Routine

I'm getting kind of sick of the routine of waking up, getting the kids ready for school, and then heading out the door to go run. I found myself thinking about it on the way to the state park this morning--why do I do this when I dislike it so much? But then I thought about how we all have things to do that we don't really enjoy, but are necessary for one reason or another: work, paying bills, doing household chores, etc.

Over the past couple of years, exercise (specifically running) has become one of those things. And I think that's good! I do it because it's good for my body, it makes me feel proud and accomplished, it gives me goals to work toward, and it helps me maintain my weight loss. It actually makes me feel good that I've gotten to the point where exercise isn't really an option anymore. I do it because I know I have to, just like the other things I mentioned.

So anyway, I had 5 miles on the schedule today. Jessica and I met at the state park, and we decided to do the 9:1 run/walk again. We both are really enjoying the 9:1 runs, and I think it's helping my knee a lot. It's amazing how fast 5 miles flies by when you get used to doing 10+ mile runs! I felt like we just started when the run was already halfway over. Love that!

That's a 10:05/mi pace including our walk breaks. I'm convinced I could even hit my sub-2:00 half-marathon doing the 9:1 thing, if I train for it!

My knee was hurting a little from miles 3-5, but I think that's because of our faster pace. We'll have to slow it down, especially on our 20-mile run Friday. On Friday, my only goal is to make it through 20 miles without dying. I'm nervous about it, especially after our 18-miler last week. But it marks the beginning of three weeks of tapering--which I'm definitely looking forward to!

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I have a new food obsession. Okay, since you're all dying to hear it, I'm sure, I'll tell you ;)  For my nighttime treat, I've been making a carb-bowl (for lack of a better term!)  Basically, I've been combining 15 grams each of all sorts of different things: pretzels, goldfish, Chocolate Rice Chex cereal, Cinnabon cereal, Peanut Butter Puffins cereal, animal crackers, Teddy Grahams, etc.

Fifteen grams equals approximately 50-60 calories of each of these, so if I want to have about 300 calories for a snack, I'll pick 6 things and combine them all in a bowl. I don't use nuts or dried fruit (because the calories from those add up fast, and you don't get much). I love the variety, the sweet and salty combo, the crunch factor, all of it. It's been a perfect snack lately. And yes, I realize it's all simple carbs, but I love my carbs! Usually I choose some sort of dessert for my nighttime treat, but I've really been into this carb bowl lately.

That Cinnabon cereal is actually really good--it reminds me of those cinnamon twist things that you can buy at Taco Bell (if they still have them, I haven't been to Taco Bell in years).

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Well, Eli is being very needy right now, so I'd better go take care of him. The school called right after I finished my run and asked me to go pick him up, because he said he was feeling sick--stomachache and headache. I know he's fine, because he's already whining about being bored!

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A weekend of temptation

I haven't been talking much about diet and weight since I started marathon training, but I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had gained some weight since I started training. So Jessica and I both decided to stop going out to eat after our long runs, and we've reined in the excessive snacking. I started tracking food again for the first time in a really long time, and have been doing really well with it.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I actually saw 147 on the scale one day, and it made me totally panic. That weight is actually 10 pounds OVER my "panic weight"! My jeans were tight, and some of them didn't even button anymore. So over the past couple of weeks, I've dropped back down to 138. My jeans all fit nicely again, and I can actually see a pretty big difference in how I look in the mirror. I know 9 pounds in two weeks seems extreme, but that's the way my body works--when I start tracking food, I drop a lot of water weight quickly. I've been eating a base of 1,600 calories a day; more if it's a run day.

When I really set my mind to a particular goal, I am very determined to reach it. That determination was much needed this past weekend, because I faced a lot of temptations. And I made it through the weekend on-track. I had set a goal to be 135 by the time I go to Indy for the half-marathon, and I kept focusing on that.

So, the weekend of temptation started on Friday night. Noah had to go to a birthday party, so Jerry and I took both the boys out, and I dropped off Jerry and Noah at the bowling alley for the birthday party. Then I wanted to do "something special" with Eli. When I asked him what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to go to the dollar store to pick out a toy. We did that, and there was so much candy there--I so badly wanted to buy a big bag of candy and go to town on it.

I even sent Jessica a text, telling her I was tempted, and she talked me out of it. (I love that she "gets" me, and knows the right things to say when I most need it). I wasn't hungry, I just felt that old habit gnawing at me. I associate certain stores with junk food, and the dollar store is one of them.

He ordered cotton candy ice cream with Reese's
peanut butter cups--that wasn't tempting at all!

We still had an hour to kill, and Eli wanted to go out for ice cream. There is a Tim Horton's with a Cold Stone Creamery inside, so we went there. That was HARD for me. I love ice cream! And they had this concoction that looked insanely good: a warm chocolate chip cookie, topped with a scoop of cookie dough, topped with ice cream!! But I ordered a decaf coffee and drank that while Eli ate his ice cream. When I got home, I had my planned treat of Cadbury mini eggs (210 calories for a small bag).

