Small Changes

First I need to give a shout out to my BFF, Carrie, for helping me with my new blog banner. 

I *may* have annoyed her with my pickyness, but she hung in there as any true friend would.

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I just finished reading Eat and Run by Scott Jurek, the hugely successful ultramarathoner who also happens to be a vegan. While I am not an ultramarathoner or even aspire to be one, I was mostly interested on his views towards diet and nutrition. According to Scott, the better he ate, the better he felt and performed. I know, shocking, right?!

 

Just like I have no plans to jump from half marathons to ultras, I really have no plans to adopt a 100% plant based diet. But the book got me thinking about the small changes I am making (and plan to make) in my diet in an effort to eat cleaner.

These days a typical day looks like this:

Breakfast:  Greek yogurt with granola mixed in.

Morning snack: Fruit - banana or grapes.

Lunch: Spinach salad with veggie mix (corn, peas, carrots, cauliflower), chickpeas. Sometimes I will mix in a little chicken or feta cheese to add a bit more flavor. Add a serving size of balsamic vinaigrette, 

Afternoon snack: Usually an apple or granola bar.

Dinner: This is where I completely fall apart. I need to research healthy and easy meals to prepare when I get home. We are stuck in a rut of some sort of chicken or pasta variation. Right now there is also entirely too much reliance on pre-prepared foods and I feel like it is sabotaging my whole day's efforts.

 

I am pretty happy with how I have been eating during the day. I am able to avoid the afternoon slump by eating a healthy and light lunch. Dinners are my main challenge and something I am working on.

I've committed myself this year to making small changes that I hope will add up to overall weight loss and health  benefits. Here are a few of the main things I have been working on lately:

Soda

In the past I usually had at least one soda per day. I craved the fizzy sugary goodness of it and ignored the fact that it is just terrible for me. I tried to fool myself that a diet soda is WAY better that the real thing. But at the same time, I have never and will never let my children near it. I started thinking, why is it ok for me and not my own children? Then I started reading...zero calorie soft drinks are still linked to a number of health problems and are pumped full of artificial sweeteners. 

So in a effort to clean up my diet, soda was the first to go.  At first I didn't realize I was doing it. I was sitting in a restaurant one day and when the waitress asked what I wanted to drink it occurred to me that I had not had a soda in a few days. It was a snap decision to keep going. I asked for water with a lemon and never looked back. It was a little difficult at first. I definitely had cravings. But it has been about a month and a half and I just don't think about it anymore.

Coffee Creamer

This one is proving to be a little more difficult. Coffee Mate Fat Free Vanilla has been my drug of choice in the mornings. Sweet sweet coffee - there is very little that makes a morning better. But again, it is something I knew was highly processed and full of sugar, trans fats and preservatives. Last week I bought vanilla almond milk as an alternative. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely not the same. I found myself on more than one occasion at the coffee shop on the way to work getting my non-fat, sugar free vanilla latte because I was craving sweetness. This change will take a little work and experimentation. I wonder if the end result will ultimately be giving up coffee all together. TBD.

Seeds

This one comes directly from reading Eat and Run. I've added sunflower seeds to my lunchtime salads for an extra boost of health benefiting nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins. Plus I love the flavor they add. I am careful to limit my portion size because they do have quite a bit of calories. I've also read a bit about the benefits of chia seeds and have been adding them to my yogurt in the morning.

Whole Grains

This one will also take some work to get to where I want to be. We have long ago eliminated white bread from our diet, opting instead for whole grain. I have made the transition from white rice to brown rice (although, this has proved a little harder for my husband). The pasta though is where we are stuck. We HATE whole wheat pasta. I wonder if we are not cooking it right or if it just doesn't taste as good as "regular" pasta. Right now we have switched to organic pasta, but I am not sure we'll be able to go 100% whole grain here.

Fruits and Vegetables

In order to broaden my choices I am going to have to expand my repertoire of fruits and vegetables. I am by nature a very picky eater. I will eat apples, oranges, grapes and bananas on their own. Berries not so much. But I can tolerate them in smoothies. Smoothies with protein added are going to happen soon. Vegetables also need to be expanded. Life would be easier if I liked things like tomatoes and mushrooms and peppers. This will also take some doing.

Anyway, these are just some of the thoughts I have about cleaning up my diet. Cooking real food and straying from highly processed stuff is a goal that I am going to break up into small parts. I feel like incorporating small changes will have greater overall success for us. We are venturing towards a more organic and natural diet, but this will take some more research and experience learning how to stretch our grocery dollars. But we're committed. In the meantime I am researching and reading what I can. I'm pretty excited about it all.

Long Runs are Fun Runs

I have so many blogs posts written in my head. I think some pretty profound(ish) things while I am running. I write entire posts in my head. But when it comes time to sit down and write....nothing.

Such is life.

Training for the Tobacco Road half marathon is going well, albeit not according to the training plan. If I have learned anything from being a full time working mom of 2 small children, it is that I have to adapt to my present situation.

