A run for pizza

I was dreading today's run all week long. I was scheduled to run 15 miles, and the last time I ran that far was during the Detroit Marathon in October. I've always bumped up my long runs gradually, but since I'm following the Hansons' method for marathon training, I'm just doing what the schedule says. Last week was just 10 miles, and then today it jumped up to 15!

I was feeling really nervous about it. I planned to run a five-mile loop from my house three times. I headed out the door at 7:45, and it was pretty cool outside--thank goodness! Just a quarter mile in, I completely changed my plans for my route. I did my usual out-and-back route, only I just ran the "out" part. Then I found some detours to take on the way home, through places I haven't run before, so it was pretty interesting.

I kept my pace much slower than last week, because I wanted to maintain a consistent pace for the whole 15 miles. Last week, I ran an 8:30-something mile pace, and that was very unrealistic for this distance today. I just ran comfortably, which ended up being a 9:30-ish pace, and very consistent throughout the run.

I wound up back at my house at mile nine, so I planned to do two three-mile loops from my house after that. The second loop would take me past my parents' house twice, so I decided to do that one last (I could stop for water if needed). Before heading out on the first three-mile loop, I stopped for about 15 seconds and gulped down some water on my porch.

I know that drinking more than a couple of sips at a time while running causes me stomach cramps, but I couldn't help it; it's so hard when I'm thirsty not to down the whole bottle. I drank probably 8 oz., and my stomach started cramping almost immediately when I started running again. Oh, well.

I was back at my house at mile 12, so I stopped again for a little water. When I reached mile 12.5, my legs really started to feel heavy. I was definitely ready to be done! I reached my parents' house at mile 13, so I grabbed a cold water from their fridge. I drank a few ounces, and dumped some of it on my head and neck--that felt great! I looped around their neighborhood, and was back at their house at mile 14. I probably could have gone without another stop, but I'd left the bottle at the end of their driveway, so I just grabbed it, chugged it down, and ran home with the empty bottle.

My stomach was really cramping the last mile, but I was so glad that I was almost done, that I ignored it. I hit my driveway right at mile 15. I finished!

 

Next time, I'm going to wear my Camelbak vest. Today, I didn't bother carrying water with me because I knew I'd be going past my house a few times (as well as my parents' house). But to avoid getting too thirsty (and drinking too much too fast), I'm better off bringing water with me. 

I hurried to take a shower and head out the door, because I wanted to go to church this morning. My mom told me that she was asked to speak and share her testimony, so I wanted to be there for the second service. I got dressed and rushed out the door, and arrived just as church was starting. It kind of blew my mind that I had run 15 miles before church started on a Sunday morning!

My stomach was really upset, and I was worried I was going to have to rush out of the sanctuary. I knew it was from gulping down all the water, because my stomach always cramps when I do that. The oh-no-I-have-to-go-to-the-bathroom-right-now feeling was coming in waves. I tried to make it through the whole service, but once my mom was done speaking, I ended up leaving. When I got home, I just laid on the couch for about an hour, waiting for the cramping to pass.

Jerry really wanted to go to Menard's to start planning out a garage. He's been wanting a garage ever since we moved in here 10 years ago, and last year we bought the property next to us at an auction, so we have the room to build one now. He's hoping to start working on it in the spring.

The kids were disappointed that we didn't have "Pizza Friday", so we told them that we'd have pizza today instead, since Jerry was off work. Menard's is in Toledo, and just a few miles away is Pizza Papalis, a restaurant known for their Chicago-style pizza. It's 13 PP per slice for a small, so it's not very often that we eat it; but what better day to indulge than when I ran 15 miles?

It takes nearly an hour to bake the deep dish pizza, and I was absolutely starving by that time. My stomach was feeling much better and ready to eat! It was totally worth the wait when it came out, though.

After that, I wanted nothing more than to go home, put on my pajamas, and curl up on the couch to relax... and here I sit :)  I feel great for getting my 15-miler done! It honestly wasn't as tough as I was expecting. I thought the last four miles or so would be killer, but it went pretty well.

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Words to Sweat By review and giveaway

I was recently contacted by Dana, the designer behind Words to Sweat By, to see if I might be interested in doing a review/giveaway on my blog. The WTSB shop includes products with inspirational mantras and sayings on them. I wasn't familiar with it, so I checked out her website, and I loved it!

Dana designs, develops, and manufactures the products--jewelry, key chains, towels, and shirts--herself. I told Dana she could just surprise me with what she'd like me to review, and she sent me a necklace, a towel, and a t-shirt. When they arrived, they were packaged really nicely, and could even be given as a gift right out of the package. Each item was inside of a sheer fabric bag with a ribbon.

