Patience

There's a couple reasons why I haven't posted in a while.

Firstly, life just got in the way. It got in the way of my cooking. Got in the way of me giving myself a solid hour or so to write a post.

Secondly, despite the lack of posting I have literally SO MUCH to talk about. I've had a hard time pinpointing exactly what I've wanted to make a topic. Instead of continuing the silence, I thought I would just take each topic one and a time and go from there. Hopefully, this will result in a few quicker posts than waiting an entire week. But today, I thought I'd focus on my exercise.

Today's theme is patience.

I've been told so many times that I'm a very patient person. I tend to have patience when I'm showing others how to do something, when I'm explaining something. To be honest, I'm not patient at all. I rush into things. I like to see results quickly. Weight loss and a healthy lifestyle takes patience and I try my hardest to take things day to day.

I'm one of those people that when you don't see results, you quit. It's a terrible way to be. I peek at the last page of a book. I tend to burn out my relationships for all the impatience in me to see things happen. I think I'm afraid that if I don't see it quickly, it's never going to come, and that's just not true.

I wish I had started taking my measurements when I started losing weight. Since, you know, I'm sitting here in size 10 shorts and I recall there was a time where I wore size 22 jeans. It would have been so cool to SEE that change. Especially because I still look in the mirror and I'm still a size 22 so many times when I look at myself. I think it's my impatience that has caused two weight gains since I first started my weight loss journey back in 2008. I hit a bump and I get tired of watching... get tired of the same old thing that doesn't do anything anymore. So I start shoveling in the cheese fries. God I'd kill for some Skyline Chili cheese fries. Nom.

I'm proud to say that I learned much patience when it has come to my running. I started Couch to 5k over 9 weeks ago, “graduated” from that program, and ran a 5k. I RAN a 5k. I didn't stop to walk at all. 9 weeks and I'll tell you in those first three weeks I really wasn't sure I could do it. Running made me want to vomit. I thought I would a couple times. I read some articles online about form and breathing and it really put less stress on my abdominal region, making it much more comfortable to run.

My city is full of hills, even in downtown where I live, so my training has always been pretty challenging. Honestly, the 5k that I ran was easier than any of my training runs. It was just sort of enjoyable. I ran the 8^th Annual Over the River/Through the Woods Run for the Animals in Concord, NH. We literally ran a bike path that went over the Merrimack River, then through the woods, looping around in the woods and then back over the river. And it was POURING rain. I'd only ever ran in the rain one other time, but nothing like this. Luckily, my smart boyfriend said I should wear a “large brimmed hat” (thanks Fox News... ha!) so my glasses remained dry and I ended the run with steam coming off of my shirt. I ran the 3.1 miles in 33 minutes and my mile time average was less than 11 minutes, so I met all of my expectations. I was hoping for less than 11 minute miles and my goal was to finish without walking. Score.

So I have some pictures from my run thanks to my super cool friends that came out to support me even though it was pouring rain (in my head I said “pourin' to rain” but that's just cause I'm from Kentucky). So here we go!

It was a great time! And I felt so good afterward and it was so good to see what I could do after completing a training program. Practice really does make perfect and I'm enjoying this so much.

So since I graduated from Couch to 5k, I've started the Bridge to 10k program. It's not that I really want to run a 10k anytime soon, but I don't want it to get boring. I want to run further and for longer. A couple days ago I did my first workout... which was a 5 minute warm up, a 10 minute run, walk for 1 minute, and then repeat the walk run 3 more times then a 5 minute cool down walk. That's 53 minutes. The longest workout on Couch to 5k is 40 minutes. There's a BIG difference between 40 minutes and 53 minutes. I didn't notice it in my tiredness, mainly because this workout actually gave me walking intervals and Couch to 5k stops doing that around Week 7. I noticed it in the sense that I was going about 3.5 miles before and with this app, I went 4.8 miles on the first shot. Wowza.

My first B210k workout!

The thing I like about B210k is that it tells you both your average mile time walking and running; it knows the difference. With C25k, your walking intervals got mixed in with your mile time, so where you could be running great, those forced cool down and warm up walks impacted your time. It was nice to see them separately. Another cool feature is being able to put in the distance you want to go and run that instead of just doing the timed workout.

Doing the timed workouts definitely impacted how I performed in the actual 5k race. I was used to running for 40 minutes regardless of how far I went. At the 5k, all I had to do was go the 3.1 miles. And the faster I did it, the faster I was finished.

I ended up placing 218^th out of 274. I passed some people! There were people that never passed me! That's so awesome.

I've registered for another 5k in July. That way, I keep up the momentum and give myself something to work for. Not just running for running's sake... it's nice to have something in the future to work toward. Gotta stay in shape so I can maybe be 217^th next time haha.

I haven't lost much weight during these 9 weeks. About 1.5-2lbs total, as this morning I was the lowest weight I've ever seen on the scale... but I've seen changes in my body over the past 9 weeks. When I flip my hair over to blow dry it in the morning, I can see how my thighs aren't as pressed together as they used to be. My shins look skinnier, if that makes sense... I've noticed I've lost some padding in my shoulders, chest and back. I'm not as afraid to wear shorts. Honestly, I'm not sure why I was ever afraid to wear them before anyway, considering some of the people I see in shorts that are WAY shorter than the shorts I'm willing to wear.

The point is this. Have patience. It doesn't come overnight. Everything worth having takes dedication and work and patience, no matter how much hard work all of those things seem. Also, if you're like me and you've watched people running and you've been envious of them and thought you could never do it, there are ways of making it happen for yourself. If you have a smartphone, try the C25k app. Seriously changed my life and changed the way I workout. All I need to do now is get on a cross training schedule instead of being lazy and sporadic (since all of these running apps do 3 days a week and so I just pick something random to do in the mean time instead of devoting myself to core training or yoga, etc.).

Give me a few days and I'll share the KICK ASS-NESS that is the nectarine and avocado salad.