Weekly Recap

• Saturday: Friday night I left home and started making my way toward Oregon.  By Saturday afternoon, I was in Moab, Utah and had stopped to take pictures of Wilson Arch and “ran” up the hill and then back down and it felt GREAT to move my legs like that after so much sitting in the car driving.  So then I was hot to find a trail to do a couple miles on, but was having a huge issue finding something that had public access.  On the north side of Moab, as I neared the entrance to Arches National Park, I noticed a road side paved trail and then discovered a small city park with a parking lot that had access to said trail, so I pulled over and parked.  I ran a quick out and back for 2 miles run.  Due to the altitude, my 10:34 average pace felt like I was trying to PR a 5k!  But, boy did it feel AMAZING!!!  And now, I need to get a “run” Utah magnet to go with my Texas and Oregon ones.

• Sunday: arrived at my parents’ house late afternoon and 1) didn’t feel like going for a run because I was exhausted and 2) didn’t have time to go for even a quick 2-miler if I had felt up to it anyway. 

• Monday: slept about 10 hours and woke up just before 9am.  I drank my coffee and woke up as I woke up a little “sleep drunk” as I call it and was a little, well, drunk feeling from sleeping so hard for so long.  Once I was awake and ready, I put on my running clothes and headed out the door for a 10K to celebrate Marathon Monday!  Congrats to everyone that ran Boston!  Someday I’ll be one of you!  I love running around my hometown because it’s so green and so many flowers are in bloom and all the old houses.

• Tuesday: at my friend Patricia's house since Monday around dinner time.  She lives at the beach.  This day, we went to the Portland Zoo and walked and walked and walked!  But, it wasn’t enough to even hit my 10K steps for the day.  Wah wah.

• Wednesday: as I said, I was at my friend Patricia’s house and she lives at the beach.  So, just like last year, I went for a 4 mile run up and down the beach.  This year I didn’t have a friendly eagle flying down the beach as I ran down it.  It was still a great run.

• Thursday: started my standard 2 days of full rest from running before a race.

• Friday: made the drive to bend and hit up the packet pickups for both half marathons I’m running this weekend.

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I forgot my scale, so I won’t be weighing in this week…secretly or publicly.  Oh well.  Not super worried about it.  I’m hoping to be in the right mindset to start over when I get back to Texas and start making the number on the scale go back down, so I’ll be weighing in when I get back and that’ll be my new starting point.

I’m hoping you guys don’t think I’m one of those people that can’t follow through with anything or that I can’t finish what I start.  I can, I swear.  It just takes me longer than other people because I take the long, scenic route.  And by “scenic,” I mean frustrating.  While I don’t have a lot of loose skin thanks to losing the weight so slowly, I do still have some.  It’s getting more evident lately, probably because I’m wearing shorts and skorts for running more often than I’m wearing capris and tights.  It doesn’t bother me a whole lot.  I want you guys to know that I’m a real person.  I’m not someone that is going to photoshop or airbrush my photos to make me look better or to give false impressions.  That’s not fair to me or to you.  I also refuse to wear spanx for so many reasons.

Weekly Recap

• Saturday: all week I’ve just felt tired, drained, exhausted, like I can’t get enough sleep…just plain don’t want to get out of bed because my bed feels extra comfy this week.  I don’t get it.  But, I let myself sleep until I woke up this day, then got up and just kind of lazed around.  I did some grocery shopping and was thinking of going to the gym and using the elliptical.  But I didn’t feel like going anywhere.  Earlier in the week, FitBit had added a new feature to the app where you can earn a little red dot for every hour that you log at least 250 steps and you can set it to track this for a 10-14 hour block.  On this day, I set it to track from 10am to 10pm and decided I would get my 10K steps for the day this way.  So, every hour, with the exception of one (because I wasn’t paying attention to the time until it was literally 3 minutes after the hour changed), I walked around outside.  Usually, I made an entire circuit of my apartment complex.  I ended the day with 10,279 steps when I went to bed. 

