Running, followed by more running...

What a weekend. I ran. And then I ran some more. And today I am paying for all of it :)

Saturday morning was my 10 mile run. I was dreading it, my legs were tired this week and my foot has been sore. Luckily I have found a friend who is running the long ones with me and that makes it so much easier more bearable. So I woke up Saturday morning, got ready to run, I'm pretty sure the weatherman said sunny and warm all weekend, got ready to head out and looked out the window to see pouring rain, huge puddles and 47 degrees. Grrrrr. But we had already made the plans, so we ran. 10 steps in we hit a huge spillway and spent all 10 miles running with wet feet. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, and with good company it went by pretty quickly. We ran 10 miles in 1:45, not to shabby for a couple of moms.

Sunday morning was the annual Trolley Run, one of my favorites. 4 miles, all downhill :) We woke up to what we had expected on Saturday, a gorgeous sunrise and beautiful weather. Ahh, finally.

This one we usually run as a family pushing the stroller but this year it was just us, kids were left at home (although we ran seperately, atleast we showed up together, he normally beats me). I ended up running pretty quickly for me, I looked up my results and came in 123/647 in my division, 670/4032 out of all women. That's the top 20%! I will take it! :)

And that explains why I feel like jello today.

Workouts:

Saturday - 10 miles, in the rain :(

Sunday - 4 miles, in the sun!

Today - cancelled my morning class, maybe a light walk this evening, need to recover!

Does Wonder Woman ever get tired?

Get up. Workout. Work. Run. Make dinner. Play. Baths. Dishes. Pickup. Laundry. Start again. Phew, I get tired just thinking about it some days. I'm convinced the life of a fit working mom would make even Wonder Woman tired sometimes.

So with that, today will become a rest day. No alarm, no workout, maybe I can even negotiate not making dinner. It might be a McDonald's Play Place kind of a night. :)

Workouts:

Yesterday - early a.m. barre class, evening 3 mile jog

Today- Nothing. Sleep in. Ahhh, I love the sound of that.

What's bright today?

What's bright? Not much. It's raining or snowing or something outside which is just awful for the end of April. On the positive side, it's supposed to slowly warm up this week ending with a gorgeous weekend (which is much needed, based on the upcoming 10 miler on Saturday and our family fun Trolley Run on the plaza Sunday). So to stay bright and shiny, I decided to get some new shoes.

Doesn't get much brighter than this! Maybe they will help me run faster...or at least just get me out the door and running!

Like I have said many times before, I am all for bribing myself into staying on top of my health and fitness and new shoes always do the trick!

Today's Workout:

early a.m. fusion class

Getting Back on Track

I don't know what happened to me last week... diet got off track, workouts didn't really happen, I was exhausted. I guess life got in the way. So this week, its time to get back on track.

#1. Pay attention to what I put in my mouth. Enough said.

Friday I attended the American Heart Association Go Red for Women lunch and listened to some very inspiring words from health professionals and testimonials from heart disease survivors. Heart disease runs very strongly in my family and is one of the main reasons I try to stay in good shape. I learned some valuable information and it reminded me why it's worth it to get up and get moving early in the morning, fix healthy meals for myself and my family but most importantly, find ways to stay relaxed and stress-free... that one will be tough.

Saturday morning I (sort of) ran the Garmin Land of Oz Wickedly Fast Half Marathon. Actually, I ran to mile 9 which was as far as I was supposed to go on my training plan for Hospital Hill and these little guys were waiting there for me with a sign and a hug. Although I felt pretty good and probably could have kept going, I decided to hop in the car with them and call it a day at mile 9 :) I will save the full half for Hospital Hill. Talk about some great motivation to run, these faces are worth every painful mile. 

This week, I'm back on track. Or, atleast I am as of 8am on Monday morning :) Let's see if we can keep it up.

Last week's workouts:

Let's just skip that part.

Saturday- 9 miles

Today- hoping to get in 5 miles on the treadmill based on the 90% chance of rain.

What a Day.

Oh man, what a day yesterday became. Hard to believe an event like the Boston Marathon could end in such tragedy. It really shakes you up, as I train for my own race and think about the uncertainty of teh si, or remember being pregnant and stuck at home on bedrest as my husband ran the NYC marathon and I just sat anxiously waiting for his phone call at the end to say he was finished, what if I would have seen that on tv and not heard from him??? It makes my stomach churn to think about any of it. I have a group of friends who ran and celebrated their victory only minutes before the explosions, Ali recaps some of her experience in her blog here:

mileswithstyle.com

Today I am extra thankful to be healthy and home safe with my family. So many thoughts and prayers to those whose lives were changed yesterday.

Today's Workout:

early a.m. fusion class

Fitting it all in.

Happy Monday! Weekends sure do go by in a flash. Mine was jam packed with workouts, activities, dinners, kids, laundry...the list goes on and on. So when I woke up to run this morning, my body did not agree and today turned into a rest day :)

It's amazing how hard it is to fit everything into a weekend and still have some time to enjoy the time off. For me, it has become clear that I may never sleep in again. Getting up early before the rest of my crew is out of bed allows time for early morning grocery shopping or a workout. That's how I got my long run in this weekend. Getting up before the sun on a weekend was a little painful but seeing the sunrise while jogging, totally worth it.

 
I did however manage to negotiate a Saturday morning class at the gym, which happens to be right next door to the farmer's market that has finally opened for the season! It was almost like being on vacation. Gym, coffee, shopping in the beautiful weather (without children), what a perfect Saturday morning!

