Moving on from January

January 31, 2015 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 12 Comments

I don’t normally post on a Saturday but with it being the last day of January, I thought I would sum up the month.

I’ll be honest, I’m happy to say Goodbye to January. I had such high hopes for month and felt they’ve been crushed (a bit). And if I’m being completely honest….I’m bummed about my hamstring. The last 3-4 days has been rough and I haven’t run at all since early in the week.

In better news, I had physio yesterday and my physiotherapist said two things to me after looking at my hamstring:

Your hamstring is completely swollen – no wonder why you’ve been having more pain in the last few days.
Your hamstrings are in great physical shape, in fact, I’m jealous of their shape, wish mine were like yours!

Okay…….pitty party is over (for this blog post at least).

January was pretty great. It started off with a run with Lilly, skiing and snowshoeing with the girls, lots of playing in the snow and some great family time.

I ran 28km in total (unless I run tonight), managed to get to three Yoga classes and only face planted in one of them 🙂

Though I am not where I want to be with running, everything else is my life is pretty darn good. I’ll get there eventually and can’t focus on my long-term running until I get my leg healed 100%. I still have my eyes set on a spring half marathon – or at least a 10k and I’m not giving up on running a FULL Marathon in the fall.

Running a full marathon has been on my mind for months, I’d say even a year but I wasn’t quiet ready to commit to it until this past fall. Now that I’m injured and have a little set back, I have to see it as that…a little set back, for now. A full IS in my future.

Time to bring on February.

How was your January?

How’s your weekend?

How’s your running going this year?

Hamstring Recovery Week #2 and #Snowmaggedon2015

January 29, 2015 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 16 Comments

What What! Week #2 of my Hammy recovery. First off, I may have been introduced to “The Mindy Project” – perfect running material for The BEAST (a.k.a. treadmill)…I seriously crack up watching this show.

Second, we just had a wicked snowstorm:

Snowmaggeddon2015

Before is Monday around 5pm, After is Tuesday around 4pm and we got more snow yesterday too! Winter has finally arrived in Nova Scotia!

What my 2nd week of recovery looked like:

Tuesday 20th – Ran 2k 🙂 & PT exercises

Wednesday 21st – PT exercises yoga at home.

Thursday 22nd – Ran 2k, weights – needed a little motivation.

Friday 23rd – PT exercises (getting kind of bored of these)

Saturday 24th – Ran 2k on the treadmill before dinner with the hubs. Almost didn’t run but glad I did in the end.

Sunday 25th – NOTHING – Skipped my PT exercises – whoops! Was feeling under the weather

Monday 26th – Ran 2k, did some upper body weights, planks, push-ups, jumping jacks and I may have jumped/walked around the house so I could get my 10,000 daily steps on my Fitbit.

Tuesday 27th – STORM DAY! Was supposed to have Physiotherapy but I postponed it due to weather. Also, I’m pretty sure I did some of the Sweatpink #noexcuses but can’t remember when or what – slight fail.

Storm Day!

Week 2 – I managed to not have any pain in my hamstring when putting on socks and shoes! I know, such a simple task would cause me great pain before. I’m getting discouraged by the pain/pull in my hamstring and hoping after tomorrow’s physio appointment things will improve.

This week, I can run 3k every other day 🙂 I’m really hoping she will let me do some more exercises…I’m ready to move on.

Life Balance and Mental Health – #BellLetsTalk

January 28, 2015 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 9 Comments

Today is Bell Let’s Talk day in Canada. What’s that you say? Well it’s Bell (company) raising awareness about Mental Health in Canada. You can text, tweet, call long distance or share their image on Facebook and they will donate $0.05 cents towards mental health initiatives throughout Canada. I wrote about it last year here and in 2013 here. Last June, I took a Mental Health First Aid Course for work and I 100% recommend it for EVERYONE. Look it up people!

A few weeks ago (January 19th) I participated in a weekly Twitter Chat with @RunATCan. That stands for “Running in Atlantic Canada”- Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador. It’s a great group of people who are beyond encouraging, knowledgeable, friendly and a lot of fun!

