fitmom 3.3 miles in 21 minutes!!!! WOOHOO!!! So, when are you going to enter a race so you can place in your age group???? Okay...forget about just placing for your age group. I just looked up the female winner of the last race I did and her time was 20:42....and the race was a little bit short of a 5K. Seriously, there is a chance that you could WIN the race overall for females and you have only been back at running for such a short time. Impressive!

aimeebell: Your post made me chuckle, seriously. I wish I had the time to train for a race - that's like a job in and of itself, lol. But with the school year starting and my kids entering the fourth grade and kindergarten, I'm gonna be knee-deep in homework and all things school-related in less than three weeks. But that's nice to hear you think I could place for my age, of course. Don't know how well I'd fare against a younger set of people. *shrugs* Thanks, I'm actually kind of, sort of impressed with me too.

fitmom So when are you going to go for that 4 mile run to blast your goal out of the water weeks ahead of time? I would GLADLY accept Tori Spelling arms. Her arms are my goal. Skinny, but toned.

Dorian Awesome job this week! You will be the second most beautiful woman in the room, next to only the bride. I don't think my legs are capable of actual sprinting. Some people just aren't made to move fast, and that's me!

Petit 28 days of juice? I wouldn't make it a day. Congrats on the -11 lbs!

But you're already there! LOL No training necessary! I'm not talking about placing for your age. That time was for the overall female winner. She was 33 years old. It doesn't have to be a marathon, just a fun local 5K, to show yourself how awesome you are and have a medal to prove it LOL

Well....I knew it would catch up to me eventually, but I had done better last week than the previous three weeks where I miraculously maintained, so I was not expecting to get on the scale and see 137. Eeeeeek!!! Reality check! Just what I needed. I haven't seen a weight that high in a few months, but 138 was my original goal weight, so I tried not to freak out too much. So, I ate well yesterday, drank my water, and was relieved to see the scale back down to 133 this morning. Whew! I must keep myself in check!
My boys were at their dad's for two weeks. I don't cook when they are gone and just eat whatever I happen upon, and then we are moving tomorrow, so I was trying to clear out the cupboards/fridge/freezer without shopping. Soooo, I haven't really grocery shopped in a month, leaving me without a lot of healthy choices. First up, was a trip to Trader Joe's to stock my new home with healthy, delicious choices, so I'll be prepared for the week to come. Next up is a trip to the local fruit market.
On the plus side, I have been keeping up with my running while the boys are practicing football. It has felt harder lately. I chalked it up to running in the heat of the day with the sun still shining, but it occurred to me yesterday that lack of proper nutrition is probably playing a factor too.
The End

aimeebell: Seriously? You think I'm already there! Geesh, I need you in my mirror every morning for my daily affirmation, lol. There are a few 5K's around by me happening in the next few months...you've got the wheels turning in my head now. You've given me something to think about.

I know what you mean about the running feeling harder lately. I feel sometimes that I need to not go as low carb as I do b/c my body needs fuel to run and run efficiently. Also, the heat doesn't help, I agree with that.

I don't know what that's like to have two weeks without children, lol. Although I'm sure you miss them like crazy. But I will find out when school starts when for the first time in a decade, I will be child-free for the entire afternoon. It's weird b/c I don't feel like I even know who me is anymore, lol.

And don't worry too much about the higher weight but I do agree that the scale does keep you in check.

Fitmom, congrats on your run time! I knew you would get there. Im sure it feels great to know you are in just as good, if not better, shape than you were in your teens proving that age truly is just a number. AND you haven't even been running that long. So amazing!
Tried the HITT yesterday at the gym. Did about 20 mins of 60 seconds walking at a 3% incline/ 3.4-4.0 mph and 60 seconds of sprinting 3% incline/ 7.3-8.0 mph. Definitely tough and I was very tired afterwards. Although today not so much, Im wondering if I should push myself harder next week

dorian5 You are a rockstar girl! I started my sprint at 8.5 thinking that was a normal place to start.. I almost died. I only did one sprint at 8.5 the rest were btwn 8 and 7.3. And a 5% incline?!?!??! I was struggling with 3! If you can handle that you are very, very fit IMO and you give me something to aspire to!
Congrats on your low weight. You have certainly earned it! Enjoy the wedding this weekend.

Amy3680 Good job on sneaking in the exercise. I really believe every bit counts.

aimeebell Good job on getting back into the swing of things!

skinnyelle39: Ooo, I was wondering if you gave HIIT a try and you did! *high-five* That sounds about right for your first time. You've slowly got to decrease the walking time and increase the sprinting time little by little. Believe it or not, I'm still in the infant stages of HIIT myself. You did great! And yeah, it does feel great knowing that I'm in better shape than the 'old me', lol. Keep going with the HIIT and let us know how it goes.

