May is mental health month! GNC $100 giftcard Giveaway

In the month of May, I’ve definitely started to think about hormones and the role they play in everyday life! After quitting nursing rather abruptly with Kara after she lost interest and I stopped finding the time to pump, I definitely suffered a hormonal crash.  Taking advice from readers, I started making more effort to eat my flaxseed and also ordered GNC’s OMEGA WOMAN.

Serving Size   2 Soft Gels Servings Per Container  60 Amount Per Serving % DV Calories    9.00     Calories from Fat    9.00     Total Fat    1.00 g   2%  Saturated Fat    0.00 g   0%  Trans Fat    0.00 g     Vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol)    15.00 IU   50%  EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid)    33.00 mg   **  DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid)    22.00 mg   **  Other Omega-3s    7.00 mg   **  Evening Primrose Oil    800.00 mg   **  Gamma Linoleic Acid (Omega-6)    76.00 mg   **  Oleic Acid (omega-9)    50.00 mg   **   ** Daily Value (DV) not established

Other Ingredients:  Evening Primrose Oil, purified deep sea fish oil (from anchovies and sardines), soft gel capsule (gelatin, water, glycerin, natural lemon oil), Natural Lemon Oil, d-alpha tocopherol, Rosemary Extract No gluten, milk derivatives, or artificial colors or flavors. Storage Instructions:  Store in a cool, dry place, away from sunlight/


I haven't started using this yet but I will let you know what I think!

I picked this with the gift card that I received for reviewing the Phenom recovery drink.  In my diet, I eat flaxseed which is rich in Omega-3. Other than that, I have had salmon now twice in my life and before that have not had fish in 19 years!  I wanted to do some research on the omega vitamins and their benefits. Below is what I found.

The University of Maryland did a study and found that omegas are good for various things, including depression, menstrual pain and breast and prostate cancers.

Fish, plant, and nut oils are the primary dietary source of omega-3 fatty acids. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are found in cold-water fish such as salmon, mackerel, halibut, sardines, tuna, and herring. ALA is found in flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, canola (rapeseed) oil, soybeans, soybean oil, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin seed oil, purslane, perilla seed oil, walnuts, and walnut oil. Other sources of omega-3 fatty acids include sea life such as krill and algae. 

Here is an article with 11 benefits of omegas for women.

Web MD reports:
The benefits of omega-3s include reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke while helping to reduce symptoms of hypertension, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), joint pain and other rheumatoid problems, as well as certain skin ailments. Some research has even shown that omega-3s can boost the immune system and help protect us from an array of illnesses including Alzheimer's disease.

Also it is careful to note that you can overdose on fish oils and doing so can increase your risk of bleeding or bruising. It is recommended you take the supplements after talk to a doctor first.  (web MD) 

Some recipes rich in omegas!

GNC $100 GIVEAWAY
Would you like to win a $100 to GNC to buy some omegas for yourself?
(or other products of your choice)

GNC has graciously offered a $100 giftcard to a random reader. Here are the rules below:

You must:
1) Become a fan of the GNC facebook page AND
2) follow the GNC twitter accounts @GNCLiveWell  and @JeffHennion.
3) Answer the question: Do you take OMEGA supplements? What kind of foods do you eat that are rich in omegas?

Leave a comment below that you have done so.
(ALL 3 are MANDATORY, please leave one comment)

A turn around on the bike? & QUINOA!

Since I'm not running this week, and took off on Monday, I swam yesterday (when I usually do a spin class) and did a spin class this morning. It was a different instructor and WHOA!!! totally different experience. The Wednesday class was an overweight instructor and full class but I never felt like I was getting a real workout and looking around, I wasn't looking at fit people either. It wasn't motivating and I felt like anyone could do this class.   Back to today, it was great! I was working it. Instead of 10 or 11 miles in the 40-45 minutes I got done 14.5, it was a great workout, mostly doing sprints (never done them), riding in the 2 and 3 position (learned positions today) and sprints "jogging." I'm into going to that class again!  I've only ran 5 miles this week and I got a deep tissue massage. Recovery week and I'm enjoying it. I'll start running again next week at some point, maybe.  After today's spin I am feeling a bit better about the Olympic distance but I will decide the week of the race (if I can, I didn't really look into it).


