Sparrows Experiment

Tell me more about that...

If I do the half in November I'd like to really be low key with weights. I felt like the extra muscle was a catch 22. It for sure made me stronger in the long run, but I'm heavier than I've ever been while running and I can tell the extra I'm lagging around. After that I won't care so much, I just want to shrink. More muscle is great, no problemo, but I'd like to lose some inches too..mostly on my thighs and waist.
 
Also for better or worse I need to begin writing out what I eat everyday so I can see it in front of me and be accountable. Today I'm going to the gym at night so sometimes that affects things.

breakfast: 1/4 whole wheat bagel, 2 scoop whey, 1 c 1% milk 400
lunch 1 c broccoli w butter spray, 1 chicken breast, 1/2c rice 400
snack 1 cheese stick, 2 celery stalks, handful carrots 150
dinner: chicken breast, 2 c mixed spring salad, 2 c steamed broccoli, 1 roma tomato drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, 1T ff sr cream (to mix with the rest of the dressing) 1 T olive oil, 2 T balsamic vinegar 320
3 bites heath ice cream

Trust me, this is a far cry from the way I've been eating lately. :(
Back on the wagon...
 
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I dunno - I tend to look at it in terms of one of Newton's Laws of Motion - for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction... think the "bad" eating is in response to months and months of "good" eating...
 
oh boy...well I get the "opposite reaction" part but I sure hope its not an EQUAL one cause that would mean months and months of bad eating. lol.
On the whole it isn't hard for me to eat well. I enjoy eating healthfully and given a choice randomly at a buffet table I'll pick the healthier options, just naturally. I do need a bite or two of junk a day...and lately those bites have turned to bowlfulls :) but overall I am a "good girl". he he

Today I did everything on my menu except snack. I was at the mall spending way too much money on my kids for an upcoming wedding they're all in, and having way too much fun doing it. I got them each one of those gigantic pretzals at the end of our shopping spree and I shared some with the youngest. man, those are dang good. I'm sure I had the same calorie wise as my snack called for, just not nutritional-wise. I could tell too cause I was hungry very soon after. I didn't make the gym today. For me its often morning or never.

Tomorrow I am doing a long run in the morning. I have no set goal distance, or pace or anything. I'm just gonna go out there and enjoy the morning air and see how far that gets me. Later we have a wedding...that nobody wants to go to :( don't you hate that.
 
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Dropping by to tell you good luck with your morning run tomorrow :) running without a specific goal can be really liberating from time to time.
 
aye reminds me of Chariots of Fire - don't cringe because it's not the Vangelis tune but a quote - "but when I run, I feel His pleasure" that comes to mind...
 
yeah I love running "just because" sometimes. I'm big into worship music and it really inspires me. Add to it a techno beat and its pretty awesome. ha

um..what was I going to say...oh yeah, the friend who I trained with for the half marathon invited me to my college town (where she lives and the other half marathon I love is held) to do a 10 K Nov 5. Its really quite perfect because the other half marathon I was going to do Nov 12 conflicts with something my husband and I already have that weekend. So I looked at the training for that and its pretty much what I've been doing already. A bit more speed work but I'm up for that. I'm just tired of LONG runs and I don't have to do as many for a 10K. So thats what my immediate goal is. Long term I'm still working on.
 
Hello, I was on a 4 day retreat in the mountains. It was fabulous.
The retreat center fed us like we were on a cruise I was booking 2000 cals a day or more and only did a 2 mile run one of the days! I did an adventure course that had cables in the trees. You're harnessed to another cable but you do all these very freaky tightrop-ish tricks from tree to tree, each tree being about 50 feet apart from the other. If you fall you're caught by the harness but its still very scary 60 feet above the ground. I also bungie jumped in a swan dive and did the rock wall. The whole thing was VERY challenging for me. I'm scared of heights! haha. My husband and I went off- roading in their little suzuki samaris in the back country. that was a BLAST.
Anyway, like a dummy I wanted to see the damage as soon as I got home. I havne't stepped on a scale in forEVER and I was 132 in the middle of the day. Not so bad being that a month ago I was 135 first thing in the morning. I hated that number. It is standard that I lose weight on vacations. I can eat like a freaking PIG and not even that healthfully and I will loose weight. I still can't figure that out.
Anyway, I'm back and hitting the gym tomorrow. Its been almost a full 7 days of doing next to nothing. Its been very nice tho ;)
 
b-whole wheat bagel with PB on top
l- 4 c "mixed spring" salad w 6 oz can tuna, 1T rice vinegar .5T ranch
s-string cheese, apple
d-1c broccoli, 2c baby greens, 3oz top round steak
s-tea
I went to the gym. Embarasing when people at the gym actually notice you've been gone. ha. I did my full sets of bis, tris and back and abs on the stability ball. Its been a long time since I've paid attention to weights that way. Then I did 30min HIIT bouncing between 7:40 min miles for 3 min and 10min mile recovery pace for 3 min. Then 20 min eliptical. That was more of a recovery thing.
Felt pretty good running even though its been a while. I haven't gone above 3 miles since the race Oct 1. I'm still not sue if I'll do that 10K in 3 weeks.
My plan for the 3 weeks is to keep my strength training strong, keep with the static exercises and run 5 days a week, cross train 1 day and rest 1 day. I will mostly do sprints, intervals and threshhold tempo runs. I may through a longer run or two within the 3 weeks but I'll just go by feel. I'm not really gung-ho about training anymore. Its just a 10K, and its mostly just a fun thing to do with a friend. I'm just so darn competetive with myself!
 
