Sheer Joy and excitement...

So I keep asking myself if I REALLY think I can do this, train for a half marathon and run 2 in 3 months.  Do I really have it in me?  Can I really finish in under 3 1/2 hours as is required by the Princess Half Marathon pace?  Am I setting myself up to fail?!?!

Well, here's what I figured out....The minimum pacing requirement for the Princess Half Marathon is 16 minutes/mile and maintaining that for the entire 13.1 miles.  So, I felt like I was incredibly slow at the 5k, and was wondering how far I had to go to get up to pace for the Princess. 

So, I decided to go look at my splits for the Diva Girl's 5k.  According to the results website, My average was 16:50/mile at the Diva, this was with no training at all.  I set a goal for a pace of 17min/mile, and beat that by 10 seconds/mile, which doesn't sound like much, but it worked, and it is a HUGE success in my book.  So, basically, in order to be able to meet the pacing requirements, I need to shave 50seconds per mile off my pace, and I have 9 months to do that.  I feel like this is COMPLETELY do-able. 

So--I usually hold off on setting goals for anything other than finishing until the day of the race, knowing where I am physically and mentally.  How well I have trained, etc.  I am NOT going to get wrapped up in success or failure of the mission being based on time, but in a perfect world, I'd like to finish the Battleship Half in 2:45 on November 4, and then maybe finish the princess in 2:30.  These are pretty lofty goals right now, and I'm aware of that.  I have always said that people will rise to the expectations you set for them, so I'm setting my expectations high and shooting for the stars.

Krista

1st day of training

So, I went to the gym tonight and started my training for the Princess half marathon.  It was tough, and I must say again, how much I HATE the treadmill.  I can't decide if it is the lack of control I have, and not being able to speed up and slow down w/o pushing buttons, distractions, tv's, and all that jazz.  I'd rather just be able to walk when I can walk, run when I want to run, jog when I want to jog, etc.  I had planned on doing 45 minutes on the treadmill and only made it just under 30 minutes.  I burned 532 calories in my workout.  I will be doing cross training tomorrow, jogging again on Friday, and then a "long" run on Sunday (only 3 miles).  I'm on my way to the princess, and the Battleship Half Marathon in November.  I'm going to do this.  There is NO stopping me!!

Krista

Let the excitement begin...

So, I need to start training this week for my half marathon that will happen in the first weekend of November.  I am hoping to finish it in around 3 hours, and doing a run walk ratio of 2:1 for the entire half marathon.  I find myself typically starting out jogging longer than that, and it causes me to get more worn out and I don't have the endurance to continue that.  I'm going to be getting 2 things when I get paid this week to help me, the 1st will be the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run timer, so it lets me know when I need to jog and when I need to walk.  I'm also going to get a hydration belt I think.  I don't like carrying my water during my longer walks/runs, so a hydration belt would be nice.  I also have noticed that I tend to want water on courses at the times where there is no water stop.  I'll be jogging/walking for 45 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, doing long runs for a specific distance on Saturdays.  I am also going to be doing some cross-training, and getting my endurance and cardio increased. 

The other thing I am seriously considering and reading up on is looking at the Primal Blueprint for eating.  So far it has been pretty interesting, and I have heard people say that with PCOS it is the best thing to do.  The doctor that will be doing my surgery next month has recommended it highly with my PCOS and says it really is the best thing to do for my body.  I've just started reading it, and it is really kind of a common sense approach, more than a "diet".  I need to finish the book before I make any specific decisions.  I'm hoping that the training, cross-training, and increased activity will help me get this weight off and I will run the half in November at just under 200#, then run the princess at around 160#. 

I appreciate your reading, your encouraging comments and your support! 

Krista

injury update

Well--after my slow recovery from the Princess Half marathon 2 miles I had gone to an orthopedist who suggested I have surgery on my ankle to "clean it out" which would sure-up the tendons and ligaments in my ankle and also get rid of the bone chips and things from the years of repeated ankle sprains, etc.  He said that it was totally up to me, but I felt tlike this would be the only way to get my ankle to cooperate with my fitness goals and running goals. 

