Fleet Feet's Women's 5K, 10K & Festival

It's been a little over a week since my half marathon and I am ready for a new challenge.  I really want to get faster and while the long races to give me a great sense of accomplishment, they deter me from the speed training I need to do if I want to get faster. 

I signed up for the Fleet Feet's Women's 5K which is on July 18th.  So I have about a month to train to try and get my speed up.  My first and only 5K time was 34:28.  I really want to get my 5K time to under 30 minutes.  This might be agressive for this timeline, but there will always be another race.  A PR would be fantastic!

I also joined a Summer Hockey Mixer, so I will be playing hockey 1-3 times per week for the next couple of months.  Hockey is a very sprinty sport and after doing mainly longer runs the past couple of months, I have noticed that I am a bit slower on the ice than ussual.  So speed work should help more than just my running.  I also want to incorperate a step class here and there because they are so much fun and a great workout.   

Knowing I wanted to play hockey and do step, I was worried that I wouldn't have time to run enough to get my speed up.  Bobbi at NHerShoes just posted about how she trained for a marathon and got a Boston qualifying time while just 3 running days a week, so I'm going to try to incoperate some of her tips.   

This is a rough outline of a schedule.  The Hockey nights are pretty set in stone, but the other nights might switch around a little.  I'm also going to try to fit some weights in.

 

Basically in addition to other workouts I am going to try to have 1 sprint workout, 1 tempo run and 1 long run per week. Sprints will be a good warm up and cool down with 1-2 minute followed by 1-3 minutes recovery with probably 4-10 total sprints. Tempo runs will be 3 miles at a fast pace - hopefully they will get faster and faster. Long runs will be 5-6 miles.

Have you increased your speed as a runner?  How?

Chicago Healthy Living Challenge

When I heard that Bob Harper from the biggest loser would be at the Chicago Healthy Living Challenge at Navy Pier this past weekend, I thought it would be great.  My friend Taryn is a big fan of Bob's.  I am a huge fan of Biggest Loser and while I am a bigger Jillian fan, I thought it would be really neat to meet Bob. 

 

We decided to get there around 11 because Bob was due to show up at 12.  When we got to the expo around 11:15 there were already probably 100 people in line to meet Bob.  We decided to just walk around and see Bob from afar. 

There were a couple of booths that I found interesting including CARA, VitaMix and a child fitness course which TJ liked.  Aside from the few interesting booths, it felt like we were in an infomercial.  We could have lost fat and inches in 45 minutes or 3 dress sized in 90 seconds.  Ugh - not my cup of tea!

Bob eventually showed up which was exciting.  I have to say that I was really not impressed by his speach at all.  He was saying 'why aren't you where you want to be?'  I just got the impression he was very much like if you aren't at your goal you must be doing it wrong.  Maybe I was just cranky because someone had just handed me a packet on lapband surgery, but his message didn't come across great for me. 

I love the biggest loser and think it is very inspiring, but I don't believe it is the right way to loose weight.  I am much more into gradual changes with some room to wiggle.  I am completely aware that it will take me longer to reach my goals this way, but I am hoping I will be much more likely to remain successful this way.

Michael Ventrella, this years Biggest loser, also showed up.  This man is inspiring!  He lost 260+ lbs and looks great.  His mother, Maria was also on the show and she too looks fabulous!  They were both really gracious and are truly inspirations. 

While it was great to see Bob, Michael and Maria, the expo was dissapointing.  At a healthy living expo, the only true swag we were given was a candy bar and a bag of potato chips?!?!  Truly odd. 

We did get some coupons for interesting foods and I got some information on the Chicago Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon.  Maybe I will do this one next summer. 

I am signed up for the Healthy Living Summit coming up in Chicago in August.  I have much higher expectations for this because of the women who are throwing it.  If someone hands me a lap band  information or reccomends some booth where I can loose 3 inches in 45 minutes at that conference, I will be truly shocked!

Is anyone else signed up for the Healthy Living Summit?

14 Day Recommitment

I committed to a 14 day "detox" a couple of weeks ago.  I have been slowly putting back on some of the weight I lost and I wanted to recommit to healthy eating.  My guidelines were kind of vague, but rather restrictive.  No fried foods, no ice cream, eat fruit and veggies and work out. 