I love the saying on the towel: "Healthy. Strong. Happy." That's always how I feel after a good run! The towel is the size of a hand towel, which is the size I use when I'm on the treadmill. I don't go to a gym, but I think it would be a nice conversation-starter to hang over a machine while working out. I had to laugh at one of the towels' words: "'C' is for crunches, not cookies."  ;)

When my sister was training for her first half-marathon, I searched and searched for a gift to buy her as a "congrats". I liked the idea of a necklace or bracelet, but the ones I found on Etsy didn't really jump out at me. Either I really liked the charm and not the chain, or the chain was nice, but I didn't care for the charm. The necklace that Dana sent was perfect! I think the shoe treads are adorable, and the chain is very nice. From the pictures, I thought it would be heavier, but it's nice and light (which I prefer).

Finally, I think the t-shirt is super cute! Dana said I might want to order up a size from usual, because they fit a little on the small side, so I ordered a medium. I'm glad I did that instead of a small, because I think it fits well. The t-shirt feels like good quality fabric, and it's really comfy.

Overall, I think the Words to Sweat By shop has some great products! Anything in there would make a good gift for someone who has reached a milestone like running a first race, or reaching goal weight, or even someone who just needs some motivation. There are so many different mantras and sayings, it's hard to choose what I like best!

Dana has offered a very generous giveaway to one lucky Runs for Cookies reader--a $50 virtual gift card for the Words to Sweat By shop! To enter, please leave a comment on this post saying what product you like best from the shop. I will use Random.org to select a winner on Tuesday, August 13th at 8:00 AM EST.  (This is open to U.S. and Canada only--sorry!)  I'll announce the winner on Tuesday night.

Dana has also offered a 10% discount when you use the code "runsforcookies" while ordering, good until 8/31/13. 

You can find Words to Sweat By on the website, Facebook, and Pinterest. Good luck on the giveaway!

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A picnic

Last night, instead of going to Kohl's after dropping the kids off at Vacation Bible School, I had a better idea. I still had a lot of PointsPlus left after dinner, and knew I wouldn't be home until after 8:30, so I decided to go to Tim Horton's/Cold Stone. I got a small cup of Cake Batter ice cream and a medium decaf coffee to enjoy while reading my book. It was SO nice to sit and relax with a yummy treat and (uninterrupted) reading.

The ice cream was amazing, and 10 PointsPlus wasn't a bad price tag at all!

After a little while of reading, I went to Ollie's to get some new cat toys. The cats ADORE these feather toys that I found there. I bought four of them a few months ago, but the cats had worn them out so I had to get rid of them. While I was there, I saw some carpet tiles for less than $2 each, and it reminded me of something one of the veterinarians from Purina ONE suggested. I told her that my cats aren't interested in their scratching pads, and they just want to scratch the carpet. She suggested getting a small piece of carpet in a different color for the cats to use as a scratching pad and to squirt them with water if they tried to scratch anywhere other than that piece.

I bought two squares last night at Ollie's. When I got home, I set one next to the cat tree, and the other behind the treadmill (where Phoebe and Estelle can usually be found scratching the carpet). Immediately, the cats were totally drawn to these "new and exciting" pieces of carpet. Literally seconds after I put it down, Phoebe and Estelle were scratching it. I praised her, and put some catnip on it. Chandler joined the party, too, even though he doesn't have front claws. I swear, those carpets have become cat magnets! I'm going to pick up two more the next time I go to Ollie's, because the cats have been fighting over who gets to lie down on them. It's pretty funny, actually.

 

So far, it's worked very well to get them to scratch there instead of the carpet. I wish I'd tried it sooner!

Today, I wore my running clothes when I dropped the boys off at VBS in the morning, so I could run right from the church. Since I turned left out of the church for a six-mile run yesterday, today I decided to turn right (I had six miles at a recovery pace on the schedule today). I was feeling adventurous, so instead of just running straight out for three miles, I made a few turns so that I could run underneath a busy road instead of getting stopped at the traffic light (as well as enjoy a change of scenery). I had a flashback of running on Duval Street in Key West; it looked similar for a minute.

At around mile 2.25, I came to a park that I usually turn into so that I can avoid running on a busy road. But today, I decided to keep going straight. I noticed that the shoulders of the busy road were really wide, and could pretty much be considered a bike path. It was fun to run somewhere new, even if it was for less than a mile.

I turned around at mile three, and just planned to run the same route back to the car. I got to the River Walk, which is a path that goes right along the river. I ended up passing the spot where I was supposed to turn and get off of the River Walk, and instead, kept going for a little bit. I reached the end of the path, and was confused about where I was. I ran down a couple of streets, and didn't recognize anything. I knew how to get back to the River Walk, so I did that, and retraced my steps. Finally, I found the spot that I was supposed to turn down, and eventually, made it back to my car. My 6-miler turned into a 6.8-miler! But it was a really nice run--no pressure to go fast, I wasn't in a time crunch, and I was just having fun exploring.

After I drove home and showered, I got ready to go pick up the kids. I decided to surprise them by taking them on a picnic for lunch. I made some quick turkey wraps, and threw in some pretzels, apples, and three Twizzlers to the bag. I grabbed a blanket and headed out to get the kids.

They were really excited about going on a picnic. We drove around to a couple of different spots to find where we should set up, and eventually went to a local park that has a big hill. We spread out the blanket on top of the hill and ate lunch.

