June Recap and 13 in 2013 Challenge Update

Tags

2013 Challenge, Biking, Exercise, Half Marathon, Pilates, Planks, Race, Running, Swimming, Training, Triathlon, Walking

Happy July!!! I usually love the month of July, so I’m hoping that it will be a great month. Before I get ahead of myself, though, I thought I’d do a quick recap of June, as well as a check-in on my 13 Challenges in 2013 now that we’re half way through the year (eek!). Here’s how the month of June looked:

• This month was Triathlon time!! I wrote a few posts about my triathlon training: Hitting the Bricks, Final Triathlon Preparation, Training Recaps: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4. And, of course, the main event:
• I raced my second triathlon this past month, and had great success in cutting down my transition times. You can read my recap here.
• National Running Day! I shared why I’m a runner here.
• In April and May I participated in Best Body Bootcamp. I shared some of my final thoughts on the program here.
• I talked all about biking on the road again after spending the winter on my stationary bike.
• I tried my very first barre class, and it’s safe to say that I’m pretty hooked. Post coming about barre in a few weeks!

And here’s a quick check-in on my 13 Challenges in 2013 progress:

• I’ve run 90.8 miles out of 250 miles (oh yikes. This I’m pretty disappointed in, and really need to pick up my running! I didn’t guess I’d have so much fun with cross training!)
• I’ve walked 151 miles out of 500 miles (I feel like I walk SO much, so I have no idea how I am so far behind where I was last year. So sad 😦 )
• I’ve biked 196 miles out of 300 miles. (Doing great with biking this year! I love it!)
• I’ve swam 3.2 out of 15 miles (when I set this I didn’t realize how little access I’d actually have to the pool. But I’ll definitely get in a few more miles before the end of the year!)
• I’ve done 121 minutes out of 250 minutes of planks for the year! (I actually thought I was farther behind on this, so I was happy to see I’ve spent 2 hours doing planks so far this year :D)
• I challenge myself to go through all the clothes I own: I’ve gone through about 90% of my clothes so far, and have managed to get rid of a few bags! It’s felt great to get so much cleaning done!
• I challenge myself to finish the article I started in 2012. Ummm- have not done anything on it. So many other work things and other article options have popped up that I’ve been focused on those. I’m still planning to work on this article.
• I challenge myself to do 13 races this year (in person or virtual): I’ve done 7 races so far this year (5 virtual, my third half marathon, and my second triathlon).
• I challenge myself to read 12 books this year. I’ve completed 5 books and am in the middle of 2 right now, so I’m right on track and really enjoying this challenge.

I wish I had done something with a number of pilates sessions I’d do or something like that since I’ve been really into that this year as well! Overall I’m pretty happy with that, even though I haven’t hit all my mileage. I’ve taken down a bit of cardio and added lots of strength training, and I’ve been enjoying that quite a bit!

So, that’s my June Recap/Update on my 13 in 2013 challenge.

Now it’s your turn to share! What was your favorite part of June (or: What are you most looking forward to in July?)? How are your goals going for the year? 

Thankful Thursday

Tags

2013 Challenge, Summer, Thankful

Gosh, it’s been quite the week. It hasn’t been the easiest of all weeks for me (lots of things going on!), but there have been lots of good moments along the way, and I’m choosing to focus on these things today. That’s the thing with gratitude; things don’t need to be going really well for us to still find things we’re thankful about in our life (remember: life isn’t all or nothing!). That being said, here are a few of the things I’ve been thankful for this week:

I’m thankful for my water bottle. Now that summer finally (FINALLY!) has arrived, I’ve had to increase the amount of water I drink each day (hey thanks, POTS, for that!). Water bottles make it so easy and convenient to stay hydrated on the go, and I’m so happy that they were invented! 

I’m thankful that summer has arrived. We’ve finally hit a few days in the 80’s, and I’ve been able to go to the pool once and pull out my tank tops. REJOICE! It’s been so nice after almost a month of rain every day to be able to just enjoy being outside. 

I’m thankful for evening summer walks. There’s something about going on a walk in the summertime that is just wonderful. I went on an almost hour-long walk a few nights ago as the sun was setting, and the whole time I could only thing “this is perfect”. I try to fully enjoy these moments and live in that present moment (along my 13 challenges in 2013 guidelines).

