What's Next?

Once again conjuring up my inner "Josiah Bartlett". :) (Miss that show!)

In 2013 I planned to complete a spring marathon, a century ride and a half marathon. The last two in the same weekend. HA! Life sure has a way of humbling a person doesn't it? It's all good. I learned a lot about me and my body in these past two months; and I'm not done.

So the marathon didn't happen. The bike ride won't either. I toyed very briefly with the idea of doing a shorter distance but bagged that pretty quickly. I haven't put in any significant bike miles in over three months so I have no idea where I'm starting from. I notified the MS folks yesterday and will volunteer for the ride instead. :)

I've also decided that I won't be doing the Ocean City half either. I'll be in Ocean City on September 29th, I'm just not running. I love OC and the race. I'll cheer on my friends and a few hundred random strangers instead. A good time will be had by all!

I've decided instead to take full advantage of this opportunity I've been given to reboot.

30 Days of a New Habit

So today marks day 30 of trying to eat healthier. The day is not over yet but I'm confident I'll make it. :).

Was I perfect. Heck no!! A co-worker went to Ireland this month and brought back Irish chocolate caramels. So yeah, I had some. Proud that I had three over three days instead of three in one day. Also, I didn't stick to giving up creamer in my coffee. Wawa Dark Roast with a splash of Irish Creamer is good. I am being careful to keep it to a splash though. Just enough. This past Friday I had a totally "off the wagon" dive into the M&M jar at home.Not going to shoot myself over it but definitely not proud of that!

The key to that one is trying to figure out why it happened. Can't say for sure but this past week was the most disorganized of the 4 weeks. During the first three I was careful to plan out my three meals. What each would consist of and shop accordingly. I got out of whack this week, got a little cocky and tried to wing it. While I did keep the grains off my plate and I did manage to have protein, veggie and fruit at each meal I don't think I had enough. I was still hungry and Friday came and I lost it. And yes I know I should have gone for a veggie or fruit based snack. *Shrug*. Stuff happens.

Why Aren't You Eating Bread

Dave asked me this last week. Although in my head I knew I had good reasons I bonked on giving him an explanation. My attempt to verbalize my thoughts was feeble at best. Yet, being the good sport that he is, he nodded as if what I said made sense. Since then, I've been working on how to explain it better. Also there were comments left earlier that I think I can answer here.

#1) Basic old (currently less active) person biology/nutrition - Carbs break down into sugar which is stored in the body for energy. The body can only store so much sugar and the rest turns to body fat. I don't need/want any more body fat. I need energy but I'm choosing to get my carbs from fruit and veggies which give me more nutrition bang for my calories.

#2) Bread, pasta and cereal are processed foods that make for lazy ineffective meals. It's just too easy to pour a bowl of cereal or make a sandwich. Besides being too easy, these items fill me up quickly and leave little room for the more nutrient rich fruits and veggies. Plus after a heavy carb meal it's not too long before I'm hungry again and craving a snack. Without bread, pasta or cereal I'm forced to plan what I'm going to eat and make it worthy.

Each meal - three times a day - has some kind of meat, fish, eggs, or dairy (note the OR - not a meat AND a dairy product), a veggie and a fruit.

You Are What You Eat

So I've been giving thought to my nutrition habits lately.

About 5 years ago I made a conscious effort to eliminate excess fat and sugar. It was not a total deprivation thing. It was things like switching from 2% milk to fat free milk; no dressing on my salad; no sugar on my cereal; swapping out sodas for unsweetened green tea or water; and in general watching my portion sizes. I allowed cheating though. I concentrated on being "good" but allowed myself a piece of cake at our work birthday parties for example and the occasional sweet treat or soda as a 'reward'. This actually worked for close to a year.

Then I was diagnosed with exercise induced anemia. This was easily brought under control by iron supplements but then I started training for my first marathon. So my iron counts were good but I was still tired. Two things kicked in. First, I "needed"to reward myself for reaching mileage milestones. Second, being tired makes me crave and give into comfort food. Same thing happens when I'm sick. And let's face it, comfort food is mostly junk calories. Good thing I was running a lot. And lately, I've been a little down about the heart thing lately so more junk calories.

