Having an audience does wonders for one’s running performance

I find the title to be somewhat self-explanatory, but for the sake of …well I like to talk to I'll explain it anyways :). 

Yesterday, I decided to run on campus instead of in my parking lot.  So I got dressed, planned my route online (www.mapmyfitness.com), and drove to campus.  And ran an 11:28 minute mile.  Uh, that would be a pace that is 45 seconds FASTER than my fastest time to date.  TO DATE.  That’s all of them.  ALL.  Every.  You get it :) 45 seconds!  Okay, now I’m done. 

I was performing for an audience.  Take driving.  Never mind, I should stay away from driving :).  You get the idea though.  

I have come to a turning point if you will.  I am choosing to eat healthier, to listen to the signals my body sends me.  It’s quite fascinating really.  I have green beans.  I choose to eat all of them instead of just half.  I’ve had chocolate in my apartment for weeks.  Ice cream?  Not interested.  Munching.  No longer a problem.  Thanksgiving.  Didn’t overeat.  I’m not sure what happened, but I’m not messing with it.  Maybe it's because I don't watch TV anymore.  That's mostly because I don't have time.  No, this would not be a "you don't make time" instance.  I quite literally do not HAVE time. 

I don’t know what my total weight loss is.  I couldn’t tell you how much I weigh.  All I know is in the month of November I lost 5 pounds.  3 of the 4 weeks were losses, and I maintained (true maintain) one week.  That’s all I know.  I’m not focusing on the big picture long term goal weight almost a year down the road.  I’m focusing on right now.  Today.  Tomorrow.  This week.  That’s it.  That’s all the brain power I can allocate anyways.  Lose weight daily.  Exercise regularly.  Make choices.  Sit in a bouncy desk chair :).  (Just thought I'd throw that one in for fun).  Last night, I actually only bought the items on my list at the grocery store.  I didn’t even think it was possible. 

I think sometimes we try to equate “healthy” with “complicated”.  It doesn’t have to be, but you have to WANT it.  It's not a diet.  It's a life style change. 

Until next time,
:)

What happens when you don't eat for 12 hours?

Good question.  I know people who can go all day without eating and not blink an eye.  Yesterday I would have told you I couldn't make it 6 before not being able to function.  Guess you could either call it anemic, blood sugar issues, or God's blessing me with the inability to have an eating disorder because he knew I get distracted.  College has taught me a lot about eating, and the issues that I face eating at odd times.  Last week, it had only been 2 hours since I had eaten, but stress, anxiety, and adrenaline running out made me totally crash. 

Today, I ate breakfast around 7.  I went to class, came back, worked on a few things, left for my next class at 11, just like normal MWF.  Then after class I had a heart to heart with one professor, got help from another and by the time I made it home to change out stuff and head back to school to work on a project, it was almost 2.  No food since 7.  I worked on school stuff for hours, until time flew and it was time to leave the library for my 6pm class.  Still no food.  Still walking.  I made it home without incident around 7:30, and fixed two pieces of pizza.  I had to force myself to fix it, much more to starting eating it.  It had been so long since I'd eaten, I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of food.  I've made it through the first piece and I think I might just be sick.  I'm hungry and full at the same time.  No appetite at all.  I don't even want to eat the chocolate cake I brought in here to save my sugars if they started going haywire.  Now that's just depressing all on its own. 

I think this might have something to do with the fact that the last 24 hours have made me ridiculously happy, I have had 3.5 hours of sleep on the day, and I still have hours of homework to accomplish before getting shut-eye. 

ONLY 10 class days left.  I can make it, but where did the semester go?!?!?

If I had been careless, who knows how long this could have gone on before my body gave out!  I guess, for the most part, that's why I'm lucky enough to not be able to go long periods of time without eating before my body starts shutting down, guess today was the exception, but I can't count on having this good fortune in the future.  Crashes really freak people out, they tend to overreact and send me to the ER, and that's the last thing I need. 

I'm off to finish homework, try to eat some more to fight off a losing cycle of no food, no strength until I get sick. 

Until next time,
:)

I kindof don't like carrots.

I'm trying out the Blogger app, so show mercy on my spelling, please? :)

I'm pretty sure when I see carrots, I become a 5 year old, whining and all. Truth is, I don't like carrots unless each bite includes ranch dressing, or something. Which really defeats the purpose of eating them, since that purpose is an almost zero calorie snack. Why can't there be almost zero calorie ranch dressing? Maybe because then we would have to add something tasty. So I think I'll just stick to my raw green beans (the ones that snap) for my zero calorie snack. I could eat a bushel of those!

I'm not sure why this little fun factoid about me seemed like a good post, but it seemed like a good idea, so I went with it. Maybe it's because I just felt like talking, and since that itself was a rare thing, I decided to run with it. That and it was a perfectly good excuse to try out this nifty app. :)

So I've decided that when I eat dessert, it's a really good idea to eat it in a very, very, very small bowl. If it comes close to the top of the bowl, I feel like I'm indulging, but not in a guilty kind of a way. That kind of way that you curl up with a blanket in a comfy chair and your dessert and you can really appreciate the taste kind of way. Of course the best dessert for this is a warm brownie with a small scoop of ice cream. YUM.

Today really threw me off, I'm not sure I buy that it's Thursday night, maybe tomorrow it'll sink in; hopefully I go to the right classes! I think, well heck, I don't know, there's a lot going on upstairs, so I'm gonna log off before I start rambling. :)

Until next time,
:)

The amount of sugar I consume is inversely proportional to my running performance

Yes, I'm a math geek.  So what inversely proportional means is when one item gets bigger, the other gets smaller at the same rate.  Directly proportional is when the two items grow or shrink together.  Just a little math lesson from your neighborhood math geek. 

Okay, now to what it really means: on Monday I got distracted and I went a little overboard on a sweet treat. . .right before I went for a run.  BAD idea.  Just a really bad idea.  I felt it from the time I took the first step.  I had a terrible pace (uh 2 minutes total time SLOWER than average), and I was only able to do 2 laps instead of 3.  BLAH.  But it was a good lesson learned.  But the good news is that the inverse of this is true.  Holding off on fast food and sugar provides great results!

Now, Imma brag on my self.  So I went lax, if you will, on my goals.  No more specific timeline for weight loss.  I just want to have a net loss each month.  I want to be consistent in tracking and exercise.  I don't want to have any specific fitness goals, I'm not running to train for a race, I'm running to be healthy, to push myself, and most importantly, FUN!  I have a specially chosen play list that pushes me and makes me happy. 

So what did I get for all my effort: -2.2!  How exciting.  Then, today, because it was such a good day, I got my car back yesterday, and I had an impressive loss (all adds up to one HAPPY camper), my pace was fabulous!  I did the whole 3 laps 2 minutes faster than average.  That shaved more than a minute off my pace.  Hello 12 minute pace!  WOOHOO!!  And all 3 laps were within 30 seconds of each other, so I was a lot more consistent then I have been. 

All in all, a fabulous start to another great week!

A side note on my car, if I ever have to part with it permanently (*sniff*), it will be a very sad day, week, month, you get it.  Very, very sad.  9 days and I missed it so much.

4 weeks from today is the last day of classes for the semester.  Where did it go?!?!

Until next time,
:)