Progress Comes in Many Forms

I'm feeling super today.

I was pretty tired and achey from the 9-hour drive yesterday, but got up fairly early and sort of took the day by the horns. Got some laundry done, got things unpacked and put away, worked on some paintings, and... last, but not least, got what would have been my Saturday workout with the 5K training group done this afternoon.

It was a clear and sunny day, but cold again, in the 20s. Not bad, though. I kept a brisk pace from the beginning; today's workout requirement was 44 minutes total (3 min W; ((3 min W, 3 min R) X 7)) 1 min W), but I added some more walking at the end so that I covered 5K+ – 3.3. miles total in 53 minutes. In fact, this was the first time ever in the seven years I've been doing this on and off that I made a sub-50 minute 5K, 49 minutes and change. I was pretty thrilled, to say the least. Another milestone was that my first mile's pace was 15:30! Seems that hill work in New Hampshire really helped. It was painful, sure, but the results... wow! I'd do it again. It now seems that my goal for the 5K training to do the distance in 45 minutes or less just might be doable. Our graduation run is the first week of May, and considering the progress I've made, I'm sure I can do it.

Another pleasant surprise was that I weighed in at 294, so down a pound or two while I was away. I'll take it, especially considering how much crap I ate yesterday.

I had a good eating day today, with some dressed-up oatmeal for breakfast (steel-cut with banana, a little cocoa powder, and a tablespoon of natural peanut butter), a very cheesy black bean burrito for lunch, and some roasted Brussels sprouts for a light dinner. It feels good to be back on track.

One thing I've realized in the past week, well two things, actually. The first is that I had been drinking a LOT of water there for a while, and while I know it is very good for me, it also makes it so that no matter when I drink it, I still always end up getting up at least a couple times overnight to go to the bathroom. I hate how it interrupts my sleep. While I was away, I drank less than usual, probably about 8 or maybe 10 glasses. My sleep was much more sound as a result, which is also important. So I think I am going to stick with the lower amount of water in general, at least for a while.

The other thing was not weighing myself for a few days. While I did step on my dad's scale once or twice on my visit, I never had a real sense of what my weight was doing. He has an analog scale that only goes up to 300, so while I could get a reading I wasn't sure where it was related to my scale and it was hard to read the number. So. I let it go and stopped worrying about it.

It was pretty nice, actually. I'm wondering how I might do with just a weekly check-in. The idea makes me a little nervous, but I also think that in a weird way it would help me to eat better every day because I'm not so attuned to that daily number, i.e. when I have a good reading one day, I might be more apt to give myself more wiggle room and not eat as carefully. My justification for the daily weigh is that it keeps me on track and reigns me in when I see a higher number than I'd like. I don't know. Maybe I will try it this week just for fun. I do weigh in for the weight loss group I'm participating in at Fleet Feet on Fridays, so maybe I'll stick to that and see how the week goes. Maybe it will be the thing that nudges me out of this relative slump I've been in.

Anyway, it was nice to get away for a few days and mix things up a bit, but I am happy to get back to my usual routine. I'm ready to kick some butt this week!