All posts in category Running

Wednesday Weigh-in

So how was my first week off of all juice?  Pretty good, I think.  I am still drinking 1 1/2 quarts of juice most days, and have added protein powder in 3 different ways.  I mix it with almond milk and ice, another drink is Naked green machine with pp, and then I have been having a fresh green smoothie for dinner with berries, banana, almond milk, and pp.  The emptiness is gone!  I am starting to feel like I have LOTS more energy, and my weight is still down!  Just because I’ve felt like doing it, I’ve been adding up the calories for the last few days and it’s been around 1700 each day.  I guess I am curious to see just how many calories I can eat and still lose weight, so maybe counting is a good thing right now.

Anyway, this week it seemed like my body didn’t quite know what to do.  There were four days when the # stalled and then inched up, then finally today it went back down.  I haven’t seen today’s number in probably 3 years!!  And before that, it had been another 3 years I’m sure.  So glad to finally be back in the 130s for good, and I’m looking forward to leaving those, hopefully in the next month!

Last week – 136.8

This week – 135.4

Lost 1.4 pounds :D

So this week I am adding a lot of things!  I have mapped out a running schedule in hopes that I will be training for a marathon once again.  The running starts today, not much, only 1.5 miles but I haven’t been doing much of any running since October.  I have done a few runs here and there but nothing consistent.  The plan is to start out and see where I am in a few months, then decide about marathon training.  Strength training starts today too.  I plan on doing it 2-3 times per week, probably 3 times right now since I won’t be running longer than 3 miles for a while.

I’m also adding salads this week!  Or cooked veggies.  I’ve decided too that if I want some fruit I can have it too, but really I’m getting plenty in my juice and smoothies.  I’m probably going to finish off the bulk of the fruit that I have left in juices and then switch it to mostly veggie juice because I think I might be getting too much fruit.  Sometimes I feel a crash and I suspect it is too much sugar from the fruit.

So that’s that.  I’m so glad that I didn’t automatically put on pounds since I added more than juice, but we’ll see what happens now that I will be eating actual food :lol

Leave a Comment
by Lauren on March 13, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Exercise, Food, Happiness, Health, juicing, Life, Losing Weight, Running

Posted by Lauren on March 13, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/wednesday-weigh-in-7/

Farthest run to date!

I did my 14 miles today :D  It went better than I hoped, I was aiming for an 11:00 pace but ended up with a 10:42.  2 1/2 hours.  Not too shabby!  This time I tried doing 2 separate loops, stopping at home in the middle for a bathroom trip, to suck down a gel, reapply some body glide, and get a water refill.  It was great idea and I will do again for sure on longer runs.

I am slow but fairly steady!

The first half of the run went pretty well, almost too easy.  I was trying to pace myself since I tend to go all out too soon and then get exhausted by the second half of a long run.  I did better, but there is still room to improve.  I made it through the whole thing only walking for a minute a few times.  I feel not too bad either!  Maybe I just need time to stiffen up and get sore.  My knees did get achy before I even got to the halfway point so I’m going to take a nice cold bath.  I hope that with some more pounds gone the achy knee thing will go away.  Still can’t believe I made it 14 miles!  Now I get to look forward to 15 next week :D

Enjoy your Sunday!

Leave a Comment
by Lauren on July 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Exercise, Goals, Happiness, Health, Lace, Marathon training, Running

Posted by Lauren on July 22, 2012

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/farthest-run-to-date/

Hot 6

I did a 6 mile run this morning with all of the odds stacked against me.  I drank a 6 pack of full strength beer yesterday, I didn’t sleep well last night, I waited until 8:00 to go on an empty stomach (I usually do this but go earlier), and it was 75 degrees out!  By the time I got home it was 80.  I may be a wuss but it didn’t feel like I was being a wuss :lol:  I drank a carton of apple juice and now I’m feeling sick and used up.  I’m so not used to it being that hot, gotta make sure I get out there earlier from now on.  I did do it in a pretty good time, 1:02 for a 10:20 pace!  No walk breaks :)  Next weekend is supposed to be 11 miles.  I’m not sure how I will survive it but I WILL do it, even if I have to walk some.  Time to get serious about this marathon plan!!

