Time to Switch Gears

I'm thinking about making the "executive" decision to stop using the Nike+ Coach feature's half marathon training plan. As I previously posted, Week 5 did not go so well, and Week 6 hasn't gotten off to a great start because of that either. I've never missed a long run before.

As I sit here typing this at HOME, yes, at home on a Tuesday morning because my son caught pink eye from some grimy little kid at school, I am thinking I must not have been thinking well when I chose to try the Nike plan. 

I do like that I am already up to 8 miles by Week 5, well as of last week. So I felt like I would be ready for a 13.1 early, but the schedule is just not doable for me and my new lifestyle. The hubs agrees. My soon-to-be 11 mth old and I wake up by 5 am to be at work (also his school) by 6:30. I'm off by 2:30 and exhausted of course. Depending on the mileage and weather for that day, I run outdoors or on the treadmill. I then come home and cook dinner. Attempt to relax for a millisecond and then start prepping for the next day. I actually hate that I am devoting so much time to it and feel like it's taking time away from my son because those days I treadmill run he is in the Kid's Club when he JUST left daycare. So...yea, I think I just made my decision while typing.

I recently read a review on the Run Less, Run Faster plan that came right on time by Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC and I am thinking about giving that a try or using my real life running buddies training plan. I'll decide in the next few days. Her group is only up to 6 miles, I think.

Obviously I won't be running today because I really don't want to take my son out. His eye has started to clear up fast after we finally received the drops for his eyes. Omg, that's another story. I'm glad I am off today because I probably wouldn't of been any good to those kids this morning. There was an understandably long wait last night in urgent care.

In my self-diagnosed OCD fashion, I keep thinking about how a substitute teacher was supposed to start today to replace the other teacher in my class who is on maternity leave. I wonder is the class in shambles by now and how the are kids doing. I wonder if they are rambling through papers I already wanted to organize, as today is early dismissal for the kids so I the rest of the day was supposed to be my Teacher work day to get stuff together.

Well before this post gets anywhere else off topic, I'll just go ahead and end it here. I'll update my training by the end of the week. Hopefully I can get back on track. Usually a good Body Words Plus Abs class helps. Side note: I sooo wish I can go to one of my morning gym classes I used to go to when I was a SAHM.

Have you ever switched training plans mid training? 

Weight Maintenance Update

This type of post is something else new I've decided to formally keep up with on my blog. I've realized this is my personal weight maintenance blog, but I haven't posted anything about weight lately, just running. Running IS the way I keep the pounds off, though. Please read my weight loss journey if you haven't. I promise I tried to write it different than most. :-)

I did mention in an older post this year I lost all of my baby weight by the time my son was 6 months. Those 5 extra pounds took forever to lose, plus I was and still am breastfeeding (soon-to-be weaning).

Since then, I have loss another 10 lbs. As you know I run, go to Body Works plus Abs class at the gym, and I eat a balanced diet daily with indulgences in between (i.e. the Talenti coffee chocolate chip gelato) that had me up past bedtime the other day. I now toggle between 148 and 149. So yes, that means I've lost 50 lbs twice since I've started my whole new lifestyle in 2008.

At this point I am not trying to lose weight only fat. Tummy fat to be exact. I continue to eat clean or become consistent because I'll admit I keep taking "breaks". I'm on my feet all day at work and not snacking like I used to when I was a stay-at-home mom so that has been a major factor in the extra weight loss I wasn't even aiming for, I am sure.

Here is a very recent picture...

How are your fitness goals coming along?

Week 5 Recap

Week 5 was going so strong. I even ran that 6 miler I was so nervous about. Then all of a sudden I fell off...just yesterday. 

I was supposed to run 8 miles yesterday morning. I just knew it would be a good run since I'd done so well during the week. The bipolar weather here was just too cool to take my son out as early as I needed to get started. Note to self: I will have to buy one of those stroller weather shields. It was PERFECT weather for running, too. 

Following that disappointment, the procrastination happened for the rest of the day. The hubs had something to do at 10:30 that morning which is why we couldn't just start later in the morning. I also needed to run a few errands including go to the library. The stroller friendly trail we usually run on is not one I will be running on solo anymore in light of too many recent bad news stories. I don't think I've ever missed a long run during any of my other times training for a half.

