Shin splints, Easter and Running buddies

So...I have shin splints I guess?  Never had them before, so lucky me to develop them a week before my first half of the year.


I ran 10 miles two weeks ago at 1:36 and felt pretty good afterwards.  Well, some friends who walk half marathon's asked if I wanted to walk with them this past Saturday.  I always enjoy the company so I agreed.  Around mile 9, I felt horrible.  I could feel blisters forming at each step.  It was seriously painful that last half mile.  I don't know why it is, but anymore, walking seems to be much harder on me than running.  I guess it is b/c I am on my feet for so much longer (3 hours versus 1:40) and the different way my feet strike the ground?  Anyway, that walk tore me up.  My feet are covered in blisters (one of them is nickel sized) and my shins hurt.


So, instead of training hard, I am resting my shins.  This involves the elliptical and exercise bike (which I have pretty much the same hatred for both that I have with the treadmill).  I have worked hard with my weightlifting and hit the gym hard this week.


This past week's training schedule:
Saturday: 9.5 mile walk (and my last long walk until I am 80)
Sunday: 1 mile on Helix machine and weight lifting, followed by .75 mile walk with Bg
Monday: one mile on bike and weight lifting
Tuesday: half mile on elliptical and weight lifting
Wednesday: easy 1/4 mile on treadmill, hard 1/4 on treadmill followed by HIIT work and lots of foam rolling


Not really how I had my week planned for training but I will say that today (Thursday) my shins feel much better!  I plan to rest the next two days in order to be well rested before Saturday's race. 
Goal A: 2:10
Goal B: PR by beating 2:13:41
Goal C: 2:15 for first race of year.


The gross question...do I pop the huge blister on the ball of my foot before the race?  I am leaning towards yes so it doesn't start to irritate me.


So, for non race related things:


The girls were out of school on Good Friday, so my MIL surprised them with Disney on Ice Tickets.  It was a lot of fun and we had great seats:



We had beautiful weather all weekend, except for Easter Sunday.  After a dry winter, we had a rain/snow mix come down Sunday morning.  The girls were a little underdressed, but I told them little girls have been freezing on Easter for decades, ha ha.  Arent my girls lovely:





I really wish they would let me fix their hair!


The girls both had speaking parts in the childrens choir program on Sunday and both rocked their lines:












I always host Easter with my family and IL's and the weather did improve Sunday afternoon.


Although it looks like it, we actually did NOT egg hunt in the pig pen. 







We did Egg Hunt in the shed, but the kids had more fun swinging on the rope:







Here is a picture of all the cousins:





After everyone left, Bg and I went to the gym and then a short walk.  I like having a walking buddy:





Bg is very fancy and wears a skirt with everything.


We saw this calf out in the road on our way to town.  I love spring calves!  We live really close to a large dairy, so here is a future milk cow.





My great uncle passed away last week and this picture of my great grandpa was found in his possession.  I think this is the neatest picture.  My grandpa was a true cowboy and owned the town's blacksmith shop:

Bowling injury, Pigs and Rainbows

This is so me right now:





And spring is actually my good season (compared to fall anyway).  I have had a LOT of nasty sinus drainage lately and let me tell you...I am pretty gross.


I have a race in 1.5 weeks.  My first half of the year.  My goal is 2:10.   And I am freaking injured.  From bowling.  How silly is that???  We went bowling with friends on Saturday night and I could tell my back was sore, but I was actually bowling somewhat decent (for me anyway) so I pushed through.  Huge mistake.  I was in terrible pain all night Saturday.  It doesn't help that I am sleeping propped up on 20 pillows as I cant lay flat with all the sinus crap going on.  I suffered through Sunday imagining all these different horrible scenarios with back surgery being the outcome for them all.


I could totally pinpoint the exact spot of pain, which normally when my back hurts it is just a general- my upper or lower back hurts.  This was the bottom right side, above my tailbone to the right of the spine.  So I went to the chiro on Monday and pointed to the spot, which he is said is my SI joint and isn't surprised that I hurt it bowling.  He popped me and did some ultrasound work and I felt better by that afternoon.  I am actually craving the pavement and it sucks that I cant run.  I did play basketball and soccer with the girls last night and of course woke up in pain again.  MUST TAKE IT EASY!!!  I went back to the chiro and plan to rest and relax the next couple of days.  Hopefully this doesn't set me back too much on my goal. 


