Just Two Laps

Now on the surface, I am a bit disappointed when I say I only ran two laps, but in reality, I am glad that I ran even though it was only two laps. You see, a while ago, when I got busy doing something and wasn't ready to start my workout on time, I might have been inclined to simply skip it. I would have wondered at the value of only having a few minutes or only going a lap or two. The fact that it was suddenly 20 minutes after 6 and I hadn't left for my run yet would have been a deterrent. But now, I recognize that all activity is good and even better than the activity itself is maintaining a habit. If I allowed myself to skip the workout, then I might be more inclined to do it again the next day and progressively, I would get away from doing it all together. So, today I only did 2 laps at the track, but a total of 1.55 miles. It was good to get out. I need to get moving earlier so that I can fit in more in the future.

Yesterday, I was more successful - I did sprint intervals. I started with a one lap warm up run, did sprint intervals for 4 laps (1 mile) and then wrapped up with one lap cool down run. It felt great. I haven't had a chance to see how fast my sprint was, but I know that I was much slower on the walk between sprints - suggesting to me that I was going faster on my sprint. I really think that it is helping me with my overall speed and breath control. There is something about pushing yourself routinely that changes you.

Eating was a challenge yesterday. I did really good until we came home from the soccer game. I was feeling munchy and found some Cheddar Jack Cheez-It. Yum! Normally, I control myself and have just one small bowl of crackers. Last night, it was three! Not only that, but I had a glass of wine (a tall one, the bottle was almost out and I couldn't leave that little bit behind) with them. It was yummy and it is okay to have a treat on occasion.

Hoping that the eating is better controlled today. I don't think I can stay away from the Cheez-Its, but hopefully I can have just one bowl.

Wednesday

Today was the first day of school for my kids. Not all of the schools in town are back in session, but ours went back today.

In spite of, or maybe because of, I was actually up early today. I wanted to head to the track before getting them up and ready for school. Unfortunately, the sun rise wasn't cooperative and I still only had a short amount of time to actually work out. I decided today that I would run when I got to the track. I wound up completing the same amount of distance today (1 mile run at the track) and I did it in 7 minutes less! I guess that is the difference between 11:26 pace and 14:40 pace. I wonder if I just ran, what my actual average pace would be? Of the 2.1 miles, I actually walk for about .8 miles, so I think that if I just ran, it would be better. I rely on the .55 miles walk to start to be my warm up and need a little cool down as I leave the track.

Eating has been less of a challenge now that I am back into a more routine schedule. The biggest challenge is that we have so many sports activities over the coming weeks. It makes our dinner time shift back and forth - some nights very early, other nights very late.

The scale continues to progress towards where I need to be.

What a Weekend!

I love a busy weekend. I love company. I love going out to eat with friends and family. The problem - I don't fit in my exercise, I tend to eat more. I do well at meals, but seem to have more opportunities to snack, enjoy dessert and share a glass of wine with friends. The result - I feel disappointed in myself. I wonder why I couldn't enjoy with going so far beyond my daily targets. I wonder why I couldn't make time for a quick walk or run.

Then, I spend the next few days trying to re-adapt my body to normal. I find myself hungry at times that I shouldn't be, simply because I had more food the days before. I find myself struggling to work out - not only convincing myself to do it, but then feeling 'unfit' when I do.

The good news is that I do make it back to a good balance of healthy eating and beneficial activity - the problem is that I have lost days in advancing to my goal, because I have spent them heading the wrong way and recovering.

I am only a few weeks from my mid-point of my goal period and my lowest weight is still 2# from my goal and I haven't yet fully recovered back to that lowest weight. I so much so had hoped to not only meet, but to exceed my goal for the mid-point. Now, I am hoping just to make it to my goal. A fact that leaves me disappointed. I am happy for the progress that I have made, just bummed that I allow myself to make decisions that set me back.