I’m thankful for chips. While they definitely aren’t the most healthy food out there, they are DELICIOUS! Again, because of my POTS, I am supposed to be putting extra salt on all my meals. You add training into that, and I pretty much constantly crave salt. Chips are such an easy and convenient way to eat salt, so they are one of my go to snacks! YUM!

I’m thankful for Arrested Development. This has been my go to funny show since the end of May, and I’m slowly working my way through the first 3 seasons, which I haven’t watched since either 2006 or 2007. I can’t wait to sit down and watch the new season:) 

I’m thankful for my backyard. The trees and all the flowers I planted have provided a very calm space for all the crazy going on around me, and I’ve utilized my lounge chair back there for a number of hours every day as I work (I’m typing from there right now!). I’m so thankful I have a beautiful view to enjoy. 

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you thankful for today? What do you do to create a calm environment when there’s a lot going on around you?

April Recap and 2013 Challenge

Tags

2013 Challenge, Biking, Exercise, Food, Half Marathon, Pilates, Running, Training

Happy May! Did any of you ever do may day baskets growing up? I’d love someone to ring my doorbell this year with a basket of candy:) Well, it’s the beginning of May which means that it is almost race day! YAY! April is usually a pretty busy work month, so it tends to fly by pretty quickly.

• Mental Health Topics: Owning Our Reactions, Thoughts, Feelings, & Behaviors, Choosing To Be Active In Health, Grounding Techniques, and Needs & Wants In Relationship
• Yummy Foods! Spicy Chicken Salad Stuffed Tomato, Key Lime Pie Oatmeal
• Weekend Meal Preparation: One of the big “healthy habits” I’ve developed.
• Fun Workouts: 5k On the Beach, Cherry Blossom 5k, Best Body Bootcamp 
• I continued my journey to running by talking about my first official run… and how I almost passed out.
• I almost completed my training for my second Indy Mini training: Weeks 10, 11, 12, and 13
• I shared my race week preparations

13 Challenges in 2013 Update:

• I’ve run 57.7 out of 250 miles
• I’ve walked 115.3 of 500 miles
• I’ve biked 70.9 of 300 miles
• I haven’t swam at all since January and am still at 1/2 a mile for the year
• I’ve done 99 minutes of planks (out of 250 minutes)
• I’ve finished 6 out of 13 races for the year
• I’ve almost finished my 2nd book for the year (summer is my big reading time when I play catch up!)

Ehhh…I’m doing ok. May is a big transition month for me, both in jobs and in training (transitioning into triathlon training!), so that’s always exciting!

Now it’s your turn to share! What was the highlight of your April? What are you looking forward to in May? 

Cherry Blossom 5k Race

Tags

2013 Challenge, Race, Racing, Running, Training

I had this post typed up and scheduled this weekend. But then the explosion in Boston happened, and I couldn’t ignore it. My heart aches for those who were there, as well as those who are affected from afar. Every person needs to process and grieve in their own way. Some might write, some might talk, and some might run… We can’t let those who did this win…

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After experiencing some IT band pain on my long run a week ago, I was happy that this week I had previously planned another step back week. On Saturday morning I headed out to race a Cherry Blossom 5k! Ironic, however, because spring is definitely behind this year, and we don’t even have any leaves or flowers on the trees!

I was a little nervous about how this run would go. With my IT band aching last week, I really didn’t want to run yet another slow 5k this year. I raced it using my plan for the half marathon, running three minutes and walking one minute. I tried to keep my running pace between 8:45 and 9:30, and was happy at how that went. It definitely wasn’t easy, but I didn’t feel like I was dying either! There was no negative splitting that happened because I still haven’t been able to get that down (how do all of you do it??).

I tried to keep my breathing as controlled as I could as I set off. In races, with all the excitement and adrenaline, I tend to breathe weirdly and get a side cramp (just like I did at mile 2 of the Indy mini marathon last May); not today though! I hit mile one really quickly, and was surprised at how good I was still feeling. Mile two flew by as well. As I hit mile 3, I thought for sure that some IT band pain would kick in, especially because I was running at a much faster pace than my long runs I’ve been doing, but it didn’t! I finished the race feeling strong and happy:

Not my fastest 5k, but definitely my fastest of 2013! I tried to run this race closer to my half marathon goal pace, and I think I was successful at that. If I feel this good on race day, I’ll definitely be happy.

