Runners UNITE! We've graduated C25K, so let's keep on going!

[kimwim8]

IKim, I went to a New England prep school and they invite the alums back every 5 years (Well, really, you can go back more often if you want). I think it is in their best financial interest to keep the alumni involved. It is nice, though! Class of '92 is right, though!

My next race is a little more than a month away and I've lost nearly 20 pounds! You guys have any interest in seeing how much my face has changed with those 20 pounds? It was subtle before. Now it is kind of shocking!

WOO HOO Class of 92!!

Congrats on a GREAT loss! You've been working hard for that, girl! And I definitely want to see pics!!

Great job on the run too! Make sure to rest in between runs, and maybe ask the chiropractor if there are any home stretches you can do for your hips and hamstrings.

Keep up the great work!

I ran this morning. I made it 2.5 miles in 28.45 minutes straight. Another quick one, which I'm a little surprised by. I'll see how it goes on Friday (after a night out Thursday night for my anniversary ).

 

[katerkat]

I haven't run since Saturday due to rain - I'm much wussier than y'all! I've been out walking and hiking with the small boy child, but no running. Well, tonight I'm going - I got my Forerunner yesterday and that thing is begging to be tested!

Corinna, I can't believe you've lost 20 pounds!! I definitely want to see pics! I'm down about 6 in May for a total of 15 overall since January. I think, though, that I'll meet my goal of 10 pounds (four to go) by my anniversary, since I've really been concentrating on the portion control.

 

[kimwim8]

I haven't run since Saturday due to rain - I'm much wussier than y'all! I've been out walking and hiking with the small boy child, but no running. Well, tonight I'm going - I got my Forerunner yesterday and that thing is begging to be tested!

Corinna, I can't believe you've lost 20 pounds!! I definitely want to see pics! I'm down about 6 in May for a total of 15 overall since January. I think, though, that I'll meet my goal of 10 pounds (four to go) by my anniversary, since I've really been concentrating on the portion control.

Congrats on your loss too, Kat! You girls are doing SO great!!

Let me know what you think of your Garmin! I like to use mine on my longer weekend runs, but I'm too crunched for time on my weekday morning runs before work to fire it up & wait for the satellites to be located.

 

[corinnak]

Kim, your time is so fast! That's really impressive!

Kat, congratulations on your Forerunner - they are just too cool, if you ask me. Did you go for the 205 or the 305?

My sacrum was indeed out of whack along with my perpetually grumpy L5. We talked about stretches - I have been doing some good ones already. I am going to watch it, though, and ice after my run tomorrow. If it is even sane to run tomorrow. Today was a rest day, though.

So here it is - I kind of wish I had better full body photos, but really, those still are not looking that great. Better, but not great.

 

[kimwim8]

DAMN GIRL!!! You look awesome!!!

Congrats and keep up the great work!

 

[katerkat]

WOW, you can REALLY see the difference in your face! Amazing!!

I got the 305 because DH wants to use it biking, too, and you can get a cadence-something-or-other with that too. I didn't get out running, though, tonight. Lawns needed mowing and the child did not nap so he was clingy...not a good afternoon! DH promised I can go tomorrow when he gets home, though.

 

[corinnak]

Awww - thanks for noticing. Looking at those pictures, I can hardly believe it was me in January. And then I can hardly believe that the more recent pictures are what I actually look like now! I think the biggest difference is that my double chin has reduced SO much. The one that is NOT the pre-race self portrait was taken at my reunion. Several people said I was "looking good" and I wasn't sure if I should believe them or not. I am still about 40 pounds heavier than I was in high school.

I've been working hard with the running and being pretty good about the food most of the time, but I am amazed by how quickly this has gone, in a way. I think the running makes a difference. Thanks for all the support.

 

[kimwim8]

You should definitely believe them!! They are right!! You ARE lookin good!!

That running is some GREAT stuff, I tell ya.

I'll post my before/after pics here too, if you'd like. It's been a while, but I should be able to find them.

 

[corinnak]

Kim, I'd love to see your before and after pictures! This running is some good stuff, that is for sure.

