BrookeC

I started this and then the challenge started but that's over so I'm back here now. I didn't go great on the challenge, but I knew going in that I might have bitten off more than I could chew. Today I started off with a 1.18 mile run. At 10:30 I'm going to a yoga class at the campus gym with one of my friends. I went to it last week too and really enjoyed it. At this moment I'm eating a spinach and cheese omelet smothered in hot sauce. My brother in law gave me his spare blender (spare blender, I know right?) so I'm trying the whole green smoothie thing. I made it last night with spinach, a peach, blue berries and had to throw in some grapes to sweeten it. That will be lunch.

I haven't tried ZombiesRun yet, I've been taking my runs to do a lot of Deep Thinking. (You know, planning grocery lists, panicking silently about all the papers I have this year. Big stuff.) Really I don't like doing much of anything in my runs besides running. I might try it though, once this challenge is done. Today I ran/walked 1.20 miles and I was so disappointed in myself for not running the whole thing because I was doing so well with that! Then I came home and looked at what the weather was going to be like today. It was 72! No wonder I couldn't run the whole thing, I would have melted. Aaaaaand I'm down to a 34 1/2 inch waist! Now what my starting measurement was I couldn't tell you (36? 37?) because I didn't pack that notebook either. Guess I've got a nice list of things to grab when I go home this weekend.

When I go back home for a wedding this weekend I'm going to try and remember to grab them. I meant to go running yesterday morning but I had an attack for the snooze button and it got into the 80s before ten a.m. Instead I did a run this morning and I wasn't' really feeling it but I did 1.58 miles! In high school if you told me that I would ever run from anything but zombies, I would have laughed at you but now I'm finding I really enjoy it. I like seeing the strides I make and it gives me time to really think about some things that are going on in my life. When I do that while running I find myself really moving forward in my problems and it becomes easier to work through things. As for food, when I work out I eat better because it's all connected somewhere in my brain that move=better food. Tonight is spinach salad with peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, topped off with avocado and fish. Now that I'm back at school I've found a pretty steady support system because over the summer all the friends decided to get in shape. Tomorrow is the first day of class. Good luck to you, because I don't need it. (that's a hold over from my marching band, btw)

Thanks for keeping me on track I actually did 1.63 miles today! I was gone most of the last week because of some personal issues and moving back into my apartment near my campus, which is a joy but needs a lot of time. Luck for me I have free access to the gym now (well not really free, I do pay tuition) so I can get myself back on track and whatnot. My other goals were going great! . . . . . until I forgot to pack the books up to take with me haha.

I'm really focusing on hips stretches now, they're becoming a priority in my little world. And I discovered the (honestly, should have been obvious) reason for lack of veggies in my house. I moved out. My sister moved out. My parents aren't used to having to feed all of us anymore, so they downsized everything and didn't adjust back. Also my dad has been taking them all to eat at work. So instead I've been making too much for my lunch and going "well mom I made enough for us to have it as a side with dinner." We've got four animals, two cats and two dogs. Our youngest is just over a year old so she's very needy and when you get on her floor (any floor in the house) it must be time to play. And today I ran 1.12 miles full out, no walking, no stopping, and broke a 13 minute pace. 12:59 is my new pace to break! I want to break my pace for the 1-ish mile and also increase my distance, so after I do some more research I'm going to decide how I want to approach these goals. I'm also going to map out my running rout for when I get back to school, where I live smack in the middle of town and have plenty of hills.

I'm baaaaack.....I was going because I yanked something in my left hip. So I'm even in sore hips for this challenge, though with this hip I didn't fall down the stairs after I pull it so that's a win. (Insert miming tally mark here.) Also had to take my cat the vet and found out she has arthritis but her medicine is working wonders and she's moving and happy and chasing the dog. My mom decided because I've been lethargic that I'm vitamin B and D deficient (my mom isn't a doctor, but she is my mom and has the same problem though hers is a thyroid issue) so I'm taking vitamins now and a daily multi vitamin. I have no idea is this will help, but I've been taking them for almost a week and I'm not as lethargic. It could be a placebo effect type deal going on, but either was I don't care because today I ran for 9 minutes straight. That's right. Nine minutes without stopping. My total run was 1.13 miles in 15:20 at an average pace of 13:31. I set a new pace! And ran for 9 minutes straight! I feel awesome! Even though my measurements didn't change at all this week, I feel great today. And that's sort of all the counts. I also feel good because there's a lawyer somewhere in the U.S. demanding trial by combat. Which we have no laws against because the country was established after trail by combat fell out of use.

This morning I tried a pistol squat! And nearly fell on my ass because apparently I have no balance and my heal kept coming off the ground. But I did three each leg while holding a piece of wall so I didn't fall. Rested yesterday because my right leg was sore from my hip joint down to the top of my knee. I can feel it now and my left leg isn't as bad at all so I don't really know what I'm doing that's causing it. Working my right leg harder? Not working my left leg? No idea. Mixed it up today and did a circuit after I warmed up. Three times for this one with: 10 prisoner squats 10 lunges 8 push ups (still on my knees) 15 rows (which was too easy because my sister drinks milk like it's water so we're nearly out) 15 second planks I really can't express enough how happy I am to be going back to school. Love my family, but workouts are difficult because our youngest dog is to training well and keeps trying to knock me over in the middle of my workout. As for eating well, it's hard when you're no the one in charge of groceries or cooking. It's hard to sleep well (or at all) when the other person on the floor with my bedroom Skypes and games until 3 or 4 in the morning. I'm really not progressing like I want to be and I don't know that I will really start until I get back to my apartment somewhere in the week of the 17th. I know it's only been a week so for me right now "progress" would be feeling any bit healthier but I'm really just lethargic most of the time. Like sleeping 8 hours a night (or at least in the bed for that long) but still needing to sleep more during the day. I think my solution for when I move back permanently in (hopefully) December to finish my BSW and start my MSW is going to be taking over cooking dinner a few nights week so I can have some say over the grocery list. In short, my side quests are going great (other than spilling coffee on one of my books and that grad school application is not out yet) but my main goals are dragging butt.