Over the past few weeks I have dealt with a rash of snow days, a crazy busy work schedule and working around Brent's work schedule. Although this past week saw it's fair share of missed workouts, overall I am please with how well I am progressing.

Today I finished up one of my strongest training runs (like, ever) - a 10 miler on the American Tobacco Trail. It's been a full 6 hours since I finished this run and I am still all sorts of giddy just thinking about it.

The first 5 miles were just about as perfect as I could have asked for. I ran by feel and avoided looking at my Garmin as much as possible. I wanted to run at a comfortable pace. I didn't want the numbers to freak me out if they were higher than normal and I didn't want to beat myself up if they weren't where I wanted them to be. So for 5 miles I just ran. My body felt great and my head was in a great place. I didn't stop and I never paused my watch for a break. This is huge for me. And when I look at the splits and find that my "comfortable" pace is getting a bit faster, I am psyched.

At mile 5 I turned around and headed back. I walked while I took in a Gu but had trouble starting back up again. I ended up taking 2 walk breaks during this mile. By my 7th mile I decided to run a mile and walk 0.1. But when my Garmin chirped I didn't feel like stopping and just kept going. Mile 8 was the fastest (and funnest) mile of the run. I felt strong and my head was in a good place. I paid for it in mile 9 but was able to finish with a strong mile 10.

To see 8 of my 10 miles hovering between 10:39 - 11:09 is so incredibly satisfying for me. I can definitely feel myself getting stronger and it is fun to see my progress in number form.

So I Am a Little Late

One of my pet peeves is being late.

I am always late.

It is not a good combination.

14 days into 2013 and I am ready to list my running goals for the year out there for all the interwebs to see.

It's not rocket science, but it is helpful to write them down so I can keep reminding myself that I have the goals that I want to achieve.

I am now in my 3rd week of training for the Tobacco Road half marathon and I think I am off to a good start. I have been trying to add a fourth day of running to my usual 3. With that and some weight training I am slowly starting to see some improvement.  This past weekend my long run was a 6 miler on a local bike path. As a runner who is consistently within the 11 min/mile range I was psyched to see these splits.

These are some speedy miles from me. Although I think having to stop at some intersections was partly responsible, I know that I was running pretty well and feeling good. It is nice to see some progress in the numbers.

I am hoping that, by sticking to my goals and training hard and smart, I might see something less than 2:34 on the clock when I cross the finish line in March.

Commitment Day 5k Recap

There's just no way I can read through everyone's awesome New Year's Day race recaps without adding my own to the mix!

I started the year off with the Commitment Day 5k in Raleigh  I love the premise behind the race series - a nationwide movement to motivate people to live a healthier life style. For me it was a great way to jump back into training mode for my Spring races. I was also pretty excited that two of my favorite Tweeps, Bang and Melanie were running this race and let me tag along with them!

Just as I arrived at the race it started raining. I was disappointed to realize that the vest I had set out the night before was still laying on my guest bed and was not in my running bag, where it would have been slightly more useful. I finished my pre-run banana and pinned on my bib and sucked it up and headed out into the rain. (Side note: You know you are a runner when you randomly find much needed safety pins in your car.)

I found Bang and Melanie pretty easily at the start and chatted with them while we waited. Once we started I ran with Bang who is a Galloway runner.  I happen to be a runner who takes walk breaks when needed but I have never run at prescribed intervals before. We ran 3:1 intervals (3min run:1min walk) and it was not bad at all. Looking back at my Garmin stats a lot of the running intervals were at paces faster than my average pace. Plus, being a solo runner 99% of the time, it was really nice to pass the miles with someone else.

The course was an out and back with rolling hills. For being a rainy and cold morning there was pretty good crowd support and the volunteers were awesome. There just seemed to be a happy vibe among all of the racers as well. And there were a lot of racers- from very speedy runners to families who brought their kids along for the fun.  (Almost) everyone just seemed happy to be out there.

We finished in 35:41. I went into this race with no real time expectations. I just wanted to run and have a good time. I knew I wouldn't PR because I have not been running much in the past month. But I feel like I had a good workout and it was an awesome way to start the year! (Also, the pecan pancakes afterwards were pretty stellar too!)

The Best of 2012

This morning I ran for the last time in 2012. I was thinking over this year and how much I accomplished. My yearly mileage wasn't all that impressive, but I went from two consecutive zero months (Dec '11/Jan '12) to running 2 half marathons in the Fall and a few new PR's. I'm pretty proud of 2012, so I thought it would be fun to round out the year with Miss Zippy's 2012 Q &A.

Best Race Experience:
This would definitely be a tie between my two big races this year. I set a Half Marathon PR at the Ramblin Rose Half in October on a pretty challenging course.

Best day ever!

Three weeks later I was on the Outer Banks toeing the line at another 13.1. This time it was part of a girls weekend getaway with some good friends! While there was no PR involved, there was plenty of eating and drinking and napping on the beach.

