Tri-Training Thursday & Sports Med Follow-Up

This week's training was a bit different.  It was a "recovery" week so there weren't as many workouts.

Here's how May 21-, 2012 played out!
Monday: Planned OFF 
Tuesday: Planned 20 min - Completed 5 minute run on treadmill and 15 min "run" on elliptical for a total of 1.9 miles.
Wednesday: Planned 20 min swim - completed 800 in 25 minutes (a very sucky swim).
Thursday: Planned 30 min strength - Completed 40 min ab and arm workout that left me a puddle on the gym floor.
Friday: Planned OFF - Completed Saturday's 20 swim workout as 800 in 28 min nice and relaxed.
Saturday: Planned 20 min swim - Hung out at K's track meet for 10 hours and sprinted between events once. I wish I'd worn a pedometer because I walked all over the dang HS campus.
Sunday: Planned 30 min bike - Completed a 38 min, 7.26 mile bike ride, including some real roads without sidewalks and hills!


I'd say this was a pretty successful training week.  Nothing too crazy and the one crappy swim didn't send me into a tailspin or anything.  


I had a follow-up appointment with my sports med doctor yesterday.  It had been 3 weeks since I'd seen him and he wanted me to try a couple of short runs before meeting with him yesterday.  He didn't tell me to go out and run a 5k on Memorial Day, which is what I did and had some bona fide soreness/mild pain. Lesson learned.  


The recommendation is to begin next week with 3 1-mile runs and each week bump up the miles by .5 until I get to 3 3-mile runs without pain.  If I have pain, I need to skip the next run (or do it on the elliptical). On the days I'm supposed to run for my tri training, I'm to start with the miles he's prescribed and then finish the time on the elliptical.  I think I'm comfortable with this plan.  The hard thing will be listening to my body and being patient.  He also wants me to get in to my sports chiro for some ART therapy because my ankle and opposite hip are really tight and I feel "off" from being in the boot.  Hopefully he can get me in next week after school gets out.


Are you training for any cool spring or summer races?  

Weigh-In Wednesday: Pre-Challenge

Super quick check in since I have zero time for blogging today.  Y'all should see my office - it's like progress reports and report cards threw up everywhere.  Anyhoo, I'm down 0.6 today, which is good considering it was a holiday weekend and I drank lots of beer.  I totally forgot to post a Tri Tuesday post yesterday so I'll have to do that tomorrow - Tri Thursday works, too, right?

Starting Friday is a new challenge over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans called the June Tune-Up Challenge.  I haven't joined in any challenges over there for awhile (all that crazy running I was doing) but I'm pairing up with my girl, Lisa, and we will be a force to reckon with.  Better watch out!  Wanna join on the fun? Grab yourself a partner and check out the details here - then head back over to Shrinkinjeans on Friday to get started :)

Are ya in?

#runthehood 5k Race to Remember

Today I ran my first "race" since being diagnosed with that silly stress reaction. I haven't run in 8 weeks other than a couple 5 min test runs on the treadmill, so I wasn't expecting this 5k to be much to speak about. I just knew I wanted to run at least part of it & M was planning to run with me - his farthest run since January.
I got up at the butt crack of dawn to try & beat the heat & the kids's Memorial Day parade but it was already steamy. (The is the temp when we were done. It was 68 when we started & HUMID.)


Even with the heat it was a beautiful morning for a run.


I decided on 5 min walk / 3 min run intervals in honor of the 5/3 Riverbank Run 25k I had to DNS earlier this month. Sad to say, I was sucking wind at the end of each of those 3 minute intervals. Our 2nd run started at a 9:xx pace too & I couldn't keep up. I congratulated M for now being a better runner than me. I had a goal to finish in under 40 min (my 5k PR is 33:20 I think) and if we hadn't stopped to play with this little guy we might have made it.


He decided the middle of the trail with bikes zooming by was a good place to take a break from his flying lessons.


I ended up finishing in just under 41 min, which was around a 13:xx m/m pace. I should be happy with this since I had 5 running intervals for a total of 15 min, but for someone who considers herself a runner, an almost 41 min 5k is hard to take.
I snapped the obligatory bling picture & then headed to the showers.