And I scored all of these goodies (plus my coffee) for a mere $7!

Weekend Workouts:

Saturday - fusion class

Sunday - 6 mile run + afternoon fusion fire class

Today - rest day, maybe a few miles after work if the rain lets up, or maybe just rest :)

New Tunes

The weather around here is back to feeling like mid-winter so that means back to the treadmill...my least favorite place to run EVER. To motivate myself to get this week's miles done indoors, I decided to make a brand new playlist. New music always gets me motivated and helps me beat workout boredom, or atleast makes it a little more bearable!

Workouts:

Yesterday - 5 miles on the treadmill

Today - early a.m. tabata class

What Not to Say...

A fellow fit working mom in my office shared this great article today, too perfect not to blog!

What Not to Say to a Working Mom

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/devon-corneal/what-not-to-say-to-a-working-mom_b_2566952.html

The highlight for me...

"There is no balance. Only carefully controlled chaos. Pretty much like everyone else's life."

That pretty much sums it up.

Today's Workout:

early a.m. bikini boot camp

supposed to run 3 miles but its raining, freezing and it's a Wednesday... I'll pass.

Good Karma

No big inspiring workout words today (most likely too much fun at the baseball home opener yesterday...) but I got a new necklace in the mail today that I have really been looking forward to and when I opened the package this great little tag was sticking out! Couldn't be a more perfect day for good vibes.

I ordered these necklaces for my sister-in-law and I to wear for the next year, she begins her battle with breast cancer today and so, today I am reflecting on how lucky I am to have my health and how to live my best life ever. Be healthy, happy, spend lots of time with my family and friends and be a good person-what goes around comes around. :)

Today's Workout:

early a.m. fusion class

Mom On-the-Go

I love magazines. Usually I'm catching up on the latest gossip while on a cardio machine at the gym, often that is how I bribe myself to get out the door, but lately my 2 or 3 10+ magazine subscriptions have become my saving grace when the boys are watching one of those painful kid show like Power Rangers (the old 90s version of course) or Yo Gabba Gabba. I turn to US Weekly. It may not be as relaxing as reading in a quiet lounge chair, but its still a nice mental break. Plus, I don't know how any adult could sit through one of those shows...yikes. Regardless, it's 20 minutes of quiet, so I will take it.

I saw this ad, couldn't have said it better myself. I am just proud I have found the time for the busy mom blog :)

Breakdown of a (fit working) mom on the go.

Today's Workout:

early a.m. fusion class + 4 miles

Saturday Success!

Today's series of events:

The strategy.

 

Great weather. Check

Great friend+good conversation. Check.

8 miles. Check.

Pace is wacky on my watch, there were no 1 minute 20 second miles... more like 10:30 minute miles.

 

My reward.

Believe in Something

I saw this quote somewhere this week, didn't think much about it until the week started to get the best of me and for some reason this popped into my head. Thought it would make the perfect post for a Friday.

For no real reason at all, this was a tough week for me, work was busy and my body did NOT feel like working out. My little mid-week 3 and 4 mile runs felt like torture, which does not make me all too excited for tomorrow's 8 miler... Why did I sign up for this race again? Oh, because I want to push myself out of my comfort zone and prove I can do something big, and I plan to fight like hell for it. So bring on those 8 miles!

I believe in rewarding my kids for their good behavior, so I guess I should do the same for myself!

 Celebrating the fact that we all made it to Friday with a treat from my favorite coffee shop...

and a new pair of running shorts :)

Workouts for the week:

Wednesday - 4 mile run

Thursday - 3 mile run

Today - early a.m. tabata class 

Tomorrow... 8 miles. Ugh.

Spring has Sprung

Ahhh, April is here. 1 month of half marathon training down, 2 to go. I am proud of myself and how much I have been running, I skip a few days here and there but overall I am sticking to it. Hoping I can keep it up for months 2 and 3. These miles are very intimidating to me.

Luckily the snow seems like it is gone (for now) and the forecast has lightened up a bit. With weather ahead of me like this, Mother Nature leaves me no choice but to get all of my miles in this week!

 Today's Workout:

early a.m. fusion class + a promise to take the boys on a bike ride tonight

the room was so hot I felt like I worked out in a sauna which means less diet coke today and more WATER!

Egg Fever (the chocolate kind)

My weekend can be summed up in one picture:

At least I started off with good intentions, I ran 7 miles Saturday morning (in the rain). Hardly could believe that I made it that far and survived! Luckily, I ran with a friend which always makes it a little easier (who also happens to be a fit working mom of 3 little ones, 2 of those being 3 month old twins, I call that impressive!) Still limping around a little bit today. And then there was Easter... a great reason to celebrate, great weather, even better food. Which makes this week an important one in getting the diet and exercise back on track, considering I ate my weight in Cadbury eggs!


Here's one of my favorite quotes from Jillian Michaels new book (did I mention I like her??) "Eat great food for eighty percent of your daily calorie allowance and make twenty percent of it treat foods. Willpower will take us only so far, and when we deprive ourselves of the things we really like to eat, the desire for what we can’t have can ultimately, in a weak moment, lead to a binge."

Some people stick to their nice, healthy diet over holidays and maybe someday I will be one of those people. For now I think I will just consider holiday eating the other 20%. I guess there is always the week after to make up for it and that starts today. Maybe I will double up a couple days this week. Oh, and I have got to get rid of the rest of those chocolate eggs. I probably should eat them give them away.

Today's Workout:

early a.m. fusion class

supposed to run 3 miles for training... skipping it.