Gym this morning:running

5 min warm up 6.0 pace
3 min 8.0/3 min 6.4 alt 3 times
5 min walk 4.2
3 min 8.0/3 min 6.4 alt 3 times
5 min walk
shoulder weights
A good workout. It restored my faith in my abilities at this time. The 8.0 pace was 7:30 min mile pace so that was a good challenge. My goal is to build each time, even if its just .1mph faster. I was sore from yesterdays weights but I ran strong and I felt fine
Random eating day again.
b-1/2 wheat bagel with pb
lunch-1c broccoli, 1/2c "great grains" rice (flavored and made with olive oil), 3 chicken tenderloins
...1/4 cup cheetos, 1 diet pepsi
snack-1 sprouted tortilla, 2T sugar free apricot jam, 2 stalks celery (weird, I know)
dinner will be-4oz top round, 2-3 c salad w/ rice vinegar, 1 c zuchinni
snack-hopefully just have some tea...may throw in half a cookie or some SF ice cream...knowing me
 
Glad to see you had a good workout and you're getting back into some kind of routine again. What are sprouted tortillas?
 
ha yeah ew huh? they are actually really good. THey are made by Ezekiel 4:9 brand and have organic sprouted grains and have no flour in them. Sounds grosss but they're really good. Trader Joes, can't beat it :)
 
Ditched workout. Going 6 days strong this week. I've had my fun, its bootcamp time if I wanna run again.
I started well...I finished BAD
Breakfast: Go Lean cereal (first time with this stuff, its good!), 1/2 cup milk
lunch: 2 c spring salad w/ rice vinegar and sm. bit of ranch, 1/4c sauteed onions and bell peps, huge chicken breast, sm piece french bread
...1/4 c ice cream
Heres where I turn into "the very hungry catterpillar"
1 bite hot dog w/ bun
4 tater tots
1/4 c mac n cheese
1/2 c steamed broccoli
..some more ice cream
3 bites sf pudding
...and more ice cream
haha. I just pretty much grazed on what the kids ate and then decided "forget dinner" after all of it...then ice cream was needed...
ah well. Calorie wise it wasn't damaging, just unorganized.
My challenge is super clean eating this week and trying to get back to 1500 cals. right now I'm about 1300 still. blah :(
 
b-1c kashi go lean cereal, 1/2c skim milk
gym: treadmill

5 min warm up 6.0 (10 min pace)
6 min 7.5 (8 min pace, 10K goal pace)
3 min 6.0 recovery
5 min 7.6 (7:50 pace)
3 min 6.0
4 min 7.7
3 min 6.0
3 min 7.8
3 min 6.0
2 min 7.9
3 min 6.0
1 min 8.0 (7:00 pace)
1 min walk recovery
1 min 9.0 :) (6:30 pace)
5 min walk
bis, back, chest (1-2 sets each part,12 reps a set)

challenging workout but I was up for it. the 9.0 was crazy fast. I could hardly feel my feet touching as I ran. I still don't think it was my all out sprint though cause I was still hitting the bar of the machine as a barrier. I should go out on a track sometime and see what I can do. My heart rate throughout was 135 and the 9.0 bumped it to 145
I have a tentative food plan today, hopefully can stick to it.
 
you too ;)
I put it up cause I know it helps me to know "who" I'm talking to, or reading a post from.

B-1.5c Kashi go lean cereal, 1/2 c skim milk
gym
l-huge grilled chicken salad w rice vinegar and small amt of ranch, 1 WHITE roll :O...lol
..thats it for now

Workout ( I put these boring details down so I can refer back to them. I don't expect anyone else to be interested)
tread: 6.0 warm up pace then increased .1 per 5 min for an hour. Going 7.2 on last 5 minutes and ended up around 6.5 miles
shoulder weights
abs
 
Ok, what's a WHITE roll? (or is it just that - white?)

Actually I read that kinda stuff because it helps me to know what I'd need to be doing to match that performance - for example, i did the treadmill today (I am rarely on it) and did max speed 4.0 and max height 4.0 (the treadmill alters these through the course of the program. Now I have an idea how that matches up.
 
Ok, what's a WHITE roll? (or is it just that - white?)

Actually I read that kinda stuff because it helps me to know what I'd need to be doing to match that performance - for example, i did the treadmill today (I am rarely on it) and did max speed 4.0 and max height 4.0 (the treadmill alters these through the course of the program. Now I have an idea how that matches up.

haha Stingo, yes its WHITE as opposed to WHEAT. I'm all into french bread now that the weather is getting cooler. Its a major temptation for me. Hot french bread and real butter with a cozy blanket in front of a fire..Life just doesn't get much better than that :)

Hey good job on the tread! Walking at 4.0 and over is pretty swift. I don't usually use the incline much more than 1.0 (to simulate the feel of outdoor running) so I'm not sure what 4.0 means but I think thats good cause don't they only go up to 10.0?
 
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