AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge

Today marks the start of my AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge! 

I have to say that I am pretty excited to begin. I was contacted by Becky over at Olives 'n Wine and asked if I was interested in joining the challenge this time around (Becky sent me the cleanse portion of the 24DC products - I purchased the rest). And am so glad. I have read about her and some others results from it, and I think it is just the swift kick in the butt I need to get myself on track as marathon training looms in the very near future. 

You can check out some of her posts on it:

AdvoCare Cleanse Phase 
AdvoCare Max Phase Part 1
AdvoCare 24DC Results

First off the results speak for themselves. I was second motivated by Becky - who is obviously a healthy living and fitness enthusiast - also about to train for her marathon - and I was comfortable being guided by someone who shares a similar lifestyle - and let's not forget the obvious, a good glass of wine or a nice happy hour. 

The balance she demonstrates in her life parallels mine (although I have ahem gotten a little off course with about 10 too many happy hours and a few too many burgers lately). Fitness isn't a problem for me but the way I am feeling is not so great. I am feeling sluggish and my stomach has been troublesome so I want to get my body back to feeling great before I start upping my mileage and workouts for marathon training. 

So goodbye to coffee, dairy, sugar, alcohol and fatty foods for the next 24 days. And I couldn't be more excited. I've invested a nice amount of money in this so I want to stay on track. Goodbye random cake days (yes at work we randomly will buy a cake and have a cake day - that needs to stop). I think out of everything I will miss coffee the most (I might be a like 100 ounces of coffee a day kind of person, oops). 

This weekend I was trying to think of what I would miss most to have it "one last time" and it came down to coffee, gummy bears and greek yogurt. I didn't even bother to have a drink at all. I am ready to FEEL better. I am really proud of my willpower so while I know I will have my moments I know that I am an all or nothing person and plan to use that determination.

Oh and the fact that as the challenge ends I am heading to Miami might be a little bit of motivation. Bikini living, eye on the prize baby. 

So I have my haul of products ready to go! 

And, spent a good amount of time food shopping and food planning over the weekend to be able to stay on track without excuses. 

So here goes nothing! I will be reporting back updates on how I am doing and the first round of results after the 10 day cleanse phase finishes. 

Being Honest With Myself: Cleaning up the Diet

I don't think that it is any secret that after NYCM I was pretty much just done. I was tired of training, tired of being good, I was ready to kind of let loose and enjoy the holidays and a little bit of what I like to call "being a fatty". 

I do not see anything wrong with indulging a little bit especially when you are highly active aka marathon training but due to undiagnosed stomach "issues" I stay away from high fat, red meat, and oily food as well as a lot of sugar in my diet. I do it because if I do not my runs will be miserable, and I will have stomach pains and never make it through a run without a stop. 

So after several weeks of a little too much mac n cheese, wings, burgers, beer, wine and tequila (all of which were thoroughly enjoyed thank you very much), I started finally really running again. And, my runs were brutal. I was riddled with stomach issues and just felt incredibly sluggish. I was well aware of the culprit, my diet. Diet goes hand in hand with my training. I will never be one that can eat like shit and bang out an amazing double digit run. I can do that more with an alcohol hangover, but not a food one. I also have managed to gain a few pounds over the past year. Nothing drastic but I have been feeling it in my clothes and my workouts. 

I had a hard look at myself and realized if I wanted to really start back at base building and feeling fit that I needed to clean up my diet. So I did the one thing that I said I would never ever do. I decided to turn to juices; specifically Juice Press. Now, I had no intention of stopping my workouts as I was ramping them up at the moment, so I choose to start juicing during the day, and then normal meals at dinner & snack. 

Juice Press has all my money

And let me tell you, I have never felt more phenomenal. I decided to do it during the week the first week then stop on the weekends because I go a little nuts as you can see on the weekends. Saturdays I do body pump, then run a shakeout, then take a flywheel class. Juice will not cut it. Nor will it for long run Sundays. 

Typical Saturday <3

On the weekend though, I can genuinely say I was MISSING the juices. I think I have been converted. 

So here we are week 3 of incorporating a lot of juice into my diet. Due to a lot of work obligations I have been going on business lunches so I am not necessarily juicing all day through to dinner but I am still making the healthy choices of lean meats and veggies instead of oh burgers and fries and all that jazz. And I am finally feeling so much better. 

My stomach hasn't had issues much lately and my energy is crazy. I have stopped drinking the 100 ounces or so of coffee I used to during the day (I will never EVER give up coffee, sorry not convinced) but I swear green juice gives me way more energy. I am also down a couple of pounds. However that probably is hand in hand with the fact that I am taking 3 body pump classes per week and running a lot more miles now. My workout intensity has increased as my eats have cleaned up so it isn't rocket science that the scale would start to move. But I am also not being a slave to my scale. There is more value in running a faster pace and for longer as well as upping my weights consistently - hello arms that are getting defined again!