I decided not to run today - my hip/low back are still a little wonky and I just don't want to go overboard and make things worse. So what do I do instead? Group Cycling class at the YMCA.

It was my first time ever and there were 3 others in the class. The instructor helped me get set up and said that it was a "challenging cardio workout" but advised me to "listen to your body." Which was a vague kind of instruction. Well, within the first 5 minutes, my body said "Hey! We haven't been using THESE leg muscles! What gives?"

It was a tough 45 minutes and I kept my resistance lower than the instructor advised and didn't always pedal as fast as she was telling us to, BUT, I got through the whole thing and at the end, she seemed really impressed and said I had done "great!!!" With that many exclamation points. I think I look a lot more unfit than I actually am at this point. I was not at all limited by my cardiovascular capacity - it was my quads that were having the rough time! I was sweating and breathing well, so I kind of impressed myself too.

The upshot of this little crosstraining field trip is that I got my cardio work done today, kind of met some new people and am maybe balancing out my legs a little bit. I will definitely do this one again! I loved that there was no coordination necessary, no traffic, and no real chance of falling off the bike. One thing is for certain, though. I would never have gotten through this class before C25K!

 

[kimwim8]

GREAT job, Corinna! I don't think I'd make it through a cycling class! But like you said, it's GREAT cross training!

I'll look for those pictures.

 

[corinnak]

GREAT job, Corinna! I don't think I'd make it through a cycling class! But like you said, it's GREAT cross training!

I'll look for those pictures.

You never know what you can make it through until you try.

I looked through your WISH journal a little and saw your "before" picture - WOW yourself, cause you look SO different! Amazing work! I should probably have started a journal, but I am always afraid it will languish as I fall off the wagon.

 

[kimwim8]

OK, here we go....

This one is from December 2005. Yes, it was colder & I was wearing a sweatshirt, but just look at those CHEEKS (on my face ).

This one is from August 2006...30 pounds lighter! I had actually lost all 30 by May, but the running helped me add more food back into my diet while toning up my whole body.

 

[corinnak]

I'll say it again - WOW! These two pictures are so cool because everyone else in the picture, including Mickey Mouse - looks just about the same. I guess your kids look a little older in the second one, but you are certainly changed the most! It's like you took of that sweatshirt and your face really changed! Seriously, very cool. Thank you for sharing these!

 

[kimwim8]

Thanks, Corinna! When I have my "down" days, I look back at the before pic and remember how hard I've worked and how far I've come.

When I lost all that weight, I got down to 116, which was just too low for me to maintain. It was more of a "let's see how far I can actually go" thing. I'm up about 8 pounds from that right now, but I'd prefer to hang around 120, since I'm so short. So I have a few pounds to get back off and I just can't seem to get myself to eat consistantly healthy. The running is back on track, but the eating is a little harder now for some reason.

As far as my journal....I've been on & off the wagon so many times people probably don't know what to think. But I look at it as it's for me. Even if everyone stopped posting to it...I'd still keep up with it because I refer back to it and really get my feelings out by posting on it. I've made some great friends through that journal. Feel free to post anytime on it. It can get crazy and sidetracked from the "healthy living" journal it's supposed to be sometimes. But it's all good fun.

 

[corinnak]

Kim, it is good to hear that I'm not the only one who has been on and off the wagon over time. It is great that you are back on track with the running. The food can be tough, for sure, in the long term. There is just so much food AROUND, you know?

Maybe I'll start one of those WISH journals, too. It sure seems like it is a nice thing to have over time.

I am still feeling all kind of like a student the day after final exams are over and I don't exactly know what to do with myself. Except that I know I should be doing something. I guess there must be part of me that is secretly (not so secretly now!) not really content with just running at whatever pace I can maintain for a longer and longer time. I do need to build up to more miles, but right now maybe I am also wanting a little variety or interest or something.

