April Recap

I'm VERY much looking forward to some summer weather ... SOON!

I picked up this cute little top the other day.  It has a built in bra (SO comfy).  I can't wait until it's warm enough to wear it without a cardi of some sort.

 APRIL 2010

RUNNING RECAP

# of runs: 18  (Goal - 20)

Distance: ..........100.5 Miles / 161.7 Kms
Monthly Goals:  100.0 Miles / 160.9 Kms

Summary: I got myself terribly behind on my goal this month.  The trouble started in March after my first half.  I took too much time off and that rolled over into early April.  By mid-month I only had maybe 25 miles on my belt.  So I kicked it up a notch ... too much, then ended up feeling the start of an injury.  I had to put a couple extra rest days in there, so didn't quite reach my goal of doing 20 runs this month.  I also had to slow my pace down considerably which seems to really be helping the healing process.  Honestly the ONLY reason I reached my goal this month is sheer stubborness.  A sane person would have learned their lessons about procrastinating and made sure to reach their goals for the future months.  That's probably what I should have done.  I'm hoping that by backing off the pace, and then being smarter next month, that I won't pay a penalty for my stubborness.

YEAR-TO-DATE

Distance:  330 Miles / 531 Kms
Goal: .......300.0 Miles / 482.8 Kms

Time Running:  N/A

My running times are on my work computer and I'm off today so I'll have to update later.

I'm super happy to have reached my distance goal this month.  And I vow to NEVER be so stupid about getting behind and/or killing myself to reach a distance goal again.  Though I feel OK right now, the pressure I put on myself was uncalled for and I can't be putting myself in that position

As for my other goals ....

♥ # of runs - goal was 20 and I fell slightly short.  Given the circumstances I'm happy with what I did.  Thinking about it ... I'm not sure I want to run THAT often in a month.  Especially with better weather coming, I want to switch off some of those running days for biking.  And I definitely have fallen for weights again this past week.

♥ Mileage goal - 100 miles:  met it, but as I summarized above, I did it the wrong way.  Lesson learned!

♥ Plan! Prepare! Organize! - yup, YUP, YUP!!!  Boy does this help.  I didn't  do as much preplanning as I should have.  But I certainly made a major improvement on preparing and organizing which made a HUGE difference on the days that I hadn't preplanned.  I had food prepped that I could just grab and go.  And NO helter skelter last minute runs to the grocery store.  YEAH!

♥ Since I had no scheduled official races this month, I planned two timed events for myself.

April 11 - Heidi's Springtastic 10K

April 25 - Heidi's Happy Half Marathon

I completed the Springtastic, but with the injury I thought it wasn't wise to push myself for the second one.  This last week I've been keeping my pace slow and my mileage spread out to what I can handle each day rather than lumping a long day into the mix.

I'm very much looking forward to May.  Lots of fun and exciting things happening for me.  I'll get my May goals posted soon. 

Have a FANTASTIC weekend!!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Getting Nervous

I wanted to share this with you a few days ago, but have been disorganized getting my picture in the right place at the right time.  Last weekend I finally got around to making something I've been wanting to make for a LONG time.

Back in June 2009, my buddy Syl made these Shrimp Salad Rolls that looked so good.  For about a month after that, everytime I went to a grocery store I looked for the rice paper wrappers that were needed and they were continually out of stock.  (Was that when there was that rice shortage thing going on???? Hmmm, I don't remember)

The other day I was looking for something interesting to pop out at me in the Asian isle and BAM, rice paper wraps!  I snatched them up like a thief and knew exactly what I wanted to make.

I made them slightly different from Syl.  Mine included the following:

• Rice paper wraps
• Rice Vermicelli
• Shrimp (we're the same to here) 

then I added:

• chopped Cilantro
• julienned carrots
• julienned orange peppers (would have preferred red)
• julienned cucumber 

mixed up some:

• Hoisin sauce
• peanut butter (4 to 1 mix)

SO GOOD!

I actually didn't find them too hard to wrap if you soak the paper until just barely plyable, like 2-3 seconds at the most.  Then I placed them onto a damp plate.  I found if you put them on a clean tea towel, as many sites suggest, they often stick to it and sometimes tear.  If everything is cut & chopped, ready to go, they don't take too long to assemble.  It was actually kind of fun!

The only thing is I made so many of them (and my kids won't touch them), so we had alot of leftovers.  They still TASTE great leftover, but they continue to get softer and the wrap gets very tender and break easily.  I just used a knife and fork to eat them.  This is one of the leftovers.  Maybe doesn't look appealing, but so YUM!!!  That's a side plate, they're not that huge☺.

So as the title of this post indicates ... I'm getting nervous.

My next race is in about a week and a half (on May 9th).  It's a massive 10K run (Vancouver Sun Run).  I did it last year, first vowing never to do it again, but then loving it and being excited for the next year. 

 

On one hand I am absolutely pumped to do this race.  Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I fully expect to beat my last years time of 58:56.  Possibly by quite a bit.

