Follow Through Friday - 10 Months Postpartum

Well looks like I’ve got two weeks to catch up on again with my Follow Through Friday updates. I had a great race on the 11^th and shaved two+ minutes off of my race time from the previous month. I also ran one super-fast mile on the treadmill, my NEW fastest ever at 8:37! I’m doing my own kind of “speed work” and it definitely seems to be helping! Overall my exercise wasn’t that great last week, but at least I got a few miles in! Last week I was also back to meal prepping, had a pretty good week overall and hit my DietBet goal on the 18^th.

I’m finishing my first of two weeks of Business Travel this week and definitely doing much better than I normally do when I travel. I arrived on Sunday in Minneapolis and it was just so gorgeous out, that I HAD to go for a run. I looked up a trail and drove to it. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite what I thought and it was closed down. It was like a legit, in the woods trail and even had it been open, I wouldn’t have ran it since it didn’t seem safe to run alone. I thought it was like a public running path along the river from what the website described. Luckily on the way there I had passed a park, ironically called Running Park. So I went back to there, and was disappointed to find there wasn’t a running path, so I pretty much just ran around the residential neighborhood surrounding it. Since there were families there at the park, I figured it must be a pretty safe neighborhood (and it was still light out). I stayed within a mile of my car and did a 5k around the park area and enjoyed the weather.

On Monday, I got a recommendation from my supplier of where to go and I made my way to Lake Calhoun. OMG, this place was absolutely perfect! Not only was the weather once again perfect, the path around the lake was split in two, with biking on one portion and running/walking on the other. The path was exactly a 5k around and was so populated, I would have thought it was a Saturday afternoon. There were people sailing and grilling and just hanging out all around the lake. (plus the people on the path, exercising). It was so beautiful with the lake and breeze and just the overall ambience of the place. I would come here every night in the summer, if I lived here. They had a nice little place to order food (which by the time I left ad a line of over 40 people, on a Monday evening!) where I started and ended my run, with some incredible fish tacos and you could eat on the dock overlooking the lake. It was seriously PERFECT. I’m a little disappointed that the next time I come up here, it’ll most likely be cold/snowing and I won’t be able to get back to this lake!

 

my attempt at a panoramic picture of the lake and trail

 

 

Where I stay in Cumberland, Maryland there is also a running/bike path (The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath) along the Potomac River so I got another run in there on Wednesday when I arrived. The last times I was here, I was pregnant so didn’t get to fully enjoy it, as I wasn’t exercising at all, well not more than just walking around. It's literally next to the hotel, so it worked out well. Although, still not as nice as Lake Calhoun!

I didn’t make the best food choices overall but I think I made up for them with my extra exercise. I normally don’t get a lot of exercise in when I travel but I made it a priority and the beautiful (non-Florida) weather made it so much more enticing to get outside. I did stay away from the make-your-own waffle iron at the hotel breakfast and opted for a yogurt parfait each morning so that helped. Can’t say much for my lunch/dinner choices though, but I didn’t go completely overboard at least. This coming week will be harder as I’m visiting with a friend this weekend before getting back on the road for work (which I won’t really have much down time in the evenings like I did this week on travel) so I’m sure there will be some drinking thrown in there too.

Today also marks another month (10) postpartum and I’m still working on my downward trend, albeit, it is slowing down and definitely getting harder as I get closer to my goal! 10 months post-partum and 47 lbs down from the morning my water broke!

Week Ending July 17^th:

Weight: 153.6 lbs
Exercise: 
     3.10 miles in 30:54 (11:45 pace)
     1.00 miles in 08:37 < - new fastest pace ever!
     1.17 miles walk

Week Ending July 24^th:
Weight: 153.0 lbs
Exercise: 
     2.22 miles in 26:02 (11:45 pace)
     3.10 miles in 34:19 (11:04 pace)
     3.10 miles in 31:17 (10:05 pace)
     3.57 miles in 37:30 (10:30 pace)

 

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 23.6 lbs.