I've been MIA... But here's an update!

Alright, the Spicy chick is back!

I'm sorry it's been so long. After my Half Marathon I had a hard time getting back on my feet, literally. It was really hard and I've been recovering.

However, I am proud to announce that I ran for the first time since my half today! YAY! I thought I had been my PR (Personal Record) for one mile but I didn't. My fastest one mile was 11:57 and I did 12:36, but for not running in three weeks I would say that is pretty darn good! I'm not saddened by it one bit.

Also, I weighed myself yesterday and I was at 162.4 lbs. Normally that number would probably bug me, but I am actually really happy to see it. Especially after two days of Pizza, Halloween Candy, Halloween treats, and not really doing any kind of workout in three weeks. I think I've worked out maybe four times total. Ya... bad. But that's why I've been MIA. I had nothing to say. I wasn't doing so hot. I wasn't eating bad, so that's why I didn't really gain anything, but I wasn't working out.

So. 162.4 lbs. Not a bad starting place. I told the Hubs today though that I'm done not working out. I told him I have to workout everyday! It doesn't need to be a huge workout, but at least half an hour. I told him to make me do it, even when I say I don't want to. Today was also my last run outside. *weeps* blasted cold weather!!! *shakes fist at sky* I may suck it up and attempt a run outside next Saturday as well. We shall see.

So I know 160 lbs may be stretching it a little bit for next FRIDAY (new weigh in day), but I'm going to attempt it. Those two pounds were just from a couple days of Holiday stuff, they will come off easy! Then I have some major updates for you about my life this next week too!

I don't like to, and I won't EVER mention specific dates on this blog. I know some people don't and won't like that, but it's a safety thing people! I will still post pictures of myself though and the occasional picture of the Hubs and LW. On Monday, I will be posting about my Half Marathon. Tuesday, will be a Tip about running with asthma. Wednesday will be about the Hubs and my Anniversary. And Thursday will be about Halloween! I want to mention more things about myself so our readers can get to know me better and understand that I am a real person. I do have a real life! :P Which is why I will be doing more posts about things not related to fitness and health. One day I may have a random tangent about sewing! Who knows?! Then Friday will be another update and weigh in.

I know some of you were looking forward to Spunky making an appearance today, I know I was, but she has been really really busy the past couple of days. She will be back soon. In the meantime, prayers and thoughts for her and her family would be very welcome.

However! I will tell you about my run today! After talking with my Mom about getting back into running she encouraged me to take it slow, which you will understand better after my post on Monday. She told me to start with two or three miles. I wanted to just jump right back to five miles!

I love running five miles...

I never thought I would say that....

eew...

Anyway! I listened and told myself I would only run two today. It's a good thing I did. My first mile was hard, it always is. I hate the first mile. But I kept pushing through and made it at 12:36! Woot! Then I turned around and headed back home... only to have my hip start acting up. I was really mad at this point. If you kept up on my training run posts then you know I had some issues with my hip. It made my Half extremely difficult both mentally and physically. I stopped to stretch my hip, it didn't help. So I started walking, knowing I needed to be careful with my hip. At about 1.5 miles I wanted to run again. My hip was still hurting but I wanted to finish strong. That's a thing with me. I HAVE to finish strong... and I did. I ran, slowly, but I ran. When I hit 1.92 miles I started sprinting. Not the smartest move when something is hurting, but I'm a very competitive person and I was angry with having to walk and being able to let my legs fly like that felt so good. I hit about a 7.2 mph, which I thought was really cool, and I walked immediately after completing 2 miles. It felt so good to run! Oh, how much I missed it. I needed those endorphins and just some peace and quiet and time to think.

We'll see how my running progresses next week. I'll be doing hip strengtheners as well and I will keep you posted on how those help.

Check back on Monday for my Half Marathon Update! :D

Until Next Time,
Spicy

I thought this was funny and would be a fun note to leave on. See ya!