• Sunday: ran the Capitol 10K for the 4^th year and did fantastic!  I hit a goal I’ve been trying to hit for over a year and conquered a tough course yet again.  I definitely feel accomplished!  Also, since I really liked the whole going outside once an hour and walking around like I did on Saturday, I did that again for most of the rest of the day and logged close to 20,000 steps for the day.  Oh yea!

• Monday: had my appointment with the orthopedic doctor a little before 9am on this day.  I had hopes of going to the gym after the appointment and, thankfully, the doctor’s visit was very efficient and fast!  Even with some small talk about the Capitol 10K.  So I had more than enough time to do 65 minutes on the elliptical.

• Tuesday: went for a 5.2 mile run on this day.  I’ve been logging miles for a Route 66 challenge for a virtual race to run 66 miles.  As you log your miles run, it gives you photos and facts from along the 66 mile portion of Route 66 that the route virtually runs along.  I had 5.2 miles left until the virtual finish line, so I knocked it out!

• Wednesday: went to the gym  and got 65 minutes done on the elliptical.

• Thursday: packed for my Oregon trip and went to the gym for just 30 minutes on the elliptical.

• Friday: I had planned to run this morning, but I was 1) extremely nervous (really, this is more a reason to go for a run than to skip one) and 2) still had a lot of prep work for my trip that I’m leaving on directly after work tonight.

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I will be driving all weekend, with some sightseeing along the way, so I won’t be able to post this tomorrow.  That’s why I’m posting today, Friday.  This wasn’t the most productive week, workout-wise, but I’m not dissatisfied with it.  Sure, I wish I had felt mentally up to running this morning, but I didn’t and I’m not going to force myself to run in that situation.  I’d rather skip a run than risk forgetting to pack something when I’m prepping for a trip.

Friend Making Monday

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Spring is Here

1. What city do you currently live in? Austin, TX
2. What’s the weather like where you are? it's bipolar
3. When you eat at a restaurant do you prefer to eat inside or outside? i almost ALWAYS prefer to eat inside because i don't like wind blowing my hair around while i'm trying to eat...i don't like eating hair.
4. What is your favorite season? spring and fall for the most part.  in texas, i love "winter" for running purposes.
5. When you go on vacation do you prefer the beach or the mountains? the mountains have a lot more to offer a runner than a beach does.  also, i grew up spending family vacations camping in the mountains.
6. What do you like most about Spring? the flowers, the [sometimes] mild temperatures, the rain
7. Share one of the greatest moments of Spring from your childhood. making MayDay bouquets and hanging them on the neighbors' front door knobs
8. Do you prefer to wear shorts, capris or dresses at this time of year? dresses.  shorts come in second.
9. What do you miss about Winter? the cooler temps
10. What do you look forward to about Summer? a break from running so much. i know, i know, i love to run, but summer is too hot for lots of running in texas, so i make up for less running by cycling and swimming more.  so, sort of tri training.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to come back and share you link in the comments! Also remember to take a few minutes to comment on posts that others share.
Happy Monday, Friends!

Weekly Recap

• Saturday: I worked overtime Friday night and set my alarm for 11am so I could get to the expo for the Austin 10/20 at a decent time.  I was going to get on the elliptical at the gym, but I managed to get my 10K steps for the day plus a little extra, so I skipped the gym and spent the evening resting my legs.

• Sunday: ran the Austin 10/20!  That’s a 10 mile race with 20 live bands along the course.  This was my 3^rd year running it and every single year they have changed up the beginning and/or end of the race.  It’s all the same roads and things, just the sections are in different order.  This is the ONLY time I run sans music because I love to hear the bands.  I ran a course/distance PR of 1:34:31, beating the goal I had set for myself by 29 seconds!  WOOHOO!  (full race report will be posted as soon as I receive my official photo, so stay tuned)

• Monday: I had to charge my FitBit and then run a couple errands and as a result, I only had time to knock out 40 minutes on the elliptical. 

