Failing Happens

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A couple weeks ago I told you about my sugar addiction. I challenged myself to 2 weeks without sugar. Well…. I made it one week. I think a couple things happened. I allowed myself to give up and binge on sugary deserts. They were certainly delicious! But, pretty much right after I regretted it. Instead of getting back on track I thought that since I had the sugar that was the end and I went to town and haven’t stopped since! It’s too easy on a blog, Facebook, Instagram or any other social media sire to portray our lives as perfect. I didn’t want to tell people I couldn’t even make it two weeks, but I didn’t. It’s clearly not the end if the world and there are much worse things that I could be dealing with but I am blogging to be real and keep track my journey getting back into pre baby shape.

Yesterday during my 4 mile run I was gassed. As the run got hard I started thinking to myself ‘theres no way I’ll make it 13 miles in a few weeks’ and I just kept doubting myself and telling myself I was going to fail. I kept thinking about it and I told myself that no matter what I am going to finish that race. I have done the exact race before and I will do it again. Am I horribly undertrained? Yes. That’s my own fault. If I have to trot my way to a 3 hour finish then that is what’s going to happen. The fact that I am undertrained has nothing to do with my recovery from Hudson. It’s just that I haven’t dedicated enough time to running in the past 2 months. The most I’ve run is 4 miles. I’ve trained for races before and I know that’s not the way. What’s different about this time around? Obviously- I’m responsible for another life and he comes first. I also know that when I get out there with Gwen it’s going to be much different than running alone and having no support from anyone else. It’s OK if I walk. It’s OK to take rests. I’m not running this race to win. I don’t run any race to win. I am running for me. I’ll be so proud to say that less than 4 months after my first child I ran a half marathon. toot toot <— yes, I will toot my own horn. did i just say that? haha

So the point of this post was to remind myself that this journey that I am on will have a few bumps in the road. I just hit one with the sugar thing, because I allowed that to happen. I promise that after that race I will be writing about how I finished. Not about how I quit. Sometimes we need reminders that we are strong and that we are in charge of our own lives. For now, I am going to go on happily eating my sugars and try a new approach- moderation. 

 

 

Make Time Because You Aren’t Going to Find it

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Question: “Where do you find the time to workout?”

Answer: “I don’t find the time. I make the time.”

Now that I am officially a working mommy I have less free time andway less time with Hudson. After work I am faced with a choice. Hangout or workout? I get home from work at 4:30 and Hudson goes to sleep around 7:30. Math whiz says that’s only 3 hours a day with him. Any new mom will tell you- that’s no time. It’s been a change from spending every moment together the last 3 months!

Although I totally cherish my time with him I also cherish my workouts and fitness. My health and sanity is so important to me and will help me be a better mom. So, 1 hour twice a week and once on the weekend is what I am committing to. At least for crossfit. I also try and fit in runs too. I can take Hudson with me for a run though.

When I feel like I need more- then I’ll have to make time somewhere else in the day. Like the morning. I’m not there yet!

The next time you can’t find time in your day…. make time for yourself. you’ll never regret a workout. Ever.

I Love Sugar

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I have a confession to make about myself. I eat way too much sugar. Way, way too much sugar. I think if I could I would eat it at every meal. If it’s possible, and I totally think it is, I am addicted to sugar.

A couple days ago while indulging in what was my 3rd or 4th froyo (of the week) topped with jelly beans, gummy worms, and swedish fish my friend told me it takes 2 weeks for your body to stop craving sugar. I didn’t think twice about it and told her there was no way I was doing that. No way could I do that!

Fast forward 1 hour and I had impulsively committed myself over Instagram to quitting sugar for at least two weeks. Now, for me quitting sugar means quitting sweets. No more candy, cookies, ice cream, frozen yogurt, milk shakes and most importantly- no more candy. I love candy. In college I played lacrosse and before and after games I would yell up to the front of the bus “did anyone bring candy??!” At school I’m always scouring the halls for other teachers stashes. I can’t keep it in my room, I’ll eat it all in one day. I can’t help myself and I can’t stop when I start.

I am also trying as best I can to avoid sugar in food. Did you know that everything has sugar in it? I’m not giving up breads, yet. I feel like I need to be realistic about this. My problem lies in treats. So I’ll start with that. Oh, and soda. No soda.

You may wonder why a sugar loving lunatic like myself would give up her sweetness. Well… Last week this happened. warning!!! Avert your eyes if you don’t like things that are a little gross!! I personally think things like this are interesting;

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Yep, broken tooth. My teeth are actually rotting out of my face. I went to the dentist the next morning only to spend 4 hours in the chair getting not one, but TWO root canals and a filling in a 3rd tooth. I spent a lot of money that morning. Sorry Hud, I’ll be nursing you until your 12. Gross. Oh yah, and I still need 2 more root canals!

