Saturday, October 27, 2012

C25K -The Mom's Perspective: Week 3

Week 3 of my Couch to 5K Running Program started about 2 and a half weeks ago.  Sadly, I have yet to move on to Week 4.  I can explain...

Week 3, Day 1:

Oh My God, this was hard.  As I said last week, going from running for 90 second stints to 3 minutes feels like mission impossible.  And it kinda was.  I'm not gonna lie, I had to walk the last minute when I was supposed to be running.  My friend Kelly said to run until I feel like I'm going to fall down, then I can walk.  And I did exactly that.  I felt guilty as hell about it though, and vowed to do the workout in its entirety again the next day.  Until...

WHAM-O!  I got hit with a terrible cold, and had company arriving for the weekend.  Running was not an option.  Between my hacking, nose-blowing, and alternating doses of DayQuil, Tylenol Cold, and NyQuil, it just was not possible.  I was run down and tired from being sick, and I knew I had to give it a break until I was better.

Feeling better this week, I finally got to the gym on Wednesday. (8 days later than my last run!)  I re-did my Day 1 workout.  Without cheating.  I think I coughed up a lung though, and had a terrible night's sleep because I could not. stop. coughing.  Also, I'm more than certain that the people on the treadmills to my left and right did not appreciate the fat girl's huffing, puffing, and now hacking in way too close proximity.  Oh well.  That's what showers and hand-sanitizer dispensers are for, right?

Feeling empowered because I did what I set out to do, despite not feeling 100%, I often remind myself of this pin from Pinterest:

Pinned Image
 
Or this one:


Pinned Image

Week 3, Day 2:

Today I returned to the gym to run again.  Unfortunately, my cough is worse, not better, and the lack of Oxygen was just more than I could deal with.  I found myself struggling to catch my breath as I ran, and in an effort to not pass out, I decided to just walk it out.  So I walked during 2 and a half minutes that I should have been running.  I still managed to go 2.15 miles, but I was disappointed.  My lungs were just not happy.  (Doc appt. is set for Monday, I swear!)  So I'll re-do this day too.  Or maybe I won't.  I'm back to thinking that running is a stupid idea anyway.

To be continued...

Kroger Gift Card Winner

Congratulations to Post #15, Kristi, who said, "I would love to stock up on Cheerios."  Well, now she can.  Kristi, I sent you an email so please check your inbox!  Thanks to every one else who entered.  I really appreciate y'all reading my blog!  (yea, I said y'all... deal with it.)

Friday, October 19, 2012

Sibling Love?

If you've had the privilege of spending time with my family you'd notice within just a few minutes that 2 out of 3 of my children do not get along very well.  This is not a new phenomenon.  Not a stage that they will eventually grow out of. (although I pray that they will)  Put frankly, for one reason or another, Joey and Katelyn just don't like each other.

Sad?  Right.  Yea, it's a real downer.  I've tried countless ways to figure out why my oldest and youngest don't show the love for each other like they do towards Olivia.  They both really love Olivia.  I guess the main reason I can come up with is that they are more similar in personality.  Joey and Katelyn seem to take after me in the personality department.  Strong willed, opinionated, inquisitive, strong willed, stubborn, strong willed... yea, that about sums it up.  Olivia is more subdued like my husband.  She of course has her own opinion about things, and can throw a tantrum over a pack of gummies with the best of them, but she is definitely more compliant and accepting than the other two. 

Joey and Katelyn battle over just about anything.  Toys, shoes, (yes, Joey will wear her most favorite sparkle shoes around the house just to piss her off), what to watch on TV, who goes first, last, etc.  It's pretty endless.  And beyond frustrating as a mom who just wants peace in the house.  Sometimes they do it deliberately.  For example, Joey will purposefully act like Katelyn mispronounced something even though she didn't.  Katelyn will yell about it.  Joey will insist that she said it wrong.  Katelyn will yell some more.  Joey will yell back.  And eventually one of them will either throw something or smack the other one unless I break it up by using my scary mom voice telling them to CUT THE CRAP!

I noticed something the other day while I dropped Joey off at school.  These two, who act like they can't stand each other 90 percent of the time always say goodbye to each other.  He even turns after getting out of the car to say goodbye to Katelyn with a wave and a smile.  Maybe it's because they are so glad to have 7 hours away from each other.  But I'd rather think that its because deep down they actually do love each other.  So I'm going to go with that.  They totally do, right?




