First 4 Mile Run: Pushing Farther

I planned to go running at about 10 AM but that didn’t happen. I was battling myself in my head.

You can’t do this.

It’s hard enough for you to just run a 5K. How are you EVER going to run any farther than that.

Maybe running isn’t for you. Find a different sport.

But I really wanted this. I wanted to be able to run farther than that 5K distance, the farthest I had ever run before. I wanted it so bad I could taste it.

So I drank a Propel Zero and prepared myself to at least give it a try. It took me until almost 2 PM to find the courage.

I told hubby, “This should take me about an hour. I hope I can do it. Here goes.”

And off I went.

How am I ever going to do this?

Just Slow and Steady, Alissa.

Slow and Steady wins the race.

The weather was perfect for running. Cloudy with a little breeze.

But I don’t have to be SLOW. I want to at least finish at a faster pace than my WALKING pace. I AM running, none the less.

So my mantra changed.

Strong and Steady, Alissa. Strong and Steady. You can do this!

2 Miles in, half way done.

Remember when you could barely run 12 feet? Now look at you!

And somewhere at around 2.5 miles, I found some place in my mind where I could think about other things besides my breathing, how my body hurt, and how much farther I had to go. I hope to be able to tap into that place again!

Before I knew it, I was at 3.45 miles.

Wow, I just passed up 3.1 miles and didn’t even notice it! I’ve never run this far before!

Imagine—with every single step I’m taking, I’m running farther than I’ve ever run before!

What a great feeling!

Strong and Steady, You can do this, Alissa!

I bet I could even run 5 miles. Shoot, I KNOW I could run a 10K!

And at 49 minutes and 37 seconds I ran 4 miles at a 12:23 pace. For me, that’s really good! Remember, I was anticipating it taking me an hour.

You did it!

You can do anything.

I.Can.Do.Anything.

Today, I ran 4 miles. And while that distance may not seem insurmountable to many of you. It pushed me past my limits. Farther than I have ever gone before.

(after my 4 miles. Happy. Red Faced. Proud.)

It makes me wonder what else I can do if I put my mind to it.

And that, my friends, is exciting.

(another run crossed off my training plan!)

And on to the next goal…

A Long Day

It has been quite the week this week! I am happy that it is finally Friday! Today seemed to drag on forever.

We had thunderstorms for most of the night last night, and after last year’s derecho, the wind keeps me awake! So I recorded my worst night of sleep since getting my FitBit, which really wasn’t all that bad at 91% still! I usually rank about 98-99% though.

It isn’t QUITE accurate though, because I know I was awake from 2 AM to 3 AM, but I must have just been lying still.

My FitBit’s “chatters” make me laugh sometime. They’re often different. Today it said, “I like you, Alissa.” Well. I like you too, little buddy! lol

For breakfast, I ate 1/2 serving of oatmeal with 1 Tbs. PB2 mixed in, topped with 1/2 of a sliced banana. I also had an egg and skim milk.

I FINALLY decided to try PB2 for the first time. I like it! I want to try the chocolate PB2…although with my history of Nutella, that might be dangerous!

I wasn’t feeling it this morning, but I made myself bike for 20 minutes. Once I was doing it, it wasn’t so bad. I biked 5 miles and burned 126 calories.

While working, I sipped on an iced latte with FF vanilla creamer.

On my first break, I ate a 100 calorie popcorn.

I also ate a light string cheese.

I had breakfast casserole and a side salad for lunch with lettuce, tomato, blue cheese and French.

And finished it up with an Adora dark chocolate calcium supplement.

On my last break, I ate pineapple.

And one of these 100 calorie packs…didn’t need it.

And ummm, I had some white chocolate which I didn’t picture. Feeling way too snacky today. I haven’t done that for a long time!

Sigh. What a day! I’ll be happy when my body is back to normal and I no longer want to eat everything in sight!

