Guest Blogger: "We Need to Food Journal?!"

Emily Jones will be a Guest Blogger during our 8 Week Go Commando Race Training Program that prepares individuals to run a 5K, 10K or Half-Marathon. The program will consist of 2x a week of the Nationally Recognized Boot Camp Challenge workouts in addition to group runs on Saturday mornings.  
Emily will be participating in the 10K on October 18th and sharing her workout and training experience here.

Week 2 Blog

Week 1 of Boot Camp for me was all about figuring out how the class was going to fit into my life and if I were going to have to call in sick the next day because I couldn’t move.  I’m happy to report that no sick days were used and I’m ready to tackle additional areas that need an overhaul, in addition to my mummy tummy.  My plan for week 2 is to add two mini-goals to the mix in hopes of creating a good habit.

1. Journal all food, all week
2. Break up with my scale

Journal all food, all week sounds simple enough, right?  Courtney suggests the My Fitness Pal website and tells me that I’ll be sharing my journal with her for feedback.  I’m familiar with My Fitness Pal (and every other food journal site/app out there), but never used it on a consistent basis.  I read Courtney’s blog post about food journaling and begin to weep when I see her blast the sugar content in a flavored Starbucks drink.  May as well add goal #3 now.  Break up with my beloved Starbucks.  <tear>

Journaling for the week goes well in that I’m much more mindful of my choices since Courtney will be looking at them.  This first born with perfectionist tendencies hates to disappoint.  My image would be ruined if one of my food entries ended up on her blog.  I also feel the need to defend my leftover dinner for breakfast choices to her before submitting my journal.  Hello, my name is Emily and I eat leftover meat, veggies, casseroles, salads, etc. for breakfast.  At work.  My co-workers love when I re-heat spaghetti at 8:00am.

Moving on to the scale…He & I have had a long, tumultuous relationship.  And yes, it’s definitely a He as a She would read at least 10 pounds less.  I know we need to break up, but it’s so much easier said than done.  Courtney & I have a conversation about gaining muscle versus losing fat and I know the compulsive weighing must stop.  Truthfully, I fail miserably at this goal this week, and still take sneak peeks here & there at the number.  I make a pack with myself to weigh once a month on the same day/same time.  I also pick one pair of pants to use as a non-scale victory each month and I brainstorm monthly progress rewards, because you know me & rewards.  They are my love language.

The Tuesday & Thursday evening Boot Camp classes were HOT.  It rained on Tuesday afternoon so we were indoors at the First Christian Church for my first time.  The clocks on the walls were my enemy.  I much prefer ignorance when it comes to how much time is left in the class!  Courtney offered a bonus class the day before, for the Labor Day holiday.  I had family plans, but I felt guilty all day long for not adjusting my plans so I could attend.  I was upset with myself for not going, until Tuesday night’s class.  Could I have handled two days in a row?  Yikes.

Thursday evening, we were outside again and while it’s been hot every class, this one holds the record.  Steamy, muggy hot.  We did partner exercises and focused on core & legs.  As my partner said at the end of class when we share our effort level, high & low of the class, her low was any of the moves while lying on the ground. Usually, those are her favorite, because of the lying on the ground part.  Me too, girlfriend.  Me too.  Today, there was steam rising from the asphalt.  Come quickly, fall!

My second group run was on Saturday morning at Liberty Park.  It was exciting to see how many boot campers, plus additional family members and children were there for the run.  I ran with the group training for the half marathon, and we were to run a 4 mile route, which was a 1 mile increase over last week.  All I wanted was to show an improvement over last week.  Brandy, the half marathon running coach, is amazing.  My best training runs are when I have someone to converse with instead of focusing on my screaming legs, and she totally indulged me.  Once I passed the point where I took a walk break last week, I was determined not to walk at all.  I really wanted to be able to say that I completed the run without any walk breaks.  The end point for the 10k and 5k training groups was at the 3.1 point, where I stopped for a moment to glory in my running a 5k route without walking.  It has been 4 years since I’ve done that, so I was quite proud of myself and wanted everyone else to know as well!

I then finished the additional .9 miles with a smile on my face and realized for the first time, that I would be able to run the Go Commando 10k on October 18 without walking.  To see improvement within 1 week is so motivating to me.  This is improvement I’ve been struggling to make on my own, and I’m truly thankful for Courtney & the Boot Camp class for pushing me outside of my comfort zone, and out of the cozy chair at the nearest Starbucks!