Fort2Base-I stand with our Military

Today was probably my favorite "Annual" race.  Fort2Base 3 NM (which means 3.4 miles).

Why do I love this race?  Aside from the fact it is the best run, most organized race I do?

This race is held each year on the Great Lakes Naval Base which is our nation's Boot Camp for the Navy.  They have troops from all branches serving.  

When you stand at 7am watching the flag raised on a base, you cannot help be proud.  To see officers and enlisted come out to cheer us on.  The sheer POLITENESS of every single member of the military you meet.

There are a lot of current, retired and disabled personnel out running with you.

Shortly after we start, a group of Navy personnel come out running to cadence.  They always catch me.  I run with them as long as I can and my pace peters out and I watch them pass.  It is an amazing sight.

This year the Navy stepped up their game and the water stops were a sight to behold.  We have some VERY fine looking people serving.

You come around turns and see amazing views of Lake Michigan.

There is one amazing downhill where I feel like I am able to truly be a RUNNER! (8:47 pace). About a mile later there is a HELL Hill that keeps me humble.

At the finish you receive your medal from on officer from the military, in full dress whites or blues.

They are all around to take pictures too.  And don't complain your all sweaty.  And stinking up their dress uniforms.  (And lean down because he was CRAZY tall!)

I thanked every service member I passed for their service and every volunteer.

I may not be fast.  I may not ever be able to handle the 10NM.  But until I can't do it, I will be doing this each year.

Reps, Rowing, Run, Rinse and Repeat!

So, the past 6 weeks have been a crazy busy time for me fitness-wise.

Finished a 60 day challenge at the gym with a 15 pound weight loss and 7% reduction in body fat and maintained muscle mass.  Kinda beat up my body the last 3 weeks and the scale (up 4 pounds again) and my pain level shows it (more on that later....let us just say July is kicking my ass).  But still super excited with the progress.

So... what did July bring?

July 3rd- Kayaking for the first time.  It was really great for about 75% of the trip.  Knocked out of the kayak by tree debris twice, got it righted and back in twice.  The 2nd time was when our group hit a strainer.  In addition to knocking me out, it also resulted in 4 of our group of 6 losing their kayaks. Spent a bit longer than I was comfortable with alone on the river and worried about the rest of the group.  Thankfully everyone remained calm, the Fire and Rescue launched boats and all was safe.  (4 kayaks lost but all humans were unharmed.)

July 4th- underfueled and probably dehydrated I ran for the first time in over 6 months.  8k or for you non-metric people it was 5 miles.  This showed where all my lifting and rowing has changed my body!  Had my first sub-14 minute mile and PR'd the course by almost a minute from the previous time.

Had to take most of that week off as the kayaking (kayaks fill with a lot of VERY heavy water when the flip....righting and emptying is a lot of work).  Did some light cardio and rowed a 5k.  Wishing I could run as fast as I row.

Had a crazy week after that that should have been about fueling and hydrating for the next run.  Well, as we all know life does not follow your plans and I worked too much, ate off my plan and did not drink enough.

7-16 was running again.  4.5 hours of sleep.  Underhydrated (anyone sense a theme).  But did the Rock N Roll Chicago 10k.  Thankfully the weather Gods were kind and it was upper 70's and moderate humidity.  The years before it was hot and humid as hell.  The knee told me after the first mile it was NOT going to let me hit the pace I wanted so instead slowed a bit and took a few pics and got the knee and leg to calm down and moved on.  Pace ended up 15:30 per mile average and 2 minutes faster than last year.

This week nutrition was bad, either under or overeating and hydration was not back on track til Thursday.

What have I learned through all this?

Kayaking is awesome!  Until the rain slows I will likely stick to lakes but definitely will do it again.

You can train to race and have a decent pace without running at all in training.  My cardio is pretty much all rowing and doing HIIT (weights while keeping reps and exercise mix enough to keep heart rate elevated.)

