Day 88.

Weight: 127.40

Since the last time I blogged, a lot has happened. I traveled back home to MS. I participated in zumba there, I was late to class but still burned 392 calories and was able to burn around 700 calories swimming + plank hand crawls upstream in the current at the creek. I've dropped some serious weight since my last entry. And... I was also convinced to participate in a local 5k in late September. Of course I said yes! Its a personal goal and one of my 2011 New Years Resolutions. but this will be my first 5K! .....Oh crap! How am I going to do this?!!!! Since I have not been able to run more than .25mi in 5 mins at 5.0 mph.

But then I remembered a blog post entitled: Baking a Cake from Pounds to Miles ... and I remembered what she had said regarding some advice that her running coach had told her. It's not about speed.

So this morning, I cranked my speed down to 4.5mph. This felt really awkward – not quite slow enough as jog (for me at least) and not really a fast '5.0 run' either.  It felt weird. Like I needed to speed up... that my body was telling me that it was clearly fit enough to run faster. It was definitely a mental/physical struggle of sorts for the first 3 mins. But....I think I have found my cake!!!!

Before I knew it, I had with ease, surpassed to .33mi then came the doomed 5 min mark. Nothing happened. I was still fine. I could still breathe. My lungs did not feel deadlocked in the least. So... I continued on.... I made it to a 1/2 mile! then 10 mins! and finally before I knew it, I clocked in a mile at 13.35 mins!!!! A new record for me!!!! and I still felt like I could have continued on, still able to breathe, but time is always against me. So I walked out the 14 minute mark to cool down and had to leave to get ready for work.   .... But regardless, I made it! I beat my own mental limits and physical lung capacity!

I found a comfortable steady pace and I actually enjoyed it! If I continue to train like this... I actually think that I will be able to run the entire 5k!  However I do have to admit that by the time I made it to the 3rd flight of stairs to my apartment, my legs were definitely beginning to feel the run and were tingly jumpy for quite sometime afterwards. But I loved it! :D

Who knows... there may be a runner inside me yet!

Today's workout:
arrived at gym: 530a
departed gym: 655a

Elliptical
21 min @ Level 8 incline - 6.75 miles  / 217 calories

StairMaster
20 min @ Level 8 - 100 floors  / 217 calories

Treadmill
13.35 min Run @ 4.5mph - 1 mile  / 103 calories

Dance Workout: 1 hour Zumba class @ 630p-730/8p  / 516 calories


"I want to look like a runner, not look like I should be running..."