Month: March 2013

I knew I had one more thing!

Check out the ads on My Fitness Pal:

Body sculpting on the top, mothereffing Dominoes on the side.

Just. No.

Time to play catch-up with my blogging! Let’s go in order, eh?

I did an easy-ish three-mile run on Tuesday night:

On Wednesday, I got a chair for my standing desk! Thank goodness, too, because I’m resting up my legs before the half.

For those of you not from Seattle: That is the edge of Pike Place Market right outside my window! And a Ferris wheel, obviously. It’s fun to watch!

Even better than the new chair, I got the results from the biopsy on my removed mole: completely normal and benign! Yay!

I also went to a new chiropractor yesterday (haven’t been to one since September) and got some adjustments to my left ankle (of formerly sprained fame), left knee, upper back, and neck. The muscles down the entire right side of my back were tight, so the doc loosened those up, too.

Plus, he gave me some kinesio tape!

If I slouch, I can feel the tape pulling on my upper back, so it encourages me to sit and stand up straight. The doc says if I remember to maintain proper posture and breathe correctly (through my abs, apparently) as I run, my upper back and shoulders won’t feel so tight after 10+ miles.

Ummm… so it’s kind of too late for me to learn a new way of breathing before Saturday, but I’ll take the cool tape and try to maintain good posture. The tape is waterproof, so it should stay on through the race!

I was tired after work yesterday and the weather was really crappy, so I moved my Thursday rest day to Wednesday. That means that tonight, I did my very last run of half-marathon training: two easy miles.

The last training run is always scary because THIS IS IT. There’s no more running to do! I just have to trust my training and hope my legs will feel fresh and speedy on Saturday morning.

Weather is looking good. The race starts at 8:30, so I’ll be running till just before 10:30 (I hope!):

0% PRECIPITATION. That’s what I like to see!

Is that all? Oh! I’ve now been using My Fitness Pal for a week, and I’ve lost 4.2 pounds! A lot of that is probably water weight or whatever, but it’s VERY nice to see the scale lower than it has been in a year.

I’ve had no trouble sticking to Paleo, except that I’ve eaten a serving of pasta with a bit of jarred pesto as part of my dinner last night and tonight to get some extra carbs before the race. I have no idea if that’ll help, but perhaps it’ll help mentally!

OK, I think that’s all.

Friday Friday Friday.

Then RACE RACE RACE!

Exciting things happened on Monday! Do you notice how I never blog on Monday nights because I’m too busy watching The Bachelor, and then I go to bed immediately afterward because 10:01 is past my bedtime?

Of course you don’t, but now you know.

Anyway, my new calorie-counting, Paleo-eating ways were put to the test yesterday when we had SUSHI for lunch. Our catered lunches are served buffet-style, and everyone goes nuts for sushi. I usually pile my plate as high as I can get it until I start feeling bad for the people behind me in line.

It took willpower, but I was a little smarter this time. I grabbed my very favorite items — salmon and tuna nigiri — and tossed the rice, so I got to enjoy the best part of sushi (sashimi) without the extra stuff I didn’t need.

I also made a big spinach salad with peppers and avocado and, later, had a  fat, juicy burger (that I brought from home) with a lettuce wrap and lots of mustard. Yum.

My jeans are so delightfully loose at the moment. It’s amazing.

I also woke up 30 minutes before my alarm today (5:45) and was just AWAKE and ready to get up. Unheard of. Cut the crap and the carbs and you get boundless energy, apparently.

Back to yesterday. I upgraded to a standing desk at work!

Quite a few of my co-workers have standing desks, and the wait list to get one is pretty brutal, apparently. You can jump to the front of the line if you get a doctor’s note that says sitting for long periods is bad for your health, but a co-worker in a nearby office ditched this desk yesterday and the office manager said I could have it. #winning

Unfortunately, I don’t have the corresponding chair yet… and it could take a while to get one. I may regret this decision because, you know, I run. A lot. And race. This weekend.

But my boss-slash-officemate has a standing desk and the proper chair, so she agreed to trade off use of the chair with me if I absolutely need to sit. We shall see.

Last but not least, here’s my run from last night:

Four miles in almost exactly 36 minutes at exactly 9:00/mile.

I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.

Two more runs to go before the race!!!

I’m three days in, and I’m loving MyFitnessPal!

Aaron and I are both using it, and we have fun inputting our food items, scanning product barcodes with our phones (weirdly really, really fun), and comparing notes. We’re both stubborn, overachiever types who like to stick to our goals, so MyFitnessPal is working really well for us so far.

It’s so helpful for me to wrap my head around how many calories I should be eating in a day so I can choose healthier foods that fill me up, rather than waste 500 calories on treats that’ll only make me crave sugar and still feel hungry.

I looooove how I can input my exercise and “earn” extra calories to eat, like the 1261 I burned ‘n’ earned from my 11-miler yesterday. It’s such good motivation to stick to my training plan and actually do my workouts!

That’s not to say I’ll eat every last calorie every day just because I can; for example, the “goal” that MyFitnessPal gave me for yesterday was to eat 2,821 calories, and I only ate 2,484. I ate whenever I was hungry until I was full and comfortable, and then stopped. That’s the real goal — to learn how to do that!

On the flip side, I will never let myself go hungry if MFP sets my “goal” for fewer calories than I feel comfortable eating. I’m about to start training for a marathon; if I’m hungry, I’ll eat, regardless of what MFP says!

Aaaanyway. Today I actually did my cross-training after Aaron’s race!

On the spin bike:

• Time: 45:20
• Distance: 11.20 miles
• Average speed: 14.7 mph

As tempting as it is to just rest my legs the day after a double-digit run, I always find that my legs feel fresher and faster on Mondays if I cross-train, stretch, and foam roll on Sundays. Funny how that works!

Only three more runs to go before my half-marathon.

Four miles Monday, three miles Tuesday, two miles Wednesday, rest, rest, RAAAACE!