What's keeping me busy?

Things have been busy for 3 reasons....

First reason is....

I have schoolwork to do!

As many of you know, I am a Physical Therapist at an acute rehabilitation hospital. I also love working with students and teaching physical therapy. I serve as adjunct faculty at my alma matter and take usually 2 students a year to do their full time clinical internships, as well as organizing an integrated clinical for first year PT students.

I love teaching.

As a bonus for taking students from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, I get credit vouchers. I have decided to use those vouchers to work toward an advanced certificate in teaching! So I have been spending many nights reading, researching, and writing for school.

Second Reason...

I am on a training hiatus.

I have no races currently scheduled (although there are 70.3 thoughts in my head). I have decided to take 3 months off from formal race training (which I haven't done in over 3 years), to work on really losing the weight I need to. I have tried so many times, but race training tends to leave me exhausted and stressed, and hungry! So for 3 months, I have a new best friend.

Remember when I was back/forth between Jillian and P90X?

Jillian won.

Can we say love it?

I have lost almost 10 pounds in 2 weeks.

I feel lighter, thinner, more energized, and healthy.

The diet is the key part, and I love only doing 30 minute workouts.

My ultimate goal will be adding in a few running days, but that is on hold until my big toe heals from the nasty catamaran injury on vacation.

Not running or training, makes me feel like I can't make posts, but I will just have to make them more weight loss & healthy living centered.

Third Reason....

Kevin & I are getting Married!

We have set our date for August 24, 2013!

I have been busy putting things together, getting organized, and planning planning planning. This is the reason I won't be able to have a repeat at Pumpkinman 70.3, but am considering the Patriot Half Iron in June 2013.

So now you know what has been keeping me busy on my small hiatus from blogging. Oh that, and an amazing vacation. I'll recap that in another post.

What keeps you busy from blogging?

Would you ever go back to school?

Do you care about reading my weight loss adventures or race training only?

My Plan to get what I want

Last night, I decided that I need to make a plan to get back on track. 

A written out plan, that consists of goals, a plan for reaching those goals, and how I'm going to keep track if I'm staying on target. Being a Physical Therapist, I am constantly making plans like this for my patients, so I've decided to do it up for me.

GOALS

1. Get to my goal weight

2. Finish Pumpkinman 70.3 in under 8 hours

3. Wear a bikini on vacation

Victorias secret, so cute!

4. Have more energy and less stress

PLAN

1. Follow my training plan for workouts. NO EXCUSES

2. Clean eating, no sugar ~85% of the time. Limit alcohol to special occasions only.

3. Do my Hypnosis daily

4. Go to bed on time
5. Work less weekends

HOW TO TRACK PROGRESS

1. Weekly weigh ins

2. Bikini pics. Buy a 2 piece and take a picture in it weekly.

3. Food journaling/ meal scheduling

4. workout tracking on dailymile & my training schedule on fridge.

I want it.

I need to regain focus to get everything I've wanted for so long. 

This is the most solid plan I've had in a while to get there.

With a good workout under my belt from this morning, and a plan in place, I'm ready to hit it hard tomorrow!

Source: makingmyselfproud.tumblr.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

What do you want?

How do you get there?

I write about my Health Because...

For the month of April, I've committed to 30 days of posting!

Join me, and go HERE for more info.

Day 4

I write about my health because...

I write about my heath for others to read, because at one point, I looked like this...

Disney 2006, the trip I decided to be a runner

I was overweight, and unhealthy. I remember that year at Christmas (just weeks before), I would stuff my face with as many christmas cookies as I could find during breaks at work. I had troubles with binge eating at night, and worked out only on occasion.

I had worked through Weight Watchers several times in the past and always gained the majority of it back. After returning home from this trip, being motivated to start running and seeing myself in the vacation photos, I promised myself that I would go forward to health & not look back.

