Food Fights

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved to cook.   She enjoyed trying new recipes.  She loved to sit at the table and eat with friends.  Then she had kids....

I dread mealtimes now.  It started as soon as Pnut began eating solid food.  She wouldn't gain weight.  My days consisted of making food, measuring food, and recording the amount of food she ate.  Then I'd take the food journal to the doctor, he'd look at it and weigh Pnut.  Usually she didn't gain weight.  Food has always been a chore with her.

Now my days start dreading any morning that we don't have pancakes for breakfast.  Every. Single. Morning.  Even if I make something Pnut likes, she will freak out because she wants pancakes.  Oatmeal, yogurt, granola, eggs...freak out. She is a carb junky!!

For some reason lunch isn't usually an issue.  I should look into why that is.

Next comes snack time.  Every weekday around 2:30 I scramble around trying to find a snack for Pnut after school.  Something healthy and filling, that she can eat in the car.

Then there is dinner.  Noodles with butter, rotisserie chicken, broccoli, fish, hamburgers.  This is what Pnut will eat.  Little Dude isn't a big dinner fan.  He usually has breakfast, lunch, and a snack.  He will sometimes pick at dinner, but rarely eat it.  I'm ok with that.  What I'm not ok with is Pnut's whining and screaming and freaking out whenever I make something that is not on that list.   And it's not like I'm making liver and onions. And forget some kind of casserole.  Or any kind of one pot meal. Ingredients can't touch each other.

So I deal with an hour of drama.  It ends either with her choking down dinner (bitching and moaning the whole time) or just leaving the table without eating.

Now comes bedtime.  Almost without fail, as soon as I say it's time to get ready for bed, she cries and screams that she is "SOOOO HUNGRY".  So I send my tiny little girl to bed crying that she's starving.

It's 7:50 pm.  I'm already wondering what to make for breakfast tomorrow.

Boise or Bust

I've got my eyes set on next season's A race....Ironman Boise 70.3.  It's June 8th.  I picked Boise for a few reasons.  It's close by, less hilly than Lake Stevens, we have friends and family in the area, AND it starts at noon.  NOON!!!  A triathlon that starts at noon.  Awesome.

So, that gives me about 32 weeks to get ready.  One thing I am certain of, I will get healthy and strong before I start training.  I figure I need about a 20 week training plan.  That gives me 12 weeks to get ready.

I need to concentrate on strength training, stretching and PT.  I went for a 4.5 mile run yesterday.  I felt ok, but around mile 3 I started to feel my hip get tight and the side of my knee was hurting.  I need to fix whatever is going on before I start serious training.

My friend Erika has agreed to help me come up with a training plan.  We exchanged text messages about it.  That's pretty much a legally binding agreement, right?

As for the next 12 weeks:

Monday-Bike
Tuesday-Run/weights
Wednesday-Swim
Thursday-Run/weights
Friday-Bike
Saturday-Run/weights
Sunday-

I'll do PT exercises and stretching every day.  If I get brave enough, I will start doing some yoga.  We will see.

Operation Get Strong starts tomorrow!

I'm OK with 2

I went for a run yesterday.  It was the first time in a couple months that I was able to run without coughing like an 80 year old smoker.  I didn't run far and I didn't run fast.  I ran 2 miles, more or less in a around than 20 minutes.  I ended up turning my Garmin off because I kept getting frustrated with my pace.

As I was nearing my house, I got a little teary.  I think it was the weather.  It was gray, windy and wet.  It reminded me of when we first moved into our new house.  I was running a lot more then.  I thought about my first run here.  It was 8 miles and it felt great.  That was in February.  Eight  months later and I was struggling with 2 miles.  I was sad.

Then I started thinking, that 8 mile run was February 19th. I didn't start running (again) until the January.  So I went from nothing to 8 in less than 2 months.  This made me feel better.  I'm not where I want to be but at least I'm no longer sick or injured.