Bitten by the Running Bug!

Week 11: Cross training and my longest treadmill run ever...

2012-01-30T19:25:00.000-08:00

Well I finally started cross training last week and it made me realize how pathetically wimpy all my non-running muscles are! Here I am thinking I'm so tough because I'm training for a marathon and then I try to do a 20 minute pilates DVD and the next day my abs and buns are SO sore I can barely move. That is sad, but a good wake up call for me to make cross training a priority. I mostly stuck with pilates to help with my back but I also threw a 30 day Shred workout in there too.

Teya took this picture while I was doing pilates one morning. It was after my run so Cam was awake and crawling all over me like I was a human obstacle course. After this I made it a point to only do pilates when Cam was sleeping : )

One of the bright spots of last week was when my friend, who is a massage therapist, came over to work on my back. It was great because she brought her massage table right to my house and we just put on a movie for the kids while she worked the soreness away. It helped a ton and now I just wish she could do it every week : )

So yeah, back is doing better, cross training is happening, and overall I think week 11 went really well. Here's how it looked:

Monday:

5 miles on the treadmill, avg pace: 8:34

20 minute pilates DVD

Tuesday:

Got up at 5:40am to crank out 8 miles on the treadmill. avg pace: 8:33. Felt good to get it done early!

20 minute pilates DVD (a lot harder the 2nd day because my abs were so sore!)

Wednesday:

Did 30 day shred level 1. It kicked my butt.

Thursday:

Got up early again to do 5 miles on the treadmill. avg. pave was 8:17 and I felt like I was flying!

followed my run with a 20 minute pilates DVD

Friday:

18 miles on the dreadmill.

I know that sounds completely insane but it was 30 degrees outside and literally pouring rain all morning without a break. That was the only time I could get a babysitter so it was either run in the rain and risk getting sick from exposure, or suck it up and pound it out on the treadmill.

I kept myself entertained by watching old episodes of the Biggest Loser. I ran at an 8:57 pace the whole time except at mile 9 and mile 15 when I slowed it down to a walk so I could take a Gu and drink some water.

I know I look super cute here but I wanted to take a picture when I was done to document my longest treadmill run ever. 18 miles, avg pace 9:05. Proud of myself for making it happen but I pray I never have to run that long on a treadmill again!

Week 10: I think I messed up my back : (

2012-01-23T13:29:00.000-08:00

After logging 33 miles last week my back is KILLING ME! It seriously feels like someone took a broom stick and jabbed it into my upper back over and over again as hard as they could. It hurts so bad! I think there are a couple of reasons for it:

1) Bad posture at the end of my long runs.

2) Running on an incline on the treadmill and not adjusting my posture.

3) Not doing any cross training to strengthen my core.

It's my own lazy fault for not doing any cross training and now I'm suffering the consequences for it. Luckily there are still 8 weeks until the marathon so I think I have time to fix the problem. Starting now I'm going to do pilates at least 5 times a week to strengthen my core and my back. I'm also going to be less focused on speed and more focused on my form, especially engaging my core and keeping my dang back straight!

I did pilates after my run today and it felt good on my sore back muscles. Hopefully doing it more consistently will help. In the mean time I'm doing lots of back stretches and I scheduled a sports massage for Thursday.

Besides my back pain here's what the week looked like:

Monday:

8 miles on the treadmill with a 1 incline: avg. pace: 8:24.

This run was awesome and I felt so strong the whole time!

Wednesday:

4 mile speed workout on the treadmill. alternated running .5 mile at a 7:30 pace with a .25 mile recovery at a 8:34 pace. Overall avg. pace: 7:53

Friday:

Had to split my long run to make it work with the babysitter so I started by doing 5 miles on the treadmill (avg pace 8:42), and finished by running 12 miles outside: (avg pace 9:05) for a total of 17 miles.

It was the coldest long run I've done and I didn't wear enough layers. By the end my arms and fingers were so frozen I couldn't even zip up my jacket! I ran with my friend Kelly and it was a solid run but my legs were super tired at the end and my body was just so cold! I'm going to look into getting some warmer gear before my 18 miler this weekend.

Saturday:

4 mile recovery run on the treadmill: avg pace 9:13

Oh man my legs were tired for this run! Running 21 miles in less than 24 hours takes it's toll. It felt like my last leg of the Ragnar but I just pushed through it and figured it was good to practice running on tired legs.

One thing that has helped with the energy is drinking Chia seeds before my runs. I was only doing it before long runs but I started doing it before all my runs and I feel a big difference!

Here's my little secret to getting the seeds down, Mio liquid water enhancer. It's basically like Crystal light powder but in liquid form so it dissolves easier. Anyway, I use the strawberry watermelon flavor and it's good stuff!

So that's week 10. Week 11 will be all about the core work, which is fine since I guess next month is national Ab month anyway ; )

Oh and p.s. Guess who turned ONE last week?!

He had a lot of fun with his birthday cake : )

Week 9: Winter Warriors and a Bomb Diggity New Recipe!

2012-01-18T05:11:00.000-08:00

I made it to the halfway mark! Just 9 weeks to go and the miles are ramping up! I've got 17, 18, 19, and 20 milers coming up in the next few weeks and I'm so ~~SCARED~~ excited to see how they go : )

Last week I only ran 3 times but I still managed to log 32 miles so I was happy with it.

Monday I decided to do 10 miles since I missed my long run from being sick the week before. My friend watched the kids so I was able to run outside and it was awesome! 25 degrees outside but no snow so I was able to cruise along. I did my usual hilly route that has a 711 ft. elevation climb but I pushed it on the hills and finished with an average pace of 8:41.

Wednesday was a 7 miler on the treadmill, didn't push it too hard and finished with an average pace of 8:31.

Then on Friday my friend Kelly and I braved the elements and ran 15 miles on the applefest course (super hilly) in freezing icy snow. Their was a wind advisory too so the wind was whipping around us and causing icy snow drops to pelt our faces. It felt like like getting stung in the face over and over again, we had to look down at the ground to avoid getting too much in our eyes.

(Do you like how the snow flake fell in front of my face right as I was taking this pic? kind of cool : )

I seriously felt like I was just "surviving" that run, trying to get through the snow and wind and hills without dying. We stopped to walk briefly to fuel at mile 8 and then to find our way at mile 14, but even with the walking I was shocked when we finished to see that our average pace was 9:01!! We definitely earned winter warrior status for that run!

Me and Kelly, my awesome marathoning mentor who recently qualified for Boston with a 3:32 marathon. I feel like I learn so much every time I run with her!

So that was week 9. I wish I could've squeezed one more run in but life is busy with 3 kids, and now our Friday nights and Saturday mornings are filled with rehearsals for a play Taber and I are in that's being put on by our church. It's a scripture based musical about the life of Jesus Christ called the Savior of the World. I'm playing the part of Mary (who has a lot of lines and a couple solos) So it's a pretty big commitment right now. So yeah, always tricky to fit in our runs but every Sunday Taber and I sit down and meticulously plan out when each of us is going to run. It takes a lot of effort and planning but we're doing it and I think it will be so worth it to run our first marathon together!

Oh, and the healthy eating thing has had it's ups and downs but I recently found a new website called Skinnykitchen.com and it has the BEST recipes! I tried these lettuce wraps last night and they were so amazingly DELICIOUS! Taber seriously went on and on about how good they were and how he felt like he eating at PF Changs. So yeah, here's the link to the recipe, enjoy! Lettuce Wrap Recipe

I got a DSLR camera for Christmas so I'm kind of having fun pretending I can take cool pictures of food : )

Yummy Yummy!!

Week 8: Losing 8 lbs in 2 days is not cool...

2012-01-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

Week 8 of marathon training got seriously derailed by a horrible bout of the stomach flu. It took out our whole family, except for Cam. Brinley got it, Teya got it, Taber got it, and after cleaning up everyone's puke and taking care of them when they were sick, I knew it was only a matter of time before I got it too.

I went to bed on Thursday night feeling a little queasy, and a few hours later I woke up and starting hurling. I rarely get sick and when I do I never puke. I seriously think the last time I threw up was when I was 10 years old. So yeah, It must've been a pretty bad bug to get me to throw up like that. I thought I had emptied out my stomach but around 4 am I was up for another round of it. For 24 hours I couldn't even look at food and could barely even drink water. I sucked on ice chips and used heating pads to help with the achy muscles. Taber stayed home for a few hours on Friday morning and then my friends took the kids in the afternoon so I could rest. I slept, A LOT. And by Saturday I was up and moving again, although when I stepped on the scale I had lost 8 lbs since the puking/loss of appetite began.

Unless you're on the Biggest Loser or just gave birth to an 8 lb baby, losing 8 lbs that fast is not cool. I knew some of it was water weight but I also knew that my clothes were noticeably looser. Taber, (who usually doesn't notice these kinds of things) even made the comment that I looked super skinny. I felt horrible and had no energy. My appetite still wasn't back but I was concerned by my weight loss so I just forced myself to eat whatever my stomach would tolerate. yogurt, plain cheerios, toast, banana and a little bit of soup. Once I had some food in my belly I started perking up more. I knew a long run wasn't going to happen but I wanted to do something since I hadn't run since Wednesday. I hopped on the treadmill and just took it nice and easy thinking maybe I would do 6 miles, but 4 was all I could handle. I wasn't going fast but I still felt queasy afterwards.

By Monday I was up and running like normal again but man, what a bummer week for marathon training. I was supposed to run 30 miles and instead I did 15 : ( I hope it doesn't set me back too bad.

Here's what week 8 in training looked like:

Monday: 4 mile recovery run on the treadmill (legs were still tired from Saturday's 15 miler) avg pace: 8:35

Wednesday: The bright spot in a dark week of training: Ran 7 miles on the treadmill at an 8:04 pace. The best thing about this run was that I felt amazing and strong the whole time. Sometimes I'm killing myself for an 8 min pace but on this day I was just flying.

Saturday: 4 miles on the treadmill after a weekend of the stomach flu. Avg. pace: 8:49

Week 7: Goodbye Holiday Eating, Hello Healthy Eating!

2012-01-04T06:59:00.000-08:00

Week 7 was the last week of the holiday season and my last week of eating like a little piggy.

It was fun while it lasted, but as my jeans got tighter and the number on the scale got higher I knew it was time to get it under control.

So for my New Years resolution I have committed to dropping the 4 pounds I gained over the holidays, (because believe me, when you're 5 ft 2, four lbs makes a difference in the way your clothes fit.) And then dropping 5 more pounds to get down to marathon weight. My friend who recently qualified for Boston said that losing weight was key in helping her get faster. I'm not looking for a BQ but dropping some extra poundage might help me get my sub 4.

To drop the weight I started using the MyFitnessPal calorie counting app on my phone and it's pretty awesome. I'm aiming for about 1500 calories a day and the app just helps me keep track of everything. It seriously has every food you can imagine in it's data base and is really easy to use. I also like how it adjusts your calorie total when you work out. Like today I got 600 extra calories for running 7 miles. Pretty Cool.

Anyway, here's what yesterday's meals looked like:

( I didn't work out yesterday so I had to take it easy on the snacks, usually I snack more than this)

Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1 tsp brown sugar, 2 Tbs raisins, 1 Tbs chopped almonds and 1/2 cup of almond milk.

Snack: banana

Lunch: 1 egg + 2 egg whites scrambled with 4 slices deli turkey, 1/2 cup spinach, 1/4 cup reduced fat cheese and 1/4 cup of salsa.

Snack: Chobani Strawberry Banana Greek yogurt

Dinner: 7oz Salmon filet on a bed of Spinach with 1/2 cup of broccoli on the side.

Snack: Strawberry/raspberry smoothie made with 5 frozen strawberries, coconut extract, vanilla extract, 1/2 an orange, a packet of raspberry crystal light and 8 0z of water. SO YUMMY!!!

So yeah, I've been eating like that for the last 3 days and I'm feeling tons better and expect to see some good results on the scale next week.

Training was good last week. We had a 15 miler for our long run and it definitely gave us a workout!

We stayed up late the night before so we could go to the Celtics opening game. Totally worth it!

The next morning we had a babysitter come at 9am and headed out with temps in the low 30's and a forecast for "freezing rain." I was nervous about the weather but once we got going it wasn't that bad. In the end we finished 15 miles with a 9:04 average pace. The course had a 997 ft elevation climb so we really worked for that 9 minute pace!

Also, my last 2 miles were 8:20 and 8:50 so I finished in negative splits. Woot!

There was ice in my hair and as soon as I stopped moving I was freezing my buns off. I went inside and told the babysitter I needed her for 20 more minutes so I could change and warm my body back up.

It took 2 pairs of pants, a long sleeve shirt, a fleece jacket, and my winter coat to make me stop shivering.

Taber had even more layers than me though. He put on 2 shirts, a sweatshirt, his robe, his winter coat, and a blanket! I was laughing so hard when I saw him that I had to take a picture.

Once we were warm again we realized we were STARVING!!

I started pulling stuff out of the fridge and making whatever food I could think off. I put some noodles on to boil for spaghetti but then pancakes sounded good too so I decided to do both. While I was waiting for them to cook I guzzled a coconut water, then drank a chocolate milk while I stuffed almonds and craisins in my face. Taber noshed on a giant sweet potato drenched in salsa and then we sat down to eat our carb-tacular feast.

The aftermath of our carb binge.

After we stuffed our faces we showered and then we were so wasted we made all the kids take a nap so we could crash too. We slept for 2 hours and then at last, we felt recovered.

It was the longest run I've done since having Cam and it definitely took a lot out of me, but I felt great while I was running so I think the bigger issue was not sleeping a lot the night before and probably not fueling well enough during the run.

Anyway, here's the summary of week 7:

Monday: 4 miles of interval sprints on the treadmill: avg pace 8:03

Wednesday: 7 rough miles on the treadmill (ate too much junk that day): avg pace 8:21

Friday: Another torturous 4 miles on the treadmill due to crappy eating: avg pace 8:08

Saturday: 15 miles outside: avg pace 9:04

Hoping my treadmill runs will be a little more pleasant now that I'm eating better!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Week 6 in Training and a Christmas Eve run with the guy who started it all!

2011-12-28T19:40:00.000-08:00

Week 6 was a lot of fun because my sister and her husband Kevin were in town and they are the people who got me into running. Kevin is a big time runner and him and Naomi encouraged me to sign up for my first race ever, a 2 mile turkey trot.

That turkey trot made me catch the running bug and 7 months later Kevin ran by my side to help me finish my first marathon. He normally runs marathons about an hour and a half faster than I finished mine so he really took one for the team to stay with me.

Yeah, my brother in law rules.

On the 2nd day they were here, Kevin, Taber and I went out for a nice 6 miler. It was so fun running together and we were cruising along at a nice 8:30 pace even with some solid hills.

Then on Saturday (Christmas Eve morning) we put on some Santa hats and drove over to the Applefest course to show Kevin (who lives in flat Chicago) some real hills.

It was FREEZING that morning. Had to do some jump shots to stay warm : )

Me and Santa Taber with the sun rising behind us

and Kevin taking one of his famous self portraits. He always makes the most flattering faces. ; )

I was only planning to do 12 miles and I was kind of dreading the applefest hills, but once we got going I felt awesome and I just powered along. I ended up doing the whole half marathon course with them and we finished in 1:58:06.

Here's what our splits looked like:

We took the first mile easy to warm up but by mile 3 we were moving along. We ran slower through the hills but we picked it up again at the end and finished strong. (Taber went on to do an even 14 miles and Kevin tagged on 2 extra miles for 15 just because they're cool like that.)

It was an awesome way to start off the morning and we got lots of friendly honks and waves in our Santa hats!

Also major props to my sister Naomi who watched all the kiddos while we ran. She is the stud of the universe!

Here's the full summary of what week 6 looked like:

Monday: 3 mile tempo run on treadmill: avg pace 7:53 ( Felt like pushing it that day)

Tuesday: 3 miles interval sprints on treadmill: avg. pace 8:01

Thursday: 6 miles outside with Kevin and Taber: avg pace 8:33

Saturday: 13.1 miles outside with Kevin and Taber: avg pace 9:01

And I'm throwing in a picture of the kids with Santa because cuteness like this must be shared : )

Hope Everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Weeks 4 and 5 in Training and keeping the holiday pounds at bay (sort of...)

2011-12-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well, the first 5 weeks of my marathon training is done. I gotta admit it's been a little tricky trying to squeeze in training during the holidays. It seems like I have so much going on, especially because I've been working on some major projects for Christmas gifts and they've been super time consuming. I barely got in 3 runs during week 4 and on week 5 I had to cut my long run short to get to a Christmas breakfast at my church that I was cooking for and singing in. This time of year is just busy. Despite the condensed training I do feel like the runs I've done have all been solid and I think I'm still far enough out that a few missed miles will be okay.

So yeah, the tough thing about training during the holidays is the crunch for time. The awesome thing about training during the holidays is that I've semi managed to keep off the "winter storage" that I usually pack on between Halloween and Christmas. I'm a major foodie, and even though for the most part I try to keep my food obsession in moderation, this time of year is my weakness. I always gain 8 to 10 lbs every holiday season, but I'm happy to say that this year I have only gained 2! Not because I've been eating better, still gotta have my sugar, but my winter belly is a little smaller this year because I actually have to put in some miles to keep up my training. ; ) Someday I might conquer my sugar addiction but at least for now I've got running to keep it in check.

Anyways, here's what my runs looked like for weeks 4 and 5. Still no snow on the ground so we've been able to do all our long runs outside. And when I say "we" I mean Taber and I, he's thinking about running DC too so we've been doing our long runs together. We've been able to get babysitters for the last 2 weeks and it is so worth the money to be able to 1) be done with our runs by 9am and not have to drag it out until the afternoon by taking turns and 2) run with the hottest guy ever : )

This Saturday my brother in law who is also training for DC will be in town so I'm excited for all of us to get in a nice Christmas eve 12 miler : ) Hope everyone has a great week and a very Merry Christmas!

Training Summary:

Week 4:
Monday: 3.63 miles doing intervals on treadmill. avg pace 8:16
Wednesday: 6 mile tempo run on treadmill: avg pace 8:07
Saturday: 11.8 miles outside: avg pace 8:55

Week 5:
Tuesday: 4 miles doing intervals on treadmill. avg pace 8:04
Wednesday: 6 mile tempo run on treadmill. avg pace: 7:58
Thursday: 1.5 quick run on treadmill: avg. pace 8:02
Friday: 3 mile tempo run on treadmill. avg pace 8:11
Saturday: 7 miles outside. avg pace 8:59

Week 3 in training: New running friends and a house full of sickies

2011-12-07T11:48:00.001-08:00

Week 3 of training was a tough one. Taber was out of town in Minnesota for the first half of the week so I was flying solo on mom duty. It was exhausting being on the clock 24/7 with no backup, but I did manage to get 2 runs in during the week and they were both outside which was awesome.

On Saturday I got to do my long run with a friend I met through church who is an awesome marathoner. She just ran her 5th marathon and qualified for Boston, finishing in 3:32! I really wanted to pick her brain about how to train smarter and get faster. She has 4 kids so she understands the mommy dilemma of making time for training while balancing her family life. Her husband came along too and it was fun talking to another couple who thinks running dates are awesome. ; ) We did 10 miles and it flew by having people to chat with. We had so much fun that we decided to meet up again this Saturday, and this time one of her daughters is watching our kids so Taber can run with us too. I'm so excited to have some new running friends!

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When I got back from my run I walked in the door and before I could untie my shoes, Brinley puked the entire contents of her stomach onto the kitchen floor.

The rest of the weekend was spent taking care of barfing babies. Brinley couldn't keep anything down, not even juice or water. She was devastated because she really wanted to go with Taber and Teya to cut down a Christmas tree but I wasn't going to let her because she was so sick. She cried and cried and told me she felt better. Finally I caved and let her go. She made it through the cutting of the tree but as soon as Taber put her back in the car, she puked everywhere and then passed out.

Poor sick little lady : (

The next morning we started our day with Cam barfing up his entire bottle onto the bathroom floor.

Launch round 2 of the pukes.

It was a long weekend. We went through a lot of towels, sheets, blankets, and laundry. I'm glad I had a bought a box of disposable plastic gloves, they made the clean up slightly more bearable. ; )

Thankfully the sickies weren't sick for too long.

Brinley was back in action after 24 hours

And Cam starting perking up again after 2 days.

We got our tree set up, and even though it wasn't perfect,

I logged week 3 in the marathon training books.

Here's what my training looked like:

Monday: 3.5 miles outside: interval sprints: Avg pace 8:19
Wednesday: 5 miles outside (my friend watched the kids) hauled booty and clocked my fastest 5 miler ever! finished in 40:09, avg pace 8:02.
Saturday: 10 miles outside with our running buddies: avg pace: 8:53

No cross training! Yikes! Wish I could say I was doing better with that this week but so far haven't been able to squeeze it in! Gotta make a goal to get it in next week, we'll see how it goes.

Turkey Trot, Week 2 in Training, and the Alphabet block that almost killed me!

2011-11-30T06:58:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving morning, Taber and I decided VERY last minute to get up early and run the local Turkey Trot 5K. I figured that somehow those 3 little miles would make all the gluttony of the rest of the day feel justified. : )

It was a great little 5K through the trails at Mine Falls. I'm not used to trail running so it was trickier than I thought navigating some of the thinner paths with rocks and trees. I got off to a slow start but once I got in my groove I started passing people and ended up finishing in 25:55 min (8:12 avg. pace) Taber was about 2 minutes ahead of me finishing around 24 minutes. Not our fastest 5K but good enough for me to say, "bring on the candied sweet potatoes!"

We were home just after 9 am and Taber got to work grilling up the turkey. Taber's parents flew out and our friends from Boston drove up and and we ate and ate and ate and ate, all week long! I wonder if the Tarahumara indians have Thanksgiving? I'm going to pretend they do so I can still claim I'm eating like a Tarahumara, haha!

Seriously though, it was a glorious week of eating and now I'm trying to wean myself off rich buttery carbs and sugary desserts every day. I'm still in the grouchy withdrawal stage ; )

Despite the decadent eating, Week 2 of Marathon Training went well. Here's what it looked like:

Monday : 3 miles of intervals on the treadmill: 8:18 avg. pace

Wednesday: 4 mile tempo run on treadmill: 8:11 avg. pace

Thursday: 3.1 mile trail run outside: 8:12 avg. pace

Saturday: 9 mile hilly course outside: 8:34 avg pace.

