Healthy Eating Part Two

Funny that I would decide to write a post about healthy eating and planning because this week I didn't do my normal meal planning and have been on the struggle bus!! Told you if I don't plan everything out I'm SOL! Normally I spend Saturday/Sunday morning planning out my meals for the week and figuring out what I have and what I will need to get at the store. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to go to the store and only buy what is on my list, so I really try to only go once a week. If I make impromptu trips for extra items, like today, I end up spending $40 when I only went for bananas and an onion... Epic fail! And the worst part is I didn't even get my dang bananas! The whole town seems to be sold out of bananas it's ridiculous. My original meal plan for the week looked something like this:

 

Monday-jalapeno stuffed chicken (one of my faves!)

 

Tuesday- spaghetti

 

Wednesday - crockpot pork chops

 

Thursday - Chicken and Rice (go to meal I could eat this every day)

 

Friday - Sunday Madre will be here to visit so it's all up for grabs :-)

 

Then reality happened when I was brushing my teeth Monday morning and I realized I hadn't cooked dinner Sunday night so I had no leftovers for lunch and I hadn't gotten anything ready for dinner last night so it went something like this instead

 

Monday Lunch - chicken fajitias that were decently healthy with a side of fruit and caramel popped rice cakes for an afternoon snack

 

Monday Dinner - garlic chicken frozen meal that was eh at best - I picked it because the label made it look like the healthiest, but when I was making it I realized that it broke it down to 4 portions where all the other competitors only broke theirs into 2. I managed to get 3 portions out of it so it was about 265 calories, but I'm sure it was full of all sorts of unhealthy additives.

 

Tuesday Lunch looked like this:

 

 

breakdown is a small orange, carrots/celery with ranch, salad with light olive garden dressing (that I didn't end up eating because I bought the wrong kind of lettuce and it was NASTY, and leftover chicken garlic stuff

 

And Tonight's dinner consisted of the last of the leftover garlic chicken and waaaaaaaaaayyy too many of these suckers!!

 

 

If you haven't tried pretzel crisps yet you definitely should! They have 4 other flavors, but this one is new and was one of my impulse buys at the grocery store and it is definitely a winner!!

 

I'm going to do (finally) do my meal prep for the rest of the week tonight. Last week I made a big fruit salad that I munched on all last week, so I am going to make another this week with cantaloupe, strawberries, and blackberries. For main courses I am going to do spaghetti with chicken sausage (first time trying it) and chicken tortilla soup in the crockpot for tomorrow because it's snowing AGAIN! It's freaking madness. Tomorrow I will post some of my most loved recipes! Hope you all are having better weather than me!

 

 

Healthy eating and a little bragging

So this has NOTHING to do with running, working out, or getting in shape but I have to do a little bragging! I had pretty much the world's greatest friends when I was in college. They were awesome and always there for me and I love them from the bottom of my heart. And now some of them are going on to do some super awesome things!!! My friend Joshie just got picked up by the Oakland Raiders!!!! He couldn't deserve it more he has worked his booty off and is going to do awesome I just know it! Good things do come to good people!

fist bumps and wiggles I'm so excited for him!

There are very few sober pictures of me from college (sorry mom) so this is one of the most appropriate of the two of us

Joshie Poo with my Niece and Nephew

 

So proud of him! It couldn't of happened to a better guy and I had to do some bragging :-) Oh and he's single ladies ;-) Our other good friend Mags also got picked up by the Raiders so they will be headed to Oakland together in 2 weeks (there are no appropriate photos of me and Mags to post)! And Josh's roommate got picked up my Tampa Bay so it was an all around awesome day yesterday for the former Wyo O-line!!

 

hopefully Nick can find a bath tub his size in Tampa ;-)

I just stole this picture from fb here's the 3 of them together on pro day they are beasts!! My mom always felt that I was very safe at college since I had such large friends :-)

 

Ok now time to get back on track with things that are relative. I haven't talked much about what I eat on here, but it really is a big part of my life and getting healthy! I am in no way shape or form an expert, but I just try and fill my belly with healthy things. I use My Fitness Pal to track what I eat, and it has really helped a lot! I always thought I could never track my food it would take too much work, but MFP really makes it a lot easier. They have SO MANY foods on there! I have yet to find something they don't have. And I love that it breaks down everything it doesn't just count calories. It also makes me hold myself accountable. If I have to log in that I just ate a cookie, a piece of cake, or a whole handful of candy I am much more likely to turn it down. It takes take a little bit of time and effort, but for me it has been a big help! (I'm really excited/happy this morning can you tell by all the exclamation points I have already used? )

 

One of the biggest things for me is that I try and eat fruit and veggies at every meal. I have heard that some people believe that you shouldn't eat any fruit after noon because of all the natural sugars in it, but my mindset is that its better to fill up on fruit than junk. On MFP I am almost always over on my sugars for the day because of how much fruit I eat, but I figure natural sugar is better for you than the processed refined stuff, so I don't worry about it too much. My morning smoothie alone uses up pretty much all of my sugar allowance for the day. Speaking of smoothies, that's how I get my veggies in at breakfast :-) I'm always late leaving for work so I tend to eat things that I can grab and go. Smoothies are great for this reason, but also because I can pack em with things I don't like and hide it with the fruit, such as spinach. Yuck hate spinach, the only way it's getting in this body is through a smoothie! These last 2 weeks I have also been trying to add a serving of Naked's Green machine serving to my afternoon snack to get in some extra green goodness. I never thought I would be able to drink a green smoothie, but it for real just tastes like apples!

 

One of my morning smoothies. I almost always have banana in them and from there it is just whatever else I have. The white stuff in the middle is coconut oil, smoothies are also how I get my daily dose of that :-)

 

I'm a carb freak. There I admitted it. It's weird though because I am not big on bread. I prefer hamburgers and hot dogs without a bun, I don't like toast, and I prefer my sandwiches as wraps, but show me pasta or rice and I'm all over that! I have been trying to work on weaning myself away from it, but it's hard! Every meal I'm like oh rice would be good with that, step away from the rice Shannon! So now I *try* to replace rice with a second veggie, but sometimes I just really feel like I need some starch in my life to feel full!

