I had an interesting experience tonight. One that I was hoping wouldn't happen, but I'm glad that it did because it made me realize something about myself. It wasn't life altering or mind blowing, and most people probably would have just not thought about it, but I did. Maybe just because it's giving me something to blog about, but that's beside the point. Tonight, for the first time since I started Couch to 5K, I didn't complete a workout running the whole time.
Up until this point, everything that they've thrown at me, I've done. To most people, it's probably not a lot to run 5 minutes, but for me it is. So when I finished the walk 5/run 5/walk 3/run 5/walk 3/run 5/walk 5 workout, I was really excited and proud of myself. After finishing though, I told Matt that I thought I would need to do it a couple days in a row to feel comfortable before going ahead to the next workout. But today at the gym, I felt really good and compared it to what today's workout was (walk 5/run 8/walk 5/run 8/walk 5) and decided to go with the latter. I was getting cramps toward the end of the first run, but made it through and felt way better when I started the second run after walking the 5 minutes. But by the time I was 5 minutes into the second run, I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it. My cramps weren't as bad as they'd ever been, but my legs felt like they were going to give out and I was genuinely afraid of tripping and flying off the treadmill in an America's Funniest Home Videos-esque manner. And seeing as how I am definitely not a fan of humiliating myself/potentially seriously injuring myself, I decided to slow it down and do a walk/jog until I could get back my bearings and jog for the last two and a half minutes.
I'm a little bummed that I can't say that I've made it through every workout now, but I think I realized today that I do have limits and I know where they are. That's not to say that I'm going to keep stopping whenever I'm tired and not push myself anymore. In fact, on the contrary, I'm pretty sure the opposite will be true and I will push myself harder than ever because I don't want to not make it through a whole workout again. I'm just glad that I realized that I do have limits and while I love pushing them, I had to realize that at some point it stops being "pushing the limits" and starts venturing into the realm of hurting myself and I don't want to take it to that point.
Since I obviously was not ready to go to the next workout, I'm going to go back to the previous one and try to increase my speed there as well before I go back to the 5/8/5/8/5 and then to walk 5/run 20/walk 5 (which is mildly terrifying). I am excited though, because I'm pretty sure that up until this year, if you had asked me if I would ever even attempt to run again, let alone run a 5K, I would have laughed in your face. Now, I've found something I truly love that only motivates me more and makes me feel like I can do anything - including get down to a weight that I haven't seen in years. It's going to be another challenging few months (probably more than few, even) but I am excited. I can't wait to keep going and see where I end up. Ultimately, I want to shock people; I want people who haven't seen me in a significant amount of time not to recognize me. Hopefully I get there. I think I will. :)
And on that note, I'm off for the evening.
Tschüss!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Woohoo!
For the first time in a very long while (maybe ever?), every single day this week when I stepped on the scale (which was every day) the number was lower than it had been the day before. I didn't realize how excited I was about this until I inadvertently said "Woohoo!" as I saw the number this morning. I don't think I'm as excited about where the number currently is so much as the fact that it's going down - even if only by a little bit each day - consistently.
I attribute this to a couple of things. The first is that in order for Matt's employer to reimburse us for 50% of the cost of his gym membership, he has to provide proof that he's been there 8 days each month. Since I run the finances and I'd rather not have to pay the extra money each month, I've been making sure we get to the gym at least 3 days a week. It also helps that I've been back to running again and the more that I do it, the more that I really, really love it. Running is so much a mental thing and I love knowing how far I can push myself. (I've probably mentioned that a dozen times, but it's SO TRUE.)
Besides that, this week is the first week in an absurdly long time that Matt and I have not gone out to eat. It helps that we no longer live 5 minutes or fewer away from Steak N Shake and Avanti's, but we've really focused on eating at home and finding recipes we love and we've settled into a system. Since Matt does the cooking, on Saturday mornings he plans the menu and when he's finished, I do the grocery shopping. On Sunday, he cooks something in the crockpot that we eat for dinner that night and use for lunch every day for the next week. During the week, we have small meals with no leftovers. Having our lunches pre-made has made our morning routine a lot more efficient as well.
