Working Out In A Winter… WONDERLAND!

I live in cold, snowy Wisconsin. It’s way too easy to hibernate when winter comes along – it’s fun to play outside with the dogs for  a few minutes until we are wet and cold but when you feel like an icicle yourself it’s easy to go inside where it’s nice and warm. 

But not this year!! Have you seen Angela’s post on Project Snow??  I’m so in!  Doesn’t it make it sound like fun?  I can’t wait to have my first long walk in the snow with my puppies so I can report in on my Project Snow success! Angela has a way of making me look forward to this… as opposed to dreading it.  I love the snow but not exercising in it.  This year will be different… I’m going to make sure of it!!

The Weight Loss/Gain Cycle and True Changes

Things I could tell you:

1. I have been a running machine since we last spoke – it’s been fantastic

2. I have been eating so many fruits & veggies you wouldn’t even believe it. My diet has just been super clean.

3. I am feeling fantastic!

Those would all be lies however and I can’t lie to you… I’ve done pretty much the opposite of all three and while my weight’s staying the same I feel bad. I hate that cycle of eat too much, feel bad, plan to do better, lose motivation, eat too much… repeat cycle. YUCK!

I have really been thinking about the video that Caitlin posted this week. Maybe the part that most stuck with me is how true some of it is for me. How often I’ve not offered an opinion because I thought, “who cares what the fat girl thinks?” WHAT IS THAT? Why do I think like that?? More importantly maybe, how do I stop it?? I’m a calorie counting machine – even when I’m not eating well I know how many calories are in things… it’s just part of me now. However while I’m capable of losing the weight when I’m doing everything I need to do – watching calories, exercising, etc. Why can’t I just change my habits and be healthier and let the weight loss be a result. I don’t even know how to do that. Isn’t that crazy? I wouldn’t even know where to start. Some part of me thinks that’s the answer deep down but I truly don’t even know how to begin. More to come on this rainy, deep thinking Thursday…

Catching Up and Meet Leonard!

Did you think I’d forgotten all about you?   Sorry to be such a slacker but my life has been homework, homework, homework as midterm has arrived! I’d like to say that’s all behind me but that would be untrue. Some included “take home” versions. While on the surface that is awesome – it still has to get done. Time is something I’m woefully missing lately. Among other things it’s led to a lapse in my motivation to eat well and move my body. I’m a bit disappointed in myself that I’ve let this happen! The one bright spot last week was a nice long walk with my puppies! Now if you want me to start talking and never stop… asking about my furry family members. I thought it might be fun to introduce you to them… Let’s start with LEONARD!

Leonard has one of those stories where you just KNOW he was meant to find his way to be with you! My brother in law works at the humane society and had immediately fallen in love with the little guy. Look at the face… who wouldn’t??!! He was however not a good fit with his other dog and he sadly had to return him to the humane society for adoption. We had met Leonard briefly and loved him but we already had a dog who was amazing (I’ll tell you about her later…) and were leaving for vacation in two days. We thought it was a sign to NOT adopt him. Leonard is quickly adopted again and found a new home. That settled it – he was meant for someone else. We went on vacation. Came home and what do you know… Leonard didn’t love little kids much… the owners had an in-home child care and those long ears were a huge source of fun for the little ones and Leonard thought his ears should not be considered toys. (Can’t say I disagree with him there.) When my brother in law mentioned it to us we knew it was settled. We didn’t want him moved around anymore he was ours.

 Less than 24 hours later Leonard was HOME – for good. He was a wild man – not housebroken, not interested in listening to anything we said, couldn’t be left along for even a second. It was exhausting. I believe we worked on potty training for six months at least. Even now he’s 100% better he’ll even go stand near the door when he has to go out but if you don’t notice him there I’m fully certain he’d just go in the living room. He’s a character – goofy, sweet, and loving. He likes to tease the cats sometimes, rip apart toys, and lay on his back and have you rub his belly while he falls asleep, eat treats out of kongs, and stick to a routine. People often stop and ask about him or tell him how cute he is. In fact yesterday I laughed because for the 100th time someone pointed at him from their car while we were walking him. He’s definitely unique. I feel so fortunate that he found his way to our home – he never fails to make me smile or laugh every day.

