1/16 MILEAGE: 3 MILES
// ROUTE: Apt. - end of Mass Ave. bridge and back //
:: 32 degrees :: sunny, not a cloud in the sky / perfect weather for the Pats to beat the Jets tonight ;)
Some days I really miss living in Cambridge. I can’t believe I lived along the Charles River for 5 years and never went running. Happy that today I live by the East River an can enjoy running along a different body of water. Hopefully in LA next month I can get a run in along the beach.
Please reblog if you’re over 25 and have a fitblr/weight loss blog.
I was seriously considering posting something like this earlier today!
I’m 26.
29!
C25K Workout: Week 6 Day 3 - Getting Past Negative Thoughts
I’m finally starting the workouts that have no walking intervals, it’s just straight running from here on out. Today I had to run 25 minutes without stopping.
The workout before this consisted of two 10 minute intervals with 3 minutes walking in between. I actually failed it the first time. This was the first workout in this C25K plan that I did not complete as scheduled. What had happened was….in the second minute of the second interval, I got cramping in the top of my right abdomen. I thought maybe it was because I ate something right before my run or something. But, to be honest, mentally this was a difficult run. Seriously, every time I get going on difficult runs, my internal soundtrack turns into, “this is going to be super hard,” “you can’t do this,” “oh mah gawd this is the hardest run ever and you WON’T FINISH IT.”
I’ve really gotta work on the negative thoughts in my mind. It’s like they go into overdrive when I’m running. So, when the cramps wouldn’t go away, I stopped running and walked. I felt defeated, but my side hurt. After a 30 second walk, I was able to run again and finished the workout. Still, I repeated the workout the next time just to prove to myself that I could do it.
I ended up talking to Tina on the phone last week and told her about my cramping. She said that it might just be that running in the cold disrupts my breathing pattern and this causes cramping. It’s been snowing, and there’s a lot of snow and ice on the ground. I’m already freaked out by running in the snow, my breathing is probably even more inconsistent than usual.
Tina was so encouraging though. She kept saying, “Liz, you’re a beast! You can do it! Who else on the planet is running in the snow? Not that many people. Definitely not any Black people!” Hahaha. She’s right. I need to give myself credit for even trying to be consistent.
So, today I ran my workout as planned and I did 25 minutes straight, no walking! It was 30 degrees outside, snow and ice still on the ground. I had fewer negative thoughts than usual, and I tried to replay Tina’s words and voice in my head when it got really tough. It totally worked! Way less complaining this time around.
I love my C25K iPhone app! It upgraded recently and I bought the GPS feature for it. Now I get a map of every workout. It calculates my running and walking pace, average pace, as well as the pace of each of my miles. It has some cool charts too. I’m not sure I believe my mile times though. My second mile is always faster than my first mile….which seems odd to me. I would think my first mile is the fastest because I haven’t expended much energy yet? Hmm who knows. I know my iPhone 3G is mad old and I halfway trust its GPS anyway. A cool thing I noticed was that my distance is increasing with each workout, which is awesome. It’s great that I am running for a long time without stopping, but it’s more awesome that I am increasing my distance.
![one-twenty-five:
Oh how many things this blog post is. Where, oh where do I begin?
Firstly, it’s sponsored by my bath tub, my bath tub where I am currently blogging from, naked as the day I was born, secondly, this post is about booooooobs. (BOOBIES!) More specifically? My boobs and weight loss, and thirdly? thirdly I am a multi-tasking god!
So, dear friends, dear gentlemen, fathers, and young boys, stop reading now, or forever hold your judgement.
I’m on the verge of losing 50 pounds (“Umm Wha?!” <— you), which obviously means my body has changed. A lot. And naturally (because I’m human, you guys, c’mon), my boobs have too. But not, perhaps, in the way you’d think. [Or at least they haven’t in the way I thought they would… ]
At my highest weight they were a 38D and today, right now? Where my sneaky eyes are glancing in the above photo? 36C. So yup, there’s been a decrease in my va-va-vooom! BUT, and here’s the part I seriously was not expecting, they also got perkier (Oh hi there boys! I see you out there still reading).
I’ve always assumed once I lost weight, my boobs would hang very low, and then woggle to and fro, and I’d tie them in a knot, and then I’d tie them in a bow… but apparently, Hollywood taught me wrong, because they’re definitely perkier!
I actually thought (so this is me admitting something I never thought I would) I’d get a boob lift, y’know, help mother nature out (whatever. deal) when I lost the weight, but
but…
with nearly 50 pounds gone, I’m not sure I’ll have to (which is awesome-awesome as a boob job scares the bejesus out of me). So yea, there’s that. [Or this. As I’m still sitting here naked.]
