Mom On The Run

I’ve been hanging around the blogosphere and twittersphere for years.  Almost too many to mention.  Ok – at least 5.5 yrs because I remember writing a blog post about my first pre-natal Dr’s appointment when I was pregnant with Sierra back in November 2004.  See – here’s that post.  Over the past 5 yrs that I’ve been blogging I have become very friendly with a great number of people that I have never physically met.  I call them my bloggy friends.  I chat with my friends on Skype, Twitter and through our blogs almost daily.  I really really want to meet my friends – in person, but we’ve never really had the money for me to go visit my friends – there’s always a more important bill to pay. 

This year a great number of my friends are going to the BlogHer Conference (yes – a blogging conference, can you believe that I have NEVER been to a blog conference?).  The conference even has a 5k Fun Run that I’m putting together a learn-to-run forum and clinic to help other bloggers train for this run.  I really really want to meet my friends in person, and meet the people that I’ve helped train for this event. In particular I really want to attend this seminar: “Fitness Blogging: Motivate yourself and Your Readers“.  But, I can’t afford to buy a ticket to go.  Hubby has enough air miles for me to get to NYC, but we don’t have enough cash to pay for my conference ticket.  But wait!  There’s a contest!

I want to go to this conference and meet my bloggy friends so badly that I’m entering a contest to go.  Moomette, who has a product reviews and giveaways blog can’t go due to other commitments, so she’s giving away her conference pass!!  Moomette – please pick me so I can meet my friends, run the 5K and cheer on the gals I’ve helped train for this run!  Thanks!

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I’ve been running and running and training and eating healthy and skipping junk food for 10 wks now.  I’ve lost 8lbs – slowly.  It has seemed painfully slow at times.  Working out, eating healthy etc seems like so much work for such little return.  Stepping on the scale each week after running 30k or more and doing weights and finding a 0.5lb to a 0.7lb weight loss is frustrating.  Running is getting easier and I’m getting faster, but it doesn’t seem like I’m getting smaller. 

It’s no wonder so many of us are looking for the quick fix weight loss answer.  But with so many of us looking, how come none of us has found it yet?  Could it be that it doesn’t exist?  Could it be that the 1/2 a pound per week loss I’m experiencing is actually fast?  Is a loss still a loss, not matter how big or small it is?  It’s so hard to keep convincing myself that.

Oh I do have more energy – and more laundry thanks to my sweaty exercise clothes.  My kids are having fun doing exercise videos with me – they particularly like a Fit MOMZ n Fit KIDZ video that I got this week.  Sierra loves to crawl under my planks and pushups while I do the video, and Brooke actually DOES the video with me.  It’s a great way to give the kids attention while fitting in a workout, making this weight loss thing a little easier because I don’t have to find the time to do it.   My legs were on fire after my first attempt at the video.  The girls made me do the Preschool and toddler workouts back-to-back on Tuesday, and last night they made me do the preschool and infant workouts.  I hope that with them pushing me this week I’ll lose more than my usual 0.5lbs… 

Here’s a snippet of the video I found on their website:

What exercise activities do you like?  Have you experienced weight loss success?  What have you done to lose weight?  Do you have any advice for me on how to make this easier?  Faster?  Help!

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This is my Mamavation post for February 15, 2010.

Two weeks ago I was struggling. Hubby was travelling, I injured my calf, I was PMS‘ing, my weight loss was hitting a plateau… There were so many excuses and reasons to give up. But I didn’t. At the encouragement of the Mamavation Sista’s, I kept on pushing through and this past week I stepped up the intensity of my 1/2 marathon training by running each run FAST and getting up early to swim two mornings this week. I should have gotten injured this week with all the training, but I didn’t – you know why?

Yummy Veggies

I ate. And I ate well. You see, we’re having a Healthy Eating Challenge at work. We’re tracking how many servings of fruits & veggies we eat each day as we strive to meet the amounts reccommended by Health Canada: 7-8 servings for women and 8-10 servings for men. I met the reccommended amounts every day this past week. It wasn’t easy – I’ve eaten an enormous amount of salads, bananas, carrots and other fruits. The toilet and I have been best friends

I’ve trained for, and ran several marathons and half-marathons before, but I’ve never ever paid attention to the role nutrition plays in my training. I figured I was burning tons of calories training and could eat whatever I wanted. I never realized until this week how much fuelling my body properly helps with recovery and keeping my legs & mind feeling “fresh”. Every run this week has felt effortless! In fact, on Wednesday I set a personal best that I shared in my first vlog. I ran 6km at a pace of 5:16/km. I’ve only maintained that pace for that distance once in my life – and that was over 6 yrs ago (when I was much younger, and didn’t have any kids).

The increased running intensity, swimming, yoga and healthy eating MAJORLY paid off this week: according to Wii Fit I lost 4.6 lbs last week!

My weight loss progress

(BTW-here’s instructions on how you can create one of these charts for yourself)

I totally broke through my plateau and I’m well on my way to continuing the journey to my wedding weight! I only have 6 lbs to go! I can possibly finish losing the whole she-bang by our anniversary! Yay!

