Burst Into Summer: Aug 31 Check-In

Today is Wednesday (obviously) and it's supposed to be check-in day over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.  As you read this, I am sitting in my second day of inservices for the start of another school year.  My first day was 11 hours long.  I know I shouldn't complain, since I really have a most blessed schedule and I love what I do, but 11 hours on your first day back?  That's just freaking cruel.  I'm tired.  My knee is all messed up from sitting cross-legged all day (today I'm making a vow to NOT cross my legs at my knees - please tweet at me and remind me, m'kay?).  

Since I've really fizzled on this challenge, let's just call this check-in a wash, shall we?  I'm trying to breathe when stressed and did a great job yesterday when tech fails occurred multiple times.  Not only work tech fails, but personal tech fails, too.  Insult to injury, KWIM?  

Tomorrow, I plan to attempt my first before-work run.  I have to get in 5 miles, which means I'll need to be up and running before the sun.  Frankly, this scares the crap out of me and is the one time I wish I owned a dog, but I'll get it done. I'll make sure to run a well-lit and populated route to be as safe as I can be.  I'm also thankful that this week is a step-down week again in miles, although 15 on the weekend still seems like and awful lot!

So, there's my check-in.  How did you do this week?  Does the start of the school year improve or wreak havoc on your schedule?

Yesterday I introduced you to my newest 26.2 sponsor, Melissa.  Would you like to join my sponsors Ben, Erin, Andrea, Lisa, Ann, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and now Melissa in supporting me as I train to finish my first full marathon, the Grand Rapids Marathon?  I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing the finish line (sponsorship will help pay for race fees, nutrition/hydration, shoes, etc).  You can click HERE, or click on the tab above.  I would love and appreciate any support you can give me.  Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the ability to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th.  I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year.  I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.

Burst Into Summer: Aug 24 Check-In

Here we are, another week into the Burst Into Summer challenge over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.  Can you believe this challenge (and summer) are almost over?

Since I was never in this challenge as a team member or someone trying to lose weight, I haven't really given it my "all" like I have with past challenges.  This past week's mini challenge was to work on breathing before we even got out of bed.  I'd have to say I pretty much failed at that, but I have been trying to stop and take a few deep breaths when I start feeling stressed.  Considering I go back to work next week and my kids are at freshman orientation as I type (hold me) I'm needing those deep breaths.

I have my longest marathon training run coming up this weekend (18 miles) and I'm beginning to freak out.  I've changed my route about 852 times in the past couple days and keep rethinking what I'm going to bring for fuel and hydration.  I'm seriously considering making asking my husband to bike along side as I run in case I get into trouble and also to sherpa (yes, it's a verb) more water and nuun for me.  Asking someone to bike for nearly 4 hours at a whopping 5.2 mph is downright cruel, but unless I want to just do a bazillion loops near home, it might be my only option.  Plus, the north-south out and back is the flattest route.  If I do loops, I'll get mega hills, which I don't really want for my first 18.  Decisions, decisions.

Speaking of the marathon, I would LOVE your help in getting across the Grand Rapids Marathon finish line.  I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing the finish line (sponsorship will help pay for race fees, nutrition/hydration, shoes, etc).  You can click HERE, or click on the tab above.  I would love and appreciate any support you can give me.  Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the ability to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th.  I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year.  I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.


What do you endurance athletes do for hydration on these uber long runs?  My fuel belt only holds about 20 oz if I fill the bottles all the way to the top and I generally run on trails that are not open to vehicles, so driving out to drop extra bottles isn't really an option.  Help a girl out, m'kay?

Burst Into Summer: Aug 17 Check-In

It appears I have completely fizzled out on the latest Shrinking Jeans challenge.  It's bound to happen to the best of us, right?  I've even made the decision to not torture myself with the scale for then next couple weeks.  With my birthday earlier this week and a bunch of sports "potlucks" coming up, eating right is going to be tough, yo!


At this point, I am so focused on my marathon training and school starting up that I couldn't even tell you what the previous mini-challenges were, but this week's challenge I NEED:


"This week, I want you to practice your deep breathing. As corny as it may sound, when you wake up in the morning, take 10 deep breaths to start your day. Throughout your day, if you start feeling stressed and overwhelmed, repeat. I will admit, I have been doing this A LOT lately. Life has been crazy busy and ohmyheck I tend to get caught up in it and get so frustrated and make poor, quick decisions that I wouldn’t otherwise."


The next few weeks are going to be rough for me.  Trying to adjust my training schedule to accommodate going back to work and the kids starting school is making my head spin.  My daughter already has her first diving meet next week and school doesn't even officially start until September here!  Needless to say, taking some deep breaths throughout the day will probably be a good thing for me.


