WIW

Not a very good weigh-in today.

174.5

I was actually excited to weigh-in this morning!  I thought for sure I would have a good loss.  Instead, I gained 1.1lbs.  I'm just going to chalk it up to muscle gain...riiiiiight.

My weigh-in may not have been great, but I had a fantastic run last night!

Not quite sure why mile 2 ended up being significantly slower, I felt like I was flying the entire time.  I did have to wait a few seconds to cross a busy street, but it was only a few seconds, not 20.

Besides running yesterday, I also had strength on the schedule.  Since running in my current priority, I am not doing anything drastic or too strenuous when it comes to strength training.  

All I did was 25 [Sally]Push-Ups, 20 chest flys with 5lb weights, and 20 standing rows with 5lb for arms.  

Then for core, I did 20 standard crunches, 20 bicycle crunches, and 20 hip raises/butt lifts/I'm not really sure what they're actually called crunches.  My legs are still getting used to running so I didn't do anything extra for legs.

Link up with Ash & Heather to share your Weigh-In Wednesday, and discover some other awesome blogs!

Training Fail

I did AWFUL on my goals last week.  Really, really awful.  Let's take a quick look back at what those goals were.

{ONE}
Complete all of my scheduled runs and workouts for the week.  Here is what my week looks like:

M:  Cross-Training

T: 2mi run with hill repeats

W: 3mi run & strength

R: Rest (but I will probably at least walk the dogs, and stretch, a lot.)

F: 2.5 mi pace run

S: 5mi run

S: Stretching & Strength

As you can see, I only complete 3 of my 7 workouts.  I guess I technically completed Thursday too since I didn't do a damn thing...  The training plan that I am following builds up long run mileage really quickly.  I skipped my long run this weekend, and next weekend's is already up to 6 miles...not good.

{TWO}
Track everything I eat.  You can follow me on MFP, if you'd like.

Uhhhh, I think I tracked for 1.5 days... Maybe a little more, maybe a little less?  I ate like shit all week, which made me really not want to track because I didn't want to know the reality of how bad it really was.

{THREE}
Take measurements and photos.

I took care of this one, so I guess I didn't completely fail.

On a positive note, my pace run went super, totally, baller-ly, fabulously awesome!  Since my first run of the year had 10:13 average pace, I was aiming for my pace run to be 10:00, and ended up being even faster than that!  I even had negative splits, heck yeah!

My only goal this week is going to be completing ALLLLLLL of my workouts this week.  ALL of them!

M - Cross Train

T - 3 miles & Strength

W - 5 miles (this is an added run to make up for missing my long run)

R - 4 miles pace & Strength

F - REST

S - 6 miles

S - Stretch & Strength

NSV

I went on my first run last night in 4 months, or 116 days, but who's counting...

Tuesday, I was supposed to run 2 miles with hill repeats as my first, but I skipped it.  Not going to lie, having hill repeats as your first run in months is intimidating!!  I'm also using the excuse that it was in the low 30's and raining...

Anyway, I finally got my butt out there last night, and it felt amazing.  I was extremely nervous pre-run.  I was worried I wasn't going to be able to do it.  I've taken a lot of time off, and I've put on more than a few pounds.  I am beyond proud of myself though because I was able to run 3 miles without stopping.   

As you can see from my mile times, my pace is slower than it used to be, but not that much slower.  I really thought I was going to be like a turtle and having like 12:00 miles.  

I did stay away from hills though because my legs were tired, and my muscles tight, early in the run.  You can see from the graph above just how flat my route was!

Tonight, I have rest, but lots of stretching (my entire body is sore, the bad-ass, beast-mode kind of sore, so I will still do the stretching), on my workout schedule.  Instead, I think I am going to make up the run I had scheduled for Tuesday.  I may skip the hill repeats though...we'll see how the legs, and the rest of my body, feel throughout today.

What are your non-scale victories?!  Link-up with the fantastic KTJ, and share!!

WIW

One of my goals this week is take body measurements and photos to help track my fitness progress.  For the first time, I took said measurements this morning.  The number on the scale is sometimes hard to see, but these measurements were even more sobering.  Without further ado, here they are.

Left Arm: 12.25"

Right Arm: 12.5"

Bust: 36.625"

Waist: 30.875"

Hips: 40.75"

Left Leg: 23.75"

Right Leg: 24"

As for my weigh-in, I am at 173.4.

Finally, here are my photos.

The shorts I am wearing, are an adorable pair of size 8, burgundy, semi-dressy shorts from Target.  I have only worn these shorts maybe two times because they have always been a little snug.  Currently, they are extremely snug.  As in, I could barely get them buttoned.  I want to be able to wear these comfortably this summer so therefore, I am going to continue wearing them in my progress pics so we can all watch them start to fit better :)

Check in tomorrow for an update of how my first run of 2014 went!

Half Marathon Training: Day 1

Happy Monday, everyone!

I am actually excited for a Monday for probably the first time in my life.  Today, I start what I thought was a 10-week, but is actually an 11-week, half marathon training plan.  I run my 4th overall half on 5/25/14.  On the schedule today, I only have cross-training.  My first run since No-freaking-vember is tomorrow.  It is only a 2 mile run, but it has hill repeats worked into it.

As for my cross-training workout today, I'm going to do an at-home circuit like this, but with some modifications.  I think I'm going to modify it by doing 30 seconds of cardio between each strength move instead of saving all the cardio for the end.  I also plan on taking the pooches for a nice long walk after work.  It's supposed to be almost 50 degrees here today!  Whaaaattt?!

And since it is a Monday, it's time to link up with Carolyn and create some goals for the week.

{ONE}
Complete all of my scheduled runs and workouts for the week.  Here is what my week looks like:

M:  Cross-Training

T: 2mi run with hill repeats

W: 3mi run & strength

R: Rest (but I will probably at least walk the dogs, and stretch, a lot.)

F: 2.5 mi pace run

S: 5mi run

S: Stretching & Strength

{TWO}
Track everything I eat.  You can follow me on MFP, if you'd like.

{THREE}
Take measurements and photos.
I decided today to start taking weekly measurements and photos.  Once I start making some progress, I think the having this information will be very motivational and inspiring.

Make sure you link up with Carolyn too to share YOUR goals!!