Rest Day

Let me tell you, I work out at 6 times a week. On my rest day, I do just that. I don't mean I lay around the house and eat Bon Bon's all day, but I don't work out. That's because I think my body needs a rest and my long run is tomorrow and I want to conserve my energy. Even though I run 5 times a week, I am still not one of these running addicts. I don't wake up and say, "Woohoo I want to run today!" No. I run because I know it's good for me. I run because I can. I run because it's a quick way to burn calories. I don't LOVE running. I love how I feel when I'm done. I love feeling strong and accomplished when I'm finished. But during my run I wonder, "When is it going to be over?"

I think it's good that I sign up for races. It keeps me motivated and on track. I have a training schedule that I stick to. When I'm not training for something, I slack. I sleep. I basically turn into a sloth. I'll run here and there but not consistently. I need the structure. I need to have a plan of attack. I like that when I wake up, I just look at my running calendar and know what I need to get done for day. If it's left up to me, I'd rather read blogs all day, or play with my kids, or catch up on my TV shows.

Perhaps this is why I got up to the weight I did. I think I'm lazy by nature. I need to force myself to make good choices for myself still everyday. I would think after 3 years of being on weight watchers I would get it. It would just come naturally and I'd be able to automatically make good choices. Unfortunately I still don't. Everyday I have to have talks with myself, plan my food as best I can, and have a workout schedule. For me, I guess I need the structure and a plan. Otherwise it all goes to hell for me. Again don't get me wrong, I am now a very active person. Even after dinner I go outside with my boys and shoot hoops. I never used to be like that.

I also really love the competition feeling I get with racing. It keeps me motivated to get out of this chair and run. But I if I don't get a run in, I don't freak out. I don't go into withdrawals. I kind of don't even miss it. Well I take that back, if it's a run I need to do for my training, normally I figure out a way to get it done. But if it's just a normal day and I don't run, oh well. Isn't that weird? I always tell people to find an activity you like and then you'll be more inclined to do it. I love the races and I love the after affects that I get after the run, I just wish I loved the actual run more. Some days I do. I really loved running in the snow as crazy as that seems. Some days it just feels good and I want to keep going especially on an outside run when the weather is just right and my body cooperates with me. Many times running is just hard though. My knees and hips will ache. I will get either a tummy ache or a shooting pain near my collar bone that I think is gas?? Sometimes my legs feel heavy. But it is especially on those days that I am the most proud of myself for pushing through it and finishing it. I have never just stopped and called someone to pick me up in the middle of a run. I finish one way or another and that makes me feel strong and proud. I like those feelings. All of which is what drives me to get out of bed (when I'd rather be sleeping), put on my running gear (when I'd rather be eating breakfast), and get to my running (when I'd rather be watching TV, drinking my coffee, or again going back to sleep :)).

But today, on my rest day I plan on doing the laundry, go up and down 3 flights of stairs at least 30 times, doing the dishes, sweeping and mopping the floors, play hide and seek with my boys, fix meals, clean up after crazy children, dust, vacuum....you know, a typical rest day for a mom!

Workouts-

Wednesday- Easy 4 mile run in 38:25 avg. pace 9:37 + 20 min. level 2 Jillian Michael's 20 Day Shred

Thursday- Tempo run 6 miles (1 mile warm up, 4 miles tempo, 1 mile cool down) 52:50 avg. pace 8:40

Friday- House work and playing with the boys since int's a rest day

Smell Aversions

One of the downers about running outside are the smells. I don't like to smell anything when I run. Maybe I'm weird but it really bothers me. I can't even wear my own perfume when I run. It drives me crazy. On my easy run on Sunday, I was noticing a lot of smells and it makes me gag a little bit. Here a few of the smells that I smelled on my run:

• wet grass from the rain


• grass clippings


• weird evergreen/poky bushes
  
• car gas and exhaust


• some food from a truck stop diner


• then some food from a Sikh temple- strongest smell of the day


• construction equipment


• animal poo

I have seen some brave people on their blogs post pics of their sweaty selves after exercising. So I am too going to be brave and share with you how I look after my runs. Believe me, I know I get smelly myself while I run. I don't even like to smell that!

