33!!

I have made it 1/3 of my way to a serving of french fries. I didn't expect that it would feel this heavy on my quads to be quite honest. But I am 33 miles into my first round of french fries for the year and I don't feel all that deprived!!

My quads and lower back are a bit more sore than I would like them to be, but that is a reflection of upping my weekly miles without patience. A new runner should not increase their mileage more than 10% per week. And since January is suppose to be a come back tour I should have done the same thing.

Instead I went
January 4-8 1.5 miles
January 11-15 12.5 miles
January 15-22 12 miles
January 22-29 15 miles

So I think my sore lower back and sore achy quads are a directly result of that jump from January 4-8 week and January 11-15 week.

I should be fine as long as I remain consistent for the next month somewhere between 13 and 20 miles per week is my goal for a while. Eventually I want to be up to 25 miles per week and then I will allow myself to start training for something great!

Until then I will keep pounding away the pavement (and my poor arches) to burn the calories and feel the elusive runners high!!

My comback tour!

Haha...Yes, I am considering the month of January a 'comeback tour' of sorts. I think I was getting pretty lazy about running. The stress of work, (not the actual work, but work politics), the holiday rush of visitors and baking, oh yes and reckless food choices. This was making me slow, lazy, and essentially back to my old fat self.

It is a place where I cannot allow my mind to go!

Instead January is truly a comeback tour of my fit self!

Balanced food choices are eeking back into my everyday life. (I made the most amazing chopped salad for dinner Friday night!)

Hitting the road again! I went out for a 5K run yesterday. I set out knowing it wouldn't be as easy as the old glory days. But amazingly I didn't hurt that bad. My quads ached from the outset, mostly in retaliation against boot camp. But I definitely know I will hit the road more often this month than last!

Again-committing to the lifestyle I want and I know is within the reach of a little effort and conscious choices.

By the numbers...

Today I went to a health assessment related to my work. So I am going to share some of the 'numbers' with you. These are the sort of numbers that only matter when you get old like I became this year. By sharing these numbers my hope is that it will motivate me to make some changes and improve the numbers before the end of March.

I don't even know it it is possible or healthy to change these sort of numbers over 2-3 month period, but I am going to try.

Blood Pressure 127/77--that is high for me! I used to always be like 117/66
HDL cholesterol 44--I think it used to be 63 which is way better I guess
Body Fat 32%--that is 'Over Fat'--totally uncool...I guess women are suppose to be less than 25%

So these give me some good non-weight measure of fitness I know I can control. I am going o go to the dr for a regular physical in April. I have gone the past two years in the first week of April, so I feel like it will be a good chance to see how I compare to 08 and 09. And it might keep me motivated to work a little harder at total body fitness.

Boot Camp--1.5 hours away and dreading

I signed up for a boot camp @ work. We get great deals on exercise classes because they want us to lead healthy lifestyles or something like that. So for $20 I get 8 weeks 16 classes of boot camp.

This is a picture of my instructor in case you can't understand how ripped I might become in 16 weeks...HA ha ha...but this is before started weight lifting so she is even bigger is a ripped way now.

I really didn't know what to expect, but I generally think that I am more active than many. I also recognize that I am larger than your average active person, but I still put myself in the almost fit category.

Until last Monday I thought I was almost fit that is. And then reality hit...I was WAY more fit when I played soccer.

So for the first class I expected that their would be some not familiar with fitness people, and of course their will be those hard bodies but I expected to fall right in the middle.

No.

I am like the second to slowest and second to least coordinated person in the class. And who pays someone (even if it is only $20) to make them run sprints! And do high knees and butt kicks!! WTF!

But it was good. If it were not for boot camp I don't know when the next time I would consider running a sprint or feel completely retarded skipping quickly and efficiently across the grass.

It better pay off!

Today I am totally feeling sore. My thighs and quads ache as if I had never run before. I have been running all be it slow and short I have still be running. You would think I took a year off.

And it all starts over again in an hour and a half. Thank goodness it is only 45 minuets long or we would have a problem.

Sore legs...

So I am not very much closer to french fries. I have 95.5 miles to go until I get to drink some ketchup along with delicious fries.

I just got back from a little on campus restaurant here at Stanford called The Sports Cafe. Everything they serve is delicious...but not like organic, fresh, green, or healthy delicious. More like bad, devil horns, yummy tuna melt, and french fries delicious.

But I stuck to my guns! No fries. I got the salad bar side instead of the fries or onion rings side. It was a much better choice. I mean it was an ok better choice and I didn't cheat myself.

I have been running....s-l-o-w-l-y but surely.

Sunday-1.5 miles outside with my friend Anne
Monday-1.5 miles outside with my friend Melissa at lunch-Dude the gym was packed hard core!
Monday-After work I went to my first boot camp-see my next post to read about the torchure of bootcamp.
Tuesday-1.5 outside with Anne

Today-Wednesday-Bootcamp!

Total miles to date: 4.5
Miles until fries: 95.5

New Year Status Update

I have consumed no french fries and we are 3 days in. That is good.

Unfortunately, we are 3 days in and I have run all of 0 miles.

I have a terrible cold that totally knocked me out starting Thursday as I prepared for our new years festivities. I think it is secretly a cold I have had for a 2 weeks longer then that but I was riding a holiday high and it saw an opportunity to attack just as I would start to enjoy some relaxing post holiday relaxation time with my husband.

I had a similar attack the week of our honeymoon. It is just the kind of cold that wipes ever calorie of energy out of your body like a wave. And then keeps you down no matter what your try.

I slept for 12 hours straight last night and an hour after I got up I was already feeling run down again.

Well tomorrow is my first day back at work. Providing I don't die of drowning in own drool caused by stuffed nose mouth breathing tonight I am going to try to go to work. I am also going to attempt to workout?? Good plan?? I am not sure. But it can't make me feel any worse can it??

And I need to be a couple of miles closer than 100 to my first french fries of the new year!