I always jinx myself! You know, when you say "my baby is sleeping through the night!" or "hey my kid is finally potty trained!"....and then the next night you are up every hour with your infant or your toddler is peeing on the carpet. That's the story of my life, except this time it doesn't involve my kids (amazing, right?)
I purposefully did not post about my C25K running adventures until I was far enough in that I knew I wouldn't quit. When I reach that point where most people drop out, and made it past that, I felt comfortable posting about it. And then the VERY next day, I got injured. A very, very small injury, but still I took 2-3 days off. Tonight I went back out to see how I felt and I felt great!! I didn't run one of my C25K programs, just a run. I ran 12.5 minutes straight. Not my best but not too bad. Anyway, as I was walking home I stepped in a hole, heard a pop, and was standing with my foot completely twisted. FUN! So now I sit here with an Ace bandage holding my ankle steady and I'm in immense pain. Guess I'm taking a few more days off. Sigh.
On a positive note, I had a victory in my weight loss journey this weekend. It's what's known as a "non-scale victory" or NSV. It's basically something that does not have to do with a number on the scale. M and I went shopping and after trying on clothes at 3 different stores, I realized I am officially down another pant size! That's two sizes so far. I was starting to get discouraged because my weight was not changing as quickly as I'd like, but this NSV helped me realize that even though the scale isn't changing, my body is. Yay!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone (please excuse my spelling errors!)
August 14, 2011
August 8, 2011
Run Forrest, Run!
This blog has been sorely neglected this summer! Even though we haven't done much this summer, it feels like we have been constantly busy. Add that to my laziness and lack of creative writing skills, and you have one pathetic blog. I have a lot of things that I'd like to write about so my new goal is to update weekly, if not more. I'm sure that anyone reading this (if anyone is still out there? Mom? Somebody?) is tired of hearing about my garden. All I'll say is that it's still doing well, I have tomatoes coming out of my ears! Some things have done well and others will definitely not be planted again next year.
Something else keeping me busy this summer has been my exercise routine. Yes, I hate that word....exercise. Barf. In February I started a Live Healthy Iowa program with a friend and have lost 25 pounds since then. It should have been twice that but I've had several months were my weight just would not budge, no matter what. Since the weather has been nice, I've gone walking nearly every single night. Even in the rain sometimes. I change my route so it's not boring but I almost always get is 3-4 miles each night. On top of that, I started doing the Couch-To-5k (C25K) program. If you don't know what it is, it's basically a 9-week program (you do it 3 times per week) that takes you from sitting your behind on the couch day 1 to running a 5k week 9 (or longer for some of us.) I don't know what made me decide to start, I literally was just walking one night and though "hey, wouldn't it be cool if that C25K program had an iPhone app where you could play your music in the background and a little alarm went off when it was time to switch between running and walking?" And, like everything in this world, there was an app for that. It was 2 or 3 bucks so I grabbed it and that same day tried it out. Since then I have been 100% faithfully running/jogging. Here's a breakdown for anyone interested:
(All days start with a 5 minute warm-up walk and end with a 5 minute cool-down walk)
Week 1 (days 1-3) Alternate between 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking, for a total of 20 minutes
Week 2 (days 1-3) Alternate between 90 seconds of jogging and 2 minutes of walking, for a total of 20 minutes
Week 3 (days 1-3) Run 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes, then repeat all of the steps a 2nd time
Week 4 (days 1-3) Run 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, run 5 minutes, walk 2.5 minutes, run 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, run 5 minutes
Week 5 (day 1) Run 5 minutes, Walk 3 minutes, Run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes
Week 5 (day 2) Run 8 minutes, walk 5 minutes, run 8 minutes
Week 5 (day 3) Run 20 minutes. (yes, you read that correctly)
Week 6 (day 1) Run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 8 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes
Week 6 (day 2) Run 10 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 10 minutes
Week 6 (day 3) Run 25 minutes
Week 7 (days 1-3) Run 25 minutes
Week 8 (days 1-3) Run 28 minutes
Week 9 (days 1-3) Run 30 minutes
There it is! At the end of week 9 you can run 30 minutes, which is a typical 5K run. I am MUCH slower than typical so I have to work on my speed once I get my endurance up. Tonight I finished week 6, day 1.
If you were to ask me 6 weeks ago if I could do this, I would flat out tell you that you were crazy for asking. Seriously, it was hard for me to run those 60 seconds the first week.....but as cliche' as it sounds, you can do it if you put your mind to it. I'm 80 pounds overweight still and I can do it. Last week I ran 20 minutes straight! Plus, as a bonus, this is something you can do for FREE. Once you get into it, you will want some good running shoes, and of course I LOVE the $3 app I bought (it tracks distance, speed, and even has gps to map where I ran.)
