Friday, October 29, 2010

GAH!!!

My foot still hurts! I ran on Wednesday and it felt fine. Then yesterday I did the elliptical. Today, I went out for a run and did four miles. My foot KILLED for the last half mile or so. CRAP! What am I supposed to do? Just rest? If I were one of those in shape people who actually likes to exercise it would be ok to rest the foot until it felt better. But since I'm one of those prefers-to-lay-on-the-couch kind of chubbies, I really can't just hang til it feels better because I'm afraid I'll make that some sort of month-long or more excuse.

WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Do I see a doctor? It's so annoying to do that though. First you see the regular doctor and they basically will do nothing but send you to some ortho person. Fine, except you know they won't have an appointment til like January. Then you'll go there and wait forever and they'll just send you for and x-ray....blah blah....such a pain in the...foot!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

you're kidding me, right??

Expletive! Expletive! Expletive!!!

I took two days off of running after Saturday's 10 miler. I intended on going to aerobics class last night but my cousin Johnny's 11th birthday was last night and I just HAD to go over and have cake! What's that? Ok yeah I had two pieces. Whoops.

I got out and running this morning with Thomas in the jogger. After about 3/4 mile Thomas started to fuss so I stopped quickly to give him his pacifier. I started back up again and OUCH! My foot! Ouch! My leg! WTF is THAT??? I decided to stop running and just walk home. I was making my way out of Maritime College when one of the guys who works there said, "Hey wait, don't I always see you running??" I told him my foot hurt and he said he hoped I felt better. I have to say, I kind of like that he said something. It means that I've been doing this enough to be a bit of a staple on campus!

Anyway, I don't know what's up with my foot. What did I do? It's not like, killing me now but then again I'm just sitting here. I have an appointment downtown at my endocrinologist today and I'm going to drive down so I'll stay off my foot as much as possible. SUUUUUCCKKKSSS!!!

WAAAAAAHHH!!! Hopefully it's nothing and just a little twist and I'll be back on the wagon in no time.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Woo-freaking-hoo!!!

10 miles baby! That's right! TEN MILES!! I'm sitting here with my feet up and my laptop on my lap typing these very happy words! Double digits!

First the bad news - let's see....After I ran I went to the movies. I brought a bagel and cream cheese and a cup of coffee with me. However, I was starving so I decided to indulge in pretzel bites too. Nearly finished the whole tray during the movie. Oh and after dinner? I had not only a 3 Musketeers Bar but a pack of Starburst. And then I wonder why I'm still a fatty....

But back to the good news - I ran ten miles, my farthest ever. I logged onto MapMyRun.com and happened to see a 10 mile route that was on there that was kind of near me. I figured I'd give it a try.  John had Thomas for the day in PA so I didn't need to rush home for anything.  If I needed to walk I could. I started out down East Tremont Ave which is sort of the main street for where I live. I ran to the subway and turned left onto Westchester Ave. Now, my area of the Bronx is really nice and I love every bit of it.  However, just a mile or so down the road it gets a little....sketchy. My run took me past no less than 4 homeless men, several dudes that were definitely on crack, 20+ Mexican workers at three gas stations hanging out waiting to be picked up as day laborers, and too many to count just scary looking people.  I ran to Parkchester then all the way to Pelham Bay Park.  Once I got to the Park I was much more relaxed as it was more my 'hood.


After about 4.5 miles, I felt pretty good. Thing is, the first few miles really sucked.  I felt terrible. But once I hit that 4.5 mile mark, I started to feel pretty good. That, or the fact that I was a little scared where I was running may have caused me to pick it up a little!

When I finally made it home I gave myself a nice pat on the back followed by a ginormous glass of chocolate milk! I took my shower and...OUCH! The water touching the places where my sports bra had rubbed raw was PAINFUL. PAINFUL! I need to figure out what to do about that. The whole band area is rubbed raw.

