Off The Beaten Path

Weigh-in didn't go so well, as expected. Nothing I can do about the past, so there's no use crying over it. What's done is done, I just have to put in a better effort today and tomorrow!

LW: 206.8
CW: 209.4
CL: +2.6
TL: 0.0

Looks like I'm starting over!

Besides the weigh-in, which I knew would be a downer (my own fault), today's been going okay, I suppose. I'm finding it very difficult to motivate myself to do anything, seeing as though I practically have no schedule this week. I was going to go for my run this morning, but I decided to wait until it warmed up a bit. I ended up mapping a 4.0 mile run (ambitious, eh?) and heading out a little after noon.

Today's run was eventful, to say the least. Lots of things happened. For example, some teenage girl called to someone inside her house, "Hey, look at that girl jogging!" I was a bit offended, for no legitimate reason. I'm running, not jogging. I just happen to run very slowly. Then I got to a street that I thought I was supposed to go down, but couldn't because of construction. I hung a left, and ended up realizing that I was on the correct road. Then I turn right and OH SHIT. Look at that hill! How did I not look at the elevation gains/losses at mapmyrun before I left the house? Well, no turning back now, so up I go.

This is almost the end of my first mile, and I'm making pretty good time. The road is a circuit, so basically it's just a big circle. I figure, at the very least, there will be a nice downhill for the second half of the circuit. What? The road is a dead end? Okay, I'll just keep going anyway. Over the river (or brook) and through the woods, as they say. It was a nice break from running on pavement. Soon enough the circuit resumed (I suppose the middle segment had been closed off many moons ago), and I continued. Then I took a wrong turn somewhere and thought I was really off my course, but I just kept going, although I was a little frustrated with myself because I couldn't properly record my splits. When I got home and remapped my route, I realized I was a block off. WOMP. Oh well.

So I keep going, down another dirt road, until AHOY!, my supermarket! I know where I am now... and only 2.0 miles to go! Ha. I wasn't laughing. In keeping with the running off pavement theme, I took a detour through a park over another dirt path until I came out of my little residential bubble and hit the urban jungle that is Worcester. I was then annoyed at the noise and the wind pushing against me. Soon after I turned out of suburbia, my left calf started to cramp up, but I managed to finish all 4.0 miles without any real problem. My total time was a bit slower than I would have liked (okay, a lot), but I can't beat myself up too much. I've never run 4.0 miles outside before, and I've only done it once on the treadmill (and treadmills pace you, you don't have to work at it).

4.0 Miles: 48:46
pace: 12:08

I also decided to run in my first race! A group (no idea which one) at my school is sponsoring a Green 5k, with all proceeds going to the Regional Environmental Council. Good cause, and a good goals for me. It's about time I ran my first race. Plus, I'll make everyone else running feel better, because they won't have to worry about coming in last place :)

Grocery Store Layout

Does anyone besides me have a problem with the layout of grocery stores? It's something that's been bothering me for a while now. Typically, the produce section is one of the first parts you walk through. Great. I love that! Inundate me with fresh fruits and veggies, giving me less room for the non-essentials. It's seriously awesome.

But what's right in between the entrance and the produce at just about every grocery store I've ever been to? Baked goods. Breads. Muffins. Doughnuts. Cookies. Cakes. TORTURE. Whose idea was this? They're a terrible person. I've never been tempted to buy any of these over-priced goodies (but it's not will power that prevents me from loading up, it's the price), but the smells drive me INSANE. Carbohydrates and sweets, and any combination of the two, are my downfall. I could eat bread all day.

This is something I've been meaning to rant about for a while, and I made a mental note to write this post as I was filling my basket with fruits and veggies. I am also really tempted to just bake a cake (baking=love), but I will not!

Tomorrow's my weekly weigh-in, but I'm not expecting anything good. Sadly. This has been a bad week for me food-wise. My friend Cameron made me dinner last night to celebrate my fellowship. Think quiche. With lots of cheese. Also brownies. Three of them. Leftover quiche for lunch. Very bad. Wednesday night is my weekly dinner with another friend. Fried eggplant. Terrible. WOMP. I need to be more conscious about what I put in my mouth.

Bleh Run

This whole week has been and will continue to be easy, school wise, at the very least. This week is the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAGs) in Las Vegas. As I am a geography major, all of my professors are gone! It's lovely that I don't have as much work this week, but I really function much better on a tight schedule. I need to have deadlines for myself.

