I Almost Cried Over Subway

This past Sunday's post, I left off with the 9.5 km uber cold run.  While I was super hungry when I got home and needed something real to eat, I also didn't want to go overboard because I knew I was going for some delicious sushi for supper that night with a friend.  My post-run meal was this fried egg sandwich on a whole wheat sandwich thin and a big bowl of strawberries and pineapple.  I felt like it was the best thing I'd ever eaten, hahaha!  Ah, the post-run hunger is crazy.

Of course, I felt like it was going to be the best thing I ate that day . . . but then I went for sushi and it was nothing short of amazing.  I love sushi.  Don't worry, I shared this.

After the sushi, I was comfortably full and satisfied.  Craving taken care of without overdoing it.  Then it was home to settle in with a glass of wine and The Amazing Race, The Walking Dead, and The Good Wife.  Great day!

Monday, March 18th -- did the 25 minute workout video followed by the 15 minute stretch video.  Good little workout to do on a "rest or cross-train" day.  I'm really working hard to not break the chain! So I don't want to rest unless I must.  I'd prefer to do some light weight-training or other cardio instead.

hehe - I did work out before Feb 26 but that's the day I started this calendar. :) 

Tuesday, March 19th -- 45 minute Sculpt class at work.  My run clinic homework was 4 km and we had just gotten another dumping of snow.  It was very cold and no paths or sidewalks had been cleared so I headed to the Y to knock it out.  My shins tend to bother me on the treadmill so I can't wait till it's over. 

 Wednesday, March 20th -- 45 minute Cardio Kickbox at work.  No joke.  I was bright pink for about an hour after.  Tonight was group run night so it was 4 km tempo.  I call it tempslow for obvious reasons.  Tonight was tough.  So hard.  With all the snow (they can only clear so much when we have this much), it was one step forward with a kind of slide back.  My calf muscles feel like bricks and I felt like I was just slugging along.  My breathing was worse than usual.  I have a hard time breathing when I run and I feel like it never actually gets any better.  Today, I was wheezing towards the end.  I do have an inhaler and I use it 15 minutes before I get going and today I actually used it in the middle again and it doesn't make a difference.  I don't know what else to do to improve that.  

Between my calves hating me and my wheezing and the really annoying conditions (-20 C with the wind and I think I've mentioned the snow), I was feeling pretty terrible about the running on my way home.  When I'm feeling terrible, I want food.  What I wanted was Subway.  Footlong veggie on Italian herb and cheese.  I drove past Subway knowing I could make something healthier at home and I want to lose 6 pounds over the next few weeks and a loaf of bread is not going to help me do that.  That's when I almost cried.  Shitty run followed by stomping on a food craving.  ARGH!!  I ended up making a stir fry of veggies, shrimp, and some thai peanut sauce.  It was pretty good but that sub would have tasted better, haha!

Keep on keeping on!  Maybe if the scale reflects all my work over the next week, I'll get a six inch sub next week after group run Wednesday or run clinic Thursday.  Who knows, maybe I won't want it next week the way I wanted it tonight because just maybe I won't be feeling bad after the run.  :)

I'm also going to investigate the wheezing and asthma thing.  It's a problem and if it doesn't get better, I can't see myself going much further or faster.  

Have a good rest of the week!

This is NOT Spring

First up, I weighed myself yesterday...205.8!  So happy to have that last "I-took-February-off-from-everything-but-stuffing-my-face" weight gain gone!  I so want to be in the hundred's.  It's taunting me! I go to Calgary April 10th to stay with my niece for a week while they go to Mexico so I'd love to be in the hundreds by then.  6 lbs.  Let's go, well pounds, you go, I'll stay here!

March 11 -- Solo Run - 4 km, my fastest yet!  Hehe - still slow but MY fastest.  Had a huge knot in my left hamstring and managed to get into the massage therapist for 30 minutes the next day and she killed me but the knot is gone!

March 12 -- Sculpt class at work (no photo evidence, but there was witnesses)

March 13 -- Cardio Kickbox at work. I was a puddle.

March 14 -- Clinic Run, was supposed to be 4 km but the map they gave us came up just shy.  It was even faster yet so I really wish we'd been at exactly 4 km like my Monday run to compare, because this would have been faster!

March 15 -- supposed to be a rest or cross-train day so since I want to do activity every day, I did cross-train.  I just did an at home workout video for 30 minutes followed by a 15 minute stretch video.  Really need to be a better stretcher!

Crunch Crunch Crunch!