So, obviously, I'm training for my first FULL MARATHON! I would LOVE your help in getting across the Grand Rapids Marathon finish line.  I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing that finish line.  You can click HERE, or click on the tab above.  I would love and appreciate any support you can give me.  You can read about my first sponsor here! Tomorrow I'll be highlighting a couple more sponsors!!! If you'd be so kind as to help sponsor me, bloggy and linky love will follow for you too, as well as the chance to select individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th.  I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year.  I wouldn't be attempting this race without you. 


While we are on the subject of running, you must go check out the Sisterhood Virtual 5k & 10k!  This event will occur on Saturday, October 22, 2011 and there is all sorts of swag and bling for those who participate.  Seeing as this is a mere 6 days after my first full marathon, I will most likely NOT be running.  (Who knows, maybe the 5k will feel good, but I really have no clue what to expect a week-post marathon.)  Whether I participate or not, you can bet your cute booties I will be cheering you all on.  So go for it, register, start the Couch to 5k training.  Remember, it doesn't matter how fast you go, so long as you GO!

Burst Into Summer: Aug 10 Check-In

Today I saw a number on the scale I said I'd never see again.

I'm pissed.

I'm disappointed in myself.

I feel fat, ugly and gross.

Marathon training is no excuse for crappy eating.

The 29 miles I've run so far this month...

The 25 miles I've biked...

Mean nothing.

I'm gaining weight.

I feel like I'm out of control.

Candy.

Brownies.

Ice cream.

French fries.

This is not where I wanted to be.

This is not how I wanted to feel.

This has to stop.

Burst into Summer Check in 5

I'm dealing with crap right now, which makes the commitment to eat healthy and workout hard, but even more essential.  I'm getting in all my marathon training runs - even set a PR for the 1/2 marathon distance on Saturday - but the "other" workouts are harder.  I did bike on Monday and I made myself do some strength training today with some exercise bands I got at FitBloggin (maybe a review and giveaway will happen at some point).

As for the Shrinking Jeans challenges, I'm continuing to eat breakfast and drinking tons of water.  I'm afraid veggies are not being consumed as much as they should be and sleep is definitely not happening.  It's too hot and my brain will not turn off at night.  Last night, I moved to the spare bedroom in the basement (it's easily 10-15 degrees cooler down there) but it freaked out the cat and she meowed half the night.  I can't win.

I think I'm still around 136-137 (at least I was yesterday).  I didn't weigh-in this morning because I didn't want to see a higher number and have my already crappy day turn worse.

I hope you are all doing better than I am at the moment.

I really don't like strength training.  I'm doing it, because I feel like I need to and I know it will improve my running, but I think I'm a cardio, sweatpouringdownmyface, sorta girl.

What is your favorite workout?

Burst Into Summer: Check In 4

It's Wednesday, and that means it's check-in day over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.  I'm continuing to eat breakfast, drink lots of water and am working on getting in fruits and vegetables.  This past week's mini-challenge was to kick fast food to the curb.  I think I succeeded on this one, mostly.  I was craving a burger and fried pickles after my long run last Saturday (Hello, I burned like 1600 calories!), but instead of fast food, we went to a sit-down-bar-type place.  Sunday we picked up the boy from camp and got Subway for lunch.  Seeing as I make really good choices at Subway 99% of the time, I don't consider it "fast food" in the McWendyKing sort of way.  On the way out to camp, the hubby and K got McD's for breakfast, but I had a bowl of cereal before we left and drank a Click on the way.  I consider that a major #win, especially since I puffy heart love their cinnamon melts and hash browns.

My marathon training is coming along nicely.  In the past 4 1/2 weeks, I've logged almost 75 miles running!  This doesn't count biking and walking for cross-training.  I ran 12 last weekend and this weekend I'm up to 13 already.  Blows my mind more than just a little bit.  If I can be honest, I'm freaking out at the thought of how far 26.2 miles actually IS and how slow my long runs have been, but I'm trying to get over that.  I've also been having some hip and knee pain, but I have an appointment this afternoon with my amazing chiropractor.  He uses ART rather than the adjustments you normally think of  when you think "chiropractor".  I'm hoping he can fix things so I can run my 7 tomorrow and 13 this weekend relatively pain-free.  If you are a runner and have knee, hip, back pain, I strongly recommend finding an ART provider and giving it a try.  I'm also going to check and see when I last bought shoes.  My running store is having their semi-annual sale starting today and I might go pick up a new pair, even if I'm not quite needing them yet.