That said, I didn't wake up until 9am, didn't do any work until 10:30, and didn't leave for the gym until a little before 1:00pm. I wanted to run at least 2.5 miles on the dreadtreadmill, but I really had to push myself to finish 2.0 miles. It seriously took just about all of my will-power not to hit the stupid 'cool down' button after 15:00. I don't know what it was (maybe the fact that I was back inside?), but I just wasn't feeling it. It should be warm enough for me to run outside for the rest of the week, so here's to hoping. I really just hate the stagnant, smelly air around me, the lack of scenery, the lack of sun, and the boring homogenous run that treadmills entail. I just can't take it! Well, I guess I can, but I really don't like to.

I've also been slacking on cross-training workouts and eating well. I confess, last night after dinner I ate a bagel and 1.5 doughnuts. I'll do better next time? I guess that's the best I can do.

2.0 miles, 21:50

Another 3.0 miler in the bag!

I've got so much running (haha) through my mind right now, I don't even know where to begin! I just got back from my second 3.0 mile run this week (and my best to date). I had to drag myself out of bed in order to go, and at first I was only going to do 1.0, then I thought, "eh, whatever, 2.0 won't be so painful." Then I saw other runners hitting the pavement and internally yelled at myself for wanting to quite before I was good and tired. So I finished up the 3.0 and did it in pretty good time! My splits are are the end of the post.

So I've been waiting to hear back about this really incredible and really competative fellowship for about three weeks, and it's been slowly killing me. My classes are very computer intentisive, so I spend up to 10 hours in the lab a day doing work. This isn't bad because I'm overworking myself (I really love my work), but because that means I constantly have access to e-mail. Oh, you think I have self control? Maybe when it comes to food (well, not yesterday, but we'll get to that later...), but definitely not in this case. I refreshed my e-mail at least once every ten minutes (usually more like every 5) for the past two minutes while sitting in front of a computer. Anyway, last night I finally convinced myself to just relax and watch a movie. Both my roommates are gone for the weekend, so I have the house to myself. A little peaceful alone time.

I picked out Dan in Real Life, which just made me kind of depressed. Not what I was going for at all. The movie completely turned me off to the idea of going out later in the night. I resigned myself to check my e-mail one last time before going to bed. Lo and behold, it was there. The e-mail I had been waiting for was sitting in my inbox. I opened it and could barely read it. My eyes found the word acceptance and I just laughed for three minutes straight. It was a beautiful thing. I felt like I could run a marathon (it's a good thing I did not try).

Anyway, this put me in an incredible mood for the rest of the night. I called my family, went to Barnes & Noble and bought a couple of books in celebration (I'm a huge nerd, if you couldn't tell), and then went and met up with a friend. Then we ordered pizza. WOMP.

Oh well. Slip-ups happen. I also ate a large amount of chocolate, which is just not good in general, but it also means I slipped up in my not-eating-candy-challenge. I just have to get on the horse again and keep riding. Which is why I dragged myself outside for a 3.0 mile run in 34 degree weather. That probably wasn't such a hot idea. I should have gone to the gym, but I thought it was warmer out when I left the house. I can't really run in cold weather, it aggravates my asthma. Now I'm breathing heavily and coughing a bit. Remind me not to make the same mistake next time!

Okay, I'm out. Gotta head back to the lab. Happy running!

Mile 1: 10:51
Mile 2: 11:50
Mile 3: 11:01
Total: 33:42 (a.k.a. AWESOME)

First Weigh-in

It's been a while since my last post! All I can say is that my school work has kept me insanely busy since we've been back from spring break. That doesn't mean I've neglected my running, though! I only got out 4 times last week, totaling 8.0 miles, but this week has been a bit more difficult. I went out on Monday afternoon and did a lousy 1.33 miles - not even paying attention to the distance (I try to keep my base runs at 2.0), it was just plain bad. I ran outside yesterday (it was gorgeous!) for about 3.0 miles. My average pace was a little under 11:30 - not quite how fast I can go on the treadmill, but hey, at least I'm not running the first mile super fast and then getting really slow like I did two weeks ago! Also, for the majority of the last two miles, I was running into the wind, so I'm pretty pleased with those numbers.