I couldn’ve done this alone. I know a lot about health, nutrition, training etc.. But I struggle with motivating myself to apply my knowledge. I’m human too. I have stress, emotions, PMS and all that other stuff. I’m so thankful to have all of you helping me! All of the Mamavation Sista’s have been so supportive and inspiring! Reading everyone’s progress, struggles and triumphs each week has helped me in a way that I just can’t put into words. I’m so thankful to everyone for helping me become the best me that I can be! Thanks everyone!

To challenge and inspire you, I’m having a Healthy Challenge!
Read THIS POST to learn more and enter.
Good luck!

PS – Have you entered my SADE “Soldier of Love” CD Giveaway yet?

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Hitting a plateau...

I know, I know – I’m the “Fitness Cheerleader” so motivation shouldn’t be an issue. Unfortunately even I battle the workout blahs and this week was tough. After my great 10K run on Sunday, I went out for an easy 6K run on Monday – or so I thought… 1K into my run my calf cramped and the contraction was so strong it caused a minor muscle tear of my soleus muscle. I went to my yoga class on Tuesday, then ran through the pain on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I rested my leg and on Saturday I managed to run 10K with less pain. Through all of that I felt bummed out and I was PMS’ing and turned back to my old self – eating healthy meals yet sabotaging myself with snacking on crap betweeen meals telling myself – it’s ok, there’s always my next meal to eat better.

Despite everything, this week I lost .4lbs. It’s still a lost but when you look at my recent weightloss history you can see that I’m hitting a plateau:

(btw-here’s instructions on how you can create one of these charts for yourself)

My weightloss curve is flattening out. I need to step things up a notch – get back to my healthy eating and add some intensity to my workouts. I need to start running a bit faster and longer on my weekday runs and I need to do something different to burn more calories and bring back my enthusiasm. What could that be? Hmmmm… Weights? Interval training? Maybe swimming?

Yep – that’s what I’m going to do next week, some good ol’ swimming. Heather at Run Faster Mommy added swimming to her routine last week and kick started her weightloss – she lost 5 lbs in a week! On Tuesday and Thursday morning I’m going to get up early and swim some laps before work. (Can you guys all remind me to go to bed early Monday and Wednesday nights?). It shall be interesting to see if this kicks my enthusiasm and motivation back into gear!

How are you doing? Have you had a good or bad week?

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As you all know I LOVE LOVE LOVE running!  And I’ve been running a lot lately – so much that I haven’t had time to blog J  Running is my #1 love (well besides my family), though I must admit I love my family more when I’ve been running.  Sunday I ran 10.31k – it felt amazing!  I also loved my family so much more that day (maybe because I got away from them for an hour?). 

It’s been so long since I’ve trained for anything that I’ve forgotten how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Did I mention that I’m training to run the Mississauga ½ Marathon?  Running, strength training, nutrition, rest, recovery, easy runs, hard runs etc… They all need to be carefully balanced when training for an endurance event.  The last race I ran (besides the 10k in September) was the Mississauga ½ marathon 6 yrs ago!  So after Sunday’s hard 10k I decided to run an easy 6k on Monday at lunch.  Unfortunately I hadn’t properly rested my legs (took Sierra swimming Sunday night) and I hadn’t properly refuelled (not enough water, not enough sodium, potassium and carbohydrates to replenish my stores).  Less than a km into Monday’s run my right calf cramped – the contraction was so strong that it caused some minor muscle tearing.  I did Yoga on Tuesday (calling that an active rest day) then ran 5.88k through pain at ½ marathon pace on Wednesday.  By Wednesday night I was limping around the house like a little old lady.  I was in a fair amount of pain. 

The thing is I’m one of those people that when I get an idea in my head, I’m going to do it come hell or high water.  I’m a stubborn little mule.  So I persisted through my training for a few days only to cause more damage.  Yesterday and today I’m forced to rest – I’m supposed to do 10k tomorrow.  I hope that by adding some rest and nutrition pieces to my puzzle that I’ll be able to be back on track next week! 
PS – The other day I got an email from Amanda of UpSpring Baby who told me that she’s listed me as one of her Top ten Fitness Blogs for Moms.  I was listed with some of my heroes, Lisa Johnson Fitness and Workout Mommy.  What an honour!   Thanks Amanda!  (You can follow her on Twitter – she’s @Amanda-Upspring)

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I thought I could do it.  I thought this solo-parenting stint would be different.  I thought I could keep the clouds and fog from rolling in.  I developed a network of running buddies.  I would get out to run on my lunches. I planned out healthy meals – I prepared them a week ahead of time & froze them so I wouldn’t have to cook.  Or be stressed. Or eat unhealthy depression causing processed foods.  I gave up coffee – also known to cause depression.  I planned fun family outings:

Sun – fun swim
Mon – swimming lessons
Tues – stay home & Skype daddy (hubby)
Wed – McDonald’s playland, Skype daddy
Thurs – fun swim? Skype daddy?
Fri – Dinner with Oma & Opa
Sat – indoor playground? relax, clean up the tornado of solo-parenting aftermath, wait for daddy

I really really thought I could do this. I followed my plan.  I got out to run.  I ate healthy.

But an email came that shook my foundation, my strength, my courage and self-confidence.  “Honey, I’ll be home next week, but the week after I have to go away again.” I crumbled into tears.  When will this end?  How can I continue to be strong?  When can we be a family again?  Will it ever happen?  Am I waiting for a ship that will never set sail?

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