I know I haven't posted in a long time. For the last 10 days Jack and I were in Colorado, and for the few days or so before that my days were so full with work, workouts, and housework (so much working!) that I didn't have time (or didn't feel like it). In the last few days before the trip I gained a bit of weight; I think I was around 169. So I really only gained about a pound over the trip, which is better than I expected!
The above two pictures are both from Estes Park, which we visited after a couple days in Denver. We stayed at The Stanley (the hotel that inspired The Shining), and that male elk, along with about 20 females, was hanging out on the grounds outside the hotel around dusk. I got very close to him, which was a bit scary, but it makes a great picture, right? The other picture is from earlier that day, hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. The next day we went to Ft. Collins (apparently the beer capital of the US), then back to Denver for a couple more days before going off to Aspen for the weekend. We shared a cabin there with three other couples (Jack's friends from high school plus their wives/fiancees, who have become my friends too). One couple was from Denver, one from Seattle, and one from Ohio. The cabin was beautiful, and we took a great hike up a mountain in Aspen which was very difficult, especially with the altitude (we were at 12,000 feet), but I was able to keep up with Denver couple (who are very fit and active) the whole time, so I felt pretty good about myself.
I knew that being at high altitude for a while improves athletic ability (mainly because there's less oxygen, which makes your heart work harder to get the oxygen to your muscles), so I was looking forward to running after getting back to see if it was easier. I did that today, and it was easier, but not in the way that I expected. I thought the difference would be in my endurance and breathing; that I would be able to run for a longer time and not be huffing and puffing the whole time. What actually happened is that I was just able to run a lot faster. What felt before like a hard run (7.0/7.1 mph) felt like a mere jog, and I kept wanting to go faster--actually I got to 7.4--but the breathing was no less difficult. In fact, I was breathing so heavily I decided I should stop for fear I would pass out or something, even though my muscles weren't tired at all. I only ran a mile. Tomorrow I will try a different approach--not going any faster than 6.8/6.9 and see how far I can run. I'm also going to Body Pump tomorrow and I think it will be interesting to see if that's any easier.
I didn't write down what I ate yesterday, but let's see if I can do this from memory:
granola bar
2-3 servings of Naked juice
powerbagel with almond cream cheese from Einstein's
airplane peanuts and cheesits
airplane cup of ginger ale
grilled chicken sandwich with cheese, jalapenos, and sauce
side salad
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