 

My other weakness is sweets. I seriously have a sugar issue. I.CAN.NOT.SAY.NO.TO.CAKE. End of story. I love it way too much. I am working on saying no to all the other sweets and trying to eat far less of them, but it's definitely a bit of a losing battle. The biggest thing is I try and keep it out of the house. This is DEFINITELY easier when the bf isn't here. The bf loves sweets more than me, and he eats them one box of twinkies at a time. He has no interest in healthy eating. There is a grocery store not far from my house, and I have been known on prior occasions to drive to the store, buy the individual pieces of cake, and eat it for dinner. So to avoid these incidents I try and keep a few healthier sweet options on hand. I love Jello's sugar free pudding! They are also fat free and only have 60-70 calories in it depending on which ones you get. They sell a cheesecake flavor if you buy the box and make it yourself, and it helps tide me over from cheesecake cravings :-) Anything low fat/low sugar/altered to appear more healthy = chemicals though. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles though! Fruit and low fat cool whip is also another go to treat for me when I am feeling the need for something sweet.

 

The biggest thing to keep my eating on track for me is planning. If I don't have what I'm going to eat planned out for the week there is a good chance I'll sub in crap meals. I like to bring my lunch to work because it cuts out the option to eat crap. I don't have to make any decisions and I don't have to deal with temptation (except cake in the break room). If I bring a healthy lunch, I'll eat a healthy lunch. My lunch is pretty standard I always have either a side salad or carrots/celery, some sort of fruit, and then left overs. Having left overs to eat for lunch makes my life SO much easier. I also ALWAYS pack snacks for myself. I know that I can't go much more than 2ish hours without needing a snack. These past few weeks I have been munching on healthy banana bread I made with a clementine for my morning snack, and for my afternoon snack I eat one of  my banana pb and oatmeal bites with 8oz of green smoothie. Planning saves my booty, literally.

 

banana, pb, and oatmeal bites

My healthyish banana bread

 

This post has gotten ridunkulously long so I am going to continue it tomorrow because I have to get ready to celebrate with Joshie woo! Happy Sunday all!

 

The worst 5k in the history of 5ks

This may of only been my 2nd 5k, and I may not be very "experienced" but this 5k was a train wreck and I'm declaring it the worst ever!! It was called the fast and furriest, and was for CSU's vet students. Since it was dog friendly I decided it would be monster's first 5k! We woke up this morning all excited and got ready to go. I attempted to brushed the munch and make him look handsome, and put on his zebra bandana. We packed the car full of his bed, treats, water, his leash, and all his "friends". He doesn't travel light, ever. I ate half an English muffin with peanut butter and he licked the peanut butter off my fingers and the napkin for breakfast. We took one final potty break and we were ready to go.

 

 

 

his pre-race smile, I tried really hard to get a picture of him where you could see his bandana and he was having NO part of it

 

I stopped on the way down to Fort Collins and picked up a friend who was going to run with me. The race was supposed to start at 9 and we showed up a little before 8:40 to get our bibs since we had pre-registered (we planned to be there by 8:30, but I am ALWAYS late). We park in what we are pretty sure is the right place and see NO signs indicating that a race is going on, or where to pick up bibs. I start to slightly panic since we are already a little behind. Luckily once we parked and got out a girl went by with a dog and a bib so we figured we were in the right place. We asked her where she got her bib and head in that direction. We find where there are a few tents set up and there is a line to one, so we start standing in line. Once again there were NO signs. After getting almost to the front of the line we realize we are standing in the line to register, and that the line for pre-registered people is on the other side. We switch sides and this line moves much quicker, we get to the front give our names and they start shouting about between them. They didn't have the "swag bags" (I'm getting savvy to the lingo :-) ) put together yet, and our number wasn't included in it. I hear the guy yell for a large shirt for me, and I try to nicely tell him that I put down a small (um hello have you seen how short I am a large would be a dress on me!) he gives me a dirty look and goes back to the next person. I am finally handed a bag, but no number. I ask the guy if my number is supposed to be in the bag, and he says no someone should of handed it to me. At this point I am starting to panic because it's like 8:55, he yells back that they need my number again, and a girl yells back that they don't have it. BIG panic this time, the guy kindly ignores my panic attack so I frantically start digging through the bag just to make sure it didn't end up in there, and there it is hidden under the shirt. I grabbed some safety pins and shot the guy a nasty look. (And it says on my bib that I asked for a small so hah!)

 

I had to work damn hard for this bib! (300's must be my friend I was 318 in the other race)

 

By this time the girl I am with (btw it was her first 5k!) has her number pinned on and is all ready to go. I scramble putting my number on, poking myself in the belly in the process, and realize there is NO WAY we are going to make it back to the car to drop off our bags. A very nice lady at one of the tents agreed to let us stash our bags with her, thank goodness (only positive of the day)! We dash over to the start area, find a place we think will be good to start, and get our phones/earphones all set up just in time for them to tell us that they are moving the start. Grrr it was a little frustrating, but we figured oh well. We get over to the other side of this oval thing where the new start is going to be, get to where we think is a good place to be again, and are standing there waiting to get going. We ask this guy in a dog suit that was supposed to be leading us (he ended up not because he was too drunk... ) if we are facing the right way he gives some unintelligible answer so we start asking others around us, and nobody knows. A guy with a megaphone comes over and says something that no one around us understands, we stand there for a minute and then see people start shuffling so we all assume he said we were going to be running the other direction. We moan and groan, but join the shuffle to get towards the front since we are now at the very back. Not 2 seconds after we find a new place he announces that no we aren't changing directions he just needed everyone to scoot back behind these 2 cones that no one saw. More groaning, more shuffling. We find another new spot for the 4th freaking time. By this point in time Partner is freaking out because everyone is packed in super tight and people/dogs are running him over so I'm trying to keep him close by/calm. In the process of doing this my headphones turned into a GIANT knot, seriously I think someone was tying them in knots while I wasn't looking.

