Friday Weigh In

Down 2.2 today, total is 37.4. I know that the meal planning has really helped this week because my mind has not been on exercise. I've done the workouts, but I have not really given my all. The week started off strong on Monday, but fell apart a little starting Tuesday and went completely downhill from there.

Workout 6 was also pretty good. The running man exercise showed up as one of the cardio intervals- yuck! Although- when I do try to do the workout when my kids are awake, they do love that one. Not sure why!

Sunday is the March of Dimes walk (still time to donate if you'd like!). I hope my older two are ready for the 5 mile walk- there are a lot of kids walking with us, so it should be a fun time! Then I am hoping for a better week next week- everyone has an off week now and then- the important this is what you do after the rough week, right?

Workout 5 and an interval run

Wow- it was tough. I've been reading some other people's blogs as they post about JMBR and also checking out the JMBR Facebook page. It seems to be the consensus that odd number workouts are harder than even numbered ones. I'm thinking that is proving to be true. My arms are really going to feel this workout tomorrow. She also added in a yoga stretch warmup and that was interesting to me. I've never done any yoga, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I felt like it was a nice warm up.

I was fortunate today to get to talk with a friend that I've know for several years. We were able to catch up for a bit after dropping our kids off at preschool. Yes, our kids go to the same preschool, but we rarely get the chance to catch up. Thanks to carpooling neighbors, I am usually only at the school once a week. And until recently I only picked up kiddos once a week, so the craziness of getting5 kids into the car after school did not lend itself to getting to hang out and talk a bit as you can imagine.

We were talking about running and I was telling her that I am wanting to really concentrate on speed improvement. She mentioned that she also does a running interval workout that has really helped with her speed. So I tried that out tonight after finishing workout 5. Each interval is one minute and this is what I did:
4 mph, 5 mph, 4 mph, 6 mph. 4 mph, 7 mph, 4 mph,6 mph,4 mph,5 mph, 4 mph (repeat)

This was not easy. I was very excited to get through the 7 mph minute. I barely made it through that minute, so I will attempt a faster speed at a later date! After thanking her for the suggestion, I asked if that was right (it'd been several hours since we talked about it and I tend to jumble numbers on occasion). She actually said that what she does is this: 4.5, 5, 4.5, 5,5 4.5, 6... Continuing up to 9 mph, and going back to 4.5 as the base but increasing at half mile increments instead of mile ones. And then repeats. So I'll try that next. Still not sure about over 7 mph, but I do know with time I will get there!

Next Sunday

I will be loading up my two littlest into the double jogging stroller and walking 5 miles with my older two for the March of Dimes march for babies. If you feel like donating to my team, we would welcome your donation!

March of Dimes

I'm so thankful to have four healthy children who will be walking with me next week at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront with our team of moms, dads and babies. Should be a fun morning walk!

Sunday Thoughts and Refocusing

So I'm meal planning for this week. It's been a while since I actually did a meal plan for the week. My oldest's baseball schedule has really thrown a wrench into the meal planning. This week we still have a very busy week around here, but I know I need to have a plan in place to continue to be successful. So, here we go:

Monday: Baseball practice- means picnic dinner for the kiddos and a salad on the go for me :)

Tuesday: Gymnastics- Taco night, something easy and quick to have when we get home.

Wednesday: Baseball game- Chicken Pot Pockets from Hungry Girl for yummy fuel before the game

Thursday: Gymnastics followed by Baseball game- This will be a dinner on the go for the kiddos and then I will plan to eat when we get home from baseball.

Friday: Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken from SkinnyTaste a favorite for all

Saturday: I have a 31 party and the kiddos will have a babysitter, so they luck out and get to choose what's for dinner.

Sunday: Leftovers

Ok, so onto my thoughts...I have completed 4 half marathons this year so far. My next one is in 4 weeks. I am thinking that I may take a break for the summer. I don't have any official races on the schedule- I haven't found any offered locally during the summer (don't know why- I think it's fun to run when it's 90 degrees outside...). My original plan was to go out and run the 13.1 distance, time it myself and that was going to count as my personal half. The plan was to do it in the evening (a little cooler) or early morning. I still may do this, but I really want to concentrate on speed and when I do a half, it has usually taken me about a week to get motivated to train again. Which then only leaves me about three weeks to get ready for the next race. With that happening, I have found it hard to focus as much on speed as I would like to. So, I am still trying to make a plan and now focusing more training time on my next half, the Diva Half Marathon in N Myrtle Beach.

Tomorrow I start phase 2 of JMBR. I'm looking forward to seeing what workouts 5 and 6 are like this week as well as starting a new cardio workout. My plan is to run tomorrow (long interval day) and also do workout 5 of JMBR.

