Three Things Thursday

Three Things Thursday:

1.      I ran 3 ½ miles today as a pre-race shake out run. I’m running the Sunburst Half-Marathon this weekend. 

(Source)

I didn’t really do a proper “taper” seeing as how I went to a spinning class, ran 5 miles, and played 2 games of sand volleyball yesterday. Whatever—back to today. So, today I realized as I was changing for my short, shake out run that I FORGOT A HAIRTIE. D-A-N-G-E-R. Seriously. Has there ever been anything more tragic?? It’s SOOO much harder to run with my hair down. How do girls do that?!?!? Needless to say, it was SUPPOSED to be a 4 mile run. I called it at 3 ½. I just couldn’t take it anymore.

2.      I bought 2 chocolate Gu’s yesterday.

      This is earth shattering. I was SO beyong anti-Gu for….well, pretty much ever. Then, I forgot fuel at the 25K and had to steal a friend’s extra Gu. LOVED it. Woah. So, I decided—hey, if it worked for the 25K, maybe it’ll work for the half. Stay tuned…

3.      I went to the Farmer’s Market today and walked out without buying a SINGLE thing.

      Meh. I just wasn’t impressed. Sure, they had produce and plants and stuff… but, nothing called to me. To be honest, my local Farmer’s Market isn’t very impressive. Ok, it isn’t at all impressive. I’ll try a few more times over the summer, but it looks like I’m sticking to my local grocery store.

Support System: I'm one lucky girl

Obviously having a support system is SO important when you’re training for something as massive as a marathon. The amount of time you put into training is monumental and it can be extremely emotionally, mentally, and oh-yeah physically daunting and exhausting. It’s SO important to have people around you who love and support you.

Before I decided I wanted to run a marathon and really put in the kinda training I want to put in towards it, the Hubs and I talked about it.

I have ZERO pics of the Hubs and I working out together, so this one'll have to do. We're on our honeymoon in Jamaica!! I WANNA GO BACK!!!

Newsflash—every mile I spend running is less time I spend at home with him. As newlyweds, I was concerned about this and was worried training would take too much together time away. I brought this up with the Hubs (as he would have never even thought about it… he’s such a guy) and he was immediately, without hesitation, 100% on board and supportive. He knows how important it is to me. He supports me. I knew he would be and I honestly wasn’t super concerned. The Hubs and I are verrrry independent people and we’ve never been (and will never be) the couple that has to spend every second of every day together. Just not us. We each have independent interests which works great for us. So, it was a pretty easy transition for us. Still, I try to keep balance as much as possible. I workout while the Hubs is still sleeping. I get up early on the weekends to get runs outta the way so we can spend time together. He works at it too. He ASKS about my runs and gets excited for me.

Text convo w/ the Hubs after the Little 2 1/2 Race.

He is my number one support and I couldn’t ask for anything better than him. Ok, enough sap.

Most people assume people’s spouses are supportive. It’s kinda a given (though that doesn’t make it mean any less! I love you, Hubs! THANK YOU!!). I am lucky enough to have LOTS of other mega supportive people...

Friends: I am SO lucky to have the most amazing friends. These are only a few of them, as putting pics of everyone would take for.ev.er.

They support DURING runs. Btw, love this girl. Check out her blog. You'll love her too. 

They support by helping me EAT! 

And eat. And eat. And eat. For the record, my friend is PREGGO in this pic and we're both NOT posing for this pic. LOVE it. 

They help me laugh!

 They make sure we meet ALL our goals-- running or not! I would not have made it through grad school without this girl!!

Family: I have amazing siblings and in-laws and extended family and everything in between. Their love and support are just amazing!

I'd be lost without my sisters. They're my cheerleaders and I love them beyond words.

My in-law's, the Hubs and I after my father in laws first 10K and my  first 25K!  