Noah was so cute--he kept saying, "Thank you SO much for taking us on a picnic!" I told him maybe we could go on a picnic every day next week, and choose a different location for each one. The kids loved that idea.

This afternoon, Jerry picked up our rings from the jeweler (he got his resized, and I got mine soldered and refinished). I was in awe of how pretty mine looked! They were so shiny and sparkly. I really like having them soldered together now, too.

Just in time for our 10 year anniversary, which is a week from today :)

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Race pace run

I woke up way too early this morning, and couldn't go back to sleep, so I just went out in the living room and read my book for a while before the kids woke up. I've been taking them to Vacation Bible School every day this week (at Renee's church in the morning, then our church in the evening, so it's been busy).

This morning, I decided to wear my running clothes to drop them off at VBS, and then just head out from the church for my six-mile "marathon pace" run. I still have no idea what pace to run these on Thursdays. The Hansons' method calls it a tempo run, but they also say it's a marathon pace run--those are completely different (a marathon pace run is slower than a tempo run--the tempo run is closer to 10K race pace). So I've just been running faster than comfortable, but not as fast as a tempo.

Anyway, I had to choose whether to turn right or left out of the church; going right, there would be three traffic lights, and going left, there would only be one, so I chose left (in the end, I managed to time it so I could run through the traffic light both ways, so it worked out well--I hate getting stopped at lights!)

All morning long, I felt so tired, and was expecting to have a sluggish run. But I actually felt pretty good! I ran three miles out, and then turned around to run back. All the way out, I was irritated by my sweaty hair slapping the back of my neck, and finally, when I turned around at the three mile mark, I decided to just stop and fix it rather than dealing with it the whole way back. I felt much better after pulling it in a really tight bun.

I kept my heart rate in high Zone 2/low Zone 3, and it was tough, but not miserably so. When I got back to the car, I stopped my Garmin, and then accidentally bumped it so it turned again, then I stopped it again. That's why there's an extra split with zero distance.

For the rest of the day, my lungs were feeling like they'd gotten a workout. I love that feeling when I take a deep breath and can tell that I ran hard earlier that day. Tomorrow is another six-miler, but I'm going to run at recovery heart rate, so probably 9:30-10:00/mi. I look forward to my recovery pace runs the most, because there is no pressure to try and meet a certain goal!

This afternoon, Jerry, the kids, and I took apart the trampoline. Noah got it about 4-5 years ago for his birthday, but they just haven't been playing with it much, and I don't think they've used it at all this summer. I asked on Facebook if anyone wanted it, they could come take it apart and have it. The person who was supposed to come get it today changed her mind, so we ended up just taking the thing apart anyway. I think someone else is going to come pick it up tonight.

While we were doing that, I noticed a bunch of bees swarming around the house, and there was a tiny little hole they were going in and out of. I'd been finding dead bees in the house the past couple of days, and wondering where the heck they were coming from. Jerry got some spray, and we sprayed around the hole, and then plugged it up. The kids thought that was quite the adventure.

They have also been playing nice with a cat that keeps coming around. There is NO way in hell I'm taking in another stray cat, so I've been shooing it away with a water bottle. While we were taking down the trampoline, the cat was just chilling out at our feet (its personality reminds me of Estelle). I'm sure someone owns it, thankfully, because it's not a skinny cat and it loves to be around people. I just really don't want it around here--it was sitting at our door, trying to get in the house!

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For dinner tonight, I used these chicken sausages to make a pasta dish.

They were an impulse buy at Sam's Club (which is always risky, because everything is in bulk!) and thankfully, we like them. We cooked them on the grill last week, and then today, I was really craving pasta, so I made a quick dinner. I sliced the sausages and sauteed them in some olive oil, then tossed them with pasta and parmesan cheese. It took no time at all, and turned out really good!

I took the pic after I'd already eaten some, per usual ;)  The sausages are really garlicky, which I love. I think I'm going to try another flavor of the sausages next time I go back to Sam's.

Well, I've got to take the kids to VBS, and somehow kill two hours before bringing them home. I'm thinking I'll go to Kohl's and spend a gift card I've had for a long time!

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My "Mama-do" list

First thing's first: Wednesday Weigh-in. My weight was up a pound this week.

I wish I could say that it's because I switched over to maintenance mode this week (allowing myself an extra 6 PointsPlus per day) but it's because I used those extra PP AND I was over my PointsPlus for the week--by 40!

As for this week, I'm still going to stay in maintenance mode. When I don't go over my PointsPlus for the week, I can pretty easily maintain or even lose weight while eating these extra PP, and I was just too hungry when my target was 26. I don't think I have anything going on this week that will make it difficult to stay on track.

Today is my rest day, and I really didn't do much at all. My little brother, Nathan (by "little", I mean younger than me; he's actually 29), called me to ask if I might want to run a race with him. I was completely shocked; he's not a runner, but I've always secretly hoped he might give it a try. He said my sister had asked him to run a half marathon with her in October, but he had to work that weekend, so he was wondering if I knew of another race. I tried not to scare him off with my excitement, and told him I'd see what I could find.

