Race Recap : The YMCA 5K a New PR :)

Sometimes the best things in life are the ones you decide to do at the last minute! That is how this 5K happened for me. Our YMCA was hosting their healthy kids day today and having a 5K for the first time with it as well. I have passed by the signs for this for weeks on my way in and out of the gym. I contemplated bringing peanut to the healthy day for the kids. Then yesterday after trying a TRX boot camp at the YMCA I was on my way out and saw the signs again and thought hey why not? So I set my mind to it, I would run in the 5K on Saturday morning.

When I went for my physical therapy yesterday afternoon my therapist said I should be fine to do it and taped my knee for some extra stability.

It looked a little funny but it really did help! I had little to no knee pain while running today only going up the bigger hills did it pain me a bit.

So we set out for the YMCA this morning, I debated back and forth between running with peanut in her jogger and leaving her at the child watch while I ran. After looking over the course I decided on the latter because there were not many side walks etc and I was unsure of how the jogger would do. I literally waited until 10 minutes before the race to drop her off because I am clingy lol but she had fun playing with the other kids.

Lining up there was about 220ish people entered in the race. Not a very big one but it was nice. We started out with a simple bull horn and I pulled out quick and fast. I was in the front of the pack with 5 other males and I felt good running and at the moment I decided I would try for a new PR. I did not have my music so it was a little different for me I had to focus and push myself. But it was nice not being bogged down by head phones! The first mile was smooth and I was the leading woman in the race. It was a pretty nice feeling being upfront and I liked it :)

Then after the first mile marker my competition came up from behind me and we were running same pace for a few minutes. It was the only other woman I had seen and she was beginning to break away and get in front of me. I tried my hardest to keep pace with her. The competitor in me came out right then and I set my mind to push my body a little harder and kept up with her. She was faster than me, she was smaller than me and as we were closing in on mile 3 there was a big hill. Heading up the hill my knee began screaming at me. I knew it right then and there that I would not be the first female finisher of the race. It stung a bit but I kept pushing because behind me I could see another woman who was probably trying to catch up.

So I kept running I pushed so hard my heart rate monitor was around 196 for the entire end of the race. That is a pretty high rate for me when I speed train it is usually in the high 180s so I knew my body was working as hard as it could. And as we came into the finish line area I began to smile I looked at that clock and it said 23:20 and I knew right then and there that I would finish this 5K sub 24 minutes!!!! I was beaming and waving as I crossed that finish line and I will post my official time here as soon as it is posted :)

I was the second woman to finish and I did place first in my age group so I am happy about that. As soon as I finished I raced to get my baby from the day care inside the YMCA so we could celebrate together. The women working there were amazed I was back so quick hehe I was in a rush to be with my peanut!

Here we are cheesing after the race :)

And we waited patiently for the awards!!! I got my first place medal and it felt so good!

A beautiful day for a race. The weather was lovely and we had fun! After the awards we headed to have some fruit and then enjoy the healthy kids day! They had some fun stuff for peanut to do and she had fun. I was glad we made the last minute decision to head to the YMCA today for the healthy kids day it was well worth it!!!

Now I am home resting. My knee is slightly angry at me so I wrapped it up nice and good with an Arctic Ease cool wrap after I did my stetches and spent some time with my foam roller :)

Hopefully it is not too mad at me I have to walk for hunger tomorrow morning with my company's team! Needless to say it is a busy weekend for us :)

How is your weekend going?

Running With My Baby!

I do not think there is a greater joy than having this little lady get excited when she sees our new jogging stroller come out! I did not realize how very much my sweet baby girl enjoys our evening runs until I asked her the other day if she wanted to go for a walk and she squealed with delight when I brought out her stroller. It really warmed my heart.

I love running because it frees me and honestly it is something I do for myself. Being a mom does not give me a lot of free time to myself especially working full time and taking classes part time. So for me running is my time, my own thing but now that the weather is warmer and it is light out when we get home from work how can I not bring this little love along?