 

It's well after 9 now and they finally start us and we are off like a herd of turtles. I expect to head off through campus, but instead we start running around this damn oval. I think ok we are just heading back to the other side where we were going to start and then we'll head out on that side.... NOPE we pass that point, and pass where we started, and by this point I'm pissed. We are fairly convinced that we are just going to be running around this stupid circle for the next 3 miles. I look down at my phone to see how fast we are going/how long the distance around this stupid oval is and the time is running on my running app, but the distance says 0.00 WTF!!! I start freaking out/getting angry and the girl I'm running with starts to panic a little because we needed to be watching our pace to make sure that she would get a fast enough time to get into my heat of the Bolder Boulder. If I hadn't been so confuzzled from everything going on, it would of been smart to stop the app and start it again, but the thought that crossed my brain instead was what the hell else is going to go wrong!

 

Just as we were about to say fuck this race I'm not running in 10 circles, we saw people start to head off away from the oval and through campus. THANK YOU BABY JESUS! I felt like we were running at a pretty good pace, but I had no clue our distance which I didn't like. I figured the miles would be marked along the course though, so I wasn't too worried. My legs weren't feeling very good, and I was having a hard time finding a grove, but I just kept trucking looking for mile markers. At this point I don't know why I was expecting anything to of been set up for the race. Around one corner I look at my phone and it says 10 minutes, and I think uh-oh we haven't seen a mile marker. We keep trucking along and by 12 minutes I'm thinking we have to have gone a mile by now! At 14 minutes there is a water station so I'm thinking we must be half way, and were booking it! I started feeling pretty confident thinking we were going way fast and that I was finally feeling pretty good. Yep that didn't last long.

 

 About a minute later we get to a corner and there is a lady cheering (because the course wasn't marked so people stood at corners and directed us) and saying your half way you can do it! Ugh not booking it like I  had thought. At this point I tell the other girl with me that if she is feeling good she should go ahead and go faster to make sure she gets her time. She is in MUCH better shape than me! She picked up her pace a little and is ran a little ways in front of me the rest of the race. I am minding my own business jogging along thinking I am feeling pretty good, but wishing I had a person to pace myself with when all of a sudden BOOM!!! I don't exactly know what happened, but I went from trying to find a good race mindset to sprawled out on the ground with my phone in one place, the case in another, my headphones in my hand (which I spent ALL race messing with because they kept falling out of my ear because of the knot), and the dog leash on my foot. I was big time embarrassed! And I had scared the crap out of my dog so I was really glad the leash ended up stuck on my foot otherwise I would of spent the rest of the morning chasing him trying to catch him. I picked up the pieces of my phone and the leash and started running again. Btws of all the places I could of biffed it I did it right by the soccer fields where there was about oh 200 to 300 air force people doing workouts... I'm good like that.

 

war wound on my hand

 

And a little raspberry on the knee, there is a touch of road rash on my calf but you can't really see it in the light in my living room... I was fairly impressed I managed to not get super scrapped up... but on second thought that probably just means I was going snail pace

 

I biffed it at about 20 minutes, so I am guessing that I was at about the 2 mile mark. I spent the next minute or so trying to run/put my case back together on my phone which was no easy task. I was freaking fed up with my headphones so I was just going to not listen to music the rest of the time, but I decided that I needed music. It was a beautiful day and the sun was out, but we had only been counting on it being in the 50's and by this point it was HOT. After I biffed it I just couldn't get my grove back I was hot, I was tired, I was getting seriously thirsty, and I was over this stupid train wreck race. I saw the next corner headed back towards where we started so I started thinking thank god I'm almost done with this thing. Once I got close enough to the oval where we started I saw people were running around it and my only thought was if I have to go around this stupid thing more than once I am quitting! I quickly realized that the finish was at the end of one more lap around it, but I had no steam left and didn't feel like I could even do one more lap. I was huffing and puffing and I seriously had to pee. It was the longest lap of my whole freaking life and I don't even know how long it was (it was definitely bigger than a normal size track oval, but I don't know by how much). I almost stopped to walk twice in that last lap, but I kept telling myself JUST.KEEP.RUNNING no matter how slow my legs got I didn't want to walk. I felt like crap and figured that this time was going to be way slower than my last race time, and I was bummed but at this point I really didn't care I just wanted to finish and not walk. I FINALLY got to the finish line and saw the clock read 30:13 I seriously couldn't believe it! There were 3 timing strips though and I'm not sure which one was the official finish so my time was somewhere between 30:13 and 30:17.

 

After finishing the only thing on my mind was finding a bathroom! I don't pee in port-a-potties, end of story. When I first started dating the bf I shocked the crap out of him because I peed in a parking lot, in broad daylight, in the middle of Scottsdale because I refused to pee in a port-a-potty at the Barrett Jackson. But today I didn't care all I knew was I had to pee and I had to pee NOW. It was my only option so I made an exception to the rule, but under any other circumstances there would of been no way. The thing was super tippy and I was worried it was going to fall over so I bolted out of  there with my pants like half up and all crooked, but at least I didn't pee my pants. We hung around and ate a few oranges and got the pooch a treat, but then we decided we were ready for breakfast and mimosas :-) We headed down town filled up on some seriously yummy grub, and did a little shopping. I dropped my friend back of where she had stayed the night and headed home with the pooch.

 

he slept the whole way :-) it was the quietest car ride I've ever had with him apparently the extra .85 of a mile did him in

 

The race was supposed to be "officially" timed with timing chips, but I realized when I got home that there was no timing strip at the start so I don't know how that is going to work. I also tried to find where the results will be posted, but had no luck. After seeing what a train wreck it was I'm not surprised though! I just hope they are posted somewhere so my friend can use it as her qualifying time! She hauled booty! She said she wasn't sure what her time was, but she was at least a minute ahead of me and I'm guessing she did it in under 29 minutes. Even though the whole race was a mess from start to finish and everything that could of gone wrong did go wrong I am excited that my time was faster. I really wanted to get under 30 minutes and if I hadn't biffed it I might of had a chance, but honestly I'm just happy I finished without walking! I definitely need to do some serious training in the next month to make it through the Bolder Boulder with a half decent time (or just to make it)! No more skipping workouts, and I definitely need to do some dreadmill work to work on my pace. Definitely not how I saw the day going, but at least I got a run in :-)

 

my hair is all jacked up and I have a stupid expression on my face because I was trying REALLY hard to keep my eyes open in the bright sun... and of course Partner is not looking at the camera what else is new

 

And after the whole stupid experience all I got was this super ugly shirt! Haha when I saw it all I could think was of course...

