Stepping Out on the Right Foot

Happy New Year! I ended 2011 and rang in 2012 with some good friends and some really good food. We decided calories didn't count since it was New Year's Eve ;).

Twins?

Cookie Detox doesn't officially start until tomorrow morning, but I started the new year off on the right foot with some room organizing and food prepping that should make tomorrow easier.

I made an awesome kale salad with hummus dressing that I found here. I used the dressing recipe exactly as is, but my salad had kale, carrot matchsticks, red peppers, walnuts, bean sprouts and pomegranate seeds. It was the first time I'd ever used Nutritional Yeast, but it was totally worth the weird look I got from the girl at Wegmans when I asked where to find it. Plus, it's pretty good for you!

Then I baked up some tofu that I marinated in Garlic Dressing. I'll probably throw that on my salads throughout the week.

Now there's Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal baking up in oven and it smells divine in here. I doubled the cinnamon because I'm obsessed and reduced the sugar to only two tablespoons. I also didn't use anywhere near two tablespoons of butter.

I'm loving being back in the kitchen making good, nutritious food. It feels better already and that pumpkin oatmeal might just smell better than any cookies I made this holiday season.

Tomorrow's #CookieDetoxDay1! Here's the plan:
Breakfast
-Pumpkin Oatmeal 1/2 Grapefruit
Snack (if I need it)
-Kale Smoothie
Lunch
-Salad with Tofu
Dinner
Might be Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup, but if we're going to have a family dinner I'll eat what they're eating.

I'm also finally going to take my car to the car wash and get my ski boots adjusted.
Anyone else going on a cookie detox?

Detoxed

2011 was a great year—no doubt. Lots of PRs, new experiences and hard work. But in the last month or so I’ve noticed my life has become super cluttered. My car is cluttered, my room is cluttered, and there’s still stuff in the garage waiting to be unpacked from when I moved back to my parents house. It’s all left me feeling pretty unsettled. Not to mention all the junk I’ve been putting in my body, thanks to the surplus of cookies, cakes and other goodies I’ve been churning out in the kitchen.

Now, I’m not usually one for New Year’s Resolutions, but a fresh new year seems like a good time for a fresh start. So I’m putting it out there for all to read (all 4 of you!) and making a commitment. I’m spending this weekend getting caught up on 2+ weeks of laundry, cleaning out my car, organizing my room and ridding my life of excess clutter. I’m also taking the lead of some of the favorite bloggers and going on a cookie detox. No crazy lemon juice cleanses or cayenne pepper drinks for me. Just a solid two weeks of healthy, natural and clean eating to start this year out by treating my body right. I mean, it does a lot for me. Carries me through speed workouts, let’s me beat it up at boot camp and helps me finish triathlons and road races. I've got to treat it better this year (particularly with the Musselman 70.3 on the horizon). As much as I loved the line is Once a Runner, by John L. Parker, "if the furnace is hot enough, anything will burn," I don't think that's a healthy way to treat yourself.

So here’s to kale smoothies*, keeping up with the laundry and a happy, healthy 2012. Would it be inappropriate to wish you all a l’shana tovah?

*Don’t knock it before you’ve tried it—it’s delish!

Pressing Restart

With my tri season over and nothing specific to train for, this week felt like a reboot. And it was exactly what I needed. The timing couldn’t have worked out better. I finished the Skinnyman on Saturday morning with a run that felt suspiciously like a tempo. Exactly the workout I’d missed during my taper. I filled in that last spot on my training log with a successful race and turned it in for a new one.

So I’m starting fresh with a new group of runners (um, hello, Thursday night group? Where were you yesterday?), a new training plan and some time to slowly build my mileage while staying healthy. Then it’ll be time to pick my new goal race. I’m torn. Half-Ironman? Marathon? 1:45 Half-marathon?

