Running Gear HAUL!!!

Sports Authority is going out of business and only have a few more days open so hubby and I went to check out what they had left.  I found some great deals and wanted to share them with all of you.  Here is a pic of everything I got!!

I got two moisture wicking shirts one Adidas & one Nike

                               

A handle massager, It is nice and small but I am glad I didn't pay the $25 they charge normally for this. I've seen and tried much nicer ones before but for the price I am glad I got it.

And my favorite part is two pair of compression 2XU socks!!! This is the brand I always use and in the second pic you can see the prices they are normally $45 & $55 a pair.  I love these compression socks.  I feel they really do make a difference with the blood flow and my shin splints.

Here is the best part of this haul and really the only reason I got all this and am sharing it with you.  The retail price with out tax for all of these items is $199.  Now for the amount I actually paid.  I only paid $46.68 w/o tax. Isn't that crazy!!! The pair of reflective 2XU socks as $55 full price alone! I feel I got some great deals and can't wait to try them out!

However thanks to a fight with a box type fan, 3 days ago I have been unable to wear any shoes with heels. :-/  Hoping this week I can try to pick up where I left off on my C25K with out it kicking my butt to bad.

I glimpse at relaps

I really don't want to be effected this much by something that seems out of my control. I around week 4 of being back on my meds the jitters an anxiety finally left, I was shocked it took so long to go away.  Normally it is with in 7 days but for some reason this time it lasted 3 weeks. Then of course what happens? I forget to refill my meds. So about a week went buy with out meds and for the first couple days I was still fine but then I didn't even notice the little signs.  Only a week off, keeping in mind the meds had just reach full effect around 3 weeks and I basically skipped week 5.  I started being more with drawn and figured I am just tired, I stopped calling my family as much and I started right back to my 24/7 stressing and freaking out about what I was stressing about. When I am in a depressed state I find a corner to sit in and stuff my face with Junk food. And not only that but I don't clean up my messes so there is a pile that gathers next to the spot that I start to sink into. Then I took my meds for the first day again. I felt more energetic.  I was able to vent and talk logically with my Mom and Hubby about what had been stressing me out.  More energy meant I got more cleaning done. It was the moment I went an cleaned up the spot where I had been sinking into that I realized the fog had creeped back in so slowly I didn't even notice.  Honestly it took me off guard.  I didn't see it or feel it happening but there was the evidence in my hands as I cleaned it up.  

I have had some great insight into my life these last few days. That is what good meds will do for ya. ;-D Another blog post coming soon.

Starting week 3 late....

I was going to start my C25K week 3 day 1 and I am ashamed to say I let my head and mood get in the way.  It has a 3 min running segment and I am not looking forward to it.  Today I was super cranky and probably means I would have benefitted even more from a run but alas I didn't run. Making this 3 days between runs. From past experience, I know how bad and hard hat makes the next run.  I did spend some time writing more of my book and that means going over pat runs on my way to my half marathon last year and I just wrote about the Beach to Chowder 2014 and I can't believe it has been 2 years since that run.  How can 2 years have passed already?  This was the point I started to love how running made me feel. It was only a week or so after I experienced my first runners high and I realized fully how this activity could make me feel.

Also this week has been the week of STP's past. For the last 4 years Hubby has done the Seattle to Portland bike ride and this year has been the year of laziness for all of us. No STP for hubby and no running events for me.  Hubby was expressing how he missed the STP this year and how it is what kept him motivated to ride more than he has.

Hubby finishing STP in one day last year.

It is his thing, It was his crazy thing that he signed up for that the really felt like he didn't know if he could do it or not. He said once he did it, it was such a confidence boost and he really does enjoy the event. None of his normal group that has done it for the last 4 years did it this year and I can tell they all are kind of bummed seeing the pics come up in time hop and Facebook memories. 

Between him missing his STP and me reading the Beach to Chowder and reliving the first moments I started to feel like running was my thing. I now miss having a thing that was kind of my thing.  Facebook was full running and biking posting this weekend between the STP and the Ragnar relay NW passage. And we are feeling left out. 

