Lisa

Craptastic Morning

• Get all three children dressed and fed
• Toddler reaches up to kitchen table and pulls down a full glass of water onto himself and the floor
• Pre-school gets bitten by a spider and it swells up
• Kindergartner mouthy and sassy and pouty and whiney
• Stressed out and overwhelmed and tired by all that needs to be done
• Laundry, kitchen, toys picked up, mail sorted
• Pre-schooler’s birthday planned for tomorrow
• Pre-schooler’s family party for Saturday
• Need to buy present for him AND for a party my daughter is going to
• Set up “chore store” so that I can get my kids on board with doing chores and earning prizes
• worrying about fundraising, fundraising, fundraising for Team in Training
• must exercise/run this morning
• drop off each child in three different places
• run to Walmart to drop off donation letter request, pick up a few things
• run to Target for birthday presents (didn’t have at Walmart)
• scarf down breakfast and coffee

That was just this morning.  Have I mentioned that my husband has a work schedule that does not allow him to be around much?  I won’t go into specifics because ya’ll don’t need to know all the details, but suffice it to say that I do a lot of the “raising of the kids and taking care of the kids” by myself during the week.

Add a big ole heaping mess of “OMG, there is so much going on at Shrinking Jeans” and yes, I was feeling craptastic this morning.  My husband and Christy got to bear the brunt of my venting.

Then, I went for my run. 

My mind was completely free of “all the things I need to do”, the to-do lists put to the side for 39:38 minutes (3.53 miles).

That was the BEST 39:38 minutes of my life.

Now, I feel refreshed and like I can do anything.  The chores are still there to be done, the party still needs to be planned, the kids still need taken care of, my house still looks like a bomb went off in it, but folks, I did something for me- something that I enjoy and that frees me from my overcluttered, overwhelmed, overstressed mind.

And that, THAT is why I will keep running, even after the half marathon is over and done with.

Fantastic.

You remember that Monday Project a few weeks back that asked us to try something new and report back?  And this week’s Monday Project that asks:  Who is your kickass superhero alter-ego? What does she do? How do you channel her? When does she come out? When do you wish she came out?

Well, my answer for both Monday Projects is one and the same.  I did something new on Thursday and frankly, what I did, makes me a Superhero in my eyes. 

I joined The Sisterhood Olympics and took on the mini-triathlon event, along with my sisters Christie and Brook and Jessica.

What is a mini-triathlon?

• 500m swim
• 12 mile bike ride
• 3.1 mile run

One right the other after the other.  Consecutively.  No real rest breaks, or not much at least. 

I have been toying around with the idea of trying a triathlon, but you know, LIFE got in the way, and then the training for the 1/2 marathon got in the way and I pushed all thoughts of the tri to the back burner.  Until Wednesday night at 9pm when I threw caution to the wind and said to myself:  I’m going to do the triathlon on Thursday.  I am not going to think about the fact that I have no training WHATSOEVER in swimming or biking.  I am just going for it and I WILL finish it, no matter how long it takes me.

You know what?  It wasn’t so bad.  Long- yes.  Horrendous- no.  

The swim portion of it allowed me to re-realize my love for swimming and that I am actually GOOD at it.  I mean, I knew that I loved to swim and I knew that I was a natural at it, but once again, life got in the way and I had forgotten about all of that as I churned out three babies.  I haven’t swam laps in a very long time and yesterday- I jumped in the water and cranked out 500m in 11:30 minutes. 

Folks, I am going to toot my own horn and say that is a FANTASTIC time for someone who has not TRAINED ONE SINGLE BIT for swimming.  I wasn’t even pushing myself – that was my natural, easy-going pace.  I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I am 100% certain that with proper training, I could bring down that time, significantly.

The bike portion was my weakest leg, and longest leg and the one that I obviously need the most work on.  I was on a stationary bike and man, was that boring.  Put me on a bike outside and I think I would do much better.  12 miles in 1 hr 6 min.