It is so simple to talk about, we all know how to do it, but actually doing it is the tricky part.  I did an ok job of recording what I ate, only forgetting a couple of times.  But I didn't follow the plan.  I ate ice cream and fried foods, but I did eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.  Most of the days breakfast and lunch were on plan, but by the time dinner rolled around, I was famished and ready to eat anything.  I think I really need to plan better and have a good hearty snack in the afternoon. 

Well I hate to have to do it this way, but I think I need to go back to counting calories at least for a little bit.  My sister has been telling me this for months, so yes Sam you were right!  With this plan, I can have ice cream and I can have chips, but I need to account for it. 

Source

So this is my 14 day recommitment to a healthy diet.  From June 1st through the 15th I will:

1) Eat 1500 - 2000 calories

2) Exercise at least 20 minutes a day (every day)

3) Eat more healthy food than unhealthy food

This leaves gives me more room to falter while still staying within the guidelines.  I'm a math person, so I always like playing with the numbers.  2000 calories might sounds like a lot for someone trying to lose weight, but I am not a skinny minny and I know how I get on less than 1500 calories (STARVING!).  I am a believer in doing something you can stick to.  If I loose 1lb a week, I will be happy. 

I will be tracking my eating and calories on this google document.  Call me out if it isn't updated.  I really need to do this.  I'm starting to feel defeated, which is so NOT me!  I am debating about putting my weight on the blog.  I'm not sure about it.  We'll see.  I'll let you all know how this goes.  

How do you get yourself back on track? 

14 day "detox"

A few months ago I was my lowest weight since college, possibly in the best physical shape of my life and about to start a new job.  Most of my clothes were too big, so I bought myself a bunch of new work clothes.  Now a couple months, many late work nights and 10 lbs later my new pants are tight and uncomfortable.  I am having upset stomachs way too often because I am not eating properly.   

My new job actually isn't so new for me because I used to work for this company a few years ago.  My first stint here, I gained a good 30 lbs due to long hours, lots of travel and many many team dinners.  I promised myself I would maintain my healthy habits of exercise and eating right when I came back, but it has proven more difficult than I thought.   I honestly almost pulled my "fat" pants out of their storage bin this morning.  Instead of bringing back my 22's I am going to make sure my 18's fit again and comfortably!

In an effort to get back on track and comfortably back into my "new" pants, I am going to focus on making good choices for the next two weeks.  I am not perfect - not even close!  So while I want to be healthy for a lifetime, I will eat chips, cookies and fried goodness of all sorts.  I just need to make sure I am eating the good stuff most of the time.  So to re-ingrain the good choices, I am going to be kind of strict on myself for the next couple of weeks. 

No I'm not going to be eating nothing except lemonade and maple syrup, if you really thought that you definitely do not know me.  I am going to keep this kind of loose because if I am traveling for work I still want to be able to follow it. 

These are the guidelines I will follow:

• 
  
  No deep fried foods (yes no chips, no french fries, no egg rolls, no orange chicken - so sad)
• 
  
  No ice cream or store bought cookies
• 
  
  Load up on veggies (at least one BIG salad a day)
• 
  
  Eat fruit (at least 2 pieces a day)
• 
  
  Exercise (break a sweat at least 3 times a week)
• 
  
  Drink water

I made a google document where I will keep track of all of this.  This way it wont take over my blog, but I will still feel a little more accountable.  This is my first try with google docs, so we'll see how it goes.

What is this all about?

About two and a half years ago the best thing ever happened to me. I had this beautiful baby boy, TJ.

Early September 2007

Having your first child completely changes your life. The first week you wont sleep at all, not because the baby keeps you up but because you are constantly worried if they are OK, what they need, or if you are going to break them.

We were really lucky because TJ was a great baby, he slept through the night after 3 or 4 weeks. But still I gained about 20 lbs AFTER I gave birth to him. We were eating out a lot and not exercising and kabam I got to my highest weight ever.

January 2007 - highest weight where a camera snuck past me

Over the past two years, I have been making small but meaningful changes in my life. I planted my first and second garden, I started running and playing ice hockey again, I have researched and researched nutrition and learned how to cook healthy and tasty food, and I recently ran my first race and have signed up for a half marathon in a couple months. This has all contributed to a weight loss of 45lbs, and hopefully along with this blog will help me with the 45 - 65 lbs I would still like to lose.

I am not even close to perfect and have veered way off the healthy path several times. I think living healthy will always be something I have to work at, but it has been a fun growing experience for me and my family.