Ah, emotional rest

Last night I arrived at Dave and Val's house, where I'll be staying for the next week. Words cannot express how glad I am to be here, and how grateful I am to be among family. I'm so grateful to be in Ohio, which in a lot of ways feels like home to me, as I went to college here those were some wonderful years. Autumn is my favorite season, and I'm so grateful that I get to see the beautiful colors on the trees - I was worried I'd missed it, being out in the CA desert. It is wonderful to be with, for a change, people who are role models for the lifestyle I live. For a change, I have physical companionship in this - I'm not living this lifestyle among people who are doing something else. I'm not with people who wonder why anyone would want to do this (and occasionally, when lonely, I must admit I think that myself). It's really nice. Val's pregnancy is going along very smoothly - no morning sickness or fatigue. She feels great. Dave told me that their friends don't believe them when they tell them. Sigh =).

This morning I got to sleep until I woke up (7:30 a.m. - not bad, considering I am in Ohio, and was in California yesterday).

We played with some of their toys to warm up for going for a walk (Val stopped running at about 4.5 months in. They still rode bikes while it was warm, but lately they've been walking). Then we went for a walk nearby. The leaves are so beautiful. Dave brought along some hand weights and he did some lunges and footwork and stuff during the walk. Then he handed the weights to me and I played with them for a little bit.

We stopped and took some photos.






When we got back to the house, Dave and I went out into the garden. We picked a few concord grapes and raspberries. I snuck into the greenhouse and picked a couple of ripe cherry tomatoes (shh, don't tell!).

Then we continued our breakfast inside. I had a pineapple, a few sips of OJ, and two stalks of celery.

In the afternoon I had the chance to catch up on some things, like sending photos to people.

I walked to the track (about a mile and a half away). Then did some running (sprinting the straightways, walking or jogging the curves, for about 15 minutes). Then walked back to the house.

Ate - 1 pineapple

Dinner - Banana blueberry smoothie (about 4 bananas, 1 cup blueberries?), some dates (about 10 maybe?), some lettuce (1/2 a head of romaine?) and....

I tried durian for the 4th time...and this time I actually liked it! I've never liked it before. Usually I just couldn't get past the "oniony/garlicky taste" - I didn't want my fruit tasting like that. But today (maybe because I've been craving onions and garlic lately?), I LOVED it.

Just goes to show...be willing to try things you didn't used to like, because you might change your mind. For example, before I went raw, I didn't like papaya or celery at all, but now I love those foods. So be willing to try =).

Totals today (approximate, since I didn't measure everything and I am guessing):
2203 total calories (88%C, 5%P, 7%F)

Going to bed...hope to sleep well tonight!

One of the best mornings I've had in a long time!

The rest of last week was mostly spent recovering. I was very sore and stiff on Tuesday morning, and I ran anyway. It was hard. I loosened up a bit during the run, but afterwards I was more sore and stiff than I had been before! Farm work is more tiring than I thought it would be, and I realized that I REALLY needed to catch up on sleep.

So that's what I did for the rest of the week...no morning workouts, just sleeping in until it was time to start working.

Last night I was feeling a bit discouraged...I felt like marathon training wasn't fun, and that maybe I should not run a fall marathon this year. I knew that I needed to run 5-6 miles this morning, and that last weeks 4-5 miles felt really difficult, so 5-6 would probably be more so. I went to bed...

Today was my day off, which was why I planned the long run for today.

When I woke up, it felt good to lay in bed as long as I wanted. When I finally got up, I looked at the clock: 8:07 a.m. And it was the strangest thing...the sky was blue, it was bright and sunny...and I felt like going for a run! So I said, "ok, I'll do my 5-6 miles...no need to make any final decisions about a marathon yet, and I don't want to close any doors."

Here in Colorado, I really don't have a way of gauging the mileage, so I'm just going for time. Assuming a 12 minute mile, that would mean I need to run for one hour to do 5 miles. If I was REALLY slow (15 minute miles, which I highly doubt), it would be only 4 miles per hour. So my mileage is really just rough estimates. So I figured that in order to ensure that I ran 5-6 miles, I'd need to run for 1 hour and 30 minutes. So that was today's goal.

Well, I got outside, and I was determined to take it nice and easy to start, since I hadn't done any running in the past few days (just recuperating from being stiff and catching up on sleep!). I enjoyed it right away.

