Recent Pinterest Adventures

Here are a few of my most recent Pinterest Adventure! :) I know I promised 2 sewing projects, but we only finished one. I'll have updates tomorrow about the half marathon training plan I am starting and how running is going. :)

Gluten free pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins

Dishwasher cleaning (worked until I burned myself)

Breakfast "cookie"

Frosted flower vase

T-Shirt turned dress :)

Pumpkin "fluff"

Monogrammed etched pie plate

Dollar store mugs decorated (Hubs and I each decorated one for each other)

What projects should I try next?!?

Old habits are hard to break

Boy, old habits really are hard to break. I saw that in so many forms last night:

1.       When I fall out of a workout routine, regardless of the reason, it takes so much energy, positive thinking, and failure to get back on track.

2.       Getting out of the “all or nothing” mentality is really haaaard.

3.       Running a path I am used to running in the opposite direction confuses the heck out of me.

To start off, I did NOT want to run yesterday. I was making every excuse in the book to delay it until today. I got super busy at work and didn’t eat lunch until 3:00 (having eaten breakfast at 7, this did not bode well), so I was still kind of nauseous feeling and cranky (yes, hunger makes me quite cranky). Then when I got home, a girl I went to college with was on Ellen, so obviously that was a necessity. By that point, my couch was very comfortable and I did not wanted to move. I finally got up and decided to go (yay!). It so easy though to just say, “eh, I’ll do it tomorrow” when I haven’t been in the habit of doing it.

I got to the park and decided I wanted to run/walk for an hour and twenty minutes. This is where my “all or nothing” mentality regarding working out kicked in.  I know exactly where I get it from (thanks mom), and I know I need to get out of it and set more attainable short term goals, but nooooo I want to reach my long term goal NOW! The “running” I have done so far since my accident is great, and I should accept that, be happy about that, and progress slowly, but instead I kick myself for not being about to go longer or faster. Then I try to increase my mileage or my speed by too much and get discouraged. Ug, trying to get out of that… working on it…but as seen by last night, it’s been slow progress.

Last night’s run in a nut shell- 1:30:47, 6.2 miles.

I got to the park with very little plan besides my 1:20 goal. I decided I would just see how long I could run and go from there. I ended up running the first 2 miles, walking a mile, running a mile, walking a mile, running a mile, then walking the last .2 miles. I can honestly say I am very proud of myself for the various milestones I met with the run, but also for the fact that it made me realize I can do walking/running intervals and still be happy with myself at the end.

My new plan of attack is as follows:

1.       This weekend sit down and come up with an actually running plan instead of my current one of “we’ll see what I can do”. I know there are lots of good training plans out there so I am open to suggestions. I may decide to follow a set one or adjust it a bit; either way I am making a PLAN!

2.       I need to find a new place to run it I am going to go more than three miles.  The park I have been running at is great for shorter runs, especially because it has a lot of small hills. However, it’s only a mile loop so I got very tired of it by the middle of my run yesterday. I tried to “switch it up” and go the counter clockwise, but by the end of that loop I decided I didn’t like that. J Yes, I am weird, oh well! I am also open to suggestions on this front as well as.

I am very much looking forward to the time when my blog updates just have short stats of a week of runs, but only running 2 or 3 times a week doesn’t look so good in list form.

 Tonight I am going to try yoga… I hate yoga, almost as much as I hated running, but we will see. I found a half hour DVD in my collection, so maybe the shorter time will be ok… or at least bearable.

Get super excited- my next post is going to include pictures from my first two SEWING projects. Woohoo!

Savage 5K

This morning bestie and I ran the Savage 5K our church hosted. We walked the first 5 minutes and jogged the rest of the way and finished the 5K in 47:07. That means I jogged for 42 minutes, not too shabby. FYI- the hills were NOT nice!

By the time we finished it was still pretty cold feeling so we left right away. One the way home I was feeling pretty good. The banana I had on my way there was not holding me over, but I kind of wanted to run a little more (what?!). I stopped at CVS, got a Cliff bar and headed to the park I have been running at. 

