Another Week Down

Posted on 20 May, 2013 by Renée

What a week!
What a weekend!

Where do I even start? Everything about my life seems like such a blur at times. I know. It’s getting boring. I’m saying the same things over and over.

So I’m still off and feeling a bit discombobulated. I’m not eating well (still) but I’m not eating completely off the rails either.

What I wanted to do was start over again, fresh. Be more aware of my diet and do my best to stay within those so-called calorie guidelines. I made a HUGE effort. For three days. Three. Well, it seemed huge at the time.

So last year I was fighting my way to get under 80KG and I did it, I lost a couple of kilos and thought “never again” – but I’ve said those words before (when I lost 30 KG a long time ago and gained it all back anyway) and here I am, weighing in again at 81.6KG (Tuesday’s weight).

I want to say something right here, right now though… the number on the scale is such a tiny factor in my life now. I’m happy about that. Yes I would like to lose weight but it’s just not as important as everything else.

Anyway.

So Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were in line with calorie goals and I even went to the gym twice. I logged everything. But yeah, I wouldn’t be honest with you if I were to not tell you that I’m simply bored with all of that calorie counting stuff. I’m not saying one shouldn’t count calories. I’m not saying that one shouldn’t use a program like Weight Watchers to help them along. What I am saying, for ME, MY opinion, MY life, I’m just bored, bored, bored. Paleo. Not Paleo. Carbs. No Carbs. How many calories? How many did I burn? How many steps did I take? Oh bloody hell enough already. This is what people ~~who don’t worry about their weight~~ ~~, who don’t care~~ who aren’t obsessed about their weight think when they hear all of us unfortunates rambling on and on about weight loss, calories in and out, etc. Enough already.

Don’t get me wrong. What I’m just trying to say is, there must be some point where we just stop this madness, right? Where it’s just natural? Where we just grab a bowl of yoghurt and cereal and it’s not 7x the normal portion for both, that it’s just “right”? That stopping when full is just what you do? I am at that point. I want to just “be”, naturally.

And maybe I’m just supposed to be somewhere hovering around 80KG and who gives a flying backend of a rat if the charts tell me I’m overweight?

The fact is, I’m a very healthy and fit Forty-four year old. I’m probably fitter than I was when I was Thirty-four. Or maybe not. But it doesn’t matter. I’m ok. I’m good even.

All right. Let me show you something. This means more to me than the scale number:

my “painting” jeans

About 6 years ago we painted our apartment for the last time, that is until last week when we redid the hallways. I went to put on my painting clothes but there was no way I was going to paint in these pants! In fact, they didn’t even stay up longer than about 5 minutes. I had to wear an older pair of sweat pants instead.

And these jeans were also already smaller than my biggest jeans ever (a size up – these are 18W’s for reference). Clearly I was still in an ok place as far as my weight goes.

Unfortunately I have to remain cognizant of my choices and remember that eating crunchy veggies and fruit is always going to be a better choice than crisps or sticking my head in the candy jar at work, but isn’t that logical anyway?

Moving on

This weekend was fabulous. Saturday I was in Rotterdam for a surprise birthday party for my friend Tammy which in and of itself was amazing. On top of that I also got to see friends I haven’t seen in person for so long and it was just truly wonderful to be surrounded by that friendship. She’s been going through a really rough time with infertility so I hope that we lifted her spirits enough to keep her going for a little while longer while she and her husband continue treatments.

Yesterday I was in Amsterdam for the Nike Ladies We Own the Night 10K, originally planned with my friend Patricia, who is my running partner these days (next weekend as well on the Colour Run)

and ended up that my friend Lisa was also running and her very first 10K!! She’s been working very hard at weight loss and recently picked up running so this was an amazing experience for her! Joanna was also there and as usual we only managed to meet up somewhere around 3K on the course! For once we also caught each other afterwards as well!

I liked the course a lot but I have three complaints to the organisation:

1) No real food and drink available for the supporters – hubs and P’s boyfriend basically had no dinner because there was nothing available once we got started. even the bar shut down at 9pm.
2) The catwalk into the Westergasfabriek was a great idea but not executed well. As many of us came speeding around the corner to the finish we had to stop abruptly once entering the building. This isn’t a good way to run. There was a total bottle neck and took an additional 10-15 minutes to get down to the stage to receive our “bling”
3) speaking of “bling” – really Nike? A string? a string bracelet in the packet and then another at the end? Surely you could do better than that (seriously, folks, not even worth photographing)

I did the race for fun, and my Garmin told me it was 9.83KM and not 10KM but here’s the official results:

Afterwards it took forever but we finally had the beloved beer and fries afterwards and made it home around 2am. Yawn. Thank dog we didn’t work today!

We also went to visit friends today – he is also a runner and was originally supposed to run with Hubs today (apparently he messed up his back and Hubs is in pain still from his accidental Half Marathon last week… brought to him by a terrible sense of direction) and she is a fellow expat whom I met through Tammy. It was night to just hang out and chat and drink coffee.

Reality is upon me. It’s 9pm and there are dishes to be done and laundry to be put away. As per usual I’m putting off the inevitable by writing a blog post instead. I still have no plan for next week. No food ideas (fresh out). Well, guess it’s another 5am start then to whip up some healthy meals for tomorrow at least!

Are you burnt on on calorie counting? fresh out of food ideas? struggling for a real training plan? Please tell me I’m not alone!!

