Keeping Things Interesting

I've had a great week!!  I kept things in order and got lots of workouts in.  Looking at my week in a Monday to Sunday way I got 4 intentional workouts in plus soccer coaching for a 5th.  I don't see the coaching as a workout exactly because it is start and stop stuff but I do average 2k of movement up and down the field with the kids.  Soccer is almost done but half training is starting up.

Today I did my first longer run since my half.  I was aiming for anywhere from 10-12k.  I ended up doing a tough 9.5k.  The heat was insane and the humidity, according to my weather app, was at 97% when I left.  It was brutal and by 9k I was running out of water so decided to take the shorter route and head home.  Next week I'll increase by a fair amount and try for 14k.  Hopefully it will be less humid at least.

As for food this week I decided to get creative.  My salads were quite tasty and my dinners were good. I had a scramble a couple days.  Loads of veggies and a couple eggs mixed in.  Very yummy.  Today's lunch was by far the tastiest meal of my week.  My mother in law was coming for lunch so we bbq'd burgers.  I topped mine with blue cheese, cooked onions and mushrooms, hot sauce and avocado. I had a burger like that in a restaurant recently but it didn't have the onions and mushrooms.  They added just the right touch.  It was awesome.

This coming week I'm aiming for some more creative meals.  I have stolen some ideas from a friend and will have some variety rather than eating the same meals for breakfast and lunch every day.  Dinner is always fun because some days it's all of us together and some it's the kids eating early and me eating after the Y.   For exercise I plan to do pretty well the same as this week except next weekend is a longer run and two soccer games.  

I'm playing with a few things this week as far as calories and tracking go.  I'll talk more about that another day though.  For now it's time to relax a little:)

Return to Routine!

Last week I was on vacation while my brother and his family were here visiting.  It was a great week but because we were on the go a lot there was a lot of eating out and while I made some good choices I also made some not so healthy choices.  By then end of the week I was ready to get back to my routine.  So that's what I'm doing this week.  

One of the things I have looked at over the years and tried once or twice is mason jar salads.  They are all over the internet on Instagram and Pinterest.  I decided a few weeks ago that I would pick up a few jars and give them a shot.  The idea is that you can layer all the ingredients in the jar with dressing on the bottom and lettuce on the top.  They will last several days in the fridge that way.  So Sunday night I lined up my jars and pulled out the salad ingredients.  Some jars have chickpeas on the the bottom, some have tuna and most have veggies straight from our garden or local farms:)  I made four of them and two have been eaten at this point.  They keep really well.  I'm looking forward to having them for a couple of days.  One thing all the posts about them fail to mention though is that you really need to have a plate or bowl to dump them into.  I tried to eat one out of the jar and it was not easy.

I have also gotten up both mornings this week to workout.  Monday I decided to get up and ride my bike to the gym.  I found it took me about 15 minutes each way and my weight routine took just over half an hour.  So an hour workout and I was home by 6:30am.  Today was a run morning so up I got and headed to the canal path for a good old 6k run.  It felt great to be out with the world waking up. What made me terribly sad though was how dark it still was both mornings.  A few weeks ago it almost full light at 5:30am when I walked out the door.  Two weeks ago it was barely light at 5:30am when I went out and today it was just getting there when I got back home at 6:30am.  The worst part is that once it is too dark in the mornings I have to change my run route.  The canal path is just too dark and creepy to be running in the wee hours of the morning once the sun starts sleeping a little later.  I said today that I want to plan out a nicer route than I was using last year.  It was a good enough route but took me past some of the less desirable streets of our city.  None of them are terrible but they also aren't the best.  I can find a better route.

Adryanna's soccer practices are over which means we can get back to the gym on Wednesday nights.  I really like my class that night so that's what we'll be doing.  The girls can go to their programs and play with friends while I workout.  I like those times because they have fun while I do,   Then the rest of the week will be the same as the beginning just backwards:)  Sunday will be rest day and I am already thinking of fun things to do with the kids to stay active.  

