Holiday Hoedown Week 3

Today is really not a good day for me, for reasons completely unrelated to weight loss and fitness.  I should blog about it but I don't want to.  Forgive my lame attempt at a post.

Weight on June 23, 2009: 165.8

Challenge Starting Weight: 136.6
Last Week's Weight: 137.4
This Week's Weight: 137.0
Change: down .4
Challenge Change: up .4
Total Pounds Gone: 28.8

Workout minutes: 194
Getting in my water: great during the week but suck on the weekend
Try something new: Does running outside on ice and snow in December in Michigan when you are still injured count?  Yes?  Then check.

I'll be back in the groove tomorrow.

PS: Thank you to everyone who voted for me in ShrinkingJeans vlogging contest.  I'm going to rock that pimped out crockpot.  MWAH.

True Confessions: I confess that I'd love your vote!

First off, it is True Confession Tuesday over at Shrinkingjeans, so that means I need to fess up about my week thus far.

• My workouts have been very limited.  I'm trying very hard to heed my own advice and listen to my body.  I was given the ok to run again this past weekend, and I ran a very slow, painful 3 miles.  I finished wanting to cry because a) it hurt, and b) I feel like I'm losing all my momentum.
• We were supposed to try something new this week as our non-weightloss challenge.  My run was in sub-freezing temps on snow and ice.  December in Michigan, baby.  I've never done that before.
• Running is probably not going to get better for awhile, but I've done nothing else either.  I will do some strength and core tonight.  I have a membership to a gym, but have not gotten there because I'm driving kids all over creation or going to diving and gymnastics meets.  When we finally do get home, I just want to curl up on the couch.  I did manage to spend 2 hours Saturday night helping set up my daughter's gymnastics center for their meet.  Do you have any idea how heavy gymnastics equipment is?  That is totally going towards my minutes total this week!
• My eating has been OK, but with our schedules lately, coming up with a healthy, home-cooked meal has just been hit or miss.  Hubs was off on Friday (he works 4 10's so he's always home then).  I was so mad that he didn't plan anything for dinner (and completely overlooked that fact that he'd cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the living room) that we ended up having Sonic for dinner.  My daughter has an away meet tonight, so we will probably be hitting fast food on the way home again.

Shrinkingjeans wants us to outline how we will stay on track this holiday season.  Right now, I just want to focus on healing so I can really workout again.  Perhaps I need to start logging my food as well.

The last little thing I'd like to discuss is a plea for your vote.  I am one of 5 women who vlogged a holiday tradition and posted a recipe over at shrinkingjeans.  We would all love if you'd take a look at our posts and vote for your favorite.  There are some pretty sweet prizes, and the grand-prize crockpot would probably help a TON in the whole meal planning with kids in a bazillion activities problem I have :)  Obviously, I'd love it if you voted for me, but really, all of my "competitors" are amazing ladies that I consider friends, so a vote for one of them would be a-ok, too :)  You can find my post here and the voting is available here (you need to scroll down the page a bit).  Voting is only open for a few more hours, so hurry over there and check it out!

Thanks.  And please, leave me a comment telling me to get off my arse and find something athletic to do. M'kay? 

Holiday Hoedown Week 2

I'm afraid I've let down my Healthy Holiday Ho's this week.  Granted, as a team we are not necessarily focusing on weight loss but rather health and fitness, I'm still disappointed in my performance this week.

Our challenge was to log as many exercise minutes as possible.  I ran a 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day in just under 53 minutes and ended up pretty injured (I was actually injured to start with but too stupid to back out).  You can read about it here.  I didn't exercise again (I don't think we can count walking around doing our Christmas shopping as minutes, although that certainly would have helped) until last night's Tworkout.  I can't do anything that would work my ankle or calf, so I did about 20 minutes of arms and abs.  Coupled with the stretching exercises I've been doing the past few days, I'm logging a paltry 75 minutes of exercise.  Lame.

After hitting goal last week, I was bummed to see a higher number on the scale today.  Not totally surprised, but disappointed nonetheless.  I felt I made great choices at Thanksgiving, but in the days since, the lack of exercise and eating only ok has taken it's toll.  Here are my numbers:

Weight on June 23, 2009: 165.8
Challenge Starting Weight: 136.6

Last Week's Weight: 135.6
This Week's Weight: 137.4
Change: up 1.8
Challenge Change: up .8
Total Pounds Gone: 28.4

Part of this challenge for me and one of my goals is to not stress about the little ups and downs.  I'm trying not to stress, but I am disappointed in myself.  I am going to need to learn how to balance less activity and eating.  I certainly can't eat like I'm training for a race if I'm not.

Tamarac Turkey Trot

Last Thursday, Mike and I completed a 5 mile (8K) Turkey Trot race in his hometown of Fremont, MI.  The weather reports leading up to the race were looking quite frightful.  Temps in the 20's and snow.  NOT what I want to run in.  I packed all my warm gear Wednesday night, along with all the usual shower supplies and a change of clothes.  I'd need to be de-stinky'd before we headed to Thanksgiving Dinner!

