Ready set Blog

I have had a few posts I have put together in draft, but I seemingly always forget to come back and finish.

Last Friday I took faith in my coach and went and saw a Chiropractor, Dr. Weatherwax about my lower back, hip, calf pain. Lets just say he is awesome! He was not just a chiropractor, he is a triathlete who thinks like a Athletic Trainer. In short my right glute is weak, and he said it has probably been week for so long that is why I have had my knee problems and severe hip pain for so long. Interesting right! No xray, MRI or other fancy diagnostic besides talking to me, making me stand on each leg, and "feeling" up my muscles. We followed up the appointment with stim on my lower back and glute, stim on my guad and hamstring, laying on the water table and massage of my legs. I have another appointment this week for more therapy, but I have to talk to him about at home strengthening and maybe only going 1x a month. My insurance does not cover chiropractors, and $50 a pop is just crazy!

I had planned on my 2nd strength training day to be Thursday as usual, but ended up heading into work early so I could leave for an appointment at the florist (yay wedding centerpieces). I figured I had softball that night, and I would put off lifting. Softball ended up being cancelled, so it became a rest day. So after getting home from my appointment with Dr. Weatherwax I walked over to Publix for pizza dough. My leg was bothering me a lot, dashing my plan to take the pups for a walk, so instead I hopped on the elliptical planning to do 20 minutues. The first 20 felt great, so I extended for another 20 followed by a soak in the jacuzzi tub (best investment ever) with the latest Runners World.

Saturdays run started off great. Robb and the Doc wanted me to walk/run, which had me discouraged after finally getting off intervals and running 4 miles. Granted it is a slower 4, but I do not feel like dying at the end. Alexis and I set out and I tackled the first 2 with little/no pain. My garmin died so I don't have my pace or information, but I think we were around 10:45. My challenge is I want to run with her, but I end up running slower, with a heart rate of about 165. We hit the refuel station and stopped for some water. When I started back it my calf was like "hello did you forget about me!?". Alexis dropped off a little into it, due to stomach issues, and I kept trucking. At what I can guess was a little less than halfway in, I decided to walk. I was pushing hard, and my leg was starting to hurt. The remainder of my run was spent alternating. I hate walking, but I did not end feeling like I couldn't walk. Robb even mentioned it didn't look like I was favoring my leg for the first time.

I followed the run with an everything bagel, veggie cream cheese and oj at Panera. I debated grabbing my foam roller out of the car and using it right there, but decided to wait.

The rest of the day was spent 1) organizing files in my office 2) picking up 124 chargers from a girl for the wedding 3) lunch at Mimi's and vegging with the fiance.



Todays workout was much less intense but good. Ironically Women's Health that came yesterday has "10 moves for your butt". I decided to do a mix of that and my Biggest Loser lifting plan in our workout room. Eventually I will take a picture of our setup, I can't complain it is pretty nice when I don't feel like going to the gym.

Dinner was delicious! I made Ed sweet potato fries, but since we only had 1, I only ate 3. The rest of my consisted of a little NY Strip steak, salad, green beans and a glass of Huber table red wine from our winery trip last October.

Other eats today:
Breakfast- greek yogurt, but butter granola and a nectarine.
Lunch- leftover veggie pizza I made Friday night
Snack- chocolate almond butter out of the jar (yummy)
Post Workout snack- banana with Naturally Nutty Toffee Peanut Butter


Upcoming goals:
Bump up mileage to 5 miles next weekend
Register for Miracle Miles 5k (I know it will be slower then my last, but goal is NO intervals)
Stay on top of food/exercise log aka blog it
Cut out the junk/processed sugar


My weight has not gone down like I hoped/planned and I realize I like/crave chocolate and I eat it. Although this is not a weight centered blog, and I will not disgust myself by talking about my cellulite legs and need/want to drop at least 10 more pounds, I am truly wanting to get there. So there I said it, and I hope I will not say it again!