I still have a lot of progress to make, but it's so motivating to have a week like this where everything is going so positively and we are doing all the things we really need to do. Knowing that this week has been such a good one, I want to repeat it next week and the week after that and the week after that, etc.
I made the comment to Matt this morning that it really feels like we've settled into a routine that we can stick with and that we are finally doing what we've wanted to do for so long. It probably sounds silly, but I genuinely believe that the move to Omaha and our purchasing this house has made all of the difference in the world. Because we are so happy in our marriage and in our jobs, the one thing that we weren't necessarily happy with has come to the forefront and because it's something that's so fixable, we've decided to tackle it head on. We've had a lot of bad habits in the past, so to be developing positive habits like these is very exciting.
Hopefully Matt and I will continue to have such success...writing blog posts like these is much better than writing the ones I had been about my struggles. And on that note, I need to get the laundry folded before we head out to watch the Husker game. (GOOOOO BIIIIG REEEEED! GO BIG RED!)
Tschüss!
I attribute this to a couple of things. The first is that in order for Matt's employer to reimburse us for 50% of the cost of his gym membership, he has to provide proof that he's been there 8 days each month. Since I run the finances and I'd rather not have to pay the extra money each month, I've been making sure we get to the gym at least 3 days a week. It also helps that I've been back to running again and the more that I do it, the more that I really, really love it. Running is so much a mental thing and I love knowing how far I can push myself. (I've probably mentioned that a dozen times, but it's SO TRUE.)
Besides that, this week is the first week in an absurdly long time that Matt and I have not gone out to eat. It helps that we no longer live 5 minutes or fewer away from Steak N Shake and Avanti's, but we've really focused on eating at home and finding recipes we love and we've settled into a system. Since Matt does the cooking, on Saturday mornings he plans the menu and when he's finished, I do the grocery shopping. On Sunday, he cooks something in the crockpot that we eat for dinner that night and use for lunch every day for the next week. During the week, we have small meals with no leftovers. Having our lunches pre-made has made our morning routine a lot more efficient as well.
I still have a lot of progress to make, but it's so motivating to have a week like this where everything is going so positively and we are doing all the things we really need to do. Knowing that this week has been such a good one, I want to repeat it next week and the week after that and the week after that, etc.
I made the comment to Matt this morning that it really feels like we've settled into a routine that we can stick with and that we are finally doing what we've wanted to do for so long. It probably sounds silly, but I genuinely believe that the move to Omaha and our purchasing this house has made all of the difference in the world. Because we are so happy in our marriage and in our jobs, the one thing that we weren't necessarily happy with has come to the forefront and because it's something that's so fixable, we've decided to tackle it head on. We've had a lot of bad habits in the past, so to be developing positive habits like these is very exciting.
Hopefully Matt and I will continue to have such success...writing blog posts like these is much better than writing the ones I had been about my struggles. And on that note, I need to get the laundry folded before we head out to watch the Husker game. (GOOOOO BIIIIG REEEEED! GO BIG RED!)
Tschüss!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
As much as I love the German language...
...it drives me CRAZY. Verrückt. Ganz verrückt.
I know I said I might write something about German, so I'm surprising everyone (myself included) by actually writing a post about German.
I have come a long way and am doing relatively well, but that doesn't stop me from being completely bewildered by the German language 90% of the time. As I frequently tell my natively German-speaking friends, the grammar is a hot mess. I have yet to come up with a better way to describe German grammar, and if you've ever studied German you know what I mean. It's so funny because like, 90% of the time you read or hear something, you don't even know what the sentence means until the end because that's where all of the relevant verbs are. I usually translate German into English exactly how it's written because it helps me understand the word order better, but it just sounds so weird.