I had delusions of grandeur and set my goal to just run a mile, but make it a PR (9:59)...whelp that did NOT happen. Half way through I thought I wasn't going to make it the mile. haha. Why couldn't I just be happy with the fact that I jogged for over 40 minutes?! Anyway, I stuck with it and finished it in 12:53. Aaaat least I finished it.

The thing I like about morning runs is that by the time everyone else is up, I've already worked out. Win!

PS- Bestie and I are going shooting today! Yes, we are going to shoot guns! Wahoo. Watch out!

Second run post neck pain...woohoo

Summary of yesterday’s run:

2.4 miles in 30:58… Mile 1 (12:47) walked for 30 seconds (wicked cramp), then ran until Mile 2 (reached at 25:02), then walked the rest of the way. I ran the same area as Tuesday, but made the loop over a mile rather then 8/10^ths of one.

Not terrible for my second run in almost 4 months. I set out with the goal of running two miles then walking one. I came close to the first part of the goal, made it only half way to the second part of it. Good news is the choice to only walk 4/10ths of a mile rather than one mile was due to the new presence in the park, not how I was feeling. By my second loop I had run into so many smokers I did not want to make another full loop, so I cut through a different path and cut my walk short.

These were the two things that really got me about all the smokers: 1. SO many of them were there for their children’s sport practices. Great example! Also, how do you expect a productive soccer practice while 10 parents are smoking around the field? 2. One of the smokers I passed in my second loop was a runner I passed in the first one. Seriously dude?!? You were running less than 15 minutes ago and you think it’s a good time for a cigarette?!?! What is wrong with people?

I probably shouldn’t be so judgmental of the runner smoker considering Mike and I had pizza last night, buuuuut I’m going to rank my poor food decision a little higher than his smoking immediately after running. The pizza had tomato sauce and pineapples on it; that makes it healthy, right?!

I am extremely grateful that my running pains are of the manageable/fixable variety. I never thought I would call lung and leg pain manageable, haha, but I know I can train to improve that. The neck pain I was worried would never go away.

In related good news, I told the chiropractor this morning that for better or worse I started running again. I expected a lecture like others had given me, but no! I got a high five. YAY! He confirmed that it wasn’t resulting in more pain, and then another high five. Woohoo! Doctor’s approval J  

Tomorrow is the Savage 5K that my church is hosting. I will be doing it with the bestie and she has decided she wants to try to stick with what her couch to 5K plan for that day would be which includes 22 minutes of consecutive running. Given my results yesterday, I don’t know that I will be able to do that, but we’ll see. I’ll try. I look forward to my first real 5K since April. J

Decision to start blogging...

I decided to start a blog (obviously)... actually I decided to start a blog a few months ago, but didn't know what I wanted to blog about. Should I write about my cooking adventures (read: most creative ways to injure one's self in the kitchen), my pinterest projects (read: my attempt at recreating other people's awesome ideas), running (read: trying to make myself like running), or 4 million other things I thought about. The only two things I was sure about were, 1. Given my new last name, the blog name was easy and 2. I was not going to write about politics; I won't touch that with a 100ft pole.

So, I have obviously decided to start writing, but about what?! Well, after my run today and my terrible experience after, I decided running it is (for now)! My thought is, if I start documenting my runs/workouts, maybe I will push myself harder...maybe?!?! We'll see... let's start with my run today.

Backstory: I hate running... always have, thought I always would. I used to be a swimmer, and I was great at avoiding the cross training of running. And I mean, I was GREAT, practically a pro. I would avoid the running portion of practice like it was the freakin' plague. "I have to pee," "Ow my toes hurt," "Uh, I have to go check on some lifeguard related thing," and of course my go to, "my asthma is acting up." Let's forget the following: I could go pee and then catch up to the team, really?! my toes?!!?, the pool didn't open for another 3 hours, and (the kicker) I hadn't had an asthma attack since I was 10 and I was miraculously fine 20 minutes later to swim. Needless to say, running was never my forte. The most frustrating part is that I come from a family of runners (dad went to college the first time on a running scholarship and mom ran 1/2 marathons pushing me in a stroller). Ug, why do did I hate it so much!?!?

