Looking ahead to 2020

The title of this blog is "Getting Fit Again in my 40s" but in mid-August I will no longer be in my 40s. But I am going to spend the next 7 1/2 months feeling more fit, even if the scale doesn't reflect it.

While I am disappointed about not running my half marathon, I am by no means giving up running. But I am going to concentrate on 5-7 miles max and enjoy it and push myself. But I am not going to jump into those distances not having run since the 3rd week in November.

So this is what I want 2020 to look like:

1) Beachbody workouts
2) Spinning videos on our bike in the basement
3) Walking on the treadmill during the day
4) Stretching and yoga
5) Getting my water in
6) Sleeping from 10:00 pm - 6:00 am
7) Not drinking my calories (except Shakeology)
8) Eating a variety of foods - less sugar, smaller portions, more fruits and vegetables
9) Post more to be accountable
10) Get back to WW
11) Find someone to be accountable to each day

What you don't see above is a number - Numbers in time never work for me. Yes, I need, need, need to be under 220 for the first time in 5+ years (and I'll hope for way more than that) but the scale isn't a top priority right now (even with going back to WW after I go to Disney).

I also want to
A) Get outside more - hiking, walking, taking pictures, just enjoying not being inside
B) Work on my camera skills
C) Watch none or less Hallmark movies - they suck the time away - if I am going to watch TV (which I want to watch less of), I have a list of movies and shows to watch
D) Read more books (my problem is I so easily fall asleep while reading!)
E) Use what I own more - craft supplies, books, kitchen foods and gadgets, hiking/outdoors supplies


What do I have in store for 2020? Actually not a lot.

We all have milestones - I am turning 50, me and my husband will be celebrating 15 years, my daughter will be finishing middle school and heading to high school, my son will be finishing elementary school and starting middle school (my brother will celebrate 55 and my parents would have celebrated 60 years).

I have one concrete trip to Disney coming up in January, one hopeful trip to Disney in May to celebrate a 50th birthday of a friend from high school, a trip to California as our family summer vacation, hopefully some time away with my husband while the kids are at camp, perhaps a road trip with my son, and hopefully a weekend away in December to celebrate Christmas activities in Vermont.

I have no races planned, no hikes that we will definitely do (though I do want to do some), no big things to look forward too (the trips will be fun but nothing compared to our kid-less trip to Wyoming this year). So it is a good year to be - To enjoy life, to make some positive changes that can last a lifetime. But I need to come up with things to occupy my evenings - I don't want to just mindlessly play on my phone or watch tv. I can't really do photography in my house, in the dark. I like to write stories so I may get myself a new laptop so I can sit in bed and write. And I want to not just sit around on the weekends but yet we don't want to spend a lot of money - 2019 was a little hard on the pocketbooks.

Feeling good, mind, body and soul - That is my motto for 2020.

Bye Bye 2019, Hello 2020

Today is the last day of 2019 - I am so ready to start a new decade, if that means bringing on a new decade of age.

I don't know how much I weigh today but if I guess it is what I weighed a year ago. I am not thrilled with that, but most of that is due to lack of activity at the end of the year. For the most part I was active in 2019.

I started out the year with a warm walk around the reservoir.

I did lots of Beach Body in the beginning of the year - I was very good at getting up at 5:30 am and working out. I also walked 10K steps every day for the first 6 weeks of the year.

I tried to get out along the reservoir as much as I could during the winter, even in the snow

I started out the year at WW and lost 10 pounds very quickly....unfortunately the 10 lbs did not stay off

I dunked my feet in fountains on our family trip to Virginia/DC in April.

I hiked with part of the family (and solo)

I even did 1 20-mile bike ride to commemorate 20 years at my company

I got in lots of runs (more on that later), even in the heat

The trail is still my church - I find such peace there

Me and the husband took a much awaited trip to Wyoming without the kids

I got to dunk my feet in snow in July

I ran my 10K in Rhode Island in October

And I got in so beautiful runs on the trail, topping out at 8 miles (more on that later)

And then came November 22nd. And I haven't run since.

In 2019 I ran 59 times for a total of 215.0 miles.

I planned on doing a 1/2 marathon in January in 10 days, but once Thanksgiving hit, due to exhaustion and illness I didn't run over Thanksgiving weekend. And then it snowed 18 inches and while the snow didn't last, holiday obligations and work obligations and holiday stress and holiday excitement and work stress took over and I didn't run in December. There were a couple of times i wanted to but it was like 5 degrees and I didn't want to run the risk of getting sick. But I am not giving up running!

My body has not felt good in December - all the holiday stuff and work stress will do that do me. But tomorrow is another month, another year, another decade. Time to do better, but what "better" means is for a different post!

Quick Check In: No running and more

So yeah, the last time I posted was Friday November 22nd, the last time I went running. That being said, obviously there is no way that my Half Marathon is going to happen, but I am okay with that.

But what have I been doing since November 22nd (sorry no pictures, I've pulled them off my phone and I am too busy at work to retrieve them off my computer)

--Saturday November 23rd I went to NYC for the day by myself. I saw Christmas decorations being put up, I went to the Tenement Museum, I strolled for 14 miles.