In a Nutshell

Posted on 13 May, 2013 by Renée

So after Berlin I had a few days of “normal life” then I was off to Rwanda.

What an amazing experience that was. I started writing about it and then I realised that:
1) I was really hard to put into words
2) The post was getting longer and longer and I wasn’t even finished with Day 1 yet.
3) Maybe you guys weren’t 100% interested in a giant recap of my trip

(sorry that I was making that decision for you, by the way)

So in a Nutshell – I went for work, but it was more like a reward for hard work, dedication and enthusiasm, especially since I don’t work in one of our stores, nor do I have anything to do with the actual product. I love the company I work for and I have a lot of passion for the coffee AND the brand. I feel honored to have had this opportunity.

To say that the experience changed my life would be an understatement. I got to see first hand exactly what farmers go through not only to grow the coffee but all the steps it takes to actually make it so those beans can eventually become your morning cup of joe. If you ever thought that prices are too high for “just a cup of coffee” think again – the blood, sweat and tears that goes into getting that coffee to you deserves a bit more than what they are actually getting. Companies like mine actually invest a lot of the money made back into these communities so the farmer benefits in the end (and of course the company as well, as it is a business). I’ve now also seen this with my own eyes.

The coffee part was awesome. The human part? Indescribable. I fell in love with the people. The country. The children. Oh my God, the children!! The first thing most people think of when they think of Rwanda is the Genocide 19 years ago. Neighbours killing one another. Now? They work side by side, together in their communities to build the country up again. The President talks about forgiveness. The only way they can truly move on is to forgive. And they’ve done it. What a turnaround. Can you imagine? We hold grudges or stay angry or decide we want nothing to do with family members over petty bullshit. These people have forgiven the neighbour that killed their children. They have forgiven the rapist who gave them HIV. We could learn a lot from them.

Highlights:
Meeting AMAZING colleagues. I will never ever forget these new friends.

My team prior to getting down and dirty to help build the Health Clinic.

African Rain. HOLY COW you’ve never been rained on until you go to Africa!!

picking coffee cherries in the downpour

Ladies of the village singing to welcome us. Amazing and emotional.

The ladies of Musasa

Picking coffee cherries with the utmost care for the farmer, Suzanne (in the pouring rain)

I know it’s not much, but I wanted to be sure I got the good ones.

This will seem odd but – the Genocide Memorial. Heartwrenching. Soul-crushing. The desire to have this never happen again even more prevalent.

Going to the Farmer Support Center in Kigali. Again, amazing colleagues here.

Community Project – helping to build a health care facility that will serve over 7,500 people and provide 24/7 care (old facility 2K people and not 24/7)

no common language but a common goal. we made it together!

Seeing my Aunt again after 15 years – yes, ladies and gents, my Auntie lives in Rwanda! Of all places I could go in Africa, I went to the one place where I have a family member!

my Auntie Clodagh aka Sister Margaret Mary. She’s lived in Rwanda for a long time. Before the Genocide and again after (since 2008)

Oh and look at these adorable kids!

the children were captivated by us. Everywhere we went they waved and smiled and looked in awe. Some even ran after the van we were in!

I can’t believe I was only there for less than a week. I can’t believe I’ve already been home for a couple of weeks!!!

After I got back, literally, the day after, I ran the Spieren voor Speiren 10K in Hilversum. I did this last year as well and even PR’d at the time.

I was not looking forward to running. I was tired. Exhausted even. I have been coughing since March and the last few days of the trip were kind of hard on my lungs, probably something to do with the altitude there. I decided I was going to do it anyway. I made the commitment. If there is one thing running has taught me, or at least reinforced, it’s to keep commitments. So off I went, to meet up with Patricia and Samantha. I knew I wasn’t going for any world records, and in fact, I wasn’t even concerned with time, etc., I just wanted to finish. I ran it last year at 1:04:22 and that was when I was feeling fit and ready! So this year I was just going to run, not pressure myself and enjoy the beauty of the day.

Samantha ran last year as well, but it was Patricia’s first time. Sam was more than ready to achieve a sub 1 hour 10K. Patricia? I was almost afraid she wouldn’t make it on time as she still hadn’t arrived when Sam and I were heading towards the start. With a stroke of luck, we walked too far and had to come back around to the gate and there was Patricia running towards me! We were complete!

It was a good day for running. And as much as I was tired and having trouble breathing, it was a very fine run. In the end Samantha killed it at 58:25. I came in at 1:02:29. Poor Patricia, who was completely overheated, came in at 1:06:14. In fact, I was waiting for her to come in and when she did I thought the poor thing was going to pass out. Thankfully, she was ok after a bit and we were able to go and have a couple of beers at the pub. Stephane and his wife were there as well – they are the parents of Lotte, the little girl I started my fundraising page for, for the National Epilepsy funds.

We did it!!

Interesting – last year I was sort of in the back third of the pack. This year, just a couple of minutes faster, I’m almost in the middle:

2012 results

2013 results

Since then I’ve been a bit of a wreck. I have no schedule. No real heavy plans. Work’s been super busy. I’m still tired and not feeling 100%. I have become lax at my diet and exercise plan. Not that I’ve gone and thrown all hard work in the toilet, no, just *not* feeling it. I have gone to the gym a few times and run a few times, mostly on auto pilot. Figure it’s better than nothing at all.

