What do you eat before a run?

I don't know if it's the heat or my diet or what, but lately I am finding myself struggling to make it through even a short run or a 25 minute workout with Jillian. Yes, it's hot outside, but most of my workouts have been indoors in the comfort of my air conditioned home.

Excuse the shweatiness

I once read that summer workouts, whether indoor or out, are affected by the air temperatures outside, as well as the humidity. Of course it is more humid in my house in the summer than in the winter when the dry hot air is blasting through the vents. But could that really be why I'm struggling to push through a workout? I seriously doubt it.

So then I turn to my eating habits to see if that has something to do with my energy levels. This morning I ate a granola bar (almonds and yogurt, not the little chocolate filled kind) and drank half a cup of coffee. Then I proceeded to eat a small container of low-fat strawberry yogurt. And now I am munching on some plain wheat toast. Lunch will typically be a salad with chicken and fruit, and sometimes if I eat out, like yesterday, a chicken or turkey sandwich with my salad. Dinner is often some kind of lean meat, a vegetable or two, like corn, and then fruit for dessert. I think I eat pretty balanced, but it seems like something is missing.


Maybe I need more protein? I'm not a huge meat eater, other than chicken and turkey or lean pork. Red meat and fish are just not my thing. I try to get protein from nuts, protein powder in my smoothies, and some dairy products. Sometimes I even eat energy bars like Luna or Powerbars. Yesterday post-workout, I had a whole wheat bagel with almond butter on one side, peanut butter on the other (I'm conservative with that expensive almond butter!!) with banana:

Yeah, don't hate on my Christmas plate in July!!

 I also have a love/hate relationship with caffeine. Of course, I am a sweet tea lover (real or fake sugar) and I have coffee every morning. On the days I drink a ton of caffeine, I feel like I can workout harder if I do it before I crash from post-caffeine wind up. But like yesterday, I had tea at lunch and then by the time I started Ripped in 30, I was exhausted and that was after a nap.

Most days I drink lots of water and/or Powerade Zero (after a workout). The last few days I have been lacking on water because I was sitting in professional development classes with a big cup of sweet tea. And I drank and drank until it was gone--I prefer to drink my calories, obviously. I started wondering about dehydration last night when I had double Charlie Horses in my hips. Talk about painful.

After everything I've eaten this morning, I still don't seem to feel energetic enough to hit the treadmill and run a few miles. Some days are better than others, but lately, I just feel drained when running or working out.

Sometimes when I try to run in the morning or around lunchtime, I struggle more than when I run at night. Maybe I need to have a full day's calories before I workout??

So I guess my question for you is,  

What do you eat before you run or workout to give you the energy to keep going?

Maybe one day I'll learn

I'm kicking myself right now because I indulged a little too much today and now I am paying for it. I took the little one to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie, which was so cute, by the way, and perfect for little ones with short attention spans (it only runs 1 hr 3 mins). Before the movie, my mom and I took her for lunch at our favorite fast food restaurant, Chick-fil-a. Let's just say I did not make good choices, and then proceeded to eat an entire bag of these during the movie:

425 calories of yumminess

Those sugar filled drops of goodness paired with a huge cup of sweet tea from Chick-fil-a, and I was ready to crash at the end of the movie. I was dizzy and sick to my stomach. Why did I think I could just eat like that after two weeks of eating nothing but healthy balanced meals and drinking only water?? I dunno either.

I have no self control when it comes to fast food. That's why I only allow myself to eat at Chick-fil-a once every 2 weeks or so, if that. I almost never eat at McDonald's or other fast food places. That's a disaster waiting to happen. Besides the bad food choices, almost every restaurant in this city has sweet tea now. It haunts me, every where I go...

 I also think that I really need to go to an optometrist and have my eyes checked. I have been getting headaches, neausa and feeling dizzy when I sit here at the computer, read a book for long periods of time or watch t.v. So during the movie today I noticed that a headache was starting. I don't wear glasses or contacts. Haven't had my eyes checked since I was in college.  Definitely time to have the eyes checked out.

Later this evening, after mowing heartbreak hill the yard, I hit the treadmill for a quick run. Had to stop a few times because of intense indigestion and reflux. When I finally thought I had my stomach settled, I hit it hard, running my fastest mile yet! But when I got to around 1.42, I accidentally hit the emergency magnet thing (doh!), stopping the treadmill, and losing my time. I guessed at where it was, started again, but only lasted for another .2 miles or so. The reflux was back with a vengence, and I didn't want to lose my dinner. That'll teach me to eat greasy, sugar-filled food and drink sweet tea like it's water. Until I forget how horrible I felt today and find myself at Chick-fil-a. I found out they are building a new one only a few miles from my house. I'm in TROUBLE!!

