Couch to 5K

This week I decided it was time to try a new fitness routine since I can't seem to stay motivated with anything else (aside from kayaking, but that's more leisure paddling than a workout).  I've always wanted to run, but the times I've tried I've not done well because I didn't pace myself and ended up with aching knees.  (I have a bad knee that generally gives me fits).

So as the weight I've lost over the last 8 months is creeping back, it's time to do something about it and get on a routine.  I started back on strict low-carb eating on Monday and started the Couch to 5K running program for beginners.  I purchased the $1.99 mobile app for my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with some of my Google+ credits I had hanging around.  I chose this one because it allows me to play my Pandora stream ( or any music I want ) and the app will break through the music to instruct you on when to walk and when to run.

Since the program starts off with just 30 minutes three days a week and I'm extremely new to even attempting to run, I decided to begin in my driveway.  I have a very long, mostly flat gravel driveway that I could easily run up and down to start out.  ( This part of the driveway also runs along the dog yard fence-line, so I had a couple of running buddies without having to put them on a leash to trip me up - they seemed to enjoy it, too! )

The first week of the program is a five minute walking warm up, then alternating jogging for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds for 20 minutes, followed by another cool down of walking for five minutes. I technically started the program on Monday, but I only made it to the second iteration of jogging before I had to quit because my lower back was killing me.  I wasn't sure if it was where I was running, my shoes, or my general very much out of shape body rebelling against me.  So today I tried again with a different pair of shoes and voila - I made it through with zero back pain and zero stops. Yay me!  It's been raining non-stop here for almost a week, but I went out when it was just drizzling and it was actually quite nice!  I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and look forward to my second full day on Friday.  Hopefully I can keep this up - I'd love to do a 5K race one day and be able to run it instead of walk it.  I'll try to post updates here on occasion to track my progress.

Since I didn't get a full day in on Day 1 I decided to use that week as a trial warm-up week before my "official" C25K start.  So I officially started on July 13, 2015.


I had to quit during week three.  My knees just aren't handling it very well.  I will try again once I drop some weight.  :/

Day 1 - Driveway Run

Day 2 - Driveway Run (Logged wrong as Day 3)

This Begins Today!

I'm very excited to being the P90X3 program today! We started the original P90X back towards the end of last year, but I ended up with an elbow injury ( not due to the workouts themselves )  and Jason with a shoulder injury so we had to take a couple of months off.  During that time X3 was released.  I'm very excited to give it a try and see how it is.  I'll find out here in a couple of hours.  The beauty of X3 is that it's the same great workout structure packed into only 30 minute workouts 6 days a week rather than the hour to hour and a half workouts in the original P90X.  Fingers crossed that I can keep up!

Power 90 Completed!

Today marks the completion of our Power 90 program!  We only missed a few days ( those with the lines through them ) and most of those were replaced with another type of workout.  We  missed our deadline by one week since we took a rest week at week 11 - we were feeling a bit run down and it did us good to take a small break. It feels awesome to have completed it!  Now we have a rest week while we wait for our two pull-up bars to arrive. Once we get those installed in the ceiling and the tv swapped out for a larger one ( which we already have ), we'll be good to start P90X together!  I'm ready to Bring It!

Power 90 Losses:
Weight - 14.5 pounds
Waist - 4"
Hips - 2.5"
Chest - 3"
Arms - 1" each
Thighs - 2" each

Just Ducky - 22/365

This post is for a reminder that me and my "Breast Friends" team are running the Dirty Girl Mud Run in a couple of weeks. Check out my Breast Friends blog post for information on donating or participating in the Louisville area!

Shakeology - 20/365

This is what I look forward to every day for lunch. It may seem like a boring old diet drink - but it's not.  It is a meal replacement. It is full of natural vitamins, minerals and nutrients that the body needs on a daily basis. It DOES taste like a milkshake! I am not kidding. Lunch has become my favorite meal because of these bad boys.  It is called Shakeology. This one is the vanilla variety - there is also chocolate, tropical strawberry, greenberry and vegan alternatives.  The shake shown here is the Shakeology mixed with one cup of almond milk, 2 tablespoons of almond butter and six ice cubes, all blended into a perfect, yummy lunch!  And I do mean yummy!

Me and Buddy - 8/365

Buddy and I went on a 2 mile hike at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve.  It was a nice, overcast day, though humid.  I was hoping to get four miles in, but Buddy, being furry and large and not used to walking more than his yard, puttered out on me at about two miles.  Just as we were heading back to the parking lot he found a creek.  I let him get a drink and before I knew it he had plopped right down in the middle of it to cool off.  So we sat around for another 20 minutes waiting for him to quit dripping before I got him back in the car.  I think he enjoyed it though.

