running

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Gross?

Every time the Zombies Run! app updates, I have to adjust my stride length… Which I did not do before this run so my pace is completely off.  I was digging around in the app and adjusted it and also noticed that 2020 was still the year of my highest mileage. I mean, of course. I was in lockdown and doing c210k, running a minimum of 45 minutes 6 days a week. Probably not likely to top that anytime soon. But, this was another really long run with no breaks and while again, the intervals give me water breaks I enjoy, I was able to get through the whole thing. I even did peek at the timing for c210k for the Just Run app and the shortest runs are 50-ish minutes. Doable if I get up early on a day I’m working late or run on a day off. There’s just no time to do a run that long after work but still have time for dinner and get to bed at a decent hour. I’ll have to tweak my schedule and see but I’m not finished with the 5k trainer yet.

These are… Not the most appetizing food pictures I’ve taken. I had a craving for pancakes. I had them after my run mid-morning. For dinner was butter garlic ready rice, salmon with garlic confit and shallots with some corn thrown in there. It looks greasy as fuck because the garlic confit I made had a ton of olive oil. Ugly to look at? Yes. Fucking delicious? Also, yes. This isn’t a food blog. It’s a “whatever random crap I decide to include” blog. And when you’re satisfying a craving, it doesn’t matter if your plate looks pretty. 

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Best laid plans?

This was a good run despite it being a bit stuffy in the room. I know it sounds prissy but, the more comfortable I am when I run, the more likely I am to do it. I know the weather is just going to get hotter and I’m not looking forward to that, mostly because of the damn electric bill for the air conditioning.

In my head, I had all these plans for meal prep: throwing out old food, putting the fresh stuff right in the front, making sure the containers were clean… Only to just rely on frozen food and have popcorn for dinner. Don’t get me wrong, the breaded cod is delicious and comes in clutch when I need protein fast and a break from chicken or beef. The Steamfresh veggies are convenient, too. They go very nicely in my Itaki and 20 minutes has all of it warmed up and ready to go. After my run, I’d had it for the day. Popcorn filled me up and I have zero regrets. 

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Imma just do the thing

I decided to do the 20 minute run workout on Thursday since that’ll be my last run for the week and the weekend will be body weight workouts and walking. I do hope to make it so every run is just a warm up, run, cool down, without the intervals but the intervals may be good for training? I dunno. This is the kind of thing that when I look it up, there are benefits and downsides to both methods. I guess as long as I’m moving, it doesn’t matter?

Whelp, Kind bars were on sale again and making an appearance in my rotation. As I was making dinner last night, I packed some of it for lunch today and for dinner, I threw some rice and chicken in the rice cooker while I was on the treadmill and by the time I was all finished, I added some veggies and chili crisp for some lazy chicken and rice. Putting everything together in the evening did result in me eating later than I’d like. I try to be done by 8pm and have nothing but water or tea after that (maybe some CBD seltzer to help me sleep). I don’t like going to bed with that full feeling. But, there’s not much to be done about it unless I start batch cooking again.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Confidence

Despite the fact I’ve done it before, I still balk at a full 20 minute run. I still haven’t finished the latest week of C25k because of that even though I know I can do it. I just need to DO it and stop questioning myself. Not today, though. I’m still sleepy but wanted to get running again. Also, I really hope this app survives because I would LOVE a part two to this Atlantis mission series.

As I’d predicted, making fries as a weeknight dinner results in me eating it later than I’d hoped. I got a bag of panko breaded cod in my last Butcher Box order and the fries soaked while I was running. I let them dry while I was in the shower and after I was all lotioned and potioned; I fried them up. They weren’t as crispy as I would have hoped but that’s probably because they didn’t have time to dry enough before frying. Not a big deal! It was still a satisfying meal.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Switch up

Another side story marked complete! I think for tomorrow I’m gonna give one of those bodyweight workout missions a try. Sometimes it’s nice to have a workout where I don’t have to put on a bunch of gear. What I have been noticing lately is that my knees will feel fine on the treadmill but when I walk downstairs to get dinner after, that’s when they decide to hurt. It’s really fucking annoying to feel amazing and strong after a run then feel decrepit and old moving around my own home.

