Pre-vacation food purge

Last night did not go as well as planned - I was in meetings all afternoon so didn't get a snack, was running late leaving, and thus was hungry when I walked through the door. I snacked (heavily) on veggies, dip, tabbouleh, hummus and pita chips. I didn't finish my dinner, but still felt quite full at the end. I refrained from Oreos, cake and ice cream though.

Today is our last trash day before vacation so I purged a ton of food - our poor refrigerator is bare, just enough to get us through to vacation. I also threw some pantry items out (the Halloween Oreos are still there unopened) and also went through our downstairs fridge and freezer and threw out stuff that is just too old.

So we will be all ready when we get back from vacation for a fresh, healthy start!

I am NOT giving up!

Okay, so I am not stepping on the scale these days ....the number has been dangerously close to 190, when I saw 180.0 on September 20th. In 5 days we are going on vacation and TOM is coming up and I've got so much work to do and so much to do for vacation, that I just don't want to see that number about 190. But I will get on the scale as soon as I get back from vacation. And I am really, really going to try to not buy my lunch this week. I just can't go down there and not get a soda and I need the bloat feeling to subside some. I don't expect to lose a lot of weight in the next 5 days (hence not wanting to get on the scale) - I just want to feel better and avoiding soda and Halloween candy between now and then should really help.

Thankfully soccer practice was cancelled today - this has been my "binge" day when I am home with just my son for 2 hours at the end of the day. I was going to go to soccer myself today, but even better that it is cancelled!

On a good note, I went running 7 miles on Saturday. We did a fairly quick 7 miles as well. I am going to try to get up and get on the treadmill tomorrow and then get a run in on Friday before we leave.

I will get back on track!!!

Running and eating.....

It is hump day and the eating thing is just not going well - The scale said 188.6 this morning!!!! God awful. And I've had soda 2 out of 3 lunches this week. I think I have just resigned myself that I am not going to correct this before vacation. I will try to limit it, but I am just too stressed and anxious to be really good the next TEN days!!!

I had an outright binge Monday night. Monday nights have been hard this fall. I pick up my son at 5:15 and we are home for almost 2 hours before my husband and daughter get home from soccer and we have dinner. I end up snacking like crazy - this day I had at least as many calories as I would have for dinner or more, and then had a normal dinner - My stomach hurt. It sucked!!!

But in GOOD news, I woke up this morning at 5:15 am and ran 3.15 miles on the treadmill!!! I didn't sleep very well - I hope to sleep better tonight (more reason not to drink soda!!!) - I lay in bed for a while contemplating whether I should get up or not - there was NO reason not to, so I did!

I would really like to get up 4x a week and work out - Tuesday/Thursday strength, Wednesday running, Friday biking. But baby steps.

I ran, I ran, I ran!!!!

I was like a kid before Chistmas Saturday night knowing I would get out to run on Sunday morning.


I met a friend at 6:30 am which at this time of year means pitch black!! It was fun to run as the sun came up, though we couldn't see it happen in the wooded trail.


My friend could only run 4 miles. I knew I wanted to go 7, so after we got back to our cars, I took off my long sleeve shirt, put on my music and ran 1.5 miles out and back.


My run on my own wasn't all peaches and cream because I was already tired and had a full day ahead of me so my mind wasn't fully on it.


I was a little nervous about what was going on with my toes - I didn't unwrap them from the bandaids until this evening and the look good.


After the run we spent 3 hours a corn maze- I had worn my fitbit for the run (which I never do) and the maze - I've gone over 29,000 steps today!!


What I did think about  on my run was my potential goals for 2015. I know I don't want to concentrate on miles. I think I want to concentrate on # of runs. If I do all the runs I plan on the rest of the year, which include a mid-week 3 mile treadmill run, then I will hit 90 runs and 400 miles.


I would like to be more consistent with my mid-week runs, especially on the dreadmill. I can't only run during the week from mid-March - mid-July.