Mission tomorrow- take pictures of food and post in a more logical order. What can I say I am just learning.

Beginning AEM Training

Well I bit the bullet and signed up for AEM Training to help me become not only a better runner but to also tackle the Princess Half Marathon!



My friend Alexis and I signed up to race and train together and I couldn't be more excited. We have a little over 6 months until the Princess, and I have a list of goals I want to accomplish.

1) Run a 5k race without using intervals

I have only run 2 5k's after doing the No Boundaries program, and I ran them (and have been running) with intervals. They are great, but I find I push myself very hard for 6:30 and walk for :45, and by the end of the races/runs I had nothing left in the tank.

2) Run a 10k

3) Become stronger physically and mentally

I have a hard time pushing myself, I want to become a stronger runner mentally, but also physically.


How am I am going to do this? Well AEM is a great program for me, and the reason I chose to do it is because I need help training. Left to my own I do not push myself as hard, and would end up inadequately prepared (or so I think). Part of my training with Coach Rob is running, but it also includes weight lifting, nutrition, body mechanics and advice.

Here is week ones plan to date:

Monday- Run – Negative Split Blocks
(Establish T-Pace) ½ Mile
½ Mile (T.Pace minus 1 minute)
REPEAT THIS 1 MILE BLOCK 6 TIMES FOR A TOTAL OF 6 MILES

Tuesday- Lifting (specific lifting exercises)

Wednesday- Run –4 Miles/Even Tempo


Here is what really happened:

Monday- Run – Negative Split Blocks
(Establish T-Pace) ½ Mile
½ Mile (T.Pace minus 1 minute)
REPEAT THIS 1 MILE BLOCK 4 TIMES FOR A TOTAL OF4 MILES

Tuesday- Lifting (specific lifting exercises)

Wednesday- Run –1 mile warm-up followed by Bio-mechanics including butt kicks, high knees and high kicks. Then a 1/4 miles cool down.


Why did I only do 4 intervals on Monday? Coach Robb told me to listen to my body, and I have fought for the past few months with pain in my right foot, calf and hip. The great thing is he gave me some tips to working the hip out at work. More on that soon....

Tuesdays lifting was great, he provided YouTube videos how do each exercise, which I watched this weekend.

Wednesday Alexis came out to train as well, and Coach Robb wanted to work on our form and help us run correctly. It was actually very informative, and he says we will feel it in our legs tomorrow!


Tips to working the IT band pain out. Last Friday after my 4.25 mile on Thursday (which I did without intervals) I could not walk the pain was so bad, and the IT band was very tight. This week Coach Robb told me to grab a tennis ball, sit on it at my desk and massage the muscle. When I hit a tender spot let the ball sit and work it out a little. Ironically I do this already with my calf, but sitting at my desk worked great for the IT band and I was pain free yesterday!

Hopefully my tennis ball massage will help today, even though I am pain free, I want it to stay that way. Good thing I have an office alone in the back of the trailer.

Wow what a great workout today! Nothing like feeling having a great spin instructor and feeling like you pushed yourself to your limit and could pass out when done. However, feeling hungry 20 minutes in is not fun.

I was lucky and worked from home today, well after going to the dentist. Interesting fact, the dentist, hygienist and assistants were all male. The receptionist were both woman. Wierd huh? At least they were awesome. My teeth not so much. I haven't been to the dentist in about 3 years, and today they told me my 3 fillings need to be redone and I have 2 more cavities. Looks like another chunk of change not going towards the honeymoon. Budget crunching this weekend. I wish I could get a part time job to stock money for Ireland (where we are Honeymooning!), but with my commute and irregular schedule there is no way.

Eating this week has a least gotten better. Today for lunch I made my own chicken salad with apples and raisins. Delicious! Other eats included 2 whole wheat waffles with peanut butter, banana and chocolate chips. May not be the greatest breakfast but its delicious and has been keeping me full through lunch.

