Three miles and inches gone.

I hit a milestone this weekend. On Saturday I ran my first solid three miles. It felt amazing. Granted it was inside on a treadmill, but it still counts ^_^

I followed that up with a party for a friends Birthday, during which there was a lot of food, and more alcohol than I care to admit. Yeah, I paid the price for that one. I spent Sunday remembering why I shouldn't do that.

So, Today is the first day of a new month. After this weekends debauchery I was almost afraid to take my measurements. It turned out OK though. I managed to shave half inches off almost everywhere, with the most dramatic size loss from my waist, I lost an inch and a half there.

All in all I'd say February was a good month. I'm planning on topping it in March!

The opposite of momentum

Lately, I've noticed a trend in myself. Once I sit myself down, I become the immovable object. Oh it's not that I'm sick, or tired, or stressed, or anything in particular, it's just the longer I sit, the less I want to move.

A day may start out with lots of exercise and fitness motivation, and then, slowly, as I sit and knit, or work on the computer, my body gets used to the idea of sitting in one place. It's almost as if, as I sit still, my behind gains gravity. That small voice pipes up in my head. Pointing out how tired I am, or how my knee kinda aches, or how I just really don't feel up to it today.

The major problem happens if I listen to that voice. Once that voice knows I can hear it, it gets louder and more confident. One missed workout turns into two, or three, so easily. The longer I let it yell, the louder and more persuasive it gets. Then a whole knew voice joins in: the Shame voice. But that's a whole different post.

I'm learning to deal with my "anti-mentum" voice. I just don't let it gain ground. As soon as I realize that I'm telling myself I just don't feel like it without a valid reason, I turn it around. I remind myself that I may be tired now, but I'll feel more awake after a workout. I may be sore now, but man yoga will feel good. I may not be in the best mood, but I feel so much better after a run.

It's not a perfect technique, I'm still trying to learn the balance between pushing myself too hard, and not pushing hard enough. However, it kept a recent two day slack-fest from getting any longer, and it's kept me going this week.

I'm trying to close out this month strong, only five days left. I think I can keep the anti-mentum at bay that long.

A good start to the week.

After a lackluster week last week, plagued by the disruptions in schedule that always throw me off, I've gotten myself off to a good start this week.

I did Self Magazine's Your Best Butt Fast video for the second time last night. That video is killer. After about 40 minutes of exercises that made my butt burn and the rest of me sweat bullets, I really believe I'll see serious results in three weeks.

I also added in upper body strength training to my gym sessions last week, which I plan to continue this week, so the days I'm at the gym are no longer just running days, they're running and upper body toning, leaving the "off" days for toning my bottom half.

In other good news, I'm under 160 again! I weighed in at 158.4 this morning. I'm hoping it's not just a fluke, but it's a good sign.

I'm shooting for a stellar week to make up for my stumble at the end of last week. I will own this week. This week is mine!

It's a start.

I started back on the treadmill yesterday, I did a short 22 minute run at 5 mph, and got about 1.56 miles before I started feeling my knee deteriorating. I did a lot of stretching and then did a short ab session and a long (30 minute) upper body strenth session. I did hammer curls, shoulder presses and French presses with 10 lb free weights (doing the super slow lifting Mizfit is a fan of) then switched to the machines and did chest presses and lat pull downs, again veeerrrry sloooowly.

My upper body is nice and sore today, and my knee has recovered nicely. I'm going to do a lower impact video and some ab work today, and then back to the gym to test the knee out again tomorrow.

Keeping my fingers crossed that it holds up!

It's not over yet!

Heading back to the gym tonight after a short hiatus to give my knee some breathing room. Planning on a short run followed by mostly upper body strength training, and lots of stretching.

Wish me luck.

Just a minor set back

I haven't seen the inside of a gym since last Wednesday.

Thursday I was so sore from Wednesday I took a rest day to let my body heal. Friday, My knee started aching. At first I thought I could just deal with it, but by the time I arrived at the gym, after walking up and down the subway stairs, I realized that running was out of the question. So we walked from Wall street(ish) up to Canal Street. Saturday, the pain in my knee was so bad that I could barely hobble around the apartment. It hasn't felt that bad in years.

Sunday, after three days of no exercise, I forced myself to run through a pilates video that I knew was mostly floor work, and therefore easy on my knee.

Today my knee feels to be at around 80%. There's a small twinge in there, but nothing serious. I'm going to try the gym today, on a "see as we go" basis. I'll start out on the treadmills, but if it starts bothering me, I'll have to switch to something less high impact.

It's a setback, but it's small. I'm frustrated that my knee is still acting up this badly this long after the surgery, but I'll deal. At least I can walk, and usually, run.

Somehow, I always think it's about me...

Yesterday, I was running at the gym, feeling ok, and some guy gets on the treadmill next to me. He starts setting himself up to run, and then 30 seconds into his run (I swear) gets off the treadmill, and goes to another treadmill. I watch him try to get on the new treadmill, which is broken, then get back on the treadmill next to me. Another minute or two, and he tries another machine, also broken, back to the machine next to me. Finally, the person on the treadmill next to him gets off, and he switches to that machine.

Now, I know there's nothing wrong with the treadmill next to me, this was about 15 minutes into my run, and there had been a person running on it when I started. Also, shortly after this treadmill switching man vacated the spot, a girl gets on and starts running, and is still running when I'm done with my run.

So the only thing I could think was, Why was this guy so desperate to not be running next to me that he would risk loosing his spot on a treadmill? I mean, it's overcrowded in the gym right now, you actually have to wait for treadmill (especially since at least four treadmills were out of commission yesterday.)

My next thought was, why do I think this is about me? Why am I automatically embarrassed, thinking I'm doing something offensive? Maybe the TV doesn't work or something stupid like, he's ocd and can't run on a treadmill that's an even number from the edge.

I don't know why he was actually treadmill hopping, but I do know that I ran for 28 minutes (with a 2 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down,) I ran for 2.4 miles (I don't count the warm up and cool down distance,) and I did strength training with 15 lb. hand weights. So even if it was about me, he can suck it. I'm hardcore now.

Official weigh in and General check point

Did my "official" weigh in for February on Monday. 162 lbs. Good, but now I'm facing that 160 barrier again. It bothers me that I weigh this much again. Like I've completely erased all the good I did before.

The positive thing is that my measurements now are smaller than they were the last time I weighed over 160. I'm still wearing size 8 jeans comfortably (although they are Old Navy Jeans so I'd say I'm about a size 10 in normal jeans.)

Then, I had one of those runs last night at the gym. The kind where I hit this point where I feel like I could just run forever. I had a lot of bad things in my head from the weekend, and the run just cleared them all out. I was lucky too, because as crowded as the gym is right now, there were a couple of empty treadmills so I pushed it past the time limit. I started out with a two minute warm up walk, then ran for 28 minutes before doing a two minute cool down.

My original plan was to do two runs yesterday. I was thinking I'd start with my normal 20 minute run, then after stretching and doing weights, I'd try for another 10 minute run. But I felt so good at the 20 minute mark I didn't want to stop. Unfortunately, after stretching and doing some weight training, I was feeling quite a bit of stiffness in my knee, so I decided to forgo the second run.

The knee is feeling 100% today, although my legs are a bit more sore than normal. Also the new "slow lifting" I've been doing (thanks MizFit!) has my arms feeling like noodles.

I'm trying to keep my eyes and mind on the goal. Which is to run a 5k this spring. Weight loss is a goal, but not *the* goal right now. It will simply be a byproduct of my amazingly awesome training. Yes.