Reflecting and goal setting

Now that I have had time to fully recover from my race I have become a lazy lady.   We went immediately from the race into vacation mode then the day after we got home from vacation we had visitors from out of town.  I'm still recovering from having company and feel like my house is a disaster (really it isn't any worse than a normal Thursday but we do have more laundry that needs done than normal) but I also know that I have to get my butt back into gear.

This weekend hubby and I will getting back into the grove.   Hubby is doing the West Virginia Beast in 3(?) weeks and I need to set some goals for myself.  I'm probably not going to do another Sprint this season but I do fully embrace the fact that it was way too hot during my sprint for me to determine if I enjoyed it or not, especially since despite the heat I hated it significantly less than running a 5k.

So back to reality we go.   Today I started cleaning up the house and this weekend we will get caught up on laundry and do our normal weekly meal plan and prep.  Monday morning we are starting an Advocare one/80 Shape Up and getting back into our workout groove.   My personal goal is to be able to do 5 pull ups by the end of the year and 10 by my 34th birthday (which is July 23) I think by working towards these goals I will be able to improve my ability on the monkey bar style obstacles and perhaps work towards the rope climb.

#goalsetting

I am a SPARTAN!!!! Aroo Aroo Aroo

Well I survived.  It wasn't pretty, and it was way too damn hot, but I struggled through and I made it.  My final time was 3:05 and change, which given the heat I am ok with.  Today I am significantly more sore than I was yesterday but most of the pain is more stiffness than anything else.
I survived the barbed wire, but the rocks we were crawling/rolling over tore my knees up so I have some beautiful cuts and bruises from that, but no cuts from the actual barbed wire, which is a bit disappointing.

Now to decide how I feel about the idea of putting myself through this torture every again....

Not at all ready

I am so not ready for Saturday.   They posted the map and I am counting on burpees for the monkey bars, multi rig, and twister, since I can't do monkey bars to save my life.   I also realized last night I have never even attempted a rope climb, so there is that.   Other than those 4 I believe I will be able to muscle my way/get help to complete the other 18.

Wish me luck! :)

OMG 9 Days!!!!

I'm moderately freaking out.   I don't feel like I'm ready but I have faith that I will be able to finish and not die.   Last weekend I over did it and ended up with a migraine from the heat/dehydration so I've been taking it a little easier this week.   I've still been doing my burpees and am going to continue my training schedule next week but more importantly I have plans to up my hydration.  I'm going to add 1 extra Advocare Rehydrate to my day starting Sunday (or more if I feel like it) and I'm going to up my general H20 intake, wether with rehydrate or just straight water by 20-40 ounces through Wednesday and doubling my normal intake on Thursday and Friday.
I'm SOOOOOOO excited :) Wish me luck.

Seasons of life

Does anyone else ever look back at different seasons in their lives and wonder about specific pieces of them? I understand how over time we might grown and change.  Make new friends, loose touch with old ones.  Develop new hobbies or habits, get new jobs etc.  but sometimes I wonder what would be different if I still do X or never started doing Y.  If I had never met my husband or if I would have still met him even if I hadn’t been friends with the friend who introduced us.  

What parts of our lives are fixed points and which parts are timely-whimey-wibbley-wobbley as the Doctor is known to say.  

Just some random thoughts when I can’t sleep at 4am.  

The struggle is real

it is 4:00 am and I am wide awake.  I have no clue why I’m awake but I’ve laid in bed for the better part of 30 minutes before I even picked up my phone trying to fall back asleep.
This is just one reason Spartan training has been difficult for me.  I’m sticking with it and continuing to try but when you don’t get enough sleep it’s hard to get out of bed to train in the morning.
My alarm goes off in an hour and a half.  Maybe I’ll be able to get some more sleep tonight so I can kick tail this morning.
What do you do when you’re awake in the middle of the night?

One day at a time

Well I'm five days in.  It's been rough but I have stuck to my meal plan 98% (my period started yesterday, I had a dark chocolate bar).
I'm taking it one day at a time in hopes that I can follow my plan until we leave to head to Kentucky for the Fort Knox Spartan Sprint.  I know I'll have to waiver some while we are traveling since we will have to eat on the road and won't always have control but if I can take it one day at a time and eat according to my plan then it will be easier to stick to healthy choices while we travel.
Wish me luck :)

Well that was scary

Recently I received the opportunity to have a plethora of functional –medicine style tests ran courtesy of BLUEPRINT fit by Quest Diagnostics.   BluePrint Fit was the daily sponsor for Charity miles about a month ago and I received a promo code to get these tests ran for free.  I figured knowing more about your body is always a good thing and these tests would be a great way for me to get a baseline for various things like nutrient levels, how my metabolism works, my hormones and other magical numbers.  I didn’t anticipate any numbers coming back outside of the normal range with the exception of a few hormones (I was diagnosed with PCOS about 3 years ago so my hormones can be all over the place sometimes)

Surprisingly my hormone numbers were all within the normal range, but a few other numbers came back that were a bit concerning.  

When I was in my mid-20’s my doctor ran a routine blood screening to test things like cholesterol and my triglycerides were extremely high.  The assumption was made given my name and fitness level at the time that this was related to recent diet decisions so the doctor brushed it of even though I have a family history of heart disease.   The next year when she re-ran the tests my numbers were even higher and I was informed that I needed to take steps to lower my triglycerides otherwise I would probably need to be put on medication (statins) within the next few years.  

