OK…  I took a few days off….5 to be exact!  However, I went skiing at Squaw Valley (epic conditions) and played in the snow with the family, etc…so I did get some exercise.  I ate fairly well but had a little sushi rice and even had a beer here and there so I didn’t lose any weight.  Today, I am back on the program!  I ran my 3.5 miles this morning and was a little easier on myself as far as the heel striking goes…  I am trying to get a feel for how to land on the ball of my foot comfortably and consistently.  Only my left calf felt any significant pain today so I think I am progressing.  The right one will come around I am sure…  I had some other small pains like back, groin, ham string that had me thinking and wondering if running is for me…  However, it felt good to complete the run and it made me feel silly for not exercising for 5 days…  MUST KEEP IT GOING!!!

OK…  I got some motivation back…  Getting some good feedback from the clothing.  I put on a pair of pants that I could barely button 1 month ago and even thought about putting on a belt….only for a second.  😉  My calves hurt just walking to the bathroom so I hopped in the car and went to the gym.  I rode the recumbent bike for 40 minutes and the sweat was embarrassing.  I kept the heart rate above 140 almost the whole time but it seems to take a while to get it up there at the beginning.  Maybe that’s a good sign…I don’t know…but I did check my resting heart rate in the morning last week and it was 61 BPM.

Eating salads, eggs, veggies, string cheese, yogurt, and mostly lean meat…  I admit I must have a couple slices of salami on occasion or some Corralitos sausage…  Those I cannot give up entirely…  Oh, and I had a sweet tooth craving before bed and looked for some sugar free jello to make, but couldn’t find any.  I had a pair of Metamucil wafers (chocolate flavor) to boost the fiber.  I think they said 6g of sugar… Oh well, they’ve got FIBER! …and they taste pretty good.  Thanks Nina!  Cheers…

Boy did the motivation disappear fast!  It was raining again on Monday and I was very sleepy in the morning plus I had some work pressure.  I blew off the morning run option so fast it wasn’t even funny…  I took workout clothes to work to make up for my laziness but was overcome by work schedule pressures again and did not exercise.  This morning was almost the same…  In bed, my thoughts danced around excuses and the little devil almost won again!  However, I dragged myself out of bed and even with heavy pressure made myself go out and run…  I shortened up the distance and walked the last 1/4 of the run but I did it…  And, my calves didn’t start to hurt until about half way through the run.  That is good, but they did talk to me eventually and I listened.  I did however run on the balls of my feet almost entirely.  Occasionally, I would use a gentle “heal striking” stride to rest the calves but went back to the balls…  I feel like I can use my heals with a very gentle landing and roll the foot for low impact but I am being advised not to do this…  🙂  The lungs felt much stronger and I was not breathing really hard until after the halfway point.  I still need to stay in the “consistency training” range and not make things too hard.

My Monday morning weigh in was around 254 lbs…