A beginner's running blog for all us Gorgeous Fluffy Girls who want to run freely, laugh happily and live lively.
Friday, June 26, 2009
W6D1 and Ode to a Legend
About seven years ago I started working out and would walk on my treadmill for 20 minutes about three times a week. But about four years ago, my business suffered a small setback and it caused alot of stress. The stress took a toll on my lifestyle. I couldn't focus, I started eating comfort foods, and I stopped working out. Four years and sixty pounds later, here I am.
But I am starting to see alot of changes in me and my family. Not just in my improvements in my runs but my home life. I am happier and my family is happier. I have the energy to keep up my household and my family helps more. Since we started working out, we encourage each other. Everything is a group effort as oppose to keeping score to see who did more or less in the household. We are far from perfect we are better.
I was shocked yesterday at the sudden death of Michael Jackson and Farrah Faucet's death. Farrah was part of my seven degrees of separation. Her parents were clients of my father. Farrah was often seen around our neighborhood doing everyday things. I grew up far from the Hollywood lights...small town in Texas so it was unusual to see anyone famous. But she was kind enough to give my daughter an autograph and we are both survivors...or we were both survivors. It still shocks me when someone that had cancer after I had cancer, gets cancer again and passes away. It just makes me wonder why I am still here. But only God knows. She will be missed.
Michael Jackson defined my generation. He defined how music videos should be produced and choreographed. I danced and sang to his songs throughout my teenage years. Yes, I know what they say he has done recently, I don't know if it is true, even so, another truth about him is that he was a great performer and I will celebrate that part of him. So, in honor of him, I put together a playlist of Micheal Jackson songs and ran to them today. Off the Wall, Black or White, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, Wanna be startin something...wooooo those songs took me back.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
W5D3
- First time to run twenty minutes straight
- First time to run a complete mile
- First time to cry at the gym
- Tiger woods congratulated me on my best mile ever
Tuesday I was suppose to run my first full 20 minutes and I was scared. So on Tuesday night, I cleaned house like a mad woman and did the weekly grocery shopping. In other words, I tried to keep myself busy so that I didn't have to do it.
Wednesday rolls around and I know it is now or never. My Mini is giving me smack and the weight of the fear is worse than not even trying. I mean, in reality, if I have to start walking in the middle of it, who cares? How many times did I stop in W2, when 90 seconds seemed too hard, or during the three minute runs, I felt as if my legs were going to give? It happened too many times to count. So at 10pm, I got up enough nerve and went to the gym with my family. ( I love 24 hour gyms).
I got on a treadmill, decided I was going to do the run without the C25K prompts on a podcast or on my Iphone application, changed the TV in front of me to Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and started. The warm up was usual and then I started to run.
My pace was 3.3 on the treadmill. Believe it or not, the first 7 minutes were the hardest to run and I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. To take my mind off the minutes, I started to read the closed captioning on the TV and before I knew it, it was 12 minutes into the run. I remember looking down at 14:51 minutes (this is the girl that died on the 90 seconds and now 171 secs go by and I don't even feel it.) I felt amazing. Because it was dark outside and the blinds were open, I could see my reflection in the mirror...I looked like a runner. When I hit minute 15, I knew I could do this. Mentally, I was saying, 5 minutes is nothing. Two weeks ago, 5 minutes seemed like so much to me. I am getting better and I am loving it.
At 19:01 minutes of running and the treadmill was at 1.21 miles, I hit my first big milestone. I had run a complete mile. I started to cry and yelled out "I just ran my first mile". Thank goodness the only people in the gym were me and my family. Oh, no, I was crying so much that I couldn't catch my breath and I was still trying to run...I had 50 seconds left. I felt great but just couldn't catch my breath. But I did it. I finished my run. My family heard me yell and they saw me crying so they gathered around me to congratulate me.
But you know what was my proudest moment? When I was looking at the reflection of the gym in the glass window, I saw my daughter behind me on an Arc trainer. She was watching me and smiling. Every once and a while, she gave me a thumbs up. And when she came over to my treadmill, she said, "Mama, I am proud of you. You did it." My husband said he was proud of me. He said he remembers me dying on 90 second runs and now through patience and perseverance, I am able to do twenty minutes. Even Tiger Woods congratulated me on my best mile ever.