I would like to do a race in each of the 6 New England states, but I am not sure if that will be possible. The one I want to do in Maine is a lottery. And Connecticut really isn't convenient.


I also contemplated trying to run 10+ runs greater than a 5K - I had originally thought 10+ 10K races, but they still really are a rarity so harder to come by. But my 3 part race in February/March is a 3, 4 and 5 miles.


But mainly I want concentrate on fitness and do a lot more cross training - biking, swimming, weight training, and yoga. So maybe my goal shouldn't be the # of runs, but the # of workouts.

Will I be able to get back to weight loss??

That is a topic that has been top of mind all week - well really for the past couple of weeks. As my appetite has been increased and I've had very little self control. The 1/2 Marathon is over so I have no excuses - especially since I've done zero exercise since then. I've bought my lunch too many times over the last few weeks and it has always included soda. And all of this is reflected on the scale and in the mirror.

I know I am stressed about work and my dad, and anxious and excited about vacation. But I really need to nip it in the butt. I've been staying up too late (perhaps due to the caffeine from the soda), not sleeping well, not exercising and not eating well. A huge rutt!!

We've got 15 days until vacation. My #1 goal is to have zero soda between now and then. Drink a ton of water. Go to sleep earlier. And not have any Halloween candy. I think that is doable. Beyond that I am not making any promises.

Sunday I am going to running!! My toes are still not healed, but I can't not run. I'll just bandage them up and enjoy the cold morning and the beautiful leaves and running. I can't wait!!!!!

Still among the walking wounded.....

I want to run so badly. So, so badly. It is almost 80 degrees out. I worry that with the rain we are supposed to get later this week will knock all the beautiful leaves off and by Sunday they were all be on the ground.

My toes are still in pain - mainly the right one. The left one is only painful where the cuticle meets the toe and I think that is due to the shoes I wore yesterday. But the same shoes seem to have created a blister on the right toe and the right toe is still raw and gross.

But I am running this weekend - I have to. I am already discouraged by the scale - hello bad eating this weekend (the culprits got thrown in the trash this morning)....okay, the bad eating has trickled into this week as well.

I am already worried about what I am going to wear on vacation in 18 days. But I know if I eat cleanly for those 18 days I can feel better about myself.

But I am so stressed about work and vacation coming up and all the stuff the kids have going on. That is why I need to run!!!!

One week later....

It has definitely been a rough week!


My toes are still shredded - I probably should  have gone to Urgent Care, but I haven't. I tried putting on shoes and socks yesterday for the first time in 6 days and it sucked! I wore Crocs or flip flops to work every day. My quads feel fine now, but my calves and other leg muscles are aching because I can't walk normally.


I had to bag out of the 10K tomorrow, which sucks! So many people I know are doing various races this weekend and I want to be doing some sort of running - even just for fun. I am really hoping I can next weekend. I am jonesing for a run. The weather is beautiful, the trees are beautiful. It is weather that is meant to be run in!


My eating was completely out of control this week - not only on Sunday, but Monday as well. And some other low points during the week (TOM came this week as well, so that didn't help). But towards the end of the week I turned it around and ended up going to my WW meeting yesterday.


I wasn't going to get on the scale (earlier in the week, no way I would have because the scale was up 9 lbs - yep, 9 lbs!!!) But in all it ended up being 4 lbs at WW (3.6 on my scale at home, but I have changed from my summer weigh in outfit back to my cooler weather weigh in outfit, so additional clothing weight).


Yesterday wasn't perfect - me and the Halloween Oreos have been too close and me and the kids went out to dinner and we all ordered dessert.


But today is a new day. I am the only one in the family going to work/school tomorrow (might as well work since I am not racing) so I am going to organize and clean and get ready for a new successful week!

My First Half Marathon is Done!

Friday night I had mac and cheese for dinner and was in bed at 8:30 (and was awake at 2:30!) but dozed on and off until 7:30. I ended up skipping Weight Watchers - I wouldn't have weighed in anyways.

