Preface
Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).
General Updates:
This week has been pretty ho hum in my running world. I'll admit that I skipped my long run this weekend. Fortunately for me, my long run was supposed to be a 5K race. ;) Instead of running a 5K race or doing a long run, I decided to hit the stationary bike for about 60 minutes while singing along to the original Hairspray.
Strength Training:
Strength training (supplemented with HIIT and yoga) has been going ok. Now, I've started supplementing my supplemental training with some exercises from Quick Strength for Running.
While the first week of exercises from the book look pretty easy, boy some of my smaller muscles definitely need work. The few exercises that gave me a run for my money were the adductor leg raises, side leg raises, and windshield wipers.
Dieting/Proper Eating:
While I have been watching what I eat . . . kinda sorta, I was disappointed by my monthly weigh in. Unfortunately, I did not lose any weight during the month of January. In fact, I gained three pounds, which may or may not be significant. I completely understand that losing weight is 20% exercising and 80% managing your diet (or whatever the real ratio is). Well, I have been drinking these nasty veggie smoothies for lunch. I think the one below was a mixture of an orange, broccoli, spinach, carrots, blueberries, celery, and a scoop of yogurt.
Although I didn't lose any weight, I expected to at leave maintained my current (well, previous) weight since I have been working out. I guess that I need to do a bit more in terms of my diet/eating habits. One thing that I really need to change is my sleep habits. Like my eating, my sleeping is a hot mess for which I blame decades of being a night owl. Most nights (well mornings), I do not get to sleep until 1-3 am and will wake up around 6 am. I'm sure that my ghrelin/leptin hormones are out of whack. In case you are unfamiliar with these hormones:
Ghrelin tells your brain that you are "hungry"and typically increases during sleep deprivation.
Leptin tells your brain that you are full.
Goals for the week:
-Try to get to bed by 11 pm at least 3 nights this week.
-Begin meal prepping and planning my menu for the week. I think if I actually have a menu for the week, I'll be less likely to eat random crap.