4.5 miles

Another 4.5 miles in my amazing shoes!!  I didn't wear my compression socks and I could feel the difference around the end of mile 2 and had to slow down a bit but If I do say so myself I think I did pretty well.

Mile 1- 14:45
Mile 2- 14:41
Mile 3- 15:09
Mile 4- 15:23
.5 mile- 7:59

Now all of this is still pending that my Garmin is more accurate than my treadmill. My treadmill is older and has never been calibrated since we got it from craigslist. And they are always about .3 to .5 of a mile different.  Since my 7 miles didn't make me that sore, I thought I better push myself a little more and today I did.  My muscles are not the problem it is my endurance that I need to build up.  My BFF and some other friends are doing the "Daffodil Challenge" this weekend. 4-5K's in 4 different cities in 1 day. It sounds like allot of fun but I just can't get past the fact that I don't need practice running 3.1 miles, I need the endurance to go a full 13.1.  The furthest I have ran is 8 miles and the last time I did that it was at a 16:52 pace.  That is not fast enough for the Tinkerbell Half. I NEED to complete the Half.  I am terrified of not completing something again. So, long run before fun. While my friends are having a blast running 5K's I'll be running my 8 miles. My goal is to do it outside  not on my treadmill so I can truly see what my pace is in my new shoes with GPS.  Hopefully it isn't to far off of what it says on my treadmill.

7 Miles in my new shoes!

I am now officially one of those people who can sing the praises of proper running shoes! In every running book I've read they stress the importance of the right running shoes. And talk about the big difference it made.  I was not having this experience and I thought maybe it's just me....

 I had gone to the running store and gotten the recommended shoes. I started thinking maybe it had more to do with my weight.  Running soon started to become depressing because I was starting to think there is just no way to run with out pain. I would be extremely frustrated and feel like I was not making any progress every run. The compression socks and the KT tape help but they are just making it a bit more bearable not making it go away.  Since I've started running I've had searing, stabbing, throbbing pain in at least one of my legs, until my adrenaline would give me my runners high and only then would the pain start to get dull. Just to have the pain return once I stopped, to the point of hardly being able to walk.  Recovering from a run meant lots of pain meds, limping, Dr Apts, icing and stress.

I was accused of being a wuss because: it can't be that bad.  I started to feel bad about my pain and dreading it to the point of anxiety asthma, to the point of wanting to give up. I mean if this pain was never going to go away, how can I keep this up? Full of stress I was talking to my hubby after a run. I could hardly walk and stopped only a mile into the four I was suppose to do. Hubby says you need to go back to the running store and tell them what is going on. I figured there would be no reason to do that, they already gave me the shoes I am suppose to wear.  As I've already touch base on this in my previous blog post I went back to the running store and got new shoes.

My next day off from work I took his advice and went back to my local running store and got my new Brook's. They have taken ALL the shin pain away! With out the shin pain I got faster almost every mile. Again not sure how accurate my watch is on my treadmill, it was .5 a mile off from my treadmill but my treadmill is old and could be wrong.

How's the diet going?

This meme has been making me laugh EVERY time I see it!! I find it so funny! LOL!! Anyways enjoy that little funny this Easter weekend. :-)

So last week I went back to the running store to try out some different shoes because my 16 miles and my shins were on fire and I found myself limping. For the last 6 months I figured it was my lack of training but I decided to try another pair of shoes.  So I went in and explained how the pain in my right leg went away with the but I got new pain in my left leg that is just unbearable. He redid my run analysis and still found me to over pronate to much and said while I can't go away from a stability shoe I can try a less intense one.  I guess there are 1-5 levels in stability shoes, 5 being the firmest. The shoes I currently had were a 3/4 and we decided to try one around a level 2.  I tried on 4 different brands of shoes and I stayed with Brooks. They said because I am staying with them the transition should be easier too.

New shoes Brooks Ravenna 6's

Back on the treadmill

My cold has not been cutting me much slack.  I got a short run in the other day to try them out. Results were lots of arch pain but no shin pain. Today I did a couple more short runs. Doing what I can between the coughing fits. I did a mile on my treadmill and it was a slow one at 18 mins, still no shin pain.  After my coughing fit Loki was dying to go for a walk, I thought well I'm dressed why not head outside.  I decided to throw on my Garmin, I knew it was just going to be a short walk but I was curious at how far we walk.  AlsoI needed to put on my a raincoat cause it was not pretty outside and away we went. I decided to jog for a bit, then run.  No treadmill showing me how fast I was going, no watching my pace because I was paying attention to Loki. Just the thought of keep going and see what the watch says when you're done. As we were about a half block from home my wrist buzzed!  I had gone another mile, awesome!! And it was my fastest mile I've done in a while.  I managed to pull out a 14:25 mile.  My last GPS tracked(have I told you I don't quite trust my Garmin is accurate on my treadmill?) under 15 min mile was in January when BFF & I did our 4 mile training run.  All this pavement pounding and NO SHIN PAIN!!!! I had arch pain but I think that is partly because they are new shoes I am still breaking in. But I can feel my muscles working and getting sore but that is what is suppose to happen. I am really hoping this is a major turning point in my training. Being able to train with out pain just sounds so wonderful. 