I was actually secretly hoping my boobs would decrease a lot in size… as I’ve always hated not liked my boobs. They’re too big. Smaller boobs are way better. But, hey, I won’t complain…
The moral of this random post is the behind the scenes (aka my clothes) of my weight loss journey has been kinda cool to watch (Shut. up. you. You soooo check yourself out too) and this has been an absolutely amazing surprise to me!
Anywho, I’m curious ladies (who dare to share), did yours change? For the better? Worse? More jiggle? More Perky? Am I the only vain one around here, who’d consider a lift, if they headed south? And while we’re on the topic, do you guys wear bras to bed? Because I do. I heard I shouldn’t though… ?
*record skips* WHAT?!?!?! You mean to tell me they get smaller and perkier??? This is just the motivation I need to get myself together. I really don’t like my boobs and was thinking of getting a reduction at some point. I just may have to try this weightloss thing after all…](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lezt37qQte1qzyigao1_1280.jpg)
Oh how many things this blog post is. Where, oh where do I begin?
Firstly, it’s sponsored by my bath tub, my bath tub where I am currently blogging from, naked as the day I was born, secondly, this post is about booooooobs. (BOOBIES!) More specifically? My boobs and weight loss, and thirdly? thirdly I am a multi-tasking god!
So, dear friends, dear gentlemen, fathers, and young boys, stop reading now, or forever hold your judgement.
I’m on the verge of losing 50 pounds (“Umm Wha?!” <— you), which obviously means my body has changed. A lot. And naturally (because I’m human, you guys, c’mon), my boobs have too. But not, perhaps, in the way you’d think. [Or at least they haven’t in the way I thought they would… ]
At my highest weight they were a 38D and today, right now? Where my sneaky eyes are glancing in the above photo? 36C. So yup, there’s been a decrease in my va-va-vooom! BUT, and here’s the part I seriously was not expecting, they also got perkier (Oh hi there boys! I see you out there still reading).
I’ve always assumed once I lost weight, my boobs would hang very low, and then woggle to and fro, and I’d tie them in a knot, and then I’d tie them in a bow… but apparently, Hollywood taught me wrong, because they’re definitely perkier!
I actually thought (so this is me admitting something I never thought I would) I’d get a boob lift, y’know, help mother nature out (whatever. deal) when I lost the weight, but
but…
with nearly 50 pounds gone, I’m not sure I’ll have to (which is awesome-awesome as a boob job scares the bejesus out of me). So yea, there’s that. [Or this. As I’m still sitting here naked.]
I was actually secretly hoping my boobs would decrease a lot in size… as I’ve
always hatednot liked my boobs. They’re too big. Smaller boobs are way better. But, hey, I won’t complain…The moral of this random post is the behind the scenes (aka my clothes) of my weight loss journey has been kinda cool to watch (Shut. up. you. You soooo check yourself out too) and this has been an absolutely amazing surprise to me!
Anywho, I’m curious ladies (who dare to share), did yours change? For the better? Worse? More jiggle? More Perky? Am I the only vain one around here, who’d consider a lift, if they headed south? And while we’re on the topic, do you guys wear bras to bed? Because I do. I heard I shouldn’t though… ?
*record skips* WHAT?!?!?! You mean to tell me they get smaller and perkier??? This is just the motivation I need to get myself together. I really don’t like my boobs and was thinking of getting a reduction at some point. I just may have to try this weightloss thing after all…
You Gotta …
- love you more than than the food you put in your mouth.
- love you more than sleeping in every morning.
- love you more than your comfort zone.
- love you more than making excuses.
- love you more than other’s opinions.
- love you more than the status quo.
- love you.
sigh.
(Source: kimijoy)
Half Marathon Training App
I LOVE the C25K training app for my iPhone! I am still going through the program (on Week 6 now!), but I am sooo happy their 1/2 Marathon training app is in the works. NOW I am pretty amped about running. Click the link to sign up for updates when the app is ready.
Doubtful Running
So remember that post I wrote about my fear of running for 20 minutes straight? Um yeah. I TOTALLY RAN FOR 20 MINUTES STRAIGHT TODAY!!!!
It took me a few more days to get the courage to run this workout, but since I am going to Haiti in a few days, today was now or never because I am not running while in Haiti.
I really didn’t want to run. I’ve had excuse after excuse. The other day I tried to run and I let my ADD get the best of me and made some hot chocolate instead. Five minutes into my hot chocolate I remembered I was on my way to run. Oops. It was dusk by then, so yet another day had eluded me.
Today marks a very important day for me and I really needed to clear my head. I haven’t published a post I wrote weeks ago about how I pray/talk to God when I am running (some day I will post it), but today I felt I needed to get a praying run in ASAP.
