Look who made it to week 2

This may come as a shocker to most (especially me) but I actually made it to week 2 of the #4MChallenge. 

Week 2 did not disappoint and was very challenging. 

I was super excited to finish week one

And terrified to start week 2 

But I survived and I am truly enjoying the challenge and the accountability from the group. Boy am I sore though...

Thanks to my Runtastic Apps I did TWENTY push-ups in a row this morning. Now that's nuthin' compared to Megan's 107 but for someone that could barely do five just a few weeks ago that's a HUGE accomplishment. And I'm proud :) 

In other news:

I got this message from Holly the other day

eeeeeek

  I totally had a little geek out moment when I saw the message.
Mel and Holly are coming to Memphis for the St. Jude Marathon, and that totally makes my first half experience that much cooler.

Sara and I are planning on running together tonight if schedules allow and we have our first race together coming up in two weeks. Its the "Zoom through the Zoo 4-miler" and I am so excited about it. It's going to be a super fun race.

So how's everybody doing with the #4MChallenge?


Linking up with SkinnyMeg for workout Wednesday. Go check out her blog for some inspiration and workout tips.

Strength Training and Running

Saturday morning my alarm went off at 6:30 and my room was FREEZING. I slipped my hands out of the covers just enough to grab my phone and check the weather. It was 36 degrees! I had laid out my "winter" running clothes the night before but I had never run in temps that low. After checking the weather for the rest of the day I decided to try and go later in the day when it was supposed to be warmer. 

I am so thankful that I did. By 2:00 it was sunny and a lot warmer at almost 60 degrees. 

I set my alerts on my Garmin watch to a 6/2 split and headed out the door. I was extremely sore thanks to Jillian and my extra squats on my Runtastic app so I wasn't sure how good the run would be. 

I checked my watch a mile into the run and realized I had just finished my fasted mile at 11:03

That really gave me a boost and I continued to push through the run. 

At mile 2 my legs felt like jello and I really just wanted to stop but I thought about the fastest mile I had just completed and knew I could possibly get a PR on my 5K. So I dug deep for the extra motivation and pushed through.

Once I pushed through those thoughts of quitting the rest of the run was a breeze. Mind over matter people. Mind over matter. 

I couldn't remember the exact time of my PR 5k but when I finished and looked at my watch I knew I was close

Turns out my PR is 35:17 so I was just 50 seconds away. I'm pretty pumped about that considering my current PR of 35:17 was with me running the 5K without stopping and my time Saturday of 36:07 was doing a 6/2 split. 

So I would have to say that all the strength training is paying off. 

Today I did day 4 of Ripped in 30 for the #4MChallenge

Anybody else having Jillian dreams/nightmares? No? 

I am so ready for week 2 and something new. 

I finished up my workout with my runtastic apps

88 Sit-Ups

76 Squats  

54 Push-Ups

How's everybody doing on the #4MChallenge? 

{Insert Clever Title Here}

So sometimes I do this weird thing when I'm really tired and I'm curious to find out if I'm alone in this weirdness. 

I vividly remember this happening often when my kids were babies waking up all hours of the night to eat. 

See, apparently when I'm really tired and know I need to get up I just dream that I'm doing the thing(s) I need to be doing. 

Like for example when Becca was a baby and I'd hear her start to wake up I would dream that I got up, fixed her a bottle, and fed her. As you can imagine this was very confusing when she started crying louder and really woke me up and I thought I had just gotten done feeding her. It would always take me a moment to sort out if I had actually fed her or if it was a dream. 

I say all that to say that I had a wonderful "dream workout" this morning from about 5:00-5:45. What a disappointment it was when I woke up at 5:45 and realized I still needed to get up and work out. Disappointment or not I did get up and did day 2 of the 30 Day Shred. 

Oh Jillian

I unfortunately didn't get all of my  morning routine accomplished because 

1. obviously I overslept and 

2. Josh's work truck wouldn't start this morning and with his coming in and out of the house he woke up Eli earlier than normal. 

So a few of my morning activities have been pushed back to Eli's nap time, which will be happening earlier today thanks to his early rising. 

