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.

Nine Eggs Today!

A nice easy 5 miler on the treadmill today.  I had time after work and before the baby woke up from her nap to squeeze one in.  Tomorrow will be a "rest"day where I move my mother.  Not much rest, but hopefully not using my legs too much?  Yeah...I didn't think so either.

I passed the time listening to hard rock like the band In This Moment and reading The Hunger Games.  I just keep reading that on the treadmill because it is such easy reading and an engaging story!

Nine eggs today!!!!  We now have two dozen eggs in the fridge.  The only thing slightly better right now than eating them would be hatching them.  If we don't get those breeding pens set up quickly I'm just going to start incubating them and get bands on the chickens that we know are pure bred.  That way we will know which chickens are the mutts and not to use them in the breeding pens that we plan to build this spring/summer.

I still really like the idea of adding some Orpington chickens to our flock.  Their characteristics are so appealing as well as their temperaments.  They are so round and fluffy plus they like to be pet!

We got our first 5 chickens from an excellent breeder from Prairie Chick Poultry and she has about twelve different breeds, including Orpingtons!  So I might get some hatching eggs from her.  She only has blue or black Orpingtons and I really like the buff ones.  Buff Orpingtons are the chickens I always imagined having the cute little brown ones following me around the yard.

We are also waiting for the feed store to get a 50 lb bag of wheat so we can get a fodder system set up.  We would basically take plastic trays and sprout out the seeds.  Once they are sprouted to about 6-8 inches tall we would take it out to the chickens and plop it out and let them eat fresh!!!  Plus our feed costs will drop drastically.

Sunday is long run day and it will be a high of 23 degrees, but winds of 29 mph.  Not sure if I can make it 8 miles and not freeze to death.  My other worry is the huge knot in my left calf.  It started up when I was doing my intervals and it was bothering me when I was running today.  I've been sticking it a lot this evening and hope that it will work out enough by Sunday.

Do you have chickens?


How hard do you work to squeeze a workout in?

 Erin and daddy.

 Erin holding Fancy.

Izzy holding Fancy.

The Fast Lane.

I didn't get to do my planned run yesterday.  It made me anxious and sad.  But I felt like my chest cold was starting all over again, which also made me sad.  Thankfully I started to feel slightly better as evening rolled around and I went to bed early.  Today my chest is still congested (pretty much since December 28th), but not feeling awful.

I WAS able to get the training run done today.  I had planned on doing sprint and hill intervals and here is what I did.

Mile 1 = Warm up 5.5 mph

Mile 2 = Pace of 6.5 mph

Mile 3 = Pace of 5.5 mph

Mile 4 = .20 at 4% incline and .10 at 1% incline at 5.5 mph

Mile 5 = 2 minutes at 7 mph then 1 minute at 5 mph

Got 5 miles done in 51 minutes!!  I actually don't feel completely spent after all that which kind of leads me to believe that I could/should have pushed harder.  I don't want to injure myself so I'll call it good.

Even though I didn't get my run in yesterday I was able to bake a batch of bread and do a batch of yogurt.  I made smoothies for the girls and I this morning and they drank them down so fast!

Only seeing Scott in passing today and tomorrow as I work in the morning and he works in the evening.  Then I'll be helping my mother move on Saturday and back to work that evening.  Sunday I am working brunch until 2 and plan on just doing my long run from there since the trail along the river is right by the restaurant!  Planning on 8 miles and the temps should be nice...I'm quite excited!


Do you do any speed work?

Do you feel awful when you miss a scheduled workout?

 Made a fire and sat in front of it a lot yesterday.

 Mustache. 

 Scott and Olive snuggling with the Giant Panda.

Erin saved the princess!!!!!!!

 Olive sharing her paci with the pony.

Izzy loves bugs so I caught her a moth and trapped it under a glass so she could watch it.  She was so happy.

How to Squeeze it in.

Life got in the way so many times yesterday between me and my run.  I worked in the morning.  Then had to run unexpected errands after work when my plan was to jet home and jump on the treadmill before Olive woke from her nap.  I figured I could try once Scott got home from work, but it was a "wood splitting" day for him.  It was time for dinner for the girls and while they were eating I decided it would be a good window for me to do some strength training.

Strength training is not my favorite.  However, I love how  my body feels once I'm done.  I can feel myself getting stronger.  I really don't want to get injured and nail my half marathon in May so if it keeps me off the injured list I'll learn to love it.

After that there was no point in trying to run until we had the girls tucked in.  At that point I just wanted to grab some dinner, sit on the couch, and drink a beer.  BUT I knew that I would feel accomplished and my dinner would taste better if I got a run in.  I was also thinking about something I read about doing an easy run on tired legs so I could mentally prepare for the end of my half.

So I did it.  I did 3 miles at an easy pace and it wasn't as hard on my legs as it was mentally.  I used a lot of my tricks to get to 3 miles.  I watched a show on Netflix, listened to some pump-me-up music, thought about significant things in my life, and tried to solve problems on our homestead.  The more often I make it through a hard run, the more confidence I gain that I can finish strong.

Today I had a 5 mile interval with hills run planned, but I woke up feeling horrible.  I have contracted the chest cold that will not go away.  It seems to have renewed with a vengeance today.  So I decided to take it easy today and just catch up on house things like making a batch of bread and yogurt.

