It's Been a Little While - One Week to Go!

I had totally meant to post an update before now, but I never felt like I had much to say. Oh well, now I have a lot to talk about!

So, unfortunately, my running hit a roadblock. I just couldn't seem to get the energy and stamina to last any longer than 2 miles. Who knows why, but that's just the way it was. So I decided to cross train for a while, and basically, I've only run a few times since my last post. I can say I won't be hitting 5 miles by my birthday, but that's okay. My main goal is my weight right now. I'd rather hit my weight goal, than my running goal if I had to choose one. I will be focusing more on running this Summer, as I won't have a gym to go to, and I won't have my bike with me either. So no worries in that department. However, since I've had a problem with my running progress, I decided I won't be running the July 4th 5k. I'll get to a 5k when I'm ready for it.

Well, last I mentioned, I weighed in at 210. And with 7 days before my birthday, I am now 202 pounds. Whew, so close! And being only 2 pounds off my goal, I can easily achieve this in a week. However, a problem that has arisen: I leave Corvallis on Tuesday to go back home, which means my last chance to weigh myself is Tuesday, and that only leaves me 4 days until my last official weigh in. But, I'm going to see if I can acquire an accurate scale on the 15th, so I can do a last weigh in, in case I don't hit 200 by Tuesday. Even if I don't quite hit 200, that will still be 53 pounds that I've lost since the beginning of this blog; 48 of which in the last 4 months. I'm pretty damn proud of myself. And I still have more weight to lose!

Now because I haven't been running, I've been spending a lot of time at the gym. And typically, I've spent my time on stationary bikes, a bit of time on elipticals and treadmills, as well as shooting hoops. But I generally do at least 45 minutes of fairly intense cardio, unless I'm lacking energy that day. I've also done a few short runs, 2 miles or less, and walking a bit on days when I have very little energy, or on rest days. Also, one day last week, I ran sprints. Wow, that was tough. It was basically 15 seconds of a maximum sprint, followed by 45 seconds of walking. After 15 minutes of that, I was DONE. I can see the benefit of sprints though, and will definitely incorporate them into my running this summer. I've also tried to do a bit more work on my core, but I can't say I've done that much. Just more than usual.

I've also been very strict with my diet. Usually I've been keeping to less than 1500 calories a day, and my BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) for a day is about 2,100 calories I believe. So that's a deficit of about 600 calories just from diet. Add in an extra 500 calories burned just from working out (on average), then that's about a 1,00 calorie deficit each day - 7,700 each week.That's at least a rough estimate. It might be a bit more, especially considering that often I'm losing 3 pounds in a week and that only accounts for about 2.2 pounds. Nonetheless, I cracked down on my diet a bit more in the last couple of weeks, in order to be able to reach 200 by my birthday. It'll be a close call, but well deserved if I reach it.

And not much else has been happening lately. I got sick on Saturday, the same day I went to the Prefontaine Classic (track and field meet in Eugene) with my brother Adam and Hannah. So I didn't do much in terms of exercise from Saturday to Tuesday, which is a big reason why I included walking as part of my exercise, since that's about all I could do for a few days.

I have finals on Monday and Tuesday, and then I'll be doing my final weigh in at the gym, and then head home basically. Wednesday-Friday I have training for Zoo Camp (I'll be working in Giraffe B Camp! Which is 2nd grade for those who don't know). Technically it's Monday-Friday, but I can't get out of taking finals those first two days. And of course, on Friday, I'll be 21. What a great week this will be!

I plan up writing up a post either Friday or Saturday (preferably Friday) about how the week went, my birthday, and of course, what my final weight is. I look forward to our next meeting, and until then, stay fancy.