50 Days....

Yes, you read that right. 50 days. A little over 7 weeks. Not much time to start from almost scratch in regards to half-marathon training. But I am determined and have assembled a great team of ladies to help and keep me motivated during this so short a time.

First and foremost is my good friend, the "Dingo" to my "Bunny", the divine Miss "M". Miss Marg, with her amazing Running Coach credentials and extensive workout knowledge, put together a half-marathon training program for me based on a walk/run approach similar to the one that I grew to absolutely love in the Run Your Butt Off! (RYBO) book.* Miss M and I plan to just run and have fun at the Rock n' Roll half marathon in May. No PR's, no stress, and keep it fun. She is one of those genuine people who tells you like it is with an edgy humor and endearing snark. She also runs a fantastic fitness enterprise called "Blue Ox Running". (http://www.facebook.com/blueoxrunning) I would be lost and floundering without her enduring support and love. Be sure to check out her Facebook page and show her some love!

Another great supporter of mine who deserves a shout-out is one Jessica Bienvenue. She's my Beachbody coach, a great friend and top cheerleader when it comes to her teams motivation. Her group of ladies on Facebook (I couldn't begin to list you all!) has kept me on the path many-a-times when I've wanted to throw in the towel. She has an astonishing number of marathons, ultras, halves and other misc. training and experience backing her wise words and is a constant source of inspiration, perspiration and kindness. Her group "Success With Jess" is a fast growing and supportive place that is run without judgement and the cattiness is typical of a lot of fitness boards. (http://www.facebook.com/groups/SuccessWithJess/)

So there are examples of just two people from my fantastic support group! I'll continue to post in the coming weeks vignettes about the other personal "heroes" that abound in my life.

As for the plan for the coming week:

Saturday (Mar. 31st): Day off / Wii games

Sunday (April Fool's Day): Cardio & Abs

Monday: 4 mi. Elliptical

Tuesday: 5 mi. Elliptical

Wednesday: Abs/Core Only (Hip Hop Abs?)

Thursday: 4 mi. Elliptical or run

Friday: LONG RUN: 7 mi. Elliptical

Saturday: REST (easy abs only)

Stick with me folks!!! A lot of updates to come!

As a personal aside, I am applying for EMT school this week! Keep the good vibes and thoughts heading this way! :)

~Grace

[Caveat]* It's not the only program to use the approach, but I liked how well it was put together, its simplicity and step-by-step ramping up, building upon each concept method.

A Series of Unfortunate Events....

So, my knee was a major pain and ended up being a bigger issue than I'd realized. I got a nasty nasty shot under my knee cap, have damaged cartilage and I'm still on LOA (limited activity) and I'm not allowed to run, bicycle (unless I spin at a high cadence instead of "mash" the pedals), or do any weight-lifting or exercises that use a "squat" or "lunge" stance. Completely frustrating!

Add to that that I've made poor choices overall when it came to food intake since February and I'm in hurt city!

From tonight I have 67 days to train for the May 20th RnR half-marathon in Portland. *eep!*

Physical therapy started last week and goes for another 5 to 7 weeks depending upon my progress, then I can get back to Roller Derby. More importantly though is prepping and being ready for the upcoming half.

My basic plan is as follows and allows for a LOT of leeway depending upon how I'm feeling, time constraints and my knee's temperament:

1. Swim - 30 minutes of laps 3-4x/wk, these are slow laps to get form in line and work the core

2. Elliptical - Ramping up from 30-60 minutes 3-4x/wk - switching between intervals, speed work and long slow "runs", without actually running.

3. Stretching - Daily

4. Jacob's Ladder, Slideboard, Core work, Freeweights 2-3x/wk - a switch-up of the aforementioned exercises to round out the mass amount of cardio I'm pushing (gently) in the coming weeks.

My goal is to NOT re-injure myself, but to lose weight while getting back to where I was without any actual running. I know, I know, the only way to get better at running... is to RUN. But until my knee is cleared, I have to take it easy, no stairs, no running, no mashing the bike pedals.

