week four down...

Week four, a.k.a. week "ouch," is done. This one was really hard. My last run of the week was today, and unlike the past weeks, I didn't feel more comfortable by Saturday. In fact, the run felt just as hard as Thursday's. Maybe a little easier than Tuesday's.

The good news is that my weight was 134.4. Wow! I hadn't expected that! That's a six-pound loss. I think I gained it back tonight with my bleu cheese burger after the football game. Totally worth it, though. I haven't had a burger in more than a month.

The bad news is that I just peeked at the week five plan. Next Saturday, I'm supposed to run for twenty minutes NONSTOP. The only way I would have run twenty minutes in the past was if I were being actively pursued by a ravenous lion. Perhaps I can entice Rufus, the Bobcat mascot, to chase me around the track wielding a steak knife and fork.

Today's run went better, although it still didn't feel fantastic. I did walk briefly during the second five-minute stretch, but only about twenty seconds, and I tagged that amount onto the end to make up for it. I do feel better now than I did on Thursday, probably because I didn't follow up my run with a half-hour walk home in 90 degree heat. Also perhaps because I ate well for lunch. I splurged on a Big Mama's burrito. Yum. I think it gave me extra energy, too.

Week four begins

The title of this post should have a parenthetical title as well. Week four begins (to kick my butt). Here's what I did today: five-minute warm-up walk. Then three minutes of running, ninety seconds of walking. Five minutes of running, two-and-a-half minutes of walking. Three minute run, ninety second walk. Then finish up with another five minute run and cool down.

It was rough. I was tired, and I could feel it. Plus, five minutes of running! Not just once, but twice! I did have to cheat and walk a little in the middle of the second five minutes. I'd like to say I felt great when I was done, but that would be a lie. I felt tired and achy. My side hurt, and my face was tingly and red. And then I had to walk home in the ninety-degree heat!

But I did feel good when I calculated my distance. I'm making about one lap around the track each minute. And a mile on the track is 9.5 laps. So, if I ran about sixteen laps, that's well over a mile and a half of running. Now, my math skills aren't so great, but I think that adds up to AWESOME.

Also felt good when I got on the scale and realize the feasting done this weekend with my in-laws (pizza! Village Bakery! Salaam! DAIRY QUEEN!!!) didn't hurt. Weight: 136.4.

Today's run was hard. But that's mostly my fault. I couldn't rouse myself out of bed this morning, and had to get the run in before we went to the farmer's market with Jeff's parents. So I ran on a stomach empty save for a glass of water. I had no energy. Plus, I ran on the bike path instead of the indoor track at the gym. The ground felt hard and unforgiving, and the sun was bright and hot already at 9:30 a.m.

But I made it through, even if I don't feel great about how it went. Or about having to start a new, harder week on Tuesday. Five minute run!?! I have little confidence in myself. I'll probably end up curled up in an emergency exit doorway along the track, crying like a baby.

Another week three run today. I felt like it went much better. In fact, when I was finishing up the second three-minute segment, I thought for a second "is that it?" Just for a second, though.

I've switched from a Monday-Wednesday-Friday running plan to Tuesday-Thursday-hopefully-Saturday-but-maybe-Sunday schedule. On Mondays and Wednesdays I teach until 1 p.m., so I was quick eating lunch, letting it digest for fifteen minutes, and then hitting the gym. Not a great idea. Tuesdays and Thursdays I finish at noon, and have office hours until 1. It's much better to eat more slowly over my office hour, even stretch it out until 1:30, and then go run.

two down, four to go!

I have these five pairs of pants and one pair of jeans that I just can't wear. I can remember the last time I wore most of them: sometime in the winter when I was pregnant with Charlotte. Because I was so sick my first trimester and lost a lot of weight, it took me a long time to outgrow my regular, non-maternity clothes. I was wearing regular pants in February, when I was five months pregnant.

However, I haven't been able to wear any of those pants since then. Except for last night, when, on a whim, I tried them on. And, whaddya know! Two of the six fit. So I can now reintroduce my army green khakis and my tan cords into the wardrobe mix.

I'm coming your way next, burgundy cords, brown khakis, tan khakis, and bootcut jeans. You can't hide for long.

week three

Today's run wasn't so bad, for being my first encounter with week three. Five minute walking warm-up, then run for ninety seconds, walk for ninety seconds, run for three minutes, walk for three minutes. Repeat.

When I saw the schedule for this week, I thought, "Run for THREE MINUTES?" I wondered when the last time was that I ran for that length of time. Probably gym class. Ugh.

But it went better than I thought. I tried my hardest not to peek at my watch until I was positive a huge amount of time had passed. The first round through I looked at two minutes. Not bad. The second time, I checked at just over a minute. Oops. That time was harder. My face was very red when I was all done today.

Week three weight: 137.8. Down a pound from last week.

Week 2 Done

Today I completed my last run for week two. I'm a little embarrassed to say that this means I've made it farther in the program than I ever did when I started before. I would always make it through the second run in week two, and then something would come up: a weekend away, out-of-town guests, bad weather or poor health...

So next week, week three, is new terrain for me. We'll see how it goes.

