12 weeks and counting

The thermometer said it was 27 degrees this morning when I went for a run but as I started out the first mile it felt more like 5 degrees with the wind chill. I set out on my first official training run week 1 of 12, and decided to keep it slow and steady and at least get up to 4 miles. Good strategy I think since my speed training hasn't been so positive the past week. I fell on Thursday and bruised up my right arm, thigh and knee. Not fun at all. I think I've found a slight pattern with my falling though. Most of my runs where I'm prepared (eat, drink, gear, etc.) and not tired, I seem to have no trouble making it through the run without blacking out and falling. However, if one of those items isn't done exactly correctly... I blackout for a second during the run and fall. So, pre-run ritual consists of:
- taking meds (levothyroxine) at least 1 hour before eating
- banana (1/2)
- cereal (low carb, high fiber/protein)
- 24 oz water (before and after run)
- gear on securely (no issues causing me to stop during the run)

I'm writing this down now so I don't forget. :) For my health followers, I have a tilt table test on Tuesday so hopefully that will expose evidence of my syncope and we can move on to treating it. I also have a blood test on Tuesday to check up on my Thyroid and see if there is any evidence of low levels of T3/T4. My TSH is off slightly which can be causing my heart palpitations but not really the dizziness and blacking out. I've gone on a pretty strict diet to help increase my matabolism too since I've gained about 20 lbs since August 2009. Well, in the past 2 weeks I lost 8 lbs and was the biggest loser at work (we have a group playing the game). So, I'm sticking to it.

Back to this mornings' run. It was a really beautiful morning. I ran from home, up to the lake and past into the Southards Pond trail. The trail was quite dry considering we had that "winter blizzard" yesterday that gave us about an inch of snow. As I was running along I saw a guy on a horse. The horse nodded it's head as if to say good morning so I did the same. The water was really clear in both lakes (Argyle and Southards) and both were about 50% frozen. It was a pretty sight and I decided, during this run to commit to the LI 1/2 in May. Yep, although I've been training for about 12 weeks now, I haven't really gone the distance. Now, after this mornings casual run, I got the itch to keep going. So, yes, May 2, 2010 will be my first 1/2 Marathon. I'm committed.

I'll see if I'm this positive next week for my 6 mile run. I'll check back then.

-s

How to Make Meatballs

I know it's been quite a while - over a month since I've posted last. If I actually had followers of my blog I'm sure someone would have cared! However, since no one noticed... lets move on shall we? :)

Today was a busy day. I ran a 5k this morning - 2nd annual Run for the Warriors. Unfortunately my time was more than desired. I think it was 30:20 but I can't remember as I was running too fast and thinking about how I didn't beat my last time. Sucks... I know! Well, it could be the time I had to take off of training due to plantars fasciitis or could have been just out of shape. Not sure, probably both caused the slip in time. I'll work on it. Trying to get to the Long Island 1/2 Marathon on May 2, 2010. I think it will happen.

Well enough of that.. on to the meatballs. Tonight J and I decided to make a few meals for the week. We don't prepare so nicely this often because we typically don't have much time to do it but today, we found the time. One of the meals we prepared was my mom's meatballs. The recipe is on her blog here. I've made my own meatballs before and they've been really good but to tell you the truth, none of them compare to my mom's meatballs. We followed the recipe exactly (didn't stray at all) and voila! Perfect Meatballs! Best part is that we have enough to freeze for later and they heat up in about 1 minute in the microwave. How awesome is that?! Anyway, I thought I'd share this info with my loyal followers... if there are any. I'm going to eat now... see ya!

-s