Sunday, April 26, 2009
A little holiday from running fat
Apologies for the delay in writing. There will be no activity in the next few days. The sick, the kids and the solo parenting are ruining my motivation. Will be back when the husband returns.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Logging activity: April 20, 2009
2km stroll in less than 25 minutes. Slightly less pitiful than last night.
30 weeks pregnant
Slightly over 250lbs
Got my water in today. Signed up for Weight Watchers online again. Stayed within my points. Both positives.
On the negative side, I didn't get in enough fruits and veggies. Didn't eat the right kind of food.
What are you doing?
30 weeks pregnant
Slightly over 250lbs
Got my water in today. Signed up for Weight Watchers online again. Stayed within my points. Both positives.
On the negative side, I didn't get in enough fruits and veggies. Didn't eat the right kind of food.
What are you doing?
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Lose weight to help the planet
Lose weight to help the planet argue British researchers.
It's one small step towards making obesity something I can expect will cause me to be discriminated against. Not only is my weight problem hurting me, my family and my future, but now it's my fault that there's global warming.
It's one small step towards making obesity something I can expect will cause me to be discriminated against. Not only is my weight problem hurting me, my family and my future, but now it's my fault that there's global warming.
Logging activity: April 19, 2009
2km stroll in less than 28 minutes. Pitiful. But nice to get my heart rate up a little.
30 weeks pregnant
Slightly over 250lbs
Water challenge is going well. Week 1 complete. Stayed on track for 5 of the 7 days.
What are you doing?
30 weeks pregnant
Slightly over 250lbs
Water challenge is going well. Week 1 complete. Stayed on track for 5 of the 7 days.
What are you doing?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Running Advice on Weight Watchers
Just a couple of articles that Weight Watchers pushed out to me. Thought they might be helpful to others.
How do I move from running to walking? actually has some good advice. I think starting at two minutes would be too long for me, but everyone is different.
The bottom of Running 101 includes some suggestions on nice runs in Canada. I also liked this piece of advice, "Running is not sprinting. It is not done at a breathless, my-heart-is-going-to-explode-at-any-minute pace". So slow down and enjoy learning to run.
How do I move from running to walking? actually has some good advice. I think starting at two minutes would be too long for me, but everyone is different.
The bottom of Running 101 includes some suggestions on nice runs in Canada. I also liked this piece of advice, "Running is not sprinting. It is not done at a breathless, my-heart-is-going-to-explode-at-any-minute pace". So slow down and enjoy learning to run.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Advice for novice runners
A reasonably good article about getting back to running, or starting, while staying injury free from CTVNews.ca.
Advice for novice runners
I really liked their plan for starting. It's nice and easy. Nice and slow. Something just about anyone can do.
Week 1 - 1 minute run, 4 minute walk x 5 times
Week 2 - 2 minute run, 3 minute walk x 5 times
Week 3 - 3 minute run, 2 minute walk x 5 times
Week 4 - 4 minute run, 1 minute walk x 5 times
Week 5 - 5 minute run, 1 minute walk x 5 times
Maybe that's the plan for you.
Advice for novice runners
I really liked their plan for starting. It's nice and easy. Nice and slow. Something just about anyone can do.
Week 1 - 1 minute run, 4 minute walk x 5 times
Week 2 - 2 minute run, 3 minute walk x 5 times
Week 3 - 3 minute run, 2 minute walk x 5 times
Week 4 - 4 minute run, 1 minute walk x 5 times
Week 5 - 5 minute run, 1 minute walk x 5 times
Maybe that's the plan for you.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Weekly goals to help get back to slow running: Water
The long term goal of this blog is to motivate me to get back to running. Since I've been mostly sedentary for about a month now, I've decided to set a simple goal each week. Hopefully all this prep will have me ready to hit my running circuit just a couple weeks after this baby arrives.
Facing down the 250lb mark again, after having been below it for 3 years might be a motivator, too. (For the record, my all time high weigh-in was 270lbs+).
This week I'm going to increase my water intake. I've fallen off the wagon in terms of healthy eating and drinking, so this is a simple step back.
