January has been tough. Work is absolutely insane. This is usually my slow time but I'm slammed with campsite expansions and a million other things going on. My husband has been working late many nights and its tough not to bring that work stress home. Combine that with mom-guilt that I come home tired and feel like I dont have enough energy to give to the kids. Man life can be hard to balance!!
I always say that running keeps me sane and so I've been doing my best to continue to make that a priority. I'm trying to run or exercise every work day, take Saturday as a rest/family day and then do a long run on Sunday. The weather has been extremely cold and icy though making it harder to be motivated to get out or to do any speed. I wonder if the cold had something to do with the hamstring issues I have going on (gotta find something to blame right...and not my ridiculousness of jumping immediately back into 50 mile weeks or going out and running 30k on a Sunday...).
I do take advantage of running on the treadmill sometimes, but its just not the same. The entire time its a mental battle about how long I am going to stay on for. I find I only like to use the treadmill for speed drills where I can program paces in I just cant do instantaneously in real life.
(dripping sweat in -2...that was a tough one!!)
Despite that all I have been working hard as I wanted to do well in the Cobble Hill 10k. Not only that but after Christmas half my pants were tight!! I may have only gained a few lbs but with the minimal running and no strength training I was definitely feeling softer than usual! I should have done my measurements actually as I havent done that in a long time. But maybe I didnt want to know :)
I found the weight came off fairly quickly. By January 10th I was down around 134, but then it just stopped. I seem to finish the work week around 134 and I'm beat and feel like I need to reward myself for making it through the hard week by drinking and eating chips Friday & Saturday night. Then I weigh in Monday close to 137 again...grrr. This is regardless of running 20-30k every Sunday. I know, I know...you cant outrun a bad diet! I need to get better at non-food rewards!
The upside is that even though my weight is staying the same the combination of all the running and strength training means I'm still getting more toned. My clothes all fit comfortably again which is nice and I can see the change in my arms. I've also had to up my push-up reps again to two sets of 30...woohoo!
(feeling body confident again)
I was feeling optimistic, as we had a week of warm weather, that spring was coming and I could feel more like myself. But now this ridiculous -5 is back and potentially more snow.
(Unimpressed Jess - up all night with my 3 year but still heading out for a run)
If someone could kidnap me to the Caribbean next week that would be great! But, I guess until that happens I need to just buck up and push through :)
(Bundled up and going for a quick jog while waiting for the Powell River ferry)
Looking forward in February to warmer weather, no more hamstring pain and getting past this stupid 134 plateau!
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