Setting the next goal

Well it's definitely been too long since I've blogged, and if I've learned nothing else, I've learned that typing the words going through my head whether they make much sense or not tends to make me more accountable ... so here I go!

In my last post I'd registered for the 4 Bridges Half Marathon in Chattanooga! Well, my 2nd half marathon has come and gone, and I'm trying to figure out my next fitness goal! 

The 4 Bridges Half Marathon had its ups and downs! Fortunately my teammate, and now good friend, LeeAnn, signed on to walk this event with me. Actually it was all her idea! It was a beautiful fall weekend in Chattanooga, and most of the course really showcased the natural beauty of the Chattanooga area! 

The race started at Coolidge Park -- which is absolutely beautiful! This is where we picked up our packets the day before the race. 

Walking the race we were at the back of the pack most of the time, alternating with a hand cyclist. This meant that we had a police escort for most of the race. :)

We crossed the Tennessee River 4 times (ironically enough) during the race. Here's the view from two of the times.

Both of us had a lot more pain than usual during this race which really slowed us down. Unfortunately we both didn't do things exactly the way we had every other walk day, which really hurt our feet.

But, we made it!! One more medal to add to my collection! :) 

 I'm almost fully recovered from the half marathon ... read:  almost have a solid layer of skin on the bottoms of my feet! 

Yesterday was Thompson Cancer Survival Center's Buddy's Race Against Cancer. This is a great event! It allows folks to honor cancer survivors and raise funds for those who need assistance who are undergoing treatment for cancer. I was excited to walk yesterday for 2 very important reasons!

1. My friend and colleague Michael Holtz, who has been a huge inspiration to me in my career, as well as my fitness goals, asked me and LeeAnn to join his Buddy's team. Michael is truly an example of how much you can improve your health by doing things the "right way." Unfortunately this year Michael was diagnosed with cancer, and has been fighting his battle for some time! He's kicking major butt!   Team ACS/Michael's Warriors!

2. A year ago the Buddy's Race Against Cancer marked the beginning of my fitness journey. The race was the first athletic event that my teammates embarked on together. It truly has been a life changer for me! 

Here's a self portrait of me, LeeAnn, and Coach Missy Kane from yesterday! 

Here was our team at last year's Buddy's Race! 

Here's we are 1 year later! Me, Randy, LeeAnn, Julie (team before ours), Erin (this year's team), Arielle, Missy, and Beth (one of our team assistants). 

Here's another ones with some other past teammates, some of Missy's hiking pals, and one of this year's team members!

This was an awesome day of celebrating how far I've come on my personal fitness journey. I keep calling it a journey b/c I have no idea where exactly it's going ... just that I want it to keep on moving!

Including Buddy's Race last year -- here's the races I've participated in since then! In my 34 years prior to this one I hadn't participated in this many events combined!

Needless to say, I'm ready to make some new goals! Not quite sure what those are yet, but I'll let you know when I figure them out.

I'm so excited for the newest Biggest Winner team members! I've been in their place, and know they must be excited, nervous, and a little anxious about the journey that is ahead of them -- but I wish to convey to them that as long as they are true to themselves and use the tools they are given this experience can truly change their lives!

A little parting wisdom!

Back on track!

The deed is done! I'm officially registered to walk the 4 Bridges Half Marathon in Chattanooga in October. LeeAnn and I have been talking about it for awhile, and now we're all official and stuff. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I can't allow myself to have any doubt about whether or not I can actually accomplish this since I completed a similar task once already this year.

Yup, that's right. Two half marathons in one year. That's certainly not a goal I ever thought I'd accomplish. Isn't it amazing how quickly goals can change?

 This time last year I don't think I'd even considered applying for Covenant's Biggest Winner Marathon team. One simple decision that truly changed my life, my habits, and my goals. If anyone's interested they're currently accepting applications for next year's team! If you've even considered it once ... go for it!