Spicy Progress Pics 8/20/2012

I said I would take a picture of myself to give a better progress pic at 150 so there it is. The before pic is over a month after giving birth. Those shorts were tight on me (now they are comfortable) and my belly hung over them (no longer a muffin top). And the tank was skin tight, but you can see I had to roll it to show my frame now. I had just finished running this morning and realized I hadn't taken pics yet so I changed into the same clothes I was wearing in the before pic and took some pictures. I must say, I am shocked by the difference. I still feel like my before pic sometimes, but I know it will take time to see myself for what I really look like.

I don't have my beginning measurements on me at the moment, and I didn't measure this morning because I don't want to measure until 150. But if I remember correctly my beginning measurements were somewhere around these...

Before

Chest: 41 inches

Rib-cage: 37 inches

Waist: 36.5 inches

Lower waist(pouch area): 38 inches

Hips: 45 inches

That makes me want to go measure, but I know that was my before and I promised myself I wouldn't measure until 150 so I am sticking to that. :)

You can see though, that pretty much everything looks better. :) I must say I do like the difference between my chest and tummy now. :D Oh ya! And my sports bra doesn't do it's job anymore! You can see the black strap of my other bra I have to wear with it now. I'm looking forward to getting a new one. Anyway! There are some progress Pics! 

Until Next Time!

Spicy

Spicy Saturday: 4.75 Miles!!!

I scheduled a post to publish itself this morning while I was running and let me tell you, I thought about that post while I was running. The longest I've run so far is 3.05 miles and I was jumping up to 4.75. Not the smartest thing, but necessary and I knew I could do it. That 3.05 miles was while pushing LW in a stroller and that is SO much harder. Just because I knew I could do it didn't make it any easier. I was nervous. I woke up to the alarm today and tried to roll over and go back to sleep, trying to pretend I didn't have to go on a long run today. Luckily the Hubs made me get out of bed and on the road and he encouraged me all the way. He told me good luck, that he knew I could do it. He even sent me a few texts while I was running to encourage me! He's the best! I love him so much!

The people who always say the first couple miles are the hardest... they are right! After three miles I kind of forgot I was running and I was just going! That first three though... they were hard. I knew they would be. I was constantly talking to myself. No joke! I even almost yelled at myself. I felt like I was yelling... but it really wasn't that loud.

I kept telling myself...

"I control my body!"

"I have a goal, I said 4.75 miles and that is what I'm going to do! I've made up my mind and NOTHING will change that!"

"I am strong!"

"I will not quit! If I quit, how can I teach my children not to quit?"

"I control my body, I am STRONG!"

Seriously, someone would have thought I was nuts if they heard me. There was an older lady I passed on my last mile who was walking, and she heard me say, "One more mile." I saw her smile, but she didn't look at me or say anything.

But I did it! I completed 4.75 miles! I even ran a little extra. I stopped my run at 4.78 miles!

I ran 4.78 miles in 1 hour! No walking either! :D

Mile 1: 12:22 min 4.8 mph
Mile 2: 12:32 min 4.8 mph
Mile 3: 13:14 min 4.5 mph
Mile 4: 12:54 min 4.6 mph
Mile 5:   9:57 min 4.7 mph
Average: 12:46 min mile 4.7 mph! AWESOME!!!
Total time: 01:01:02 (so close to 01:01:01, how cool would that have been?)

I also weighed in this morning before my run and I am 159.0! I not a big weight loss, but it's that time of month and really... who loses weight during that time? I'm excited to see the real drop next week! :D And run 5.5 miles! YAY!!!

Oh and, I just realized something. My goal is 120, so I should be doing progression pics on the ten's right? I'm going to take a pic of myself sometime today and put it up next to my starting picture so you can see it. Pretty sure, it's going to blow both yours and my mind. :) Check in later to see that! :D

Until Next Time!
Spicy

Spicy Saturday; 8-11-2012 Back to the 150's

I'm so happy to report that I am back in the 150's! I weighed in at 159.4 this morning! Woot!!! That means I lost almost three pounds! I'm super excited about this next week! I've got a nice workout schedule figured out to help me train for my half marathon! This is what I'll be doing this week...

