T-14 Days!

It was a good week for me to be a runner! 

Thursday I headed to the park for that "no more than 4 mile" run I mentioned when I last posted.  I have found that I am better with out-and-back runs - the certainty of knowing where I stop, the "run home" that always gets me moving - they just work for me. So with four miles in mind, I started running. I hit 2 miles, though, and was making such good time and felt good, so I said what the heck, let's go for 2.5 before the turnaround. 

I ran most likely my FASTEST 5 miles EVER on Thursday!! I felt good! I know I can SPRINT that fast, but I can't usually go for longer distances with that pace. I was on a such a high knowing I had it in me to run that! 

Sara has having some foot and leg pain so she was unable to do our first taper run this week. Hoping she rests up and gets better (only TWO WEEKS until the MO' Cowbell race!) in time for the race!  I seriously considered just not going this morning.  My family was out late last night seeing our favorite Beatles cover band, I had a few drinks, stayed up late to finish some laundry, etc.  Sara and I have been meeting at 6:30! That means I've been setting an alarm for 5:45 (and getting up around 6 ;-).  I told myself last night I would "sleep in" and set my alarm for 6:30.  I contemplated rolling over as "Sunday morning" started playing, but I got up anyways.   I was running a little behind my own schedule but still forced myself out the door.  

I despise the first mile, mile and a half, two miles of a run. Is that just me?! They are SO hard, drudgery and if it were up to me, I would quit during that part every time (is this why I see so many people RUNNING before RACES??). I feel heavy, clompy, slow and in pain for easily that long. Once I pass through that, I can ease into a rhythm.

  

Apparently, I excel at "the turnaround."  If you look back at my runs, especially recently, more often than not I get faster the further I am into my run!  My "turnaround mile" is usually one of my fastest (my last few runs my last mile has been my speediest of all.)  I love having my Garmin and being able to analyze the data from my runs. It gives the number-geek in me a chance to shine. :-) 

Total stats for today looked good! I cut 4 minutes off the 8-miler time from August 31st, so that gives me a small hope that I am improving, even slightly.  

I took Terrie's Friday morning cardio class this week and didn't fall to the back of the pack like I have been in recent months. THAT felt good too! The class had the equivalent to **34** flights of stairs on Friday - it's an amazing workout! Another "NSV" on my journey. 

My IT band has been acting up today, so I am going to scale back this week. Yoga and a run around my neighborhood (slow and low mileage) on Tuesday, hopefully a quick run Wednesday and Thursday will be Yogalates and another quick neighborhood run. Sunday I am planning on a 6 mile run as my *gulp* LAST taper run!! I can't believe the race is coming so quickly! I can't believe how excited I am for this race!! 

Now to make myself a Uni-Kitty costume for the Halloween 10K! 

Last long run ?!

 Sara and I tackled our longest long run yet - 10 miles - on Sunday. Having quit my Whole30, I wasn't sure how I was going to be feeling. Truth - it was amazing. We were pretty consistent through the whole run. It was closer to the average pace I will need to PR the Cowbell race in (YIKES!) 17 days and I felt GOOD at the end (you know, like maybe I could go another, say, 3.1 miles ;-) 

I had NO knee pain whatsoever. I sat down trying to figure out what I did different this past week that I hadn't done in the previous weeks. The ONLY thing I can think is that I didn't run on a treadmill at all last week. Again, not sure that is the thing that caused my pain, but it can't hurt me to avoid the treadmill until after my races. Downside is that the elliptical, stationary bike, rowing machine, etc just don't raise my heart rate the way running does. So my total calorie burns will be considerably lower, but I will deal with it. 

This weekend starts our taper, we'll be going 8 miles. To be honest, I would feel better going another 10 simply because I still don't feel ready for this race!! But I also know I need to trust the process. I keep telling myself I will go for a longer run during the week but, well, life gets in the way. I had planned to run Tuesday (the weather was PER-FECT!) but had some errands I needed to run. I had one hour before I had to get Little Guy from school so instead of giving up, I ran 2 quick miles in my neighborhood. BOY do we have hills! My "quick" 2 miles totaled 14 flights of stairs on my FitBit! 

