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February 9, 2015

Girls on the Run

Good Morning! How was your weekend? As always, I’m a little sad it’s over and now I’m getting ready for another day of work. Luckily, I enjoy my job, but who would rather be at work than relaxing on a weekend? Not any sane person.

Friday night, I went over to Nick’s mom house to have dinner with his family while we waited for him to get in town! I made some delicious banana oatmeal cookies to share with everyone and they turned out better than the first batch I ever made, so that was pretty exciting! I used them as a breakfast cookie and then later on as a post-workout snack. They were officially gone by Saturday!

On Saturday, I woke up for my Girls on the Run Training! I have been so excited for this program. I originally heard about it from Julie @ Peanut Butter Fingers and enjoyed checking in each week as her enthusiasm for the program grew throughout the season. I can’t wait to meet my co-coach and meet our girls in a few short weeks. I hope this is an empowering program for them and a beautiful continuation of ending obesity, teen pregnancy, and diabetes in Mississippi.

I’m currently waiting to hear back from my co-coach so we can set up a time for us to get to know each other and plan out our first couple of lessons.

After training I met up with Nick’s family for lunch at Piccadilly’s and it was delicious! I had never been, but I got an assortment of different vegetable dishes and the most wonderful Mexican cornbread!

I may have mentioned that Nick is running in my place for the Mercedes Marathon. After lunch, it was time for one of Nick’s training runs – the longest run he’ll do before the actual marathon. So we set out to do 15 miles – him on foot, of course, and I decided to ride my bike with him to keep him company and help him out with water & snacks throughout the run. He finished the 15 miles a little over 3 hours so I have no doubt he’ll survive the marathon in under 6 hours! Now he’s focusing on stretching and endurance. I look forward to seeing how he does! Since he did so great on the run, I treated him to some Japanese that night – he loves sushi!

Sunday was pretty low key around here – I went and hung out with a friend and her daughter then Nick and I headed out to Engine 2 Graduation! Nick has done excellent on the Engine 2 Challenge and lost almost 10 pounds with it. He plans to continue it until the marathon so the weight loss will help him run easier. I also didn’t do great on the last week of the diet, so I’ll be sticking to the diet for another few weeks during the week day, but I’ll splurge a little on the weekends due to being out of town and such.

Mary Lindsey did such a great job on the dinner and in true bad blogger fashion, I forgot to get a great picture of the meal, but I did happen to snap a picture of the delicious chocolate cupcakes she made. Seriously, how can you call this a diet when you can eat wonderful things like this?!

Switching gears here…. this is my workout schedule for the week:

Monday – Leg Strength Training, Stretching, run 1/4 mile

Tuesday – Arms, Abs, Stretching, run 1/4 mile

Wednesday – Pilates Reformer (my first time!)

Thursday – Leg Strength Training, Stretching, run 1/4 mile

Friday – Arms, Abs, Stretching, run 1/4 mile

Saturday & Sunday – I’m going to do a 1/2 mile each day and see how my knee feels!

Have you participated in Girls on the Run?
What workouts are you doing this week? Trying anything new?

January 27, 2015

When you can’t run

I didn’t want to write this post, but the day has come….

I cannot run right now. I will not be doing the Marathon in February and I will not be bumping it down to a Half-Marathon either. I will not and cannot run right now.

It’s extremely disappointing and even though I would love to stay snuggled up in bed the majority of the day (which I sort of do at the moment), I know that I can’t just sit still and wait for my knee to heal just so I can start running again.

On Saturday night, we attended my company awards banquet and there was dinner & dancing! I almost made it through the entire night (even dancing in heels) without any issues. Then in one fail swoop, my knee pops out of place and immediately back in. I stumbled, luckily Nick caught me pretty good and helped me to a chair where I sat and waited for it to feel better. Eventually I was back out on the dance floor and everything was fine until I woke up the next morning. Sunday I was limping in pain and when I got home I did 15 minutes of on and off icing for a few hours while watching Friends on Netflix. Monday it was still a little sore and today, it’s feeling a little better than the day before. I’m sure by the end of the week, I’ll have no more pain, but I’m not running.

It’s been difficult to motivate myself the past few weeks without running. I can’t push myself out of bed to go to the gym in the mornings and I can’t bring myself to leave the house at night once I’ve already gotten home from work. I’m going to start working out immediately after work so then I can head straight home from the gym and not have to leave the house again if I don’t want to.

I’ve determined that my knee is extremely weak, so i certainly need to be strengthening it before I get back out to running. I have that Jamaica trip in ONE MONTH and I’d like to feel comfortable on the trip (i.e. fit and healthy in a swim suit), which I thought wouldn’t be a problem because I’d have just finished a marathon the weekend before and I’m on the Engine 2 Diet, but that’s no longer going to be the case (well, I am still on the Engine 2 Diet), so I need to start focusing on my trouble spots – Arms, Abs, & Butt (isn’t that everyone’s trouble spots?!) I still need to incorporate cardio for some fat burn so I’m looking for low impact cardio such as the elliptical & the bicycle.

My biggest struggle right now is just getting to the gym and doing it, so I need to be more strategic with my schedule so I force myself to the gym!

My workout goal for the next month is to do one hour/day (with a rest day every 4-5 days) that incorporated 30 minutes of cardio (biking, walking, elliptical) and 30 minutes of strength training. I have found some really great options for strengthening my knee, but since I also want to incorporate abs & arms, I’ll be adding in some other exercises as well.

