Intermittent Fasting and Faith

Dec30

This post is a little bit health and a little bit faith. I never, ever considered fasting. Ever. Like why would I skip a meal on purpose? I also didn’t see the connection to faith. Bear with me on this.

Since starting Keto a year ago the topic of intermittent fasting kept coming up. So, I did a little research and decided to try it some. I still wasn’t sure how it would work. How would I not starve or just be sitting there counting the minutes to when I could eat? So, I did a little experiment. I started out doing it from Saturday dinner to Sunday lunch. I don’t usually work out on Sunday morning so as long as I could make it through church service I’d be ok. Turns out my stomach can growl really loud when it’s empty.

Next time, I sorta joked about praying my way through it. “Please Lord don’t let my stomach growl during church.” It worked though. So, then I prayed it seriously and asked for guidance on keeping focused during church and not feeling hungry. It worked even better.

Now it’s become extra time during the day to focus and pray. Sometimes, I can’t find the words to pray so I just turn on some praise and worship music and sing (well, make a noise anyway).

The Bible talks a lot about fasting. It was used to repent, worship, show humility. Those are all very good reasons for me to fast as well. Not counting the health benefits to fasting.

Here are just a few Bible references to fasting:

Matthew 6:16-18
Isaiah 58:3-7
Samuel 12:15-17
Psalm 35:13-14

Intermittent fasting on the Keto diet has health benefits as well. Fasting can help burn fat, and if you are eating a Keto diet you may not need breakfast. My husband rarely eats breakfast but he has a bulletproof coffee each morning. I don’t drink coffee, and I almost always eat breakfast. I am going to try fasting a few mornings a week though.

I have not gone over 18 hours, that includes sleeping. Most of the time I fast for 16-17 hours. I just downloaded and started using an app to track it. At least it’s a visual goal for me. Just make sure you break your fast with a healthy keto meal, not a carb loaded pizza.

We don’t actually need to eat 3, 4 or 5 times a day to lose weight or be healthy. It’s just what I trained my body to think it needs. With fasting, I’m not only re-training my body to only eat when I really need to but also relying on God for guidance and that extra time has been a blessing. I couldn’t see it before. I was just focused on the hunger. Focused on what I was going to eat next and when. It all goes back to my relationship with food. In case you missed that post, it’s here.

Have you tried fasting?

How long do you fast and how often?

What do you do during your fast?

My relationship with food

Dec15

Hot topic alert. As far back as I can remember, I have loved to eat. Love food. Love the social part of eating out. I even love to cook and bake. I am not necessarily the greatest at it. But I love to cook for people.

It’s the love to eat part that has been the struggle.

So much about food and eating is wrapped up in our social life, our family life, even our athletics and church life. We eat with friends, with team mates, with co-workers. It’s a big part of our lives. Growing up I was thin, very thin. People used to actually make fun of me for being so thin. Can you believe it? Kids are torturous and will pick on anyone just to make themselves feel better. I was called names. And it didn’t matter what I ate or how much, never gained weight. Until, about age 21, 22. I was married, working full time and teaching dance class a few nights a week. My husband worked late nights so we rarely had dinner together. When we did, we ate out a lot. I mean a lot. We had no kids, no mortgage, rent was dirt cheap and we spent our money on food. Sad, I know.

Not sure what year this was. Hard to believe this was me. Don’t get me started on that brown velour jacket.

I can remember eating every meal like it was my last meal. I can’t remember when I realized I was gaining weight though. It was gradual, kept having to buy bigger pants, then suddenly it was double digit pants. That went on for several years. I worked out a little bit then gave that up. Then got pregnant at age 25, still overweight.

I gained 40 pounds when I was pregnant with Ally. I wish I had the actual number, I’m sure I can get that from my OB. (mental note made).

Post baby I lost some, I got back down to some pre-pregnancy clothes, but then that number climbed again. I told myself I was happy. I wasn’t going to be that girl that counted every calorie she ate. Life was too short, etc, etc. I worked with a lady who did count every calorie and also proceeded to count mine as well. Ugh.

I even joined a gym with a friend, it lasted a few months. She quit so then I quit. I actually cried, I felt like a failure at that point. But didn’t change anything.