 

Leave a Comment
by Lauren on June 24, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Goals, Happiness, Health, Life, Marathon, Running

Posted by Lauren on June 24, 2012

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/hot-6/

Not Smart

Well I think I have proved that I can’t run and fast.  After I posted this morning I was SO exhausted.  And I think I was dehydrated too.  I got a massive headache, had no energy or drive, and going through the motions at work took everything that was left (which wasn’t much!) out of me.  Stupid!  I had juice after my run and then more around 12:30 but it didn’t help.  I tried to drink water but wasn’t getting enough of that either.  When I got home after work around 2:30 I just crashed on the couch and tried to drink more water.  I fell asleep for maybe 10 minutes but laid there until I drank my last quart of juice around 4:30.  The headache didn’t totally go away until just a little while ago.  What a crappy day!

So, I have come to a decision.  I didn’t want to quit the fast, but I think I have to cut it short.  I was planning and hoping to make it 10 days, at the very least.  But that was with the thinking that I would be able to run 4 times a week with no problems.  I’m pretty sure that won’t happen :lol:  It was kind of silly of me to jump into this when my running is so important to me – I need to keep my base miles going before I start the real training in June.  I’m pretty sure my next two runs will be shot, I’m undecided whether or not to even attempt any until I’m back to eating again.  So I am going to fast for 2 more days, through Saturday, and then break the fast on Sunday.  That will give me 7 days, which is a totally respectable effort!  It may not be exactly what I wanted to do, but it is still a major accomplishment.  And I may do it again in the future when I don’t have to worry about training.

I hope I don’t seem like the quitter I said I didn’t want to be.  I will still have completed a week, I intend on breaking the fast carefully, and I’m not going to go nuts eating any food I may have missed during the fast.   I really haven’t felt that attached to food, though I do miss eating.  Anyway, thanks for the support!  I’ll be glad when this day is finally behind me :)

 

Leave a Comment
by Lauren on May 17, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Goals, Health, Juice Fast, Life, Running

Posted by Lauren on May 17, 2012

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/not-smart/

3 Miles on Juice

Wow, so I have mixed feelings about my run today.  I had my coffee issues so I was feeling a bit crazy, but went anyway.  The first mile was a little tough but after that it got a lot better.  I didn’t pass out, that’s always good!  Just kidding, that was never really an issue, I just felt so jittery.  I was sweating really good and it felt like I was getting a great workout, more so than normal.  That was awesome.  And even though I felt like I was out of gas when I got home, I made myself do some strength exercises like lunges, situps, pushups, etc.  I felt so good for doing that!

On the other hand, I definitely noticed that there wasn’t really anything in the tank.  I had drank about 12 ounces of juice before going out, but maybe I need to do more?  I didn’t want to have bathroom issues :lol:  My legs also felt very heavy.  It seemed like I was going in slow motion.  I did go a bit slower than normal too, by about a minute per mile.

I am still not sure how well I’ll be able to run while juice fasting but the plan is to continue on, unless I decide that it just isn’t working.  If that happens, then I’ll probably just come off of the juice fast.  I would rather run than fast.

Tomorrow I am going to try making an energy drink from dates, lemon, lime, and water and take that with me and have some before the run.  Maybe that will help.  Now that the run is done and I’m having some straight up fruit juice I feel really good.  I don’t know how many miles I’d be able to do or even want to do on juice, but I’m going to try for 5 tomorrow.  If I make it 4, great!  Another factor that will influence whether or not I keep going is recovery.  But I haven’t really felt anything out of the ordinary from the 10 miler on Sunday so I don’t think it will be a problem.  When I was running on just raw food I never had any issues either.  Anyway, starting to ramble so I’ll just do a quick update of the day.

Juice #1 & 2 was beets, beet greens, carrots, pineapple, and mint.

#3 was carrot, celery, orange, pineapple, grapes, cucumber, apple, ginger, and mint.  This one rocked!!

#4 was kale, cucumber, lemon, lime, ginger, celery, apples, and a carrot.

#5 was the liquid salsa again – tomato, cabbage, bell pepper, jalapeno, garlic, spinach, celery, carrots, lemon, and lime.

All together I guess I had a gallon of juice today, wow that seems like a lot :lol:

My stomach was very rumbly today, but I didn’t really feel hungry at all.  I hope that is the end of the hunger part after today.  I did start to strain all of my juices so that there wasn’t any pulp in them so maybe that is helping.  I didn’t have any headaches to or any other negative effects, other than an afternoon crash.  Maybe I need to add greens to the fruit juice so that it isn’t so much sugar.  It sure tasted and felt glorious to drink it after my run though!  Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow and hoping it will be another not too bad day.