I have a 10K next Sunday and a 5K the Sunday after that. I also want to get my training plan in order again. I did sign up for the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon in Lisbon in October, but I’m not going to wait until August to start!

Last but not least, I *am* going to Fitbloggin! I wasn’t going to go, cancelled my live-blogger application, my roommates, everything… but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I started looking at flights again. Hubs said “just do it”. My friend Jill-ann swooped in a bought me a round trip ticket to San Francisco with her air miles so all I had to do was arrange SFO – PDX! Unbelievable. The universe works in mysterious ways.

I think I’m caught up now. Back to regular life and regular blogging again, I promise!

I needed a break

Posted on 12 May, 2013 by Renée

Source: atfirstblush.onsugar.com via Rachel on Pinterest

After Berlin, then Rwanda, my head was full.

I needed a break. From everything.

I’ve been on auto-pilot the last several weeks.

I’ll be up and running (literally) again soon. Thanks for sticking with me.

Run, Laugh, Eat… Curry?

Posted on 14 April, 2013 by Renée

I mentioned previously that my husband and my stepdaughter have a (renewed, in Hubs’ case) interest in running. While Hubs and I rarely run “together” – his pace is much faster than mine – I love going out for a run with him and can’t wait to go for our after work runs in Sonsbeek Park again soon.

That my stepdaughter is showing interest is really special to me. She’s been running for about 5 weeks now and even arranged a few necessary clothing items so that she had more sporty gear to run in. A few weeks ago she was looking for a pair of running pants and had some trouble finding what she really wanted so eventually I had a look on Wiggle to see if there were any decent sale items and found her a pair of Nike Running pants for €35 (to help her be responsible for her new hobby, she will give me €15). She also has a Couch to 5K program on her phone and just recently expressed interest in doing the Color Run 5K in Amsterdam at the end of May. We’ve talked a bit in the past about not being “good enough” in gym and I explained to her that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and she shouldn’t feel bad if she does the very best that she can at that moment. I can imagine that she has thoughts in her head now about her body image – she is 15 after all and she has two examples of women in her life who have struggled with their weight. I just want her to feel good about herself and if running gives her that, then I’m really happy.

Hubs has been really doing a lot to not only improve his running technique but has also been setting a lot of great goals and results for himself. I’m so proud of him for going to the gym regularly and that the running is going so well. He’s had some issues with his joints and hips but with the Chi Running techniques and proper warm-up and cool-down things are going really well now. He’s like my coach and supporter all in one :) We are even (all three of us) signed up to do a Chi Running workshop on the 9th of June. This is getting serious.

I should explain the title a bit. Hubs has been to India a few times and each time brought back a passion for cooking Indian food. We love good, spicy, tasty food and there is no shortage of it in this house. What’s cool is that you can make it into a healthy meal (just by reducing the amount of oil in a dish for example you can slash calories and fat) and you can also replace rice with cauliflower, which we do often now. Curry dishes are a regular thing for us, in fact I eat leftovers for breakfast sometimes! He’s the Curry Master and I of course the obedient servant. (and who’s going to argue with an amazing dinner made with love and spices, every night?)

Heading out

she’s wearing my old shoes until she graduates from C25K, then her reward is a proper pair!

Today the three of us went out to the park for a little warm up exercise together, then The Girl did her thing and Hubs and I headed out to Westervoort. I’ve been under the weather and wasn’t really sure what my capabilities were today but Hubs wanted to do 10K so I said “OK”.

doing our warm up stretches and exercises

About 4KM in, I decided to walk just a bit, my breathing was a bit off and I didn’t want to push it too much. It was also a little warm, though luckily I wasn’t overdressed.

I knew Hubs would be taking the long loop and since I was so far behind I decided to cut through and then head towards where he was so we could meet up (and then I would turn around and follow him).

coming around the bend

Because of the weather, there were tons of people out, mostly on bicycles, but quite a few cars too. It’s kind of tricky on these country roads if there are cars coming from both sides, but you just have to be careful.

There he is!

Once again he was ahead of me within minutes, but I honestly wasn’t running very fast at all. I just kept going, back up and over the bridge and then home. All in all, 11 kilometers.

Not bad for a first run after the Half! I’m off to Rwanda tomorrow until Saturday and on Sunday I am signed up for the Spieren voor Spieren (“muscles for muscles”) City Run in Hilversum (like I did last year) – I have my running stuff with me so hopefully I’ll at least have a chance to run in the hotel gym (but really How Amazing Would It Be to Run in Africa???) but I heard from a colleague too that running in Kigali is totally safe during sunlight hours and that if I have the chance I should just go for it.

Berlin Half Marathon – CHECK!

Posted on 13 April, 2013 by Renée

What a whirlwind!

Life was busy before and leading up to the Half and didn’t stop. With a few days break I’ll soon be off again, this time traveling to Rwanda with my company!

But the HALF in Berlin! What a day! Let me tell you what happened leading up to the day…

Normally I wouldn’t drink or eat out a few days before but a friend of ours turned 50 on the Thursday and asked us to come out at least for a glass of champagne straight after work. Of course, we obliged. Hubs and I went and had pizza (my eating/ food habits are out of whack at the moment anyway) afterwards so that we could get home early-ish and get packed up.

