Follow Through Friday(s) - Making Progress

Here is two weeks worth of posts.. I wrote the first one last week and forgot to post it. 

Post from 3/20:

Another week, another pound. I just can’t seem to socially eat/drink in a healthy way. There are ALWAYS healthy options, but I of course go for the non-healthy options.  Had two birthday parties, a bbq, and St. Patricks day this week and it’s a wonder I lost at all. I guess it helps I keep my eating on point during the days I don’t have any plans, but almost every single weekend we’ve got something going on and I just can’t resist the temptations. Like, we’re going to an open-bar wedding tonight and tomorrow we’re celebrating my grandfather’s birthday. One NSV (non-scale victory) this week was, I did pre-choose my meal for Yard House before I went out for lunch yesterday. I looked up the nutrition facts on their website before heading out and picked out what I was going to get, actually ordered that specific entrée (490 calorie Thai chicken noodle salad) and even though everything on the menu looked delicious I didn’t order anything besides what I planned (it was very hard to find something under 500 calories there!). It was very yummy and a big enough portion to fill me up too! Baby steps to making some better decisions? Maybe? My race on Saturday went terrible; you can read all about it here, but at least I finished and burned those calories before we went to one of the birthday parties mentioned above!

Weight: 164.2 lbs

Runs:

     2.00 miles in 25:08 (12:34 pace)

     6.20 miles in 1:15:27 (12:10 pace)

     2.00 miles in 22:29 (11:15 pace)

     1.00 miles in 10:11 (10:11 pace)

Walks:

     5.08 total miles (combined)

Total Miles: 16.28 miles Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 12.4 lbs

Post for this week, 3/27:

I'm at the lowest weight I have been since I had ABS and it feels great! I went shopping last night and bought a pair of size 8 shorts, granted we all know Old Navy runs bigger than most brands, like I couldn't even fit in the size 10 shorts at Target and these fit comfortably! I have a few other pairs of size 8 in my closet that are a different cut/style that don't fit yet but I'm confident they will soon! This week, I took a really quick trip to California for work, I stuck to my calorie limit while eating out /traveling for two full days, which I never seem to do while traveling. I looked everything up and logged it all. I got a run in too! More Non-Scale Victories! 

I decided I’m going to start my strength training again now that I’m not running as high of mileage each week (not that that should have been a reason NOT to do it, but I let it be a reason). I know that will help burn more fat and maybe will give me the re-focus I need.  I think 10-15 miles of walking/running a week will be my goal until I start half-training again and at least ONE day of strength training. I already have my workouts for it, just need to start. I only ran one day this week and walked one day, so that part wasn't very good. 

Weight: 162.4 lbs

Runs:

     3.1 miles in 35:08 (11:19 pace)

Walks:

     1.34 total miles (combined)

Total Miles: 4.44 miles Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 14.2 lbs

Winter Park Road Race 10k + 2 Miler Distance Dare Recap

Two weekends ago, I ran the Winter Park Road Race 10k + 2 Miler Distance Dare. This was my worst race last year, probably because I was about 8 weeks pregnant and hadn’t been running a lot/was feeling sick and fatigued but so far this year, it was also my worst race and I can assure you I am not pregnant again!

MRTT Mommas

Before the race, I was actually able to meet up with my MRTT Running group (I’m usually running late and miss the meet-up), and there were several chapters represented! During the meet up, I was able to find my friend Meredith, and we ran the 2 miler together. We ran a nice, easy pace and chatted the whole way. We ran the first mile straight through and then started 2/1 intervals during the 2^nd mile.  She was meeting up with a different friend for the 10k and I was on a hunt to find a bathroom between the 2 Miler and the 10k so we separated after the 2 miler. I unfortunately only had about 6 minutes between races so I wasn’t able to find a bathroom and started the 10k with really needing to pee. Luckily I was able to find a no-line porta-potty during mile 2 so it wasn’t too bad and didn’t really affect my time (not that it was great regardless of the stop). The one good thing about this course is it goes through Winter Park and there are quite a few houses under construction along the course so there are plenty of random porta-pottys for us runners.

I had a terrible stomachache/cramps during the 10k which made it just miserable to run. I kept thinking to myself, well I can just walk the rest, but then I’d think, but the more I walk the longer it’ll take to get home and showered. Plus we had plans later that morning so I knew I needed to get home as quickly as possible. It was super humid out too so it felt a lot warmer than it was. The last few races I have run in have had beautiful running weather so the humidity on this one really sucked. 

