And then it was summer...

Today's run:
Couch to 5K Week Seven, Day Two


Aaaaand... that's about all the information I have for today's run.  Remember how last Thursday, I posted this entry about how great and philosophical my run was, and how I ended it feeling refreshed and renewed and proud of myself?  Take the opposite of that, add in some of this...

... and you have my run for the day.


My Garmin died about 10 minutes into the run, and since I was using my iPod shuffle and the Couch to 5K podcast, I really had no sense of time.  Normally, this would be no big deal, but it meant that I was flying solo in terms of walk breaks.  I decided to just "take them as needed," but let's be honest... I'm lazy and I let myself out of stuff too easily.  So I think I took an excessive amount of walk breaks and made them longer than they should have been.  I'm actually starting to worry a little bit about the walk breaks.  For one thing, I'm still working on getting over my mental block of "If I'm not running the whole time, how can I call myself a runner?!!!"  And for another, I'm starting to think I am letting myself off the hook with the walk breaks and that I could easily push myself to just run for the whole time straight... after all, I finished Couch to 5K as written back in 2009 when I was much heavier and much more out of shape.

On top of all the mental games I was torturing myself with during the run, Colorado apparently decided overnight that it was time for summer.  So when I went out for a run at 10:30 am expecting to be perfectly fine, I ended up getting pretty overheated.  Note to self: stop being a complete bum in the morning and go for your run earlier. 

But after all is said and done, it was just one run, and life as we know it did not come to a crashing halt.  So I guess when I turn into a big whiny baby and cry about how the world will end if I have a bad workout or (gasp!) miss a workout entirely, I am wrong.  Now I know how poor Harold Camping must feel.



So I'm getting over it.  I'll do better tomorrow.  I know I just have to keep on keeping on, and I don't know why I am struggling so much to just do it.  After all, by the 10th of June, I have to send my weight into my manager for the month, and as of now, I'm still two pounds too heavy.  So what do I do?  Have a crappy run, whine about it while sitting on the couch, and then eat my weight in fajitas for dinner.  Nice work, Jessica.

Does anyone else have mildly self destructive behavior?  Why is it that even when we know what's good for us, we won't do it?
I sometimes think I regress into a teenager and have to rebel against something for no good reason.  So when I think about how I need to buckle down, exercise hard, and eat right to get my weight back under control (and, more importantly, back to a place where I'm comfortable and happy in my own skin)... I don't do it.  I kick and scream and eat cake.  Please someone tell me I'm not the only one who does this.

Oh hai there Blogger... I can essplain...

Please forgive my absence - as I talked about here, long distance sucks.  But it sucks a lot less when my awesome boyfriend comes to visit, and so I tend to just drop everything and kiss him as much as is humanely possible for a few days.  It didn't leave a lot of time for blogging.  It also didn't leave a lot of time for working out, so... this was interesting today...

Today's workout (and the first one since my last post on Thursday!):
Powers Pairs x3 and section one of Beginner Yogilates
289 calories/49:04


Today's workout = um, YIKES.  I got about halfway through Power Pairs and thought I was going to die, but I made myself finish getting through it three times.  This is why taking several days off of exercise and clean eating is not a good idea.  Some day I will remember that.  But I got distracted by Grizzly Adams here...


A far more accurate depiction of our actual personalities.  Please just ignore the hair in these pictures - we both could use a haircut.  And you know... maybe a brush.


But he had to leave this morning (insert lots of crying and whining and sad faces here) so it was back to work for me.  I ordered Yogilates last week on an impulse, and decided to try it today.  It's split into three  different sections, and I was so wiped out from Power Pairs that I only made it through the first section, but so far I like it.  It is very beginner though, so I may need to move up to the intermediate version soon, and use the beginner one for off days.  If I get my mojo back in full force this week (please, please, please) then I may do a review of the whole DVD.  But I suppose I should ask...

Are any of my five wonderful readers interested in workout DVD reviews? 
I'm a big DVD girl for exercise because I look scary when I work out and don't really want other people to see me that much.  Plus, I'm slightly intimidated by gyms, and I get bored and tend to take the easy way out when I'm completely on my own (i.e. just doing machines and such at gyms) - classes and DVDs where someone is telling me what to do work well for me.  It's hard enough for me to make myself exercise, if I have to think on top of exercising, I'm out.  

That's about all I've got for today.  I would love to tell you all about the fun adventures that David and I went on during his visit, but mostly we just spent a lot of time cuddling and telling each other how much we'd miss one another.  We're that gross couple that no one likes, really.

I just earned me some Beau Jo's, darnit.

