Pace is Getting Faster

It is now time for your regularly scheduled, Weigh In Wednesday link up post, hosted by Erin and Alex, and brought to you by ME, of course! :) Today's news is nowhere near as exciting as last week's, but let's just jump right into it, shall we? Because even though the weigh in part isn't that great, I do actually have some great non-scale-victory-news to share.

Initial Starting Weight = 227

January Starting Weight = 217

Last Week, March 6 = 195.5

Today, March 13 = 197.5

Soooo....that's a gain of two pounds this week. Womp, womp, womp...I am certainly not letting this discourage me though, or take away and of my determination. I will not let this get me down in the dumps or cause me to make bad decisions about what I eat. I will keep on keepin' on! And I will get over this and lose those two pounds again.

Here's what I'm thinking is happening though -- I've read about your muscles retaining water when you're not used to exercise, and even though I was getting used to it for a while there, I ended up taking a week and a half off when I got sick. So I think maybe I lost four pounds last week because maybe I lost some muscle weight? I wasn't exercising for a week and a half, but still eating really good, so it was easy to drop both water weight and muscle mass. Now, I've been exercising again for a week, and my muscles have started retaining a bit more water again. Can anyone confirm this for me? Am I understanding how this works correctly? Or am I just trying to justify a gain of two pounds...?

Anyways, I did in fact have a great week of workouts since last Wednesday, and here's what they looked like:

Wednesday: 30 Day Shred DVD and some at-home circuit things I got from Pinterest (382 cals)
Thursday: 1 mile run (131 cals) and 60 minutes of Zumba (657 cals) = 788 total cals
Friday: 2 mile run at the high school track (350 cals)
Saturday: shopping with my Mama & sister for 4+ hours, at least 300 cals, right?!
Sunday: Rest day, and trip to the coast with Jeff :)
Monday: 3 mile walk around the park with my Aunt Q on our lunch break (430 cals)
Tuesday: 1 mile run (136 cals) and 60 minutes of Zumba (714 cals) = 850 total cals

Last Wednesday, when I did 30 Day Shred & at-home circuit stuff

Yesterday (Tuesday), after 1 mile run & 60 mins of Zumba!

And here's the exciting part now people -- my Non-Scale Victory for the week -- my pace when I run is really improving. Like, each time I run, I feel a little better, and my time seems to show it usually too. When I first started trying to run last August, I ran 1.05 miles 16:38. That's a pretty slow mile. Now granted, I was walking a lot of that, but I didn't have any rhyme or reason to when I ran and when I walked. I probably walked the majority of it, and just ran in tiny little spurts until I got lazy and gave up.

Then I kinda gave up the running thing after only a few times, and instead we did a good amount of bike riding for a while. Well then as y'all have been reading, I started trying to run again in February, and so far, I've been killin' it. The first time I ran in February was right before Zumba, I did exactly 1 mile in 15:05. That was already a minute and a half better than my time from back in August. Then the very  next day, I did another mile, this time in just 14:33. Then my fastest mile so far was done in 13:47. That is almost three minutes faster than that first mile back in August! And that is a huge accomplishment, at least in my eyes.

Yesterday's 1 mile before Zumba.

And it's not only when I run just one mile -- because occasionally I get bold and do two miles around the track. The very first time I ran two miles, it took me 32:55. The next time, just three days later, I did it in 29:08. Then just five days after that, I was down to 28:40. And then last Friday, I did it in only 27:50! (Which means I've shaved off 5:05 minutes since that first 2-miler back on February 10!!) For that run of 27:50 for two miles, my average pace was 13:43 per mile, which is actually faster than even my fastest one single mile, which I said earlier was 13:47.

These kinds of stats are a huge deal for me. I realize that a 14-minute mile is not by any means considered "fast." But for me, it's an improvement, and that makes it important. I am constantly working harder, running faster, and getting better. And I've only been running for a little over a month now! I'm not yet to the point where I crave a run or get that infamous "runner's high," but I do like doing it. I like pushing myself to run farther for longer and just a little bit faster. I'm really starting to like running. Which is soooo weird for me! Remember last summer when I wrote about how Petrified of Running I was? Things have changed a lot since then, huh?! And I'm loving it :)

So to recap this past week (and this super long post), even though I seem to have gained back two pounds, I'm not letting it discourage me. Not even a little bit. I'm still working out as much as possible and trying to eat healthy as well. And I'm running so much better and so much faster each time! And as a bonus, I'm starting to be able to really tell a difference in the way my body looks :)

Last Friday, on jeans day, with my new spring-ish purse I'm loving!

 Oh, and just last night, I decided to start myself a little reward system, and when I get down to 190 pounds, I'm going to get a real gym bag or something to carry my workout clothes and stuff in. Because right now I'm using one of those reusable grocery bags from Publix. And I mean it's getting the job done, but a real gym bag might be nice too ;)