My knee/quad really are not fans of running but can handle speed walking so if the weather cooperates will start trying to get some land miles in to work on improving the short stride method as it helps protect my knee.

I don't miss running in my training but I miss racing.  This means I will probably keep running 2-3 races a year that have meaning to me but space them at least 4 weeks apart to allow better recovery.

Most importantly?  I really a learning to love my body and what it can do!  I am hitting weights in the gym that are amazing to me.

Had a discussion with someone on "if you didn't need to work for a living what would you do?"
It took me a while and it came to me.  I would want to help train and inspire those "like me".  To be able to offer free or low cost training to my fellow Chubby girls and help them find the workouts and food to help them live their healthiest life.  Skinny is not a goal.  Fit, healthy and strong is.

Now to just win the lottery.

Riding the Struggle Bus

Phew, it has been a bit again.

Today I am feeling in a little funk and needed to get some thoughts out so here I am.

The knee/quad are still a struggle but finding a few tools that help. Using a mix "traditional" medicine in regards to anti-inflammatories and Physical Therapy but also some non-traditional methods too.  

These include Young Living Essential Oils, Fascial Stretch/Release Massage and Yin Yoga.  The oils help with pain relief.  The FST and Yin Yoga help to address the crazy, unexplained tightness/muscle imbalances I have.  

Swimming is still an evolving tool.  3 months of lessons and I no longer appear to be drowning but now it is just spending more time in the water and getting my breathing down.  Taking a break on lessons for a while.

P.T. got me over the hump with a lot of deep work on the quad and reassuring me I was not a big Whitney baby lol.  Have some nice techniques I can use for the knee and quad myself now.

FST is a HUGE tool for me.  My body likes to make scar tissue and my muscles like to be "knotty". FST is different than "normal" massage as it works to release the fascia on a deeper level and has really helped to get things looser.

Yin Yoga is a different type of yoga that works to stretch the fascia and helps,support the "hands-on" work my FST therapist does.

I also realized w the need to "modify" my workouts it is time to spend time back with my personal trainer.  We are looking to fine tune workouts and nutrition to get me back in track.  

My clothes show the 5 pounds.  My work pants are approaching the "hobo" look of being to big.  Wore a dress to work twice this week and because they "fit" people really noticed the changes I have made.

So, why the title "riding the struggle bus".  Because my brain is fixated on my weight and Body Fat%.  For the past 3 weeks I have been back on track w food and exercise.  Could my macro mix be better?  Yes but 100x better than before and my workouts have been much more consistent.  The result?  The first week was great-4 pounds,  second week only 1 pound, this week..a measly 0.2. Body Fat% on my home scale is only down 0.5% overall.

If you ever watched the Biggest Loser or those other shows it is usually week 3 when the body freaks out and stalls or shows a gain.

Knowing this isn't helping.  It is messing w my head and from experience I know I need to stay the course.  I know from looking at my metrics from this week my body was not in a good phase last week.  Pain was up a little and resting heart rate went from 64-65 to 71. Stress was high which intellectually I know them affects my pain levels, recovery post workout and sleep.  But it still sucks.  RHR is back down to 67 today.  

Fun new tool? The scale at the gym- it goes beyond just regular body fat and does more of a full body scan and also provides where you should look to change your body comp.  Not surprising is the need to lose body fat. The nice thing is the # of pounds it recommends.  55 pounds of fat.  That is about in line with where I set my goal.  The magic scale feels my lean body mass is spot on. This was a nice validation.  Will be fun to watch how the numbers shift over time and the difference in my Wednesday post-workout numbers and my Saturday AM pre-workout Numbers.



