This Week in Fitness

I am wrapping up a couple of days off to enjoy part of my hubby's summer vacation.  It was a pretty good week for me with workouts and eating.  I also decided to start using My Fitness Pal, which I have never done.

So this may just be true for the ladies, but once you reach your forties and like me late forties and post menopausal, you are dealing with a new body and that body takes time to get know and let me tell you what I learned.   It is slower!  Not much slower running but my metabolism is definitely slower.  I have not been happy with what I have seen on the scale or how I have felt, not as tight as in the past.  So I made some decisions and realizations.  I can not out run or exercise a not great diet.  I have a fairly good diet but I wasn't really tracking anything and an occasional glass of wine or beer was now a once a day occurrence.  So I decided to change a few things up.

1) I am on a wine and beer hiatus.  I just decided I did not need the empty calories and it was pretty easy to cut out.  I had gone about 15 years without drinking at all so it is not that big a deal.
2) I decided to set up a My Fitness Pal account and start tracking my calories in and out.  It is amazing how much more mindful you are of what you eat when you are actually recording it and seeing the direct correlation with workouts.  For me this is really a first.
3) Going to be vigilant about my strength work and my running including mixing in some tougher effort runs and keeping in a distance run each week.    

Don't get me wrong I am a size 6 and wear a small. I am not one of those girls obsessed with my weight.  I believe strong is the new skinny.   I just want to tighten up and maybe go down about 5-10 pounds where I was before menopause.  Also we all know, even a few pounds makes us a little faster in a race.  I will keep you updated on how these small tweaks go.  It is a new adventure in personal accountability for me.

This week:

Mon. 4:30 AM = 3 miles
Tues. 9 PM 1 Mile ( should have been track race with ATC - lightning cancelled it)
Wed. 11 AM - 5.5 miles Happy World Running Day
Thurs. 12 PM - 3 Miles
Thurs. 3 PM - 35 minute strength session at the gym
Fri. 10 AM - 2 miles
Sat. 12:30 PM - 2 miles hill work
Sat 2:30 PM - 32 minute strength session at the gym
Sun. 10 AM - 3 miles

I also made all of my Fitness Pal calorie goals for the week.  Feeling pretty good and ready to get back at it.  Back to work means pre-dawn runs.  I downloaded some new tunes from Rock My Run and I am good to go!!

Hope you had a healthy week!!