Going the Distance

I love running races. This is clear because I sign up for tons LOL it has become an addiction. Races are fun, social events and I get all excited to participate. But it takes a lot of work to get to those races. As I set my alarm last night for 5:30 AM on a Saturday morning, my day off I began to ponder the run I inteded to do in the morning and that dread set in.


I love to run, but before every single long training run I get this feeling of dreadfulness, I am sure some of you know it. It is the feeling that for the next 2 hours you will be putting your body through the most stress it will probably go through until your next long run. It is a lot of freaking work to lug your body across the road for many miles. This is the what makes me dread it. This is what makes me bitch and whine the whole day before I have a long run scheduled. I cannot help it, yes I know I run on my own accord and if I dread it so much why do it?

Those races rock. As soon as I start running I begin to feel like I am flying. As I woke up this morning I was stretching I was thinking about my last race, and how good it felt to race into that finish line and have people clapping. This is what got me out the door at 6AM and got me moving into this quiet fog:

I mapped out my run on daily mile (by the way best website ever for running addicts) ahead of time so I had my plan in place where I would run etc. and I set out ready to tackle it head on. I started out at a nice easy pace a 10 minute mile and it felt good. Once I got 2 or 3 miles into my run I felt amazing. I had very little knee pain which was a plus and it was so cool out I was comfortable. I had intended to do an 11 miler this morning, I have the Race to Remember in 2 weeks so I planned this is a final long run before it.

Well as I was running and jamming to my music something happened, that athlete in me kicked into gear and I began to push myself to work hard. I felt so strong and capable and an hour into my run I had realized I missed my turn!!! I had run all the way past it and was now in the next town over. I began to slightly panic and wonder if I had enough stamina to make it all the way back home. I had my cell phone tucked away in my pouch so I knew if worse came to worse I could call bf and have him come pick me up. I kept running and suddenly I made the decision.

I decided right then I would go the distance. I would run all the way home no matter how long it took or how hard I had to work. I felt so good I did not want to stop. Also the competitor in me woke up and I said to myself I am not calling and getting picked up. I can and will make it home. I had no idea how far it was or what my pace was because I wear a Polar HRM but it does not track distance. I thought maybe it would be about an extra mile or so. I knew how I was doing when I was about 3 miles away from home and still felt good. I pushed my pace then because I thought to myself hey all that is left is a 5k ;)

The last mile I really pushed it I was ready to go home and kiss my baby girl and relax!! My legs were pounding the pavement and I felt good though, I was tempted to pass by the house and keep going. If I did not have the race in 2 weeks and the knee issues I would have I could have.Instead I opted to be smart and I headed home. I looked at my watch and saw 1:51 appear and thought wow maybe the run was not as long as I thought and I only did get 11 ish miles. I stretched and drank water and collapsed for a few minutes lol I was totally wiped out.

I came on to daily mile and remapped my route. I squealed with delight when I saw I had run 12.8 miles!!!! I went the distance today and it felt good. I wanted to write this so I had a reminder to myself that even when you may dread a long run just suck it up and get out there you will NOT regret it!!! :)

Do you dread the moments before a workout begins and then fall in love with it once you get going?

It Is the Little Things

Blogger is finally working again! Sorry it was down for 2 days and you could not comment and I could not post! I wrote this post yesterday for you all :)

Weight loss is not easy. It is an everyday uphill, in the heat kind of battle. I get asked on a weekly basis how do you do it, what keeps you going, don’t you get sick of being on a diet???

That last question is the one that tells me those people have not gotten it yet. They are in the mindset I was in years ago when I was obese and unhealthy.  Weight loss is hard but a diet is not the solution. A diet is a temporary thing, a restriction, and with that comes the temptation to cheat. No a diet is not what I am on. So when people ask me what diet do I follow I kind of hesitate. 

I am not on a diet. Point blank that never worked for me. I would diet for a few weeks or month and drop 5-10 pounds then fall back on old habits and gain it all back and usually then some. So this time around I made a commitment. 

I made the commitment to myself and my family that I would change my lifestyle. A lifestyle change that has taken a full year to commit to and stick with. And that is what I want to remind everyone out there who is having a hard time. Take 1 healthy habit and implement it into your routine each week.

A change cannot happen overnight, to make a complete change that you can form into being routine it has to be introduced slowly over time and you have to make a decision to stick with it. For me it was making small changes over time that has led to a big success. I joined Weight Watchers and began following their program. That was a big change.  I learned that you should have smaller portion sizes if you want to be healthy, then I learned that everything I was eating was not very healthy. 

I began cooking more and eating more vegetables and fruit. Then I began packing a lunch to work. Again slowly I changed. A few weeks later I took it a step further and began making my coffee at home. After that it was exercise. I made a commitment to workout at least 5 days a week and I did it. Then I began cutting back on diet soda. I have come to the point again this took a year, where I only drink plain water all day. Even when going out to a restaurant I find myself ordering water with lemon without hesitation. That is how you know you have made a lifestyle change and committed to it. When you do not even have to think about it.

