New PointsPlus target

We had a really nice morning for a run today. It actually wasn't too humid when I headed out at 7:00. Again, I had 30-minutes (which I just translate to 3 miles, because I prefer to run for distance rather than time) on the schedule. I'm still doing the 1:00-run and 0:30-walk intervals. I think next week, I may increase the running segments just a tad.

The blackbirds seem to be extra abundant this spring! I can't really find a route that avoids them, unfortunately. Today, I did an out-and-back route on a fairly busy road, so I hoped that the cars would deter the birds. I was dive-bombed a couple of times, and then they were circling above me for what felt like MILES (it was more like a quarter mile, haha). That's the worst--when you can hear them squawking over your head, but you can't see them. I always imagine them right there, ready to start pecking into my skull.

On the way back home, I they wouldn't leave me alone, so I ran right through my walk segment, and through the next running segment--which meant I ran for 2:30 straight. That should be easy for me, but it was hard! I never expected getting back into shape after this injury would be so difficult. My cardio system feels like it did when I was around 200 pounds. I hope that it improves quickly with consistent training.

My pace was slower today, because I definitely enjoy the run more when I'm not pushing so hard. It was still tough, but my running pace was easier (9:30-10:00/mi instead of 9:00-9:30).

I need to get a new battery for my heart rate monitor. Actually, I have the battery--I just don't have a teeny tiny screwdriver to get the old battery out! I haven't been wearing it the last few runs because the battery is totally dead, so I have no idea if my cardio is improving. 

I took a quick shower and then drove the boys to their football camp. After dropping them off, I went to my Weight Watchers meeting. After another fraction of a pound lost, I told Brenda I was getting frustrated with how slowly the weight is coming off this time around. I'm doing everything just the same as before, but it's not working like it did before. I can only guess that it's my age? When I was in my 20's, I would always hear older women complain about how it gets so much harder to lose weight as you get older, and I never really believed them. Ha! 

Brenda told me that she wants me to increase my daily PointsPlus target to 29 (it was 26 before), and she wants me to get the extra 3 PP from protein. I have no idea if it will work, but I'm going to give it a try this week. I'm not a huge fan of meat (I eat a little if it's mixed in with something), and I really despise yogurt, so my protein options are pretty limited to eggs, cheese and maybe smoothies with milk. Conveniently, 1 Tbsp. of peanut butter counts as protein, and it's 3 PointsPlus. I would be thrilled to eat an extra tablespoon of peanut butter every day! ;) 

I noticed right away that there was a guy working behind the reception desk--I've never seen a male receptionist at Weight Watchers! It was really refreshing, actually. He came into the meeting to hand something to Brenda, and she introduced him as Jeff, who was training to be a Weight Watchers coach. He's lost 100 pounds, and he's training for the Chicago Marathon. My ears perked right up when I heard that he runs, because that's a topic that nobody shares interest with me in my meeting (my meeting is mostly women in their 60's). He's a former Marine, and said he's in better shape now than when he was in active duty!

After the meeting, I stopped to chat with Jeff for a minute, and he said he's running Chicago for charity, and he's raising money for ALZ Stars Alzheimer's Association. My grandma died of Alzheimer's, and I know what a terrible disease it is, so I asked him how I could donate. Anyway, it'll be fun to have a male at our meeting center, and someone who understands running!

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When I mentioned the Arctic Zero "ice cream" here before, several people suggested that I try the Yasso frozen yogurt bars. They were pretty expensive, so I didn't buy any, but today they were on sale, so I got some of the cookie dough ones. I ate one after dinner, and it was SO good!! I had always been turned off by the "frozen Greek yogurt" phrase, because I hate yogurt (especially Greek yogurt), but these bars taste nothing like yogurt. The cookie dough chunks were delicious! It was pretty small, but for 100 calories, that's what I expected. A very yummy treat! So thanks for the suggestion :)

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Jurassic World

Yesterday's run ended up going really well! I did a three mile run/walk at the same 1:00/0:30 ratio, and didn't have any issues with my stress fracture. The first couple of miles were uneventful, but then during the third mile, things got a little exciting.

First, I encountered a dog. When I was running past a house, this dog came running off the porch and into the street, barking at me. (Before getting Joey, this would have terrified me... but I'm getting much better at reading dogs' body language, and I don't think this dog wanted to attack me. I was surprisingly really calm.)

I felt bad for him, actually. He was missing a lot of fur down the center of his back and by his tail, and it looked like he was full of fleas. I started yelling at the house, "Hello?!" but nobody came out (there were three cars in the driveway). I had my cell, so I called Animal Control, but they weren't open yet. Finally, the dog went back to the porch and kept barking at the door, like he wanted to be let in, so I just continued running.