Another reason for giving up the sweets is body transformation. I don’t want to say weight loss because even though I will inevitably lose weight, my body is soft and mushy. I want to tighten and tone and build back my muscle. That’s not going to happen making a batch of cookies each night. And eating them all next day.

So far I’ve completed 3 whole days of no sweets and no soda. Somehow I’m still alive. Somehow my husband is still alive. He should probably stop telling me “no” when I’m begging to go get gummy bears at 6pm. And 6:36. And 7:05. And 7:59. And so on. Just kidding about stopping. It’s so helpful to have the support of friends and family! I’ve substituted candy and other sweets for fruit when the craving hits. Good thing I also like fruit. I’m taking this challenge one day at a time. 3 days down. Lets hope that no one is announcing anything at school on Friday. People always (usually) bring in donuts when they have a life announcement to make. So hold off a couple weeks! K?? Thanks!

Now off to bed to dream about gummy bears and sour patch kids dancing on my tounge.

GRATITUDE

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Too often we are focused on the negatives in life. Something isn’t going my way. I can’t do something. If only this could happen. When this happens I’ll finally be content. Blah blah. I’m guilty, your guilty- we all do it! Don’t deny it. We’re all human and we’re all constantly evolving. Change is inevitable and rather than getting all worked up about it- embrace it. Make the best of it. I am saying this because on Friday it’ll 12 weeks to the day that Hudson was born. On Friday, I’ll be going back to work for the first time. I’ve been dreading this day for 12 weeks. I’ve been getting worked up about this day for 12 weeks. I’ve been terrorizing everyone, especially my husband, about this day for 12 weeks. Well it’s time to suck it up. Friday is going to come. Hudson is going to be fine. I have a job. I have an amazing family. I have great friends. I have my health. Life could be worse.

One year ago, I suddenly lost my father. That was a very hard dose of reality for me. Life is precious and can be taken from us in an instant. I get reminders about this too often and I admit I let them go too easily. Does it matter that someone didn’t do something exactly the way you like it? Not even a little. Life is too short to worry about the little things. Like the book says, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. This is something that I have been really trying to work on and it’s not something that comes easy for me. I get irritated to quickly. I am hard on the people around me when things aren’t going my way. I need to remind myself to be grateful and that it’s ok to do things differently from how I do them.20130319-151027.jpg

Today on my run I was thinking about it all and something came to me. It’s time to be positive about this whole going back to work situation and get over the fact that I can’t be a stay at home mom right now. As much as I love instant gratification, this one is going to take some time. Who knows, it may never happen! But, I need to think about the things I am grateful for in life more often. There are so so many things that I am grateful for and when I think about it I realize that I take them for granted every.single.day.20130319-151002.jpg

It’s not a secret that I signed up for a 1/2 marathon on a bit of a whim. I’ve been worried about it ever since I hit submit. I haven’t been doing the things I need to do to get ready for it and it’s time to change that. Today, I ran farther than I’ve run in months and I did it pushing a stroller. I felt great. I am grateful that I can run and that I have healed so well from surgery. I am seriously celebrating the fact that I ran 4 miles today! Is that a half marathon?? no! Will I get there? Yes, eventually. I’m OK with the fact that I might need to walk during the race. I am grateful that I can be there with one of my best friends and we can do it together!

I am by no means saying I have a perfect life. There are things that I can work on. BUT, I am saying, I am going to try my hardest to be the best me and to not dwell on the things I can’t do or I can’t change right now. So, work, I’ll see you Friday. Momma’s gotta pay the bills and teach the youth of America!

 

 

I Get by With a Little Help From my Friends

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We all have our workout preferences. For me, when I run I love to run with other people. Time goes by so much faster and it makes running more fun. When I first started running I started with a friend. Over time our friendship got stronger and we got to know each other more closely than we would have without our running struggles. I met Gwen in grad school and we were always friendly in school but our connection became much stronger when we started running together. At the time, we both ran at similar paces and were both fairly new to running and racing. It was so great to have someone to not only talk to, but to hold me accountable for meeting and actually going running! We ran lots of little races together and even ran our first and second and third half marathons together. Actually, I think I’ve only ever run half marathons with Gwen. We even did Team in Training and ran a full marathon at Walt Disney World. A few weeks after completing our marathon she moved a few hours away and I very quickly lost my love for running. Maybe it wasn’t the running that I loved, but it was the time that I was able to spend with my friend! As I’ve said before- I love racing. I love the competition with myself and those around me. I don’t love training; unless I have a friend to do it with.

I put out a “wanted” ad on my Facebook feed the other day. I need a local running friend. Lots of friends said they’d love to go running, but I have a feeling getting a regular won’t be so easy! My neighbor and friend said she would go with me that morning. So we left the babies at home with our husbands and went out for a couple miles. I felt my love for running returning because I had someone to chat with and the time seemed to fly by! I can’t wait to get out and run together again.

