Insanity and Candied Walnuts

      7 Comments on Insanity and Candied Walnuts

I was feeling crazy energetic this morning.  I’m continuing to follow the Hal Higdon 10k training program I had used to prepare for my race earlier this month, and Thursdays are my day to do a short 2-mile run. (Really? When did 2 miles become a short run??)  And, since I guess Hal figures 2 miles is obviously no big deal, it’s also a day to do strength training.  And this is the “novice” 10k plan. 😛 I’m afraid to look at what the “expert” 10k plan is.

As I was running my required two miles this morning in the 73-degree heat with near 100% humidity, I decided that there will probably never be a day when I consider running two miles to be “easy.”  I worked hard this morning, and I also mixed it up a bit by doing half-mile laps out and back twice (though I did not actually set the laps at half-mile intervals, because I was lazy.)  I did manage a sub-10 pace for my run.

I wonder if I’ll ever get faster? Ah well…as long as I’m running, that’s what counts, right?  🙂  I did see one of my neighbors on his porch having coffee at 6am, and I actually said something to him…more than just “hi,” even! 😉  (I believe my exact words were, “Looks like we’re going to get some rain finally!”  Yes, I am just a scintillating conversationalist.)

The reason I believe myself to have been so energetic this morning is because when I got done with my run, I actually went right into the barn and did my strength training.  How’s that for dedication? Of course, if I had realized today would be “leg” day, I might not have been so enthusiastic. 😉  Damn, I hate those lunges. I will admit that my knees hurt today! But, I got it done, and that left me feeling good, knowing I could come home and crash after the little one’s hockey clinic tonight.

I don’t talk about it too often, but today I want to focus on food and eating for a moment.  I am still doing Weight Watchers, and still faithfully tracking everything I eat using their online eTools.  (That’s 242 days in a row!!! )

Most days, I don’t have difficulty following the plan.  I eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day, and my husband does a good job making meals that help me stay within the plan.  I must admit that being on Maintenance is nice; you get 3-6 extra points per day (whatever your body can take in without gaining or losing more than 2 pounds–you have to kind of work it out yourself), and it’s surprising how far those few extra points go to combat hunger.  I also think the exercising helps to not only burn calories (or points, in the WW vernacular), but also to curb hunger.

Today, however, I was confronted with two challenges, all before noon.  First, not one but two people brought in food for our monthly team meeting this morning+.

Ugh.  Talk about bad food.  Perhaps the yogurt might have been okay, but I’m not a big enough fan of yogurt to waste points on it.  It was all spread out on the conference room table in front of me today, Egg McMuffins, Sausage Biscuits, Cinnamon Rolls, Oatmeal with Fruit, a dozen donuts of various shapes and sizes…but I declined it all!!  🙂

So after all that temptation, then my wonderful boss lays the next challenge on me: because of all our hard work so far this year, he is having a Pot Belly lunch brought in for us all!  Oh yay. 😛 I spent half an hour combing their site before lunch came, looking up all the nutritional values, mixing and matching the various toppings.  Yes, it’s a pain in the butt, but how nice that so many restaurants these days allow you to do exactly that with ease on their website!

When it was all said and done, I ended up with this*:

That’s an Uptown Salad with Caesar dressing, plus half a turkey sub, no condiments.  I had to pick the (melted) cheese off the sub, which was oh-so-fun, and I also removed most of the dried cranberries and all of the candied walnuts (walnuts—yuck!) from the salad.   But when I was done with all my picking, it was actually a pretty enjoyable lunch, all for 11 points.  I did skip part of my breakfast to make sure I could fit it all in, but it was a small price to pay for a free lunch.  So, I guess that just proves that there really is no such thing as a free lunch.  😉

Next up will be my long run on Saturday.  Still debating on whether to make it a 5-miler or stay at 4.5 miles like I did last Saturday (which was brought about by a wrong turn; it was supposed to only be 4).  I guess I’ll play it by ear—maybe I’ll decide when I wake up that morning.

See, running can be fun and exciting! 😉

Thanks for reading!

+Thanks to McDonald’s and Tim Horton’s websites for the pictures. 😛

*Don’t you love the presentation with the flowers? My coworker brought me those when she came back from vacation as a thank-you for doing my work and a good portion of hers for two weeks. Wasn’t that nice??

7 thoughts on “Insanity and Candied Walnuts

  1. Jenn

    You have an Iron Will, Steph. As much as would like to think better of myself, I would have probably caved at breakfast. I am doing better, but there are days I fall off the wagon, but I do get back on. BTW, I am 5 lbs from my goal weight, currently at -57lbs lost. In other good news, I can do a outside edge 3 turn on my left foot, still taking skating lessons and loving them!

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Jenn, that is so awesome!!! I’m so very happy for you–I hope we can see each other in person soon so I can give your skinny self a big hug!

      As for the skating stuff…that’s a foreign language to me, lol! But I’m very happy for you!!

      Reply
      1. Jenn

        Right back at you -Skinny hugs, I love it. I miss you, sweetie, and I am dying to visit you. Maybe sometime soon.

        Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Ha ha ha, I’m pretty sure I will never see anything more than half a mile as a “short” run.

      Reply
  2. MountainHawk

    Mmm…forbidden donut. I’d probably have eaten chocolate, the free lunch, then not needed dinner.

    That’s cool that your DH is able to make meals that help you stay on your plan. Does the rest of the family eat the same, less, or supplement with extra food?

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Now see, I HAVE to eat three meals a day…I cannot skip dinner or I will binge like crazy at 10pm!!

      The whole family eats what I eat, but to be fair, I try my best to eat what is being made and just make it fit my plan. DH and I have a perfected a good balance of making food both tasty AND Weight-Watcher friendly. So far, anyway!! 🙂

      Reply

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