This will hopefully become a group effort, but I'll also chronicle here for more in-depth reporting. Although it will really work better in the group. I don't know that anyone else ever reads this, so it's hard to have that public pressure in this setting.
I came across a blog in which a journalist spent 6 weeks trying to work through the barriers to healthier eating, with one goal each week. I was jealous! Some of her foods look so good (she photoblogged) and she had variety! She detailed her progress and problems, and also discussed other fads and articles in the media.
I love experiments and challenges. I love to dangle a carrot out there and see if I can reach it. I love rules and numbers and reports and testing things. And I love fixing things. So, with all that in mind, let's lay it all out there to fix.
My eating habits have tanked in the last few weeks. It breaks down into a few simple issues:
1. I sometimes log my foods, but tend to skip that when eating hard-to-count foods. When I do log, I'm always surprised by how much I ate. I have a good balance of C to P to F, but I have either way to much or way too little overall each day.
2. I do good until 5pm, then I get in a zone of mindlessness. When that happens, I come home and feel like I could eat the house down. I can't think of anything but getting some food! Then I'm never satisfied, I feel like I could eat and eat and eat.... For a while I would just eat, thinking that's what I needed but then I would go to bed sick, feeling like I was going to vomit. I realized I was over-eating at dinner. But why?
3. I tend to grab whatever is available. I think I'm hungry, what's ready to eat? Usually peanut butter! So good and so easy, you just need a spoon. Next thing I know, I eaten 4-some spoonfuls of PB which probably amounts to 400-500 calories. A whole meal! Of peanut butter! WHY?!?
I'm not gaining or losing weight. And I'm not looking to lose weight. I'd have to say though that I miss the muscle of IMWI, so I'd like to get back to that again. To do that, I'd have to lose body fat again, so maybe I'd modify my statement to "I'd like to lose body fat" and not just weight overall.
Some things I'd like to work on, likely to blend in with the other goals in the group
1. Have water with every meal.
2. Have dinner away from the kitchen counter
3. Have a salad with or for dinner.
4. Eat less at dinner.
5. Vary the routine.
6. Log meals to keep track.
7. Have a serving then stop, no more grazing
8. Avoid processed foods, there's only a few that I eat
9. Stop and think about what I'm doing.
10. Start eating more fruits and veggies.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sunday Social
SWIM: 15 minutes, 500m.
RUN: 10.3 miles, 2hrs and change. Hill, baby, hill.
The swim was nothing but boredom and distraction. It's hard to swim at a group event at the CP. I've decided to sign up for the Y Master's class. I need structure. They have M/W and T/T. Not sure which would work better for me.
The run was better than expected. Oh hills!! Everywhere hills. 10 miles of 'em!! It was a comfy run with BB-JM. I've done this before, run a long run at a much slower pace than usual and felt both fatigued and energized afterward. Odd feeling, but it's like working hard to charge your batteries.
I had worried yesterday about my shin. It's OK, hurts to touch but otherwise OK. While I'm at it, my left ankle injury comes and goes. It's a tight tingly feeling when I do a full dorsi-flexion.
Them JM made this delish omelette that I need to tell DH about. :)
NUMERICS:
SWIM:2500y in 1:17 hrs
BIKE: 56 miles in 3.33 hrs
RUN: 46.37 miles in 7.83 hrs
Grand total of 12hrs and 35 mins. Damn that's a lot of running!
RUN: 10.3 miles, 2hrs and change. Hill, baby, hill.
The swim was nothing but boredom and distraction. It's hard to swim at a group event at the CP. I've decided to sign up for the Y Master's class. I need structure. They have M/W and T/T. Not sure which would work better for me.
The run was better than expected. Oh hills!! Everywhere hills. 10 miles of 'em!! It was a comfy run with BB-JM. I've done this before, run a long run at a much slower pace than usual and felt both fatigued and energized afterward. Odd feeling, but it's like working hard to charge your batteries.
I had worried yesterday about my shin. It's OK, hurts to touch but otherwise OK. While I'm at it, my left ankle injury comes and goes. It's a tight tingly feeling when I do a full dorsi-flexion.
Them JM made this delish omelette that I need to tell DH about. :)
NUMERICS:
SWIM:2500y in 1:17 hrs
BIKE: 56 miles in 3.33 hrs
RUN: 46.37 miles in 7.83 hrs
Grand total of 12hrs and 35 mins. Damn that's a lot of running!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Saturday off work
BIKE: 2hrs about 33 miles?
