Back to it!

Well, after a rather ordinary week diet- and exercise-wise, I'm back into it properly today, starting with my "long" endurance run. This week was another 5.5km run (plus 5min walking for warm up and cool down).

I loved last week's run - it felt so good, I felt as if I could actually run for 10km. This week? Oh. My. God. It killed me! I did it at the same run pace as last week, but damn, it hurt this week and I really felt as if I was struggling the whole way:

It's bizzare to me that the same run, same route, same pace, on hour later (I slept in a little) can feel so different! I think even the dog felt it, because about halfway through he put his bum on the ground as if to say "nah, I'm not feeling it today". Unfortunately for him (and me) we had to get back to the car, so I encouraged him with an enthusiastic voice that I did not feel. I did lots of "disassociating" where I purposefully relaxed my shoulders and just listened to the words of the songs and tried not to think about running and how much I want to stop and walk. It did the trick and I got there (although I will admit to walking the very last 200m or so of the run interval - it was uphill!).

Perhaps the excess of Christmas has caught up with me (not that I was that excessive!) and certainly this bug I've been fighting off has knocked me for a bit of a six and I've been feeling very tired and washed out. But a nutritious diet, some vitamins and maybe some Yakult yoghurt will see me bouncing back, I'm sure!

And it was PACKED out there today! I knew there was a reason I meant to wake early and it wasn't just to miss the heat. Our little seaside town is overrun with visitors, which is great for the economy, but it makes for a very crowded footpath. Every man, woman, child, toddler, baby in a pram and their dog were out and about! And soooo many runners! And all of them faster than me (which, apparently, is not hard). At least I run faster than the walkers (gotta look on the bright side).

Home to a healthy, protein-packed egg-white omelette (it was OK, but yolks are sorely missed!):

Going grocery shopping this afternoon to make sure the fridge and cupboards are stocked up with the necessary ingredients to stick to the food plan! I have a relatively quiet week work-wise, so no excuses on the exercise front either!

Back to it, baby!