Do you struggle with self-control when at restaurants? What food can you not resist?

Thunder Thighs and a Big Booty

As a "runner" (I use that term loosely...) I have been working hard to run longer as well as faster. I began running in 2010, but became injured during training for a half-marathon and had to take 2 weeks off completely and then work my way back into training 2 weeks before the race. Needless to say, at that point I was using a run/walk method to train and complete the half.

Since I started attempting to seriously run again this spring, I have continued using the run/walk method, gradually working my way into more running than walking. So my time per mile is typically between 12 and 14 minutes. The fastest I have ran a mile in is 12 minutes exactly. That was during a speed workout on the treadmill. So I really feel bad for those of you who run a sub 10 minute mile and think you are slow. Please...

Stay outta my lane...

http://completerunning.com/archives/2008/02/18/photo-of-the-week-slug-lane

I read today that for every pound a runner loses, they can typically run 2 seconds per mile faster. So my goal of losing around 15 pounds would give me a 30 second faster mile time. But, you see, the thing is, I am having a hard time losing ANY weight. I have fluctuated between 142 lbs. and 144 lbs. over the last month. At 5'3" that puts my BMI into the lowest end of  the "overweight" category. I've always been considered "muscular" and have been told I'm built like a cheerleader, short and stacked. But there's nothing like your Wii Fit telling you that you are fat! I have never had body image issues until after my pregnancy and more so since I started running. It's like I am comparing myself to other runners, and I know I shouldn't. I mean the whole purpose in running is to feel good about myself, right?

Dressing room self portrait from today...

Another self portrait from today...workout clothes.

Where I am struggling now with the weight loss is that I typically watch what I eat (meaning out of approximately 21 meals a week, about 18-19 are low fat, healthy meals), I work out 5-6 days a week, and I still seem to be stuck. Maybe it's the sweet tea I drink once or twice a week? I've cut down tremendously, and I even get unsweetened tea and use Splenda pretty often, too.

 This is my new 'Tea Tumbler'. 

It's one of those reusable cups so I can get 99 cent tea for the rest of 2011!

 It's an addiction, I promise I can't help it...

Maybe it's the Sunday lunches at my MIL's house? Or maybe I'm not working hard enough or long enough when I do workout? I have tracked my calories for weeks at a time, to no avail. I don't think I can pinpoint any one thing. Too many calories consumed, too little calorie burning and too much worrying about it!

Obviously in 18 days when I begin to follow a training schedule for the half marathon in November, my workout intensity will increase somewhat. I hope that by running more, running faster and continuing to eat healthy 95% of the time (moderation, right?!?), that I will see some results. I just hope that increase in intensity does not find me injured again.

I'll leave you with two of my favorite posters by Nike about positive body image:

So I want to know, What advice do you have for losing weight, running longer and faster or both?

What is going on?

Today is day 13 of stomach problems that came out of the blue. On Father's Day, I began to feel yucky. We had been on a 3 day trip to visit my relatives in Tennessee and had eaten some rich, not-so-healthy foods during our stay. Needless to say, I blamed my stomach issues and constant trips to the bathroom on that yummy, homecooked evil.

So, almost 2 weeks have passed and the lower intestinal issues have morphed into nausea, bloating and just a yucky overall feeling. I just don't feel like me. After realizing it was more than just a few days of bad food choices, I next looked at the possibility of pregnancy. After that has been ruled out (for the most part-long story), I'm stuck with other theories...lactose intolerance, mild food poisoning (but for 2 weeks??), or maybe it's just my body adjusting to running more and faster and eating more green, organic foods. Whatever it is, it really, really sucks.


I'm going to cut out all dairy products for a few days and see if that helps. Then if I still feel this way by next Monday, I will call my doctor Tuesday and make an appointment to get checked out.

My question for you is: When would you call the doctor? Has this ever happened to you? What else to you suggest could be wrong with me?

Thankful Tuesday (couldn't wait until Thursday!)

Feeling really thankful today, here's why:

A beautiful day with my toes in the water,

even if it is just in the baby pool in my backyard,

with a little helper to keep my legs cool,

and then a dinner project,

with that sweet little helper,

 a delicious homemade dinner,

made with love,

and a cute little pizza for her,

that was fun to make and healthy,

and cute too!

What if...?

