Running woes

After 3 days of non running I went back at it today. And I think I figured out why I'm getting shin pain.

I've gotten to a point where I can run a 10 minute mile, take a break for 30-60 seconds, then run 2 more 10 minute miles with one more 30-60s break. But I'm also at a point where I feel like I should be going faster than I am, but at the same time I can't maintain a faster pace for as long and I eventually have to slow down again. So I'm at this weird in between stage. I think because I am wanting to go faster I may be overstriding a bit. Maybe I'm so gun shy after overdoing it last week that I am too conscious of my form, instead of just letting myself run naturally? And once again it probably all goes back to me trying to push myself too hard. I'm very guilty of pushing myself too hard. On my next run day I'll have my ever so awesome Army husband watch my form and see what he has to say. He should know - for the past 2 years he's been dealing with stress fractures caused by running, so he has made every attempt to perfect his form... even though it actually turned out to be a problem with his feet which was impacting the way he ran. So on monday I just have to do my best to run naturally and let my body do its thing - and not overwork it 

I did do some sprints today. I did 3 of them during my 3 mile run, just for as long as I could go. I had to compensate though, so I ended up taking longer walk breaks after each sprint and even taking walk breaks more frequently. But the time still averaged out to about the same as I normally do. Still, sprinting every now and then will help me perform better and increase my speed. Sprints are also part of Spartan WOD's - and although I'm not doing WOD's every single day, I need to make sure I am doing similar activities to what they recommend. Last night I did their Ab 300 (well, as much of it as I could do) and I added in 3 sets of push ups, assisted pull ups/hang until fail, and BURPEES. God damn burpees. They are freaking hard, I can't do more than 10 at a time! They just make me so dizzy and cause my heart rate to go crazy. But I gotta learn to love them and make them my friends. Because I know I'll be doing them on March 9th! 

Oh yeah, that chili I made last night was really good! Here's what I did -

Vegetarian Chili

• 1 can Rotel
• 1 28oz can organic diced tomatoes
• 2 15oz cans of organic tomato sauce (might use a little less next time for a thicker chili)
• 1 can pinto beans (I go with the low sodium option for all my beans)
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• 1 can black beans
• 8oz organic frozen corn
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped up
• 1 red bell, chopped 
• 1-2 jalapenos, chopped
• 1 poblano, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic (or less, I really like garlic)
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Throw everything in the crock pot, cook 5-8 hours and ravenously consume!

I ate mine with a small amount of blue corn tortilla chips. My husband loved this chili too :)

I'm getting ever closer to the 180 mark! At this rate I should hit it before my goal date of 12/12, which would be awesome. I have really cleaned up my eating and made further improvements to my diet this week, and we really haven't been eating out at all lately - partly due to us being poor right now, and partly because I don't have the same eyes for bad food as I used to. Sometimes I do crave things like pizza, but then I also think "AHHH!! Would ya just look at all the calories in this!!! I can't do this to myself!!" And thus, my willpower wins. Not all the time, but most of the time.