First run of 2016

We ran the 5 mile Forest Park run in the Snowball Series yesterday morning.  It was pretty cold when we got started, but the sun was out and it turned out to be really nice.  Sam waited for me, so his time is much slower than would be normally.  I am now #17 out of 48 in the series ranking.  Not bad at all since I am so slow these days!!!!

Kirkwood/Webster Turkey Trot 2013

Sam and I got up at 5 this morning to run the Kirkwood/Webster Turkey Trot. This is the 3rd time I have done this race and I wanted to get under 30 mins, even though the fastest I have run before is 30:43 (same race, last year).  It was really cold at the start, around 25 this morning, the coldest I have ever run.  I should have known I had too many clothes on because I wasn't cold at the starting line.  Still, we took our "before" picture in the car because I didn't want to hang on to my phone

I started off really well but ran out of gas around 2 miles.  Then I got too warm so I had to take off my hat and gloves, wish I'd taken a shirt off too!!!!  I ended up walking some of it, but I think that gave me a little extra boost on the last part of the run.  Sam left me behind when I was walking because he was getting cold. I was disappointed that I'd had to walk, but was really happy to see that my time was 30:18, much faster than I thought it was 

I cut 25 seconds off my time last year and really did feel OK the whole time I ran, just ran out of steam for a while.  Not sure if it was because I started out too fast or the hassle of trying to get around all the walkers.  Even so, I just could not feel my legs and felt like I was going to fall over and I had to walk.  I'm still happy with my time and it was better than I thought it would be.  My last 3 runs have been around 33 mins, so a huge improvement

WLC Day 3

I got an email from one of my paleo sites yesterday.  The guy who wrote it had booked an hour in a sensory deprivation tank to practice mindfulness.  Pretty timely for the WLC.  This is what he said:

The session was an hour long, but I got up and left after 30 minutes when I made a powerful realization. 

That realization was that I no longer have anything to escape from.
I love everything about my life: the way I feel, the people I surround myself with, the work I have chosen, the great hobbies that I have, the freedom to do whatever I want.  

What has made this happiness possible was a simple decision four years ago to educate myself about my own health and translate information into action, action that has resulted in me being the happiest I have ever been.

After I read it, I realized that he's saying exactly what I would these days.  I told Sam last night"I love my life".  I had just finished a Crossfit workout and was feeling pretty nauseous, so why on earth would I feel so great?  Honestly, I love making paleo dishes, maybe I see it as a challenge, maybe I just like cooking for Sam because he appreciates it so much.  I spend so much of my time cooking these days, I really ought to resent it, but I don't at all.  I really don't think I have been happier than now when I spend most of my time focused on nutrition and exercise.  It really has just crept up on me from nowhere.

Freedom 4 mile run

Sam and I ran the Freedom 4 mile downtown yesterday. It's the longest run I have done and I ended up having to walk some of it. Still we did pretty well (of course Sam would have run it in a much shorter time)

We took a picture before the race

Then we took one after the race, we look pretty much the same-still smiling

This is CF 26!!!

Featuring Sam Sylar in the first few seconds.  I did NOT do this workout!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5K2nn16FM4

Walk to Madrid

Our walking team this year.... 

Walk to Madrid

The SLU Walk to Madrid program started on Monday. I am the team captain again this year. I usually do pretty well with increasing how much I walk when I'm doing this program and it's the first step that got me trying to increase my exercise in general.

I decided that I'd take this 8 week period to try to exercise regularly and eat correctly.  However, I forgot about the fact that we have 2 birthdays this week and Greta will be leaving on Sunday.  After eating terribly last night (Maggie's birthday) I realized I hadn't posted any pictures of paleo meals I have made recently.

I made this shrimp the other weekend.  We were going to barbecue it, but it started pouring with rain so I had to cook it on the stove.  Surprisingly, everyone loved it and ate all of it!!!

Ben has been asking me to make his favourite dinner for quite a while.  He loves it, but Maggie hates it!!!

I made this zucchini salad for a barbecue for the exchange students.  It was great, I will definitely make it again

These paleo deviled eggs are delicious!!!