 

However, I'm starting to get extremely nervous about this race.  Why?  Because of the events that went down at my last race, the half marathon.  Since then, I DO NOT run anywhere unless I'm 100% sure there is available potties or I carry TP.  I've also become quite aware of how often I actually use the facilities during a run.  Over 5-8K I pretty much need the services once on most runs.  Afternoon/evening runs are suprisingly not so bad ... but morning runs (which races tend to be), pretty much guaranteed.

 

This makes me feel very nervous for this upcoming race.  Actually, no .... it's makes me nervous for ALL future races.  What if this is a continual problem?  Can I only enter races that have facilities on route?  Some of my favourite races there is no option other than bushes.

 

I didn't seem to have this problem last year.  The only thing I can see that's different is I used to NEVER eat before running in the morning.  No food, no drink (other than maybe a little water).  But then again, on the morning of the fateful run, I also didn't eat.  So maybe that isn't the solution.  Plus there seems to be so much positive information in regards to pre-race fuel.

 

I'm sure I'll get through this.  Likely that was a race out of the norm and hopefully it will never happen again.  But saying that and KNOWING that are two very different things.

 

Wow, this is almost a post worth of Shut Up & Run.  Sorry if it's TMI for you :)  It's just a concern that is weighing heavily on my mind.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to have a very exciting (well for me) post.  Stay tuned!!!

Have a wonderful today!!

And to my friends out there in bloggy world and beyond who are receiving snow today ... my heart goes out to you.  There is no words of condolence.  That just SUCKS!  Bring on SUMMER!!!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Afternoon Munchies

How do you know when you've had a good workout?  Can you tell when you're doing it, or done?  Later that day?  The next morning??

For me it's about 24 to 36 hours later that I'm acutely aware that I've really hit those neglected muscles.  Monday night I took a rest day from running and hit up the weights.  The one move that kills me EVERY time is walking lunges. 

source

{check out this link, looks like a good site}

As of last night, and definitely this morning ...

and, my hammies are definitely announcing their presence.

Apparently I hit up all the right areas!

Last night I had planned to run about 4 miles outside but we were having typical BC wet coast spring weather ... sunny one minute, torrential turn-on-the-windshield-wipers-full-speed-and-STILL-not-be-able-to-see downpour rain the next.  Instead I turned to my trusty treadmill, and last night I was grateful to have it.  I did 5 ten-minute intervals, way too fast for my recovering leg - but it felt fantastic.  Actually my leg feels pretty good today.  Or maybe just my ass is too sore to notice the leg pain.

AFTERNOON MUNCHIES

Lately I've been struggling with late afternoon munchies.  I think I'm eating enough throughout the day, but as soon as I get home from work I just want to eat, eat, EAT! 

I've been making sure to have a late afternoon snack and also been trying to eat dinner as soon as I get home at 5:00.  But the hunger is so strong (or perceived hunger???) that I end up eating something outside of my plan, and often it's not the healthiest (sugary cereal, peanut butter on toast, crackers, cheese, candy/cookies if I can find them...).  Also, afterwards I end up feeling over-full, so I really don't think I "need" that extra food.

I'd prefer to save that "extra" to have after a workout.  But what ends up happening is I feel so hungry, so I eat more, then I feel full and have difficulty exercising.  Many times I have to postpone my planned workout to let my meal digest.  I can't figure out why at this particular time of day my brain isn't registering that I've just eaten.  If dinner isn't ready within 30 minutes (max) after I get home then I'll practically eat the cupboard doors.  This week I have pre-made meals so all I have to do is warm-up and chow down - dinner in 5 minutes or less!

I have protein with most meals, a definite abundance of fibre rich foods (veggies, fruits, whole-grain foods), drink lots of fluids.  I eat about every 3 hours.  It can't be that my body needs this extra food because I'm not loosing weight when I eat this way.

Any suggestions???

Happy Hump Day!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Weekend in Point Form

The day is getting away from me.  Here's my weekend in point form (or the shortest version of point form that I can manage).

FRIDAY

• Ran 4.5 slow miles with a friend.  Just what I needed for my recovering legs.
• Worked in the afternoon for a couple of hours to help my boss get caught up as he's been away.  Earned me some bonus points from the boss.  He even phoned me after I'd left to thank me from coming in.  Funny thing about that is I was originally hired to work full time and over the years I'm the one who decided to work less ... because I want to.
• Tried out a new recipe (post to follow)
• Watched an awesome hockey game.  I'm sort of a fair weather fan.  I only watch when our local team is in the play-offs ... and doing well.  Go Canucks, Go!

SATURDAY

• Pissy, rainy day.  Man I HATE rain!
• Did a few house chores and was in general very lazy.  Watched a few episodes of The Secret Life of the American Teenager.  Really not the most best acting I've ever seen, but my daughter got me hooked on the plot and now I wanna know what happens.  Plus it's kind of cool to see Molly Ringwald again.
• Found myself bored, unmotivated and wanting to eat, eat, eat. 
• Somehow managed to keep it mostly at bay.
• Last week I attempted to make these no bake oatmeal coconut chocolate cookies.  They failed, didn't set up, and just kind of crumbled.  So I put it into a container to use like granola.  I found myself digging into it, and really I'm the only one who liked it.  So .... I DUMPED THE WHOLE THING!  Gonzo!!!
• Didn't exercise.  Probably should have.  Would have given me something to do.  At one point I actually put exercise clothes on.  But then I changed.  Silly, huh???
• Met up with an old friend who I dearly miss and rarely have the opportunity to see.

