Week Six, Day Two

Week Six, Day Two

I DID IT!  I ran for 20 minutes! It took me so long to get myself together this morning.  I was so nervous I wanted to cry.  When I finally get out the door and start my warm up, I realize I forgot my hat.  I’m a creature of habit.  Not having my hat really made me comfortable.  I wanted my hat! Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go back and get it.  So, I focused on my music and started running when I heard the prompt.  This is when the mind started:  You’re not ready.  It’s okay if you have to repeat this.  Why did you start this?  This went on for about five minutes.  I eventually let it go and turn my attention but to my music and enjoyed my workout.  I was so happy when I heard that “you are halfway done” prompt! 

Then, I came to that little incline that has been giving trouble.  I thought about changing my route but didn’t.  This is when I told myself, the mind wants to quit but the body is fine.  I just kept repeating this.  I felt so badass!  I used the decline to help me recover and catch my breath.  "Two minutes left….one minute left.  Coodown. Workout complete."  I headed home with the biggest grin on my face!

Healthy Eating: Roasted Veggies and Chicken

Really wasn't sure what to cook this week.  I went with something quick and easy. 

I decided to experiment with the greek yogurt marinade I used a few weeks ago.  Today I used plain greek yogurt, paprika, lemon juice, sea salt, and cayenne pepper:

Due to poor planning, I was not able to let the chicken marinade overnight.  I really like using greek yogurt. It keeps the chicken really moist.  I will definitely use these ingredients again.

For my veggies, I choose zucchini, squash, red pepper, and onion.  I love, love, love the colors! I added some olive and sea salt and popped it in the oven.  Yummy!

It was a yummy meal!  I'm planning to roast some eggplant later on in the week.  Here's today's dinner:

Plank A Day Two

1:03

My goal is to do a plank a day for 30 consecutive days.  I don't know if I'll be updating my blog every day though ;p!

Swim Lesson #3

I can swim! I can do the freestyle! Today I worked on my breathing technique.  It's not going so well but I know it will get better with practice.  I managed to swim an entire lap today! I was so excited!

Swimming definitely goes you a great workout! I'm wiped out!

Plank A Day

So I’ve been seeing the hash tag #PlankADay on Twitter for quite some time.  In fact, I vaguly remember joining this challenge a while ago.  Anyhow, today I decided to try doing a plank a day for 30 Days.  I’ve been doing them off and on since my former personal trainer introduced them into my workouts. 

Today’s plank:  1:02 

Week Six, Day One

Done!  Today’s workout was not the best.  I updated my playlist last night and it malfunctioned two minutes into my warm up. Ugh!  I’m not sure if it was the new playlist or the app.  I really don’t like working out without music but I didn’t want to stop to fiddling with it.  I didn’t wear my HRM so I didn’t have my watch so I moved my iTouch to a position where I could look at the time.  Luckily the voice prompts were still working so all I had to do is focus on my workout.  Ugh! Listening to myself huff and puff was not a good thing for me mentally.  I did my best to take my mind off my breathing and say mantras and affirmations to get me through.  I also thought about that first Saturday when I could barely make it through those 60-seconds runs and here I was running for nine minutes.  It worked!  I completed both 9-minute runs feeling like I could go a bit longer!  Monday I will be running for 20 minutes straight.  I really need to work on making sure my music plays correctly. 

Week Five, Day Three

Week Five done! I cannot believe I ran for nine minutes straight this morning.  I didn’t get off to a good start.  I thought I hit the snooze button but I turned off my alarm so I was 30 minutes behind schedule.  I rushed to get dressed and out the door.  It’s kind of hard to be late for work when you work from home.  Anyhow, I didn’t have time for a proper dump (TMI, I know) so I that also contributed to the unsettled feeling I had when I started. 

I was also annoyed that I forget to change my playlist but okay let’s get this over and done with.  My first run was for nine minutes.  I did it! The other runs – 5 minutes and 2 minutes were fine.  I cannot believe how my stamina and endurance continues to increase.  Week Six is the big 2-0!  The 20-minute run!  I’m mentally preparing myself.  As long as I take it slow and remind myself that my mind will always want to quit before my body, I will complete it.