Oh my gosh, I've never been called fit! When I started jogging back in February I couldn't sustain 4.0mph (a slow jog/quick trot) for more than 5 minutes.

The fact that you did 1:1 ratio is impressive! I did 2:1 -- 2 minutes walking, 1 minute sprinting! YOU must be very fit!

I made myself take last night off, but I think I'm going to have to do it again tonight.

Well, ladies, I have found an answer to my Winter cardio routine. I live in the Northeast in a very snowy state so in like 2 months, running outside will have to be put on hold until next April. So, I've been reading a lot about bodyweight exercises on the internet and I am sold, lol. I found a bodyweight circuit on youtube and it's crazy -- spiderman pushups, burpees, jumping jacks, planks, you name it. It can be done 2-3 times in a row for like 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. I plan to rearrange my whole exercise schedule the next few months going from 6 days/week for a total of 5.5 hours of exercise to 5 days/week for a total of 3+ hours of exercise. I'm pretty much where I want to be (scale-wise) plus I just won't have the time to devote with the kids in school. I need to streamline my routine and this is perfect for me because it requires no equipment. I'm gonna try out the routine tonight to see how I like it.

Happy weekend everyone!

howdy feathers. Happy weekend!

fitmom, a long time (well maybe three weeks), you asked how long I'd been running and how long it takes me to get up to 5 miles. I'm a very slow but steady sort of runner. I've been running, slowly, on and off about 20 years now. I usually get totally out of shape in winter and back into it in the summer. I have no doubt you can increase your distances. What works best for me, is on days where I just feel great, I throw an extra 10 or 15 minutes into my run. Next thing I know, I'm at 5 or 6 miles.

congrats to all you interval trainers. I may have to try it, especially in the fall when it's cooler.

aimeebell: the sun is surprisingly tiring for me when running. Not that you shouldn't strive for good nutrition of course, but it really may have just been the sun.

My house got a new roof today. Very exciting. A skylight, too. Even more exciting! My weight's been hovering around 163-164 for about a month. This is not a surprise since I'm eating at what's probably a maintenance level for me. Will work through September to keep eating the great fruits and veggies that are available this time of year.

This week I went on date 2 with a new match.com guy. It's odd. On our dates, I really like him, then when I'm not around him, I remember only the annoying or weird things he did. Trying to just let it evolve at its own pace. haha, I'm terrible at that sort of thing.

fitmom if you are looking for great sites for indoor/home work outs you MUST check out www.bodyrock.tv. You will love it! I don't do the routines as much as I would like to but they are short, intense, and awesome. And they are based on HITT/ tabata training. The lady who is in all the videos is names Zuzanna and she has a rocking body. Shes an inspiration to me.

I was so stoked to sleep in today, but my eyes snapped open at 7am. Everyone else in the house is asleep, so I may rouse the dog and see if he'll go for a run outside with me. (He's still sleeping too so I may have to go solo, haha)

I weighed 120.4lbs today, which is kind of worrisome? I don't think it should be falling off quite so fast. I weighed a pound more yesterday (granted I did not use the bathroom yesterday morning, whereas this morning I definitely did) so maybe that has something to do with it. Either way, I'm ready to get back to a normal breakfast instead of a protein shake and my giant grilled chicken and spinach salads instead of a green sludge drink for lunch. I'm starting to feel a bit obsessive. This little fruit/veggie/protein shake reboot was excellent, but I don't want to sustain it for fear that I'm losing muscle, not fat.

ETA: At 120.4, I not only get to add a bat to my signature, BUT... I've officially lost 30 pounds! Wow!

ann71: Thanks for the info. I will definitely keep that in mind as I'm very much still a newbie. I can't even imagine doing like 5 or 6 miles at this point. Very impressive.

skinnyelle39: I'm familiar with that site. It's awesome and that girl has one rockin' body, lol.

Dorian5: 30 pounds gone!!!! That's amazing!!! Just in time for the wedding this weekend. You go girl! Woot! I knew you could do it, keep going...you're so close to goal.

Well, I did my bodyweight circuit last night in place of my Pilates and I am sold, lol. But this week all I did was intervals - maybe too much so I am officially pooped and zapped of energy. I wanted to run but everything aches so I just did some planks and called it a morning. I have to listen to my body and it just needs some rest. I have to remember to only do intervals once or twice a week. This past week it was four times. Although I will say that sprinting has drastically improved my running time so I'm definitely doing this for life, lol. But I don't want to risk overtraining or injury. So, I'll start back again on Monday. No biggie, right?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Hey gals! I've been posting over on the 20-something thread, but am keeping up to date with your inspiring stories. Love it!

Dorian, how do you make your protein shakes?