Born to run?

After work last night, I collapsed on the couch watching Thomas the Train (for the millionth time) with my son. I knew I had to get a 5 miles walk in as part of my training for a 10k program. My mind was saying "go for it." My body "forget about it." When my husband got home from work, I grabbed my iPod and headed from my house to the trail. As soon as I got my groove, I knew that I wouldn't regret the walk. My favorite part is the 12 minute stretch that follows the river and the whole time I'm thinking after 6 years, I still live in the most beautiful place. I take my headphones off and just concentrate on the sound of the running water rushing through the rocks. I take my time at this part.

Running, or exercise for that matter, is not in my blood. I remember as a child embarrassing my mom as I skipped down the soccer field. Guess what, she never enrolled me in soccer again after that.

I hated PE class in high school and what I hated more was when teachers "tested" us by making us run a mile (or timed our sit-up or push-ups). I hated that day of school because it would take me 20 miles to walk a mile because I could only run for a total of 20 seconds.

Last year, Jen inspired me to start running. She proposed getting a group of folks together to start the Couch to 5K program. I really doubted my running abilities at first but Jen kept me motivated. Three times a week for 12 weeks we tackled the task of getting closer to 3 miles and then we all ran the Pacific Crest 5k to celebrate her 35th birthday.

Not only did she get me running 3 miles, she got me to like running. When I messed up my ankle last summer, I had to walk instead and it was killing me. I missed that feeling of going fast. And you know what else, she helped me develop a routine and to fit it in my busy schedule.

In the past year, she's lost 30 pounds further inspiring me to go from running a 5k to up that to a 10k. I'm on week 2 and I can tell it is already getting easier. I logged 43 miles of activity for the month of April.

Thank you Jen for being an inspiration.

Week 4 - The sodium chronicles

At my week three weigh-in of the Biggest Loser at work, I came in two pounds under the last time I weighed in. I can not weigh-in daily because it's frustrating to see the scale NOT move. In talking with my doctor, you should lose more than one pound a week so I was happy with those results.

A few weeks ago, I started having ankle pain in the ankle that I twisted over the summer. Turns out, I tore the muscle and the scar tissue is causing the pain after I run. I was ordered to three weeks of physical therapy and to back off on the running. FABULOUS. PT isn't so bad though I get to lay down for 30 mins while my ankle gets massaged, then scrapped and then fun exercises. YAY! I usually feel pretty relaxed after but after running lately, my ankle hasn't been in pain at all. I just have to remember to do stretches and just take it easy when I run. I was hoping to add .5 mile this week but I decided not to push it. Maybe next week?

The physical therapist also recommended I don't spend all my energy running and add something to the mix. I've been intrigued by the water running class and gave it a shot. It's harder than it looks but at the same time was pretty low-impact on my ankle. The instructor and swim mates were welcoming and the next day I was so sore. Maybe I can run down the Deschutes River during the triathlon?

I'm beginning to doubt my triathlon abilities. I know it's in July but I'm getting pretty scared -- mostly of the swimming part. Good thing time is on my side!

As for food, I've been doing pretty well and the weekends are really really hard though but I allow for some fudging but in moderation.

We'll see!

Week 1 - The sodium chronicles

As you remember, I'm divorcing sodium to lower my blood pressure and lose some weight. This is something I can not fail at because if I do, I'll have to be chained to blood pressure meds and I really don't like spending my time in line at the Fred Meyer Pharmacy. Week one of logging my calories/sodium intake went well on Livestrong.com. My first day back at work after our vacation started with a weigh-in for our company's Biggest Loser challenge. I was happy that I was at least down 10 lbs from last year.

For the most part, I stayed on course with keeping my sodium in-take in control. One day I went over because I didn't realized that the low sodium burrito I was eating was actually two servings. Seriously, who splits a burrito? (OK, I have been known to split a mondo sized breakfast burrito but this burrito was not small). I did have pizza this week as well. I didn't eat half a pizza, just two slices. That's an improvement, for me.

The biggest hurdle has been getting my husband to realize that we have to plan meals out and can't just wing it. I'm getting a lot of  "I don't want that" and I have to gently remind that well, I need to watch my sodium in-take in order to keep the blood pressure down. He then becomes supportive.

Today is my cheat day. I try hard NOT to go completely overboard. I started the day with a vanilla mocha from Thump and then some awesome cinnamon rolls that my friend Jen made. That was followed up by a mimosa. Did I mention that after that I went to Costco and indulged in a hot dog?  The rest of the day will be relatively low on the sodium spectrum.

The other hurdle ... finding gourmet low sodium recipes.  I love Everyday Food Magazine BUT they don't put the sodium content on their nutrition contents so I have to enter all the ingredients into a calculator and divide it by the servings to figure it out. I did send them an email and got back a lame response. So far, EatingWell.com and EatBetterAmerica.com and the South Beach Diet cookbook have become places for safe recipes. If you have any suggestions for places to find gourmet recipes that are low in sodium, I would love to know.

As for exercising, I think I need to visit a physical therapist. In July, while running the river trail, I twisted my ankle. I spent a month not running and walked instead.  Since I'm back to running, I've developed some ankle pain. I am hoping that my new shoes will correct the problem but if it doesn't I hope I'm not sidelined again. I want to do a triathlon so I need to figure out what to do to keep running. I have developed this love of running and I don't want to abandon it.  This week I've run/walked 11 miles. I need to change it up and I'm interested in trying water running and I do have to start spinning which I'm dreading.

Well, onto week 2.