Long Haul Covid Symptoms & Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon: My Sixth 13.1

I had to revive the blog I haven’t posted on in about 3 years to talk about this race and the prep. No, it wasn’t a bad race, but it was the most challenging half marathon I’ve ever completed, and here’s why…

So in December 2022, I was sick with what I thought was a normal cold (I know). I usually continue working out when I am sick, but this time was different. I could barely run half of a mile without stopping to walk. My chest would become tight, and I was breathing heavily. Sometimes I would vomit clear mucus after my workouts. Nope, that didn't make me stop. Well, not yet. So, fast forward to January, while I was still having these symptoms while working out, I found out from the doctor that I more than likely had COVID in December. I remember the exact child that I probably caught it from. He gave extra hugs before leaving for Winter Break.

I still continued to cross-train, but it took a while for me to accept the fact that I couldn't run at my normal pace and duration. I was sad. This was my outlet, my way to relieve stress, my way to press restart, my me-time, my self-care...and now I couldn't do it. I felt like this was something swiftly taken from me and it wasn't fair and I wasn't able to prepare. If you have something you like to do and it's the only thing that you thought no one could affect, then you'd understand why.

I continued to train as best as I could for this race because I still wanted to participate since I paid my money and I was planning to go with some run friends. They definitely made finishing bearable and they were so supportive of me.

Now onto the race recap. My first Rock 'n' Roll Race was in New Orleans. It was my first half marathon that I will never forget. I knew this experience this series provides everything from the expo to the race to the finish line was going to be great! That it was. It was so many photo opportunities and I even bought a new pair of running shoes. I've never done that before. :-)

After finally figuring out how we were going to get to the race and not have my car towed (lol), we got to the start line as soon as it was time for some corral to go off. I think we were all late for our corrals. 

My plan for this race was to just walk/run. During my "training", I opted to run and count to 60 and then walk and count to 60. I made that interval thing up, I know. In the beginning, I was doing good. I actually ran for .40 mi., but it was downhill. My next strategy was to keep up with the 3:15 pacer. I did that for a while until I got bored. Then I started my own intervals back up. Towards the end of the race, I walked a lot. I think like 3 miles of walking straight.

The scenery on the route in Nashville was beautiful! My favorite part of the course was running past the record companies and the part towards the end across the bridge overlooking the river. The HILLS on this race was CRAZY hard. This was the hardest route I've ever done. Worse than Atlanta hills. 

The people watching and the scenery GOT ME THROUGH. Those hills did NOT. If you think it was easy for me, maybe I made it look that way, but at one point I called my husband complaining and cursing, lol. After that, I prayed and prayed and prayed until I finished. I don't ever have to do that race again. I'd do the 5k.

Now, it is a couple of months later and I have dealt with the same long haul covid symptoms, unfortunately. I took a couple of weeks off here and there. Tried drinking green tea and other natural remedies that I remember trying when I was actually covid positive before. This week, the week of June 11th, I did a couple of run + walk Peloton workouts and I ran more than walked! I was sooo happy. When I wanted to stop, it was the "out of shape, out of breath" and not the "it feels like I'm going to have an asthma attack" feeling. I'm so happy, but I also heard the symptoms can return, so I am being careful and hopeful that things won't reverse. I have a heart doctor and allergist appointment coming up that may be able to give me some answers. I'm so thankful I've been able to do what I've been doing. Until then I am going to keep trying and keep moving. Movement is truly medicine for me.

Do you have an outlet that helps you escape and reset your mind, body, and soul?

I ran 100 miles!

For the first time in a very long time, I ran 100 miles. No, not at one time (although some folks do that), but for the month. I knew this would be the perfect motivator to get me back into half marathon training shape. After having my son, I would always barely get up to 10 miles before he would get sick or my husband would have to work and I'd have no sitter. So all of my hard work went away because I could never rebound. Now baby girl rides in the stroller and my son rides his scooter or his bike while I run.

Now, it is NOT my preference to bring either of them, but I've learned that you've gotta do what you've gotta do. Most times if I'm running with them, pace doesn't matter. Only distance. This in turn helps because I'm still getting an easy pace workout in. I'll do fartleks, run/walk intervals, and hill train with them. When I'm solo, I always want to run as fast as I can to get it over with and not really stick to a plan (I'm impatient). On one of my ten-milers, we had to stop so many times to give our son a break. So, yeah...I usually try not to bring them if I need to do over 4 1/2 miles. How do "they" have so much energy inside of the house, but when you take them outside to burn it, they're "soooo tired"?

