Getting it together

You know, waking up early to workout takes a lot of prep work. I had to pack my work clothes, my after gym clean up stuff and then my workout clothes for AFTER work. That’s a lot of crap to remember. But, I did it. I went to bed later than I had hoped and thus only got about 6.5 hours of sleep. But I popped right up at 4:50AM (ugggh) and got dressed. I made my English muffin and out the door I went. The 45 min spin class was pretty great. I really liked the instructor. After that I walked on the treadmill for about 30 minutes at an incline just to keep my legs warm and kill some time until work. Made it to the treadmill after work to run my 4 scheduled miles. Pretty proud of myself for putting a plan together and making it happen despite the fact that I hate waking up early. Today is a total rest day. YAY! I don’t feel particularly sore from my double dose of physical activity yesterday. Tomorrow I have 7 miles scheduled. I’ve decided that as much as I hate getting up early, I’m going to get up early and do them. This way – not only are they out of the way but I wont spend hours working myself up over whether or not I’m going to continue to feel the way I did on Sunday. It’s really scary to think every run from now on will feel that way. Yesterday’s wasn’t much better. But all I can do is keep pressing on. I also feel like I need to get used to running early. The marathon starts at 7am so… yeah. Gotta get in the habit. I think I’m going to be heading to Stone Mountain with the wonderful Meghan this weekend for my long run. I have 13 to put in. She runs a lot better and faster than me but she’s so patient and kind when we run. Basically she’s amazing. I’m going to bring the gymboss and see if we can do intervals. I really think that will help a good bit. I’m excited to just get out there and push. Mentally focus. Stop giving in to the pain and lack luster thoughts. I’m really not mentally strong right now. I’m not sure what’s been breaking me down for the past couple weeks. Between the ice and injury I feel like I’m nowhere near ready… but I’m going to be!

The Next Level

Today's long run didn't quite go as planned. I don't want to focus too much on it because I have something way more positive to talk about tonight. The weather was amazing (almost 50*!), sunny. I don't think I was as hydrated as I could have been and I had cookies for breakfast. Let's just say that from mile 1 I felt like I had never run in my entire life. My lungs hurt, my IT band was in pain from step 1. 

I just have to do better. Between food poisoning and back-to-back ice storms, I have missed a lot of valuable training. I'm going to kick it up a notch and make sure I'm doing everything I possible can. Tomorrow I'm getting up early to go to spin at 5:45. I think it's a 45 minute class so I'll finish out with some walking on a steep incline. Then I'll work. My running schedule says 4 miles tomorrow. Nice and light so I'll make sure to push as hard as I can and make those 4 miles into speed work. Then, I'll head back to the gym to hop back on the bike and do very light resistance to cool down my leg muscles. And finally finish the day with some yoga to get my abs right and my muscles nice and stretched. Tuesday is a total rest day - and I'll have earned it.

I plan on doing spin in the mornings before work as often as possible regardless if I run that day or not. I wont do spin on long run days. I want to swim on my super light running days and on my cross training day. I can do this. I must get stronger. 

I'm going to take my foam roller to work with me so I can foam roll throughout the day. I stand at work so I stay pretty loose. But, judging by my run today, that thing is relentless. 

I made a super healthy dinner. Quinoa Salad (quinoa, cubed mozzarella, baby spinach, red onions and tomatoes), chicken kabobs with red, yellow and green bell peppers, and asparagus. Delicious and full of protein. 

I can't help but be excited. Today's run really made me realize that if I want to run this marathon in less than 15 hours then I have to do more. Circumstances have sucked but that's simply an excuse. Going to make it happen. 

Did you have a long run this weekend? How'd it go? 
What does it take to get you back on track if you've fallen off the wagon?

Fitbits and Long Runs

Well. I’m one of the pack now. I got a fit bit.

I can’t help but think that this particular piece of techy fitness gear feeds directly into my absolute need to control everything. I now know how many steps I take per day and how my sleep went the night before. Now, I’m obviously a runner. I have a stand up desk at work. There’s no need for me to try to obtain yet another “goal” on another app on my phone. But here I am pacing trying to make sure that I obtain my 10k step per day mark. So far I do like it and I feel like it is worth the money I paid. I’ll keep you all posted as to whether or not it gets wrapped back up and returned.