This was a good effort for my first post-injury run (not counting last week's mud run since that was just pure fun).


The good news is that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel & before long I'll be running through this tunnel better than I did before.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fitness Friday: the holy sh*t edition

So you've decided you are going to do a triathlon & are pretty sure your heavy hybrid bike isn't going to cut it. You go to the bike shop & look at an entry-level road bike.



Then you have a stroke when you look at the price. Ok, so maybe the old bike will be fine after all.

Then you go to your local running store to look at tri shorts & shirts.



You try on a bunch of shit & then vow to not do your tri until you've lost 20 pounds & don't feel like barfing at the sight of your fat squeezing out everywhere. Or just that you'll throw a sports bra on under your ugly 1-piece, toss on shorts & a team sparkle skirt after the swim, and hope for the best.
The downside? I left today's shopping excursion feeling like shit.
The brightside? I didn't spend $1000 on gear today.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thankful Thursday: Race Photos

Today I'm giving thanks for the awesome mud run I did with Erin on Sunday and a few of the excellent shots the photographers got.  It's pretty cool when you LOVE your race photos! (Obviously, the ones I buy will look much better than the one's I instagram'd from the screen shots.)

Usually I hate my race photos, but I think you can see from this one how much fun we were having!  Do you have a race photo that you absolutely love? What about one you hate?  Care to share? :)

Weigh-In Wednesday: The FRAK! Edition

The good:
I went 13/13 on some really hard obstacles in my mud run with Erin on Sunday

and did my first real run in 7 weeks last night on the treadmill - a whopping .4 miles!

The bad:
I didn't track for shit this week.  The green squares are only green because I started tracking those days but then gave up and never tracked after lunch. I know I went HUGELY over my calorie allotment and didn't burn nearly enough calories to make up for it. #epicfail.

The ugly:

After seeing a nice 1.2 pound loss last week, I was rewarded for my shit eating and not enough exercise although that mud run kicked my ass and I'm still sore with a 3.4 pound GAIN back up to 153.6 (I think this is the heaviest I have been in a couple of years which makes me want to BARF).  FRAKFRAKFRAK.  I totally deserve it though. I've tracked this morning and I'm hoping to keep it going. I just hate this 1 step forward, 2 steps back shit.  It's pretty obvious I can't ever go out and have fun and not worry about what I'm eating because it will come back to slap itself to my ass. Sucks that I now have 15 pounds to lose and there's no way that much weight will come off before vacation in 7 weeks.  Putting on a bathing suit is going to really suck.

Tri-Training Tuesday: Week 2

I've managed to make it through the 2nd week of triathlon training - modified still but I'm making progress and that's what counts.  I even capped off the week with one of the best "race" experiences I've ever had.

Here's how May 14-20, 2012 played out!
Monday: Planned OFF - "Ran" 1.6 miles on the elliptical in 20 minutes!
Tuesday: Planned 20 min run/30 min strength - did chiropractor and 60 min massage.
Wednesday: Planned 20 min swim - completed 800 in 23 minutes
Thursday: Planned 25 min bike/30 min strength - Walked 1.75 miles in 40 min for a field trip for school.
Friday: Planned OFF
Saturday: Planned 20 min run - Walked around IKEA and a ginormous mall north of Chicago instead :)
Sunday: Planned 20 min swim - Finished a 5k mud run (walked it) and completed 13/13 obstacles in probably a little over an hour!!

Obviously, the plan had some tweaking this week with that mud run and a doctor's appointment in there, but I was thrilled to finally "run" on the elliptical!  I've had minimal to no pain in my shin this week (the worst was after the walking on Thursday which was why I skipped the planned workouts).  Not having any shin pain after Sunday's mud run was awesome.  I'm feeling good enough that I might try some actual running this week mixed in with the elliptical.  Wish me luck!