Wednesday, October 17, 2012

C25K -The Mom's Perspective: Week 2

Well, I'm happy to report that Week 2 was a success.  I actually did all of my running inside on the treadmill at the Y during week 2.  While I thought I liked it better during Week 1, I'm now ready to get back outside. (And by outside I mean after dark when my neighbors hopefully won't see me.) Running on the treadmill is sooooo boooooring!  Regardless, here's a quick recap:

Week 2, Day 1:

My body was in shock as I worked to complete this first workout.  While it may not sound like much time to you, to a self-proclaimed running hater like myself, going from 60 seconds of running to 90 seconds of running was a big change.  HUGE.  At least that first day it felt huge.  I could not stop watching the timer.  It just hurt so bad.... I was convinced that I was done.  Running was over for me.

Week 2, Day 2:

Not so much.  You see, I feel so great on the days after I run that it makes me want to go back for more the next day.  It's so strange.  I have more energy, more patience, and get a heck of a lot more done the day after a work out than I did before I started this.  So in some weird way, that motivates me to go back for more... Day 2 was probably my easiest day so far.  And by easy I mean I huffed and puffed my way through each running segment without cheating the clock a few seconds.  I even turned the treadmill up a decimal point or so during the walking segment to increase my distance and keep my heart rate up.  So maybe I'm getting the hang of this.  I don't know.  I still don't like it very much.

Week 2, Day 3:

Against all odds I made it to the Y to complete my workout for Day 3.  My husband and I each had activities planned for the day, so we were passing off the child-watching duties for the day.  He wasn't scheduled to be home until 8 or so and I really didn't want to do another late night run.  So, I made a last minute decision to pack up the kids and head to the Y.  We got there in the nick of time, as the Nursery was closing in 34 minutes.  Good thing this stupid workout is only 31 minutes.  I dropped off the little boogers, and charged upstairs to the last treadmill of the row.  (I feel like people don't see me if I'm all the way at the end.)  I cued up my iPod, pushed the green "go" button on the treadmill, and got to it.  A little problem came along around the halfway mark when my iPod died.  I easily could have given up there.  "Eh, no music, no one telling me when to run, when to walk, I'm done."  But I didn't.  I timed myself, paced myself, and finished my workout with only the pounding of my sneakers on the treadmill and the sound of my own puffing and huffing to listen to.  That in and of itself was a huge accomplishment for me, as I'm pretty much the queen of excuses.

Looking Ahead:

Week 3 has two segments of running for 3 minutes.  3 minutes?  Double what my body has just sort of gotten used to?  I'm cringing at the thought.  I'm not kidding when I say I can barely get through 90 seconds.  I really don't know how on earth I'm going to double that starting now.  If anything is going to break me, it'll be Week 3 for sure.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Kroger Buy 5 -Save $5 Event with GIVEAWAY

Attention Kroger shoppers! Grab a cart (or two!)and head to your local Kroger Co. Family of Stores for the Kroger Buy 5 – Save $5 Event! From October 14th through October 24th (RIGHT NOW!) purchase 5 participating General Mills products, and receive a coupon for $5 off your next shopping order.
If you combine this promotion with Kroger's sales and manufacturers coupons, you're looking at saving some serious money people!  Look for some of your favorite participating General Mills products like Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Pillsbury Toaster Strudel, Betty Crocker Cake and Brownie Mixes, Hamburger Helper, Totino’s Party Pizza, Yoplait and many more!

This promotion varies in different locations so please be sure to check your local Kroger Co. Family of Stores for specific deals and offers which include: Kroger, Ralphs, King Scoopers, City Market, Dillons, Smith’s, Fry’s, QFC, Baker’s, Owen’s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Fred Meyer, Pay Less Supermarkets and Scott’s Food & Pharmacy.

Don’t let the savings pass you by! Fill up your cart and save with the General Mills products you love at the Kroger Buy 5 – Save $5 Event!  And to sweeten the deal, I have a $25 Kroger Gift Card to give away to one lucky reader!  Want in on it?  Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win!  This giveaway starts now and will end on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 at 11:59 EST.  Winner will be selected via Random.org and notified shortly thereafter.  If after 48 hours selected winner has not responded, a new winner will be chosen and notified.

Disclosure: The gift cards (one sent to me, one for a reader) and information have been provided by Kroger and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.  All opinions expressed are my own.

***By the way... I have NOT given up running. Yet. If you're following my quest to be physically fit using the Couch 2 5k program, stay tuned... an update is coming soon!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

New Updates Are Up!