A half-mile later, I was just about to start a walk portion, when a blackbird dive-bombed my head. I started flailing my arms above my head to deter it, and even though I was dying to start walking, I ran through my walk break to get away from the bird (it came back for two more dives--those birds are mean!)

When I got to my street, I saw a little crayfish in the middle of the street, and as I passed, it raised its claws up like it was waving me down (like this picture below--I should have taken a picture of it, but didn't think of it at the time)...

photo source

I turned around to move it, because I didn't want it to get run over by a car. I kept trying to pick it up, but it was obviously pissed off at me and kept trying to pinch me. Finally, I just scooped it up and tossed it gently over the dike into the marsh, where I'm sure it came from.

I finally finished the adventurous last mile, and was pouring sweat when I was done. This humidity is killer!

It wasn't raining, despite how it looks in the picture. Rain would have been welcome! But it's just permanently wet, since we've had rain every day for about six weeks now.

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This morning, I had to take the kids to football camp at the school. Once I dropped them off, I took Joey to Lucky Puppy. Then I went back to the school to meet up with Jessica. Her boys were doing the football camp too, so we decided to go for a walk while we waited for them to finish up. We walked for about 30 minutes.

Jerry met us at the school after the boys were finished, and the four of us went to the mall to see Jurassic World. I loved the Jurassic Park movies, and Jerry and I were super psyched to see this one! The kids saw the Jurassic Park movies, too, so I figured it would be fun for all of us to go see a matinee together (we tried to go yesterday, but it was sold out).

I guess I figured wrong... halfway through the movie, Eli said it was too scary, and he didn't want to watch any more of it. I told Jerry to stay with Noah, and I took Eli out into the mall. We walked around for a bit, and I got him a cookie from Mrs. Fields (I didn't get anything! That was tough.). I didn't want him to feel bad for leaving, so I didn't make a big deal about it, but I was super bummed to miss the second half of the movie!

After the movie, we all went home, and my dad called to invite the kids over. Since I had to go pick up Joey in a little while anyways, I decided to go back to the movies by myself to watch the whole thing before getting Joey. I packed some grapes and dried cherries to snack on during the movie, and it was actually really nice to go by myself. The movie was fantastic! Just as good, if not better, than the others.

I picked up Joey from Lucky Puppy, and he was totally drained. He was asleep before we got to the end of the road.

I stopped at my parents' house to pick up the kids, and they wanted Joey to play in the lake with them. Even though he was tired, he couldn't resist more time in the water.

It's so cute to watch the kids with Joey. Eli, particularly, loves to play with and "train" Joey. It's now 8:30 pm, and I'm just settling down for the evening. It's been a busy day!

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Motivational Monday #111

Happy Motivational Monday #111! I'm not sure why, but I love the number 11--and any time I see a bunch of number 1's together, it's even better. My official 10K time for the Runner's World 10K was 1:11:11--that was more exciting than a PR ;)

This week, I am proud of myself for staying binge-free, and continuing to stay on track with Weight Watchers. It's also been extremely humid outside, but I've still gone out and done my run/walks. Honestly, I don't think there is anything I would change about the week (things in my control, anyway)!

I only got a few submissions for Motivational Monday, so it'll be another short and sweet one. Enjoy!

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This is my very lovely friend Paige, from Idaho, who is one of my Sole Mates from Ragnar SoCal. Every year she and her best friend travel to Seattle to run a half marathon. They made it a tradition after Paige lost 130 pounds! Each year, they put a lot of thought into the shirts that they wear on race day. This year, they each have a loved one who is fighting cancer, so they made shirts to reflect that they are running for those who can't--in honor of Elena and Leana. 

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About six weeks ago, Virginia started her weight loss journey. She's down 11.8 pounds so far, and she says that she is extremely motivated by her Garmin. She's been using it for about a month now, and has brought her pace from 18:12/mile to 16:05/mile! Seeing those numbers improve has pushed her to keep going, and she hopes to continue to get faster. 

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I just mentioned how I love the number 111, and it's MM post #111, so it's only fitting that Jill's story began when she set out to lose 111 pounds, starting January 5th. Last Friday, she hit a big milestone--she made it to the halfway mark, having lost 56.6 pounds so far! The following day, she celebrated by running her first 5K in six years! The photo on the left was taken in November 2014, and the right was taken on Saturday. She hopes to reach her goal weight by the end of the year--and she's well on her way! 

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Congratulations on your accomplishments, ladies! And thanks for the motivation :)

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Kidney infection

After my run on Friday, I had a really painful cramp in my right side. It didn't feel like it was something related to running, but I just figured it would go away in a few hours. It was strong enough to where I was uncomfortable moving around a lot, so I laid on the couch and watched a movie with the kids.

