28 years

So, my birthday is in, oh...4.5 hours. I had my party with my family today. We watched the Alabama game and ate some good Mexican food. It was a great time, of course.

So, I've taken a little time off from running because I was getting over shin splints and well, needed the birthday money to buy a newer and better pair of running shoes. I did get them, yay!! They are perfect. According to the foot guru at McCoy's, I have strong calves and flexible ankles. therefore I need a shoe with the most cushion. I bought a different pair than I previously had and I look forward to working them out in the morning. I have been running intervals up to this point and now it's time to move onto straight runs, working up to the distance of 3.1 miles. I thought it would be fitting to run 28 minutes tomorrow. I haven't run that time since this past Spring, I've been doing other forms of cardio and intervals. So, I thought, 28 minutes of reflection for the past 28 years. Certain minutes will represent great years from my life. Such as the minute 13. I met Whitney! Minute 23, I graduated from college, got married and Brad and I started our family with our golden retriever, Arwen. But others will be difficult. Minute 17, I'm struggling with standing up for myself, I give in lies from other people, I adopt insecurities that still haunt me today. Minute 27, I am missing a dear friend who has passed, but that minute completes the exercise. There's no telling what lies for this year. It may be difficult. So far, it's proving to be. I have so many goals ahead of me that I want to achieve, but I'm already downcast and negative. But it may be one of the best years of my life. I hope it is. I have the hope that it will be. 

Maybe, maybe not.

I'm thinking about starting another running program. It's going to be in the 80s this week. I haven't run since February so I'm a little nervous. I do miss it and there's a 5k later this year that I definitely want to do. I really don't think I'll ever want to train for anything more than a 10k.

I haven't quite decided yet what I'm going to do.

I don't really like running on a treadmill. When I started to run on those over the winter, my knee pain started. I'm not convinced that the treadmill is responsible, but it is definitely a possiblility. I love running outside, even in the heat. I don't know, it's more freeing I guess. I do not want to over work myself. I'm thinking I may run twice a week, doing cardio in the gym on either the bike or elliptical trainer as well, along with lifting twice a week.

I've been reading further into New Rules of Lifting for Women. Even though I do agree with the program and find it holds sound information, I don't think I'm going to complete it. My reasoning is that some of the exercises are just too silly for me. I'm going to take the exercises I like and put something rough together for myself to follow. I'm still going to follow the premise of reps and weights and how often I increase the weight. I'm just not going to follow the program outlined in the book, persay. How it breaks down is this: start with an exercise that uses the entire body and do reps heavy (ex: squats w/ barbell), then start alternating exercises for lower body and upper body (ex: lat pull down and step ups). Do two different variations and finish with core exercises (ex: planks, reverse crunch). Complete with about 15 minutes of cardio, get in some protein within half an hour of the workout. If I am not lifting on a particular day I'll consider that a cardio day and put in about 45 minutes of whichever exercise I'd like to do.

I was getting to the point where I was dreading doing some of the exercises in the program and I knew that's when I needed to change it. It's hard enough to fit something like this in one's busy schedule. If I don't like it, I won't do it. So I'm going to create something that I do like.

I was sleeping in just a bit on Sunday morning. I did one of those full body stretches to wake myself up. The skin on my legs have been itching due to a sunburn. So as I was scratching my leg during my stretch I notice my quads were harder than they have been before. Yeah, baby!!! So, with that evidence on top of the slight drop in weight I can say that I am an advocate of NROL4W, it's just not for me...exactly. I'll take gems from it and make my own product.

Slooooowwwww

It's been maybe two years now that I've become more health conscious. There were many times I had quit something "cold turkey". That gung ho attitude worked...for about 72 hours. So I decided to take it easy on myself and start making changes slowly. Instead of going from a lethargic life to working out at the gym 6 days a week I decided to pick up running, doing it 3 days a week. It took me all of 2007 to build up a good base and I completed 2 5ks! The first one was a doozy. I had to run/walk the course. It was very hilly and I had trained on flat roads. The second one was a flat course and I ran the whole thing. A little while later I ran 3 miles as a workout. However, this past February I started to feel some bad knee pain and decided to do something else. I've listed my new program in an earlier post.

A few months before I decided to pick up running I started to tweak my foods. I began to read books on nutrition and joined a great health message forum. It all began with the coffee, y'all. I was consuming up to 3 cups a day, on average. In those cups I put in a sweetener and flavored creamer. I decided to quit that cold turkey and I promise I had a headache for 3 days. I didn't drink any coffee for 6 months or so. Once I picked up a part time job at Starbucks, I decided to drink it again, but even now I don't have more than one cup a day. I can go a week without any and feel just fine. That may sound like a small feat, but it was a big deal for me.

Now, around a year and a half ago I began to minimize the amount of red meat I ate, replacing it with ground turkey. I'm eating more fish now and fresh foods. I barely buy anything canned or pre-made. I have found that convenience foods aren't the way to go if one is concerned about their health. For me, it's not all about how I look, but how I feel. I want longevity of life.

I have been recording all my foods (even the stuff I'm not proud of, you know the minimal snacking here and there) through Sparkpeople. See the link to the left for a spin. It really helps me keep track of what I'm doing. If I am not seeing results I can look to past weeks and see what could be the cause.

I am down 3 pounds from last month, so this is encouraging. It doesn't sound like much to some, but I've been at the exact same weight since late 2006. I think I'm definitely getting somewhere, but it's taking a very looooong time.

My goals do not include a huge weight loss. In fact 10 less pounds on my body would be ideal. I do like to workout so I think that's something I'll keep doing even if I don't get those fitness magazine type results. I love to eat healthy food. There's something about it that makes me feel better about myself.