Tag Archives: Healthy Eating

Progress, Not Perfection

Posted by hellyontherun in 10k, Fitness, Healthy Eating, Race and tagged with , , , , , ,

Welp, I’m T-minus 3 days for race day!! I mentioned a 10k I have planned for on Sunday and my intentions are to run it FAST. I’m a little scared, lol!!

Truth be told, I really want a PR. And considering I haven’t actually raced a 10k, a PR isn’t too farfetched. I last ran a 10k about two years ago when my friend Amber visited me to do an Arizona race. I recommended Lost Dutchman because of its beautiful desert scenery.

Except it was cold, cloudy, and torrential down pouring that day 😦

Fun times

Despite the awful weather, we both had decent races. She placed 5th female overall and 2nd in her age group for the half marathon and I placed 1st in my age group for the 10k (even after stopping to tie my shoe!).

Amber the Runner and me ❤

I ran a 47:14 with a 7:35 average pace.

Fast forward almost two years and I feel like I can beat that…

…but by how much?

That is the big question.

I have a number goal in mind…an ambitious one, but my hope is to run the race HARD, whatever that might produce. I know my “hard” is different than my “hard” from two years ago so I’m curious to see what I can make happen given good race juju.

I’ve had some pretty good training runs lately that has boosted my confidence. But, my diet has still been realllly bad #storyofmylife

I was invited to work with a trainer at a gym called PNP Fitness (Progress Not Perfection) and while at the beginning I thought we’d be talking more things fitness, our conversations have turned to all things diet.

You all know I’ve struggled with food/eating healthy for a looooong time. I feel like each time I try and change my habits, I fall back to the same unhealthy patterns.

Meeting with Will from PNP these past few weeks has been some good tough love I’ve needed. He’s really made me confront some of the reasons I go to fast food and convenience.

Some things I already know:

-I know fast food/take out is expensive.
-I know fast food/take out is for the most part unhealthy.
-I know I’m not teaching my kids healthy eating habits.
-I know that some home cooked meals can be quick if fast and convenient is what I’m looking for.

I know those things, but I really don’t care or as bad as it sounds, care enough to change.

And that’s pretty much the honest truth right there. I don’t care enough to change my eating.

The dreaded ‘why’ question

Will started breaking out the ‘why’ questions. And I hate them, they’re annoying, but only because they make me think about something I don’t like thinking about.

He asked me why I qualified for Boston. This was interesting because it wasn’t how.

I qualified because I worked really hard, trained really hard, wanted it really bad.

I cared.

Post Boston I don’t really have anything I care about as intensely. Will asked if I wanted to get faster or if I was satisfied with where I was.

I don’t know. Sometimes I want to get faster, and sometimes I don’t care.

Will I be bummed if I don’t PR on Sunday? Yes. But I have to realize that just focusing on running can only get me so fast. At some point, other aspects of my training will have to change.

Like my diet.

Do I care enough?

.

.

.

–Is your diet an area you struggle with? Have you ever talked to someone about your diet?

–Do you struggle with caring about things?

Check out my Instagram on Sunday to see results from the 10k–wish me luck!! xoxo, helly

 

Squat & Diet

Posted by hellyontherun in Healthy Eating, Marathon Training, Running and tagged with , , , , ,

Yep that’s pretty much what’s been going on over here….

I’ve been running, but what I’ve really been doing is squatting like I’ve never squatted before and trying to eat better. I have no idea who I’ve become.

So my coach right now is really focusing on pre-habbing (you know, doing the stuff people do when they get injured but BEFORE they get injured). Every Tuesday and Thursday I’m supposed to cross-train/strength train and like a good student, I’ve been doing all of my assignments. There’s more that I do besides squatting, but there’s def more of those than anything else. My Moms Run This Town chapter also has a month long squat challenge so everything has coincided quite nicely (or not? lol!).

Nothing has humbled me more than single-legged squats. Holy shit, those are hard.

I’ve become one with squats. After almost a month of squatting, I no longer dread them but accept them as part of my daily routine. While I have two scheduled days of strength training, I’ve found myself squatting and doing core work every single day. And after almost 4 weeks, I can finally begin to feel the hard work paying off.

