Running on Empty, Literally

This morning I got up, and got ready for my run. I usually eat breakfast and let it settle for a few hours before my run, but today was different. The local volunteer fire department was putting on their annual breakfast this morning, and my plan was to go do my run and then hit breakfast up after. So I had a sip of water and was off.

Right from the start my body felt tired, and my hamstrings were screaming at me – thanks to the dead lifts I did yesterday, duh! I took it slow from the beginning knowing I needed to pace myself because I was aiming for 6.5 miles – longest run ever! After 1 mile I was dying, so I took a 1 minute walk break and then got back at it. I hit the 2 mile mark just as I was near the gym. I was tired, and just wasn’t feeling the run today so I decided to just go to the gym.

I went and did 30 semi-easy minutes on the elliptical and then walked over to the fire hall for breakfast. It was fun, there were some cute men there and the food was yummy! At these breakfasts I try and stick to filling up on protein, always lots of eggs and some whole wheat toast. They always have bacon, and sausages and home fries, so I usually grab a strip of bacon or a sausage, but try and stick to protein. My Moms partner is on the dept so we had breakfast together and then I walked home, he was there cooking etc.

So no, my 6.5 miles did no happen, but I ran 2 and learned a lot. I learned to listen to my body. My legs and knees were also sore today, and 2 miles was enough for them. I also learned that I can’t do a long run on an empty stomach. Some people can run 6 miles on empty, I am not one of those people.

The plan is to go out tomorrow, after breakfast, and try again for a long run. No big deal! I love my relaxed approach to running, try again tomorrow. I didn’t really even feel guilty about quitting my run. It was cloudy and spitting rain a bit and I just wasn’t feeling it. Hopefully tomorrow it is at least sunny so I can work on my tan!

5+1 Things Friday

Good Friday Morning!!!! It is the weekend for me, I don’t have to work tonight, and I am pretty excited!

1. Yesterday I rode my bike!! Yeahhh me! It was a very short ride, only 2.39 miles, but it was a ride. I went out on the country roads and I was as nervous as a cat! I wore my running shoes to help myself to feel confident on the road. It was really windy and I could feel the wind pushing my bike sideways, which is one of the reasons I turned around and came home. I am happy I got out there, even just for a quick ride! Cycling is not like running for me, but it might be one day.

I need some more pictures of bikey!

2. Last night I went to my Dads and they had a Costco sized bag of Jelly Belly’s + chocolate covered berries there. Well I fell apart. Today I had cookies. Sometimes I just can’t deal around yummy crappy treats. Pick up and move on. Jelly Belly’s are so fun though! I love having one at a time and guessing the flavour!!

3. I need to clean my room + do laundry today! End of story, I have no workout clothes left.

4. Today I need to drink lots of water. Tomorrow morning I am doing my long run, aiming for 6.5 miles, and I need to be well hydrated. I have found on my runs that I am getting thirsty quickly, which is a sign of dehydration. Yesterday I did 3.1 miles and before I hit half way I was thirsty. Bad!

5. My Mom asked me yesterday when my next race was. When I told her I didn’t have one she was shocked. I have a 10K and an Obstacle run, but not until August. There is a really fun looking 5 or 15K on June 1st, but its back in Mississauga (3 hours away) and I really don’t have the money for the registration. In a way it feels kinda good just focusing on training and not having a race looming over my head that I have to hurry up and get ready for. I know races can be motivational and all but if I’m not ready (and I am never ready) then they make me anxious. Anyways, I am still on the hunt for a 5K to get my sub 30PR in, but I am not ready for it yet. So no races for the next little bit, feels good to take a small break – although I love me some good road races

 

Speaking of running yesterday the plan was to run 3.1 miles in the 9s. I didn’t care where it was in the 9s just for each miles have a 9 at the beginning. Well I crashed and burned. There was a huge head wind going out. Mile 1: 9:38. Then I began the run walk at mile 1.6. Total: 3.1 miles 34:10. I was upset with myself for not being able to keep this pace anymore, I could a few months ago, but then I realized its not a big deal. I need to relax and work at it. Next week I am going to do a tempo, .5 warm up, 2 @ 9:?? min/mile, .5 cool down. Start with a bit shorter distances and work myself up. I’m in training right now,base training at that, no reason to kill myself.

6. You get a #6 today because its Friday, and your lucky. I found this awesome app last night. Its the SeeWheeze app for the Lululemon half marathon. It is awesome!! It gives you a training plan, yoga videos, warm ups, playlists, everything you need to run a half marathon!! I am not running SeeWheeze but I plan to use this app for sure. Check it out!!!!

 

Have a great Friday!

What is your favourite Jelly Belly flavour?

I Missed It + A Lesson

Good Morning!!

It is Thursday, which means it is almost the weekend, and here in Canada its a long weekend – woohoo!!

Yesterday was a busy day!

My alarm went off at 5:30am for a workout – well my body was saying no so I slept in. Not a great choice, and you will see why in a second.