Today's run:
Couch to 5K Week Seven, Day One
2.57 miles/34:10

This is just a quickie because I have a lunch date with my handsome feller at one of my favorite addictions in the world: Beau Jo's.  If you don't live in Colorado, I'm sorry, because you are missing some of the best, most doughy and delightful pizza you could ever imagine.

Add in my cute boyfriend and you pretty much have perfection.  Well... and cake.  Obviously.


But I wanted to make a quick post because I had some seriously deep thoughts in my run today, kids.  It was like a philosophy class in my noggin.  What happened (and this will explain my slower pace) is that I have decided to officially adopt the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run method.  I think part of the reason that I have been stressing about running, and why I ditched my run on Tuesday completely, is because I am intimidated by running long periods of time without stopping.  I know it's silly because I've done it before, when I was heavier and more out of shape, but what I realized in the middle of my run was that thinking is actually the problem, not the long periods of running!

Okay, I'm not sure that made sense.  Let's try this again.  I realized today that yes, I am intimidated by running longer periods of time without stopping.  Part of the reason I love Couch to 5K is that it works in intervals - run for a set period of time, then walk for a set period of time, and repeat.  But now, it's late enough in the program that I'm supposed to be running for 25 straight minutes.  While it isn't too terribly long, I know that I get bored and winded and cranky if I run that long because I insist on pushing myself.  So why not just add walking intervals and be done with it?  Because I sit there and think "Jessica, you're dumb, you've run 25 minutes straight before.  You've run much longer than that before!  Why are you being such a baby about it?"  Um, excuse me, voices-in-my-head... but that's mean.

And that's when it hit me.  It IS mean, and I would never speak that way to anyone else, so why am I doing it to myself?  Isn't my running supposed to be about me, and for me?  Let's face facts here, kids, I get excited when I can maintain an 11 minute mile.  I ain't winning any races anytime soon, unless nobody else shows up.  And that's completely okay.  I came to terms with the fact that I am not destined to be a marathon winner a long time ago.  But for some reason, I let that affect my self image.  The truth is, I don't want to run a million marathons and win them all!  Even if I felt like my body could withstand that, it would mean a lot more training than I want to do.  I don't even like running every day... I like running every other day and shaking my groove thang with Chalene on my off days.  But does that make me less of a runner?  I used to think it did, but I'm over that mentality.

So, my big realization of the day?  

I am a runner!

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that philosophical of a discussion going on up there.  But like I said in my "speak da troof" about body image... I'm working on it, and that's the best any of us can do.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be a good date and wash the sunscreen and dirt off my face before I shove pizza into it.  

Hey la, hey la, my boyfriend's back!

Today's workout:
182 calories/25:59 


I GOT TO SEE DAVID TODAY!

It was a lot like this.  Only without the thug to the left.


A little backstory on us to explain why I was so excited to see him... David and I met through a mutual friend (read: were pushed into social situations together repeatedly by my awesome friend Joan who knew we both liked each other) in college.  We started dating in August of 2009, and were together from then until May 2010... when things got complicated.  First, we were apart (but still in a relationship) for a month, and then spent a couple more months in the same place again until I went back to Florida to be a Jungle Cruise Skipper in August 2010... and yes, I was away from him for our one year anniversary and felt terrible, but he arranged for an awesome surprise for me that made it much more bearable.  So, from August 2010 to January 2011, we were living in separate states.  Then I finally came home, and we had a few more weeks together before he left the state again.  So we've been back in a long distance relationship for about 4 months now, and unfortunately, we'll be staying that way until March 2012.  Oy.  By the time we celebrate our two year anniversary this August (I can't believe how fast that is coming up), we'll have spent more of our relationship apart than together.

Anyway, THAT is why I am so thrilled that I got to see him today!  He actually got here last night, but because of all the late night tech rehearsals for Godspell, I couldn't see him until this morning.  I did force myself into doing my workout this morning anyway because I made the promise to do Power Pairs three days a week, and I'm sticking to it!  I was proud of that, but it was a little rough.  I always think I can exercise on an empty stomach and it simply doesn't work for me.  I did have some Cytomax, but it wasn't enough.  I only did the circuit twice, and I didn't do any extra ab work.  But honestly, I'm just so proud that I did the workout at all.  It's hard sacrificing the time with D-Money since I only get him for a few days at a time.  Pity, party of one, your table is now ready...