This gal, whose comfort zone was the fact that she was too big to run, just ran 20 minutes. I couldn't believe it. I didn't stop when I got tired and pushed through. It felt good to run. It no longer was a struggle.
Running has given me back my confidence. Who knew I would become a PR junkie? I have to be honest with you. I have seen those initials everywhere in magazines and didn't know what they meant. They mean Personal Record. Yes, I am a PR Junkie. I also started biking and I want to Kayak. These are things I didn't think I could do and the Kayak thing scared me last summer. Now, I can't wait to try it.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Nike Mini Really Works
Friday
4:00 pm get off of work
4:15 make side dish for pot luck dinner
5:00 get dressed
6:00 get to dinner party and stay til past 1 in the morning
Saturday
5:45 am get up for swim meet
7:00 am -1 pm---stay outside in 96 degree weather at swim meet
2-7 pm catch up on some sleep
7-10:30 go shopping for Fathers Day gifts
Sunday
9 am church...I didn't go because I over slept
10 am yikes notice my Mini is talking smack about me
10:30 washed clothes, cooked breakfast, cleaned house
3:30 get on treadmill for only 30 minutes
4:15 cook for Fathers Day dinner
6:00 travel an hour to dinner
7-11pm visit with family then drive home
12-2am come home to a house full of diarrhea. One of my dogs was sick and did it everywhere
I say all that to say this....being busy is not an excuse to not work out. 30 minutes is all you need. I would not have learned that lesson if my Mini was not holding me accountable and was visible to all you guys. I would have just let the weekend go by without working out and I would have felt justified. Find something or someone to hold you accountable....it helps.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Am I running?
According to Merriam Webster the definition of running is : to go faster than a walk ; specifically : to go steadily by springing steps so that both feet leave the ground for an instant in each step.
There was no mention of pace. It seems to come down to technique. And if you technique can be described by the above definition, then by God, you are running. You may not be running fast but if you are running. So if run across one of these blogs, don't be discourage. Speed or pace will come with time. Just do your best and try to improve on that. If you are consistent with your work out, then it is inevitable that your pace will increase.
And as time goes by, you may find out that not only will your pace increase but it will build confidence. Ever since I started running, I am seeing a different side of me. I go into Academy and I am not embarrassed. I feel as though I belong. I started to go biking, because there is no reason why I can't. I am seriously thinking about kayaking. There are no limits to what I can do as long as I believe that I can and set a goal.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Week 5 Day 1 and Muddy Buddy
My Nike MIni is talking smack about me
Friday, June 12, 2009
Week 4 D3...and counting
Now this gym is sandwiched between a great Mexican restaurant and an even better Chinese restaurant. But it is also open 24 hours, which is great for my night owl family. As a matter of fact, it is midnight and we just got home from working out.
Oh and a great feature to this gym? I get an online place to view my workouts and see my planned workouts...in detail. The best part, I can do it from my IPhone and even see videos of the exercises to make sure that I am doing them correctly. That's right, one more use for my IPhone, one more place to track my progress and one more gadget to fall in love with. It's a sickness, I know.
Well, I haven't had my official introduction to all the equipment but I did go tonight to do D3 of W4. (Yeah, I entered the wrong week on the previous post, but I fixed it.) Now, I have one question for all those gym designers...who the heck decides to put the treadmill in front of all the other machines? Do they not realize the ramifications of this? Do they not realize that while my big behind is jiggling that the whole gym will be able to see me? Are you getting the visual here? I am and it is not pretty. But I am not there for the others, sorry folks, you are just going to have to live with it.
Now I have a treadmill at home that is pretty slick but I bought it ten years ago and there have been many improvements made to these slick machines. For example, they can read my chest band on my HRM. They can sync with my Nike+. They can even tell me my weight. Yes, today I had to face an unexpected weigh in. You see, if you read my very first post, I am not doing this running thing to lose weight. I am doing it to get fit. I am assuming that losing weight is going to be a great by product of becoming more fit. So I haven't weighed myself in about 6 months and had an "idea" of what I weighed.
