Training weeks 1 & 2

Today starts the first day of week 3 of training for a half marathon in March.  I wanted to get a weekly update to you, but I just can't find the time to blog anymore.  What is going on?  Oh yeah, 2 kids. 

So here is how week 1 went.

Planned/Actual

Monday
Cross-train/10 min. elliptical + 20 min. weights (Jillian Michaels circuit training)

Tuesday
Run 2 miles, easy/30 minute HIIT + abs

Wednesday
Cross-train/10 min. elliptical + 20 min. weights (Jillian Michaels circuit training)

Thursday
Rest/Played 3 sets of mixed double tennis (make-up from rainout)

Friday
5 mile tempo run/5 mile run with jogging stroller + abs

Saturday
Run 6 miles/Singles tennis match

Sunday
Rest/Mixed doubles tennis match

Total mileage:  8.43 miles :(

Week 2
Monday
Cross-train/Ran 5.76 miles on mill (@9:15 min pace) + circuit training

Tuesday
Easy 3 miles/Easy 3 miles on mill

Wednesday
Cross-train/Rest

Thursday
Rest/Rest

Friday
Run 5 mile speedwork/Ran 6.12 miles with jogging stroller

Saturday
Cross-train/Rest - I was a lazy bum here

Sunday
Rest/Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shed - Workout 1

Total mileage:  14.88 miles :)

I really lost my mojo in the middle of the week.  I am glad I was able to get a good run in on Friday.  Wednesday and Thursday were bad. 

What do you do to get back on track?

Did I achieve 2011 goals and what are my 2012 goals?

So here are the questions I posed one year ago. Let's see how I did.

• Get Hope into a "big girl" bed (hopefully Jan. 2011)
• CHECK - pretty easy transition except for climbing out of her bed repeatedly at the beginning and playing with her toys at night and nap
• Get nursery ready for new baby (again Jan. 2011)
• CHECK - but not until March really
• Clean out office/gym area and make it more defined and less cluttered (Feb. 2011)
• CHECK
• Birth a healthy baby (ideally without having to be induced this time) (March 2011)
• CHECK, went into labor by myself - 10 days early, had baby with no drugs
• Make a smooth transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4
• CHECK - Hope had little issues with her baby brother
• Develop a schedule where I can get in my workouts with 2 kids while still nursing (that is going to hurt those early morning workouts, any advice?)
• Kinda CHECK - I think I did pretty well considering no early morning runs really because I am still nursing (and hate pumping) and the lack of sleep until just recently
• Get back into pre-pregnancy running shape (no date because I don't want to try to over due it)
• Another kinda CHECK, I mean I did not PR, but some of my races were close
• Participate in the Race for the Cure 5k (this is in May, just 6 weeks after I am due, so I say participate instead of run, because I may be pushing a double jogging stroller in this one)
• CHECK - I started pushing the stroller, but it was so crowded the hubs ended up doing it so I could do a little bit of running
• Run the Peachtree Road Race (10k), ideally in under 55 minutes (PR is 50:02), but again, not going to push myself.
• CHECK - ran it in 52:26 (6.31 miles)
• Run the 13.1 Marathon in Atlanta in October
• CHECK, but after so much lack of sleep and poor training (due to lack of sleep), it was not a great race for me.
• Would like to run some more (3 new) local fun races (5k's and other lengths that aren't traditional)
• Ran 2 new races this year (a 4 miler in June and 5k in November)
• Develop a stronger relationship with my husband (see they aren't all about running)
• CHECK - we had a really good year, especially considering our family grew and we didn't sleep, can't wait for next year
• Have 110 blog entries in 2011
• FAIL - I got really bad at the end of the year, I am going to blame the little guy again. 
• Run 750 miles in 2011 (I would love to say 1,000 but with the whole pregnancy and giving birth thing, I think 750 is going to be ambitious enough)
• FAIL - I ran 680.92 according to my records which could be off, but not by that much.  I tried to keep track in my training log book and think I did pretty well.  Will try for 750 again this year.

2012 Goals

1. Run 750 miles
2. Blog more (110 again)
3. Increase Interval training/Tempo runs - aim for 4 times a month (30 min HIIT on 1/3 was 3.12 miles)
4. Increase bond between my daughter and son (it's important to me that they have a good relationship with each other, especially since they are not the same gender)
5. Enjoy my time with my children - try not to be so rigid with my schedules
6. Submit a recipe for a contest (there is one that is due the end of March, so I think I will try that hopefully)
7. Investigate an herb garden again (don't have to start it this year, so think about how to do it right)
8. PR a race this year (doesn't matter the distance)
9. Accept changes in my life and try not the dwell
10. Aim to do 10 races this year
11. Go on a date with my husband that is not a wedding, anniversary, or holiday party (yep, I am aiming for just one considering last year was one and that was before the little man came)
12. Continue to build a better relationship with hubs (I know, how subjective, right). 
13. Try to be a more positive person.
14. Abs workouts 3 days a week (abs are still very weak, but not sure they will ever get strong after 2 pregnancies).
15. Embrace my new roles (not going to get into this right now)

What are your goals?  Anything else I should add? 

