I woke up bright and early and headed out for my long run with my friend Julie. I needed to do 6 miles and Julie said that the trail we would run from her house would be about that. Well, we hit 3 miles and still had a 1.65 mile loop around the local YMCA before we would head back for the final 3 miles.
I tried to do what I could and around mile 5 I was experiencing some discomfort in my stomach and my ankle, so I stopped and walked for a little bit. After a while, I started to feel better so I ran the remaining 1.95 miles back to her house. Overall, and not including the walking part, I completed 6.95 miles in 69:39 for an average pace of 9:58.
5 Mile Stretch
Shortly after my run, I headed to a local CrossFit box for their guest days workout. I met up with my friend Justin and was surprised to see his sister Kaitlyn had decided to try it out too! (Side note - I used to babysit these two and their younger brother back in the day.)
The workout for the day was actually a group workout made up of 3 members, which just so happened to work out perfectly for us!
Musical Medicine Balls
100 Kettle Bell Swings
100 Burpees
100 Goblet Lunges
100 Toes to Bar, Knees to Elbow, or Crunches
Team "TooPhit": Kaitlyn, me, and Justin
The workout could be divided among the members in anyway, as long as 100 reps were completed before moving on to the next exercise. While one member was doing the work out, another member would be at rest, and the other would be holding a medicine ball overhead. If the medicine ball would be set down, the workout also had to stop.
KB Swings
Our idea was to do 10 reps each and then rotate. I didn't make any adjustments to the kettle bell swings and I think that we would have sped up our time if we had done as many as we could before we switched members but we didn't have that much time to talk about a game plan so we just went with it.
Burpees
Burpees. Oh how I hate burpees. First of all, with (what I believe to be carpel tunnel) my wrist problems, it's really had to put weight on my wrist when it is bent. Secondly, I have no upper body strength. Thirdly, on this fine day, I had thought it would be a great idea to run 7 miles before going to CrossFit so my legs were very sluggish. I did what I could, but I could tell I was slowing the team down. So I did what I could before I felt like death and then passed it to the next member. I felt terrible, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Kaitlyn doing goblet lunges
The goblet lunges are lunges where you knee comes to the ground each time, alternating legs. Each leg counted as 1 so we each did 20 before passing it on. No adjustments were made here and I ended up with some nice bruises on my knees. I love me some battle wounds!
Crunches instead of toes to bar
The last exercise was toes to bar. Toes to bar are done by hanging from a bar and bringing your toes to the bar. You can alter this by just bringing your knees to your elbows. Originally, I planned on trying to do knees to elbows from the bar because I thought I would be okay with it; however, by time we got to this my arms were jello and decided I would just pound out the reps doing the least difficult move: crunches.
Team "TooPhit" (as I am dubbing us as it's Justin's nickname around the box) finished the workout in 22:40.
We completed the work out with a few minutes of stretching. Even though the workout had it's challenges, I still enjoyed it and wish that they did guest days once a month!
It's Wednesday afternoon and I should be getting ready to go to the gym, but I'm updating y'all on my eats and workouts instead because I am feeling lethargic. I want say it might have something to do with this heat wave, but lets face it - I'm am not outside all but maybe 10-15 minutes a day right now. I didn't get up the past few days in time to get my morning run in, so I went to my gym in the evening to run on the treadmill as it has been too freakin' hot and humid to function outdoors.
Monday
I was up in enough time to run for about thirty minutes so I munched on a bit of banana and honey, but then my body had a different idea so I stayed put and just got ready for work instead. I made a smoothie with water, cranberries, blackberries, spinach, and some PlantFusion protein powder. I haven't had this combo in a while and it was delicious.
I guess I should mention at this point that I have changed from my 4 eats (3 meals and 1 snack) every 4 hours to 5 eats (3 meals and 2 snacks) every 3 hours. I did this because I was feeling really hungry after 3 hours and I hadn't been able to lose any weight for a few weeks. I thought maybe it was because I had increased in my running time/mileage and was still eating around 1200 - 1300 calories. My goal is now more around 1350-1500. So not a big difference but we'll see if that helps.
Lunches for this week consist of a Morning Star Spicy Black Bean Veggie Burger, mozzarella cheese, pineapple slice, and some sweet potato rounds. This has become one of my new favorite lunches. It is very easy to make, delicious, and filling. I will try to change it up next week, but I give you no promises!
