Down and Out

Hello friends. 

Did you miss me this week? Did you notice I was missing?

I’m sad to say that although I promised downloadable training plans tomorrow, I wont have them for you. 

Monday evening I was taken down by the flu, the real flu, not a stomach bug. I spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and all but 2 hours on Thursday home from work. 🤒

Whether I make it to work on Friday is still yet to be seen. I can pretty much guarantee I won’t make it a full day, and extra sleep is something I wouldn’t say no to. And, if you heard my cough, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want me near you 😷

I did make it to my doctor in time to get Tamiflu, but not eating much for 3 days has definitely taken its toll on my energy. 😴

I don’t have much else to say, but wanted to pop in and say “hi”. 

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This is what the new blog looks like! 🙂

Don’t forget to update your readers…

So.

I’m not sure how to redirect this site to my new site….. Oops.

So if the website you’re on doesn’t look like the below image, well….you won’t be seeing any new posts from me after this week (I’ll be super annoying and keep updating you for the rest of this week because I’m really good at being annoying).

You’ll also want to update your Bloglovin’ feed to follow me here.

Thanks so much for supporting me and sticking with me through all of this ❤

BAM!!

Well well well.

It seems like my baby blog has grown up.

I’ll now be blogging here: http://cowgirlruns.com/ so you may want to update your RSS feeds and book marks.

It doesn’t look as pretty as this site did/does, but it will. I promise!

If you follow on Bloglovin’, please update to follow this blog.

Thanks!!

WIAW – My Food Philosophy

I was torn between sharing my amazing collection of nut butters (truly, it’s amazing) or talking about my food philosophy (if you could call it that) this week. Since last week I talked about trying to eat more, I thought it would be timely to talk about my philosophy as it relates to food.

Over the weekend, Amanda posted this question to her Facebook Page:

As you can see, I have somewhat strong feelings (okay, that might be an understatement) as it relates to labeling foods as “off limits”.

Last week my forehead broke out in what I believed to be pimples, and upon getting feedback from my friends, some people thought they might be more related to an allergy. I’m lucky in that I can only ever recall one allergic reaction in my life. I was 12 or 13 and I ate six or eight eggs in a short amount of time one Easter and ended up breaking out in hives. As I hadn’t changed my skin care route, or detergent recently, my next assumption is that the bumps were related to a food intolerance.

Ugh.

See, my philosophy of eat all the things means I’ve never dealt with having any food “off limits” in my life.

Once when I was in Grade 11 I decided to go vegetarian for a month with my best friend, as her boyfriend at the time was vegetarian. I think I lasted three or four days until we had salmon for dinner one night. I reasoned that some people who are vegetarians eat fish, so I could too.

I believe in eating healthy whole food

For a while when I was 20 or 21 I was working evenings and would regularly eat a protein bar for dinner. I reasoned that because it was a protein bar it was healthy; therefore it was an acceptable alternative.

I can’t tell you how much current me cringes at that.

The closest I’ve come to consuming a protein bar, is having a Vega Vibrancy bar as a snack last week.

I’ve seen a ton of people raving about Quest bars lately, but I’d much rather eat real food instead of a bar designed to taste like cookies or a cinnamon bun.

This said, in my attempt to eat more, I did pick up a handful of bars for afternoon snacks on days that I run. They’re also easy to toss into my purse on weekends, as I find I’m having a harder time-consuming enough on weekends after my long runs, but that’s a story for another day.

Counting is for accountants

Okay, so I am an accountant, but I have no desire to count calories or macros.

While I do think it’s helpful to occasionally check in and see how I’m doing calorie and macro-wise, I’m certainly never going to live and die by those numbers.

I consciously work to consume sufficient quantities of carbs, protein and fat, but I’m really not going to get fussed if one day I eat more protein and another day I eat more carbs. I fully believe that being conscious to it (and I’m actively working to consume more protein) I’ll give my body what it needs.

If I want it, I eat it

I don’t believe in denying myself food

Yes, I have some weird and wacky food rules, but if I crave something, I’ll eat it. I may not always eat it right that second but I will eat it.

I’ve been craving red meat, specifically a good juicy burger, so that’s on my list to eat this week.

I also eat dessert nearly every night. At the bare minimum I’ll have two or three dates with peanut butter as my dessert. On Sunday I shared some of my gelato collection with a friend and had some dates. I didn’t feel one bit bad about it.

I don’t believe in guilt

When ever I make a choice as it relates to food, I do so consciously. Okay, most of the time I do so consciously.

