No training, but food and running

Review of the Last Week

I spent most of the week in Las Vegas on a business trip, which wasn't very good for the working out business. The hotel's fitness center cost $25/day to use, which was bullshit, imo, but what can you do? Plus I was running around so much that I managed to get only one mini-workout in on my first day when I did some in-room stuff before my talk. That's about it.

You could possibly count lugging around my laptop for a couple of days and balancing in painful high heels for the week a "workout" but it was more like injury-provoking than actual fitness. Sore shoulders, cramped shins and knees, six different blisters.

I flew home on a redeye Thursday morning and slept most of the day. My sleep schedule is still off and getting worse. I just need to force myself to get up early one morning (namely tomorrow) in order to get back on track.

Friday I went for a light run to get back into things. I got a little lost and ended up adding a couple of extras miles. Saturday I ran again, this time 7.5 miles. I had every intention of getting up Sunday morning for a long run, but it was already snowing by the time I dragged myself out of bed. No exercise today as a result.

Cooking for the Week Ahead

I did, however, spend the afternoon cooking. First an attempt to make my own whole wheat bread which is still proving to be a disaster - 8 hours later. I moved onto a quinoa entree - something I had been researching recipes for the past couple of days. I ended up going with a recipe from the NPR article: Quinoa: A Sacred, Super Crop called Garlic-Toasted Quinoa with Vegetables. I adjusted the recipe to involve asparagus, red peppers and almonds. I also added a couple of tablespoons of ground flaxseed to boost its nutritional value. This made 3-4 1-cup servings. I put two servings aside for lunch this upcoming week. It came out delicious, by the way.

I'm trying to get back into the original plan from my nutritionist which I'll post in a separate thread. I tossed together the breakfast cereal mix, using a new product from Nature's Path called Optimum Power Breakfast (soy-flax-blueberry) instead of the Optimum Slim that I had previously been eating per her recommendation. The Power cereal contains 1/3 of the sodium and is only one gram less or equal otherwise in terms of protein/fiber/fat/calories. It's also tastier, so I'm on board. So this week I put together several of those (plus almonds and ground flaxseed) for the my AM run mornings. Additionally I set up a couple of 4 oz nonfat plain yogurts with agave nectar and flaxseed for my pre-workout breakfast on gym days.

This week I have pears for snacking, but I still need to work on finding a protein source to go with them. Her suggestions included laughing cow, nuts, hard-boiled egg, ff cottage cheese, string cheese or natural peanut butter - all to pair with a serving-size fruit. Unfortunately, I have very few of the above. I'll likely end up with a hard-boiled egg or pistachios. The catch is that you can't eat nuts if you already have eaten nuts with breakfast cereal today. I should have been more thoughtful with my grocery shopping. I may just have some milk in a cup of tea to go with the fruit - its some sort of protein at least! Maybe chew on some lentils? Ew.

Anyway, tomorrow night I'll head back to the gym for lower body. Pilates, as I stated a couple of weeks ago, has been cancelled at 6:15. If I want to attend I need to leave work early to catch it in the fit box. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be changed back. Until then I might just do the routine in the studio at 6:15p since nothing is scheduled in place of the former class. I would optimistically say I was going to go running in the morning, but with my sleep schedule so messed up, I'm not going to lie to you or myself.

Post-vacation Review

I'm not sure where to start with this one. Vacation was fattening. I knew my lack of willpower and knew what I was facing. A boyfriend with a penchant for eating out and dislike for working out. My own willpower flagging after having shed the ten pounds I gained during my last vacation. A financial situation that meant I hadn't eaten out and had been living minimally for over a month or so thus far. A resort with a below par fitness facility that was located outdoors in humid 85 degree weather. One desert road without cover from a relentless sun.

Now that my excuses are out of the way, I'm just saying straight up that I failed to maintaing my weight, let alone continue my weightloss. The food poisoning from two weeks before was something of a kick in the right direction that backfired as soon as I could eat again. I wasn't able to keep my portion size at such a low level afterwards and went back to eating normal meals. Which was fine, up until DB arrived and we started eating out and had this crazy hectic meal schedule that flung between starvation and gluttony.

I was determined to keep things in check in Aruba, and I even started out on the right foot. We went to the grocery store where I got apples, sandwich material and plain yogurt. Even diet coke and liquor to make cheap/low-cal drinks. But...I didn't utilize what we bought and indulged far too often in colorful cocktails and pricey gourmet meals.

The first morning I went for a run. I made it about 18 min in, and I just couldn't take the heat/sun. I'd forgotten my ipod and sunscreen, so I was not only uncomfortable, but fearful of burning my porcelain white skin. So I turned around and walked back via the beach - which is a nice calf workout actually.

Nothing happened on Monday. Tuesday I worked out for 2 hours at the Radisson fitness center before my spa apponitment. I did a 12 min interval session warm-up followed by circuit training. On Wednesday (maybe?) I did a full pilates routine. On Friday we walked home from the top of the high rise distract back to the hotel along the beach. I've mapped it at 2.5 miles. I did a little swimming that day, but more recreational than anything since someone kept bugging me.

When I got back, I went for a run on Sunday morning. I thought it was nippy, but when I got back in after 50 minutes of numb limbs, I looked it up: 7 degrees, -4 real feel. Oops. I guess it was chillier than I thought. And it explains why I was the only one out and couldn't feel my body parts. The run was refreshing though and reassured me that I hadn't lost my running capacity at least. I just need to keep up all week with it, since I have the race on Sunday. A race that I'm kinda wanting to reduce to 5k rather than 10k, but...we'll see. DB hasn't been running or training at all for it, which kind of concerns and annoys me. I'm not pushing him to do so, but like, he's going to die out there. Swear to you. Or worse off, he'll decide not to do it last minute. I'm sure he won't go for a jog while he's in MI this week.

Anyway, tonight I'll got to pilates and see what else I can get in while I'm there. I learned my running lesson although I might try for tomorrow morning depending on how things look.