Oh man am I still struggling with food! It’s mental. I know this. But seriously, how long did it take me to figure out that most of my problems with running were mental? I had to complete a half marathon, without collapsing at the finish line, before I believed that I could do it. So where the heck is the food finish line?!?! It’s not weight loss. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I’m still shy the 50 pounds I had collected previously, but sheesh if I can’t find the motivation to get back on the food wagon.
A recent road trip woke me up. First of all, I got 12 hours of “me” time – six over, six back. Lots of thinking was accomplished! I was really proud of myself the first day – I ate well and hydrated even better. I’ve never stopped SO many times on a six hour drive! Dinner that night wasn’t the greatest, but I wasn’t upset with myself.
Day 2 – Horrible! First of all I had a Danish for breakfast. I NEVER have sugar for breakfast! It just leaves me starving an hour later! Then I had my standard mocha with a piece of lemon pound cake from Starbucks. By the time we returned from our short shopping adventure, I was crashing - fast and hard! I had fueled with sugar and caffeine and my body had used it quickly and left me worthless. Ugh! A short rest later, dinner prep began, as did the endless munching on chips and dip. I’m embarrassed at how much I ate. I should have stopped myself, but I didn’t even try. Dumb! Really dumb!
The return trip – I ate and drank identical to the drive over. I stopped to pee just as many times. I was back on track. Until dinner. Well, dinner #1 was great. It was moderately healthy and filled me right up. Yes, I said that was dinner #1. See, later that night someone very special to me called and said “hey, let’s grab a bite to eat.” SOOOO excited to have this moment with a long lost friend, I said sure and headed to Red Robin, where I proceeded to eat deep fried chicken and fries. Dumb! Really dumb!
Come Sunday morning I hopped out of bed and jumped in my clothes to go for my long run. Before I had gotten to my shoes, my gut started aching. I decided to go ahead with some cereal and see if I was going to feel better or worse. Guess what? Worse! Much worse! I curled up in my running clothes and took a nap. After getting some chores accomplished, I was feeling considerably better, so I laced up my shoes and hit the road for 10 miles. In the grand scheme of things, I’m glad the day worked out as it did. My run was full of funnies and I really enjoyed it! Well, until I began to feel fatigue a little sooner than I should have. I attributed it to the days of poor food and the runs I had missed during the week. I knew I deserved this punishment. I took it and pushed harder than I ever thought I could to finish that run.
So there I have it… I get pretty thoughtless about my eating. If I see it, I eat it. This must stop!
I read some blogs today that totally helped inspire me! Here are a few things I picked up…
“… knowing everything you put into your mouth needs to be used as fuel with no exceptions…”
~ www.adventurejunkiemom.blogspot.com
“Calories = fuel, plain and simple”
“… Essentially, eating a healthy, well rounded diet *is* a treat itself. Feeling the best I can by properly fueling my body is worth its weight in gold…”
~ www.runfastermommy.com
“Eat consciously, always. Treat your body with respect and fuel it accordingly.”
~ www.shutupandrun.net
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Ten miles of hilarity and suffering… but mostly hilarity!
I postponed my long run from this morning to this evening. I behaved myself all day – drank lots of water and only my one traditional coffee. My biggest concern heading into the run is that it’s warmer that I like (by about 20 degrees). Don’t get me wrong, the weather is GORGEOUS, I’m just a fair-weather runner (aka wuss)!! Roughly 2/10ths of a mile into my run, I realise that I have grossly mislead myself as to what was going on here! This my long run! My double digit long run! It’s not an easy five or so… it’s five out and then five more back. Well, hell! I’m in it now!
Truckin’ along and I see something right on the street corner… oooooh what is it? A dead squirrel. A dead squirrel that had eaten well before misfortune hit. Ewe. Onward! I get downtown, where the city workers have done such a wonderful job of maintaining the lawns. It’s all plush and green and beautiful and there is a German Sheppard taking a dump. Lovely. I look at his owner – easily 6’3 – bean pole skinny – with meth face. Double lovely. Then he grabs a bag and cleans up after his dog. Wow! That may be the only responsible pet owner slash meth-head on the planet! Onward! I turn the corner on to Mullen… there, on the ground, abandoned… two pennies! PLINK! PLINK! Onward! I see a car that looks familiar, but I can’t quite see the driver and there are many of these cars around, so I decide I will just look in my rearview mirror to see if there is a signature bumper sticker on the back. Yeah. Not so much. I actually let the car pass before I realised I didn’t have a rearview mirror. I laughed. I was actually going to have to physically turn my head to see if I knew the car. Wow! (BTW – no bumper sticker)!
