Just keep on moving forward

Why, oh why, did I pick the mother of all goals for my "What's Beautiful?" challenge goal? ;) Reaching my super-duper goal weight of 133? I haven't seen that number since my jaw was broken.

I was afraid to choose a running-based goal, because I knew my marathon would fall right smack in the middle of the challenge, and I had no clue how that was going to play out.

I didn't want to do anything out of the ordinary as far as fitness goes, for fear of sabotaging my marathon goal. So I chose the route of reaching my goal weight. I wish I could say that I am there--that I killed those 5 pounds and I am weighing in at goal of 133 right now.

But the truth is, I started this UA challenge at 138, and today, I am at 142 pounds. Not even close to my goal.

Out for a walk with Jessica in my "Perfect Pants"

I had a hard time getting used to the minimal running I did after the marathon. I was still eating the amount of food I was eating during my 35-40 mile weeks. And it was such a relief to be done training that I just celebrated a little too much.

So now my five pounds have actually turned to nine pounds. I know that doesn't sound like much of a difference, but I had that same thought when I made the goal to lose five; I thought, "Oh, it's just five pounds...that will come off in no time!"

I do want to point out a few things that have been going well, however. Because of this challenge, I've been going for a walk in the afternoons to prevent binge eating. I'm not going to lie and say it has always worked, but it has definitely saved me more than once from sabotaging my efforts.

By the way, I am in LOVE with my new Under Armour Perfect Pants. It is no lie when I say these pants are the most comfortable article of clothing I own--including my pajamas! I may or may not have worn them at least three times before washing.

I've also been doing good about keeping my night time snack to under 300 calories. I think I'm over the cereal mix now, and lately I've been having pretzels (110 calories) and wine (120 calories).

Something else I've managed to do so far is to avoid going to the local ice cream shop. Last summer, I gained 15 pounds (and held onto them all summer long!) because I was eating way too many Reese's Cup flurries. I was getting probably four or five of them per week!

I made it a goal to get through the entire season the ice cream shop is open (they close for the winter) without getting anything there. If I want ice cream, it has to be from somewhere else, where it is much less convenient. So far, so good :)

Just because this is my last sponsored UA post does not mean I am giving up on this challenge. I'm going to continue to work on changing small habits throughout the summer in order to get to my goal weight.

As you know, I am registered for another marathon. Part of my training for that involves cross-training and strength training. Hopefully, the extra activity will help me along. And my diet? That's always a challenge!

So anyway, I certainly hope that some of you are doing better than I am at this What's Beautiful? challenge. If you haven't yet signed up, I encourage you to do so. With the right determination, you could win $1000 worth of UA gear!

Regardless, Under Armour is giving away yet ANOTHER $500 gift card. All you have to do to be entered for a chance to win is answer the question "How do you keep motivated to achieve your personal fitness goals?"

SWEEPSTAKES/GIVEAWAY RULES Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods: a) Leave a comment in the form below telling me how you keep motivated to reach your personal fitness goals. b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion, including exactly the following unique terms in your tweet message: “#whatsbeautiful” “#sweepstakes”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post. To comply with FTC Guidelines (see http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm), entrants’ blog posts must disclose that they are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post. d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
Entries from all participating blogs will be pooled for winner selection; only two entries per household. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 6/12-6/30.
Be sure to visit Under Armour's page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

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Computer frustration

What a tiring weekend! I didn't even really do much over the weekend, but I was SO TIRED. On Saturday morning, I went for a short bike ride with the kids--and by short, I mean distance. We were going so slow that I could have walked faster than we were riding! When we got home, Eli asked if his friend Everett could come over, so I said sure. Sometimes having extra kids over actually makes it easier on me--because my kids aren't wining about being "soooo bored" all the time.

Noah went to a birthday party in the afternoon, and when I went to pick him up, I realized just how tired I was. I normally don't have thoughts of napping during the day, but I couldn't wait to go to bed. Luckily, my parents decided to keep the kids overnight. So I dropped them off, then went home and I went to bed super early. I had been planning to go to my friend Alicia's house for a get-together, but I was just too tired.

Sunday, I didn't do much of anything either. Last night, I was watching Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, and Chris Powell (love him, by the way!!) suggested doing a "couch potato workout" during commercial breaks--15 sit-ups, 15 push-ups, and 15 squats. I hadn't done ANY ab work since having my lower body lift, so when he said that, I just decided to do it. I started with the sit-ups, and cranked out 15 Army-style sit-ups pretty easily. I surprised myself! What was even more surprising, was that I didn't have any abdominal pain or pinching or anything like that. I'm not sure why, but I really expected it to hurt.

Then I did push-ups. I started with Army-style, but could only do ONE, lol. So I switched to doing them on my knees, and I barely was able to finish 15. Then the squats were easy. I actually really like squats. This morning, the only part of me that was slightly sore from that quick little workout were my armpits... haha!

Since I don't really have a run schedule right now, I want to take it easy this week because of my knee. My knee usually starts to hurt between miles two and three, so I decided to run three miles this morning. I went slow and easy. Right on cue, my knee started to hurt shortly after 2 miles in. If it got bad, I was planning to stop and walk, but it didn't get to that point.

