Kaitlyn: Running to walking

I'll be blunt. School has been a major damper on when I've gotten out to run. It seriously has been. I've been sluggish and lazy and just not lacing up. However, here's the positive side of things. Now, I have to walk everywhere to get anything. I do my daily and sometimes two or three times a day 10 minute trek to the office and back. With the construction on campus, I seriously walk my butt off. I have also started playing Wii Fit more consistently and with the yoga and strength training, I've already lost a pound. So now I'm back to the 135 I was when I started (I had gained weight when I was home) and I'm feeling good. Let's hope this keeps up and I start lacing up. Maybe tomorrow will be a 7 a.m. run...

Mai Hana: Week 5 Day 3

Today was my first ever no interval run. Did the 5 minuet warm up walk, 20 minuet block which consisted of 8 minuets of jogging, 3 minuets of walking, 4 minuets of jogging, 2 minuets of walking, and 3 minuets of jogging and then the 5 minuet cool down walk.

Oh, man! I had so much fun! (Except for the part where I almost got ran over by some dude which tensed up my body a whole lot...) I start w6 tomorrow. It's going to be a killerrrrrr.

Mai Hana: Week 5 Day 2

I'M OFFICIALLY HALF WAY THROUGH WITH COUCH TO 5K!!!!!!!

Holy cow. These past 5 (6 if you count the pre-C25K) weeks have been AMAZING! I cannot believe I got this far!

Today's run was tough. W5D2 consits of two 8 minuet jogs with a 5 minuet walk sandwhiched in between. I made through the first jog with no problem. The second one was tough. I told myself that if I run 3 minuets, I can walk for one. 3 minuets into my 8, I told myself I can do one more minuet. At the 4 minuet mark, I told myself that I can walk when I hit the 5 minuet mark. So on and so forth. By the time I realized it, I was doing my cool down walk! I did both runs without slowing down or stopping! I'm so proud of myself right now! Tomorrow is my first no interval run! I'm excited and nervous all at the same time! Haha

Kaitlyn: It's been a tough road

I still have not managed to break out of my Week 4 slump. And after things with C being my running partner fell out (that's a very long story that I cannot discuss,) I've decided to take my time and work through it. I'm still running every other day and doing ok, I'm just not where I thought I should be by now. So we're going to keep plugging along. I am not giving up on running. I'm not a quitter. Never was and never will be.

Mai Hana: Week 5 Day 1

Started week 5 today! I've been lagging it pretty badly lately. Was going to run yesterday morning but I had to take my 24 hr. allergy meds earlier that day that knocked me the flip out for most of the day. lol Anywho, w5d1 was okay. 5 min jog and a 3 min walk. It was rough but I didn't feel too bad. My next run marks the halfway point in my C25K journey! I can't believe I made it this far! =]

Mai Hana: One mile run

Today, I met up with some old high school friends and ran at our old high school. We ran/walked five laps around the track. We made it! Haha We haven't really ran in 5 years or so til now so we were dying. This was also my first no interval run. It was fun! Hopefully we can get together and run at least once a week.

Kaitlyn: Realizing something

I realized something during my run this morning. I'm truly a sprinter. I enjoy short stretches of hard out running versus the jog intervals. I've had issues running the full 5 minute jog. I'm still stuck on Week 4 and am not sure of whether or not I'll be ready for my race. What I do know is the feeling of just taking off and running hard out is amazing. I don't know where to go from here. I'm going to try and look up tips for sprinters to increase endurance. It's going to be very interesting from here on out. But I will keep trying, I will keep running and I will keep going.

Kaitlyn: Getting sluggish

This blog began as a way for me to get motivated and to keep running. For awhile, I was coasting along. But now, I've hit a snag. I don't know whether it's the weather or me. I really don't want to be blaming the weather for something I've done.

I'm just not been feeling the same during my runs. I've felt a bit defeated. I can't last a full 5 minute jog right now, even the first one of Week 4. I'm just sluggish. I'm not feeling the same power in my legs and I'm scared to over push myself and end up doing more harm than good.

I feel like I just need a kick in the ass. I think I'm going to look up more strength exercises and see what I can do. Maybe I'll go for bike rides on my days off that I'm not running. Just something needs to change. I feel horrible.

Mai Hana: Disneyland and Week 4 Day 4

Friday, I went to Disneyland with Jayson and his friends. We walked A LOT. It was a great workout!

Today, I went to the park to run at 0645ish. I set my alarm at six but snoozed for a bit. Heh. The run was pretty good! It felt great. I'm starting W5 tomorrow. I'm excited!

Kaitlyn: Another Week 4 run

This morning I took off doing another Week 4 run. The weather was incredibly humid and I could definitely feel it in my first jog. It was a sluggish morning for me. Though I was running "with" (I put with in quotes because although we were in the same area, we in no way stayed together) my sister so I managed to be going for an hour. Within that hour, I did the Week 4 and also did more jog intervals on my own. I was ok with this. Because although I had to take more breaks in my Week 4 run, I made up for it after.

Mai Hana: Week 4 Day 3

Did day three with tummy pains today. It hurt so deng bad but I did it! Nothing too exciting going on with my running lately. I'm probably going to do five days of W4 before I jump into W5.

