Fat Tuesday

Another holiday specifically about eating rich foods and drinking to excess? Really? *sigh* Whatever. People here at the lab are celebrating today by bringing in lots of decadent, colorful desserts and crock pots full of spicy deliciocity. I must admit, they make my poor little lunch of cheezits, fruit, yogurt, string cheese, pickles and baby carrots look kind of sad, but I don't care. I've tasted that kind of stuff before. Many times. I have never once in my entire adult life tasted what life could be like as a thin, fit me. That's the kind of perspective it takes me to exercise some willpower and self-control.

Speaking of exercise, yesterday was interesting. I seem to have lost my telemetry strap, so I worked out for 55 minutes (5 more than usual; I'm a month or so away from 1-hour non-stop ellippin') with no warnings to slow down to decrease my heartrate. It was strangely liberating. I am kind of obsessive about numbers, particularly when it comes to my weight loss, so it was interesting to see how I responded to the situation (subconsciously and otherwise). I ran harder than I normally do, maintaining a 7.0mph pace the entire time. I was pretty impressed with myself when I finished my workout at just shy of 6 ½ miles. That's faster than a 9-minute mile pace. When I was on the 7th grade football team, I couldn't run a 9-minute mile (let alone 6 consecutive miles). Of course, this was on the elliptical, master of low impact running. I doubt I could do anywhere near this well in a real-world scenario, but the point is I am improving.

I'm not looking forward to my workout today. My mp3 player was warning me about low batteries near the end of my run yesterday, and I forgot to charge it last night. I'll have TV, so it won't be mind-numbingly boring, but I draw a lot of motivation and pace-setting from my music. Tomorrow is take two at Zumba (I think; they said she's rotating to pilates or yoga soon). That'll be another solid workout for sure. If you don't hear from me again in a while, I may be dead from tempting the beast that is Zumba again. Don't be worried, though. There is an AED just a few feet from me when I do it.

And don't worry about me falling prey to temptation on this dubious holiday. I've had enough fat Tuesdays (and Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, etc) to last a lifetime.