I'm at it again

Well, what can I say, I fell off the wagon again. But my darling girls, ages 7 and 9, have picked me up and encouraged me to get back in the game. If you recall last summer we ran in a 5km race. They want to do it again. But they'd like to do better than last year. And so would I. I asked them a few weeks ago if they'd like to start jogging with me in the mornings, they said that they'd love it. So finally on Tuesday I set their alarm for 6am. And sure enough they were up and ready to go. I wasn't sure what to expect since I haven't jogged since last October. But I was pleasantly surprised that I could still do it and not feel like I was dying. I have still have a lot of work to do to be able to run a 5km race. But I'm not back where I was last year at this time when I started training the first time. I couldn't even run for a full minute back then, I'm pleased to say that I can run jog for at least a minute now. We took it easy on our first day. We'll push ourselves a little more on Thursday.  The best thing about having these running mates...they will never let me sleep in and they are super enthusiastic about this new project.

mornings

Why can't I get up in the morning??? Oh wait, it's because I don't go to bed until after midnight. I'm a night owl and so is my husband. So even when I try to get to bed early, he interrupts things. Bah. One day I'll figure it out. But on the up side of things, I've still been able to get a work out in after the older kids go to school. I've just made it a priority and get it done. So the dishes don't get done, or the bread doesn't get made, or the clothes do get folded. But I get in a 20-40min work out and I feel great. So I guess that's what matters most right now. Speaking of which, I must go do a work out right now.

one week

One week in to my new plan, and so far I'm doing pretty good. I haven't done so great at getting up at 6am, but I've committed to doing my work out as soon as the kids head off to school on the mornings that I didn't get up. So far so good. I'm feeling good too. When I started a week ago the scale read 256lbs(back to the beginning for me) today it says 252lbs. Progress. Lets hope it keeps going like this for awhile.

Day 3 - still at it.

Yesterday I slept in. But I was a good girl and didn't let that excuse stop me from keeping my current goal. I got up and got dressed in my work out clothes. Got the kids ready for school and sent them on their way. I then put a movie on down stairs for the two little ones and I put on my work out video upstairs. That was all fine and dandy until the boy came upstairs and wanted to work out with me. One may get more of a work out when trying to avoid stepping or tripping over a 20month old toddler.

This morning I was up and at it at 6:30am. I'll need to work at getting up at 6am so I can do a 30 or 40 minute work out instead of just 20. But it's all good and I'm happy with my three day's progress.

A New Start

Today I got up at 6:30am. I joined a challenge on Sparkpeople.com. The idea is to follow a 10 minute work out video 7 days a week and add an additional 30 min cardio workout 5 times during the week. Today was day one for me. It was a good one. Feeling good about this new challenge. I believe it is totally doable if I can just get over the getting up at 6am in the complete dark of night...which is not easy for me. But I did it today, so that is a great start. Wish me luck for the rest of the week.

A New Year..

OK, so it's a new year and I am basically where I was at last year at this time. I'm no farther a head...but at least I am not any farther behind either.

Winter is hard. So hard to stay motivated. So hard to care. So hard to get on that stationary bike. But I know that I can't just sit and do nothing...although that is exactly what I have been doing since the end of October. So now what? Well I have to recommit myself. I have to find something that I can do. I have to find that ounce of "hey I really do care, and want to succeed" and I have to hang on to it and suck every ounce I can out of it so that I can finally realize my goals.

So here's to a new beginning. To help me along the way I am going to post pictures of my scale every so often over on flickr...I haven't yet decided how often, but I am hoping this will be one way to keep me on track and motivated.

My measurements today are as follows

hips 51"

waist 45"

bust 48.5"

thigh 29"

calf 16.25"

New Plan

OK, so I've been struggling to find a new plan that is going to work for me. I told myself that when the kids were back in school and we were back in a routine that it would be easy to get up and go jogging in the morning. But guess what? It's dark at 6:30am. I know that I could get up and ride my bike down stairs, or do a work out DVD, but I am not a morning person, and I just can't get myself out of bed.  So while I was sewing the other night I came up with a new plan that I'm pretty sure is easy to follow and is something that I can totally do. I have to get up at 7am to get kids fed and out the door for school. So instead of just staying in my pajamas, on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I'll get up and put my jogging clothes on and my jogging shoes. Once the kids are off to school I will head out with just the two youngest in the chariot and go for a run/walk.  This will work out perfect for a few reasons. 1) it is always light out by the time the kids go to school. 2) I haven't yet started on any projects so I don't have to stop what I am doing to go for a jog. 3) the weather is cooling off so it isn't too hot and hopefully fall will last a really long time and I can keep this up well into November. On Monday and Wednesday when Kymberly is off at pre-K and James is napping I'll do some strength training. I'll just have to commit myself to that time...for ME and use it for strength training. This might be a little trickier. I know that there will always be a thousand other things that I'll want to use with that time, but I'm going to have to put up a fight with myself.

Today was my first day on my new plan. I got up and got dressed in my jogging stuff, and followed through as planned. WOW, it is a lot harder to jog pushing a chariot. And I had to change my route. The old route wasn't safe for pushing a chariot with kids, the road is too narrow. The new route includes a long slow incline of a hill. It's a nice new challenge. I actually did a lot better than I thought I would(especially considering that I haven't jogged in nearly a month). And hopefully soon, I will have my new rhythm pushing the chariot and that will become less awkward. All in all it was a good run and I truly look forward to Thursday's run.