10:37 is the new 11:30

I've had about a 3-week hiatus from running recently.  Travelling, vacation, the holidays... just haven't been running much since my last 5k race at the end of October.  The good news is that as of today I've lost all the weight I put on during our lazy drunken Mexico vacation (followed quickly by the infamous all-you-can-eat-Turkey Thursday), so I'm officially back on track with my weight loss efforts.

Coming back from even a short break always feels like I'm starting completely from scratch!  I find it really discouraging, running shorter intervals and walking more, etc.  So I tried something a little different this week.  I took the dog for her walk yesterday afternoon - it was crazy-warm, temp in the 60s in Illinois December! - and I decided such beautiful weather called for a longer walk in celebration.  We walked and did a wee bit of jogging to the junior high about a mile from home, then ran a Test Mile.  NO WALK BREAKS ALLOWED, just run until the Garmin says a full mile completed.  I said to myself, "None of this interval crap - your body knows what to do, and your MIND is the only thing keeping you from doing it."

Test time:  10:37!!  Pretty good for a slow, overweight runner-girl! My previous Test Mile in September was just under 11 minutes.

This got me thinking:  if I can run one mile in 10:37, I can run two at that pace... or three.  Like, in a row.  So I decided 10:37 is my new medium-term goal pace... 10:37 is the new 11:30.

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0.2 LB this week

I was travelling and working till 11 pm-midnight each night last week. Not logging my food... Completely mentally & physically exhausted by the time I came home Friday... then worked a full 8-hour day Saturday and I'm headed in today

Suffice to say it's been a rough week. But despite not always making the very best choices - good (ish) foods but portion control was totally out the window, and FORGET about exercise, there was just no time - I managed to STAY STEADY with my weight this week!!!

That 0.2 LB loss is a BIG WIN today, I'm very happy with it.

I'm going to try to take that win and turn it into a productive day at work, and use that positive energy as leverage to make it through next week without eating a box of donuts or a gallon of ice cream!  (Just say "NO" to stress-eating.)

This post is necessarily short and sweet.