gymcoach79's Journal
More progressMay 14 2009 11:31
My May goals are going well. It's about half way through the month and I am a little short of halfway through my personal challenge for May. Not too bad, but I will have to pick it up a bit for the second half.
My work on the treadmill is getting better....last night I ran 5 miles for the first time ever! More amazing, I did it in an hour! That's faster then it took me to run 4 miles just a month ago! Other times for me.....2.5 miles - 28:49, 3 miles - 34:42, 4 miles - 47:55 (almost 15 minutes faster then a month ago!) and now 5 miles - 59:56. I feel like I am getting stronger. I guess the frustrating part for me is that I am still having trouble running at a consistent pace. I can run a mile or mile and a half jogging, but then I have to walk to catch my breath. Last night I decided to jog for 5 minutes at 5 to warm up and then do some HIIT training. I did 1 minute at 4 and then 30 seconds at 9 for 6 or 8 sets. I then switched to 1 minute 4 and 30 seconds at 7 for another 6 sets or so. Finally, I went 2 minutes 4 and 1 minute 9 for a couple more sets.
I remember when I first tried doing the intervals it was killer to just make it to 6 sprints. Now I can switch up intervals for 25 minutes before I have to start taking longer walk breaks. I guess I'm not a runner, but thats okay as this HIIT stuff is a bigger calorie burn....I hit somewhere around 750 calories burned in my hour on the treadmill last night. It's also weird because 2 miles is almost a minimum for me these days. Mile 2 - 3.5 really sucks and its mentally tough for me. Once I get to that 3.5 mile, the last half mile generally isn't too bad...maybe its because I see the end in site. That's why I did another mile last night to see. I'm starting to have my glimpse of how runners don't feel anything anymore and can just go. Then my breathing gets difficult or my knees start to ache, but there are those brief windows where it really feels good.
I'm out of town this weekend for work, so I think I am going to skip my weigh in until next week. My goal is 175lbs by June 20th, but maybe with some good running I will be able to drop those 5lbs this month. I won't be disappointed if I don't, but gosh that would be great. My overall goal when I started was 160lbs. That was a 52lbs weight loss and honestly, I didn't think it was realistic. Now I'm starting to think about if I want to go for 10 more pounds after that.
Keep up the good work everyone....together we can do this!
Hi gymcoach! Thanks for your post on my journal! I hope I can connect with people on here like you have. I enjoyed reading your journal as well! I really like that you are into HIIT! Transitioning into doing more HIIT is one of my current struggles. I tend to enjoy long, slow, low intensity sessions on the elliptical but I KNOW that HIIT is really the way to go for weight loss (and it takes less time and makes me feel better afterwards). How do you get yourself pumped up enough/get enough energy to do the HIIT? Some days I just can't pysch myself up for it!! Also, you definately ARE a runner! You just did it for almost an hour! |
Congrats on the five mile run. I feel like we are very similar in our exercise and weight training goals. Its fun for me to read your journals because they sound like something I would say. I think you will hit your five pound weight loss goal this month, and more importantly, your ultimate 160 pound goal. My goal is 154 and I'm only five pounds away. But, I have been killing myself and nothing has been happening for about six weeks. I'm slowly, slowly losing but it is a little discouraging after what seemed like relatively easy, rapid loss. So, I've switched it up a little. My minimum was a 5K, or 3.5 miles, everyday. It takes me about 40 minutes depending on how fast I run/jog. So I have decided to go down to 30 minutes of running a day and lower by calorie intake by 100 calories. In theory, this should be exactly the same, but I'm hoping that it will jump start my weight loss efforts. You'll have to let me know if you do lose that five in June. You are doing a fantastic job and 52 pounds lost is a major accomplishment! |
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