Saturday morning up not too painfully early, got ready and headed out at 8:30 to pick up M. She doesn’t live far from us and is actually on the way to Düsseldorf, where we happened to be flying out of to get to Berlin. The weather wasn’t so great in the Netherlands or in Germany; I’d been checking for days and it was snow, snow, snow, but funnily enough on the forecast showed a giant sun with a few clouds hanging around and warmer temps. We were keeping our fingers crossed that it wasn’t too good to be true.

Things went pretty smooth – picked up M, were early enough at the airport, got ourselves some yummy coffees and a bit of food and eventually headed to our plane. We were off! The flight’s pretty short so it was uneventful and we arrived in Berlin with our bags being almost the first off the flight. We then figured a taxi split would be easiest – Berlin airport (Tegel) is right in the middle of the city so it’s not expensive really to get where you need to be. Found our hotel, checked in and then all decided a nap was in order!

My friend Alex. who used to be my colleague in Amsterdam, is from Berlin and moved back about a year and a half ago with her boyfriend. She happened to be volunteering at the Half and was kind enough to pick up my race packet! This took some stress off – otherwise I’d have had to immediately go to the Expo after checking into the hotel and we didn’t have a lot of time before the Expo was closed. Alex and I arranged that she would drop by the hotel and at least we could have a chat and a coffee and I’d have my race materials as a bonus. Alex was right on time and as lovely as usual to see and it was great getting a bit caught up! A while later she had to go and we all needed food as well and besides we had a big day ahead Sunday so we didn’t want to be too late!

We headed off towards the Alexanderplatz and about midway turned down a street that looked as if there were a few restaurants and we were right! We settled on Italian (I didn’t think Mexican or Korean would be a good idea…) and instead of pasta carb-loading I had risotto and a salad. Oh and a beer :) Seemed like a good idea anyway.

Back at the hotel I had a bath and got my stuff all ready for the next morning. I actually slept pretty well (the hotel bed was huge with fluffy pillows and blankets) and was up Sunday morning around 6:30 to get ready in a non-stressed way. We had decided the evening before to meet for breakfast at 7:30. There were a LOT of runners at the hotel (we were only 3KM from the Alexanderplatz, which was near the start/finish) and I didn’t want to be fighting for a table at breakfast. I was pleasantly surprised to see a HUGE breakfast room with an amazing array of different types of foods. No worries at all to get a table. I was feeling a bit nervous but made sure to eat properly (and vowed to eat all the things the next day as I didn’t have to run a race) and once we finished we went up to the room to finalize my bag and my stuff. Right before we went downstairs I just panicked and had a little cry to my husband – what if I was going to fail? I felt so nervous but I knew I did everything I could to prepare (did I?) and there was no reason to worry (was there?).

We decided that walking the 3KM to the start was the best idea. I wouldn’t take that long, right? Wrong. It actually took longer that I imagined, but we were still on time in the end. I thought walking would make my legs super “warm” so I wouldn’t have to panic about not having enough time or space to do some warming up exercises (thank dog we did this and it was so incredibly busy – there was no WAY to anything once we were at the starting corrals). It was amazingly sunny and blue skies – a bit cold but perfect weather for running!

Eventually I said goodbye to Hubs and M as it was impossible to get into the corral. Hubs really wanted to see the elite runners and I just needed to somehow get into place. Start time was 10:05 and I of course was in the last corral. We were like sardines, all packed in, waiting to go. Around 10:20 we started moving slowly up to the front. At 10:30 we were off!

I had decided a few days before that I didn’t want to continually look at my watch or my heart rate. I just wanted to run and enjoy. I wanted to RUN the whole way. I knew if I thought about people who inspire me, people I love, and Lotte, the little girl with Epilepsy who inspired me to run for charity, I would make it through. I wore my “Because I Can” bracelet to think of Janet and my “Go the Distance” bracelet to think of Robby. I had a strange calm the moment we started like I really could do this!

There were no KM markers until 4 kilometers. I was actually happy with this because it felt like less than that! The route was fabulous, passing by so many historic buildings and monuments. I chose Berlin because I love it so much from an aesthetic point of view and it did not disappoint on Sunday! I eventually looked at my watch at 5K, 9K and 20K. I wanted to know where I was and if I was just intuitively on track. It was going well. At 5 I was around 31 minutes. At 9 I was at 58 minutes. Somewhere around 13 or 14 I was really starting to get tired. My brain wanted me to stop. I again thought about the ones who would get me to the next KM marker. Tammy. Robby. Janet. Lotte. Repeat. At 17 I was so happy because I thought at 18.5 I would be at Checkpoint Charlie. That would mean I was, for all intents and purposes pretty much at the home stretch. I ran through Checkpoint Charlie with a HUGE smile on my face.

I checked at 20 because I wanted to know, again, if I was on track. I gave myself the time goal of 2 hours and 30 minutes. At 20 I was at 2:15. Again, smiling down the road, I thought “Girl if you can’t make another 1.1K in 15 minutes you may need another hobby!” I laughed to myself :) Of course I was going to make it.

I crossed the line and stopped my garmin at 2:23:24. My official time of the race was exactly the same. I DID IT!!!!!! Not only that, but I crushed my time from my first Half which was 2:41:49. Ladies and Gents that’s almost 19 minutes better than the first time!!!

Once I finally found my posse we headed to Alexanderplatz for sausages and beers (as you do when you are in Germany) and later walked back to the hotel (making it more than 6KM just in walking around + 21K for the race), I took a nice hot bath, had a nap and we later went out to Mexican to celebrate.

