High Mileage!!

Well, I call my weeks Sunday to Saturday and if that's how it was calculated at RunKeeper, I'd have a high mileage weeks! I usually do a long run, then take 3-4 days off. Not this week! After my 10 miler on Sunday, I FORCED myself to get out Monday. It was a short run, but I did it!

 I took Tuesday as an off day. Wednesday, I went to the gym. I lifted for 37 minutes, including 110 squats (60 with 12lb weights), 30 side lunges (each side), and many leg presses. I ran a quick mile (9:02!) on the treadmill.

Thursday my legs hurt SO BADLY.  My Thursday and Friday runs suffered QUITE badly because of it. I was MUCH slower than average, but I did make myself go. The weather in St. Louis has finally turned (hopefully for the season!) to fall!  Thursday morning was 60 degrees and couldn't have been more perfect!

Today was one of my favorite days. The Color Run! This year, my hubby wanted to come with me. Kids under 5 can run without paying so my kiddos were all ready to run too. My daughter whined to sit down the whole time, except for when I could distract her with trying to figure out what color was next. :-)  My little guy apparently doesn't like being dirty - we had the rain cover on the jogging stroller and after we came out of the color stations, he would take a bandana and wipe every exposed part of his body off. :-)  

17.59 miles this week!! Whoop whoop !! (not counting the 5K this am, which I didn't track!) 

Of course, I forgot to weigh in this am so I did it after the run, after a lunch of burgers and shakes. And after an afternoon nap. So my weigh in was approximately 162 - Ouch! Taking this week to reclaim my comfy place and weigh in at a normal time :-) 

August Challenge!!

I'm a day late, of course, because isn't that my style? :-) 

So my August challenge started, duh, August 1. 

July challenge results: I lost a lb from July 1. 

But since I was injured I will take it. 

BUT - August? August is MY month.  My official weigh IN weight was 156.5. LOW for me lately, but I am really ready to kick it into gear. I have another awesome partner (my friend Stacy) who has already motivated my butt to get moving this month! 

I am making it a goal to run several times a week - I am going to be running the Halloween 10K again (third year in a row!) with my friend Courtney and I am PSYCHED! I also signed me and my hubby up for the Color Run in St Louis coming up. And kids 5 and under run free - so both of my kids are coming with us! They will be SO psyched :-)  Not running it, obviously, but it will still be an awesome family time for us.

I'm excited that we're camping more often. I can usually max out at 10K or more steps on camping trips, even just walking to and from the bathroom with my kiddos. I'm sure I cancel that out with the amount of beer I drink when we camp, but I still think it counts for something.

This week:

I ran 2.25 miles on Thursday. (11:25 pace)

I ran 1 mile today (10:28 pace)

Here's to speeding my pace up this month. 

Here's to losing the last few pounds that are hanging around  (I'm 156.5 this am; would like to get to 153!)

Here's to cleaning up my eating - not necessarily to completely "clean" eating, but to eating what is good for me. Eating what I know fuels my body, not necessarily what tastes good. 

Pinterest!

So here goes nothing! I am ready, dedicated and super busy this month. Plus my BABY starts KDG in 10 days. TEN DAYS I will have a kid in elementary school. It blows my mind how fast time is going. And all I really want is to be healthy for my family. I always tell them they are stuck with me forever and I want to make good on that one! 

The Color Run

Seriously? How did I NOT write a post about this most awesome event?! 

The Color Run was in St. Louis on August 18th.  I was SO determined to run this race that, before they announced a STL date, I was planning a road trip to either Cleveland or Chicago, JUST to run this race! 

I was on a team with two other couples (I was the fifth wheel!). We met early that AM for a pre-race photo. And LOTS of waiting. I didn't realize there were 15,000 registered! So the official start time was 8:00am, but we were pretty far back and didn't cross the start line until at least 8:45. It was all good, though. The run wasn't timed, so we weren't concerned.

It was NOT a runner's race for sure. People who aren't familiar with "running etiquette" were walking, sometimes 6-10 across, making it impossible to keep a "run" pace. But it's all good.  

We headed to the first color point, after 1K. It was blue and I have to say, I didn't mind the dye! It's just colored corn starch, so it was nice and soft to run through. I didn't find that it was annoying to breathe as I ran through the wonderful colorful cloud, either, which I know a lot of people questioned. 

As we left the first color, we were all just a little disappointed - we weren't NEARLY as "dirty"/colorful as we expected! But, you live and learn and we noticed that there were better routes to take through the color. So we were DETERMINED to get more color the next time!