The intervals are definitely making me faster, although I probably pushed it a little too hard on my long run. My legs were feeling it the next day. I think I'm going to shoot for closer to a 9 minute pace on my long runs since I heard you were supposed to run your short runs faster and your long runs slower (or something like that)

My feet are doing well without my inserts but I did have a major setback yesterday when the kids begged me to play tickle monster and chase them around the house. We were all running around, screaming and laughing and having a great time. I was really getting into it, taking big strides and then all of a sudden my foot came down hard on one of their blasted little alphabet blocks. I let out a big yelp and then had a Nancy Kerrigan moment, cradling my foot and crying, "WHY ME?" It seriously hurt SO bad! Luckily after some icing it felt a lot better but it's still tender this morning and there's a nice violet bruise in my arch where the block hit.

I think I might take today off or try a really easy run and see how it affects me. Hopefully it won't be a bid deal but I might have developed a new phobia of alphabet blocks after that one almost killed me!

Training recap: Week 1

2011-11-21T11:54:00.001-08:00

Well week one of marathon training is in the books and I gotta confess, I might've been a little idealistic when I said I was going to train and eat like a Tarahumara runner. : ) I mean, I DID work on my form and think I'm making a lot of progress with my gait. I also ditched my inserts so hopefully my arches can get a little stronger. But the eating thing, whoa! That ended up being harder than I thought! After I read Born to Run I was all gung ho about eating whole foods and going meatless but then I got back to reality and was like, "yeah right!"

Like today when the kids wanted happy meals. I thought I could be strong and just order food for them and eat a nice leafy green salad when I got home. Nope. Those happy meals came in the car, filling the air with the intoxicating aroma of hot greasy fries and I was a goner.

There were many other moments of weakness like that but the point is, I had a rough time sticking with healthy foods last week. Naturally it made me feel gross and lethargic so hopefully I can do better this week and benefit from the extra energy that comes from eating well.

Despite my less than stellar food choices I did get in some good runs. Here's what last week looked like:

Monday: 4 miles of interval splits on the treadmill. Alternated running 2 minutes at a 9:13 pace (6.5 mph) and 2 minutes at a 7:30 pace (8mph) until I hit 4 miles. Tough workout with an overall average pace of 8:17.

Tuesday: Jillian Michaels 30 day shred level 2

Wednesday: 4 mile tempo run on treadmill. 8:31 pace.

Friday: 3 mile run on treadmill without my inserts. Felt some pain for the 1st mile but then it went away. 8:39 pace.

Saturday: 8 mile run outside: 8:43 pace.

Total mileage: 19. Not bad for my first week. I figure I'll just ease into it nice and slow and hopefully I won't burn out.

Goals for this week:
1) Eat better (although I will be doing some major splurging on Thanksgiving. ; )
2) Try to get my runs in before the kids wake up so I can get more things done during the day.
3) Go to bed earlier!!

9 Months on, 9 months off

2011-11-18T10:40:00.001-08:00

I know Heidi Klum and many other genetically blessed mamas are back in their skinny jeans just weeks after giving birth, but my body doesn't like to give up weight that easily.

For me the rule seems to be, 9 months to pack it on, 9 months to work it off.

With Cam I put on a solid 43 pounds.

Now that it's finally off, I thought it would be good to post some before pics to remind me to go easy on the Twinkies next time I'm pregnant.

Big Mama carrying Cam in my belly

9 months later carrying him in my arms.

Chubby chipmunk cheeks at a restaurant 7 months prego with Cam

9 months later the "cheek swelling" has gone down : )

Somebody probably should've told me to put down the cake (8 months prego)

And here I am 2 months after he was born,

still holding on to 25 extra pounds

8 months of Weightwatchers, a 5K, 10K and half marathon later and I'm finally ready to get back in my bathing suit : )

Of course it was all worth it for this guy.

Who wouldn't pack on 43 lbs to get this? : )

BORN TO RUN!!

2011-11-16T03:56:00.001-08:00

I'm BACK!!

And I'm ready to take on a marathon baby!

It's been 2 1/2 years since I ran 26.2 and I finally think I'm ready to revisit that monster again.

There are 18 weeks until the DC Marathon and if everything goes my way I'll be there toeing the starting line : )

It's been awhile since I posted but good things have been happening over here that have made me feel up for this challenge.

1) I finally made it back to my pre-baby weight and reached my lifetime weight watchers goal! It's amazing how much easier it is to run without all the extra poundage.

2) I spent a week in Turks and Caicos for our 10 year anniversary and came back pumped and excited again about running!

You wouldn't think a week of sleeping in and relaxing would make me a better runner, but when Taber bought me a book to read on the beach called, "Born to Run," everything changed. He's been trying to get me to read it for 2 years and it took a week without the kids to get me to settle down and do it.

Half way through I thought, "WHY HAVEN'T I READ THIS SOONER?!!!" It was AWESOME!!! It made me look at running through new eyes. It talks about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico who run like super humans and yet they aren't slaves to some training schedule, they don't worry about time or pace, they don't even wear running shoes, just sandals! The biggest thing that impressed me though was that they run for the joy of running. Towards the end of a 100 mile race (that they won) they were still smiling as they burned up the trail.

That whole concept of running for the joy of it really hit me. We were born to run. (If you don't believe me, read the book.) And when we take away all the artificial things that we've added to our diets and training regimens, amazing things can happen. I'm telling you, after reading that book I'm seriously ready to ditch my running shoes, strap on some sandals, chug down some chia seeds and run as far as legs will take me! I know that's extreme and I'll have to ease myself into this new style of running but here are some things that I've already started to change:

1) The way I eat. The less ingredients the better. Simple, pure, whole foods. If it came from the ground or a tree, put it in my fuel tank. I've majorly scaled back on sugar and processed foods and am cutting back significantly on meat. (Not ready to go full on vegetarian like the runners in the book but definitely eating meat sparingly)

2) The way I train. My game plan for this marathon is to "Run Less, Run Faster." That's another book and another blog post but basically I'll only be running 3-4 times a week but with a purpose to every run. (Speed work, hill training, or long run)

3) The way I think about running. Instead of being a chore, I'm trying to look at every run as a way for my body to express itself joyfully. (I know that sounds kind of cheesy but seriously, this is what my body was made to do so why not enjoy it!)

4) My running form. Tarahumara runners land on the balls of their feet, they keep their hips dead under their shoulders and engage their core while they relax their legs and let them spin from pivot points in the hips. They stay smooth and level, not a lot of bouncing, and whip their heels up towards their butt. I haven't even come close to mastering this but I've tried in my last few runs and when I do I go faster a lot easier.

I'd also like to start easing myself into some simpler running shoes like Nike Frees or maybe even Vibrams. Right now my shoes are super structured and I run with arch supporting inserts so I'm definitely going to have to ease into this transition gradually, but I'm onboard with the barefoot running revolution after reading this book!

So that's the update! Marathon training started on Monday and I'm a born again runner! ; )

Applefest Half Marathon Race Report: Finally!

2011-10-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

I totally posted my race report on my family blog and forgot to put it up here! I know it seems like the running blog would be the more obvious place to post it but I like my race reports on my family blog because I turn that blog into a book every year through blurb.com and I love having my races in our family "scrapbook."

If you follow both blogs sorry for the redundancy. I did add a few little bonuses at the end of this one though to talk about our race wounds and causalities.

Anyway, here's the report!

For the last 6 months I've been slowly but surely working my way back into shape after taking a 9 month break from exercise and responsible eating while I was pregnant . : ) I signed up for the Applefest half marathon back in April to give myself some extra motivation to get out there and run.

Last year I came with "big baby" (AKA my prego belly) to cheer on Taber, my sister and a bunch of friends that were running it. This year it was pretty awesome to be pinning on a number too.

After watching everyone run it last year I knew the course was insanely hilly with the worst of the hills coming in the back half. Those hills really freaked me out and I was hesitant to set a time goal for myself. But then my running buddy Kendall told me that every time her sister races, no matter what, she always goes after a PR. I was inspired by that and it made me think of that quote, "It's better to aim high and miss than aim low and hit your target." So I decided to aim high and set my sights on finishing under 2 hours, which means I would need to sustain at least a 9:10 pace for 13.1 miles.

To prepare for race day I ran the Applefest course twice in training so I could get a feel for those hills. Both times I pushed pretty hard but couldn't get it under 2 hours. I was nervous, but hoped that with good weather and race adrenaline I could get there.

Then the day before the race Taber did something unbelievably awesome. He told me he was going to forget about his own time goal and run as my pacer to make sure I got my goal. I seriously could not believe it. I was literally jumping up and down and squealing with excitment. It was like being handed a secret weapon with superpowers. Once he told me that I was like, "Bring it on you big scary hills! I'm running with The Taber! You got nothin'!"

Seriously though, knowing that Taber would be running with me was the best confidence booster I could've asked for. He also volunteered to run with the fuel belt so I could stay hydrated (water stops are only every 2 miles at the Applefest.) I was so pumped to have my own personal one man entourage. Pacer, water boy, motivational coach and even camera man. With Taber by my side it was going to be a good race.

We woke up that morning to cool weather with drizzling rain. Perfect running weather. I ate some toast with peanut butter and banana then we loaded up the girls and drove over to the high school. Taber dropped me off with the girls and their friend and went to park the car. We had only 30 minutes before it started and I still had to drop off my bag, find my friend who was watching the girls to do a kid pass off, meet up with a running blogger friend for some pre-race pics, stretch, and most importantly, do my port-a-potty routine. Navigating the crowd with 3 little girls who walk slower than worms crawl was going to be a problem. Luckily I bumped into Taber's training buddy Rob and he offered to watch the girls so I could drop off my bag.

I ran up to the gym and checked my bag, and finally got to meet my blogger buddy Lauren for a quick picture and good luck wishes on the race. I found Lauren's blog through a giveaway and have loved reading about her fitness adventures through her spunky upbeat personality. She is an absolute gem in real life too. I told her I'd look for her after the race, then I squeezed in a trip to the port-a-potty with not a minute to spare. Taber got the girls situated with the babysitter, we took a quick picture and then we lined up with our friends Rob, Ricky and Joseph near the front.

The race director said "GO" and we took off with the crowd. Rob, Ricky and Joseph pulled away from us pretty quickly. I could see Rob and Ricky in the distance but Joseph was long gone. I worried that we might be going too slow but Taber told me to hold back and stay with him. We finished our first mile in 8:11, well under our goal pace. Mile 2 brought us to Merrill hill which we plowed up no problem and clocked an 8:30 pace for the 2nd mile. We saw the girls at that point and they were screaming and cheering and reaching out for high fives. We slapped them some skin and the lady next to me said, "Aw! How motivating!"

We finished mile 3 in 8:32 and took advantage of a nice long downhill to pick up a fast 8:08 pace on mile 4. I felt strong, energetic and awesome during those first miles. Taber had his phone and was taking little videos while we ran. He would tell me when to speed up or slow down and do form checks every once in awhile. He also told me I looked awesome and made it look so easy. I was like, "Man I should run all my races with this guy! I'm lovin' this!"

Here we are at mile 4 all smiles and thumbs up.

We hit a good hill at mile 5 but luckily there was a guy there playing the bagpipes for some motivation. We finished that mile in 8:38 and stretched out our legs to pick up some speed on the downhill at mile 6. Since the worse hills are in the second half our strategy was to run the first half under pace and pick up as much time as we could on the downhills so we'd have a buffer when we got to the big hills from miles 8-11.

We saw our friend Kemper cheering at mile 6 and then we saw Rob's wife Darby a half a mile later with personalized signs for us! We clocked an 8:22 pace for that mile and felt good as we got close to the halfway point. Mile 7 was mostly flat and we were well under pace so didn't push hard and kept it steady at 8:47. After mile 7 we downed our chocolate GU's and geared up for the long stretch of hills I call the gauntlet.

The gauntlet is brutal but I had run it in my training and knew what I was up against. We jogged, we shuffled, but we never stopped to walk. It started raining pretty hard right as we were heading into the first hill but I didn't mind because it kept us cool. At mile 8 we caught up with Rob and Joseph and ran with them for awhile. Joseph hadn't been able to train since he started MBA school at the end of August and even though he flew through the first 8 miles, the hills started to take their toll and he fell behind. Rob fell back too but I knew we had to keep going because if I stopped I wouldn't be able to start again.

The rain made my feet wet and soggy and my legs felt heavy going up the hills. Taber told me to dig deep and started talking about all the people and things that motivate us to run. I blocked out everything but his voice and forced my legs to keep moving. Our splits through the hills were 8:59 for mile 8, 8:40 for mile 9, and 9:35 for mile 10.

When we got to the top of the last hill in the gauntlet Taber was celebrating but I was spent. He was ready to pick up the pace and coast in for the last 2 miles but I was starting to break down. Mile 11 was 9:15. My legs were so tired and even though Taber said run, all I wanted to do was walk.

"Come on babe, you got this! Just stay with me and you're going to PR!"

"This is all I got." I told him. "It's all I can do not to walk right now."

"15 more minutes of hard running and you're done. Think of why we run. Think about Cam. Don't stop."

That must've done it when he told me to think about Cam because I picked up my legs again and finished mile 12 in 9:02. Then we were back to Merrill hill. The cruelest part of this course is a 75 foot climb on the last mile. I wanted to cry. Taber started to pull away from me and I finally gave into my screaming legs and stopped to walk. Taber was having none of that though. "Stay with me and you're going to like what you see at the finish line, we're almost there, just stay with me!" I grabbed his arm and told him to pull me but he said, "no, you're going to do this yourself." I knew he was right, so I summoned every last ounce of will power and commanded my legs to run. I got to the top and it was all downhill from there. I ran as hard as I could. I heard Taber shouting, "Yeah! you're doing it! YEAH!"

We rounded the corner back to the high school and saw all our friends and our girls shouting and cheering for us. Someone was holding Cam and ran him out to give me high five as I was passing. Darby took this picture right then. I could see the finish line and knew I was going to PR, I saw my girls and my sweet baby boy, my friends were there cheering for me and I had Taber by my side. It was an amazing moment.

My official time was 1:56:15. Smashed my 2 hour goal and set a new personal record. My average pace was 8:53 min/mile and I placed 19 out 70 in my age division. Not bad for my post-baby comeback!

Afterwards I tried to grab pictures with all my friends who had run.

I got to chat with Lauren some more in the gym and Cam seemed to like her (and her medal) a lot. : )

One last shout out to Taber for being the best pacer, water boy, coach, motivational speaker and friend I could ask for. He is my real secret weapon. So grateful to him and the kids for all their support (even though Cam and Brinley don't look super supportive in this picture ; ) I couldn't have done it without them!

BONUS:
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The rain was great for keeping us cool but it did cause some wounds and casualties.

Running in a soaking wet sports bra= seriously painful back chaff-ige

My whole back was red but the worst was right here, completed chaffed my skin off and burned like crazy when I got in the shower. Owie!

And the biggest casualty of the race was Taber's iPhone. He had it with him to take video while we ran but the rain got it wet and now the mic that pics up your voice when you talk doesn't work. I think it works when he puts the phone on speaker but yeah, he was a little bummed.

The good news is he was able to capture some cool clips while we ran and I put it into a little video. Hope you enjoy 2 hours of running in 2 minutes. : )

Lululemon Giveaway

2011-10-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

So I totally need to post about Applefest but I had to take a minute to enter this awesome giveaway for a $50 gift card to Lululemon. They have awesome workout clothes and since I literally live in my workout gear it would be nice to have some decent stuff : ) Go check it out for a chance to win!

Lululemon Giveaway

Tomorrow...

2011-09-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Applefest is TOMORROW and I'm kind of freaking out!! I get pre-race jitters like you wouldn't believe, especially when I've set an ambitious goal for myself and let people know about it. I get all worked up and feel like if I don't hit my goal everyone will be so dissapointed. I know that's not true so I just gotta reign myself in and stop freaking out! No matter what happens tomorrow, I'm proud of myself for sticking with my training and working hard to get to the point where I can actually run 13.1 miles, sub 2 hours or not!

So here are some things that have been making me nervous:

1)The course is super duper hilly. I've run it twice now and the hills are KILLER!

2) The weather calls for 60% chance of rain. Hoping soggy feet don't give me blisters ; (

3) Not to be TMI but during the last few runs I've had some bowel issues that have slowed me down.

4) I can't run with music (applefest has a very strict no music policy) I've tried to wean myself but I still run a lot faster with my tunes.

On the positive side, here are some things that boost my confidence:

1) I've run the course twice so I'm familiar with it and know what I'm up against.

2) I've trained on hills for the last 6 weeks since my treadmill broke and now my legs are getting better at taking them.

And the best most awesome confidence booster of all...Taber told me this morning that he is going to run with me the whole time!! I was seriously jumping up and down with excitement! With Taber there to pace me I KNOW I can hit my goal if I just stay focused and trust my training.

Also I will have the cutest cheerleaders on the planet waiting for me at the finish line.

Do you love his, "My mommy runs wicked fast" onsie?

My friend Kendall made it for him.

We both had babies a week apart in January and Applefest is our come back race : )

And can't forget the girls, they wanted in on the pictures too.

They were still in their jammies and rockin' the bed head but you can't deny the cuteness.

Pretty awesome motivation ; )

Dear neglected running blog...

2011-09-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

Dear running blog,

I wish I had time for you but the whole 3 kids thing is still kind of kicking my butt. I love those precious little nuggets more than anything in this world but let me tell you, 3 feels like a lot more than 2!

Cam turned 8 months old today and keeping that kid fed, diapered, and safe from small choking hazards takes a pretty monumental chunk of time out of my day. I know those don't sound like hard things but you should see the circus act I have to put on just to get a few bites food in this guy's mouth. It's intense.

Also Teya just started kindergarten and don't even get me started on the horrendous schedule of getting all 3 kids loaded into the car to drop her off, then getting the two little ones unloaded, then re-loading and unloading 2 and 1/2 hours later to go pick her up. What is the point of 2 1/2 hour kindergarten? Plus keeping track of all her papers and back to school night and PTO meetings and fundraisers and all that stuff is pretty much maxing out my brain capacity.

So now you know, it's not you, it's me. I want to keep you updated with workout summaries and race reports and ww recipes and all the ups and downs on my road back fitness but unless I give up sleep entirely it just isn't going to happen. Someday maybe I'll figure out how to fit it all in but until then you'll just have to make do with my sporadic posts that happen every 2 weeks (if I'm lucky ; ) Here's the latest:

Applefest is less than 3 weeks away!

Running has been going really well despite two major bumps in the road.

Bump 1: Our treadmill broke 2 weeks ago and no one could come fix it until this coming Thursday. I didn't realize how much I rely on that thing until I couldn't use it anymore. It's been really tricky trying to squeeze my runs in before Taber goes to work or after he gets home because he's trying to run too! His marathon is in 5 weeks so he's at the peak of his training. Anyway, with some major juggling and also some good friends who have watched the kids I've managed to get at least 3 runs in a week. It's not optimal but better than nothing!

Bump 2: The day after our treadmill broke Cam got really sick and ended up having to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. (If you want to know more details you can read about it here.) He was in the hospital for 2 1/2 days and it was a very stressful and scary time. I usually deal with stress through eating and I'm not gonna lie, a friend brought some cookies to the hospital and I might've eaten a straight dozen without even realizing it till they were gone. That being said, after two days of stress eating I finally pulled it back together and instead of spiraling downhill I forced myself out for an 11 mile run. It was very therapeutic and got me back in gear.

So despite those bumps I feel like I've done a pretty good job staying on track for the Applefest. In fact, Taber and I ran a warm up half marathon down in Plymouth, MA last Saturday and it was a huge success. It was the Run to the Rock half marathon and we wanted to do it because it's really hilly like the Applefast and we thought it would be good practice.

It was kind of nice doing a race with no pressure and I actually think the fact that I didn't care made me go faster! From the way my long runs have been going I figured I would come in around 2 hrs 10 min or 2:05 if I was really feeling good. When I got out there the temp was nice and cool, my legs felt fresh and my lungs were strong. I started pushing through the hills and made up my mind I would run every one of them without walking. I never thought about the full 13.1 miles, I just focused on one mile at a time, one hill at a time and focused on completing each mini segment. Before I knew it I was heading down the home stretch towards the finish line. I was shocked behind shocked when I crossed the finish line in 2:00:53. I was less than a minute away from breaking 2 hours which is my goal for Applefest! My legs were feeling it big time afterwards but man what a high! If the weather will cooperate 2 1/2 weeks from now I think I may just log me a sub two hour half marathon ; )

Me and Speedy boy Taber who finished in 1:46:30 (an 8:08 pace!) He rocks!

So that's the update. Hopefully you'll get another one before Applefest but if you don't, at least now you know why ; )

Yesterday Rocked!

2011-08-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

I really should be cleaning my house right now but the baby is asleep and the girls are playing so nicely that I'm taking a quick minute to document yesterday's awesomeness.

Two things:

1) Went to my Weightwatchers meeting (finally!) and was down 2 lbs!! It was so motivating to see how close I am to lifetime status. 3 lbs to go!

2) Taber told me about a local 5K just 10 minutes from our house that was going on last night and said I should run it. I was hesitant because I haven't been doing any speed training and it was 89% humidity last night with temps in the mid seventies. Ideal 5K weather for me is more like in the 50's. Anyway, I didn't want to run unless I could beat my last 5K time of 27:11 and I honestly didn't know if I could do that in the muggy conditions.

Taber was Mr. encouragement though and kept telling me I could do it. He believed it enough that I started believing it too and said, what the heck, I'll do it!

The race was small, only 327 runners. But it was well organized and the course was relatively flat for New England. There was no chip time so I knew that whoever I didn't pass was going to beat me, and that was pretty motivating. I ran the first mile in 8:23 and the second mile was also 8:23. At that point my lungs were burning and the humidity was oppressive, like running into a hot steamy towel. I saw a couple of older gentlemen in front of me though and I knew I could beat them. I pushed through the jacuzzi air past the old guys and caught up with a tall middle aged guy with about a quarter of a mile to the finish. He didn't know I was behind him but I decided in my mind I was going to beat him and started closing the gap pretty quickly. As I came down the home stretch Brinley got excited and came running out onto the course. I briefly left my quest to beat the tall guy and slapped her some skin then I was right back on him as we battled it out for the finish. According to the official results he beat me by 1 second, but it wasn't chip timed remember? so Taber caught it on video and even though it's hard to see, I think it might've been a tie. Here's the clip.

Overall I was thrilled with the race. My official time was 25:37 (8:16 pace) which is a huge improvement from my last 5K and put me 6th place out of 43 for my age division. (On Facebook I said 5th because that's what it said at the race, but today the results online said 6th. Either way I 'll take it!)

I'm so grateful to Taber for pushing me to get out there yesterday. It made a good day even better and boosted my running confidence. And I know I'm all red faced and sweaty in this pic but when I saw Cam holding that little cowbell I decided it was too cute not to post! I really have the best cheerleaders ever!