This is the second time I’ve done this race/distance dare event and both times I had bad experiences (mostly because of how I was feeling though, not because of the race itself). The 2-miler was so crowded and full of people who had zero running etiquette. This is pretty common for shorter runs and this old sold out, so it was very congested. It’s a good starter race for people who aren’t quite ready for a 5k and I only run that in addition to the 10k because it comes with a medal. I actually do really enjoy the course of both (minus the brick paver roads). There are a lot of nice things to look at (golf course, lakes, parks, mansions, etc.) and it’s mostly shaded. They do a great post-race party and always give out a nice wine glass to participants (plus the medal for the 10k). Track Shack does put on good events, although they are pretty much selling out all their races lately (good for them obviously) but it also means they are pretty crowded events. I always get sucked into this particular race because it’s a distance dare and it has medals, but I don’t think I’ll participate next year. Although, I say that now, knowing me, I’ll probably change my mind when it comes around haha.

My 2 Miler Stats:

Official Chip Time: 24:55 (overall pace of 12:14)

Place: 760 of 1037 Finishers

Place: 452 of the 671 Women Finishers

Place: 57 of 84 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

My RunKeeper stats:

2.04 miles in 24:55 (overall pace of 12:14) <- wow I don’t think my RunKeeper time has EVER been the exact same as my chip

Fastest Mile: #1 at 11:39

Slowest Mile: #2 at 12:53

My 10k Stats:

Official Chip Time: 1:15:27 (overall pace of 12:08) 

Place: 1914 of 3013 Finishers

Place: 1111 of the 2007 Women Finishers

Place: 160 of 281 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

My RunKeeper stats:

6.30 miles in 1:15:00 (overall pace of 11:54) <- I started it late

Fastest Mile: #3 at 11:24

Slowest Mile: #5 at 12:34 

Distance Dare Stats (they had limited stats, added together the two times & showed placement for gender): 

Official Chip Time: 1:40:35
Place: 272 of 462 Women Finishers

and the commemorative wine glass

#BehindtheGlow Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel VoxBox Review

Disclosure: This complementary box was received for review purposes. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received. 

 

I haven’t been picked for an @Influenster VoxBox in quite a while, so I was excited to get the email stating I was picked! I decided to stop reviewing my other subscriptions but I do still get the three ( ipsy, Birchbox , and Citrus Lane) but as part of the influenster program, I will review any VoxBoxes I receive. 

 

This time, it was just one item, not an entire box of goodies, but I’m not complaining, anything free to review is pretty sweet!  For those of you that don’t know, “Influenster is a free-to-join community of trendsetters, social media masterminds, and educated consumers who live to give opinions of products and experiences. The Influenster site is a hub where members meet to learn about new products from our favorite brands as well as review the products they already use in their day-to-day lives! Influenster invites its most active members to participate in exclusive VoxBox programs where members receive complimentary products to test and review. In exchange, we ask our members to do what they already love to do: share their opinions with their friends & followers on social media!” So pretty much, you get a box of free stuff to check out and review! SCORE!

 

I received the @Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel to test and review. At first I thought it was a face cleanser, but it is actually a moisturizer. I’ve been using Clinique’s Dark Spot Corrector and a SPF Moisturizer for my daily routine but decided to try this after an evening shower since I didn’t need to worry about needing SPF. It has a nice clean scent, although personally I don’t like putting scented stuff on my face as I always worry it’ll negatively affect me. Luckily it didn’t. This was definitely very moositurizing and felt much more lightweight than I was expecting based on what it looked/felt like. Even though this is a facial moisturizer, my legs have been peeling from a sunburn so I decided to use it on them too and I really liked how it worked. Granted, this product is a little pricey to be using all over my body. 

 

I can’t say I’d be purchasing this for myself, mostly because I prefer a moisturizer I can put on in the morning with an SPF, plus this is a little pricey. A little does go a long way though, so a tub of it will probably last a good amount of time. #behindtheglow #neutrogena #contest

Follow Through Friday - Bad Choices

Was not looking forward to the weigh in this week. I always seems to follow a good week with a bad week. A really bad week. I really blew it all week. I was only remotely good two days and the rest were an absolute bust. I was in Cincinnati on business travel Sunday through Wednesday and I ate and drank entirely too much. I always struggle when I travel, but this week I was REALLY bad with a lot of bad choices. Did I need to get the Lobster Cavatappi? (essentially Mac and Cheese) No, I sure didn’t but it was damn good!   Did I need to eat the 400 calorie cookie just because it came with my meal? Or the donut for breakfast each day? Nope, I sure didn’t. There was fruit. There was yogurt. I didn’t have to drink the beer(s). But nope, I made bad choices and only I am to blame for those and only I am the cause that is taking my journey so much longer than it needs to be.

