Taking the IIFYM plunge and Lincoln Half Marthon Goals

I have been researching and tossing around the idea of hiring a nutrition coach to help me achieve the body I want.  I am doing well with strength training but need to "lean out" and shed a few pounds. 


I have looked into a few coaches that I have found through Instagram and just could not go through with it due to the price.  I have spent a lot of money this past year with running, gym memberships, race fees, race gear, etc and just did not want to spend more.


One of the fitness bloggers I follow announced that she was going to start coaching.  Her blog is https://runningwithstrengthblog.wordpress.com/ and she was one of the first runners I started following on Instagram.  She has an amazing body and excellent race times!  Her coaching was a much better price than some of the other coaches so I took the plunge and hired her!


Through just some random searches on IIFYM online, I thought I had my calories and macros figured out.  Hers were a little different and include more calories and fat grams, so that makes me happy! 


My new macros:
Calories: 1700
Carbs- 165 gram
Protein- 125 gram
Fat- 60 grams


I have figured out my eating today.  It was a little tricky but I finally made it work.  I kept getting too many proteins and not enough carbs.  If I stick to what I have planned, here is my numbers for today
Calories: 1700 (pretty exact!)
Carbs- 156 g
Protein- 135 g
Fat- 58g


We had a freak hail storm yesterday that was BAD.  I was in town when it hit and luckily was close to Sonic so I parked under their awning.  It was golf ball sized at some points and did a lot of damage.  Luckily the corn is just starting to come up so hopefully it can recover from the damage.  This is the beginning of the storm.




The temp was in the 70's and there was a lot of rain too, so it started melting pretty fast, but it completely covered the roads at one point:



This picture if from this morning- 15 hours after the storm in one of the hardest hit places.  Piles of ice that were about 3 ft deep in spots.  The pile is dirty but it is all ice:





I am running a half marathon in Lincoln, NE on Sunday with my friends Meghan and Kristen.  Running has been a struggle for me lately but I seem to do okay in races.  I have 4 goals:


Goal AA: 2:00 hours (I made it AA rather than A, b/c I realize it probably isn't realistic but is my ultimate goal for the year).
Goal A: 2:05
Goal B: 2:07
Goal C: 2:10


These may be hard to reach, as the weather is supposed to be windy and rainy and overall nasty.

Bg's 5th birthday, funny stories and the ugly side of running

Bg turned 5 today!!!  I am so not the emotional type but it does make me sad that she is getting older! 


We had an eventful Saturday.  Chloe had a soccer game in the morning.  She played goalie and did awesome.  She loves goalie and told me that her coach only trusts her to be goalie b/c she doesn't let anything by her (I have no idea if he really said that or if she was just being conceited).  She didn't play as an attacker very hard but had a good game.  She had a friend come with us after soccer for a quick lunch and then back to the soccer field for Bg's game.  Bg played a good first quarter and then was done.  Completely done.  Cried, whined, cried, whined.  Her dad was NOT very happy with her.  We finally convinced her to go in the 3rd quarter and she got hit hard in the thigh with a ball and it was all over at that point. 


After soccer I dropped Chloe and her friend off at the skating rink for a classmates birthday party and then rushed home to get things ready for Bg's party.  We had about 15 4-6 year olds over and they had a great time jumping on the trampoline, running around and enjoyed the great weather.





Both girls had a friend stay the night Saturday night and Sunday they sang at church, followed by a retirement dinner for Chloe's teacher.  She retired after like 45 years of teaching, 34 at their school.  She was Jeff's teacher as well.  What a career- she will be missed!


I did my long run on Sunday (details below) and then came home and we just enjoyed the nice weather.  The girls rode bikes, rode the go-cart, played outside and played with Bg's new toys ( I think we officially own every Shopkin ever).


