1/28/24 - 2/3/24

I spent the early part of this week continuing to feel totally wiped out. The sun finally came out the latter part of the week and I think it really helped me get more active. I still felt incredibly tired every time I stopped moving, but at least I felt better while I was moving. I'm ready for my body to adjust to my new activity level though because I'm a little tired of feeling totally wiped out!

Sunday 1/28/24

rest

Monday 1/29/24

4 miles

upper body strength session

I moved my strength class to tonight because I needed to be available all day on Tuesday to drive my husband to and from the hospital for an outpatient procedure.

I ran in the morning and planned on running some mileage but felt tired so I stopped at 4.

Strength session in the evening went well.

Tuesday 1/30/24

zero miles

We got back home by mid-afternoon so I had time to get a run in but for some reason I've been feeling plain wiped out the last week or so. I ended up napping on the couch.

It may be that it's been rainy and gray for over a solid week but I simply have no energy.

Wednesday 1/31/24

3 miles

Again, I had plans for big mileage but when I got to the hamster track I had no energy so even running 3 was a struggle.

Thursday 2/1/24

lower body strength session

1 mile

My lower body strength sessions have really been more core work followed by a circuit workout. I'm supposed to be doing deadlifts and squats for lower body work but the squats consist of lifting a kettlebell to chest level and then squatting. This makes my arms the limiting factor because I can only squat as much as I can lift. I get a great workout with the circuit though and I'm pretty wiped by the time I'm done. Trying to follow it with a run really didn't work today.

Friday 2/2/24

skied all day

The sun finally came out and I spent the ENTIRE day skiing with my daughter and her friend. We finally came home in the evening after my thighs started burning and my legs started to fatigue - signs that crashing was eminent. I got home and barely had the energy to eat dinner.

Saturday 2/3/24

upper body strength session

5 miles

I was pleasantly surprised this morning that I wasn't entirely sore, however, getting up and moving to get to my 9am strength class was a bit of a struggle. Strength class went well. I decided to come home and rest a bit before going back out for my run.

The sun was out again today so I decided it was time to take the run outdoors. It was a bit windy but much more enjoyable than going around the hamster track. I felt pretty good after 3 so I kept going and made it to 5.

Week 5 Activity Summary

12 miles of running

3 strength sessions

1 day of skiing

Inertia: 1/21/24 - 1/27/24

This week was all about trying to stay in motion.

I initially had plans on a bigger mileage week but I ended up feeling not so great for most of the week so that didn't pan out. Signing up for strength training three days a week though did get me out the door, and I tried to do my runs right after my strength session since I was already out of the house.

Sunday 1/21/24

rest

Maybe when the weather gets better I'll actually get some more exercise in on Sundays but the fitness center is closed on Sundays so it remains a rest day for me for now.

Monday 1/22/24

5 mile run

I had planned on going further but I felt really run down and tired. I stopped for water after 5 and couldn't get started again so I stretched and went home.

Tuesday 1/23/24

strength/weight training

4 mile run

Wednesday 1/24/24

no activity

I've had a headache all week. Today the headache got progressively worse to where I was nauseous, my ears were ringing, and all I wanted to do was lay in a dark room. I skipped dinner and actually went to bed at 6:30 pm... ended up sleeping for 13 hours.

Thursday 1/25/24

strength/weight training

It was leg day followed by a circuit. I still didn't feel great so I went straight home afterwards.

Friday 1/26/24

no activity

It's been rainy and cold all week and I had a bunch of house things to take care of so I didn't leave the house.

Saturday 1/27/24

strength/weight training

6 mile run

I actually felt better today and had more energy.

Week 4 Activity Summary

15 miles running

3 strength/weight training sessions

Trying Something New: 1/14/24 - 1/20/24

I've had this pull up bar up in my house for several years now.

Looking at it every day hasn't gotten me any closer to be able to do a pull up.

I decided to try something new and signed up for 12 weeks with a strength coach to lift weights three times a week. Strength training is something that has always been on the back burner for me for various reasons... 

- It's boring

- I'm not sure my technique is correct

- I've had surgery on my right shoulder and I've guarded the movement in my right arm for so many years before that (because, otherwise, my shoulder would spontaneously dislocate) so I pretty much have no upper body strength... therefore I'm bad at it... therefore it's not fun

- Did I say it's boring?

