New Measurements

Here are the measurements that I took before starting the WLC.  Speaking of the WLC....it is not going so well!  Crap. Between Maddie's injury, my quad and now my wrist and some extra stress around this house we haven't done nearly as well as we could have.  For the most part the weekdays are fantastic with very few cheats, but the weekends are all over the place.  The bad thing is that I feel terrible after consuming the very things that are supposed to be "exciting" to eat.  I think I'm going to be able to get my act together this week though!

I also decided that I'm keeping oatmeal in the morning. There is just no other way for me to get around it and feel half way decent.  The whole dairy-free thing has been easy and really so has the grain-free...it's the whole eating out and cheating thing that has thrown me.  I think we are just going to go forward doing the best that we can do.  Eating almond butter and natural pb seems to make me put on weight and bloat much more than PB2, so despite the 1 gram of sugar I'm going to allow PB2.

From the last time I did measurements this is where I am:

Chest: 31.75   (same)
Waist: 25.5   (-1.0)
L Arm: 10 (-.75)
R Arm: 10 (-.75)
L Thigh: 18 (-2.0)
R Thigh: 18.25 (-1.75)
Hips: 35.75 (-1.0)

BMI:  20.9% (+1.4%)
Weight: 118 (- 2.5 lbs)

We'll see where I am in mid-November.

The Little Things

Nope, not going to talk about enjoying all of the little things in life, although I should probably slow my butt down and enjoy more of them;)

After the last hour of writing checks and paying bills, I realized that I probably do something that affects my fitness even when I'm paying bills, blogging, stalking people of Facebook, etc.  My computer sits on the "bar stool area" of our kitchen.  I hate sitting with a computer on my lap so I've spent the several years that we've lived here standing in front of my computer typing, as I am right now. This is also my place to stand and pay the bills, make my to-do lists, and hover around the kitchen.  When I'm working on something important I could literally be standing here, probably pacing back and forth too, for a couple of hours!

I didn't stand up one day and think "hey, this will burn more calories, help me work my core with good posture, etc." It just happened and although I've realized it in the past, it really just hit me.  There is NO way I could sit at a desk all day and type away.  You'd have to lock me up because I'd go nuts.  I guess this is my way of staying active even when I'm not.

What do you do that keeps you fit that you don't even realize?!

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast

You have to try this recipe!  It was a little bit of heaven disguised as roast.  I got the recipe from Kayln's Kitchen, but as usual switched a few things up.  We devoured this roast and barely had enough for one serving of leftovers!

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb roast
• 1-2 tbsp steak rub/black pepper mix
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1/2 c water to deglaze the pan
• 3 large yellow onions, sliced
• 1 c beef or chicken stock
• 1/2 c balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 c tomato sauce (I used 1 can of diced tomatoes)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil 

Directions:

• Pour olive oil in pan and brown the roast on both sides.  
• Add coconut oil to bottom of crock pot and then create a layer of onions for the roast to sit on top of. 
• Rub spices all over the roast and then place in the center of the crock pot. 
• Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of water and pour over the roast. 
• Heat the vinegar and stock before pouring over the roast. 
• Finally add in the tomato sauce, pouring it over the roast. 
• Cook on low for 8 hours. 
• Enjoy! 

Poor Maddie Moosie

Another slipped/compressed disc, but this time it is worse.  The disc is higher on her spine, close to her shoulders, so it affects all four legs.  She can't get up or sit up without falling over backwards.  Her front paws try to push her up but they curl under so that she is using her "knuckles".  What a terrible feeling!  The only good news is that she isn't having the shooting nerve pain like she was last time.  She's obviously in pain, but not the acute kind like last time.  

Exhausting being a full-time nurse. 

After a pain killer injection and three types of meds, she is resting peacefully.  I'm taking the day off tomorrow to see how she does during the day.  We've turned the dining room into a vet office.  She has her own little space where the other dogs can't get to her and hopefully she will stay as still as possible. She will need to stay quiet for at least 4 weeks so this is her new home.  

I have no idea how we are going to get her to use the bathroom with going on herself or better yet get her to stand up and go outside.  It's a full-time nursing job except this time I'm not off for the summer!  