Even my boss! Sometimes people ask me how I can go for a run in the middle of the day when I’m at work. Well, it wouldn’t be possible without my amazing boss. He’s SO supportive! He asks me about my training all the time, encourages me to go in the middle of the day, and even brings me in random readings about running! Yes, he still expects I get my job done 100% and that comes before running. For sure. But, he still supports me beyond employee-Meagan. And, THAT is incredible. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have this kinda environment to work in and this supportive of a supervisor.

This is a print out on running my boss asked his daughters sports medicine doc for when he was last there just for me. Seriously... how lucky am I?!?!

Morale of the incredibly long story? I have a bomb ass support system. I am SO lucky to have them. They have no idea how much their support means to me. I'd be lost without them. I try to thank them every time I can, so if you have a support system as great as mine (though I'd definitely argue mine is the BEST), remember to thank yours. Sometimes we get wrapped up in the shoes and Gu's and Garmin finding satelite-ness and the PHYSICAL stuff we need to run and we forget about the EMOTIONAL support our loved ones give us. So, today-- I'm intentionally focusing on that. And remembering to say THANK YOU to everyone who helps me along my marathon quest.



WIAW, Round 6

 Breakfast (8:45am):

Egg white english muffin open face sandwich (made with 2 egg whites, 1 piece of low-fat cheese split b/t both halfs, and on a low-cal/high-fiber english muffin). About 175 calories.  Lunch (12:15pm):

Pretty typical... roasted red pepper hummus, pretzel thins, an apple, a hidden string cheese and carrots. About 400 calories.  Snacks (2:30pm & 3pm):

 Hot tea... even though it was hot outside. I'm weird. And then a 100-cal pack of Cinnamon Roast Almonds and a Diet Coke. About 100 calories.  Dinner (6:30pm):

 Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza. SOOO good. Made with TJ's garlic pizza dough, low-sugar BBQ sauce, and FF mozz cheese. YUM. I went back for 1 more piece after these 2. And a diet pepsi. About 500 calories.  Night Snacks (7:30pm & 8:30pm):I forgot to take pics. I suck. But, I did have a great snack! A piece of homemade banana chocolate chip bread... receipe to come! SO, SO, SOOO good. Then, later my typical WW ice cream pop. I can't resist. About 270 calories.  Total for the day-- about 1450 calories. Pretty good!   As always, thanks to our WIAW host!_________________________________________________________________ Today's workout wasn't particularly noteworthy... pretty standard. Spinning and an awesome 2 1/2 mile TM run. My legs are crazy sore from yesterday's Signature Strength class. I almost nixed the run altogether, but decided to try it (ya know... trying to stick to the whole week 1 of marathon training plan thing). Immediately my legs felt great! I knocked out the 2.5 miles in 21:35 for a 8:38 pace. Now, I'll enjoy this slight runner's high allllll day.   Today, I get my stiches out (yay!) and have another 2 sand volleyball games. The Hubs has to work late tonight, so he can't make it... but, it'll still be  a good time. If you ask me, beer + volleyball is always a good time. :)  

Weekly Workout Recap (5/21-5/27):

“What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn through running to take what the day gives us, what our body will allow us, and what our will can tolerate.”

-John Bingham, running writer and speaker

Weekly Workout Recap (5/21-5/27):

Monday, 5/21: 60-minute Spinning Class & 1 mile walk

Tuesday, 5/22: 9 miles in 1:33:30 (10:23 pace)

Wednesday, 5/23: 60-minute Spinning Class & 2 miles on TM in 17:11 (8:35 pace) & 40 minute on Elliptical (3.5 miles) & 2 sand volleyball games (about 75 minutes playing)

Thursday, 5/24: 3 miles in 28:20 (9:26 pace) & 1 mile walk

Friday, 5/25: 60 minutes on elliptical (5 miles)

Saturday, 5/26: 6 miles on TM in 54:06 (9:01 pace) & 30 minutes on elliptical (2.5 miles)

Sunday, 5/27: 10 miles in 1:42:30 (10:15 pace) & 60 minute spinning class & 1 mile walk

Totals:

30 Miles Run

3 Miles Walked

130 Minutes/11 Miles on Elliptical

3 Spinning Classes

2 sand volleyball games (about 75 minutes playing)

This was the LAST week pre-marathon “training”… dun, dun, duuuuun! Nervous to start this official training… something about it being a TRAINING plan makes it SO much more official. Here goes nothing… J

Oh! And, don’t forget! You can follow my training on DailyMile, too!