Tough Mudder anyone?

So I read across this race in my Runner's World mag and thought, could I do this?  One of my hopes for 2012 is do some more races.  I know it was hard with the little man coming in March and then not sleeping until Dec., so my fall races were slimmer than I had hoped.  Ideally, I would like to do one race a month (on average).  This race is in Feb.  It's 10-12 miles but has lots of difficult obstacles.  That is where the problem runs in.  I can run the distance, but do I have the strength to complete the obstacles?  I don't have much time to train either.  Have you run this race before?  How "tough" do you need to be?

My running is improving now that I am sleeping.  But I don't do a lot of strength training (am adding more abs in the new year though).  I do yoga but usually only a couple times a month.  Maybe I would do more if I was training for something.  I also tote a 9 month old around all day.  The race says you should be able to do 25 push-ups (could get there easily) and at least 6 pull-ups (hello hips).  Yeah, I will probably never be able to do 6 pull-ups again.  So I have a lot of doubts.  I also am not sure I have someone to run with.  My brother-in-law is interested but he is in such good shape that he might really try and compete (top 5% get to go to nationals).  I know there is a lot of camaraderie so I wouldn't be a lone but it would be nice to run it with someone. 

Normally, I would just sign up and then start training but the editorial director at Livestrong (if you don't currently read his blog, you should, he has some really good insight) ran it and made it sound really tough (and he really works out, like at a gym and stuff). 

So this is where I am.  If you have run the race, let me know your thoughts.  What kind of training did you do?  How long did you train?  Should I go for it or wait another year before trying it? 

2011 to 2012

Will have to look back and see what all I wanted to accomplish, but happy new year! 2011 was great. Can't wait to see 2012 has in store.

5 things I am loving right now

I love it when people tell me what they love (or hate) as it gives me a little help which as a busy mom, I can always  use.  So here are some of the things I love right now.

1.  Peas and Thank You Cookbook

What can I say about this book?  It not only has great recipes but it is a hilarious read.  I read it as a book the first time around.  The stories she tells will have you laughing out loud.  We have tried many of the recipes already.  We even made Santa Mama Pea's Sugar Cookies (and he loved them BTW).  Check out her book if you are in the market for a new cookbook (or even if you are not).

2.  Garmin 305

I have not been running as much as I would like to right now, but I got this for my birthday a few years back and I wonder how I lived without it for so long.  It is so nice to just leave your house and start running.  If I want to run 6 miles, I can just leave in any direction and after 3 miles turn around and head home.  I don't have to spend time researching routes.  And I am a numbers person so I love having the miles I ran with the time it took me to run it, etc.  Love, love, love this thing!

3.  True Nutrition Protein Powder

This stuff I have found to be the best as far as vegan protein powders go without costing me a fortune.  I couldn't find anything good at the regular grocery store (where I traditionally bought hubby's), so I ventured to GNC where I found this brand.  It was the only vegan protein powder they had, so I bought it.  It wasn't bad.  I think I paid $13.99 for almost a pound.  It was chalky and I could only get the vanilla, but I was fine with that.  I thought I couldn't do any better unless I wanted to pay a fortune, until I found True Nutrition.  You create your own combination of protein powder and it's very reasonably prices (I would say cheap but you have to pay for shipping).  I got myself a combination of 1/2 pea protein and 1/2 rice protein, vanilla flavored, and unsweetened (I wanted to be able to sweeten it myself).  I got the hubs 2 different whey proteins, chocolate flavored, sweetened with stevia.  I ended up getting us each 2 lbs. because shipping was only a $1 more if we doubled our order, making it cheaper per pound.  I was nervous when it came, but wow, it is not chalky at all.  The powder is much finer and I am very happy with it.  I got 4lbs for $44 (2 vegan and 2 whey).  The whey is much more expensive than the pea and rice, but still very reasonable.  I have only made smoothies with it so far, but I am hoping to do some baking (bars) with it soon.  Maybe this weekend. 

Why the combination you might be asking?  Well I hated to just get all rice protein powder when I had the power to make any combination I could possibly think of.  I think those 2 are the only vegan options I used them both.  We also got the powder in the free bags to save money, so I had to transfer them into containers when it got here.  I may have just ended my search for vegan protein powder. 

4.  The Big Bang Theory

I had never seen this show, but the hubs started watching it over Thanksgiving OnDemand (love OnDemand) and thought it was pretty funny (did I mention he has a PhD in biochemistry).  I slowly started watching a few and have since gotten into it.  They show reruns on TBS now, so we caught a few while wrapping Christmas presents late at night after the kids were in bed.  It nice to be able to watch so many episodes that I haven't seen before. 

