Training updates - 2 weeks worth

I have been battling with this lack of sleep for the past 5 months.  It's not getting a whole lot better either.  2 weeks ago, I was just not feeling well, so I just couldn't get a lot of runs in (only 1 to be precise).  Last week, I tried to get back into things and did pretty well, but struggled at the beginning of the week.  Not sure if it's due to my diet or lack of calories. 

So I switched up the past 2 weeks of my Runner's World training plan, and hear is how it worked out. 

Suggested Monday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Monday: Rest

Suggested Tuesday: 4 mile easy run
Actual Tuesday: Rest

Suggested Wednesday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Wednesday: Rest

Suggested Thursday: 4 mile easy run

Actual Thursday: Tennis practice (1 hour)
Suggested Friday: 4 mile easy run

Actual Friday: Rest
Suggested Saturday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Saturday: 4.04 miles with the jogging stroller

Suggested Sunday: 4 mile easy run

Actual Sunday: Rest
Suggested mileage: 16 miles
Actual mileage: 4.04 miles

 
This past week was much better, but sleep, diet, etc. are still contributing making working out a struggle some days.
 
Suggested Monday: Rest/Cross Train

Actual Monday: Rest
Suggested Tuesday: 6 mile tempo run (warm, 4 miles @ 8:39; cool)
Actual Tuesday: 5.17 miles with 4.17 miles @ 6.5-7.0mph pace, ab wheel + pilate exercises
Suggested Wednesday: 3 mile easy run
Actual Wednesday: Rest

Suggested Thursday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Thursday: 3.01 easy miles with jogging stroller, Tennis practice (1 hour)
Suggested Friday: 4 mile easy run
Actual Friday: Rest

Suggested Saturday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Saturday: 5.16 miles with jogging stroller, ab ripper X
Suggested Sunday: 8 mile easy run @ 10:08
Actual Sunday: 8.34 miles @ 9:44 pace

Suggested mileage: 21 miles
Actual mileage: 21.68 miles

I am trying to eat more, upping my protein as much as I can, and eating whole grains.  Hoping this week, I have more energy, but the little guy is making sure I don't.  :)

Off dairy again and the stuff that goes along with it

Several weeks ago, during the time when the little guy wasn't sleeping at all, we also noticed he had some tummy issues. I did some research and found that moms consuming dairy whole nursing can affect their little ones. That was the only thing that had changed about my diet. I had limited dairy while trying to lose the baby weight and it seems to give me more energy too. Well after the baby weight came off and I was running more, I added dairy back in for the calories. I was able to maintain my weight, but the little guy didn't approve. So now I am back off dairy, and I thought this would be a good time to try veganism (so no eggs either). I got the book (from the library), Veganist. I read it cover to cover in just days (that's pretty good when you don't have a lot of free time). She doesn't think eating soy is bad for you (something a lot of vegans and vegetarians have opposite opinions on). She also has some sample menus which included a good bit of fake meat (another controversial topic). It appears to be her way to get the protein you need.

So I have been doing the vegan thing for the past several weeks (a couple of slip ups), but for the most part, I have done pretty good. I am pretty hungry and have a difficult time getting that full feeling. Thing were going ok, until this week. I had serious troubles with my run on Tuesday and was sore for 2 days, aka not recovering well all of a sudden. Also, some of you may know that after you have a baby, your hair falls out, well mine has been falling out still. I was reading a post from Matt at No Meat Athlete about protein consumption. He mentions hair falling out and having a hard time recovering from workouts. Now I am concerned I am not getting enough protein to sustain my lifestyle (nursing my son and running 20-25 miles a week, cross training 1-2 times a week). I am getting so much conflicting statements, do I eat soy and fake meat to get my protein up, and how much protein should I be eating? Any good tips on foods with proteins that are easy that I might not be eating? I know there are people more active than me that have a vegan diet and perform well.

I hope to get a lot of comments and advice.

Best Vegan Pesto

Well the little guy has some really bad gas when I eat dairy, so I am back off of dairy.  So I have been playing around with some recipes.  Here is one I love. 

Best Pesto Sauce/Spread

Ingredients

1 bunch basil (1 1/2 - 2 cups)

1/2 cup EVOO

1 cup raw almonds, toasted

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

5 cloves garlic, chopped

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons low sodium veggie stock

Directions
1.  Toast almonds at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes.
2.  Throw almonds into the food processor first, and chop.  I like to do this first because it gets harder when you have all the other ingredients in there.
3.  Throw in the rest of the ingredients and combine.

The finished product is pretty thick, so if you like it a litlte thinner, just add more veggie stock.  I like mine thick so I can use it as a spread for sandwiches.  I thin it out with pasta water when I use it with pasta.

Today, this was a little more of a pain for me, because I have a Junior food processor.  My blender has broken.  Any recs on which one to get?  

