2012 Resolutions – Health

It’s funny that I’m writing this post today as I’m sick. Thankfully, it’s just a cold and I hope to be feeling better soon.

Last year’s goals

  • Participate in the SOS Kitchen Challenge – failed.
  • Run a 5k – Success! Not only did I complete three 5k’s, I also ran a 4 mile race! In October I ran my fastest 5k, just under 40 minutes.
  • Learn how to bake – I started this but got derailed over the summer.

This year’s goals

  • Become more fit. This is a vague goal but I have a plan in place. Right now, I am progressing through week 7 (of 13) of the P90X fitness program. Once that program is complete, I am going to focus on my running again, ultimately aiming for a 10k race this fall.
  • Learn how to bake. One of my 30 day challenges early this year will be baking everything from scratch. I can’t wait!
  • Increase the amount of local and organic produce in our diet. I have access to a lot of local produce and need to start taking advantage of it. Ideally, this will mean early Sunday morning trips to the farmers market.
  • Watch one documentary and read one book each month on health and wellness. We have a Netflix account and they have many documentaries available to watch online. There are also three libraries within 15 minutes of my house. Between Netflix and the libraries, I have access to plenty of material.

I am happy to say that last year I reached my weight goal, losing a total of 67 pounds. I know that weight alone is not an indicator of good health and I am hoping to improve both my fitness levels and my nutrition this year. Having better health will also allow me to be a better witness for God as it will improve mental clarity and honor my Creator.

I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service

Romans 12:1

Quick update

It’s amazing how fast time flies. This week, we’ve been diving back into our normal routine, my husband concentrating on his work and me trying to shift back into the housework. Once you get out of routine, it’s hard to get back into it!

On Sunday, hubby and I started the P90X fitness program. It’s intense! Workouts are around 60 minutes, 6 days a week. Today was day 6 so we get tomorrow off. On top of that, we’re trying to stay current with our running schedule. We had two 1 mile runs and one 2 mile run this week. The running is scaled back but we’re trying to keep our legs aware of what running is.

On the homemaking front, I’ve been struggling with my emotions a bit this week. I know I’ve been spending way too much time on things that don’t really matter and not enough time on the things that do matter. It’s too easy to spend 30-60 minutes wrapped up in a good book. I have a couple of really addicting games on my tablet. While I do not think these activities are inherently bad, I do feel that there has to be balance. Without it, nothing gets done.

There isn’t much time left before sundown today, for which I am grateful. I’m looking forward to the Sabbath and going to church tomorrow. My homemaking ponderings will have to wait until Sunday. I am planning on sitting down with a cup of tea and my computer and making lists of what I do everyday versus what should be done. I need to get back to a good schedule.

Last Sabbath, I chatted with my grandma in Wyoming. It turns out my grandpa isn’t doing very well and Grandma isn’t sure how much longer he’s going to be with us. My brother, my dad, and myself were planning on taking a trip to Wyoming late next spring but we moved the dates up. Now we’re going to Wyoming for Thanksgiving. This was completely unexpected and has definitely thrown me for a loop. I like knowing WAY in advance when I’m going to travel and I’m not quite prepared to be away from home again, especially when my husband can’t go with me. I’m flying up to Denver, which is where my brother is also flying to, and we’re both getting picked up by my dad, who is driving from Texas. Then we’ll be driving up to Casper for three days. While I’m not prepared to travel again, I am looking forward to seeing my grandparents.

On a much lighter note, I still haven’t made a good pumpkin pie! The one last Friday was bland. I made another this week but something was off with the consistency. It was like eating pudding. I have two more recipes to try but something has to work out! Making pumpkin pie should not be this hard.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I’ll try to get back to regular posting next week, detailing how things are going with my priority lists and schedules.

Last long training run before the race

We have a 5k race scheduled on Sunday. I’m so excited!

Tonight we ran 3.13 miles, the last long run before the race. It’s 95 degrees outside, so definitely not ideal running weather. We ran it in 43 minutes.

I’m getting faster but I’m still not meeting my time goals. I really want a sub-40 5k. Hopefully I’ll be able to run a bit faster when the weather cools down. I’ve read ideal running temp is 60-65 degrees. That’s a bit off our 95 degree running weather.

Tomorrow – 1 mile run, fast as possible

Thursday – 1 mile run, nice and easy

Rest until race on Sunday morning

June 12th 5k race report


Awesome tech shirt from today’s race and my running skirt
I’m not sure if this post will be interesting to anyone other than myself but I love race reports. I finally have a chance to write one!

