random thoughts, "real" food, and the million dollar question.....

so what's next?......I spent the major part of my winter and spring thinking about and training for one specific race, and you, unfortunately, were forced to read all those ramblings.  Sorry I'm not sorry :)

The thing is, before the race, I wondered how I would feel once it was over.  Would I breath a sigh a relief that it was done?  Would I vow to never run again?  Would I be depressed that I had nothing to "do"?  To be honest, I'm more fired up than ever!  I'm "sad" that my first race is over - I'll never get to experience it again, but I also simply cannot WAIT to dive right back into a training plan, reach for my next goal, and cross my fingers, have another successful race.  Through these past 4+ months I realized I really do enjoy the process of training.  I love having a plan, knowing what I'm supposed to do each day, seeing myself improve as the weeks pass, and I get an embarrasing amount of satisfaction as I put an "X" through each day on the calender.  People think I'm crazy, but there are worse things to be I guess.

As far as my next training cycle goes, that's still be be figured out.  There will be some changes and some new things will be tested out.  I have learned SO much, but also know there is a lot more.  There are things that worked well last cycle and things that maybe need some tweaking.  I'm still so new to the training cycle process that it's hard to really think about all the details.  Thank goodness for this blog and for my excel spreadsheet!  I'm still sorting through all those thoughts, so I cant give any concrete examples right now.  I told Nichole to expect a novel-length email with all my thoughts and I havent even started it yet!

Here's what I do know, there will be another race this Fall.  I have a few in mind, but haven't decided.  I really enjoyed the half distance, so I'm fairly certian it will be another half marathon.  There will also be a few shorter distance races.  I would still love to get sub 21:00 in the 5k, which I know is do-able, and to potentially be able to reach the 19's would be amazing!  There are a lot things that are rolling around in my brain right now.  I'm sure there will be an "I'm so excited to start training!!" post in the near future once we figure out a plan.


Another important thing that I'm going to pay more attention to is my nutrition.  About 2 weeks before Fargo I tried to cut out some of the "junk" in my diet.  Some processed stuff, added sugar that I didnt need, and alchohol.  Not that I drank a lot anyway ( maybe a glass of wine/week), but I wanted to see how it made me feel to cut some of that stuff out.  I have to say, it made such a difference. When I got to the start line I felt the healthiest I've been in a long time ( aka, ever!).  I know I can obviously be healthier, 2 weeks isnt that much time to completley turn things around, but the point is that I felt better, and I do believe that it contributed to my performance that day.  So my goal is to be more mindful this training cycle in hopes that it will just become a habit of how I live my life.  I want to try and get rid of as much unnatural crap as possible.  That will mean making a lot of my own things ( bread, tortillas, crackers, turkey/veggie burgers, pasta sauce, coffee creamer - which I cannot live without!, and maybe even make my own peanut/almond butter at our local co-op).  I want to avoid packaged items as much as possible.  I know not all things can be avoided, and I'm ok with that, but if I can make a small difference in what I'm putting in my body, the better. Luckily our farmers market opens this weekend, so that will be super helpful! 

I did tackle a few things over the weekend.  Everything was really easy to throw together -let me know if you want the recipes!


homemade sandwich/burger buns, tortillas, and pitas - all with ingredients I can pronounce!



also made coffee creamer, goodbye chemicals!  Although, it will take some getting use to :)

 
I am also looking to add some variety.  I tend to eat the same things, especially when I find something that works with my stomach.  I learned that when I'm hungry I tend to reach for carbs to fill me up.  Sometime's its ok, but most of the time I'm over my daily limit and end up feeling bloated.  So I need to research other options.  Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

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So this week I am still in a little bit of recovery mode, but my miles increased a bit to between 30-35 miles with just one rest day, but still just running fun easy miles.  I'm going to take this week to also get my eating back on track.  It was nice while it lasted but it's time to get back to normal :).  My legs still feel like lead though so I'm enjoying these slow runs.



and just for fun - another race photo :)


Thats all for me folks!  Have a great Tuesday!