I have yet to register for the half-marathon that I would like to run in November. I've gone to the page several times and stopped myself before I get to the part where you pay. $65 is not a huge amount of money, but parting with it still kind of scares me. There are no refunds. What if no one else I know is running it? What if I get injured during training (happened before)? or get sick and can't run ( I have been feeling icky all week...what if I have some crazy disease)? I keep coming up with all these "what if" questions and they seem to be preventing me from just doing it. There was even a code to get $10 off registration last Wednesday, I didn't even attempt to register. Major fail on my part...

On a more positive note, I had a great day. Went to church, had lunch with the in-laws. My MIL is the best cook. She makes lunch for us after church almost every Sunday. Sundays have to be my indulgence days because of her wonderful not-so-fat-free cooking! Today she had made an awesome raspberry torte.

 Sorry for the horrible iPhone picture, I was carrying it down the stairs as I took it.

This afternoon I got to take a long, much needed nap. Then the hubs cooked a wonderful dinner of grilled asparagus, brown rice and some kind of cajun grilled fish. I'm not a lover of fish (just a little too "fishy" tasting for me), but it was rather delish.

Weirdo cut the tops off the asparagus!

Then I did my supposed-to-be "long" run for the week. It was supposed to be 3 miles, but I have not been feeling myself this past week, especially this weekend, so I only did 2. But I did get my fastest time per mile so far. It's still slower than most people walk, so I will not post my time. One day I will get there...

Almost forgot to mention...I'm now on Twitter. You can follow me @SanitynSweetTea if you're a Twitterererer....you know what I mean!

Here's hoping this week will bring more energy, motivation and healthy eating...

Facelift and a Good Run

I changed the header to add a little bit of more of me. My running shoes (sanity-Brooks Ariel) and obviously, my sweet tea. I started to change the background, colors, etc. but decided to let it be for now. You will find that I like to change things up from time to time. I'm still experimenting with this whole blogging thing, so please bare with me!

I got a good 2 mile run in tonight. I tried to work on keeping the same pace as long as I could and not taking so many walk breaks or "stop and stretch" breaks. It went really well and I felt good after the first mile. Why is it the first mile is always the hardest?? So that was my sanity for the day...

As for the sweet tea, I did indulge in a gargantuan small sweet tea from Chick-fil-a. I should be a spokesperson for Chick-fil-a and McAllister's, as much as I talk about their food and sweet tea! Classy, I know, but when you live on a budget, you take what you can get!! Maybe one day when all the debts are paid off, hubby and I can begin to enjoy some finer dining experiences. Our city does have some great local restaurants. We just don't spend a lot of our money eating out. Hense, the weekly Chick-fil-a and McAllister's visits! At least both places have healthier choices for those of us that choose to order them (ahem...most of the time, me, but less often, the hubby).

Where is your favorite "cheap" place to eat healthy?

My Day in Pictures

Here's a summary of my day in pictures:

A short run...

A light lunch, easy on the tummy...

 Cleaning up after Little Miss Messy. She loves couscous.

 Laundry

A trip to the library and grocery store that ended with a little nap, 

 
  A little reading...and no I did not get all these books at the library, that is my summer reading stash, books that I found at various places like Goodwill, my church library and our public library. I've already finished 4 in that stack!

Thin crust pizza margherita and a salad with carrots, granny smith apples, olives, blue cheese, walnuts and almonds with pomegranate dressing, delish!

 

  And for dessert, warm apple slices with cinnamon while watching The Bachelorette. Great way to end the day!

Love listening to Ashley talk about how she "can't stop thinking about" Bentley. If only she knew the truth...

Goodnight all!

Ugh...

I have no one to blame but myself. I am sick as a dog. All because I decided to eat healthy many months ago and then botched it up this weekend.

We traveled to Tennessee to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and such, and in the process I consumed God knows how many calories. And it's not even about the calories, it was the quality of the food. Bacon and eggs, meatloaf, mashed potatoes (soaked with butter and milk--I'm lactose intolerant), apple crisps and vanilla ice cream, cake, burgers and fries...the list goes on and on. It was all so good. Not so good now. I cannot turn down food made by family. Down there everyone eats home cooked meals made with tons of grease, butter, and salt. Like I thought I could just jump right in where I left off months ago...

So here I sit, too sick to do anything that even resembles walking, much less running. I knew this weekend was going to be hard when it came to making good choices about what I eat, but I had no idea it would make me this sick to eat like I used to for 2 or 3 days. Ugh. Try to eat healthy and it bites you in the butt...

 My new BFF

So for the next few days, I am on detox from anything that contains butter, sugar, salt or milk (with the exception of yogurt...it seems to help the stomach issues). We will see how I feel tomorrow or the next day. Hopefully this doesn't last. Ugh.

