Yoga Pants Life

Two blog posts in one day – I’m not sure what anyone did to deserve this, haha.

Also, I don’t understand how people blog every day. It’s only my first day and I’m exhausted. But, again, I’m trying to stay consistent with my training and I think the accountability of the interwebs will help me, so I’m going to give it a shot.

I had 4 easy miles on the schedule today and, uh, the miles were anything but easy.

I had no idea how hot it was outside. I mean, I really don’t have a valid excuse since this day in age most of us are attached to our phones, which can tell us the temperature at any given moment. All I can say is #LiveAndLearn

I’ve always had a hard time sticking to my workout/running schedule on work-from-home days. You would think it would be super easy, but no. For some reason, I have a much easier time when I’m actually at work and I can run in a much safer area after work.

Anyway, while it’s a struggle, I discovered that I actually like lunch time runs on work-from-home days. I don’t have time to talk myself out of a post-work run and it gives me enough time to eat breakfast, get ready, etc.

The only drawback is the sun and heat, and man, I really felt it today. I’m no stranger to heat (I did live in the San Fernando Valley with no air-conditioning for six years, after all) but I’ve lived in a much cooler climate the past few years. Sure, we have our 80 and occasional 90 degree days, but much of summer is cool and breezy with lots of morning and evening fog. Most of the warmer days hit in September/October (just as other parts of the US are preparing for the cooler weather of fall.)

That brings me to today and there is no delicate way to say it – my run was hot as balls!

Sure, it was warm when I started, but I felt great the first two miles. I took it slow and had water with me. It’s my first run since the half marathon a week ago, so I wasn’t about to do a crazy workout. But by the end, the heat felt unbearable.

I ended up walking up the giant hill at mile 2 and fell apart pretty quickly after that. I thought I was a wimp. How is 78 this warm???? (that’s what I thought the temperature was supposed to be, as I knew we were having a mini-heatwave.) 

(right after the giant hill of death – the hills are going from green to brown. I still think golden hills are beautiful and very California though)

I walked/jogged/slogged through the remaining 2 miles and was less than thrilled with my pace at the end (but make no mistake, I wasn’t hard on myself about it.)

I burst though the front door, chugged some water, and then checked the temperature. 89 degrees. Whelp. That explains it (there’s also little to no shade for most of my route, so that didn’t really help.)

(Congrats to me for being a responsible adult who checks stuff out ahead of time)

But you know what? I’m happy I got my first training run done and while it didn’t feel good, it wasn’t the worst. I feel like I’m starting out on the right foot this time.

It took me a while to get my appetite back, but when I did, I dug into this salad – lettuce, black bean/corn/cucumber/red onion salsa, cotija cheese, grilled chicken, avocado and homemade cilantro lime dressing. It was so delicious I didn’t even miss the chips (though I eventually had a few on the side with roasted garlic hummus from Trader Joe’s)

I also ate an English muffin topped with avocado and Everything but the Bagel seasoning from TJ, with some grapes for breakfast and a handful of (un-pictured) homemade Chex mix on the side (it took up about 2/3 of the purple cup pictured.)

(God bless iced coffee, God bless)

I’m not sure what’s for dinner – probably some leftover chicken, rice and veggies.

Oh – I almost forgot to include this glass of wine (and probably 1 more because it’s hot and it’s a Monday. And I enjoy wine.) I’ve been back in the habit of drinking more frequently than normal because of family time and different winery events, but I suspect I’ll go back to my 1-2 days a week sooner than later because I feel so much better when I limit alcohol.

(I’d say ‘oops’ but I’m not actually sorry for drinking this delightful sauvignon blanc from Stolpman.)

So all-in-all, day 1 was a mostly a success.

On to day 2…