Week Five, Day Two

Today’s workout was over before I knew it.  Just when I was mentally preparing to dig deeper, I heard, “cool down!”  What?  That’s it?  Today, I ran for 6 mins, walked 1 min, ran 4 mins, walked 1 min, and ran 6 mins.  I’m so excited.  I can’t believe I survived those short walk breaks.   

I Can Swim!

Today my teacher took my noodle.  What?  She was like, you can swim, just try.  I admit I was scared out of my mind but trusted that she knew what she was talking about.  Guess what?  I can swim! Today I swam about half a lap.  I can’t believe it!  So, we worked on doing the freestyle. 

I really need to practice my breathing.  If I can get my breathing together, I could probably swim an entire lap.  I also need to get over my fear of going into the deeper end of the pool.  As I can see I’m getting to that halfway mark, I know the water is going to get deeper.  The anxiety kicks in. I forget to kick, lift my head, and breathe.  Tomorrow I’m going back to the pool to practice.  Yay!

Week Five, Day One

After hitting snooze three times, I hop out of bed, drink some water, do some dynamic stretching, and hit the road.  Today’s  workout wasn’t as hard as I expected.  I can’t believe I’ve made it this far.  I was so nervous because my legs, despite icing for two days, were a little sore.  I am very grateful my training is going so well.  Three more weeks to go!  I do need to update my playlist :)

5K Elliptical

I decided to do something different tonight. It was a spur of the moment decision.  My initial plan was to do 15 mins cardio, lift weights, 15 mins cardio, lift weights, 15 mins cardio.  When I hopped on the Elliptical, I decided to see how long it would take me to complete a 5K.  My guess was 36 mins.  I finished in 38 mins. I then did a 15 min stretching training program on the bike.  I'll do weights tomorrow.

C25K Training: Week Four, Day Three: Push It

Oops! I forgot to blog about my training yesterday.  I guess I was so happy and excited I completed Week Four that writing about it escaped me.  So yesterday morning I was anxious to get Week Four, Day 3 over and done with.  I was feeling very confident about the workout so I decided I’d push myself a bit during the runs.  Lol!  Big mistake!  After my first run, I was so winded I could barely breathe.  I was so worried I would have the stamina to complete the 6-min run but I was able to get it done.  I was still feeling a bit good when I heard my 2-min prompt that I pushed it a little bit.  I did the same during my last run.

Well, today my legs are a little sore.  I’m stretching, icing, and hydrating.  I’m so happy that I’ve made it this far and looking forward to Week Five!  I’m doing my best to prepare myself mentally because I’m learning that as long as I eat right, stretch, ice my knee, and get some rest, I am able to complete the runs.  I am very grateful to Spirit for this!

C25K Training: Week Four, Day Two: Burn baby burn!

Ugh! It’s 5:00 am on a Monday morning.  I managed to get up, splash some water on my face, and get dressed.  I decided to wear my HRM this morning to give myself a nice distraction.  I usually feel better about working out when I know how many calories I’m burning.  Today my goal was to relax but push myself.  I also decided to run my regular course despite being worried about hitting that incline during my 6 min run.  I almost change my route at the last minute but decided to give it a try.  Yay!  I huffed and I puffed but I did it!  I’m so proud of myself.  I burned 430 calories! Workout complete.

Healthy Eating: Eggplant Casserole

I found this Eggplant Casserole recipe from my Twitter follower's blog.  He does a great job tweeting photos of his meals.  It looked so good I couldn't wait until today to make it so I made it Friday night.  This was delicious!  I will definitely make this again.  I love onions so I think I'll add some next time.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic...probably because it didn't look as good as Alan's.  Lol!  I'll probably have some for dinner tonight.  If I do, I'll try to remember to take a pic of my plate.

Since I've been freezing half of what I've been cooking for the past few Sundays, I don't have much cooking to do today.  So far I'm planning to make some baked salmon patties.  If I can find another quick and easy casserole, I may do another just so I have additional choices.

