I’m back! For real this time. 🙂
I had a bit of a rough ending to last week. In a nutshell, I’m getting old. 😛 I went in for my routine I exam a little over a week ago, and I can’t deny the truth any longer: I need bifocals. :'( Sad, but true. The problem is, I can’t stand wearing glasses. I got my first set of glasses when I was 19, when I discovered that I was nearsighted. (I can tell you I probably should’ve gotten them when I was about 13.) I really hated wearing glasses, and although it was challenging at first, I switched to contacts within a year, and I haven’t looked back. I do wear my glasses at home, because eventually my contacts get uncomfortable, but most of the time, I walk around the house without either, and I can’t see anything farther than my arm’s length. 😛
When faced with the reality that I needed a different prescription to see things close up, i.e. for reading, I was hesitant to get glasses. I really hate wearing them! My optometrist suggested trying either bifocal lenses, or what’s called mono lenses, where you have your distance prescription in one eye, and then the close-up prescription in the other eye. Supposedly, a lot of people do just fine with it, but not me. Three days with migraines was enough, so I have resigned myself to the fact that I’m going to have to wear glasses for reading. Damn, it’s hell getting old!
I was able to get through my run on Wednesday, which was the speedwork that I had skipped on Tuesday. I mentioned in my last post that I just wasn’t sure I could meet the pace goal for the sprints according to Katie’s plan, and I was right. My goal was anywhere between a 6-minute mile (say what?) and a 7:37. Granted, that was only for a minute, but still…! 😮
My first four intervals were actually OK, but it was really windy on Wednesday morning. Seriously, when I woke up at 4:30 AM and checked my weather website, it said we were under a gale warning! Even though the winds were coming perpendicular to me in both directions, I was damn tired by the end of the first four splits! It felt like I was just going to be pushed right over it any moment, especially when I went past those open fields. So although I didn’t meet the pace goal for all eight intervals, I feel like I did pretty well, considering the conditions.
Saturday morning, I got up and ran 7 miles… at 8°! That was refreshing. 😉
It actually wasn’t too bad, because there was very little wind. It’s amazing how much of a difference that can make! I plugged along pretty well in the cold, only stopping one time at the halfway point by the creek for about three minutes, to drink some water and catch my breath.
I actually microwaved my water before I left, because I knew from experience that at 8°, it would freeze pretty quickly. And it was pretty close to frozen when I went to try it after 3 1/2 miles, ha ha!
Because I hadn’t been feeling well toward the end of the week, I actually ate less. I slept a lot on Thursday, the day I actually called in sick. Friday and Saturday, we had hockey games for Jamie, and I was rushing around so much, I really didn’t have time to eat. All this reduced eating definitely made a difference.
Yay! I’m finally down below 125 again. So that means now I can say I have “less than 5 pounds” to lose. Because, you know, that makes such a difference. 😉
I was below my calories for 5 of 7 days last week, and for four of them, I was between 250 and 350 calories below. What that tells me is that I clearly need to eat less if I want to lose weight. What a shock, right?! 😛 But the reality is that I was probably (certainly?) eating more than I needed to, even though I was “within my calories” according My Fitness Pal. Even though I’m still running 5 days a week, it seems that my body has gotten a little more efficient and is not burning as many calories as it used to. Boo hiss.
I’m going to endeavor to leave more calories on the table at the end of each day this week and see where it gets me. That’s probably going to prove difficult this weekend, though, because JJ has an away hockey tournament. Hockey tournaments are definitely not made for healthy eating. 😮
I hope you’re having a great start to the new year! Thanks so much for reading!