 

And the monster is still sleeping

 

 

Hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday!

 

 

 

 

 

Happies and Crappies numero dos

Got the button to show up first time booyah! Thanks Sarah for all the help last time! This is my second week that I have linked up with Sarah for happies and crappies and I think it is such a cute idea! I'm going to start with crappies that way I get to end on a good note

Crappies:
The super ouchy mega blister that I got on my foot
Work this week has been loooooooooonng
The bf left for work again this week and it's always a tough adjustment to being by myself

Happies
First off it's Friday yay!!!! (thank goodness I don't think I would of lasted another day)
I went for my first post mega blister run yesterday and it felt pretty darn good! (more on that in a minute)
I found someone who is going to be my running buddy :-)
I've ate pretty well all week, yay go me! :-)
My little monster is sometimes, when he feels like it, listening better
My mom will be here in one week!
Diva Dash is a week away!
And lastly we are FINALLY getting some nice weather! I don't want to jinx it, but I even saw 70 in the 10 day forecast :-)


So yesterday I got off work and had no intentions of running. I had just had a conversation with a girl at work about how I was taking the week off because I really wanted the blister to heal, and I didn't want to risk not being able to do Diva Dash next weekend. Welp then I stepped outside and it was BEAUTIMUS!!!! I was walking to my car thinking mah maybe I'll just go for a short run? Just 2 miles to see how it feels. Then I started talking myself out of it going well it is kind of windy, and I really don't want to go home, change, drive across town, run, drive back home. I kept debating with myself till I got home and let the pouch out, then I was struck with a brilliant idea :-) Since I was only going to do a short run I should ditch the sissy lala pants and put on my big girl panties and go for a run by my house and conquer some of the dreaded hills! So that's exactly what I did :-) I also decided that since it was a short run and by my house I should try running with the pouch. He has had crazy amounts of energy/been naughty since the bf left, he is missing his playmate something fierce :-(

I covered my blister with a new piece of moleskin (much better than the Dr. Scholls blister treatment), laced up the tennis, put a leash on the dog and off we went. It's uphill from our apartment complex to the trail, and then the first part of the trail is a hill. After that it really was pretty flat some minor rolly hills, but nothing major, it was really just the first .5 mile that I had to survive. Once we got past the uphill part it was pretty easy sailing. Yesterday was a really good run for me :-) I felt good, and was able to kind of zone out and just enjoy the weather and what was going on around me. On the way home I tried to focus on my pace and go faster than the snail pace I have been keeping lately. I really felt like I was booking it, but I found out when I got home that I really had only moved from snail status to turtle status.

We took a nice little look that ended up being 2.25 miles on the dot. I decided when I left that I wasn't going to worry about the distance or checking my phone I was just going to run, and it turned out pretty good. For the first time EVER I got done running and was really wishing I had gone for a longer run. It was so nice and it had been such a good run, I got to the end of the path and thought, but I'm not ready to be done! Pouchie however was acting like he was pretty pooped though so we headed back to the house (he totally tricked me though we got home and he was back to acting like a spaz!). He did pretty good for his first run, minus wrapping himself around one pole. He stayed right with me and never took off after anything even though we passed other people and dogs. He was licking his paws after we got home though so I am worried that his feet are a little sore :-( He isn't acting sore today though, so I am debating about taking him out with me again tonight. He did randomly decide in the middle of our run that he was terrified of water and couldn't cross the sidewalk where it was running across. I don't know what his deal was! He runs through water all the time at our apartment and it was seriously just like a wet spot on the sidewalk! Who knows with this crazy man :-)

after our run he is saying come on mom why are you stopping we're almost home!!!

 

With one pole incident and one potty break (him not me) our total run time ended up being 23:51 which is a 5.7 pace... meh I was really hoping to be back above 6.0, but what can you do. I know I really need to do some treadmill work to get my speed up, but I hate that damn thing!!  Anyways the breakdown was:

mile 1 - 11:27 pace of 5.2 HELLO SNAIL PACE! In my defense this was where the hills were AND where the pole incident and the bathroom break happened

mile 2 - 10:03 pace of 6.0 :-)

and the last .25 I did in 2:19 at a pace of 6.5 ( it was downhill)

 

and here are some pictures from when I tried to get a cute picture of me and the monster, but it epically failed... and then one of my neighbors caught me trying to take selfies of me and the pouch and I felt like an idiot and ran inside like any normal person would do...

 

half decent picture of me( besides the weird smile and fact I really need my eyebrows done) and the pouch is distracted by absolutely nothing... oh don't my headphones cord

and the only picture out of like 5 where the pouch is ACTUALLY looing at the camera and I decided to close my eyes and look like a total goofball....

 

 

HAPPY FRIDAY ALL!!!!!!!

 

 

Thursday Jumble

I've been pretty absent this week, but I just figure you guys can only hear so much about my nasty foot/blister. I haven't worked out at all this week because of the stupid blister. I have felt REALLY guilty about it all week and honestly kind of disappointed. I set up this whole schedule on Sunday of how I was going to work out in the morning and then try and get a class in, and I haven't been able to do it at all :-( My blister is STILL super duper mega ouchy, but on top of it I have the Diva Dash with my mom next weekend that I want to make sure I am able to do. I don't want to push myself into working out too soon and make it worse and then not be able to participate next weekend/have a really miserable time trying to participate next weekend.

 

My blister is looking better which is awesome, but it feels like it's cracking every time I take a step which is not so awesome. I know I should be riding the bike or doing some other form of cardio to stay in shape, but I REALLY hate riding the stationary bike! They would make me do it during physical therapy for my knee and it was the most boring thing ever! And since then I have always hated it, and can never bring myself to do it. I'm also worried that curling my foot to keep my foot on the pedal would be really ouch to my foot, but I guess there is only one way to find out!