--I originally was going to do 9 miles the day before Thanksgiving but work has been so incredibly busy, I wasn't able to go into work late. Thanksgiving was fine - not my favorite holiday. Despite me eating pretty well, I woke up incredibly dehydrated on Friday and it was only 18 degrees so the 9 miles didn't happen. My husband and I drove to Maine for the day on Saturday - so 9 miles didn't happen then either. And then Sunday it was about 5 degrees and I wasn't feeling great, so 9 miles didn't happen then either. I figured I was okay to do 10 miles the next weekend, but....

--Monday and Tuesday it snowed 18 inches. The kids didn't have school for 2 days. It was cold. I was working my butt off. I had zero motivation to try to run in the cold and with snowbanks. I was waiting for my period so I was feeling really off.

--Saturday December 7 there was still tons of snow and I had shopping to do and I think it was this day that I officially declared to myself that the Half Marathon wasn't going to happen. Sunday December 8th I took my daughter to NYC for the day (yes, trip #2 in 2 weeks) to meet up with friends. While I didn't walk 14 miles, it was still a fun, long, tiring day.

--I've been working from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm every work day for the past month and this week isn't going to be any different.

--This past weekend my daughter had a party Friday night and into Saturday where we did some Christmas activities, Saturday I finished ALMOST all of my shopping and wrapping and Sunday I officially did finish both! I had hoped to get in a run on Sunday, just because I MISS it! But it was the only day I could sleep in for the foreseeable future and I had been up in the middle of the night stressing about work. And it was good I didn't go because it was so incredibly windy!

--Sunday I did step on the scale for the first time in forever. 232.6. While yesterday was full of holiday cheer and this coming weekend will be as well, that doesn't mean that this whole week will be a free-for-all even though we have TONS of junk food in the house.

--I will be back after Christmas to recap our festivities and then talk about getting on track, because for me, getting on track starts on December 26th. While I am still going to Disney, just not running, there are 2 weeks between Christmas and our trip and I want to jump start my healthy new year, not wait until after we get back because it will be almost mid-January by that time.

Nothing this week except 8 miles

After a fantastic week last week, this week was a big dud.

I started out last Saturday going to my WW meeting and learning about the new program. I was 230.4 Saturday morning.....And I haven't weighed myself since.

We went out Saturday night to the Melting Pot for my mom's birthday - I was going to try to be good, but went too hungry - I had 3 alcoholic drinks, 4 courses. I drank a lot of water as well, but woke up Sunday feeling so dehydrated.

I had a productive Sunday and did some food prep - cooked whole wheat pasta and sweet potatoes and hard boiled eggs. But really didn't eat well during the week. Work continued to be crazy so I was starting work at 8 am and not getting my work out in. I didn't track. I didn't wear my FitBit, I didn't get in steps. I may have been okay with my water.

What I did do was run 8 miles this morning. I ran incredibly, incredibly slowly. And it was 45 degrees and I was a little overdressed and it was humid so my water went more quickly. But it is done.

Originally I was going to do 9 miles this coming Wednesday, but work is too busy and I always do a second grocery store run the day before Thanksgiving to get the perishables. So I will be doing the 9 miles on Friday. That will help me curb things a bit on Thanksgiving. I don't love Thanksgiving food, but this will be extra incentive to keep my plate to one helping.

And the reason for my Friday run this week? I get to see this tomorrow!

And the week to come? I am not making crazy promises.
-I will have some treats tomorrow but will also try to get in some extra water and I will walk a lot even after my 8 miles today
-Sunday is my big grocery store run so we are in the process of getting stuff out of the fridge to make room for all the holiday stuff, so my normal food haul will be small
-I will get in a run on Monday or Tuesday
-Lots of water, less grazing
-Get on the scale at least once

First work week at home/tracking/WW

Let's start backwards with today before getting into the rest of the week.

I had 7 miles on my training plan and decided to do them today instead of Saturday. I want to get to my WW meeting and then have plans after it and there is no way I am going to go running mid-day on a Saturday. Plus it is only supposed to be a high of 32 tomorrow. Though it was about 25 degrees today when I ran (that is ice on the stream in the picture) I woke up at 5:30 am and drove to my favorite rail trail and nailed out 7 miles, getting home and showered before a 9:45 meetingn. Not very fast - average of 14:07 per mile, but I got it done with no walking. I haven't run 7 miles of just running since August of 2015! And then I was more than 30 lbs less than I am now!

It was been a wild and crazy week! Work has just been insane so I've barely had time to breathe during the day. So thankfully I don't have a commute so that made it a little bit easier, but not much. And then you throw in the mix that my co-worker was out unexpectedly for 2 days so I was now doing the work of 3 people (when I was already doing the work of 2), Thursday my cat needed emergency surgery on his ear yesterday (lots of time and $$$ spent on that) and today I had to pick up one kid from school because she got hurt in gym.

But through all of this I ate pretty well and tracked (as much as I track, though some meals I actually tracked the whole thing in the WW app!). I attribute this good week to a few things
1) It is my first week post-period which is always a good week for me - I feel thin and I feel good
2) I had no junk on the house and no time to go buy anything (ie we are completely out of milk right now)
3) The desire to weigh-in each day and to do that I need to feel good about myself
4) The desire to have as good a run as I could and I know eating well helps that.