 Tomorrow is yogalates, but it isn't until 10. I am hoping for a quick run (probably no more than 4) tomorrow before class. 

HALFWAY!! Oh, and a long run.

HALFWAY DONE WITH WHOLE30!! 

I had a rough weekend (see this post) so I did slip, but not as much as "old me" may have.  More on that later. First off, Sara and I met up for another long run on Sunday! 

We both had 9 miles on our training plan, so away we went. It was a GORGEOUS morning with almost perfect running weather. I was severely dehydrated and probably under-nourished from Saturday that I felt like I was running with lead legs. I honestly wasn't sure I would make it to 9, but we did it!

The pace is about 40 seconds off of my average mile/min that I will need in order to PR the race, but after the week I've had, I'll take it. I am going to go on at least one "longer" run this week (hoping for 6 miles tomorrow morning) and go for a speedy run on Thursday (after my new "yogalates" class!) to get some more mileage in. Then Sunday, we'll aim for 10!! After that, people - it's TAPER time already!! What the what?!?!  This training season is going SO QUICKLY!! 

Day 11! 

Breakfast: Eggs, bacon, blueberries.

Lunch: Leftovers. Salmon, carrots and an orange (Lunch brought to you by the color orange obviously!) 

MIdafternoon: Lara bar, roasted rosemary almonds. 

Dinner: (This was my daughter's plate! I was so hungry I ate quickly so my daughter got seconds of everything so I could take a picture  Dry rubbed grassfed beef roast, mashed potatoes (no dairy) and green beans.

This was day 12!! I was off by a day!

Day 12: 

breakfast: 3 egg muffins

Lunch: 3 hb eggs (only the whites, I don't like the yolk). olives. cucumbers. peppers. blueberries. 

Dinner: again made pizza for my family and I ate sausage, onions, portobello mushrooms, peppers, on zucchini noodles with a homemade marinara.

 Day 13: 

Today was bad for emotions. I was so nervous for the vet appt I only drank 2 glasses of coffee & ate a Lara bar. I had lunch at 2:30 (hot dogs and pickles) and a glass of wine with dinner. Dinner was a seafood stew with tomato-saffron broth. The menu didn't say rice but there it was  thought I was staying mostly compliant. My poor pup, I miss him desperately.

Day 14:

Woke up, ran 9 miles. Came home and was too nauseous to eat. I ate about 1/4 sweet potato with cinnamon. 

Lunch: Chipotle. I am still so out of it that I ordered CORN SALSA! WTHeck?!?! So I spent the first 5 minutes of lunch picking individual corn off of my barbacoa salad. *duh*

Dinner: Omelette with onions and peppers, homemade hash browns and Pederson's bacon.

Day 15: 

Breakfast: Banana & coffee

Lunch: peppers, zucchini, mushrooms and onions sauteed with chicken sausage. grapes.

Dinner: balsamic crockpot chicken, giant pile of zucchini.

The last few days I have walked numbly through, barely eating. Mostly because all the things I wanted to eat (pb&j, mac and cheese - comfort foods really) aren't compliant. So instead of completely derailing my progress, I have been doing the opposite - barely eating at all. I am trying to get better about forcing myself to eat, but it's just so hard right now when all I want to do is fall face first into a cake. 

*************************************************************

Soooooooo stayed mostly compliant through a very difficult time, which makes me pretty proud. I'm usually a severe stress eater, and it would have been easy to get something sometime in the last three days. It would have been easy to just throw back a few beers to numb the pain.  I did have wine, but ONE glass (one Saturday, one Sunday) instead of half a bottle. 

My knee felt AWESOME on Sunday, which was the one bright shining moment (aside from the wonderful company, of course!). Even at our turn around I didn't feel the pain like I have been feeling, which was SOOOO encouraging!! 

I wasn't THAT off diet on Saturday night but I could FEEL the difference in my run on Sunday.  Now, to be fair, that may be a result of dehydration, low calorie intake etc. But it was enough that I am definitely staying on track with my Whole30 through my races, even though I will technically be "done" by September 23.  I will add in a few things once my 30 days is up, but I will largely remain grain- and dairy-free until after my 10K on October 12th! 

