Friday, February 28, 2014

Training for a Race

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I signed up for the Minneapolis Half Marathon on June 1.


I typically sign up for races because they help me run. I have a goal - something I'm working towards. It's motivation to get out the door and go for a run. There are plenty of times during the year when I am not training for a race and I run because I want to, but having a race on the horizon is motivating. 

I'm using Hal Higdon's Intermediate race plan, but my training plan doesn't start until March 10th. So I'm still running rogue! Ha. I've noticed that I've tried to fit in a few longer-ish runs lately, so it's motivating me already. I say long-ish because they are long for where I am at in the running season, but I'll be running much farther runs in the near future. 

I had Wednesday off from work to spend with Kellan. I love those days with my dude. I decided that I would drop him off at daycare for just over an hour so I could hit the gym and do a longer run. I think I mentioned having a goal of running 6 miles in my last post. So I dropped him off and drove to the gym in the polar vortex that is Minnesota lately. It's very UNmotivating weather right now. All I want to do is eat meat and potatoes and wear sweat pants. :) Anyway - and as I was pulling into the parking lot of the gym I caught myself bargaining.... with myself... about my run... before I had even stepped foot inside the gym itself. In my mind I was saying - "just run at least 4 miles". WHAT? Run at least 4 miles? My goal was to run 6 miles. But I was a little tired, and I wasn't really into a longer run. I haven't run further than 5 miles since before I was pregnant, which would be over a year and half ago. Maybe I was nervous? So as I walked into the gym I was telling myself - "don't be ridiculous Breanna. Run at least 5 miles." 5 miles?!?!? Again - isn't my goal here to run 6 miles? It's so easy to talk yourself out of a run before it's even begun. I mean shouldn't I have at least waited until I was on the treadmill to see how the run was feeling before I started chopping miles off? I do this all the time. I find it hard to muster the right motivation - especially on the treadmill. And that's OK! I went to the gym and I ran. And in this instance I actually did run 6 miles. And I felt really good about that. But sometimes it's ok to just run 4 miles too. I have to remember that. Does anyone else do this? 

Having my race out there - even though it's quite some time until I'll need to run the 13.1 miles - is proving to be somewhat motivational. Just like I hoped it would. 

Yesterday I went to the gym telling myself that I should just run 3 miles - even though my goal had been 4 miles, so here I was doing it to myself again. :) In fact when I started my run I looked down and the treadmill said 1:03. As in one minute and three seconds! And I was already sighing thinking it was going to be a long one. And it kind of was, but I made it 4 miles and I felt good afterwards. That's almost always the case - feeling great once its done. Sometimes you just have to keep in mind how great you'll feel when you are done to get the motivation to start. 

Yesterday morning my kiddo was up at 5:15am, so I found myself pulling home made muffins out of the oven at 5:45am. Wrapping a present for a party that night at 6am. It was a crazy morning. The start of my work day consisted of a freshly cooked muffin and a cup of coffee - a little much needed caffeine. Don't judge my Christmas mug - ha ha - I hate using the Styrofoam cups at work. 


Last night we went to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday at a new place in Golden Valley called Pub 42. It was a really fun night with family and Kellan was seriously an awesome little dude all night. 

He's been trying some new foods lately. He doesn't like canned baby food - at all. He likes real foods and prefers that they not be pureed. I found some packets at Target for older babies that he's been digging lately. They are called World Baby Organic pouches. One of them is for Mexican style and it's rice, beans and corn. The other is something else and it's chicken, veggies and quinoa. He loves them - can't get enough! What a funny palette he has. 

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. My sister-in-law is going to have her baby (my nephew!!!!) any day, swim lessons, dinner with aforementioned SIL and Pete's brother for a birthday dinner, Sunday hanging with Kellan and my mom at Rock the Cradle. It's going to be a great weekend and I can't wait. 

Do you guys have anything cool planned for this weekend? Any workouts?


Tuesday, February 25, 2014

It's Official - he's Crawling and Crazy

It's official - Kellan is crawling. For the last few weeks he would eek forward slightly on all fours and then give up. We knew the crawling was coming, but then for over a week he kind of gave up on the whole crawling thing and was obsessed with standing. Standing. Standing! EVERYWHERE STANDING! All of the kids in his daycare class walk, so it makes sense that he wants to skip the whole crawling thing and go straight to walking, but walking is hard. And last night my dude crawled officially 3 different times, to 3 different locations. It has begun.