While I am not going to outline my whole meals, this is what my breakfasts and lunches looked like

Breakfasts
1) Homemade breakfast sandwich
2) Shakeology with frozen bananas and almond milk
3) Old Fashioned Oatmeal
4) Leftovers from dinner (sweet potatoes, chicken, black beans) but with a tad of vanilla yogurt, a hard boiled egg and blueberries to make it more like breakfast
5) Shakeology

Lunches
1) Leftovers from dinner - chicken, pears, peas, couscous
2) Leftovers from dinner - whole wheat spaghetti, ham, walnuts
3) Leftover whole wheat spaghetti, pre-cooked chicken, veggies, asian dressing
4) Leftovers from dinner (sweet potatoes, chicken, black beans)  but it was a very small serving so I had a Shakeology at 2:00 pm
5) Leftover Barilla+ spaghetti from dinner, jarred sauce, cheese

Now that I know what WWPurple looks like, I will be buying more stuff at the grocery store and doing some meal prep, but not as much since part of what I wanted to be able to do as part of working from home full time is actually make my meals (such as my breakfast sandwich and oatmeal).

I hope not every week was as crazy as this one! I know some people's every day has been like my every days this week and I could never sustain that!

The weekend can't come fast enough - I've still got 1-2 hours left. We don't have a ton planned except some errands in the morning (which is why I needed to get my run in today) and then celebrating my mom's birthday at the Melting Pot (that being the reason I didn't want to run on Sunday). I am going to TRY to be mindful at the restaurant - no alcohol, more fruits and veggies during our cheese course than bread, healthier meats (perhaps not pick any beef), and stick more to fruits during the chocolate course.

And right now Sunday seems like a completely free day! Though I really need to get on making lists for Christmas and start my shopping (I always host Thanksgiving and I make the same meal every year so there isn't much planning involved)

And next week:
Run on Tuesday
Beachbody on Monday and Wednesday
Run 8 miles on Friday
Menu plan better and have enough for leftovers - I am usually an anti-leftovers person, but if I am making good dinners with lots of Zero Point ingredients, then it would be great to have those at lunch as well!

Happy Weekend!

WW Team Purple

While I've only been to one WW meeting in the last 6 months, I decided to actually read my emails when the new program was announced on Monday.

They've broken it out in to 3 programs
Green - This program has more daily points but less Zero Point foods
Blue --This is the current program from the last couple of years
Purple - This program has a lot more zero point foods but less daily points

After looking it over, I decided to give Team Purple a try! (You can keep changing your plan but they would like you to give a plan 2 weeks before changing)

I really do have the desire to more cleanly so I feel that Purple should be a good option for me. Things that are now Zero Points that weren't before are sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta and oatmeal. While I haven't been eating whole wheat pasta (we eat the Barilla + at home) this would be a good excuse to.

Looking at what I would eat on a "good" day, the things that still will have points are: Milk, almond milk, non-plain yogurt, beef/pork/ham/bacon, avacado, wraps/english muffins, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, salad dressings, Shakeology powder. And of course every.single. junk food I may be tempted with.

I have never been a good tracker (ie actually keeping track of points) but I have been playing around with it to get an idea.

So for instance, I am all excited I can have oatmeal now that I am home (trying to make oatmeal in the microwave at work is just a recipe for disaster!), so I actually had 2 servings (1 cup dry oatmeal) made with almond milk, blueberries, a dollop of vanilla non-fat greek yogurt, and a TB of pepitas = 3 points!

I am going to try to rearrange my running schedule to run on Friday so I can go to my regular meeting on Saturday to hear her talk about the new program. I will not be happy to get on the scale, but that is okay. And then I probably won't go back until mid-January since Saturdays are my running days or we are busy.

We are having tacos for dinner and I've already put my points in - Definitely a heavy point meal despite many zero point items:
2 Joseph tortillas - 3 points
100 calorie guacamole - 3 points
2 TB sour cream - 3 points
1/4 cup Mexican cheese - 4 points

And then the chicken breast, black beans, lettuce, salsa and jalapenos will all be 0 points. I haven't decided if I will make sweet potato rice instead of mexican rice (which I wouldn't eat) or just leave it out all together.

This may actually be too much food for me - I will see! But if not, the 13 points is worth every point to me.

Of course these 2 meals are it in terms of my points for the day (I did have 3 points at snack) and I haven't even had lunch yet! But it could be worth it. Except for the holiday treats I need every excuse not to eat junk food, so if my dailies cut into my weeklies, then I am okay.....for now!

New Beginnings: New Job Location, New Challenges

First of all this happened today: A 2 mile run (I usually never just 2 too miles, but when you are at 198 miles for the year and you ran 6 miles just 2 days ago, 2 miles is what you get!)

The 200 mile goal was a goal I made when I restarted C25K in January. I don't think I thought it would take me until mid-November, but here I am. My next goal is 275. 300 will never happen and that is okay.

