Training, Dieting, Fueling & New Toys

I had 6 miles scheduled for today.  Brrrr, it was chilly out there this morning.  I'm not a fan of the cold but I sucked it up and went out there and got it done. 

I haven't abandoned the low carb thing yet though I'm not sure why.  The scale hasn't moved for over a week unless you count the 2 pounds it went up and the gradual decline back to where it was last week.  Have I mentioned I don't lose weight easily?

I did have a banana in addition to my GenUCan before my run.  I decided to play with my intervals today so I ran a 2:1 instead of my usual 1:1.  That was an awful idea.  My mile times were 25 seconds slower than last week's 5 miler.  My legs felt like lead and I was just sluggish. 

The last two days I have been tracking my food with My Fitness Pal.  I've decided to keep tracking with MFP and to reintroduce healthy carbs.  Something has to change.  The scale isn't moving and the long runs are only going to get longer and more difficult.

To encourage myself to continue tracking, I bought myself a new toy today.  I have quite a few friends who have one and the reviews are all positive so I jumped on the bandwagon. 

I bought a Fitbit Flex.  Instead of trying to explain it, I just took the description from the website.

This slim, stylish device is with you all the time. During the day, it tracks steps, distance, and calories burned. At night, it tracks your sleep quality and wakes you silently in the morning. Just check out the lights to see how you stack up against your personal goal. It’s the motivation you need to get out and be more active.

New toys are fun!  I've got it set up and ready to go, now I just need to get off the couch so it can record something!

Learner's Permit

Matthew got his learner's permit today!

Tuesday was attempt number 1 and it did not end well.  I ran home from work, grabbed the form he needed and his birth certificate and ran to the high school to pick him up.  It was raining (it had been snowing earlier in the day) and traffic was horrible.  It took 50 minutes to get from my office to the high school and then another 45 minutes to get from the high school back to the DMV.  We arrived and the lines were quite long.  I should have thought about the fact that Tuesday's are busier because the DMV is closed on Sun/Mon but it hadn't occurred to me.  We were time crunched as I had to have Matthew back at the school for a band concert in a rather short amount of time.  As we stood in line, I was looking over the permit form that he had filled out in Driver's Ed and I noticed that his SS# was not filled out.  My heart sunk as I realized that I didn't have it with me and we didn't have time to run home to get it.  After a futile attempt to have Caitlyn search for it as I gave her instructions over the phone, we gave up and headed home.  Needless to say, we were both disappointed.

Today we decided to make a second attempt at obtaining the permit so again, I picked him up after school and we headed back to the DMV.  This time, traffic and the weather were much better and the trip only took about 35 minutes.  We arrived, he took the test and he passed.  A new chapter in his life has begun.  I'm excited for it!

Figuring Out Fueling

I'm still chugging away with the low-carb thing.  The scale is hardly moving but I feel so much better that I've stuck with it.

The only problem I have with the way I've been eating is running.  I get lightheaded and dizzy when I run carb-depleated.  I thought a banana before I run might be the answer until my runs start to get long enough to use my favorite long run & race fuel, Generation UCAN.

While I was at the Chicago Marathon Expo, I stopped by the GenUCan booth and talked to one of the reps a bit.  He was excited that I already use their product.  The rep reminded me that GenUCan is a great compliment to a low carb lifestyle and he was giving me examples of lots of their reps who had experienced significant weight loss by using it in conjunction with low carb eating.  The sustained energy you get from the product allows you to get in those tough workouts without experiencing the blood-sugar highs and lows that come from other carbohydrate energy sources.  That is the piece that has been missing for me so I decided to give it a go.

I had 5 miles on my training schedule today so this morning, I had about 1/2 serving of a GenUCan shake.  I ran that 5 miles so much more easily than I ran last week's 4 miles.  Coincidence?  Possibly.

I was already a fan of Generation UCAN but I may just become a bigger fan if it really does what they say it will.

Chicago Marathon

No, don't panic, I didn't run it.  I did volunteer again this year though.

This was my 5th year of volunteering in a "key leadership" role.  I am a truck inventory supervisor for Aid Station #9 which is approximately 12.5 miles into the race.  Essentially, my job is to take inventory in the two semi trailers that contain all of the aid stations supplies for the race.  I also make sure that the items are unloaded in the correct order so that the volunteers can begin their jobs as quickly as possible.  During the race, I cheer for the runners, keep an eye on the empty trucks and work a little crowd control.