One of My Inspirations

Beth from Shut Up and Run! had a blog post this week that really resonated with me. She talks about her choice to eat healthy, even though she is naturally thin and could eat just about anything, because she runs, bikes and swims like a madwoman, burning off a million calories a day:

 I may have stolen borrowed these pics off her blog.

"I believe it’s a lifestyle. It’s finding the connection between how you feel mentally, emotionally and physically and what you put into your body. There is NOTHING I eat in a given day that I eat without being completely conscious of how it is or is not contributing to the well being of my body. Awareness is key. When we get disconnected, we make poor choices."

Disconnected. That is truly how I felt the majority of my life. Disconnected from my body. Like I had no control over how my body looked, and more importantly how it felt. It has taken years of my adulthood to realize that I have a choice. I can feel good, or I can feel bad. That is one reason I started this blog: to record my journey to become connected to my body again through healthier eating habits and exercise.

No, I am not naturally thin, athletic or fast. And I have to work like hell to just maintain where I am physically. I have to exercise 4-5 days a week. I can't eat donuts or ice cream or pizza or even drink sweet tea 7 days a week without blowing up like a beluga whale. And believe me, I would love to drink sweet tea everyday, all day long.  But, in the end, I have to take care of my body. It is the only one I have. It can do amazing things like grow a baby, give birth, and run. Maybe not fast, but boy can I run!

Beth is an inspiration to me. Not because she is super thin, or because she is totally hilarious (which she is, you should read her blog). But because she takes care of her body by eating well (most of the time, nobody's perfect...) and consistently working to maintain and even improve her fitness level--if that's even possible. The woman's a athletic freak of nature, just sayin'...;-)

A Free Lunch

Today was the first day of a week long teacher conference that my school district has every summer. I was up bright and early, much to my dismay. The only positives about this conference thing is seeing old teacher friends from other schools and the free lunch. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch??

We had two choices for this lunch. Chick-fil-a sandwiches with chips, cole slaw and a brownie, or some healthy junk...I couldn't even focus on what it was because the smell of Chick-fil-a filled my nostrils before I even got to the lunch line. Needless to say, I caved and had the wonderful chicken sandwich. Not the grilled chicken, the fried, high calorie, greasy, infamous Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to look like a weirdo in front of hundreds of my coworkers...but lets just say, it wasn't around long enough for me to enjoy how it looked, much less take it's photograph!

So for dinner, I ate a light helping of my husband's creation, some kind of veggie pasta/lasagna wannabe. It was delish, but I know he snuck in lots of cheese, hamburger and other not so healthy things.

So I took it easy and paired it with a small salad, to make up for the catastrophe known as lunch. Salads are my "forgiveness" food. Eat a salad and you are fogiven everything horrible you may have consumed today. That's just one of the many lies I tell myself as I try to balance healthy eating with the occasional treat.

I am now missing The Bachelorette, so I am going to jump on the treadmill for a quick run while I yell at the t.v. every time someone says the word "amazing" or "special" or "connection". I'm sure I will be doing a lot of yelling tonight...

C'est La Vie!

Today I fell off the healthy eating wagon and had some Dairy Queen for lunch. Instead of ordering a salad (I knew I would have salad for dinner) I opted for a BBQ sandwich and some french fries. And then split a mini Reece's Blizzard with the little one. Maybe we didn't really split it, maybe I ate most of it, but still, at leas it wasn't the WHOLE thing!! Really, is it possible to eat healthy at Dairy Queen? Even their salads are covered in bacon, shredded processed cheese and high calorie dressings (I realize that's my choice, darn you honey mustard!).

Dairy Queen was our only option because we were stranded at the car dealership for several hours at lunchtime. It was the only restaurant anywhere near us. Excuses, excuses. Lack of planning on my part, should of ate lunch before we left the house, or at least got something healthier on the way there. C'est la vie!

After our long wait for the car to be fixed, we headed to a park so little one could play for a while. It was hot, but nice in the shade. I sat and watched as tons of people walked and ran past on the park's trails. I was so jealous. Should have brought my running shoes. Should have brought the jogging stroller. Again, lack of planning. It's summer vacation, what can I say...my brain shuts down as soon as school's out. So needless to say, today turned into a non-running, rest day. C'est la vie!

 Two of my main reasons for running

Finally, we stopped for dinner at a healthier place. Seriously, my favorite place to eat, and not just because of the sweet tea. McAllister's Deli is truly my saving grace some nights. Love their salads. I try to justify all the sweet tea I drink while I'm there by eating salads. I know, I know, eating a salad doesn't cancel out every bad food decision I make. A girl can dream, right?