Weekend Update

This weekend felt great. For my long run on Saturday, it wasn't easy, but it felt MUCH better than last weekend. First, my knees have been hurting this week. I'm wondering if it was due to running down hill with my hiking shoes on rather than my tennies? I had to eat a little bit of food so I could take some Ibuprofen. After waiting awhile for it to kick in, it was already 9:50. This was a problem because I knew I needed over an hour to run 8 miles but I needed to get to Weight Watchers to weigh in before 11:00. There was no way I was going to make it if I ran all 8 at once. So I headed out the door in hopes to get at least 7 miles in and I'd finish the last mile once I got back. I'm sure this is not ideal for building up my stamina but it's what I had to do. I ran 7 miles in 1:03 which sounds good, but I had only 5 minutes to get to my WW meeting and it takes me 15 minutes to drive there. I was going back in forth in my mind if I should just skip it and run all my 8 miles at once and then weigh in on Monday. I was stressing because when you become a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers, you must weigh in at least once a month for it to still be free. I usually weigh in the first weekend of the month. Since that was on the 4th and the center was closed, it was getting later and later in the month and I really don't want to have to pay a weekly fee again. Knowing my Saturday leader though, she usually runs long on her meetings. So I went ahead and hopped in my car in hopes to be able to weigh in and buy some smoothie packets.

As I was pulling into the parking lot, I could see the crowd leaving. Yes I made it on time! First I have to tell you, my meeting is in a little strip mall and the first business in it is a Baskin and Robbins. I can't tell you how evil it is to pull into Weight Watchers and have to see giant posters of Reeses sundaes or coffee shakes! Are you kidding me? Can't it be a gym or Whole Foods or something??? Anyway, I got in to weigh in quickly. To my dismay, apparently they were having a sale on their smoothies so they were out! Ugh. I asked the receptionist, who is a marathon runner herself, what my deal was. I haven't been able to drop out of the 130's for a month and it's driving me crazy. People always try to say, "Oh you're gaining muscle since you're lifting weights and running more." Um no because it's not muscle that's hanging over my pants when I put them on. The positive side is that when I dropped all my weight I of course had to find something to not be happy with...I have issues remember! So besides the droopy skin on my belly it was my tush. It was now mostly flat except for a small little extra butt underneath. I called it my double butt. Well, I now just have one butt and when I flex it it pops out like Jennifer Lopez POW! But, I struggle to it into my pants. A girlfriend I work with has no sympathy. She says, "Oh I feel really bad that your size 2's are too small now." Well I'm beyond my size 2's. I'm lucky if I can squeeze into my size 4's of Old Navy which I honestly equate to size 6's. Again, did I ever in my entire life think I could even wear these sizes? NO! The point is, those clothes fit me 6 months to a year ago and now they don't. It doesn't matter the size, it's the principal that my ass and back fat are preventing me from wearing my clothes!!! Anywhoo, she told me to bring in my journal next week because she was curious if I was getting enough protein. That's the second thing people say to me when I bitch about my back fat. Since WW was out of their smoothies, which are high in protein by the way, I headed to another store that was supposed to carry Oikos Greek yogurt. I have head about this yogurt for months on people blogs, but I never saw it stores around here. To my surprise several weeks ago, I found a little 4 pack at WalMart of all places! I was excited and started using it in my smoothies. Of course when I went back for more, I couldn't find it. Not even a label of where it should be. It's as if it never existed. I tries 3 other grocery stores and still couldn't find it. So I went online to see where it was sold. I found out it's sold at all the Safeway's around here. I found that funny since I already tried a Safeway and never found it. So when driving home from WW, I tried another Safeway. I was so happy to have found plain, honey, and vanilla Oikos yogurt. I bought 7 containers and ate one right there in the store. I tried the honey and it was really yummy. This yogurt is not like regular yogurt. It has 120 calories, zero fat, and 15 grams of protein for the flavored and 80 calories for the plain!!! It is thick and yummy and I feel very full when I combine it with fruit or mix it in with my smoothies. So I will bring in my tracker to her, even though it's super intimidating to show someone your journal. It's like showing someone a peek into my soul or something. But I'm willing to find out how I can tweak my diet.

Sundays are turning into hike days around here. First I started with an easy 3 mile recovery run. My hubs is trying to run too. He has a hard time and finds it is all mental for him. He's been running 3 miles lately so I keep trying to get him to run with me. He never wants to because he says I'm too fast. Finally I convinced him since it's supposed to be an easy run for me anyway. Then he admitted right before we were heading out that he doesn't exactly run 3 miles straight...that he stops for about 10 seconds and started again. Oh well I finally had him willing to try so we went out. It definitely was an easy pace for me. We did 3 miles in 33 minutes. My hubs says it was a nice pace for him but he did stop like 3 times. During that time, I would turn around and run the opposite way and then run back up to him. I wanted him to not feel emasculated by me so running behind him rather than out in front would make him feel better! He still was mad though, he looked at me and said that I didn't even look like I broke a sweat! I did a little, but again it was an easy recovery run. Later, we went on a hike again in a new area. Not as pretty as the one last weekend but was nice. It's amazing how hard hiking can be and how long we're out there but yet only cover a few miles! Last, when we got home we took the kids swimming. Let me tell you, I got another workout. Not from swimming, but from carrying my 37 pound 3 year old up and down the stairs to go down the water slide about 15 times! My legs were talking that's for sure. Here's some hike pics for you to enjoy:

Workouts:

Friday- rest day

Saturday- 8 mile long run in 1:11

Sunday- easy 3 mile run in 33 min. + 3.41 hike in the hills