12 weeks, 13 miles, 13 pounds

I am going to run a half marathon on June 14. It's called the Drop 13 half marathon, and you can earn 2 extra medals if you a) beat your best 1/2 marathon time by 13 minutes. and b) lose 13 pounds while training. I want to do both!

My best half marathon time is 2:29, so I'd have to run it in 2:16. I started this 12-week training program this week (with a few modifications).

.
Here is the link
to the training plan.

I also started using my Fitbit and tracking my food again on My Fitness Pal. I can do this!

Kale Salad

The kale salad I made last week was pretty good. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

9 cups bite-size pieces kale leaves*
Juice of 1 medium orange, divided
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 teaspoons honey
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sliced strawberries (or blueberries, blackberries or raspberries)
¼ cup dried currants or raisins
¼ cup slivered almonds or pine nuts, toasted
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese, if desired

Directions

Combine kale, half of the orange juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt in a large bowl. Massage kale by scrunching small amounts with your hands, then releasing and repeating. With massaging, kale will soften, somewhat deepen in color and become more fragrant.
Make the dressing by whisking remaining orange juice, orange zest, honey and pepper in a small bowl. Gradually whisk ¼ cup olive oil into the juice mixture to combine well. Set aside.
Pour the dressing over kale. Add strawberries, currants and toasted almonds. Toss gently. Let salad ingredients marinate for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. If desired, top with goat cheese.
*Note: Remove and discard center ribs and stems from 1 large bunch kale leaves. Tear kale leaves into bite-sized pieces.

Yes, I know it's been a month

I haven't posted recently because I don't really feel like I have anything to say. I'm still exercising regularly. I'm getting faster at running and I'm getting stronger (I can do a pull-up with the pull-up assist band now). I'm trying to eat better. Sometimes I do great, and sometimes I eat too many cookies.

But I am not making any visible progress. I weigh the same, my measurements are the same. Which is frustrating. But I'm struggling with some other things, and so not eating cookies is not my #1 priority right now. I'm just doing the best I can and trying not to get discouraged with my lack of results.

But I'm trying out a new kale salad recipe and an acorn squash soup recipe tonight...hopefully they'll be yummy! If they are, I'll post them here.

Check-in

I just wanted to give a quick update on P90X3. I'm really enjoying it. I'm running or biking 2-3 days a week at the gym and doing P90X3 at home the other 2-3 days. The workouts are short, fun (lots of variety) and even though some of the moves are tough, they always show you a modifier and how to work up to the full-fledged move.

So far I've done the following workouts (most of them at least twice) and I've enjoyed all of them.

-Yoga
-The Challenge (push-ups and pull-ups)
-The Warrior (military style workout)
-CVX (cardio moves with a light handweight)
-Agility (lots of jumping and balance moves)
-Total Synergistics (core + strength training)

I haven't even gotten through all the different workouts yet (there are still 10 more I haven't done!), but so far, so good!

Sleep

I have read a few articles about how sleep is directly related to weight-loss. It basically says that when you don't get enough sleep, your body goes into stress and starvation mode, which keeps you from effectively burning calories.

I don't sleep well. Here's my sleep tracker from my fitbit from last night:

I'm only averaging about 5 hours of actual sleep a night. Even though I'm in bed for 8 hours. Now, I know I can't control the times when I'm woken up by the kids (much to my dismay), but I feel like maybe there is something I could do to help me to not be so restless all night.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to get a better night's sleep?

Pull-ups

Matt got a pull-up bar for Christmas. One of those ones that fits in your doorway. I attempted to do a pull-up and could not even get 1/4 of the way up. So I made a New Year's Resolution to be able to do one by the end of the year. And then I tried a chin-up. I could do one!



I'm going to be practicing these babies a few times a week. So watch out for me in December cuz I'm gonna be strong! :)

The in-between

The first time I lost a bunch of weight, I got rid of all my "too-big" clothes. With the idea that I was never going to need them again. Good idea....YES! Until you get pregnant and it takes you a really long time to lose the weight. And now sometimes I miss those old "too-big" clothes that I got rid of. They would come in handy right now.

So I bought some new pants. Although I can zip up most of my pre-children pants (size 8) they are not comfortable. I have some size 12s that someone gave me that I've been wearing, but they are now too big. I was hoping to just not buy a size 10 and shrink back into the 8s comfortably. But it just wasn't happening quick enough. And I felt like a scrounge in the bigger pants, but like a muffin-top in the smaller ones. So I bought some size 10s.

And you know what? I am happy that I did that! I feel a lot better about myself wearing pants that fit. Even if they are a size bigger than my pre-children pants.

Do you do that? Wait to buy new pants til you get to your goal size? Or do you have an in-between wardrobe?