Hanging up my running shoes-Update on ZellyB

[ZellyB]

Oh no!! I hope that your hamstring issue gets better soon.

I'm so with you on winter just destroying any motivation...so ready for spring!!

I totally admire you guys for signing up for local marathons. That is so awesome! You are going to do great!

The hamstring felt pretty good on the Saturday run. It bothered me here and there (mostly going uphill), but otherwise it seems to be improving!

Come on, spring!! Our forecast has it climbing into the 60s! this week and even low 70s on Friday. Can't wait!!!

 

[Ariel484]

The hamstring felt pretty good on the Saturday run. It bothered me here and there (mostly going uphill), but otherwise it seems to be improving!

Come on, spring!! Our forecast has it climbing into the 60s! this week and even low 70s on Friday. Can't wait!!!

NICE!! We're getting back up into the 30s and on Friday they are forecasting a high of 50!

 

[ZellyB]

Training Week 2/14 - 2/20​

Sunday 2/14 - Planned rest day. Rest day may be not quite accurate on this. We recently did a remodel on our kitchen and I LOVE it. We also did some changes to our dining room and office and so we still had a lot of things to tidy up and put away. So, Chris and I spent much of Saturday afternoon and Sunday getting that all done. We did manage to finish and everything looks amazing. Here's the new kitchen. I'm in love. The holes in the ceiling have now been patched as well, so we are finally DONE.

Monday 2/15 - Planned for a Firm workout. Did it!!! Woohoo. The workouts are 60 minutes which is a bit long, but you have the option to do just upper or lower body portion, so I did the upper portion. With warm up and cool down that takes about 45 minutes. It was alright. I'm just not enjoying doing this though.

Tuesday 2/16 - Planned 4 mile run. Raining at go time, so we opted to push this off until Wednesday.

Wednesday 2/17 - 4 mile run on our normal track. I actually felt really good during the run. We are back to doing our 90/30 intervals and this felt right again. Chris and I have discussed that once spring hits we want to extend these weekly maintenance runs to 5 miles and maybe fit in some track work with speed intervals and cadence drills. I do know we need to take it easy starting into this as I want to avoid any injuries.

Thursday 2/18 - 4 mile run according to plan. I was a bit more sluggish on this one, but all in all it went fine. I recently bought myself a new headlamp because running at 5 am in the winter is pretty dark. I like the headlamp pretty well. It's comfortable and the light is good, but it seems to really eat up battery life. It was a pretty cheap lamp, so I may need to do some more research and consider something else. I don't want to go broke on batteries! Any good suggestions out there?
This was also my oldest son, Drake's 18th birthday. So, we had family coming in town for the weekend for the celebration. 18!!! How the heck did that happen???

Friday 2/19 - Planned rest day. Lots of running around getting things ready for the party we were having on Saturday.

Saturday 2/13 - 10 mile run planned. This was a good run although I'm still struggling to get back to my old pace from last training season.

Felt good to get a double digit run in. That was the longest I'd done since the half marathon back in November. Yikes!!! It was gorgeous weather here though. We ran at 6:30 and it was already in the 50s. Ran with one of our running buddies from Galloway as well. She's an amazingly strong runner and is currently training for a 50-miler in April. It was such fun to run with her and catch up on her training. She's also a fan of InkNBurn, and she had a couple of items that were too big for her (she's tiny), so she sold them to me at a good price. Unfortunately, they are a bit snug on me, so I may need to sell or trade them. More on that in a later post...

So, all in all a pretty solid week although still not getting where I need to on weight training. I talked to Chris this morning and think I may start going in with him to do the nautilus equipment while he does free weights. I'm hoping the accountability of getting up with him will help me more than staying home and doing the Firm workouts on my own. So, that's the plan for this week. Wish me luck!!
And now, your RDP...

Drake with his favorite character, Pooh, in all his greenery. I think Drake was about 13 here.

 

[Ariel484]

Okay, your kitchen - AMAZING!! I actually think we may have the same countertops now? I think my favorite thing from your picture are those open shelves near the refrigerator. Seriously, it looks so beautiful!!

I now what you mean about strength training. We are runners, so we like running better, even though strength training is good for us. I have to really talk myself into it sometimes...