What a wonderful run! I discovered a trail along the Colorado river about 45 minutes into the run, so instead of turning around and going back at that point, I just kept going! I couldn't believe that it felt so easy today, after weeks of having running feel very difficult! Even though my goal was to run for 1:30 today, I didn't even turn around until 1:17! So my total run was 2 hours long today...somewhere between 8 and 10 miles, instead of the 5-6! And I thought that 5-6 would kill me =)!

This was so encouraging to me. I had a little trouble hitting the ground running after returning home from Costa Rica. I pretty much had a week and a half of very poor sleep (due to stress) that really took it's toll on my energy levels and on my recovery, and so running and training felt like huge chores and seemed to break me down even more. So having a fabulous run after a few days of good rest and recovery (and a week and a half of catching up on sleep!) reassured me that I did not lose all my endurance...my body was just plain TIRED. And now it's catching up! Excellent! And I didn't even carry any food/water with me...imagine if I had food/water! I probably would have gone farther!

I'm blogging again (may take a few false starts though!)

Ok! I'm finally settled in Colorado, and head-over-heels in love with it! My marathon training is starting! After 2 weeks of no sleep, I'm finally able to sleep through the night again! Good news all around!

Gotta get used to eating more again...I'm a lot more active than I was in my office job! Weeding for hours works your back and your biceps and doesn't feel hard while you are doing it...but afterwards you are TIRED! =)

Yesterday:

Before breakfast - Did a jog/walk, just for enjoyment, into town. About 50 minutes round trip. Stretched.

Breakfast - 1 personal sized watermelon

We mostly did greenhouse work and a bit of walking around the farm in the morning. Nothing too strenuous...

Before lunch - 3 sets push-ups (it may just be my imagination, but these felt easier than they had in a while!), 3 sets jump squats, 3 sets ab work.

Lunch - 11 bananas, 1/2 a large bunch celery.

Afternoon - greenhouse work and about 2 hours of weeding the strawberries and garlic.

Dinner - 6 large honey tangerines. 2 large bowls veggie soup (tomatoes, cuke, pepper, celery). More tomatoes (they needed to be eaten).

Later - 1 head cauliflower, 1 pepper, more tomatoes. Finally I realized it was sweet that I needed...will need to get used to eating more fruit during the day! Had some dried figs.

Woke up this morning not sore at all from the weeding! I feel great from all this activity!

First post in 3 days! Did a lot of walking on Friday and Saturday (several hours). Friday, I'm sad to say that I had a bit of an evening almond extravaganza...probably due to not enough fruit in the daytime. So, I spent Saturday recovering a bit from that.

Morning training today:
Indoor cycling class at my mom's gym. Wasn't nearly as fun as indoor cycling in Chicago...but a very good workout. Then, I ran 10 sprints (one track length each).

Breakfast - 5 bananas, 1/2 a papaya.
Lunch with my brother - lots of pudding: banana/papaya and banana/date
Dinner - some baby bok choy. 2 mangoes. 1 small orange. lots of salad (baby spinach, tomatoes, red peppers).

Being out of Chicago is doing me SO MUCH GOOD. The sunshine and fresh air is awesome. My skin is glowing! Can't wait for Costa Rica.

What an active day!

Today I went for my first long run in a while. Probably somewhere between 8 and 10 miles. Went on the bike path here in NJ. Included some hill training too. Took a few walk breaks (there were some icy patches!).

Breakfast - 7 bananas.

Then I went into the city. Carried a heavy backpack around.

Lunch at Caravan of Dreams with a friend - 2 live pink lady smoothies (orange, apple, mango, strawberry, plantain) and a large mixed green salad.

More walking, carrying.

Dinner at home - 7 fuyu persimmons. 1 large bowl tomato-basil-celery soup (.75 pounds tomatoes, 2 stalks celery, 4 leaves basil, blended in food processor). 1 date.

Today is the 6th day in a row of meals as opposed to grazing. It feels excellent! It's amazing how easy this is to do now that I'm not trying to distract myself with food from an office job! It feels so effortless. When I was working, it felt like such an effort.

Breakfast - 2 small papayas

25 minutes on treadmill (hill intervals)
Leg workout/core workout:
3 sets step-ups
3 sets romainian deadlifts
3 sets walking lunges
3 sets swiss ball hamstring curls
3 sets step-ups
3 sets barbell squats
3 sets cable crunches (is that the right name? I don't think so)
3 sets hanging abs
3 sets roman chair oblique crunches
3 sets sit-ups on decline bench
3 sets roman chair extensions

Lunch - lots of persimmons

Took a nap in the afternoon.