MIA

Well this past week has been really tough to put it mildly. Finally, after 5 months of not sleeping well, trying to take care of my family, work, and run, I finally got broken down. I started to feel terrible. Despite all my healthy eating, taking my vitamins, etc., I was starting to feel ill. My throat was sore, my body felt spent. I couldn't shake it. The little man was not sleeping well despite our attempts of sleep training. I read a lot of different books on babies and sleeping and we came up with our own method when our daughter but she was older, so I didn't feel so bad. Out little guy though is a different story. He is tenacious to say the least. I won't go into our sleep training method right now, maybe another post. Well what we were doing was not working so he was waking up every 1.5 to 2 hours at night. From that, my immunity was starting to go down and fast. I woke up last Sunday and nursing hurt, and I mean hurt bad. I had at least one bad crack, maybe more. I thought it must be thrush. I talked to a lactation consultant and decided to start treating myself. Something had to be done. The little guy had no symptoms but I couldn't figure out why all this would be happening after 5 months of no problems. The treatment was going slow, especially when I had to nurse every 3 hours. The pain was excruciating. I wanted to cry every time I nursed. I talked to another LC and she added a few things to the list and I started pumping more (which I hate and it hurt too). Within a couple of days, it started to heal, but then I got a clogged ductfrom not fully emptying during his feeds. This was Friday morning. I hadn't run all week because I felt so bad and had planned to do an easy run on the mill that morning. It hurt so bad there was no way I could bounce around on the mill, so I took a hot shower to try to loosen it up. Of course, a clogged duct calls for lots of nursing and pumping to get rid of it. Awesome! By that evening I was able to get rid of it. I took the little guy to the ped on Thursday to make sure he was feeling ok. Between me having thrush and a sore throat, I thought it was best to make sure he was ok before continuing on with any type of sleep training. He checked out just fine and we discussed his sleeping. He weighed in at 15 pounds exactly and he is big enough to go all night without needing any milk. She thought he probably enjoyed having mommy all to himself in the dark quiet of night. He does seem to enjoy his mommy that's for sure. I was able to get out for a short 4 mile run with just the little guy yesterday. I wanted to more but I am glad I didn't. It was hot and my throat is still sore. I plan to get out again today, since I am feeling better again, but it is going to be really hot. Oh well. It's either that or run on the mill I guess. We will see. The little guy is sleeping better, but I am still recovering. I was suppose to do at least 21 or 22 miles this past week, and next week is supposed to be an easy week (16 miles). I am usually a stickler for rules and that includes training plans, but my body just said no this week. I am hoping to back next week.

So this is the reason I have been MIA the past couple of weeks. My meals have been boring and my exercise regimen has been non-existent. Being a mom and not feeling well sucks!!!

Training Update

Lucky for me last week went well for training, because this week has been bad.  The little guy is killing me with his lack of sleep.  More about that in another post though.

Like I said, last week I stayed on track and got all of my runs in.  Not too bad.  I do well with training plans.  I am usually pretty diligent about getting all the runs in and then when it comes time to run the race, I feel very prepared and it's usually an easier race for me too.  I have started to change up my speedwork runs though because trying to do them at the end of the week made it tough to power through.  Doing them after a rest day is much more doable. 


Suggested Monday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Monday: Rest

Suggested Tuesday: 5 mile tempo run (warm, 3 miles @ 8:34; cool)
Actual Tuesday: 5.2 miles with 3.35 miles @ 8:34 pace, ab wheel + pilate exercises

Suggested Wednesday: 3 mile easy run
Actual Wednesday: 3.2 miles on mill increasing speed (6.4-7.0)

Suggested Thursday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Thursday: Tennis practice (1 hour)

Suggested Friday: 3 mile easy run
Actual Friday: 5.15 miles with JS, Ab ripper X

Suggested Saturday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Saturday: Rest

Suggested Sunday: 8 mile easy run @ 10:08
Actual Sunday: 8.43 mile run  with JS, little abs

Suggested mileage: 19 miles
Actual mileage: 21.98 miles
 
I am taking it easy this week and hopefully will be back on track next week.

Review on last week's training

Training has not been easy. It’s not the miles, it’s the fact that I don’t get more than 2 straight hours of sleep at night. It has been almost 2 weeks since I got any sleep. It is very hard to function with such little sleep. I think sleep training is in our future. He is a little too attached to mom.  I am not sure dairy has much to do with it, but I will continue with it a little while longer.


I was able to stay on track (don’t know how), so here is how last week panned out.


Suggested Monday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Monday: Jillian Michael’s Shred It
Suggested Tuesday: 2 mile easy run
Actual Tuesday: 5.00 mile run with JS, abs
Suggested Wednesday: 2 mile easy run
Actual Wednesday: Rest (Little guy not sleeping for for than 2 hours, so I needed the rest)
Suggested Thursday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Thursday: 3.33 mile run with JS, Tennis practice (1 hour)

Suggested Friday: 5 mile speedwork run (warm,2 x 1600 @ 7.5, 800 jogs; cool)
Actual Friday: 1 mile @ 6.3mph, 1.0 mile @ 7.0mph, 0.5 @ 6.5mph, 1 mile @ 7.5, 1 mile @ 6.5mph, all @ 1.0% incline,
strength training
Suggested Saturday: Rest/Cross Train
Actual Saturday: Rest
Suggested Sunday: 7 mile easy run @ 10:08
Actual Sunday: 7.46 mile run @ 9:37, ab ripper X

