fitness

atthequillsmercy

Workout Dump: World Traveler and A Break

It’s been a hot minute since I posted about workouts, so here’s a snippet of what I’ve been doing. I finished all the Nellie Bly missions and started the pirate one. The step counter is working better, but it’s not exact. I rely on my watch or my ring to actually get my pace. These pics are pretty close, though. I’ll take it. I’ve been fairly active outside of this, too. Daily crunches and squats, and trying to remember doing some wall pushups. I’m still stuck around 209, but I NEED to give the Saxenda a break. I’m not a medical professional, but since the Saxenda fucks with my depression SO badly at times, I need to be off it for a while. I shouldn’t be waking up in the morning and immediately thinking, “I want to die.” My writing is suffering because aside from that thought, my brain is muffled and useless. Writing is the only way I’ve been able to make any money on the side, and I can’t have this medication making me creatively dead. I may gain some weight back, but I’m fine with that. I can restart it when I feel better. It’s not worth being skinny (which isn’t my goal anyway) if I can’t function! Even after less than a week off it, I already feel more balanced. I have noticed I’m hungrier, but even if I hit 1,000 calories a day, I feel overfull. I’ll keep checking in and talk to my doctors about this.

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atthequillsmercy

Workout Dump: Doodles

I normally don’t post the little notes I get from Zombies Run but this one from Sam is just too damn adorable! I really like these training missions! It’s so nostalgic with all the people I heard from way back in season one of the app coming back. And you’ll see I did one mission twice and that’s because I didn’t notice that it hadn’t been marked complete the first time. I just did it again. No biggie. Steps are steps.

I’m making good progress on cleaning out the freezer, which is why I made a random Cornish game hen in the middle of the summer. I don’t want to put the oven on but I also don’t want to waste food. I’m already tossing out a lot of random stuff I’ve unearthed and whenever I do, I hear my mother’s voice telling me that wasting food is a sin. I assuage my guilt by promising not to overbuy things in the future.

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Workout and Food Dump: I miss some things

I’ve been pretty active and trying to do more strength training regularly. I remember my morning and evening squats more often and even grabbed the kettlebell here and there. The only real change I’ve seen is better endurance for my runs and a slight drop in my body fat percentage (37.4 to a flat 37). By weight is still stuck but hey, less body fat is a good thing!

With the longer runs, I try to have dinner cooking while I’m running, but that doesn’t always work. That salmon turned out dry as fuck. Edible but not enjoyable. The rice and beans turned out good, though. That could sit in the rice cooker during a workout without getting ruined. Those pickled onions aren’t homemade this time; I got them from the farmer’s market. They’re pretty good, but there’s just something about making it yourself. I’m probably doing it wrong, too. That’s usually how I end up with unique things at home.

I’m happy-ish with my progress but I miss some of my old workouts. I used to do Zumba and it was fun! But so’s running. I dunno, I’ll think of something.

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atthequillsmercy

Workout Dump and Another Great Find

Yeah, I still don’t know what is up with the Zombies Run app. It’s still not counting my steps. It will start to count the steps then not do it unless I’m legit shaking the phone. I think I’m gonna give up on it and just leave it on a steady run and get my stats in other ways. It’s frustrating because it used to work just fine and I really like their 5k trainer. And it’s not my phone’s accelerometer because the apps I use to convert my steps to points are counting them just fine. 

I’m supposed to be getting more protein in my diet as well as cleaning out the fridge, so I’ve been eating more fish and making sure protein is in every meal. I’ve also discovered a new fantastic sauce from Trader Joe’s: Lemon Pesto Sauce. I bought it without knowing what I’d do with it (I really need to stop doing that) and ended up making that last pasta dish with it. I cooked an entire bag of pasta, added the pesto and pasta water in while I cooked the broccoli (in the same pot because nobody helps me with dishes), broke apart some breaded chicken strips, and mixed that all together. It was so, SO good. It probably didn’t even really need the Parmesan cheese on it, but it was still fantastic. I’m probably gonna have to stock up on it so I still have some when they inevitably discontinue it.

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atthequillsmercy

“Today’s” Workout: There’s clearly a problem

I honestly couldn’t tell you what the hell is going on with my Zombies Run app but I have made so many stride length adjustments since the last couple updates to the app and it just will not count my steps unless I’m shaking the phone like a damn maracca. I have my watch as a backup which shows the real step count, pace, and distance but the stats in ZR used to matter to me in terms of seeing my improvements or lack thereof. Now it’s all gone to shit. The 5k trainer within the app is great. I find it really encouraging. The intervals are different from Just Run which gives me some variety to make sure my body doesn’t get used to things and has a challenge. Every other app is tracking my steps just fine but I don’t know what is up with Zombies Run and my lazy googling hasn’t uncovered any other people having this issue. I’m trying for a 90 day workout challenge to try and burn off these last few pounds before NYCC and while this isn’t helping, it’s not hindering me either. I’m moving and that’s what counts. Any other day I’m not running, I’m on the desk bike or desk peddler.

