a change is gonna come

frightening photo of an ice b-b-b-bath

The husband and I were able to salvage part of the weekend and had a nice overnight getaway.  Ate my weight in really good (sadly, good does not equal healthy) food, had a fairly heated discussion about politics (always interesting!) and laughed together a lot.  It was great!

Got my initial marathon training plan from my trainer this past weekend.  I think she's starting me off pretty easy since I'm still a bit of a delicate flower what with my tired knee and all.... but it looks like it will ramp up pretty quickly.  Yay!  I'm super excited to finally get the serious training underway after all this time talking about it.  She's got all kinds of things on the training plan - stretching, core work, miles - but the thing that scares me the most is the ice baths that she has SCHEDULED.  Makes me want to weep.  I HATE HATE HATE to be cold.  Tell me I'm going to learn to love them.  I need to hear that.

The writing is on the wall in other arenas too.....  I need to lose some weight (about 10 pounds).....  Looks like I'm going cold turkey on the Oreos (thank goodness we don't have any more of those tasty morsels in the house)....and saying goodbye to Donnie J. (also no longer in the house) and his friend Red Wine......and I'm going to keep a food diary so I can come clean about the crap I love to eat.  Again, unlike Jane, not literally - but I do have that soft spot (most likely adipose tissue) for fat, grease and salt.  My motto is usually "everything in moderation" but I think I really do need to make some drastic changes in my diet over the next 5 months.  I can handle it. Right?

TRX/Kettlebell class tonight - swung a 16kg kettlebell - getting stronger!

Three mile run tomorrow.  Since we got about 5 inches of snow today I'm thinking it's a date with the treadmill.

best laid plans

Well, the husband and I were supposed to get away for the weekend to a B&B in Wisconsin but life (actually, work) interfered.  He's an IT director and has to deal with an inoperable server.  Major bummer but we're hoping that his team can get things resolved so we can go tomorrow and salvage at least one night away.

Like a good girl, I did my core work this morning.  Since I now had some unexpected extra time, I decided to go for a run this afternoon.  OUTSIDE.  Figured I could finally try out my new Garmin! I had to futz with it, getting it set up, messing with the online part of it and just plain trying to figure the damn thing out.  And my aging eyes are NOT helpful - I can't see it very well without wearing readers.  WTF?  When did my eyes become so old?  Super annoying!  But I digress.....

Jane

In for a penny, in for a pound, I decided to take Jane along for the run.  Why not? So what if the footing might be crappy and that Jane is easily distracted by the interesting smells and other organic items she comes across.  I'm sure I'll be able to remain upright! We ran exactly 3.1 miles, a perfect 5K as measured by my sweet new Garmin....ran along the lake by our house then took the bike path through the nearby neighborhood and along the road.  It was a good thing I wore my Yaktrax because part of the bike path wasn't plowed.  Snowmobilers had packed it down pretty well so it wasn't too scary to run on (remember, I wiped out a few weeks ago and torqued my already injured knee so I was kinda nervous about things).  Jane was a stellar running companion!  Happy to be out running, never complained about my slow pace, didn't do anything to cause me to fall and only tried to eat poop a couple of times (this refers to the dog, not me. I almost never try to eat poop).

My sweet Garmin!

Here's my cool summary:
Overall
Time: 00:36:48
Distance: 3.11 mi
Elevation Gain: 85 ft
Calories: 329 C
Timing
Time: 00:36:48
Moving Time: 00:36:21
Avg Moving Pace: 11:41 min/mi
Best Pace: 08:18 min/mi

Did I mention that I am slow?  Considering the running conditions and my fear of wiping out again, I'm pretty pleased with my pace.  I know I'm going to LOVE all the data I get with my new toy.  Next up: learn how to use the heart monitor.  For some reason, it wasn't picking up the signal.  I'm guessing operator error is the root of the problem.

Just heard from the husband: success with the IT issue!  Looks like we might get a little time away after all.  Yay!

slowly she turns....

I am trying so hard to eat better.  It's not easy for a carb-whore like me to avoid the breads, the Oreos, the fat, the salt, and the grease that I love so very much.  But I think I am slowly making the transformation.  One step forward, ten steps back sometimes......I'm a work in progress.

Mmmmmm, panko crusted halibut....

I was on my own for dinner last Friday after circuit class so I stopped at Kowalski's on my way home to try to find dinner inspiration.  Not the best idea when I'm starving..... Anyway, here's what was in my bag when I walked out of the store (after paying for it of course): fresh halibut, yellow squash, zucchini, baby bella mushrooms and rye berry salad.  Coated the halibut with egg, then dipped in whole wheat panko and baked in the oven......sauteed the zucchini, squash and mushrooms with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper.....ate the rye berry salad as is (and it was delicious!).  A fabulous meal for one!