But back to my topic. So, today, lots of starts. No, I didn't start a new job, but as of today I am officially Work From Home all the time! I no longer have a desk at my job location. They are consolidating floors at my location and some people are moving into the Boston office. In order to have an actual desk I had to commit to 3+ days in the office. I don't want to commit to any so I am Work From Home, which feels a little weird because work is only about 13 miles away. So 25 minutes in the morning, 18 minutes in the afternoon (not rush hour) but it was such a waste of time to be doing any commuting when there are many things I could be doing that would be better use of my time and I am way more productive when I work from home.

The highlights of WFH:
1) I no longer have to get up at 5:30 to work out - I can fit in work outs between dropping kid #1 at school and either bringing kid #2 to the bus or driving him to school (driving him gives us an extra 30-45 minutes and school is 2.5 miles away)
2) I can eat real food. Today I had a breakfast sandwich - I toasted an english muffin, I microwaved the turkey sausage, I panfried the fried egg. I've gotten so bored of the foods I've been bringing to the office - I have been a "same thing every day" type of person for years and I am sick of it!
3) I can spread out my "home chores" and errands - typically I've been trying to squeeze them all in on Fridays and sometimes Wednesdays making Friday not as productive as it should be, which results in needing to do work over the weekend.

What I am most worried about:
1) Lack of steps - I sat and did not move today from 9-1 because I was in meetings. I did invest in wireless headphones for that reason, but my husband and kids are off school/work because of the holiday so I sat on the couch in the office. So I am going to make sure I get my steps in. It is 475 steps to the end of the driveway and back, but I am used to 1,000 step walk breaks. And I do have a treadmill in the basement
2) Eating too much - I need to be disciplined. We don't keep a ton of junk in the house, but junk food isn't  necessarily my downfall, portion sizes is.
3) Loneliness, but this is the least of my worries. I've been working with people all over the world for a while, so I haven't relied on the persons in my physical office for human interaction for a while. That is part of the reason I was okay with moving to WFH full time. Yes I met my husband and best friends at work, but really since I've had kids in grade school and thus I am not in the office 40 hours a week, I have not relied on the office for socialization.

And more reasons for New Beginnings:
7 years ago yesterday my MIL passed away. We had just gotten back from vacation/seeing her and I was horrified with my weight and stepped on the scale. 236.6. It took my 3 weeks to rejoin WW at which point I was 231.2 (232.6 at WW). Over 18 months I lost 50 lbs and maintained for a few months and then regained it all back in 2 very large chunks. The "good news" is I've only fluctuated 10-15 lbs over almost 4 years. The "bad news" is I haven't seen under 220 in that time. I got close back in March or April of this year, but not actually there.

So while I am training for a 1/2 Marathon on January 11, I need to concentrate on losing some weight in that time (and being the holidays as well, oh my!). In order to do so, my plan is to :

1) No soda/ No buying my lunch - should be easier WFH
2) Drink 100 oz of water
3) Strength train 2x a week, run 2x a week, cycle 1x a week
4) Go to sleep between 9:30 and 10:00 and wake up at 6:15
5) Weigh myself every day, no matter what ----this will be VERY hard but it is the biggest factor of me being successful or not
6) Tracking --something else I need to do to be successful - not even necessarily WW points, but writing down what I eat
7) Don't drink my calories --I can't go through the holidays with zero alcohol, egg nog, and peppermint coffee/hot chocolate, but I am going to greatly reduce it
8) Walk breaks --get in 5000 conscious steps plus whatever is "normal" - I am not going to try to kill myself to get to 10,000 at this point
9) Pre-plan my breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks
10) Smaller portion dinners


We will see how it goes!!!!!

Planning for 13.1 in 75 days

I have very few pictures to share because I've pulled them off my phone, but haven't posted them to Shutterfly to print (I think I am one of the few people who actually still prints pictures and puts them into albums). I am very far behind - Once Halloween is over, I have to review all my pictures from mid-July through October 31.

So what is missing is our extra long weekend to Vermont over Columbus Day weekend. The leaves were absolutely beautiful!  We hiked a 4,000+ mountain (6.25 miles round trip!) with over 2,500 feet of elevation gain. And we ate and drove around.

But since 2 weeks ago I have done ZERO exercise until yesterday. With my complete lack of movement I was thinking about bailing on my 1/2 marathon in 75 days (yes, slightly less than 11 weeks). Originally I had been planning on running 7 miles every weekend starting last weekend and going through mid-November before picking up the mileage. Too many people of said I HAVE to do the 1/2 Marathon, so I am going to try to go for it. But with 3 weeks off from running, I decided to start with 4.25 miles (the .25 is just to get my annual mileage to an even number of 184) since all my runs will be full miles. I am going to TRY to get to 300 for the year but that will be a stretch - In order to do that I have to hit all my long runs (a couple of which will have to be done during the week do to weekend activities I have planned)

Thankfully the rain that plagued friends running the MCM in DC and that later plagued us did not hit during my run, which meant that I could run without my visor (which I will continue to need to run with since I will need it for my 1/2 in Disney). It was so freeing to run without a visor, sun glasses, nutrition or water. And it was a beautiful morning, around 44 degrees.

