Race Season is Right Around the Corner.

If you're from anywhere near the northeast above West Virginia, then you know this winter has been rough. We've had weather in the negatives or single digits almost every morning for weeks. That ground hog wasn't kidding when he said 6 more weeks of winter. Getting to the gym has been tough becsuse every time I try to go we get hit with a snow storm. 

Training has had it's ups and downs though. Right now, I'm mostly making it to CrossFit 3 days a week and getting to the gym when I get there. To motivate myself I've made done new training schedules. 

I'm going to start working on my marathon training schedule this week. I plan on working in swimming and biking to my cross train days. Even though the calendar only has one workout on most days, there might be two. I think as long as I stick to my training schedule, I'll be as good as gold. 

I'm really hoping for some decent weather soon so I can get outside. In the meantime, I meal prepped with a summery salad to feel like it's summertime. 

I found a recipe similar on Pinterest under Triathlete Magazine's board. I had to change it up for myself a little bit. 

2 10oz. Cherry or grape tomatoes (Chopped)

2 Cucumbers

1 Purple onion 

1 Can white kidney beans (drained and rinsed) 

1 Can Garbonza Beans 

1/2 cup White or red wine vinegar (I used white)

4 tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & Peper 

Mix everything and refrigerate for 30 minutes before eating. 

My Weekly Disappointment

So, for the past three weeks it has been miserably cold. Not only in the single digits, but in the negatives.

I usually go to morning CrossFit but this week I just couldn't. The two weeks before that I would go but I would be miserable all day. Over exerting yourself while trying to breathe just isn't a good idea. I can make up the classes and miles while swimming and running. 

I know to some people -7 isn't that cold. Well, here where it hasn't done that in years, it's freezing. It hurts to breathe. The windchill was -30. Just walking a few steps was putting me out of breathe. I pretty much took this week off. I have found that resting does much more good than harm. It's okay to rest. It doesn't mean you're weak. Sometimes we all need a break. I'll never understand why some people get so prideful about weather and something's. When you tell someone that it's -7 and they have to feel big and bad to tell you, "Well, it's -8 here!" Dude, I don't care. Either way they're both cold! I'm not killing myself to get a workout in that I can make up. I know some people would disagree and that's okay. I really don't care. 

If you don't feel well it's okay to take a day or even a week off! Don't let someone make you feel obligated to go out and do it. 

In better news, it was over 25 here yesterday and will climb to 40 today. 

I also have big news coming up about the Pittsburgh Marathon & Panera Bread. Stay tuned and have a great weekend. 

Well, it happened.

Where we live in Pennsylvania, the snow fell hard this weekend. My husband and I were snowed in so that left us to cleaning our house, watching movies, and sitting on the computer. I went to CrossFit Saturday morning and spent until 1 cleaning out my parents house.  I also got my entire house cleaned and didn't stop all day Saturday or Sunday so in giving myself an extra rest day. 

Adam kept telling me that I could sign up for the triathlon next week before the price went up on the 31st. So after a few minutes thinking about it, we decided I could sign up this weekend. 

There's always something about that feeling right after you hit the "submit" or "confirm" button. It's that "Oh shit, did I just do that?!" Feeling. I don't care if you sign up for your first 5k or last 26.6 marathon. That nervousness kind of hits you like a bus even when the race is 5 months away. 

There's always questions running through your mind...

-Can I really do this?!

-Can I actually train for this?!

-Are there going to be fish in the water?! I'm afraid of fish! 

-What happens of you feel like you're going to drown?! 

-What if I paid all this money and come in last?!

-What the hell do I wear and how do I change for every event?!

So after I got over that part I was fine. I have a friend from CrossFit doing it with me too. She has done a triathlon before so I'm hoping she can guide me along. 

For the remainder of my weekend, I cleaned, cooked, read, and snuggled. It was a nice relaxing weekend. I started Sunday with snuggles from my two furbabies. 

I also meal prepped. 

I made turkey chili for this week, quinoa bars, strawberries (to feel like summer) and cauliflower pizza. That was wonderful! Hudson got the play in the snow for most of the day just to keep coming inside and track water on my freshly scrubed floor. 

It was a pretty relaxing weekend at our house. I'm not sure what the weather has planed so I'm not going to force down too many goals this week. A relaxing week will be nice. 

How was the weather where you live? 

What are the questions that go through you when you sign up for a race? 

