End of the month

My favorite month is coming to a close. June is my 2nd favorite month and so much to look forward to!

I ran 3.75 miles this morning - the odd # because means I ran 9 times in May for a total of 35 miles. It was about 58 degrees when I started but about 96% humidity which I definitely felt.

Besides 9 runs I got in 2 hikes and 4 Beach Body workouts.

But the nutrition was very, very off. Even yesterday I did badly. I was walking into work and realized I had cash in my backpack and at that point decided to buy lunch (even though I had brought lunch with me).

My monthly was supposed to arrive on Wednesday the 22nd and I was feeling pretty gross before that and 9 days later it hasn't arrived. With the joys of being 48, it could just not arrive at all. The symptoms I've been having for a couple of weeks are starting to subside so I am thinking that it could be just a skipped month. But I am so used to having the 1st 2 weeks of my cycle feeling really good. And I want that feeling!

I've got a little over 3 weeks before we leave on vacation and a lot, a lot of stuff to do before then. But the good news is the kids sports are starting to subside, though they may not end entirely until the day before they leave for camp. But I do see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope that I can make some progress.

I just outlined my plan a few days ago, but here it is again

1) Don't buy my lunch
2) Drink a lot of water
3) Wear my FitBit and take walk breaks during the day to get to 10K steps
4) Increase my fruits and vegetables
5) Decrease my sugar
6) Run 2x a week, Beach Body 2x a week
7) Get plenty of sleep
8) Eat healthy snacks in the afternoon
9) Smaller portion at dinner

If I can follow the above, I feel great! But easier said than done.

On to June!

Wednesday morning run

I was not overly excited about getting out of bed, but I am glad I did!

I did my 3 mile repeats (back and forth 2 times)

I had peaches before the run and chocolate milk after the run.
After showering, walking my son to the bus stop, and then doing a small grocery store run, I hit 10K steps by 9:00 am.

The morning WFH was busy with meetings. At 9:00 I had yogurt/blueberries/granola. And then didn't eat again until 12:00 when I had my snack (2 string cheese and peaches) and lunch (carrot sticks and frozen pasta meal) combined.

But I was stressed about work and found myself diving into leftover vanilla ice cream from my work party celebration a couple of weeks ago. Since vanilla isn't very exciting I topped it with maple syrup. Yeah, not good (oh, but so, so good!)

A couple of hours later my stomach was very upset which is another instance which makes me think I have a dairy issue. I settled my stomach with 3 small sleeves of Ritz crackers.

My daughter had a softball game so I didn't get home until 8:00 at which point i made pasta with cheese and sauce.

I decided not to get up Thursday morning because everything hurt yesterday. It hurt to cough or laugh because of the ab work I did on Tuesday.

My plan is to get a 3 mile run in on Friday, do Total Cardio Fix on Saturday and a 6 mile run on Sunday.

Now here is to getting in some steps today and eating healthy!

The next 26 days

I am beyond pissed that I’ve let myself slip so much. I haven’t weighed myself in i I don’t know how long. Due to the joys of perimenopause I am 6 days late - I’ve felt crampy, bloated, my boobs are killing me. And now I may get it on vacation while I should have just been finishing up as we left.

But I can’t think about that right now, I need to spend the next 26 days making myself feel good and to prepare my body for the trip. So in addition to my runs and hikes I want to:

1) Put my FitBit back on and hit 10k every day
2) At least 100 Oz of water per day
3) get up 2x a week to do BeachBody
4) Eat less sugar
5) Eat less carbs
6) Continue going to bed at 9:30
7) Continue running 2x a week
8) Ear more fruits and vegetables

So far today went pretty well

1) wore my FirBit, took 1 walk break at work and 2 at home and hit 10K steps
2) Drank 120 Oz of water
3) woke up and did Upper Fix
4) not perfect - ate some random leftover hiking chocolate
5) not perfect - ate too many garlic croutons while making dinner and during dinner; maybe too big a serving of spaghetti
6) plan to go to bed at 9:30
7) laid out running clothes for tomorrow
8) had a nice big salad at dinner for the first time in a long time


So I am taking it just 1 day at a time until vacation. Then I will figure out the next steps after.

What I’ve been up to

Since it has been almost a week....

