Couch to 5k - Week 1, Days 1 & 2

Baby step to getting back on track #1: Get your ass in gear and start moving. Roller derby off-season is not an excuse to not exercise. In fact, this should be the time when I'm improving my endurance and cardio to be a better skater next year. Faster, lower, more agile, and hopefully without these pounds I've started putting back on.

I've decided to try running again, and the best way I know how is with the Couch to 5K running program. I've never made it past week two and I'd really like to be able to run an event by the end of the summer.

W1D1 (7/3): 5 minute warmup walk followed by alternating 60 seconds running, 90 seconds walking.
I went into this thinking "no problem, I can run for 60 seconds at a time!" Yes, I can. Until the fourth or fifth interval at which point my heart rate is way up and I'm sweating like crazy. I did complete the program though, and followed it up with a five minute cool-down walk. It felt good and was a good start to getting back in the gym.

W1D2 (7/5): 5 minute warmup walk followed by alternating 60 seconds running, 90 seconds walking.
With some confidence from finishing the same workout on Friday, I went into this with some better expectations. Boy, was I surprised again. My shins and calves were still sore from Friday's workout, so sore it became unbearable at one point during the workout and I had to skip one of the running intervals. I don't mind working through soreness, but it's not worth causing serious injury by running through pain. I've started asking some running friends from derby for some advice and a suggestion for an end of summer event to use as my goal. I looked up some ideas for running stretches as well to see if I can avoid/get over this soreness and prevent it going forward. I'm still pretty excited about giving this a try though. I can only claim "this body wasn't built for running" for so long.

W1D3 is Wednesday 7/8.

On Talking Livers

Why was the windshield rolling in front of me like a big wave? Must be the hangover. Vodka with beer chaser. You had to pay. Nice thing about being a drunk, though, you were never constipated. Sometimes I thought about my liver but my liver never spoke up, it never said, "Stop it, you're killing me and I'm going to kill you!" If we had talking livers we wouldn't need A.A.
- Charles Bukowski, Pulp

This is how I feel about food and my body sometimes. Luckily my body does speak up sometimes, though. And my clothing. Saying "Hey, dumbass. What are you doing? I feel like crap, and my pants are getting tight. And you know you're going to hate those pictures everyone took last weekend. Get yourself the fuck together and do this thing right. Oh, and quit pouting about undeserved gains."

Yep. I'm back.

A Whole Lot of Effort

... and absolutely no reward. I was up 2.4 pounds last night at weigh-in. That's right, an effing gain. Doubleyou-tee-eff.
I should have just eaten the damn cupcakes. Drank the bottle of wine. Skipped the sweaty workouts.
I'm really irritated right now.

Weekend in Review

So to follow up...
I saved Friday's count with some ingenuity and fortitude, going over my daily points by only a few with plenty of weeklies to spare.
Saturday was solid even with road snacks and the temptation of roller derby bout cupcakes in Connecticut.
And then there was Sunday. Well, I blew it a little bit yesterday, but all of the saved up weeklies and activity points saved me and I'm moving full steam ahead into tomorrow's weighin.

The gray weather really seems to be affecting me today. It's all about comfort food and caffeine. Hopefully this weather fades quickly before my fortitude does! 24 hours til my weigh-in. Unable to string a sentence together, but looking for two in a row. Hopefully more coherent tomorrow.

First Fight

Day 10 and my first real struggling has begun. It's 2:30 and I've already used most of my points for the day. Was the amazing roast beef sandwich I had at lunch worth it? Probably. Now I just have to make sure I have a solid plan for the rest of the day. A trip to the gym is definitely in order and I'm going to have to use some of my weeklies, but this can be done without throwing out the baby with the proverbial bathwater. I need to keep telling myself that for the next ten hours until DRM gets home and I go to bed. Ouch. Gonna be a long night.

Being Resourceful

Quickly, I'm on day nine of this newest revival and still going strong. Still tracking my food and still adapting to temptation at every turn.
I've had a bit of a sweet tooth the past two days. I've been treating it with small amounts of high quality treats while accounting for every bite. Calorie King's mobile edition has been a lifesaver for me the past few days as I considered whether or not things were worth the eating. Last night it was "ooh, a Lindor truffle is only two points and will prevent me from stopping on the way home and buying a six point package of Reese's Peanut Butter cups? SOLD!" I'm not providing those links, by the way, as temptation, but more as recognition of the strides that have been taken to provide current and accurate nutritional information for so many products now. It's so nice to be able to quickly reference (from my phone nonetheless!) the NI and WW points for most of the foods that cross my path. I'm also a WW Online user so I can track my points right from my phone as well through the mobile website.
What kinds of resources do you use when you're on the go, without your books/computer? Any other suggestions would be fantastic.

Weigh-in Update

SIX POINT EIGHT EFFING POUNDS DOWN!
Holy crap. I'm so proud of me. And rather than having a celebratory pigfest, I am continuing to track and exercise. That's the hardest one for me, but one "cheat" day seems to turn into four and then the week, and then the month.
Some things that weigh approximately 6.8 pounds:
New babies (that's a whole freaking person, ya know)
A jug of weed killer
A laptop computer
South American rocks

KFRO lost almost two pounds herself making this a successful sisterly weigh-in week.

(And no, none of this is an April Fools joke. I'm not mean like some other bloggers I know)
:P