out at lunch today. Since I have my 5K on Saturday, I didn't really want to run again today (since I ran yesterday.) So, I decided to walk on the treadmill. I don't like to just walk (or run for that matter) on the treadmill. I have to come up with some sort of "program" to keep my interest. Today, I started with 1 minute at a 1 incline. I would move up 1.0 incline each minute until I got to 15.0. I walked at 15.0 incline for 2 minutes, then worked my way back down again. I ended up doing 2 minutes at a few levels so I walked a total of 35 minutes. It starts off SO easy, but by around incline 12, it starts getting REALLY tough. I have found that it is a REALLY good low impact workout. My shirt was DRENCHED!
I'm meeting a friend at Fuzzy's Tacos for dinner tonight which should be a lot of fun! Even though I want a margarita, I'm going to pass so I can have some chips & queso. :) It's the best!
3 more days until the Cowtown 5K!
Hugs!