Hubby and I are going out for supper tonight and I get to do a little shopping! Can’t wait!

Have a good weekend!

I’m Back!

Hello! Back to regular posting. I’ve had a couple of busy days and had to make my posts short and sweet.

Thankfully, my weight was back down this morning. Hopefully it continues to go down now. After two weeks of staying on track, it makes it very discouraging to GAIN weight two weeks in a row. So I’m wondering if my body was in the monthly cycle the past two weeks, holding onto the water in PMS, and we all know how TOM does to the body too. Fingers crossed that this weight loss thing starts working for me again.

For breakfast, I ate leftover breakfast casserole, skim milk, and a banana.

Yummy!

And then I sat down and enjoyed a cup of coffee with Almond Joy creamer.

I had a little bit of a hard time convincing myself to get outside for my run today. But I did it! I still had to bundle up a bit today. A little chilly!

Today was a 30 minute run and I ran 2.45 miles. On Tuesday, I ran 2.3 miles in 30 minutes. So that’s an improvement! It was a 12:14 pace, which is good for me! I burned 428 calories. And I was glad I went!

Only one more run left this week and it’s the 4 miler!! Eeeek! Wish me luck!

I made sure to drink my Propel Zero after the run. No headache!

For lunch, I made a tostada. These have become one of my favorite meals lately! I use a high fiber tortilla, refried beans, salsa, lettuce, tomato, and FF cheese. This time I also added leftover grilled chicken. SO good. I accidently over baked the tortilla today though. Whoops!

And I finished it up with some fresh pineapple. It was so sweet and delicious. They were finally a good price!

I worked a few hours for a friend today. While working, I sipped on an Almond Joy iced latte.

For supper, we grilled FF hot dogs, which I had on light bread with peanut butter and ketchup. Yes, I put peanut butter on my hot dogs. There is no other way. lol. I also had seasoned potato curls and a side salad.

Yum, Yum!

And then I had a slice of my friend’s WW strawberry pie. Delish!

I still have 222 calories left before exercise calories burned. A good day.

Hubby has this fierce lawn mowing competition going on with the neighbor. We call our neighbor Kenny, which isn’t really his name but he looks like Kenny Chesney so we call him that. lol When Kenny mows his lawn, hubby mows the lawn. When hubby mows our lawn, Kenny mows his. And tonight, they’re BOTH out mowing the lawn in the pouring rain…and hubby doesn’t want to quit because Kenny isn’t quitting…LOL MEN!!

Weigh in Day

TOM.

'nuff said.

My New Theme Song

I came across this song today and had to share it with you all. I think we can all relate to this song on some level. I can relate with the first part especially, and the overall theme of this song. I love it! And it also brings awareness to breast cancer, a disease affecting far too many women these days.

Fight Like a Girl!!

Fight Like a Girl

Shorter Post

I hope that you had a good weekend. I did!

For breakfast this morning, I ate an egg on sourdough bread along with a banana and skim milk.

I found a local discounted bread store and have gotten such good deals there! I saw this sourdough and had to give it a try. So good.

When I tracked my food this morning, I earned another badge on Lose It! “You have earned the Dedicated badge! You have logged every day for at least 4 weeks.”

This morning I biked 7.1 miles in 30 minutes on my recumbent bike. I burned 170 calories. Today is my cross training day. I finished up week 3 of my 10K training program yesterday by running a 5k distance. This is the week that scares me because I have to run 4 miles! Yikes! I’ve never run that far.

While working, I sipped on my coffee with Almond Joy Creamer. The fridge is restocked!

The morning was busy and a bit stressful. I try to keep reminding myself that many of these things that can stress me out are trivial in the scheme of things. Work, money… they’re just THINGS. There’s much more to life.

On my break, I ate a Chobani Pineapple Greek Yogurt.

Delish!

For lunch, I ate a salad with lettuce, tomato, turkey, a hard boiled egg, blue cheese and light ranch.