Dinner - 1/2 a pineapple. 3/4 large papaya. 1/2 pound baby spinach.

Snow training with Dave!

Snow training with Dave!
Running/walking/racing/backwards/hills in snow, for about a half hour. What a tough workout! Dave is such an inspiration.

Drove all day.

Breakfast - persimmons
Lunch - persimmons
Dinner - tangerine juice (almost a half gallon), huge salad (lettuce, pepper, tomato, cabbage)

Snow!!! Lots of it.

And wind, too.

Woke up to alarm. Didn't feel terribly well rested, as Justin got into town late last night for his auditions so sleep was interrupted, and I had trouble getting back to sleep. Went to the gym anyway, and I'm glad I did, because the workout felt great!

Morning training:
Walked to the gym. This was more challenging than usual, as it was very windy, and the wind had caused a lot of snow drifts, so the "terrain" was uneven.
Treadmill workout (1.0 incline throughout) - 10 minutes jog (4.5 mph, increased a bit towards minutes 8, 9, 10). Followed by 4 10-minute miles alternated with 3 minutes walking in between each mile. 5 minute cooldown, for 65 minutes total. Felt great not to run sprints, hahaha.
Lower body strength work:
3 sets step-ups on bench, to failure (the left leg failed before the right, every time, so I stopped at left-leg failure).
3 sets romanian deadlifts (I hope I did them right!)
3 sets barbell squats.
Stretching in between sets.
Walked home. After the lower body work, the walk home in the wind/snow was definitely challenging.
Stretched a bit at home.

7:30 a.m. - 4 or 5 small fuyu persimmons
9:00 a.m. - 1 large fuyu persimmon. 3 medium bananas.
11:30 a.m. - 4 bananas (Justin is meeting me for lunch at one, but I was ravenous, so I ate a few bananas to hold me over).
1:15 - big bowl of persimmon-date pudding: 5 large fuyu persimmons (frozen and thawed), blended with 10 soaked medjool dates (I coudn't finish it all, but almost). Big bowl chopped romaine lettuce.
4:10 - 1 romaine lettuce heart
Got home really late...
8:10 p.m. - 1 large papaya. 2 pounds campari tomatoes. 1.5 florida avocados. A few fresh mac nuts (maybe 8?) that Dan brought back from Hawaii. 4 valencia oranges.

Bed around 10:30.

What you think about comes about...

...so I'm thinking about how I'm burning through the excess body fat and building strong, beautiful muscle tissue!

Woke up at 5 a.m. Not very well rested. Haven't been sleeping well (I wake up in the middle of the night).

Morning training:
Walked to gym. Wanted to take indoor cycling class but I got there too late and class was full.
Assisted pull-up training, flexed arm hang/negatives. Just did a little of this.
Treadmill workout: hills!
Warmed up for 10 minutes (1.0 incline). Then alternated 2 minute hills by toggling the incline like this (1-2-1-3-1-4-1-5-1-6-1-7-1-8-1-9). The 9 almost killed me, haha. Then cooled down by jogging for 10 minutes, then walking for 4 minutes.
Spent 10 minutes stretching.
Walked home.

7:30 a.m. - 1 papaya
10:00 a.m. - smoothie made fromm 4 frozen bananas and 3 medjool dates. 6 medjool dates. 3 fuyu persimmons.
11:45 a.m. - 1 small head green leaf lettuce
2:30 p.m. - 2 papayas

Took a nap this afternoon.

5:00 p.m. - 6 temple oranges. some pistachio nuts (.5 - .75 cup?)

Lip balm makes a good anti-chafing agent...

...ah, the things you learn when you just moved into a new apartment and can't find the bodyglide. ;)

Woke up early, around 4 a.m. Lay in bed until 4:45 or so. Realized that I didn't know where the bodyglide was, and I wanted to run today. Got up and spent a little too much time looking for it.

Ever notice how you get used to how you look in one mirror, but when you look in a different mirror, you are surprised by what you see? I've noticed that in my new apartment, I look like I'm getting some results! My upper body is definitely more built up than it was! My chest, shoulders, back, arms, and hips definitely look sexier ;). Very cool. Especially since the scale still remains stuck =P.