Let's talk about food. I've been doing well counting calories and using fitday. It is still crazy to see that I'm deficient in Vitamin D and Calcium on a regular basis - I use supplements for these. My goal is under 1800 calories and it hasn't been that difficult but it's amazing to see that I was probably eating more like 2200-2500.  I haven't been starving or denying myself but I have been a bit tired. We'll see how it goes.

I saw this link from HEAB's blog for Desi's millet porridge and I made it into Quinoa porridge for 3 this morning easily. First I followed Heather's directions to make Quinoa Flour then followed Desi's millet porridge recipe. Yum!!

1/2 cup ground quinoa
1 cups water
1 cups unsweetened almond milk (I used coconut)
splash of vanilla extract
maple syrup to taste
pureed squash

Follow Desi's directions - they are really good.
Boil the water and milk then slowly stir in the quinoa - stirring constantly. Continue to stir till it thickens then pour into the bowl and add toppings - I used a pureed squash cube and 1/2 T maple syrup, cinnamon and flaxseeds ground. 

I also made this last night to go with dinner - coconut roti using ground quinoa. No pictures but check out the link! 

Race pics. Niceeee.

Where is mile 13?

Thank god that S**ts over!!

Why am I not in bed?

Dear God. Am I done yet?

I think I just pooped my pants.

2 days later

2 days after a brutal race and I don't feel burnt out but my body is tired. I decided to do what I feel like this week. Yesterday was my off day and I chose to do yoga to stretch out. It felt good. This morning I did some easy running (I know, I did say I was going to take off the week, but I was stuck at home for this workout so that was my only option) and some abs and lifting. Instead of running 8-10 miles, I did 5. Tomorrow I plan to swim, Thursday to bike and Friday swim or run. I think I will just run a couple of days this week or play it by ear.  I don't feel like I was getting burnt out of running, I think I was feeling burnt out of everything. And once my period arrived, everything seems better now. I am motivated to continue to train hard, but after a couple of light weeks I think.

On the weight front, the horrendous weeks of PMS helped me to put on about 5 lbs. I am back on the fitday entering everything in/calorie counting. This is the worst time to gain weight, with summer a couple of weeks away and I will not be having it!  

On the triathlon front, I'm seriously considering the move from Olympic to Sprint distance for the triathlon in 4 weeks. It's the bike that I don't want to put in the time for. I've biked 14 miles as my longest bike ride. I didn't mind it (until the next day : ) ) but I'm not sure that I want to do the training rides to prepare for 26 miles. How long would you train for that anyway?  That is my only concern and why I would switch distance - not only the training rides, but my slow speed and getting crushed by everyone after a good swim and being so far behind and not being able to catch up even if my run is decent. What are your thoughts?  I signed up for the Oly distance because I thought giving up a day and all that prep work for a short distance seems like a waste. I wanted a challenge.

Run to the finish and don't disrespect the bike

Yesterday I forced myself out on the bike. I did an hour and fifteen minutes. After an hour and 5 minutes, I had had it so I stopped to run for a little bit to see how it felt. I feel pretty good transitioning from the bike to run so I told my sis and she told me I wasn't working hard enough on the bike, so I tried focusing on that today. I only ran just less than 1/2 mile and I was running around 8:00 pace without any effort. I felt like I was running 10:30 pace. I thought I tried hard on the bike but still I stink at it. Not hard enough.  My pace went down from last weekend - from 5:29 average pace to 5:13.  Improvement!