This mango curry is one of my favourite things to eat-I bought some mangoes at the Soulard farmers' market just so I could make it

After all the clean eating, Maggie wanted pizza and my chocolate cake for dinner.  So much for my intentions to eat well all week....

Girls on the Run 2013

http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/event-3028
This was our best time EVER!!!! Maggie was truly amazing.  I'm going to have to get Sam to run with her in future if she gets any faster!!!!

Gini's running clinic

One of the best things you could do for yourself is go through the six week cadence training that Sam and I received from the Endurance workshop. Consider getting a friend to commit to do it with you and spend two days a week practicing. If you want to do this, I could email you suggestions on a week by week basis or you could use the information Sam has, or see Skill Based Running Progression on this page:

http://www.crossfitendurance.com/run

Basically, using a metronome over time you increase your cadence and distance. You might start with 30 second short sets at a 95 cadence/ 2 minutes at 91 cadence and over time work up to 1 minute 30 second sets at over 100 cadence and hold at 93 cadence for 6 minutes. Each session, warm up and cover a drill or two like we did at the Clinic before you begin the cadence work.

Another thought: you might check out the Fixing Your Feet videos on the page above. It talks about keeping your feet in a good position and avoiding having duck feet that turn out. I think you might like some of the ideas, plus Brian and Kelly are quite entertaining:).

http://www.coachseye.com/kUY4

http://www.coachseye.com/o5y3

Whole30, Day 19

Sam and I did the St Louis Indoor Rowing Competition this morning.  I was aiming for 9:45, but just could not pick up the pace at the end to do it.  Never mind, I still cut 1 second off my best time.

I have been reading the Whole30 daily emails and one was talking about how you should not use food as a reward for something you do.  We do that a lot-after Ben's gymnastics, etc.  Usually we would go to somewhere like First Watch after an event like that, but we just came home and I made myself an omelet.  Since I was trying NOT to use food as a reward, I went and had a pedicure instead-it was wonderful.

Sam really wanted pizza for dinner, so I made two (1 pepperoni and 1 bacon).  Even though I didn't eat it and Greta wasn't here, they were both eaten very quickly!!!  I substituted with a chicken salad and then I made a fruit clafouti for dessert.

This is Crossfit!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r6fLsQb5_gg

Crossfit 26 came 3rd overall.  Both teams were brilliant!!!!

Body Composition Analysis

When I did my pictures and measurements for the start of the challenge, I decided to do a body fat test.  You have to completely submerge yourself in water while breathing out all your breath, which is a little disconcerting.  My body fat percentage came out quite good, I'm in the healthy range and I got an A- (Ben was impressed by my grade!)  She recommended that I didn't lose any more weight, but tried to convert some fat to lean muscle.  The recommendation was that I eat 63 g of protein and drink 60 oz water every day, plus not work out until I've eaten 1800 calories.  Not sure that will happen, but I can try

Go! St. Louis Halloween 5K

Maggie, Greta and I ran the 5K on Sunday.  Maggie & I did it in 34:40.  I came 8th out of 45 in my age category, so I was very pleased.  Maggie ran her heart out.  She was fantastic and kept up with me the whole way.  She would get further and further behind when we were walking, but she ran with me most of the way.

Healthy lunch with Walk to Madrid team

We are in the middle of our Walk to Madrid challenge at SLU.  Our team is currently in 6th place.  One of the challenges during the program was to take a picture of the team having a health lunch. We got lunch from Bread Co.  I think we all had salad.  It wasn't as good as I was hoping, I think the salads are much better when you eat there rather than getting to go.  Still, it was fun to get us all together.

Go! St. Louis Run

I ran the Go! St. Louis All American 5K with the Bosch family on Sunday.  Molly ran with me while Anne & Megan took off at their own pace.  Our time was 33:42.  I was really happy with this.  I only had to walk twice, once was not for too long but the second was about 2 or 3 minutes.  I even felt OK when I was done.

This is us after the race, we are still smiling!!!!

Next is the Color Run in August. I am doing it with Ben and Maggie. We started a team "Girls Chasing Ben". This will be really fun....