New Year Resolutions

I've never been very good at keeping resolutions... Two years ago however, I decided that i was going to take my health and weight into my own hands and I began to eat healthy and eventually started exercising. The pounds came off easily for the first 6 months of that year. Over the next 6 months they still came off, but since I was about 10lbs away from my goal weight, it was a struggle.

I got within about 5 lbs of my goal weight and just kind of gave it all up. Since then, over the past year, I've gained back most of that weight. 13 lbs of it to be exact.

It kills me that I let myself go once again. I can't begin to explain how great I felt without carrying around that 13 lbs.

This New Year's I want to take my health and fitness back into my own hands. Scratch that, I don't want to...I will.

One thing that I want to change this new year is my track record with resolutions. If I can train for a half marathon, I can do anything.

Christmas is a terrible time to diet...

And yet, I've decided to try it. I must be crazy right? Wrong!

Here's the thing: if I go through the holidays with the mindset that I'm not on a diet... I will eat everything in sight. I don't know why, but I can't simply just enjoy things in moderation unless I'm "dieting."

I love Christmas and all the celebrating that comes with it. Its the one time of year (thanksgiving - new years) that it feels "OK" to stuff yourself beyond comfort. Everywhere you look there is candy, cookies etc. This holiday season, I'm trying to avoid the whole stuffing myself routine.

So, I'm on day 2 of my "diet." Things seem to be under control... I am terribly tempted however from one of my early Christmas presents...

If there is one piece of candy that I love more than anything... Its Reese's. And here I have a cute little reindeer with a tummy full of them!

As you can tell, some of the candies have already been consumed... But, it has been at a rate of 3 per day, over the past 3 days... (I think someone else has been sneaking some while I'm not looking...)

So, while Christmas might sound like a terrible time to diet, its the only thing that will keep me from eating a whole tray of Christmas cookies in one sitting. With less than a month until my serious half marathon training begins, I can't afford to be carrying around a bunch of extra weight from those seasonal goodies... This doesn't mean I can't enjoy the holidays though. It just means I don't need to focus my happiness on all the tasty goodies on the table. After all, that's not what the season is about.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Flat Abs?

What woman doesn't want flat abs? For me, I know its something that would be easily attainable if I could just apply myself. After all, I've had killer abs before...Its really the only part of my body, besides my arms, that I feel like I can get results.

Over the past few months, I feel like I've just let myself go. While I have been working out pretty regularly, I'm sure my erratic eating is screwing up the whole process.

I'm working on getting my eating under control and I hope that adding core workouts to my list of things to do won't throw me completely off track again. I'm on vacation for the next 10 days, so now should be a pretty good time to start some new habits and drop a few pounds.

Starting today, I'm going to track my measurements again, lets see how quickly I can get some results by doing things the right way!

So, back to the abs.... What core exercises do you like the most?

Food!

I'm part of a group on Caloriecount.about.com called "Wagon Jumpers." I've been a member of this group for 1 year and 7months so far!

Part of what this group is about is support and motivation. Every 12 weeks we set goals and then check in quarterly to share our progress. Each week we discuss a different topic and how things are going for us. This time, my 12 week goal is to exercise at least 3x a week for 9 of 12 weeks and to log my food 5x a week for 9 of 12 weeks.

Dieting is super hard for me. I did really well with it in 2008, but then I just kinda gave up. Since then I've been all over the place with my eating for . I know I need to get it under control for a few reasons - to get my weight under control for one and to get max benefit from my training come January.

Training will be hard enough starting January 18th, I don't need to be agonizing about my food at the same time.

I think I'm taking some good steps to start heading in the right direction. I feel very dehydrated, so I've already drank about 56 oz of water up till now. I've also logged everything I've ate so far today!

Hopefully I can make these things new, good habits that will carry through the holidays and long into the new year.

Ouch!

I wish I could say that I had some more information re: yesterdays post...My Nike+ did register at least 3.8 miles before making a complete loop yesterday.

First off, the iMapMyRun application couldn't get a GPS signal... useless.

So I took off running as usual, felt like I was clipping along at a pretty good pace. My breathing was good, no side stitches and the dog was cooperating. I got pretty excited when I saw my finish line in the distance, then it happened at mile 3.8...

I was jogging along, Harley tied to my waist as usual and my ankle rolled. Usually I recover and catch myself, but with the dog tied to me, she kept running and pulled me down. My knee hit the pavement pretty hard and skinned it up and bruised it quite a bit. I hit the ground and rolled over and the dog just licked my face, cocked her head and looked at me like "What's wrong Momma?" Luckily, no one saw my tumble, so my pride was still intact.

I finally picked myself up and cleaned the dirt off my clothes and managed to walk back to the car. I attempted a slow easy jog, but it didn't feel good, so I just kept walking.

Today, I took Harley for a walk and my ankle didn't hurt at all. Its a little bruised, but all looks OK to resume running again tomorrow!

Who's Right?

I'm a little annoyed, and not sure who/what I'm annoyed with.

My favorite running place according to my Nike+ (which is usually pretty accurate) is 4.29 miles. So in reality, that's probably 4.25. According the pace that I run it at, its about the same... However last night, I looked up the park map to see the length of the other trails so I could choose one to add on today and the map says that the path I've been taking around the lake is only 3.7miles.... How can that be?

So... Is the parks department wrong, or is my Nike+ and pace time wrong? I just don't get it!

I've ran other routes ( like 5k event routes, other park trails) and my Nike+ is always within .1-.3mi of the correct distance.

How could it be off by that much??? I'm going to use my Nike+ and the iMapMyRun app on my iPhone today to see what I come up with.

Perhaps the parks dept has mad changes to the trail and hasn't updated their maps? I don't know. For now, I think I'm going to stick with my Nike+ (because it makes me feel better about myself and my running abilities!)

I'll report later on what kind of mileage I get from the MapMyRun application.

Power Songs

It happens to everyone... You are struggling with your run... contemplating stopping and walking the rest of the way... But then this one song starts blasting in your headphones and all that changes...

Yesterday my goal was to run the entire 4.29 trail around a lake near my house. I've never been able to do it before and since I completed a 4 mile run a few weeks ago, I figured I had this in the bag.

It was about 29 degrees yesterday morning when I made it to the park, but I always heat up fast when I start running. The first 2.5 miles of the run were great, but just after that, I got a side stitch and almost stopped. Instead of stopping, I focused on my breathing and hit the "power song" button on my Nike+. As soon as that song started playing it was as if I had started all over. My energy was back, my mood improved and my adrenaline started pumping. Its amazing how much of an effect music can have on us!

So what was this magical song that pushed me through the last half of my run? Well, my power song changes almost as much as the weather here, but right now its Justin Moore "Back That Thing Up" Its a cute, fun, catchy song. But best of all, it makes me want to move!

What's your power song? What song do you turn to when you need an energy boost?