Bay Area

I love living in the Bay Area.  There are some moments when I'm blown away by how beautiful this area is.  I feel very lucky to live here.

In other news, I got up and did the 30 Day Shred yesterday and today at 4:20 this morning.  It felt good to get it over with at the beginning of my day.  I also went out for my first run in 2 weeks yesterday.  I ran 2 miles.  My back was hurting during most of the run but I was able to run without it hurting more.  It was hot in the afternoon (90 degrees) so I ran slow but it felt good to be back out there again.

I ran in my new Saucony Kinvaras.  I'm obsessed.  I had bought some Saucony Cortanas and they just weren't working for me so I exchanged them for what I know I love.  They are a bit wild in color but I think that makes them more fun.  I also wore my new running skirt from Title Nine.  It was super comfortable.  I may have to go buy another one.

Update on Last Week and This Week's Goals

Here were my goals for last week and my update on how I did with them (in bold).

Exercise:  I plan on doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Monday through Friday.  I wake up super early to do it so I can take care of it right away.  For me this means waking up at 4:20 in the morning.  While I do not like waking up that early I do love getting it taken care of.  It also helps set the right tone for the rest of the day.  I'm hoping the cross training will be good for my endurance and help strengthen my core which in turn might help out my back.


Not a total success - I did the 30DS three days last week Monday thru Wednesday.
I hope to run 3 times this week.  I'm not sure when yet though.  I think I'm going to try for Tuesday afternoon, Friday afternoon, and one time this weekend.  I might be able to squeeze in a run Wednesday afternoon too.
I didn't run once.  :-(  My back is just still not in a good spot.  I didn't want to make it worse by running.


Food:
Making healthy choices is going to be tough this week.  My birthday is tomorrow and that means I have a lot of opportunities to indulge.  I have lunch and dinner plans tomorrow.  My parents offered to watch the boys so M and I could do dinner Wednesday.  Then Thursday and Friday I'm meeting up with friends for dinner.  I know I will probably not be making the best choices and allowing myself dessert since I normally turn it down.  But hopefully I don't go too far off the deep end.
I definitely indulged more than usual and I did eat out almost every day which is unheard of for me.  But when I wasn't eating out or having a special birthday meal then I tried to make healthy choices.

Other goals:
My other goal this week is to watch my water intake.  It's start to warm up (today has a projected high of 88 degrees) so I know I need to drink water.  My goal is 100 ounces a day. 
I did pretty good with this one.  I drank close to 100 ounces every day. 

Week or April 29 Goals
 
Exercise: 
30 Day Shred Monday through Friday at 4:20am.

Run at least twice but ideally 3 times.  Even if it is just a slow, one mile jog.  I want to start it up again.

  Food:
I started tracking my calories today.  I want to track calories to really get an idea of what I'm taking in each day.  I hope it will hold me more accountable to those little bites I sneak every now and then.  Also I need to curb my sweet tooth a bit.

Other goals:
I want to keep up the water intake.  It's supposed to be close to 90 degrees every day so I know this is important.  I also want to try and get into the chiropractor this week as well as get a massage to see if I can start healing my back pain. 

Why I run

There are some days when I'm running or getting up at 4:15am to do the 30 Day Shred that I ask myself why do I bother?  Why put myself through all of the hard work?  But then I'm reminded of my sweet boys.  I do it for them.  I want to be alive for many years so I can see them grow up, get married, have children of their own, find their way in life.  I want to see and experience all of that.  I do it because I want to model for them what it means to life a healthy life, how exercise can and should be incorporated into their lives.  I want to encourage the to find a passion in life and pursuit it.  I also would love to run a race with them in the future. 

I run for my boys.  I get up at 4:15am and do push ups with Jillian Michaels for my boys.  But most of all, I do it for myself.  Because a happy, confident, healthy mom is what I want to be for them. 

Goals for this week

Since I'm not training for a half marathon anymore I decided every week I need to set goals for myself to keep me accountable to working out and eating healthy foods. 

Exercise: 
I plan on doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Monday through Friday.  I wake up super early to do it so I can take care of it right away.  For me this means waking up at 4:20 in the morning.  While I do not like waking up that early I do love getting it taken care of.  It also helps set the right tone for the rest of the day.  I'm hoping the cross training will be good for my endurance and help strengthen my core which in turn might help out my back.

I hope to run 3 times this week.  I'm not sure when yet though.  I think I'm going to try for Tuesday afternoon, Friday afternoon, and one time this weekend.  I might be able to squeeze in a run Wednesday afternoon too.

Food:
Making healthy choices is going to be tough this week.  My birthday is tomorrow and that means I have a lot of opportunities to indulge.  I have lunch and dinner plans tomorrow.  My parents offered to watch the boys so M and I could do dinner Wednesday.  Then Thursday and Friday I'm meeting up with friends for dinner.  I know I will probably not be making the best choices and allowing myself dessert since I normally turn it down.  But hopefully I don't go too far off the deep end. 

