1 Year ago Today

My last two posts were very specific about my first duathlon and half marathon but what else is happening?

Well today is my 1 year anniversary of deciding to really change my life.  The start of my journey I was 221 lbs and decided to try a diet plan that my best friend had been very success full with.  Also I wanted to be able to run a mile non-stop.  I was 23 years old and couldn't run a mile.  I was in a size 18 jeans.  I wasn't happy with my body even though I had "accepted" it.

Today, I am 57 lbs down.  I have earned $227.52 through dietbets.  I have completed a duathlon and a half marathon.  Most importantly, I have learned so much about food, health, and fitness.  I still have a lot to learn but here are some things that I think have really changed helped me on my journey to fit and fab.

• Vegetables!  Eat your vegetables.  I know I don't always do this but I try to fit them or even sneak them in whenever I can.  This is something I learned quickly when starting out on Medifast.  Trying to get all my greens in was hard.  But get creative or look up some great recipes or mix things up!    

• These is always a healthier version of your favorite dish it just takes some effort.  I have found healthier alternatives for cheesy breadsticks, pizza, spaghetti, chick-fil-a, and so much more!  The internet is full of great information and recipes!

• The outdoors is the best gym there is.  I enjoy running, biking, walking and all these things can be done with out a gym membership!  I will say that I am lucky to live in warm and sunny south Texas which helps a lot.  :D

• Get out of your comfort zone!  This is an easy one...not.  Step out, try something new.  I don't mean the newest diet crazy.  I mean try a new recipe, a new fruit, vegetable, a new sport or activity.  Check Groupon.  Is there a deal for a fitness class near you?  Try it out!  That's how I found out about rowing and they were a very welcoming community!

• Motivation.  This can be very difficult.  There are times where I keep stepping on the scale and I don't see what I wanna see.  This can bring my whole mood down.  I try to stay motivated with blogs and podcasts regularly.  My favorite podcasts are Tips of the Scale and Half Size Me.  They have inspirational stories of people that have faced great challenges to reach their goals. They also have professionals on to talk about fitness, nutrition, and lots of other information.  Are you you into something specific like running, triathlons, Paleo, or crossfit?  There are podcast that are specific to all sorts of stuff!  I like the Everyday Runners podcast.  This podcast makes me say if they can do it why can't I?  Also I have started listening to Tri Swim Coach as I start thinking about training for my first Triathlon.  There are so many podcasts out there!  Not all of them are specific to you but there is always something to learn!

That is just a few of the things that I've learned and have really helped me throughout this year.  If you have any questions feel free to email me at Gretchen.ward14@gmail.com!  

Here is to another year of firsts and personal records and new adventures!  Oh and a wedding dress! ;)

57 lbs down, Duathlon and Half Marathon Finisher

Thank you for reading and following me on my journey to get fit and fab! 

Harbor Half Marathon

I completed my first half marathon!  13.1 miles!

I ran over this bridge twice!

I had a great time running this!  But lets go back to the night before.  I was more anxious about this race than I was for the duathlon and I trained for this for over 14 weeks!  What?!?  My stomach was turning, I was worried about what I ate, I was worried i'd poop my pants running, I was worried I wouldn't make it!  All kind of silly but still had me freaked out.  I have only done 10 miles so far not the full 13.1 but knew I could do it if I set my mind to it.  So again I got out of my comfort zone and woke my butt up and got ready for my first 13.1 miles just like any other Saturday morning long runs.  I packed my backpack with liquids, towel (always bring a towel, if you don't think that's funny you need to do some reading), heart rate monitor, race belt, race bib, running bottle, and visor.  I walked the dog, had a bagel thin with cream cheese (my usual for morning runs), and went to the bathroom one more time before the drive.  

I got there and parked far away from the start because I knew I should stretch before getting into the car driving back and if I knew myself I knew I would just wanna hop in the car and sit.  This was a very good idea but still the pain in my legs disagreed.  I put gatorade in my running bottle (my last long run I just used water in my bottle and found out I was struggling for energy by the end so I was hoping gatorade would give me a little extra to get me through).  I put my bib on my race belt (if you are thinking about buying a race belt and plan on doing a lot of races then I highly suggest them!  no safety pins in your best workout clothes and less hassle!).  Heart rate monitor on, shoes tight.  I was ready!  I stopped at the port-a-potty one more time before they got super busy and then headed to the coral to start getting my game face on.  Phone sleeve on, head phones in, jams going.  