And funny enough, as I was about to write this, I started thinking maybe I'd leave out any information about my workout because I was feeling so crappy about it... and I jumped over to Hungry Runner Girl, and of course Janae has posted a fantastic entry about getting over a bad workout.  I am constantly amazed at how interconnected we all are.  Janae has no idea who I am (despite the fact that I stalk her blog 50 times a day), but if I decided to contact her, I would already have something in common with her - "You have terrible workouts?  Oh, please, I have THE WORST workouts!"  I am often very grateful to other bloggers, simply because it's nice to know I'm not alone when I have horrendous workouts and hit the wall 5 minutes in.

But I digress.  Once I'd finished my workout, shoved a banana in my face, showered, and made myself presentable, I drove over to meet him and we had a really lovely day.  Breakfast at one of our favorite places (LE PEEP!) and then just hanging around.  We did go to another favorite spot later in the day - the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse.  It's an absolutely gorgeous teahouse, with hand-carved and hand-painted detailing.  I got jealous when another girl was taking pictures and then started fussing about how I'm a terrible blogger because I never remember my camera.  Good old David looks at me like I'm slightly crazy (which I am, so it's reasonable) and reminds me that I have a phone that takes pretty decent pictures.  So I stopped whining.  At least about that.  I never really stop whining, please.



Diggity-D-Dawg enjoying some chai.

He wanted to be in the picture with my sparkling tea - this stuff is the best.  I swear they put drugs in it, but they assure me it's only Sprite, lemonade, and iced tea.  I don't know what made it bright pink today, but I was okay with it.


Then we walked around the farmer's market, and snagged some dumplings...

This, but add spicy peanut sauce.  So.  Darn.  Good.


And then I was lame and left him to go to rehearsal.  Boo.  But I'm going to get up and go for my run in the morning, and then stalk him again tomorrow.  As much as long distance sucks (and it really, REALLY sucks sometimes)... it's so awesome when you get to see the other person again that it almost makes up for it.

That being said, I am really excited to live in the same state as that cute boy again.  After all, for option number seven on "How to overcome an awful workout," Janae said "Kiss a hottie.  That makes everything better and you will forget all about your bad workout."

I'd say it worked :)

Triple Tangent Tuesday (it's still Tuesday on the west coast!)

I'm pretending that I live in California and using the last 21 minutes of Tuesday to finally join Janae in a Triple Tangent Tuesday!  And yes, I am delusional enough to believe that I am "joining" her, like she has the time or patience to read through the blogs of her 1622 followers.  Yes, I just checked how many followers she has.  And that is nuts.  I'm not sure I've met 1622 people in my entire lifetime, so I'm super impressed by her.  If you don't follow her, go and follow her now... she's adorable and funny and her posts about her love of candy make me feel less alone in my sugar coated world.

Aaaaanyway... every Tuesday she does "Triple Tangent Tuesday" where she explains three little facts about herself on her blog so that her readers can get to know her.  So, since I am still pretty new to the blog game and now am lucky enough to have some followers who don't know me personally (you better believe David was my first follower), I thought I should share some shtuff about myself!  You know, since I haven't painted the nicest picture with my dirty hair and my addiction to cake.  And since I blew off my run and have no exercise to blog about today, unless you count running up and down the stairs of my house because I kept forgetting stuff I needed...

So here we go, my very first Triple Tangent Tuesday!

1.  I love ducks.  A whole lot.  When I was working full time in Disney World, there were ducks everywhere... there was even a boy and girl duck couple that would walk through one of the break areas.  Of course I called them Donald and Daisy because I am super original and not lame at all.  Ducks are one of the things I miss most about Florida.


Just try and tell me that you don't want to snuggle the heck out of those fuzzy ducklings.  I know you're lying if you say you don't.


2.  Speaking of Florida (I don't stop talking about Disney World once I get started)... before I worked as a Skipper on the Jungle Cruise, I worked at the bakery and ice cream shop on Main Street U.S.A.  Despite getting ice cream in my hair a lot and looking like a goof in the costume, it was a fantastic job.  I was around baked goods constantly, which, though not conducive to a healthy lifestyle, was amazing.  And though I still don't understand it, guys hit on me a lot in that costume.  And by guys I mean middle aged men.

So insanely attractive.


3.  I was on the drumline for my school's marching band in college.  I played the bass drum, and was with them for two years before I had other things to focus on.  I'm not sure how gorgeous I looked in the band uniform, but there was nothing like being one of the few girls on a predominantly male drumline to make me feel badass.  I thought I was super hardcore.  I still have my jacket that says my name on the front and "CU Drumline" on the back.

In this picture, I'm the second smallest bass drum - second from the right.



Plus, the band partied all the time and had pretty spectacular party traditions.  So not only did I feel like a hardcore BAMF, but I got to do stuff like this...