I want to be clear that Cold Stone is not "off limits" to me, nor is candy. But there is a time and place for it, and I've indulged way too much lately; so it's time I practice saying "no" once in a while ;)

Saturday wasn't too bad. I went garage saleing in the morning with my parents and the kids. I bought some clothes--they are in the washer right now, otherwise I'd take pics to show you what I got. I even got an Under Armour running shirt for 75 cents!

On Sunday, I went to church. I said I would go this week, and I did :)  Jerry, me, the boys, and my parents all went together. After church, I had a baby shower to go to. I can't believe I still haven't mentioned this on the blog... at first, she asked me to keep it quiet, and then when she made the announcement, I forgot to write about it! Remember my friend Sarah? I went to Arizona in October to be the matron of honor in her wedding. Anyway, in December, she discovered she was pregnant (planned--she wanted to get pregnant right away). So she's having a boy, and she's due in August.

I brought along a photo of Sarah and I that was taken at MY baby shower in 2004. Of course, we had to recreate the photo this time around!

Left: 2004  Right: 2012

I ate lunch before I went to the shower. I wasn't sure what kind of food would be there, and I like to eat lunch early (at 11) and the shower wasn't until 1:00. It was easy to pass up lunch at the shower, but the dessert? There were lots of desserts that tempted me! Luckily, Sarah asked me to come sit next to her while she opened her gifts, and everyone was eating dessert while she did that. I don't know if I could have resisted otherwise ;)

So, I've stuck to my calorie budget every day and it's paying off. I'm going to try and continue to track calories through my marathon taper weeks (starting next week, my mileage will decrease significantly until the marathon). With the decreased mileage, I won't need as many calories, so I want to be careful about my indulgences!

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Today marked the start of my "big mileage" week. We have a 20-miler scheduled!! We've switched our long run to Friday. So our week looks like this:
M-10 miles
Tu-5 miles
W-5 miles
Th-rest
F-20 miles!
S-rest
S-rest

Today's 10-mile run went really well. My knee felt totally fine--a couple of times, I felt a tiny twinge, but it never turned into anything. We did the 9:1 run/walk thing again--and like last time, our pace was faster than it was before we did the 9:1.

Again, not sure why it didn't say 10 instead of "9.99"...? 10:49/mi pace

I'm nervous but excited about the 20-miler on Friday. We've made plans to celebrate with dinner and martinis on Friday night with some running friends. I can't wait!

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Reader Questions & Answers #10

On Sundays, I will answer some readers' questions in a post. If you have a question that you would like me to answer here on the blog, just send me an e-mail with the subject "Q&A", and I may include them in a future Q&A post. They don't have to be about weight loss or running--anything is game!  (Remember, I'm not a doctor or dietician, or any sort of medical professional--I can only answer questions from my own experience).

Q. I run frequently for short distances on the treadmills at the gym, but I am horrible at running outside. I feel like it is a HUGE difference running on a treadmill compared to outside, and outside is SOOO much harder for me. I run about 3 miles on the treadmill, but I can barely do 1.5 miles outside. I don't know if this is because of the technique I am using or if I can't keep a steady pace outside, but have you experienced this problem or know what i am referring to? Any tips would be great because I would love to start training outside and increase my pace/distance so I can do some races!

A. This is actually a really common experience. You know I have a sub-26:00 5K goal; well, I met that goal on a treadmill, but I'm having a hell of a time trying to meet it outside. I find it much easier to run faster on a treadmill than outside.

Running on a treadmill is generally easier because the belt on the treadmill is moving (obviously) and you don't have to propel yourself forward. Imagine jumping straight up outside--when you land, you would be in the same spot. But on a treadmill, if you jumped, you would land "ahead" of where you were when you jumped. On a treadmill, you also don't have any wind resistance--as minimal as the wind may be outside, there is still some resistance there.

To better mimic an outdoor run on a treadmill, you can up the incline to 1-2%. Your legs will feel heavier that way and it will require more effort. But the best way to get faster outside is to run outside. You can also try running more slowly outside, which will allow you build up more distance. It's best not to compare the two--let your treadmill runs be separate from your outdoor runs, so you don't get discouraged. Keep at it, you'll be running 3 miles outside soon!

Q. How did you start your blog? (quick refresher) and how did you start earning money from the blog? I read your blog and know the general info: "start writing and place ads," but how did you make it happen? What sources gave you the best advice that worked for you? Do you have a strategic plan for growing that income in the future?

A. Starting the blog was actually the easy part for me, because I'd been "blogging" for 11 years. I wrote on a site called Open Diary, and I actually paid to use it (you can use it for free, but if you pay for it, then there aren't any visible ads). I had NO IDEA that people could earn money from blogging! Once I hit my goal weight, I kind of wanted to start a fresh chapter of my life; and I decided I wanted to make a new blog. I removed my old blog from Open Diary, and started this one with Blogger. I just picked up where I left off, but with a new agenda: to write about maintenance and running instead of losing weight. 