I want to incorporate smoothies back into our diets and I use yogurt in our's.  Plus I have the biggest bag of spinach in the world from Costco in the fridge and plan to throw a handful into each of mine.  I'm buckling down on my diet again to lose more body fat and hopefully gain more muscle.  I want to be a bit lighter and stronger to aid my training.

Tomorrow I plan on feeling better and jumping on the treadmill as soon as I get home and doing my interval run!

Under $50 worth of groceries from Aldi!

 All those colors...I love having chickens!

 Sunset view from my window.

 My wheat grinder.

The hot-rod of my kitchen.  I believe that I've saved enough money baking our own bread for this machine to have paid for itself!

Not sure if doing a hard training run is okay when feeling sick...thoughts?

Love or hate strength training?

Ever made home made bread?

Why Treadmill Running Makes me Feel Like a Failure.

Legs are pretty sore today, but not overly so.  Mostly my quads.  I don't really understand why running outside feels so much different than treadmill running.  I can go faster much easier outside than on the treadmill.

Well...after reading this article treadmill running can result in a 32% reduction in speed than running outside.  So because of muscle and joint mechanics treadmill running feels harder than outside running.  No wonder I feel like such a failure lately on the treadmill.

I've had my treadmill for 8 years now and it has saved my sanity so many times.  When you are stuck at home while raising little babies, it is saving grace during nap times.  It was an $800 investment that translates to $100 a year so far...well worth it.

It is also that time of year again to start thinking about incubating eggs.  There were quite a few weeks that we didn't get any eggs that I was worried that we wouldn't have any eggs to hatch this year.  I'm hoping for two batches of 30.  We have gone through the chickens we processed very quickly.  They are so tasty and so easy to cook in the pressure cooker that I am sad that they are gone already.

We want to preserve some lines so we have to set up some breeding pens.  We'll build some permanent ones this spring, but plan on setting up some temporary ones in the pole barn for now.  I think we'll do one pen for pure bred Dorkings (excellent tasting), and probably the other for a good dual purpose batch (egg layers and meat bird).  I think everyone in the household is excited to have baby chicks on the homestead again.

Hopefully we can get the two batches hatched out before our turkeys start laying.  Adding ducks to our flock this year is on the agenda as well.

 Olive being creative. 

 Turkey hatchling....so cute!

 Francisco our Buckeye rooster.  He got much bigger than this and we'll probably use him to get a bigger bird.

 Egg stash we found in the yard one day.

After weeks and weeks of not laying we got an egg on the coldest day of the year...-27.

The Long Sunday Run.

I've been looking forward to this run all week.  Finally everything aligned with Scott's and mine schedules along with some glorious weather that I could run outside!  At long last I was able to initiate the cold running gear I got for Christmas.

Even though I was very excited about this run I felt nervous.  I was nervous that my fitness had gone far down from taking 5 weeks off due to a pulled muscle.  I hadn't run outside since the beginning of December!  I was nervous that I would have to poo in the middle of my run and without any leaves on the trees there would not be much for cover.  I did bring a few tissues in my pocket just in case.  I was nervous that I would be so cold that I would not enjoy it at all.

I am happy to report that it was 35 degrees outside and I had to take off my gloves because I got too warm. I did not crap my pants!  I was able to maintain a 10 minute average pace for 7.2 miles even with the snow and stopping to cross streets.  I did point at the houses I passed that didn't shovel their sidewalks and tell them that they suck, because...they do.  I didn't have to walk at all and even conquered some hills so I feel quite successful.

I was also looking forward to hearing the Map My Run app tell me how fast my miles were as they ticked off.  However, a setting got changed somehow and it was telling me every TENTH of a mile what my speed was, average pace, distance, heart rate and such.  I just wanted to veg out and listen to music and hear stats as the mile changed.  I tried to fix it while I paused the workout, but I wasn't unable to.  I lasted 2.5 miles before I yanked out my earphones and ran without music.  I changed the settings once I got home and will not have that nagging voice in my ear every minute.

Here are my stats for the run.

TIME
START	12:56 p.m.
ACTIVE	1:14:04
TOTAL	1:14:55

	PACE
AVG	10:13 min/mi
MIN
MAX

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500 m 

ANALYSIS TYPE:     Choose a segment type ...              Splits               Course Repeats               Average Power               Average Heart Rate               Segment Highlighter               Laps       

0.1 mi

0.5 mi

1 mi

5 mi

10 mi

DISTANCE	PACE	ELAPSED TIME
1 mi	09:33 min/mi	9:31
2 mi	09:31 min/mi	9:30
3 mi	09:59 min/mi	9:58
4 mi	10:17 min/mi	10:16
5 mi	10:27 min/mi	10:25
6 mi	10:43 min/mi	10:41
7 mi	10:49 min/mi	10:45
7.3 mi	10:09 min/mi	2:40

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VIEW ROUTE7.24 mi run on 1/19/2014

MAPPED 01/19/2014 BY STEPHANIE KUGLIN

ELEVATION

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• COURSES

I had to use the old and tested mantras during my run.  Mostly because my confidence was feeling low as I hadn't ran outside for so long.  "I can do hard things", "I am a runner, this is what I do",  and "Finish strong."

 Pretty tree.

 Winter wonderland.

 Deer trail on our property.

All done with my run, but still have to walk up the hill.

What running mantras do you use when things get hard?

see above

Do you do a weekly long run?
I really like the long run the best so I am very happy to add it to my training again.