Also-on a running-realted note-I finally added a "race results" page here!  (I use the athlinks website to keep track of all of my races, but I decided to post them here too.)  This page is also where I'll post any upcoming races I might be thinking about.  Check it out :)

As for this week's challenge, it is to get at least 7+ hours of sleep a night.  I'm usually pretty good with this, so easy-peasy. 

Even though I'm technically a "non-loser" for this challenge, I believe in full disclosure.  I've been in maintenance mode for quite some time now.  (I actually don't remember when I last posted a weight here.)  However, I'm really struggling with eating and marathon training.  Somehow I'm up about 5 pounds from my all-time low of 132pointSomething.  I've been hovering right around 134-135 and today I was 137.2.  UGH.  It isn't horrible, but I'd much rather be back under 135.  I even feel a lot fatter, which is completely ridiculous, but there you go.  However, severely restricting calories when you are running 20+ miles a week is a really bad idea.  I know losing weight while training for an endurance event is extremely difficult, but I definitely don't want to go any higher than I am today.  If any of you endurance athletes (I can't believe I'm actually lumping myself into the same category as you) have any ideas, I would love to hear them.  (Tracking my food only makes me crazy and bitchy, so that option if off the table for the time being.)

So, how was your week?  Any successes?  Any learning experiences (they aren't failures!)?  Talk to me, friends, I'd love to hear how you are doing.

Burst Into Summer: Check-In 3

Hey there everyone!  I woke up today believing that today would be a great day.  I'm not going to let anything spoil it.  Not a couple pounds on the scale (really, I'm still way within my goal range and considering the drinking and food in the past week, I can be thankful it isn't more), not a few rough runs, nothing.

Last week's Burst into Summer mini-challenge had to do with fruits and veggies.  I did ok.  Fruit on my cereal in the morning, salads at lunch or dinner most days, and I'm totally counting salsa as a vegetable.  Ignore the chips used to eat said salsa.

I also tried to reign it in a bit on the 4th.  Thankfully (or not, depending on your perspective) we didn't have plans for the first year in forever.  This made it a little easier to make healthier choices, but I will admit to eating a couple of hot dogs.

I've already failed at this week's mini-challenge of no fast food.  In my defense, I didn't read about the challenge until AFTER lunch.  K and I had Culver's after her diving practice today.  She's feeling very discouraged about how hard it has been to be expected to just literally dive back in after over 6 months off.  The high school coach is tough and she's feeling bad.  She requested Culver's, so I said ok.  As a bonus, we both did just get kid's meals and tiny cups of frozen custard.

I've managed to do bootcamp a couple of times, only I'm skipping the sprints so I don't have to cut out my speedwork run each week.  Today I did the week 3 strength circuit after my bike ride.  It kicked my ass.

So, there you go.  Not a bad week, but it could have been a little better.  At least I didn't eat 50 or 60-someodd hotdogs like those crazy hot dog eating contest fools.

How was your week?  What was one victory this 4th of July weekend?

Burst Into Summer Check in 1

Here we are a week into the Burst Into Summer challenge over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.  Some folks are working through this challenge as members of a team, whereas others are going it solo.  I'm in the latter group :)  although I'm never really alone because I have the support of all of you out on the interwebs!

Since I'm not working to lose weight, I don't need to discuss that, right?  Well, maybe a little?  I'm continuing to maintain within my goal range (at the low end, too) but the scale wasn't very nice to me this morning.  My food choices since this weekend have not been ideal, so I'm back on track.  I had a ginormous salad for lunch today and I'm making stir-fry for dinner tonight.

The past week's mini-challenge was to work on hydration, which typically for me is not a problem.  Again, this week has not been ideal, so I'm filling up again now.  You should do the same.  I'll wait....

Ok, got that water bottle next to you?  Good.  Now we can talk about how I did the Shrinking Jeans Bootcamp Monday and then couldn't run on Tuesday.  Yep.  It was that tough.  I will not be doing bootcamp 3x a week with the rest of you.  It just won't fit into my training schedule without causing potential injury.  However, I will incorporate many of the exercises into my strength days. (Hello side plank dips!)

Next week's mini challenge simply ROCKS.  Are you ready for this? It's BREAKFAST!  I eat breakfast everyday, we all should, and tomorrow I'm having my first blog give-away where breakfast plays a role!  How freaking cool is that totally random happenstance? So, make sure tomorrow morning to hop back over to this blog and check out the give-away, while you are eating a nice, healthy breakfast for the Shrinking Jeans challenge :)

So, did you try bootcamp this week?  Which of the exercises was your favorite, or the one you loved to hate the most?