Random, Random Friday

Sorry I’ve been a little MIA lately… work, life, blah, blah, blah. Anyway… here’s what you missed…

Wednesday night the Hubs and I had our first sand volleyball game with a summer sand volleyball league we’re a part of. We’ve never done anything like this together before, so I am beyond pumped. We lost both our games, but had a blast! And, yes—there was DEFINITELY beer between our two games. I mean… duh.

Wednesday I went a SMIDGE overboard on the working out front… a 60 minute spinning class, 2 miles on the TM, 40 minutes on the elliptical, and 2 sand volleyball games. Yeah. Since Wednesday I have been EXHAUSTED.

Thursday was definitely a flats-day at work. My legs were KILLING me and the idea of heels was too much to bear. (Note: the dark nail polish is a MUST since 1 of my toe nails is grossly-black. Thanks, running.)

Thursday I also went to the gym at lunch with every intention of knocking out 6 miles. 3 miles into it and I was SPENT. I honestly could not even imagine moving one more foot, let alone 3 more miles. I called it a day.

When I got home Thursday night the idea of moving more than 2 feet made my brain hurt, so me, ice packs, blog on the iPad and the couch got some quality time. Perfect night.

I had to stop by Walgreens to get a new passport photo taken (I’m telling you… changing you name takes fooooorever) and when I was there I saw these things that I cannot wait to try…

PB and Oreos? Together? OMG. I HAD to not buy these because I’m fairly certain had I bought them I would have eaten so many I would have turned into a PB Oreo. Legit.

The Hubs and I went to Jamaica for our honeymoon and for MONTHS before had his favorite thing to use the word “Jamaica” in normal conversation… “You’re ja-making me mad”, “I ja-made dinner”, “Let’s ja-go to the store”. You get the idea. When I saw this I immediately snapped a pic and texted it to the Hubs telling him we needed to ja-go on another vacation soon.

I’ve wanted to try one of the SkinnyGirl products for MONTHS. I love Bethenny and have heard good things about the cocktails. When I saw this one it looked amazing. Had it not been 7:40am on a Thursday morning I really, really would have bought it.

I passed out last night at 9pm and when the alarm started yelling at me at 5am I knew immediately getting up was not gonna happen. I slept in and did an easy hour on the elliptical at lunch.

That’s about it. Happy weekend.  

WIAW, Round 5

Yesterday ended with a run outside. The weather was amazing. The sun was shining. The birds were chriping. The stiches in my leg only hurt a little bit. It wasn't fast and it wasn't exactly pain free and there were moments (ok, lots of moments) when I was all "OMG! Running is SO hard! This sucks!!", but there were also moments (ok, less of these, but still!) when I was all "WEEEEEEEE!!! I'm RUNNING and it's AWESOME!!!!!". So, I ran. 9 miles. 9 great and not-so-great miles.

I kicked off this morning with a boring spinning class. Nothing special. Nothing terrible. Just spun. And, then did 2 quick-ish miles on the TM (17:11). First run on the good ol' TM in a while. Newsflash: STILL JUST AS BORING. I know-- shocker.

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Now, onto What I Ate Wedneday!!  

Below are all my Tuesday (5/22) eats. I've been trying to watch what I eat a little closer to hopefully avoid the oh-so-annoying marathon-training weight gain. I think I consumed about 1500 calories yesterday. Pretty good. I'd like to keep it around 1400 on average, so there's definitely room for improvement, but I'm OK with it.

And, as always, thanks to our WIAW host.

Breakfast:

9:00am- Coffee and a blueberry Chobani and a big handful of Honey Nut Cheerios. Delicious.

Snack 1:

10:30am- Special K Fruit Crisp. These are so good… kinda like a healthier (kinda) poptart.

