Three Things Thursday

1) Thank you all greatly for taking the time to respond to my plea for advice :)  It was very helpful and I'm feeling optimistic about being back to pain free soon :D  I actually felt no pain at anytime today (so far, hopefully I didn't jinx myself)

  From your comments and some research I did, here is a list of possible causes for my knee pain:
~ I have extremely high arches
~  Although I'd like to think I have decent quad muscles, I also think my hamstrings/glutes are a lot stronger and could be causing an imbalance
~ I'm not big on stretching nor am I terribly flexible, so tightness could be a factor.
~ Or as Nelly pointed out, I ran that first mile (in which the pain first surfaced immediately after) too damn fast without warming up and strained something.

   All of the above have pretty straight forward solutions which I will be incorporating into my training.  And will hopefully keep me running.

2) Necessity is the mother of invention. 
  Necessity~ I have not a drop of wine in the house right now.
  Invention~ I've decided there is a great need for a company that delivers wine/beer/alcohol in the same fashion as Pizza and Chinese delivery.  Who wants to jump on the opportunity to get in on this at ground level with me :)

If you live in Toronto, you're in luck.

3) Nolan gladly took over the position of Ryders sunglass model since Matt refused:

DefCon Camo

He's gonna be trouble in a few years. 

(Kidding :), despite the punky faces he's the bestest :D)

Also, I think he stole SkinnyRunner's sunglass pose

Last chance to enter for your own pair here, giveaway ends tomorrow night.

A) These were spotted throughout the MS I subbed in today:

This one was a HUGE post-it in the teacher's lounge.

They were also all over the bathrooms.

You may remember I did my own here.

BlogMD

    I was hoping to report back after a few days rest with no knee pain and lots of sunshine and roses.  No such luck :(  I really don't have the luxury of going to a sport's doctor right now so I'm gonna go the inadvisable route of posting the specifics of my injury here and asking for suggestions.  Obviously no one here is a doctor (that I know of), but maybe one or some of you have had the same issue before and can lead me in the right direction.

Here is what I did last week and how it affected my knee:
- First felt pain 1 mile into my easy/medium 3 mile run last Tuesday, I ran the first mile a little too fast in 6:13 and hadn't warmed up at all.  (I ran a 6:13 bc I tried to start out at a cruise pace, looked at my garmin 1/2 mile in and saw 3:06. I then thought, "well, lets see what time I can finish this mile in."  As soon as I started mile 2 (way slower), knee pain :/
- Wednesday I took off
- Thursday I ran stairs for 25 minutes and felt no pain.
- Friday I ran on the treadmill, felt pain 1 mile in and stopped at 2
- Saturday 4-miler same thing, right at the 1 mile mark inner knee pain came back. I finished the 4, but haven't run since Sat.


  The pain is on inner-topish part and it does seem to swell out a bit, it is definitely more lumpy than the right side (after running)


   During the 3 days I took off from running I felt scattered knee pain.  The worst times were when I sat in the car (passenger) for 15-20 minutes and walking after that was painful for a while.  A lot of the time though I was fine.  I've been icing daily.  I haven't even been doing my planks (I've been afraid of the rigid straight position of the leg, but It'll probably be fine)  or other ab/arm exercises because most of them still involve the knee to some degree.


Nighttime Abs/Arms have been replaced with:

Wine is probably not the best recovery drink, but it makes me feel better temporarily ;)

  I'm getting back to abs/arms tonight, there are plenty of moves I can still do.  I've just been using my knee as an excuse to be lazy.  3 days off though and I'm feeling very soft so no more excuses.

    Someone suggested that it could possibly be Plica Syndrome.  I've looked into this and it is a definite possibility.  Has anyone here had experience with Plica?


   I ran 2 miles today to test things out; the first mile I felt very mild pain, the second mile it hurt more, but I noticed if I landed lightly on my toe and pushed off quickly I had little to no pain.  This of course means I am running at a much faster clip. After the run my knee had irritation and side of my left knee was significantly bigger than my right.   I've taken an anti-inflammatory and iced since finishing my run.


 This is totally bumming me out right now 'cause the temps are just starting to warm up, racing season is here and I am ready to crush some PRs


    Any insight on what could be causing my knee pain is appreciated :)


 On a happy/funny note: One of the search terms to my blog was "pics of 3k run pros" which led to my Self Indulgent Pre Race Pics.  Sure I'll consider myself a 3k pro, why not? :)


    And if you haven't entered my Ryders Sunnies Giveaway yet you have till Midnight Friday :D  I'm loving checking out all the awesome styles you guys like.  There seems to be a high preference for Hot Pink, I'm a fan :)  I'm just sad that I can only pick one winner : /

Ryders Sunglasses Review and Giveaway!

