In order to improve at something a person needs to be motivated and consistent. To that end I've continued my training plan even though my next race isn't until May 2014. I'm taking the lax approach to it though. If I don't finish every run during a given week I simply repeat that week so I don't do too much too soon and don't fall off the wagon completely and fall into that 3, 5k run a week rut I seem to fall into every December. Don't get me wrong, I think every runner should take a week or three of easy runs during any given year but for me, I've had more than my share of "off" weeks this year so now that I'm healthy, my feet are happy and my mileage is back up I'm don't want to lose this good base I've got.
On average I'm managing 55-65kms a week at the moment with that steadily climbing over the next couple of weeks. Now that I'm pleased with how my running is going it's time to shake up my nutrition. I've been slowly cutting out dairy simply because it doesn't make me feel great and the drawbacks outweigh the benefits of it. On top of that I'm being very conscious of my protein intake. I aim to have two meals or snacks a day with 30mg of protein each, and smaller amounts of protein in all of the other meals. My carb intake is always a struggle. If it isn't balanced properly I find myself craving 10 slices of toast at 8pm. Making sure I get enough protein helps with the carb cravings, and whenever I do succumb to carbs I try to make them multi-grained. All that said, I haven't (and won't!) given up my addiction to diet pop/soda-I think we all can have one vice!
On runs I sometimes wonder why I bother. I won't be an Olympian..I know, I know..gasp! So what the heck am I doing this for? To test my limits. Otherwise I'd be back as the person I was 8 years ago; sedentary, eating emotionally, with stress induced asthma and irritable. I look back at that period in my life and I can see how I got there and how alot of people got there and are still stuck there. School, work and normal daily life stresses just all became my whole world and I wasn't taking time for myself where I wasn't connected to some piece of technology. When I noticed I couldn't get up the stairs in my home without huffing and puffing I knew something had to change. Running has been my path back to my true self and I am forever grateful for the time I can have to work at it, the wonderful people I've met through it and the knowledge about myself that it has shown me. I haven't found my limits yet so that's why I train, that's why I pay attention to my nutrition. I'm not sure what the future will bring but I want to be healthy for it and be the best runner I can be.
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