2190 days or six years!!!

 

On Friday I woke up and received this message from MyFitnessPal...I have logged my food for 2,190 days or six years straight! When I was ready to start losing weight I turned to MyFitnessPal to record my food and keep to a set amount of calories per day.

I wasn't perfect at first, I missed logging on some days. However, by the end of August I made a commitment to myself to log every day. The most important thing was I needed to be as honest as possible with my logging and myself. 

As I have shared in the past, a few months after losing my first 25 pounds and logging for several months, I was diagnosed with diabetes. Cuz you know everyone is diagnosed with diabetes after losing 25 pounds. Following the diagnoses I started working with a fabulous nurse practitioner who focused on my diabetes. I used the app MyFitnessPal to share with her what I was eating and also focus on the amount of carbohydrates I was taking in, so the logging continued! Six years later, I am still logging!

It keeps me accountable and feeling some what in control. Sometimes it is frustrating and I think why bother when I record everything but still the scale doesn't move. However, as an update in that category, the scale has been going down for the past four weeks. Slowly, 1/2 pound per week but it has been going down...Woo Hoo!!

It has been four weeks since I started my new job. I can't believe it. I have enjoyed it a lot and time is flying by. Throughout this time I have been trying to figure out my schedule and balance everything, workouts, school work, and work. I have been moving things around to see what works best. For several years I worked very hard at being a morning worker outer. I would get my workouts done, head to work and then head to the library to do my school work. 

I think mentally I took the summer off from school and I am working hard at getting that motivation back. This past week I thought I would try to change things up to see how I do. So for the five days this past week I worked out after work. I always hated working out after work because I would find the time to talk myself out of it. But this week something magical happen, I looked forward to the workouts and I had some incredible times and felt great completing the workouts.

Thursday I had a speed workout that was a 3x1 mile and I completed the workout with negative splits On Friday I had a speed workout that I worked so hard at achieving. Like many of you, I did not swim for four solid months. 6 weeks ago I started swimming again and worked hard week and week to bring my time back down to my average...I finally did it Friday night!! My average time was 1:57/100 yards. This was actually a fantastic time compared to my times even before the pandemic. 

This weekend was supposed to be the Cazenovia Triathlon. This tri is one of my favorites and its a tough course. Back in 2001 I did it for the first time, my second triathlon of my career and I was hooked. Well sadly like everything else it has gone viral. The funny part was I couldn't remember if I officially signed up for the race or not. I couldn't find my receipt or my registration on the race page so my coach and I agreed I must not have committed to it this year. Well wouldn't you know I actually did sign up for it this year, I received an email yesterday with instructions on how to complete the virtual race and my registration number was associated with the email. So I woke up this morning and decided to at least complete the bike and run portions of the race. And something pushed me today and I felt great. Fourteen miles on the bike and a 5K run with times I haven't seen in a long time or ever. I did the bike in under an hour (which is HUGE for me) and I had negative splits on the run!! I will do the swim portion this week at some point, which is my strength of the three disciplines. Oh how I miss racing!!!

Finally I had the opportunity to talk to a dear friend this afternoon. She has been struggling with her workouts and I have been struggling with my school work. I feel like mentally I just shut down during July and August, but summer is ending soon!! So we promised to push each other and hold each other accountable. We will do the text message check in. We will let each other know if we got up and got our workouts and/or school work done.

My plan is to do my school work in the morning before work and my workouts after work. I will keep doing this until I need to change something up. She would like to complete her workouts in the AM so Monday is day one. 

I shared with her that September 1 - December 31 is 122 days. It is my goal to work on my research for the next 122 days. Within those 122 days I will put official deadlines on my calendar that I will have to meet and submit to my advisor. The tough part about doing research compared to actual classroom work, there are not homework deadlines. I have to set those deadlines up and stick to them. I also set a finish line goal for myself. It is my goal and desire, to finish this research by September 1, 2021.

So here is to the next 122 days (or 123 if you count August 31). 

Wish Me Luck...Always striving to do better and be better...Keep Moving!!

You Win Some You Lose Some...

 

My water bottles were filled, my running clothes were waiting for me, and I had a plan. I went to bed and my alarm was set. I was ready to go as soon as the alarm went off!

Well the alarm rang and I woke up in a funk and a fog. I couldn’t get moving, I felt tired and my legs felt heavy. The original plan I had to run in a certain area, went out the window. I decided to get a few things done on my "to do" list, thinking it would inspire me to get going. I finally pushed myself out the door but as soon as I got moving I knew it wasn't going to be good. I was moving slower than usual and my legs were shot!

I got to the 1.10 miles mark, the corner of Dayton Street and Plumtree Road, and I already felt beat up at that point. If I turned right, the run would continue, if I turned left I could walk home and be done with it. I decided to turn right and dig deep to see what I could do this morning. Up and down some hills, in and out of the sun beating on me, in and out of neighborhoods and I was back to my house at mile 7. I refilled my water bottles and said to myself I could do this. But I decided to change locations. I headed to the park where I run often hoping it would be shaded and inspire me. I continued to push but during mile 10 I walked more than I ran and by 10.25 miles I knew I was done and had nothing left. I was supposed to do 15 this morning but I figured the 10.25 wasn't too bad since I was ready to quit at mile 1.10 miles.

I reached out to my coach to tell her about this horrific run. She told me to put it behind me and in the words of Coach Belichick, "We are on to Monday". This new week will be a clean slate to try it again! If you can see the awful times of my 10 miles, my average was 1 -2 minutes slower than normal. I had nothing in me! Moving on!!

So let's focus on some good things that happened this week. I started my new job. One week down. I am the Assistant Athletic Director for External Operations in the athletic department of a local college. Part of my job is being the oversight for certain athletic teams. I was giving four teams to work with, women's tennis, men's lacrosse, cross country/track & field, and women's triathlon!! Yes I am excited! 

Other things to be happy about. To the left is a picture of my very first marathon medal. It is a Tiffany Necklace, they were a sponsor of  

the race and when we crossed the finish line we were given a small Tiffany Blue Box wrapped in a white bow! I love this necklace and wore it every day for years. It reminded me of who I was and what I could accomplish. Well four years ago I was playing around with my neighbors dog and she jumped up on me and the necklace broke. I put it in a box and forgot all about it until I was packing to move. I recently brought it to a jeweler to be fixed and it is back around my neck! 

Something else to be happy about...Recently I received two medals in the mail to celebrate some accomplishments, completing two virtual challenges. During this time of Covid races, like so many other things, have been canceled. Race companies have been offering the competitive runners, cyclist, and triathletes virtual races or challenges to keep us going and focused. No these virtual events are not the same as the real thing but it helps pass the time. You can also earn some fun bling along the way. 

The first virtual challenge I did was a run around the 11 Finger Lakes of New York. I started this before I left New York. Although this challenge was virtual, complete 408. 2 miles, I have actually biked around 3 1/2 of the actual finger lakes in my lifetime. Someday I will go back and do more, but for now I completed this challenge in 6 weeks by biking and running.

Once I finished the finger lakes I went on to run and bike through the state of Massachusetts, a total of 262 miles. I completed this virtual challenge on Saturday, 27 days after I started. Similar to the finger lakes challenge I have actually biked through almost all of Massachusetts in 1997, 194 miles for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, The Pan-Mass Challenge. So two virtual challenges and the summer isn't even over...what will I do next? Tomorrow is a new day...Embrace It!!

Medal from the Finger Lakes Challenge! 

Medal from the Run Across Massachusetts