Showing posts with label the weekend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the weekend. Show all posts

Monday, September 10, 2012

Brisk Morning!

Well, suffice to say, it was cold outside. But, there must be some value in that, as my pace for my walk/run was at 11:30, a full 30s faster than my typical morning. I wound up pushing myself to do 3+ laps of running followed by sprint intervals for a total of 5 laps at the track. Again, I was time constrained. In theory, meeting the other ladies bright (or should I say dark) and early, sounds like a great plan, but I have yet to fully execute on it. Sure, it was dark up there this morning, but I could go earlier and do more distance. Although I did have to really push myself to complete three laps. I started with a plan of running 4 laps straight and then walking 1 lap. That turned into, maybe I run 1, walk 1 and then run 3. I decided I could keep going after 1 and then was good. I likely could have pushed for the full 4, but allowed myself a chance to catch my breath, besides I love sprint intervals.

Eating was a mess this weekend. We had more meals out then I care to remember. We even went for ice cream - but at least we walked there. Yesterday was a pretty good return to normal, so hopefully, today won't find me munchy mid-day simply because I ate bigger this weekend.

With the cold and the dark, I'm thinking that in a couple of weeks (October?), I might have to change up my schedule and workout inside 2-3 days and run outside the other 2-3 days. I guess I will just wait and see, when it is too cold, I will likely have to move it all indoors for a few months.

I need to get back to walking at lunch as well. It is a great stress relief and makes me feel good too. Plus, bonus activity like that will help me reach my goal faster. This will make me feel better about working out inside in the mornings too.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

S-T-I-C-K-Y!

When I woke up this morning, I checked outside and saw that the roads were dry. This was a good start, as it was supposed to be raining this morning. I got ready and came down to check out the weather. I was glad to see that it was not supposed to rain for the next couple of hours and the radar was reasonably clear. For whatever reason, as I got ready this morning, I failed to drink any water. I don't go for very long runs, so I don't carry water with me - it seems awkward to me to run with something in my hands - so, I always hydrate before I go. I headed out and it was dark. Now, like I said, it is supposed to rain so it is overcast. I got to the track and my walking friends were there. I was glad, I had decided on the way up that if they weren't there, I wasn't going to stay with the darkness. I started out with a one mile run. I probably could have run further, but since I hadn't had water, I thought it was probably best not to push. I walked a half mile and then ran the last quarter of a mile and after a walk out of the track, ran the .45 miles from light post to home. Unfortunately, even at 6:30 when I was leaving the track, my friends were but shadows on the track. I think that means that I will have to definitely stick with my approach of only staying if they are there. It is just too dark to stay alone.

What really surprised me was how humid it was. Even though it seemed cool out, it was very sticky. On the run home, I think that it was actually misting. Either that, or the air was so wet that you could almost feel droplets.

It was a pretty good run. I am noticing that when I run, my pace fluctuates from around 8:40 per mile to 10:00 per mile. I am actually very pleased with that pace range - I never would have guessed that I was running that 'fast'. I think that I could actually sustain the range pace over the course of a 5K and could do a 30 minute 5K. I don't have any planned right now.

It was good that I got out and ran, because I did not go for a walk or run all weekend. I had great plans to get up and go, but it was so cozy in my bed and our days started so early that I would have had to get up like I do during the week. I just couldn't see myself getting up at 6 am to run on the weekend. I am more of a 7 am runner on the weekends, especially now that it is darker in the morning.

Eating was reasonable over the weekend. We ate out and snacked, but I was able to balance my portion size with enjoying the treats and was able to sustain my weight for the weekend. I just need to get it down - I am just a few weeks from my goal of being half way through the weight loss and starting to think I won't get there. We will see, if I eat well and run everyday, maybe I can pull it out.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

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.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

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!

Friday, August 3, 2012

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.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Where Does the Time Go?

Okay, so clearly, I missed providing an update on my progress for several days - Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to be exact. Crazy! My life that is. I have been so busy that I have been sleeping in in the morning. In an attempt to fit in some level of exercise, I have had to squeeze other stuff out of my day.

Let's start with today. I finally was up at the right time. I got some laundry done and headed out for my run. It felt great. I went up to the track and was able to fit in 9 laps, I alternated between running and sprint intervals on a 1-1-2-1-2-1-1 pattern - starting and ending with a run. I must say that getting up there much earlier would have been tough. My 'normal' time is starting to be on the cutting edge of dawn, much earlier and it would have been still more dark than light out. I am going to have to see how much longer 'normal' will work. They installed new lights by the track, but they weren't on this morning.