Monday-
      3 Mile Run
Tuesday-
      30 Min Cross Train
Wednesday-
      3 Mile Run & Strength Train
Thursday-
      3 Mile Walk & Yoga
Friday-
      30 Min Cross Train
Saturday-
      4.75 Mile Run

I'm determined to be 150 by September 8th and I know I can do that! :D I know it's a little more then two pounds a week, but with my running and other workouts, plus eating right, I'm positive the weight will practically fall off. I have the weight to lose, so I'm not worried about losing that much in the next month.

Don't forget to come back to see Spunky's Measurement Monday! :D

Until Next Time,
Spicy

Spicy Saturday... erm... on Monday

Sorry for the late Spicy Saturday! :S I need to get better at that. A week off for relaxing with Spunky and now I'm all sorts of mixed up! Blarg. Well, I have some great news! 

I weighed in early in the week and saw 159.8. Let me tell you that scared me. I WILL NOT see 160 again, I refuse. I think I saw that on Tuesday or Wednesday... I'm not sure. I do not know what I weighed last Saturday and I don't want to know. But this Saturday, I stepped on the scale and saw...

159.0!

I lost .8 lbs, that I know of. :) I'm on my way back to where I was! Woot!!! Only 1.6 lbs. left until I get there. Then, I'll be treking back down the scale to 155 lbs where I'll be doing my ten pound progression pics. I also found a picture from when I first started losing weight, so I'll post that as well, when the time comes.

On an even happier note! Saturday was my "long run" day! I didn't get out as early as I wanted to so it was HOT by the time I was done, but... I ran....

drumroll please...

thank you.

3.05 miles!

In 41.03 minutes! 

3 miles in 40 minutes! That is awesome!!!

Mile one: 13:07 min Mile two: 13:49 min. Mile three: 13:29 min.

I don't think I've ever run a consistent three miles. It's crazy! :D I ran a 5k with my mom once, well sort of... we both ran the race, but didn't stay together. But about a mile in I had a sharp pain in my hip so I had to start walking. When I did start running again I fell and cut myself up pretty good. I crossed the finish line running, covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. Fun, right? But I didn't run the whole thing and I don't think I ran three miles before that either. This is the longest I've EVER RUN!!! That is so exciting! :D

I have so much to tell you, but this post is already going to be really long. I'll just have to post a lot during the week! Hehe!

I also wanted to tell you about my run this morning. I've started running in the mornings. I love it! I can get out and run, no worries in the world, and start my day out right! :D It's awesome. Anyway!

I woke up late today and knew I was short on time. I needed to be... scratch that... I WANTED to be back my 7am so I could help get food ready for the Hubs and J-Dawg. I had about 30 min, but I needed to do a warm up walk and stretching... so really... only about 20 minutes. 

Now, I would say, hey! Twenty minutes? I can get in two miles! Unfortunately I'm not that fast... yet. I'm from Cali so I'm used to LOTS of air and although I've been in Utah for a while now and I've acclimated, it's still harder to get up to the speed I was at because there is less air, but I'll get there. :)

I knew before going out that I needed to do something to make up for a short amount of time. I was going to push my speed, and push it I did! :D 

At my average 13:30 min mile, I would have run about... 1.4 ish miles in twenty minutes. Well, I had even less then twenty minutes to run. I got home almost right at seven after running for 15:09 min. And going 1.2 miles!!! I ran a 12:33 min mile!

And there you have it. I may not have had the amount of time I wanted or the distance I wanted, but I'm super happy about what I accomplished in that amount of time!

Look for the good in everything and make it a wonderful day!

Check back later this week for a Recipe by Spunky and to keep up with me and my many many posts this week, one specifically on Water intake!

Until Next Time!

