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!!

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?

Friend Makin Mondays::Personal Quirks and Habits

Posted on 11 February, 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.

This Week’s Topic: Personal Quirks and Habits

1. Share one unique character trait that sets you apart from your friends. Honestly? No idea. I need to think about this one more.

2. List at least two pet peeves that always aggravate you. Talking on the phone on public transport, listening to music so loud on headphones that I can artist, title, track and hear the lyrics clearly.

3. Is there a word or phrase that you say so regularly that people expect to hear it from you? “seriously” or “awesome”

4. Are you a risk taker, or do you typically play it safe? I would say I’m a calculated risk taker

5. Describe your life as it was in high school. Are you the same person? Have you changed? High school was so long ago. I was so insecure, had no idea how to respect myself, cared about what others thought all the time. I’m the complete opposite to that now.

6. What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done that you’re glad you did? I flew to Las Vegas to meet a bunch of girls I only knew online for a weekend. From the Netherlands.

7. Do you ever talk to yourself? If so, share an example. ALL the time! Usually when I’m trying to get through something or “practising” out loud what I want to say to someone. I do this a lot with running “come on girl. you KNOW you can do this”

8. Share something you did that unexpectedly helped shape your life. I’m not so sure it was so unexpectedly, but when I was supposed to go back to the US I decided I wanted to stay here and try to learn the language and get another job on a local contract. I took out a loan against my 401K, went to an intensive Dutch course for a week, found a new job, got a new place and found a roommate. I don’t think my family or friends expected that. I always wanted to really experience life in another country though, and speak another language, so I had to try.

9. Do you follow a strict routine, or are you a free spirit? Are you somewhere in between? I am fairly strict in my routine, but I need to be because I don’t have a lot of free time. My weekends are more open and flexible.

10. Share something about yourself that you hope will inspire others. OOH. This is also a tough one. If you know me for a long enough period of time, maybe you know that I am someone who doesn’t give up. No matter what I have been faced with, I have carried on, and believed in myself. Just believe in YOU and anything you want is possible. Maybe I’m not the most inspirational, or the fastest, or have the most amazing weight loss story, but I never give up and that’s what it’s about. You get one life, so LIVE it.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments. Have a happy Monday!

Week 3 Update

Posted on 10 February, 2013 by Renée

This week has been Cray Cray.

I mean seriously. Between work, running and gym I have zero time left over. I’m trying to make it work, you know, but I’m burning the candle at both ends!

For week 3 I needed 4 runs, 1 cross training day and 2 rest days.

Monday – this was a treadmill run at the gym again. I’m feeling pretty ok about treadmill runs, they are much easier when it comes to continuing at a certain speed (i.e. faster) than outside running. Who knew I would be less of a hater? Although I kind of messed this one up; I should have done 10 min at 10KPH and 4 Fartleks for 1 min at 12.5KPH but I only ended up doing 3 fartleks. I don’t know what happened except maybe I didn’t set the right time on the TM.

Tuesday – GRIT class and 20 min on the bike. I have been leaving work early just to get to this class and while I really like it and think it’s great for cross training, it’s also very frustrating. I am just not up to speed on proper pushups and while my burpees are getting better (I can do the three sets in the beginning of the class), nearer the end of the class I just tend to collapse instead of jumping back up out of the burpee. Not going to give up, just need to keep pushing through.

Wednesday – I worked from home so that I could either go outside to do my intervals, or go to the gym early. Well neither of those things happened, we ended up going to the gym fairly late and I had to cut my run short. It should have been 7 x 800 at D2-D3 and 3 min walking in between each interval, but I ended up with 5 x 800.

Thursday – RECOVERY RUN. AHHHHHHH… it feels good just to run normally. OUTSIDE. Went with my colleague and he was like the speed of light while I trudged along miles behind him. Still. Great run. 4.65 tiny little kilometres.

Friday – REST day! I did this on purpose so I could go out with friends Thursday after work. I was exhausted Friday. Going out kills me.

Saturday – sort of a rest day. We went ice skating with friends. It was HILARIOUS. I think between Tammy and I we must have tried 57 different pairs of skates until we found a pair that fit. The rink was GREAT, we all liked it more than the one we went to in January, but the skates were AWFUL. Time to buy our own skates I guess, but is that another sport I want to be participating in??? You kind of have to in this country.

I also cooked quite a bit this week – Wednesday I made a paleo chicken casserole, which was ok, but I’m going to play with the recipe a bit to pimp it up. Then I made paleo pumpkin pancakes. I did quite a few Kale salads. I made my paleo pumpkin courgette hummus. Oh and the larabars, which are delish. I also prepped quite a bit yesterday for the week – I have at least 3 lunches ready to go and lots of cut up veggies.

I am really loving the fitbit – not only the sleep data but how it’s actually keeping me on track with my food! I am now almost 100% convinced that I was not eating enough. I have been actually not eating enough for a long time and this is why it’s so hard to lose weight. It sounds crazy but honestly, at least for me, it’s true; don’t eat enough, don’t lose weight!!

I started Week 4 today with an 11K run – 65 min at D1 and 10 min at D2. Today we went outside. It snowed yesterday but it was perfect running weather today. I roped Hubs into doing the Bridge loop I was doing before I did the Bruggenloop in Rotterdam in December:

The run went really well. Except of course the last 10 minutes that I have to do faster which I just can’t do all in one go when not on the treadmill! I’m not unhappy with it, it was a gorgeous day for running, even if it was a wee bit cold and windy. I love my Sunday runs – I look forward to them all week!