The run was good- not my best, but hey, I had just come off a 12 mile bike ride and practically jumped on the treadmill and started running.  My legs felt like jello, my right knee was aching a bit, and my left calf was TIRED.  So yeah, not my best run but still a respectable 3.1 miles at 37.04 minutes. 

My superhero swims, bikes and runs and she kicks ass and takes names while she is doing it.  She doesn’t quit even when her right knee is feeling wonky.  She doesn’t quit when she is bored out of her mind on the stationary bike.  She doesn’t quit when she is breathing heavy while she is running.  She doesn’t quit when she realizes that she has been exercising her body for 1.5+ hours non-stop.

She keeps going and refuses to QUIT. 

That superhero is me and I can channel her whenever I want.

One last thing- I totally want to high five Christie, Brooke and Jessica for completing the mini triathlon with me.  It was awesome to do it together, even virtually!

I totally think she has the right idea of chronicling her virtual team in training, training, so I am copying her!

Week 2 of training for the San Diego 1/2 Marathon is done, done, done!

I am a “follow the rules” kind of girl, so when I was told to run on Tues, Thur, and Saturday, then that is exactly what I did.  I took full advantage of the “rest” days and well, I rested.  Of course, some of those rest days are optional, meaning you can lift wights or do additional cardio work, but I cheated rested instead.

Last Tuesday was a timed run, meaning I was given an exact amount of time to run and of course, that is what I did.  30 minutes, 2.6 miles, 11:24 pace.

Thursday was my tempo run.  Every week, this is my hardest, sweatiest run.  I ran “easy” for one mile although easy running doesn’t really exist for me right now, then one mile of alternating running hard for 2 minutes/running easy for 2 minutes until I complete a 2nd mile, THEN one more “easy” mile again, whoever said running was easy.  A total of three miles.   

Thursday night our family received some hard news.  I’m not sharing the details right now.

When it came time to run my long run of 4 miles on Saturday, I was only too ready to hit the trail.  My spirit was weary from the Thursday news, stress was high, and I just needed to pound it out, free my mind from my troubles, and let my heart be free.  That four miles accomplished that- I did not think of one single thing while I ran.  Truth be told, I did not want to stop running and have to enter back into the real world.

Anyhoo, week 2 is over now and I am thanking GOD every day for showing me the beauty of running.  I may not be the fastest, I may not run the furthest, I may not be very elegant-looking when I run.  However, I seriously think that having found this avenue for me to release stress, to push my body, to cleanse my soul has saved my sanity at times.

And I am a much happier person for it.

BTW- can I get some comment love here?!!!!  This is my 100th post on my personal blog here at Shrinking Jeans- woot, woot!!!!!!!!

This will not be a cohesive post.  I’m thinking it just might be a “bullet’s” type post, because that is all I have in me this morning.

For all it’s worth…………

• I did 30 minutes of what I call “light cardio” this morning.  My body felt slow and sluggish and tired.  I never really got into it, but hey, at least I finished, right?
• My eating has been atrocious this past week.  Period.  The end.  I need to change that.
• Speaking of periods how’s that for a seque?, I had an appointment with my “woman” doctor/midwife last week and I asked her for some help to control my raging PMS that occurs one week of the month for the sake of my sanity and my husband’s too and she gave me a list of things that could help.  She suggested I start with taking calcium and magnesium on a daily basis, to see if that helps.  So far, so good : ).
• My back is sore from carrying my 26 lb toddler around.  OK, I don’t carry him much, but I do have to lift him in/out of the crib, the car seat, his lunch seat, and to wash his hands.  That’s a lot of lifting and my back is protesting in a major way.
• I saw Dr. Oz on Oprah last week and it was a special on diabetes, yada yada yada.  Anyone else see this show?  The thing that stuck out from the show for me is that he said that your waistline needs to be 1/2 (or less) of your height.  For example, I am 5′6″ tall (or 66 inches)- that means  my waistline needs to be 33 inches or less to lower my risk of having diabetes, among other things.  My waistline is 35 inches.

How’s that for random?