The bike:

By the end, I was thinking, I better research how to change from olympic distance to sprint for the June race.  Also after a car passed me and someone screamed out, I got nervous maybe they didn't see it or got too close to me. I think I'll be riding on the trail from now on (but I did enjoy house hunting while I was riding).

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Today was the ODDyssey half marathon. I ran a 1:54:59 or faster - I started my watch before I crossed the line.  After 2 weeks of sluggishness and eating like crap and junk workouts, and then sleeping horribly last night, I was kind of thinking, oh man, why did I decide to do this?  I also woke up and got my period. Awesome.  I'd so much rather have Sunday morning with the family.   I picked up a girl from my running group and headed down. I did just over a mile warmup and felt ok, then just hung out at the start.   It didn't seem like it was going to start on time, but suddenly, it was like 3-2-1 go!   No talking or announcements at the start, it was weird. (no usual mayor speech, director speech, none of that). There had to have been people still standing in the port-a-potty lines.

My strategy was to go out comfortably, at about 8 minute mile pace and bring it down if I could later in the race. If I held 8 minute pace it would be a PR and since I ran 8 minute pace at Broad Street not even feeling well, I figured I could do it EASILY.  I started out kind of stuck between people and didn't want to be running super slow so I did weave a bit and what was comfortable was slower than I hoped, like mid 8s.  In the first mile I saw a baby around Kara's age in a stroller with her mom and was thinking - why am I here? I should be home with my family!  By mile 3, I was just not feeling it. We passed through the finish line after 3 miles and I would have been happy to be done. There were multiple times where I thought about walking to the finish and just not finishing. I just wasn't into it today. My mile 7 I knew that biking yesterday was really dumb.  My legs were shot. I couldn't move by mile 10 and was barely moving. 

There was alot of negative talk throughout the race:
this sucks
why am I here?
I'm taking off a week of running after this
how am I going to run a marathon
why would I want to run a marathon?
this feels like the second half of a marathon 
My legs don't want to move
Why did I bike yesterday?
should I just walk to the finish and not officially finish this thing or should I finish?

A couple of things that helped: 
-Trying to spot Lindsay on the course and the girl that I drove down. I spotted Lindsay looking strong around 4/5 miles in her black tutu - awesome costume!  And my running group buddy too. She was going for a 1:45 and that was what I thought I could run too.   There were 2 out and backs so it was good to see those 2 and that there were a good number of people behind me too.

-People in costumes


When I went through the halfway point, I really had to bring myself out of negative talking. I wanted to stop running. I wanted to be home.  I kept on smiling and trying to move forward. I thought maybe I would do the optional twists on the course to lighten up a bit  but then when I went past them, I realized it would take even longer to get to the finish. And they seemed kind of silly - a moonbounce, game of Jenga. I saw 2 people go for the moonbounce and no one was playing Jenga.  There weren't too many fans, but I think seeing the other runners still going behind me kept me going. I just wanted to finish.   Throughout this race, I thought of Marlene - have you seen her 5 year transformation photos? and her success in running and just felt happy for her. And I thought of Amanda because all I was thinking is RUN TO THE FINISH. RUN TO THE FINISH.  I stopped looking at my watch and didn't care. I peeked at it for the distance once and saw my pace was in the 10s and I didn't care. I could not move. As you can see...

I stayed in the game in order to get my medal and pint glass but wow, I have never felt like I wanted to quit so badly as I have today and in Broad Street.

 The best part of the race - I got to meet Run Blondie!
I wish I had gotten it together to wear a costume!

Recovery Drink PHENOM review

I had the opportunity to try 3 complimentary flavors of the recovery drink, Phenom Coconut Water.
I was given a $50 gift card to GNC in turn for my review this product, however the opinions here are all my own.  Phenom is coconut water with added vitamins and minerals and is a great way to support hydration.   Could this be the best post workout recovery drink? I'll let you decide.

