Bought It.

Just waiting for it to arrive.

Thwarted (TMI Alert)

Today was set to be a 4 miler. I had about 1.5 hours between classes, so I ran over to our student rec center and hopped on the treadmill. Things were going along pretty well when, at around mile 1.5, I started burping. Salmon. While I enjoyed the grilled salmon sandwich I had for lunch, I didn't necessarily enjoy tasting it over and over again during my run.

Then, around 2 miles my stomach started rumbling. By 2.25 miles I had one of those "Oh my God. I have to go to the bathroom. Now." moments. (If you run somewhat regularly, you probably know what I am talking about.) I stopped the treadmill and walked (rather quickly) to the closest restroom. It was packed with undergrads who were changing clothes, despite the huge signs everywhere that say not to use the bathroom as a locker room. This is a tiny bathroom - two stalls and a small area with a sink - and there had to be at least 6 girls in there. I gave them my best exasperated look and went downstairs to the locker room to use the restroom.

When I came back upstairs I noticed something that I had overlooked in my rush to get to the bathroom - there was a line to use the treadmills. Damn you New Years Resolutioners!! After all this, I didn't have time to wait in line, finish my last 1.75 miles, take a shower and then make it to my class on time. So, I admitted that the universe - or at least salmon, undergrads, and school - was aligned against me and gave up. I stretched, took a shower and headed back to school.

A Quick Check In

Day 3 in Week	Target	23
Food	Points	Count
PB Toast	-3	20
1c Strawberries	-1	19
4 Mile Run	4	23
Jimmy John's	-18	5
Mountain Dew	-5	0
Vegetarian Chili w/LF Cheese	-5	-5
Ritz Crackers	-4	-9
Skinny Cow	-2	-11

Another Contest

Check out the scale giveaway on Roni’s Weight Loss Blog! I can win an Affordable Food Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for contest details!

Can't. Get. Warm.

Today's high: 17 degrees. Sleet? Check. Snow? Check.

Tomorrow's high: 15 degrees. More Sleet? Check. More Snow? Check.

When it's this cold, I just can't get warm, especially my feet. It doesn't matter how many sweatshirts or pairs of socks I put on, I am always cold. The only thing I can do to warm up is to hop in the shower for a few minutes and let the warm water and steam work their magic. However, lots of showers + cold, dry air = super dry skin. Agh! It's a never ending cycle of pain and frustration. Plus, using so much hot water makes my already enormous gas bill even worse.

Needless to say, I didn't make it out for a run today. However, Mondays are usually a day of rest for me, so no big deal. When it's this cold, making it out of the house is a victory in itself - and that I did do. I make no promises for tomorrow though.

Also, it looks like light boxes run about $100-$150. On the one hand, that's expensive for my broke-can't find a job in this economy-law student self. On the other, my sanity is invaluable. I'm still considering.

Day 2 in Week	Target	23
Food	Points	Count
PB&J w/4oz. milk	-4	19
Apple	-1	18
Thai	-12	6
Tacos	-10	-4
More PB	-3	-7

Definitely dipped into my 35 "extra" points today, but that's okay. Overall, I was happy with my food choices today. Lots of fresh vegetables (bell peppers, mushrooms, and lettuce in the thai and tomatoes in the tacos) and lean proteins (chicken in the thai and soy crumbles in the tacos). And lots of peanut butter. Yum.

Today's points

Thanks to Roni for creating this daily food journal generator.

Day 1 in Week	Target	23
Food	Points	Count
Kashi Waffles w/strawberries and light syrup	-4	19
Turkey sandwich with LF provolone cheese	-5	14
Dill pickle slice	0	14
2 mile run	2	16
Hot chocolate	-3	13
Apple	-1	12
Pineapple chicken w/brown rice	-7	5
Weight watchers cookie sundae	-3	2
Homemade pomegranate soda	-1	1
Total:	22	1

I'm starting a new Weight Watchers week today, and I went a whole day without dipping into my 35 "extra" points. It has been a long time since I have done that!

*Note: I edited the pineapple chicken recipe and added a red bell pepper and 1/3 of an onion. Yum!

Struggling

I'm struggling. Struggling with the weather; struggling with classes; struggling with my food choices; and struggling with my runs.

This time of year the weather is always difficult for me. When the highest temperature all week long is 24 degrees and there is little to no sunshine for weeks on end, I want to hibernate. I want to stay in my pajama pants and sweatshirt all day, watching Roseanne episodes and eating salt and vinegar potato chips while surrounded by my dogs.

I don't want to read for classes and I don't want to lace up my Mizunos and go for a run. I don't want to count points or really do much of anything. Maybe read a good book. Between naps, of course.

And, the more salt and vinegar chips I eat, the less I want to do anything. And when I don't do anything, I want to eat more chips. It's a vicious cycle.