It was a great weekend, a great race and I am super grateful to everyone who supported me, especially my husband and M – it wouldn’t have been the same without them!

Since I’ve been home I’ve been under the weather and very busy at work. I haven’t done anything running or gym related. Monday I’m off to Rwanda. When I return I have a 10K in Hilversum. AFTER all of that I think my life may finally get back to normal again. Then again, I’m not sure what “normal” is…

Friend Makin’ Mon…er Tuesday

Posted on 26 March, 2013 by Renée

As you know Every Monday My Girl Kenlie posts a FMM – this is meant to interact with other bloggers, link up and get to know each other a bit better.

If you’ve previously taken part you know the rules. If you don’t know how it works, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog and then add your link the comments section here or at Kenlie’s Blog so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links as well so everyone has the opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM blog post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

~~Yesterday’s~~ Ten Questions:

1. Describe the kind of home you would live in if money were no object. Honestly I have no idea what kind of home it would be. I know what it would have in it, as in rooms,etc. A luxurious bathroom complete with relaxing tub, jets and a sauna. A huge kitchen with an island in the middle for cooking, gathering, eating. A room for all things music and computers (space for violin, keyboard, amps, theremin, etc), a relaxing movie/TV room, a bedroom for me and hubs, one each for the kids and two spare rooms for guests.

2. Are you more conservative in your actions or more rebellious? I am somewhere in between. I like order over chaos but I also don’t like much to be told what to do or that I “can’t” do something.

3. Would you go to Mars even if it meant you could never return to Earth? No interest in going to Mars, the moon or anywhere in space, thanks!

4. Name one song that makes you want to dance every time you hear it. Oh gosh. So many! The Only Girl in the World by Rihanna is one of those at the moment.

5. Share one thing that you wish you could go back and do differently in your life. I wish I would have liked myself a little bit more when I was younger and not made such detrimental choices for my mental and physical health (vague, I know).

6. Share at least one accomplishment that people wouldn’t expect you to be proud of. I have no idea! I think I’m proud of things that people would expect me to be proud of! How about I’m pretty proud of the fact that despite how tired I am, I can still get up at 5am, get ready for work, get out the door and get to the train station on time, every work day, for a 2+ hour commute each way for the last 6 years. Proud? Or NUTS? You decide!

7. Describe one delicious thing that you’ve eaten lately. I made a pumpkin lentil soup (breaking my no-bean rule) that I happened to see someone make on television. I had almost all the ingredients in house, including the pumpkin and thought, why not? It was delicious!

8. If you had a theme song that would play every time you entered a room, which song would you choose? Pink’s “Raise Your Glass”

9. Had technology enhanced your life, or has it over complicated your life? Enhanced, BUT I have to say that sometimes I long for the days when we didn’t have so many distractions. Every time I’m walking through the train station or busstop I see many people just standing all together, looking at their phones. It’s like the Zombie Revolution.

10. If you could get paid to do any job, which job would you choose? I would own and run the best coffee place in town. Or I’d be an awesome fitness instructor. Or I’d be a Band Photographer.

I love Numbers – (week) 9, 12(K), 14 (days to Berlin)

Posted on 24 March, 2013 by Renée

As you know I started Week 9 with an 18.5KM run. 18.5 people. That’s 2.6 KM from the total Half Marathon.

It could have been better. It was fine. 2:11, right? That’s ok.

But I learned a few things:
1) Don’t drink 3 cups of coffee before running this distance. Even if you have gone to the loo 12 times before you go out on your run, you are still going to have challenges.

2) Tie your shoes properly. I think because my shoes are new, I haven’t found that perfect tie yet. If you are a runner, you know what I mean.

3) No, you don’t have to stop. Not for any reason. Well ok, if you are going to vomit or soil yourself perhaps. But you don’t need a little break.

Source: getnourished.blogspot.com via Hailey on Pinterest

4) you are stronger than you think. stop letting your mind take over the task. You CAN, you CAN, you CAN.

Source: waterwatereverywhere.net via Nikki on Pinterest

There was one other lesson and it may sound conflicting… – give yourself a break. if your body really needs rest then LISTEN.

The rest of Week 9 did not go according to plan. Oh I had my rest day. I did my cross-training on Tuesday. Wednesday was my next scheduled run, and I was working from home so that I could get it done during the day rather than go to the gym. The last two Wednesday morning runs weren’t that great so I thought I would be clever, I would wait until lunchtime.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, it started snowing at 12! Normally it wouldn’t bother me but I’ve had this nagging cough for (now, more than) 2 weeks and I honestly didn’t want to make it worse. So, the Hubs was already planning on going to the gym after work, I phoned him up and asked him to come get me first.

I managed 7KM on the treadmill. Training plan was 10. I.just.couldn’t.go.on. (more body than brain this time)

Thursday was running at work day. Didn’t happen. Decided that morning that my legs were just too wrecked and I didn’t want to risk it. I wanted to do my intervals on Friday.

Friday was probably the worst day. I actually started feeling ill before lunch. You know, that tickly throat, heavy feeling in your eyes and nose kind of ill? I had my stuff ready to go to the gym, in the car (hubs was heading to the gym as well, so I didn’t have to schlep it to Amsterdam), but there was absolutely NO WAY it was happening. I went home, drank cough syrup and Hot coldrex and passed out under blankets on the couch.

