Recipe for a good day

Today was good - work was positive, I got in a solid workout, my roommate took me out for a belated birthday dinner, and my team won trivia night at the local bar. Good thing I'm an alcohol-free vegetarian, or else our winnings may have been too tempting to resist (beer and fried wings).  Really, I just play for the glory of winning.  That, and I'm pretty trivial.

After finishing my workout, I was only moderately happy. I suppose I thought I was a lot slower than I was, but I did the math and for my workout I averaged an 11:04 pace. Looking over the numbers, I am very happy! I ran two miles (5.5 mph & 5.6 mph) and then did some intervals. I thought for sure the walking in between running intervals would have brought me down a lot more, but apparently not. I did 3.75 miles in 41:30. Not too shabby! Right now, there's no way I could keep up that pace for more than 4 miles or so, but I'm working on it!

I also did some squats and lunges last night, which I am most definitely feeling in the quads and glutes today.  Tomorrow could end up being a rest day, but in all honesty, I think my body is runnable.

Also, Miss Zippy is hosting a GU giveaway - check it out here.

You know you've had a good workout when...

...you look like this:

A miracle that I still somehow manage to appear happy (I kid!).

Now don't get me wrong, I am an exceptional sweater by society's standards. It could be the dead of winter, I'll be sitting in a t-shirt, and I'll still have sweat stains. However, I would consider this t-shirt a mark of greatness. I nearly saturated the whole thing! Anyway, today I killed it at the gym - I ran 3.0 miles in 34:25, which is a good time for me. Then I biked for a while, and I finished up with 2.0 miles worth of intervals, working up to 6.2 mph (super speedy!) from 5.0 mph and then back down. One of the better gym workouts I've had. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the treadmill and gyms? Maybe not recently, but I hate them. Today was positive, though!

Also, this was my second workout of the day! After watering my garden this morning I went to visit a couple of friends I haven't seen in a while for a kayaking adventure! One friend lives on a lake, so we spent an hour and a half circumnavigating the shoreline and a couple of little islands. All in all, a pretty awesome day!

Let me leave you with some more post-workout views (because I know how much everyone loves a good sweat sodden t-shirt):

I like how the pit stain is indistinguishable from boob and/or back sweat.

This is my victorious pose!

P.S. - The back of the t-shirt reads, "Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees."

Lazy Sunday

I've accomplished very little on this beautiful autumn Sunday. I managed to motivate myself to get outside to run (something I haven't done in weeks). My body has acclimated to the easy-faux terrain of a treadmill, so it was nice to give my body a little bit of work, even in a recovery run, which today (finally) was. I ran a mile-long out-and-back.

Mile 1: 12:09

Mile 2: 12:26

Not bad considering I've only missed one day of running in the past 9 days, yesterday I ran 4 miles, I ran outside in week, and I somehow managed to pull a muscle in my lower left back. It was nice to be outside for a change, and I think my body appreciated it. The slower splits are likely a result of my relentless running this week, as well as variegated ground. I like it, it made me happy to get some sun. I also thought the run would help loosen up my back a bit. It did while I was running, but now I'm all tight again.

After my run, I showered quickly and went over to have brunch (their breakfast, my lunch) with a group of friends that I haven't had a chance to spend time with so far this semester. It was really nice, and we had a huge array of food (mostly unhealthy), but I rationed myself well. Even so, I'm still full.

Besides by run and brunch fun, I've literally done nothing today. I slept in (until 9!), lazed, ran, and spent too much time doing nothing with friends. It was so nice to see them though, so I don't care much about how my work will kick my ass this week. ALSO, one of my friends told me how great I looked! Hell yeah.

Weigh-in bummer? Not really.

So I woke up this morning, my weigh-in day, so excited to see that all my runs this week had payed off! I raked in a good and solid 10 miles this week, which is huge for me! In addition to my daily runs, I got in upper body, lower body, and core strength training sessions. I also managed to stay around the 1400-1500 calorie range, and most days stayed within other nutrition ranges (fiber, protein, fat, and carbohydrates). Lo and behold, the scale wishes to try and demoralize me!

Last week: 208

This week: 208.6

I won't fall for his tricks this time: the scale is a damned fool! I won't be listening too much to what he has to say. I know I've made progress this week. On Sunday, I was only able to get in my 2 miles by taking a walking break. By Wednesday, I tackled the 2 miles full on. Yesterday, I said to hell with 2 and kept going until I hit 3.

I feel good this week, regardless of what the scale says.

Success!

FINALLY! I've made it back to 3.0 mile land. I did it a little bit slow (35 minutes), but I did it nonetheless! And with no walking breaks :)

What a great way to start the weekend! And I've been really good about keeping my nutrition within range and drinking all of my water. This is going to be a short post, because I really need to shower and do some work before my noon class. Farewell for now!