Hanging up my running shoes-Update on ZellyB

[Sailormoon2]

I think it is smart to have a POT race scheduled right before the cut-off, however I would attempt something sooner too (that is what I'm doing) just in case, you might surprise yourself!! My training has been pretty weak lately do to all the weather fluctuations, so I have a 10-miler coming up, I do not feel at all prepared for, then a marathon at the end of May, but again, not sure how that one will go either, so I'm thinking of adding a half, late Spetember as my final chance to score a really good Dopey corral too.

 

[roxymama]

The Bad, The Ugly and the Pretty Freaking Good
Training Week 3/19 – 3/25(26)

Another training week behind me and still some spotty results (the BAD). ACK! Seriously not sure why I’m struggling with consistency so much right now. But, the week at least finished up on a good note!​

Sunday 3/19 – Still no bike ride today. I think I need to give up on the trainer and just try to get outside to do it. Maybe that will hold more appeal for me.

Monday 3/20 – Strength workout. Nothing too exciting to mention. It all went well. Definitely seeing some improvement in my strength overall I think, but then again, I was so stinking weak that may not be saying much. Still, growing stronger regardless is a good thing!

​

Weight gain/loss -1.2 lbs. for the week. -4.8 lbs total. As expected, the weight loss slowed down and leveled off over the second week, but still a loss and good progress in 2 weeks time. For some good reason, I fell off the wagon a bit over the weekend (the UGLY), but can’t be perfect all the time.
Calories - 1,093
Carbs – 28g
Tuesday 3/21 – 4 mile run still sticking with 90/30 intervals. Good run and some pleasant temps. Pace of 11:03. Yoga in the evening and it’s going well.
Calories - 1,254
Carbs – 28g
Wednesday 3/22 – No strength training today. Early AM meeting for Chris. My intent was to do it that evening at home, but I didn’t. BOO! Since we bailed on strength training in the morning, we did yoga that evening and as I posted above I was triumphant in my plank/downward dog/plank move. HURRAY!!
Calories – 1039
Carbs – 22g
Thursday 3/23 – We didn’t run and I have no good excuse. I’m feeling in a bit of a rut and struggling to pull myself out of it. No yoga either since we’d done it the night before. Basically we were slugs.

​

Calories - 1,013
Carbs – 38g
Friday 3/24 – Rest. We headed down to Bentonville to visit our dear friends there and celebrate her 50th birthday. We went out that night and I fell off the carb wagon a bit in favor of some tasty libations. Maybe a few too many. The UGLY!!

​

Calories – 1942
Carbs – 67g (total estimate – and probably low-ball since I can’t vouch entirely for what was in some of those drinks)
Saturday 3/25 – No run although we did continue the weekend celebration with a lovely brunch and some mimosas. Oops.
Calories – 1094
Carbs – 73g (mimosas got some carbs, folks)

So, even though Sunday is official my next week, we used it for our long run instead of Saturday and it was a great way to finish/start the next training week.
Sunday 3/26 – 12 mile run. We did 90/30 intervals but kept the pace nice and easy and I felt great through the whole run! Finished up at 12:05 pace (although oddly when it goes across to Strava it says 11:55 pace – weird). I was much more careful about drinking my electrolyte drink and also took in some honey stinger chews for some fuel a couple of times and it was just a great run. As we were finishing up 12, I told Chris I could easily have run a few more miles and had no issue. True, the pace is slower than I’d like for a race and potential POT half for Dopey use, but it was just so awesome to have a long run like that where I felt good the whole time and finished strong. I haven’t had one of those in awhile.

Yoga in the evening and while I wasn’t sure I could do it, I held the plank/downward dog pose the whole time again. Maybe I really am getting stronger!!

So, while we started out a bit shaky, but things ended on a strong note, so I'm pretty happy.

Nothing too exciting from a food perspective this time around although we did make some kind of mini-pizza things that were tasty. Basically, it’s shredded mozzarella that you bake in the oven on parchment paper with some Canadian bacon sprinkled on it. Once golden brown, we spooned on some hot tomato sauce and then sort of rolled them up into kinda pizza rolls. They don't look fancy, but very tasty!

So, that's it for this past week. Here’s to a more consistent week for me on exercise and staying strong on the diet!!

Your GIF-game is strong this week!
I had kind of a mozzarella fail recently. I hand shredded some fresh mozzarella (and of course lots of pieces went directly into my mouth) and sprinkled them into some pasta right at the very end of cooking. Of course all the cheese just clumped together and stirring only made it worse. What I got was a giant mozzarella ball (albeit warm and gooey) and so why did I even take all that time to lovingly shred it???
PS the giant cheese blob was still deliscious!