The weather was cold as usual, but mid-30s temps seem like child’s play. Oh, it’s 34 degrees? I got this.
You don’t know how much I had to argue with myself during this run. It was so ridiculous that by minute 2, I was already telling myself I wouldn’t be able to run for 4 minutes, knowing good and well I’ve run 8 minute intervals before. I spent the first five minutes of the run allowing several negative thoughts to creep into my mind:
“You seriously can’t run for 20 minutes. It’s impossible for you to do it.”
“Well, you can probably do 9 minutes, but definitely not 20.”
“This workout is rigged. You are not ready for a 20 minute run.”
“Seriously? You’re gonna die at 12 minutes, tops.”
And on and on and on. I kept trying to shoot down the negative thoughts but they felt like they were going to consume me. It didn’t help that my breathing was not in sync with the rest of my body. I tried to focus on my music, and my prayer agenda, but the thoughts kept butting in.
At some point in the run, I started to feel confident. Even though I haven’t run in a few days, and even before then I hadn’t run in over a week, I was handling this running thing. The scenery on my course was familiar and consoling, and there were a few people out running as well. Eventually, I found my rhythm. I was able to focus on something else other than my looming failure.
At about the 9 minute mark I started to panic a little because I knew I was going to have to turn around soon. I considered running a further distance and walking back, thinking that if I turned around this would somehow discourage me from completing the run. I don’t know why I was overanalyzing my run, but I was. I ended up turning around at the halfway point. This was a good thing, as it was helpful for me to visually measure how much further I had to go.
The last third of the run I was able to let go and just pray and sing along to my music. I was no longer in defeatist mode, as I’d conquered the halfway point and figured there was no failing now.
Finally, I finished. My thighs hurt a bit. I was out of breath. But I did it. I even blurted out loud, “I did it!”
It felt pretty great. It felt easier than I thought it would feel.
I really need to get these negative thoughts and doubts out of my system. It’s never as bad as I think it will be.
P.S. I was happy to discover my C25K iPhone app has been updated! The interface is looking nicer now. I’m not entirely sure there any new features, but I appreciate improvements.
linnieee asked: hi - i'm a fitblr lurker - just wanted to wish you luck on the 20 min run! i did C25K about a year and a half ago and it helped me get moving, but i remember hitting week 5...i should say week 5 hitting me. i ended up repeating a few weeks in there (5, 6, 8, i believe). this time i'm doing a different plan and using a HR monitor - which has made the biggest difference in helping me run +20 min. anyway i know you didn't ask - just wanted to cheer you on!
Aww thanks so much!! I am getting up the courage to go. I just programmed my playlist. Now I just need to put my workout clothes on :/
I think an HR monitor sounds like a decent strategy. I do know that right now I don’t challenge myself as much as I know I can be challenged. In the future I want to work on that, maybe once I finish the program for the first time.
On My Fear of Running for 20 Minutes
My C25K workouts have been going well. (If some of you don’t know it’s a 9-week program where you run three days a week and each workout consists of running and walking intervals. As the weeks progress, the running intervals get longer and the walking intervals get shorter, until you’re able to run a full 45 minutes.)
I’m now in the middle of Week 5. I took some days off during the program. I’ve also sped up the program at certain times, in that I don’t take as many rest days between workouts. Most of the workouts have seemed fairly easy to me. Sure, I can’t run for very long but I’m not dying by the end of my workouts either. I am always able to actually do the workouts, instead of cheating by walking too early, etc.
Some days I even pull doubles, because I know 30 minutes is child’s play for a workout. That is until I pulled up today’s workout. Week 5 day 2 is on some other stuff. They want me to run 20 minutes without stopping!!
What the what??
My last workout was two 8 minute runs, which I did okay. They were somewhat hard, but mentally it was tougher than it was physically. I was surprised my body was able to run and not feel so weary. I even caught a few second winds. I was able to think about other things while running, as opposed to mentally whining about how this was gonna suck and how I was gonna die on the East River esplanade.
But now, 20 whole minutes??? The workout after this one goes back to interval running, which makes me think they’re throwing in a monkey wrench just because. They want me to fail!
I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever run 20 whole minutes without stopping in my life. I mean, for track, I was a thrower/sprinter/hurdler, so the most I ran at one time was a mile, I’m thinking? My miles back then were probably 7-10 minutes, I’m guessing. There’s no way I ever ran more than 1 mile straight. In basketball….eh we stopped here and there. We ran suicides, and games/practice all have their time to stop or break.
I know I started doing this program so I could learn distance running. But it feels too soon. I’m not ready. I need my running training wheels to stay on!
I don’t know if I will do the run today. I’m still scared. Gonna think about it and try to compile the best 20 minute running playlist ever.
