Taking it easy on myself…

As I mentioned, yesterday was a good day.  I stepped on the scale in the morning and it was 123.7.  Certainly not what my goal is, but just dropping down some was good.

I then decided I was going to run.  I put on my new kicks and headed out the door.  What a difference!!!  I know that my other sneaks were worn out – even though they only had about 350 miles on them, they are minimalist sneaks which wear out faster, plus I do almost all my running on pavement so that wears them out quicker.

I also realized on Monday night when Marc and I did yoga how stiff and tight everything was.  I didn’t being my foam roller when we went camping so I have been foam rolling the shit out of my legs.

So whether it was doing yoga on Monday and Tuesday or foam rolling or a couple of days of rest or new sneakers – the run was a success.

Now I’m not going to claim it was the best run of my life, but I did 8 miles with an average pace of 7:47 and mostly pain free and certainly not what I had been experiencing.  What a relief.  And my Achilles is hardly bothering me at all this morning.  All good things.

Then I was thinking about my weight and still being sort of down on myself and I said to myself that I really need to lose 5 pounds.  And then I thought – 5 pounds?  Not 55, not 105, but 5.  So after vacation I get to work and lose those or I don’t – it’s my choice.  But 5 pounds isn’t a disaster, right?

I wrote in a comment that I don’t think that anyone who has not been morbidly obese can understand the fear that comes with the thought that I could end up there again.  But the reality is that it is MY CHOICE.  I can choose to gain it back or I can choose to lose or choose to stay where I am, right?  A 5 pound gain does not equal a 225 pound gain.

Finally, I’m not sure if I told you guys that Marc entered me in a contest in May and I won a prize pack.  One of the prizes was a manicure.  I have never gotten a manicure, so I did that yesterday

I like the color and even though I can paint my own nails – which is why I’ve never had one – it was nice to have a little bit of pampering!

So I’m feeling pretty decent and that is a good thing.

What a difference Wednesdays…

If I had it in my head that Tuesdays sucked ass, then the last 2 Wednesdays offered some welcome redemption.

We decided to head back to Robert H. Treman because part of the vast Finger Lakes Trail runs through there.  I quite enjoyed that hike – it was much more trail like and through deep woods.  There were fallen trees that had to be stepped over.

 

 

 

 

However, Marc was not as impressed and was also getting bit up by mosquitos.  Plus he described the trail as “boring as fuck”.  So it worked out that we were able to make a small detour and rather then reverse course, we could take the same Rim Trail around the gorge and it would take us back to the parking lot that we had started in.

The climb back up provided one of the funniest moments of are trip – and I still can’t believe that a dog can process things like this.  Remember those 228 stairs in a row I told you about?

Well we were a little over halfway up them, and we rounded a corner and there lay a whole slew of steps in front of us.  Chakotay actually stopped and looked up at the stairs.  Then he turned his head and looked up at me and looked back at the stairs.  If he could talk I’m sure “Are you fucking kidding me??” might have come out of his mouth!!

For whatever reason I was feeling a lot better and was able to relax that night as Marc built a HUGE fire to use up our wood.  A sense of peace came over me.

I’m happy to say that the same thing happened this Wednesday.  I’ll share with you more about that in tomorrow’s post…

Terrible Tuesdays….

The last couple Tuesdays have not been my friend.  While camping, I had decided that Tuesday would be a day to just hang out by the campground. 

The weather was calling for possible strong thunderstorms in the afternoon and it was supposed to be oppressively hot and humid, so I thought we could just hang by the water and swim and play.

But, and this is SO SAD – I just cannot chill out it seems like.  You would think that I could just enjoy the day, but no!  I was all up in my head about how much I was eating and that I wasn’t running – it was PATHETIC, really.

And then Marc and I got into a minor argument and I was ready to just pack up and go home.

And then today I stepped on the scale and was HORRIFIED at the number.  Yes, my friends, I am a total maintenance FAILURE at this point.  It read 126.0. 

So we had decided to go to a local park and hike and swim.  We headed there and it was a great day – except every time there was silence I was thinking about that scale number like it was the end of the universe.  And then I would tell myself to stop with being a drama queen and then the argument would go on….

Then we get home to find that our mifi card – the only way to access the internet here in the rural area we are in is dead.  So, we have no internet access.

Tuesdays – they SUCK.

A painful return…

I thought I would take a break from my vacation stories to talk about coming back home.

I remember last year, after a week of indulging while camping that I had a TERRIBLE time getting back on track eating wise.  Fortunately that has not been the case this time.  I have returned to healthy, normal meals without indulgence.  I’m still on vacation, and I feel like I “deserve” a few more treats before this week ends, but for now I am content with a return to routine.

Coming back has seen a return of “Landscaper Jen”.  She is wonderful for getting my ass back into shape.  Thanks to last year having spent a week attacking my flower beds and some heavy mulching a couple of weeks ago, my beds are in great condition and needed very little work.  But I spent Friday getting all of them weeded and looking purty.

