Went to the gym; Commuted to work; Thinking about a marathon!

RUN (some walk) with LA 3 miles
Car ride to corner by gym, then STRENGTH 20 mins Push A
RUN 1.4 miles home
COMMUTE! (how many miles is my commute?!) about 3.5 miles, 7 if I bike home

Up early again for LAs work, so a shorter run. Then he gave me a ride to the corner of Jackson, I did my new M&S Push A workout (doing these different now, increased reps but not pushing to increase weight), then run home.

1348! PROGRESS
A week ago was a hormone high, not sure of the exact start.

Day 244 without M! PROGRESS!

Brekkie, then actually wavering about biking to work. But not a single regret once I get here to admit my hesitation. Where will I park? What shoes will I bring to work? Do I need extra carbs to ride home? Jeezus, my head. 

Yesterday Josh at work asked a few questions about ultra marathons, and in talking to him I realized just how much I MISS IT. The moment I turned my light off at 3am in Kansas. The cerebellar shut-down of Farmdale. The SCAD. 

No. The slow steady sunrise after a night run. The setting of the sun leaving the day to night, and the sounds that change tunes as the sun sets. The transcendence of the peace and quiet of the night. The power of pushing yourself to new levels. 

So yesterday I called up the marathon calendar, threw the idea out to LA, and looked up a training plan. I'll need a new one. I found that 16-20 weeks will be needed, and to race in Oct or Nov we need to start soon. We already have!!

I wavered about going to the gym, too, I'll confess. 

Also, my current audio book Stillness Is The Key - while having too many quotes and anecdotes about dead people - giving me an idea of a next challenge - to sit in Stillness for M3. I'm a bouncy mess with it right now! Is there an app with a 10 minute mediation to get the habit started? 

I'm 

Radiology appointment is done, back in 6 months

RUN 1 mile with LA early am before his 630 shift
ELLIPTICAL 10 mins then 20 mins after
STRENGTH M&S Legs A

Nice morning, pretty and calm, dropped LA off at work then gym. I couldn't find a reverse hyperextension machine, so I swapped in back extensions (using chest instead of legs). Started the Hillsdale course on Constitution 101, so far scoring 90% on quizzes.

Buy gas, home shower brekkie, hospital for mammography (all is good and stable, but come back in six months for more imaging to show more stability), then work. I wasgonna do surgeries today, but the half day think isn't going to work.

I'm limiting Reddit to art only, so instead of wasting my time there I started on the Hemingway List and found Wuthering Heights eBook. Tough read to get into, complicated characters.

So currently: I'm finishing the Mary Russell 0.5 audiobook, reading Wuthering Heights eBook, reading War and Peace actual book, Hillsdale 101 Constitution course, and next up audiobook is Stillness is Key from the James Clear book list. 

The strength workout -- I did 3 sets of 15 at a weight I could do 45 reps at without burnout. My arms that felt so tight and sore yesterday are much better today so I'm thinking tomorrow I could get back into a Push workout. 

Solo weekend

Friday RUN in morning, and STRENGTH push in the evening
Saturday RUN 1 mile WU, STRENGTH pull, RUN 4.5 miles in afternoon
Sunday Rest!
Monday (today) RUN 5 miles with LA

We got up at 430am! He starts urology subI today. 

Good weekend alone, spent time bouncing in and out of Moria (but didn't fall totally in), visited $ store and successfully limited treats there, did lots of cleaning (floors mopped and vacuumed, shower, glassware and windows, dusting, more), lots of art (2 butterflies to sell, finished apple blossom colored pencil, arlette monochrome), and when I wasn't bouncing or cleaning - reddit. 

I really need to quit reddit. Again! Limited only to ART. 

I'm sore still from the push and pull, I was supposed to do legs yesterday but I was just tired. And on reddit! 

This week - biking to work or not? 

I see changes to make

Thursday RUN 2.5 miles in the morning, and some floor "beginner" stuff in evening alone
Friday RUN WALK 3 miles in the morning, and plan STRENGTH this evening at gym

Lev flies out today (Friday) and it's stressing me. A weekend alone isn't fun. And the postponed exam weighs on my mind when I don't think he is studying like I thought he would be (STEP was delayed so he could study more, I agreed to it kinda on that basis) and this was a topic of sour conversation last night before bed. He says he's studying at work, he doesn't have time to study at home. I counter that he gets out of work before 5 pm and goes to bed 11 pm and thus that's a lot of hours. That wasn't the point of it though, the point was my pushing my expectations on him, as to what I expect him to be doing and how. 