SUNDAY

• Ran an easy 7.2 miles (half with a friend slowly, half on my own faster).  My legs are feeling pretty darn good - WAHOOOO.   I wanted to run much further and much faster.  I just have to remember to not jump back in too quickly so I can remain uninjured.  I just want to run - fast!  But I am reminding myself that I have a much anticipated race coming up that I want to be TIP TOP for.
• Cleaned two very dirty, icky horse stalls that were long overdue.  Talk about a workout!  I was drenched in sweat and my muscles can feel it today.  This was a good reminder of how I love the feeling of a good strength workout.  I'm very grateful for that reminder!
• Made my daughter mow the lawns and wash my Jetta. (yes, that is considered an accomplishment for me - haha)
• Finished up all the laundry
• Made two batches of cookies and gave over half of them away to our employees that were working that day
• Made a honkin' huge tray of lasanga, plus an extra little one to put in the freezer.  Guess what Garfield hubby is eating for dinner all week!
• Cut up some fruit for this weeks lunches
• Watched ANOTHER great hockey game and witnessed the Canucks win round one of the playoffs!  Go Canucks, Go!

Pretty boring, but ... that's my life! :)

Has your Monday been a great kick-off to a new week?

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Don't go to DQ

Good Friday Morning!!!!!!

Yes, I'm feeling kind of chipper this morning.  Though I don't know why.  I didn't sleep that great.

As mentioned yesterday, I biked to work.

The ride home was great.  I really have missed biking and am going to make more of an effort to do it more frequently.  It just takes some logistical changes to make it happen.

Came home and intended to try out a brand new recipe.  However, that didn't happen ...

First, my daughter had made pizza after school and there was some left on the counter.  I knew I hadn't eaten enough at work so was famished by the time I got home.  Definite mistake!  I had a large slice.

Then there was those darn cookies I made earlier in the week.  Which the kids had also left the container out open on the counter.  I had two.  Thank goodness this is what is left now.

That should have done me for the night.

Yesterday Darci mentioned that Dairy Queen is having their 25 yr anniversary special on.  Buy one Blizzard (of any size) and get a second one for 25 cents.  Good deal!

I had to get gas in my car, so offered to drop the kids off at DQ while I got fuel.  Except ... as I went to leave, my husband said he wanted to come.

Well you can't buy 3 Blizzards with that kind of a deal.  So we got a "spare".  You know .... SPARE TIRE!

I ate about half of the spare one.  UGH!  On it's own it might not have been bad, but coupled with the pizza and the cookies I felt kind of gross.  I had to physically get up and throw out my spoon to keep from eating more.  All this junk in my tummy did not sit well all night.

But ... also while we were out I picked up a new journal.  I had filled up my old one and have been out for a couple weeks.  It's time to start fresh.  New journals always pump me up.

Weekend advice:  Don't go to DQ!

Have a great one....

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Unattainable Goal???

I'm starting to think my April goal of running 20 times and 100 miles may be unattainable this month due to my slow start.

I've been racking up the mileage like crazy lately and by all means should reach my goal.  Except for one little thing ..... injury.

This is the same injury I suffered from a couple months ago and I'm certain it has to do with my sudden increase in mileage.  Plus I've been guilty a few times lately of minimal (and sometimes no) stretching after my runs.  Not a smart idea!  I had hoped that this wouldn't happen, but I'm going to be proactive this time and not let it get worse.  A little rest, lots of stretching and hopefully I'll be back to new in no time.

What I'm actually hoping for is to still be able to complete the mileage goal, but maybe not the # of runs I had hoped for.  That, probably more than anything, is what is causing this issue.  I can't expect to pound these legs every day and have them perform the way I want.

But, I'm not going to let my fitness be pushed aside.  I'm not working this hard and then letting it go.  Nope, not me!  Last night the fuel light came on in my car.  I really didn't feel like stopping at the gas station.  So .... today I'm a cyclist! 

It is a perfect day for it.  Sunny, but not too hot.  And it's the perfect break for my owie.

Here's my sweaty pic after completing Jen's challenge.  I look like I have some kind of branding stamp on my forehead, ala Star Trek!

Have a great day and stay healthy!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Still adding up that mileage

I'm running a little behind today getting my post up.  Yesterday I noticed that my work computer has the little memory card slot on it.  My normal procedure is to upload the pictures from my camera onto my home computer.  Then, copy them to a memory stick.  Which I then take to work with me where I compose my posts (yes I have a fantastic job that allows me plenty of time to blog and still get my work done - not much goes on here, but I do need to be here almost daily).  So I figured I'd take advantage of this slot and save a couple steps.  But the dang thing isn't working!  ERGH! 

I have a nice, sweaty pic of me after completing my time for Jen's challenge yesterday.  Oh well, the picture will have to wait.

