Last Weekend Before the School Year + Training Log 7/27

Good morning!  How's your Monday going so far?  I decided to take it easy this morning, since I only have three days before having to go back to work.  I'm slightly freaking out, but I'm trying to soak in these days with Baby Fish as much as possible.

That being said, let's jump on in to a recap of this weekend and my training log for the week!

Friday
Joe was off from work, so I'm starting my weekend on Friday :)  Baby Fish and I would up sleeping in until 10 am (big deal, y'all!--after a 7am feeding).  Joe was already awake when we got up, so the three of us hung around.  It's so much fun to have Joe at home and playing with us!  We also took care of some chores, including moving all of my teaching stuff into my new classroom.

Pre-planning for the new school year starts on Thursday of this week, and I wanted to make sure everything was moved in before that started.  I was really thankful to have the help, too!

After a little more hang-out time at home, Joe went down to Gainesville for a friend's birthday.  Baby Fish and I decided to spend the evening at home after 10 days of being away for vacation!  We just played on the play mat and caught up on the DVR before an early bedtime for both of us!

Saturday
We woke up a little bit earlier on Saturday, but Baby Fish, Tequila, and I took advantage of that by going for a walk!  We went about 1.5 miles, and I kept thinking while we walked what a great way that was to start the day.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was low-key with some play time, nap time, and more DVR-clearing.  Joe got back around 6, and we spent the evening watching all of the Sharknado movies.  If you haven't seen them...oh my!  The movies are quite ridiculous, but it was a fun way to spend our Saturday night.

Sunday
For church on Sunday, we drove up to go with Joe's grandparents. We put Baby Fish in the nursery at church for the first time in preparation of her going to day care later this week.  I think it went great fro what the nursery volunteer said.  Good stuff!  Afterward, we went to lunch and spent some time catching up with Joe's grandparents.  It was great to see them, since Baby Fish and I hadn't been up to see them in about a month!

When we got home, the rest of the day was spent hanging around the house, a short walk in the park, going for a run, and watching some TV in the evening.  It was a pretty low-key but fun day all around!

Training Log 7/20-7/27
I'll be honest and say that this week was quite a lazy one on the workout/training front.  Despite being a part of a 21 Day Fix challenge group, I've made a lot of excuses to avoid workouts.
Monday-rest/travel day
Tuesday-Upper Fix DVD
Wednesday-lazy day
Thursday-lazy day
Friday-lazy day
Saturday-1.5 mile walk
Sunday-2.25 mile run

I go back to work on Thursday of this week, so I'm hoping that having a more set schedule will help me schedule in my workouts and actually get them in.

Question for you: What'd you do this weekend?  Have you seen any of the Sharknado movies?  What were your workouts like this week?

God is like the Ocean...

Last week, after a day on the beach, I had a really interesting train of thought while showering off the sunscreen and sand.  (I've always done my best thinking while in the shower!)  I was reflecting on the day, and thanking God for his beautiful creation by listing things I'd seen on the beach.

Well, doing so got me thinking: the ocean has so many of the same characteristics as God!

When I was growing up, I remember my mom posting a list she got in Sunday School of similes for God on the refrigerator, things like "God is like Coke...He's the real thing!"  But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the ocean is the perfect simile for God in many, many ways!

God is like the ocean...we'll never fully understand the depths.

In the same way we'll never experience the full depth of the ocean, we will never fully understand God while we are here on this earth.  One thing I think we as humans have trouble with is that God does not reveal everything about Himself to us.  It makes us doubt Him and struggle to have faith in Him.  The ocean is the same way--we can't see exactly what we're getting in to when we go in.  It requires a lot of faith and trust in the unknown.  

God isn't going to reveal His whole self to us.  Heck, we might not even fully know Him when we get to Heaven, since even the seraphim cover their faces in the presence of God (Isaiah 6:2)!  But, it requires us to trust in Him and take a leap of faith in living a life for Him.

God also said to Moses, "I am the Lord.  I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself fully known to them." 

Exodus 6:2-3

God is like the ocean...powerful and mighty!