It’s warm, but I’m doing well. I’m rationing my water. Life is good. Around mile 4 I find myself slowing down a bit. I turn around at 5 and just cannot get my brain to stop focusing on how far it is to home. I try reasoning with myself, reminding myself how great the run was on the way out. The sun is starting to set on the Lake Pollen (aka Lake Cd’A) and it’s just phenomenal. I’m thinking about my orange water bottle that I had put in the fridge and how ice cold and wonderful it would be when I get there. Then I’m passed by a friend. I see the car. I know the car. I don’t need no stinkin’ bumper sticker to pick this one out of a line up! Said friend turns around and pulls over ahead of where I’m at and steps out of the car with my orange water bottle in hand. HERO! 6.2 miles down and less than 1/5th of my water left. I needed this friend!
I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask if I could get a ride home. I was told if I could catch the car, I could have a ride. Gee, thanks! After consuming just a little too much of my beloved water (slosh slosh says the tummy), I continued on – only to see someone running alongside a car, trying to get in. I laughed! It wasn’t me, but it was just as funny! I had noticed this car earlier – 60’s model station wagon, paint looked awful, but had Yakima racks on the top. I admired it. If you can’t afford everything, go for the toys! Great plan! Well, the girl was able to get in the moving car and it passed me. Hippies! A car full of hippies! More laughter!
Life was uneventful until 7.44. Then I was beat. I was warm. I ached. I had done this to myself. Dammitjim! See… I had eaten poorly while celebrating the graduations of two of my most favorite kiddos! I had also missed all but one run during the week. I had kinda set myself up for a rough long run. I was super lucky to have made it as far as I did still loving life. I kept going. It sucked. I kept going. Hey... wait... a penny… that I have to bend over to pick up. Decisions. Decisions. Yes, I gave the penny a home. Onward! I see my car… just keep going ‘til you get to the car. $#!%! That’s not my car! Mine’s on the next block! Just get to your car… soooo close… YAAAAAAAY… $#!%! The Garmin reads 9.96. Bye car. It was nice seeing you… Yep, I deserved every stinkin’ moment of this!! Dammitjim ;)
Truckin’ along and I see something right on the street corner… oooooh what is it? A dead squirrel. A dead squirrel that had eaten well before misfortune hit. Ewe. Onward! I get downtown, where the city workers have done such a wonderful job of maintaining the lawns. It’s all plush and green and beautiful and there is a German Sheppard taking a dump. Lovely. I look at his owner – easily 6’3 – bean pole skinny – with meth face. Double lovely. Then he grabs a bag and cleans up after his dog. Wow! That may be the only responsible pet owner slash meth-head on the planet! Onward! I turn the corner on to Mullen… there, on the ground, abandoned… two pennies! PLINK! PLINK! Onward! I see a car that looks familiar, but I can’t quite see the driver and there are many of these cars around, so I decide I will just look in my rearview mirror to see if there is a signature bumper sticker on the back. Yeah. Not so much. I actually let the car pass before I realised I didn’t have a rearview mirror. I laughed. I was actually going to have to physically turn my head to see if I knew the car. Wow! (BTW – no bumper sticker)!
It’s warm, but I’m doing well. I’m rationing my water. Life is good. Around mile 4 I find myself slowing down a bit. I turn around at 5 and just cannot get my brain to stop focusing on how far it is to home. I try reasoning with myself, reminding myself how great the run was on the way out. The sun is starting to set on the Lake Pollen (aka Lake Cd’A) and it’s just phenomenal. I’m thinking about my orange water bottle that I had put in the fridge and how ice cold and wonderful it would be when I get there. Then I’m passed by a friend. I see the car. I know the car. I don’t need no stinkin’ bumper sticker to pick this one out of a line up! Said friend turns around and pulls over ahead of where I’m at and steps out of the car with my orange water bottle in hand. HERO! 6.2 miles down and less than 1/5th of my water left. I needed this friend!
I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask if I could get a ride home. I was told if I could catch the car, I could have a ride. Gee, thanks! After consuming just a little too much of my beloved water (slosh slosh says the tummy), I continued on – only to see someone running alongside a car, trying to get in. I laughed! It wasn’t me, but it was just as funny! I had noticed this car earlier – 60’s model station wagon, paint looked awful, but had Yakima racks on the top. I admired it. If you can’t afford everything, go for the toys! Great plan! Well, the girl was able to get in the moving car and it passed me. Hippies! A car full of hippies! More laughter!