The flavors that I tried were Mega V Pure, Mega V Orange Guava Passion and Energy Acai Peach (with caffeine). The flavor on the pure is pretty subtle and it's very refreshing. The Orange Guava Passion had a nice fruity flavor and then the Acai Peach (with caffeine) tasted like I was eating vitamins. It was hard to drink. Blech.  I would use the pure flavor instead of gatorade both during a run or bike and afterwards.

The ingredients: 
Water, Coconut Water from concentrate, calcium lactate, absorbic acid, magnesium sulfate, sodium chloride, sodium citrate, sodium metasulfite, maltodextrin, vitamin e acetate, vitamin a acetate, niacinamide, pyrodoxine hydrochloride, cyanobalamin.

Whoa, my rule is usually if you can't pronounce it, don't eat it! Not sure how I feel about the list of ingredients but what they are trying to go for here are vitamins, electroyltes and caffeine (in some of them).


The Nutrition Facts:
1 cup has 45 calories, 150mg sodium, 515mg potassium, 10g carbs and 7g sugars.

I like that it has the potassium and sodium to replenish. There are no added sugars - the coconut is naturally sweet.

The Bottom Line:I liked the flavor (with the exception of the Acai Peach. Was it the caffeine? I'm not sure.)  I don't keep recovery drinks in my house but would definitely choose this over other recovery drinks such as gatorade on the race course and post race.

Tomorrow I will be drinking the ODDyssey recovery ale. I'll report back on that.


What is your favorite recovery drink?

Hormones

I have been dealing with the absolute worst mood swings/hormonal things for the past couple of months in the 2 weeks leading up to getting my period.   I will have a nice 2 week period of everything is calm, everything is great, I am happy about life, love every minute of being with my kids and life in general. Then pms hits. It is about a 2 week period of no patience, workouts that I don't feel like doing and are a struggle to get through, and my eating is out of control. I'm starving and shoving my face.

Last week I made not 1, not 2, but 3 batches of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies that were not healthy cookies.  I had to have them. I ate some for breakfast a couple of the days??? Every cycle I am gaining weight so I'm up at least 5 lbs from where I was when I was at my "ideal weight."

Everyday I'm about to snap at Nick for really small things, Kara for being needy, and I do snap at Bill for getting home like 5 minutes later than he said he'd be home (which he can't control since he takes the train).  At least once a day, I want to have a breakdown and start crying because I'm feeling overwhelmed or can't handle everything at the moment. 

Swimming has really felt crappy and I had a good run finally yesterday but in the past 2 weeks, running has been pretty junky as well with the exception of a couple of runs.  I've got in all my workouts - most just have not felt strong.

I'm extremely frustrated! I feel fat, angry, and annoyed.  My clothes are seriously tight and I feel like it's ridiculous because I am training hard.  Is this at all related to the end of nursing and cutting it out cold turkey? I have not experienced this before. It's been about 6 weeks since I stopped nursing.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!
  

This weekend is the ODDyssey Half Marathon. I have no goals. I want to have a fun day. In the back of my head, I'm thinking I can PR. I think I can run around 8:00 pace or a little bit less but we will have to see. It's been hot and humid here.  I'll report back on Sunday.  I'm looking forward to meeting Runblondie!!

Full of Questions

This is long.

10K RACE - Post-Preggers PR at 48:33 (pre-preggers PR 47:49)

This week I signed up for a 10k that I had last run in 2008 – which was my super spring pre-babies!  It was a good gauge of fitness for me and I thought I’d be pretty close to my time from 2008 if not beating it. I feel like I’m in pretty good shape! But, apparently not quite in the shape I was in 3 years ago.  It is a challenging rolling hills race with about 500 people doing the 10k.  I warmed up with 2 miles. With my hamstring tightness/injury I have to warmup before racing! I ate peanut butter and bread before this race and could taste the pb (not in a good way) towards the second half of the race. What's your pre-race food? I need a new one.

