Schaumburg Half Marathon

The day finally came and went. I started a training program 11 weeks ago for the goal I had myself at New Years. I've started this last year, instead of a New Years resolution, I made a New Years goal in which I have all year to accomplish. For 2012, it was the half marathon.

I did really well on the training program for about 7 weeks. I was making all my runs and cross-train days, but I started assistant coaching freshman basketball and that really took over my time after school. My training started to slack because I typically don't get home until after 7:00 pm, by which time we have dinner and it's too dark for me to go running outside. As yesterday approached, I wasn't too concerned. I knew I could finish and I was up to 8.5 miles of non-stop running in my training. Yesterday I made it up to about 9.5 before I took my first walk for about 30 seconds. Overall, I walked less than 1/2 mile throughout the entire 13.1 miles. I was pretty impressed with myself.

I was pumped and ready to go. I was a little nervous on Friday, but Saturday I felt great. Friday night I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and bought a brand new running outfit. I've wanted compression pants for a long time but didn't want to drop the money on them. I was lucky to find both Nike compression pants and a Nike compression top for only $70 with all the Black Friday sales/coupons. For $70, I had to get both and I'm glad I did. They were the keep warm kind also, which was perfect since it was only 25 degrees during the race. At 9:15 am, off I went. Well, really it was 9:25 am by the time I crossed the starting line. I had set a light goal for myself. I say light goal, because realistically, my goal was to finish a half marathon this year. However, throughout training I was keeping a good pace on long runs at 11:00 min/miles and was hoping to be consistent with that during the race. It's amazing how different it is from short runs. At first I was down on myself for training at such a slow pace for myself when I can run a 5k with a 9-9:30 min/mile. Obviously, keeping pace for 13 miles is much different than 3 miles and I eventually got over it. So, at 11:00 min/miles for 13.1 miles it should have taken 144.1 minutes which is 2 hours and 24 minutes. My official race time was 2 hours and 29 minutes (17 seconds), so about a 11:24 min/mile. I placed 1424 out of 1647 runners, and 115th out of 150 in my age group (Female 25-29). I was a bit on the slower side but I'm okay with that! I did my absolute best and I am sure feeling that today.

Up until around mile 9 I was doing great and felt great. Towards the end, my hip flexors really began to hurt. My aunt had suggested it was because I was taking the same sort of step, or running the same way for so long, so we quickly walked using a long stride and sort of swinging my hips in a different motion to open them up and move them differently. That was the only thing that had bothered me throughout the entire race, but boy was it painful! That was during mile 11 that I finally stretched them out because I wanted to finish strong, which I did. I picked up my pace and sprinted (or at least what felt like sprinting after 2 1/2 hours of running) through the finish line to pick up my finishers medal.

Kristian felt really bad that he couldn't be there to support me, however, in my absentmindedness, I registered for the race during his annual family trip up to deer camp. I was totally okay with it though, he felt worse than he needed too. It worked out well, I took the dogs and stayed at my uncle's house which is a bit closer to the race than where I live. I drove to my co-workers house, which is like 2 miles from the starting line and she and her boyfriend dropped me off and picked me up. It was great! Didn't have to fight parking or anything. I really appreciated that.

What really helped me through was having my Aunt Teri there to help pace me throughout the race. She met me some time between mile 3 and 4 and jumped in to run with me. It was nice to chat with someone while running, it really made the time fly when she left me around mile 6. Then I was on my own again until she met up with me around mile 10. This time, my Uncle Larry was with her too, taking photos. He ran with us a bit, snapping photos but not for very long. He's a bike rider, not a runner. My aunt ran with me just until the finish line where she hopped out and let me finish in all my glory. I'm really glad she was there. Once I started hurting, if I was alone chances are I would have walked more and gotten down on myself, but I didn't. So a big "THANK YOU" to my aunt for being there and running with me.

I'm pretty sore today. My hips are okay, but my back, my thighs and the front of my feet hurt. Almost the ankle, but more towards the front, like the tendon that goes to your big toe. It's weird but that's where it hurts.
As I mentioned yesterday to those I was with, I have absolute no desire to run a full marathon. As I was closing in on the finish line yesterday, I told my aunt that there is no way I'd do 26.2 miles. She reminded me that I'd only be half way done. No way! I am proud of my 13.1 miles. If you ever hear me mentioning that I want to run a full marathon, please direct me to this blog post so I can remember the half marathon.