Made it through the first week! And my scale really is broken so that's out the window now. I decided to redo my measurements at the beginning of Week 3 and Week 6, and then on the last day. Today's run was great! I'm so glad I did it, even if I didn't want to. One of the people who lives with my family games pretty hardcore and she was raiding most of last night so things got loud and I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted. When I got up this morning at 7:15 to spend time with my mom before she went to work, I didn't want to run. But I went and I put on my running clothes and knew I would feel silly hanging around the house in my running clothes. Then mom asked when I was running. So I finished getting ready bit by bit and left to run after she went to work. 1.08 miles later, in 14:42 at a pace of 13:26 I feel awesome! And I'm eating a bagel. I'm not paleo because I was able to maintain my weight when I wasn't working out through the Athenian style of "everything in moderation." Bagels we only really get when someone goes to NY to visit out family, so only a few times a year. I'm planning to eat quite a bit of broccoli with lunch because I love broccoli. I've made a few food based goals for when I go back to my apartment later this month and have complete control of my food choices (about 2 weeks from now). I buy frozen bulk-ish veggies because I live alone, and my new goal is that I should be going through at least 1 bag of those a week (that's about 2 pounds of veggies) plus whatever fresh ones I eat. I'm going to try to do my shopping every week or every two weeks, instead of once a month, so I can get more fresh veggies and fruits. I will also conqueror the university gym and a yoga class or two. Because once the temperature drops, I don't go outside except to walk to class.

Yesterday turned into another rest day because my sister didn't get in until 3am. But today I did some strength training and I think I need to adjust now. Accept for push ups. Because I'm really bad at push ups. Warm up: .93 miles on the bike in 5 minutes Squats: 37-30-25 Push ups: 12-10-8 with a dog licking me so my form wasn't great planks: 36 seconds-30-26 Rows with a milk jug each arm-30-25-23 And either I've magically gained almost three pounds since Tuesday or my scale is actually broken. Try three times every time I weigh myself and get three very different answers. Guess I'm not weighing myself anymore.

Hey! Anyone out there in the Farmville area for the coming semester? Townies, Longwood, Hampden-Sydney? Just wondering if there are any of us in reach and want to get together over the next semester and maybe tackle the rock wall in the LU gym.

Good for you! I used to hate working out with other people too, it always made me feel like someone was judging me for not being in shape or being able to keep up. It took me a while to accept that the only person watching me and judging was me; I did The Wild Thing in a yoga class one day and the woman next to me was happy for me, not judgmental. Finding a good environment to work out with other people (and with enjoyable people like the BF) is an awesome feeling.

I love big dogs! Can't really abide by the tiny yapy ones, not my thing. Today I slept a little later because my parents left for the weekend and thus the furry things flipped their lids and I had to play musical beds until I found a place they wanted me to be. But yesterday was my rest day (in reality is was my clean-closets-at-preschool-day) so I knew I had to get up and going today. I manged 1.28 miles (longest run yet!!) in 17 minutes 23 seconds, at a pace of 13:38 per mile. Came home, stretched. Not sure effective stretching was because Sassy was trying to lick all the salt off my skin. In good news, I'll have a running buddy this weekend because my sister and her fiance are visiting!

Update since the 27th: 28th: Ran 1.09 miles in 15 min and 32 sec 29th: saw what I could get done in 3 sets squats: 30-32-30 knee push ups: 12-10-8 plank (in seconds): 30-31-24 Rows (with a milk jug, both sides): 27-27-25

My family has a Walker Treeing Hound mixed with some other kind of hound (this is Sassy: Leash Demon) and a husky mixed with and Australian Shepard (Snowball: The Buffalo. Sassy is actually standing on me as I type. Sadly it was threatening to thunder storm here last night so I didn't get to take them out. So far I'm just using RunKeeper, but I like the idea of using something that gives me more entertaining goals, so I might look into zombies run. _____ Today I cut my warm up on the bike to 5 minutes (.88 miles) and them I decided I wanted to see how many squats/push ups/plank/rows I could do in three sets. It broke down like this (with 1 minute rest between sets). Squats: 30-32-30 Push ups (knee push ups): 12-10-8 Plank: 30 second-31-24 Rows with a gallon of milk (I match my left and right): 27-27-25

This morning my run was 1.09 miles at a pace of 14:15, and a total of 15:32. Sunday my run was the exact same time at a pace of 13:50 and was longer. So I need to work on keeping a constant pace so that I can really measure my improvement. I'm hoping by the end of this challenge I can get my pace up to a 12 minute mile. This morning I also weighed myself, I'm 159 pounds with some coffee in me, and I took my progress pictures. So yay for remembering to do things. I'll do another round of pictures next Tuesday.