We Did It! .... 5k Mastered!

Wow! What a weekend. So P and I finally completed our 5k! We chose to do the USA Swimming Foundation 5k!

To preface all of the 5k race, I must say I didn't "complete" my last week of training via the couch to 5k app. I came down with a nasty sinus infection, and then it rained a TON. So, my last week was kind of blah. However, we still made it to the 5k and although hadn't completed the training per say, we still ran!

Packet pickup downtown was a nightmare, thanks to the swim trials. I won't even touch on the hassle of getting all of that.

BUT, we managed to get up, out of the house and downtown by 7:45am for our race. P enjoyed seeing all the various people and such. He loves exploring and seeing new things. This was definitely up his alley.

At 8:15am, the shotgun rang, and we were off!

Overall it was a great race, and we did awesome despite not having finished our training. We came in at 29 minutes and 50 seconds. Our goal was under 30, so we did it!

Overall, I think going into our next race I will be better prepared in the sense that running in the neighborhood or on trails early in the AM is MUCH MUCH MUCH different than running with a LARGE body of people.

I think we could have came in at a better time, but much time during the first 2 miles was spent weaving in and out of people, trying to pass them. If this was just me running alone, it would have been no problemo. However, with the jogger. Wow. What a challenge.

Overall, I'm really excited about the run, and VERY motivated for our next goal of a 10k. We are all signed up for Corporate Cup on September 25th. This leaves me with a few more months to train for that! Worst case scenario, I might have to run sans little man and jogger. But either way, I'm going to do it!

Anyways. Hope you mama's out there find this somewhat motivating or inspiring or whatever! Keep setting goals for yourself and working at them! You can do anything you set your mind to!

Quick shout out to the husband for pushing me and helping me so that I have the time to workout and exercise!

Keep on, keepin' on, mamas!

C25K Update!

Wow - has it really been almost one month since I've posted a blog?!? That's nuts. Since summer struck, I've been a busy bee. As I am always preaching about prioritization and such, I suppose the blog took the back burner.

We've also been dealing with a teething child who has been trying to get on a 2 nap sleep schedule for the last 2 months. We've had some rough days and nights.

In regards to the couch to 5k program... we are rocking it! we are currently in week 8 of a 9 week program! We are tentatively set for a July 3rd 5k! So exciting. We've also gone a little rogue and signed up for a 10k in September. That should be interesting.

The past few weeks/months of this training have been awesome. I'm so glad I challenged myself to this. I can say that we have had great days and we've had really hard days. The great days are when P is sleeping the whole way. The not so great days... when he cries the whole way. I think the crying was in part to weather conditions (i.e. too hot or too windy). We changed up the time I run and he seems to be doing better. We've lost quite a few pacifiers on our journey.

P also has become much more mobile in the last two months. He's walking everywhere with his push toys and on the brink of walking by himself. I think him sitting in the stroller for 30+ minutes multiple times a week was getting old for him.

We also had a couple times where it rained ALL week long so I wasn't able to get a run in. Coming back from a week of cardio at the gym was a STRUGGLE. The hills are relentless.

Overall it's been a great time with P. We get to see so many exciting things and it gets him out of the house and fresh air. I think doing the couch to 5k was great because it helped build my stamina slowly, and kept me motivated!

I think if I had to change anything going back and redoing it, I would probably change my jogger stroller. I love my Graco. It is great. But I think if I am going to do this seriously in the future, something a little more aerodynamic would be great. However, the Graco is getting the job done.

Here is my progress along with a few photos from the past few weeks.... B even got to join us a few times!

Managing the Household - Part 1 Cleaning

Something that I have had to learn how to deal with when becoming a new mom is learning how to manage the household with my husband. I am a pseduo-SAHM and I work full time. My husband also works full-time. Both of us work about 30-45 minutes (depending on traffic) away from work, resulting in at least 1-1.5 hours per workday of commuting time. As a nurse, I am fortunate that I work 3 days per week (12 hour shifts). This leaves me with 4 whole days that I am at home, hence the pseudo-SAHM ;)

As any couple knows, managing all the household duties can be difficult. It's definitely made more complex once baby comes along. Before our baby, I had 4 whole days off work, so I had no problem with spending one day running errands, cleaning, organizing, balancing the checkbook, laundry, etc. I had all the free time in the world during those 4 days off. Sometimes I try to think about how I spent my free time on those days. I always felt busy - that's laughable nowadays.

Anyways. Post child. How do I fit doing all those tasks in? Is it really my responsibility now that I have a child to take care of? Should I ask my husband who works 50-60 hours minimum per week (compared to my 40) to be helping out more? AH! The headaches and conundrums.

First and foremost with managing a household, the most important thing is COMMUNICATION. My husband and I sat down and discussed all of what we NEED done during the week, what can maybe be slacked upon, and what is super low priority. Some things like the floor being vacuumed/swept/mopped is becoming more of a priority because we have a baby crawling on the ground ALL the time and we also have a pet. Other things like deep cleaning have become a much lower priority that we will just "tolerate" because we would rather have family time.

