.Toughie

Last week I had a bit of a tough week.

Did you ever know that kid in school who never studied for exams but yet still managed to pass them all with flying colours? I knew that kid, and it drove me nuts because I was the type that really had to study hard or things just wouldn't stick in my mind. Even as an adult student I still have to study my butt off for exams, even if I go to every class and take notes.

I feel similar about losing my baby weight. I know some people who were back to normal within a couple months and yet, I'm still 25lbs from where I want to be. It's slightly frustrating, especially because I've been working really hard to get active again! Note that I'm not frustrated at the lucky people who managed to lose weight without doing anything, I'm just more bummed that it's taking so long for me and I feel like I'm working hard! That being said, I try to keep things in perspective as much as possible. I really only got the OK to work out seven weeks ago, and it took nine months for my beautiful baby to be born and for the majority of it I wasn't really able to be active. And if I'm ever sad about it, I just take one look at Kendrick and think WOW - my body truly is amazing! I'm going to treat myself to a new running shirt when it gets closer to race day that flatters the new me!

Last Monday (Exactly 12 weeks postpartum) I started the Nike+ half marathon training program for the second time. The first time I only got a month in before I had to stop because I was pregnant, so this time I'm looking forward to taking it all the way through. The first time I was also doing the intermediate program because I had been running regularly and this time I'm doing beginner. I'm also training in KM's this time instead of miles. I originally trained in miles because the number was smaller (which I know is a mind game, but we runners do that sometimes) but this does get to be confusing when the markers for Canadian races are in KMs. Since my next couple halfs are in Canada I'm going to continue training in KMs I think and see how that goes. It also makes me feel like I'm doing longer distances! :)

Week one went ok but I struggled getting back into things. My times were quite slow, but I completed all of my runs.

I did my long run on Sunday instead of Saturday because we had a busy day on Saturday and I didn't have a chance to run. I find that is usually my biggest struggle, time management and finding the time to run while someone watches Kendrick. It was tough, but I made it through yet I ended the week a little bummed out because I'm so far off my old pace. However, I made up for it yesterday when I did my 8km run so I started the week feeling very positive. 

My back started to act up again so I booked another physio appointment to see if I could get things worked out. In the mornings and if I sit or stand for long periods of time essentially I feel like an old woman until I get moving. Since I can't avoid sleeping I need to find a way to fix my back so I feel better in the mornings, as that is my favourite time to run! Once it hits the +20s in temperature I find that too hot. Keeping my fingers crossed for a cool August day on August 23 for the Edmonton Half! :)

xo,

Dianne

PS: Last week I also accidentally invented a recipe for peach banana oatmeal mini muffins. Accidentally, you say? So those who know me know that I am terrible at following recipes because I like to add my own flare to everything. Sometimes it works and sometimes...not so much. I tried out these apple cinnamon cookies here a few months ago as some of the ingredients were supposed to help with milk production, and they were delicious (I added strawberries too). Since I didn't have any apples but had canned peaches and an overly ripe banana, I thought I would try to experiment. The batter turned out to be not as firm as cookie dough so I put them in mini muffin cups and voila - a new amazing recipe was formed! Thank God these are fairly healthy (they are refined sugar free, soy free & clean eating approved) because I swear I eat 5-6 a day. I am going to double the recipe next time. Perfect for breakfast or a little snack, and even more perfect for those who breastfeed (don't worry men, you can eat these cookies without lactating I promise). 

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups of whole oats

1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour

1 cup palm sugar

3 tbsp Brewer's yeast

3 tbsp flaxmeal

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/2 a cup of melted butter

3 tbsp water

1 ripe banana

1/3 a can of no syrup added peaches

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl, and mix wet ingredients together in another bowl. Chop the peaches into tiny peaches and smash up the banana in a bowl with the rest of the wet ingredients. Add peaches to wet ingredients, and mix well. Then add slowly to the dry ingredients and mix well until consistent. Put liners into mini muffin tins and fill each one to the top. Bake for 13 minutes or until tops are slightly browned. Makes approximately 36 mini muffins.