I headed off to volunteer at an elementary school my cousin is the Vice Principal at. What a great day! I miss teaching and being in the classroom so so much! It was so awesome to be back in that environment! My cousin put me in a grade 2 classroom, and the teacher was amazing! She was just so kind and loving, but also stern and got things done. The perfect balance for a primary teacher!

I spent the day in grade two helping them learn about passage of time, and let me tell you it was no easy! Wow, as the teacher said, they are too young to be learning about passage of time. When I was working with them one on one and really coaching them along, they seemed to get it, but when they were on their own it was a dear in the headlights kinda thing.

I don’t have a lot to teaching experience in grade two, except for a little bit I did in a 2/3 classroom in Thunder Bay, so it is nice to be exposed to the curriculum and developmental level of the kids. I am hoping to move around to a few other classrooms too and see how things work in their because all teachers are so different!

After school my cousin told me what to do and how to prepare to try and get on the supply list. He is such a fountain of wealth in terms of information. All in all it was a great day! I LOVE teaching

Right after school I sped down the highway and made the 35 minute drive to London to get in a quick workout. I did 20 minutes on the stair master, and 20 on the arch trainer and then raced off to work, sweaty and all. It wasn’t pretty but it was my only option. Time was tight, but I managed to get everything in. Except one thing, which really caused a problem when I got home.

You see I didn’t eat enough throughout the day. When I finally got home at 8pm I was ravenous! Because I neglected to eat a dinner I was so hungry when I got home. When I get this hungry I eat too much, naturally, to fill the pains. My Mom also had these delicious fresh baked out of the oven banana muffins, and fresh baked cookies. Both were consumed plus other things.

I do this all the time, and I think I have finally learned my lesson. I need to eat more throughout the day so I don’t come home and dominate the kitchen.

Today I have a 3.1 mile run in the 9′s, weights, and a bike ride planned. Along with other little chores, like fixing up my resume and working!

Have a great day!

My New Ride + A Confession

Hey! I need to make this quick, because I have to get to bed. I have a 5:30am wake up call tomorrow to workout. Why so early? Because I am, finally, going to start volunteering! I’m excited to get back into the classroom, I miss it!!

As I told you, I bought a bike on the Saturday of Mississauga! The bike is a beauty, Specialized, and it rides really smooth.

 

I got all the necessary accessories to go with it: helmet, bottle cage, clip shoes. I just need to get a pair of bike shorts, but the funds are looooow right now so I can’t afford them.

 

 

Well, I have a confession to make. I haven’t touched my bike in a week. It’s a brand new beautiful thing, and I haven’t been riding it. There are a few reasons, well excuses. 1. I need bike shorts, without my parts kill. 2. I am scared of falling, again. The clipless shoes/pedals are a bit of a learning curve. I fell a lot and got some pretty nasty bruises. I’m afraid of falling and really hurting myself. 3. I’m scared. I’m scared of riding and getting into an accident with a car. The bike is different from anything I have ever ridden, so it is something I need to get used to. I know a few people who have been hit by cars, and I’m scared it will be me. I’m not very steady on the bike and add the whole unclipping bit in and I’m just a wreck. So, Mr.T has just been sitting in the garage. Stupid.

 

 

The thing is is I have a bit of a student loan to pay. Buying this bike was not cheap, and I’m not even riding it. Right now I feel dumb for buying the bike and not using it, when I could have put that money toward my student loans that I so badly want to pay off.

So what am I going to do? Well I have to just push myself to get on the darn thing and ride! Go for small rides to build up my confidence. We live in the country so it is mostly highway/country roads around us which is good but scary. I have also been thinking about getting normal pedals for now, while I’m getting use to it.

I have wanted this bike for so long, I think I would really enjoy cycling if I could just get into it.

Any tips, advice or success stories for me?

5% Update #1

Good Monday morning to you!!

I need to get my butt to the gym, it is already 10:20am!, but thought I would stop by and say hi!

Goals for this week: drink more water, eat less, move more. Plain and simple

Now on to other things.

Oh the dreaded challenge update. I said I would update regardless of how I was doing, so here we go. (Ideally I would have liked to update last Sunday but things were just too exciting with Mississauga and all and yesterday was Mother’s Day, so here is an update, finally! )

As you can guess, this are slightly side railed. Since the challenge started, I am up 1.2 lbs.

My body amazes me. First, my weight fluctuates dramatically every day. In one day I can be down 2.5 lbs, and the next I’ll but up 1.9 lbs. Also, last week I thought I was doing well, when I was at my Dads house, and I came home and weighed myself and I was up 3 lbs. WTF! I know that weighing myself daily helps to keep me on track, which is something I need to be mindful of when I am at my dads. Sometimes I think I am doing better than I actually am. I thought my workouts were good last week, I felt like I worked hard every day!

Let’s review my workouts from last week:

M: Skip
T: 20 min arch, 60 min weights class
W: 10 min stair master, 45 min spin class, 15 min core
Th: 10 min bike, 60 min weights class, 25 min incline walking, 10 min bike
F: 15 min arch trainer, 45 min weights class, 10 min stair master, 60 min circuit class
Sa: 6.2 mile run
Su: Rest

Typing it all out here helps me see what is missing. I can see that I didn’t have a lot of quality cardio time. I did a lot of weight classes this week – awesome!! – but I left out the cardio. I guess I need to beef that up a bit this week!! 60 minutes 3 days a week, 45 min the other 3 days is what I will aim for this week!