My daughter had a 9:00 am soccer game and I had to drive an hour to pick up my bib starting at noon. The weather wasn't conducive to apple picking so we went for Mexican for lunch - probably not my smartest choice, but I drank a ton of water all afternoon. After getting my bib, the rain stopped long enough for us to grab some Mumms and mini-pumpkins for a farm stand, and then I lounged the rest of the afternoon and ate a huge bowl of pasta for dinner.

Wake-up was 4:30 am. The race started at 8:00, but parking was going to be a problem so we need to get there early. I met my friend at 6:00 and she drove to the coast. It was definitely chilly. Thankfully I had brought a throw-away coat (it was too big - yeah!!!) for the start of the race.

Sunrise over Hampton Beach, NH

My goal really was to just finish the race. I would have liked to get under 2:30 but I hadn't trained for it. My hopes were to run 12:00 minute miles for 0-7, 11:30 for 7-10 and 11:00 for 10-13.1. The race was 4,700 people - Me and my friend lined up in the last corral - though she could have lined up in the one prior as she was hoping for 2:19.

I started out too quickly running about 11:30 and I really ended up doing that for the majority of the race. There were only small inclines, the max getting to 60 feet above sea level. There was a strong headwind the last 2 miles by the beach, which were hard. By that time my feel were hurting and I wasn't sure if mentally I could keep going on. I was tempted to call my husband, but I talked out loud to myself and got through. I was able to gun it the last .3 miles (at a 8:45 pace) and finished in 2:33.

I was thankful to have my camelbak as I didn't have to stop for the water stops, except once to douse my bandana. I had on sunglasses but hadn't worn my hat - I kind of wish I had. We really lucked out with the weather - I am not sure how I would have done if it had been hot!

My toes are not good. I thought I was getting a blister on my little toe but it didn't blister but I am wondering if I may end up losing it :( One of the big toes was so so, but the other was a bloody mess when I took off my shoes :( I didn't do much to it last night - I just changed the wrappng, but I've got to let it breath and drain it and keep it clean.

I am scheduled to do a 10K on Monday but even if my legs are feeling okay, I may have to skip it to let my toes heal. We have a date with Mickey Mouse in a month and I need to be healed by then!

So what is next?
Enjoying long runs of 6-8 miles - but I need to make myself do them! Not every single weekend, but more often than not. Last year when I wasn't training, I only got out once a month if that because I used every excuse not to - it was raining, I was tired, I want to sleep - all the things I haven't used as excuses for the last 3+ months.

I will do another 1/2 - I am just not sure when and where. We really lucked out with the weather but I can't always be guaranteed such good luck. And getting in all those long runs in August and September is hard with the schedule - but when would be a good time? I need to find a perfect end-of-April race :) But I also love all the spring 5ks.

It is what it is.....

My first 1/2 is in 2 days, I am not sure how my toes will fair, I've been eating myself out of house and home and I've gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks. It is what it is.

Sunday I ran/walked our town's 5k with my 8 year old. It was very hard for me not to be racing, or even running the whole thing, but it wasn't about me. I am so glad I didn't sign up for the 1/2 Marathon - It was hot and it didn't start until 10:00 - There were only 222 people who finished and looking at the results, I would have been one of the last ones. Much better to do a race with a much bigger field!

My toes have continued to bother me - not only were they raw and sensitive, because of the pain I have not been walking much, but when I do, I've been walking on the outside of my feet, screwing up my muscles and joints. Fun times.....

They have made vast improvements in the last 2 days, though I haven't put on shoes and socks yet. But I am hoping by Sunday they will be tolerable.

I am not even worrying about the scale right now.  Yes, it has said some pretty frightening things this week - like 8 lbs up! But I will deal with that after the race. Yes, I plan on having a lot of pasta the next couple of days and I will be having some celebratory food on Sunday, but then it will  be right back on track, even with TOM coming next week.