Success!!!

Wow!  What a wonderful feeling.  Even the smallest little thing can feel like a giant leap in the right direction if you have been waiting, and let me tell you...  I've been waiting!!!
As my Loser Peeps already know, I've been have a pretty good run of successes here lately, and I just wanted to share with all of you!
Using miCoach, I have been steadily increasing my speed on the treadmill over the last several weeks, from June 26 at only 1.4 mph to July 18 I maxed out at 5.0 mph.  I will grant you that my entire workout was not at 5.0, but I still maintained that pace for more than a minute.  To me, that is a huge accomplishment when a very few short weeks ago I could not break 20:00/mi.
I have been going to the gym, doing my strength workout, then my treadmill workout, and then going home and doing another 2 miles there as well.  The last time I walked with my mom, we broke that 20:00 mile, but I just thought that she must have been pushing me really hard and it was a fluke.  Thursday, I broke 18:00 by myself and was stunned!  Friday, I went home after the gym and set out...  My first mile broke 16:00.  Now, let me tell you...  I was grinning like a stupid fool because I am back!  I may not be 100%, but I am getting there!!!  My second mile at home that night was a little slower, but my overall pace still came out to be 16:16.  Oh my...  It felt so good!  More like unbelievable!
For the last several weeks, I have been yoyo'ing between the same 2 lbs, up, down, down, up.  Now I know that you should never see an immediate response to any type of fitness routine or diet.  All of those 'burn x in y days' gimmicks are just that...  not sustainable.  Well, I finally got my reward for my hard work.  Friday morning I posted a 5 lb loss!  Yes, I have already started yoyo'ing again, but this is just a few lbs below where I was.  Keep working and watch it come down more!!!
I have been using a Fitbit One for about 18 months now and absolutely love it!  Supposedly, it is going to get you taking more steps as you see all of your friends above you.  Well...  I've always been real lucky if I could manage to break 20,000 steps in a week until I renewed my commitment.  My very good friend A.P. and I tend to get a little competitive and as I started getting closer to his average of 35k steps, he started moving a lot more to stay ahead of me, but you see I was cheating...  I was getting up first thing in the morning as he was driving to work and walking 2 miles, 4-5 days a week.  I was going to the gym and getting on the treadmill for an hour and walking 2-3 miles, 2-3 times a week.  And if I got home before dark, I would walk another 2 miles a day.  My steps count quickly flew through 30k and up to 40k.  Now, the 2 of us will still battle it out and bounce back and forth, but I checked standings one night and out of my friends, I was ranked 3rd...  Wait what????  Now I know that my friend M.M. was unable to sync his tracker, but how did I get to third???  WOW!  Then Saturday, I checked ranking and I had passed my very good supporter, G.P. (sorry....), but M.M. was back from his trip and was at 80k+ steps!!!  How was I ever going to catch up?!?!?!?!  Oh yeah, and one of the guys from church went on a mission trip to Brooklyn last week, and HE was sitting in position #1 with almost 90k steps.  My jaw dropped as these 2 challenged me like never before.  I guess I'm not getting #1 this week...  Oh wait, my trainer decided to drag me out for a 6 hour, 12 mile hike and by the end of the day....  30k+ steps later...  I claimed victory!  For the first time ever, I am sitting in the #1 spot.  (I think I need more Fitbit friend, cuz I beat all these ones...)  
Now I know, that all of this won't last and this is just a temporary high that I am enjoying, but let me tell you what......  I am going to enjoy it for as long as I can!!!!!  So, please...  get out there and start moving today...  I need some Fitbit challengers!  :-)

15:00... Say What???

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you have heard about miCoach by Adidas.  It was probably one of the first fitness apps that I downloaded on to my phone.  It was mostly love at first use (once I figured out how to adjust the speeds).  I don't always use it, but I constantly find myself going back to it for my walking / jogging / running workouts.  If you are interested in interval training at all, I cannot recommend it enough!
Today marks 2 weeks back in the gym and mostly I have met or exceeded my expectations from 2 weeks ago.  My trainer has already given me a really good strength workout that works my body out well and I have been doing pretty good with my walking as well, following miCoach's Lose Weight Level 2 program.  
Since I am doing my cardio on a treadmill, I have been using the heart rate version to track my workouts instead of by pace.  My heart is definitely not the strongest muscle in my body.  During workouts, I regularly hit 150, 160, even 170.  Last year, I ran my entire race between 175 & 193.  Not really a great heart rate to have as anyone in the medical field will tell you and to maintain that heart rate for the 75 minutes it took me to run the race?  I'm lucky I didn't end up in an ambulance.
miCoach uses blue, green, yellow and red zones for training.  The program I am using only uses blue and green.  Blue is 127 bpm and green is 147 bpm for their lower limits.  As my workouts have progressed over the last 2 weeks, I have seen my pace increase as I try to maintain 127 bpm.  I started at 1.5 mph, 1.7 mph, 1.9 mph, then a jump to 2.3 mph and today I hit 3.0 mph to maintain 127 bpm.  When I had to jump to the green zone, 147 bpm.....  I kept increasing my speed until I hit 4.0 mph, 15:00 mins/mile!!!!  Like OMG!!!  And my foot was not really protesting...  sore, but ok.  If anything, my other foot was protesting more than my injured foot was.
I may not be ready for a race tomorrow, but I got this!!!!!

Life Struggles

I had a great plan in January to get my life back on track.  I was gonna do it.  Making changes here and there in positive directions, trying to move all of me towards my goals.  Sometimes, that really is easier said than done....
I fell and severely injured my foot.  Ended up wearing a boot / brace for close to 2 months.
Had a family illness that demanded my time and energy.
My car decided that it needed a total makeover to pass inspection.
I completely destroyed the budding relationship that I was in.
And of course, Gypsy season was starting up.
Sometimes, the universe just doesn't play very fair.  I came entirely too close to cracking under all this pressure.  Through the grace of God and some very amazing friends that would not let go of my hand no matter how hard I tugged, I struggled through.
In the middle of May I received a phone call asking me to go back to the job where my fitness journey began.  I looked at the big picture, comparing my current job with the old job and all the positives and negatives involved with each.  It did not take me long to figure out that I would be very interested in going back to the old job and get a second chance with my fitness journey.
I am back in the gym with an energy that I haven't felt in ages (also a really weird debilitating soreness that follows me home from the gym...  lol).  My recovery from my foot injury will be a very long road until I am anywhere near the 12:30 pace of my race last year.
I am getting my dietary choices back on track slowly.
I know I have a long road ahead of me, but you know what.  As long as I don't quit, then I can't fail!!!