Something else keeping me busy this summer has been my exercise routine. Yes, I hate that word....exercise. Barf. In February I started a Live Healthy Iowa program with a friend and have lost 25 pounds since then. It should have been twice that but I've had several months were my weight just would not budge, no matter what. Since the weather has been nice, I've gone walking nearly every single night. Even in the rain sometimes. I change my route so it's not boring but I almost always get is 3-4 miles each night. On top of that, I started doing the Couch-To-5k (C25K) program. If you don't know what it is, it's basically a 9-week program (you do it 3 times per week) that takes you from sitting your behind on the couch day 1 to running a 5k week 9 (or longer for some of us.) I don't know what made me decide to start, I literally was just walking one night and though "hey, wouldn't it be cool if that C25K program had an iPhone app where you could play your music in the background and a little alarm went off when it was time to switch between running and walking?" And, like everything in this world, there was an app for that. It was 2 or 3 bucks so I grabbed it and that same day tried it out. Since then I have been 100% faithfully running/jogging. Here's a breakdown for anyone interested:
(All days start with a 5 minute warm-up walk and end with a 5 minute cool-down walk)
Week 1 (days 1-3) Alternate between 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking, for a total of 20 minutes
Week 2 (days 1-3) Alternate between 90 seconds of jogging and 2 minutes of walking, for a total of 20 minutes
Week 3 (days 1-3) Run 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes, then repeat all of the steps a 2nd time
Week 4 (days 1-3) Run 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, run 5 minutes, walk 2.5 minutes, run 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, run 5 minutes
Week 5 (day 1) Run 5 minutes, Walk 3 minutes, Run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes
Week 5 (day 2) Run 8 minutes, walk 5 minutes, run 8 minutes
Week 5 (day 3) Run 20 minutes. (yes, you read that correctly)
Week 6 (day 1) Run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 8 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes
Week 6 (day 2) Run 10 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 10 minutes
Week 6 (day 3) Run 25 minutes
Week 7 (days 1-3) Run 25 minutes
Week 8 (days 1-3) Run 28 minutes
Week 9 (days 1-3) Run 30 minutes
There it is! At the end of week 9 you can run 30 minutes, which is a typical 5K run. I am MUCH slower than typical so I have to work on my speed once I get my endurance up. Tonight I finished week 6, day 1.
If you were to ask me 6 weeks ago if I could do this, I would flat out tell you that you were crazy for asking. Seriously, it was hard for me to run those 60 seconds the first week.....but as cliche' as it sounds, you can do it if you put your mind to it. I'm 80 pounds overweight still and I can do it. Last week I ran 20 minutes straight! Plus, as a bonus, this is something you can do for FREE. Once you get into it, you will want some good running shoes, and of course I LOVE the $3 app I bought (it tracks distance, speed, and even has gps to map where I ran.)
July 7, 2011
Harvesting
How lame is it that I was excited about picking our first tomato today? And it was just a tiny little cherry tomato. Sad. But we also picked 1/2 pint of raspberries and a couple of onions, so I guess that makes it a little better. I was too lazy today to take pictures but just imagine the last pictures I posted, just fuller.
In my last post, I mentioned my venture into Once A Month Cooking. I have to say that we are all greatly impressed with how it all turned out! Our grocery budget was cut by a few hundred dollars (yes, hundred!) and making dinner has been so simple the past few weeks. I basically set aside one day when the kids were behaving, which usually only happens one day a month anyway, and went to work! I had the hamburger buns mixing in the bread machine while I did my prepping and cooking, so it went smoothly. I had a couple of days of spaghetti on the menu, so I just made enough for all of those days, divided, and froze them. I did the same with the other ground beef dishes (like maidrites, etc.) For my soups, I diced up all of my veggies and froze, along with meat for those that needed it. For my pizzas, I make one batch of dough (bread machine) and one batch of sauce, each batch makes enough for two pizzas, then I package them up. When I'm done I have a bag of dough, sauce, and shredded cheese. Easy Peasy!
I have not had to go to the grocery store at all for meals this month, only for milk, some fruit, and stuff for Jason's lunches. And maybe a beer or two. :) Like I mentioned earlier, I sit down with a calendar, write down a meal for each day of the month, and then make a list of ingredients needed. To make it cheaper, I stuck to 7-8 different dishes and just repeated them throughout the month. It saves alot of time and money to do it this way. Then I divide my list into things I can order from my monthly Azure Standard order, which is most of my ingredients, and what I need to get from the grocery store, usually just meat, milk, and a few produce items. When my Azure order drops, I take a day or two to whip up all of the meals. Voila!
If you are interested in seeing my menu for July/August, shoot me an email and I'll send it to you. You can copy my menu, and you've saved even more time! :) I don't have any fancy meals on my menu, anyone can make these things people!
In my last post, I mentioned my venture into Once A Month Cooking. I have to say that we are all greatly impressed with how it all turned out! Our grocery budget was cut by a few hundred dollars (yes, hundred!) and making dinner has been so simple the past few weeks. I basically set aside one day when the kids were behaving, which usually only happens one day a month anyway, and went to work! I had the hamburger buns mixing in the bread machine while I did my prepping and cooking, so it went smoothly. I had a couple of days of spaghetti on the menu, so I just made enough for all of those days, divided, and froze them. I did the same with the other ground beef dishes (like maidrites, etc.) For my soups, I diced up all of my veggies and froze, along with meat for those that needed it. For my pizzas, I make one batch of dough (bread machine) and one batch of sauce, each batch makes enough for two pizzas, then I package them up. When I'm done I have a bag of dough, sauce, and shredded cheese. Easy Peasy!
I have not had to go to the grocery store at all for meals this month, only for milk, some fruit, and stuff for Jason's lunches. And maybe a beer or two. :) Like I mentioned earlier, I sit down with a calendar, write down a meal for each day of the month, and then make a list of ingredients needed. To make it cheaper, I stuck to 7-8 different dishes and just repeated them throughout the month. It saves alot of time and money to do it this way. Then I divide my list into things I can order from my monthly Azure Standard order, which is most of my ingredients, and what I need to get from the grocery store, usually just meat, milk, and a few produce items. When my Azure order drops, I take a day or two to whip up all of the meals. Voila!
If you are interested in seeing my menu for July/August, shoot me an email and I'll send it to you. You can copy my menu, and you've saved even more time! :) I don't have any fancy meals on my menu, anyone can make these things people!
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