Oddly this week I busted 2 plates in the microwave nuking morningstar veggie bacon. Guess that's what happens with Old Time Pottery plates after 3 1/2 years. Granted I paid $20 for 8 large plates, small plates, mugs, saucers, serving bowl, platter and napkin rings. I am looking forward to getting our plates off our registry, though I think I want to find different ones, I'm not sold on the ones we picked.

Weekend ahead involves a movie on the couch tonight via Wii Netflix, working on Save the Dates, dinner with the girls from the Central Florida Knot.com board, and hopefully tasting cake tomorrow!

TGIF!

Cookie Monster

Yesterday a resident brought us homemade chocolate chip cookies to the office. Let's just say I ate 3!!! Good thing the rest of my day was balanced and healthy eating.

Monday I made myself laugh, I wanted to watch my DVR'd Army Wives, so I unplugged the DVR from the living room and plugged it in the back room so I could elliptical and watch it. I like to save my "trashy" tv for when Ed is at work.

I am fortunate I have an elliptical, spin bike and Bowflew in our back room and we have it nicely setup for a workout. Best of all, I convinced my Mom to add me to her LA Fitness Membership so I can go to spinning, swim, run on the dreadmill, stair climb, etc. Now if I could just keep my butt in gear. I think the 45/60 min drive each way daily takes its toll on my workout. Plus when Ed is home at night I feel the need to hang with him. But since he will be working in a High School next year, that means he will be up earlier, so that means I will be working out in the morning like I love to do!!

How is it when we went looking for shoes for Ed yesterday he bought none and I bought two?

First Post

Well technically this is not my first post, I originally started this blog to track my wedding planning progress. I decided that was crappy and who wants to read that all the time. I have started following a bunch of great food and fitness blogs, and decided I will start there! I may never be as great as them, but alas I plan to share my plan to keep getting fit(er) and eat better for our upcoming wedding March 26.

Over the past few years my weight has fluctuated greatly, and just 3 years ago I worked out with a trainer, dropped a load of $$ and 20 pounds, and was 10pounds lighter then I am now. I was always active playing sports, racing canoes, hiking, snowboarding, dance, but my weight in High School and College flucuated between 170 and 180. I didn't realize that I didn't eat healthy or that I ate a lot. My family always had sweets around, although we didn't eat fried food or fast food (McDonald's) we didn't always eat the most balanced dinners. I didn't like a lot of vegetables, and was a pretty picky eater.

High School- Junior Year 2000 (Maybe?)

Japan 2005

December 2007




But my job was a 1 to 10, I had plenty of time for the gym and eating healthy. Then I took a promotion which = stress followed by a new job which was H-E-L-L, and was fired 6 months in. 1 1/2 years after the first promotion and starting to date Ed I was up about 30 pounds. On my 5'11" frame that may not seem like a lot, but I cried the day at the doctors in June when she asked what happened. I couldn't blame my thyroid, they tested me for all kinds of diseases, I was insisting that I still ate healthy and worked out, but I was in denial.
























Our first picture together
(My 25th Birthday party)
February 2008






















Christmas 2009

Jennie's Wedding July 2010 (She has an excuse she was 4months preggo!)
Me- 185




I got smart, started working out again, eating healthy and by January was down 15 pounds. Actually getting fired in August was the best thing for my health. In January I convinced my Fiance Ed, who had also gained about 20/25 pounds on his 6'4" frame to start working out with me, and we signed up for No Boundaries at Fleet Feet Sports.

By the end of the training I was down to only 167 pounds, but you could see the difference in my legs, face and stomach (which has always been pretty flat). Eating healthy again has helped combat my Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and I hope to get to a healthy weight of 160 pounds. Stay with me on my journey, and see how Ed and I continue to progress as we train for a 10k with No Boundaries in the Fall followed by the Princess Half Marathon and finally our wedding!!




















Teal Ribbon Run May 2010



Stay tuned as I continue on my journey to the Princess 1/2 and our wedding!