Morning training:
Walked to gym.
Speed day on the treadmill (1.0 incline, of course)!:
10 minutes warm up (jog 5.0 mph).
Ran 6 one-minute sprints (7.8 mph) with 3 minutes jogging in between.
Jogged/walked 10 minutes to recover.
Ran 4 more sprints, with longer periods of jogging/walking to recover in between.
That made for 60 minutes, total. Walked to cool down for five minutes.
Then, hit the hardwood floors for some yoga stretches. Stretched for 15 or 20 minutes. That felt REALLY good.
Walked home.

I'm definitely beat =).

Breakfast (8:40 a.m.)- 5 HUGE bananas. Perfectly ripe. Yum.
Lunch (11:00 a.m.) - 6 fuyu persimmons.
Lunch II (1:00 p.m.) - 15 oz. baby spinach, 2.5 lbs grape tomatoes.
Lunch III 3:45 p.m. - 5 fuyu persimmons

Bed around 6:15.

When you've EARNED your food...

...NOTHING tastes as good, or is as appealing, as a mono meal of fruit. NOTHING.

Got up this morning at 7:25 a.m. Felt sort of low and down - I'm feeling kind of emotional about moving out of my apartment (I've lived here for 2 and a half years).

Morning training:
This morning's workout was probably the most dripping-wet, drenched-with-sweat workout of the month (or even of the past 2 months, or...).
Walked to the gym.
Treadmill (1.0 incline) - 10 minutes jog (worked up to 5 mph). Then did 6 one-minute sprints (7.7 mph, increasing to 8 mph), with 3 minutes jogging (5mph) in between. The whole treadmill workout was about 33 minutes.
Then I went to a 1-hour indoor cycling class. While I was adjusting my bike, I asked somebody if he knew who was teaching today. When he said "Austin," I said, "umm...maybe I shouldn't have run sprints before class, haha." Needless to say, it was an INTENSE workout. Sprints, 2 TOUGH hill climbs, speed work while climbing hills, etc, etc, etc. I was DRIPPING when we were only 15 minutes in. But I was able to push and stick it out for the workout, especially since he played some really good tunes. I'm really glad I did. (And I'm even glad I ran the sprints before class, haha).
Walked home.

Then I hit the persimmons. Had 7 fuyu persimmons for breakfast around 10:15 a.m., as soon as I got home from the workout. Tasted like the best meal I had ever had. Nothing more satisfying than a mono meal after a tough workout.

12:15 - 8 more fuyu persimmons

Took a nap in the afternoon, then did some moving stuff.

5:00 p.m. - 1 pineapple, some tangerines (12ish?), 10 oz. baby spinach, 18 oz. tomatoes, 1 haas avocado.

I really enjoyed all my food today. It tastes good when you've worked hard. =)

Ate more in the evening, not because I was hungry, but in order to procrastinate...didn't want to be moving. ate tomatoes, tangerines, mac nut butter, tahini.

Back to it!

FINALLY got a much needed good night's sleep last night. 6:00 p.m. last night until 4:30 this morning. It feels really good to consistently go to bed early enough that I don't need an alarm clock in the morning. Feels great to wake up naturally and not to an unnatural noise.

Morning training:
Walk to gym.
Warm up on Treadmill - 23 minutes (2 miles). (Yesterday, I read that, in order to make up for the fact that there is no wind resistance indoors, you should set the incline on the treadmill to 1 if you want to make the speeds comparable to similar speeds outdoors. So, previously, I had been using 0 for the incline. Today I used 1.) Took a few minutes to "get going." Maybe it's because of the artic temps outside that it takes longer to limber up.
45 minute indoor cycling class with Tony. The first half was all speed work, which I'm not used to, so it was a good workout! I definitely had lactic acid collecting around my knees, ankles, shins. The second half was mostly climbing. I was pretty sweaty by the end of class.
15 minutes pull-up practice - 3 sets each (to failure) assisted chin-ups and assisted pull-ups, with rest/stretching in between each set.
Walked home.

Today at the gym, I was talking to someone I knew but hadn't seen in a while. It took her a few minutes to realize who I was! She said I looked so good, she didn't recognize me! Again, these types of interactions are reassuring, since I've actually gained some weight and not lost. Makes me feel more reassured that I'm still having visible results.