Leave a Comment
by Lauren on May 16, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Health, Juice Fast, Life, Running

Posted by Lauren on May 16, 2012

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/3-miles-on-juice/

Laughing all the way to Bed Bath and Beyond

I decided to do the juice fast, and next thing I know we were headed to the above to ‘look’ at the juicers :lol:  They happened to have just one Omega VRT350 juicer, and I had a 20% off coupon.  Seemed like the right thing to do!  So now we do have a juicer, again.  Happy Mother’s Day?!

In using it yesterday and today we have found out that it is pretty cool.  It sounds like it is chewing up the food!  As far as the waste factor, we figured that I was grinding my pulp really fine in the blender and that the waste was probably close to the same.  I do still think that the waste is higher with a centrifugal juicer, so I wouldn’t ever get one of those again.  I did end up using the blender again though tonight, so I imagine I will still be doing some juicing in the blender.

The only con so far is the clean up.  There are a handful of parts that need washing after each use.  Most of the time we can get away with just rinsing with hot water, I figure we will be soap washing maybe once a day.  It doesn’t take much time, but it does take up space on the counter leaving the parts to dry.  I will probably make a few batches of juice at a time just to save on the cleanup, depending on how the juice keeps.  So far so good.

Anyway, so now we have a juicer!

Today was good, but a little rough toward the evening.  I had coffee this morning (probably my last for a while) then I went for my run.  I was going to do 8 miles but when I got to 4 I decided to go one more before turning around and coming home, so I ended up doing 10 miles.  I did have most of a Stinger honey packet mid-run, but I won’t be doing that again.  I will have to come up with something else as it made my tummy ache.  Anyway after I got home I blended up some thawed berries, a mango, and an orange.  I tried to strain it in the floursack towel but it didn’t really work.  I ended up just drinking it as it was, diluted with water.  It was really good :lol:  I did a quick walk to take back a movie while I drank that, and when I got home it was time to rest.  I laid down and took a quick nap, and after that I felt okay and it was time for another juice.

This time I did kale, spinach, parsley, carrots, celery, 1/2 a lemon, jicama, and a jalapeno.  Mistake on the jalapeno!  It was so spicy!  I almost couldn’t drink it but I made myself anyway.  Didn’t want to waste all of those veggies!  This made about 24 ounces and I diluted it to make double that.  I think that was also a mistake, since I got to feeling really crappy toward the evening.  Tomorrow I will just drink as much juice as I need to, not diluted, and drink plenty of water too.

I decided I wouldn’t try to avoid food, so when dinner time came and The Boyfriend was cooking, I was sitting on the floor playing a game with M.  He grilled some chicken and I was right by the window and it smelled amazing.  For a while!  I even sat with them while they ate and I sipped my juice.  I wasn’t painful or driving me nuts or anything.  I don’t think that avoiding food is going to really help me, if I just face it head on I think it will do even more for me as far as the mental part of it.

At around 5:30 I desperately needed something more, so I did the blender juice of beet, carrots, jicama, and red grapes.  It really hit the spot!  I don’t want to juice anymore today since I don’t want to be up all night going to the bathroom.  Hopefully I’ll feel okay in the morning and I will just be smarter tomorrow and drink more juice.

I feel like I recovered okay from my run, my muscles aren’t screaming at me or anything so I figure I’m okay.  I imagine that will be my last 10 mile run for a while though, at least while juice fasting ;)

I’ve written down a handful of juice recipes and I think I’m just going to try and keep it simple, doing mostly the same kinds of juices.  I don’t want to have a ton of different things in the fridge all of the time, plus with two people still eating in the house there isn’t room in there anyway!  I will definitely be shopping more often.

I imagine Day 2 will be pretty hellish.  At least that is what I’ve read.  I hope that I can get through it okay and just keep going.  I plan to do some walking as my workout but nothing major.  I’ve also read that a little exercise will help any detox symptoms to pass quicker so maybe I’ll take two walks :)

Leave a Comment
by Lauren on May 13, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Goals, Happiness, Health, Juice Fast, juicing, Running

Posted by Lauren on May 13, 2012

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/laughing-all-the-way-to-bed-bath-and-beyond/

Not all about the number

I weigh myself every day.  Sometimes I like what I see and other times I don’t :lol:  But I try not to let it get to me.  It is just information.  I mean, if I am up and don’t like it, what choice am I going to make?  Am I going to go out and eat a bunch of junk and drink beer?  No, that would be stupid!  Been there, done that, it doesn’t do any good.  That just isn’t how I cope anymore.  Anyway!  The scale is not the end all be all.  It doesn’t decide my fitness level, the way my body looks, how my clothes fit, or how I feel.  So even though I am not moving along as fast as I think that maybe I could, I am making progress in a lot of other ways.