Well, I get on the treadmill and set my pace and incline and hit "Quick Start", easy enough. Then numbers start to scroll past me on the screen. Ok, that one is the time as it is passing, that one seems to be my heart rate because it matches my Polar watch, that one is my current pace, that one looks like my calories only it is really really high, oh wait a minute, this number is my calories burned, so what is that other number that flashed by?.......It was my weight. It was my weight thirty pounds more than what I expected. I almost stopped the machine. That number scared me. There is no way I am able to make that amount of mass move on a treadmill.
It reminded me of my days of cancer. I had Stage III breast cancer when I was 28. I didn't know I had Stage III breast cancer. I just knew I had cancer. My doctor didn't tell me and I never asked. Later on, after the cancer was gone (Praise be to GOD). I saw my medical records and the diagnosis "Stage III" and was shocked. I called my doctor and asked her why I was never told that my cancer was that serious? (As if any cancer is not serious...what was I thinking). She said she didn't tell me because she didn't want it to affect my hope in surviving. She didn't want me to become hopeless. She said that hope is needed in healing.
That is what I felt about my weight. I didn't want to know the number because I didn't want to lose hope. You see, I will take measurements and accept those numbers but the number on the scale....I didn't know if I could handle it. So I was quite upset when I saw the number. I had to keep reminding myself that before now... I was able to do this, so just get over it. And I did and I finished. Afterwards, I went to cool down with my family and told them of my discovery. They had weighed themselves on the scale the trainers use and suggested I weigh myself on that one. I was scared but I did it. And to my amazement...it was 25 pounds less than the treadmill. Damn treadmill. Lying treadmill. Vicious treadmill. Who would ever think I would love a scale so much.
In that split moment, I realized it is just a number. Don't let it bring you down and don't put too much value in it. Treasure the other moments.
- When you realize running from the dressing room to the men's department at Target for your husband (another poor design idea from the Target folks) you don't get winded
- When you walk with your husband, his pace isn't soo fast that you have to take breaks
- When going up and down the stairs, no longer seems like a chore
- When you no longer feel exhausted by 4pm
- When your pants no longer feel tight when you sit down
I can do this. You can do this. Don't let a number make you feel like you are incapable of running, swimming, biking, belly dancing or anything else. Live life. Enjoy who you are...right now and in this moment.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Week 4 D2
Don't get me wrong, I love the prompts by Robert but I want my own music. I did well on my run...well I completed it. And I think I met my goal that I set for myself, 24 miles in 28 days. Ok, my goal thingamiggy may not say it, but I lost my Nike + and was not able to record one of my workouts. So I finished it but I don't get the recognition....bummer.
Here is how I did
Duration: 46 minutes
Distance: 2.17 miles
Average Pace: 21'07" minute mile
Average Heart rate: 149
Max Heart rate: 172
Calories burned: 412
I have converted to miles from km so that people can see and understand my pace. I keep hearing alot about pace on the Weight Watchers forums. How fast do you run? Do you consider me slow? How fast should I be going? Look, don't worry about others. You are unique. Remember that pep talk your parents gave you as child about being different and unique? Well it is true. I am 5'2" with short legs and I wear about a 75 pound weighted vest when I run. Okay, maybe it isn't a vest but more like a fluffy layer. These are not excuses, they are reality. My pace may not "Wow" some but they "wow" me. A few weeks ago I was stuck on Week 1 of C25K because I was scared to try to run 90 seconds. Now, I feel comfortable at 3 minutes and I am working on 5 minutes. Can I get an Amen?