This destructive behavior continued until age 34 ish. I was closer to 35. I honestly don’t even know why or what it was that finally clicked with me. I woke up one day and decided that was enough. I got together with a good friend and we started walking and using an app to track all of our food. We were both on a new journey to lose weight and start exercising. Our girls were about 9 and 10 at the time. The girls would ride their bikes and we would walk 4 miles, almost every day of the week. It was a time I will treasure always.

That was June 2011, I was just a few months shy of my 35th birthday and I had 40 pounds to lose. My first goal was 30, I got that by walking and changing my diet. I did hit my birthday goal that October. I walked my first 5k with my friend and another dear friend who is a breast cancer survivor. We walked the Komen 5k that year.

This is October 2011.

I had already been running a little bit just to try it on days when Paula and I couldn’t walk. Just a month later I RAN my first 5k on Thanksgiving Day with another friend. I still can’t believe she talked me into that!

Then I think I was pretty much hooked on running. I started running longer distance and signed up for the Cowtown 10k in February 2012. Then Alisha and I signed up for a half in May 2012.

During this time my relationship with food had changed drastically. I hadn’t eliminated any food groups, just cut down over all. I just made better choices most of the time and it worked for me.

Over the next few years my running progressed and my eating went up and down. Nothing too terrible and there was enough running to keep my weight in check. Then I trained for 3 marathons in a year (don’t ask) and once that was done I kept eating like I was marathon training. That’s when the trouble started again. I put on just a little here and there. But keep in mind, I’m still running and working out 5-6 days a week. You can’t out exercise a bad diet. You just can’t.

Those bad habits seem to creep back so easily. The cake you eat because you had a bad day. Or you don’t feel like cooking so we go have a burger and cheese fries. Food makes me feel good. It’s comforting. From late 2014-2016, I gained about 15-20 pounds. It went up and down over those 2 years. I hid it well, most people wouldn’t even notice.

This is July 2016, just before we started keto. Most people would say that’s not overweight. But my frame and my body says otherwise. This was working out 5-6 days a week but eating the “standard American diet”. This was also 15-20 pounds heavier than the previous pictures. Most of it being in my mid section.

November 2016 changed everything. I finally realized (after John said it and my doctor) that sugar and carbs might be the problem. I was seriously addicted. I went to the doctor in June 2016 hoping she would just put me on an appetite suppressor, or some pill. There had to be some reason I wasn’t losing weight. She said it might be carbs, that I might need to try lowering my intake. I left there thinking she was crazy. And kept going for a few months. I tried shakes (full of sugar), I counted calories (sort of) and just kept working out.

I would never have believed that sugar and my carb intake was the culprit until I actually broke the addiction and stopped eating it so much. I went cold turkey. Goal was 20 carbs a day. I wrote down everything, measured it all, and within a month I could tell it was working. Made it through the holidays without gaining any weight. I can confidently say I am thankful my husband took that first step and then I followed. I feel better, look better, sleep better and I don’t crave the sugar anymore. Now, on occasion I do eat pasta or a dessert. But when I do, I feel it. My whole body feels sluggish and hungover. It has to be worth it for me to eat it. I make a conscious choice to eat something.

No more eating like it’s my last meal.

No more eating just because it’s in front of me.

No more eating because I feel sad, tired or bored.

My hope is that I’ve made enough changes over the years that Ally will see healthy habits and not go through her early adult years overweight and out of shape like I did.

Our low-carb life

Sep14

I’ve touched a little bit on John and I eating low carb. Some people think we are crazy but it also surprises me how many people are eating this way and I just didn’t know. Besides the weight loss, we sleep better (he says I don’t snore), feel better, and no, I don’t have the crazy sweet cravings. Every once in a while I’ll make a low-carb treat because I still like to bake and so does Ally. And there are plenty of yummy low carb/sugar free desserts out there.

There are some links in this post, I don’t get anything from you clicking on them. 🙂

John started us on the road last October and I followed in November. He really keeps me in line most of the time. I have had days where I have extra carbs, like vacation, for instance. It doesn’t take too long to get back on track though, we were strict from day 1 once we got home. Most days I don’t even think twice about it. It’s our new norm. Not a fad diet, but a lifestyle change.