Wal-mart ego boost and a double digit run

2011-08-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

Last week the fridge and pantry got pretty bare because I could not bring myself to do a major grocery shop with all 3 kids. When things got desperate I finally decided to hit up Wal-mart at 10pm and just get 'er done.

It was pretty glorious shopping by myself and totally worth the late night outing for the low stress experience. As I was checking out, the cashier noticed the diapers, baby food and other kid items and asked me how many kids I had. I said, "Three," and her eyes just about popped out of her head.

"Wow you do NOT look old enough to have 3 kids! How old are you?"
I told her I was 30 and her eyes popped out all over again. "Well you don't look close to 30 at all! More like 18!"

Thank you cashier lady. You are my new best friend.

And her nice words kept coming. "Well it must be all this healthy food you eat. You didn't buy any junk at all! Are you a nutritionist or in the medical field or something? I can tell you read the labels because this is all such good stuff."

Disclaimer: I am nowhere near the clean eating awesomeness of many of you healthy eaters but I try to at least avoid tons of processed pre-made foods (except for the eggos, which my kids are crazy about so I buy them in whole wheat.) Anyway, it made me feel good enough about my "healthy" loot that I brought it home and took a picture. (and yes, there's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in there, great source of calcium and um, vitamin D?)

So that was my little Wal-mart ego boost that made me feel young and healthy, even if I do get a little crazy with S'mores every now and again ; )
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Training went well last week. Not quite up to the 6 days a week I was shooting for but I got some great runs in. Here's what my week looked like:

Monday: 9 miles, outside, 9:11 pace

Wednesday: 3 miles, treadmill, 8:55 pace

Friday: 4 miles, treadmill, 8:38 pace

Saturday: 10 miles, outside, 9:33 pace

The 10 miler was kind of a big deal to me because it was my first double digit run since having Cam. I ran it with Taber and our friend Joseph who's running the Applefest too. It was awesome running with those guys and it made it go by quickly. We tackled some pretty serious hills and I'll admit, at one point I started having a mental panic attack and freaking out about signing up for such a hilly race. I have a bad habit of feeling doubt or anxiety during tough parts of a run but Taber always tells me, "PMA!! positive mental attitude! you can do this!" And it's true, the one thing running has taught me is that I can do hard things. So I switched over to PMA mode and willed my fanny up those hills. Even though my lungs and legs were screaming, I pushed through to the end and felt a great sense of accomplishment afterwards.

When we were done I stretched really well but I could feel the the old plantar fasciitis flaring up again. I iced and rolled it and wore my inserts all the next day. It's feeling a lot better but I think I'm going to need some new shoes before I attempt another long run.

This week I'm shooting for 4 runs and 2 cross training sessions for 6 days of workouts. Hopefully I fit it all in because I can tell my legs and core could really use some strengthening!

Time to Buckle Down

2011-08-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

So I guess it's been a month since I've blogged. Oops! My blogging frequency seems to be directly related to how well I'm doing with my Weightwatchers and exercise goals. The better I am doing, the more I blog, (and vice versa). So my month long absence on here should give you a pretty good idea of how much I've slacked off...Um yeah, summers are tough.

I hate to say it but my awesome dedication to 30 day Shred has completely stopped. Haven't done that workout in 3 weeks. : ( Luckily my running is still going well since I kind of have to keep that up with a half marathon in 6 weeks, but my weightwatchers tracking has been non-existent and I haven't gone to a meeting in 3 weeks. yikes!

Last weekend we took the family camping (don't the girls look cute?) and I think I may have consumed my entire week's worth of WW points in one night of S'More roasting.

As I shoved the 19th or 20th S'more in my mouth (I lost count after the first dozen), I felt the sugar buzzing around in my brain and the discomfort of being stuffed beyond stuffed and I thought to myself, "Becca, it's time to buckle down." (Naturally I meant AFTER the campout and pit stop on the drive home that included a mushroom burger, onion rings and coconut soft serve ice cream. Can't buckle down without one last hoorah. : )

So now with a month of gluttony behind me I am back on track! As in, tracking all my points and bringing back the 6 day a week exercise plan. I have 5 lbs to go before I hit lifetime Weightwatchers status and get to go to meetings for free! 5 LBS!! I can totally do this! Just got to buckle down.

Yesterday I ran 9 miles to make up for the long run I missed while we were camping. Even running on marshmallow fuel I was happy with my overall time of 1:22:58 for a 9:11 pace on a course with some serious hills. The run gave me a lot of confidence and made me think for the first time since I had Cam that maybe, just maybe, I could break 2 hours at the Applefest. That would mean I'd have to crank out a sub 9:10 pace on a hilly course which is ambitious for me, but good to have something to shoot for. So that's my goal, that and to be a lifetime WW member by the time I line up at the starting line : )

When life throws you lemons....

2011-07-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

When life throws me lemons forget about lemonade, I'd rather make lemon meringue pie or something rich and decadent to drown away my sorrows with comfort eating. Unfortunately that's not exactly the healthiest coping strategy and at some point I have to put the pie away and find better ways to deal with my stress.

As you may have guessed from my lack of posting, life has been a little crazy lately. I finished up June feeling great. Worked out 6 days a week the entire month without missing one day. My runs have been getting faster and I'm averaging an 8:35-8:45 pace on my 3 milers and a 9:00-9:30 pace on my 6 milers. Even though I wasn't perfect with my WW points I still managed to lose 6 lbs in June and was fitting back into pre-pregancy clothes.

I started July with a lot of momentum. Taber and I signed up for a 10K on the 4th of July and after running a couple 6 milers I was pretty sure I would come in somwhere between 54- 56 minutes.

Well then life got crazy. Taber's Dad was in a horseback riding accident landing him in the hospital with 6 broken ribs. His mom was out visiting us and was going to watch our kids while we ran the 10K but she had to catch the next plane back to Colorado to be with Dad. Without a babysitter we decided we would still run it but we'd have to run with the kids. I figured I still might be able to come in under an hour, but the night before our race I received the shocking news that my grandmother had passed away unexpectedly. I was up all night talking to my family and trying to find a flight to VA for her funeral.

Anyway, long story short, I woke up on race day with very little sleep and a lot on my mind. Add pushing a stroller on a 80+ degree hot and humid day and all thoughts of hitting a time goal went out the window. I just took it slow and steady, stopped at every water station to keep myself and the baby cool, and came in at 1:04:01. I guess it's technically still a PR since it's the first 10K race I've ever run.

After the race I was off to Virginia to be with my mom and aunts and uncles for Grandma's funeral. It was nice being down there but all the wonderful comfort food and zero time to work out kind of derailed my momentum I had gained from June.

When I got home from Virginia I dove right into getting Brinley's birthday party together. We did a barnyard bash and had a cute little petting farm with pony rides.

It was a lot of fun but once again, stress + being surrounded with yummy naughty food derailed my dieting efforts and I ate WAY too much party food and barnyard cake.

It's been a week since all that madness and I still can't stop stress/comfort eating. I think letting myself eat all that fried food and sugar just triggered my cravings for it again and I'm getting a little out of control. I'm up 3 lbs, which stinks after all that hard work I did to lose them in the first place!

So anyway, I'm rededicating myself (something I have to do quite often) and getting back into gear.

I signed up for the Applefest Half marathon on Oct. 1st and am pretty sure I'll also do the Run to the Rock half on Sept 10th as kind of a tune up for the Applefest. I hammered out a training schedule and I'm ready to put away the pie and make lemonade.

Here's my training schedule for the next 11 weeks. I promise to try to check in more and be better about keeping the blog updated with my training.

Good and not so good.

2011-06-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted in awhile mostly because I've been so bipolar with my exercise and eating habits.

On one hand I have been on fire with my workouts. I've worked out 6 days a week for this entire month and even though it's been a huge challenge I haven't' missed once! I've been upping my mileage and just really feeling awesome about my progress on the fitness side of things.

On the eating side though I have been sucking big time. Maybe it's because I'm working out so much. All I know is that I've pretty much been stuffing my face like a starving animal and I haven't' exactly been making the best food choices either, (as in chocolate and sugar overload.) When I eat that much junk food I just feel gross and I feel like I'm totally negating all the good I'm doing with my exercise.

Anyway, I totally skipped my WW meeting last week because I hadn't been doing the plan and I didn't want to face the scale. When I don't want to go is probably when I need to go the most, and I know that even though I've still been off plan this week I have to go back on Thursday and get the kick in the pants I need to get me back on track.

So yeah, that's the update. Exercise has been good, eating, not so good. Hopefully I can reel it in soon and get back on track.

Rib Fest, Father's Day, Shred and Fevers....

2011-06-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

I got off plan a little this weekend thanks to the Rockin' Rib Fest where I found the award winning ribs too hard to resist. That and they had homemade birthday cake ice cream with actual swirls of buttercream frosting! It was heaven in a waffle cone and worth every indulgent WW point it cost me to eat it.

(Taber and the kidlets on Father's Day)

I also ate a little more than usual on Father's day, partly because I was in charge of making cookies for all the Dads at church on Sunday and it's hard to bake 80+ delicious smelling cookies and not eat 4 or 5 of them yourself. So that was that. I own it, and it may come back to bite me at my weigh in this week but I don't care, totally worth it!!

And speaking of weigh in's, last Thursday I was down another .8. Not quite a pound but close enough. I'm just glad I'm over the plateau from last month and that the scale is going downward, even if it is in tiny increments every week : )

I had a good week as far as workouts go:

Monday: Shred level 2
Tuesday: Shred level 2 and 3 miles on the treadmill, 8:41 pace
Wednesday Shred level 2
Thursday: Shred level 2 and 2.3 miles on the treadmill, 8:35 pace
Friday: Shred level 2
Saturday: 6 miles outside, 10:00 minute pace

I'm proud of myself for moving up to level 2 on Jillian's 30 day Shred DVD. It is a BUTT KICKER and I seriously want to cry when I'm doing it. I have to follow Anita (the girl doing the modified easier stuff) because I think if I was doing the stuff Natalie (the hardcore girl) does, my heart would explode and my arms would fall off. My goal though is to keep doing it every day until I can follow Natalie, and once I can do that I will consider moving up to level 3.

Saturday's long run was pretty brutal. I'd like to blame the humidity because it was disgustingly humid, but the real reason is probably just my own personal lack of judgment. I woke up Saturday morning feeling horrible. I was achy, my throat hurt and I just felt sick. I felt like I had a fever so I took my temp and sure enough, it was 99.8. I got online to see if you could still run with a fever and I read somewhere that if it's under 101 you would probably be okay. Looking back I know I probably shouldn't have gone running, but I had already made arrangements to run with my friend and I didn't want to let her down, so I took some advil and sucked it up and ran.

The run was horrible and we had to stop and walk several times. After I got home, stretched, re-hyrdated and ate, I took my temp again and it had shot up to 101. The rest of the day I was useless. That night I woke up drenched in sweat and shivering from hot and cold chills. I was still running a high fever and my tonsils were bright red and swollen to the size of golf balls. I missed church on Sunday and Taber ended up having to pamper me on Father's Day instead of the other way around. Feeling a lot better today but lesson learned, if you're sick, listen to your body and give it a rest. I'm sure I would've been sick either way, but I'm guessing my run didn't do much to make the situation better!

Exercise Recap

2011-06-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

I know we're already half way into a new week but I wanted to recap my exercise from last week just because it keeps me honest and on track to have to report it somewhere : )

Monday: I did the 1 hour Burn it up DVD from Slim in 6. It was not as hard as it normally is and I was just feeling bored with it. Definitely was looking forward to getting my Shred it DVD.

Tuesday: I got up early and ran outside before Taber went to work. I did 3 miles at a 9:14 pace. Here's the elevation and map stuff on Runkeeper. It felt good to run outside and it's always nice to get a workout in at the beginning of the day and not have it hanging over your head.

Wednesday: I tried to do the 1 hour of Burn it up but that was one of the days I had 6 kids and I just kept getting interrupted so I finally stopped after about 40 minutes of it.

Thursday: Teya came down with a raging fever and the girl who never naps took a 5 hour nap!! So while she was sleeping I brought Brinley and Cam downstairs with me and did a speedy 3 miler on the treadmill (8:39 pace) Cam just sat in his swing and watched me. I think he actually liked it. And Brinley played with her toys and the baby. I was surprised at how well they both did and having them down there made me go faster because I wanted to finish before their attention spans maxed out.

My basement running buddies

Friday: My Shred it DVD arrived and I did level 1. It was awesome!

Saturday: Ran 6 miles outside at a 9:55 pace with my buddy Kendall who had a baby a week before I had Cam. We're both training for the Applefest half marathon in October so it's fun to have a running partner training for the same race and at the exact same fitness level. We conquered a major hill and felt pretty darn proud of ourselves. When I came home I stretched and did level 1 of Shred.

Sunday was my rest day. 6 out of 7 days working out. Felt pretty darn good about that!

Five Things Friday

2011-06-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

1) Had my WW weigh in yesterday. Down another pound! Yay! I know it's not Biggest Loser weight loss going on over here but as a nursing mama I'm happy with the slow and steady losses.

2) Taber started his marathon training this week for the Hartford ING Marathon in October. I'm so pumped for him and also trying really hard not to be jealous! (is that bad?) It's just that part of me really wants to be crazy and sign up for it too but if neither of us can walk down the stairs like normal people for 3 days afterwards who's going to take care of the kids? Also with both of us trying to train for a marathon I think the time commitment might be too big of a strain on our little family. So I'll just focus on my half marathon in October and train to be the best marathon cheerleader ever for T's big race.

3) Tried out my Shred DVD this morning and I LOVED it!! It goes by so fast but you're working hard the entire time. It's perfect for me because sometimes literally all I have is 20 minutes so I feel like I'm getting the most out of my time with this workout. Maybe someday I'll even have abs like Jillian! (haha! not. Don't think my genetic code was designed for abs like that ; )

4) On Monday my friend gave birth to TWINS, so I watched her 3 older girls for 4 days while they were in the hospital, topping my kid quota off at a whopping SIX kids! It was pretty intense and I didn't have much down time at all to read/comment blogs, watch any of my shows, or even workout. They went home yesterday so to reward myself for being on Turbo Mom duty I watched 3 straight hours of So You Think You Can Dance : ) I'm all caught up now and LOVE the top 20! This season is gonna be good!

(Poor Cam and Taber were pretty outnumbered with all of these girls!)

5) Taber discovered a new sort of social media type site that we're having a lot of fun with. It's Tout.com, and basically it reminds me of twitter updates except all your updates are just 15 second videos shot from your iPhone. I guess that's how Shaq announced his retirement and now it's really starting to pick up traffic. I just like it because Taber and I can swap really short video messages throughout the day that give him a peek at what the kids are doing. The site is still very new so it has lots of room for improvement, but the concept is pretty cool. It will be awesome once you can embed the little clips into your blog! I think they're working on it. For now though here are a few links to some of my touts:
My Frist Tout
Camden making the girls scream
Cam in the Pool
Becca's Tout page

Quick Update!

2011-06-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Last week I dug in as promised. I worked out 6 out of 7 days and stuck to my WeightWatchers points.

Well mostly anyway, had to indulge in some of this caramel corn goodness over the weekend. (don't be jealous Sarah, haha)

Still I was able to break through my plateau for a 1.4 loss and finally dipped into the 130's! 138.6 at my last weigh in. My leader said I'm just outside the higher limits of a healthy BMI for my height and age. 137 is the highest, and 109 is the lowest. We set my lifetime goal for 128. If I reach lifetime and maintain it for 6 weeks I can go to WW meetings for the rest of my life, for FREE! (as long as I stay within 2 lbs of my LT goal) Anyway, kind of exciting.

I also hit my 10% weight loss and got this cool key chain shaped like a "10" to celebrate. I worked hard for that keychain!

And while I did workout every day I wasn't ever able to fit a run and a workout DVD in on the same day. 30-45 minutes is about all I get before somebody needs mommy. I even tried waking up super early but the kids are getting up earlier and earlier with the sun so that was a bust. Also Taber started his marathon training this week for the Hartford Marathon in Oct. so we're trying to balance our work-out times and taking turns watching the kids. It's tricky and sometimes it's all I can do to squeeze in a 20 minute turbo run somewhere.

This picture is a perfect example of the craziness. Taber was out running at 6am, so I put on a DVD in my room to work out to. I got 30 minutes into it and Teya woke up and wanted me to do her hair for preschool. Did that, got back to it and Brinley woke up. She decided to feed the dog, right where I was working out. Than Cam got up so I brought him in and tried to finish my push ups and butt presses while entertaining him underneath me. Taber walked in to find me working out with a dog in my face and all three kids climbing around me. He laughed and I told him to take a picture so I don't forget the craziness of this stage of life.

My Shred Video got here TODAY so I'll be giving that a go tomorrow. Can't wait! Also I have my WW meeting tomorrow and think it will be another good weigh in.

I'll leave you with some yummy summer food ideas from my lunch last week

Penne pasta salad with mixed green salad and whole wheat crackers with Taboule.

Pasta salad: WW points plus 8
1 cup cooked penne
2 Tbs Newman's own light lime vinaigrette
1/8 cup garbanzo beans
1 Tbs Feta cheese
diced tomatoes
diced red onion
diced yellow pepper

Toss ingredients together and eat chilled.

Just bought the taboule from Costco, that stuff is awesome!! and the salad is just mixed greens with diced carrots, peppers, mushrooms and almonds with the TonTon Ginger dressing from Costco. I absolutely could not live without that stuff. Only 20 calories a serving and insanely delicious!

Time to dig in

2011-06-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

So it's been over a week since my race and I haven't posted anything on here. Mostly because I've hit a plateau and it's never fun to post about that. blah. May has come and gone and in the last 4 weeks I've managed to lose only one whopping pound! *sigh* it's frustrating because I can only blame myself. I have not been staying on plan and as a result I just gained and lost the same silly pound all month long.

Since Cam was born I've made some good progress and have lost 33 of the 43 lbs I gained during my pregnancy.

Um yep, I was pretty huge.

But I've still got that last 10 lbs hanging on for dear life and I'm ready to dig in and say adios to the maternity swim suit.

So here's my game plan. Last month I ran 4 days a week and didn't do much else. Running is great cardio but doesn't tone the areas that have been stretched out from birthing the Chuberdoodle.

So this month I'm going to workout 6 days a week with Sunday as my rest day. My blogging friend Lauren said that her sister lost all her baby weight from doing the Jillian Michael's Shred it DVD. So tonight I got online and ordered that sucker and it will be here in 5 days. In the mean time my goal is to do the Slim in 6 Burn it up DVD 6 days a week (which I will replace with Shred it when it gets here) and also fit a run in on 3 of those days. I know it sounds ambitious but it's better to shoot high and miss than aim low and reach your goal right?

Also I will be tracking my food better and sticking with my weight watchers points. Gotta keep on the plan!! And with that final thought I will leave you with my latest lunch obsession:

Turkey Veggie and hummus Pita: WW points plus 5

Ingredients:
1 whole wheat pita ( I use Joseph's Flax oat bran and whole wheat pita bread, only 60 calories a pita!)
2 oz hummus
2 slices deli turkey
handful of mixed greens
sliced mushrooms
sliced bell peppers

Pile it all together, fold and eat! So good!

First Post-Baby Race Report

2011-05-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Six weeks ago, inspired by the weight watchers 5K challenge, I decided it was time to start training for my first post-baby race. The first few runs were tough. I was busting my lungs to squeak out an 11 minute mile and 2 miles was my longest distance. Each week I added a quarter mile and slowly increased my speed. I ran 4 days a week, doing a 5 mile long run every Saturday, and was diligent in my training. The runs started to get easier and my speed increased. When I started training, a 10 minute pace was my "sprint" at the end of a run. After 6 weeks, a 10 minute pace was the speed I ran to warm up. That is what I love about running. If you're consistent, it's amazing what you can train your body to do.

A week before the race I practiced doing a 5K on the treadmill running as hard as I could. I finished in 28:11 min. My race goal was originally to finish under 30 minutes but after that run, 28:11 became my new standard to beat.

For 7 days before the race we had cool, overcast weather, perfect for running. But I woke up on Saturday and the sun was shining brightly, bringing the temps up around 77 degrees with lots of humidity for my 11am race. I hate running in heat and humidity! (for a girl who's done most of her running during Minnesota and New Hampshire Winter and Spring, 77 is definitely hot!) I started having some anxiety about my race but Taber calmly reassured me that I was going to do great and kept saying, "PMA, positive mental attitude, you can do this!"

We got to the race, I picked up my packet, stretched and warmed up. Taber and the kids followed me to the starting line and got into their cheering positions, cowbells ready.

The gun went off, I turned on my carefully crafted running playlist and started running to my music. The first mile felt good and I finished it in 8:45 min, but the humidity was a challenge and I quickly started losing steam. It felt like I was breathing in hot water and it was hard to push myself when I came to a little hill. By mile 2 my "PMA" was gone and I was considering a walking break. I ran by a water station and dumped two cups of water on my head and down my back. That helped and I dismissed the walking idea and kept running. The final stretch had us going up a big hill and onto the high school track where we ran 3/4 of a lap to the finish line. The hill kicked my butt and by the time I got into the stadium Taber said I looked pretty beat. But then I heard them say my name on the intercom and I saw Taber and the kids waiting at the finish line and I decided I had enough in me to kick it into the finish.

Taber snapped this awesome action shot of me pushing it hard on the final stretch.

My finish time was 27:26 min, an 8:51 pace. Mission accomplished! I beat my treadmill time and set a PPPR (post pregnancy personal record) Cam is 4 months and 1 week old. When the girls were that age I definitely wasn't running any 5Ks, so I was happy. Taber and the kids came and showered me with hugs and praise. It felt good to be back. Maybe not back to the shape or speed I was at last year, but back in the game : )

At the finish line with the kiddos, who also happen to be my biggest motivation and the best cheerleading squad ever! (Taber's not in the picture since he was behind the camera but he is a huge part of that motivation and support and I couldn't do any of it without him)

The frosting on the cake was the lunch they had for the runners with food catered from Carraba's, T-bone's, The Crab King, and Panera. They had amazing tomato basil and minestrone soups, fabulous lasagna, chicken nuggets and fries, bagels and cream cheese, bananas, grapes, yogurt and drinks. best finish line food I've ever had, and this was just a for a 12K/5K event! They let everyone get the food, so we fed our entire family on a $15 race registration fee! Can't beat that! : )

Back from the Vineyard and Trying to get back on plan

2011-05-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

When it comes to disciplined eating I can be pretty dang good when I want to be. Put the most tempting thing in front of me and I won't even flinch.