I ran 2.5 miles out (which is the distance from my start to a pond). Took a quick break to look at the leaves around the pond, and then ran 1.75 miles back and walked the rest of the way. I could have run the whole 2.5 miles back but 1) then my annual mileage would still not be a whole number and 2) why risk injury when I haven't run in 3 weeks? As it was my back was killing me the rest of the day, a part of me that usually doesn't hurt.

So here is my plan to get to the starting line on Saturday January 11th.
*Run every weekend, increasing the mileage by 1 mile, starting with 5 miles on 11/2 and reaching 13.1. I will need to adjust twice: 1 weekend I am going to New York for the day on Saturday and know I will walk a ton that day so I won't want to run on Sunday so I will run on Friday.
*Thanksgiving weekend I won't want to do a long run (I will be full on Friday, day trip on Saturday, will want to rest on Sunday), so I will run on Wednesday. Thankfully both of these are fairly early on in the training so the mileage is doable.
*Run once during the week - 3 miles, do some strides/speed work
*2 days of strength training
*1 day of biking
*Drink my water
*Only have extra sugar as a reward on my long run days (so in this case, I will be having NO candy on Halloween, but saving 5 pieces for Saturday) - And no, just because I am running 5 miles on Saturday doesn't mean I will get candy every long run!
*Get in steps during the week to keep my body moving

Notice that I said "get to the starting line" - I am a little nervous about the finish line mainly because of the time. You have to run 16 minute miles in order not to get swept. I run between 13:30 and 14:30 these days for the long runs so that doesn't leave a lot of extra time to enjoy the scenery, so I am going to try to run a little faster in my mid-week run to remind myself of what running faster feels like.

So there is the plan! Later this week I will be writing about a change at work that could help or hinder all of these plans!

10k by the ocean

I had my 10K yesterday, but before is a quick recap of the last 2 weeks:

Got up at 5:30 on a Tuesday to get in some strength training. I miss it so much!



But then did zero exercise the rest of the week :(

But I went apple picking with my daughter and friends and of course had to get some fresh apple cider donuts - they only come around once a year!

Last Sunday I got in 3 miles since I was just 1 week out from my race.

I had hoped to get in one more run last week before the race, but alas, it didn't happen. But I did get in yoga one morning, and I did try to get in more steps (though I haven't worn my FitBit in weeks) and I drank a ton of water and had no junk food from Tuesday on.

And then it was race weekend. This race is Ocean Road 10K - It is in Narragansett Rhode Island. It is the 4th New England state I have raced in. Originally the plan was for the whole family to come down (it is about 2 hours from our house) but then the fall sports schedule came out and my son had a late soccer game on Saturday and my daughter had 2 field hockey games on Sunday, so only I went. I cry over the fact that I had a hotel room to myself for the night :)

I drove down and got my bib and drove the course - It was fairly flat, but not completely.  Then I checked into the hotel and took a drive over to Newport, then came back and relaxed at the hotel. I had brought pasta with me to eat (I was worried that if I went out to dinner that the pasta would be too salty) but this hotel didn't have a microwave (some of the ones have in the past) so cold pasta it was!

The race started at 8 am and you needed to take a shuttle to the starting line and they wanted people to get parked early, so I was there early enough to see the sun rise. I wish I had had my real camera.



It was 6.27 miles of......mixed emotions. I had really hoped to average less than 12:30 a mile so I could submit my time for my 1/2 at Disney. I ran 3 miles in about 12:07 average and then mentally shut down, but a little but physically. I chose not to wear my vest but there was only water stops at mile 2 and at mile 4 but the volunteers barely put any way in each cup so I definitely felt a little dehydrated. So I did walk some. But I ended the race in 1:21:39 (average of 13:08). I had really hoped to run the whole thing and I physically could have, but I wasn't feeling it. There was tons of people walking so mentally it was just as easy to walk portions.

I love my medal - I haven't run a race in almost a year (that one was at Disney and before that it been more than a year). Getting the medal definitely helped my through the race.

During the race, I did have a lot of negative thoughts about my upcoming Half Marathon in January. I was thinking maybe I shouldn't do it. Was mad at myself for not having lost weight. Thinking I am crazy to be training during the holidays.

The race is slightly less than 14 weeks away. Next weekend I will get in a small run and then run 7 miles per weekend for about a month and then add on a mile a week through the rest of the year. But since right now 7 weeks sounds like a struggle I wonder if it is smart. Plus I feel like I may have a tad of plantar fascitis. For my half marathon 5 years ago I did train with only running 1 time a week because of my foot, but I was also 45 pounds less.

I want to do it - I am already going to Disney, so I am going to do the training. But I think if I eat right (except for the occasional holiday related indulgences), drink a lot of water, get sleep, and get in workouts then I think I will be okay.

Monday - Yoga

Tuesday - Strength Training

Wednesday - Run (plan on doing this in the daylight, not at 5:45 am)

Thursday - Strength Training

Friday - Peloton

Saturday - Rest Day

Sunday - Long Run

I need to work out more often because it is during those workouts that I can see the effects (positive or negative) of my poor eating. I need more reminders during the week, not just on Sunday, of how my nutrition helps or hinders my performance.