After the movie, the pain got so bad that I was moaning and I couldn't concentrate on anything. I kept trying to shift positions, but nothing was helping. By early afternoon, I was in so much pain that I was crying. I considered go to the emergency room, but it seemed like an overreaction to a cramp in my side. My kids were going to be staying the night at my parents' house, so I decided that if it still hurt after they left, then I'd decide what to do.

At around 6:30, I couldn't take it anymore. Instead of going to the ER, I went to the Urgent Care clinic (it's cheaper, and I figured this wasn't really an "emergency" situation). From what I read online, I was guessing it was a kidney stone--but I didn't have any other symptoms, so I wasn't sure.

I had to wait about 30 minutes to see the doctor, and after a urine test, he told me that I have a kidney infection! I was really surprised, because I had no symptoms other than the (severe) pain. He prescribed antibiotics and a pain reliever (Tylenol 3). Unfortunately, the Tylenol 3 did absolutely nothing for the pain, so I was pretty miserable all night and for a lot of the day yesterday. It was so hard to get comfortable while lying down, so I ended up taking Joey for a walk to hopefully distract me.

I know that antibiotics have a tendency to make me retain water, but I was still shocked to see that I gained five pounds overnight! I ate well yesterday, and haven't binged or gone over my points at all, so I'm sure it has to be from the medication. Still, it sucked to see the scale shoot up like that, after I've worked so hard for the past month to lose weight. I hope that after I finish the antibiotics, it'll drop off just as fast.

We've been having a crazy amount of rain and thunderstorms for the past month or two. I can't even remember the last day that it didn't rain at some point! I actually really like storms, so it doesn't bother me, though. This morning, after the rain stopped, Eli asked me to go for a bike ride with him. It was extremely humid (82 degrees with a "real feel" of 96 due to the humidity!), but he never asks to do that, so I said sure.

Noah came with us, and we rode bikes around the neighborhood. I haven't ridden my bike recently, and going out today really made me want to start doing it again. Actually, I have to, because I signed up for that 30-mile bike ride in Detroit this September! Since I can only run three days per week, it's a good time to throw in a little biking. I'm going to aim for once a week, probably on Sunday mornings.

Last night, I decided to try this wet hair technique for curly hair, called "plopping". My mom sent me a link to a video, and just for the heck of it, I decided to try it out last night. After showering, you put your normal product in your hair (I just use a spray gel) and then you turn your head upside down and "plop" your curls onto a big t-shirt. Then you wrap the t-shirt around your head in a way that keeps your curls plopped up on top. And you sleep that way! Then, in the morning, your curls are frizz-free and looking fresh.

Lying in bed with my t-shirt turban

All was fun and games until Phoebe sneaked out of the house, and I had to run outside trying to catch her--in my pajamas with a turban on my head.

Sleeping with it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, surprisingly. I didn't like how it felt when the shirt was covering my ears, so I put it up a little higher. When I woke up and took off the shirt, my hair looked pretty good! It was dry and curly, and really soft. I should have taken a picture, but I went outside to ride bikes with Eli, and my hair frizzed right out in the humidity that we have going on.

Here is the video that I watched, if anyone is interested:


Tomorrow, I'm supposed to run/walk 30 minutes, so I'm anxious to see how that goes. If I have any pain at all, I'll have to stop right away and just wait until I see the physical therapist again. I'm hoping that what happened on Friday won't happen again. I haven't had any sort of pain, or even a small twinge, since then, so it's looking good so far.

Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday! If you have a photo of an accomplishment you'd like to share, here is how you can submit it.

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Pacing the run/walk method

Today was my long run, and considering this is only week one of training, I had four miles scheduled. I planned to do the same run/walk intervals I've been doing this week (60 second run/30 second walk), but I wanted to slow down my pace. According to Jeff Galloway, the long run should be done really slowly, and not leave you feeling winded at the end of it.

I decided to aim for an overall pace of about 11:45. According to the pace calculator, that meant I should run at approximately a 10:22/mi pace.

It's really difficult to shoot for a particular pace when doing the run/walk method. To hit your pace goal, not only do you have to run at a particular pace; you have to walk at a particular pace as well. I assumed I'd be walking at about a 15- or 16-minute mile pace, but when I look at the data from my Garmin, my pace usually dips down to about 12:00-13:00 before I start running again.

The biggest problem with using the Garmin for pacing during the run/walk method is that the "current pace" lags by about 10-15 seconds. When I run (without walk breaks), I don't use the current pace function; I just use the lap pace (mile pace) because it's more accurate to hit a particular goal. While doing the run/walk, I can't tell what my pace actually is for the first 15 seconds of each interval, which makes it difficult. As of right now, though, I don't really have a time goal, because I'm still trying to figure all this out. All I'm focused on is being able to run again and stay injury-free.

