Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!

What an interesting day. Woke up with a head cold, alarm didn't go off... So switched my Sunday rest day for today... Stayed on track with my eating, was less than I should have eaten but without the ability to taste and no appetite, I just ate according to the diet but just less... And again the facility was all temptation. Candy everywhere, a cake walk, more snacks and junk than can even be imagined, and I cheated ZERO times. Woot. 

Today, an awesome nurse I work with dressed up as ME RUNNING BOSTON. Was a really, really funny deal... :) The girls were zombies, one a prom queen and another a ballerina. My sister and her boyfriend came over and went trick or treating with us. I love them. Good day all in all. 

Can't rest again tomorrow, with a full house coming this weekend, I won't likely get the workouts in Saturday... So go to hell head cold, I got things to do tomorrow. 

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Right On Track

Everything is going quite perfectly! 

This morning started with Leg Day. And I was hurting before it was through, but good hurting, a hurting I haven't felt in a long while. Leg Day consisted of Kettlebell Squats, Walking Kettlebell Lunges, Stiff Legged Dead Lift, PliĆ© Kettlebell Squats, Kettlebell Calf Raises, Seated Kettlebell Calf Raises and max effort Kettlebell Swings. Finished up, got the girls around and out the door and hopped on my treadmill for a 30 minute run, which helped Loosen up my dead legs. Awesome start to my day. 

Below you see an ass I hope to some day achieve. 


Work has been playing against my willpower... Today there were cupcakes in the Management Team Mtg, there was a baked food sale and a cake decorating contest... Seriously?? But who stayed exactly on track? This girl. :)

Meal #1:
2c Mushrooms
1 Tomato
1c Egg Whites
1 Onion

Meal #2
10 Strawberries
1/4c Greek Yogurt

Meal #3
1/2c Crab
1/2 can Baby Corn
2c Spinach
1 Tomato
2T low cal Caesar salad dressing

Meal #4
2c Stirfry
10 Baby Carrots

Meal #5
8oz Shredded Sweet Potato
4oz Chicken Breast
1/2c Cottage Cheese

Meal #6
1c Raspberries
1/4c Greek Yogurt

Hurray! And even though I'm not supposed to weigh or measure til Monday, I did, and I'm down a few pounds already!!! :)

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Today, I am Serious Business.

Feeling pretty dang good on day 2, and crazy enough feeling sore! Both my back and biceps!!!

Today's workout was chest, triceps and abs... Whoa. Serious business. My arms were exhausted by the time I finished up. Oddly enough no cardio today... I struggled with this but stuck with the plan... Cardio, four days a week, lifting five. 

My eating went a little better today, at least I didn't think I was going to explode, but was totally stuffed today...

Breakfast was my two cups of coffee and 1/2c almond milk at home, then at my office I ate 1/2c cottage cheese, two tomatoes, and 1/2 of a can baby corn. Which I actually enjoyed and didn't feel overly stuffed first thing in the morning. 

My second meal was 1c raspberries, 1/4c Greek yogurt and some green tea. 
 
Third meal was split due to meetings... But was 1/2c crab, 2c acorn squash and 2c cabbage. 

And my fourth meal was a delicious 1/2c crab, 2c spinach, 1 tomato and 2T low calorie ceasear salad. Yum. The picture didn't make it to my photo stream apparently... Hmm...

I still need to eat 1c strawberries, which sounds excellent. :)

TOMORROW IS LEG DAY!!! Oh shoot. Have a feeling my body is going to be a little pissed at me... I bought two more dumbbells tonight, 5# heavier! And another kettlebell. Again, today, I am serious business. 

Monday, October 28, 2013

12 Week Challenge - Day 1 - Success

Wow... Day one went perfectly as planned... Other than I feel like I have eaten non-stop all day long... 
This is the breakdown of my day...

5am: Alarm goes off, I can here my coffee brewing in the kitchen, and make it out of bed. Obstacle #1 tackled. :) So I enjoy my cup of coffee with 1/4c of almond milk. Heavenly. 

5:15am: Start my weight workout. Clearly I have a lot of room for improvement... Everything was heavy and I could feel every single rep like I had been lifting all morning... Focus was back and biceps. Here is the actual workout: Incline Bench Row, Unilateral Dummbell Row, Dummbell Pullover, One Arm Plank Row, Kettlebell Deadlift, Dumbbell Curls, Hammer Dumbbell Curls, and Dummbell Cleans. It was a good little workout.

5:50am: Pilates! (Okay, this is totally not on the Fighter Diet Program, but I love the way Pilates makes me feel and stretches me out) Followed by some Foam Rolling which I love. 