We woke up at the butt-crack of dawn on Thursday to drive the 70 minutes or so to his mom's house, where we deposited the wondertwins.  No sense in having 2 tired, grumpy 13 year olds harshing your mellow on race morning.  Lucky for us, the temps were warmer than predicted (in the mid to upper 30's) and it wasn't snowing.  It was misting rain, though.  We weren't really sure where the race was being held, but this being a very tiny town, MIL was able to give us good directions.  We made it to Tamarac (a beautiful, new fitness facility) in plenty of time to pick up our race numbers and take care of any lingering bathroom issues.  This was Tamarac's first race EVER and the registration area was easy to deal with, they had some water and powerbars out for folks if they wanted, and we were able to wait inside for the race to start.  Since is wasn't as cold as we thought it would be, I just wore my new long running pants, a long-sleeve compression mockneck and a One More Mile t-shirt over top.  I had on my Bondi band to cover my ears and a running hat.  I decided at the last minute to throw a ziplock bag in my pocket, which I used to protect my iPhone during the run.  I kept it in my zipped pants pocket.

A few minutes before 9, we headed outside to find the starting line.  Across the parking lot, and not very well marked, was literally a line drawn on the pavement.  There were less than 400 people participating, so Mike and I lined up in the middle of the pack and waited for them to signal the start.  We didn't really hear the start, but rather the people in front of us started moving.

We crossed the starting line and I hit my watch.  (There were no timing chips in this race.  It was clock timed with a stringer at the end-I'll try to explain later.)  The course went through the parking lot of Tamarac and across the north end of town.  We ran through a nice park that was much hillier than I'd expected.  Thank goodness it didn't snow, because I'm sure it would have been ugly slippery.  Mike ran next to me the entire time, looking at me at each mile marked wondering why we weren't taking our usual 1 minute walk breaks.  Yeah, I didn't tell him I wasn't planning to walk at all.  (I've been having a lot of issues with my left foot and I just wanted this to be over.  You can read more about my injury here. Since I just confessed it all yesterday, I'm not going to do it again.)  Mike stayed with me the entire time.  I was really proud of him.  He's never run farther than 3 miles without walking and he ran the entire 5 miles.  Granted, if he'd wanted to, I think he could have beat me because he actually can run A LOT faster than me.  In any case, it was nice to run with him.  With the finish line in sight, he grabbed my hand (to be sweet or to keep me from passing him?) and we crossed the finish line together.  At the finish line, we see my sister-in-law Laura and 5 year old nephew Alex cheering for us.  Totally unexpected and very cool. 

Here's were things get a little weird.  At the end of the finish chute is a girl with a giant safety pin.  She asks us, Who finished first?  Mike told her we crossed the finish line together.  She asks again, Who finished first?  Um, what part of "together" do you not understand?  I think we pissed her off and she didn't know how to deal with a "tie".  She tore the little tab off the bottom of Mike's race bib and then off the bottom of my race bib and strung them on her enormous safety pin.  Here's how we finished:

Mike: 52:51.9 (this was also my watch time)
Me: 53:36.0 (WTF? How did I get almost a minute behind him when we finished together?)

Mike finished 12/12 in his age group and I was 8/12 in mine.  I was the slowest of the "fast" people.  The finisher behind me in my age group was behind me by 20 minutes.  Overall, we were 157 and 158 out of 370, so we finished above the 50th percentile.  I'm very pleased with that, considering the overall was a mix of men and women!

Needless to say, it was a great way to start out Thanksgiving and I will definitely do it again. 

True Confessions: Let This Be a Lesson to You

In this week's true confessions post for The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, I could talk about how I ate all manner of crap on Thanksgiving and had to unbutton my pants, but I didn't-so I won't.  I actually made really good choices and left the table feeling satisfied and not the least bit like a stuffed turkey.  The past few days haven't been as great because I'm a bit down on myself, but not so bad to cause total sabotage.

What I do want to talk about is the need to listen to your body.  I mean REALLY listen to it.  Even when it's telling you things you don't want to hear.  Ready?