My First Courtside Basketball Experience

This is me… COURTSIDE at the Milwaukee Bucks Open Practice on Saturday.

I love the Milwaukee Bucks and this weekend they had their traditional open practice. It’s a free event where you get a sneak peek at the team. It’s a lot of fun and gets you totally excited for the season! One reason I’ve always loved it as I have the opportunity to sit in seats we normally wouldn’t be able to closer to the action. Well through the magic of twitter and following the Bucks I was selected to get upgraded to courtside seats. Talk about a dream come true!!! It’s now on my life list to sit courtside at a real game. It’s completely different when you are sitting down there. You can’t fully appreciate the physical nature of the game or their SIZE from up in the seats (especially the REALLY high seats we typically inhabit). So the Bucks have now officially spoiled me and I’ll be working toward those courtside seats. It was a fantastic experience.

I like football – it makes me think of Fall and it’s great background for napping (and tonight’s big football action in the state of Wisconsin) but I LOVE basketball. Anyone else a fan? I wish I could say I’m a great basketball player but horse is the extent of my playing but I could watch it all day long. The season is close at hand and I’m super excited! The husband and I have agreed to cough up the cash for the League Pass again. We’ve had it several times and when you factor it out over the course of the season it’s not as expensive as it seems. It’s worth it to be able to watch a basketball game that starts at 10:00 at night just because.

 Basketball I’ve missed you – welcome back!!

New Goals!!

Well this week has been rough – we’ve eaten out WAY too much with the boot camp over and remember when I said tat I learned from our boot camp that I’m someone who needs a goal and structure?  Well hello Katie??!!  What have you done since then?  You haven’t set a new goal.  You haven’t had ANY structure.   Well that’s about to change. 

So I’m back to 1200-1400 calories a day.  One “high calorie” day a week and to push myself out of the box a bit… I’m going to commit to run IN THE MORNING before work Monday thru Thursday.  At lunch I’ll continue to work out by either hitting the eliptical or just taking a walk.  Finally I’m taking on the 200 hundred sit up challenge .  These are my goals through Thanksgiving.  Mix those up with a 5K November 8th, and a goal of hitting the 50 lb mark by Thanksgiving!

I’ll keep you updated with how these goals are working out for me as the weeks unfold.

What If You Stopped Being Scared?

One click of a mouse.  3.1 miles. 35 days.  That is what separates me from checking off something on my fitness bucket list.  I haven’t registered yet though.  Why?  Because I’m scared.  What if I physically can’t do it? What if everything goes horribly wrong that day and I end up having to walk?  What if I’m the last person to make it across the finish line?  What if? What if? What if? 

 I’ve thought about this for years.  I wanted to do this so much from the first time my husband ran it.  It combines supporting a good cause, my favorite season, and accomplishing something I never even thought was in the scope of possibility.  I NEED to register for this race scared or not so that I can start seeing the finish line.

If Quitting Stops Being An Option…

10,560 steps or as it’s more commonly known…2 miles!  That’s what I ran yesterday without stopping.  For the first time in my ENTIRE life.  Holy cow!! What do I attribute this to?  I wish I knew 100% but one thing the husband said really stuck with me.  He’s run for about 20 years and I asked him if he ever just wants to stop or does it just not enter his mind.  He said he just doesn’t think about it as an option.  As he put it (and let’s be clear he is NOT a medical doctor )…you aren’t going to die from it so even if it’s uncomfortable you can still do it.   You just don’t consider quitting as one of the options.  Huh?  What?  I never thought about it that way. If I’m being completely honest I quit the moment it’s uncomfortable quite often.  So what could happen if I took that out of the equation.  What if I just said, I’m not going to quit??  I can slow down if I need to but I have to keep running….