But we all have our weaknesses, and mine is vacation eating. When I go on vacation my discipline goes on vacay too. So yeah, let's just that Martha's Vineyard was amazing, and my calorie consumption was amazing as well : )

Taber's company paid for "professional" babysitters to watch our kids so we could go out to a fancy dinner with his leadership team. Fancy food is another weakness. It just seems like if someone is paying that much for your dinner, you should eat all of it right?

And you've GOT to have dessert. Vacation without dessert is just wrong.

So yes, I didn't go to my WW meeting last week, I didn't count any points, and I didn't dare step on a scale because I'd rather not know what was going on with those numbers : )

I DID manage to fit two runs in while we were there. a short 2 miler on the treadmill and a 5 mile run outside. Martha's Vineyard has tons of great running trails and it's super flat, so I felt like I was hauling and really loved running outside.

I also ran around with the kids on the beach so that's gotta count for something too. I'm counting it anyway ; )

Now that we're home though I'm trying to get back on plan. It's been hard. We were eating out for almost every meal so your stomach gets stretched out and you start getting used to salty, fried, and fatty foods again. And the sugar, oh the sugar!! Boy did I got hooked on that stuff again. We got home on Sunday and I've had dessert every night since (and we're talking real desserts like cheesecake and cookies) yeah, gotta get that under control again too. Basically I'm okay with the fact that I splurged on our trip and ate what I wanted without stressing out. But now that we're home I really want to reel it in and get back under control. Not to mention my race is this Saturday so it's probably good if I'm eating healthier for that. Gotta do it.

Exercise summary for last week:

Monday: ran 3.1 miles on treadmill 9:05 pace

Thursday: ran 2 miles on treadmill 9:45 pace

Saturday: ran 5 miles outside 9:26 pace

And here's a quick and easy lunch idea:

Mushroom and onion quesadilla: Weight watchers points plus: 5

1 whole wheat flour tortilla

1/4 cup reduced fat Mexican blend cheese

2-3 mushrooms sliced

1/4 cup diced onion

salt to taste

Spray pan with butter spray and saute mushrooms and onions adding salt to taste if you want.

Fill tortilla with cheese and mushroom/onion mix. Cook in pan on both sides till cheese is melted and tortilla is crisp. Serve with salsa. YUM!

Weekend Festivities

2011-05-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

Had another solid running week then capped it off by partying hard with el Guapo and los ninos.

That's right, my kids are 1/8th Mexican so we couldn't let the day go by without a little fiesta ; ) I busted out the old decorations from my Spanish teaching days, plus a few new ones from iParty and put on a little Merengue music.

Taber picked up some Mexican food from La Carreta and the party was on!

We kept the good times rolling on Friday by heading up to Lake Winnipesaukee for Taber's first race of the season. He did the Big Lake half marathon in Alton, NH and it was such a fun and well organized race! The course was challenging with lots of hills but Taber did awesome and finished in 1:50:56. Go T! (Full race report will be on the family blog later this week for those of you who follow both blogs)

Teya and Brinley got into the action too and finished their first 1K. Brinley came in dead last but look how happy she is to have that medal! I was a proud mama ; )

And Cam was there for all the fun too, even if he did sleep through most of it. Here's a pic of his newest trick. Big Boy Camden sitting up in the Bumbo. He'll be 4 months old next week! How has 4 months gone by already?

Anyway, lots of fun staying up in the white mountains and even with our little road trip I did pretty good staying on plan (minus the kettle corn and a few of Taber's buffalo wings, too good to resist!)

We're off to Martha's Vineyard for 4 days on Wednesday so hopefully I can keep it up. Hard to be good when you're in a hotel but our room does have a kitchenette so I'll be bringing all my fav foods to help me stay on track : )

Exercise Summary for last week:

Monday: ran 2.75 miles on treadmill 9:09 pace

Tuesday: 30 minutes of pilates

Wednesday: ran 2.5 miles on treadmill 9:13 pace. 20 minutes of resistance bands and yoga

Friday: ran 3 miles on treadmill 9:08 pace

Saturday: ran 5 miles on treadmill 9:24 pace

(hardest run ever! Did it late at night after driving back from Alton and eating not so great food. Felt awful during the run but proud of myself afterwards for getting it done!)

How'd your weekend go? Any tips for eating healthy and fitting in exercise on vacation?

Much better

2011-05-05T13:13:00.001-07:00

Well after my .6 gain from last week I really buckled down and tracked everything I ate. Today I was rewarded when I went to my weightwatchers meeting and saw that I had lost another 2.6 pounds! Yay! I am almost out of the 140's! It took me a couple months but I'm .8 away from entering the 130's. Happy little milestones. : )

The topic at our meeting was dining out while staying on plan. There were some good tips, like research the menu before you go and find a healthy option to order before you get there and are tempted by all the other sights and smells. If you can't find a menu our leader said to skip the breadsticks and avoid the 4 C's: creamy, crispy, cheesy and....uh...hmmm... Guess I forgot the 4th one! Sorry. She also said that restaurants serve massively oversized portions and it's always a good practice to either split a meal or have your waiter split it and wrap up the other half before they bring it to you. Oh and apparently a lot of places cook their meat/steaks in butter, so you can ask them to prepare it without butter and then choose steamed veggies or salad with low fat dressing as a side. Good stuff.

I'll do my running summary on Saturday, but I'll leave you with a recipe! This is what I had for lunch today : )

Asian Chicken Salad Wrap: Weightwatchers points plus: 7

1 whole wheat tortilla wrap

2 cups of mixed greens

3 oz grilled chicken breast

1 tbsp almond slices

1/2 cup mandarin oranges

1 tbsp Newman's own lowfat Asian dressing

Just throw all the ingredients on the tortilla , wrap it up and enjoy! It's super delish! You can add another tbsp of the dressing and it's still the same amount of points (2 tbsp is only 35 calories) but I found it a little much to have 2 tbsp. You could also ditch the tortilla and have it as a salad for only 5 points.

Here's a pic with the ingredients. I used the oscar meyer deli fresh grilled chicken strips as a short cut to make it faster.

Yum!

A Cautionary Tale

2011-05-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a scary thing happen while I was running on the treadmill. I try to run when Taber is home but that isn't always possible, so sometimes I'll put on a show for the girls upstairs and run in the basement with the baby monitor while they watch their show. It has NEVER been a problem before. They've always been perfect angels and have never gotten into any trouble. If they get bored they usually just come down in the basement and play.

I have a bunch of their stuff down there and they are really good about not touching the treadmill ( I scared them with some horror stories of kids getting their fingers caught in the belt) So yeah, they are NORMALLY super good and I can get away with running during the day if I need to.

At least until yesterday.

Yesterday during my run I heard the loud sounds of a chair being dragged across the floor upstairs. I wasn't too worried but I still kicked up the speed on the treadmill so I could finish faster and investigate. I thought maybe they were getting into the pantry and were using a chair so they could get into the chocolate chips or the marshmallows.

What they were doing was way worse.

I don't know if it was the good weather or the new neighbor boy hanging out in our yard beckoning them to come play, but whatever it was, something tempted them to leave the house.

I of course had locked the door, with the chain, and instructed the girls not to go outside until I was done running and could go with them.

But I should've known better. You can never underestimate a 5 year old with a chair. That lock didn't stand a chance.

As I was coming up the stairs to see what they were up to Teya met me half way in an absolute panic. She quickly blurted out that our dog had escaped and it was her fault and she was sorry. Our dog has escaped before so I wasn't worried, just annoyed. I told Teya to stay in the house and went outside to look for him. He can usually be found across the street in our neighbors backyard.

What I found back there though was this girl:

Finding that your 2 year old has escaped the house and wandered off is not a good feeling. You don't feel relief for finding her, your mind is too busy going through all the what ifs. What if she had been hit by a car? What if someone had taken her? What if she had wondered off into the woods and gotten hurt or lost or stuck somewhere and I couldn't find her? It was too unsettling to even think about. I was so upset. Upset that Teya had found a way to open the door and disobeyed me, but more upset at myself for not being more careful.

On the upside, we live on a culdesac with virtually no traffic, she had only wandered across the street into our neighbor's backyard, and there was another adult outside who, even though they didn't speak English, had seen where she'd gone and pointed me in the right direction.

Still, I will try not to run during the day anymore unless the girls are at preschool or Taber is home to watch them. They are good girls who hardly ever get into trouble, but all it takes is once, and I really don't want that to happen again.

First Gain, Non-scale victories, & summing up April

2011-04-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

In the 10 weeks that I've been doing weightwatchers I've lost weight at every weigh in, until this week. This week I had a .6 gain. Not surprising considering the way I ate while celebrating Taber's birthday and Easter ; ) The bigger surprise is that it wasn't more than .6, but I did try to curb the indulgences and throw in some extra workouts to redeem myself a little. Small gain but it did motivate me to really buckle down and be honest with my tracking this week.

Even though I gained this week I still want to celebrate a few non-scale victories:

1) I went to my WW meeting even though I knew the scale was going to be up not down. Those are the hardest times to go but probably the times you need it the most.

2) I packed away all my maternity clothes and have fully transitioned to my "in between" clothes. Yay for no more maternity jeans!

3) Not only am I out of maternity jeans, but I even dropped a size from my in-between jeans to my somewhat smaller in-between jeans. still a couple sizes to go before I can get into my pre-baby jeans but we're getting there : )

4) Worked out 5 days last week and am getting a little bit faster with every run

5) Turned down the cake at a baby shower last night and chewed on gum instead of having ice cream with Taber after dinner tonight. (Not that I don't believe in dessert if you've worked it into your daily points, but I didn't have the points for it and I honestly wasn't hungry so I'm trying to listen to my body cues more instead of just eating stuff because it looks good ; )

Exercise summary for last week:

Monday: ran 2.5 miles on treadmill 9:27 pace. 25 minute Slim in 6 DVD

Wednesday: ran 2.5 on treadmill 9:10 pace. 25 minute Slim in 6 DVD

Thursday: 30 minute pilates DVD

Friday: ran 2.45 miles outside 9:46 pace

Saturday: ran 5 miles on treadmill 9:55 pace

Summary for April:

Started running again April 11th- logged 34.1 miles since then. That's more miles in 3 weeks than I've run in 8 months. Aw yeah!

lost a total of 5 lbs this month, Just over a pound a week which sometimes feels slow but worth the slow pace to keep the nursing thing going.

And unrelated to running or weight loss but April summary just the same:

Took Cam to his first Celtics game

Made the jumbo tron and little guy was nominated for "fan of the game"

Put up the trampoline. Yay for warm weather and static hair

Spent lots of time snuggling this chubby little dude

Potty trained Brinley (finally!)

Took Cam to watch the Boston marathon. He's totally in love with Desiree Davila now.

Got a visit from the Easter bunny

And stayed busy trying to keep up with these little munchkins.

Life is good.

A Fun and Indulgent Weekend

2011-04-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I confess to going off plan a little bit.

Well, maybe more than a little bit, but it was a lot of fun : )

I was up against the double whammy of Taber's birthday and Easter. I cooked a TON for both events and we had company over for both so yeah, lots of food and treats and desserts. I will be happy if I don't gain weight this week, but you never know, between nursing and upping my exercise I might come out even. : )

Exercise summary for last week:

Tuesday: ran 2.25 miles 9:55 pace

Wednesday: ran 2 miles 9:42 pace

Friday: ran 2.25 miles 9:47 pace

Saturday: ran 5 miles 10:13 pace

I'm happy that I'm getting a little faster and that running is getting easier. I'm right on track for my 5K training plan but I really want to start incorporating more strength training to tone my body up. I have this post pregnancy boot camp DVD that I want to try out. It looks hard though so I keep putting it off. haha!

And instead of a recipe today I thought I'd share some of my must have items for the refrigerator.

-The greek yogurt is probably of my favorite snacks of all time. It's so rich and filling and has tons of protein too! I like it in the afternoon as a snack or I'll add fresh fruit to it in the morning and have it for breakfast. It also tastes amazing in smoothies.

-I buy 3 dozen eggs at a time because I like to make omelets with one egg and 3 egg whites. add some ham, onions, mushrooms, spinach, and low fat cheese and you get a HUGE omelet for only 6 points plus!

-Almond milk is amazing in smoothies and a great way to sweeten oatmeal or cereal.

-Carrots are my go to snack when I just need to crunch on something. If I'm really hungry then I dip them in hummus. I buy the hummus in individual serving packets from Costco so I don't eat too much of it. That stuff is good!

-Spinach is great for salads and to stuff in sandwiches, wraps, omelets or even pasta.

-Romaine, great for salads

-Grapes, sweet late night treat.

-Oranges, my new favorite 0 point treat. I buy huge boxes of them at Costco and go through them so fast.

So those are my favorite fridge items. Do you have any must-haves that you stock up on? Fill free to share. Next time I'll do my freezer, lots of little gems in there too : )

Thursday weigh in and running update

2011-04-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

Today was my weightwatchers weigh in. My meetings are Thursdays at noon and I have a very sweet friend who watches my girls so I can go every week. Today however she was unavailable and my other sweet friend who I usually call for back up is out of town. The easy option would've been to skip it or go to another meeting but I love my leader and the group I'm in so I decided to be very brave and took all three kids with me.

I gave the girls a breakdown of what the meeting would be like. Mom will stand on a scale, people will talk and clap for each other, and if I'm good they'll give me stickers. They liked the idea of stickers and promised to be really good if I shared. Deal.

The girls were good for their word. They were seriously perfect angels the whole time. I had packed the iPods, snacks, and even bribery goodies but never had to use any of them. They loved it when I got a sticker for my 2.4 loss today! aw yeah!! And Teya was beaming when everyone clapped for me and she told me to raise my hand and talk again so I could get more stickers/praise. : ) I was prepared to leave in the middle of it if things got hairy, but we were able to stay for the whole thing and afterwards Teya said, "Actually mom, that was pretty fun!" Seriously love my kids and so glad they decided to have a good day when I really needed them to.

So yeah, down another 2.4 which is a big loss! Down 13.4 lbs since I started WW 2 months ago, and down 30 lbs since the end of my pregnancy 3 months ago. I credit the solid losses I've had over the last 3 weeks to the fact that I started running again. It's really made a big difference. Last week I ran 4 times. I did 3 two mile runs and a 4.6 miler on Saturday. I'm getting faster and my pace is now around 10:30 min/mile so that's kind of exciting. I feel like I have a million more things to talk about but I gotta get back to the kiddos. So, I'll leave you with a recipe and some pictures of my kids because they're awesome.

Angel hair with Tomato, spinach and Feta: WW points plus 8

1 cup of cooked angel hair pasta

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp garlic

1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes (you can also use canned tomatoes if you don't have fresh ones)

1/8 cup feta cheese

2/3 cup of Spinach leaves

sea salt to taste

Heat 1 tsp oil and garlic in a pan. Add tomatoes and cook for 3-5 minutes until soft. Add spinach leaves and stir until wilted.

Toss angel hair pasta in remaining tsp of oil and season with sea salt. Add tomatoes and spinach and the feta cheese. Toss until everything is mixed together. This is so easy, it's my back up dinner when I haven't' really planned for anything because I always have canned tomatoes and pasta. Really yummy and my whole family loves it.

They also really love this guy. He's constantly getting smothered by his big sisters. Such a good little sport : )

Working hard

2011-04-14T19:15:00.001-07:00

Today was my weight watchers weigh in and I was down another 1.4 lbs. I hit my 5% goal, got a sticker and only have 15 lbs to go till I hit my pre-pregnancy weight. As long as the scale keeps going down I will take it. : )

Some people are blessed to have the baby weight just melt off them while they breastfeed. I am not one of those people. I work very hard every week to say good-bye to each little pound. I carefully measure my food, track my points, drink my water, and down my veggies. When I'm at a party I say no to all the yummy treats, I don't finish my kids' leftover fries and nuggets like I used to, I've replaced my old afternoon sugar binge with a workout, and I don't snack late at night. It's not easy, sometimes I WANT to do those things still. But every time the temptation comes instead of giving in I think, "what will I really get out of that if I eat it? Will it fuel my body? Am I even hungry? Will I be happy afterwards if I eat it?" Stopping to think about it usually changes my mind. If it doesn't then I say, "okay, you can have that treat, but first you have to drink a glass of water and eat a piece of fruit. If you still want it after that then go for it." 9 times out of 10 I don't want it anymore. And when I do want it, I eat it. But I still measure out the portions and track what I've eaten so I don't get out of control. It seems to be working.

And speaking of working, I did two 2 mile runs last week and my knees are working just fine :) . It is so therapeutic to be able to run again, even just short distances. Getting my heart pounding and my face all sweaty, I don't know, it just makes me happy. I also tried doing pilates last week. hahaha! My core is soooo weak after being stretched out during pregnancy, it was a pretty pathetic attempt. You gotta start somewhere though right? Maybe if I keep it up I'll actually be able to get through the whole video without wimping out.

And here's a little recipe for my favorite evening treat:

Strawberry banana smoothie: WW points plus value: 2

4-5 big frozen strawberries

1 ripe banana

1 cup of vanilla almond milk

mix ingredients in a blender and wa-lah! DELICIOUS low point, very filling treat.

btw I am a huge fan of the almond milk! I put it in my oatmeal too instead of sugar to sweeten it up a bit. Good stuff.

5K challenge day 1

2011-04-11T08:18:00.001-07:00

Got my run in this morning while Teya was at preschool. I put the baby down for his morning nap, plugged Brinley into a nice episode of Curious George and headed down to the basement for a run. I miss my old gym back in Minnesota that had childcare but a treadmill and PBS kids has turned out to be a pretty decent alternative : )

I warmed up by walking for a half a mile then got off to stretch. I hopped back on and started jogging at 5.5 mph (10:54 min pace) My training schedule called for 2 miles today so that's what I did. I bumped it up to 6.0 for about 3 minutes and it was tough, but I felt good through the whole run and finished in 21:26. After my run I did resistance bands and some ab work to try to coax my long lost ab muscles out of hibernation. I know they're buried in there somewhere...

It felt really good to run again and the new shoes are great, although I thought my knee did hurt a little when I was done. I'm probably being hypersensitive because I'm so paranoid of getting injured and not being able to run again, but I decided to ice it and take some ibuprofen just in case. It feels fine now so hopefully I was just overreacting.

So that's day 1, always feels good to be back on track. And since some people have asked for recipes I'm going to try to throw one in at the end of every post. Here are two of my favorites:

Grilled Chicken Fiesta Salad:

WW points plus value: 9 w/out chips, 13 with chips

Ingredients:

2-3 cups Mixed greens salad

1/2 cup canned black beans

1 grilled chicken breast (I just sprinkle mine with garlic salt and lemon pepper and saute it in a pan for about 3 minutes on both sides)

1/4 cup reduced fat Mexican blend cheese

Fresh garden salsa ( I get mine at Costco)

Trader Joe's corn salsa. (best stuff, EVER!)

Tortilla chips (optional, I just use them for extra WWpoints since I'm nursing but the salad is great without them)

Load everything up on your plate and top with the salsa. You don't need any dressing, the salsa is perfect and gives it tons of flavor for hardly any calories. In fact, Salsa is my go to condiment these days. Tons of flavor for low low points. I bought 10 jars of Trader Joe's corn salsa and 4 jars of black bean salsa the other day because we go through the stuff so quickly. And speaking of salsa, here's another quick lunch idea that I use it on:

Sweet Potato with black bean salsa:

WW points plus value: 5

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato

3 Tbs black bean salsa

Wrap sweet potato in saran wrap and microwave for 5 minutes

cut it open, sprinkle with salt if you want and top with salsa. This is one of my favorite things to eat for lunch, fast, easy, delicious and filling. I'm sure other salsa's would be good with it but this black bean stuff that I get at Hannaford's is the bomb. (and if you don't have a Hannaford where you live then my taste buds weep for you, this stuff is awesome. Maybe I'll send it out to all my non-east coast friends for Christmas ; )

It's on!

2011-04-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

Today I bought new running shoes. FINALLY! they discontinued the Nike Elite Zooms that I normally buy so I went for something new and am trying out a pair of Brooks Raveena 2's. I think they'll be great!

Also I officially registered for my first post-baby 5K! The race is 6 weeks away on May 21st. My goal is run it in 30 minutes. Kind of ambitious considering my current pace is about a 12 minute mile but I've got 6 weeks and as long as my knees cooperate I think I got this : )

It's been a good week: )

2011-04-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Today was my Weight watchers weigh in and I was down another 1.8 lbs! WOOT! When I started going to meetings 2 months ago I weighed 156. Today I weighed in at 146.6. I'm only 0.4 away from losing my first 10 lbs! YAY!

I know 10 lbs may not sound that impressive for a 2 month period but I'm really happy with the rate I'm losing at. I lost my baby weight way too fast after I had Teya and it really affected my milk supply. It's common to lose up to 20 lbs the first month after having a baby but doctor's recommend that nursing mother's only lose a 1-1.5 lbs a week after that first month. So that's exactly what I'm doing and my milk supply has been great and the little chub is thriving!

See, Just look at those chunky thighs and that double chin. : )

He's also sleeping through the night (8-9 hours every night) and he's not even 3 months old! My girls didn't do that and I swear it's because he's getting better milk. Who knows, but it makes me wonder...

Anyway, at our meeting they challenged everyone to walk or run a 5K in 6 weeks. We all got to sign up on a big poster and we get stickers every week we complete our training. Race day is May 21st and if we complete a 5K we get a little 5K charm for our keychains. I'm not gonna lie, I am PUMPED about this challenge! I know it might seem a little juvenile but stickers and little charms totally motivate me. You better believe I'm going to earn those babies!

So yeah, now I just need to get some new shoes so my knees will be nicer to me and then I'm going hit the pavement starting next week. Since I haven't been able to run though I have been doing my Slim in 6 DVD's and have worked my way up the the hour long workout. It's kicking my butt and makes me sweat buckets, but it feels good to get my burn on and when I feel like giving up I just imagine that I'm on the Biggest Loser and Bob and Jillian are in my face and yelling at me to push through it. Whatever works right?

So that's the latest update. Workouts are going well, I'm eating well and I'm excited to run my first 5K in over a year.

Falling apart

2011-03-22T16:13:00.001-07:00

My excitement over getting back into running has been replaced with frustration thanks to some serious knee pain and shin splints. The knees started hurting last week so I took a few days off thinking they would get better. On Saturday the weather was gorgeous so I decided to re-asses the situation and go for an outdoor jog. As soon as I started I knew it wasn't going to be good. Sharp pain started shooting from the outside of both knees. Every step made me wince. I slowed my pace and pushed on hoping the pain would ease a little once my legs warmed up. No such luck. I had planned on doing 3 miles but after a mile I knew I needed to save my legs and turn around. The mile back was awful. I probably should've just walked but my overly optimistic side stubbornly kept thinking if I ran maybe it would get better. Wishful thinking.