New home

Pulled Quad

Yep, 60 seconds into my soccer game on Sunday I was out with a pulled quad.  I'll take this opportunity to blame everyone else in the household for making me late to the game which then created a less than ideal warm up period, eventually leading to one sprint with cold muscles and a pulled quad. ;) Fantastic.  I left the field, got ice and Advil and then sat out until late in the 2nd half.  I felt bad for the other three women on the field who now had no sub, so I went in for 20 minutes or so but I had no ability to sprint or move my feet quickly.  I made a couple of decent passes, but other than that I was just a warm body that couldn't stop their offense.  Should I have gone back in the game? Definitely not, but like every other athlete I am stubborn.

After researching the injury it sounds like a 2nd degree strain, which means no running/lifting for me.  I'm taking 72 hours off completely and then hopefully doing a slow jog on Thursday, but that all depends on how I feel.  There is a 4 inch by 2 inch section of tight, swollen, and knotted muscle that needs to heal.  It's painful to the touch as well, so I've been icing it each night and keeping the Advil going.  My hope is that I can wrap it and play on Sunday, but we shall see.

And, no this is not an "I'm getting old" injury....it's a dumb one that could have been prevented.

Prognosis

Muscle pulls have varying degrees of damage and time necessary for recovery. The most serious quad strain results from a complete tear in the muscle and may require surgery and a recovery period of three months. A moderate level muscle strain involves partial muscle tearing and takes one to two months for recovery. The least severe muscle strain stretches muscle cells, causing microtears, but requires a shorter recovery period of 10 to 21 days.

Sweet Recovery

After last weekend's 10k and first soccer game my legs were tore down.  Basically everything from my ribcage down felt like it had been stretched, pulled, tweaked and burned out.  It was brutal.  How do you even get knots in your quads?

Luckily I broke out the compression sleeves immediately after the run and wore them the rest of the day to prepare for soccer.  I continued wearing them on and off for a couple of days and I swear they work better than just about anything.  Along with popping some ibuprofen, I also wore out my foam roller.  I rolled everything from those knots in my quads to the fronts of my shins and I'd be lying if there weren't tears involved.  It is oh so worth the pain to work out the acid and knots.

I took most of these week fairly easy.  I wasn't worth a darn on Monday when I tried to work chest, so I  opted for high reps low weight for everything this week.  I'm so glad that I did because I felt so much better yesterday and even better today.  I foam rolled just about every day and today I managed to get through it without grimacing.

Sunday we have another game and I am pumped!  My legs should be back in action and ready to kick some butt. But I do foresee some additional time in the compression sleeves:)

Pumpkin Pancakes

Rich and I went on a cooking/baking spree Sunday so that we would be well stocked for our start of the WLC.  After spending an hour in Walmart and $150, we were set for the week and beyond. Once we got home we made Paleo Banana Bread, chicken vegetable soup (huge batch), chicken legs on the grill, brussel sprouts, sauteed peppers and onions, and some pumpkin pancakes.  Doesn't sound too tasty when you put them all together, but separately they are delicious!

Pumpkin Pancakes (adapted from PB Fingers)
Makes 12 pancakes
 
Ingredients: 

• 1 cup almond flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 scoop vanilla egg protein
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
• 2 heaping tbsp almond butter
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or as needed to thin)

Directions:

• Mixed all ingredients together until well blended.
• Heat griddle to 400 degrees
• Pour batter on griddle and cook 2-4 mins per side or until golden. 

Banana Bread (Paleo)

I had to make a slight adaptation to the recipe that I found over at Mom Gone Paleo because the WLC does not allow honey. I also left out the salt and added in some egg protein.  This recipe was FANTASTIC.  For something without salt or sugar it was dang good and didn't taste like it was missing a thing!  

 Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 scoop vanilla egg protein
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups of almond flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix wet ingredients or use food processor to smooth out bananas.
• Add in dry ingredients until well mixed. 
• Pour into greased pan and bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
• Enjoy with some butter!