I'm re-committed to my fitness. Things are starting to look up in life again and I need to get back on the fitness wagon so I don't lose ALL of the wonderful progress and weight-loss gains I made in January 2012. Here's to a new perspective, a new appreciation of my life, renewed conviction and an abundance of ambition!

Warmest Regards...

Your,

Grace

A difficult week....

Last Sunday I made a derby team. Monday, I woke up with a painful knee. Nearly a week later and the knee is still tweaky, I haven't exercised for a week and I have eaten HORRIBLY. So badly, I haven't been logging my food, I have ZERO mileage for February and I've got some serious blues.

Today is a new day. My knee is still sore, but I have to do something. I'll walk the dog today and see how it does and go from there. Derby is tomorrow and I'm in desperate need of new knee pads.

I jump back on the scale Monday to see the damage of this weeks binge eating. :(

Day 29-34: Off.

~Grace

I MADE A DERBY TEAM and other late updates!

Big news of the day, I made a derby team last night. I'm officially a derby girl and I'm SUPER stoked!

Of course, this morning I woke up and my knee hurts. Badly. I can't bend or kneel on it. It feels like it got hyper-extended, so I'm going to take it easy and take some time off of it to see how it feels in the coming days. I'll be sure to update you all here.

Other great great news . . . . I am down to 172 lbs!!! I have lost 13 lbs since the start of January and this challenge! In 4 weeks I have also managed to take off 8.5 inches total!!! I'm super stoked! Now to just wait out this knee thing... :(

Quick recap of my workouts from day 21 to present:

Day 21: 2 hrs Derby

Day 22: 2 hrs Derby

Day 23: Day off

Day 24: Ran 1.47 mi, Derby 2 hrs

Day 25: Walked w/ a friend 2.86 mi, ran 1.665 mi, Derby 2 hrs

Day 26: Day off

Day 27: Day off

Day 28: DERBY TRYOUTS! I made a team! WOO!

Day 29: Knee hurting, taking today and tomorrow off.

Day 30 (end of January): Day off

My total running/walking mileage for January ends at 24.816 miles. I was hoping for 25 miles total at least, but due to the knee, I'm calling it here.

End of month one in the 60 day challenge! Onward and upward to month two!
~Grace

Days 19 & 20

Day 19 - Took a rest day

Day 20 (today) - Ran & walked 3.3 miles with Goji

Running plan is to increase my mileage by 1 mile or so a week for the next few weeks, then up the mileage by 2 miles/wk for a few weeks.

3.3 miles run today. 14.432 miles run this week. 18.821 miles YTD (from Jan 1). T-minus 119 days until Portland RnR half marathon. Scale said I was -1 this morning as well. I don't want to jinx myself, but I'm feeling good right now.

7 days from tomorrow is derby team tryouts. 1 week. Holy moly pudding pie. Time flies.... I hope I'm ready!

Lets maintain this New Years momentum!

~Grace

Oh! And I got a rescue dog!

I would say that's quite the big news as well! My apologies for leaving that little tidbit out!

He's a golden lab/staffordshire terrier mix, appx 5 years old and my heart dog. He's velcro'd to my side during the day and he goes pretty much everywhere I go. His nickname is Goji (short for Gojira aka "Godzilla") and he's an absolute sweetheart. We're working on getting him in to better shape slowly so as I ramp up my runs, he will too. He's not too bad, just a bit on the hefty side. I have no doubt we'll get him svelte and fit in no time! He's great with both of the kids and so far.. the cat. *crossing fingers*

Okay, that was my quick aside for the evening! I'll post a pic of him in my next post.

~Grace

Days 17 and 18

Yesterday I was feeling run down so I took the day off. I played with the dog in the yard since we had a huge snowfall and wore him out.

Today I did Hip Hop Abs: Total Body Burn and then ran treadmill intervals for 4 miles.

Tomorrow's plan is to stretch & hydrate in the AM, then HOPEFULLY go to speed skating in the evening if its not cancelled due to snow. I've missed out on a few workouts this week due to cancelled derby practices because of inclement weather.

