Monthly Archives: February 2014

An injury?

Well, I’ve been ignoring some pain in my right foot for about a week. I thought it was getting better, and perhaps it was and the interval training has aggravated it again. It usually only bothers me when I’m sprinting; or if I walk more than a hundred yards in flats or shoes without support; or if I’m bending the toes to do push-ups, planks, or lunges.

I keep debating whether or not to see a doctor, but I’m not the type of person to run in at the smallest thing. Whatever the problem is -stress fracture, plantar fasciitis, tendonitis, etc.- unless it’s bad enough to need surgery (it’s not), the treatment at this point would be the same: take it easy. So that’s what I’m doing. If I’m careful for 2 or even 3 weeks now, I can still pick up my half marathon training in time. Will I do as well? No, but I should at least finish. That’s better than nothing.

This brings me to a couple of dilemmas. First, I’d just upped my calories. Now that I’m doing less cardio, I’m going to drop my calorie limit again, at least this week. But how much? I keep hearing never go less than 500 under your BMR. Okay, but what if you’re still lifting weights to gain muscle?

Second issue: no cardio. Next week I should have access to a swim center, so I can get some cardio workouts there. I’d like to try the elliptical machine at the base gym tomorrow, and see if my foot does okay with that. It’s when the pressure is on the ball or toes of my foot that I have problems. As long as I’m coming down on my heel on the elliptical, it should be okay. Either that or I’ll walk on the treadmill on an incline. I just need to get some cardio in. I’m scared I’m going to gain fat.

Anyway, this is all kind of depressing. This is my last week of the Winter Miles Challenge, and I’m not sure I’m going to meet my goal! I did get over 5 miles in on Sunday (caused me foot pain all Monday morning), so if I can get a couple of miles here and there on the treadmill or elliptical, I should be okay. I just have to really listen to my body.

Have your plans ever been thrown off by an injury?

One week until Florida!

That’s right…Baby J and I have tickets to go visit Hubby in Florida! We’re staying for just under 3 weeks. I’ve already been scouting online, looking at the base gyms in the area. It looks like one of them has a family workout room, but I need to call tomorrow for the requirements.

I won’t be taking the jogging stroller, as it’s just too bulky. I’m already going to have a lot to carry and handle, so I’ll have the lightweight stroller. This means J will have to watch Baby J at least three times a week, so I can run…UNLESS I can get good, long runs in on the treadmill. We’ll see.

Last week finished off okay. You can read about my week in my Fitness Friday post on My Life: A Work in Progress. I also finished Lorna Jane’s Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge; and you can read my recap HERE, if interested.

I did meet my Winter Miles Challenge for the week, woohoo! Just one week left for that, so overall it was a good fitness week. Could it have been better? Absolutely. But I think that’s always going to be the case. I can always push harder.

Diet has been so-so. I’ve been struggling with binging. A couple of days ago, I did decide to up my calorie intake again, so maybe that will help. I’m now eating roughly 2,000 calories a day. I think -I hope- that this is the right decision, since I’m lifting more. I still have body fat I want to lose. But of course I need to eat cleaner for that to happen too.

So about lifting…I’ve been reading more and more about the benefits of heavy lifting for women. They’ve got me sold on the idea! I have adjustable dumbbells at home and an ottoman that I can use as a bench for now. I also have some pull-up bars and an exercise ball. None of that is ideal, but it will work for now. If I’ve already mentioned all this before, sorry…I can’t remember what I posted the last couple of times. I think I just talked about running or biking.

I have realized that I need to be organized more when it comes to exercising. So I’m going start recording in a notebook what weight I did for what lifts, so I know immediately the next time. Then I can steadily increase that weight (or that’s the goal).

I also need to map out and plan which days I’m doing what. I’m still training for a half marathon in April, so ideally I need at least one 10-mile jog/run a week. Obviously I don’t want to do legs around that time. So I need to figure out when I plan to do what, and on what days I’ll rest. That schedule needs to be flexible though, as weather is always a factor. In addition, I try to get out for play dates, church activities, etc. often.

Here’s a photo of Baby J and I tonight. We had an impromptu run with my running buddy, Nicole. We took advantage of the last nice night of weather before the cold, and went down to the water. The boardwalk is a great stretch to run. It’s just under 3 miles each way!

 photo 95446400-E4A7-45A1-9378-0EB0A11A5569_zpsjn7idlnp.jpg

 

So that’s what’s going on right now. What about you? How was your week and weekend?

Beautiful weather for once!

So I took the weekend off after my run/jog/walk last Friday. I should’ve run on Monday, but the temp only got up into the 30s. Well, the rest of the week was forecasted to hit the 50s and 60s, so I decided to wait, rather than drag Baby J and I out into it.

Tuesday I did 5.88 miles outside with Baby J and the jogging stroller. It was a beautiful day- sunny and in the 50s! I’ve been reading a bit about interval training, so I did walk/jog/run intervals. Afterwards, I felt awesome!