Suggested mileage: 18 miles
Actual mileage: 20.29 miles

Spreads and dips

So my little guy has been very gassy lately and we are still trying to figure it out.  We first thought it was this (the gas) that had him up all night, but now we are not quite so sure.  Well the only thing that has changed about my diet in the past few weeks (since the gas has started to get worse) is dairy.  And of course this is a big trigger food for increased gas according to Kelly Mom.  So I am back to laying off dairy.  It's a mixed blessing for me really.  I know I feel better when I limit dairy, but I am finding it difficult to stay full (or get full) when I don't add cheese to my sandwiches or eat a nice big bowl of ice cream after the kids are in bed (and before the little guy is up again).  Since the little guy is not sleeping (I mean really not sleeping), I could use all I can get to feel good about myself (lack of sleep sucks). 

So I turned to some websites to look at some new dips and spreads I could use to snack on or put on my sandwiches to help bulk up my meals.  I found 2 to try. 

#1 - Basil Pesto Spread
This is basically the same recipe from Oh She Glows, but when I made it it came out more of a spread than a pasta sauce.  It is also a little salty for my taste, so I would cut down on the salt next time.  I do like the fact that a can of beans are in there.  Nice protein/fiber kick.

Ingredients
1/4 cup dry roasted salted almonds
1 T EVOO
1.5 cups basil, packed
2 cloves of garlic, grated through micro plane
1 can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1 T water
2 T nutritional yeast
3 T lemon juice (I didn't have fresh lemons, so I used the concentrate)
3/4 t salt (too much, next time I will use 1/4 t)

Rachael Ray method for mincing garlic so you don't have chunks

Remember to check the other side of the plane to scrape off all of the garlic

Directions
Pulse the almonds first to chop up. 
Add rest of the ingredients and process to desired consistency.

(For those of you who noticed, this recipe started in the blender, and then it broke on me, so I finished in the food processor.  Any blender recs?)

Recipe #2 - Roasted Eggplant Spread
Now this is one that came from Barefoot Contessa my friend told me about.  I pretty much followed this one to a T, with minimal changes. 

Ingredients
1 medium eggplant (I did not peel)
2 red bell peppers
1 1/2 small red onions, peeled
2 garlic cloves, grated
3 T EVOO
1 1/2 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
2 T dry white wine (veggie stock will work too)
1 T tomato paste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Spread them on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft.

After taking them out (I forgot to turn them), pour wine over veggies to scrape bits off of bottom of the pan.
Place the vegetables in a food processor, add tomato paste, and pulse to disered consistency. 

Both spreads were so good, that I put one on each of my bagel halves for a very yummy sandwich.

(Sorry, not a pretty picture)

Any tips to staying full and satisfied?

Look at those tired eyes.  Still a cutie!



Half training has begun

I have signed up for a half marathon in early Oct.  It is one I have done before, it's close to home, and it is where I have my half PR so I obviously like the course.  I decided it's time to start some sort of training plan so I can keep myself accountable.  I really like the Smart Coach at Runner's World, so that is what I tend to use as my training guides.  You can personalize it a little more than you can at most training plans.  I am doing a 10 week training plan, so it started last week.  It's good that it started because Sunday's run was not easy and I wasn't really feeling it but I knew I needed to get out there.  I will be happy when the heat lets up a little.  It was over 80 degrees by 9:00am (I left the house at 8:35am).  It will also get a little easier when the little guy sleeps a little better and is a little more predictable.  I would love to get out of the house early, I don't want to leave the hubs with a hungry, angry baby, and I am not a fan of pumping, so I try not to that very often.  We will see as my running continues.  I might just have to change things up a bit.

Also, I do change up the days a lot for my schedule.  The plan has me running 4 days a week, which is what I typically do, but my running days are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and then one of the weekend days, so I have changed the plan to run on those days just for simplicity. 

So here is what was expected of me, and here is what I did.

Suggested Monday:  Rest/Cross Train
Actual Monday:  30 minutes yoga

Suggested Tuesday:  2 mile easy run
Actual Tuesday:  5.37 mile run with JS, abs

Suggested Wednesday: 2 mile easy run

Actual Wedneday: 2 miles on the mill (I was exhausted due to the little guy not sleeping at all)

Suggested Thursday: Rest/Cross Train

Actual Thursday:  Tennis practice (1 hour)

Suggested Friday: 5 mile tempo run (warm, 3 mi @ 8:34; cool)
Actual Friday: 1 mile @ 6.3mph, 3.35 miles @ 7.0mph, 0.85 @ 6.4mph, all @ 1.0% incline,
                         strength training

Suggested Saturday: Rest/Cross Train

Actual Saturday: Tennis round robin

Suggested Sunday: 7 mile easy run @ 10:08
Actual Sunday: 7.06 mile run @ 9:54 (it was hot people)

Suggested mileage:  16 miles
Actual mileage:  19.36

Have you started training for any fall races?  How are you dealing with the heat? 

I have a foam roller, but don't use it often.  What are your favorite exercises or websites for the foam roller?