Pre-race
I started training on April 18th, after 6 months without running. Before I stopped running last year, I reached 3 miles on a training run and quit. Why? I think it was mostly laziness. I had an off day and then never got back into the schedule. Hubby encouraged me to pick a 5k this summer and train for it as a way to get down to my goal weight. I picked June 12th as I thought I could get in shape fast enough. We registered for the race and started training.

Between April 18th and today, I logged 20 training runs. My longest training run was 4.18 miles, a day I had energy to burn and decided to see how far I could run before running out of energy. All in all, we logged 42.83 training miles.

Last night, I was excited but nervous about the race. We’ve participated in other 5k’s before, but I either walked or walk/ran them. This was my first attempt to run the entire race. I went to bed around 10:30 and planned on getting up at 5am. It’s not the optimum amount of sleep but I’m used to going to bed around midnight on Saturday night.

It was a terrible night of sleep. I woke up so many times and had a hard time falling back asleep each time. When the alarm finally went off, I was grumpy and nervous about what the lack of sleep would do to my ability to finish the race running. We left the house at 5:30 and arrived at the race site at 6.

Going into the run, I had one goal – to finish. I was not really concerned with times, figuring that I could try to beat my time in future races. The only important thing was to run the entire race and finish. For my next 5k, my goal was to finish under 40 minutes. However, this race was supposed to be all about actually finishing.

The race
The race itself started off with a bit of a whimper. We lined up toward what I thought was the back of the pack. Hubby planned on running this race at his own pace so I knew I wouldn’t see him again until after the finish line. The gun went off and I wondered if that was the beginning. We were far enough back that I couldn’t really see the starting line and I wasn’t sure if it was actually happening! But soon, the crowds started moving and I crossed the starting mat.

I immediately turned into Moses parting the Red Sea. Even though I thought I had lined up near the back, it turns out that a crowd of people had lined up right after we did (only 2 or 3 minutes before the race started). Though I tried to stay out of the way, I was passed by a ton of runners on both sides. Even moving to the edge of the path, I was still getting passed on both the right and the left. That was rather discouraging, seeing myself get passed by at least 100 people right off the bat.

Thankfully, I very quickly settled into my own comfortable pace. I’ve read numerous stories of runners starting off too quickly and paying for it later in the race. I’ve only ran 3+ miles several times in training and still lack the confidence that I can actually finish. So, I found what I thought was my comfortable training pace and settled in for the run.

Mile one seemed really long. Each of the races we’d previously participated in by this running company were mostly on dirt. I was anticipating that. It just felt like a long mile and I had assumed that I missed the sign. Nope! I finally passed the sign for Mile 1. I had already been passed by what seemed like hundreds of runners and was already feeling the effects of running on a dirt trail when I’m used to sidewalk.

Mile two went by faster. We ran out a long straight stretch of trail and found a water station at the very end. By this time, I was extremely thirsty. Even though I hadn’t planned on stopping at a water station, I walked through it and took a quick drink of Gatorade (bleh). It was the first cup available and I didn’t really care at the time. Drank that and quickly went back into a run.

After the first long stretch, the rest of the run was curvy and very mildly hilly. There were 4 or 5 gullies that we had to run down and up out of. My training is entirely on sidewalk and it is relatively flat around my house. I had to walk up half of these gullies and I wasn’t sure if that alone disqualified me from claiming to have run a 5k. The walk times were all extremely short, maybe 15-20 seconds each. I just couldn’t force myself to run up the steep sides of these gullies. Somewhere in this stretch, my side started aching like it did during several of my training runs. I concentrated on something other than the pain and realized at the finish line that the side ache had disappeared at some point and I hadn’t even realized it.

Mile three went pretty well. I was playing leap frog with four different women, passing them while they were walking and being passed by them while they were running. At the end, one of them left me in the dust, I barely beat the pair of ladies immediately behind me, and the fourth lady had disappeared. During the last half mile, several really nice and fit runners were running the course backwards and encouraging those of us who were still out there. I almost cried when one of them said we were almost there and were doing a great job.

I reached the final corner and was informed by a bystander that the finish was just around the corner! As soon as we rounded the corner, I could see the finish line and started picking up the pace. I spotted the clock and saw that it was nearing 41 minutes. I had passed the start line at 1 minute and change. Could I possibly reach the time goal I had set for the next 5k? I sprinted as hard as I could but my legs were pretty tired. Those “hills” had worn me out.

I crossed the finish line at 41 minutes and change. Had I done it? I finished! I had run almost the entire race, other than a few steps at the water station and several of the uphill portions of gullies. I was going to count it as a completely run 5k, as I didn’t require any walk breaks on the flat or the downhill. Did I beat my goal for the next 5k of coming in under 40 minutes? No way to know until the results were posted online later today.

