Little By Little

This C25K journey keeps me constantly amazed at myself. I really can’t believe I finished week 4 or that I’ve been consistently running now for 4 weeks.

I did today’s run outside. In fact, I like running outdoors so much more so I haven’t done a treadmill run all week. It is harder on the legs for sure and with my schedule it seems to mean I’m running in the dark on my weekday runs but so much more refreshing and satisfying.

The run today was very hard. For some reason, during the first 3 min run and the first 5 min run, my legs felt like lead. I was way more out of breath than usual and just felt like I couldn’t do it. I seemed to warm up a little by the time I got into my second 3 min run but by the end of the last 5 min I was half dead. The only thing I can think of is that I was a little dehydrated. I thought I was drinking enough but maybe not. It felt like dehydration I have felt in the past when hiking. Just everything being harder work.

I’m a little really worried about next week. At this point, the 20 min run in just two runs from now doesn’t feel possible. Heck, the 8 min run in just one run from now doesn’t even feel possible. That said, 90 seconds only got easier when I went to 3 min and 3 min only got easier when I went to 5 min so I’m thinking that even if I stayed on week 4 for another week, the progress wouldn’t be as great. It is likely to feel like hard hard work but that is how progress is made and as long as I don’t hurt myself I’ll be fine. I’ll trust the program and hope for the best. After that first 20 min run maybe the first two runs of week six won’t be so tough.

It is Saturday. I had a pretty good day. I got some stuff done, went for my C25K Week 4 Run 3 and ate a yummy healthy home cooked meal for dinner. I should feel great but I don’t. I feel like shit.

Keeping on top of my running is great and it is having all sorts of benefits for me but I want to lose weight. I did everything I could this week to stay on track. I didn’t always count my Calories everyday but I know my Calories were low. My portions were small and every food choice was a healthy one. Still as sure as I’m sitting here right now, I know I haven’t lost this week. I feel bloated and awful. I got out a measuring tape and I can’t even argue that the inches are moving. I’m frustrated as hell. Weigh in day is tomorrow and this is going to be the third week in a row with practically no loss.

As ridiculous as it sounds, I even took all as the crap out from under my bed when I was cleaning and shifted it somewhere else in the house because I read that can block chi and is bad feng shui. How silly is that? I just feel like I want to binge for the hell of it. As if it would make any difference anyway.

I know that isn’t true and I’m not going to binge but the discouragement is killing me. I could take it if I was cheating or slipping up but I’m not. I walked and or ran around 27K this week between my C25K and my walking to work and back. Still I’m feeling bloated as hell and not seeing a lick of progress on the weight loss front.

Sorry, I know this is a bit of a rant and a negative one at that but I needed to get it out there. I am just so frustrated. I am loving running and want to keep it up and do even more of it but with all this extra weight, it is such a strain on me and my biggest goal here is to drop pounds.

I’ve been surfing around favourite blogs and reading through archives. Seeing other people’s struggles and eventual successes helps a lot but I just need to do something. I was reading about the South Beach Diet. It sounds a bit like how I’ve been eating minus the fruit and I do eat a lot of fruit during the first two weeks. I didn’t eat any grains all this week. I was sure that and all the walking would boost my weight loss but the strategy didn’t seem to help.

Another day of crazy crazy crap at work. Not much time to fit in food but I kept it all healthy. I’m exhausted and can’t be bothered counting up the Calories right now but I’m sure it was reasonable.

6:30 am 1 large egg scrambled, a tangering and a decaf latte with 1/2 cup milk

10:30 am  granny smith apple and an oz of Gruyeres cheese

2:00 pm two tangerines

3:30 pm granny smith apple and tablespoon of peanut butter and 1/3 cup of lite cottage cheese

7:00 pm 1/4 cabbage, 1/2 onion, 1/2 large red pepper, 1 baby zucchini, 1 tsp sesame oil and lots of garlic and ginger and chili all stir fried together with 3.5 oz chicken breast

9:00 pm hot chocolate made with cocoa, milk powder and splenda

I’m feeling good about being off grains but even with the veggies and fruit that I’m getting I’m not too sure that I’m getting quit enough fibre. I am thinking that a cup of brown rice a day might do the trick but I’d rather do without the grains. My intestinal tract doesn’t seem to agree. Maybe I could add a bit of psylium but I would always rather get it from real food than some kind of bottle. I suppose some legumes would be a good low gi way to get some fibre.

