Monday, January 15, 2007

Weird weather

I'm not complaining, and am probably – from a glance at the weather maps for the rest of the country – pretty darned lucky. Our weather has been unbelievably warm the past week or so. If I'd had my camera [yes, the lens finally came!] on my outdoor run yesterday, I'd have been able to show you the robin I saw. Yes, I said robin! But Google Images came through with this little guy, so it'll have to do. And, wonder of wonders, Blogger allowed me to upload the image!

This is the earliest I've seen a robin since I moved to the Middle of Nowhere almost 10 years ago. And he's gonna be pissed tomorrow that he didn't hang out down south just a few weeks longer, when the temperature drops 20 degrees and the snow starts flying!

I've noticed a bit of a mental shift taking place lately, something I hadn't anticipated when I started training for the half-marathon. I'm not nearly as focused on losing weight as I had previously been. I'm following the meal plan from eDiets closely, being careful to eat lightly both prior to and after a workout. Usually that means splitting breakfast, having the fruit or toast first and the omelette or cereal after.

I'm also following the training regimen pretty well, except, as you know, for the strength-training, which is part of today's Stretch/Strength assignment. I did some pretty heavy lifting this weekend – something I couldn't have done a year ago, certainly. But I can't really count it as a workout.

The mental shift is that I seem to be perfectly okay with eating well and exercising with a finish-the-race goal, rather than a lose-the-weight goal. And I think this is a very good thing. I'm trusting that if I eat well and exercise, the weight will, eventually, drop.

I'm one month sugar-free at this point. Any sugar withdrawal I might have been experiencing is gone. There's been an opened package of cookie dough in the refrigerator for a week. No unbaked cookie dough has ever remained in this household for that length of time in the past.

It's a miracle!

Or maybe it's just me feeling very good without sugar. I finished re-reading Sugar Blues by William Dufty last night. His "recipes," which include lots of unavailable-to-me Japanese food items, aren't very appealing. I guess I just don't see the need to make a substitute for pie when I can eat an apple instead. Just think of all the time I've saved for knitting!

Who figured out the whole "fill a flour-and-lard mixture with a sugar-and-fruit mixture and bake it until it's delicious thing," anyway? [I know, I know, I should just f-ing Google it, shouldn't I?]

Yesterday was the weekly 'long' run – still just four miles. It was so beautiful outside that I couldn't stand the idea of running on the treadmill. And yet, I still can't run four miles on my normal full-of-hills route. So Mr. Shrinking Knitter and I drove to a spot where a sign points to a recreational boat access two miles down a fairly flat road.

It was a lovely run. I didn't have to stop and walk at all. Unfortunately when we went back to check it with the odometer, it was only 3.6 miles. Really, though, I felt fine with that, and I did it in 42 minutes! That's a better than 5mph pace! And I truly felt like I could have kept on running; I wasn't winded or exhausted at all. Sweaty? You betcha.

We did figure out where the two-mile point on that road is, and since the next two weeks are exactly the same as the last two [I'm doubling up the first two training weeks], I might try it outside again next Sunday.

If it's not snowing by then.

4 comments:

Susie H said...

What a super attitude you've got right now - that rocks! And I am so impressed with your No-sugar status. The withdrawal really ends, then? Someday, I think, someday, I'll be ready for that. I am working on the other cruddy carbohydrates, replacing them more and more with whole grains, etc. But sugar is like the leap off the cliff, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

So true about the training-for-a-race v. trying-to-lose-weight mindset. I found that out when I trained for a triathlon last spring. So now I, too, am training for a half-marathon, but I started back in August, and my event is coming up on Jan. 28. It was SUCH a rush to run more than 10 miles the first time. Good luck and have fun with your training! It's a blast and SO rewarding.

Vickie said...

Another one on running that you'll like (I think):

http://www.skinnydailypost.com/archives/2003_06_03_skinnydaily_archive.html#000179

Lori G. said...

You are so cool with the training for the marathon. It's neat that you're concentrating more on the running part of it and the food seems to be second nature to you; not terribly important but you're also not letting it slide.

Yay for Debbi!