I started my day with a 1 mile walk at the track, which is a 2.1 mile walk in total. I ran yesterday, but my knees were bothering me, so I felt that a walk was a smarter workout. It is staying dark way too late anymore. I keep leaving home later and later and the past two days, when I finish my workout, the street lights are still on. That is not a good thing, there are still two plus months before we fall back, eventually I will not have light to go outside for a workout in the morning. I will have to return to some DVD workouts. That is not necessarily a bad thing, I just like the outdoor workout.

Eating was mostly on track yesterday. Right up until I had some ice cream for dessert. We have a leftover cake and ice cream from my son's birthday. I just needed a little something at the end of the day. At least it wasn't a large serving. Today, I'm hopeful for another good day of eating, which will help me continue back in the right direction.

Thursday

Well, I know that my legs were definitely feeling the sprint intervals from yesterday. When I headed up for my run this morning, my walk up pace was over 17 min/mile. That is slow! I am normally on the high end of 14 min/mile when I walk up. Today, I decided I would just run. I wound up doing 6 laps, 1 1/2 miles. As I was starting lap 4, I wasn't fully convinced that I was going to get the whole second half in. But, then, I found my groove. I think that if had the time, I could have gone double what I did. As I was completing the 6th lap though, I got my Run Keeper update and knew that it was time to head home and get ready for work.

Yesterday was a good day for eating, right up until it wasn't. I had my protein shake and banana for breakfast. I had my toasted wheat thin with goat cheese, cucumbers, spinach, tomato and banana peppers for lunch. My afternoon snack was an apple. My dinner was late and it was Mexican. We took my son out for his birthday, but it was after soccer practice. I made a reasonable dinner choice of one chicken taco and one chicken enchilada, no rice. Unfortunately, because we were late at eating and because I was feeling famished (should have had a snack when I got home), I ordered the queso. They brought out a big bowl, not the little bowl that they normally do. I ate way too many chips and cheese.

Today should be easier. I know that I am having pizza for dinner and will plan accordingly.

Sprints!

When I headed up to the track this morning, it was on the edge of dark. This is going to be a challenge. I am going to have to find someone that I can meet at the track each day or I am going to simply run out of 'morning' time to run before work. I may have to return to running in the neighborhood if I want to still run. At least in the neighborhood there is random traffic, street lights, people walking dogs, getting their paper, etc. So, even if it is a bit pre-dawn out with only a glimmer of pink on the horizon, it seems less so.

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do at the track today. Yesterday, I pushed myself to run the whole time and was able to get in 6 straight laps of running. Today, I started with a walk, not to mention my journey up was slower than normal. Part way around, I decided that I would match yesterday's run with sprint intervals. So, I wound up walking 1/2, doing 6 laps of sprint intervals, running 1/2 lap. I wound up doing 1/4 mile more in distance, but since I started the sprints in the middle of a lap, I didn't have a choice if I wanted to meet my goal. Here is my run chart:

You can't tell on this one, but when I run my mouse along the path in Runkeeper at the dips (the peak of my sprint) there were several where my pace was about a 6:35 minute mile and even one that went down to 6:27 minute mile. Awesome! When I just run, I tend to be between a 9:20 and 10:30 minute mile. The interesting thing is that overall, my pace is very similar, whether running the whole time or doing sprint intervals the whole time. My walking recovery between each sprint leg drags me down just the right amount to match a run.

The workout felt great.

I did okay with eating yesterday, until we went to my daughter's kindergarten picnic. There was pepperoni pizza and then there were ice cream sundaes. I couldn't help myself. I would like to say that I will be more focused today, but it is my son's birthday and he wants to go out for dinner. I will have to be conscientious and make sure that I make good decisions. Enjoy being out but make wise choices.

The scale simply chose not to respond yesterday. I keep thinking, if I had skipped the second piece of pizza or the sundae, it would have been a move in the right direction. I still am trying to recover back to the low.