I rejoined Weight Watchers, and started running. I ran my first 5K, I trained for my first half marathon & finished it in beautiful Hawaii. The weight started coming off, and my confidence grew, along with my ambition to enter more endurance events, including my first Triathlon.

Divas 1/2 Long Island 2011

CT Women's Tri 2011

I write so others can see that its possible to turn yourself around from a lazy, depressed, overweight, self-conscious girl into a empowered, strong, healthy woman.

I also want others to see that even once you've lost some weight, or run some races, that health isn't necessarily easier. For me, it it always a struggle to remain consistent with my health goals. I want women to know that they are not the only ones! Staying healthy requires us to make constant decisions (even ones we don't want to, like skipping a cocktail), that either help or hurt us. Difficult decisions like wanting to sleep in and skip a workout, eat dessert after dinner. Sometimes decisions are made for us, like when work or family prevent us from making the best choices. Its important for us to do the best we can and never give up.

Since starting my weight loss journey in 2006, I have kept off 25 pounds. I have struggled with 15 that I had previously lost over the last few years, and I'm working on the motivation to get that and more off. Since starting my running journey in 2006, I have run many 5ks, a few 10ks, 9 half marathons, 1 marathon, and a few sprint triathlons. This year my focus is on the big 70.3 in September. 

I used to be the girl that couldn't run a lap around the gym at cheerleading practice in high school. I tell everyone who thinks running longer distance is unattainable, that if I can do it, anyone could do it.

I want everyone to stop thinking they can't.

can't eat healthy.

can't lose weight.

can't finish a race.

Start thinking CAN.

You are Stronger than you think.

Don't forget my Raw Threads giveaway ends 4/8... enter HERE

Couch Potato to Marathoner

I asked my brother Jason to share his journey from overweight couch potato to lean marathoner.

enjoy!

Strangely enough, I used to have absolutely no interest in running. I just wanted to get in better shape. In high school, I probably weighed around 270 lbs. My friends were extremely encouraging of my desire to become a runner like them (they were all cross country runners). During the first cross country practice, I fell far behind. My friend Mark Ecker came back, and finished with me, offering me plenty of encouragement along the way. Unfortunately, I just felt defeated, and that was that last time I would try running for a long time.

It was the summer of 2008, and I was living in Philadelphia. I had gained considerable weight since high school (at one point maxing out around 295 lbs) thanks to laziness and bad eating. In college I had started playing racquetball, and had improved my eating habits to a small degree. I had dropped down to 250 lbs but was still particularly unhappy. I’d had enough. Sure I’d made progress over the years, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to be better, healthier, happier.

My sister was signing up for her second half-marathon in Hartford. Growing up, she had had weight issues just like me, and if she could lose the weight, get in shape, and become a RUNNER, so could I. So I started running that summer and I couldn't even run a single mile without stopping to catch my breath. But I wanted it. I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted something so bad in my entire life. At that time, it was an unobtainable goal. I signed up for the Hartford 5k and didn’t look back. The summer of training was difficult, but I’d managed to get up to running over a mile without stopping for a break, and around 2.5 miles total. I completed my first 5k in around 36 minutes (I don’t know the official time because I got confused with the black timing chips, and left it in the expo center by accident). Pleased with my first race result, I was excited with the challenge when my sister suggested running the Disney half-marathon in 2010. I signed up.

Hartford for Jason's first 5K!

The training was difficult, but little by little, I increased my mileage. Unfortunately, I was severely under prepared for the race. I hit the wall around mile 9, and not all the biofreeze in the world could make the cramps in my knees go away. I was at a run/walk (emphasis on walk), and Steph stuck with me like a good sister. We  finished the race at a rather lackluster 2:57:45. I’m pretty sure if I had finished over 3 hours, I would have given up on running altogether. Luckily that wasn’t the case, and I finished the race sore, tired, but proud.