On the other hand... I want to be able to do a pull up... 

I suppose one way to make yourself accountable is to go pay money to do something so that's what I did. It came down to signing up for strength training or rejoining the Y so I could have access to a pool and start swimming again, but the strength training place was closer than the Y and I've already done adult swim lessons, so I decided to learn how to lift weights properly instead.

Sunday 1/14/24

rest

Monday 1/15/24

7 miles

The mileage was not a problem but I think I got too dehydrated during my run.

My original plan was to run 4 miles then drink some water, then finish out the rest of the run. Well, the track was super crowded and it felt like too much trouble to stop after 4 so I ran 5, then at 5 I figured I might as well finish out the run before I stopped. I did drink an entire 500 ml afterwards but I felt like my face was hot and dry for the rest of the day and I continued to feel flushed with a bit of a headache for 2 days.

Tuesday 1/16/24

2 miles + some weights

I met with my coach for the first time today and mainly went over how the program would work before doing some upper body work.

Initial plan was to go run right after the weight session but I ended up going home instead.

G then came over and I helped her with a sewing project until late into the afternoon.

I finally made it to the track but only had time to get 2 miles in because I wanted to get home in time to shower and watch the IU basketball game.

Wednesday 1/17/24

zero miles

Pretty much all my plans for the day got trashed because my mom called in the morning saying she was too dizzy to get out of bed so I ended up driving up to my parents' house to check on her. She ended up feeling better but then I ran and got groceries and picked up prescriptions for them because the weather had been too bad the last couple of days for them to get out of the house. I had a screaming headache by the time I got home and just went to bed early.

Thursday 1/18/24

5 miles + weights

It was leg day, then I went straight to the track and ran 5 miles.

The good thing about doing the weight session before running is that I don't have to do all my dynamic muscle activation exercises before I run because I've already done them and more.

Friday 1/19/24

1 mile walk

I intended to run a couple miles but my headache was back and my legs felt heavy so I ran a lap and decided to walk out the mile and go home.

Saturday 1/20/24

3 miles + weights

It looks like Tuesdays and Saturdays are going to be upper body work and Thursdays are leg days.

3 miles went fine. I probably could have done 5 but I wanted time for a good cool down stretch AND get done in time to get to the bank before they closed at noon so I stopped at 3.

Week 3 Activity Summary

17 miles running

1 mile walking

3 weight/strength sessions

How To Eat An Elephant: 1/7/24 - 1/13/24

How to eat an elephant... so goes the quote. 

One bite at a time.

One bite at a time. One step at a time. One dollar at a time. One stitch at a time.

So many large things you can accomplish if you only take that first step, and then another, and then another. That was the voice that I heard in my head this week as I made my rounds around the hamster track.

All my running was done on the hamster track this week. 

Seven laps per mile.

Sunday 1/7/24

rest

Monday 1/8/24

3 miles

See previous post for details.

Tuesday 1/9/24

no miles

Truthfully, the day got away from me. I intended to run after my dentist appointment at 10 am, however my appointment ran almost 2 hours so I came home afterwards for lunch. My daughter than came over to work on a sewing project and I ended up spending the afternoon with her instead.

Wednesday 1/10/24

3 miles

My new running shoes arrived and they feel great!

Thursday 1/11/24

5 miles

I had to spend the afternoon helping my parents run errands and help around their house. They live an hour away so I made a point of getting my run done before I headed out to their house, knowing I wouldn't feel like running after I spent the day with them. This was the right call since it ended up I didn't get back home until 7pm.

Overall, I felt pretty darn accomplished running 5 miles today.

It's been quite some time since I've run this far.

Friday 1/12/24

no miles

No running miles but it was a full day.

Left the house at 9 am to go to a visitation for a friend's mother.

Didn't get back home until noon. 

My husband and I then went to a matinee to watch The Boys In The Boat.

Fantastic movie! I highly recommend it.

Got home in time to watch the IU vs. Minnesota basketball game.

Started dinner at halftime, then both kids and their boyfriends came over for dinner at 8:30pm.

A full day!