One Third Done!

Day 10!! 1/3 of the way done!! 

Feeling great. Emotional today for reasons unrelated to my food. I definitely had a nightmare last night that I mindlessly ate a forkful of pasta and started yelling because I was so angry I messed up my Whole30! I woke up all angry and moody because of that dream.

Breakfast: Omelette with sauteed peppers and onions. Avocado. Blueberries. 

Lunch: 2 hot dogs, sugar snap peas, applesauce.

Dinner: Jalapeno chicken burgers, sweet potatoes, guacamole and a few plantain chips (I didn't eat all of those) and a side salad with Tessamae's balsamic dressing.

Breakfast: 2 egg/pepper/prosciutto muffins. Blueberries. Power greens. 

Lunch: 1 1/4 jalepeno chicken burgers, grapes, romaine, roasted potatoes. 

Midday: Lara bar

Dinner: Taco salad with meat, tomatoes, black olives.

Spoonful of coconut butter - yum!

Breakfast: 3 egg muffins

Lunch: Taco meat, romaine with a hardboiled egg. Grapes.

Dinner: Salmon (recipe from the Well Fed cookbook), cumin spiced carrots (also from Well Fed), cauliflower rice that I burnt.

My leg is still giving me trouble, but I went to yoga on Tuesday and did a bit of foam rolling and yoga moves (pidgeon anyone?!) tonight. HOping that loosens me up enough to get about 6 miles in tomorrow while my little guy is at school! 

Decision Time!

As I mentioned before, I have been looking at options for the next 6 weeks (exactly 6 weeks from today, eeek!)

And I finally settled on my plan.

I am starting another Whole30 tomorrow.  I know to people who haven't completed or attempted one that this looks ridiculous. I hated it, it was HARD to complete and there are so many rules - but I've never felt better in my LIFE. 

This isn't a desperate attempt to lose weight, it isn't a "get thin quick" trick. It's a total-life decision. I had no pain, I was STRONGER and I could more easily control cravings and my emotions!  A Whole30 is just that - 30 days. Temporary.  I am going to track my calories this time, though, only to make sure I am getting sufficient carbs to support my half marathon training. 

If my training suffers for much longer than 2 weeks, I will definitely bail, but my research all shows once your body is fat adapted, running only gets stronger. 

I will say here (and I'll say it again, as I'm sure I'll be posting more food pictures!) that I am going to allow myself dairy 1x a day - in my coffee. Only because I just purchased and opened a brand new half gallon of organic Horizon half and half yesterday... :-)   And from my previous W30 I know I don't have any issues with dairy. 

So.... bring it on, 30 days.   My new mantra: I can do anything for 30 days. 

Today I woke up and at 6:25 the temperature was already around 85 and the humidity was over 70% so I decided I would hit the treadmill (DREADMILL!) later today instead of slogging through 8 mile in the humidity. I have run this interval training a few times now but today was the first time I actually finished it! 

I "dumb down" the speeds, usually about .5-1 on each. I am not in a place to sustain those speeds for that amount of time just yet, but I am improving!! I can feel it, so it won't be long before I am able to do this workout unmodified. 

Tomorrow I will be going to a foam rolling class at one of the local running stores. I am excited to learn different ways to attack my IT band and to use my foam roller more effectively! 

Here goes nothing, friends!! 

My "Recovery" Run

Looks like the verdict is:

A little rest goes a long way!! 

People, I JUST don't run this fast!  Especially when the weather looks like this:

I am VERY excited!  Found out that one of the local running stores offers a foam rolling technique class, so I am registering to take that next week. I'll post about it after I go.  Looking forward to finding out all the best ways to get rid of the pain and prep my body the best. 

Revisited the possibility of beginning another Whole30 in the next week or so. Lots and lots of runners do it and the personal accounts of how it affected their running ability are very convincing. Still working out some details, though.  I will post more about it when/if I make a decision!

I learned a new trick!

