Body After Baby: Half Marathon Training Week 1

Before we get to the running...

The other day I was in my purple tank top and blank pants...

And down another 12-13 lbs from the last time I compared so I thought it would be fun to compare some more...

1 to 2 = 27 lb difference. 2 to 3 = 12ish lb difference

HOLY COW! 

Thats 40 lbs! 

I think I am starting to look buffer! 

Well that was fun.... 

...

This week marked Official Week 1 of half marathon training. 

Day 1 - 4 miles

It was on the treadmill at work...

It was boring... 

But kept a 9 minute pace. 

Day 2 - 4 miles

Again, treadmill at work...

(OMG I went to the office 2 days in a row!)

I just wanted to get it over with so I actually ended the run at a 7:30 pace!

It kind of felt awesome!

And then I went to boot camp class immediately following it...

And I was spent.

Day 3 -  5 miles

Finally got back outside and had a great, relaxing run. 

Day 4 -  Rest

And I did.. 

But I still went to boot camp. 

Day 5 - 3 miles

I really tried to keep it at a nice and easy pace but with it only being 3 miles I booked it back home. 

Day 6 - 6 miles

I dropped the girls off at my in laws house and ran around their area. 

It was beautiful out! 

I ran thru the shopping center and then thru some super nice neighborhoods... 

A bit hilly, but I need that. 

I had a pain in my side most of the run but kept a pretty good pace. 

Day 7 - 4 miles

Yeah... that doesn't say 4 miles. 

The night before my running group had a night out. 

Momma was out on the town for the first time in FOREVER. 

I woke up a little hung over and wasnt even sure if I would run at all. 

But Brian was about to head out of town. 

I was in a pretty crappy mood because I was tired and Brian was leaving so I needed to go run to clear my head before he left. 

I immediately had a horrible side cramp. 

Maybe it was because all I had eaten before was coffee, oatmeal, cadburry creme egg, and marshmallows. 

I had to end it early... 

Yes, I was bummed... 

But the plan says to adjust as needed... 

And Sunday it was needed! 

Im nervous about the training plan I choose and beginning to feel like it might be too much.

I really like the schedule of the long runs, but the weekly runs are ALOT.

I currently cannot decide if I want to find a new plan all together  or just scale back some of the weekly runs.

I just ran 24.6 miles in week 1...

I do not want to get burnt out.

Weekly roundup: 3 of 52

Monday 1/14

I usually have leftovers for lunch but today was a hodge podge of food... 

Afterwork I dropped of my car at the shop and picked up my new rental... After driving a van & cross over being in a car seems WEIRD! 

Oh you're wondering what was wrong with my car?! ... A few days after Christmas Brian's cousin stayed the night on their way home from his parents. 5 minutes after they arrived I realized I did not have enough pasta sauce and needed to run to get more... and backed out of the garage into Lukes car!  Hate those idiot moments!  .... and let me add... Brian never told me Luke and his wife were coming over or even staying the night! Luke called me 2 hours before they arrived only because Brian did not answer the phone and he wanted to get a hold of someone... Boys and their lack of communication!

Brian does consulting work for a local gourmet popcorn company called Poptions.   Whenever he visits he brings home free bags of the yummy goodness!  This stuff is the devil... You cannot stop eating it!  Luckily Brian does not visit them too frequently or I would be 800 lbs! They often have groupons... BUY IT! Seriously, so good! 

Tuesday: 1/15

Brian had a work happy hour (he was the man of honor for being promoted to Manager!) and wouldnt be home for dinner.... I of course called my parents and told them I was bringing the girls over for dinner.  I then had to check out my sisters closet... sadly she took most things with her back to college but I snagged these items. ... can you tell I am a bit taller than my baby sis?

Wednesday 1/16:

Emily finally "discovered" her feet. She loves to hold her feet right now.  I admit its my favorite baby position.       She does not put them in her mouth though. Leah never did it either... 

Thursday: 1/17

Morning playtime before school... 

Friday: 1/18

Picked up our first Produce Basket from the local Co-Op program. 

The only mail received Friday... My brother and sister n law bought me a subscription for Christmas.  Its a great gift since I never would have bought it for myself. Reading definitely gets you motivated. 

Saturday: 1/19

Most weekends Leah refuses a nap... her bean bag chair must be too comfy though because we found her passed out around 4:15pm. ... she did it again the next day! ... oh and the blue around her mouth in this picture is from drinking koolaid. We made it for the first time with Leah with the old fashion quarter powder packet, cup of sugar and water... Leah was AMAZED!  She thinks its total magic! 

