Weekly Review - Week 1

So since I'm actively trying to lose weight using Weight Watchers and as of today I have officially begun my FULL MARATHON training, I've decided that Monday's I will hold myself accountable.  The healthy weight range for my height is 120 - 150lbs.  My goal weight is 135 lbs. 

Beginning Weight  ~  146.5 lbs
Ending Weight  ~  142.5 lbs

I lost 4 pounds this week!!
12.5 lbs to go.

Things that went well:  I was really strict this week with my eating. It was week 1 of Weight Watchers and I stuck with the things that have worked well for me in the past.  Breakfast all weekdays was a protein shake with added fruit.  Lunches were a tuna fish sandwich, and 1 cup of soup (a Light Progresso variety).  Dinners were heaving on the vegetables and then some sort of protein.  Oh .. and I'd have a giant apple for  a snack and also usually a Chobani yogurt as well.  I plan to follow much of the same plan this week as well.

Things that didn't go so well:  It was my nieces birthday yesterday and I ate a piece of ice cream cake.  It was SO good.  I figure that I made up for it a little bit with my ability to not eat my entire piece of chicken parmesan that we had for dinner. My mum makes a MEAN chicken parmesan and I really wanted to finish eating it. 

Meal Plan for this week:

Monday - Lean Cuisene and veggies
Tuesday - Lean Cuisene and salad
Wednesday - Dinner at Mum's (she's doing WW too so I'm sure it will be WW friendly)
Thursday - Veggie Tacos
Friday - Grilled Chicken breast and veggies
Saturday - Weight Watcher Meatloaf (I LOVE this recipe)
Sunday - Dinner at Mum's  (again she'll do something WW friendly)

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 Today's Workout:

Plan:  Run 3m Easy.
Actual:  3.1m  Average pace: 10:42

I really had to work for that pace today.  Look at what I was running in:

Solid snow pack the entire time today.  And it was 9 degree's outside!!  The one piece of gear that saves me the most during these super cold and snowy runs is my trail running shoes that have the waterproof upper on them.  They are AWESOME.  They feel like bricks on my feet compared to my normal shoes but they keep my feet dry and cozy so I'm not complaining.

I was bundled up good.  I think this is the shortest run I've done in months.  For my full marathon I took a Hal Higdon plan and added a couple extra weeks to it to accommodate any potential injuries I have to take time off for.  Also gives me a couple 20 milers rather than just one.

All in all I'm excited to be off to a good start.  With the weight loss as well as the start of my training plan.

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Give me your best tip or trick for a first time marathoner!!??

Still here .. still running

I'm not sure what the deal is with Blogger. I tried to blog last weekend as well only to find that I couldn't upload picture then either.  So I figured out the whole Picasa web albums in the meantime.

I haven't blogged in ages.  But I have still been running.  A lot actually.

Speaking of a lot.  It's been snowing A LOT here in Salt Lake City as well.  Last Winter I think I lucked out because it was pretty mild. I  prided myself on not missing a run because of any silly rain or snow.  So far this year I've skipped one long run completely because of a nasty snow storm.  It's ironic really because I would be more than willing to run in a few inches of fresh snow if it's only for say six miles.  But when it's for a double digit run I just can't do it.  The thought of soaking wet feet for over two hours is just too much.  It sure is beautiful though.

I did run in that above, only for six miles.  It was so peaceful.

Oh, it hasn't just been snowy .. we've also had single digits for like two weeks.  However, the temp doesn't deter me at all.

For two days straight it's been snowing again.  I planned to run 12 miles this morning.  There was no way I was going to slog through 12 miles in several inches of fresh snow. 

Off the the gym I went instead.  It wasn't a good start.  I went with my Kindle Fire in hand with the plan to watch a movie.  I figured that would consume a lot of my running time.  I don't know what the heck was going on, whether it was my Kindle or the wireless connection at the gym but I could not connect to their network to save my life.  The first 5 miles just plain sucked.  What's funny is I trained for my first 5k solely on the treadmill but since then I've really been a 100% outdoor runner with the exception of speed work.  I prefer to do intervals on the treadmill just so I know I'm hitting my paces.  Now the treadmill feels a million times harder than running outside.  This actually leads me to believe I should do this more often to help build some mental toughness.

I basically spent the first 5 miles feeling really angry and irritable because of the technical issues.  I settled into a slow (for me) 11:15 pace.  It felt hard and dreadful.  The treadmill hit the automatic cool down after 55 minutes (it had one of those 60 min max settings on it).  So I refilled my water and decided to get situated with my iPod tuned into the radio station so that I could watch their TV's.  Once I settled in and could get my Kindle to turn back on I also started reading as well.  Ha .. well you know .. not at the same time.  That helped and the next 5 miles kind of flew by.  I had to tough through the last 2 miles but I did it.

It's kind of funny when you're been running on the treadmill for that long and reading a book, once you get off it's like stepping off a cruise ship.  It feels funny to walk.  All in all I'm really happy to have had the mental toughness to run that many miles on the treadmill.  I'm very grateful that I have that option when it's this yucky outside.

Workout:  12 miles  (2:20 mins)

I'm also doing Weight Watchers right now.  I've had a really good week thus far.  When I plugged my workout into my tracker it spit out that I had earned 24 activity points!  I only get 26 points a day.  That means I basically earned a days worth of points .. I just found that funny.  I won't eat those points, I never do.  I'm really trying to find the balance with WW's and running.  I have been very low energy with my runs this week .. another post for another day.

Happy Treadmill Running Friends!!

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Have you done double digits on the "dreadmill"?  What did you do to break the monotony of it?

Several inches of fresh snow .. do you run in it anyway?