In the last year I've gained strength, courage, determination, not to mention some amazing friends whom I couldn't imagine my life without.

Anyway ... back to Chattanooga. The good thing is that we've never stopped our walking routine, so we're in pretty good shape starting back with our distance training. Here's our basic guide we're going to follow (thanks to Coach Kane's training guide):

Week 1 (Sept. 1): 3-4 miles

Week 2 (Sept. 8): 3 ½ - 5 miles

Week 3 (Sept. 15): 4 ½ - 6

Week 4 (Sept. 22): 5 ½ - 7

Week 5 (Sept. 29): 7 – 9

Week 6 (Oct. 6): 7 ½ - 10

Week 7 (Oct. 13): 9 – 11 miles

Week 8 (Race Day on Sunday):

Monday (Oct. 15): Rest day if you are feeling really tired.

Tuesday (Oct. 16): Easy 20–35 minute walk

Wednesday (Oct. 17): 2 – 4 miles.

Thursday (Oct. 18): Fifteen minute light workout and stretch well. Be drinking more water and eating good sources of carbohydrates over the next few days.

Friday (Oct. 19): Off.

Saturday, Oct. 20: Walk around 10 –20 minutes at an easy pace. Make sure you know what the last one or two miles of the course look like. Hydrate yourself well the night before the race.

Oct. 21: Sunday:  Race Day!  Good luck and have fun.

So there you have it ... my next couple of months in a nutshell! I'm so glad that I've been keeping up with my workouts and strength training -- even though it's nothing compared to our group workouts with Chris. The foundation of strength has really helped me realize that this training shouldn't be too bad! 

I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about getting back into training ... just some parting wisdom from Pinterest.

Setting new goals

Well, it's official, I'm signing up to walk another half marathon. Sunday, October 21, 2012, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Seven Bridges Marathon/Half Marathon! Two of my teammates from my Biggest Winner team are planning on walking with me -- LeeAnn and Darla. I'm happy to say that LeeAnn and I haven't stopped walking since our half marathon in April. We made up our minds to stick with it, and we have!

I am beginning to again question my sanity, though. I mean...who really thought I'd ever complete a half marathon in 2012, not to mention TWO half marathons in 2012?! Certainly not me.

Why am I doing this? Don't worry, I've been asking myself the same thing. The simple answer is: I need it to stay motivated. I've figured out I do best with short-term goals that are easy to measure my progress.

I'm still working on my weight loss goals. Despite working out 5-6 times a week I've plateaued again with my weight. I'm still seeing my clothes fitting looser, so I'm hoping that I continue to convert fat into muscle.

I've been doing pretty well with my eating plan, but have to admit that I've had some weak moments lately (read: enjoyed a cupcake during a girls-night-in), but I choose not to punish myself or talk down to myself for those moments. Every once in awhile you have to enjoy eating something without worrying how many calories you just ate, or how long you'll have to workout to burn off your yummy smack.

So, between now and October my goals are to become stronger, and to keep enjoying the new body I'm building for myself. I appreciate everyone's support!

I'll wrap this up with a little Pinterest wisdom!

Counting my blessings

Today I am thankful for many things.

• I'm thankful for this glorious rain that we've needed for awhile. 
• I'm thankful for the temperatures that are finally below the 90s this week. 
• I'm thankful for my two legs that although parts of them hurt a lot, they're still my two legs that work right most of the time. 
• I'm thankful for my strong arms. Although they're still kind of jiggly on the underneath side, the rest of them look pretty good! I actually looked at my arms the other day and thought, "damn, look at my arms!"
• I'm thankful for wonderful friends and family who are encouraging and supportive, and always seem to know what I need.
• I'm thankful that through my Biggest Winner challenge I've learned how to better manage stress.I truly believe that sweat helps melt it all away. If you aren't a believer ... try it...it works!
• I'm thankful that I can still depend on my teammates for weekend exercise, and look forward to that email or text on Friday saying, "where are we walking tomorrow?" 
• I'm thankful for the delicious vegetables that I bought at the Farmer's Market last Saturday that were part of my dinner. I cooked eggplant for the first time tonight. While it tasted delicious ... it sure stinks! 
• I'm thankful that I continue to choose to make the decision that I'm worth this. I'm worth the time, dedication, sweat, and sometimes tears. I'm worth the time I'm taking for myself, to become a better me. 

