Tonight, my coworker started telling me about a guy she wanted to set me up with. Naturally, we went to his Facebook profile to do some stalking.
Like most guys, he doesn’t have many pictures on his profile, so we got back to 2008 pretty quickly. She started poking fun at something in one of his pictures.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “People can change a lot in four years.”
Case in point.
I pulled up some of my pictures on Facebook from 2008 to show my coworker. She’d seen some of them before, but said she still had a hard time believing that was me.
Me, too–most of the time. Sometimes I still have fat days and see that in the mirror; sometimes something reminds me of how far I’ve come; most of the time, I just go on about my life.
Flashback #2!
Today, my schedule had 5 miles of hills on it. I stayed up late watching the Olympics last night and made a very conscious choice last night (as opposed to the usual morning snooze fight) to do a little strength training this morning and run tonight.
Source: healthytippingpoint.com via Theodora on Pinterest
I found that short and simple routine on Caitlin’s blog the other day and decided to give it a shot this morning. I did it twice, and it was pretty easy, but hey, more strength training than I usually do before work. Or, um, at all. (Working on it…)
Today’s schedule called for five miles of hills. After the last two weeks’ failed attempts at hill training, I decided to give tonight a try on the treadmill. (I quit my gym but just joined my little apartment building gym, which is basically like a hotel gym–a few machines and some weights.)
Also, to be honest, I was a little nervous about getting all light-headed in the park again. So treadmill it was. I knew I needed a plan, though. I googled for 5-mile treadmill workout and found this one from this person I know.
I kept the incline pattern the same, but messed with the speeds to fit my speed a little better. (And you can do the same. Faster will be more than 5 miles, slower, less.)
Why is this a flashback? When I was losing weight, my trainer had me doing tons of hill intervals on the treadmill. I wanted to die, but they were such good workouts. From approximately 9:00 – 16:00, I wanted to kill my friend Tina for coming up with a workout like this. The feeling returned around 27:00 – 29:00.
Hill workout? Done.
Tomorrow? A mile trial, which I’m actually really excited for.
What’s your favorite hill workout? Do you hate the treadmill? I usually do, but it’s good for specific workouts like this.
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I'm not a treadmill fan at all, but in the winter I'll take it. I always find I have to do some sort of intervals to make it more bearable. If I try steady state, I'm bored to death 2 miles in.
Attempted to run on the treadmill on Tuesday (so I could watch Olympics) and it was *MISERABLE*. I only ran half a mile before I literally ran OUT of the gym and did a couple miles in the sketchy surrounding neighborhood. Praying I never have to do a long run on one.
You've come a long way and can be soooo proud of yourself! It is amazing what you achieved and I guess those "fat days" are just normal - everyone hase them from time to time. Its nice to have old pics to compare and see the progress.
I live in an area known for it's hills so you would think I'm used to hill running by now. But oh my gosh they suck. That looks like a good option to get those hills in though!
I love hill workouts. We have a bunch of long, steep hills near our house, and I mix them up with some of the shorter hills for a killer workout. I'd rather run hills every day than do a long run!
Sometimes I do this Fit Sugar workout http://www.fitsugar.com/Treadmill-Workout-30-Minute-Pyramid-Intervals-14513772. I have to modify it a little because anything over 7.0 is too fast for me. I do hate the dreadmill, but you can't beat it for hills and speed work. I'm looking forward to trying your workout tonight, just a little slower. Intervals are definitely a requirement. I don't know how anyone can get through a steady speed.
I'm always amazed when I see your "before" pics. It's so hard to visualize what 50 lbs looks like. So wow, and congratulations!
I'm lucky to live about a half hour away from some of the deadliest hills on Long Island, and even more lucky to have a cool group of peeps to run them with! Otherwise I would hardly get in any hill training at all!
Uggh is all I can say to my old pics. I lost weight before I got on FB, but every once in a while I will get tagged in an old pic...not fun, but always a good reminder on how far I've come :)
Not a treadmill fan at all. I can't stand running, but not actually moving in space. My hill workout consisted of running a hilly race course yesterday. :)
Wow-that's pretty amazing! We can so easily forget to look back and see how far we have come. You look absolutely amazing! I hear you about those fat days-but think how much better those are than actually being the way we were!!!
Can't stand treadmills either. I would rather be outside in pretty much any weather. Although I'm considering getting one so I can run when my toddler sleeps, if I don't manage to run in the mornings or evenings.
I hope you got such incredible pleasure and pride at looking at these photos and seeing how far you've come and all that you've achieved. You should be so proud. I'm in awe of all the work you did!!