 

Some ladies and I at the office had a really serious discussion about food today. We talked about what makes us eat (aside from hunger), how we feel when we eat and how we feel after. It’s really interesting to hear from other people. Some people used food for comfort where others used food to hide. Some people are ready to commit to a healthy lifestyle and lose their extra weight but are so afraid that they will lose themselves in the process. It made me really start thinking about my own personal relationship with food. Healthy…not healthy…inbetween. How does it affect my self image? How much importance do I put into what the scale says? Do I allow my weight and food choices affect my overall self-esteem?

And I found that the answer to a lot of these questions is yes.  I know that after a long run I feel strong and able bodied. But I also know that when I eat a cookie I immediately feel a sense of guilt. I label certain foods as “bad” vs “good”. I still feel myself fall into the trap of thinking that a day is ruined if I don’t stick to a strict calorie count or if I slip up and have a treat.

While I was discontent while I was thinking about these things I also know that I’ve made a lot of progress. I’m to the point now where I don’t see food as an enemy and my body isn’t a tragic mess as I believed for so long. I know that I do great things for it and in turn it does great things for me.

Yesterday I hit the gym for some intervals on the elliptical, resistance band training and laps in the pool. I didn't want to take it too hard because this I have a long run planned for some point today. I'm trying not to be so crazy about "I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn to run 15 miles." This was, I'm choosing to include my run in my relaxing weekend as oppose to forcing myself to get up early and run in the cold. Two things I HATE. I'm going to head down there at some point even though I know that the longer I wait, the more crowded it will be... but that's okay. I want to enjoy it. 

Do you have a long run planned? How do you en corporate your workouts into your weekend plans?

Just running along...

Well this past week I jumped right back into training. It was overall pretty great. The long run on the weekend was a bit of a struggle. My long run the previous week was 9 miles and I jumped to 14 this week. Not only that but I misjudged the hills. And... well. It didn't go as well as I had hoped but I'm not going to speak negatively about it because I got it done. I haven't run since then (4 days argh!) because Atlanta got hit with ANOTHER winter storm and we are covered head to toe with ice. Hoping tomorrow with some warmer temps that I'll be able to at least get to the gym to hop on the deathmill. 

I got a really fancy set of resistance bands in the mail that I ordered from Amazon. I can honestly say that I love them and have no plans on ever lifting weights again. I "felt the burn" much quicker and was able to move from move to move without having to adjust a weight machine etc. I'll let you know how sore I am tomorrow. Thinking that on my "rest days" from running I'll be bringing my resistance bands to the gym and doing a full workout with those followed by swimming. 

Quickly approaching the Publix Half Marathon in March! This should be a VERY simple race at that point in my training. I have to make sure to NOT push during this race - too close to marathon time! Don't want another injury. 

Been feeling less than great about my progress. Really trying to get out of this slump. I'm not sure why I thought training for a spring marathon was an awesome idea... I've been looking for a fall marathon to train for so I can do a better job. Bring on the heat! 

Until tomorrow, folks...

SHE'S ALIVE!

Yesterday was my first "long" run since the injury. I'm not going to lie - it was tough. I don't think that I could have made it through without Meghan there to support me and motivate me the whole time. We went at a pace that was better than my usual so that's always nice to see some improvement. I focused a lot on strength training while I was out of the running game and I think that it really helped. Now I just have to come up with a game plan to keep that going while getting back to the training schedule. Meghan really stressed to me that focusing on my long run and not worrying too much if I don't get every training run in would be a really helpful idea. I get super bent out of shape if I miss a run (or, in this case, two weeks worth). Overall the injury felt good - I was just tired. I had two shok blocks and they helped but I could tell that my running endurance had slipped. I know it'll be back before I know it. 