A Down and Dirty Race Report

Before all this injury nonsense started, I agreed to run a 10k mud run with Erin.  (Her race report is here  -crazy girl had it written before I'd even gotten home!) After my stupid injury, she agreed to step down to the 5k and just walk it, which turned out to be an awesome decision (except for our whole race time getting fraked up, but this wasn't about the time anyway).  I had, what I can honestly say, the most fun I've ever had "racing" today.  I'm thinking the Down and Dirty Mud Run in Chicago rivaled my Tinker Bell 1/2 experience by far (maybe cuz I only did 3 miles instead of 13.1, but whatever - totally different races).

After a crappy night of sleep (I swear our hotel room was about 100*) we got up bright and early and headed to the farm where the mud run was starting.  It was beautiful! There were horses, ponds, and even a plane parked there! We had a good hour to wait for the start of our race, so we wandered around, checked out the fun stuff people were wearing (no other sparkle skirts, but we saw a few tutus on guys, people who were obviously teams, families - it was pretty cool), and watched the 10k racers start.  The first wave of each race consisted of service men and women (military, police, firefighters) and they got lots of cheers.  (The race partners with Operation Gratitude so there were tons of hawt dudes and dudettes in fatigues willing to lend a hand or motivate you along. I'd be thrilled to run along side a bunch of Marines and have them yell at me any day! Eye Candy For the Win!)

What else would 2 girlie-girls wear besides Team Sparkle skirts and full makeup?

Since we were planning on walking the course (I was under "no running" orders from my doctor) we lined up with the last wave and before too long, we were off.  Each wave started with a mini-cannon BOOM and there were several minutes between each wave so the course wasn't too crowded.  I am PROUD to say I made it through the entire 5k course without taking a tumble, which was EXTREMELY hard given the massive grassy hills we had to climb up and down and I didn't skip a single obstacle!

Obstacles:

1. Low Walls: about a 3-4 foot wall that I hopped over just like I was getting out of a pool. Easy-peasy!
2. Pushups: I gotta say, having the Marine in uniform say "great job" regarding my 10 military-style pushups was pretty freaking AWESOME!
3. Ladder Wall: We splashed through a shin-deep mud pit and then had to climb these TALL (maybe 8-10 foot) wooden fence-type walls.  This wasn't bad, but was really slippery with mud-caked shoes.
4. Inflatable: So fun! Climb up a rope ladder on one side and slide down the inflatable slide on the other. The only hard part about this was the inability to look up as I climbed since the guy ahead of me kept dropping (what I hope was) mud out of his shoes and onto my face.
5. Low Crawl: Combat crawling under nets while the Marine yelled at you to not let your body touch the net. YES, SIR!  This really tore the crap out of my elbows and knees - major grass burn and from what I can tell, my only physical "injuries".
6. Sandbag Carry: They weren't heavy and we didn't have to go very far with them. Kinda like carrying a 3-year-old on your hip. Moms rule!
7. Cargo Climb: A big, tall, spiderweb type thing to climb. It was bouncy which was both fun and scary as hell.  
8. Mud Pit: Had to combat crawl through mud and underneath flags. This was the first I got my hands really muddy and I came out coated in mud from my chest down.  I think the race photographer got some great shots of us here.
9. Tunnels: Long, blue, habitrail type things that fraked my knees up even more. There were hot and stinky inside from the mud pits right before and I think I banged my knee on a rock or something going through.
10. High Wall: These were like a rock-climbing wall, only the "rocks" were so much smaller than any I've ever used before.  I was told in no uncertain terms by a very buff woman Marine to do the high wall. So I did. I made it up on the first try! (Picture is up there ^)
11. Water Crossing: A muddy water pit over an inflatable.  Holy crap it was hard and I kept falling in, but the cool water felt GREAT.
12. Slippery Mountain: This obstacle made me feel like such a bad-ass!  We had to use our upper body strength ONLY to pull ourselves up this slanted wall they'd greased up with something. The knots were pretty far apart and it took me a few minutes to get over the wall, but get over it I did!  I am SOOO glad I was wearing my lifting gloves because they gave me a little more grip and my hands didn't get torn up. My arms on the other hand were literally SHAKING. (Those are the ropes up there ^) I think this stage was actually switched with the water crossing, but I can't remember for sure.
13. Mud Pit: A nice, deep, muddy pit to finish off the race! 13 lucky obstacles and this girl did them all :)

This is the kids race going thru - I couldn't get the whole pit in a picture!

