#runna

[npctomc]

Meal prep dinner this week was super quick and easy to do. We picked up some boneless pork chops, which took the longest just to get them baked. Brussel sprouts I did in the air fryer - 5 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking. The sweet potatoes came with instructions to steam them whole in the microwave, so I gave that a shot, and it worked great. Definitely one of the fastest things I've put together from scratch ingredients.

Stayed locked in on the strength work by hitting full body on Monday morning. Had some struggles because someone at the gym stole my towel, though, so I went there planning to shower after and then couldn't. That kind of ruined my mood, so I kept breakfast simple with a Sola bagel and some fruit.

This morning I hit a 3.5 mile easy run at the usual park. It was misting rain the whole time, but my running cap kept the wet out of my eyes. Felt really good and the energy was good.

After I got home, I had a bowl of oatmeal and a couple sausages. I took a picture, but it was ugly and boring! Tasted fine, though.

Yesterday, I had some potato chips as an afternoon snack. My partner loves chips, and they're not tempting for me because I'm ambivalent to chips, but having a few yesterday gave me a craving to have a sandwich with chips on it.

So, this is my usual deli chicken and pepperjack on keto bread... but with Lays Classic on it for crunch! It was really satisfying. Filled up the rest of the plate with fruit and veg, including some crispy cucumber fresh from my garden.

[fern-lover]

Why do my running apps cost so much money. All I need you to do is track where I run, how fast, how long, controll treadmill speed, and agrigate health data from my watch. I don't really need all the bells and whistles urgently.

[myf00djournal]

A chronological post run post.

Iiiiiii had a hard hard time man. In hindsight, I always knew our race was at 4pm so perhaps doing long runs at 6am was never going to help but I was so optimistic for cool weather in April. Nope 31 degrees. My worst fear. I was on pace and on the game plan up until around 8km which is when the course went from some shade to full sun. Told my running partner to push on without me which I had to say 5 times before he did listen 😛 I hate holding people back. The rest was an absolute slog. I thought about a DNF. I found a second wind around 13km and settled back into consistent trotting. Got through. They told us at the start the course was 20.5 which was a shame as it was advertised as a HM and then I saw a girl who was about a km ahead of me usually (because everyone we snaked past each other we did cute girl high fives) going in an opposite direction and I said don’t we turn left again? And she said nope the course was actually 18km. What the heck. Look my performance was not my best but I would’ve dragged myself another bit. Crossed the line and kept going with some other die hards who were also trying to make up km but I got to 19.8 and called it. The water station people were like oh we have cleared the course how much longer will you be and I was like you know what I’m done.

I’m annoyed because the organizers have a whole calendar of events and yet they were so shambolic. They delayed the start time, changed the course and then cut off a considerable distance for everyone. Also WHO KNOWS why the run was at 4/4:30pm in western Sydney but that’ll do me.

The 10km started an hour after us and then 5km after that so there was people always out on course but for a big event there was seriously maybe 60 people in each. So many DNS because we are legit flooded at the moment so I guess people couldn’t make it. A few people DNF. I saw the 5km fun run and wish I went in that because the first woman was 28:10 🥹 but I know it’s not about that.

My average km was around 7:30 which isn’t too bad considering I did a lot of walk/jog intervals for about 6km all up but Runna had me working at 6:25-6:30 as my goal which I was on but it really did fall away. My running partner did a great job and held around 6:40 which I am so happy for him.

Maybe next time I should do more than an 8 week training block. What am I saying with next time 🤦🏽‍♀️ haha never let me again please!!!! I just want to be a parkrun girly and maybe 10km???

Best of all Josh surprised me at the start line to see me off ❤️❤️❤️

The end. Also yes enjoy my post run glow - day ones will recognize the mirror. @taoistimmortal thank you for telling me to increase my cals by 500 cos yeah it’s going noice 👌🏻

[firemoonxd]

my dragon prince exchange gift to candyfoxdraws!! Happy hollydays!

[selfconsumerofmywoes]

NO!!! I’m trying to substitute the end of -er words with -a and they all sound the same!!! What is my accent?!???!