When you feel like you don't deserve another chance..

After a night of no sleep running was the last thing I wanted to do yesterday.  With hubby's encouragement I got on the treadmill and did my Week 2 Day 3 work out.  I was so tired I told hubby, fine I'll do it but I don't know if I can run at all. But we all know full well that once you get started doing anything but your best would only be frustrating so I ran just like I would have if I had slept the night before.  My tomato red face showed up during the run, good news is that means I am pushing myself. Even though today my muscles are still not really sore just tired. 

 As I sit and write a to do list with things like meal planning and prep, I almost feel guilty.  I feel like I don't deserve another chance to lose weight and get healthy.  I feel that God has given me so many opportunities and I keep on throwing them away.  I've had the pre diabetes scare, I'm on the mildest smallest type of blood pressure meds I can be on but they are not real blood pressure meds yet, my gastric issue/ulcer and the most recent my skin cancer scare.  After each and everyone of these you could find me crying and telling hubby how I have to change my ways. That would last a week or two if I could even get started.  I still have been unable to start even with the new program purchased. WW has ruined me forever because every time I look at a new diet and it tells me I can't eat something I think well WW let me eat that and I lost weight.  WW was never the problem, it is a great program it was just me sticking with something that is the problem.  My oldest has a problem doing things he doesn't want to and sticking to things he finds frustrating. I realize that while I suck it up and do most things I need to do in my life whether I want to or not when it come to healthy living and dieting I am exactly like him.  Time to vacation is quickly passing and I got two new goal shirts for the trip that I would really like to wear this November. I am glad that my C25K program is just something that isn't an option for me. Now that I've started it I just have to run 3 days a week no if ands or buts about it.  Just need to find a way to make that thought process work with my eating and tracking what I eat. 

I'm confused....

Yesterday I knew I had to run. The nice thing about the C25K program is, it is only 3 days a week but you don't want to go more than 2 days w/o running. Because week 2 day 1 seemed to be so difficult I took an extra day off between. I was concerned that I would find similar results yesterday.  Hubby was home so I was able to avoid the interruptions from the kiddos and the first 90 seconds came and I made it!! I didn't feel like my heart was going to explode. It was beating fast but I felt it was better than the other day. Long story short... I got through the whole 20 mins while it was not easy some things seemed to be missing.  2 years ago when I first did the C25K on Week 3 Day1 I comment on how I have never dripped sweat like that before.  I say how I did all my running at 4 MPH and that I was sweating and my legs hurt so bad.  Granted I am not at Week 3 Day 1 onlly Week 2 Day 2 however, my running I am doing at 5-5.2 MPH.  After my first week back my legs hurt and were tight and after my run but yesterday.......nothing.  I was sweaty but not dripping, What does this mean?  I am confused??

Then today my muscles aren't really sore either.  I would say they feel tired but not sore.  Are my muscles already ready to run for longer periods of time? I don't feel ready to run longer yet, but normally if your not sore you need to push more. I feel like my cardio is in much worse shape than my muscles are and so I don't want to push the speed or exertion too much. Where does this leave me? I need cross training.  Not like I've always said I would do and never did. I really need to do it this time.  My cardio is still not ready or in shape for more than what I am doing but apparently my muscles are. I messaged my favorite trainer than no longer trains and asked if she still has copies of our work outs together, she would always make me a copy and I can't find them anywhere. Fingers crossed she is able to get them to me. she was all about free weights and body weight exercises so I should be able to do most of them at home. I may have to purchase a dreaded bosu, I really hate that thing. 

90 seconds is hard...

C25K week one wasn't to bad, I was sore but it was a good sore.  Yesterday was to be the start of week 2.  Hubby was on a bike ride after work and I had planned on running while he was gone. Well got home after work, ate dinner and then you can't run on a full tummy so I waited for a bit and the lady kicked in.  Hubby had said the bike ride was just going to be a quick trail ride with his buddies so I figured I only have to run 3 times a week I'll just start tomorrow.  I kept on waiting and waiting for hubby to get home texting BFF and so I checked to see where hubby was on his ride, my primary use for find my iPhone, and he was 10 miles way off the trail out about 10 miles from where they met and started the ride........ now my excuse wasn't valid, Crap!  With a big sigh and a groan I got my lazy butt off the couch and went upstairs to my room where the treadmill now lives and got my gear on.