My sweaty belly making my shirt all wet:

My arm sweat:

My chest sweat:

Workouts:

Sunday- easy 3 miles in 26:15

Monday- Jillian's No More Trouble Zones DVD

Tuesday- Yasso 800's I did 7 800's and 1 400 for 7 miles in 63:55

I'm Back Baby!!!

I finally listened to myself and had a VERY successful long run. I was out the door by 8:15 strapped with my new, cheap yet effective Ironman running belt. On it was two water bottles full of Lemon Lime Nuun, my cell phone, tissues, jelly beans and a packet of vanilla PowerGel. I only stopped once this time and that was because I'm not used to these new water bottles and I pulled the top off and was spilling it all over myself. Even as I got to 5.5 miles, I pulled my Gel out of my little fanny pack and ate it while I chased it with my Nuun. It was about 70 degrees and the route I went had a lot of shade. Last Saturday, I ran at a 9:21 pace. Today, I ran at a 8:55 pace which is great considering I ran 2 extra miles. The running when its not 90 degrees helped plus I think the Nuun helped also. It feels great to be able to run again without feeling like I'm going to die, cramp up, or throw up! Now off to the lake with friends!

Workouts-
Saturday- 11 mile long run in 1:38:12

The Fresh Air Fund

I recently received an email from a representative of the Fresh Air Fund. It is an organization that gives inner city children a summer vacation to a host families house in the north east area. Right now they are getting a half marathon fund raiser ready in New York City. They are in need of host family though that live in 13 states in the north east area. The host family would take in an inner city child for a vacation. The race is August 16th. If you are able to run it or be a host family it sounds like a great cause! Here is part of what her email said:

Last summer's NYC Half-Marathon was a huge success and the Fresh Air Fund-Racers raised more than $125,000. We are also still in need of Friendly Town hosts for next month. Host families open their hearts and home to a NYC child who would not otherwise have the opportunity to escape the hot, crowded city streets.

As much as I would love an excuse to go to NY I am unable to go, but it sounds like a great race to help kids!

Workouts-
Tuesday- Hill work 6 miles in 1:01:34
Wednesday- Easy 4 miler in 37:33
Thursday- Tempo run 6 miles in 52:54
Friday- rest day so going to play at the water park with my boys!

Weekend Wrapup

Friday- Since I've been doing this training, it seems most of my mornings are spent trying to workout while also getting things constantly for my boys. Perhaps if I woke up before them, we'd still have a lot of the day. But instead, since I'm on vacation, I lay my lazy ass in my bed until the two little turkeys come to wake me for breakfast. So on Fridays, since it is my rest day, I try to make it a super fun day for the boys. Last Friday, we went to an awesome park we have in my city called Riverfront Park. It's beautiful. It has over 100 acres and a river that runs through the middle of it. It has a carousel, ducks and geese in the river, a giant red wagon replica that's actually a slide, a large train that tours you around the park, a gondola ride over the river, an IMAX theatre, and many MANY amusement style rides for the kids. We were there for about 6 hours in over 90 degree heat! The kids had a blast though. We went with my best friend and her boys so 5 boys running wild all together.