    I know I talk about the fact that I'm an Ocean Lifeguard on here a lot, I can't help it. . . it's what a live for.  The other 9 months of the year are just a countdown till beach season.  Okay not quite, I cherish everyday with my boys, but I cherish them even more when we're at the beach :D


     So of course when I was in contact with Devon from OutsidePR about reviewing Ryders Sunnies I was super beyond psyched :D

 The last decent sunglasses I invested in now look like this:

Two summers ago I came home from a night out, my parents had been babysitting Nolster, and found my Hobies in 3 pieces on top of my backpack.  I didn't even ask questions, I didn't want to sound ungrateful after they volunteered to watch him.

    Since the I've been wearing a variety of $5 sunglasses that are probably not doing any favors for my precious eyes.  My faves last year were gas station Wayfarer knockoffs with neon orange arms (as seen here).   They were cool for like a day and then I started hearing, "you're really gonna keep rocking those everyday, hunhh."   

    Enter Ryders to save me from the ridicule of my coworkers this summer!!

(Ok let's face it they will probably find a way to make fun of me anyway)

  I picked out 2 pairs of sunglasses, one for me and one for Matt (I had to convince him that there is some benefit to me posting bikini pics online ;)  And I was also sent another pair straight from Chris at Ryders for leaving a comment on their FB wall, what nice people over at Ryders!!  I still had a hard time narrowing down which ones I wanted, they have so many cute styles.

First Pair I chose:

Duchess Gloss Black, Polarized

I love me some huge movie star sunglasses

Plus they make me look about 70x cooler than I really am:

 Matt refuses to model for my blog so I will just say he looks crazy hot in these:

Camo Defcons

. . . and I think this color will look even sweeter (than they already do) on him once he's rocking a summer tan :D

Last Pair:

Grindhouse Blue Fade

I LOVE the Blue and White (and black speckles!) aspect of these, so much fun!

Note to Ryders: I am available for modeling :)

  Things I love about these glasses

~ The curve in the arm (is that what it's called?)  so they fit nicely to your head.  (It's really embarrassing when you look down and your sunglasses fall off your face. . . and off the stand. . . 8 feet down into the sand.  Not that I've ever had to say, "excuse me sir over there, could you please hand me my sunglasses.")

~ All the awesome colors; the blue fades are so vibrant :D

~ Great price for the quality

~ Some styles come with polarized lens (Makes watching the water a lot easier)

~ Variety of styles to suit everyone's tastes and needs (performance, fun, saving lives, lookin' good :D)  My next pair will be these:

Solace Tortiose

    My one suggestion to Ryders: Maybe more pics of the glasses, or someone modeling them (hint, hint ;).  It can be hard to pick out glasses online without seeing them in person/trying them on, more pics would help :)

Giveaway

    I am giving away one pair of Ryders Sunglasses.  Any style you like in the $40 range (which is any style with essential lenses).

   You do not need to follow to enter.  If you like what I post follow; if you don't,  you're not obligated :)

 

What you can do:

~ Leave a comment saying you want in (and how great I am ;) [or not])  +1

~ Check out Ryders site and tell me what you want to rock this summer! +1

~ Like Ryders on FB and tell them I sent you :) +1 for each (They do giveaways on FB sometimes, so definitely a good page to like)

~ Blog, FB, Tweet it  +1 for each

  7 ways to enter, leave a separate comment for each.  Make sure to leave an Email Addy if not in your profile.  Ends Friday 4/1 at Midnight.

Quickie

 Just stopping in to say that today we did this:

Not pics from today; today it was freezing  and we were all bundled up.

Nol has had a cough, but it is allergy related, the doc said he was good to go :)

   So no 4 mile race for me.  I most likely would not have run it anyway since I've been experiencing  inner knee pain on my last few runs (and even felt some today with no running :( )  I've never had a problem with this area so I'm really not sure what it could be, but I'm resting for a few days and getting my icing on. 

 I'll keep you posted.  

Fun Giveaway tomorrow, make sure to stop by :D

Things Are Looking Up

    I had a kinda off week the past 7 days.  I know everyone and their uncle is complaining about the cold weather so I won't say much but . . . jumping up to 70° then back down to 20's-30's I do not so much like.  And as I mentioned last post spring allergies are in full affect.

