Autumn

The weekend went by so fast, I barely had time to actually enjoy it. After a long Grey’s Anatomy marathon on Friday night, I woke up late in the morning and desperately needed my usual cup of coffee, a glass of freshly pressed orange juice and delicious hot chocolate-banana porridge.

By noon when I was feeling almost alive again, I unpacked my new Asics running shoes and set out for my usual Saturday run.

The weather seemed so nice and warm outside so I dressed only in one layer of clothes (instead of 2 or even 3 on really cold days) but as soon as I stepped out, I realised that I’ve been tricked. It was so cold and windy, despite the sun, that I quickly started to run so that I don’t feel the cold too much.

My new running shoes have a different form than my other pair and I plan to alternate between the two on every other workout but I definitely need some time to get used to the new ones. Nevertheless they already proved their worth on the first run, I managed a new personal best for 3 km of 0m:12s improvement. Woohoo!

The Audio Lap Frequency in the Endomondo iOS app is still not working correctly with a training plan workout. I still get feedback every 30 secs no matter how I configure it so I had to listen to the lap distance and pace each and every 30 seconds. I am slowly getting used to it and today I used it to my advantage to improve my running time.

The pain in the calf muscles during the run is back because I was too lazy to foam roll and stretch after the runs this week so I did an extra long stretching and foam rolling session after the run today and put on the compression socks to enjoy some relaxation time with my usual banana-vanilla protein shake.

After catching my breath and resting a bit, we set out to go to the city for lunch and a walk. The city was crowded and we barely managed to find a parking lot, which is usual for a Saturday. It will only get worse in December with the Christmas market.

By the time we decided for a restaurant, we were starving so we shared crostini with tomato, olive and tuna spread to survive until the main course was served.

For the main course, I decided to try the veal in lemon sauce with grilled vegetables because it was praised so high and I felt so full at the end.

After a short walk, Starbucks was the next destination, I haven’t been to a Starbucks for several months. I’ve been waiting for these red cups all year long and was anxious to see if Starbucks finally has the Christmas specials again. I was not disappointed! They even have a 2-for-1 offer this weekend, buy two Christmas special coffees and get one free. I tried the Orange Mocha and it’s a bit too sweet for my taste but the Lebkuchen and Toffee Nut Latte are definitely my favorites and indulging once in a while is allowed.

I woke up on Sunday at noon after yet another Grey’s Anatomy marathon last night and it was raining whole day so it was pretty depressing, typical autumn! I was so happy that it was warm and sunny these past weeks which is so unusual for autumn but the bad cold weather arrived after all. Sleeping so late and eating breakfast at lunchtime on Sunday felt good though.

I’ve waited and waited for the rain to stop to go running but eventually I just took my rain clothes and went out. It was still raining a bit but I was glad to be outside running and also to see so many felow runners doing the same.

It’s week 10 of the C52K and I am enjoying it so much, especially when I see how much I improved. Dedication and consistency is the key!