I've sure come a long way since I began running in January. At 4.5 miles, yesterday was my longest run yet. I decreased my usual pace for most of the run (down to a 4.0 from a 4.5) and kicked it up just a bit for the last half mile or so. I felt good during most of the run, but the last quarter of a mile was really tough. It didn't help, either, that I didn't get started until after 8pm and therefore didn't finish my run, cool-down walk, and stretching until after 9:30. And then of course I had to eat to refuel, so I battled my body's No, don't eat, you're about to go to bed against its opposing Oh god, need food, gonna die.
I am immensely proud of the progress I've made thus far. My small group training sessions at the gym have gotten a lot easier, too. Definitely felt like I was going to die after the first one, with it being my first intense strength training in a few years and having probably the hardest trainer at the gym work with me. But luckily my post-workout soreness now only lasts for a day and is quite mild most of the time, unlike the week-long pain I felt after the first go, so bad it hurt to walk. Although I disagree with the statement "no pain, no gain", I do like feeling some mild soreness to know I've been working hard.
I bought a Groupon today, too--$29 for a 20-class fitness pass, 1 personal training session, and a couple fitness and nutrition pamphlets or books or something. At a $350 value, this is not something I'll be continuing after I use all components of the deal, but it'll be great to explore different types of fitness activities, including kickboxing, yoga, dance, self defense, and more.
Healthy lifestyle, here I come.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
The Bigger Picture
This post is not exactly about my running, but the running is definitely related. No need to provide a lengthy intro, so I'll just start by showing you some pictures/a picture, depending how you look at it:
Yep, I'm writing about my journey toward increased health and specifically weight loss. I really don't remember ever being as big as the left 2 pictures show, but clearly I was. I didn't realize it until just a few days ago when I put together this collage, after May (my brother's girlfriend) showed me some before and after pictures of her own (so proud of her, by the way). So the pictures and captions pretty much sum it up--today I weigh about 25 pounds less than I did about 4-1/2 years ago. The running has certainly helped, as has the strength training I recently started (see my previous post). And I've gotten a lot better about what I eat. I still have a bit to go, but I'm so proud of myself for having gotten this far.
Yeah, it's taken some time, and my weight has certainly fluctuated over the past few years, but I think I'm finally at a point where I'm really committed to being healthy and taking good care of myself. I look at the workouts and weight loss as symptoms of my increased health. And best of all, I feel great! I used to hate working out, and now it's such a big part of my lifestyle, and I look forward to it every week. It totally helps that I can fit into adorable dresses now, and I may even be able to pull off a bikini this summer (fingers crossed). I've come a long way, and my new lifestyle is here to stay, so I'll only get healthier as time goes on.
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Yep, I'm writing about my journey toward increased health and specifically weight loss. I really don't remember ever being as big as the left 2 pictures show, but clearly I was. I didn't realize it until just a few days ago when I put together this collage, after May (my brother's girlfriend) showed me some before and after pictures of her own (so proud of her, by the way). So the pictures and captions pretty much sum it up--today I weigh about 25 pounds less than I did about 4-1/2 years ago. The running has certainly helped, as has the strength training I recently started (see my previous post). And I've gotten a lot better about what I eat. I still have a bit to go, but I'm so proud of myself for having gotten this far.
Yeah, it's taken some time, and my weight has certainly fluctuated over the past few years, but I think I'm finally at a point where I'm really committed to being healthy and taking good care of myself. I look at the workouts and weight loss as symptoms of my increased health. And best of all, I feel great! I used to hate working out, and now it's such a big part of my lifestyle, and I look forward to it every week. It totally helps that I can fit into adorable dresses now, and I may even be able to pull off a bikini this summer (fingers crossed). I've come a long way, and my new lifestyle is here to stay, so I'll only get healthier as time goes on.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Orange Shoe
After an interesting turn of events, I have joined a small gym with small group personal trainers. Let me start at the beginning...
It's looking like my current job will turn into a regular (non-temporary) position within the next month or so. That got me looking at apartments again, and I pretty much figured out which area of Chicago I'd likely end up in. So I was looking at grocery stores, restaurants, and other amenities in the area (thanks, Google Maps!) and came across a small gym called Orange Shoe Personal Fitness. No prices on the website, of course, but I was interested enough to schedule a consultation, not expecting to actually move forward with it until I moved to the area, if at all.