Does Kellan want to crawl to his mama? No.
Does Kellan want to crawl to his daddy? No.
Does Kellan want to crawl over to try to touch the space heater? YES.
Does he want to crawl over and put his arms entirely inside the dog's full water dish? Why yes he does. :)

He is going to be T.R.O.U.B.L.E. The kid has no fear - he's all boy - no guts, no glory.

We already had the plug covers, but the baby gates need to be installed ASAP and the table corner bumper, foamy, thingies are in my Amazon Prime cart on their way to my house! Life is changing. Quickly. Gone are the days of setting Kellan to happily play on the rug in the kitchen while mama whips up a healthy batch of Banana Muffins. Gone are the days of setting Kellan on the floor of the bathroom with a few toys while mama does her hair in the morning. It's going to be a crazy ride and his dad and I can't wait! We are so excited for Kellan and all these new adventures he'll find himself in. We just want to make the world he's about to explore as safe as possible. :)

In other news I've been sick. Again. I swear to god I am Kellan's sickness filter. He brings home germs, puts them directly into my mouth with his hands, I build up immunity - which luckily he gets through breast feeding, and then I get sick and he does not. I'm not complaining, because I would gladly take the sickness and have him not get it, but jeez I've been sick A LOT this year.

I wasn't able to work out on Monday because work was swamped and honestly I was really tired anyway. I did get in a 3 mile run today. Tomorrow is my Wednesday off from work with Kellan. I am going to drop him off at daycare for an hour in the afternoon and try to get in a 6 mile run at the gym. EEEEK! We'll see how it goes. I'll leave you with this picture of Kellan who is loving playing with the dog lately. CUTE! Future Best Friends :)





Thursday, February 20, 2014

8 Things

1. Wait - it's not Friday yet?!?!?!?

2. Kellan's tooth finally popped through the gum on the top. WHEW for all of us. Now the second upper needs to cut and we'll all be a lot happier. Poor dude. Poor us. hahahah.

3. I ran outside yesterday. It was amazing! It was probably 37 degrees, no wind, sunny! I ran with a friend from work over lunch and we did a 5.2 mile route. I felt great the whole time and that's just awesome. Today I did an easier 3 miles on the treadmill while watching the start of the USA vs. Canada Women's Gold Medal Hockey game.

4. Speaking of running - I officially signed up for the Minneapolis Half Marathon which is on June 1. Training plan starts on March 10th. I'm going to do the Hal Higdon Intermediate Half training plan. I also signed up for Ragnar in August. I'm stoked and nervous for both. I sure hope Kellan likes spending time in the Bob Running Stroller!!! Training plans make me nervous for some reason. It will help to keep me on track for sure but man the nerves hahaha. The hardest part of running a race is the training. Let it begin!

5. I ripped a bunch of new recipes out of my Cooking Light magazine the other day. I can't wait to make them. I'll share them on here when I do.

6. Speaking of recipes I made a Cooking Light Sloppy Joe recipe to bring to a friend's house last weekend. It was amazing - here's the recipe if you are interested.
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sloppy-joe-sliders-50400000116712/



7. I know I said in my post the other day that Kellan's new favorite thing is standing, but it really, really is. He pulls himself up onto everything. I think he might skip the whole crawling thing only because he just doesn't want to. So we'll see. He's not close to walking, or ever standing without holding onto things, but still. He's awesome. Cutie.










8. Saw this tweet today and it made me laugh out loud. Hope it does for you too!

Hubs: If you could sleep with... Me: THOR!!! Hubs: ...the fan off tonight, that'd be great. Me: Ohhhh...

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

New Workout (try it!), Teething, 7 Months

Ok to start out my kiddo turned 7 months old on Friday. Time is going too fast!!!
Photo: Happy 7 months to my little dude!
Kellan at 7 months old there are SO MANY things I love about you. You are about to crawl any day. It's frustrates you so much that you can't figure out how to move forward. In fact most of the times you try and end up pushing yourself backwards. I can understand how frustrating that must be, kiddo, but it's not long before you are going to be tearing around on your knees. You happened to be teething this weekend which is so sad and tough to watch. You will be playing happily and then start crying for what appears to be no reason. Your dad and I can see that angry tooth pushing through your top gums and I hope it pops out soon so we can have our incredibly happy, playful baby back. Your favorite thing to do right now is to stand. You love to stand at your activity table, holding onto the couch, holding onto mom or dad, you just love to stand. You can stand without our help as long as you are holding onto something and that just amazes me. You amaze me every day. You are talking up a storm - mostly just saying BAA BAA BAA BAA over and over again - sometimes mixing in a BLAA BLAA BLAA BLAA which is awesome. I love you kiddo more than you know. You love your weekly swim lessons and we love watching you learn. You know when I say Kick Kick Kick to kick your legs and how cool is that? You rock.

