Week 5 – (April 23 - April 29) I have soo much to write about this week!!!

Monday 4/23 was my first day with workout buddy Josh! I was nervous. He is a good inspiration and I wanted to do well. I wanted to walk outside so we walked and jogged on the trail from Hopkins to NIU. He was encouraging, he was motivating, but he didn’t make it horrible so I wouldn’t end up not wanting to do it anymore. If I knew what I wanted to do, I could do it myself, but I didn’t so he helped me and pushed me just a little. We stopped by the cemetery to see MB, our friend that just passed away this year after battling cancer, which made it a good day really because I had not been back to see her yet. We then ended up walking from campus back through the Ellwood House until we got back to Hopkins. I only ran about 4 minutes total and only 4 times, but it was a good start.

A little background on me: I do not run. I have never liked running. In High School when I had to run the mile, I thought I was going to die. I also hated soccer because all you did was run. I am older now and I have sooo many friends that run, I still don’t. I even may have made fun of them a little bit. It is not comfortable and it is not fun for me. I have done some 5k’s and I have also done the 3k at Corn Fest. I have walked them all. I saw no reason to run. My friend Wendy started when she was 35, and I am 39 so I know I could do it. My friend Candi did it and then broke her back and then still went back to running. Also my friend Rachel did it too and she rocked it. Well, I changed my mind. I want to run a 5k. I don't want to do it because my friends do it, they were just people around me that I admire that I know that if they can, I can. I want to do it because I think I can. I also went and opened my mouth that I was going to do the indoor triathlon next year at the Y.  So now I have to think about maybe training a bit. I heard about this couch to 5k.  In November of last year I was doing a little sample of it with a friend that was doing it. It was funny because it clicked how it worked. Each time I went to run after walking, it was getting a bit easier to run. I really wanted to do Nitro’s walk to run program that they just started this week, but I couldn't do the times and days they decided to run theirs so I decided to do it on my own…actually with my workout buddies.

Monday night’s meeting was interesting. We learned about water and things we can do to make our intake of water and food a bit healthier.  AND…I lost one more pound! The other very important thing I learned was how much water I should be drinking per day and the benefits to drinking water. Everyone knows they should drink water, but you may not know why. Some of the reasons include more energy, better heart health, and help with digestion. Here is a good link to a list of reasons to drink more water.

Top 9 reasons to drink water

Also to find out how much water you should be drinking, you take your body weight and divide it by two. That is how many ounces you should be drinking per day. So I am 260 lbs ÷ 2 = 130 ounces of water per day. That is about 8 waterbottles worth of water. Or if I use my big girl Frances size water bottle I only need to drink 2 of them!

After the meeting I took my binoculars and headed to the nature trail. The goal was to just go look for birds and have some relaxation time. It was so relaxing! I saw so many birds and really enjoyed the sunset too.

Tuesday 2/24 was cardio cycling with Frances and friends! I was ready for it but came in a bit on the shy side. I really didn’t want words of encouragement yet, and the group was full of them for me. I feel that I haven’t done anything yet. When I come back next Tuesday, you can give me praise then! The friends in this class are great. I was not sure how much I could do, it had been years since I took a cycling class, but I was able to do it. I even went and walked with Ashley’s Team afterward.

Wednesday 4/25 I made my doctor’s appointment finally and it is for next week! I am glad I finally got that wellness goal done. It was my team workout night. I really really really had a hard time wanting to go. It is not them, I do like the workout, and really it was the team that was making me go. It is the credit for the group and being part of the team made me show up when I thought about not going. But I didn’t go. I decided not to go because I really wanted to have dinner with my family. I wanted to spend time with my kids. It was more important to me. When my oldest got home from school, I took the kids to Afton Forest Preserve. I gave them each a pair of binoculars and we hiked around for about an hour and I took some photos. Wyatt loved picking up sticks and things and Charlie saw a Blue Heron which he was excited about. The bird of the day for me was a white-throated sparrow. They were everywhere and you could see tons of them in the grass chomping on dandelion seeds. We really had a good time and it was much needed time with the kids. I came home and Dean, my husband, and I made dinner together. I did feel guilty not going, but I know it was the healthier decision for me this time.

  Thursday 4/26 – I was very spunky. It was my day off and I made plans to go places and do things. First stop was to the Y for Ashley’s circuit training class. Good workout and saw some other people there from other teams! Great job everyone!!! I then had a delightful rest of the afternoon including a trip to Blumen Gardens, lunch out and a trip out to the Vera Bradley Outlet to get my birthday present. My water intake today was fantastic! Thursday night then was just as good as the day with my 2nd workout with my workout buddy Rachel. I started walking on the track with my friends Sue and Patti while I warmed up and waited for Rachel. Once she was there, we did a nice and non-scary walk run session of 4 cycles of 2 minute walks and 1 minute runs. I did it! I was very proud of myself and felt good. Later we ate dinner together and talked about her, me and life. It had been much too long that Rachel and I got to spend alone time together. It really had been our own faults because we hadn't taken the time to do it. It was a perfect day I would say! So much easier to work out on days you don’t have to go to work! It must have worn me out though, because I fell asleep at 9pm!

Friday 4/27 – Friday was weight training with Sue. It was hard but very good. She wore me out and I worked hard. I LOVED IT! I loved it because I know that weight training is a very important part in getting healthy, she made it simple yet challenging, and she was encouraging. I didn't feel dumb and I didn't feel uncomfortable. I felt like I belonged in the wellness center with all the other people that knew what they were doing. I even learned how to use the Gravitron for pull-ups and dips!  I also know it will help my metabolism and that is what I need.  I really feel good today. Not sure what the magic combination is, but I have been trying to eat right, drink water, not drink soda, and I have exercised every day this week and I am proud to say that. I know I am concentrating on one day at a time, but I am really excited to do this again next week. I hope that I do. I hope I show up and if I don’t, my workout buddies will drag me there and make me. I know if I don’t, then I will feel guilty and if I do it, then I will feel great. Who wouldn’t want to feel great?! I am thinking about going to the cycling class tomorrow morning at the Y.  Looking back at my days, I realize that I said I was going to walk every day. I have not been walking every day, but I have been doing more than walking and I like it!

Saturday 4/28 - Today I don't feel like doing anything... I didn't go to cycling. I didn't go outside. The weather was crappy. I did have to go do some things with the family. It honestly was some good time for us to be together, but other than that, I didn't do a thing! Tomorrow I have to work all day, so I really will have to go for a walk Sunday night or something. I am thinking that maybe some good weather would have helped. I have made all this effort during the week. Now it is the weekend, and I feel like Mrs. Slacker.

Sunday 4/29 - I didn't have to be at work until 11:00am today. I had a little cereal for breakfast and played on the computer for a bit. I started to re-read my blogs to check spelling and other errors. When I realized I did nothing yesterday, I started to think about when I could fit in my workout today, maybe I should walk to work. Could I walk to work? How much time would it take to get there? I have wanted to try to do it for a while now. Winter is over, it is time to try. I have biked there before and I knew it took me almost 20 minutes to get there. I then estimated that it would probably take me an hour to walk there. It was about 3.5 miles. Now that I thought it, I had to do it! I packed my lunch, my workshirt and my water and headed out the door. It was the perfect day to try it because Dean would be home to get me if I ended up walking too slow to get to work on time. I did it. It worked out perfect and took me exactly one hour and it was just a little bit longer than a 5K.