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My next run was a stroller run. It’s actuallystarting to get a little easier each time I go out. I also feel like I am figuring out little tricks to make it easier on myself. I did figure out that running into the wind with a stroller is similar to running with an umbrella into the wind. It was darn hard with the wind blowing in my face. I kept trying to make faces at Hudson and get him to babble at me. That helped a little! I have a feeling that even though I will be doing much of my training with the stroller, the 3 mile climb at the bottom of Mill Mountain is still going to be a little harder than I remember.

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Hud takes our runs very seriously

This week I am planning on getting a longish run in onthe weekend and going to CrossFit for the next 2 days. I can’t wait for Friday’s WOD. It’s the first WOD of the 2013 CrossFit Games Open. Last year I competed and loved it! This year, for obvious reasons I won’t be competing, but I will be saving my 2nd WOD each week for Fridays so I can still do the workouts. The WOD for this week is:

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 17 minutes of:
40 Burpees
45 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
100 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
120 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

Uhhhhh… it’s gonna be a doozie! Can’t wait!

Anyone else love running or working out with others?? Why do you love it?

Anyone hate it?? Why do you hate it?

 

 

A Letter From Bob

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Dear Kristen,

 

Congratulations on your recent decision to run a half marathon! You are the proud owner of me, Bob, the stroller. I wanted to take this time to say how excited I am to have a training partner. We are really in for some good times together. I will keep your precious cargo safe and all I ask in return is that you keep my tires pumped and crumbs out of the seat. I also thought it was only fair that I let you know that this journey we are about to go on isn’t going to be easy. Just when you started getting comfortable with running you had to go and have a baby. You thought running with your own body weight around town was tough? I’ve got news for you, sister. I weigh 25lbs. I know for a fact your baby isn’t a light weight so lets add 14 lbs. Give or take a few. Don’t forget until that kid can hold his own head up you get to bring the car seat on every run too. Let’s add 10lbs for that too. 49 extra lbs! That’s not for the faint of heart.

Now, I know I may have just scared you, but I assure you that if you do train with me you will be stronger than training without me. We will get through this together. When you’re really tired, you can lean on my handle bar. Things aren’t about to get any easier because that pork chop in the front seat is only going to get bigger and heavier!

If you’re ready for a challenge then I am your guy. I’ll kick your butt each time we meet. Trust me when I say, you’ll thank me for it in 7 weeks when you’re crossing the finish line.

 

See you tomorrow!

Love,

Bob

Upcoming Stuff…

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Last night I went off the deep end a little. I was reminising with one of my best friends about our running past and begging her to run a race with me soon. I meant a 5k. She jokingly said “how about the Blue Ridge Half?” … without hesitation I say “OK”… That’s about the time I had lost my mind- officially. Wait, maybe it was when I announced my fate on Facebook that my mind was lost. Actually, I know the exact second I officially lost my mind. It was when I officially registered for my 6th half marathon. Yep, that’s when it was.

So… on April 20, I will be running my 6th half marathon in Roanoke, VA. If you’re familiar with the area you know it’s “hilly.” If you’ve ever run in the area you’re more likely to say it’s “mountainy” and if you’re currently 8.5 weeks out from giving birth to your first child you’d say it’s “almost impossible.” Who doesn’t like a good challenge? I mean I have run a total of 5 miles in the 2013, right? But seriously, I am super excited to be running along side this pretty lady again. Gwen and I started our race running together. We ran our first half marathon together. We ran our first marathon together. We’ve run a lot of races together. Of course, by together I mean we were both in the race. Gwen is much faster than me and I think she truly has more of a passion for running than I do. I LOVE races. I don’t love training. I love the competition, I love the energy on race day. Training for race day… I could do without.

We both ran this race for the first time in 2011 and I finished in 2:10. I was very happy with that time considering the elevation gain in the race is… wait for it… 3,620 feet of total elevation gain! I think the first 3 miles are up the mountain. My goal this year is to finish and be under 2:30. I know with Gwen running with me, I’ll hit that goal. I am hoping that running with my new accessory and his transportation device I’ll get a little stronger and hopefully it’ll make running without it easier.

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Our first half marathon- 2010

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Hanging out in Disney before our first (and my only) marathon

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About 1 mile into our 26.2… Very happy to be running!

I’ve loosely laid out a training plan. Basically it’s just my long runs each week. I have 7 full weeks to be able to run 13 miles. I better get my Garmin charged up, and my running shoes dusted off! I do plan to continue with CrossFit while training for the race. I’ve found that the strength I gain from CrossFit really helps my running. I have also signed up for a local 5k 2 weeks before so that’ll be a good re entry back into racing.