So what I want you to do is when you feel like you are not able to continue look at everything you already do. You may have changed your lifestyle more than you realize. Make one tiny change each week and commit to sticking to it in addition to the other ones you already do. Those tiny changes add up to a big life style change and lead to long term success.

What changes have you made that keep you successful?

Fitbloggin Thoughts

Everyone is getting all fired up for Fitbloggin!!! And yes I am too but I like many of us out there are also doing so with some nerves!

My main concern is leaving peanut! I have never left her over night in her entire 20 months.... It is making me sad just thinking about it. I know I know  I sound like a helicopter mom lol but I just cannot help it I adore her and being a full time working mom leaves me with a lot of guilt. I get even more guilty when I go out for runs and workouts this means more time away. So you can imagine how guilty I am feeling leaving her for 2 and a half days!!!! I know she will be with her daddy and I know they will be OK but I just need to keep telling myself this!

My next big fear? Food. I know sounds crazy.... But I realized this today, I pretty much have a set routine food wise, I eat the same thing for breakfast each morning. I use certain things in my coffee etc. I pack a lunch and snack all day long on fruits and veggies. I am gluten and dairy free. I do not like to eat out. At home its ok because I cook and carry food every where and it is no biggie. But when traveling it is a challenge and throws me all off plan. And I do not like falling away from plan. I do not like taking 15 minutes to decide what to eat because I have to read every food label. Point blank it is a pain. I am contemplating hitting up a grocery store when I get there and or bringing food LOL

Last major fear? Some nerves!!!! I been reaching out of my shell more and more these past few months, but I am still nervous around crowds of people. I still am that shy 270 pound girl sometimes, I feel awkward so many times. I always hesitate to jump into conversations and have never done something like Fitbloggin before. I have never attended a conference for anything other than work, with coworkers whom I know. So this is my first time being a big girl and really going far out of my comfort zone!!

But there are some things I am excited about too!!!!

I will be running the 5k woohoo!!!

I will be meeting so many awesome bloggers that I cannot contain the excitement!Like some of these people are like celebs to me and I will feel so nervous to meet them yes but then again so excited all at the same time!

I will be meeting an awesome Mamma and friend Reita! We met through a baby website and I adore her!

I will be a brand ambasador for Arctic Ease!!!! And if you do not know why I love them stay tuned for tomorrow's post!

My First Experiences with Spinning!

I have been breaking out of my shell so much lately and I must admit it feels so good! I will keep telling you the ways I am doing this and today is no different ;) Yes I am excited to report I have tried spinning finally!!!

My original inspiration, the ultimate fit girl who got me to even start working out has been encouraging me to try spinning for awhile. I will admit I was skeptical simply because I have never been a huge fan of biking. I love being outside and even roller blading but biking for some reason never  really got into biking.

You know by now I love running and I have a half marathon in 18 days :) So I have been eager to get some cross training into my workout week that will improve my running. Several people recommended spinning so I figured hey why not?

So I noticed the YMCA offers several spinning classes and I have grown fond of working out early in the AM before work. So when I saw that they had a 5:30AM spin class on Wednesday mornings I got tempted. I was not sold until I realized the instructor was my boot camp instructor! He runs the TRX boot camp on Friday mornings, he is also a runner, and he coaches for a local high school track team I believe. So he is the perfect instructor for me! I like his style he pushes us and is always mixing in new things.

So I show up to spin class with my nervous self and right away feel lost. Everyone is moving out their bike and as I pull on it I realize wow this is heavy! It is not until I struggle for about 5 minutes do I see it has wheels LOL So yes the bikes tilt and roll out very easily for the record hehe. I try to calibrate it so I feel comfortable but again feel lost. I just watched what everyone else was doing and tried to do the same. Why did I not speak up and ask for help? I am not sure! I will this week for sure!!!

So class gets ready to begin and I start to relax, I recognize a few people from boot camp and feel more comfortable. Our instrucotr comes in and starts the music. He is a rock fan so its a nice change from my usual hip hop/pop music and it gets me fired up.

Spinning is hard. I went in not worried that it would be that bad since I run and workout every day.... I was a bit humbled. I realized why everyone had a towel, You sweat your buns off!! I did not bring a towel, and I sweat but it was not too bad since I was rocking a bondi band ;) It was different. You are biking at speeds and then you control your resistance.

This worked well for me I liked how I could turn the dial up and down and set how hard I wanted to work. I also liked how the bike propels it self based upon how hard you pedal so you are working but it is to build momentum.

It is not like real biking at all. I was completely stunned. I liked it. It was fun, it was a workout for sure! I really did enjoy it. I liked how it kept my heart rate up. I liked how I was in control of my resistance and speed. I loved how it did not bother my knee too much ;) Right now in class he is working on building our endurance so we have been doing tons of cardio intervals. This is right up my alley I love doing intervals.