My knees are killing me. My legs are so sore. My stomach is full of crap food. But you know what? I ran ten miles today. Boo-yah!

Workout: 10.37 miles
Time: 1hr 50min
Next up: And on Sunday, she rested...

Friday, October 22, 2010

Baby it's cold outside!

Ok, I realize that I will be laughing at this title in just a few short months when I'm running in sub-freezing weather. But today was a chilly day! I originally planned on doing the elliptical machine while Thomas had a nap.  However since we didn't have Mommy & Me class today my morning was wide open and Thomas was up EARLY.  So, I decided to bundle the little boy up and head out to Maritime for a run! It was pretty tough! I felt tired and my legs just didn't seem to want to move.  I was going to stop after two miles but was inspired by this morning's Today Show feature on Maritime College's football coach. He will be deploying soon to Afghanistan leaving behind his wife and two sons.  I see them all the time while Thomas and I do our running around the campus.  It was really neat and totally surprising to see someone I "knew" on the Today Show as I watch it every morning. 

Right when I wanted to quit I spotted Coach walking this dog.  He gave me a big wave and I just knew I needed to do another lap.  Anything to get me going!

I did 4 miles and wound up sweating big time even though it was awfully chilly out.  Halfway through my run I noticed that Thomas had finished his snack and was very quiet! He's usually blabbering the whole time I'm running.  I guess the fresh air and the early wake up time really wore him out! He was out cold and I wound up having to sit outside my house - never wake a sleeping baby!!! - for 20 minutes or so until he woke up.  He was all bundled so I figured I'd just let him be.


Tomorrow John is taking Thomas to the Poconos to see his parents.  I won't get into why I'm not going (suffice to say that his family is completely nuts and I just don't have the energy to be around them) because I want this to be a very positive and Disney-like blog! :)  I'm looking forward to some nice alone time.  I hope to get in a long run and maybe even a movie too! MMMMmmmm movie theater popcorn will be SO deserved after a long run....

Workout: 4 miles
Time: 44:54
Next up: Long Run...maybe 8 miles?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Dear Body, Why do you hate me so??

I don't know if it's my body or my brain that I should hate. Really. So I finally get some motivation to get my butt in gear and get out and run. Nice! Right? Well why oh why must I sabotage myself by eating crap nonstop? I just love food. I LOVE IT! I love cooking it, I love looking at it, I love taking pictures of it, and most of all I love eating it. In large quantities. My brain knows that in order to run well, lose weight, and be healthy I need to eat better and stay away from the cookies, candy, goldfish crackers, etc etc that I cram into my mouth every day during naptime. But my hand still reaches for the food! But the brain signals the hand to move. DAMN YOU brain!! I need to come up with a plan. A meal plan.  Before I was diagnosed with PCOS and insulin resistance I gained about 40 lbs in THREE months.  After tons of tests and receiving my diagnosis I went on metformin (a diabetes medication) and went on a strict diet to try to lose that weight.  I did it so I KNOW what needs to be done to lose. And since I still am insulin resistant/pre-diabetic, I should really stay away from the crap. And yet, I still eat it. Bad.

Moving on, I had two great exercise days (even though I went up FOUR pounds in the last couple of days). I took a break from running yesterday but did the elliptical in the morning for half an hour (as long as my teething son would stay in his crib fighting sleep) and after he went to bed I got back to the aerobics class that I used to do every Monday and Wednesday.  It was SO great to be back and see all the women who are still going. I even got a couple of nice you-lost-weight compliments which I loved.  Also, it gave me a chance to show off some pictures of my boy! What mom doesn't love that? We did some step aerobics followed by a weight workout. Shoo! It was great.  And you know what? I did really well and I'm sure it's because of the running. Even with the weight gain I KNOW that I'm in pretty darn good shape.

This morning I was able to do my "short" run without the jogger since John didn't need to leave for work until 9am.  I managed to run 4 "quick" miles and felt pretty great the whole time.  This weekend's long run according to the runDisney plan is only 4 miles but since I've already gotten my mileage up above that, I'm planning on trying to go for 8 or 9! We'll see. I'll have to map something out.