 

In other news I went to the chiropractor for the first time ever yesterday. A girl I worked with referred me to her chiropractor because she loves him and said he is really gentle. It wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it might be and he was really gentle... But I really wasn't all that impressed. I don't know maybe I just expected too much, but I really don't feel that much better. My walking does seem to be a little bit better and I don't feel it on the outside of my foot as much, so I definitely feel improvement there, but in my hips/back nothing feels better. I also didn't like/didn't feel that it was very professional that he tried to sell me his diet products that he also sells. It was more of him just hinting at it, but still. He didn't even ask about my diet or my lifestyle he just immediately went into how he finds that if his clients have a better diet they have less issues. He also kind of treated me like I was just a whiney baby and said that most runners just need to learn blister management. Well gee thanks mister! If it was just a damn blister I probably wouldn't of been in your office, but since my hip/knee/ankle were hurting plus the outside of my foot was killing me I was pretty sure something was going on! Plus the fact that when those aren't hurting I don't get blisters. And even if I was just a whiney baby you're getting paid because of it so be happy about it and don't treat me like an idiot!

 

He wants me to go back tomorrow so he can see how his adjustments held, so we'll see if I like him any better tomorrow. He does seem to really know a lot, and he is gentle, and he is really close to my work so those are all pros, but since it may cost me a mini fortune to be going to the chiropractor I am going to make sure I spend it at one that I like. Pretty much the only real big plus from it was that he has a scale in his office (because of his diet stuff that he sells) so I weighed myself there and the scale said 115.4 woot woot!! That was with all my work clothes on so I'm guessing without them I am about 112 which is in my normal happy range :-) Either I took on some serious water weight from it being "that time of the month" or the scale at the gym is off. I was definitely happy to see that number yesterday though! I'm not really all that worried about "the number" on the scale. Of course I wouldn't be opposed to it going down (105 is my dream weight ) I am really more concerned about my measurements, as long as I'm losing inches I don't care what the scale says.

 

Happy almost Friday!! I hope your week hasn't felt as long as mine!

 

 

Mondays...

I'm really beginning to hate Mondays! I think I am going to find a job where Monday is included in the weekend :-) So last night I packed my lunch, laid out a work outfit for the day, slept in my workout clothes, and set an alarm for 6:15. I was ready to start my new routine of working out in the morning. I SLEPT LIKE CRAP ALLLLLLLL NIGHT! My hips hurt, my knee hurts, and my ankle was throbbing, and let's not even mention the shooting pain from my blister. I woke up at about 3 and stayed away for about a half hour and I kept telling myself it's ok I'll just take some advil before I go to the gym. I woke up at 6 before my alarm even went off, and decided going to the gym would be pointless because I can't even freaking walk :-( Seriously my blister is SOOOOO nasty today, I won't share pictures. It scabbed and has all sorts of nasty stuff coming out of it, and when I try and walk it feels like someone is slicing my foot open. So no gym this morning :-( I think I will try and get in a bike workout after work though depending how that feels on the foot.

 

I am running a 5k this coming weekend with a girl from work so she can qualify for my heat at the Bolder Boulder :-) I'm excited to be running another 5k, plus to have someone to run with at the Bolder Boulder!! Since I will be running that on Saturday my long run was going to have to be on Sunday anyway, so today will be an off day I will do my four mile runs as scheduled tomorrow and Thursday, and then the 3 mile one I was supposed to do today we'll be my 5k on Saturday. After my last 5k I wasn't sore, but I am definitely a little nervous about running one Saturday and then 5 MILES on Sunday. I have noticed having a day off before has really helped (having 5 days off a week has not helped!).

 

I put one of Dr. Scholl's blister treatments over the owwy, but I honestly think that is part of what made it so bad! I put one on yesterday and wore it for the day and then when I took a shower I pulled it off, and let it "breathe" all night. When I called the bf before bed I told him that it felt really dry and like it was cracking and then I woke up this morning and it looks like a freaking war wound! I put another blister treatment on it just to help with the pain, but I am going to have to figure something out and fast because I can't be skipping any more runs!! There is no way I am going to make it 5 miles on Sunday if I don't get in my runs this week! I also need to find a solution to fix the real problem, my hips, so that I can quit dealing with getting blisters. Any ideas on how to fix either of these would be much appreciated!

 

Did I mention it is supposed to snow AGAIN today?! Told you freaking Mondays!

 

 

 

Four mile run numero dos

The universe must of read my post yesterday and known how frustrated I was because today's run went far better than expected. I got to the park I always run at and was sitting in my car trying to convince myself to get out of the the car it was coldish, windy, my legs were still sore, and I just knew this run was going to suck. I texted my old roommate/running buddy Alex and told her I couldn't convince myself to get out of the car. She texted me back and said just get out of the car and get it done, your going to feel like shit if you don't. So I opened the door and off I went. By the time I got to oh .2 miles I was ready to quit, I was already breathing hard, my legs were stiff and sore and I was over the run already. I actually mapped my run out BEFORE I ran today instead of just wondering along so I didn't check the distances as I ran. the whole first mile was pretty crappy and about .75 miles into I almost had myself convinced just to loop around the lake and head back to the car. I made myself just keep going and I just keep telling myself I had to do it.

Before today I had never really ran outside when it was very windy I would just run inside instead. It wasn't super windy, but enough that it was a pain to run into. While I certainly would rather not run in the wind I think it helped me get through my run today. I would be running into the wind and it would be really hard and it would suck, and then I would turn and have the wind to my back and then it would fell easy and I would feel good and then I'd be back to running into the wind, This whole cycle kept repeating and I think if it hadn't the run would of just felt hard and crappy the whole way. I never thought I would be thankful for wind, but today I was!