Funny story- I was back in the bedroom yesterday evening and I heard a slight commotion in the kitchen.  Nothing bad sounding just a few little yelps.  Bg comes back grinning and told me there was a frog in the kitchen.  Chloe was back there too and she said there wasn’t.  Bg laughed and said a frog jumped on her head and was now in the kitchen.  I had to go see and we walk in and there is a frog on the floor.  I assumed it was a play frog that she got at her birthday party, but when I got close, it hopped away!  It was a tree frog!  Bg opened the screen door and I guess it was on top of the door and landed on her head!  It had a slightly hurt leg with a little blood, so I don’t know if it had got shut in the door or if Bg hurt it when she threw it off her head!  It was able to hop, but we were afraid of hurting it, so we caught it in a butter container and set it outside.  It curled up in the container and was still there when we went to bed, but was gone this morning.  Bg thought it was hilarious!  She asked if she had to wash her hair last night and I was like, “You had a frog with a bloody leg on your head!!!  Of course you have to wash your hair!”  I just had lunch with her and she told her classmates.  They are all boys, so they thought it was a cool story.


Last time putting a 4 year old to bed:



Bg slept great last night and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed!












Chloe had to get in the action too:





Bg got a new baby doll called "Little Sis Birthday Doll" or something like that.  Grandma Judy called her this morning and asked what she got for her birthday.  Bg told her, "a little sister!"  Judy asked again and Bg responded the same way.  I could hear Judy being a little shocked and I was yelling, "tell her a doll, it's a doll!"  Ha ha, no baby sister here.


Chloe said the morning prayer on the way in.  She prayed, "Dear God, please help mom and dad to get more money and pay less taxes."  I SWEAR Jeff and I have no complained about money or taxes, especially around her, so I have no idea where her prayer came from.  She is a hoot.


Long run recap:


Had my last long run before the Lincoln half marathon.  I don't know what my problem with running has been lately but I have just really struggled.  I typically do okay in races, so hopefully that will continue.  I ran a little over 10.27 miles- GPS says 10.27 but it quit on me a bit, so I had a magically flying experience again, so not sure how far that was.  It was HOT yesterday.  I am not used to running in 80+ degree weather yet and really needed a water stop several times.  And I had a lot stronger wind than normal. My splits aren't pretty.  I am getting slower rather than faster.  I really need a mental jump start.  I did 10 miles in 1:36 just a few weeks ago.





 So to the ugly side of running.  Sunburns and blisters.  This was my 2nd run with my new Brooks Pure Cadence and my 2nd time getting some ugly blisters.  I think I will wear my old trusty Asics in Lincoln:





I know there are way worse foot pictures out there, but I ran way more last year and never had blisters.  I used to get them bad in high school, but haven't struggled with them in years.


And I don't know why my font keeps changing.  It is driving me crazy and I keep trying to change it and it wont let me.

Fun Run and a Mud Run

I have been working hard on IIFYM and eating well.   I have talked to a few coaches about nutrition plans and really want to take that next step, but I am being an el-cheapo and wont quite take the plunge.  So, while I am tracking my Macro's, I really don't know if they are the right macros for me.  I did a macro calculator on bodybuilder.com and came up with 153g carbs, 153g protein and 34 g fat.  I actually struggle with getting enough carbs and protein and keep getting too much fat.  But I am learning more about what are better foods to eat, so that helps.  I am using myfitnesspal to log my food.


But...all that macro tracking went down the drain over the weekend! 


My weekend started off grand, with a girls night at Buco de Beppo.  Yum, is that place good, but wow on the amount of food!  We started off with bread and I was starving so I ate way too much of that.  Our salad was granny smith apples, feta cheese, walnuts and was delicious.  We had chicken caprice (I am probably spelling that wrong) along with chicken fettuccini alfredo.  A lovely lady from church knew of our plans and sent us a sampler platter at well.  I believe it had fried cheese, fried mushroom and other fried things, so since I don't do fried food, it didn't hurt my diet.  And when I say I don't do fried food, I can stomach some fried things, but most breaded and fried stuff is so nasty to me- it isn't diet related, I just don't like it.   


Jeff headed out at the crack of dawn to have a weekend fishing trip with his dad, so it was just us girls.  My friend is the county prosecutor and she was hosting a Victims Advocate Fun Run on Saturday.  It started off with a kids fun run followed by a 5K.  There was also life flight, fire trucks, tow trucks, police cars, etc for the kids to look through.  The girls did the fun run with their friends but I couldn't do the 5K due to Chloe's soccer game.  I was disappointed but it is what it is!