I ran short runs 4-5 days during the week and scheduled long runs on Saturdays & Sundays depending on my husband's work schedule. I ran them with one of my running groups, which also really helped. Being a mom of a 9-month-old and a 6-year-old, you MUST find a way to become disciplined if you have any personal fitness goals. This is why I choose to post my runs/workouts online, run with friends, and enter challenges. That's just what helps me stay accountable myself. Be careful not to compare your journey with others, but most definitely use others to help you achieve what you're trying to achieve.

Before I had kids I was all over Atlanta running with Black Girls Run and then became a group run leader for them. Then came children. That's why it's been 7 1/2 years since I've run my fourth and last half marathon. So... this challenge came right on time.

I registered for the runningnerds Summer Heat Virtual Half Marathon. I ran the runningnerds Winter Virtual Half Marathon years ago. I think that was my 3rd half marathon? It was virtual, but I ran it with a group starting from West Midtown. I remember it was extremely cold that morning. Like I said in my previous post, I am up to 10 miles, so next week I am going to run 11-12 miles. My old running coach always told me to run a mile or two over the actual race distance, so that the actual race distance will be easy. It's nothing like running any race and that last .5 mile becomes a s-t-r-u-g-g-l-e. The thing is, I don't know if I'll have time for that. So I'll probably attempt 12 this Sunday, 9-10 the next and go into taper mode? I'll have to look at an official training plan before I make my mind up since I'm already at 10.

Wish me luck on my journey! The school year is soon to start aka busy season (and that's a whole 'notha case of foolery with what's going on), so this would be a great finale. I'll take a mini-break and then back at it for two fall races in October and November.

What do you do to help you stick to your goals? What are you choosing to focus on to help your mental state right now?

2020, June Challenge, Long Runs

Unless you've been living under a big boulder these days, you should be aware of the current political, and social climate of our country. Yes, Black people are still fighting for the end of blatant and systematic racism as we have been for hundreds of years through voting, protesting, rioting, speeches, and marches. In 2020, unfortunately, we're still at it. That being said, that is the reason for this mural that was painted on both the wall and the trail grounds of the Eastside Beltline here in Atlanta.

I and a few folks in one of my run clubs set out for a 45-minute out and back route through Midtown this morning. My goal was to run 10 miles. I am apart of a Nike 100-mile June Challenge and I am also trying to build my base to run a virtual half marathon at the end of next month. It would be great to do this while I have so much "free" time and before busy seasons starts back up.

3 out of 4 weekend long runs this month, I ran 10 miles. Father's Day I cut it short to 8 so I could get back home quickly to begin the festivities. I am definitely ready to ramp my training miles up to 11 next week (fingers crossed that the home schedule will allow).

During this month I experienced the routine knee pain that I always experience whenever I start running further. I iced and really stretched like you're supposed to. I'm known to skip proper stretching which is such a no, no. That pain went away. Thank God. It was time for some new shoes as well. 

On today's run around mile 7, a little hamstring pain seemed to come out of nowhere. Maybe I stretched a cold muscle this morning? To remedy this, I stretched and took an old fashion ice bath when I got home. We'll see if that did the trick during tomorrow's recovery run.

Today's run was also very HUMID as I don't know what, but my pace ended up being the same as my last 10-mile run. Listening to my body and running in this Atlanta heat, I'll definitely be bringing my fuel belt along next week. When I used to distance run in the past, some things that helped me were Gatorade and Jelly Belly Sports Beans around the 8-10 mile mark. I have some Energy Gels in the pantry right now I'll be experimenting with. If someone told me I needed to run 3 more miles this morning, I wouldn't have made it, which is how I know I was becoming dehydrated and my carb-loaded dinner from last night had burned away. 

I bet you can tell where the hills were on my route. The Beltline is a steady incline, but it's not that bad (plus I've been stroller running it a few times). But, if you guessed mile 8, you are correct! If you've ever run UP 10th strength starting from the bottom of Piedmont Park, you KNOW that LOOOONG incline is a beast! I made it up without stopping though. The last hill I had to conquer was at mile 10 going up the 17th street bridge.

Anyway, I was so happy to be done, back in my car, and to my water. I guzzled all 32 oz of it on spot. After this 100-mile challenge is over, I think I am going to run longer on fewer days (depending on my children) and continue strength workouts during the week.