RUN: 47 mins 5 miles
RUN: 47 mins 5 miles
The bike was unremarkable, except to say that I didn't recover from it well. I was left with a tired, dizzed feeling the rest of the day. Unfocused. Clumsy. But I did get housework done-- finally primed the walls!
Reason for fatigue? Unknown. Maybe dehydrated? More likely poor eating habits in last 1-3 days. I don't have meals, I just graze thru and end up having no idea of how much I ate. To top it off, I'm never hungry or full. I eat because I think I should, or because I'm bored.
This afternoon I never did get hungry. 2hrs on the bike and I didn't eat a thing the whole time. I think I need to do a 2-3 week "checkup" of nutrition. Keep on eye on what I'm eating and how much I'm drinking. Might find something I can improve on.
As an example, the run this afternoon was pretty bad. No energy. Feet dragging. Feet pained a bit too from the mileage. Just didn't have it in me. I had to force the run, only a small part of me enjoyed it. The part that like logging numbers. When I got home, I was even more dizzed than before. Just kinda sat around with a mindless stare.
And this may be a passing injury, but I dropped a fireplace grate on my right shin bone. OUCH!!! It hurt to run today and imagine tomorrow will be worse.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
This piece of me is MINE.
RUN: 12.4 miles, 1:53. 9:07m/m.
Unlike last Thursay, I survived this back-to-back without mind-numbing fatigue. I'm still tired, but not dead. I don't doubt that the big jump in mileage (4 long runs in 6 days) had an effect, but this is like a big experiment so I just had to point it out :)
Did the first loop in 55 mins with EK, 6.3 miles. Second loop in 58 mins, which aint bad either. I stopped to walk parts of some of the bigger hills when my heart rate started to climb. Overall, this felt great. Now to recover.
Talked with E about coaches, I've been meaning to join up with one for the Piggie. But I keep putting if off and I wasnt sure why until the second loop. I realized that these hours are MINE. No one is asking me to do them, no one is email me about them, no one is expecting anything. My goals, my route, my pace. If I hire a coach, then suddenly there's someone expecting something from these workouts. Heart rate, pace, time, power. Everyone seems to want a piece of me lately, and I'm guarding this one last piece for now as MINE.
Unlike last Thursay, I survived this back-to-back without mind-numbing fatigue. I'm still tired, but not dead. I don't doubt that the big jump in mileage (4 long runs in 6 days) had an effect, but this is like a big experiment so I just had to point it out :)
Did the first loop in 55 mins with EK, 6.3 miles. Second loop in 58 mins, which aint bad either. I stopped to walk parts of some of the bigger hills when my heart rate started to climb. Overall, this felt great. Now to recover.
Talked with E about coaches, I've been meaning to join up with one for the Piggie. But I keep putting if off and I wasnt sure why until the second loop. I realized that these hours are MINE. No one is asking me to do them, no one is email me about them, no one is expecting anything. My goals, my route, my pace. If I hire a coach, then suddenly there's someone expecting something from these workouts. Heart rate, pace, time, power. Everyone seems to want a piece of me lately, and I'm guarding this one last piece for now as MINE.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
March Goals
I was supposed to have my list of Goals done by now, but it looks like another work in progress. As long as I make progress, I guess it's OK.
I was wondering the other day if I could run 2011 miles this year. I did 1022 last year, and that's with Sept, Oct, and Nov mostly off running. 934 miles before IMWI, 88 miles afterward and 54 of those were December alone.
2011 miles in 52 weeks means 38-39 miles/week, or 5.5 miles a day. We are 61 days into the year, so I should be at 335.5 miles by now. And I'm only at 285 miles, or 50 miles behind. Great, I'm behind again. To catch-up I need 40m/week. Yikes.
My swim goal was 100 miles this year. Last year I did 128255 yards or 72.8 miles, with 72.6 of that leading up to IMWI. Nothing like a shoulder injury to knock down swim mileage. (And no wonder my swim sucks so far this year...) So far this year, I'm at 9.49 miles. To get to 100, I'll need to swim 0.274 miles/day (miles/day easier than miles/week). Which means I should be at 16.7 miles. Behind, as expected. To catch-up? Just need 2.12 miles/week or 3731y/week. This I can handle. If I can get to the pool.