I was so emotional over last week’s weigh-in, because of the big gain I had.  This week, I am not emotional and just more relieved.

Last week’s weigh-in:  171.5 lbs

This week’s weigh-in: 169 lbs

Loss of 2.5 lbs

I worked hard this past week, exercising consistently, making “healthier” choices, drinking tons of water, and limiting my snacking at night.   I keep hearing over and over how stress can lead to a weight gain (OK, it’s Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser TV show that keeps telling me that…..didn’t you know!  Well, I didn’t know but I think the lady trainer mega God is right).  I was in a funk last week but it has since passed, thank goodness.

I want to be at least 10-15 lbs lighter when I run the 1/2 marathon with Team Shrinking Jeans in June.  I just know my body will continue to thank me as I shed the pounds and have less weight to pound my knees and ankles as I run.  When I run, I imagine the two people I am running in memory of and let me just say, those thoughts only fuel me on.

I am very happy to be back in the 160’s and plan to stay here for a short while as I make my way to the 150’s.  I know what I need to do- now, I just have to keep doing it.  Couldn’t this be true for a lot of us?  We know what we need to do, but we just have to do it.  That’s the hard part though.  I say BRING IT ON.

Game on.

I’m not sure how to even begin this.

Before I started popping out babies, my weight slowly crept up.  I was married, living the good life.  Going to happy hour all. the. time, vacationing all. the. time, eating and drinking all. the. time.

Then, I started down the motherhood path.  Let me summarize it as best as I can for you, in bullet format, as I find that easy to follow.

• Got pregnant in January 2003, had daughter Sophie October 8th, 2003.  Weight melted off due to breastfeeding.  Got overconfident and went crazy with my eating.  Packed the weight back on.  I was 31 years old at the time.
• Joined WW in October 2004, starting weight of 172 lbs, followed it diligently, lost 25 lbs in 3 months, kept it off UNTIL……
• Late June 2005 when I got pregnant AGAIN.  Son Sam born in February 2006 ( a few weeks early, too!).  I thought the weight would magically melt off again since I was BF’ing, but oh, my body had different plans.  I was 33 years old.
• When Sam was 6 months old (September 2006), I joined a gym and for the first time in my life, I actually USED my membership.  I hired a personal trainer to learn the ropes, enlisted my friend Lauren to exercise with me and I became a gym rat.  I exercised a minimum of 5 times a week.  Interestingly enough, we did not own a scale at the time, so I do not know what my starting weight was.  I would guess that it was 174 lbs.  I lost maybe 15 lbs (putting me at 158-160) but my body changed in ways I never thought possible.  I had muscles, was cardiovascular fit and get compliments all the time about the way I looked- I loved it!  For the first time in a FOREVER, I was wearing a size 10 jean.  That lasted until……
• You can guess where this is going…..I GOT PREGNANT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!  Got pregnant with son Anthony in late December 2007 and he was born after a short labor and delivery of 1.5 hours on September 25, 2008.  I was 36 years old when he was born.  I gained the MOST weight with this pregnancy and during the next few months, I ate like I was still pregnant.  I refused to step on a scale (we owned one by this time) because honestly, I knew the news would be bad.  I know what stared back at me in the mirror, my big ole round face and very tired “mother of 3 kids 5 and under).  I hated having my picture taken during those months but it is this picture, that makes me cringe time and time again.

Minus the very cute baby that I am holding, I HATE HAT HATE this picture.  I started up with Shrinking Jeans in January 2009 at 188 lbs.  Today, one year later, I am hovering around 168-169 lbs.  I am damn proud of myself, ladies.

What worked for me this past year: shredding (that Jillian Michaels knows what she is doing), exercising regularly, eating the “right size” portions, cutting down on the snacking, upping the fiber, adding more servings of fruits and veggies and for me, cutting out the alcohol.

The biggest changes I saw in my body though, occurred when I started running with this group.   Prior to the 5K challenge that we did here, I HATED running and resisted it at every turn.  I did. not. want. to. do. it. E-V-A-H.  Since we decided to do it as a group, I had to give it a try.

