Habits

It's time to talk about that mission to eat a little healthier I talk about in my bio.

It's not something I worry about constantly. I don't count calories, apples are my favorite food, I can't stand fried food (to the point it makes me nauseous just to smell it), don't eat red meat or pork, love veggies of all kinds and even tofu. Plus, although I like to bake cakes, I don't like the texture and rarely eat them.

Yet, I still have some really bad habits that I slip back into every once and a while that just make me feel gross. Namely, my snacking habits. I go through phases where I just feel like I'm constantly eating. It's been worse since I made the move home about three weeks ago. Just because there's more food in the house in general, plus the stuff I never bought myself that's here because I have a 16-year-old sister.

So after about a week of hating myself for the way I was treating my body, I finally sought out some advice from the one person I can tell these things. And what she had to say really made me stop and think. But as usual, she was right :)

I want to be clear about one thing. I wasn't given diet advice. I wasn't asking for diet advice. I still have no intention of counting calories or completely abstaining from anything I love. It's about being sensible and thinking consciously about the fuel I'm giving my body to get me through long days or work, coaching and working out. I wanted to form new habits before the old ones became a problem.

It turns out I wasn't eating enough at the right times, hence the snacking and the bloating feeling.

So I'm adding more protein and carbs at breakfast and lunch, so I'm fueled up for coaching and my workouts (which have had to move to the afternoons during the fall). Hopefully it'll also mean that I can eat a little less at dinner and not snack before bed. Which, in turn, I'm hoping means I'm not as hungry in the morning when I wake up.

I started this Thursday morning, by having egg whites, lettuce and salsa in a whole wheat tortilla. Oatmeal at 10, since I wake up too early to make it all the way to lunch without a snack. Lunch was greek yogurt, granola, grapes and an apple (which I know is not enough but it was what we had in the house!). Grabbed an apple and a half of a PBJ on my way out the door to coach. Dinner was this awesome kale, butternut squash and gnocchi dish that I have to share the recipe for. It was only one day but I definitely feel like these are habits I can stick with.

And I felt great. I wasn't hungry at work, and I had a great run. It just feels really good. I know this was all stuff I knew, but getting a reminder makes it easier to make smart decisions. Hopefully it sticks! I really don't want to fall back on those old habits, but that's why I'm putting it out here for all to see.

Back to Basics

Well I’m home from Israel and not exactly settled in or unpacked, but I’m getting there. What’s going to take a little longer is getting back in shape. I knew you could lose fitness fast, but I never for the life of me could have imagined I’d lose both leg strength and cardio fitness as quickly as I did. If you watch me run, you’d think I had never run a day in my life. I’m embarrassed. My stride is off, I feel weak and fat. It has been a struggle for me to get in 15 minutes each day. I’m trying to be patient, and I know there is no magic trick to getting back into shape, but I never imagined it would be this hard.

If anyone has any tips or tricks for getting back into it, I’d really appreciate them. It’s not a mental problem, I want it and getting out on the road isn’t the problem. It’s the way I feel once I’m running. I miss that runner’s high. So how do I get my stride back to normal? Hopefully it doesn’t take as long to get back into shape as it does to get there the first time. 

A Confession

I have a confession to make and this seems like as good of a place as any to make it.

Back in December I spoke on the phone with a running coach at our local Y. My mom had run with him in the past and really enjoyed his program. But of course, being a typical daughter, that wasn’t good enough for me. I had written off his 6-day a week running commitment as crazy, something I could never do. I was convinced that if I tried, I’d instantly get hurt. Then, I met his girlfriend and started to give more serious thought to joining his group. She was my physical therapist and I started to look up to her like a big sister.

Which is why on that December day, there I was giving him a call. I have to laugh when I think about that conversation. I was a) convinced I couldn’t run 6 days a week and b) convinced that his program didn’t allow me to run long enough. Seems like those two things are opposites, right? I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with my boot camp classes and would get out of shape “only” running 30-45 per day.

Basically I was scared that I couldn’t do it. He asked me to try and run 6 days straight while I was on vacation, just 15-30 minutes per day. I’m embarrassed to say I couldn’t do it. Granted, I got sick and was still in physical therapy for what I thought were shin splints, but I couldn’t do it. When I got back, I thought about going to the program, but I was too scared to start late. So I ran on my own and kept doing what I was doing. When the Y’s spring schedule came out, I registered for the program. I figured if I registered I couldn’t back out. (Forget for a second that it’s free, lol.)

I’m now almost 10 weeks in, and I haven’t missed a one of my 6 days each week. I still go to boot camp, though I’ve given up my Saturday class and traded it in for a long run. And I’m loving it. I feel faster, stronger, more fit. The two days of boot camp give me the strength to get through the workouts, and the progressively longer runs are boosting my confidence. We did a tempo today and I was able to average 7:15/mile. I’ve never run that fast in my life.

So I was wrong and I’m admitting it here. Julie – thanks for reminding me that running is fun, pushing me to try Kevin’s program and for being someone I can look up to. Kevin – thanks for running an amazing program. I’m officially a convert and I totally believe in what your doing.

I thought I was nervous for the Mountain Goat. Now I can’t wait to see how it goes. It’s like they used to tell us in gymnastics. If you’ve done the skills day in and day out in practice, then you can be happy with what happens in the meet because you did the work. Can’t wait till Sunday!