Progress, Not Perfection

Welp, I’m T-minus 3 days for race day!! I mentioned a 10k I have planned for on Sunday and my intentions are to run it FAST. I’m a little scared, lol!!

Truth be told, I really want a PR. And considering I haven’t actually raced a 10k, a PR isn’t too farfetched. I last ran a 10k about two years ago when my friend Amber visited me to do an Arizona race. I recommended Lost Dutchman because of its beautiful desert scenery.

Except it was cold, cloudy, and torrential down pouring that day 😦

Fun times

Despite the awful weather, we both had decent races. She placed 5th female overall and 2nd in her age group for the half marathon and I placed 1st in my age group for the 10k (even after stopping to tie my shoe!).

Amber the Runner and me ❤

I ran a 47:14 with a 7:35 average pace.

Fast forward almost two years and I feel like I can beat that…

…but by how much?

That is the big question.

I have a number goal in mind…an ambitious one, but my hope is to run the race HARD, whatever that might produce. I know my “hard” is different than my “hard” from two years ago so I’m curious to see what I can make happen given good race juju.

I’ve had some pretty good training runs lately that has boosted my confidence. But, my diet has still been realllly bad #storyofmylife

I was invited to work with a trainer at a gym called PNP Fitness (Progress Not Perfection) and while at the beginning I thought we’d be talking more things fitness, our conversations have turned to all things diet.

You all know I’ve struggled with food/eating healthy for a looooong time. I feel like each time I try and change my habits, I fall back to the same unhealthy patterns.

Meeting with Will from PNP these past few weeks has been some good tough love I’ve needed. He’s really made me confront some of the reasons I go to fast food and convenience.

Some things I already know:

-I know fast food/take out is expensive.
-I know fast food/take out is for the most part unhealthy.
-I know I’m not teaching my kids healthy eating habits.
-I know that some home cooked meals can be quick if fast and convenient is what I’m looking for.

I know those things, but I really don’t care or as bad as it sounds, care enough to change.

And that’s pretty much the honest truth right there. I don’t care enough to change my eating.

The dreaded ‘why’ question

Will started breaking out the ‘why’ questions. And I hate them, they’re annoying, but only because they make me think about something I don’t like thinking about.

He asked me why I qualified for Boston. This was interesting because it wasn’t how.

I qualified because I worked really hard, trained really hard, wanted it really bad.

I cared.

Post Boston I don’t really have anything I care about as intensely. Will asked if I wanted to get faster or if I was satisfied with where I was.

I don’t know. Sometimes I want to get faster, and sometimes I don’t care.

Will I be bummed if I don’t PR on Sunday? Yes. But I have to realize that just focusing on running can only get me so fast. At some point, other aspects of my training will have to change.

Like my diet.

Do I care enough?

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–Is your diet an area you struggle with? Have you ever talked to someone about your diet?

–Do you struggle with caring about things?

Check out my Instagram on Sunday to see results from the 10k–wish me luck!! xoxo, helly

 

Friday Five: 5 Ways To Cope With Injuries

 

When I got the news that I’d have to painfully (pun intended, lol) get through 6 weeks of no running, I made the decision that I was going to go all the way–I was going to listen to my doctor and do what I had to do to make sure I came back healthier and recovered. No cheating, no small runs to get the crazies out, none of that.

So, here are five ways I was able to make that happen:

1.) Surround Yourself With People Who Work Out

I know this sounds awful for someone who’s injured. Why would you want to see brag stories from people doing what you want to do? But let me tell you, for me, it was motivation. I wanted to do what they were doing and I wanted to do it well. Sure, I could bust out a 5 miler if I wanted to, but I knew I’d pay for it later in some way and the goal is to be able to do this for a long time, right? Eye on the prize.

I kept up with blogs as best as one can during the holidays and it was actually fun to see my friends’ successes on Instagram/Facebook/etc. I cheered them on, congratulated, lamented with the ones who didn’t do well, and I still felt connected to the running world.

I lived vicariously through my friends who continued working out and knew I had to make sure I could keep up when I did return to running.

Which meant…

2.) Do What You Can!

For us, running is everything. Nothing can really replace our one true love but when it’s on a hiatus (i.e taking a break), we have to resort to back-ups.

I threw myself in what I could do and at the beginning it wasn’t much. I didn’t even know how to do it!

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The first two weeks of my injury, all my doctor wanted me to do was swim. He wanted zero impact on my legs. Well, I didn’t know how to swim but I have friends who do and luckily, they were patient enough to teach me how. I’m still learning, lol!

I swam when I could, and I focused on upper body strength and my core. All things that would help me when I returned to running (and really, things I should’ve been doing anyway).

After I was cleared, I took on spinning, something I’d always been curious about but never did because, well, running.

I took classes at my gym, again, something I would never do because I’d always choose running over anything else. But the core classes, the spinning classes, the stretching classes all were helping me stay in shape and helping me become a better runner–for when I was ready.

Keeping busy really helped make the time go by faster. I wrote down on my calendar the classes I’d take, what days I would elliptical/bike/swim, and before I knew it, my weeks were full of activities. I was pretty much working out 5 days a week!

3.) Shop!

Retail therapy. Best.

