get fit

struggle, struggle

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Resolution Running: Fail.

I started off strong – what I mean by that is that I ran about 14 miles the first half of January. Then I was sick for six weeks with some sort of incapacitating illness or another including two stomach bugs, two rounds of strep, and the flu.  The one I got the flu shot for.  When I wasn’t sick (rare), my kids were. Or my husband was.  So there were two solid months of no running.  The last time that I ran in January, I didn’t make it very far before terrible knee pain struck and forced me to stop. I could  not run through it.

Since then, I’ve wanted to run. Some days my knee feels great. Other days, a sudden pain will take my breath away. At times, it hurts to walk.  It’s so random because literally, some days, it feels like nothing is wrong.  All along, I have felt the urge to run. I have the urge to push my body past where I think it can take me.  Now it is {finally} getting warmer out and I picture myself with nothing but my feet, my thoughts, and my iPod, running around the neighborhood.  I want to run.

I ran two weeks ago on the treadmill and only made it .8 miles before that debilitating knee pain was too much to take. I just started running a year ago. Is it possible that my running days are already over? If this was caused from an injury, wouldn’t the 6-8 week break be enough time for it to heal?

People have asked me about wearing a knee brace – I don’t know the first thing about it.  I went to the orthopedic doctor about my knee 2 years ago and he wanted me to have a $1500 MRI. It was in the middle of us selling our house and moving in with my in-laws so I never got it done. Then I lost 25 pounds, started running and didn’t have anymore knee trouble. Until January.  Maybe I need to go back to the doctor. This is a totally different pain/problem than what I had 2 years ago, but just as troublesome.

My goal of running 300 miles this year (25 miles a month) is definitely not going to happen. At this point, I just need to find something I enjoy doing that keeps me active. I’m dying to hike, but the weather hasn’t quite gotten there yet for taking the boys.  There aren’t a lot of super awesome hiking spots close by (nothing less than 30+ minutes) so it’s not like I’ll be doing that 3x or more per week anyway.

My weight is … okay. For now.  When I was sick, my weight loss reached 31 pounds (from when I started losing weight over a year ago). My original goal was to lose and stay within a 20-24 pound loss range. On average, I’ve maintained about a 25-26 pound weight loss.  I think since I was sick, I got in the habit of thinking I can eat whatever because it wouldn’t matter if I gained that 5 pounds back.  I’ve definitely gained that 5 pounds back but haven’t stepped on the scale in a bit because I don’t think I want to know if I’ve exceeded that.  I know I’m sort of okay, because my clothes still fit.  But I definitely don’t feel as healthy or energetic or lean as I do when I’m eating better and exercising regularly.

That’s what’s going on with my health/fitness goal right now…not the end of the world, but definitely not as positive of a report as I’d like to give.  I’m excited to go for lots of walks with (and without) the boys now that it’s getting warmer.  More outside time = less inactivity and less TV.

xo,
~C~

TGI-February – I fell apart and got frustrated

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Good riddance to January. My post about sucky, sucky January is a little late but I was literally so angry towards the end of the month that it’s probably better that I kept my mouth shut or hands tied or whichever term I should use relative to blogging.  It was terrible. Really.

I just wrote out a long post detailing everything that we went through in January. It was too much and no one wants to read all that. I don’t think I want to read it again ten years from now; I lived it and I doubt I will ever be able to forget it.  Between snow, frigid temperatures, knee pain, and four separate and dreadful illnesses including 2 stomach bugs, strep throat, and , the flu (yes we all had flu shots) January can bite me. Flu shots can bite me, too.

With that being said, let’s move forward. Let’s focus on February. I’m still kind of mad because my fitness goals for 2014 are quickly going down the tubes.  My goal was to run 300 miles this year and between knee pain and everything else, I did not run the 25 miles that I needed to run in January in order to stay on track for meeting my year end goal. I know it’s early in the year and I’m not giving up. Just being honest about where I am right now.  I only ran 14 miles so I’ve got a lot of making up to do.

Now if I could get out of my driveway (too much snow) I would go to the gym today and run.  Soon. I’m starting to accept that I might not reach the aggressive goal I set for myself, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. There’s a lot of 2014 left. The great news is that with all the illness, I’ve lost four pounds…it could be worse I guess.

