It's All Good

If you're looking for some good news, you came to the right place. When it comes to my workouts, things are continuing to go well. I've had a few accomplishments this week that I want to share. And, because I apparently like to number things in lists...here you are:

#1: I took a real, live outdoor run on Wednesday evening. I did a 5 minute warm-up walk and then jogged, get this, a 2 mile loop! I'm pretty sure I was jogging slower than the 5.0 mph I do on the 'mill, which is why I was able to go so much longer, but I surprised myself in my ability to do it. And this little stint included some mild inclines even. It felt really good to be outdoors and jogging. Puts that boring old treadmill to shame.

#2: I went to the gym four times last week, hitting my goal. On top of that, I got in the above mentioned jog on a gym-free day. And, I've already started this week off on the right foot by going to the gym this morning. I think it's becoming a habit again, not so much internal wrangling to get myself there. Let's hope it sticks in the coming weeks.

#3: You're not going to believe this one. So I've been building up my ab strength, which has been tricky given I had a c-section. Things have been feeling pretty good lately so I decided to give the plank another go. I held the plank for 1 whole minute!! And then after a short break, I held it again for 30 seconds. And this was all after doing crunches earlier during weight training. Can you believe that? I was shocked. So, the plank is officially back in rotation.

#4: I lost 2.4 pounds at weigh-in on Friday!! Yup, ice cream and all. I hope it's a sign that my muscle is sufficiently built up as to be beginning to help with calorie burning. And then there's the breastfeeding, and the 1500+ calories I burned doing cardio throughout the week, not to mention weight training. I was quite pleased, as you can imagine.

#5: I registered for the triathlon on August 15th! So, it's real, I'm doing it. And I'm not doing it alone, which will make it so much more fun. I'm already anticipating the post-tri breakfast and how much fun we'll have chatting about our go of it.

How's that for accomplishments? I'm not afraid to say I'm feeling pretty darned pleased with myself these days. Also, eating has been pretty good. Still not tracking so I can't say this quantitatively but I know I haven't been eating any of my go-to bad foods. (I put bad in italics because I firmly believe no foods are intrinsically bad but some are bad for me in that they tend to trigger over-eating.)

The big day has come though. I go back to work tomorrow. I know this will hold a mix of good and bad things (related to my fitness journey) for me and I'm trying my darndest to focus on the good. The bad? I'm worried about getting in gym time. (And, of course, I know I'll miss my son more than I can imagine.) The good? The time I spend alone with the refrigerator and pantry is going to go way down. And I'll be busier during the day so in addition to less access to food I'll have less time for snacking. Traditionally I do really well during the work day so I'll have three of those to help keep my food intake in check. I'm starting back Mon-Wed for now. Wish me luck.

I'll close with a couple of pics featuring our little man. I have a feeling my picture taking might be curtailed by my returning to work. I'll just have to take that many more on the weekends!

Marek and I at the park on a playdate. He woke from his nap in a good mood and smiley so I got a few pics before de-swaddling him.


And a closer up one, because, well, this little guy just melts my heart!


Marek trying to bust out of daddy's arms while daddy is distracted.

As you can see, it was a good week. All in all I'm not too disappointed in my post-birth, maternity leave recovery. I could have used the time better to lose more weight but who knows if I would have been happy. I tried not to stress about it and things have evolved as they have, which is just fine. I have had the best time with my little boy and I know that even though I'm going back to work, the future still holds endless fun for us all. As long as I keep on my fitness journey and stay active and have fun it's all good.