Not much time to post right now. Things are ridiculously busy with my work. I had a craptastic day today but never a thought for a minute that I wouldn’t do my run tonight even after dark and even after day in which I didn’t really eat enough and didn’t drink enough water.

The run itself felt good. I’m finding it a real pain to keep track of my interval timing without the podcast cues but I really have no interest in listening to the music from podcast I was using. I find that the biggest issue for me at the end of the last 5 minute run is the strength in my legs. Feeling like I haven’t enough strength is much more of an issue than my breathing. Not that the breathing is easy but the limiting factor is definitely the strength.

On a good note with the strength, I’ve noticed during my daily walks somehow my posture feels different. It is a bit hard to explain but I’m using more muscles and different ones are getting tired and on the whole I feel like a stronger walker. Even with tired legs from the running and walking I’ve been doing this week, my legs still feel strong on the hills I need to climb and descend on my walks to and from work. Just another benefit of C25K. It is so hard to believe that it has made a difference like this in only 4 weeks.  Before my runs and after them, I never feel as good as I do towards the end or better yet at the end but I am driven to do the running because of how good each step feels as I put it behind me. Every time I think about all the running I would like to do in the future and I start to feel I’ll never be fast enough or able to go far enough, I remind myself that I’m faster and going further than I could 4 weeks ago and that is all that matters for now. Head down, get er done. Trust the plan don’t worry about the future… one step at a time, one run at a time.

Pretty good today. Here is how it all went down.

7am smoothie with a cup of milk a banana and bosenberries, a decaf latte with 1/2 cup milk

11am gluten free muesli bar

3pm apple and an oz of Gruyeres cheese

6:30pm falafel with lettuce, cucumbers, red onion and tzatziki and a side stir fry of zucchini, bean sprouts and onion

8pm decaf mocha latte made with cocoa powder and a little splenda

I’m not really that supportive of artificial sweeteners. I don’t do aspartame at ALL but a wee bit of splenda doesn’t seem to bother me physically. I’d rather use sugar from time to time really but I’m trying to keep Calories quite low right now and a spoon full of sugar before bed isn’t really a great idea for me. I think when this box of splenda is gone I wont replace it. I’m working to train my tastes to prefer less sugar and already most people don’t like the comparative lack of sweetness in “desserts” I make

After work I walked home… about 50 minutes and mostly uphill. My legs are tired and I was going to rest them today but it was such a nice day and I was just really wanting a walk at the end of the day. I haven’t calculated the Calories but it was pretty low I would say. I might run it through fitday before the day is over.

I did fairly well today. I went a little off the plan at the end of the day because I had to find something vegetarian to eat for supper. We did dissections today in a class I was overseeing and it smelled just a little too horrible all day for me to consider eating anything that once had a heart beat. I did some last minute adjustments and some scary minutes wandering around a grocery store, starving and past my dinner time (always a bad idea). In the end I did okay.

6:30 am omlette and red peppers and a tangerine, latte with 1/2 cup 2% milk

9:45 am granny smith apple and tbsp peanut butter

1:00 pm tuna and cottage cheese

1:50 pm two tangerines

4:00 pm gluten free muesli bar

7:00 pm falafel patties and sauted veggies with tzatziki wrapped in lettuce leaves and a small bowl of homemade chocolate pudding a decaf latte.

The whole day came in at around 1500 Calories. Not too bad and man was supper delicious.

Wow the weeks seem to be flying by. This is already my 4th HYC check in. I can’t believe how quickly the time is going by.

