Day 15: Run, Shin pain, and Video... Getting Stronger though

OK, so today we ran together in the evening (I currently have Monday's and Tuesday's off at my work) after Addie got home.  I think I was still feeling a little sore from our camping experience.  At any rate, my calves were really feeling the shin splints.

!No me gusta!

I did have to walk it some.  I need to stretch more I think.

"We are getting stronger"

After we got back, we did another round of Core video with Gunnar Peterson.  We are getting stronger.

Thanks for reading and take care of yourself!

Weekend #2 Recap

As John wrote earlier, weekends can be a bit tricky - but we feel like we are really focused on our goal. I think that the way to "win weekends" is to plan as much as you can, and be flexible. For example, John had a 10 hour shift on Saturday. I planned on meeting him for his two meal breaks, so we could eat together. So, I planned ahead our meals, provided snacks for him to keep with him all day, and then I followed our plan while at home all day.

Saturday, May 28:
Breakfast - "hooked up oatmeal" with Craisins, whey protein powder, almond butter, maple syrup, organic milk, and pecans. SO good and so filling :)

Snack - boiled egg.

Lunch at 1pm - turkey burgers on whole wheat bread with ketchup (corn syrup free!), mustard, spinach, tomato, olives, and avocado. YUM! Apple slices for dessert.

Snack - PowerBar with protein. I, on the other hand, splurged on an Americano...I came by John's work with dinner on Saturday night: huge salads! I assembled them when I arrived so that they were fresh - we enjoyed them picnic style, too :) They had: romaine, spinach, tomato, olives, feta cheese, chicken, green peppers, garbonzo beans, croutons, and lite Caesar dressing. SO GOOD!

For evening snack we had little bowls of multigrain Cheerios with 1% milk.

Sunday, May 29This was a camping day, and we need to get a long run in anyways, so we started out with a breakfast of French toast (2 small slices each, no butter).

(ran 8 miles) snack: PowerBar with protein, and a cheese stick. (Post-exercise protein is really important to have when you are training for a race!)

Lunch: small bowl of homemade black bean and beef chili and blue corn chips

Afternoon meal: nitrate-free beef hotdog on a whole wheat bun with ketchup and mustard (when we arrived at the campsite).

Dinner: AMAZING slow cooked beef stew with a hoagie roll.

Dessert: S'mores without the graham crackers...a strange favorite of John's...and some cocoa. little camping splurges :)

Monday, May 30
My mom made us a hooked up breakfast: a bacon/egg/potato scramble with diced veggies in it. Also, a homemade pancake with blueberries and banana on top :)

Snack: leftover chocolate from S'Mores! Yep, we did.

Lunch: tuna melt on whole wheat pita with lowfat Provolone cheese, spinach, and tomato. We were hungry by 1:30, as breakfast had been at 8:30 or so...

Dinner: BBQ! We each had a cheeseburger with toppings and baked beans. No potato salad or chips for us. And, we shared dessert - homemade cheesecake. I am a sucker for homemade treats. And, it was worth it. We also brought along real sugar sodas and each had one of those. So, yes, a lot of calories, but a memorable afternoon.

We came home from the BBQ and promptly worked out - staying with our plan! We ate nothing more all evening. We felt full and satisfied, and had great memories from camping and BBQing with friends.

The memory that sticks with me from the BBQ was when we were sharing some of the reasons WHY we are doing this (for our HEALTH) and everyone was saying how they are worried about their own parents and wishing that their health was better. It made me think of how John and I are doing something now so we are better later. Amazing.

SO there you have it - we survived our second weekend on the "shrinking belly" diet. Next weekend will be very interesting - a road trip and a visit with family...

Stay tuned - and take care of yourself!

Day 14: Exercise. The moral is you CAN make time for this

Today, we woke up in the wilderness.  Addie's parents went camping for an extended Memorial Day weekend, and we decided to join them for one over-nighter.

I haven't set up my own tent in about 5 years.  I've been camping - but usually my brother, or whomever, is already bringing a bigger tent, and I just haven't needed it.  I discovered the rain fly has gone missing.  Oops.  We borrowed a tarp from Addie's Dad, but the tent has large patches of see through screen.  The screens are great for warmer weather, but not so much, when you're trying to keep the rain off.  Oh well, no biggie right?  It's practically summer, and it was about 80 degrees during the day.  And then the rain clouds came in.  Dang it!  I ended up tying our waterproof parkas over the areas that the tarp didn't cover.  That was adventure, part 1.

