The mind is the enemy

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Thanks Jen! I'm pretty pumped :) Q / K&D, I think I'll avoid the indoor track option. I'll fight through the winter as long as possible, and deal with the treadmill when I need to. Movies and Netflix, here I come!

Meals as of late have included egg drop soup with chicken (Wed), bacon and fried eggs with rice (Fri) and homemade pizza (tonight). Confession time - My Thursday consisted of 6 hours at the bar with co-workers. 6 hours at the bar = 6 beers + bar food. My stomach did not like that. I was supposed to do my long run today (Saturday) but I usually make sure I have a full day of feeling good before I put myself too far away from home. So instead I ran 2.3 miles in light snow, temp around 22 (-5 Celsius) with 20 mile an hour wind. Short run but I was proud to be out there! Today I learned that being in the middle of a run doesn't stop men with clipboard from trying to stop you and ask whether you're registered to vote. I'm kinda in the middle of something, dude.

Not much else to report here. I hope everyone is having a great weekend! And if you're an American football fan.... go Pats!
 
Good plan on the treadmill running. Next time someone asks you if you're registered to vote, offer to sign up while running if they'd like to pace you for a bit.
 
KnowAndDo said:
Good plan on the treadmill running. Next time someone asks you if you're registered to vote, offer to sign up while running if they'd like to pace you for a bit.
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Haha, I should have done that! That would have been awesome.

Thanks Cate, and LaMa! I probably should have just done my long run on Saturday. Sunday's run was AWFUL. At least there's an obvious culprit - TOM. Came a day early and ruined my day. I overslept, got super anxious before the run because we got six inches of snow overnight and I wasn't sure what the sidewalks were going to look like, and then had to cut my run short because TOM day 1 wrecks me when I'm not running. Ended up doing 4.75 miles outside and after a little break finished up with 4.96 miles on the treadmill. None of it felt good. Wasn't going to drink yesterday because I had my week's worth on Thursday but I ended up having two beers because I was crabby.

Thankfully I've been doing this long enough to know that one bad run is just that - one bad run. I'll be back at it tomorrow after a rest day today.

Main food yesterday included PB on toast, one piece of pizza, and chicken parm (I had 1/2 of a chicken breast) + rice. Nighttime snacks included skittles and 1.5 servings of Smart Food popcorn. The brown sugar and cinnamon flavor is amazing. This weekend was utterly devoid of fruits and vegetables, minus a half an apple I shared with the pigs and a few bites of pineapple. Must make some mason jar salads to keep on hand.
 
Tom is a bastard, I wish a restraining order would help. My pet hypothesis says that he generates a force field which destroys all vitamins within a 20 m radius.
 
First minor setback of training - shin splints. Ooof. Tried to run yesterday but ended up walking at an incline on the treadmill. Used an exercise bike (for maybe the second time ever) today and will stick to that or the elliptical for a few days to hopefully heal up.

I wanted ALL the food yesterday, but fortunately I reigned myself in a bit during the day. I did go out to dinner with a friend and indulged in one beer and an unhealthy meal, though.

My secret weapon for getting in more vegetables this week has been baby carrots. A quick side to whatever I'm eating for lunch and I feel like I'm at least making an effort.
 
Sorry to hear about the shin splints. Good call on taking it easy for a few days to heal instead of pushing too hard and ending up with a bigger injury.
 
Yup... and have someone take a look at your running style, you may be doing something simple wrong. Happy healing!
 
Oaks said:
My secret weapon for getting in more vegetables this week has been baby carrots. A quick side to whatever I'm eating for lunch and I feel like I'm at least making an effort.
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Snow peas are good too & can just be added to any meal. They can be zapped & are still delicious. We always have a packet of spinach(or our own) & even if you have a pasta meal or a casserole you can always add some spinach.
Some good advice above. I would see if you can get your running style checked. Hope the heal heals fast!
 
I wish I liked carrots.. I can't though. I just can't. lol. I bet the piggies look adorable eating apples. :)

I hope the shin splints heal up fast for you!
 
Thanks everyone for your well wishes! If it heals up fast it might be a blessing in disguise because I've been going to this gym for years and never used anything but the treadmill before this week. Now that I've been forced to use other equipment I'll be much more likely to utilize them again even when I'm back to running.

K&D I think the next level of injury if I don't rest is a stress fracture, which could mean six weeks off of running. No thank you! I'll be good and do what I need to now.

Cate and LaMa, I think my local running store does analysis like that, where they film you running on a treadmill. I just may have to look into that. And spinach, yum, I could totally get on board with throwing that into random dishes.

