Tomorrow I leave for Minnesota for the USA Women’s 10 mile National Championships and I am getting excited! I look forward to the cooler weather, seeing friends, relaxing and resting, RACING ☺ and then hopefully watching the marathon that starts about one hour after my race starts. Should be a fun and fast weekend! ☺ If you want to watch the races LIVE online, go to: http://www.runnerspace.com/USARunningCircuit
They will be streaming races all morning!
Lately I have had intense cravings for many things I am not allowing myself to eat right now: potato chips, my homemade popcorn, donuts, etc. Running by Bashas every morning and smelling their donuts being fried doesn’t help either! Haha. The one thing I’ve been daydreaming about EVERY single run is Crumbs Bakery in NYC. I cannot wait to go there again after the race! ☺ Instead of giving into these things I am trying to eat other things to satisfy the cravings. I think wanting chips and popcorn means I want salt and some fat, so I eat a baked potato with salt and pepper and olive oil or something like that. It definitely tastes good and is a bit healthier so that’s good ☺ It just makes me SO excited for after the marathon when I can spend a full week indulging and enjoying things I haven’t eaten in a long time. So far it’s been 45 days of no sweets, junk food, etc. and like 65 days of no alcohol!
One thing I have noticed about my training during this marathon stint is that my easy/aerobic days are definitely SLOWER than they have ever been. I tend to run around 20-30 seconds slower per mile than I used to during marathon training phases. It’s probably because most of my days are singles and this is the highest mileage I have ever done for so many weeks in a row. As long as I hit the times I want to hit on my long runs and hard workouts, I have plenty of confidence in my fitness. I just allow my body to run how it wants to on my easier days because if I constantly push the pace I know I’ll get injured or not run as fast as I want to on my hard days.
Dots are some of my favorite candies that I am not able to eat right now, so I decided to put 2 of each flavor of my GU chomps in little snack bags for when I am really craving some sugary treat. So I have Cranberry Apple, Watermelon, Strawberry and Blueberry Pomegranate Chomps ready to enjoy when I feel the craving for candy. At least the Chomps have some Amino acids, vitamins, no food dyes and better ingredients than Dots, HA!
Lately my body wakes me up around 5 am every morning, even if my alarm is set for a slightly different time. It’s amazing how fast our bodies get into a routine and must want to stay in a regular routine, hence wanting to wake up around the same time. Two big training times in my life when I had big breakthroughs (Fall 2004 XC season at Duke and winter training 2008-09 before 4 minute Marathon PR at PF Changs marathon) were times when I was in a very regular routine. I tended to go to bed and wake up around the same time every day, even on weekends. I didn’t really change my bedtime or wake up time by more than 30 minutes or so, and I ate very similar foods each day so I knew how my body responded before workouts, recovering, etc. If anyone wants to figure out an additional way to improve their fitness or have a major breakthrough, I’d recommend getting into a routine like I just mentioned and really try to stick with it. I think you will feel better day-to-day, stay healthy, prevent sicknesses and see positive results in your goal race!
Pic: Cool pic from Cabo with a full moon over the beach ☺
Quote for today: Enthusiasm – the sustaining power of all great action."- Samuel Smiles
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