Birthday Week!

Hiya..  This is a big week for me. It's my BIRTHDAY WEEK!!  On Friday, I get the privilege of being one more year older, wiser, and HEALTHIER (or so I hope!).  To reflect, I decided to post a graph of my overall progress, since Jan.  For the most part, it is slow and steady, with a positive downward slope.  I will take it!  However, if you just look at this month (which you can do at the bottom of my blog anytime you want), it is big hockey stick.  Missa has not been dedicating enough to herself lately, and letting stuff get in the way.  So, instead of down in the dumpiness, I am plowing ahead.

I found a challenge that I want to try.  It is the 5 x 5 Ford Challenge.  Basically, I try to run or walk a 5K 5x's a week.  I can break it up anyway I want, so if I want to walk a bit in the am, then run later, or maybe run 6 k one day and 2 the next..  But I am up for it.  This will be my goal for the next 20 days.  Feel free to join me!

Here is to a strong week.

Down and Out in NJ

It is super hot here in New Jersey.  Depressingly, Scorching, Simmering.  The kind of hot that prevents progress, that prevents anyone who does not have a death wish, from doing anything overly physical.  I am relegated to my couch.  I am finding that even working out in the house feels oppressive, as my air conditioning just doesn't get enough of the humidity out of the air.

I am making excuses of course.  I am in a funk.  I gained for the whole time I was away on business and it is totally my fault.  The end of my 12 week push was non-existent.  I am also off guard, because I didn't plan my next 12 week push.  I should have already started it last week!!  So, this is me, unplanned and unprepared, like the kid in the back of the class, who emphatically says the 'dog ate my homework'. 

I need a 12 week, SMART goal.  I am coming up on empty.  Any help, anyone? I need some sort of goal to get me jump started. 

Missa will ________ for the next 12 weeks.  Please fill in the blank for me.

I ran 4 miles

Hey Y'all!  I'm home now after 2 weeks in Singapore.  I am getting way too old for the whole jet lag thing.  It really does a number on my self-control.  When I am overly tired, I just don't give my 100%.  I ate whatever while I was away, and the scale is a direct result of that.  I did not keep up with my fitness.  I only worked out 2 days each week, which is pretty darn lame.  I am kinda pissed off at myself about it, because I really want to protect this weight loss.  So, to punish myself, I ran a Firecracker 4 miler on July 4th. 

I just landed the afternoon before (22 hours in flight), which makes you dehydrated and sleep deprived.  However, since I woke up at 4 am, a 9:30 run didn't seem so bad...  or at least not at the moment.  Here are the wins:

1.  I ran consistently.  I did not stop or walk.  I ran slowly, but I ran 14 minute miles for each mile. 
2.  I ran within a good target heart rate.  I ran between 160-168 bpm.  This is a good place for me.
3.  I kept cool.  It was hot.  I watched people overdo it, not finish, and I wasn't one of them.

Here are the bads:

1.  I was almost the last to finish.  Just completing was my goal, but I certainly didn't want to be last.  I think I finished ahead of about 10 people out of about 1000.  I felt really self-conscious.  I am really tired of being the fat chick that people stare at. (or at least feeling like the one being stared at). 
2.  Afterward, I felt OK.  I didn't eat much before the race.  So, I ate a banana and drank some water.  Seemed harmless right?
3.  I drove home.  I felt a strange pain in my tummy.  So, I drove really fast.  Move immediately to the commode.  Super barf, followed by 5 hour nap.  So much for the 4th.

I know I am not the first person to puke after a run, but I wonder what ultimately did me in.  Was it the banana?  Did I drink not enough/too much water?  Did I push myself too far?  I may never know.
So, this week's goal is to get back on schedule and back on my routine.  Yay being home! Yay running 4 miles.

Schnackered

OK, so I am currently on the sauce.  This means I had a few.  I threw a few back.  I am schnackered.  But come on...  it is World Cup people!!  I just spent a bit over 90 minutes with hundreds of Ex-pat US and England fans, watching on double screens, drinking what is called a tower... Yes, a tower of Tiger beer with my pal Dave.  It was fantastic.  In case you don't follow the news, England and the US won 1-nil!!!  That puts the US in first place in division C.  I enjoyed telling that repeatedly to Dave, as he bleeds red and white....