It's really frustrating/challenging because whenever I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it and maybe this whole learning another language thing isn't so bad/so hard/etc, something comes up that reminds me that I'm still very much a beginner. It's not a bad thing though - it just makes me want to work harder to get to the point of actually using German conversationally. I did have what could *almost* be qualified as a conversation in German with one of my friends and I've worked through my overwhelming fear of using German with native speakers (mostly, still freaks me out sometimes) but progress, I say! Progress!
I guess when I started working on learning German, I didn't realize how much there is to learning another language. I feel like I can say/read/understand a lot of German in one minute and in the next, I'm looking a German text and wondering what language I'm reading because it's obviously not German - if it was, I would understand more than 3 words. It also gives me so much respect for anyone who has learned a second language. It will take me a LOT longer than a year to become even close to fluent (unless I were to move to a German speaking country) so I feel like that goal was biting off a bit more than I could chew. On the bright side, there really isn't a huge rush and I have several people who have been willing to help me out, without whom I would understand even less than I do. And I do understand more now than when I started, so that's something.
Above everything else though - how crazy it makes me and how frustrating it can be, I LOVE being able to even say anything in another language. I feel like a better person because of it. Hopefully I keep trucking along and eventually get to the point where I can legitimately say that I'm fluent. :)
I know I said I might write something about German, so I'm surprising everyone (myself included) by actually writing a post about German.
I have come a long way and am doing relatively well, but that doesn't stop me from being completely bewildered by the German language 90% of the time. As I frequently tell my natively German-speaking friends, the grammar is a hot mess. I have yet to come up with a better way to describe German grammar, and if you've ever studied German you know what I mean. It's so funny because like, 90% of the time you read or hear something, you don't even know what the sentence means until the end because that's where all of the relevant verbs are. I usually translate German into English exactly how it's written because it helps me understand the word order better, but it just sounds so weird.
It's really frustrating/challenging because whenever I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it and maybe this whole learning another language thing isn't so bad/so hard/etc, something comes up that reminds me that I'm still very much a beginner. It's not a bad thing though - it just makes me want to work harder to get to the point of actually using German conversationally. I did have what could *almost* be qualified as a conversation in German with one of my friends and I've worked through my overwhelming fear of using German with native speakers (mostly, still freaks me out sometimes) but progress, I say! Progress!
I guess when I started working on learning German, I didn't realize how much there is to learning another language. I feel like I can say/read/understand a lot of German in one minute and in the next, I'm looking a German text and wondering what language I'm reading because it's obviously not German - if it was, I would understand more than 3 words. It also gives me so much respect for anyone who has learned a second language. It will take me a LOT longer than a year to become even close to fluent (unless I were to move to a German speaking country) so I feel like that goal was biting off a bit more than I could chew. On the bright side, there really isn't a huge rush and I have several people who have been willing to help me out, without whom I would understand even less than I do. And I do understand more now than when I started, so that's something.
Above everything else though - how crazy it makes me and how frustrating it can be, I LOVE being able to even say anything in another language. I feel like a better person because of it. Hopefully I keep trucking along and eventually get to the point where I can legitimately say that I'm fluent. :)
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Thoughts on Progress
I know that I have not been great at keeping this blog updated, but it is always in the back of my mind. The last (almost) 11 months have been a whirlwind adventure with everything I set out to do in this blog. I'm not going to do a complete recap of everything until the 1-year anniversary of my first post, but I do have a lot of things on my mind about where I am compared to where I was and I want to talk about those things.