I think this goes without saying, but the ocean is a very powerful (and dangerous) place!  There are strong waves, rip currents, wild animals, etc. that are a lot stronger than we are.  When we go in to the ocean, we really do put ourselves in its mercy when it comes to all of those things.  In the same way, God is all-powerful, and we are at His mercy in our lives.  He gives us free will, but ultimately He has the power to rule over the universe and all of His creation.

"Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit"

Psalm 147:5

God is like the ocean...full of life.

The ocean is full of animals, so many that we could never count!  God brings us life in the same way.  Living out His calling on our lives is what will truly fulfill us.  Living in Him is what will gives us a full life!

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

God is like the ocean...peaceful and relaxing.

I don't know about you, but I'm at peace when I'm near a body of water!  There's nothing quite like sitting on the beach with your feet at the water's edge, listening to the waves come crashing down then recede.

God is the same way.  If you fully rely on Him and rest in Him, He will bring you peace.  I am a worrier, but honestly, the times that I have turned a situation over to God to deal with, I have never felt more calm or at peace.  Being in Him is hard work, but it really can bring the best relaxation and peace you've ever experienced!

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid"

John 14:27

Side note: While I was thinking about this, the praise song "Your Love Never Fails" came to my mind. Well, when we went to church on Sunday, guess what was one of the songs the band played during worship?  Yup!  "Your Love Never Fails!"  I LOVE it when I see evidence of God speaking to me :)

Question for you: What simile for God can you think of?

Tuesdays on the Run: Chiropractic Treatment for Runners

As you know if you've been reading for a while, my husband just spent 3 years in chiropractic school and is now a practicing chiropractor!

That's why today's Tuesdays on the Run topic is so important to me--alternative treatments for runners!

I'm linking up today with Erika, Patty, and April to talk about why chiropractic care is so great for runners, especially in treating running injuries!

Chiropractors treat more than just the spine and neck.
There's a saying that chiropractors are "crackin' necks and gettin' checks."  Well, until I watched Joe go through chiropractic school, I had no idea that chiropractors can do SO MUCH MORE than that!

When I started running, I had some pain behind my knee.  Joe suggested I go to the student clinic to get checked out.  I was skeptical, since I was having knee pain, but I went anyway.  If nothing else, I figured I could help one of his friends get in her numbers for graduation at the clinic.

I shared all about this experience before, so I won't go back through all of it now.  Long story short: my knee pain was fixed!  Chiropractors have lots of different techniques to use for just about all parts of the body.  If you're having an issue in an area of the body, call a chiropractic office and see if they are able to treat those area.  Sports chiropractors, in particular, do so much more than just neck and back adjustments!

There are so many treatments that a chiropractor can do!
Chiropractors do so much more than adjustments.  For my knee pain, I received the Graston treatment.  I've also received the Active Release Techniques (ART) to help address muscle pain in numerous areas.  That's the great thing about chiropractors-there are just so many things they can do.

Chiropractors find the source of pain and work to correct that.
Another issue I've had is IT Band issues.  After telling my chiropractor about those, she ran me through a series of exercises and determined that I had some hip instability that caused those issues.  She gave me some exercises to do to correct that instability, and I have to say that it REALLY helped!  When I do those hip strengthening exercises, I do not have any IT band pain!

I love that my chiropractor looked for the source of my pain and helped correct that instead of just treat me and send me on my way.  It's so important to correct any issues to prevent further injuries, and most chiropractors look to do that.  Specifically for runners, correcting these issues can really help with your running form.

If you are interested in trying chiropractic care, call different doctors and speak with them about what they do.  Tell them about your issues or what you're interested in gaining from care, and they will tell you what they will and won't do!  Chiropractors are so, so diverse in their practice, so it's important to find the one that's right for you.

Question for you: Have you ever seen a chiropractor?  What forms of alternative medicine have you used?

Vacation Weekend + Training Log 7/20

Hey, everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend.  Oh, and I guess a great week last week, too!  The blog was pretty quiet thanks to my family vacation.