I have some other news…

Thursday I was surprised with the news that I have been selected to go on this year’s Origin Trip! Each year a group of colleagues goes to one of the countries that we have the privilege to source our coffee from and this year the destination is Rwanda!! I don’t normally brag a lot but I actually believe when people say to me “You deserve this!”. I may be in financial administration for my “normal” job, but all of the stuff that I get to do outside of that is what makes me get up in the morning and go to work each day. I love where I work but more than that I love the coffee, the story of coffee, what love and hard work goes into getting those beans to our roasting plant, the care that goes into roasting and the delivery of that gorgeous cup of coffee to the customer. I spend a lot of extra time teaching others what passionate partners have taught me and to actually go to one of the coffee growing countries and see for myself what it’s all about is just an absolute dream come true. I don’t know many details except it’s likely happening around 15th of April. So, stay tuned. When I know more, I’ll post more.

How was your week? Are you training for anything?

How about this – have you ever been to Africa???

Week 1 – Complete

Posted on 27 January, 2013 by Renée

So, hey, did I mention I’m running the HALF MARATHON in Berlin in April?

Perhaps you remember me saying it before, but Berlin is one of my favourite cities in Europe. It’s a complex city with lots of history (certainly not always with shining moments), amazing architechture, dynamic people and whenever I’m there I feel the buzz and the vibrancy the city has to offer. So when I was considering doing a Half again, I thought about where could I go that would be really special, that would mean something to me? Admittedly, I was also envious of Joanna running the full Marathon last fall in Berlin so it just made sense to me sign up at least for the Half as well.

In 2008 I went to Berlin for the first time properly (the first time was actually a few years before that; I’d been at a music festival in Leipzig and had taken a friend back from there to Berlin where he was from – spent only about 4 hours there before I had to drive back to the Netherlands) and I was immediately in love. It was my birthday weekend and we found an apartment we could rent for the four days we would be spending there. On top of that the weather was amazing. We were good little tourists, seeing the sights, doing the Fat Tire Bike Tour, drinking local beer and eating sausages (as you do). Even though on that particular trip I fell down the stairs the last evening we were there (no I wasn’t drunk but I was on a pub crawl – it was the 3rd place we stopped off at, so my third drink) and twisted my ankle pretty badly, I already knew I wanted to go back. I should add at this point in my life, I was overweight but still had the “at least try to be active” mentality and was probably on attempt number 3,682 to get my crap together and lose weight.

The Famous Checkpoint Charlie

The next time I went to Berlin was in 2010 – as you know I finally made the commitment again in 2009, right before I got married. And I started running at the same time. Well, “running” – I started the C25K program, in the middle of the night (it seemed) so no one would see the fat girl “running” in the park. But by June 2010 I was running and wanting to run every time I would go away somewhere. This trip was no exception. We rented an apartment again and this time brought all of our running gear and gadgets to have a go at it in Tiergarten. It felt incredibly special to run in Berlin, being a girl from a Smallish City in New Mexico. You just never even dream of these things, you know? I also felt fitter, stronger, even though I wasn’t anywhere as fit as I feel I am right now. We even did the Fat Tire Bike Tour again, only the Third Reich Bike Tour rather than just the “basic” tour.

They actually call her “Chick on a Stick”

The Reichstag – Parliament building

Even the train station is impressive – this photo doesn’t even do it justice! It’s huge and all glass!

Although I’ve run now in other cities in Europe (and also looked for Half Marathons I could possibly participate in), my feeling was really for Berlin all along. After the disaster of the HM in Utrecht in 2011, I needed that something extra to give me the desire to really do it again. Just in case though, I’ve also decided to do it for charity and once I’ve got all of that set up then there is really no turning back, right?

So, this past week was Week 1 of the training:

Monday – 7.5KM or 40 minutes running at D1, 10 minutes D2 (this is the levels given by www.hardloopschema.nl) – basically D1 is kind of relaxed, D2 is pushing a little harder). I went from jogging around 7 minutes per KM to 6:30 in that 40 minutes, last 10 was at 6 min per kilometer. I had to do this on the treadmill as there was just way too much snow outside.

Tuesday – Cross Train – basically did my Les Mills GRIT class (high intensity) and 20 minutes on the Arc Trainer.

Wednesday – Intervals – 6 x 600m D2 – D3, two minutes walking between each. I have to say I thought I would die OR throw up. I never run intervals, I don’t like them, but hey now is the time to step out of the comfort zone!!

Thursday – was scheduled to run but forced to rest. Too busy at work to get the lunch run in and too busy to stop at 4:30 and do it after work.

Friday - did my Thursday run – 6K or 40 min D1. This was actually done in 38 minutes. Was SO nice out, cold but crisp and SO great to get out of the office and work off some stress.

Saturday – rest day! Spent the day actually with M at the Rotterdam film festival and according to my fitbit (that I received finally from Gail!) still walked buttloads (so I guess I worked off that popcorn, eh?), more than 14,000 steps to be specific!

Today starts week 2 so I guess I better get on it!

Bye Bye 2012

Posted on 31 December, 2012 by Renée

You’ve just seen the back of me!!

See ya later 2012!! I’m running towards 2013!

{run} {laugh} {eat pie}

amazing what changes when you start to run

Category Archives: Fun Stuff