For those of your just stopping by. I’m trying to lose 60+ pounds. I would like to lose it by this time next year. I’m trying to train myself to eat better by eating fewer grains (I’m gluten intolerant but I don’t really seem to handle any grain super well) and more veggies and lean protein. I count Calories intermittently to try and get a handle on portions and servings. I’m also striving to get fit. Right now I’m on week 4 of the C25K running program and as a person who never believed she could run, I can honestly say I’m loving the program and finding a love for running that I never thought I would ever have. To celebrate my graduation from the C25K program at the end of the June I am organizing a virtual 5K event and welcome you to join in the fun with people that will be covering 5K on the weekend of 28-19 June 2008.

Other than that, I’m a grad student in a the natural sciences and I live in New Zealand. Nice to meet you and thanks for dropping by. Right now I’m not doing so well with my weight loss in terms of actual pounds. I have lost a net of only around 3 pounds now since joining the challenge 4 weeks ago. This rate of loss is not what I’m really after but I am hoping that it is just my body adjusting to the new exercise regime. If all goes well I will equilibrate in a few weeks and start seeing the fruits of all my labours.

I am off to a good start today. Got up early, healthy omlette with red peppers and lots of water and now I’m heading out the door to walk to work on what looks like it will be a great day (once the sun comes up).

Looking forward to a great day.

It was a nice crisp evening. I decided to say the heck with the gym treadmill and go for my run outside. I do find it harder on my legs but so much nicer in all other ways. I did the run basically starting at my office building door which is downtown and in the middle of the uni campus. The biggest thing I had to contend with were all the intersections and traffic lights. It was really hard to get the timings all right when I was waiting for street lights. A few times I ended up taking extra long breaks by a half minute or so because I was waiting for a light. It was good that I didn’t use the podcast because this way I was able to adjust on the fly. I do find it a little difficult to judge the timings though and keep needing to check my iPod Nike + timer to see if it is time to start running yet. That is a bit of a pain. I wish there was an easier way to time out intervals. Does anyone have any suggestions for handling interval timing while running?

I was afraid of today’s run. I was worried about the 5 minutes and the shorter breaks to recover between runs. No doubt, the 5 minute run was tough, especially the last minute of it. That said, I think I handled it pretty well. The longer runs definitely make it easier to get into the flow of the run. I think my breathing improves once I get into that zone so as long as my legs hold out I’m eager for more of these longer running intervals.

I’m continuing to feel super great at the end of my runs and into the evening after I run. Tonight during my cool down walk, the crisp air was so refreshing. I had some Pink Floyd on my iPod and I just felt so amazing cruising through the city on my tired legs. With my run behind me I felt totally immune to the chip shops littering the street. I had no desire for burgers or fried chicken or any of those other dubious “treats” that people were lining up for all over the town. I was recharged and ready to eat something healthy. I felt like a runner and for a little while forgot about begin overweight and stopped caring I hadn’t lost any weight this week. It was awesome.

Well, my day didn’t go exactly as planned.

Okay it didn’t go ANYTHING like planned. I couldn’t sleep last night and after way to few hours of sleep woke up with that super tired feeling that just lets me KNOW that I’m on the edge of coming down with something. A cold or a flu, right at the doorstep. One of the perks of being a grad student is the fact that even though there is a ridiculous amount of work to be done, much of my day, apart from teaching responsibilities, is done on my own schedule. I decided to roll over and get some more sleep. It was a good decision and I think I’ve beaten whatever bug was trying to get hold of me.

I got up really late and decided to walk to my office in the beautiful crisp fall weather. I had to teach right away so I didn’t get a chance to really eat until about 3:30pm. I wasn’t really hungry, just thirsty from the walking so I was okay with that. I drank lots of water today so that’s great. So here was my day:

3:30pm - 90gm tuna, 1/3 cup lite cottage cheese and two carrots

6:00pm - tangerine

7:00pm - 3 oz chicken breast with onions and mushrooms, 1.5 cups swiss chard

9:00pm - homemade chocolate pudding

In total only about 800 Calories. Not great but at this time of night there is no point in me eating a whole pile of food and I’m not really hungry after my satisfying supper. I wasn’t going to eat the pudding but decided to go for it since I really wanted some and was no where near enough Calories for the day anyway. I don’t have time to come up with a new food plan for tomorrow so I’m just going to try to go for the same thing I was shooting for today.