So the moral of the story is as fun as it was to go totally off and enjoy whatever I wanted for a while, I love the way I feel when I am "behaving". I am back to bed early getting at least 7 hours most nights and waking up naturally before my alarm at 5 something. I love having a schedule again and feeling like the best version of myself. 

And I love when I underestimate my running as I did this morning as I set out for some fun repeats and well I thought I would be dying and started out at 8:34 and was cruising. That was a good feeling to know I should have begun sub 8 that my fitness is returning. 

Repeats for breakfast.

To sum it up, I'm back! And ready to train for real. 

Diet Changes = Improvement

I have stomach issues, that is pretty much evident in 95% of my posts.

So, finally last week I really decided it was time to buckle down and work on these stomach issues. I don't know why (okay, I do, I hate being on any sort of limiting "diet") but it was about time to get super serious since this was debilitating during my runs.

According to the Mayo Clinic: to reduce bloating, it may help to avoid or reduce the amount of gas-producing foods you eat. Many carbohydrates cause gas, and the following items are common culprits:

• Baked beans
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carbonated drinks
• Cauliflower
• Chewing gum
• Fruits such as apples, peaches and pears
• Hard candy
• Lettuce

I would like to note that is half my daily diet. Throw in ground turkey and grilled chicken and that list is what I eat in the majority of my meals. Sigh.

Is it odd just how sad I am about losing broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and apples? Tell me not to eat fried food, chocolate and alcohol (which I pretty much never do) and I wouldn't bat an eye. But losing my favorite fruits and veggies has me dragging my feet.

I am mostly dairy free already - I use almond milk and cheese is pretty much non existent in my diet now (and I do buy the almond cheese which I weirdly love); I do usually have a serving of greek yogurt each day and am going to keep that while I eliminate the other veggies/fruits.

I used to track religiously in MyFitnessPal. Like obsessively track. Where I had to finally cut myself off from it because it was making me neurotic.

However, I am SO thankful that I did - because it enabled me to go back to when I was not having issues and recreate what WAS working for me.

Minus the fact that I was indulging in said foods above a couple things that I noted were:

• More frequent and smaller meals
• More protein
• Carb sources more from grains than vegetable
• One hell of a lot less "cheating"
• Nighttime snacking was at a minimum

I have taken those things into account as well as eliminated the offenders above as of last Thursday/Friday - and - dare I start to contemplate - it seems to be having a positive effect.

Sunday the 15 miler had it's moments of disaster - but as I pointed out they weren't AS bad as they have been in the past.

This week, thus far I have had 4 runs - and I not only made it through EACH and every without incident (holler at a 6 miler last night) BUT I completed EACH workout following - lifting and/or swimming - without running to the bathroom in the middle.

I am optimistic.

And this optimism I am hoping carries over to my running. I have been in serious doubt mode lately for my running ability and a lot stems from all of this that was going on.

While I hate to be on a "diet" because this one is seriously limiting and redundent (but hey I was at my fittest and fastest last fall when following...so yay for things to come?) I am pretty sure I hate practically shitting my pants more (yes, I went there).

About 3 1/2 weeks out now from the NJ Marathon, and by golly I *may* be starting to get optimistic about it.

Stay tuned. 18-20 miler on tap this weekend (mixed into the More Fitness Women's Half Marathon) and I may not be dreading it quite as much as I was before...more dreading Harlem Hill x2.

Cross Training Galore!

I want to say thank you for the kind words, advice and support on my angry stomach issues.

I am currently journaling my eats again, limiting a lot of foods, looking into some supplements and saying a few prayers that relief comes soon.

I have had some good runs, but never more than 3 miles without a stop. I am starting to think though there might be a slight mental block though - I pretty much go into EVERY run lately wondering just how far I will make it before I have to stop. While by no means is my GI distress imagined or able to be overcome by just not focusing; I do think I need to stop having that mentality because it can be debilitating. So here's to focusing on positive thoughts during my runs! Mind body connection is huge!

Okay enough about running. If you follow me on instagram, twitter or daily mile you may have seen that I have recently become pretty obsessed with being back in the pool!

I love my gyms pool we are becoming BFF's!
 

Look at all that sexiness.

I am loving it. It is a totally different workout and obviously is more gentle than running and my arms and back are loving it as well.

I was lucky that growing up I learned to swim at such an early age - I was put (aka thrown - *edit my Dad corrected me and claims I "fell" into the water and that was the start of my swimming career. clumsy from birth. awesome.*) by 6 months and spent every single at a day swim camp - that I am like a fish. So at home in the water. I was on a swim team for a while and man are these swim sessions bringing back the days of freezing our behinds off at 6am practices in the outdoor pool.

The swim coach at the gym watched me and gave me a few form corrections so now I am just working on my stamina and next week will probably begin to do more workouts with structure to them aka speed work, the joys! you can't escape it.