Where I spend waaay too much time ;)

At that point, I still didn't know anything about ads or earning money, so I just blogged because I love it. I have no idea how my blog grew so large so quickly; on Open Diary, I had a handful of readers--maybe 15? after 11 years of writing. I was surprised and humbled by the large following I got so quickly. Once I decided to go ahead with skin removal surgery, I knew I needed to earn some money. Getting a new job wasn't practical for me because I would have to take so much time off from the surgery itself. Some of my readers suggested earning money from ads, which I hadn't even considered.

I assumed that ads would earn me just pennies a month, so I wasn't expecting much, but I started with Google Adsense. That didn't work out--they canceled my account without telling me why, and I never got paid for the ads that were on the blog for two months. I tried a few other ad companies that I had Googled, but they weren't working out either--trashy ads or literally a penny a day. 

I became an Amazon affiliate, which means if people click through to Amazon from the links on my page and purchase something, I will earn a small percentage as a referral. I also applied for (and was accepted into) the BlogHer ad network, which I love. The ads aren't trashy, I get paid per pageview (rather than per click on each ad), and I really like the BlogHer network in general.

I had no sources to figure all this out--I just did a lot of online research, read tons of reviews of ad networks, and did some trial and error. Right now, I'm happy with how it's going. I don't make a ton of money, but I make enough that I can pay a little extra on my debt each month, which was my goal. If the blog grows, my income will grow, but I honestly love blogging so much that I would continue to do it even if I couldn't get paid for it. But earning some cash is a big bonus for me :)

Q. Why do you love your Brooks running shoes? Also, did you get fitted for them or did you try different pairs?  I really want to get some good running shoes but for some reason dread going to the running store to get fitted.  I have looked online and did multiple running shoes test, I did the one on runner's world and it only gave me one shoe to choose from.  Do you mind sharing your thoughts on this.

A.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to go to a running store to get fitted for shoes--whether you plan on walking or running, they can help you pick the best shoe for YOU. I love my Brooks because they've never given me any trouble--I've never gotten a blister, I've never lost a toenail, and I've never had problems with my feet.

My Adrenalines aren't pretty, but they get the job done

I know how hard it is to go into a running store (especially if you are overweight). I went to the store when I was 253 pounds, and I felt like and elephant in a china shop running store. I worried that the man who was doing my fitting was judging me, and I just kept telling myself it would be over soon. (Now I realize that I was just very insecure--and there is no reason to feel that way!) 

I told him my goals (I said I wanted to walk a half marathon) and he gave me a few pairs to try on, and watched me walk around in them. Then I bought the shoes that he recommended. It's important to get the best fit rather than the prettiest or cutest shoe you can find ;)  I know it's tempting to pick the one that looks the most appealing, but it's more important to get a good fit.

I wouldn't do the online tests--I would definitely go to a running store and go through the fitting. Just be honest with the employee about your goals, and listen to their advice. If you are in the process of losing weight, you will need to get refitted when it's time for new shoes (400ish miles on your shoes). Your feet may get smaller, and/or you may walk/run differently as you lose weight.

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Now a question for all of you...

What is your very favorite way to spend roughly 200 calories? (healthy or not... just your favorite!)

Mine would have to be something with chocolate and peanut butter, of course ;)  A graham cracker spread with 1 Tbsp. peanut butter and topped with 1/2 Tbsp. mini chocolate chips always hits the spot.

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Meet Mary

I would like to introduce you to another member of the Ragnar Relay team (*still* unnamed, but we're working on our team name. Thanks for ALL the suggestions!). Meet Mary--I just love her! The title of her blog is ironic--"a small loss", but she's lost 155 pounds. Doesn't she look amazing?!

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Mary "before"

My name is Mary, I blog about my weight loss journey at www.asmallloss.com.

In July 2010, I was 23 years old and weighed 345 pounds. I realized that I needed to make some major lifestyle changes - I had just finished grad school, and decided that I needed to nourish my body the way I had with my mind.

So, I started eating better, eating less, and moving more - it started with walks around my neighborhood because it was all I could do, and my first weightloss goal was to lose enough weight to be able to use Wii Fit. I walked a few 5/8K races, and after losing 50 pounds, I started C25K. Since running my first 5K in January 2011, I have ran several other 5Ks, a few 8 and 10Ks, and completed my first half marathon in January 2012.

I lost 150 pounds in exactly 1 year, and maintained the loss for several months while transitioning from life as a city girl in Chicago into my new life in California's San Joaquin Valley, teaching French at one of the branches of the University of California.

Mary now

I'm currently down about 155 pounds, with another 35 or so that I'd like to lose - this semester I'm focusing on actively losing weight again, doing what I can before voluntary maintenance this summer while I train for my first full marathon, which will be in Chicago in October.

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I pulled a random winner for "The Swing!" book giveaway, and it was #207--Bridie! I will send you an e-mail for your mailing address, so I can pass it along to TLC Book Tours. Thanks for entering everyone--there were 323 entries in all!

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Gone fishin'

Yesterday, Jerry and I picked the kids up from school and went right to the Metropark to meet my dad for dip-netting. I used to dip-net all the time as a kid, and it was so much fun. Dip-netting is a type of fishing. Basically, you drop a big net off of a bridge, and pull it up with a rope every once in a while and (hopefully) catch fish. The exciting part is when you're pulling up the rope, you have no idea what you're going to find!