That's me wrestling in Jello, kids.  I am a class act and always have been.

Movement is a blessing.

Today's workouts:
Turbo Fire - Fire 30 and Stretch 10
321 calories/32:34

Power Pairs x3 and Ab Burner on Nike Training Club app
378 calories/50:23


This weekend was really hard on me.  It started with unnecessary, hurtful drama from coworkers made worse by zero support from my useless excuse for a manager... and ended with unnecessary, hurtful drama from other people in my life that, though probably not intended as malicious, ended up causing a lot of stress and pain for me.  Oh, and Godspell opens on Friday.  Definitely no stress there.

So when I woke up this morning, I was so insanely grateful it was Monday, and that the weekend was over (that's not a good sign, really...), and then I got smacked in the face with more stress.  Essentially, I lost it, and to quote Julie and Julia... "I cried like a small, emotionally disturbed child."  It was super glamorous.  And to be honest, I wanted a whole lot more of this...


than this...



And then I actually started my workout.  And my whole attitude changed.  I was so incredibly grateful to be able to do that workout.  I pushed myself hard because I knew I could, and how fantastic is it to know you can push yourself?  To know that your body is strong and that you are capable of whatever you've set your mind to.  I took all of the pain and stress of the past few days and used it as energy.  With every punch and kick, I felt it leave my body.  When it was hard, I talked myself through it, because I knew how badly I needed it.  And when it was all said and done, I felt so much better.  I think I successfully sweat out all the negativity I had in me.




The truth is, I try not to take exercise and eating all that seriously most of the time - I'll skip workouts and  eat cake and it's okay with me.  But sometimes I think we all forget what a profound blessing it is to simply be able to move!  Running is a gift, Turbo Fire is a gift, whatever activity you love is an absolute gift.  And I feel silly because I'm honestly getting all emotional writing this, but it was such a wakeup call for me today.  Sure, it was grueling, and part of wanted to whine the entire time about how hard it was and how sweat was dripping off my nose and I can't stand it when sweat drips off my stupid nose... but I was practically having a panic attack and 30 minutes of Turbo Fire later, I was smiling.  I won't go so far as to say it was a miracle (that cupcake up there is the true miracle), but I will take a moment to say thank you to my body for being able to do that for me.

I hope you all felt blessed with your own movement today, and if not, then maybe tomorrow!  Or... just bless yourself with the miracle of cake.

Back to being the laziest human.

Today's "workout":
Super leisurely walk with my Mommy
1:34 mi

Today was technically a rest day, so I had no workout planned, but it turned into a beautiful day outside, so I went on a really lovely walk with my mom.  It was great to just be outside in the sunshine... I'm glad that it's finally turning into summer around here.

That was pretty much it for the day, to be honest.  You thought I couldn't get any more boring, didn't you?  That's adorable.  Don't tempt me... I can always get more boring. 

But in lieu of sharing with you all of the exciting details about the games that I played on my iPhone today, I'll make a shout out for Lisa's giveaway!  Considering she's one of my now five followers (because Stephanie took pity on me and joined in on the fun!) and D-Dog is probably not interested in a brand new Bic Band (I think he'd look super cute in the red sparkly one, though), I'm not sure this little shout out will garner much attention for Lisa.  But I tried!  And it's a cool giveaway, so check it out!  I'm now dreaming of Bic Bands because I see them everywhere (read: I stalk Skinny Runner's pictures like I'm her paparazzi), and I've decided that if I don't win Lisa's giveaway for one, I will be buying myself a few as my reward for finishing Couch to 5K in a couple weeks.  Oh, let's be honest, I'll buy myself 10.  

Speaking of things I MUST HAVE since I'm now a serious runner (stop laughing)... I've decided that I need The Stick.


And by "I've decided I need The Stick," I really mean "My hamstrings have decided to mutiny and wage war against me until they get what they want."  And I am powerless against them so clearly I need a big stick to fight back.  Me woman.  Hear roar.


But of course, if I'm treating my hamstrings better (read: doing anything at all to make them less hateful), I'm sure my calves and shins will get super jealous, so I think it's also time to splurge on a pair of these bad boys.

Especially since I don't look like enough of a spaz when I'm running already... let's add some compression sleeves that make my calves look like enormous highlighters.  I can feel David right now thinking, "Why do I find Jessica attractive...?"


Okay, last thing, and I promise it's not a Glamour Shot of yours truly.  It's one of those days where you look in the mirror and go "When was the last time I cut my hair?!!" because it looks so ridiculous.   ANYWAY... (do I even have the ability to stay on topic?)... I also am really interested in trying these new fancy schmancy suckers.