#OnToOrlando

Another one bites the dust

Thank goodness the past week is over, because again, it was not a good week. For a second week I did not go to WW and I have not stepped on the scale for over a week.

Except for a couple of runs I have not exercised, but really hoping to change that this week.


Thursday I ran 3 miles in 39 degree weather - it was heavenly! I ran without music so was free from most attachments. I could have run without my phone but I am so used to having it I didn't even think of leaving it behind. I ran an average of 12:13 minute mile.

We've had a house guest since Wednesday - my workout area doubles as our guest room, so I haven't been able to get down there. But Tuesday it should change.

My husband has been cooking a lot (his sister is visiting) so it has been a nice break for me. It also meant a nice meal Friday night and no way I wanted to get up at 6:00 on Saturday after that! Later on Saturday we headed to the coast to get lobster and visit Rockport. It was a beautiful fall day - though still a little warm. A few trees are starting to change but we are still a few weeks away.

Eating on our outing wasn't very healthy - lobster with butter and ice cream. I said I didn't want to be out for dinner because I wanted to be able to have pasta before my long run on Sunday.

So let's talk about my long run on Sunday.....It did happen, sort of. But I was so discouraged I didn't take a picture.

I had plans for 6.5 miles around my town - I wanted some hills and I didn't have time before my daughter's 10:00 field hockey game to drive to the rail trail. I had known for 2 days that it would be able 60 degrees when I started, I just wasn't expecting 91% humidity. The day before it had been 60 but was only 50% humidity.

I hadn't slept well and was definitely having the thoughts before I got up about not even running. But I knew I had to. That is the difference between training and just running - you have to run to train. And with my 10K 2 weeks away, this was the last time to run this distance (for a 10K I usually run a 5K the week before). I loaded up my vest and in my haste, 2 things happened:
1) I didn't put my vest in my lunch bag which keeps it upright, so when I got to the start of my run the vest was sopping wet and I didn't realize how much water had actually leaked out until 1/2 way through my run and I was almost out of water.
2) I put way too much of my tailwind powder in one of the bladders, so it was very salty tasting.

So with both of those I was starting out the run with not enough water.

I also decided not to run with music. My run on Thursday with out music was great! I could concentrate on my breathing. My wireless headphones muffle the sounds around me - I do think I need different ones, or perhaps go back to my normal wired ones. But I feel so free without the wires. I don't really want to invest in earbuds, but maybe that is what i need to do.

Needless to say the run sucked. I ran for about 3+ miles and decided I would take another Gu (I had been contemplating not - I have never taken one for a 10K but I have been training with the second one since for 1/2 marathon training I will need one between 3 and 4 miles). Last week I took the Gu while I was running, which 5 years ago I always did, but previous to last week I had stopped to take it. Yesterday I chose to take one and to stop. It was at this point that I realized how little water I still had left. I didn't want to have a splitting headache all day, which I tend to when I don't drink enough when I am running. So I ran for another 3/4 of a mile, then walked a quarter miles. Then ran another mile, walk a bit, ran a bit and then said screw it and walked almost a mile back to my car.

In the end I have it as a 5 mile run not a 6.5 mile run. But I can deal with that.

I am going to try to squeeze in a 3 and 4 mile run this week and a 3 mile run on Sunday.

I am also going to focus on my nutrition.

Which reminds me - I did something yesterday I hadn't done in a week. I bought my Lean Cuisine pizza. With a house guest and a busy weekend and I was cranky due to my poor run, I just didn't want to do any more food prep than I am used to (ie 2 days of yogurts and carrots) so I chose to buy pizzas for this week so I can focus on other aspects of my nutrition.

Happy Fall - Here is to a better week!

Bad bad week

Yeah, I blew off WW in my 2nd week.
I had such high hopes for the week on Sunday - I food prepped for hours.
But then my client was in on Monday and Tuesday and Monday's lunch with them was buying from the cafeteria. Why did I buy a coke???!!!

The two days were just meeting heavy and needing to be "on" all day, but the good news for those days is I got in a Yoga session and weight lifting. And the beginning of the week felt like fall, which is abnormal for the Northeast in early September.

  

And then the week just went down hill from there. My son had 8 teeth extracted on Thursday which he was a trooper about but due to trying to balance that and work, I was eating way too many bad carbs (ice cream, frozen chocolate chip pancakes, white pasta). And then a stressful annual visit at the vet for my 14 year old cats had me hitting the carbs again.

Before I went to bed I turned off my alarm for WW. I needed the sleep. I was 229.0 on Saturday morning and I resolved to eat better. Plus I wanted to eat clean for my run on Sunday. I also spent a good amount of time on the couch watching snippets of Downton Abbey before the movie comes out.

I headed back to the rail trail on Sunday for 6.5 miles. It was about 60 degrees and 90% humidity when I started - not horrible, not great. I ran the full way without stopping at all - My time was 1 minute faster than the 2 previous weeks.

 

After my run I did a bunch more food prep (though not as crazy as last week, much of which didn't get eaten in favor of crappy food) - I prepped 2 days of yogurt parfaits, carrot sticks, hard boiled eggs, cut of veggies to snack on, healthy pasta and chicken sausage, and orzo for the kids. I then also made a mexican casserole for dinner. Usually we do a Sunday night dinner but my daughter has volleyball from 4:30-6:30 for the next couple of months, and is 30 minutes away, so kind of screws up our Sunday evenings.

