Mk~ No judgement here.......I'm a smoker too. 3 a day....eek I know it is terrible and most people don't even know I smoke but my main fear is like you...gaining weight. Anyway let you know as soon as I join you. Congratulations on quitting! BTW that pep to Fat Pants was really helpful to me as well thanks. ANd I missed you guys too

TC~ That's kind of funny but it is awesome you made it and even more awesome that you still went out for a run. WTG

iDream~ Yay for 29 minutes of continuous running! Look out week 9 iDream is coming to conquer!

Fat Pants ~ That is totally how I started running longer...yeah I just ran slower. Once I had an acceptable base (for me) I then started working on speed. and I am still slow but Good Gracious I have come a loooooong way!

Okay I so mega proud of myself for two reasons.

1. I have finally run a consistent 10:42 miles for 3 MILES (see I told I am still slow but I am so happy to be under 11:06 I don't know what to do)

2. I didn't feel like going to run yesterday so instead I took a nap (like an hour). When I woke up I felt bad for not running and was to eat something (emotional eater here ) but instead I told myself if I only run 3 miles then I would have done SOMETHING and then I can quit. Well I did my 3 miles at a 10:42 PACE and I did quit but only because I got to the gym so late and absolutely had to be back at the house for by 8:00!

This morning's run: 2.75 miles!!!!

This means I am just one short lap away from the 5K distance - and that's a good feeling, since I am also just 5 short days away from my first 5K!

MK, congrats on quitting smoking!!!! That takes a lot of courage!!! I am impressed and I know you can do it!

MK - congrats on quitting!

Good luck sharongracepjs on your 5k!!

Great job on the 10:42, CB!

I did a short run this am - .5 mile walk/run and then ran 1 mile. It took me 11:45 for the 1 mile, which I think is my fastest time. I just wish I could do that for a 5k.

Cake - Way to go on your new consistent pace!! It's great when you can actually sustain a faster pace. It just means you're getting that much better and stronger! Congrats!

Sharon - Woohoo! You're sooo close to 5K distance, and I bet endorphins will get you most of the way anyway! Good luck this weekend!

Lizzy - Great job on your run this morning. You WILL be able to sustain that pace for a 5K, just in a matter of time, so be patient and keep working up to it. You'll be there before you know it!

I went on another run this morning, which is really unusual for me to run so frequently, but I'm loving it! Hopefully my body won't protest. I did intervals today and did 3.5 miles in 33:33. Not bad, but I'd like to get my intervals faster. This was the breakdown: 1mile warm up (10:00min/mile), 4X400 at 9:50, 9:20, 8:50, 8:30 with 2 min cool downs in between each at (10:00), and then 0.5mile cool down (10:00). What do you guys think? Should I push myself to do the intervals faster? I was pretty tired by that last one but I wasn't totally out of breath or anything. Still trying to figure all this out!

MK , on quitting smoking...

Wow on everyone's mileage, you're all so awesome and should be very proud....

Thanks all, for your support on the quitting smoking thing!!!! Been about 30 hours now, since i last smoked!! im starting to feel a little edgy and overly "sensitive". I will keep going though, becuz this time its for ME, and I want this, not doing it for someone else!
TakingCharge--- excellent intervals!! i LOVE the negative splits you ran (increasingly getting faster) If you want to make it harder (you said it didnt KILL you) try making all 4 of them at that 8 30 pace, and see how you feel after the fourth one. REALLY GREAT workout though!!!

guess what all? i PUKED today for the the first time EVER while running!!

My trainer had me testing out this new workout/run hes putting together for me...basically its a very fast Lactic Acid run, where i run 1 miles intervals (with no rest in between em, just one mile flows into the next) of increasing speed, starting at a 10K pace and going down faster for 3 miles and then 1 miel at marathon (slow) pace and then repeat. So i warmed up, first mile 9:20, second mile 7:10 (a LITTLE fast for 10K but not by much) next mile 6:50 (now im cookin'--and starting to feel it) NEXT mile i drop down to approx 6:35 pace, hit the quarter mile and BLEEECHHHHH!!!! all over the road went my water and morning coffee!! the rest of my run did not go so hot.....only 5.25 miles this am...but i ran a 12 mile lactic acid threshold run yesterday, and i run ANOTHER 12 mile LA Threshold run tomorrow....

Do any of you experience any body image issues still? Especialyl those of you whove lost alot, or are close to or at goal??
WHen i look at myslef in the mirror, i DO NOT see the skinny person i KNOW everyone else sees. I still "feel" fat and "see" fat. i may be minus a muffin top but there are no shortages of laces where i feel like im still fat. Rationally i KNOW im not, and that gets verified in little ways everyday. For instance i went jeans shopping a couple weeks ago, and suddenly ALL the size 5 juniors jeans fit me! ANnd they are all LOOSE (around the middle at least, my quadzilla quadriceps wont allow me to get into anything smaller) in any case, i KNOW a person who wears size 5 is not fat, but when i look in the mirror i dont "see" someone who wers that size, even when im WEARING that size!! Last night 2 things happend that really caught me off guard. I went to the local annual ski clothes and gear sale at gart sprts (SNIAGRAB)--thats bargains spelled backwards cuz i knew my old ski clothes werent going to fit anymore. I start pulling medium ski pants off the rack....nope, noway too big, didnt fit!! Went back, grabbed 7 or 8 SMALL sized ski pants, tried em on,------NOPE, too BIG. iam too big for a size small now....i dont get it, and i dont see it....... the other thing, i was training with my traininer and this lady walked up to us, in the gym and said "sorry, but i just had to interrupt (to me). I just wanted to tell you that you are the BEST looking person in here! You have such incredible muscle definition and look absolute fantastic!" No, i dont think she was hitting on me I thought she was joking. I turned to my trainer and laughed and asked him if hed paid her to come up to me and say that!
sorry for the long post....when will my brain catch up to my body though>?