Since I’m the one making the choices as it relates to my food, I see no reason to beat myself up for my choices. If I decide to get fries with my hamburger, I’m going to get fries with it and I’m going to enjoy every last one of them.

I believe in moderation

This week I may treat myself to a burger and fries – but I can tell you I’m not going to eat a burger and fries every day, or even every week. Heck, I probably won’t even do it every month.

I’ll have dessert every night, but it will be a few spoonfuls of gelato, or two or three dates, or one of Amy’s amazing cookies (although I really wanted to eat the whole batch!).

I’ll have a glass or two of wine on the weekends, but not a bottle. Most of the time. Sometimes a bottle is necessary 😉

Tell me: Do you have a food philosophy?

I Don’t “Do” Tired

Originally I had hoped to share my awesome new running gear with y’all today. On Thursday I walked to visit Victoria at The Tech Shop and picked up some spiffy gear – obviously that should be my treat, right?!

Except last night I just crashed.

Straight up.

So I treated myself to an evening on the couch with hot chocolate and hockey in the background.

I didn’t even run.

No joke. Not even Marathon Monday got me to run. Yikes!

That’s how I knew I needed some time to just chill. I put on my running gear and made it about 15 steps outside before I felt like I might cry. When I say I don’t “do” tired well, I’m truly not exaggerating. When I’m tired I completely melt down. It’s not pretty. This is the number one reason I don’t think I’ll ever be able to participate in Ragnar – no one wants me crying and throwing a tantrum in their van. #diva

100% how I felt on Monday

Aside from an evening on the couch, I did treat myself this weekend, so let’s talk about that instead 😉

Friday I managed to sleep in and it.was.glorious. You have no idea. I did attempt a run, but my left shin was being a bit of a bitch, so I called it 4km in and just chilled on the couch for the rest of the day. I watched some more of Season 5 of The Good Wife and watched some hockey. I’ll call that a great day.

This was my view on Friday. #sigh #sickofwinter

Saturday I was up early-ish for a hair appointment. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a trim, but I always feel so nice with fresh hair 🙂 I managed to get groceries and head out for a nearly 16km run and I even added in some hills. Awesome! After showering and chilling I met up with some girlfriends for snacks, wine and Cards Against Humanity. Oh, I laughed so hard.

Saturday’s run in the sun after snow on Friday

Unfortunately it’s my lack of sleep on Saturday evening that’s catching up with me now. I wouldn’t say I got home super late, I was in bed just after 1am, but Merlin decided to be a bit of a jerk and pull out all of his toys and play – in my bedroom – until 2am. This was then followed by a 6am wakeup call. Like I said, it’s a really good thing he’s cute!

I very much debated not going for my run on Sunday, but I headed out and had an amazing run. 15km and under a 4-hour marathon pace. Woo! It’s been a while since I felt that strong after a run. It’s probably due to the insane amount of Tostitos I ate on Saturday evening 😉

Sunday’s super kick ass run #fueledbywine

After my run I watched some more hockey, set up online accounting for a company I’m doing some work for (nerd alert!) and ate some gelato with a friend.

Not to be outdone, I met up with two girlfriends for lunch on Monday. We headed to a new restaurant and I had a delicious ramen for lunch. Sooooo good!

It’s been a while since I was able to treat myself to running outside in great weather (I got a tan!!) and laughs with girlfriends – it was so good for my soul.

Up next week – I’ll share with you my awesome running gears!

Oh, and I also did a dorky blog quiz and since this post is already awesomely random – here ya go!

PS – you can find the quiz here

Tell me: How did you treat yourself this Easter Weekend?

I’m linking up with Becky for Treat Yourself Tuesday today.

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More ways to connect with Ange:
Facebook --> Cowgirl Runs
Twitter --> @cowgirlruns
Instagram --> cowgirlruns
Bloglovin --> cowgirlruns

Weekly Plan: 4/21 – 4/27 (Ultra Marathon Training Week 13)

Just a bit of a warning: I’m told as of today my domain is moving over from WordPress to my hosting company. I admit I have no freaking clue what this means for my blog. If you suddenly see it and then *poof* it’s gone – that’s probably what happened. 

Happy Marathon Monday, my friends!! I considered taking today off to watch the Boston Marathon – sadly, I’m stuck at work, so I’ll try to follow along as best I can while working.

I hope everyone had a great weekend with friends and family.

I was able to catch up on sleep a little bit; however, I got to bed way too late on Saturday night and then Merlin decided since I was awake, we should play. Needless to say, I was pretty dang tired come Sunday – but I still managed to get my run in!

