Operation Red Bikini-Results!

 

Operation Red Bikini has came to its end and I have to say that I'm very proud of myself for completing this challenge. I started in January and have actually stuck with it for five whole months! This is monumental for me. I never stick with anything for very long, especially if it's something to do with weight loss or working out.

 

My goals for Operation Red Bikini were divided up into 2 phases.

"Phase 1: Complete the Couch 2 5K program and run a 5K for St. Patrick's Day. I was thinking the Aggieville one but not drinking the beer along the way! Boo! While doing the #c25k I will also be working out to various workout dvds that I have on off days and working on my core. This means planks and anything abdominal related. I would like to lose 1 inch off my tummy by this time as well.

Phase 2-Lose 3 inches off my tummy and complete in two more 5Ks by May 31st. So that I can go bikini shopping for the summer!"

 

Phase 1 was completed in March with me running the Diva Dash 5K. This was my first race and I actually completed the C25K program. Okay, I didn't do all 8 weeks but I did complete 7 and have continued my training without the aid of the program. While I didn't do any extra ab/core work I did make some lifestyle changes. I have quit drinking pop! This is a huge accomplishment for me and I substituted the pop for 80 ounces of water everyday.

Phase 2 was completed with me running the Eisenhower 5K and the Royal Tracs 5K. I did lose two inches off my tummy and went from 39 inches to 36 inches. Not drinking that pop and running has helped. I have no intention of actually getting a bikini, not sure what I was thinking in January, but my one-piece fits great! :)

WARNING-THE FOLLOWING PICTURES MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN OR PEOPLE THAT CAN'T STAND PALE SKIN. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

 

 

 

 

Sorry I just had to have a little fun with this post! :)

January 2013




Progress pictures from February through April!




May 2013




January-May




January - May



I can say that Cassie and Leigh Ann have done a great job motivating everyone for this blog challenge. I can honestly say that by participating in this blog challenge I have had a lifestyle change. I'm a runner. I run to make myself feel better when I'm stressed. I run to make my body healthier. I run so I can eat. (Yes, this one is very true!) I run because I can and because I want to. I am a R-U-N-N-E-R!

Stay tuned for more running because I've just finished my training calendar for my half-marathon in September


Race #2-Eisenhower 5K

Today was my second 5K and I was super pumped. Well except for the part where I had to get up at 4:45am to leave the house at 5am so I could get to packet pick-up before it closed at 6:30am and then wait around until my race started at 7:30am.

Car Selfie!

This race was unlike my previous race because the people there weren't just running a 5K. This was a marathon, half-marathon, 10K and 5K. I was definitely a small fish in a large pond! To experience the start of a marathon or half-marathon is something that is ahh-inspiring. Marathoners are hard core and I felt way out of my league being here. The thing that made it better was that everyone there was genuinely happy to have you there and wanted you to do your best. I found the running community and I like them! :)

Marathon and Half-Marathon starting!

Once the time came for the 5K and 10K race I was pumped. I was feeling good and ready to run. It seemed so much more doable than my first 5K. This race course is actually a Boston Marathon Qualifier and a very flat and fast course. Most people that run it get new PRs, including me!

I ran the race in 32.23 minutes! My fastest 5k, ever. To say that I was proud would be an understatement. I actually got two new PRs during this race, my fastest 5K and my fastest mile! Score!!

Post race photo! Cheesin' it up!



This is what my Garmin said when I actually remembered to stop it! I need to get into the habit of stopping it after a race and not two minutes after when I've sat down and taken my chip off and then walked around! Beginner's mistakes! My chip pace was 10:27 a mile.

Everyone got a participatory ribbon!

Once I got home I made Mike take a picture of me with my bib! Race #2 under my belt!

Diva Dash

Today was race day and to say I was nervous is an understatement! We stayed at my friend Amber's house in Lawrence since it was closer to KC than Wamego. I had a sleepless night and was anxious to get to the race in the morning.

We left her house at 6:45am and headed to Leawood for the race. I brought with me my bag of shredded wheat to eat on the drive and tried to get down at least 20 ounces of water before we got there. Once we arrived and parked we headed to the packet pick up to get our bibs, shirts, and race chips.

It was a pretty chilly morning I was definitely chilled but made sure to bring my thermals and my jacket. As the time got closer to race we headed to the start line. Since the race was so large, 2000 people, they let racers go in waves. Amber and I got into the second wave and waiting anxiously for them to let us go.

Once we got the okay we headed off and started our run. We tried to stay to the outside of the pack while running and after a mile it started to thin out and not be so bunchy. I kept going strong for 2.6 miles and then walked for a brief minute before starting to run again. Amber was an awesome friend to run with. She was coaching me and talking to me along the way. She really pushed me to keep up my pace and I liked that. The last leg of the race she ran ahead. As I crossed the finish line they announced my name and where I was from and it was awesome! :)

I finished with a time of 32.47 minutes. This put me at a 10:47 minute mile. I will take it! Crossing the finish line felt great and I almost felt like crying! Lame, I know! I took off my race chip and then headed to go get my medal.

