A Restless Night

You know summer has hit Ottawa when the humidity starts to get out of control! This morning it is already at 94%. We’re expecting thunderstorms today and I’m hoping that will help not only relieve the humidity, but move along the air pressure system that makes my head feel like it’s in a vise. Last night was a restless night for me; I was up every couple of hours and eventually had to plug in one of my fans (no A/C in my apartment). I need to sleep with at least one sheet on me and preferably my comforter but it was simply too hot to do that without the fan. Poor Lucy. I kept disturbing her with my various wake-ups that, on one occasion, included a snack. I had some tentative plans to go to the gym but I tossed those out for an extra hour of sleep. Going to try to go this evening to get some strength training in. 

To any female out there reading this and thinks that strength training will bulk her up and make her look like a “man”, IT WON’T. Women just do not have the genetic make-up and the hormones required to become super-duper bulky. Now, if you start taking some steroids and lifting heavy for hours a day, then yeah, maybe you will start to look a bit like Ah-nold. The reality is that strength training will make you stronger, help build lean muscle, and increase your metabolism. 

Yesterday evening was relatively cool despite the humidity so I headed out for a run. I had an 8 mile run scheduled for Sunday that I didn’t do and I really don’t want to fall behind in my training, so I decided to bust it out last night. I ended up doing 7.5 miles mainly because I was super hungry and I also had some other things I had to do last night. 

I felt really good throughout the run and paid close attention to my pacing. My pace goal was my HMP + 20 seconds, so about 10:40. I did walk bits of it but I’m fine with that.

Here’s the stats for the whole run:

7.5 miles

1:21:09

10:49 average pace

Apparently I burned 922 calories, according to my Garmin watch. I doubt it is bang-on with the calories, but I think it is safe to say that I burned a lot and needed to refuel. I had pasta on the brain so when I got home, I started to put together a meal that was delicious and filling. Check it out:

Pasta with veggies and egg 

- brown rice pasta

- canned whole tomatoes – diced

- steamed carrots

- frozen mixed veggies, heated

- three eggs

- nutritional yeast

- salt, pepper, garlic, oregano to taste 

I feel like I had a good balance of protein, good carbs, and veggies. It also took me a long time to eat! And I have leftovers which means lunch is already made for me today. Love it when that happens!

 I’m off to get ready for work now. This week is turning into another crazy week. Le sigh.