This past weekend though, I ran the Girls 5k at the North Myrtle Beach Diva Half Marathon, and my ankle was pretty sore after I finished.  The difference was, I immediately iced my ankle, and iced it off-and-on all the way home that night.  I could barely walk all day Sunday, but when I woke up on Monday morning, My ankle was fine.  I had no pain, no swelling, no limp, NOTHING!!  I think this is going to be totally do-able, I'm just going to havae to wear my brace and ice my ankle after each exercise session.  I really don't want to have surgery if I don't have to, and it looks like I'm going to be able to avoid it. 

Running has been teaching more and more about myself, and I'm really enjoying the learning process.  I'm going to continue down this path, and I WILL finish the Princess Half Marthon in February.  I WILL do it in under 3-1/2 hours, and I will do it strong, and feeling good.  I've got this!!

Isn't it amazing

What the body can do, when you take your mind out of the driver's seat?  I started the 5k today, and it was truly the first race that I have ever started and had no one with me, no one to lean on, no one to encourage me, this one was ALL up to me.  I made sure my iPod was charged overnight so as to not have a repeat of the very boring, and uninspired Princess Half Marathon attempt with no tunes.  I decided at the beginning to make sure I was in teh very back of the pack when the race started.  You see, at the beginning of the Princess Half, I wanted to be in the front of my corral, my logic was sound (get as far ahead of the balloon ladies as possible), but the overwhelming sense of failure and solitude that rained down on me very quickly after crossing the start line was incredibly difficult to reconcile.  I can remember telling the guy on the bike who was encouraging me to catch the balloon lady that I was physically fine, but emotionally devastated.  That was the only way to describe how it felt to start at the front of my corral, knowing there were hundreds of runners behind me, and then get passed like I was standing still by nearly every, single one of them.  I decided on a different approach for today's race, and started myself in the very back, you see, that way, I knew no one was going to pass me.  I put my headphones on, and I started moving.  I was the one passing folks, not many, and not at the speed that I got passed, but I was in control.  I found myself jogging, and singing, and really enjoying this solitude.  The fact that this race happened on a Sunday morning, in one of my favorite of God's creations, the beach, didn't hurt either.  I called on God to get me strength and perserverance.  I was reminded of one of my favorite scriptures, which is VERY LOOSELY about running, Hebrews 12:1 which says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  The fact of the matter is, every single person out there running was running a different race.  We all had our own experiences, reasons, and justifications for what we were out there doing, but I really feel like fitness is the race that God has put before me. 

The first mile went really well, and I realized fairly quickly, that it isn't my joints (ankles, knees etc) that are keeping me from the running that I want to do, but my cardiovascular endurance.  My lungs are what gives out on me, each and every time.  So, I plan to embark on a rigorous schedule of swimming, running and other cardiovascular exercise to build up this endurance.  I felt pretty good after the first mile, and we were headed up a small hill where we got dumped back in with the half marathoners around their mile 4.5, our mile 1.5 I'm guessing.  After we saw the 1 mile mark for the 5k, we never saw another milemarker for the 5k'ers on the course.  I haven't decided yet whether this is a good or a bad thing, because I just kept going and thinking, "Have we really not gone 2 miles yet?!?!  Seriously?!?!  HOw is that possible?!?!?!  The fact was, we had gone 2 miles, and honestly, before I knew it, we had gone 3 miles, and some very sweet ladies were handing myself and some of the other runners/walkers (read turtles) our tiaras and boas so that we could finish the Diva in style.  I finished my 2nd 5k in 52:15, which is about 1 minute and 26 seconds slower than my last 5k, not a trend I intend to continue.  THe best part of today was that when I crossed the finish line, my VERY handsome and amazing husband was there waiting for me.  Probably a good thing I didn't see him until after I had my medal, my rose, my ginger ale and my bagel, because had I seen him approaching the finish line, I would have been a puddle of tears.  maybe my finishing photo won't be too bad, since I was able to hold it all together...who knows!

