Just Trying to be My Healthy Self (Peachtree Week -8)

I'm doing all (or most of) the right stuff, running-wise.  This feels great.  Good food.  Lots of sleep.  Reasonable increase in workouts.  Very slow decrease in body mass without too much hunger, but generally trending in the right direction.

It's also slow but steady progress on the fitness increase, which is the higher order goal.  I'm pushing myself pretty hard on pacing on the shorter stuff and I'm seeing some improvement.  But this leaves me wanting more!  This week's mileage was 26.08, with notable workouts including 1.75 miles w/E @ 9:50 pace; 6 medium effort with Jen on Saturday @ 11:27 (including 30 second walk breaks every mile); and 8X400 with 90s rest with the track group, all sub 9 min/mile except 1 @ 9:02 pace, which caused me to take a longer break so I could do the last 3 in the high 8s (last one was 8:29).  I also joined a friend at Cyclebar for a 60 minute ride one day, which was a fascinating experience -- first time I've ever worked out with earplugs.

This is what happens when tatsoi and mustard greens go to seed.

In terms of races -- I've now got 3 on the calendar.  Crissy Field parkrun May 26.  Peachtree Road Race July 4 in ATL in the heat and humidity (much more of a comparison against previous performances than a PR effort).  Pacing a friend at the Giant Race 10K in San Francisco on September 9.  So this leaves me with a choice.  Pick a Fall half and have just that as my one hard effort on the books, or try to find something shorter somewhere in there where I can do a strong effort... suggestions welcome!

Meanwhile, life is proceeding apace, as it does.  Guita keeps growing (she's getting huge!).  The tomatoes in the ground are thriving and the winter garden has completely bolted at this point (except the oh so lovely speckled romaine).  The tomato seedlings are so big that I need to transplant them so they can continue to thrive if I plan on delivering them through early June (which I do).

I am in love with the speckled romaine!  Delicious.  Beautiful.  Continually productive. Heat tolerant (hasn't bolted yet!)

In other news, one of the interesting side effects of quitting Facebook is that I'm reaching out and interacting via text, meals, IRL meetups, runs, etc. with more people than I used to do.  The human need to connect is still there, and I can't satisfy it with an easy FB answer now.  I think, overall, this is definitely one of the biggest improvements in my life since quitting FB.  I've been having text conversations, phone calls, and IRL interactions with folks I care about on a much higher frequency than I did before I opted out.  Of course, I've lost the light interactions with a larger group in exchange and I do miss that sense of knowing what's going on, but I think the decreased processing of those folks and their life is a net positive, even when weighed against the loss of knowledge of what they're up to.