Discipline

Short and to the point.  I am undisciplined.  Now, I realize there are varying degrees and one person's idea of something vague like "discipline" or "determination" won't match up with everyone else's idea of what that means.  But I'm only speaking for myself here.

I think what I need is a pretty hard and fast PLAN of action, that I will work to maintain, and not let external forces get in my way.  I do have a strong will.  God made me that way for a reason.  It doesn't have to be a bad thing.  It can work to my advantage.

I am going to plan out meals and food to best fuel my workouts.  I've contacted a local place that does metabolic testing so I can find out "exactly" how many calories my body is burning (hopefully at rest as well as during exercise, but we'll see about that).  I want to eat a "balanced" amount of carbs, protein and "good" fats.  (Chips do not fall into this category.)  I don't know exactly what triggers me to eat foods that aren't good for me, I really don't.  But I think I'm done trying to figure it out.  I'm going to say it doesn't matter why I do it....it only matters that I don't do it anymore.  I need to have a plan as to what I'm going to eat so that I'm not staring into a pantry filled with the junk my family eats (something I have given up on changing) when I need food.  Also, I need to come up with something to do when I have the urge to eat out of boredom.  Like a smoker who "needs" to replace the physical action of smoking, I need something to do instead of walking to the kitchen to grab something to put in my mouth.  (That might be a speed bump for me...we'll see.)

Also, I have really rejected the idea of having a "set in stone" training plan because there are so many things that factor into when I run and how much I run and if I can get a work out in first thing in the morning.  Again, I am letting externals control what happens.  It's mainly because I want to run with friends.  I want to keep my schedule flexible so that I won't train myself into injury.  I want to make sure my schedule is flexible enough so that I can still do spontaneous things as the come up.  The problem with that is when out of the ordinary things happen (a blizzard in Alabama!) my training takes a big hit.  I was stuck without a car with snow everywhere most of this past week.  Now, I COULD have wrapped my feet in plastic bags and still gotten some miles in.  I could have done P90X or any of the other workout videos I own.  I could have done any number of the workouts from magazines I have taken the time to rip out and save in a file.  Instead I ate more and more garbage and watched stupid stuff on TV.  Most of the week was not only wasted (meaning no gain), it was spent backsliding (meaning I'm worse off now than I was this time last week)**.

**You know, that's not a good way to look at it.  My darling husband would say this week was a valuable lesson learned.  I'm a very experiential learner.  This week has been an exercise in what life without a solid plan of action looks like---and I can say I have HATED it.  Not to mention my monthly "friend" is about to make her appearance.  This particular week in my cycle is the WORST for everything, and it just so happened to have fallen on a week that I not only didn't have my car (it's in the shop, again), but we also had 8 inches of snow (something I can't stand).  If I had been better prepared for "PMS week", maybe it would have gone better for me?

So, for today...after church I'm going to go to the pool and swim 500 yards (that's 20 lengths of the pool, 10 laps-I still have to find a good way to count them).  Then I will put together a plan for the coming week (workouts and food).  It's time to stop blaming externals for something that should be under my control.

Jane was right in her recent comment to me regarding my food/training confessional, I punish myself.  And Katie was right when she said food is not the enemy...I do need it to fuel my workouts....but it needs to be good fuel.  I would never consider putting cough syrup in the gas tank of my car and expect it to work properly.

Discipline doesn't have to look like this:

But maybe it can look like this and still work:

Thanks for stopping in...come again soon!
:D

Getting Ready to Tri

 

This week should have been the kick off for my tri training group, but since the great Alabama blizzard has brought everything to a halt here, it was postponed until next week.  I started to say I've had a disappointing work-out week, but, I think instead I'll just say I had a restful week and leave it at that!

I joined the natatorium-a three month unlimited membership but have only made it over there twice so far.  I was feeling pretty decent about my 300 and 400 yard swims until I started reading some other newbie bloggers who started out swimming 1000 yards.  Okay...I'm trying not to compare, but it's just my nature!  Here's the thing--except for the couple of times I've mentioned here, I haven't been swimming since college!  I took a class so I could finally learn how to really swim since I hadn't learned as a kid...but I was just slightly embarrassed because everyone in the class already knew how to swim, they were just there for the fun of it.  So the fact that I splashed back and forth for about a fifth of a mile without drowning is not a bad start.