Thinking about the race the last couple of days, I was kind of thinking, why did I sign up for this? I’m not gung ho jolly runner right now. I’m just getting by.  This morning I was nervous and told myself it wasn’t going to be a repeat of the last 2 races I have ran (5k and Broad Street) where I wanted to die soon into the races.  I started off running too fast and very quickly brought it down to a comfortable pace. The first mile was 7:33. As I was running, I was telling myself – I am going to run a comfortable race. At no point do I want to feel like I did 2 weeks ago – I will be comfortable and not want to die or wonder why I am here.   And so I did. I felt like I was putting good effort into it and at no point did I feel that I wanted to give up or that I was really pushing myself over the limit. My last GOOD race experience was the half marathon at the end of March.  In that race, I felt like I was determined, focused and running comfortably but pushing myself in a comfortable fashion. The word comfortable, not sure if it is not enough pushing or just enough. Which leads me to the question: 

How do your races feel when you end up running a PR?

Are you:  Running comfortably?  Huffing and puffing? Wanting to die?

My second mile was around 7:39 and I was happy to hold times in the 7:30s range, knowing my last PR was a 7:47 average pace. Then I started feeling tired. There were some good hills and they were kicking my butt. I haven’t done hill training in months.  The next 3 miles were a slow down –averaging around 8 min miles and I stopped looking at my watch and just running at a pace where I felt like I was pushing it comfortably.  I was thinking in my head maybe I could be in the top of my age group and checking out all of the women that looked like they might be in my age group and trying to catch them.  Do you think age should be on your shirt or something like that?  I was wondering that. I was able to get my last full mile down but faded for the last stretch. Amazing it was exactly 6.2!!

I was completely spent at the end. That’s usually how I know that I left it out on the course but I did feel like I was loafing a few miles in the middle there. I never know how to pace and I didn’t run with music to push me along.   I felt weak when I started walking afterwards. I couldn't pick up Nick. My family and my parents came to watch – it’s a great kid’s race because they have things for kids at the finish, so they got there when it started and Nick got to go around and play, then they saw me finish. It was fun!

thanks for the pic Mom!

Nick pounded carbs and had a good time!

baby girl - she was so good!

it was humid - aside from no boobs now 24/7 headlights too. Awesome

what does the vo2 max mean?

 CHIRO

After the race, I headed to Dr Kelli – the worst for me has been driving or having to sit still. It’s a pain in the butt! No pun intended.  It’s my hamstring but very close to my butt. Kelli thinks I have adhesions from the muscle being tight for so long and uses the Graston method to break them down. I like going – it’s a good hurt. 

SUCCESSFUL BIKE RIDE

I took a little eating break and some family time then headed out on the bike for just over an hour. I decided to go on the roads nearby to save the time driving to the trail and to get in some hills. I will call this ride my “house hunt” ride. I want a house in my town so it’s nice to browse – what better way then a bike ride?  It was not bad. What hurt the most – my back/shoulder blades.  Maybe my form stinks.  I felt more comfortable riding out of the saddle, but I feel so slow. Here are the questions I thought about while biking:

If I’m flying down a hill, is there a need to pedal?
How often do you find yourself switching gears?
Is the only time you ride out of the saddle when you are going up a hill?
Do you have any tips?

How bad is it that my bike times are as fast as some people can run ?

I don’t think I see a future for myself in triathloning – because of the bike and all of the stuff you need and bringing everything to the start – way too much effort for me when you have a family! I like going to running races and just showing up at the start.  I do like having something to test my swim endurance but I have a feeling I'm going to despise the open water swim anyway!