So the big news is I'm officially signed up for the Portland Rock n' Roll half-marathon on May 20th. I also have another half-marathon in June that's closer to home and there's potential for another half up in Vancouver BC in August. If I do the Seattle to Portland bike ride in July (birthday weekend) that gives me quite a run of events!!! Plus Derby. We'll see how this plays out.

Other than that, nothing big to report. Off to bed and on to another day of workouts! T-minus 10 days to derby team tryouts and a bit under 18 weeks to my first half-marathon.

With warm workout wishes,

Grace

Days 7 through 16

So, the cold knocked me on my backside, but I persevered. I kept at my workouts, modifying them for my bruised ribs and maintaining my derby fitness. Here's a quick recap:

Day 7: Derby - 2 hrs

Day 8: Weighed in at 175.4 lbs! YAY! Stellar week one!

Day 9: In office Dr procedure, forced day off.

Day 10: Derby - 2 hrs

Day 11: 20 minute treadmill run, just starting to recover from cold

Day 12: Day off - Speed skating cancelled.

Day 13: Adopted a sweet 5 year old yellow-lab-mix doggie aka "Goji"!

Day 14: 1.5 mi walk with new dog, Derby cancelled.

Day 15: 3.5 mi walk/run mix with Goji

Day 16: 3.5 mi walk/jog with Goji, pushing a stroller.

Very quick recap! Ribs are finally starting to feel better these past few days. Its taken quite a while for them to heal.

I signed up for the May 20th Rock n' Roll half-marathon. I'll be running it with some friends of mine and I need to start training for it as shortly after, I have another half-marathon in June. 18 weeks to the RnR in May from this past Sunday! Time to buckle down and get ready!!

My best to you as always,

Grace

Days 5 & 6

I'm sick. Yesterday felt achey and tired but figured I needed more sleep. Crashed out last night and got almost 12 hours sleep and woke up this AM with clogged, painful sinuses, sore throat, body aches and a low-grade fever. LAME!

Ribs are still sore and just going to take time. They do feel a bit better thankfully.

No workout yesterday or today. I have derby tomorrow and will hopefully feel up for it, but if I'm still sick, I wont be spreading this plague at practice.

Plan for the week of Jan. 8th - Jan. 14th (barring illness):

Sunday - Derby 2 hrs

Monday - Derby 2 hrs

Tuesday - P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps; ARX

Wednesday - Derby 2 hrs

Thursday - P90X YogaX

Friday - Speed Skating 2 hrs, P90X Back & Biceps; ARX

Saturday - DAY OFF!!! YAY!

6 days in to the 60 day challenge and I am feeling REALLY good about my progress. I will officially re-weigh in on Monday, the 9th of January.

In other news, I am going to be signing up for a half marathon in June and possibly one in May. Details to be posted at a later date.

~Grace

Day 4 - Quick update.

I'm tired so this is going to be quick.

Derby last night was awesome. I did okay and had a great workout for 2 hours. Only problem being that I had a run-in with another skater, we both went elbows over teakettle and I landed on my chest. Knocked the wind out of me and bruised up some ribs. Today I'm pretty tender and it was supposed to be an arms and shoulders P90X workout. So I'm bagging that and instead did a 3 hour open skate session with my daughters. It was a great time!

Tonight I felt like a bottomless pit. I was ravenous by 2pm and realizing I missed lunch, I was happy to have healthful options on hand. Even after my late "lunch", I had still only consumed 600 calories and after 3 hours of skating... I bonked. Hard. Got home and was dragging.

Dinner tonight was a whole wheat O Organics Linguine, chicken breast strips I quickly grilled on the George Foreman and some frozen veggies. I went VERY light on the alfredo sauce so it was less a "sauce" and more a "garnish". I ended up having two servings of pasta on top of the chicken and veggies I had. It was deliciousness as to feel sinful. Definitely a meal I want to make again soon.

Tonight's snack is my Shakeology shake and then off to bed. I'm ending today with a respectable 1770 calories, a LOT of water and a few mugs of green tea. Tomorrow back to P90X since I'm not going to speed skating.