The second I hung up, I was on the computer looking for races this fall. I came up with a list of 6-8 races (half-marathons and 10K's) and sent those to him. He called me back to say that he'd like to do the Monroe Half-Marathon, which is the one that my friend Stacie is directing. I had been considering it anyway, and figured I'd see how I felt after the Chicago Marathon before deciding; but if Nathan wants to do it, I'm for sure in!  It's four weeks after Chicago, so I'm sure there won't be any problem with my running it.

I also just registered for a Halloween race called Wicked Halloween Run. It will be my third of a three-race series by this company, and I'll get a special "Triple Crown" medal for doing all three. The first was the 10K that I somehow managed to finish in 49:23 this spring (I'm STILL blown away that I did that!); and the second was the 10-Miler I did in June. It's been really nice having the summer off from racing, but I'm excited for the fall races I have planned now.

Speaking of that, Jerry found out that he won't be able to go to Chicago with me for the marathon. I'm SO bummed. We'd been planning to take the kids to my sister's house, and then Jerry and I would meet up with Andrea and her husband in Chicago for the weekend, and then we would go back to Jeanie's for a couple of days. That was before Jerry got a new job. Now, he's scheduled to work the the weekend of the race, so our plans have to change. I haven't figured out yet what I'm going to do. I'll probably just stick with the original plan, only it'll be without Jerry.

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Noah cracks me up. I have no idea why he started watching HGTV (neither Jerry or I watch it), but that's his favorite channel on TV. He's been asking me questions, totally out of nowhere, like, "Mama, do you prefer a modern home, or more of a country-style?" Today, he was complaining about our house: "Mama, our kitchen is SO dated. We should get darker cupboards and granite counter tops." I nearly burst out laughing, but I didn't want to make him feel bad, so I just told him that I'm fine with my kitchen the way it is. I asked him what else he thought we needed to change, and I got this list--hahaha!

Paint rooms
New carpet (rooms)
Update kitchen
New toilet
New couch
New chairs
New doors
New bathroom floor
Paint cupboards
New knobs on cabinets

That's quite the wishlist ;)  I told him that maybe we'll paint his bedroom before school starts, but that's about the best we can do right now. I think it's so funny that he's so interested in this stuff! I told him that if he wants, he could be a designer when he grows up, and he loved that idea. Kids are so cute.

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Calculating PointsPlus

Since starting the Hansons' method for my marathon training, I surprisingly haven't minded running six days a week. I never thought I'd be a 6x/week person, but it feels so routine that my rest day is what feels strange! However, the one day a week that I do dread is Tuesday. Tuesday = speed work.

Speed work is tough! And it's not fun while I'm doing it. However, it's almost a guarantee that I'll feel awesome once I'm done. And I know it's good for my training, so I do it, even though I could come up with a thousand excuses not to. Today, I had to do 3 x 1 mile with 660 yards recovery. The 660 "yards" threw me off; I don't know a single runner who measures distances in yards! But I got this workout here, as part of the Hansons' training. I used Google to find out that 660 yards equals 0.375 miles.

I chose to do the run on the treadmill, because it's much easier to choose a pace and stick with it. I set the incline on 1.5%, to make it feel more like outdoor running. I ran at an easy pace for a mile to warm-up, and then started my first interval at 7.8 mph (according to the speed work chart, I should run my mile intervals between 7:40-7:50/mi). At first, I thought, "Oh, this isn't so bad!" but after about a half-mile, I was already wishing the interval would be over. I really started doubting whether I could even finish the workout.

But, like always, I pushed myself to get it done. I watched episode six of Orange is the New Black, which was pretty entertaining. For the last interval, I told myself I could lower the incline by 0.5% every quarter mile, just to "reward" myself for pushing through ;)  Once the incline got to 0.5%, though, it felt weird on my knees. I always run with a minimum 1% incline, so the 0.5% felt like I was running downhill. I increased it back to 1% for the finish.

And I did it!

I love how uniform these look!

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When I posted about the cookies/brownie a couple of days ago, a few people asked me what I meant by how I calculated PointsPlus by weighing the goods. It's not very scientific ;)  Obviously, those were bigger than "normal" cookies/brownies, so I weighed them to determine the serving size when I looked up cookies/brownies in the Weight Watchers e-Tools.

For example, I weighed the chocolate chip cookie, and it was exactly 4 ounces. So then I looked up "chocolate chip cookies" in the database on WW e-tools (this could be done on calorie counting sites, also, if you count calories instead of PP). Then, where the default serving size is, I switched it to 4 ounces. That listed the PointsPlus value at 14.

Of course, that's not going to be 100% accurate; everybody makes their cookies differently! But because I don't have the recipe that was used for these cookies, I just do the best I can with what I have. It's a good estimate, and since I only eat them at most once a week, it's not going to be a problem when I count my PointsPlus.