Ready, Set, Go!  "Don't go too fast, Don't go too fast",  This is something that I read over and over again when reading about first half marathon mistakes.  I tried to stick to the pace of my music that I had practiced with.  This meant falling behind a little but I felt strong and knew there was a long way to go still.  I found my groove and had a smile on my face!  

This was my view going up the bridge the first time

2 Miles down! Happy I had my visor!

The views were great!  Going up the bridge was tough but not so bad!  Going down the bridge was a whole different story.  I had trained a little for the going up part with hill training on the treadmill but how do you train for going down?  My muscles were very confused and had a difficult time slowing me down.  I made it down the bridge and kept keepin on.  Now it was on past North beach and onto the causeway!  We got off at Indian Point.  I had always driven by this park but never stopped but I plan to take Rosalie out there sometime because the views were great!  

View from Indian Point

This picture was right after the halfway point turnaround.  It felt good to cheer on people just as people had right before I reached the turn around.  At this point I was feeling it.  My energy was dwindling especially looking at how far I had to go to get back.  But then I was like "look at this view!  Look at how far I've gone!"  Again I ask myself how many people can say this is 20 min from their apartment?  I am extremely lucky to get this opportunity!  So I kept going, playing leap frog with some runners.  Then it was back up the bridge!  

Going up again!

Still smiles!

 Going up the second time wasn't so bad.  A lot of people were walking it but I was determined to run as much of these 13.1 miles as I could.  I ran up the bridge albeit pretty slowly and started the final climb down.  This is were it got bad!  My legs were really tensing up and fighting me down.  I had to take it in intervals of walking and running.  At the end of the bridge my legs had a hard time getting back into running even on somewhat level ground.  I had to walk for a little bit to see if I could stretch them out and then I started running again trying to fight my quads.  I knew I had less than 2 miles left.  What is 2 miles? psh no problem!

Last mile, not so much smiles

Okay this was tough but I think adrenaline kicked in for the last mile when a volunteer told me how close I was!  I wanted to get to that finish line running as fast as I could.  And I did!  Official Race photos to come soon!  but my time was 2:47:03. That is under and average of 13 minute miles!  I would be able to tell you my first half and second half times if I wasn't such a newbie.  I put my timer on race belt because i wasn't sure what to do with it.  I learned that you were supposed to twisty tie it to your shoe.  I feel like I knew that at one point but I am going to blame it on race brain.  Well I wasn't last AND I finished!  I got a beer, water, and banana after and started the trek to my car. This is when I really felt my legs.  They were tight and every step was difficult.  I just ran 13.1 miles and I can't walk to my car!?  This was only a half marathon!  I can't imagine how I would feel after a full!  I never wanna do a half marathon again.  Well two days later and I am thinking about my next half or maybe I'll start training for a full.  Or maybe I should just work on my speed for a little bit.  I know crazy right?  It's interesting the swing in emotions! :P  

Again I am so thankful for my supportive family and friends!  Their "likes" and words of support helped me stick to this goal and make it through!  Even more amazing to think about is a year ago today I decided to seriously make a change.  I wanted to be able to run a mile, a 5k. I wanted to be able to shop at non-plus size stores again.  I wanted to be physically able to take on any adventure that is thrown my way.  And a year later I have completed a duathlon, half marathon, and lost 57 lbs.  

Thank you for reading!  

Du it again Duathlon!

I have a lot to catch you up on so this will be a series of 3 posts all in one day!  (duathlon, half marathon, and Everything else)  So stay tuned!

I was going to name this post just "Duathlon." but then I was like but I am going to do more than just one duathlon!

This tells you how much I loved my first duathlon!  I know last post I was still wavering on whether or not to do it.  Well I just sucked it up and went and signed up.  When I found myself making excuses like but family will be in town or I didn't really train for this specific event, I knew this was a moment where I needed to push my myself and get out of my comfort zone.  Staying in your comfort zone means doing the same things you have always done which got me to 90 lbs overweight, unhappy, and depressed.  This has been a less that I have learned from listening and reading other people's stories and it really rings true.

