Day 222 - Monday equals Run Day

Actually I'm cheating (again) because I took these photos last Thursday! I went on a lovely run up Win Hill in the evening sunshine. I'm missing the sunshine so much that, when I had a choice of routes (at the signpost), I actually chose the uphill route because it would take me into the sunshine whereas the flatter router was in the shade.....I really miss the summer this year....sigh...

Anyway, I didn't have time to post them last week and it was so grey and cold and miserable today I thought it would cheer me up to have them on my blog! I did go out for a good run this evening though, just didn't take my camera due to the clouds! I'm not cheating that much!!

I had a really productive day today - did loads of chores and ticked masses of items off both my home list and my work list. They were mostly the sort of smallish task that gets left behind because they're fiddley and not really intrinsically important but they need to be done sometime! I had a full day of clearing up crap, in other words!!

The process of our buying the holiday cottage is finally coming to a conclusion - we've not really pushed it but it looks as though we should complete on Friday. I'm going to meet up with the sellers to have a chat about their accounts and customers before we do though - it's been hard to do that before as they've been abroad.

My productivity continued once I got home - I went out for my run and then, instead of showering and heading to the pub as I usually do on a Monday, I got stuck into doing some paperwork and clearing my wardrobe out. I've sorted the whole lot - a pile of size 14/16's to give to friends, a pile for the charity bag, a pile of the larger stuff for ebay and a few things left that still fit me!! I have kept a few of the size 14's which are not actually falling off me for gardening and slobbing round in and a few of the nicer items which I might try and have taken in but, apart from that, there is not much left! My work wardrobe is decidedly thin (if you'll pardon the pun) as the only 2 skirts I kept are very baggy!

My run was good - part way round I met my mate Kate running in the opposite direction so we stopped for a chat. We've set a running date for Friday night which will be good as I have trouble forcing myself out to run on Fridays and, if I go then, it'll leave more of the weekend free. Anyway, because we'd stopped, I was fresher when I got to a crossroads and therefore chose the longer route. It meant an absolute bugger of a hill - really long and steadily steep - but it made my run into a good solid 50 minutes at a really good pace. I was chuffed.

Amanda - I was thinking about what you said about breathing while jogging while I was out this evening. I'm not sure if it's of any use, but I worked out that I breathe in and out through my mouth and I tend to time the breaths with either 2 or 3 steps, depending on how fast I'm going. So, if I'm going fast, I'll breathe in for 2 steps and out for 2 steps. If I'm going more steadily, it's 3 in and 3 out. I always keep it even though so I'm in a rhythm with the strides and breaths and I never do uneven 2 in 3 out or anything like that - maybe that's what you need to focus on; slow rhythmic breathing to match your strides, then walk when you feel that you can't keep it up any more, then start up again when your breathing is back under control?? I don;t know if that is the "right" way to do it (if there is such a thing) as I've never had an issue with my breathing, it just seems to come naturally to me. Just a thought. Good luck.

I did something else that I've never done today too - I was idly thinking ahead to midweek footie game and how Jim and I always meet up at Pizza Hut. I was wondering what I should eat there as the non-pizza options on the menu aren't extensive. So I looked up with the menu on the internet and noticed a "Nutritional Values" button. I checked out all the various options and worked out that the Warm Chicken Salad is by far the best option! I might have guessed that the Chicken Caesar Salad or Chicken and Bacon Salad wouldn't have much different but, Boy, would I have been wrong?? A good 400 caories different and that's not even taking into account the massive gulf between the relative fat contents etc. So - PLANNING is King once again!

This diet must be changing me because I would NEVER have thought of doing something like that in the past and would have probably ended up, without the advance planning, either having a fatty "salad" or giving in entirely and going for a pizza!! Not going to do that now.