That is an awesome long run! Great job! And I can't wait to see which INKnBURN pieces you got...I'm sorry they aren't comfortable though!

Happy Birthday to your son (same birthday as my dad)!! Yay!

 

[LindseyJo22]

That kitchen remodel is amazing! Also the picture with Pooh (who is my favorite character too)

I'm enjoying following along with the runDisney threads here recently - as a new runner, I can't even imagine an 11:14 pace And good for getting your workout video in - I find it really hard to find workouts I like that aren't running or walking related, and which don't require a pricy gym membership to do. I've done Leslie Sansone videos a few times and they are pretty good, but still of course walking. I did a few Jillian Michaels videos a while back, and they were fine but not my favorite either. But sometimes you just have to do something anyway

 

[rteetz]

Your kitchen looks awesome!

Great job on your workouts.

And happy belated birthday to your son!

 

[ZellyB]

Okay, your kitchen - AMAZING!! I actually think we may have the same countertops now? I think my favorite thing from your picture are those open shelves near the refrigerator. Seriously, it looks so beautiful!!

Thank you!! My countertops make me so happy. The old kitchen had laminate, blah countertops. These are granite and so awesome. I also think the shelving is my favorite. The wall has a weird angle there and the contractor suggested doing the open shelves and they were the perfect solution.

I now what you mean about strength training. We are runners, so we like running better, even though strength training is good for us. I have to really talk myself into it sometimes...

Yes! It's so much easier to get myself out there for a run, but like you said the strength training is good for me, so I just have to keep trying things until I find something I can stick with.

That is an awesome long run! Great job! And I can't wait to see which INKnBURN pieces you got...I'm sorry they aren't comfortable though!

Thanks. I was pretty tired at the end of it but I was pleased with it overall. I was really happy to buy the pieces from her and think once I get myself back under control this summer they will be fine and I can wear them now, but they are just tighter than I like.

Happy Birthday to your son (same birthday as my dad)!! Yay!

Thank you! And Happy Birthday to your dad too!!

That kitchen remodel is amazing! Also the picture with Pooh (who is my favorite character too)

Thank you. : Even though he's 18 and thinks he is pretty cool, he still keeps a small stuffed pooh we bought him on that trip in his room. Pooh is great!

I'm enjoying following along with the runDisney threads here recently - as a new runner, I can't even imagine an 11:14 pace And good for getting your workout video in - I find it really hard to find workouts I like that aren't running or walking related, and which don't require a pricy gym membership to do. I've done Leslie Sansone videos a few times and they are pretty good, but still of course walking. I did a few Jillian Michaels videos a while back, and they were fine but not my favorite either. But sometimes you just have to do something anyway

I'm glad to have you following along. Thanks for commenting. When I first started running, my pace was quite a bit slower, but I've tried hard to speed up some over the last few years. I'll never be a fast runner, but I'm happy with the progress I've made. Give yourself time and you'll probably be amazed at how much you'll improve as you get more experienced.

I'm not familiar with Leslie Sansone, and only know Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser show. I'm lucky because my husband, Chris, works for our local school district, and so we can go in and use the weights and equipment at the high school. It's a pretty big school and has some good equipment and space. As long as we go in really early and no student activities are going on, we can use it all for free. That's a big win!!!

Your kitchen looks awesome!

Great job on your workouts.

And happy belated birthday to your son!

Thank you!!! :

 

[ZellyB]

LUCK O' THE InB​

I mentioned earlier that Chris and I are planning to run a local 15K race on St. Patricks Day. It's called the Shamrox 15K and is sponsored by a local Irish Pub. Race day includes a 15K, 5K as well as a beer mile. A beer mile, in case you are not familiar, requires runners to drink a 6 oz cup of beer and then run a 1/4 mile lap and then drink another cup of beer in between each lap until they complete a mile. I will NOT be doing the beer mile, but we do plan to do the 15K. It's a pretty big race and looks like a lot of fun. I've wanted to do it for a couple of years now, but the timing just never worked out, but this year we are going to go for it.

Of course, since it's a St. Patty's day run, what green items I intend to wear has been of great importance to me. Cause in my mind, it's all about the clothes for these races. Earlier I posted the custom sparkle skirt I ordered MONTHS and MONTHS ago with the plan to wear it for this race. In case you forgot, here it is again...Irish Lass

Isn't it lovely?