After finishing Disney 2010

That winter, I took a brief break from running to do P90X. In addition to running, this was probably one of the best decisions of my life. Fresh off of my P90X training, I signed up for another 13.1 in June of 2010, with a goal to improve my previous time. When race day came, I knew I was more prepared than I had been for Disney. The course was EXTREMELY hilly, but I still managed a new PR, 2:34:53, to-date this remains my official half-marathon PR (though I’ve gone as low as 2:15:00 in 15+ mile training runs since then). I was extremely happy.

With a total of ten races, 2010 was a busy year. Among those races was  another half-marathon in Hartford (my favorite race apparently). Training for Hartford was tough -- I injured myself two weeks before the race (tendon strain), and was sick, but I did the best I could that day, 2:47: 00. Not bad, but I already had a new goal in mind: The Goofy Challenge, 2012. What is the Goofy Challenge you ask? The Disney half-marathon is Saturday, the full marathon is Sunday. Add them together and you get the Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge. Runners are crazy; I’m a runner; I’m crazy; let’s do this.

With the Goofy Challenge on the horizon, I enlisted the help of my high school friend Sara Bernard to be my coach. Having run a few marathons herself and having recently become a licensed coach, she gladly took me to be her first marathon trainee. She suggested that before running Goofy, I try running a full marathon so that I could get an understanding for the level of commitment required for training. I started 2011 weighing around 225 lbs. Unfortunately I developed Achilles tendinitis early in the season and had to push back my original plan of attempting a marathon in July, to October (Hartford again! Yey!).

Funny how marathon training changes things. I now weigh about 185 lbs, am leaner, fitter, healthier than I’ve ever been. I started to get cranky towards the end of my training, but I guess that’s to be expected when you’re running 44 miles a week. It’s been just over 3 years since I couldn’t even run a single mile. Now I can call myself a marathoner, having ran 26.2 miles, at a steady 11:14mm pace, for a final time of 4:54:28. So not only did I finish, but my 13.1 split thunder-crushed my current 13.1 race PR. Am I proud? ABSOLUTELY.

I’m addicted. I’m a marathoner.

(Oh and I’ve given my sister permission to post these before-middle-after photo’s of me so you can get an idea of where I was circa 2005 in college, to 2010 at the Disney half-marathon, to now at the 2011 Hartford Marathon)

Before shot

Disney Packet Pickup 2010

Run to Home Base 2010

Run to Home Base 2011

Hartford Marathon  Packet Pickup 2011

Sister, Brother & Mom, all race finishers 2011!

-Jason


I'm such a proud sister!

Spread the running Love

Todays Quote:

‎‎"My goal has always been to introduce other people to running. They might accomplish something they never thought they could." 

Grete Waitz, Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder

A little over 2 years ago, I convinced my brother to try running.

I lured him and a few other friends in with a trip to Disney World and a shiny medal to hang on the wall. My brother was severly undertrained for the race, and I stuck by his side, helping him to push through and finish in the sleet, snow & rain that cold January morning in Florida.

Saturday, he ran his first marathon. I am insanely proud. I know when he first started running, he thought it was a crazy idea, but now he's basking in the post marathon glow & starting his Goofy training for January. Plus, he's lost another 20 pounds to push his total weight loss to 100+. amazing. Look for a guest post from him in the future.

Me, brother & mom, all post race!

Saturday, my mom walk/jogged her first 5K. My mom never thought she could do a 5K, but then she really wanted to come to Disney and join the fun. So she started training to walk/jog the Jeff Galloway training plan for the half. My mom, who has NEVER really exercised, now hits the gym 4-6 times a week for walking/jogging & strength training. She works out with a trainer once a week and loves it. She is looking fabulous, and I couldn't be more proud.

Who have you introduced to running?

My running buddy Shelley & I completed the Hartford Half on saturday. While things did not go as planned for me (the knee crapped out around the 10K), I finished and did not give up. Same thing goes for Kari @ Running Ricig.... we were supposed to meet up after, but she had a horrible vertigo attack hit mid race & did not give up. Please go send her some love HERE! I'm recovering well, I think I need to focus on more stretching & foam rolling.