Anyway, I headed out for the four-mile run/walk, and reducing the pace a bit on the running segments made it much more enjoyable. I was running at an easy pace for the run segments, and walking briskly for the walk segments, and I felt really good. At around mile 3.4, the road curved to the left and there was a bridge there, so it inclined a little, too. As I was running that curve, I felt a pain in my leg where my stress fracture was.

Per my physical therapist's orders, I stopped running immediately and started walking. It felt okay when I was walking. I decided to try running a few steps, to see if it was maybe just the curve of the road that caused the pain. On the next run segment, I ran a few steps and the pain was still there, so I stopped my Garmin and walked the rest of the way home. I'm really bummed that I couldn't finish out the four miles, but I don't want to take any chances of the stress fracture recurring.

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I spent a lot of time yesterday working on some travel plans for July. As part of the program with Prudential, I was asked me to be on a panel at the BlogHer conferences in New York City. I'm terrified of speaking in front of people, but I've done it before when needed, so I hope I'll do okay. I've had some really great experiences in my life when stepping out of my comfort zone, and I hope this will just add to that list.

Anyway, I'm super excited because Jerry is going with me! I've been to NYC three times: once when I was 16, and I don't remember much at all from that trip; once for The Dr. Oz Show, where I was only there 24 hours and didn't have much free time; and last year, when I went for a Purina event (I tried to go to Central Park for a run, and got lost). Traveling there alone is tough, because I'm terrible at navigating, and public transportation is scary to me (remember Chicago? hahaha!).

Jerry has never been to NYC, and when I was looking at flights yesterday, I realized that I had just enough sky miles to cover a ticket for him to come along with me (the ticket was 25,000 miles, and I had 25,250--perfect). We're going to arrive early Friday morning (on the 17th), and stay until Sunday morning. So it's going to be a super short trip, and I'll be doing the conference on Saturday, but I'm really glad that Jerry will be able to check out the city and keep me company. He's going to go to a Yankees game while I do the Prudential panel, so it'll work out perfectly ;)

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Finally, I just have to share this photo. Joey's doggy daycare, Lucky Puppy, sent me this in my email. I love that I get to see pictures of what he does while he's there! No wonder he's so tired when he gets home on Tuesdays ;)

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Summer break begins

I had a super busy day yesterday! I sat down last night at 8:45 pm to start writing a post, and then just decided to wait until today, because I was pretty exhausted.

Yesterday was the kids' last day of school--a half day. Also, Wednesday mornings are my Weight Watchers meetings, so I wanted to get in my run before going to my meeting. Again, I had a 30-minute run/walk on the schedule, and I decided to stick with the 60 second run/30 second walk ratio. It was unexpectedly challenging on Monday, and my legs were really sore ever since (likely due to not running for so long).

I did the same routine as last time--walked for 90 seconds just to start, and then went into the 60 sec run/30 sec walk. It felt just as challenging yesterday as it did Monday, if not more so, because I was so sore! I'm not complaining about it--it actually feels really good to push myself again. It's just odd that running for 60 seconds at a 9:00-9:30 pace feels that hard.

My first mile was pretty slow compared to Monday's run, but then I ended up with negative splits somehow. I definitely felt like I slowed down a lot as the run progressed, but according to the numbers, I sped up a little. I was exhausted when I was done! I hope that I get back into shape quickly, and it doesn't feel so hard. Tomorrow is my long run, and I am going to run much slower (per Galloway's instructions).

Run 1:00/Walk 0:30

After my run, I took a quick shower and ate breakfast, then headed to Weight Watchers. I already knew that my weigh in wasn't going to be exciting--again, I lost less than a pound--but I am happy that it's the fifth week in a row of losses. It's getting easier to stay on track now that I have a streak I want to maintain. I just have to make it through tomorrow, and it will be the longest binge-free streak in at least a year and a half.

At the meeting, Glenda had some quotes written up on the board, and she asked for volunteers to read the one that we found most meaningful to us. I ended up reading this one:

"Movement is a medicine for a change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental health." --Carol Welch

I explained that I chose that quote because I'm a runner, and having been injured for six months, I haven't been able to run. It changed my mood dramatically (and not for the better!). I never realized just how much my mood was affected by my running until I wasn't able to run for so long. The past few days, since I've been able to run again, I've been much more pleasant. It's really remarkable how exercise has that ability!