  The whole week has just been blahh for me and I am determined to make this week much happier :)

Yuppp things are looking better already :D

 
  Thank You  Jim from 50 after 40!!!    I have a feeling it is going to be a GREAT week :)

    Thank you also to Mary from Fit This Girl for posting my St. P-day race pic :D  Love what she wrote about inspiring others and acting on inspiration!

     Ohh also I did my push-ups yesterday, last test for Michelle's challenge.   I got a repeat of last week: 27. . . and mannn was a shaky afterwards.  I'm going to give 30 another go on the last of the month.   I haven't been doing the 100 push-up program for sometime now, but I think imma get on that once we get back from Disney (3 weeks!).

  Going to get my last cupcake miles in, hope everyone is having a super fantastic Saturday!!

Three Things Thursday

1)

Requisite pic with bib for the Cupcake Marathon. 

 I've got a few miles left, I started tracking late and the weather has thrown off this weeks long run, but I'll have it all done by Saturday :)

and since we know I can't stop at just one pic

Scary face, sorry ;P

2) Today's workout:    21 minutes of stairs

                                    Zuzana's Hot Mess Workout

                                    Pull-ups!

                                    Abs later

   

      On the topic of Hot Messes I feel like this blog has been a bit of one lately or maybe it is just my mind is a HM.   I'm gonna call it the 6 month slump.   But it's no big cause I'm hitting most of my goals which was the purpose of starting this blog anyway. 

      So March my have been a low point for RftB, but it has definitely been a very high point for fitness :D  (This also includes my comments have been lackluster lately, sorry!  Being mommy + wife + working + working out + life = Gahhh, no time for everything.  I really admire all those who can do that all and stay on top of commenting and responding to everyone.  That will never be me.  But I'll try my best :)  Just wait till I start working 48+ hrs a week at the beach with no computer, that should be interesting.  I'm thinking LOTS of pics during the summer)  Oops that was a long parentheses.

You can expect lots of this during the summer:

The morning after.  

Sadly only 3 of us still work there.  It's a tough environment for the chicas.

And that's ma sis far left.

3) is just gonna be a list of random stuff:

                 ~ I love that it is [slowly] warming up. . . but  I forgot about my spring allergies :(  No fun.  Can we just skip to summer.

                 ~ I saw 119.5 yesterday.

                 ~ My measure of not losing strength with weight loss is improvement in BW exercises.  Less weight to move + maintaining or gaining strength = more ease with push-ups and pull-ups.  When I first started using the resistance bands (video here) for assisted pull-ups  I could still only do  3 reps in a row, today I did 10 :)  Push-up test tomorrow (last weeks test- 27).

                 ~ Right now the 4 mile race I'd found for Sunday is off.  I'm trying to work it out (I have knee high shamrock socks I need to wear! Got them after my last race.)  Also if I can keep 5k ish pace I could possibly win it and there is a cash prize :) We shall see what happens.

Current Album I'm running, jumping, planking, dancing to- 

"Good Morning Revival"  Good Charlotte

  Esp. "Misery" :D

What I Ate Wednesday

     I've been wanting to participate in WIAW (hosted by Peas and Crayons) for the last few weeks, but I kept forgetting to take pics on Tuesday.  Then I'd see other people's WIAW posts and think "ohhh I meant to do that" :D    Matt called me out on it and said I'm lying because it is really what I ate on Tuesday, I tried explaining that in order to post you have to take pics the day before, whatev.  He also called me out for posting a pic of my underwear 2 days ago, Sorry Babe!

    

  I figured this would be cool to do every once in a while, since I occasionally get asked how I eat on a daily basis.  I'm no food picture pro though; I took all these with my phone:

Breakfast:

High Fiber English Muffin spread lightly with PB, topped with Gala Apple and Banana slices, and sprinkled with cinnamon (Same thing every morning!)

Coffee with Hazelnut Creamer

Post Run Snack:

Single Serving bag of Edamame

Lightly sprinkled with salt

Lunch:

Doesn't look so pretty, but it was awesome!

Romaine lettuce, Fresh chopped salsa, Avocado (about half), Grilled Chicken and a few crunched tortilla chips.  No dressing needed; just mixed it up and the avocado and salsa coated it nicely :)

Dinner:

High Fiber Wrap, Roasted Red Peppers, Melted Mozzarella, Romaine, Roma Tomato, Chopped Basil and drizzled with Balsamic Vin.