My afternoon snack was a White Chocolate Macadamia Luna Bar. I hadn't tried this flavor before and it was really good. I tend not to go for the Luna bars because it does contain processed food but they were on sale for $1/bar so I couldn't pass up on the savings.
I then took off to work out. I first hit up the Fitness Studio to do some toning and then headed off to MaxFitness to get my run in. I ran for 35 minutes and approximately 3.5 miles.
When I got home, it was time for dinner. I cooked up some Salmon and topped it off with Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce and blueberry-nectarine salsa.
Now time for intermission.... Jumpy the Border Collie:
...and now back to your regularly scheduled post. Tuesday
I heard my first alarm go off and snoozed it and then never woke up again until I had 45 minutes until I had to leave to make it to work. I showered up and made a smoothie with mango, strawberries, protein powder, and some spinach.
My morning snack was a rice cake covered in Justin's Vanilla Almond Butter that I picked up at my local Fresh Market. I hadn't tried this flavor yet so I was going out on a limb to buy a whole jar but it just sounded so good... and Holy-Yum! I was right! I love this stuff!
Later in the afternoon I had a pear with a hard-boiled egg. Simple yet satisfying.
I got home, changed, and then hit up a spin class at Max Fitness. After that I hit up the treadmill but was having some discomfort in my calf muscle. I tried to go as long as I could, but could only make it to the 2 mile mark before I decided I would rather be safe then sorry.
I cooked up some ground chicken tostadas when I got home and it hit the spot. Have I ever mentioned how I love food that is so simple yet so delicious?! Well, I do. This meal is easy to make. Just brown up some ground chicken (or turkey, or even a lean ground beef), toast your corn tortillas, and serve it up with some lettuce, tomatoes, and black beans. Add some salsa for some added spice and wallah! You could even add in some other flavors if you wanted like corn, onions, and/or avocados!
Question: What kinds of things do you do to get past a plateau Do you change what you eat or your workout schedule? Fill me in! I would love some ideas!
Do you ever get off a day and it seems like it takes you multiples days (for me, weeks) to get back on track? That is what happened to me. Although I was more than happy to help my grandpa move a couple of weeks ago, not having that time set aside so I could work around it really threw me off from my blogging streak' however, I maintained my running and eating which is what is really important (if I'm being honest.)
Here are a few highlights from the past couple of weeks that I have been silent..
STUTZMAN BIGGEST LOSER
On Sunday, July 7th, my family gathered for the results of our biggest loser competition. Some of my family I had not seen since Easter so their loss was noticeable. I did my best but wasn't able to pull off the win. My uncle Dewayne came in first, followed by my uncle Terry, and I placed in third. Overall, I can't be disappointed in my performance because I am 25 pounds lighter than when we started! Here is a short video that my aunt put together.
RUNS
My average pace on my runs have decreased, which is exciting! Well, I guess more than exciting, it's unbelievable! I was running my long run on Saturday and when MapMyRun would say my split pace, I was shocked. I was holding a pace that I would have never imagined I could do for one mile, let alone for 6 miles. It just goes to show that hard work and dedication does pay off.
Training Plan
I am still making changes to my running plan as I need to. Because I have been feeling stronger and that I need less time to recover, I have added a an additional day of running during the week. Additionally, I am still going to use my split timer for my run/walk but am only going to use the walk time if it is absolutely necessary. I figure, if I can run 6 miles and walk less than 2 minutes of it, I really don't need to be walking 4 minutes on short runs. Here is this weeks plan:
Week 8Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
3 minute warm up
3 minute run x .5 minute walk. Repeat 8 times.
3 minute cool down
Saturday 7/20 - 6 miles HEALTHY SURPRISE
I had placed my Healthy Surprise box in my pantry and kind of forgot about it. I figured I needed to start eating some as my next box will be arriving soon. Here are some of the treats I've tried:
Sesame Ginger Journey Bar: It wasn't like a flavor explosion in your mouth but it was still good. I would eat another one. It was 200 calories with 7 grams of protein. It is all natural, gluten free, non-gmo, soy-free, and vegan. They have other flavors and I would really like to try the Pizza Marinara. You can buy them online through the website and it breaks down to $2/bar. Not shabby!
Mango, Pear, Pineapple Fruit.0: Although the flavor was good, it was like eating baby food... or drinking a warm smoothie. It may have tasted better if it were cold but I'm not sure. If I get another one in a box, I will have to try it that way. It was 100 calories for the whole pack and you can purchase them online from their site. Cost breaks down to $2.50 a pouch. Maybe a good snack to pack for kids..?