I look back and think, had I stuck to my diet 100% since I started, I probably would have only been maybe 10 lbs away from my goal but nope, I’m about 30 lbs away. Was it worth it to do all those cheats? Sometimes I think it is, as I, for the most part, enjoyed the meals and drinks. But then I go and try on my swimsuit and immediately regret it. I hate this. I still don’t think there has been ONE 7 day period where I was 100% on par with my diet and exercise since I re-started this journey back in October and I’d be lying to myself if I said there would be one in my near future. We’ve got plans for the next 7 weekends in a row and I’ve got a few more business trips on the horizon. Excuses? Absolutely, I’m full of them, and what’s worse, I KNOW this. But I’m being honest and I’m not going to NEVER do the things that I enjoy (having nice {unhealthy} meals and {lots of} drinks), I just really need to focus on a better balance. I know a lot of people do an 80/20 lifestyle, and that’s probably what I should strive for. But I always feel like I need to get to where I want to be FIRST and then do the 80/20. I need to make some sacrifices and stick to the plan so that I can get to the goal. Otherwise, I’ll be boarding the plane for my 30th birthday trip upset and feeling like a failure.  6.5 months is more than enough time to drop the weight, but only I can make that happen. We're going on another cruise at the end of April and I really want to break into the 150's by then. 

I’ve got my 10k + 2 mile distance dare race tomorrow and I’m not looking forward to it. My exercise was crap this week, I got in 2 runs, if you can even call them that as they were definitely more walking than running, plus I think I’m getting sick. I started coughing on Wednesday and was hoping it was just from the dry air in Ohio but it didn’t go away. I’ve loaded up on Dayquil and vitamin C these last 2 days and it seems to be keeping my cough to a minimum, but still not feeling 100%. The one morning in Cincinnati, I did get up BEFORE work to get my run in since I knew we had dinner plans and getting a run in between work and dinner would be tough (and we ended up going straight from the supplier so we never even came back to the hotel between work and dinner so I’m glad I got it out of the way). I never get up early to work out, and I was so happy that I didn’t set my alarm to find the ONLY treadmill used. I would have been pissed had someone been on it. It was a slow run, with a good amount of walking, but at least I got it done. Anything is better than nothing. Right? 

So now that I’ve got all that whining out of the way, on a positive note, I did hit my weigh in for DietBet on Saturday and won $36.19 for that round and only need to maintain for the next month to get my share of the final pot. (which means  I really need to lose again since I gained since last week plus need to lose for my other dietbets). Anyways, here are my weekly results:

Weight: 165.4 lbs

Runs:

     3.10 miles in 33:30 (10:48 pace)

     3.59 miles in 45:00 (12:32 pace)

Walks:

     1.0 mile

Total Miles: 7.69 miles  

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 11.8 lbs

Follow Through Friday - Another PR and still on Track

Another two weeks have flown by! I last left off with my Princess Half Marathon coming up. Well, I finished it and in case you missed my recap, I set another Personal Record! (2:35:24)! Woohoo! I also went on a weekend cruise with G for our anniversary which included a lot of drinking and eating. I’m happy to see that even though when I stepped on the scale Monday I had gained like 5 lbs, by my weigh in this morning, I overall had lost since last week. Getting RIGHT back on track once home, helps. I ran (only 2 miles) the morning we left for the cruise and then didn’t run again until last night. I really struggled last night. It’s amazing how much “fitness” you can lose by taking essentially a week off, especially when 4 days of that week is filled with boozing. I had brought my running shoes on the cruise, but needless to say, I never made it to the gym. I did take the stairs everywhere though. I think I went on the elevator only ONCE and it was to go up like 7 levels. Every other time I took the stairs.  I guess that was better than nothing. It’s been a really long week at work, 10+ hour days each day and that contributed to my laziness (non-running) as well. I feel like after every big race I do (other than celebration!), I don’t run much for a few weeks after. I do have a 10k+2 miler double race next weekend so I’m going to get my runs in this week. I know I’m shifting focus to speed vs. miles but only running/walking 6 miles this week is a JOKE!

I finally got my “reward” facial for hitting 170 lbs and based on two consecutive weeks of being under 165 I think it’s safe to say I earned my 165 lb reward as well! Tomorrow is my Round 5 Transformer weigh in, and as of this morning I hit it (with .2 lbs to spare, so here’s hoping the scale doesn’t move too much – up anyways - over night!) As of this morning, I’ve lost more than 10% in 5 months, which I really should be proud of. It’s just hard to be proud when I don’t FEEL like I lost that much. The majority of my clothes still don’t fit and my stomach still looks huge (IMO). I know some people notice the weight loss, and they’ve told me so, I just wish I could see it on myself. The only thing I’ve really noticed is my face looking thinner. I know you are always your worst critic, and I hate that! I’m just hoping once I lose a little more, I’ll start noticing it on myself more! But happy to report, I'm still on track, slowly but surely, I'll get to where I want to be!

