Done!

Did four miles tonight again with an old running mate from Run On... this time with some .30 sec intervals... next time we will do one minutes... that way we are held accountable for each other. I'm liking this system.
Tired, going to bed... just wanted to update my progress.

getting others involved in the effort

So this evening I went out for a 4 mile brisk walk with my friend Kristie... I met Kristie back in 2007 through RunOn when she and I were in a class - Running 101. I gotta say, having someone today for even a brisk walk made the effort go by rather quickly (even though we were out more than an hour to do the 4 miles)... and having someone helps motivate one another's efforts. Being that we live only miles apart from one another, that helps too!

Last night I completed 3 miles - doing intervals... tonight, just a four mile out and back walk... total of 7 miles in the past two days. Am looking forward to tomorrow night when we kick it up a notch and do some light intervals.

We did come across an interesting girl this evening... we noticed her sitting, but when we returned back, we passed her on the trail... it was an interesting encounter... I told Jerry about it, and he said that she probably wasn't lost or disoriented, she was more than likely a "decoy" to sidetrack Kristie and I to get us to escort her somewhere so that we would possibly be "jumped" by friends in a different location. I personally think my husband watches too much tv, but then again, in this day and age, who knows. If she was "lost and disoriented" I do hope she is okay!

all about timing...

No, I haven't quit working out... I just had to shuffle things. Last week my son injured himself by being his own stunt person in Jackass - aka Johnny Knoxville and WeeMan and decided to tear open his upper shin/knee area with a 3 in deep gap... he did this while I was out jogging... so, I had to turn around, run home,and get him to Medical City. So, I managed to complete 1 mile at least! LOL!
Boy is fine... stitches and all... he is now in Central America with his dad on a cruise... so, no time like the present than to regroup and get at it...

Last night, I did 14 miles on the bike! YIPEE!!!

Today, I did a 3.17 mile jog...

Grand total = 18.17 miles to log!!!

I have also decided, it is now worth my effort to get up an hour earlier - get up at 6 am instead of 7, because it's too damn hot out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend Wrapup

...I almost thought my son was going to jog with me this weekend... until he found out the distance I was going...then he backed out. No matter how much I pleaded with him that he could turn around and come home when he got tired, he wouldn't budge. At least at this point he is thinking about a healthier lifestyle.

So, on Saturday - in the humidity - I completed 4 miles. I ran the entire way. When I got home, I was soaked, my hair was wet and smelly - and Jerry thought I was darn out reeky! LOL! I thought I was going to puke when I got home, because like a dumbass I forgot my hydration. That'll learn me!

Tonight, I completed a 7 mile bike ride at an easy pace while I watched the season finale of Desperate Housewives.

This weekend, I also decided that I need a buddy to work out with, so I re-joined the Dallas Running Club. I have my training schedule taped to the fridge and am now committed to the DRC Half Marathon on November 5th, followed by the White Rock Marathon (again, I'm doing the half) on December 5th (a day before my 36th birthday). I also informed the hubs that I will be running the Disney Princess Half Marathon in March 2012. That has always been my goal race - the Disney Princess - and I will be there!!!

Damn, would it just rain already!

Freaking humidity...
I did another workout today in the humidity... and I sweat more today than yesterday... it just needs to freaking rain already!

So, I did a "double workout" today... I ran 1.63 miles using my C25k app on the iPhone at the split intervals of 4/1 followed by 4.5 miles on the bike. If friends and coworkers come over tomorrow... we will do a jaunt to the arboretum and back (provided it doesn't rain), otherwise I will do some core strengthening to Jillian Michaels and a bike ride.

Humidity Training

So, I took my friend Colin's advice - and today I took a 30 minute training jog in the humidity... wow... talk about sweat and pacing! It's different in the humidity and the amount of effort you must exert to keep the same pace, but I feel good about it just the same...just adjusted my stride a bit to conversational pace and I was good to go - and still the massive workout! I jogged for 5 minutes, walked 30 seconds, repeat as a pace (per my "handy dandy Couch to 10k iPhone app")

After dinner, will definitely get a cold shower!

...the weather was the determining factor

After debating if I wanted to go run/not run - and my dear friend Colin suggesting that a run in the humidity would actually be beneficial for me, as I ventured outside - wham, thunder in the neighborhood. Well, that has altered my course - I ended up doing 16 miles on the bike instead! That's right - 16 miles in 1 hour!

Run tomorrow.

its not all fun and games...

Despite the mania surrounding my family in our quest to find some normalcy and balance for the kiddo and the ups and downs that go with it, I managed to finally get on the bike this evening and do 14 miles. I have to be able to maintain some sort of calm and balance within myself in order to effectively care for him.