My intent was to just wear a black or green shirt with it (layered or whatever depending on the temps) and call it a day. Then, I discovered that INKnBURN puts out a St. Patrick's day themed shirt as well. This of course got me debating about buying this year's shirt when it debuted. Here is this year's shirt

Saucy, right? But, it's not a cheap shirt and I really wasn't sure I'd wear it beyond this one race. It was available for pre-order and I just didn't think I could justify it.

About that time, the woman I mentioned earlier in my running group posted that she had last year's shirt and capris for sale. She's smaller than I am, but I thought I might be able to make them work and she was selling them at a good price, so I told her I'd buy them from her. So, I'm now the proud owner of last year's Lucky Charm Tech shirt

And also the Brave capris

Cute, right? (And, no, that is not me modeling them. Just in case you thought I was hip enough to have a belly ring - not to mention a stomach as flat as that. HA! )

Anyway, I kinda think the Brave capris look more like Christmas rather than St. Patty's. My plan was to wear my Irish Lass skirt with the Lucky Charm tee for the race. BUT, my winter weight has it fitting a bit tight. I can wear it and it's okay, but it show's off my lumps and bumps a bit more than I'd like. So, I put it up for trade online to try and get a large. No takers so far, but still hoping someone might be looking to size down. If not, I may just put it up for sale and go back to my plan to wear a green or black skirt with the shirt.

I'm going to keep the capris ( they fit but are also snug) but hoping I'll drop some weight and get them more comfortable. I put myself on a list in search of a couple of the holiday long sleeve shirts that InB makes that look like Christmas sweaters. I think they would go with these capris really well.

I'm planning to curtail buying any more athletic wear for awhile (until of course some new item comes out that I can't resist) Luckily the most recent stuff that InB and Sparkle Skirts have come out with haven't been a big attraction for me, so I think my bank account is safe for now.

 

[Ariel484]

Oooh...great classic pieces. I agree about Lucky Charm 2 - I just couldn't justify that one (and honestly, I liked the men's tech shirt design way better!). I have the classic Lucky Charm and even that one is tough for me to justify because it's so obviously specific to St. Patrick's Day. I hope you get a trade for it!!

Brave capris!! Great score on those! I totally agree that they would be perfect for Christmas time.

 

[ZellyB]

Oooh...great classic pieces. I agree about Lucky Charm 2 - I just couldn't justify that one (and honestly, I liked the men's tech shirt design way better!). I have the classic Lucky Charm and even that one is tough for me to justify because it's so obviously specific to St. Patrick's Day. I hope you get a trade for it!!

Brave capris!! Great score on those! I totally agree that they would be perfect for Christmas time.

No luck on a trade, so I went ahead and switched it over to sale. There were several people on the ISO and I thought I should just give it up so hopefully someone could have it in time for St. Patty's day. I was planning to mail it today, but I haven't got the payment yet, so I guess I just wait until she pays to ship. I don't really know since it's my first time selling, but I've always paid first before shipping when I've bought.

I'm not giving up those Brave capris. They are too good of an incentive for me to lose weight!

 

[Ariel484]

No luck on a trade, so I went ahead and switched it over to sale. There were several people on the ISO and I thought I should just give it up so hopefully someone could have it in time for St. Patty's day. I was planning to mail it today, but I haven't got the payment yet, so I guess I just wait until she pays to ship. I don't really know since it's my first time selling, but I've always paid first before shipping when I've bought.

Ah, I saw that!! I'm so sorry it didn't work out for you! Did you put yourself on the ISO for a different size?

Definitely wait until you get payment first...I am not good with that! I get super impatient! But if you don't get payment I'm sure the next person in line will be happy to take it!

I'm not giving up those Brave capris. They are too good of an incentive for me to lose weight!

They are soooooo cute! Definitely a good incentive!

