Two goals achieved

This week took a lot of effort and I hit my goals, so I am happy.

Weekly mileage
Monday = 0 miles
Tuesday = 5 miles treadmill
Wednesday = 5 miles treadmill
Thursday = 5 miles treadmill
Friday = 2 miles treadmill
Saturday = 8 miles outdoors
Sunday = 8 miles outdoors
Total mileage = 33 miles

My goal for the week was to see if I could get in over 30 miles of running. Each mile I ran was hard fought and I kept thinking I should take a day off and rest as the week wore on, but I didn't and I reached my goal. This is the first week I have been over 30 miles since August 2010. I used to think a 30 mile week was an easy week, but this one was real tough to do as I had to keep pushing to hit my goal. Friday, I could only do 2 miles on the treadmill, so to get the 8 milers in was great. There is something about running outdoors!

My energy level for most of the runs was very poor due to my other goal. I went whole hog on starting to lose weight Tuesday. I cut out cereals, breads, pasta, ice cream, snacks, etc. and only ate small healthy meals instead.

Typically, I ate an apple with a small slice of cheese for a late morning snack (no breakfast), had a light lunch of grilled chicken and veggies, had chicken or steak for dinner with beans and veggies, and then had an apple for a nighttime snack. After a couple of days I got rid of the sugar cravings and got to that place where you feel like you are burning off fat and feeling lighter. The hard thing is running like that. Before the 8 milers I had a small frozen waffle with fruit preserves to try to get some carbs, but I still felt rather depleted on those runs. How did it work? From Tuesday morning until Sunday morning I had lost 8 pounds (Tuesday my weight was a little higher than it has normally been so probably I lost 5-6 pounds in reality). I also hit my target weight and now I am lighter than I have been since surgery in the summer, although lighter is probably not the right term as I have a long way to go. It is good to get started. I figure lighter weight = more miles and more miles = lighter weight.

By Thursday's run the muscles around my hip starting getting really tight and sore. I still worry if I am pushing things, but I am getting tired of being patient. I found this video showing a glute strengthening hip lift and added it to my list. It seemed to work the muscles that were fatiguing and I felt better on the 8 milers.