Scream and Shout!

I do not post on a regular basis....and I'm okay with that!

Still doing lots of treadmill miles, but I do like being able to watch TV or read on my Nook while on the treadmill.  Plus I don't have to carry a water bottle or worry about what to do if I have to go to the bathroom.  However....I am missing my Monster Hill pretty bad.  It's crazy hard to run up, but the things it does for my speed is magical so I'm anxious to get back to it.  

I had one of the worst runs I have had in a long time yesterday.  I had taken the day off the day before and thought I would be able to get up early and bang out 6 miles before I needed to get the girls ready for school.  Well I had to fight and struggle for 5, but I'm really proud of myself for not quitting.  

I also know from experience that if you don't let that horrible run discourage you too much the next runs are usually amazing!  I'm just really hoping that I don't have a clunker of a run day on my half marathon day....

I'm also feeling a little daunted by my goal of getting my pace to be comfortable at 8:30.  So I have to keep reminding myself that 10:00 was really hard for me at one point and I got my pace down to 9:30 last year before I pulled a muscle.  I think if I aim for :30 off my pace this year and try for a 9:00 pace that is a good goal.

The girls are so stir crazy that it's making me even more crazy.  We've been stuck in the house an extravagant amount of time this winter and even though it is warming up outside a bit there is just too much snow and mud to even run around yet.  So they run around the house. And scream. And yell. And fight. And if this winter doesn't bugger off soon I'm going to lose it!

We got 8 chicks out of our first batch of eggs.  Pretty impressive since I thought they were all gonners because of us losing power for 25 hours!

This is my Izzy.  So forceful and feels emotions so profoundly.

Olive.  Just happy to not be in the cart!

Erin at her musical this year.  She had a line that she spoke at the microphone.  She was nervous, but I let her know that being brave doesn't mean you aren't scared.  Love this girl!

Screw winter, I'm grilling!

Beautiful sunset view at our house...the snow can leave though.

Planned to run outside on a gorgeous day we had on a trail that I love only to find that the half I wanted to run was under at least 2 feet of snow.  I ran the other way where it was cleared and it was nice to be outside even if I had to puddle jump.

I Miss You Out-of-Doors!

Either I'm getting weaker when it comes to handling the cold or this winter really is more harsh.  I've lost count of how many Polar Vortexes we have been caught in.  An amazing amount of days that they have called off school due to 40+ degree below zero wind chills tell me that this winter is just harsh.

I feel bad because I got some really great cold-weather running gear that just don't stand much of a chance against temperatures like that.  Unless I go running in a snowmobile suit I may not come back.  I am tending to think that it isn't just the temperatures....it's the wind.

With all that said...I am very much missing running outside.  I've acclimated to running on the treadmill pretty well, but I've found that my running improves a lot more running outside.

I've been letting my training diet slip a lot more this past week, but I've been putting in more miles than the training schedule calls for.  I did 25 miles last week!!! I think my heaviest week probably.....ever!  Legs are still feeling pretty good thanks to the foam rolling.

We had quite the winter storm last week and we were out of power for 25 hours.  Good news is that we had a fireplace and plenty of wood to keep us warm.  Bad news is that our incubator full of eggs dropped below temperature for that long.  Not good for developing eggs.

We candled (used a light to see if a silhouette of a chick is inside) the eggs last night and 26 show promise.  We'll wait a few more days, check them again, and see if the babies are still growing.  Lower temperatures are more acceptable than high ones.

Izzy doing one of her poses.

Me and Lala watching TV together.

The poo mountain I cleaned out of the coop.

The crazy blizzard that left us without power for 25 hours.

First top front tooth lost.

Yep.

The Plan is Working!

So another week of Racing Weight training and eating plan in the books.  I was even still able to get up early and get runs done before work!

In the program it has me doing strength training on Wednesday and Saturday.  I have been throwing in a run after to keep my mileage up and it doesn't seem to be much of a problem.  One thing that I did notice is that was not nearly as sore this week.

Also I am down 2 pounds and at a weight that I haven't been at since before I had Izzy in 2009!!  Clothes are fitting awesomely as well.

For Scott's side of the family they wanted to forego presents and have all of us go to Owatonna Holiday Inn because they have a water park there.  Plans are to go on March 23rd.  A week after my 6 weeks of my training program are done.  As long as I don't fall off the wagon I will be more than swimsuit ready!

I'm not working too hard on increasing my pace right now.  Still playing around with 5.5 and 6 on the treadmill mostly.  I'd rather add distance right now and fear that increasing both will leave me injured again.  Plus once it's warmer out and I'm able to do my Monster Hill that helps me get faster the best I've found.

