Marathon Mom

11 Days until marathon day, the cough is back full force so I am being smart, no spin this morning and slept in until 6:15. Sad, but that is late for me. With this lack of working out and just getting out of peak mileage I need to remind myself to lay off the snacking when I'm not truly hungry. When I am in 60+ mpw training plus 3 hours spin and 3 hours strength a week I am  hungry to snack all the time and think I get in this habit even when I'm not hungry.  Anyone else get in the snack habit like this? The past few day shave been crazy with writing my final paper and I need a trip to the grocery store. Granola ingredients are gone, fruit is minimal, carrots are the only vegetable...help! Luckily I have some healthy options remaining but time to stock up. Last month I had the chance to try GFree Connect after winning another blogger's giveaway. When the packaged arrived it felt like Christmas! O and I ripped through the bag in excitement, checking out all the fun sn...

Week 14  meant the first week of taper and almost race day! We had a tough week with illness for both O and I meaning easy workouts from Wednesday on. Guess what, spring is finally here and in full force, high 70s and sun this weekend was exactly what we all needed! Congrats to Ashley for finishing her marathon this weekend! Monday:  Easy 4.5 with puppy in morning and 7.5 mile   hills in afternoon Tuesday:  Weights with trainer and 7.5 mile run with group Wednesday:  Sluggish Morning 11.4 mile Run (this was when I knew I too was getting sick) Thursday:   Afternoon weights /core + 3 mile walk with puppy and O Friday:  Morning Spin and Afternoon easy 3.5 mile run to the park Saturday:  16.2 miles (so nice I finished in just shorts and a sports bra and pretty sure I blinded the cars with my winter white legs an belly!) and 1 mile walk to park Sunday:  5 mile recovery trail run and Afternoon core/strength 1st Trail Run of...

After a week of sickness in the house we are recycling many meals since we didn't do much cooking.  Linking up with  Jill  and  Laura  for menu planning. I am now just under two weeks from marathon day so cutting out all animal products again to feel better before race day (after I finish the quesadilla I have leftover from dinner) Breakfast Banana Breakfast Cake  (my usual) GF Bagel with Almond Butter (Pre-Race meal) Lunch/Dinner Peanut Stir Fry Black Bean Pepper Quesadilla Veggie Bean Crockpot Meal (Based on  Recipe ) Dinner out with Ragnar Group Salad with Black Beans, Sweet Potato and Peppers Samosa Baked Potatoes Lentil Tacos Snack Veggies and Hummus Perfect Foods Bars Apples with SunButter Granola with Almond Milk Yogurt and Berries And whatever fun things I continue to pull out of the GFree Connect  Package (hint, a giveaway!)  What's on your menu this week? Any new or favorite vegeta...

Pretty much sums things up... 2 weeks, that is it! When I began this crazy journey of a second round of grad school I thought it would never end but here I sit two weeks from the final day to submit all my clinical evaluations and cases. This also means I am 15 days from marathon #21, great planning…isn’t tapering bad enough, now add to that all that goes along with finishing grad school. Over the next few weeks my brain will be consumed with the following… Final Paper Not just any paper but one to basically wrap up the past year and the education courses I added to my doctoral program. 25-50 pages worth of writing and describing my experience as an educator, complete with my own philosophy and of course literature review. So far page 1 is started, good thing it is a compilation of four courses of work and I can pull from past papers. 72 hours to write this monstrosity of a paper! With the wonderful forecast of 70s this weekend I’m sure some of this writing will be done sit...

I have this little problem not relaxing or letting myself take time off, really? Pretty sure all of my readers have figured this out as well. Thank you strange virus for making us all take a break from life! It all started on Monday morning when O woke with a slight cough, she just finished 10 days of antibiotics for an ear infection and respiratory crud but was better. It wasn't bad so I ignored it figuring it would improve, even sent her gymnastics on Tuesday morning where she seemed fine until she got home and only wanted to cuddle on the couch. My little girl was a ball of fire: yep I was right 104 fever, ugh, and refused to eat lunch. Called the clinic and got in the car only to gain my first car vs. child vomit experience :( Even when sick she has to be silly! Look at those tired eyes. Poor kid got many first that day: negative strep culture, a chest x-ray (we had bet on her needing an arm or leg film first!) thanks to a nasty cough and lower then normal O2 sats. We ...