Going the Distance

Well, that might make one think that I really had some sort of a record breaking outing today, which I certainly did not. What I did experience is how your mind makes all the difference in your outing. When I got to the track, I wasn't really sure what my work out plan was. As soon as I got to my lane, I started to run. I thought about what I might want to do. Before I even finished my first lap, my body was ready to be done. I simply couldn't allow that. I convinced myself to try to run 4 laps. Then, when I got my time/distance update near the middle of my third lap, I decided I would run at least until the next update - that would put me into my fifth lap. As I got the update, I decided that I really should keep going. I decided I would complete six laps. As I was completing my sixth lap, I decided that it was important to me that I finish strong, so I decided I would sprint the last 1/4 lap - which actually would put me to 6 1/4 laps of running. When I completed the sprint, I got my update which was the one that I needed to head home on. Rather than finishing the 3/4 lap remaining, I walked back the 1/4 that I had just run. It was a good outing, especially considering that yesterday I wasn't sure about running even one lap.

Eating was mostly good yesterday. I started my day with a protein shake and a banana. Unfortunately, my banana was squishy on the bottom. I had designs on making some oatmeal, but one thing lead to another and it was lunch time. I had lunch with a friend. We met for Mexican, which when you are hungry is a challenge - those chips kept calling my name! I had the chicken fajitas, no rice, no beans, no tortillas. Essentially grilled chicken and veggies. Makes me not feel so bad about those chips. In the mid-afternoon, I stumbled upon a banana cream pie - I couldn't help it, I had to have a sliver. I skipped most of the crust (if that is a plus?). Dinner was coconut shrimp (baked) and pierogie.

The scale responded nicely on the road to recovery of my current low. If I stay strong today and don't give in to chips and banana pie, I am confident the scale will respond again tomorrow.

Back in the Groove

That cold last week really zapped me. I couldn't convince myself that getting up and running (or even walking) was a great idea. I knew that if I exerted myself I would start to cough and I just didn't want that. Of course, to counteract the cold, I was trying to hydrate and stock up on Vitamin C. That left me consuming lots more juice than I normally do over the course of the week, as well as more honey than normal too. Couple that with some quarterly meetings at work that found me eating catered breakfasts, lunches and dinners; a fun day out with my son that included breakfast and lunch out and milkshakes; a kid birthday party; and dinner and a movie with friends, and my weight loss journey was doomed from the start.

No exercise + increased beverage calories + increased eating calories = big challenge!

Thankfully, although up slightly, it was all in all not horrible. I was only up a little bit and I was really worried that it could be more.

Do you ever have those days where you just know that you just ate bad and you allow one more snack/treat because what's the harm now? I do that sometimes and then, like today, the scale actually gives a lower than expected result and I think to myself, if only I hadn't had the one last treat, maybe it could have been even a bit lower. I think I need to learn that if I am exceeding target for calories, that it is better to call it a draw than to pile it on.

Oh well! This week is hopefully a more normal week. I am feeling better. I headed up to the track and fit in a 1 1/2 mile visit - ran for a mile, just not consecutively. It was a challenge to run after over a week off. I am back on track with measuring and tracking. I fully intend to recover the gain and then some before the week is over.

Summer Colds are the Worst!

So, I noticed the other evening that my throat was a bit scratchy. I shrugged it off and decided to not worry about it. The one thing that has held true while I have been more active and eating better is that I tend to not be sick as often or as long. Well, I woke up yesterday with a bit of head congestion, but a lot of sneezing. That sneezing with that tingle that you just know is going to be something more than just a few sneezes. Last night was miserable. I think I slept about 2 minutes the whole night. I told my husband that I was going to skip the run, but get out for a walk this morning - I know that my experience has been that activity helps me fight the cold quicker. After only sleeping what felt like two minutes, my alarm was going off and I decided to choose sleep over walking for getting better. As I sit here, my nose is still congested and I hate that feeling of I can't really breath. My lips are already becoming chapped from breathing through my mouth continuously.

The other challenge I face with a cold is that food loses flavor. I eat for the flavor and texture experience. Without it, I have to watch that I don't start to pick, looking for something, anything that I can taste. I am going to rely on fluids to help flush this cold out of me. Gatorade is a favorite illness fighting beverage at my house, but in the interest of calories, I will have to alternate it with good old-fashioned water and hot tea.