I had President's Day off yesterday and spent it with Kellan since his daycare was closed. I swear they are closed for EVERYTHING. I was hoping to drop him off at daycare and go to spin at the gym but alas no. Instead we battled the snowy roads and went to Southdale Mall for the afternoon with Elise and Eva. It was a really fun way to spend a day off.

To make up for no workout yesterday I was sure to hit the gym at lunch today. I tried out a new workout that I heard about from a friend. I tweaked it just a little at the end by increasing the speed every 30 seconds for the last few minutes - but I put together a little visual in case you want to try it out. I call it the Diamond Treadmill Run:

Workout: Diamond Treadmill Run
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 30:12
Pace: 7:27/mile

We went to our friend Tara and Ryan's new house this weekend. They bought a new construction house in Plymouth and SWOON! It's gorgeous and BUILT FOR ENTERTAINING. It's got me yearning to move even though we should probably wait another little while. I am so happy for them though - that house is awesome. It's going to be a great place to entertain and I expect we'll be out there enjoying it with them from time to time.

That's all I have for today. I hope everyone is having an awesome week so far.







Thursday, February 13, 2014

A Shoe Review & when to replace my shoes

My Nike Flyknit Lunar +1 shoes came in the mail on Monday. It was a nice package to get even though I was home sick feeling miserable on the couch and was definitely NOT RUNNING that day. Or the next day for that matter.

I tried them out on Tuesday in the gym - but since I wasn't back to my normal self I did some cross training instead of the run I was hoping for - lifting, step ups and things like that. It was a good first use of the shoes.

I was able to use them today for my run and here's my first impression.


(photo: niketalk.com)

I'll take my own picture - but people will think I'm a real nutter if I bring my phone down to our tiny work gym and start snapping photos :)

When I first pulled them out of the box I was happy to see the soles that I am used to. I've been wearing the Lunar sole for several years. The shoe felt lighter than my typical Lunar Glides. I could definitely tell that the upper is "knit" and the laces are silkier and thinner than my other Nike laces.

When I slipped them on for the first time they were a little snug in the toe box. I read this in the reviews on Nike's website, and I tend to like a little more room up in the front so I was a little worried. But honestly the flyknit material is really forgiving and wears kind of like a sock. Which is, I think, their goal. During my run I could feel the shoe on my toes and was worried about that but really had no issues whatsoever. I can tell that it won't take long for my foot to stretch the shoe exactly where I need a little extra room. I read in the reviews that the laces can tend to come undone. To be honest I've felt this about every pair of Nikes I've owned so I double knotted them before I started my run today. I HATE stopping my run to tie my shoes. It's a pet peeve for sure. I also hate double knotting my shoes because then I feel like they are going to get too tight, but I didn't have that issue today. I typically feel like I need to break a pair of shoes in for a few runs before they feel real comfortable, but today they felt great through the whole four miles. We'll see how they hold up on longer runs, and I'll do another review in a month once I have a few more miles on them to let you know how the upper stretches out - or if it doesn't I suppose.

So far I give the Lunar Flyknits really high marks. I'm incredibly happy with how light the shoe is yet it's still giving me a decent amount of support in the foot and the upper. Nike shoes in general are really good looking shoes and though I won't wear these with jeans until I have retired them as running shoes, I'm still thinking they'll be fun to wear with some of my casual outfits.

I was WAY overdue on a new pair of running shoes. I always do that to myself and I need to get better about replacing my shoes quicker. I usually wait until I'm sore for weeks before ordering new ones and then waiting another week for them to ship to me.

So how many miles should we be putting on our running shoes? I think the general consensus is between 300 - 500 miles. The range is vast because runners who strike with their heel while running are going to wear through shoes more quickly. I'm a mid foot striker - meaning I landing on the middle of my foot up close to the ball of my foot - so I can get a few more miles out of them. You should NOT wait until your knees start to hurt or you get noticeably sorer after runs like I do.