If there was any question at all as to whether we got muddy during this race, this picture should remove all doubt.  We had an absolute BLAST!

I love this girl and had the best.day.ever. hanging out and getting WAY outside my comfort zone. I felt strong and fit and I haven't felt like that for quite a while.  If someone said I could do this course again tomorrow I would be there in a heartbeat.

Tonight I'm actually feeling pretty good.  The only visible wounds are the scrapes on my knees and elbows.  My left ankle (the one that's been in a boot for almost a month) is stiff and sore and so is my right knee (the one that landed on a rock).  Oddly, my injured shin doesn't hurt at all.  I suspect the morning will bring some seriously sore arms from all the walls and ropes work and I'd be shocked if the shin didn't complain some, too.

I left this race with some pretty sweet swag (including a DOG TAG for this bling whore!!!) and a new-found burst of confidence and bad-assery.  I'd thought this would by my year of the half-mary's, but like a friend said tonight, this is turning into my "bad ass year".  I finished a 1/2 marathon with a stress reaction and just finished my first mud run/obstacle course.  Next up...dare I say my first triathlon?

Thankful Thursday: three quickies

Only a couple minutes to post this morning so you get quickie bullet points (you can thank me later)

• I'm so freaking excited and scared out of my  mind for my mud run on Sunday. The best part will be getting to run walk it with Erin and Ally! Plus beers the night before with Erin will ROCK. I've decided on my race-day outfit and I'm hoping it's as warm as the weatherman is predicting or I'm literally going to freeze my ass off.
• I spent about 8 hours out of my boot yesterday!  Probably a little bit too much because it's a touch achy today so I'll adjust today's schedule.  I'm wearing the boot this morning but I'm walking to the movie theater this afternoon for a school field trip so I'll be ditching the boot for my trusty Asics at lunch time.
• Only 13 more school days until summer vacation!!!!  This means I'm 13 days closer to all the craziness planned this summer (multiple camps for the kids, driver's training for them OMFG HOLD ME, and a vacation out east for me)!

Are you looking forward to summer vacation?  Any awesome trips planned?

Weigh-In Wednesday: back on track?

If you remember, last Wednesday I made a commitment to start back on the diet eating-healthy bandwagon.  I said I would track 5/7 days using my Livestrong/DailyPlate app with 90% accuracy.  I think I did pretty well with that.

Green are days I logged and stayed within my calorie allotment, grey means I didn't log (and orange is the current day - I've logged breakfast so far).  So, I logged 5/7 days and stayed within my goal.  I have my goal set a little high I think (around 1400 calories) so I'm actually trying to stay under that by a couple hundred - so far I haven't been able to do that.  I didn't log on the weekend and I probably won't log again this weekend because I'm heading to Chicago to "run" the Merrill Down and Dirty Mud Run with Ali and Erin!!! I'm so freaking excited for some girl time and I'm even looking forward to having a few cuts and scrapes on Sunday :)

So how did I do weight-loss wise this week?  I'm at 150.2.  That's down 1.2 pounds and almost into a better decade. Still about 12 pounds to go to get back to what I consider to be my "happy weight" but it's a start!

Tri-Training Tuesday: week 1

Yep, it looks like I'm going to do that sprint tri in August provided my healing goes well (I won't register until the last possible moment).  I figure I might as well put all this swimming and biking to good use. To help keep myself accountable, I'll be posting my training each week on Tuesday.  I welcome any feedback and suggestions you could give as this is totally foreign to me :)  Until I can start running, I'll be subbing in extra biking or swims, and beginning to add in some elliptical work as I can.