Exercise

Monday	10km easy	7.5km easy
Tuesday	4×1.5 miles strong	Rest due to my ankle
Wednesday	Off	Off
Thursday	15k tempo	Rest due to my ankle
Friday	12k easy	4k treadmill
Saturday	15k easy	15.8km easy
Sunday	16k long	15k long

Total planned mileage: 78km; actual 42.3km

I did have to take two unscheduled days off due to my ankle being cranky, but I’m happy to say after running on Saturday and Sunday it’s feeling great! It was feeling fine on Friday, but my legs and I were not getting along with the treadmill. I have no idea what the problem was, but I kept stopping due to pain and starting and it was crazy frustrating.

I seriously debating not running on Sunday. I was visiting with girlfriends until after midnight (that’s late for this gal!) and then Merlin kept me up until 2am and woke me up at 6am. Oof. I was dang tired. I did manage to convince myself to get out there and run and I’m super glad I did – I had an amazing run! This isn’t the first time I’ve had a great run after a crappy night’s sleep.

This upcoming week we’re scheduled to have a lot of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, so hopefully the treadmill and I are able to be friends again. I feel like I’ve spent so much time on the treadmill this winter – I’m really looking forward to running outside all the time.

Here’s what week 13 looks like…

Monday	13km easy
Tuesday	4×1.5 miles strong (since I missed this last week, I’m going to repeat it this week) Happy Heart 5k
Wednesday	Off
Thursday	17k tempo (maybe one day I’ll get a tempo run in…)
Friday	12k easy
Saturday	12k easy
Sunday	Calgary Police Half Marathon 10k cool down

Total planned mileage: 95km

The forecast is a bit deceiving – Tuesday doesn’t look terrible, until you see 15mm-20mm of rain in the forecast. Ummm, ew.

I’m undecided how I’m going to tackle the half on Sunday – I’ve thought about treating it like a race, and I’ve thought about just using it as a training run, but I really can’t decide. This might be a race-day decision depending on how I’m feeling and what the weather looks like. Either way, it’ll be nice to run a new route 🙂

Tell me: Do your strong runs seem to come out of the blue?

I’m also linking up with Amanda, Krysten and Ericka for #bestfoot Monday today 

***

More ways to connect with Ange:
Facebook --> Cowgirl Runs
Twitter --> @cowgirlruns
Instagram --> cowgirlruns
Bloglovin --> cowgirlruns

Link Love: 4/19

I’m told not everyone had Good Friday off for the Easter weekend. Major bummer. I was pumped for a long weekend. Sleeping in. Running. Relaxing. It was needed after working all weekend last week.

Yesterday I slept for 10 hours. I needed it, oh, did I ever. I don’t often sleep that much (lies, I do every weekend that I can) but I enjoy it when it can!

Last night I was supposed to attend a bonfire with my girlfriends, but we had to postpone it due to snow. Yup. Snow. In April. What. The. Heck?! As bummed as I was to have to reschedule, it meant that I was neither tired nor hungover for my 9:45 hair appointment today. No, I’m not sure why I decided to book a 9:45 hair appointment on a Saturday – I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time?

Fun Fact

At my massage a week and a half ago, I was commenting to my massage therapist that nail polish will never ever stay on my nails. My theory was that it had something to do with the natural oils of my nailbed and it was confirmed!

She actually can’t make bread that requires kneading because her natural oils affect how it rises. So, ladies (and gents!) if you ever want to get out of needing to knead bread, blame it on your natural oils!!

Images

I love this owl. I think he should be my mascot. Well, aside from Merlin, that is.

Popular This Week

Running Makes Me Smile

Ultra Marathon Training Week 12

I Think I Need to Eat More <– THANK YOU so much for all of your amazing comments on this post. It was a bit scary to put all that out there, and I’m so glad to see I’m not alone! ❤

WIAW – Minus Dinner

Link Love

I’ve been having a ton of issues with Bloglovin’ lately. When Google Reader disappeared I went with Bloglovin’ over Feedly because I liked that I was able to see the blog and I thought the set-up was great, but over the past week nearly one-third of all blogs I follow look like this.

Sad face is RIGHT.

If I’ve noticed I’ve missed your blog, I’ve tried to remember to go to your site, but I know there are some I’ve completely missed and even thought it’s not my fault, I feel badly. I’m certain I’m missing out on some kick-ass posts and that bums me out.

So, if anyone has any recommendations for a new reader, send ’em my way! 🙂

I Am Not Special via Erica House <– I looooove this post, and I’ve felt the same as Erica. I’m really not that special because I do crazy things like run. I just do it.

 I didn’t wake up one morning and just start running with ease. Just two years ago I celebrated being able to run one full mile without stopping!