Jen, the piggies LOVE their apples. They stand up and beg after they realize what I've got for them.
 
Well, I may not be running but I did go to the gym three days in a row! That's definitely some sort of record. Today I tried out the fancy elliptical machine. I had no idea how cool those things can be, I'm definitely going to utilize that more. You can use it like a stepper, which I love. Last night I did a 30 minute yoga video (abs and arms).

Food update - yesterday I kept finding myself wandering around the kitchen during my normal snack times even though I knew I wasn't actually hungry. Both times I settled on small treats - an 80 calorie date roll and a 75 calorie Oreo. (A cinnamon bun Oreo, to be precise. If you aren't opposed to processed snacks and have some self- control, I highly recommend this flavor). Meals have been rice heavy lately, which is not typically my style but G would eat rice every day if I let him. Must work on portion control. Added a side of cucumber to last night's meal, which was rice topped with poached eggs and ground pork.

Haven't weighed myself in a bit but my pants are feeling a little loose today. Fingers crossed for happy news whenever I sat hello to the scale!
 
The elliptical is a great option for recovery and also for those like me still looking to drop weight before getting back into running as it's a great workout with low impact. I used to like switching directions on the elliptical every x minutes to change up the muscle groups getting a workout.

Hear you on the aimless wandering through the kitchen. Sometimes I think about putting in a feature in my next house that will only let me access the kitchen during meal hours :)
 
Hi Oaks,

Congratulations on your success so far. I am a longtime member that hasn't been on this forum for a while. I scanned some of your diary( I will read it all later-lol) - Cate recommended I take a look as she said you are runner. I am a runner too. I started at 320 lbs. and finished at 175. That was about 4 years ago and my weight had varied over that time and I did go back up 40 lbs but have lost about 25 of it again. I did this by running. I had always been the fat kid in school growing up so running and I did not get along. When I turned 49 I decided that enough was enough. I started my year long journey losing weight and exercising. What I didn't realize was that I loved to run. Over the next 9 months or so I started running- first from driveway to driveway and then driveway to second driveway and so on. On my 50th birthday, I ran my first 1/2 marathon. I have since run a few more 1/2 marathons and multiple 5 and 10 Ks.

I noticed you said you have shin splints. They can be caused by multiple things but a main cause can be your running shoes. You had a good idea to go to a running store and get evaluated. They will suggest a shoe based on your stride. This should help. Water running will help you get over just about any injury you have from running. Same workout just no stress on your joints.

I live in Canada so running in the Winter is cold. I do run all year long though. I actually like running in the cold. You can always add layers but when it is too hot you can only take off so many clothes before you get arrested-lol.
 
I've alwaaaays gotten shin/ knee/ ankle problems running on the treadmill (but completely fine on the road, weird!) It's good it's put you out of your comfort zone though, trying new things is ALWAYS a good thing!! Resting is so important too, a stress fracture would be awful.

Good luck with the scales!!!
 
I'll be back later to respond to comments but I wanted to pop in quickly to declare my weekend plans. We are hosting a pasta dinner for roughly 15 people on Sunday, so the focus will be on cleaning the house and making the food. Two lasagnas, one of which will be gluten-free, and pasta with meatballs and sausage. Noodles will be homemade, with the exception of the gluten free ones.

Goals:
-No sweets today and max 2 pieces of pizza (we get catered lunch on Fridays at work)
-11,000 steps Friday and Saturday
-6 miles on Saturday, either running or elliptical depending on the shin.
-No more than one drink on Saturday (a glass of Amaretto)
-No more than 3 glasses of wine on Sunday (I refuse to refrain from wine while making pasta or having homemade lasagna).
-Stretch my calves and ice my shin every night.
 
(Responding to Thursday's comments)

K&D my heart rate on the elliptical was super high, I can definitely see how it's a great tool for getting into running. And the ability on my gym's machine to adjust both stride height and stride length makes it fully customizable. Pretty neat.

Hi Cowboy! I'll check out your thread when I get a chance but I loved hearing your story. Doing your first half marathon on your fiftieth birthday? What an incredible experience! And good for you embracing the cold. Can't wait to hear more from you!

Lucy, I've been doing 4 miles on the treadmills twice a week for a few months now without problems but who knows exactly what caused the issue. I cross trained, iced, stretched, and will get a gait analysis hopefully next weekend, so I'll fix this thing one way or another!
 
I'm glad you're getting the gait analysis Oaks. Do you have an Italian salad with your pasta? Hmm GF Lasagne...I'm glad I just ate breakfast!
 
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