Until next time, I'll be trying to tape my mouth closed to keep the food out! ;)

Workout: 4.1 miles
Time: 41 minutes
Next up: Some sort of cross training tomorrow followed by a long run (8 or 9 miles) Saturday!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Busy Life of a SAHM

I worked in Finance as the Head of Investor Relations for a multi-billion dollar asset management firm.  I thought I was a very person then. Ha! It's really amazing how busy you can become when you "just" stay at home with one little boy. I can't even imagine having more kids to handle every day! Add that to being constantly tired and the fact that I'm sit slightly on the lazy side of the spectrum and you have me very behind in alot of things I need to do!

I ran 4 miles on Sunday after taking a rest day on Saturday.  After the 7 mile run on Friday I needed a break.  The 4 miler felt just as bad as the rest of my runs.  It's getting a little depressing not having a "great" run in a long time but I'm not going to quit. I know it's my fault because I've been housing food non-stop. My son Thomas hasn't been sleeping and napping all that well and he is teething terribly lately.  With that extra stress, I'm turning towards junk food WAY more than any grown woman should.  And that's making my runs really suck.  Where is my discipline??

It looks like the rain should clear up today so I hope to get a 3 or 4 miler in today as the runDisney plan calls for. I don't have Mommy & Me class today but starting in November I will be teaching the class on my own so I will need to figure out how to get out and running by 7:30am at the latest on days where we have "baby school".

I would like to share some pictures though as it's been a while! This is from a 5k race I did a few weeks ago at Orchard Beach.  My 9 year old cousin ran with me. She didn't finish the whole thing (come on, she's 9!) but before it ended I had her come back in the race with me to finish. It was fun to finish with her!!

The best part of this race of course was the free food and beer they had afterward! 
We went pumpkin picking this weekend too.  We drove up to Rockland County and, although it was a little chillier than we were expecting, it was a great time.  Thomas had little trouble walking on the lumpy ground but we still managed to get a great pumpkin!



It's 7:23am right now and the sun is still not completely up. Yuck. Thomas is whining in his crib (he got up too early and is still tired but doesn't want to go back to sleep) so I better get him.. He'll spend the next hour or so before we go out chasing the dog/whining because of his teeth/playing with the broom/refusing to eat.

Ah, the busy life of a stay at home mom...

Friday, October 15, 2010

I'm Still Here!

Hi all! I'm still here. Just slacking a little on...well...pretty much everything! I HAVE been running but not as many days as I normally do.  I've been busy with taking over as one of the leaders for the Mommy & Me class. Who knew I'd be so busy putting together crafts!

Anywho, I started the official training for the Princess Half on Tuesday.  That plan has only two short runs during the week and a long run on the weekend.  I ran three short runs this week though.  I feel like two short runs just aren't enough for me. Believe me, I'm not one to WANT to run yet. But I feel like two won't be enough to keep me going.  That being said, my short runs totally sucked this week.  I don't know what it is but I've been feeling pretty horrible during my running.  My runs were only 2, 4, and 3.5 miles which by now I should be able to bang out with no problem, right? Wrong. I've felt like absolute poo.

John was able to take a comp day from work today which was great.  I then was able to get out and do a long run without Thomas in the jogger.  Since I hadn't had a real long run in two weeks, I knew I wouldn't be hitting any new mileages. Plus, my short runs were pretty crappy so I didn't want to get too crazy on the long run.  I felt like crap the whole run. I mean seriously, the whole run. It was cold and windy today (well, cold compared to what it's been lately). I started off at a 10 min/mile pace which actually is pretty good. But very soon after the first mile or so I dropped to an 11 min and then even a 12 min per mile pace. Blech. I wound up doing 7 miles. And it took a LONG time.