Saturday 1/13/24

5 miles

I got up at 3:15 am to take a kid to the airport.

The road conditions were horrible. There was freezing rain coming down, the highway was a sheet of ice and it was so windy I thought I was going to get blown into a guard rail. I got back home at 5am and went back to bed. Didn't wake back up until 11am.

Leaving the house to go run was a struggle. I felt dead tired.

I told myself I was going to get 3 miles in and go home.

Surprisingly, I felt stronger the further I ran so I ended up running 5.

I've decided to work on building base miles this month. Nice easy runs with no watch. I want to finish my runs always feeling like I could run more.

Food prep this week...

I made beef stroganoff last night and should have a couple more meals left.

I made granola to have with Greek yogurt and fruit next week.

I bought a 3lb bag of clementines to snack on.

I made a loaf of honey oat bread tonight because I have a craving for bougee PB & J made with pistachio almond butter and blueberry preserves.

It's been alot easier eating clean since I threw out almost all the junk food in the house.

Week 2 Activity Summary

16 miles running

Day 8

Remember these shoes?

These are my "trophy shoes," the shoes I bought after I got into the Boston Marathon in 2016. I really didn't care for the design that year but by Gawd I got them anyway because it was that year's Boston shoes.

So today I ran in them since I decided last week that my current shoes were beyond dead and my new running shoes aren't going to arrive until the end of this week. I wear a Brooks Ghost and all the shoes available locally in my size were Gawd-awful colors. If I'm going to spend $140 on running shoes I'm going to at least get them in a livable color... which is white. Running shoes should be white. Period.

Well, I'm going back to the dead shoes tomorrow because, while these had plenty of tread left, they were stiff as a board from sitting on a shelf for 8 years.

I ran 3+ miles on the hamster track today. Going in, I thought about running 5, however once I heard my feet slapping down on the track in these shoes, I decided the wiser thing to do would be to stop at 3. Normally you can't hear my steps if I'm running correctly so a noisy run means I'm not hitting the ground like I should. I did go ahead and run one more extra lap, then I walked an additional 6 laps to get a total of 4 miles of distance in.

My 3-Things today:

1. Give some things away in my Buy Nothing group.

2. Clean out the cubby next to our fireplace.

3. Sweep and vacuum the hardwood floors.

Check, check, and check.

I love my Buy Nothing group. It makes it so much easier to give away sentimental objects that are gathering dust in my house. Today one of the things I listed were these wooden African animals that I purchased in Eldoret, Kenya in 1997 while I was doing a 2-month long medical rotation there.

I remember haggling with the vendor over the price of the giraffes. I don't remember how much I paid for these, but I do remember that I was a poor medical student who took out an extra loan to have money to travel to Kenya that Spring. I then had to carry these halfway around the world to bring them home. 

There was a woman in my group who said she was on the board of directors for a school in Uganda and would love to have these for her home. On reading those words, I knew she was the right person to give these to. It's easier to part with things this way than leaving them in a donation bin.

The cubby next to our fireplace was meant for firewood but over the years has turned into a catch-all for miscellaneous objects. Most of those objects went straight to the trash. (My husband is a gunsmith and that "target" on the fireplace is what he uses to zero in scopes. I have yet to figure out how to talk him into taping this up only when he needs to use it.) All that's left to find homes for are these FIVE computer power cords which my husband swears he'll look at tomorrow, plus this portable DVD player which will probably get donated too.

Breakfast was oatmeal with dried cranberries and pepitas.

Lunch was white chicken chili.

I was hungry before dinner so I had a hardboiled egg.

Dinner was minestrone, sourdough crackers, and a salad with spinach, roasted beets, feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.  

The 3-Item To Do List

I'm not sure where I first heard of the 3-Item To Do List but it's something I've used over the years to help me prioritize my goals for the day, organize and manage my time.

It's simple. List the 3 things you want to get done each day.

This is what you'll focus on. Don't do anything else until those 3 things are done.

If you get those 3 things done and you want to do more, it's a bonus, but do the 3 things first.

My 3 Things Today:

1. Take down and put away the Christmas tree

2. Vacuum the living room

3. Order new running shoes

Check, check, and check.

