Apr 3

 FUEL:

I love stocking my fridge with high-quality fuel, food that gives your body the nutrients it needs to fight disease, perform optimally, give you energy and focus, and just make you feel good and satisfied.  Go for lots of color and a good balance of different vitamins and minerals.

Since I need to stay away from empty calories this week, I stayed away from processed foods as much as I could (still had to get my whole grain… really half grain… Goldfish fix). 

Grocery list:

Green & Red bell peppers

Bananas

Collard Greens

Carrots

Onion

Tangerines

Spring Mix

Whole Wheat Flour

Skim Milk

Chili Powder

Blackberries

Fat Free Feta

Doesn’t that sound good and make you feel powerful just reading it?  Plus, it’s not expensive, either.  I spend less than $6/day on food, Goldfish included.   For protein, I have dairy, tofu, tuna, beans, nuts (I don’t consider that high protein, especially compared to the [healthy] fat content, but some people count it), and sometimes chicken.  For grains, I have oatmeal, whole grain bread, tortilla chips, cereal, and sometimes whole grain pasta.  For fats, I eat lots of PB/peanuts and chocolate, haha.  I also love tea and decaf coffee – a satisfying treat that adds additional nutrients for free.  I can have any meal at any time of day – salad at breakfast, cereal at dinner… don’t care, because it always tastes good.  I go for 3 servings of dairy per day to get calcium, and I also have glucosamine chondroiton 2x/day and fish oil 3x/day, to keep my joints smooth (I think it does make a difference… on one trip when I didn’t take any, my joints were creaky, and then I realized that I hadn’t had my pills in a week), and the oil to help my heart, fight inflammation, and keep my mind strong.  I get sick once/2-3 years, and even then, it lasts maybe 1 day and isn’t necessarily bad enough to be called truly “sick”, either, thanks to a combo of good fueling and good exercise.  Another big facet of my nutrition is also the timing… I eat often, and it doesn’t take too much to make me satisfied, as long as I eat often.  I like salt… a lot.  Maybe I need it, though… that’s what I’ll tell myself, haha.  When I eat Goldfish or chips or peanuts, I look for the saltiest looking ones and pick those first.  I drink lots of water. 

FIT:

Eager to get back into my running routine.  Did 11.9 yesterday, and I did 8.1 to round it off to a nice 20 for the weekend.  Rolled my left ankle 3x today!  That technical trail part of the loop is downhill and uneven, so I really just need to slow down during that part.  Seems okay for now.  It was a nice run.  I debated whether I wanted to go out to the Swamp Rabbit Trail, or do the treadmill and save gas (but maybe hurt my joints a little bit because it’ll force me to not use my natural gait), or go to the more uneven East Riverside Park.  Went to the park, since drive-wise it’s the middle ground, and it lets me be outside and not on the treadmill.  Listened to my iPod and enjoyed working hard.  6pm, wore Brooks Trance 8’s w/ stability insoles, sox.  Still haven’t showered from yesterday, haha.  So tired… sleep and eat.  And run.  No time to shower, haha.

8.1 in 1:08:15, 8:25 ave. 

Splits> 6:28, 6:23, 6:13, 6:14, 6:19, 6:09, 6:08, 6:08, 6:08, 6:04, 5:56

Legs were sore yesterday and today from yesterday’s run, since I hadn’t run in 9 days before that.  While I was at the plant last week, on the last day, I was running late for lunch, so I decided to run to the cafeteria.  It felt incredible, just to speed across the campus for a short quarter or so.  My legs had missed the feeling.  It was exhilarating, even though I was in jeans, a collared shirt, and steel-toed shoes, haha.  Strangely, earlier in the week, my calves were sore… maybe that’s the feeling of breaking down, since I feel it after workouts sometimes… it’s possible.  In this case, it was probably pure atrophy, while normally, it’s the weak muscle fibers getting broken down so that stronger ones can be laid down.

Been thinking… maybe I will go for a PR at the race.  It may be hard to PR, but I could put up a decent time, probably.  I’ve adjusted my thinking because yesterday’s run was pretty good, and I remembered that I didn’t really taper for Spinx, either.  We’ll see.