Came home from work yesterday (hungry as usual) and had a quick meal before taking my daughter to dance.  I really need to have a late afternoon snack on these days because by the time I get home from work I'm ready for a full dinner, but I don't really have enough time to digest it before dropping her off and going for a run.

Anyhow, my husband came along for the run.  We had hoped to get in about 5 miles but there is SO many stoplights downtown that we wasted a lot of time waiting.  Near the end of our run we just ran down the street a bit waiting for the light to change.  I hate having to stop & go.  I really don't know how people run downtown Vancouver (or any big city) with all those lights. 

We ended up finishing 4.33 miles in about 41 minutes (not incl. wait time).  A little bit slow, but we both were a bit off.

Came home and decided to hit up the treadmill to finish off my daily mileage.  For some reason when I stepped on the treadmill I felt fantastic and just wanted to keep running.  But ... Biggest Loser was coming on and I missed last week.  I did another 2.67 miles in 22 minutes.  Much better pace (8:22/mi).  That gave me 7 miles for the day - WAHOO!

Then, during Biggest Loser I did a few crunches.  Was going to do some push-ups & dips too, but got lazy.  Ehhh, what can I say, I'm human!

I'm going to mention again how HELPFUL food prep has been for me.  This morning I slept 1 hour past my alarm.  I usually allow myself plenty of time in the morning as that's my favourite time to do household chores.  But this put me in a bit of a crunch.  It was so nice to have some things prepared in the fridge that I could just grab and go.  No having to resort to take-out or frozen meals!!

I leave you with a picture I did happen to have from my daughter's dance comp the other day. (At least I have something to share)

Have a fantastic day!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Food Thieves

The other day I posted that I was going to do some prep work on the weekend for the week ahead.

This is what I had planned and how it worked out:

• ♥ Another fruit salad - done, and nearly gone (see below)
• ♥ Raw veggies - done
• ♥ Teriyaki Chicken Stir-fry - postponed
• ♥ Another pasta dish - postponed
• ♥ Hard boil eggs - done
• ♥ Double batch steel cut oats - half done
• ♥ Chop peaches for morning oats - done

Mostly a success, some issues.

I decided to postpone making the stir fry & pasta dish because I looked at my week and realized that I had time to do that mid-week.  Plus, I decided to make a huge batch of Black Bean Soup, which will last me for a few days. 

I ran into a bit of a problem making a double batch of oats as I found I was ... almost out!  So I made what was left in the container and that will have to do until next shopping day.

The fruit is almost a funny story!  I cut up:

• two HUGE cantaloupes
• a large honeydew melon
• a pineapple
• 5 POUNDS of strawberries 

This went into two massive containers, plus I filled up a container for Monday's lunch. 

Later that evening, my son was searching for food and I told him there was some cut up fruit.  He is a MAJOR sugar-holic and we've been a bit on his case lately.  So he grabbed the fruit and made a yoghurt-cool whip dip.  Much better than anything else he would have had.

In typically teenage boy fashion ... he ate almost half of what I had prepared.  Then my daughter came home from swimming with a friend and ate some.  Then my husband came home and got into it.

On Monday morning all I had left was:

• 4 strawberries
• 3 - 1" x 2" slices of honeydew
• 6 - 1" x 2" slices of cantaloupe

On one hand I'm ecstatic that my family is eating all this healthy fruit.  But on the other ..... so much for my prepped meals.  The other food I prepared is safe though because they won't touch it.  I stopped at the produce store on the way home last night for restocking. Guess I'll have to cut up alot more.

I'm feeling icky today.  Last night my sister's BIL was supposed to come into town for work and I had agreed to make him cookies (there's a back story to this).  So I made up 3 batches last night.  Only to get a call saying his work schedule had changed and he wouldn't be in town. 

If you've been reading this blog for a while you know that I have issues with binging on cookie dough while baking.  I did pretty good last night and just had a taste of each dough to make sure it was OK.  But this morning .... breakfast was 3 chocolate chip cookies (they are pretty small) and a peanut butter chocolate no-bake oat cookie.  I feel gross!  I skipped regular breakfast because I just couldn't have something else on top of that.  It surprises me a little how full that made me feel.  I'm going to remember this feeling when I get home and they're facing me again.  The good thing is my piggy family will consume what's left within the next 24 hours so the temptation won't last.

REMINDER....

Today is Jen @ Prior Fat Girls Challenge

If she can get 500 people to commit to doing 60+ minutes of activity on April 20th, Tony the Anti-Jared, will donate $250 to YMCA Activate America.

I'll be doing 60+ minutes today to support this cause.  I'm not even an American, but still, I think this is a good cause worth supporting and really it couldn't be any easier.  A healthier world benefits everyone!

Will you????

PS - If you aren't a blogger but you do 60+ minutes of activity today, sent me a note and I'll let Jen know you've helped out her cause.

Heidi

 ♥♥♥♥♥

Thank you Syl!

I want to give a super shout-out to my buddy Syl at Live Smile Run. 

In my mailbox I received this little package (all good things come in small packages - right?)

