HBBC Week 3

Wahoo for being back at work and back to a routine! Well almost.

Veggies are back on track, workouts are getting there and I feel mildly normal and not not as bloated as the past two weeks of vacation. I’m still nursing the running injury from hell… the IT band to PFS pain where its basically painful to walk down stairs and attempt any type of weight bearing knee bending. Running? Ha! not going to happen.
So what am I doing, well spin classes have been fun. I have an awesome friend who does classes and she makes sure I get in a great workout. I’m also sticking to the pool like glue. I’m changing up my workouts there too in the hopes that the changes will elicit some extra calorie burning.

While I fell back on track with food, there have been some hiccoughs. Monday I had a spot on my face removed by the dermatologist. On Wednesday, I was back in the podiatrists office to get the wart on my heel treated. Between the two events, I was an emotional mess. Big ugly black mark on my face, barely able to walk, PMSing on top of that…and I fell from the healthy life. I hit Target and picked up a 16oz bag of Cadburys Chocolate Balls. By the evening, there was one serving left. I missed dinner and dessert to compensate for the added calories, but then just felt worse for having slipped in the first place.

I slowly started drinking plenty of fluids, Nuun, tea, water and kept myself moving. By Friday I felt better and ready to tackle the weekend where I was able to knock out a couple of workouts and take a birthday trip with the family. Let’s hope next week is better.

HBBC Week 2

Last week we were on vacation with family and the weather was awful. Williamsburg is a great place to visit, but not when the temps are in the 20s. While we did plenty of walking around tourist places or shopping, it seems like I didn’t get too much working out done. As I mentioned in last week’s post, the treadmills weren’t the best and the treadmill became a dreadmill. There was definitely plenty of eating, so all those lovely inches that got burnt off during marathon training have made their way back to my thighs. Fortunately, that’s just more motivation to train for another marathon.

I’ve been dealing with a couple of injuries in the past couple of weeks, so most of my workouts have been in the pool or on the bike. I’ve also focused on getting in more freggies than my daily smoothie. This next week, I’ll be focused on getting back in to some regular one hour routines, waking up at a decent hour and all those lovely things that involved being back at work. My picture this week, while not brilliant, is the stuffed squash I had for Thanksgiving dinner.

Back at it again, HBBC Week 1

Here we are again, time for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge 2013. it’s been an interesting year filled with races, moving and completely one of my goals-a marathon. This week, I’m on vacation with my family and parents in Williamsburg. It’s been cold, and rainy and the not so brilliant treadmills have become dreadmills. Normally I can knock out an hour on the mills at the Y but I’m lucky if I can knock out 3 miles on these hideous things. No wonder people call them dreadmills.

Well I’m off the walk around Williamsburg in the rain with an 8 yr old dressed as a young colonial. At least we are moving.

Kicking it in gear to finish my first marathon.

Nothing New Here, well not really

Life has been very hectic and not at all quiet in the past two weeks. Unfortunately not enough running to encompass a post. Our little one had a week off swimming which meant three days away from the YMCA. I missed out on running one of those days and got in a quick 4 miles on the other. The third day is a scheduled swim day and we made it there but not for long as little one got hurt in the pool while practicing flip turns. I focused my time on my strength training and using the bike(on the trainer) to get in some time.
We are also in the process of moving, so workout time is becoming a privilege as we pack boxes and declutter the house. This has been a cleansing experience as we start to realize that lots of the things we have held on to for years are just no longer needed. This move has been a quick one for us, (a 34 day escrow), so we are moving in to a short term lease to give us time to decide what to do. This is going to provide us with more time to live on a minimal amount of household goods. It’s a good experience. Stressful, but good. Thanks to Thrive Forward, I am conscious of the decisions I am making for food choices and that this increased need to eat chocolate is because I’m not controlling my stress.

It’s all good.

