Discomfort is relative

Thanks for all of your positive feedback on my last post.  It’s so validating to hear that my own thoughts and struggles are shared by others.  I used to be a lot more timid by posting such personal things, but at some point I said ‘what the hell’ and started throwing it all out there.

Now, on to lunch. 🙂

I have figured out that my lunch is not ugly, however my plastic ware containers are.  So let’s focus on just the food.  Healthy food is pretty and colorful.

I had some leftover Easy Chicken and Bacon Corn Chowdah. Everything is more fun if you say it with an accent.

I also had a simple salad on the side (say that three times fast): spinach, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and feta.

I absentmindedly left my salad dressing at home, but luckily a coworker let me have some of her balsamic vinaigrette.

I had two of the tiniest whole wheat crescent rolls on the side which I dunked in my soup.

***

Today is the first “run” day of my marathon training plan.  I’m only scheduled to run three miles.  You can find a more detailed description of my runs here.  Click the number under “week” to get a description of each run.

Today’s description (Tuesday of Week1): Run 3 miles at a comfortable pace. Over the next 18 weeks, you will add only a few miles to your Tuesday workouts. In Week 7, you’ll move up to 4 miles. In week 11, you’ll be up to 5 miles. By that time, you’ll be so used to doing much longer runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays, that a run of that distance will seem easy. It’s all part of the progressive buildup of total mileage designed to get you ready to run 26 miles. Don’t be tempted to push the pace. Undertraining is often better than Overtraining.

In the past I would think, “I really should do some weights or something else if I’m only going to run three miles.” But this time around, I’m going to try to stick to my training plan as much as possible.  I know from experience, overtraining burns me out quickly and then I won’t want to run at all. The only exception: looking at my schedule Friday might be the only day I get to do yoga so if I feel good, yoga will be done.

I just noticed Monday’s workout description.  Whoops.  I did a little more than I was supposed to yesterday.

Here’s something to think about.  As I was pumping along on the elliptical last night, I devoured half of the new Runner’s World. Someone wrote in wanting advice on how to keep her water from freezing in the winter months while she ran.

Did you catch that?  Her water is freezing in the bottle which she is holding, while she runs.  Holy cow, that’s cold! If the sloshing from movement and the warmth of her hand doesn’t keep it from freezing, this runner has got to be toughing it through temperature far below freezing.  Something to consider the next time I am sniffling because it’s cold outside and I don’t want to run.  Pain and discomfort are completely relative.

(source)

And just in case you were wondering, no, you should not put alcohol in your water.

Well, unless it’s happy hour, the water is soda water, and you’re wearing stilettos, not running shoes. 😉