It has been a month since the Utah Valley marathon and I am still not feeling the love for long runs or training. The other day I read a post by Hal Higdon about Post-Marathon Syndrome, or PMS. I have decided that this is what I am suffering from. I have the Pocatello Marathon on my calendar for August 31, but I can't wrap my head around training for it. The training for the Utah Valley Marathon was so intense and focused and time consuming, that I am not ready to do it again. Also my leg is still giving me some problems and I don't want to aggravate it more with long runs.
I am loosely following Brian Mackenzie's crossfit approach to running, but other than that I am doing whatever I feel like doing. For example, this week I did 2 speedwork sessions (the max was 4 miles), I went to 3 kettlebell classes, swam 1/2 mile, went on a 6.8 mile walk/hike, and attended a Pilates class. On Saturday, instead of going for a long run, I let my friend, Monica, kick my butt at the gym. After a warmup on the treadmill we did a fitness test. We did 1 minute of push ups, 1 minute of crunches and 1 minute of Burpees. We both kept a log of our results and then we will do it again to see if we are improving our fitness. We are still trying to decide how frequently we want to do the fitness test. I suggested monthly and then we could try to get at least one more/minute each month. After a warmup and the fitness test, she put me through her 1 1/2 hour long kettlebell boot camp. I'm really sore now, but it was tons of fun.
I wanted to do the fitness test because I recently realized that my 36th birthday is less than a month away. When I started this journey back in September, I made it one of my goals to be the most fit in my life by my b-day. The only problem is that I really didn't set out any parameters to gauge my fitness. I do feel like I am more fit, all of my clothes are loose on me, my body fat is down, I have lost a bit of weight, and I have set PRs in my race times. All of these are good indicators of fitness, but I think that the fit test will help me to have a starting point for the next year of goal setting.
Last week I decided that it was time to take action with my diet. I realized that I had eaten some kind of sweet everyday the week before and I caught myself drinking more and more Diet Coke or Dr. Pepper. I have read that you should eat to look good, feel good, and to better your performance. So I decided that I needed some motivation and accountability. If I eat any type of sweet- including dark chocolate and soda- I have to pay Monica $5. I started this challenge on June 29 and I'm going to do it until my birthday on July 27. I know it probably seems crazy, but I have made it a week without sweets or soda. On any normal week this wouldn't be too terrible, but my husband and I have had tons of family in town with tons of family gatherings and tons of sugary temptations. I was able to stick it out though and I am so glad that I did.
I threw this challenge out to my book club. Sarah said that she would try and Libby said that if she tried to do this she would be setting herself up for failure. I replied to Sarah with my favorite quote from Yoda "Do or do not, there is no try." My response to Libby was that I don't see it as setting myself up for failure, but for success. When I eats sweets and drink soda, I feel guilty, but I have never felt guilty when I have not eaten them. This week when I contemplated eating a piece of cake, drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper or eating a M&M, I remembered that guilt (and the $5) and it made it so much easier to walk away. I figure that I saved at least 500 calories per day by not eating sweets this week. I'm sure that I wasn't in a caloric deficit since I still ate plenty of other foods that I usually don't eat, like dip & chips and pasta salad, but it is a step in the right direction.
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