My food has been interesting since I’ve been having my fingernails detach again. I’m doubling up on my multivitamins and switching some other things up. That salad is basically what I had in that croissant sandwich but in a salad without the bread. Those wasabi almonds are fantastic while I’m feeling peckish and I’ve been making progress on cleaning out the deep freezer/fridge by making things like that huge ass lamb leg. I baked it with potatoes and vegetables, then portioned it out for the week. I hate having to use the oven in the summer but, this stuff needs to be cooked and eaten. It’s all part of the big clean-out I’m doing of the whole house. If I can’t eat it, wear it, use it, or sell it, it’s going in the trash. Hopefully, I’ll sell enough stuff that I can give the sanitation workers a HUGE tip this year. They fucking deserve it considering what I’ve put them through.

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Today’s Workout: An attempt was made

I’m so frustrated with how slow things are going that I decided to hop on the C210K trainer and the first workout was 53 minutes. I hadda stop at the third interval. I just couldn’t do it. I walked the rest. All of these workouts are too long for a weekday, so weekend warrior it is. I can either walk or bike during the week. Also, the stride length got reset with the Zombies Run app updated. I am so glad my watch keeps track of things as well. My in-app stats will be off but I’ll just have to live with that.

The farmer’s market by my job is back in business and I had to grab some of the delicious broccoli rabe ravioli and marinara sauce. I love farmer’s market season. They have amazing stuff. Dinner was healthy despite me wanting a burger. Probably craving protein after that long workout but I’m trying to get more veggies in and I was bored with romaine. Not a bad day, all things considered. I just have to regain my stamina for these longer runs.

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Today’s Workout: Setting off!

I’d meant to do the Nellie Bly missions a long time ago and despite characters talking over each other a bit too much for my liking, I like it! It’ll probably be like the last one and not include any zombies, which is fine. I enjoy the storytelling in this app. And this was another long 28 minute run and I think I need to take it easy. I’ve been going hard this week and after today’s run, I felt lightheaded. I’m a very hydrated girlie so, it wasn’t that. It was warmer than usual but I like to think I’m not that sensitive.

Right after my run, I ate my leftover hot pot and had one of the Eat Clean meals for dinner. Those aren’t half bad, but I wouldn’t buy them without the deep discount I’d won in a raffle. I grabbed a handful, cashed in the voucher, then immediately cancelled the subscription. These are handy for days like today where since I wasn’t feeling quite right, standing and chopping a bunch of ingredients to cook was out of the question. I also didn’t want to waste money on takeout; at least not during the week. I tend to save that for weekends as a treat for finishing all my chores on a Saturday. I work hard, I’m entitled to at least one day where I don’t have to cook. 

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Today’s Workout: Singing Snake

This was a fun side adventure. It really helped to distract me from having to run for 28 minutes straight (staring at the countdown timer is the WORST, I swear it makes everything feel longer) and I felt great after it was all said and done.

I snagged an apple to eat on the way towards the store after my run but I did treat myself to hot pot at home. I went heavy on the broccoli to load up on veggies but I wasn’t able to finish it all. I’ll probably have the rest tomorrow for lunch and It was so much food, this was more than enough for the whole day. So far, I’ve been averaging 7k steps a day for most of the month and I’m pretty proud of myself!

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Today’s Workout: My dogs are barkin’

After I did my run first thing in the morning, I cooled down and went right to walk to the store, then right into doing various chores. When I say my feet hurt, I am mostly whining but yeah, they are super sore, and my skin is freaking out that it’s been exposed to sunlight for more than 5 minutes. Don’t worry, I did use proper sun screen. I have enough problems. I’m not adding sun burn or skin cancer to the mix.

I had a left over patty from yesterday and since I wanted to get my shopping over with, I ate it on the way. By the time I sat down, I was feeling dizzy. Making dinner (yeah, I’m on a salad kick right now) was an adventure and I still feel kinda off kilter. Maybe I wasn’t hydrated enough? I have no idea. I still have at least two more runs to do this week so, I need to get it together.

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Today’s Workout: Incorrect

I goofed and didn’t time the mission correctly and the stride length was wrong so my pace is completely off for this run. The treadmill has a bunch of metrics on it and it said I did 2 miles. I’ll have to tweak it tomorrow for the next run. I know it’s not about the numbers, it’s about burning calories but still! I did those miles and I’d like to see them.

I tried white balsamic vinegar for this salad and it was pretty good! Totally different vibe from the darker stuff. And I got into the spirit of warmer weather and grilled myself a hamburger for dinner. I ended up giving the pickle to my kid because I couldn’t finish it; I was too full. It’s so strange to feel so hungry I could pass out before lunch but too full to finish dinner. While the scale hasn’t moved, I have noticed my face is thinner and so is my waist. I’ll get there. I’m so close to getting out of the 200 club. Once I’m done with the 5k trainer, I’m gonna switch to the 10k, meaning longer runs. I’ll have to do them on my days off or days where I go into work later and do shorter runs during the week. I am aware I need to do more strength training. I invested in some adjustable weights for me and my kid to share.

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