Half Marathon Training

I have been epically failing at blogging lately. My new job has me so tied up, in a good way, that I'm barely on the computer for personal use anymore. I absolutely love my new career as a high school teacher and am thrilled that all the people I work with are super supportive in helping me adapt. After four years of not working, this is definitely a breath of fresh air. I love getting involved and meeting new people. There is just something about walking down the hallway and hearing a student yell over people "Hi Mrs. Jagow!!" I am a lucky, lucky girl to have not only one job that I love and get to help people but TWO, between school and Weight Watchers.

In a post from the beginning of the year, I made it my new years resolution to run a half marathon. I am not a summer runner, in fact, I'm quite a sissy to the heat. On September 10th, I started training for a half marathon I am running on November 24th. It's an 11 week training program and here is where I am so far.



Week 1:
Monday: 3 m (33:33)(11:07)
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 3 m (34:13)(11:23)
Thursday: 3 m (33:05)(11:00)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 4 m (38:39)(9:35)
Sunday: 90 minute Bikram Yoga class

Week 2:
Monday: 3 m (31:19)(10:23)
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: (31:04)(10:18) Later in the evening I started to feel under the weather.
Thursday: 3 m (30:55)(10:17) Sick
Friday: 5 m (54:45) Sick. Didn't care how long it took as long as I finished and got in the miles.
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Fighting a nasty cold...took an extra rest day on cross train day.

Week 3:
Monday: 4 m (47:57)(11:57) Day I felt the worst. Again, just wanted to get in the miles and not skip a run.
Tuesday: Rest. Thank God.
Wednesday: 3 m (29:33)(9:50) First day I started feeling better. Obviously.
Thursday: 3 m (29:26)(9:48)
(Today) Friday: Rest
Saturday: Will complete 6 m run
Sunday: Cross - Likely a Bikram Yoga class.

Week 3 was really tough. I've been running inside on a treadmill since my cold hasn't fully gone away. It's a little easier on the respiratory system inside rather than outdoors which it's a bit cooler. Hopefully next week I can get back outside. Treadmill running is so boring, although since I'm running at school it is nice to have other people around while I'm running. My overall times are getting better, but I'm struggling to find a good pace that I can keep for 13.1 miles. If I make a goal of 120 minutes that would be a 9:16 mile. That seems like an unobtainable goal right now. Although, I think I can do better than 150 minutes which would average an 11:45 mile. Somewhere in between two and two and a half hours would be acceptable to me. It's my first half marathon and a really just want to finish. Any pace I have would be a personal best since it's my first one!

I recently purchased new running shoes and I love them!


They are the new Nike Vomero 7's and I hadn't realized how old my previous ones were. It was like getting new tires for your car. It was so much more comfortable! I also got a pair of inserts because I hadn't realized how high of arches I have. What a difference! Although yesterday I forgot socks and now I have some awesome blisters.

I'm pretty excited to continue training and increase my running endurance. It's almost time to start thinking about a new years resolution for 2013!

Post-Vacation

Last week, my husband and I decided, relatively last minute, to take a trip. I say relatively last minute because while we had planned for this time off we didn't really know where we were headed to. We were trying to decide between Memphis, New Orleans or Cabo. His first choice was New Orleans and my first choice was Memphis. Naturally, Memphis it was! We were off to celebrate his 31st birthday and my last week before the school year starts for first year teachers. Not to mention - we hadn't been on a vacation together since our honeymoon in Fiji almost 4 years ago!

Hello Beale Street!

My intentions were good. I packed us a bag of goodies for the 8 hour car ride to Tennessee, full of all my yummy Weight Watchers snacks.
First stop we made - Casey's General Store - for Slim Jim's and Apple Fritters, of course.

Whoops. 

We stopped in Sikeston, Missouri at Lambert's Cafe for lunch. It's a cute country restaurant that is known for their "Throwed Rolls" - literally - the roll guy comes out of the kitchen with hot rolls and throws them right to you. Put your hands up and you've shortly after got a hot roll nestled in between them.

Hot Buns!

Once we got to our hotel, which was facing Beale Street - we unpacked, rested a bit and then started our long weekend of living it up in the night life.

View from hotel - Beale Street - and right below is Silky O'Sullivans. That was our "go-to" place.

Each day started with lunch someplace, then a nap, followed by setting out for dinner around 6pm and returned back to the hotel sometimes between 3am-5am the next morning. I'll say, for 31, Kristian can sure hang with the best of them!

Because Beale Street is closed off and open containers are allowed we had a lot of these 32oz "Big Ass Beer" cups.    And one of these Hurricane drinks from Silky's ^
<------I even got a little bit more crazy and got a 100oz WalkMeDown drink from an outside bar.   
 At any rate, the food and drinks were plentiful. No surprise.

So much fun!