Jelly Bean Virtual Race

Ok, I admit it, I’m a cheap skate when it comes to races. I would much rather hit up the loop near our house, or the Neuse greenway and run 13 miles than pay money to do the same thing. I’m also trying to keep up my mileage this year and signed on for the 13 in 2013 race series. Thank goodness I can do some of these virtual runs, which honestly, I thought was pretty silly before now. I see their purpose now.
So I signed up for Jen’s Jelly Bean Virtual Race and that came this weekend, so it was 13.1 on the greenway for me. It was a cloudy day, but hovered around 49, so at least no leggings, just capris, tshirt and long sleeve top. I headed out and did pretty well. The run itself was great and I detoured through the neighboring communities to get in some added mileage. After a while when you’ve been running by a river, in the trees, you can get pretty bored of green. My shin didn’t bother me-score.
The Garmin says I did 13.25 and of that 13.1 in 2:11:10, so a new PR by 10 seconds.

That has to be one of the ugliest pictures I’ve taken in a while.

Next week I’m aiming to break 2:10.

Home, lunch and then hubby and I spread mulch for 4 1/2 hours. The strange thing that’s changing in me is that I’m less hungry after long runs. I think it’s because I’m grabbing a protein smoothie instead of carbs or something else. Either way I’m thrilled about it. I know that if i can lose that “last five pounds”… heard that before?

Wake Tech 5K and weekend.

Last week I ran the inaugural Wake Tech 5K. I’m not normally a 5K runner, just feel I can spend my running dollars on longer races, but this was for my employer, so had to show up. I was also volunteering, so made for more of a reason to be there.
I was supposed to help out set up the post race tables, but seeing that it was taken care of, I decided to help in registration handing out the chips with my friend. Turns out I was one of the few experienced runners there, so I spent an hour showing people how to attach the chips to their shoes. MUCH more fun. So to the race.
It was a relatively flat course and I had planned to go out hard and stay hard and I did(almost)! At the start, I found my friend Rachel, who I knew was capable of winning and also runs 5ks much more frequently and kept on her rear for the first two miles, but after then I realized I couldn’t keep up her pace. I was feeling like I was going to throw up and my body was saying SLOW DOWN!!. I listened. I had to stop and remove a rock from my Newton lugs, no problem, but got started again and came up to the final 200 and started to pick up the pace. Some guy comes from my side and was trying to run past, forget that buddy, and I kicked it in gear and sprint for the finish line. My time was no where near my goal of 25 minutes, but I hit the line at 28:27, still an 8:57 pace.
Here’s the strange thing. The race day results had me as the second place winner, so at the awards I was expecting that. However they called me up for first place. Ok, I’ll take that. Here’s where it got strange. When the race results were posted, I was listed at in 1st place again, but then a day later, the results were changed and then I was in second again. I contact the race director to say I’d be willing to give my medal back in favor of the girl who actually won, but he said don’t worry about it. OK! I won’t! As for Rachel, she was the overall winner.

Rachel and Julia

The race bag was awesome! Clif Bars, race info, coupons for Sheetz and McDonalds, a water bottle, bag and tech shirt. Headed home afterwards and spent two hours gardening with hubby and daughter and then spent the afternoon picking up flowers at Lowes and planting them.

3 Miles was not enough for my weekend though, so I headed back out for nine miles the following day. It was a little slower than normal, but a good pace.

Crystal Coast Half Marathon Wrap Up

The sun dawned on a beautiful day in Morehead City. The prospect of a wonderful run across the bridge and in to Atlantic Beach was a head of me—NOT!! It was a rainy, thundery day in Morehead City and that running experience included rain gear and a poncho, but some good friends.
The Crystal Coast Half Marathon takes runners through the downtown area of Morehead City, across the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge and through Atlantic Beach. In six of the past eight years, there has been wind, rain, and cold weather, but it’s a great run and relatively flat. My friend Shannon convinced me to come run the race with her and some friends about a week before. Considering I’m running more than 13 miles in my long run, it was easy to taper and be ready a week in advance. I was up on time, got in my regular prerace meal, and about 40 minutes before race time, headed out. It was a small crowd, no speakers so no announcements and unfortunately no music, but soon later we started. The route took us out and back through Morehead City and then turned and headed over the Atlantic Beach Bridge and back again. I went out a little fast and ended up slowing down at mile 11. I’ve yet to figure out race strategy, but I’m getting there. In the meantime, I need to decide how to slow down at the beginning and pick it up more at the end. My goal time was 2:10, but ended up coming in at 2:12. Not bad considering the rain.