Kaitlyn: Back at Week 4 Day 1

This morning, I tackled Week 4 again. Although I had to take a water break in my last 5 minute jog, I went farther than I have before so that was definitely a plus. I think the hour run with C was really good for me. So the plan now is to just continue on Week 4 as long as I need to until I feel comfortable to move up to Week 5. Let's see how this goes.

Mai Hana: Week 4 Day 2

I did day 2 of week 4 today. I pushed myself today. Pretty damn hard. I pictured myself getting chased by thousands of bees so I can run away from them at full speed.* It worked! My distance improved by a bit. Haha Tomorrow, I'm going to picture myself chasing a dog that's running at top speed that I want to pet REALLY badly while getting chased by tens of thousands of bees! Hopefully, I can run faster that way. Haha

*I hate bees. I HATE bees. I HATE BEES. I HATES BEES!!!!!!!!!! OMG. I run for BLOCKS when I hear and/or see one. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Mai Hana: Week 3 Day 3 and Week 4 Day 1

I finished w3 last Friday and started w4 today. I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since I started moving my body and I'm already a third of the way through C25K! I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm keeping up with this. I can't believe that I'm *that* much closer to my coast to coast medal after every workout I finish. The amount of support I've gotten from people around me has been AMAZING and the confidence I've gained in myself is indescribable.

First day of week 4 didn't kick my ass as hard as I thought it would. I had to slow down the last 2 minuets of the last round of the five minuet jog but I did it. I pushed through. I think it was because I didn't drink any water at all before my run. I walked home with a big huge smile on my face. I can't wait to go out running again tomorrow.

I FEEL GOOD.

Kaitlyn: I call this success

Since starting to run, I've gone down 3 inches in my waist, 2 inches in my hips, and 3 inches in my thighs. This is only the beginning and quite frankly, I'm so shocked and so happy. For the rest of the month, I refuse to step on the scale. I won't do it. Once i get to school, I'm only going to use my measuring tape. I won't even have access to a scale so that will be easy. I'm just so proud of myself.

Kaitlyn: First hour run, check (and a recipe)

I just checked off another one of my milestones, an hour run. I didn't expect to be running an hour, first of all. I headed out at 6:30 a.m. with my mentor and running partner. C (as I'll dub her) and I have been friends since I was in high school as an intern. C runs in a lot of 10ks and has done a few half marathons, though she swears she'll stick to 10ks from now on. Needless to say, I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. C has offered to run in my first 5k with me at the end of September in our hometown.

To start off, I was still running Week 3. I felt comfortable at it and knew I'd need to build up from it. The trail we were on is 1.5 miles end to end. It took the first half hour to go down the trail. That was my Week 3. Now, on the way back, C decided to step up the pace. The middle section of the trail is 0.4 miles. We decided to jog the entire section. What I didn't expect was her stealing my water bottle and making me sprint the last 0.1 so I could get it back. The last section we did a walk/jog pace, going around some people that were slow.

By the time I got back, I was hungry as heck, but happy. The muscles in my legs that are forming are amazing. On Tuesday or Wednesday morning (I have something Tuesday morning so I can't run.), I will be tackling Week 4 again. After today's hour, I think I'll be fine. When I got back, after my shower, I pulled out half of the smoothie I made yesterday. They make great breakfast smoothies so here's my recipe:

You will need:
a blender
1 banana
1 spoonful of creamy (or crunchy) peanut butter
1 Cobani yogurt (or any kind of yogurt you love really)
1/4 cup milk (I use fat free)
1 ice cube

Now, I like to experiment with this mix because whatever flavored yogurt I use affects the taste. Put everything except the ice cube into the blender and blend. It helps to cut up the banana previously. Blend. (shorter time for a thicker smoothie obviously.) Once the chunks of banana are nice and blended, throw in the ice cube and continue to blend. That's it!

It's really easy to have fun with what you put into each smoothie. If you don't like bananas, try a different fruit. Maybe strawberries or raspberries. The main base of the smoothie is just the yogurt, milk and ice cube. Everything else is your decision.

Kaitlyn: A successful Week 3 again

This morning, I headed out for my usual run. I've gone back to Week 3 until I've felt up to Week 4 again. I had lost a good deal of work from my week off, so it made sense for me. I finally finished a full Week 3 workout again without stopping so that was a major plus again. Also... *drum roll please* another inch in my waist and hips have gone away! I'm feeling really good again and my clothes are fitting better and just overall, good news. I think I'm going to do a few days more of Week 3 until I feel comfortable enough to go back up to Week 4 again. Probably a good plan.

Mai Hana: Week 3 Days 1 and 2

I started week three on Sunday and I had a blast! I was worried about the three minuet jog but I breezed through it like nothing. =] I took it really slowly on Sunday. Today, I picked it up a notch and made it through.

I've been slacking off a bit lately. Yeah, I get my three runs a week in but haven't met the four to five days a week yet. I haven't really been doing the workouts Jay gave me. I will start it next week. I promise. =]

I'm sorry about the lack of updates lately! I don't have internet at home and the app on my Android doesn't work properly most of the time. I tried it on the browser and it doesn't load properly... I'm sure it's because I dropped my phone in a puddle a few weeks ago. -____- Haha I'll do my best to udate as much as I can and try to keep up with my running related posts!