If you have any doubt about how much I hate this weather, let me give you a snippet of the conversation I had with my husband yesterday afternoon as we were watching the news:

Weatherman (that bastard): It's going to be another cold one this week. Sunday's high is 20 degrees with a 30% chance of snow. The high on Monday will be about the same with a 60% chance of ice and sleet.

Me: I hate this. I hate it. I hate it. I'm so sick of this cold.

Weatherman (still a bastard): By the end of the week, however, we will get above freezing and should see highs in the upper 30s.

Me: Shut up you idiot. The high 30s is not warm.

Husband: (Laughing) It's not his fault.

(Silly, silly husband. Don't you know better than to mess with me in the middle of January by now?)

Me: (Dissolving into tears) I know, but I hate him anyway. He's stupid, and he's got stupid hair.

And so it goes. I know that in some parts of the country, a high in the thirties would be a godsend. However, I do not live in those parts of the country. I do not want to live in those parts of the country. If I lived in those parts of the country, I might become suicidal.

Anyhow, this is my long winded way of saying that I ate a bunch of junk this week and only managed to get one run in during the week (4 miles). This is also why I have about 400 pages of reading to do for my afternoon class tomorrow but didn't start until this afternoon...and why the bag of salt and vinegar chips I bought on Tuesday afternoon was gone by Friday.

On a better note, today was a good day and I managed to eat relatively well and got in a short run. After deciding I couldn't bear the treadmill for another day, I layered up and ran 2 miles in my neighborhood. Not exactly where I am supposed to be in my half-marathon training, but at least I left the house. Baby steps.

***Running off to check on the price of sun lamps.***

Tracking Points

Today's points (so far):

1/2 bowl of oatmeal made with a tbsp of PB2: +2 Points
Mountain Dew (I know, I know): +3 points
Apple: +1 point
Mushroom Melt Sandwich (guesstimate): +10 points
Grilled Veggies w/Olive Oil: +2 points

4 Mile Run: -4 points

Review: Luna Sport Moons

Today after class I was starving. (This was probably because I made the oh-so-smart decision to eat knock off pop-tarts for breakfast.) Usually I keep some type of snack around so that at times like these I don't go crazy with hunger and decide that McDonalds sounds like a good idea. (It never is.) So, today I started digging around in my bag for one of my go-to snacks (usually a Fiber One bar or a banana) but came up with nothing. That's when I started digging in my gym bag.

I managed to come up with a pack of Luna Sport Moons that were watermelon flavored. Granted, not the greatest snack, but it was something and by this time I was desperate. However, once I took a bite of the first "moon" I realized I was not desperate enough to eat these! They were disgusting. I didn't even bother to take a second one out of the package. Instead I threw the whole thing away.

So, while I wasn't testing these out during a long run like I had intended, I can tell you that if I had tried them during a run I would not have felt any more energized - because I would not have been able to force myself to eat enough to make any sort of difference.

In a Funk

I went to a Weight Watchers meeting last Saturday. I was up .8 to 142 lbs exactly. That means I gained less than a pound over the holidays. Good enough.

The problem is that since that meeting, my eating has been out of control. I've been eating out way too much, which hurts not only on the scale but my pocket book, too. For example, today I had Fiber One Toaster Pastries for breakfast: 7 points. (I know there is nothing good or natural about a pop-tart knock off, even if it has 35% of your daily fiber, so spare me the lecture.)

For lunch, I met up with the husband and had a grilled turkey sandwich. (Sounds healthy-ish right? Don't be fooled. The turkey was topped with full fat cheese and honey mustard dressing and served on a pretzel roll.) I also had french fries. Points: only God knows.

Then, I fell asleep on my couch watching the inauguration festivities and when I woke up I was ravenous. The result? Half a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips - gone.

To top it off, I skipped out on my run this morning to watch the inauguration and haven't summoned the energy to go out in the cold and get it done. Now it is late and dark and the Biggest Loser is on in 45 minutes, so I'm going to go ahead and call today a bust - at least on the running front.

I've got to get out of this funk, so I'm setting a goal for myself to track points for the remainder of this week. Maybe it will be enough to counter all the crap eating I've done in the last three days. I really just hope it will give me back some control and motivation.

Confession: I (Sometimes) Hate Running

Usually I don't hate running. Most days I actually like it. However, there have been a handful of times in the last year that I have absolutely despised running. During these moments of pure, unadulterated hatred, it seems like there is a little HalfGirl devil over my right shoulder. She taunts me about how tired/cold/hungry/sick I feel and reminds me in a sing-song voice of all the other great things I could be doing like sleeping or eating pancakes.

Usually DHG (Devil HalfGirl) stays out of my way, especially during races and only shows up on those days that I am especially worn out or just bored with my routine. However, during this morning's 5k race, DHG made herself right at home on my shoulder, only waiting 2 minutes into my run to start her incessent taunting.

