Category Archives: running

8-miler, running thoughts and ice cream

Well – last night was ice cream at Friendly’s!  I got a happy endings sundae with butter crunch ice cream and peanut butter sauce.

friendly

It was very good and I enjoyed every bite!  Plus it was nice just to get out of the house for a while.

So, this morning was the 8-mile jog!  Here is me fresh as a daisy before going out.

lori

Well, maybe not so fresh 😀

I fueled up with the other Odwalla bar that John got me before I went out.  This was tasty.  I packed along a POM juice, a bottle of water, and a few dates with cashew butter to have during my run.

odcc

Went down to the track to do 32 laps (snore!!!).  Luckily, it was cloudy for 1/2 the run.  I did 4 miles straight, then stopped and drank the POM juice.  I got an instant rush from that (it is straight juice, after all!).  Then I continued on.  The sun came out after that and it started to feel really humid.  I felt like I was running even slower, which wasn’t true, it just felt like it.  Did 2 more miles (6 at this point), then stopped for a date and some water.  I had to really charge myself up for the last 8 laps.  There were maintenance people there working on the football field inside the track and on the school roof – they probably were getting a kick out of hearing me talk to myself.  The last mile was fairly hard, more from the point that I just wanted to be done.  Finished in 1:35:15.  Just about a 12 minute mile pace (or 5 mph). I was so soaked in sweat when I was done, I literally could wring out my trisuit (yuck!!).

Check out the GoWear fit  – it gave a calorie burn of about 1000 for this run.  Even if I knock 10% off of that just for fudging sake (mmmm….. fudge…) that is still 900!  You can see where I took the 2 stops.

gwfAnd yes, I do eat more on days like this.

It got me really thinking about whether I want to do a 1/2 marathon or not.  I know I could probably finish it, but I don’t know if the desire is there to, and that is very important.  When I was training for the triathlon, I wanted to do it and I was excited for it, even though I was kind of scared.  The 1/2 doesn’t feel that way.  I need to mull it over.  I told myself I would decide when I had done an 8 mile, but maybe I need more time.

Had a fabulously refreshing shower and made a late breakfast of chocolate banana oats!

brekkie4

  • 40 grams of oat bran
  • 1 small banana
  • 4 grams of dark cocoa powder
  • spoonful of cashew butter.

Work is really slow today. That’s the downside of doing transcription.  No files = no work.

Lunch today is a tuna/hummus wrap (last of the hummus) and the last pear.  We really need to go grocery shopping!

lunch7

Neat online giveaway!

Run to the finish -It’s Amanda’s birthday and she is giving away a ton of stuff to a lucky reader!

(Teaser, look for a giveaway on my site next week!)

Lucky me that John fired up the grill and got some chicken going.   He used some Emeril’s seasoning that I got to sample for being a Food Buzz publisher.  The afternoon got busy!

dinner6

The last of the blueberries, and this was a frozen veggie mix.  Down to the dregs now of everything!

Preseason football tonight.  Are you ready??

Question:  Do you watch football, and if so, what team?  Go Broncos!

5 miles and Day 2 of challenge

I ran 5 miles today!!! I have never run that far before. The most I have ever done is 4 miles. The Y was closed today for Memorial Day, so I just went outside to run. It was a glorious morning. I had a small preworkout snack of a date with peanut butter (yum)

Note my new headphones which go over the ear. These are the best invention ever for working out and surprising comfortable!

Anyway, I was just going to do 3 miles, and then thought I would just go until my tunes ended or I felt like stopping. Then 4 miles hit and I was totally in a groove. I wasn’t going so fast that I was out of breath, and I had hit a good stride (probably somewhere around 5 mph) so I thought I would keep going. It was so nice out this morning on the track and no one was out. No traffic because of the holiday, so it was a peaceful time. I knew I was going to make 5 miles with no problem, but I should have had a bigger preworkout snack as all I could think of for the last 3 laps was waffles! I would have had a bigger snack if I had known I would go extra miles. So, I came back home all proud of myself! I’m thinking maybe a 1/2 marathon really is not out of the picture this fall!

Day 2 of my 12 day challenge went really well. I stayed within calories and no nibbling!

Bracing for winter…. brrrrr….

We normally go out for bagels on Sunday morning for breakfast. There are various places we go to, but decided to go to Starbucks for something different. Being early in the morning, the pastry case was chocked full of goodies like donuts, muffins, and Pumpkin scones. I wavered a tiny bit, but then got the Perfect Oatmeal with brown sugar topping. 190 calories and pretty good. Can’t believe I went out and bought oatmeal, but it was a better alternative than even the low fat coffee cakes (and I really wanted a Pumpkin Scone). Victory there, although I do have a bit of craving for a bagel LOL!

We are getting a big blast of cold air this week. I toughed it out today for a jog, despite the cold and wind. Low 40s and very blustery, but this is the best looking day for the next 7 days! So I had to run while I had the chance. The wind blew so hard at times that it made my eyes water, but the rest of me wasn’t cold, since I had bought a new technical shirt, turtleneck to keep me warm. I just kept thinking of burning 300 calories, and that was enough motivation for me to keep going. Temps for the rest of the week are going to be low 30s with snow and yucky precipitation.
I don’t necessarily love the running itself, but I am totally addicted to the feeling of accomplishment after I finish.

