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atthequillsmercy

Running Update: Wait, it does that?!

Since I am a huge fucking geek, I am on a bunch of Zombies Run! fan pages and groups. It is through these that I learned that there is a 365 days in a row achievement!

I didn’t know this was a thing! I want that thing…

So, does this mean I’ve taken up a 365-day challenge?

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And let me say why.

Much like the 5k and 10k training, you don’t do this by being insane. I think I’ll start with a 7-day challenge and go from there. Meaning I’ll start today.

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You’ll notice my pace is much slower than normal but today was my first run with the chases turned on. If you aren’t familiar with this app, chases are when the app tells you to run faster to avoid zombies and if you don’t go fast enough, you lose some of the supplies you’ve gathered. I’ve been curious about those for a while and decided to give them a try.

And nothing happened. So, I ended up powerwalking while expecting to put on a burst of speed.

I tweaked some settings for tomorrow’s run so we’ll see how chases work then.

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atthequillsmercy

Health Check? Not doing too bad!

If you read my blog regularly, you see me posting all this workout stuff. So, what’s the point, right?

I got my blood work back from the doctor today. Last time, there were some concerns about my cholesterol. This time?

My doctor said I have one of the best cholesterol levels she’s seen!

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DANCE BREAK

Not bad for someone as overweight as I am.

Now, this time the doctor was concerned about my B12 levels so I got me a booster shot and I’ll be going back every two weeks to get more. How did the shot make me feel?

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I had to apologize to my coworkers

According to some research, low B12 can lead to depression and fatigue, which may explain why I have been tired ALL THE TIME. And I think the deficiency is down to my diet. In order to be “healthy”, I cut way down on red meat, cheese, and I don’t drink milk because it’s gross. I used to have steak once or twice a week. I’ve been having red meat once or twice a month now; ground beef or lamb in chili or stew. Chicken does have B12 but not nearly as much as beef. I’ll have to get back to putting beef into my rotation.

With my new amazing bill of health, I have gone insane and signed up for two more virtual races. I have two going over on Yes.Fit and I had to pause one to finish the other… Yeah, I’m going a bit mad with the running thing but I like it, it’s healthy, and I don’t feel like stopping.

So, there.

In my mind, I am still looking to lose weight. It’s not for health reasons at all now, since I’m healthy, it’s because I have some AMAZING outfits that I don’t fit in to. They are sexy as hell and I want them to see the light of day.

If you wanna connect with me on Yes.Fit, drop a comment and let me know. I don’t mind being social and I think it’d be cool to connect with people there.

How will I run during the holidays? Well, I ran before Thanksgiving dinner last year. I see no reason to do it again.

 

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Run? Not quite there yet…

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Today’s intervals consisted of a 5-minute warm-up, 15-minute run, 1-minute run, repeat 3 times. The first interval was a fucking breeze! Like I was born to run from zombies. The second was a bit of a struggle but I made it. Third? I legit thought I was gonna pass out 13 minutes in. I had to take an extra break.

It’s hard not to think of that as a failure even if I did only take a one minute break and ran as much as I could. The point is to push yourself but I’ not quite there yet.

I’m not going to repeat the day. I’m going to proceed with the next run and try and get through that last interval. I am concerned about pushing myself too hard but tomorrow I won’t be running; I have crosstraining to do. I have to do that core blaster that makes my abs hurt so much, I can’t cough or laugh.

My goal is to make it to the 180 minutes a week the Atlas Shape has been nagging me to do but I haven’t made that goal yet. One hour down…

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atthequillsmercy

This Week’s Workouts So Far

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This week’s C210K seemed harder for some reason and it is totally because of how long they are. In sticking with the schedule, I’ve forgotten how it feels to run close to an hour. It’s a struggle to make it through that last 10-minute jog and I can feel my fingers swelling.

Does anyone else have that problem when they run? Finger swelling? It is very unnerving…

As for incorporating more cross-training, that ab workout from Atlas Shape leaves me feeling much like the P90X Ab Ripper: too sore to laugh, cough, or sneeze. That must mean it’s working.

Week 10 means 15 minute long runs instead of 10 and I am honestly not sure if I can make it all four intervals. I may have to repeat the week or repeat week 9 to build up my endurance.

Either way, bring it on. Won’t know if I fail hard until I try!

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Run: Do the Mambo!

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This was Week 8 Day 1 of Couch to 10k. My body is still smarting from the Halloween 5k but I was still able to hold a slow jog for 28 minutes and other than being thirsty, I didn’t feel like I was going to faint. I stopped being lazy and made eggs and vegetarian breakfast sausage.

Why vegetarian? I just happen to like them. No real reason.

At any rate, I think I’m going to keep my workouts around 40 minutes cause that seems to be the butter zone where I feel like I can still walk around after I’m done. The 10k trainer will eventually do over that but I’ll jump off that bridge when I come to it.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Run: Sonic’s Still Faster.