Saturday- I have been having the hardest time on my long runs. It has to be the time of day and heat factor because I'm never as miserable running as I have been the last 3 Saturdays with my long runs. As I said before if I were a smart person, I would run before it got hot outside. Well this Saturday was a scorcher. It was already 70 degrees at 7:00 in the morning. What did I do? I waited around, talked to my mom, snuggled with my boys, to finally get all my gear on for my run at almost 10:00! Right now I only run with a small handheld water bottle. A question to you fellow runners, do you run with a belt or a CamelBak? I think I would like the belt just because I can stash my Gels or jellybeans inside of it where a CamelBak would either not have that option or just make it trickier to get to my stuff. Do you wear anything? When it was late winter/early spring, I didn't need to take anything on my long runs. But with it being so hot, I have to at least have some water. When I started running on Saturday, my first mile was just around my neighborhood and I felt fine. I think a lot of the problem I have with running is mental. I think when I'm in my neighborhood I don't feel like I've gone far so I'm fine. The minute I start the journey away from the house, suddenly I have issues. I ran my first mile and ran back to my house. I crushed more ice into my little watter bottle and took a puff of my inhaler because I felt like I was having a hard time breathing. Then I headed back outside. I was OK for the next couple of miles but felt like I had a mild pain or something near my diaphragm. It was annoying me! Around the 4 mile mark I found a giant tree and I took a minute under it to enjoy the shade and munch on some of my jelly beans. I'm trying them out to see how I like them. They are delicious but the taste stays stuck in my mouth for a long time. They're Cold Stone ice cream flavored Jelly Bellys. I guess Gel kind of does that too. I drank some water and was back off. I ran up and down a small hill and immediately my left hip and knee were hurting. Not sure why. So started running on the other side of the road to see if that would help but it didn't. Around 4.5 miles I had to stop again this time for an intersection. I noticed that I was REALLY wet and sweaty. Normally I sweat but this was on another level. I wondered if it was because I put on both sunblock AND bug spray before going outside. I had a nasty little critter bite me last week and I didn't want to have a repeat. As I started heading toward my one big hill for the day I was quickly denied. The road was all ripped up due to construction so I changed directions to find another hill. I live in a fairly flat area, so I try to find as many little hills as I can during my run. As I was starting on mile 6 my right side was hurting bad. The road has a slight incline and I wondered if that was making it worse. Finally around 6.7 of my run I went down a very large hill. It helped to make up some time since I was running so slow! I stopped again to catch my breath, have a few more jelly beans and water, to then turn around and run back up that hill. I kept going this time until I was stopped again by intersections. Going the opposite direction on that road, my legs felt a little better. Maybe again it was just all mental because by now I only had 1.7 more miles to go. When I got 8.5 miles into my run something felt wrong. I knew I was thirsty but I was soaking wet. My shirt and shorts just felt drenched. It was probably upper 80's if not in the 90's by this point with not a breeze in the air. But for some reason, I started feeling cold and shivery. I knew this could not be good. There was no reason in this heat, no wind, no shade, that I should suddenly be cold. So I just kept running until I got to my 9 miles, and I ran just a little more until I got to my street where I walked the rest of the way home. My girlfriend and her husband were having a yard sale. I felt bad for running right past them without talking to them, but I was wearing a white running tank top. And I was wet. So...you know....I was probably looking like a girl in a wet t-shit contest and didn't feel it was appropriate to talk to anyone with areolas showing! When I got home, I had to wipe myself down with a towel. I drank about 24 oz. of water right away. I'm thinking it was early signs of dehydration? Not good whatever it was. I knew I need to have more than a 6 oz. handheld water bottle next Saturday. I bought some Nuun which needs to be mixed with 16 oz. of water, so I know I need to invest in something. Any suggestions?

Sunday- Oh lazy laziness. My mom had my boys so I slept until 11:00! What am I a teenager again? Holy smokes! Anyway, I woke up and knew I was NOT going to run outside that late again. I hopped on my treadmill and felt great. It wasn't hard, I was sweaty but not to the point of being obscene like the day before, and my knee and hip felt fine. Is it mental? Could it be that run the street running hurts me? It did help that my treadmill is the basement of my nice air conditioned home. Again, I think it just might be the heat. Please feel free to yell or give any comments or suggestion about what I need to fix. And I already know I probably shouldn't been running when it's so hot. I see people do it all the time though, why am I different? Just a weirdy I guess. :)

Workouts-
Friday- rest
Saturday- 9 mile long run in 1:24:04 blah!!!
Sunday- easy 3 mile in 27:18 minutes
Monday- Jillian's No More Trouble Zones DVD + 25 minutes Wii Active

What I've learned from my blogging friends

I started this blog basically as a place to complain and let my frustrations out since my husband is over hearing about it. But it's now transformed me and it is such a place for humbling, inspiration, and education. I have learned so much from you fellow bloggers. I wish I could give credit where credit is due, but I just have picked up bits and pieces. Here are just a few of the many things I have learned:

Running blogs:

• I have learned about researching information on Runner's World. It is such a great place to learn about pace, fueling, and training. Lately, they are linked now with iyoga to help runners with their stretching.
• There is a tool called the McMillian Running Calculator . This will tell you paces to run based of type of run and distance. I have learned that I was running too slowly for my easy runs. Hey, it' called easy right? Well yes but it's an easy RUN and I was doing easy JOGS. So I stepped up my easy run yesterday and am glad I found this site early in my training.
• That Gel/GU with caffeine equals tummy churning!
• That I am not the only runner who has food and running issues.
• Yoga can be a great exercise to add to my training.
• I probably need to invest in some mace since I run mostly alone and dogs or weirdies can get me. Also I need to invest either in a running belt or a CamelBak. Would love to hear from runners what they like to use for marathons.
• There is a stick you can buy to rub on sore muscles after running. I LOVE my marathon stick!
• Oh and BodyGlide! This is great to rub on the skin where you may have chaffing!

Weight loss/Fitness Blogs:

• To be present in your life.
• Stop the negative self talk. Appreciate what you have and what you're achieved.
• A perfect meal has a balance of healthy fats, carbs, and protein. I am really paying attention to my protein now and am really trying to view my plate like a pie graph: 1/4 protein, 1/4 starch, and 1/2 veggies and fruit. Last night my place was more in 1/3's : 1/3 chicken, 1/3 green beans, and a 1/3 broccoli.
• That clean eating is ultimately the best for your body. Eating as little processed foods the better.
• As a person diagnosed with ABS, I cannot eat the following things that I owe a huge thanks to my blogger friends for helping me figure this out: artificial sugars including aspartame, Splenda, etc.; chicory root/inulin which are in a ton of foods I love including ClifBars, Luna Bars, any Kashi cereals or Fiber One products; and most of Weight Watchers own products including their yogurt.
• That I very much need to step up my weight training and not just my cardio.
• That I have support and am not alone. I have read peoples blogs who at one time or another I've shared the same feelings of frustration, joy, irritation, pride, etc.

So thank you bloggers for giving me such a wealth of information. I learn something new every day. I appreciate all of you who read this blog. I am sure as soon as I post this blog that I will remember more things to add! Last, thank you for you followers. I have been told I am a source of inspiration which makes me feel good. It also makes me get mad at myself for not always being positive in my outlook. But I write what I truly feel so thanks to you who read my ramblings!

Workouts:

Tuesday- Easy run 4 miles in 37:44 + 20 minutes Level 2 30 Day Shred

Wednesday- Tempo run 5 miles in 42:27

Sweaty Sweatness

I have been doing Jillian Michaels DVD's for over a month now about 2 times a week. They are not getting any easier. Sometimes when I'm in the middle of doing them, I swear if I saw her I'd punch her in the face. She is hardcore but that's why I like it and like her and I stick with it. Yesterday was my cross training day so I did my longer Jillian DVD again. After that and hiking on Sunday my tush is burning! I'm starting to wonder if there will ever be a day that I am not sore.

My knees and hips are hurting. Normally I would think I need new shoes, but looking at my mileage for the year and knowing I just bought these in April, it doesn't seem like I should buy new tennies yet. I keep wondering if it's the hiking shoes I wear. Sometimes we run downhill and I wonder if they aren't supportive enough. Then again, when I look at the miles I've racked this year it seems not accurate either. I've trained for a 10K, 1/2 marathon, and now a marathon so it just seems like maybe I missed logging some runs.

Today I did Yasso 800 intervals. Holy moly does interval running make me sweat! I mean dripping off my face sweat!!! I like these more than tempo runs just because you get a break every half mile. You run at a fast pace for 800m which equals a half mile and then recover at a slower pace for 400m. I did 6 800 sprints today. I'm still wet and I stopped running a half hour ago! I need a shower I stink!

