Ambitious Me is a jerk.

For the first time since I started living like a normal person a little over two months ago, my body failed me last night. If I was religious, I’d totally think a god was smiting me for getting cocky. As it is, though, I think it’s more likely that it was just overuse. Yay science!

I did my six miles yesterday, but not without a hell of a struggle. I had been alternating quarter mile run/quarter mile walk for the six miles the last few weeks, but Ambitious Me, sitting at his desk at work yesterday, got the bright idea that yesterday, I should do the first three miles in half mile run/quarter mile walk increments. Lucky for him, Ambitious Me doesn’t have to go running. He leaves that to Lazy Me.

Anyway, I got through the first three all right – surprisingly well, really. Around the 4-mile mark, though, when I was back to quarter-quarter, my left leg muscles just stopped pulling their weight. It started in my calf, then my knee and my thigh, and by the end, when I was barely shuffling through the last ¼ mile run interval, my hip was laboring to move my leg forward. I think a combination of my faster running on Friday and twisting the night away on Saturday probably fatigued my leg muscles enough to turn me into an elderly person by the end of six miles.

In a way, it’s frustrating. I always thought that the biggest impediment to my being a runner was going to be my cardiovascular fitness. I’m not saying that I don’t occasionally get winded walking up stairs, but cardiovascular-wise, running half a mile was easy, albeit not at a blistering pace. But it’s my body that’s not holding up its end of the bargain. If it’s not my legs, it’s my back. My back tightens up at the 3- or 4-mile mark almost every time I run. It loosens up when I start walking again, but it puts a hard upper limit on my running ability.

On the bright side, the weight is still coming off. I measured my resting heart rate at 61 bpm today, and I’m 2.4 pounds short of fifty. I have a previously scheduled massage on Saturday, so I’m trying to drop that last bit so I don’t have to retroactively reward myself. Retroactive rewards are for suckers.

Breakfast:
Eggs/Eggos/Tapatio

Lunch:
Wedding leftovers (stuffed pork loin, rice pilaf, braised kale)

Dinner:
Grilled Salmon/roasted broccoli/herb couscous