Amber and I showing off our medals and bibs! They even put our names on them!

Tried to take a picture of the atmosphere but didn't get a great one since we were in line for our results.

My overall stats were: For my age group 30-34 101 out of 265. Overall was 427 out of 1380. Not terrible but definitely not placing.

The swag we got from the race was a cool t-shirt, that I of course picked up the wrong size for, and of course our awesome medals! I think everyone's first 5K should be a race where they get a medal. It's a great motivator! :)

Happy Girl!

Final training session

Today was my final training session before my 5K and I'm feeling pretty good! I ran the same route from Monday and it was a good run. I felt good about it. The weather was in the 40's and it was perfect for a run! It's crazy how I've gotten so in tune with the temperature and how that can affect my run.

I think my ideal running temperature is 40's to low 50's. We shall see how my body does as the Spring continues and starts warming up. Especially since I will be running in the heat of the day at 4pm after work.

I'm getting nervous for my 5K on Saturday and how it's going to be. I just don't know what to expect or how the event will go. Some of my biggest fears are: getting nervous diarrhea before the race, not drinking enough water and being dehydrated, getting lost while running, and not finishing the race.

I know they seem pretty irrational and none of them will probably happen but they are my fears none the less! I guess only time will tell and once race day gets here I will know what really happens!

Wish me luck!

5 days and counting...

Today marked only 5 days left before my first 5K! I went to school to do some work (Yes, teachers work over their Spring Break!) and brought my stuff to run after I got done.

I worked for a couple of hours and then was getting itchy to go and run. So I quit working and hopped on my running attire and headed out. I headed to City Park and decided to run around the neighborhood instead. I headed down my favorite streets and just kind of zoned out of how far I was running and thought about where I was going instead. I decided to finish my run at City Park and then head back to school.

The best part of this run was that I ran the W-H-O-L-E time! I did have to stop for about ten seconds at a red light because the traffic was thick but other than that I ran and ran and ran! I even ran into some of my students and kids from TR as I was finishing my run and they rooted me on! :)

In other news I have also ditched the C25K program. It gave me a great start to train with at first but the last two weeks I have been really just focusing on the running and not really doing the warm-ups and cool downs. I've also been focusing on my distance ran and pacing. I think I'm going to be able to sustain this and just focus on running times a week. After I get my 5Ks done for my Operation Red Bikini goal I'm going to start training for a 10K in August. I have also been thinking about doing some trail runs, since it would be a good way to break up my road races. Don't I sound like a professional now!

Can't believe that I just beat my longest distance ran by 0.75 mile!

Busy Evening

As of 1:30pm today I'm officially on Spring Break! Yeah!!! Oh but now I have a giant list of things I need to do and planning that must happen. Boo! But at least I don't have to get up at 6. Yeah, again!

I started off my spring break by going and running. Mike is putting up fence around our land on Saturday (the day I scheduled to run) so decided to take advantage of my foot feeling good and just go one day between runs. I headed over to City Park and just ran. I was pretty pleased with the results other than I wish I would have went farther. I ran every part of the 24 minutes except for 2 minutes of it. I will take it! I even went farther than I did on Wednesday running before walking. Go me!

Love this watch!

Sporting another new Urban Halo!

This run was pretty new for me because I've been training outside all winter and this was the hottest day I have ever ran! To say that I was feeling it, is an understatement. I did make sure to try to dress appropriately and had on capris and just a t-shirt. I felt almost naked running.

The best part of my run was at the end when I saw a parent of 2 of my former students. We stopped and chatted for a couple of minutes. He told me that they just didn't know what they were going to do when their daughter went to middle school next year and couldn't see me everyday. I hadn't even been thinking about that! How am I going to get through the day without seeing her at least twice and checking in on her to make sure she's working hard for her teachers and not goofing off? This was a big realization for me. I always knew she would go to middle school but just kept thinking that that day was a long ways off and now it's just around the corner. Ahhh!!!

Once I got home and got Wyatt from daycare we headed to Subway and got dinner for another picnic. The weather is absolutely gorgeous and we had to take advantage of it.

Then Mike got home and we headed to Manhattan to Tractor Supply and Orschelen's to pick up a gate and the hardware he needed to get it attached to the fence post. Of course the best part of any farm supply store during March/April is Chick Days! We love going and looking at the baby chicks, ducks, and bunnies. Wyatt even convinced a lady at Orschelen's that she should get out a bunny for him to pet and she did!

Wyatt said he needed every animal we saw and that they could live with Elephant his hamster or in his wagon!

Week 7 is in the books!

Today I finished Week 7 and was very happy! I'm loving my new Garmin Forerunner 10 and have been using it whenever I run.

Today I really tried to push myself while running and focus on distance of running and not just time. I skipped the 5 minute warm-up and ran instead. So I ran for 18 minutes straight without stopping which put me at 1.75 miles. I couldn't believe that I could do it. I just kept pushing myself and after the first quarter mile I said just do another and then did another. I did stop and walk for 2 minutes after that and then ran until the five minute cool down. I would say success!

