Let's skip the talking and get right to the dirty business, shall we?
Week 3 Recap
Monday: 4 mi @ 9:31 (treadmill)
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 6 mi @ 9:34
Thursday: off
Friday: 3 mi @ 10:07 (stroller run)
Saturday: 11 mi @ 9:46
Sunday: off
Total: 24 miles
Week 3 Notes
Although I haven't stepped up to the full-on, 5-days-a-week regimen prescribed by my training plan, this week's runs felt really, really good. The heat has finally broken a bit, and mornings have been cool and clear - perfect running weather.
Two Wins for Week 3:
1. Charlotte took me out for my first-ever stroller run. My cousin passed down her old running stroller - a Baby Trend Expedition - and it worked beautifully despite my initial handling. Poor Charlotte had to endure sharp turns and bumpy sidewalks, so she tossed out a lot of side-eye, just like my driver's ed instructor did when I was 15. Eventually, I figured it out, and she dazed off in the end.
Thank god I have Instagram now. I was so fearful my baby wouldn't be hipster enough for the world.
2. Awkward must've been the theme this week because Saturday's LSD run started off terribly. It was more awkward than the time Courtney Love crashed Madonna's interview with Kurt Loder during the 1995 Video Music Awards. It turned around when Frances Bean grew up and could read the Interwebz so Courtney was forced to act like an adult I ate some blackberry Gu around mile 5.5, and angels started singing, and I ran the last three miles at MGP (9:15). Effing Magical.
Week 3 Marathon Musing: Junk in My Trunk
Contrary to what smart people say, I've long subscribed to the theory that running an ass-ton of miles WILL negate my terrible diet. In fact, I often aim to run as many miles as I can drink beers at the post-race party (that marathon of beers is much harder than the actual race).
Sure, a bunch of "experts" say things like, "Diet is important. Learn to love tasteless shit like raw nuts, unflavored yogurt, hardboiled eggs, smelly fish, and steamed vegetables. You should eat local, organic, unprocessed foods and strive to drink an ocean of water. Go Paleo, ingest fewer carbs, just say no to gluten, eat carbs (but only the right ones), meat is murder, dairy is for suckers, moderate in moderation."
It's exhausting. Therefore, I ignore most of that and just do my own thang which equates to eating a mix of healthy and unhealthy stuff.
But deep in the black holes of my soul lies a truth: I've been riding a calorie-burning wave of 20+ miles/week, breastfeeding, and chasing after a 6-month old which has allowed me to enjoy things like two brownies every day sans the guilty filling. And now it's probably time to clean things up a little.
For the past few years, I haven't cared much about food because running usually balances it out, but as I train for the MCM, there's a small part of me that wants to squeeze out the best training cycle that I possibly can.
Though forgoing a 20-piece box of chicken McNuggets won't turn me into Kara Goucher overnight (or ever), I'm hoping that it will make me feel better in general and this, lead to more quality training.
Additionally, as Charlotte starts to eat real human food, I'd like to expose her to fresh, real meals in hopes that she'll grow up with braver, more sophisticated taste buds than I ever had. If she's eating Plum Organics banana-spinach-pear puree, I can surely eat an apple instead of another brownie, right?
Going forward, I'm making an effort to clean up what goes down my gullet by following a few simple principles:
- Cook dinner 3-4 times/week and limit restaurant trips to 1/week
- Eat some a fruit or vegetable with each meal without gagging
- Up my protein intake so I'm not starving 5 minutes after eating 14 bowls of cereal
Are you guilty of the "run to eat and/or drink" plan, too?
Besides eating Renaissance-Fair turkey legs, I need some new ways to get extra protein. Quick, easy recipes/snack ideas would be great if you have them!