Snack 2:

11:30am- 3 mini Laffy Taffy’s. Worth every bite.

Lunch:

12:30pm- I went to Panera with a friend. You Pick Two… half vegetarian black bean soup, half chicken cobb avocado salad. Yum, yum, yuuuuum. I've never had this salad before and it was SO good. This is my all time favorite soup... I try to only go to Panera on Tuesday's or Thursdays JUST because I know that's when they have this soup. It's that good. I promise. And, the nutritional stats are pretty great.

Snack:

4:00pm- Diet Cherry Coke and Baked Cheetos. I’m so healthy it hurts.

Dinner:

7:30pm- It was post-run so I wasn't crazy hungry... brown rice and... well, that's kinda it. I swear, that looks like WAY more rice than it was. Brown rice, a few splashes of reduced sodium soy sauce and some siracha. My tummy is always a bit upset after a run of 7ish+ miles, so this was all that sounded even remotely appetizing. Btw, I eat this at least once a week for dinner. I'm SO exciting.

Dessert (b/c I HAD to have dessert... even if my tummy was upset. Duh.):

8:30pm- Weight Watchers Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream bar. Heaven on a stick. Sorry there's no "before" pic... there's no way that sucker would've lasted long enough for me to take a pic. Please. Who do you think I am?!?!? 

 

5 Stiches Later

Yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment to have a “suspicious looking mole” removed. 5 stiches later, the sucker is gone and off to be biopsied. I’m not too concerned, but to say that it’s not a little nerve wracking would be a lie. I was going to take a pic of it… when the Hubs said it looked pretty “gnarly” I decided to spare you all. To the two people you read this, you’re welcome. 

I did, of course, ask how this would affect the whole I love to run thing. The doc said I should be able to run today and as much as I’d like as long as it didn’t hurt.

I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to going straight to the gym to do a light hour on the elliptical right after I left the doctor’s office, but I decided it was on the side of crazy to workout less than 5 minutes after having your leg literally cut into. Good choice, Meagan.

I also got blood work back on my tummy-issues. It’s kinda complicated and essentially the results are inconclusive, so I’m going to keep using the benefiber and see how things keep feeling. If they still feel crummy over the next month, I’ll schedule a meeting with a GI. Uuuugh. I swear, I’ve seen been to the doctors (and/or dentist) over the last year than I have in my entire life… total. And, I’m OVER it.

So, that’s really all that’s new with me. Life’s pretty boring right now. I did 10 miles on Sunday. 10 very sweaty, hot miles. I went to a non-noteworthy spinning class yesterday. I skipped my morning workout today because I didn’t get to bed til after midnight (gasp! That’s even after my WEEKEND bedtime!!). So, I forgo the sweat session for extra sleep. I think I’ll get in a few miles after work… but, to be honest the leg is definitely not feeling great, so we’ll see.

Sorry for no pics today. I'm lame, I know.

Weekly Workout Recap: 5/14-5/20

Weekly Workout Recap: 5/14-5/20

Monday, 5/14: 45 minutes on Elliptical (4 miles)

Tuesday, 5/15: 60 minutes on Elliptical (5.25 miles) & 5 miles in 52:02 (10:24 pace)
Wednesday, 5/16: Spinning & 2 miles on TM in 17:17 (8:38 pace) & 5 miles in 49:30 (9:54 pace
Thursday, 5/17: Signature Strength & 2 miles on TM in 17:11 (8:35 pace) & 45-minute Spinning Class & 75-minute Yoga Class 
Friday, 5/18: Rest day! :) 1 mile walk
Saturday, 5/19: 6.5 miles in 1:01:04 (9:23 pace) & 2.6 mile walk
Sunday, 5/20: 10 miles in 1:40:06 (10:00 pace) & 3.25 mile walk
Totals:
30.5 Miles Run
5.85 Miles Walk
105 minutes/9.25 miles on Elliptical
2 Spinning Classes
1 Signature Strength Class
1 Yoga Class

1 Rest Day

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

-Colin Powerll, Former U.S. Secretary of State

Weirdest Cornucopia Assortment of Food Ever

I tried out a new gym yesterday. The gym at my work was closed the past 2 weeks because they’re between spring and summer semester here and they needed to get some remodeling/construction/court resurfacing done. So, they offered staff and faculty who had a membership a one-week long free membership to another local gym to kinda compensate for our lost 2 weeks.