Workouts:
Monday- Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones DVD 55 min.
Tuesday- 6 miles Yasso 800's in 55:19

Weekend Update

This weekend felt great. For my long run on Saturday, it wasn't easy, but it felt MUCH better than last weekend. First, my knees have been hurting this week. I'm wondering if it was due to running down hill with my hiking shoes on rather than my tennies? I had to eat a little bit of food so I could take some Ibuprofen. After waiting awhile for it to kick in, it was already 9:50. This was a problem because I knew I needed over an hour to run 8 miles but I needed to get to Weight Watchers to weigh in before 11:00. There was no way I was going to make it if I ran all 8 at once. So I headed out the door in hopes to get at least 7 miles in and I'd finish the last mile once I got back. I'm sure this is not ideal for building up my stamina but it's what I had to do. I ran 7 miles in 1:03 which sounds good, but I had only 5 minutes to get to my WW meeting and it takes me 15 minutes to drive there. I was going back in forth in my mind if I should just skip it and run all my 8 miles at once and then weigh in on Monday. I was stressing because when you become a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers, you must weigh in at least once a month for it to still be free. I usually weigh in the first weekend of the month. Since that was on the 4th and the center was closed, it was getting later and later in the month and I really don't want to have to pay a weekly fee again. Knowing my Saturday leader though, she usually runs long on her meetings. So I went ahead and hopped in my car in hopes to be able to weigh in and buy some smoothie packets.

As I was pulling into the parking lot, I could see the crowd leaving. Yes I made it on time! First I have to tell you, my meeting is in a little strip mall and the first business in it is a Baskin and Robbins. I can't tell you how evil it is to pull into Weight Watchers and have to see giant posters of Reeses sundaes or coffee shakes! Are you kidding me? Can't it be a gym or Whole Foods or something??? Anyway, I got in to weigh in quickly. To my dismay, apparently they were having a sale on their smoothies so they were out! Ugh. I asked the receptionist, who is a marathon runner herself, what my deal was. I haven't been able to drop out of the 130's for a month and it's driving me crazy. People always try to say, "Oh you're gaining muscle since you're lifting weights and running more." Um no because it's not muscle that's hanging over my pants when I put them on. The positive side is that when I dropped all my weight I of course had to find something to not be happy with...I have issues remember! So besides the droopy skin on my belly it was my tush. It was now mostly flat except for a small little extra butt underneath. I called it my double butt. Well, I now just have one butt and when I flex it it pops out like Jennifer Lopez POW! But, I struggle to it into my pants. A girlfriend I work with has no sympathy. She says, "Oh I feel really bad that your size 2's are too small now." Well I'm beyond my size 2's. I'm lucky if I can squeeze into my size 4's of Old Navy which I honestly equate to size 6's. Again, did I ever in my entire life think I could even wear these sizes? NO! The point is, those clothes fit me 6 months to a year ago and now they don't. It doesn't matter the size, it's the principal that my ass and back fat are preventing me from wearing my clothes!!! Anywhoo, she told me to bring in my journal next week because she was curious if I was getting enough protein. That's the second thing people say to me when I bitch about my back fat. Since WW was out of their smoothies, which are high in protein by the way, I headed to another store that was supposed to carry Oikos Greek yogurt. I have head about this yogurt for months on people blogs, but I never saw it stores around here. To my surprise several weeks ago, I found a little 4 pack at WalMart of all places! I was excited and started using it in my smoothies. Of course when I went back for more, I couldn't find it. Not even a label of where it should be. It's as if it never existed. I tries 3 other grocery stores and still couldn't find it. So I went online to see where it was sold. I found out it's sold at all the Safeway's around here. I found that funny since I already tried a Safeway and never found it. So when driving home from WW, I tried another Safeway. I was so happy to have found plain, honey, and vanilla Oikos yogurt. I bought 7 containers and ate one right there in the store. I tried the honey and it was really yummy. This yogurt is not like regular yogurt. It has 120 calories, zero fat, and 15 grams of protein for the flavored and 80 calories for the plain!!! It is thick and yummy and I feel very full when I combine it with fruit or mix it in with my smoothies. So I will bring in my tracker to her, even though it's super intimidating to show someone your journal. It's like showing someone a peek into my soul or something. But I'm willing to find out how I can tweak my diet.