(photo: accelerateuk.com)

Is anyone else in desperate need of new shoes? Tell me about it in the comments~

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

24 Hour Flu

First let's catch up from last week. On Thursday I got in a good run at lunch and then we had our final broomball game of the season. And we won! It was such a fun game and it was a great way to end the season.



On Friday I was able to get down to the gym for a HIIT workout on the treadmill.

Friday's Workout: HIIT Run
Distance: 3 miles
Pace: 7:18/mile

I was able to keep up a good pace and it really made me start to wonder what I could achieve if I set my mind to training for a 5k for a couple of months, but I just really don't have an interest in that distance. I'll stick to training for nothing hahaha - and just try to increase my miles for my inevitable 10ks, half marathon and Ragnar this year.

We had a great weekend with a lot of plans. On Sunday at about 3:30pm I started to not feel so great. I was getting really tired. Pete had been gone brewing all day and when he got home at 5:30pm I was starting to feel even worse. By 7pm I was struggling big time. I got Kellan down to sleep and went to bed. AT 7PM! I woke at 8:30pm and had to literally run to the bathroom because I was throwing up. It was a really horrible 24 hours. Thank god it didn't last longer because I was feeling really bad. By Tuesday I was back at work. I did go to the gym, but I was still pretty weak so I just did a lighter lift session.

I have the day off today with Kellan. We are going to go to Southdale to check out the kid's play area I've heard about. And then this afternoon we are going to see Kellan's best friend, Eva. Elise and I will hang out and let the kids play/nap/be crazy.

Kellan has been growing so fast. When I go to get him from his crib in the mornings now he is sitting up on his butt in his crib. It's so cute and there's no question about whether he is going to fall back asleep anymore since he's sitting straight up. He can also pull himself up to standing in there so Pete had to lower the crib down. It's just crazy how fast they grow. My sister in law is due in 3 weeks and I just can't even imagine how small that little guy is going to be compared to my big boy. He's just growing up so fast!

I'll need to get a run in tomorrow and Friday to try to keep up with my goal. Hopefully I'll be able to make that happen.

I hope everyone is having a great week. I'll try to check in again tomorrow or Friday.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Fitbit - will it motivate me?

Ribley is home from the vet. We went and picked him up last night and even got a little bit of our money back since he didn't have to stay quite as long as they were anticipating. Or probably more realistically he was too crabby to stay longer. Ha. But he was quite happy to be home with us and was very snuggly.

I am on the Wellness Committee at work and we are giving out Fitbits to everyone in the company today. I've had mine for a few days to test it out. It's really interesting to see at an office job just how often you are SO inactive. It's kind of sad really. Here are my stats so far for today which include my run over lunch:


Today's Workout: Treadmill Run
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 30:07
Pace: 7:37/mile

I am pretty happy with my run. Went down there with the intention of just doing 3 miles. AGAIN. Sheesh. I had a side ache through the first 2 miles which was honestly pretty horrible but I forced myself to carry on and by 2.2 miles I was feeling better. How does that even happen?

I'll be curious to see if my new Fitbit motivates me to move more. There's a smiley icon on the face of the fitbit that gets frowny when you are sitting around too much. Guilting you into moving your buns. It seems like it will be a fun way to keep moving. Plus we'll be doing some friendly competitions at work and I love a good competition :)

Tonight I have my teams last broomball game. I'm excited but sad. Excited to play and sad that the season is over. Already. After the game a lot of the team is going to head over to a local brewery near the field - 612 Brew for a beer or two. 


(Photo from the 612 Brewery website)

I'm looking forward to the rest of the day and hoping the weekend gets here quickly.

Anyone have fun plans this weekend?


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Not a Good Night

Well we did not have a very good night last night. We went and picked the kiddo up from daycare and headed home. I was playing with him in his room when my cat came in and it looked like he was going to pee on the floor. So I yelled out his name - RIBLEY! - and he ran away. So strange.

We continued on with our night and I didn't really realize that the cat wasn't around for a few hours because we were busy, etc. So I went to our guest room and there the cat was standing on the guest bed in the peeing position. Just.... standing there. I kind of laughed and called my husband into the room to see. Then I started to get a little worried. I thought "did he eat some string and he's constipated?" I picked him up and could tell something was wrong. He started to howl and just overall didn't look good. Then we went to the basement and realized he had been throwing up. A quick google search brought up that he possibly had a blocked urethra which is LIFE THREATENING! I think you can already tell where this is going. My husband packed up the cat, while I stayed home with the sleeping baby, and brought him to the emergency vet. Or I should say the e$m$e$r$g$e$n$c$y vet.....