The race was a lot of fun, people were having a great time, rolling through the dye piles. We slowed to a walk to go through the color stations, turning and bobbing to get as much color was we could. :-) 

 

We finished the race in 37 minutes, which wasn't bad, considering the amount of walking we did to negotiate the crowds. 

At the end, we caught up with the rest of our group and went to the finish line for the after-race "color party."  A few girls next to us asked what colors we had (blue and green) and asked if we wanted to share theirs (pink and purple), so we all threw our colors together. THIS is where the awesome color came from :-) 

Things I learned:

Take your time through the color sites!!! Spin around, engage the volunteers because they WANT to make you as colorful as you want to be :-)  

Don't run this race for a PR. It's not worth it.

Kids under 5 can run without being registered. How fun, my little runner is already excited for next year's race!


Wet your shirt down (not drenched, but just spritz with water) just before you start. I followed all the directions on how to keep my color in my shirt (I even made a special shirt for the race so that I could keep the colors!) and it ALL washed out - except where I was sweaty (yes, my shirt has blue spots down my back and orange armpits, yum).  So I think the dyes stick a little better on a damp surface.

Busy busy

Well, I did REALLY WELL at the water thing - for about 4 days.  Then I got a stomach flu two weekends ago and my entire regime - pfft. out the window.  I was sick Saturday-Monday, then just got busy with the end of summer (yes, my daughter started PreK today!) and our kitchen renovation (nope, still not done).

So the excuses stopped on Monday.  I've been pretty good about quitting sugar this week, except this time I'm keeping fruit in my diet. There are just too many delicious summer fruits to quit them! I don't think it's working the way it did when I DID quit fruit, but it's still helping me FEEL better, emotionally and pain-wise.

I have been doing much better this week with training. Last week, I flaked on almost everything. My whole week was just a 1 mile run on Tuesday. So sad! This week I ran 3 miles on Monday and went to the circuit class.

Oh boy, that circuit class!!  1.5 min circuits, alternating cardio and strength, for anywhere from 10-18 cycles! Plus the instructor knows I'm training for a half marathon, so she gives me "special" cardio, different from the normal treadmill/elliptical.

Here's my training calendar for the last few weeks. You can see I've dropped the ball - but with the kiddo going back to school, my goal is to start running OUTSIDE while she's there. The dreadmill is doable for 3, 3.5 miles, but anything more is depressing! With her in school four days a week, I should be able to get in two outside runs (weather permitting - and baby permitting, he did NOT like the jogging stroller last time!)

I tweaked my knee funny on Monday at the circuit class - I had the elliptical jacked up on a pretty high crossramp. Today in spin class, I didn't exert my TOTAL effort because when I stood up, my knee was still hurting :(  Hoping it's better ASAP!

I am doing the COLOR RUN on Saturday and I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT!! :-)  It is going to be awe-some!

Don't forget to follow #helpmetrain on Twitter!

Stay tuned. I am making two recipes in the next few days. Flax and chia and honey, Oh MY!

Training Again

So I have officially begun half marathon training again. Actually, I started Monday, but close enough, right?

I am using the Amazing Alison (Because It Worked For Her) training program ;-)  I just needed a PROGRAM or a PLAN. I needed to get back to running, for sure. I've become overscheduled in my quest to find new and different training classes, and I've forgotten why - Because I want to run RACES. And as much as I enjoy spinning, it's not helping me improve my distance running.  As much as I love body sculpt, that just hurts my back and doesn't get me closer to another medal (which is the real reason I run - the bling.)

So I finally realized that I need to put the classes (except the occasional yoga class) on the back burner and really focus on running.  I am understanding why people call it "the dreadmill" now. It's booorrring. More boring that just any old running. But I am DOING it.

So here comes my ridiculous calendar again :-)   Ready to see it? Well, whether you are or not, here it comes:

Two days down, two days of accomplishment. I am looking at MANY more ! :-)

Detoxing AGAIN. I feel like I keep saying that, but I really want to keep it up this time. This detox has been HORRIBLE. I just sit here and stare at the wall thinking about how much I want a gummy bear. The kitchen renovation hit a serious wall this week (as in running out of work and missing cabinetry!) and I think I'm just overstressed.


Here are my goals for the next few races.

August -
18th Color Run !! Woop woop! This is just for fun. I'm not doing it for time. :)

October -
14th: 10K - I want to be under 1 hour (10 min miles)
21st (My 31st birthday!): Rock'n'Roll Half - I would like to be under 2hr, 15 min (shaving 38 min off my Princess finish time)

So that's it for now from me. Trying to stay on top of it. Definitely desire some accountability, so if you see me trolling Pinterest for dessert recipes, call me out! :-)