• I have had some nagging calf soreness since my 1/2 marathon (over 6 weeks ago). 
• I took a bit of a break with my running (I've run 4-8 miles a week since then), but didn't stop completely.
• Every time I've run since the 1/2, my arch and up into my ankle has hurt.  Not just a little muscle soreness, but honest-to-gosh pain.  Do we see where this is heading?
• On Thanksgiving morning, the hubs and I got up mega early, piled the wondertwins into the car, and headed for my MIL's about an hour away.  We dumped the kids at moms and headed to the location of our 5 mile Turkey Trot race.  We got to the race plenty early, picked up our race bibs (no timing devices-only a clock-that's a whole other post) and sat inside waiting for the race to start.
• 9:00 finally rolled around and we headed outside and were off.  5 miles through some beautiful rolling hills. 
• At about mile 1, my arch and ankle were screaming at me.  Did I mention that it was freezing cold, raining, and I didn't do any of my usual running warmups?  Oops.
• I had told myself for weeks that I was going to run the entire race without walking.  I didn't tell hubs this. Oops. At each mile marker, he looked over at me like, "Seriously?, don't we get to walk here?"  I choose to ignore him and the pain in my arch that was pretty bad, but if I focused on how cold my hands and face were I didn't really notice.
• We finished our 5 mile race, holding hands, in just under 53 minutes (a 10:30 pace, about the fastest race pace I've ever run and the farthest distance hubs has ever run without any walk breaks).   
• Flash forward to about 3 hours later.  My foot/ankle is screaming at me and looks a bit swollen.  I rubbed some BioFreeze on it, but didn't ask MIL for any ice.  Oops
• Flash forward to the weekend.  It still hurts. It's still swollen.  I haven't been icing it.  Oops
• Flash forward to yesterday.  I finally went and saw my sports chiro and he took one look at my calf and said, "That is one angry Tibialis Posterior muscle. Have you had any problems with shin splints?" Um, I guess my shin was a little sore when I started running again within the week after my 1/2, but I brushed it off.  Turns out, the tibialis posterior muscle is the muscle (and it's tendons) that support your arch and run under the bony prominence on the inside of the ankle where all my pain was located. Tightness there can also present as shin splints.  My super tight calf muscle that I didn't let heal properly 6 freaking weeks ago has been torquing on my arch and ankle, making for one very sore me.  Doc did some of his Active Release Technique magic on my calf muscle and the tendons around my inner ankle and heal, reducing me to tears.  I have the bruises today to prove it and my inner calf is so sore that my pant legs rubbing against it hurts.
• The recommendations?
• Ice and massage 3 x a day which hurts like a mother
• See doc again tomorrow for more pain and torture which hurts even worse than the ice and massage
• Maybe he'll clear me to run some short distances by the weekend, but more likely next week.
• Bottom line?  Listen to your body and when something doesn't feel right, or when modified activity doesn't make it any better, go to the freaking doctor!  Just make sure you go to a doctor who is invested in getting you back into your training.  If you go to someone who tells you, "You can't run anymore" or "Just stop running", turn around and find someone else.

I hope at least one of my dear readers learns something from my idiocy.  Thank you. 

Holiday Traditions & Healthy Recipes: A Vlogging Contest

When I heard The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans was having a vlogging contest, I knew I needed to enter.  When I told my hubs that the Grand Prize was a cool new crockpot and the runner-up prizes included a bunch of cookbooks, he cleaned the kitchen so I could get the vlog done today :)  You see, along with the obvious cookie jar and not so obvious cookbook obsession of mine, we also have a deep affection for crockpots.  LOVE them.  So, without further ado, I submit to you my entry into the Holiday Vlogging Contest.  I hope you love it and my grandma's recipe and vote for me on December 2nd!  Thank you! MWAH!



Grandma's Blueberry Jello Salad

(makes a 9x13 pan - probably 12 servings)

Base

• 1 small pkg sugar-free Berry Blue and 1 small pkg sugar-free Black Cherry jello (really, any blue-colored jello will work)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 15 oz can blueberries in juice
• 8 1/4 oz can crushed pineapple in juice

Topping

• 1 8oz pkg low-fat cream cheese
• 1/2 pt light sour cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (we use pecans because hubs is allergic to everything else)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions for base:

• Dissolve jello in water
• Drain pineapple and blueberries into a measuring cup to make 1 cup of juice (toss the rest)
• Add juice to dissolved jello
• Fold in fruit
• Pour into 9x13x2 pan sprayed with cooking spray
• Put in fridge until set

Directions for topping:

• Blend all ingredients except nuts with a hand mixer until soft
• Fold in nuts
• Spread over set jello
• Return to fridge to set topping
• Keep refrigerated until serving

I have no clue what the nutritional info would be for this recipe, only that it is relatively low in fat and sugar and is diabetic-friendly.  I hope you enjoy it :)

Holiday Hoedown: Wednesday Check-In Week 1

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!  I have a couple new buttons on my blog - did you see them????

That is all.  Well, not really, because I still have to post something :)

It it official, I have now lost 30 pounds with the help of my Shrinkingjeans sisters.  I could not have accomplished all that I've done this year without the love and support of all of you girls.  Smootches and Hugs to each and every one of you.

Ok, now that we have that little tidbit out of the way, we can get to the challenge happening over at Shrinkingjeans.  I am so proud to be a member of the Healthy Holiday Ho's.  You women are amazing!  We have logged a boat-load of minutes exercising this week.  I managed to get in 134 minutes.  I had hoped for more but sometimes life just gets in the way.  I even managed a little loss this week, which explains the squee up above :)  Here are my stats:

Weight on June 23, 2009: 165.8

Last Week's Weight: 136.6

This Week's Weight: 135.6

Change: down 1.0

Challenge Change: down 1.0
Total Pounds Gone: 30.2

What an amazing way to go into the Thanksgiving holiday :)

I pray everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Drive safely if you are traveling and run fast if you are Turkey Trotting (I will be, if only to end the misery of the weather sooner!).  Blessings to you and yours!