MK...your training sessions sound so intense! I am very inspired - running those kind of drills at the beginning of kicking cigarettes - no wonder you barfed!? I'm very inspired that you even kept going! Awesome!!

I know what you mean about brain/body disharmony. I think it goes both ways, though - i look at my "Before" pic (just 25 lbs ago!!) and I think "WOW. I was FAT." and I know at the time I was in denial about how much weight I had put on - but maybe I'm skewing it now, too, in retrospect, because my priorities have changed so much over the past couple months?!

Thanks for the cheers, Lizzy and TakingCharge! I will be sure to update you on how it goes!

Mk - First off, a big I'm sorry that your run today was kind of a bust (even though you put up some amazing times!), but I kind of feel like it has a lot to do with the lack of smoking. Obviously, it's a GREAT decision and will pay off in the near future, but from what I've heard, the first few days/weeks just wreak havoc on your body, so I would just chalk it up to that and have an awesome run tomorrow! In terms of body image, there's not a week that goes by where I don't have at least one "fat" day. My brain hasn't caught up to my body in terms of weight loss and I'll see recent pictures of myself and think, "there's no way I'm that skinny, it must just be a good picture". I think it's natural and ok though to have bad days where you don't feel gorgeous and fit, but I think the way you cope with them is really important. You've learned so much and come so far on your weight loss/running journey and you are an incredibly strong person now because of it (you haven't smoked in 30 hours, there's your proof!). As long as you take the bad days with a grain of salt and embrace the good days where you feel confident, sexy and skinny, then I think the good days will start outweighing the bad. Please, please do something nice for yourself today because my goodness woman, we all know you deserve it!

i like that that taking charge...."embrace the good days when i feel confident sexy and skinney"........today is one of those days!!!! I need to appreciate them when they happen, and dont let the fat days get to me! i LOVE IT. Thank you Taking Charge!! Already the good days outweigh the bad ones, but why is it that the bad ones are the ones we let get to it, while the good ones go unremembered?
you know what i realized after i wrote that darn postr about puking?? I had forgotten to take off my previous days nicotine patch before i ran!! "they" say exercising with a nic patch on can cause higher amounts of nicotine to be released due to sweat and heat, etc..... i wonder if thats why i puked! Doesnt really matter.

Sharon--- i read your other post asking for 5k advice---find a porta-potty as SOON AS you get to the race! This is the advice i give everyone...GO getin in line IMMEDIATELY!! YOu might have to wait a LONG time!!!! If the race officials dont officially seed the runners at the start, try and stick yourself with people you either percieve to be of similar ability and speed, or just walk up to someone and ask, "hey, how fast do you run?" if they run faster, then go farther back. It can be very annoying at the beginning of the race to either get trampled by faster runners, or to have to dodge and run around slower runners. Plus if you seed yourself appropriately youwont be as tempted to go out so fast. DONT get caught up in the excitement and go out too fast..that will make for a crappy and dissapointing race day experience!

Yep, yep, yep, know exactly how you feel!! Today went and tried on clothes, a lady was helping me and I kept pulling out large tops, and she kept saying, and pulled mediums and smalls and they fit depending on the style and all the large were too small... I even fit in a size 6 jeans!! I didn't buy that particular style, I bought the size 8s in a different style... I don't feel like I'm a size 8, even less a 6, I feel more like a 12 or 14...

I don't really know when I brain catches up

Hello ladies, you are so chatty... I'm trying to keep up!

mk thanks for the pep talk. I have mostly been able to put it behind me but the running this week has been frustrating. My ITBS has really flared up since the race and it's making runs difficult. I'm doing some cross training today instead of my scheduled run in hopes to give my knee a good break before I attempted my long run on Saturday. Usually I can run through the pain (I know, not smart) but yesterday it just wasn't happening. However I have managed a 10:50mm on my last two runs so I'm quite happy about that.

Pardon me as I whine/vent for a few...

I hate not being able to run! I wish I could run every single day but my knee just won't let me. I figured out (pre-race) that if I cut back to running every other day, it keeps the pain at bay. But I hate, hate, hate not being able to run and I get bored and antsy on my off days. I know the answer is to pick up something on my off days but I would so much rather just run. I get bored at the gym - I would much rather be outside. I don't know. I should probably get a bike or something and just do that, at least it would be easy on my knee and I could still feel like I'm doing something. Argh!!

/end whine

Cake - congrats on a sub-11mm!! That's awesome!! Glad you're back

mk- you know what? no judgment from me on the smoking, either. In fact I'm even more in awe that you were a smoker and could still run as much as you could...that's impressive! Just think of how much money you will save and how much your running will improve! I think you're on the right track. How are you feeling today?

TC- too bad the running group didn't pan out... I've thought about doing one here but I have yet to work up the courage to run with others. At least you still got in a run!

fat pants--- I WILL RUN WITH YOU!!! Seriously, really, i would LOVE to have someone to run with, even if only once every couple weeks!! I have NO problem runnign WHATEVER pace/distance is comfortable for you!!! I trained my boyfriend for the BolderBoulder this spring, and we ran at HIS pace always (slower than a 10-11 min miles) and sometime we only ran like 2 miles, sometime 4 or 5!!! I think itd be fun to have someone to chat with!! I would TOTALLY do your long runs with you....... I hear ya on not being able to run everyday...whenever i have an injury i feel like im gonna jump OUTTA MY SKIN!! Cross training just doesnt quite do the trick when you have an itch only running can scratch!!!!!