Changes + Challenges

Changes + Challenges

    It has been over a week and a half of successful Paleo eating habits. I'm loving it in fact. It really isn't too far off my typical choices, but definitely eliminates food I love to indulge in...candy, soda, and all my baking.

This last week or so my typical day looks like this:

• 7:30 either - a. have a protein shake mixed with almond milk or b. 4 egg whites + one whole egg scrambled with onions and peppers
• Between 8:30-12 I typically consume - 2 Cuties, an apple, handful of sliced almonds, a banana, meat of some type (ground beef or tuna), and some raw veggies
• Lunch time - 3 servings of steamed veggies, seasoned
• Between 12:30-4 I finish my sliced almonds, have another Cutie, maybe an apple, and some carrots
• Dinner has been - a. shrimp + veggies, b. ground beef or elk with lots of salsa and veggies, or c. a giant salad with spinach, kale, beef, veggies, and salsa. 
• Dessert has been - a. a great smoothie with bananas, carrots, oranges, watermelon, almond milk, and kale or b. a chocolate protein shake after a workout

     I was starting to get full faster, but also hungrier more often, even though I was always eating, literally every hour. Because of this, I felt it was necessary to track my food for a couple days...figure out exactly what was going on. *On a side note, logging in your food via many free apps out there is by far the best weight loss tool (if that is something you are looking to achieve). To take ownership in what you ate, and recognize how much you've had throughout the day is vital. If you are logging your food you can not pretend you had one Hershey Kiss when really you had 9. The guilt will get to you. :)  It also breaks down the carbs, protein, sugars, etc. which can be very useful.

   Anyhow, back to my results...
Surprisingly, this minimal amount of food fills up my caloric goals! Which terrifies me a bit, considering I was previously consuming all of that plus some processed foods like granola bars, yogurt, soda, candy, and anything else that happened to come up on any given day, usually some baked goods here and there.
      Overall, the food changes that I have made have been great. The bet is going well, Deb and I are powering through! I might be paying in $5 though while I bake all my Super Bowl treats for our staff potluck on Friday. I mean, I can't serve them to people without sampling them. What if there was not enough vanilla, powdered sugar, or cinnamon? I will be making cookie dough + pretzels dipped in chocolate (see below), Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcakes, angel food blueberry cupcakes, and cake batter Rice Krispies with buttercream frosting. Yum!

Pretzels + Cookie Dough dipped in chocolate

30 Day Challenge

Every so often I feel inclined to start some type of bet regarding food habits. I get in a funk and plateau and the best way out is to mix it up for awhile. The choices I am currently making aren't necessarily bad, I just like change. I've done a lot of week long cleanses and elimination of specific foods, etc.
This month my challenger will be Debbie! Woohoo! Deb and I will be doing a 30 day run of PALEO plus an additional water bet. We will track the next 30 days. Each day you stray from Paleo you have to pay $5. Each day you don't get at least 64oz of water you pay $1. At the end of 30 days the money is spent on going out (semi counter productive with the reward- I know).

If you're interested in more about Paleo check out the links below:

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 Zoey and I went shopping today for containers for her new lunch box. She starts preschool Tuesday and has to pack her lunch. We then went to Costco and the grocery store to stalk up on lunch snacks. If you know me, you know I do not purchase bread. I can not remember the last time I purchased a loaf of bread.  Bread is my weakness. My grandma and I discuss how when we would buy warm French Bread at the store we would both buy two; one for dinner and one for the drive home. A loaf of bread lasts 2-3 days in my house. I eat it plain, nothing on it. Delicious. Well, I knew this day would come... the day I had to start buying bread again because I had a child who needed a sandwich for lunch. Not only that, but mini bagels as a morning snack, too. Paleo starting tomorrow and I now have a giant enemy in my pantry. Oh, it tastes so good! 

Culprit number two that will bring this challenge some difficulties. Candy. I have an obsession with candy. Starburst, SourPatch, Mike and Ike's, Skittles, etc. Below is my candy swipe machine in my classroom. These two specific pictures were from ME eating all of the candy, not the kids. The kids are always wondering where it all goes. They are onto me now. They watch it daily and comment if I've been eating too much of it. It used to sit by my desk, that was a disaster. Now it sits on the other side of the classroom so I at least have to commit to walking over to it. 

Goal - not give into this bread or candy for 30 days, along with all the other snacks floating around. 

Finally - time to consume more water!

Interested in running this challenge with us, let me know! The more the merrier, plus the going out fund would have potential to get larger! 

Pretty eye opening. 

Sponsors...

So excited- got my first sponsor today! BodyBuilding.com will be providing me with clothing and supplements for my race!! BodyBuildng.com is based out of Idaho, where I am from so it has a nice home town appeal for me. My friend Aaron works there and sent my information (see Prezi below) along to his sponsorship department - they were interested! How awesome. I am so grateful for his help!

I'm hoping to get a few more sponsors since the cost will be so high for World's. I put together a mini sponsorship proposal in the form of a Prezi. Love Prezi. I started to type a regular Word document as my original proposal, but it wasn't me. It was just too simple and generic. Here is what I went with instead:

It isn't always convenient...

Typically, when things are convenient there is no challenge. If there is no challenge, it doesn't change you. If you're happy where you are, then convenience is perfect, carry on. Otherwise - create challenges, push yourself, and stay passionate. Wake up determined, go to bed satisfied- repeat.

