Race Weekend!

Well I didn’t actually make it back to the blog in a timely manner…oops!  Well life is hectic, it’s almost the end of the school year and I just cannot find the time.  Planning to set aside one day each week this summer for blogging. 

Tomorrow I am running my half marathon! http://www.bayshoremarathon.org/

Wish me luck, I am going to need it!    I have a time goal in mind, at this point I would LOVE to finish with 2:20.  My last (and 1st) was 2:27 so as long I finish faster than that I will be thrilled.  Hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoy your day off!  I hope to be back soon with a race recap.

Busy, but Not Really….Ugghh!

I seem to always find an excuse NOT to blog…what’s up with that?   Guess I really haven’t had much to say lately. I have been having a serious procrastination problem in all aspects of my life at the moment! It’s seriously bad people…SOS! Please help me!

So where to begin, let’s start with this past weekend. I ran a 10k race on Saturday at Trout Festival in Kalkaska MI. It was this race last year that was my “official” start back to running after a 5 year break. I was worried about the weather because last year I froze my a** off! But this year it was wonderful! In fact I was even hot at one point! My goal was half marathon race pace and according to all those wonderful pace calcs out on the Internet that meant 10:06 min/miles. I averaged 10:20 and came in at like 1:04. Not that far off pace…a new PR so I’ll take it!

The race itself was alright.  It starts and finishes walking distance from my in laws so that is nice.  I can go do all the pre race stuff, come back and hang out then go start.  Everyone can just walk over to the finish at the time I “project” to be there and they don’t have to wait around and be bored.  It’s a small race, like the 10k had maybe 30 people…so not a lot of bells and whistles.  In fact they ran out of water at one of the two water stations so that kind of sucked.  I didn’t bring my fuel belt because I didn’t want to carry it, dumb move on my part because it was flippin’ hot by the end.  We spent the rest of the day doing all the Trout Festival stuff, carnival rides…bad for you food….parade.  The toddler loved it.

I will leave you with this picture..l will always remember our running family affected by Boston.  I have lots to share about my work with my Nutrition Health Coach so I will be back soon….scouts honor!

Anyone raced lately? Do you carry water for a 10k race?

I Have No Words

I don’t even know what to say. Such a sad day, never thought I would have to experience something like this happening on American soil again. Truly unbelievable and makes me so sad…my heart aches.

Nutrition Stuff and Spring My Butt, Groundhog is a Liar!

Well apparently blogging once a week is going to be what works for me.  Sometimes I feel like I need to do it more than that it then I remind myself that I have my full time job, my full time husband and my full time toddler.  So once a week it is and I am completely OK with that.

I have a co-worker who is a “health coach” outside of her job as a speech pathologist.  She meets with people and talks about nutrition and has them journal about their food.  Then she helps you get on track nutritionally and fuel your body in ways that are the most healthy for you.  I met with her once and we went over some of my eating, I have to say I don’t do too terribly bad in that department.  But I have issues with snacking and I just want to make sure my diet is nutritionally sound by eating the right foods and not having to resort to a ton of supplementing and protein powders.  I want to eat real food….I like real food.

I’m pretty excited about it, she is a former body builder and seems to have a real wealth of knowledge about diet to best fuel for exercise.  I’m not sure she has much experience with distance athletes but knowing her she will do the research to figure it out.  I just do so much better with a plan.  If I can have someone help me lay it all out in a clear picture that is how I have had the most success.  For now I ordered some green algae and bought some coconut oil…there are a few other things she suggested like nutritional yeast and going more organic.  I have known about the organic thing, I just need to really sit down and look at the lists of those things they say you really should buy organic and things that can be non-organic.

Yesterday this was me before my long run:

You will notice that I was in shorts….that’s because it’s still snowy and 30 degrees and I just could NOT get myself to go outside and do it.  Now 10 miles on the treadmill is daunting, don’t get me wrong…and with the toddler I had lots of breaks.  However, I am so SICK of winter that the thought of going outside in layers and dodging cars because of the snow on the shoulder of the road just did not sound inviting.  I am telling you that groundhog is a big fat liar! This week is a rest week so only 4 milers all week and I think 5 on Saturday…I haven’t looked that far ahead, just glanced to see what time I needed to get up tomorrow morning to get it done.  Maybe by spring break some of the snow will melt and I may get some of those runs in outside.  I did set up some inspiration down. in the basement though.  This hangs alongside the treadmill on the wall.  It is my medal from my first and only half and my race number.  Also a picture of me from my very first race once I started back on my weight loss journey and some inspirational quotes.

I will leave you with this loveliness from our dinner out on Friday night….love me some sangria…YUM!

Do you have any resources or advice on how to get the most nutritionally out of your food?

Is it spring yet where you live or do you want to punch the groundhog too?

Leaping Leprechaun 5K

Cold, snowy, beer at the end……so fun! And I believe it was a PR but not sure cause I haven’t run a 5k in a long time. I will have to research my Garmin data, I did one in January but it was really snowy then so not sure it was faster. 30:54….I’ll take it!

What a Weekend…..is it Sunday Already?

First off, the whole time change thing…..BLOWS! I don’t like it in the fall and I CANNOT stand it in the spring. . My toddler was a mess today, we got her up earlier than normal for a Sunday because we didn’t want her to be wide awake at bedtime.  Yeah, she was a hot mess all day.  But we did manage this:

We took her to her first movie! The theater here has free movies for spring so on Saturday and Sunday morning you can go to one for free.  Today was Ice Age 4.  She did OK for like the first 35 minutes but then she wanted to leave.  This is why we tried the free movie, we figured she wouldn’t make it through the whole thing.  Oh well, it was still fun.