So here we go...May 7 - May 13: Week 1 is in the books!
Monday: Planned OFF - Swam 1/2 mile in 24:50
Tuesday: Planned 15 min run - Biked 30 min (11.3 miles)
Wednesday: Recumbent bike for 20 min (3.3 miles & hated it), strength train 30 min with NTC
Thursday: Swim 1/2 mile in 23:24, mixed strength training 30 min
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Planned run 15 min but instead I spectated my missed 25k race.
Sunday:  Planned 20 min bike - Biked 30 min (6.1 miles) Happy Mother's Day to me :-)

I might be tweaking this plan just a bit.  This coming weekend I have the mud run, so I will be "swimming" though a giant mud puddle instead of a pool on Sunday :) Also, Sundays are very busy for us and it will be hard to get longer workouts in.  Luckily, I only have about a month left of school and the training doesn't get really time-consuming for awhile.  I also have a week's vacation right in the middle of training, so who knows what I'll do for that week.  Maybe an open water swim or two in the Atlantic???? *gulp*

What do your workouts look like lately?  Any fun races on your schedule?

Menu Plan Monday

As I write this, I'm enjoying relaxing after a Mother's Day bike ride and I'm planning to send hubs out for groceries later since I've been walking around A LOT on my healing leg this weekend and, frankly, it's sore.  Here's what we are planning for dinners this week:

Monday: Tortilla pizza for the kids & portabella mushroom pizza for me (I make it similar to this).

Tuesday: Skillet Lasagna, garlic bread, salad

Wednesday: Grilled Chicken, asparagus, fries or tots

Thursday: Tacos and taco salad (use ground turkey to make it healthier)

Friday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Saturday: I'll be out of town hanging with Erin and getting read for the Mud Run!!!, the kids and M are on their own.

Sunday: I'm "running" the Down and Dirty Mud Run today! Not sure when I'll be back in town but dinner might just be a pizza :)

What's on your menu this week?

Spectating Saturday: a different sort of race report

Since I couldn't run the 35th anniversary 5/3 River Bank Run 25k, I spectated the crap out of it. I got to watch the start of all the various races (the wheelchair athletes were inspiring) and see the first 5k male & female finishers (14:39 & 16:58 - holy crap they're fast!!).



I watched a bunch of my friends race & got shots of Pete starting the 25k & Morgan (she blogs here!) killing it in the 10k.



And I celebrated their awesome races with an adult beverage or 3! (Angie ran an amazing 1:58 in her 25k!!)



I figure if you can't join them you might as well cheer your heart out for them because these friends are some of my biggest cheerleaders too.
Then, you get dressed in a new pair of jeans & go out wearing matching shoes for the first time in 3 weeks!



Congrats to all of the 5/3 River Bank Run participants! If you ran & write a race report, PLEASE leave me the link so I can read it!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Best Laid Plans

Back in January, I envisioned today going like this:
• Going to the 5/3 River Bank Run expo full of excitement & dropping a bunch of money on sport beans & gu.
• Hydrating myself with water & Nuun until my eyeballs float.
• Eating a great pasta and protein dinner.
• Pinning my race number to my carefully chosen race outfit complete with Team Sparkle skirt.
• Going to bed nice & early to get up at the butt crack of dawn to run the shit out of tomorrow's 25k.

Instead, this has been my day-before 25k:
• Went to race expo to pick up my really expensive (but very nice) race t-shirt and hobble around sullenly without buying anything.
• Consumed about 4 oz of water today, no Nuun. I've been hydrating with Sonic Diet Cherry Limeade & iced tea from McDonalds.
• All I've eaten is my usual protein shake for breakfast & a burger from Sonic for lunch. I'm at a track meet so dinner will probably be a hot dog or some popcorn.
• I'll dig through my swag bag later for my beer coupon and put it in my backpack. Screw the number and who knows what I'll wear tomorrow.
• I'll go to bed whenever & sleep in a little bit, but still head downtown in the morning for the River Bank Run.

Even though I can't run, I can still spectate the SHIT out of those races.

Good luck to all of my friends racing tomorrow. I'll be the one in the boot screaming her head off at the finish line.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thankful Thursday: On Two Feet

This Thursday, I'm giving thanks for being able to motor on my own two feet.