I mentioned last time I posted (geez it's been awhile, sorry!) that I was going to start running again. I've been doing well with distance, just not my self-maintenance. 

Run with Sara

Fastest Mile Ever (treadmill)
- was actually completed in 9:03!

Thursday run while my little guy was at school

So then last Sunday I was scheduled to run 10 miles.  My knee was bothering me, but nothing too severe so I just went on with my run. About 3 miles in, I realized that my knee wasn't going to make it 10 miles this week.  I aimed for 7, which is an improvement on the distances I've been going (6 miles three times in a week!) but not ridiculous. I know that when my knee hurts, it's my IT band at work. I had planned to roll it out this week and just never got around to it - my bad! 

When I came home, I took an epsom salt bath and rubbed my DoTerra Deep Blue into my knee. I put a heat pack on it and went about my day. Babying it, however, just wound up straining other muscles, namely calf and the back of my knee. I have been resting it ever since. I found a video about foam rolling that was a GAME CHANGER for me.  I linked to it below. The KEY point - your IT band isn't a muscle - it's a tendon. So foam rolling ON your IT band will actually stick it to the muscle behind it MORE making it less flexible. The key and game changing information - foam roll your hip and upper knee on a 45 degree angle, the places where the tendon attaches, because THOSE are the muscles that need to release to help the pain. 

As SOON as I was done with this, the IT band pain was almost non-existent.  GLORIOUS!  I went to yoga on Tuesday to try to further open my hips and stretch myself out. I am going to attempt a run tomorrow morning (although we have "record high temps" in the forecast, so I probably won't aim for millions of miles, just a test on my knee!).  I NEED to get out. I am going NUTS here this week. My anxiety is freaking through the roof and I am combating it by BAKING!  At least today's recipe wasn't TOO terrible (Weelicious Granola!) for us!

So here goes nothing as I try for a shortened run tomorrow and HOPEFULLY a good long run on Sunday!

Running, running!

I have been really focusing on running lately, which has changed my general workout schedule. Plus it's the last week of summer !!  My kiddos (BOTH OF THEM!) head back to school next week!

I've gotten a few shorter runs in but now that school is starting, I am going to be hitting the longer runs hard!  My son will be in preschool 2 mornings a week so I'll be running Tuesday/Thursday mornings, plus a long run on the weekends.

This week I ran 2.5 on Sunday and 5 yesterday. I figured out the way to make the miles fly on the treadmill - my Kindle!!  I never thought I could run and read but the Kindle kind of changed all that. I don't have to move physical pages, I can change the font size and the time SERIOUSLY FLEW! I looked down the first time and had already been running for 28 minutes!

So Sunday I'm running with Sara and we are going to get in a 60 minute run.  Sometime next week I'll post the training schedule I hope to follow.  

Starting around Sept 1st, I will be starting another Whole30. I have been following macros for the last few weeks and I'm liking it so far. Except days like today where I TOTALLY miss the mark and have no clue where I screwed up! Yikes!

So here goes nothing. Ramping up the running to get a few PRs come October!!

Sloth.

Seriously in a phase of sloth in my life.  I haven't worked out in over a week. I haven't watched my food intake *at all.* It's birthday week for my daughter and I have been in crafting and food purgatory. The parade was Friday, which means my house is FULL of Tootsie Rolls and banana Laffy Taffy.... 

but I'm sick of it. I'm sick of myself! I am going to give myself through to slip and have treats, but come Sunday? I'm doing a short Whole30 before a quick road trip with my kiddos. I need to get back to the gym (that will probably not happen until Monday but I'm going to try to make it happen this week).  I have joined a few new fitness motivation groups, but I'm feeling all guilty because I just.don't.care this week. 

I still struggle with binging. And self image. And moderation. Ohhhhh moderation, you are SO elusive to me!! I thought my Whole30 would help, but it obviously hasn't. 

I have been intending to up my cardio work, with two races coming up in October, but I haven't yet. After we get home from our road trip, it's on! Cardio rat here I come. 