One of my excuses was true.  I didn't really train for this.  I've been riding my bike to work as much as I can.  I can easily run 2 miles since with my half marathon training I am up to 10 miles.  So I felt pretty confident that I could run 2 miles, bike 10 miles and run 2 miles again (get it Du it again).  My biggest worry was transition.  I read up on this as much as possible and watched a bunch of you tube videos.  You will just never feel confident with it until you do it and even then I don't feel completely confident I just know I can do it.  I did read up about brick workouts where you practice doing two of the sports in a row.  I biked home and would run a couple miles just see how much energy I still had and how my legs would react.  I thinks these really helped build my confidence even though I only did it twice before the race.

The night before I got all my things ready.  I packed some towels, water, heartrate monitor, visor, and race belt.  I laid out my clothes and my fiance loaded up my bike.  I was ready.

I woke up early to I could get there when the transition area opened because I had no idea what I was doing.  The race was on the island and boy was the wind blowing!  This made for a very brisk morning!  I waited for a couple of other people to rack their bikes so I could copy how they did.  I racked my bike by hanging it by the seat so I could quickly lift and lower and get rolling.  Then I waited for the start.  This was a very small event with about 40 people participating.  Most were a part of some of the clubs in town so I felt inexperience but read to face the challenge.  They told us about the route and transition start and stop area, then we were off.

2 mile Beach Run:  So in multisport races you can't have headphones.  This was a new experience for me because I always ran with my music.  Even though I didn't have my music though I had the sound of the waves!  I tried to stick with the group of older ladies that seemed to know each other.  I soon fell behind but kept going at a pace that I knew I could sustain.  The beach run really scared me since I didn't practice by running on the beach at all but the sand was very packed and easy going.

10 mile Bike:  I ran to transition, put on my helmet, took a swig of water, and grabbed my bike.  I was off but I really should have adjusted my helmet before that moment.  It was really tight and I had to play with it until felt comfortable while still trying to keep up with everyone.  This is where I learned how fast road bikes are.  I was pedaling away and people were passing me with ease!  That's okay though I just kept going on my hybrid Giant.  I had two goals, to finish under 2 hours and not to be last!  I felt good until I reached the 5 mile mark and had to turn to head back.  Holy Wind Batman!  I really like the first 5 miles that was with the wind and now I really had to push to get anywhere.  Later I realized I was going against almost 18mph winds!  I tried to change gears to ease the pedaling and then my chain fell off.  Ugh!  This is when I was saying to myself "what were you thinking signing up for this!?"  I put my chain back on and started pedaling again.  I had really fallen behind at this point and was last and with no one in sight!  I found some sort of second wind and started really pushing.  My legs were burning but I knew I had to catch up.  I am strong.  Mind of over matter.  Then I heard birds chirping and looked around.  I am doing a duathlon on an island that is 20 min from my apartment.  How lucky am I?!  How many people can say they have done a duathlon?  On an island? in their city?  Suck it up Gretchen.  Next thing I knew I could see someone up ahead and I was gaining!  I caught up and said "On your left" and mentioned how the wind was horrible and chuckled with her.  That felt so cool!  Felt like a real athlete!  I passed her on her road bike and kept going.  Then my fiance and his family that was in town drove by and waved as they were going to meet me at the finish line!  That was just what I needed to push through the last mile of the bike and get pumped about the 2 mile run.

2 mile Beach Run Again:  This time the sand was a little rougher after people were driving over it.  It made for an interesting game of where can I run so that I still get the most traction and don't waste energy.  At this point I knew I wasn't last so was pushing to stay ahead.  I have been running longer than I have been biking and so I felt very confident about this part.  I pushed myself and tried to enjoy the scenery while I was at it.  Before I knew it I was making the turn back toward the finish line!  I did it!  I ran to the finish line as my soon to be in-laws and fiance cheered me on!  What a great feeling!  1:36:51, I wasn't last and I finished under 2 hours!

I am so grateful that I have family that supports my crazy ambitions.  All my life my goal has been to experience everything or at least as much as I can.  I wanna say "I've done that."  Now I can say that I've completed a duathlon.  Next year I hope to be able to say that I improved my duathlon time.

In the words of Queen- "Don't Stop Me Now"

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