But during my consultation yesterday, I learned of the option for small group "personal" training, which is much less expensive than the one-on-one personal trainer. Small groups are in pre-scheduled time slots at various days and times during the week, and they are capped at 4. There are different session "themes", with my favorite (title-wise, at least) being the "Pirate Throwdown". Sessions rotate trainers, and they actually do the same thing with one-on-one personal trainers. Their rationale: This type of team approach allows us to alternate trainers from session to session to keep your workouts fresh, all the while keeping your goals in mind. You'll have more ideas, more perspectives, and more partners helping you towards your fitness goals.
The approach seems to work well in their small gym environment. It's definitely part of the appeal. I've always been a big fan of the "Personal education. Extraordinary success" model (a big part of the reason I chose Centre). So after the consultation, I got talked into signing up. I think it will help tremendously with my half-marathon training, and it will help me reach other fitness goals, as well. Who knows, maybe next time you see me I'll have a six-pack. :P
Even though the small group option was much less expensive, it is still not cheap, as I'm sure you can imagine. So I think I'm going to put off the apartment search for several more months. I'll save up the money that would have been going to rent, groceries, etc. and have a bigger emergency fund or can invest some of the money or something. Yes, I'll continue having my crazy long commute, but I've started to not mind it so much. When I don't have any new audio books to listen to, I get a lot of time to think and just relax. Plus I'm looking into biking to and from work some days when the weather gets nicer. So it'll at work out.
It's looking like my current job will turn into a regular (non-temporary) position within the next month or so. That got me looking at apartments again, and I pretty much figured out which area of Chicago I'd likely end up in. So I was looking at grocery stores, restaurants, and other amenities in the area (thanks, Google Maps!) and came across a small gym called Orange Shoe Personal Fitness. No prices on the website, of course, but I was interested enough to schedule a consultation, not expecting to actually move forward with it until I moved to the area, if at all.
But during my consultation yesterday, I learned of the option for small group "personal" training, which is much less expensive than the one-on-one personal trainer. Small groups are in pre-scheduled time slots at various days and times during the week, and they are capped at 4. There are different session "themes", with my favorite (title-wise, at least) being the "Pirate Throwdown". Sessions rotate trainers, and they actually do the same thing with one-on-one personal trainers. Their rationale: This type of team approach allows us to alternate trainers from session to session to keep your workouts fresh, all the while keeping your goals in mind. You'll have more ideas, more perspectives, and more partners helping you towards your fitness goals.
The approach seems to work well in their small gym environment. It's definitely part of the appeal. I've always been a big fan of the "Personal education. Extraordinary success" model (a big part of the reason I chose Centre). So after the consultation, I got talked into signing up. I think it will help tremendously with my half-marathon training, and it will help me reach other fitness goals, as well. Who knows, maybe next time you see me I'll have a six-pack. :P
Even though the small group option was much less expensive, it is still not cheap, as I'm sure you can imagine. So I think I'm going to put off the apartment search for several more months. I'll save up the money that would have been going to rent, groceries, etc. and have a bigger emergency fund or can invest some of the money or something. Yes, I'll continue having my crazy long commute, but I've started to not mind it so much. When I don't have any new audio books to listen to, I get a lot of time to think and just relax. Plus I'm looking into biking to and from work some days when the weather gets nicer. So it'll at work out.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
It's Been Awhile
I realized it's been awhile since I've made a post, so I'll try to provide a recap of what's happened lately.
Most significantly, I have started a temporary job at Northwestern University. For those of you not familiar with the Chicago area, the main campus for Northwestern is in Evanston, a bit north of Chicago. It's not a far commute from downtown Chicago or thereabouts, but I live 8 or 9 miles west of the lake. It doesn't sound like that would make much of a difference, but it certainly does, with traffic. Unfortunately there is no direct route from the O'Hare area to Evanston, so I have to take a bus basically all the way to the lakefront and then catch a train up to Evanston. On a good day, the commute can take about an hour and a half. On a bad day, more like 2 hours.