Week 4 training recap

Monday- Speedwork. 5 x 1K @ 6.6mph w/ 400m RI. My knee was acting up a little, but I made it through strong.

Tuesday - Bootcamp. Outdoor for another cold morning doing sprints, slam balls, battle ropes & the TRX rip trainers.

Wednesday - Felling sore from tuesday's bootcamp, so I skip my tempo run.  I wonder if bootcamp is starting to affect my running training. No good when you're training for a marathon.

Thursday- Another skip. This time bootcamp. After feeling so sore from tuesday, I definitely don't want to get more sore for saturday's race.

Friday- Swim. An easy swim of 750m, mostly to test my H2O audio set. I haven't been swimming since my last triathlon Sept 11, so it was good to get in.

Saturday- Hartford Half Marathon. 2:36:22, not too disappointed for the trouble I faced during the race. I'm more mad at myself for not taking good enough care of the leg with stretching, rolling, and pretty much doing physical therapy on myself. recap to come later.

Sunday - Stretch & learn class @ Bia Fitness. Krystal got us a yummy breakfast (organic hard boiled eggs, whole foods biscotti, fruit, organic yogurt), and we stretched, had free chair massages, and talked about training. Why we train, how we should train, how to make fitness part of our everyday lives & improve our community with fitness. It got me excited and motivated to train again. I talked to her about switching from Bootcamp to TRX to improve my running.

Nutrition- Improving. Did not count my points again. Why am I struggling with this!? I need to reign it in! I definitely did better with making smart choices and decreasing the beer though.

How was your training week?

Don't forget my Sparkly Soul giveaway HERE!

Endurance Racing and Body Image

This is a repost of guest blog I did back in March, and thought you would enjoy...

I admit that a major part of my start with running was because of my weight. I was desperate to lose weight, and heard running helped melt the pounds off quickly. Couple that with my yearning desire to earn a Mickey Mouse medal at the Disney Marathon, and that was it. I had decided to learn to be a runner.

I started running a little bit at a time, increasing it as I could. You may have thought that body image issues disappear after middle & high school, but for some of us, they linger on. Seeing thin women at the gym sprinting on the treadmills at times inspired me to do more, and other times made me depressed to think I’d never get there.  Even though running and using weight watchers helped me lose about 30 pounds, I have yet to make it to my goal. Even then, my goal weight is 150. 150, which sounds like heaven to me, is the Athena category for racing, and nowhere near what most endurance athletes are.

Advertisements for clothing, and endurance gear features slim, fit women. As inspiring as it is to see these muscular, toned, bodies wearing the gear I lust over, I feel sometimes like I don’t belong in this sport. Trying on triathlon suits & wetsuits was an eye opener, as even the XL was tight enough to make me feel like an overstuffed sausage. Horribly unflattering, and destroying to my self-confidence. Looking at pictures from my first triathlon, I am ashamed at what my body looks like.

Yet, I love my body. Those large thighs are what power me up the steepest hills on the bike and trek through the end of a tough run when I just don’t want to go any further.  Those curves allow me to look shapelier in my swimsuit. The thick arms help propel me through the water. I love my body but long for the discipline to fine-tune it to make myself more efficient. I’ve heard it estimated that you are about 2 seconds slower per pound of fat for each mile run. If that is the case, I could have ran yesterdays 10K , 7.23 minutes faster, since I have 35 pounds that I would love to lose.

I’ve tried hard to change my attitude on my body image since embracing a healthier lifestyle of running and multisports about 5 years ago. I try to see my goal as getting healthier, improving my body to improve performance, losing weight to feel better, rather than working to be thinner to fit a certain mold. It’s a hard attitude adjustment to make, but a necessary one in order to repair our relationship with our bodies. After all, “Your body is a gift and you’re fully responsible for its upkeep. Try to accept it for what it is, and reward it on a daily basis with proper food, exercise, and gratitude.”