Not pictured: 2 Reese's Easter PB Cups :), Few slices of Turkey.

   As for workout:  I did what was "supposed to be" an easy 3 miler.  My first mile was 6:13 (oops).  The rest was definitely easy pace, 2- 8:30's

~ Zuzana's 4 minute workout that I posted on Thursday

~ 50 Kettlebell swings with 20 lber

~ Few pull-ups with as minimal jump as I could manage

~ Nighttime Abs: 2 min plank, alternating toe touches, russian twist w/ KB, leg raises and holds.

Now these ABC's I can get behind

     As I mentioned a few posts ago, I really had no interest in answering the ABC Meme that was recently going around, with the exception of the U question which I answered in that post :)  Well today the always entertaining Jack Sh*t  had a different take on the ABC's and these ones I couldn't resist :D

Achilles heel: Blame it on the A-a-a-a-a-alcohol

Battle cry: Don't Wanna Stop

Casket size: :(

Deformity: My right hip socket (from childhood Legg-Calve Perthes)

Embarrassing nickname: BlabberMouth (although you can't tell from this little bloggy, that's actually irony)

Fish I’d most like to be if I were somehow, for some reason, forced to be turned into a fish: Did you know the sailfish is the fastest fish in the ocean?

Getaway route: The Back Staircase

Hillbilly name (click here): Mary Lou Harley

Inanimate object I most resemble: Hourglass obviously ;) (I really tried to come up with a more creative answer for this but I think my head was gonna explode)

“Jack”, Favorite blogger named: NY Construction Blogger Jack Buehrer (I have a strong passion for construction, you didn't know that?)

Knot I have most trouble untying:  Any of the millions that take over my hair during the night, I have the knottiest bed head ever :/

Last lesson learned :Don't drink Sangria on Sunday night if you want to get ANYTHING accomplished on Monday.  Oh did I mention today is my rest day, now it is.

Middle letter of middle name: I don't have a middle name, but my full name could sub for my hillbilly name; Katiebeth 

Nearest Chinese restaurant: I was gonna say Tai Show, but that is Japanese, Oops.  In that case, Fortune Cookies Chinese Restaurant. 

Oldest person I know: My super amazing 90 yr old G Ma. 

Pancakes, Favorite topping for: No pancakes for me, Thank You

Quality I wish I had more of: Confidence!

Rap artist I’d most like to chillax with: Pharrell, and he could serenade me with "Beautiful. . . I just want you to know, you're my favorite girl" :D

Salad dressing I despise most: French. Unless it is on a taco salad.

TV show I wish would disappear forever: ALL of the Real Housewives

Underwear, Favorite kind/color:  Pinks and Blues and Lace.  Something Like this:

Vice that I wish I could do away with: See Question A

Website that I check first every day: Weather.com or Gmail

Xerox, Funniest thing I’ve copied on: I wish I had a scandalous answer for this one

“Yes,” Dumbest thing to which I’ve answered: No comment. 

Zombie, Favorite “brain” dish if I ever became a:  Brain Fries :)


  I'd love to hear some of your answers!  

Let's See How Far We've Come

 6 months of Run For the Bikini! on Tuesday :D

   And wow how things have changed :D  If you have looked back to some of the earlier posts, I was doing weekly weigh-in posts which, yes,  looking back now was a little bit unnecessary.

   After exploring and finding all the amazing running/tri blogs I was very inspired and began to change my focus to performance.  It has become a very positive source of confidence and happiness for me :)

   When I started this blog in September I had just ended my summer lifeguarding gig and was already thinking about how I was going to get in the best shape and all around kick booty for summer '11.  I remember near the end of last summer sitting with one of the three other (out of 70) lady guards (and honorary sister :D), and making plans to run the LI half (her, my sister and I) and be super fit and awesome for summer '11.

  I don't know about her and my sis, but I am doing it and I don't know if I would be if it hadn't been for this blog!  Same thing goes for the tri I just registered for, at the end of this past summer I was saying I was def gonna do it next yr, but I've been saying that for many years and never got it done.   Well I'm registered and I have a road bike, there is NO way I'm NOT doing it :D

   Speaking of the bike, I actually got on it today! I only went a mile, and it's definitely gonna take some time for me to be fully confident, but I DID IT and I didn't fall over :D Success!