Geez, should I even think about the bike? Why don't I leave that one alone, and that way I'm not behind on it. Well this was a fun and depressing way to spend lunch.
I was wondering the other day if I could run 2011 miles this year. I did 1022 last year, and that's with Sept, Oct, and Nov mostly off running. 934 miles before IMWI, 88 miles afterward and 54 of those were December alone.
2011 miles in 52 weeks means 38-39 miles/week, or 5.5 miles a day. We are 61 days into the year, so I should be at 335.5 miles by now. And I'm only at 285 miles, or 50 miles behind. Great, I'm behind again. To catch-up I need 40m/week. Yikes.
My swim goal was 100 miles this year. Last year I did 128255 yards or 72.8 miles, with 72.6 of that leading up to IMWI. Nothing like a shoulder injury to knock down swim mileage. (And no wonder my swim sucks so far this year...) So far this year, I'm at 9.49 miles. To get to 100, I'll need to swim 0.274 miles/day (miles/day easier than miles/week). Which means I should be at 16.7 miles. Behind, as expected. To catch-up? Just need 2.12 miles/week or 3731y/week. This I can handle. If I can get to the pool.
Geez, should I even think about the bike? Why don't I leave that one alone, and that way I'm not behind on it. Well this was a fun and depressing way to spend lunch.
Scratch that route from the list
RUN: 18.67 miles in 3hrs. 30K! 9:38m/m
Running has become my escape. Is that such a bad thing? I run to get away. Or better yet, maybe I'm running away. The plan for today was just 2.5hrs, but it felt so good I kept going. No phone (muted), no email, no manuscript, no to-do list. Just me and the road. Me and footsteps and air. The LSD drug I'm addicted to with these Long Slow Distance runs is unbeatable. Except maybe by the thrill of speed on the bike, but that's another training phase.
The plan was to leave at 6am, got up at 430 and everything, but it was still dark! So some housework, visited with husband (dont' get much of that lately) and left at 7am. The plan was a Park Tour: Lafayette to Benton to TGP to FP. Parks are nice, running is nice, so it all sounded good.
Made it to LP, looped LP, then decided I should include the Arch Park to make sure I get the full 15-16 miles planned. This took me thru downtown. Have I ever mentioned just how much dSTL stinks? Ugh, garbage, dumpster, exhaust, ick. Made it to the AP, where I realized I could run across the Eads!! Cool!! I've never run across a state line before, and somewhere around mile 5.5 I did it! The other side of the Eads was dumpy, so I didn't linger there. Back to Missouri.
Then to the AP, the sidewalks of which were under construction. Nice. Whatever. Off to LaClede's landing. Once I got there, I realized how close I was to 9 miles and to the MRT. I've never run on the MRT, just biked, and that was years ago. It's a trail through the industrial areas along the river. But no traffic, so I went for it. I guessed it was 5 miles from dSTL to work, so I'll round out my mileage here. I was feeling great, eating good, drinking good. I felt like I could run a circle around STL today! I was struggling however with math. I'm at 9 now...I want to run out and back and end up at 11...so that's 2 ...no 1.5... no 1 mile out and back. Duh. But by the time I figured this out I was at 11 miles meaning I ran some extra. By this time I'd had enough of the MRT. Dirty, stinky, concrete, homeless people in tents, junk along the trail. Ick. Stick to biking it so you go by the junk faster!
So I turn around, and come across a sign that said FP 5.5 miles away. Oh, that means I get 11+5.5=18 miles! Wait, 11+5.5 =/= 18. It = 16.5. G0D my maths sucks when I'm running.
So I went back through LLanding, then started the slow climb off the river front. It's just a series of long slow hills all the way to campus. By this time, my idea of circling STL today had tempered. Maybe I'll just stop at campus. But I'm still chugging along, enjoying Wash Ave. Until mile 16 when I roll my left foot AGAIN. Same stop, same pain, but I don't think I broke anything. (Hours later as I write this, it hurts a bit). I keep going, reaching campus at 17.7 miles So much for the sign saying 5.5 miles, cuz FP is still half mile away!
Overall, awesome run. The post-run buzz was long lasting :) Tomorrow is 11-12 miles of me and the road. The plan called for 20 today and 9 tomorrow, so I'm shooting for 30 miles over the 2 days combined. Hopefully I'm not as tired as I was last week.