What have been some of your summer fitness goals?

First Post of the Year & Postpartum Update

Yoooo!

So as I've mentioned in my last post (October 2019), I wasn't sure how often I would able to blog my postpartum weight loss journey. I've been back at pre-preggo weight for a while now, but I think I'm just now getting back to my pre-preggo fit status (and that's okay). What I mean by that is... I feel IN SHAPE.

How many weeks postpartum are you now? Time goes by so fast! Baby girl is 6 1/2 months and the boy is 6 1/2 years old. I'm also back at work...well, kind of. Depending on when you're reading this, look at the date. You'll see that we're in the middle of a pandemic now, which is why I have time to write this post. I went back to work at 6 weeks postpartum (:-/). Fast forward to March a Coronavirus pandemic is currently happening, so I'm remote teaching. It's a lot to deal with.

How have I been staying fit? During the last post, I was just about to start the HEAT Challenge. It's an extreme 8-week fit challenge. It was so fun to complete and just the thing I needed when dealing with postpartum blues, getting back into the routine of exercising, and meeting some initial goals. I was able to follow the entire workout plan minus a week EXCEPT the meal plan. I originally signed up for the Keto meal plan...seeing that there were other nursing moms who had success with following a Keto diet and it did not affect their milk supply. THIS was not for me. At least not this particular plan. My milk supply seemed to immediately slow even after 2-3 days. I just went back to what I knew worked. Eat CLEAN! I continued to meal prep, but I definitely had to have some carbs...rice and sweet potatoes. I won't be posting my before and after challenge picture, but trust me I made gains. ;-)

Are you still running / racing? After that challenge was over, I registered for the Hot Chocolate 15k which was in February. Following a running plan for that helped to keep me on track. I ran mostly and kept up some type of strength training because the two go hand in hand. I was sooooo happy I met my personal time goal given the fact that I had a new baby, my son, husband, AND not to mention the loads of work I had to catch up on being a Teacher. After that race, I continued to train for a half marathon, but unfortunately I waited until the last minute to register and it sold out. :-( I had been trying to run that race for years.

4 1/2 months postpartum

So now, "stuck" at home with the two kiddos and working remotely, I've been trying out different free workouts some businesses have been offering. I think I need to stick to one plan. Peloton has been free, so on some Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I find a dreadmill workout (saving grace!) and an upper body workout to do. On Monday, Wednesdays, and some Saturdays, I've been doing Effect Fitness live boot camp with some added strength training. Hmm, I may stick with that schedule, but I'm not certain yet. Us Virgos and Type A folk like to have a clear plan. I also still have to work around my husband's schedule as he's an essential worker.

So there's my little update on fit life at the moment. Oh yea, my husband being a certified personal trainer has helped me to stay on track too because we have a little competitiveness going on in the house. :-)

How have you kept up your healthy routine during this pandemic? Did exercising help you manage postpartum depression? Or any other type for that matter?

Postpartum Weight-loss Journey

Disclaimer: You should do what feels right for YOUR body and what’s recommended by YOUR doctor. 

Postpartum life can be really in depth (mentally, physically, and spiritually) for the sake of not rambling, this post is only about my journey maintaining my health and weight.

At 3 weeks, 4 days postpartum, I’m down 26 lbs from the 35 I gained without doing anything special. Once I do, it'll be tricky monitoring amount of food intake and exercise while breastfeeding because you don’t want anything to affect your milk supply. Breastfeeding also makes me even hungrier!

I watch what I eat as normal, I just care a little more since I’m not exactly in 'IDGAF what I eat' mode like I was my last 3 weeks of being pregnant. Nah, but really. I haven’t obviously been given the OK to workout yet at 3 weeks so I’m focusing on food more because that’s 80% of weight loss anyway.

I found this timeline for runners in one of my groups, which syncs with my plan to establish core strength before anything else. Even if I had been given the green light I would now follow this guide. That was more knowledge I didn’t have with my son's pregnancy...the need to strengthen my core before beginning running or anything else yet.

Back to the timeline I found online...

I’m doing weeks 2-4, which include squats, lunges, bridges, and walking. It’s boring but it's proving that my core is so weak. I tried a plank the other day and could barely last to the count of 10.

Here’s a few pics from the two days I’ve done so far.