I've been thinking about it a lot because I got an email a couple of days ago from the website I used to book the hostel I stayed at in Vienna last year stating that it had been one year since I booked that trip. I cannot believe it's been that long. I think I was imagining things would be a lot different now than they were when I booked that trip, but I can't say I'm dissatisfied with where things are now and I still have a full month and then some before I have to analyze the past year. I'll stop this rambling introduction now and get to the point. :)
I have made so many little changes since starting this blog that I can't believe I would ever do (and a few big ones too). I gave up soda which is absolutely huge - and it was very, very difficult at first. I stuck to it though and can proudly say that I have not had a single carbonated beverage in almost a year. I was looking at a recipe last night that required root beer (it was a quick and easy pulled pork crockpot recipe) and I skipped over it because I don't want to have any soda in the house. It may seem crazy to some, but for me this is all or nothing. I won't eat (drink?) root beer floats (as much as I would love one!), nor will I drink any alcoholic beverage that has soda in it (thank goodness tequila sunrises are soda free!!). I think that it's something a lot of people have tried doing or would like to do but just don't think they can - it is very, very, very difficult at first. You have to remember that for the first 4 months after I gave up soda, I was working in a mall with coworkers who would go get soda multiple times a day. It was so tempting to say, "You know what? I didn't get enough sleep last night and is it really going to hurt to drink one cup of soda?" But I never did. I stuck to it and I refused every time and every time it got a little easier to say, "No thanks. I'll just have water." The added advantage to this is a concept many people aren't familiar with: caffeine does exactly what it's supposed to do for me when I do drink it (usually in tea, or every once in awhile from a Rooster Booster). I had a 16-oz thing of tea one night at 8:00 and I was awake until 4 in the morning. I learned very quickly that I need to cut off all caffeine intake at about 2 in the afternoon if I don't want to be up all night. The other advantage is that every calorie that I take in comes from food (the only exception being the glass or 2 of milk that I drink each day). Soda has so many calories - it's amazing how much weight you DON'T gain when you don't drink it. Even calorie-free diet soda is absolutely terrible for you because of the crap that it puts in your body. Aspartame? No thanks.
A couple of weeks after I started my new(ish) job a few months ago, I decided I would never take the elevator. There are several people I work with that take the elevator to the second floor. I usually race them to see who gets upstairs first and I am proud to say I have never lost. This wouldn't be a big deal if I only ever walked up to the second floor from the first, but I don't. There was one day when all of the fax machines were out of commission except for the one in the legal department on the fourth floor. I didn't know this so I walked up to the third floor to try theirs then to the first floor when that didn't work only to find out there wasn't one in reception then all the way up to the fourth floor and back down to my office on the second. I felt like I went to Duchesne again! That's not a typical scenario, but refusing to take the elevator is a mini victory that I'm proud of. We are moving to a new office next week and my goal is to always take the stairs even though we will be on the fourth floor. My thought though, is that I did it every day in high school (basement to third floor for advisory) and I would like to be in better shape than I was then. Hopefully I stick to this, too!
My final little (or big!) step that I've taken is that I have started running. I stopped for awhile but I've gone back to it and I love it. I don't think I love running so much as I love knowing that any limit I thought I had has gone out the window. I don't think there's anything I've ever done that I've pushed myself as hard to keep going as when I'm running. Even when I feel like I've got nothing else, I've continued to run for another 5 or 8 minutes (not continuously, but I'm getting there). I was really freaked out because I'm doing the Couch to 5K thing and week four, the plan is: 5 minute warm-up walk, 3 minute run, 1.5 minute walk, 5 minute run, 2.5 minute walk, 3 minute run, 1.5 minute walk, 5 minute run, 2.5 minute walk, 5 minute cool-down walk. I know it seems a little sad, but I was freaked out to run 5 minutes. I did not think I could do it at all and was pretty sure I would collapse halfway through this workout. Every time I thought I wouldn't make it, however, I just thought about this picture (stolen from one of my Facebook friends who was using it as a profile picture):
I've been thinking about it a lot because I got an email a couple of days ago from the website I used to book the hostel I stayed at in Vienna last year stating that it had been one year since I booked that trip. I cannot believe it's been that long. I think I was imagining things would be a lot different now than they were when I booked that trip, but I can't say I'm dissatisfied with where things are now and I still have a full month and then some before I have to analyze the past year. I'll stop this rambling introduction now and get to the point. :)