I do something similar when I go out to eat at a restaurant where I don't know the PP values of the food. For example, when I go to La Pita, I might have the chicken kabob with rice pilaf, hummus, garlic sauce, and pita bread. I just look up chicken (boneless, skinless) and estimate the portion size (I'm good at estimating, from all the years of calorie/points counting). I look up "rice pilaf" and "hummus" and estimate those as well. The garlic sauce is very similar to mayonnaise, so I just count it as mayonnaise.

For more complex meals at restaurants, with a lot of ingredients, I look up a similar dish at a chain restaurant. For example, if I were to order chicken marsala at a local Italian restaurant, I would just look up chicken marsala at, say, Olive Garden. Again, it's not 100% accurate, but it'll do in a pinch.

Another question I've been asked recently is how I manually calculate my activity PointsPlus earned. At first, I just plugged the exercise into e-Tools, and used the number it gave me. But my heart rate (and calorie burn) was sometimes very different for the same amount of distance or time. For example, one day I might have run three miles, burning 280 calories, and the next day, run three miles, burning just 210 calories. But e-Tools would give me the same amount of PP for each of those, which didn't make sense to me.

I can't, for the life of me, remember where I read this, but I read that to calculate activity PP, you can just take the calories burned and divide by 80. That made much more sense to me, so that's is what I do. I divide my calories burned (based on my heart rate monitor) by 80, and then round UP to the next round number. During today's run, I burned 449 calories; divide that by 80, and it's 5.61. I rounded that up to 6, and counted 6 activity PP. So, I hope that makes sense :)  If you don't use a heart rate monitor, there is nothing wrong with using the e-Tools calculator, however!

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I almost forgot about Taste Test Tuesday again this week! I didn't find anything too exciting at the grocery store this time, but I did see this cereal on Manager's Special, so I picked it up to give it a try:

If you've been reading my blog for a long time, then you know I'm a little obsessed with Cascadian Farm Cinnamon Raisin Granola. It has a million calories per miniscule serving, so I don't buy it very often. But this cereal looked like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and has just 110 calories per serving, so I thought it'd be worth giving it a try.

It's pretty good! It's not as sweet as Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and it's a little denser. But the flavor is a nice cinnamon-sugar flavor. It's not exactly a "health food", but if you're looking for a healthier alternative to the Cinnamon Toast Crunch, this will definitely do the trick. Sometimes I like to have a lower calorie cereal like this (with milk) for an afternoon snack. This one was good!

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Motivational Monday #27

Happy Motivational Monday! I hope you all have done at least one health/fitness-related thing this week that made you feel proud :)  Yesterday, I had an AMAZING long run, and it reminded me of all the great things about running. But I am most proud of the fact that I got a few free baked goods at the local bakery yesterday, and I only ate a portion of them; I gave the rest to the family. That was very tough to do!

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As a child, Ring Pops were one of Amber's favorite candies. The problem was, the ring wouldn't fit on her finger, so she just had to hold it. She's recently lost 65 pounds, and was excited to spot a sugar-free version of Ring Pops at the store. Just out of curiosity, she slipped it on--and it fit!

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After 10 months of hard work, and 65 pounds down, Amy has entered "Onderland"! She's super excited that she is now under the 200 mark.

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Katelyn finished her second triathlon, and she did it with a four minute PR from last year! At the last one, she had to walk some of the running portion, and she'd set a goal to run the whole thing this year--and she did :)  Katelyn also took a big step and rejoined Weight Watchers this week. She'd lost 60 pounds previously, and just recently gained about 15 back. I love what she wrote next: "The only thing scarier to me than going back to Weight Watchers was the thought of gaining back all the rest of the weight." That is definitely something to keep in mind when feeling embarrassed of a gain and feeling scared to go weigh-in!

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Kathy ran a half-marathon with a HUGE PR! She did the same race last year with an average pace of 10:50/mi; this weekend, she finished with a pace of 9:54! Now she's training for the SF Women's Nike Marathon.

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This past January, Lauren and her father decided it was time to lose some weight and start exercising together. Lauren's dad has lost 58 pounds, and she has lost 30! This past weekend (the day before her 33rd birthday), she and her dad ran a 4-mile race together. Lauren's goal was to finish under an hour, and she finished in 50 minutes; her father finished in 42. She's extremely proud of herself and her dad, and is happy that she's setting a great example for her four children.

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Rebecca is in the middle of training for her first marathon--the Chicago Marathon this October. She's a slower runner, and has been very worried about whether she can keep up a sub-15:00 mile, which is required for the race. This weekend, she had to run a half-marathon as part of her training; and she finished with a 14:53 pace!

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Shelley broke her ankle in late May, and was just released to walk/workout on July 2nd. This past Saturday, she (along with her husband and four friends) signed up to walk a 5K. It was their first race ever (and her first since the injury). They all crossed the finish line triumphantly!

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On August 1st, just 6 months after starting her journey, Stacie reached "Onderland"! In the pic on the left, she weighed 257.4 pounds; on the right, she was 199.2. She says that exercise is the easy part for her, and she's now able to run three miles at a time. Her diet has been tougher, but she credits Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and VitaTops to curb her sweet tooth ;)  (Both of those helped me tremendously while I was losing weight, too!)