I had to leave right from the meeting to go pick up Noah and his friend from school. I told Noah and Eli they could each invite a friend to come over and celebrate the start of summer vacation. After picking them up, I only had about 30 minutes before I had to pick up Eli and his friend. By noon, I had five excited boys at my house (Eli has a classmate who lives down the street, and he came over too). I had already planned for chaos, and just kept telling myself to "let boys be boys".

It was hot outside yesterday--90 degrees--and the kids were complaining of the heat. They wanted to come inside to play video games. I let them for a little while, but then I remembered I had a Slip n Slide tucked away in the closet from a few years ago. Jerry and I set that up in the backyard, and after a little coaxing, the boys gave it a try. They had a blast! They ended up playing on it for a couple of hours, and it was a great way to cool off on a hot day. Jerry had as much fun as they did ;) If I hadn't already done my hair and make-up, I would have tried it out, too!

 (I'm not sure I could nail that landing like Jerry did, though! ha)

I ordered pizza for the kids for dinner, because I don't even know how to cook for so many boys, but I ended up making a fish sandwich for myself. Pizza isn't too bad as far as PointsPlus go--about 6-8 per slice--but I like to eat at least 2-3 slices, and that adds up! So I'd rather save it for a special occasion or a big pizza craving.

At around 6:15, a couple of the kids went home. Jerry had a softball game, so he was gone. I had to take Noah and Eli to their baseball game, and I brought Eli's friend with us (he wanted to watch the game, too). My parents met us there, as well as Jerry after his game, and we sat to watch the boys' game. They each did great! Noah hit a double (one RBI) and pitched two innings. Eli had what would have been an awesome hit if the third baseman hadn't snagged the ball out of the air as it flew by his head ;)

The kids were winning in the fifth inning (they play just six innings) and it started lightening, so the rest of the game was forfeited, and our team won. We took Eli's friend home, and then got home at around 8:40. The four of us sat down to watch Naked and Afraid (we always get excited to watch a new episode, haha). The boys were thrilled that they could stay up late, because they didn't have school today, but by 9:30, they were out like lights.

At around midnight, we had a terrible storm. It started hailing really loudly (I was half-asleep, but the noise of the hail woke me right up); and the wind and rain was the worst I've seen since the tornado we had in 2010. A tree across the street snapped in half and fell across our road. Today, Jerry and I (and the kids) went out and started pulling the branches apart and tossing them over the dike. Who knows how long it would have sat there if we didn't!

Jerry and I were glued to the windows watching the storm, but it only lasted about 15 minutes. It's been a very stormy/rainy spring so far! I really like thunderstorms and rain, so it's been kind of fun  for me :)

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Stress fracture summary and first day of marathon training

Yesterday was the first day of Detroit Marathon training. The race is 18 weeks away, and I was really concerned about not being able to train for it due to my stress fracture. Here is a recap of the whole injury:

December 7: I ran 12 miles, and I was sure I had tendonitis afterward. My foot and ankle area was really painful during the last half of the run. Took a couple of days off.

December 14: Santa Hustle Half Marathon. Everything felt fine until around mile 6 or 7 of the race. It started with that same "tendonitis" pain. The road was really slanted, and that made the pain worse. I was limping for the last three miles of the race, and hobbled across the finish line. My leg hurt from my foot to my hip. I took five days off afterward.

December 21-January 4: Continued to run (about 3-4 miles each time), just taking it easy on my leg, still thinking I had tendonitis. The pain wasn't bad, and it just felt like a mild soreness, particularly on my calf.

January 4: Ran 5 miles and definitely felt the pain getting worse. Decided to take time off and wait until the pain was gone completely before starting to run again. I started doing deep water running, which has zero impact, so it was safe to do while my leg healed.

February 3: Still having pain, so decided to go to a podiatrist to rule out something serious, like a stress fracture. X-ray showed that it was a stress fracture in my lower left fibula. I was really surprised! I assumed a stress fracture would keep me from walking, but I only had pain when running or jumping. Doctor said no running until the pain is gone, and sent me on my way.

February 23: Eleven weeks after the initial pain, I went for a 3-mile run. Felt a couple of normal twinges, but no pain at all.

February 23-April 9: Continued to run, following an easy half-marathon training schedule for the Indy Mini. No problems at all, and even the twinges went away. Felt back to normal.

April 9: Started a five-mile run on the treadmill. About 20 steps in, I felt a sharp pain where the stress fracture was. I assumed it was just another twinge from the healing process (or maybe I was just in denial) and I finished out the five miles. But I made an appointment with a sports medicine orthopedist the follow day.

April 10: Saw Dr. Shehab, who ordered x-rays and a bone scan. He told me not to run until I didn't have any pain. He suggested doing more low-impact exercises to stay in shape, and if I wanted, I could run the Indy Mini. But no running until then. He also ordered a gait analysis with a physical therapist.

