11 Miles & A New Agenda...

Hola! A few days late on my weekly post, I apologize! I had a pretty good week last week - 2 strength training workouts (upper/lower body), treadmill workout (blech!) and a nice 5-miler around n-boro. Saturday was our 11 mile team run - it was STEAMY! One thing about living in New England that sucks is the weather. It's never dry heat, theres always gotta be some humidity thrown in there.

I have a new way of tackling long runs. I only "start" the run when I get to the half-way point. For example, last Saturday I kept telling myself the first 5.5 miles was a "warm-up". Once I reached the half-way point, even though I was VERY sweaty and tired, I told myself what's another 5.5 miles? It sounds weird I know...but it works! Granted by mile 9 I was on the verge of tears - my hip flexor was pretty close to cracking in half I think. Thank goodness for Kristina, once we reached the top of the North St. hill I let out a little cry (a noise, whatever you want to call it), basically letting her know I was about to throw in the towel. At that point we had less than a mile and she wasn't letting me give in. This is the point in any run where you are pretty oblivious to everything around you (pretty sure I almost got hit by a car...or a side view mirror), look like you are going to drop dead and/or throw up. Kristina could see I was struggling and brought up "sam's girl". Every week we have a dedication and person we run for - Saturday it was for "sam's girl". Sam is a med student working in pediatrics, one of his patients was a little girl who had Leukemia - she hated being cooped up in the hospital while all of her friends were free to enjoy summer, in turn she was not fond of any of her Dr's...except for Sam. She would light up when Sam was around, making him pictures, one of which said "my favorite dr!". Dr's had hope for her, but she took a turn for the worst and passed away a few weeks back.
So, as I was in my moment of panic Kristina looked over to me and says "sam's girl, dana"...without hesitation I yelled "SAM'S GIRL" right back. As I said it tears filled my eyes. The least I could do was finish strong for this little girl who went through more pain than I'm sure I will ever experience in my lifetime.
Those last 2 minutes of my run were definitely the most meaningful. K and I began singing "Sweet Caroline" at the top of our lungs while doing a little dance (more like flailing our arms). I'm sure everyone who saw us thought we were insane and that was OK. 11 miles down, baby!

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Now, don't get my wrong, I am VERY happy with the effort I have been putting into this, but in true Dana fashion, I can always find something to criticize (haha!). Now that my workouts are improving, my next area of business is eating. I am still enjoying big delicious dinners, most of which come within hours of my long runs, and the occasional trip to Bedford Farms for homemade ice cream after work. All of which is fine as long as I am consistent with my HEALTHY eating. Sooo...for the next few weeks I am planning on updating DAILY with my workout and eating plan. I am hoping this will keep me somewhat accountable knowing everyone will see it. For the past week I have done my best to cut out processed foods and focus on eating "clean". Please feel free to yell at me if I begin to stray :)

JULY 21, 2008

WORKOUT: Goal was to work on my speed, so I broke my 4 miles in half.
2 miles hard on TM - took me 17 minutes.
20 mins. upper body
2 miles "easy" on TM - took me 20 minutes.

FOOD
B: 1/2 dry oatmeal, 1 tsp. brown sugar, 1/4 cup milk & 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
L: Trader Joe's Roasted Veggie Enchilada (spinach, mushrooms)
S: Banana
D: Rotisserie chicken, 1 cup WW pasta w/ chopped pepper, onion, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumber, feta drizzled w/ olive oil, (and this is where I became weak) 1 cup of "mexican shells".