It’s now the end of February, and it’s taken me two whole months to finally get back on track with my running and weightlifting. That feels like an excruciatingly long time. I’m still slipping up every now and again (3k calorie days are cramping my style), but for the most part, I’m feeling positive and upbeat – frustrated at times, but still mostly positive.

February has been spent mostly running around the track above at my gym (I snagged that shot from blog.to – that’s the track I run on, but I’ve never seen those people there in my life). I was originally gearing up for a 10K race I intended to do in Panama City, Florida while on vacation in April, but the whole race moved to the week before we’re going to be there, so I’m kind of training for nothing right now (so irritated… who moves a race that people have already signed up for?!?!). However, having a schedule is what’s helping me stay on track so I’m sticking with that. I’ve been running indoors this winter season because the sidewalks are a goddamn disaster in Toronto!

I do have a St. Patrick’s Day 5K that’s rapidly approaching and I’m a bit nervous for that because I don’t feel like my 5K race pace is anywhere near what it was last year. And sinceI’m planning on breaking a sub-25 minute 5K this year, I’m fairly confident this won’t be the race I do it in. I do, however, enjoy St. Patrick’s Day immensely so I’ll wiggle my butt into my green running pants and freeze my tush off during a mid-March race. If anything, it’ll help me get back into the swing of things.

Most of my running plan has been adapting Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 10K race plan as it’s geared towards lowering my race times. And man, I was not prepared. The tempo runs are interesting, and I can definitely see how they’re speeding me up, but those interval days can go die in a bloody fire.

I’m also planning on running the Sporting Life 10K (early May), a half marathon during Ottawa’s Race Weekend and, of course, the Pride Run in June (when it’s always face-meltingly hot).

I’m also really happy to report that my weightlifting is also back on track!

• Currently squatting 125 pounds with plenty of room to grow.
• Bench pressing 75 pounds, although this one is a bit dicey – I’m quite weak in the chest area.
• FINALLY doing deadlifts again after more than a year of not doing them due to a piriformis issue (I started back at 95 pounds and like with squats, there’s plenty of room to grow there).
• Amongst other many other smaller muscle groups that are all coming together nicely.

While running gives me that “hell yes I’m a super hero!” feeling, it’s really weightlifting that makes me feel the best about myself. It’s shaping my muscles the way I want to be shaped and it’s tightening areas that were wobbling around only last month. I’ve also happily dumped three pounds in the last thirty days which I can only attribute to the consistent exercise.

Now if only I could stop thinking about all the food I want to eat ALL. THE. TIME….