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Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Monday, May 26, 2014
{Review} PUR Gum: An Essential Ingredient To My Run
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Friday, April 25, 2014
Getting Back On Track
My Papa loved cycling. He took it up when my mom's health began to really suffer, probably 15 years or so ago. Riding was his way of releasing stress, of taking a break from the responsibilities of being a care taker, and simply being among friends. 
I was always proud of him for taking up such a sport and for sticking with it for so many years. I began running about 5 years ago and even though I've taken some breaks here and there, I always return to the sport. I always wanted to run a race with Papa but we never got around to it. Yet my husband recently began training and he and I ran our first race together just last weekend. It was a 5K and he kicked my butt. :)- 64 ounces of water a day
- tracking my food
- 3 days of fitness (anything from yoga, weight training, to running)
What about You? How has Your week been? What are You striving for in the weeks to come?
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Friday, October 25, 2013
Running, The Only Place My Demons Can't Find Me
The idea of being a runner has always lingered in the back of my mind. However, the actual moment that it became reality was in February of 2010. A co-worker/friend suggested I run a half marathon with her. I quickly agreed and ran almost every day for the next 6 months. Then I began writing my thesis and after another six months was graduating with my Master's in education. I never gave up on running, it simply took a backseat to my every day life.
After the birth of my 4th child, I desperately wanted to get back into my running shoes, but with post-partum depression, the transition wasn't as smoothly as I would have liked. Now, almost 4 years after my transformation began, I am back into a nice running routine. Oh, how I've missed it so, and how I now understand just how important running is to my well being and sanity.
What Running Gives Me:
When I run, I typically do it alone, and after long hours of soul searching I have finally come to understand why I prefer the solidarity of running to being with a group.
When I run, the only expectations that are placed on me are by myself. And actually, those expectations change with each run. I may challenge myself to run faster one day, run further another day, and simply to move my feet on hard days.
When I run, I'm not concerned about my financial situations. I no longer worry about bills or plans for future growth. I'm no longer ridden with anxiety over my bank statement but instead I'm concentrating on the movement of my body, my breathing, and the strain of my muscles.
When I run, my hamstrings don't care if I cry. I shed tears over lost loved ones, lost dreams/goals, and lost identify of myself which I struggle daily to find.
When I run, I belong to a group much larger than myself. As I pass other runners, there is the occassional nod, finger wave, or even the comment given by a vetran running. Those are the moments that move me forward, that connect me to others when I feel so distant and removed from life.
When I run, I free myself from all the criticisms, thoughts of failures, and I simply tune into the conversation being held between my mind and body. Yes, running lowers my cholesteral, blood pressure, and heart rate. It strengths my lungs, muscles, and bones, but it also gives me clarity and honesty. I can not be someone other than who I am when I run. I can not be better or worse than I am as a runner. With word, I can protray my life a certain way, but with running what I have is what I am, there is no sugar coating it, it simply is what is it.
And this is why running is as much a part of my being as breathing. It's the moment that I reconnect with myself, that I push myself to see what I'm really made of, and then I collapse with a new found truth that I made it and I'm strong enough to make it through the next run.
Running doesn't care if I failed at being a good mom, a good wife, or even a good friend. It doesn't care what my credit score is or if I made that deadline at work. Running expects nothing more from me than what I give it. It gives nothing more to me than what I put into it. Running is self discovery while in motion. It is my drug and fuel, my therapist and commrad. Running is who I am, who I want to be, and who I strive to be better at. No matter where life takes me, as long as I can tie my shoes, I can run, and sometimes just knowing that is enough to get me through another moment, until my next run.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Mamavation Monday: And I Almost Tried To Do It Without Coffee!