 

This journey is going to be more mental this go 'round. My life is jam packed with LIFE events so I’m really going to have to be mentally tough and strategic in order to make sure I get my ME-time in. I cannot stress enough the importance of taking care of yourself before you can take care of others. It just goes hand in hand. Motherhood ain’t no easy feat, and I wanna be sane sooooo, my husband knows I need to workout, lol.

For that extra push and accountability, I’m going to be doing the Fall H.E.A.T challenge. It begins 10/21. I’m the type that has to have a plan. And although I’m back in my pre-preggo clothes, I know what weight I feel the most comfortable at. After these last 10lbs, I’ll have more work. I’m trying to be a “hot girl” by spring, lmao.

Not sure how often I will blog, per usual, but I wanted to make sure I documented this period some kind of way so I’d have something to look back on for myself. 

Pregnant Does Not Mean Powerless: Fit Pregnancy Journey

First Preggo Race - Atlanta Women's 5k

I was cruising along on my maintenance mode journey, had lost my “first year at a new job” weight and boom...found out I was pregnant. That was January 2019. We’d been trying but not trying to conceive (does that make sense? Lol), so I was still a bit surprised. Nevertheless, I had goals and figured this was my opportunity to see how far I could push myself this time.

My first pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 11 weeks. I wasn't active, overweight, and sedentary. Five years later, during my second pregnancy, I ran until I was 4 months pregnant. I was very nervous about miscarrying again. I also remember it becoming uncomfortable to run past 4 months. I didn’t have as many examples as I do now, i.e. the plethora of women who workout during pregnancy and post on Instagram. Now there are tons of resources, personal and professional for pregnant women who want to continue exercising. It was even recommended by my doctor to continue. So, with that being said...here’s a few snippets from my workouts during my pregnancy.

Circa Month 1

Circa Month 2

Month 2

Circa Month 3

Circa Month 5

Circa Month 6

Month 6

My personal rule was to go as long as I felt good. This round was already different, as I now had a 5 year old and worked full-time...as a Teacher 🤯. So continuing to exercise was a huge mood and energy booster for me if anything else. Thank God for the summer off!

I had no complications and stayed within the recommended 35 lbs weight gain recommendation. The only thing that almost threatened my ability to workout at the time was me having placenta previa, but that was resolved. 

Month 7

I was feeling good, feeling great, and stuck to my routine until my family’s Orlando trip and then a week later it was back to school. Now, non-preggo, those are enough to mess up a routine, but being pregnant and having that to occur? Yea, unfortunately I could never get back on the 2-3 day a week thing I had going on. I just made sure to focus on my eating habits. I didn’t feel as bad because being a teacher, I’m on my feet all day and I did walk around two major theme parks in Orlando. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I was also starting to experience major, MAJOR pelvic pressure that the support bands just were NOT helping with anymore. That was something else I didn’t have or know to purchase during my son’s pregnancy.

Universal Studios 2019

I had a healthy pregnancy, a quicker, problem-free delivery, only gained exactly 35 lbs, and a healthy baby girl! I’d say I reached my goal and would recommend any already active person to keep it up in SOME way because pregnancy does not equal POWERless. 

2017 Peachtree Road Race Recap

Yesterday, I completed my fourth Atlanta Journal Constitution Peachtree Road Race. It's the largest 10k in the U.S. with 60,000 participants. This is one of the most exciting, cheerful, and ORGANIZED races I've done to date. It's usually the only race I do in the summer. Something about it just keeps me coming back.

I became involved with this race as a teenage volunteer just trying to clock hours. I think I volunteered about 3 or 4 times. This was before the big Macy's parade downtown was cancelled (I used to volunteer for them too). When I volunteered, I had no idea what distance these folks were running and I didn't know what a 10k was. All I knew was I got great perks for standing out at Pharr Rd making sure cars knew Peachtree St. was closed and cheering on the runners and walkers. It was exciting just volunteering.

Pictures from 2016 with my father.
He's standing in front of the hospital on "cardiac hill" that he had his surgery at.

Check out 2014's recap. Fast forward to 2016's race... I didn't blog about it, but last year my dad and I ran/walked it together. In January 2016, he had triple bypass surgery. A fairly healthy man had to have unexpected heart surgery. Of course, that was hard. Once everything was okay and therapy was over, he told me he was down to do "the Peachtree" with me. I wish I would've blogged about it, but there's so many emotions from that day, it would have to be a separate post.