Today's blog post is brought to you by the color red.


I'm still trying to decide if I love them or think they're crazy, but either way, I'm really tempted by them.  I know I overpronate and I know I need stability shoes and I know that I would be risking injury... but wahhhhhh, I want them!!

Super pretty whiny face.  Just ignore the hair.


Really, it's just that I get bored on rest days and want to go shopping.  And this is my second day of tracking everything I eat and staying within my daily Points Plus target, so since I don't want to mindlessly snack and ruin my progress, I'll just mindlessly spend money and ruin my bank account.  Totally acceptable trade off, right?  

... right?

Today's blog post brought to you by the first time I've washed my hair in a week!

I didn't say it was pretty... just that it was clean.  And yes, that is the best title I could come up with.

Today's run:
Couch to 5K Week Six, Day Three (extended edition!)
2.94 miles/41:10

I went on an exciting adventure today... I went for a trail run!  Yeehaw!  I decided that since I was seeing today as a fresh start and a clean slate, that I ought to do something to commemorate the occasion.  Plus, I wanted to see if running on some nice dirt would be a little more kind to my joints... the jury is still out on that one since my knees and right ankle are not thrilled right now.  I also ended up going a little further accidentally, but it was great because I almost got to 3.1 miles, so I've got some idea now of a realistic time goal to try for when I run a 5K again!  All of that aside... it was kind of a tough run (there seems to be a trend developing here...) and I admit that I didn't follow the plan for the day exactly. According to the Couch to 5K program, today was: "Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 25 minutes) with no walking."  Yeeeeeah... about that.  The body said no. 

I just started reading Jeff Galloway's Half-Marathon: You Can Do It last night and he swears by his "run-walk-run" method, where you take planned walk breaks during your runs.  He has recommended running and walking splits based on pace, and according to what I am tending to run these days, he recommends running for three minutes and then walking for one.  So when I started to get tired and unhappy in my run today, I just started taking walk breaks.  Sometimes I followed the intervals that he suggested, and sometimes I just went with how I felt.  It may have been "breaking the rules" of the Couch to 5K program, but I have to admit that it honestly felt freeing.  I was giving myself permission to do what I needed to do for my body regardless of the program.  And I think the run-walk-run method is really going to work for me, so I'm planning on incorporating it into my training.  Galloway swears that you can get all the endurance benefits of your runs and cut your chances of injury by including walk breaks... and he's pretty good at this whole running thang, so I'll take his advice.

Highly recommend!  It's also the only reading material I have the brainpower for right now.  Well... that and my old Nate the Great books.  Did anybody else read Nate the Great?  Totally off topic, but they were kind of the bomb.  Any boy who loves pancakes is my kind of boy.



In other news, my fabulous package from Mission Skincare arrived a few days ago, and since the sun decided to grace us with its presence today, I actually got to put it to good use!  I tried the Rejuvenating Face Moisturizer Lotion with SPF 30 pre-run, and post-run, I used the Refreshing Foot Therapy Cream. So far I'm really enjoying the Mission products.  I love that they are cruelty free, and they really are good products.  I'm picky about face sunscreen, but I'm also super protective of my skin, so I use sunscreen every day.  This one was great and didn't smell all sunscreen-y.  The foot cream also smelled really lovely - I'm not sure if it "protected, revived, and refreshed" my feet as promised, but it smelled nice and rubbing it into my sore feet immediately after my run did feel pretty great!  Now I just have to rope D-Money into doing it for me when he visits this week...

Really, I just like bringing David up so I can show off all the adorable pictures of us in Disney.  Do you like how we're in two different climates here?  I need a lot of layers to hang out with this boy.



I would recommend the Mission line to anyone who has thought about it - I am really impressed so far, and the prices are reasonable for good quality skin and sun care.  Plus, they donate quite a bit to charity, so your money is going to good use.  That being said, I may do a wee little Mission giveaway if I can hit double digits of my followers!  And yes, that is a shameless attempt at getting more people to read my blog.  Forgive me.  I was in marching band in high school, I need to be popular someday.

In other news, I weighed in for the first time in two weeks this morning... oh boy.  Apparently when I fell off the wagon, I also ate one of the horses driving it, because I managed to gain four pounds.  In case you're wondering, yes, that does put me well over my goal weight and unless I can get that weight off in the next two weeks, yes, that does put my job in jeopardy.  Fiiiiiine.  I'm back to tracking my points and eating my vegetables.  And I'll hide my new friends...


... hide them in my BELLY!  HA!

Boring, party of one, your table is now ready.