Today's run went really well. I felt stronger, and like I had more endurance, than before. I also was also pleased to discover that my enormous dinner from my date with Jeff last night didn't cause any weight gain. Yes, I could not resist the siren song of the scale. I tell myself I will weight only once a week so I don't become number-obsessed (since that's really not what this is about). But I was curious what kind of impact three jumbo sesame shrimp, french bread dipped in olive oil and parmesan, salad with creamy gorgonzola dressing, snap peas and carrots and potatoes and a sirloin steak the size of my daughter's thigh would make. Seriously, that was some meal. And I can't forget the strawberry amaretto cake for dessert. At least we split that. Gluttony! Hey, it was for our anniversary. Cut us some slack.

But after all that I was down almost another half pound from Monday. Weight now: 138.4.

Today's run was hard. Perhaps it was due to the two-day break over the weekend. But I felt like I had weights around my ankles. I kept getting stitches in my side, and my muscles were really, really burning. Ugh. I still felt elated when I was done, though. I'm on week two now, which is alternating 90 seconds of running with two minutes of walking for twenty minutes.

I also felt good when I got on the scale: 138.8. Perhaps a fluke...we'll see.

What am I thinking?

Starting another blog? Am I crazy? (Answer: most likely).

I don't plan on having this blog be long-lived. In fact, I'd feel better if it weren't. I'm just starting this site to help me keep track of my weight and exercise goals. I'm not going to focus on writing anything clever or creative. It's more for me, really, although the fact that I'm blogging it means it's for you, too.

So, I'm starting a bit of a diet (more of an eating plan, really) and some regular, structured exercise (as opposed to my usual disorganized flailing about).

The exercise program is here: The Couch-to-5k Running Plan. I just finished week one, which I'll write about more below.

The diet is not really a diet, as I've said. It's more about trying to eat more healthful foods and to limit my options so that I don't overeat, which tends to be my Achilles heel. Achilles stomach? Anyway. I think it's sort of loosely based on the You On A Diet book, although not having read it I can't really say for sure.

So my breakfast options are: smoothie (made with Stonyfield Farms Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt, banana, orange juice, some frozen berries, a little cinnamon, and a few flax seeds for the Omega-3 fatty acids), yogurt with fruit (usually banana) and lowfat granola, or scrambled egg and cheese in a wrap (which I have with some orange juice). Charlotte's favorite option is the smoothie, which she pronounces so cutely it makes me want to give her the whole thing. "Moooonthy."

For lunch I can have a salad (the salad bar in the Baker Center is fantastic, with lots of toppings, and is also very cheap), pasta salad (I make a big batch of this every week, with turkey, peas, cheese, carrots and ranch dressing), or these Hot Pocket-esque things from Aldi that are really cheap and also lowfat, in either turkey and broccoli or "southwest."

For dinner, my options include another salad, this time with protein of some sort like grilled chicken or a salmon fillet, a baked potato with toppings like broccoli, cheese or ham, or a chicken breast or salmon fillet with a veggie of some sort plus a potato too if I'm extra hungry.

Snacks are fresh fruit, apple slices with peanut butter, baby carrots or other crudite veggies with hummus or ranch dressing, roasted almonds and dried cherries, or string cheese.

I've been eating on this plan for about a week and a half now, and I've discovered a couple of things:

1. This diet includes a lot fewer carbs than I am used to. That's great normally, but on days when I'm running, I think I need to incorporate a little more instant energy into my lunches. Today for lunch I got a salad from Quiznos which was delicious but about as far from healthy as a pizza would have been. It included grilled flatbread. When I ordered the salad, I thought, "Oh, I'll eat one of the little wedges of flatbread and throw the rest away." Ha ha! As if. I ate the whole thing. But! My run went really well. I didn't feel shaky afterward, and had more energy during as well. Thank you, flatbread!

2. I really do feel great when I eat a lot of fruit and veggies as opposed to my normal diet of quick, convenient carbs. There were days when I would eat: a nutrigrain bar, a large coffee with cream and sugar, a bag of pretzels, a diet Pepsi, crackers and a sandwich. Ugh. But all those things are so convenient, and can be purchased from a vending machine in Ellis Hall and often eaten with one hand while reading student papers! However, it's worth it to eat better when I can make it through the mid/late afternoon, when traditionally I would experience a slump in energy, without a headache or a crabby request for a nap.

So, I'm running. Those who know me know that I loathe to run. I am not a natural runner. When I've tried to run before, I generally would set goals for myself, like a mile this week, a mile and half next, etc. And inevitably, I would fail to reach them. Because no matter how regularly I exercised and how faithfully I stuck with my plan, it never got any easier. It would be time to move up to two miles, and I would still struggle mightily to run one. I hated that. Still do, actually.

I was skeptical about this running plan, but I've heard from many others who've tried it--others like me, who are sworn non-runners--and have had success. So I'm giving it a go. Actually, I've given it several goes, over the summer. But each time I'd start the plan it'd be interrupted by something: a trip out of town, a visit from family, my master's essay, etc. I'd make it to week two and then miss a couple days and have to start over. So at the end of July I decided to just postpone starting the plan again until the school year started, when I could integrate it into my schedule.

That's worked quite well. I teach everyday for two hours, and have a couple of office hours everyday as well. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I will go to the gym around 1:30 p.m. and do my run. Then I get to go home. It's perfect.

I'm also assisted by the fact that my friend Kristen also wants to go to the gym at that time on those days. She's also my office-mate, so we walk down to the gym together. She runs on the treadmill while I slog away on the track. It keeps me accountable.

So, week one is done. Weight: 140.8 lbs.