What I also loved about it? I burned a whopping 523 calories in that hour according to my Polar HRM ;)

So spin on Wednesdays for cross training it is! But next time I will bring a towel ;)

Have you tried spinning?

Race Recap: NECC 5K a New PR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super excited to be writing this post.

I went back and read my first 5K recap tonight just so I could remember exactly how big of a deal this race was to me. I began the couch to 5K program weighing over 200 pounds and barely able to jog a mile a year ago.....

Saturday morning I got up early went to Weight Watchers to weigh in and then headed out to Southborough for a 5K race to benefit autism. The weather was beautiful and I knew it would be a great day for a race. I joined some co workers who were there as well and started warming up.

Last week I ran and PR'd at 23:05 at the YMCA 5K so honestly I was just hoping my knee and body could carry me fast enough to do that again. At my Weight Watchers meeting Stacy was all pumped up and she demanded I come in first place! She put some pressure on me and I felt I could do it until we reached the race site. There were almost 1300 people registered to walk or run! That is a much bigger race than the past few 200-400 people races I have been participating in. My nerves began to come in and I suddenly felt a sense of defeat. I started looking around and felt there was no way I would be placing in this race.

We got lined up and I decided to head to the front and at least try to stay towards the front of the pack. It was a chip race so I was excited that I would have the most accurate time as possible and suddenly thought maybe I could have an official new PR if I could just keep my eyes on the prize. I thought at least 23 minutes flat would be nice. I ran without music again like last week;s race. I have decided for smaller races this is how I will run. It is so nice to be free of head phones, wires and an mp3 player no matter how small it may seem, I do not miss them when running. Also it gives me a chance to talk to people running around me and just think clearly.

So the gun went off and away we raced. I immediately started to feel winded as I fought hard to stay at the front of the pack. Huffing and puffing it took me about 3 solid minutes to settle in at a nice pace. I checked my HRM and it said 178, I knew I could push a little more at mile 2 so I held on to my pace. There were people ahead of me who were of course super fast and people behind me so I felt like I was in a good spot.

There was a girl running about 5 seconds ahead of me her name was written on her shirt Brooke, and a woman with us Stacy, we were all together about the same pace and cheering each other along it was a nice feeling. At the last mile I broke away from them a little bit and pushed my legs as hard as they would move. I was really huffing and puffing and checking my HRM and seeing it hit 201 I knew I was at peak speed! As we rounded into the finish line Brooke came up from behind me and dashed in to over take me. I pushed forward and she ended up finishing half of a second before me. After we finished I congratulated her and Stacy and felt good about the race. ( More coming tomorrow about this)...

My coworker managed to get a good shot of me trying to dash in to the finish:

I felt even better when my coworker said she clocked my time coming in with her camera phone!

22:07 I did not believe it!!!! Did I really hit a new PR by a whole freaking minute???? I eagerly awaited the posting of the official times so I could see what the chip said.

22:04 I was stunned!!! And happy, and excited and yes all of the above. I felt like a champion right then and there. It did not matter if I placed at that point in my mind I was a winner!!!!!!

I did end up placing I was the 4th female over all to finish the race and 28th out of all those people. That felt pretty freaking awesome! And I got a plaque for being first in my age group :)

An amazing race and an amazing day. My coworkers did great as well. One placed first in his age group finishing the race around 19 minutes!! He is super fast! And my boss even finished his first 5K only 4 weeks into his couch to 5K program! It is nice to see people around you get inspired and back into running!

Looking back at how far I have come I really feel like the sky is the limit for me. I want to keep working hard and keep working on my speed and endurance. I am looking forward to the Fitbloggin' 5K in 2 weeks!!! Then my Half Marathon on May 29th!!!

Who knows what the future holds? ;)

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to take a moment and wish all the lovely mothers out there a happy mother's day! I hope everyone had a great day!!!

I had a great day with my lovely daughter. I may not have a 'mom' to go visit today and it does get me depressed sometimes and I am still working through that but today I promised one thing to my little girl. That I would not let that ruin our day of celebrating together. My baggage will not be hers and I am committed to being the best mom I can to her.

Then I started to reflect a bit, I feel honored to be a mom. When she was born something in me changed, I started realizing that someone else needed me and I had to be stronger for that tiny person. It took some time but slowly I realized I needed to make a lifestyle change and having her in my life helped me make that change. My daughter truly saved my life. She makes me want to be stronger, healthier and most of all happy to be me. By being such a strong positive influence in her life I know she will grow to be a great woman herself. I am so proud to be a mom today and I will celebrate the honor of being her mom each and everyday.

So today we celebrated together. I think this is a new Mother's day tradition I want to begin for our family. Make it a day to celebrate being strong women. So we went out for a walk it was chilly so then we headed to our favorite gluten free bakery All Can Eat for a special treat. We had such a fun day!

How did you spend your Mother's Day?