I finally got around to updating my sidebar with new pics and bios of the kids.  Aren't they adorable? ;)  Here's a new picture of them all together, from last weekend's trip to the corn maze:

 
And yes, I realize none of them are looking... but I kind of like it that way.  This is how they are when I'm not bribing them and/or screaming at them to sit together, smile, and look at me while I take one decent picture.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

C25K -The Mom's Perspective: Week 1, Day 3

Week 1, Day 3:

I have to admit that I surprised myself when I decided to go out running a 3rd time.  It wasn't easy, but I did it.  It had been 4 days since my run on day 2, and that made it especially hard to motivate myself.  If you are thinking about doing this running program, I highly suggest not going more than 1 or 2 days in between runs, as the longer you wait, the harder it is to get back out there.  Look at me now... dishing out exercising advice, like I'm some kind of expert all of a sudden! Yea, hardly an expert.  But it's still probably sound advice. 

It was a cold and kinda rainy night, but I was actually kind of glad about that because it was already dark so the neighbors wouldn't see me, and the weather was more than likely keeping everyone inside and away from doors and windows.  The run itself was basically uneventful.  More of the same, I guess you could say.  I hated every painful running segment, and my brisk walking segments didn't seem very brisk at all.  More like a slow, leisurely pace.  It was all I could do to keep my legs moving after the running part.  I noticed, though, that I must have gone a little bit faster because I went a longer distance.  Hmmmm... maybe I'm improving?  Nah, must have just been luck.  Maybe I cut a corner somewhere, or jay-walked, or something.

Anyway, I got home, stretched, and drank a gallon of water.  Seriously, it probably was a gallon as I got up 3 times to pee in the night.  I had tons of energy that night, and didn't actually get to bed until after 1am.  My kids were still up at the butt crack of dawn, making me a very tired and grumpy mommy in the morning.  Running at 9 o'clock at night probably wasn't the greatest idea.

OK, so now I'm about to make a commitment.  I'm going to keep doing this.  I'm going to give it at least another week before I decide whether or not to continue.  I definitely don't like doing it, but I definitely like the way I feel after I've recovered and into the next day.  I know, I know, it's only been a week.  Hard to make a judgement on the program as a whole when I've only completed 1/8 of it.  Will I complete the other 7 weeks?  I really don't know.  I actually doubt it.  But there will be a Week 2 post... I can promise you that.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

C25K -The Mom's Perspective: Week 1, Day 2

Week 1, Day 2:
 
I realize my last blog post left you with a bit of a cliff hanger... I'm sure you were all laying in bed awake at night wondering if in fact I put on my running shoes again.  I know, I'm tricky like that.  Well I'm about to reveal some BIG news:  I did.  I ran a second time.  And here's my step by step account of how it went. (pun intended... get it?  Step by Step... haha.)
 
It got unseasonably warm two days following that first painful run.  Luckily, we are members of the YMCA where they have treadmills and air conditioning, and a pretty comfortable non-judgemental feel that you don't get at a lot of fitness centers.  I was actually less self-conscience running at the Y on the treadmill than I was in my neighborhood in broad daylight.  Maybe because I just stayed in one place.  It also helps that the treadmills are at the front of the exercise room so I didn't have to make eye contact with anyone, or see their raised eyebrows and/or snickering faces when they saw just how much my ass jiggles when I run.
 
Another bonus to running on the treadmill is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.  I know lots of people don't like to watch the digital timers on the exercise equipment, but I find it motivating... I set the clock to count up the first half of my workout, and then switch it to count down the second half.  It's kinda like that whole "running home" methodology that I had on Day 1.
 
So aside from being unbelievably sore all day long before my second actual run, I actually found the 30-minute workout slightly easier.  I am not to the point of saying that it is even a tiny bit enjoyable, and I still am not thinking I'm going to do this again, but it was just a smidge more tolerable.  The setting also helped because I wasn't thinking about those pesky tomato-throwing teenagers, or wondering if my friends would see me bouncing by their kitchen window as they cleaned their dinner dishes.
 
When my workout was finished I went and wiped myself off and hid in the bathroom for a few minutes while I regained consciousness and caught my breath.  Then I stretched.  Just like The Good Athlete said I should.  Then I took a good, long, mental health break in one of the comfy chairs in the lounge while my children played in the nursery while the very sweet (and much more patient) ladies that work there looked after them. (An added perk to working out at the Y... a few extra minutes of peace while someone else deals with your bat-shit crazy kids!)
 
All in all, I'd say Day 2 was a success.  I didn't get quite the same euphoric high that I did from the first day, but it did make me happy to hear my sweet hubby say that he was proud of me for doing it again.  He's so good.  Even still, I have yet to convince myself that I'm going to keep doing this.  I mean seriously... this is crazy.  Right?