7-Day Vegetarian Challenge Part 2 Congratulations! Your efforts this week are a positive step toward an important change in your health, the well-being of farm animals, and the environment we all share. You made it to day 3. How is it going? Is it easier than you thought it would be? What has been your biggest challenge to eating meat free? Are you considering meat-free beyond the challenge? Daily Challenges Day 4 : Serve a colorful plate. Plan a meal with at least 3 different colors. Source: USDA Nutritional Database Day 5 : Try a plant based protein source. I’m often asked how do you get enough protein. People are always surprised when I tell them it is actually really easy. Day 6 : Eat seasonably. Check out the   Benefits of Eating Seasonably   and the handy dandy cheat sheet for eating seasonably. Day 7 : Have your family pick a vegetarian dish for lunch or dinner or try a recipe from one of the resources below. Here is one of my favorites: Be...

Look what I am looking at outside this morning...YUCK!! This is beyond funny or even tolerable at this point! April 23rd and fresh snow. Poor O asked again if it is Christmas time again. I have written multiple times about the lack of race fuel that agreed with my stomach and despite thinking I had a gel, chew, etc that worked I often finished a long run wanting to curl up on the side of the road thanks to extreme belly pain. Despite running 20 marathons (#21 in less then 3 weeks) I am still dealing with this.  A couple weeks ago I was given a few packets of Huma Gel to try and as I have yet to jump on the Chia seed trend I was skeptical and figured it was just another gel with an odd taste, strange texture and full of junk that would make me feel awful. Boy was I happy to admit I was wrong!  Huma Gel is made from chia seeds, all natural and gluten free, yay! They come in two flavors Apples and Cinnamon and Strawberry, both a good. Apples and Cinnamon: M...

Week 13  meant the final peak week of training and now I taper, yikes. After a little recovery from the hilly 10 Mile Race I feel pretty great. This week brought yet another snow storm complete with 1 foot of snow and blizzard conditions, it also brought 1 day of shorts. Monday:  Yoga & 12.5 mile hill workout Tuesday:  Morning Spin, weights with trainer & 7.5 mile hill run with speed intervals (thanks to new guy at run group!) 53:30 Wednesday:  Sluggish Morning 9 mile Run 1:13:20 Thursday:  Morning 45 min Bike Trainer & Afternoon run 4.6 miles 35:00 + weights Friday:  Morning Spin & Yoga with O (her request) Saturday:  22.2 miles 3:14:05 Sunday:  5.1 mile recovery run 43:50 & Afternoon weights And what's ahead for  Week 14  of marathon training? Taper ! Not a fan of tapering, the first week is fine but then I go nuts. It won’t help that we are finally reaching 60 degrees this week, I’ll nee...

So, you’ve taken on the challenge to go meatless for 7 days. Now what? A  Classic Vegetarian  eats a diet of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts; no meat, poultry or fish. The vegetarian challenge for you may mean a Lacto Vegetarian, Pescetarian or maybe Vegan. The  Vegetarian Spectrum  defines 8 different types of vegetarian diets. With the goal of the challenge being to eat more fruits/veggies and eat meat free, what type of vegetarian diet will work best for you? How this works: Meatless for 7 days. Follow the daily challenges listed below. Enter to win! Simple enough right? Remember this is a low-key no pressure and guilt free challenge. It’s an opportunity to try new foods and to see if after one week you experience some of the benefits of a plant-based diet that we read so much about. Of course we have to include prizes and photos in the challenge. Take pictures throughout the week including your daily challenges. Using the hashtag #vegchallenge...