Shout outs to the great team who have been behind me and keep pushing me forward:

Becky Wilson, FST3, LMT at 2XL Body Works (https://www.facebook.com/pg/2XLBodyWorks/about/)-
AJ Aguilar at Lifetime Fitness-Schaumburg 
Yin Yoga with Sue at Lifetime Fitness-Algonquin
Laurie Hill, PT Advocate Sherman-Streamwood
Dr. Enrique Saguil, MD AMG Bartlett


If you want to know more about how I am using Young Living Essential Oils -send me a message.  I am a distributor and have an amazing team of ladies supporting me there too!

Letting go....

It has been too long since I wrote on here and tonight I just felt like I needed to get this out of my head and be at peace with my body.

If you are friends with my in real,life or follow my FB page, you have seen I have been struggling.  Struggling w running, with pain, with feeling like I was moving backwards and fighting my body every step of the way.

And I have been....  for years I have worked at being a runner, at losing weight, and getting farther from when I loved my workouts.

I have a great team around me.  Not just family and friends but a great MD and recently found an amazing massage therapist (which is an understatement of what she does- fascial release is way beyond massage).  Through work I a trying a weight loss program.

I have had insane pain in my right leg. The more I tried to work through it the worse it got.  MRI ordered to look at what is going on found an answer I wasn't expecting. Apparently, my right knee cap has pretty significant arthritis.

That means that one day it will need at least a partial replacement.  If I modify things, I can li,rly put it off many years and only need a partial.  If I keep running, biking, beating up that knee I will need it sooner and possibly a total instead of a partial.

When talking to someone about it I said even though I truly sucked at runnning I felt like a failure giving it up.  She asked why it was so important to me if I didn't enjoy it, was not good at it, it had already put my under the knife once and would put me there faster.  I tried to explain and I couldn't.  Because she was right. I enjoy lifting, I am pretty decent at it and my body responds to it.  Running and biking really hurt.  Running never felt natural.

But, the there is Brody.  My iRun4 buddy.  If I don't run there are no medals to send.  Will he be sad? (I know he won't be nor will his family but it weighs a little.)

And running seems like it should be the most natural thing to do.  But for me it isn't.

So, I think I am finally at peace with this and letting go.  I have to honor this body that has carried me through 44 years so far and hopefully will carry me at least 44 more.

I am getting back to basics.  Back to lifting,  modifying things that hurt, finding things that don't.

My early trainers tried to teach me this lesson.  That feeling uncomfortable is ok.  Pain is not.  Pain is your body telling to to stop and listen. I forgot it for a while but I am getting back there. Ian and AJ.... I know better.  (Haha and now I have a legit reason not to jump!)

So,what is my point in all this?  Hoping that if you are reading this and your feeling like what you are doing is hurting, true pain-- STOP and find something else.  Find a team to help you learn what is going on and what is a better choice for your body.  And let go of what your head "thinks" you should do and listen to what your body is trying to tell you.

Fall is here and more than just the leaves are changing

Phew, summer is winding down.  I am looking forward to less humidity when I run that is for sure.

Had some crazy things this summer with friends and family that has made me really look at my life and how I am living it.  I will be 44 in less than a month and if I want this body to give me another 44 years, I really have to start taking better care of it.  Back to logging my food more, making better choices and hitting the gym.

My PCP will be glad to hear I am trying to get in the meditation and yoga too.

The other thing I often feel I am missing is a purpose.  While my life is not perfect I have so much more than others.  I have wanted to try to find a way to give back and to make a difference.  Wasn't sure how or where that would be.

Funny thing how sometimes a chance meeting brings a new opportunity.

Yesterday I ran a race called "Be a Hero to a Hero". I had decided to do it as it supports military members struggling w/ coming home.  It was close to home and thought it would help keep me motivated in my running.

It was a small race.  An adorable 9 year old little girl decided to run with me the whole time and we chatted (well, as much as I can talk and try to run) and it reminded me of the first time I ever ran.

After the race, I found out her Dad was the Veteran who organized the race.

Fast forward to the post-race party.  Talked to all the people who ran the event, their families and the owners of several other veteran owned businesses and organizations.  I cannot even explain how amazing these people are.