Best Run:
Again, it is a toss up between two 10 milers I ran. Both of them were out of town. One when I was home in Philadelphia. I ran a couple loops of a state park. The trail was crowded with people. The scenery was awesome. I felt great through the run. It was just all around fun.

The second was in Vermont at the peak of leaf peeping season. Vermont is one of my favorite places ever. I loved being able to get in a long run while we were visiting my brother and his family.

Oh Vermont, I love you!

Best New Piece of Gear:
Hands down, without a doubt, my Garmin 110. I was using the Nike + watch before that and it was wildly inaccurate. I super love my Garmin and could not imagine being without it.

Best Piece of Running Advice Received:
"Don't think, just go."  I tend to get bogged down in my own head. Self doubt often stops me in my tracks before actual fatigue. I am trying to listen more to my body instead of the negative thoughts that can creep in during the harder workouts.

Most Inspirational Runner?
Honestly I can not chose just one. Since starting this blog and becoming active on Twitter I have come across so many inspirations: the ultra marathoners, the speedy runners, the slow runners who are just as proud (as they should be!), the runners who juggle families, careers and their own fitness, runners who have lost weight and work to keep it off. I would not be the same without the online running community that I have found.

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?
Educational and motivating. I am so excited to see what happens in 2013!

A Mother's Love

As an American and as a parent of a 1st grader and a pre-schooler, the tragedy that occurred in Newtown, CT is unimaginable. My heart goes out to all of the families of the victims. The pictures and the news coming out of CT consumed my thoughts and heart all weekend, as they will for a long time to come. I wish I could be more eloquent, but I need some sort of outlet for my thoughts. I hope they will not be perceived as selfish. What I am is a parent who looks at her own children differently after this weekend.

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I couldn't sleep much last night. The words of what I wanted to write here kept flowing through my head. To be honest, I would have been better off writing them down last night because in those moments of silence everything I wanted to say was flowing freely and easily in my mind. Not so much right now.

Like the rest of the nation, I have been consumed by the news from Connecticut. The event, as gruesome as it is, was all the more heart wrenching for me because those children whose lives were lost were the same age as my son. They were probably doing the same things he was when their lives were torn apart from them. My heart aches for the parents of the victims, because I know if it were me I would not be able to go on.

President Obama mentioned a saying about parenthood that I have heard before: that being a parent is like having a piece of your heart living and breathing outside of your body. It is completely true. People obviously know that the bond between a parent, a mother, and their child is unique. But I do not think that you can fully comprehend that unless you have a child of your own. I don't think the intensity of those feelings can be adequately put into words. I struggle to find the words to describe my love for them.

This weekend I was more lenient with them than I normally am, I let them stay up a little later than I normally do and, to be honest, was more patient with them than I normally am. What I realized from Friday's events were that no matter how trying these two little people can be at times, no matter how messy, how obnoxious, how loud and how tiring, I am so incredibly lucky to have them in my life. I don't know if I deserve so much joy and I realize now that I can lose it in an instant.

The joy of parenthood is only equaled by the burden. Every decision I make affects not only me but also them. My responsibilities are heavier because of them. I make personal sacrifices on their behalf. I have the overwhelming responsibility to prepare them to become citizens of the world. It is my job to teach them how to be kind, considerate, active members of society. It is something I don't take lightly, and while I may have been more lenient with them this weekend in particular, I know that can not last long. By setting rules and setting consequences for not following them, I am doing my job as a parent. I am showing them that I love them enough to prepare them for this world.

President Obama also mentioned that from their first step, and every step after that, our children are taking steps away from us. This is true. I sent them both out into the world today when every fiber of my being wants me to keep them with me. But the world keeps moving despite how much we want it to stay still. And I still have an important job to do with these children.

Catching up

Greetings from my sick bed. Today marks day #3 that I have been confined to my bed with the stomach flu. Today I feel well enough to move to the couch, which is a big improvement.

Today, as my symptoms subside, I am relishing the opportunity to slow down a little bit. Life as been moving pretty steadily all Fall and I feel like I am just along for the ride. Since I am able to actually stay awake today it is nice to catch up on some of the little things, like watching everything on my tivo and finally updating my little blog.

I had a whole Thanksgiving post all planned out. What I didn't have was the time to do it. We traveled to South Carolina and I ran a 5mile race on Thanksgiving morning. I PRed and my brother-in-law came in 25th place out of over 1000 people! It was quite a morning. Followed by a lot of eating.

Good running! Now let's eat!

Since then I have been really enjoying not being on a training plan. Two half marathons this Fall were fun, but I definitely am enjoying the break from having to run. So far I run when I want for however long I want. I really like the freedom of that.

I have big plans for the Spring, including 2 half marathons and a 10 mile race. Training for that officially starts in January. Until then, I am taking a much more relaxed approach to running and attempting to get back into weight training.  I am hoping that this stomach flu has not set me back too much. Hopefully by the weekend I will be abe to slowly get moving again.

But for now, it is back to the couch for another nap...