I made an usual breakfast (for me, anyway). It reminded me of Camp Shane, a weight loss camp that I was a counselor at in 2002. They used to give us English muffins topped with jam and cottage cheese for breakfast. So I made an English muffin and topped it with cottage cheese and Trader Joe's Fig Butter...

With black tea (I'm quitting coffee again). It was really good! I love the TJ's Fig Butter--it tastes just like the inside of a Fig Newton.

Yesterday, I had an issue with my computer that turned me into a madwoman. For some reason, all of my USB ports on my Dell laptop stopped working. I didn't realize how often I used those ports until they stopped working! I need them to upload my Garmin Forerunner info, pictures from my iPhone, to charge my iPod, to save pictures to my external hard drive, and a whole lot more.

Nothing would fix it! I tried restarting, reinstalling drivers, uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes... I Googled my problem and tried all of the fixes, and NOTHING was working. That's why my post yesterday didn't have any photos--I was too pissed off. I took pictures of my pantry and fridge for the post (on my iPhone) but couldn't get those pictures to my computer.

This morning after my run, I sprawled out on the floor with my laptop, determined to figure it out. I was about to reset everything to the factory settings (and losing a whole shit-ton of stuff in the process) when I tried one last thing--unplugging everything and taking the battery out of my computer. I waited about 15 minutes, put the battery back in, and it worked! I was totally relieved. But for those few hours, I really thought I was going to lose it. I wanted to tear my hair out and throw my fucking Dell out the window. I will never buy another Dell! Mine is on borrowed time as it is, but I cannot afford a new computer for a while, so this one really needs to last.

Oh, I almost forgot... I took a new picture of my toe. Some of you have asked how my toe was doing now, and it looks so gross!!

I don't know if I'm going to lose the nail or not, but it certainly doesn't look promising. I popped the blood blister under my nail shortly after the marathon, and that definitely helped with the pain. Now it doesn't hurt, but it feels very weird. And it's definitely not pretty.

Since I don't want to leave you with that ugly picture of my foot in your head, I'll leave you with a picture of Estelle sleeping on Jerry's lunchbox...

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Reader Questions & Answers #16

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 was wondering how you budget your calories throughout the day. Do you try to stay within a certain range per meal? I am having a hard time figuring out how to space my calories during the day.

Another question: What does your shopping cart/pantry look like? What do you consider “must haves”?

A. One of the biggest differences from "this time around" losing weight (vs. the previous hundreds of attempts) actually lies in the fact that I budgeted my calories differently. In the past, I always used to "hoard" calories for later in the day. I would eat a miniscule breakfast (or skip it altogether), then a tiny lunch, a large dinner, and I would use all the rest of my calories for pre-bed snacking. But usually, what ended up happening, was that I would be starving by mid-afternoon and I would binge--then say, "Eff it, I might as well start over tomorrow and eat whatever I want for the rest of the day."

Obviously, that was not helpful! This time around, I did things differently. I spread my calories out and I wasn't afraid to use up all my calories too early. I found that by doing so, the urge to binge practically disappeared, because I was always physically satisfied.

To be more specific, I would generally eat about 350 calories for breakfast, 350-400 calories for lunch, 400-450 calories for dinner... plus an afternoon snack of about 200 calories and and evening "treat" of about 300 calories. I didn't adhere to this every single day, but this is a GENERAL idea of how I liked to spread out the calories. Doing it this way kept my hunger satisfied throughout the day, and I still had my special treat to look forward to before bed. 

As far as my shopping cart/pantry... my "must haves" are: oats, Smart Taste pasta, brown rice, canned beans of all kinds, canned tuna, pretzels, popcorn, peanut butter, almond butter, wine, Ezekiel bread, 1% milk, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, eggs, lean ground turkey, fruits and veggies (whatever is cheap or on sale--usually cabbage, apples, bananas, bell peppers, potatoes, onions). I'm probably forgetting some stuff, but those are things that I always have on hand.

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Q. My questions is during your weight loss did you ever take weight loss aids, fat burners, etc? The crap that advertises that it can make you look like a swimsuit model? If no, did you ever consider taking any?

A. To answer both questions, no--I never took any weight loss aids, and I never considered taking any. I've never been a fan of weight loss pills, because I don't think it's reasonable to take them forever. One thing that I was adamant about from day one was that I wasn't going to make any changes that I wasn't willing to make forever. I knew I didn't want to take weight loss pills forever, so I never even considered taking them from the start. 

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Q. I have a pretty simple question-  Why is your goal weight, your goal weight?  I forget the exact number you said it was, but it was only like 5 pounds from what you are now- why have you picked that particular number?  Won't your pants still fit the same and you'll look the same?  I'm working on losing weight myself and I haven't picked an exact number yet I guess because I don't know how to pick a number that far away. The difference between 132 and 138 seems so minimal. Did you have this number in your head when you started or did you zero in on it as you got closer?