Just to back up a little here I love our cat. I've had him for almost 5 years and he's a snuggly cool guy. With us. With strangers he is a total DICK. He meows at people and kind of growls. He's a seriously unhappy camper with strangers. Which is a pain in the butt because we love having people over. So as cats go he's not the best but he's our cat and we love him.

So back to the story - Pete took him to the vet and yes he had a clogged urethra - which yes is life threatening. I googled it and because it's common in male cats it's also called "plugged penis" syndrome which is the only comedy that can come of this situation. They had to sedate Ribley since he was screaming at them and not happy to be there. They had to give him an IV of fluids and a catheter. Before Pete left he had to pay $2250. That's TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS. Not Doll Hairs - but real Dollars! Oh my god. It was that or put the cat down and we just couldn't put the cat down. Not when he'll have a full recovery in a few days. Eesh. The vet requires you to pay 75% of the high end of their estimate. Which means not only did we have to pay $2250, but when we picked the cat up we could owe more than that. MORE!

The vet called this morning and luckily Ribley is doing pretty well and it's looking like maybe it won't cost quite that much - maybe just under $2000. We'll see.

So yeah that was our night..... how was yours?

Ribley and Wyatt:





Monday, February 3, 2014

A Crazy Weekend and New Shoes

What a weekend!! Time seriously flew by way too fast.

Friday night we stayed in as a little family unit. I was tired since the dude was up quite a bit on Thursday night so I think I was in bed before 9:30pm. It's not an uncommon occurrence for me and I realize this makes me incredibly lame. Or maybe it just makes me a mom. And being a mom is pretty awesome in my book.

Anyway - Saturday mornings Kellan has his swim lessons. This week dad wanted to take him in the water so I got to watch and take lots of pictures. It was super fun.



After swim lessons we did some major grocery shopping and headed home to eat lunch. Once we got everything put away and some grub in our tummies we headed to the Minneapolis Convention Center for the Boat Show. It was super fun to have a beer and wander around dreaming of summer. Kellan loves going places with lots of things to look at so he had a pretty great time and even took a stroller nap for a little while. Boat shopping is exhausting. While the kiddo napped we had a little fun at the Progressive booth with Flo - ha :)



Saturday night we had Pete's brother, Mitch and his wife, Carly over for dinner. We made black bean soup by request of Carly - the soon to be new mama!!! It was really fun and we seriously love spending time with those two. No fun pictures... maybe next time.

Sunday I was throwing a Baby Shower for above mentioned Carly out at a family member's house. It was so much fun to get some of the people who love her together to celebrate the pending arrival of my nephew. :) Loved every minute of it and can't wait to meet that little guy. Then I headed home and my mom came over to hang out with me. Kellan was napping so we chatted until he woke up and she got in a little bit of Oma time before she had to leave. Then Sunday night we watched the incredibly boring Super Bowl. Womp womp womp.

Today I went to the gym intending to run at least 3 miles. I guess that's my theme lately. I head to the gym with no real goal in mind until the mood on the treadmill strikes me. Maybe I need to start following some kind of a training plan since I'm all over the place lately with my running. Anyway - last week on Thursday I got in that great 5 mile run out of the blue, and then Friday I only had time to run 2.36 miles - literally had to get off the treadmill, change and run back to my desk. So today I decided to cover the treadmill screen with a magazine. A good trick when the days of winter are stretching on too long and you would give anything to run outside. I decided to run through 9 songs on the album I picked - The Starting Line. It felt like a long run but I turned the treadmill up one speed click each time a new song came on and after 9 songs I was at 4.3 miles so I finished up at a solid 5 miles.

Workout: Treadmill Run
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 39:09
Pace: 7:50/mile

I'm pretty happy that I've been putting in a couple extra miles these days. I can't wait to get outside and get some longer ones in. Thinking of spring.... Thinking of spring.... Thinking of spring....

I've been pretty sore lately on my runs which inevitably means I am WAY overdue on new shoes. I know I am way over the mileage usage on this pair. So bad. I need to get better about buying new shoes sooner, it's just that they are so... dang... expensive~! Especially since I need several pairs each year. Anyway - so today I went on and bought the new Nike Flyknit Lunar +1 shoes. FANCY!! I'm excited to try them out and see if the Flyknit technology is all it's cracked up to be. I'll let you know.