So I made it through the weekend eating pretty well. I really want those 130s.

I voted and had a crappy run.

Well – voting is done. Make sure you get out and vote. I don’t care who you vote for, but the privilege of voting is something to never, ever take for granted.

Lucky for me, my voting place is the high school down the street where I do my runs. So, I dressed in my workout clothes and voted. I know this is a small town, but there was only 1 (yes, one) voting booth. Luckily there were only about 5 people in front of me, and we only had about 6 things to vote on. So, it only took about 15 minutes or so.

After voting, I went out back to the track and started jogging. It did not feel good right off the bat. My calves were tight and I just felt tired. I could not get a pace faster than an 11 minute mile and I really had to slog and bargain with myself to finish 3 miles. I was actually looking forward to the run earlier, but I guess my body had other ideas. I don’t know as it might be a delayed response from donating blood on Saturday, could be low iron levels. But, it’s done and now I can do a rare night of vegeing in front of the tube!

Run, new workouts, Chinese food

Well, last night we went out to a Chinese buffet for dinner. We have not eaten at a buffet in probably at least a year. I can’t believe it has been that long. I had kind of been wanting to go Chinese for a month or so, so when John suggested it, I was game.

This buffet was quite good, and there were a lot of healthy selections. I did eat some fried things, but only had one crab rangoon – which are usually my big downfall. Ate mostly unfried meat with some noodles, and a couple interesting breaded seafood things. Avoided the rice and picked some broccoli out of one of the dishes to make sure I got some veggies. Then I had a bit of ice cream for dessert. Not a horrible amount of food, but really much more than I am accustomed to eating. The scale showed the dreaded sodium effect this morning, though LOL! Probably take me all week to get rid of it.

It was really a nice day here, cold but sunny – so a perfect day to get out for a run. I went 4 miles today at a steady pace with one sprint section in there after the 3rd mile. I am still waffling about doing a 1/2 marathon. That’s a long time to be running. I’ll probably try a 10K to see what happens. I officially signed up for a Turkey Trot on Tday morning, so I am committed weather bad or not! Could be pretty cold at 8:30 am.

Tomorrow starts my new lifting program. I am kind of excited, I really love the weights. I need to get some more for myself, so I need to check one of those used sports equipment stores and see what’s available.

On a good note, I did stop at a consignment shop yesterday. Got 3 pairs of pants to try on, 2 size 8 and 1 size 10. The 10s were way too big (yay!!), one size 8 was too small, and the other size 8 was just right. And they were only $4.50. Gotta love a bargain!

4 Mile run!!

Today I wanted to try running longer, so I went for 4 miles!! I really think I could do more, but that was enough to try for now.
I didn’t do intervals like I normally do on Saturday track runs because I wanted to make sure I had enough gas to do the last mile LOL! I did do a 5 minute sprint section after the 3rd mile – not really sure how smart that was…..

Anyway, I finished the 4 miles in 43:49 – less than 11 minutes per mile, which I am quite pleased with! Last May I could run 3 miles in 50 minutes. Maybe a half marathon next year isn’t so crazy after all.

Weighed myself before and after the run. I lost 1.8 pounds of water in those 4 miles! Guzzle…guzzle…

Struggling in my mind.

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So, I ate on plan today, which is good. But it was a struggle. Do you ever have those times where you feel like you ate poorly, even though you didn’t? It’s so weird. It’s like I have that need to be perfect in both thought and action.

I don’t know if it is the scale thing that is starting to throw me for a loop or what. I have to remind myself (repeatedly, ad nauseum) that I expected to gain or maintain this month, but now that the reality is actually happening, my perfectionist mind is causing me grief.

And it doesn’t matter what I tell myself. Yes, I have come a long way, I’m seeing results in other ways than on the scale, yadda, yadda, yadda. 🙂

I did run 3 something miles this morning, and did my strength workout, as listed below. I have a 5K race this Sunday, so I moved my weekly runs to MWF instead of TTS. I think I like it better that way anyway. I really wonder how long the 5K will take me this weekend, I am kind of excited to find out!

Gonna go watch some football. My Broncos are 2-0 (thanks, refs!!).

I can't add.

Well, I thought I had 7.4 pounds to goal, but it is really 8.4 pounds until goal. I checked the time I posted, and it was post-coffee, so I really have no excuse for the poor addition/subtraction problem. Oh well, what is 1 pound after I lost 100+? … Well, I guess it is 1%, which is really not that much 🙂

Ran slow today, I did a new route again, not the one with the big hill! I finished in 34:55, which is almost 2 minutes slower than my last time. I felt like I was going fast, but apparently not. It was very cold this morning, in the 40s, so maybe that had something to do with it. My first experience running for a longer period on concrete with all the new sidewalks in town, and not sure I liked it. My legs were also a bit sore from yesterday’s workout. Being a new runner, I am still learning all kinds of new things about how my body responds to temperatures, surfaces and times of day.
I’ve been poking around looking for some more runs this fall. I have one scheduled for the 21st of this month, and DH and I will be doing one in October (although he is walking the 5K, not running it).

And just for gratuitous cuteness, here is my 18-year-old kitty napping away. She looks so peaceful, and it makes me want to nap!