Spicy

Spicy Saturday: Two In One

Today I woke up early so I could go for my first, fourth run of the week. Usually I just run three times, but I wanted to start running four, partly because on Saturday I actually have time to run longer. I was very happy to get out of the house and breath the refreshing morning air for three miles! I walked for half a mile, rand for two, and walked for half a mile again. Yesterday I ran 1.9 miles in 25ish minutes. I wanted to run 2 miles today. I like challenging myself. Well, I did! I ran 2 miles! But not only did I run them I beat my time! I ran 2 miles in 25 minutes! That's a 12.5 minute mile! I know for some of you that is really slow, but considering I started at about a 16 minute mile, that's a HUGE improvement for me. I know 2 miles isn't anything compared to a half marathon, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

After my run I came home, stepped on the scale, and nearly had a heart attack when I saw... this.

157.4!

Do you see that!?!

Woot!!! I'm only 1.4 lbs. away from my first progression pics and only 5.4 lbs. away from one of my goals! 

At 155 I will post my ten pound progression pics, so stay tuned! They'll be here soon!

And at 152 I will officially weigh less then The Hubs! Woot!!!

Maybe I should tell you my goals.

Be in the 180's

Be in the 170's

Be in the 160's

Be in the 150's

Weigh less then The Hubs

Be in the 140's

Weigh what I did when we got married

Be in the 130's

Weigh Less then I ever have

Be in the 120's

Weigh 120 lbs.

I've already beat four of my goals! That's great! I can't wait for the next couple ones though. 

What are your goals?

Spicy Saturday... erm... Monday

I'm posting late because the Hubs, LW, and I went to visit some family this past weekend. We were celebrating fourth of July a little early because we can't be with them on Wednesday. It was a fun weekend! And I had way to much good food and a few cookies to many, haha. I was on vacation, what'evs. I'll work it off anyway. 

On Friday I was having a REALLY down day. Not being able to run was really getting to me, ugh. Luckily the smoke has cleared up enough that I can run today! YAY!!! I'll be doing that as soon as I'm done posting this.  Spunky called me and I almost didn't answer because I was so down, but I'm glad I did. People, let me tell you. You NEED someone beside you like Spunky has been beside me. On those down days, you need someone to be there so they can pick you up and keep you going. If you need someone like that contact me! Or Spunky! We would both be willing to help you in any way we can. I told Spunky I wasn't looking forward to weighing in on Saturday. I had only been able to run once during the week and although I had done Bob Harpers Bootcamp Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I was really worried about the scale. She told me to think positively and asked me what I would be happy seeing on the scale Saturday morning. I kind of laughed and said something along the lines of, "At this point I would be happy seeing even a .2 lb. loss." She told me to remember that when I stepped on the scale.

Saturday I stepped on the scale, positivly repeating to myself "I will see 158. I will see 158. I will see 158." That was my goal for Saturday. The numbers didn't stop at 158, although I did see a brief flash of it for a moment. It stopped at 159.4. Exactly .2 lbs lower then last week. I started laughing and shook my head thinking, "Wow, that's just ridiculous." But as I had told Spunky the day before. I was happy about it. It wasn't a gain, it wasn't even the same number. It was lower and in the right direction. 

Keep your chin up and keep thinking positively. Once you can conquer your mind, you can conquer anything. 

Until Next Time!

        Spicy

Spicy Saturday: Hello 150's!!!

This morning I got up, and within twenty minutes I was out the door, breathing in the beautiful morning breeze and completely pumped for my run. If you can't tell I usually run M,W,F, but after talking it over with my Mom (a personal trainer and Marathon Runner) I've decided I'm going to start running four days a week... next week. I'll be running M,W,F,Sa. Anyway! I started my warm up walk of five minutes, said a few greetings to some fellow runners, and started my first run. I felt like I was going for a long time so I looked at my phone and saw I had accidentally clicked Week 5 Day 1! Oops!!! I chuckled to myself and said, "Okay, let's do this!"

Week 5 Day 1 of C25K has me warm up walk for five minutes, run for five minutes, and walk for three. I run three times for five minutes. Awesome. Week 4 had me running for five minutes too. I knew I could do it. And LW was still asleep at home with the Hubs so I was free to stretch my legs and power myself forward with my arms! Our little hill is so much easier to run up when I'm not having to worry about LW's stroller. I finished my first mile in 13;49 mins. Yay! My second mile I completed in 12:53 mins! YAY!

