Couch to 13.1, 30day Challenge

energy boost As I mentioned before, I want to get my “runner girl“ identity back so what better to do then a crazy challenge?! I am going to do a “couch-ish to 13.1, 30 day challenge.” I don’t think the race will be pretty and nor will it be super, spectacularly fast but this will at least kick start me back into the mileage that I enjoy! I am going to make this race a goal just to have fun and find my love for running again. See below if you want to follow along!

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I will be following this plan from May 12 – June 10th with the goal of completing the Hotlanta Half. Happy Training Y’all!!

disclaimer! This training plan is not for everyone and is not the safest way to train for a half marathon. If this is your first or you’re just getting into running a build up this fast is not recommended.

Once a Runner…{maybe} Always a Runner

Since high school I have always been able to call myself a runner but then that nursing school thing came along and remember how I mentioned I am the most unhealthy I have ever been in yesterday’s post, well now running is a struggle! Before now (read last 6months) I have trained for marathons and ironman triathlons. I even managed to push through a few races at the beginning of nursing school but in reality, they were weak races and I struggled through them. Nursing school takes a lot out of me! It’s an excuse but also the truth! Training runs get cut short and are sometimes cut out all together and sleep and nutrition are at an all time low. I’m not going to lie, I HATE IT!! I like being a runner.

So what to do about it… Pout, whine, cry?! Well, that’s what I want to do but since that’s getting me nowhere, I have had to start at ground zero! Seriously 1 and 2 mile runs make up the majority of my miles these days. They are slow and almost always include a walk somewhere in the middle. This is brutal! Coming from the girl where a 10mile run was a quick jaunt in the park to this is right up there with heart breaking.

It makes me want to stomp my feet and melt into a puddle. Running has always been an identity of mine and now I feel like I am failing that part of who I am.

So for real… what to do about it?! I want my runner girl identity back! My lost stride needs to return!

My initial thought is to sign up for a half marathon this summer while I am out of school and make that my focus. I will still be busy with work but not nearly as busy as I am when I am working and going school. My thought is this will help me create that healthy routine again and if I can create that routine, I will be better able to carry it through my last semester of school. Maybe even set a goal for another half marathon late in the semester so I HAVE to keep it going?

Please comment with advice below if you have experience with STARTING ALL OVER! Help a former and one day future runner girl (again) out!!

Six Things Sunday 3

Hey Y’all! I hope you had a fantastic weekend and are all ready to have a great week! To get you all caught up with me, lets dive right into this weeks edition of Six Things Sunday….

1. I’m having a love hate relationship with the time change today. Love that the days are longer but hate that I have been an hour off all day. Also knowing that its going to be super dark in the morning is bumming me out a bit.

2. Family weekend was great! I loved getting to hang with the family for 24 uninterrupted hours. To make it even better the weather was warm so we even got in a little lake time. So nice to get some fresh air after being stuck inside these last few weeks.

3. Half marathon training is coming along well. I was able to get in my 8mile run today all around lake norman and for the most part felt great. This was the first significant distance I had run alone in a while and I definitely I missed my awesome running buddy from last couple weeks. Nonetheless, still a great run.

4. 31Day Detox is well….its going. I am feeling better for the most part but I am definitely missing sugar and carbohydrates. I am eating lots of fruits, veggies, and protein but I can tell I am missing the extra carbs. Cutting out cheeses and the heavily processed foods have been great and much easier than I thought. We shall see what this week holds…

5. Who will he propose to?? The final episode of the bachelor is tomorrow!!! Who’s team are you on, team Becca or team Whitney? I’m on the fence but leaning towards team Whitney.

6. I really hope this weekend wasn’t just a tease and this warmer weather is here to stay. I love being able to finally turn the heat off and enjoy this warmer weather.

So that’s it this week, nothing too crazy. What is going on with each of you? Don’t forget to tell me who you think Prince Farming is going to pick tomorrow night!

Have a terrific week y’all!

Greenville Weekend

Hey Y’all! How are you doing? I hope you had a wonderful weekend and your week is off to an even better start. Plus, you had The Women Tell All to finish off your Monday night so I know your week is already starting on a high note. By the way, who do you think Chris is going to pick? My gut says Whitney. I think he is falling hard for Becca but she’s not ready to be a wife in little Arlington, Iowa and Whitney is ready to be popping out some babies which is what I think Chris is looking for. Annnyyywaayyysss….back to this weekend. Best weekend I’ve had in a long long time. I feel like a new person after having a chance to get away for an ENTIRE day!!!

