WRD: Monthly Run Down Edition

2 February, 2020 Off By Renée

*sigh* how has the time passed so quickly?

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It’s been quite a couple of Weeks

When we last “spoke” to each other I’d just gotten back from Paris and was trying to get into the swing of it all again. No more celebrations, no more excuses, the holidays and the birthday was over and it was time to get my focus back.

So What Have I Been Doing?

Back on the Weight Loss Train

I started my Hormone Reset Diet. I should to a whole blog post about this and, basically, what a sham I think it is for the most part. I feel like I’ve been suckered into the diet industry once again when all I really want to do is fix my body. Let me make it clear – YES I’d like to lose a few kilos, but I’d rather fix whatever imbalances I have to get my body a bit more on track.

Anyway, I won’t recap the whole thing right now. In fact I’m sort of still in it. But I can tell you that, yes, I did lose 1.3KG in total in January, mostly in the last week, but not because of this “diet”. I’m fairly certain it’s because I cracked down, started logging my food again, recalculated my TDEE and haven’t been eating all the calories I burned from exercise. Pure and simple CI/CO stuff.

By the way, if you ever start diving into “fixing” what feels like a broken system, you will find alllll kinds of information out there. My thought is that my cortisol levels are too high. So how do you lower cortisol? Well, you need to do a number of things. And there are all kinds of experts out there. It’s making me feel a little nuts to be honest. The number one piece of advice is to get enough sleep. HOW??? Anyway, I’m going to go into this a bit more in another blog post. (So now that’s two extra I’ve promised you)

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I’ve been over here quietly tying to find a way to “fix” some things in my life that have an effect on my body. I have had many tough periods when it comes to weight loss. When I started in 2009, I lost about 9 kilos, probably in a years time and then I spent about 5 years just hovering at that weight. Some call it a plateau. Some call it maintenance. . . . I tried many things. But even then I was hearing about “too much cortisol” so the only real solution was to eliminate the biggest stressor in my life – my somewhat stressful job and the 20+ hours commute time I had each week needed to go. .. . I got a job around the corner from where I live, got more sleep and immediately started losing weight again. I also started training for more half marathons and marathons and cortisol production was likely set into overdrive at that point. I’ve not seen my goal weight (which is fine, I just didn’t want the scale to go up) and in the last couple of years my weight has gone up but nothing major. . . The number on the scale isn’t the problem. It’s how I feel. And more importantly it’s how I feel whilst running. Last year was a disaster and instead of losing 4kg I GAINED that. . . So how the •eff• do I fix it??? Meditation. Don’t drink coffee. Get quality sleep. Take supplements. Exercise. Don’t exercise too much. Do yoga. Eat enough fiber. Don’t eat sugar. Get regular massages. Dry brush your body every morning. Oh and do all of this as soon as possible to reduce cortisol levels. I’m stressed just trying to figure it all out!! . . . Just how long does it take to fix a broken hormonal system?? #hormonereset #cortisol #menopause #stress #doeverythingrightnow #cantloseweight #hugecaloriedeficitandmyweightwentup #notstarvingmyself #tdee #CICO

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Work Has Been Really Busy / Stressful

Normally my job is pretty relaxed. I have great colleagues and things are flexible so if you have appointments or need to go a bit early, you can always make it up later. I have two new colleagues who are both non-Dutch speaking. As the native English speaker I am the one spending a LOT of time with one of them and a bit with the other who came in later. I’m also trying to step out of my little comfortable place and do some extra work to show my managers that I’m more “senior” now (and have that reflected in my job/ pay level; I’m currently at the top of my current job level and cannot get further raises until I do “‘above expectations” on a regular basis). Between my new colleagues and working on other projects I do feel a bit stressed again. I need to keep that in check.

parkrun Is Moving Forward

Something else that’s taking a lot of time! The work is paying off though because last week we got the green light from the city council and from parkrun and now need to fill in the paperwork – Dutch and English – and send it in. I *finally* was able to finalise the route as well (only took about 10,000 runs in the park to work out start and finish). We had a testrun last week and 18 people showed up! That made me really, really, really happy. I can’t say when we’ll start but I have a projected date. Watch this space! (Feel free to like our Facebook Page Sonsbeek parkrun – you never know if you are in my neck of the woods one day!)