MARATHONING
I am enjoying running short races and trying to get fast.  I’m kind of dreading marathon training actually –the long runs and higher mileage. I’m looking forward to seeing if I can run a really good one with strong training. I didn’t think I could do it myself and was starting to get some coaching ideas: Lindsay, Michelle, Miss Zippy and an email circulated in our running group about discounted training working with an intern with the coach that does the track workouts (I’ve only been once and never met him). It was first come first serve, so I just sent in an email giving my info and I got picked. I’m excited about it! I'll report back on how that goes. So far, I filled out a survey with all my info and put my goal as wanting to run a 3:35 marathon. The thought of that scares me, so basically a sub 4 hour marathon will do the job for me too. : )

BLOGGING
Circle of Moms Top 25 Mom/Fitness Blogs - check them out - I bet you know many of them - and you can vote for your favorite - once a day through June 1.

Hello formula, goodbye cleavage

FORMULA
2 days ago was Kara's first day of formula. I was nervous because basically I have only a few ounces of stored milk left and I should have done it earlier but I was trying hard to wait till 10 months for the formula. I'm a little crazy about it. At least she had the breast milk for as long as she did. Formula is just fine, I just get weird about it. Anyway, she did fine on it. The first few bottles I did half and half and then just plain formula and she was fine.

Since she has no hair, my latest obsession is headbands. I had a Bondi band that was just too tight for my head and I cut it and tied it to fit Kara's. It's hard to see but super cute!  The second picture is a different headband that came with the outfit. I wear Bondi bands all the time and I'm hoping it tricks people into thinking she might look like me with the headband. Right?

 NO BOOBS
Ever since nursing ended, my boobs deflated. I now have the chest of a 9-year old, maybe 12-year old if I'm lucky. It was a nice 3 year run of being pregnant, breastfeeding then pregnant and breastfeeding. It might be worth it to try to get pregnant again to take care of this problem? It's horrendous!!


RUNNING SAFETY
On the training front, the weather has been just absolutely perfect this week. 50s in the morning, 70s in the afternoon and 50s at night.  I went to the track workout on Tuesday morning and was LOVING the weather. I was dying to go outside to run on Thursday but couldn't motivate to run trails with the faster group. I was so close but just couldn't do it. And I wanted to run outside so bad, but was afraid to run alone at 5:30 in the morning.   Do you? I think without kids I would not have questioned it, but now I question everything that might put me at risk. I found a solution and there is a runner in the group I joined that lives near me, and we are going to run next Thursday morning. Yippee!!  Do you run alone? Do you feel safe doing so? What time of day? I don't mind running alone in the middle of the day on busy roads with sidewalks.

THE BIKE
I am hoping to get out on the bike this weekend for a one hour to 1.5 hour ride. I am not looking forward to it and think my main lack of motivation stems from 1) fear of riding on the roads and 2) uncertainty of where to ride. I am thinking of just going to bike the trail that I usually run into the city.
Anyone want to join me?

TRAINING
I've been kind of in a funk but had some decent workouts this week, including speedwork and a good swim. The rest of my workouts were just ok! I signed up for a 10k this weekend and I'm curious to see how I do and if I can beat my pre-pregnancy time from 2008 when I considered myself in top running shape.  I'll report back on that! Next weekend is a half marathon then I'm off until the triathlon June 26.

PMS
Yep, if you are looking for a crazy PMS recipe, I've found this and it is deadly.
 FYI you do not even need the brown sugar, the 10x is strong enough.

Running, blog playdate & crazyness

Forgive my break from the blog world, my life has been a bit crazy w/ the house on the market and trying to keep everything in order.  I don't have much to report running/training wise besides a feeling of BLAH.  I'm trying to get some motivation back on the table and we'll see where that goes. In order to help me with that, I signed up for a 10k this weekend and have the Oddyssey Half Marathon in 2 weeks. There's beer at the finish and I will be running it for fun because I do better that way. I'm looking forward to meeting runblondie26 too! 


In overall life, I feel very happy and thankful that I'm able to stay home with the kiddos and teach them. This time is precious and I love it. I will be teaching an online course for my school this summer which I'm looking forward to. I was doing the training for it and most of the day concerned that I was going to miss my little Kara crawling. It was nice to go back to the working world - for a day - but I couldn't do it. Amazing how a baby can change everything.

