The last 10+ days have been full of big and little things. I believe we should celebrate as much as possible to keep things in perspective. This is a particularly hard lesson for me when it comes to work, but I don’t want to digress right away into that subject, so…
First of all, I decided to have TWO WINNERS for my giveaway! YAY! Elizabeth and Denise will soon be sporting new RoadID’s and keeping safe on the road with their fitness journeys. Thanks to everyone for participating!
Last weekend I ran my fourth Zevenheuvelenloop again with the Meeùs Running Club – to “jog” your memory, last year I won an entry in the Tilburg 10 Miles with Meeùs including EUR 100 gift certificate to Run2Day and was automatically a member of the running club with that entry. Since then I’ve run a few times with them and it’s so great! Safe place to put your stuff, normal toilets (no Dixis!), catering, beer, etc. And of course entry is always free with them! The Zevenheuvelenloop (7 Hills Run) takes place in Nijmegen which is very close to home. Several members of my local running club were also running, plus the Running Junkies (Amsterdam based group). Joanna was there, as well as Babette whom I haven’t seen since LAST YEAR’S 7HL when she was pregnant with her baby boy (who is since born and pretty much the most adorable baby ever). Was great to see J & B especially since it had been a while and luckily we were all running for Meeùs so we could hang out a bit before and after. Since Babette wasn’t pregnant this year we decided to go for 1:35 to have a slight and nice improvement for me and a kickass improvment for B. Though it was chilly and rainy (not as cold as last year in any case) we basically went for it! Babette and I ran pretty much the whole way together which was very helpful for me when my legs felt super heavy at 12KM until we literally ran into Joanna at 14KM. I was glad B gave it her best sprint at the end and didn’t wait for me – I was literally 20 seconds behind her at a finish of 1:34:34. Once again, ladies and gents, a Personal Record (how many is that this year???).
R – me, Joanna, Babette with our Blingy Bling
After the race, the very cold 3 of us hobbled over to the Vereniging (where Meeùs was located) changed, ate, met up with Hubs,Udjen and Eva (Running Junkies) and then eventually headed to De Hemel (in town) to meet up with some SocialMilers. Great day indeed.
Still trying to get to the gym but work is fairly demanding at the moment – hoping this will change very soon – working on my new program which involves mostly body weight exercises, lunges, squats that sort of thing. Once Marathon training starts I’m going to have to be much more dilligent with getting my workouts in. Right now I’m not really training, so as long as I get there 2 times a week, it’s ok.
I went to the podiatrist as well this week – seems my orthotics aren’t 100% correct, or rather, they could be better. Also that horrible tingling in my left foot most likely isn’t going to go away because the chance that it’s a blocked nerve is really high and the only thing that helps with that is time. Boo! However, lately I’ve been laying flat in bed (so the millions of pillows have to go) or a little bit bent at the knees (laying on my side) and the tingling is less. As far as the pain and issues in both feet – also very likely that I have another neuroma (BOO!!!!) but orthotics could help but I may need to have an MRI later which could lead to (very worst case scenario) an operation (BOOOOO!!!!!). In my right foot it’s probably just painful from overcompensating and will also go away with time (definitely no stress fracture or something like that).
And last but not least, went to WW (skipped last week) and FINALLY the scale went down again. Loss is 1.5KG which is a total of 7.1KG since end of April. NOW WE ARE GETTING SOMEWHERE! According to WW scale I have 5KG to go to be back at goal weight. For the first time in 5 years I really feel like I might reach my goal early next year. Now to survive all of the treats and holidays that are ahead.
Speaking of which – what is your best tip for surviving the holidays without wrecking everything you’ve worked for???
Congrats on your PR! My best tip is that the holidays are DAYS, not months. I indulge on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but try to keep things in check the rest of the time (an occasional treat, but no more than I would usually do).
Congrats on the weight loss and the PR! You’re so close goal!! I really hope you don’t have to have surgery. Not just for the fact of having surgery, but also the de-motivating rest time you’d have to endure. Hopefully, there is another solution for you!
Having been through many holidays during my WL journey (some better than others!), I have quite a few tips. Here are my main guidelines:
-Don’t take leftovers, keep tempting food in the house. If I bake/cook, it has to go elsewhere.
-The holiday is ONE day. Enjoy the treats and foods as much as I want to on that one day. I do my best not to extend Thanksgiving to a 4-day festival or Christmas through New Years eat-a-thon. One year I let myself “enjoy” the holidays from Thanksgiving through New Years and I lost SO much progress. Really – was that necessary? That’s over a month of not tracking foods and giving effort to my health. It wasn’t worth it – lesson learned!
-I work or make plans on days off. Many folks take off 2 weeks at the end of the year. I use my vacation days during the summer and I’ll usually work the days around the holidays because I don’t have to travel. It keeps me in my routine and I don’t waste vacation days on freezing days just sitting inside my apartment.
-Plan ahead plan ahead plan ahead!! Plan meals, plan workouts, stay on plan as much as possible.
-Forgiveness. I enjoy my foods, my treats, my Baileys and let it go :)