goal #2

i'm just going to gloat for a minute

and tell you how proud i am of myself and of bill

we had an action plan

we implemented

and we've succeeded!

the hardest part?

rolling out of bed every morning (i HAVE to exercise in the morning)

my alarm is set for 5:40

i usually hit snooze (10 minutes)

but get up after about 5 minutes of laying in bed and decide it's time to start the day

bill somehow never hears my alarm, but the second i pop out of bed - he's up too

let's just all be glad i have the willpower to not continuously hit snooze

i am also so proud of bill who is now conscientiously thinking about the foods we eat and buy

he's on board, for a trial phase, of my fitness pal (seriously so easy to track, should probably have bill write about this since i feel men are probably less likely than women to be detailed about tracking calories)

and even though i haven't gave in and bought a scale yet (more on that in a minute)

i could tell the dress i wore yesterday was looser in the bust and the dress i'm wearing today is hanging baggier in my hips and not tight on my butt

so after smashing goal #1

what's next?

i love running

i love to hate running some days

but i honestly love it and want nothing more to be back in the zone of going for a 7 mile run in the morning and watching the sun pop up

one of my goals before 30 is to beat my half marathon time

back in 2010 i ran my first half marathon - i trained right!

i had high hopes of finishing at around 2hrs -2:15 minutes

but, alas, it was my first, and it was in nashville - the whole course was rolling hills, and while i had trained on hills, i wasn't prepared for 3 huge hills (up and over, and back up and over the river downtown as well as climbing 2nd? 3rd? street) at miles 10-13 and i had a finisher's time of about 2:30

so i think i have a lot of room for improvement (even for a slow runner) as well as picking a less hilly race (one here in louisville?)

now, i'm not ready to set my sights on a half marathon just yet - that's a goal for another time

but right now i'm working on building my base back up

and for the next 4 weeks my goal is to complete the couch to 5k program (i love this program and have done it a couple times to build my base back)

now you're probably all like - but rachel, the program is 8 weeks

i know - but i kind of already have a good cardio base from the past 3 weeks, and the first weeks of the program seem too slow for me

so this morning i completed day 1 of week 4 with mister woodford by my side!

the program only requires you to run 3 days a week

which falls right in line with what i've been doing previously

so my OTHER goal (yeah, i need 2!)

is to actually do the 30 day shred by jillian michaels - i will only be running for 30 minutes on run days and need something else to do on tuesday and thursday - so it makes for the perfect accompaniment


google image 30 day shred and look at the results if you need some motivation!

i've done disc 1 a couple of times now - and it's a great workout and only 20 minutes long

i've wanted to do this since i tried it, and for extra motivation

amber @craftyhealthymommy is hosting a challenge for the month of July

the stars aligned and i'm joining in

so back to the scale question

i really want to do before and after pictures and stats as part of the challenge

but i still feel uncomfortable about sharing.

as of right now i think i'll take some before pictures and a few measurements

and wait until the end of the shred to share my results.

i need to build up a bit of confidence first :)

if anyone is interested in trying to do this for the month of july let me know (and also check out amber's post if you're interested in winning the challenge)

i would love to know who's in this with me

you can pick up the dvd from target for about $10

OR you could buy each disc on amazon prime (and stream through laptop or tv) for $1.99 a disc (there are 3) - that way you could try disc 1 without too much commitment

you will also need 3-5 lb hand weights.  although, i've used 10 lbs (it's really hard) and somethings you can modify and not use any weights

my reward for completing this 4 week challenge?

a pedicure

my feet are pretty rough right now, but i'm going to hold out until i complete this goal

i think bill and i are using our same rules - if we fall off the wagon 1 day - it adds another week to our reward date

ok...so now, who's going to shred with me?