The Co-Op gave us 2 egg plants. I made Eggplant Parmesan for the first time using THIS martha stewart recipe.  It was SUPER easy! 

And delicious  Like seriously, I was impressed!  I honestly have never eaten eggplant so I had no idea what to expect! I was really hoping it was semi-edible and we wouldn't be putting in a urgent call to Dominos...  Brian was a little hesitant to take a bite. He kept asking what it was and asking where the meat was... but he ate it all and did not complain at all! I definitely think I will make it again... I am even anxious to go out and order it at a restaurant so I know how it really is supposed to taste! 

Sunday: 1/21

The Co-Op yumminess can be seen again with my lunch.  Mixed leafy greens(Co-Op), blue cheese, sliced almonds, cranberries & raspberry pecan salad dressing... with the most amazing grape tomatoes(Co-Op) I have ever eaten! Im pretty sure this will be my lunch for the rest of the week... 

Wordless Wednesday

Emily loves baths now that she can sit in the big tub alone.

... She also always must have a toy in her mouth.

House Tour Part 3

No, you did not miss part 2.

I am just going a little out of order.

You can catch the before photos of Part 3's House Tour here.

The most changes to the house can definitely be seen in the upstairs of the house.

The Loft from the top of the stairs...

The pictures above the couch were originally wine pictures. They did not fit in anywhere in this house so I painted over them and used a stencil... I dont LOVE them, but its something.  Someday I will do lots of fun things up here... 

Emily's room...

During the original post this room was just a jumbled mess of stuff... Now its a working nursery. 

The fact that the curtains are all goofy in this picture drives me crazy... 

Leaving Emily's room...

 Leah's Room.

Previously we were transitioning Leah into a big girl bed and she was sleeping on just a mattress on the floor.  She now has a real bed! ... but she still will fall out of it occasionally. I usually hear the thud, run up the stairs, and she is sitting half asleep on the floor, not really sure what happened.

I hung some of Leah's art work... art work I had to purchase back from a benefit... The mirror is also a mirror that Brian has hanging over his fireplace in the old house when he was living as a bachelor. I spray painted it purple and love it now! 

This bookshelf is also a shelf I painted white and modge podged some scrapbook paper to the background. 

Another loft picture... the stars were originally brown but I spray painted a blue color.... have you noticed a trend? I love to repaint anything... 

The Guest Bedroom...

aka the room Leah moves to in the middle of the night if she wets the bed.... that is after we change clothes. I hate making beds as it is.  There is no way I am doing it in the middle of the night! 

Not much changed here except we removed the table & chair that headed downstairs.  ... and the addition of the dressed. 

More loft pictures... 

Of course I still have more I want to do up here... its all a beige blob... but its better than before.  Hopefully we can do a few more things this year.

Body After Baby

The past few weeks I have not put any weight updates on this weekly post.

Thru-out the holidays I stayed pretty steady within a 3 lb weight range all month.

I guess this first full week back to a normal routine...

No holidays...

No more left overs...

All made the scale move again.

Saturday morning I saw a number on the scale over 3 lbs less that my lowest over the holidays.

Its a number I honestly never imagined I would see!

It is the reason I was curious to try on those size 8 jeans Saturday.

I have to say, its all a pleasant surprise.

...

Today marks the beginning of my 12 week half marathon training as well.

My first 4 mile run is in the books.

I am really going to try to ignore my times and focus more on just getting the distance in.

I know what I am capable of.

The time & speed will come on their own.

Weekly Roundup: 2 of 52

First full week...

Monday 1/7:

Finished off the most delicious bag of M&Ms ever!  Brian bought them for me for my stocking for Christmas and they may be my new favorite! Go. Find them!

I also tried spaghetti squash for the first time... It is an amazing vegetable, but I didnt LOVE the taste... I think in my head I was thinking "pasta!" and it does not taste like pasta... I just ate it plain so maybe if I find an actual recipe with it, it might be alot better.  I bought another one this week mostly because Leah was shopping with me and picked it out for me. I couldnt say no. 

Tuesday 1/8:

 

New Coach glasses!! Last years style, on sale for $99, with 40% off! Originally $300 something.  Would be alot better deal if I did not have such horrible eyesight and need such expensive lenses. I apologized to Brian for my $400 dollar with insurance visit to the eye doctor, which included contacts. (He has perfect sight eyesight and does not understand why it all costs so much).  He responded that he did not care. If he did, he should have married someone with perfect eyesight... I guess that was a nice/sweet response?  ... and sheesh could my forehead look any bigger!?