It has been difficult pushing myself to workout 'harder' than normal when World's is 10 months away. I find that I'm trying to convince myself I can push harder as it gets closer. Unfortunately, I think this would only work with a regular TM race, not World's - which brings me to this quote that keeps showing up in random news feeds, Pinterest pages, Tumblr shots, and Instagram photos.

Must be a sign. Time to break down this long term goal. 

We all know I do not love running. I'd rather lift any day than go for a run. However, the two completely amazing athletes that took first place at World's completed around 90 miles - eek! No, I will not be completing 90 miles, but I WILL be completing 3x as many miles as I've ever even attempted to run.
Here's what I have decided to do-
I took Junyong Pak's (2x WTM winner) training methods into consideration. His training is intense. So intense he turns his heat off for a few months prior to the race, leaving his house in the upper 40's! Not to mention in the winter he runs in full gear while finding rivers, streams, and ponds to swim through. I'm yet to attempt this, although I do purposefully run through EVERY deep puddle, it keeps my feet nice and cold.
With Pak's methods on my mind I started training when it wasn't convenient: rain, snow, and nights. I am hoping this will help with the mental preparations necessary to last 24 hours in the brutal elements that World's will bring. The cold, over a 24 hour period, is my number one concern. I have Raynaud's Syndrome (thank you Mom) and this run (see below) was only an hour and my hands and toes already started to go. We'll see what happens with 23 more hours added on.

I went on another exciting night run, this time in the rain! It was only about 4-5 miles, but the puddles were ankle deep, which was fun. I made sure to splash through each one. My feet were pretty cold, but my hands stayed warm, which was a first! During this run I stopped at McCormick Park to do a few rounds of monkey bars, cold-wet monkey bars. I also ran with my new headlamp- my first World's gear purchase! 

   

Black Diamond Storm

-Love this-

Tomorrow - I will run. I will run further than I have in the past few months. 

Go"Pro" - or in my case "Amateur"

My 4th grade students did some heavy convincing for my Las Vegas race. I always show a short clip of mudder races, clean versions of course, to my students about a week before the race. They like to know where I am going and why; in this case most of them couldn't wrap their heads around the why..."Ms. Mooney, you are PAYING to do this?!"

Anyhow, after watching clips they insisted I filmed my endeavors. This is where I made my first mistake, I mentioned I had access to a GoPro. According to them, I was to race with it on and when I got to Electroshock Therapy, take it off and tell the camera "This is for my 4th graders!!" then charge through the 10,000 volts of electricity.  

Needless to say, they almost got what they wanted. I borrowed my neighbor's GoPro (Thanks Chad!). I tried it on before leaving, jumped up and down with it on my head, decided it would stay. Perfect. 

Vegas race day: Go Pro is on and ready to go! Pretty excited about capturing some fun footage. The race started, a few obstacles went by and about a mile of running.

My second mistake...it was about the 3rd obstacle...Arctic Enema, a.k.a - an ice bath with barb wire. I jumped in, held the Go Pro with one hand as I swam under water. The GoPro hit the board I was suppose to swim under and detached from my head. Great. 

I resurfaced on the opposite side, hardly breathing due to the extreme cold. Now I was forced to weigh my options. Stay in the ice and dive for this GoPro as hundreds of racers try and avoid me and the TM staff yells at me to get out of the way or lose my neighbor's GoPro and keep racing since I was attempting to qualify for World's and couldn't waste that much time. 

I chose to keep running. 

Fast forward a few hours...After the last heat had passed the third obstacle I went back to it. The water was still freezing and I really didn't want to fish around in there for the camera. I opted to find some willing people to do it for me, of course offering to pay them. A group of local Vegas boys stepped up to the plate and waded around in the waist deep ice until they recovered the lost GoPro! Thank you Zach and friends! 

Upon returning to Missoula I was pleasantly satisfied to find out 1-the GoPro still worked, 2-it was actually my neighbor's GoPro, and 3-the mere mile of footage captured was decent. 

New Goal - persuade Chad to let me use the GoPro again for my February Arizona race. Two  options: 1-take if OFF for each water obstacle or 2- duck tape it to my head (I'll go with option 1). Eventually I will move past the amateur head camera wearing stage and become a true Go"Pro" user!

Here is the 2 minutes of video captured from Vegas...Enjoy!! 

An overview of the year to come...

It's official. I am competing in the Tough Mudder's most extreme race - World's. This race is 24 hours during the brutal elements that winter brings. It will cover countless miles of intense, military based obstacles. Extreme fatigue will quickly set it. Mental stamina will be necessary to pull me through. This blog will showcase the trials associated with preparing for such an adventure. Follow along, wish me luck, and join me if you dare- I'd love the company! :)

Countdown before me...
5- Ran my first TM in Arizona - officially addicted
4- Realized a regular TM race wasn't enough...bring on World's.
3- Goal - qualify in the next two years.
2- Enter race 2 - Las Vegas - finished in the top 5% - thus, qualifying for World's, scratch the 2 year goal.
1- Train my ass off for 317 more days.

In your free time - a.k.a stop pinning things or stalking news feeds for 18 min - then check out this video- it sets the tone pretty well.