The week we return, my kids are both in summer camp. I am going to try - regardless of the weather! - to get running again. OUTSIDE. This fall, both kids will be in school on Tuesday and Thursday - I will have those days for long runs (oh Heavenly fall long runs!!).  I intend to PR in a SERIOUS way on these races! 

My plan is already to do another Whole30 for the month before the races. It's not a sustainable lifestyle for me, but I can definitely manage it for a month if it's going to get me that PR!! 

So for now, S-L-O-T-H. I am going to get back to it, I really am. This is NOT who I am (except for birthday party week :-)  I'll post about that on Monday because who DOESN'T need to see pictures of another Frozen party ;-) 

Phase 2: Jamie Eason LiveFit Training

Tomorrow I start Phase 2. Biggest awesome for me?

  CARDIO!! 

My beloved cardio is coming back! I can't wait!

So far, doing well.  Still haven't started Whole30 - still researching, prepping. I ran out of half and half yesterday so I've decided to muddle through black coffee (with the occasional Vietnamese coffee or Starbucks coffee to get me through) beginning now. I've had a bit more wine than usual :-) I've been tapering my grains a lot.

I haven't decided where I'll end up when this Whole30 is over. I don't know that I can sustain the "Whole30" guidelines for the long term. I saw this image:

From THIS I feel Primal is do-able. I'd even get some white potatoes occasionally?? I don't know - I don't know if I will want to go back to it. I'm hoping not.  I do think we'll do some hybrid of clean eating and primal. If my kiddos' allergies are gone at the end of this (during SPRING!!) we'll leave milk out.  They have already told me they prefer almond milk, which is awesome. I will be attempting homemade almond milk coming up soon! 

I do have a food porn blog post coming up - as I said, I've been easing out my carbs and dairy to focus more on full plates of meat and veggies.  I have a co-op order coming in on Tuesday that will bulk up our veggies!! My order includes: 

Bananas

Red pears

Citrus pack

Roma tomatoes

Cantaloupe

Asparagus

Kale

Carrots

Cucumbers

Green beans

Cabbage 

Avocadoes 6ct

Potatoes: Sweet

Red cabbage

Baby Portabella Mushrooms

Carrots Jumbo

Brussel Sprouts

Tomatoes vine ripe

Lemons and Limes

Excited to try including some "new" things in our routines - cabbage being a big one!  I am going to start making sure to have tons of sweet potatoes around to use after my cardio workouts and lifting sessions. 

Any vegetables that aren't "common" that I should try that are favorites in your household (particularly with kiddos!!) ??? 

180.

First FitNut Weigh In: 170
Final FitNut Weigh In: 165.5

4.5 lbs in a month - not too shabby.

Last week I kicked ROYAL butt. I already posted about my Mon/Tuesday/Wed workouts. Thursday I went to a Spin class (surprisingly only burned 348 calories in class - was disappointed in that!!) and Friday I went to my typical Terrie class, the one that kicks my butt the most. I couldn't even do a side plank!!! My feet went numb, I was weak.... Definitely my body telling me ENOUGH!!

Unfortunately, this week was a complete 180.  Monday morning we had a playdate for my little guy. Tuesday, when I planned to do my treadmill run again, my daughter spiked a fever. I started feeling a sinus infection coming on too, so I didn't even get workouts in at home!

Wednesday she was still sick AND had a snow day.  Thursday, still home. And Friday she FINALLY went back to school, but my little guy had been homebound all week (side effect of a sick big sissy!) and I promised him a day at the children's museum. We had a grand fabulous time, but holy cow, I miss working out!

Tomorrow is Sunday. I am really hoping to go and kill it on a treadmill. I want to do the treadmill workout from two weeks ago.

I haven't even weighed myself. I'm not doing great at keeping up with the protein and macros. OMG so hard to get that much protein.

Sooooooo hopefully next time I update, I can add some AWESOME progress or development. Unfortunately no good news this week :(

Go! Halloween 10K 2013

Sunday was the Go! St. Louis Halloween 10k, maybe my favorite race of the year! I love love the 10k distance - it's far enough to be a challenge but not so far that it kills me. 