My dad actually made some sort of pulley system to hook up to the bridge so that it would be easier for Noah and Eli to pull the rope by themselves. We also had a couple of fishing poles. I had no interest in fishing, so I just spent the entire time watching, and enjoying the nice weather!

Eli was excited about his "double" catch, two sunfish (bluegill)

Jerry dropping the net from the bridge

We caught about 5 fish in the net, and probably about 8 on the fishing poles. We didn't keep anything though. We actually almost caught a muskrat in the dip net! It was swimming straight toward the bridge, and it would go under for a minute, then pop back up. We just missed pulling it up in the net. Probably better that way ;)

Notice how my boys are standing... Jerry always teases ME for standing
like that! He says it's "Forrest Gump" style. They take after me, apparently ;)

Noah caught a bullhead

And I spent the whole afternoon enjoying the sunshine and quiet...

I loved how the sun looked through the clouds

I had picked up Subway for us to eat at the park for dinner. I wish I could say it was good, but it wasn't. The bread tasted stale. I got a veggie sub on whole wheat, which is my "usual" at Subway. But it was a fun afternoon!

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Today I had 5 miles on the schedule. I met Jessica at the state park, and we did our 9:1 run/walk ratio again. I think doing this is helping my knee, and that makes me so happy! My knee didn't start hurting until about mile 4 today, but as soon as we walked, it felt fine again. And after we were done with the run at 5 miles, my knee wasn't hurting at all. Normally, it hurts so badly that I have to go home and ice it and take a Motrin.

So I'll continue to do the 9:1 thing until my knee is healed. After that, I will go back to running the entire mileage, unless I am doing an uber long run (12+ miles or so), when I might do the walk breaks again. The walk breaks are still kind of hard for me (mentally), but I know I am doing what is best for my body right now. And my pace hasn't suffered from it at all:

Our average pace today, with the walk breaks figured in, was 10:42/mi. Something else I found interesting is that I burned more calories during this run than I did doing 5 miles by myself on Wednesday (at a faster pace of solid running). Here is a comparison--on the left is today's 9:1 run/walk. On the right is Wednesday's run by myself, with NO walking:

I was in terrible (knee) pain on Wednesday's run from miles 3-5, but almost no pain today with the walking breaks. Okay, I promise to quit talking about the knee pain and the whole run/walk thing. I'm just still in awe by the whole thing! And SO grateful that my knee is feeling better.

These are our splits from today:

I'm a faster walker than I thought! The last time I tried to do a fast walk was at the Indy half-marathon in 2010. I was 165 pounds then, so I imagine the extra weight loss plus conditioning from running for two years probably helped my walking pace. I don't think I'll ever be as speedy as Jessica, though!

Mid-way through our run today, I saw something splash on the ground in front of me, and I felt a drip on my leg. It felt like rain falling off of leaves from the wind or something, but there weren't any trees at that spot. We kept running, and then after our run, I noticed that it was just what I suspected... a bird pooped on me!!

It's hard to see, but it's there!

If I had been just a split second faster, it would have been on my head. So I am grateful in that sense!

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You've converted me

First, I will announce the winner of the Garmin Forerunner 210... since I know you're dying of suspense ;)  After I went through and deleted the "replies" to comments (I wanted to make sure that everybody's names were in there a maximum of two times, and since some people wrote two comments AND replied to other comments, I had to filter those out). We were left with 701 comments. I used Random.org to pick a number, and of course they couldn't make it easy with a low number (for some reason I didn't think to count backwards from 701--groan)

I counted (three times, to make sure) number 655, and that would be The Lingo Family:

Congrats!! Please send me an e-mail at SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com within 24 hours with your mailing address, so that I can send out your Forerunner :)

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Next, if you haven't already seen it, I posted a book review earlier today. And TLC Book Tours is giving away a copy to one of my readers, so make sure you check it out! I made a Google document form so it's easier on me rather than having to count posts to find a winner (I tried some of your suggestions with copy + paste, but it didn't work for me). I think I will look into the Rafflecopter that some of you mentioned for the future.

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Now, on to my "regular" post...

I had a 9-mile run on the schedule today, and my knee was feeling okay. Jessica and I met at 8:00 this morning to run together. We went to our usual parking spot for two out-and-backs from the car. Normally, we wouldn't have to stop by the car for a 9-miler, but if our knees were hurting, we wanted the option to quit early.

We decided to do a 9:1 ratio of running to walking. I set the Garmin to do intervals of 0.9 miles and 0.1 miles. We started out running 0.9, and then the Garmin beeped (and vibrated!) so we walked for 0.1. And we did that sequence 9 times, for a total of 9 miles.

I have to say, I LOVE doing the walk breaks! I have always been kind of perfectionist when it comes to running, and I thought walking during a run was "cheating" somehow. For that reason, I never, ever took walk breaks until our recent 18-miler. But with my knee issues, and all of you telling me to try out walk breaks (and Jeff Galloway's system), I decided to give it a try. You've totally converted me.