By Saturday afternoon, my body was hating me for what I had been doing to it for the past few days. Trying all these new foods and few drinks I'd consumed. Our hotel had a workout room - so I utilized that and ran on the treadmill for about 4.5 miles in addition to all the walking were were doing already. It reminded me how much I hate treadmills, but I knew I had to kick up my activity. Luckily, I have my awesome ActiveLink device that let's me know where my activity is for the day in relation to my activity goals.

Goodness I love this device!

 Once I got home and plugged it into the computer to see all my fancy graphs of activity, I found out I AVERAGED 102% of my daily goal!

Today was the dreaded weigh-in day. It's always stressful to weigh-in after a gluttonous vacation. I was curious to weigh-in on Sunday after we got back home but I knew it wouldn't be an accurate depiction of my actual weight so I waited until my regular weigh-in day of Wednesday morning.

To my surprise - I lost 1.7lbs over vacation.

WHA!?

It was the perfect mixture of extra activity and eating I suppose. This vacation was already guilt-free because I told myself before we left, "it's okay if I gain a little weight". I think it is very important to set that goal for yourself before you leave for vacation. What is your objective? Is it okay to gain a little weight because it's vacation and you know you will get right back on track once you get home? Do you just want to maintain your weight? Or do you want to lose? And what happens if you don't hit that objective or it isn't realistic? I knew I hadn't been on vacation in quite a while so gaining was okay for me, however, I still kept up with regular exercise and much more was added on since we walked everywhere and danced every night while we were out enjoying the live blues music.

This post would have taken a slightly difference direction had I gained over vacation - but it still would have been positive and I would still have been accountable for what I ate and drank. It was my choice and now I'm right back on track to my regular eating habits.

Warrior Dash!

This past Saturday was the Warrior Dash. I have been looking forward to this event since I registered in December for it. That's a long time to wait! This event is pretty epic. I am still ridiculously sore from it and I like to think I am in good shape. I used so many muscles that I did not even know I had. For those who don't know about the Warrior Dash, here is what is to expect...

The Warrior Dash is a 5k, but not an ordinary 5k where you run the entire thing. I can run a 5k in about 28 minutes, when in competitive mode. It took our group between 48-50 minutes to complete this 5k. It is full of obstacles, roughly 12-17 different kinds. There was a tight rope walk over what I think was a dried up stream, rock climbing walls, vertical and horizontal cargo net climbs, lots of crawling in/through dirt tunnels and under barbed wire, jumping over rusted out cars, sliding down mudslides into pools of mud, giant hills to run up and at the end, before wading in a small pond of mud, we leapt over two rows of fire. It was intense. Much more so than I had anticipated. You definitely have to be in some kind of shape to do this. There was a lot of jumping off obstacles. Kudos to my Aunt Teri, who recently had back AND knee surgery and she still completed it like nothing. It was amazing to see someone who just a few months ago was in a knee and back brace from surgery, jumping and climbing and crawling through these obstacles. She's a warrior, no doubt!

Aunt Teri and I before the race!

If you didn't take some caution throughout this race, you could seriously injure yourself. Two of the six of us in our group were bleeding by the end, and my knee is scratched up pretty good. We all survived to brag about it though, and we are getting pumped up for next year’s Warrior Dash! The obstacles change each year, my group said that last year there were different ones and about half of what there was this year, so I anticipate next year’s course! 

This is our group before and then after. The best is that Carrie, Maggie and Steve all wore white shirts and clearly you can see how dirty they are!

At one point, I think I had more mud in my mouth that actually on my body!

After the race, there was someone at the finish line giving out the medals. This was the first event that I've earned a medal! Yay! 

After the race, we hung out for a while at the festival that follows for a while. It was hot and I ended up getting pretty toasty! Once I got home, the first thing I did was shower. Twice! After the first shower, I was drying myself off and noticed there was STILL mud on me! So I hopped back in and re-washed again! After the second one, I was good to go. I drove over to my aunt’s house where we proceeded to  nice little restaurant, Brio, for appetizers and martinis and then met my uncle a little later at Adelle’s for dinner and more martinis. My aunt and I know how to treat ourselves after an event like that! 

I am still working on my Jillian Michaels’ 6 Week 6 Pack challenge. I just finished week 2 and wrote out my schedule for week 3 this morning. I hadn’t planned to take yesterday as a rest day, but I had too and after I woke up this morning, I decided I had to take today also. In the DVD, there is A LOT of upper bodywork and my upper body is still quite sore from Saturday. It is no big deal, I’ll just do the DVD workout Tuesday through Saturday and I’ll still be on track. Sunday, I’m going to the Pride parade in Boystown, so I know I’ll get plenty of walking anyway. Even on my schedules days off last week, which were Tuesday and Saturday, I got lots of activity in. Tuesday we went to see the Conan O’Brien taping and in between getting our tickets and the show starting, we walked at least 6-7 miles. And Saturday, obviously, was the Warrior Dash.