The note she included really touched my heart ♥.  I was grinning from ear to ear while reading it.  It is now folded and tucked into my running pouch so I can take her support and encouragement along with me. 

Dear, sweet Syl sent me the coolest necklace with charms from Lift Your Sole.  She couldn't have chosen a better one for me.  I absolutely ADORE it!  Everytime I see it in the mirror I smile. ☺

Now I can take Syl along with me when I run.  That makes me SO happy!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Syl! 

I ♥ it!

Sunday morning I went out on my favourite trail run.  I was to meet my friends around 9, but went early with my husband and our dog.  We did about 4 1/2 miles together, until I ran into my friends.  He had to get to work.  I ran for about 1/2 a mile with my friends, but they're just starting up again so I ended up going ahead and running another 6 miles on my own before meeting them again for coffee.  Total of 11.1 miles. 

It was super hot and humid out and I forgot to put on my Glide before I left.  So now I'm sporting some "lovely" chafing on my arms.  Grrr!  But the day was beautiful, the run was great and relaxing, and I really enjoyed hanging out with my friends .... so I'm not complaining.

I love to run with friends, but the reality is becoming that we are at too different of paces. I think from now on I will just arrange to meet them for coffee afterwards. The last few times I've gone ahead of them, come back and basically said a quick hi, then gone off on my own again. That's OK, but sometimes when I stop/slow down I find it difficult to get back into my rythym. I think I'd rather just keep going non-stop.



A couple of you asked what kind of dance my daughter does.  This year she is doing Jazz & Hip Hop.  Both at a very low level.  But she has a good time and has met some good friends through it.  She did gymnastics for a number of years, then dance the last couple years.  Next year she wants to play soccer because "it's more active" and not a "girly" sport.  She also has lots of friends who play soccer.  Kind of late to get into it, but I think she'll have fun.

I got some of my prep done this weekend, though not all.  And some I have to redo.  I'll be back with that story tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Beautiful Morning

Oh what a glorious day!  These are the days that are so close to perfect you could almost cry.

This morning I met up with 4 wonderful ladies for a run in the park.  I haven't been able to run with them for about a month now.  It was so nice to get together.  The pace was slower than my usual, but I enjoyed every second of it.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing, tons of people were out walking their dogs.  Awesome!

I would have liked to get out for another run this afternoon, but unfortunately that isn't going to happen.  My daughter has another dance competition tonight which will take up the whole afternoon (it's an hour+ drive each way).  She had one last night as well - they took home Gold in their category.

This weekend I need to dedicate to some serious housework!  It's been a hectic month and I've been doing the bare minimum.  Plus this week I've rarely been home so it's on full disaster right now and I can't stand another second of it.

Also I want to spend some time preparing some food!!!  Last weekend I made a couple pasta dishes and a massive bowl of fruit salad.  It made it through most of the week and helped me out a ton in having something quick and healthy to eat for lunches and for when I've had less than 10 minutes to be in and out the door again.

My plans for this weekend:

• ♥ Another fruit salad
• ♥ Raw veggies
• ♥ Teriyaki Chicken Stir-fry
• ♥ Another pasta dish
• ♥ Hard boil eggs
• ♥ Double batch steel cut oats
• ♥ Chop peaches for morning oats

That should give me a few options to turn to when life throws me a curve.

Have a great weekend!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Run Heidi, Run!

I said yesterday I'd be adding in some numbers to my monthly mileage.  And that I did!  I found some sneaky ways to fit it in too.

In the morning I had to go to the post office to collect the work mail.  So I ran there! - 1 mile

Then in the afternoon I had to go pay the stupid government payroll taxes.  Ran there too! - 2.4 miles

After work .... I ran home! - 7.1 miles

Remember last week when I attempted to run home due to lack of vehicle issues?  Where the rain and the wind was so bad my husband came and rescued me (I did manage 5+ Km though).  Well ... if you've been reading a while you'll know that I don't give up that easily.  No it wasn't exactly a pre-planned run, nor was it a complete fail.  But when I set out to do something and it doesn't work out for certain reasons - I HAVE to conquer it.

We rearranged our schedules so that my husband could drop off the kids at school and me at work.  Though it was a beautiful sunny morning and I asked him to drop me part way so I could walk the last 2 Km to work.  It was SO pleasant.  The sun was shining and warm.  I could hear birds chirping.  BEAUTIFUL!  I'm sure I looked like a complete idiot walking along with a smile on my face.

That gives me another 10.5 miles to add to my mileage.  WOOT! WOOT!

I will admit though that three runs in one day (even if the first two weren't very long) was tough.  Could also be that I've run over 25 miles in the last 4 days.  I could really feel the exhaustion in my legs on the way home.  Thankfully there is lots of stoplights so I did lots of stretching along the way.

Watching the numbers go down ....

30.9 miles completed

69.1 miles to go!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Minor Adjustment Required

Sometimes the best laid plans .......

Last night I had planned to take my daughter to dance, then run 4-5 miles.  My husband called me late in the afternoon saying he was going to go down shopping in the US.  My daughter was going to skip dance and go too.  Did I want to come???  Uhhh, yeah I did - but my plans!