 

[ZellyB]

TRAINING WEEK 2/21-2/27​

Sunday 2/21 - Planned rest day
Monday 2/22 - Again my pathetic self did not do weight training. *Spoiler alert* I did manage to get myself out of bed this morning and go with Chris to hit the nautilus equipment. Yay!
Tuesday 2/23 - Planned 4 mile run that we shortened to 3 miles. I had a 7 AM meeting this morning and so needed to cut things short. Since it was a bit shorter we pushed our pace some and managed a 10:25 pace which was the fastest I've run in quite some time. I was feeling it though, but it felt good to know I could still go a bit faster.
Wednesday 2/24 - Another 7 AM meeting (what the heck, people!) so I used that as an excuse to skip weights.
Thursday 2/25 - Planned a 4 mile run and completed it. Slower than Tuesday, but not bad overall. 10:59 pace. I generally want to get back to routinely managing close to a 10:30-10:45 pace on training runs.
Friday 2/26 - Planned rest day
Saturday 2/27 - Planned 6 mile run. It was a beautiful day for a run. We ran a slightly different loop on a trail we often hit for longer runs and the beginning of it has a LOT of uphills, so that had me going a little slower than I had hoped. Then we stopped for a quick picture of a nice little cave along the way - the rare cave goose species visible. There are a ton of geese and ducks that hang around this park which has a nice little pond on it. You gotta look out for goose bombs on the trail, but otherwise it's sort of nice to see them in the mornings. The cave itself actually does house an endangered bat species of some sort, so access to the cave is restricted so as not to disturb the bats.

Finished up 6 miles running our :90/:30 intervals at an 11:01 pace. We sped up some the last mile or so. I was really working to get us under the 11 mark, but just missed. Although Chris' garmin said it was a 10:59 pace, so let's go with that, shall we?

So, there we have it. The running is definitely getting back into a good groove. Last year, we started running 2 min/:30 intervals on our shorter maintenance runs and sticking with :90/:30 on our long runs and I think we want to do that again this year. We've always pretty much done 4 miles as our standard distance on maintenance runs, but starting next week (while we are both off for spring break) we are thinking of moving to 5 miles as the standard. Both of us think that would benefit us more with overall conditioning. That's a bit more running than Galloway typically recommends on maintenance runs, but I think as long as we take it easy and work into it slowly it will be better for our goals this year to add more miles.

That's it for this training update and here's your RDP...

Nothing like the Haunted Mansion as far as Chris is concerned. His favorite ride at MK. One of my faves as well.

 

[Ariel484]

7AM meetings?! MEAN!!

You always have such pretty running route pictures!! Glad you managed to avoid the goose bombs!

HAUNTED MANSION! I love it so.

 

[ZellyB]

7AM meetings?! MEAN!!

You always have such pretty running route pictures!! Glad you managed to avoid the goose bombs!

HAUNTED MANSION! I love it so.

I hate 7 AM meetings. I mean, it's not like it's horrible or anything, not like world hunger, but I still hate them.

I'm lucky to have some nice areas to run in and when we get such great weather in FEBRUARY!!! it makes it especially great. I think the geese were digging it too.

 

[ZellyB]

Food - Glorious Food​

I mentioned upthread that my weight has become a bit of a problem for me over the past several months. Since turning 50 a while back and then combined with some meds I take post-breast cancer, my metabolism is not my friend. Boo! I've really got about 20 lbs to lose in order to get to my goal weight. 25 lbs would be ideal, but realistically, I'd be pretty stoked to be back down 20 lbs. A weight I haven't seen since before I turned 50.

Part of my desire to start running when I did was to help control my weight, and without a doubt it does HELP, but the fact is to really control my weight and to lose weight in particular, I have to control my diet. And that's a shame because I could live on chips and salsa if only that were an option.

So, how best to tackle my weight loss. I've tried various methods for weight loss all of which have worked to varying degrees. I've done straight calorie-counting method (using MyFitnessPal). I've used eating nutrisystem or lean cuisines to control calories and I've done clean eating/low-carb options. All of these work, but all are tough to maintain. That said, Chris and I are going back to a clean eating approach we did a couple of years ago. The Whole 30.

