Getting Through - Week 9

Apparently, I'm now in Week 9 and just can't count. I blame it on the week that I took off at the beginning of May.

After taking the entire weekend off and losing my motivation, I endured enormous peer pressure yesterday and have decided to do my first 5K - in 3 weeks. June 16, Kalamazoo Klassic. I do not harbor ill will towards those that encouraged (making) me to do it. But I figured if it got me to see my friend Shawn herd us to the finish line, why not?

I have no delusions that I will run the entire thing. In fact, I'll probably run only about 50-60% of it. But, I'll finish. I know I can do that!

Meanwhile, in an effort to get my friend Dave (over at http://dqworthams.wordpress.com/) back on track with his Couch to 5K (and encourage him to run the Kalamazoo Klassic), we went for a run on the Lansing River Trail. This is the first time I've actually run with someone, so it was a little odd for me. But, I could still talk while doing so, so that's good!

While it was a little slower pace than what I left off with last week, it was still fairly good. It's been pretty humid and hot out over the past week and since I hadn't been out in a week, I'd say it was a success. Plus, Dave had his best pace so far!

Wednesday, May 23:

4.08 miles
56:41 minutes
458 calories
13:53 minutes/mile

I'll be out again tonight. Then taking Friday off and planning on going Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I've really got to try to keep to the 4 times a week schedule leading up to the race!

Motivation - Week 8

So, I started a more regular schedule last week. I had looked at my past outings and saw the pattern that I had improved from 15 minutes/mile at the beginning to somewhere between 13-14 minutes/mile recently. I decided to make a new short term goal to get to between 12-13 minutes/mile. I was actually able to get there the two times I ran last week. Mostly because I upped the amount I was running. I'll try to keep this up for a bit, then lower my time goal again.

Then the end of the week just got to me. I've lost my motivation - not just for going out to run but for some other things too. This isn't a good time for it either, as I have some deadlines to meet both personally and professionally in the next couple of weeks. I skipped my run on Saturday because I was gone most of the day. I skipped my walk on Sunday because my body was really sore and once I sat down from getting home from face painting at the East Lansing Art Festival, I couldn't talk myself into getting up again. Plus, I had laundry to do.

I'm really looking forward to this coming 3-day weekend. I have nowhere I'm planning to be except home. I have grandiose plans to work on paperwork, clean my apartment and make sure I run and walk. The main goal is to give myself a break (sort of a mini-vacation), since I haven't taken a long period of time off (unless you count that mono thing in the fall) in quite awhile. I'm also hoping to sit down and figure out when I may be able to take another longer weekend over the summer. I'm starting to think that lack of a break is having an effect on me and my motivation.

I just feel like there's something missing and I can't put my finger on it. I can see light in the future when I look ahead in about a month or so, but for the time being, it seems I'll just have to push through.

Recap time!

Sunday, May 13 (walk):

4.12 miles
55:35 minutes
327 calories
13:28 minutes/mile

Tuesday, May 15 (run):

2.08 miles
26:36 minutes
233 calories
12:47 minutes/mile

Wednesday, May 16 (run):

2.15 miles
26:43 minutes
241 calories
12:25 minutes/mile

Week 3 and into Week 4...

I've been off the grid on the electronic side, but I've still been trying to keep a somewhat normal walking/jogging schedule.

The last check in on here was Sunday, April 8. Since then, here are the results:

Wednesday, April 11:

2.02 miles
28:17 minutes
189 calories
4.3 miles/hour

Thursday, April 12:

1.73 miles
22:52 minutes
162 calories
4.5 miles/hour

Sunday, April 15:

2.48 miles
36:50 minutes
232 calories
4.0 miles/hour

In that, I really just missed the Saturday walk/jog. I won't be able to make it up at this point, but it happens.

Highlights: Thursday, I ended up running 10 minutes out of the 22:52. Not too shabby and a bit unexpected. Sunday, I was absolutely exhausted and ran for a few minutes total, but mostly walked. It seems that I'm consistently walking/jogging at a 14 minute/mile pace. It was a little quicker on Thursday, but obviously, I ran more.

Though, the last few days, I've really been lacking motivation to get out and run. I know part of it is sheer exhaustion from everything else going on, but I just really need to get some motivation back.

Part of it is also that I don't feel like I've been improving, and that doesn't help with motivation. I'm still mostly walking and I'm just not feeling like I can run. So, it's been a little discouraging and I'm trying to muster up the motivation again.

Which means I have to try to go out and do today's workout.

Stuck

This week has been similar to last week - feeling a bit stuck. However, there's been a bit of forward movement. My apartment looks a bit less cluttered and I got rid of a lot of stuff.

But as I get on the scale each morning, I'm noticing a trend - I'm hovering around 170, +/-1. Huh, that seems like it could be a political poll result. The interesting thing about this revelation is that so far, I'm ok with it. I know I need to get back to riding my bike and going to yoga, but other than that, I'm not freaking out that I'm not losing anything (I think I'm a bit happy I'm not gaining anything!).

So - the question I've been trying to answer is how to get motivated. I don't have the freaking out motivation to lose weight (by getting on the bike, etc.), but I want to start being active again...so says my brain.

I also need motivation to clean my apartment more (finally started again this week), submit even more job applications (I feel like it's never enough, especially lately) and I need to start being more productive with my time (instead of wasting away online doing NOTHING).

As I'm on my search for motivation - where do you find yours?

It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine!!!

Ah, yes, I can go to work on Monday. My team came through in a great effort yesterday to come from behind and beat MSU. GO BLUE!

I can't believe how much I've slept this weekend. I've gone to bed at 9:30 on both Friday and Saturday nights. However, Saturday morning, I got up at 8am, but this morning, I didn't roll out of bed until close to 11am (which before the time change would have been noon!) I guess this week took more out of me than I had thought. I slept pretty hard too - didn't wake up much, which was good.

I've got a lot of things I need to do this week, but I'm not sure that I will be able to get them all done. I'm hoping to write everything down today at some point, but with trying to get my laundry done before I go back to Lansing, I really don't feel like doing much else! I have to start getting motivated again...