Sundays are turning into hike days around here. First I started with an easy 3 mile recovery run. My hubs is trying to run too. He has a hard time and finds it is all mental for him. He's been running 3 miles lately so I keep trying to get him to run with me. He never wants to because he says I'm too fast. Finally I convinced him since it's supposed to be an easy run for me anyway. Then he admitted right before we were heading out that he doesn't exactly run 3 miles straight...that he stops for about 10 seconds and started again. Oh well I finally had him willing to try so we went out. It definitely was an easy pace for me. We did 3 miles in 33 minutes. My hubs says it was a nice pace for him but he did stop like 3 times. During that time, I would turn around and run the opposite way and then run back up to him. I wanted him to not feel emasculated by me so running behind him rather than out in front would make him feel better! He still was mad though, he looked at me and said that I didn't even look like I broke a sweat! I did a little, but again it was an easy recovery run. Later, we went on a hike again in a new area. Not as pretty as the one last weekend but was nice. It's amazing how hard hiking can be and how long we're out there but yet only cover a few miles! Last, when we got home we took the kids swimming. Let me tell you, I got another workout. Not from swimming, but from carrying my 37 pound 3 year old up and down the stairs to go down the water slide about 15 times! My legs were talking that's for sure. Here's some hike pics for you to enjoy:

Workouts:

Friday- rest day

Saturday- 8 mile long run in 1:11

Sunday- easy 3 mile run in 33 min. + 3.41 hike in the hills

Tummy Tuck

Many times after I mention my tummy tuck, I get comments asking about it. Forever ago I did a post about it here, but I will talk about it more now.

In October 2007, I got to my lowest weight of 117. I honestly can never remember weighing this weight EVER. In high school I was between 140 and 160. In jr. high I think I was 125. I just seem to have jumped over the teens. I should have felt proud, elated, and extremely happy about my accomplishment. I was happy for about 5 minutes. The problem was I still saw myself as fat. My undergarment of choice was tummy-sucking-in-underwear that hit me right under my bra. Granny panties! I wore these daily because I had loose flabby skin that literally used to sway in the breeze. I could feel it slap against itself when I ran up stairs. It was pretty attractive! Even though I was at this weight, I didn't want to wear tight clothes, swimsuits, or be seen naked. I felt disgusting! I would cry and fuss and stare at it all the time. I wasn't trying to be vain, it just made me feel like I needed to be smaller. My husband was worried about me. He felt like I was going to the "bad place" in my mind (anorexia). He very much encouraged me to see a doctor.

When I mentioned to my coworkers that I was considering it, they instantly judged me and looked down their noses at me. I was really good at hiding the loose skin, so they all thought I was just being ridiculous. I would get upset and frustrated. It made me not want to eat in the staff room with my coworkers. It made me cry constantly. Finally I started getting so irritated with people that I would show them. I would have to pull it all out of my undies and let it fly until they believed me. Their reactions were usually things like, "Oh," or "My old skin looks like that," or "So when are you going to get that fixed?" I know it was bad!

I finally paid for a consultation to a plastic surgeon. When she looked at me, she said in the 13+ years she's been doing plastic surgery that I probably had the most above the belly button skin of anyone she'd even seen. The skin above my belly button used to completely hide it. I would get infections in there since it never got any fresh air! In fact, right before my surgery it started getting infected again and then my surgery would have had to be rescheduled. I finally decided to go ahead and do it. I made the surgery appointment and coordinated it with my moms and hubs vacations so I had help. Once you get surgery, there's no heavy lifting for 6 weeks! This would be hard with two 2 year olds running around!

The day I had my surgery, my father in law was in the same hospital getting a procedure done. It made it handy for hubs to visit both of us, but kind of confusing for the nursing staff since my father in law and I both have similar first names...Michelle and Michael and of course the same last name. I don't really remember much except that when I woke up and started to walk around, you're supposed to walk hunched over for the first 2 weeks. I kept walking upright and my hubs would tell me to hunch over. For some reason I stayed upright and just squatted with my knees. He'd laugh at me and then lean me over to show me what he meant. The first few days I was in pain, but I've had two previous c-sections so it wasn't too bad. You have to sleep upright after surgery, so we made me a bed in an old lazy boy we got from the hubs' grandma. The chair was not the most comfortable, so the most pain I felt was in my back.