This year they changed the course so that it went along the riverfront, down to the Arch grounds. It was neat, aside from spending most of the race running into the sun!

I started out, trying to pace myself. I felt

Work out before the mile mark and thought "well great, this can't be good." Took a peek at my pace on run keeper and realized I could slow it WAY down and still meet my goal of finishing in under 1:10. I had run the race in 1:27 (2011) and 1:08 (2012) but after a half last weekend and only 1 run the week between, I wasn't sure how to expect my body to perform. 

Turns out, it did just fine!

I kept trying to slow down but my pace felt good! My splits were ridiculous and I wish I had picked it up a tough around the corners to come in under 1 hr. But, I wasn't far off at 1:01:40!! 

It just felt GOOD! It made me want to come home and sign up for more races, which is an awesome feeling. 

After the 10K, my kiddos were signed up for a 1 mile fun run. It was more fun for me than E (she burst into tears when someone encouraged her to keep going) and AJ than Daddy (who was wearing jeans and long underwear haha).  But in the end, both of them got their shirt and medal and were happy. :-) 

Guess I should do something more official with all these bibs now!! 

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! 

Week in Review!

Well, I didn't GAIN weight for my weigh in on Monday! I was down .5lb from my initial weigh in. I'll take it! 

My daughter left on Monday morning to spend a week with my mom in Georgia. I took advantage of my day off + only having my little guy and he and I went for a long run around the lake! 4 miles felt awesome after so long with no running! 

Tuesday morning I woke up and took a run around my neighborhood. It was delightful! I can't believe I haven't taken advantage of running in my neighborhood. The hills are killer, but I think those are exactly what I need to train. Those are definitely my downfall in my last half and I'm not about to let that happen again!

This week was a bit different since my daughter was gone AND I worked four days. We had a HUGE training event on Friday to prepare for and Saturday was our company picnic. I went to see South Pacific at the theater Tuesday night and was out late. No run Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Friday was an all-day training that I helped plan and facilitate. It was a SUPER HUGE BUSY and STRESSFUL day. But I managed to get in my 10,000 steps. 

Saturday we had the work picnic. It was SERIOUS BUSINESS. First event was a three legged race. I was "ALL IN" and pushed myself so hard, my husband and I fell over one another at the finish line and I messed up my leg pretty badly. I kept pushing. We didn't win, but we certainly had an awesome time!  I am very thankful for my job and this company!

Tomorrow is another weigh in and the start to a new week. I did something ouchie to my leg on Saturday and today I rested it and I have a pain patch on it. I'm hoping that tomorrow it will be better so that I can get to the gym for my classes. Hoping to run Tuesday, but take Wednesday off (Tuesday night is my theater night and this week's show is Les Mis, which is my hands down all time favorite.) Thursday I want to get to a kickboxing class and Friday will be another run day for me. I think we are going to camp this weekend so hopefully some good bike rides and hiking will round out my week! 

Love/Hate

If it's not been obvious in the past, I have a love/hate relationship with running. 

I love how I feel after a long run - accomplished, fit, energized.  I love how it has made me stronger. I love how I lose weight from my hips, where I could never lose it any other way before I started running. 

But I hate running too. I hate how I feel DURING a run. I hate the self-conscious feeling I get about my "form."  I hate living in a neighborhood I can't run through, causing me to have to drive somewhere just to put on my shoes and run for a distance. 

I am a member of a Facebook group with a bunch of women who are rock stars. No, serious rock stars. Some have lost 50+ lbs, some have just started working out but are kicking butt. Some are pregnant and still doing full CrossFit workouts!  Same love/hate. I LOVE the motivation & inspiration. I hate myself for not getting up and doing more, for making excuses and for not making my health a priority.

As some of the girls are starting to use running as their cardio workout, I'm remembering the highs I used to have. The first time I ran 20 minutes without walking. The first time I ran 5, 6, 8 miles. My first half marathon.  I remember the achievement, the feeling of accomplishment, the feeling of pride. 

These are the things I need to keep me going. No pant size or body fat percentage is going to keep me motivated. Food tastes better, regardless of how many times I read the "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" crap on Pinterest. Because guess what? Food.Tastes.Good.  Good food AND bad food, it tastes GOOD.  

