Nice Surprises

Generally, I expect goals to take an agonizingly long time.

It’s pretty cool when they surprise you much quicker than you expect. It’s like when I thought I would need to spend a lot of time trying to qualify for Age Group Nationals back in 2018, and I went and qualified on my first race with that intent. This time, my goal was much less flashy but better for my long-term health, perhaps.

Hi, I am a SALT addict. Sugar, I can take or leave, but give me my salty, savory goodness or give me death (or even if it gives me death?). Even so, I actually did the thing where I stopped salting my food. Weirdly enough, within a few days, it didn’t really bother me. Within a week, I was like, “holy hell, I was putting EXTRA salt on this before?” Last week, I went to Olive Garden and the soups were deliciously salty (and in the past I would have considered putting some salt in them if no one would catch me and make fun of me). I still think fries need to be saltier than they are, but my tastebuds have quickly jumped in line with the rest of humanity otherwise.

I’m eating more fruit (at least one serving a day, sometimes two) either in a smoothie or some watermelon or berries to snack on. I’m eating a giant salad either for breakfast or a snack most days. I broke and had a hot pocket one day after having a little bit too much fun the night before and it was… not as good as I remembered. I ate one crappy lean cuisine protein micro meal (for dinner because I’m an adult and it sounded good, and I’d already had my fruit and veg for the day and wanted something small) and it also did not need the salt I had been adding to it previously.

So, a few weeks of this and what has it done?

Oh, and also-

This, coupled with actually being pretty proactive with calorie counting (either before or hours, not days later) is really helpful for progress. Adding up my over/under on calories, I’m currently about 300 over my plan for the whole month so far. The last week has been a little challenging with activity since I was resting a cranky ankle (which has paid off – I’m running again without pain!), but 300 is pretty small margin of error per day over a month, so I’m going to call it a success.

And, of course, in the midst of some momentum, I’m about to go on a cruise and then land face-first in the holiday season. So, here’s some goals.

• Basically, keep doing what I’m doing. Track what I eat proactively. Increase activity on days I know I’m going to eat more. Giant veggie-filled salad and lots of variety of veggies throughout the day. Some fruit. Don’t go ham on the other stuff. Even ham.
• As per ush – the holidays are specific days, not a full month+. Celebration days can be balanced with extra activity. Small holiday treats are also fine to be part of a balanced diet, again, just have to go back to the first order of business – actively tracking and balancing the calorie checkbook with activity.
• Do this the best I can on the cruise, too. I have successfully LOST weight on a cruise before, and I don’t dare to dream of that, but I can calm my ish on stuffing my face uncontrollably and hopefully arrive home in similar condition to how I left. Remembering my strategies to do this…
  • Unless it’s a diving day, a VERY small breakfast with just enough to get to lunch. I don’t enjoy most breakfast food much (especially in a buffet type situation), and my best bet is to eat as little as possible.
  • For buffet lunch, ONE plate, mostly veggies, with a few other fun stuffs too. The desserts aren’t worth it.
  • If we end up skipping/missing real lunch and getting snacks – as healthy and as small as possible since dinner is at 5 if we go to the dining room
  • I figure we will go to the dining room most days, so if we do, no real limits here besides don’t stuff myself. No doubling up on meals. If there’s something I want that I don’t get, I’ll put it on the mental list to order or make at home.
  • Just because it’s there doesn’t mean I have to take advantage of it. Snacks, late night pizza, etc etc.

And, yeah, that’s about it. I think I’ve established pretty good habits the last few weeks and the metrics are showing it working. I just need to keep on keepin’ on.

As for activity/training/moving my arse:

Can’t complain. 11-14 hours with a “stepback” week after the race of almost 9 hours? Okay, fine.

We also completed a 25k and had this to say about it on the social medias:

Crazy week, not awesome sleep, and everything felt broken this morning, but off we went! The course was gorgeous, the weather was pleasant (if a little warm at the end), and though I (and my ankle) kinda hate rocks with the passion of a thousand fiery suns, we made it happen.

I did learn how to run with my new hiking poles and learned the lesson that I should always check if the liquid going in my camelback is warm (because that was my biggest whine the last 4 miles). I think with a sit, cold refreshing liquids, and some more nutrition (they were starting to bring out the hot foods for the longer races) I coulda gone a little further, but there’s much more time on feet training needed before I even think about going out for double the distance. I’m excited for it, though!

We were only not DFL by the one person we passed right at the end (but ahead of the 10-12 people that DNF’d), but we did what we set out to do. Yay!

Elsewise, I hit 3x week weights minus ONE session early in the month, and I’m also back to the gym mixing it up 1-2x week instead of doing the same stale sessions at home. I’ve been running 2-3x week (mostly 2) and I have DESIRED to run more, I took it easy on the cranky ankle. Because I didn’t push it earlier in the week when it felt “fine”, I was able to get out over the weekend and do a very pleasant 5-miler with no pain or discomfort instead of running through niggles. Patience that is not in the form of persistence is not always my strong suit, but maybe I’m gaining some wisdom in my old age. 🙂

December, after vacation, is going to be about ramping up a little more. I’d like to run 10 road miles by NYE and I’d like to have a 20-mile trail run/walk in the bank by then as well. The weather and our schedules should be decent to get some time on feet. I’d like to be running 3x week with one long(ISH). I’d like to get at least 2 really long hikes ramping closer to our 50k goal. Weights are still on the menu and so is doing them at the gym as much as possible.

Biking and swimming? See you in the spring.

As for all the other hobbies? Most have been out of focus. I haven’t really touched my book. You know when you’re just feeling burnt out about a thing and the idea of doing it just makes you recoil? Yeah, I’m there right now, and I really don’t know why because I love to write, and I was in the flow with the story (mostly just frustrated about the lack of time to write) and super enjoying myself and then all of a sudden it felt like WORK. I realized this and I went ahead and gave myself a pass until after the cruise. I need some time to clear my head and relax before this sounds fun and really, I’m doing this for fun so it should be fun, not a chore.

I HAVE been rocking through photo editing! I finished all the spring stuff, and now I have a few sets of fall stuff including Seattle, which I will very likely finish (or close) before I go on vacation. That leaves the backlog as just Vermont, and now a set of underwater photos from Jan 2023 I found while unearthing my diving camera… so I’m back at a place with a manageable backlog of photos to edit. So I DEFINITELY need to go take more!

I played my guitar a few times. I need to prioritize this because some of the songs in my “learned” column took a little bit to suss out what the notes/chords are. So, I want to make the goal to play 3x week in December (which should be easy since I’ll be home more).

Adulting. I have a lot of December goals once we get closer to vacation. Like, many of the things we talked about earlier in the year (the great office setup for both of us, fixing Joel’s broken dresser which now makes the closet unusable, making the garage able to be used by cars again, etc). November was not a goose egg though. I will say that we got some old work stuff out of the attic, we finally recycled some electronics, and we got some of my photos printed on canvases and hung in the guest bathroom and our vanity area, and I’m making some progress in cleaning out my office.

Alrighty, last month of the year, gogogo!

• Continue doing what I’m doing with fruits, veg, less salt, and actively tracking my food
• Continue activity as normal while increasing run/hike distances
• Pick writing my book back up after vacation
• Play guitar so you can remember all your songs!
• Make time for some bigger house projects once the workyear winds down

But first, some time to relax and get away… are we there yet?