Post race
I found my hubby right after crossing the finish line. He was standing with his boss, who we had invited to run with us. Boss had only run marathon races before today and we wanted to give him a taste of the smaller races. Both of them were pretty happy with their runs and were awaiting official times.

We went through the food line but I only took several slices of watermelon. The bagels might have been vegan but I wanted to hold out for food at home. On the drive home, I mentioned to hubby that a big veggie sandwich from Subway sounded really good. He agreed so we stopped by at the Subway by our house. I was right. That sandwich totally hit the spot, even though I wasn’t used to eating subs at 8:30 in the morning!

Official times –
Gun time: 41:15
Chip time: 40:02
Pace: 12:54 minute miles

I just barely missed the 40 minute mark. Bummer! That’s ok. I wasn’t aiming for it. If I had known that I was that close to 40 minutes, I could have started sprinting just a couple seconds earlier. I didn’t know, so I’ll get it next time! All in all, it was a good race and I’m glad I ran it!

(As a side note, I started running again to lose the last couple pounds needed to reach my goal weight. Well, I passed my goal weight and am now 5 pounds below that. Obviously my goal weight isn’t my ideal weight as I’m still losing even though I eat a ton! Hopefully I can trim the fat a bit more and develop a bit more toning.)

We’re now registered for a race on July 4th, a 4 miler. So far, I’ve only run that distance once so I will just be aiming to finish the race; no time goals. In August, I’ll run another 5k and try to beat the 40 minute mark. I can’t wait!

The first time she attempts a schedule…

As I knew in advance that I would have no contract work today and that hubby would be gone for hours, I decided to create a strict schedule for the day. This was my first attempt at creating a schedule for homemaking duties. I think I did fairly well!

9:00-9:45 – Housework
9:45-10:00 – Reading
10:00-10:30 – Bible study
10:30-11:00 – Housework
11:00-11:30 – Work on my brother’s Christmas present
11:30-12:00 – Exercise
12:00-1:00 – Lunch/Free time
1:00-2:00 – Research
2:00-2:30 – Reading (I was trying to finish a book today. Success!)

I followed my schedule almost exactly. The only deviation was that hubby called at noon and said he was done early. I talked to him for a few minutes and then hung up and did research until 1:00, when he arrived home. We ate lunch together at 1:00 and then I had free time until 2:00.

My contract work boss emailed everyone and said there is no work again tomorrow. I think I’m going to rearrange today’s schedule a bit and try it again tomorrow. I’d like to exercise before breakfast instead of lunch and I want to have Bible reading earlier in the morning. I finished reading John this morning started in Acts.

All in all, my first attempt at a schedule was a great success! I feel very productive. I’m not sure what I’m going to do this afternoon, but I’ll find something. Maybe I’ll keep working on my brother’s Christmas present. That’s going to take hours of dedicated work, I’ve realized!

Links

I want to share some great links I’ve been saving. My open tabs (67 of them!) are spiraling out of control and my browser is crawling. I tried to upload a picture of my crazy tabs but everything runs together in a giant blob.

The Ugly-Beautiful Story – I love this story. “Because, somewhere, underneath the grime of this broken world, everything has the radiant fingerprints of God on it. With Jesus eyes, we have the astonishing opportunity to daily love the unlovely into loveliness.” I want to love like Jesus does. I want to see the fingerprints of God on every human being. If I could learn to love like God does, if everyone could learn to truly love, this world would be beautiful.

Dark Waters – An encouraging post about persevering life’s trials.

Free mini-workouts – These mini workouts with Jillian Michaels are sure to be good. I probably shouldn’t be posting links to workouts I haven’t yet tried, but Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred DVD is fantastic.

66 All-Natural Cleaning Solutions – One of my goals this year is to switch over to natural cleaning. I despise the chemicals in commercial cleaning solutions. As we finish each of our current cleaning products, I’m going to switch over to more natural solutions.

Refried Beans recipe – I tested and discarded four recipes before finding this one. The beans were actually the consistency of refried beans, though they tasted a bit different that store bought (I actually like canned refried beans). Now that I have the consistency down, I need to find the right balance of spices to make them taste good!

Another interview

I went to another interview today. This one went way better than my last. I’ll hear back on Monday or Tuesday.

Hubby flies out on Sunday to take care of his court stuff. He’ll be back late Tuesday night. I’m nervous about being home by myself for three days but excited. I have some surprises planned for him. Unfortunately, I can’t post about them as he reads my blog. 😉

I ran for 25 minutes yesterday without stopping! I was so excited when I finished. The running exhausted me but it was really satisfying to know I had successfully completed week 6 of my program. Three more weeks and I should be able to consistently run 30 minutes with no stopping! My first goal is to finish two miles in less than 30 minutes. I’m a turtle. I think I can walk faster than I can run.