Saturday: family meal with baked chicken breasts with olive oil and a mishmash of herbs, rosemary roasted red potatoes, asparagus with lemon and slivered parmesan cheese, and spaghetti squash.  Yum! Please note, there was NO bread at any of these meals.  Planning a meal without bread felt wrong, and color me surprised when I didn't miss the bread at all.  I wonder if aliens are taking over my body.  I feel like such a big girl cooking reasonably healthy food for more than one day in a row - especially on Friday when it was just for me.  It would have been SOOOOOOO easy to make a plate of nachos and eat them over the sink.

Mmmmm, grilled tuna steak!

Sunday: family meal (Again! Seems like a rare occurrence these days.) grilled tuna steaks with sesame seasoning,  mango salsa & fresh avocado, and brown basmati rice.  BIG shout-out to the husband for braving the below zero windchill to grill the tuna.

Annnnnd then I had two Oreos for dessert......and another one later to get my full serving of three cookies in.... Oh well.  Rome wasn't built in a day.

boston marathon, bodybuilding and bitching!

Just a quick shout-out to my Tenacious trainer Chris!

In addition to running her own fitness studio (where she tortures extremely willing participants like me with kettlebells, TRX suspension training, and nasty variations on well-known exercises - but also rewards us with the sledgehammer) raising a passel of boys, and training for marathons, she's now entering the bodybuilding realm and blogging about it.  You can read all about her here:
Boston Marathon, Bodybuilding and B^tching!: Holy Cr^p, What have I gotten myself into?

bulgarian butt...... and another donation!

Gotta love my core class - and last night's class was a typical killer.  We did something called Bulgarian squats where you have one knee bent behind you with your foot up on a box that's about knee high.  Other foot on floor is out quite a ways directly in front of box.  Grubby hands hold a kettlebell snug to the chest.  Bend knee of foot on floor and get your butt down to knee height then back up. Do reps until the buzzer goes off (30 seconds?  30 minutes? sometimes it's tough to tell) then switch to other foot on floor.  My ass is killing me today.  So I think I was doing it right.

I think there is something amiss with my treadmill.  I've been ramping up the speed a little bit and the treadmill doesn't seem to like it.  It's getting pretty wobbly and my water is splashing all over the place.  Just got the damn thing paid off and it's acting up.  Figures.  And it's sooooo cold out right now!  I've gotten much better about running outdoors in the winter but -20 below zero is pushing it for me. Plus, with the new snow and the ice everywhere, I'm kind of afraid to run outside.  My knee is doing pretty well and I'd like to keep it that way.

On a happy note - I received another donation for ACS - Thanks Sarah B.!!!!

stress relief

Life has been a bit too interesting for my taste lately.  Too many irons in the fire, too many issues to sort out...... I am so grateful that I'm able to run and SOOOO happy that I found my new workout home.  I went to circuit class yesterday and one of the stations was hitting a huge tractor tire with a sledgehammer.  I LOVED IT!!!! Add in the kick-boxing station where I got to kick a giant bag and then all the other kettlebell/TRX stations and for 45 fabulous minutes I was able to forget all the crap that I'm dealing with on a daily basis. Just what I needed.

The toenail I'm always losing.

On another note, looks like  my toe issue is once again rearing its ugly head.....I can tell I'm going to lose that nail again.  Damn.  I just got a pedi too.  Lost that toenail THREE  times last year.  I really thought I'd be able to hang onto it until I was doing some serious mileage but after 3 measly miles??? I mean, c'mon!!!

Oh yeah, and I caved.  Those free Oreos are in the pantry right now. I'm thinking of them as a reward system for miles run and tires sledgehammered.  And hoping that the kids get to them first.

an epiphany of sorts

Kettlebells!

Things are looking better with the knee!  I ran 3.2 miles on the treadmill (not including warm-up and cool-down) and held a 9:22 pace.  For me, that's speedy.  And best of all, it doesn't seem to be bugging the knee, I felt like I could keep going on it and it felt good to finally work up a sweat while running.  I've been taking it easy for so long I kinda forgot what it felt like to work hard.

More Oreo angst: went to Costco yesterday and they have a ginormous 10 sleeve box of Oreos.  WTF! I am constantly being tested.

NOT me.  I can't quite do this one yet.
Other than that, I look just like this chick.

So I went to another beginner kettlebell class yesterday.  This was after enduring a killer KB workout on Friday night.  The class on Friday kicked my ass as expected.  I have bruises on both forearms due to my inability to control the kettlebells.  I am so WEAK!!  I was kinda proud of myself for showing up for more abuse. As we were working, my trainer was asking me about my pace.....all I could say was, "It's slow."  Cuz it is, and I am.  But as we were talking I also came to the realization that I've never really pushed myself; I've always approached running as something I want to enjoy rather than seeing what I can do.  And now I want to see what I can do.