No matter which way I looked I wouldn't be doing exactly what I planned.  Now I could stay and exercise at home.  But .....

Tricia at Endurance Isn't Only Physical posted pictures of her wearing the most adorable dress the other day.  

Note:  This is NOT Tricia

And, she was super kind and sent me the link to where I could purchase it - Kohls!  I had looked at it online and almost went ahead and purchased it, but then thought if I could get the chance to go cross border, maybe they'd have it in stock and I could try it on.

So I agreed to go.

Turns out they didn't have it in stock .... and now it's not available online anymore either.  Grrrr, the difference a couple days makes!

Anyhow, we didn't get home until almost 9:30.  Kinda late to run.  But ... I have a goal and I'm GOING to reach it!  So as soon as we got home I laced up and headed downstairs.  My husband said, "You're going to run at 9:30 at night????"  YUP!

First, I can't really afford to take a rest day when I don't need it.  I have alot of running days ahead of me to reach my goal this month.  I'd rather take a rest day after a long run or a series of tough runs - when I really need it.  Plus, I know that every little mile helps.

I didn't want to run for long, so I ran fast!  I did 2.5 miles in 20 minutes - 8:00 min/mile.  That's FAST for me!  I can comfortably do that for 1 mile, but I haven't been able to do it for much more than that.  WOOOHOOO.  This makes me VERY pleased!  I can't wait until I can run a 10K at that pace.

So ...as of yesterday I have:

20.3 miles completed

79.7 miles to go!

I'll be making a pretty good dent in those remaining miles today.  The weather is GORGEOUS and I'm going to take full advantage of it!

Have a FABULOUS day!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Playing Catch-up

I've got a lot of catch-up to do.  My April goals included an increase in mileage to 100 miles (from 80 last month) and also to run a minimum of 20 times.

I am SERIOUSLY behind on these goals.  It's almost unachievable.

Notice I said "almost"? 

It will be difficult, but I'm not a quitter and I will not give up.  This is WHY I set goals.  So that when issues arise I can push myself harder to achieve them.

For numerous reasons I haven't run much the last couple of weeks.  I have some valid reasons, I have been busier than usual, I was away a couple times, but mostly I've been lazy and unmotivated.  Excuses!

So far this month I have only run 17.8 miles and 4 runs.  Being that it's almost mid-month I have a lot of work ahead of me.

In order to reach my mileage goal I have to run on average 4.84 miles per day.  And to reach my # of runs goal, that one is probably tougher.  I have to run 16 out of the next 17 days - YIKES!

But I'm going to give it a go.  I'm thinking the only way I can safely reach the # of runs goal is to add in a few days where I just run a short 1-2 mile run where I would normally take a rest day.  Otherwise I think I'd be risking injury and burn-out.

 We can do anything we set our mind & hearts to!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Heidi's Springtastic 10K - RECAP

WOW, what an awesome race!!!  I must say, I should seriously consider becoming a race director.

The distance was bang on - exactly 10K.  The water stations were EXACTLY where I needed them.  The footing was great.  There were a few challenging hills.  It was an interesting route with lots to see along the way.  The starting corral was amazing, no crowding at all - which made for a fantastic start.  The only thing that was really lacking was traffic control.  It was like it was non-existant.  Although there was only really one place where I needed it.  Ahhhh, a perfectly planned race.  Heeheeee!

and the results:

1st in age group
1st female runner
1st overall
and ... course record holder.

Really?  Does it get any better than that??!! ;)

To top it all off it was an incredibly beautiful day.  Although I overdressed a bit and it got rather hot.  But I'm not complaining.  I'd rather be a little warm with sun beaming in my eyes than to have the rain dripping off my eyebrows like I did last week!

I finished my 10K in 52:42!  8:30/mile pace.  I have finished that distance a few seconds faster in the past, but I don't really count that one because my phone rang half way thru and I had to stop my watch to take the call.  This, however, is my FASTEST non-stop 10K.

The first mile and a half I did UNDER 8 min/mile, and that included one hill.  I was smokin'!  I have to plug the Garmin into the computer to get my splits.  First though I need to buy a new mouse as ours passed away over the weekend.  RIP Mousy!

Not bad considering I haven't really had much running happening the last couple weeks.  Miles 3 to 4 were the hardest.  I felt really tired and just wanted to be done!  I know that's due to my lack of training.  But after that my competitive spirit picked up and I could feel my drive coming back.  Now I want to kick it in to high gear and see what I can do for next month's race.

A year ago I ran my first 10K in 59:22 and was ecstatic to be under an hour (race report here).  I feel like I've come a long way in a year.

Next month I am registered for a massive 10K race - the Vancouver Sun Run which last year had about 56,000 participants.  Although the start is in waves, it's, as you can imagine, pretty crowded.  Last year the first mile was spent weaving through throngs of people and after that it only slightly subsided to frequent dodging.  With that in mind, my goal for this years race is to finish in about the same time as I did yesterday.

The sun is shining and I plan to do another 10K-ish run today.