I got my physical this month with x-rays, EKG, full blood panel. Everything from cholesterol to liver and all the numbers are normal or better than normal. So no, eating bacon and butter is not going to kill me. My doctor still takes a second glance at my resting heart rate and said “you don’t look 40.” Thanks, I don’t feel or act it either!

She did ask about my diet and for 2 seconds I hesitated. But she said, if it’s working for you, keep doing it. It does take a lot of self control. You really have to want it. You have to be so ready for a change that you are willing to put in the work. No matter what diet, or lifestyle change, you have to work. Anyone that tells you it’s easy is lying. Easy is ordering pizza or eating cheese fries instead of a salad with your bun-less burger.

Zucchini cheese bread (recipe here) Served with ranch or tomato sauce.

I’ve been tossing around the idea of carb cycling or re-feed days, rarely though. I am at my goal weight but I don’t want to just start adding carbs in and start feeling like crap. I’m not talking about loaves of bread and cheesecake every week. I’m talking about rare date nights having pizza instead of chicken, or making whole wheat pancakes, something along those lines. I do not like how I feel when I over-eat on carbs and sugar. My body doesn’t like it and it tells me so.

We don’t use ketone supplements to get our bodies into ketosis, we do it with diet. Eating the right foods will do that without supplements. Yes, we eat bacon, butter, full fat dairy, cheese, beef, chicken, veggies and fruit. We steer clear of starchy veggies like potatoes and corn. We eat fruit in moderation like strawberries and blueberries. Lots of meat and veggies. Probably more veggies than I’ve ever eaten in my life.

I can guarantee we aren’t deprived of good food. These are beef fajitas on low carb flat bread (found here) with homemade queso (NOT velveeta), guacamole under there and chips I made from the flat bread.

I do meal prep, every week. If not, we will be eating take out. I make a breakfast casserole or egg muffins, hamburger patties, bacon, cut up lettuce and fruit and anything else I can think of. Ally has to take her breakfast to school to eat after morning practice. So she gets an egg muffin and this year she wanted sausage rolls. She gets them homemade and they are made with a low carb dough. Score! And before you ask, no her carbs are not restricted. If she wants pasta she gets it. She has chosen to cut her sugar and sweets way down and has been eating less pasta and bread lately. She’s a runner and I think she finally realized that the professional runners probably aren’t eating ice cream and brownies every night, or chips for that matter. She has made a few choices on her own. We don’t shame her or restrict her diet in any way.

Homemade meatballs served over spaghetti squash. One word, yummy.

Some of our favorite recipes we got from Pinterest, other bloggers and every day people just trying to make this work for them. I will include a few below.

Zucchini Casserole, seriously one of our faves! It’s amazing. http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2017/01/easy-cheesy-zucchini-gratin-low-carb-keto.html
Fathead pizza crust, can also be tostadas, chips, crackers, this is the dough I use for the sausage rolls. Lots of things can be done with this recipe. http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2015/04/23/fat-head-pizza/
Poblano chicken soup, so delicious. https://asweetlife.org/chile-relleno-chicken-soup/
Meatballs, pick a recipe just leave out the flour. I put a little bit of almond flour in ours. I use 1 pound of ground beef and 1 pound of ground pork, 1 egg, parmesan cheese, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and a little almond flour.
Green chili chicken bake, don’t serve over rice like the recipe shows. http://www.thepinningmama.com/green-chili-chicken-bake-recipe/
Zucchini-poblano lasagna

Anyone else eating low carb / keto?

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25

What’s new?

May16

The date is May 16, 2017. I honestly can’t believe it’s been this long since I’ve written anything. So much has happened in the last few years. Good, bad and everything in between.

I have so much to say, but where do I start? Injury, oh yeah, that. I started running in late 2011 and ran injury free until about May 2016. Something happened, still not sure what. But I’ve been fighting an achilles issue for almost a year now. I ran off and on, took breaks, walked, did intervals. Thought I was good and then November 2016 after limping for 2 days following a 10 miler, I knew I was done. I have been to several doctors and rehab, nothing was helping. So, I hit the gym full on, got my eating under control (more on that later!) and got strong and healthy. Stronger than I’ve been in a long time.