Running has become my escape. Is that such a bad thing? I run to get away. Or better yet, maybe I'm running away. The plan for today was just 2.5hrs, but it felt so good I kept going. No phone (muted), no email, no manuscript, no to-do list. Just me and the road. Me and footsteps and air. The LSD drug I'm addicted to with these Long Slow Distance runs is unbeatable. Except maybe by the thrill of speed on the bike, but that's another training phase.
The plan was to leave at 6am, got up at 430 and everything, but it was still dark! So some housework, visited with husband (dont' get much of that lately) and left at 7am. The plan was a Park Tour: Lafayette to Benton to TGP to FP. Parks are nice, running is nice, so it all sounded good.
Made it to LP, looped LP, then decided I should include the Arch Park to make sure I get the full 15-16 miles planned. This took me thru downtown. Have I ever mentioned just how much dSTL stinks? Ugh, garbage, dumpster, exhaust, ick. Made it to the AP, where I realized I could run across the Eads!! Cool!! I've never run across a state line before, and somewhere around mile 5.5 I did it! The other side of the Eads was dumpy, so I didn't linger there. Back to Missouri.
Then to the AP, the sidewalks of which were under construction. Nice. Whatever. Off to LaClede's landing. Once I got there, I realized how close I was to 9 miles and to the MRT. I've never run on the MRT, just biked, and that was years ago. It's a trail through the industrial areas along the river. But no traffic, so I went for it. I guessed it was 5 miles from dSTL to work, so I'll round out my mileage here. I was feeling great, eating good, drinking good. I felt like I could run a circle around STL today! I was struggling however with math. I'm at 9 now...I want to run out and back and end up at 11...so that's 2 ...no 1.5... no 1 mile out and back. Duh. But by the time I figured this out I was at 11 miles meaning I ran some extra. By this time I'd had enough of the MRT. Dirty, stinky, concrete, homeless people in tents, junk along the trail. Ick. Stick to biking it so you go by the junk faster!
So I turn around, and come across a sign that said FP 5.5 miles away. Oh, that means I get 11+5.5=18 miles! Wait, 11+5.5 =/= 18. It = 16.5. G0D my maths sucks when I'm running.
So I went back through LLanding, then started the slow climb off the river front. It's just a series of long slow hills all the way to campus. By this time, my idea of circling STL today had tempered. Maybe I'll just stop at campus. But I'm still chugging along, enjoying Wash Ave. Until mile 16 when I roll my left foot AGAIN. Same stop, same pain, but I don't think I broke anything. (Hours later as I write this, it hurts a bit). I keep going, reaching campus at 17.7 miles So much for the sign saying 5.5 miles, cuz FP is still half mile away!
Overall, awesome run. The post-run buzz was long lasting :) Tomorrow is 11-12 miles of me and the road. The plan called for 20 today and 9 tomorrow, so I'm shooting for 30 miles over the 2 days combined. Hopefully I'm not as tired as I was last week.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Tuesday bike ride
BIKE: about 23 miles in 1hr 20 mins.
Got up really early for this one. I wanted a long hard ride to shake off some stress, and although I suppose getting up early and losing some sleep constitutes stress, I'm doing it anyway. Cuz the ride feels better than sleeping in.
Problem was, even though I got up early I still got caught doing emails and manuscript reading beforehand. So I got to the bike 15 mins later than planned. Which means I missed out on 10 mins of my ride. 10 minutes that I would have rather been biking! Not reading! I get to sit on my ass and read AAAAALLLLLLL DAY!!! But it had to be done. Once I get that manuscript off my desk, the log jam of life will open up a bit.
Good ride, did 30 min and 20 min intervals. Again. I lack imagination here.
Got up really early for this one. I wanted a long hard ride to shake off some stress, and although I suppose getting up early and losing some sleep constitutes stress, I'm doing it anyway. Cuz the ride feels better than sleeping in.
Problem was, even though I got up early I still got caught doing emails and manuscript reading beforehand. So I got to the bike 15 mins later than planned. Which means I missed out on 10 mins of my ride. 10 minutes that I would have rather been biking! Not reading! I get to sit on my ass and read AAAAALLLLLLL DAY!!! But it had to be done. Once I get that manuscript off my desk, the log jam of life will open up a bit.
Good ride, did 30 min and 20 min intervals. Again. I lack imagination here.
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