May 15, 2014

Time trial

It was raining again when I woke up this morning, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to run until later in the morning, because Eli had a doctor's appointment. I got the kids ready for school, and then took Noah to the bus stop. I had promised Eli that I would take him to get breakfast at Tim Horton's before his appointment, so we headed out a little early.

It was raining really hard! We got to Tim's, and Eli had a pretzel bagel (I ate at home, otherwise I would have been so tempted by their bagels!). It's kind of fun hanging out with just one kid at a time, because they really open up and talk a lot. He told me all about the book he had to read for school.

When he'd finished his bagel, I took him to the doctor, where we waited for a long time. I had deliberately booked the first appointment of the day (9:00), but we didn't see the doctor until 9:30. The medication she prescribed a couple of weeks ago hasn't worked on his snoring issue, so today, she referred him to an otolaryngologist at Mott's children's hospital. 

He went there once before, when he was about three, because he had a really husky voice. It was adorable, but the doctor was a little concerned about it. The otolaryngologist used a camera to see his vocal cords, which had a nodule on them, causing the husky voice. He said it was benign, likely caused from a lot of yelling ;) It went away on its own; now his voice is a little husky, but nothing like it used to be. 

I took Eli to school, and then came home and got ready to run. I was actually looking forward to running in the rain! There is something that feels really freeing about running in the rain (for a short distance--I once did a 20-miler in the rain, and that wasn't fun). I dressed in capris and a tank, and as soon as I was ready to step outside, the rain all-but stopped. It was just barely a sprinkle; I was actually a little disappointed! 

I had decided to disregard the Hansons' schedule for today, and do a short, fast run, to hopefully get a runner's high again (I've missed that feeling). My plan was to do a 5K time trial--basically, just to pretend I was racing, and see what my finish time would be for a 5K. I figured that this way, I could see where I stand as of right now, and then hopefully see it improve with 5K training over the summer. 

It.was.hard. 

I was pushing myself as hard as I could go while still being able to finish the distance. At first, when I saw my pace was around 8:30, I thought, "Okay, that's not bad!" But then I remembered that a year ago, I ran a half-marathon at that pace, and it didn't even feel all that hard. I'm just hoping I can get back to that point someday! 

The second mile was right into the wind coming off the lake, which was tough. By the last mile, my heart rate was 90% of my max, and it was all I could do to keep going. When I saw that I was going to come close to 26:00 for my finish time, I picked up the pace as much as I could to try and come in at 25:xx. When I saw 3.11, I stopped my Garmin, and saw that I just barely made sub-26:00.


So there it is: 25:57. My new starting point. Sub-26:00 was my 5K goal for a long time, and it took me a long time to finally reach it, but I was so excited when I did. My run that day was probably the best runner's high I've ever felt! For a moment today, I was disappointed in how my pace has slowed over the past year; but now, looking at a sub-26:00 time makes me remember how happy I felt when I first hit that time. I am thrilled that I can still pull off a sub-26! And now, I just hope to improve on it. I felt fantastic after my run!


I think I'm really going to enjoy doing shorter, faster runs through the summer. It doesn't take up so much time, but I still feel like I get a good workout (even better than a longer, slower run, actually).

This afternoon, I had to make a birthday treat for Noah's class. Noah's birthday isn't until July, but his teacher sent home dates for the summer birthday kids to celebrate during the school year. Noah's is tomorrow, and he requested sloppy brownies (a dessert we made up one day by layering cookie dough, mini Reese's cups, and brownie batter, then baking). The last thing I wanted to make during the month of no sweets! ;)

I bought pre made cookie dough and a brownie mix (I decided to skip the Reese's cups). Instead of making them in a 9x13 pan, I made them in cupcake wrappers, so that I could make just enough for his class (no leftovers for me!). I pressed a little cookie dough on the bottom of each wrapper, then filled in the rest with brownie batter. The whole point of explaining this is that I didn't take one single bite or even lick a finger while I was making these ridiculous brownie-cookies. 

With the exception of the ice cream on Sunday, I haven't had any sweets. It's been really hard, but I've noticed that my sweet acuity is getting stronger. Things that are naturally sweet have been tasting even sweeter, which is something I was hoping to accomplish with this no-sweets challenge for May. I've been eating a ton of watermelon, which has helped when I'm feeling snacky. At night, when I'd normally have something sweet, I've been eating a 100-calorie bag of Skinny Pop popcorn. 


There only three ingredients:


Simple, but very good! I know I could easily just make this at home, by air-popping the corn and adding a little sunflower oil and salt--which is why I rarely buy this popcorn--but I decided to splurge and get the mini bags from Sam's Club, because of the no-sweets challenge. I'm halfway through the month!

4 comments:

  1. The white cheddar skinny pop popcorn is tasty. Check it out if you can. We found a giant bag at Costco!

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  2. I just started reading your blog after reading about you in the Runner's World magazine. I can reallllly relate to you and I am enjoying reading about you. I probably sat at my computer for over 2 hours reading old blogs of yours. I am 32. I have 3 boys. I started running in August 2012 to help me finally focus on losing weight and I joined an all women's bootcamp. I was 185 and now I am 131. I love sweets and I am a binge eater too which I am glad when it doesn't show it's face too often anymore. I live in So Cal and did the Ragnar too. When I saw the pic of you in the shirt, I was like OMG she lives by me but you don't. HAHA. I did my first marathon 2 weeks ago. It was crazy. Anyways, thank you for being so honest about everything and I truly am loving your blog. Have a great day!!!!

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  3. congrats on your 5k trial- that is fantastic! omg that dessert sounds heavenly and i cant only imagine how much will power that took to not even lick your fingers!!

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  4. That's what I should do. I think I should start with a week of no sweets first though lol. Every day there is some kind of sweets at work this week. Killing me!

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