When I walked in the door Taber asked how it went and all I could say was "I think I really messed up my knees." The next day my fears were confirmed when I found myself wincing in pain just walking up and down the stairs. On top of the knee pain I also got some good shin splints from that little outing. Boo! It is so disheartening to get sidelined by injury again when I was finally starting to recover from my foot issues. I feel like my body is falling apart and I'm wondering if I'm trying to do too much too soon or what the deal is! I thought I was taking it pretty slow but my body sure doesn't seem to want to cooperate at all. It's very very frustrating.

So now I'm not sure how to get my exercise in. Can't really run and not sure if walking would be good for my injuries or not. The DVD's I normally do are tough on the knees since they have lots of squats and lunges. If only I had access to a pool...

While I wait for all this to get better I know one thing I definitely need to do is get some new shoes. Mine are over a year old and I put a lot of miles on them training for the New York half last year. I'm really hoping a lot of my issues stem from wearing bad shoes and not just me getting old and falling apart.

On a positive note my weigh in last week went well. Down another .8 for a total loss of 7lbs. I even got a sticker from my WW leader. Little ups to balance the downs. : )

Running and Motherhood

2011-03-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

So I'm on my third go around with a new baby. It's wonderful just like it was with the first two, and it's hard just like it was with the first two. This time though I have my running experience to draw upon and I have to say, running has given me strength and perspective when dealing with the challenges of having a new baby. I mean let's be honest, running, with all it's highs and awesome benefits, can still be really hard. Same with motherhood.

The other night I went to bed exhausted after a full day of taking care of all my little people. I told Taber I was so tired I felt like I was going to puke. Sounds dramatic but that's how I felt! Anyway it seems like I had barely hit the pillow when Cam's hungry cries yanked me out of dream land. I knew I needed to go get him and feed him but I was sooo tired. My body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. My eyelids felt like THEY weighed a thousands pounds. My mind kept saying, "get up and get the baby" But my body was launching a full on rebellion. I couldn't do it. It was like I was pinned down to the bed and just didn't have the strength to break free. That's when the running perspective came into play. I thought to myself, "you ran a marathon woman, a MARATHON! you made your legs move when they couldn't move anymore, you pushed past pain and fatigue for that, so there's no reason why you can't get your butt out of bed and feed that baby!"

And it worked. I drew on that same will power that carried me through those last miles of the marathon and forced my eyes to open. Forced my legs to slide out of the covers and pull my body out of bed. I walked to Cam's room and picked up my sweet little chubster and brought him back to my room for yet another midnight feeding. Just like running, taking care of a newborn is hard. But just like running, it's amazingly rewarding too. I can't tell you how good it feels to hold that snugly warm bundle in the middle of the night, when him and I are the only ones awake in the house and we just send our unspoken love vibes back and forth to each other while we cuddle. Pure bliss.

On the flip side, Motherhood helps me be a better runner. Lately I've been back on the treadmill and it's been painfully difficult trying to get back into shape. I've been doing about 3 miles 3 days a week. That used to be a really easy running schedule for me but it's been killer. I have to push myself through each quarter mile. "One more lap, one more lap, don't die, you can do one more lap." Then the motherhood perspective comes in. I think to myself, "You carried another human being in your body for 9 months. You pushed it out and it hurt like the devil. You juggle carpools, grocery trips, housecleaning, kid entertaining, cooking, laundry, sick kids and tantrums, if you can push yourself to do all of that, there's no reason you can't keep those legs moving for one more lap."

and you know what? It's working. I'm running, slowly but surely I'm pushing myself through it and every day I feel a little bit stronger and a little more confident. Running is great. Being a mom is great. I'm glad I have both in my life to make me a better and happier person.

Non- Scale Victories

2011-03-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

So today was my weight watchers weigh in and I was expecting good things. I did everything right last week, tracked all my food, worked out every day, drank all my water, got my 5 fruits and veggies, etc... When I got on the scale though I was only down .6 lbs. I was a little disappointed, but then the topic of our meeting was celebrating non-scale victories and it made me realize that even though I didn't have a big loss, I still have a lot to celebrate.

1) I worked out every day last week and even jogged on the treadmill twice! Finding time to workout with the three little ones is tough. Sometimes the only time I have is after 9 pm when the kids are all in bed and I'm exhausted. Still I made myself do it and I definitely feel my body getting stronger.

2) I actually wore non-maternity clothes to church on Sunday. Sure, I had to stuff myself into them like a sausage but it still felt good to wear something that wasn't designed for a pregnant woman.

3) My girls asked me to make sugar cookies with them last week and I managed to get through the whole experience and only eat ONE cookie. That is a true sign of will power for me since usually I eat a ludicrous amount of cookie dough, plus several of the cookies and way too much of the frosting. So yeah, this time no sampling till they were done and I stopped at one. (patting myself on the back big time for that)

4) I made it through the entire butt section on my Slim in 6 DVD without wimping out or stopping. Those who have done this workout (Naomi) Know that it is SOOOO hard to do without stopping.

5) Someone at my weight watchers meeting told me I look great for just having a baby. Who cares what the scale says? Hearing something like that always makes you feel good. : )

So that's the update for this week. Next week I'm shooting for 3 days on the treadmill and hopefully will work my way up to 2.5 miles without stopping. We'll see how it goes!

Hello Treadmill, My old friend : )

2011-03-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

I'm back people! I'm BACK!! Well, not back to my former running shape but I'm back on the treadmill and MAN it feels GOOD!! I'm slow, like 12 minute mile slow. But I don't even care because I'm sweating and my heart is pumping and every minute I'm on there I feel stronger and stronger. Getting my sweat on like that reminds me that I AM strong and that I can STILL do hard things! Woot! (can you tell I just got done with my workout? Still riding the runners high I guess ; )

So yeah, I spent almost 8 weeks rehabing my foot and it's finally well enough that I can run on it. I'm still icing it and wearing my inserts around the clock but it's just doing tons better and I'm so happy!

I started my work out tonight walking at 4.0 mph for half a mile. Then I picked it up to 5.0 mph (12 min/mile) and jogged for a song (3 minutes or so?) then I went to 5.5 (10:54 min/mile) for a song, and back to 5.0 for a song. Every other song I'd rotate between the two speeds. The last song was J-Lo's new On the Floor single (awesome running song) and it really got me going so I ran at 6.0 for the whole song. I was sweating SO hard and I had to work my tail off to run that 10 minute pace for those 3 minutes but it just felt so good to push myself after being sedentary for the last 9 months.

Getting back in shape is really really hard, but I knew it would be so I don't feel discouraged. It helps to just keep my expectations realistic and not to compare myself to what I used to be able to do before I got pregnant, but rather to what I could do when I was pregnant. Two months ago I could barely waddle 10 feet without stopping. Today I jogged for 2 miles without stopping. I think that's reason to celebrate : )

Slow but steady progress

2011-03-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

Thursdays are my weigh in days at weight watchers so I'm going to try to at least post every Thursday to keep myself honest and hopefully motivated to stay on track.

Last week I only had a 0.4 lb loss and I wasn't surprised since I had majorly gone off plan and wasn't tracking my food like I should. After that I felt motivated to get back on course so all last week I wrote down every last bite I took. It really made a big difference and when I weighed in at my meeting today I was rewarded with a 3.4 lbs loss! My leader said, "Weight watchers is great because if you kind of do it, it kind of works, but if you really do it, it REALLY works." So very true.

I'm really loving the new program because there's tons of flexibility, all fruits are now ZERO points so you can eat them to your hearts content which means when you're out of points, you still never feel hungry because you can eat fruit. Also since I'm nursing I get a TON of points (43 a day) and it seems like I'm eating so much but the amazing thing is, I'm still losing weight, just slow and steady but that's fine with me as long as I get there eventually.

So yeah, along with being really good about what I put in my mouth I've also been working out consistently. I do this program called Slim in 6 from Beachbody.com and it's great because it has a 25 min easy DVD, a 45 minute moderate DVD, and a 60 min intense DVD. So far I've only done the 25 minute and 45 minute ones but I hope to work my way up to the 60 minute one in another week or so.

Finding time to work out with 3 kids is HARD. like majorly hard. I would do it early in the morning but the baby still gets up throughout the night to nurse so I'm just way too exhausted at 6am. I've been trying to fit it in while he naps around 9am but it's always such a fiasco. The girls are up by then so they're trying to do my workout with me, but they mostly just end up crawling all over me while I'm trying to do push ups and sit ups or hanging on my legs while I'm doing squats. It makes me wonder if I'm really getting a good work out at all but at least I'm trying right? Yesterday it took me an hour and a half to do my 45 minute DVD because I got interrupted so many times to change a diaper, wipe someone's bum, get someone a snack, break up a fight, etc... I just had to laugh because I guess this is my new "normal" now that I'm a mother of 3 : )

So that's the update, still haven't gotten back on the treadmill yet. The foot is improving but it's not 100%. I'm doing everything I can to baby it so I can recover and get back to doing what I love, running. Not that I could run right now even if I wanted to. haha! Pretty sure I'll have to start with walking but that's okay. I've started from ground zero before, I know I can do it again.

And just for fun here are some of the things I've been eating lately. Since lean meats, whole grains and fruits and vegetables have less points values that's what I eat the most of. It's been fun trying new things and when I do I get excited and take pictures (although some aren't that great since I took them with my phone)

Salmon, brown rice and stir-fried veggies

Slow cooker lasagna from the weight watchers recipe book. This was AMAZING! so savory and delicious and amazingly low in points. (camera phone pic doesn't do it justice)

Quinoa with squash, zucchini and grilled chicken on top and the famous weight watchers 0 point soup which is surprisingly delicious and easy to make.

And sauteed chicken over brown rice with broccoli, topped with Japanese ginger marinade. delish!

Little victories...

2011-02-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

When you have 3 kids (and one of them is a newborn) it's the little things that feel like victories.

Today was especially victorious. I got the kids dressed, fixed the girls hair all cute, fed them all a nutritious breakfast, nursed the baby, WORKED OUT! (woot!) TOOK A SHOWER!! (aw yeah!) packed snacks and lunches for everyone, bundled up all three little nuggets, loaded them in the car and got all of us to playgroup by 10:00 AM!!!! Holy cow I felt like a freaking Gladiator!!! I was rocking out in the car all the way to playgroup, seriously can't believe how awesome it felt to get somewhere, ON TIME, with all three kids, and I even showered and looked decent!

Other victories this week:

-My first week on Weightwatchers was a success! I lost 2 lbs and tried out lots of new recipes on my family. Taber ended up losing like 4 lbs thanks to my delicious and nutritious cooking and we all feel better now that we're eating healthier food.

-My foot is slowly but surely starting to feel better. My podiatrist gave me some shoe inserts that I wear at all times, even around the house. I've also been icing it a couple times a day and stretching it as well. I can tell it's making a difference.

-I started working out again! YEAH!! Nothing crazy since I still have foot issues but I did start a little 25 minute strength training DVD and man it feels awesome to sweat again! I can tell I have a long way to go because this DVD used to be ridiculously easy for me and now it kicks my butt! I'm super sore after only doing it for 2 days but I'm excited to get my body moving again.

-Baby is sleeping in 4 hour blocks now so if I go to bed at 11 he only gets up once in the middle of the night. Soooo nice to get longer stretches of sleep in!

-We were able to take a last minute family overnighter to Cape Cod which was tons of fun and a reassurance that we can still be spontaneous even as a family of 5. : )

I'll leave you with a fun past and present photo. After I took the pic with me and Cam on the beach my sister sent me a similar one of my mom and my brother that was taken 32 years ago! Kind of fun.

Time to get my buns in gear...

2011-02-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

Sooooo.... After several months of NOT exercising (or blogging about it) I decided it's time to get moving again. My third pregnancy is officially over and even though I gained 43 pounds (behold my giant torpedo belly)

It was worth it to meet this little guy. Say Hello to Mr. Adorable.

He got here almost 4 weeks ago and I have to say, adjusting to 3 kids has been a kick in the pants! There is NEVER any down time. Okay, that's a lie since obviously there's time for me to be blogging right now. But that's only because the girls are plugged into a t.v. show and the baby is sleeping. (Oh and Taber is on paternity leave so yeah, I've got some back up) Seriously though, 3 kids feels like a lot more than 2. Good thing they are so cute.

Back to exercising. Like I mentioned before, I gained 43 lbs with baby Cam, topping the scales at 173 (which is a lot for my 5 ft 2 frame) 4 weeks later I'm down to 156, so 17 lbs down and about 30 more to go. (I'd love to get back to 126ish but I'd be happy to see 130 again)

With the girls I joined Weightwatchers to drop the baby weight since they have a program for nursing mothers. It worked great and I lost all the weight both times by about 4-5 months postpartum. So I'm sticking with what works and will attend my first WW meeting tomorrow night. I'm really excited to get back into good eating habits and eventually back into my regular clothes! (which I know won't be for awhile but still, something to look forward too.)

The only set back is that I've been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I went to a podiatrist and he says that the rapid weight gain from my pregnancy put a lot of pressure on my foot. On top of that my ligaments were already really lose because of pregnancy hormones and I never wore supportive shoes because the last thing I wanted to do was bend over my giant belly and tie my shoelaces, so all of that combined to produce this major BUMMER of an injury. The doctor says I can't even WALK on the treadmill, let alone run until we get it under control.

Soooo, that has been lame, because I'm feeling great and like I could definitely start walking again and maybe even jog but that's not going to happen for awhile. So my plan is to focus on eating healthy and focus on strength training things like push ups and arm bands and low key pilates videos to get some tone back in my muscles. It's going to be a long journey back to fitness, especially with my foot issues, but I will get back.

Oh yeah, I have a running blog...

2010-11-03T17:17:00.001-07:00

I guess it's hard to remember to blog about exercising when you haven't been exercising. Oops! I have to laugh when I go back and read my journal of the day I found out I was pregnant. I had such good intentions, I was going to be so fit during my pregnancy. I was going to run, work out, eat right and not gain 50 lbs. Well today I'm 29 weeks along and I'm not looking so good on my goals. Here's the good and the bad. I'll start with the bad to get it out of the way:

Bad:

1) I haven't done any sort of consistent exercise in 3 months. Last month I only "worked out" 3 out of 30 days. (and those work outs were barely worthy to be called real exercise)

2) At my last Dr. appt I was shocked to see that I've already gained a solid 29 lbs. That would be cool if I was due next week. With 11 weeks to go that's not happy news.

3) My Dr. informed me last week that you only need 500 extra calories a day when you're prego. WHOA! I think I've been eating at least 2 to 3 times that amount!

4) Halloween didn't help my eating habits. Up next: My birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. It's gonna be really really hard not to gain another 20 lbs before this baby gets here.

5) My neighbor saw me for the first time in a couple months and said, "Wow Becca, your face has gotten so round and swollen! What happened?" I told her it was probably just the pregnancy but she looked at me with deep concern and said, "Yes, but what else?" (in her defense, she's not from the U.S. and I think in her culture it's okay to say stuff like that) STILL, it's one thing to get a big belly when you're pregnant, but it's not fun at all to get pregnant in your face!

Okay, I'm done with my whiny venting. Here's the good news : )

GOOD:

1) I feel really awesome. I have tons of energy, I can keep up with my kids. I can lift both girls, transfer car seats, bend over and do baths, and overall feel pretty agile and spry for a big pregnant girl.

2) While I'm not thrilled with my weight gain, I have to admit it was pretty darn fun eating all the awesome stuff I did to gain it! We're talking some good good grub!

3) Taber still thinks I'm hot.

4) I love feeling my little guy move around. He's super active and it's just fun bonding with him even before he's officially "here."

5) I walked today. It took me 35 minutes to walk 2 miles but at least I put my running shoes on and made my body move. It was awesome.

6) I won't be pregnant forever, and when I'm not, even if it takes awhile, I'm confident that someday I will be back on the running scene and putting miles back on the road.

Until then, I'll try to be better about blogging on here. If nothing else to at least chronicle the last bit of my pregnancy so I don't forget the joys, aches and pains of the fabulous 3rd trimester : )

A moment to Brag...

2010-08-12T10:24:00.001-07:00

So I'm feeling pretty darn proud of myself right now because for the last two weeks I have been totally rocking my workout routine! I made a goal to work out every day (except Sundays) and so far, I haven't missed ONE day! 6 for 6 last week, and so far I am 4 for 4 this week.

To count it as a workout day I have to do a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise. Some days I do two 30 minute sessions. One session for my strength training DVD and one power walk session. I try to do both but if I don't get one in at least I feel good that I did 30 minutes of something that day.

I can tell it's making a huge difference from my last pregnancies. I have more energy and my weight gain is happening at a much healthier pace than last time around. (in the 2nd trimester with Brinley I gained 10 lbs a month 2 months in a row! yeah, 20 lbs in 2 months was a bit extreme) Now I'm shooting for the recommended 4-5 lbs a month and I'm right on track for that to happen.

I've mostly been walking these days but yesterday I wanted to see if I could still run. So I did 2.5 miles and didn't walk the whole time. My average pace was 9:53 min. per mile. I was feeling quite proud of myself for the first 2 miles but the last half mile I started having those contraction like cramps again. I probably should've walked but I was so set on running the whole thing that I kept at it and when I was done the cramps continued for about 30 minutes.

Moral of that story is, it was a nice ego boost to see that I can still run, but I won't be running anymore, at least until I want this baby to come out and then bring on the contractions! For now though I think power walks and aerobics should be enough to keep me fit throughout this pregnancy.

So that's the update for today. Oh yeah, and we also found out we're having a BOY! We're so excited to buy some boy stuff and get some blue in this house that is overrun with pink : )

World's wimpiest workout partner

2010-08-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

On Friday night I wanted to go for a jog outdoors but it was dark and I'm always nervous to run alone when there could be creepos out there. I was trying to think of a solution when Taber suggested I take our dog Monty. Dogs love to run, I figured it was a great idea. Now, Monty can be a real diva sometimes and I'm sure that Maltese aren't exactly bred for running. Still I figured I was mostly walking anyway so he should be able to keep up. I got all ready with a reflective vest, headlamp, and my trusty new workout partner. We set off into the night at a very slow jog. He was way excited at first and was 6 feet ahead of me pulling hard on the leash.

Sadly that only lasted for about half a mile. After that he slowed way down. Soon he was right beside me. The further we went the slower he got until his leash was all the way extended backwards and he was a good 10 feet behind me. I was determined to get 2 miles in though so I literally PULLED that lazy little bag of bones for the last half mile until we made it back home. What kind of wimpy dog can't WALK 2 miles?!! I mean seriously, we had to walk most of it because the guy could not keep up. I checked my stats later, we were doing 14 minute miles, come on MONTY! 2 year olds can go that fast, DOGS are supposed to be 10 times faster!

When we got back I gave him some water and then he sprawled out like he was half dead on the floor. I swear you would've thought the guy just ran a marathon.

I told him he was officially the world's wimpiest workout partner and that I wasn't taking him out with me again. Of course the next morning when I was lacing up my shoes he was wagging his tail and just begging for the leash. I decided to give him one more chance. SAME THING HAPPENED!! Our little 2 mile walk ended with me dragging my dog on the leash back to our house. I decided he is totally useless as a workout partner but still makes a great companion and a patient, loving (albeit wimpy) little lap dog.

August mileage challenge

2010-08-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

Today I saw a cool challenge on It's What Moves Me, one of the running blogs I read. Whitney is 6 months pregnant and has accepted the challenge to walk, jog or run 80 miles in the month of August!! I was pretty impressed. I ran 87 miles back in March when I was training for my half marathon but that's when I could run double digit distances and before I was pregnant.

I love the idea of having a mileage goal though so I've decided to adjust the challenge to be more realistic for me considering my current fitness level. In June when I was nauseous all the time I ran a sad total of 16 miles. In July, feeling a little better, my monthly total was 25. I figure if I shoot for 50 miles in August that will still be a heck of a lot more than I've been averaging and be a pretty worthy goal for me. That means I'll have to run/jog/walk an average of 2.5 miles 5 days a week for the rest of the month. Much more than I'm doing now but totally doable!!

I started today with a 2.25 mile jog/walk on the treadmill. I jogged the first mile but was having really tight almost contraction like cramps the whole time so I slowed down and walked the rest of the way. Once I started walking the cramping stopped so I was glad I listened to my body and backed off. I walked at 4mph and a 2.0 incline and was still able to work up a good sweat! Next time I think I'll start off right away with walking and then when I warm up I'll attempt to speed it up. I think jumping into it too fast is what caused the cramps.

Anyway, I'm excited to have a solid goal to work towards this month. Wish me luck!

Life in the 2nd trimester

2010-08-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well I'm approaching 16 weeks and happy to report that I'm totally over the morning sickness and my energy is starting to come back! My house is getting clean, I'm playing with my kids, I'm even cooking dinners! My family is happy to have normal mommy back instead of pregnant zombie mom. I started doing a strength and toning workout DVD in the mornings and I really like it. Much easier on the bladder than running and I feel like I'm toning parts of me that don't necessarily have to look pregnant.

Running has slowed down quite a bit. The bladder can barely take a 20 minute run so yeah, it happens once or twice a week max. My pace is about 10:30 these days and sometimes it can be disheartening but then I remember that I couldn't even WALK a mile when I was prego with Teya so jogging 2 is pretty darn good for me! I had to stop comparing myself to all the buff pregnant runners out there and compare myself to me. When I was pregnant with Teya I was completely sedentary, did ZERO exercise, gained 40 lbs, and looked like this (warning, it's scary).

And when I was pregnant with Brinley it was a little better since I tried to walk once in awhile and wasn't as sedentary since I was chasing around a 2 year old. Still, I wasn't exactly tiny.

So looking at my previous pregnancies, I'm happy that I'm actually working out 2-3 times a week and still maintaining some semblance of fitness. See, pregnant me running at on the track last week (excuse the cheesy face). I might not be fast, but at least I'm still moving : )

Keepin' it Real

2010-07-19T17:33:00.001-07:00

So I'd like to say that thus far in my pregnancy running is a "blast and it's so great getting out and doing it everyday!" But I'm keeping it real and letting you know that it is NOT a blast, nor am I doing it everyday. I did manage to do it three times last week and that took some pretty major will power. I feel a little pathetic since my baby is only the size of an apple right now and there's women out there with melon sized babies running 10K's and kicking butt! But yeah, it's all I can do to lace up my shoes and crank out three 9:45 to 10 minute miles.

Oh well, some is better than none right? I think it's just hard right now because Taber is training for his half marathon and every Saturday he goes out at 6am with a bunch of our friends he's training with and has, what I imagine to be, a super awesome fabulous long run while I'm stuck at home gestating. I'm trying not to be jealous but darn it, I'm jealous! I wish I was out there with them having a super awesome fabulous long run too!