PPS: Kendrick turned three months old yesterday! Oh, how the time flies! Here's one of the outtakes from our mini three month photo shoot yesterday. My dog always wants to get in on the pictures!

.Whoa

I'm a teeny bit sidelined at the moment. 

Throughout my pregnancy I had back pain. I won't lie, it was pretty annoying. I figured it was because of the extra 50lbs I gained and I think part of it was, but it came back after I had Kendrick and has been really bugging me in the last week or so. On Monday my back was so sore that I could barely lift him up, so I knew I had to go see someone. It's very discouraging to get injured when you feel like you haven't been doing a lot, so I was a little bit frustrated when I booked my physio appointment for today.

Thankfully, after my appointment it doesn't seem to be too bad. They told me likely some things were moved out of place when I was pregnant and when I gave birth so I need to strengthen my core muscles and that should help. I still have to be careful training my abs and core because of the c-section, but the exercises he gave me to do seem like they'll be ok. He said yoga is good, stretching is good, walking is good, and running is...well...maybe I should wait a bit. Ug. He said to keep an eye on it and run when my back starts to feel better, as he said it is a good sign that it's feeling much better than at the beginning of the week but I have to be careful as it could become chronic. Considering my half marathon training program for the Edmonton Half starts on Monday, I'm going to take it easy this weekend and hope for the best!

I forgot to mention in my last post that a few weeks ago a crazy idea creeped into my head. I wondered if maybe, just maybe, I should consider training for a full marathon. Part of me felt really inspired and motivated and the other part said "ARE YOU NUTS?!"

In the last few years as I've been training for half marathons, I had previously decided that I wouldn't train for a full marathon until I could get my personal best under two hours and 30 minutes. I got about 1/3 of the way through the training program for the Edmonton Half last year before I realized that I was pregnant, and I was on pace to smash (yes, smash is the right word) my personal best by about 10-20 minutes, which would have gotten me close to or under the 2:30 mark. I also told myself that I wouldn't train for one until I could run a half and not feel like I wanted to die. The last half marathon I did I finished confident and hit my personal best of 2:43, but my body felt like it was going to fall apart. Although my lungs were good, my body was extremely sore and fatigued and it really gave me something to think about. 

So I started to think about running a full this winter and before baby #2 becomes a thought. Running in the winter is not an option for a whimp like me because it's way too cold in Edmonton to run (for me anyways) so I started to look online to see if there are any races that weren't too far away but in a better climate. It looks like we are going to head to Australia this November so we haven't planned any other vacations. I ended up finding the Rock n Roll Arizona which is in January of next year. I'll still be on maternity leave and usually you can find cheap flights to Phoenix; not to mention that the temperature there at that time of year won't be too hot for running! Of course money doesn't grow on trees either...I'm going to use the Edmonton Half in August and the Vancouver Rock n Roll Half in October as trial runs and potentially start a marathon training program after the race in October and make the decision later on this year. I got some support on Facebook from a couple of my mom friends who ran marathons within a year of having their first kids, so it gives me some hope that it is do-able!

Unfortunately I've fallen off the smoothie train a little bit and haven't had that many smoothies this past week. I will get better next week when I start running again! I found it harder than I thought to get up and run after Kendrick gets up around 5ish so I didn't get to that either, but I'm going to have to come up with some sort of plan before Monday as I have to get in 4-5 runs a week! I'm remaining positive that I can do this. 

xo

-Dianne

PS: My aunt told me about these sites called Ebates and Ebates Canada where you earn a small percentage of your purchase back when you shop at a bunch of retailers online. I checked it out and signed up and made my first purchase at Vista Print as I needed some new business cards. I got 90 cents back on my $35 purchase. If you do a lot of shopping you'll want to sign up. It takes seconds and some sites have some really good deals. Check them out by clicking on the Ebates links above!