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Today was all about just seeing how long I can stay at my top speed; which for my fat ass is about 4mph. I was able to hang there about 3 or so minutes before needing a one minute break. Next time I’ll keep better track.

I have to say this isn’t so bad considering I was a lazy oaf last week and didn’t workout at all. I did a two-minute warmup then went as fast as I could for as long as I could. Next workout I’ll try to go longer!

But, I have been lax with my cross training so tomorrow, I’m busting out Ma’s old eight-pound dumbbells. We’ll see about getting my upper body strength up!

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atthequillsmercy

This Week’s Runs!

I haven’t been posting my runs like I should be but I HAVE been running.

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“Veronica” was my best run this week. I hit mile one in 14:46 and mile two in 28:04. It wasn’t easy and my knees ached but I powered through.

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“Battle Born” was my endurance run for this week. I put the treadmill at 3.2 MPH and stayed there for 30 minutes with no walk breaks. 3.2 is usually my “walk break
if I’m running at 3.5 or 3.7 (I haven’t quite made it back up to 4).

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The results for “Carry Me Home” were: Mile one 14:42; Mile two in 29:50. I’m still keeping steady with 2 miles in under 30 minutes.

Wednesday I took off from running to do some cross training with my new resistance bands. It’s the closest to weight training I’m gonna be able to do since there is no way I can afford the super fancy adjustable dumbells I wanted. I am hoping to build up muscle in other places than my calves. I haven’t forgotten my goal to do a legit pull-up before the end of the year.

I wish I could say that the weather is better so I’ll be running outside more but the weather’s been all over the place. I’ve been sticking to the treadmill. Eventually, I may make my way outside on the weekends but for now, I’ll stick to being a hermit.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Run: Getting faster!

I know I haven’t posted a run in awhile even though I have been running. And my work is paying off.

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  • Mile one: 14:47
  • Mile two: 29:50

I FINALLY got to two miles in under 30 minutes! I was able to do the ‘run to ten” thing three times when I usually end up not making it entirely through that third round. It wasn’t easy but I got there!

Ten seconds may not seem like much but to me, it’s a damn miracle. Other than good ole hard-won muscle soreness, I am not in any pain.

I hope this means my next runs will be even better. I don’t even care if the scale hasn’t moved because I got stronger and faster. I feel encouraged to run even more but I won’t overdo it.

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atthequillsmercy

Zombies Run Virtual Race: Spring 2018

With the clock ticking, I hopped on the treadmill today and ran my virtual race!

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At first, I wasn’t happy with my time. I thought I could finish in under 50 minutes and in the end, I didn’t quite make it. I felt like I needed too many walk breaks that slowed me down. But after I grumbled and hung up my medal;

 

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It’s cute!

I went to see my results on the leaderboard and for shits and giggles, I checked my time on my previous races. Not counting the Halloween one where I had to walk it because my knee was messed up; I compared my results from the first virtual race I ran and I was faster! Through all the damn bullshit with hurting my knee and the surgery and all that hard work and determination paid off! The 2017 race I finished in 50:50 and my leaderboard says I finished the 2018 race in 49:36!

Seeing those numbers completely lifted me out of my self-hatred at being a lazy blob and now I feel kinda awesome! Even with all the hiccups, I am getting stronger and faster.

This has me super psyched! I am SO ready to kick ass and do even better!

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout? I moved the thing!

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This is the infamous bit of furniture I moved last week (if you followed my workout whining on Instagram) and in that move, I got it out of the kid’s room, down to the first floor of the house and onto the porch. Now, where I live, I gotta call special pick-up to have things such as this taken away. My neighbors must have LOOOVVEED having this thing sitting on my porch for days until I could put it out this evening…

Anyhoooooo, the very nice woman I spoke to at the sanitation office said to put it out Tuesday night and like a dutiful member of society, I obliged. I didn’t hurt myself but there is some lingering soreness there so I took it easy, did a short round of Ninja on the Atlas Shape, and the first day of this Belly Fat Blast 28 Day Challenge… Thing. Since I have said plenty of times how my belly is a part of my body that bothers me.

The first day was not so bad. I’m not gonna say my back was happy about any of this but it didn’t make me run to the painkillers either. And honestly, I’ll take ANYTHING that will shrink my middle. Or at least my lower middle so my jeans will fit again.

I will say that something I’m doing is working because I went to my friend’s house this weekend and got a bunch of jaw drops as to how my body has changed since the last time they saw me. The muscle definition I have gained is physically visible to people who know me and that’s kinda awesome! Even with the setbacks of various knee issues and my Advil Adventures; all the time I spent on running made a difference. It mattered. And I gotta say, that’s fucking surreal to me.

And I still have some glorious scars from that which itch from time to time. I take them as reminders to not push it too far. Which is why I didn’t jump on the treadmill today. I have way too many people who will show up at my door and put me in the hospital if I don’t put myself there so, don’t shame me too badly for giving it a break today.

And, as sitting in this chair typing is annoying my back, I’m going to bed early like the lame thirtysomething that I am. I’ll be a badass tomorrow.

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