Saturday after I finished with work I headed to Greenville, SC to visit Dylan. I had only been down their once before and really only to watch a baseball game. So needless to say I was extremely excited to both spend some quality time with the boy but also explore a new city.

Upon my arrival Saturday night we went to Gringos, a little Mexican restaurant right in downtown for a few of my favorites….chips, guacamole, and a margarita. Mmmmm!!! SO Yummy!! The food was good, the atmosphere was good, but I will have to say the service wasn’t the best. Regardless, I would recommend it if you’re in the mood for any kind of funky taco as they had tons of options to choose from. I however, wasn’t in the mood for a taco so I opted for a quesadilla and it was pretty good.

Then for our post dinner adventure we headed to the streets to explore all of what downtown Greenville had to offer. First stop was the waterfall that goes right through the middle of downtown. And yes, you heard that right, there is a waterfall right in the middle of downtown!! And incase you thought this city couldn’t get any more awesome than a waterfall, there is also a minor league baseball stadium there too!!! ….a waterfall, beautiful lights in all the trees lining the streets, great food on every corner, lots of people, and a baseball field…what more could you possibly ask for from a city?! I’m in love! Had it not been so cold Dylan may not have been able to drag me away from it at the end of the night.

Luck for me though, Sunday morning started out with a run all around Greenville. We started out on the greenway and looped through the city for a fun 6miles. It was a great run and I loved getting to see more of the beautiful city. As many of you know, cities are one of my favorite places to run so throw me in a new city with a great running buddy and I am basically in heaven.

After a quick shower and lunch we headed back out the door for our next adventure of the day…. the Greenville Zoo!! I think Dylan was a little iffy initially on this one but he was a good sport for taking me and in the end I know he enjoyed it almost as much as I did. A few of our favorites were the lions, the white nosed coati, and the red pandas. I was a little disappointed there were no elephants but quickly got past that when I got to pet the silly goats…I don’t think I will ever out grow the petting zoo. Also, I 100% recommend going to the Zoo on a not so pretty day….we had nearly the entire Zoo to ourselves and it was awesome! No standing in lines, no screaming kids, and we were able to look at all the animals as long as we wanted to. AMAZING!

By the time we left the zoo and did a little more exploring of downtown Greenville I was more than ready to eat. Seeing that I had started my 31Days of real foods, Dylan happily cooked something that fell right in line with the restrictions I had put in place for myself over the next 31days. He made copy cat PF Chang’s lettuce wraps using deer meat with a side of beets. Both beets and deer meat were something new for me and I loved them both to my surprise. Slowly but surely, I think he is going to get me to be a little less picky. As of now he has added 3 foods to my list of likes, deer, beets, and cauliflower…pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Dinner was great but it hardly compared to dessert.

Again chef Dylan (y’all I could really get used to this) whips out the utensils and is back to work. This time to make smoothies. I honestly don’t even know what all he put in my smoothie but I do know it was fantastic and hit the spot big time. I have been having cravings for sweets as of lately so having a smoothie was a great way to fend off my evening sweets crave. Plus they were a perfect ending to an amazing 24hrs!

So what did you do this weekend? Any fun adventures? Also, Charlotte friends, we are always looking for day trip adventure in and around the Charlotte area, do you have any suggestions? And don’t forget to tell me who you think Chris is going to pick next week during the 3 HOUR (<–read as that is 100% totally ridiculous and not necessary) show!!

Happy Tuesday Y’all!!

7 Week Half Marathon Training

Hey Hey Hey! How are y’all doing? Dylan and I have signed up for Rock ‘n Roll Raleigh Half Marathon April 12th so I wanted to fill you in on our training plan leading up to it. The two of us have started with about a 5mile base.

For Thursday speed work, use the first mile as a warm-up and last mile as a cool down. The middle portion of the run do some sort of pick-ups. For example, 1min hard, 30second easy jog till you have completed the entire middle portion of the workout. The purpose of this day is to get your legs turning over quickly and engage those fast twitch fibers.

So who else is training for a half marathon these days? What race do you have on the calendar? Comment below to let me know!

Happy Running Y’all!

