Week 7, 3rd Run: and other rambling bits

Time: 1900
Duration: 2 min running + 2 min walking x8 (32 min + 1 min extra running for the hell of it)
Route: R Rd and W Ave
Weather: 27C - cloudy - very humid
Sleep: around 10 hours...

I slept sooo much last night but it was a pretty late night because I was fart arsing around with my new laptop for ages after I published last night's post. I woke up this morning and the last thing on my mind was running. My body felt really heavy (though my daily sneaky peek this morning said I've lost half a pound since Friday) and I was very lethargic. To be honest, my day has been a laze-fest of sitting in front of my laptop watching BBC iPlayer and 4oD and occasionally getting up to pour myself a glass of water or grab some food. Oh, I did do the last set of laundry and hung them out, though. Woohoo...

So, running was put off until 1900 but my boyfriend and I pinky-promised (yes, because we're still 5 years old in the head) that we would go running today regardless. First of all, that was probably the hottest condition we've actually run in and I am definitely feeling it right now (my cheeks are bright red). Secondly, though I found it tough (I guess the running on Friday, swimming on Saturday and then running again today has caught up with me), I still managed to bash out an extra minute right at the end to prepare myself for week 8.

I can't say I'm overly confident about week 8. It's a 3 minutes run followed by a 2 minutes walk times by seven, which means a total of 35 minutes of sweat and hell. Err, don't blame me if I'm not jumping for joy at this news. Still, I am hopeful that it's not as bad as I think it is in my head. If I keep to my pace and find some sort of inner zen peace, it might even be enjoyable. Yeah, probably not, but I can pretend.

I forgot to weigh myself today. You'd think I've been measuring myself for 7-8 weeks, it will be second nature by now but I'm quite slow on the uptake so I would need a big neon sign saying "It's Sunday - MEASURE YOURSELF" on the ceiling so it's the first thing I see when I wake up. Depending on how much time I have tomorrow morning before I go to work, I will either do my measurements tomorrow morning or I might give it a miss for this week and see how the results look next Sunday.

Going back to my lethargy today, I am wondering why I felt like this even after 10 hours of sleep. Surely I'd have more energy than a child who ate his body weight in sweets and drank gallons of Coca Cola? I'm very curious; maybe I slept "too much", I didn't have enough energy after my weak excuse for dinner (a medium bowl of soup) last night, maybe my late night kept my brain buzzing when I thought I was asleep, the humid weather, or even the processed food I'm eating these days could be a factor? I have to admit, the food I'm eating right now wasn't in my perfect picture of healthy living. I had a much more fluffier image of myself making my own houmous or my own grilled chicken pasta with tomato sauce, etc. I go through so much processed junk these days because it's actually easier to calculate the points - they do it for you! You got your kcals per serving with your sat fats and BAM, you got your points. Not only that, it's so easy to make. All you need to do is either put it in microwave, add boiling water to it, order from the menu or just a matter of opening the packet and scoffing it. No faffing around with hobs or scales or waiting 30 minutes for something. But it's NOT the way I want myself to be like when I get to my healthy weight - I mean there are people out there who are my goal weight but have a worse diet than me (consuming foods high in salt, MSG, other additives, high in pesticides, etc)!

So, I've got a handful of challenges I'm going to set myself from tomorrow (I've been secretly writing these up for a few days - sly, I know - but none of them are original, actually some should be common sense). Anyway, the first challenge will be to drink 1.5 litres of water (minimum) every day. I was trying to do the Volvic Challenge right at the beginning of my WWO journey but it took a back seat as I was starting my new healthy lifestyle, which also meant I quit smoking and started running. As I've so far done well on those three, I think it's time to add the "drinking plenty of water journey" to my list. Wish me luck and I shall report back daily in my food entries.

On a final note, gosh, I can't believe I've stopped smoking for this long. Go me!