All I am saying is listen to your body. If you are so winded that you can't catch your breath and feel as if you are going to pass out...slow down. This isn't a race to see who is the fastest. This is a life time journey to becoming more fit. You will brush your teeth or soak your dentures for the rest of your life. See running as part of that routine. If it isn't running, then maybe swimming, or golf, or cycling. But we just need to keep moving. You are going to quit or burn out if you don't learn to be patient with your body. You didn't get out of shape overnight, so don't expect to become fit overnight. But I promise, if you stick with it and be patient, you will begin to see changes. All of a sudden, stairs won't be so daunting, when you go get the mail, you won't become out of breath and so on. Remember those small changes and record them.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Running in the Dark, Tiger Woods and Curly Shuffle
Our neighborhood is incomplete. There is an area behind us that has streets, street lamps and plots marked out for homes. But the homes never came. So we felt it was safe going back there to run. Well, I learned that just depends on your definition of "safe".
There were bugs everywhere. They were attracted by the light in the middle of the darkness. Just coming back from Bible Study had me thinking about how we are called to be a light unto the world. That in the midst of darkness, the unsaved should be running, as fast as they can, to the light. But that is not the case, and I blame us, the church, for not loving as much, unconditionally. But let me get off the preacher box.
The bugs were everywhere. I was expecting the mosquitoes, especially after a warm winter and all the rain we have had recently. So I bathed in mosquito repellent before I left the house. They are so abundant that I felt as if I was at war with them They were attacking every part of my body that was not sprayed and I was racing to spray that area.
June bugs, ok I can handle those. They are cute. I remember picking up as a child and playing with them. And let's face it, its June. They will be gone in July. The crickets were a bit creepy. They were everywhere and jumping around me. Those were annoying but I could handle those. So far, the bugs I had seen were bugs that I expected.
But I forgot about the spiders. And we are not talking Charlotte's web spiders. We are talking big ugly spiders that jumped one to two fee in either direction, when they felt threatened. And apparently, I was threatening when I ran passed them. Some are flat and light in color but huge. If you make a fist and look at the circumference of your fist, where your thumb curls over your pointer finger...that big. And then there were some just a bit smaller but their legs went about an inch to two inches in the air and then back down. Those jumped high.
Well those spiders had me doing the curly shuffle all over the street. And I am about as fluffy as Curly, so I probably looked as silly. They would jump one way and I would try to jump the other way. Or I wouldn't see them until they were flying in the air and so I would come to a complete stop on a dime and turn and go the other way.
But they helped my time. When I finished, I received a "Congratulations, this is Tiger Woods, you just recorded your best time ever." Wuu huu...on a casual day, I beat my best time ever. Life is good, even with spiders.
Things I didn't expect:
- Loving a casual run
- laughing at spiders
- Running with my husband would be fun
- Different forms of running result in different pace times, I think on my DOR I am going to explore running techniques
- That it takes me about 20 minutes to warm up before I feel good running.
- That going a day without some form of movement would seem as if something was missing that day.
- OH, and I found out that a couple, in our Bible Study are runners, and have run the Boston Marathon...pretty cool, huh?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tonight was a good run...I ran with Kara Goucher
It is really late here in my neck of the woods. I'll either edit this one tomorrow or add a new one.
I don't know if you know this but you guys and my Weight Watchers Heavyweight friends run with me all the time. As I run, I think about things I have read on your blogs or comments made on the boards. I think about things I want to share with you and questions I have. I am going to have to use my Flip video while I run because I come up with all these things to tell you guys and I know I forget some of them.
On a happy note, I bought a new Nike +. All is right in my world.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Shopping One Size Fits All
Since, I usually work from home, I don't usually put on make up. So today I took out my make up bag and rummaged through all my eye shadows, lip sticks and glosses, eyeliners and all my tools. As I pulled one item after another out of my fairly large bag, I asked myself, "Why do you have so much make up?" You know why? Because it is truly One Size Fits All. So I can buy the same make up that the thin chicks can buy. I don't have to pay extra because it took extra material to make it. I didn't have to go to a special section of the make up counter because of how much I weigh. It is one thing I can do with joy. Well, that and buy bags.
But this running thing is changing me. I am a runner, darn it! And who cares what far corner they put clothes that fit me. It's just temporary and right now, in this skin, in this moment, I am beautiful.