This specific chat was about “Life Balance” and was huge! So many people or tweeters were on this chat, it was awesome. So, since today is #BellLetsTalk day, I thought I would share the questions and MY responses below…because I believe “Life Balance” and “Mental Health” go hand-in-hand…and so did many of the other tweeters.

Question #1: Give your personal definition of life balance.

My response: A1 Making sure I can fit in my priorities first: family, health (activity), friends. Being okay with NOT doing it ALL.

Question #2: Do you sometimes struggle w/ life balance as a runner? (running taking over, annoying others/not running as much as you want).

Response: My mental health is a priority over many other things and if that means running then yes, running takes priority.

Question #3: Have you ever made a physical list of what your priorities actually are? Whether yes or no, what are the top 3?

Response: Family, Health (mental, physical) and then everything else as needed. #RunATCan I also know what is not my priority.

Question #4: Have you ever taken a few days & tracked your time & see how you actually use it? Work, sleep, TV, phone, family, running, etc

Response: Ha ha, yeah but only for a blog post not for me. #RunATCan #dayinthelifeofablogger 😉

Question #5: If you feel like things are unbalanced, how do you hit reset? For some, it’s easy – for others, quite hard. Share your tips!

Response: Usually it’s after a breakdown (ha) & a good conversation with my husband to get my priorities focused #RunATCan Spouse support.

Question #6: Is improving our life balance as runners all about increasing positive things, decreasing negative things or both?

Response: I think a little of both. You need the good with the bad as life isn’t always perfect.

So, now you know a little bit more about me, how I attempt to balance my life, running and my mental health. I feel lucky to have this awesome running group on Twitter that meets up at local events as well. I feel lucky to know what supports are out there if I, yes me…or anyone else needs them to help balance their life.

My little family in yesterday’s storm 🙂

Mental health is important to me and talking about it is even more important. So, please if you can text or tweet #BellLetsTalk today – THAT would be awesome.

Now it’s your turn……leave a comment or heck, write a blog post about these 6 questions and leave me your link.

Question #1: Give your personal definition of life balance.

Question #2: Do you sometimes struggle w/ life balance as a runner? (running taking over, annoying others/not running as much as you want).

Question #3: Have you ever made a physical list of what your priorities actually are? Whether yes or no, what are the top 3?

Question #4: Have you ever taken a few days & tracked your time & see how you actually use it? Work, sleep, TV, phone, family, running, etc

Question #5: If you feel like things are unbalanced, how do you hit reset? For some, it’s easy – for others, quite hard. Share your tips!

Question #6: Is improving our life balance as runners all about increasing positive things, decreasing negative things or both?

Baked Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal {vegan}

January 27, 2015 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 15 Comments

Since we are having a SNOW DAY in Nova Scotia today (yes, even Government offices are closed!) I thought I would make a nice breakfast for our family. I’ve wanted to make this Baked Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal (From Two Peas & Their Pod) dish for a long time. I figured today was going to be the perfect opportunity. Of course, I had to make it vegan for my husband to enjoy with us.

Baked Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal {vegan}

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup coconut flakes
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups skim milk {Coconut OR Almond milk}
1 large egg {1 large banana OR 1/4 cup of maple syrup}
3 tbsp spoons coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Grease 8 x 8 baking pan.
Mix oats, coconut flakes, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Mix together milk, egg {banana}, melted coconut oil and vanilla.
Place 2/3 of the blueberries on the bottom of the pan.
Pour over the oat mixture evenly over blueberries.
Next, pour the milk mixture over the oats – covering all of them.
Sprinkle remaining blueberries on top.
Bake for 40 minutes until top is golden and oats are set.

ENJOY!!!

Oh, and we made bacon; normal yummy delicious bacon and….vegan bacon. Now we are off to enjoy the day together, stuck in our house and hopefully outside later to enjoy the snow.

Do you make special breakfast on snow days?

Are you getting this crazy blizzard?

What are your go-to activities when stuck inside with your family?