Lucky Number Thirteen

I was really pleased to have completed my mileage for the week last night. I was working some overtime at work and called it quits around 7:30. I decided to measure the path that my coworker E and I run pretty often. I'd only done it two or three times and most of the time, I run with another coworker W -- an older guy with bad knees. I didn't really have the stamina to keep up with E or D (other coworker that also runs, but is pretty intense) and I couldn't finish the full out and back. They said it was 5K, but I measured it last night and it was just over 4 miles, so it's closer to 6K.

I brought my waterbottle along for the ride last night but am getting really sick of holding onto it when I run, so at about mile 2, I tucked it behind a fencepost and finished the route along to the traffic lights at the end of the path, and then came back and picked it up. It actually worked out well. Without the swish swish swish of the waterbottle, the run was very serene. It was a cloudy night so any sort of twilight was essentially blocked out. The path is really straight but runs parallel to a main road that is now very well-lit, so I picked out shadows from the lights and said "I'll run to this shadow". When I got to one shadow, I said "okay, I'll run to that fencepost". It made the run go by so much faster and I was chilled out by the end. Although, that last km is brutal. The entrance to my work involves going up a hill and it definitely deserves the nickname Heartbreak Hill. I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and I made it up. I've definitely decided to invest in a hydration belt ASAP.

All in all, I added the 4 miles from last night to my weekly total and I'm now on my 14 mpw week! Awesome!

I was planning to run tonight but the eating schedule got a bit messed up and I'm not up to running at 10:30 pm when tomorrow will be a busy day. Hopefully the weather works out and the boyfriend can make it up. We have a family dinner at 5 pm, but maybe can squeeze 3 or 4 miles in around 9ish. I'm definitely starting to notice the mileage now. It's starting to involve a lot more planning and I've essentially ditched cross-training, which is not a good thing! I'm thinking of designating at least one day a week to dedicate to x-training. It's an extra day of workouts but even if it's just easy 30 min on the elliptical, I'm gonna need something. My tendons are starting to hurt again and I just can't risk getting injured again. I've decided that once I hit 20 mpw that I'll only increase my mileage by 1 mile every 2 weeks.

I'm glad the mileage and watching what I eat has paid off though. I woke up at 164.2 lbs this morning, which is the lightest I've been since I had the norovirus in February! And that involved throwing up for 5 days straight! I'm glad some results are finally showing, especially since my diet hasn't been tweaked too much, but I guess it was enough for my body to notice. That means only 14.2 lbs to go 'til my April goal weight. Very reachable.

Toodles!