Once upon a time I took a class about project management and the importance of having a plan to succeed. It's a good approach to accomplishing anything. Paraphrasing an excellent professor, a solid plan has at least:
Drinking more water is probably more of a task, but I'll take it out a little further.
The objective:
Required resources:
I know from experience that simple adjustments can cause big changes. I lost my first 5 lbs (in about 1999?) just by giving up Coca-Cola. Maybe this will help hold my weight for the next couple of weeks.
Facing down the 250lb mark again, after having been below it for 3 years might be a motivator, too. (For the record, my all time high weigh-in was 270lbs+).
This week I'm going to increase my water intake. I've fallen off the wagon in terms of healthy eating and drinking, so this is a simple step back.
Once upon a time I took a class about project management and the importance of having a plan to succeed. It's a good approach to accomplishing anything. Paraphrasing an excellent professor, a solid plan has at least:
- A stated objective
- The tasks required to complete the objective
- A time frame to complete the tasks
- A person assigned responsibility for the task
- An estimate of required resources
- Deliverable/Outcome
Drinking more water is probably more of a task, but I'll take it out a little further.
The objective:
- Drink more water
- Drink two cups of water before each meal & snack
- Take a travel mug of water when on the road
- Actually measure how much water goes in my standard drinking classes
- Drink at least 8 cups of water/day and keep it up for at least 3 weeks
- That has to be me!
Required resources:
- Mug at work
- Ice cube tray at work
- A lot more time in the bathroom.
- Less last minute purchases of hot chocolate, juice, diet soda because there's no nearby cold water.
- More satisfied feeling from my meals and less likely to over eat.
- Can't think of any.
- Traveling this weekend might be a problem. I'll be sure to drag around a travel mug so I don't have to waste money and environmental resources on bottled water.
- Around the house I'll add a second jug of water to the fridge.
- Make it part of my nightly routine to fill the ice cube tray.
I know from experience that simple adjustments can cause big changes. I lost my first 5 lbs (in about 1999?) just by giving up Coca-Cola. Maybe this will help hold my weight for the next couple of weeks.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Learning to Run to 1 minute
After quitting the 'Learn to Run' class that was far beyond me, I kept going with the program. Moving inside to a gym treadmill I started on an easy pace. Week 1 was 3 days out. Each day was the same:
5 minute walk
1 minute run
1 minute walk
1 minute run
1 minute walk
1 minute run
10 minute walk
Important things I learned. The value of a good quality pad (I use Tena pads now). Going slow enough to not often need the pad. Going slow enough to still be able to talk, but hard enough that I wouldn't be able to sing.
It become clear pretty early that I needed to do my 3 walk/run days with a day off in between. But I was able to do a strength class on my days off. Or a circuit at the local women's gym. The strength training class as a Mum & Baby class. The circuit was something like what you'd find at Curves.
Because the class was Mum & Baby for those recently post partum it was heavily focused on ab and back strengthening. The warm ups were pretty easy. Usually a short march. Used thera-bands for a little upper body/arm strengthening. Many many many lunges (and more and more each week). Every week there was an ever increasing number of sit-ups and variations. Some of the easiest to get started were a standard sit-up with legs supported on an exercise ball (or chair).
At this point I was at the gym 5 days a week. I ran 3 days. Took my class on the other 2. But time wasn't much of an issue since it was usually a 30-minute trip (including dropping the kids at the daycare) for my run days. The Mum & Baby classes were a bit more time consuming. Maybe 45 minutes? Plus I'd often have to stay a bit late and find a quiet spot to nurse the newest who was just a couple months old.
For the record: Today was my pre-natal check-in. It was bad, as expected. I 'clocked' in at 247lbs. Still not doing anything.
5 minute walk
1 minute run
1 minute walk
1 minute run
1 minute walk
1 minute run
10 minute walk
Important things I learned. The value of a good quality pad (I use Tena pads now). Going slow enough to not often need the pad. Going slow enough to still be able to talk, but hard enough that I wouldn't be able to sing.