Tonight's hot bath and some liniment soothed the sore body and ribs so before this lassitude wears off..... I bid you adieu!

~Grace

60 Day Challenge: Days 1 - 3 Update

The 60 Day Challenge began on Monday, January 2nd and I'm now on day 3.

So far, everything has gone according to plan. I know based on prior experience that sometime in the coming 3 weeks, something will attempt to derail my progress or impede it severely. I'm trying to prepare for any eventuality and create back-up plans just in case, while also remembering that this is a journey. There will be bad days and I just have to move forward and not let the rotten times get me down or let me give up.

I'm thankful to have wonderful people following this challenge who are not only my cheerleaders and accountability partners, they have the same struggles and issues I do. It's nice to know you aren't alone when crap hits the fan and that you have a safe place to fall when you need to vent, complain or shed some tears.

Okay, back to the good stuff!!

The rest of December went very well fitness wise. Last night was my first derby practice in a few weeks and while everyone was physically exhausted by the end, I felt as if I could still keep going. I am VERY thankful I did speed during my off-derby time!

As I have mentioned previously, my 60-day plan is a 2 week workout cycle that repeats. Monday was the first day and I did my 2 hours of intense skating. Today was P90X Chest & Back & Ab Ripper X (ARX), plus I did an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill. Tomorrow I have 2 hours of derby and Thursday brings P90X: Shoulders & Arms and ARX.

Eating has been pretty easy albeit minimal. I'm not "dieting" or doing anything other than eating healthfully and doing Shakeology (protein shake) for one meal a day. I'm tracking everything I eat on MyFitnessPal (MFP) and I have had 2 days of VERY low calories. Now, before everyone gets on me for not eating enough, here's the scoop.... I just haven't been hungry. Yesterday my calorie total was in the 900's and tonight it was just barely over 1200 calories. I know that's WAY too low for me, but for 1 or 2 days... it's not going to be an issue. I have no doubt that tomorrow and the following days I'll be ravenous and feel like a bottomless pit food-wise. I promise to keep everyone posted in the coming week as this changes.

3 days down, 57 days to go. Did I mention this is a competition? And the person to lose the most inches in 60 days wins? As anyone who knows me can tell you, I THRIVE on competition. So bring it on! I'm ready, able and eager....

Warmest regards,

Grace

Phrases of the New Year

Something I was thinking about today and wanted to share...

I was walking through some stores a few days ago with my friend and we both commented how it must be "that time of the year" as diet and fitness books abounded. It was insane the amount of advertising and marketing we were subject to going from store to store. No less than the holiday advertising, but some of the slogans really struck a nerve with me. The worst of the offenders was, "A New Year, A New You".

Think about that. How many years of New Years Resolutions have you not achieved? And how it's become so inane that it's a joke to many? Now, they proclaim loudly that you too can lose weight, be thin, successful, prosper, use this diet, be a "winner". IMO, it's a scam in the billions every year.

In my mind, even if I change my eating habits, lose a lot of weight, get a new job or change any other major aspect of my life, I'm still me. I'm changing my habits, I'm changing how I live, but is that changing me in a way that's making me somehow "new"? And like New Coke in 1985, who is to say this "new" me will be better?

These phrases and labels of the New Year are a destructive yet popular trend. I feel that focusing on that "label" instead of actual change, the long-term goals, you are setting yourself up to feel like you've failed. I didn't achieve my "label" today, so I've failed. I'm going to give up all-together. It's a road paved with good intentions, but we all know where that leads.

If I choose to make major changes in my life, it's not going to be a trend. It'll be changes with goals that have longevity and permanence. And I maintain that I'll still be me. I'm not going to cheapen my current self-worth to say that changing a lifestyle makes me a "better" person. I'll still be the same person, struggling to not eat too much sugar, trying to fit in a workout with two little kids, making better food choices and leading by example. But to say that future me is somehow better? I'm damned good now, thanks. Are there things to improve? Absolutely! Am I going to stumble on this journey? Of course I am! But labeling is not a positive action or direction I'm going to tread. And neither should anyone else.