Personal Revolution

It’s been a while since my last blog post. I have been redefining my priorities and I regret to admit they weren’t exactly the direction I wanted to go. I think I have it figured out. Though with me who knows for sure. I have felt that way a lot in the past. There is no one true absolute right answer. I am starting week 4 of consistent running. This is a huge thing as this is the first time I have made it through week 3. I started yoga. Okay, it’s been one class, but it’s a start!! The more I push forward the stronger I become and the more that I come to realize that I am a beautiful person, something that I have been fighting to believe for a long time. When people treat you like you are unimportant scum for a long time you come to believe it and it takes time to change your opinion of yourself. I’ve been through a lot in my life and I’m going to come out on top in the end. 

So what does this post have to do with running? It’s about how important mentally running is to me. When I decided to take on going to school and working two jobs I had convinced myself that I would have no time for running because other things (paid work and school work) were more important. That is absolutely a lie. I figured that out a few weeks in. I am more important. My physical health and my mental well-being are more important. I can take 30-40 minutes a day to work on me. The mental effects were quick; the physical effects are just starting to show. 

Running for me is a mental release from the day. For me it is so much better to run in the morning. When I run before I go to work it makes getting through all the stressors of the day so much easier. I feel like I am calmer, more in control of my day. I am happier when I work with my patients and my coworkers. Now it’s time to work on eating healthier and getting more into my spiritual side, which I feel is released also by running. I want to do a lot more trail running, to release my tensions in the woods where I feel so at home and at peace. Nature is my “church”, my playground… As a wiccan I may not have the same beliefs that other people do, but in truth we are all just looking for what makes us happy, and free. There is so much I want to accomplish with my life and now that I know where my priorities need to lie I can stop living my life for others and start living it for myself. I can do that by running, through yoga, through spending more time with the people who make me feel happy, loved, and whom bring out my true personality—not the persona I feel like I need to put on to get ahead. I can continue to teach, continue to learn, continue to grow. The road may be steep, the path may be dark, and your body may be tired, but you will always find your way if you are determined. Determination builds strength of character and in that you will find your way “home”. 

Week Two of "The Challenge"

I woke up this morning at one am. This is the second time this week. I’m not really sure what is going on with that but it is really frustrating. I woke up sweating and yet I was cold. I felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest from anxiety. I had so many racing thoughts I couldn’t get back to sleep. Now I’m up and had to take the dogs out in the cold so I figured I would update my postings here and then maybe I would feel better and be able to go back to sleep.

Week one of my challenge is now complete and for the most part I feel as though it went well and I learned quite a few things from it. One of the first things that I learned is that I am really, really hard on myself. Probably much harder than I need to be. To the point where I am downright mean to myself. I tend to dwell on things that I can’t change. Friday as I was doing my core strengthening exercises I started going through the “Why” and “What if” questions. “Why did I wait so long to do this?” “Why did I let myself get to this point” “What if I can’t do this?” “Why don’t you just give up now?” I wanted to just lay there and give up. It would be so much easier. If I give up now though by the end of the decade I could very easily reach 200 pounds at the rate I am going. I can’t let it get to that point. I need to keep pushing myself even though it is hard, my muscles hurt, and I’m tired. I feel in some ways it is helping me manage my stress. However I don’t know what is going on with this onset of waking up at stupid hours of the morning but I'm pretty sure it's my thyroid.

So last Saturday I set a couple goals. I did much better at sticking to the training plan than I did with my nutrition goal. I missed one day of my training plan and that yesterday’s three mile run. That is a huge improvement for me so I’m not going to beat myself up over it. We’re just going to try to nail every training day this week. I really did not do well as far as sticking to my nutrition goal at all, I think I managed to meet that goal two days out of the eight. So I’m going to make some changes to my plan to meet that goal and see if I can make an improvement. Overall I do feel better about myself in general. I need to stop obsessing over it and remember it is going to take time to reach those long term goals and focus more on the here and now.

My goals for the week of 12/6-12/12:

• Incorporate one fruit serving and one vegetable serving into my lunch every day. I am going to do some research onto how to make this easier and more convenient for me because a lot of times I don’t sit down to eat lunch, especially at work. I eat on the run.
• Stick to my training plan for this week and on rest day at least walk one mile on the treadmill to keep myself moving.

