Processed Sugar Challenged

At the beginning of April I decided that I wanted to see if changing my (processed) sugar intake really change my running, my overall measurements, and how I felt.  I started where I was attempting to keep my over sugar intake to 70g a day (first week), then starting the second week I went down 50g a day, which is where I have kept. After 21 days this is what the change was:

I haven't had much change in my arms or legs but, core/hips has decreased quite a bit.  Granted it hasn't been easy and last night I almost blew because I wanted to buy clearance Easter candy but, Bill reminder how hard I have worked to here and was it really worth undoing all of that work.

My 23 miler

I did my longest run to date this morning, it was amazingly surreal and peacefully.  The first 2 miles was a lot of hill work and thinking that maybe I planned my route poorly but, around 3 miles or so, I finally found my groove/my comfort pace.  Around 6.5 miles I was on county road 18 and hit some head wind and really hoping that it wasn't going to last, which is lasted until I hit 7 miles.  I started tweeting when I had 12.5 miles to go to let Bill and my other running friends know.  I was feeling amazing 13.1 and looked at my Garmin and was 2:02:16, which was only 16 seconds my PR record for half marathon that I did last fall.  About 16 miles I was heading into downtown Canandaigua and realize that I was still feeling pretty awesome.  I was on South Pearl Street in Canandaigua 18 miles and starting to feel tired but too bad.  I hit 19 miles on Outhouse Road in Canandaigua and started to feel emotional because it I was the first in my life that I ever run that in my life and I was proud of myself and thankful that I was able to do it.  At 20 miles that little voice in my head kept saying, "you know you are tired and you can quit now, there is no shame it."  I was able to kind of quite the voice by tweeting that I only had a 5K left.  Then at 22 miles, I hit that "the wall" and my head was roaring at me saying, "well you know it if you go this you would be done at your Nana's house, just that because this it isn't worth it."  At that I pretty much told my head, "shut hell up, it is only a mile and I got this! You are brave, you are worth it, just finish."  I finally got in front of my Nana/Papa's house and I realize that I miscalculated my .10 miles so, I run down to almost Mohawk Street and back to get the full 23 miles.  I got inside and my calves and feet hurt but the rest of me was just happy to finished.  My Nana insisted that I needed to eat but, I didn't want to eat, insisted that I needed to drink something that had sugar in it but, I really didn't want it.  I did end up drinking 8 oz of cranberry juice and it really did hit the spot, we chilled at my Nana and Papa's house for couple of hours.

Halfway point

I'm currently halfway through my marathon training and it amazes me that my body has changed as much as it has in such a short time.  Even my way of thinking of nutrition, strength training, cross training, resting, and just how I deal with the day to day.  Now I'm getting to the point where I'm looking at specific foods as my fuel for training versus giving into cravings.  Meal planning has become a much bigger part of training because I know that Thursdays and Fridays, I need to have more complex carbs and tend to have red meat in order to feel more fuel for my longer runs on Saturdays.  I drink about a gallon of water a day, which is something that I haven't done since I was breastfeeding.  In some aspects, running and breastfeeding are similar to each other in dealing with having the proper fuel.  I know that when I breastfed lil miss that red sauce was a no-no because she would break out and I would have a heartburn from it whereas, with lil man I couldn't have too dairy products because he would be fussy/gassy and so would I.  I have learned now that drinking regular milk does NOT sit well with my stomach or system overall so, having anything with too much milk in it isn't good for my training.  Green smoothies are awesome!  Strength/cross training is absolutely necessary, which I know that I did that in high school and college when I swam but, really cared or took the time to understand the importance of it until now.

Green Smoothies

Green Smoothies

1 1/2 cup of Almond milk or Soy milk or Rice milk (regular milk doesn't mix well)
1/2 cup of fresh fruit or frozen (ie mixed berry, mango, strawberries, pineapples, etc)
1 sliced banana
1/2 cup to 1 cup of fresh spinach

Place into a blender and mix until smooth.

If you choose to place into a freezer bag omit the milk until you are ready to mix in the blender.

Half/Full Marathons Plans

The two training plans.  The first one is for half marathon training:

The second one is for marathon training:

I have combined several different training plans/programs as well as my own experience to make up the half marathon plan.  With the marathon training plan I combined several different training plans, never increasing more than 15% a week for the mileage.  I have found after running 2 half marathons that having a long taper period doesn't well for me because I feel like I'm resting too much and then I feel winded during the race.  I'm at start of week 8 of the marathon training and so far, I really like this plan because I build up the mileage for 3 weeks and back off for a week, then start building up again.

After our first month of homeschooling

We have made it through a month of homeschooling and we have definitely have faced some challenges but, overall we have been successful in most of her subjects.  She enjoys math, science, art, music, PE, some parts of reading/writing but, she has been struggling in social studies.  I think that biggest challenge that we struggle with daily is doing the "work" stuff before we do the "fun" stuff.  Her tantrums have gotten less but, the ones that she has very large and it is due to her thinking something "hard" or "difficult" to try and yet once she tries it, she realizes it isn't too "hard" or "difficult."  I'm still trying to find the balance working from home, training for a marathon, homeschooling, being a wife and mom, and caring for the house in general, which I'm so grateful to have a husband who is support and picks up the slack when he sees that I'm struggling at times.
As right now it is looking like will be finishing 1st grade work by the mid- to late April, which is awesome.

6 years

Yesterday was the 6th year Anniversary since my MIL passed away from stage 4 lung cancer.  I looked back over the time that I had her here and we definitely butted heads with each other but, it wasn't that of typically MIL and daughter-in-law relationship.  When Bill and I needed an opinion or were at odds with each other about something, she would listen to both sides then sometimes she would side with him (which I always said well she is just siding with him because it is her son) and sometimes would side with me.  I didn't truly appreciate it at the time when she came to live us when we were stationed in CA.  Look upon it now, I feel so grateful that she did that because it allowed me to continue to work, which is what was needed in that financial we weren't totally ready for him.  I remember being mad as hell at her for leaving when she did, I thought it wasn't fair and I didn't want to talk to her because of it.  Then we found that I was pregnant with MacKenna, she offered to come back because Bill was going to be deploying but, I was still kind of pissed at her so, I told her no, I have always wished that I would have let her back out to stay and help me with WES because I really didn't get to enjoy MacKenna's pregnancy or WES being a toddler due to being overwhelmed by Bill being deployed, being mom/dad to a special need toddler as well as being pregnant.  When she finally met MacKenna (Christmas time), it was amazing to see the bond that she with her and even though, WES had seen her since March (at that point he wasn't Dx with being on the Autism Spectrum, we knew something was wrong in that he hadn't speaking very much if at all), he went right up to her and hug/kiss her like no time had passed.  Even though, 6 years have passed since we said good bye to her, there isn't a day that doesn't go by that I don't wish she was here because I miss the relationship we had together and even though, her time so short with her grandchildren, she loved them so much and so proud to their grandmother.

In last few months looking/reflecting over the last 20 years (wow I feel a bit old to say that), I have accepted that I can't change what has happened, I understand that some people in my life will never accept me or be proud of me (that's ok because I accept me and proud of the person that I have become), that change is HARD, I'm grateful for the small things in my life, and I have let go of the past (I haven't forgotten it just not letting it control me anymore).