Fast forward to today and I’m doing some interval running, very low mileage. Some days I want to cry, thinking about the progress I’ve lost. But I have so much to be thankful for and the gym is growing on me!

The achilles injury really made me stop and reevaluate my priorities. I love running, but I love the social aspect of it more. That’s what I was missing so badly. My running group is also my gym group so it’s not the end of the world. I have figured out if I keep my mileage low, my pace low and my stride short I can run and not hurt. So for now, it’s what I’m doing. And I’m actually learning to love it!

And the gym dates with John aren’t so bad either! We got a new Planet Fitness near us (aka The Purple Palace), anyone else a PF member? It is a lot of purple.

John and I celebrated 20 years last year with friends in California. Definitely more on that to come! We have a driver in the house now. (yikes) We got a puppy. (double yikes)

Meet Bear. He’s about a year and half now. Molly isn’t a fan, but they have their moments.

Ally had her first high school cross country season, track season and we are sooooo close to the end of 9th grade! We are all ready for summer. So proud of this girl and how she handled her academics and athletics. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for her!

John and I started eating low carb / high fat or keto last fall. He started in October and I dragged my feet for about a month or so. Still couldn’t let go of my carbs, even after my doctor suggesting it last summer. Fast forward 8 months and we are doing great! Hubby is down 50+ pounds and I got that 18 or so off that I gained during marathon training and life happening.

LOVE this guy!

Just got an Apple Watch, still trying to get it set up and figure out how to use it. I got the Nike version, it didn’t cost any extra and I used to run with a Nike Watch so I’m hoping it’s similar. I ran with it this morning but the Apple workout app didn’t collect any of my run info. I’m sure it was user error but I’m not impressed with that just yet. I’m going to try it at the gym tomorrow. I still have my Garmin and will go back to it if this watch doesn’t get any better. I have 2 weeks to decide!

Anyone else workout at Planet Fitness?

What watch do you run with?

Weekly run-down

Apr7

I made a decision a while back to work on getting my pace down. I’ve been comfy at 9:30 for a while, it’s really become my easy pace. My body automatically goes there. So, I’ve been trying to break that since I want to break a 1:45 half this year. It may just be my pea brain, but if I want to run an 8 minute mile in a race I need to run faster on training runs (at least sometimes). That being said, 8’s are tough. Real tough. Like vomit pace for me right now. But I guess that’s where I find out what I’m made of!

I feel like a little bit of a slacker lately. I need to find a good schedule that works for me again. I like Monday mornings at the gym, good way to start the week off. Friday’s are almost always rest days for me. Wednesday is usually a gym day (but not the last 2 weeks). And Saturday long run.

Training last week:

Sunday: Gym day

Monday: Gym day

Tuesday: Tempo run, 1.5 miles tempo, .5 mile recovery, that tempo part included a double hill, we ran it 4 times. Total miles 7.5, average pace 9:06.

Wednesday: Rest day

Thursday: 4.25 miles, average pace 8:35

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Raced a 5k

Saturday was my first 5k race in almost a year. I haven’t really been training to PR it specifically, but was going to try. It’s a race I’ve done before, close to home. I love those races. Easy in and easy out. They had a new course this year and I think I like it better than the old one. I got up about 2 hours early and ate a really light breakfast (first mistake). We headed over to get our shirts and then had time to kill. Hence the second mistake, no fuel. I completely forgot about taking something else to eat or at the very least a gel.

Race started and I was feeling good for 1 mile. I swear I could feel the exact moment I used all my energy. It was gone, y’all. Nowhere to be found. I used whatever I had to get me from mile 2 to the finish. I could feel myself slowing down some. Got near the finish line, it’s in a park so you think you are almost there then you make a right turn and have about 1/2 mile in the park before coming back to the finish. I crossed paths with Ally and kept pushing.

One of my friends was out there yelling at me to run faster (thank you Dana!) It was her revenge for me telling her to run faster at track! In the end I got a PR but I know I could’ve done better had I prepared better. My PR last year was 22:30, I got a flat 22 in this race. Ally got a huge PR, almost 3 minutes for her first sub 20 minute 5k. I’m so proud of her!

We both placed first in our age groups.