Have a wonderful day!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

♥ Steel Cut Oats ♥

Recently I FINALLY got around to trying Steel Cut Oats.  I've heard so many good things about them.  I had the package for a while.  Had put off making them because they do take 20-25 minutes to cook.  BUT .... I make them one morning, then have breakfast for the next 3 days.  They only take a minute or two to reheat in the microwave and they taste just as good as if they were made fresh. 

They taste SO much more substantial than even regular oats.  At this point I don't think I could even eat packaged instant oats anymore.  Mush - yuck!

My favourite thing to do is to add a bit of brown sugar, a good 1/2 cup of chopped fruit and if it's super hot I add a splash of milk.  Seriously I could eat this for EVERY meal EVERY day.  Soooooo good!  Sooooo worth the effort.

***REMINDER***

Tomorrow (Sunday April 11th) is Heidi's Springtastic 10K!

I wasn't able to enter a 10K race this month, so I've made my own.  I've mapped out my route and will post a recap afterwards.

Though these past two weeks have been severly lacking in training, so I have no idea what to expect.

Good luck to all those running with me (heehee)

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Heidi

Closet Eating

So ... did I make my run home yesterday????

Sort of!

The rain held off for most of the day and then about an hour before the end of my work day, it started.  I hoped it might fade off, but it kept getting stronger.  Just before it was time to go I called my husband to see if there was any chance he could pick me up ... but he was too far away.  I decided to suck it up buttercup and just do it.  Waiting around the office for him for an hour just wasn't that appealing.

It was gross!  Rain is rain, whatever.  You get stinky and sweaty when you run anyway.  But when the wind howled and the rain felt like ice droplets ... that was gross.  Plus, alot of my route is on a rather busy street and the cars splashing thru the puddles was insane.  Not a pleasant run at all.  If I have to run in the rain I'd much rather it be on a nice trail, or at least quite streets.  Not a busy main street.

But my dear husband changed up his plans a bit and met me about halfway.  At that point I was already soaked to the bone and probably could have just carried on.  It was still nice.

So yeah, I sort of did it ... I sort of wimped out. 

This was a picture in the paper this morning from the results of last nights storm.

source

Closet Eating

I've admitted in the past that I have struggled with closet eating.  Many people close to me would think that I ate pretty healthy and small portions.  But they didn't see what I indulged in when alone.  The fast food.  The globs of cookie dough.  The snacks eaten out of sight.  The peanut butter jar.

For the most part I have a handle on that now.  Though there are still times when I will sneak something without others seeing it.  I try now to admit to someone around me when I've done it so I have some accountability.  Sometimes it's a friend or family member, sometimes it's on this blog.  Not that they care, but for me I need to know that just because no one saw me eat it doesn't mean it didn't happen.  And I can't feel guilt from it.

Having had this habit ... it's now easier to see in others.

A couple summers ago we went camping and my son's friend came along with us.  Great kid.  He was a fair bit overweight and I knew that he ate a fair bit.  But it wasn't long before I started noticing little things.  I'd find food wrappers in the strangest of places.  Or empty containers neatly stacked as if they hadn't been touched.  I even saw him with his head in the cupboards trying to eat something without anyone seeing.  I knew from experience exactly what he was doing.

Then recently we were with friends.  The husband has a pretty severe weight problem.  I've noticed that he likes to be the one cooking the food, and he likes to cook plenty extra.  One of the most giving people I know in many aspects of his life.  But one day I was preparing a meal for us all.  I made sure to make quite a bit of food, alot more than I would normally.  Just before it was ready, I saw this man tucked away on the other side of his truck, eating the biggest strudel I have ever seen. 

It was just so interesting to me to see this behaviour ... because I know I have experienced it myself.  And it makes me wonder why we do it.  You're not fooling anyone.  You don't become 50, 100, 150 lbs overweight by eating normally.  I also find it fascinating, thinking back, feeling like I was the ONLY person who did this.  That this behaviour was so WEIRD and SHAMEFUL.  Why do we put this guilt on ourselves so unnecessarily?  So often when we think we're alone, we couldn't be farther from the truth.

If you are a closet eater too ... come out of the closet!  The other side is actually pretty good.

Have you conquered closet eating?  What strategies help you to deal with it?

REMINDER

Check out this challenge over at Jen - Prior Fat Girl.  If she can get 500 people to commit to doing 60+ minutes of activity on April 20th, Tony the Anti-Jared, will donate $250 to YMCA Activate America.  I've signed on ... check it out!

Have a great day!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Extended Break

WOW, it's been a week since I last posted.  How did that happen?

Even more important .... it's been a week since I last ran!  How did THAT happen?  Yikes!!

First off, we went up to visit our property again over the long Easter weekend.  The driveway is almost all the way in. 

My BIL towed our RV up there for us, so we actually got to stay ON the property.  It was wonderful.  Even the dog couldn't stop staring out the window at the view.  The first night she crawled up 3 or 4 times and just stared out.  Yeah, OK, maybe she wasn't looking at the view.  Likely she was looking for critters, whatever.

Some of the neighbors came by to visit  ...