In other news; I am officially signed up for the St. Jude Half Marathon! 

and it's just 219 days away!!!

I signed up to be a "Hero" which means I've committed to raising $500. So be looking for the information on how to donate soon. 

I am running for "Team Ingram". My good friend Allie ran for the team last year (and will be running for them again this year) and had nothing but praise for this family. I couldn't not sign up to run with this family/team after all the great things she said about them. 

More info on that soon. 

Sara and I ran together last night and she totally rocked the 3/2 split with minimal complaining :)  

I also pushed her the furthest distance since starting our training together. We've been running about 2.5 miles doing a 3/3 split. I knew she was ready for more and she totally busted it out, and much to her disbelief she lived to tell about it. 

We have a 4 mile race coming up in 3 weeks so we've really got to step up our game. 

Y'all! I. Am. Sore. 

I see a HOT bath in my future. :)

I'm Back and with Challenges!

So I know its been FOR-EVA since I last posted. Sorry about that for those that care. I haven't been sitting on my rump though. I have been running!! My goal is to run 10 races in 2013 the last being the St. Jude Half Marathon. Eeeek! I've already registered for 5 of the races and have 5 others picked out I just haven't made the commitment to them yet. 

I have an awesome running partner. We try to meet 3x a weeks but it doesn't always happen. She is going to run the 1/2 with me so we are training together and I LOVE it. Running it so much more enjoyable with a partner. 

This is one of my most recent runs. My pace has slowed considerably because of my "break" during the winter. So I basically started from scratch (boo). 

When I'm not running with Sara I try to do 6/2 splits running at about a 11:00 to 12:00 minute mile. 

Sara is a newbie but it doing AMAZING! We started a few weeks ago doing a 2/3 split and are currently doing a 3/3 split and are running anywhere from a 11:30 to a 13:00 minute mile. She doesn't know it yet but our run tonight we are going to a 3/2 split. :) 

I am joining some blogging friends and am doing the #4MChallenge 

I already had a few Jillian DVD's on hand and decided to go with the 30 Day Shred. I have serious Love/Hate relationship with ole Jill. I usually "mute" her just so I can make it through the workout. :) 

How my morning started

*side note* Are you following me on Instagram?  You should (ebob86)

I also recently found these apps by "Runtastic* 

PushUps Pro

SitUps Pro

and Squats Pro

Yes I had to pay for them but for me that helps hold me accountable. The Squats Pro is pretty "easy" because I could probably knock out 100 squats in my sleep. But having the goals and training schedule is great for my "type A" personality and knowing that I have a schedule to follow means I'll actually do it. My goal for the PushUps Pro is to get through the training with the modified push-ups (on my knees) and then when I finish go back through it again doing  "real" Push-Ups.

You should check out the apps! They have free ones too.

I also just started an accountability group for morning quiet times called "Hello Mornings". My morning quiet times have been nonexistent recently. I don't really have a good excuse just laziness really. I love having accountability wether it be in exercise or my time with God. If you have an area in your life that you feel you are failing try getting someone with the sames goals to help hold you accountable. It will make a huge difference. 

An email sent by "hello mornings" this morning really convicted me.....

"Rising early to meet with the Lord — not because I am rested, but because He is worthy — is an expression of trust that He will supply what I need to get through my day." 

Such powerful words. Am I trusting God to supply what I need to get through the day? 

I did today :) Now to make it my habit again.

So will you join me in any of these challenges? How about just one? Let me know if you are! I'd love to be an accountability for you :)

Check out the hashtag on instagram #4MChallenge for motivation with the Jillian workouts. Or #operationredbikini 

You can go to Hellomornings dot org for more information about the accountability for your morning quiet times. 

I'm also linking up with Megan over at SkinnyMeg for Workout Wednesday 

So go check that out for motivation and ideas for workouts!

Have a great Wednesday!

Lazy lazy lazy

I saw this quote yesterday and it hit me in the gut like a ton of bricks.