You know what happens?  I ran 2 miles.

An Update on the hamstring

I realized I never have really updated on my hamstring other than - I’m running again.  In retrospect it was probably not pulled in the extreme sense – maybe more of a strain?  The first few days it was literally excruciating!  Everything I did hurt and I was actually limping.  I iced in 15 minute increments for probably close to a week even after it felt better.  I started running again after about 3 days.  I was desparate to run again and in retrospect it was probably too soon.  I ran and then took another day off and after that I was just back to my regular routine.  Again I did keep icing for a couple days after I felt better.  I would say even now I feel a twinge sometimes and the running for that first week back was different.  I felt very tight in that area and I concentrated a lot on stretching everyday when I was done.

So while I can’t say my method would work for anyone else it worked for me and got me back running ASAP which was all I could think about.

Boot Camp is over… so what did I learn?

Well we’ll start with the weigh in results… I was down .6.  I am tempted to say “only” but in all honesty I didn’t work out quite as much as I have been (homework had piled up and let’s be honest you gotta do it…) and I’d lost 15 in about 5 weeks so I’m sure the old body is in some transition.  So when all is said and done I’ve lost 16.2 in 40 days and 36.2 over the course of the year.  Not too shabby.  I’ve included some before/during pictures in this post… why is that so scary?  Maybe because it’s a “during” as opposed to after…

More important than what I lost might be what I GAINED.  I learned a few things about myself.  I love running.  I love how strong it makes me feel.  I love that I can see every day (well MOST days) how much progress I’m making.  I CAN run – who knew?   I sell myself short way too often… this running is just one example.  But this time I had a goal and I’ve learned that when I do, I will push beyond the boundries to hit it.  I never imagined I’d lose this much during this period but I was determined to try as hard as I could.  It gave me focus and drive that I forgot I had. 

So now what?  I’ve still got work to do so I’m on to picking my next challenge.  Learning what I have about needing a goal I’ll be committed to always having one in mind rather it be weight or fitness related to keep me focused. 

So one with the pictures

Before…

Last week

What sorts of goals do you have for having a healthier life?

A Tale of Two Runs – Part 2

On Wednesday I had an awful run, awful, awful, awful, awful.  O.k. maybe not that awful but it was demoralizing somehow.  Let’s set the scene – I get to the gym a smidge later than usual and all the treadmills are full.  I’m fairly certain that it’s inappropriate to push people off of treadmills yet I wasn’t sure what to do with myself.  Now you might say – get on the elliptical or a bike… right?  Problem was.. insert whining voice and pouty lip I didn’t WANNA do any of those things.  I wanted to run.  Alas I couldn’t just stand there and I was already dressed so it seemed silly to leave, I just got on a bike and trudged along. About 10 minutes in someone got off of a treadmill.  I practically leapt over to it (cleaning my bike first of course!) and started along. Here’s where the problems started… I could hardly run. 

My shins hurt, my calves hurt I felt like I had ZERO in my tank.  I don’t know if it’s because it’s the end of the bootcamp and my body is just literally tired and exhausted or if it was more mental.  My guess – it’s mental but I don’t know why?  Among the things floating in my mind during this run… I’m not a runner.  Why did I think I could do this?  How am I ever going to run a 5K in 45 days?  This stinks… I seriously contemplated stopping altogether at one point, I literally thought, “what is the point?” 

WHAT IS THE POINT?  Hello self, this is your life.  You want to be a runner, you want to run a 5K in 45 days.  I don’t know WHAT is going on today but it’s one day.  What about the other 30+ days that you felt yourself getting stronger? It’s ONE DAY. ONE DAY.  Some days you set records… other days you need to feel thankful you got out there and tried.  You need a little of both for some balance.  An hour after this run I was already thinking… tomorrow I’m looking forward to you already   I think I’m starting to answer that question… Am I a runner?