Still listening

I busted out five miles no problem this morning.  I’ve found that getting down to the gym is the hardest part of running in the early morning.  I have plans tonight, so the “I’ll do it after work” excuse was not going to fly today. There has been one or two occasions when I actually put on my workout clothes, got in the elevator, and when the elevator doors opened, I pressed the close button and went back upstairs to bed.  Pretty funny, huh?

I put the treadmill on Level 3 Hills and kept it interesting by pushing myself on speed.  Here’s what I did.

Min.	Speed
1-4	6.0
4-6	6.2
6-8	6.4
8-10	6.6
10-12	6.8
12-14	7.0
14-16	6.2	<–repeat from this point

I finished the last 2/10 of a mile running 7.2.  This wore me out!  At one point I was running 7.0 on a 2.9% incline.  I typically slow anywhere from a little bit to a lot when I’m running up real hills, so this was particularly challenging for me.

My marathon training plan actually called for 6 miles this morning, but I will most likely be sticking to five miles on Wednesday mornings until I change jobs.  There’s only so much time in a day and when I’m getting up at 4:30 am to run, an additional 10 minutes is too much to ask of myself.

My stomach was more than ready for breakfast by the time I had showered, found clothes, and put on my make up.

I used 1/3 cup of the apple strudel muesli I made for Savor NC on top of 3/4 cup of Greek yogurt and topped it with a tablespoon of raw almond coconut butter.

If I had to replicate the muesli for a single serving I would combine:

1/4 cup 10 grain cereal (like Bob’s Red Mill)
2 Tbsp. chopped dried apples
1/2 Tbsp. raisins
1/2 Tbsp. walnut pieces

I’m not sure if I was just astronomically hungry because of my run, but this tasted like the best thing ever.

Coffee was icing on the cake.

While I ate breakfast this morning, I read this awesome post by Katie over at Health For The Whole Self.  She wrote about how to conquer the urge to diet and I couldn’t agree more with her.  When I came to terms with  gaining weight during marathon training, I admit I had thoughts about going on a diet, as I have often done to “rectify the situation” in the past.  Katie’s post completely reinforced that I’m doing what’s best for my body by truly listening to my body and what it needs, challenging it physically, and knowing that when I balance these things, I am at my happiest.  Dieting is not a part of the equation.  In fact, it’s not even near my equation for happiness.

And even though I don’t really like to talk about weight loss here because this is not a weight loss blog, I have to admit that listening to my body has caused the scale to move a little…in the downward direction.  My pants aren’t quite so tight either.  But what’s most important, is I’m feeling way more comfortable in my own skin again.  Dieting didn’t do it for me.  Listening to my body did it.

I’ll continue to listen.  If the scale goes down more, then great.  But if it doesn’t, I’ll know this is where I’m meant to be as long as I’m truly listening to what my body wants and needs.

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Two more days to enter my Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil Hair Treatment giveaway!