Mile 1: 10:54
Mile 2: 11:54
Mile 3: 11:29

I got my scale in the mail last week and did my first reference weigh-in on Thursday, so it looks like Thursday will be my weigh-in day from now on. That means today is weigh-in day!

Last Week (LW): 209.4
Current Week (CW): 206.8
Current Loss (CL): 2.6
Total Loss (TL): 2.6

Woo! Pretty exciting business. And when I say pretty exciting, I mean it. The lowest weight I've been in the past I don't even know how many years - probably since I was 14 or 15 - was 207 and that was a year and a half ago. Next week hopefully I'll be below 205!

Also, I donated the majority of my hair to Locks of Love this weekend! Now my hair is way shorter than it's ever been (might account for a few ounces of loss ;) ) and very tricky to hold back while running! Well, maybe not tricky, but they way I have to put it back looks pretty silly!

Ouch!

So, I am sorry to say that I did not live up to my personal challenge. The first day, Sunday, I was unable to hit the gym. WOMP. What a bummer! I mean, come on... the first day? Well, I decided that I'm going to keep going with it anyway. It's a good challenge to push myself to complete. Yesterday I ran the first mile and felt a bit winded, so I slowed to a walk before running another mile. Two miles! That's pretty good, and, at the very least, makes up for a little bit of the mile I missed on Sunday.

I left all of my gym things in the locker room (I didn't want to bring smelly gym clothes to meetings, class, and work) with the intention of swinging by before the gym closed at 10:00pm to pick up all of my stuff. Woops! Next thing I knew, it was passed midnight and I was still in the lab, trudging through my work. I went home and tried going to bed, but my roommates distracted me until almost 1:00am! That's pretty early for the normal college student, but I like to go to bed early and then wake up early. I set my alarm for 8:15, hoping I would have the will to get up and run. I did not.

Instead, I lazed a bit and then went to class. My hardest class! Oh, woe is me... we were getting our last assignments back and I was so nervous! This was perhaps the hardest assignment yet and I only got a B on the previous one. It's also worth noting that the majority of the class works in pairs, while I somehow ended up working all by my lonesome. Anyway, at the very end of the class, we got them back. I got an A! Not only an A, but the highest grade in the class and the only A my professor has given out so far this semester! Rejoice. I could sing. I could dance! ...I coud run.

And so I ran. I impulsively headed for the gym, needing to let out my happiness somehow. I put on my dirty, smelly, and still wet clothes from yesterday's run and ran. The idea was a nice 2.0 miler. But then I said to myself, "I feel great! Let me try for 3.0!" At this point in time, I started to get a twinge of pain in my right foot, just below the ball of my foot. Weird location for a pain, I thought, but I tried to ignore it and I just kept running. As I came closer to 33:00 on the treadmill, I decided to up it to 35:00 (a nicer number, don't you think?). I got closer to 35:00, thought to hell with it!, and pushed the button until it read 44:00. I was running about an 11:00/mile pace, so that would put me just over 4.0 miles. Then the pain started to worsten. It felt like burning, stabbing perhaps. I kept running. Screw pain. YEAH.

Bad idea, turns out. Talk about behemouth blisters... this was no little guy. I expected to have a small blister that had popped while running. Nope I had a huge blister that wasn't even peaked yet. It even hurt to stretch after I was done. Woops! It's about the size of a quarter. With a penny next to it.

Well, it was bound to come sooner or later. It almost makes me even more proud of myself in a way. Kinda weird, but I have my first runner's blister, my first run over three miles (and longest run time-wise, both on and off treadmill), and I have the best grade in my hardest class! Seriously. AWESOME day.

I wonder if I should lay off the foot for tomorrow? We'll see how it goes.

Miles: 4.05
Time: 44:00

So sore!

Man, this morning when I woke up (lost an hour of sleep - thanks, DST!), I felt so sore! In a good way. I decided to incorporate more cross-training into my workouts, so yesterday after my run I did a yoga video that I'd had for over a year and had never touched. I thought it was going to be a nice, mellow introduction to yoga. Maybe it's just because I'm so fat, but that thing kicked my butt! I couldn't do some of the positions it had me do, but I made my own modifications instead of waiting for something that I was physically ready for. Throughout part of it, the instructor kept saying things like, "what a great back workout!" and "doesn't it feel great to stretch out your back after that back workout?" I had no idea what she was talking about until this morning. Now I know.