What do you do when you feel like you need to change up a plan (and a goal) you've set for yourself? I am having a little trouble- feeling like I am not up to the challenge I set for myself, but I also want to do my best to improve speed and I am not sure how to do that when I am missing about a week of training every week because of recovery. Thoughts?

JMBR Phase 1 Complete!

I am so excited to report that I am done with phase 1 of JMBR and thrilled with the results so far! The way the program is designed I have not gotten bored with the workouts at all- it's been fun and a lot of hard work. I did cardio 1 along with the strength workouts most days. Either that or I did my running intervals. I am ready to see what workouts 5 and 6 are like along with a new cardio workout as well.

This week I am down another 3.8 pounds (one of my highest weeks ever in this journey). This makes my total for 17 weeks 35.2 pounds! I wish I'd taken measurements when I very first started, but I didn't think about it. But, I did take measurements when I started JMBR, and on phase 1, I have lost 9.2 pounds and 19 inches overall! Very exciting and I am looking forward to phase 2 and to becoming closer to my goals!

Dismal Swamp Stomp Half Marathon

For me personally, it was not great. Somewhere between Thursday when I posted and Saturday morning (race day), I completely lost all motivation for this race. I just was not mentally prepared and that really messed this race up for me. Like always, I got all of my stuff together the night before. The only thing I didn't check was that my ipod was charged (big mistake!). The kiddos had spring break this week, so I've been a little off schedule with training and we had the long weekend out of town. Not to mention, I had been at the doctor twice with the littlest one who ended up with an ear and sinus infection. I had a little of a pesky cough earlier in the week that had become pretty regular by Friday. So I was not feeling 100% to begin with, making this race hard to get into mentally.

Saturday morning I went next door to meet my neighbors who were running also. We got to the race site at about 6:30 am (race time was 8:00), since we were so early, we just hung out in the car for a bit because it was 37 degrees outside. This was the smallest half marathon I've done with only 774 finishers. We got out of the car and headed to the start (after a stop at the porta potties). No fireworks at this start- just a countdown and we were off.

The course was a straight out and back. And I mean straight- when I plugged in my watch to download my times, the gps of the course is a straight line. It was a nice area to be in- I'd never visited the dismal swamp area before (and with a name like that, I don't know why?!). I was coughing a lot on the way down in the morning and my throat was starting to hurt. But I got started and went to turn on my ipod- nothing. Absolutely nothing. Never again will I think that I've got enough charge on it to not charge it before a race. I tried to be positive. I've never run a race without music- maybe it would be okay. The first couple miles were ok- I wasn't too bored, got to chat with a few people along the way. Then between coughing and one of my knees starting to hurt I began to set aside any ideas I had for this race (I was thinking I'd have a new PR after this one- after all, I've improved with every race). I decided to walk until I felt better and then try running again.

I settled into a good walking pace and was able to actually look around and enjoy the scenery around me. I saw so many butterflies- that was really neat. I passed a porta potty with a "no dumping" sign beside it (I took a picture, but the camera messed up on my phone and it was lost). Someone had a sense of humor when placing that porta potty. It was a nice day to be out for a run or walk, which made this no music 13.1 miles a little easier to stomach. I ended up mostly walking this one, but still finished at 3:29:47. Not great, but I didn't quit (something I considered more than once). Evidently I only set PRs at the ocean or at Disney :)

I started week 4 of JMBR. It is the final week of phase 1, workouts 3 and 4 again. I did workout 3 yesterday and it was rough, but I'm very glad I worked through it. I will start running again on Wednesday. I did not run as much between the shamrock half marathon and the dismal swamp and I really do want to set a new PR at the diva in May, meaning I have a little over 4 weeks to get more training in. So I am going back to running first thing in the morning and then doing JMBR in the evening.

Weigh in was Friday, and I was down 1.4 pounds. Not bad considering our weekend out of town. I am really looking forward to my weigh in and measurement on Friday since that will be the end of JMBR phase 1.

100 Days In

Today marks 100 days into the deployment. 100 days, 30ish pounds, 90 some miles, 3 half marathons, week 3 of JMBR. One day at a time- that's really the only way to do this. Today was day 18 of JMBR. Workout 3 again- it really seemed so much harder than on Tuesday when I did it last. I was considering doing cardio 1 again today, but it didn't happen- I was completely beat after workout 3.

Tomorrow I will be picking up my packet for the Dismal Swamp Stomp and getting all of my stuff prepared for the race on Saturday. I'm not nervous for this race at all- the weather is supposed to be very nice, which is always a plus for race day! I have a goal time in mind, but I'm not sure how that is going to pan out this time since I haven't been running as much as I usually do between races. But we will see!

I found this today: Joggermom Marathon 2012. Basically it is a virtual marathon. You don't have to run it all at one time (thank goodness!), but you log all 26.2 miles within the month of May. I figure I'm already running the Diva half near the end of May, so I'll be halfway there with that! I wanted to pass this information along to anyone else who might be interested though! Let me know if you decide to do it.

