About running: Manic Monday

This day has been kind of…all over the place. I guess I’ll go chronologically.

I woke up this morning and on a whim decided to weigh myself. In theory, three weeks ago I promise you I’d weigh in every Friday on the blog, but last Friday we were out of town so I didn’t. Anyway, the last two times I’ve weighed myself I was 164.8 pounds. This morning (and go figure, the Monday after Thanksgiving), I was 161.2, meaning somewhere in the last week and a half, I’ve lost 3.6 pounds. Now, I know the scale fluctuates…but that is a pretty significant difference, so I hope it means at least a little something good. I have been focusing on saying “no” and eating mindfully lately, so maybe that’s it. Or, maybe my body wants more food? Oh, who knows.

Then I got in the car. My commute to work in the morning is half an hour, so I usually leave around 7:20 and get in the office around 7:50. Well, a truck full of hydrochloric acid overturned on the bridge that connects me to work and suffice it to say, I didn’t get to work until 9:40 or so. Worst. Commute. Ever. I had a few brief panic attacks, called T 3 times, and cried once. (I’m a crier. It’s a stress reaction.)

I sampled the Oikos strawberry at lunch, though, and that made me extremely happy. I cannot think of a sophisticated way to describe this yogurt other than that it tastes like red gummi bears. It is delicious.

Before stirring:

After stirring:

Post-assembly:

(Psst. Don’t forget to enter my Oikos giveaway below!)

I worked all afternoon with a slight headache. Since I couldn’t find the different Oikos flavors at my usual Super Target, I went to Hy-Vee yesterday. Well, they have a MUCH better bar selection than my usual grocery store does. And I went a little nuts.

Whoops. At least bars don’t expire.

For my afternoon snack I chose a bar that combines two of my favorite things: almonds and coconut. I am generally suspicious of bars that do not contain chocolate, but I figured I should give this one a try. And oh my GOD am I glad I did. This may skyrocket to the top 5 of my “favorite bars ever” list, which is a BIG DEAL. It’s substantial and chewy and sweet but not TOO sweet. Behold:

The only drawback is that these are pretty expensive…BUT, I think they’re sold at Starbucks, and I travel a lot on an expense account, so I know what I’ll be snacking on on the road now!

After my traffic nightmare, I needed a good workout. I just wanted to run hard intervals for some reason, so I did. Here’s the rundown (0% incline. I get enough hills at home.):

0-1:00: 5.5 mph
1:00-2:00 6.0 mph
2:00-3:00 6.5 mph
3:00-4:00 7.0 mph
4:00-5:00 7.5 mph
(Repeat above pattern 2 more times)
15:00-16:00 5.0 mph
16:00-17:00 6.0 mph
17:00-18:00 6.2 mph
18:00-19:00 6.5 mph
(Repeat the 6.0-6.5 pattern 2 more times)
25:00-26:00 6.0 mph
26:00-28:00 6.2 mph
28:00-30:00 6.5 mph
Cool down

I don’t know why I don’t do intervals more often. They make the time fly and I think they really do help with my speed. It’s nice to run at an 8:00 pace and think, “hey, this isn’t so bad!” For some reason, though, my shins were hurting a bit, which is weird because they didn’t hurt running outside this weekend. Maybe something about the treadmill?

Anyway, by the time my workout had ended the traffic issue seemed to be resolved, although I did have to take an alternate route. I came home to a lovely plate of roast chicken leftovers, plus cranberry sauce!