A. This is a great question! This is definitely something I would have wondered before I lost the weight. When I was 253 pounds, I could gain or lose 20 pounds before I would notice it in my clothes. A couple of pounds made no difference at all. 

When I first started losing weight, I chose 126 as my goal weight--because it would be half of my starting weight, and I had this big dream of being in People magazine's Half Their Size issue. I got down to 128 pounds in 16 months--(the last 10 came off when my jaw was broken and I was on a liquid diet). Once I was able to eat solid food again, my weight jumped up to 137 ish, and I've had one hell of a time getting it back down. I remember feeling like 133 was my "cut-off" weight, where I felt good and all my clothes felt good. And once I was on The Dr. Oz Show, I no longer would qualify to be in People magazine whether I reached 126 or not, so I changed my goal weight to 133.

My body really likes the high 130's/low 140's. I can maintain this weight without counting every calorie, and still eating my daily treat. But my clothes don't fit how I would like them to. I don't feel as good as I did at 133. I know that five pounds seems like nothing, but at this size, five measly pounds makes a world of difference in my clothes. I have a pair of jeans that fit like a glove at 137, but if I get up to 139, I can barely get them buttoned. I have a dress that looks amazing when I'm 136, but at 138, it's a struggle to zip. 

At this size, EVERY POUND MATTERS. I'm sure that I'm probably the only one who notices, and it's truly no big deal if I weigh 138 forever instead of 133. But I think that by striving for 133, I'm at least not gaining back every pound I've lost. I'm always working at getting to goal, so maybe that is the reason I've successfully kept off 100+ pounds for almost two years now. 

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And now a question for all of you...

Do you tend to spread your calories out throughout the day, or do you prefer to eat the majority of your calories at one meal?

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Allison's story

I'd like to introduce you to Allison, runner #10 on our Ragnar Relay Florida Keys team. Allison was actually a mystery to me when Rik and I first started this whole project. Rik said she would be great for the team, and I trusted his judgement. He couldn't have been more right! 

At first, Allison wasn't sure if she belonged on our team--because she is still in the middle of her weight loss journey. But I think that makes her very relatable to so many people who are where she is at this point. She is definitely a success story already--as you'll see below--but you'll get to see her change even more as this project continues. 

The whole team has welcomed her with open arms, and we are very happy to have her as part of our team. And I've discovered that, out of everybody on the team, Allison is the one who I probably have the most in common with--she reminds me so much of ME! ;)  Anyway, enjoy her story--she doesn't have a blog, so it's a little long, but she definitely has a knack for writing...

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My entire life, I’ve thought of myself as fat. Fifteen years ago, when I graduated high school, I was 160 pounds and borrowing my boyfriend’s size 36 jeans because I liked how they sat low on my hips. Ironic, now, since my goal weight is 160. Yes, goal weight. I’ve dubbed myself the team WIP (work-in-progress) because, though I’m currently down 40 pounds, I’ve not yet lost all of my weight.

Growing up, my family’s (tongue-in-cheek) motto was “Butter and/or bacon makes everything better.” Dad was (and still is) an amazing cook, and was heavy-handed on portions, but since the food was so good, no one minded, and we all went back for seconds. I don’t, for a second, blame his cooking AT ALL for my weight; I didn’t start chubbing up until I lived on my own. 

My hearty appetite was always a terrible mismatch for my sedentary lifestyle. In school, I was into theatre, yearbook, school newspaper, math team, chess team…notice the lack of anything athletic? As a kid (okay, as an adult, too), I was happiest curled up with a book, and my parents would force me outside…where I’d promptly sit down and continue reading.

After high school, I was on my own, working, going to college, and not eating anything that didn’t come from a box or a bag. Well, there WERE those canned stews… And take-out. Lots of take-out. “Fresh” described my attitude, not anything I ate. Too bad there aren’t salad delivery services. Six years after high school, I hit my (then) top weight of 248 pounds. I joined Weight Watchers at work and lost 50 pounds in 13 months! Then my company was sold, I got a new job, and I stopped WW because I was “sick of counting Points” and could “do this on my own now.” Guess how that turned out?

Yup, though I had learned about portion control from WW, the weight crept back on until I was 220, where I leveled for the next couple of years. In 2006, I started dating Jason (now hubby) and gained a lot of “happy” fat. I was happy about the new relationship, not about the weight! By the time we were married in October 2008, I was back in the 240s and 6 months later, hit my all-time high of 262.

I was furious with myself. What bride GAINS weight for her wedding?! I was supposed to have LOST weight for my wedding…for my college graduation…when I turned 25…24… 21…every year was always THE YEAR I’d lose weight. Every winter, I’d pack my sweaters away saying, “They won’t fit next year,” and every fall, I’d unpack the exact same sweaters and wear them through the next winter. 

Shortly after getting married

I’ve always wanted a nice coat and never bought one because it was “silly to spend the money when it won’t fit me next year because I’ll have lost so much weight.” I realized I could have owned the nice coat for the past 10 years…and it would have fit fine every winter. I was sick of only being able to shop at plus-sized stores. I was sick of spending summers planning what to wear that wouldn’t show sweat lines from my back fat or wondering if I should wear shorts instead of a dress so my thighs wouldn’t chafe.

