Saturday

Well, Friday was a good day. I headed out to lunch as planned. I ordered the chicken fajitas with no rice, no beans, no tortillas, no oil. So, pretty much chicken, peppers, tomatoes and onions. It was still very tasty. I had a few chips, but not too many. Dinner, we had pasta arrabiata and bread. The arrabiata sauce is mostly tomato, so it was reasonably low in calories, I had 1/2 serving of bread and a serving of pasta. Again, yummy!

I started my day out with a Zumba class. It was a lot of fun and I felt really energized after the class was over. So much so, that I did a lot of errand running. Lunch was simple and mostly leftover clean-up. I had open faced grilled cheese, an ear of corn and some fruit. Dinner is a picnic, it could be a challenge, but I will persevere.

We have a busy day ahead of us.

It's finally Friday!!!

Of course, last week, Friday was even better because I was off! But, I am still very glad that it is Friday. I feel like I have so much stuff to do - nothing big, but still lots of stuff to do and it will be good to have a weekend to catch up on some things. It is a busy weekend, but perhaps a little less busy than the past few.

I started today with my run. On my walk up to the track, I wondered to myself, what if I don't do as well as yesterday, what would I say. I mean, being honest, eventually I won't 'best' myself everyday. Eventually to do it in less time or do more distance is going to get harder and harder. Eventually, sleeping in will not work because to continue to press, I will need to add time to my run. But, the good news is, despite my concern, I did do better today. I ran 3 1/4 laps and 2 1/4 laps of the total of 7 laps. The first lap is always a walk, so really, I have about 1/2 lap improvement before I need time! I actually even ran part of the way home too! I was about 1/4 of the distance home and when I got my update from RunKeeper, I was at 12:00 min/mile for my pace. I was so excited, I wanted to see if I could keep it, so I decided that despite my exhaustion, I would try to run most of the rest of the way home. When I got home, it said the pace was 11:59, but after it 'adjusted' down the .01 distance that it sometimes does on transmission, it moved to 12:01. Still pretty darn good! When I was running my pace ranged from 8:59 - 9:57 min/mile. And...I did the same distance that I have over the past couple of outings and did it in 2 1/2 minutes less time.

Eating was reasonable yesterday. I didn't do so well with tracking dinner. I had chicken bruschetta, but I completely failed to weigh my portion and then, I went with a user entered option, so I am not quite sure that what I ate was a serving of what they entered. Today, I have a lunch out, so I am sure that I will be more challenged than usual. I will just have to find something that is satisfying and not too high in calories.

Tomorrow, if the schedule permits, I would like to go to Zumba class. It is the first Saturday in a while with no soccer. We will see when baseball is - won't know for sure until the teams that play tonight finish because it is a tournament game and the game time depends on your seed.

Thursday

It was a really warm morning for a run/walk. I was a little bit surprised, to fine it 70 and 90% humidity. I was just glad that I don't walk in the afternoon or evening. It is supposed to get up to 92 again today. I did really well. I think that although not ideal, taking the break yesterday was probably a good thing. I wound up running 3++ laps and 2+ laps, out of a total of 7. It was a little strange to walk almost a full lap between the two stretches of running. I only was planning to do 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 laps the first time, like I normally do, but I had started a bit late and I thought to myself, if I run 2 laps then I will be done sooner. Then, as I was completing the second lap, I thought, if I push a little harder, I can get a little further. Then, as I rounded the 2 1/2 lap point, I thought I really should see if I can finish this lap. As I approached the 3 lap point, I thought my app should tell me I've completed 5 more minutes, I can run until it does. So, I wound up several strides past the 3rd lap. It felt great. I took the rest of the lap to walk, although I had debated running at the 3/4 point. It really felt good. I actually spent the same amount of time as Tuesday, but since I ran 1/4 lap less, meant I must have moved a little faster this time.

Eating has been well. I don't have bananas, as they were all over-ripe and I turned them into chocolate banana bread, which I have been eating every morning. Awesome! I have been getting my workout protein from bars lately. I used up all of my shakes. After I use up the bars, I have some powder that I will use for some smoothies and then I will need to buy more. I just want to make sure that I use up what I have on hand. For lunch yesterday, I had this really yummy Rainbow Trout Oscar with a side of string beans. I just wish that there was an option for the asparagus on the side too! It was really flavorful and left me wanting more. Dinner was eggs over easy, toast, pierogie and sausage. It was a very satisfying meal and one that we haven't done in a while.