Wednesday I set out for my 3 mile flat run, where the last time I had done it I had negative splits. As soon as I started running the garbage truck was following me so I ended up playing a cat & mouse game (I was trying to stay in front of it because it was so loud) so my first mile was 11:30 (was too fast) so then I was having many negative thoughts my last 2 miles so my run pretty much sucked.

 

Friday I ended up taking off because it was my 20 year anniversary at work. Instead of running on the rail trail I  decided to bike....20 miles!

 

Then I drove up to Plum Island and stopped several places to walk to beach and the nature preserve - it was very windy but 70 degrees. Perfect weather!

 

When I got home we went out for Mexican food across the street from where my office was 20 years ago. Yummy!

 

Saturday was spent doing housework and prepping for a BBQ we were hosting on Sunday evening. I had enough sunshine on Friday so despite the perfect weather, I did not leave the house, but was very productive (originally we had plans on Saturday to hike but my body and mind were not feeling it Saturday morning - I hoped to sleep in but still was up at 6:00)

With everything ready for the party, I convinced 2 of the 3 other people to hike a ski mountain an hour away - a closer and shorter hike than we had planned for Saturday.

 

 The party Sunday evening was fun - I didn't take any pictures as I was being playing host. Since we won't all be together for the 4th of July we celebrated very early!

Finally I blew these things up (it took forever!) and the kids loved them!

 

Monday my 4th grader was playing his trumpet in our town's Memorial Day parade. The day was perfect! And then the rest of the day was spent doing typical Sunday afternoon stuff (food prep, cleaning the house, getting ready for the week).

The kids have 12 more days of school so the count down is on!

And finally, I got up and did Upper Fix this morning. My plans for the next 4 weeks is another post because I have got to get back on the band wagon. Yes I've been running, but that is pretty much it.

Happy Tuesday, which is always better than Happy Monday!

100 miles - Half way to goal

Friday night my husband and I had a wonder pre-anniversary dinner (our anniversary is tomorrow -  a Tuesday night isn't a good night to go out, especially right now with all the kids stuff going on).

I usually never wear lipstick, especially bright red, so I had fun with it.

Saturday I was a little hungover and very dehydrated. My son had 2 sports events at 12:00 and 3:00 but I chose to skip those but went to soccer at 5:30.

Sunday I knew I had to run - I so badly wanted to get to 100 miles. I tried to drink a lot of water on Saturday and tried to eat well and go to bed at a reasonable time.

I just didn't want to get out of bed on Sunday, but I did. My alarm was set for 7:00 but I was up earlier than that. The temp was 53 degrees, 10 degrees warmer than last week.

Since my goal was 5.75 miles, I knew I should bring some water. More than 5 miles is really my limit. I didn't want to wear my hydration vest, so I opted for a handheld. I've never like running with them - it just feels unnatural.

Let's just say it was far from my best run. I was pretty miserable. I ran out 3 miles and thought perhaps I would run 6 miles instead of the 5.75 I needed to hit 100 miles. But by 5.75 I was done. Okay, I was probably done at 5 miles. Needless to say my average was 1 minute slower than my other more recent longer runs. But I am halfway done my self-appointment goal of 200 miles.

I am really going to try to work on my nutrition this week. Last week with Mother's Day, a work party and our anniversary dinner, my nutrition was very poor. Even though my monthly is coming up this week, it SHOULD be a little bit of a less hectic week and I should be able to concentrate on it.

First up was sweet potatoes with cinnamon, fried egg, vanilla yogurt, blueberries, and pepitas for my post-run breakfast (after having chocolate milk immediately following my run.

Lunch was.....hmm, what was lunch yesterday?! A PB&J sandwich perhaps? Afternoon snack was some popcorn and dinner was grilled sausages (I didn't have a bun) with pepper and onions, grilled potatoes, and caprese salad.

I also spent time in the kitchen food prepping - something I haven't done in a long time: 5 bags of carrots, 2 days of breakfast yogurt parfait, a dozen hard boiled eggs, and curry chicken salad.

Wish me luck on my nutrition this week!

One run I did and one I didn’t

Thank goodness it is Friday! They say this will be the first weekend in 9 weeks we haven’t had rain and it will get to 70!