Showing off my extremely red-face and my favorite head bands Urban Halo! This is a new pattern for Spring called Riptide. Love it!

 

After every run I have been trying to drink a Xypstix. This is a Xyngular product and the Xypstix contains aloe which helps restore muscles and your body for recovery after working out. I'm loving it and feeling better after my workouts rather than so tired and exhausted. So far, so good! :)

Windy much!

Well the upside is that I completed Day 2 of Week 7. It wasn't the best run I've ever done and I spent quite a few minutes running in short bursts and then walking in short bursts but it's done. The End!

I ran around the Sports Complex which is a big circle-ish track that is technically only 0.9 mile. The wind was ridiculous today! I got on weather.com when I got home to see how windy it was and it was blowing 12 mph with gusts up to 20 mph. I believe ever bit of it because at one point I was running against the wind and I felt like I wasn't moving at all. I'm sure to cars that were passing it looked like I wasn't moving!

This is me thinking why in the hell am I doing this!

Also, today was the coldest day of the weekend. I always regretting waiting an extra day to run and this one just cements the deal. I should have ran last night when the rain had stopped but it was still a good 20-degrees warmer.

I always feel like I run like shit at the Sports Complex as compared to City Park because there isn't any way to visually mark your quarter miles like at City Park. I always end up walking more than I should and feeling like poo because I'm walking and then the whole guilt cycle starts in again. Somehow I always manage to pull decent pace times when running here. Not sure how or why!

 

 

P.S. I have my podiatry appointment on Tuesday so look for that update! We shall see how the whole foot issue goes. I haven't been having as much pain but I've also been taking 2-3 days between runs and drinking a recovery drink with aloe after each of my runs. More info on that coming in another post! But apparently there is still a problem because both my hubby and my mom have said that I'm walking funny.

17 days and counting...

I started Week 7 today and was really anxious to get it started because if you've been counting like I have that means I only have 17 more days until I run my first 5K!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

It's really starting to sink in that I need to start pushing my stamina more and using my mental focus to get farther between the little one minute breaks I take. So I tried it today and it worked, kinda.

Wearing another one of my new Urban Halo headbands!

 

On the program today you are supposed to warm up for five minutes and then jog for 25 minutes and then cool down for another five. I ran for 12.50 minutes before stopping. I just kept jogging and thinking to myself when they say "halfway" then you can break for a minute.

That's exactly what I did but didn't make it all the way through the next half without stopping again for another minute. I still consider it a victory and one that I'm willing to build on. My goal for Day 2 will be running for 15 minutes before stopping.

Boom Week 6 is done!

Today I got my booty back out and finished up Week 6 in C25K.

I asked my co-worker to come along for the run. I haven't ran with anyone these past six weeks and I wanted to see how I would do. Am I a really slow runner? Is she going to smoke me at City Park?

We ran and talked and it was fun. I don't know if I'll be able to run with a partner again but it was fun to try.

I also go to try out my new gear that I got on Friday. My new (to me) Forerunner 10 is awesome and I love it! A great investment in my running program and worth every penny. :)

I wasn't pleased with my pace but given this was the first time I had ran with a friend I will take it. Now I definitely have to make that number go down. I guess I also need to remember that for the first five minutes I'm walking to warm-up and the final five minutes I'm walking to cool down. So that's not terrible.

After going to school and doing no work that I said I was going to do while here I kept thinking about how close I was earlier to 3.1 miles. I was feeling really good so after I left school I decided to go back to the park and run another mile. Crazy, right? I actually wanted to run and see if I could better my pace and I did!

So that made 3.62 miles for the day. I will say that's not to shabby.

I'm back!

Notice the joy on my face?!

Today I ran again and it felt awesome! It was only two days since my last pathetic attempt at running and this time it went much better.

I didn't have to stop at all during the two 10-minute intervals and ran the WHOLE time! Go me!! My stamina is starting to come back and I'm feeling good. I'm loving my new shoes and I think they have made a big difference in the issues of my foot and just the recovery time after running.

Looking forward to my next run, already!

While I was running it was snowing and I was covered in snowflakes! What fun! :)

I'll take that!

Just running=Fail

Today I decided to get back to running. It had been awhile and with all of the cruddy weather lately it just felt like a good day to get out there and run.

I went to our local running track since I knew it would be clear to break in my new shoes some more.

This time I decided to forgo my Couch 2 5K program on my phone and I was just going to run and see where it got me. Well it didn't get me far! I felt like I did a terrible job running and was walking way more than I was running. I remember I would run for a little bit and then look at my app to see the distance because I knew it had to of been a half-mile at least that I ran and it was 0.12! Are you serious?!

Apparently I'm getting pretty used to running after school at the park because all of the sides are a 1/4 mile and it's easier for me to focus on my distance that way than just running to run.

Lesson learned!

Super bright from the snow!

It may have been 28 but with the sun it felt at least 10-15 degrees warmer. After the first mile I took my hat off and shoved it in my coat because I was so hot.