10k Results

So yeah, not too shabby if you look at the division (5th place, but only out of 19).  However, 200th out of 467 makes you think I was creeping along.  The reality is that there were tons of young athletes and in particular, tons of UVA athletes who were smoking it out there.  I finished where I belonged, although I could have easily made it to 3rd place and should have.  Next time:)

Soccer Sunday

It's true, I hadn't put my dirty stinking cleats and shin guards on for five years until this morning.  I didn't even try them on last night to attempt to kick a ball around.  I figured it would be too little too late so why bother! 

One of my co-workers, Leslie, asked if I could join her co-rec team since they needed another woman.  In this league you have to have at least three women on the field at all times.  I was hesitant at first, but I do remember trying to look for a league on my side of the mountain during the Olympics so it would be hypocritical not to at least give it a shot. 

And, boy am I glad that I did.  The players on both teams were very fair and respectful, but we all played hard.  We ended up winning 5-1....would have been 6-1 on a goal that I knocked in, but I was offsides.  Damn it.  My legs were already beat down from the 10k the day before, but I played most of the game and ran my ass off.  Left midfield is not the easiest position for me to play, I prefer the center, but I learned to like it today.  I'm sure I'll play better next week now that I have a better idea of how the others play.  CAN NOT WAIT for next Sunday:)

One thing that I don't miss are stinky shin guards and soaking wet feet from the wet grass.  I am already getting tight from my ribcage down, so tomorrow morning should be tons of fun as I roll out of bed and hit the gym;)

Special Olympics 10k

It's that time of the year, time for the Special Olympics 10k and then transition into my favorite time of year, autumn!

I didn't set any goals for this race mainly because I didn't train for it and just wanted to support a good cause.  Anything under 60 minutes would have been okay with me because I've cut cardio down to just about nothing and if I do something it is HIIT.  Of course once I got out there my competitive spirit came out....

Not sure what I was thinking busting out the first mile in 6:30, second in 7:10, and then finally slowing it down.  I guess I was just excited and not paying attention to my watch!  Whoops;)

I did think I might puke a couple of times so I walked for a 20 yards...didn't help that I had to leap over 4 squished snakes and then roll up on a 2 day old dead deer carcass.  Sick.  

I finished in 51:20, which is an average of 8:17....not too shabby for something I hadn't trained for. My time last year was 51:00 and I trained a whole lot more in terms of running a year ago.  We'll see how I placed once they publish the results. 

Rich, E, and J walked to 2-mile course and had a great time as well!

I can't remember a time when I was as hungry as I was after this race.  Since we are diving into the WLC tomorrow morning, I tossed the idea of no grains for the weekend and pounded 2 big cookies, a bagel, pancake and some grapes. Then came home and ate an apple, cottage cheese and cereal.  Lunch at Mi Rancho and then dinner at Pizza Hut before eating oatmeal before bed.  5000 calories?  Likely.  Sorry about it? Not a bit.

Totally forgot to take pics, but here's the shirt we all received.

Get Real. Get Outside.

I love this!  This is what I try to get my students to understand as well.  I'm all for technology, but kids we need to get outside, get dirty, and get active. 

Day 2 and 3

Grain-free other than the a.m. oatmeal!  It's turning out that this isn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be....yes, it is difficult to change things up, but finding foods that are grain-free are not.  It's plain and simple, you eat whole foods like veggies, fruits, nuts, and meats and stay away from anything processed/packaged or with grains.

Don't get me wrong, when I got a text asking me what I wanted from Bodos (local bagel shop) it pained me to say two eggs, no bagel.  However, the temptation latest for just a few seconds and I think my will power is here to stay.

Yesterday's meals:

• Old fashioned oats, flax, chia, almond milk, protein
• PWO shake
• Apple with cottage cheese and cinnamon
• Mixed greens, a few raisins, 1/2 avocado, balsamic dressing/olive oil
• 3 grain-free pancakes with strawberries
• turkey burger (no bun), caramelized onions, steamed cauliflower and broccoli 
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk before bed

Today (so far):

• Oatmeal
• PWO shake
• 2 scrambled eggs
• Leftover turkey burger, onions, cauliflower
• Salad for snack
• Birthday dinner with Rich....we'll see if it is grain-free!

