November Week 1 Recap

HELLO to November! Here comes the hard part about this time of year. It is like a constant flow of sweets, treats and all the stuff we shouldn't eat, all begin with NOV 1. Left over Halloween candy, holiday parties and baby it gets cold outside, so lots of home baked goods! To say we haven't indulged a little would be a lie. I have cookie dough ready to make in the fridge now, make for a friend and freeze the rest. But this is also the time that we can counteract all the delicious treats with MORE EXERCISE! And More exercise I did! WAHOO!

This was my first week back at the gym and I took full advantage of that. And being the emotional postpartum mommy I am right now I cried when I took Collin and left him there for the first time. It was just weird to drop him off and leave him. It isn't like I hadn't done that with Matt but this is the first time I left Collin with someone other than family. It was just a little weird, but then I got over it and went and exercised. Only to be so happy to pick him up after my time was done. I am so happy to be back at the gym and I am enjoying it!

Collin update: Collin is in the beginning awkward stages of crawling. He has been doing the "worm" crawl all week but as of last night he is now moving a hand with a knee then falls over. He will be crawling before Thanksgiving. GET READY FAMILY Because he is going to be EVERYWHERE! He is just such a happy go lucky baby and I LOVE THAT!

Mason update: Mason is just Mason. He is showing a lot more affection towards his brother and makes sure to give him a "HAR-UM-MUAH" ever night (hug and kiss) He loves that there is candy in the house. He is only getting 2 pieces a day. (I say only) but he only asks for it in the morning. He is getting so big though. He also went to the dentist for the first time this past week and was a champ! He keeps talking about how he needs to go back to the Teeth Doctor. Good thing, he lets us now brush and FLOSS his teeth without it being a big fight. So for that I am thankful! I will be having surgery at the beginning of the year on my mouth sadly. French horn playing has taken a toll on my poor bottom gums and I will have to have a gum graft. Now on to find a good parodontitis. Not looking forward to that. 

Overall things have been great! My training is going well. I have been keeping track through RunKeeper. I have 130 days to get even better and more comfortable in my running before the 10 miler! 

Workout Recap: 
Sunday: Yoga Fix
Monday: 1.85 miles walk and run (1 mile run 14:30 min/mile .85 miles walk)- 30 min total; 1 mile on elliptical
Tuesday: 2.36 mile walk
Wednesday: PiYo Lower Fix 
Thursday: 3 miles walk and run (1 mile 14:00 min/mile - 2 mile walk) - 50 min total
Friday: rest
Saturday: 1.5 miles walk/run 1.25 mile - 1/4 mile cool down - 20:32 total for both making it a 13:41 min/mile (including cool down!) 

So I am getting better and pushing myself. My body is tired and I am starting to get sick. I can feel it. Nose stuffed and my patience fuse is a little low. It doesn't help that Collin is waking up nearly ever hour at night right now to feed. Gotta love the 6 month growth spurt! 

Total Mileage for run/walk: 8.71 miles. No wonder why my body was super tired on Friday! Mileage only goes up from here though! Not too bad for my first week back!

What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

I found this online today and let me tell you! This is going to be going on up in our house tomorrow night! Yep! Not sure if I can find blood oranges but can't go wrong with navel oranges, right!

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/18518_grilled_lemon_orange_chicken_with_roasted_garlic_rosemary_brown_and_wild_rice/

INGREDIENTS

• 1 bulb garlic, end cut to expose the cloves
• EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling
• 1 cup wild-and-brown rice blend, such as Whole Foods brand, or make your own blend from bulk bins at market (1 part wild rice to 4 parts brown rice)
• 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups chicken stock 
• 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, 3 stems, finely chopped 
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper* 
• Salt and pepper* 
• 1 small red onion, cut into 6 slices
• 3 4- to 6-inch skewers, soaked in water 
• 2 lemons, halved 
• 1 blood orange or navel orange, halved 
• Baby kale or arugula, a few handfuls to garnish 
•  

