Procrastination

(by Slick)

According to my training schedule today is a six mile run.  I cannot remember running six miles in my life.  I vaguely remember a 6 mile hike I did back in ’98…but not a run.  So first thing this morning instead of heading out for 6 miles and getting it over with nice an early, I decided to focus on one of my other New Year’s Resolutions and go through some old paperwork.   

While making my piles of ‘shred, recycle and keep’ I came across my first PT (physical training) card from Basic Training.  Yes, Basic Training was a long time ago, and yes, I still have the paperwork.  I weighed about 13lbs less than I do now, I was decades (not really, but close) younger and my speed was about the same.  Fancy that I am running at the same speed I did a million years ago.  

The PT card went into the 'keep' pile and the shoes went on the feet and off I went for 6 miles.  It took me 63:46, with the first three miles a bit slower than the last three.  I am not sure if I was worried about burning out or if the addition of several runners after the first three is the reason.  Either way my six miles is done and I am starving…just kidding…sort of. 

My training schedule, which is from Runner's World website, is a ten week program to go from 5k to half marathon.  I am on week four with the big run falling on St. Patrick’s Day.  This schedule has me running 4 x week with built in rest days.  When I first started it was kind of weird having rest days. I mean I was only running 3 miles 4 x week.  But the mileage has increased and including today’s run I have ran 17 miles this week.  Yeah me!  

The overall goal of the half marathon is to finish.  But I feel very good about my time right now.   I am not talking about winning or anything like that.  I am talking of finishing it in a reasonable time, less than three hours or something not too embarrassing.  Finishing the half marathon around the same time as those finishing the marathon would count as embarrassing.

Well enough procrastination…I have more paperwork to go through.

We Weigh Eleventy-Eleven Pounds!

Or, 79 stones...

The fitness complex at my workplace has issued a challenge to the workforce. A 10-week fitness challenge. The rules are simple: form teams of 2 - 10, weigh in every week for 10 weeks, and lose weight! There are prizes for the percentages lost: the highest percentage lost wins $500, the 2nd place is $250, and the 3rd place is $100 (per team). There is an entry fee, which is where the prize money comes from. At the end, you get a t-shirt, and possibly a financial reward. It runs from the end of this month through the end of March.

My team (Team Guiness) is six people, two males and four females, ranging in age from about mid-thirties  through 48 (I don't know one person's age), and I have to say we're not slackers in the physical fitness department. We have two Zumba-freaks, three runners, and me. I jog, but I'm not at all at the level of my teammates. I've already lost approximately 25 lbs, so I've proven I can do it...

We weighed in today, as a team (not on a big giant scale, that would have been funny, though). Together, we weigh 1,111.6 lbs. Oh, we range in height from 5'1 to 6'2 or so (and those two are married to one another, LOL!) I am going to install a weight loss ticker on this website, so we can track our progress.

Team Guiness is eager to get started on the challenge. We've all set our exercise and food-related goals (my food goals: cut back on sugar in coffee, and chocolate ... sigh. The two things I love most!)

The challenge has been issued, the scales tipped ... let the games begin!

An Uphill Run

Resolutions

(By Slick)

A couple of weeks ago at Zumba class our instructor reminded us that we need to arrive early for the January classes.  As I just started attending classes in October I was pretty much oblivious as to why I would need to arrive early.  I wasn’t the only one in the class confused by this statement. Seeing our blanks looks she said, “You know the New Year?”  Again, blank looks.  Then she said the “R” word…Resolutions. She said for most of January the classes will be double their normal size.  Though good for her business, it makes for a crowded dance floor for the rest of us.  

From various articles I have read on the internet about half of us make resolutions. And about 40% of us are actually successful at accomplishing our resolutions. I make resolutions every year.  I even go the extra step and write them or type as the case may be.  Last year I even made a PowerPoint presentation.  If you haven’t guessed I am a bit of a nerd.  Anyway…every year I promise myself to lose weight.  Usually between 10 to 20lbs depending on my self esteem on that particular day. Yeah to me! I was able to lose 10lbs through a combination of Weight Watchers and the support of my family and friends.  But with the holidays and my knee injury, I have gained a couple of those pounds back.  So again this year ‘lose weight’ is my number one resolution this year.  

I think the key point to accomplishing a resolution is having a plan.  To that effect I have signed up for half a marathon…the ‘Rock ‘n Roll Marathon’ in DC this March.  I have also joined a weight loss competition. The competition runs from end of January to the end of March.  It is a team event and I have convinced my husband and some of my closest friends to join.  The major motivation of this will be accountability.  It would be one thing for me to not lose the weight and disappoint myself; it is another for me to cause me team to lose.  Especially as the winning team comes home $500 richer.  The half marathon and competition will figure immensely in my posts in the next couple of weeks. 

A great thing about my plan is that the time line allows me a chance to re-evaluate my goals and my methods if I am not successful in the next couple of months.  Plus tracking my progress through blogging will help with the accountability factor.  In order to increase my motivation and accountability I will be adding one of those cute little progress markers on the blog.  Don’t look for it yet, have to find one and the official weigh in is not until next week.

Some people out there might be wondering why try, why go through all the effort.  I am trying to lose weight for a myriad of reasons, but mostly it comes down to the fact that I want to be as healthy as I can for as long as I can…and I would rather try and have some small success then watch my butt get bigger, my self esteem grow smaller and my health breakdown.  

If you are part of the half of the population writing resolutions this year, I wish you the best of luck in keeping the resolutions.  Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!