The lilacs are out - my favorite! I need to get better pictures

 Wednesday I ran 3 miles around the reservoir (2 loops). I ran without music so I could enjoy the nature sounds.

Today I was going to run 5.75 miles to get to 100 miles. I woke up and fueled but my legs just weren’t feeling good so I went back to bed for 2 hours! I also don’t think I drank enough food or water yesterday.

And I made the mistake of stepping on the scale - 227.8 :( I NEED to get back at it. Next month is my monthly. Tonight me and my husband are going out for a fancy dinner but then I am back on the wagon!

A couple of runs....that's all

I feel myself slipping back big time - not weighing myself, not tracking, didn't go to WW on Saturday. I NEED to get back into the game!

But not all has been lost!

Last Tuesday I woke up and did Beach Body and Wednesday I ran the hills for the first time in over 3 years.

I "slept in" (ie 6:15 vs 5:30) on Thursday and Friday, and slept in Saturday as well. Originally I was going to run 5 miles on Friday and hike on Mother's Day, but the weather Sunday wasn't going to be conducive to hiking so I decided to put off my run until Sunday (for a split second I considered running on both Friday and Sunday, but my bed won out on Friday)

Sunday I drove to the rail trail and did 5.25 miles (to get me to an even 91 for the year). I found that I could park where I was used to (where the stream is a nice reward at the end). I ran almost 3 miles then turned around and then once I hit 5.25 miles I walked the rest of the way. By that time it was raining, but it felt wonderful.

And then this morning I got up and did Beach Body again. I am going to TRY to get up 4 days this week. I feel so fantastic when I do work out in the AM and even though my nutrition has been incredibly poor, moving my body still makes me feel good emotionally/mentally.

Quick weekend

The weekend seemed to go by so quickly!

Really not much to write about except to show a few quick pictures from our hike up Mount Cardigan in New Hampshire on Sunday. It was foggy at the top, but other than that the weather was perfect - low 50s, no bugs. But also really no leaves on the trees at all - spring is so slow to come to the North East this year!

After I did the 2 hour drive up and back, I did relax with some reading and a margarita to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

This week starts the 3 weeks of real craziness with concerts and school obligations and lots more sports. Things settle down a little in June - at that point everyone just wants school to be over, when in reality it doesn't end until the middle of the month (which is early this year because we only had 1 snow day).

Wednesday Morning Run

I have never been a fast runner - My 5K PR is 31:32. My 10K PR is 1:07. My 1/2 Marathon PR is 2:32. Those were all 5 years ago when I was 45 pounds less than I am today. Plus I've never run for speed (and I don't ever really plan on it). I run because it is me time, I enjoy the way it makes me feel. Huffing and puffing doesn't make me feel good at all.

Last Tuesday I ran 3 miles around my house. I don't know if it is the rolling out of bed and running, or the slight (very slight) elevation gains of the run, but I never run very fast from my house.

And Friday I ran 4.25 miles from the town center - I don't particularly like this route because it take me on busy roads, even at 6:00 am.

I was going to run yesterday but when I woke up and it was raining and 41 degrees, I decided to skip it. I was mad at myself for not running, but last night I decided I would head out today. I decided I wanted to run the flat 3 mile course from the town center. I hadn't run that course in a while, especially without stopping.

I tend to go out to fast - I always have. But I was still feeling good the next mile and when I saw it less time than the first, I wondered if I could possibly go for negative splits. I honestly don't know if I have ever - maybe occasionally, but it is never something I work for. But I did it! The last part of the 3rd mile was mentally tough - I just wanted it to be over! But I am pretty thrilled with myself!

Do I want to do negative splits all the time? No! I also don't want to get bored running - this month (my favorite, favorite month of the whole year!) I am going to concentrate on running 5-5.5 miles for my long run and then do just 1 other run which I will alternate with the flat 3 miler and a 3 miler that has hill repeats on it. Because I want to hike on the weekends,  I am going to do my 5 mile runs on Fridays.

I am just beyond excited to be back to running! Even though when I am running I keep saying "you are crazy to do another 1/2 marathon" but I am looking forward to obtaining the goals. Even though they are goals I've had before, it's been so long since I've had them, that they seem new to me.

Happy May!!!!!