I've been so happy all day because of my weigh-in this morning! It's really dumb that a silly number on a scale can make or break my mood--but thankfully, it's been only good numbers lately, so I'll take it :)
Oh, and I probably should have mentioned that I HATE pedicures! That's why I've been procrastinating. I get grossed out by the thought of other people's feet in the little tub, and germs, and all that. Also, when they scrub your feet to exfoliate them? It's AWFUL--I hate even thinking about it. It's like fingernails on a blackboard to me! So I do my own toenails, but I haven't been able to after my surgery (it's hard to bend over that far for that long). I'll try and do it this week.
I just got home from my aunt's house. She invites us over every year in December to decorate Christmas cookies. She makes a ton of cut-out cookies and bakes them, and then the kids (including her grandkids) go to town decorating with frosting and tons of sprinkles.
Buttercream frosting is one of my top three biggest weaknesses (the other two being cookies and ice cream... and since this is hypothetical, we'll throw chocolate in there too. Oh, and marshmallow fluff). My aunt also made chili for dinner, and homemade macaroni and cheese. I decided to have a little of each, and mixed them together--it was delicious! There was a lot of other food, but nothing that was calling out to me like the desserts. Brownies with frosting, cupcakes with frosting, and cookies with frosting... it was like buttercream heaven!
I decided not to eat any dessert while I was there, but I chose what I wanted most (a cupcake) and brought it home with me to eat for my treat tonight. I'm looking forward to it!
I went for another three-mile run today. It was raining outside, so I decided to do the dreadmill. I put on my shorts and sports bra, and then thought about how much I used to love running in the rain. So I changed into my pants and a sweatshirt, put on a warm headband and some gloves, and did the run outside in the rain. It was fantastic!
I had to go REALLY slowly, though. My upper abs still have a weird pinching kind of pain, so I didn't want to do anything to mess with it. I just kept saying to myself, "Slow and easy, slow and easy..." because when I zone out, it's easy to go too fast without realizing it
Even going slow and easy, I felt pretty sore at first. My inner thighs and hips are still sore from the run I did on Sunday, but I knew that was just "normal" soreness, so I pushed through it. But I was very careful because of my abs. After running, I felt really good. I noticed that my breathing wasn't as labored as it was during my first couple post-op runs (but that could just be because I was going slower).
A few people asked me about running faster. While I'm certainly no expert, I did start out extremely slowly while running and then got a lot faster. There are lots of different ways to do it--the most popular being a speedwork run once a week. You can do that with interval training--run slowly, then run really fast, and repeat. I did this on the dreadmill because it was easy to keep a consistent pace.
You could also do a tempo run, which is a "comfortably hard" pace. Go faster than you normally run, but not so fast that you feel like you're going to puke. Just run hard enough that you wish you could go slower, but you could still push through and keep going.
When I was a beginner, I didn't know about intervals or tempo runs... I just made goals and worked toward them each time I ran. For example, my first goal was to run 12 minute miles (for 3 miles total). Once I met that goal, I started pushing for 11:30 miles, then 11:00. A BIG goal was to get under a 10:00 mile, and then a sub-30:00 5k. I would run 3 miles, 3 times per week--trying to finish a little faster each time.
That worked really well for me, actually. I increased my speed significantly doing it that way. This past summer, I focused on doing "real" speedwork (intervals and tempo runs) to try and PR a 10k race. It didn't help at all--and I didn't get my PR :( I think next time I'll just do my own thing again. It's okay to break the rules and figure out what works for you!
Also, the more you run, the faster you'll get. If you're only running one time a week, you're not going to improve very quickly. You have to run to get better at running, if that makes sense :)
I can't remember who asked me if I would post my food logs again, but I'll try and do it once in a while. I'm not counting calories, so I'm not measuring any food out. But I'll list what I've been eating :)
Breakfast- Snickers protein shake
Lunch- Cold no-bake cookie oatmeal in a peanut butter bowl
Snack- cinnamon almonds, string cheese
Dinner- chili with cheese and onions; macaroni and cheese
Snack- cupcake
Gonna enjoy my cupcake now!
Oh, and I probably should have mentioned that I HATE pedicures! That's why I've been procrastinating. I get grossed out by the thought of other people's feet in the little tub, and germs, and all that. Also, when they scrub your feet to exfoliate them? It's AWFUL--I hate even thinking about it. It's like fingernails on a blackboard to me! So I do my own toenails, but I haven't been able to after my surgery (it's hard to bend over that far for that long). I'll try and do it this week.
I just got home from my aunt's house. She invites us over every year in December to decorate Christmas cookies. She makes a ton of cut-out cookies and bakes them, and then the kids (including her grandkids) go to town decorating with frosting and tons of sprinkles.
I decided not to eat any dessert while I was there, but I chose what I wanted most (a cupcake) and brought it home with me to eat for my treat tonight. I'm looking forward to it!
I went for another three-mile run today. It was raining outside, so I decided to do the dreadmill. I put on my shorts and sports bra, and then thought about how much I used to love running in the rain. So I changed into my pants and a sweatshirt, put on a warm headband and some gloves, and did the run outside in the rain. It was fantastic!
I had to go REALLY slowly, though. My upper abs still have a weird pinching kind of pain, so I didn't want to do anything to mess with it. I just kept saying to myself, "Slow and easy, slow and easy..." because when I zone out, it's easy to go too fast without realizing it
Even going slow and easy, I felt pretty sore at first. My inner thighs and hips are still sore from the run I did on Sunday, but I knew that was just "normal" soreness, so I pushed through it. But I was very careful because of my abs. After running, I felt really good. I noticed that my breathing wasn't as labored as it was during my first couple post-op runs (but that could just be because I was going slower).
A few people asked me about running faster. While I'm certainly no expert, I did start out extremely slowly while running and then got a lot faster. There are lots of different ways to do it--the most popular being a speedwork run once a week. You can do that with interval training--run slowly, then run really fast, and repeat. I did this on the dreadmill because it was easy to keep a consistent pace.
You could also do a tempo run, which is a "comfortably hard" pace. Go faster than you normally run, but not so fast that you feel like you're going to puke. Just run hard enough that you wish you could go slower, but you could still push through and keep going.
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| My first sub-30 5k run (July 2010). I was so proud I took a picture :) |
That worked really well for me, actually. I increased my speed significantly doing it that way. This past summer, I focused on doing "real" speedwork (intervals and tempo runs) to try and PR a 10k race. It didn't help at all--and I didn't get my PR :( I think next time I'll just do my own thing again. It's okay to break the rules and figure out what works for you!
Also, the more you run, the faster you'll get. If you're only running one time a week, you're not going to improve very quickly. You have to run to get better at running, if that makes sense :)
I can't remember who asked me if I would post my food logs again, but I'll try and do it once in a while. I'm not counting calories, so I'm not measuring any food out. But I'll list what I've been eating :)
Breakfast- Snickers protein shake
Lunch- Cold no-bake cookie oatmeal in a peanut butter bowl
Snack- cinnamon almonds, string cheese
Dinner- chili with cheese and onions; macaroni and cheese
Snack- cupcake
Gonna enjoy my cupcake now!