• I'm now considered "weightbearing as tolerated" in the boot & out of the boot.  No more scooter!
• I can start weaning myself off the boot, so long as it doesn't hurt.  There's no exact science for this and the doctor said to expect a bit of "two steps forward, one step back" for awhile. He said I'll know if I'm overdoing it. My plan is to wear the boot at work the rest of this week and then 1/2 days next week and go from there.
• I've been given the clearance to start the elliptical next week and even some treadmill walking at the end of the week if all feels good.
• I don't need PT because of the Tri workout I've started. Dr. K thinks the swimming and biking are a great idea and basically said "go for it" with regards to the tri, even if I never do any real running training between now and August (which he thinks I will).
• I see him again in 3 weeks and he wants me to do a tiny bit of jogging the day or two before I see him to gauge how it feels. SQUEEE and EEEEKKK!

While I was hoping for a clean bill of health and the go-ahead to ditch the boot and everything, I knew deep-down that wasn't very realistic.  I think my biggest issue is the fact that I've been wearing the same 3 pairs of pants and 2 dresses for the past 2 1/2 weeks because nothing else fits over the dumb boot! And I really miss my cute sandals.  I'm looking at the need for the boot (at least in some capacity) for probably another 3-4 weeks as an excuse to go buy some cute skirts.

What's your favorite store for cute, floofy (ie, not tight), knee-length, work-appropriate skirts?

Weighing Heavily On My Mind

Do you see the problem here (other than the fact that someone as short as me should not be this heavy)?  This up and down shit has to stop. 

I haven't posted anything like this here in a very long time (so please be kind).  I'm doing it today to start making myself accountable.  I won't be posting my weight every day (nor will I be weighing every day) because that would make me more than a little nutty, but I'm going to start posting it again every week.  I'm also going to start tracking again.  I think that week up there where I lost 3.6 pounds was (a-after the 1/2 mary weight came off, b) I tracked religiously, and c) some kind of fluke).  I started tracking already today though!

I have no idea what my goal weight should be at this point (or even target calories - 1197 was calculated by DailyPlate based on me selecting "lose 1.5 pounds a week").  I was holding right around 138 for a few years, up until around the marathon last October, so I don't know if I should shoot for the 130s again or what.  I have my annual physical coming up in early June and I REALLY do not want to be in the 150s when I step on that scale (but I only have a few weeks before that appointment so in all likelihood I'm going to hate what I see there).  I also have a beach vacation coming up in July and at this point there's no way in hell I'll be wearing my bikini but I'd like to get the confidence back to wear it again.

Right now, how quickly I'm recovering (or not) from my injury is a bit out of my control.  I see the doctor again this afternoon and I really hope I can get out of this boot. In the meantime my goals are to start loosely following the tri plan I posted yesterday (Thanks for all your comments, btw. I will not be following it exactly but it's giving me a guidelines for the swims and biking at least and I have a very experienced triathlete friend working on the plan with me.) and I will track my food as consistently as I can (hopefully hitting at least 5/7 days a week with 90% accuracy).

Anyone want to join me in this?

Am I Going to Tri?

So, in an effort to think outside the running shoe and thanks to some good natured badgering by my friends I decided to set my sights on a triathlon in August.  This particular one happens to be only a few minutes from my house and falls on my birthday weekend.  What a great "come back" from injury, right?

Well, I started researching sprint tri training plans and this is what I found:


Does anyone see anything wrong with this plan?  Let me help you out.

The plan is 14 weeks long and the tri is 14 weeks away.  This should be great except for a couple things.  According to the plan, I'm supposed to run for 15 minutes today and I haven't been cleared to walk yet, much less run (and certainly not for a mile and a half).  What the eff am I supposed to do here?  Do I just do the bike, swim, and strength workouts until I can add in the running?  Do I scrap the whole idea?  Do I walk on the run days (assuming I'm cleared to walk at my doctor's appointment tomorrow)? HELP!