A time and season for everything I guess. Running will still be there after I have the baby. In the mean time I am really happy that Taber is doing so well with his training and getting some good runs in with great company.

So that is my keeping it real update for tonight. I'll leave you with my Runkeeper Stats from a little 4 miler I did last Thursday. Taber was out of town so I got a babysitter and actually did a nice outdoor run. It was tough, the humidity out here is brutal! But I finished with an average pace of 9:45 so I was happy with that. Here's the run.

Most adorable giveaway ever!

2010-07-16T10:49:00.001-07:00

Just entered a giveaway from the failedmuffins blog for this adorable 26.2 pendant! They have them in 13.1 as well. What a great gift for runners, if I don't win I'm still getting one for myself!

Turning a corner...

2010-07-10T05:16:00.001-07:00

The last two days in a row I woke up and didn't feel like barfing, which means I think I'm turning a corner and leaving morning sickness behind me! Today I even woke up at 6am to try and beat the heat and get a run in. I didn't get out until 6:30 and by that point it was already 75 degrees and 86% humidity! Not my favorite running conditions but better than what it would've been had I not gotten up early.

The best part was that I got to try running with my new iPhone and use Runkeeper Pro the way it's meant to be used! I had it on my iPod Touch but I had to enter everything manually. Now it's awesome having the GPS track my run and then coming home and seeing the maps with elevation and pace through my whole run. LOVE IT!! Here's a look at my run in case you want to check it out, nothing too impressive but still, fun to see my stats like that : )

Anyway, I'm excited to be feeling a little better and if I can find ways to beat the heat I think I'll be able to get back into a regular running routine. : )

Maternity Leave

2010-07-08T11:41:00.001-07:00

I've been a little absent on this blog lately. I apologize, I guess I was just taking a little maternity leave due to the awful morning sickness I've been experiencing the last few weeks. The good news is, I'm pregnant and 12 weeks along! We're super excited but holy cow! It's really taken it's toll on my ability to run. Before I got pregnant I was reading all these blogs of ladies who ran through their pregnancies. I TOTALLY thought I'd be right there with them, logging at least 9-12 miles a week. (seriously, how hard could that be?) In fact, the first week I found out I was pregnant I was so excited about having a fit pregnancy that I ran every day! I even did a 6 miler that Saturday in 53 minutes. I was feeling good and thinking "Oh yeah, I got this!"

Then week 6 of my pregnancy rolled around and I got steamrolled by the miserable forces of pregnancy nausea and fatigue. I could not for the life of me do anything that resembled exercise. I could barely feed and care for my children, let alone work out! Housework was neglected, dinners consisted of fast food or cold cereal. Things were rough, I'm not gonna lie. I still managed to force myself to run at least once a week (which sounds so pathetic) but really the effort was monumental. So yeah, 12 weeks down and my dream of running through my pregnancy hasn't gotten off to a very good start. In May, the month I found out I was expecting, I ran 55.7 miles. In June, the month morning sickness took over my life, I barely squeezed out 16!! Ugh!

The good news is, I'm heading into my second trimester and starting to feel a lot better. Today I ran 3 miles and even though it was slow for me (29:34) I did it and I didn't feel like barfing afterwards! That gives me hope that I just might be able to get some good consistent running in before I turn ginormous and can't do it anymore. To all you ladies who are running pregnant or who have run pregnant, I salute you! Seriously, I thought you were awesome before but now that I know how hard it is, I'm blown away!

I'll keep you updated on how everything goes. Here's a picture of the little bean and my baby bump, which is more like belly bloat, but whatever, I'm claiming bump! : )

Baby # 3 at 12 weeks

Belly bump at 12 weeks

Looking on the Bright Side

2010-06-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

So I was about to write a post about how dismal my running efforts have been lately but then I decided, "You know what? I'm not doing that bad!" I mean really, the last 3 weeks I have literally gone from one "vacation" to the next. A trip to Maine, a trip to Utah, and then having my sister and her 3 kids out to visit for 10 days straight. With all the busyness of trips and being off my schedule I'm actually proud of myself for getting any running in at all! So instead of whining about my low mileage I'm going to celebrate the fact that I've pulled off a run in all my vacation settings.

In Maine I did a lovely 4 miler on the beach. In Utah I got to run a nice 3 miler with my younger sister who is training for a half marathon in September. And While my older sister was in town I managed to get out twice for a 3 and a 2. Nothing impressive but I keep going back to a quote my friend posted on Facebook that has really helped me lately, "Some is better than none." : )

We have more travel plans and visitors coming in the next two weeks but I'm hoping when things settle down I'll finally be able to get back on track and sign up for a race. I'm thinking a 10K would be fun since that's the one distance I haven't raced yet so it would be an automatic PR : ) Until then I'll "just keep swimming" and hope that my small efforts will help me maintain enough fitness that I'll be able to get right back into it!

Setting a good example

2010-06-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest things about running is the way it has impacted our kids. Brinley isn't even 2 yet but if she wakes up in the morning and Daddy's not there she'll ask, "Daddy wunning?"

It's neat that they know that's what we do. One of the best compliments I ever got was when we were driving in the car and Teya saw a toned athletic looking woman running down the street. She looked out the window and said, "Hey mom, that girl looks just like you!" Total ego boost : )

We've brought them to a couple races and even did a 5k pushing them in strollers. Teya loves the race atmosphere and has told me several times, "I can't wait till I can run a race!"

We take turns running on Saturdays and last time after I ran, I got the girls all ready and we drove out to find Taber and cheer him on. Teya brought a spray bottle to cool him off when he passed us by. It was the cutest thing.

You can see the little pink spray bottle in her hand. She might've just squirted his fingers but it was a sweet gesture. : )

We caught up with him again closer to home. This time Teya gave his behind a nice squirt : )

After seeing her Daddy run Teya wanted to do it too. I had to take a picture of her charging down the street with her down going full steam ahead. When she got to me she was out of breath but she looked up with a smile and said, "It doesn't matter if we win mom, it matters that we have fun." Wise words from a 4 year old. Makes me think that even though I've never come close to winning a race, I'm still teaching her something worthwhile : )

No Excuses

2010-05-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Last week was a bust as far as running goes. I had a great 6 mile run last Saturday and then NOTHING until today. I haven't gone that long without running since my infamous break last winter that led me to basically starting over fitness-wise. I really don't want that to happen again. Luckily today I didn't feel like I had lost too much, maybe a little speed but I managed 6 miles in 55 minutes which is a little slower than usual but not bad by any means.

I'm still just a little bugged that I let that much time go by without running. I had some decent excuses, my foot hurt on Monday so I skipped my run. Tuesday the temperature was in the 90's and we ended up spending the day at the beach. Wednesday was still super hot so we skipped town and joined Taber on a business trip in Portsmouth. There was a gym at the hotel but Taber was working the whole time and at business dinners till super late and I couldn't really leave the girls in the room by themselves. Anyway, lots of excuses but the truth is, if I REALLY wanted to I could've fit it in somewhere. Yeah it would've been tricky and probably inconvenient but definitely possible. The truth is, finding time to run as a mom is always tricky and inconvenient. When I start letting the excuses take over that's when it starts slipping away from me.

I have an article from Runners World that I cut out and taped on my motivation wall by my work-out calendar. It's about a mother of 6 children who despite raising such a large family has still managed to train for and finish 15 marathons, her fastest time, 2:50!!!! How does she do it? Her alarm goes off at 4:45 am every morning so she can get in a 10-12 mile run and be back in time to make lunches and get the kids off to school. Amazing! I'm sure a mom with 6 kids has millions of good excuses not to run, but she does it anyway. I'm bummed about my week but I'm going to chalk it up to a learning experience and remember that life gets crazy but if I stay focused on my goals, no excuse can stop me from reaching them.

Therapy Run

2010-05-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

Oh how I have missed running outside!! Today was the first time I've done it in weeks (not counting my race) and it was so therapeutic! I was reminded once again why I actually enjoy running. Treadmilling and running are not the same for me. Treadmilling is work. It's monotony. Pounding out the miles like a rat on a wheel. Don't get me wrong, I do in fact love my treadmill and am grateful that it allows me to continue running even when the weather is bad, it's dark outside, or most commonly, I don't have anyone to watch my kids. Still, I don't get off the treadmill and whoop for joy like I did after running the trails by my house today.

I couldn't have asked for better weather, it was cool and overcast. Perfect. My neighbor's daughter who is in 6th grade came over after school and I paid her 5 bucks to watch the kiddos while I did my little run. Best 5 bucks I've spent all week! I was planning on taking it easy and staying around a 9 minute pace but I forgot, it's so much easier to run faster when you're outside! Mile one beeped on the Garmin with an 8:49 split. I took in the gorgeous scenery, everything is so full and green right now. Mile 2 beeped at an 8:24 split. I felt like I was running through a thick wooded hallway of lush mature trees. I saw a beaver and ducks cross the trail as I neared a little pond. My lungs relished the fresh air. It was so superior to watching minutes and miles slowly tick away surrounded by the grey concrete walls of my basement. Mile three beeped at an 8:04 split and I decided that was good for today.

I slowed up and jogged another half mile back home to stretch. I could not stop smiling and felt like my babysitter was the best person in the whole world for giving me that therapeutic half hour. Tomorrow I'm sure I'll be back on the mill, but I don't mind treadmilling because it just makes my outdoor runs that much better : )

Not sure what to do with myself...

2010-05-15T07:23:00.001-07:00

Taber's out right now for a 7 miler. He signed up for a half marathon in September so he's slowly ramping up the miles. I'm in my "in between races lost at what I should do with myself stage." Last summer at this point I was gearing up for my marathon with a half marathon and Ragnar relay on deck as well. This year is tricky though because what I really want to do is get pregnant. There, I said it. Brinley is almost 2 and I'm not gonna lie, I'm baby hungry.

We've been trying since my half marathon but you know, nature has it's own timeline. While I'm waiting for it to happen though it's hard to know what to do. Should I sign up for races not knowing if I'll be prego or how far along I'll be? Is it safe to push for speed right now? Will I be able to keep running though the morning sickness phase? Is it safe to increase your mileage after you get pregnant? I just don't know. I've been searching around the web for info on running while pregnant. I've found a lot of fabulous blogs and am amazed with these women that are putting in up to 50 miles a week in their 2nd trimesters! I'm not even doing that right now so I'll be happy if I can do 15-20 mpw. I guess that's what I'll shoot for right now since I'm kind of in running limbo. If I can get 20 miles a week in right now that seems like a good place to start.

Anyway, this post is kind of all over the place but just wanted to put that out there and if anyone has any pregnancy running advice or experience I'm all ears!

Boston Marine Corps Honor Run 5K

2010-05-11T06:10:00.001-07:00

Well Saturday was awesome and I'm happy to say I came home with a new PR. You can read all the details Here on my family blog.

I'll warn you, the post is kind of long, but I couldn't help it. It may have only been 3.1 miles but the effort it took to do it the way I did it was pretty big. I worked out 6 days a week, even when I was tired after a long day of chasing kids, even when there was no convenient time to get it in, I did it. I did some tough speed training; tempo runs, intervals, mile repeats, and long runs. It wasn't just the race, it was all the work it takes to get there.

When I started "running" a year and half ago I always felt a little self conscious calling myself a runner. I had no previous experience, no team training, nothing but the articles I could find online and in magazines to help me figure out this new hobby. And while it seems pretty simple, put one foot in front of the other, I still felt like a wanna-be sometimes. After this race though things changed. I was walking back to the car with Taber, it was pouring rain and I was exhausted from my effort. I was trying to process how I felt about the race and finally the words came, "I feel like I'm a runner now." Taber laughed, "Well of course you are!" But no, this time I really really feel like one. I ran fast. I was 117 out of 1063 runners. I was 20 out of 287 in my age division. Of 22 pages of results, my name was on page 3. These are probably silly statistics to a lot of people but to me they felt like a reward to my efforts. Like a confirmation that the more you do, the more you become. And I've gotta say, I think I've become a runner : )

Ready for some easy runs...

2010-05-05T10:48:00.001-07:00

Last night I did a 3 mile tempo run at an 8:00 min pace the whole way (7.5 mph on the treadmill). That's pretty fast for me and I ain't gonna lie, it was brutal. I was drenched in sweat and really had to fight at the end to keep going. Speed work is good, and I really want to run fast on Saturday, but I'm kind of excited to just get this next race over with and run just for the fun of it again. It's been awhile since I've just run to relax, not worrying about pace or speed. I'm looking forward to a few weeks off after this one to just run some nice easy runs for nothing more than the sake of running!

5K this Saturday

2010-05-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

Taber and I are signed up for the Boston Marine Corps Honor run this Saturday. Hoping for a new PR to beat my old time of 25:46. I've been doing some speed work and feel like it could happen. I'm just crossing my fingers that it's not too hot! I did a 6 miler on Saturday around noon and the heat was awful! The same course I ran last week in 50 minutes took me 53, and I felt horrible when I was done. Still even if it's hot, and even if i don't PR, it will be awesome to run down by the beach and best of all, to have Taber running there with me! Can't wait!

Hauling BOOTY!

2010-04-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

So Taber got a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch for his birthday and on Saturday he was nice enough to let me try it out! HOLY SMOKES! That thing is dang awesome! Our old Garmin told you your speed and distance based on a foot pod, so it wasn't always 100% accurate. It also didn't show mile splits, maps, or overall average pace unless you calculated it yourself. So yeah, I was pretty pumped to run with real satellite tracking.

I decided to do the route that I trained for my half marathon on. It has a really nasty hill that goes up about 114 feet in elevation over a maybe a .2 mile distance. I've only been able to run the whole thing a couple times. Anyway, on Saturday I wanted to see how fast I could run 6 miles so I was going for speed and I vowed I wouldn't walk that hill.

I took off pretty fast and finished my first mile in 8:32 min. It was so cool having the watch beep and show me my average pace on each mile. Mile 2 was 8:24, and then I tackled mile 3 which included the nasty hill. I was huffing and puffing but I made it to the top without stopping and it felt so awesome!! I thought I was going super slow but my pace was 8:40 for that mile so not too bad. Mile 4 included coming back DOWN the hill and I did it in 7:58. Mile 5 was 8:21, Mile 6 was 8:31. My finishing time was 50 min 31 seconds for an overall average pace of 8:24 per mile!!

I felt pretty awesome the whole time and really think the cross training I've been doing has made a difference on my speed and ability to take on the hills. I've been running 3 days a week and doing an hour of strength training the other 3 days, (don't work out on Sundays) and it's making a difference. If I want to run a 25 minute 5k I need to average an 8:03 minute pace. That's pretty fast but I think I'm on the right track! I'm looking at a race in 2 weeks. We'll see how it goes!

Running: good for your heart, and your marriage!

2010-04-21T17:50:00.001-07:00

So Taber has recently gotten back into running again. It's been tough since he doesn't have a gym at work anymore and is working way more hours with a commute to top it all off. It's been hard for him to figure out when he can fit it in, but he finally just decided he was going to do it, even if it was late and he was tired, he was going to run. He signed up for a half marathon in September and has his eye on some 5Ks and 10Ks this summer.

I gotta say, seeing him work so hard to get his runs in is attractive. I kind of feel the way I did when we were dating and I'd see a neat quality in him and think, "wow, that's the kind of guy I want to marry." So now we're married and I tell you what, it's still pretty darn attractive to see him doing things that I admire!

I also love having a common past time and something to get excited about together. It's so fun asking him about his run and comparing workouts. We subscribe to Runner's World magazine and I like talking to him about the articles in there and getting geeked out over runner celebrities like Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher.

Last night after the kids went to bed he ran while I did a work out DVD. Then we came upstairs and watched the Boston marathon that I had recorded earlier. It was an awesome impromptu weeknight "date" : )

With kids and work, life can get crazy and it's easy to get consumed with the day to day grind of making our household run smoothly. But running gives us something fresh, a common bond to escape some of the chaos and to see each other in another role besides homemaker or breadwinner. For a small part of our day we are "athletes", training partners, team mates : ) Even though we aren't running together we're both running, and I'll be the first to tell you, it's definitely been good for our marriage!

Up Next...

2010-04-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

So, it's almost been two weeks since my half marathon and I finally figured out what to do with myself. I always feel a little lost after I finish a race. It's like, I work so hard for so long to lead up to that moment but then it's over, and I'm like, "doh dee doh...No what?"

At first I was thinking maybe I'd just take a break from running and focus more on toning up and strength training. Running is great for your heart and lungs and I do have to say that my legs are pretty buff. ; ) But running doesn't really do much for my other trouble spots (mainly my belly!) So the first week after the Half I did 45 min to an hour of strength training DVD's everyday. Lots of squats, lunges, push ups, sit ups, resistance bands and butt blaster type stuff. I threw one short 3 mile run in there but it was a pretty low key half hearted effort.

The strength training has been nice but today the running bug is back. My friend introduced me to a new app for my iPod touch. If you have an iPhone (Natalie and Ro!) Then the app is even BETTER! its called runkeeper pro, and it works like a GPS watch. It tracks your distance, pace, speed, calories burned, and maps your route. Then it uploads it all to a site online where you can keep track of everything. Best part about it is you can invite others to join your street team, and keep up on each other's goals and training!

Once I downloaded that app I got all excited about running again. There's just something about seeing my progress charted out that just gets me going! Also I love that you can have people on your team to motivate you too. SO, if you have an iPhone and download this (there's a free version too, runkeeper free) Then add me to your street team! my username is BeccaB.

Oh, and my goal now is to do a fast 5K next month. I figure now that I've done a good distance race it's time to get my speed back up. I'd like to do it in 25 minutes flat. My previous PR is 25:46. I think I can do it!

New York 13.1 Half Marathon: The Extended edition

2010-04-07T18:19:00.001-07:00

How cute is Teya in this picture?! She just had to be in on it!

The New York Half was great success! You can read all about it on my family blog here: New York 13.1 Half Marathon

I always like to put in a few extra details though on my running blog so here they are in no particular order:

1) I got so nervous before the race that I missed the shuttle from my hotel to the starting line because I couldn't get out of the bathroom. Luckily there was another shuttle 10 minutes later but I was a little frazzled. Even after that I had to stand in the insanely long port-a-potty lines TWICE before the actual race started. Does this potty issue happen for anyone else on running day? Or do I just have the world's smallest bladder?

2) After my whole iPod dilemma I decided to follow Natalie's advice and bring my iPod but not listen in the beginning. That only lasted for 3 miles and then I got insecure and turned it on. I'm still not sure if it is that big of a help, maybe when Justin Bieber's "Baby" came on ; ) but other than that I didn't feel like it gave me a ton of extra energy.

3) One of the ways I navigated this race was drafting. I'd find someone that was clocking around a 9 minute pace and then I'd pull in behind them and let them do the work. I never found anyone consistent enough that I could draft the whole time, but I was able to do it enough to reserve some energy. Only problem was when people noticed what I was doing they seemed either nervous or really annoyed. This one guy was obviously trying to shake me but I kept pacing with him, eventually I decided to back off though because we were in Queens after all!

4) My quads were really sore the next day. I knew I should've done more cross training! I always say I'm going to cross train more and somehow it always gets neglected. NEXT TIME!

5) I got a sunburn on my back and the return of the perma-tank top tan that I had from running last summer : )

6) I had the best cheerleading section in the world! We've never brought the girls to spectate a race before because we thought it would be too much for them. While it WAS a lot of work for Taber, I think they did really well and it just made the accomplishment feel complete having them there.

Me waving to Teya (she's hanging out in the bottom righthand corner) at mile 5

7) I was really impressed with the 13.1 marathon series. The organization was awesome, the miles were marked really well with running clocks showing gun time at every mile. The drink stations were at almost every mile and had plenty of water and gatorade. The finishers chute had lots of great food options, from apples and bananas to bagels with cream cheese, muffins, donuts, you name it. The after party was tons of fun, with a live band and disco dancers. The medals were really nice and the shirts were awesome too. This year they have them in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and Miami. Highly recommend it!

8) After running that I realized I have no desire to do a marathon this year! Half was enough for me! Maybe next year. Maybe... : )

Last thoughts before race day

2010-04-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday my training for the New York half is officially done! Today and tomorrow are rest days and then it's time to race!

Monday was a 4 miler. It was rainy week so I did both my runs on the treadmill. I warmed up for 1/4 mile at 6mph then did another 1/4 at 6.5 mph then settled into my run at 6.6, which is a 9:05 min/mile pace. When I hit the 2 mile mark I went to 6.7 mph, 8:54 pace, and when I got to three miles I pushed it up to 7mph and did the last mile at an 8:34 min/mile pace. For the last 1/4 mile I went to 7.5, 8:00 min pace, and ran hard. My finish time was 34:48 minutes for an overall average pace of 8:42 min/mile. I was a sweaty mess and definitely could NOT sustain that pace for 13.1 miles, but it's always fun to push yourself on a shorter run.

After that run my shins were hurting me, so I took Tuesday off and then decided to do a nice easy 3 miler on Wednesday. My shins still hurt so I started out conservatively, at 6mph on the treadmill, but there's something about a short run that just makes me want to go faster. So I kept cranking up the speed until once again, I was a running hard. I finished in 26:25 minutes, for an average pace of 8:48 min/mile. My shins were definitely not happy so I did an ice massage after and I think that helped. I'll do another one today and won't be running again until Saturday so hopefully with more ice and two days off running my shins will be a little happier :)

Sadly my friend who I originally signed up for the race with has been injured and just told me today that she won't be going down with us. I'm bummed that I won't have my running partner but I know how it can be with injuries. Luckily another friend decided a few weeks ago that she would try running it so she'll be there. We run at different speeds but at least I'll have company for some of it : )

And here's the good and bad for race day:

The bad:

-I won't have my running buddy. I was secretly planning to use her as my rabbit, since her pace is just a bit faster than mine, I was hoping she'd pull me through to a faster finishing time! Oh well..; )

-This is the inaugural event for this race, so I'm not sure how well it will be organized. Also, contrary to the misleading pictures on the website, we will NOT be running in Manhattan, but in Queens. Not sure how I feel about that yet.

The Good:

-Taber and the girls will be cheering me on at the finish line!!

- The weather is supposed to be GORGEOUS!!

- my iPod is up and running again and full of some new awesome songs to help me out just in case...

- I feel really confident about my last month of training and whether I beat my old time or not, I know I'll finish strong!

-The post race party tent has tons of cool stuff for spectators and kids to enjoy as well. Looks pretty promising : )

So that's the latest and greatest. We're taking off in the morning and looking forward to a fun weekend away!

New York Half Countdown: 1 week to go!