Doing 12 and knowing you can do more is goals. I can't wait to get there one day. Hmmm...maybe I'll pencil in 5/14/17. That seems like a good day to try

POT, Purses and Pixie Prep


I’ve been stewing a lot about what to do with my Proof of Time race for Dopey. My good POT (half PR) will be too old to use for Dopey. It is from November of 2015 and was a time of 2:19:07. I had planned on a local race that is on an old railroad trail (very flat out and back) that is April 28. It’s a half-marathon and I was hoping to at least match my current PR. That time scored me an H corral for Goofy in 2017 and I’d love to have the same corral placement for Dopey. Ultimately I’d love to get my half PR to 2:15, but not sure I have that in me.

So, with recovery from Goofy and trying to heal my plantar fasciitis and my recent hamstring strain, pace just hasn’t been coming back like I hoped. And that’s okay. I’m trying to be smart this time and as you guys know, I’m putting in more strength and yoga than I’ve ever done before and even hoping for some cycling as well – if I ever manage to, you know, actually do it. So, I think over the full course of the training season, I’ll be very strong again. BUT, not by April 28. And with that only being a couple of weeks before Tink, I really don't want to push myself too hard and end up with an injury.

So, I was double-checking for the cut-off on POT submission for Dopey and it’s October 3. In searching through half-marathon options in Missouri, I found that the Mo Cowbell race is set for October 1, in St. Charles, Missouri (about a 3 hour drive for us). Chris and I ran this race a few years ago and it’s a good race with a good flat course and might be ideal to try for that PR. Plus they give you a mini-cowbell at the beginning and before the race starts they play, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and everybody rings their cowbells. FUN!!

So, I’ll wait a bit to sign up, but think that we’ll be going for that as a new POT race.

Also, this arrived yesterday.

also slyly fitting in my favorite baby picture of my girls in the background.

Lastly, Pixie Prep. We are closing in on Tinkerbell soon and I’m super excited for this trip. I finalized our shirt design pictures and placed the order for them this morning. They should arrive in a couple of weeks and once we get them I’ll unveil the final product for you guys. I’m hoping they turn out cute. I had a hard time with a good Tink picture for the shirt, so I’m hoping it comes out looking okay.

I still need to order our military discount tickets, set up our shuttle service from the airport and get a hotel room for the night before we fly out of Kansas City. Planning to finish all that up this week. Pixie Dust will be here before I know it.

​

OMG PURSE!!! OMG BABIES!! OMG PURSE & BABIES!!!

I probably should have just made myself a shirt that was a thousand of those disboard Tink emojis.

 

[ZellyB]

I think it is smart to have a POT race scheduled right before the cut-off, however I would attempt something sooner too (that is what I'm doing) just in case, you might surprise yourself!! My training has been pretty weak lately do to all the weather fluctuations, so I have a 10-miler coming up, I do not feel at all prepared for, then a marathon at the end of May, but again, not sure how that one will go either, so I'm thinking of adding a half, late Spetember as my final chance to score a really good Dopey corral too.

Yes, I'm still thinking about whether or not to do another one in there somewhere. I mean I have a race I can use for POT and it's not a bad time, just slower than the one I've been able to use the last couple of races. And, ya know, once you've scored a certain corral, you kinda hate to move back. But, I'd still be somewhere roughly in the middle to middle-back which would be fine too.

Your GIF-game is strong this week!

Why, thank you! That drinking Cinderella one cracked me up.

I had kind of a mozzarella fail recently. I hand shredded some fresh mozzarella (and of course lots of pieces went directly into my mouth) and sprinkled them into some pasta right at the very end of cooking. Of course all the cheese just clumped together and stirring only made it worse. What I got was a giant mozzarella ball (albeit warm and gooey) and so why did I even take all that time to lovingly shred it???
PS the giant cheese blob was still deliscious!

While I understand why you described it as a fail, a giant, warm and gooey mozzarella ball sounds pretty darn good.

Doing 12 and knowing you can do more is goals. I can't wait to get there one day. Hmmm...maybe I'll pencil in 5/14/17. That seems like a good day to try

That sounds like an outstanding day.
I'll meet you there. (I threw that one in for pity's sake - since little Tink doesn't get much emoji love)

OMG PURSE!!! OMG BABIES!! OMG PURSE & BABIES!!!