  PREPARATION

  Preheat oven to 400°F. Place garlic bulb on a piece of foil, drizzle with
  EVOO and wrap tightly. Roast 40 minutes or so until cloves are soft and
  light golden in color. Cool to handle then squish cloves from skins into a
  bowl and mash into a paste.
  Place 1 cup rice blend and 2 1/4 cups stock in a pot with 1 tablespoon
  olive oil. Whisk in garlic paste and add rosemary, salt and pepper.
  Bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer 30 minutes,
  stirring occasionally, turn off heat and let stand 10-15 minutes. Fluff
  with fork and add the pine nuts. If rice gets a little dry before it’s fully
  cooked, add another 1/4 cup stock.
  Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat or prepare an outdoor grill. 
  Slice the chicken breast thinly, working across the breast, into large
  medallions. Lightly pound to make the medallions thinner. Dress
  with about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season with red pepper and liberally
  with salt and black pepper or use your favorite seasoning blend. Secure
  the onion slices on the bamboo skewers. 
  Grill the chicken about 2 minutes on each side and remove medallions
  to platter.  Grill onions until marked and tender, 7-8 minutes. Grill
  cut citrus until charred and well-marked, about 4 minutes. Douse the
  chicken with grilled citrus juices and let stand for about 15 minutes
  and up to 1 hour.
  Serve a bed of rice in shallow bowl and top with grilled onion rings
  and chicken medallions. Top with a few leaves of arugula or baby kale.      

- See more at: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/18518_grilled_lemon_orange_chicken_with_roasted_garlic_rosemary_brown_and_wild_rice/#sthash.IGYXHfH8.dpuf

Morning Workouts! HA!

So I said a couple months ago that I was going to try to workout early in the morning. That hasn't really happened yet, but soon or later I am going to have to make that transition. Here are some ways to help get us to stop hitting the snooze button and get up and out the door!

1) Prep The Night Before- I already do this now. When I have my training group on Saturday mornings I put all my clothing out, including my socks so that I don't have to think about it in the morning. I can just get up, get dressed and get out the door.

2) Get A Morning Buddy- If you have a friend getting up at the same time as you, that you are going to meet, you are more likely to get up and get going! Or if you aren't meeting them send a message to them saying, "I'm up are you!" Make it a game. If you sleep in X amount of times you owe them a breakfast or something.

3) Don't start cold turkey!- Let's say you wake up at 7am everyday. Don't try to wake up at 4:30am tomorrow. Trust me, it won't happen! Try for 6:30am for a week or 2 to get used to it. And then go a little earlier gradually!

4) Make it a routine- And stick with it. Don't do this for one week then decide something else then try to go back. If you make this move you must stick to it!

5) Have a good reason to get up!- You need to have that motivation to get up or else you will hit snooze every morning. If this is the only time that you can go running out on the street before it gets too hot, or the kids wake up, do it! 

Be patient and give yourself time to adjust to your new schedule! And you too can be an early morning workout person!

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10 Miler Training Plan

I am in a local training group for my upcoming race, so a lot of the guess work for my training is already taken care of for me. I was given a handout with how many miles to run on X day and I'm golden. The training calls for weekly runs on Monday, Wednesdays and starting next week adding Thursday runs as well, then the long run with the group on Saturday mornings. Sounds easy.

My goals for the race though are I want to go into it strong. There are a lot of hills. That's Charlottesville for ya! So I am making sure to do strength training this time around. I did not do any strength training at all for the Princess half I trained for. Plus adding in yoga to keep me limber and stretched. ENTER PIYO! I am going to be doing a PiYo routine at least once a week to get the lower body strength training and stretching that I need. As you know buns, and core are my fav workouts in that series and I will be doing lower define too. Still debating on the rotation. Those workouts will be earlier in the week. As far away from the long run as possible!

For upper body strength I will be doing 21 day fix and possibly PiYo. But have thought about adding in P90X too. (mainly for core though)

I also want to increase my speed. That means less walking breaks and just a faster run in general. With previous trainings I ran around a 4.5 speed on the treadmill with walking between a 3.8-4.0. I avg to a 14:30 min/mile.

This time I want my running to be in the 5.0-5.5 range, and minimal walking breaks. The cool thing about my training group is that on Saturdays we will be running on parts of the actual course so my body will be used to the hills by race time. But I know I can do the 5.0-5.5 speed because I have done it before. I just have to find that groove and stick to it! Goal under 2 hours and 15 min  for the 10 miler. (I think that is realistic. I would love under 2 hours but I have to be honest and real!)

So weekly my training plan will look like this!

So Easy?

Why is it so hard to stay healthy and to eat well? Why is it so easy to gain weight? Do you ever ask yourselves these questions? I do. All. The. Time. I wish it wasn't so easy to gain weight that it was just something that happened to stay the same weight and never gain no matter what we ate. But it is easy. And it is so hard to take off the weight!

