Non-Running but AWESOME and inspiring blog

If you haven't read this blog then you should :-). The author is the survivor of an almost fatal plan crash and is as I said in the title, an inspiring person to say the least. She's that type of person that makes you realize that your bad days are actually very good days. Don't get me wrong, each situation is different, but her writing and story always make me realize that MOST of my bad days really aren't that bad. An amazing person, she is.

enjoy reading!

nienie dialogues

Pooped!

Until today, it had been 6 days since my last run. Dang, how'd that happen?? I guess time flies when you're busy. We had to watch a friend's daughter for the weekend and since Jon really can't control two kids with his bum shoulder I couldn't really get out. And then two trips to Ikea and playgroups and a 3.5 hour nap got in the way the next two days. It made it pretty much impossible to get a run or workout of some sort in. But that's ok, I'll get back on track and especially so since it's great outside.

I did get outside for a measly 3 mile run but it was a super slow run. I'm feeling super tired this week. It might have something to do with the 'ol POSITIVE I got on Monday morning :-). Finally. I had to wait a week to get it but it's well worth it. I was so relieved to finally get it, obviously, since we've been wanting to be pregnant since September.

I'm only 5 weeks along, and I know it's still super early to tell you guys, but I figured I could write about it and get advice from other peeps who have been or are pregnant and trying to stay pretty active. Last pregnancy I didn't run much at all. My doctors, then, said I needed to keep my HR around 140 and that was pretty much impossible so I got very discouraged. I did play softball during the first Trimester so I guess if that counts as some sort of exercise we'll count it :-). So yes, I am pooped and holy cow I have to go much slower during my runs. I am used to going about 8:30 to 9:00 and today i think I was averaged around a 10:30 or more just so I wasn't huffing and puffing. And I had to include some walk breaks. The nausea hasn't hit, yet, so that makes me happy! I had it pretty bad from about 6 weeks to about 12 with jackson so we'll see if it happens again.

My trip to Ikea with just me and Jackson didn't really work out AT ALL. He was great during the fist part and then during lunch. But then he started to get tired and we got to the marketplace and all he wanted to do was get down and get into things. Needless to say, we went back the next day with Jon because I couldn't get a lot of the things we needed. Lesson learned :-)

Looking to incorporate more vegetarian recipes into the mix so if anyone has any great ones please share!! I was doing really great but then we kind of got in a rut and it's time to get back to about a 50/50. I'm trying to go more vegetarian for health and saving some moola (well, not really saving, but more to spend on organic and range fed meat). Anyway, please share!!!

Great Day!

Even though it's raining cats and dogs, today is already a great day!!!

Making my list for Ikea and we're off to spend the day indoors. Jackson always has fun on these trips because of all the rooms he gets to play in. And I love it because I get to eat some Swedish Meatballs. Yummo!!! While I love the meatballs, I do miss living in Germany because I ate an Ikea hot dog every trip; they serve them Danish style (with french fried onions) = YUM!

We just repainted all of the main rooms in our townhouse so it's finally time to decorate this place. We went from a tan to a gray and it's soooo much better!!! I am need of some storage pieces because Jackson's toys are everywhere; time to corral them somewhere. A new rug, some lamps, curtains, pillows; yes, we need lots of things :-) Shall be a busy day for me today :-)

Have a great day everyone!

Spring and Summer Clothes

I think the entire family is in need of a new wardrobe for this summer. For me I just have to say that I can't wait to be done with this stage of life(sorta) so that I can see a cute shirt and be able to buy it without thinking, wait, I wonder how long I'll be able to fit into that and is it breastfeeding friendly? But holy cow have you seen the cute stuff for boys at Gap lately? I hate spending that amount of money on clothes for kids but wowzers, totally cute!! Luckily Target actually has some cute, non-sport related clothes for boys when I went there on Monday.

But don't forget that it is friends and family weekend at Gap, Old Navy, Banana, and most importantly ATHLETA, starting today though Sunday. Since I'll save 30% I don't feel so bad buying the more expensive stuff for J man :-).

And if I could get this dang positive I know I could actually buy some cute stuff for the summer and not feel bad about it. Although I'll still be pretty small through most of the summer so I guess it doesn't really matter :-)

Loving the weather!

Can I just say I love running outside now that it's spring!!!! I think I'll never really be able to do the whole Crossfit thing as it says because I really do love taking some "long, slow, runs." And by this I mean like 5 miles of 8:30 to 9ish pace. It is the best for me to just clear my head. I need one of those today. It's been a long week and it's only Thursday. I'm a bit on the frustrated side because I am 4 days late but no positive yet. Super frustrating because I just want a definitive answer already. When I was pregnant with Jackson (who was a complete surprise) I just knew I was pregnant because I was always on time; like within the hour. I'm still pretty much the same; always the same time of day and never late. So what gives? I took a test monday - negative. Tuesday- negative. Today- negative. I just don't get it!!!!!