March 16 -- homework for the clinic was a 4 km run but it was so cold out so I opted for the treadmill at the Y, knowing I'd be paying my dues in the cold Sunday morning for the long run.  It wasn't great.  I was slow.  Took too many walk breaks.  My shins tend to bother me on the treadmill and I don't do well pushing through it.  After the run, I went home and did my 30 minute workout vid followed by the stretch vid again.

March 17 -- Group long run.  9.5 km.  -30 C (-22F) with the wind chill.  This morning's run was brought to you by "WTF was I thinking?", "THIS IS BULLSH*T!!", and "Eff you winter, you've overstayed your welcome!"  This time last year in this very clinic, they were wearing shorts on St Patrick's Day.  Not happy!!!  It's all done though so I'm happy about that.  The wind was brutal.  I had a few km's in the middle where all was fine but then the wind hit us again.  I waited a few times for the person behind me (no one left behind!!!) so out of the time below, my garmin recorded 3:30 of actual stopped time so that's where I waited.  Not bad considering that would be on par with where I finished the 10 km in October.  The other tough part were the roads and sidewalks.  Can't wait till this ice and snow is gone!  We are supposed to get more tonight too.  At one point, we were running in silence and my water bottle nozzle froze and my mouth cover was frozen solid and I just yelled "THIS IS BULLSHIT!!" and we busted out laughing.  Comic relief.  

I wanted to do that 30 minute video and stretch video every day but now that I'm showered and FINALLY starting to warm up, I kind of don't want to.  Seriously, I've been inside for three hours now and my thighs & butt still feel cold!  Fat floats but it also freezes first!

"Spring" Forward?

Sometimes I wonder why I have this blog.  Except that sometimes I think that this blog is the reason why I'm 212 pounds and not 275 pounds or more.  If I wasn't always thinking about it or willing to try again and write about it, maybe I wouldn't try again.

So since my last post, my half-marathon run clinic has started.  It is TOUGH.  I won't lie. Yes, I'm getting it done but holy crap.  I'm at the back.  THE BACK.  Well, there's a few others at the back with me.  When they show up.  Because I have shown up for all the clinic nights and all the group runs so far and they have not, then I'm at the back.  By my lonesome.  Just me and whichever group leader was designated to me.  I try to say please go ahead, I'm okay back here by myself.  I know where everyone else is.  I know the area but they always stay.  It's nice because I think I run longer because I'm with someone. We've been doing ten minutes run, one minute walk.  If I was by myself, I'd probably be doing 5 - 7 minutes run and then the walk.  Clinic night is Thursdays, group runs are Wed & Sun (long run) and our goal is to be getting in two runs on our own during the week as well.  The goal is FIVE DAYS!  So far I've gotten in one of the runs by myself in, so four runs per week.  Here's my activity:

I AM NOT FAST...CLEARLY

Feb 26 - Sculpt class
Feb 27 - Core & More class
Feb 28 - Zumba! -- first clinic night, 3.5 km
March 1 - by myself, 3 km
March 3 - group long run, 7.5 km
March 6 - Core & More class, group run, 3.9 km
March 7 - clinic night, 4.2 km
March 10 - group long run, 7.2 km

See the Zumba above.  That was my first Zumba class ever.  I have Zumba for the Wii and I've done it sporadically so this is the first time I did a class...with witnesses.  This class was no joke.  I was sweating buckets and breathless.  I had a headache all afternoon and then had to lay down and close my eyes for a while because that night was my first run clinic night.  It was so much fun though and I will do it again.  It's offered on Thursdays at lunch at work.

Speaking of that sweaty face - when looking at nutrition labels of really crappy foods.  It would be so great if they had a list of things you'd have to do in order to burn off the calories contained.  Ha - probably not great for their business but great for our choices.  Something like this . . . one 255 g bag ketchup chips.  Yes I've eaten this.  However, I didn't do the two hours of hardcore exercising to burn it off.  I could do the one hour of running at slightly slower than that pace however, I would be incapable of doing the following exercises vigorously for another hour.  And really, after eating those chips, I wouldn't have the energy to do anything.  Every time I think about chips from now on, this is what I will be thinking of.

Moving the clock forward is so hard!  I wasn't springing anywhere fast this morning.  Went to the group long run this morning.  Week two long run for my clinic was 7.25 km.  (Next week is 9km! Gulp.)  The first mile or so, I was wondering what the hell I was thinking.  Then I stopped thinking at all for a bit and the last 2 miles were actually pretty good and I was actually the one pulling the other two slowpokes forward as opposed to being pulled.   Now I'm sitting on the couch in my bright pink ProCompression socks watching 13 Going On 30 while my vegetable chickpea soup simmers and my slow-cooker pumpkin pie oatmeal slow cooks.

Compression socks and slippers.  It's cold in Canada.