I have been super lazy lately. I haven't run since the Color Run and only worked out twice last week and haven't worked out at all this week. I could probably throw out a few excuses but basically it just comes down to pure laziness. *Fat girl habits die hard*

So it looks like I'll be starting the Shred over and I've got to figure out a good time for me to run.

 Because I can't run at 5:00am anymore (check out that story HERE) I'm having a hard time finding a good time to go. I just do better when I start my day with my run, its easier to go when everybody is still asleep and no one is upset that I'm leaving. Nothing makes it harder to leave than your 5 year old hanging on your leg screaming "Please, don't leave me Mommy!" She even hid all my running shoes once so I wouldn't leave. 

I've noticed I've been really grumpy since I stopped working out and that should be reason enough to get me back at it. Running is really my therapy, my time to be alone and just be me. I need that back and I have to find a designated time to do it each day. 

So all you Ladies out there: How do you do it? How do you make time for your workout and not feel guilty about leaving your family? I really struggle with that because I feel like my husband walks in the door from work and I'm running out to do my workout and taking away from our "Family Time" 

So lets hear it ladies, what's your perfect workout time? 

Post of Randomness

Yesterday my normal morning workout did not happen. Eli woke up at 5:30 to eat and did not want to go back to sleep after.  Normally I would be able to sit him on the floor with some toys or something and he'd be content but yesterday he was really fussy so I texted my Aunt and told her we were going to have to try for later.

I spent the day doing laundry, going through the kids clothes that didn't fit and organizing everybody's drawers. I saw this pin a while back

(Her drawers not mine)

And decided to try it for ours. I really wish I had gotten a before and after pic of ours because it made a huge difference. Becca is really bad about looking for a certain shirt and pulling everything out of her drawer to find it. Now when she opens her drawer she can see every shirt she owns. This is one of those things that you think "Why didn't I think of that?"

I went to Sports Authority to pick up my race packet for the Color Run. I am so excited about this race!

After I got the kids in the bed I decided to do Day 4 of the Shred. Only 4 days and I am so sick of doing the same thing. I'm thinking about Monday starting level 2 because Level 1 is feeling too easy in most of it. I will admit there are a few things that I'm not able to do the full 30 seconds without a break but it's not enough for me to want to continue with Level 1. I really want a challenge and to see results fast.
Even with it feeling easy I'm still getting a good workout

My view after finishing Day 4

After I finished Day 4 I decided to jump on the 'mil for a bit. I set my timer for 10 minutes and covered everything on the screen but the arrows to control the speed. I set the speed a little bit faster than what felt comfortable and was just going to run until the timer went off. I had to bump the speed down a few times but I don't know what I had it set on. The last few minutes all I wanted to do was stop but I wouldn't let myself and waited for the 10 minutes to be up.

.87 in 10:00

Not as fast as I felt like I was going. But it was still faster than my normal pace. I walked the rest of the mile for my cool down.


I just finished Day 5 of the Shred and found it to be much more enjoyable like this...

Sorry Jillian :)

I can't wait to update about the Color Run! Have great weekend everyone!

The Shred

Well I started the Shred this week and let me just say "uuuugh"

It's not so much the workout, it's actually not bad but the repetitiveness of it and the fact that I'm stuck doing the same workout for 10 days (x3) really annoys me. BUT I know it's working because I am sore so I'm just going to suck it up and power through it.

So I took before pictures and had intentions of posting those pics today but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The more I look at them the more ashamed I got. I hope at the end of the 30 days when my body looks different I will have the courage to post the pics. I will however as a small consolation post my stats 

Day 1

Weight: 165.8 

(yes I've gained weight sense my last weigh-in which proves that just running isn't working for me in the weight loss department)

Waist: 38 1/2''

Chest: 39''

Hips: 41''

Thighs: 23''

Arms: 12''

Very yucky stats there. It just makes me sick.

Come on Jillian don't let me down.....

In other news: I ran tonight with Ashley and Marie again at the Germantown Greenway. Ashley totally tricked me in to running 4.25 tonight too (she's sneaky)! I love running with them. It pushes me farther and faster than my head is telling me I can do.

