Groundhog Day......

Today's workout....let me tell you.....Today's workout was a doozy! It all started with 10 easy minutes on the elliptical to wake my body up a little bit. I followed that up with a variation of Jamie Eason's LiveFit Day 29 Back workout. I used heavy(for me) weights and increased the reps. Then, it was time for the first run of week 2 for half training. The schedule called for 3 miles. I decided I wanted it to be a speed workout and set off to finish the 3 miles in under 29 minutes. Well, I did it. Piece. Of. Cake.Cake?Yes Please. Ahem! I finished in 28:17. That is really fast for me. It was hard and I really had to push, but I put my mind to it and I did it.

Work today was good. Nothing huge happened to speak of. Just another day. Do you ever feel like everyday you wake up and it is Groundhogs Day? I feel like that quite often. I guess that is just part of being an adult. You get up, go to work, go home, do chores, cook dinner, and go to bed. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but such is life.

Moving on....

After work, I came home extremely chipper. I was giggling and taking tons of pictures for facebook(page for the blog is forth coming) and instagram(Miles_In_Murray). Chadley is setting up a new fish tank. Right now, he has a 60 gallon tank and is upgrading it to a 150 gallon. So, I put our dog inside the new tank to see just how big it will be....

Yeah, this thing is effing massive. I love that he has a hobby he enjoys. It is just a hobby that takes over the whole living room lol.

After dinner, which was roast beef salad. Paleo Style! I went grocery shopping for more Paleo friendly foods. I have decided that I have got to clean up my food, like now. I have been depressed lately about the way I look. I have been fitter than this and thinner than I am now. I miss it. So, I am going to start eating Paleo and see what happens. It will be interesting to see if some of my recent stomach "wonkiness" was due to dairy, like I have suspected. I am so excited about eating Paleo. I did for a while when I was losing weight before, but quit staying on top of the planning and prep work. Not this time, I miss how I felt when I was eating almost 100% clean. Gotta get back to it.

Now, it is time for this girl to get her booty to bed! Thanks for stopping by! I have a lot of Google Reader to catch up on tomorrow, as well! So, you will be hearing from me soon!

Running Changed My Life….

I will never forget the first step of my journey to running.

It all started a week prior to that first step. The Boyfriend and I went to our favorite camping spot. It was mid day when we decided to go on a 1 mile hike. I had done this hike 3 times before and it was hard every time, but I could do it. Less than a quarter of a mile into it, I felt like I was dying….literally. I couldn’t breathe, I felt dizzy, and told Chad we had to stop to rest. After a few minutes of trying to catch my breath, I told Chad it was time to go back. I felt defeated, but I kept making excuses for why I couldn’t do it. I was tired. I hadn’t eaten enough. Blah Blah Blah!

I had a doctor's appt a few days after the camping trip and when I got on the scale, I saw 142. The last time I had been weighed a few months before that, I weighed 135. I had gained 7 pounds in roughly 2 months. Note: My highest weight ever was 175. That moment sealed my fate! I was going to get fit and healthy!

That night, I looked up a couch to 5k that I had heard so much about and I went to the high school track by my house. I ran 1/2 way around the track and walked 1/2 way around. I repeated that until the 1 mile mark. Let me tell you, I was exhausted. I finished in about 15 minutes. I felt good, just worn out. The next day, I did it all over again. From that day on, 4-6 days a week, I went to the track for 12 weeks. I built up my mileage and on Thanksgiving day 2009, I ran my first 5k.

From then on,  I ran a few days a week, until January, when I decided that I would run a half marathon on April 17, 2010. I had good runs, bad runs, and blah runs. I got injured 5 weeks into and took a 2 week rest....only to come back stronger. I ran a slow 10, 11 and 12 miler in the few weeks prior to the half.

On April 17, 2010, I woke up ready. I didn't have any anxiety. Truth be told, I just wanted to get to the starting line. I was ready to test the training I had done. Once we got there, I gave Chad a kiss and told him I would see him at the finish line. He wished me luck and I took off.

I had a strong race. I was mentally there the whole time. I was focused. I was ready to finish something I had worked so hard to accomplish.

2:16:00 after getting to the starting line, I had finished my first half marathon. I have never felt more proud of myself as I did that day.

Running changed my life. Running, for me, is a struggle. Running has shown me my strengths. Running has showed me my weakness. Running helped me become more fit. Running showed me happiness!

I am so excited about training for this half and I just wanted to share the story of how I got into running. It inspires me to think about it. I finished my first half marathon with a 10:22 avg pace, when 8 months before I could barely do 1 mile in 15 minutes.

What is your greatest fitness accomplishment??

Goals for Halloween Half Marathon

I love setting goals for myself. It really helps me push through and finish strong. So, here are my goals for training for the Halloween Half Marathon.

Goal #1:
Goal #1 will always be to simply finish!

Goal #2:
Finish in 2:10 or less. This is an easy course to PR on. It is downhill for the first 5 miles, so that helps a lot. I know with how the first week of training went, I will not have ANY problem doing this.

Goal #3:
Strength Train 3-4 days a week. I will be using the Jamie Eason LiveFit workouts for this. I loved them so much and they gave me a great idea of moves to do in the weight room. I will do at least 1 day of leg days.

Goal #4:
Have fun!

That is it. Nothing too amazing or high, but 100% attainable!

Halloween Half Week 1

8/6/2012-Rest Day 
I love it when training plans start out with a rest day. Haha. I kicked this training day in the pants ;)

8/7/2012-3 Miles in 29:24
I decided that all shorter runs will be speed work. I have some goals in mind(more on that later) for this half marathon and I have to get speed work done in there.