Wow, what a couple of weeks I've had!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday Madness: My Weekly Workout {9.24-9.28}
Monday, June 25, 2012
And We're Off To A Great Start! Get Out The Door And Get Your Butt Moving!!!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Kicking Off The New Year With A New Me
![Run Your Butt Off!: A Breakthrough Plan to Lose Weight and Start Running (No Experience Necessary!) [Book]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uLr54OFwYqhD7LYhZl8ti90SKHrH-3jclop0-RGP1tsooYk8WDyMclpd0MLB6VDZlmMalICLFfuOfW-XVtA8l71wlMej_rpHaetkbpdiPneJIsdN5XKtcnof7Opd9iRK2XfEhJACf-duEV2jCZuphtuIYk7CvUlA=s0-d)
2. A Family Garden: I read up on this a great deal last year, buying several books that listed when and how to grow different vegetation. I even did a small pot garden next to the house which produce some good foods. This year I'd like to celebrate my birthday by purchasing a box garden and filling it with several different types of fruits and veggies and allowing the kids to really make this happen. Who knows, I may even look into canning. :)
And, with this information I'm turning to the idea of eating clean - reducing foods that are made up of high, bleached sugar, chemically based, and turning more to whole foods. I recently found the book, The Eat-Clean Diet for Family and Kids, which provides a great deal of recipes that kids are bound to love {I really hope I can introduce Jeremy to some fruits and vegetables that he'll enjoy}. And maybe with the garden this will spark more interest in healthy foods for the family.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Training For The Big Day
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Mud Run: You Are So Mine Come 2012
Chattanooga just recently hosted the 2011 Mud Run where runners enjoy a gentle 5k through mud and muck. I've wanted to run this race for the last couple of years but due to school and now pregnancy I've missed out but I have high hopes for next year. :)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
By Matt Fitzgerald
For Active.com
Your body can teach you everything you need to know to run better and find more fulfillment in your running. But you can only learn from your body if you pay close attention to it and if you understand how to interpret its messages and signals. In other words, you need to cultivate a strong mind-body connection to get where you want to go as a runner.
In my work, I am fortunate to talk to a lot of world-class runners about how they train and prepare to compete at the highest level. One thing I've noticed is that the mind-body connection is especially strong in most elite runners. We're used to thinking of superior running genes as being the factor that distinguishes the world's best runners from the rest of us. But I'm convinced that this highly developed mind-body connection is just as important. It allows them to learn more and learn faster from their bodies and then apply what they learn to their training and preparation in ways that maximize their improvement.
I recently completed a book that summarizes what I've learned about mind-body running from the world's best runners. Following are six of their mind-body running methods that can benefit runners at any level, including you.
Train for Confidence
Your body knows what it is capable of. Through training your body learns and continually relearns its performance limits as your fitness improves. It communicates this knowledge to the mind in the form of feelings of confidence (and lack thereof) in relation to the goals you've set. When you feel you are ready to set a PR, you are.
Trust your sense of confidence. Train in ways that maximize your confidence and minimize your doubts, even when doing so causes you to take the road less travelled and do things differently from other runners.
Run Happy
The more effective your training is, the more you will enjoy it. Conversely, loss of enjoyment in training is one of the earliest and most reliable signs of overtraining. Having fun with your running is not a frivolous extra. It is vital to your mission to run to the best of your ability. Pay close attention to your level of enjoyment in training and don't be afraid to make adjustments when you find it waning.
Discover Your Magic Formula
Each body is unique, and therefore each runner responds to training somewhat differently than any other runner. To realize your full potential as a runner you must discover your own personal magic training formula. This doesn't happen all at once, but rather step by step as you pay attention to how your body responds to training.
How much mileage can your body handle? How much high-intensity running? What sort of weekly workout routine works best for you? These are the kinds of questions that experience will answer when you listen carefully to your body. As each question is answered, apply it to your future training to make it more effective than ever.
Find Your Comfort Zone
Comfort zones are often thought of as negative things that runners must escape to achieve their goals. That's true in one sense, but in another sense a comfort zone is a good thing. "Becoming a champion requires that you are comfortable when and where you are training," said Joan Benoit Samuelson, who early in her career turned down an opportunity to relocate to the running Mecca of Eugene, OR, in order to continue training on her own in her home state of Maine.
Being comfortable when and where you are training means sticking with the methods that work best for you, running in your favorite places and with your favorite people, and fitting running into your lifestyle in a synergistic manner. Being comfortable in these ways will help train hard, consistently, and with focus. Like confidence and enjoyment, comfort is a feeling. Pay attention to that feeling and let it lead your running in the direction it indicates, even when that means staying put, as Benoit Samuelson did.