Last Week (week ending 2/27):

Weight: 164 lbs

Runs:

     13.68 miles in 2:35:36 (11:23 pace))

     1.00 mile in 9:45 (9:45 pace)

Walks:

     1.85 miles

Total Miles: 16.53 miles

This week

Weight: 163.3 lbs

Runs:

     2.00 miles in 19:38 (9:49 pace)

     1.45 miles in 15:00 (10:21 pace)

     1.00 miles in 9:53 (9:53 pace)

Walks:

     .81 miles

     .89 miles

Total Miles: 6.15 miles  (wow, I haven’t had a week of miles this low in a LONG time)

I'm heading to Cincinnati on Sunday for work for a few days. I'll be back at the hotel where there is only ONE treadmill, wish me luck to finding it open! 

Disney Princess Half Marathon Race Recap

day before race at packet pick up

Almost two weeks ago (wow I’m behind), I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon! This is the race I signed up for when I was pregnant with AB as my 1st post-baby race, and it was going to be the one I trained for. I ended up running the Celebration Half as well before it, but kept up with my training anyways. I ended up missing only 3 training runs total during the whole training cycle, which went through all the holidays. Considering I never trained successfully for any race before, that in itself was an accomplishment. Since I got my PR at Celebration, I wasn’t going into the Disney Princess with that expectation. Disney races are always so crowded/congested that your times are usually slower. Once I hit mile 10, I realized my pace was much better than I thought it was going to be and realized I could PR if I pushed myself, I decided to do just that. You can see my stats below that my last mile was my fastest, it’s usually my slowest. I definitely ended with a negative split for this race. I PR’d by almost 2 full minutes from the Celebration Half. I even stopped to use the bathroom during mile and had to wait in a decent line. I felt surprisingly good that day and the days after the race. Training really pays off!

As I’ve mentioned before, I really do have a love/hate relationship with Disney races. That 2:45 am wakeup call really sucks! I rode over to Epcot with my neighbor, and we left at 3:10am to beat the traffic. We met up with some of her Disney running friends and hung out with them until it was time to make the long trek to the starting corrals. I didn’t know anyone in my starting corral so the wait for the start wasn’t very enjoyable, especially because it was chilly out and I was wearing short sleeves and capris. Luckily I had a hand warmer that I was rubbing all over my body to keep myself as warm as possible. I didn’t want my phone to die during the race (I stream my music with Bluetooth headphones and use the GPS on my RunKeeper) so I kept it on airplane mode while I waited until the 5:30 start, so I didn’t even have that to occupy me, just lots of people watching! I was in corral I and finally crossed the start line around 6am.

Overall, I felt really good the entire run. I never really felt super tired nor did I hit any kind of wall. My pace stayed pretty consistent until I sped up during the last 5k to get my PR. And the last 5k includes running up the overpass, that's just killer during the last few miles, still shocked I was able to speed up! As usual, Disney has more than enough water stops and such great entertainment. Although, I don’t think I’ll ever be one of those people who stands in line for character pictures during the race, I cringe even watching time pass me by when I wait in line for the bathroom. I LOVE the spectators at the Disney races. There are so many people cheering you on, holding funny signs, and passing out goodies. They really do make the experience a great one! G, the girls and my FIL came to see me finish but somehow missed actually seeing me. Which doesn’t surprise me since I missed seeing them too, and I knew where they were and was looking hard! (after I finished we watched for another friend to finish and we missed her too, there is just SO many people it’s crazy!). I was just glad to see them there at the end after I was done! Next year I plan to sign up for the Glass Slipper Challenge, which is a 10k on Saturday followed by the Half on Sunday. I wanted to do it this year, but wasn't sure how I'd be after having the baby so didn't want to take on too much. Next year, I'm totally doing it! (it's the only Disney challenge I'll be doing as all the others require a full marathon, and I have no desire to do one of those!).

my favorite cheerleader

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:35:24 (overall pace of 11:52)

Place: 5242 of the 8498 Women finishers

Place: 1072 of the 3957 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

5k Split: 39:18

10k Split: 1:15:51

15k Split: 1:52:46

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging)

13.68 miles in 2:35:36 (overall pace of 11:51)

Fastest Mile: #13 at 10:53

Slowest Mile: #5 at 12:23 <- where I stopped to use the bathroom

pretty race medal