And besides, even though I may be no lighter than I was when I started doing this in July, I'm definitely fitter by leaps and bounds. I can push much harder, cardio-wise, and run faster, and cycle harder, and lift more, and hang from a bar, etc, etc, etc.

It is a happy morning!

Food:
7:30 - 5 small bananas (that's all I was hungry for at the time)
9:00 a.m. - 13 apple bananas (finally got hungry!)
later in the morning - more apple bananas
noon - sucked the juice out of some tangerines (8? 10?)
2:15 p.m. - some small sunburst tangerines (12? 14?). 2 lbs. grape tomatoes. 1 large orange bell pepper. 10 oz. baby spinach. more tangerines.
Around 5:30 p.m. - some macadamia nut butter (about 2 or 2.5 oz), a few more tangerines.
Later - 36 oz. tomatoes.

Went to bed a bit late (9:30 or 10 p.m.), since I worked a bit on moving down the the first floor.

Need a recovery day

Got up this morning and felt a bit stiff. Was torn between taking a recovery day, and burning off the adrenaline (I'm nervous about something that will happen at the end of this week...to be shared later). Chose to burn off the adrenaline by working out.

Morning training:
Walk to gym.
Warm-up - easy 1 mile on treadmill (13 minutes)
1 hour cycling class with Kim. It was the exact same class as Saturday and Sunday, which irked me just a little, but it was good because I wasn't feeling able to push it too hard this morning. Just kept moving. It was good in that it seems to have loosened my legs up a bit.
Walked home.

I will definitely need to get to bed early tonight. I'm dragging and need the rest/sleep.

7:30 a.m. - 6 fuyu persimmons.
11:00 a.m. - 6.5 small-medium bananas
2:00 p.m. - huge bowl of salad that was leftover from a meeting (lettuce, mixed greens, tomato, cuke, carrots) w/tangerine juice on top. 1 small tangerine.
3:30- 16 oz. tomatoes
4:30 - 1.5 oz. pistachio nuts

Definitely felt less draggy in the afternoon. Got the stress off my chest a bit early... I ended up giving my notice at work this week. My last day at my job will be February 16. I think they are pretty upset, but I know I am doing the right thing. I'll be moving out of Chicago at the end of February, then spending March in Costa Rica with Doug and friends, then doing an organic farm internship for the summer. Then, who knows?

Tried to go to bed early but felt really wound up. Ended up getting back up to call friends, do some dishes.

Ate a whole lot in the evening - oranges, tangerines, dried apricots, dates, mac nut butter. Too much of everything. I was bummed out that I didn't reach more people to talk. Should have just gone back to bed.

Ended up going to bed around 10:30.

Today is the seventh day in a row that I've trained in the morning. Hooray for me. =)

Woke up at 4:25 this morning. Didn't sleep well last night...was anxious about things and had trouble falling asleep. So I didn't get out of bed until just before 5 this morning. Didn't feel particularly great, but I knew I'd feel better if I worked out (and that I'd sleep better tonight!) Still a little sore from yesterday.

Morning training:
Walk to gym
Treadmill - 2 miles total. Started really pushing it right from the beginning (6 mph, increased to 7 mph by end of first mile, and up until 7.3 or something). After 13 minutes, took a walk break, followed by another minute or so of running, followed by another walk break, followed by a one-minute sprint (7.7 mph!), followed by walking. 20 minutes total.
45 minute indoor cycling class with Tony. It was a really good class today! lots of sprints/speed work, as well as hill climbs. I was definitely challenged and sweating bullets. I've noticed I feel better and get a better workout in cycling class if I hit the treadmill first - I guess I'm just more warmed up!
After cycling class, I hit the treadmill again and did one mile (took about 11 minutes). This mile was really hard, as my legs were pretty well spent. But I figure this is good practice for when I eventually start doing triathlons or something...
Walked home.

Breakfast around 8:40 a.m. - 17 apple bananas.
11 a.m. - 12 apple bananas
1:00 p.m. - 20 oz. romaine lettuce. 24 oz. grape tomatoes. 15 valencia oranges.

I am SO blissed out.

That's right. a week and a half ago, I just couldn't seem to get a grip. Now, everything is happy and good. Or rather, I made it that way by taking care of myself. When you love your body, it loves you back.

Last night I went to bed around 6:40ish (again!). Got up this morning at 6:20, so almost a full 12 hours of sleep!