Hiking at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve (3/365)

Today Christina and I went on a four mile hike at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve, a local 170-acre non-profit nature preserve full of hiking trails, creeks and wildlife. I already put in my daily Power 90 workout, however the weather was almost spring-like, especially for July in Kentucky, so I couldn't pass it up.  Creasey Mahan is my favorite place to walk and hike locally.  We put in four miles and 10, 582 steps in just under two hours. We even jogged for probably a half a mile in short spurts (that's saying a lot for two people who have never jogged in their life).  Since I've been working out I've got so much more energy and in the evening I really don't feel like plopping down on the couch for hours of mindless tv like I used to...now I just want to find something to DO - and this was perfect!  It will definitely become a staple to our workout routine!  And I will certainly sleep good tonight...

Dirty Girl Mud Run - Team Breast Friends

On August 24th I will be participating in my first Dirty Girl Mud Run here in Louisville!  We have our "Breast Friends" team ready to get down and dirty!  I would like to invite anyone that wishes to join us to please do so!  You can join our Facebook DGMR group or you can go directly to the DGMR Registration page to sign up for the race.  If you wish to be a spectator and cheer squad, please come join us and cheer us on!

The 5K women's race takes place at Champion's Park at 2930 River Rd in Louisville KY 40206. Our team is Wave7 which starts the course at 9:30 am.

If you wish to display our team logo showing your support for our team you are welcome to purchase logo products in my personal CafePress store (with no cost markup).  Any donations you wish to give through our Team Site gives a portion of proceeds to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Wish us luck and we hope to have a good turnout both for our team race and our cheering section!

Four Weeks Down! #power90

I gotta say - I'm feeling pretty darn good after ending week four of Power 90!  I'm down 5 pounds and noticing size differences already. SO much more energy, too!  Loving it!

Lunch Break #power90

This is our new lunch break routine.  Jason and I are on day 25 of our Power 90 program trying to get ourselves in shape, finally. We plan to go straight to P90X after this.  We are waiting on our Shakeology to arrive and will soon be launching our own fitness blog just to keep up with our routines, progress, recipes, etc to help anyone else that may need a boost that is interested in the programs.  I'll provide more info on that once it's up and running.

New Duck Hut, P90X and Photo Project Fails

Back in December I had posted how our 5 Muscovy Ducks were one by one flying the coop and not returning very often.  As of Christmas, we haven't seen any of the original five ducks back at the pond, though we have seen some suspiciously familiar looking ducks flying about the surrounding areas of our house. So they either disappeared or found them a winter time-share somewhere.  It will be interesting to see if they return this spring.

In the meantime, a friend that works at Metro Animal Services in Louisville asked if we were interested in taking in 6 ducks that they had confiscated.  Two of them are Muscovy ducks and we're not yet sure what the other four are.  We decided we'd go ahead and take them and kept them in a small, make-shift dog pen in the garage for a few weeks. Last weekend we built them a larger temporary shelter on the side of the shed within the fenced area of the yard where they will stay until the spring thaw and until we can get them a more permanent duck house built out by the pond.  Once moved to their permanent house they will be let out to wonder free during the day and put up in the pen at night to eat and keep them safe from predators (mainly foxes, coyotes and raccoons out in this area).  This is their temporary home for now:



The dogs have adjusted well since Hardy's passing and Poe the Betta fish also left us after a three year life-span, which is surprising for a fish. So we're left right now with just 3 dogs and the 6 ducks.

Last month I began my P90X exercise program and I'm loving it!  I'm on day 28 and have already dropped at least one pants size.  I'm doing it right and took photos and measurements the first day, to be repeated every 30 days, so Sunday is the first measurement day since I started.   I'm excited to see what the measurement results are this quickly and look forward to the next 60 days.  Hopefully by the time I'm ready for round 2 Jason will be able to join me (he's currently still in physical therapy and healing from an ankle break and tendon surgery).  If I'm brave enough I'll post the increment photos and measurements at the end of my first 90 days.  We'll see.  ;)

And with Jason's injury taking up a lot of my time of doing extra things around the house (though it's much better now!) and my hour and a half work-outs 6 days a week, I've once again flunked my photography project of 52 Weeks of Animals.  I made it to week 23 before two weeks went by and I realized I didn't get any animal photos in those two weeks.  Ooops!  But just for fun, you can see the 23 Weeks of Animals I managed to tackle.  Better luck next time, I guess!