I was recently reading an article that erin337 had posted on her facebook page about the importance of being emotionally ready to run a marathon. Here's a link to the entire article called "Why You Should Fear the Marathon."
In the article, writer Tess Zevenbergen writes:
"Not only is running 42.2 km (26.1 miles) physically and mentally taxing, it requires one to dig deep and pull out of themselves everything they possibly can. The tricky thing is, if you don’t believe you can do it, you probably won’t."
Then she goes on to describe the physical and mental challenges of running a marathon. But it's that line "If you don't believe you can do it, you probably won't" that scares me. How can I convince my head that I really can run a marathon?
It's not that I don't think I have the stamina - I've certainly had my share of long, stressful, physically challenging days and I really can't imagine it being a whole lot more mentally challenging than my first half ironman a few years ago when I started the 21.1 km run knowing I was going to have to limp through the entire thing with an ITB that had locked up on the bike. But I suffered on and finished it, fighting a body that was screaming at me to pack it in for most of the last 3 hours of that seven and a half hour race. And with any luck, my marathon will be shorter, right? :)
I think I can do this. In fact, I pretty sure I can do this.
I'm really looking forward to the day when I can honestly say I KNOW I can do this.
*********************************
Here's a funny video of a guy who tells us what he's thinking at various points of his marathon.
Kelownagurl: Off and Running in all Directions
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Staying Motivated
I have a bunch of motivational quotes up on Pinterest (follow me if you like), so lately I've been reading through them every morning, and keeping them in my mind all day long as I try to make good choices about eating and exercise. I REALLY find it helps me. If you find quotes that resonate with you, consider typing them up, printing them off, and putting them in places that you'll see all day. It may help.
Here are a few of my current favourites. Some inspire to stick to the healthy eating plan and others inspire me to get out the door and do my run, or bike, or strength workout when I'm tired or lazy. Maybe some of them will strike a chord for you.
On getting started...
The choices are not always easy, but the benefits are worth it.
Don't make excuses.......
Too busy to exercise?
Fall off the wagon?
Get back on!!
Believe in yourself!
It takes hard work.
And when you're reaching for that bag of chips,
Remember this ------------------------>
And if, like me, you don't necessarily like the word "skinny" - then change it to "fit".
"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels."
So - today - set up your plans for the week and be pro-active. Plans your meals, do your shopping, figure out solutions for days you know it may not be easy to fit in a workout or a healthy meal.
Have a great week!
Here are a few of my current favourites. Some inspire to stick to the healthy eating plan and others inspire me to get out the door and do my run, or bike, or strength workout when I'm tired or lazy. Maybe some of them will strike a chord for you.
On getting started...
The choices are not always easy, but the benefits are worth it.
Don't make excuses.......
Too busy to exercise?
Fall off the wagon?
Get back on!!
Believe in yourself!
It takes hard work.
And when you're reaching for that bag of chips,
Remember this ------------------------>
And if, like me, you don't necessarily like the word "skinny" - then change it to "fit".
"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels."
I love this one - says it all... :)
So - today - set up your plans for the week and be pro-active. Plans your meals, do your shopping, figure out solutions for days you know it may not be easy to fit in a workout or a healthy meal.
Have a great week!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Struggling Along
When the going gets tough, the tough eat old candy canes.
Yeah, so I had a small lapse, but over all it's been a good week. On Sunday, I planned meals for the week - stuff the boys would like to eat but I could still adapt to my 'diet'. I've been trying not to go too extreme since I am hoping to workout 6 days a week.
To lose 1 lb a week, I need to eat about 1300 calories a day. Instead, I'm trying to stick to about 1600 a day to compensate for the calories I burn through exercise. It worked the first week - we'll see if I can lose another pound this week. I'm half way through the week already and the scale hasn't budged yet. We'll see.
Monday was a bad day at work and I came home and had a G&T (with diet tonic - only 73 cals in total ;). However, I ate well and stayed within my limits. I was too bagged to do my trainer ride so Monday's workout was a wash.
Tuesday, I ate well all day and did a 45 minute hill run with friends after school.