April 15: Had a bone scan, which is much more involved than a simple x-ray. The bone scan confirmed that I had another stress fracture.

April 26: I decided to attempt the marathon relay leg of the Glass City Marathon, knowing that if I couldn't do that, there was no way I could do the Indy Mini the following weekend. I made it through the six-mile leg of the relay, but was in pain afterward. Decided not to do Indy. Still no running.

May 6: Went for a gait analysis with Dave Tomsich. He determined that my left side (particularly my hip) is very weak, which causes my gait to be asymmetrical. I underpronate (supinate), which isn't good. My knee also buckles inward on the left side, which puts pressure on the fibula. The goal with physical therapy is to strengthen my left side so that I am symmetrical when I run and walk.

May 6-current: Seeing Dave every two weeks for physical therapy. He gives me exercises to do at home, which I've been working on. On Thursday, he told me that I could go ahead and start training for Detroit, with a few stipulations: I can't run two days in a row, I have to run/walk, and if I have pain, I need to stop.

Which brings me to yesterday--the first day of Detroit Marathon training.

My original plan was to do the Hansons Marathon Method again. I used that plan to train for Chicago, and it was AWESOME. I felt fantastic and stayed injury free. However, after the stress fracture, I knew that wouldn't be the right plan for me. It requires 40-50 miles per week of running, and since I haven't run much in the last six months, I knew that many miles would do more harm than good.

Coming off of a stress fracture, I decided that the best plan would be Jeff Galloway's run/walk method: completing the entire distance by doing a particular ratio of running and walking. The problem is, Jeff Galloway's plan is 30 weeks long, and I have 18 weeks until race day. When I was at the book store recently, I was flipping through his marathon training book, and he actually mentions training for a marathon with much less than 30 weeks notice. He said a seasoned runner could even do a marathon using his method with just six weeks notice.

I ultimately decided to follow his basic plan, but to change the long runs to build up faster. It's actually pretty simple:

Monday- 30 minute run/walk
Wednesday- 30 minute run/walk
Thursday- easy walk
Friday- long run/walk (his plan builds up to 26 miles, but he said that isn't necessary; I've modified mine to 22).

This plan is basically the complete opposite of Hansons, which makes me nervous! But, I'm going to give it a good honest try and see what happens. Because I'll be doing the run/walk method, I think I'll have the best chance of avoiding injury (as long as I don't do too much, and since this has just three runs per week, it's the minimum required for a marathon). I also plan to continue my strength exercises to keep from getting injured again, of course.

For the marathon, my ideal ratio of running to walking is a two-minute run followed by a thirty-second walk. To ease back into running, though, I decided to go with a one-minute run and thirty-second walk yesterday for my first training run. I'll add a little running each week until I hit two minutes.

My first run/walk went really well! I started by walking for 90 seconds, and then I went into the 60 second run and 30 second walk routine. I was very surprised at how hard it felt--I've gotten SO out of shape the last six months. The running portions seemed like they lasted forever, but the walking segments flew by. My heart rate was much higher than it used to be when I was running (even at a hard pace).

It was fun to look at the stats when I was done, though. I downloaded a new app that has more information, charts, and graphs than I would know what to do with; but I love looking at all the numbers. (The app is called ConnectStats, and if you're a data nerd like I am, you'll love it! It's an iPhone/iPad activity viewer for Garmin Connect or Strava)

I love the heart rate chart--you can see exactly where each of my run/walk intervals were. Anyway, I won't post all that info for each run I do, but I was just impressed with all the data available--it has much more than Garmin Connect has.

Over all, I am very happy with how the run/walk went. My leg didn't give me any issues, which was most important. And it was a much harder workout than I expected it to be! I like that I was only focused on each minute, rather than the run as a whole. I'm actually looking forward to marathon training with the Galloway method!

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Motivational Monday #110

Happy Motivational Monday, Friends! I'm feeling super motivated lately, and today was just what I needed to keep it going--I got to run today! It was my first day of training for the Detroit Marathon, and I will spoil the ending by saying that it went really well. I'll write more about it tomorrow :)

This week, I am very proud of myself for sticking with Weight Watchers for another week. Today marks Day 20 of being binge-free and 100% on plan with WW. Each day that goes by motivates me more and more to keep that streak going! My longest streak since early 2014 is only 24 days, so I want to beat that... and then continue on and hopefully set some new streak records ;) 

I'm not used to the weight coming off quite this slowly, but I'm happy that it's still coming off. In the past, losing two pounds a week was pretty normal, but now it's only been a fraction of a pound each week. It was discouraging at first, but now I'm feeling so much better physically (for being on track), and those little fractions will add up eventually! For now, I'm proud that I've been sticking with it no matter what happens.

