September's goal

Hitting August's mileage goal of 150 miles felt great. I don't often challenge myself like that, because I hate to fail and one never knows what might happen. Like those three days off due to illness – I might have hit 165 had I been able to get out of bed.

So here we are at September 1. I have two weekend events coming up, both of which require travel days. I don't think it's realistic to set a big mileage goal this month. I will most likely be able to knock out 100, maybe even 125. Cooler weather makes it easier to go longer, for sure, but the real deal is I think I need to come up with something out of my comfort zone.

Walking/jogging/running is very comfortable for me. It's my favorite intentional activity. I feel great when I can be outdoors stretching my legs and filling my lungs and moving on down the road. Hitting a mileage goal is a challenge, yes, but I'm not doing anything new or different.

Not that I have to, of course. Clearly what I've been doing is working, and I can see from the graphic that I'm improving, if improving means increasing my miles.

But.

The weight loss is slowing down considerably. Here are the monthly totals for the year:

January: 5.0 lbs.
February: 3.5 (8.5)
March: + 1.5 (7)
April: 9.5 (16.5) - started Whole 30 April 7
May: 10.5 (27)
June: 7.5 (34.5)
July: 6.0 (40.5)
August: 5.0 (45.5)

With s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y less than 20 pounds to go, I don't expect another 10-pound loss for the month. But I'd like to hit my weight-loss goal by Christmas, so I'll need to do a little better than five pounds a month.

I can't believe I'm actually thinking I can lose five pounds a month after all these YEARS of not losing a single damned pound!

Gingerzingi (I hope you're enjoying your blog break, but I miss you!) suggested – when I asked about paleo/primal blogs – checking out Mark's Daily Apple. I've been a regular reader for several months now. Mark works out (but he calls it playing) irregularly. That is, he moves a lot, every day, but inserts a few lunges here and some squats there throughout his workday. He walks a couple miles a day, does a sprint session once a week and makes sure his workday isn't all work.

My daily routine isn't like Mark's. I don't have a desk job, but I certainly could learn from Mark's example and begin doing some strength training.

I started last week, with (I'm almost embarrassed to admit this) 15 wall push-ups on Tuesday and 15 more on Thursday. That's it. Oh, and I went to yoga yesterday morning, which also definitely counts as strength training.

A new friend was telling me that when she started doing push-ups she had to do wall ones. She's now doing full-out "boy" push-ups, but she had to work up to them, and if that means starting with the wall, then so be it.

So September's goal is this: Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll be adding some strength-training moves to my walking/jogging/running routine. Push-ups and squats and lunges, and maybe some tricep kickbacks with dumbbells (because I really like doing those). From all I've read and from my own long-ago previous experience, strength-training can and does kick up your metabolism. That doesn't mean I won't add some bodyweight exercises every day, but it does mean that I will definitely do them at least twice a week.

Ya gotta start somewhere.

Mark also says sprinting really helps get through a weight-loss plateau. I'm definitely not plateauing, but maybe I could prevent one? I've been doing some sprints during the Cto5K training, but I could do more. (Week 7, Day 3 will happen today, since I didn't get it done Friday or yesterday. Oh, and I really liked the interval training during the first six weeks of the program more than I do these long, extended runs. But OH WELL. I also like to finish what I start. So I will. Two more weeks.)

Notice how I haven't mentioned politics lately, especially Syria? Here's what I think.

I wish I could take credit for it. I had the thought, but TheObamaDiary.com tweeted it. And I thank them for doing so.