Mmmbop

It's funny how just a day (and some cheesy pop music) can change your perspective. I was feeling lousy and lazy on Friday but I woke up early on Saturday and felt pretty energetic. After I ate a "breakfast" of rice, beans and spinach I went through an old box of cds recently discovered in my storage unit and found...

Before I was in love with Justin Beiber's music for running...there was Hanson! I had totally forgotten about this embarrassing phase of my life. I put the cd into my computer, transferred it to itunes and was soon on my way to a solid 14 mile run through Arlington.  Middle of Nowhere definitely got me through more than a few miles! It was weird how much of the lyrics I remembered.

Today I actually did a 30 minute tempo run for the first time in what seems like forever. I also made it to my first Bikram yoga class post stress-fracture so I'm feeling more like myself. Recovering from an injury sucks and after I read through my last few posts it occurred to me it is a lot more stressful (ha ha) than I realized. I was able to do most of the postures in yoga thankfully. And, as I watched the thermostat toggle between 108 and 110 degrees I was surprised by how the heat didn't phase me at all -- must be all of those awful middle-of-the-day runs in the summer heat.

And finally, I have determined that nutrition is my biggest problem (shocker, right?!) so I'm going to focus on fixing that this week (and until the marathon/ultramarathon is over). The things I'm going to eliminate immediately often lead to even worse eating habits: fried foods, excessive cheese, pizza, cheeseburgers, coke/dr.pepper/diet coke and ranch dressing. I spent a lot of time at the grocery today trying to balance foods I will actually eat with purchasing foods that are good for me. For example:

I can still get my ranch dressing craving through a healthier food and avoid the french fries that must be dipped in the ranch. I think I did pretty well -- I even bought normal breakfast foods I plan on force feeding myself before runs. I should note that most of the foods I bought are healthier than these pretzels! But they are just soooo yummy I thought they were a good compromise.

PS: John is in the middle of the busy budget season at work and also has a bad cold so I'm trying to make up for his lack of posting. He better monitor my food habits in return for this giant sacrifice.