The training for the 5K came at a perfect time for me, personally in my life.  My husband was traveling for WEEKS at a time, internationally.  He was practically gone from mid-August to Thanksgiving.  I was a very stressed out mommy of three kids (and SO TIRED).  The running gave me 30-60 minutes of ME time, listening to good music, and pounding the stress away.  There were many occasions where I CRIED HARD during my runs because of the situation I was living.  Running gave me an emotional outlet that I did not allow myself at home.

I was hooked.  And now we are doing a 1/2 marathon with Team Shrinking Jeans.  I NEVER thought I would say – I am going to run 13.1 miles because I want to.

Lastly, having the fitness challenges and the weigh-ins with The Sisterhood have held me accountable and responsible for MYSELF. Instead of throwing in the towel or giving up when I had a bad week (sometimes multiple weeks), this wonderful group of women (and men) encouraged me, supported me, kicked me in the ass.   DO NOT GIVE UP has been my daily mantra.

What did not work for me: drinking margaritas through the Summer months, not exercising consistently, snacking at night while watching mindless TV, the notion that I did not have TIME to commit to exercising, not having a clear goal, giving up during the holidays ” )

My plan for this challenge:

• Exercise 5 times a week, 3 times cardio (running, shredding, or the elliptical), 2 times strength training
• Eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies
• Drink 100 oz of water a day

I have so many thoughts running through my head my now and the one that seems to tie them all together is this word:

EXCUSES.

No more effing excuses.  I am re-thinking all those excuses (husband’s unemployment, investing in a real estate property/flipping it/still haven’t sold it, husband finding a job but now works out of town A LOT, managing the household, managing my three kids 6 and under, squeezing in all my blog commitments/IRL friend commitments/family commitments, finding time to exercise/eat right/stay motivated, and how about this, JUST BREATHE, plus a mryaid of other life details). and chucking them out the window.

Are you listening to me world?  NO MORE EXCUSES.

Today, I take charge of me and I AM PUTTING ME FIRST.  Oh, I am getting so emotional right now…..I am actually crying.

No more excuses.  I am just going to DO what I damn well KNOW I NEED to DO.

NOW.

So yeah, I am superwoman and supermom and superwife (my husband might disagree) and now, I am going to be SUPER-ME.

I will lose the last 15/20 lbs.  I will run a 1/2  marathon in June.  I will get my shit together.

Sorry for all the cussing.  I am feeling quite passionate all about this right now.

Can’t wait to meet all my new sisters (and brothers) maybe some of ya’ll cuss, too.  Good luck to everyone!

PS- I am UP this week and I don’t want to talk about it.  Thankyouverymuchnowgoodbye.

I have not been listening to my body and what it has been trying to tell me for the last few weeks.

Sometime between Thanksgiving and now, my lower right calf muscle/area has been bothering me during my runs and afterwards.  I chocked it up to all kinds of different excuses- my body was already tired, I didn’t stretch enough, I pushed myself too hard, my muscles are supposed to hurt, yada yada yada.

Well, going into today’s run, I knew I didn’t “feel right” but I forged ahead anyway.  Prior to running, I did talk to one of the running instructors at the gym and she gave me some good stretching exercises to try and suggested that I needed to up my strength training, that maybe my calf muscles needed more strength and so on and so forth.

So yeah, I talked to her and then I headed to the trail with my friend Amanda.  We stretched SO MUCH before and during and I seriously thought I might die.  I actually broke into a sweat when stretching my right leg.  No, the running didn’t make me sweat but the stretching did.  How weird is that?  We ran at a VERY slow pace and I tried not to favor my bum leg, but by 1.5 miles, I couldn’t run on it anymore.

IT HURT TOO MUCH.

I made a decision right then and there.  I HAVE TO rest my leg and not run for a little while.  I have to let it heal.  I need to figure out what is going on with it and what I need to do to strengthen it or whatever so that I can run again.