The scale responded favorably today. I have been back in the groove for under a month and pacing well. It is so motivating when your efforts pay off.

Wednesday

I got up on time this morning, but had a 'quick' thing to do for work. Next thing I knew, I was running late. I had used up all of my run time and my post run time and no longer could get out and run...and was rushing around to get to work on time. Not ideal!

Eating was good yesterday. Actually, because I had cereal for dinner, it was light on protein, but otherwise was on target. We had a community parade and we didn't get home until after 8. It was hot and no one was interested in much for dinner, so cereal seemed like a nice choice.

I got in a bonus couple of miles yesterday because of the parade. I parked at the end of the route and walked towards the middle, then after the parade, I walked back. Not a workout pace, but still a little extra activity that is not part of a normal day.

Weight was at 'recover' point, before my eating out day. Now, hopefully, it continues to move in the right direction.

Tuesday

I got up on time today, but I wound up logging on to my work computer to disable my out of office, which I got a reminder that I failed to do yesterday. One thing led to another and suddenly it was 5:50. I wasn't going to let that discourage me, so I headed out for my run. I am glad that I did. It was a great run. I did the same 7 laps at the track that I have for the past few days, in less time! Of course, I know that the real reason for that is that I ran more than I did but it still sounds great to me. Also, today I took the paved walkway into and out of the track. Evidently, this adds a few hundredths of a mile to my journey. You see Friday, the paved path was closed and I had to enter and leave through the grass. Yesterday, I entered on the grass and left on the path, as the grass was squishy. There was 0.06 miles different between the all grass and all paved paths. Today, starting on the second lap and ending on the 7th, I ran 1 1/2 laps, 1 3/4 laps and 2 laps, for a total of 5 1/4 laps, just over 1.25 miles. Not bad, considering I was only at the track for 1.75 miles and I ran that great of a majority. Even with my approximately 1.15 miles of walking up and back, I was still able to have a total pace under 13 minutes/mile. I am glad about that.

Eating was good yesterday. A change in evening sports plans left dinner a little strange. I had a small piece of turkey loaf that the family ate without me in anticipation of soccer and baseball. Then, after the kids were in bed my husband needed something to complete the 'Florida' dinner that he had at 4 pm, so he heated a frozen pizza and I had a slice of that. After burning my mouth, I switched to my evening snack of Wheat Thins and string cheese. I was on target for the day with my calories, but came in just shy (2g) of the target range for protein. Everything else was well within range.

I feel so good about myself. I am proud that I continue to get up and go for a run/walk. I recognize that getting healthy and losing weight is hard work, but it is work that I am willing to complete in order to achieve my goals.

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!

Two Days...

So, yesterday morning, the internet was down at my house. It sort of surprised me how much I use the internet in the morning. I missed posting about my daily results, I missed being able to go online and check things out at SparkPeople. I had to 'turn off' WiFi on my phone so that I could at least get online through my phone to be able to read e-mails and play games.

So, yesterday started out really good and then, well I wasn't as good as I should have been. I started my day with a run/walk. It was great! I went further than I had the other day, in total laps and in continuous laps. I started with a 1 lap walk, 1 lap run, like I normally do. After the next walk lap, I decided that I wanted to beat Tuesday, so I decided that I would try to get in 3 full laps. And, I did! Then, 1 lap of walk and 2 more laps of running. It was invigorating, as I walked home, I thought to myself, I think I could really enjoy becoming a runner.

Eating was good, until it wasn't. We decided to try this pizza place for dinner, that we had heard of and driven past, but never had. My friend and I went there to order it, since the owner told me the menu was too hard to explain on the phone. They only sell pizza we learned when we got there. We ordered one plain pizza and one that had tomatoes, green olives and banana peppers on it. While we waited, I had a glass of wine and she had a beer. When we came home, we ate the pizza with my family. The pizza was pretty average, but those toppings made for an awesome piece of pizza and I ate 3! Needless to say, three pieces of a 16" pizza are a good number of calories.

Today, my run was good, not quite as successful as yesterday, but I was at the track for one less lap and still ran 1 1/4, 2 1/2, and 2 laps or only 1/4 lap less than yesterday. It felt great. There were points where I felt so light on my feet and pace tells me that I ran stronger than I have so far. My average pace for the day was under 13 minutes/mile. That is great!

Hopefully, today will be a better day of eating. Thankfully, the scale is 'stuck' and whereas I didn't see the expected improvement on Wednesday, I was glad not to see the resultant penalty from yesterday.