Fast forward to 2017... Here's a few pictures from the expo. I was in and out this year. I wasn't trying to pay $15 to park AND I didn't want to be near the temptation for too long, lol. Last year I signed up for a half marathon in Orlando and chickened out of doing it because I would've had to travel solo. *eye roll* I should've done it, but anyway...

Follow me on Instagram to see more of my weekly runs.

My husband decided to join us again for his second PRR, so it was me, him and my dad. We were all in different corrals and decided to just start the races on our own and meet up afterwards.

We arrived on MARTA just in time, literally 5 minutes before Corral G was to start (a bump up from my past corral's J and H). I didn't get any start pictures except for the flag and what I snapped on Snapchat.

Because I didn't properly train for this race, I intended to do walk/run intervals using my Couch to 10k app on Week 7. Lol at myself, because I should've known I was going to scrap that idea. As soon as they said go and I remembered that my "plan" would be thrown off a bit by the initial crowd and the fact that EVERYBODY starts out running, so it's not like I could really run my own pace. You're running the pace of the crowd until it thins out. The first 3 miles are always my fastest because it's downhill. It's mile 4 and 5 that take me out. *insert eye roll*.

So basically, I ran the first 3 miles, mostly walked miles 4 and 5, then started back running after reaching 5. I knew I hadn't been able to train very hard this time so I was okay with stopping to walk. In the past I would've been disappointed in myself for seemingly giving up. My splits definitely accurately reflect my performance. It was HOT and it was HUMID for sure too so it was difficult for ME to regain momentum.

During my walk break as I saw my pacer, who didn't know she was my pacer 😃 pass me by and disappear into the crowd, I was thinking "WHY do I keep signing up for this race!" and "I could be on the beach or at the Essence Festival!" Sigh. This was my slowest time completing this race solo. My dad shaved off 4 minutes off his time! It's all good. I still love running and I still love/hate running this race. He says he doesn't know about doing it next year, but I'll work on that. 😊

On to the next... the Atlanta 20k Relay :-)

WASN'T FEELING IT

Breakfast: vanilla protein shake (whey) with water

Today, well the past couple of days I just haven't felt like working out. I don't know. One week or one day can go well and then the next day I can have no motivation at all. I think I need to start back taking vitamins, seriously. Somehow, someway, I dragged myself downstairs to my garage (#firstworldproblems) and ran a mile and used the dumbbells for bicep curls and shoulder presses (two sets of 10). My eating was okay today, except for the Chips Ahoy. I'll live. I'll probably find motivation for a good run since I'm going to another city tomorrow. My blog post will probably be more interesting as well. :-)

 

 

COUNTRY LIFE | ZOO ADVENTURES | RESET BUTTON

6.15-6.18/2017

This past weekend we went to visit family in Northern Mississippi. It was the trip to my husband's hometown we needed. We hadn't visited since Christmas. Well, we tried to visit before Mother's Day, but I was the driver and um... we might've had a little accident that would be the root of many dollars being spent on my little Jeep that we're still paying for. All because I ran over a large piece of tire from an 18 wheeler. *eye roll*

Anyway, my son loves being in the country. He got to see the horse his dad grew up with and just run around and be free on the property. He blends in quite well, lol. I'm from a different kind of country. 

In the 11 years I've been going to visit, I've always skipped my workouts. I made the excuse of not wanting to drive a country mile to go workout and I certainly don't want to run down the road his parents home is on. I'm not trying to be chased by who knows what. I had the bright idea (what took me so long, I have no idea), to take me to the nearby HBCU (historically Black college & university) so I could run around campus or on their track. I'm attempting to keep some type of training schedule for this upcoming 10k. I ended up run/walking 4 miles around the track. I ran the straight parts and walked the curved. Loop after loop after loop and 4 miles were finally complete.

Although I exercised 1 out of the 3 full days we were there, I didn't eat well AT. ALL. On the drive there and back I ate McDonald's (which I never really even eat at home).  For breakfast my MIL cooked biscuits, pork bacon, pork sausage, and eggs all three mornings. Friday night we joined other family who were also in town at the Cheesecake Factory in Memphis. I couldn't go to the Cheesecake Factory and not get a slice of cheesecake. Poor me. I ordered the Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake or something like that. It was 1500 calories or so alone! My entrée was the turkey burger and sweet potato fries. So yeah, that was an over 3000 calorie meal. Saturday we had Corky's BBQ and the family hosted a fish fry. It's all good, I didn't beat myself up. I had a good time.