Try Harder
Suffering is a big part of running. The more suffering you can tolerate in races, the better you will perform. Some runners can tolerate more suffering than others, but all runners can increase their capacity to push through the discomfort of fatigue. Proven ways of doing so include regularly performing workouts that expose you to judicious doses of fatigue, aiming to beat your own best times in certain benchmark workouts, competing against other individuals in races and workouts, consciously rating your effort in races and key workouts, and getting motivation wherever you can.
Wing It
The best-made training plans of mice and men often go awry. That's because training plans try to predict the future, and even the most carefully thought-out plans are never more than weather-forecast accurate in anticipating how your body will respond to the series of workouts you schedule.
So, by all means, plan your training, as it's a good way to get yourself started in the right direction. But be prepared to depart from the plan whenever necessary as you go. Each day, let your training plan have one vote for the kind of run you do and let your body--your feelings of fatigue and readiness, enjoyment, confidence, and comfort--have two votes. In other words, don't be afraid to wing it.
For Active.com
Your body can teach you everything you need to know to run better and find more fulfillment in your running. But you can only learn from your body if you pay close attention to it and if you understand how to interpret its messages and signals. In other words, you need to cultivate a strong mind-body connection to get where you want to go as a runner.
In my work, I am fortunate to talk to a lot of world-class runners about how they train and prepare to compete at the highest level. One thing I've noticed is that the mind-body connection is especially strong in most elite runners. We're used to thinking of superior running genes as being the factor that distinguishes the world's best runners from the rest of us. But I'm convinced that this highly developed mind-body connection is just as important. It allows them to learn more and learn faster from their bodies and then apply what they learn to their training and preparation in ways that maximize their improvement.
I recently completed a book that summarizes what I've learned about mind-body running from the world's best runners. Following are six of their mind-body running methods that can benefit runners at any level, including you.
Train for Confidence
Your body knows what it is capable of. Through training your body learns and continually relearns its performance limits as your fitness improves. It communicates this knowledge to the mind in the form of feelings of confidence (and lack thereof) in relation to the goals you've set. When you feel you are ready to set a PR, you are.
Trust your sense of confidence. Train in ways that maximize your confidence and minimize your doubts, even when doing so causes you to take the road less travelled and do things differently from other runners.
Run Happy
The more effective your training is, the more you will enjoy it. Conversely, loss of enjoyment in training is one of the earliest and most reliable signs of overtraining. Having fun with your running is not a frivolous extra. It is vital to your mission to run to the best of your ability. Pay close attention to your level of enjoyment in training and don't be afraid to make adjustments when you find it waning.
Discover Your Magic Formula
Each body is unique, and therefore each runner responds to training somewhat differently than any other runner. To realize your full potential as a runner you must discover your own personal magic training formula. This doesn't happen all at once, but rather step by step as you pay attention to how your body responds to training.
How much mileage can your body handle? How much high-intensity running? What sort of weekly workout routine works best for you? These are the kinds of questions that experience will answer when you listen carefully to your body. As each question is answered, apply it to your future training to make it more effective than ever.
Find Your Comfort Zone
Comfort zones are often thought of as negative things that runners must escape to achieve their goals. That's true in one sense, but in another sense a comfort zone is a good thing. "Becoming a champion requires that you are comfortable when and where you are training," said Joan Benoit Samuelson, who early in her career turned down an opportunity to relocate to the running Mecca of Eugene, OR, in order to continue training on her own in her home state of Maine.
Being comfortable when and where you are training means sticking with the methods that work best for you, running in your favorite places and with your favorite people, and fitting running into your lifestyle in a synergistic manner. Being comfortable in these ways will help train hard, consistently, and with focus. Like confidence and enjoyment, comfort is a feeling. Pay attention to that feeling and let it lead your running in the direction it indicates, even when that means staying put, as Benoit Samuelson did.
Try Harder
Suffering is a big part of running. The more suffering you can tolerate in races, the better you will perform. Some runners can tolerate more suffering than others, but all runners can increase their capacity to push through the discomfort of fatigue. Proven ways of doing so include regularly performing workouts that expose you to judicious doses of fatigue, aiming to beat your own best times in certain benchmark workouts, competing against other individuals in races and workouts, consciously rating your effort in races and key workouts, and getting motivation wherever you can.