I just kept telling myself if I could get to the half way point I would be ok. That if I could make it that far I knew I would finish the run. For some reason between mile 1 and 2 is ALWAYS the hardest and the slowest, and today was no exception. It was especially rough though because through part of it I had to run through a dirt parking lot, and because of all the snow melting there were puddles everywhere. Which to most people isn't a big deal, but I HATE WET SOCKS! Seriously like with a passion. I think it's part of the reason I like flip flops so much. I have never in my entirely life crossed a creek/stream big puddle with shoes on because I can't stand having wet socks/shoes. So needless to say when I ran through the first puddle (there was no way around it the whole parking lot was pretty much a puddle) I almost quit right there. It took some SERIOUS will power to keep going, but I managed to power through it and over come a fear. I still won't voluntarily be going through any amount of water in socks and shoes though.

SERIOUSLY wet socks and shoes I was not a happy camper!

 

The bottom of my pants also became really wet and I got worried they would get super heavy and fall off... luckily that didn't happen!  (yes I realize this is a crazy fear I told you it's pretty much a phobia!)

Once I about 2.25 miles (I'm guessing) The run began to feel pretty good. I don't think running will ever feel "easy" for me, but I started to not feel like I was dying and like I could pick up the pace. I picked up the pace a little bit, but was scared to pick it up too much because I didn't want to get almost to the end and not be able to finish. I think it's definitely a mental thing though because the very first run I did outside was my fastest run and I haven't had one that fast since. I definitely need to find a way to work on it, I'm just not sure how yet.

 Once I got headed back towards my car and I was pretty sure I was in my last mile I went to check my running app to make sure that I was on track to hit four miles and that I didn't have to take any detours. I opened the app and had a mini freak out because it wasn't on it's normal screen. I wasn't sure if it was recording, but I didn't want to hit any buttons and screw it up if it was so I just kept on running and figured I would run what I had planned and hopefully it would be long enough. The last half mile my foot REALLY began to hurt. It was pretty much begging me to stop, but I knew that walking would hurt just as much and I had come this far so there was no way I was going to quit this close. My PT was snowed in at my last physical therapy appt. on Thursday, so I just had the aid there to walk me through my exercises. I tried to  tell him that my hips were rotated ( I can't rotate to the left AT ALL), and he just barely looked at them and went oh no I think your fine. This is the same thing he told me Tuesday, and then the PT came over and said nooo her hips are way rotated can't you tell? I was pretty much ready to find this guy and smack him by the end of my run because my foot was screaming. I didn't put any comfy shoes in the car so I wore my sneakers home and when I got home and took them off this is what I found (If you don't like feet stop reading!)

OWWWWWYYYYY That think freaking hurts! The big blister is the original one that sent me to the doctor. It was pretty much healed and now I have a new blister on top of it which is UBER painful! I have been gimping around since I got home because it hurts to bend my foot. There is a new blister below it, and then another beside it more towards the top of my foot which is hard to see.  So pretty much I'm ready to hunt down the guy who said my hips were fine and throat punch him!

 

I don't know how I am going to fix my hips, but I HAVE to figure something out, because ain't nobody got time for blisters! Anyways enough about feet the break down of my run is (my app did end up working it just ended up on a weird screen) :

 

Total Distance - 4.16 miles!

Total time - 46:10 seconds (my last .16 took me 1:35 seconds so that means it took me 44:35 to run 4 miles which is 1:20 faster than last week!)

Average pace 5.4 mph still quite a bit slower than where I want to be but at least faster than last week

mile 1 - 11:22 at an average of 5.3 mph (I just figured out I can look at my half mile splits and I won't bore you with all of those, but my first .5 was my slowest half mile of the whole run at 5.1 mph taking 5:53)

Mile 2 - 10:57 at 5.5 mph (so while it felt hard I was wrong it wasn't my slowest!)

Mile 3 - 11:23 at 5.3 mph ( this one actually ended up being my slowest mile, but I think I was also running into the wind most of it from 2.0 to 2.5 miles was my second slowest half mile split at 5:52 so almost as slow as my first half mile!)

Mile 4 - 10:51 at 5.5 mph (even though my foot was screaming it was still my fastest mile)

The last .16 of a mile - 1:35 at 6.0 ( I could see my car so I was hauling! :-) )

 

So it was still slow and probably ugly, but I survived and it was faster than last week so I'm pretty happy with it. I am going to go run tomorrow MORNING and then go to a yoga class. I'm going to make sure I get my workouts in this week. No more skipping! My tree trunk legs and monster hips can't afford to have me skipping any more workouts!

The big, the bad, and the ugly

Luckily I waited till after the gym to write this post, but positive patty is definitely going to be absent from it. Although I have a gym at my apartment I signed up for another gym so I could take some classes this week. The new gym has a scale at it. I stepped on the scale to find out exactly what I weighed and almost died. Holy freaking lbs!!!!! I weigh a 118 pounds. And before you scoff me off thinking that's not very much, remember I'm only 5'2". Not only is that one of the highest numbers I've ever seen, but it's about SIX POUNDS higher than when I started. I don't know exactly what I weighed, but at the doctor they weighed me with sweats, sweatshirt, and about 4 other layers and I was 116, so I was guessing without all the layers I was about 112. This was towards the end of February so I had already been running a little bit, but that is a pretty normal range for me is 112-114, NOT 118! I tried to take a deep breath and tell myself not to freak out, hey it's probably just muscle. I had heard a lot of people gain weight when they start running, so I just kept trying to give myself little pep talks so I wouldn't freak out.

Then today happened... It's been 2 weeks since the last time I did my measurements, so this morning I took my measurements. Now I knew these two weeks hadn't been the best weeks so I wasn't expecting to have lost any inches, but I certainly wasn't expecting to GAIN!!! That's right I am BIGGER than I was when I started. I almost cried when I took my measurements and I almost cried again typing that. I seriously don't get it. I know I only ran twice this week, but I also took a boot camp class, did physical therapy, and ate pretty darn healthy. I think all week I have only had 2 cookies which for me is pretty good. I have eaten tons of fruit and veggies, and chicken has been the only meat I have eaten all week. I just don't FREAKING GET IT!!! How can doing less than what you have been doing be worse than doing nothing at all!?!?!?!