The other thing was allergies hit Addie pretty badly.

So between the wind flapping the tarp on the tent all night, and the allergies, she got very poor sleep.

We left early, came home and napped.  Then off to a BBQ with some friends.  We had cheeseburgers and even cheesecake dessert, so you don't have to starve yourself.  But we didn't gorge ourselves either.  We used self-control, even though it would have been easy to go back for a second round of everything.  Addie will do a post soon on the fact that in our eating plan, we are not 'skimping' food and going hungry all day.

"You can make time for this. 

Even if it ain't perfect"

We did get the video in: 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels.  It is getting easier we noticed, and we aren't doing it every day (which I think the program is designed for).  We are rotating in our program, which already includes marathon training and core exercises.  But it is encouraging to see progress.

We didn't get any running in.  Hauling camp gear count?  A little.

The moral of the story is this: we are average, normal folks, who are trying to balance work, family, and life's other curve balls in our schedules.  These are the things that get people off course.  You  can make time for this.  We are even if it ain't always perfect.  We still got a half hour of exercise in on a day when most people throw caution to the wind at a big BBQ and eat until you have to un-buckle your belt.

We met a new couple at the BBQ: friends of our friends.  They have a 9 month old, and the mother has lost about 38 pounds since giving birth by watching what she eats and running.  While taking care of a baby and a 2 year old.  More proof that you can do it if you decide to do it.

Thanks for reading and take care of yourself!

Day 13: Long Run

We did a long run today: 8 miles.  We were out for about an hour and 45 minutes, so not too far off our pace.  We did have some walking breaks, and I'd like to decrease those overall.

I spent a good chunk of the run working on my stride.

I felt it along my butt muscles pretty good.  But my shins and calves are feeling great!  The stretching and calf exercises seem to be working.

"It was a gorgeous day for a run"

The water was beautiful, and a lot of families were out with their kids at the parks, and also people walking their dogs.  Good times!

We're off to go camping overnight!

Thanks for reading and take care of yourself!

Day 13: Weigh-in

Ok, our peeps... weigh-in truth time.  This is the rubber meeting the road; and our feet meeting the scale.

This week, I'm down 3 pounds, and Addie is down 2.5 pounds.  Woohoo!

"I feel pretty good about that"

Granted, it is not so about the weight itself, as it is our overall health, fitness and physical shape.  But the fact is (and you can see the pictures for yourself here), in order to achieve overall health, fitness and physical shape, I need to drop pounds.  Losing fat and replacing it with muscle is the end goal.

As I pointed out in "My Belly Doesn't Like Me Either (and Your Belly Doesn't Like You)", belly fat is a killer.  That's not dramatic overstatement - it's the facts.  The links are there to help you do the research for yourself if you want.

So the real purpose for this exercise routine for us isn't vanity or merely 'looking good' - it's for our overall well-being, and to live healthy lives.

Thanks for reading and take care of yourself!

Day 13: Saturday, Rest Day

Today, is a planned rest day.  We plan on 5 days a week of exercise, 1 light day consisting of mainly stretching, and 1 rest day.

Though I am not Jewish or a Seventh Day Adventist, Saturday actually is the Sabbath, or rest day.  You can see it in the etymology - "Sabbath", Spanish: "Sabado", English: "Saturday"... "Sabbatical" is a term for an extended work rest.

"Plan your rest"

Saturday just happens to fit as our rest day in our work-out schedule because of my work schedule (Oh, the irony...).  We have a long run planned for tomorrow.


It's the weekend!  Enjoy it, my friends!

Day 12: Stretching

Today is a 'lite' day. 

I focused on just stretching.  I also slept in a bit.  I've talked about both things - both are important for your body, especially when you are pounding the tar out of it with a workout routine.

It may seem like rest is counter-intuitive to getting in good shape, but it's not.  Again, elite athlete's often get more sleep than most average people.  Also, stretching helps loosen your muscles up and work out some of the lactic acid built up during exercising them.

Today is Friday!   Do something fun!!

Thanks for reading and take care of yourself!