But it can wait. I’m running the ARC 5K tomorrow morning. Just for fun. No time goal this time. It’s supposed to be a perfect morning for a race. Then next week I have my volunteer spot for the Syracuse Ironman 70.3. I can’t wait. I wonder if I’ll get re-bit by the tri bug? If it’ll make me want to do that race next year? We’ll see. I’m just going to experience the environment and cheer on my crazy friends who made the commitment for this year. Win-Win. :)

If I'm Being Honest...

I don’t know whether to throw a toddler fit, kicking and screaming on the floor, or jump up and down yelling, “sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!” Ok, guessing its not going to be the second one because I won’t even type it out, let alone yell it at the top of my lungs. And it really won’t be the first either because I’d like to think I outgrew that phase at about 3.

Ok, so all that’s left is using my words. Fine! I think I’m pretty good at that ;). Ever since my last appointment with the spine doc, when I swore off doctors (please forget this little episode, that was a fluke) my body has been feeling pretty good. I felt like I was back to my pre-Israel shape and getting stronger. But there’s something I’ve been hiding. Ever since I golfed with my parents (whose brilliant idea was that disaster?) my back has been bother me again. It started as just a little twinge, like a pulled muscle or something. But after boot camp last Thursday (we did some side lean thing with a sledgehammer) it’s back to feeling like it was when the doctor first found the Pars Defect.

It’s frustrating. PT worked, I was keeping up with my exercises and generally being pretty careful. Then I slacked for just an hour, and I wind up back at square one. Knowing that there is something out there (PT) that works, I’m tempted to go back. But we’ve been dealing with so much crap from the insurance company (they insist I’m not on my parents plan, when I am, and every time they say it’s fixed, another claim gets denied) that even though we’ve met our deductible and now would be the perfect time to go, I’m hesitant.

The other reason I’m hesitant is that I don’t want to be that girl. The one who always has issues. You know the type I’m talking about, right? The other thought going through my mind is, would maintenance PT work? Could I go just a few times? Or would I wind up going twice a week for a month or two, every three months for the rest of my life?

Or maybe I should just lay off the golf. Either way, I need to figure something out. It’s not bad enough to keep me from doing what I love, but not much is. The question is, how bad to I let it get before I decide to do something?

A World of Difference

It’s amazing the difference a week can make. This time last week I couldn’t run for 15 minutes continuously and I felt like I’d never get back to my old self. But I put in my 15 or 20 minutes every single day, 6 days in a row, and sure enough today I ran for 48 minutes. So it’s not exactly like the long runs I was getting used to but at least I’m starting to feel like I’m going to get there sooner rather than later. I almost got emotional when my GPS said I'd gone over 5 miles. It might not seem like much, but for some reason getting over that hump was a big deal. Total for the day: 5.58 miles in 48:30.

I know that there are still going to be days that are hard and I’m nowhere near where I was at the Race for the Cure. But, I am starting to feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

So now that it’s officially the start of a new week on the log, I’m making the jump to 30 minutes a day. I’m still going to be on the 15-30 side of 30 minutes and I know there might be a day where I have to go less. But I’m going to do my best to hit 30 and hopefully by the end of next week I’ll be back on track. Just in time for the new running group to start. It’ll be perfect timing since we’ll all do three weeks of base runs before we get back into hills and speedwork. It might be sick but I can’t wait.

Plus, my sister and I made possibly the most amazing looking cake ever in the history of our cake baking. I'll post pics and the recipes tomorrow, so check back :)

The Space Between

So I’ve spent this week trying to figure out where I am in that space between what’s written on the log and what I’m able to do. It’s a fine line to walk. But I’ve been putting one foot in front of the other and sure enough, here it is the end of the week and I already feel a little different.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting to be back in perfect form tomorrow or heading out for a 2-hour long run, but I feel confident that I will get there, eventually.

Today we did 10 x 1 minute hard, with 1 minute rest. The first four felt great. My foot started to hurt after that but I was able to finish them all and really only backed off on the last one. Progress! I didn’t feel like I was dying! I think getting back into boot camp and a consistent routine with running is the ticket. I need both the consistent running and the lifting to keep myself where I want to be in terms of both fitness and ability.