Well… I better get running! <3

A Welcoming Community

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Whether or not you’ve never done CrossFit, I’m sure your heard lots of different things about it. One of the most common things that I hear about CrossFit is how great the community is. It’s not like your big name gym where you might see the same people time after time and never talk to them. I’ve found that people at CrossFit boxes form real friendships with other athletes at their box and other boxes. The CrossFit community truly is something to talk about. WODs are done at the same time with everyone typically doing the same thing. Some have athletes starting and finishing at the same time and others are for time with athletes finishing at different times. It’s the for time wod that you really see people rally together to help one another finish. If you haven’t had a chance to experience this- I highly suggest it. I know at my box they offer a free class EVERY Saturday to both members and non members. In addition to the community class, they offer an intro class for people to try it out also for free. So try something new! You might find a new friend while you’re at it!

I’ve spent the last 2 Saturdays at my box watching events that they’ve been hosting. The first one was the Capital Affiliate Championships. This was the culmination of a season of Saturday competitions in the DC metro area. It was a great event with a DJ, swag, food trucks and awesome athletes! I took Hudson over with me (gotta start em early, right?) Unfortunately, I got there too late to see my box compete. I still got to see a great competition! I was definitely in awe of some of the women that were competing. It was so impressive to see them continuously climb the rope like a bear climbing a tree!

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This Saturday, Hudson and I returned to the box to watch local area teens compete. It was so great to see the teens show off their skills.

Before the teens competition, I went to my second (ever) community class. To say I got my butt kicked would be an understatement. It was raining and I didn’t even consider we might be outside. Well, we were. The first thing I said when getting there was “I hope we aren’t going outside today” because I didn’t dress for the weather. I had 2 choices for my attire- oversized short sleeve Nike Dry Fit or furry North Face jacket. I went for the tee shirt. The thought of the fluffy jacket getting wet and sticking to me gives me goosebumps. Yuck. Here’s the partner WOD that we did:

16 Minute AMRAP

Sumo Deadlifts high pull with kettlebell (8 min)/ Kettlebell swings (8 min)

200m run with medicine ball

On the minute (every minute) 5 burpees

So one partner did the kettle bell work while the other partner runs. When the running partner got back inside we switched. So, like coach Conan said, you can walk- but your partner is going to hate you! And, don’t forget every minute we did 5 burpees… Outside in the rain. The first 8 minutes the kettlebell movement was the sumo deadlift high pull and the last 8 minutes were kettlebell swings. You counted your reps by kettlebell movements. Each time you and your partner switched you’d add on to their reps. My partner and I had 177. It was her first time at CrossFit and it was a hell of a workout to start with!

This was a tough WOD! The hardest part forme was the burpees. I totally underestimated them! I don’t know what I looked like, but I’m guessing it was a mix between a floppy fish with a ton of bricks tied to its back. Getting my fitness back hasn’t been easy. It’s hard not to compare myself to where I was before getting pregnant. So far I haven’t gotten down on myself and I’m just happy to be working out again! I’m working hard to not only get my fitness level back, but also to get back into my pre pregnancy jeans.

Moms: how long did it take you to feel like your old self again after your baby?

Dads: did you gain weight alongside your wife while waiting patiently for your bundle of joy? If you did, how did you get it off?

“Strive for progress, not perfection.” -Unknown

 

 

 

Now and Then

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I’m currently sitting on the couch with a sleeping baby next to me. I find that I have a lot of time to reflect on things these days. As I think about my week and what I accomplished I’m happy. I went to crossfit 2 times and I am happy about it! Things have certainly changed for us in the last 8 weeks.

Then, there was a time in my life that I would have gotten down on myself for only working out a couple times in one week. Now, I’m grateful that I had two whole hours to go and workout.  (Thanks Mike!)

Then, I literally had nothing to worry about when I was at home. I’d come home from work and take care of my dogs. I could workout whenever I wanted and with a minutes notice. Now, I have to plan around feedings and when Mike will be home from work and the weather.

Then, I could bundle myself up and go for a run no matter what the temperature. Yes, I’d run on these blistery days. Now, There’s not a chance I’m taking the nugget out on a very cold day just so I can run.

Then, I wasn’t concerned about over doing it. Everything I did was for me. Now, if I get injured I’d have a whole new mess to take care of. If I thought 2 am feedings were hard while healthy I can’t imagine them with an injury!

Then, I was worried about what others thought about my body. Now, I just had a baby and I don’t care what others think. I am working out purely for me.

Then, I’d hang around after class chatting with friends. Now, I’m trying to get home quickly to see my boys.

 

Yes… things have changed around there. For the better. I am loving this time in Hudson’s life because I know he isn’t always going to need me like he does now. I will have more “me” time as he gets older. For right now,  I am perfectly content being at his beck and call.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll be able to get myself to the community class and get another workout in. If I don’t- the world will go on.