Our Grocery Budget is $800 (And Why We’re Okay With It) via Back To Her Roots <– I can totally relate to this. I spent a LOT on food for someone who only ever cooks for one. I enjoy food. And I enjoy preparing food, so sometimes my budget is a teeny bit higher than it should be. Oops.

Antibiotics via A Gutsy Girl <– I fully support not running to antibiotics as soon as something is wrong, but I was surprised at the backlash Sarah received for choosing to take antibiotics after being ill for five days.

9 Videos You Can’t Miss This Week via BuzzFeed <– I’m highlighing one that you should watch. You need to watch. Trust me, just click play.

Individual Greek Yogurt Cheesecake via Pretty Little Grub <– YES PLEASE!

5 Tips to Improve Your SEO via The Healthy Maven <– 5 tips that are pretty easy to implement. Now I’ve added a TON to my blog “to do” list. I promise I’ll get to it eventually (actually, probably not until after my race – but after that? WATCH OUT!)

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies via The Little Honey Bee <– I recently purchased almond flour and I keep looking for recipes so this is perfect! Yum!

Effort Is Not Pain via A Life Less Bullshit <– I’m not even sure how to sum this up, other to say, Nicole nailed it with this one. Go read it 🙂

76 Genius Ways to Use Coconut Oil In Your Everyday Life via Greatist <– since I have the world’s biggest tub of coconut oil from Costco, I might as well use it, right?! 🙂

The Difference Between Building MUSCLE and Building STRENGTH via Cotter Crunch written by Suzanne Digre <– as someone who needs build muscle and strength this was super helpful to me.

Can I Run a Marathon? via Mile Posts <– last weekend I was talking to a girl on a break and the subject of my ultra came up (doesn’t it always?) and she made a comment about needing to walk when she runs. I chuckled and said, “Oh, I totally take walk breaks” and she was amazed. So, yes, you, anyone can run a marathon.

What Are Macronutrients: Protein via Jessie Loves To Run <– I can’t share just one post in a series, so here’s Jessie’s post on protein (links to the other two are in Jessie’s post for y’all).

An Unusual What I Ate Wednesday via Oatmeal With A Fork <– I’m glad Lauren addressed what’s become a bit of a trend for WIAW, and that is questioning what people eat. I don’t see it stopping, but I’m glad she she was so transparent in her writing.

The Answer to Every Fitness Question via Brittany Lesser <– as much as I don’t want this to be the answer, I know it’s true.

FYI Friday – Practising Mindful Eating via Pretty Little Grub <– another awesome post from Jen, and it’s perfect timing with Easter being this weekend.

11 Helpful WordPress Plugins for Your Blog via . running with spoons . <– Amanda’s timing is absolutely perfect on this post as I bought a self hosting package on Thursday. I’m waiting for my domain to transfer from WordPress.com to my new host and I’m really hoping I don’t break my blog when I end up making the transfer. I ended up reading all the comments and entering them into my list in Wunderlist (thanks for the recommendation, Kim!!)

Can Being Religious Make You Healthier? via Greatist <– the biggest takeaway from this is community and connections improve your health. So go forth and make connections (religious, or not).

Do You Have to Count Calories to Lose Weight? via Bring Joy <– very timely considering my theme of the week. I definitely agree that tracking food for a period of time to get you “on track” is extremely helpful.

 Tell me: What’s your favourite post from the week?

PS – since I forgot to do this yesterday: it’s one month less one day until my birthday 😀

Ways in which living with a cat is similar to living with a toddler

Thank you all so much for your love and comments on my post yesterday. I’m torn between feeling glad that I’m not alone in this and feeling sad that magazines and the media have completely skewed our way of thinking of food and calories. I have something a little more light-hearted for you today, so I hope you enjoy it!

If you follow me on Instagram I’m sure you’ve seen the occasional picture of my pretty guy, Merlin. (If you don’t follow me on Instagram, why the heck not?!).

Some days his pretty is his only saving grace. Truly. I’ve often uttered, “You’re lucky you’re cute” in response to something he’s done.

I’m also fairly certain that he’s training me to be able to one day (maybe?) live with a toddler. (Or convincing me I should stick to cats. I haven’ yet determined which).

1. You pee with the bathroom door open. Now, I’m sure this is likely for somewhat different reasons, but I’m also sure toddlers will likely cry outside the door like the cat. However, I’m pretty certain a toddler won’t hop up on your lap for cuddles while you’re peeing. Maybe.