I care less what others think. The first time I bought Runner's World Magazine was stressful. I was by myself and walked up to the counter with two magazines and I just knew, in my mind, that the clerk was looking at me like they look at my husband when he buys feminine items and think, "I know these are not for you." Now, I don't care. I pulled it out at the jury waiting room and read it...out loud. Kidding. I am changing, not going crazy.
I went this evening to look for a new Nike + but did not find one. I didn't run today which feels weird. It is like not brushing my teeth in the morning or evening. Again, an oddity for me, since I went months, dare I say years, without working out.
Monday, June 1, 2009
I just can't let go
Take a deep breath, let go and let God.
Ok so here is a review of the C25K application on Itunes. My bad, it is $2.99. It integrates with Facebook. By the way I am Rozette Peckham at Facebook. Search for me and add me as a friend. Just mention you came from SeeFluffyRun or Weight Watchers and I will let you in. So here are some of the Pros and Cons.
Pros
- You can make your own playlist
- It prompts you when to run/walk/cool down with a bell and voice
- It does a countdown for each interval (when doing 90 sec run, the screen will display a countdown from 90 secs)
- It gives you a halfway prompt (if you are running outside, this is a nice feature that tells you when to turn around)
- It keeps track of your runs
- If you need to start over, you can just reset and it will reset to W1D1
- If you were not able to complete a session you can edit that session as not done
Cons
- You cannot run another application, like MapMyRun so that you can track your distance
- It does not include GPS so it doesn't track your distance
- If you want to skip a song or need a power song to play, you can't control your music without turning off C25K, since you have to leave the application to get to Music
- The audible prompts do not get louder, so if you music is really really loud (and that is not good for your ears anyway) you may miss a prompt
Overall it is a great application to use if you want to use your own music. I am still waiting for that perfect application that does GPS and/or stride (like Nike +), has a chest band that keeps track of heart rate, that I can use C25K and allows me to play my own music. Until then, I am going to continue to look like the Bionic Woman with my HRM, my Nano for my Nike+ and my Iphone for safety and C25K and my personal playlist.
Lost Nike Plus receiver...Reward if found
I'll tell you why, because I was in a hurry on Saturday and took my nano to the beach in a pink belkin case I got at the dollar star. That's right. You know those cases you can get at Target or Best Buy for the Nano, the previous one to the newest version, for about twenty dollars? Well, because it is not for the latest and greatest version of nano, you can buy it at the Dollar Tree. No joke.
Anyway, back to the day it all happened. I was in a hurry and I remember switching cases but I don't know what I did with the armband one. And inside the armband, is the receiver. It has a place to hold a key while you run but I used it for the receiver when I am not using it.
So, I searched high and low for it and I can't find it. I wanted to use the new application I got for free for my Iphone that allows you to use your own playlist as it verbally prompts you to do run, walk etc. It was great and maybe when I stop fretting about my Nike Plus, I'll tell you about it. So I will give you the cliff notes version
- No nano
- Used C25K program on Iphone ( I really did like it)
- Played my own playlist
- I had to stop running on the last 3 minute run (stopped at 90 secs--another reason I love the application--tell you when I stop fretting what it does)
- Can't use IMapMyRun while using C25K app...bummer
- Couldn't get real time information on my pace...that really helps me stay motivated
- If I had my receiver I could use C25K and still get real time pace and distance information
- Used MapMyRun to map my run...Did 2 miles in 35 minutes.
- Bummer: My mini won't be updated
- Bummer: My goal of 24 miles this month will probably be reached but not recorded because it tracks from my Nike +
- Darn you Nike for getting me addicting to this too cool gadget. If I don't find it tonight, I'll have to go tomorrow and get a new one
So I will do W3 a few more times. So I didn't finish the last three minutes. Doing the 90 seconds was easy and it was hard last week. So I am improving.
Oh, on a side note A friend of mine asked me if me and my husband want to join her and her boyfriend in a Muddy Buddy race in Dallas, in October. Sounds like fun so I am going to do it. See if there is one in your area and sign up with a friend. It looks like tons of fun.
So much to say but I am bummed about the Nike +, need time to look for it.