The app I use on my android phone to track my speed and distance is called  . I walk/ran for 35 minutes, with a distance of 2.52 miles, an average speed of 4.3 miles per hour, and an average pace of 13:49 min per mile!!! YAY! I was so excited. My max speed was 5.7 mph.

I am very excited about my running results, but what I'm even more excited about is what I saw on the scale when I got home! Check it out!

Hello 150's!!!! 

That's a 2 lb weight loss from last Saturday!

I called my Sis, Spunky, and she was on the phone with me when I weighed myself. I squealed, she laughed. Then she told me she lost 3.2 lbs! Congrats Spunky! You're awesome! She was shooting for 4 lbs and was a little bummed she didn't make it, but 3.2 lbs is still amazing! She will be in the 100's SO soon and I couldn't be more happy for her! 

While I was making breakfast for the boys, Spunky called me back. She reminded me that she was a little down by what she saw on the scale, but when she put on the pair of shorts she had bought a few days ago... she didn't need to suck in and she was comfortable in them! And she was pretty sure she was going to be wearing them all day! Oh, my, OREOS! I can't tell you how happy I was to hear that. :) 

I finished cooking breakfast and darted down the hall to find a pair of pants I haven't worn in almost four years. The pair of brown pants I married the Hubs in (we eloped, haha). I haven't been able to wear them since and I was so sad when I realized I couldn't. I've been trying to fit into them... and look.

THEY FIT!!!

I nearly started hyperventallating and I walked out to the Hubs with tears in my eyes and just said, "Hunny, look..." I explained what pants they were and that I haven't been able to fit in them since we got married and now I could. He looked at me with a weird look on his face and said, "Then why are you crying?"

Oh silly boys.

He smiled after I explained and came over to me and gave me a huge hug. 

They are a little tight, I'm not quite comfortable in them, but it is SO close! I didn't need to suck in to get them on, just pull a little. 

I'm so excited to see what this week brings! 

Now, time to celebrate the 150's!

See ya! :D

Spicy Saturday: The Right Direction and a New Plan

Well... I'm not quite as happy this Saturday as I was on Monday. I stepped on the scale and saw 161.6 lbs. That is only a .2 pound difference. However, it is still in the right direction. Oh, well... This week is over, time for a new one.

Sis Spunky was telling me about this thing she is doing this next week. She is going to test something out. I instantly asked if she wanted me to join her, I want to be supportive. She said I could and I began to listen. 

Although, I will admit I didn't listen very well.

I have a nasty habit of toning people out, ugh.

Anyway, she sent me the basic instructions and her menu for then next week. I won't be starting it until Tuesday because that is my shopping day and I don't have even half of the things on the menu. But we will see how it goes. It's supposed to help with Belly Fat, which unfortunately our family is prone too, so it couldn't hurt right?

Fingers crossed that it works and I'm not starving in the process.

Spicy Monday: Two Days Late

Sorry I didn't post on Saturday! I was away at a family reunion. It was a lot of fun and I was able to see my Mom! Yay!!! I don't get to see her, or anyone from my family very often. It was really hard to say goodbye. I wasn't able to weigh in on Saturday, but I weighed in this morning and was nearly jumping up and down with what I saw! 

161.8 lbs!!! WOOT!!!

That is a 2.6 pound difference! Yay! I did so good last week! I'm excited for this week.

Spicy Saturday: Looky Looky!!!

Look what I saw when I stepped onto the scale today! 

If you can't tell what that says, it says 164.4!!! That's a 1.8 lb loss! WOOT!!! That's exciting. However, that was NOT the first number I saw today.

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. I was super grumpy! I was trying so hard not to snap at the hubs while I was making him and LW breakfasts. I was finally able to go running and it's a good thing I did. I also stepped onto the scale before my run and it said 168... bad... It had to have been wrong though. Because when I got back and weighed myself again I saw 164.4! Yay!!! That was exciting.