I knew someone who’d had gastric bypass surgery, and, though I knew I didn’t want surgery, loved the nutritional counseling she’d had, so I looked into how to get the nutritional help without the surgery. Ridiculously, my insurance would pay for the counseling associated with surgery, but not for the counseling itself. 

Honeymoon in Hawaii

I looked for local nutritionists and found a (reasonably priced!) one who designed a balanced plan for me of 1400-1500 calories per day, with foods I loved (Cheese?! Pasta?!?). I followed the plan for 3 months and lost 35 pounds! Then…I stopped. I thought I “deserved a break,” but I never came back from break. How do you spell self-defeating? M-E. A year later, in 2010, I was back up to 240.

Around this time, Jason and I were planning our second trip to Hawai’i. Right after our wedding, we had honeymooned there, touring the islands. I’d been most looking forward to taking a helicopter tour of the Na Pali coast on Kauai, but we found out I was so heavy I’d have to pay for a second seat, so we didn’t do it, settling for a boat cruise instead. 

We loved Hawai’i and I said that if we were ever able to come back, I wouldn’t be so fat and we’d go on the helicopter. In planning our trip to celebrate our second anniversary, I realized that I was the exact same weight I was on our honeymoon, which meant, once again, there’d be no helicopter tour. I was angry and disappointed with myself because I had PROMISED myself I’d lose weight, and, even worse, I HAD lost some…and gained it all back.

 I hadn’t realized it until I was writing my story, but the Hawai’i trip was when I snapped. Through all of my weight up and down over the years, I’d taken boot camp classes on and off and had run laps for warm-ups. At 240 pounds, I decided to start running and registered for a 5K (to my family’s total bewilderment). I found the Couch-to-5K plan online and started week 1, day 1 on June 1, 2010.
 

Finishing the first 5K!

Two days later, I was rear-ended by a drunk driver on my way to work, screwing up my knee and sending me to physical therapy for the next 2 months. Frustrated, but strangely undeterred, I started C25K again on August 2, and ran my 1st 5K on October 23 with my whole family there to cheer me on. My parents, sister, brother, and husband were standing at the finish line cheering for me; the announcer asked them my name and I crossed the finish line of my first race to the sound of my name being screamed by my family over the loudspeaker!

When I ran that first day of C25K (1 minute jog alternated with 90 seconds of walking, repeated for 20 minutes), I thought I was going to die. By the time I got to the third repeat of jogging, I was gasping for air, my legs hurt, I was sweating, and I couldn’t figure out why I was doing this to myself. The second day was a little bit better, and I started to be proud of what I was doing. A couple of times, I had to repeat a week of the plan because I wasn’t ready to move on and increase my running time. I finished my first 5K in just under 40 minutes and had never been more proud of myself.

I ran three more 5Ks over the winter and was then laid off in March 2011. While nervous about being out of work, I embraced the free time and started boot camp again, increased my running, and ran four more 5Ks until, in mid-June 2011, I fell during a boot camp class, and shattered my wrist. The funny thing is that I’ve fallen harder at home tripping over one of my cats; this time, I landed JUST the right way, or rather wrong way! 

I had to have surgery, had a titanium plate and a whole bunch of screws put in, went through loads of physical and occupational therapy, and 2 months to the day after I fell, got the doctor’s OK to run again and had my “come-back” race 2 weeks later. I did walk a 5K the week after my surgery; I’d been registered for months and was SO frustrated I couldn’t run it, so my husband offered to walk it with me!   I’m glad we did it because being surrounded by the runners and the crowd reminded me how much I enjoyed running and made me antsy to get back to it!

I’ve run more than a dozen 5Ks since that 1st one, have a bunch more scheduled for this summer, and am training for my first half-marathon this October! I love getting outside to run, and am thrilled every time I run a route a little bit faster, or run a little further. Compared to most runners, I’m not fast: I run an 11:30 – 12:00 minute pace. Compared to my 15:00 minute pace when I first started, I’m a speed demon!

I count calories, staying between 1200-1400 each day, and am averaging a loss of about 1 pound per week. Keeping with this plan, I’ll be out of the 200s by Ragnar…well into the 100s, actually! I felt funny joining such an amazing group of people who’ve all lost such significant weight since I’m not “there” yet. Funny, that is, until my wonderful and inspiring teammates reminded me that they’d all been where I am, and they all welcomed me whole-heartedly; now, I’m okay with being the team WIP and I am thrilled to be part of this incredible experience with these fantastic people!

40 pounds down

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Unwrapped

What a crappy run today.

My plan was to run 10 miles, so I knew I was going to have to head out the second Jerry got home at 6:30 this morning in order to get home quickly so he could go to sleep. I woke up at 5:45 without an alarm, and finally dragged myself out of bed at 6:00 to dress and be ready to go at 6:30.

As soon as Jerry walked in the door, I left for the State Park. I would rather have gone to the Metropark, but it's a lot farther away than the State Park, so I settled. As soon as I parked, I started running an out-and-back route. Almost immediately, my stomach felt a little "off". I started debating in my head whether I really wanted to do the full 10.