I don't know that I will take walk breaks for shorter runs, but when I'm battling a knee injury or doing an uber-long run, I'm definitely going to do the run/walk combo. And I don't think of it as "cheating" anymore--we actually finished at a faster pace than we normally would when running for 9 miles straight! One-tenth of a mile isn't long, and it gave us just enough time to grab a couple of sips of water (and a Gu at mile 5) before we had to start running again.

During each walk break, I also snapped a picture of the route we were on, so you could see what we see when we run :)

Mile 1

Mile 2

Mile 3 (I love this trail part of the run!)

Mile 4

Mile 5

Mile 6

Mile 7

Mile 8

 My knee started to hurt around mile 3, but just when it was getting bad, it was time for a walk break. Then when we started running again, it felt good. And it went like that for the rest of the run--each time my knee started to hurt, after the walk break it was good to go again. Jessica said the same thing--her knee was feeling okay today!

This kind of renewed our excitement about running. Lately, we've been dreading it and feeling really down about it. But having such a good run today upped our spirits for training. I thought for sure we'd end up having to skip tomorrow's 5-miler because of our knees hurting, but we both felt so good after today's run that we're sure we're going to be able to run tomorrow.

I was very surprised to look at the stats on the Garmin after our run. I didn't want to look at them during the run because I thought the slow pace (from walk breaks) would discourage us. But surprisingly, the walk breaks didn't slow us down one bit, and our training pace was faster than usual, even with the walks factored in!

The page views on the Garmin for each lap is different than the 305, and I really like it. It also includes a little map of what each lap looks like:

In comparison, on the 305, when you are viewing each lap, it looks like this:

We were eager to look at our splits to see how the run/walk thing went:

I have no idea how mileage added up to 8.99 and not an even 9.00...?!

The 19th lap was from me accidentally pushing the start button while sitting down to type--just ignore it ;)

Our running pace was faster than our usual training pace, and our walking pace was pretty fast, too (I'm sure Jessica could have walked much faster, but I certainly couldn't!). So I am definitely converted to a believer in the run/walk method for long runs. The only disappointment in the whole run is that I only burned 736 calories for a nine-miler! Normally I would have counted that as 900 calories burned. This new Garmin is keeping me in check ;)

I'm going dip-netting with my dad and the kids tonight. Anyone else know what that is? ;)  I'll post pictures tomorrow.

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"The Swing" Book Review and Giveaway!

I will have a "regular" post later (and announce the winner of the Garmin), but I wanted to get this review up today as well...

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When I was obese, I spent a LOT of money on diet books. I would try the diet for a couple of days and then quit and pick up a new book. It wasn't until I did my own thing that I lost all the weight!

So when I received an e-mail asking if I would be interested in reading and reviewing a diet/exercise book called "The Swing! Lose the Fat and Get Fit with This Revolutionary Kettlebell Program", I immediately started to write a "Thanks, but no thanks" response. Before I sent it, however, I checked out the book to see what it was all about, and it actually interested me.

The author, Tracy Reifkind, has lost 120 pounds by reducing calories and doing a workout called "The Swing" with a kettlebell. You all know that I don't really do strength training, even though I know that I should, so I had the thought that maybe I would enjoy using a kettlebell. I changed my mind and said I would be happy to read and review the book.

The book is organized into three sections: the first section is made to motivate you and inspire you to change your lifestyle; the second is about The Swing workout; and the third section is about diet.

I did find the first section pretty motivating, and I found myself wanting to buy a kettlebell. The author and I actually have a big commonality--we've each lost 120 pounds through diet and exercise, in about the same amount of time. I found myself agreeing with a lot of points she made. One thing that really stuck out was when she said something like, "To be thin, you have to stop doing what is making you fat."  It sounds so obvious, but it's very true!

One thing I disliked in the first section was that the author definitely seems to discourage using any other aerobic exercise--she negatively mentioned running a few times, which didn't resonate well with me, a runner. I like to stay positive about all exercise. I'm not a huge fan of swimming, but I'm not going to say that it's a bad exercise--it's great exercise for people who enjoy it! So I wish that the author hadn't "put down" other forms of exercise.

In the second section, she talks about the actual workout called The Swing. It looks very simple to learn, and I went through the motions (without the kettlebell, because I don't have one). It wasn't hard to learn, and it felt very natural. She said you can do just the one movement, where you swing the kettlebell with both hands out in front of you and then between your legs. She has variations as well, but said that all you really need to do is that basic move. I can even see how it would be pretty fun. I would like to buy a kettlebell and give the workouts a try after I'm done with my marathon.

The author claims that you only need to do The Swing 2-3 times per week to see results. This is because The Swing is both aerobic and anaerobic (like doing cardio and strength training) all at once. She recommends walking for exercise in-between The Swing days. She also claims you can burn 1,200 calories per hour doing The Swing--I find this very hard to believe because I only burn about 600 calories per hour while running--so burning double that by swinging around a kettlebell?

I think that this may give people unrealistic expectations, and if they don't get those amazing results, they will be disappointed. She talks for a few pages about loose skin, and if you do The Swing, you won't get loose skin from weight loss. Almost anyone who is very heavy and loses a lot of weight is going to have some loose skin, no matter how much strength training they do. I would suggest keeping in mind that any claim that sounds too good to be true, probably is. But I do agree that strength training is very beneficial to your health in many ways, so if the workout is enjoyable, then great!