Saturday was long run day.  10 miles baby! Double digits….it felt SOOOOO good to get outside for a few hours and run.  I was SO NOT doing this run on the treadmill.  The weather is finally not in the teens or single digits.  Here’s hoping it stays this way.

According to my training plan I was supposed to run at 12:29 pace.  I am having a real problem going that slow outside on my long runs.  Either that or my watch isn’t right? I have a foot pod too but am thinking when I use my GPS watch I may take the foot pod off and see what happens.  I use the foot pod with my old watch when I run on the treadmill.  But anyway, it was a good run.  I am a little sore but I did a Jillian workout on Friday too so I think that has something to do with it.

My eating plan has been going better.  Since I decided to increase my calorie intake definitely not feeling as hungry and am having a better time with the mindless snacking.  I haven’t really weighed myself yet, so I will keep you posted next week.  This weekend the husband took me out for a post birthday date to sushi….I L.O.V.E sushi!

He also bought me an iPhone 5! That guy is definitely a keeper…he spoils me even though he won’t admit it.  Now I have been researching running apps for the iPhone

It has been a crazy fast, fun filled weekend.  I didn’t even get the laundry all done and I’m not sure we are prepped food wise for the week.  That could be dangerous.  I do have tomorrow night’s dinner planned so that will at least get us through the next few days.  Next weekend is St. Patty’s day 5K! I cannot wait to wear my shamrock compression socks and some other fun costume things, I will be sure to post pics as soon as I get back home.

What’s for dinner this week? Have any good running apps for the iPhone?  Any thoughts on my pacing issues (Try and slow it down or just go with it)?

I Love my Shoes, Counting Calories and a Great Crock Pot Meal

Back in the end of January I bought new shoes…remember?
http://thirteenpointonemom.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/food-tip-new-shoes-and-my-favorite-thing/
  There are Brooks Pure Flow 2 (
http://www.brooksrunning.com/Brooks-PureProject/pureproject,default,pg.html
).

Well it has been about a month and I have to say that I LOVE THEM!  I was a little leery of buying shoes online without trying them on, I have never NOT bought my running shoes from a running store after trying on 9 million pairs first.  However, I had heard such great things about them and got a really great deal over at RoadRunnerSports.com.  So I jumped in with both feet and bought them blindly.

These are some sweet shoes!  My whole line of thinking was that I wanted to try a more “minimalist” shoe but was not ready to take the plunge into 5 finger territory.  These shoe have just what I was looking for in a shoe.  It has a wide toe box that really felt like my feet were not being squished in from all sides.  It has a slimmed down heel to promote more of a forefoot strike and I can tell when I run on the treadmill that it’s really helping.  My feet make a different noise in these shoes than before.  I was definitely more of a heel striker, and hit the ground hard.  My husband would comment about how much noise I made when running.  Now I feel like my heels don’t have the soreness I used to after a long run and are overall just more comfortable in these shoes.  I ordered a half size bigger because when I originally got fitted for shoes the guy who owns the running store advised me that your feet swell when you run and you should order at least a half size up from what you normally wear.  I would be curious to try these on in my actual size and see if there is a big difference.  So that’s my “review” not sure how much merit it has since I’ve only been running for like a year and 1/2 but…there ya go.

Moving on to counting calories.  I have been using My Fitness Pal for quite a awhile.  When I first started on this journey I was using another calorie app but found it didn’t have everything I wanted so I switched.  Well I know the drill, eat less move more…create a calorie deficit.  It’s really pretty simple on the surface.  However, once you lose a majority of your weight and starting getting close to that “target” losing can get complicated.  Starting around the holidays I had a hard time gaining and losing the same 10 pounds..and I am continuing to struggle.  Well through the social side of MFP I got in contact with some people (Thanks to my friend from HS) and figured out that I could be eating too FEW calories.  So I have increased my consumption and so far am seeing the numbers go down on the scale.  I’m also increasing the lbs on the weights I use during strength training as well, hoping to build some more lean muscle.

Lastly, I saw a friend post a recipie on Facebook for Mexican Chicken in the crock pot and it looked so easy I had to try it.  SOOOOOOO GOOD!!  If you like Mexican food you have to try it.  I made mine with lowfat cream cheese and quinoa, but made regular rice for the hubs.  I am so not a leftovers eater but we ate this for 3 days.  One night hubby ate it as soft tacos, it really is yummy.

Mexican Chicken
1.5lbs boneless chicken breasts
8oz cream cheese, cubed
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
16oz jar salsa
1 package yellow rice

Place chicken, cream cheese, beans, corn and salsa in a crock pot, stir. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. Stir once or twice during cooking. Serve over rice. Cook rice according to package directions.

Today was supposed to be a rest day but I had a little virtual 10K going on so I braved the 2 degrees and went outside.

It warmed all the way up to 15 by the time I got home.  Have I mentioned how OVER winter I am???   Wore my new compression socks, they were awesome.  I ordered the Shamrock pair as well, I can’t wait to get them and start planning my costume for a St. Patrick’s Day 5K I’m going to run.  Beer at the end of a race…..YES PLEASE!

Have any easy crock pot recipes to share?  Anyone doing a themed race anytime soon?