Love Me Some Intervals!

Hello Old Friend,
It has been quite some time since my last post.  It was this time last year I was training myself to run a whole 5k straight through so I would be ready for the Warrior Dash with Mike and Charlie in June 2011.

I remember starting my training in sometime around February and did most of my training outside in the cold and I was about at least 15 pounds heavier than I am now! That was after losing around 30 pounds already! I look back at that girl and am so darn proud of her and all the hard work she (I) did.  I was fiercely dedicated and would not miss a day of running for anything, I even doubled up so I could start speed training for the 5k after I learned how to run that far all at once!  I was even dieting at the same time.

Me on the right in the red shirt some time in 2007 (Mom on the left) :)

By the time June rolled around I had gotten down to 182 pounds from what had once been somewhere close to 250 pounds!  I don't know how it happened, how I had let myself get that heavy, I still always felt like a thin girl, but my body just didn't reflect who I thought I was on the inside.  Running gave that back to me!  Off to Pennsylvania I flew to meet Mike and Charlie and do my first Warrior Dash.  That's a pic of us gals on the left. We had such a blast!  It was difficult for me, but it was still awesome!  Especially when we were done and drinking our cold beers and eating our turkey legs and listening to music.  The best part was the contented feeling that I had done it!  And WOW! Look how far I had come!

Turkey legs and beer after the Warrior Dash
(Charlie left, me right)

I loved meeting Mike and Charlie and had so much fun with them over our mini weekend.  Charlie has gone on to run her first full marathon (26.2 miles!) since the Warrior Dash and is now training for her upcoming 'HAT' race!  This is a crazy 50k (31 miles!!) TRAIL race!! When I say trail, I mean grueling, steep, up and down and continuous trails and hills...grueling!! BRUTAL!!  There aren't words to convey just how proud of her I am, she is an amazing person and an uber runner!  Not to take away from Mike who takes down triathlons like they were just another walk in the park!  Great athletes, both of them.  And I did a Warrior Dash with them, albeit slow, and they spent a lot of time waiting for me to catch up, but I did it and I was so happy.

Mike - Warrior Dude!

I continued training over the summer and completed my first triathlon, did my first half marathon (13.1 miles) in the Fall, and continued to train.  I took a day away from my work schedule so I could head to the gym 3 times a week when it started getting cold and was eager to really work on my speed training.

Once it started getting cold, I did hit the gym, religiously, and was seeing great results.  My arms were slimming down and firming up, my stomach was getting tighter, my bum was getting nice and firm...the scale went up...MELTDOWN!  I know better, my clothes were loose, I was going down to the next size.  But I still let it psych me out!

I had held around 182 pounds through early summer and once I stopped dieting (around mid-summer), and started training for long runs, I leveled out and held at around 185 to 188 pounds, but had gotten leaner and firmer than I had been at 182 and I was down to a size 14 (size 12 vanity sizes! haha)  I hit the 190's once I started going to the gym and was floored.  I had worked so hard to loose the weight!  Well, that was definitely the wrong frame of mind to have and looking back now, I wish I had continued going to the gym.  Unfortunately, I derailed, and stopped going regularly, and had no desire to run in the cold, even though they tell me we had a mild winter this year! On top of that my Moe-Moe was having some serious health issues and I was feeling completely helpless and eating mindlessly and emotionally.  Up the scales went and continued to go until I topped off at about 206.5 pounds.  I've since found another vet and am seeing Moe improve daily, the clocks have been moved up so that I have more daylight in the evenings, the daylight hours are longer, and the weather has been awesome!  The weight started coming off because I stopped the emotional eating, but...I was so out of shape that my runs were killing me most of the time.  It was time for me to build my stamina and core again and time for me to get back to my love of intervals!

Off I headed to the park today.  One full mile run on the trails, another mile walking, half mile running the roads, half mile walking, quarter mile run, quarter mile walk, then another half mile of alternating a tenth of a mile run/walk/run/walk/run, then about a mile walk back to the car.  I could feel where I had lost so much of the strength I had worked so hard to build previously.  It was difficult, but I could feel I was making strides.  It felt good to be back at it again and it feels good to feel like myself again!

I'm taking the control back!  I drive this body, so no more wasted time idling away in 'park'!  Spring is here and it's time to RUN!