So weather permitting when we get home I plan to take peanut and the stroller out for a jog around the neighborhood. And I do it without electronics because she is so interactive during our runs. She was singing the other day and asking me whats that whats this when we passed things. I am always amazed at how much she grows and learns each and every day. I never imagined I would be able to put 2 of my most favorite things together and enjoy them at the same time! But thanks to our jogging stroller it is possible :)

My dream is for one day us to run a race together and by taking her on some runs now I can only hope she gets the bug like I have hehe ;)

My First Experience with TRX

I joined the YMCA about a month and a half ago. The wonderful thing about them is there is stuff I can bring peanut to and they have an awesome gym I take advantage of. They also have tons of free classes. Well I have been aiming to start taking advantage of those classes and today I went to my first one!

I went to TRX. TRX is a body weight suspension based training in which you use your own body weight to work your muscles. It looks a bit intimidating when you walk in there are these straps hanging from a bar and handles at the end. It took a lot for me to even go to this class honestly I was a bit aprehensive about it. I am so shy when it comes to doing new things on my own and it really forces me to reach way outside my comfort level.

But I figured hey why not give it a shot whats the worst that can happen? So in I went. The instructor was nice and I introduced myself and there were some women already there chatting away. I started thinking uh oh I am a newbie never done this I am going to look like a complete idiot... So I went and got in front of a set of straps and waited for class to begin. There was no stretching we went right into a move. This bugged me a bit but I stretched before anyways so I was ok.

TRX is definetly a different kind of workout! You hold onto the straps and have to let your body weight be your resistance. We started with squats and it felt awkward at first but after a few reps I began to grasp the concept. I liked how you can control how much resistance you want simply by moving into or away from the center of the straps. We did a lot of plank work and I liked it a lot suspending in the air holding onto the handles and doing pushups was a totally new cool sensation for me. I really felt it gave me a solid core workout. We did a few plank moves and some oblique twists.

The workout was set up like a circuit so we did 6 moves and then a minute of cardio with steps on the blocks and jumping jacks etc. I liked that about it because it kept my heart rate up throughout the workout. We did squats, and backwards courtesy lunges. We also did some rowing, arm curls and triceps moves. Over all I felt we touched each muscle at least once which was nice. TRX really involves balance and strength. You have to concentrate and listen to your body which I did enjoy. It gave me a different way to work my muscles and use my own body. The workout was only 30 minutes long and the class ended with a 1 minute wall sit. Again no official stretching but I stayed and stretched for a bit so I would not be sore.

And what did I think?

Well according to my Polar HRM I burned 251 calories in that 30 minutes so I would say it is a decent workout. That is my normal burn for a Jillian Michaels video of that length. Honestly it was OK. I am not totally in love with it I will admit I was looking for more of a challenge or more of a burn. I enjoyed it but I guess its only my first time doing it so I need to go a few more times to get accostomed to it and learn more about it. I feel that it could be a great workout if I used it right and pushed myself harder. Also the people in class where a bit whiny and it kind of annoyed me LOL again my first time going to a class so something I will have to adjust to ;)

I will go again, there is a 45 minute long TRX boot camp on Friday mornings at 5:30 AM with a different instructor who does a lot of classes so I may try to go to that this week and see if I like it more. Its funny I walked in worried I would not be able to handle it and already am thinking of how to make it more of a challenge. I guess we do under estimate ourselves all the time!

I went upstairs and did some time on the treadmill to burn another 250 calories before heading home.So I was not totally knocked out by the class which is a good thing.

Have you tried TRX? What did you think about it?

Climbing Back on the Wagon

This weekend I fell off the wagon and I blogged and tweeted about it and a great thing happened.

Everyone helped me with their kind words and thoughts, so much so that it helped me realize that this journey is not done by one person alone. It has taken a whole community of wonderful people who have helped me stay motivated and stay working.I am so grateful to everyone who reached out to me and came through for me to encourage me I cannot thank you enough!