The devil on my shoulder was telling me:
"You're not technically training for anything right now, so you don't HAVE to run 10."
"You have a knee injury. You should rest it anyway."
"You could always do 10 tomorrow, when you're feeling better."
"Your stomach feels crappy. What if you get runner's trots out here?"
"Just turn around now, a 3-mile run is fine."

And then the angel on my other shoulder was countering with:
"A few weeks ago, you would have called 10 miles a short run."
"Your knee will be fine--just take walk breaks if it gets painful."
"You don't want to run tomorrow; you're already dressed and out here running right now."
"If I turn around now, I will feel like I have to run 10 tomorrow."
"Worst case scenario, I can call Jerry to pick me up if things get horrible... just get to the turn-around point."

By mile 2.5, my knee was hurting. I walked the last tenth of the third mile, and then the last tenth of each mile after that (the 9:1 ratio). I had to go through a few intersections, and I kept praying that the light would be red so I could get a short break. Despite my walk breaks at the end of each mile, my knee was hurting just a minute or two later. After about 7 miles, I started to feel a hot spot on my foot turning into a blister--stupid new shoes! I never got blisters with my Adrenaline's. I stopped at a bench to tighten the laces and hope that would stop my foot from rubbing against the side of the shoe. When I got back to the car, I was so relieved to be done!

I didn't have time to do anything except drive right home to let Jerry go to bed. When I got home, I stretched and rolled out my IT band. Then I took an ice cold shower--I didn't even turn the hot water on a smidge. It was all cold water coming out, and I could barely breathe at how shockingly cold it was. I was hoping it would wake me up a little and make me feel refreshed or something. (In retrospect--what the fuck, Katie?!)

I had to take the kids to the doctor for their annual check-ups. I quickly made a German Chocolate Cake protein shake (I just realized I didn't put the recipe up on my recipes blog--I'll add another shakes page, hopefully before this post goes live today). It felt like we were waiting forever at the doctor, and I developed a bad headache. The kids were driving me crazy, in the little room while we were waiting. Finally, the doctor came in and checked them out. Noah had to get a vaccine, and they both had to get a finger poke, but everything was good.

On the way home, we had to stop and get a couple of birthday gifts. Noah is going to a pool party tomorrow, and Eli was invited to a little girl's birthday party in a couple of weeks--a Justin Bieber party, hahaha. He was not happy about picking out a gift for a girl ;)

I stopped at a local bread shop before coming home, and I bought some soup for lunch--tomato basil. I got Jerry a sandwich. After my surgery, Renee brought me some of their soup and it was amazing! I have been craving it ever since, so I used the 1000-ish 801 calories I burned today as an excuse to get some--along with bread, of course. And the chips that came with Jerry's sandwich.

By the time I got home, my headache was killing me. I took some Motrin, but nothing really helped. I was extremely tired, too, and I started to worry that I was getting sick. And then it hit me...

I didn't have coffee this morning. The last time I had a headache like this was when I gave up coffee in October. Then I started drinking it again last week, and I drank it every day since. Until today. I was so busy this morning that I didn't have any. So I was completely exhausted and headachey all day. I must just be extra sensitive to coffee or something! And for those of you that asked, decaf doesn't bother me at all. If I went out for coffee with a friend, I would just get decaf and it was fine. At home, I drank green tea. I think I'm going to switch back to green tea instead of coffee--my stomach will thank me for it. But I was loving how energetic I got with the coffee!

I've been hooked on the show Unwrapped on The Food Network. My kids love the show too. We watched an episode this afternoon about movie theater treats. I really need to stop watching that show! I always want to go out and buy whatever they feature on the show. Today it was the Cookie Dough Bites that got me. I even went to Kroger to get some (hey, I did run 10 miles today!) but they didn't have any :(  I know I saw them at Target before, so I will probably pick some up next time I'm there. Do any of you get suckered into buying crap you see on The Food Network? 

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Special K Granola Bar Review & Giveaway

Maybe it's because I'm constantly talking about my love for chocolate and peanut butter, but when someone from Special K contacted me to ask if I would like to try out the new Special K granola bars, I couldn't refuse. One of the flavors was "Chocolatey Peanut Butter"--like it was made just for me! I was excited to get the package in the mail...

The boxes come with five bars each. Naturally, I tried the Chocolatey Peanut Butter flavor first. The size of the bar was nothing to write home about--small enough that the calories are easy to fit into your daily allowance, but big enough to satisfy a sweet craving.

I was impressed with the taste! I actually liked it more than I expected to. When I was losing weight, I used to eat the Fiber One bars, and this reminded me of those bars. I won't try and fool anyone into thinking this is "health food", however... ;)

But I've never pretended to be a purist when it comes to food, and I'm not above eating processed ingredients sometimes if it satisfies a craving and helps me to stay on track for the long term. The nutrition info isn't too bad, and it's easy to fit into a daily calorie allowance:

I really liked the Dark Chocolate flavor as well--probably just as much as the peanut butter one.