I didn't have much to do this morning, so after my Sunday routine of checking PostSecret, I headed over to Runner's World to do some reading. I've been spending a lot of time reading running blogs and running articles lately. Anyway, I found an article full of reasons to get out and run. Some are quotes by famous runners, others are simple statements like, "you'll be wearing a bathing suit in another month, won't you?" This one caught my attention:

65. DON'T EXPECT EVERY DAY TO BE BETTER than the last. Some days will be slower than others, and some days might even hurt a bit. But as long as you're on the road, it's a good day.

After yesterday's run, this is my exact sentiment. This week, I'm going to try and run at least one mile every day. It's not necessarily something I should do as a beginner runner all the time, but I feel like this is a really good personal goal for myself. Today's the first day of the week, so my mileage will start today. I'll let you know how it goes!

Perhaps a little overenthusiastic...

I set out for my run this afternoon aiming to complete 3.0 miles again. I set a nice loop very similar to yesterday's, stretched, and embarked. Oh, what a silly girl I am! I've only ever run 3.0 miles once before yesterday's run, and that was over a month ago. I am out of shape. Why, oh WHY, did I think it a good idea to try and run 3.0 miles again so soon? Because I am silly. Oh-so-silly! After the first mile, I kind of wanted to die, but I convinced myself, "Brenna, I am sure you will not die from this endeavor. You might be a little tired afterward, but you will for certain be alive!" So I kept going. About half way through mile two, I noticed my pace had slowed quite a bit, and that it was taking me a good while to run past old women walking. I kept going, though. I didn't want to be a quitter. Then, right before mile two I though I might empty out the contents of my stomach. So I stopped.

I was beating myself up mentally, telling myself that I should have kept going, that I could have finished the 3.0 mile loop that I set for myself. On my mile walk back to my house (oh, the beauty of loops), I got to thinking. I definitely could have run 3.0 miles. Physically and mentally. Would it have been the best idea? Maybe not. But, for today, I think 2.0 miles is good. Three days ago I was ready to cry after just half a mile. 2.0 miles is good. I can run 3.0 miles again later, all that really matters is that I'm out there, running and trying. Also, I'm going to throw out the "it's-my-time-of-the-month" excuse. Because I can and I feel like my cramps warrant it. Damn ovaries.

During the first mile, I was coming up to a cross-walk. The cross sign was already gone, and the signal was blinking and counting down the time I had left to cross the street. I decided I had ample time, so I start running across the street (I hate standing waiting for the lights to change). Behind me, I hear two teenage boys making fun of me, saying things like "Oh, 7 seconds... do you really think you're going to make it?" It didn't bother me as it happened, but a few minutes later I was thinking about it and I was wishing that I'd given them the finger. Seriously. In a country suffering from so much obesity and health problems due to weight and inactivity, who are you to make fun of ANYONE who is trying to better themselves and their future? It's probably a good thing that I didn't give them the finger, though. I don't live in a very nice area and I can't run very fast. Yet!

At least the weather's been nice enough the past couple of days to run outside. That along makes me happy! No treadmill :)

Mile 1 - 11:18
Mile 2 - 12:47
Total: 2 miles, 24:05

Snail-like and proud!

Today was a beautiful day, so I decided to take my run outside for the first time since an atypical December morning. I waited until the temperature was just right (about 2:30) before I went out. My roommate kind of laughed at me when I told her I was waiting for it to warm up, you know the kind. I could hear it in her laugh that she didn't think I would actually go out, actually get up off my fat bottom and run. Well, I did. Not fast, not by a long shot. My pace was 13:20, which is way slower than even I'm used to, but I think my body is just not used to running again, which is a big consequence of being lazy, of which I am most certainly guilt! I've never run on streets where you have to wait in order to cross the street, so that added a couple of minutes to my total time (but I did not stop moving! gotta love knee-highs).

I ran about a 3.0 mile loop. CRAZY! I've never done something like that before, so I don't even care that I did it slowly. All I care about is the fact that I did it.I would have done the whole loop straight through without stopping, but I'm pretty sure my roommates have been eating my peanut butter, so I took a water break at the super market and picked some up, then finished the last leg of my run home. The pre-supermarket stop summed to about 34:00 (longest I've ever run non-stop!) and the last portion was about 6:30. Dear reader (if you exist), do you know what this means? I ran for 40:30! That's the longest I've ever run in one workout. Sure, I've run 3.0 miles before, but who gives a poop about distance? I'm more in this for the health, and while mileage is something fun to share, I ultimately just want to be able to run for a long time without dying. My longest (time-wise) run prior to today's was 36:00, and I definitely beat that!