What are your thoughts on body image and endurance sports?

Have you ever felt out of place in this endurance world?

Don't forget to enter my Gummy Multivites giveaway HERE

&

Ask me more Questions HERE!

My Epic Run....

Yay new followers! Welcome!

My weekend was Epic.

I did a 16 mile long run.

After Run Sweaty Shot, bad self portrait!

yes, that is correct.  On Sunday I mapped us a 15 mile route, but after another miscalculation in Forest Park, a missed re-start on the Garmin, we finally finished at 16.15 miles in 3:23, exhausted and ready for Panera. I absolutely could not believe that I had run that far, but I had barely a minute to let it sink in, since I only had 30 min to shower & get ready to head to Boston for the Red Sox game!

Asiago Cheese Bagel Breakfast Sandwich

After a quick shower, I grabbed my makeup and food to go & jumped in the car for the ride to Boston. Thankfully Kevin was driving, so I had time to twist, turn & stretch, and most important, EAT!! The game was fabulous, we had amazing cup holders to hold our beer, which is a first for me at Fenway! I have always wanted to sit in a seat with a cupholder for my booze.

Amazing & convenient!

We had a bunch of home runs, a little back and forth with the score, and my favorite pitcher Papelbon closed the game for a win.

After a slightly disatrious dinner (WTF Irish Nachos?), we headed home!

The rest of the weekend was busy too. Friday we cooked dinner in & watched the game on TV, and saturday night we went to Hartford to enjoy the Riverwalk festivities and fireworks with some friends. This has left me little time for blog reading, so I am far behind! I hope to be able to catch up tomorrow after my group ride. YES, I am planning on riding with the group again tomorrow!

Weigh in today = -.6 . Again, disappointed. Usually my scale & WI scale are the same, but today a 2 pound difference, I think maybe because I was so busy all morning I had no time to drink my water. At least I am moving in the right direction. I had another killer bootcamp workout this morning & did some RevAbs tonight. Speedwork in the morning, wish me luck at keeping focused!

weigh in tuesday...

weigh in today.

After a week of eating healthy and exercising like mad, I am only down .8. The only unhealthy food I had all weekend was some wine slushies with the girls saturday night, and 2 1/2 MGD 64s on saturday at the beach. Even on 4th of July, I only had salad and fruit, no cocktails. I'm aggravated that all that sacrifice only went so far!

At our meeting today, we talked about Dreams vs. Reality.

The If only... statement.

If only I was thinner I'd have so much more fun on vacation

If only I was thinner I could finally dress in cute outfits

If only I didn't have to work, I'd have plenty of time for working out & eating healthy

The reality is, I still have a great time on vacation, and can find clothes that are fun (although I have asked my roomate to help my style deficiency), and I can still maintain a healthy lifestyle while working full time as many people do.

Sometimes there are specific things that need tweaking. Like making better choices at parties or events, getting our workouts in, cooking healthy meals. My thing to tweak is eating well on a consistent basis, and making smart choices when I go out. I'll have another option to work on this at the Sox game on Sunday!

What do you need to tweak?

our leader gave us a quote:

"Some people want it to happen, some people wish it would happen and others make it happen."

I want to be one of those people who make it happen.

So I'm going to try really hard to make it happen.

What kind of person are you?

Back on track!

Good News!

Even with 2 dinners out (Hibachi & Sushi), I managed to stay healthy and on track for the majority of the week and weigh in this week down 2.6 pounds!

On Sunday, my running partner Shelley took a HUGE digger around mile 12, which luckily was right around the corner from her mom's house. She was bleeding like crazy from a big scrape on her arm (she wouldn't let me take a pic haha). Thankfully I was able to call her mom to come get us so we could get her cleaned up, then get a ride back to our car. We only missed 2 miles, so no big deal. Shelley screamed like a girl being murdered as her mom cleaned her up, but thankfully she's feeling a lot better now.