Right? Too much adorableness in one photo!!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

LOVE your new inknburn stuff! They both look really great on you! I wouldn't worry about those pants looking too snug at all! And that purse! Goodness girl, you do know how to make me want to throw my budget out the window! It looks like your training is coming along so well! Good luck figuring out a POT race, that's always a tough strategic decision!

 

[ZellyB]

Training Week 3/26 – 4/1
Back on Track

This was a much better week for hitting my training plans. I had a little bit of shuffling around of days to do things, but managed to get nearly all the planned activities in. Progress.
​

Sunday 3-26 – I already shared about doing our long run this day rather than Saturday. 12 miles. Woot!
Calories – 1352 (just a smidge over)
Carbs - 38

Monday 3-27 – Core Strength. I ended up not doing this in the morning, but was a good girl and did it at home in the eveing.
Weight gain/loss -4.0 lbs. for the week. -8.8 lbs total. Surprisingly I had a big drop this week. I expected a more even and reduced loss going forward, but maybe this was some make up from the prior week not losing much. Who knows? But, I’m very pleased with the results. Since I write these in a weekly retrospect, I can say for sure though that I’ve plateaued for a week or so, but that’s totally fine and probably appropriate. It’s still working well and while I’ve had a few days here and there that I’ve exceeded my calorie and carb goals, nothing too bad and I’m still mostly being very consistent. I do still have to fight some cravings though!

Calories - 1,080
Carbs – 25g

Tuesday 3-28 – 4 mile run. Bumped up the intervals to 1:45/:30. Going with my cautious approach still to increase running intervals and hopefully with it my overall pace. This was a good run with nice temps, but felt a bit sluggish probably from the 12 mile run on Sunday. Overall pace 11:09.
Calories – 1371 (bit over again – although I don’t give myself the extra calories from the exercise, so net was still fine.)
Carbs – 23

Yoga in the evening. I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying yoga now. I like to think I’m starting to look more like the figure on the left rather than the sloth on the right.

​

​

Wednesday 3-29 – Core Strength. I did this at home in the evening again. All good.
Calories – 843 (oops that’s too low! My Fitness Pal yelled at me for that one)
Carbs - 21

Thursday 3-30 – Chris was out of town for a meeting, and I don’t go out that early to run alone, so no run today. He got home later in the day, so we did do yoga that evening.
Calories – 1126
Carbs - 29

Friday 3-31 – Since we didn’t run yesterday, we decided to run Friday morning, which would also allow for us to have a back-to-back prep for the Pixie Dust Challenge. Our plan was to run 3, but our dog had a little bathroom incident (trust me you’ll be glad I spared you the details), so we got out late and just did 2. 1:45/:30 again and a pace of 10:53.

We had a surprise 50th b-day party for another friend and dinner offered was not low carb – and neither were the vodka tonics I drank.
Calories – 1734 (no yelling by My Fitness Pal)
Carbs - 152 (yowza)

Saturday – 4/1 – 8 mile run planned and we did that nice route out by the botanical gardens again. Spring has definitely sprung around here, friends.

I was mentally not enjoying this run much however, and I shorted the route somehow a bit, so we were back at the car at 7.5 miles and I decided that was enough. We ran this one again at :90/:30 and overall pace was 11:39. I think moving pace was better than that because I stopped to take a bunch of pictures because it was so pretty.

Calories – 1058
Carbs – 60 ( a bit over here because I couldn’t resist a bit of rice with dinner)

We did end up forgetting to do yoga, but made it up on Sunday instead.

I’m pretty pleased with the week though and getting pretty stoked about heading out to Disneyland in just a little over a month!! ​

 

[ZellyB]

LOVE your new inknburn stuff! They both look really great on you! I wouldn't worry about those pants looking too snug at all! And that purse! Goodness girl, you do know how to make me want to throw my budget out the window! It looks like your training is coming along so well! Good luck figuring out a POT race, that's always a tough strategic decision!

Thank you! I'm really fighting the urge to order the newest skirt/shirt combo they posted. But, I'm feeling myself weaken as time goes on.

 

[roxymama]

I've never identified more with an animal than that gif of the sloth doing yoga. I swear this is me in my basement going from one pose to another. It'll be like Pose A: Nailed it...now move to Pose B...spends a full minute rolling around the ground trying to get into next post.

Those pictures en-route are gorgeous. Gotta step up my training-run-picture-game. Hoping our flowers start blooming soon.