Saturday was a total work day.  The veggie garden is starting to sprout veggie plants, but also WEEDS!  I have been hoeing, but it hasn’t gotten all of them.  So for 3 hours I Saturday, I was on my hands and knees pounding out those little fuckers with a vengeance!  Is it weird that I feel like the weeds are there JUST to piss me off???

So there has been some good news – although I am still avoiding the scale and my belly and thighs look fat.  It’s not like knowing the number would change anything, but somehow it seems to keep me sane not knowing how far up I am!

But the main bad news is my running.  I have fallen off the wagon HARD.  Every time I go to run it is painful and exhausting.  I struggled through 8 miles on Friday and then I went to do my long run yesterday and again, made it only 8 horrific miles before giving up.  I don’t really pay attention to my heart rate when I run, but after getting home, I see that it was an average of 196 beats per minute!!  That is INSANE.

After getting home from that I quickly grabbed Archer and we did another 6 miles alternating between walking and running and that was okay, so I wasn’t consumed with guilt, but I’m not sure what the hell is going on that I’ve taken a gigantic step backwards!  It’s totally demoralizing.

My new kicks came in – my old ones are pretty worn and I’m hoping some new sneaks might help the leg soreness.   

I’m at a total loss at this point….

Hike and discussion…

On day 2, we traveled to Robert H. Treman State Park.  Since we’ve been camping in the same area we’ve never hit this park and boy, have we missed out.

This park had a WONDERFUL hike around a gorge – up and down one side and then up and down the other.  Even for us, it was a challenging hike – some very steep uphill climbs. 

One section had stairs carved next to rock walls.  I counted 228 steps.

On one of the really steep and long uphill climbs I noticed that I wasn’t breathing hard at all.  But my legs – mostly my quads – were on FIRE.  Marc on the other hand, was breathing pretty heavy, but he said that he felt absolutely no soreness in his legs at all.

That prompted a discussion about fitness and the different types of fitness and how certain events in our lives lead us to where we are. 

Marc had just recently been reading a lot on VO2 Max – it’s a measure of aerobic fitness – read up on it if you’re not familiar.  He had been using some of our run times to calculate our fitness using online calculators.  Of course, this is not precise, you can get it measured professionally.  But the calculators are fairly accurate and – no duh – MUCH cheaper!!

Anyway, he was surprised that his calculations put him in only the “average” range – while mine put me in the “excellent” category.  But we were talking about how he grew up on a farm – spending many hours in a haymow inhaling all that comes with that – including mold which never leaves your lungs.

BUT all those hours of working on the farm also made him strong in addition to years of being a bike rider – his legs are like steel.  Whereas my cardio seems to be really good but I’m nowhere near as strong.

It was an interesting discussion.

Anyway, the hike provided some beautiful views, like this waterfall:

 

There was also plenty of places for the dogs to cool off:

 

 

 

 

It was a fascinating hike offering lots of different environments – from woods to rocky areas to some forest like areas.

At the bottom of the first trail there was an awesome stone bridge:

We did another short hike that day, but ended up taking a wrong turn that led us back to the SUV, so we decided to call it a day and headed back to the campground. 

There, I attempted a run, which turned out to be a disaster and I made it only 3 miles. 

Falling off the wagon, running wise, continues through today.  I think I’ll talk more on that tomorrow.

Vacation–Day 1

I have to warn you that the next few days might turn into a “What I did on my summer vacation” blog.  So you might be bored!

I say day 1 – but for me, the reality is that I started letting it all hang out on Friday.  I was totally in vacation mode and slacked off food and exercise wise with a VENGANCE.

But Sunday was the day we left and traveled to our camp site.  I felt pretty relaxed and good that day.

As we always do we stopped at Montezuma Wildlife Refuge on the way down where I got some good pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for lunch in Seneca Falls:

then headed to the campground and got set up.

We then went for a walk – I felt less anxiety and urgency then in the past about getting in “required” exercise.

Day 1 was a victory of sorts in that respect.  It wouldn’t last though…

We were OWED!

Hi everyone!  Did you miss me and my posts?

We returned late yesterday from camping.  Last year we went to the same area and it was HORRIBLE weather.  Cold and down-pouring rain almost every day.

So we were owed a wonderful vacation and Mother Nature was kind enough to do her absolute best to deliver.

There was a little bit of rain a couple of times, but overall the weather was glorious.  It was in the 90’s every day and mostly sunny. 

I loved it, although Marc got a little sun-logged (if that’s a word) by late Wednesday.  I was also worried about Chakotay, but he did really well.

Most days we spent hiking but we actually took one day and just hung out by the beach near our campsite and relaxed. 

I’d like to say that I just had fun and didn’t worry about calories and exercise, but that would be a lie.

I got up into my head at times.  I also didn’t run at ALL except one day that I put in a measly 3 miles – turns out that running in 95 degree heat with 75% humidity is too much even for me!!

I ate way too much and am paying for it today as I look bloated and, frankly, FAT.  I have vowed to stay off the scale for a few days – I haven’t been on today – we’ll see how long my resolve lasts.

I will be reflecting more on this vacation in the next few days.  It was definitely different then the last couple years.

Today I am trying to get back on track – both with food and exercise.  Wish me luck!!