• Tuesday: had my monthly session with my therapist, so there was lots of walking before and after my appointment.  Walked a total of 4.5 miles!  I’d like to start getting in the area earlier and walking maybe another mile or so on therapy days.

• Wednesday: went for a run.  Just logging miles for the most part, so I ran at a comfortable pace and didn’t actually check my pace at all while I was running.  So, I was happy when I got done and uploaded my Garmin data and saw a 10:42 average pace.  I wanted to stretch my legs after the hard effort during Sunday’s 10 mile race and keep them limber going into the 10K I’m running tomorrow.  I figured I might as well earn one of the virtual race medals I have lying around my desk while I was at it too, so I ran 6.34 miles (per the Garmin…6.2 miles per the FitBit) and hung my The Runner Awakens virtual race medal that has the Rebel symbol and BB-8 on it and they spin!

• Thursday: picked up an overtime shift at work so no workout on this day.

• Friday: walked a little over 4 miles between before and after picking up my packet for the Capital 10K.

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While I’m still going to weigh myself each week, I’m not stressing about trying to make myself lose weight right now.  There are a couple reasons I’m going to continue to weigh in even though I’m not really worried about what the scale says, 1) if I don’t weigh in regularly, my fancy scale will unsync from my accounts and it’s just annoying to get it to start syncing again, and 2) while I’m not trying to lose any weight AT THE MOMENT, I do want to keep an eye on my weight so it doesn’t start inching up.

I had a spectacular session with my therapist this week.  I had been doing a lot of thinking in the weeks before and realized that when I was able to get my eating habits and exercise habits to “click” the way I wanted them to last fall, that I was on medical leave from work and therefore had substantially less stress in my life, so there were no urges fueled by stress to binge eat and when I did eat, I felt satisfied with way less food than when I’m stressed out.  So I told him all that and then we talked about work, which we just haven’t happen to talk about hardly at all in my sessions.  We discovered that I feel trapped in my job (for various financial reasons) and that I don’t enjoy it and it doesn’t challenge me.  Boredom is a type of stress, he said.  And stress makes me have urges to binge.  So, things are making a little more sense to me now.  Oh and he told me that not only is there an endorphin response when you are consuming food, but also when your body is digesting the food!  Which is why, when I’ve binge eaten a bunch of food, then a little bit later, when my body is apparently digesting it, I feel calm and not so stressed.  And sometimes, I don’t need to overeat for a binge.  Sometimes, I’ll just eat all the food I brought to work with me at once and then I’m fine the rest of the day.  I just apparently need that endorphin rush from the digestion process and then I’m good.  I like facts and I like science and I like logic.  So these things he told me make things a little easier for me to comprehend. 

Based on all of that, I’m hoping I can destress enough while I’m on vacation at the end of this month for 16 days to get things to “click” again and maybe I can keep my stress levels lower somehow.  Maybe I can start really amping up my gym sessions to get pent up frustration (that I’m not even aware of, but must be there) out instead of holding it inside so it’s not eating away at me and giving me urges to binge eat. 

Friend Making Monday (on Saturday...oops)

So, a while back, I used to participate in something called Friend Making Monday.  It's a list of usually 10 questions that you answer on your blog and then go back to the host blog and post a link to your post with your answers.  It's a great way for bloggers to network with each other and have a little fun and it helps to give your readers an insight into who you are.  And besides, it's just kind of fun!  Well, the host blogger took a hiatus from blogging a while ago, and has recently returned to blogging after a lot of soul searching and guess what!  She started the Friend Making Mondays up again!  WOOHOO!  So, here you!  (I'm posting this late because I am a little behind in my blog reading and didn't realize this was happening until today)