As I said above, I am going to be embarking on a training plan to build my cardiovascular endurance so that on November 4th, I can finish my first ever half marathon.  I am doing this in an attempt to get a good corral placement for the Princess Half Marathon next February.  In a perfect world, I'd like to finish in under 2 1/2 hours, but in reality, it is much more likely to be around 3 1/2 hours.  I am starting the couch-to-5k training plan, then picking up the Jeff Galloway half marathon training plan.  The Battleship half has a pace requirement of 4 hours, and a dedicated start for those that are going to walk, and it is an hour earlier than the runners...there's a nice switch. 

At any rate, another notch in the fitness journey belt...with many more to come.  I told my husband this weekend that it is my plan to get myself into shape, and then do 1 destination endurance race each year.  My bucket list of races is increasing, specifically, the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco (No medals in this race, just a tiffany necklace, handed to you by a firefighter in a tux), the NYC ING marathon, and the Goofy.  The Goofy is a Half marathon on Saturday, and a full marathon on Sunday.  Oh--and in 3 years, the year that I turn 40, rather than celebrating with a trip to a far off beach resort to drink myself into oblivion like so many people I know, I fully intend to earn my Coast-to-Coast medal at Disney, which means I have to run a full or a half at Disney Land, and Disney World in the same calendar year...in orther words, 2 races, 3 medals....I like the sounds of that!!!

Until next time!

By the way, my favorite slogan I saw on a shirt today?  "A goal is nothing more than a dream with a finish line!"  I like that one, A LOT!!

Krista

Training walk #2

2.25 miles in 50 minutes.  I didn't jog, but it felt great!!  I'm excited for a longer jog/walk on Saturday.  planning on a 2:1 run:walk ratio for a 5k, every saturday between now and the diva...hoping to get myself just under 45 minutes for the race on May 20.  I've got this, and an awesome new training partner to help me get there.  Thanks so much for walking with me, Emily.  You rocked.  It was so nice talking to you and having someone to walk with tonight.  Looking forward to weekly walks/runs.  Next week, can't wait to do a little Galloway, Run/walk/run. 

Krista

The Death of a dream....

Okay--So this whole situation with The Biggest Loser, the walk-out of a couple of contestants, etc has led to what I am certain is the death of a dream for a lot of people.  As a person who is overweight, we (I shouldn't speak for everyone, but I feel comfortable that most would agree with me) just want to be able to be "normal".  Most of us have tried about everything possible to do it, including surgery, pills, diet plans, personal trainers, you name it.  For the last 13 seasons, The Biggest Loser has been that magic pill for hundres of people who have lost thousands of pounds collectively.  They have gone on to give back to their communities, they have opened boot camps, started their own gyms, gotten certified as personal trainers, and just been amazing people.  There are a lot of critics to the Biggest Loser and what it is, and the speed with which these contestants lose weight, but you really can't argue with success.  I know in the early seasons there were some pretty questionable tactics used to "dehydrate" the contestants, but for all I'vve read, those are things that haven't been happening on recent seasons. 

If I'm being 100% honest with myself and everyone else, I have to say, I think the death of this show is going to fall on the producers who decided that casting an entire season of selfish drama queens with a million excuses would be a good idea.  Most of us folks that are tipping the scale have legitimate reasons why we are the size that we are, but a million excuses for why we haven't been able to change it.  casting and entire season of nothing but those people had "drama" and "entertainment" written all over it.  Unfortunately, It also had failure written all over it.  The long-time fans of the show have been polarized, there are even entire facebook pages set-up to degrade and talk about the contestants that some viewers don't like this season.  The reality is, this season is going to be the train-wreck that derails one of the most inspirational shows about weight-loss that I have ever encountered.