Wednesday - I did pretty well with the diet all day, I went to the gym after school and did an adapted strength workout, then came straight home and rode the trainer for an hour. We had tacos for dinner but I was SO hungry, I had to eat two. Plus I got cranky when I had to clean up last night's dishes and take out the garbage before I could cook dinner (while still in my workout clothes), so when I craved sugar after dinner, I caved in and ate 2 stupid candy canes. It's really amazing how much I wanted those damn candy canes. The stupid plastic wrapper sticks so tightly that it's nearly impossible to get it off to eat the candy. But I persevered. I'm tough like that. ;) That meant my calorie count was up over 2000 for the day. Thank God, I worked out for an hour and 45 minutes. :)
Today, I ate well all day and managed to keep from eating the cheezies and cinnamon buns at work today. I didn't even sneak a teeny piece. Then after work, I squeezed in a 30 minute run while my son was getting his hair cut. I'm glad I kept it short and slow because my legs are tired and sore from Tuesday's run. I'm icing my shin now in fact. When I got home, it was cold (it's -3C today) so I climbed into a hot bath and almost dropped my book in the tub when I started falling asleep. I need a good night's sleep tonight I think.
So I'm trying hard to eat more protein, good fats, only low glycemic carbs (veg and fruit), and very little, if any, potatoes/rice/bread/sugar. I still take cream and sugar or honey in my coffee but that's about it for sugar.
So that's it for now. Oh, and I think I've come up with a new motivational quote,
When you crave, don't cave.
Yeah.
Yeah, so I had a small lapse, but over all it's been a good week. On Sunday, I planned meals for the week - stuff the boys would like to eat but I could still adapt to my 'diet'. I've been trying not to go too extreme since I am hoping to workout 6 days a week.
To lose 1 lb a week, I need to eat about 1300 calories a day. Instead, I'm trying to stick to about 1600 a day to compensate for the calories I burn through exercise. It worked the first week - we'll see if I can lose another pound this week. I'm half way through the week already and the scale hasn't budged yet. We'll see.
Monday was a bad day at work and I came home and had a G&T (with diet tonic - only 73 cals in total ;). However, I ate well and stayed within my limits. I was too bagged to do my trainer ride so Monday's workout was a wash.
Tuesday, I ate well all day and did a 45 minute hill run with friends after school.
Wednesday - I did pretty well with the diet all day, I went to the gym after school and did an adapted strength workout, then came straight home and rode the trainer for an hour. We had tacos for dinner but I was SO hungry, I had to eat two. Plus I got cranky when I had to clean up last night's dishes and take out the garbage before I could cook dinner (while still in my workout clothes), so when I craved sugar after dinner, I caved in and ate 2 stupid candy canes. It's really amazing how much I wanted those damn candy canes. The stupid plastic wrapper sticks so tightly that it's nearly impossible to get it off to eat the candy. But I persevered. I'm tough like that. ;) That meant my calorie count was up over 2000 for the day. Thank God, I worked out for an hour and 45 minutes. :)
Today, I ate well all day and managed to keep from eating the cheezies and cinnamon buns at work today. I didn't even sneak a teeny piece. Then after work, I squeezed in a 30 minute run while my son was getting his hair cut. I'm glad I kept it short and slow because my legs are tired and sore from Tuesday's run. I'm icing my shin now in fact. When I got home, it was cold (it's -3C today) so I climbed into a hot bath and almost dropped my book in the tub when I started falling asleep. I need a good night's sleep tonight I think.
So I'm trying hard to eat more protein, good fats, only low glycemic carbs (veg and fruit), and very little, if any, potatoes/rice/bread/sugar. I still take cream and sugar or honey in my coffee but that's about it for sugar.
So that's it for now. Oh, and I think I've come up with a new motivational quote,
When you crave, don't cave.
Yeah.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Down one pound, hurrah!
The week ended well - I did all my training as planned, managed to stay within reasonable limits even on Friday's steak and wine night, and lost one pound since last Monday! :)
Friday was a rest day from training but my legs recovered really well from Thursday's hilly run and I was feeling great. On Saturday, I did my long run - 11:25 km in 1:15 - and felt good but tired after. Sunday, I went to the gym and rowed for 30 minutes, then did a full strength workout plus some of my PT glute med. exercises.
