Playing catch up

I’ve seriously fallen behind in life since Willie has been sick. Last week I split my time between the hospital, work and home.  I was totally out of my routine.  I didn’t get to work out that much and I was seriously tired.  No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to get some sleep.  I know a lot of it was stress induced, but I was really really tired.  Good thing Willie’s hospital visit occurred the week after the marathon because I probably needed to rest days.

The one thing I learned is the hospital doesn’t really serve healthy food!  They were slinging fried food and other lots of other heavy things.  Yes, they had things like salads and yogurt and sometimes some fresh fruit, but for the most part it wasn’t anything I was use to eating.  Yep, I toted around my own food when I could.  It was probably the best thing. I think we should address the unhealthy food being served at hospitals though. I haven’t felt like myself because I haven’t been able to eat what I really wanted.  I longed for some home cooked meals.

Thankfully Willie is home now and he’s doing much better.  He should only be out of commission for two weeks.  He’s up and moving around now!  Thank you to everyone who contacted me about his health.  I really appreciate it.  Now I’m just hoping to get back to normal and hopefully Willie can get back to normal too!

I was able to run on Thursday morning because I couldn’t sleep.  I don’t know why, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me. So I woke up at 4:30 am and hit the road.  It was my first run since the marathon and it went surprisingly well!  It wasn’t a fast run but it was comfortable.  I had no complaints.

On Saturday, I was able to go hit the gym and I went to cycle.  It was good to be back in the saddle.  I’ve missed it!  It was packed in the class, but I really needed to butt kicking.  I’ve said it over and over that I’ve been tired.  I really think I’ve been tired because I haven’t been exercising the way I am use to.  I didn’t struggle with the workout but I needed someone to push me through the workout.  I chose to spin instead of embarking on a long run because I knew I wouldn’t finish it.  Later that evening, I went on a run.

Slow and steady #run today. Still trying to decide if I'll run long tomorrow. #rnrnola #marathon next week! #teamrefuel #marathontraining #sweatpink #iambft #brooksrunning #runhappy
This run went fantastic even though I wasn’t thrilled about it. But once I got in the groove things got better. I ended the run because it was starting to get dark and I didn’t want to have to pull out all the lights and so but I could have kept going. This run was fast (for me) but it really helped!

Being away made it really hard to get back into the swing of things. Working out is a stress reliever for me and this was a time when I needed it most but I just couldn’t work it in as much as I would like. I spent hours and hours just waiting on the doctors to come in and tell us somethings. I wish I could have just sneaked out for a 45 min workout sometimes, but I didn’t want to leave Willie alone. I’m telling you this because I do know what a struggle it is to squeeze a workout in but last week was the hardest time I’ve had since we started this journey.

My biggest advice to people who struggle with getting a workout in due to time is: plan it out! I did a horrible job at time management over the past week and in hindsight I see I wasted some time. If you plan to go workout 3 times a week at a certain time, you always know that’s your time to go. And if something comes up where you can workout, try to fit it in the schedule where you can. Sometimes that does mean waking up earlier or working out later than expected BUT if it’s important to you then you’ll make it happen. And I promise you’ll feel better when you’re done!

The blog has also suffered due to my time away, but I promise to get things rolling again.  The blog was the last thing on my mind during this time and I kind of let it go.  I do apologize for that too.  I just didn’t have any posts in the “bank” because I wasn’t prepared.

Lastly, I want to express my apology to the JOURNEY group! We were scheduled to give a talk about our weight loss and journey but Willie feel ill and we were unable to go. This was a tough decision to make considering it had been on the schedule for so long. My deepest apologizes for having to cancel this talk but we do hope to reschedule. I just wanted y’all to know it was just important to us and it was to you guys.

What do you do when time gets in the way of your workout? Do you squeeze it in or just forget it?  How many rest days do you take a week?

