Posts

Struggling to Change the Food

 I know, from experience, that having enough of the right food is important for running. Honestly, it's pretty important for any physical activity but running is one of those things that if you run out of fuel, you're pretty much done. I have been working to change up what I eat to try and make it more likely that I won't run out of fuel. Weight has never been my motivating factor here. I generally don't worry about my weight and concentrate more on whether my clothing fits well. Fuel is a different situation though. I can eat pretty much whatever I want when I'm running long distances because I burn through calories. Add in the weight training and yoga and I am pretty much burning many more calories in a day than I was. The end result there is that I end up hungry a lot. When I end up hungry I eat whatever I can find. It is sometimes not pretty. Two days ago I ate an entire can of praline pecans (it was a small can, in my defense) in one sitting. I was that hungry.
Post a Comment
Read more

Getting faster

 Today, I ran almost four miles. My goal was to see how far I could get in an hour. Mostly, I wanted to know what my Turkey Trot time might look like. It's not like I'm stressed about the time because I know it's going to be slow. I am primarily wanting to see how fast I can do it.  My four miles today was just over an hour. Thanksgiving is an 8K, just under 5 miles. That would make my time on race day about an hour and a quarter, give or take. I am ok with that number. I am hoping that I can gain some speed in the intervening weeks. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Opting into Personal Training

 I have known for a long time that running is about more than just your legs. Optimally, you need to train all of the muscles in your body. Your arms help you move forward. Your core helps your posture. Nutrition is important too. That's another post though. I have had personal training before. It was definitely helpful but most of the focus was on overall strength and it didn't necessarily help my running. This time, I wanted to be sure that what I was doing was going to help my running. I want to be stronger but I also want to make the muscles that I need most work their best. Yesterday, I opted back into personal training. In all my previous sessions, it was brief - maybe three months and only once a week. This time I opted into six months and twice a week. I will add that I'm not just working twice a week. It's more like five days a week but I also don't need someone there the whole time. I need to be able to work on my distance and that's not something that
Post a Comment
Read more

Failing at 26.2

 I have had many successes as a runner, including my cutting down a store employee recently for his assumption about how I identify myself. That's another post though. This is the story of my first failure. I decided that it was time to try and run a marathon. The idea was daunting to me but who isn't a little taken back by the idea of running that far? In order to dangle a carrot, I picked Disney World as the venue. In hindsight, this may have played into the issue. I began training and almost immediately started running into problems. The marathon was scheduled for January of 2022 so I started training in February of 2021. As a nurse, working in the midst of COVID, I took all the precautions that I needed to. As a runner with asthma, it had consistently been in the back of my mind that I didn't know how COVID might impact me. In March, I came down with the dreaded virus. I felt lucky that my symptoms were mild. Mostly, I was tired. It was impossible to run. It was April b
Post a Comment
Read more