It become clear pretty early that I needed to do my 3 walk/run days with a day off in between. But I was able to do a strength class on my days off. Or a circuit at the local women's gym. The strength training class as a Mum & Baby class. The circuit was something like what you'd find at Curves.
Because the class was Mum & Baby for those recently post partum it was heavily focused on ab and back strengthening. The warm ups were pretty easy. Usually a short march. Used thera-bands for a little upper body/arm strengthening. Many many many lunges (and more and more each week). Every week there was an ever increasing number of sit-ups and variations. Some of the easiest to get started were a standard sit-up with legs supported on an exercise ball (or chair).
At this point I was at the gym 5 days a week. I ran 3 days. Took my class on the other 2. But time wasn't much of an issue since it was usually a 30-minute trip (including dropping the kids at the daycare) for my run days. The Mum & Baby classes were a bit more time consuming. Maybe 45 minutes? Plus I'd often have to stay a bit late and find a quiet spot to nurse the newest who was just a couple months old.
For the record: Today was my pre-natal check-in. It was bad, as expected. I 'clocked' in at 247lbs. Still not doing anything.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The first run
It was the beginning of April. Warmer than you might expect for my climate (5C). I joined a sister and her friend for my very first running class. It'd been three months since I birthed my second child. My exercise was modest. But I was back at Weight Watchers and down to 221.4lbs. (Down from ~240lb pre-baby).
The class was intimidating. There were all shapes and and sizes, but I was by far the fattest. The largest. The least impressive looking.
Our first night was going to be running down a major highway in my small community. I was embarrassed I'd be seen. Afraid I couldn't do it.
They were reasonable fears. All true in the end. I was seen. I couldn't keep up. We covered 3.4km. The whole thing as 1 minute runs and 1 minute walks. Or some people did. Not me. We were rained on. All in all, it was an ordeal that I never wanted to repeat.
I made many mistakes on that first run. It was too fast. It was too far. I tried to keep up. I was over dressed. By far the most embarrassing part was that I leaked. As in urinary incontinence. Cold, wet, covered in hives and dragged myself home and into the shower and swore to never return. (A quick shower, of course, the baby was waiting to be fed!)
There were three positive things that came out of that class.
1. I stuck with the running, not the class, but the running.
2. I got a training schedule that got me started.
3. I got a sheet of stretches that became my bible.
Maybe the larger thing is that I learned that this had to be about me, about my program and not about what a 140lb 5'10" man thought would be easy for anyone.
For the record: I'm frightened to weigh myself. I'm coming up on 28 weeks pregnant and I was over 245lbs last time I checked. Gained 5 lbs in a week. My prenatal workout class has ended and I haven't been on the treadmill in over a week.
The class was intimidating. There were all shapes and and sizes, but I was by far the fattest. The largest. The least impressive looking.
Our first night was going to be running down a major highway in my small community. I was embarrassed I'd be seen. Afraid I couldn't do it.
They were reasonable fears. All true in the end. I was seen. I couldn't keep up. We covered 3.4km. The whole thing as 1 minute runs and 1 minute walks. Or some people did. Not me. We were rained on. All in all, it was an ordeal that I never wanted to repeat.
I made many mistakes on that first run. It was too fast. It was too far. I tried to keep up. I was over dressed. By far the most embarrassing part was that I leaked. As in urinary incontinence. Cold, wet, covered in hives and dragged myself home and into the shower and swore to never return. (A quick shower, of course, the baby was waiting to be fed!)
There were three positive things that came out of that class.
1. I stuck with the running, not the class, but the running.
2. I got a training schedule that got me started.
3. I got a sheet of stretches that became my bible.
Maybe the larger thing is that I learned that this had to be about me, about my program and not about what a 140lb 5'10" man thought would be easy for anyone.
For the record: I'm frightened to weigh myself. I'm coming up on 28 weeks pregnant and I was over 245lbs last time I checked. Gained 5 lbs in a week. My prenatal workout class has ended and I haven't been on the treadmill in over a week.
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