Back at it again!

I've strayed from my course a bit this week, between being sick with the stomach flu, still being sore from Spartan Race, and having a crap ton of errands to run. My diet has suffered as well, I haven't been eating at the intervals I normally do and have instead done alot of impulse eating this week. That's ok though... I've worked hard and come a long way so I can celebrate a bit. But now it's time to get my diet and exercise routine right again.

I am going to start doing my own Crossfit-esque workouts here at home. Mainly things that don't require machines, just my own body or some hand held equipment. My plan is to make flashcards that are color coded for the muscles they work (upper body, lower body, total body, abs, etc.) and just pick them out of the deck to comprise my WOD's. That way I don't have to stand there and think about what I want to do, nor do I have to religiously perform the exact same exercises every time.

Today I went out for what was supposed to be a 5.5 mile run. Anything longer than 4 miles I run at a slower pace, but I must have subconsciously wanted to run fast today. The last few races I've run have not been for speed, so I guess it's been awhile since I've run for speed. I completed a 5k distance in 26:42 which IS a new PR! Still, I did not feel so hot for this run. I ate alot of salty foods yesterday, and while I tried my best to hydrate last night and this morning, it just didn't catch up in time. I definitely felt dehydrated and "dry", and I usually just keep my water in the car for afterwards. The other factor for me today was the weather. It was about 68 and breezy - sounds perfect, right? I thought so too. But. The Sun. It's strong here in Georgia, and I tell you there was not one single cloud in the sky today. It was so hot and bright out there. All that squinting my eyes plus being dehydrated = MASSIVE HEADACHE. So I ended up stopping after the 3.1 miles. I didn't want to put myself through a miserable 2.5 miles so I just called it a day. I did get a PR out of it, and I'm happy with that.

So - may need to start bringing along sunglasses for my runs. I'm also considering getting a small camelbak for days where I feel like I might need a little extra water. We have one but it's big and a bit overkill for short runs. My plan for when the weather gets hot is to eventually do my long saturday runs really early in the morning. Right now I'm having to schedule my runs depending on what the weather does. I started running in september of last year and it was on treadmills at that time, so warm weather running is going to take some adjusting to!

I'm glad spring is finally here. This 60-70 degree weather has been great. Things are starting to bloom again. All it does is make me want to get outside! It does also mean - YARD WORK. And since I'm now a home owner, that glorious burden is mine! I need to pull weeds and put some grass seed down tomorrow. And do a ton of other things. But before I do any of that I will get my strength training in! And maybe a 1-2 mile run. No excuses!

Next weekend we head to South Carolina for my 7.2 mile trail run. I'm really looking forward to that - nature trails are probably my favorite place to run! Also, I was on post today and they had a registration booth for the Battle of the Colors 5k. I walked up to the guy and said "Oh man... I've reeeeallly thought about signing up for this. And now you're right here in front of my face. So I guess now I have to!" With all these races I'm going to be doing over the next 2 months I thought about taking a weekend off, but I do really want to do this race. I want to participate in fitness events on base because it's good to be involved with the military community, plus it's a color run which is something I have not done before. So yes, I'll be doing that the following weekend. Then Warrior Dash. And god knows what else. There are SO many races all happening at the same time, I want to do them all!

Still waiting on my official photos from Spartan Race... so impatient!!!!