Counting of the calories is still coming along pretty well. I've slipped a couple times here and there but I made sure to let myself know that that's okay. In regular life I can't expect to be perfect all the time. I've done pretty swell, though. I've lost 4 pounds and feel like I'm doing great things for my body. According to my fancy pants scale I've lost a bit of body fat in accordance with the weight loss. So, I'm pretty pleased about that. 

Tomorrow starts my first full week back to running - can't wait!

Fancy Pants

Hi-de-ho there, folks! Things around here are looking very...cold. Atlanta has certainly seen their fair share of cold weather this winter. We typically have a roller coaster type of winter. Some days it will be 30 and some days in will be in the "teens" while other days will be in the 50's and 60's. Let's just say we've seen way more of the "teens" than the 50's or 60's. It's been kinda brutal. Makes running outside a littttttle bit more difficult. But, shockingly enough, I miss is quite a bit. I haven't been able to run in a week now. Makes me feel crazy. I DID run on Wednesday - a test run to see how I was healing. The prognosis wasn't good. I'm definitely not ready to run the 15k on Sunday. Haven't healed enough yet. At first I was mega bummed... and now I'm simply trying to get over it and do what I can. 

I've been hitting the gym pretty hard with my Dr. Approved forms of exercise. Elliptical. Stair Machine. Abs. Arms. Today I probably did intervals that included some jump squats. I'm sure that isn't on the list of approved exercises but whatever. I have felt good about my workout routine lately and that's pretty fab. 

I've also logged into and tracked my calories on myfitnesspal for 6 days in a row. That's every single calorie I have put in my mouth. Brutal. But - it's giving me a great view at my diet. Tonight after dinner I realized I was under in calories by a considerable amount and way under in protein. So, I had half of a serving of my recovery protein shake which made up my protein that I needed and also gave me some more calories. 

I did something I swore I wasn't going to do - I weighed myself. I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the number. But being the smart gal I am, I knew that I have gained a considerable amount of muscle (though let's face it - not 10 pounds of muscle). So I did some research and purchased a fancy pants new scale from Amazon. I got the EatSmart Precision GetFit Digital Body Fat Scale. So far I like it. I've only used it once ;) It gives explicit instructions on how to get the most accurate weight AND body fat %. So far my body fat and muscle fat are within the "optimal" or rather "not obese" range. My body fat % showed  up as 25.4 and my muscle % was 39.2. Both are good percentages. I'm going to keep track of these numbers and see if they change drastically or remain pretty consistent. I'll go create an excel spreadsheet now...

Well that's that for now. Tomorrow holds a whole lot of stuff. We'll see what's up. Cheers! 

Shauna

And she took a tumble....

Okay so long story short - I fell down while running and had to go see an orthopedist. Minimum a week off of running and I have to wear a really stupid ankle brace. 

That being said I feel completely behind in my training and I hate it. A lot. 

This also means that I can't eat like I'm running a million miles. Not that I was running a million miles but you catch my drift. I started using myfitnesspal again and boy do I hate it. I hate having to input every tablespoon of everything I eat. It's really time consuming and irritating. 

But I hate it most of all because it shows me the ugly truth of what I've been eating. I've been eating way too many calories even when I am running all of my training miles. 

Good News: I now have the power to change my habits and get the results that I want. 
Bad News: I AM HUNGRY ALL THE TIME. Maybe pretend hungry since I'm getting the nutrition I need but hungry all the same. RAWR. 



I'm not sticking to Dr. Orders for much longer. I'm going to run 3 miles tomorrow morning and see how I feel. I have the Hot Chocolate Race this weekend (Sunday) and that's a whopping 9 miles so I want to make sure I'm at least getting some sort of mileage in. So far on recovery it's been the elliptical and bike. Boo. 

Day 1 of total calorie count was a success. (this is where I convince myself there is good in what I'm doing). I met my calorie goal (1300 calories does NOT go far...) with 22 calories to spare. Got my workout in. The nutrition part looked decent. Need more potassium and shockingly more carbs.

Anyhow - my apologies for the lack of update. I haven't been such the positive pam lately and didn't want to scream it all over the internet world. 

Cheers!