Things that we deemed high priority (1xper week) were:
- working out (both of us)
- family dinners (on nights I am not working)
- balancing the checkbook & budgeting/financial planning
- laundry
- cleaning (some items)
- grocery shopping
- yard work

Things that had medium priority but could be slacked on:
- cleaning (some items)

Low priority (1x/month) items:
- deep cleaning
 
After discussing what we thought were high priority needs we also communicated about our schedules and how much time we had for our higher priority items.

My biggest concern/complaint that I communicated was that I was taking care of P all day long, and trying to work out, and it didn't leave me a ton of time to do some other things. I had felt like all of our high priority things were on my plate. B was under the presumption that I had more time to do these because I had 4 days off work. He didn't really stop to contemplate that I was also doing all the SAHM things with P.

One concern B had was that cleaning would take too long. For someone who has only maybe 5-10 minutes of spare time here and there, would cleaning be possible? Spending 1 hour cleaning everything isn't really feasible anymore now that we have a baby. 

We devised a plan for tackling cleaning, which is what I felt I needed help with most. This way, I could tackle making dinner, working out, and other household things, while tag-teaming the cleaning. We made a checklist (my specialty) of all the cleaning chores that we felt needed to get done during the week. This checklist is posted in our "hub" so that we can see it frequently, see what needs to be done, and when the last time something was done. We initial it once it's done. We broke down the chores into easy tasks that take approximately 5-10 minutes each. Nothing is ever that urgent where if it doesn't get done, we are having a mental breakdown. We simply see that it wasn't done the week prior and put it at the top of our list for the following week.

The other benefit of doing the chores like this is that everything maintains a baseline level of cleanliness. One thing B didn't realize was that if you keep things moderately clean, then when you go to clean them the next time, you don't have to put as much effort in because you aren't deep cleaning you are just maintaining. Ding ding ding. It finally clicked with him :)

Another thing that my husband and I are constantly doing is re-evaluating everything. We check in and let each other know how things are going. So far with our checklist, we are doing great. But we both know that if we are getting overwhelmed or feeling like this isn't the best way of doing things, then we can always re-evaluate a better way.

Check out below for what our checklist looks like.

Dieting Tips & Tricks

Apparently, God was laughing at me when I was trying to make an outside running plan (and stick to it!)... he does that ya know?! All of this cold weather and rain. ARGH! Just another test of learning how to be flexible, I suppose!

This past week I was clearly unable to take our LO out in the jogger because of the weather (lots of rain and cold) and because he had his first cold. I'm pretty sure doctors frown upon taking your sick kid out on the cold weather. LOL.

However, I did get in another circuit workout followed by a 1 mile jog on Wednesday. Friday was also cold and rainy so I just walk/jogged 2.5 miles on the treadmill. My circuit did get me a bit sore. Holy moly! I haven't done a push up in about 2 years. So that was great fun. We've also been trying to transition P from three naps to two naps per day. That's a story for another day. Sigh. If only the act of parenting could qualify for physical activity or make you gain muscle :) ... my husband and I would be ripped!

Get It Started Circuit

• 50 Jumping Jacks
•  50 Crunches
•  45 Jumping Jacks
•  45 Squats
•  40 Jumping Jacks
• 40 Push Ups
•  35 Jumping Jacks
• 35 Crunches
• 30 Jumping Jacks
• 30 Squats
• 25 Jumping Jacks
• 25 Push Ups
• 20 Jumping Jacks 
• 20 Crunches
• 15 Jumping Jacks
•  15 Squats
• 10 Jumping Jacks
•  10 Push Ups
•  5 Jumping Jacks
•  5 Crunches
• 5 Squats
• 5 Push Ups

I also decided that since I met my goal weight, I needed a new fitness goal. My husbands work retains 2 personal trainers in their on campus gym. They do physical fitness assessments for free! So I had the hubby ask if I could get one done. The concept of this physical assessment is different than just weighing. They track body composition (weight, % body fat, circumference of arms, thighs, waist and hips). I'm going to go in quarterly to get this checked out and see my progress! My goal is to tone up a little more, rather than weight loss. I'd like to see some of my circumferences go down. I was quite proud of my accomplishments since January. I apparently qualify in the "athletes" body fat range. Ha! Long are the days I considered myself an athlete. Oh well, I'll take it! This momma needs it.

Now for the diet! This part of my post stemmed from a work weight loss/biggest loser competition that just got started. All my co-worker gals have been talking about the diets they are going to do, etc etc. Something that gets me every time is how people talk about how they did "this" or "that" and lost a bunch of weight, only to gain it back when they stopped the program. I've been asked a lot about how I lost all the baby weight and then some. I wouldn't say that I have done anything excessive or drastic. I don't spend hours per day at the gym slaving on various machines. I don't do anything crazy with my diet such as eliminating sugars completely. I PERSONALLY think that the best means to weight loss is something that will be sustainable for the rest of your life.