Friday Night Workout

Hey friends! How are y’all doing? I hope you all survived the crazy (or should I say wimpy) snow storm. I know my Raleigh friends got hit pretty hard but here in Charlotte, I have to say it certainly didn’t live up to the hype at all!! I am not complaining though, I had a nice couple days off because of all the hype which allowed me to catch up on a little sleep, see a couple of my favorite people ever (mom, dad, and grandma) and I got to finish off yesterday evening with a surprise visit from the boyfriend! I typically don’t see him Monday – Friday so a Thursday night dinner was a great surprise. Anyways, on to today’s post, my running and triathlon followers I think you’re going to like it.

Tonight I did a fun (yet tough) 2.5 mile run to kick things off. I broke this run into 4 parts (keep in mind I was already warmed up going into this):

Part 1: .25 rolling hills. I set the treadmill so it would go up and down (started at about 2.5 and built up to 5.0 incline) at an 8:34min mile pace.
Part 2: Steady 1mile run. This was done at a 1.0 incline and at an 8min mile pace.
Part 3: Tough mile. Starting at 8min mile pace, every 10th of a mile I bumped up the pace .1 -.2mph. I ended this mile at a 6:30min mile. It was extremely tough but felt great to get my legs turning over quickly.
Part 4: Slow jog into walk for .25miles. After part 3 I dropped my pace to a 9:30 and ultimately dropped it to a slow walk by the end as my heart rate came down.

After the run I completed a functional training workout. This type of training was recently introduced to me by the triathlon coach at the Harris YMCA. I am learning so much from her and this type of workout is just one of the many things she has taught me so far. Today’s workout was broken into 4 sets and each set was completed twice before moving onto the next set.

Set 1: 2 x 20

Step-up with high knee raise (20 reps each leg). I did one leg at a time (so all 20 reps were done with the right leg then all 20 on the left leg)
Tricep Dip. Using the step up block I completed modified tricep dips.
Bicep curl into over head press. For this I used a 7.5lb dumbbell in each hand and for an added challenge I did this as I stepped up onto the block like I did in the first exercise. This time alternating my leading with each step.

Set 2: 2 x 20

Stability Ball hamstring curls. Heels on top of the ball with hips raised off the ground roll the ball in and out.
Stability Ball lifts. Placing ball between your feet, lift ball straight into the air then bending at your knees bring ball down and back up.
From this position, bend your knees to lower the ball then straighten back into this position for each repetition.
Stability Ball side curls. Placing ball between your feet, roll onto your side lifting as much of your lower leg off the ground as possible then curl ball behind you. I did 10 each side for a total of 20.
From this position bend at knees to bring ball as close to your butt as you can then extend back out to pictured position for 1 repetition.
Stability Ball Toss. Placing ball between your feet to start, lift ball off ground at the same time as your crunch up switching the ball to your hands, extend back down then crunch back up switching back to your feet at the top.

Set 3: 2 x

Bosu get down get up (10)
Start from a standing position, then sit on bosu ball, lean back as far as you can lifting feet off the ground (as pictured), crunch back in returning feet to the ground then standing back up for each repetition.
Walk out push-ups (build starting at 1 push-up to 5 push-ups then go back down to 1)
Start from a standing position, walk hands out across the bosu into a push-up position leaving knees on bosu. Complete 1 push-up then walk hands back to bosu and finish repetition by standing all the way back up. For the next one complete two push-ups before walking hands back and standing up. Build up to 5 push-ups then back down to a single push-up.
Skydivers (:30) balancing on the bosu on your stomach bring your arms out in front of you and legs up as high as you can behind you contracting your glutes and lower back.

Set 4: 2 x 10

Kettle bell dead lift. I used a 22lb kettle bell in each hand.
Sing leg kettle bell RDL. Holding kettle bell in the hand of the planted foot, again I used a 22lb kettle bell.
Squats. Holding one kettle bell at your chest, squat as low as you can leading with your hips and keeping your chest up. Again I kept with the 22lb kettle bell.

Cool down was 5min of foam rolling. I really focused on my hip flexors, hamstrings, quads, and IT bands.

This workout certainly had me sweaty and muscles burning but overall felt great. Comment below letting me know what you think and if you decide to give it a try.

Happy Friday Y’all!

8 Point Win

Hello Hello!! I hope you are staying warm and off the roads on this cold, yucky, ICY night!! Today’s post is a quick update of what has been going on with me these last couple weeks….