A Reminder.....

In the last 3 days the word diabetes keeps on coming up in my space.  Today when I heard it again my friend was telling me she just was diagnosed. All of a sudden I got a strong sense of warning. I felt like it was a reminder.  I thought about how just last July when I got my Blood Test Results and I was so relieved that all my numbers were good and I wasn't pre diabetic, I avoided this test for 3 years and was so worried about the results cause once you're diagnosed with diabetes there is no getting rid of it. You can manage your symptoms but you are still diabetic.  After I got those results I just kind of forgot about it.  My chances of developing Type 2 isn't just high, it is extremely high. Everyone on my Dad's side has it and is on medication for it. According to the CDC the two most common causes of Type 2 Diabetes are obesity and lack of physical activity, it is responsible for 95% of diabetes cases in the United States. The other night hubby and I were talking about our families health histories. Hubby said that his number one worry about me is that I'm going to get diabetes if I don't get control of my weight.  I could hear the concern in his voice and in his eyes I saw the same look I see when he says I wish I could fix it for you.  My husband like most men, is a fixer. He is very mechanical and engineer minded and he likes to fix things. When something in our house needs fixed he calls them his husband things to do. Fixing things makes him feel like a good husband and it drives him crazy when he can't fix things. My diet/weight has always been one of the things he isn't about to fix for me. He knows if that happens he won't be able to fix it. He really does love me so much.

I need to make a proactive choice and make changes NOW!

The end of last week into this week has brought new sickness to my family and I. I got BFF's nasty cold and gave it to my youngest who then had a fever and croup. I've missed 3 training runs. But with most of us starting to feel better and it is the 1st of the month I've made some goals for April.

GOALS FOR APRIL
-Do my devotions every morning
-Take my vitamins every day
-Complete ever day of scheduled training for April
-Track EVERYTHING I eat
-Treat my emotional triggers with prayer, not food
-Lose 8 pounds
-Finish reading 2 books
-Have my pace down to 15 min or faster
-Drink 80 Ounces of water every day

14 Miles and no medal to show for it! O_O

As of the week before last the highest milage I've ever put on my treadmill was about 3 miles. This weeks training schedule called for two 4 mile runs and a 6 mile run this weekend. Some pros about a treadmill is the fact that it provides an option for you to run inside when it is raining outside and I can be home with m y kids and still get a run in. Some of the cons about a treadmill is your stuck running inside and you are home with your kids. LOL!!

Run 1: 4 Miles, Total Time 1:21:42, Total Run time: 1:09:21, Average pace: 17:18 min

My First run this week was interrupted quite a few times because of my children. They always need something. I was also in extreme pain for the first two miles of this run. I tried switching shoes and almost had to add KT tape in addition to my compression socks because I could hardly walk. I tried to follow my Chi Running rules and use my core to support my run and found it easy to do at a 10 min pace but anything slower I felt like I was trying to stop thru my Treadmill. About the 2.5 mile point my pain faded and I slowly finished my run.

Icing my shin splints

Run 2: 4 Miles, Total Time: 1:09:25, Total Run Time 1:09:25, Average Pace: 17:20

This run felt a bit easier and, not near as much pain.  I did not stick to the C25K running because I didn't want to hurt again. So I still did running intervals throughout but kept the pain in check. This run was 4 seconds slower but it wasn't interrupted and I ended up with about the same pace but felt much better afterwards. And I had my longest running, with out stoping in a long time, with a whole 10 Mins of nonstop running around mile 3!!!

Run 3: 6 Miles, Total Time: 1:42:22, Total Run Time 1:42:22, Average pace 17:02

6 miles on my treadmill felt so daunting. We had company and it was getting late, cold and wet so I wasn't about to go run around my neighborhood. And plus using the footpath apt to try  to find 6 miles from my house and that made 6 miles seem TOO far. LOL! So how does one prepare for 6 miles on a treadmill? Here is what mine looked like...

I felt so silly having to have two water bottles, one w/ rehydrate and one with water, and shot blocks on my treadmill, but I knew anything higher than 4 miles I needed better hydration and to replenish my energy to keep me going. For those of you that don't know what shot blocks or gu is, let me elaborate. They are concentrated items that quickly help replenish your body with the electrolytes, sugars and carbs you are using up. This helps keep you going and keeps you from hitting the "wall". I can't stand Gu but I can stomach shot blocks quite easily. Doing the math and realizing how long this was going to take me. I grabbed my iPad and downloaded a movie and thought, crap it is going to take me this entire movie and maybe a little bit longer. Sure enough movie came to an end and I was still going. I noticed I was dripping with sweat, it has been a while since I felt like that. So I felt good knowing I was pushing myself. I dealt with some pain this time around. Realizing that it goes away around 2.5 miles, I am able to focus on that fact.