Other goals:
My other goal this week is to watch my water intake.  It's start to warm up (today has a projected high of 88 degrees) so I know I need to drink water.  My goal is 100 ounces a day. 

Switching to the 5K

I set out to run 7 miles this morning.  I ran 5 miles on Tuesday and was feeling optimistic that I could manage 7 miles without my back hurting me.  Unfortunately I was wrong.  Within 2 miles my back went from being sore to hurting.  Each step I took grew more painful.  I felt the nerve shoot right down my left leg.  I turned around and came home, walking back. 

I feel so defeated.  I hate that my back is still bothering me a month after the car accident.  I hate that I was feeling pretty strong before and now I feel weak.  But most of all I hate the pressure of trying to figure out each week when I'm going to get long runs in and how I'm going to adjust the training schedule as another week goes by when I can't do it.  I just came to the realization that my body still needs time to heal.  I don't want to have another painful race that I'm just getting through.  I want to run another half marathon and go into it feeling strong, capable of doing my best. 

I'm downgrading from the half marathon to the 5K.  I will keep running 3-4 times a week hoping to manage 2-4 miles each time.  If I need to take a day off then I will.  That coupled with continued visits to my chiropractor, acupuncture, and maybe some massages will hopefully allow my back to heal so I can come back stronger.  I just hope this doesn't derail me too much from getting back into longer distances. 

5 miles

I ran 5 miles this afternoon.  This was the furthest I've run since the half marathon on March 24th.  I'm happy that I was able to do it.  I've been doubting whether or not I'll be ready to run another half in June.  While my back did hurt on the run it wasn't as painful was it was last week so maybe it's healing.  We'll see how it holds up this weekend when I try and run 7 miles...

Praying for Boston

Yesterday morning I was eagerly checking the news online to see the results of the Boston Marathon.  I was more interested in it than in previous years. The night before I read an article in Runners World about Shalane and Kara and I was curious if one of them would win.  M has been talking a lot about the Boston Marathon as he's been chasing a qualification.  Not to mention I ran my first ever race just a few weeks ago. 

I was shocked and devastated when I heard about the bombings at the finish line.  I felt sick to my stomach.  I wanted to throw up.  I couldn't imagine someone doing that.  What has this world come to?  I remember standing with my sweet boys at finish lines lately to cheer on M as he completed his marathon.  We could have been there.  The pictures on the news have been horrifying.  Blood everywhere, people with missing limbs - it's too much. 

I went out to run yesterday afternoon.  I ran 3 miles and I prayed.  I prayed for the families affected by this.  I prayed for the city of Boston.  I prayed for those injured and for those who lost their lives.  Then I prayed that the violence stops.  I prayed for the safety my sons growing up in a violent world.

I watched the news as I fell asleep last night, unable to turn off the TV.  I slept horribly with nightmares, visions of what I saw online and on TV.  Those in Boston continue to be in my thoughts today and always. 

7 Weeks To Go

I've got 7 weeks until my next half marathon.  At this point I should be consistently running four times a week with long runs ranging from 6-7 miles.  Unfortunately I'm not there yet.  I've run at most twice a week since my last half marathon on March 24th.  If it wasn't my back hurting me then it was the horrible cold and sinus infection I had.  I was hoping to get out and run 6 miles this weekend but it didn't happen.  I chose instead to rest this weekend and focus on feeling better.  I allowed myself to take the break instead of stressing about trying to run when I was sick and then not being able to finish it.  Having gone through that a few times now has been really tough on me mentally.

Today is a new week though.  I woke up today actually feeling pretty good.  I'm off the cold medicine and antibiotics.  I even woke up early to do the 30 Day Shred at 4:30am.  I'm hoping to run 3 miles this afternoon.  I know I need to buckle down these next 7 weeks if I want a successful half marathon.  I feel like I can do it.  I mean, I know I can do it!

Running Slump

My next half marathon is less than 2 months away.  I'm on week 4 of my training program.  I should be running four times a week with my weekly runs ranging from 3-4 miles and my long runs are 6-7 miles.  But since the half marathon I haven't been able to run more than 4 miles (and that was extremely difficult) and I've only run at most twice in one week.  I'm feeling so discouraged right now. 

Part of the problem is my back.  It still hurts whenever I run and the pain increases as the mileage increases.  Once I hit two miles it's downright painful so I end up taking walk breaks or just turning around and heading home.  Also this week I've been sick.  I feel like this has been an awful year for us with germs.  I've got a horrible head cold.  I have a lot of sinus congestion, coughing, body aches, the works.  Every night I've been in bed asleep by 8pm hoping the extra sleep will heal me.  I've finished one round of antibiotics and maybe I need another.

I keep hoping the next week things will turn around and I can jump back into my training.  But it hasn't happened yet.  I'm hoping to run 6 miles tomorrow morning.  If I can manage that then I think I'll get my confidence back.  I hope.