First there was the spinning escapade, then I did the bodypump class on Saturday. My quadriceps haven't actually recovered from that completely. Today, I felt like I needed to do something cardiovascular. It had been almost a week since my last actual run! So I decided to see if my quads would permit a run, figuring if it felt worse, I would just stop.

I also decided to try out a program from podfitness.com - I signed up for there 10 free workouts promotion and muddled through setting one up. It had me doing all kinds of wacky things that I had never done before, and I got to use my own music, too. Sounding like a commercial over here......anyhow, they had a little much walking in the mix at first, and I decided to jog for part of that because walking at 3mph for 5 minutes at a time is like at this point. A little later, though, they picked up the slack and I was running at 6mph for a minute and then walking fast at 9% incline and a bunch of other stuff. It did kind of relieve the monotony and ended up being a good workout. It was so good to get some running in - hills and sprints, even! I didn't even know I could go 6mph! Which is pretty dorky sounding now that I typed it out, but there you go.

So I'm in an adolescence of fitness or something. I am trying all kinds of stuff. I guess the main thing is to keep doing SOMETHING, though I am also gearing up for that 3 mile run in July - not that I want to slack off entirely.

Now that I've typed all THAT up, I guess I'll go see about a WISH journal so the C25K thread and my Myspace blog don't have to be the sole platform for my fitness-related-soul searching!

 

[kimwim8]

Hey Corinna! I'm glad to hear you want to start a WISH journal. It's definitely helped me over the past year and a half.

As far as what to do.....just do whatever you want! Try it all and see what you like. For a while there I was hooked on the Biggest Loser workout DVD, then Comcast ondemand workouts. When I actually follow a training plan for a 1/2 marathon (someday) I'm not sure what I'll do for my cross training workouts. What you're doing sounds good, though. Try a little bit of everything and see what works.

When you start your WISH journal, put a link here for me or in your signature! I'll be there!

GREAT run today and good for you for mixing it up!

 

[katerkat]

I mixed it up a bit today too - but only because I haven't done anything exercise-wise all week and I needed to do SOMETHING. Only 15 minutes of roller-blading, but I considered it a warm-up for my legs to remember they have to start running again tomorrow.

 

[kimwim8]

Hey girls. Not much to report, but I did run this morning. It was a big struggle to talk myself into getting out of bed, but I did it. I ran 2 miles in 23.07. Another fast one, unfortunately. Isn't it odd that I WANT to run slower? I don't think I'll be able to run much more than 2 miles at this pace. I'm shooting for another 2 miles on Thursday and then a longer run (and hopefully slower) on Saturday or Sunday.

Keep up the good work, girls. It's quite alright to take a running break, just get back out there!!

 

[corinnak]

Kat - I have always wanted to try rollerblading and have never had the equipment. I see you now have the TOT race tag in your signature - very exciting!

Kim - I don't think it's odd that you want to run slower. For stamina, right? I have a hard time running as slowly outside as I do on the treadmill, that is for sure.

My legs are still groaning from all those squats on Saturday. Getting better, though. I really thought that not using additional weights for the squats would solve the problem. Not fully, evidently. Maybe I need to do some quad free-weight work before I go back to that class. It's frustrating because I didn't get sore from the rest of it at all - just those #&$* squats.

I'm not even sure what I am going to do tomorrow - that is how wild and crazy I am these days. Probably another treadmill workout, though. Cause that at least didn't make my legs worse.

Still no WISH journal from me. Writer's block, shopping excursion and impending houseguests have all interfered.

WHich reminds me - shopping. I don't enjoy shopping, but I went shopping last night and found that in many cases, the XL's were too big and I had to go with the L's. Though sometimes the L's didn't fit me well all over either. I also needed a smaller bra - the 38D was, uh, gappy. 38C is good, though! All during growing up, my mom was a 38B. I was that for a long time too, so I imagine that is where I am ultimately headed again. Maybe if I can get down to that size, I won't need to double up on the sports bras! Time will tell, I guess.

 

[kimwim8]

Congrats, Corinna on the down-sizing!

It's great that you are trying out all kinds of things and have a world of workout choices available! Just keep moving, and you'll be great!