6:30am: Girls up and around, dressed, fed, lunches and out the door. 

7:00am: RUN! 30 minutes on my treadmill... It was a sweet, sweet reunion. :) I felt good. My foot felt good. My pace was fair, but not slow. :) 

That's when the eating began........... After getting around for work, I made my first meal...

Meal #1:
1c egg whites
1 whole tomato
1 whole onion
1 whole bell pepper

Got to work with my huge, ugly lunch pail and at 10am, already had to eat the second meal... Whoa... Food overload already. 

Meal #2:
10 strawberries
1/4c Greek yogurt

I get this down while at my desk doing paperwork, and before I am ready, already have to eat again... Geez.... Holy food. So head home for lunch with Bill, who is home sick, and eat yet again... I forgot to take a picture...

Meal #3:
4oz Salmon
2c Stirfry Veggies
1/2 can of Baby Corn (interestingly they are allowed, but normal corn is not...)

Work gets a little hectic, and I don't eat my 3pm meal at that time but rather at 5pm when I get home..... 

Meal #4:
20 Cooked Carrots
2c Green Beans
1c Broccoli 

So........ Much........... Food.............. Pauline Nordin's whole take on this food thing is, if you are stuffing yourself full of these healthy veggies, 50% of my caloric allowance, and let me tell you it feels like pounds more food than I normally eat for the same calories, you won't feel tempted to eat crappy food, won't have cravings and will fill full... And let me tell you, this theory is SPOT ON... 

Meal #5:
4oz Chicken Breast
8oz Yam
2c Cabbage
1 Whole Onion

Then again, there will be more eating......... I haven't managed to eat again yet, so no pic quite yet... 

Meal #6:
1/4c Cottage Cheese 
Orange

I could die from all these vegetables... For real... Die. 

All in all, day one a BIG SUCCESS. :)

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Fighter Diet Day One Eve!

Well this is giving to prove to be a lot of work!!! Sheesh. After an hour of meal prep, got my 10am snack, my lunch and my 3pm snack prepped for tomorrow... That doesn't include breakfast, dinner or my 7pm snack... Holy food. 
 But did get everything figured out, which turned out to be a lot of figuring... And my workout schedule planned for tomorrow too... I could not be more stoked about this little adventure!!! 

Stay tuned, tomorrow is gonna be a crazy first day!!!!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Twelve Week Challenge

This morning I recieved 9 e-books from Pauline Nordin at Fighter Diet. I am so excited about this challenge for a couple of reasons. 

1. I do not do well without very clear goals and a very clear plan. Both of those things are totally in place.
2. I need something that focuses on cardio (which I love, clearly running is key for me).
3. And also focuses on lifting. When I was CrossFitting, I really liked the way that my body looked with the additional tone that lifting added. Running seems to make these muscles longer and weaker.
4. It incorporates and entire eating program, that I can stick to. Its primarily vegetable based, followed by protein, and then everything else. Which is the way I prefer to eat anyways.
5. I am ready to make some changes to my body!!!

Well, part of the deal is a before picture and measurements... Neither of which I am super excited about, but Bill is willing to be the photographer (as embarrassing as this will be). Luckily for you, there will be no before photo posted here, but maybe when I finish the five weeks, and the AFTER photo is so awesome, you can see the before photo! Ha!!! 

You will be fortunate enough to listen to me blog on and on about my progress. :) Woot!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Running Low on Iron

Well, my blood work shows, once again, Borderline Anemic... Being low on iron, makes my feel low at life. Low on energy, low on sleep, my mood is less than cheerful... 
Thankfully, I'll be getting an iron taken care of this week, hopefully by Friday and I can successfully get my dragging ass back in gear... And feeling like this:

Friday, October 18, 2013

Sticking to the plan...

Swimming is going quite well, I felt really good last night at the pool, my breathing just seems to be improving every time I go, and I don't feel like I look like drowning ape anymore. Got home yesterday afternoon and talked the girls into a five mile bike ride, and they agreed with an ice cream bribe. :) It was really gorgeous out. We were unfortunate enough though to be riding along the levee when they were flushing the sprinklers therefore soaked for about a half mile with freezing cold water, needless to say the girls were less than impressed. They also had swimming following the bike ride, had I drug them out for a run, they would have been ready for a triathlon!!! 


