Back from vacation!

So late Friday night we got back from our trip to Seattle and Great Wolf Lodge.

We stayed a couple nights in a hotel in Bellevue that had a pool and Tegan and I were out swimming at 8:45am when it was 13 degrees out (C) because we are hardcore like that! :)

Next we made our way to Great Wolf Lodge. We stopped at Walmart and bought all our breakfast, lunch and snack food and then went out for dinners. Not going to lie it was a totally food and drink fest!! 

My goal on vacation was to get in two runs. Our days were so packed though it was definitely hard to get away. Luckily we spent so much time running up and down the stairs at GWL as part of the Magic Quest game! I finally got out for 30 mins on the 5th day of our trip. It was such a bad run! I felt like an elephant. I had no energy, my feet hurt, I ended up with blisters and could barely manage under 10 mins miles for 3 miles...so bad! I came back pretty defeated!

(my "well that was pretty crappy" look)

So the next day I though screw that I need a re-do! So I bandaged up my blisters and went for it. I only had 30 mins again but what a difference. I definitely felt a little bit of redemption! 

So in the end I did meet my goal of 2 runs so that was good. I dont think it nearly touch the calories consumed on chips and desserts etc...but it felt good not to be a total slacker!

We traveled home Friday and got back late Friday night. Saturday was a busy day with a birthday party, unpacking, meal planning and getting groceries for the week. I decided to try and new meal plan based on the book "Racing Weight" by Matt Fitzgerald that I read while on vacation. Yes I ate a ton of junk food while reading about healthy eating for runners...lol! I have 13 weeks till my next half-marathon and I'm doing a 4 week kick start of 1850 calories with 30% protein then I will switch to higher carbs for 9 weeks. According to his book my "ideal" racing weight for my age and height should be around 129 and 17% body fat.  I was 133.8 before I left and on his plan you should be able to lose about a lb a week and still maintain your training load (and not lose muscle). So I'll give it a shot. 

 I dropped the kids off at my dads and was excited to get out for a good long run on Sunday morning. I went to Westwood Lake and hit the trails. It was a beautiful sunny morning and I had a great run. I didnt go super fast and I actually stopped to take a phone call from my dad so my pace was slow but I had a good run and it was nice to really log some miles after being off plan for a week!

Then today was back to work. It was actually kinda nice to get back to the routine after all the craziness with the kids. I did my weights at coffee break and I also switched up my weights routine based on this book. He has strength training exercises he advises for runners so I'm working on doing those. I dont have time on a 15 mins coffee break to do it all but I tried to pick a few key exercises for each different group of muscles. I'm excited to see how switching up my weights routine works. I was definitely shaking after this first round...more core work than I'm used to, but that makes sense for running to increase your stability. I got out for an easy run with my running buddy at lunch and tomorrow we will do some speed work!

Vacation was great but I'm glad to be back and back on the wagon :)

Weekly Weigh-In and new low!

Wednesday was my last day of work before I was off for 11 days. Yay vacation time!!! I was definitely there in mind only that day! I snuck out at lunch for a quick trail run which felt good. 

And then used a banked hour to leave at 3:30. I got into my car at the end of the day and snapped this "me on vacation" face!!!!!!!! lol

Thursday was the first day of no school for my daughter. But, she had been invited to a playdate at 9. So I had planned to get my long run in that I would miss while we were away. I knew I wanted to do 12miles at no slower than 8:20 mins/mile (not including warm-up and cool-down). So I set up my running app as follows:

"Comfortably hard" is a good description of this pace for me. It means I have to work to maintain it but I can do so for a long distance.  I left the house and it was kind of overcast and a bit of a breeze. Good running weather. I packed one running gel and was excited to try a new brand (GU)...mainly because they have yummier looking flavors lol. Today's was chocolate peanut butter! I wore my water belt with 2 9oz bottles of water, which is a pain to run with but I thought it might be too hot and overkill to wear my camel back. 

I warmed up for the first mile and then set off. I was in the mood to run and found the pace pretty easy to maintain. At 5 miles in I took the first half of my gel...yum! A definite win in my books. Unfortunately at that point the sun came out and was beating down on me. I was running along an open cement path with no shade. I continued on to 7miles and turned around to head home. I could feel the sun on my shoulders and back and was really regretting not putting sunscreen on. At 9 miles I took the other half of my gel. My stomach got a little upset for about half a mile I think due to the gel and the heat but I drank a bunch of water and it settled. I finished my run strong with a pace I was pleased at. 

12 miles at 8:14 and over 1500 calories burned for the entire run. Nice last run to pull off before heading on vacation! I also braved doing the entire run through town in my sports bra. I dont have a perfect tummy but if you dont like it dont look...it was freaking hot out!

I got home and showered and stepped on the scale. I must have been more dehydrated than I though because this was the number!

Do you ever do that? Step on a scale post run just to be teased by a lower number...lol. Anyways I know thats not an official weight and it was definitely a wake-up call that I need to drink more water if I'm coming back from a run down 2lbs! I also ended up with a wicked sunburn!!

I was seriously neon red by the time I went to bed! So another lesson learned even if its cloudy when you head out, put on sunscreen!!! 

I downloaded a few new books on to my kobo for our trip. I've been meaning for a while now to read a few by Matt Fitzgerald. I got these two as well as 80/20. I'm sure I will annoy my running friends a ton by quoting my newly learned knowledge to them all the time when I get back.  But, I've really struggled with tired feeling legs lately and I suspect I can get some good tips from this guy! 

So this morning was my official weigh-in day, which was great because I can weigh-in and then go gorge myself at the Canada Day Festivities...kidding...kinda...lol. I forgot to snap a scale pic so you will have to trust me that this week I am 133.8. Down 0.8 from last week and a new low...yay! I took some progress pics/measurements...ignore the messy bedroom!

Body fat down another half a percent...slow going at this stage but its progress and I'll take it :) Trying to get to 20% body fat. For the record I'm fine with how I look. I'm not losing weight because I feel fat or anything. I wear a size 2 or 4 depending on the brand and I'm comfortable with that. I'm working on getting fitter and leaner to improve my running. I'm obsessed with paces, finish times and I love getting medals :) I know by getting to an optimal racing weight I will be a better and faster runner and that is my main drive.

Although now I'm headed on vacation and I usually manage to gain at least 5lbs when I do so because... 

I wont be running much and we will be eating most meals out for 7 days and I will be drinking...fun! But I promise to log when I can and bust my ass in penance when I get back!!!