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Couch 2 5K... The Mom's Perspective

Well it's no secret that I'd like to lose some weight.  I've struggled with it for some time now, and am finding it harder than EVER now to drop a few pounds.  Weight Watchers worked for me 6 times before in the past, and it sort of worked for a while for me earlier this year, but I got impatient and quit.  Also, we really had to cut back spending when Ron unexpectedly needed a new car, and $45 for WW was just no longer in the budget.  Which is why I haven't gone back.

You see, I can't even blame my fatness on "baby weight."  I was actually at my thinnest adult weight 3 weeks after the girls were born, (nursing twins was the Best Diet Ever!) and I desperately want to lose the 30 pounds I've gained since then.

So, if I want desperately to lose weight, why is it so freakin' hard?  When you want something badly enough, shouldn't it just happen?  I really don't get where the disconnect is here, and it makes me want to really do some investigation as to why I can't stay motivated to lose some freakin' weight.  And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only woman out there feeling this way.  In fact, I know I'm not.  You're with me, aren't you??? 

Well, drastic times call for drastic measures, so I even went as far as to try the crash diet of Cabbage Soup.  In case you missed it, you can read about it here, here, or here.  My 7-day diet lasted 3 days.  I lost about 6 pounds in 3 days, but gained 10 back faster than you can say "Dairy Queen."  No joke, it was like I blinked, and WHAM, 10 pounds... back on the old keister.  The 6 that I lost by starving myself, and 4 extra for being an idiot.

Well, we all know how to lose weight... eat less, exercise more.  Easy enough, right?  I wish.  But I'm determined to find something that will work.  This may or may not be it, but you're about to find me blogging about my newest exercise regime.  It's something I said I would NEVER do.  Never, ever, ever, did I think I'd do this.  It is so far out of my comfort zone, I can't even tell you.  But maybe that's just what I need.  Maybe I need to do something I've never done before, and never thought I could.  Sounds plausible, right?  I may do it once, maybe for a week, I may do it for the rest of my life.  But I'm doing it.  I'm running.  There.  I said it.  I was super reluctant to put this online -so don't judge me and keep your mouth shut about it if I quit, k?  In fact, as I type, I'm not so sure I can actually click on the publish button... Regardless, I've downloaded the C25K running program, and I'm running.  And here's how it went my very first time:

Week 1, Day 1:

As I completed the first 60-second running segment I seriously contemplated going home.  I'm not even kidding.  It was awful, and I could feel my body protesting this decision with every single painful step.  But I didn't turn around.  I kept going.  I wanted to smash the iPod into the pavement every time I heard the little "ding-a-ling" that signaled another 60-second running stint.  And I'll admit that I ended a few of those running segments a few seconds early because I just couldn't do it.  It hurt so bad.  Everywhere.  Immediately.

Oh, and then there is the whole embarrassment factor.  Me running is just not a pretty sight.  I've got big tits and a big ass, and everything bounces. And not in a "wow, that's sexy" kind of way.  My first time out of the gate, I went right around 7:00pm, when it was still light outside.  I had to run in front of some of my friends' houses praying that they weren't looking out the window or walking outside.  I even ran past some people that I knew who were taking their baby out for an evening stroll.  I just shook my head and gave them the "I'm about to die doing this" look when they tried to chat to me.  My heart stopped with every car that drove by thinking that it might be some cruel teenagers throwing tomatoes at the fat lady jiggling running down the street.  At that thought, I made a mental note to go running after dark until I get more comfortable with this.  Then I remembered that I had already told myself about 5 minutes into this endeavor that this was the stupidest idea I've had yet, and I was never going to go running again.  I was not cut out for this.

Then, suddenly, I was looping aroud the neighborhood back to my house.  I glanced at the iPod and realized that I was 2/3 of the way through the 30-minute workout.  With that, I realized I could do it.  I was doing it.  So the last couple of running segments were actually my easiest ones because I was on my way home, not on my way away from home.

Upon walking in the front door, I just about collapsed to the floor.  "You should stretch," said my husband, The Athlete.  I didn't stretch.  I couldn't stretch.  I could barely move.  I poured myself a huge glass of ice water and sat outside on the patio with the fan on high trying to cool off.  Luckily, Fall has arrived in North Carolina so the outdoor temperature is finally lower than the indoor temperature these days!  It took me a good 20 minutes to feel like a human being again, and I did have a happy euphoric feeling that I actually did it.  Once.  I ran one time.  And after that night, I never planned to do it again...

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