My 30 minutes of activity today consisted of taking down the Christmas tree and vacuuming. We have a 9-foot artificial tree strung with 900 lights. Once it's disassembled, we have to wrap it up and carry it upstairs over our detached garage. It took my husband and me over an hour to accomplish this. By the time I got done vacuuming I needed a shower.

Meal planning today consisted of baking chicken breasts. I then used half of them to make white chicken chili and put the rest of them in the refrigerator for salads or other meals this week.

Breakfast was fresh strawberries with Greek vanilla yogurt and homemade granola.

Lunch was spinach with roasted beets, goat cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Homemade sourdough crackers on the side.

Dinner was the white chicken chili. It has white beans in it. I have about 2-3 more servings as leftovers.

Writing It Down Makes It Real : 1/1/24 - 1/6/24

Writing it down makes it real.

Since I did the cliche thing on New Year's Day and signed up for a marathon I figured I'd go ahead and keep down that path with a couple more goals.

1. Aim for at least 30 minutes of activity daily.

Seriously, I think I've been laying on the couch with my cat for the last two years.

2. Meal plan.

It's been so easy to grab drive thru or packaged food lately because I don't think about my next meal until I'm starving, then I just grab whatever is handy.

3. Write out what I want to accomplish every day.

I'm retired. I don't HAVE to do anything. I can lay on the couch with my cat, order Door Dash every day, and hire people to do all my chores... but I also realize I got to where I am today by being productive and accomplishing my goals and I have more things I want to do. Those things not getting done by themselves.

Highlights of my week...

Monday 1/1/24

Registered for the Geist Half Marathon (9/14/24) and the Monumental Marathon (11/9/24).

I burned my boats on the beach and chose the non-refundable option.

Tuesday 1/2/24

1 mile run indoor track.

Weighed myself and almost stroked out. More on that later. I'm still processing...

Cleaned my kitchen and pantry and threw out all the junk food. Took stock of what I had, made a meal plan and a grocery list.

Wednesday 1/3/24

2 mile run indoor track

15 minutes stationary bike (3 miles) level 5.

I made a big pot of minestrone and portioned it out. Also made some hard boiled eggs to snack on.

Thursday 1/4/24

3 mile run indoor track

I was pleasantly surprised I ran all 3 miles without a problem since I haven't run in a loooong time.

I had to drive up to my parent's house immediately afterwards so I was glad I had hard boiled eggs and an apple to grab after my run so I wouldn't be hangry later.

Got back home late in the evening and it was the same deal. I was starving. I had minestrone.

Friday 1/5/24

3 mile run indoor track

Goal today was to run 4 miles. However, 3 laps into my run I developed a pain in my right knee. An uncomfortable niggle that sent concern into my brain. Maybe I should back off... 

I considered walking it out but decided to continue running. I've had the discomfort before. I'm certain I have a bit of a meniscal tear in this knee and every now and then a piece of cartilage floats into an uncomfortable position. Of course this is pure speculation. I've never had it imaged. Anyhoos, most of the discomfort worked itself out after a couple more laps. Then, I lost count on what mile I was on... so in the end, I either ran 3 miles or I might have run 4, but I'm counting 3 because I'm sure I ran at least that far.

Made butter chicken with sweet potatoes and rice.

Portioned out the leftovers for later.

Saturday 1/6/24

30+ minutes of ice skating

I woke up this morning with a pressure feeling in both knees. I've had this discomfort before. I get it when I start increasing my mileage. Usually I feel it the first time I run 5+ miles after I haven't run for awhile and since I had some right knee pain yesterday I wasn't surprised. Plus, my running shoes are past dead. I think they are over 5 years old...

Initial plan was to go to the fitness center and check out the Peloton bikes. I noticed that they were there this week but I didn't have any ear buds with me so I couldn't use them. G and I were also planning to go ice skating later in the afternoon. Well, the morning got away from me and G called me while I was out running errands, so I picked her up and ran her errands too, and by then it was too late to go to the fitness center so we just went to the skating rink. I did work up a sweat doing laps around the ice and since my goal today was to do at least 30 minutes of activity I'm going to count this as cross training.

Week 1 Activity Summary

9 miles of running

15 minutes on a stationary bike

30+ minutes of ice skating