2010-03-28T20:16:00.001-07:00

One week away and I'm feeling pumped!!! All the training is pretty much done. This coming week I'll have a few small runs as I taper down and then it's race day!! This will only be the 2nd race we've brought our kids to (the other one was a 5k where we pushed them in strollers). So I'm really happy that the girls will get to see me run and be at the finish line. Talk about motivation! Not only will I have Taber there but knowing that Teya's huge smile and Brinley's squishy checks will be waiting for me at the end will definitely pull me through those last tough miles.

Taber's taking Friday off and my friend's husband has Friday off too, so we're all going to caravan down to New York together. We might check out some sights on Friday or we might just settle in at the hotel, take the kids for a swim, do a major carbo load and hit the sack! Either way I'm just really excited for this weekend. It's been 5 months since my last race and I'm ready to get back into it!

Training went well last week. My long run was kind of funny because I ended up doing it on my treadmill. Long story short, my normal route is cambered and really hilly. Brutal on the knees. I'd been having some shin and knee issues so I was hesitant to run that route. Then my friend got injured and wasn't going to be able to run with me, and the weather was forecast to be 14 degrees. All those things combined made me decide to just pound it out on the treadmill.

It actually went really well and was nice to be able to control my pace. I did the first 6 miles at 6.5 mph (9:13 min/mile pace) and the last 6 miles at 6.6 mph (9:05 min/mile) I threw in a couple sprints at 7 mph (8:34 min/mile) and ended up finishing in an hour and 50 minutes, around a 9:10 pace. I finished my first half marathon at a 9:06 pace, so I'm getting close! I don't know if I'll be able to match it again but I'm competitive enough with myself that I'm going to try! If I don't, no big deal, but it's always fun to have something to shoot for : )

Weekly Goals:

Monday: 5 miles

Tuesday: 3 miles or cross

Wednesday: 5 miles + strength

Friday: 60 minutes cross

Saturday: 12 miles

Outcome:

Monday: 5 miles, outside avg pace, 9:00 min/mile

Wednesday: 3 miles treadmill avg pace 8:48 min/mile

Thursday: 5 miles, treadmill avg pace 8:55 min/mile

Saturday: 12 miles, treadmill avg pace: 9:10 min/mile

iPod Dillema

2010-03-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

On Monday my iPod died 2 miles into a 5 mile run. I started freaking out because I'm usually super dependent on music to push me through so I felt like a scuba diver who's oxygen tank just got ripped off their back. I let my mind go into panic mode, thinking of the big hills ahead and wishing I had been thinking and actually charged the dang thing before I left the house.

Part of me wanted to just stop but I was already 2 miles out, and even if I DID stop I still had to go 2 more miles to get back home! So I gathered my thoughts, focused on my breathing, and plodded ahead. As I settled into the relative silence I began to notice the beautiful nature all around me. I heard the birds singing, the wind blowing through the trees, water dripping into a puddle. Every little sound seemed amplified. This new and natural soundtrack had an unexpected effect on me, it made me run faster! All along I thought it was my music that made me run fast ( and I still think that's true for certain songs) But overall, being able to connect with my surroundings and listen to my breathing and my footsteps and the way I was running, it made the run go by faster and feel less labored.

When a fast song comes on with a heavy beat it makes me work harder, and I feel more tired. Without the music dictating the ebb and flow of my pace, my speed was actually more consistent and came more easily. I finished the 5 miles in 45:03, almost exactly a 9 minute pace (9:00:06 to be exact.) And I felt great!

Still, I didn't trust myself without music. So I plugged my iPod into our new computer to charge it up. Since it's a new computer it asked me something about erasing and syncing my music, I absentmindedly clicked "yes" and my entire song collection vanished. When I tried to put music back on, it wouldn't let me! So, Wednesday and Thursday's runs were also sans music. Amazingly though, it was fine! Wednesday I logged 3 miles in 26:25 min, 8:48 min/mile pace, and yesterday I did 5 miles in 44:35 min, 8:55 min/mile pace.

So this week I've had a positive experience running without music, but I'm still a little torn as to whether I should race with my iPod next week or not. I'm trying to fix it and I will probably at least bring it as a back up in case I need some extra "juice" to kick it into the finish. I don't know though, I ran my first half marathon without music (accidentally left the iPod at home) and had a great experience and a great finishing time. So yeah, it's a dilemma, not sure how it will all work out.

New York Half Countdown: 2 weeks to go!

2010-03-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

This week was another solid week and I actually only had to run on the treadmill once! 3 of my 4 runs this week were outside thanks to the beautiful spring weather we've been enjoying.

On Thursday afternoon I ran the fastest 3 miler I've done since my Turkey Trot back in November. I finished it in 25:55 min, which is an 8:38 min/mile pace. I was really pumped to see those numbers on my watch when I finished. It's been really really hard to get my speed back up after letting it go down the drain this winter. When I first started running again I would get so frustrated that I could barely run 10 minute miles anymore. Still, I just kept pushing along, and it's amazing how slowly but surely you can teach your body to work harder, go faster, and run longer.

Even today after running 10 miles I couldn't believe how great I felt! the last 2 miles, when I'm normally tired and slowing down, were actually my fastest today! After 6 weeks of running I'm finally starting to get my fitness back. I'm still not where I was before. I can't believe I ran my first half marathon at a 9:06 pace. I tried doing that today with just 10 miles and I couldn't sustain it. I ended up averaging 9:26, which is still great, but just makes me realize I still have some work to do.

Speed aside, I'm really happy with how my training is going right now. It feels really good to get out there and do something that challenges and fulfills me.

Weekly Goals:

Monday: 5 miles

Tuesday: 3 miles or cross

Wednesday: 5 miles + strength

Friday: 60 min cross

Saturday: 10 miles

Weekly Outcome:

Monday: 5 miles, on the treadmill, avg pace 9:07 min/mile

Tuesday: 47 min strength DVD

Wednesday: 5 miles, outside, avg pace 9:36 min/mile

Thursday: 3 miles, outside, avg pace 8:38 min/mile

Saturday: 10 miles outside, avg pace 9:26 min/mile

8 mile Provo Canyon adventure

2010-03-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some cool pics from my 8 mile run with Kevin a couple weeks ago when I was in Utah.

Since Kevin normally runs 3 times faster than me, going at my pace gives him plenty of time to goof off and take pictures. I'm glad he did because the trails we ran were absolutely beautiful.

The weather was a chilly and I forgot to wear gloves so that's why my hands are tucked into my sleeves. It was a sunny morning though and there were lots of runners on the trails.

I loved being in the shadow of the mountain. I miss the mountains SO much! The elevation was KILLER though, and I really struggled in the beginning.

Kevin just zipped along like it was nothing. But he never pushed the pace (at least if he did I didn't notice) and he was nice enough to walk for a brief stretch about 3 miles in when I needed to catch my breath.

at mile 3.5 the path was no longer plowed. There was a sign that said stay off the trails during the winter or somthing like that. But Kevin was like, "Oh don't worry, we're just going to run in the snow for a little while, it will be easy."

Easy for him maybe, but I thought running in the snow was hard! One of my friends trained for a marathon all winter and did quite a few long runs in the snow. After going half a mile I have NO idea how she did it! It was worth it though when we got to the falls.

Kevin decided he needed to take a glory picture standing on the rocks in the water fall. He made a treacherous climb on a steep snowy hill in SHORTS! Of course he fell through the snow and his poor legs got an unexpected ice bath.

He did get his Glory Shot

But he paid a price! Not only did he fall in the snow, he also got attacked by a burr bush. He might've fallen in the water on the slippery rocks too but if he did I don't think I'm supposed to tell anyone that ; )

After our photo op stop we headed back and the way out of the canyon was downhill so we had a much easier time coming back. All in all the run was tough for me, much harder than my last two long runs that were further in distance. Still, I had a lot of fun, laughed pretty hard and got to enjoy a giant jug of chocolate milk courtesy of Kevin who claims it is the best recovery drink out there. Hey, if Kevin says it, I believe it!

New York Half Countdown: 3 Weeks to go!

2010-03-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

This past week I buckled down and I feel pretty good about how it went. Not only did I pick up the speed from last weeks 10 min+ paces, but I also got some cross training in. YESS!

The biggest success I had though was finally getting a handle on my eating habits! After eating half a bag of Hershey kisses and almost an entire box of Samoa girl scout cookies in one setting while I was in Utah, I realized I might need some help in the food department.

So on Friday, with the weekend looming ahead, I got on the computer and signed up for weightwatchers online. I did the online program after having both of my girls and really liked it. This time I'm not looking to lose a lot of weight, just to get some accountability for what I eat. All weekend long I tracked every single bite of food that went in my mouth. It really made me think more and helped me avoid absent minded eating. I successfully passed on milkshakes when we were at the mall and everyone else was getting them, I turned down cookies at church, and I even said no to the tub of Hagen Daz pineapple coconut ice cream Taber offered to buy me Saturday night. Normally all of those things would've made it into my tummy but things have changed. If I'm going to be a runner I need to fuel my body with the the right stuff!

And that's just what I did. I made egg white omelets with chopped bell peppers, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes for breakfast, ate flat bread sandwiches with hummus, feta cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes and sliced peppers for lunch, and carefully measured my portions for dinner, making sure to include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. What a difference! No more sloggy sugar hangovers or afternoon cookie binges!

I'm happy to be back in control again and I think this will be just what I need to really rev me up for my race in 3 weeks!

Weekly Goals:

Monday: 5 miles
Tuesday: 3 miles or cross
Wednesday: 5 miles + strength
Friday: 60 minutes cross
Saturday: 9 miles

Outcome:

Monday: 4 miles, outside, avg pace: 9:16 min/mile
Wednesday: 5 miles on treadmill, avg pace: 9:08 min/mile
Thursday: 2 miles on treadmill, avg pace 9:09 min/mile- 20 min strength DVD
Friday: 50 minute strength DVD
Saturday: 9 miles outside: avg pace 9:54 min/mile

New York Half Countdown: 4 weeks to go

2010-03-10T20:29:00.001-08:00

Didn't get a lot of running in last week but the runs I did do were a lot of fun. Last Tuesday me, Becca and Laura, (another friend who is joining us for the New York Half) met at 5:30am to get a 6 miler in. There is something so rejuvenating about watching the sun rise in the morning. It was a great way to wake up, running through such pretty New England country, past a couple little farms with cows and a quaint little white church. I loved the views (hated the hills) and thoroughly enjoyed having company to chat with along the way.

After that I took off to Utah for my brother's wedding and in all the mayhem of travel, wedding, and visiting family I didn't run again until Sat. Luckily my brother in law Kevin, who is a running Jedi, was in town as well. He was game enough to go on an 8 mile run with me up beautiful Provo canyon. I will post more on that later but let's just say it was gorgeous, HARD, funny, adventurous, and memorable. The higher altitude really threw me off but I finished, and I guess that's what matters.

Weekly Goals:
Mon: 4.5 miles
Tues: 3 miles or cross
Wed: 4.5 miles + strength
Friday: 50 minutes cross
Sat: 8 miles

Outcome:
Tuesday: 6 miles: average pace: 10:10 min/mile
Saturday: 8 miles: average pace: 10:15 min/mile

Focus for next week (or I guess I should say this week since it's already half way over!) Speed up the pace!! I'd like to run my half around a 9:30 pace. I've got some work ahead of me to get back up to speed. Tonight was good though and I'm going to keep working at it. 22 to days to go! WOO!

The Good, The Bad, and the Slightly Embarrassing

2010-03-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

The Good: Last week I ran every single mile I was supposed to on my training schedule!

The Bad: Unfortunatley I didn't do one minute of cross training!

The Slightly Embarrassing: After publicly admitting my need to get my eating under control I had a record week of gluttony and saw the scale move up once again.

So what does that all mean? On the positive side, I'm really proud of myself for fitting 19 miles of running into a busy week. That being said, I've GOT to figure out how to fit my cross training in because I know if I don't, my legs will be sooo mad at me once we start hitting double digit runs.

I'm also a little embarrassed about the way I ate last week, especially after making a goal not to eat like that. But on Saturday I had an epiphany that makes me think this week will be a lot better. Saturday was Teya's 4th birthday bash. We had 11 little girls over and it was a busy busy day. With the party prep, the actual party, and then the recovery afterward I was exhuasted. 9 o'clock rolled around and I still hadn't done my 7 miles for the day. I was determined to get that run in though so at 9:15pm I marched downstairs and jumped on the treadmill for a long run. I never like to do more than 5 miles on the treadmill but I didn't have any other option so I just started cranking out the miles.

As I stared at my reflection in the dark window in front of me I had this kind of out of body experience watching this woman, this tired mom in front of me, dig deep and find the will power to do something that is hard to do. I saw the sweat coming off my forehead and watched my steady breathing and suddenly my reflection broke into a smile. The same thought that got me into running in the first place flashed in my mind, "I CAN DO HARD THINGS!" If I have the willpower to force myself to run 7 miles, on a treadmill, after a long and tiring day, I can certainly find the willpower to say no to unneccessary amounts of sugar and junk food. I don't have to eat every sweet and delicious thing in front of me like it's the last yummy treat on earth. There WILL be other treats.

So, this week I'll be flying across the country to attend my brother's wedding. There will be many opportunities to overindulge but I'm going to be strong, and pass on the stuff that's not necessary. (and so we're all clear, toasted coconut ice cream IS necessary, just wanted to get that out there ; )

Weekly Goals:
Mon: 4.5 miles
Tues: 3 miles or cross train
Wed: 4.5 miles plus strength
Friday: 50 min cross train
Saturday: 7 miles

Outcome:
Mon: 4.5 miles on treadmill, finished in 41:50 min. avg pace: 9:17 min/mile
Wed: 4.5 miles on treadmill, finished in 42:30 min. avg pace: 9:26 min/mile
Thurs: 3 miles on treadmill, finshed in 27:20 min. avg pace: 9:06 min/mile
Sat: 7 miles on treadmill, finished in 1:07:55. avg pace: 9:42 min/mile

New York Half Countdown: 6 weeks to go

2010-02-22T10:04:00.001-08:00

Last week was okay. It was kind of lame not running in the beginning but I've learned that it's better to baby your injuries in the early stages so they don't take you out later on. I'm glad I took it easy because my shins felt 100% better and after our long run on Saturday I didn't have any troubles at all.

The real trouble I'm having is food actually. I put on a few pounds during the holidays; no big deal, except they're not coming off. I'm running again and exercising but I actually gained weight last week. The reason why is no mystery, I just can't seem to get a handle on my portion sizes and sugar cravings. I'm also a social eater and it seems that we always have something going on where there's lots of food and I'm like a cow in the pasture, grazing all night long till I come home ridiculously stuffed.

So my goal for this week, along with getting my training in, is to be more conscious about what I eat. I'm going to try to do all the things I know are good for me, eat more fruits and veggies, whole grains and lean meats. Go easy on the sugar, watch my portion sizes, and ignore the fact that the girl scouts are out with those dang cookies.

Here's how last week went:

Weekly Goals:

Mon: 4 miles
Tues: 2 miles of cross
Wed: 4 miles
Fri: 40 min cross
Sat: 6 miles

Outcome:

Tues: 45 min strength DVD
Wed: 45 min strength DVD
Thurs: 4 miles
Sat: 6 miles

Breaking in the new shoes

2010-02-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

My shoes finally got here and I was so excited to take them out for a test run today. It was the first time I've run all week since I've been trying to recover from shin splints. The rest really helped and my legs felt awesome!

It was very refreshing to run outside. Today was beautiful, 40 degrees and sunny. Definitely not the freezing cold February I was used to in Minnesota! It was also so nice to be able to run during the sunny part of the day. With little kids I'm usually stuck with running in the wee hours of the morning, late at night, or inside on the treadmill. As fate would have it though, we moved in across from a family with a daughter who's in 6th grade, just took a babysitting course and wants to be a mother's helper. We've worked it out so she'll come over once or twice a week for an hour so I can run outside. Teya loves her and it's comforting to know that if anything happens, her mom is just across the street. So yeah, totally sweet set up!

Anyway, the run went great. I did 4 miles and finished in just over 36 minutes. I hit a few good hills and really tried to tackle them at full speed since hills tend to give me a huge mental challenge. When I was done I stretched for a long time and so far, 5 hours later, I have zero shin pain. I think the shoes did the trick! I'm looking forward to running outside again on Saturday. Good to be back in the game!

New York Half Countdown: 7 weeks to go

2010-02-15T05:23:00.000-08:00

So last week I said my top priority was to get new shoes since the ones I was running in were "expired," having had more than 250 miles put on them. I wanted the exact same shoes, because I LOVED mine. They were my second pair of the same and why change when you know what works? Problem is, I couldn't find a store that carried them. I spent two days going to store after store with no luck.

I finally got online and found them but no one had my size! It was really frustrating but after surfing through several different sites I finally found my beloved Nike Zoom Elite 4 Trainers in a size 6.5! Whew!

So the good news is I bought new shoes. The bad news is, they aren't here yet. Without good shoes I knew I was at risk for making my shin splints worse but I wasn't thinking like a smart runner and decided to train as usual in my old kicks. The first few days were okay but after my long run on Saturday the pain is back. Dang it.

The good news is my shin splints aren't as bad as I've had them before. I mean, I could still run on them if I had to, but I'm forcing myself to stop running so they can get better. Rest, Ice, and massage is my plan for now. I'll cross train to strengthen my legs and hopefully by the time Saturday rolls around I'll have my new shoes and my legs will be ready to go.

On a happier note, I found a running buddy to train with! Her name is Becca, just like me, and she ran her first half marathon last fall. She signed up for the New York half and we did our first run together on Saturday. It was a 6 miler and she took us out on a course with some pretty decent hills! I had a great time though, having someone to chat with makes it go by so fast! She is awesome and I'm super excited to train together.

So here's how the week went:

Weekly Goals:

Mon: 4 miles
Tues: 2 miles or cross train
Wed: 4 miles
Fri: 40 min cross
Sat: 6 miles

Outcome:

Mon: 4.5 miles
Tues: 25 min strength DVD (squats, lunges, abs, and arms)
Wed: 4 miles
Friday: 45 min strength DVD (squats, lunges, abs & arms)
Sat: 6 miles

New York Half Countdown-8 weeks to go

2010-02-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

My friend Natalie keeps tabs of her marathon training with a weekly countdown blog post. Anyway, I liked the format so that's what I'm going to do.

Last week went pretty well. I got all the miles I needed, but I didn't do a lick of cross training and I know I'm going to pay for that if I don't get on track. After my 5 miler on Saturday I was starting to feel shin splint pain coming on. I stretched really well, ice massaged and didn't run the next day. Still, I know I really need to get my cross training in to prevent injuries.

I'm also thinking the shin pain could be a sign that it's time for a new pair of shoes. I'm still running in the same ones I wore for my marathon last June. So yeah, new shoes are a top priority for this week. Anyway, here's how my training went:

Weekly Goals:

Monday: 3.5 miles

Tuesday: 2 miles

Wednesday: 3.5 + Strength

Friday: 40 min cross training

Saturday: 5 miles

What I actually ended up doing:

Monday: 3.5 miles

Tuesday: didn't get my run in

Wednesday: 3.5 miles + wall sits and planks

Friday: 2 miles

Saturday: 5 miles

I did all my running on the treadmill but I played with the speed and incline to make it feel more like an outside run. This week if it gets warmer I'm hoping to at least do my long run outside. My pace is still slower than I'd like, I'm averaging a 9:13 minute mile. (6.5 mph on the treadmill) But I'm trying to not worry about it and just be happy that I'm running again and building my cardio back up.

The one thing I do feel like I need is some fresh music for my playlist. My old songs aren't quite doing it like they used to. If anyone has any great running songs please leave some suggestions in the comments. : )

Happy running!

Boost of Confidence

2010-02-01T10:23:00.001-08:00

My first few runs on our treadmill were rough, I'm not gonna lie. I was huffing and puffing and really struggling to finish 3 miles. The second run I did I seriously had to stop 3 times to catch my breath. It left me with some major doubts about tackling a half marathon in 9 weeks. I hung in there though and last week I made myself get on there and run every other day. I slowed up my pace and took it easy and by the end of the week the 3 mile runs weren't so bad.

Then on Saturday I attempted my first "long run" which was only 5 miles, but more than I've run in a very long time. I loaded up my iPod with the soundtrack to Wicked, hopped on the treadmill and steadily jogged along as I listen to the witches of Oz belt it out. I stayed at a nice 10 minute pace for the first 3 1/2 miles then bumped it up to a 9:13 pace to finish off the last mile and a half. It was a really great run! I felt good the whole time and definitely had energy left when I finished. It was a huge boost of confidence to know that I could do that run without any trouble, and it made me realize that if I scale back to the novice training schedule I'm still totally on track for the New York Half Marathon on April 3rd.

So, with my new found confidence and motivation I got online, registered for the race and booked a hotel right where the race headquarters are set up. It's officially ON! and I'm really excited to have something to work towards for the next 2 months.

Fresh Start

2010-01-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

After a 3 week unintentional break from running, (what can I say, moving is tough!) I'm starting over and excited to get back in shape. Our treadmill is here! Finally! The first one they sent to our old house was damaged, so we had one shipped to our new place and finally got it all set up on Thursday! It's the NordicTrack 1500 Pro (pictured here) and after two runs I'm already smitten. Nothing beats the convenience of lacing up your shoes and walking downstairs to get a run in. No babysitter, gym pass, or warm gear needed!

That said, I've definitely got my work cut out for me if I want to run a half marathon in less than 12 weeks. My first run on the treadmill was a 3 miler that almost killed me! I couldn't really do much more than a 10 minute mile and I was tired at the end. Still I'm staying positive since last year at this time I was barely running 3 miles and I managed to do just fine for the spring running season. It's hard not being up to speed but I guess that's just more motivation to really hit it hard! And I plan to, thanks to my new friend : )

Getting back on Track

2010-01-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I posted here, guess I followed through and REALLY enjoyed the holidays : ) Hoping to get back on track soon though. Movers are at my house as we speak loading all my household belongings onto their truck. This next week will be a little crazy as we tie up our lose ends, drive across the country and get settled in our new place. AFTER all that happens though I'm ready to get my work out on!

I've been doing some research looking for my next race and think I found a winner. The New York City 13.1 Half Marathon. I've never been to New York and thought an awesome way to check out the city would be to run through it! It's only 4 hours away from our new place so we can just drive over and make it a fun weekend for the family. The race is on April 3rd so even if my running legs are a bit rusty from the holidays it gives me the perfect amount of time to train and get ready. I've already downloaded my training schedule from the Hal Higdon website. Last year I followed the novice schedule but this year I'm stepping it up and going to intermediate. It includes more speed work and tempo runs and has you running 5 days a week. Hopefully if I stick with it I'll be able to improve my time. I finished the Maple Grove half in 1:59:10. I'd like to be able to shave at least 5 minutes off that.

