Weekly Recap

• Saturday: okay, okay, okay…this was the last long run before the marathon…I swear!  But, in my defense, it wasn’t a super long long run.  It was only a half marathon distance!  I was trying to keep the pace around a 10:50 average and I was doing alright with that until the last 4 miles, where my pace started to slow.  I wasn’t fully feeling the run on this day, so it wasn’t a huge surprise.  I ended with an overall average of 11:01 per mile.

• Sunday: spent half the day (pretty much literally) getting my octopus cover up tattoo colored in.  No workout and didn’t even get to 10K steps either.  I cannot wait to have my own elliptical in my apartment so even if I don’t want to take the time to drive all the way to the gym to workout, I can still get on the elliptical and do some of my home workout.

• Monday: I went to the gym…got 35 minutes done on the elliptical and did a really kick butt session on the TRX straps, the BOSU ball and with a resistance band!

• Tuesday: walked only…before and after my therapy appointment.

• Wednesday: I had an appointment at 9:15.  It’s always a quick appointment…in and out in 15 minutes or less.  So I went to the appointment dressed for a run and went to run on a new-to-me trail: Brushy Creek Regional Trail.  I did an out-and-back for 6 total miles.  It is always great to run in a new area and get a nice change of scenery.

• Thursday: was supposed to work overtime last night, but it got canceled.  I went to the gym.  I got the majority of my planned workout done.  35 minutes on the elliptical followed by my entire machines workout.  Didn’t have time to get the final 30 on the elliptical, though.  I cannot wait to have my own elliptical in my apartment…then I can hop on there while I’m having my morning coffee!  There will be NO excuses at that point!

• Friday: was really hoping to pick up overtime last minute on Thursday night, but sadly they didn’t need me to stay over.  Then, I was going to take this as a rest day but decided that I should AT LEAST do something on the elliptical.  Then, since I was at the gym, why not try out some different exercises while I’m there for some strength training.  So, while I was on the elliptical, I scoped out the meathead freeweight area of the gym and decided on doing the decline & incline bench presses, deadlifts (I used the fancy deadlift bar and that thing weighs 75# by itself so didn’t add any additional weight), and front & side arm raises.  Nothing fancy or extensive, but a good workout nonetheless.  I definitely want to expand on what I did in this workout and come up with a full strength training workout so that I will have 3 options for strength training workouts.  And, as always, my strength training are usually as full body as possible.

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I did go over my calories on Thursday when I gave in and went to Taco Cabana and got a Cabana Bowl (taco salad) and some sopapillas with dulce sauce.  Oops.  Other than that, though, I did not go over my calories on any day this week.  I’m trying to stick to my eating plan as much as possible, but I’m just having issues.  It didn’t help that, even though what I was eating was yummy, I have been eating the same thing during the week for the past 2 weeks.  I’m changing things up a little next week.  Instead of the ham, I’ll be having something else…haven’t decided yet…instead of apples, I’m going to make some potato pancakes made with russet and sweet potatoes, shredded, mixed with egg whites and then probably baked.  I will put a sauce on them, but not sure what.  I’m thinking some sort of healthy, low calorie hollandaise-type sauce (but obviously NOT hollandaise as that’s super high calorie).  Then, instead of sweet potatoes for dinner, I’m going to buy a bunch of iceberg lettuce and some bulk balsamic vinegar from Whole Foods and have that for dinner!  Yum!  And then, of course, my standard eggs for breakfast.  I really like those, so I won’t be changing that for a while.

I think I did pretty good with food and exercise this week, but let’s let the scale be a judge of that (yes, I know that the scale isn’t the whole picture).

On the one hand I’m so frustrated by this.  I gained 2.8 lbs this week.  On the other hand, I have to keep in mind the sodium laden foods I ate this week and the fact that my clothes weren’t fitting any tighter this morning than they were last Saturday morning.  So, then we have the other hand where I just accept it and move forward.  I did debate posting this week’s weigh in, but I realized I wasn’t doing anyone, me and you, any favors if I didn’t post it.  This journey is about accountability and I can’t be accountable if I’m not honest and open with the downs and the ups that happen.