Last night on the show, the remaining 5 contestants got wind of a challenge that would bring back one of the eliminated contestants and give them the opportunity to earn their way into the finale.  The sad fact is, the remaining 5 snowballed into a pile of self-pity and selfishness that left them sitting around a table by the pool on a huge ranch built to help them succeed, offering another woe-is-me story of how they were being treated unfairly.  What didn't appear to matter to them was that the same contracts that they signed were also signed by the other contestants indicating that the eliminated contestants would be given this opportunity, and the final 5 felt that they were being duped and taken advantage of.  There was absolutely no concern for the eliminated contestants who likely went home, busted their butts, and continued to work, knowing they were going to get this opportunity, and hoping for that one last shot to prove themselves, succeed, and make it to the finale and a 1 in 3 shot at $250,000.  I was literally yelling at my TV saying, "What if you had been eliminated, and were chomping at the bit for this challenge, and the show took it away from YOU because of the final 5 spoiled brats threw a temper tantrum and threatened to quit."  But alas, the footage was over 2 months old, and they couldn't hear me.

The reality is, I feel horribly sorry for the thousands of people who sat in line at a casting call for hours on end for that 1 ten minute opportunity to talk to a casting director with 10 other people at a table in the hopes of getting this amazing opportunity.  I feel horribly sorry for those people because the opportunity was given to people who were too selfish to be good stewards of the opportunity they were given.  I have been there.

In March of 2011, I showed up to a casting call at 7:05 in the morning and was #162 in line to see the casting directors.  I chatted with the ladies around me in the line, and got to know a lot about them.  I didn't see the casting director until 1:30 in the afternoon, and our group got an unheard of 16 minutes, rather than 10 with that casting director.  I then sat by the phone until 11:30 that night, waiting for either a call asking me to come in for an interview, or Holland Weathers to post on her FB page that all call backs had been made, and if you didn't get one, "Be sure to send in a video too, for us to consider."  I had already done my video, and never heard another thing from the casting directors, so I wasn't going to get a chance at BL12.  The casting for BL13 started, and I didn't go to a casting call or send in a video.  I did, however, pre-register for the season's casting, and was ecstatic to get an e-mail from a casting director.  I later learned that the e-mail I had received was a glitch, not intended to be sent to me, and they were sorry.  I have been in the shoes of every person who has ever applied and not gotten the opportunity to go to the rance.  I have felt like BL was my only chance.  If I could just get the chance to train with Bob, Jillian, Dolvett, Cara or Brett or any of the other trainers that have been in the BL gym in the last 13 seasons, I would finally have the tools to not only get rid of all this excess weight, I would have the knowledge, tools and confidence to keep it off.  Here's the catch....

All of the people who have auditioned for the Biggest Loser, like me have felt like they needed a huge amount of help to get to that goal of being fit and healthy.  They took the first step toward that goal by asking for help to get there and recognizing the need to get healthy.  If you know someone who has auditioned for this, or any other weight-loss show, offer them some support.  Offer to go to the gym with them.  Be their Jillian, Bob or Dolvett for them.  Most of us want nothing more than to get healthy, but that is an overwhelming concept when you have half of your body weight to lose to get there.  I need the support, love, understanding and help from the people in my life.  I need for someone to offer to watch the kids, so I can go to the gym.  I need someone to go to the gym with me because, quite frankly, do you know how intimidating it is to walk into a gym at twice your healthy weight?  Let's just say, it feels like every person in the gym is staring at you constantly.  I need for someone to go shopping with me and help me buy healthy foods.  I need someone to teach me how to cook those healthy foods in a way that is delicious and doesn't taste like either a science experiment gone bad or a piece of cardboard.  All of us who have auditioned for The Biggest Loser know we need help.  Since we didn't make it on the show, and in all liklihood there will never be a BL14 and so on, offer your help, support an encouragement to someone who needs it.  We don't like being overweight, and we need the love and support to get healthy.

The Biggest Loser has been the "Magic Pill" for weightloss that thousands of people have hoped for since it premiered years ago.  I know for sure there are people who have auditioned 5-10 times.  It isn't that we don't want to get healthy, we just don't know where to start.  Since it appears that yes another "magic weight loss pill" is going to be taken away, are you willing to help your friends and loved ones get there without it?  Are you willing to stand beside them, help them, cry with them, go to the gym with them, and help them get there without a TV show?  If so, please offer them your help.  It will mean more to them than you can even imagine.  Trust me on this one, I know....