Today I sent an email to the organizers of the race to see how I can become more involved.


So, if you are looking for some great people here are the organizations I met yesterday.  (I am trying to get more involved in A Warrior's Mind but boy, Sheep Dog Impact is amazing too.)

A Warrior's Mind-  Military focused and support
http://www.awarriorsmind.com/

Sheep Dog Impact Assistance-supports military, law enforcement, fire and other service persons
http://sheepdogia.org/


Find a purpose and a passion.  It helps you to remember that even your bad days are not that damn bad.

I will not eat my stress, I will not eat my stress, I WILL NOT EAT MY STRESS

So, been almost 3 months since I blogged.  Have been minimally more active on my linked FB page.

So, here is my status.....

So far this year, I completed a Spartan Sprint, a local 5k and then the RockNRoll Chicago.  Each one showed my how far I have fallen from my prior fitness level.

I have also survived and pretty much finished the migration of our computer system at work for my department.  The stress is not yet over as all my reporting has to be redone/revamped/rewritten and for the next few months it will be blending data from my old to new system.  Needless to say, stress level is still kinda high.  Trying to remember that I have to take time for me.....   I have not been putting myself first (or probably even second or third or fourth....).

This weekend I dug back out the food scale, the tape measure, my workout log book and updated all my stats in MyFitnessPal.  The numbers are not good but they are not horrid.  I am up a total of 13 pounds from my lowest weight in Jan 2014 BUT been pretty steady for the last 12 months.

So now to start working the plan again.  I need to start logging daily, getting in my cardio and weights (Cardio has been so-so but have not touched weights in MONTHS...) and getting back to yoga and meditation.

Funny thing is it was a simple chat w/ two guys who helped me really get going on this journey that reminded me why I needed to get back to it.

I am not sure Ian and AJ will ever realize how much of an impact they made on me and how much confidence it gave me.

I miss the feeling that the gym bought me and how much healthier I felt.  As I have slacked more and more, the migraines and achiness I used to have is creeping back.

 Hopefully, I can keep my focus and keep pushing on.  Feel free to ask me how it is going, nudge me, push me because I need someone to help keep me going.

Crap.....fell off the wagon again

Hey there,

For many on this journey this will sound familiar.... Fell off the wagon again.  Didn't really lose ground but was not working out as much as I should, lost my mojo and just was not "feeling it".

Spartan looming, races coming up and just wasn't feeling it.

WHY?

Work pressure are INSANE are the biggest one.  I leave work so mentally fried the last thing I want to do is cook, prep, workout.

But that is the thing.....  when I am on track, when I eat right and work out I sleep better.  This hel.s me manage the stress better.

Yet I still got off-track and stopped making me a priority.

So what has me working at it again? (Aside from my Spartan is 3 weeks from today..)  Had someone tell me how much I was inspiring them and they missed my post.  Had another person tell me they could tell just looking at me that I seemed to be hanging on by a thread.  Had the inner thigh of my favorite jeans blow out.  (Come on my lady friends.... you know this sucks- mind you they were about 7 years old so really overdue but dammit)

So yesterday was gym and a long walk.

Today I will be getting outside again.  And tomorrow.

Thankfully I have not gotten far off track and the scale/measurements are the same. (Actually while the scale is up 3 pounds, muscle mass is up 4 so thank you pushup challenge.  Cuz yeah- MY DAMN CHEST MEASUREMENTS ARE UP.  Sorry, not where I want to see gains lol...you will understand if you have ever seen pics of me.)

Took this first picture last night on my walk- Spring is in full bloom and it is time for new beginnings.

The second is me and the kid on Mother's day (my "now") and the last is me 3 years ago.  This is where I want to be back to.  I am not that far off weight/measurement wise but the drive and "Headspace" is where I need to get to.

Like Yoda said.... "There is no try, there is only do or not do".  Gotta DO IT!