"It's cold. Your lungs are killing you. This hill is a killer. So is this one. So is this one. And this hill too. Wow...you're only halfway done and you had to stop and walk up that last hill. You could be in bed right now. Or at IHOP eating pancakes. Oh, here's another hill. You probably won't make it up that one either."

And so it went. In all I stopped to power walk about 3 or 4 times, for 5-10 seconds each. That, of course, is my trend. If I let myself stop to walk just once, I feel like I "have" to stop again and again. DHG did have a point about the hills though. This race had more very steep hills than any of the other races I have run before. In fact, the first 3/4 miles was nothing but one huge ass hill.

Despite the giant hills and the reminders of how I could be stuffing myself full of pancakes instead of running 25 degree weather, I finished in 30 minutes 46 seconds. That was 4 seconds faster than my last 5k, back in October, which gives me a new personal record. [ETA: I came in 11th out of 19 females in my age group and 86th overall (out of 155 finishers). The average time for the race was 31:16, so at least I was better than average.]

However, I WILL get my time below 30 minutes by April, which is the next 5k that I am planning to run.

Here's a screenshot of my run from Nike+. The spots where DHG were loudest should be quite obvious. (I also forgot to "end my workout" after I crossed the finish line, which accounts for the huge dip at the end.)

6 Miles! And a Product Review

6 Miles!! That's right, I ran 6 miles yesterday.

Granted it wasn't pretty - afterward my face was beet-red and I had to stop and walk for a bit right around the 4.5 mile mark, but I picked it up and finished the last 1.25 miles strong.

Now that I am running for just around an hour on "long run" days (yesterday's 6 miles took me 1 hour and 6 minutes), I've decided to start experimenting with energy gels and chews. So yesterday, about 3 miles in to my run, I had some strawberry Clif Shot Blocks.

Now, I had heard some nasty stuff about energy gels and chews, which made me quite wary of trying them. In fact, one day at our local running store I heard a kid exclaim, "Gross! These taste like fishing bait!" after trying some shot blocks. (No, I didn't ask him how he knew what fishing bait tasted like, although I wish I had.) However, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. They were good. In fact, they were so good that I ended up eating the whole bag, instead of the 3 pieces I had originally planned on. Oops.

As I continued on to my final 3 miles I kept waiting to feel more energized. Or, at the very least, not like I was about to die. It didn't happen. In fact, my stomach starting cramping up a bit around 4 miles, which is ultimately why I ended up walking for a bit. I'm not sure if the cramps were related to the shot blocks or not (it could very well have been just that my body was unhappy that I was increasing my mileage). Looking back on my run, I also realized that I probably didn't follow the shot blocks with enough water. This could also be the source of the cramping.

In event, I'll probably try them again sometime and see what happens if I drink more water (and only eat half the bag). In the very least, they deserve another shot because they are so yummy!

4 Miles

Just a short update: During my break from class, I went to the gym and got in 4 miles. I'm not sure why, but it was a GREAT four miles. I never had that "I still have X miles left" despair feeling. Instead I kept thinking to myself, "Wow. I feel great. I only have X miles to go."

The only problem was that I forgot my iPod, so I wasn't able to update my Nike+ stats...which also means I am going to fall behind in the challenges I have signed up for.

Okay, back to studying. I'm have to be ready to stand up and yell "Objection!" at 8:30 tomorrow morning, so I better get ready!

5 Miles!

I can now officially say that I can run for at least 5 miles at a time! I've done it twice now, so I know the first time wasn't a fluke. (I know my Nike + stats say I only did 4.5 miles, but I spent half a mile calibrating my system, since I hadn't done that in a while.)

On the eating front, I have been doing so-so. I have been tracking everything I've been eating this week, but I am already out of my weekly points "bank" and I still have several more days to go this week. In any event, I'm not going to make it to a weigh-in this week because I am taking an intercession class which runs for about 12 hours a day. By the time I get out of class, all of the Weight Watchers meetings in my area are over.

*********

The Biggest Loser starts this week! I'm afraid I'll have to miss the first episode due to the aforementioned class (boo), but hopefully NBC will post it online. (We're broke and behind in the times, so no DVR for us.) I really wish they would do a Biggest Loser reunion show and bring back all the finalists. I'd love to see them all now.

Check Out My Mini!

I have a Nike + system, but I only use it about 1/2 the time. I don't know why, I guess because I just forget. To remind me to use it more often, I've added my stats and my "mini" to the sidebar.

Happy New Year!

Today I am not running. Instead I am at home with what one might call a "dehydration headache" and recovering from a night that involved an entire bottle of passion fruit flavored liqueur.

Here are my running/health related goals for 2009:
1. Get my weight down to 140.
2. Run a half marathon.
3. Run at least 5, 5k races and set a new personal record.
4. Run at least 500 miles over the course of the year.
5. Have fun!