Okay, I need to go shower my smelly self and snack on something. Keep on running!

Slow and Steady

This morning I woke up early and made myself some breakfast. Usually I run first thing in the morning, but as it's spring break and the school gym doesn't open until 11am, I thought it best to eat something. While digesting I watched the Biggest Loser episode that has caused so much controversy and decided to go out and buy myself a scale. I think one problem I have with my weight loss is motivation. A lot of my progress isn't tangible, and things like being unable to run for a week really set me back emotionally and physically. While I was at home for the weekend, I binged like no other. There's no accountability for me. I figure if I mandate weekly weigh-ins for myself, I would stick with changes more. So this morning, after watching the edited version of the Biggest Loser (sans Dane's marathon drama), I set out for Target. Surely, they would have a scale. It took me a few minutes, but I finally found the isle with yoga, pilates, and strength equipment, as well as the ONE friggin' scale in the store... which would set me back FIFTY DOLLARS. Hell no! I spend less than than on groceries every week. Less than that on electricity and gas. Combined. I simply can't afford something that pricey right now. I'd much rather save the money for my next pair of running shoes.

Saddened, I went to three more stores looking. I left three more stores empty handed. So while I really would have liked to start my weekly weigh-ins tomorrow, it looks like it'll have to weight. Ha. Get it? ...Anyway, the scale at the gym is broken, which is what prompted me to want to buy my own, so it looks like I'll be ordering one off the internet. Oh, well! I'm going to try my best and be good until I can lay my hands on tangible motivation. I gave up candy two days ago, so we'll see how that goes. I just have NO will power when it comes to chocolate. I took before pictures of myself in a sports bra and spandex. Hopefully that will be motivation enough, for now.

So after my let-down of a search for a scale, I hit the gym. I was still winded and in pain, like yesterday, but I was able to push myself to at least get in a mile this time. And I upped the speed to 5.4 mph! Then I walked 5:00, and finished with another 0.5 miles at 5.5 mph. So today I totaled 1.5 miles. Not bad, considering my abysmal beginning yesterday. I kind of want to just forget that happened.

Bad Day... again!

So today I set out for the gym with high hopes. I hadn't run in a week and a day, so clearly I should be able to make up for what I'd missed, right? Wrong. Oh-so-very wrong. I was running for about 4:00 when I wanted to call it quits. I was breathing more heavily than usual, my muscles were already tired, and I was getting multiple stitches. I kept going until I got to 6:00 (~0.5 miles) and then decided to see if I could walk it off. After 8:00 walking, I still had vestiges of pain, but I couldn't stop after just 0.5 miles running. I don't think I've run so poorly since I started running again in January. WOMP.

After the 8:00 walk I decided to get myself up to at least 1.0 miles by doing some 1:30 run x 1:00 walk intervals. I did that until I finished up the mile, and then pushed myself to run and additional 4:00, totalling ~ 1.33 miles. Not so bad. Not great at all. Far from great, in fact. But I pushed myself to go further, and that's what matters. Looks like I'm starting over. Again!

A Week Without Running

A very sad week indeed. Last week was the last week before spring break, and I am poor at time management. Sadly, my last run was last Monday. I went home to New York on Saturday, not having run Tuesday through Friday, and I didn't run at all while I was home. We got about 8 inches of snow up here in Massachusetts, so I was also unable to run outside once I got back too my house. If anyone's ever lived in central Massachusetts, I'm sure you'll agree that snow maintenance sucks.

So yeah, it's been a bummer of a week for me, just means I gotta kick it into gear tomorrow. I also ate like CRAP while I was home. I always do... it's just so easy! No one in my family eats healthy, so it's pretty hard for me to do so while I'm home. I'm pretty sure I ate 10 cookies today. In comparison to the rest of my weekend, today was a good day. Yeah. Bad. I'm pretty sure I've gained back whatever weight I've lost. Oh, well. All I can do now is eat better in the coming days. And run. A lot.