Friday, May 7, 2010

Is Saturday the Best Day of the the Week?


I don't know if it's because I've caught up with my work but my happy days continue. I'm sitting here bathed in my post-run euphoria and I finished my run over 7.5 hours ago. I'm so happy because I ran the longest run I've managed since over a year ago and I finished it strong.

I was supposed to be running a 20k today but a couple of things happened to push it out to 24k. Firstly I was feeling really good. It was the coolest day we've had this year and I always run better in the cool. Secondly - we were running over the other side of the river and it's unknown territory for me. I was running in the lead group (and for a while I was taking the lead which means we were running pretty slow) and everyone in the group bar me were doing 24k. The route twisted and turned through the streets and, knowing how bad my sense of direction is, I was terrified of getting lost. So I just kept running.

I tried another gel this week. It was berry flavoured and I was quite looking forward to it. Yuk! It tasted like berry phlegm. Not too keen on the consistency. But I think it did it's job and even if it didn't I believed that it would. A psychosomatic effect is better than no effect at all.

I got home and uploaded all the running data from my Garmin - 24k in 2:08 which is 5:21 pace. The best info was that I'd used over 1700 calories which meant that my breakfast out was totally guilt-free.

You may not have picked up on this but I have a love/hate relationship with food. It stems from being a fat teenager (73 kg) who tried to lose weight by not eating, which worked to a point but I was never cut out for anorexia. I bounced from there to binge-eating and then bulimia for three years. When I became pregnant with my first the light bulb turned on and I realised that I had to eat properly for my baby's sake and I've been fine ever since. I still have some old thought patterns - I label foods as good or bad and I'm fairly disciplined but I do eat regularly and heathily.

So I had a great run and a lovely breakfast and I've just come back from Luke's first school soccer/football game of the season. They won! Go State High!! I have a walk with my friend Natalie this afternoon and then the unknown delights of Mother's Day to look forward to. I've put a special cake in the oven for my Mum. It's going to be a giant lemon meringue cupcake and it's a bit of an experiment but considering how my day has gone it will be a huge success. I'll put a picture of it up tomorrow if it works (no pic = epic fail!)

6 comments:

  1. Every day should be Saturday!

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  2. Sounds like a top notch Saturday for you!!

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  3. I just read your comment on Emily's blog. When I visited her last fall one of our runs was in the zoo and it was fantastic! We saw the pandas and a few other animals. Most were not out yet as it was early. The idea of running in the zoo is so appealing! I agree with you.

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  4. I also struggled with weight and ED during high school. I still have a complicated relationship with food, but finally - in my late twenties - I have a healthy relationship and understanding. Running had helped so much with that!

    Excellent job on the SPEEDY 24k!!

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  5. It's so great to see you in such a good place mentally and physically and running so well!
    I'd love it if you'd share details on overtraining sometime.

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  6. Lemon meringue cupcacke. See what catches MY eye? People are commenting on your run, training and here I am drooling over cupcakes. :) I guess my paleo diet makes me crave all those sinful things.
    BTW, great run. Nothing better than running more than planned and loving it.

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