Joe, Baby Fish, and I met my parents and aunt and uncle at Sunset Beach, NC for a week of fun in the sun!  We spent lots of time on the beach and playing games.  A great time was had by all!  Sadly, Joe had to head home on Tuesday to work for the second half of the week.  We sure missed him.

Baby Fish and I are actually still in Richmond, VA with my parents right now but fly home later tonight.  It was more economical to fly out on Monday from a larger airport (than Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC), plus I wanted Baby Fish to see my brother and sister-in-law!

Now that we've caught up a little on last week, let's go in to more detail about the weekend!

Friday
Friday was our last full day at the beach!  We had a leisure start to the day and made it out to the beach around 10 in the morning.  With about an hour break for lunch, we were out there until about 4.

There was quite a bit of packing and cleaning to do, so we took care of all that and got take out from our local favorite restaurant, Twin Lakes, for dinner.  Yummy!  The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the sunset from the "crow's nest" (rooftop deck),

getting ice cream from the ice cream store,

and playing a few games.  The last day of vacation is always a sad one, but we managed to still fit in a lot of family fun!

Saturday
The first part of our Saturday was spent driving to Richmond.

When we got home, we rushed to unload the van before heading back out to help my brother and sister-in-law move in to their new house!  They closed on their first home on Thursday, so we offered to help clean out their apartment on Saturday.  Eric, my brother, met us over there, and we were able to finish up there rather quickly.  Eric even witnessed Baby Fish rolling over multiple times--so fun!

We made a quick trip to their house to drop off the last of their things from the apartment and got a quick tour.  My sister-in-law Sara and her family were working over there, so we quickly said hi and went out for some food.  Cleaning is tough work!

After grabbing dinner, we went home and pretty much crashed.  And I have to say, even though we had such a long and tiring day, Baby Fish was a trooper the whole time!!!  She is a champ at traveling and going to see other people.  We are so blessed to have such an easy-going, happy child.

Sunday
After some baby snuggles in the morning,

we headed off for church and lunch.  My parents' church just got a new pastor, so it was nice to get to meet her!  My brother plays drums for the contemporary service, so that was fun to hear him play.  We all had a good time at lunch, as well.

There was more work to be done helping Eric and Sara, so mom and I headed over to pitch in.  We stopped by their old apartment first to quickly finish up some things.  Eric met us over there, and I had to get a picture of him leaving the apartment for the last time!

Yes, that is a Pokemon bag.  My mom has saved it for about 10 years!

Next stop: the new house!  The previous owners left the house really messy, so we worked on cleaning up the bathrooms with Eric.  It was kind of fun to hang out while getting stuff done.  The best part was seeing all of our hard work pay off!

We left Baby Fish with my dad, and when we got home, it was fun to hear his account of how things went.  She's doing well being away from Joe and me, so that's a great sign!

The rest of the evening was pretty low-key, but that's just what we all needed after all the work at Eric's new house and coming back from vacation!

Training Log 7/13-7/19
Spoiler Alert: Not much happened as far as "formal" exercise this week.  However, I did do a lot of non-traditional activity each day.  Let me tell you, carrying all our beach stuff AND a baby from the house to the beach (and vice versa) multiple times a day sure was a workout!
Monday-Total Body Cardio Fix DVD + evening walk
Tuesday-beach walk
Wednesday-beach walk + evening walk for ice cream!
Thursday-rest day
Friday-rest day
Saturday-cleaning/helping my brother move
Sunday-2.6 mile run + 10-Minute Ab Fix DVD

I am starting another round of the 21 Day Fix this week and am committing to following it FULLY!  I also plan to get in three runs this week in an effort to train for a fall race!

Question for you: What'd you do this weekend?  Where does your family vacation?

Fitness Survey

Hey everyone!  I meant to come chat with you people earlier in the week, but vacation got in the way.

We are at the beach with my family and enjoying every minute!

While we go soak up some sun, I have a fun survey for you today!  I saw this posted on Chelsea's blog a few weeks ago and thought it was the perfect thing to share with you while I'm on vacation.  Enjoy!