Again my goal for the month is to be 170 pounds by December 31. I am not going to get on the scale before that day because I know myself and I will obsess. I just need to smile and put one foot in front of the other and I truly think it will get easier with time. I will try to keep the updates coming!

Hitting the Wall

So we’re on to day four of my challenge to myself. How many days can I keep up with my goal? I have to admit that today was extremely hard for me. I got home from work, I’m exhausted and I have so many things to do around the house before I can get those few minutes to myself to start my workout. By the time I get to that point my whole body hurts and I just want to sit on the couch and watch television. However I pushed myself to complete my workout. Today’s training plan called for a three mile run. I managed to run 2.5 and walked the rest to complete the three. I am okay with this because the biggest part was pushing myself to get the hell up and do it even though I tried to convince myself not too. I am pretty sure this is what is referred to “hitting the wall”. I could have probably quite easily run the entire three miles but I let my brain get the best of me as it kept telling me that I was tired and I could stop. But I made a commitment to myself and I really need to keep it. I’ve gotten to the point where I can barely look at myself in the mirror anymore. So game on self! I am not going to quit this time. Tomorrow I need to lace up the running sneakers and do some speed work.

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/how-to-avoid-hitting-the-wall-while-running

Setting goals

One of the things that I am sure is holding me back is the fact that I am setting long term goals which are not easy to measure and can make it difficult to stay on track. Setting a goal to run a first marathon in September is all well and good, but I need something short term that I can celebrate success with and keep me striving to reach that goal. I also set a goal to lose 40 pounds by the end of next year, but looking at the scale and not seeing results is frustrating. So I am making some changes to my plan here and now by setting small, measurable goals. 

Short term goals:

Starting today Saturday 11/28/15 I am going to eat a serving of fruit and a serving of vegetables at lunch every day through next Saturday (and hopefully continuing on after that but we are thinking small here).

Starting today I am going to stick to my training plan every day through next Saturday (again hopefully continuing on).

Intermediate goals: 

I am currently 176 pounds according to my scale (Honesty I feel is important). My goal is to be at 170 by December 31.

Longer term goals: 

Run my first half marathon in the spring. There are currently two I am looking at and I would love to do them both!

Run my first marathon in September 2016! I really want that 26.2 bumper sticker on my car!

There they are for all to see! Another goal I have is to have at least weekly blog posts to update my progress even if I am the only one who reads them. It’s going to be a long road and I have a lot of factors against me. (Time, motivation, stress, my tendency to stress eat, the holiday season). The biggest barrier that I have is me and changing these unhealthy habits that I have formed. I’ve said it before but this time I hope that I am going to stick to it because I am ready!

For my training program I looked around online and selected a program that I think includes all the qualities I need. I have added the link below for anyone who is interested in joining my little adventure. There are a couple different levels based on experience. I selected intermediate for myself. That's about it for today. Wish me luck!

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51132/Half-Marathon-Intermediate-Training-Program

Marathon training week one

My name is Amanda. I am 29 years old. I am about 5 foot 4 and weigh 172 pounds. Why do I tell you this? Because I am ready for a change. Today completes my first week of marathon training with 19 total miles run. Some days were harder than most but I am glad that I am going for this and need to just stick with it. Yesterday was a definite hard day for me. I only ran 3 miles but I hadn’t made the best eating choices the two days before hand and I think that had an impact on my workout as well as the fact that I have only been running on and off for the last few weeks. I realized how much I missed it though when my son and I did the pink dress run 5k, a fundraising run for Broome Oncology patients fighting cancer. I really want to do a marathon. I have been wanting to do it for a long time so I decided that day to make the commitment to myself and start training. I have come up with my own training plan. I am adding on miles every week until I reach my goal and the marathon I have chosen is the Herald of Victory Marathon in Binghamton on May 29 of next year. I have also started doing research on marathon training and proper nutrition for marathon training because I have a serious Achilles heel when it comes to good nutrition. So my family and I have made the jump to about 90% of our meat being local grass/pasture fed meats for good sources of lean protein. We only buy free range eggs. No more buying food from the cafeteria at work (I make poor choices in my rush to get back to my nursing unit). Hydration is also an area I am working on as well as nutrition during my distance runs. So I will be sampling and reviewing products that I try. Another way to keep me motivated is I am planning on joining in on group runs with the local running club and going to start doing group runs. Tomorrow I am also doing another fundraising 5k: the Village to Village 5k that raises money for leaders of villages and supports health care in countries that need it. Expect many more blog posts in the future.