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Wendy ran a virtual 5K with a couple of coworkers, her husband, and her 11-year old son! When she first started running a couple of years ago, she thought, "When I finish this Couch to 5K program, I'm done running!" Last week, she ran her furthest distance to date: 7 miles :)

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Don't forget to check out the Motivational Monday Facebook post for more stories!

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Monica's treats

I think I'm out of my funk from the last couple of weeks. I've been feeling much better as far as the anxiety and depression goes; and this morning, I felt absolutely fantastic! I got up at 6:30, dressed, drank a little water, and then headed out for my long run (10 miles). Lately, I've been waiting until late morning to run, but I was hoping that running on an empty stomach would make me feel better as I ran. It worked like a charm.

I've been enjoying sticking closer to home on my runs, so rather than doing a 10-mile out-and-back, or driving somewhere, I decided to do the circumference of all four neighborhoods (5 miles total) twice. It was GORGEOUS outside--57 degrees when I headed out at 6:45! It was sunny, but because it was so early, the sun was still low and there was a ton of shade.

Based on last week's long run, I knew I could hold a sub-9:00 pace and keep my heart rate in the correct zone, so that was my goal today. I thought it would be awesome to have all sub-9:00 miles! I haven't done that during a long run in several months.

As soon as I started running, I knew I was going to have a great run. I felt light on my feet, my step was springy, and I just felt really damn good! During the first loop of the neighborhoods, I didn't see anyone outside at all. It was actually really nice to run in such great weather, and just let my mind wander. My pace felt great, and I didn't feel like I was struggling at all. My heart rate was in the middle of Zone 2, which was perfect.

At mile five, the mid-point, I was back in front of my house. As I continued down the street, I debated whether I wanted to do the same loop again, or to do a five-mile out-and-back. The change of scenery won me over, so I chose the out-and-back. I ran out a mile, turned into a neighborhood (where I came across a couple of other people out exercising). When I hit mile 7.5, I turned around and headed home for the last 2.5 miles.

I changed the screen on my Garmin to see my average pace overall, and it was 8:39. I was shocked! To date, my fastest double-digit outdoor long run was an 8:44/mi pace (with the exception of my half-marathon PR in April). I wanted to keep the average pace in the 8:30's (just because I could!), so I picked it up a little for the last mile.

I was so excited to have had such an amazing run this morning! I laid in the grass, and just felt really happy in that moment.

 

Apparently, this heart rate training is paying off! The paces that used to feel pretty tough are feeling easier. It's getting harder to get my heart rate up, which means I'm getting more conditioned. Unfortunately, that also makes my calorie burn lower than I would like.

Next week, my long run jumps up to 15 miles! That is a huge leap, but I imagine it's all part of the Hansons' method of running on tired legs. I did 13 a few weeks ago, so I'm sure I'll be able to tough it out. I'm certainly not expecting my pace to be what it was today, though ;)

After I showered and ate breakfast, I had to run to the store. Our local bakery, Monica's Baker Boy, is nearby, so I stopped in there to get a long run treat. I planned to get a chocolate chip cookie, but once Jerry and I got inside, I couldn't decide what I wanted. There were lots of different kinds of cookies, brownies, and doughnuts. I was pretty sure I wanted a chocolate chip cookie, but then the woman working there (who was SO very nice) told me that some of the brownies had cookies baked into them. I was pretty much sold at that point!

Jerry picked out a doughnut, and we were going to pay, when the woman said, "Do you like coconut? I want you to try these cookies. They're chocolate cookies with a macaroon baked inside." Oh, man. Before I could decline, she gave each of us one of those. Then, after we'd paid, she gave me a chocolate chip cookie, too, because I had been so undecided! She was so nice I couldn't say no. So I wound up with all this loot:

I weighed them when I got home to calculate the PointsPlus in each item. The brownie was 20 PP, the chocolate chip cookie was 14 PP, and the small chocolate macaroon cookie was 5 PP. I had to decide what I was going to do with all of this. I ended up eating about 1/4 of the brownie, 1/2 the chocolate chip cookie, and the whole chocolate cookie. It ended up being 16 PP total. I had earned 11 on my run, so it wasn't exactly an even swap, but since I only get a treat like this once a week, I just used my regular snack PP to make up the difference.

I don't think I will ever lust after a Mrs. Fields cookie again--these goodies were spectacular! And because they are from a local bakery, they tasted homemade and fresh. Next time, though, I will make sure that I only leave with ONE treat. ;)

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Just a reminder, tomorrow is Motivational Monday! If you have a picture of a health/fitness accomplishment from last week that you want to share, you can email it to me (along with a description) at SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com with the subject "Motivational Monday". I may use it on tomorrow's post!