 

Goals and Motivation

I don't know how or where it started, but all of a sudden I want to do a triathlon. I've been thinking of it for years but I think my first goal was a half marathon. Right after the new year I started looking into tri's in the area. I found one in Pittsburgh on July 27. It's Olympic distance and looks pretty manageable. I haven't signed up yet because I'm still contemplating on races...

That got me to thinking...

I could totally compete in an Ironman. Even if it's Ironman 70.3. I could totally do it. We started looking up races and I think my goal is going to be for this fall or even spring to compete. My biggest problem though is that I don't have a triathlon bike or $1,000+ for one. I'm planning on just using the bike that I have for the Olympic one and then moving into a tri bike once I get the funds. I feel like I'll be putting out a car payment. 

I went to a clinic this weekend that helped majorly with nutrition and fitness. 

I'm pretty sure it was the people there making me interested in ironman. I always think that I can do something like this but also second guess myself...

-What if I'm slow?

-What if I'm not fast enough and finish last? 

-What if I can't finish? 

I swear I'm not a Debbie Downer but those are things that cross my mind daily. 

If anyone that does ironman or triathlons that would love to give me advice, I'll gladly take it. You can leave me a post here, on twitter @thewheezyrunner or Facebook www.facebook.com/thewhezzyrunner 

Here's to a Healthy New Year!

Since we're in the middle of cold and flu season, I wanted to share my healthy organic chicken soup that I made this week when I got a little bug. It's full of vegetables and protein to help you fight your cold. 

What you'll need:

1large piece of garlic

1 TBS olive oil

3 Carrots (chopped up)

1/2 medium head of broccoli 

3 Celery sticks (chopped up)

2 Pieces of chicken (thawedboiled and chopped) 

1 container of Trader Joe's(or any) low sodium organic chicken broth

2 small zucchinis (optional)

Salt & pepper to taste 

What you do:

Put oil and garlic in pan. 

Heat it up. 

Next, sweat the veggies 

After that, add your broth. 

Let the veggies cook until they are tender. I taste a piece of broccoli and carrots to make sure. 

Then add your chicken for a few minutes. 

That's it! All done. I added salt and pepper to taste but you can put in whatever you want. I also froze it so I have it for next time.  

Stay healthy! 

Merry Christmas!

This past weekend was my husband's birthday so we got to celebrate at a friend's camp. It was a nice relaxing weekend, except for Friday night. 

This handsome guy wouldn't sleep without me in front of his cage on a hard tile floor. I got 3 hours of sleep. (Bad sleep) Luckily we didn't have anywhere to be Saturday so we just hung out all day. 

This morning I took Him for a walk/run around the area. He loved every minute of it. Afterwards a friend and I got out work out in. 

Can you guess what we ate all weekend? 

I try not to go more than 48 hours without some sort of exercise. It wasn't a lob workout but it was enough to get a good sweat. 

Have a Merry Christmas! 

Marathon Thoughts and New Resolutions

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I have not gotten any Christmas shopping done. Usually I'm done by now but I did buy myself some cyber Monday goodies. I bought two pairs of shoes from Macy's online buy 1 get 1 and I also bought a race application. The big NYRR New York marathon opened its application process on Monday. I sent my husband an email at work asking what he thought about me at least putting in an application for the lottery to see if I would get picked. As loving an supportive as he is, he told me to go for it. In my next sentence I told him that I had no clue how much it actually costs and what if it's too much to do. He told me that we'd figure it out when the time comes. So with that being said I put in my application.  I'll find out in march if I hit the lottery. 

Have you decided on your New Years resolution yet? I love making resolutions and the new year. I love the fresh start. After contemplating what mine were going to be, I've finally figured it out!

I'm sure everyone has seen on Pinterest that "gym savings bank" the pin that tells you to put a dollar in a jar every time you work out and than once you hit $100 you spend it. Well, I'm putting my own little twist on it. Different prices for different work outs. Here's how it's going to work. 

CrossFit: $2

Run: $1 

Home work out:$1

Races:

5k: $5

10: $10

Half: $13.10

Full: $26.20

I'll keep it until next year to see how much I've collected. 

My other resolution is to only eat out once a month or if we're celebrating something. I've noticed that we spend way too much money on going out on the weekends. I'd rather save it and spend it on things that we want to do. 

Those are my resolutions. I'll probably add more too it but those are to start. 

What are your resolutions?