60s/70s usually, although this year it was cold and raining for LAM. I'm not sure if this was the first year they did it or not, but the new route goes from Dodger stadium to the Santa Monica pier.

Two days into the month and I haven't run at all. The very mild cold I had last week evolved - or devolved, depending on your view - into stomach flu and I had to take Friday and today off work so I could stay very very close to the bathroom. Nasty, lemme tell you. I'm hoping to be better in a few days as the last thing I need now is to be sick all week. Bleurgh.

Did some HIIT running tonight it felt really good ... afterwards I did a back and chest workout...

Hey everyone! Ran yesterday on the treadmill at the gym. The c25k finishes Week 9 with 30 minute runs and I'm slowly trying to build on to that, so I ran for 33 minutes, plus a brisk walk warmup and cool down.

ncuneo and mkroyer - All your marathon talk is both inspiring and exhausting! Good luck!

I increased my carbs to 30 and was able to run 4.5 miles yesterday. YIPPEE! I'm still really slow (4.5 mph), but I'm glad that I can run for a full 60 with only one 1-min walking break. Now if I could just get the scale to budge...

Lazy 3 yesterday. The slight decrease in milage has felt really good. I've felt more relaxed about my runs and just been enjoying it. I've also forced myself to stop warming up with a run before strength training/yoga on Tuesday's and Thursday's and I think this is a good think for my body too. I think I've been over doing it a little with the exercise and cals lately and that's been a huge contributed to my binging. So I've been really listening to my body and only doing things that I want to do and it's been resulting in better work outs due to better fuel. So I'm pretty excited about this new strategy. I mean diet and exercise should be for enjoyment not punishment. I'd binge all weekend then restrict my cals and beat myself up on the road and in the gym and that's was a bad cycle. I'm finding a better balance now and enjoying it all again.

I've got my HM training plan all mapped out ant it looks great. I've got 320-350 miles ahead of me in the next 15 weeks! Bring it on!

Great attitude ncuneo, I agree, this is all for fun. If I miss a run or think about my times I remind myself that I'm not a professional athlete, just a recreational one, so I should be having fun!

I'm joining the YMCA today with my sister. I have an easy 30 min to run, so I'll do that there on the treadmill, then I'll be lifting and doing some plyo, followed by an shallow water aqua class. I've gone to some water aerobic classes in the past, usually when I'm injured, but this time it's just for fun and to check out the pool.

My knees are a little sore and tight from the half distance on Sunday so I hope this gets them loosened up.

Zetaphine - I can ABSOLUTELY attest...keep running for 60 mins consistently (at whatever speed) and you WILL lose weight! Don't feel bad about 4.5mph...It took me months to build up to that speed and even now I only run between 5.0-5.5mph intervals for 65 mins. But the weight has consistently flown off and my body is getting very lean (low bf%). I personally think slow and steady wins the race!

Ncuneo - Glad to hear you have found balance within.

*UPDATE* - Soooo...got my results of MRI back. NO MENISCUS TEAR...WOOT! Mild ACL and strain. Back to running, ran 5.4 miles yesterday...feel GREAT! Lost another 2 lbs this week, calories high...only 2 more pounds to go to GOAL...lovin life!!!

Joyfulloser: Thanks so much for the words of encouragement. I am determined to do 60 minutes of exercise 6 days/week until the scale starts to move in my favor. I've tried limiting my cals to 1500/day without much success. I tend to eat around 2000/day. It's no wonder I cannot lose any weight.

Glad to hear about your MRI results. You are soooooo close to your goal, I'm sure you can taste it. Congratulations.

Zetaphine - You may want to try a more "cyclic" approach to your daily calories. I'm not following any "plan", but I tend to naturally eat different calories, each day. I have some 1500 cal days, more of 1700-1800 cal days, and even less, but consistent 2000+ calorie days. I'd also not forego REST. I like to run 4 days a week which gives my body the needed rest between strenuous runs to do what I need, REBUILD those muscles and TRIM that fat. I think too much exercise (back to back days) may actually stress your body out...and in turn it won't cooperate with you.

I'd try variating my calories, so that it averages out between 1600-1700 cals and cutting down my running days maybe 4-5 days/week. I think that may help you break your stall.

Happy trails!

ugg... did about 5.5 around lunchtime yesterday.. im going to have to start running in the morning again..not because of temperature, but because my Garmin Cant pick up a signal when im downtown... i was SUPPOSED to do a tempo run at an 8 minute mile, but my garmin was jumping from 2 min/mi to 19 min/mi, etc etc... and the problem is, i dont KNOW what an 8 min mi feels like..... i havent ingrained it to muscle memory, so i considered yesterday a total waste of time/of a run. i have less than a month to build my mileage, run longer, AND teach myself new paces that are ackward for me........ grrr.... once i start training, every run will count, ya know?

Joyful- CONGRATS on the MRI results! evewn if its just a strain dont do too much too soon, or youll keep re-injuring it

I'll continue to keep a log of my calories & carbs and try varying my cals. I'm super ambitious and tend to start a project too stong then taper off. I'll try your suggestion of only running 4 days/week to allow my body to rest. Thanks so much.

Had my first run since Saturday, when I did 4.2 miles, which was great. Then I got a horrible cold and could barely get off the sofa, let alone run! Today I did an easy 2.5 miles and it felt really good to be able to breathe and work up a sweat. Tomorrow I think I'll go do weights at the gym, and Saturday I have scheduled a 4.5 mile slow run, so hopefully I can knock that out. I love this slow building up of distances - aiming for a 10k by mid June and then I work up to the half marathon in October!

4.5 Wednesday ST/Yoga yesterday and 4 this morning. Not sure what my long run will be Sunday. I'd like to do one more cutback week before training starts to build, but we're going out of town for a 4 day mini vaca and all the food will be at restaurants and course we're going to brunch for mothers day...so...the evil punisher wants me to do more. I think I'll just let my body decide and make sure it's fun and try to be more in control with my eating. We can have it all - just not all at once

A couple of questions for all y'all more experienced runners:

1. What do you do for (cardio) cross-training?

2. I've just finished the c25k last week, which ends with runs 3x/week. I'd love to add another day of running to get to 4x/week. What's the best way to do that without overloading my body? Should I just add a day but subtract time from each run for a bit (I'm doing 33 minute runs right now, plus WU and CD)? Or make my 4th day a really easy run for a while (keep in mind, I'm already a slow, easy runner at this point). Or just add the 4th day the same as my others?

Thanks for your help! This thread is really motivational - it's amazing what you all are doing!