We got our show pigs this weekend!  We got a purebred duroc and two cross bred gilts.  They are adorable!!!  They are still pretty jumpy around us, but the girls are spending a lot of time with them so hopefully they will warm up to us a bit.  The white pig is Bg's and she named her Peppa.  Bg isn't very creative b/c her pig was named Peppa last year as well.  The other two pigs are Chloe's.  The black one is Emily and the red one is Ginger.





Trying to convince the pigs to let the girls pet them.  Our dog wants in so bad:



Chloe, the pig whisperer:



Driving home after a rain shower the other night, we saw the most bright, vivid double rainbows I have ever seen.  They were beautiful and my pictures do not do it justice.  Such a nice reminder of God's promises and blessings!

FitBit Blaze Review

As you all know, I was pretty excited to get my FitBit Blaze.  It has a lot of cool features and looks pretty snazzy on my wrist.


Pros:

• Heart rate monitor- I love watching out my HR changes during different parts of my workout.  I need to do A LOT of research on ideal heartbeats and ranges to figure out what is best for me, but it is really cool to watch going up and down hills.
• I can see the time!  I had the FitBit Flex which was cool, but I like seeing the actual time.
• I can change the music- skips songs, change volume, etc.
• It gives me actual step counts and stair counts, calories burned, etc all handy on my wrist without having to go to the app.
• I can select my workout activity and it tracks it rather than putting it on the app: like weight lifting, biking, elliptical, etc.
• And my favorite....I can see texts and phone calls on my wrist!  I get texts and calls a lot while working out and I can just look at my wrist to see if need to respond without stopping or slowing down my workout.

Cons:

• It isn't waterproof like my Flex.  Which normally is okay but I ran in the rain the other day and was worried that it was getting too wet.
• The mileage is OFF.  Like way off.  And it seems the faster I go, the worse the mileage is.  I completely understand it being off on the treadmill (and yes, it has a separate treadmill setting).  I typically run a 1 mile warm up on the treadmill and it always shows .79 miles.  I tested it on the long run on Sunday and it was over 2 miles off.  I ran my GPS app and the Blaze simultaneously.  My app said 10 miles and the blaze showed 8.  It had me really paranoid so I drove the course and 10 was right. 

The pros outweigh the cons but I really wish the mileage was better.  I always have my phone in my flipbelt, so I will just continue to use my phone app rather than the actual watch. 


And I really love bullet point lists.

Going once, going twice....SOLD!!! Fundraising and Randoms

I am SO glad this weekend is over.  I spent my weekend (and the weeks before) helping to organize and implement three separate fundraisers for our community.

Fundraiser #1 was pretty simple and I didn't have to do much for it.  My sorority each year selects a family/individual in our community that is struggling with a life threatening illness and we sell cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the family.  The good news is, it is a popular fundraiser, the bad news...trying to find a baker in this size of town that can handle as many orders as we take and still provide a quality, FRESH product.  We have been doing this for probably 10 years and have had to switch bakers several times as they cant provide what we need.  Unfortunately we had to go out of town this year to find someone who could do the large orders.

Fundraiser #2 was for our Chamber of Commerce.  We hosted a casino night to raise money for all the various community activities the chamber puts on: 4th of July celebration, scholarships, Country Fair, Halloween Spooktacular, etc etc.  This is our largest fundraiser of the year.  We spent Thursday evening setting up and hosted the event Friday.  I was in charge of the Mouse Races (like horse races but on a much smaller scale) and they are always a lot of fun.  I have worked the mouse races the past two years with an old dear friend and it is really the only time each year that we can sit around and catch up.  I was at a conference for work all day Friday, came home and rushed to Casino night.  The end of the evening we host a small auction which I helped as a bid girl.  Luckily my parents had the girls overnight so I didn't have to try to shuttle them around.

Fundraiser #3 was for our school, which is a private Lutheran school.  We had a large dinner, silent and live auction.  I am the PTL treasurer, so in addition to my auction duties of ticket sales and live auction co-coordinator, I also was in charge of all the money.  We had met earlier in the week to do most our prep, but Saturday was still a busy day of preparation.  I was at the event setting up from about 9am-1:30, ran home to shower and rest a bit and then was back again by 4 for the evening.  It was a wildly successful night, but I was exhausted afterwards. 