 I have got to do a better job of running during the week without them though because they are about to bump their "short" runs to 5 miles and if I'm going to continue running with them once a week I'm going to have to up my game.

The Color Run is this Saturday and I am super pumped! Allie and I got together Saturday to make our shirts and I was so excited about how they turned out. I had my shirt sitting on the counter drying and one of the kids knocked over a cup of water on the shirt and the marker I used to trace the letters started to bleed. I freaked out at first and then decided I should just spray the entire shirt with water.

It's not exactly what I was going for but I think it turned out pretty cool. 

Tomorrow is Day 3 of the Shred and I hope to get in a short run Thursday before the Color Run Saturday. 

Good News, Bad News

Last night was the weekly training with Women Run/Walk of Memphis. I was really looking forward to it all day and the weather was looking great.

I got up yesterday morning and worked-out with my Aunt. We did 45 minutes of cardio. I love working out with someone, let me tell you that is by far the best motivation you can get. Knowing that someone is depending on you to get their workout done really motivates you to get out of the bed in the morning.
This morning we did strength training with resistant bands for 30 minutes. I love strength training days.

At the training last night the plan was to do

4 Minute warm up
4 minute run (7x)
2 minute walk (7x)
4 minute cool down

I was very anxious to see how my calves would feel and how I would do running for four minutes. I started off at a little bit of a slower pace just to make sure I didn't burn myself out again. I stayed with Ashlee and the minutes just flew by as we were talking and having a good time. For the first mile Ashlee and I were going about a 14:57 minutes mile on average. The second mile we were at a 14:19 minute mile average pace. The last two runs Ashlee needed to slow down a bit so I went on ahead and my average pace for the last mile was 14:04 minute mile.
I finished at 48:54 minutes and 3.30miles with an overall average pace of 14:50. And I am very pleased to report that I had NO calf pain! I can't even begin to tell you how happy that made me. I have really been craving (for lack of better word) a run that was pain free and actually enjoyable. I knew I had it in me :) So that's my good news
NO CALF PAIN!

The bad news is that I've been running for 6 weeks and now am on my second week of doing extra cardio and strength training and I've been watching my calorie intake for two weeks and still have seen NO change on the scale. Got up this morning to weigh and 162 was still staring me in the face. Now I know what someone of you are going to say "muscle weighs more than fat" "watch the inches not the scale" "Aren't your clothes fitting better?" "Don't you feel better?"
I know all those lines and have used some of them on friends myself and they're all true but that doesn't change the fact that I still have 40 *POUNDS* to lose. I really do need to invest in a tape measure because I'm sure that will help motivate me but I still desperately want to see the numbers going down on that scale

So I leave you with a little Garfield scale humor

Cardio and Strength Training

The run with Women Run/Walk of Memphis got cancelled last night due to thunderstorms so I hit the 'mil last night. I was anxious to see how my calf muscles would do.

I started the 5 minute warm up at 3.5mph
The first 3 minute run I did 5mph and was feeling ok but I knew I was going to have to slow it down if I wanted to do all 10 runs
1 minute walk at 3mph
3 minute run 4.5mph and my calves started to burn so after I finished the run I jumped off to stretch them out
1 minute walk 3 mph
3 minute run 4 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
3 minute run 4 mph had to jump off again to stretch out my calves
1 minute walk 3 mph
3 minute run 4 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
3 minute run 4 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
3 minute run 4 mph got of to stretch after that one. At least I did 3 runs this time
1 minute walk 3 mph
3 minute run 4 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
3 minute run 4 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
3 minute walk 4 mph last minute I bumped it up to 5 mph
1 minute walk 3.5 mph
5 minute cool down 2.8mph

Total Time 50 minutes Total Distance 3.02 miles

When I first started trying to run (over a year ago) I was getting this severe pain in my calves (much different then the pain I'm feeling now) and it didn't start until after I got new shoes. It got so bad that I stopped running.
When I started back again a few weeks ago that pain was starting to come back. The only way I know how to describe it is it would feel like there was a metal rod in my leg starting at the back of my ankle and going up to the top of my calf muscle. It hurt to touch it and hurt to walk/run. When I got my new shoes my first run with them (Saturday) that pain was immediately gone but was replaced with this new pain. It feels like an extremely sore muscle. Like if you had done an intense workout and only worked that one muscle.
Stretching it out makes it go away and it doesn't bother me when I'm not running. I'm hoping it's just a new shoe thing and that having new shoes is making me run different and therefor causing me to use a different muscle than I'm used to.
Josh made the comment last night that maybe I'm just not meant to be a runner. It would be a lie if I said that that thought hadn't crossed my mind. I'm just hoping that's not the case.