If You Are Not Having Fun ... Take a Detour

If you know me well you know about my family connection to the Olympics - Brendan Hansen, 2012 Bronze Medal in the 100m Breaststroke. I hesitated to write this post because I worry about boring peope. "OH there she goes again talking about that..." but I really believe there is a lesson to be learned by Brendan's story. Here is a recap:

• 2004 world record holder in 100 and 200 m breastroke; Silver and Bronze in the Olympics
• 2008 Olympcs failed to qualify for 200 m event and was edged out to 4th place in the 100; No individual medal; although he did take home a gold as part of the relay team that won Michael Phelps is 8th medal of the games.
• QUIT swimming competively in his signature event - the breastroke .

Why did he quit? He was working his butt off (seriously did you notice how small an olympic swimmer's butt is?) and not taking home the prize. Expectations were high and it wasn't happening. The articles written would say things like frustrated or "Why am I doing this?". Although I never saw these specific words being used, in my mind it boils down to he wasn't having any fun.

So he took a step back. He refocused his energy on something else. In his case the something else was competing in triathalons, getting married and (I'm sure) finding all sorts of other fun stuff to fill his time.

In 2012 he came back to take the bronze in a race that was truly fun to watch even if you aren't me or one of my extended family members. He became only the 13th swimmer in Olympic history to win a medal after turning 30.

Although most of us are not olympic caliber athletes we do have similar struggles. Sometimes the thing we are doing - even if it is something we love - stops being fun. Whether it be athletics, our work, or just life in general. Sometimes we have to take a step back and regroup or recover. Sometimes it's not a full step back but just a mixing up a little. Adding some fun or goofiness to what we are doing.

So when it's not fun anymore don't forget to keep smiling (it's next to impossible to stay down when you smile) and keep moving (even if you have to move in a different direction for a little bit).

Think about your goals for August. How will you get there? What will you do to keep the road to yoru goal fun and interesting?

Balance

Last night a group of us went to the Audubon Loop for hillwork. Our goal was 5 times up and down the hill. Amy earned Queen of the Hill honors for doing all 5 in good stead AND then going up for another half. Peer pressure is big in this group but none of us joined her for that last bit.

I power walked the uphills and jogged the downs. I told myself at one point that practicing the downhill is just as important. One can rationalize anything if one tries hard enough. I didn't feel like I had it in me to do run the uphills. I'm wondering now how much of that was the heat & humidity, the bike ride I did first or just plain mental breakdown. Maybe a combination? As we jogged over to the hill I was already wondering if I could do it. I wondered if riding my bike was such a good idea first. I think I psyched myself out of running the hill before I even got there. I was just so anxious to get out and ride.

So how do I balance the biking with the running? I don't know the answer. I've tried to research it but - as you might expect - the advice is all over the place. As with running it will be read, ask questions, try stuff and see what works for me.

So what do I want to accomplish right now?
- I want to build a base of riding miles.
- I have three half marathons in Sept, Oct and Nov so I want to keep running. And even after that I'm not giving up running. It's my understanding that the two actitvites are not mutually exclusive and in fact compliment eachother.
- I'm also old - at least my body is - and one, preferably two, rest days have become a necessity.

After thinking (yes, probably over thinking) this last night I've come up with a plan that allows three days a week riding, three days a week biking and two rest days.

Monday - OFF
Tuesday - Run(speed or hills)
Wednesday - Ride
Thursday - Run(tempo or progression run)
Friday - OFF
Saturday - Long run followed by easy bike
Sunday - Long bike ride

I'm going to also try to work in 4 week blocks. 3 weeks of increasing miles and the 4th week cutting back. I'm following phillyfit's marathon schedule through the 15 miler which doesn't exactly follow the 3 up one back schedule so I'm going to work with total miles (bike + run) through The Philly half in November and see where that leaves me.

Any of you who have tried to follow my progress in this blog before know that I'm prone to changing things up. I don't really like that about myself. It is what it is but I'd like to do better. I'm hoping that by working on total weekly miles I'll be better able to stick with the plan better. Stay tuned and thanks for reading. I welcome your comments, thoughts and advice.