I'm starting to write this particular blog post on Thursday. I mention that because it is very unusual for me to start my weekly weight update blog so late in the week but, to be perfectly honest, it was a very boring week that consisted of a bit more overeating than I care to admit. The week started out by a visit to my cousin's place to celebrate the first birthday of his son. This was great but it also resulted in eating too many sandwiches and too many chips.
Monday and Tuesday were filled with meetings out of the office which required me to dine out. I did my best to eat well and to stay within my Weight Watcher points but there is only so much that can be trusted when dining out. Monday's lunch was a turkey sandwich and a side of fruit. Tuesday's lunch was a cup of soup and a small Caesar's salad. Both pretty decent and moderately sized lunches but still restaurant prepared instead of the tried and true bag lunch.
On Wednesday I had a fateful decision to make. You see, I did my normal 3 mile jog on Tuesday night but I knew that on Thursday Rizzo was going out bowling with some friends so I wouldn't be able to get in my regularly scheduled run. I could have bumped it up to Wednesday but I had another option. Rizzo had made a comment to me that I should go out and see the new James Bond flick, Spectre. I'm a big James Bond fan and Rizzo was having a night out on Thursday so she said I should go see the new movie. I took her up on this invitation so instead of bumping up my run I went to the theater to have a big bag of popcorn for dinner and watch Bond tear his way across London. At least I sacrificed dinner in order to account for the calorie crushing goodness of movie theater popcorn.
Thursday night was spent with my best gal, Cece. As Rizzo hit up the bowling alley with her workout buddies, Cece and I ran around the house like crazy people chasing each other from room to room while dragging balloons behind us. I'd chase Cece into the library where she would throw herself on the couch and wait for me to tickle her. Then Cece would chase me into the living room where I would throw myself on the couch and Cece would wait until I threw her on the couch laughing. The whole time Queen's Don't Stop Me Now was blasting on the stereo. I'm sure if anyone happened across this scene they would have thought that I had lost my marbles but that is the beauty of playing with a toddler; you can act like a kid and have a great time with no one thinking twice about it.
Friday night came along and there was no more of our weekly dinner left in the kitchen so we had two options (1) create our own meal from what we had available or (2) use up precious Weight Watchers points and even more precious calories eating out or ordering in. Since we had some thawed chicken thighs and left over rice we decided to eat in and create our own version of chicken stir fry. I tossed the chicken with some Asian spices, cooked them up in some sesame oil, and then added mushrooms and the left over rice to the mix to create a nice little meal for the family.
I also needed to make up for some lost jogging this week so on Friday evening I laced up and headed out. I decided to only take a short jaunt around the neighborhood because I had a 5K race scheduled for the next afternoon so I really just wanted to get out and stretch my legs. I decided on a 5 minute warm up walk, 20 minutes of running, and a 5 minute cool down. Since it wasn't going to be a long run I threw caution to the wind and went without the nipple bandages (if you need a refresher about the need of nipple protection give this blog a read). This was a big mistake because when I pulled off my shirt after my run my nipples were dripping small crimson drops from being rubbed so raw they were bleeding. It's my own fault and I learned my lesson. If you ever find me out on a run ever again you can rest assured that my nipples are protected.
Rizzo had completed her most recent round of Body Back classes (guess who has a guest blog about working out coming up soon?) so she joined Cece and I for our regular Saturday morning breakfast routine. We went out to Ted's Bulletin which is a great place for kids and a great place for breakfast. If you haven't been I highly recommend it.
The family out for breakfast (Rizzo not pictured)
Starting slow in crowded space.
Saturday afternoon was the Herndon Annual TurkeyTrot, a Thanksgiving time 5K that Herndon always hosts the weekend before Thanksgiving. I'm glad that I have grown past the "I hope I can finish" phase of exercise and have grown into the "let's see if I can beat my old time" phase. I was hoping to run the race in 32:00 minutes which would put me at about a 10 minute mile pace. I made the mistake of starting the race at the back of the pack (old habit) which resulted in the first mile feeling pretty slow since I was behind lots of people in a pretty small space. Once I hit the 1 mile mark I checked my watch and it was an 11:03 mile. This was pretty good considering the logjam at the beginning so I picked up the pace.
Finishing strong
Pushing through felt pretty good resulting in my second mile being 9:50 and my third being about 9:30. I finished the race in 30:23! I was very proud of this pace especially since I had just run a 5K two months earlier in 33:30. Shaving 3:07 off my time in two months was quite an accomplishment. I also felt great after the run and could have run much further but I suppose that is what happens when you get in the habit of running between 5 and 6 miles each Saturday.
As always, Sunday means weigh-in day. I had some concerns about the results considering the eating out that was done earlier in the week. I tried for an early morning jog buy my knee was throbbing after about 5 minutes of running even with the knee brace. I may have to get a doctor to check it out soon. I'm torn in thinking my knee issue is the result of me twisting it some time ago or the nature of being an old man.
The scale was forgiving of my early week indiscretions with a weight loss of .6 pounds. That brings the grand total up to 58.2 pounds lost and a current weight of 209.2. Not a bad week all things considered and it puts me in the possibility of being on or around 200 pounds by the new year. I won't be disappointed if I don't make it but it is at least reasonable.
I hope you all have a good week. Coming up this week Rizzo finally gives us something about her exercise and I share the first of the inevitable Pearl Jam blogs.