Wing It
The best-made training plans of mice and men often go awry. That's because training plans try to predict the future, and even the most carefully thought-out plans are never more than weather-forecast accurate in anticipating how your body will respond to the series of workouts you schedule.
So, by all means, plan your training, as it's a good way to get yourself started in the right direction. But be prepared to depart from the plan whenever necessary as you go. Each day, let your training plan have one vote for the kind of run you do and let your body--your feelings of fatigue and readiness, enjoyment, confidence, and comfort--have two votes. In other words, don't be afraid to wing it.
*****
The bolded areas are the areas in which are important to me. I have a fear/restriction of pushing myself. On a new run, I always hold back, not wanting to push myself too hard, and fall short without completing the run. However, I do know that pushing myself is important, not only in running, but more importantly, in life.
In the area of winging it, I disagree. Planning is much more effective, for me, rather than simplying saying I'm gonna get it done. For example, this is the first week out of 4 that I haven't planned my workout, and I seem to have no motivation nor guidance in gettinga workout in. Could it be my stressed day, yep, but if I have a plan then I'm more likely to follow it, try to find a moment to squeeze it in, rather than just chalking it up to not having enough time.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
My Weight Loss Story
I'm not really sure where to begin....
I guess it all starts where others have already been, a teenager, standing in the mirror, admiring my body, wondering if others will like it, if I'm the right size, the right build.
In high school I was a 130 lbs, size 10, and very conscious of my weight. I was also ashamed of what I weighed. I always felt too fat. My mother was not the best role model when it came to body image. I grew up listening to her call her own 140ish body, fat, and her most asked question was, "does this make me look hippy?" I don't blame my mom for her skewed ideas on what was healthy, I blame the media and what-not.
When I married @ 18, I found a new freedom, the freedom to eat any and all foods. My mom had kept a close check on my eating habits, and wasn't afraid to tell me when I didn't need to eat something. Again, I'm not writing a post bashing my mom, simply trying to explain that this new freedom lead me to averaging about 10 new pounds a year. By the time I became pregnant with my second child @ the age of 24, I was sitting around 180, size 14/16.
After the birth of a beautiful 9 pound baby boy, and the new job of a SAHM, I became accustomed to my new body of 200 pounds, size 18/20. My second child is wonderful, yet he does require a great deal of attention, and I've always had the feeling of never catching up to him, always running behind him, but never taking any "me" time in the process. I always told myself I'd lose that weight, but a year went by and it stayed there. Two years, three, four, five, and six which topped me off around 220, size 20.
I had worked out on and off, even losing weight and getting back down into a size 16 in hopes of donating a kidney to my mom. When she passed away, however, my reasons for working out passed away as well.
I was graced with my third child @ the age of 31, 220 pounds, size 20. While pregnant I made the decision that THIS time I was losing this baby weight. I was not settling for anything else. When I gave birth to Maddie I had hit 245 lbs. Within 3 days I was down to 213. Within 5 months I was below 200. A year later I sit around 180. I've removed a total of 65 pounds from the day I gave birth to my daughter, 45 of that, pre-preggo weight.
I became a runner 124 days ago, and it's here that I've had my greatest success. It seems the body doesn't like to run with fat on it and will quickly shed it away when given the chance. I ran religiously for 2 months straight, 6 days a week. My knees were killing me. I was over trained. I reached 178 pounds and found myself starving almost continuously. I decided to back off and give myself some time to recover. I didn't realize just how much it would effect my body. I gained an inch back to my waist and about 3 to 5 pounds. I'm not too happy about it.
Now, let's stop here. I know this post, so far, has been about weight loss, and that's definitely where I've come from, but now, today, it's a shift toward fitness, and being the best runner I can be. If you've read my posts, you've noticed a trend in my awe inspiring moments due to running, how it's a life changing experience for me, and it is. I've still not captured, in words, what running gives me and my family, however, by the time I'm 50 I hope to be able to write a book about it all...How God Changed My Life Through Running. Be on the look out for it, seriously. :) But until then, simply know that even though I'll be watching the scales, my main focus will be on speed runs, distance, and pace.
Alright then, we've come to a nice stopping place. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll share more about my goals to a fitter me. I'll also share some insight into the new Body After Baby Project that I've joined.
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