So, last night a co-worker of mine and I went to check it out. I have no intention of switching gyms, nor do I need to join ANOTHER gym (See! I really do know this, Hubs!) as I already belong to—cough, cough—two gyms. Plus all the race fees + running equipment + random other fitness not-so-cheap things. So, I went hoping I wouldn’t love it. Totally logical.

Maybe it was my “please-don’t-be-amazing” mind-set, maybe it was the gym… but, either way— I wasn’t mega impressed. They have NICE facilities and everything, but so does (one of) my current gym. We went to a 45-minute spinning class, and while the bikes are nicer, the instructor wasn’t as great as any of the ones I’ve had at my gym. It was a super sweaty session and it had a didgital read out, so it was nice to focus on keeping RPM’s at a certain level and stuff.

(source)

After the 45-minute sweat session, we went straight into a 75-minute yoga class. Now, I was hoping this would be more of an intense stretching session, as I already went to Signature Strength that morning and my arms and legs were already quite jello-ish. Lucky for me—I was dead on. It was a stretching-focused class (I’m not a yogi by any definition of the word, so I have NO idea what the proper term for the type of yoga we practiced was). But, again—I was disappointed. It was the least intense yoga class I’ve ever been to, in any form. The stretching wasn’t that intense and I never felt like I was really working any muscles. My co-worker felt the same way, so I know I wasn’t just crazy (this time… spoiler, this doesn’t last long). PLUUUUUS, the teacher was all YOGI intense. You know… all “the moon will be full tomorrow, so be sure to sleep on your left side so your zen can be fully exposed” blah, blah, blah. Clearly I’m not direct quoting her here… but, I just don’t dig when the a yoga teacher is clearly trying SO hard to be oh-so-yoga-hipster. I get it. You’re cool. Got it. Obviously, I’m not a yogi-kinda person, so it bugged me. My co-worker told me I was crazy (see! Told you it wouldn’t last long) and she was totally ok with the teacher and her style.

(source)

So, that’s that. I won’t be going back to the gym, unless maybe we get to go for free again.

I didn’t get home last night til 8:20—gasp! For a girl with a 9pm bedtime, this was shockingly late. PLUS, I hadn’t eaten dinner. Woah. For a girl who lives to eat, this was even more shocking. I’m never crazy hungry right after I work out, so I had a random assortment of crap for dinner. Yup, you read right. Complete crap. Air popped popcorn, an apple with peanut butter, and a weight watchers ice cream bar. The Hubs said I was eating the “weirdest cornucopia assortment of food ever”. I disagree... I've eaten WAY weirder foods. But, I’m OK with it.

I work up at 5am today with every intention of going to the gym, but I was CRAZY sore (I’m about 99% sure it’s from Signature Strength), so I decided to skip the workout. Uh huh—you read right. Skipped it. With no intention of making it up today. Random rest day—I love you so hard right now. My body needs it. Who I am to argue with it?

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I gotta work all day Saturday, but other than that the Hubs and I have a fun-filled, but relaxing and NO traveling weekend planned... including this tonight...

Pure bliss.

Three Terrific Things Thursday

Three Terrific Things Thursday

1. I ate Teddy Grahams for breakfast. Only Teddy Grahams. I saw the box in my office when I walked in this morning and could not stop thinking about them. So, I went for em. Not even an inkling of a regret. Best decision I’ve made all day (yes, I know it’s only 10:55am).