The girls and their friends:





I didn't get a picture of Chloe finishing the fun run, but a friend shared this of Bg:



The girls got to sit in the drivers seat of life flight.  The prosecutor snapped this photo and Bg had to hide.  Should I be nervous that Bg is already hiding from law enforcement?



I really like this photo of Chloe and I.  I have finally figured out the "sock" bun and am enjoying it!


We headed straight to soccer after the run.  Chloe played great and her team won 5-3.  Not sure what Chloe is doing in this picture:



Between soccer games we rushed to a birthday party of Chloe's dear friend Kiley.  Filled up on burgers, potato salad and cake.  Quit tracking my macros at this point!


Bg was bribed with ice cream if she wouldn't be a baby at soccer.  She did well the first half and only whined the 2nd half.  She played goalie 4th quarter and this is pretty much what she did the entire time.  Probably the reason the other team scored their only goal of the game on her:





The girls and I had a date night on Saturday- dinner and a show.  We went to the local youth theaters production of Peter Pan.  Our friend Ellie was the crocodile and the play was adorable.





Chloe stayed the night with a friend on Saturday night, so it was just me and Bg. 


Sunday morning I took Bg to my MIL's and then met up with Chloe, her friend and her mom to go to a family style mud run.  We had a BLAST!  The girls were troopers and enjoyed the challenge of the obstacles.  This will definitely be something we do again.







So, I didn't get any solid running in this weekend and don't really foresee a lot of time this week either.  I hate that running is taking a back seat to my crazy life right now, but hopefully I can add some miles soon.  That is definitely the downfall of living down miles of gravel road.  If we lived in town, I could run in the mornings/evenings but I don't really like running on gravel, especially in the dark!

Speed Work

I am trying to extend my running from just one long run a week to multiple nights of running which include: 1 long run, 1 day speed work, 1 tempo run.


I did my long run (my very wimpy long run) on Saturday.  I didn't have a chance to run Sunday or Monday, but knew I could hit up the track after Chloe's soccer game on Tuesday,


Quick soccer update: Chloe played AWWWEEESSOMMMMEEEE!  She is 150x's more enthusiastic than she ever was last year.  She isn't the best player out there, but man, she is on top of it.  She played almost the entire game except maybe 2 minutes of the 4th quarter.  She had some awesome assists and wasn't afraid to get after it.  She also played goalie and didn't let anything by her.  She would dive in the middle of kicking feet to grab the ball.  I was impressed.  They don't officially keep score, but all the kids do.  It was 6-4.  Chloe's face anytime her team scored a goal was priceless.  She bent her head over with a little grin and mouthed yes while pumping her elbows.  It was adorable.


Back to running...since it is track season, I cant run on the track just whenever, but the track was empty after the game.  I was pretty excited to run on a soft, smooth, flat surface and to really test how well my technology clocked my miles.  I ran a 1 mile warm up in a little over 9 minutes.  I felt like I struggled a lot in that warm up, but first mile always seems hard to me.   My plan was to then do about 3-4 speed miles with a half mile cool down between.  I did my first fast mile in 7:28 ( I know, not that fast compared to other runners) and it really wiped me out.  I ran a slow half mile and realized I honestly did not have it in me to do another fast mile, so I just finished that half mile out a bit faster and called it a day after just 3 miles.  I am disappointed in myself, but I also know I need to listen to my body.  I have had a nasty allergy cough for several weeks now that keeps me up a lot at night.  Plus work is pretty stressful right now, so I think my body is telling me that it needs me to just take it easy. 





I think these are the coolest tennis shoes I have ever owned.  Brooks Pure Cadence.


I did the gym thing Wednesday night and felt pretty strong.  Hopefully my energy comes back soon.

Running out of steam...

I actually felt pretty good after my race weekend.  It usually takes me a few days to recover.  So YAY for getting stronger. 


I did skip the gym/running Monday night, as we had NOTHING on the calendar and I thought it would be nice just to go straight home for once.  It was beautiful weather, so the girls and I took a long hike and played in the creek.  While we were grilling, Chloe decided to try for broken arm #4 and worked on her trampoline basketball skills (no, she did not break her arm this time!).