Honestly, this 5k was a big confidence booster as I’m only a few weeks out from my race. It’s also fun for me to look back at my 5k race I did at this time last year and compare times. I ran that race in an 11:51 pace, so this race was significantly faster! Yet another confidence booster as I head into the same race I ran last year!

Now it’s your turn to share! How have you pushed yourself recently? What are some confidence boosters you’ve experienced before heading into a race? 

March (and 13 in 2013) Recap

Tags

2013 Challenge, Biking, Cooking, Exercise, Food, Mental Health, Planks, Race, Training, Walking

Most of the time, march is a month that hardly seems to exist for me. It usually rushes by in quite a haze, a month that bridges winter and spring. Like I said, March tends to fly by in the blink of an eye, so at the end of the month I’m usually pretty surprised that anything has happened at all. Here’s how the month looked:

• I continued training for my half marathon with Weeks 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
• I talked a LOT about boundaries in different forms: Introducing Boundaries, Influence vs. Ownership, Respecting the No, and Health Attracting Health, Owning Our Reactions
• I talked a lot about food! I talked about how I conquered the artichoke, a great Pear French Toast recipe I dreamed up on a long run, I cooked my very first quiche, became obsessed with spicy turkey burgers, and ate lots of fresh protein veggie salads
• I talked about one of my major “healthy living patterns”- the weekend meal prep! It’s a huge time saver!
• I blogged about my first 10k race!
• I continued to discuss POTS and how it affected my ability to exercise when I was first diagnosed.
• I opened up about my favorite spring break trip ever (to the DR!)
• I went on a great trip to Florida (which will be posted about in April!)

13 Challenges in 2013

We’re now a quarter of the way through the year so it’s interesting to see how “on track” things are:

• So far I’ve run 42.5 out of 250 miles
• I’ve walked 97 of 500 miles
• I’ve biked 50.2 of 300 miles
• I haven’t swam at all since January and am still at 1/2 a mile for the year
• I’ve done 72.5 minutes of planks (out of 250 minutes)
• I’ve gone through about half the clothes I own (but nothing since February)
• I’ve finished 4 races so far this year
• I completed my first book of the year and have started my second (oops- so behind in this one!)

Well, I’d call March a success, even if it was a crazy month that seemed to fly by. I fell into a rhythm with cooking and exercising, and both were really fun and enjoyable for me!

Now it’s your turn to share! What was your favorite thing about March? If you wrote goals for the year, how are you doing? What are you most looking forward to in April? 

February Recap (and 13 in 2013 Check In)

Tags

2013 Challenge, Exercise, Food, Racing, Training

Happy March! Normally I’m overwhelmingly excited for March to hit because it means I “survived the winter”. However, my attitude has changed a bit towards winter (and our winter wasn’t too bad), so I actually wish I had a little more time before the crazy that is the spring hits. Either way, I’m glad that I’m choosing to not hate the winter so much anymore.  Here are some highlights from the month.

• At the start of the month I announced that I’m training for my next half marathon! This month saw Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4 of training.
• I wrote a few mental health posts this month, including dealing with seasonal affective disorder, Loving Yourself, talking about The Presence of the Positives, and Everybody Knows Somebody.
• This month was another great month of cooking, and I tried a number of new recipes. I shared a few of them here: Greek Veggie Protein Wrap, Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes, Cherry Vanilla Waffles, Heart Shaped Gingerbread Cookies, and Hearty Lentil and Vegetable Soup. Lots of Valentine’s Day themed recipes, but I think they work throughout the spring and summer too!
• I shared some food staples I always keep on hand that help me create some delicious and healthy meals without much thought.
• I ran my first two races of 2013: Tackle The Miles 5k and the Sweet Cupcake 5k.
• I finally opened up and started to talk about POTS on the blog. Check out my introduction to POTS and The Start of My Journey.