Sure various no/low carb diets, calorie restricting on alternate days (i.e. 500kcal/day), etc., will help you lose weight fast. But they are diets that don't allow you to eat the food that you actually like and want. How realistic is it that you are going to spend the rest of your life never eating pasta again? Never having beer again? Most people end up off the bandwagon because they allow themselves to eat something like pizza while on the diet, realize how much they miss it, binge, and then fall off the bandwagon for months or years. They regain weight, and then realize they need to get back on their diet again.

What if it wasn't that complicated? What if all it entailed was eating moderately, incorporating foods you like, having a cheat meal every once in a while, and moderate exercise?

The way I utilize my diet to lose weight is by calorie counting. I have determined how many calories I need to eat per day to maintain my weight and also the amount I need to lose weight. During the week (Sunday through Saturday afternoon) I keep track of every calorie I consume, not including fresh fruits and veggies. I give myself Saturday night to have a cheat meal.

I hardly deny myself something that I want. If I want a McDonalds cheeseburger, I eat a cheeseburger. I just make sure to look up the nutritional information, calculate the calories and adjust what I eat the rest of the day. Some days just looking up the nutritional information averts me from actually eating said desired food. Ha! is a 800 kcal chocolate shake really worth it? Am I going to feel full after that?

I also cook dinner for my husband and I on the nights I don't work. I never force "diet" things on him. We have things such as cavatini, spaghetti, pork tenderloins, tacos, etc. Normal dinner foods basically. I allow myself to eat those things. I just make sure to keep track of everything I put into the entire meal and then separate everything into servings so I know how many calories are in each serving.

For example, the other night I made burgers. I separated the meat out into patties and calculated the calories per patty. I added how many calories the bun and slice of cheese were and that was all! Maybe a little time consuming when you first get started, but nothing more than a few minutes.

Some may think it's tedious, which, at first it can be. But it actually becomes second nature. As human beings, we tend to eat the same few things every day. For example, my breakfast consists of either oatmeal or eggs with an english muffin. I use an app on my phone to keep track of all my calories consumed vs burned. It just becomes a matter of logging into the app and clicking the oatmeal item I have saved.

I personally use the Fitbit app to log my foods and exercise. However, you can also use other apps such as My Fitness Pal.

Also, Calorieking.com has pretty much every food you could think of and the nutritional information. Most restaurants have information for nutrition also. The fitbit app also allows you to save your foods, which makes it super fast and convenient the next time that food needs to be logged.

Little Man helping me blog! Cheat meal is in the oven!

Stay tuned for a future blog on figuring out the appropriate amount of calories you should be eating to lose weight or maintain it! There is such a thing as too little calories per day, which becomes unhealthy!

I'd love to hear your comments about what works for you in regards to dieting, exercise, and weight loss/maintenance! Lets hear it in the comment section!

Couch to 5k - Run #3

Well, after 5 days of the flu/strep throat, this momma is back in action, however, little man is not. :( poor kiddo. We have a pediatrician appointment today.

Today marked run number three of my couch to 5k journey with jogger and baby in tow. It's getting much easier to push that little dude around! I do need to look into an "elements protector" for the jogger and baby. It was super windy this morning. I doubt that helped the babe with his cold. Eek! Worst mom award goes to me today! I think they make clear, plastic covers to block the wind. I might need to check those out.

I'm also loving the C25K app that I've been using. A few features on the app that I just stumbled across are the distance graph along with the pace graph. The distance graph plots out the distance you've ran for each run, and shows the goal of 5k along the top. The pace graph shows the average minutes/mile for each run. Theoretically, if I'm improving as I hope to be, the distance graph should trend upwards and the pace should trend downwards.

So, one thing I wanted to talk about on here that I have been seeing a lot about on the mom blogs I follow, are comparisons of other moms. One mom posts about her messy house and how to keep it clean. Another mom posts a picture of her ultra clean house. I think as moms we all need to stop comparing ourselves and trying to "one up" other moms! We are all in this crazy mess together! Everyone has a different situation and just because one house is clean compared to another doesn't make that mom "better!" I think we all forget sometimes that at the end of the day, the most important thing is that we have a happy healthy child/children/family. Are our kids growing strong? Are they learning and developing? Are they having fun? If so, I say you are doing a great job at being a momma! Who cares about the mess? In 30 years when your kids are grown, they won't remember or care that the house was a mess. They will remember, however, you being too busy to play because you were constantly cleaning or organizing! So to all you mom's out there, I say grab that coffee mug, take a deep breath, and go sit on the floor and play with your baby... or play outside with your gradeschooler, or whatever!! That's a SuperMom to me!