Last week I met Rebecca for the first time! She sees the husband of my friend as a chiropractor for her hip - husband and wife chiropractors.  My hamstring is doing pretty well, it's moving up my leg and switching spots. The Graston seems to be working. Anyway, we had a playdate with our kids and it was really fun to meet her and her girls are so cute!  Nick had fun playing with Elena and we had a nice time chatting.

Other than that I just need to get my A#% on the bike for the 26 miles in the tri that is in just over a month.  I can't motivate!! I WILL go for a bike ride this weekend. It's just a matter of budgeting the time for me (and I'd rather be running, swimming, lifting, fill in the blank).

I started thinking about marathon training plans and trying to determine my best route and thinking about hiring a coach.

post race thoughts and April recap

First I'll start off by saying that couponing went down the drain quickly. I just run out of time. I try to be good and make my list but in the last 2 weeks it has been: THINK FAST! what do you need? run in and get things and run out.  I'm sure I've spent close to $100 a week. What can you do? I have not been doing well with the food budget and stopped entering it. I'll try to get back on that.

Post race thoughts. I feel off. I don't know why, but I'm waking up in the morning and it is hard to get out of bed and motivate to workout. This has been going on for oh, 2 weeks now.   I still get out of bed and get into my workout eventually but not like I used to. I'm not excited to get up and do it and getting out of bed is a chore (I'm sure it is for most people!) I felt pretty good going into Broad Street but definitely questioned if I could hold the 7:30 pace when just 4 weeks before I ran an 8:10 pace for a half.  I really put in the speed and tempo work for only 5 weeks and I just don't think it was enough.  In addition to that, I went out too fast (7:11 or something like that) and just lost steam way too quickly. I didn't feel in shape to run the pace I wanted. I'm happy/fine with my time even though it wasn't a PR and I didn't reach my goal. My 1:18 was before kids so this is a post kids PR. And like Kara Goucher and Paula Radcliffe I plan to get faster. However, running isn't my job or my life so this will take some time!


Weaning. Kara stopped bfeeding at 8.5 months. She's 9 1/2 months and I think my stored milk will get her to 10 months. I haven't bought formula yet and I know it's silly but I'm sad that I have to! I woke up for 8.5 months at 4:30/5am pumping so that I could make it to 12 months. I know it's not a big deal, but it is bothering me. I know - move on.


Thoughts on Marathon Training. I'm not going to lie, I feel maxed out around 35 miles a week and 4 days. I think for marathon training (this fall) my goal is going to be around 50 miles/week for the first time ever but I don't know how I am going to put in this mileage w/o getting burnt out majorly! I think double sessions will help but I'm already not looking forward to that! I like the cross training too. I also signed up for Marine Corps and Philly (3 weeks apart). I am thinking MCM as a training run and Philly to make it happen? or MCM real marathon and Philly for fun? What do you think?

Kids. I really like this age that Nick is at and Kara's age is fun too. She is starting to babble and wants to move really bad!  Nick at 27 months is a little person and I feel like I can explain things to him and reason with him.  I feel maxed out in terms of getting everything done that I want to do and know it I was working it would be impossible, so I am glad that I am home and spending this time with the kids. I am going to be teaching an online course for my district over the summer and I'm looking forward to it, but I'm still not sure what I will do in one year when I have to decide about my job - giving it up or not.

Broad Street '11

I had all my stuff in order for this morning yesterday afternoon. Ever since having Nick, I'm usually a total last minute person, charging my Garmin overnight, the iPod, grabbing my outfit, etc. Yesterday I was gearing up and ready to go. For the past 4 months I've had the 1:15 in my head.  I didn't even list a B or C goal but had them in my head of course. The C goal was sub 1:20. My PR for 10 miles is 1:18:54.