Swim Lesson Numero Uno

It took me three years to get here but I finally started swim lessons today.  I’ve been anxious for weeks.  Well, what can I say?  Fun, fun, fun!  There were three other adults signed up for the class.  The other three were no-shows so I had the instructor all to myself.  Cool!  A private lesson!

He asked me to dunk my head under the water a few times to assess my comfort level.  I guess I was so excited I forgot all about my fear.  So, we moved onto learning how to dunk my head under the water, blow out of my nose, come up, and breathe out of my mouth.  WHAT?  I wasn’t so excited about this but managed to get the hang of it after about 50 dunks.

We then moved onto kicking.  He asked me to grab onto the side of the pool and kick.  It took a while but I was able to relax my shoulder enough to eventually float to the top and kick my legs.  Kicking was a bit harder than I thought it would be…don’t lock your knees, point your toes, relax, relax your shoulders, don’t kick too hard, keep your legs together, don’t move your shoulders, good, better, no, try again. …. Whew!

We weren’t done.  Then he grabs a noodle and says, you’re going to hold onto this and kick.  I am?  I started to panic a little because I was unsure about not being able to hold onto the side of the pool.  He goes, you’re going to kick toward the direction of the wall.  Okay.  Cool.  don’t lock your knees, point your toes, relax, relax your shoulders, don’t kick too hard, keep your legs together, don’t move your shoulders, good, better, no, try again. …. Whew!

Now I want you to turn around and kick away from the wall.  Dude, are you crazy?  How deep is the water toward the other end of this pool?  I did that for another 10 minutes or so. Lesson complete.

Tomorrow I plan to go back to the pool to practice my kicking.   Hopefully, I can get in another session or two during the week.

Yippee! I’m going to learn how to swim!

C25K Training: Week Four, Day 1

For the past two days I have been mentally preparing for a 4 min. run, 2 min. walk, 3 min run, 4 min. run, 2 min walk.  Imagine my surprise this morning when I realize Week Four, Day 1, is really two 4 min runs and a 6 min run! WTH!?! The couch potato Sheila wanted to go back to bed but the 5K Sheila said, “Let’s do this!” 

I’m so happy to say, “I did it!”  My legs are still burning! I did alter my route a bit so I wasn’t going up this little incline during my 6 min run.  I saved it for my last 4 min run and it was fine.  In fact, I think I had another minute left in me.  I am very grateful to God to have made it this far.  I am going to continue to trust the process and Spirit to help me through this journey. 

****

Now that my neck and back are feeling better.  I'm going to add weights back into my training.

****

I have my first swim lesson today.  I'm sooooooo nervous!

C25K Training: Week Three, Day Three

Rough morning!  I hit snooze about three times. I did not want to get up.  I seriously considered going to the gym later and doing today's workout on the treadmill.  I also thought about doing it tomorrow.  I weigh my options and then asked myself:  How serious are you about meeting this goal?  Do you really want this?  I then heard myself say:  This is what runners do.

So, I got up, drank some water, dressed, and headed out the door.  Today my goal was just to get through the workout without stopping.  Mission accomplished! 

C25K Week Three: Motivational Monday

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.  Ephesians 3:20 (KJV)

C25K Training: Week Three, Day Two

Week Three, Day Two done!  I did not want to get up this morning.  I haven’t been sleeping well and it’s starting to catch up with me.  Today my goal was to get it done and try to finish strong.  I really wanted to push my walking intervals to help increase my endurance.  I’m not sure if it was my mind or my body that said, not happening.  So, halfway through my workout I decided just to be grateful I was able to complete the three-minute runs. Work out complete!  Between now and Wednesday, I need to stretch, stretch, stretch and rest, rest, rest!

C25K: Week Three, Day One

I did it! I’ve been so nervous about today’s workout.  Thursday and Friday I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that I was going to have to run for three minutes today – twice! I prayed.  I meditated.  I did some visualization.  I whined to my friends Bianca and DJ.  They both truly understand what I’m going through.  They each have lost over 100 pounds and are now runners.  It’s always comforting to hear their words of assurance.

