August 17, 2013

Anniversary date

Last night's date with Jerry ended up being so much fun! As soon as Jerry got home from work, I gave him the key chains, and sure enough, he laughed until he wheezed. Definitely a big hit.

We went to Panera for dinner, which was sounding SO good to me. I was hoping to get Black Bean Soup, but it wasn't on the menu yesterday. I'm actually glad, because I ended up getting a bowl of Broccoli Cheddar Soup, and it was fantastic. I forgot how good that soup is! I haven't had it in years. I got a whole grain baguette with it.


The baguette portion she gave me was definitely more than two ounces, so I ripped it in half. The soup was 8 PointsPlus, and the bread was 4 PP. A very yummy (and filling) dinner!

After that, we went down the street for dessert. We got ice cream and decaf coffee at Cold Stone/Tim Hortons. I had the cake batter flavor again; it's so good!


We sat with our ice cream and coffee for a long time, getting in some good conversation. Jerry had to work this morning, so it wasn't a late night.

This morning, I got up at 5:30 to get ready to go for a run with Stephanie. I told her I'd pick her up at 6:30, and we could go to the bike path where Jessica and I did a lot of our marathon training. Stephanie had 11 miles on the schedule, with 7 of those at race pace (9:55/mi). My plan was to pace her for those, so that she could have a good, confidence-building run (her last long run didn't go so well).

We parked at a community center, and the headed out on the trail. It was pretty chilly this morning, but it felt great! Stephanie didn't want to know what our pace was (or where we were going); she said she'd just let me lead, and she'd keep up. So I did my best to keep us on target.

I learned that I would make a terrible pacer in a race, haha. When I get chatty, I stop focusing on pace, and I tend to go too fast. (Better too fast than too slow in this circumstance, but I didn't want to get her burned out; I wanted her to finish feeling strong). Once we hit mile seven, we slowed to her easy pace for four miles. I was really excited for her that she did it--she did great!


Stephanie always has her camera with her, so we took a couple of pics when we were done.


I was surprised when I looked at my calorie burn. The first 7 miles, I burned roughly 80 calories per mile, which is pretty typical. But the last 4 miles, I only burned 50-something calories per mile! That seems so low to me. But I've checked (and double checked) my heart rate monitor, and it's giving the correct heart rate reading. I went over the data from the past year, and I realized my average heart rate (while running) has dropped by about 10 beats per minute. That's a good thing, in the sense that I'm conditioning my cardio system. But the downside is that I don't burn as many calories.

The strangest thing happened to me today... I couldn't think of one single thing that I wanted to spend my activity PP on! Usually, I get so excited to have a treat after a long run, but today, absolutely nothing sounded good. I wasn't hungry at all, and I tried to think up a fun way to use my PP, but eventually, I decided that I wasn't going to push it. This NEVER happens to me! Maybe it'll hit me tomorrow, and then I'll have even more PP to spend. ;)

6 comments:

  1. Happy anniversary. I am SO not a runner, I don't think I could do ONE mile at your "slow" time.

    It is crazy that you would only be burning 50 calories per mile. I did invest in a HRM and according to it my machines (and Fitbit) are overestimating. I have been doing my same elliptical workout a while now (years!). I know I need to shake it up.

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  2. I can't wait for the day when I'm able to do a 10 minute mile never mind your pace lol. I'm only burning about 50 calories a mile too but I suspect that has more to do with my slower pace lol than anything else.
    My daughter and I have our first 10k together booked for 4 weeks time and because I hate running (until I'm finished that is) my OH has agreed to come out and keep me motivated (I walk so easily). Thing is OH is 11 years older than me, smokes heavily and has COPD as well as scar tissue on his foot that affects his running. All that and yet he runs effortlessly, hardly breaks a sweat and breathes regularly - he could go for miles and yet it's only his 3rd time out with me. The first time he got me doing 7k, then 4k and then 6k last night - I wouldn't have done half of that without him because he refuses to listen to my pathetic excuses as to why I should walk lol.

    Katie have you ever had to fight that voice in your head telling you to stop? Or telling you you've done a couple of miles so it's fine to give up? If so how did you overcome it? I'm desperately seeking solutions to my defeatest mental attitude.

    Happy anniversary to both you guys :)

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  3. Can you give them to me? I have a slutty brownie with my name on it and there weren't enough calories leftover for me to have one last night! NSV: I didn't eat one!

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  4. I think what says the most about a good marriage is when two people enjoy spending time together and just talking. You and Jerry seem to have it all figured out. Happy Happy Anniversary. I hope you get to grow old together---The Best is Yet To Be!

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  5. Happy Anniversary to both of you :)

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  6. Happy Anniversary, you two! Your date-night sounds truly wonderful. We have a 3-year-old with few local resources to watch her...it sounded lovely!

    Your "for fun" run today was amazing! My longest long-run had been 8 miles, and today I had it in me to go further (my training program said 9 miles), and ended up going 11.5!! Although, It took me 2:24 to do it...a half hour longer than you girls, LOL! A year ago, I couldn't even do 3 miles, though, so I'll take it!

    Thank you for your inspiring and honest stories!

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