I told the kids where I'd be and started my 5 min warm up.  I was feeling good so I was doing it a little faster than week 1 and when the 5 mins was up I pressed my 5 mph button and was met with a ZOOoooooooommmmmmm.......  All the power in my room shut off.  I learned that the circuit for my room can not power both our AC window unit and my treadmill at running speed, Oops. Out to the garage to reset the breaker and realized if I didn't start over I won't know how far I went in the 20 mins and so I started my warm up over again.  When it came time to run, the power didn't go out but my youngest started yelling for me as soon as I got up to speed. I paused the treadmill and went running to see what was wrong and was met with I'm hungry. :-/  Do any of you remember my post The many functions of my treadmills start button? I was having flash backs to that.  When I finally got back on the treadmill I thought I will just start running, cause I am NOT doing the warm up again. Now I am just hoping to finish running before hubby got home.  90 seconds is hard! I was thinking oh this will be nothing like the 60 seconds last week and I was wrong!!  I wanted to keep my running pace at 5 mph but I just couldn't complete the full 90 seconds at first.  This week had 4 running segments at 90 seconds each and then 2 min walking breaks between them.  This is not how my run went! My went run 60 seconds, walk 2.5 mins, run 90 seconds, walk 3 mins, run 55 seconds run 4 mins, run the last  90 seconds segment and then walk for another 5 mins.  My heart was just racing and I wasn't sure if I had, had to much caffeine or sugar but my heart felt like it was going to explode!  Where did I go wrong? Part of me thinks it was because I put my heart rate watch on and so I was very aware of my heart rate and was checking it regularly during the run then when I would see it was high I would feel scared and stop.  And another thing is I am not sore today. If it was that much harder on my body I should be more sore today than I was last week. Tomorrow we will try this again C25K week 2 day 2, lets see if I can keep my head and heart where they belong.

No better place to start....

It is officially July, we have only 6 months left of 2016 and my pursuit of health in 2016 has gone no where fast.  Isn't it amazing how when we think about something being 12 months away it seems so far.  Yet here we are in the half way done and I don't even know where the last 6 months went.  They were eaten up by stress, depression and anxiety.  We moved and that took up all of March and I used that stress as an excuse to do nothing.  When I avoid dealing with my stress, because it causes such anxiety so I leave it alone,  I soon find myself avoiding things, places and people. That is when depression grabs hold.  That causes me to be worse off than I was when all this started.  In all honestly my stress is just life. It happens to everyone and some can deal with it better than others but if you can't deal you need help.  I've been back on my meds for a week and a half now and I am feeling really good. I've had some down moments, but I recovered faster than I would have 2 weeks ago.

I was feeling so well I felt the urge to run. O_O  I thought NAH, you don't really want to do that.  The nagging feeling wouldn't leave.  So I finally gave in, put on my new running shoes that have been in the box for months and dusted off the treadmill.  Keep in mind this is only the dust it has gathered since we moved in here.

What is a better place to start than right back at C25K Week 1 Day 1.  I looked back at the first time I started this over a year ago after the first interval and I remember week 1 I running for 60 secs was so difficult, I remember I couldn't walk at 3 MPH I had to put it down to 2.8 to start and then when it was time to run it was at 4.2 and it was so difficult that  and to quote myself from a post where I was on week 2 of the C25K  "I am currently not even hitting a mile in 20 mins on my C25K program." This time I was able to do my walking at 3 MPH and I actually ran instead of jogged at 5 MPH for my running segments!! And when my 20 mins came to an end I had hit 1.13 miles.

Granted I was still spent by the time I was done with my 20 mins but it felt WAY more doable than it did two years ago when I first started the program. Now to keep moving forward...