This will be a short (but great!) Motivational Monday today. Just a couple of submissions... enjoy!

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Kat emailed me regarding her friend, Carole. She's very proud of Carole's accomplishments! I'll leave it in Kat's own words:

"I am writing again to boast of my best friend, Carole's, accomplishment.  I wrote you a couple of years ago about her participation in the Race for Hope 5k (a race to support those with brain tumors), which we started running after her 2 brain surgeries the previous 2 years in a row.  This year we couldn't do it because Carole was out of town for work; so instead she signed up for her first ever triathlon.  She started teaching herself how to swim freestyle again (she learned in college) in January, at first only being able to complete 2 lengths.  She worked up to the full 8 lengths in 6 minutes + the 8 mile bike ride + the 2 mile run at the Ramblin Rose Triathlon in Charlotte, NC on Sunday.  I am so excited/proud/happy for all the hardwork that she put in for this HUGE accomplishment.  I think the picture says it all."

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In January of last year, Melisa decided to enter her 40’s healthy and running again: she lost over 20 pounds and started training for another marathon (something she had abandoned doing years ago). Then, in June, she learned that she would need a full hysterectomy. It was a very depressing time of sadness (and weight gain during recovery) but in September, after turning 40, she decided to try again. She has since lost that pesky 20 pounds, and has gone on to run 3 marathons (for a total of 10!). She has a goal of completing 50 marathons by age 50! (Melisa's (very entertaining) blog)

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Congratulations Melisa and Carole! For more stories, and to share your own accomplishments, you can check out the Motivational Monday Facebook post.

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Weekend recap

This weekend has gone by crazy-fast! It kind of feels like it's already summer vacation for the kids, but they still have two and a half more days of school. They each had sleepovers with friends on Friday night, and then they were invited to a birthday party sleepover on Saturday night. I told them they had to hang out with Jerry and me today, because we hadn't seen them all weekend ;)

On Friday night, Jerry and I decided to have a date night since the kids would be gone for the evening. We were thinking about driving up to Detroit to go to dinner, but it was totally overwhelming trying to pick a place to go. I was reading Yelp reviews, which are usually people either ranting or raving about a place. It's also hard to choose a place to eat out when I'm on Weight Watchers--theoretically, I could order whatever I want and just estimate the PointsPlus in it; but I didn't want to use up all of my weekly PointsPlus on one meal. It's hard to make healthy AND enjoyable choices when dining out for pleasure, because most of the foods I love aren't very healthy at all.

Eventually, we decided to nix the Detroit idea and just go to Panera (which is "safe" on Weight Watchers and I actually really love their food). I ordered the You Pick Two soup and salad: Cheddar Broccoli Soup and Asian Sesame Chicken Salad.

With the 2 oz. baguette portion, it ended up being 17 PointsPlus--more than I typically spend on dinner, but it was so good and very filling.

We went to the movies after dinner to see San Andreas. We both love those end-of-the-world type movies, and this one was just as I expected: a nail-biter, corny at times, and very predictable. I loved it! The Rock wasn't too hard on the eyes, either ;)

On Saturday afternoon, Eli had a horseback riding lesson. My mom got a deal on Groupon for two lessons, and that's what she gave Eli for his birthday. Jerry and I didn't have plans, so we tagged along with my mom (and brought Noah, too) to take Eli to his lesson. This was his first time on a horse, and he loved it! He looked so adorable.

After his lesson, the kids came home and then went to the sleepover. Today, I could tell they were pretty tired from all the activities over a couple of days. Noah has been asking to go to Trader Joe's for a couple of months now, so we finally decided to go up to Ann Arbor (the nearest Trader Joe's) which is about 45 minutes away. The kids fell asleep in the car on the way.

We didn't buy much at Trader Joe's. I wanted to buy pretty much all the sweets they had in the store, including the entire shelf of Cookie Butter, but I resisted. Eli got some snacks for his class tomorrow, because they're having a picnic outside, and Noah got what he wanted (some sour cream and onion corn puffs--that's why we drove 45 minutes to Trader Joe's! Hahaha). After that, we went to Barnes & Noble to browse around for a little while (we don't have a bookstore near us, so the kids love to go to them when we are out). I bought a couple of books about running.

On the way home, we stopped at Redbox so that we could get the movie McFarland U.S.A. to watch tonight. My parents saw it and thought it was a really cute movie that I (and the kids) would like. So we're going to have a family movie night. We're supposed to have another thunderstorm, so it'll be a good evening for a movie!

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Stress fracture update

Yesterday was my physical therapy appointment. Marathon training for Detroit is supposed to start on Monday, which will be 18-weeks out from the race, and I was really hoping for good news about my stress fracture. I want to start training, even if it's just very slowly easing my way back to running.