Tuesday night I surprised the girls with tickets to the Royals Ring Ceremony, where they got their World Series Champion Rings.  It was AWESOME!  The girls had a blast at the game and even though we were in the cheap seats, we had a good view of the ring ceremony.  This is Salvador Perez celebrating!





We unfortunately had to leave the game early, but it was for a good reason- Chloe's first soccer game.  Her team lost but she played her heart out.  She has improved so much since last year.  I was a bit proud...









Bg had her first soccer game on Saturday.  It didn't go as well.  Bg played offense okay the first quarter (she was a little lost, okay, a lot lost) but she stayed out there.  She played goalie 2nd quarter.  She blocked a shot but they were able to kick it in after she reflected it.  And then she was done.  She had no desire to go out there and she whined on the sideline.  Her coach finally convinced her to go back out there, she got lightly hit with the ball and it was drama queen time.  Needless to say, she didn't play the 2nd half.  Only 5 more games...





After her game, we (the entire family) went to the track.  Chloe ran 400m in around 2:25.  She had to walk a bit around the 300 m mark.  We also did the 100M dash and she was around 26 seconds.


Skipping ahead a few days, we went back to the track at Chloe's request.  She wanted to try again.  I told her to try to beat 2:20.  She said her goal as 2:15.  She actually paced herself and finished strong.  She never walked this time.  Her time........drumroll.....2:00 even!  She blew her goal out of the water.  She did the 100M in 20 seconds. She wanted me to race her and I actually struggled to keep up with her the first 25M.  She went out like a flash!


Back to Saturday.  After Bg's game, I went out for my long run.  I wanted to do a minimum of 10 miles.  I worked really hard at the gym on Wednesday and did dynamic yoga on Thursday and was still a bit sore.  I started off and as usual, the first few miles were hard.  I really struggled but figured I would run out of it by 1.5 or 2 miles.  Around mile 3, I was starting to worry that I wasn't going to run out of my funk!  My legs felt heavy and my lungs were struggling.  I realized that my GPS shut down somewhere around mile 6.25.  I was very irritated and restarted it but it continued to crash.  I believe that caused my cell battery to die, so I lost music and GPS.  I realized I was still a good 3-4 miles from my car and I was done.  My legs were heavy, I was wearing new shoes and was starting to feel blisters, all my technology had given up and my mental game was done. 





Yes, this is a picture of me in the passenger seat of a car.  I hitchhiked.  I gave up.  No, I didn't catch a ride with a stranger.  I happened to see one of my besties husbands and he gave me a ride.  I believe I ran about 8-8.5 miles total.


Here is where I magically floated around a loop park.  Thanks GPS.  I was happy with my pace.  It was faster than my average race pace.







So, I have not been training anywhere like I should be.  I basically run 1 day a week and hit the gym 2 days and do some hiking on the 4th day.  I know I am physically in better shape than I was last year but I don't have the endurance I did.  With both girls playing soccer 5 nights a week, it is hard to get the runs in.


Found this gem on my phone:



My baby has kindergarten testing tonight!  Chloe has been giving her "tests."  Ha ha, we will see if she is prepared.

Big Party Half Race Recap and Fun Weekend

Race weekend!  First half of the year and I gave myself three goals:
A: 2:10
B: 2:13:41
C: 2:15


I was a bit nervous that these were too lofty of goals, as I haven't ran near as much this spring as I did before last year.  But I have been working hard in the gym, so I knew I was definitely stronger than my first half (ever!) last year.


The race was about 3 hours from home, so mom, the girls and I decided to make a weekend out of it.  We headed down Friday after school to my parent's lake house, which is about halfway to the race.  We stopped for frozen yogurt on the way down and ate supper at a fun diner, where I made sure to eat beef, so I could get some good protein the night before a race! 


We got up bright and early Saturday morning and headed to the race.  I ate my peanut butter pop tarts on the way there and made a quick pit stop for coffee, since my mom doesnt have any (my parents are so weird!).  We got there with about 30 minutes to spare, so I got to check in, do a quick bathroom break and meet up with my girl Meghan before the race began.  Somer has walking pneumonia and Kristen had something come up work wise, so they couldn't make it.