1. SNOW DAY or should I say ICE DAY!!! Today I didn’t go into either of my jobs since the roads were such a mess. This was a super strange concept for me considering it was a Tuesday and not going into either job only happens like 3-4 times a month!!! That being said my first reaction this morning was “….uhhh what do I do today?!” Not to worry though, I did manage to clean the entire apartment top to bottom, run on the treadmill, run the stairs, sign up for another race, cook a pretty awesome dinner, and still sit on the couch for several hours. Pretty productive day for never leaving my building!

2. Speaking of apartment, it is coming together great! My roommate had furnished most of the apartment before I got here but it feels more and more like home to me everyday.

3. I am still on the Grilled Cheese kick that I talked about yesterday but today I traded out the chicken for a little canned tuna. It was awesome! I wonder what master piece I can pull off tomorrow?!

4. My race calendar is starting to come together for the year. At this point I am going to be running Rock ‘n Roll Raleigh Half Marathon in April, Beach to Battleship Half Ironman in October, and Ironman Cozumel in November. I am looking to add in 2-3 more races between May and September. Maybe a sprint and an international distance triathlon…not sure yet but I do know I need to find a few more to keep myself motivated all the way to the end of November.

5. My car finally has a name!!! I present to you Edna!!! Like the little lady that makes the super hero suits in the movie The Incredibles.

6. Work is super busy and by super busy I just mean I am working all the time. As a mentioned a few months back, I am working at both Jenny Craig and the Y. I love that I am getting to help people achieve their goals but dang it is hard to find a balance sometimes. I am fighting to keep my Sunday’s free as often as possible but that seems to be getting harder and harder to do each week.

7. Cookie butter and cookie butter ice cream might be my new favorite foods. If you haven’t tried them, stay far far away!! They are almost too good to be true!!

8. Did you catch the “us” and the “we” in the grilled cheese post yesterday?! Since “love” is in the title of the blog I guess it is only fair I share the latest update in that category too…..His name is Dylan and we have been on a few dates now. Two of which were to one of my favorite places in Charlotte, Freedom Park. We went there the last two weekends to either throw the frisbee or shoot hoops. Aside from the park we have gone for ice cream, bowling, cooked each other dinner, and checked out Lake Norman State Park for a little hiking. I’ve had a great time on each of these dates and I am really enjoying getting to know him more and more!!

Post hike smiles at Lake Norman State Park 🙂

So there you have it, a life update in 8 short points. And incase you couldn’t figure out why I titled this post 8 Point Win, it is because I am extremely happy with the way things are going these days as I adjust to Charlotte living…. basically it feels like I am winning 😉

Have a Great Day Y’all!

Let’s Get the Party Started!

Happy Monday Y’all! I’m sure many of you are headed back to work or school after a nice hiatus through the holidays. I unfortunately did work through the holidays but still managed to squeeze in all the holiday fun I wanted (see yesterday’s post) which has put quite the damper on my typical healthy eating and regular exercise routine. Originally I had planned to kickstart my workouts at the beginning of December after taking a short break to recover from the marathon, as I mentioned in my Offseason Training post. That worked great till about the week of Christmas…. So here I am, ready to kick off the new year with a new training program but this time with a new goal.

This new goal is something I have wanted to accomplish for a long time. And I especially wanted to accomplish before turning 25. So this is the year. I am training for my first ever FULL IRONMAN!!! Thats right, that 140.6mile race consisting of a 2.4mile swim, 112mile bike, and 26.2mile run. I signed up over Christmas (Merry Christmas to me) to compete in Ironman Cozumel November 29th, 2015. And you might ask why before 25, well the answer is simple. 25 is when I move into the big girls league. Racing at 24, my age group is still small and tends to be a little less competitive but come 25 and beyond, the numbers and the competition greatly increase.

So now comes the hard part…training. How in the world do you train for a race this long? How long do you train for this? Should I complete all the distances before going into that day? Should I do a half iron as a warm up for this race? The questions go on and on. So for now, although as I talk to more people this may change, I am going to start my training now. I have found a 36week program online from Trifuel (anyone used it before??) that has gotten good reviews from others who have used it before with the only caveat to add a little extra distance to the long runs. I know 36weeks puts me starting the week of March 23rd so in the time leading up to then, I am going to work on building a base. I plan to pick a half marathon to do in the month of March as kind of my season opener so I will train for that plus adding in some miles on the bike and in the pool as cross-training. However, up till March, my main focus will the half marathon and strength training.

And since training for an Ironman is soooo many grueling hours, I figured why not reward myself?! I have created a jar that I will be putting a dollar in for every workout that I do leading up to the race. That way, when the race is all said and done at the end of November and I am an IRONMAN, I will be able to treat myself to something nice. Not sure what it will be yet but once I figure it out I will let you know.

