Blissful and earned recovery rest day. Just got in my 10,000 steps, and done. Hubby and I went over to Bells Park for an after dinner 2 mile walk. I'm so proud of him. He's finally giving fitness a bit of a shot. The high cholesterol and blood pressure labs really were a blessing in disguise. Not that I am happy that they came back at: "how are you not dying?"levels, but ... Go, Bill go!)
Tuesday
AM
10 laps in the pool. Swimming every "there" freestyle, and every "back" as a back stroke.
PM
Distance: 6.2
Pace: 10:02
A fantastic run! Second fastest Westside Rd 10k ever. :) (9:58 was the best last October, but the weather was VERY different then than tonight, so I will for sure take it!). We took it out zippy, slowed a skip for the hill to Windward, and then kicked it into PRO / ONB gear for the downhill to Westside. Took the "big" hill fast, and then the rolling hills on Thompson even faster.
Progress!
Wednesday
Distance 1 mi jog, 3 mile tempo, .5 mile jog
Pace: 9:40 for the tempo.
Oh well, they can't all be winners. Haha. It was humid, muggy, and evening. I had wondered if I could keep flat 9s for this. As I drove down to Riverside, I thought: "maybe 9:15s." During stretching: "it'll probably be more like 9:30s", and by the time I was running: "keep it under a 30 minute 5K, and call it a night." Lol.
I can blame whatever, but the bottom line was that I just didn't want to. It wasn't an "Important Run." After, I felt no soreness, and definitely needed no major recovery. But that's going to happen now and then. Last time I checked, there were no medals at Riverside, so I am okay with this. :)
Thursday
Rest. Blah speed work night yesterday = lets not hit the treadmill this AM. Lets recover well for the weekend. Got my 10,000 steps in (walked 2 miles after dinner with Bill at Fowler park this time), and done.
Funny thing about walking on the Greenway .. this ridiculous sense of accomplishment I get from running .. its not easy to see from the outside. Lol. I'm watching folks schlep by, and thinking .. I have to look like I am doing more than that at least, don't I? Bill's teasing as they go by that he doesn't see any running. "that's not running .. that's elongated walking" (he might have gotten punched in the arm then. lol). Anyhoo, it certainly feels amazing, and I said they were probably running another 10 miles, and I'd like to see him do any better. So there. lol.
Friday
11 laps in the pool. I tried going a full here and there freestyle before each backstroke 1/2 lap, and woo, I could manage that! Sweet. I also had my breathing come to me MUCH more easily. Thinking that 1. I am getting better, and 2. that it helps to have rest. :)
Saturday
Distance - 6 miles + 4 hills
Er.meh.gawd! Concert at Lakewood on Friday night? What was I thinking?!?! This morning was the first time in a long time that I hit a good 95% on the bail-o-meter on a Saturday. I didn't get into bed until about 1:30am. The saving graces were that: 1. I posted pictures of the concert, so "Can't come. I don't feel so good." would get a LOT of razzing. 2. I was pretty sure that if I REALLY needed it, I could ask for an even more modified position on the roster. (say, the walkers who take itty bitty stabs at running an itty bitty bit .. or home base). 3. there would be a good hour between this and cycling where I could nap. All of that was a little unnecessary. Except for sandbagging the hill repeats a little (because puking doesn't look good on a run lead. ;) ), running with top of 3-1s was easy peezy.
Proud of the pod, too! We were sure turnout would be affected by the cloudy / possible rain weather, but we actually had the largest count to date. Woo. :)
As far as the run, I think our distance is catching up with participant pace. A few in my pod of 5-7 were tackling 6 for the very first time. We began with a steady run. A few of the group was keen on my suggestion that at race day, they might want to build in a bit of run time before starting intervals, just to get out in front of the starting bottle neck. Smart as this little group is, they wondered if we couldn't go ahead and start practicing that way now. So this AM, we ran .5, and then began 3-1s. Averaged about a 12:30 pace, and leap frog-ed with the all-runs at 12 most of the way back. The only bummer was that I had to leave two participants behind when the two of the front of the pod wanted to get going before the other two arrived at the water station. I was 99% sure those two would just start running 2-1s with Kyle, but when we all got back to base, the two said they ran 3-1s back until mile 5, and then walked the last mile. Noooooooo. I cooooooooullllllllddd haaaaaveeee SAVED themmmm! LOL. If I would have been with them, or if another run lead would have come across them, they might have been motivated to finish out the distance at a slower run/walk pace. Oh well. Of the two who I did stay with, one needed encouragement up the final hill, and the other was giving it all she had just to stay with the 1st. So I was helpful where I was.
Cycle class! This lost no excitement for not being the 1st time. <3 this!! It was SERIOUSLY harder this time. That was a bit confusing considering we had not just done 12 miles at 10:08 .. just 6.2 at 12:30. Either the lack of sleep, or the fact that I was working a little harder. (Funny, if you had asked me which day I had performed better, I'd have SWORN it was the first time, just by feel. But
This compares with the first time, where I burned 367 calories, avg/max watts 97/239, and biked only 8.8 total miles (compared to 11.1) in the same 45 minutes.
The cherry on the top was that since Bill is looking at getting an exercise bike for home, he was game to try this out. Now, going from COMPLETE couch potato to spin mania could have been a bad idea, and I was nervous for him. But he seemed completely at ease doing his own thing. He didn't bother with the calls and whatnot. But I am sure he enjoyed himself! And sweat. :) We treated ourselves to date lunch after, and I was a very happy girl.
Total: 29.2 + 2 Swim Session + 1 Spin + walks
Other
IT'S WORKING
I am FINALLY losing weight again!!!
Start Weight 03/2014: 205
2016: 145
5/20/2016: 138.4
WooOOOOooOOOOOOoooooo. Haven't seen a new scale number in since .. forever. :)
Helping me this week to get there ..
1. Good Measure Meals.
Kyle had such fantabulous results after two months of actual commitment to this that I had to give it another go. I started Tuesday, and immediately began to see big changes. With the portions, and the healthy choices, I am feeling very satisfied, too, which is a big help in wanting to continue with anything.
Some of the yummy things I eat on Good Measure Meals. :)
2. Fitbit
If you didn't notice, there was a lot of talk about steps in this entry. Another change I committed to was to change up my rest days just a hair. Since May 9th, I've been going strong with my daily step count hitting 10,000. And it didn't take much to get there. Of course, I was hitting it on days I'd work out. How can you not when you go out for a 12 mile run? But then I noticed that Monday, if I didn't pay attention, I'd clock in a humdinger of a day with something like 3000-4000 steps. If I ate that day like a post-run 12 mile runner might, then I was seriously resetting the work that I'd done over the weekend. By just committing to 'Do No Harm' on rest days with a walk at lunch, or after dinner, I really think I help myself not start from a negative place when I do run.
3. Variety
If both of those things weren't enough, I'll also point to the fact that I have been legitimately cross-training for the past few weeks. Adding workouts like walking, swimming, biking and core exercising are helping me attack different fatty areas of my body, I am pretty sure. Call it muscle confusion, or whatever, but I am absolutely sure these "others" are helping a ton. The one missing link is that last one: core exercising / strength training. Swim and cycling are classes / activities I can fit in to the schedule, and now that I am going along, feel like "things." Strength training, whether I do it at home, at work, with a video, or on machines, still just feels like rolling around on the floor. If I even start, I abort before I even break a sweat or get sore. Perhaps I should sign myself up for something serious, like a personal trainer for a few months, or Orange Theory. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to give this yet, so for now .. solution to be determined.
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