Because ya’ll, I am running a 1/2 marathon in San Diego in June.  There is still plenty of time to train, I’m not worried about that.  I am worried about my leg and I want it to get better, like yesterday.  I don’t want to hurt it to the point of no return.

A part of me is SO EFFING ANGRY.  I am so mad at my body for betraying me.  In my head and in my heart, I feel so strong and like I can do anything.  Why the hell is my body not cooperating?  I understand that I am 37 years old- I will be 38 in May.  I do get that my body is NOT the same as it was when I was 24 years old.  I get that…… but, I want it to be.

I want my body to catch up to where I am in my soul.

But for now, I rest and heal and learn as much as I can about muscles and cardio work and strength training and how it all interrelates together can anyone point me in the right direction?.

I will get stronger.  I will get better.  I will run again.

This much I know is true.

So yesterday, 3/4 of my family had a stomach virus. It started at 6:30am in the morning with my 3.5 year old son puking on the carpet in my bedroom and did not end until I was hugging the toilet bowl last night at 9:30pm. Between myself and 2 of my 3 kids, we puked a total of 9 times. Everyone was sluggish and I think my son said “my tummy hurts” at least 8,637 times.

It sucked bad.

However, the one shining light about the whole ordeal is that I was fairly positive I would have a good weigh-in today. I mean, I puked and crapped all day long (I know, TMI) and only ate one meal, so yeah, I knew that this morning would most likely be in my favor.

And it was.

Last week’s weigh-in: 169.5 lbs
This week’s weigh-in: 165 lbs

I wish I could jump and down and claim this as my REAL weight but I am also realistic. I have already started eating again today and I feel about 70% better. I know that I will probably put a few pounds back on by weigh-in next week.

That’s OK.

I am just glad that my kids are no longer barfing in my bed OR on me and that so far, I am not upchucking everything I drink and eat. If I am able to keep the weight off, then that will be the icing on the cake.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I did my first official run this morning.  It was a five mile Turkey Trot.

Prior to starting, I had butterflies in my stomach and a faint feeling of the need to throw up was in the back in my head.  I was nervous.

I’m not sure why.

Was it because I was about to run five miles, a distance I have never done before?  Was it because I was running with my husband, a person I have never run with before and who just so happens to be a runner?  Would I slow him down?  Would he think I run funny, or listen to the wrong music or whatever?

For the record, my husband was awesome-ly wonderful.  I felt like I had a personal coach alongside me the whole way, reminding me to keep my pace, to slow it down, to go the distance, not too fast, to cheer me on on the hills, to knock knuckles with me when I felt good, to encourage me again and again on those damn hills, to shout runner’s advice to me as we ran along.  He stuck to my pace “because he wanted to do it with me”.  He could have run faster, he could have finished at his normal pace (9-10 min miles), he could have smoked me.  But he didn’t and we crossed the finish line together.

When the race begun, I got very emotional, almost to the point of tears.  All I could think about was where I was ONE year ago.  One year ago, I had a 2 month old newborn (third child), I was obviously still carrying the post-pregnancy weight, I was TIRED, trying to figure out how to juggle 3 children 5 years and younger, my husband had just been laid off from his job, we had lots and lots of stress, plus the holiday season to boot.

I HATED the way I looked, I HATED the way I felt, I HATED having pictures taken of me.  I wasn’t exercising, I was eating any and everything.  I was just SURVIVING.

Fast forward to TODAY, I have lost 18 lbs since last Thanksgiving, I had just run FIVE MILES, I am beginning to enjoy the way I look, I have a semi-handle on my kids, my husband has a job (although he is traveling way too much for my comfort but hey, at least he’s getting paid, right?!), and I LIKE having my picture taken again.

So yeah, I was very emotional as I started my run this morning.  I could not have done it without the support, love, encouragement of this group, sometimes a good, swift kick in the ass from time to time.

This Thanksgiving, I have so many things to be thankful for.

I am thankful for The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.

Official Stats:  5.0 Miles, Time of 58:35 minutes (pace of 11:43/mile), 737 calories burned