Shortly after that conversation my husband and I started using Advocare products and learning more about the differences between healthy foods and “Health” foods (I was living on lean cuisines and other high-sodium convenient diet meals for lunch during the week).  With these changes my triglyceride levels returned to the normal range where they have remained for the past few years.

Unfortunately it looks like I’m starting to lose my battle with genetics and am going to need to be more cognizant than ever about the types of fat and the amount of sugars I consume in the future.   My Blueprint fit results showed that I was borderline high not only for triglycerides but also for LDL (bad) cholesterol, and c-reactive protein (a measure of chronic inflammation that generally correlates to risk of heart disease).

I may have been motivated to do my 30 burpees most days, and to take steps towards being prepared for my first Spartan race before getting these results, but now at less than 4 weeks out I’m not only upping my training game but my diet is going to be on point.  

Wish me luck!

PS- I'm considering starting an instagram account...what do you think?

What I'm eating

OMG my lunch today was amazing.
I made this chocolate hummus with a couple of modifications (extra maple syrup and cocoa power please!) and had it with strawberries and pretzels for dessert...
It
was
amazing!

Keep on keeping on

I'm still working on getting into the habit of working out every day.  My husband and I have been going on walks the last few days and it has been wonderful.
Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Gatlinburg, TN with some friends from college and went on a 6 mile hike.  It was wonderful - but I think it was also a good check in for me to get a baseline of where I am as far as being prepared for our Spartan race.   I think my cardio is in a better spot than I give myself credit for-as long as I can stay hydrated and don't run too fast to need to really catch my breath I'll be ok but my upper body and core strength need more focus.  So I am going to work harder on getting my burpees in and making the effort to go to the local park to hang from monkey bars and pull ups.
Wish me luck!

Still on the right path

Yesterday's Girls on the Run 5K was a blast.  What a wonderful organization I am so honored to be able to support such a worthy cause.

Today I had a meeting after work and I planned on getting home around 8 or 8:30 so I expected it to be a rest day, so when I got home before 7 I decided I had to take advantage.  I grabbed the leash, grabbed my dog and we took off on a gentle 2 mile run/walk.   Did great even though I was a little sore from yesterday.   My dog isn't great at running with out you know, stopping and sniffing, and trying to go the other way sometimes since he's you know, a dog...and we still finished in less than 1/2 an hour.

Tonight I'm reviewing my original training plan and adjusting it from the 3 months I had expected and make it a 6 - 8 week plan instead :)

Wish me luck!

If at first you don't succeed

One day...I made it one day into my regular blog updates before I forgot I set up the blog.
One week...I made it one week into my training plan before life happened and I fell off the wagon.  Well, not completely off the wagon, but I certainly wasn't checking off all of my workouts the way I had planned.

So, back on it we go.   Tomorrow I am running a 5k with Girls on the Run as a Sparkle Runner.  What is Girls on the Run? GOTR is an organization that works to inspire young girls through programing that culminates in a 5K run at the end of the program.  What is a Sparkle Runner?  A Sparkle Runner is an adult volunteer who runs with the 5k to help cheer the girls along their way.  Each girl has a running buddy, but sparkle runners are running without a specific running buddy to help cheer the girls and run with girls who may be separated from their buddies for safety purposes.

This will be my first year serving as a Sparkle Runner but I love the idea and am so excited to run in my sparkle cape and to carry my scepter (That's right, I get a scepter) I even have a pretty plastic Tiara to wear!  Of course I'm also a little nervous, these girls have been running almost every day for the past 3 months in preparation for this race--I hope that I can keep up! :)

If you happen to miss me

And given that I just realized that my custom blog design in dead and that I need to change it to a blogger supported template I doubt many of you do....

I started a new blog to chronicle my spartan race training this summer (and possibly beyond)

https://spartanshanon.blogspot.com/

Training Day 1

It's always important to start with a benchmark so you can measure progress.  This evening I started my training after work with a couple of benchmark workouts.

My results follow:
Current Weight 180 pounds
2.4 Mile Run/Walk - Total time 32:12, average pace 13:09, fastest mile 12:13
1-minute timed workouts:
 situps - 15
 high knees - 90
 jumping jacks - 62
 pushups - 17
How long to hold full plank - 33 seconds
How long to hold modified plank - 50 seconds (on knees)
arm hang - 7 seconds
How much weight - 10 rep bicep curl - 15 pounds

I also started working my way towards 100 burpees by May 31.  Today I started with 10 burpees (2 sets of 5) that you can check out in the video below.

This is totally my favorite running shirt - it 100% expresses exactly how I feel about running :) 

Spartan Training Underway

I am normally a fairly active person.  A few years ago my husband and I set out to live healthier and loose some weight and I lost about 15 pounds that stayed off for over 3 years.   Then in January of this year I started having some problems with my feet, life got busy, and I went through a bit of an emotional funk.  These forces combined and translated into me gaining back 10 of the 15 pounds I had kept off for over 3 years.

Last year my husband discovered Spartan races and completed his first Trifecta.  I am NOT a runner.  But I do enjoy race environments.  I also like being outside in nature and did a 5k Viking Dash Trail Run once that was fun.  So I told my husband I would do a sprint if he could get our friends to join a team (all while thinking there was no way that my friends would do it).   Of course I was wrong, one of our friends joined in immediately.

So in July, right before my 33rd birthday I will be competing in a Spartan Sprint in Fort Knox, KY with my husband and some friends.   Because I am in decent but not great shape it is time to start training, and what better way to start training than to hold myself accountable by documenting my training on this blog.

So today I started training! 75 days to go :)