So that's the plan. When we get to NH I have shiny new treadmill waiting to start logging some serious mileage. Happy running!!

Enjoying the Season

2009-12-15T11:51:00.001-08:00

Last week I had kind of a freak out moment when I stepped on the scale and realized that I had gained 5 lbs in the last 5 weeks. I know that might not sound like that big of a deal but when you're 5 ft 1, believe me, 5 lbs makes a difference. I guess I really didn't need the scale to tell me I've been gaining weight. I mean, it's pretty obvious when I put on my jeans and my "Christmas rolls" are spilling out over the sides. Still, seeing that number really got to me. I started getting down on myself and feeling like all my hard work was quickly going to waste. It's been busy lately with traveling, moving preparations, and getting things ready for the holidays. We have family coming into town this week and next week. With everything that's been going on I've barely been able to fit in two runs a week. (Down quite a bit from the 5 I was doing during the summer) Add to that the decadent plates of goodies we've been getting on our doorstep and well, it's been an uphill battle.

So like I said, I was moping around and beating myself up and ended up venting to a friend about my holiday weight gain. Later that night she sent me an email with this line, "by the way, I don't think you need to worry about 5 lbs...you look amazing, seriously! You are truly my inspiriation as far as exercising and being healthy. Just enjoy the holidays!"

I don't think she realizes how much that little email has helped me. I felt like reading that email somehow gave me permission to do what it said, ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS! It's a busy time but a wonderful time. I might not get a work out in everyday but I'm still working out. I might be eating an unusually large quantity of sugary baked goods but it's not like I eat this way all year round. It's the holiday season and I'm enjoying it, Chritmas rolls and all : ) And the good news is, Taber and I are getting a treadmill this year as our gift to each other. So when all the holiday celebrations are said and done, we'll have a great motivator to get us back on track.

Turkey Trot Success!!!

2009-11-30T20:33:00.000-08:00

On turkey trot morning I had my strategy all planned out on how I was going to set a PR and finish a 5K under 27 minutes. I wanted to go out at around a 9 minute pace for half a mile, then 8:30 for a half a mile, 8 for a mile and half and then push hard for anything under 8 till I finished. Only problem was, I forgot to bring a watch so I had no way of knowing what my pace was. So much for strategy! : ) Still, I've run the 5k distance so many times in training that I thought I'd have a pretty good idea of how fast I was going.

Taber and I did an easy 15 minute jog to warm up. It was actually the first time I've ever warmed up before a race. I should probably do that more often. We stretched for a bit and then headed toward the starting line and waited with nervous anticipation.

The horn blew and we took off. I meant to start out slower but with all the race day adrenaline I kicked it up and when we passed the first mile I hadn't even finished two songs on my iPod. most songs are around 4 minutes long so I figured I must be doing around an 8 minute mile. The second mile was tough because we went from being on the road to this little forest trail that was lose, rocky, twisty, and thin. We had to run in single file and Taber pulled ahead but I got stuck behind this slow guy. Finally we came out of the forest trail and I sprinted ahead of the guy and passed Taber in the process. I exerted way too much energy doing that though and at the higher altitude my lungs were burning. Taber easily caught up to me and passed me.

With one mile to go I was getting tired and depressed as I realized I wasn't going to be able to catch up to Taber. He was probably about 50 yards ahead of me when the temptation came to just stop running and catch my breath. That's when I noticed a girl who looked about my age about 10 yards ahead of me. I knew I couldn't catch Taber but I vowed I would catch her. I kicked it up and steadily started closing the gap between us. I could see the finish line and gave it everything I had left. I passed her about 20 feet before we crossed the finish line and finished just 2 people (and 9 seconds) behind Taber.

There wasn't a clock at the finish line and I was dying to find out my time. I knew I ran hard so I felt good about that, but I wanted to know if I had met my goal. Finally the results came out. I grabbed my card and a huge smile broke across my face as I read: Becca Rigg, female, age 29, finish time 25:46, average pace, 8:17 min/mile.

It was such an awesome feeling to set a PR! That's one of the things I love about running. I know I'll never be the fastest girl out there but it's fun to race against myself and improve. Last year when I started running I was doing 11 minute miles on the treadmill and that was tough. Kind of cool to see what a difference a year makes.

The next day when the official results came up online I found out that I also placed 10th out of 77 in my age division of 20-29 year old women. I wouldn't have made it into the top 10 if I hadn't passed that girl. Glad I didn't give into the urge to walk and finished strong instead!

I'll take what I can get

2009-11-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

So, my last post was about combating the holiday bulge...hmmmm....Can't say I've done too fabulously with that one. As I predicted, my birthday and trip to Boston were both delicious and a little high on calories if you know what I mean. Also, with the travel and busyness of getting ready to travel again tomorrow I haven't done much working out. Ooops!

Still, I signed up for a Turkey Trot in Grand Junction, CO, where we're staying for Thanksgiving, And I made a goal to get a PR. My best 5K time in an actual race is 29:41. Shouldn't be too hard to beat that. My best 5K in training is 25 flat. Odds of me getting that are slim to none. Still, I'll take what I can get. Any improvement will be great. I think I'm shooting for around 27 minutes, right between my best and my previous. I ran on the track yesterday and finished in just over 26, but I only ran 3 miles, didn't do the .1 that is part of the 5K.

I hope I can run again tomorrow night or Monday morning while I'm in Utah so I can at least have few training runs at altitude. Even though it's just a 5K I'm still a little nervous because I actually want to do it kind of fast. So yeah, here are my main worries:
1) running at altitude could slow me down
2) I haven't run outside in a long time so not sure if my treadmill and track training will help or hinder.
3) I haven't exactly been sticking to a great nutrition plan. Not sure if all the cake and desserts I've eaten lately will affect my speed.

On a positive note, here are the things I've got going for me:
1) The few times I have run lately I've been trying to go for speed and I'm getting pretty comfortable in the 8:15-8:30 minute mile range, which is definitely fast enough to beat my last time.
2) I totally get serious adrenaline on race day so I think that will help.
3) Taber gave me a gift certificate to iTunes for my birthday so I'm going to have a sweet new playlist to push me.
4) I've done a little cross training lately so I'm hoping that will help too!

Anyway, wish me luck and I'll keep you posted on how it goes next week!

Keeping the holiday bulge in check

2009-11-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

Halloween kicked off the beginning of the holiday gluttony season for me. It's tough because my kids don't like chocolate! They go out and collect all this awesome candy and then all they want to eat are starbursts and smarties. What I SHOULD do is throw the other stuff out, but I was always taught, "waste not, want not," so unfortunately, none of their chocolate has been "wasted" this year.

Combine that predicament with the fact that my birthday is tomorrow and we've been celebrating it it for the past week and will continue to do so through the weekend. It's a funny tradition we have, but anyway, I already had two cakes last week, I'm probably gonna have cake tomorrow, and then we're going on a weekend getaway that promises many fine desserts and dining experiences.

Long story short, I'm starting to get the holiday bulge. Similar to the baby bump, just with more sugar and no baby. This is not good considering that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner and all the calorie laden goodness that comes with those holidays will not be passed over by these taste buds.

So, to keep this unwelcome expansion in check, I'm trying to step it up at the gym. I'm spinning every Wednesday, swimming twice a week, and running 3 times a week. Sounds like a lot but it's either that or give up my holiday food and I just don't think I'm strong enough to do that. Anyway, today was great. I ran on the track instead of the treadmill and was actually able to break the 25 minute barrier on my 3 miler. I also found a Turkey Trot 5K to run on Thanksgiving and am looking forward to seeing if I can PR on this one. It's in two weeks, I'll let you know how it goes.

I think I'm getting hooked!

2009-11-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

My alarm went off at 5am this morning. I confess, I hesitated for a minute as a considered the two choices ahead of me, stay in cozy warm bed with cute hubby and cuddly puppy dog, or get up and torture my quads in spinning class. I chose torture quads, and do not regret it.

Spinning is hard, harder than running in my opinion. But somehow it's also really really fun. I mean, I came home hopping around like I'd just drank a red bull or something I was so pumped up after my class. Taber was waiting for me and I was bouncing around telling him how we were simulating this 50 mile race and we were divided into teams and half of us would sprint while they others drafted, then we'd switch, and then we'd climb these crazy hills and at the end of the race people were attacking so we'd stand up and sprint every time someone raised their hand to attack and I mean Wow! I felt like I was really in a race and I was pedaling my guts out so we could get our instructor across the finish line in first place. Burning legs aside, you can't tell me that's not fun!

I have a feeling I'm gonna get hooked on this. There's a couple from my church who were in the class and they are big time bikers. They have the fancy clip on shoes and the biker shorts and they don't mess around in the class. We were chatting afterward and I think they might've convinced me to ask for my own fancy clip on shoes and biker shorts for Christmas! It's funny because last year I asked for some nice running gear for Christmas. I had never run more than 2 miles and I think Taber was a little hesitant to spend the big bucks on shoes and performance gear. One marathon and a handful of other good races later and I think he's glad he bought me that stuff. I'm totally gonna work that angle to convince him about this biking gear. I think this could be the beginning of something totally awesome : )

Sometimes I surprise myself

2009-10-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

In an effort to spice up the routine today I decided to hit the lap pool and try my hand at swimming. I was dang nervous since my last attempt at swimming 2 years ago was a dismal failure. I could barely make it to one side and back without dying. It was so hard and horrible that I haven't tried it again till today.

Nervous as I was I must say that I did have some extra confidence knowing that at least this time around I've been running, so my heart and lungs are much stronger than last time. Still, I was nervous and called my sister, who has done a triathlon, to get some swimming tips. She talked to me about form and told me to try to swim without stopping for at least 15 minutes. Remembering my last experience I thought there was no way I could swim continuously that long. She assured me that my current state of fitness would help me along and that I could do it. The main thing was to focus on my breathing, 3 strokes then breathe left, 3 strokes then breathe right. Got it, on to the pool!

When I got to the pool I had a great realization as I confidently walked out to the water in nothing but my bathing suit. I remember being in high school and even college and being MORTIFIED of wearing a bathing suit in front of people! If I ever did it was with a t-shirt and board shorts. Sometimes I'd ditch the t-shirt but NEVER swam without board shorts as I felt my legs and thighs were too hideous to be shown to the public. Ha ha!! Guess the whole birthing process, where I had a room full of total strangers not even blink an eye as they stared at me in all my glory, kind of helped me get over that fear. That and just realizing that this is my body and imperfect as it is, it works hard and I'm blessed to have it!

So I found an empty lane, pulled on my goggles, took a deep breath, jumped in and started counting my strokes, "one, two, three, breathe left!, one two three breathe right!" Before I knew it I was at the other side of the pool! Feeling so pleased with myself for making it to the other side without dying, I thought I'd be fancy and try to do that neat little Michael Phelps flippy thing where he turns around. Um, yeah, that was awkward. After doing a few uncontrolled flips in the water that never led to actually turning around, I realized I would need some experienced tutelage before I tried that again. Back to swimming, "1,2,3, breathe left! 1,2,3, breathe right!" Back and forth I went without stopping. My heart was pumping and my arms were burning but I was moving across the water and feeling strong! 15 minutes went by and I knew I had more in me. I pushed hard for 5 more minutes and stopped to catch my breath at the 20 minute mark. "Wow" I thought, "this is kind of fun!" I pushed off the wall again and went at it for 10 more minutes. After half an hour I stopped and started backfloating to cool down. As I floated down my lane, staring up at the ceiling I thought back on how doubtful I was of my ability to swim for 15 minutes. I smiled as I happily realized that sometimes I surprise myself with what I can really do.

Where did October go?

2009-10-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today I had to sign and date a paper and when I wrote in "10/27/09" I literally dropped my jaw in disbelief! This month has flown by for me with a trip to Utah, Taber's marathon, my sister flying in for a week and other crazy events. Somehow in the midst of the insanity, running has taken a back seat. I usually run 3-4 times a week. Before yesterday I had only run 4 times the whole month! Being busy isn't really a good excuse though. I've been busy before and fit running in. I think it comes down 2 different reasons:
1) It's getting cold (it snowed last week) and it's much harder to be motivated to run in 30 degree weather.
2) I don't have a race I'm training for. When I'm training for something I MAKE myself run, even if I'm busy, on vacation, or it's cold. I really need to find a race, but with winter approaching the pickings are getting slim!

Excuses aside, I really do love running and I've missed it. Taber knew I needed a boost and a few weeks ago he got me a gym pass where they have a great childcare so that I can run during the day, even though it's cold outside. I went yesterday and today and it feels awesome to be moving again. I started out easy, 3 miles on Monday. And even that didn't feel as easy as I thought it should. Guess slacking off has some backlash. Today was better though. I did four miles and even kicked it up and did "speed" intervals. My slow miles were 9:13 pace and my fast miles were 8 min pace. I tried doing a 7:30 min/mile sprint and that only lasted for a 1oth of a mile! So much for being fast ; ) I miss running outside but I think this gym pass will be a lifesaver this winter. Now I just need to find a race. Any ideas?

It's been awhile...

2009-10-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Um yeah, it's been awhile since I blogged on here. Last week I was in Utah visiting my family and the running thing kind of took a back seat. I did manage to get in 5 miles early Monday morning before our flight, and then on Wednesday my sister watched the kids so I could run. I did 4 miles on the track and finished in 33 minutes. I felt like I was super fast. It was fun. But then I spent the rest of the week eating A LOT of great food and pretty much doing nothing in the realms of exercise until today when I forced myself to hit the gym for a 4 miler. It was harder than normal (not working out and eating excessively does that to you) but I'm back and looking forward to Taber's marathon this weekend! The weather forecast says he's facing a 40 degree high and rain and snow showers that day. Can we say TROOPER!! I'll be there with bags of warm dry clothing on the trail, just in case... Despite the weather though I think he's excited ( I know I am!) He's ready and I know he'll do great!

My Gym Buddy

2009-09-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

Now that fall is upon us it's getting too dark to run outside in the morning. So the last couple workouts I've done have been at my little gym (an Anytime Fitness place). It's not like a full on gym with aerobics classes and a pool. Just basic stuff, treadmills, elliptical, bikes, weights, etc... It's really not your typical gym crowd either. No hard bodied super athletes, just your average people trying to make time to work out. My gym seems especially popular with the retired age crowd. It's awesome to see some of these older people coming in and getting their exercise. One fellow is there every morning at the same time I go. I'm guessing he's in his late 70's, but man he's still going strong! He comes in there and power walks on the treadmill for 20 minutes or so, then he does a little weight routine, then comes back to the treadmill, and back to the weights.

Anyway, I've ended up running by him a couple times and the other day I came in and before I could get my headphones on he turned to me and said, "So, ya come to run another 10 miles again?" I just smiled and laughed (since I've obviously never run 10 miles on a treadmill) but then he kept talking. "What are you, like a marathon runner or something?" Well I'm not gonna lie, that felt really good to hear that! Someone saw me running and thought I was a marathoner? He can definitely be my friend! I mean, yeah, I did run 1 marathon but sometimes I still don't feel like people would see me running and think, "wow, she must be a runner." It was definitely one of those "look how far I've come" moments. I totally remember running next to people at the gym and seeing them crank out high speeds or lots of miles and being like, "Wow! Now that person is a runner!!" Guess now people (well, at least my little gym buddy) think that of me.

Anyway, this morning I was back at the gym and of course he was there. He said, "So what's the work out gonna be today?" I told him 5 miles and he smiled and said, "well get to it!" So there you have it. Darker mornings and colder weather force me to run indoors, but at least I have my gym buddy there to make the experience a little bit brighter. : )

It's happening...

2009-09-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

I think it's happening, it's still early yet to tell, but I think I'm becoming a morning person!! I'm trying not to get too excited yet because I haven't sustained the early morning habit for 21 days, which apparently is the magic number to make habits stick. Still, last week I was doing early morning workouts all week, and this week I'm 2 out of 3 days for getting up at 6am. Holy cow! If I become a morning person can you just imagine all the possibilities? On Monday I got a taste of the awesomeness of starting my day early. I got up at 6am and did 5 miles at the gym. I listened to conference talks while I ran so I felt like I was getting a double whammy of strengthening body and spirit at the same time. I finished around 7am and then went grocery shopping! I did a HUGE shop, got everything I needed for the whole week. It went so fast without the girls and then I got home at 8am and 3 of the biggest to do's on my list were already DONE before the kids were even awake! So what did I do with the rest of my day? Ran errands, took Teya to the dentist, super cleaned my house (closets and everything!) mopped floors, scrubbed bathrooms, the works. I also made a fabulous dinner (courtesy of the crock pot) and when Taber came home he was blown away! Yes, I think getting up early has some serious perks, now if I can just teach myself to get to BED early, then I think this is really gonna stick!

Told ya I'd use it!

2009-09-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

3 years ago I was still trying to lose baby weight after having Teya and I told Taber I really really wanted a jogging stroller. He'd never seen me run more than a mile, maybe 2, and certainly not on any kind of consistent basis, so he was pretty hesitant. His sweet Mom knew I wanted one though so she bought me one as a gift. I think Taber was pretty glad HE hadn't paid for it because during those first 3 years it was sadly only used a handful of times. Well things have changed and that little stroller has been logging some serious miles lately!! Now that Teya is in preschool twice a week I'm taking advantage of that time to do a little running with the Brinster. On Tuesday I pushed her for 6 miles in that thing and today I ran 4 with her. You see Taber? I told you I would use it!!

Bonus: Every time we get going that bumpy ride puts her right to sleep. It's a great way to give her a morning nap without having her sleep so long that she won't go down in the afternoon. Yay for stroller naps! (and cute sleeping babies : )

One last hoorah!

2009-09-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

After a long and frustrating ordeal with his knee injury Taber is back and running strong again. He had a great race in the Ragnar and felt so good coming out of it that he decided to work towards a full marathon again. He's shooting for the Whistlestop Marathon in Ashland, Wisconsin, coming up next month on Oct 1oth. The last couple of Saturdays he's been doing long runs and did a nice 15 miler last week. His knee still isn't 100%, so he's taking things nice and slow and doing a lot of stretching and icing. He's looking good though and if worse comes to worse, they allow you to switch to the half marathon if you get injured and can't complete the full. So yeah, either way I think we're heading to Whistlestop next month for one last hoorah before the running season ends!

With Taber digging into marathon training we've had to do some juggling so we can both get our runs in. Not that I need to do 3 hour training runs but I still want to keep up my distance running because I'm shooting for one more half marathon at the end of Oct. So I've had to improvise a bit and do more early morning runs and running with the kiddos. We have a single jogging stroller that I use with Brinely while Teya is at preschool twice a week. Last Sat though Taber was out running and I wanted to get out there before the whole morning was gone. So I squeezed them both into the single jogger and we set out. I did around 5 miles and it was very slow with the 60lbs of extra weight to push!! The girls did so good though and by the end they were both fast asleep on top of each other. Taber met us and took some pics. Aren't they sweet?

So yeah, I'm excited for Taber and happy that running is really becoming a part of our lifestyle now. The trick will be making it through the Minnesota winter...We'll let you know how that goes : )

Split Personality

2009-09-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

How is it that I can have such drastically different personalities residing in the same body? On one hand there's the part of me that got up at 5:30 this morning and ran 5 miles pushing myself hard. On the other hand there's the part of me that ate 2 brownies after a huge lunch and is having a hard time keeping the other 2 that are left away from my black hole of a mouth. If I can ever get my athletic side to overcome my gluttonous food addict side I will be soooo buff!!! Until then, I think of all the calories I consume everyday and am thankful that at least part of me DOES like to run : )

This is how my brain works at night

2009-09-09T20:57:00.001-07:00

I'd like to post a coherent stream of my thoughts on running tonight, but I don't know if that's how they will come out since it's 11pm, I've been up since 6, and other than that one crazy weekend of the Ragnar, my brain simply doesn't work well at night. But, I'm staying up to keep Taber company while he works on a project so I figured I might as well blog right? So here we go, I'll just start letting my thoughts pop out and if I have time I'll connect them.

My abs are sore. My bum is sore. My inner thighs, quads, calves, triceps, and shoulders are all sore. I did an exercise DVD yesterday and today called Slim in 6 by Debbie Siebers (found on the beachbody website) I've done it before and didn't think it would be that bad, but since I've been neglecting all my other muscle groups my body now feels like I got hit by a train. This is good for me though. Good to remember that running, while great for your heart, lungs, and legs, is not a full body workout. I'm going to start trying to mix it up a little more and on the days I don't run do more toning exercises to work the rest of my body.

I got up at 6am to workout this morning. Remember how I said maybe I could be a morning person? Well today marks 3 days in a row of getting up at 6am to workout. If I do it tomorrow after staying up late I will REALLY start thinking this could happen. I could really turn into a morning person!! Oh man that would be AWESOME! I'll keep you posted....

I did two workouts today. Slim in 6 in the wee hours of the morn and then I did a 3 mile run during my babysitting swap with Darci. Remember how I said I want to be fast? I wasn't too fast today. I think my insanely sore muscles were slowing me down. It felt like I was running in water, seriously! It's weird how running works. Some days it's almost effortless and you just fly through it, other days it's like cutting through molasses the whole time! (that was a weird analogy, but like I said, it's late)

Fiber One vs. Fiber plus. Any thoughts here? I'm a Fiber One girl, but then I heard about Fiber plus and how written right on the box it brags "Tastes better than Fiber One!" Well I tried it, and I'll tell you what it tastes like, a hybrid between a chocolate chip cookie and a rice crispie treat. Is that what I want in a health food? No thank you. When I eat a Fiber One bar I'm good for hours. After eating a Fiber plus I was not satiated, and ended up eating two in a row. So now when I was hoping for a 120 calorie snack I end up eating twice that and feeling like I spoiled my dinner! So yeah, I'll be sticking with Fiber one.

That's about all I got right now. Hoping to do another 3 miler tomorrow with the jogging stroller. I wonder if pushing that thing makes my arms buffer? Maybe...

Morning run

2009-09-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

This morning, on Labor Day holiday, I, Becca Rigg, woke up at 6am, to dutifully do my run so that Taber could go play football at 8am. I would like to mention that I am NOT a morning person, and that holidays (or days when Taber doesn't have to work) are usually days that I try to sleep in. But because I love my husband, and because I love to run, I made the effort to drag my reluctant tooshie out of bed for a morning sweat session. Hats off to all you people who work out this early every day. It really was beautiful, and the cool weather was nice to run in. I ran 7.5 miles, looped around Rice Lake and came back and circled Wal-mart. I would love to have the discipline to get up early and do that everyday. Who knows, I willed myself to run a marathon, maybe I can will myself out of bed before dawn on a regular basis. We shall see...