Today's time was 1:20:02/1:20:00 - both are showing up in the results.  Either way, no goals met for me.

I started off this morning with the same routine I did for the last race. I had a cup of coffee w/ almond milk, 1/2 an english muffin with pb & J and a couple of nut balls (nuts, maple syrup, oatmeal, coconut oil). I was really nervous this morning and thinking that I wished my sister was running too! She came and ran the last 1/2 marathon with me and I would have been nervous with my first real race back if she wasn't there. She was running Big Sur today and did awesome (4:27 - her goal was 4:30)! And congrats to Miranda on the 4:19 - first marathon, awesome job!!   I have the luxury of my dad dropping me off at the start. I decided to leave Kara at home and bring Nick with me. I was excited to have Nick see me run.  I got there at 7:30 and warmed up a bit.   I knew about 20 people running the race and did not even see one of them!  I was nervous at the start. Ugh. Annoying! I saw Cecily Tynan warming up. I want to be her - anchor for local Channel 6 Action News.  She's 40+, has 2 kids, and is in amazing shape. She ran a 1:03.

I started off and was happy with my pace and felt good, first mile was 7:13. I couldn't feel my hip/leg at all - thank you Dr. Kelli!! The second mile was just ok, I started thinking it would be good if it was only a 5k.  I just didn't feel strong. Mile 2: 7:22. Between miles 2 and 3, I starting getting a horrible cramp and my stomach was bothering me. I don't know if it was nerves, something I ate... not sure, but not comfortable. Mile 3: 7:43. I kept plugging along but once I saw I was off the 7:30 goal pace, I was not happy and giving up.   Mile 4 was 7:52. I started feeling hot (it was high 50s by this time and got warm quickly), my stomach was bothering me, and I didn't feel like being there anymore. I wasn't having fun but trying to!

I guess mile 5 is where it all went downhill. I started slowing down and could not go any faster. I felt like I wasn't in shape to run 7:30, my stomach hurt, I was warm.  8:22, then 8:25. I took 2 Recovery e21 tablets around mile 6.  I was pissed. I was trying hard to get my head into it and knew I didn't have much more to go, but I had nothing in me. I don't know what the problem was.  I just didn't feel good. Mile 7: 8:08, Mile 8:8:25, mile 9: 8:15. I could not go any faster and knew I was at the end. Ugh!!
The last mile was 8:07.  I tried the best that I could but I could not WAIT to be done.  I saw the 1:19 on the clock and tried so hard to beat the 1:20 but came in just above it. I was so happy to be done, even though I was very disappointed in the day.

I'm over it now! I'm really happy that I signed up for the Oddyssey Half in 3 weeks and will get back into the game. Some pics:

Woke up Nick to come cheer me on

used my awesome sign from build-a-sign and spotted them easily when running by!
Also Nick is sporting a cafe press RUN MOMMY RUN shirt

not a flattering pic but I was telling Nick to check out the medal so he'd let me hold him

Lightning McQueen slide! He loved it!

Meltdown because he didn't understand the whole waiting
in line thing to go again
My parents

w/ my dad and Nick w/ pretzel to contain meltdown

w/ my mom- she wanted the sign in every picture :)

back at the car, all done!

and back home, w/ baby Kara
and I always wear my race shirt after finishing the race

3 seconds that could have made me feel better

I finished in 1:20:02 today. My goals (in my head) were 1:15:00 - that was it. I think I put too much pressure on myself for that and was nervous at the start and this morning.  If my sister was there with me, I think it would have lightened the load - like at the last race. But she's at Big Sur hopefully running well!  My B goal was PR (under 1:18:54) and C goal was sub 1:20:00.

1:20:02/10 miles/8:00 pace

Blah. My legs felt great, but my stomach did not agree with me, and overall I felt like I wasn't in the shape to hold 7:30 pace. I'll write up more later!