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| Today's running stats. My pace is getting better again. I felt like I've been stagnant for a while. I need to kick it up a notch! |
I was tired after my long run on Sunday. Tired, but not exhausted. I remember when I ran my first half marathon and I was sore for days afterwards. I even booked an emergency massage later in the week. I have now run a half marathon distance 6 times. Whoa! A year and a half ago, I couldn't even run for a minute without clutching my chest and wishing for a quick death. I ran 23K on Sunday, and I'm running 26K this Sunday. Who am I? Not the same person who swore off any form of physical activity two years ago. I'm not even sure who she is anymore.
I'm on vacation right now, and we have a pretty fun week planned. On Monday we went to Wild Waterworks, a local water park here in Hamilton. We went on the slides, played in the wave pool, and I walked around for 3+ hours in nothing but a bathing suit. It was weird...but freeing. For the first time in my adult life, I was not embarrassed by how I looked in a bathing suit. I thought it would be hard for me to parade around in public with my less than perfect body. But I decided to throw caution to the wind and not give a shit. I needed to just have fun with my son and hubby and not worry about my saddlebags, or my bat wings. And it was worth it, we had a lot of fun.
This Friday, we're headed up to Millbrook to see my cousin and his family for an overnight visit. Julien is super excited because he gets to sleep in a tent (with us of course). He's just happy to have a few cousins to play with. My cousin's wife is also a runner so I'm looking forward to doing a 7K run with her on Saturday morning on country roads. Lots of hills...AWESOME! I'm joking of course. Hills are not that awesome, but I always feel like a friggin Olympian when I conquer a particularly long one. I have hill repeats tomorrow night right before my physio appointment. BRING IT ON!!!!!!
I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but I'm not posting what I eat anymore. Quite frankly, the food I eat day in and day out is so boring and exactly the same that I don't feel it's necessary to bore you with the particulars. I promise that if I make something new, I will post about it and share the recipe. Eating the same stuff day in and day out is so unimaginative, but I actually don't care. I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
I've gotten a few emails about the differences between Dr. Poon and Paleo. Although I follow The Paleo Diet for Athletes now, I have ABSOLUTELY nothing against Dr. Poon. Dr. Poon, in my opinion, is a genius. A genius who saved my life. His diet was the first plan that actually made sense to me. I remember before I even went for my initial consultation, I told my gf Linda, that even though I'd go and see what they had to say, I had already made up my mind to have weight-loss surgery. Absolutely true story, you can ask her. When I heard I had to give up processed carbs, refined sugar, dairy...all the things I loved, I said NO WAY!
So I go in for the consultation and something just went off in my head. I mean nothing changed, I still had to give up the processed carbs, refined sugar, dairy and about the majority of everything else I liked to ingest, but something was tugging at me. I had read up on a lot of literature in regards to WLS, and I knew that following WLS I would have to follow a VERY restrictive diet. How was this any different? I could follow this restrictive diet starting today and not have to:
- have surgery
- wait for surgery (2 years)
Although many will think that WLS surgery is an "easy way out", I assure you it is not. Everyone has to do what is best for them. Although I chose not to have WLS, I respect anyone whose choice it was to have WLS surgery...because that was what was best for them. I read WLS surgery blogs and have them on my blog list. The plight of these individuals is no less impressive than anyone who does it the "natural" way. I use natural very loosely because I'm quoting emails and comments I've received in the past. The diet after WLS is probably more restrictive than Dr. Poon's diet.
Anywho, I went off course there a tad. I was comparing Dr. Poon to Paleo. Basically, it wasn't hard for me to transition from Poon to Paleo. I never bought the treats and extra stuff from the Ontario Nutrition Store. Again, not because I don't agree with it, but because:
- I couldn't afford it
- It was too much of a trigger for me
Some people can handle just having "a bit" of something. I cannot. I am a carb and sugar addict. You may or may not have noticed that I do not reward myself with food following long runs. The most I will do is have a couple glasses of wine, and a small baked sweet potato. I burned 1700 calories during this past Sunday's long run and I had 2 glasses of wine and a sweet potato (350 additional calories total). I will never be one of those people who can have a celebratory ice cream or Mrs. Fields cookie/brownie. I envy you and wish I could, but I know myself well enough to know that for me, it is impossible.
Wow! I am not focusing at all today!!!! Back to Poon/Paleo comparisons. So if you think that Paleo is easier than Poon, don't. On maintenance, Dr. Poon allows grains and legumes, and dairy and artificial sweeteners (sugar free chocolate which is yummy). Paleo is basically lean protein (meats, fish, seafood, eggs), vegetables (no white potatoes...only sweet potatoes), fruit and nuts that you can eat raw. I drink water and coffee (and wine after long runs). That is it! Pretty basic, but that's how I roll. The easier the better!
Sorry for the very eclectic post. I'm moving on to what I like about myself now. I love my hair right now. It is thicker and healthier than it's ever been. I've perfected the sock bun and with it comes awesome curls when I take it out! Yesterday (which is when the below picture was taken) I got to wear my curls out to meet my gal Beverly for a drink in the evening. So, sock bun during the day, sexy waves at night.
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| It looked a bit better when I actually made it out for the evening. I finger combed my hair and added some spray. |
I will be MIA for the next few days. We have some fun stuff planned and I'm taking a blogging break until Sunday. I'll check in after my 26K. Lets see if I can complete it without too much discomfort! I'm going to take Triza's advice and really make a concerted effort to keep my toes spread wide. I totally grip my shoes when I run which makes my toes cramp. Hubby and I are also going to make a special effort to strengthen the core. Having a stronger core and better balance will make us better runners. That is a fact!
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| A picture of Baby...just because. |