Happy to report even though the blogging world hasn't been put through the torture of seeing my every meal, I have eaten perfectly since my initial post... And let me tell you, it hasn't been easy, it seems the world, both at work and at home has secretly been conspiring against my best efforts to drop a few pounds... at work this week there has been cupcakes in our managers meeting twice, homemade banana bread from one of the few nurses I would eat home cooked food by, brownines, fajitas, a nacho bar and a giant pile of junk food dumped on my desk including a diet Pepsi?!?! But because I have been packing my breakfast, morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack every day plus my water and tea, no temptation, even that cold diet Pepsi has broken my willpower... Today is a busy day for our facility with state legislators in, so getting my workout in this morning will help keep me on track for the day. A run on my treadmill and Pilates. Off to a good start. 

Happy Friday!!! Could not be more ready for this work week to be over. 

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Road ID Sponsorship & Another Successful Day!!!!

Today I was notified that I received another running sponsorship. I am really excited about this, as it is a really cool product! Road ID! Check them out! So my mom bought me my first Road ID while living in a very small logging town when I did the majority of my running on back roads, my mom was just sure that I would be hit by a car or logging truck and that no one would know who to call. So she ordered me a Road ID, and I totally loved it! 
My first one was a pink one like this. 

The second one I got was like this, without the badge, also pink. 

My eating was excellent today, and after a great day yesterday, I am feeling good about how I'm eating.  Finished last night off with baked chicken, baked potato and baked butternut squash. 

This morning was Greek Yogurt, raspberries, a banana, granola & green tea. 
 
Followed by a delicious BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad at Zanys with my sweety. 

Dinner was grilled salmon, cooked carrots, and another baked potato with 2T fat free sour cream (I bought a bag of potatoes the same day my mom bought a giant box of them and shared... So expect a ton of potatoes for this three week weight loss...). 
 
Bill and I swam again tonight. I felt great. I'm totally getting the breathing. Felt good. And faster. Woot. So for my earned calories, I'm savoring a glass of Sangria as I type. :) double win. 

Too frigid to run in the morning??? We shall see. 


Monday, October 14, 2013

Race Weight

I've recently been reading a little about this... And the benefits of being at race weight, the increase in speed, better endurance, etc. I am about 8# off of my ideal race weight with three weeks from yesterday until my "make-up marathon", as I will be calling this tiny local marathon. :) 

The plan... I am a planner, and this works very, very effectively for me. My running and workout schedule has been for shit the last few weeks, I have 99 reasons (and a bitch ain't one, lol) why but nothing that isn't easily fixable... 

Issue one, my diet plain flippin sucks. Some of the needed adjustments: Bill and I eat out roughly three lunches or more a week, and he loves carb-loaded dinners, I love cooking, and it isn't working, ELIMINATE EATING OUT & MAKE HEALTHY DINNERS... Diet soda, I love it, and it hates me, and usually loads on a pound or two of water weight, last one in the fridge this morning is now gone, therefore I won't be buying more, REMOVE DIET PEPSI & ENTER TEA. Secret snacking... I will admit that often, especially Tuesdays and Thursdays when I get home two hours before Bill, I snack on the most unhealthy things in the house, UNPLANNED SNACKING IS ENDING. Water, I am not a fan of water, I know I should be, I understand all the benefits, I just plain don't drink enough of it... This is coming to an end too, PACKING AROUND THE BUBBA CUP is happening. I log my food on MyFitnessPal, and it is extremely effective, unless I feel like a hog and quit part way through the day, usually around 3pm, so back to LOGGING EVERYTHING I EAT OR DRINK. These major adjustments will make it easy for me to lose these 8# prior to November 2nd, planning to lose three pounds this week, three pounds the next and two the last week before the marathon. 

Workouts... Because I will need to fit in another long run prior to race day, I will need to work that in this Sunday... So my training schedule looks a little like this:
     Monday: Pilates, Spinning 1 hour
     Tuesday: Treadmill 5 miles, Swimming 15 laps
     Wednesday: Pilates, Spinning 1 hour
     Thursday: Treadmill 5 miles, Swimming 15 laps
     Friday: Rest
     Saturday: Easy 3 miles
     Sunday: 18 miles, long and slow

So far today, great little breakfast of 1/2c non-fat greek yogurt, granola and banana. Brought my BUBBA cup to work and have already polished of a cup of green tea. 


Breakfast:

Morning snack: (sorry no pic) Yummy Orange!

Lunch: (Bill isn't working, so meeting him at home for lunch went as planned today! Hurray!) Made a baked potato (if it's in the microwave is it still a baked potato?), topped it with a half of a sauteed onion, and 2T of Tillamook's fat free sour cream. This was too heavenly to be only 157 calories, but it really was. SWEET SUCCESS. 

Afternoon Snack: (sorry again, no pic, and won't be eaten til around 3pm) 1 oz of almonds

Dinner: Grilled Salmon, Corn and some yummy brown rice... Pic may come later... hard to say. 