My day began Disney early with having to wake up at 3am.  I was at my station at about 4:15am and immediately got to work.  Things went so smoothly this year, maybe the best in the 5 years I've done this.

Security was extra tight since this was the first major race since the Boston bombings.  I've never seen men in fatigues walking around with military weapons before.  We also had bomb sniffing canine units, uniformed police, undercover police in the crowds and more that we may never know about.  They weren't taking any chances.

The race itself is so fun to watch.  Maybe because I'm a runner and I can empathize with how the runners feel?  I had so much fun cheering for people.  Yelling their names if they had them on their shirts, or cheering for the Marathon Maniacs that ran by, or the World Vision charity runners.  I also knew several people running the race.  I didn't see all of them but I was so excited to get to cheer for the ones I did see.  There is nothing better than sweaty hugs from friends as they run by!

Here is my PSA for the day:  If you make the effort to add your name to the shirt you are running in, please don't wear headphones so that you cannot hear people cheering for you.  Seriously, why should I strain my voice cheering for you by name when obviously, it isn't important to you.  Maybe someone can explain why people do that?

After the race, I am responsible for helping clean up.   I make sure that all of the non-disposable items (think signs/rakes/shovels/brooms, etc) as well as the unopened items (pallets of water/Gatorade/Gatorade Chews) are returned and loaded back in the trailers.   It is amazing to me how quickly the corner is transformed from empty corner to bustling aid station with almost 300 volunteers back to empty corner with no evidence that a race ever came through there.  Chicago does such a fantastic job hosting this race. 

Maybe some day I will have a desire to run a full again.  If I'm fast enough, this race would certainly be towards the top of my bucket list.  In the mean time, I plan to continue to volunteer every year I can and I will cheer on my friends as they run it.

Before the race with Deb, Tracy & Darcy.  Volunteering is always so much more fun with friends!

First Training Run

Well, I survived the first "official" training run for the Donna Half.  4 stinking miles.

I am horrified at the pathetic shape I am in. 

Overall, the run went smoothly.  Mentally, it took a bit to get myself in the right frame of mind but once I got out there, I remembered why I love running.  The weather was PERFECT this morning for running and I was genuinely excited to be out there training for something again. 

Physically, I have to build my endurance back up.  I know I can do it, I've done it plenty of times before so I'm not so worried about this aspect.  I am starting from scratch so there is a long way to go.

Fueling may be the thing I have to figure out.  I haven't given up on my low-carb kick yet.  I took 5 days off last week because my in-laws were here and it was my nieces wedding but I planned on doing that all along.  I hopped right back to it this week.  4 miles isn't long enough for me to feel like I need my Gen UCAN for fuel but I cannot run carb depleted either.  I get lightheaded too easily.  Next run I will make sure I have a banana or something before I head out. 

This morning I had a Usana breakfast shake before my run which I think did the trick alright as far as my energy went but it has a large amount of fiber which is never a good idea to have right before a run.  Lets consider this a learning moment and leave it at that.

Feels great to have a goal again and it feels great to have those endorphins flowing again.  I've missed that!

Time to Train

I finally sat down with my calendar last week and built a training plan for the Donna Breast Cancer Half Marathon.  I'm pretty sure that's not the "official" title but 26.2 With Donna (to me) indicates that I am running the marathon, which I am NOT, so I 're-named' the race for my purposes here.

I'm excited to travel down to Jacksonville, Fl. in Feb 2014 with Mark to run this race.  I ran the full marathon last year and loved it.  In fact, I started this blog shortly after that race and my recap of the 5k and recap of the marathon were a couple of my first posts.

If training goes according to plan, I will train to 14 miles and try to PR the half.  If things don't go as I would like, I will try to train to 10 miles and just run to enjoy the race.  I have no idea which will happen.  The half has a 7 hour time limit so I know I can walk it and finish.

My first scheduled run is 4 miles this Friday.  believe it or not, I am actually looking forward to training for distance again.  Taking this year off of running distance was not my intention after I finished Donna but I did take the time off and I think mentally it was just what I needed.  I'm excited to get back into it and I am not feeling burned out anymore.