Apples + Cherries That's it Bar: I loved this bar. It was soft and chewy and filled with flavor! I hope I get another one in my next box! One bar is 100 calories and only contained apples and cherries. Seriously! They have three other kinds, Apples + Pears, Apples + Apricots, and Apples + Mangoes. If you would like to try them, you can try all 4 flavors for $6.99 ($1.75 a bar) by going here.
Home Free Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies: These crunchy, bite size cookies were delicious! They took care of the cravings for crunch and sweetness all in a 100 calorie pack! The bits of chocolate were surprising soft and creamy compared to the crunchy cookie. The 100 calorie packs go for $1.50 on their website. That's about the cost of a candy bar, only these are a bit healthier.
SunBiotics Original Almonds: They're almonds. You either like 'em or ya don't; however, I saw on their website that they have Cheesy Almonds which I would LOVE to try! I absolutely love cheese! I wasn't able to find a store locator or a place to purchase these through their site, so I'm not sure how you can try these or how I will get the cheesy flavor... I guess I'll just wait.
...but the 30 minutes turned in to over an hour before I actually hit that pavement. Oops!
My phone recently had an update and ever since then the GPS has not been working properly. I was running along and hit the one mile spot waiting for MapMyRun to read my total time and distance.. and I waited... and I waited. I thought maybe I had forgot to start it, but when I looked at my phone it was only reading .70 miles. Ugh. Frustrating. But I continued and said I would just have to guess by the total time. These are the split times they gave me, none of which I am trusting because it obviously didn't take me almost 38 minutes to do two miles.
I did some stretching when I finished and then found this weird gross thing on my shirt. I wonder how long he was along for the ride.
I hopped on MapMyRun.com to fix the map as best as I could to see what my total distance was. I planned to do 5 and ended up doing 5.45 with an average pace of about 11 minutes/mile. I guess that just means that I will have to do 5.5 or 6 this coming weekend.
After I freshened up, I headed to IHOP for some delicious breakfast! Yes, I had bacon and waffles. My lovely aunt gave me some grief for posting this photo on Facebook but I explained to her that running has its perks. I ran over 5 miles and burned more than 800 calories, and the day was just getting started. The meal was about 660. It was probably less than that because I didn't get butter and I used sugar free syrup instead of regular. So, of you ran 5.45 miles, you could eat like this too! Well, technically anyone could have this but you can have it with less guilt if you ran first. Oh, and it is a fact All my running buddies know that we run so we can eat. :)
I then headed off to Tiffany Nails to get in the 4th of July spirit.
After the nail salon I headed to get my hair done. It was desperately in need of a cut but was talked in to just a trim as everyone said they liked my hair long, so long it stayed. I think I am going to chop it all off when I hit my goal weight but we will see.
When I got home from running around all afternoon, I was in the mood for something salty and crunchy. So I took a look into the Healthy Surprise box I received a few weeks ago and found some Sesame Dijon Zucchini Chips from Just Pure foods. These were really good and I was sad when the bag was gone! The whole bag is one serving for 170 calories and 5 grams of protein. I can handle that! But I just checked out their website and one bag is $7! Yikes! Not sure I will be buying more of these after all.
SUNDAY
I kicked off Sunday with a smoothie made of pineapple, orange, ginger, kale and protein powder and then headed out to see my friend Britni.
After spending some time with her I headed to the grocery store to get all the fixin's for the week. I didn't have that much on my list and ended up filling the cart (and my cupboards) with things that were not necessary like chips, protein and other healthy bars, zero calorie flavored waters. I guess I was a little hungry.
When I got home, and after everything was put in its place, I made breakfast for lunch. Just a couple of eggs seasoned with Mrs. Dash, an orange, and a half of an Ezekiel English Muffin with a Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb wedge.
I was getting ready to relax when I noticed I had a voicemail from my mom asking me to come help her, my dad and brother move my grandpa. So much for relaxing. It was up off the couch and ready to work.
When we got there we had to pack everything up and load it, take it to his new home and unpack it. We got the major things done first, the kitchen, bath, and bed rooms. I had to leave at 8:30 pm because I was exhausted and I had things to do to get ready for work on Monday.
JUNE RECAP
Question: What do you like to eat after a run or workout? Do you splurge every once in a while or stick to the diet?