Now there are things I NEVER knew people went through during this type of surgery. The sleeping upright was one. Another is they insert drainage tubes in you to drain the fluid. The ends of the tubes collect the fluid. They look like clear hand grenades. They are MUCH bigger than I though. You can't hide or conceal them much because they are literally the size of a grenade. You have to drain and measure the crap that comes out daily! I had to right down the amounts because it's not until you basically stop draining that they'll remove these things. And they are a pain. Try showering when you have plastic tubes with giant hand grenades attached to them coming our of your body. We had to wrap them around my neck so my hands could be free to clean myself! Also, you have to wear a stomach wrap and it needs to be TIGHT. The one plus to this was I could attach my stupid tubes to it so they weren't being dragged around. I had to wear this things for the full 6 weeks. The tubes came out after about a week and a half. Also, under the tummy wrap I wore and electrode my doctor gave me that was supposed to help with muscle spasms. It must have worked because honestly, I was not in as much pain as I thought I would be. I made sure I was in really fit condition before my surgery to help. My hubs just thinks I'm super tough. I honestly think it was good drugs and the electrode that helped
.
The first few days after surgery I was basically in and out of sleep most of the time. My hubs was with me the first full week after surgery. The week after that was my mom, the next week his mom, then my mom again, and finally his mom one more time. It was really nice to have so much help not necessarily for me, but my kids needed to be taken care of. I also had a lot of appointments to go to that I couldn't drive myself.
If you are considering doing a tummy tuck, here are things to keep in mind:

• Make sure you get a doctor that has very good references and you can see their work FIRST.
• I would save money because unless you have loose skin that hangs past your pelvis, insurance will not cover the costs. Even if your skin does hang past, I have heard insurance only pays a little bit. This surgery can be $9 to $10K. There are medical loans you can get for a pretty low interest rate, but we saved and just paid for all of it at once. With my doc, you got a discount for paying cash.
• Make sure you have HELP! At least one other adult the first few weeks.
• Make sure you are ready to give up 6 weeks of your life! You have to sit and rest! The more you move, the worse it is for your pain and healing. It had a really hard time with keeping my butt in a chair for so long. It sounds nice to lay around, be lazy, watch TV or read books, but it got old really quick.
• Make sure it's worth it to your spirit and well being.
• Preplan and freeze meals for yourself.
• Be as physically fit as possible. It also helps your recovery.
• Understand that it will not be perfect. My tummy is not perfect. I've had 2 other mini procedures to try to help, but I still have scars and stretch marks. It was inevitable for me, but I've heard it gets rid of some peoples stretch marks.

I had a dog ear (skin on my side that was pointy like the tip of a dog's ear) removed and two belly button lifts to try to help my skin STILL around the belly button. It still sags a bit but over all I'm very happy I did it. I can wear normal clothes and more importantly normal underwear. It feels so good to be able to wear cute undies. That is a luxury skinny girls take for granted! Again for before and after pics click on my older post to see for yourself.

Workout- Run- tempo 5 miles 44:00 including warmup and cooldown

Seriously???

OK, my hubs and I hiked for 3 1/2 hours and I had probably had enough. So how in the heck am I going to RUN for over 4 hours? I assume that will my time since most blogs I read have an average marathon time of 4:15-4:30. But SERIOUSLY!!!! I have never exercised for longer than an hour and a half (except for bike riding) ever! I can't seem to wrap my tiny brain around that concept. The last three miles of my half marathons you know what I was thinking? I was thinking, "OH MY GOD WHEN AM I GOING TO BE DONE???" And that will now be my half way point. What was I thinking? Am I mental? I always thought people who ran marathons were C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!! So now apparently I am a crazy one too.

I could barely get through my Jillian Michaels video today because I had 3 insane boys crawling on me, under me, running circles around me, trying to do my exercises too but leaning on me while doing it, etc. But I did it! And had an AWESOME smoothie afterwards:
1/2 cup froze mango
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
3/4 cup light orange juice
1/2 cup Dannon Light & Fit peach yogurt
1 scoop Flax

It was very summery and tropical! I usually have mixed berry or chocolate/banana/PB2 so this was a nice change.

