messing with my foodtine (like routine, but food.) (you probably got that without the brackets.) (this post title is over-long.)

I am messing with my breakfast and lunch foodtine this week. Why? Why not! Actually, my current breakfast of Cheerios leaves me hungry about 47 minutes after breakfast, which kind of sucks. Like, I have a snack planned for after that — usually a banana and a yogurt, but it’s hard to hold out for that. It’s possible Cheerios aren’t that filling.

Anyway, this week I plan to…

Breakfast: have a fruit smoothie (1 cup vanilla soy milk + 1 cup frozen berries)  after gyming in the morning, followed up by 1/2 a whole grain bagel with light cream cheese when I get pekkish a couple of hours later.

Lunch: have a soup and hearty salad (i.e., with nuts) — but I am going to space out the soup and salad so I will basically be eating every few hours. I will have veggies and yogurt at the ready for snacks in the afternoon.

I’ll keep you posted on the success / lack thereof of this foodtine (measured in irritability, satiatedness, weight gain / loss)

hump day THIS: interval training made regular

I took a band of work colleagues out for their first interval training session last Wednesday. They were so sore I was still getting flack about it on Saturday. Which means I did a good job, I think.

I think I enjoy interval training with others. I usually do it by myself on the treadmill, but we did it outside on a path by the canal and used lamposts as targets. I think running  with other people (when doing intervals) makes me push myself harder than I otherwise would. And it feels pretty awesome to help someone realize how fast they can be.

We’ve decided to make this a regular thing, so my Wednesdays will no longer be hump day, and will now be interval training day. Or kick-the-asses-of-my-colleagues day. I think I need to work on the name.

not losing, not gaining

I am still holding strong at 158. Which is pretty exciting. It’s possible that if I ate less cookies I could make greater use of all the activities I do. But I do love cookies.

my third half-marathon

It’s been a few weeks since I ran my third half-marathon, but I thought I would tell you about it anyway.

Going into race day I was training pretty hard (although I tapered). I wanted to break 2 hours but doubted I would. Everyone around me told me I could despite about 87 percent of them not being runners.

Race day was pretty warm and windy. I couldn’t get into the coral I wanted because of the thousands of people everywhere, but I wasn’t too far behind. I ran in front of the 2 hour pace bunny till about 14km, when he passed me. That got me pretty down for about 2 km, until I pulled my shit together and picked up the pace again. I wasn’t going to break 2 hours, but I would get my personal best. Then, at 19 km the calf cramps started. I don’t know if I didn’t carb loas enough or if it was too hot for me and I ran out of the stuff that makes you not cramp up or what but that was unbelieveably painfil. I was in tears and making really horrible noises. And then I picked up the pace. I was almost done, and I was sure as fuck not quitting now. Every now and then one calf muscle or the other would cramp, and I would power through each time.

I shaved 2 minutes off my personal best, and was 7ish min away from breaking 2 hours. Afterwards, I had a celebratory breakfast for lunch by myself at a local cafe. Then got to see my best friend speak ata conference, AND go have beer on the patio. What an amazing day.

delicious roadblocks as race day approaches

Yesterday I had some dark chocolate almonds in the morning. Seemed like a good idea at the time. It was okay — I had a super nutritious lunch packed, and I could have a low cal dinner, right? Then we went for dim sum for a goodbye lunch for a colleague at work. Which was also delicious.*Shrug* Today is a new day.

I am still 158 and holding — just have to treat my body as a temple for the rest of the week — race day is fast approaching! That half-marathon I have been training for is SUNDAY! It’s possible I am starting to get excited. I need to take better care of my body. Monday was a failtaper* day, but it was beautiful out, so that is okay.  And I was probably awake more than necessary yesterday — worked all day, then volunteered at a bicycle co-op for a few hours. I am taking the bus to/from work today, and have a ride to dragon boat practice, so I am turning down the failtaper. Also, I am taking tomorrow off work to get a massage and hang out a spa, so soon I shall victorytaper.

That is all.

p4

*Close to races, runners, etc. will cut down on the length and intensity of their runs. This is known as “tapering.” It allows our bodies to heal and gets them pumped for race day. Failtapering is doing the opposite of that; like biking, running 10km, paddling for an hour, then biking some more all in one day (especially the day after running 10km and yogaing).

partners is crime*

The thing about dating a triathlete whilst also having switched your main means of transportation from busing to biking is that “moving more” just sort of happens. I had a crazy week, exercise-wise, but it did not feel that way. Partly because a lot of it was just commuting, and partly because I had a partner in crime along the way for runs and yoga (new manfriend), a whole team of peers for dragon boating, AND a I still have my kick ass weight training partner. It’s been nice not worrying about weight loss while still making headway toward my “healthy BMI” weight. It’s new. And weird. The not obsessing thing.

Monday
- Bike 6km, yoga, 50 min spinning class, yoga

Tuesday
- 7km run, weight training, bike 6 km

Wednesday
- Bike 6km x 2, yoga, dragon boat practice

Thursday
- Bike 6km x 2, weight training

Friday
-hour and a halfish walk

Saturday
- I don’t remember

Sunday
- 10 km run, yoga

Monday
- 10 km run, Bike to/from dragon boat (16km-ish?), dragon boat practice

*For the purposes of this blog, crime means fitness, health, and well being

skinny

My roommate commented that I am looking skinnier lately. Is it weird that I don’t see it? Still, it was nice to hear.

effing love dragon boating

I fucking love dragon boating. Just got in from practice and the whole left side of my back and abs feels like burning and my bum was one paddle stroke away from a pulled muscle, but it is just such a fucking awesome stress relief. It is a super aggressive sport. You put all of whatever you are thinking about onto the water and try to hold on as you power a 2 ton boat through the water with 2 tons of 19 other people. So fucking glorious. Youtube if you have no idea what I am talking about.

one fifty eight point four

Dudes. I am forseriously plateau bludgeoning. Usually, when I hit a low point, weight-wise, something clicks on inside and then I eat my way back up to 167. This has been my pattern for over a year. I don’t feel like ordering an entire pizza to myself along with a bag of double stuff oreos after having 3 blueberry frotters for breakfast. So, that is new.

good morning sunshine

I woke up bright and early this morning and went for a short tempo 7km run. Birds were singing. It was the perfect temperature to run in. I made good time. And then I took myself out for a healthy breakfast including freshly squeezed orange juice. What an epic day. And it isn’t event 8:30 yet.