It has been an extremely active week for me and I’m looking forward to a calmer week this week. At least I came out of it a WARRIOR!

  

6 Week Challenge

For many, winter is the tougher season to lose/maintain weight, with being inside a lot and craving comfort foods in the cold months and moving less. Summertime is ideal to lose/maintain weight; your outdoors, moving more, gardening, eating less when it's hot outside, etc. I swear, I'm the opposite. Winter is easier for me to maintain. While I'm inside more and move less, I tend to eat less because I'm not in as many social situations. Once Memorial Day hits, BANG! Outside every day, with friends every weekend, BBQs and whatnot. I'm more of a fall/winter runner than a mid-July runner, but I do use my DVDs more in the summer.

This summer, my goal is to maintain/lose instead of gaining a little. I don't typically gain much, maybe 5 lbs, but I'd rather lose 5 more, right?! My biggest challenge in the summer is the weekend BBQ's and the cold drinks. There is nothing better on a hot summer day than an ice cold beer. Seriously. It's so refreshing! Plus, when we are all outside playing Ladder Ball or Bags or Bocce Ball...everyone always has a full drink. It's pretty much mandatory. Since typically the eating/drinking increases and my activity is relatively the same, I tend to gain a little.

So, on Monday I started a new 6 week challenge for myself. I've been doing Jillian Michael's 6 Week to 6 Pack DVD, intermittently, for a while now. My challenge is to do it 5 days a week for 6 weeks, which is her recommended frequency of the program. It might sound silly, but I can already see a slight difference since Monday in my core. I'm taken progress pictures so that I can see the difference from week 1 to week 6 and I will likely share. This week, my plan is Monday-Friday with rest on Saturday and Sunday...although I'll be open to running or whatnot but I won't mandate myself to pushing it too much. I really want to see just what this DVD can offer on it's own along with a healthy diet.

Sunday I'm, hopefully, participating in the Weight Watchers 5K, although I doubt I'll run it. I say hopefully because I have a bridal shower to attend at 1pm about 40 miles from my house. The 5K starts at 9am but because it's a Weight Watchers event, I end up walking the 5K a few times with members and chatting a lot.  Last year, I walked it with a new member who was by herself and didn't necessarily think she could do it. Of course, she did. I'm just not sure how much time I'll have to go there and socialize only to rush home, get ready and leave for the shower. I'm debating still.

Jumping over fire!

Next Saturday, June 16th, is the Warrior Dash. I'm so excited for this 5K! I registered before Christmas and have been anticipating it since! It's not a 5K that I will run for a PR, since it's an obstacle course. I was told by someone that did it last year, that you could run the first mile, maybe, but then it's pretty much obstacles. Climbing over cargo nets, army crawling through mud, jumping over fire...can't wait! Hopefully we get some awesome pictures! It's a very crowded race - a few hundred people in each 30 minute wave and it's a 2 day event!

Climbing cargo nets

So I've clearly other activities planned during my 6 week challenge and hopefully it's all a good mixture to help me look more toned. I'm excited to see the end results!

Tire obstacle

Mud pit!

"Fat" Days

I hope no one is offended by what I've titled this entry, but let's face, regardless if your skinny, fit, chubby or obese - we all have better days than others when it comes to how we feel in our bodies. Don't we typically label the days we are uncomfortable in our body as "fat" days? Well, that's how I'm feeling today.

Let's start this off with good news first and also the antecedent to why I'm feeling "fat" today.

After waiting for almost 4 weeks after I had a second interview at a high school nearby, they FINALLY called this past Friday to offer me a teaching position for the 2012/13 school year. I couldn't be more happy and I know I've worked hard and deserve it. It works great also because this was just my first interview for the next school year and now I don't have to worry about interviewing and can just enjoy my summer. This job is also pretty much exactly what I wanted so I'm glad I waiting an entire school year and just subbed last school year to wait for what I want. I hate settling for less than that. At any rate, after I received the phone call from the principal, I literally hung up the phone and started jumping up and down like a fool. It was a humorous site to see, I'm sure.

