Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go.

Do you ever feel like the second you make serious plans/goals is right when you have no interest in attaining said goals?

That's kind of how I feel right now. I said I wanted to run a sub-2 hour half mary and I registered for a marathon. Now it seems like half of my runs have been crap since then and I have no desire to keep training. Wah.

I've been through periods like this before and I usually come out of them... eventually. Big sigh.


But on the school front things seem to be moving and I may be starting Nursing school this Fall! Oh I hope, I hope, I hope. That would be a year and a half earlier than expected and I just can't wait to finally start so I can finally be a nurse! I feel like I've been in school so f###ing long and I really want to finally have a career.

I will miss my Aria, though. We've been so lucky to have so much time together, just us. But I won't miss her that much...

New Goal

So I've decided to hold off on increasing the distance of my long run for a little while. I want to focus on training for the Arizona Distance Classic on March 27th. My plan is train hard for the next 10 weeks and...

Run a sub-2 hour half marathon! It'll be tough but I feel so confident that I can do it if I follow my training plan!

And I want an accurate and recent race time to use before I begin official marathon training.

So 1:59:59 is going to be all I see for the next 10 weeks! I'm very excited. Even if I don't make it, it's so nice to have a concrete goal to think about during training. I have the plan (courtesy of Runner's World SmartCoach) printed out and posted to my white board.
See? (Yes, I reward myself with weird looking smiley faces for working out... No, I'm not a part-time kindergarten teacher...)

The 1st week of the plan looks like this:

• Sunday- Weight training and 3 miles with 5X60 seconds@7:30 min/mile
  
• Monday- Cross training of some sort
• Tuesday- 6 mile Speed Work:3X1600's @8:40
• Wednesday- 4 easy miles/ weight training
  
• Thursday- Rest
• Friday- 13 miles
  
• Saturday- 3 miles

Wish me luck!

Running in 2011

So I finally grew a pair and registered for a marathon! It's the Portland Marathon and it is not until October 9th.

I've spent the last 12 weeks training for a half marathon that I didn't end up running but I have definitely noticed the difference in my running. I ran 13.1 miles on Friday for my weekly Long Slow Distance run and it was... wonderful! And averaged just under 10min/mile!

This picture was taken about an hour after my run at lunch with my mom, sister, brother and daughter.

I look so happy! Definitely not usual following a long run.

I've been averaging 3.5 days/week running and 2 days/week strength training
I'm going to try and get a solid 4 days running weekly this year. I'm perfectly happy with my strength training for now.

This upcoming week I'm going to have a kick back week with all shorter, easy-ish runs. The following week I will be back at training hoping to reach a distance of 20 miles for my long run sometime in April. I've been taking it nice and easy as far as progression of the distance of my long runs and that has been working wonderfully.

Something else I'd like to work on this year: reducing meat consumption. I already eat very little meat but I'd like to get it down to about 1 time per week by the end of the year. I eat tons of beans, eggs and use protein powder a lot so I'm pretty sure I can do this successfully without feeling any ill effects.

Time to go eat some spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce and Frank's red hot... Mmm

Oh Blog, How I've Neglected You!

So much has happened and not really much at all.

I had my second race, the 10 mile Get Moving Tucson. I beat my goal time of 1:37:00, running the race in 1:34:17! I had a very special man running with me for about 6 miles who I believe made that time possible.

I just finished my last Co-requisite for the nursing program, Developmental Psychology, and I passed with an "A"! Now I just have to wait... and wait and wait. The tentative start date I received last spring said, "Fall 2013" but I just have to hope it will be sooner than that.

I guess I will just focus even more on my running, cooking/baking, and mothering. I really do miss adult interaction, though. A lot of people think I have a dream life because I don't have to work, I get to run and be with my daughter almost 24/7. Maybe I'm just too spoiled to see how nice it is to not have a job.

Which brings me to the reason I've come crawling back to my blog: I woke up this morning feeling sorry for myself. I actually cried about 4 times. Around 3 PM I ran. And I pushed myself a little bit. And it's very hard to feel sorry for yourself when you have two strong legs that can carry you for miles and miles, however fast or slow you want to go.

Something I want to focus on next year is making myself happy instead of waiting for other people to make me happy. I'm so exhausted by all the effort I've wasted trying to make everyone else happy in hopes that they will return the favor! It's insane that I even try.

Okay /poetic waxing.

Tonight for dinner I had half of a butternut squash, roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon and cayenne. And a couple hard boiled eggs. Not exactly something you'd expect to find paired but it made me happy. :-)

Blog, I'm back if you'll have me!

A Great Run Under My Belt

Finally had a good, strong run that left me wanting more.
I need to come up with a new running plan based on my measly mileage for last month and ending with the 10 miler on October 9th that I registered for.

On top of wanting to feel better running, I've, also, felt a big pull to feed myself really great, wholesome food. I already ate pretty healthfully but I'm trying so hard to get food out of my diet that isn't found in nature. Even though my english muffin seems pretty healthy, you don't just stumble upon wild English muffins.

I'm doing pretty great, only eating several food items per week that are really processed. I don't think I will ever eat completely clean but that's okay. As long as I'm trying and paying attention, I'm doing okay.

My latest obsession that has been making this easier: soup. Mmm. I can make the biggest, tastiest batches of soup in my slow cooker and they last all week. Here is the red lentil/chickpea/kidney bean/potato/tomato/carrot soup I made last night.


Super chunky goodness.

When this batch runs out I am going to try a black bean soup.

This soup really makes the perfect lunch. Keeps me full until my afternoon snack and because it is full of potassium and a bit of sodium, it is a great post-run meal. Mmm!

And since I haven't posted a picture of Aria in forever, here she is! She looks like a kid now and not a baby! Except for the fact that she only has 2 bottom teeth...