Workouts:
Run- 4 mile easy in 40:50
Circuit Training- Level 2 Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred

Power and Choices to Make Changes

It's the start of my 3rd week of marathon training. In May after my half marathon, I was all gung ho about trying a marathon. I felt strong and powerful. Now days, it terrifies me. I have completely lost my stamina since I hardly ran for the month after my half. Lately, it's hard to do my long runs without stopping. I NEVER used to stop running during my long runs. On Saturday, I stopped FOUR times! I must say though, I think I was extremely dehydrated even before starting to run. Then I didn't drink much when I left and it was 10:00 am and about 80 degrees! I did take my hand held water bottle but it gets hot VERY quickly. I even put a little bit of ice it and it was hot after the first mile. My mouth was salty before I went out my door. All not normal. Probably has something to do with the two 24 ounce beers I drank the night before! I went home on mile 6 to get fresh cold water. My whole upper torso was soaking wet. Now I normally sweat when I run, but this was something new. My arms were drenched. It was not pretty! After drinking a lot of cold water, I went out to run my last mile without stopping. I have GOT to start getting up earlier on my long run days during the summer or I'm never going to make it!

Backtracking, Friday was supposed to be a rest day. My hubs, son and I went on a little hike and did a little GeoCaching. I was disappointed though in my child because he started whining that his legs were tired and we wanted to go home. It was hot outside but it saddens me that he couldn't suck it up. It's beautiful where we were hiking and he always says he wants to hike with me. But when it came down to it, he just wanted to go back to play with his friends. To make up for it, my hubs and I went out to finish the hike on Sunday. It's a loop up into wilderness and then back around to more meadowy swamp lands. It should take about 7 miles to do the whole loop. You climb up to 2900 feet in elevation! Well we got to a fork in our path and decided to take the "high" road. Well this got up way off track and we ended up walking over 8 miles. And we forgot to put on bug spray, so I'm covered with 7 bug bites! It's such a pretty hike though. Here are some pics for you to enjoy too!

I'm still super sore from the hike, my yesterdays workout, and then today I did hill practice! My hubs and I were talking on our hike about we are both whining about working out and not losing weight. We decided that it's our POWER and our CHOICES about our weight. We both no this but it's so easy to give up or make excuses. No excuses here. I know what my problem has been:

• too much munching on nonhealthy food
• not enough sleep
• bad eating on the weekend

These are my things to work on! Here are my workouts from the long weekend:

Workouts-

Friday- 3.5 mile hike

Saturday- 7 mile run in 71 minutes

Sunday- 3 mile run in 31 minutes + 8 mile hike

Monday- No More Trouble zones video + 35 minutes Wii Active

Tuesday- 5 mile run with hill intervals

When will I learn?

Yesterday I was awoken by two little curly hair blond boys at 7:30 AM. "Mommy, I need bwreakfiss!" Don't they realize their older brother had me up until midnight? My sons friend was too cute though. As I was lying out their blankets on the air mattress they were going to sleep on, he says to me, "You ARE the woman of the house aren't you? You work the hardest huh?" I now love this boy. My son tried to pipe up by saying, "I work too." And his friend replied, "Not like she does." He lives mostly with his single mother and she obviously is teaching him right!
Since I was up, I starting packing lunches for the day. I decided to take the older boys to a water park and take my twinsies to visit with grandma. At around 9:30 they came rolling out of bed to also ask for breakfast. I made it but also made them a deal....eat your breakfast upstairs and leave me alone to workout and THEN I'll take you to the water park. They were surprised and very happy to oblige. Until they needed me to get something. I must say though my kids only interrupted me two times yesterday. Much better than the day before! I haven't been to this water park since I was a teenager. It brought back lots of memories. I rode on all but one of the slides. Nice and refreshing on such a hot day. Plus, it was good exercise walking up the big hill to get to the slides. I did my part to relax by the pool also. A mama needs some down time.

Today though was another my muscles are so sore I don't want to move days. I idiotically started researching vacation places BEFORE running. Well then I was getting hungry but I don't like to eat before I run. Then the children came along and finally when it was time to run it was almost noon! No food and hardly any water...NOT GOOD WOMAN!!! I ate a bag of 100 calorie Emerald almonds and several handfuls of caramel rice cakes. After my 5 minute warm up, I could feel the belly ache. Why do I do these things to myself? Again it took me awhile to get it done, but I got my 4 mile tempo run in today. I was so sore it even hurt in my triceps today as I was running!

Workouts:
Wednesday- 3 mile easy run + Level 2 Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred
Thursday- 4 mile tempo run