Community

Sometimes your best friends/supports can be people you have never met. A couple of years ago I joined an online challenge.  It was something like 12 weeks and each week had a different theme.  All themes were about self improvement and fitness.  Early on we were encouraged to connect with someone else from the challenge and partner up.  Something of an accountability partner.  I waited until someone posted that they were in need of a partner and jumped on it.  Turned out that the person I partnered and I had a lot in common aside from just wanting to get fit.  We both had about 100lbs to lose, we both had two little ones and worked in the social services field and we both love to try new things.  When the challenge ended we managed to keep in touch.  We still talk to this day and have somewhat reconnected over the last few weeks.  See she has decided to take her journey to the next level and has set a goal to loss her 100lbs by July 30 2016, which happens to be her birthday.  You can read all about her and follow her journey at "The Jiggle Journals".  There you'll find posts from Megan(my friend), her sister and her cousin who are all working together for this.  When she told me her plans and what she was going to do I was so proud of her.  It's no secret we both struggle to keep going on this crazy ride but she has definitely been a big support of mine.

This got my mind working.  I've never been one to set a timeline on my weightloss.  The number on the scale has always taunted me but I also know it's not the only thing to work for.  I want to be fit which is such a vague word when you think about it.  The media would have us believe that "fit" is a number whether that be BMI, a specific weight or a clothing size.  More and more though you are hearing about people who aren't the media ideal size but still healthy and fit. This doesn't mean I don't want to be a healthier weight.  I know that long term carrying this extra weight isn't going to be good for my back, my knees, my ankle or my heart.  I know it makes all of these things work harder.  I also know that my near perfect labwork won't always be that way if I don't take care of myself.

That being said I have looked at my current weight and my personal goal weight which according to the charts will still be overweight but I really don't care.  So my ultimate goal is to be a strong, lean 150lbs.  That doesn't mean I will necessarily stop there.  I may stop sooner.  I may keep going.  I believe the charts say I should be between 120ish and 140ish.  I can't ever imagine being at the lower end.  I would have no muscle and I that would suck.  I want to be strong, I want muscle.  To get to my goal I need to drop another 62lbs.  I can do that in the same time line as my friend is going to lose her 100lbs.  Really it works out to just over one pound a week which is nice and slow.  I have promised her that as her birthday present.  If it happens sooner great, if not that's okay too.  I've lost 50lbs so far in my journey but it's taken me almost 5 years to do it.  That's not a bad thing but I just haven't been as dedicated as I could be.

Summer is always a crappy exercise time for me which doesn't make any sense.  I don't have to worry about getting the girls ready for school, the weather has been generally great this summer and I have had lots of time.  Sadly I also like to sleep in and since I wasn't training for a race my running slacked off.  I still ran and July wasn't a terrible month for workouts but I let my distance slide and my runs have been sporadic.  The great thing is I haven't quit running like I so often have done after a race.  I have no doubt that I'll be in great form for training for my fall half, which is going to happen this year.  The date for the one I want to do falls after my daughters birthday so it won't interfere with her celebrations.

So here is to more consistent posts(I have a computer again), more consistent food tracking(I only cheat myself by leaving things out) and renewed weekly weight tracking.   It's going to be great!!

Jolly July!

July came and went in a flash.  We camped twice, spent a lot of time with friends and just had a good month.  I vowed to get back on track and I did, exercise wise anyway.  Eating was up and down but overall pretty good.  I joined a food tracking challenge to help get back on track with recording everything that I ate.  I'm happy to say that while some days were ugly, everything got tracked.

I ran much more than I did in June.  I decided not to total my mileage for the month because I just wanted to run without worrying about how far or long I went.

I cycled a lot more too.  I got out a couple of mornings a week for a 17.5 route that I found.  It's a nice straight route along the canal which makes for a wonderful sunrise ride.

I also made it to the gym a couple of days.  That one is harder because mornings I like to do outside stuff while it's not too hot and while it is very peaceful.

August has started out pretty good.  It's only a couple days in and while I haven't done any intentional workouts I've moved more than I have sat.  We have family here for this week so we are doing a lot of different things.  This month is the start of fall half marathon training.  I'm aiming for a race that is on October 25th so my running distance needs to start increasing this week.  I should be running 12k this weekend.  Our company is leaving early Saturday morning and we are going to spend Friday walking around a Scottish Festival so I suspect my run will happen Sunday and be somewhat dependent on how my legs feel but I'll get it done one way or another.   I'm definitely looking forward to the cooler temperatures of Autumn.