Have you ever heard of the Ragnar race series? It's a relay consisting of 12 team members running approximately 200 miles over the course of 2 days. Runners are divided into two teams and each person has 3 legs of the race to run, all varying distances. I first heard about Ragnar about a year ago, when a friend of ours posted photos from the SoCal event. I had just gotten back into running and it sounded like a fun, exciting challenge.
Fast forward to January of this year. I saw a post in a Facebook group about a team looking for a member for their team. Somebody had to drop out due to injury and they needed to fill slot number 12 for the SoCal Ragnar, happening April 7-8. I jumped at the opportunity and the next day found myself a member of The Repeat Offenders.
I had all these glorious plans of training, including back to back runs, hills and long distances. I had 3+ months to prepare, but here I am less than 2 weeks out from Ragnar having done very little of said training! I know that I could go out tomorrow and run 10 miles, but doing it on very little sleep and tired/sore legs? I'm worried! The distances I have to cover are 4.9, 4.6 and 7.8, for a total of 17.3 miles.
I am mostly worried about getting a migraine because I tend to get them when I overexert myself. I know my legs will hurt. Last week I ran 3 miles in the morning and 3 more that same evening. My legs felt terrible! I had planned to run in the morning again with my girlfriends but cancelled because I was in pain and didn't want to risk an injury. My friend and biggest resource of running knowledge suggested I try compression socks, so I ordered a pair from ProCompression to wear for recovery. I had planned to run at least twice back to back this weekend but I've been suffering from a 3-day migraine that won't seem to quit so I have yet to try my socks.
This week, I am writing mileage goals down for at least 4 days this week in my planner. I have to commit to getting some good training in before I run out of time!
xo, Annie
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Whole 30 Failure
I am so, so mad at myself. I'll start this by saying I know it is my fault and I can't blame anybody else for eating off-plan. I was on Day 15 when we went out to eat at our favorite pizza place down the street. Damn you, East Coast Pizza! My husband's brother and his girlfriend were staying with us for the week and wanted to eat at all of our favorite local spots. When pizza was brought up, I told myself "It's okay, I can eat one "bad" meal and go right back to the Whole 30 plan." Obviously it wouldn't be a strict 30 days and the rules state that you must start back at day 1 if you cheat, but I was okay with that.
Well, that one dinner turned into two, and then lunch and I have found myself right back at square one. My mom brought over my favorite Oreo cookies and a mini cake yesterday and I ate way more than I would care to admit. Sugar is my number one addiction so it's incredibly frustrating when she does things like this, knowing the struggle I have had my entire adult life.
At this point, I don't know what to do. It took my body a good week to adjust when I started the Whole 30, and I am running in the Ragnar SoCal relay in less than 3 weeks. I know better than to start at day 1 with that happening in the middle. After Ragnar is my birthday, Easter, then my husband's birthday. Maybe we should start a birthday tradition of celebrating without big meals and just power through the 30 days anyway? I don't know!
I am going to try eating clean until we start again. My mom is flying home this week and that will make it a million times easier not having her constantly stock our cupboard with cookies, crackers, ice cream and candy. I'll post another update once I have a plan for the Whole 30 again.
Well, that one dinner turned into two, and then lunch and I have found myself right back at square one. My mom brought over my favorite Oreo cookies and a mini cake yesterday and I ate way more than I would care to admit. Sugar is my number one addiction so it's incredibly frustrating when she does things like this, knowing the struggle I have had my entire adult life.
At this point, I don't know what to do. It took my body a good week to adjust when I started the Whole 30, and I am running in the Ragnar SoCal relay in less than 3 weeks. I know better than to start at day 1 with that happening in the middle. After Ragnar is my birthday, Easter, then my husband's birthday. Maybe we should start a birthday tradition of celebrating without big meals and just power through the 30 days anyway? I don't know!
I am going to try eating clean until we start again. My mom is flying home this week and that will make it a million times easier not having her constantly stock our cupboard with cookies, crackers, ice cream and candy. I'll post another update once I have a plan for the Whole 30 again.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Whole 30- Day 10
I'm officially 1/3 of the way through the Whole30 program! If you asked me how I was doing on Monday, I would have sworn there was no way I would make to day 10 but here I am pushing through.
The backstory-
I've struggled with my weight pretty much all of my adult life. I have terrible snacking habits and a sugar addiction that I haven't been able to out-exercise no matter how hard I've tried. In the past I've tried to eat more "clean" but by the time the evening rolls around my plan falls apart and I'm back to grazing on junk. I've tried Weight Watchers (hated the promotion of low-fat and low-sugar items) and 21 Day Fix (some success but ultimately not sustainable for me).
Last month, my friend Smitha asked me to join her following the Whole30 program. I googled it and immediately said no! I thought there was no way I could eliminate all of of those elements from my diet at the same time and that I would fail. A few weeks later, I watched the documentary Fed Up on Netflix and my entire mindset changed. It focuses on how sugar is the root of so many health problems, especially obesity, in America and how so many people form actual addictions to sugar. While watching, my inner voice kept screaming "This is you! This is Joe! This is the reason why it is so damn hard to lose the weight!" I immediately started pinning Whole30 recipes to a new Pinterest board, bought the Whole30 book and dove in headfirst alongside my husband.
We started our Whole30 on March 1 and by day 2, I had a terrible headache which I knew was bound to happen as my body detoxed for the sugar I was used to consuming day in and day out. I felt exhausted and unhappy. Days 5 and 6 were the worst, by far. My head had been hurting for 4 days at that point and all I wanted was sugar. I had to skip out on my morning running group. I skipped yoga because I was even too tired for that. I had to take naps mid-day and it felt like I was still running on fumes until I would pass out into bed with my boys by 7:45pm. I texted Smitha and my husband telling them I was about to give up. I am so lucky to have supportive people in my life to keep me going because I managed to power through it.