And OMG

It's getting so close!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Wow congratulations on sticking with your food plan. That's awesome you're seeing results! Spring looks great over where you are! There's nothing more exciting than seeing that gradual warm up/blooming/more daylight after winter!

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Those trees are beautiful! I'm sure they'd make me sneeze, but I love them anyway. You are going a great job training and with your eating-plan! Go girl!

 

[ZellyB]

I've never identified more with an animal than that gif of the sloth doing yoga. I swear this is me in my basement going from one pose to another. It'll be like Pose A: Nailed it...now move to Pose B...spends a full minute rolling around the ground trying to get into next post.

Those pictures en-route are gorgeous. Gotta step up my training-run-picture-game. Hoping our flowers start blooming soon.

And OMG

It's getting so close!

I'm going to open my own studio one day and call it "Hot Sloth Yoga". I think it's a winner!! So close!!!

Wow congratulations on sticking with your food plan. That's awesome you're seeing results! Spring looks great over where you are! There's nothing more exciting than seeing that gradual warm up/blooming/more daylight after winter!

I love spring time. Not only the flowers, but when the trees start to get that green haze over them as the tiny leaves start to come out. Love the longer days!!

Those trees are beautiful! I'm sure they'd make me sneeze, but I love them anyway. You are going a great job training and with your eating-plan! Go girl!

Thank you! One of my girls also fights those sneezes during the spring.

 

[Sailormoon2]

Hooray for a successful week! great job on the diet compliance and hence weight loss! Love the Gifs (as always)!!

 

[Ariel484]

Wow, awesome results with your eating plan! I admire your will-power.

That park is sooo pretty! Great job this week and from one yogi to another - namaste!!

 

[ZellyB]

Training Week 4/2 – 4/8
Boring, Solid Week

​

This was a pretty standard week of training and not too exciting, but here is your obligatory update regardless. (And, honestly, after that introduction, I’m sure you are on the edge of your seat!!)

Sunday 4/2 – This is usually just a rest day or bike (which, yeah, still failing at that), but we didn’t end up doing our yoga on Saturday, so did it today instead. Starting to feel pretty comfortable now with this particular yoga session, so we may try the "slow flow" one that is on the tape soon. Since this is a boring update - how about some kitten yoga!

Calories – 1166
Carbs - 47

Monday 4/3 – Core Strength. All good here. I really do need to start pushing myself a bit more on this. The program does have a bump-up version that is basically all the same exercise, but for slightly longer. I need to push myself and do that now, I think.

Weight gain/loss +0.6 lbs. for the week. -8.2 lbs total. Definitely hitting a plateau on the weight loss. That’s to be expected though after some quick and significant losses in the preceding weeks. It seems to be holding pretty much around this weight, but definitely no significant increases. This is always the hard part of trying to lose weight. It’s hard to stay as motivated when you aren’t getting rewarded by the scale, but I just have to keep with it and I know the loss will kick back in. I'm going to load this report up with gifs because it's so dull

Tuesday 4/4 – 4 mile run. Stuck with the 105/30 interval again this week on short runs. I’ll likely do that for another week until it feels more comfortable. It definitely helps with overall pace though. Pace for this one was 10:48.

Calories – 1120
Carbs - 20

Wednesdy 4/5 – Core strength. Same old same old.

Calories – 1271
Carbs - 33

Thursday 4/6 – 4 mile run. Boy, I really wanted to sleep in today, but I managed to drag myself out of bed and ended up having a good run again. Overall pace 10:49 (how’s that for consistency from Tuesday?)

Calories – 1271
Carbs - 33

Friday 4/7 – Rest day. Glorious.

Calories – 1399
Carbs -28

Saturday 4/8 – 8 mile run. Ugh. I’m so sluggish anymore on these weekend longer runs. I felt like I had lead feet or something. Yet, it was a gorgeous morning and I ended up frustrated with myself for being such a crab during the run. Poor Chris had to listen to me complain most of the run. Still dropping back to 90/30 intervals on our longer runs, so overall pace with my sluggish self was 12:00. Not bad really, but just wish I had enjoyed it more because as I mentioned – Gorgeous!

Calories – 1137
Carbs – 21

It really was a spectacular weekend here. Mid-70s and sunny. We enjoyed some time out on the back deck on Sunday. Even put out my hummingbird feeder in anticipation of the early scouts showing up soon. I'm so ready for spring/summer!!

Tink weekend is getting closer and closer and since we got to talking about avatars on the running thread, I decided to switch mine out to an ailing Tink and in anticipation of our race shirts. I actually emailed about them this morning because I was thinking I should have had them by now and trip time is getting close.

