Goals, Goals, Goals

Two weeks ago, I started this blog as a way to document my journey to what I deemed to be "my healthiest life".  I only had a vague idea of what I was going to do to achieve the vague goals that I had in mind.

And for the past two weeks, I have pushed myself out of comfort zone when it comes to workouts, and my eating has been 80% clean. But I still feel as though I am getting it wrong more than I get it right. 

So I decided to sit down and write some concrete goals to help me take this journey further.

1. To weight 135 pounds by my 30th birthday. Currently I weight 143 pounds, that calculates to an 8 pounds loss over 8 weeks.  This is entirely doable.  I am going to approach my weight loss by both modifying my workouts and cleaning up my eating.

• Workouts:  I am going to follow the FANTASTIC workout plan created for me by Annette at Fitness Perks. I will also be doing 2 additional cardio workouts per week  (See Goal #2).
• Nutrition: Eat "clean" 95% of the time.
• I define clean as lean protein, healthy fats, whole grains, and limited sugar and processed foods.
• Avoid eating out and limited processed foods:  To achieve this, I am going to pack a small insulated lunch bag daily, which will contain breakfast, lunch, and a few snacks.  I will spread these meals out so that I am eating something every 2 to 3 hours.
• Avoid mindless eating:  In the past few days, I have come to realize that I want to snack around 3 p.m. but I am not hungry. The urge to snack is just a response to stress related to my work. While I have no problem snacking when I am truly hungry, these instances are just empty and unnecessary calories.  Going forward, if this occurs, I will drink a glass of water and take a 5 minute walk around our campus. I think this will help reduce my stress and allow me to refocus so that I can finish the rest of my day.

2. To shave 3 minutes off of my 5K time.  I ran a 33 minute 5K last weekend. And I did it battling tired legs and an upset stomach.  Assuming I train smart over the next 8 weeks, I really believe I can run a 30 min (or less) 5K. I will test this on August 18th with another 5K race.

• Training:  In addition to follow Annette's workout plan, I will be devoting two days a week to training for my next 5K.  The first run of the week will be a tempo run - where I add in faster intervals during a regular run.  The second run of the week will be an endurance run - where the focus will be on running a full 5K.

3. To reduce my overall stress level.

• Gratitude List:  Per Annette's suggest, I will write 5 things I am thankful for each morning and each evening. I will compile my top 5 each week and share them in a post on "Thankful Thursdays".
• Me Time: I am taking twenty minutes every day to read something other than work related items or blogs. I have a stack of magazines and a dozen books on my Nook that I am eager to read.
• Weekly Date Nights with Hubby: One night a week where we do something together without our daughter.
• Play Dates with My Daughter:  Carve out at least 30 minutes every day to play a game, watch a DVD, or do whatever my daughter wants to do. This should be interesting as I am trusting my time to a 2 year old. :-)

I did not intend for this post to be so verbose. But now that I have typed it all out, I feel better. I have a plan and a clear path to my goals.  What are your goals?  What does the "healthiest life" mean to you?

WIAW #2: Mini-Meals

Another Wednesday means another edition of What I ate Wednesday.  As the temperatures rise, I find myself with a smaller appetite. Rather than eating large meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I crave "mini-meals" thru out the day.

Summertime breakfast for me is either a smoothie or a yogurt bowl. This week I opted for black cherry Greek yogurt topped with Granola Crisps from Yogi Foods.  All mixed up and served in an over sized coffee mug.

Lunch was a repeat of last week's eats - salad and quesadillia.  I would love to show you a picture of my dinner  - but sadly my camera ate the picture. :-(  It was a delish maple almond butter and banana grilled sandwich with a side of fresh blueberries. 

This month's WIAW theme is sensible snacking. These days I am snacking on these babies

They satisfy my craving for something sweet while giving me a good mix of protein and healthy fats.

What have you been eating this week?  Link up at Peas and Crayons to share.

SweatStreak Day 6: Triple the Movement

Per my weekly workout plan, Monday's workout was to be a full body weights workout designed by the lovely Annette of Fitness Perks.  I headed to the gym on my lunch break - fired up and ready to test Annette's workout. 

Oh man!  This weights workout delivered! It hit ALL of my muscle groups and had me sweating/shaking/burning by the end.  The best part was that I was able to fit it in to just an hour - and that's with a warm up, cool down and stretching. My schedule is pretty packed these days, so having a workout that I can do on my lunch break is a major bonus.

My intentions were to come home after work and veg on the couch. But a co-worker who is looking to get into shape asked if I would go to the gym with her. So at 5:00 p.m., I was beside her on the treadmill.  We enjoyed some conversation as we walked on the treadmills for 25 minutes.

As I was leaving the gym, my SIL texted me and asked if I would be willing to lead an aerobics class at our church at 6:00 p.m.  I thought about saying no, but realized that I could create a good class without pushing myself too much -- I don't want to overtax my body.  I led the group for a 45 minute class, which left them drenched in sweat.