Here’s a check in for my 13 in 2013 challenge:

• I’ve run 18.5 of 250 miles for the year
• I’ve walked 52.4 of 500 miles for the year
• I’ve biked 27.7 out of 300 miles for the year
• I’ve swam 0.5 of 15 miles for the year
• I’ve done 38 of 250 minutes of planks for the year
• This month I went through just over half the clothes I own, and got a box of stuff to give away!
• I wrote another paragraph and a half on the article I’ve been in the process of writing (it’s been a slow process)
• I’ve run 2 out of the 13 races for the year (and have 3 more that I’ve signed up for)
• I’m still in the process of reading my first book of 2013 (I actually forgot until I typed this up that I even had reading on my goals for the year. Oops).
• I’m really trying to stay present as much as I can. I’ve caught myself starting to think about countdowns a few times, and simply left it being excited about the future and enjoying where I’m at.

So, things are slowly happening. Really, being sick in January has slowed down the progress I’ve made on all my fitness goals. However, I am actually making progress, and it’s been really good for me to put these challenges out on this blog so that I think more often about them!

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one of your favorite posts from February (link up below if you’d like!)? How are your goals or intentions for 2013 going? 

Thankful Thursday

Tags

2013 Challenge, Food, Race, Thankful

I’ve felt particularly thankful lately, which seems a little odd for February (usually not my favorite month). Here’s the thing. I think that the more I focus on thankfulness throughout my days the more things I find to be thankful for each day. I think I focus on the little things a little bit more in life. I wonder if any of you notice that too? Here’s what I’m thankful for right now:

I’m thankful for sunshine. In a strange break from the regular patterns of February, the last two weeks have been oddly sunny. Most days have been sunny for at least part of the day, and I’m so happy to see the sun! Once an hour at work I try to walk over to a window and look outside for a minute or two, and enjoy the moments instead of complaining about how cold it might be or the hours that are gray. I’m thankful to see the rays of sunshine dance into my living room, come into my car as I’m driving home, and hit me as I walk after work!

I’m thankful that the birds are back! From November to February I don’t see many birds, which I’m frequently a little sad about. My kitchen and living room back up to my back porch, and within the last week or two the birds have come back to the porch! I love to see them hoping around and hear them chirping as I go about my day!

I’m thankful for a really great speech last week! Last week I was out of my office for two days on a business trip. I got to give one of my favorite lectures, and I had maybe the best crowd I’ve ever had at a speaking engagement. They were eager to learn, taking notes, participated at appropriate points, and laughed, cried, and were attentive. It was perfect, and the hour flew by far too quickly!

I’m thankful for the new Chobani bites. Have you tried these things yet? Being smaller than the normal Chobani containers, these are the perfect snack. I’ve been anxiously waiting for my grocery store to get them, and finally, after weeks of waiting, they did! I immediately tore into the fig with orange zest, and it was AMAZING. Please do yourself a favor and RUN to your store to pick up some of these bites:)

Look how cute this container is! It’s even tastier too, and still has 8g of protein!

I’m thankful for a good run. After giving myself a harsh talking to about my negative mindset with training, I tried to go into my 5k race last week with a good mindset. It worked, and I had a really great run! I’m thankful that one bad run or workout doesn’t mean that the next one has to be bad at all.

I’m thankful for game apps on my phone. It’s not that I play them all that much, but to be able to play games with friends and family across the country is really fun! It’s a great way to stay connected and “do something together” even while we’re on opposite sides of the country.

I’m thankful for a relaxed work day yesterday. We had a mini retreat for part of the day, and it was a nice break from the normal flow of my day. I have to admit that I was a little stressed about it because it meant shuffling clients and my schedule the rest of the week, which I don’t prefer. However, it was nice to sit around an indoor fire pit, have a tasty lunch delivered, and get to know people from my office a bit better. It was nice (and I LOVED the fire!)

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for this thursday? Have you tried any of the new Chobani Bites? 

The Sweet Cupcake 5k Race Recap

Tags

2013 Challenge, Race, Racing, Running

Back in January I announced that one of my 13 challenges for 2013 was to run 13 races. I knew that I would need to find some virtual races, and as I was looking online, I stumbled on The Sweet Cupcake Race! I LOVE cupcakes, and I knew this race would be perfect for one of my 13 races. After my tough 5k race two weeks ago, I was hopeful that this one would be better.

I ran my race on Thursday instead of Saturday because it was supposed to be 20 degrees warmer, and I really wanted to run while the sun was out (and on Valentines Day, the day of doing things I love)! There was one slight problem to this plan; the winds were blowing at 23 miles an hour!

