Day 295

Back at the park :) It was so pretty outside! Today, I pushed myself to jog more. I seriously need to work back up to the 5k so that I can push for more! Anyways - today I jogged 2 miles and walked half. I did the first mile in 11:36 minutes. Ten seconds better than yesterday's pace. Go me! I hit the 1.5 mile marker at 17:41 minutes and completed the two miles at 23:57minutes. Not half bad! Now I just have to go further! Haha! I am going to try for 2.5 miles tomorrow. We will see how that goes. Also, after jogging I went to Walmart and picked up a workout video. It has 5 ten minute yoga sessions (or something like that) on it. Each session targets a different region of the body and it comes complete with a resistance band. My goal is to get up ten minutes earlier each morning and do one session a day. Yoga (or is it Pilates?) for a few minutes should be a great addition to my routine. I am also going to have to find time to add back in the llight weights. Hmm.... if only there were more hours in the day!

Day 294

Yay for getting back to work on my body! It was gorgeous out, so I went to the park. I walked one warm up lap while chatting with my best friend. Then I jogged 1.5 miles. I was VERY slow and I couldn't have gone further, but it was a good start after so long of a break. The first lap was done in 11:45 minutes and I made the 1.5mile mark at 17:53 minutes. I completed that mile by walking the second half and finished up at 26:09 minutes. I guess if you really look at it, I was averaging about 12 minute miles when I was a the peak of my training right before the race in October. So... I did pretty well considering I walked .5 miles of it. Or, did I do really poorly since it only took me 2 minutes longer to walk part of it than it did to jog it? Hmm.... I choose to be positive! Maybe I just walk fast :) Either way, I am glad I have gotten back to the trail. I like the chance it gives me to be outside.

Day 281 - 293

These last two weeks have been crazy. In the first of the two weeks, I had a late evening program one night and it was really cold for several of the others. Also, I made chili - my first ever attempt at homemade chili. It was AWESOME! The combination of amazing chili and cold nights made it very unappealing to get off the couch. The second of the two weeks was a combination of sad and happy. A good friend of mine lost her mother suddenly on Thursday and the memorial service was in Dallas on Wednesday. After spending extra time at work on Monday for a fundraiser at school, I took off early tuesday to drive to Waco. My college roomie met me there andwe stayed with my best friend. Wednesday morning, the 3 of us drove up for the service. I went back to work on Thursday afternoon for my late night and then had a VERY long Friday rehearsal. Basically, all of this added up to me not doing any form of exercise for two weeks. I so badly need to get off my butt!

DAY 280

Today I went back to the gym again today. :) YAY me! I did one mile on the eliptical machine in 12:01 minutes (half of it was done backwards). After that I did arms at 20lbs and legs at 40lbs. Then I stretched and walked one cool down lap. It was really pretty outside, but just a bit too cold to jog outdoors for my whole time. I am proud of myself for working out at all :)

Day 279 - "Snow Day"

The winter blast worked its magic and got me released from work three hours early yesterday and off all day today :) Silly and unneccessary - yes, but am I complaining - HECK NO!!! I slept in a little bit (about an extra hour) and then decided that it was about time that I stop using the cold as a pathetic excuse to not get off my couch. So, I went down and used the elitpical machine for 30 minutes plus a 5 minute cool down that I did backwards. I think I have finally gotten to the point at which excersise feels good :) I am still not a full blown athlete or anything, but I don't hurt and I feel more accomplished than I used to. Today I pushed myself to do 3 miles in 30 minutes. Jogging outside I average about 36 minutes for that distance. The eliptical is a different movement so I can usually go faster. I was pretty impressed with myself really - I kept my pace pretty steady and was able to speed up at the end as I needed. I didn't QUITE make the 30 minute goal, but was only 18 seconds over it so I am going to count it as a success anyways. :)

1st mile - 11:14 min
2nd mile - 21:24 min
3rd mile - 30:18 min
.34 mile - 35 min

Days 273-278 - Winter Blast

Yeah, I know that considering I am in south Texas, the idea of a "winter blast" is kind of ridiculous. But, we have had a huge winter storm roll through the middle of the state literally blanketing Chicago and other areas with several feet of snow. Dallas and El Paso are covered too. Houston, not so much - what we got was freezing temperatures, a little bit of ice, and a lot of overblown panic. Either way though, it has been very cold lately - too cold to jog outside for sure. Instead of going to the gym at my complex like I told myself that I would, I used the weather as an excuse to be lazy.