Austin is going through some hard times right now... these times are hard on my family, extended family, and beyond. Once we get him in to see Dr. Lowrimore and the bad nine years of habits from Dr. Jacobson out of him, I will finally hope to see some light in this dark period that has plagued his behaviors. Saturday night was a really bad night, one that wasn't experienced in nearly a year and a half... I'm going to start charting his episodes of mania... honing in on the triggers. Thankfully, we got the results back from the treatment team at Children's Medical Center. He does not have Wilson's Disease as suspected... he does however have elevated liver enzymes and fatty accumulation because of the Abilify. His medications are out of whack and have created an imbalance within his system... getting him an autism specific psychiatrist (although it's more costly) is the first step in getting him back. The second will be firing his current psychiatrist whom I believe is slowly killing my kid without knowing his true needs. A good friend of mine has a coworker who went through similar experiences with her kid... I have faith, but it's going to be a long ride. We will get through this, God protects us and gives us what he sees that we need in our lives. I believe that.

Benchmark

I'm halfway to my first benchmark - my doctor's goal! He said lose 30 - so far I've done 17.5!!! Im not done yet - not till I reach my goal!!!

Off for weekend long jog!

It's not been forgotten...

Nope, I haven't forgotten about exercise this week... but with TEA audits and some life situations, I haven't had a chance to blog my standings either, until now.

So on Monday - we had some bad weather = didn't go out and do anything. Plus with the electricity flickering... didn't do the recumbant bike either. Tuesday = 1 mile jog and tonight (Wednesday) = 10 mile bike ride. Total of 11 miles to add to my fitness tracker! YAY!

Just one more day of audits, and one more week of grad school till August...and I can breathe.

I still haven't heard back regarding my son's testing, and that is about to bother me. I called CMC today, but heard nothing. This sucks.

That's what I call awesome!

Holy crap batman - I haven't done that since late 2007 before I broke my foot and was casted all the way up to my knee! I did the distance today - 5 miles... I ran more than half of it!!!! YAY ME!!!!!!! I went from my home here on Beachview - past the arboretum, over the bridge at Garland Rd/Lawther and to the top of the spillway at San Rafael and back!!!
I must admit, I jogged the entire distance to the spillway (and walked back home)... but this is a great accomplishment... to think, I can do the distance of a little more than a half around the lake, in no time I will make it all the way around...

However, my husband is threatening to put a tracker on my cell phone! LOL - as he worries about me during my long weekend jog...

intervals...

Did some interval training this evening on the jog. I use this couch to 10k app on my iPhone - excellent app... and I feel I really got a good workout and pushed myself this evening. Tonight's jog was walk 5 minutes as a warm up, jog 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, jog 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, jog 2 minutes, walk a minute... repeat the cycle, then a 5 minute cool down. It was a good workout indeed.

9

I guess nine is my magic number today... completed 9 pages on my required paper (I owe 30 pages in a few days)... and completed 9 miles on the bike tonight.
No time to say more, got some work to do!

crap...

Well, I typed a great blog... went to post and it didn't save... so I am not typing it again, must move on... I will say I made a great distance today - all the way to West Lawther and Garland Road! YAY ME! The longest distance I have traveled by jogging in 3 years!

So far, I have accomplished 77 total miles in the past month since I began tracking... and a few days still left in the month... I'm on my way to the goal!

a different view

I wanted something different today for a jog... so I added some hills into the routine. I left from my place, past Drs Hospital, up Lake Highlands Drive, through the Penninsula neighborhood... down to the Bath House, then down past the old Dreyfuss Club and back... I got a great hill workout in and flat on the way back for a cool down... for 3.21 miles!

crazy week

It's been a crazy week, it really has... between preparing for TEA Focus Review visits, to a road trip to West Texas... fighting for my rights at UTA regarding my capstone and other projects... I am mentally exhausted... but it has not derailed my progress.

I got exercise on most days of the week.... yay! Ate right all week! Looking forward to GNO on Saturday night...

So, put in 7 miles on the bike tonight... where it used to take 5 minutes a mile... tonight my average was approximately 4 minutes... kicked up the pace!

getting those wheels spinning...

No run tonight... did the stationary bike tonight while watching the Biggest Loser... ended up doing 12 miles! W00t!!!
My husband exercised tonight too - he put in 4 miles - an excellent start!

Got a lot of exercising to put in this week... will log probably a combination of both running and cycling...especially since I have plans to go out this weekend and some alcohol will be involved = which equals empty calories... so I really gotta work out this week to compensate for the empty calories that will be consumed...but, I got my game plan on - it will be diet coke and rum or light beer to equalize some of the things!

Back on Track...