Last night, I was able to go to Zumba. It really is a fun work out. The more I go, the more comfortable I become with the regular songs/moves. Of course, last night, she introduced some new moves and my body can feel the changes. I am sore in new places. Felt great. Yesterday morning, my run was short. I only went to the track for 3/4 of a mile. I did one lap of running and two of sprint intervals. I was just glad to do what I did, since I had slept in past when I would normally head out for a run. Eating was good yesterday. The family went out to dinner while I was at Zumba (less temptation for me) and so I had two eggs over easy and toast for dinner. That really is a favorite meal for me and the protein was a good choice after my Zumba workout.

Over the weekend, Friday included, there really wasn't any working out. It was raining on Friday morning and the weekend was busy with baseball tournaments, going out with friends, grocery shopping, Bible study and more. Eating was of course a challenge because we were on the go, plus two of my meals were at a Winery - lunch one afternoon for work and dinner out with my husband and some friends. So, of course, there was wine! I also fell behind on the 30 Day Ab Challenge. I hope to pick up day 25 tonight (I was already a day behind, now I am 5 days behind).

Overall, the scale is hanging tight. I am hoping to overcome this plateau and start moving in the right direction again.

Monday, July 16, 2012

A couple of days off, but right back in the groove

So, Saturday, I planned to take the day off. I decided that since I had a busy day, that I would allow myself a little extra sleep and didn't want to try to squeeze in a run and find myself running late to start the day. As promised, it was a busy day. We had lunch out, I went with the Chicken Fajita, hold the rice, the beans and the tortillas. It was pretty tasty. The place that we went doesn't seem to use much oil, as the chicken and vegetables were 'dry' - not to say they were overdone, but there wasn't that oily mess that you sometimes see on fajitas. Dinner was a bit of leftovers - I was sort of glad that no one really wanted much for dinner, as I was worn out from the day. I did manage to fit in my 30 day Ab Challenge workout, but learned that I am weak. I was barely able to do either of the ab exercises. I hope to do better at them next time I try them.

Sunday morning, I woke up with a headache. I got up got the kids breakfast and went back to bed. I had bouts of nausea, but when I got up, I felt much better. I guess my body decided that it needed another day off. Sunday for dinner we had Marlin on the grill. This is one of my favorites. We had originally planned to have Chicken Caesar salads but they were doing a recipe demo with Marlin, which meant that they had this not always available fish in. I couldn't resist. It did not disappoint. We still had salad on the side, as well as a little bit of rice. A late evening caused me to miss my Abs, I will make them up today. I think that today will be a recovery day, so I will just have bumped the days.

Monday morning I got up and my hamstrings were tight. I guess because I didn't do any running, I didn't do any stretching over the weekend and this must have led to them getting tight. I just wasn't sure that I was going to get far at the track. I headed up anyway and figured that even if I do a full alternating workout, that anything is better than nothing. After I completed my first lap, my legs were feeling better, so I decided I would try for a 1-2 pattern. Next thing I knew, I had completed 4, then 6 and I decided I would go for 8. When I got to 8, I thought, why not try for 9, just to show myself I could do it. I did! Yeah! It felt awesome. My legs felt much better after the workout than they did before. I stretched when I came home, but I think that I will stretch again after my shower. I don't want them getting tight on me.

The scale was down nicely on Saturday, now on Sunday and today it was up about a 1# from that low - so maybe it was a false low, but now I have a goal to get back to it. That should keep me moving.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Monday - what a wonderful weekend it was!

I guess I have been a bit absent lately. I had a wonderful, crazy weekend. Lucky for me, my weekend started early. I took Friday off of work to host a garage sale. I would like to say it was good, but it really was a rather average sale. I wish we had sold more, but we didn't.

I had a good run/walk on Friday morning before the garage sale. I was very proud of myself for still getting up early and making the effort. I did 1.75 miles on the track and of course, the walk there and back. The rest of the weekend activity was just completed during the course of my days. We parked at the far end for soccer and walked to my son's game and then to my daughter's. We spent the afternoon and evening walking around Cedar Point. Sunday, I changed all the beds and did several loads of laundry, traversing the stairs multiple times. We had a baseball game and made several trips up and down the hill to the bathroom. Today, I started my week out with another run/walk. I went the same distance as Friday, but took a full minute longer. My guess is that I had more distance running on Friday and that it was less sticky and oppressive.

If the heavy, wet air this morning is an indication of what is to come, being able to extend the length of my run segments is about to become a real challenge. Hopefully, it is worse than normal because it rained most of the night.

Eating was good. Despite garage sale-ing and spending the day at the amusement park, I was able to keep my food balanced and pretty well in the target range. I was slightly over target on Saturday and then on Sunday, a bit again because we went out to dinner for Father's Day.

The scale was down on Saturday morning and Sunday morning, with a slight uptick today - which I expect to only be temporary and a result of going slightly over target with a meal out that was likely higher in sodium. I won't worry about it and hope that tomorrow it has 'gone' away.

Off to a wonderful week!