I need these stories of accomplishment.

 It even helps me to read back through my OWN blog and remember how amazing it feels to finish a long run, to eat clean for 3 months straight (oh my gosh my body is DYING for healthy food!) and to feel GOOD about myself. 

And I need to get back to a place where I am making time, carving out a particular time for me to work out. I haven't worked out when that will be yet. I am NOT a morning person, but I am willing to attempt to get up early enough to go to the gym before work. It's worth a try to get back to where I was, where I want to be again!

Apparently I have all the drive in the world - but no get up and GO!

How do you, especially moms (both SAHM, working & everything in between) prioritize your health with your family in mind?

Insanity Day 1

Well I did the Insanity Fit Test this am. I told the kids I was going to exercise and they could sit in their rooms or the living room and play.  My little girl decided she wanted to work out with me :-)  So here is a picture of me with my Mini-Me just before we started. 

My mini-me, however, only made it through the warm up before she was out of breath and said "Mommy, I think I'm done." I should have stopped with her!

I was doing pretty well, but I do see a few challenges. First, I was doing this while my husband was working from home in the basement. So I was being a little extra cautious of how hard I was landing. This caused me to lose some of my form at time. Which leads to - problem two - I actually PULLED A MUSCLE IN MY NECK while doing the power jumps. 

Yes. 

Only me. 

But I powered through it. I kept going in the fit test. I am sure I didn't do my best, my neck was killing me. however that just gave me hope that my 15 day test results will be awesome :-)  

Here are my results: 

                  5/20/2013

Switch Kicks           45

Power Jacks         46

Power Knees         93

Power Jumps           30

Globe Jumps          8

Suicide Jumps         16

Push up Jacks         20

Low Plank Oblique 35

Nothing Earth shattering but I am happy to have done it. Now who knows if I'll be able to MOVE in the morning, but I am aiming to get up early and do the first real workout before I go to work tomorrow! 

I took "before" pictures, but there's no way I'm sharing those until I have a good "after" result :-) 

Race Weekend!

It's the big Go! St. Louis Marathon weekend here and they have a great way of getting whole families involved in the fun! Yesterday I ran to the Expo after work (WORK! I work now!) and picked up our race packets. I talked to the pace team representatives and have decided (in my head, not on paper) that I will try to stay close to the 2:15 pace runner. 

Today was the Read, Write and Run program runs for the local schools, as well as the 5K and the kid's fun run. My daughter has been looking forward to this run (and her medal :-)) for so.long! She was excited to pull out her running shorts (which she ONLY wears for races, it's too cute!) 

PURE JOY when she got that medal!

Posing :-) 

We had her run the 100 yd dash (shhhh that was for ages 5-6, but she'll be 5 in a few months! Plus, she ran a MILE in October, the 50yd dash was ridiculous!)

She did awesome. She had a smile on her face the whole time and watching her ENJOY it gave me a lot of inspiration that I will take with me tomorrow during my half!

The race shirt is a nice shade of ... well, the best description is day-glo salmon. It's not quite my cup of tea, but it's still a nice race shirt. I do LOVE the design. 

I'm in corral B. To be fair, there are only 4 corrals so B probably doesn't mean much, but I am excited about it! 

I did my checklist tonight: I have my 5 hour energy (for before we leave), my Honey Stinger (for just before the start line), my BioFreeze portable tab (for my knee, if I need it), SportBeans (I mixed a package of berry and a package of fruit punch for a personalized blend ;-) and I got my bottles filled with my typical Pink Lemonade Nuun. My race plan, as always, is to get water at the stations and stick to my Nuun and no sport drinks offered. It's always safer that way for me! 

I will be KT taping my knee in the morning for sure. It's been quite tricky lately, I'm just hoping the tape will keep it sane. I will be waiting until the end of the race to start popping pain pills since I had such a bad reaction last time. 

So here goes nothing!!!

Goal: 2:15            

STRETCH goal: 2:10          

DREAM Stretch goal: 2:05