Grain-free Pancakes

Thanks to The Paleo Project for saving me last night when I was craving some carbs and hungry for grains! 

Rich and I switched up the recipe for Paleo Pancakes a bit and added some strawberry reduction.

Thank the Lord for these!!  YUM, especially if you like bananas!

Messy Vitamix

Grain-free Pancakes

 Ingredients:

• 3 bananas
• 1 scoop vanilla egg protein
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup unsalted natural peanut butter
• splash of vanilla extract
• any toppings you want (strawberries, blueberries, nuts, honey, etc.)

Directions:

• Heat griddle to 400 degrees.
• Place all ingredients in food processor (or Vitamix) and mix thoroughly. 
• Heat up strawberries with a little Stevia on the stove top.
• Pour batter onto griddle and cook for a minute or two on each side until brown.  
• Top with fruit and enjoy!

No Grains - Day 1

Alright, so it actually wasn't a total grain-free day, but I'm not ready to give up my morning oatmeal yet!  I'll wait until next week to take that plunge. 

Today's meals:

• Oatmeal, flax, chia, protein powder, almond milk
• PWO shake (banana, strawberries, egg protein, almond milk, ice)
• Apple and 1/2 cup cottage cheese with cinnamon (NO dairy next week!)
• Mixed greens with avocado and olive oil and a can of tuna (yep, ate it right outta the can)
•  Grilled chicken, asparagus, garbanzo beans

6 more days...

Until the Whole Life Challenge starts!  After indulging in things that I normally don't eat last week (one candy bar, ice cream, and plenty of bread), Rich and I are going to ease ourselves into a grain-free, dairy-free, sugar-free challenge .  Starting tomorrow, we are only going to eat grains with breakfast.  That means no bread or pasta the rest of the day.  I really think the hardest part for me will be giving up my oatmeal for breakfast.  It's a habit that will be hard to break! 

Just for the record, I'm not all for cutting out things completely (like grains/dairy), but I am up for the challenge and I'm intrigued to see what the results will be like.  I know the first couple of weeks will be hard, but at least Rich is doing it with me so we can push each other to stay on the right path.  I'm sure there will be some cheats here and there, but that is okay as well (at least for us!). 

If you want to learn more about joining the challenge, check out Courtney's link at Petite Athleat.

Proof is in the Pics

There is 6 months difference in the following two pictures...

The first pic was taken in February and I was able to do 7 unassisted pull-ups.  (I wasn't able to do any until I practiced a few times a week in November of 2011.)

The second pic was taken in August.  I just moved up to doing weighted pull-ups with a 15 lb ball between my knees.  I did 4 sets of 4 reps last week.  BAM!  I feel a belt and a 25 lb plate for reps coming in the next few months.

February 2012

August 2012

4-Miler 2012

In Honor of Betty "Mimi" Stokes

I'm happy to report that although I didn't make my goal of running in under 30 minutes (31:51), I did make my last minute goal of placing in the top 200.  I was 146 out of 3,024 racers.  I really wanted to place within my class (top 19), but that fell out of reach during the last mile.  I ended up placing 26th in my division.

Who invited these characters? 

The compartment syndrome in my leg really started acting up so I slowed to a walk for 10 yards while 20-30 people passed me during that last mile.  Agh.  I was not happy, but I picked it up again and finished strong.  I guess I'll have to get this leg checked out after all.

Regardless of the goal and the rain, Jennie and I had a great time.  I was so proud of Jennie for completing her first race! Rich and E were there to support us and we rocked out our "High Kickin' Bettys" outfits for Mimi.  Unfortunately, Mimi wasn't able to be there with us, but she will be the recipient of her own t-shirt and plenty of pictures! It is inspiring to be around 3,000 other runners who are running for the same cause.  I was also rather impressed at the total organization; we were parked and ready to rock in just a couple of minutes.  I can't wait to do it again next year!

All of the High Kickers

Jennie forgot her socks, so we split them:)  

Boy do I look small?! 

Getting it done. 

Almost home! 

Soaked from the rain and sweat!