Today's workout:
Power Pairs (three times through circuit), Ab Burner on Nike Training Club app
347 calories/53:23

This is not destined to be the most thrilling of all blog entries.  Forgive me.  If you actually have the patience to read my blog regularly, you'll probably learn that I'm not a super exciting person.  Weird, yes.  Snarky, yes.  Exciting?  Ehhhhhh.

As you may be able to tell from my workout updates, I've fallen off the Turbo Fire bandwagon.  And by that I mean... I jumped off.  Willingly.  The whole 5 Day Inferno thing really wasn't working out for me... as much as I love feeling completely compromised and exhausted from my exercise, and freaking out the entire cast of my show by nearly blacking out in rehearsal... I decided maybe the madness needed to stop.  Plus, I knew the only reason that I was doing the 5 Day Inferno was so I could lose some quick pounds and inches before Godspell opens, and truth be told, that goes against how I feel about weight loss.  I try to ignore it sometimes because it's irritating, but Weight Watchers really has taught me that healthy, sustainable, and slow weight loss is really the best plan.  So I'm slightly chubby for Godspell... who cares?  As long as I hit the notes (please?) then I should be okay.

Shameless self promotion.


I've also decided to take a little breather on Turbo Fire to figure out exactly how it's going to fit into my schedule.  I have really enjoyed the workouts and I do want to increase the amount of cardio I'm doing, but first and foremost, I want to successfully complete my half marathon training.  I committed to that before I committed to Turbo Fire, and in the long run, it's more important to me.  And since I'd like to run my first half marathon injury-free, I know I need to be careful about overtraining... and Turbo Fire could definitely cause some of that.  I'm still figuring it out.  

In the meantime, I have decided through all of my logical reasoning (read: whining about it incessantly to anyone who will even pretend to listen) that the reason I've been feeling and looking all mushy and pudgy is because I went from constant strength training (good ol' P90X) to pretty much no strength training.  Yup.  That's the reason. 

These have nothing to do with it.

Neither do these.

Or this.  That's a single serving, right?


Regardless of my newfound love for binge eating (delightful), I do think that I have been missing strength training.  So I'm making a commitment, and hoping that posting it here where a whole five people might read it will keep me accountable: I will do the Power Pairs workout three times a week for the next four weeks... so until June 17th.  In addition, I will do some sort of ab routine on those days, whether it's the Ab Burner workout from the NTC app (which is AWESOME, if you have an iPhone, go download it right now), Ab Ripper X from P90X, or something else entirely.  It may mean busting out my VHS of 8 Minute Abs.  

I think a four week commitment is long enough to get some results and make strength training a stable part of my routine again, but short enough so that I can keep my eye on a goal and not get frustrated.  I'm looking at tomorrow as kind of a fresh start, and am going to take some measurements and work on cleaning up my eating this week.

Okay, I know... snoozeville.  I will stop being boring as soon as I announce that I lead my very first Weight Watchers meeting this morning!  I have been nervous about it for pretty much the entire week, but it went so smoothly.  The members were delightful - so nice and so accepting of me, even though I'm replacing a long-time leader at that meeting.  And the two receptionists were absolute lifesavers.  They quickly realized that I essentially have no idea what I'm doing and were very patient with me.  I'm actually excited to lead this meeting again next week, and to see the members progress!  I feel more comfortable now that it's "my" meeting and I'm not in training or subbing.  I absolutely cannot wait to help these members - I think it's going to be a great meeting.  

Dreams come true, kids... dreams come true!

Why am I wearing fleece in May?!

Ahem.  I swear I got off my couch and out of my sweatpants this week.  But my laptop is so heavy, blogging was impossible.  Okay... so I'm lazy.  Here.  Evidence.

Tuesday's run:
Couch to 5K Week Six, Day One
2.39 miles/33:16

Tuesday's Turbo Fire workout:
HIIT 20
178 calories/21:03

Today's run:
Couch to 5K Week Six, Day Two
2.41 miles/31:53

Okay, you say.  You've been working out.  Congratulations, you're not the laziest human ever.  Buuuuut... have you washed your hair?

Unimportant detail.


What can I say about my runs this week?  Well, for starters, they've been REALLY FREAKING COLD!  Someone forgot to inform Colorado that it's May, and that while it's allowed to be a total jerk during the winter with snow and single digit temperatures, it is supposed to be nice by summer.  But is it?  No.  When I went out for my run today, not only was it grey, dreary, and misting (no pictures of today's run because all you would have seen was frizz), but it was 41 degrees outside.  Um.  Last I checked, 41 was not enough degrees.  Especially since it was almost noon.