[zue-zue-jean]

GUYS CREDIT TO THIS YOUTUBER BECAUSE SO MUCH GOOD INFO FOR SEASONS TO COME

[npctomc]

Damn, sorry I vanished for a bit there, guys. The air quality situation made it hard to leave the house at all, and that really tanked my energy, and then yesterday I did the long commute to and from my company's headquarters. But we're still in it!

Sunday morning, AQI was properly breathable again, so I went out as planned for my long run. I've been trying to not stop at the gas station every Sunday morning, so I packed a protein bar and drinks from home to leave in my car instead.

We had some storms Saturday night, and there were four downed trees across the trail. Most were too leafed out for anything other than walking so I could carefully step over, but one was a properly dead log, so I got to jump it. That was fun.

I need to look back at the last times I did a 5 mile long run, because I think the duration/pace is about the same, but my heart rate may be lower? My iron supplement appears to be really making a difference on my heart rates.

Sunday night, I made chicken and gnocchi soup because the store had fresh gnocchi on sale. I added more veggies and subbed the half and half for 2% milk, plus I added rosemary and thyme from my garden. Tasty, but I wish I had also added more chicken!

Because I was planning to go to the office early Monday, I also used Sunday night to pack some snacks for the office - an aged cheddar stick, 6 oz of grapes, some baby carrots and cucumbers, and a protein bar. I figured this would keep me out of the office snack cabinet, and I was really glad to have this in the end because the snack cabinet actually needs a restock and barely had anything!

I ended up not eating the protein bar, but did grapes and cheese in the morning and the veggies after lunch.

The company catered lunch from a local dumpling place. They had a bunch of bao options, plus fried rice and lo mein dishes. I skipped the rice and noodles because I wanted to try one of each dumpling-type item, and then I loaded up a lot of cucumber salad, baby bok choy, and some fried shrimp.

This ended up being fewer calories and more protein than I had expected. Not life-changing because it was all sort of cold by the time I could eat it, but it was still decent.

This morning, I clocked in at the park around my usual time. It was humid, and I'm on a deload week, so I kept it really chill. Depending on the weather, I may also go to a shoe demo with the run club tonight.

Shook things up a little for post-run breakfast. Lately, I feel like more processed foods have snuck into my diet to support my running, and I just wanted something really good today. I did oatmeal with some PB fit, chia seeds, and banana, strawberries, and two eggs. I felt like this wasn't something I'd normally combine, but it really hit everything I wanted today.

[npctomc]

Yesterday morning, the smoke was just starting to reach us, but the air quality was still "moderate," so I was able to safely run outside. The only indication of anything unusual was a slight haze and this orange-ish sun that I had to snap a picture of.

Since it was really muggy and a bit smokey, I decided to focus my recovery run on staying in a Zone 2 heart rate. I walked a couple times after hills until I could bring my heart rate down, so I averaged a little slower than usual.

Post-run breakfast was half a sourdough bagel with butter and honey, some eggs (1 full egg, two whites, and an ounce of cottage cheese), strawberries, and mango. I was originally planning on blackberries, but they were moldy, so I had to pivot to the mango.

For lunch, I made some spicy tuna salad using some pickled jalepenos, a whole can of tuna, and an ounce of Greek yogurt. I had that on crackers and then did cucumber and tomatoes on the side.

I completely failed to take pictures of the Wednesday meal prep again, but I made some roasted pesto veggies (eggplant, squash, peppers) and just mixed those into some high protein Banza penne. It's so easy to overdo it on pesto, but so tasty.

This morning, the air quality had flipped to "hazardous." I really didn't want to be doing interval work on the treadmill, but with the weekend uncertain, I didn't have a choice. It was a really boring run and I don't feel like my mileage and times are accurate at all, but I did the thing the best I could to stick to my plan.

I got super sweaty, so the first priority at home was a shower, then breakfast. I did the other half of the sourdough bagel from yesterday, this time with regular peanut butter. Greek yogurt with blueberries and granola. And then, I had empty space on the plate (illegal!) so I sliced up half an apple to round things out.

Today will be a chill day at work. I've got a project to work on, and then I plan to start on the next blog entry in my Healthy Cooking series so I can post that this weekend.