While we were there, we got a chance to visit the Memphis Zoo. I LOVED this zoo! I mean I only have one other zoo to compare it to, Atlanta Zoo, but it really put "ours" to shame. I'm sorry. I hardly say something in another city is better than my own, but yeah. Visiting this zoo made me want to see others. Being me, I couldn't help but feel kind of bad about enjoying animals in captivity, but I found out all of the animals there were endangered species, so that made me feel little better, lol. I felt like the zoo was saving them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an up close and personal nature girl, but I do think about these types of issues. I counted this zoo trip as an active rest day. We walked a lot.

6.19.2017

This morning (Monday) my stomach felt like it was paying the price for all of the garbage I ate. Per usual when I eat too much crap. It's like my body is trying to reject it because I've been eating a certain way (mostly clean) for so long. I knew it was time to hit the Reset button, for sure.

I didn't have much of an appetite today. I grazed on some sweet potato mash I ordered at O'Charley's. We went there to celebrate Father's Day when we got back in town. I also ate the rest of my breaded chicken and broccoli. That was my breakfast and lunch.

I wasn't feeling motivated to work out yet. My NTC app had today scheduled as a rest day, but I knew I needed to do SOMETHING. I looked at one of my old before and after pictures from last December when I successfully started and finished my journey to lose weight I'd put on in grad school. I put the same shirt on and didn't see what I liked. Oh yeah, that worked. I was downstairs on my treadmill in a flash!

I decided to just start off by walking on an incline to see if that would make me feel like running while I watched an Instagram live video from a lady I follow, Lakeitha Duncan. After about a mile, I switched to run/walk intervals for 2 miles, and finished by running the last mile. It's crazy how when I got to 3 miles, I was finally in the mood to run and felt my speed coming back to me. I had a good pace for that last mile. I have to play so many mind games with myself when I'm on the treadmill...crazy.

Dinner was a simple salad with cucumber from my in laws garden and a tomato from my first patio garden with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I'm feeling much better at the end of the night.

Follow me on Bloglovin'

FAITH & FITNESS

I woke up with Psalm 23:1 on my heart. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing". I have everything to complain about this week, but I will not. Besides, what good will it do? I have everything I need and a lot of what I want..."I [shall] lack nothing."

As an attempt to keep the spirit of optimism going throughout the day, I decided do one of my favorite things I like to do to clear my head (besides cleaning & writing) and that was work out. Since the school year has ended and my son is home as well, my workouts have not occurred the same time of day no matter how hard I try. That can sometimes mean no workout at all. I decided after I fed him, I'd immediately workout afterwards (usually I start our home school lessons first), so I wouldn't have an excuse for becoming busy and then eventually skip it.

In the picture is a whole wheat waffle (fit & active brand from Aldi's), an egg with spinach, and two pieces of turkey bacon. I was going to skip the waffle because I'm supposed to be detoxing this week, but I was like "what the hey!". I'm counting macros/calories for a few weeks anyway, so as long as I don't go over my goal, I think I'll be good.

Now, for this workout. This was my first workout after a 5 day hiatus (I blame my cycle). I'm  training for a 10k, but just like clock work, I've grown bored with training for a distance over a 5k solo. It sucks. All of my long distance races I ran before I had my son, I was able to train with my running group or a partner. I swear that's the only way I was able to be so consistent with longer distances. Bottom line, I've grown bored with training again because it's started to seem more like a chore than be fun, relaxing, and accomplishing like running used to be for me. On top of that, I don't get outside very much and I haven't been motivated to run with my 40lb son in the jogger.

In efforts to just be active and be in SOME sort of shape for this race, I'm just going to do what I can. As I type that, I think about the two back to back family trips coming up. I've been switching between one of my Jillian Michael's DVD's and following a Nike+ Training Club workout. Today I did NTC Pace Breaker.

Today's workout was strength-based using body weight only (no gym equipment). It was challenging and I definitely feel the burn already. I burned almost 200 calories in 35 minutes.

I had to dust off my trusty rusty Nike+ GPS watch. I don't use it to run anymore. I track my runs with my Garmin. I use it to track calories burned when I sync it to my chest strap. The only reason I am still using this is because I haven't figured out which watch I really want to purchase. I want to track calories during workouts and my run, but that's for another post. Which do you use?

