Week 9: Down 17.9 pounds! (205) and I signed up for a half marathon!

This has been a really good week for me. My calories have been on point and I've been incredibly calculated. I knew Mother's Day would bring some extra calories so I accounted for them, savored them and planned ahead. Therefore, my only goal on Mother's Day was not to intentionally overeat and I accomplished that. Then, I dropped my calories on Monday and Tuesday in order to compensate for the excess calories.

Running is getting easier! From Sunday, 5/1 through Saturday, 5/7 I ran 17.1 miles! My hip flexor is improving as I repeatedly stretch it. A stretch that I've been using religiously is a small variation of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mjBaLVlQWw
Super helpful!

I feel so good that I committed to running a half marathon in September with a friend of mine. I'm so excited! Also, I'm helping a friend of mine try to PR her next 5k which is this Saturday.

I'm a ham. Love running with this group!

One thing I like about running is that I always seem to be surrounded by pretty women. :)

Sweaty selfie after my nice run of solitude.

Another great run on the trails!

Exercise Log:

Wednesday: 2.46 miles running with No Boundaries 5k group. Felt good. Over 17,000 steps for the day.

Thursday: Running specific strength training which included singe leg glute bridges, body weight squats, side lying leg raises, clams, fire hydrants, rows, 30 second planks, ball leg curls and I think that's about it. :) I like breaking all of these exercises into two circuits performing each circuit three times without rest. Rep range 10-15. Over 13,000 steps for the day.

Friday: 2 mile trail run by myself. It was a self-reflective run as I listened to one of my favorite podcasts, "Tangentially Speaking." In this one, Christopher Ryan (the host) spoke about his friend (whose in the podcast) who had recently died. I love parenthesis. It was a very emotional podcast and therefore made for a self-reflective run. I love runs like this from time to time. The grass is always greener, the sun is always brighter and the flowers always have a more powerful aroma when thinking about life's brevity and what a great life I have. Here's a link to the podcast if you're interested: http://chrisryanphd.com/tangentially-speaking/   (It's #177) <- See, I used parenthesis again.  Over 12,000 steps for the day.

Saturday: 3.26 mile run in morning with NOBO in 5 to 1 minute intervals. 10:51 average pace. Felt like I had a lot more. 2.51 mile afternoon trail run with JM and Megan. 13:27 pace. Extremely comfortable pace. A total of 5.77 miles for the day! I'm so excited about this! Over 21,000 steps for the day.

Sunday: Mother's Day. Did body weight strength training same as described on Thursday. Got in 10,000 steps but that's about it.

Monday: 2.17 mile interval run with my friend Nick. It was a slower pace and felt very comfortable but felt good. Over 13,000 steps.

Tuesday: 3.35 mile run on trail. It felt great, beautiful day (70s, sunny, breezy). Over 14,000 steps for the day. 

I had this meal twice this week at the Co-op that is no less than 100 yards from my apartment. A strip of bacon covers a serving of huevos rancheros and half a biscuit with sausage gravy. Note, I pick the smallest bowl they have available to help with portion size. This bowl isn't more than 4 inches in diameter (probably less). Oh my god this is so good!

Nutrition: Again, I aim for controlled chaos and hit it on the mark again. :)

Calories went up but so did my exercise. 

I want 20 pounds total loss by next week!!! That's the goal. That would be 202.9.