Treadmill Running

Personally I rather dislike running on the treadmill. However since I have a full time plus job, many responsibilities at home as well as a family sometimes my schedule doesn't permit me to run outside as much as I would like to. So for this blog post I did some research on how to get a quality workout on the treadmill and to make it a bit more interesting because my main problem is I think running on the treadmill is really boring.

There are some advantages of running on the treadmill. Treadmills offer a safe running solution when faced with less than ideal conditions such as icy road patches, dark roadways, extreme temperatures, etc. They also provide a solution to people whom have busy schedules like me. According to Coach Jeff from runnersconnect.net treadmills also give you the ability to simulate a race course either by programming in the course if you have a fancy treadmill or by making manual adjustments. This is something that I hadn't considered but will definitely be trying in the future. Another thing that I learned is that if you set the treadmill on a 1% incline grade for your run it puts you on a energy exertion equal to running outside with wind resistance.

Proper warm ups are important when running on the treadmill because its so easy to just jump on and start running, something I have been guilty of and ended up regretting it later when I develop shin splints and have to take a couple days off putting me at risk for losing ground. So I found what looks like a pretty good warm up routine that I am going to attempt. This is from on active.com

"Walk for 3 minutes: Start easy and build it up to a brisk walk in the last minute. Jog for 3 minutes: If you know your marathon pace, this effort is about 1 to 1.5 minutes slower per mile. 3 x 20/40s: This is 20 seconds fast, 40 seconds recovery. Goal here is to get the blood pumping and have you ready to hit your intervals / training session at 100 percent."

After some more research I found a couple of tips to help make treadmill running more interesting  (hopefully). I am going to be incorporating these into my routine.
1. Interval training- add some incline, change your speeds. Interval training is a great way to change up your routine and keep you from a plan boring run on the treadmill. If you're not sure what types of intervals to do there are plenty that you can find online.
2. Multitask- grab a pair of 2 or 5 pound weights and do some bicep curls or other upper body strength exercises while walking on the treadmill.
3. Add music/television- listening to music or watching television is a good distraction technique. Increase the speed or interval to change up the routine to changes in the beat of the music or during commercials.
4. If you want to walk instead of running simulate a hike by using a preprogrammed course or by increasing the incline at set intervals.
5. Be spontaneous with your workout. Don't schedule it at specific times or you will start to talk yourself out of it.
6. Maybe move the treadmill to a different location. Some people move their treadmill outside.
7. Create a progress chart with goals and rewards for yourself. Log your miles and reward yourself with healthy treats or workout gear.
8. Grab a workout buddy to keep you company.

References

http://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/treadmill-vs-running-outside http://weightloss.allwomenstalk.com/7-ways-to-make-the-treadmill-more-fun http://www.active.com/running/articles/5-tips-for-a-better-treadmill-workout http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/treadmill-winter-workout-tips-for-runners

The beginning...

December 22, 2014 I decided that I needed to stop waiting until the weather got nice to start running. Basically it was an excuse to not do it. The weather would eventually improve and I would find other reasons not to do it. Living in upstate New York we have all four seasons. Starting running in December was definitely interesting. At that point I didn't have a treadmill or a gym membership so I was running outside in the snow, sleet, and freezing temperatures. The first two 5k races that I ran happened to be in the midst of polar vortexes and absolutely worth it. I learned I love running even in the depth of winter but you definitely need to do your research and dress appropriately.

Last month I tried something that I have never done before. I ran a 10k trail race at Buttermilk Falls. It was absolutely amazing. It was the farthest distance I have ever run and the most complex terrain I have ever run. Trail running is absolutely something that I am glad I started doing. Currently I am training for a half marathon and have a few more trail runs coming up that I can hardly wait for. I am a slow runner but I don't really mind at all. I don't race to win I race for the camaraderie. Every race I have been in the participants cheer each other on. Its a wonderful display of community spirit and pride in the sport.

This blog will pretty much encompass posts about my training, research on running, my reviews on races I participated in etc. The next race is the Forest Frolic 15k in Virgil hosted by the Finger Lakes Running Club and I am very excited about it. If interested you can find out more about the run here:
http://fingerlakesrunners.org/trail-runs/forest-frolic-trail-runs/

Stay tuned for more posts and Happy Running!