OK, enough of that. I did go for a run this morning. Three miles to the park and then we played for a couple hours and J had lunch. Then we headed back home for another 3 miles. It felt great to be out but I was kind of tired. But it felt so great to be out running in this awesome weather. I really wish it could just stay like this through the summer because only another month or so and we'll have to be at the park by 8 before the slides get too hot to use.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weather!!!

Crazy Deal on a Chariot

I have the same one and I love it. This one is at REI and is a 2009 closeout for $200. I bought mine off of Craigslist last year for $350 and it's a 2005. I did get the bike kit and the jogging kit with mine, but seriously for the most recent model it's a really good deal!

Cheetah 1 Chasis

Best Small Appliance Addition

If you are a yogurt lover like me read on. About, I dunno, six months ago I guess, probably more, I came across a link about making yogurt using your crockpot. I go through a lot of yogurt and it is expensive and wasteful (I wonder how many yogurt containers I've put in the trash?). I tried the crockpot thing and it works. It really does. But it is kind of a pain in the butt; you can't just put it in and leave it. A friend of mine finally bought a yogurt maker, tried it out and loved it. So I finally decided to purchase one of my own. I am totally loving it. It is sooo easy to use and after you boil the milk and let it cool and add the yogurt all you do is put it in the containers and let it do its thing for about 7 hours and out comes some really yummy yogurt! Mine came with seven 6 oz jars. These come in handy for the kid and for the hubby to take to work. For a big bowl I just use one of my pyrex containers.

This is the one I bought:

Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker

But just today I saw this one and wish I would have seen it before I bought the one I have. It comes with two lids so you can use the little jars it comes with or you can use mason jars (or any kind of large jar). I really want this function!!!

Really, after the purchase cost of the machine is equaled out, you really can't go wrong. Or you can always just use a warm spot to let the magic happen (like a cooler and a warm towel...but who wants to haul up a cooler every few days? Not me.)

Pregnancy is everywhere and random tidbits of nothings :-)

I am sure everyone is thinking that this is all I talk about. But I haven't been running much lately so I can't really write about running. I had a women's brunch today and two more are pregnant. Seriously, it seems everyone is pregnant but me! Or maybe it's just like when you decide you love a car you really start seeing them everywhere. OK, pity party is over. I'm just really hoping that one week from now I get to stop trying.

But in some ways I could handle another month of a non-pregnancy state. Since I haven't been running as much as I was pre-marathon my pants are starting to get a bit on the tighter side. Hmm, maybe I should drop "a bit" and just say they ARE on the tighter side. Maybe it wasn't the running, though; maybe it was the chocolate bar and a half I ate the other day. Or the ice cream. Or the Girl Scout Cookies. I haven't had much control lately. Time to get that under wraps until I find out if there's a bean in my belly.

It was gorgeous today and I was planning on running this morning but Jackson decided it'd be super cool to wake up at 6 and Jon's shoulder was really bothering him so he couldn't watch him. But tomorrow is another day and I WILL get out on the road and get a run in. The sun is shining and the temps are rising and it's making me sooo much happier!!

And I have to say that I have really, really missed having a normal life. The hubby is back at work and it is so nice having him work a 9-5 job and home on the weekends vs the shift work and travel all the time gig he was on before. Unfortunately, this is only temporary until the shoulder is healed but I'll take it while I can get it. Totally loving it!!!

More Crossfit

I've been emailing back and forth with a guy from CrossFit and I am actually surprised at how fast I received an email back. And I was even more surprised when the same guy emailed me this morning with the following email:

Billie, Sorry, I am not stalking you...This just came in from CF Tulsa and I thought you would be interested...

********************************
CF Endurance,

Just dropping you another line to let you know we had 12 of our members complete their first trail runs this weekend at the Post Oak Lodge just outside of Tulsa. We had 8 members(including my wife) run the 10k, 1 member ran the 25K, and myself and 2 others ran the 50K. All of us prepared based on the Crossfit Endurance WOD's. There was some issues with the 50K, because it was actually a 60-62K race due to Volunteer screw-ups, but the upside of that is we actually ran 36-37 miles which I never thought possible. I'm already looking forward to my next 50K trail race, because I now know that it is possible.

Again, I want to thank you for your great programming, helpful advice, and willingness to offer that help. I'm not gonna lie, my entire body ached after the run, but I did the recovery WOD yesterday, a full workout today, and almost feel completely recovered only 2 days later(as do our other runners). I'm gonna continue to challenge our members to get out on the trails and follow the Endurance WOD's.

Also, I am signed up for your Certification in Oklahoma City at Crossfit 405 in May so I can actually learn how to run properly! After I complete the Cert, how do I sign up Crossfit Tulsa as an Endurance Affliate?

---------------------------------------------------

I am still not totally sold on the idea that you can perform really, really well by following their regimen. But I don't think they really intend for you to be a 2:30 marathoner, either. It's just sooo hard to let go of everything I've ever read that says to train for endurance sports you must incorporate the longer run/bike/swim session. The founder swears that in ten years this type of training will be the foundation for many endurance athletes. I guess we'll wait and see :-)

I mentioned that I hoped to be pregnant soon and that I don't think I'd be able to follow the CF Endurance site anyway since it's way too intense. I have already found this website and I might use it as something to follow when I do become a bit too big to lift correctly. It seems like a great website for pregnant women :-) And since the actually crossfit peeps endorse it....it has to be decent, right?