Reflecting on the fact that a year ago i was just about to start my C25K training in hopes to run a better Warrior Dash and signed up for only 5K's that were fun or that rewarded me with some race bling. How did I get here? I ran a total of 14 miles this week.......at home.....on a treadmill....It is mind boggling to me that a 5K doesn't seem that far anymore. I know that I am not where I could be at this point of my health & fitness journey but I am still not where I was a year ago. When I started the C25K program last year my running speed was 3.6 mph and the 60 sec intervals of that were killer and I wasn't even completing a mile in the 25 mins the work out took me.  This week my interval speed was 6 mph and even with my walking my average speed was 17 min miles. I still have a long way to go but I've got 7 weeks to get my average speed to 15 min miles)my goal for the Tinkerbell) Good thing to accomplish this I mainly building muscles, strength and endurance. I don't physically have to run faster just for longer amounts of time. This week brings two more 4 mile runs and a 7 mile run this weekend.

Running on fumes.....

I feel like I can't catch a break.  You already know about my oldest having the stomach flu the bad week I had a couple weeks ago, see my previous blog post "Murphy's law".  Now at the beginning of this week I started my period, had a sick puppy(taking a trip to the Vet ER), two days ago my youngest woke up with a fever and headache, then my oldest came down with the same thing last night.  It is hard for me to focus on anything with my kids sick. I shut down and go into freak out mode.  I worry about everyone else catching what the person has and to much time missed from work. You put all the sickness on top of the fact that my puppy hasn't slept through the night and likes to get up at 2:30AM, the only good night of sleep I've gotten in the last 3 months was when we went to the hotel for my birthday.  Needless to say I am running on fumes.

There has been allot of extra praying this week for strength.  Knowing I HAD to start my new training program this week,  of course people got sick again.  As stressed as I've been, I've be remembering to lean on God for my strength and claiming Isaiah 40:31 as my verse. I got another new album of worship music; Matt Redman's "Sing like never before". Some of the songs took me back to my youth group days. Just a couple chords in and I could feel my spirit fill up. Keeping my focus on God this crazy this week and I was able to: NOT have a panic attack(super emotional yes, panic attack no), did my two 4 mile training runs, made 4 dinners, on the one day everyone was healthy, and froze 3 of them and call weight watchers and get my log in reset so I can start tracking again.

It never ceases to amazing me how when I truly keep bringing my focus back to God and really not think about all the other things I get so worked up over. All of a sudden find I am able to do them with out stress or any major effort.  I spend so much energy trying to make myself do things, trying to make myself better and I am left with only frustration and more stress.  Last night as I was waiting for my oldest's fever to go down I took out my devotional and as God does with me He used my devotional confirmed the reason I was able to succeed this week.

The need for weight loss

My anxiety has been really high lately. My kids getting sick, missing work when I don't really have time to be missing. Between sick kids, my job, training/lack of training, I just feel like I am not doing well in any area. Last night I asked hubby about my anxiety and he said it has been a bit ridiculous lately. I am still on my depression meds and normally I can control my anxiety, for the most part, if my depression is under control. I told hubby I really don't want to add another medication to my list of meds I already take. He thinks if I ate better, worked out  more and got more sleep it would fix a multitude of my problems. I told him of course it would. The best treatment for both depression and anxiety is exercise. I've know this for years. I know I feel a little more sane when I am working out consistently. My blood pressure is high because of my weight, I have ulcer/acid reflux issues because of my weight and my anxiety causes me to stress eat adding more to my weight. Losing weight isn't just about appearance anymore. It will be a nice side effect of doing these things but the want to lose has become a need to lose. I need to lose weight for my health. I never ever thought I'd be to this point. I am 35 overweight, unhealthy and on meds because I am so unhealthy.My new training plan is by Hal Higdon and he has a disclaimer stating that if you are over 35 to consult your Dr.  That made me feel so old.

Since the 15K my days have been filled with negative feelings, depression, anxiety and self loathing.  And the only thing that breads is more tears, depression, anxiety and self loathing.  Yesterday and today I could cry at the drop of a hat.  I just feel like I am destined to fail.  I told hubby that I have yet to succeed at anything on my own. He reminds me that I am not doing anything alone because I have his support but in the past when I've lost weight I had people cooking for me and forcing me to work out.  This time around yes I have super supportive people in my life but I am still making all the wrong choices. And when I get cranky hubby opts for the happy wife happy life mantra, and gives into what I want in the moment.  I tell myself to just focus on training but if I do that other areas in my life suffer. Like my house, laundry, kids bed time, hubby's sanity. Today I found myself on my knees praying and crying asking God for strength and help because I am obviously not strong enough to pull this off right now. This prayer brought me back to my verse.

The I will run and not grow weary has been my focus of this verse lately. But the verse as a whole is what I need for this journey.  He will renew my strength and I will Soar. Not just get by, Soar! God keeps on reminding me I am meant for great things and I keep on putting myself in the way. 

Tomorrow I have 4 miles on the training schedule and this is when I am starting the C25K during my 4 miles on Tue & Thur this week. I got a new running journal and I will write in before and after because that really was helping me through my training before.  It's time to put the peddle to the medal and start getting myself back into running shape.