I definitely used some of my injury time to scour through running websites, lol! I found a really neat new (local!) running/clothing company on Instagram called Senita Athletics and fell in love with their stuff. I decided to splurge on myself with some new purple pants. I had them visible for me in my closet to remind myself the day would soon come when I could wear them 🙂

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purple pants ❤

4.) Find A Way To Use Race Entries

At the end of the day, I was only out 1 race (of four). I was able to move down from the Hot Chocolate 15k to the 5k and walked it with friends, and I downgraded from Phoenix Marathon to the 1/2.

I transferred my Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon bib to a friend and she ended up using it to help pace Runner Jenny to a PR!

Rock and Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon was my only loss.

Walking the Hot Chocolate 5k ended up being so much fun as I had friends who were walking anyway (even if I hadn’t been injured) so I didn’t feel like I was slowing them down. We chatted the entire way and before I knew it, it was over–and I was sad! 🙂

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I think we had fun.

Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon was supposed to be my goal 1/2 and I was a little sad to not be able to run it–BUT, I knew that I was not in PR shape and I probably would’ve been more devastated not meeting my goal.

It certainly helped that my husband snagged a PR and that my bib was used to help my BRF snag one as well 🙂

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My champ.

It’s tough for us to see expensive races go to waste so finding a way to still make it work for you–or for a friend–really helps alleviate the loss.

5.) Know That The Day WILL Come

I had it marked on my calendar with balloons and confetti.

It’s important to know that that day will happen IF you follow doctor’s orders. Do not do things to prolong that date.

Every time I went for check-ups I’d ask how everything was progressing and my doctor would say the magic words, “You’re right on track!”

And the day DID come! Exactly 6 weeks from when I was told no running.

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November 28th to Jan 11th=6 weeks.

Of course, now it’s crucial I respect the return process as much as I did the recovery. That’s #6 and I’ll report on how well that works out another time 😉

Hope these tips help! Happy, healthy recovery! ❤ , helly

–What tips would you give runners coping with injuries?

Thanks for hosting the Friday Five Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney!! ❤ (P.S you guys, I get to meet Mar this weekend!!!!!)

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Mid-Week Musings II

I’m currently on my spring break and it’s been nice to relax and have time to myself–Especially convenient as I try to recover from my marathon debacle and sickness. (I’m starting to feel better, finally!)

I’ve been doing some reading and there’s a few things that have caught my eye. Things I’m interested to hear what you think:

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Pregnancy Abs

I posted this link on my Facebook about this girl who is super, duper fit and even at 8 months pregnant, you can see the outlining of abs. Yes, she’s pregnant with abs.

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She’s a model so it’s in her job description to be fit and from other news sources I read, she continued (continues?) to work out during her pregnancy (which I did as well but alas, did not have pregnancy abs). For some reason though, this girl didn’t turn me off like Super Abs mom did. This model wasn’t throwing it in our face how it’s perfectly possible to be pregnant with abs (she posted pics of her hot bod even before pregnancy lol) or telling us how we have “no excuse” not to have abs–pregnant or not. The model claims to enjoy working out and eating clean but still occasionally chowing down a burger. For that reason alone, I give her two thumbs up!

The Churro Dog

Leave it to Arizona to come up with a 1,200 calorie creation.

So the Arizona Diamondbacks debuted a new treat that consists of a churro inside a chocolate glazed donut and topped with frozen yogurt and whipped cream. Your choice of caramel or chocolate syrup (or both).

Yeeeaahhh……

Apparently, this dessert pairs well with the menu item introduced last year: an 18 inch bacon and cheese stuffed corn dog.

REALLY???

I like churros, and I like corn dogs, but no way could I do with all of the other stuff added to it. I’d have to run, I don’t know, like a thousand miles to burn off those calories lol!

Several people responded to my Facebook link saying they’d totally eat it but share the churro dog with friends. Yeah, if you’re gonna order it, I’d say def share it!

I guess the baseball days of popcorn, sunflower seeds, and regular ‘ol hot dogs are a thing of the past?

7 Marathons in 7 Days in 7 Continents

Remember in the first edition of Mid-Week Musings I wrote about this? It’s so funny because not a month later, a woman from our run club returned to tell us she’d done it! How I didn’t know she was even attempting it was beyond me! It’s def not something I’d forget!

Source

Source (PHX Marathon ended up being 101)

Anyway, Ila runs with our group every now and then (she runs more with another local run club) and she was nice enough to speak at one of our meet ups to tell us about her adventure.

She indeed ran 7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents! She talked a lot about the things mentioned in the article I shared last time about how lack of sleep was a runner’s biggest obstacle. And she said that camping in Antarctica was definitely a memorable experience.

Could you imagine running a marathon in Antarctica?

Of course I took a pic with her. I’m not sure that what she did is something I’d ever want to do (actually, no, it’s not lol!) but I think it’s super cool she did it and think it’s very inspiring.

Ila and her Triple 7 Quest medal (and me :) )

Ila and her Triple 7 Quest jacket and medal (and me 🙂 )

So, tell me what your thoughts are.

Think Pregnancy Abs are the new thing? Even possible? Is this woman a freak of nature?

Would you eat the Churro Dog? What’s the highest caloric meal you’ve eaten?

Does running a 7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents interest you?