When I was younger, my goal in life was to be an auctioneer.  I love auctions, so helping at two of them was pretty fun for me.  I love assisting the auctioneers and yelping when people bid.  I have really good childhood memories of going to farm auctions with my grandpa and dad.


Sunday the girls sang at church to wrap up Lutheran School week.  Bg was quite the ham yet again- she may be a performer!  After church we went to a VFW fundraising dinner (I was just there to eat- not on that committee!) and headed home.  I knew I needed to run, but I was exhausted, so I took a short 30 minute power nap.  After my nap, I headed to town to run.


My goal was to run 8 miles.  The temperature was nice (60ish) and it was overcast, so I started off in long sleeves, but quickly shed the top layer!  My run felt pretty good and I took a different road than  I typically do.  To get long miles in this town, you pretty much have to get creative so I went out of town a bit and headed back to town a new way.  In my head, I was thinking the road I was taking was float, but quickly realized I took about the hilliest road in town.  I don't know why I struggle with hills during races, as I live in a hilly town!  But I did great on the hills!  I ended up going further than planned and got back to my starting point at 9.5 miles and of course, I cant end a long run at 9.5, so I did another loop around the block to make it a solid 10.  I ran it in 1:36 minutes, so less than a 10 minute average per mile, which makes me VERY happy.  My goal for my next half is 2:10, so I am pretty sure if I can keep a less than 10 minute pace by myself on a hilly course for 10 miles, I can do it during a race.  My upcoming race says it is flat as well!


After my run, I did the grocery store, raced home, showered and came back into town (have I mentioned I live like 9 miles out in the country down long gravel roads) to bring the girls to church choir practice.  I dropped them off, went to the gym and foam rolled (my calves hurt!!) and then drove my running route to double check my miles (see FitBit Blaze review post).  After choir, got the girls, headed home, finished up supper and then sank into exhaustion at 9pm.


So, in addition to an absolute busy weekend, I had a huge laundry mishap.  Bg apparently had a red and blue crayon in the pocket of one of her hoodies that melted all over my drier and all over her clothes.  I really did not have time this weekend to clean the dryer or try to salvage any of her clothes, so that is still waiting on me. 






Chloe's favorite outfit happened to be in this load...I haven't told her yet.  She will melt down...just like the crayons.  Ha ha.


Random picture: We were successful bidders at the school auction for a garden tub- filled with seeds, gardening tools, gloves, watering can, etc.  The girls had fun playing with it. 







Second random picture: This is the two day a week workout I am doing at the gym:

Third random picture: I got this snack bar as a freebie at a race.  It is organic, gluten free, GMO free, etc- all the crap that I refuse to buy into their marketing.  I wouldn't have tried this except it was free.  And it was nasty.  I took one nibble and trashed it.  It was slimy, smelled funny and green.  I don't like my snack foods to be green.  Give me GMO, non organic food any day over this!  Just so you know, the organic and non GMO labels are purely marketing gimmicks and do not change the nutritional value of your food what so ever. 

Leprechaun Lane 10K Recap and Pig Pens

I ran the Leprechaun Lane 10K on Saturday, which was part of the holiday series races I have been running.  I have enjoyed these series so far and was looking forward to the race.  My mom came along with the girls, so they could do the fun run and cheer me on.  The girls REALLY look forward to the races and are excited to see me run. 


Since it was a St Patty's theme, I wore fun socks and the girls wore fun headbands.  I have the cutest cheerleaders!


The girls did the fun run.  This is one of my absolute favorite pictures of Bg.  She has awesome running form!!!  I laugh every time I look at this picture.





Chloe did really well in her race.  She was by far the youngest racer but hung in there.  I think she may be a good sprinter (unlike her mama!).





Both girls also got their arms painted while I raced.  They don't like to get their faces painted for some reason.








This is the last picture of the fun green headband for Bg.  Due to an unfortunate port a potty incident, the headband is no more.  I had one little ticked girl that I would not retrieve the head bad from the toilet and although I promised her a new replacement headband, the ensuing fit in front of all the other runners caused her to lose that privilege.  I do a lot for my kids, but draw the line as port a potty diving. 