2. You’re woken up at early hours because they’re hungry. Unlike a Merlin, who tells me this at 5am by jumping on my bed and meowing, I have a feeling a toddler would more likely call out from their bedroom. But what do I know, maybe toddlers also like to hop up on the bed and roll around until you a) kick them out of the bedroom and shut the door, or 2) feed them.

3. They crawl up your leg whenever you’re in the kitchen. Merlin does it because he wants to be picked up. I think toddlers do it for that reason also?

4. If they eat and then play, they puke. Pretty self-explanatory there.

5. They celebrate poops. Again, pretty self-explanatory. But really, don’t we all?

6. They make up silly little games. Merlin’s current favourite is “I must beat you into the bedroom anytime you walk into the walk-through closet. He zooms past me and jumps up onto the bed.

7. You’re constantly asked “Why? Why? Why?”. Maybe Merlin doesn’t so much ask, “Why?” as he does chat all.day.long. Yes, it does eventually stop being cute.

8. Forget the actual present; boxes are the best! Put a big empty box in front of a cat or a toddler and I’m sure they’ll be pleased as punch!

9. At the end of the day when they curl up into you and purr (okay, maybe purring is only the cat) everything is right with the world. Whoa. How is that for super sappy? 🙂

Tell me: What would you add to the list?

I Think I Need to Eat More

Warning: this is probably going to be very rambly and all over the place. I’m sure I could spend some time editing it and trying to make it more coherent, but I think I’d end up censoring myself or changing the message of my thoughts, so I’m just going to go with it. Messy and uncensored and all.

Last week I read a number of articles about food. Specifically, how the heck much food do we need to eat. (You probably saw them in my link love post).

The resounding message was that the majority of us are under eating.

I thought about it.

Then I thought about it some more.

I reasoned that I am likely under eating.

Because of that I need to eat more. (duh!)

Now, here’s where it gets tricky for me…..A year ago I weighed nearly 10 pounds less than I do now. I saw a number on the scale I hadn’t seen in years. To be completely, brutally honest, I liked it. I liked seeing that number. Heck, I probably even valued that number.

But – here’s the kicker I wasn’t healthy.

I did not lose the weight in a healthy way. I lost the weight through stress. And not eating. And drinking lots of wine. And not sleeping.

I may weigh 10 pounds more, but I’m also probably in the best shape I’ve even been in. I just finished a week where I ran nearly 86km. In ONE FREAKING WEEK. I remember getting into running and being amazed at running 100km in a MONTH, let alone a week.

The logical part of my brain knows I’m healthier now that I was a year ago. That part of my brain also knows I need to eat more. It even knows that if I were to eat more I’d probably lose weight because I’d be feeling my body properly.

The hard part is actually getting there.

See, back in the day of disordered eating I made up these food “rules” for myself and they’ve become so ingrained in my life that I still abide by them, mostly:

• don’t drink juice, juice has calories and is therefore bad
• don’t eat pasta
• dinner should consist only of protein and veggies
• don’t eat after 10pm
• don’t drink your calories
• always order the salad instead of the fries
• don’t snack after lunch – hold out until dinner
• 1200 is the magic number <– ugh. Barf.
• treats should be “earned” through exercise
• it’s okay to eat a lot after a long run, but only one meal

I’m sure there are more than just this, but these are the ones that come to mind, and I have a really hard time getting them out of my head.

Do I think I still suffer from disordered eating? No. I don’t. I can and have and will do things that are “against” my “rules” and I don’t feel guilty about it, I don’t feel like I have to exercise it off and I don’t beat myself up. But regardless, those feelings are still there.

Sometimes I think about going to get a body fat and metabolic analysis done. I think if science told me I need to eat 2400 calories a day to maintain my level of exercise, I’d have an easier time doing it. But when I go to a site (like this one) and enter in my height and weight to determine my RMR, I’m…..hesitant. I’m hesitant to believe that what it’s telling me is accurate.

Yup. I put my weight on the blog. I figured I could dance around it, but I’ve decided to OWN IT! 😀

From reading Giselle’s post on RMR, there’s still some math to be done…See that 1513 number is only 70% of my metabolic function, I still need to add 30% to it to account for doing something other than just laying in bed (no matter how sloth-like I can be at times) plus what I burn when running. Let me tell you, what I burn when running can be a lot.

Pre-exercise I should be consuming ~1960 calories.

Umm, what?! That’s a heck of a lot of calories, yo. Definitely far more than I eat, even with the booze I sometimes consume.

So.

Yeah.

I think I need to eat more.

And…I’m working on it.

Tell me: Do you think you’re eating enough? How does your intake compare to the RMR calculator?

Since it’s Thursday and I’m rambling on and on, I’m linking up with Amanda for Thinking Out Loud. ❤