My other issue is pacing.  If I end up in the last swimming heat, there's a slight chance I won't make it out of the water by the 8:40 cutoff time (the swim here is 500 and yesterday I swam 800 in 24 minutes).  I probably will make the cutoff, but it's a slight concern.  My bigger concern is in the bike pacing.  Bikes need to be off the course within 1.5 hours from the 8:40 swim cutoff time.  If I make it out at the end of the swim, I'd have to haul ass on the bike to do 15 miles in 1.5 hours.  For folks with a fancy-ass tri bike or even a road bike, this isn't a problem.  My top speed on my hybrid "comfort" bike is about 12 mph and I can only imagine how much slower I'll be after the swim.  If by some miracle I make it through the bike portion without getting pulled off the course or penalized severely for all the various infractions in the rules I don't even understand (WTF is drafting? there are rules for passing?) I'll have 45 minutes to finish the 5k.  This normally wouldn't be an issue at all, but I'm not even sure I'll be able to run 3 miles by then.  I can't walk a 5k in 45 minutes.  Am I just over thinking this?  I'm a bit worried about spending $70 if I have no chance of finishing this thing (and there is no way I'm registering until the last possible moment).

I need some serious guidance people, so if you've been lurking around here and haven't commented, now is your chance.  Help a broken runner branch out into triathlons. M'kay?

Menu Plan Monday

So, most normal people would menu plan and then do their grocery shopping, but yesterday was crazy for us (crap, the whole weekend was between all day track meets, Jazz Band performances, and 2 band concerts) so we pretty much just peeked in the cupboards and looked to see what was low.  I scanned a few things into ZipList and off we went to the store.  (If you don't use ZipList, I highly recommend it - check it out and I believe the app is free.)

We came home without much real food in the cart, so this menu is certainly subject to change if things don't go as planned. (Also, I only plan dinners.  I have a protein shake for breakfast and eat a salad and a serving of Click Espresso Protein Drink pretty much everyday for lunch and the rest of the family is on their own.

Monday: Crock-Pot pulled pork sandwiches.  (So easy: pork shoulder in crockpot, pour on bottle of BBQ sauce - we like Bulls Eye because the first ingredient is tomatoes and not sugar - then turn on low. When it's done, shred the meat with a fork and drain off some of the liquid).  Serve with cole slaw (directly ON the sandwich if you're me), a salad, asparagus, and maybe some fries.

Tuesday: Turkey tacos and/or taco salad.  We always use ground turkey for our taco meet.  I can't stand it made with hamburger now.

Wednesday: Leftover pork or tacos for the kids, portobello mushroom pizzas for me (scrape out insides, coat with a little olive oil, grill until soft and fill with pizza sauce and cheese). 

Thursday: Grilled chicken or chicken tacos (D likes his in a tortilla but K doesn't). Frozen broccoli.  Tater Tots.

Friday: Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread.

Saturday: Church talent show & D is in it, so who knows what we are doing for dinner. Maybe Tater Tot Hot Dish if there's time.

Sunday: Mother's Day - they better plan something nice is all I'm saying.

Fitness Friday: Goals ADJUSTED

Back in December 2011 (was that really over 4 months ago?) I set what I thought was a pretty reasonable goal for myself for this year.  My goal was to run 12 races in 2012.  It looked something like this (changed a bit from my original plan because of kid commitments, but this was the latest version):

January: Tinker Bell Half Marathon, Disneyland, CA 1/29/12

February: (nothing planned - continue to train for Knoxville)

March: Kent City Ridge Run 15k 3/24/12

April: Knoxville Half Marathon, Knoxville, TN 4/1/12 

            Striders 10 mile 4/22/12

May: 5/3 Riverbank Run 25k, Grand Rapids, MI 5/12/12 

           Down & Dirty Mud Run, Chicago, IL 10k 5/20/12

June: Sunburst 10k 6/2/12

            Kalamazoo Klassic 5k 6/16/12

July: Coast Guard Festival 10k (date not published yet)

August: Millennium Sprint Tri 8/11/12

September: Fitbloggin 5k, Baltimore, MD (wasn't likely)

October: Grand Rapids Half Marathon 10/21/12

November: Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon 11/10/12

December: undecided but probably some random Jingle Bell 5k

I completed the Tinker Bell Half in January and started having issues with my calf/shins. I skipped the March race because of pain but finished the Knoxville Half in April and then this happened:

And then I ended up in this:

for the record-it's way too hot today to be dressed like this

I was skimming Facebook last night and came across this picture:

That would be the awesome 35th anniversary bling that I won't be getting on May 12th.  Or ever because they'll go back to their plain medals next year.  I'd actually had a couple of really good days this week and then one stupid picture ruined my mood and my entire night.  I thought I was done being upset with myself, but I was wrong.  I'm still very disappointed that my body decided it wasn't strong enough, I did something wrong and it failed. (Now before you get all squinty eyed on me - it's true.  I clearly did something wrong in my training or that stress reaction would not have happened.)