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What an amazing morning ? today was our first testrun event in Arnhem for #sonsbeekparkrun I was fairly stressed about how it would go. I even wrote up my “speech” last night in Dutch and English so I wouldn’t forget anything. With 4 core team members and 5 volunteers we welcomed 18 runners – including some special guests from @karpendonkseplasparkrun – to get a sneak peak at our course. While we still have a few kinks to work out, the feedback was good and most appreciated the placement of hill after the first kilometer (instead of immediately uphill ?- sorry it was there in the first place @tantetine3 ?). We also got some great tips from Team Eindhoven (@heartrunnergirl is one of the core team there, so it was awesome to see her) who will be launching their #parkrun soon! We’re a bit behind in Arnhem but it will definitely happen! And make no mistake- I would not have had the confidence to do this without such a great team of people like @onelittlefonzie and @voedie to name a few! . . How was your Saturday morning? Did you parkrun today? . . . #running #runningcommunity #parkrunnl #loverunning #loveparkrun? #arnhem #gelderland #sonsbeekpark #hetmooistepark #hardopen #hardlopenisleuk #wandelen #joggen #iedereeniswelkom #laufen #parkruneverywhere

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I Started My 10K Training

It’s official! I started my 10K Training this week. It wasn’t a stellar start but I did it: Wednesday 5KM @ 10K pace on the treadmill at the gym, Friday was hills (also 5KM as I was testing start and finish again) and Saturday was my long run – 8.5KM; 7KM without a break (yay!), 500 rest and 1KM cool down back home. My race is on April 5th.

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It was my first week back in real training since Hermiagate this past August. Honestly I am motivated to run but not quite so to train. It’s been good to just run whenever I wanted or not run at all. And with all the focus on parkrun I just haven’t had the training mindset. It is now 9 weeks until Rotterdam and I at least want to get to the start line feeling like I prepared a bit. I usually do a long run on Sunday but tomorrow I’m meeting friends in Rotterdam (coincidentally) and I have to leave fairly early and I’ll only get home around dinner time. So I finally got my ? our the door and went. 8,5km in total ••7 of that with no break•• not a big deal for some but for me it’s huge. 500 meters walking after the 7 and then another kilometer home. I know mentally I’m not quite over getting sidelined because while I’m happy about the progress I don’t want to ? too loudly just yet. . . . How was your Saturday? Did you run?. . . #injurycomeback #running #training #10km #demooiste #kwartmarathonrotterdam #herniateddiscrecovery #buildingupslowly #fitness #fitafter50 #fitbloggroup

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Coming up Next Week

  • Monday – RPM @ home AM / Pilates PM
  • Tuesday – back to back RPM at the gym
  • Wednesday – Run 30 mins easy
  • Thursday – RPM @ home AM (have massage appointments in the PM)
  • Friday – Run easy pace 5 mins, run 5 mins threshold, run 5 mins easy, run 5 mins threshold, run 10 mins easy
  • Saturday – **optional** Run 45 mins easy
  • Sunday – Run 65 mins easy

Oh dear. no rest day!

Still Not Proclaiming Any Goals Right Now

I think it’s better if I just focus on what I have on my plate and do the best i can. There are things I’d like to do but I don’t need to accomplish anything specific, more than what I’m doing to drop a bit of weight and get my runs in.

points if you know what movie this comes from

I feel terrible that I’ve missed out on what everyone has been doing. I just really struggle to have time for everything. I don’t know how some of you do it all.

How’ve you been? How’s your running? Any races coming up? Are you on the weight loss train (again) too?