This isn't new? I recently read that people who can't control themselves try to control other people. Is that me? 

Now's my time to enact a schedule to keep on track

Wednesday STRENGTH Lev's abs workout, varied

I should RUN tonight, and do STRENGTH at gym tomorrow morning? We're off schedule today, this morning LA had an appt for allergies and we had time only for his abs session (2' plank, 100 crunches, flutter kicks, obliques, russian twists, bicycles, and some Jon Hole thing) that he designed. Ideally, today would have been a PPL session, but that's pushed into tomorrow. And tomorrow (Thursday) is a run day. 

So I'm at the fork in the road - what do I do to stay on track? Look ahead:

We morning abs and ???

Th morning run

Fr morning run, shorter, PPL in the evening

Sa bike to banks, about 10 miles. Could I run/walk this? 

Su long easy run, or bike to gym and do a PPL. 

5 days to get a P P L in. Two more runs, and a bike ride. A swim? Not bad. LA is out of town Sat and Sun, so easy pickens for a PPL. At least two more runs before he leaves.  ugh. The fork is strong in this one. 

----

I just submitted a follow up to the Hamilton Trained podcast scholarship thing. I sent the first on Monday, and I don't remember if I submitted a WHY I should win section. I wrote and wrote, wondered what someone would think reading it, and submitted it anyway. While I hope to win (like I did free personal training!), I can't really bank on it, can I? 

Do I really need a coach for this? Am I really that bad?

Trying to come up with a plan, a schedule, a set of boxes to check

STRENGTH 5 min planks workout from Connect
RUN 4 miles in unknown, with LA

LA ran yesterday, both am and pm. He's saying he's sore from the Sunday gym session. I'm sore, and I wanted to rest Monday. My hammies and back needed a rest. He's run Sat, Sun, Mon, Mon, and now Tues and he ended up walking after he hit his two mile goal. I kept going, not because I wasn't sore, but because I just wanted it. 

I also wanted a speed session or hills or something technical - but too tired. Oh well. 

I'm still trying to come up with a set schedule. This is hard with our travel and weekends, and with coordinating with LA. 

I have much I'd like to incorporate, and I'm not sure putting it into the old schedule I used to have will work - the run on TWT SS type of thing I mean - so I need to be more flexible. Maybe set a list of goals I'd like to do each week and individualize each week around our schedule?

Aerobic goals:

Long run

Mid tempo run

Technical run

Short in-betweens as time allows, 1-2 miles for example

Strength goals:

Push

Pull
Leg

Abs

Abs

Body goals:

6x/week plank work

4x/ week 15 minutes stretching and relaxing, foam rolling, massage

Weigh-ins:

Wednesday and Weekend

Meal goals:

3x/day follow the plan! 

May 2023: it's 5 or 13, either way - IT SUCKS

Monday REST day. Morning-walk the loop and to stop sign, usual planks, and 6 mins of a stretch routine. Evening - it might snow?! Repeat the stretch routine and walk.

I realized last night that in the past calendar that I've gained more weight than I realized. And looking just now at my log, I've gained that weigh just this year, as in 2023, NOT in the past calendar year. Insert emoji of dismay.

My October 2022 says 129.2. January 2023 says the same thing. Huh? I would have guess January would have been 133-135. 

Regardless. Saturday was 139.2. OK, so it's not the 13 pounds I had in my head, it's 10. But it's 13 from one year ago after working with Coach P and "marathon training". A few pounds different either way, a school of the past year shows 129 to 134 to 130 to 134.98 to 129. Geesh.

Saturday on the start of the DTE run I started mathing. What is it about running and mathing for me?

Think about this - 10 pounds is 35000 cals, divided by a year, is obsessive, is 100 calories extra a day. Wait, is that right? Ugh. How? 

But that's the wrong way here. That's retrospective, although much can be learned from that, it's not solving the forward problem. Or, rather, the forward goal. 

By end of May, be at 133. Now, I keep telling myself "this should be easy enough" since I'm in a hormonal flux (or is that an excuse?!) and I think at least 1-2 pounds are just that. Keep better track of that! 

By end of June 5 pounds down to 128.
By end of July 5 more pounds down to 123. GOAL.

What sux more is that August-ish is surgery date. 

But until then, DO IT.

Follow the meal plan. MB can do it, so can you. 
Get to the gym, there's no need to pay for it! 3 times a week strength.

Stay active, doing great there already and biking soon!!