Last week was the district track meet for Ally. She finished the season so strong, took 2nd place in both the 1600 and 2400, finished less than a second by first place. They were so close we couldn’t tell in the stands who won. She PR’d both distances as well. I’m looking forward to seeing her compete again. Final 1600 was 5:36 and 2400 was 9:08.

Softball season started but already halted because of the rain. We need it desperately here, so I’m trying not to complain. I’m pretty sure we will have lots of make-up games to play!

Are you training for anything?

Did you run today?

Happy running,

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25

Weekly run-down

Mar30

The last week was a blur, I’m not even sure I remember everything. Let’s start with the easy stuff: training.

Rock n’ Roll Dallas 2015 re-cap

Mar25

Since I never got my New Orleans full recap up, I figured I’d better get busy on this one ASAP! This race was a different one for me, in a good way. It’s so fun to be there when your friends hit their goals they work soooo hard to achieve!

Ally went with me to the Expo and packet pick up on Saturday. She likes to go and shop, of course!

RnR usually has really good expos, large, with lots of vendors. This one was better than New Orleans was, but the one in Dallas 2 years ago was still the best. Brooks has a huge showing at these expos too.

I was looking for headbands but didn’t find the ones I wanted so I’ll just order them online. We grabbed a cute shirt from one booth then had to back and get the head band for a friend!

This was the best I could get from her. She’s a mess!

Snapped a picture of the course map.

I checked the elevation and saw there were some hills, but I didn’t realize how hilly it was. More on that later.

When I got back to my car my MRTT (Moms Run This Town) magnet had been flipped upside down. I assumed it was someone from Rockwall but apparently the Allen chapter loves this game, someone there was the culprit. Too funny! So, if you see an MRTT magnet on a car, it’s perfectly acceptable behavior to flip it upside down. She took a picture (and so did I) and posted it in her chapter group. Be sure and leave the license plate out of the picture. 🙂

That night I finally made a choice on what to wear (or so I thought). I had it narrowed down to tank top, maybe shorts, maybe capris. If it rained I wanted capris and since that was still a maybe I chose capris. I took my throw away sweat shirt but forgot my gels.

Got up at 5:15 on race day, got dressed, had breakfast, grabbed my stuff and John took me to meet friends to head out.

The race started at 8am, we left Rockwall at 6:15, thinking that was plenty of time to get parked and get into our corrals. We barely made it. But at least we didn’t have a bunch of time to stand around and get nervous! Two years ago when I ran RnR Dallas it was a point to point race, you parked at the end and they shuttled us to the start. This year it was point to point again with about 1 mile in between start and finish. No shuttle. You basically were on your own, park where you can and walk it. I disliked that very much. We parked easily but had at least .5 miles to walk to the start.

We got to the race at corral 1 and bag check was at corral 15. It was very crowded along the corrals but we got to bag check and found a ton of port-a-potties, took care of that and headed for our corral with about 12 minutes to spare. We got into our corral and took a picture, sang the National Anthem and we were off. They didn’t waste any time.

The weather was gloomy looking, I kept thinking it was going to pour down rain on us, but it never did.

There were four of us, we’d all been training together the last few weeks to help two of the girls hit new goals. They both badly wanted a sub 2 hour half, their first. We stayed together for about 4 miles, then broke into two groups. It’s hard to make that choice to push a friend unless you really know they want you to. I was torn between staying with her and leaving. I was afraid she would be mad either way, even though she told me to go. (She wasn’t mad at me, but still wants that sub 2.) We are all busy making goals for the Fall.

I ended up running on my own for a little while, saw a few friends on the way. Luckily Anna had an extra Gu on her and had given it to me just in case. It was salted watermelon and not the worst I’ve had but it’s so thick. I really can’t hardly stand it. I use the Advocare rehydrate gels but I was desperate. I made it to about mile 8 before I needed it. I just ate it slowly.

Got to about mile 9 and caught up with the other half of our group and finished the race with them. Anna was still on target for a sub 2 hour, she was fighting for every step. I have been there. You want it so bad, you just have to convince your legs to cooperate. I think she had mostly 8:50 miles until that point.