I hope you take the time today to be thankful for the blessings in your life. Whether small or large, if you don't take the time to account for what you are thankful, sometimes it easily slips away! 

Even a rainy day won't slow us down!

I wanted to blog sooner this week, but it's been a whirlwind of a week! This week I had my post-fitness test at Fort Sanders Health & Fitness Center, and also my last visit with the dietitian at Covenant Weight Management Center, along with my final weigh in. Our Biggest Winner Team is gearing up for April 1 and the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon, and along with that comes lots of housekeeping type stuff.

As I mentioned earlier this week I had my post-fitness test, and was excited that the results were definitely what I wanted to accomplish! They showed that I'd gained strength, flexibility, and was in overall better health.

In December I could do 14 push-ups until I was fatigued...this week I could do 25!
My average flexibility on the sit & reach test in December: 13  inches. My average flexibility this week: 16.3 inches! My body measurements also all moved in the right direction ... except for my calves, which they explained was most likely due to added muscle.

At my weigh-in: I'd dropped one more pound on the scale, but converted 2 more pounds of fat to fat-free mass. Bringing my to-date totals to: 8.5 pounds ... but the more exciting number is converting 12.5 pounds of fat to fat-free mass!

I also had blood work done this week and was able to compare it to my initial blood work in November.
My cholesterol was 139, and is now 135. My triglycerides were 177, and are now 130. My HDL (good cholesterol) went up! Yay. It was 42 and is now 48! I still need to get it above 50!  My LDL (bad cholesterol) went down 1 point, and is still in the desirable range at 61. I'm eager to see if there's been any change in my A1C when I visit my endocrinologist in April!

This week our Thursday night strength training session was lead by Coach Kane and Joe Mitchell, former contestant on the NBC show Biggest Loser. We had lots of fun ... which is they key to our successful workouts!

Joe challenged us with some crazy exercises working on upper body strength and core stability. Below is LeeAnn punching out her frustrations, and then below Melody trying to balance while laughing at our teammate Randy.

Saturday for our long effort -- we began to taper our mileage! We were supposed to get in 7 miles, but about 3 miles into our walk it started raining. At first it was refreshing, and then it just rained harder and harder, and we got wetter and wetter. We ended up around 6.5 miles, but knew we would add mileage later in the day walking from our cars to the Women Today Expo. 

It was a beautiful day to start off on Cherokee Boulevard, part of the half marathon course.

"Here's your sign!" This is how we felt when we first started out! lol

But enjoyed it anyway!

Here's our teammate Edee who is going to hand cycle in the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon!

And then it started raining harder. We had to pause on the greenway (about a mile before we were finished) to memorialize the day! Our canine walking pal Zombie was also NOT a fan of being so wet! 

Well, an hour after we were done walking we were supposed to be at the Women Today Expo downtown to present on the Conversation Stage. I was so wet I ended up stopping by my parent's house to re-dry my hair and myself to change for the event. By the time I got to the Expo, the sun was shining again! A crazy, but beautiful day! 

My teammates Darla, Edee, Peggy and Melody all made it out for our presentation at the Expo. Coach Kane talked through our weight loss journey, and we all shared different info about ourselves and things we've learned along the way. We had a packed house in our seating area. And to close our segment we invited the audience to get up and do some fun exercise with us -- the Cha Cha slide. Although some were hesitant at first -- we had a pretty big group dancing with us at the end! It was a lot of fun! 

Here's just a few snap shots from the afternoon.

Well, just a little inspiration to wrap up for today! Enjoy this beautiful sunshine! Get outside and move!