After a weekend hiatus... getting back on track today... of course, by starting slow...especially since I didn't work out enough all weekend long.

1.11 mile light jog.
4 mile bike ride.
1 pound weight loss over last week (yea, surprised me too)!

something is better than nothing...

It was a long weekend... we finally laid to rest my grandmother's ashes after nine months... finally some closure and time to move on. I think everyone involved now has had some peace on some level and solitude to know that things are finally at rest the way they should be...
Given that this weekend was full of West Texas travel, a diet not of my own, and lack of exercise, not much has taken place... but some exercise is better than nothing...

Saturday - no exercise.
Sunday - 6 miles on the stationary bike.

Crapping eating Friday-this morning... so now back on the bandwagon. Needless to say, I didn't gain a pound due to the mess I had ingested...but didn't lose this week either.

no post, just effort

Timing is Everything...

What a difference an hour and a half makes in North Texas! Did my jog tonight at 6:30 instead of 5... didn't swell up at all...it felt great to actually jog the entire 2.5 miles versus having to walk most of it due to the freaking heat and swelling. YAY!

Not going to bike tonight, got some major work to do in my graduate classes! Again, timing is everything (even in my alter ego life of professional student)!

double exercise?

Well, it was just freaking HOT outside this afternoon when I went for my jog... heat is slowly starting to trickle in to the North Texas area... in the heat I freaking swell up, which is what I did today... fingers and ankle, which sucks. I drink lots of water...I have been eating very healthy. I just don't get it. Regardless, it affected what I did today.

So, I will just start to jog an hour before sundown this way the heat of the day won't be as bad. Regardless, I still did 2.4 miles of a jog today... but that's not all.

After coming in, preparing dinner and cooling off for a while to watch some tv with Jerry... when the Biggest Loser came on, I went to the stationary bike... I completed an additional 12.5 miles on the stationary bike in an hour. Sweet - that's right, I did a total of 14.9 miles today combined (jog and bike)!

It feels great to turn the lemon of the heat into lemonade toward my ultimate goal!

changing it up this week...

Ok, you know you have too many Depeche Mode songs on your iPhone when you have it set to shuffle to work out and two DM songs come on back to back - Halo and Master & Servant... great songs to keep a tempo when your exercising, but at the same time, it makes me want to think about what I have in my playlist... but I digress.

Changing it up this week... because I have to go on a day trip to West Texas this coming weekend with family and extended family to lay my grandmother's ashes to rest - it dawned on me that I would be missing my long Saturday run... so this week it's not about mileage so much as it is on working on proper form and increasing the pace a few notches... I'll get back down to base mileage next week.

As for Jerry and I -we are still kicking ass (me more than him) on the modified South Beach diet...whoo hoo!

So today, it was only 1.6 miles for a run instead of my usual 3-4 miles - but I managed to kick my pace up to 11 minutes versus my standard 14... still taking it easy on my ankle/toe/leg issues... go back to the orthopedic specialist soon!

Effort

Not much exercise today, still recovering from late night at Bon Jovi... although even small efforts do count toward the bigger goal...

30 minutes on stationary bike, 6 miles...

concert and weight loss

So, I had a good time last night at the Bon Jovi concert... took my kiddo and he enjoyed his first musical outing... all in all a good time. Got to see my old pal Coach B and to hear that he is doing fantastic, just makes me happy! I think that we are both getting out of life what we deserve is the best part! LOL!

So, made some good choices at dinner before the show, no beer - opted for the Diet Dr. Pepper instead!

Update on Progress:

The Doctor Says...

So, I have struggled with PCOS and cervical/ovarian issues most of my adult life...having had multiple surgeries, a few D&C's, ovarian cyst removal and whatnot along the way...one minute I am the fittest that I can be, the next, my weight has fluctuated again and the battle looms as I fight PCOS. It sucks!
So, a few weeks ago I was in to see the doctor for my complete physical... and of course he chews and chews on my rear because in keeping PCOS in check - my weight has spiraled out of control again - and I've put on 30 pounds on my petite frame in two years...however, my ultimate goal is to lose 60....do the minimum for the doctor, but do the maximum for myself!

So, no better time than like the present... in keeping with what the doctor has ordered - lose the 30 pounds because I am putting my health in jeopardy if I don't... and because I am going on a cruise with the hubs and friends for Thanksgiving 2010 - I will be blogging my way to a fitter self. No way in keeping myself accountable than just putting it out there.

So, the distance from Dallas to Puerto Rico (where we catch the Carnival Victory) is 2140 miles. I created myself a ticker... every mile I jog or bike, will be logged in my ticker... and I have included last week's miles to get me started. I am also going to update a separate ticker for every pound I lose in this process...

Here goes nothing!