It was a PERFECT day for a race.  I wore a long sleeve shirt, my team beef jersey and a light zip up jacket.  I kept the jacket on for about the first half and took it off and was comfortable the rest of the race.  I wore my gloves and ear headband thing the whole race.  Several racers wore shorts and tanks and seemed comfy, but I don't get hot easily. It was a little windier than I would prefer but I think it was around 50 degrees during the race with nice sunshine.


This probably isn't the best race strategy, but I started off with the 2:00 pacer.  Running those first miles at around 10:00 miles just seems difficult to go that slow.  I knew I couldn't keep that pace, but decided to start strong, as I knew those last miles would be hard.


I stayed with the 2:00 runners for about the first 3 miles.  For some reason, I was really struggling with breathing and almost felt like I was having an asthma attack around mile 3 (well, I haven't had one before, but I imagined it felt like this).  I really had to focus on my breathing, keep myself calm (and prayed a bit) and then my breathing went to normal. 


I don't know why this happens, but I struggle with breathing so much more during the first half of the race than the second.  I rarely feel out of breath from mile 6 on.  I know the miles are slower, but I don't think they are that much slower that it should make a huge difference.  I had about 2-3 other instances of my breathing attacks during the entire race and they were really weird.  Hoping it was just some crazy mental issue I was having that day.





I am very happy with my pace till about mile 9.  My right IT band was really starting to hurt and I was definitely feeling tired.  Not horribly tired that I had to stop or anything but I really wish I had some more energy.  I stopped and had a drink and small walk at mile 10.  I walked off and on till the finish.  At around mile 11, the 2:10 pacers passed me.  I knew according to my Fitbit that I was on track, so I was surprised to see them.  We visited a bit and they even stopped to walk, as they knew they were ahead of time.  They had two different tracking devices on that were telling them different miles, so they were a bit confused.  They picked up and I tried to stay with them but fell behind. 


I got to the finish line and my girls were about 30 feet from the end.  I slowed down and asked them to finish with me (as they always beg to) but they were being ding dongs and couldn't figure out what they wanted to do, so I went ahead without them.  I crossed the line at 2:10:05.  I was SO excited.  I knew my time would be a little less than that.


I felt better physically after this race than I have any other race.  I know my body is stronger, I just need to work on endurance a bit.  Those last 3 miles were hard. 


I got my official time card and was so excited to see this:



I MET MY "A" GOAL!  Cant get much more exact than that!!  Those darn kids of mine- if I hadn't slowed down to encourage them to finish with me, I may have cut a second off my time.  Here I am trying to get them to join me:



Here are my mile splits.  I am happy with times for 1-8, just need to work on keeping my strength those last 4 miles!





Everyone thinks I am crazy for this, but after the race, we met my aunt, cousin in law and her daughter for a zoo trip!  The Springfield Zoo is a relatively small zoo, but it is great for just a short visit.  The girls had a lot of fun.   Then we followed the zoo by the world's biggest Bass Pro Shop.  The girls love posing with all the animals:



I joined in on the posing fun:


We found these bunk bed cots at Bass Pro and I really want to get them for the girls to have at the lake house.





We headed back to my parents lake house after Bass Pro.  Both girls passed out immediately and I really wish I could have!  We got back to town, grabbed a bite to eat and then I thought we would go to the cabin so I could shower and sleep, but no, the girls wanted to walk on an old swinging bridge.  That's okay, running a half marathon, pushing a stroller around a zoo for hours and then wandering around Bass Pro isn't enough exercise for me, so we walked the bridge.
 


Sunday we woke up early, mushroom hunted (no luck) and then headed home. We had 4-H and it was our semi- annual trash pick up day, so I walked a couple more miles picking up trash.  I definitely got my steps in this weekend!  After 4-H, we cleaned up and then went to Jeff's church to meet the new pastor and his family.  He has an 8 year old girl, so Chloe was excited to meet a new friend.


So, my next half is May 1.  I have pretty lofty goals, but I am going to have to really buckle down on my training.