The third part of the book is about diet. This is where the author lost me a bit. Not because I didn't understand, but because I disagreed with her. She recommends that women eat just 1,200 calories per day--which I think is very low (especially if the claim of burning 1,200 calories per hour of doing The Swing is true!). I tried eating 1,200 calories a day in the beginning of my weight loss, and it made me miserable. I felt like I was starving, and it only lead me to binge. Something I really liked, however, is that she isn't 100% precise with calorie counting. She doesn't count when she take one bite of a food, or something tiny like two almonds. She doesn't count the very low calorie veggies either--but she will estimate (and write in her food journal) 100 calories per day for all those little add-ons that she didn't count.

I like this idea because I tend to get VERY perfectionist about tracking, and that isn't a good idea for the long haul. Since you need to make your diet fit into your life, it helps that you don't have to be 100% precise all the time. That is something I've always had a hard time with; the "all-or-nothing" approach.

I like that the author stresses eating whole foods that you prepare yourself. I am always preaching that you should prepare your own foods rather than eat out, so I agreed with her there. She doesn't believe in highly processed foods, which is great, and she gives a lot of cooking tips for people who may not be used to cooking. The best part is that to follow her program, you don't have to buy much of anything--just a kettlebell. No bars, supplements, vitamins, workout videos, gym memberships, etc. Just real food and a kettlebell.

She suggests having a high-calorie day once a week--but ONLY if you've earned it by meeting your weight loss goal that week. I like that idea (earning a high-calorie day)--it's similar to what I did. On my long-run days, I would treat myself to something special, but only after I did the run.

Do I recommend this book? I really did enjoy it, and with a few tweaks to personalize the program, it sounds great. It's motivating, the exercise is simple (simple is much different from easy, remember), and the diet is based on whole foods. It's written for someone who is looking to lose weight--so I didn't feel that it was written for someone like me, who is looking to maintain weight and start a weight training program.

I didn't get the feel that the book was "gimicky", like many most diet books are. As long as you have realistic expectations going into the diet/exercise program, and tweak it to what works best for YOU, I think it could be a great program.  I'm excited to finish marathon training so that I can start doing The Swing workout and see if I can see results from it. (Starting a strength training program during marathon training is a no-no).

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If this book sounds like something you might enjoy, you're in luck--because TLC Book Tours is offering a copy of the book to one of you! One lucky Runs for Cookies reader will receive a copy of The Swing!. (For readers in the U.S. and Canada only, sorry). To enter, fill out the form below. I will select the winner (by random number generator) on April 21 at 4:00 p.m. EST. Only one entry per person--multiple entries will be deleted.)
*The Swing! book was provided to be by TLC Book Tours, but opinions of the book are entirely my own honest opinions.*

This giveaway has now ended.

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First run with the 910

My head feels like it's going to explode. I expected the giveaway to be popular, but 600+ comments in less than 24 hours?! I should have had it end after 2 hours ;)

I have been trying all day to figure out how to get my comments to be numbered... so that when I use the number generator to pick a winner, I can just match it to the comment number. I've tried every tutorial I could find on the web, and nothing has worked. So it looks like I'll be counting comments all day tomorrow to find out who the winner is! Unless it generates #1 or something... but that's never my luck. But anyway, it's been interesting to see all these people come out of the woodwork for the giveaway... although I wish it didn't take a giveaway to do that!

Today I had a 5-mile easy run on the schedule. I was actually looking forward to it, so that I could try out my new Forerunner 910. I wanted to run slow and easy, so not to bother my knee (which was killing me yesterday). I even brought my iPod with me.

The 910 is very similar to my old 305 as far as features and how to do everything. So I didn't have to figure out what buttons to push or anything like that. It's very light weight and less bulky than the 305, but it still has a big enough screen to see all that I want to see. The heart rate strap is even smaller and more flexible (the old strap was actually just fine too--I didn't even notice it under my sports bra strap at all).

My very FAVORITE feature about it that the 305 doesn't have is that it vibrates. I always have my Garmin set to beep at each mile, so I can glance at my pace. I also use the beeping for interval runs--I set it to beep every 1/4 mile, so that I run fast until I hear the beep and then run slow until I hear the beep. That gets to be a problem when you're wearing headphones, because you don't hear the beep. So Garmin added a vibration to it (which you can choose whether or not to use). Even with my headphones on, I knew when I reached each mile.

About three miles into the run, my knee started to hurt. I kept running, since it was going to take me two miles to get home anyway. It was pretty painful by the time I got home, but it felt better almost immediately after I stopped.

I immediately noticed the calorie count--406 in 5 miles? That's lower than the 305 would have said, so I looked into which was more accurate. Turns out the 305 uses only speed and distance to calculate calories burned--I always assumed it factored in my heart rate too, while wearing the heart rate strap. The 910 uses heart rate for a more accurate calorie count. So, it turns out I am not burning as many calories as I thought I was. Bummer! (However, I want to say that if you have the 305, don't worry too much about the calorie count being off--I used the 305 during my entire weight loss, logging (and eating) the calories it said I burned).