1. Five fitness items I can't live without

• A good pair of running shoes
• Cute workout clothes
• A non-leaking water bottle (preferably with a straw!)
• My FitBit
• A BAMR Band in my hair

2. On my fitness bucket list
A few items on my fitness bucket list include running a marathon and becoming a fitness instructor.  Ultimately, I'd really just like to get in to a good fitness routine and eliminate the excuses I make for not exercising.

3. Must-have tech tools
I have two favorites.  I love using the RunKeeper app on my phone.  I like all of the statistics it gives you, particularly when completing training runs.  It's a great place to log all of your runs (using the app or just entering them online) for monthly mileage and pace data, too!

My other favorite tech tool is my Garmin Forerunner 110 watch.  I wear this most often during races so that I have easy-to-access time and pace information.

Either way, I rarely run without some sort of distance and time tracking device!

4. Top exercise gear
I am a big fan of Sparkle Skirts for running.

Also, I recently discovered Fabletics (affiliate link) workout gear and love it!  They have clothing for every kind of exercise, and I love all the colors and patterns!

Asics is my preferred brand of running shoes.

5. Motivational Mantra
This isn't necessarily a mantra, but I do the "just go this far, then you can take a break" game with myself.  For example, if I'm getting tired during a run, I'll set a place to run to, then give myself a walking break.  What's funny is that once I get to that point, I'm normally good to go and keep running!  I use this game while doing other exercises by setting a number of reps or seconds to get to before taking a break.  It's really a mind game to keep pushing myself.  It definitely is motivating!

6. Next big exercise goal
Right now, my big exercise goal is to get back to my pre-pregnancy fitness level.  I'm working on doing that by committing to another round of the 21-Day Fix, as well as following a training plan for a fall race.

If all goes well this month, my big goal would be running the Richmond Marathon in November.  I'm still undecided but hope to make a decision soon!

7. Favorite Cardio Exercise

(I am going to buy this picture now b/c it's so good!)

I think my answer to this is pretty obvious--running!  I will say, though, I was quite the Zumba-er before moving to Florida.  The instructor at my gym was AWESOME, and going there was more like a party than exercise.  If I can find a good Zumba instructor, I will definitely be adding that back in to my life!

8. Favorite Strength Move
I love all sorts of core strengthening moves, but my two overall favorite strength moves are squats and planks!  Call me crazy, but I feel super accomplished after holding a plank for a while!

Question for you: Pick a question and answer it in the comments!!

Peachtree Road Race Recap

When I found out I was selected to run this year's Peachtree Road Race in the race lottery, I was beyond excited.  This race has been on my race bucket list since it's my grandfather's favorite race, so I was pretty excited to be running it as my first major race after having a baby.

The Peachtree Road Race is a 10K run every year on July 4th in Atlanta.  The course takes runners down historic Peachtree Street in the heart of downtown Atlanta.  It's a point-to-point race, starting at Lenox Square and finishing at Piedmont Park.  This was my first point-to-point race, so I was interested to see how that would work out.

Before actually getting to the race, I knew this was going to be a great experience.  The organizers sent detailed information via e-mail about every two weeks leading up to the race.  I felt very informed about how things would work on race day, and I really appreciated that!

On race day, I woke up to overcast skies.  Joe dropped me off at the MARTA station near our friends' house, and I rode in to the city to the start line.  This process wound up being really easy, and even though I wasn't 100% sure where to get off, I followed some PRR veterans to get off at the right stop.

Since there are 65,000 runners, the race employs a wave start.  I planned on just arriving to the race around my wave's start time, and as I walked up to the start line, my wave was passing right by me.  Perfect timing!

As I lined up with my wave, it started to rain.  I was really not prepared for rain, so this was a bit of a bummer.  I started getting down on myself with how the race would go, but I decided to put those thoughts behind me and go for a great first race postpartum.  In my mind, that meant an 11:00/mile pace.

The rain was pretty steady for the first mile, and about 1.5 miles, there was a crack of lightening and thunder.  I was afraid they'd make us stop the race, but nothing like that happened.  Apparently, it did delay the start for some of the waves.