I'm trying to find the right balance in my strength workouts so that I'm not too sore for the next few days, which affects my runs. If I do the strength stuff and include my step ups and walking lunges, it takes several days for my glutes to recover so I end up only hitting the gym once a week. This week, I tried cutting it back slightly and will hopefully be able to do another gym workout on Wednesday without affecting Thursday's hill run. We'll see.
So anyway, it's Monday and I officially weighed in to the 10 in 10 Challenge so hopefully I can stay on the straight and narrow all week and lose another pound by next Monday. I did my meal planning and most of my shopping and I've upped my protein and stuck with fruit and veg carbs for the most part. It seems to be working.
I guess that's all for now. By the way, I'm going to be helping with some of the social media for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon this year so if you feel like it, hop on over to their blog and give it a follow. I'm hoping to do some regular updates between now and the race. In addition, I'm tweeting for them and doing some updates to the facebook group. Thanks for your support!
Friday was a rest day from training but my legs recovered really well from Thursday's hilly run and I was feeling great. On Saturday, I did my long run - 11:25 km in 1:15 - and felt good but tired after. Sunday, I went to the gym and rowed for 30 minutes, then did a full strength workout plus some of my PT glute med. exercises.
I'm trying to find the right balance in my strength workouts so that I'm not too sore for the next few days, which affects my runs. If I do the strength stuff and include my step ups and walking lunges, it takes several days for my glutes to recover so I end up only hitting the gym once a week. This week, I tried cutting it back slightly and will hopefully be able to do another gym workout on Wednesday without affecting Thursday's hill run. We'll see.
So anyway, it's Monday and I officially weighed in to the 10 in 10 Challenge so hopefully I can stay on the straight and narrow all week and lose another pound by next Monday. I did my meal planning and most of my shopping and I've upped my protein and stuck with fruit and veg carbs for the most part. It seems to be working.
I guess that's all for now. By the way, I'm going to be helping with some of the social media for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon this year so if you feel like it, hop on over to their blog and give it a follow. I'm hoping to do some regular updates between now and the race. In addition, I'm tweeting for them and doing some updates to the facebook group. Thanks for your support!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Not a bad day
I ate pretty well today, struggled through the evening cravings by eating half a bag of low fat popcorn and one piece of dark chocolate.
Throughout the day, I ate lots of fruit and veggies, kept my protein and good fat up (no bad fats at all), my carbs were bit high but it was all fruit and veggies, no bread or starch, and only a little white sugar in my coffee this morning. I'll try honey tomorrow.
Calories: 1850 (a bit high but I did run today so it's all good.)
Fat: 42 g (19%, too low)
Carbs: 281 g (58%, higher than planned)
Protein: 106 g (22%, OK but a bit lower than I'd like right now )
I went for a hilly run after work and felt pretty darn good. First decent after-school run in a long time. I was surprised my pace was as good as it was, it didn't feel like I was running very fast especially with all the hills. (250+ feet of gain over abt 5 miles)
I ran 7 km in 45 minutes and then walked the last 1/4 km home. Most km's were in the 6:15-6:45/ km pace despite the hills. Yay me.
Good times!
Throughout the day, I ate lots of fruit and veggies, kept my protein and good fat up (no bad fats at all), my carbs were bit high but it was all fruit and veggies, no bread or starch, and only a little white sugar in my coffee this morning. I'll try honey tomorrow.
Calories: 1850 (a bit high but I did run today so it's all good.)
Fat: 42 g (19%, too low)
Carbs: 281 g (58%, higher than planned)
Protein: 106 g (22%, OK but a bit lower than I'd like right now )
I went for a hilly run after work and felt pretty darn good. First decent after-school run in a long time. I was surprised my pace was as good as it was, it didn't feel like I was running very fast especially with all the hills. (250+ feet of gain over abt 5 miles)
I ran 7 km in 45 minutes and then walked the last 1/4 km home. Most km's were in the 6:15-6:45/ km pace despite the hills. Yay me.
Good times!
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