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Swimming is Coming Along :)

Happy to report my swimming is coming along. Had a great swim workout at the pool tonight. My breathing felt good, my strokes more even, and overall much smoother. It was a hectic day at work, and I got real stress relief tonight at the pool for the first time. 20 lengths of the pool, which is the distance of the sprint triathlon, so guess what? It's doable. :)
Made an excellent Vegetarian Mexican Salad last night, and enjoyed again today in a lunch meeting. 
 

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

My Shitty Motivation & Top Five Reasons I LOVE To Run

I'd like to say that I have been trucking along like I always have and my running has been amazing and I haven't been a giant grouchy baby, BUT that's not the case... I haven't been out for a run for about two weeks, not a short shitty one, not on my treadmill, not a damn single one... Why? No idea. I am a grouch about it too. I have been sick, fair enough, but I have been better since yesterday... I swam yesterday, yes, but really? That too is an excuse. My iron is low, leaving me on the anemic side of things, again, lame excuse. So tonight, I will quit being such a baby, a grouch and weiner and get out for a run. 

Top 5 Reasons That I Love To Run (Maybe I just need a reminder)
1. My number one reason will always be that it helps me find peace. It is me running with me. And loving it. 
2. Running starts my day out or ends my day right, it leaves me feeling rejuvenated.  
 3. Running improves my mood, and takes all the stress that I carry around away, in turn making me an easier person to be around, and live with...
4. Running is good for you. I feel healthiest when I am running. 
5. I love buying new running shoes!!! Ha!


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Swimming...

Well tonight while the girls were at swimming lessons, Bill and I did a little swimming of our own. It never ceases to amaze me that something I have done all my life, I can be so crappy at technically. It felt good to be in the water, and my lungs were stronger than previously when I swam. It's going to take time and patience, certainly not my strongest traits...

Haili's 8th Birthday

Successfully had too many children in Spot On Yogurt for my oldest daughters 8th birthday. Was a very nice night. :) 


Epic Fail

So the morning of the Portland Marathon came and I was not at the starting line... I was lying in bed, in my MILs house, in between bouts of puking... Disappointed doesn't begin to describe the failure that I was feeling... Flat painful failure.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Marathon Eve... And Vomitting

What the hell? You train twenty weeks, really train, in the early morning, on the weekend, at night. We are talking hours away from your family every week... HOURS... Then the week of the race, you start getting sick. The Friday before you are sick in bed. Saturday, at the expo, still vomitting... You know, what the hell??? 

Do I run anyways? Do I say screw a PR and just go run, just get the race in, stopping to puke along the way? Do I just get out there and try? And, if I start dying, stop. 

Or do I listen to my loving husband, and take it easy and run a different marathon in the next few weeks? To prepare for his convincing chat he checked the marathon guide website, and rattled off three other marathons in the next few weeks. (Don't tell Bill, he sounded like the voice of reason...) 

I think I'll sleep on it, see how I feel in the morning... It's only 26.2 miles... FML. 

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Lazy, lazy bones...

I don't know what is going on with me this week... Seems I had a very similar experience last year while training for the Wenatchee Marathon... I did my final long run, I had a week and a half left, and my body was finally in a kind of f-you mood... This last week, I have been a lazy, lazy, lazy lady... I have no idea why. I have been sleeping in, which I typically do not do. I have been eating like shit, which I typically try not to do... And yet, I just keep on doing it... So today, is Wednesday, and today I quit being a lazy bones... I will run tonight, I need at least two good runs before the marathon, so I don't cramp up, shit my pants and die on Sunday... So tonight, since I couldn't be bothered to get my run in the morning, I'll run. And again on Friday morning, as we are leaving for Portland after work... 

Then what? Bill initially said that he wanted to start training for a triathlon with me... But he hasn't been running, so I am not sure if that is still his plan... Regardless, I think that is the direction that I want to start steering my training... And honestly, I really need to get some strength training back into my life... My amazing sister bought me a kettlebell for my birthday and I have some dumbbells; so I have no good excuse to not start strength training at home... The girls will start swimming lessons tomorrow in lieu of gymnastics, so I will be able to swim twice a week at least while they are busy with that. And that works perfectly with my Tuesday/Thursday work schedule... Which triathlon you say? The Onion Man triathlon is an olympic distance race, meaning that it has a 1.5km swim in open water, a 40km bike ride and a 10k run, and is not until May, giving me plenty of time to learn to swim like an athlete... Swimming is going to be the most difficult part for me. Every time I swim I look like a cross between a shark attack and drowning toddler... Its not a good look, trust me...