Despite the rain, there was AMAZING crowd support!  You could really tell what an important tradition this race is to the city of Atlanta.  All of the volunteers and policemen had smiles on their faces, cheering the runners on.  People sat outside of their houses and residential buildings with signs and noise makers.  It was so great to have all of the support throughout the course!

I was feeling great through the first 3 miles.  I'd looked at the course elevation chart, and I knew there was a big uphill section coming (called "Cardiac Hill").  The looming hill messed with my mind during the 4th mile, but after walking up that hill, I had a great rest of the race.

As I turned the corner on to 10th Street and saw the finish line, I got emotional.  I was thinking about my grandfather running that race so many times.  I was thinking about how proud of myself I was for feeling this great 3 months postpartum.  I was pushing myself to reach my goal.  And I'm happy to say that I did it!!

The race course was actually about 6.3 miles, so my time put me under an 11:00/mile pace!

I moved through the finisher area with ease, getting my finisher t-shirt, food box, and a bottle of water.  For so many runners, this was all organized very well and I got through it very quickly.  Big bonus--they gave you a bag to put everything in!  Score!!

Overall, I loved this race, despite the rain!  The organization was awesome, the course is great, the crowd support was incredible, and I had a great race.  I plan to sign up in the future, for sure!

Question for you:  Did you run a race on July 4th?  Have you ever run a race in the rain?

Baby Fish: 3 Month Update

On Tuesday, someone turned 3 months old!

We had another fun month with her, including some pool time,

a trip to Atlanta to see a Braves game,

her first baby sitter,

trying to sit up with assistance,

and taking lots of selfies with mom.

We don't have a 3 month doctor appointment (we go back at 4 months), so I took some rough measurements because I was curious:
Height: 25.5 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 14.6 pounds (75th percentile)

Eat
Baby Fish is still a good little eater!  She breast feeds about 6-8 times a day about 2-3 hours apart.  The new thing this month was starting rice cereal once a week!

I've been mixing a small spoonful of the rice cereal with 5-6 spoonfuls of breast milk and essentially dumping it in her mouth.  The pediatrician suggested doing this two times a week to avoid constipation, and that seems to be working pretty well for her!

She still does not take a bottle very well.  We are going to try some different bottles (any suggestions would be welcome!!), but this does make me a little nervous since she'll start day care in a few weeks.

Sleep
Sleep is still good, as well.  Her bedtime is pretty consistently between 8 and 9, and she sleeps until around 6am.  She usually eats, then goes to sleep for another 1-3 hours.  There are a few nights she'll wake up between 3-4am to eat, but those are few and far between.

She's still taking a 3-hour nap and one or two 1-hour naps each day.

She's also found her thumb in the last week, which normally puts her to sleep when she sucks on it.  She doesn't protest when we take it out of her mouth, so that works well.  Hopefully that won't become a habit, but I won't lie, that's really come in handy with her being able to soothe herself on car rides!

The nice thing is that she wakes up happy.  She'll sort of cry when she wakes up, but then when we go in to the room, she starts making happy noises.

Play
Baby Fish gets more and more active, and it's a lot of fun!

She is intentionally grabbing things and shaking them.  On her play mat, she'll even pull some of the things off!

It's pretty cute.  She also makes faces at us and enjoys interacting with people.

She's also now found her feet and likes to watch them move when she sits in her car seat.

The big development: she's started rolling over!

She very easily gets on her side, and she's pretty much made it to her stomach.  Her bottom arm gets in her way when trying to get all the way over to her stomach, but she's pretty much there!

Baby Fish likes:
-being held/around people
-waking up
-eating
-cuddle/PJ time in the morning
-playing on her play mat
-looking at mom and dad
-taking walks in the stroller
-rolling and scooting

Baby Fish dislikes:
-being set down in the evening (she really wants to be around people in the evening)
-waiting to eat
-bottles/pacifiers (though she doesn't scream anymore when we try a pacifier)
-shots (had our first round at the last appointment)
-wearing headbands when she's falling asleep

Overall, Baby Fish is such a happy little baby!  We love you, Baby Fish, and look forward to everything new in the upcoming month!

Previous Updates:
2 Months

1 Month