I decided to change things up (and have less salt) by having lemon chicken instead of soy sauce. I even used the Trader Joe’s Lemon olive oil instead of regular olive oil and I really enjoy the extra flavor. Dinner was the leftover hand-cut fries and steak I’d made Saturday. Making fries at home is definitely a weekend type of activity because this time I’d let them soak for HOURS and they turned much better than only soaking for the minimum amount of time. Or I’d have to prep them to soak before I go to work. It’s probably for the best that they take so much time since I probably shouldn’t be eating fries too often anyway.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Taking advantage of laundry day

It’s probably not a good idea to admit how many workouts I’ve done that were spurred on by dirty clothes. Back when I only had one decent sports bra, I would literally put the damn thing on first thing on the morning to make sure I felt gross enough to do a workout to justify a shower because I let that filthy thing touch my skin. This isn’t the case these days but still, if I’m gonna have a morning to kill, I might as well mess up a sports bra with the promise that it would be clean by the end of the day. The method to my laundry madness is I do my bedding first since making the bed sucks. Hey, I’ll take any type of motivation. I’d used that back in lockdown; I’d put on my workout clothes first thing, then make sure I’d had a reason to put them on. Using my aversion to being filthy to workout is a little hack I’ve discovered. I dunno if I’d recommend it to anyone else.

I will freely admit that part of my motivation to run in the morning was that once I was done, I’d pop by my favorite bagel place for that and an iced coffee, only to find that they were closed. Look, my very Pagan Witch self forgets what non-Pagan holidays are happening sometimes, but I hid my very inconsequential problem by having a salad after my run. I did chores for the rest of the day and had the very lame victory of an empty hamper by bedtime. I had some steak and a potato laying around. I made myself some hand cut fries that were damn good! It’s pretty easy to have fries soaking and drying to fry properly when you’re doing a bunch of other cleaning around it. I even double fried them! Gosh, I’m so fancy. Or I’m seeing what cost-cutting measures I can take as the world burns down around me….

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Better Numbers!

I did my run after I got back from the doctor and while I don’t have the bloodwork results yet, my blood pressure is so much better. Still a little high but progress! I think being active more often is helping even if the scale doesn’t move. I can tell my endurance is improving and I’m having fun with these side missions.

Since I was up early enough (I like to schedule my appointments first thing in the morning to get them over with) I ate an actual breakfast before my run. Then I held out for my little hot pot for dinner. Obviously, I didn’t eat all of the beef/pork in that package and I went heavy on the veggies. I’m till working on getting all the food in the fridge eaten in preparation for the new fridge that… I haven’t heard about being delivered yet. Those people better not screw me over… Anyway, I have a little pot to boil the broth and had some meat and bok choy. There’s some white onion under there and I dipped the meat in sesame oil and garlic like yesterday except this time, I used a bit of spicy sesame oil. It’s just fun to eat hot pot and I can’t afford to always go into the city to hit up the good places. But, two nights in a tow is a lot. I’ll have to give myself a break and have some salads tomorrow. Not as a punishment, of course. I love me a good salad.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Tummy Troubles

Ah, a new week filled with PMS that I refuse to let slow me down this time. If I’m gonna be sore and cranky, I’m gonna earn it the old-fashioned way. This workout was a C25k one and everything went smoothly. I was tempted to pick up the speed but, I think I’ll do that once I’m a few more weeks into the process. The intervals are gonna get longer and endurance is important to me. I’ve also been stretching more. No sense getting my old joints locked up.

Since I’d given myself a delightful bout of food poisoning, I wasn’t so certain about eating until my workout went well and that little bit of sweet bread stayed down. I felt okay enough by dinner to have some beef ribs. Luckily, I was off for the day for a doctor’s appointment and didn’t have to worry about being sick at work. That’s never fun. It’s not a lot of calories for the day but I’m happy about that protein. It was so good.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Things and Stuff

The runs are getting easier and easier and I’m actually kinda proud of myself for sticking with it. It would have been so easy to sleep in longer but, I think it made my day better to be active right away. The runs are going to get longer now and I’ve already been contemplating doing the 10k training once this is finished. We’ll see how it goes.

I should probably be eating before I do my run but eh, I’m used to skipping breakfast. Lunch was more of the garlic scapes and pasta and dinner was the usual as well. I’m gonna shake it up next week; maybe treat myself since I sold an item in my shop after so long. Another small step closer in stashbusting! I have so much to get through but much like the weight loss, it’s a little bit at a time. And if I can get out of debt by selling these things along with my writing, I’ll take whatever I can get.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Yikes on trikes

I try not to talk too much about the missions to avoid spoiling something for the 2 people who read this blog but, I gotta say, I’m not sure I like Evil Sam. The main story has him as this loveable, competent guy that hearing him be unhinged was off-putting. Props to the voice actor because, WOW. As for the workout itself, it went fine despite my knee hurting at various times of the day. I mean it would feel fine the entire run but once I went to walk down the stairs to make dinner, I’d get a twinge of pain. Very annoying…

I’d gotten a bakery set from Weee and decided to try the melon bread for breakfast. It was really good and perfect to just grab and go. Lunch was my usual but for dinner, garlic scapes are back in season and I LOVE those. I made pasta and cut up some Italian sausage, added olive oil, and put some flaked salt on top. Absolutely delicious and satisfying after a run and I only used one pot. All together, it was all under 1000 calories so, my caloric deficit is doing very well.

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