October 07, 2014

Zero Energy (Maybe time to bump up the Weight Watchers Points)

It was raining on and off all day today, so I had a lazy morning with Estelle on my shins. I used to knit all the time, and haven't done it in a while, so I started a new project (a hat with sock yarn). As I was sitting there knitting, sipping tea, with Estelle on my lap, I realized that I had turned into one big stereotype ;)



Yesterday, Jerry and I had a fun day together while the kids were at school. I had a three-mile run on the schedule (with a five-miler today), but I asked Jerry if he'd want to run with me, and he said yes. So I switched my runs around in order to do the five-miler with Jerry, and just three solo today.

The run with Jerry didn't go very well, unfortunately. After the kids went to school, we chatted over breakfast for a few minutes, and then got ready to head out. When we started running, I felt like I was running about a 9:30 pace, but when I looked at my Garmin, it said 10:45-ish.

I had no energy at all, and it felt so hard to run. I'm pretty sure the lack of energy is from starting Weight Watchers again (eating less calories). I've been eating all of my allotted points per day (plus weekly and activity points), so I think if I still feel like I'm lacking energy next week, I might bump up my daily points target to 30 or 32 instead of 26. It could just be that my body is getting adjusted to it right now, though, so I'll see how the next few runs go.

Aside from not feeling well, the weather was nice and it was good to run with Jerry. I've noticed before that he's a heel-striker when he runs, and I've tried helping him to adjust that so he would land mid-foot, but he just couldn't get his feet to do it. He's had some knee troubles here and there, which I guessed was from the heel strike.

Anyway, as we were running, and I was getting slower and slower, I had a thought--I wondered if he had the same problem I did when I was doing the low heart rate training (MAF training). When I was running so slowly, I started to have pain in my knee, and it went away when I ran a comfortable (faster) pace again. 

I suggested that Jerry try running faster, and I'd watch his feet. It was so simple! As soon as he picked up the pace to about 9:00/mi, he stopped the heel striking, and his stride improved a lot. We were three miles in, so I told him to go ahead of me and run that pace the rest of the way, and I'd meet up with him at home. He felt guilty, but I pushed him to go, so he finally did. I picked up the pace to try and keep him in sight, but there was no way I'd have been able to keep up with him with the way I was feeling.

When I got back to the house, he was waiting on the porch with ice water for me--haha, that's how far ahead he got. He ended up with an 8:40-ish pace for the last two miles, and his knee felt just fine. I'm glad we got that figured out! Now I just have to get faster to keep up with him ;)


After the run, I decided to try and eat at least 40 PointsPlus yesterday, to see if I felt better during my three-miler today. We showered and had just enough time to make it to the first showing of Gone Girl at the movies. Jerry didn't read the book, but I told him about it, and he wanted to see the movie too.

I was surprised at how well the movie followed the book--that was a tough book to make a movie out of! I absolutely hate the ending (and if you've seen in or read it, then you know what I'm talking about). I almost wish I had just left the theater before the movie ended, so I could imagine it ended the way everyone was hoping it would! ;)

I ended up eating 43 PointsPlus yesterday, and when I got up this morning, I did my run first thing. I couldn't sleep, and was up by 5:00, so I figured I'd just get up and run on the treadmill. I set the treadmill at 6.5 mph, and left it there for the whole run. My energy level was much better than it was during yesterday's run, so I think eating a little more yesterday may have helped. 

Tomorrow will start week two of Weight Watchers. I can't believe I've been counting points for a week already!


9 comments:

  1. as mad as i was about the ending of gone girl, i felt better about it with the movie. i LOVED the movie so much!!! it makes me want to re-read the book.

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  2. I've recently finished Gone Girl and wondered how the movie was. I can't figure how it could adapt easily with the "voice" of the book changing every other chapter, but I'm glad to hear good feedback!

    With your energy level? I notice my own energy being very up and down, and it seems very cyclical to me. I think as my hormones shift throughout the month my ability to workout shifts too. Sometimes I power through my dvds like a superhero and other weeks my legs are full of lead. After charting it for a couple months I see it follows a very predictable pattern. Just something to consider! :)

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  3. Because of you, I joined WW this morning. Today was day 1 and it went ok. I know I have a ways to go and I am ok with that.

    Thank you for the constant motivation you provide!

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  4. I agree! I want to completely rewrite the ending, but I also enjoyed the movie. I thought it followed the book well.

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  5. I hope adding WW points yesterday helped your energy level. Sometimes I have so little energy and other times I'm ready to take on the world. I don't know if it has anything to do with my eating or not. I am halfway through Gone Girl (on your rec.) and loving it. I also ordered the next book, I forget the name, but it's waiting on my Kindle for when I finish Gone Girl. After the book, I really want to see the movie. I've been working hard to avoid the spoilers that are all over out there. I even skipped the Gone Girl movie review in People Magazine this week. I'll go back and read it when I'm done with the book. So far, I've been shocked a couple times. I keep guessing, and I've been wrong every single time. I guess that's what makes it a good read.

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  6. I'm going to watch Gone Girl this weekend. I didn't read the book, so hopefully I will be able to like the whole movie.

    Oh yes, I know where you're coming from. Energy - sometimes you got it, sometimes you don't. What's funny is, sometimes you don't know where the energy comes from when you didn't eat that much at all. No supplements or anything.

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  7. So what happened with Intuitive Eating?

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    Replies
    1. http://www.runsforcookies.com/2014/10/old-faithful.html

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  8. I loved Gone Girl and I got to see it in Cape Girardeau, MO where it was filmed. My in laws live there and the husband grew up there. So cool.
    I wanted to know if you have heard of an app called charity miles? Basically you select a charity to run for and a company will sponsor your run and donate a dollar per mile to the charity of your choice. My sister does it and she says it inspires her to run a little bit more.

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