Today I took Baby J for a 3.34 mile bike ride around the neighborhood. It wasn’t a very strenuous workout, but we did get some activity. In a few minutes I’m going to do some push-ups, ab exercises, lunges, squats, and planks.

I’m debating whether I should get my long run in tomorrow or wait until Friday. The thing is, tomorrow it’s going to be upper 40s in the morning. On Friday, it’s supposed to be low to mid 60s in the morning. Sounds great doesn’t it! BUT there’s a chance of storm on Friday. I guess I’ll head to the park in the AM, and just see how it goes.

I think I’ll be able to up My Winter Miles Challenge this week from beginner (10 miles) to intermediate (20 miles)!

On the diet front, I’ve been eating too much. :( I need to get this under control! I have a plane ticket for Baby J and I to go and stay with my husband in Florida for a couple of weeks. I have a week and couple days until we leave. J hasn’t seen me since Christmas. He knows I’ve trimmed up, because he’s see me on Skype and in photos, but I want to look REALLY good in person, you know?

View during my run yesterday!

Me and Baby J after our bike ride today! He wants to know why my helmet is unsnapped (I just undid it because we were done!).

How is your week going? Have you been meeting your goals?

One bad week but one good run

Well, another week has gone by. This was a bad one. I just ate too much food. Not enough self control. I barely worked out at all! BUT I did have one good run, yesterday. It was a very windy day, and the wind kept catching the jogging stroller, so it was tough. I did walk/jog intervals for about 10 1/4 miles. My averaged out pace was 12:32 min a mile, so I’m pleased about that. I’m happy overall that I was able to get the distance in! I did meet my Winter Miles Challenge, woohoo! You can read more details in my Fitness Friday post at Mylifeaworkinprogress.com.

The next few days are supposed to be cool, but mid-week the weather’s supposed to warm up. The forecast says we may even get into the 60s! As exciting as that is, every time this area has a good extended forecast, by the time we get there, some storm or other has moved in bringing snow and cold.

I’m just really hoping that we have good weather by March, so I’ll at least have a month of good training for my half marathon. As it is now, I could completely the half, but not as fast as I’d like. Baby J and I are going to visit his Daddy in Florida in a couple of weeks. We’ll be there for about 2 1/2 weeks, so perhaps I’ll get some good runs in while I’m there!

One other thing, my arm muscles are getting stronger. I was able to do more reps and more weight this week. I need to be more consistent though. I have a lot of work to do, so hopefully next week will be better.

Baby J loves to ride in his stroller during mama’s runs!

How was your week? Your weekend so far?

Brrrrr more coldness! and the Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge

It’s been a while since I updated over here. You can read my Fitness Friday post over on Mylifeaworkinprogress.com. I updated my stats; I’ve lost pounds and inches, woohoo! I do need to put more effort into building muscle. I want to keep losing inches on my waist, butt, and thighs, but I want to put some inches on my arms. The problem is I’m finding it difficult to keep up with exercising, housework, and blogging. It’s a constant struggle to balance it all.

I have to say, it’s really neat that I started eating more and lost weight. =D Now, yesterday and today my diet didn’t go so well. Yesterday was my cheat day. I went over to a friend’s place, and ate a ton of food. That was fine, but I had trouble today reigning it in. I’ve eaten a bunch of candy and Oreos. It’s okay, as long as I get back on track tomorrow.

This week went pretty well as far as exercising. Considering the weather and Baby J recovering from croup, it was good. I was able to meet my Winter Miles Challenge early in the week. I’m also participating in the Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge by Lorna Jane and Sweat Pink. You can read my Week 1 recap HERE.

Working out with a buddy #MNBChallenge

How was your week? Did you meet your goals?

Glad January is over!

February isn’t starting off so great, but it’s all in perspective, right? My toddler has croup. I think he’s getting better, but Friday and Saturday were rough. Last night I took him to the ER, after he started vomiting. They treated his fever and nausea, and then gave him an oral steroid for his throat inflammation. Today he wasn’t coughing as much, just super crabby.

It was a gorgeous day outside, so I finally felt comfortable taking him out. In fact, I thought the fresh air would do him some good. And it did…at first. The track where I run goes by two playgrounds. He didn’t understand why I wouldn’t stop and let him play with the other kids (I didn’t want him to infect anyone). So he’d cry. When he cried, his coughing fits would start. Add to that the fact my yoga pants kept falling down (that’s NEVER happened before). I stopped running a little after 1 mile and was able to walk another. It was really frustrating. I almost wanted to cry for a minute, but I just have to persevere.

The good news is that my average pace while jogging was 9:18 min mile. All through January I was averaging a 10 min mile or worse. Of course, that was only for a mile, so I don’t know how long I could’ve kept it up, but I was feeling pretty good.

I didn’t meet my Winter Miles Challenge this week. I missed it by about a mile, that’s it. Frustrating, but I just have to do better next week.