Although I still think a lot about the pace I need to be comfortable at to one day qualify for Boston.  Little by little I'll get there.....

Keeping my diet really veggie and fruit focused.  I've been able to pretty easily keep my calories where they should be.  A few days I've digressed, but it wasn't all day just usually a meal.  I know at this point in my get lean plan that diet is the biggest factor to dropping my body fat percentage.

Girls have off school today and today is my rest day so we will get to hang out all day!  There is a snowstorm going on right now so it's probably best that everyone stays home anyway....

Cornflake bars made for the family.

Olive loves the panda....and I think it loves her back.

First tooth lost!

The many positions that I find Izzy in.

First batch of incubating eggs of 2014!!!!  I can't wait for baby chicks!

One of the girls' favorite dinners.  Beef tongue on crackers with goat cheese.  It really is delicious!

Why So Cold?

Week one of my six week plan is in the books and it went really well!

I was able to easily keep my calories to 1400 and with having a daily smoothie with added protein powder get at least close to having 30% of my calories be protein.

The training was different and my legs were sore.  Not from the running, but from the strength training.  I also discovered that I can not do a chin up.  =(

End of summer goal.....be able to do a chin up.

I added some running to the training plan in the book because I still would like to keep running 20 miles a week.

I did break down and buy the training tire for my bike and with the help from my husband get it on.  My cross training on the bike was different.  My legs felt tired quickly, but I was able to keep going.  Good experience for running on tired legs.

The 6 miles yesterday morning without eating before hand was the workout I was most dreading.  However, it turned out not to be so bad.  I also did my Thursday run without eating first and it felt hard and sluggish so perhaps it got me ready for Sunday?  I do know that I LOVED being done with my running before I had to start my day.  I didn't have to worry about when to sneak it in and it just felt like I had more time in my day.  I may finally be able to make that my habit.

Now just wait for summer to be here and actually have it be light enough outside for me to take off before the babies wake up and not freeze to death!

This winter has been so freaking cold that I might as well be living in Canada.  Then at least we would have moose hunting season and I could fill my freezer with hundreds of pounds of moose meat!  Not to mention salmon!!!!!!!!!

Rest day today.  Get my legs nice and rested for a new week of training.

Also an exciting day because we have enough eggs to fill our incubator and get incubating started.   So in three weeks we'll have baby chicks again!!

Izzy practicing her name at preschool.

One of my trail runs on my husband's and my trip to Lacrosse, WI.  It is such a beautiful trail that I think it about it often when I'm stuck running on the treadmill.

Our turkeys making a meal out my beautiful mums.  Naughty.

For whatever reason these shoes always caught my left ankle.  I have a scar there now.

Our yard full of chickens!

Olive loving the slide.

My birthday cake my brother made me last year.  This year my will be my 35th birthday and on Friday the 13th.

A Plan!

Alright, solid goal identified and plan put into action.  I like having a plan.  I need a plan.  If the plan is too vague I have a very hard time pursuing a goal.  So I checked out some books from the library (cheaper than buying it and possibly not liking it).  The first one called Racing Weight, is a good introduction and general plan for athletes wanting to drop body fat during their training.  It provides enough calories and fuel for training.

Another book called Racing Weight Quick Start Guide has a very detailed plan of action and it meant to be used before the bulk of a training cycle happens.  I like this one a lot.  It has you estimate a weight goal based on body fat percentage instead of what you think you should weigh.  The whole point of this is for getting better at your sport and the idea that if you are carrying less body fat you will be faster.  And I want to be fast!

Next you calculate the average number of calories you burn for the week and average it out.  You choose a certain calorie deficit based on how many pounds of body fat you want to lose and then use a high protein meal plan to only consume the set number of calories.  Then you follow a training schedule that has plenty of strength training to ensure that with the calorie deficit you don't lose muscle just body fat!

I'm planning on following it for 6 weeks to a leaner, faster me!

Got my long run done on Sunday again while my husband was at work.  All three girls were napping so I used that time to run.  I don't do well when they are running around as they always need management so someone doesn't lose an eye.

Today was my first day on the new training schedule and had me doing some hills.  I did the longer than they said in the book because I knew I could handle it.

Fridays will be a cross training day and they have cycling in the schedule.  Since it is "hell hath frozen over" cold here I decided to invest in a bike trainer.  I thought it would just be easy to get the trainer, attach my bike to it, and go.  But NO.  I had to get a stabilizer thingy for my front tire as well and they tell me that I have to purchase a special trainer tire.  So the trainer was $100 and the stabilizer thingy was $25 and the trainer tire is going to be another $45!  I guess this weeks tips are going to my new gear.