The T.E. feature is also new, and I like it! It stands for Training Effect. On a scale of 1-5, based on your heart rate, how effective your workout was as far as improving/maintaining health.
5-overreaching
4-highly improving
3-improving
2-maintaining
1-minor

At 4.4 today, I think that was pretty good. My heart rate was only 151, though, which isn't very high. I was trying to go nice and easy today. I'll be interested to see the TE number as I do more runs.

Tomorrow, Jessica and I have a 9-mile run scheduled. Since we're trying to go easy on our knees, we're going to run for 0.9 miles and then walk for 0.1 mile, and repeat for 9 miles. It will be a good way to test it out before our 20-miler, and see if our knees do better that way. I'm going to set up the intervals on the Garmin, so I get to play with that feature a little :)

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The BEST giveaway ever!

First, I want to thank ALL of you for your kind comments on yesterday's post. I was feeling really down about the whole 18-mile run and the marathon itself, but I felt a million times better after reading those comments. I've decided that for the 20-miler, I'm going to add some walk breaks as well, probably a 9:1 ratio of running to walking. I think I'll feel better about the walk breaks if I plan them out ahead of time, and that way I don't feel like I'm "giving up" mid-run. 

Now, on to the best giveaway ever...

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Boy, am I ever excited for one of you!

Yesterday, after my crappy 18-miler, my spirits were lifted very high when I saw a brown box on my porch from none other than GARMIN. You all know I am as attached to my Garmin Forerunner as I am to cookies (and peanut butter, and ice cream). When I run, my Garmin is just as important to me as my running shoes.

But I don't have to tell you all this, because it's pretty apparent if you've been reading my blog. I couldn't contain my excitement as I opened the box and saw THIS:

That would be the Garmin Forerunner 910XT with heart rate monitor... *swoon*! If I hadn't just about died running 18 miles, I would have taken that baby out for a spin run right then and there. But my legs could barely hold me up at that point, so I settled for opening the box and checking out every single part that was included. Oh, and I may or may not have worn it on my wrist the whole time I was recovering in the recliner. I will be writing all about it after I've recovered enough to run again.

Now, I know you don't care about all this, because you just want me to get to "the best giveaway EVER!" (read that in an Oprah voice, it's better). Garmin is allowing me to share the love with my readers, because they also sent me THIS:

That would be a shiny new Garmin Forerunner 210 with heart rate monitor. And it's CUTE, with teal accents!

I am SUPER excited to be able to give this 210 away to one (very lucky) Runs for Cookies reader. Since I imagine this will be a pretty popular giveaway, I'm only leaving it open for 36 hours--you can enter until Thursday, April 19th at 5:00 a.m. E.S.T.

The only "rules" are that you must be either a follower of or subscriber to my blog. I'm not saying this in order to get more subscribers, but to narrow down the field, so to speak; and I'm so sorry, but you must be in the U.S. or Canada to enter. And... this is not a requirement, but I'm asking nicely... if you already have a Garmin, I would love it if you would pass over this giveaway to allow someone who doesn't have one the opportunity to get one.

That said, here is how you can enter: first, check out the Forerunner page and leave a comment here, telling me which feature you are most excited about on the 210.

If you like, you can earn a "bonus" entry by using the creative part of your brain... ;)  My Ragnar Relay team needs a name. And we're stumped! We want a name that is fun, creative, and somehow plays on the fact that we all used to be overweight. (An example of this would be "Gut Busters" or "Shrinky Dinks"--except we don't like those names!) So you can leave a second comment with a suggestion for a team name. FYI, there are 10 females and 2 males on the team.

That means you can have two possible ways to enter, with one comment each. Make sure that your name is somewhere on each comment so I know who you are.

GOOD LUCK! I wish everyone could win, I really do!

(FYI--If your comment doesn't show up right away, it could have been flagged as Spam. Don't worry, I will have to manually "okay" it for it to show up, and I will do that. DO NOT post more than 2 comments--1 per entry--please. I am deleting any additional comments to keep the drawing fair.)

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The infamous wall

Do I complain when I have to run 7 or 8 or 9 miles? I think I have. If I do, someone please smack me.

I experienced "the wall" today. I realized that hitting the wall is kind of like having an orgasm (only not as fun)--if you have to wonder if it's happened, then it probably hasn't. I always thought I had experienced it (meaning the wall!) before. But today, I realized I was wrong. Today, I hit that wall, and now I KNOW what it feels like!

But let me start at the beginning. There was this:

Oh, and a 100% chance of rain at 9 a.m. Since we're pretty slow, this 18-miler would take us about 3 1/2 hours. We met at 8:00, and drove the school where we park. I had mapped out two 9-mile out-and-back routes, so that we could stop at the car at mile 9 and refill our water bottles. I packed 3 Gu's, and my bottle had Powerade in it to start.