We hit the mountain at mile 10, it seemed to go on forever, and that slowed us down. We were still ahead of the 2 hour pacer so we had time in the bank. I would run a little ahead to stay on the 9:10 pace and would slow down some then speed up a little. We were bouncing around at that point, but still pushing forward. We got passed by the 2 hour pacer somewhere about mile 12, I think. It was all kind of a blur after that, like a scene from a movie. You are in that final stretch, you get passed but still don’t quit.

Up ahead we see runners from Rockwall cheering and I tell them Anna needs a push, we are so close! The 2 hour pacer is still in front of us, we have less than 1/2 a mile to go. I’m staying with the pacer to try to draw her my way, our other friend is with her and just ahead cheering and telling her she can do it. She dug deep and sprinted ahead of that 2 hour pacer in the final stretch, we may have even been in the finish line chute. Seriously it was a blur. Got it by 3 seconds.

Here we are literally right after crossing. The look on Anna’s face tell you how hard she worked! I’m sure you can guess which one is Anna! I have the biggest grin on my face, such a goof!

We grabbed our medals but still weren’t sure if she came in under 2 hours, that pacer could have been off. We got Gatorade, potato chips (seriously the best post race snack ever!), and then headed to the engraving tent to check her time.

My friend Cynthia also go her first sub 2! These ladies are rock stars!

We caught up with several friends that had hit their goals that day. It was so fun hearing the stories and celebrating with them!

We found coach and took more pictures, got our stuff from gear check and went to get our free beer. And take more pictures!

We have some pretty awesome runners in our group, quite a few are headed to Boston next month. They were out there cheering us on at this race.

Here’s my medal, I forgot to take a picture of the shirt.

John picked me up from the finish and we tried a new place for lunch, Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. I had some ridiculously good food. Yes, that’s bacon on a skewer.

We shared fries and rings for all three of us.

I got the grilled cheese with mozzarella, pesto and tomato. So YUMMY!

After that, we headed home and you would think I’d be sitting on the couch…..

Wrong. Laundry, vacummed the house, cleaned out the fridge and did the dishes. Thankfully I talked John into going to the store for me. Oh and Ally had softball practice. The season starts this weekend!

Now our group is busy making goals for this fall. No matter the pace, we are all training together, cheering and supporting each other and just running.

What are you training for?

Do you make goals? Write them down?

Happy running,

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25

Weekly run-down

Mar23

Last week was busy! Ally started middle school track. They only have 4 meets. The first one got snowed out and the second one almost got rained out. The field events did get cancelled. This week is the district qualifier, I’m not sure how that works since there haven’t been any field events so far.

Ally ran the 400, the 1600 and the 2400. She’s definitely a distance runner, not a sprinter. She came in 1st in the 2400, that race was about 4:30pm, then maybe 7pm she ran the 400 and came in 7th, then finally about 8:30pm ran the mile and came in 2nd place. That 400 was just a warm up for the mile. It was fun and I’m so proud of her! She has been working hard. I know she will have some competition in the district qualifier, so she has work to do this week.

Here she is in the first lap, taking her lead. Once she got out in front she kept the lead. She made it look so easy, but I know she was working hard!

She was in 3rd place for the 1600 until the last 100 meters. I don’t know where she found the boost but she kicked it in gear and finished 2nd. This is the same girl that she came in 2nd place to during cross country. She wasn’t that far behind her, probably should have kicked it in gear sooner than she did.

We had a busy weekend and a busy week ahead. Softball hopefully starts next weekend and she shows her rabbits at the Youth Fair. I’m glad this project is almost over!

Training last week:

Sunday: 3 miles, average pace 7:58. Have no idea where that came from! 🙂

Monday: Early morning gym time. Abs, abs and more abs. Was feeling this by Tuesday.

Tuesday: Track, 5 x 1000 meters, with 400 recovery, 8 miles total, average pace 9:17

Wednesday: Rest day. Had intended on getting to the gym but never made it.

Thursday: 5 miles, average pace 9:11

Friday: Gym date with the hubby. We were there at the same time, but different workouts.

Saturday: Rest day. (feels weird)

Last Sunday I was running out of time to make it to the gym. Ally had softball practice in the middle of the day. It was at the park, the sun was out, so off I went for 3 miles. It got warm, quick. And of course our city hasn’t turned the water fountains back on yet. Fortunately I was close to the car and that made me run even faster. That 7:58 pace came out of nowhere. I’m happy to know I can still do it though.

