NutriSystem and 5K Training

I joined NutriSystem last week to try and get my health back on track. I'd tried Weight Watchers for the last couple of months, but wasn't really sticking to it, so I knew I needed to do something big to get back to it. With NutriSystem, I get a protein drink, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert from their plan. I add fruits, nuts, and veggies to meals and snacks so I end up eating 6 times a day. I also am making myself drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day and trying to limit my diet soft drink intake to only one per day. In week one, I lost 3 pounds. I'm very happy with my progress, and plan on sticking to the plan. My goal is to lose 60 pounds total.

My 5K training is going pretty good. I'm walking for my training right now. I plan on getting back to my jogging/walking intervals once I lose another 17 pounds. Right now my joints can't take the pounding of jogging at my current weight. I know that walking is movement, and all movement is good. Ready to get back to that next level so I can jog/walk again. I know once I can jog again, along with the reduced calorie intake, I will get my weight down a bit faster.

Weight Watchers Update

Sorry I haven't posted any updates on my Weight Watchers journey in the last few weeks. I've had some ups and downs, but am happy to say I've lost a total of 10 pounds as of today. The heat has been an issue for my running, but now that we are starting to get a taste of fall temps, I'll be better about getting outside to run/walk. I have used my elliptical some, but found I don't really like it as much as I like running/walking outside.

I've been pretty happy with my food choices over the past few weeks. Luckily, I love some veggies and can always go to those for meals when I feel like I've fallen off the healthy food wagon. I have picked up dinner a few time over the last few weeks rather than fixing my fresh veggies, but have decided to put a stop to that until after my Vegas trip. I need to get back to my training and I'm not doing that if I'm eating the wrong food.

I'm going to run/walk a 5k while in Vegas with my friends. Two of they will have rock star times, and my goal is to run at least half of the total race. I'm still hoping to run the entire 5k at the end of October on my 40th birthday, so figure this will help to get me going.

Running Update

I'm about to start week 6 of my 5k running training. On my group run last week, I had my first great run since I started back. I'm running my first couple of intervals extremely slow, but by the 3rd or 4th interval, I was moving a pretty good pace. I didn't have my Garmin with me last week, so I don't know how much faster I was moving, but I felt like I had upped my pace a good bit. I'll have my watch with me this week, so I can track my pace as we run/walk each interval.

I'm also going back on my lower carb diet in the next couple of weeks. I'll be going to the CMA Festival in Nashville next weekend, so know I won't really be able to each right most of the weekend. Plan is to get back on track with my eating after CMAs. I figure the combination of eating better and increased run time will help me lose some of the weight I've put back on this Spring.

5K Training Begins Soon

So, I start my newest 5K training program on Tuesday evening. I've done the No Boundaries training before and it really helped me to stick to my goal. Since I've managed to gain back most of the weight I lost last year, I need something to kick my butt into gear. I've decided running, in combination with eating right will get me back on track.

Since I have done the training before, I'm hoping I'll be able to run more than walk/run through most of the training. The training is to prepare me to run a 5K on July 4th. My goal is to run as much of this race as possible and be in good enough shape by the end of October to run an entire 5K without walking.

I also plan on updating my blog each week. I currently have 4 book review to post as well as an update for the end of the week on how my first week of training goes. I've gotten behind on my blogging in the last few weeks, but it really is something I want to improve on this year.

No Boundaries Training...Here I Come

This time last year, I signed up for the No Boundaries training through one of the local fitness stores. Fleet Feet offers a training program to help people prepare to walk, run, or walk/run a 5K. I did three 5ks last year following the training, as well as one 10K. I started training for the Nashville Half Marathon and ended up with a stress fracture in my right foot, and had to stop running for about 8 weeks. About the time my foot healed completely, I was diagnosed with bronchitis. It took me over 4 weeks to recover, and I really haven't run more than a few times since January.

The No Boundaries program helped to get me going last year, so I decided to do the training again this year. We have our first group run on April 26th, but they have suggested we start getting ready for the training by walking or working out at least 3-4 days a week for 30-45 minutes. I figure the training will not only help me to get back into shape, but will also help me with my weight loss. I've really gotten away from taking care of myself lately, and I know this is the first step to get me back on track.

5K Running Training Update

I joined a 5K training group at the end of April. My first race is July 3rd in Brentwood, TN. We are set up to run/walk in intervals. When I started the first week of my training, we had to run for 1 minute and walk for 1 minute over the course of 4 intervals. I seriously thought I was going to pass out just from running for the first minute. Our schedule has been set up to where we run 3 days a week, have a long recovery walk once a week, cross-train up to 2 days a week, and take one full day off each week to rest. At first, it was almost impossible for me to actually get 3 days of running in each week. However, it was always much easier on our Thursday night run if I had run the other 2 days each week. The way the program is set up, we added 30 seconds to our run each week until we were up to 4 minutes of running at a time. The walking went up to 2 minutes initially, and then was backed down to 1 minute. We started out doing 4 intervals each week and now are up to 7. The first time I did 7 intervals of 4 minute run/1 minute walk, I really thought I would die. Now, I feel so awesome after my workout. I know with the pace I'm running(see jogging) right now it will take me at least 8 intervals to complete the race in a couple of weeks.

I'm so excited that I started this program. When I got started, my goal was just to finish the race. Now my goal is to complete a 5K every month for the rest of the year before I start training for the Country Music Half Marathon in January. The Country Music Half Marathon is run the last weekend in April in Nashville. The race is full of hills and seems to always be the hottest weekend of the year to that point. This race will be a huge challenge for me, but I'm very excited to work toward completing it.

I'm so lucky that I have lots of people supporting my efforts. My dad, oldest niece, and 2 of my best friends are getting up way early on a Saturday to run the 5K with me on July 3rd. The race starts at 7:00 am, so we all have to be there by 6:30 at the latest. In addition to my friends and family supporting me, we also have a group of mentors that run with us each week, who are all running the race with us. I'll post pictures of all of us following the race, since my sister and 2 younger nieces should be getting up early to see us all cross the finish line. I also have lots of friends supporting me on both twitter and facebook. All the cheers I get each time I post about my workouts really help to keep me motivated.

I plan on posting updates on the last 2 books I read tomorrow night. I finished reading Larissa Ione's Desire Unchained and KT Grant's Lovestruck in the past week. I had hoped to get at least one of the post up tonight after this update, but my run lasted a bit longer than I expected.