The second we parked the car, it started to rain. Oh well, no biggie, we'll be wet with sweat anyway. So we started to run, and the rain wasn't hard at all--just a light sprinkle, and it actually felt really good. The temp was already at 60 degrees (which is HOT compared to what I'm used to, and the air felt very humid). I was dripping with sweat by mile 2.

Jessica and I were both worried about our knees. She brought her bike with her in case her knee gave her trouble, she could at least ride the bike and get some cardio in. I was pretty confident my knee would be okay after not having any pain during Saturday's race.

After about two miles, I was feeling really tired and sluggish. Which isn't good when you have 16 miles left ahead of you! I kept trying to think positive. At mile 5, we walked for about 30 seconds and I ate my chocolate Gu. I felt a little better after that. Jessica's knee started acting up at about mile 7 or so? She wanted to walk, so I suggested that we mimic the marathon conditions and walk every two miles as if we are walking through an aid station--just for 30 seconds or so.

So we did that at mile 8, and then we were back to the car at mile 9. Jessica wanted to keep running, instead of switching to the bike. We refilled our water bottles and headed out for the other 9 miles in the Metropark. We walked again at mile 10 for about 30 seconds, and I ate a peanut butter Gu. Then I just focused on getting to the 12-mile mark. I was feeling really run down today! I've done a 12-mile distance lots of times now, but it felt very hard today.

The wind was ridiculous. We were barely moving forward at some points--and of course it was a head wind. At the 12-mile mark, we walked and drank some water, then started running again. Somewhere around 13 miles is where I really wanted to be done. We ran onto a little dirt trail, which actually felt really good on my feet--it was about a mile and a half long. But I was miserable. The sun had come out and it was SO hot. I was also almost out of water.

I was really thirsty, but I was trying to ration what was left of my water. At mile 15, I ate my last Gu (peanut butter) and drank all but a few sips of water. Jessica and I weren't talking at all--we were both just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. When she started walking at 15.5, I said, "I can't walk--if I do, I won't start running again." So I kept running ahead.

source

At mile 16, I felt "the wall" like a ton of bricks just fell on me. It happened in an instant--I just could. not. move. I slowed to a walk and was barely able to put one foot in front of the other. At that moment, I thought, "I'm done. I'm not doing the marathon. I can't do this. Am I going to pass out? What if I die?" --all these thoughts running through my head.

Jessica was running again, and she ran past me. As she passed me, I told her that I'm done, I quit this stupid training. I'm a bit of a drama queen, I guess. When she got a ways ahead of me, I realized that if I fainted, she wouldn't have any idea what happened. That scared me into running again. So at 16.25 miles, I started running again. I noticed my heart rate was high--about 170. Normally on a long run, it's about 145. And I felt out of breath, which I normally don't feel when I'm running that slowly. It scared me! I drank the last of my water at mile 17. And I decided to walk a quarter-mile.

I felt like such a failure at that point. I have NEVER had to take walk breaks during any of my runs. Jessica and I ran from 17.25 to 17.75, and then decided to walk a tenth of a mile, before running to the car. I told her that I feel like I'm letting everyone down. She said she thinks it makes me MORE of an inspiration to people because what I'm going through is "relate-able". It makes me human. Which I guess makes sense. I'm not perfect with my diet, or my weight, so I shouldn't expect to be perfect with my running. All-in-all, I only walked about 1 mile total of our 18. In rain. And strong winds. And heat.

When we got to the car, I refilled my water bottle and drank that while walking around so my heart rate didn't drop too suddenly. Then I tried to stretch, but my legs were SO stiff. I just laid in the grass and caught my breath. That was a TOUGH run. Jessica and I tried to get pictures with the auto-timer. This is what we felt like:

Jessica joked that we should just do two more miles today so that we could skip the 20-miler :) If I had even an ounce of energy left, I would be all over that plan.

After I showered, I popped a couple of Motrin and iced my knee. My knee actually held up really well! It was sore at times, but maybe the walk breaks helped. I really hope that the worst of my knee issues are over. And my knee was actually the least of my problems on this run!

I learned that next time, we will have to do three out-and-back runs from the car so that we stop at the car twice to refill our water. I also think we should start walking every two miles for about 30 seconds to imitate the marathon conditions of aid stations every two miles (we agreed to walk through the aid stations at the race).

I was actually surprised to see that our pace wasn't ridiculously slower than normal. I was expecting about a 13+ minute per mile pace, but we actually averaged 11:36/mi, and that's with our walk breaks figured in.

You can see all our walk breaks on the graph:

Do you still consider it "running a marathon" if you take walk breaks through the aid stations? I used to have it in my head that I HAD to run the whole course. But I'm starting to change my mind about that. Those little walk breaks helped a lot!

We didn't go out to eat today, because we're both trying to get our weight back down to "pre-marathon training" weight. Today I was 139.5, which is 2.5 pounds above my maintenance range. But last week, I saw 147 on the scale!! It scared me straight for sure. I've been eating really well and being back in the 130's today was a relief. I would really like to be 135 before I go to Indy.

I did buy a treat to have today, however. I bought a pint of Moose Tracks frozen yogurt. The whole pint is 600 calories, which isn't bad. And you better believe I'm going to eat it all--and enjoy every well-earned bite. :)

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