Life was uneventful until 7.44. Then I was beat. I was warm. I ached. I had done this to myself. Dammitjim! See… I had eaten poorly while celebrating the graduations of two of my most favorite kiddos! I had also missed all but one run during the week. I had kinda set myself up for a rough long run. I was super lucky to have made it as far as I did still loving life. I kept going. It sucked. I kept going. Hey... wait... a penny… that I have to bend over to pick up. Decisions. Decisions. Yes, I gave the penny a home. Onward! I see my car… just keep going ‘til you get to the car. $#!%! That’s not my car! Mine’s on the next block! Just get to your car… soooo close… YAAAAAAAY… $#!%! The Garmin reads 9.96. Bye car. It was nice seeing you… Yep, I deserved every stinkin’ moment of this!! Dammitjim ;)
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Checking In!
Well, I set myself some goals. I suppose it’s time that I stop and see where I am in achieving them…
Training runs... My runs have been good lately! I missed one last week due to an allergy/sinus/cold combo. Towards the end of the week I had a little incident that emotionally knocked the wind out of me, but I rebounded with a short run late Friday night. Sunday I did my first point-to-point run – from Post Falls to Coeur d’Alene! I really had to push myself to keep running, but I felt like I could walk forever. The point-to-point concept was fun and intimidating at the same time. I joked afterwards about a friend dropping me off and saying “there is only one way back…” Another friend’s daughter asked if said friend would really do such a thing – I guess her jaw dropped when she learned the truth! I did some thinking on this run, but resolved nothing, nor did I resolve to do anything new! I found the hills again on Tuesday. I pushed myself harder and made it to the top of each hill without stopping to walk for even one step. I focused on something at the top of each hill and just kept going until I was at that spot! During my 2nd trip up the 2nd set of hills I nearly puked! Jillian would have been proud! Hell, I was proud!!!
Cross training… It’s been a crazy week with working graveyards for two nights right in the middle. I’ve slept very little and pushed my body to new levels of exhaustion. I did get an opportunity to take the kayak out and watch some Ironman trainee’s swim in 50 degree waters. Pretty sure watching other people swim doesn’t count as exercise, although I wish it did because I could spend all day every day on the lake! I am itching to go for a bike ride… just one problem… I don’t have a bike. I really must get that resolved this weekend!
Food & Beer & Losing weight… I’m still doing wonderful on the no fast food challenge! Beer on the other hand… well, I’ve cut WAY back, but I just haven’t been able to go cold turkey! It seems the combination of changes I’ve made is working – I got my 2 lb weight loss last week… and if I behave myself, my midweek sneak peak at the scale looks promising for this week too!
Overall... I’m headed in the right direction! My biggest achievement so far is getting past many of the mental hurdles that I inadvertently placed in front of me. For now I keep going – one foot in front of the other – knowing that these goals are stepping stones. There are bigger and better things ahead!
Training runs... My runs have been good lately! I missed one last week due to an allergy/sinus/cold combo. Towards the end of the week I had a little incident that emotionally knocked the wind out of me, but I rebounded with a short run late Friday night. Sunday I did my first point-to-point run – from Post Falls to Coeur d’Alene! I really had to push myself to keep running, but I felt like I could walk forever. The point-to-point concept was fun and intimidating at the same time. I joked afterwards about a friend dropping me off and saying “there is only one way back…” Another friend’s daughter asked if said friend would really do such a thing – I guess her jaw dropped when she learned the truth! I did some thinking on this run, but resolved nothing, nor did I resolve to do anything new! I found the hills again on Tuesday. I pushed myself harder and made it to the top of each hill without stopping to walk for even one step. I focused on something at the top of each hill and just kept going until I was at that spot! During my 2nd trip up the 2nd set of hills I nearly puked! Jillian would have been proud! Hell, I was proud!!!
Cross training… It’s been a crazy week with working graveyards for two nights right in the middle. I’ve slept very little and pushed my body to new levels of exhaustion. I did get an opportunity to take the kayak out and watch some Ironman trainee’s swim in 50 degree waters. Pretty sure watching other people swim doesn’t count as exercise, although I wish it did because I could spend all day every day on the lake! I am itching to go for a bike ride… just one problem… I don’t have a bike. I really must get that resolved this weekend!
Food & Beer & Losing weight… I’m still doing wonderful on the no fast food challenge! Beer on the other hand… well, I’ve cut WAY back, but I just haven’t been able to go cold turkey! It seems the combination of changes I’ve made is working – I got my 2 lb weight loss last week… and if I behave myself, my midweek sneak peak at the scale looks promising for this week too!
Overall... I’m headed in the right direction! My biggest achievement so far is getting past many of the mental hurdles that I inadvertently placed in front of me. For now I keep going – one foot in front of the other – knowing that these goals are stepping stones. There are bigger and better things ahead!
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