So there you have it, my 2015 goal. What are your goals for 2015? Please share in the comments below.

LET’S GET THIS training PARTY STARTED!!!

Thanksgiving

Hey Y’all! So this will be my last Thanksgiving post for the year…I feel like I have said “Happy Thanksgiving” enough on here already. But before I close out the holiday, I thought I would give you a quick recap of the Thanksgiving weekend…Gobble Gobble!!

Wednesday after just a half day of work I headed to the Charlotte house to be with my family. My brother was already there so the festivities began upon my arrival. Dad and Alex headed to the hot tub and Mom and I baked our first ever apple pie…. it was pretty good if I do say so myself! That night we had family dinner which ended in a big game of (Alex’s Rules) Rock Paper Scissors…I’m still not sure who won but nonetheless it was a lot of fun and many giggles were had.

Thursday started off with the Turkey Trot. Mom walked the 5k and I ran the 8k. It was so much fun. For as much as I love doing marathons and other big, epic races, races like this are so much fun. You have people of all ages, shapes, sizes, and abilities, everyone is smiling and having fun, and there are lots of costumes. It really was a fun way to start the morning.

After our fun morning we headed home to walk the dogs and get to cooking. Everyone else arrived at the house between 2&3. We had my grandma and another family for dinner. It was a fun afternoon and evening with all of them. Lots of chit chatting and catching up before dinner and WAYYYYY too much food for dinner. Everything was delicious, even the ginny pig fried turkey, so it was hard to stop at a little portions but I did as best I could…I had to save room for my apple pie!

Friday was pretty uneventful for the majority of the day, I made my way to the Y for a cycle class but that was about it for the morning. It certainly felt good to get a good sweat in after a day of eating and drinking.

Then that evening as a family we went to the Charlotte Hornets game. My brother and I had a good time laughing and saying “What are we doing with our lives?!” as we looked at the roster and noticed that a fair number of the players were younger than us.

Saturday started bright and early with a morning shift at Jenny Craig. As much as I didn’t want to get out of bed, I was really proud of my clients that came in that morning. The majority of my clients maintained their weight loss over Thanksgiving week and a few even lost. One lady lost 3lbs over the course of Thanksgiving week! Just further proving that you can lose weight over the holidays! So proud of her!

Saturday night as a family plus my brother’s girlfriend, Lindsey, we headed to the Comedy Zone in Uptown Charlotte. We saw James Gregory, he has to be about 70years old but he was hilarious. I really enjoyed his show because it wasn’t raunchy, dirty funny but rather (almost) clean funny. He had us laughing from the beginning all the way to the end from both his facial expressions and his jokes. I personally think he’d make a great Grinch. Has anyone else seen him live, what’d you think? Also, for anyone living in the Charlotte area, I definitely recommend checking out the Comedy Zone if you are looking for a fun night out.

And finally Sunday, Alex headed back to school and Lindsey back to Charleston, but only after our “First Annual After Thanksgiving Pancake Toss”….We, being the competitive family that we are, threw left over pancakes off the back deck having a competition to see who could throw the furthest. Not sure we ever officially declared a winner but I am going to go with Alex as the champion of this one. It was a great final laugh to end the fun, family filled holiday weekend.

And now it is back to reality…and time to work off those couple of pounds I put on these last few days! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving Holiday, please share some of your highlights of the weekend in the comments below!

Happy lets get those abs back before Christmas Monday! 😉

Get to planking y’all!

Couch to 5k Series: 6

So who gobbled till they wobbled yesterday?! Or who is feeling “fluffy” and “puffy” today as the instructor of my cycle class said morning?! If either of those apply to you then you are in the right place as we kick off training for the 5th and final week of our Couch to 5k series!! If you are just getting started be sure to check out the warm-up, week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4 to get you all caught up. This week you are committed to about two and a half hours total. I promised you when we got started with this series the commitment would be totally doable and look, I followed through…all the way to the end!

Monday — 2min walk, 3min jog x7

Tuesday — 20min walk

Wednesday — 2min walk, 3min jog x8

Thursday — 20min walk

Friday — Rest

Saturday — RACE DAY!! 3.1miles!!!!

Sunday — Rest

So who is ready to tackle their final week of training and their 5k this weekend?! Comment below if you’ve stuck with it or are planning on getting started towards training for your first 5k soon!