When I got there, I talked to Dave (the PT) about some of the symptoms I'm having (twinges where the stress fracture is when I move certain ways) and he explained that it's normal--I will feel that as it's healing. That happened before, so I know the difference between that twinge and actual pain.

He gave me a couple of new exercises to add to my routine, to hopefully strengthen my left side some more (it's still quite a bit weaker than the right side). We also talked about the marathon. He would prefer that I switch to the half-marathon, but I told him how important it is to me to do the full (Thomas is coming out here from Portland to run it with me), and he gave me the go-ahead.

I can start training on Monday, with a couple of rules--I cannot run two days in a row (I have to have at least one day of rest in between); I have to do a run/walk; and if I feel pain (not the normal twinges, but real pain) then I have to stop completely. If I feel any sort of pain that causes me to alter my gait or limp, then I need to stop running.

I'm going to take those stipulations very seriously. For now, I plan to follow a modified version of Jeff Galloway's marathon training plan. His plan calls for two 30-minute run/walks plus one long run/walk per week. His plan builds up the long runs very gradually over 30 weeks, but since I have just 18 weeks, I'm going to have to modify that part. Galloway's plan builds up to 26 miles in training, and I don't think I'll be able to do that--I'll be lucky to get up to 20. So, I hope that this run/walk method helps to keep me from getting injured again!

My plan for the marathon (if all goes well) is to run 2 minutes, and walk 30 seconds (and repeat for over four hours... yikes!). I'm certainly not counting on it, but there is still a tiny chance that I could PR the race this way. I would have to run at an 8:56 pace for each 2-minute segment, and walk at a 15:00 pace for each 30-second segment to finish in 4:15. I think that's definitely do-able, if I don't have any more problems with this injury! But even if I can't PR, I'll be grateful to just finish.

(Thomas showed me this awesome walk/run calculator... it will tell you what pace you have to do the running portions to hit a certain time goal. You input your walking pace, your ratio of running to walking, and what overall pace you want, and it will give you the running pace you need for those segments. I spent two days trying to come up with a formula to do this very thing, and when I asked Thomas for help, he told me it already exists--haha!)

I can't really make running plans beyond Monday, because I have no idea what's going to happen when I attempt to run/walk. I kind of forget what it's like to be a runner! ;) I'm looking forward to trying the Galloway method, though. I think it'll make the miles go by fast, because I'll be focused on just two minutes at a time. I think to start with, I am going to aim for a 1:1 ratio of running to walking (one minute each) for 30 minutes. If that feels okay, I may increase the running a touch and decrease the walking.

It was interesting to talk to Dave about running injuries. He said the people who are most likely to get injured are people who have been injured before. The knee injuries I had in 2012 could have thrown off my gait which eventually caused this stress fracture (there is no way to know for sure, but that's one theory).

We also talked a lot about shoes, because I'd sent him a link to my interview with Golden. He basically repeated what Golden told me: shoes are usually the first thing people blame when things go wrong, and the first thing people praise when things go well. Dave said that the shoes really don't matter as much as people think they do, and that what is most important is your running form. (Golden said that as well; the idea behind the Altras is that they improve your running form). If you have great running form with the shoes you're wearing, then you're not likely to get injured.

I left there feeling like I really want to get my left side up to par with my right side so that I'm symmetrical when I run. I'm going to do my PT exercises as prescribed, and hopefully, I'll see some good progress this summer.

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I went to Glenda's Friday meeting at Weight Watchers this morning. I had another (very small) loss on the scale, which makes four losses in a row--I'll take it!

We did a step-out-of-your-comfort-zone exercise, which felt awkward, but I think it was a great idea. We had to get into groups of four (with people that we don't know already). Then, we had to write compliments about one other person in the group (each of us wrote the compliments about the person to our right in our circles). I was sitting next to a woman named Jennifer, and I admired her outfit and her pedicure (she had purple sparkly nail polish).

The point of the exercises was that we should accept compliments and say "thank you" instead of brushing them off or denying them. I always used to be the person that denied compliments--I always had a reason why the compliment was "wrong", and instead of saying a simple "thank you", I said, "Oh, no, ____" and explained that it wasn't true. Someone pointed that out to me once, and I finally started to say "thank you" and believe it!

Glenda (my WW leader) wrote an article that was published in the Thinline magazine that is given out at Weight Watchers centers. So, if you're a member, make sure you check out her article! It's in this issue:

And the article is called "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

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Jerry and I are having a date night tonight (it's been a while!) and I'm looking forward to it. I'm still on plan with Weight Watchers (today is Day 17)!

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