5.  Running Log Books

Because not all my runs occur on the road (and my Garmin can upload to the internet), it has been nice to have somewhere to put all my runs down on paper.  I got one of these a couple years back and used it last year.  I specifically asked for one last Christmas and hubs said it was a lot harder to find then he had anticipated, so he had to order it and it didn't make it here by Christmas.  Oops.  I like to have that one place where I can put everything and then look back and see where I have come from.  I forgot to ask for one for Christmas this year, so I guess I need to try and find one.  It appears book stores do not carry them, so I could order again, or maybe a running store? 

Bonus Love:  This guy

3 days before Christmas, my little guy slept through the night for the first time.  Since then, he has only woken up during the night twice.  It has made my life so much better now that I am sleeping more.  I have so much more energy and can actually get through the day.  Thank you son for sleeping (it only took 9 months and 10 days but who's counting).

So this is what I am loving right now.  What are you into?

Starting to sleep more, and feeling better

I know, I have been terrible, but being sick, not sleeping, and the holidays, I have had zero time to blog.

2 days before Christmas the little guy slept through the night for the first time. Yay!!! Since then, he has been doing really well. He doesn't always sleep through the night, but he does most nights and when we wakes up it's not for very long. Thank goodness!!! Only took 9 1/2 months. So now that he is sleeping, I have been recovering from being under the weather. I am not sick very often and I felt like I was sick forever this time around. But with the holidays, we have been so busy. I am still cooking a lot, some days more than others. Unfortunately, I did not take a lot of pictures but some things I love to make for the holidays are my mom's pumpkin bread recipe, which she used to make all the time during the holidays. I have kept the recipe the exact same except I made it vegan (exchanged real eggs for flax eggs), but that is the only change. The recipe calls for canola oil already so I don't have to change up the recipe much which is good because I wanted to keep it similar to what she used to make. Memories!

I also make semi-homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. This was the first year I made them vegan. They turned out pretty well, but didn't rise the second time around as much as they should have so they didn't look very pretty, so I didn't want to take a picture of that either. Any tips to helping dough rise when it's cold outside?

Christmas

I got a new food processor.  I have only had a junior food processor and my magic bullet and I just needed a full size one.  Now, I am not sure where I am going to put it.  Do you store your food processor or do you keep it on the countertop?  I haven't gotten it out of the box, but the box is big so I am not about storing it. 

The kids had an unbelievable Christmas! 

No, Santa did not give her all of those.  Santa is responsible for the dollhouse. 

Being sick and tired, I have not gotten a lot of workouts in.  I have only run a handful of times and broke out the yoga dvd too, but not much.  I know I need to get back to working on my abs.  I have neglected them for too long.  I don't know if they are just weak because I haven't done as many ab workouts after the little guy compared to Hope or if my abs are just shot after carrying 2 babies.  My new goal is abs 3 times a week. 

I also signed up for the GA Publix Half Marathon a while back.  I plan to do a 10 week training plan which will start in mid January.  I would like to start running again constantly before then so I am ready to train.

How was everyone's Christmas?  Were you naughty or good?  Santa knows!

Where have I been and Turkey Trot 5k

Let's see . . . kids not sleeping, crazy holiday travels which require me to start packing and prepping weeks in advance, and a tired mama.  The good part was since the hubs had only taken off 4 days all year (when our son was born), he was due for a vacation.  And surprisingly, even though I took off 12 weeks from work, I still had plenty of vaca time as well.  My dad invited the whole family (extended fam) to FL for Thanksgiving.  My brother-in-law (the genius that he is) decided we should take off the entire week and if we were going to take the whole week off, then why not leave the Friday before Thanksgiving after work.  I tell you the man is a genius.  So, the week before Thanksgiving, hubs and I started gathering up everything to pack for 8 days in FL.  So the kids and I took and picked up the hubs from work on Friday and started our way down to FL.  I was so excited to have an easy Thanksgiving.  The trip down was uneventful but we didn't arrive until 1:15am.  Yikes!  Of course both kids woke up and it took a little while to get them back down.  For all the families coming down, we had 3 condos.  So Saturday, we were able to trade off some to get some much needed naps.  The weather was ok on Saturday, overcast but in the high 60's.  We made our way to the beach to do some playing.  The ocean was freezing.

The days following were warm and sunny and we were able to hang out at the beach for some time during the day. 

On Thanksgiving, we had a number of family members who participated in the 5K Turkey Trot near where we were staying.  We knew the course would be flat (hello, FL), so everyone was hoping to do well.  I finished 2nd in my age group (24:05), my brother-in-law won his age group (19:30) and my father-in-law won his age group (24:33).

Dinner was stress free and then we headed home last Saturday.

My lack of posting is from my darling son still not sleeping well and I just haven't had the energy to write or run for that matter (have not even exercised once this week and it's Thursday afternoon).  Also, since my daughter has started school, I have had more responsibility (I am the PTO President of her pre-school and chairperson for the Breakfast with Santa).  I have been cooking some, but haven't posted many recipes yet.  I took pictures, so if I ever get around to it, you will see I am still going. 

I hope to post more soon.