I didn't get a pic on it today; here it is afterwards:

     Still no name, apparently I'm an animated movie person because when I try to come up with a name  that is all I can think of:

~ Stitch

~ Dory

~ Suzy (From Nolan's all time favorite movie Cars)

Tangent: Nol told me that when they run in gym he sings the Car's Song in his head so that he feels fast like a race car :D

 and

~ Lani

Watched this movie today, it's greatness :)

"Stepped on me? Stepped on me? That guy was dancing on me!

Broken, broken, gone, gone, brok-en, brok-en, broken."

     Ooops got a little off track there :D   So it's been 6 months and March has actually been my lowest posting month thus far, but not for lack of awesomeness!!  

  ~I am down to 120 (from 122-123) and I think this is a decent rate of 1-ish lb a week.  I've had some runs where I feel a little run down/weak, but on a whole I'm feeling pretty awesome.

 ~ On Friday, keeping up with Michelle's Push-up Challenge, I squeaked out 27.  It wasn't easy, but I did it and only have 3 more to get to my March goal!

 ~ I've run a bunch of 7 min miles the past few days.  I blame the Garmin; I'm also saying, "Hey, if I can make 7:00-7:10 base pace, well that is just awesome."  It is not quite easy right now, but 7:20-7:30 is :)

   Hmm this post is a little all over the place.  That is what happens when I don't post for a few days and have random thoughts floating around.

   Next Sunday's 4 mile race might be a no go;  Nol's first soccer game is Sunday and the race is kinda weird in that it starts at 1:55 pm which is conflicting.  I do have another 4 mile race scheduled for April 10th which won't conflict.  Whatever I end up running I WILL be aiming for 5k pace of faster!

  To conclude this randomness: There are no emotions to describe how I felt on Friday when it was 70 and sunny.  The second Nolan got of the bus we headed to the park and spent almost 3 hours there.  So many kids! The energy was amazing.

  Has your blog changed since you first started it?

  How have you changed through blogging?

  I've become more motivated to achieve my goals and with this has also come more confidence in my ability to reach these goals.  

Three Things Thursday

  1.  I had an awesome long run today :)  Mid 50's, sunny, partially on trails and decent pace;  8 miles in 1:04:20.  It was my first longer run with the Garmin and my first miles for the cupcake marathon, so I got Garmin Connect running finally.  


Splits:

1	00:08:06	1.00	08:06
2	00:07:57	1.00	07:57
3	00:08:14	1.00	08:14
4	00:08:06	1.00	08:06
5	00:07:54	1.00	07:54
6	00:08:17	1.00	08:17
7	00:08:09	1.00	08:09
8	00:07:36	1.00	07:36
9	00:02:30	0.30	08:21

Average Pace 8:03

   Miles 3&6 were on a trail with lots of roots, that's why they are the slower miles.  Overall the whole run felt great :D  I was pushing it a little for a long run (darn garmin), but I felt strong and confident.  I am experiencing some tummy pains now though : / .  I may not have hydrated enough, as it was finally warm enough to get some sweat on :)

    So I've been thinking about my goals for this upcoming half and trying to think about what I am willing to train for.  Right now I am saying I would like to go sub 1:45.   Possibly if I trained my butt off for the next 5 weeks I could go considerably lower, but for this particular race I am not wanting to put 100% training effort in.  We will see how the next few weeks go, but as most of my spring/summer races will be shorter stuff, I'd prefer to train for maximum performance in those.

It is my first half and I really just want to enjoy it :)

  2.  Yesterday I discovered the easiest, most awesome way to make healthy soft serve at home!  I was on Oh She Glows (which btw Angela just raised over $7,000 for a Japan Disaster Fund. . . in little over a day) and discovered the following amazing and amazingly simple recipe for banana and cherry soft serve (credit also to ChoosingRaw for the initial post).

Ingredients:
Frozen Cherries
Frozen Banana
Thats it!

Step 1: Throw frozen banana in food processor

Step 2: Process

And if you just want banana soft serve, you're done!  

What I did is take half out so I could have some banana and left some in to make Cherry Banana :)

To make Cherry Banana (mostly cherry flavored):

Add Frozen Cherries:

Process on Grind:

Final Product:

With some walnuts for protein and a bit of chocolate just cause:

LOVE.   

I had this today as my post run snack :D

   3. If you have 4 minutes to spare today and want to get your booty kicked, try out yesterday's bodyrock workout:

  And on a final note:  I am a little sad that no one knew what "Jlp" was from (but not that sad, cause there were so many SYTCD and Always Sunny lovers :D) So here is a BIG hint:

Did anyone else see the "Jlp" part? I'm obsessed with how she said that line :D