Hey Heather,

Thanks for the advice, I should be trying to put it into practise tomorrow. I'll just make sure I do loads of different stretches, I found them quite tight today (I ran on Sunday) and I'm planning on running tomorrow so I'm ready for a very hard run... a very hard and painful run.

you know itwas quite strange because the first day I could only manage 3 minutes running, on the second day I did 10 minutes running but my lungs were raw and I was sooooo exhausted. On the third day I did 9 minutes (obviously not in one go) but I know it sounds wierd but I didn't feel that burn I did the other two days in my lungs... I know its probably "too soon" to feel a difference but I really do. I'm still in pain and out of breath, but my lungs just weren't hurting as much as they did the first two times. Lol Maybe I'm just crazy, but anyways. Hope you're having a great start to the week.

Oh he knows. I had been half-asking it before he left and once school was about to start for my son I had to ask him if it was cool if I bought the treadmill and he made me promise I would use it a lot and lose weight or else it was $2k down the drain. So I do my best to get on there every day now.

Last time he was gone I went from 220 to 180, which was a size 20 to a size 14. This time my goal is 150 pounds and a size 10 or whatever that will make me around that weight. I'm determined but with him gone, I definately have my stressful days which makes eating right very hard! I have very little issue getting it together to work out, but the eating right thing kills me!

I am a little sore from my run today so I am just going to do a slow 2 miles tomorrow morning (walking) and take it easy. Off to stretch and drink some water and watch a movie alone haha.

Hi everyone

It looks like we're coming along again. Yippeee. I did my run and weights yesterday - not a great idea it seems. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Having missed both on the weekend I felt ready to go, but today will be a walk-with-the-dogs kind of day, I think. Still feeling the effects of this cold.

Cat - good job for you for getting into shape while DH is away. You still have a year - and you're doing great. I know everyone is different, but I'm wearing size 10 jeans (as of Saturday - woo hoo) and I'm at 170lbs right now. You may surprise yourself!

Marianne, I hope you're feeling good after getting out again. Is it still hot in BC?

Serena - it's amazing (at least to me) how quickly running gets easier at first. I don't think I'll ever find it "effortless" but it's definitely way easier than at the beginning. I hope the stretching helps.

LeedaRenee, I hope you're feeling good with your 15 mins. Taking your time will really help.

Snuggles to all,
Jax

Yeah cat, I was fitting into size 10 jeans when I was 165-170 and you're an inch taller than me, so you never know

Jax, hope you shake off the last of the cold. Sounds like you're not letting it get you down too much though

Wow, sounds like lots of progress or change for people lately!

Cakses - glad you're using your investment! I bet your hubby will be surprised, even though he knows... I know it's sometimes harder for my boyfriend to see when I've lost weight, because it's so gradual to him, seeing a little bit off every week.

Jax - SO hot this week. Hotter than it was all summer, even. But it's that nice fall heat - cool at night and in the morning, HOT in the day. I'm feeling much better today, although my hip flexors feel a little tight. Anyone have any suggested stretches?

Good morning! I managed D2W5 with no problem this morning! However, I got a pretty severe side stitch. It was weird--it started low (like ovary level) and slowly moved up until it was right under my right side rib cage. Thankfully at that point I could stop and walk it off. Within 1 minute it was virtually gone.

Anyone have suggestions on how to not get side stitches?

I know I read somewhere that if you concentrate on breathing out when your left foot hits the ground, they go away? I think maybe Heather had this problem when she first started?

I get side stitches too - they feel like they're knawing beneath my ribcage. My DH always tells me to make sure that I'm breathing in through my nostrils and out through my mouth... lol... but I always complain that my nostrils are too small and dont get as much oxygen I need to my body.

Good morning everyone!
I'll finish redoing week 2 on Friday. I think then I'll be ready for week 3 on Monday Have a great day!

Not to do with stitches - but when I was running with a club last year, they said to switch feet if you were counting strides etc. Apparantly you'll tend to run heavier on the foot you're counting on. So if you do this breathing technique, maybe switch feet every so often?

Run day today - it's supposed to be cooler and showery. I'm going this morning because the dogs have a vet appointment this afternoon.

Jax

From the side stitch queen, I give you this:

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_5/227.shtml

Follow the link from onthetee - I did, absolutely, struggle with this until I learned to breathe. I do breath rhythmically, in through the nostrils, out through the mouth. I vary both the timing AND the footfalls - so, for example, I'll breathe in for a count of two as my left foot hits the ground, out on a count of two as my left foot hits the ground... THEN, after maybe ten, twelve of these, I'll switch over to the same rhythm, with the right foot. THEN (and this one helps me a LOT) I will breathe in on a count of three (on whatever foot - I'm goign to switch later! ) and out on a count of two, so I ahve automatically varied which foot I am breathing in on.

It sounds more complicated than it is On the other hand - just because that works for me doesn't make it a science - I was always terrible at science!

Good luck! You're all doing MARVELOUSLY!!

Heather

The other bonus for paying such close attention to your breathing is that you are thinking about that and not how much time you have left. You will be amazed how much more quickly time moves.

Hi all,

Well the rain didn't hold off for my run - neither did the north wind. I got cold - guess I need more clothes next time. In previous years if it was gross outside I ran on the treadmill, but since it's broken that's not an option. I'm used to snow, but I need to get used to cold and rainy too. Still it's better than 38°C. At least for me. It's been so dry this summer that the issue hasn't arisen. Rain is good for the ground though.

I also need to find some new trails for fall. The clay on many of the farm tracks here gets really sticky when wet - my shoes were very heavy before I was halfway into my warmup. So I changed my route and just ran around the hamlet - not so interesting though. It was a good run, nonetheless.

onthetee - I've had a totally different response when I concentrate on my breathing - I tend to count breaths or steps, and then everything seems to get SOOOOOO tedious. I do better when I don't think about it. I used to count steps to estimate my intervals - I seem to run about 85 strides per minute no matter how fast I run, and so I was counting them before I got a stopwatch.

Keep up the great running folks! teacher1, glad to hear you're feeling ready for W3. Allison, great job with W5.

Jax

I'm very upset today!!
I bought an MP3 player from new york a couple of years ago (2005), and brought it back here and I used to use it a lot. It was one of those types where you buy a flashdisk for it and put it in -download the music/lectures then you're done. I lost the flashdisk back in 2005, and recently (january) bought a camera that came with a flashdisk. So I started to use it in my mp3 player just to use the podcasts and it did something to that stupif flashdisk... So I'm VERY ANGRY because I haven't been able to go for a run! GRRRR... Eventually I'll have to go but still... its annoying. Now I don't have a flashdisk for my camera either and will have to buy one.

Okay thanks for letting me vent...
I hope you all have a good week.