I look at my now 5 month old. He isn't active, well he is for 5 months, but he doesn't run around like his crazy older brother. Collin has rolls for days. And it is ok for him to be pudgy and have rolls and heaven knows that I love those rolls. But he is a prime example to what happens to us. In the 5 months he has bulked up to be the Michelin Man of babies, (there are babies out there that have way more rolls by the way.)

Or the Wall-e effect. At the end of the movie you see what happens to the humans. They are all in the floating chairs and no one walks. They lose muscle mass, and fat overtakes their bodies. And it takes strong hard work to get their bodies healthy again.

This is what happens to our bodies. If we just gorge on food we will gain weight. Our bodies need activity in general. That is why we have 2 legs to move us around and strong arms to lift things. Our bodies crave to move. As hard as it is to be active our bodies actually really like it.

So why is it so hard to stay healthy and eat well? Well, cause it just is. This is just one of those things that we face on this earth is to learn how to take care of our bodies so that they function to the best of their ability. It is sad but true. It takes daily work to eat healthy and to stay healthy. Time to stop making excuses and just deal with it. It is hard work. But the benefits to being healthy are ENDLESS! I want to be here for my kids! I want to be able to travel the world after my kids leave the house and explore this amazing world. Go off the beaten path as it were and enjoy life as long as I can. I want to be an example for my kids that being healthy is a way of life. I don't want them to have to work as hard as I have had to do or deal with the lower self confidence that you have as a kid with being overweight. I want to enjoy life!

~This post was my mental kick in the face I need to keep eating right and not falling off the wagon and eat things I want to eat!~

Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween from the Allen Family! I hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween and that all your kids made out like bandits in the candy department! We had a fun evening of frolic and tantrums, as I am sure that most parents experienced during the evening.

We started the evening with a visit from one of my students. His family took our family pictures which turned out pretty good. PS Don't stare too long at my WHITE legs, they might BLIND YOU! HAHA! (The draw back to being a fair skinned red head!)

Then we went around the neighborhood to trick or treat with our neighbors across the street. Mason made out pretty well.

We ended up stopping to chat with our newest neighbors. She happens to be a red head, blogger, mommy of 2 and a Team Beachbody coach too! That was pretty cool. I really look forward to getting to know her more.

Mason went to play at his friends house for about 45 min while Matt passed our candy and I went to chat. Collin had passed out in his costume and was napping inside.

Then Mason came back and wanted to help pass out Halloween candy. It was a fun and long night. I love halloween. It is pretty cool to see it from my son's perspective too. He learned that he had to say "trick or treat" to get candy so he was running around yelling "TRICK OR TREAT!" and when he was helping hand out handfuls of candy and as the other kids left he yelled at them, "WE HAVE MORE CANDY!" It was really cute! That was our night.

~I rounded up to 60 squats. Not as many as I thought I would do, that is for sure.~

 ~My little parrot at our church's trunk or treat~

Tips & Tricks: Healthy Halloween

7 TIPS AND TRICKS TO A HEALTHIER HALLOWEEN: 
1) Talk to your kids first and foremost about how much candy is enough. Kids like the idea of candy but do they really need all that candy? Talk to them first and say, we are only going to this one neighborhood this year. Also tell them that they can not empty their bag and start over. It is one bag only and explain how much they will get.

2) Find a smaller neighborhood and just go there. Or just go trick or treating at a local church. When you get home have them help pass out some candy or only go and see their friends house in the neighborhood.

~2013~

3) Line their trick or treating bag with batting or decorations. (Trick I do with our pass out candy!) (Pictured at top)

4) Fill the bottom of their bag with fruit, or make arrangements with a neighbor to give them fruit (you provide the fruit) Make that your first stop so that their bag is weighted down and so the fruit (apples and oranges) take up more room.

5) Make a "fill to this line only" line on their bag or bucket. Once the candy reaches that line, they are done.

6) Buy a smaller trick or treating bag. Invest in a customized one that just doesn't hold as much candy as the buckets do.

~Masson's Personalized Creations bag. Only about as big as his head!~

7) Talk about what you are going to do with all the candy. Make a pre-planned schedule as to when they will get their candy. Reward for doing chores? Or a sticker system?