So, race recap.  My goal was to simply beat 54 minutes.  And I wanted each mile pace to be consistent- around 8:30-8:40.   It was a PERFECT day for a race.  The weather was great and I felt good.  They announced before the race that the 10K route had changed to include more trail, which I was excited about.  I started off strong.  I felt good and didn't realize how fast I was going until my half mile split of about 7:30.  Yikes, but I felt really really good, so I kept the pace.  The first 1.5 miles were either flat or downhill and it was super easy to keep the 7:30ish pace.  Around mile 1.5, the trail got rough and became pretty loose gravel.  I was still on pace, but turned a corner and saw a curvy hill.  A straight up, loose gravel hill.  I started up it and was struggling on the gravel.  I got about half way up and the path curved to reveal an even steeper hill.  The two guys in front of me started walking at this point and I said screw it, I am walking too.  I had just a short distance to the top and figured it wouldn't take too much time off and I was already way ahead of my goal time.  Until I got to the top of that hill and realized the path curved again, revealing an even longer hill.  I struggled up that hill and heard my split.  At the 1.5 mile split, I was at 7:36 pace.  At the 2 mile split, I was at a 9:58 pace.  Not good.  Once I got to the top, it was flat for a bit and we had a turn around.  I was able to count the women ahead of me and knew I was around 8th or 9th place.  However, at the turn around, it wasn't marked clearly and a few runners I was behind had gone too far.  Some of the runners I was close to yelled at them to turn around, so I got ahead of one chick at that point.  The return trip downhill wasn't much better.  The hill was so long and steep and the gravel was so loose, that I couldn't make up lost time going down.  I think I went down almost as slow, as I was slipping everywhere and was afraid I would fall.  Going down, I didn't see a single person running up the hill- everyone was walking so that made me feel slightly better.  I had about another 3/4 of a mile of good flat trail, but the rest of the race was pretty hilly.


My official time was 54'56.  29 seconds slower than my last race- however my GPS said it was 6.37 miles, so who knows.  It was definitely a tougher course and I am beating myself up for walking up some of the hills.  I am supposed to be getting stronger!  I don't know if I had gone out slower if I could have powered up the hills better, but I don't really think that was it.  I luckily had built a really solid lead and knew I was a ways ahead of any girl runners after mile 2.  I placed better than I have ever placed, so that is a plus.





Race swag was a little different.  Instead of a winners medal, we got glasses- which I assume are beer glasses in honor of St Patricks Day.  Here is my glass (appropriately silver for 2nd) long with my finishers medal.







RECAP:
10K: 54'56
20/103 runners
2/12 age group
8/63 female


The girls had a busy Saturday.  Up early for the race, shopping a bit with my mom, and two birthday parties made a long day.


Sunday the girls sang at church with the school choir as part of Lutheran School week.  They each had a friend over after church.  Jeff and I built the pig pen, as we will be getting our show pigs shortly. 


Looks like a pretty comfy place to be a pig.  Our show pig accommodations are pretty basic for show pigs, but we don't have a barn yet.  Hopefully this fall.





My hunky man driving the t-posts.  I had to stand behind him as he wouldn't let me take a picture.  He drove all the posts and I wired all the fence to the posts.  My hands were so sore afterwards.





This is a far off shot of the girls and their friends playing in the yard.  I love my backyard, especially in the spring when everything is green!





I just realized you cant see the kids at all.


In honor of National Lutheran School week, the school does something fun each day.  Monday was Muffins with Mom and twin day- where the students dressed like other kids.  Bg wouldn't let me get a picture of her and her "twins," which were two classmates.  They wore pink shirts, jean skirts and leggings.  Chloe and her friends wore their summer camp t-shirts.  I always think Chloe is tall until I see her compared to her classmates and realize she is a shrimp.





I love these two little girls and hope Chloe stays friends with them all through school.


Today was Donuts with Dad and camo day.  I forgot to snap a picture.  Chloe is wearing a camo sweatshirt.  Bg is wearing a shirt with a camo heart with what I could call a brown cow print skirt.  Totally doesn't match, but she insists the skirt is camo. 

Personal Trainer, FitBit Blaze and Randomness

I hired a personal trainer at my gym to help me with my running goals.  She has put together a 2 day a week lifting program to go along with my running.  I do super sets (two exercises back and forth for 4x12) of about 10 different lifts.  And it is kicking my butt!  I have been so sore the last few days, but it hurts so good!  I cant honestly say I feel like I have lost weight, but I am definitely firming up.  Brag time...a couple different ladies at the gym have commented on my arms, shoulders and back.  I have always had somewhat strong upper body strength (probably growing up on a farm helps) but I am glad to see some definition.  I worked out with Taylor on last Thursday and Sunday and am now left to my own devices for the next 8 weeks.  I hit the gym on Monday and Wednesday. 