So what will I do? I'm just going to chalk it up as a lost and continue with my training plan as usual. I choose not to sulk. Life happens. I actually could of gone today, but honestly I was not motivated. I spent a little time after church at Bed Bath and Beyond and one of my favorite places, IKEA shopping for a bay window curtain rod. Exciting. I know!

I'm getting things together and decorating around my home before my son's first birthday party next month. The party will be at our house.

Tomorrow is a new day and a chance to start over. Enjoy your week.

Has 

this ever happened to you? Did you find it hard to recover on your next long run?

New Series: Frugal Clean Eating

*Let me start by saying I have not being paid by any of the stores or brands I may mention in this series.*

Photo credit: Myhomeless.wordpress.com

I have decided instead of posting an updated grocery haul like I said I would a couple of months ago, I have decided to start a new series called Frugal Clean/Healthy Eating. I, like everyone else wants the best for their family, but I rather do so as cheaply frugal as possible.

Through the course of this series I will share how I meal plan, what stores I shop at (although it's only one store majority of the time), and I will share some of the prices in comparison to other brands.

P.S. I don't think Walmart is the best on prices for food, especially meat most times.

I've had to find ways to save money on a consistent basis for my household and this series will show exactly that. I am an occasional Couponer. Meaning I coupon when I have time and when I hear about a really good deal. Lately I haven't had the time.

There will be a mixture of name and store brand items in my shopping haul(s). For some items I like the name brand quality better than the store, but I am definitely not afraid of the store brands when trying to save a little money. If you didn't know, some of them are made in the same factories, ijs.

All in all, I want to help bust the myth and actually show that eating healthy doesn't have to break the bank if you just keep it simple.

Oh, and this will be for my family of 2 adults and 1 infant.

#FirstWorldProblems

As I sit here at 1 a.m. to write this post, 3 hours from my alarm sounding off...I'm thinking about the mileage I have to run this week. First of all, I'm up because I just HAD to have gelato before bed. Not just any flavor, I ate the COFFEE chocolate chip! I didn't think it'd really have caffeine in it. I just thought it was coffee flavored. Fail. :-(

I sit here thinking, how in the heck am I going to stay motivated to get through this training week with all of my responsibility? I'm going to be so exhausted tomorrow. Please Jesus, keep me from snapping on someone.

It was SO much more motivating when my schedule allowed me to just jump up and go to a group run on any side of town I wished. Even when I didn't feel like running. Once I arrived at the group run, it's like something magical happened. I felt like it and I ran any distance my peer would "pressure" me into...within reason of course.

Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets on my current situation. I'm just at the point ALREADY in my training where I'm not feeling all of the "restrictions", if you will. Nike ain't playing games with it's training plan. I literally have 1 rest day this week. WTH? This better be worth it because I could be running my 2-3 times a week as originally planned. A group run to look forward to would make this a little easier.

One of my pet peeves is complaining and not doing anything to change it. I just needed to vent for a moment. I thought my proud 8-mile moment would have lasted at least more than 2 days. Uh, no. This is pretty hard. Like I've said over and over (too much probably), this is my first time half marathon training while working full-time AND caring for an infant, etc. Sigh. Woe is me. #firstworldproblems

Go ahead, vent. Tell me something you've been wanting to get off your chest.

Feeling Proud!

I woke up yesterday morning a little under the weather and I thought about sleeping in for a half of a second. The other day at work I kneeled down to speak to a kid and she straight up, no warning coughed in my face. I could feel every drop of germs just cover my entire face. And for the rest of the day I felt a twitch in my eye. For the 6 or 7 weeks we've been in school so far I've managed to not get sick. Can't say the same for my son. So to have this girl sneeze in my face was utterly disgusting. I didn't let that deter my plans though. I was hoping I could sweat the cold out or something.

Another reason I thought about sleeping in was my son was on his 10th or 11th hour of sleep from that night. Woo-freakin-hoo! I so didn't want to wake him. Well he awoke on his own 10 minutes later anyway...lol.

