And on track...

At least so far (it is only Monday!). I stayed up way too late last night and had a little trouble waking up, but I am glad I ran first thing. It definitely helped me wake up. This evening I started week 1 of Jillian Michaels Body Revolution again. I felt really good during the workout. I used heavier weights to have more of a challenge. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of results I see over the next 90 days.  For the first JMBR that I did (up to week 10), the total loss is 22.6 pounds and 28.5 inches.  I'm pretty happy with this considering that I did fall off track part of the way through and did have trouble getting focused. So now I am starting new with numbers and we'll see where this second attempt at the full 90 day program goes.  I'm hoping that a more relaxed summer schedule (well, at least the kiddos don't have school!)  will help me be able to keep up with the workouts and be ready for fall half marathons!

Starting Again....

So, I've made it to JMBR Phase 3. But, I've had a really hard time keeping up these past two weeks. I think that Jillian may have over-estimated my abilities when she designed phase 3 :) So tomorrow I will be going back to phase 1 and work through the 90 days again. This will put me finishing around mid-September. I am hoping that by starting again when I get to phase 3 this time I will be able to complete the whole 90 days. I do have a final weight loss and inches loss for the time I did JMBR this round. I will post that soon- not sure of the totals right now. I am planning to start a new set of measurements for this round. The plan is still to do running in the morning and JMBR in the evening. I got in several miles last week and I am still focusing on speed and I am planning on a long run at some time this week or weekend.

I don't have a meal plan laid out yet for this week. I've got a couple things that didn't get cooked last week, so I may be cooking a couple of those recipes. I am planning on some zucchini pizzas that I found on skinnytaste. I am actually having some success with my garden (for the first time ever!), so we are starting to have some yummy veggies to eat. Though my younger boys are starting to make faces when I tell them we are having zucchini....they do seem excited to start getting tomatoes though- the first of those should be ready this week. As the weather really starts to heat up, I don't usually like to cook as much. This summer I am planning on more salads. I have one kiddo who really loves salads, so just 3 more to win over!

Sunday Meal Planning

So baseball is done- we had a great season, and Caleb really enjoyed it, so I am so glad that we did it even though it did make our lives a little hectic over the past couple of months. One of the things that suffered the most was our meal planning. I tried in the beginning but when we started with rainouts and make up games it just got to be a little too much. I'd have a plan and then it'd get changed at the last minute, so eventually I decided that it was better just to do the best we could.

But this week we are back to normal-ish, so back to meal planning.....

Monday: Broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken

Tuesday: Quick dinner (open house for the two oldest at school)

Wednesday: Crusted honey mustard chicken

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Chicken Cordon Bleu

Saturday: Hot dogs (hopefully following a fun outside day!)

Sunday: Leftovers or Kids' choice

This week also starts a new summer schedule for me. My kiddos still have 2 weeks left of school, but I am going to start a new training schedule for the fall halfs that I have coming up. I also have a couple things planned for the summer months, I am still planning on a half a month. Those halfs will be very low key- I am really working towards more of a time goal for my fall halfs, so that is what I'm concentrating on. When it comes to my summer halfs, I am thinking that I may split the distance over a couple different runs- maybe in the same day, maybe two different days. I just don't want to push so hard that I can't meet my ultimate goal that I have in place for the fall.

I am also going to go back to evening workouts for JMBR. I have found that time works so much better for me when it comes to that. So starting tomorrow I am planning on running in the morning and JMBR in the evening. I am really hoping that will work well for me.

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!

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.

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 :)

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!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli

Good. Not great. I love mac and cheese. I love both homemade and Kraft (the blue box). This one just wasn't cheesy enough. That's the problem though- more cheese= more fat. Oh well. I liked the broccoli in it and the kids loved that part. They are not fans of homemade mac and cheese, but the added broccoli seemed to go a long way (my kiddos are definitely broccoli lovers!). I was able to fix this one ahead of time and put it in the crock pot, so it made for an easy meal since it was a gymnastics night, but I just wasn't completely sold on it. I don't know that I will make this one again, instead I will continue my quest for a light, filling mac and cheese.

We have had our treadmill for about 3 years. I've put more miles on it in the past 6 months than ever before. But, I have always just done my own thing, never tried one of the pre-programed workouts. This morning I decided to give that a try. It was strange to only be walking at 3-3.5 mph. It seemed so slow! But, add in the inclines of 6-8 and man was it tough! I look forward to trying another workout on Thursday.