8/8/12-20 Minutes Elliptical/back & bicep lifting

This was supposed to be a 2 mile run. However, I don't like running 2 days in a row. So, I did the elliptical instead and did Jamie Eason's Live Fit Day 16. I will be strength training throughout this training plan. I want to build some muscle.

8/9/12-3 Miles in 29:16

I did speed work again. I would love to be doing 3 miles in 27 minutes by the end of this training cycle. We'll see how it goes.

8/10/12-45 Minutes Elliptical 
The gym was super hot. I did this workout on manual at an easy pace with some HIIT at the end.

8/11/12-Long Run 4 Miles @ 42:39 (10:39 avg pace)

This run was done on the treadmill. The gym was HOT again and I had to keep stopping because I needed to cool down. 1.5 miles into it a treadmill freed up that had the fan positioned onto it. You better believe I ran to get it to finish the last 2.5 miles. It was a little cooler, but still warm. Overall, it was a decent run. I was tired until the end and picked up the pace for the last mile.

8/12/12-Rest Day
Today I have been lazy. Just doing laundry, planning lunches for this week and napping. Half training really can take it out of you.

This week's training went pretty decent. I was sluggish at the beginning of each run, but I pushed through and felt great at the end. I only got in 1 day of strength training. However, it is one more day of strength training than before, right? Right!


Onto week 2...Yay!!

Life Can Be Hard, Y'all

I have missed blogging, I even started putting blogs together to auto post, but never finished them or scheduled them. Bummer! Oh well, it happens.

We went camping from the 20th to the 24th of July and that was the highlight of the past 2 weeks. The secondary highlight was having the 20th thru the 29th off. I had grand plans to blog, workout a ton and get some stuff around the house done. You know, doing the things that make me feel good. I will say I did get in some awesome workouts. I started half marathon training again! I love training for 1/2's and the accomplishment that comes along with it.

My weight is maintaining. I go up and down, but I have some new exciting stuff happening in the food/training department. Let's hope it sparks something inside of me. Ha!

In all honesty, I have been really depressed lately. I hate admitting that because I am typically an extremely happy person. However, sometimes I just feel like the earth should open and swallow me whole. I know it won't last too long(at least I hope not!). I just have to keep working through and knocking out obstacles.
I recently decided to completely end a friendship. We had been friends since we were kids and it sucks! It's just not what I want out of a friendship anymore.
When my parent's told me they were getting divorced 3 years ago, I never expected that so many things would change. I didn't live at home, I didn't see them that often, and I was in my "own little world". It is now 3 years later, and I feel more broken than the day they told me. 
Work is stressful, which I am sure 99% of you feel the same way. I still love my job as much as ever, but sometimes the stress really gets to me.

On the flip side, I know I am so blessed! I have the BEST friends, I have a WONDERFUL family, I have LOVING dogs that make me laugh and I get to share my life with the MOST AMAZING/SUPPORTIVE/FUN/INTELLIGENT guy in the world. So, I will focus on that in the bad times!

Sorry to be a downer, I just had to write it out. That made me feel a little better!

Happier posts to come tomorrow :)

I have about a billion blogs to read/comment on in my google reader. I always save them to come back to and it takes me FOREVER to get around to it. Does anyone else do that or is it just me? Ha!

So tell me......

How are you??

What exciting stuff have I missed??

How do you get through the hard times in life??

Monday Morning Weigh In

Last Week's Weight: 135
This Week's Weight: 134.6(-.4)

Woohoo!! I finally hit my 10 pound goal and I could not be happier about that! I think all around I did really well last week. I ran 2 days, did the stairmaster or elliptical 3 days and got in the weight room 2 times. That is a good amount of activity. I did really well with food for the most part. However, I do know where I need to tighten it up.

I had a 5 mile on the schedule for Saturday and that did not happen.....until Sunday. It took me 56:13. Gosh, I still can't believe I used to do 5 miles in 49 minutes. I hate "starting over", but I did feel stronger on this run than my 4 mile run....mentally and physically.

I hope you are all well!

This Week's Goals

This week I have a few goals.

1) Get in 3 runs(1 down, 2 to go) including a 5 miler on Saturday.
As I gear up for half marathon training, I want to go in head first with a decent base going. I feel pretty good about my running workouts as of late. 
2) Get in 2 Elliptical workouts.
I love cross training, like love it! I especially love the elliptical. I turn on Netflix and catch up on whatever show I am into at the moment. Before you know it, boom....workout is over and I am covered in sweat. 
3) Weight train at least 3 times.
I really want to work on building all over muscle. When I did LiveFit, I fell in love with weight training. I miss the weight room like WHOA! Tomorrow, I plan to do chest and triceps.
4) Go through my pintrest board and make 1 recipe.
I have a gagillion recipes pinned on my board and I have done nothing. What's the point of having a pinterest board if you don't utilize it, right? 
5) Take our dogs for a walk or some aggressive backyard play time.
They don't get out nearly enough. So, I would like to get them a little more active.

I think that is good for goals this week. I haven't been great with fulfilling goals lately, but will try my darnedest this week to make all of these happen :)

I will boast a little here though. I have successfully drank at least 1 gallon of water a day for the past week. Thanks to the RO/DI water in our basement, it has been surprisingly easy to get the water in. It tastes better than bottled water(to me). I feel so amazing! I thought that would be the goal I sucked at the most. With the exception of 2 flavor packets, it has all been just plain ole water. Woohoo!

Do you make weekly goals? What is one goal you have for yourself right now?