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.

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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!