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Rings

I feel like this week has gone by way too fast! Actually, this whole summer is flying by. I can't believe it's August already. Yesterday morning, I had plans of running at the hotel before we came home, but my shoes were still completely soaked from Cedar Point, so I just waited until we got home. I ran five miles on the treadmill.

Renee came over for wine last night. It had been forever since we got together for wine! I bought a bottle several months ago for us to have, and we kept having to reschedule for one reason or another, so it was long overdue. Yesterday felt like the longest day ever, for some reason, so it was nice to unwind and catch up with Renee.

This morning, I made an English muffin with Biscoff Spread for breakfast. I haven't had Biscoff Spread in my house in a very long time. I've been doing really well with staying on track for a few weeks now, so I feel strong enough to have it around. I'm not going to allow myself to have it straight out of the jar, though; that makes it way too easy to eat it all! I used two tablespoons on the English muffin, and it was delicious.

I had six miles on the schedule today, so I headed out after breakfast. Normally, I don't use earphones when I run, but today I really wanted to try to zone out and take it easy, so I brought along my iPod and listened to a Jillian Michaels' podcast. (Once I started running, I wished I hadn't brought it, however; it was more annoying than helpful).

The first couple of miles were rough. I just felt so tired. Ever since I started training by the Hansons' method, I've noticed a trend in my running; the first couple of miles feel really hard, and after that, it feels easier. That was definitely the case today.

A few miles in, a little dog ran out in the road, yapping at me. I stopped, hoping the owner would come out and get the dog. Right then, a car was coming down the road, and the dog ran out in front of the car, causing the driver to stop. I could see her cursing at me through the windshield. Then a woman in the house next to the road started yelling for her dog, so I knew where it belonged.

The driver of the car got out and started to scold me for not having "my" dog on a leash! I told her it wasn't my dog, and the woman at the house was still yelling for the dog to come (the dog had no interest in listening). The two women started bickering at each other a little, so I took that opportunity to continue on my way.

When I got home, I was disappointed to see I'd only burned 441 calories on a 6-mile run. My heart rate was in high-Zone 1/low-Zone 2 the whole time, and it was humid outside (100% humidity this morning). I was expecting to see a number close to 600. I've had this Garmin for a year and a half, and I never changed the battery in the heart rate strap, so I changed it this afternoon to see if that makes a difference. I'll find out tomorrow on my 10-miler.

After lunch, Jerry and I went to a jeweler to get his wedding band resized. He hasn't been able to wear it in a few years because it falls right off of his finger. Since our 10-year anniversary is in a couple of weeks (August 16), we thought it would be a good time to take care of it. While we were there, Jerry asked about getting my rings refinished.

The jeweler asked why I didn't have them soldered together; when he inspected them, he said that because they weren't soldered together, they were rubbing against each other and wearing out the gold. I guess I just never thought of doing it, but it does drive me crazy when my rings twist around. So, I ended up leaving my rings to be soldered and refinished. We'll pick them up next week. It feels so strange not to have them on my finger right now! When Jerry gets his ring back, it will probably feel strange to have it on, because he hasn't worn it in so long.

This feels like it was a hundred years ago

It's kind of funny; through all the ups and downs with my weight, my rings have never been resized. When Jerry and I got engaged, I was probably about 185 pounds. When we got married, I was 160. When I was pregnant with Eli, my weight got all the way up to 271. I wasn't able to take my rings off for several years, because I'd gained so much weight. They wouldn't budge! Now, at 135, my rings are still the same size. The jeweler checked them out today and said they seem like a good fit.

It's not to say that my fingers haven't changed size; they are much slimmer now than they were five years ago! But my rings were WAY too tight then ;)

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Cedar Point

Yesterday morning, Jerry, the kids, and I drove down to Sandusky, Ohio to go to Cedar Point (an enormous amusement park). The weather was perfect--about 75 degrees and mostly sunny. The kids kept talking about how excited they were to go on the rides, but when they saw the enormity of the park, they were really shocked at just how big it was.

We got there at around 10:30, right after they opened, and the park was pretty busy for a Thursday, but not nearly as busy as it gets on weekends. The kids were pretty scared of the rides, so we suggested we go on a roller coaster called The Iron Dragon first; it doesn't go upside-down, and it's not very rough.

When we got to it, we noticed that it was stuck on the track (with people on it), and they'd closed the line. The coaster next to it, called The Mantis, was ALSO stuck on the track (halfway up the first hill). Not looking good for roller coasters! The kids weren't tall enough for the Mantis, anyway, but Jerry and I weren't sure what other coaster we could start them on. Instead, we just started walking toward the back of the park.

We went on the antique cars (the kids were tall enough to drive them). Eli was scared to drive it! The antique cars are the simplest, gentlest ride at the park, so I knew it would be a long day. But I told him he had to try it, and he ended up liking it.

While we were there, we saw a roller coaster called The Mine Ride, and Jerry and I couldn't remember if we'd ever ridden it. It was a level 4 on a "thrill" score of 1-5 (most of the coasters were 5's), so we decided to do that next.