This morning, even though it is a beautiful sunny day, it was too cold to even think about enjoying exercising outdoors.

Morning training:
Walk to gym
35 minutes treadmill hill course (!). The incline intervals were definitely challenging. Covered about 3.3 miles. Tough.
1 hour indoor cycling class w/Kim. There were a lot of sprints, and a lot of standing...I don't know whether it was being fully rested or what, but even after kicking my butt on treadmill hills, I was INCREDIBLY high energy in that class. Everything felt so easy (even the sprinting, which isn't my strong suit) - at one point, the instructor told us to take it down four full turns and I was like, "THAT was supposed to be hard???" So I didn't take it down at all, hahaha! I just kept going with the workout at that resistance level, and I didn't really feel like it was too hard until the very end (and even then, it was still doable. I even thought about getting back on the treadmill after class. Then, I came to my senses).

Then I walked to the produce shop, and it was bright and sunny, and I actually got to SEE the sun, instead of being cooped up in the office, since its Saturday.

Breakfast (around 10:50 a.m.) - 16 apple bananas (some were pretty small, some were almost as big as a small cavendish) and 1 hachiya persimmon.

Lunch (around 1:00 p.m.) - 10 fuyu persimmons

Dinner (around 4:30 ish, at a raw restaurant with friends) - salad made w/mixed greens, chopped apples, walnuts, and avocado. Then ate about 15 honey tangerines that I had brought with me.

Later at home - 2 pints grape tomatoes, 1 avocado, a lot of spinach, six more tangerines.

I'm really happy that I didn't have salt or spices at the restaurant. Today was a higher fat day, and I craved fruit afterwards, but I won't feel nearly as badly tomorrow as I would have if I ate the more complex food at the restaurant.

"Miles first, smiles later!"

Very well rested this morning!

Morning training:

Walked to gym.
Treadmill: 2 mile run (first mile started at 5.5 mph and worked up to 6.4 mph. Second mile started at 6.5 mph and worked up to 7.0 mph). Very sweaty and challenging, lung-wise, towards, the end.
Indoor cycling class w/Tony. Very good class today! Good mix of climbing/sprinting. Some cardio, some strength climbs. Definitely sweated bullets this morning!
A few sets of core work - hanging abs (2 sets), roman chair (2 sets, holding a 10 lb. weight), sit ups on bench (2 sets), sit-up with twists.
Walked home.

Wow! I should do this more often - go to sleep EARLY and wake up and kick ass in the gym! I felt absolutely awesome walking from the bus to my office. Harley once said to me "miles first, smiles later." I see what he means =P.

Bouncing off the walls at work - in a great mood!

Breakfast (around 9 a.m.)- 7 large bananas. 5 hachiya persimmons.
Dinner (around 3p.m.) - 12 small honey tangerines. 3 large sunburst tangerines. 2 BIG bowls salad (filled 2 huge bowls with mixed lettuces, 24 oz. grape tomatoes, juice of two sunburst tangerines).

Not sunny anymore

My alarm went off this morning at 5 a.m. I wasn't ready to get up, so I reset it for 5:45. Wasn't quite ready to get up then, but I did anyway.

Morning training:

Walked to gym.
Treadmill run - 32 minutes:
First 5 minutes - between 5 and 6 mph
Then increased the speed to 6.5 minutes. Meant to only do one mile at this pace, then walk, then repeat, but decided to keep going. After 1/2 mile, increased the speed to 6.6 mph. Kept increasing the speed for 2 miles. On the third mile, I increased the speed every .2 miles (got up to 7.2 mph by the end). My heart/lungs were really pushing it for the last 1/2 mile. Legs felt fine. I was happy that I was able to sustain that run for that long, though, without walking in between.

Walked a few minutes to cool down, then walked home. Stretched a bit at home.

A training revelation in terms of my building speed/endurance: As a slow marathoner, my legs can certainly handle it...it's my heart/lungs that need to get used to sustaining a higher intensity level. My marathon pace wasn't pushing it at all in terms of heart/lungs.

Breakfast at work - 7 medium-large bananas. wasn't that hungry for it, but by the third banana, I was like "wow, bananas are SOOO good." (Kinda like Doug says that exercise can dull your apetite, which often then returns once you start eating).

Lunch - 6 medium bananas. I'm amazed by how if I push myself cardio-wise, I just LOVE bananas =P. 1 plate salad leftover from a meeting (mixed greens, with a bit of shredded carrots and purple cabbage).