So. All in all. TWO runs. One at 18.5KM, one at 7. And a cross-training session. Stellar.

At least I can say I already felt MUCH better on Saturday, still took it easy; in fact went and got my hair did and although the price isn’t pleasant, the after affects are good.

Today starts Week 10

On the training schedule was 11.5KM – 70 min in D1 and 10 in D2. Hubs and I were discussing the right HR zones, etc., so I decided to keep an eye on my heartrate for the majority of the run (D1). I checked Garmin for my fast 10K race to see what my HR was. In general it was around 155-158. I ran all the way and felt pretty good so I decided to try for just a little bit lower HR. What I ended up doing in 70min D1 and 10min D2 was 12 Kilometers, so a half more than what my schedule calculated out for me. This is only good news my friends! It means I’m getting faster and more efficient! It was even very cold and extremely windy out and I still did a half kilometer more in the same time!

With one of the lessons above (and after discussing with T on Facetime yesterday – yay facetime!! – and with Hubs this morning) I decided there would be no stopping. No “little break”. Time to keep an eye on the prize. I’m not against walking during a run and I don’t judge anyone that does it, but last week honestly it was more painful to restart and complete the 18.5 than I think it would have been if I would have just kept going. So, today, was full on, 1 hour and 20 minutes of running. May not be a big deal to others but for me this is really overcoming my brain trying to get the best of me.

Next run in Wednesday – same distance but with 20 min in D2. Let’s see how it all pans out.

Did you know it’s only 14 days to Berlin????

I got my confirmation!!!!!!! *twirls*

I feel a bit like Perez Hilton with this screen shot…

Have you got any good races coming up?

Week 7 and 8, Good and Bad + a 10KM Race

Posted on 17 March, 2013 by Renée

Yes, again behind on posting. Well you should know by now how it goes with me. Sometimes I can get in a few times a week, sometimes once a month. It’s tough sometimes to make the time.

Anywhoo. TWO full training weeks have gone by! It’s been dynamic!

Week 7

Run one was a 15KM at 70 min D1 and 30 min D2. It seems like forever ago, but I did mention it on my last post so at least I covered that one!
Run two was 6.5KM at 45 minutes as a recovery run. I did this at the gym in 42 minutes. I honestly can’t believe how much I appreciate the treadmill these days.
Run three was 12.5KM at 75 minutes in D2. Ahem. Yeah. That didn’t work out. It was more like 1-4 at D2, 5-7 at D1, 8 – 10 at D2, 11 and 12 were practically walking and then I sped up a bit. It was a Wednesday morning; a good indication that I was already tired from early rising. This was definitely NOT a good run at all.

There should have been another run but there was a LOT going on at work. In fact it was insane. So much to do. So many meetings. Working overtime. I did not run again until…

Week 8
Originally in the plan was a long run, but I had signed up for the Dunea 10KM (a part of the CPC Loop – which is part of the series from Like2Run; same as the Rotterdam Ladies Run and the Bruggenloop that I’ve participated in in the past) so it was 10KM or nothing! Luckily my friend PP (who ran the Amsterdam Half when I volunteered) signed up as well, so I had the motivation to get out to Den Haag early on a Sunday morning to do it.

In the train station – I feel sentimental especially with the backdrop “I wouldn’t want to trade with anyone”

It was absolutely FREEZING cold. A huge change from the week before when we’d had really pleasant weather. Before I actually found PP I stopped off at the HipHardlopen Tent; I love these ladies so much! They sell the running skirts that I used to buy from the original company in the US, but not only that they are just like Cindy and Christy – they are runners and they know exactly what we women like and need to feel good when running! And I’ll admit it, I like that they remember who I am from 2 years ago when I met them in Utrecht before the Half Marathon. I think that’s a perfect way to make an impression and keep your customers coming back.

Anyway, we finally found PP and eventually it was time for us to start. We hardly did any true warming up, but at the same time we were moving and jumping around to stay warm so I suppose that did the trick.

take the picture Hubs, we are freezing!

We started off with PP just in front of me, but at a certain moment I decided to cut across and move around some “slower” groups just to get a good pace. I felt good and was happy with the surroundings – I lived for 7 years in Den Haag but never really ran there (only in the woods near my old apartment) so this was a special run for sure! My pace felt pretty fast and turns out it actually was. I made the 10KM in 1:00:50. My fastest 10KM to date. This beats last summer’s Westervoort Run which was 1:04:06. Honestly, I was pretty gobsmacked. After my last run the Wednesday before I thought I’d be in around 1:05 and that PP would come in before me. Gave me a very good feeling! Hubs could NOT stop talking about how impressive it was!

So that 10KM was Week 8 Run 1. Another friend met up with us and the beers afterwards were WONDERFUL…

Run two was 9.5KM, 40 min D1, 20 min D2. Thank dog for treadmills is all I can say. Pretty broken after that.

Run three was 12KM, 60 min D1, 20 min D2. Absolutely dreadful. Seriously. Not only again ruined by a dog, but two of them and one owner yelling at me that *I* was doing the wrong thing (this is not the moment for a lesson on how to handle dogs when 1) you don’t really like them, 2) you are slightly afraid and 3) they are jumping on you). There were tears folks. And a lot of walking. I never actually made it into D2 and only did 10KM.