Sunday was a good eating day and the scale was kind enough to show slight movement (0.2#) in the right direction. It's not much, but every ounce counts on this journey.

I'm Still Here..

Honest! I am not sure what has happened but clearly I have been very busy, as it has been well over a week since I last checked in and my intention is to check in daily.

Last weekend was a very busy weekend and as such, very challenging. We had out of town company for the weekend, a wedding, a post-wedding picnic, dinner out with our guests - all activities that make tracking of eating a challenge and left me with little time (I was up too late to get up early) to fit in extra activity. It was a great weekend, and I wouldn't change it, it just set me back a bit.

Monday morning, our company had an early morning flight, so once they left, I headed to the track and got in a really good trip. I walked the first mile, did sprint intervals for a mile and then cooled down. It felt really good to be so active and I love the sprints.

Tuesday, I was back up at the track - I had overslept, so it was only a one mile run at the track, but it was still good to be active. Wednesday, I overslept again (I think this theme is a result of the busy weekend and busy evenings). It was a little later, so I only got three laps of running in. I also learned that when I don't get up early enough to do some things around the house, I am a lot more tired when I head up and really struggle.

Thursday, I was up on time and the sun failed to show. I headed up to the track late - but got in 3 laps of running and 2 laps of sprint intervals. Having been up for a while, waiting on the sun, which finally made an appearance as I was wrapping up my workout, made me feel less tired and more able to run.

Friday it was raining. I had great intentions of fitting in my run, I got dressed came downstairs, had some water and heard the start of the rain. I was going to do a DVD workout, but decided instead to make apple crisp to take to work. It took me a while and then it was time to shower.

Saturday, there wasn't time to fit in a workout, but we did walk around the mall doing a bit of back to school shopping.

Overall, the eating was okay. I struggled over the weekend, but have done well since. Unfortunately, I was at the top of the target range most days, so loss was slow. The good news is that I am back at the low that I recorded about two weeks ago...now, I just need to get moving back down. I am at the point where I am about to intersect my goal line. I was bummed to realize this when I entered the weight this morning. I have been ahead of my goal all along, I know that when I get to the last few pounds that it will be a struggle and I will likely catch it, but I'm not ready to be at goal or behind on the journey. Of course, it makes me realize that I have to keep giving it my all, or I will not be able to achieve my goal.

Of course, keeping up with this journal helps me be successful on my journey, so I need to give it more effort too!

Finally Friday!

Okay, the other day I questioned why it seems that time goes by so fast and today I am cheering about the fact that it is Friday. Yes, I guess when it comes to time I am a 'have my cake and eat it too' kind of girl. There never seems to be enough time, especially enough weekend time - time to be at home, time to be with the kids, time to relax.

I skipped my run on Thursday morning - it had been a late night on Wednesday and I had an early morning meeting. I was a little bit bummed to miss it, but there wasn't much that I could do about it. Eating was okay on Thursday, except we ate out for lunch. I tried to manage my food, but it was Mexican and my friend ordered queso.

I got up on time this morning and headed out for my run. I decided that I would go with a goal of 6 laps or 1 1/2 miles of running. I got up there and walked the first lap, I needed some momentum I guess. I started running and by about lap two was fully convinced that I would never complete this goal. But, I kept on pushing and pushing. As I would finish one lap, I would think I can do at least one more lap. Before long, I found myself finishing my 9th lap of running. It felt good to run the distance. I have been enjoying the sprints, but they aren't helping me with endurance, which is another goal that I have.

I never did get back to the 30 Day Ab Challenge. This month, she is doing a Clean Eating Challenge, which I am not sure will work for me. I am thinking that next week, I will simply restart the Ab Challenge and hopefully, be able to finish it.

It is a busy weekend with company, weddings, and more..hopefully, I can at least try to stay within target and try to get in a little extra activity. The scale is still hovering and I am convinced that one of these days it will simply drop again. The plateau will be overcome.