So, as our society is accustomed to, we celebrated with food and drink. We first went to one of my old college professors' home, who lives near us. She was having an end of school year party for the families at her children's school and invited us by for a drink to celebrate. Then, my husband and I went to a Mexican restaurant, where, since we were celebrating I ordered whatever I wanted plus two margaritas. We continued the evening at home on our patio with a few more drinks. The next morning I woke up bright at early for work (ironically, a WW meeting) and felt great! But, by the time I was getting ready to leave I was famished and everyone knows the foods you crave after a night of some choice beverages. So, I picked up 2 hot dogs for the husband and a gyro for me, although I only ate half. That night we grilled chicken tenderloins and had a balanced meal so that wasn't terrible. Afterwards, I went to my friend's house and sat on her patio and had some drinks with them. Sunday, I finished my gyro for lunch and then we went to a Memorial Day party. Naturally, there were grilled foods and different kinds of sides and realistically, I didn't too do poorly there. But, in the hot summer heat, a few more beverages were consumed. That night when we got home, I started getting hungry and made some pierogies. Not the best choice at 7pm. Finally, yesterday we had a few friends over. We used our smoker for the first time and smoked fresh salmon that my husband caught off Lake Michigan last weekend, 2 racks of ribs and had a beer can chicken on the grill,  plus the necessary sides. Oh, and how could I forget? After everyone left yesterday we topped off our weekend of gluttony with a Culver's Concrete Mixer.

So, is my "fat" day warranted now? I think so.

Ha! This is what I feel like...like my inner fat girl is torturing me with temptations, resulting in fear of the scale!

It doesn't matter how active I was or what exercise I got it, I just feel blah. I feel soft. So this week it's time to get back to my regular scheduled programming. I picked up Jillian Michaels' 6 week to 6 pack DVD that I was doing sporadically but I think I might do it as recommended, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. I did her 30 Day Shred last year for 30 straight days and loved it. So on top of running, I think I'll get back to feeling like my normal self in no time, but in the interim, this blows!

 But, this happens to most of us and the reason I have this blog is so that people going through the same journey know they aren't alone. Whether others admit it or not, no one is perfect at their exercise routine or their eating lifestyles. We all slip up, or don't give the 100% that you know you could. The important thing is, you recognize it, own it and get back on track by making a plan.

My plan this week: increasing exercise and accurately tracking my food. I know it works and it's fool proof for me. Do what works.

What Works For You?

What works for me, doesn't work for everyone. Beginning or maintaining a healthy lifestyle means something different to each individual. Lately I have heard a lot of "this is how you do it if you want to do it right" kind of tones and I don't agree with it. Everyone knows that I lost all my weight with the support of Weight Watchers, and I now work for them. This worked for me. I recognized that I couldn't do this alone and that I needed the support of other people going through the same thing as I was. I do not feel weaker because of this, but rather stronger, that I was able to put pride aside and ask for help when I needed it. However, not everyone needs a group of people to hold them accountable but rather only themselves. Perfectly awesome! Whatever works for the individual is key.

All of us on a weight loss journey have the same ultimate goal: to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. How you get there doesn't matter. I've made it known that when I began my personal journey, my main focus was on food and portion control. I exercised here and there but that wasn't a main focus for me at that point in my journey. I lost probably the first 40-50lbs with little exercise but strictly portion control and keeping my food journal. I had reasons why I did it this way. I knew that if I started off with high intensity workouts, there would be a chance that as I lost my weight I would stop exercising as much. I can't prove that this would have been the case but I know myself better than anyone, and I believe that would have happened. If I were to stop the high intensity workouts and only focus on food, I wouldn't have hit my ultimate goal. Instead, I focused on food more strictly and as I got closer to goal, increased my workout. I know that if I don't workout for a week, I won't put weight on, as long as I eat in a healthy way.

Exercise and activity is no doubt a huge part of my life now. I'm up to 7 miles of non-stop running with a 9:30/mile roughly and am training for a half-marathon soon. If I'm not running I'm using a DVD at home. Not to mention, at work I push around a 140+lb girl in her wheelchair who cannot help because she has had a few strokes and is dead weight on her left side. On Monday I ran a mile with her in P.E. - albeit a 13 minute mile, pushing 140+lbs while in work clothes/shoes (not workout clothes/shoes) I was pretty happy to have had that extra activity.

Others focus on eating and activity at the beginning and that works for them. And then some just focus on activity and not the eating portion at first and that works for them.

It's not a competition with anyone but yourself. It doesn't matter how long it takes one to reach their ultimate goal. My theory was, the longer it took me to reach my goal the more I learned and was educated about my choices.

Find what works for you and what you can maintain for the rest of your life. Forget about what everyone else is doing. If it works for you and your body, you're well on your way to you ultimate goal.