I guess I also need to eat better. Yesterday I didn’t eat well, so back to lots of fruits and veggies today! I still have 17 more full days to reach this goal. I am in the right mind set, I just need to stick with it and improve on the areas I lacking!

What are you working to improve at this week?

Run Report, Coloured Crops & Mother’s Day

Hello, and Happy Sunday!

Today is a rest day, so lets talk about yesterday – it was a good one!

As I mentioned I had a long run on the plan for yesterday morning. So I let my breakfast settle, did a little cleaning and headed out. The other day I got in the mail a new Lululemon longsleve shirt I got off of their ‘we made too much’ section of their online store. Since it was 5C (br….) I decided to wear it for my run. Not only does it look nice, but it is so soft, and has a pocket in the back for my phone (that I like to carry for long runs on the highway). Love love love this shirt!!!

 

So I headed out with 6.2 miles as my goal. I knew I could do it because I had run 6.2 for the past 3 weekends. I decided to just go slow and keep going. I tried not to look at my watch too much and just focus on driving my knees up and keep going. Mile 1: 10:35. Mile 2: 10:33. When my watch beeped for mile 2 I stopped and took a 1 minute walk break. I was tired already, and didn’t really understand how. Last weekend I ran 6.2 without stopping. Needless to say I was frustrated already.  At mile 3 I stopped at home for a bathroom break, and some water – I was so thirsty! I sure did get used to having aid stations haha, need to carry water. Mile 3: 11:10.

I stopped for another 1 minute walk break when my watch beeped for mile 4: 10:58. At this point I was on the highway, so at mile 4.5 I turned around to head home. At this point I stopped my watch to cross the road and walked across. I stopped again at mile 5 for another 1 minute walk break. Mile 5: 11:28. From mile 5 I ran the rest of the way to 6.2. Mile 6: 11:23, Mile .2: 2:06.

6.2 miles – 1:08:16

Average pace: 11:01

Yes my run was slow, but it matters that I got out there and did it. When I looped home at the half way point I had it in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t go back out and do the rest, but I did! My legs and knees were very sore, so it was good I got back out there. Also I kept to the strict 1 minute walk breaks, not a second more, which helped.

My running plan right now: Tuesday & Thursday – 3.1 miles in the 9:XX min/mile pace; Saturday – 6.2+ miles slow.

Right now I just want to build a solid base for half marathon training next month. Ideally I don’t want to be as slow as I am on long runs so I need to work on this. By keeping my Tues & Thurs runs short I want to keep that pace in the 9 min/mile range. I worked hard to make my legs faster, and now I feel like I have completly lost all of that work. We will see how this plan works

Yesterday afternoon I also stopped in at Old Navy to see if they had any summer capris, because I have NONE! I came across these babies and love them!

 

 

 

I am never sure about clothes, so I took a picture of them and texted it to my sister for another opinion (I was shopping with my 13 year old brother). They look better in real life then they do in the picture. I am so happy with them. Why you ask? Well because I have big legs. It is hard to find nice capris for big legs. Not only do these fit nice, but they are coloured. I have never owned a pair of coloured pants because they are usually all skinny pants, and I can’t wear skinny pants. For those of you interested, these are skinny boyfriend capris. $35 at Old Navy in Canada. If you have big legs, you need to get these!! STAT! Go now haha.

After a long run my tummy is never good, so I only had a little bit of lunch before we went shopping. By the time we got home though my stomach was back to normal and in need of food, stat! We get this delicious dip from a local grocery store, and that is all I wanted.

 

 

Delicious chips + awesome dip + runners hunger = amazing snack! I only had a little bit, and it was awesome!

 

On a major endorphin high!

Lastly, Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mama’s out there!! I have the best Mama in the world, and am so thankful for her!!

Ma & I

We started off the day with a big family breakfast at a yummy breakfast buffet. Now I love breakfast buffet’s just as much as the next person, but I find I eat too much at them. It was yummy, and so nice to see the whole family!

Ma, Grandma and I

I am off to spend more time with my Mom, enjoy your day!

xo

Just Some Cute Pictures on The Weekend

Good Saturday morning to you! The weekend is finally here, wooohooo!! And it is Mother’s Day, any special plans? We are doing brunch with my whole family, always a great time!!

Today I have a long run planned, at least 6 miles, so I am hoping that goes well. I am just waiting for my breakfast to settle and then I’m going to hit the road. I had my favourite breakfast this morning – english muffin + eggs + turkey bacon+ a little sprinkle of cheese = best breakfast.  Oh and don’t forget the coffee!

My favourite mug from my favourite sister!

I thought it might be fun just to post some random pictures, on this wonderful morning! Enjoy!!

Baby sloth! So cute!!

So important to remember!

My Mom put me in the paper for Graduation! She is the best!

I am a true believer in this!

So darn cute!

Hahahahaha I love this lama

I would too!

Let’s travel!

Have a great day!