Well Excuse Me

You might have seen this photo on Facebook or other blogs.

I understand her point, sort of. She claims she does not mean to be judgmental but it does come across this way to many people.  A long time ago I saw this and it was way more motivational but basically says the same thing



I have worked hard for the last 4 years and I will never, never look like this or any other cover model.  I have a jelly belly, thighs that rub together and wrinkles, lots of them.  I have been told by others that I inspire them, maybe, but others truly inspire me.  I am surrounded by a large group of ladies who inspire me weekly with their accomplishments and struggles, we do not have perfect bodies but we work hard to accomplish our goals and do amazing things.

Today this video came across my Facebook, this is way more inspirational to me then Maria Kang's poster. I asked Leslie if I could share her video and she said yes so please enjoy her journey.


Leslie's journey: From Couch to Triathlon

Everyone journey is different, we are individuals and what is inspiration for one may not work for another.  Even before I saw Maria's poster I had spent the last few weeks feeling bad about myself, hating my jelly belly and thinking I am less then perfect. Instead of upsetting me it made me realize that I went from this

 to this

and I need to be proud of this body it allows me to do amazing things, jelly belly and all.

End of Season wrap up

So I have spent the week thinking about the last 6 months of my training.  In May it seemed such a long period of time and now my season is almost over and it is time to start winter training.  I have run a 5K, a 10K, a 15K, 2 half marathons and a Marathon since May and I got a PB in each.  I also did a Sprint tri, an Olympic tri and a Half iron Distance tri, all firsts for me, well maybe not the sprint since I tried one last summer but this was the first one I finished.  It was a crazy summer and I am looking forward to a few weeks of reduced training and some new things this winter.  Looking back is important to me, remembering where I started so I can see how far I have come, what worked and what did not work, what I want to improve and what I want to change.  I thought I might share some of this with you, it might help you or you might be able to help me so here goes...

After May I knew I could not do this alone so I explored getting a coach.  I had had a less then successful coaching experience in the past and I wanted to be sure this time.  It is hard to schedule the running and triathlon programs independently of each other, I needed to coordinate my workouts and do a good job of both.  I found the perfect coach for me and we started working together in July.  Poor Laura was in for a challenge, she had 9 weeks to get me to my first HIM triathlon with a 15K and an Oly tri thrown in for fun. We were also planing a November marathon but when the marathon man got injured that changed and I added a half marathon in Sept and a marathon in Oct to the training plan and once again she got me to the start line.  I have worked hard, I followed the program to the best of my abilities and it paid off, big time.  Getting Laura as a coach was one of the best decisions I made this summer and I have recommended her to friends so they experience her brilliance too.  

I also realized that I needed to work on my nutrition this summer.  I was having issues training for over 2 hours and half marathons where a challenge to finish without a stop.  I had food sensitivity testing in May and was surprised to find out I had to give up dairy, eggs and gluten plus a bunch of other foods.  I was thrilled that I got to keep coffee, wine and chocolate, I could survive as long as I had those.  It was a challenge, finding foods that fit these restrictions (and expensive) but so worth it.  I started to feel better, I had more energy, I was sleeping better and those around me noticed as well.  It was a good thing that I had more energy since I was doing really long bike/run workouts on Friday and long runs on Sunday but I survived and thrived.  I also lost 14 pound during this time, I am not sure if it was the training or the food or both but trust me I was eating, eating a lot.  This week I tried gluten and egg again and had no big reaction but I think I will keep eating the way I had all summer, I like the way I feel.  

I also worked on my race nutrition during training so on race day I knew what worked and what did not.  It was a trial and error process, too much sugar is still not a good thing for me so I limit my gels and chews during a run.  I tried other foods for the bike, some worked like Thoz Barz and some not so much like PB&J on vegan bread (cue coughing fit).  I tried Super Food blocks, cashews and Lara bars, some worked and some, not so much.  The good thing was on race day, I knew exactly what to eat and drink and I never experienced issued during a run that hurt my race day.  

This is getting a bit long so next post I will blog about what did not work and what is next so stay tuned....

In the Club

My name is Allee and I am a Marathoner.  I still can't believe that I have entered the marathon club, I have conquered the runners Everest, well at least mine and I lived to tell the tale.  Since I was running under my marathons mans bib, I do not want to get him into trouble so I have deleted a few posts and will refer to the marathon as "THE LONG RUN" in the "city that shall not be named".  Apparently they do not like you running under some other bib, a big no-no but you know you us runners, we've got to run.  

It was a great first marathon. perfect running weather, great runners and great crowd support.  I had a fabulous run, I felt great and with the exception of a few bathroom stops, it went as planned.  For a first marathon, I think it went as good as it could, there are always things I wish I could change but no too much.  My nutrition was good, only slight stomach issues, my legs felt great until the 18 mile mark and I managed to avoid THE WALL and any negative thoughts.  My time did get slower for the final 8 miles, I was getting tired but that made sense.  In my training most of my long distances were at a slower per km pace and race day I was running 45 seconds faster each km.  In future I will want to add race pace runs at the end of my long runs to help me get better. I had the same issue with my half marathon until this years Army Run so I know you can get better and stronger at the finish.  I was aiming for 4:40 to 4:45 and hit the half marathon point bang on pace, 2:21. I ended up running 4:52 so I lost time in the second half, I felt it and there was nothing I could do about it but I ran as fast as I could and never gave up.  I saw a lot of people walking for the last 2-3 miles, I am proud that I never stopped.  I saw my marathon man at the 23.5 mile mark and had my last gel and just kept running to the finish line.  I did have my scheduled walk breaks, every mile marker and I walked through a few water stops to refill my bottles but I never walked when I should have run and I am really proud of that.  

After THE LONG RUN, I felt great, I had a few sore muscles and my toes hurt (which is normal) but I went for a walk to keep my legs from getting stiff and it worked.  I had a celebratory meal, a hamburger with bun and fries and enjoyed every bite.  I had not had gluten in 4 months but I did not care, I was having the burger bun.  I figured my body would hate me the next day anyway so I might as well enjoy my treat.  Well the next day, my body was not too mad at me, I felt great, the legs felt great and the burger bun did not seem to affect me too much.  Now a few days on, I feel back to normal, I wanted to go for a run tonight but knew I should wait another day or so but I am looking forward to my first run back. I have a few weeks of reduced training and then it is on to the next challenge, I can run 13.1 miles and 26.2 miles so why not try one each on consecutive days...well it seemed like a good idea at the time.