Wednesday 1/9:

My 1500 page study manual arrived!  I split it into 5 separate binders so that I can more easily handle it.  And yes.. it did cost $245 dollars for that stack of hole punched paper! People complain about college text books, but atleast that comes in a BOOK! 

It felt so good to get back to real studying!  Oh how I have missed it! It has been over a year since my last exam...

Jax hung out with me on the couch while I worked from home... 

Thursday 1/11:

A random January warmer day allowed for my leopard flats!... and of course my KiKi LaRue scarf again because it is winter. 

January 1/11:

Baby girl is getting better and better with her fine motor skills! 

And Momma relaxed with a glass of wine... I asked Brian to stop off on the way home and grab me a bottle of Montelle Winery Country RED wine... he definitely brought home Country WHITE.  Not nearly as yummy, but still did its job. 

Saturday 1/12:

I somehow managed to escape to Target with only Emily for laundry detergent but of course had to check out the entire store, including the clothes... I had the desire to try on a pair of size 8s.... Yep, they fit!  They were not purchased though... Hoping to get some nicer jeans from somewhere else soon...

The random 60 degree weather made us hit up the park.  Emily had her first swinging experience... not impressed.  She stayed in the exact same position the entire time and did not show any emotion... Maybe come spring she will love it like her sister. 

When did this girl get so big!? ... she also dressed herself.  She originally had a purple necklace on too... She may look ridiculous at times, but I love when she dresses herself. 3 year olds can pull off anything! 

Sunday 1/13:

We had a playdate with Grace, a neighborhood friend.  I stayed with them the entire 2 hours. Then Grace's parents came back to get her and I got caught chatting... The girls continued to play upstairs for about 20 minutes.  After they left I tried to get Leah to head to the store with me.  I kept telling her to get her shoes & socks and come down.  She never came so I had to go up after her... I found her in her closet, jumping into this mess saying "My socks are in here somewhere!"  Her and Grace put every single thing they could find into Leah's closet!  (Girl has a HUGE walk in closet) They even took every article of clothing out of her dresser.... I wasn't sure if I should laugh hysterically as she continued to yell "blast off" and jump into the giant pile, or cry...Later that afternoon instead of napping we cleaned it up, and kept the momentum going with going thru & organizing all of the toys in the playroom and Emily's toys... 

Venting

I apologize if I have been writing about my running probably way more than anyone wants to read about...

But I need to do it again!

I worked from home today strictly for the plan to get a long run in.

Its 60+ degrees today.

In Mid January.

In St. Louis.

My first problem may have been the fact that I headed out around lunch time...

With only having ate a bowl of cereal & handful of almonds before I headed out the door...

Maybe if was the fact that this week was the first week back at boot camp after almost a month off with the holidays and my legs are SORE!

Or maybe it was because I am coming off another cold, which included major congestion the past few days and not taking any meds today...

But todays run was my worst run EVER!

Sure... 7 miles at a 10:14 min pace.

Thats better than the last time I ran 7+ miles. 

But I walked alot! 

Probably about a mile total. 

Its really frustrating me as I officially begin my half marathon training Monday. 

This run actually fits in with my training plan as I am supposed to run most of my runs at a minute slower than my expected half pace... 

Which means around 10 minutes... 

But it does not make me feel better. 

I hate that I walked. 

I hate that I struggled. 

It makes me question all my future runs. 

When I have to go further. 

I have a problem where I cant just do something... 

I have to do it awesomely! 

Perfectly. 

I always set the bar too high. 

In the locker room after boot camp yesterday I was chatting with a girl. 

A girl who has lost tons of weight. 

But it still bigger & less athletic than myself. 

It came up that I am running my first half marathon. 

She responded with "Oh you will love it! I did my first last year! Its alot of fun."

Awesome for her... 

But all I thought was "I am not running it for fun! I am running it because I want an awesome time!" 

It got me thinking...

Yes, I am loving running. 

But I am not running for the "I went 13.1 miles... thats alot, and I am darn proud" feeling.

I am running because "I ran 13.1 miles fast! In the time I set a goal for." 

But after today's run, maybe I need to try to get back to just running it for fun... 

Finding happiness in the run rather than the time.