That being said, both runs were actually pretty good.  On Tuesday, I backed off on my pace because I was feeling pretty sore from Fire 55 Not-So-EZ on Monday.  I was not exactly speedy today either, and my legs were just unhappy.  I think part of it is the weather... I've been a little down in the dumps because of the lack of sunshine, and I think it's starting to affect me physically.  But supposedly the sun will make a triumphant return on Saturday, so fingers crossed!

Today's run was actually really good for me mentally.  All morning, I was making every excuse I could to not go out... I spent a good 20 minutes whining about how I didn't want to ruin my iPod by taking it out in the rain and I could not bear to run without music!  The humanity!  But I finally decided to suck it up and just go.  Here is where I really want to tell you that it was a fabulous run and I did seven minute miles and the heavens smiled upon me.  But they keep telling me that lying is a sin.  Really, it was a hard run - my legs felt heavy and sore only a few minutes in and the misty rain combined with a cold wind made for icy hands and ears (insert rant about how regretting running without gloves in May is ABSURD).  

I got through the run because of two mantras... the first was "You are stronger than the elements."  This really helped when the wind nearly blew off my earbuds and my ears started tingling.  At one point during my run, at the top of a bridge, I actually threw both arms up in the hair and yelled "I am stronger than the elements!"  Well, yelled might be an exaggeration since I was wheezing at the time.  But I digress.  The second was a Chalene line from Turbo Fire that I've actually been using as a mantra for a few days now: "Guess what?  You're not tired!"  She says this a lot in Turbo Fire.  She also will say "You're not tired - you are getting your second wind," which I used a few times today as well.  Chalene is big on the idea that you will believe anything you tell yourself.  This is something I am constantly working on, but even if telling myself that I'm not tired doesn't always do the trick, hearing her positive voice in my head does help.  She's my new bestie.  I might stalk her.



Okay, this post has been way too much talk and not enough awkward pictures.  I promise that will change tomorrow, and I promise that I will actually update tomorrow for a fun new change!  Until then, I will sit quietly and devour my newfound love...



... ironically enough, I lead my very first Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow morning.  I will not be mentioning them, even though the topic is breakfast, and these are clearly the breakfast of champions. 

Don't judge me.

EZ my hiney.

Today's Turbo Fire workout:
Fire 55 EZ
1:02:19

This really is shaping up to be my least favorite workout in the whole Turbo Fire system.  It's just SO DARN LONG.  I got used to working out for an hour or more 6 days a week with P90X, but with the resistance workouts in P90X (and most of them are resistance workouts), there is a good amount of downtime.  Not true in Turbo Fire - in that hour, you're pretty much busting it every minute.  And by the end, I kind of wonder if I'm really getting anything out of it or just banging my head against a wall.  But I got through it and I'm glad - nearly 600 calories torched.  Yeehaw!

So today was my official start of the 5 Day Inferno Plan, and my official realization of "Hey, following this nutrition plan might prove to be somewhat suicidal."  I followed it almost exactly for the first two meals - I say "almost" because I don't believe you can call a breakfast sandwich a breakfast sandwich if there ain't no cheese on it.  But somehow I don't think my Weight Watchers cheese slice will kill me.  I do have a few problems with the nutrition plan, though - it's a 1,200 calories-a-day plan, which sounds like plenty except that I burned 582 calories with my workout today.  Considering my breakfast was only about 400 calories, I was completely running on fumes by the end of the workout, so no wonder I felt wiped out... plus, I almost passed out tonight at rehearsal for Godspell, which I believe was a desperate cry for calories from my body.  So I gave it cookie dough.

The other problem is that each day includes a Shakeology shake, something I do not own and kind of waver on.  I have thought seriously about buying Shakeology, because I love smoothies, and I like things that make it easier for me to be healthy so that I don't have to think about it.  I suck at thinking.  But good ol' Beachbody ain't free.  A bag of Shakeology costs $120, and has about 30 servings in it, so each shake is about $4.  Sure, it's cheaper than a meal out and comparable to my beloved Starbucks soy Chai, but I guess I'm not convinced enough of its miraculous abilities to really be willing to cough up that amount of money.  Maybe when I'm rich and famous I'll be to Shakeology what Madonna was to Kabbalah.



I still didn't take my before pictures today... oops.  I wanted to have my mom take them because I fail at using the self timer, but she's the only person I'm willing to pose for wearing a bikini.  My poor mom.  Our schedules didn't line up though, so no pictures.  I think it will work out all right in the end - I have a feeling I'll be as pale tomorrow as I am today.