These guys are regularly around.  It seems there is a herd of about 17 that tramp back and forth on a regular basis.

Friends of ours also came up and camped with us.  It was so nice to just relax, sit around the campfire, and enjoy.  We had planned to tow up a trailer with all our toys (ATVs, dirtbike, bicycles), however, the truck had a problem the morning we were leaving so we had to cram the essentials into my car instead.  Boohoo.  Oh well, we'll get the toys up soon.

I can't believe that I didn't do one single run the whole 4 days we were there.  Partly because it was windy. 

Mostly because I was so lazy relaxed.  Though there was quite a bit of walking around the property each day which is fairly hilly.  OK, that was weak, I really didn't exercise much.  I did do some push-ups and sit-ups in the trailer.  YAY for that.

We also walked over to the "local" restaurant.  There is this restaurant up there that most would consider way out in the boonies.  It just happens to be a bit over 1/2 a mile down the road, or 3 properties over (hahaha).  Not the most diet friendly of places, but it is a neat little place and the owners are super friendly.  Very quaint.

Other than dinner here I actually didn't do too bad with my eats.  Especially considering the fare that was available.  I did break down and have two regular hot dogs.  I went to 4 different stores looking for turkey dogs, but couldn't find them.  Bummer, I like those!  But the dogs I bought were only 100 cal, though 8g fat, and I decided that wasn't the end of the world.  I enjoyed them, but would have preferred turkey.

Today the lack of running ends!  With the truck having issues, my husband needed my car today.  I contemplated riding my bike to work today - but it is supposed to rain and I don't like to bike in the rain.  However ... I don't completely mind running in the rain.  So this morning I had my husband drive me to work, and I'll be running home.  (now that I've blogged it, I MUST do it - no backing out)  It's just over 11 Kms which is about what I would have like to run anyway.  Wish me luck that the rain holds off.

Tonight my sister is coming into town for a few days.  We have a few busy days planned, but I'm still going to try to squeeze in exercise.  I'm very behind on my April running goal and have a lot of ground to cover - literally!  I also have to keep making healthy eating a priority. 

Hope everyone is happy & healthy!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

almost forgot to add this...

Check out this challenge over at Jen - Prior Fat Girl.  If she can get 500 people to commit to doing 60+ minutes of activity on April 20th, Tony the Anti-Jared, will donate $250 to YMCA Activate America.  I've signed on ... check it out!

March Recap / April Goals

 MARCH 2010

RUNNING RECAP

# of runs: 16

Distance: ..........86.3 Miles / 138.8 Kms
Monthly Goals: 80.0 Miles / 128.7 Kms

Time Running:  13 Hours 9 Minutes 32 Seconds

Longest Distance: 13.1 Miles / 21.1 Kms (1:57:41)
Fastest Pace: ........7:40 min/Mile / 4:46 min/Km / 7.8 mph - 1 mile intervals on treadmill
Average Pace: ......8:55 min/Mile / 5:32 min/Km / 6.7 mph

Summary: Slightly exceeded mileage goal this month.  I had increased it from 65 to 80 miles this month and just made it over that.  I was on target to exceed it by quite a bit, but near the end of the month I needed a little mental break and took almost a week off.  I'm a bit disappointed in the number of runs I did.  I still want to improve on that.  However, like I said, I took a little break there which contributed to a lower number overall.  My average pace increased ever so slightly. 
Here's my previous recaps for comparison:  January, February

YEAR-TO-DATE

Distance:  229.5 Miles / 369.3 Kms
Goal: .......200.0 Miles / 321.8 Kms

Time Running:  34 Hours 43 Minutes 51 Seconds

APRIL 2010 GOALS

♥ Once again .... increase the # of runs I do this month.  I'm going to put a number to it this month, to be a bit more specific.  This month my goal is to run a minimum of 20 times.
♥ I'm also increasing my mileage goal again.  The weather is getting better.  The time has changed allowing more daylight for running in the evening.  I have no excuses for not running further and more often.  My mileage goal for April is 100 miles!  That's pretty lofty for me, but if I stay focused I can achieve it.

♥ Plan! Prepare! Organize!

♥ Plan - preplan meals at least the day before, a few days is better.  Even if I make changes to the menu, this helps me stay on track. 

♥ Prepare - prep as much food in advance as possible.  Of course, having an idea of what I plan to eat the next day helps with planned leftovers.
♥ Organize - have what I need, when I need it.  No last minute trips to the grocery store.  No helter skelter cupboards & fridges. 

♥ Sadly I have no official races scheduled this month.  Due to a variety of reasons (schedules, logistics, finances) I won't be able to do the races that I was hoping.  But ... that doesn't mean I can't do my own personal virtual race!  So, I am scheduling the following "races" for myself.  They will be done on roads, with some hills, timed and measured by my trusty Garmin - essentially what you'd expect in an actual race.  When life deals you lemons ...make lemonade!

April 11 - Heidi's Springtastic 10K

April 25 - Heidi's Happy Half Marathon

I'd be happy to race with any of you if you want to come along! ;)

Happy April!!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