Despite the price I am crazy excited to be able to use my Gary Fisher bike again.  I haven't got to use it much since I started having babies.  They frown on you leaving young children to fend for themselves even if it is for so noble a cause as exercise. I really want to cross train so this will work out really great for me.

Tomorrow on the training schedule...strength training.  Not my favorite, but it will help keep me from being injured and get faster!

Do you cross train?

If you do what do you do?

Baking day!

Giant wheel of cheese I had to cut at work.

One of my most favorite places to run!

Olive squishing Erin.

Popsicles make everything better.

Well I had planned on doing a very easy run to keep my muscles loose on Monday and stretching them out really well.  However, I was just too tired.  I took an hour nap on the couch instead and hung out with my babies.

I did find a really good guide for foam rolling though and decided that if I don't want to spend the money to get sport massages I better put myself through the pain of foam rolling.  I really think it will help me not get injured.  For me stretching only gets me so far.  I still have some decent knots in my calves that makes me cry a little while foam rolling them.  You can find the article here.

Tuesday I did an easy 3 miles on the treadmill while my three children chased each other around downstairs and took turns spinning each other in the recliner.  I finished my little run just as the baby fell off the recliner and smacked her mouth on the tile floor.  A little bit of blood from her lips which was quickly forgotten once daddy gave her a popsicle.

Yesterday (Wednesday) it actually warmed up to above zero here and by some miracle my husband got work off for the day.  I was able to get outside for a run and got 5 miles in at a 10 minute pace.  At first I was feeling pretty discouraged that I was only able to bang out a 10 minute pace, but then I reminded myself that I am bundled up like a snowman and that I have to be very careful of all the ice that is on the ground.  Plus I decided that if I can maintain a 10 minute pace through the winter I will be setting myself up this spring for some nice advancement.  I think I started out last spring at an 11 minute pace and was pretty comfortable at 9:30 before I took some time off due to a pulled muscle.

I've also been researching what the best weight for me might be for maximizing my running.  One formula calculates you at a certain body fat percentage and at 17% body fat that works out to 105 pounds for me.  Not sure how realistic that is.  I'm at 127 right now and while I would like to lose some more bodyfat to become a more efficient runner 105 seems quite a stretch.  So my plan is to eat really well with no extras for a few weeks and see if I drop any body fat and see what it does to my running.  I figure a bit by bit goal is much more attainable than "hey I should drop 22 pounds!" goal.

Are you slower in the winter?


Do you think you are at a good training weight?

Trying to get her to sit still to take a picture of us.

Deer highway through our woods.

The sign at the bottom of our driveway.

Wintery.

Silly faces!

Whiteout.

Well the long run that I had planned on my favorite trail that runs along a river got moved to my treadmill.  It wasn't horrible. I just distracted myself with reading The Hunger Games again.  We had blizzard/whiteout conditions and the trail that I wanted to run isn't maintained in the winter so I didn't need to die out there.  

Thankfully my body wasn't too tired from moving my mom in the freezing cold yesterday to get it done.

I came home from working and ate a big bowl of oatmeal and got on the treadmill.  It was really good fuel. I had a little bag of dried cherries to start boosting my energy once I got to mile five.

When I did my 12 mile run I fueled with fruit snacks and my tummy was so upset the rest of the day that I want to explore other options. I don't need to be feeling like that on race day.

So I had a bowl of oatmeal, then ran 8 miles burning 850ish calories.  Pretty sure I was at a negative calorie balance by that point for the day.  I don't like to eat for a few hours after I run.  I'm just not hungry.  I know that studies say to eat within 30 minutes of finishing your workout, but I can't always force myself to do it.  Plus I like to enjoy my meal without trying to meet the many many needs of my three children.  That means I often wait until I put them to bed to eat.

I baked ciabatta bread so I cut myself a healthy number of slices of that.  I also diced up some pickles and added it to a can of tuna and ate that as well as broccoli and dill dip.  It didn't take me long to feel full so doubtful I had enough calories for the day.

I enjoyed my run today. I really like long runs, it feels good to wring my body out.

What distance feels good to you?

What is the worst weather you have ever run in ?

I made ciabatta bread today.  It had been some time since I had made it and wanted to see if I could still do it.  It is delicious!

Worked brunch today and my brother Ben is a chef where I work so this dish was named after him!

On our way to the Dells last year.  I like it when they sleep in the car.

The baby did pretty well on the trip over too.