Cheers to February. A little over a month before the beginning of Spring. The beginning of the end of winter.  Let’s do this.

xo,
~C~

twenty.fourteen

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

First of all, Happy New Year!  I hope this year is better than the last and brings each of you much happiness and success.  There’s no reason for this time of year to be the only time of year to make a positive life change. However, it seems kind of like a clean slate so each January, we all think of ways to improve ourselves and our lives.  Whether you call it a resolution, a goal, or just a hope, I wish you the best of luck and hope that you are able to remain dedicated to what’s important to you.

For me, in 2014, I am focusing on a few areas in my life.  
Health & Fitness
Last year, I met my goal of losing 20-24 pounds and staying in that range.  I’m really proud and excited about my continued success but I know that I will not be able to maintain that success without continued action and caution.  During the month of December, I enjoyed a few too many sweets and threw caution to the wind as far as my diet was concerned, knowing that I’d be buckling down again in January.  I started running last year and I hate it. But I love it.  It seems I do best when I challenge myself and have to beat a personal goal.  This year (am I really saying this!?) I intend to run 300 miles in 2014.  Why 300?  I tossed a few ideas and numbers around in my head.  My thought with 300 miles is this… 6 miles per week for 50 weeks.  If I run 2 miles, three times a week, I will have 2 weeks when I don’t have to run at all.  That is a pretty tight schedule and if I get behind, I’m screwed.  I’m hopeful that my own fear of failure to meet my goal will keep me on track.  I might run 3 miles twice a week.  Or maybe there will be weeks when I run 3 miles four times.  I don’t know how this will work out.  All I know is that the more I run, the easier it should get.  The further I should be able to run.  What this doesn’t take into account is sickness or vacations or holidays or injuries.  I can’t predict the future but I think if I am dedicated, this is possible.  I think this will be my most challenging goal of 2014.
Parenting
While I don’t think this will be my most difficult goal for 2014, I think it is the most important.  After what happened on December 7, I decided to stop yelling at my kids.  Since then, I’ve only “yelled” once, and I’m not sure that counts. Truly not trying to justify it, but I was yelling out of panic, not anger. Dexter started wadding up a map from one of their books that was certainly not the trash he was about to turn it into.  I told him to stop, but he didn’t hear me over the enormous sound of paper crinkling so my voice quickly escalated into a yell, as I shouted “stop! Stop! STOP!”  He stopped.  I looked up at Ryan like a deer in headlights and said “does that count??!”  This was on December 16.  I haven’t yelled since then!  On Sunday, Theo lied several times about something insignificant and it was really making me angry because I knew the truth.  If I hadn’t already committed to no more yelling, I think I would have lost it.  Instead, I put my hand on his shoulder and got down on his level.  I said very calmly, “you’re not telling the truth and mommy is getting really upset.  I don’t want to yell at you so I need you to listen to what I’m about to say.  Are you listening?”  He nodded.  I already felt myself calming down.  “Theo, I need for you to go sit on your bed until you are ready to tell the truth.”  He did.  It worked.  There was absolutely no reason for me to yell.  It’s degrading to the small, innocent person I’m yelling at and it makes me feel like the worst parent alive.  No more yelling.  Please look up the Orange Rhino Challenge for more information.  Since learning about this, I began following a Positive Parenting: Toddlers and Beyond group on FB, which has already posted so many useful tips and interesting articles about the potential damage that yelling can cause.  Eye opening, really. 
Photography
I did Project 365 in 2012 for about 3 1/2 months.  The goal being to increase the amount of pictures I’m taking, to take pictures of different things, to improve my photography skills and abilities, and to increase the likelihood that I will force myself to spend some time sorting and organizing my photos into something meaningful (aside from a space eating monster on our external hard drive).  I’ve gotten super lazy about taking pictures of the boys unless there’s some occasion to do so.  The best pictures I’ve taken have been of ordinary moments and I’m hoping to capture some of those again in 2014.  So, I’ve agreed to participate in Project 365. My friend Mindi has promised to encourage me along the way, since she just wrapped up a successful Project 365 in 2013.  I can do this!  I will take at least one photo every day and post one picture that represents each day of 2014 in weekly posts.  Wish me luck – this will be tough for me to keep up with!
The things that I mentioned in the previous post are still important to me and will continue to be a work in progress, but as far as “resolutions” are concerned, this is it.  Three.  Running 300 miles.  365 days of no yelling.  Successfully completing Project 365.  
Will you join me in any of these?  What are your goals or resolutions for 2014?
xo,
~C~