Learning the hard way

My snacking was out of control today. Around 9:30 I got hungry.  As I type this I realize why.  See, I usually get up at 5:30 (if I don’t work out) and eat at about 6:30, then I want lunch around 11 am.  This morning I got up at 5 and ate immediately.  Then right on schedule, 4 1/2 hours later, I was hungry.  Oooooh.  Sometimes writing out things leads you to logic.

Anyway…I did the “am I hungry enough to eat any apple?” trick, and I was.  Luckily for me I also had an apple with me.

I love it when apples still have a little leaf on their stem.  I don’t know why, but I do.

Then immediately after, I found myself reaching for my pretzels and the TJ’s white bean dip that I really don’t like but I’m making myself eat, because I don’t like waste.

I also had the liquid of death.  Somehow the big red heart on it makes it seem likes it’s alright.  I don’t know why I wanted this, I haven’t had one in weeks.  Oh well.  I actually spent a good five minutes putting my change in the drink machine over and over only to have it spit back out on me.  You think I would have gotten the hint.

Unfortunately I didn’t and used one of my quarters to get a small handful of M&Ms.  You know those machines that put out about 12 M&Ms at a time that look like they’re from the 1950’s because they are?  Yes, we have those at my work. Afterwards I raided the stash of caffeine free Diet Cokes we keep in the office mini fridge that only cost a quarter.  But for some reason I really wanted that caffeine.

Lunch was a farewell to our two interns at the Olive Garden.  I had the soup and salad: about 1/3 the size of one of my normal salads + 1 1/2 bowls of minestrone soup, un-pictured of course because I haven’t yet embraced the role of “our weird coworker who photographs her food like it’s her newborn straight from the hospital.”

I get brownie points for not touching a bread stick.  The truth is, if I had wanted one I would have eaten at least 1/2 of one, but I just didn’t, especially after my snacky morning.

Since I ate my afternoon snack, I didn’t eat anything between lunch and arriving home.  I stopped by my aunt’s house to pick up Rascal who likes to go over there while I’m at work to play with their Jack Russell and also to go over wedding cake details (my aunt makes the most amazing cakes!).  I made it through one of the worst thunderstorms I have seen in a long time.

I have mentioned that I was a little disappointed that I never did a 10 miler this weekend.  All day I had been mulling over doing it tonight.  The gigantic bolts of lightening shooting across the sky led me to believe that God did not want me to run outside, so I thought about the treadmill.

I seriously hate the treadmill.

I’ts perfectly fine for a 3-6 mile run, but anything over than that and I would just as assume beat my head against the wall.  I’m kidding….well, kind of.  There’s just something about the redundancy of staring off into space with no change in scenery that makes me hate  it so.

But, I felt a little more motivated tonight.  One hurdle: I was starving.  My stomach was audibly growling in the hollow empty way it does when I’ve gone too long without eating.

So, I had one of these: my sunflower coconut bars.  Then, I still felt hungry so I had another one about 2/3 the size of this one with the same sunflower seed butter and raspberry jam topping.  Finally full, but not overly so, I put on my running shoes and headed down to my condo’s gym.

About 1/2 a mile in, I felt completely different.  I immediately regretted that second bar.  Between the monotony of the treadmill and the second bar laying in my stomach like a brick, miles 1-4 were the most difficult.  After I reached mile 5 I felt completely better.  I got a second wind, I digested the brick in my stomach, and I got a little more interested in reading the captions on Hells Kitchen.  Side note: Does anyone else think Ben is a turd?

The last four miles were great surprisingly.  I got a little sore starting on mile 8, but nothing I couldn’t get through.  Even though I know deep down that running on a treadmill isn’t as physically difficult as running on real terrain, the mental hurdle is huge for me.  It’s actually a great relief that I can pound out 10 miles on a treadmill because I know how if I train for longer distances and 10 miles is more of a “medium-sized” run length, I won’t die if I have to run on the treadmill because of the weather.

But in other news, I’m still learning what and how much to eat.  My eating choice was perfect for what I was about to do, but the quantity was not.  If I didn’t run after eating this, I would have never felt overly full, but because I did run, the amount of food affected the way that I felt.  As a rule of thumb I’m going to try to eat until just before I’m full (full meaning I fell pleasantly satisfied).  As I feel out these long run days that I can’t knock out in the morning, I’m going to start carrying more food with me to fuel my run in advance;  not right before my run.  I didn’t leave myself enough time to digest.

I didn’t even feel like eating an hour after my run which is highly unusual.  This may be something else I regret, if my growling stomach wakes me up in the middle of the night.  Instead, I had about 1/2 cup of orange juice + a good bit of salt + water filling the rest of the glass and a little bit of Stevia for taste.

I’m learning the hard way, but I think this blog is a great tool to document these lessons learned for myself (because I usually need a reminder of what I’ve “learned”) and for anyone else in my same boat.

How do you fuel before a long run or other strenuous activity?  What about training for any fitness goal have you had to learn the hard way?