Despite my run I ate fairly well yesterday. I was 228.4 this morning. Hoping to be back down to 226.8 by Saturday.

A client is in on Tuesday but we may or may not have dinner brought in. And we have a house guest from Wednesday - Monday but I am not going to let that derail my plans - We are planning on lobster for a late lunch on Saturday but other than that I am hoping it will be business as usual in the food department.

3 Day Reset - sort of + 6.5 miles

First of all - Labor Day weekend. We had no plans but a lot of the weekend was spent organizing stuff. The kids had started school the week before, they had a 4 day weekend. My daughter was away in Maine for the weekend. My husband and son had plans on Sunday to go to Connecticut to get this guy. My son has been asking for a hedgehog for 18 months - finally it was time. He is pretty cute. I had said I would have nothing to do with him, but he's pretty quickly engrained himself in my heart.

 

I had decided to go hiking in New Hampshire on Sunday and then go antiquing in Maine after, but 2 different spam calls, one at 12:45 am and one at 3:30 am, one on the home phone and one on the cell, had me up most of the night (while my 13 year old had been away from home plenty, it was her first time out of state for the whole weekend). So I decided not to hike as I was exhausted, but not too exhausted to jump in the car at 8 am and go for a 10 hour road trip.

I stopped at one beach and took a walk and had a late breakfast.

Then after some antiquing I went to a nature preserve for another walk.



It was a very successful day - exploring and antiquing.

I was going to start the Beachbody 3 Day Refresh on Tuesday, but since it is easier to do it at home with a blender, and I work from home on Wednesday and Friday, I decided to start it on Wednesday and also work from home on Thursday.

Knowing that I wouldn't want to run on Wednesday (they suggest you don't do heavy exercise while doing the cleanse) and it was pretty humid, I decided to do an 30 minute Advanced Beginner ride using the Peloton App. I am slowing learning how to translate the videos to my Schwinn even though I don't have a Peloton bike.

Wednesday I woke up to Time of the Month. Originally I thought it was 9 days late (hello perimenopause) but then I realized it was only 2 days late! Needless to say Day 1 of the 3 Day Refresh didn't go quite as planned, but I still did pretty well. The only thing I had that wasn't on plan was a bunch of nuts.

Day 2 and Day 3 were much better.

Each day goes about like this:

• Breakfast of a regular Shakeology smoothie and Fruit
• Mid-morning Fiber Sweep (below) - Personally I drink it fast and holding my nose
• Lunch - Shake provided with the program; fruit; vegetables and good fats
• Afternoon snack - vegetables and good fates
• Dinner - Shake provided with the program; a recipe from the program booklet which is basically vegetables and good fat

There were times that I was definitely hungry. And I didn't work out at all those 3 days - I should have. But I didn't.

And the results are:
Wednesday: 232.0
Saturday: 226.8

Down 5.2
Yes, some of that is period weight
Some of that will come right back (I was 227.0 this morning)

But I used this time to also clean out the pantry, again. And make a list of the foods I will eat. I am going to try to avoid some things, at least for the next 4 weeks - like I had sweet potatoes at dinner, not while potatoes. Avoiding processed foods as much as possible.

Saturday I was able to eat real food again and I had to because I had a run to do on Sunday!

Can I tell you the run sucked?! 6.5 miles (58 degrees to start, 86% humidity) I didn't go to my favorite rail trail - field hockey is starting for my daughter and I can't be 25 minutes away. Plus I have a 10K race in 4 weeks - while it is relatively flat (it is by the ocean) I need practice on real roads and out of the shade of the bike path (again, but the ocean, I will be direct sunlight).

I think the run sucked for a few reasons - one, I pretty much haven't moved much in the last 9 days - Except a couple of walks in Maine and a stationary ride on Tuesday, I have been extremely sedentary. So the Fitbit goes back on tomorrow. I need steps! I need to be active during the day beyond 5:30 am.

The run sucked because perhaps 1 day wasn't enough to eat normal food (even though I also ate something an hour before and took 2 Gu - I before I ran and 1 at 3 miles).

And because I was running in my town I was worried about what people thought of seeing me run and I couldn't get out of my head how far I've dropped in my running ability. But I can't go back!

Finally this afternoon I spent tons of time meal prepping. I had lots of veggies left over from the cleanse - I pretty much ate the same thing for 3 days. So I roasted a lot of it.

Other meal prep I did:

• Yogurt Parfait for 2 days (plain greek yogurt with a touch of vanilla greek yogurt, bluebeeries, granola)
• 5 days of carrots
• Hard boiled eggs
• Quinoa and black beans for lunch
• Pasta and frozen pizza pre-cooked so the kids can grab it

Now I am tired. Football is really starting tonight for us New England fans (yes, I completely understand why people hate us, especially now). But no way I can stay up for the whole game. That is a downside of being a Patriots fan - lots of Sunday night, Monday night and Thursday night football games which practically are just starting by the time this gal goes to bed at 9:30 pm.

