Crying Sweat

Well hello there; I hope you are all having a fabulous Wednesday!

I am off to a great start after a stellar end of the day yesterday in terms of meals and a really difficult class with Randi last night. I'll be honest I was pretty mad at her for most of the class and I believe at one point I even screamed out, "Why do you hate us?" I'm pretty sure she started laughing at this point but I was too busy crying sweat to notice. 

I always say this and I'll say it again, I HATE the workouts while I'm in them and LOVE them once I'm done. Amazing how that works huh.

Once I got out of class I headed home to make dinner. I made one dinner for Paul, I had 1 thawed chicken breast for him, and 1 for me, I had salmon with a noodle side dish. Paul doesn't like salmon but I do and I wanted to get it out of the freezer so we ended up with two different meals. I typically don't do two meals but I had just kind of odds and ends in defrosted and in the freezer so it was kind of a unique dinner. The side dish wasn't worth it, which was disappointing, and it made me sick to my stomach so I left the rest and put it in the fridge to eat another time. Paul had to work late last night which actually worked out perfectly because it gave me time to make sure I had it ready when he got home. It was cold but nothing a little microwaving couldn't fix.

After making dinner I did some straightening up, took a shower, entered in myfitnesspal ap numbers, and relaxed on the couch to watch a little TV.

Based on my meal numbers in myfitnesspal ap I came in about 180 calories over my limit which I was REALLY PROUD of! Yes, technically I was still in the red but the fact that I'm getting closer to proper portions and calorie counts is a HUGE step in the right direction. I also didn't have anything to drink last night other than water which was actually fantastic because instead of waking up a little groggy, which I do when I have a drink or two at night, I was energized and ready to go.

Once I got up this morning I took about 15 minutes to wake up, drink some water, and get ready for my run and then I headed for the hills.

Today's run stats:

Time: 22:47
Average pace: 12:38/mi
Max pace: 8:41/mi
263 calories burned
Distance: 1.80

In comparison to last week my average pace was in the 13's and my max was in the mid 9's so these numbers were FANTASTIC! I just can't believe that in this is the 3rd time I've run this route with my watch and I am just continuously getting better and faster! Makes me feel great to see improvement like this. That being said I stopped my watch after I hit .97 to take a quick breath and stretch before tackling the hill of death. I also stopped it at 1.06 because I was heading up the hill and needed just a second to catch my breath again and then ran the rest of the way up the hill to 1.31. I usually have to stop more than once or walk up the last bit of the hill so I was proud that after stopping once in the middle I made it up the hill which based on my numbers is over a quarter mile up. Yuck. It totally sucks because right at the end in the last .5 or 6 it gets a lot steeper. Once I made it up I stopped my watch again to take a breather and then ran the rest of the way home. I clocked in distance at 1.80 on the nose. I was sweating like crazy but so proud of my accomplishment for the day. :0)

I also took time on the last part of my run to look around and enjoy the beautiful morning and gorgeous flowers and their smells. I don't know what kind of tree or flower it is but there is a gorgeous pink flowering tree at the entrance to my apartment complex and it smells fantastic. I took a big whiff as I ran by because it makes the air smell good. Weird perhaps but it improved my mood and got me to think of something else other than, "I really want to be done already," which is what I'm usually thinking. :0)

Today's run take-aways:
I was really pleased with this run. I made sure to start out slower, which was key in running almost the entire route, and taking a moment or two to catch my breath if I needed it and I feel like I really turned in a great run.

Once I got home I stretched, showered, and made a delicious breakfast which consisted of a Thomas' English Muffin (Cin. Raisin) with margarine and a banana that I dipped in peanut butter. It was FANTASTIC!

Then it was off to work after stopping to use the rest of my Dunkin Donuts gift card to get a medium coffee with skim milk.

Awesome run, great breakfast, good hot coffee = Happy Dana

My next run is tomorrow and I'm going to try a new route that I tried out in the car last night so we'll see how I do. It starts with a huge up hill push in the very beginning and then evens out with a small incline in the last .3 miles up. So wish me luck friends! More later!