Days 15, 16 & 17

We were out of town over the weekend for Easter, it was busy a busy weekend and I didn't get a workout in while we were out of town, but I've caught up on the workouts for the week. Day 15 was week 3, workout 3- it was a tough one. It was a real step up from workouts 1 and 2. I added in cardio 1 because I missed it over the weekend (supposed to have done that on day 13). Day 16 was week 3, workout 4- I'm not sure if it was easier or harder than workout 3. Also added in cardio 1, which caught me up on all of the workouts up to this point. I really like that the program is designed so that you do each workout 4 times- it definitely keeps it interesting. I'm lucky this week- my youngest sister is here visiting and she's been doing the workouts with me, so it's been fun to have a partner in these couple days- makes the doing the cardio workout a little more fun- that's the only one that is getting a little old, but what wouldn't get old when it's been done 14 times?

Saturday is the Dismal Swamp Stomp half marathon. I'm hoping it is a good run- I haven't run as much as I usually do following the Shamrock half last month, but with doing the cardio from JMBR, I have noticed better stamina when running the intervals this past few weeks. The course for the dismal swamp is supposedly flat- that should help a lot :)

Days 10 & 11

Yesterday was a cardio 1 day.  I was able to get up and get that done before getting the rest of the day started.  I like cardio 1- it is broken up into three parts (at least that is how I see it).  You go through a rotation of 8 exercises and do each of them 3 times each.  So I look at each set of 8 exercises as an individual part.  So as I am going through cardio 1 I am just focused on getting through each part.

This morning was workout 1 again.  I don't mind workout 1- this will be the last time for this workout for this session.  I am looking forward to seeing what kind of workout takes the place of this one.  I'm closing in on finishing week 2, next week brings new workouts- no chance to get bored!

One thing I am finding after these two weeks- I think I will have to go back to doing the workouts at night.  I have found that I am having a hard time waking up and in turn I am having a hard time giving my all in the mornings.  During week 1 when I was doing the workouts at night I was having a little trouble falling asleep at the beginning of the week, but as the week went on I was not having as much trouble.  I always thought I would be a morning workout person and I am still finding that when I run, I prefer to run in the mornings.  But, there is something about JMBR and my journey with it that I am finding that evening workouts are going to be better.  I think it may have to do with the amount of concentration it takes on my part to complete the workouts.  When I run, I can start off a little foggy and then become more focused, but with JMBR you really need to be focused from the start.

Kiddos and I are headed out of town tomorrow morning (after I finish my workout), and I am planning on taking JMBR with me along with the extras needed to complete the workouts.  Because of heading out of town, I did my weigh in this morning- getting everything ready and packed and all, there is a chance I would forget in the morning, so I did it this morning.  Down 2.6 this morning, making the total for 15 weeks 30 pounds :)

Finally Woke Up

This morning in time to do my workout in the morning! I was having a hard time falling asleep at night after evening workouts. So as hard as it was to pull myself out of bed this morning, I finally did it and was able to do my day 9 workout (workout 2 again) before having to get kiddos out the door to school. I don't mind workout 2 much- I don't know that I would say it was easier than workout 1- just different muscle groups. My plan was to also do cardio 1 again this morning, but I did not have time to get that in. I was considering doing it tonight, but I want to be able to fall asleep at a decent hour and get up in the morning to do cardio 1 and an interval run, so I am going to skip that this evening. Doing double workouts past week 1 is not part of the plan, I was just planning on adding in the extra cardio on days I wasn't running just for a bonus workout. So tomorrow back on schedule- we have an evening free from our crazy schedule, so I plan to take advantage of that by cooking something healthy and yummy :)

Day 8

So today started week 2 of JMBR. The first week was filled with double workouts. Yesterday was a very nice break and much needed day off! Today was back to workout 1. Since there was no assigned cardio, I went back to my running schedule. Bonus of the week of cardio workouts- I was able to do short interval workout #1 running at a 10 min/mile pace :) I'm thrilled with that! Looking for another personal record at the Dismal Swamp Stomp half marathon in less than 2 weeks!

Sunday Meal Planning

Meal planning for this week is once again littered with baseball practice, gymnastics, baseball games and preparing to go out of town for the weekend. So we are doing more "snack dinners" as my dad called them than anything else. Healthy choices for kiddos and mommy alike. The grocery list for this week included lots of veggies and fruits along with the staples of bread and milk (we currently go through 3 gallons a week at our house!) Now I am faced with trying to make dinners a little more interesting. Not for them, they could eat the same thing over and over again (as long as they like it!) without complaining, but I can get bored easy. So, on to another week- looking forward to JMBR week 2 beginning tomorrow!