I have also been lifting at least a few times a week as well as hitting the spinner as much as I can. This is all part of the master plan: make Gianna run faster.

And apparently I think I am training for a tri as I did a reverse one this morning: run, bike then swim! So fun.

I will let you know how this works out for me. Or well I suppose you'll read about it in my upcoming races!

I am trying to not stress too much about all the running failures I have had lately. And praying that I make it through the NJ Marathon. I have 3 more weeks to get long runs in so hoping that one of those days it all clicks. And hoping that come May 5th my mental game is strong and I just power through those 26.2 miles.

The good news is that I do feel some progress regarding speed. I am trying to do more runs out of my easy comfort zone.

It's all a work in progress. That is what I love so much about this sport: you can always PROGRESS. The effort you put in will directly effect the outcome. It is all on you. Sure I have my issues with my stomach that are clearly holding me back to some extent; however that is not going to stop me from achieving my goals. Whether I hit my PR's this spring or the fall, it WILL happen. I will make sure that I continue the consistency and put forth the effort and hopefully it all falls into place.

And just like that I want to go on another run!

Shaking off a Disappointing Race

Pretty sure by now it is evident that Saturday just was.not.my.day.

As much as the photos might try to depict otherwise.



I'm sure an f bomb immediately followed

One of my race goals is to try and make sure I spy the camera and am ready

And I am not going to lie, I carried that with me the rest of the weekend. Ultra competitive me was just pissy. (And I suppose doesn't help that it's that time of the month one bit).

But, I set out on a run Sunday and did a nice 8 miles. My legs were pretty tight  from the race proving that I had put forth effort and it felt nice to just shake them out with no actual goal in mind, or rather, more importantly, truly not CARING how fast I ran.

I took some time to reevaluate my training and what I could change up. And I more or less came down with two things:

• More strength training
• More speed work outside
• More cross training
• Seriously, stop eating ALL THE FOOD

I think the treadmill is a very useful tool. But I was completing anywhere from 5-7 runs a week - and only 1-2 would be outside. Actually false statement - there were plenty of weeks that I did my long run on the treadmill. Thanks winter. Glad you are FINALLY coming to an end.

The treadmill does not leave you race ready, or at least not me, and definitely not when I have a significant goal in mind.

I will be dusting off the Garmin a lot more now and bearing the elements.

The fact that it is warming up ever so slightly is encouraging and had me in a skirt and short sleeve shirt for a lovely 7 miles last night (okay - it got really kind of cold, and frickin windy on the water but I barreled on through!).



What an absolutely AWFUL view.

Also hit the weights each morning this week thus far! And am feeling equally sore. Kettlebells give you one killer workout I tell you.

And - more cross training, cycling, swimming, yoga, pilates - you get in anything that is NOT running.

Helpful that my friend has joined my gym since we have a pool and she is training for a Half Iron Man. So now I will be more willing to get in the pool (I was a swimmer once upon a time!).

Oh and just a minor footnote - "diet" is back in full force. That race and my stomach issues was enough to a) get my ass in gear to eating clean 95% of the time and b) a note that going faster feels better the less you weigh. It's not rocket science.

I think the biggest take away here - is to CHALLENGE myself. Go faster. Do fartleks. Run some sprints. Lift heavier weights. Do things that are outside of the comfort zone and get comfortable being uncomfortable.

I am not sure that I have another opportunity this spring to really gun for a PR in the half. I have the More/Fitness Half but will be doing 7 miles prior to the race for NJ Marathon training. Then two weeks after the full I have the BK Half - and not sure how recovered my legs will be to run hard.

That being said, I have been (frantically) clicking away and trying to find something that could fit in with marathon training and also my current schedule.

Enter, the Asbury Park Half Marathon. Took all of two seconds to consult with Tara my race buddy and we were signed up, hotel booked and ready to go. It's 2 weeks prior to the marathon so perfect for taper. That weekend I have a free entry to the BK 15K which is the following day which I will probably relinquish. Because you know THAT really isn't necessary two weeks prior to the marathon.

Idiotic move? perhaps. But I love it.

Whether I redeem myself or not, that is yet to be seen but I just NEEDED the chance to have a good race. One that I can actually kind of race. That close to the marathon I will have to be careful but I know the plan will be to AT LEAST get close to my current PR.

So here's to continuing training. Diversifying what I am doing and chasing that PR down.

I know I really have to focus on the marathon as well, but this go round I am not changing much training wise (as in dropping everything and just running like I did for my first in January, Miami) I will just be adding mileage to my long run.

Which scary fact = only 4 more long runs until taper. Where did time go? And man I don't think I have had any "off" training time in since...2011?

Attempting to turn a bad race experience into a positive, because I love this sport and sometimes the bad is necessary to get to the good. I'm a total nerd, I know.

When you have a bad race, or fail to meet a goal, how do you usually react? Try to race again asap or take a break?