My current schedule (which will likely change a bit soon) is 9 to 5. I have to leave my house by about 7 to make sure I'm not late for work. So I wake up at 5:30 or 6, depending on whether I'm taking a morning shower. I leave work around 5 (or 4:30 if I cut my hour lunch break down to a half hour) and get home around 6:30 or 7 (6 or 6:30 if I left at 4:30). So between getting ready, commuting, and actual time spent working, work consumes about 13 hours a day, on average. Add in 7 hours of sleep, and I'm left with 4 hours a day for personal things on weekdays.
All that rambling did have a point relevant to my running and exercising pursuits. With 4 hours a day, it has gotten more difficult to spend 5 days a week fitting in a 45-to-60-minute workout. I'm still doing a decent job, considering. I usually eat dinner as soon as I get home to get some energy for a workout, and then around 8 I usually squeeze in a run or some time on the stationary cycle, all while watching a favorite TV show. That's what happens on a good night. There are nights, of course, when I don't come straight home from work because I need to run some errands or want to maintain some sort of social life, and there is just no time left for a workout. I usually still squeeze in 2 to 4 workouts a week, and that's not bad for the circumstances. I just hope it ends up being enough, come half-marathon day. But I'm also hoping to have moved on to a higher-paying full-time position by then and have gotten an apartment much closer to where I work. For now, all I can do is keep trying to balance my new adult life.
Most significantly, I have started a temporary job at Northwestern University. For those of you not familiar with the Chicago area, the main campus for Northwestern is in Evanston, a bit north of Chicago. It's not a far commute from downtown Chicago or thereabouts, but I live 8 or 9 miles west of the lake. It doesn't sound like that would make much of a difference, but it certainly does, with traffic. Unfortunately there is no direct route from the O'Hare area to Evanston, so I have to take a bus basically all the way to the lakefront and then catch a train up to Evanston. On a good day, the commute can take about an hour and a half. On a bad day, more like 2 hours.
My current schedule (which will likely change a bit soon) is 9 to 5. I have to leave my house by about 7 to make sure I'm not late for work. So I wake up at 5:30 or 6, depending on whether I'm taking a morning shower. I leave work around 5 (or 4:30 if I cut my hour lunch break down to a half hour) and get home around 6:30 or 7 (6 or 6:30 if I left at 4:30). So between getting ready, commuting, and actual time spent working, work consumes about 13 hours a day, on average. Add in 7 hours of sleep, and I'm left with 4 hours a day for personal things on weekdays.
All that rambling did have a point relevant to my running and exercising pursuits. With 4 hours a day, it has gotten more difficult to spend 5 days a week fitting in a 45-to-60-minute workout. I'm still doing a decent job, considering. I usually eat dinner as soon as I get home to get some energy for a workout, and then around 8 I usually squeeze in a run or some time on the stationary cycle, all while watching a favorite TV show. That's what happens on a good night. There are nights, of course, when I don't come straight home from work because I need to run some errands or want to maintain some sort of social life, and there is just no time left for a workout. I usually still squeeze in 2 to 4 workouts a week, and that's not bad for the circumstances. I just hope it ends up being enough, come half-marathon day. But I'm also hoping to have moved on to a higher-paying full-time position by then and have gotten an apartment much closer to where I work. For now, all I can do is keep trying to balance my new adult life.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Oops...
...I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. Here are my recent updates:
- I realized that dancing makes an awesome cross-training workout! I'll definitely be doing that more often. I feel so good doing it, it burns a ton of calories, I get to listen to fun music, and I get to check myself out in the mirror as I dance away with nobody else watching. :)
- I didn't get in a run on Saturday. I visited Frank this weekend for the first time in a few weeks because he's been sick (still is, but is a lot better than he was), so running did not happen. I'll need to figure out what to do about that in the future. I definitely will not be able to keep missing runs, especially as the half-marathon date gets closer. Maybe I can get him to run with me, or maybe I can go for an early morning run while Frank is still sleeping. ...Or I'll have to suck it up and go for a long run on Saturday night.