Run four (yes! I made a run four!) was incredible! 6KM at lunch with colleagues. My fastest 5KM time and my fastest 6KM in total time. Even faster than Sunday’s race! 35:48. That’s faster than 10KM per hour.

So, it’s all over the place you guys. Good, crap, great. The whole spectrum.

Today starts Week 9. That means in three Sundays from now I will be running Berlin Half Marathon!

Today’s run was scheduled as 18.5KM 110 min in D1, 15 min in D2. Seems I got those switched up a bit because I only did 10 at D2. I also walked some, so I was about 7 minutes behind on target time. But I did it. I think that’s the important part. Total time 2:11:18.

Something I did for fun – on Saturday, which was a rest day, my stepdaughter asked me if I would go out in the park with her to run. She wants to see if she likes it, to better her condition, get a little bit more fit (I don’t think she’s unfit by the way, but apparently she’s having what I had when I was in school – getting low scores on fit tests and being picked last) and already even downloaded a few apps on the phone so she could try it on her own. I feel really good, that I actually had a positive influence on this kid – she’s seen me in my non-fit days and watched me progress, just like others in my family, so it’s very cool she wants to do this. We did some jogging/ walking and ended up doing 4KM in a half an hour! To me that says she’s already quite fit, she just needs to build up and learn some breathing techniques. I am definitely going to contribute to getting her a good pair of running shoes and have visions of us doing races together sometime!

It just made me think – my parents had zero influence on me as far as fitness was concerned. Not that they weren’t supportive, but I guess the encouragement wasn’t really there. I’m not blaming them, but I think now, at this age, it’s just so important to get kids to understand that their health really should be a priority. We didn’t have that sort of vision 30 – 40 years ago, the priorities were different. Both of my parents are different now – but when you find out you can actually control diabetes, for example, just with eating right and exercise, it changes your whole perspective.

Were you active when you were young? Did your parents encourage you?

Here’s a question for the runners – what’s your fastest 10KM ever?

Even the Blog has Jetlag

Posted on 3 March, 2013 by Renée

I did not mean to take so long to update!

As you (may or may not) know, last week I returned from visiting my family in Albuquerque. It was a good visit but also a little bit heartbreaking. That sounds dramatic, but let me tell you why.

My grandmother – she’s very old, she’s in a home and she’s suffering from Alzheimers. She knew who I was (but not at first – she didn’t recognize me without my glasses, but I haven’t worn glasses since I was 13!), but nothing really stays with her for a long time so the conversation was really a 10 time repeat of the same questions. The part that is heartbreaking is that she just doesn’t know where she is or how she got there (even though we tell her) and she just wants to go home. She was very independent up until a little over a year ago but it seems her mental health is going steadily downhill. It’s heartbreaking that of everyone, only my father is there for her, even though other family is near and could go to see her. I’m not saying they have to see her. The thing is, when we have problems or quarrels with family, at the point where a person doesn’t know what is going on, why not just let go? When are we ever going to learn that life is very short and if you get a chance to let go of a grudge that is not adding any value in your life, why not do that. The look on my grandmother’s face when we were there was absolutely priceless. It made her day (even though she wouldn’t remember later). She was smiling, truly happy, and remembering bits and pieces and that made her feel good. When we left she almost started to panic and I thought she would cry. It was awful. If I were there I would see her every day. She doesn’t have much more time on this earth. In fact I have no idea if I ever will see her again.

My long-time friend T – she’s my age, we’ve been friends since we were 10 or 11. She’s one of those friends that even if you don’t talk to each other for a while you always pick right back up. I think last year when I was there we were saying that for our 45th birthday (we are I think less than a week apart) we would do a marathon together. Well, she has cancer. While I was there she had surgery and we’ll find out soon what next steps will be. She’s doing her best to stay positive and I know I should as well, but I have a sick feeling in my stomach when I think about it. I’ve mentioned before about my good friend Michael who died 4 years ago; this had a huge impact on me and makes me really think hard about our mortality and how important relationships and friendships are to maintain. I didn’t get to see T, it was just not a good time what with surgery and family staying with her (and I didn’t want to impose – I’m sure it was NOT an easy week for her!), but if you could keep her in your thoughts or your prayers if you do that sort of thing, that would be awesome because I think she has many more years to enjoy in her life.

Then there was my Aunt – she hasn’t been well and on Wednesday she had the right mind to go to emergency where she basically was immediately hospitalized for almost being in a diabetic coma. I did not get to see her but again, this makes me think about how maybe I need to reassess how I handle and maintain my relationships with my family.

To summarize, I need to get my arse home again soon. I feel more and more homesick anyway, but this is getting ridiculous. I don’t know yet how or when I can make this more permanent (it will take at least a couple of years; it’s complicated!) but we really need to start thinking about how to make it work. In the meantime, I will focus on getting back possibly for Thanksgiving, maybe the health level will be up by then.

It wasn’t all gloom and doom! I got to hang out with both of my parental units, and I got to see some other good friends up in Santa Fe! Last summer I saw them with T and her husband and this time my friend S came down from Los Alamos. It was too short, again, so I’ll have to spend a wee bit more time next time!

On the Health and Fitness front:
Dad got me a week’s pass at his gym so I went a couple of times with him. In hindsight it was the BEST IDEA EVER to continue training because last week, after I returned, I had the WORST jetlag so far (you’d think I’d be more used to it by now). I did three runs (2 outside) and one strength training session at the gym.