Best part of this whole week of running is that it's over. You know what I think the problem is though? Nutrition. I've been eating like crap and I'm SURE that's translating to crap running. I have always had a hard time eating right. I need to find a plan to follow.  Any one have any suggestions?

On a completely different note, I'll be in Disney again in 50 days! Woot! This time it's just me and Thomas.  Can we say, totally different experience??? I think we'll have a good time. Thomas is such a good boy and even if he had a meltdown every single day...at least we'd be in Disney! And I can reward myself for a "tough" day with a Mickey bar :)

Workout: 7 miles
Time: 1hr 18min
Next up: I think I'll rest tomorrow and shoot for another long-ish run on Sunday

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Erm, not going to run today...

I ran a nice four miles yesterday.  I knew I wouldn't be able to get a long run in this week since John's still away (coming home tomorrow, thank GOD) but I figured I could at least do 3 or 4 with the jogger. Some of the running plans have you do a high mileage one weekend and then less the next before going back up. Anyway, so that's what I was telling myself so I wouldn't feel too bad about not doing a big long run!

I'm having some stomach issues (up all night, yuck) so I've decided not to run today.  Thomas and I have plans to go to Queens today to have lunch with my friend Veronica. She's having us over to celebrate my 30th birthday which was last Monday.  Hopefully my stomach will behave by then because we're having Pio Pio which is, um, awesome!

I still need to upload a picture from the 5k I did last weekend! My laptop doesn't have a card reader so it's a huge PITA to upload photos these days.

Until tomorrow :)

Friday, October 8, 2010

No big run today

I woke up today really not wanting to go out and run. It's a gorgeous day and perfect running weather but this whole gash on the shoulder thing is really bothering me.  I decided to get out and go and put a bandage on the shoulder. It felt pretty ok so I headed out.

After a little less than 2 miles, I really felt pretty bad. Just...tired. And my stomach was bothering me (aka I had to GO) so I decided to head home. 

I wound up doing a 5k which actually isn't so bad. I ran for about 32 minutes.  And hey, according to Jeff Galloway's RunDisney Princess Training Plan, I only need two 30 min runs during the week to prepare for my long run on the weekend. So, I still feel pretty good about my running this week. Sure, it was only twice but it's still two more times than I would have done just a few short months ago.

Looks like I won't be able to get a long run in this weekend though.  John is STILL away on business and I just can't do long runs with that jogger.  I might try to see if my aunt or someone can watch Thomas for a while so I can run.  Thing is, I like to run first thing in the morning (before I can get a chance to psych myself out) and seeing as it's the weekend, I think most people will want to sleep in (and/or recover from being out the night before!).

Oh and the shoulder? Still hurts.  And it's really ugly.  I need to find something to hold these bad boys up and not cut the crap out of my skin!

Workout: 3.1 miles
Time: 32ish minutes
Next up: Dunno, but I'll at least do 4 with Thomas in the jogger.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Some unforseen problems...

So we've all heard of people hitting some roadblocks during their training for marathons and half marathons, right? I kind of almost expected something to go wrong. Maybe my knee? An ankle? Maybe the herniated discs I have in my neck and upper back would act up as they seem to always do?

Yeah, none of that so far, knock on wood. But I have hit a little...issue. I literally have a gash in my left shoulder.  It's from my sports bra. I finally found a decent bra to hold up the girls and was SO happy about that.  Problem is, all the, ehem, bouncing, is turning into a big problem.  The straps are chafing my shoulders and the back of the elastic band has formed a nice cut on my back. But the left shoulder is bad. Like, really bad. I have a bandage on it right now and it pretty much constantly hurts.

What the heck am I going to do? I decided not to run today and further irritate the cut but instead did a Biggest Loser Workout (The Biggest Loser Workout, Vol. 1) instead which has minimal up and down motion.  I've actually had this DVD for years and I love it! It's quick but it's HARD and leaves me sore every time! But I can't just take a long break from running! Why oh why can't they make sports bras with women who have big knockers??? Don't we deserve some quality duds too?