Today my mantra was:  My mind will quit before my body does.

This morning I got up scared out of my mind.  I prayed and did some positive self-talk.  I told myself that if others could do it I could too… all I have to do is trust the process and my God.  Well, here I am all sweaty, proud, and grateful!  Truthfully, I think I had another three minute run in me.  It wasn’t as bad as I imagined.

C25K Training: Week Two, Day Three

I did it!  My goal today was to finish all the runs strong and to have fun.  I did both!  I even picked up my pace a bit on the last run.  I'm gaining confidence and stamina.

The biggest lesson I learned this week is not being afraid to push myself.  I start to panic when my breathing gets too heavy.  I'm reminding myself that as long as I'm still breathing I'm fine.  I also make sure I'm not getting too tense in my shoulders.  I have a tendency to do this and start holding my head down.  I make sure I'm maintaining correct form and think of a mantra, quote, or scripture to get me through.  It worked.  Before I knew it my workout was complete.

Oh, and I found out I'm actually completing about 3.4 miles these mornings.  I continue walking after my cool down. My guessimate was 2 miles.  So, my goal will be running the entire course, nonstop, once I complete the Couch to 5K. 

I really nervous about starting Week Three on Saturday.

Healthy Eating: Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf

I'm doing a bit better with cooking.  I haven't been as great with blogging about it.  On Sunday I also made Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf.  I really didn't use a recipe:

Ground turkey
cup of cooked quinoa
1/2 of panko crumbs
egg whites
tomato paste
garlic
onion
celery salt
black pepper

It's yummy.  I like to mix tomato paste into the loaf instead of putting it on top.  When I make this again, I'll add a little more tomato paste.

Today I had this, along with some sauteed zucchini, squash, and onions.  I kept this really simple and fresh.  I like a little crunch to my veggies so I didn't cook it that long:

Healthy Eating: No Mayo Avocado Chicken Salad

No Mayo Avocado Chicken Salad

One of my fitness pals shared this recipe with me:

1 avocado
1 chicken breast
1/2 t. chili powder
1/2 t. paprika
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
2 T onion
lime juice to taste


It's yummy.  I love paprika so I used a little extra.  Next I'll use extra chili powder too.  She served her salad with homemade tortilla chips.  I may try it next time.  For now, I'm going to eat mine with lettuce or spinach greens. 

C25K: Week Two, Day Two

I really did not want to do today’s workout.  I didn’t sleep well.  My knees were bothering me yesterday.  I iced them; cycled for 30 minutes; and did water aerobics for about an hour.  This morning I did a gentle stretch and warm up.  Today’s workout was just okay.  I was happy it was over and very grateful my knees cooperated.  Either I’m getting used to them or some of the intervals seemed really short.  Anyhow, I completed all of them.  I did stop about 2 seconds before two of the 90-sconds runs.  (Not sure if this means I should repeat this work out.  I'll assess how I feel on Wednesday.  I'm thinking that with proper rest and I'll be fine to move onto Week Three on Saturday). 

It started raining during my last walk and five-minute cool down.  So, I’m planning to go to the gym to walk two miles on the treadmill.  Very grateful for the courage to continue moving forward.

Hotter than July

Funny! Today I was supposed to start my C25K training and I’m a week ahead of schedule thanks to Bianca.

Really nervous right now.  Today I’m going to inquire about swimming lessons at Swim Atlanta.  I can’t express the amount of fear I’m experiencing right now.  I’ve been thinking about this off and on since I started the blog.  Now is the time!  Hopefully, I won’t chicken out.  If I do, I’ll try again tomorrow.  The next session starts July 14^th.

My legs are feeling a little sore and my knees are tight.  Today my plan of action is stretch, stretch, stretch, ice, ice, ice.  It’s going to be over 100 degrees today so a long walk is out of the question.  I’ll probably go to the gym for a bike ride.  Water aerobics is a maybe for me today. 

Cooking for the week today – Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf and No-Mayo Avocado Chicken Salad.