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

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...

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!

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!

 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...)

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

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!

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

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

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!!

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! ; )