Travels, training, transition

Oh, Hawaii ... I learned to love you. I love everything about you. I love that you delighted all five senses and never stopped giving me a reason to want to hang out with you.

I returned home a week ago ... and I still miss it. But I am also still recovering in other ways. In Hawaii, I achieved a new Personal Best: I gained eight pounds! Imagine how much it would have sucked if I had not run each morning? Well, except for one; I gave myself one day "off".

Anyhoo, Hawaii was awesome, but when I got home, I weighed in at 220. Seriously! That gave me horrors. But I got right back on the wagon and went to the gym that night and I'm following my usual plan. Lifting weights, running, other cardio ... I'm pretty much back into the routine.

Then last weekend I went to Charleston for Homecoming (which meant beans and hot dogs and wine and a short run/walk with a great friend) so things got a little interrupted once again. But in a delightful way! I got to spend time with people who matter, and I worked in a little workout while I was there, too. It's a wonderful place to regroup and allow myself to be fed, in the soul sense of the word. All too soon, it was back home and time to jump back into our regularly scheduled workout regime.

Which is going to be revised, because as I discovered after my most recent blood draw and testing, as far as my hormone levels are concerned, I am menopausal. Yippee! I'm an overachiever! So my efforts - failed, difficult efforts - over the past year to take off the weight have been just that - failed - for a reason. Do I give up? Nope; just gonna revamp the plan.

I will be lifting weights more, adding more muscle to my frame, in hopes to spark the metabolism in a greater way. Will it be easy? Um, hell no. But it's worth a shot. On top of all that, I am also training for the Hot Chocolate 15K in November, and the Princess Half Marathon in February. I am relatively certain I can do this. It can't hurt! So here's the basic plan for the next month:

• Take my supplements every day. EVERY day.
• Drink more water. I'm currently getting about 64 oz. each day; I know I need more on heavy cardio days.
• Add more strength training. I'm going to dive back into the 30-Day Shred.

That's in addition to my regular stuff - running Monday, Wednesday, Weekend (Saturday or Sunday); Salsa/Funk or biking Monday (the Monday run is usually just two miles); Weights Tuesday and Saturday; and additional cardio as fits in the schedule. And yes, I do need to find time for yoga; once I get this stuff coming as a habit, I will evaluate how to make that happen.

So, there you have it. I am battling the feelings of hopelessness and the odd realization that I am now well and truly middle aged. I may be half done, but the second half is going to be the best.