Did I tell you Shelley is thinking of becoming a nurse too (even after the fall lol). Licensed Practical Nurse is a helpful resource for people who also have a passion for
leading a healthy lifestyle and want to help others in their pursuit of
being healthy, as well. People who take bad falls while running sometimes
need nurses, too.

Right now I have a loaf of Kari @ Running Ricig 's banana bread in the oven. Can't wait to taste it, YUM!

Check out the recipe HERE.  

The bike went into the shop today for a tune-up. I've been having problems clicking the gears fully into place for a while now. Found out today that my chain is really stretched out, and the teeth are worn down. It looks like a new chain is in order. Can't wait to get it back, just in time for saturday's triathlon!

Back to last night's Bachelorette!

3rd place!!

Today I placed at my first race in over 4 years!

3rd place Athena in the Sheriff Sprint Triathlon!

I earned myself a little bling and a prize off the prize table (almost the last to pick, so a pair of socks), and exciting bragging rights. I had a really tough time with the race. My heart rate was way high, and I was huffing & puffing. Maybe a combo of my exhaustion & sickness (stayed home from work friday & saturday). Full race report to come soon!

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post a raffle winner yet for this week! The file is on Kevin's computer and the power cord is MIA. I will post ASAP

I am in my fundraising push! Less than $80 to go, and I need your help! Please help me reach my goal for the Run to Home Base to support injured war vets HERE.  Anyone who donates from now until May 13 will be entered be entered into a special drawing for a prize pack from me. And if I get 5 or more donations, I'll pick 3 winners next week!

In weightloss news, I have been disappointed in myself lately. My extreme fatigue and sickness didn't help this week. But besides working my way through Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance, I decided to try 2 more things to try and add a little fire to my rear end. 

Omron Full Body Sensor Body Fat and Body Composition Monitor

After reading in racing weight about tracking body fat percentage, lean muscle mass, etc to track weight loss & improvements in body composition I was sold. I searched for a while online, and finally decided on this one. I'm really excited for it to come in, and hope I can really use it to help motivate me in the right direction.

I also joined Spark People. While I have been a weight watchers girl for years, I heard about Spark People and decided to give it a try. It is basically a free online tracking site (free is always awesome), that has a lot of great features. I like how it breaks down your calories, fats, carbs & proteins. I like the charts and graphs it makes. I like that I can also track my exercise and body measurements more specifically and all in one place. I'm going to really try & focus on it this week, and we'll see what happens.

Back to the pool tomorrow morning!

Think Summer!

todays quote

"The key to body confidence is to concentrate on something positive about yourself instead of fixating on the flaws"

so show yourself some love today. Embrace what you love. Work to fix what you don't. Remember that a love your body attitude makes a difference in how you view your entire self.

Yesterday I did my run & finished my cupcake half marathon miles (recap to follow soon).  My back had been bothering me though, so I skipped lifting to get a good stretch in. This morning, sleep trumped my swim. Onward to tomorrow, I have a killer trainer ride planned, and am hoping to make up some strength training and Ab work from the week. Sunday is long run day.

Tonight = super relaxing. Sushi takeout, blog reading/writing, and a redbox movie. love it.

Thinking about summer vacay plans, we have a bunch of options, no decisions...

1. Use the "free" cruise we got at the timeshare hell 

2. Go back to Mexico! we loved our time there.

3. Go on a different cruise and save the "free" one

4. Somewhere else in the Caribbean

5. Anyone else have any ideas?

We love to be active, but mostly lay around & relax by a pool or beach. There should be plenty of cocktails available nearby.

Also have been thinking about Hypnosis. A ton (like 6) coworkers of mine went to a hypnotist for weight loss a little while back, and they look freaking a-maze-ing. I am beyond jealous. Maybe a hypnotist would give me the willpower I need?