I headed out and straight into the wind. It was TOUGH. I’m talking head down into the wind and eyes watering so badly that I couldn’t see at times. About half a mile in I turned a corner and things were ok until about mile 2.7 when things got pretty tough again.

While this wasn’t my fastest 5k, I finally feel like I’m getting back into my running routine. In fact, this 5k race was four and a half minutes faster than my 5k race two weeks ago! I’m definitely making progress:) After acknowledging last weekend that I wasn’t so excited about training for my half marathon, this race really did a lot to perk me back up and get me excited!

Plus, when it comes down to it, who wouldn’t be excited about running for a cute cupcake medal and a cupcake headband?

So, overall, race #2 for 2013 was a success! This was the fastest 5k I’ve run since Thanksgiving, and I feel like I’m finally getting back into my running groove again!

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s your favorite medal you’ve gotten from a race? 

 

Tackle The Miles Race Recap

Tags

2013 Challenge, Race, Racing, Running

In my 13 challenges for 2013 post, I wrote that I planned on running 13 races over the course of the year. I’m planning on just over half of them being virtual races, and the other half being “in person” races. Jill from Fitness, Health, and Happiness is co-hosting a virtual race series for those trying to complete 13 races in 2013. Today I ran race #1 of 13 this year:

I was torn about trying to run this weekend or waiting until later in the week. The weather is not so good right now, so it took me about 5 hours to convince myself that running was actually going to happen. I checked the weather on my way out the door, and this is what it looked like:

Brrr. I re-thought my plan to run today, but then remembered this quote, and I was off.

It was fine once I started running, but a feels like of 12 is just really cold. And there was snow and a bit of ice covering the roads.

This was one of the most difficult runs I’ve ever done. It was cold, windy, snowy and icy, and snow was blowing out of the sky and up off the road and hitting me in the face most of the run. I had to run slowly at times because I was slipping on the road, and sometimes because the snow was so deep that I couldn’t move any faster. Oh- and I haven’t run that distance since my 5k race on Thanksgiving Day, so that definitely played into it as well. But, I still had fun! Here’s how my time looked:

Not so fantastic at all. If I was to gauge the success of my run on pace, this race would be an epic failure. But as I was running the last mile (which was particularly windy and tough), I started to think about how huge this race was for me, and how accomplished I felt. That’s a weird thought for someone who was running much slower than normal, right? But success isn’t just defined by time. I’ve never run in such bad weather before, and certainly not on road conditions like that! Last winter was the first winter I ran, and it was a really mild winter, so I never had to deal with much ice or snow. So, while I didn’t set any PRs, I’m still proud of how I ran and pushed myself in really rough conditions. So, in that regard, this race was a huge success! I do hope, however, that my future 5ks this year are a bit faster!

Now it’s your turn to share! How do you define “success” when it comes to fitness or racing? 

I’m So Excited! It’s My Next Big Race!

Tags

2013 Challenge, Half Marathon, Race, Racing, Running, Training

After taking a few months off after my Monumental Half Marathon, I’m finally heading back into training! I’m so excited to announce that I will be training for:

Indianapolis Mini Marathon!

This is the first race I’ve ever run for the 2nd year in a row, so it’s exciting to know a bit of what I’m getting into with this race. Being the country’s largest half marathon, the excitement and crowds are absolutely amazing, and I’m excited to run in this environment again since I had so much fun running it my first time.

I’m trying to go into this 3rd half marathon training cycle smarter than I have the last two times. My body clearly can’t handle running more than twice a week (which very much annoys me), so I plan to train primarily through cross training (walking, biking, swimming, and pilates), and running 1-2 times a week. I will be training using the Galloway Method once again, and am doing physical therapy exercises most days of the week to try to deal with my IT band pain. I want to be smart and not try to push through injuries and pain. To be honest, my last two half marathon training cycles have been a bit rough (shin splints the first time, IT band pain the second time), and I really would like this cycle to go well. Either way, though, I know it’ll be fun!

I actually signed up for this race right after Thanksgiving, and “received the race” as a Christmas present from my brother (he also gave me the race last year!). He says it’s fun because it’s like he gets to be a part of me racing, and it’s fun for me to know how supportive he is! So, it’s an extra fun race for me to run!

Alright, off to train and envision the finish line.

At the finish line of the Indy Mini in 2012!

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s your favorite part of training for a race?