Special K has very generously offered a box of each flavor to one Runs for Cookies reader! You will receive the same package I did. I've set up a Rafflecopter for this giveaway, and I'm a little nervous about it because I've never tried it before. But I'm hoping that it makes things easier on me for giveaways. So you can use the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win the bars.

You can find Special K on Facebook and on Twitter.

Note: I'm leaving comments turned ON for this post (so that you can enter the giveaway by leaving a comment), but you will have to use the Rafflecopter form itself to be entered in the giveaway.
Disclosure: I was given the granola bars for free to review, but opinions are completely my own and I was not required to give a favorable review. 

Giveaway ends at 12:01 AM EST on 6/9/2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tempo intervals

When I woke up this morning, I was actually kind of looking forward to my run so I could try out my new shoes! I was going to do the second marathon training workout, even though I'm not technically in training just yet. It involved a 15 minute easy run, followed by 5 minutes at tempo pace and 2 minutes easy recovery (repeat those 7 minutes 3 more times), and a 10 minute easy cool-down... a grand total of 53 minutes.

I logged into my Garmin account to set up the workout and send it to my watch. I like doing it that way, so I don't have to try and think of how many times I've done each interval, and all that--I just run fast when my watch vibrates, then run slow when it vibrates again. Very simple!

I put on my new Mizuno's, and headed out to run. My plan was to keep my easy running at a 10:30 ish pace, and my tempo intervals at a 9:00 ish pace. At first, things were going well. The shoes were very comfy--they feel a lot lighter and more flexible than my Adrenaline's. I didn't have any issues with the fit, either. My knee really started to hurt about halfway through the run. After my third tempo interval, I decided to walk the 2-minute easy recovery instead of a slow run. That helped my knee enough to where I could run the last tempo interval at a decent pace. Then I walked 2 minutes, and then did the easy running until I got home.

Over all, it looked like this:
15 min: Easy run (10:02 pace)
5 min: Tempo interval (8:52 pace)
2 min: Easy recovery (10:15 pace)
5 min: Tempo interval (9:00 pace)
2 min: Easy recovery (10:19 pace)
5 min: Tempo interval (9:27 pace--this is when my knee was killing me)
2 min: Easy recovery (13:04 pace--I walked this one)
5 min: Tempo interval (9:07 pace)
2 min: Easy recovery (13:16 pace--I walked this one too)
7 min (arrived home before the 10 minute mark): Easy cool-down run (10:08 pace)

In total, I ran 5.10 miles in 50:14, a 9:51 pace. I wasn't expecting miracles with my knee, but I was praying that wearing the new shoes would make a big difference in how my knee felt. I know I have to give it time, though. I came home and rolled out my IT band (ouch!!) and did some stretches. My appointment with the sports medicine doctor isn't until June 25th (the soonest they could get me in). So I'll already be marathon training by then.

Jerry is so great! While I was out running, he put some water out on the porch for me to drink when I was done, and he cleaned up the kitchen, leaving me a couple of notes in the process:

Coffee all ready to brew

Dishwasher loaded and ready to run

After my run and shower, I barely did anything at all today. I am still SUPER sore from doing The Swing a couple of days ago. I don't know if I'll be able to do it again tomorrow like I'm planning on.

I've discovered that my stomach really dislikes regular (caffeinated) coffee. When I gave it up in October, I know that I felt better, but I couldn't really pin point WHY. Well, for the past 4-5 days, since I started drinking it again, my stomach has been really revolting against me. I've been spending a lot of time in the bathroom, and not in a good way. I think I should probably give up on the coffee again. I love that it makes me more energetic, but my stomach issues are awful.

I keep seeing previews for the Lifetime movie "Blue Lagoon: The Awakening" and I'm so excited to watch it!! I loved the movie The Blue Lagoon, and of course I'm a sucker for Lifetime movies. It's on June 16th, if you're interested.

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Homemade Foam Roller (for only $5!)

Jerry actually went for a run this morning. Yes, that is surprising. Ever since we did the interview with Jennifer and Angela, he's been talking about running and wanting to sign up for a 10K. He's done that before, but usually he's over it by Day 2. He ran once last week, and then again today. I'm glad that he's doing it! But now we're going to fight over who gets to do which races... ;)

I was going to buy a foam roller today, but I couldn't believe how expensive they are! I looked up alternatives online (because I'm too cheap to spend $30 on a piece of foam) and I found a do-it-yourself version. It's made with a PVC pipe, foam insulation, and duct tape.

Looked simple enough, so I bought the materials today. The man at the hardware store had a piece of pipe that was "scrap", so he sold it to me for $2. The insulation was $3, and I had duct tape at home. So for a grand total of $5, I made one hell of a foam roller...

It's obviously much sturdier than the ones at the store, so it'll never need to be replaced (foam rollers wear down over time). It's the perfect size, and it does the job well. I rolled out my IT band with it, and while it was very painful, I certainly hope that it will help.