CrossFit Mom

And how cute is that preggo chica on today's workout?? I can't wait for a belly! (Remind me of this when I am 8 months pregnant and totally uncomfortable!).

Crossfit???

I have been thinking about inserting some CrossFit training into my training regimen for some time. My hubby actually created a home gym back in the summer to start CrossFit but realized his shoulder just couldn't hack it. I was too busy training for running and didn't really think I could handle CrossFit. But now that I've decided I really need to incorporate more strength training I am really considering it. I have been strength training at the gym for a few weeks now and it just isn't me. Don't get me wrong, I love to lift. I just don't like how long it takes and the waiting between reps. I suppose I could pay a personal trainer to create a better program for me; one that keeps me moving and doesn't have any rest time.

But that's what I love about CrossFit. It keeps you moving the entire time. And to top it off there is little thinking or planning involved since all you have to do is go to their website and check out the workout of the day. Simple. I do have some worries about being able to do some of the Olympic lifts correctly ( I am reluctant to do them in the gym and make a fool of myself...ha!). But I am thinking it will be good for me :-). Afterall, the long distance running kind of made my butt go away; Jon misses it so. I asked him if he's still going to like me if I get all buff. He said as long as I don't look like the below picture he's ok with it. Something about looking more manly than womanly freaks him out. hahaha

And just for fun here's a sample workout (this was for last Saturday...Sunday was a rest day...I wonder why? hahaha). I'm pretty sure it'd kick my A-S-S!!! You're supposed to do these as fast as possible:

For Time:

25 squats

25 push-ups

25 pull-ups

25 situps

50 squats

50 push-ups

50 pull-ups

50 situps

75 squats

75 push-ups

75 pull-ups

75 situps

Kind of reminds me of one of my fave workouts from the Army: the deck of cards workout. You have certain workouts for each suit and you do the number of each when that card comes up (i.e. diamonds are close-hand pushups...a 7 of diamond comes up you do 7 close-hand pushups). It's a killer. Love it!

The next CrossFit topic: CrossFit endurance. (Crossfit also does a program aimed at endurance athletes). I am still kind of a skeptic of it all because it seems really, really difficult to throw out years of physiological science. Ya know, the science that says long-slow training (i.e. aerobic training) is the cornerstone for endurance sports. This main training in crossfit endurance are intervals and tempo training. But we already know that if you want to increase your PRs you have to incorporate these workouts into your training. Typically, CF has 1 sport athletes do three workouts a week: one interval, one tempo/stamina and another interval workout and every so often you do a time trial workout. They fully believe that any sort of long, slow distance training is not beneficial and is more harmful to our bodies than beneficial. Now the KEY to all of this is the endurance training IS IN ADDITION TO the regular crossfit workouts of the day. So in essence, you'd do the above workout and then 3-4 hours later you'd do the prescribed endurance training. Talk about ass-kicking. They do say that if a certain regular workout is going to kick your ass that you can scale it down a bit so you can still do your endurance training.

Hmm. I emailed the peeps to see if they really think that their training can really prepare to do a PR in a marathon. We'll see what they say.

Here's what they say in the beginning of the "what is crossfit endurance" segment: (here's the website if you want to read through the entire thing). I keep trying to post it but it messes everything up. Boo!

Anyhoo, I'd love to hear what everyone thinks, and mostly about the CrossFit endurance stuff.

****UPDATE****

Just received an email back from CF peeps. Here's what they responded with when I asked about excluding long runs:

"Ah, you have touched upon a key point and a common misunderstanding of CF Endurance (CFE). There is nothing wrong with going long as part of your training in order to acheive a number of things:

- confirm your taper

- confirm your nutrition, hydration, and electrolyte replacement strategy

- confirm your pacing strategy

- confirm your shoe/clothing choices

- build your confidence so you understand you can actually complete 26.2 miles

The question you have to ask is how many times do you need to do that in order to gain the knowledge listed above. If someone requires multiple attempts to learn this stuff then the problem is with that person rather than our programming.

Our point is going long has little effect on your physical conditioning. In fact if done too often it will have a negative impact - we have been able to show that through testimonies and personal experience. Some studies we use to inform us (not justify, just inform) are:

•

!Lydiard A, Running to the Top, Meyers and Meyers Sport, 1995, pgs. 41, 78, & 105

•

!Maffetone P, Training for Endurance; Guide for Triathletes, Runners, & Cyclists David

Barmore Productions, 1996, pg 78

•

!Burgomaster K, Hughes S, Heigenhauser G, Bradwell S, Gibala M. Six Sessions of

sprint interval training increases muscle oxidative potential and cycle endurance

capacity in humans J Appl Physiol 98: 1985-1990, 2005

•

!Coyle, E. Very intense exercise-training is extremely potent and time efficient: a

reminder J Appl Physiol 98: 1983-1984, 2005

•

! Runners Train Less and Be Faster:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111122026.htm