We have Bible study tonight. I’m so excited. It’s been several months since we’ve met for Bible study and I can’t wait. Not sure yet what we’ll be studying, but that’s ok. It will be nice just to get together and read from the Bible.

Update and SMART Sunday

My temp job seems to be over. I say “seems” because we finished the labeling project but I’m still waiting to hear if the company wants us to return for the original project. My partner and I worked 5 days, 26 hours total.

It was tiring! I’m just not used to the commute, the hours away from home, and the stress of working under someone else. I am very very thankful to God that He blessed me with the hours. It was just surprising that I’m so out of practice with working schedules. 6 months really does make a difference.

I’m excited to get back to blogging. Last week, I didn’t really have the energy after work to form coherent thoughts. I love writing and this is one way I can express myself, regardless if anyone reads!

I am also making a change to my Sunday blogging. I was posting a summary of my exercise over the past week and then a weigh in report. I found myself wanting to write more about some of the workouts and my challenges. However, I didn’t want to post every day on this blog as that wasn’t my original intent in starting the blog. I also didn’t want to post an entire book every Sunday.

My solution? I started a separate blog for my exercise/weigh-ins/and future raw food challenge. Adventist Runner will be my new training log and anything health related that doesn’t fit in nicely with homemaking.

Instead, I plan on posting SMART Sundays. The Lazy Organizer originally created the SMART Saturday, but as that is the day I celebrate the Sabbath, I’ll be posting on Sundays. I know I posted about The Lazy Organizer’s blog before, but she really is a genius about organizing and homemaking. I love reading her posts.

My goals for this week:
-Make the bed every day. I really like how our bedroom looks when the bed is made up in the mornings.
-Go to bed each night with a shiny sink. This is really a Flylady concept. The idea is to have a clean sink at night, which means the dishes will be washed and put away, the counters will be wiped down, and the sink will be clean. The kitchen looks so much better when the sink is shiny.
-Spend 15 minutes in personal Bible study each morning. Hubby and I study together every night but I’m missing personal study. It’s not enough that we study together. I also need to be fed spiritually as an individual. 15 minutes isn’t that long, but I think it’s a good place to start.

I’ll post again next Sunday with an update of my goals and possibly some new goals for the following week.

Sunday Exercise Roundup

Sunday
Week 6, Day 1 of the One Hundred Push ups program. Whew! That’s a ton of push ups and the total is still going up!
Running – We walked over to Walmart today (just under a mile). I tried running part of the way back but my legs felt pretty heavy today. Tomorrow is the start of Week 2 for my running program. I hope my legs feel better tomorrow!

Monday
Week 4, Day 1 of the Two Hundred Sit ups program. I feel like I’m going backwards! Since I had such a hard time last week, I decided to back off and work on building up my core some more. This morning was still difficult even though I backed down to week 4. I really hope it gets easier…
Running – Week 2, Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program. We don’t have a stop watch, timer, or any watches with working batteries so we’re guessing on the intervals! Today was 5 sets of about 2 minutes running each, followed by 50 minutes of walking. Hubby was using his cell phone (hour and minute display only) and would start us as the minute changed. Then he would have us run until 2 minutes later. Of course, he told me this after our workout was complete. No wonder I felt like I was dying. 🙂

Tuesday
Week 6, Day 2 of the 100 push up program. Only one more day and then the final test!

Wednesday
Week 4, Day 2 of the sit up program. Another really hard day. I don’t know why this is so hard.
Running – Week 2, Day 2. Another day of 5 sets of 2 minutes of running with 2 minutes of walking between. It’s hard, but I finish strong.

Thursday
Week 6, Day 3 of push ups. Last workout before the final test! I’m really excited to see if I can do 100 girly push ups in one set.

Friday
Week 4, Day 3 of sit ups. After one set, I quit. I just couldn’t do that many sit ups and knew I couldn’t finish the work out. I’m going back to week 1 on Monday. 🙁
Running – Week 2 complete! We took a different route today, heading directly south from our apartment. It was a nice run/walk with lots of houses decorated for Easter! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many Easter decorations. I like this route, as the bike lanes are wider so I don’t feel like I’m going to get run over every time a car drives by.

4/12 Weigh-in – 183.6 pounds
1.2 pound weight gain from last week, in spite of all the exercise. Bummer. I think it’s due to woman issues, but I’m going to watch my food intake closer this week. I’m going back to logging my food into Nutridiary so I can make sure I’m not eating too much/too little. I will lose weight this week!