Remember when I reviewed that book called The Swing, and I said I was going to try it out after the marathon? Well, that time has come. Yesterday, I read through the book again and practiced trying out the movement. I thought maybe I was doing it wrong, because it wasn't really hard. I didn't break a sweat or anything. But today, I am SUPER sore. I can feel every muscle in my back. I'm going to do it twice a week.

My kids had their first baseball games tonight. The games overlapped each other, so I was bummed I had to miss most of Noah's. My parents stayed with Noah and I took Eli to his game. Noah apparently had a great game--he hit three doubles, and he caught a pop fly (which isn't very common for kids his age!) My mom said the whole crowd was really impressed with him.

Noah is technically too young to be playing on his team--it's for 8-year olds, and he won't be 8 until July. But there was no way I was going to make him play t-ball again, because he's really good! I'm glad I put him on the coach-pitch team. Eli did really well at his game, too. How cute are they in their uniforms?! ;)

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Yesterday, the Facebook page for the documentary From Fat to Finish Line (the doc I'm taking part in) started a contest. Since a lot of you are runners, you may want to enter--if you submit a photo of you in your best running costume, you can win a drawing of you in costume done by a cartoonist. I wish I could win it, because I would love to have a cartoon drawing of myself! It would be a cool profile picture or something. But anyway, you can go to the Facebook page and click on "Contests" to check it out.

I'm kind of looking forward to my run tomorrow--I get to try out my news Mizunos!

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Weekend recap

I rarely have enough stuff going on in a weekend to have a "recap", so it's kind of exciting that I do! ;) Actually, the weekend wasn't very exciting; but it was kind of busy...

Since I didn't do my long run on Friday, I had to do it Saturday. And I'm glad I waited, because the weather was gorgeous for a run! My plan was to run 10 miles--my first post-marathon long run. I drove out to the Metropark to run, because my kids went to some garage sales with my dad. I decided to run the whole 10, rather than doing the 9:1 run/walk method.

I headed out and it was so peaceful and nice outside, with great weather. But just a couple of miles into the run, my knee started bugging me. By mile 4, I had tears in my eyes because it was hurting so badly. I was running an out-and-back route, so I was 4 miles from my car. I was actually only a mile or so from where my dad was garage saleing with my kids. I took my phone out of my hydration belt to call my dad for a pick-up. I have NEVER called for a pick-up from a run before!! That's how much pain I was in. Before I called, however, I decided to try a walk break.

At mile 4.5, I walked for 1/4 mile, and that helped my knee enough to where I could run again. After that, I just did a 9:1 run/walk method, and while my knee still hurt, I was able to finish the 10 miles. I was so frustrated with my goddamned knee that I got my my car and screamed--like the people that totally lose it in the movies. My splits:

The 11:16 mile was where I walked 1/4 mile of it. After that mile, I ran the first 9/10ths of a mile and then walked the last tenth. About a mile from the car, I stopped to take a picture because it was so pretty:

My knee was pretty much killing me the rest of the day. I decided to call a sports medicine doctor first thing on Monday.

On Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early. A couple of my friends (Alicia and Andrea) were going to do their first triathlon, and I wanted to go cheer them on. It was at the state park (not far from my house), so I quickly dressed and headed out. I stopped and bought a 24 oz. coffee (a regular one--not decaf)! It makes me laugh how easy it was to get hooked on regular coffee after the one little slip-up on Friday. I walked down by the beach to the start of the race, and found Alicia and Andrea.

Andrea and Alicia--don't they look cute in their swim caps? ;)

They were doing the sprint triathlon, which is a 0.47 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run. Once the race started and they headed out for the swim, I walked over to where they would come up out of the water and watched them run over to the transition. Then Stephanie and Tammy (both spectators as well) and I all ran over to watch them head out on their bikes. Tammy and I found a good spot to cheer them on about a mile into the run. We cheered for a while and then after they both passed by us, we ran to the finish line to see them finish.

I wasn't expecting all the running around, but it was a lot of fun! After Andrea and Alicia finished, I stayed at the finish line cheering for all the people finishing. I felt bad, because pretty soon, Tammy and I were the ONLY ones standing at the finish chute cheering for the final yards. I'm glad that we stayed, because everyone deserves to have people there at the end!

After the triathlon, I had to go get the kids from the church picnic. Jerry and I stayed for a little while, and we brought a kite for the kids to fly. It had been sitting in our hall closet for about three years!

It's a robot kite--they got it pretty high up there!

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This morning, I got up and went for a run as soon as Jerry got home at 6:30. My plan was to do the first day's workout of marathon training (just to test it out--marathon training doesn't actually start until June 18th). It was a 50-minute run with 6 pick-ups (30 seconds of fast running). So I set my Garmin for intervals--8 minutes of easy running at a 10:30-ish pace, followed by 30-seconds of a 8:00-8:30-ish pace. Then repeat for a total of 6 times.

By mile three, my knee was killing me. I took a walk break, and then decided to head directly home for a total of only 4 miles rather than the 50-minutes I was "supposed" to do. Again, so frustrated I wanted to cry.

These splits are done by time--8 minutes followed by 30 seconds. It ended up being 4 miles in 40:34 (a 10:08 pace overall), which is actually a little faster than I was going for.

