GOAL!!!

I finally did it! I met my WW goal weight on Thursday's weigh in!!! I was checking my weight every morning and thankfully it stayed down. I was actually 0.2 pounds under my goal weight. That earned me gold star key charm YAY! Now I go into 6 weeks of maintenance where I increase my daily points value and find the balance of where I don't lose or gain weight. During this time I still weigh in weekly and it can go up or down. At the end of 6 weeks, I need to be within 2 pounds of my goal weight to become a lifetime member. Secretly, I still want to lose a few more pounds (5 maybe?) just to have a cushion for lifetime. Once you are a lifetime member, you have to weigh in at least once a month and be within 2 pounds of your goal weight. Lifetime means you don't have to pay for meetings and you get free etools online. The free etools just started in December 2011 which I think is great. I have always done my tracking online and I'm so glad WW added this as a benefit to lifetime members.



My gold star charm!

 So it looks like I am just 6 weeks away from meeting one of my 2012 goals! I hope I can do it. I am definitely going to keep tracking my food and sticking to my 10k training plan. I increased my daily points value by 3 points which is lower than what WW recommended.  My leader said it was fine to adjust it because that was up to me.  But I think I should still be able to lose those last few pounds I want to. I am actually very happy with my weight now, but I just want those extra cushion pounds for the lifetime status.

I did remember to take my daily multi-vitamin 5 days last week! With the help of a little sticky note on my monitor at work. I'm actually out of vitamins now and need to get some more tomorrow. I forgot last Tuesday I had to have a dental procedure done which meant I didn't feel like running Tuesday night. Actually it wasn't until around 8:00 when the numbness wore off! I also had to skip Thursday's cross training because we went to a banquet for my husband. It was for the Greensboro Race Series where Michael came in 3rd in his age group. The GRS is a series of 10 races where runners receive points based on where they finish in a race. You had to run 5 races to qualify and 7 races scored you an extra t-shirt. Michael is a fast runner and he ended up doing 7 of the 10 races. They received a long sleeved shirt which listed all the GRS Champions names on the back. Pretty cool! He also got a gift certificate to a local sports store. Which he so nicely let me use today for some new running shoes!! The gift certificate could only be used for Brooks products and he is strictly an Asics shoe guy. I've never tried Brooks shoes but they come with a 30 day return policy which I thought was unusual but nice. I wear neutral cushioning and ended up buying the Brooks Ghost 4 shoes. The salesman said Brooks Adrenaline is the most popular model but it's a stability shoe. He also said the Asics GT-2160 is another big seller which again is a stability shoe (and what Michael wears). Sounds like there are a lot of stability runners out there.



New running shoes in pink of course!

Other than those two nights last week I did stick to my training plan. I had already done a 3 mile run last Sunday so maybe that could make up for missing Tuesday's run.  I didn't like missing my spin class on Thursday but celebrating my hubby's accomplishment was worth it. The tempo run on Saturday didn't turn out to be an actual tempo run. From what I understand, a tempo run is supposed to be a comfortably hard run where you run at a faster pace than you normally do. At least in the middle of the run. You should run easier the first 5-10 minutes and the last 5-10 minutes. Well, I asked Michael to run with me since I usually run faster with him. Of course, my run is a jog for him! After the first mile I started to get a cramp and had to take of few walk breaks which never happens! So my second mile that was supposed to be faster was horrible! The cramp got better for the third mile and we did a few sprints which made up for that crappy second mile. The 35 minute tempo run ended up being a 3 mile run around 33 minutes.

The training plan for this week is just like last week's expect instead of the tempo run I will be doing intervals. I think I will find these easier than the tempo run. I may go to the Y and do them on the treadmill. That way I won't have to worry about finding a 1/4 mile flat area in the neighborhood where people won't think I'm crazy running back and forth! There is a track at my son's middle school and one at the high school nearby but I'm not sure I can use those. Maybe I will find out. I don't think I have any schedule conflicts this week either so that's good.

Today on my 4 mile run I started thinking I can't believe I am out here running 4 miles. I can remember when I couldn't even run 4 minutes! Anything is possible if you truly believe in yourself.  Okay I know I sound like sappy commercial!