I finished it up with a diet soda cupcake with Jell-O whipped cream frosting.

Mmmm So good!

On my last break, I was craving something a little sweet. And while not the best choice, I ate a 100 calorie pack. It was tasty though!

I’m going to have to call it a night because I have guests coming for supper and won’t be able to take photos, etc. But I have chicken marinating in the fridge to grill. Yummy! I have 627 calories left for the day not counting any exercise.

Sweaty Bands Review and a 5K Sunday

I hate it when my hair gets in my face when I’m working out. I’ve bought headbands before but they never stay on when I’m working out, so I end up taking them off about 2 minutes into the workout.

Enter Sweaty Bands.

They are girly. They are tough. They don’t slide off of my big head mid-workout. Mission accomplished.

Sweaty Bands sent me a couple of their headbands to try out and review.

I was very excited to see if they really did meet the claims they made and didn’t slip. They’re made with a felt backing to keep them from slipping.

And it does the trick! Not only that, but they’re really cute! I REALLY want this one, for example. A sparkly pink one. So me, right? I know!

The first one I tried out playing a little one on one basketball with the hubby.

Kept the hair out of my face. With all of my moving about, I did reposition it once, but that’s totally acceptable to me based on how much I was moving around.

The second one, I tried out while running the 5k route in my town today. Here’s an example of what it looked like before the run:

And 3.1 miles later. I didn’t touch it once:

Totally kept the hair out of my face, making it MUCH more enjoyable.

Check out their store! They have so many styles and patterns to chose from! There are quite a few locations that sell the Sweaty Bands so you might be able to pick them up locally. Or order online.

During the run, I kept joking with hubby that I was going to lay down under a tree along the way and rest. lol. But I kept going!

I did, however, collapse under OUR tree when we were done!

Ahhhhh. It was a beautiful day today! Can you believe how green the grass is for March!?

And updated photos from my flower beds. The flowers are so pretty right now!

I hope you’ve had a fabulous weekend!

Have you ever tried Sweaty Bands?

Motivational Words

(source)

Flatout Meals

It’s Friday!!! Yay! It’s always easier to roll out of bed on Friday morning, especially when it’s a shorter work day!

For breakfast, I made breakfast wraps on Flat Outs with one egg, one egg white, FF Sharp Cheddar, and turkey. I also had a small amount of fruit (that’s all we had left) and skim milk.

Delicious! There are so many options for making these.

I hit the treadmill right away. I ran 2 miles straight in 23:22 and walked the rest for a total of 2.15 miles in 30 minutes. I decided to run a little slower and that helped me get less discouraged on the treadmill. I’ll be happy when I can run outside again!

I lost one of my Zippearz ear buds and so I had to use the regular ear buds and they are no good in comparison!! Ugh! I need to find the package that came with my Zippearz with extra pieces.

I made sure to add one of these to my water after working out.

When I ran Wednesday morning, I ended up getting a headache later in the day. I read an article saying if you get a headache after working out, drinking a sports drink during/afterwards can help. The good news, no headache today! It’s common for me to get a headache if I work out in the morning.

While working, I sipped on coffee with FF vanilla creamer.

On my first break, I made a green smoothie with Greek Yogurt, spinach, 2 oranges, and milled flax. This was not the best green smoothie I’ve had for some reason.

For lunch, I ate leftover roasted potatoes topped with leftover Shrimp-Peanut Stir Fry and a salad with lettuce, tomato and light Asian dressing.

I finished it up with a Reese’s egg.

I got off work early today which was fabulous! Hubby got home just a few minutes before I was done working. It’s the weekend! YAY!

For supper, I made chicken alfredo pizzas on Flat Outs along with green beans.

We are going to get cupcakes at the cupcakery tonight. Cannot wait. I love those things.

I have 197 calories left for the day before any exercise calories kick in. I’m good to go!

I hope you have a great weekend!