On day 8, I woke up feeling like a new person. My headache was gone, I wasn't tired all day and I even went to my 9pm yoga class. Yesterday (day 9) I went to a morning Hot Power Fusion yoga class and still had enough energy to run 4 miles last night with Joe after our boys were asleep.
Today is day 10 and I am feeling so incredibly positive about the changes we are making. We still have some off-limit food items in our cupboard but I haven't been tempted to cheat in a few days, which is HUGE for me. My pants are fitting looser in the waist already and my stomach feels so much more flat. I'm starting to think I had gotten used to being in a permanent bloated state, which is pretty sad. I am kicking myself for not taking any photos before day 6 because I'd love to see comparisons when this is over. I feel so motivated to keep going not only because of physical changes but especially the mental changes.
Here's to 20 more days!
xo, Annie
The backstory-
I've struggled with my weight pretty much all of my adult life. I have terrible snacking habits and a sugar addiction that I haven't been able to out-exercise no matter how hard I've tried. In the past I've tried to eat more "clean" but by the time the evening rolls around my plan falls apart and I'm back to grazing on junk. I've tried Weight Watchers (hated the promotion of low-fat and low-sugar items) and 21 Day Fix (some success but ultimately not sustainable for me).
Last month, my friend Smitha asked me to join her following the Whole30 program. I googled it and immediately said no! I thought there was no way I could eliminate all of of those elements from my diet at the same time and that I would fail. A few weeks later, I watched the documentary Fed Up on Netflix and my entire mindset changed. It focuses on how sugar is the root of so many health problems, especially obesity, in America and how so many people form actual addictions to sugar. While watching, my inner voice kept screaming "This is you! This is Joe! This is the reason why it is so damn hard to lose the weight!" I immediately started pinning Whole30 recipes to a new Pinterest board, bought the Whole30 book and dove in headfirst alongside my husband.
We started our Whole30 on March 1 and by day 2, I had a terrible headache which I knew was bound to happen as my body detoxed for the sugar I was used to consuming day in and day out. I felt exhausted and unhappy. Days 5 and 6 were the worst, by far. My head had been hurting for 4 days at that point and all I wanted was sugar. I had to skip out on my morning running group. I skipped yoga because I was even too tired for that. I had to take naps mid-day and it felt like I was still running on fumes until I would pass out into bed with my boys by 7:45pm. I texted Smitha and my husband telling them I was about to give up. I am so lucky to have supportive people in my life to keep me going because I managed to power through it.
On day 8, I woke up feeling like a new person. My headache was gone, I wasn't tired all day and I even went to my 9pm yoga class. Yesterday (day 9) I went to a morning Hot Power Fusion yoga class and still had enough energy to run 4 miles last night with Joe after our boys were asleep.
Today is day 10 and I am feeling so incredibly positive about the changes we are making. We still have some off-limit food items in our cupboard but I haven't been tempted to cheat in a few days, which is HUGE for me. My pants are fitting looser in the waist already and my stomach feels so much more flat. I'm starting to think I had gotten used to being in a permanent bloated state, which is pretty sad. I am kicking myself for not taking any photos before day 6 because I'd love to see comparisons when this is over. I feel so motivated to keep going not only because of physical changes but especially the mental changes.
Here's to 20 more days!
xo, Annie
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Intro
Hello!
I'm going to start out my first post with a short introduction. I'm Annie! I am a midwesterner that moved to Southern California about 3 years ago. I married my husband Joe in 2009 and we have two boys- Flynn, 6 and Eli, 2.
So what brought us to California? I have family in San Diego and always grew up taking vacations here. I fell in love with the west coast early on and after a trip with my husband, he too was convinced that it was the place for us. We arrived back home to Michigan to a snowed in driveway and my husband began looking at jobs in San Diego. He started applying and after several FaceTime interviews was hired! We had two weeks to get our house on the market, pack our belongings and make the move. Oh yeah- we had a 3 year old and I was 7 months pregnant at the time! It was a crazy month but everything fell into place perfectly.
It was so easy to settle in here and make San Diego our home. I could go on and on about all the amazing things we love so much, but I'll save that for a future post.
Some random things I love: Coffee with a splash of almond milk and flavored creamer, Sephora, sunny days, the beaches at Coronado, CorePower yoga, Lululemon, 4:55am running group, doing laundry (weird I know), succulents, reading, anything from Lush, and walking Flynn home from Kindergarten.
xo, Annie
I'm going to start out my first post with a short introduction. I'm Annie! I am a midwesterner that moved to Southern California about 3 years ago. I married my husband Joe in 2009 and we have two boys- Flynn, 6 and Eli, 2.
So what brought us to California? I have family in San Diego and always grew up taking vacations here. I fell in love with the west coast early on and after a trip with my husband, he too was convinced that it was the place for us. We arrived back home to Michigan to a snowed in driveway and my husband began looking at jobs in San Diego. He started applying and after several FaceTime interviews was hired! We had two weeks to get our house on the market, pack our belongings and make the move. Oh yeah- we had a 3 year old and I was 7 months pregnant at the time! It was a crazy month but everything fell into place perfectly.
It was so easy to settle in here and make San Diego our home. I could go on and on about all the amazing things we love so much, but I'll save that for a future post.
Some random things I love: Coffee with a splash of almond milk and flavored creamer, Sephora, sunny days, the beaches at Coronado, CorePower yoga, Lululemon, 4:55am running group, doing laundry (weird I know), succulents, reading, anything from Lush, and walking Flynn home from Kindergarten.
xo, Annie
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