Have a great week, all!!

 

[ZellyB]

Hooray for a successful week! great job on the diet compliance and hence weight loss! Love the Gifs (as always)!!

Thank you. I'm surprised how compliant I'm being on the diet so far. I keep telling myself I'm going to reward myself with ALL.THE.CARBS on the Tink/Disneyland trip!!

Wow, awesome results with your eating plan! I admire your will-power.

That park is sooo pretty! Great job this week and from one yogi to another - namaste!!

It was a beautiful run and we are lucky to have some really pretty places to run nearby. Namaste!

 

[run.minnie.miles]

So your new Avatar is throwing me off slightly (but in a good way.. it's cute!)

When I first read your 105/30 interval, 105 seemed like a really odd # to me... kind of like setting an alarm for 6:03am (which I sometimes do), but it just hit me that it's 1:45... Duh. I need more coffee!

Yay for beautiful weather and back deck sitting! Your backyard looks beautiful, green and BIG. We spent ALL weekend redoing our back deck, complete with paint, new lights, and new furniture... I can't WAIT to spend a ton of time out there now!

 

[Ariel484]

I agree, avatar totally throws me - it takes me a second to figure out that it's you posting. But I like the idea of changing it up to coincide with your upcoming race!

EEEEK I hope you get some hummingbirds!! We have a feeder too, I need to find a good spot for ours!

 

[roxymama]

Haha, we were both doing the same thing at the same time...adding gifs to our updates for filler. Kindred spirits

Those scenery pics are gorgeous!

I applaud your will power!!! I'm like some kind of horrible carb-monster lately. Hey, I found a picture of you on mile 13 of Tink once you remember there are carbs waiting after the finish line...

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Loved the Disney gifs! Our weather turned back into winter last week, so I'm feeling some major jealousy with your 70 degrees and sunny! Congrats on sticking with it all for another week!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Hey! I'm catching up!! First of all well done on your weight loss, as you've seen from my post it's something I want to focus on too so I'm enjoying your updates.

Your avatar confused me too haha!

That park you ran in looks beautiful!

I hope you're having a good start to your week lovely x

 

[ZellyB]

So your new Avatar is throwing me off slightly (but in a good way.. it's cute!)

When I first read your 105/30 interval, 105 seemed like a really odd # to me... kind of like setting an alarm for 6:03am (which I sometimes do), but it just hit me that it's 1:45... Duh. I need more coffee!

Yay for beautiful weather and back deck sitting! Your backyard looks beautiful, green and BIG. We spent ALL weekend redoing our back deck, complete with paint, new lights, and new furniture... I can't WAIT to spend a ton of time out there now!

I actually get thrown off myself still when I see the avatar!

As I change intervals, I always wonder the best way to write it out. It's sorta like when you have kids - at what point do you stop describing their age in months and switch to years? I figure when I get to 2:00/:30 that will be the moment.

I agree, avatar totally throws me - it takes me a second to figure out that it's you posting. But I like the idea of changing it up to coincide with your upcoming race!

EEEEK I hope you get some hummingbirds!! We have a feeder too, I need to find a good spot for ours!

Yes on my avatar. I'll try to keep it fresh and keep everyone on their toes.

Haha, we were both doing the same thing at the same time...adding gifs to our updates for filler. Kindred spirits

Those scenery pics are gorgeous!

I applaud your will power!!! I'm like some kind of horrible carb-monster lately. Hey, I found a picture of you on mile 13 of Tink once you remember there are carbs waiting after the finish line...

Gifs are the best for fillers. And so many to choose from.

CARBS!!!! I'm starting to have dreams about eating big bowls of tortilla chips with salsa.

Loved the Disney gifs! Our weather turned back into winter last week, so I'm feeling some major jealousy with your 70 degrees and sunny! Congrats on sticking with it all for another week!

We had a bit of a cool down mid-week, but the weekend totally made up for it. Temps are supposed to stay nice for the near future as well. I love it.

Hey! I'm catching up!! First of all well done on your weight loss, as you've seen from my post it's something I want to focus on too so I'm enjoying your updates.

Your avatar confused me too haha!

That park you ran in looks beautiful!

I hope you're having a good start to your week lovely x

Thank you. The carb thing certainly works for me, but not something for everyone. My sister thinks I'm insane and some days I think she's right. Knowing I have Tink looming out there with a free pass (from myself) to eat whatever I want is helping me stick to it.