Cut to many many years later (last year), I was no longer swimming or doing much working out, alcohol was introduced into my diet, I was getting older (stupid slowing metabolism), and the biggest culprit- I was in a steady happy relationship (engaged to be exact). My (now) husband and I had fallen into that terrible (for your health) comfortable zone where you would rather just sit with your loved one and eat yummy food, have yummy drinks, and not work out.  However, with the wedding coming up, having gone up four pants sizes and 40 pounds since college, and my general unhappiness with how I looked I decided it was time for a change.

Mike and I did well, started eating better and exercising pretty regularly. We even started a competition that included our neighbors to see who stuck with working out longer (boys vs. girls style). Well, everyone was was losing weight but me, AND they all could eat more than me according to the "Loseit" app... not. cool. I decided I needed to increase my cardio, but unfortunately I get bored on the elliptical and it was tough to fit going to the fun classes at the gym into my schedule. My mom (and others) kept telling me exactly what I didn't want to hear- "start running"...

To breeze over my few months of my running, I started and hated and stopped. I picked it up again a month or so later and started to get the hang of it. Eventually was able to run around 4 miles. To be perfectly truthful, I guess I should state that so far in my "running" adventures, what I actually do it considered jogging, and that may be pushing it. I can actually walk faster (yes, sad), but at least it resembled running. Whatever, I was happy that I could "run" 4 miles period, even if it was only at a 11-13 minute mile pace. Best part was, I was actually beginning not to hate running. I was starting to enjoy it. (WHAT?!?!) Best of all, I was down 25-30 pounds and a few pants sizes.

Then three weeks before the wedding (May 21) bam (literally, bam), a lady ran a red light and hit my car. 12 hours later begins neck and back pain. Long story short, since then, I have not been able to run. I attempted a run in July, made it a mile and wanted to curl into a ball and sob because of the pain. Running was obviously not happening any time soon.  Back to the elliptical, walking, and general frustration.

That brings us to current time, about a week ago, the pain fiiiiinally started to go away. Not completely, but enough that I could consider running part of the Color Run this past Sunday (I will post pictures soon). I didn't run much of it (4 or 5 little stretches), and I did take a flexeril before, buuuut relatively no pain. Now, by deciding to start running again today, I may not have made the smartest choice, but I am fed up with being out of shape (I have gained TEN pounds since the wedding and lost all muscle tone). So, today I ran (again, we are going with my definition of running)! Summary from today's run:

We ran at the local park, which the loop around is about 8/10ths of a mile and has a few small hills. I told Mike form the beginning that I did not plan to try to keep up with him because I never can and I don't want to kill myself.

Good points of the run: I made it a little over a mile at a 12 minute pace without walking and we went a total of a mile and a half.

Bad points of the run: 10 minutes into stretching afterwards I thought I was going to throw up and this feeling stuck for the next hour to hour and a half. It took me 20 minutes to finish my smoothie and a lot of inner dialog to convince myself to keep it down.

Now, before the accident there were plenty of times I felt crappy immediately after a run, but not for this long. Why this time? Well, I have nailed the culprit. Intervals.

I run at a snails pace, I am ok with this for now. It is the only way I can keep going. For someone who swam for as long as I did, I have unbelievably bad cardio strength. I KNOW that interval training is a great way to build cardio and to burn more fat and blah blah blah. However, I have not made it to the point yet where I can implement interval training in running. Yes, all of you strong runners will tell me I am thinking backwards, if I do interval training, I will be able to run longer... still not there yet. Eventually I will be.

So why did I attempt intervals when I know I suuuuck at them? Simple answer, the husband. This is why I don't run with him. LOVE him, but he is just in way better shape than me.

Let's see how it goes from here! Blog world, hopefully I will keep you updated (with much SHORTER posts).