Here in Singapore, the next games play at 2:30 in the morning, so I am not going to make it to find out whether Ghana or Germany take it.  However, I will be really curious when I wake, as it will determine who plays who in the next round.  My bets are that Germany takes it and the next game is
US v. Germany... but we shall see!!

So this is my life-balance post for today...  I drank beer.  I even had some wings (no sauce), and a cheeseburger from McD's.  I never go there, but in Singapore, believe it or not... the burgers are
fan-flippin'-tastic.  As well, I also ran a 5k this morning on the treadmill, because I CAN!!! 
For those of you who are struggling through a rough patch....  I am here for you..  You can make it through.  I weigh over 200 pounds and I run and I HAVE FUN!  Put that in your pipe and smoke it!! 

OK, off to bed before I make a mess of it.  Cheers!

Anxiety, You Bastard

Greetings from Singapore..  Yup, on a two-week jaunt for work.  I spent all of last week getting all anxious about the trip, eating my feelings and being pissy about it.  So, here I am, a week on from my last post and 1.5 lbs heavier for the week.  Thank God I pay a personal trainer, because if I didn't, I most certainly would not have worked out last week at all.

Now that I am here, I feel fine.  It is funny how that works out.  All the build up for a big nothing.  I even woke at a reasonable time this morning, had a healthy breakfast, and worked out at the hotel gym (which is very, very nice).  So, I am back on the wagon people.  Sorry for being MIA.

Have a strong week people!!

Spinning Win and Food Fail

I did and completed, (focus on completed), my first SPIN class.  I have been secretly plotting to do it for a while.  I tried to do one a couple years ago, but I never had the stamina.  I always whinged through the ass pain as I could never get the seat right.  I always had a reason to quit.  I considered my previous attempt to be a real failure, source of embarrassment, and I just needed to overcome it.  Even if I got through the class just once, hated it, and never did it again, I needed to know that I could do it.  I needed to validate what I kind of already knew:  That I am stronger than I was before.

Well, I did it!  And....  I really enjoyed it.  The instructor was a bit intimidating:  she was like a walking muscle with lungs.  However, I liked the music (who wouldn't like climbing a hill to Led Zeppelin?), and I felt like I could set a pace for myself and not overdo it too soon.  It helped that I have been using a heart rate monitor for a while, and know what my levels are. 

This all being said, the true test is tomorrow morning, when I wake up and hopefully can move :-) 

Now onto my food fail.  Up to this point, I have made yummy, edible food.  Today, was NOT that day.  I have been reading about the use of chocolate as a spice in food.  There are lots of health benefits to chocolate, not to mention:  'everything tastes better with chocolate!'  WRONG..  Oh so wrong.  I added cocoa powder to my veggie and tomato concoction.  It was so bitter.  Ick.  I should have dumped it, but food-guilt me, cleared my plate, bite by nasty bite.  I'm a little mad at myself for feeling guilt about food waste:  what am I 8 years old!?!  So lame of me.
I haven't given up yet on chocolate in cooking, but I think I need a recovery break.  Complete Food Fail.

I haven't written much about the things I want to try.  I find it funny that I have had this spin goal for years, and never mentioned it.  I also have been dying for a while to try chocolate in my cooking, but didn't say a word.  What do they have in common:  fear of failure.  So, I am going to, in future posts, start listing some of the things I would like to try, and goals I would like to aspire.  Getting them out there makes them real and if I make it or break it, great.  At least by putting it out there, fear of failure doesn't prevent me from putting skin in the game.

49.9: The Story of My Life!

Today is a great day.  Today I am officially 49.9 lbs lighter.  I find today to be a big victory because it is like most things:  it can't just be a round, perfect number.  It can't be a full 50, a full milestone. 

In this scenario, I have two choices. 

The old me would say..  WHAT THE @#$%?!? 49.9 is not good enough.  I have failed, even in my losses!

The new me says: WOOOOOOOT!  I have a win! An, imperfect, odd, almost, kinda number.  It suits me perfectly.

So, this Monday is a celebration to the almost-perfect, almost-awesome, second-guessed wins that all of you may be happening to have today.  I say celebrate the heck out of them!  'Cause when the big-perfection one finally comes along, I, and hopefully you, will go BALLS OUT!

Here is to a strong week people & tell me about your almost-perfect win for the day!  I know you got 'em!