I was talking to Kevin today and he said he’s glad I was forced to take the time off, so I could learn my lesson and see what it’s like to go through a set back. I learned. And I think he’s right, I’ll be stronger for it in the end and I’ll remember how hard and frustrating it was, so I won’t do it again. Or, at least I’ll do my best when circumstances are under my control not to do it again.

So there are no magic formulas, except for the one I’m following. It’s working pretty darn well as long as I remember to take a hefty dose of patience with it. :)

I think I'm getting in the pool tomorrow. I've got about a week and a half until the swim class starts up and I've been warned I better be ready for a workout ;)

Back to Basics

Well I’m home from Israel and not exactly settled in or unpacked, but I’m getting there. What’s going to take a little longer is getting back in shape. I knew you could lose fitness fast, but I never for the life of me could have imagined I’d lose both leg strength and cardio fitness as quickly as I did. If you watch me run, you’d think I had never run a day in my life. I’m embarrassed. My stride is off, I feel weak and fat. It has been a struggle for me to get in 15 minutes each day. I’m trying to be patient, and I know there is no magic trick to getting back into shape, but I never imagined it would be this hard.

If anyone has any tips or tricks for getting back into it, I’d really appreciate them. It’s not a mental problem, I want it and getting out on the road isn’t the problem. It’s the way I feel once I’m running. I miss that runner’s high. So how do I get my stride back to normal? Hopefully it doesn’t take as long to get back into shape as it does to get there the first time. 

Starting Fresh

It’s funny, but it’s been exactly two years (give or take a day) since my last blog post. To look back and realize how much has changed in such a relatively short time is crazy. I’ve been contemplating bringing back the blog for a while now, and today seemed like a great day to resurrect it, seeing as it’s Easter and all. Not that I celebrate Easter, but it’s finally Spring, we’ve almost made it through Passover and I’m about to kick off a summer full of racing and I wanted to have a place to document my training.

I’ve got four races lined up so far this summer and I’m hoping to PR at all of them.

• Mountain Goat 10 mile — Old PR: 99 minutes/Goal: under 90 minutes/Actual: 90:50
• Komen CNY Race for the Cure 5k — Old PR: 24 minutes 45 seconds/Goal: 23 minutes/Actual: 22:04 (2nd place in my age group!)
• Athleta Iron Girl Triathlon (600m swim, 18.6mi bike, 5k run) — Old PR: 1 hour, 56 minutes/Goal: 1:45:00
• SkinnyMan Triathlon (800m swim, 14mi bike, 5k run) — Goal: 1:45:00

I’m also thinking about the Boilermaker 15k, but I’ll have to see. Sometime before the end of my gymnastics career, I managed to fracture my back. A doctor (finally!) found it this past February. I’ve gotten the ultimate vote of confidence from this so-called medical professional, “I don’t think you’re doing any more damage.” Well anyone who knows me knows that that’s all I need, so I’m still running.

Right around the time I found out about the fracture, I started running with a coach at the Y, hence all the lofty goals of four PRs in four races. (Though that last one’s a guaranteed PR since I’ve never raced that distance before.) Despite the fracture and a new job, I’ve been running more than ever, which is a good thing because I love to bake, cook and eat :).

Actually, since I just PR'd by over 14 minutes at the NYC Half Marathon in March, I guess it's 5 PRs in 5 races.

Then, people have started telling me I should open a bakery. It’s always been a pipe dream, but they’ve got me thinking about it more lately then ever. Typical, right? Tell a Jewish girl she should start a bakery during Passover. So over the last week, I’ve been thinking about all the recipes people have raved over that I never bothered to save. I’m hoping this becomes a place to document trials, failure and hopefully a few successes along the way. Then if this pipe dream ever becomes a reality I’ll have an archive to look back on. If it doesn’t, hopefully a few people will learn from my mistakes or triumph from my success.

So that’s where I am in my story. Documenting the trials and tribulations out on the road and in the kitchen (and probably in a doctor’s office or two, unfortunately). I don’t know if anyone’s out there reading this or not. But if you are, take a minute to say hi!