To say the least I'm really frustrated. I feel like this happens to me every time. It's like every time I start working out, or eating healthier it's worse for me. Every time I start working out it's like it makes my metabolism worse. I will go from not really watching what I eat, and not working and weighing 112-114 (in my okish range, but not happy in a swimsuit) to working out and then being bigger than before. It's an on going cycle THAT KEEPS HAPPENING. I seriously don't get it! It's like if 3 years ago I never would of started this stupid cycle I would be skinnier than I am now, eating whatever I wanted, and not working out. I HATE IT!

I wish I was one of those people that when they get upset/mad/frustrated  they went to the gym and took it out through exercise, but I'm not. I really, really just wanted to quit to say well fuck it, if I'm going to be fat I might as well be happy eating what I want and not having to work out. And then I remembered that I am signed up for 4 races in the next 7 weeks. I think that this is why people sign up for things in advance, that way when they have bad weeks days like I am currently having today they keep going. I got my stupid big butt, that is an inch bigger than when I started) to the gym. I only ran 1.5 miles, but I stayed above 6.0 the whole time and ran .25 at 6.3 and the last .05 at 7.5. I was trying to work on speed/get a good workout in without running too far. I am going to do my 4 mile run tomorrow because my legs are still pretty sore from boot camp, and I had only ran one other time this week.

You'd think with this much frustration it would be enough motivation to not skip workouts, but some how it hasn't been so far. I know that all I have are crap excuses, but somehow I still end up talking myself out of workouts. But tomorrow I don't care if I freaking die along the way I am going to run my stupid 4 miles. (I think writing this post killed any of me feeling better after my run, I almost feel frustrated enough to go run) After my run today when I was stretching I was sitting there thinking well I'll just get through the races I signed up for and then I'm done, I'm over all of this and I'm not going to keep working this hard and putting in effort for nothing. And then I stopped myself and I realized that no, actually I really want to be able to wear shorts, and dresses, and swim suits this summer. I want to not have cellulite and huge nasty arms, and I want to feel confident. It's still ungodly frustrating to think I am just trying to get back to where I was 3 years ago, where I had a body I felt ok in a swimsuit in without doing anything/watching what I ate BUT OH FREAKING WELL.

I was going to end this post with a positive picture, but I don't have any positivity today.

Life is all about perspective

I have been doing a lot of thinking these last few days, maybe it's the weather who knows, so sorry to get all sappy on you, but it's been on my mind all week. Life truly is all about perspective. After my run on Saturday I started thinking I really should stop running because "I have to" and start running just because I can. I should realize that I take little things like this for granted every day. That there are so many people out there who physically can't do what I am doing, and that I really need to take the time to appreciate that. I had planned on going for an extra run on Sunday, but it turned out to be super duper cold, and I turned out to be super duper hungover... whoops.

 

I absolutely, positively, with all my heart HATE THE COLD. So much so that I spent 2 winters down south, which were the two greatest winters of my life. Don't ask me why I live in Wyoming, it's a long story. Yesterday while I was going to lunch and watching it snow and I started to mumble and grumble in my head about how crappy it was I stopped myself and changed my attitude. We have had a TERRIBLE drought the last few years and we desperately need this moisture, I have a job inside where I don't have to work in cold, I have a nice warm cozy house, and I have a car that keeps me safe in this nasty weather. I realized I had A LOT to be grateful for. It's easy to get caught up in the bad of everything, or the ho hum of everyday, but if you take the time to adjust your attitude it can turn around your whole day.

 

 

Anywho... It's still snowing so the pouchie and I have been hibernating inside today. I had plans to do Zumba on Monday night along with my 3 mile run, Cardio Kickboxing and Zumba last night, and Zumba and a 3 mile run tonight.... but Mother Nature had other plans. Because of all the snow and yucky weather the gym has been closed womp womp.... I should of gotten my butt to my apartment gym, but that hasn't happened either. Monday I was just in a sleepy funk and it wasn't going to happen, and yesterday they hadn't been able to do any snow removable, plus the wind/snow was blowing about 100 miles an hour so even getting to our little gym wouldn't of been easy. Today our maintenance guys have been by TWICE with the snowblower plus they have shoveled (which I am very grateful for) so I should be able to make it to the gym tonight :-) Sorry for the crazy post so far this week, but I promise to be back to normal by the next one

It's a Monday...

This post is going to be a little all over the place because it's Monday and that's how my day has been so far. So my coworker is taking some time off this week which means I will be covering for her and coming in at 6:30 instead of 9:30. So this morning I got up at 5:15 got all ready for work, went out in the dumping snow, drove to work, started doing all the morning junk and in walks my coworker... I ask her what are you doing, your supposed to be off? She tells me no.... that's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm here today.... Gah shoot me in the face. I used to have really blonde hair when I was little, and it still shows through sometimes.

yeah I was styling and I had some awesomely pudgy cheeks... some things never change

 

 

 So I came back home and got some extra snuggles with the pouchie :-)

 

And yes you read that right it is DUMPING snow AGAIN. We are supposed to get over a foot which I am REALLY not happy about. I know we need the moisture, but come on mother nature how bout a little rain. Gah all I can say is this dumb weather better get its act together asap. Oh and that's why this post is in yellow, because I'm wishing it was nice and sunny out, don't judge me.

 

In other news I finally cleaned out my fridge Saturday night. Go me! And who ever designed our apartments is officially on my shit list because getting all the pieces and parts of the fridge out was quite the chore the way they have it set up.

 

After cleaning out my fridge a friend from work called and asked if I wanted to her and another girl for drinks. Not good for the diet, but girl time is always good for the soul :-) haha cheesey, but I have to validate all those sugary/high calorie shots we downed somehow!

 

oh hey don't mind my elbow all up in you

 

we ran into a few other girls fro work that were out

 

open your eyes Shannon

 

 

Shots!! I won't tell you what these were named, but they tasted good

 

 

 

 Now that I am post college, I hardly ever drink and I definitely was not feeling so hot yesterday. But since I had cleaned out my fridge, and fallen off the bandwagon last week and bought no healthy food I seriously needed to go grocery shopping. I went to Sam's and Wal-Mart, which on a Sunday afternoon is NEVER a good idea, yet alone when your hungover.  I had made myself a smoothie right before I left so when I started my shopping trip I didn't feel so bad, but by the end I was dying and I didn't care that I had forgotten a few things I was beyond over it. I seriously almost died though because between the two I spent $250 on groceries!!! Damn Sam's gets me every time it is impossible for me not to over spend there. All I can say is these groceries better last me longer than normal!