I haven’t measured myself since last month so I don’t know how that is going this month.  But my clothes are definitely fitting better!  I don’t feel like I look as though I’m about to explode out of my clothes anymore :lol:  Shirts and jeans are a lot looser.  So much that I decided to try on the jeans I have set aside to be the ones that will fit next.  They don’t quite fit yet, but some are very very close!  We are talking anywhere from 1-3 sizes smaller.  I imagine by the end of my next month of healthy living that I will be fitting into those jeans :D

Running is getting easier.  Some days the runs are very hard, but I love pushing through and getting it done.  The last few runs have been a breeze, and pretty quick for me too!  I can now do an hour on the elliptical without feeling like I’ve used up every ounce of energy I had.  I even like doing hard intervals on it again.

I am getting stronger, lifting higher weights all of the time.  I try to up my weights every 2-3 workouts.  Even though sometimes I don’t really want to lift, I make myself do it anyway and by the time I am done I feel great.  The drive to make myself do it anyway is a nice thing to have.

All of this to say YAY!  I AM making progress!  Every day that I make the choice to be conscious about what I will eat and do is a huge success.  I didn’t care for so long and didn’t see how I could ever change, or that there would even be a point to changing.  Now I don’t feel that despair.  That is probably the biggest success I could ask for.  I am so happy to be where I am today!

4 Comments
by Lauren on March 30, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Exercise, Goals, Happiness, Health, Life, Losing Weight, Running, Training

Posted by Lauren on March 30, 2012

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/not-all-about-the-number/

Thought I’d let you know…

Because I know you are just waiting to hear what I’m doing :lol:  I have been counting calories again.  Yup.  Surprisingly it is not making me nuts (so far).  I find that when I amp up the vegetable intake, I don’t have a problem with staying under a decent number for me.  Since I have dabbled in fasting too, I am finding that I am just not that hungry anymore.  I can go longer between meals without eating and not feeling like I will die without food ASAP!  Something about how we are eating too has pretty much turned off the hunger button too – for the most part.  I often don’t really feel hungry, but have other symptoms like a mild headache or irritability, that tell me I might need to eat.  My stomach doesn’t even growl that much these days.  I like that I don’t really have to pay attention to my stomach as much.

So the calories.  I’m not sure that there will be a magic number for me to eat and combined with my activity will make me lose X number of pounds each week.  It did work for me before, when I stayed under 1500 and worked out whenever I thought about it, I lost 1.6 pounds consistently almost every single week.  I’d love it if that happened but I’m not sure that it will.  I  guess I am coming out of red alert mode mentally, thinking I must lose weight quickly for the marathon.  I want to lose it, but as long as my knee is feeling okay and I am dropping some pounds consistently, I will probably be fine.  As long as I am losing something I am okay.  I just don’t want to be trying and not see anything gone, you know?!  I know that when I was stalled, I was just eating too much.  Too much ice cream and too many cookies.  If I am counting calories, at least I’ll know where I stand.

I also want to track my nutrients.  I want to do better in terms of diet and good foods that will help me be a better runner.  I am not sure that this matters that much, I’d like to think that it does.  So I’m trying.  There is the magic ratio of 50/25/25, carbs/protein/fat that is supposed to be a good start for runners.  So far I’m kind of there, needing more protein and less fat.  I think it will be more of a goal to shoot for, but if I don’t get there it isn’t a big deal.  I will try.  I think it will be a good thing if more of the carbs come from fruits and veggies too.

So that’s where I’m at.  I am counting calories, but not until the day is over.  I am trying to be mindful about what I will eat, always choosing the veg and fruit first and then building around that.  Picking a protein and then some kind of grain last, if I need one.  So far it seems okay, granted it has only been 3 days.  I figure at least I will know better what I’m putting in my body, and it should help me to cut way back on the treats.  Tracking over the last week definitely has helped me do that so far.

