Food

Finally I am no longer quite so ravenous. I didn't even log my food the last few days. It's not that I went nuts-o, but I was surely not in the 1200 calorie range I've maintained much of the summer. Tomorrow I will log anew. Hopefully I will still make my 130 goal weight by 8/25. I was 1.8 lbs over on Wednesday.

I still was craving something sweet tonight so I actually sprinkled Splenda on some watermelon and that did the trick. (I like pictures!)

My food choices have changed over the summer and I hope they continue to improve. I've developed a taste for non-instant oatmeal with milk, a pack of splenda and a few strawberries or other berries. Another good meal was two scrambled eggs with onion and a package of frozen chopped spinach. I'm enjoying whole wheat pasta too. This summer I've learned to appreciate all sorts of fruits that I hadn't been eating regularly - plums, nectarines, cherries, oranges and the usual cantaloupe, bananas, and apples. I have to credit JRP with some of this...his suggestions remind me to make choices that minimize the processing of my food.

Tomorrow I have a 7.6 miler planned. One nice thing about only running three times a week is that I definitely look forward to each run. No danger of burning out!

VT Cross Country Course

I took the maiden voyage on the VT cross-country course yesterday. It was so fun! It wraps around corn fields and the vet school duck pond with little loops and spurs off here and there. The corn was so high and I had no idea where I was going so you got a little of the "corn maze" feeling in there. I saw a lot of folks with dogs and will take Trixie the next time I go. Most dogs were off-leash, and she's pretty good 95% of the time, but the other 5% that hunting instinct takes over and she can be gone like a shot.

I do like mixing up my running surfaces and environments. It keeps it interesting. The next place I'd like to try is Pandapas Pond and the trails there.

The trail running brings me back to my eventing and cross-country days...on horseback. Flying through the woods, jumping logs and banks. As a kid, particularly, it was such a feeling of freedom. Here's some old photos of me on my pony Blueberry and my horse Chance. It's much easier with four legs under you rather than just two!

New routine

Jake worked out a new routine for me that I think I am going to like. I wanted to increase the volume in the gym and get each body part twice. The all-over Monday circuit helps accomplish that.

Running
Tuesday - 30 minutes
Thursday - 30 minutes
Saturday - long run (7/9/11 for the next three weeks)

Strength
Monday - circuit (full)
Wednesday - legs and back
Friday - chest and shoulders
Sunday - arms and core

If there is anywhere I am falling off, it's the cross-training part. I'm probably getting one good swim and one good elliptical workout in per week, but I'd like more, particularly swimming. And I am getting tennis in 2-3x a week. Last night we had a discussion about whether tennis is really much exercise the way we play it. I figure the big advantage is it keeps me from eating for 90 minutes!! I'd say clinics are moderate exercise, but matches are less so.

Hungry!

I have that one week here and there when I am just so much hungrier than usual and it's happening NOW. I'm sure it's hormonal, but I wish there was a way to minimize it. I just ate a bunch of grapes and that helped, but I could go for a bowl of ice cream or pizza or something really decadent. It doesn't help that I weighed in heavier on Sunday (134.6) owing in part, but probably not all, to the pre-race carbo indulgences on Thursday and Friday.

I hope I am not hitting a plateau. I'm eating better, and less, than I was at the start of the summer and my activity level is close to the same.

One week until the kids head to school...

Wow, we are barreling toward school, aren't we? We can't let these changes in scheduling derail our goals and undercut our motivation. It just means we have to get more creative and firm up our resolve. I feel that little devil of complacency and failure nipping at my heels too, but there's no way he's going to get his teeth into me...or you.

32 days until the 1/2M. WOW. I just have time for three longer runs scheduled for 7, 9 and 11 miles, short of the 14 I had originally planned on pre-injury. My two other runs each week are limited to 30 minutes, which I find really short, but Jake swears it's fine. I know better now then to second-guess. I'll continue to do some elliptical and swimming to keep up the cardio.

In terms of the distance, I'm not really concerned about finishing eventually but it would be nice to have some experience finding my optimum pacing and working out the mental issues of it all.

I have my eye on just one more 1/2M this fall - either the Roanoke Half Marathon on November 22 or the SunTrust Richmond one on November 15. I have a neighbor and friend doing the full marathon in Richmond so that could be kind of fun to join in for the half. JRP suggested some downtime after that to just run for fun. Sounds good for winter!