I have made so many little changes since starting this blog that I can't believe I would ever do (and a few big ones too). I gave up soda which is absolutely huge - and it was very, very difficult at first. I stuck to it though and can proudly say that I have not had a single carbonated beverage in almost a year. I was looking at a recipe last night that required root beer (it was a quick and easy pulled pork crockpot recipe) and I skipped over it because I don't want to have any soda in the house. It may seem crazy to some, but for me this is all or nothing. I won't eat (drink?) root beer floats (as much as I would love one!), nor will I drink any alcoholic beverage that has soda in it (thank goodness tequila sunrises are soda free!!). I think that it's something a lot of people have tried doing or would like to do but just don't think they can - it is very, very, very difficult at first. You have to remember that for the first 4 months after I gave up soda, I was working in a mall with coworkers who would go get soda multiple times a day. It was so tempting to say, "You know what? I didn't get enough sleep last night and is it really going to hurt to drink one cup of soda?" But I never did. I stuck to it and I refused every time and every time it got a little easier to say, "No thanks. I'll just have water." The added advantage to this is a concept many people aren't familiar with: caffeine does exactly what it's supposed to do for me when I do drink it (usually in tea, or every once in awhile from a Rooster Booster). I had a 16-oz thing of tea one night at 8:00 and I was awake until 4 in the morning. I learned very quickly that I need to cut off all caffeine intake at about 2 in the afternoon if I don't want to be up all night. The other advantage is that every calorie that I take in comes from food (the only exception being the glass or 2 of milk that I drink each day). Soda has so many calories - it's amazing how much weight you DON'T gain when you don't drink it. Even calorie-free diet soda is absolutely terrible for you because of the crap that it puts in your body. Aspartame? No thanks.
A couple of weeks after I started my new(ish) job a few months ago, I decided I would never take the elevator. There are several people I work with that take the elevator to the second floor. I usually race them to see who gets upstairs first and I am proud to say I have never lost. This wouldn't be a big deal if I only ever walked up to the second floor from the first, but I don't. There was one day when all of the fax machines were out of commission except for the one in the legal department on the fourth floor. I didn't know this so I walked up to the third floor to try theirs then to the first floor when that didn't work only to find out there wasn't one in reception then all the way up to the fourth floor and back down to my office on the second. I felt like I went to Duchesne again! That's not a typical scenario, but refusing to take the elevator is a mini victory that I'm proud of. We are moving to a new office next week and my goal is to always take the stairs even though we will be on the fourth floor. My thought though, is that I did it every day in high school (basement to third floor for advisory) and I would like to be in better shape than I was then. Hopefully I stick to this, too!
My final little (or big!) step that I've taken is that I have started running. I stopped for awhile but I've gone back to it and I love it. I don't think I love running so much as I love knowing that any limit I thought I had has gone out the window. I don't think there's anything I've ever done that I've pushed myself as hard to keep going as when I'm running. Even when I feel like I've got nothing else, I've continued to run for another 5 or 8 minutes (not continuously, but I'm getting there). I was really freaked out because I'm doing the Couch to 5K thing and week four, the plan is: 5 minute warm-up walk, 3 minute run, 1.5 minute walk, 5 minute run, 2.5 minute walk, 3 minute run, 1.5 minute walk, 5 minute run, 2.5 minute walk, 5 minute cool-down walk. I know it seems a little sad, but I was freaked out to run 5 minutes. I did not think I could do it at all and was pretty sure I would collapse halfway through this workout. Every time I thought I wouldn't make it, however, I just thought about this picture (stolen from one of my Facebook friends who was using it as a profile picture):
For some reason, this picture is ridiculously motivating. Every time I think about it, I feel like I could run a mile and still feel great. That might speak to the terrible shape that I'm in that I just want to be able to run a mile without feeling god-awful, but I have come so far (when I started, alternating running a minute and walking a minute for twenty minutes made me feel like I was going to die) that I don't even mind.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on where I am now. I'll hopefully have another post up soon regarding German, but I will at the very least post something for my one-year blogiversary.
Tschüss!
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