Tips to avoid the new work out burn …

Tips to avoid the new work out burn out

It’s the beginning of the year and a LOT of people have resolved to get fit. That’s how the year always starts off right? People flocking to the gym, getting gym memberships and flaking out come February. Those people never see the gym until January of the following year when they plan to do it all over again. All I have to say is: the treadmills and elliptical are packed at my gym around 5:30pm! On a side note, don’t be mean to the new people at the gym.  These people are coming to the gym to accomplish the same…

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Taper makes me think

Taper makes me think

Today I was on the phone with a friend and they asked, “What’s the good word?” The good word is taper.  For all those who don’t know, taper happens close to a race where you scale back your mileage so you can rest up and recover for the race.  Taper is a good and bad thing.  It’s good because I won’t be running mega miles on the weekend but it bad because I’m not focused on running the mega mileage on the weekend.  It leaves room to think about other things. The thing that’s been on my mind lately is…

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A new year of goals

A new year of goals

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014 and all that comes with it.  Last year was great but I want to make this year even better. I started off my morning with a 7.70 mile run.  If I would have known I was that close to 8 miles I would have kept going. We ran the resolution run with our friends to start off the year. I ran a little over 3 miles before we left home to meet the running group. I did a little bit more before the running group started and finished with the group. To my surprise,…

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Stopping the bad talk

Stopping the bad talk

This weekend was a supposed to be a time for rest.  It was supposed to be a time to relax so we went to visit a cute little girl and her family.  There was lots of princess talk and it was fun.  The infamous godchild is a big of ball of cuteness and fun. I also had my first visit to Charming Charlie.  It is like a SPARKLY RAINBOW EXPLODED in the store.  My mind was on overdrive the entire time I was in there.  I couldn’t focus on just one thing.  It was hard for me to found something…

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Christmas is over…

Christmas is over…

Christmas was pretty chill for us. We agreed to keep the gift giving to a minimum because we tend to go overboard. I got Willie a head light, Clif Bars and a cold weather pull over. He got me a BOX of Quest Bars and some chap stick. I’m a happy girl. I also got some airline giftcards (cause you know I’m always moving)!  I’m planning out 2014 as I type this…lots of travel to be happening I hope! We went to my sister’s house for Christmas. I wanted to get a good picture by the tree and Willie though…

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A Christmas light bike ride

A Christmas light bike ride

Last night, Willie and I went on a Christmas light bike ride.  We wanted to do it last year but we didn’t.  I don’t remember why but it probably had something to do with the social aspect of ride.  We just didn’t know anyone and it never occurred to us to just go out there to meet people.  This year we were all game for it though.  So yesterday I taught my 4:30 cycle class and then we headed out after for the 9 mile bike ride to see the Christmas lights. You know what I loved about it? 1.…

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Dealing with maintenance mode

Dealing with maintenance mode

People are very curious to see if I’m still trying to lose weight.  I am here to answer that question: no! I’m in maintenance mode and I’ve been that way for almost two years now, I think.  Two years seems like a really long time.  It took me 13 months to hit my first goal weight and I continued to shed the pounds after that, not intentionally but I did still have more to lose.  At some point my body just stopped and that is how I knew it was time to maintain. It was a hard switch to make…

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Sunday Run down

Sunday Run down

It’s been an eventful weekend but not in the way I planned.  Willie has been sick since Thursday night around midnight.  He never complains and he hates missing work but I knew something was up with him when he passed on two of his favorite meals.  Burger and pizza night were definitely a no go this week.  He’s been sleeping it off and I haven’t been able to spend much time with him because he’s been sleep.  On Friday night, he slept, I was bored so I watched Christmas movies on Lifetime.  It wasn’t so bad.  I actually liked the…

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After the marathon…

After the marathon…

You know what?  It’s super hard for me not to run.  I know I needed to take the days off but I really just wanted to run and I had already built up this serious running thing.  I had to take a few days off which is fine because I still had to teach my cycle classes. I need to take it easy and not hurt myself. I think people always forget about recovery! After the marathon I thought I would be hurting but I’m not.  I’m having a little ache in my knees but that’s due to not stretching…

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Playing Catch Up: Pie Party, Thanksgiving and Black …

Playing Catch Up: Pie Party, Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Been wondering where I’ve been? Things have been really busy. I’ve been traveling too much and trying to cram too much into too little time. My blogging has suffered a TINY bit! I was in Alabama and then had to come home to work…and then host some holiday festivities. I thought I was going to have Wednesday off but it didn’t happen that way. I went to the gym and ended up teaching a spin class to help someone out. On Wednesday, we through a “pie party” for Jeremy’s birthday. We wanted to do something nice for him and Willie…

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