As mentioned above, I am supposedly detoxing. My lunch was this apple banana smoothie. I got the original recipe from Pinterest. This one consisted of 1 small apple, half of a banana, 1 serving of vanilla protein powder, a handful of spinach, 1 cup of water, and a few ice cubes. 

The rest of the day was blah...it's life. My dinner was on point and my snacks..... uh, yeah...I'm good on calorie count, but macros didn't go so well today. Tomorrow is another day. :-)

Thanks for reading! Comment below with your blog link. I'm trying to get back into reading fitness and health blogs instead of just the usual reading of Instagram posts.

Update!

It's been two years since I've blogged! Oh my! Well, the past year and some months, I've been in graduate school. I haven't quit running, I've just obviously had to redirect my attention to other things so blogging took a back seat. Waaaay in the back.

I've somehow been able to run a few 5k's and the annual 10k (Peachtree Road Race) that I do. But other than that, I've been running to either lose weight, maintain my weight, or as a stress reliever. My highest mileage was last fall. I went out on a solo run around Stone Mountain Park and talked myself into running 10 miles. It was my first double digit run since having my son (who's 3 now). I was extremely proud of myself.

Fast forward to today, March 2017. Today I completed Week 5, Day 2 of couch 10k. I completed exactly 4 miles. I'm not necessarily training to run a 10k right now. I found it helpful to use the couch to 10k program as a motivator to workout in the evenings. I don't have to stress about running the entire time. The intervals help me lose fat and burn calories faster. Lastly, I always like a structured program. I've been trying to lose the 15 lbs I gained since starting graduate school (which I have), and I needed something that would help me stay on track.

As far as my weight, I'm back to pre-graduate school weight, which is the same as pre-baby weight. Which is the same weight I was at when I first lost 50lbs. So I'm good. :-) I'm pretty much doing the same things...tracking macros, eating clean, exercising.  A post with pictures will be next.

Thanks for reading :-)

New Month, New Challenges

It's time for new goals and new perspectives. Make the last part of the the year even better. Remember those 2015 goals we made last December?

Today was pretty uneventful. Just the way my introverted self likes it. I did go to the gym this morning and joined a cycle class. It's been over a year since my last class. I did so much better than I thought and I can't believe I stayed on beat and with the instructor about 95% of the time, ha ha. I guess it helped that this class seemed somewhat on the beginner's level. I want to continue going. It IS a good exercise for runners. I also feel like my weight has plateaued so it's definitely time to break it up. My body is used to running and I don't burn as many calories as I used to from it.

I stopped by Walmart on the way home for some snacks for my upcoming road trip. Among the items I bought was more Greek yogurt for my smoothies and for this new healthy toddler treat idea I saw on Pinterest, yogurt drops. They're hardening in the fridge as I type, so I'll have to report on how this different texture tastes to me and most importantly to my son. He's the pickiest eater ever.

Good to the last drop. Ingredients were: berries, banana, & vanilla Greek yogurt

On to the next! If you follow me on Instagram, you may of seen that I joined a challenge calling "Jumping Into June Challenge". We were to jump rope a certain number throughout the week. It was going well for me the first couple days as far as completing the reps, but on my runs that followed, I experienced fatigued legs and what I hate most of all...SHIN splints! So yeah, that challenged ended in less than two weeks for me.

Checking through my e-mail today, I noticed FitFluential started a new challenge for this month called the July FitFluential Challenge (search hashtags #FF100 & #FFChallenge for motivation). There's a calendar with one type of exercise for every day in July that you should complete 100 reps. I think that's doable, right?  I'll incorporate this with whatever other workouts I decide to do even after Saturdays 10 k.

Check it out! Maybe you can join me.

So as I mentioned above, today was pretty uneventful. There was rain in the forecast, which meant I didn't want to risk taking the boy anywhere and getting caught in it trying to hold him and an umbrella...again #disaster. So I decided this was the perfect time to get half way through packing for our upcoming trip. It. took. forever with this little one throwing my shoes everywhere, re-wrinkling clothes I'd already ironed... ugh. I finally finished after about 2 1/2 hours and a lunch break.

Did I mention how much I love summer break? At home with so many options, getting so many things done. No? Well I do! I have about 4 more weeks to go and I'm so trying not to think about it. Life is about to get real hectic around here plus grad school, too. Lord help me.

What did you do today? What are your goals for part 2 of this year?