Friend Makin’ Mondays: The Basics

1. How often do you make your bed? I don't actually make my bed every day, per se.  But I do pull the covers up and make my bed look semi presentable so I wouldn't be embarrassed if I had to have the maintenance guy visit my apartment to fix something or a friend came over, I wouldn't feel compelled to close the door.
2. What are you currently reading? Elfstones of Shannara.  With the recent showing of the TV series Shannara Chronicles, I want to reread the book I read over 20 years ago and see what changes they made to the storyline to adapt it into a TV series.
3. Do you go to bed at a certain time? If so, what time? usually around 10:30pm.  I work M-F, 2-10pm, and 10:30 is generally when I get home and have had a chance to change into PJs.
4. What are your favorite TV shows currently? Ancient Aliens, Jill & Jessa: Counting On, Shannara Chronicles, My 600lb Life, The Internet Ruined My Life
5. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten lately?  I have to say I've been fairly boring with food lately.
6. Do you have any trips planned? If so, where are you going next?  I'll be leaving right after work next Friday on a road trip to Oregon to visit friends and family and run back-to-back half marathons while I'm there
7. How many cups of coffee do you drink per day? If you’re not a coffee drinker, what you do prefer?  about a pot of coffee usually.  I really love coffee.
8. It’s Saturday night, and you decided to stay in? What do you do to entertain yourself? (We’re talking hobbies, interests, etc.)  cruise the internet and watch shows I've DVRed during the week.
9. When you give a gift do you wrap it, or do you put it in a gift bag?  depends on how much time I have.  I love gift wrapping, but sometimes I just don't have the time to do it, so I get some tissue paper and a gift bag.
10. Share one thing from last week that made you smile?  I hit a big goal to finish the Austin 10/20 race in 1:35:00 hours or faster.

March Goals Review & April Goals

Another month has come to an end and another has begun.  Good bye March, hello April.  Before I go over my goals for April, let’s recap how I did with the goals I set out for myself for the month of March.

 

• run at least 100 miles – FAIL…but still a success because I still got over 90 miles.

• finish the San Felipe Shootout without injuring myself – SUCCESS!  Had a ton of fun too!

• do 2 strength training workout a week – FAIL.  I think I was able to do that for the first week, but after that, nada.

• finish up the #22for22 challenge – SUCCESS!  And started a new one while continuing to do the exercises I was doing for the original challenge.

• start doing pullups – FAIL.

• read as much of Run Less Run Faster as I can – a good book, but it’s not the running plan I was hoping to find.

• make a valiant attempt to PR the 5K – SUCCESS!  Got a new 5K PR of 27:09 (that’s a PR by 5 seconds…every second counts yo!)

• lose some weight – FAIL.

 

And now, moving on, let’s see what I’m hoping to accomplish in April.  I do have to say that half of the month I will be on vacation and traveling, so my goals for this month will be a little different than other months because of that.

 

• run as close to 100 miles as possible (at least 90)

• strength train twice a week if possible (might not be possible while I’m on vacation, but I do plan to take my TRX straps and BOSU ball with me in case I can’t make it to the gym)

• maintain my weight…don’t gain…stay under 180

• run as many trails (including a run on the beach!) as I can while on vacation (instead of doing all my runs on roads/paved paths)

• come up with a new plan of attack for May for eating and exercising

Weekly Recap

• Saturday: ran the ASH Dash Bunny Run 5k this day and not only did I PR with a time of 27:09 official (PR by 5 seconds), but I won 1^st in my age group!!!  I got a lovely golden bunny trophy!  This is the 4^th time I’ve placed top 3 in my age group.  I’ve received 2 medals, 1 gift certificate ($20 to a running store) and now a trophy.  This is my first ever trophy!  I love it!

• Sunday: Wasn't planning on running today, but the itch was there so I had to scratch it. Knocked out 5.75 miles! What a wonderful evening for a run!