So this week I started doing my Turbo Jam DVD's to get some Cardio and Strength training

I've only done two days but boy are my obliques killing me. I LOVE turbo jam because almost every move engages your core.
My Awesome Aunt is working out with me so I made a schedule for us to follow

+ my 3 runs a week
I'm also trying to be more aware of whats going in my mouth so I downloaded an app called My Fitness Pal

Love Love Love this app. It has a barcode scanner to scan in your food. If its already in the data base (so far I haven't found anything that wasn't) it pulls up all the nutritional info and all you have to do is put in your serving. So cool. It also keeps up with your exercise and weight.
If you already have the app look me up my user name is EBob86 and we can help hold each accountable.


Hopefully next week I'll have some weight updates for you.

Homework day 2

Just finished my run at home.....
and now I remember why it was so hard for me to work out at home! I spent almost as much time off the mil as I did on. Three kids require a lot of attention especially when one of them is 4 months old.
I never stopped a run to get off but I did get off multiple times during my walks. I've said it before but its worth repeating, I hate having to stop in the middle of a work out. My 30 minute work out turned in to 50 minutes and my heart rate was all over the place.
Friday I might try to run outside after the hubs gets home so the only thing I have to worry about is running

I'm really looking forward to Eli being on a more predictable routine so that I can start getting up before the kids and get my quite time and exercise in. Right now he wakes up anytime between 4:00 and 7:00 to eat so that doesn't really give me an opportunity to have an hour to an hour and a half to myself.

On a completely different note Josh and I are leaving for a mission trip to Colombia in 10 days! We are super excited. I can't wait to see what God is going to do while we are down there.
When we get back I plan on starting a cardio/strength workout to go along with my running. We will see how that goes...

Anywho, Today's running was 37 minutes 2.30 miles

Plans

Oh plans. I had tons of plans. I knew exactly what I was going to do after Eli was born. I had a plan and was determined to get in to shape and lose weight quickly after Eli was born.
I was going to start this video just days after coming home from the hospital



It had horrible reviews for the instructor, saying she was really boring and talked really slow. But it had great reviews for the results. I never got to start it....

I also had plans to wear a Belly Bandit



I only got to wear it for 4 days.....

Oh Plans! Plans that got ruined due to my trip to the hospital. It's hard to exercise when you have a nephrostomy tube coming out of your back and even harder to wear a "corset".

So my plans have changed. I'm actually only a few pounds away from being at my pre-pregnancy weight in just three almost four weeks due to being in the hospital. So now my plan is to focus on getting in shape, becoming a runner, and losing the rest of the weight I'm wanting to lose.

I've been following a blog that I love. Not only is she inspirational, she's hilarious. You should check her out, you can do that here She has an amazing story about here desire to lose weight and become a runner. She has some major determination. She started out doing C25K and is now training for a Half and is running 9 miles!
Any of you have a blog you follow that is motivation for you? I'd love to hear about it.

I'm going to try alternating Cardio and Strength training. It's going to be a lot different than last time because I will be doing it at all from home instead of in the gym like last year. I got a treadmill for Christmas/Birthday and I love being able to jump on that whenever I want.

I have these videos that I've had for a few years now

It has 11 different videos, so I don't get bored with it. The music is great and I love the trainer.
I'm considering doing "Jillion Michaels 30-Day shred". Look at "MamaLaughlin's" results from doing the 30 Day Shred The only thing holding me back is the fact the I despise that video! It's boring! Especially after doing Turbo jam.
What work outs do you do at home? Please share!