Week Six, Saturday - Indulgence

Sometime this week, I gave myself permission to do nothing. I didn't want to not run. On the contrary, I would have loved to run. But, my attitude got the better of my performance, and here we are, Saturday, with barely a three good workouts in for the week. Since I'm keeping track, I did run a bit outside on Thursday, but found that I was so enchanted by the day (again!) that I stopped and made it a productive walk instead.

It was beautiful on Thursday. Spring, sprung, had delivered little piles of pink and white blossoms in the street, pushed against curbs, fluttering in the breeze. The air was sharp and cool, heralding the rain we've been getting. I started the run after a 5 min warm-up inside on the treadmill and made it about a half mile before the hills got the better of me. For flat Virginia, we somehow live in a den of roiling hills. I'm good on flat and good on the treadmill but I'm not good on slopes. I'm too busy thinking about where to put my feet, how to put my feet, what to do with the increasingly sharp pain in my shins. So when my walk break came, I walked. And, I stayed walking. It was about a mile and a half total and I enjoyed every last hilly second of it. I took deep breaths and watched the sky, I let the music I was listening to sweep over me and I took advantage of cool summer sun - the kind we don't get around here but a few weeks each year. It was wonderful.

But about my indulgence. I've been seeing a nutritionist since late last year. While wonderful, she and I weren't able to achieve any great steps toward weight loss. To her credit, we have my shift work working against us. Trials show that shift workers are more stressed, more depressed and more exhausted than regular workers. Add to that the tendency for most shift workers to gain 10lbs per year of shift work, I'm doing pretty well having lost 8 lbs in 8 months of shift work. But, lets be frank: 1 lb per month is no real accomplishment. I'm more happy that I haven't gained anything. However, after the 6th week of not having lost a single pound, despite running, despite eating well, the nutritionist and I decided to take a break. Since then, I seem to have given myself carte blanche to be a slug, run less, eat worse. To indulge. I'm recognizing it here and noting, for the record, that the time of indulgence is over.

I'm back on the wagon, pretty spring days included, and I expect great things from week seven.