I would like to figure out a way to count my laps because it's hard to think about it when I'm trying not to gulp in pool water.  I'm sure there's something made for this; I'll have to look into it later. 

I'm getting really excited about the thought of calling myself a triathlete.  Just a year ago I wasn't able to call myself a runner!!  This is going to be a great year!

Thanks for stopping in...come again soon!
:D

Overtrained? I prefer "underrested" thank you very much.

Let's take a look at the week in review...

***WARNING, this is a very boring, detailed recap, really for my own (confessional) benefit, feel free to skip it.***

Monday I woke up at 5 so I could drive back from Arkansas.  With the time it took to pick up my daughter, I was on the road about eight hours.  Food for the day: a half dozen of the best cream-filled (and chocolate covered cream filled) donuts on the planet, and probably little else.

Tuesday, on very little sleep, I did P90X on an empty stomach, then ran just under six miles (half those were very hilly) (yes, I did eat before I went out).  My total net calories that day 687 (78% carbs, 13% fat).

Wednesday-P90X but no other exercise at all.  I ate very poorly because my husband had surgery.  Net calories 954 (60% carbs, 24% fat).

Thursday-I ran 4 miles, swam (well, splashed around back and forth in the pool is more like it) 300 yards (yes, I know-pathetic...but at least I didn't drown!!) and walked 1.5 miles later in the day.  I was 124 calories over for the day (70% carbs, 17% fat).

Friday-I ran 4 miles, biked 9.5, splashed around in the pool 400 yards and did a LAME "Zumba"-wanna-be class.  Net calories-........... (insert long drawn out internal struggle here...tell, don't tell, blah blah blah) 71 (seriously, I don't know if the calories I burn are correct or not, who knows, but it was 65% carbs and 27% fat).

Saturday-I ran 10 GREAT miles (that's what I wanted to sit down and write about, until I read THIS).  I don't think I really logged all my calories that day because I'm not showing that I even ate any dinner (and, no I can't remember), but what I did log was a net of 304 for the day (63% carbs, 32% fat!!).

And, finally, Sunday-I didn't do any exercise at all and ate a total of 1358 calories (50% carbs, 34% fat!).

I don't think I've probably had half the water I "should" have this week, and there's no way I've gotten 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

*****Long, boring, detailed confessional concluded******

I woke up this morning, (after a fitful 5 hours of sleep) VERY upset with myself for not getting in a work out yesterday.  I wanted to run a couple of recovery miles (it was unbelievably cold and windy), I wanted to swim...okay, I thought about swimming (I went to the movies instead), I briefly considered doing P90X when we got home from the movies, but the fam and I put a (VERY HARD) puzzle together and waited for the great Alabama blizzard of 2011 to hit.  I was laying there replaying the week and trying to understand my less than sunny mood, when I read today's post on Run Like a Mother regarding over-training.

She had me hooked the fourth sentence in, "I was exhausted, in a crappy mood, especially snappy with my kids, overwhelmed with work and life." (Bold type is mine, although my husband and daughter would bold the "especially snappy" part.)

The whole time I was reading I kept thinking, "I can't be over-trained."  ...Until I got to the little test at the end.  I scored a whopping 7 (unless buttered popcorn counts as "dinner").  Chances are really high I didn't score above an 11 all week.  If you read the post, you can't help but to see my comment as it's second in the list.  I considered just sitting on this valuable information, and even more strongly considered NOT sharing it with my husband.  I don't need to hear how I'm doing to much.  But, the truth of the matter is, although I refuse to believe I'm "over-trained", I am under-rested.

I printed out the "test" to use as a guide.  Also, I'm going to plan on making a meal plan in addition to my work-out plan.  I don't want to cut back my training, but I will step up my rest!!

Thanks for stopping in....I think I'll try to go take a nap now!  :D