Here is a to a full week (well not exactly, my son is getting 8 teeth extracted on Thursday so he'll be home for 2 days and I am taking Thursday off). But my daughter will (hopefully go 5 days - I say hopefully because she got sick at school on Friday and I had to pick her up at 9:30)

 

 

 

Lifting, riding, and running

I woke up at 5:30 and worked out all 4 days I worked this week! And I ate pretty well too!

After my run on Tuesday, I did Upper Fix on Wednesday. Lifting weights makes me so incredibly happy!

Thursday I wasn't sure what I wanted to do since I knew I would be running on Friday. So I decided to do a 30 minute Advanced Beginner ride using the Peloton App. It definitely was a workout! I forgot my towel - I wish I had it since the bike was drenched and my hands were falling off by the end.

My kids didn't have school on Friday and even though I had to work, I knew I had time to fit in a run (even though I didn't actually start working until 9:30 :)) Originally I was going to go 7 miles. My 10K is in 5 weeks but I figured I would run 7 as much as I could since that is my golden amount to feel good about prior to 1/2 Marathon Training starting on November 11. But as I started running, and wasn't loving the run, I asked myself why would I jump from 6 miles to 7 miles and why run 7 miles prior to the 10K? It's not like I run more than 13.1 miles before a 1/2 marathon. Plus I have 3-4 weekends after the 10K to run 7 miles.

So I ran 3.25 miles out, stopped, had a Gu, and ran back. I underestimated what 86% humidity is like (temp was about 58 when I started). I chose to not bring my frozen bandana, which has been great at wiping down my face and arms. I had removed my wedding rings, but my fingers were still sausages by the end.  And at the 1/2 way point I had drunk too much of my water so had to ration it on the way back.

I stretched, drank some water and a chocolate milk, and headed home. Jumped in a quick shower and then had to sit as our kitchen island and work.....And eat like crap. I didn't have time to fix a proper breakfast before having to get on conference calls, so I was grazing and snacking.  I was 229.6 this morning (first time less than 230 in a long, long time) but I won't be tomorrow morning (especially since we don't have plans tomorrow my husband wants to go out for Chinese food, something we haven't done in a long, long time).

Sunday I am hoping to get a hike in and maybe go antiquing, but other than that it should hopefully me a low key, nice long weekend. Sunday is supposedly to only in the high 60s/low 70s, but since I am waiting, and waiting, for TOM to arrive, I may not get to hiking - a too long hike wouldn't be conducive to those things without a bathroom.

6 miles + tennis + 3 miles

Saturday was my long run. 6 miles. I hadn't run that far since early June. It wasn't hot and humid which was wonderful.

I tried a lot of things during this run - Even though I don't usually take nutrition until more than 7 miles, I decided I needed to try it sooner to get my stomach used to it again.
When I woke (45-60 minutes before I started running) I had 1 flaxseed waffle with Peanut Butter and Jelly.
In the car, 10 minutes before I started running, I had a Salted Caramel Gu. This flavor now has caffeine. I don't think it did when I was training for my 1/2 marathon in 2014.
I wore my vest with the 2 water holders, 1 had tailwind - orange flavor -which is electrolytes.

I ran 3 miles on the rail trail. Then stopped (pausing my watch of course!) and had a second Gu and then ran the 2nd 3 miles with just a very quick stop because I ran into my BFF and her husband.

After my run I had my chocolate milk and when I got home and had showered I had oatmeal.

With the cooler temps and low humidity the run felt pretty good. I also tried my visor - since I will be running by the ocean in October and in Florida in January, I figure I better get used to running with a visor.

I didn't do any exercise again until Monday afternoon. My son is starting tennis lessons in a couple of weeks and I wanted him to get some practice, so I figured I would play with him. I haven't played tennis in years! It felt great to get out there. I should have worn my FitBit since there was a lot of chasing after balls!

Today was the first day of school. I love to run on the first day of school. Plus I am doing my long run on Friday, since the kids have no school, to get it out of the way, so I figured I should run today instead of my usual Wednesday. It was 44 degrees when I woke up this morning!

I was not overly impressed with my 3 miles. I had a minor blip yesterday with my eating. I went out to the Cheesecake Factory with my daughter - I avoided the bread, I avoided Cheesecake (even though I bought a piece to bring home to my husband), I had potstickers and a salad which combined was slightly less than 1000 calories. Dinner was a very small portion of leftover pasta and some leftover sauteed vegetables.

But.....In the middle of the afternoon both kids were doing their own thing and I had finished what I needed to do so I chose to sit and watch TV (something I never get to do during the afternoon) and ate a back of garlic croutons (these croutons are so freaking good, and so big it is like eating a pita chip) and a small container of chocolate hummus - I eat this like it is pudding. It is better than Nutella (can I say how proud of myself I am that Nutella hasn't been in our house sine the kids went to camp 2 months ago!)

So needless to say, even though it was nice and cool, I was sluggish. Working out daily should hopefully be a reminder than what I eat and drink the day before can affect my performance the next day.

I wish this "False Fall" would be here to stay because they mornings have been great. Needless to say, it is supposed to be 85 on Friday so even though I will be running early (kids have no school but I have to work!) it could be a very swampy run :(