• Monday: tried out the combat fitness test for work this morning.  I already completed the rower test with a score of 80% for the first part of the year so this was just to get a feel for this test and decide if I want to do it "for real" next year.  It consists of 3 rounds of 5 exercises with 1 minute per exercise and then a 1 minute rest between rounds for a total of 17 minutes.  The exercises are a medicine ball toss with box squat combo, then a kettlebell sumo squat to row combo, then a 22" step up, then the push press, and ending with the row.  To score the minimum passing score of 50% I’d have to do 10 reps (10 calories for the row) of each exercise.  I had a goal of 15 reps of each exercise and then just use the row as an active rest.  I got 15 of every exercise as hoped for, did 20 step ups the final round and 10 calories on the row ever round except final where I got 16. scored 221 points for a score of 73%.  Not bad for my first time ever attempting it! Ii didn't even practice!  I definitely could have pushed more and the tester believes that I could easily get 80% and if I push myself could definitely do 90%.  I will be doing this test "for real" next year!

After that, I headed to the gym and got 35 minutes done on the elliptical.

• Tuesday: had a 7 mile run planned but I'm pretty sore from the combat fitness test...that's what I get for skipping strength training for 2 weeks.  So, just the elliptical today trying to loosen things up and break up the DOMS a little.

• Wednesday: worked overtime last minute Tuesday night, so no workout or run on this day.

• Thursday: had PLANNED on a 6 mile run so I could hit 95 miles for the month of March, but I procrastinated and took too long paying my bills and whatnot so I only had time for 4 miles.  So, 93 miles for the month of March!  Still a good number, so I’m not knocking it at all!  The run went great, moderately paced around 10:36 per mile average.  Honestly, I’m not sure I could have done 6 miles comfortably.  At the end of the 4, I was struggling a little bit.  Thanks a lot, humidity.  Yep, it’s that time in Texas…time to welcome our good old buddy, humidity back into town.  Ugh.  After my run I had one of the best massages I’ve ever had.  I didn’t want to go to work afterward, I was soooo relaxed!

• Friday: that personal training session that I was originally supposed to do on Monday that got rescheduled to today happened.  Oh yea!  I’d been looking forward to it all week!  Carl, my trainer, did not disappoint.  He had me do some AMRAP stuff to start.  He stuck the 45# bar into the hinge holder thing and then loaded a 25# plate onto it.  I started with landmine thrusters for 40 seconds, rest 20 seconds, then sumo deadlifts for 40 seconds, rest 20 seconds, then more landmine thrusters, then single arm shoulder presses, then double arm shoulder presses, then 2 minute rest and repeat the whole thing.  Then we went to the 3-way grip seated row machine.  He put it on 55# and had me do 10 reps at each hand position for 3 sets.  Next we went to the dumbbells and he grabbed 12.5# (haha, don’t judge…my arms were tired at this point) and had me do a bent over row to bicep curl ladder.  First set I made it to 7 reps and the 2^nd and 3^rd sets I made it to 6 reps.  Last exercise was the tricep rope pulldown with dropsets at 40#, 30#, then 20# for 10 reps each weight, rest 30-40 seconds, then repeat for 3 sets.  And done!  I love this workout.  Aaaaaaand, now I’m seriously considering purchasing a training package…after my Oregon trip is done, of course.

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As far as eating goes, this week was pretty much the same as last week.  I continued with the TV dinners.  They’re great for portion control and for adding variety.  But, they’re loaded with sodium and all sorts of carbs.  Let me tell you about those carbs.  Now that I’m eating processed carbs, I am craving them like there’s no tomorrow.  I don’t like it.  So, not sure what I’m going to do when I hit up the grocery store tomorrow after my race.  Am I going to do the TV dinners again or am I going to get a skirt steak to season and stick in the crockpot?  Maybe some broccoli that I can roast?  And roasted sweet potato wedges?  Mmmm.  So, yea, decisions.

The steroid injection I got last fall in my left elbow for my tendonitis wore off on Sunday.  Ugh.  So, now my elbow hurts…a lot.  I have an appointment with an ortho on the 11^th, so we’ll see what he says.  Maybe he’ll take pity on me and give me another injection.

I’m just not even going to stress over the scale for a little bit.  I’ll do my best to maintain a sub-180 on it between now and when I return from my trip to Oregon.  I will weigh in the morning after I return to Texas and start fresh.