Knees feel good, back's alright, ankles are in tip top shape.  Where is the problem? Two of the things that make a princess, a princess! The boobs!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Another quick update

John's away on business so it's just me and Thomas for the week. So that means I pretty much have zero time for anything. Thomas is in his crib fighting a nap so I'll have to make this quick.

I ran the Brothers in Battle 5k Race on Saturday and did great! I finished in 28:26 which is a minute and a half faster than the Race for the Cure in September! It was fun and a gorgeous day. The best part was the free beer and food they had afterward!

The next day I set out for a long run and did NINE miles! Woot! I was SO sore afterwards! I tried some of those PowerBar Gel thingies and took along a water bottle. I'm having a hard time drinking and running at the same time. Yeah, yeah, I know, I could just stop for a second to drink but I gotta tell ya, once I stop, there's no way I'm going to start again! One of these days I'll figure it out. Still, I'm so thrilled to say that I've run 9 miles. That is so much closer to 13.1 than 4 was when that was my longest!

Monday I rested. I just couldn't get going after the nine miler. Oh, and it was my 30th birthday too! I actually didn't do much of anything except go to Mommy & Me and take Thomas to his 15 month appointment.  It was cold and rainy and we just hung out together. John was already on his way to CA so it wasn't much of a party. That's ok, no biggie.

Tuesday I did the elliptical machine for 40 minutes since it was still rainy and terribly windy.  Finally today, Wednesday, I ran again.  I was really tired for almost all of it. On the last leg back home I finally felt pretty good. Why is it that I feel good at the end of the run? I hate my life for the first three miles. But by the time I finished the 4 miles I felt like I could keep going. I stopped though because Thomas had fallen asleep in the jogger and I wanted to see if I could get him to continue his nap in his crib (basically so I could take a shower and eat!).

So, that's where I am. Nothing too exciting. Then again, are training runs really all that exciting? It's the races that seem to be where the fun is. I need to find another race to sign up for. I think it keeps me motivated.

Workout: 4 miles
Time: 45 minutes
Next up: Have to do another 4 or so tomorrow. My knee's bothering me though...so...we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

I'm here! And I've been running!

Hi all! Sorry I was MIA this week.  Getting back into the swing of things after that week-long vacation has been a little difficult. John started a new job on Monday as well and his hours have been pretty sucky.  Not terrible, but Thomas definitely doesn't see him hardly at all during the week.  He's leaving tomorrow for a business trip and won't be back til next Monday. Ugh. Having to do it all for all those days is going to be rough.

But let's talk about some fun stuff, shall we? Like, our Disney trip! Let me tell you it was amazing! Thomas was the perfect baby! We really can't complain at all (not that we would complain, I just mean that he could have had ALOT more meltdowns, etc while on the trip and he was an angel). We woke up early Sunday morning and headed for the airport. Since we flew out of JFK it took slightly longer than it normally would flying out of LGA but still super easy, even with the cab driver forgetting his EZ-Pass.

We took Magical Express to the Beach Club Villas and it was just perfect! We spent the next eight days in Disney bliss. We ate like pigs and felt like dying sometimes in the heat! I ran three times while there but just couldn't do anymore. The humidity was SO bad. I wish I had run one more day but I'm happy I got out as much as I did.

I managed to get some really great pictures! Take a look:

Daddy and Tommy on Main Street

Looking VERY serious at the Liberty Inn

Liberty Inn again on a different day :)

Where'd the water go??

Waiting in line for our next ride!

He really loved the characters!

Before Magic Kingdom opening

Sad attempt at a family shot on Dumbo

Lotso smelled like strawberries!

Sigh, I love this photo.
It was really a great time. Can't believe it's come and gone already. Thomas and I are heading down on our own in December. We had a bunch of banked points we needed to use. Unfortunately with his new job, John can't get the time off. Here's hoping Thomas is a good boy while he's down with just me!!