Finally at 7:15 p.m., I arrived at home, tired, a little sore, but riding a HUGE wave of exercise endorphins.  I have no plans to workout 3 times a day with any regularity. However, it was a great day in my #sweatstreak.

What workout did you do yesterday?  Have you ever worked out more than once, twice, etc. in a single day?

Weekly Workout Plan: 6/4 -6/10

Monday: Full Body Weight Workout
Tuesday: HIIT Workout on the Treadmill
Wednesday: Full Body Weight Workout
Thursday:  2 mile Run
Friday: Circuit Workout
Saturday: 5K Run
Sunday: Long walk with hubby/daughter

SweatStreak Day 5: Active Rest

I woke up Sunday morning feeling extremely tight. Even though I had stretched and foam rolled on Saturday night, the combination of a 5K race, being on my feet for 6 hours for work, and then playing on a waterslide for my cousin's birthday, had left me SORE.  I thought about taking the day completely off. But I didn't want to end my #sweatstreak.  So, I decided to make Sunday an active rest day - for both my body and my mind.

I did not check e-mail, Facebook, the blog or Twitter at all for the majority of Sunday.  Rather, I spent that time attending church, enjoying lunch out with my parents, hubby and daughter, and then spending the afternoon hanging out with my family.  My daughter and I played chase and danced around the living room -which I am counting towards my #sweatstreak.

What did you do on Sunday?  How do you handle active rest days vs. total rest days?

SweatStreak Day 4: A New 5K PR

Day 4 of my #SweatStreak started at 5:00 a.m. with the blaring of my alarm clock. After hitting the snooze button a few times, I hopped out of bed and began to get dressed. My stomach was a ball of nervous energy as I thought about the 5K race that I would be running in a few hours.

After dressing, doubling and then tripling check that I had all my gear, I kissed my hubby and daughter goodbye and headed to town.  I met my running group at the track where we walked nearly 2 miles at a moderate pace to loosen up our legs. Then we stretched and made our way to the starting line.

The starting gun sounded shortly after 8:00 a.m.  The sun was high but there was a nice breeze blowing. I found a pace that comfortable and zoned out to my music. When we reached the 1 mile marker, I looked at my watch, I had ran the first mile in 9:00 minutes. I realized that I had started out to fast, and try to back off. But the damage was done.  My lungs were burning and my legs felt like lead.

I walked for a tenth of mile to settle down. Then I started alternating intervals of running and walking - but it was a struggle.  Finally, Travis the only male member of our running group caught up with me. His face was the encouragement I needed to keep pushing.  He and I tackled the hill at 1.5 miles into the course. At the 2 mile mark, our time was 20 minutes.  I thought to myself "I could finish this in 30 minutes".  Wrong!

Shortly after we started the last mile, my stomach began to rumble....a sign that my pre-race breakfast was not sitting well at all.  I told Travis to run ahead and started walking.  I attempted to run/walk but my stomach was really angry.  I felt tears building behind my eyes as I thought any chance of being my previous 5K time of 33:45 was toast.  As I started the last quarter mile, I saw that our local police office had a line of traffic stopped.  Who should be at the head of that line but my Mama.  She was waving and blowing me kisses.

Seeing her motivated me to start running again.  I dug deep and ran with everything I had, telling myself that the worst then that could happen was I'd get sick.  And that would be a small price to pay for a new PR.  I turned the corner for the finish line and saw the clock was at 32:55.  I went from running to a full on sprint and crossed the finish line at 33:00 even.  A new PR!!!

My husband and daughter found me a moment after I crossed the finish line.  Joycie (my daughter) was clapping her hands and saying "Hoorah Mama. You did it!"  That was better than any trophy or any PR.

Anyone else run a race today?  Have you ever had your pre-race meal cause you problems during a race?

SweatStreak Day 3: Outrunning the Rain

Thursday was to be the final training run before I race in the local 5K on Saturday. Our running group was planning on the entire course.  But when we arrived at our starting point, we saw this

While those clouds were only slightly dark, we are knew how quickly they could turn  into something more sinister. The thought of being mid-course when a thunderstorm struck did not appeal to any of us. We discussed our option and settled on running intervals at the track. This solution allowed us to get our legs loose before the race but kept us close to our cars if the weather turned nasty.  We ran intervals of 400m followed by a walk/jog of 200m.  Using this method, we knocked out our 3.1 miles in just over 37 minutes.  We stretched and walked back to our vehicles just as the rain drops started falling.

Following my run, I had planned on doing the Heart Pumpin Workout created by Annettee. But my legs protested, so I opted for foam rolling.

What did you do yesterday to get your heart pumping? Anybody ever got caught running during a thunderstorm?