At least there was a blue sky.

Run one was down at Tingley Beach (the name is hilarious – knowing that we are in New Mexico and there is no ocean), suggested by Debra from Miles To Run. It was cold and very wintry looking (ie dead trees. A LOT of dead trees). Hubs wasn’t feeling up to running so he decided to just hang out in the park and read while I was off for an hour. I have to admit it was very uninspiring. I had no music with me (I’m about 50/50 with music now and if I’m not familiar with the area, I’ll just pass on the tunes). And get this… about 3 or 4 KM into the run there were two dogs not on leashes just running around and one came at me and tried to bite me! Seriously what is it with dogs not on a lead!?? I’m pretty nervous about dogs since the crash in Cornwall but this was just a tiny dog who thought he was a big dog and he didn’t break the skin when he bit me. There was a cyclist on the side of the road and she was apparently trying to call animal control – they weren’t her dogs and no owner could be found!

Run one was 9KM, 55 min in D1, 5min in D2.

why would anyone want to sit here?

the sad road to nowhere

really, this was not inspiring.

Run two was on the treadmill at the gym. I think it was around 5.5K total running with 30 min in D2, 3 min in D3 and 7 min cooldown. (should have been 10, but I needed to be sure I was on time for when dad needed to leave.

Run three was a real challenge. I was suppose to do fartleks but wow is this hard anyway, let alone at a high elevation. I did what I could but it was not totally to the training schedule. Was supposed to 10 min D1 3 times with 2 min fartlek in between. There was quite some walking involved in this run.

So that was the Week 5 update!

Week 6 was not at all what I had planned. Jet lag was a killer and I managed exactly one run on Thursday of 6KM. It was a good run though, much faster than my normal D1 (it was supposed to be 40min at D1) and I managed it in 37 minutes. I was kind of surprised that it went so well when I felt so exhausted.

Today starts week 7 – I decided to just stick to the schedule which was 15KM; 70 min at D1 and 30 min at D2. I did the 15 just under the 1:40 mark. It was NOT easy and maybe tomorrow I’ll be cursing myself, we’ll see.

It’s March 3rd and that means it’s just over one month to Berlin. Kind of freaking out! Tomorrow we are announcing to everyone at work that I’ll be running for charity and that will pretty much seal the deal. Of course I’m going to do it anyway, but once I announce to all that I’m doing it for a specific reason there’s really no turning back. I guess I also better arrange my travel to Berlin as well. On top of all of this, I still have Rwanda to think about and I need to get my shots ASAP. I think I’ll be doing that Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed that I don’t get too ill from the shots!

Do you work out when you are on holiday or do you take a break from your training?

Week 4 Half Marathon Update

Posted on 18 February, 2013 by Renée

It was am incredibly stressful week last week. In my head I knew it would probably be like that, knowing that it was my last week before holiday (yay!) but I also knew I needed to go to the doctor care of some female stuff (don’t worry, everything is fine and I won’t go into detail) and that maybe I wouldn’t be feeling great but I really hoped going into the week I would still be able to do my runs and my cross training.

Well, sometimes we have to just accept what our bodies will or will not do and not get too wrapped up into thinking you’ve failed. Monday I was absolutely exhausted already and my body and brain were not having anything to do with a fartlek training session. I did try but I probably only ran maximum 20 minutes on the treadmill. It just wasn’t happening. I struggled to push myself past thinking what a failure I was but eventually I just let it go. Thankfully my husband was with me to remind me that even great athletes have bad days, but it doesn’t mean suddenly they are no longer athletes.

On Tuesday I had my doctor appointment and let’s just say I felt pretty bad physically. There was no way I was going to make my Les Mills GRIT class that evening.

Wednesday morning I decided I was going to try again. So I packed my bag for the gym in the morning , ready for another treadmill run. I also decided I was going to skip the fartlek training all together and move on to the next training run which was 65 min at D1 and 10 min at D2. This actually went quite well once I got started (seriously I really never thought I would enjoy the treadmill as much as I am lately!!).

Thursday the plan was to run at lunch with a colleague and the weather was not in our favour but we brought our stuff anyway. About 15 minutes before we were supposed to head out it started sleeting. We were supposed to do 6km (PP and I have a similar average pace) and to be perfectly honest I’m still amazed we did anything at all! The sleet combined with the wind was like little razors against our faces! In the end we did 5K which was a total win in my book!

Friday was a rest day thankfully- I was absolutely wrecked from finishing stuff up at work and not sleeping well. I did get to sleep in a bit Saturday, thankfully, but I had a 12.5K on the schedule and wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. Knowing that I wouldn’t get a chance to run again for a few days I finally got my head together and went out and did it. Once again, a great run once I got started. 75 minutes at D1 and 10 minutes at D2. It’s worth noting that as I was not on a treadmill it was still a challenge to do a faster continuous 10 min but I managed to stop only once and pick up again after only a few seconds. Progress!!

Week 4 was probably the hardest week so far and here I am now, blogging from my dad’s living room in Albuquerque already in Week 5. Dad’s arranged a week pass for me at his gym and I’ve gone this morning just to unstick the body and legs after 18 hours traveling. Feeling pretty good, just hanging out at home. I love it!

{run} {laugh} {eat pie}

amazing what changes when you start to run