2. The Hubs and I got to go out for dinner last night! We had to meet with our future land lord to adjust our lease (our soon-to-be rental house will be ready for us to move in a full MONTH earlier than before! YAY for getting out of our current vomit-filled-neighbor apartment and into a not-so-great-location-but-whatever-it’s-a-HOUSE rental house at the end of JULY instead of August. Cannot wait.). We went to Carrabba’s since we had a gift card (big thanks for my mother in law!!). I started with this amazing lentil and sausage soup. SO good. Then, I got one of the specialty items (you know… the ones on the small, changing menu… I felt so fancy!)—a pesto pasta dish with chicken.

By the time I was done with the soup and the bread (b/c you KNOW I ate the bread. A lot of the bread.) I literally asked for a to-go box when the waiter set down the pasta, ate 2 bites of my entrée and then boxed it up. I was stuffed. YAY for yummy left overs for lunch today (note: usually I give the Hubs my leftovers, as I am really weird about leftovers, but this was too good to pass up).

3. This morning I went to Signature Strength for the first time in over a week. OMG. I’m going to be beyond sore tomorrow. Hurts so good. Then, I did 2 quick (17:11!!) miles on the treadmill where I listed to the song “Drive By” by Train over and over and over again And, no, it wasn’t on repeat. I kept physically re-playing the song. Over and over and over again. Literally. All 17 minutes and 11 seconds were Train-filled. Not even a little embarrassed, either. 

WIAW, Round 4

Tuesday started with a slow (aka: boring) 60 mintues of intervals on the elliptical. I was still pretty sore, so I didn't want to push it.

I also did a slooooow 5 mile "shake out" run during my "lunch" Tuesday. Ok, I call it a shake out run to try to excuse just how slow it was (10:24 pace). Was it the sore legs? The 80*+ and sunny weather? Was it because I didn't eat much before hand? Who knows. I just know it was one of those runs that just plain sucked. I still love running, no doubt. But, this run blew. Simple as that. Luckily, the weather, though crazy warm, was beautiful:

And I'm trying to focus on the "I'm so lucky I can run in weather like this" than the "OMG! 5 miles is SO far and this sucks so much!" 

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Now, onto What I Ate Wednesday which was started by this girl. It's a way to track one days eats/drinks in its entirety...or as close to it as humanly possible. It's a great way to reflect on my average weekday diet and eating habits. These is actually what I ate on Tuesday, so I could post it on Wednesday for WIAW. WIAW would be a little weird if I waited to post it til Thursday. Because then wouldn't it be What I Ate Thursday? And, that just doesn't sound the same at all. And, now I'm rambling. Ok, here we go...

  
Breakfast: 8:45am 

Black Cherry Chobani. Not my all time favorite flavor, but good. Oh, and coffee. Duh.

Snack: An unpictured mini snickers (like, legit mini-- not the fun size... I'm talking the teeny, tiny mini one) right before my mid-day run. That sucker never stood a chance of getting a pic before I ate it. Please.

Lunch: After my mid-day run, around 1:30pm. I was starving when I got back and couldn't eat fast enough.

Plain turkey sandwich on low-fat white bread (I know, I know-- sounds healthy, but it's not. Yeah, yeah.), carrots, pear (not quite ripe, but still SO good!), light string cheese, diet pepsi

Dinner: Around 6pm

Dinner was crazy good. The Hubs had to work late (again), so I was on my own. I made 1/2 cup brown rice in the rice cooker (best invention ever). When that was almost done, I sauteed some chopped onion, red/yellow/orange peppers in reduced sodium soy sauce/Siracha, and some of TJ's peanut salad dressing (sounds weird, but it's SO good). I also had a few of TJ's mini chicken cilantro wontons. This was the first time I had those and they were pretty good. Plus, you get 4 for 50 calories, so I (of course) had twice that. Dinner was quick and delicious!

Snack: Around 8pm - An unpictured handful (or 3) of baked Cheetos. I can't stop eating them. They're just too good.

Dessert: Around 8:45pm

The hubs suprised me by coming home from work with fro yo! He did an excellent job of getting (legit) almost more reese's peanut butter cup than fat-free vanilla fro yo. The correct toppings to fro yo ration is at least 50:50. At least.