2 Comments
by Lauren on March 29, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Exercise, Food, Goals, Happiness, Health, Life, Losing Weight, Marathon, Running, Unprocessed challenge

Posted by Lauren on March 29, 2012

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/thought-id-let-you-know/

In the Works

Over the last few weeks I have been planning and plotting.  I have yet to foot the bill entirely, but I’m determined to save up and get The Boyfriend and I to the Pacific Northwest this year in October!  This will serve as an early 10 year anniversary trip.  Anyway it just so happens that the Portland Marathon is October 7th, and yes, we are going to run it!!  

I’m so excited and scared at the same time :lol:  It is quite a ways away, and I found a training plan from Hal Higdon that should get me there in 30 weeks.  Well 27 weeks.  It starts out simple enough but works up to a good amount of running by month 4.  My only thing is that I’m a little slow and feel heavy, because I am heavy right now.  I would like to actually lose weight before I get to that month 4 so that running will be somewhat easier.  I am losing right now but VERY slowly.  Which most of the time I do not mind, but now I feel more of a sense of urgency.  I need to get lighter and hopefully faster.  I feel like if I had 15-10 pounds gone it would be much easier to run.

This brings me to my next development.  I am going to have to revamp my diet again.  In all honesty I have become quite lax over the last couple of weeks about what I’m doing.  I still do try to eat only when hungry, but seem to have lost a lot of my hunger signals?  I get hungry in the morning and not really at all after that.   So I will wait a long time until lunch and dinner and then eat anyway.   I don’t get stuffed or overfull though, so I guess I need to eat, it’s just that the OMG I’m so hungry part isn’t there.  It’s weird.  And then there are the days when my special time is coming :roll: and I can just eat and eat all day.  Lots of chocolate and cheese, whatever.  It sucks :lol:

So anyway, the easiest thing to do would seem to be counting calories.  But I really don’t know if I want to do that.  Maybe I can just try and do it for a while and if it starts to make me crazy I can reel it back in.  I thought about Weight Watchers online, but I don’t really have that money to spend.  I could probably swing it, but not sure if that is the route I want to take.  I could always try an exchange plan too, though to be honest they seem like a lot of work :lol:  And I wouldn’t know where to start as far as allotments.  I guess it wouldn’t hurt to look at runners’ diets either.  I really don’t want to ‘go on a diet’ though.  I am done, done, and done with that.  There will be no limiting carbs, no taking away any food I like, and no attempts at starvation! :lol:

I suppose if I stuck to those rules then calorie counting wouldn’t be so bad.  Actually I’ve been starting to wonder if I’m so resistant to the counting because I don’t want to see how much I’m eating as of now.  Like I said, I’m losing very slowly so while I’m obviously eating a comfortable amount, it is probably a little excessive.  I don’t want to lose 3 pounds a week (would be great if I did though)  I’d settle for 1 at this point!

Okay I’m just rambling now.  I will think about this, make a decision, and then post it here for accountability.  In the meantime do you have suggestions for me as far as weight loss?  If you’ve lost weight in the past, what worked for you?  What didn’t?  

Edited to add: I checked the Weight Watcher’s website and there was an offer for free online tools for 7 days!  So I signed up and am going to try it for a week.  We’ll see how it goes!

Leave a Comment
by Lauren on March 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Exercise, Goals, Health, Life, Losing Weight, Running

Posted by Lauren on March 22, 2012

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/in-the-works-3/

Another Half Marathon

I haven’t been doing tons of running lately, my miles logged at Daily Mile have been few and far between.  I have a measly 7 miles for June!  I’m going to change that, I have to if I want to run The Other Half as planned.  My official 12-week plan will need to start on July 25th, but I need to get my butt in gear and start going 3 miles 3 or 4 times a week.  So I will be working on that for the next 3 weeks until training starts.  I’m using the novice training plan from Hal Higdon, not because it’s my first but I because I haven’t been running consistently for a long time.  I’m excited but nervous to do another half.  I really want to clean up my act during this training, really cut down on the alcohol intake, eat better (and less), and throw some regular strength training in there.  I’d hope I could shed a good bit of weight and feel a lot better.  I’m mostly just concerned with getting in shape again and finishing with a decent time!  I’m hoping for 2 hours and 10 minutes, even faster would be great, we’ll see :)

1 Comment
by Lauren on June 28, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Running

Posted by Lauren on June 28, 2011

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/another-half-marathon/

« Older Posts