New You Challenge

One of my very dear friends emailed me this week and asked if I was interested in training for a half marathon (13.1 miles) with her.  She and I live in different states, so the plan is to follow the same training plan, and meet somewhere in October and run the race together.  Each of us have run a half marathon before, but that was at least one kid ago for both of us.

She lives on the east coast and is currently under 20+ inches of snow and I live in the upper midwest where the temps haven't been above freezing for at least a month.  She has 3 kids and I have 4.  Our husbands both work crazy hours, so this training is going to have to happen with the kids in tow.  Luckily we both have jogging strollers, so it shouldn't be too hard.  We figure we will start really training at the beginning of April when it is warm enough to actually take the kids out for extended periods of time.  I know this is way longer than most people usually take training for a 1/2 marathon, but we are doing it that way on purpose. 

I have had 2 reconstructive surgeries on my right knee.  I used to be a hardcore runner before I shredded it.  Since then, I can still run, but I have to work up to it very gradually or I will cause more injury to my already injured knee.  In order to avoid hurting it again, and because we will each be pushing 100 lbs. of kids, we decided to follow the walking schedule first and then move on to the running schedule.  Each one takes 12 weeks, so we are starting at the beginning of April and we will finish at the beginning of October.

We are following these schedules, created by Hal Higdon.  Walking and Running  He also has schedules for more advanced runners, but let's be honest.  We are not going for time, we are going for completion and for the health benefits that will come with it.   We are also shifting the days a bit because we want Sunday to be our rest day.

So what are we doing for the next 6 weeks until we start training?  We are getting our eating habits in check so that the food we eat is helping us in our goal and not hindering us.  We are increasing the amount of water we drink and decreasing the amount of sugar we eat.  We are starting with a sugar cleanse.  I'm sure if you googled "sugar cleanse" you would come up with lots of interesting things to try.  We aren't doing any of those things.  We are just cutting out sugar in all of it's forms.  These include the following:

                 (this is not an endorsement for this website.  I just liked the picture.)

• white sugar
• brown sugar
• cane sugar
• agave syrup
• honey
• stevia
• maple syrup
• fruit juice (still eating fruit, but not drinking the juice)
• white flour (which acts like sugar in the body once it is broken down)
• sugar substitutes (which are included in sodas, flavored drinks, etc.)

I will still use honey when I bake my 100% whole wheat bread, because yeast can't work unless it has some form of sugar to feed off of.

Why am I telling you all this?  Because saying it out loud and committing to do it means that I have to do it.  And I need your help to keep me accountable.  Are you with me?  Want to join in on the fun?

I'll post how I'm doing on my no sugar and once I start training what I am doing for workouts.  Feel free to join at any time and just post a comment telling me how you are doing each day.  We'll work together to become healthier, and I promise you will become happier in the process.

Ok, so we will start on Monday.  Ready, Set, GO!!!