The Whole 30 is a 30 day plan developed by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. You can read specifics at the website

http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/

The Hartwigs are both nutritionists and crossfit trainers. Like most things crossfit related, there's a certain amount of, how should I put this? Zeal to the program. (No offense intended to any crossfit folks out there). It's a very restrictive diet in terms of cutting out sugars and additives, grains, legumes, etc. It's not for everyone and I won't claim it's some miracle diet, but we did find it worked for us and that in general we felt we ate a more healthy diet. Rather than focusing on the restrictive nature of it, the real crux of the plan is that it relies on eating TONS of vegetables and lean meats. The intent is also to see if you might have any food sensitivities. I can't say that I found any issues with this, but Chris certainly did find that dairy in particular can sometimes cause him some problems. We aren't being as strict this time (I am not spending hours at the stove making ghee this time ) but trying to stick to it in most aspects. Whole 30 folks would tell you that it's not a whole 30 then, and they'd be right I suppose, but sometimes in life, good enough really is good enough.

So, we started this back up again yesterday. I enjoy the food in all honesty and there's no calorie counting or tracking of food, just the natural reduction in calories that comes from cutting out most carbs and grains and eating more vegetables. The downside for me is that the work and prep to eat this way is a lot harder than my typical diet, so it kinda gets old after awhile. But, for now, we are back in the Whole 30 swing.

Dinner last night...

Hamburger patties with fresh guacamole and kale chips. I do love kale chips! Quite filling and tasty really and this meal, at least was very easy to fix obviously.

Wish me luck on the Whole 30 (mostly) journey and hoping it leads to a healthier me and hopefully a bit thinner me as well.

 

[Ariel484]

Good for you guys doing another Whole30! I have looked into it and keeping thinking about trying one (because I'm curious to see if I have any food sensitivities)...but I just can't do it! I admire you guys for doing it again!!

How do you make the kale chips? just throw kale in the oven, or do you put something on it?

Do you HAVE to make ghee? I've seen that in my local grocery store.

 

[ZellyB]

Good for you guys doing another Whole30! I have looked into it and keeping thinking about trying one (because I'm curious to see if I have any food sensitivities)...but I just can't do it! I admire you guys for doing it again!!

How do you make the kale chips? just throw kale in the oven, or do you put something on it?

Do you HAVE to make ghee? I've seen that in my local grocery store.

Kale chips are so easy. You just get the stalks off the leaves and then toss them in olive oil until they are well-coated. On a cookie sheet lay out parchment paper and spread the kale leaves out evenly on the sheet. I add salt and pepper and a little paprika, but you can really do any type of spice you like or nothing at all. Roast at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. You really just need to watch them and pull them out when they are crispy but not burned. I have a convection oven and they do really great with convection if you have it. It helps to dry them out and get them crispier, but they also work in a regular oven as well. They are my version of a potato chip when I'm doing whole 30.

My local store where I routinely shop doesn't carry ghee, so I guess I didn't realize you could just buy it. I should run by my health food place and see if they have it.

 

[Ariel484]

Kale chips are so easy. You just get the stalks off the leaves and then toss them in olive oil until they are well-coated. On a cookie sheet lay out parchment paper and spread the kale leaves out evenly on the sheet. I add salt and pepper and a little paprika, but you can really do any type of spice you like or nothing at all. Roast at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. You really just need to watch them and pull them out when they are crispy but not burned. I have a convection oven and they do really great with convection if you have it. It helps to dry them out and get them crispier, but they also work in a regular oven as well. They are my version of a potato chip when I'm doing whole 30.

Thanks, I may try the kale chips sometime...although I know it'll make Mr. A look at me like ...I tried sautéing kale once and the results was inedible.

My local store where I routinely shop doesn't carry ghee, so I guess I didn't realize you could just buy it. I should run by my health food place and see if they have it.

Definitely saw it while grocery shopping (just at our regular grocery store, not a specialty place) on Sunday, near the cooking oils if I recall correctly. I was like "OH EM GHEE!" (sorry.)

 

[ZellyB]

Thanks, I may try the kale chips sometime...although I know it'll make Mr. A look at me like ...I tried sautéing kale once and the results was inedible.

I tired sautéing spinach once too. I had similar results. Blech.

Definitely saw it while grocery shopping (just at our regular grocery store, not a specialty place) on Sunday, near the cooking oils if I recall correctly. I was like "OH EM GHEE!" (sorry.)

Ha!

 

[Ariel484]

I tired sautéing spinach once too. I had similar results. Blech.

Yeah, it was just a soggy mess. I thought I could save it with spices and whatnot...NOPE.