Since I have no glamorous photos of myself to round out the awkwardness of this post, I will instead show you the woman that keeps me going in the Turbo Fire workouts.  Well, besides Chalene, who is adorably positive and bubbly.  She tells me over and over again that I'm not tired... I am working on listening.  But this is her friend and fitness buddy Monica...

How absurdly cute is this girl?!

And yes, these are pictures of my TV.  I am a creeper.


Please notice that Monica is super fit - look at her arms in that top picture!  I wish I could have snapped a picture of her abs though, because they are ridiculous.  And they are especially ridiculous because Monica has had triplets.  Um.  Her stomach is flatter and sexier than mine and I haven't had any of them there chillen.  

So when I turn into a wuss in the middle of a workout, I look at her.


Okay... I can't leave you without at least a few shots of my beautiful face.  Mostly because I showered today and want to show off my clean hair before I get it all sweaty tomorrow.  And probably leave it that way until Sunday.  Erm.

Stoned.

Waving... goodnight, lovelies!

Dessert of champions.


 +
 +


=

My bones better be damn near unbreakable.

I really love my Garmin.

Today's run:
Couch to 5K Week Five, Day Three
2.3 miles/29:03


I'm still working on getting all caught up on my runs and workouts for the past week, but diving back in anyway.  Today's run went really well, which was kind of surprising given the circumstances.  See, someone forgot to tell the state of Colorado that it's MAY and SUMMER and that it should be WARM.  Colorado is apparently under the impression that it is still FEBRUARY and WINTER and that it should be FREEZE-YOUR-TOOKUS-OFF-COLD.  Right before I got out of my car to go on my run (and yes, I drive to a gloriously flat path for my runs now instead of wheezing up the hills of my neighborhood), I checked my phone to see the temperature.  It said 39 degrees.  Read it again, and recognize that it is May 15th, kids: 39 degrees and foggy, with misty rain.  Um.  Yeah.  Let's just say it wasn't the most comfortable running weather of all time.  It did make for some gorgeous pictures though...




Baby geese!  I got to this little park right at the end of my run - this was a nice surprise.

The bitter goose in the forefront was not a nice surprise - he tried to attack me for taking pictures.  I hereby dub him Britney Spears.


Despite the cold weather and the fact that I spaced bringing water or Cytomax with me on the run (never again will I run without Cytomax - it is my homeslice), I was so insanely proud of this run.  For today's run, following the Couch to 5K plan, I did a 5 minute warm up and a 5 minute cool down with a 20 minute solid run between.  YEAH BABY!  I was a little nervous, mostly because as much as I hate to admit it, I sometimes get bored with running.  But it went really well!  And I'm thrilled with my pace - in the 20 minutes, I ran about 1.8 miles, which means I am getting dangerously close to running a 10 minute mile and it doesn't feel super hard!  That is crazy awesome to me, and I'm so excited to keep working on my speed.

Now... I admit I have a confession to make.  Don't tell David, but there's a new relationship in my life, one that has gotten very serious and physically intimate so quickly I barely even realized it was happening.  The truth is... we went to bed together... and I just had to tell someone...

... I wish I was kidding.


Shockingly, when I couldn't find my Garmin for my run on Friday, I never thought to myself, "I wonder if it's tangled up in my bed?"  Yup, that's right everyone... I slept with my Garmin for several nights.  It's love, it's real and it's deep.

Poor David, the jealousy must be killing him.  That's his blanket that the Garmin has been lounging in after each sweaty rendezvous.  Shameful.

In other news having nothing to do with my new GPS lovaaah, I've decided to have a little "do over" and restart Turbo Fire tomorrow.  I realized today that I'd done almost two weeks of Turbo Fire workouts along with my running and honestly, I hadn't noticed a single change in my body.  But then, I also realized that I hadn't actually taken before pictures or measurements so I really had no accurate way of knowing if there had been changes.  Oops.  So I'm starting over tomorrow and taking my before pictures and my before measurements like a good little Beachbody addict.  I'm also going to follow the 5 Day Inferno Plan that says I can "get hot for the weekend."  Yowza.  I'm not exactly 100% on what that means, but hey, I'll play.  I'm even following the nutrition plan for the five days, and went grocery shopping today for everything I'll need.  It's going to be a little rough because it combines long Turbo Fire workouts every day with a 1,200 calorie diet, but we'll see!  Depending on how terrifyingly pale I look in the before pictures, I might post them tomorrow.  Avert your eyes now.

And... just in case you've been looking at too many of the pictures in this blog...

I really do own makeup.  And a hairbrush.  And jewelry.  I mean, it's just that one necklace, but that's enough, right?