The goodie bags weren’t much to talk about, just a few flyers, of which some were for races that had already happened. No treats, race food, nothing. The T-shirts, while tech shirts, were burgundy. Not a color I would go back for. After the race, we hung around and waited for the rest of our group, then headed back to the house to shower. I was planning on heading straight back as had things to do, but everyone else was staying to hang around, so I got my butt in gear packed my stuff and hit up Starbucks for a large tea before the three hour drive back to Raleigh. Will I do this race again? Maybe, but I think I can spend the money better somewhere else.

Vega

I’ve been a fan of Vega products for almost a year now. I started using the Vega One last year as it contains so many nutritional bonuses that it beat out any other protein mix I was using. I’m already a vegetarian, but the benefits of 3 extra greens, plus the iron made it worth the cost. I’ve read two out of three of Brendan’s books and found it interesting that Brendan too went through an iron deficiency. While his iron deficiency may not be tied to the same reasons as mine, at least he understands those symptoms and is able to address them in his products.
At the beginning of the year, Brendan Brazier, former professional triathlete and formulator of Vega, created a series called Thrive Forward that identifies and talks about key stressors in our lives that affect our performance, nutrition and overall health. I was interested to see that all the factors in our life create a nutritional circle and when one piece of the circle falls out of place, it puts into jeopardy all those other pieces.
These past two weeks we have received an offer on our house and subsequently found ourselves homeless in 30 days. The stress of escrow and looking for a place to live, plus the presence of Cadbury’s Mini Eggs led me to binge eat these. Fortunately, knowing about how all the pieces to the eating puzzle fit together, I was able to mindfully think about what I was doing to my body and why I was doing it. I think that without that information, the damage could have been much much worse.
I am a firm believer in Vega and the Thrive Forward program, and recommend that you check it out and even pick up a few products. Most are available through Whole Foods, but if not, their shipping program is pretty fast too.

Running for Kyle

Today I ran for Kyle.

My run today was a challenge. It was 28 degrees outside and I knew I had to do more than 13.1 in order to progress in my marathon training. Knowing that I was doing it for a young boy fighting cancer convinced me to get out the door to run and celebrate my health. I celebrated the health of my children and the health of my husband who has had his own fight with cancer. As I ran and ran, I thought about how I would juggle my work, life and my child’s health. I cannot begin to imagine this challenge, but if I can do a little to support Kyle, then I will.
This past month I have tried and tried to get a run longer than 13.1 miles, but life has gotten in the way. Today I finally got there. So today I celebrated my life, my health and my family, but I think of Kyle’s struggle and his family’s and know that I am lucky.

Final Week HBBC

Well, I made my final week memorable, still exercising and focusing on food, while fighting the sinus infection. I was able to get in the water and swim about an hour a day. I tried running earlier on in the week and ended up with an uncontrollable cough for about 24 hours later. I discovered a little while later, that you are supposed wait 72 hours after starting antibiotics before running. ooops. So swam the rest of the week, stretched and starting running in the last couple of days. I feel so much better and can’t wait to get back on the paths and running long adn strong again. This break has given my husband and I a chance to talk and start devising a new training plan for me to increase speed and endurance.
On the food front, I accomplished a great and wonderful thing, pill taking. I’ve never been able to swallow pills and have always had to crunch them up and put them in ice cream. This week, I learned to sprinkle it in applesauce. At least I can save a few calories by not having to eat ice cream three times a day. :o)
Beyond my great discovery of the week, my food choices have been good. Thanks to a friend, I found the Lunchbox Brunch and found a new smoothie recipe this week. It’s been a great change from the strawberry and pineapple smoothies. In addition to smoothies, I’ve focused on eating good quality plant based foods.
This experience with the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge has been great. I’ve been able to focus on the holiday but also to be accountable to group of online friends to keep up with healthy eating and exercise. I have started new habits and seen the effects of doing other exercises as well as running and swimming.
Where do I go from here? Well I’ve signed up for the 5 by the 5th and 13 in 2013 to keep myself accountable for running. I’ve also signed up for Thrive Forward with Brendan Brazier. I really believe in the power of Vega products, so I hope this experience with further my goals of plant based healthier eating.