This is what my race calendar looks like now:

January: Tinker Bell Half Marathon, Disneyland, CA 1/29/12 - DONE

February:  

March: 

April: Knoxville Half Marathon, Knoxville, TN 4/1/12 - DONE             

May: 5/3 Riverbank Run 25k, Grand Rapids, MI 5/12/12  - this will be my first official DNS to be immortalized on active.com forever. I hadn't registered for Kent City or Striders - score one for procrastination.

           Down & Dirty Mud Run, Chicago, IL 10k 5/20/12 - I'm still doing this but switching from the 10k to the 5k and walking the whole thing and probably skipping most of the obstacles.

June:  

July:  

August: 

September:  

October:  

November: Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon 11/10/12 - I'm registered and going no matter what

December:  

I've been talking with a couple friends about still doing a sprint tri this summer, but I'm reluctant to sign up for anything not knowing what my running capabilities will be (and I refuse to walk the 5k portion, especially knowing how fast the people are in this area - even running I'll be at the bottom of the pack).  Needless to say, I won't hit anywhere near 12 races this year.  Maybe 6 if I'm really lucky and they won't be done to nearly the level I would like (my only 2 races completed this year were terrible as far as time goes but at least I had fun).  I'm also terrified to sign up for any races now knowing that I could have to back out if I get hurt again.  I hate wasting money and seeing that DNS after my name is going to suck out loud - I don't want to see that ever again.  Maybe it doesn't matter to some of you but it does to me.  I've never been a quitter and it feels like quitting.  In fact, it feels worse than quitting because it feels like I didn't even try. 

Tara said to me on twitter last night: Hey!!! Knock that off. You are injured. Focus in healing. Then get the bling!  I understand but it's not because ur lazy & just not running...be nice to urself so you heal faster. 

Believe me.  I'm trying.  But some days are HARD.  And now I'm adjusting my goals.

3 Things Thursday

Some Thursday randomness today since I posted on things that make me smile yesterday.

1. Since I'll have my first DNS at the 5/3 River Bank Run 25k, I'm scoping out places to spectate (and praying for good weather for both runners and spectators).  I know a lot of peeps running and for ease I think I'm going to camp out near the start/finish lines.  This way I get to see Morgan kill it in the 10k (this chica is my comeback-from-injury inspiration!) as well as Megan (running her 1st 25k!), Pete, Keith, and Angie blow away the 25k. (If you are running or coming to GR to spectate, let me know so I have someone else to cheer for/see!)  With as fast as all my friends are, I shouldn't have to wait very long to use the beer ticket I'll get in my swag bag. Now, the big question is whether I'll ever wear the really expensive shirt.
2. I'm starting to really like dresses but today I'm wearing pants.  I'm planning to watch my girl's track meet tonight and hoping I can get to all the spots on my little roll-y scooter. 
3. My right calf is now 1/4" smaller than my left calf.  I'm officially a freak.

Have you ever spectated a race?  What's your go-so spectating item?  A cowbell, sign, sunscreen?  Give me some suggestions!

Oh, yah, 1 more thing - I just hit over 85000 pageviews on this blog since I started it.  Why aren't you all commenting????  Stop lurking and SAY SOMETHING ALREADY :)

Semi-Wordless Wonderful Wednesday

A few scenes from the week that made me smile

Brunch with these awesome ladies after they rocked a TOUGH 10 mile race.

 

 Coping with my HAWT scooter and some yummy beer.

 My girl taking 2nd with a PR jump of 14' 5 1/2 " yesterday 

(this pic was from a different meet because I wasn't there last night)

Wearing a dress to work today and feeling pretty damn cute in it.

 Swimming 1/2 a mile yesterday (800 meters) and feeling good today!

What has made you smile this week?