Post Run Power Exercises – by the Foodie Runner
Incline Walking is No Joke – by Peanut Butter Fingers
Burnin Legs & Abs Circuit Workout – by Peanut Butter Fingers

Super Sweaty Ab Circuit Workout – by Peanut Butter Fingers
Exercises to Help Prevent Runners Knee – by Loving on the Run
7 Strength Moves Runners Should do – by Women’s Health Magazine
30 Day Butt Challenge – by 30dayfitnesschallenges.com

I’m hoping to get back out there as soon as possible, but I don’t want to start running too fast. I want to properly heal, I want to properly strengthen, I want to be happy when I run, not miserable. A lot of people don’t enjoy running and I’ll be honest, I haven’t enjoyed it for a while, but I used to enjoy it and I want to go back to that point in my running, but I can only do that by properly taking care of my body and listening to what it has to say. Although this is a major set back and I’m disappointed I will not be checking “Marathoner” off my bucket list this year, I think this has the potential to be a really great thing for me. I’ve never been good at the “fit” part of running – meaning that I don’t always do my strength training or cross training. It’s a terrible habit to have, but it’s one I’ve had from the beginning. This is forcing me to put running on hold and to find health & fitness through other avenues, which I think will be great in the long run!

To finish up my post today, I came across this helpful piece from Julie @ Peanut Butter Fingers (I know, I share a lot of her stuff with y’all, but she’s my favorite fitness blogger!) – Staying Positive Through an Exercise Setback. I found it to be a useful post for my situation and one that gave me encouragement to believe that I can get past this set-back and get back to running in the future, today may not be that day, but that’s okay! I have been going to doctor’s and they’ve been helpful, but it’s my responsibility to strengthen this knee back up, it’s my responsibility to listen to my body and do what’s right, so that’s where I am.

Have you had a running set-back? What was the issue? How did you fix it?
What other strengthening exercises/workouts could you share with me so I can mix things up?

November 17, 2014

First Sub 30 5K!

Hey there! How did y’all’s weekend turn out? Mine went well with the exception of Mississippi State’s first loss of the season! It was unfortunate, but both teams played fairly well. I’d say that touchdown was questionable, but what’s done is done.

On Friday night, Nick arrived in town with my little sister. My mom made Mexican and we all just hung out eating & chatting. I was pretty tired already and I had a 5K planned for Saturday morning, so Nick headed home about 9:30 and I went on to bed. My alarm went off bright & early on Saturday to get ready for my race. I went and picked Nick up and we stopped by Chick-fil-A so he could get some breakfast and then we waited for the race to start. My goal was to do my first sub 30 5K and much to my surprise, I DID IT!

The course was hilly. My toes and fingers were numb for the first mile and a half. It was a rough morning to run – so cold! Luckily the wind wasn’t a huge issue. I came up on the finish line and saw 29:30, so I booked it in to finish right under 30 minutes. The second I slowed down, I dry heaved. It was a painful race and it made me realize that I certainly don’t run in the cold enough. I think my breathing had a hard time getting comfortable and by the time I finished, my head & chest hurt that it caused the dry heave. After the race, Nick and I ate at Corner Bakery. It was delicious! I got the Farmer’s scrambler with potatoes and toast. I ate the entire plate, plus some of Nick’s oatmeal.

When we finished up breakfast, I headed home to shower and change and then we met up with Nick’s dad to help him put in some fence posts. I had the grueling job of running to Chick-fil-A for everyone. They worked and I ate all the fries. True Story.

We finally headed to the Tailgate party to watch the game. Like I said, it was less than stellar for us Mississippi State fans so moving on….

After the game, we headed out to Primos to meet Nick’s mom and her boyfriend for dinner. (I know, we eat a lot.) I got the 4 veggie plate with mashed potatoes, dressing, pasta salad, & mac & cheese with a side of cornbread. It was absolutely delicious! Afterwards, I dropped Nick back off at his dad’s and we watched 2 episodes of Friends. His dad is borrowing my series collection right now since he was recovering from his open-heart surgery. He’s loving it as much as I do!

On Sunday, I spent the better part of the morning lounging around and eating cinnamon rolls with my peppermint creamer coffee. I finally got dressed and headed out to get Nick. We went to his Grandma’s house for lunch with his mom and her boyfriend. His grandma just got out of the hospital for fluid buildup in her lungs and they’re running tests for some other things going on. Hopefully they’ll figure out what it is and get her on a good treatment plan. She’s 82 and as talkative as can be! She still lives alone and makes her own trips to the grocery store. We helped her bring in 4 large cases of water that we later learned she had put in her trunk all by herself. She’s sweet and we certainly don’t get to visit with her enough. Nick made a comment that he wishes he had stopped by to visit more often when he was going to school near where she lives. It made me think that we all miss opportunities like that to spend time with the ones we love. It was just a good reminder to cherish the opportunities that are presented to us to spend time with family & friends, even when it’s not so convenient. The time we spent over there yesterday was wonderful and it was good to see her up and about.

Sadly, it was time for Nick and my sister to head home, so I finished off the weekend with some Criminal Minds & cleaning my ridiculous room. I also did some Laundry. Well, that’s it! I had a nice weekend at home.

What did you do this weekend?
Any races in your future? If so, what’s your goal?

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