This all being said I thought of something today as I was helping a friend get back on the wagon with me. You can fall off the wagon from time to time and it will be ok as long as you yell out for help. Once you ask for help there are always people on the wagon ready to pull you back on!

So my little message to everyone who is out there struggling with some issues is just ask for help. You will be surprised at how many people are waiting to grab on and pull you back up. It is ok to fall, we all will, and together we will always get back up :)

I Fell Down

Well this will probably be one of the hardest blog posts I have ever written. And it is because I am going to allow myself to be perfectly honest with you. I fell off my healthy wagon this weekend. I feel into a dark abyss of sugar, chocolate, and gluten free goodies. And I feel so devestated about it.

It all began when I got sick, not an excuse but I could not swallow and I was really feeling like shit. I ate well and even exercised on Friday. Then Saturday came, and the horror began. I went to urgent care and got diagnosed finally with a sinus infection and strep throat. I got depressed for some reason maybe just tired of being sick, maybe with personal drama going on at home, not sure what exactly triggered it. But I went to the gluten free bakery and got some goodies for my Easter company, and I got a chocolate chip cookie. And even though it hurt to chew it and swallow it, I ate it in the car while driving home.

The old Colleen came out right then and there, it was like the flood gates had been opened and that 1 bad choice led to my down fall. I went home and slept for hours. I was really so sick running a fever, could not breathe, swallow etc. Completely just miserable. Then I got some coconut milk ice cream for my throat, bad decision number 2. And no it was not bad to have some, but I had a whole bowl of it. And the old Colleen kept coming out, I kept thinking about the sweets I had for tomorrow and started to obsess about them. And then I made up peanut's easter basket and filled the eggs for the eater egg hunt. And I started snacking on the gourmet jelly beans. And I enjoyed them so much, the tatse of sugar. I know it sounds crazy but it has been so long since indulging in it, that it just was that good.

Of course I woke up feeling like shit still and even worse with a stomach ache because honestly my body is not used to eating crap anymore. Even though the gluten free goodies were gluten free they are still made with sugar and oil and not all too healthy I am sure. So today I undulged again, in cake and cool whip and more candy. UGH I really feel like crap now. My heart is fluttering, from the sugar and caffine I am sure and my stomach is a hot mess.

Old Colleen, the food addict just came out and I was unable to control it. So now I am sitting here more depressed than ever. I thought I had moved past this life style. I thought I was stronger than some damn cake and candy. I really thought I was over coming my obsession with food.

I was wrong. I cannot handle having junk in the house that I like, and I cannot handle having even a little bit of sugar because it leads to this search for more. I feel like the 252 pound girl again, I feel so fat and ugly right now.

I know no one is perfect and we all have cheat days from time to time etc. But mentally it just does not work for me. I do not have the self control that I thought I did. Well I will because right now after posting this I am throwing into the trash all of the left over cake, candy, etc and going for a long walk. That is the other sad part of my weekend. I broke my chip quest :( I did not exercise yesterday and obviously over ate and had sugar. Getting sick is not an excuse by any means but I allowed it to derail me from my journey and it sucks.

I fell off the wagon and I am so hurt by it. I have to not let it ruin all of my progress. I have to get back up and keep fighting this fight. I will not put any more junk into my body. I am not waiting until tomorrow to start over. In the past I may have, in the past old Colleen would have kept eating to feel better and putting off the start over day. The theory is well I already ruined today I should just finish it off. And I honestly thought about that. I thought to myself well the day is shot to hell I won't bother to go workout today, the gym is closed anyways. I will finish the junk food off because I will not have it again for a long time so I might as well enjoy it. I know how many times have I done this? Way too many...

Well not this time. Yes I fucked up this weekend. Yes I have to start my chip over. Yes it sucks and I am depressed about it. But I have to realize there is nothing food will do to solve this. I made the mistakes and only I can fix them. So to the trash it is all going and out to run am I going. I cannot run much because I am still pretty sick but I know it is what I need to wake me up.

How do you get back on the wagon after you fall off?