 

My friend on the left I the bottom picture is a Zumba fanatic so she has talked me into going to Zumba with her tonight. Seeing as that I have NO RYTHMN at all well see how this goes... Happy Monday all!

Today was a day full of learning!

I learned all sorts of new things today!

1) I can run 4 miles! Yep that's right I did it! It didn't feel very good (from 1.2 miles on I wanted to quit) and it was super slow, but I did it and I felt like a boss!

2) It is a terrible idea to try and run in old running shoes. I was worried it was going to be muddy out after all the snow we had gotten so I decided to use an older pair of shoes I have... I now have TWO new blisters thanks to that decision.

3) I hope I never meet someone who can read minds while I'm running because I realized today I  have a constant dialogue of whining going through my head.

4) Running 4 miles makes me SUPER hungry. I had to stop to fill up my car on the way home from running and I HAD to get something to eat or I really thought I was going to die. I almost went off the deep end and bought junk, but I opted for a Bolthouse green smoothie (surprisingly good), and a cheese stick (yes I know random combo, but that's what the tummy wanted!). I live about 1 minute from the gas station I stopped at and I downed 3/4 of the smoothie and ate the cheese stick before I got home.. yep. Oh and then I snarfed down a bowl of chili and several handfuls of baked tortilla chips like I had never seen food before. I truly didn't know I was capable of being that ravenous.

5) Speaking of gas stations, I learned when my car says "low fuel" it means it. I put 18.7 gallons of gas in my 19 gallon gas tank, go me!

6) I really, truly, from the bottom of my heart hate hills, and I will do just about anything to avoid them. I started my run today by my house because I didn't want to have to drive anywhere, I took a trail that in my memory once I got up this first little hill was pretty flat... yeah no. I got to the top of "the hill' and saw that it continued to be hilly and immediately stopped running and walked back to my house. I then drove to the park I usually run at and ran where it was flat. For being a state that I thought was notarize for being flat, the city of Cheyenne sure managed to make EVERY running trail hilly as shit! I don't know what I am going to do when I outgrow Frontier Park :-( Sadly I think that day is coming soon I barely squeaked 4 miles out of it.

7) I hate cleaning my fridge almost as much as I hate hills. I have managed to put off doing it ALL day.

 

And that's the end of my learning so far today, but I thought I'd break down my run for you

Total time - 45:58 (after my 5k last Saturday I wanted my 4 mile run to be more like 41/42 minutes, but after skipping running all week my goal when I went out today was around 45... so not too far off where I thought I'd be)

Average speed -  5.2, yeah that shit was ugly, that's all I can say. That's what you get when you only run ONE mile all week and then you try and run four. Never doing that again. This blazing pace breaks down to an average of 11:28 a mile. I have NEVER ran that slow of a mile, so that is more than a little disappointing, I was serious as slow as a turtle today, but at least I got it done.

Mile 1 - 11:20 average speed of 5/3

Mile 2 - 11:48 average speed of 5.1 HELLO SLOW POKE my second mile is always my slowest and it always feels the hardest I'm not sure what is up with that

Mile 3 - 11:41 average pace 5.1 still a major slow poke :-(

Mile 4 - 11:03 average pace 5.4, way to finish strong?

 

Ugh that's all I can really say. Those are some seriously UGLY times that I hope I don't ever see again. I still am proud of myself for doing it though, even at a snails pace. I almost had myself talked into only going 3.5. I was telling myself that's still farther than you have ever run, and you have next week to get your 4 miles, you should just stop, you don't need to do it. But I closed out those thoughts and did it. I wanted to reach that goal. I wanted to go .8 further than I had EVER ran in my whole life, not just .3 more. And I did it. And this week I am going to train like I am supposed to no matter what the weather throws at me, or what excuses I drum up for myself because I want to DESTROY those times on my four mile run next week.

 

 

 

 

 



My attempt at my first link up ever!

(Ok, its not coming up as the cute little button :-( any advice on how to fix this would be MUCH appreciated)

Today's a New Day

Today is a new day. I woke up today with the attitude that I am going to over come this slump, and I am going to drop the bad attitude. I am going to quit being mad and frustrated, because I have no one to be mad at, but myself. BUT I am going to use that as motivation to kick my butt into gear and make sure I quit skipping workouts. Yes, I let myself backslide A LOT, but the only thing to do from here is pick up the pieces, and start getting back to where I was. I already logged my coffee in My Fitness Pal and I will be off to Physical Therapy in a little bit. Today is the beginning of the end of my slump!

On a much better note, I registered for the Bolder Boulder last night! I decided to look it up because I heard people talking about it, and then I panicked when my running friend, Alex, said it usually sells out EEEK!!! No worries, I got it in :-) And not only did I get in, but my 5k time from last weekend got me into one of the qualified start groups! I was pretty excited/proud about that. It may of been one of the last ones, but I don't care! I think I may try and run another 5k between now and then because if I can get under 29:30 I will qualify for a faster start group. Right now I am in the 1:08.00 start group, but if I can show a time of under 29:30 in a 5k I will qualify for the 1:02.00 group which is closer to where I want to be. My goal was to do the 10k color run in June in under an hour, so I would like to do this one pretty close to that since it's 12 days before the color run haha. I know there will be TONS of people to catch up to that will be running faster, but I think if I was surrounded, by people who were running that speed it would make me keep the pace. I don't know we'll see what happens! Before I head off to PT I will leave you with pictures from the 5k in Laramie. (ok it won't let me copy and past them in here, so I am just putting in the links)


http://www.flickr.com/photos/highplainsharriers/8629654145/in/set-72157633188974821/

Yep I am that beauty with the hair flying EVERYWHERE, looking like I am dying, and staring at the ground....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/highplainsharriers/8635154633/in/set-72157633188974821

And here's me finishing.... yep once again another really attractive picture. The boyfriend's exact words were "you look like your dying" Well that's because that's pretty much how I felt.