The Hardest Workout in YEARS

I don't have a lot of time because I want to go to sleep, because I am exhausted, because of what I am about to discuss. Today I was at the gym for two hours and I pushed myself harder than I have in years. I started with 20 minutes on the recumbent bike to warm up (getting my pulse up around 150), then did about an hour's worth of upper body resistance training, and THEN to follow that up, I decided to do one of the Couch-to-5K Week 2 programs. This means I was walking for about 15 minutes, interspersed with 9 minutes of running for 90 seconds each. And this wasn't just any running. It went something like this:

• Walk 5 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 5.5 mph
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 6.0 mph
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 6.5 mph
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 6.5 mph with 1% incline
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 7.2 mph with 1% incline
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 7.5-8.0 mph with 1% incline

During that last run, when I pushed the treadmill up to 8 mph and held it there for at least a minute before I "dropped it down" to 7.5 (normally "dropping it down" would be to 4.5 or 5!)... just WOW. I felt incredibly invigorated. My arms were pumping. And I absolutely could not have gotten through it without Aerosmith. 

Another cool thing is that I took my pulse right after the final run, and it was just a little over 160. I wasn't even in my top 10% heart rate zone!

And when I learned that, I realized something pretty awesome: I don't know if I'll be able to train myself to run the 10 Miles on April 1st, but I have no doubt I'll at least be able to run the 5K. And not in 42 minutes like 4 years ago, either. I've got 74 days left till the race. I haven't even begun to fight!

Mmm dinner

My food today was equally healthy:

• Chocolate protein shake and banana (500 cal, 44g protein)
• Grilled chicken with whole wheat pasta and sauteed peppers (~700 cal, 40g protein) 
• Vanilla protein shake with skim milk (500 cal, 54g protein)

TOTAL: 1700 calories, 138g protein

I know, that's pretty low calorie-wise, but I just haven't been hungry. Whole grains and slow-digesting protein powder keep me pretty full.

The scale has been hovering around 210 lately but I'm convinced 208 is at my doorstep!

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Addendum, 7:50 am - 208.4!!!