I really wanted the kids to have a good experience on a roller coaster, so that they'd want to try more rides. Well, I wish we'd picked a different one! It was really bumpy and rough. But the kids didn't hate it, so I was happy about that. After that, though, I had no clue about what roller coasters to take them on. We just let the kids choose some smaller rides to go on. Eli saw this octopus-looking ride, where you sit in a little car and the car spins and goes up and down while the entire ride spins. Basically, I was dizzy just looking at it, but I went on it with Noah. He was all smiles at first:

As soon as it started moving, he started saying, "Mama, I don't like this! I don't like this!" and he was panicking. I was trying to talk to him and tell him to just focus on Daddy and Eli in the cart across from us, but he was really upset. After that ride, I knew we were going to have a problem getting him to go on anything!

I saw a ride called the Super Himalaya (level 3) and I thought the kids would like it. Neither of them wanted to try it, but I told them they had to. I said there would be a few rides that I was going to make them go on (ones I knew they'd like and not be too terrified of). I rode with Eli this time, and he loved it!

 

That ride was interesting to me, because I rode it once when I was pretty overweight (maybe 185 lbs or so) and it was a comfortable ride. When I rode it this time, however, my hip bones were hurting really badly, because the ride pushes you against the side and the seat belt was digging into my hip.

We walked back over to The Iron Dragon, and it was working again, so we decided to ride that. The good thing about the older or less "thrilling" coasters is that the line isn't very long. We only had to wait about 15 minutes!

This picture Jerry took in line is totally an optical illusion--the way I'm bending somehow makes me look super skinny! (And yes, that would be my running SPI Belt I'm wearing to hold a few necessities).

I rode with Noah, and Jerry rode with Eli. This roller coaster was a lot of fun, and I loved it; thankfully, Noah did too! Eli said he hated it; go figure. After that, I took them on one of my all-time favorite rides--The Scrambler. When I was a kid (probably 8?) I was terrified to go on ANY of the rides, but my mom forced me to go on The Scrambler. She said she knew I would love it. I cried the whole time we were in line for it, and I really didn't want to do it. The verdict? I loved it! So I wanted to make my kids go on it, too. And, as I knew they would, they both loved it.

After that, it was already around 3:00, and we hadn't even eaten lunch yet. We walked to the car, where we had a cooler with sandwiches. (We managed to avoid all of the food/drinks at the park, which was nice). After we ate, we noticed the sky was getting cloudy. Jerry dramatically announced that it was going to storm, and all the rides would get shut down. I teased him for being too dramatic. Then we all went on the Pirate Ship ride (as lame as some people think it is, I actually really like it). The kids didn't like it.

Noah wanted to go on The Iron Dragon again, but Eli didn't; so I told Jerry he could take Noah, and I would take Eli on The Scrambler and The Matterhorn. While we were in line for The Scrambler, it started raining. First a few sprinkles, then pretty hard. Jerry and Eli showed up, saying that the roller coasters were closed because of the storm (it was lightening and thundering by that point). We all rode The Scrambler in the pouring rain.

Then we went to The Matterhorn, which is under a tent. We waited in line for about 15 minutes, just at the edge of the tent, watching the rain:

A few minutes after I took this pic, it was announced that the ride was closing. After that, ALL of the rides were closed! We were completely drenched, so there was no point in trying to avoid the rain. What happened next was like it was out of a movie.

We made the decision to leave the park and go to the hotel (we were pretty much done anyway). To have some fun, we started running through the rain, which was a total downpour; I can't even describe how hard it was raining! The water at our feet was getting deeper and deeper, and soon, it was up PAST my ankles. At some points, it went up to the middle of my calf. The entire park was like a big lake!

We kept running toward the parking lot, and laughing in the rain. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Once we got in the parking lot, the water was even deeper--up to the middle of cars' tires. I couldn't keep my eyes open as we waded through the water. By the time we got to the car, it was much shallower (about halfway up my shoe), but we were all 100% drenched. I was worried about the seats of the car getting so wet, but we didn't really have a choice.

I was bummed because I'd only brought one pair of shoes with me (the ones I was wearing, and they were a retired pair of running shoes--very absorbent). Thankfully, Jerry and I had our phones in plastic baggies, because we'd planned to go on a couple of water rides. The phones were okay. I wish I'd been able to take pictures of the flooding, but I didn't want to ruin my phone, obviously.

We made it to the hotel, and my feet were squishing all the way to our room. We ordered pizza in the room, because we didn't have dry shoes to go out! There was a local place that had a pulled pork pizza, and it was SO good. I should have taken pictures, but I was starving. The kids swam in the pool for a while, and Jerry and I had a relaxing evening. It was a good day!

I'm glad we took the kids to Cedar Point, but I don't think I'd take them again until they are old enough to enjoy the rides. They were scared of most of them. I really wanted to ride my favorite roller coaster while we were there (The Raptor), but we all stuck together. Jerry and I are talking about going to back (just the two of us) in the fall, so we can ride more stuff. But I'm really proud of the kids for trying a few rides that they were scared of. It was a fun day, even with the rain!

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