Mid-afternoon - more leftover salad from a meeting (this one was mixed lettuce, tomato). LOTS of baby spinach. Honey tangerines (10-15? Most were really small, like clementines or smaller). Holy sh*t, were they amazing! I'll have to go buy some more!!!!

From gasping for air to treading water

Last week was a rough, stressful week. Sad to say I didn't get enough sleep or do much training, which didn't help. I also ate a lot during the week in an attempt to cope. Didn't help - fruits and veggies don't exactly numb you out like rich, heavy comfort foods do.

Had a chance to catch my breath over the weekend. Did some bodyweight exercises on Saturday, but not a ton. Also did some bodyweight exercises in my apartment this morning, but not a whole lot there either. Also ate on a more regular meal schedule, which helped a lot.

Harley's post (see below - my family thinks I'm crazy) couldn't have come at a more timely moment for me. =)

Breakfast today - sucked the juice out of lots of tangelos, valencia oranges.
Lunch - minneolas and mandarins (raw vegan m&m's , ha!), medjool dates, and celery
Midafternoon - more dates and celery, 1 head green leaf lettuce

After work training- 10 minutes treadmill. some pull-up practice on the assistance machine, interspersed with dips and push-ups. Kwando class (cardio kickboxing?) at the gym.

Dinner - 1 quart fresh OJ. 3 large tomatoes. 2 bell peppers. 1/2 stalk broccoli. 1 avocado.

Feel much better after that intense workout! Hope to sleep well tonight...

Going through the motions...

I miss the sunshine. Yesterday it hit me all of a sudden that I'm feeling a bit down because I miss the sun (I mean, I knew I had been feeling a bit down...but the reason hit me). The prospect of going a couple more months before seeing a lot of daylight depressed me.

But, going to bed early last night did seem to help some. I woke up today at 5:45. Didn't feel quite ready to jump into intense training, but went to the gym anyway. Did 31 minutes on the treadmill, really pushing the pace towards the end. I'm glad I did it. I still feel a little slow/not exactly euphoric today...but at least I can go through the motions until I feel like myself again. I like what Bernadine says: "Keep going, keep going, until something inside you says 'keep going.'"

Breakfast - 8 or 9 valencia oranges, cut into sixths, sucked the juice out.
Mid-morning - 5 more oranges, just like breakfast
Lunch - 8 small bananas, sliced, mixed with date sauce (10 medjool dates, blended with water). a lot of baby bok choy.
Late afternoon - 1 bunch celery. A lot of minneolas (I love these!), eaten just like the breakfast oranges

Here we go...

Here we go...jumping right into the new year.
Woke up at around 2 a.m. and could not fall back asleep. Felt kind of sick from what I ate over the weekend...
Finally got up around 5 p.m.

Here's the goal: lose 10 pounds before Costa Rica!

Morning training - start with a bang. =);
Walk to gym
Ran on treadmill for ariound 30 minutes. I had meant to do a 90 minute continuous run, but I got a stitch in my side. So I stopped then, walked for 5 minutes, and hit my favorite machine, the assited pull-up/dip machine. Did supersets of pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, push-ups (3 or 4 of these), and planks. Then did a few sit ups. I'm getting better at these - last week I could only do 4 full sit-ups in a set. This week I got to 8 or 9 in the first set!!!! Did a few of these, then went back to the treadmill to try again. This time I did speed intervals - slow jogging interspersed with speed intervals (7 mph) for one minute (or a little more) each - about 4 "sprints" total. Then I got a stitch in my side again, so I stopped, walked a bit to cool down, did one more set of sit-ups, and walked home. Stretched at home.

A good long workout!

Breakfast - some apple bananas (around 6?)
Before lunch, walked to millenium park and enjoyed some sunshine! Finally!
Lunch - really ripe fuyu persimmons
Mid afternoon - some citrus fruit salad at an office party (grapefruit, orange, kiwi) - 2 small bowls
Dinner - mangoes, followed by soup made from blended tomatoes, yellow pepper, and romaine lettuce. Mmmm!

I've been feeling sort of bummed out. It's been an emotional holiday time this weekend, and I definitely engaged in some emotional overeating of things I wouldn't usually eat. I'm finally starting to feel like a normal person again, physically. Hopefully the emotional aspect will follow suit shortly.