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Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving

Did you know that the average american gains 7-12 pounds during the holidays? I don't want to be like that this year. Do you? I still want to enjoy what I eat but be healthy about it.

Join me for just 21 days BEFORE Thanksgiving to help you lose weight and get on the right track before Turkey Day! Sign up below and I will add you to the PRIVATE Facebook group and we can work together!

5 Month Old Collin

Collin, Collin, my sweet baby boy Collin is growing up WAY too quickly! I miss the tiny little baby and how small he was. But I do love how much personality he has. He loves to watch his big brother run around the room pushing his big trucks around. He loves to watch Archer trot around him, and if Collin spits up, Archer is right there in his face making sure Collin is ok and to sniff out the mess he made.

~Hey there, good looking!~

Collin is moving. We put him one place on the floor and in a few minutes he is in a whole new place. He just moves backwards, and and he can turn himself from one direction to another. He can also flip from tummy to back, not always on purpose but can't do the opposite.

~Perfect flat back!!!~

~Superbaby!~

This past month he moved from our room to his new bed in the nursery and seems to be doing well. He did spend some nights back in our room in his bassinet and in our bed. Thanks so some sickness he got. Sadly he is no longer sleeping through the entire night like he was. He is now waking up 2-3 times a night. 1 for comfort and 2 for feeding. He is pretty consistent. Goes to bed around 7:30-8 wakes up around 11 for comfort more than anything. Then 2am for food and 5am for food. Then back to sleep till 8am. Thankfully he doesn't do super long feeding like Mason did. Collin is done in 20-25 min tops. But the lack of sleep is really getting to me. I have not been able to keep up with my chores around my house, like cleaning, laundry or making homemade bread. (doing laundry is BAD for me right now. I just hate doing it!) Dinners have been hit or miss too. I often don't get a nap during the day and thankfully Shakeology helps out in the "giving me energy" bit but I am just worn out. So glad that Matt is around too, to help clean and pick up my slack.

This past month has been full of such beautiful sounds of laughter and cooing. He loves to giggle at us, or when I tickle him. He is super ticklish on his sides, back and upper legs. And he loves to coo at Matt. He just tells Matt all about his day. He does not do that to me! AT ALL! Matt misses a lot during the day and Collin likes to give him a play by play. It is really cute.

~I had to "reset" him back in the middle of the quilt. But here is where he ended up at the end of the pictures!~

Collin lights up and kicks and squirms when Matt or I enter a room. He just goes bonkers and gives us a super happy grin. Often at night he doesn't want to cuddle he just wants to go straight into his bed but before we close the door he props himself up and gives us a toothless grin to say goodnight and he is out! He is such an impressive little dude!

October Week 4 Recap

Going into the last week of my fav month! But that just means, lots of family time coming up  soon which I am so excited about!

This past week was more of the same with Collin and Mason. Collin is still planking like crazy, but he can get up onto his knees a lot easier. He is also trying to step with one foot while in hands and knees so he will be crawling by Thanksgiving. I am pretty sure about that. He slept really well the other night in his crib. Only squawking a couple of times then back to bed. He did wake up at 2am for a feeding, which I am fine about. Sadly the same night that Collin slept really well Mason did not. He got scared of something during the night and he ended up joining us in bed. Then when we finally got Mason back in bed, Archer threw up on the carpet. If it wasn't one thing it was another. Saturday night/Sunday morning was CRAZY!

I started training with the 10 miler training group. I am in group 1. Wah-Wah! I only did .75 miles. Yes I can do more, but since I haven't been running regularly I am in the beginning. Nov 3 I will be back at the gym and will be able to definitely get my runs in during the week on the treadmill. I am still planning on doing strength training and yoga to help me out too. Coming up with my plan now but I have my running schedule though. I am hoping to move up in groups fairly soon though. I just need to push past my mental barrier to not stop and walk! If any one has any advice on that please let me know!

In the workout front you will notice that I um... fell off the wagon. I am going to talk about what is going on later this week. It isn't an injury or anything, but I think I have a slight bit of postpartum depression. I am having a hard time nursing right now, since Collin is waking up hungry and fussing more I am thinking my milk isn't going well. But more on that later. I have just been in survival mode this past week. Everything is suffering, not just my workouts.

Workout:
Sunday: Yoga
Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: rest
Friday: rest
Saturday: .75 miles 30 sec walk/run intervals 1/4 mil cool down.

Total Mileage:
1 mile - 20 weeks postpartum