.Training

#OperationMCO was a little hit & miss this week. Although I was eating healthier, I wasn't eating as healthy as I wanted to. I find it hard to adjust when you get used to eating fatty or fried foods, and it doesn't help that they are delicious! I've also been bad with recording in my food journal; I started out with good intentions but as the week went by, I got lazy. I vow to be better next week!

In the few years I've been running half marathons, I haven't really followed any training program. I've looked up quite a few online however I've never followed them exactly. The one I have been trying to follow lately is two shorter runs during the week, and then a longer one on the weekend. Before I got sick, I was also trying to incorporate having one two run day on the weekend so I could prepare for my double run on June 14th, however unfortunately I haven't gotten back to that yet. This weekend, my plan is to run 11K tomorrow with some friends who are preparing for the Spartan Race in July, and then play ball hockey in the evening - so there won't be any time for a double run. That's ok though, as that's a lot of physical activity for one day.

I've decided to try something different before the Edmonton Half Marathon this year and try to up my personal best of 2:43 by maybe five to ten minutes. Before I ran Canmore last year, the Edmonton Half was my personal best, so I'm confident that this is an attainable goal, particularly because the course is mostly flat. Enter the Nike Running coaching program.

This program works on the Nike Running app and involves 12 weeks of running to prepare you for your next half marathon. I typed in the date of the half, and it has me starting on Monday. I chose "intermediate" over "beginner" simply because I've been running for a few years now, and even though I'm slow, I don't want to start over. I've been doing some training on my own so I think this will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it. The coach will have me running five times a week, cross training on Thursdays, and then a rest day on Sundays. This does change a little bit as the weeks go on, and some of the runs aren't just straight runs - they include intervals and different paces which is a type of training that I haven't done too much of. I'm hoping that I can stay strong and avoid getting injured during this time period so I can see how effective this program really is. The big challenges will be on week seven and week nine, when my scheduled long runs will be 14 miles. I've never run that long before! This will be a good test to see if I'll be close to running a marathon in the next few years, as that's not something I want to tackle until I can run a half in 2:15 or less. We'll see how it goes, but I'm feeling optimistic!

June is a ridiculously busy month for me, so I anticipate that most of these runs will be in the early morning. Thankfully the runs during the week for the most part will be completed in less than an hour, so I shouldn't have to get up too early. Even though I find it hard to get up in the mornings, I also think that the morning is the best time to run! It's nice and cool in the summer, it's quiet, and I find myself re-engerized for most of the day afterwards. 

One thing I do need to look into is the use of chews or gels to help with a pick me up during races. You aren't supposed to run super long distances with just water, so I'm going to need to do some research on which ones are good (and which ones are soy-free) and that don't taste like crap. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't like the taste of artificial fruits and I'm not really into chocolate (I know, what's wrong with me?)

Until next time,

xo

-Dianne

.Operation MCO

I've been an "ingredient-reader" for I'd say, the past four years or so. I find that if I look at the ingredients and find that it has too much sugar or too many bad foods or chemicals, I'm less inclined to buy it. Now, I look at labels 100% of the time to make sure there's no soy (and believe me, LOTS of things have soy in them). I was sick over the weekend and looking for some soy-free chicken noodle soup (as unfortunately my go-to favorite Lipton contains soy as the 4th ingredient) and was looking through the chunky soups aisle and noticed that a lot of the Campbell's soups that had chicken in them, said "modified chicken" with soy in brackets directly afterward. So all this time I thought I was eating real chicken in these soups and it may just be a soy by-product? Ew, no thanks! I did cave and buy the Sobey's brand of Alphaghetti's since it's soy-free - I don't know why I like them so much, but they are delicious and my guilty pleasure!

I've been crazy busy at work the past couple weeks and we've been spoiled with catered lunches and people bringing us snacks all week. Although most of the lunches are on the healthier side, I noticed that during the past two weeks I was eating just for the sake of eating. By the end of last week, I wasn't even hungry most of the day, but was eating anyways because I felt like I should! Needless to say, my body was NOT happy with this and I ended up feeling sick and gross for the majority of the weekend. Looking at myself in the mirror, I was not impressed - my jeans are a little bit snug so I think it's time to get back on track! My injuries have finally healed, the weather is nice enough to run outside again, and I have to bikini ready in less then two months! Insert #OperationMCO.

Last year when I was looking at getting a new day-timer, I found this cute little Etsy shop called Plum Paper Designs that made custom planners, one of which had a food/work out diary in it!  I am ashamed to say I haven't used the food/work out diary portion of it since...January. PAINFUL, I know! So as part of #OperationMCO, I am going to start making use of this way more often and tracking what I'm eating and what I'm doing for exercise during the week. I find keeping a food diary will help keep you accountable for what you eat! Obviously there are going to be days where you may have a cheat meal, but as long as that cheat meal doesn't turn into a cheat day or week, this is totally doable!

#OperationMCO is all about getting fit and ready for the summer! I'm headed to Orlando, Florida (airport code MCO) on July 16th for Stella & Dot's national conference (fingers crossed this time it WON'T be on crutches) and I want to look fit and fabulous! This means making an effort into making lunches and dinners on a daily basis, eating out less, and working out more (my work-outs will be a mixture of running, boot camp, yin yoga, and hopefully some fun things like November Project and Nike Training work outs as well). I'm going to try and go back to follow the Eat Clean diet as well - which essentially is no refined sugars, no white bread, rice or pasta, and no processed foods. I'm aiming towards eating clean 80-90% of the time as I know for me, 100% of the time would be near impossible.

I'll be documenting #OperationMCO daily through my twitter account, so feel free to follow along there and join in! Keeping a little notebook with you to mark down what foods you are consuming is easy-peasy! Summer is coming and the weather is already getting nicer - why not look and feel your very best by eating right and getting a work-out in every once and awhile? :)

PS: Check out this article on why refined sugars and "fake" sugars are not good for you! It pains me that the whole wheat cheerios I ate this morning actually taste like they have more sugar than the normal ones!

xo

-Dianne