So we choose a spot to run and got started. The route was pretty flat, which is great because I hadn't run with the jogger in a while and didn't feel like even attempting hills with a jogger.

I pushed the boy for the first 4 miles until the hubs took over. I was amazed at my pace even while running with him because it had never been that fast before and especially because of the long break. I guess it was because of the flat terrain.

The last 4 miles had it's rough patches. I went from motivated, to wanting to stop, to needing to stretch during (and as I type this right now I notice I'm not nearly as sore as I'd normally be...no ice bath for me...yet.), and to using this old guy as my pacer.

The last 2 miles were more mentally painful then anything. This was an out and back route so I had to look at the same thing I'd already looked at. Good thing there were a lot of other folks out biking, walking, and running. I just imagined I was at a race and didn't want to let the onlookers down. Hey, it works!

When I finally finished, one of the most perfect ratchet songs was playing so I just had to do a little dance. The hubs and son (with his feet propped up in the jogger) were just finishing so we high fived...and then I was tired for the rest of the day. ;-)

I have another 8-miles scheduled for next Saturday. This whole week will be challenging as I start Week 5 of the Nike training plan. It has me down to run 6 miles on a weekday...ugh. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck :)

What's your favorite recovery snack or drink after a long run?

How do YOU simulate outdoor running indoors?

Hope your day is going well. This post is more of a poll or question post rather than a express-my-opinion-or-experience post. Okay? :-)

Much like many other runners, I'd rather run outdoors than suffer through treadmill running. My music and mentality have to be just right to get through and to not constantly look at the numbers on the screen. Now since I have a young child I can't just drive downtown and run with run buddies like I used to or sometimes I don't feel like running with the jogger. That being said, most of the time I drop my son off at the Kids Club and do my Monday through Friday running on the treadmill.

I've Googled and searched Runner's World, but haven't really found a good answer for the following question (if you have a good link, please do share):

How do YOU simulate outdoor running on the treadmill?

What I normally do is run on the hill setting at least at level 3 and just pray my next outdoor run doesn't feel like I hadn't run at all. I'm curious as to whether this is really effective or could I be doing something else to help. I do feel a little slower after doing this. So what can I do to maintain my pace while switching back and forth? What do you do? Please, please, pleeeeease share below.

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Meanwhile, I had 3 miles scheduled for today. I dropped my son off as usual and 27 minutes later at mile 2.80 as you can see, the attendant called for me to get my son because he needed a diaper change. Siiiiiiigh #momlife

Weeks 1-4 Brief Recap

It's been a month since I've last posted. I'm glad to report that I've finally found my groove or a routine that works while working full-time, caring for a 10-month old, and training for my first half marathon post baby. Waking at 4:30-5 a.m. is still challenging, but I just have to make sure I'm in bed and asleep by 9:30. Much respect to the moms who've been doing this for a while!

I'm on week 4 of my Nike+ half marathon training program. I chose the beginner's option since I'm training from "scratch" again. I would like to make a PR, but I don't want to add more pressure to myself than I have to. Although I will say, the difference between this training and my first time training for a half (which was my fastest half), is that I'm doing more consistent speed training this go 'round. Whereas for my first half, I just ran the miles Hal said while ignoring the other stuff, and I don't even remember cross-training much. Wow!

On the first 3 weeks of training, Nike had me focused on building my base and learning the fundamentals for the weeks that would come. As I start week 4, I am now focused on building my strength and endurance. I have an 8-mile long run scheduled for the end of this week that I will be trying my best to blog about. This will be a very meaningful run, as this is my longest run since having the baby and since my last half in January 2013. Knowing me, I'll probably be overwhelmed with emotions, lol. If you're a runner, I know you understand :-)

I'm so thankful that I have my husband with me on this journey. I know I've probably said that, but it makes a big difference when you have a running partner or a group.

I may not blog as much these days, but I do update my Instagram and Facebook pages more often if you're interested in following my journey more closely. Let's motivate each other!

Here are a few pics I've snapped so far. I'll get better... And, oh yeah, I turned 30 along the way, too. :)

How are you goals coming along?