I ran the Dallas Rock N Roll Half yesterday, that recap should be up in a few days!

What are you training for?

Did you race this weekend?

Happy running,

She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. Proverbs 31:17

The perfect time to train for a marathon

Mar21

When is the right time or the perfect time to train for a full marathon?

Christina at Crazy Mama Runner asked that question last week in our Sweat Pink Ambassador group. She got varying responses but almost everyone agreed, there’s never a perfect time.

Everyone has their reason for running. A marathon is no easy feat so deciding to train for one isn’t an easy decision. I didn’t start running until Ally was 10. She was fairly self sufficient, didn’t keep me up all hours of the night crying so I may have a skewed outlook.

But, here are my thoughts anyway.

Kids ages. Ally was 12 or so when I decided to train for my first full. I was already running before the sun came up while my family slept so it wasn’t a big adjustment. The biggest thing was my early bedtime. To get up at 4AM for a mid-week long run I had to go to bed by 9:30 at the latest. Sometimes I was in bed before Ally (still am). While I didn’t have the all night feedings and diaper changes, she had homework, sports, church, dinner had to be made, laundry done. All the other things that parents have to do.

My age. Since I didn’t start running until I was about 35 I guess it’s never too late. I was 37 when I ran my first full. And my training partner was 40. So no age excuses.

That pesky job. I train before the sun came up. I had to, still do. If I don’t, it won’t get done. I’m actually used to it now. Sure, there are days when I just want to skip it, but I have people waiting on me to show up. After working and dinner and all of Ally’s activities I have no time to run at night. I don’t even make it to the gym in the evenings either.

Your pace. I don’t like that excuse. As long as you can finish in the posted time limit no reason not to do it. You can run it or run/walk it and it’s still a full marathon!

Your family and friends will tell you not to. I still get “those” comments. Usually from non-running friends, about how running long distance is bad for my knees, etc. So was being 40+ pounds overweight with high cholesterol. I’m in better shape in my 30’s than I was in my 20’s. Don’t let fear of the unknown stop you.

There are always going to be reasons not to train. But for every reason not to I could find a reason to do it. It wasn’t easy, there were days I wanted to quit and almost did. My running buddies can attest to that. It’s a huge accomplishment and you will feel like a rock star!

When you make the decision you want to do it, just do it.

Are you currently training for a marathon?

Just finished one?

Happy running! You are a rock star!

She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. Proverbs 31:17

P.S. I love Proverbs 31!

Weekly run-down

Mar17

Last week was finally a full week of running and getting to the gym. No snow, no ice, not much sunshine either. But hey, we need the rain. It’s sunny here today though!

Training last week:

Sunday: Gym day

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: Track, 4×1 mile repeats, 8 miles including warm up and cool down, average pace 9:17

Wednesday: Gym day

Thursday: 6 miles, average pace 9:11

Friday: Gym day

Saturday: 9 miles at the lake then breakfast with friends! Average pace 9:14

I was very glad to get several days at the gym this week. It was Ally’s spring break so I took a few vacation days. We did a few projects at home, did a little shopping, saw McFarland USA (was soooo good!) I cried.

I painted and organized my pantry. It needed it badly. I should have painted it when we moved in last August but things were crazy and I was just ready to move in!

After (it looks a little better) At least the shelves are white now and not yellow.

Next up, I need to paint the kitchen chairs and I have a chair at my dressing table that needs paint and new fabric.

Ally is raising rabbits this year for her first (and probably last) 4-H project. We have less than 2 weeks to go before they go to auction. They are pretty cute but nasty little things too. They have made a mess in our garage! And they will scratch your arms up too.

I have Rock N’ Roll Dallas half coming up on Sunday. I’m getting excited!

What are you training for?

Working on any home projects?

Happy running!

Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1

How My World Runs

My adventures in fitness, food, family and faith!

Category Archives: Fitness

Intermittent Fasting and Faith

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My relationship with food

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Our low-carb life

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Weekly run-down

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Rock n’ Roll Dallas 2015 re-cap

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Weekly run-down

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The perfect time to train for a marathon

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Weekly run-down

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