It took me longer to get as motivated for the diet part, though. No surprise. But, last week was my first full week of being mindful of what I was putting in my mouth. My coach gave me a list of food ideas–this I love because I’m totally a person who likes being told what to do, in this case, eat.

Tuna has become my best friend. I’ve made this quite a few times. I’ve also been making a lot of smoothies which pairs great with our 105 degree temperatures 😀

1 cup almond milk
1 banana
mixed berries (to your liking)
spinach (or kale–I switch b/w them)

and voila! A yummy smoothie! Sometimes I’ll throw in chia seeds or Greek yogurt for funsies but with or without, it’s yummy.

I’ve been easing myself back into running. My coach has given me a break from speed work and tempos to concentrate on getting everything healed (foot feels amazing!). I finally feel like I’m getting back to normal with everything. I definitely felt my mojo drop a little and now that summer is arriving (my happy season), I’m ready to get to work.

100+ degrees? No sweat!

–Do you like squats? (They were seriously my death but now I don’t hate them as much anymore) Am I the only one who dances around trying to hold a single legged squat?

–What’s in your favorite smoothie?

–Your thoughts/feelings on summer approaching?

Two Week Food Logging…..Read At Your Own Risk

Posted by hellyontherun in Healthy Eating, Marathon Training and tagged with , , ,

Happy Marathon Monday!!! Wow, how incredibly inspiring was this morning? I was lucky to be able to watch on t.v. and track friends online. I could tell that the heat affected many but there were some who still rocked it despite of. Congrats, Boston finishers!!! #jealous ❤

Okay, for those of you have been reading for a while, this will not come as as surprise. Two weeks of logging my food intake was…..not pretty. I’ve always been incredibly honest about my eating bad habits. It’s the hardest part of fitness for me by faaaaar. I can workout like no tomorrow, but when it comes to food, I have THE WORST self-discipline ever.

why tho?

My coach wanted me to log two weeks’ worth of food entries to see what she was working with. I’m not sure to what capacity she’ll help with this part of my training, but you’ll soon see that ANY help at this point is well needed.

I’m not this bad anymore, I swear. I’m down to a single row of just Coca-cola

I wanted to be honest, and I was from the beginning when I told her my diet sucked. I didn’t try to really “clean” up my food intake during the two weeks because I wanted her to see how I really eat. I was definitely embarrassed some days, because I knew she’d be seeing that entry at some point, but maybe that was a good thing? I also was forgetful, not because I didn’t want to put in what I ate (I swear!) but having to input all my meals was tough in what’s always a hectic day in my life, lol!

(I used MyFitnessPal, btw.)

Okay, here’s a peek of what we’re dealing with here. (These are not consecutive days, btw–but they might as well be, lol)

forgot to input dinner

 

You’ll start to notice a theme here….

 

coffee for breakfast, again…..and believe you me, I wanted more than 4 slices of pizza for dinner

 

Another winner of a day below….

But wait, there’s more!

Forgot to input dinner…was likely pasta….

 

Well, I like pizza…as you can tell. The thing is, there’s this place called Barro’s Pizza that has uh-mazing lunch specials–like 2 huge slices and a drink for $4.25!!!

I know, I know….

In all honesty, I feel like logging in my food has actually helped in a way. I see first hand how many calories each thing is which is new to me. It does make me a little more conscious of what I put in my mouth.

But at the end of the day, I know I like bad food. And I know that the only way I can better my diet is to keep my goal in front of me everyday. If I didn’t have a reason to change my diet, I honestly wouldn’t. Do I think changing my diet will be the difference between BQing or not BQing? I don’t know; but, I do know that I don’t want to attempt to BQ the rest of my life. If I can do everything I can, and set myself up for success on my first try, why wouldn’t I give it a shot?

It’ll be hard, just like trying to run 8 minute miles for 26.2 miles will be hard–but how does that saying go?

Hard is what makes it great.

–Do you struggle with your diet?

–How often do you eat pizza?

–What tips do you have for me to help curb my love of fast food and soda?