I am taking today and tomorrow off as rest days, both mentally and physically.  I haven't been home before 8pm any evening this week, so my house is a mess and I just have a lot going on that I need to do.  My kids may appreciate a home cooked meal as well.


Another reason I am taking the next two days off to rest...I am running a 10K on Saturday!  My body definitely needs some recovery time and I plan to do some intense foam rolling tonight.  I need to work the soreness out of my muscles if I hope to beat my 54:29 time.  My goal is just faster than 54 minutes. 


Each year my work offers a discount FitBit.  Last year I got the flex and while I loved it, I really wish I had something that told the time, etc.  This year, I was able to get the FitBit Blaze!  I just got it, so am still working on figuring all the tricks out, but I love it!  I can get texts alerts on my watch, so when I am out miles from home while someone is watching my kids, I can make sure it isn't a kid related text without stopping, pulling my phone out of my Flipbelt, etc.  Or if one of my running friends is meeting up with me and texts me to say they are at such and such place, I can look and run right to them without stopping!  I can also control my music- skip songs, change volume, etc, right from the phone.  I still need to figure out all the other fun stuff, but here is a picture:


I had some time on Friday to run a long run with no distractions.  It was a beautiful day, so I planned to head to my favorite park (its a 2 mile loop) and try to get in 8-9 miles.  My stomach was feeling off, but I figured I could run through it.  I made it about 3 miles before my stomach said a long run was a no go!  The bathrooms aren't open yet (they close them in winter due to freezing issues), so I figured it wasn't a good idea for me to stick around.  I was about 3/4 of a mile from my car, so I walked back and took a pretty picture, even though nothing has greened up yet.





Saturday was a perfect day for a LOOONG run.  Problem is, I had to work!  I only work 1 Saturday a year and this was it.  I typically don't mind working this Saturday b/c it is February and usually like 10 degrees and I am working the Western Farm Show, so it is doing something I love.  I stand around and talk to farmers all day.  I hated being stuck inside all day when it was 70 outside!  And there were far few farmers at the Farm Show, since they were all in the field putting on Anhydrous. Jeff and the girls went with me, as the girls enjoy climbing on all the tractors, combines and other equipment. 


After the Farm Show, we were offered free tickets to the Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pull.  This is an indoor pull, so it gets LOUD.  The girls LOVED it.  Especially the modified tractors.





We also ate at one of their favorite places...Steak and Shake!





I took the girls swimming at an indoor community building on Sunday for a birthday party.  I came out to my car and had this message.  Nothing was out of the ordinary, so I am not sure what happened.







The more I read about fitness and nutrition, the more confused I am about what I need to eat to optimize my fitness.  I don't really care about losing weight, but would like to "lean out."  I have been following a lot of blogs and think maybe counting macros is the way to go, but man, it is overwhelming and I don't know where to start.  I plan to talk to my trainer to see what she thinks.  In the mean time, I am trying to think of ways to incorporate more protein.  I like protein shakes A LOT, but....they make me pee excessively, especially if I drink one for breakfast.  Plus, I am hungry again like 20 minutes later.  A breakfast favorite of my and Bg is banana pancakes- 1 banana, two eggs blended together, poured on a griddle like pancakes and topped with peanut butter.  I added two scoops of chocolate protein powder to mine and they were great.  A little dry, so the next day I only added one scoop and it was PERFECTION!  Chocolate, banana, peanut butter- one of the best combos in the entire world.  And I stayed full.  Until lunch.  Dead serious.







The term hangry has become increasingly popular.  I think people use it a lot who aren't really hangry.  They don't even understand what hangry is.  I get haaaanggrrryyy.  Jeff gets so annoyed with me.  Like when hunger strikes, there is no kidding around.  I cant wait 5 minutes.  I get shaky, almost sick to my stomach and a little crazy.  And it will hit me out of nowhere.  I will be sitting here, maybe a little hungry then bam, I need to eat right then and there.  And it doesn't even have to be a lot.  A small piece of cheese or chocolate, even two bits and I am okay for a little while.  I am sure it has something to do with blood sugar or something like that.