- Today's run was 25 minutes. My lungs, heart, etc. felt like they could have gone longer, but the back of my calf felt a bit strained. I pushed it a little bit but didn't want to push too hard. I really think it's because I missed my Saturday run and didn't run Sunday because it was a rest day. So it had been a few days since I last ran and exercised at all, and I think the muscle had just gotten a bit tight. I made sure to stretch it really well afterward, so hopefully I'll feel good Thursday for my next run.
Because I'm having a hard time breaking that half-hour barrier, I'm just going to shoot for anything over 30 minutes on Saturday for my long run. I know it needs to start progressing more quickly than the normal runs, though.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Picking Up Speed
Despite still being sick, I had another good run yesterday (Thursday). Ran for 25 minutes straight at a very slightly increased pace, and I did some speed work during the last few minutes. I'm now up to 4.2mph as a maintainable, conversational pace. I'd like to get up to 6mph for a 10-minute mile...and have it be comfortable. I'm well on my way there. I'll be shooting for 35 minutes for my long run on Saturday.
Between exercising and eating better, I have lost about 5 pounds since I've started, and I already feel like I've gained more muscle. I'm really proud of myself for all I've accomplished so far.
I haven't registered for the half marathon yet, but I want to do it soon. My parents still owe me a birthday gift from last year (2010). It was supposed to be a nice stand mixer once I got my own apartment, but I'm thinking I may ask them to pay for the half marathon registration and buy me some more running gear instead. That would be more beneficial right now. I should be going to get running shoes (as this year's birthday gift) sometime next week.
Between exercising and eating better, I have lost about 5 pounds since I've started, and I already feel like I've gained more muscle. I'm really proud of myself for all I've accomplished so far.
I haven't registered for the half marathon yet, but I want to do it soon. My parents still owe me a birthday gift from last year (2010). It was supposed to be a nice stand mixer once I got my own apartment, but I'm thinking I may ask them to pay for the half marathon registration and buy me some more running gear instead. That would be more beneficial right now. I should be going to get running shoes (as this year's birthday gift) sometime next week.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Good Run Today
I came down with a cold Friday-ish, so I wasn't sure how Saturday would go, but I knew I was going to run some anyway. Despite being sick, I started off great. Walked for a few minutes, like usual, to warm up, and then I got running. I've increased my pace slightly since I've started running, and I felt like my starting pace was still too slow, so I increased it a little bit. But between the cold and the increased pace, it was just not happening. I was at least able to decrease my pace and get in 30 minutes with a walk break somewhere in between, so it was still pretty good.
With my weekly break on Sundays, today was the first day I've run since Saturday. I didn't have a clear goal set going in because I'm still sick and thus figured I'd just feel it out. I ran at the pace I've been used to and felt really good. I had hoped for 25 minutes but would have been happy with 20. But 25 was no problem! It was a really good run, and I hope to feel like that next Saturday on my longer run day. Today's television show of choice was A&E's new show "Heavy", which is basically like any of the other weight-loss shows, but I still enjoyed it. (I know, I watch weird shows. :P)
I'm really excited about how much progress I've made already. Thank you to everybody who has been reading this and talking to me about it. You guys help motivate me to keep going and really enjoy this journey.
My parents are indeed buying me good running shoes for my birthday! I'm either going with my dad later this week or just getting money to go on my own. And my grandma is making me a wrist wallet to carry money and keys when I start running outside. So a great big thank you to my parents and my grandma!
With my weekly break on Sundays, today was the first day I've run since Saturday. I didn't have a clear goal set going in because I'm still sick and thus figured I'd just feel it out. I ran at the pace I've been used to and felt really good. I had hoped for 25 minutes but would have been happy with 20. But 25 was no problem! It was a really good run, and I hope to feel like that next Saturday on my longer run day. Today's television show of choice was A&E's new show "Heavy", which is basically like any of the other weight-loss shows, but I still enjoyed it. (I know, I watch weird shows. :P)
I'm really excited about how much progress I've made already. Thank you to everybody who has been reading this and talking to me about it. You guys help motivate me to keep going and really enjoy this journey.
My parents are indeed buying me good running shoes for my birthday! I'm either going with my dad later this week or just getting money to go on my own. And my grandma is making me a wrist wallet to carry money and keys when I start running outside. So a great big thank you to my parents and my grandma!
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