After running, I had to shower and head out for an OB/GYN appointment. It was a follow-up appointment after my colposcopy. The doctor explained the results and what everything meant, and said I didn't need the D&C after all (yay!!). The colp was totally normal. He wants me to repeat my pap smear in 3 months, but he's sure that it will be normal, so he said not to worry about anything at all.

On the way home, I stopped at the running store for some new shoes. My Brooks Adrenalines are getting up there in mileage, and I decided to try out a different shoe this time, to see if it might help with my knee pain. I explained all the issues I've had with the woman working there, and she brought out a bunch of different shoes. I was really surprised that my favorite fit were actually the Mizuno Wave Inspire 8's. I've only ever worn Brooks, so it's kind of scary to switch brands. But we'll see what happens!

I had to get a size 10 wide!! In everyday shoes, I wear an 8.5 regular; in my Brooks Adrenaline's, I wear 9.5 wide. The saleswoman told me that these Mizuno's run a half-size short, so I should get a 10. And she was right. They're really comfy and not as heavy as the Adrenaline's. But I haven't run in them yet, so the true test will be on Wednesday.

As soon as I got home, I scheduled an appointment with a sports medicine doc about my knee. I really hope that he doesn't tell me I can't run. But my knee hasn't gotten any better and it's been months since I injured it, so who knows. And the last thing I want to do is go through months of marathon training with my knee feeling like it is. So I'm praying he just tells me to strength train, stretch, and maybe foam-roll or something.

So that is my weekend (and Monday) in a nutshell.

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Reader Questions & Answers #15

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 have been running for about 6 months.  I try to run slowly, but I am still always out of breath  (not so much that I need to stop--I can go 3-4 miles--but I feel like I'm panting like crazy compared to the super fit runners I see on the trails).  I always wear a heart monitor and my heart rate is also always VERY high.  

I've talked to my MD about it and she said it's nothing to worry about.  However, I feel like my running fitness is not improving.  I am able to run farther distances, and sometimes it is easier than others, but overall I feel stuck.  Did you ever have this issue?  Did you notice that your average heart rate was lower as you continued to run and/or improved your running?

A. If your heart rate is always very high, it might not be the greatest indicator of whether your fitness is improving. It's good that you talked to your doctor about it, and that she said it's nothing to worry about. But do you notice that your breathing is a little labored and your muscles feel like they're really working when you run? 

If your heart rate is always high, you might want to judge your effort level by your breathing instead. When I do my long, easy runs, I can carry on a conversation pretty easily. It might be a little choppier than when I'm sitting and talking, but I can talk. When I'm racing for a PR, I can barely get out a word or two and I'm gasping for breath at the end. Those are the two opposite ends of the spectrum. 

I find that I improve the most when I run somewhere in-between for most of my runs--an effort level of about a 7 (on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the hardest effort). In the beginning, an effort of 7 would put me at a pace of about an 11:15 mile--and now, when I run at that effort level, I run about a 9:20 mile. I'm putting in the same effort, but going faster, so I know that my fitness level has improved. (But to answer your question, yes--my average heart rate lowered as I got fitter). I still have good runs and bad runs, though--some days an effort of 7 would put me at a 10:30 pace, just because it's hot outside, I'm hungover not feeling well, etc. 

Overall, I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as you're pushing yourself (and not feeling so relaxed that you could take a nap!) your fitness will improve.

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Q. When you were losing weight and had a binge, did you calculate/count all of the calories from the binge?

A. I went an entire year without a single binge, and when I did finally binge, I was so angry at myself! But yes, I added up the calories (the best that I could). I would estimate as honestly as possible how much I ate of each food item and tally up the calories. Most of the time, this would help me to realize that the damage wasn't actually as bad as I thought, and if I got right back on track, it would only set me back a pound or so. 

When I didn't write it down, I would imagine that I had eaten tens of thousands of calories and that I might as well give up. Writing it down is a reality check that could be good or bad, but definitely REAL. And it may help you!

Here's an actual binge from my food log

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Q. When I run, my hands go numb. I also tend to make a fist while I'm running if I don't consciously think to keep my hands relaxed. Does this ever happen to you/what do you do to prevent it?

A. This used to happen to me when I was overweight. A lot of times, people who are overweight, and/or don't exercise, have poor circulation. This was the case with me, and it caused my hands to go numb--both while exercising and even while sleeping, knitting, or typing. As I lost weight, it happened less and less frequently, until it just never happened at all. 

When you say you make a fist, are you clenching your fist? It's okay to make a fist with your hands while you run, but you should keep them loose--not clenched. At first, it's hard to get used to keeping your upper body relaxed while you run, but you can waste a lot of effort by clenching your fists (or hunching your shoulders, like some people do). It's best to keep your upper body relaxed.

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And now a question for all of you...
What do you do to de-stress? I feel SO stressed out lately, and I need some suggestions to help me get over it! I already exercise, which is supposedly the best way to relieve stress. Unfortunately, my favorite way to de-stress is to eat!

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