Hello there, Pumpkin

I've said from the beginning, I've got to start thinking (and eating) like an athlete.

But when it comes to nutrition, I don't know how athletes handle this time of year. Is Tom Brady counting down the seconds until the game ends so he can run to Starbucks?

The power of Pumpkin compels me. Pumpkin may actually be stronger than the Force.  If you've been inside a Trader Joe's in the past few weeks, perhaps you understand why I walked in a few days ago  and was like "MUST BUY ALL THE THINGS." But I know there's an important balance in my macronutrients (protein, fats, carbs) that gets thrown out of whack when you introduce sweet pumpkin goodies into the mix. I think I'll need to be satisfied getting through this season with Pumpkin coffee and savory pumpkin dishes.

Anyway, I may not have eaten as cleanly as I should have today for my run (I'm looking at you, pumpkin scone). Within two minutes of my run today, I felt much more winded than I should have. I didn't quite have the um... digestive issues... I had at last week's run, but I still suffered from some cramping. Tonight's crew at Running for Brews were among the more athletic, which is good for me because I usually try to keep up with faster runners. My body was just not cooperating, though.

Do I know for sure my eating habits are the culprit? Not necessarily. Maybe I just haven't adjusted to running in 100% humidity (thank you, recent move to Florida) yet. I'll give it another try next week.

But I'm still feeling a bit discouraged. If I'm going to hit a sub 2:00 half marathon, I need to shave one minute per mile off my current time... and sustain that for 13 miles.

196 days left - is it enough time?

Today's Exercise: Running for Brews 5k - 2.60 miles at 10.03 min/mi

Breakfast	Lunch	PWO	Dinner
Coffee Eggs with Spinach	More Coffee Tuna Baby Spinach Salad Iced Pumpkin Scone	GNC Puredge Energy	GNC Puredge Protein

Help me, Obi-Wan...

I'm considering that I may need to enlist the help of a true Jedi Master... er personal trainer... to help me reach my goals.

Three years ago - when I hit my 2:00 at my first half-marathon - I was devoting two mornings each week to 30 minutes of personal training at Globo Gym. I was also trying to get into 'wedding shape', so I was certainly motivated to attend workouts at the crack of dawn. I cut the personal training out after the wedding - just didn't feel like I needed to pay for it anymore.

The only problem is that weight lifting is boring. If I've got to do it on my own, I usually end up passing in favor of treadmill time. I'm attending bootcamp classes twice weekly at my gym and fooling myself that I'm building muscle when deep down, I know it's a cardio class. Today's circuit included about five minutes of bicep work, ten minutes of burpees, and forty-five minutes of running. Ok, there was other stuff thrown in there too, but I don't think attending this twice weekly is going to build me the explosive leg strength I need to sprint that last half mile come April.

If I remove 2 days of bootcamp from the training schedule and replace it with one day of personal training and one extra running day, that might get me to where I need to be. I'm going to look into the cost when I'm back at Globo Gym on Thursday - tomorrow night is Running for Brews night. Last week, I struggled with Running for Brews because of an ill-timed latte, so hoping tomorrow night is better.

Speaking of coffee, happy free coffee day! I got mine from Wawa.

197 days left.

Today's Exercise: 1 hr Bootcamp @ Globo Gym

Breakfast	Lunch	PWO	Dinner
Coffee Eggs with Spinach	Beef Stew Iced Pumpkin Scone	N/A	Free Coffee at Wawa! Tuna Baby Spinach Salad

Soon, I will rest.

No workout today. Monday is typically a rest day, but today I had an added bonus - it was monthly massage day!

The rise of Groupon, Living Social, etc. has made it more affordable to treat myself to massage. I have yet to find anything that disputes the health benefits of massage - here's a good summary of those benefits if you are looking for more info. I'm your stereotypical runner with knee problems and lower back-pain, and massage seems to keep me going for a while. Plus I have had this nagging shoulder thing, likely from sleeping awkwardly - if anybody has any resources for correcting poor sleep posture, let me know.

Some massage humor

$30-40 and one hour on the massage table - not a bad investment for the relief it provides. If I could swing it every other week, I would.

Nutrition is way off today. Still recovering from yesterday's excess at the St. Pete food and wine festival. Hoping to get back on track tomorrow.

198 days left.

Today's Exercise: None

Breakfast	Lunch	PWO	Dinner
Coffee	Beef Stew Hershey's Candy Corn Bar	N/A	N/A

Super Moon

Do professional athletes have a problem with overindulgence?

So glad I got my workout done in the morning. There's no way any movement was happening after the St. Pete Food and Wine Fest.

I would say that I got it out of my system and can focus on 'eating' like an athlete per my proclamation earlier this week, but I know the Epcot Food and Wine Fest is in my future too. Perhaps there I can be more selective about what I choose to eat and drink.

Going outside now to check out this "Super Moon." Maybe doing some star gazing will fill me with some Star Wars inspiration.

199 days left.

Today's Exercise: 60 minute spin class @ Globo Gym

Breakfast	Lunch	PWO	Dinner
2 eggs scrambled, grits	St. Pete Food and Wine Festival	N/A	N/A

Baseline

A question: Does anybody know if there are any widgets or features to embed your MapMyRun results into your blog? Or MFP? Thought it would be a cool feature if I could display exactly how my long run went today, or share my nutrition logs and macro goals.

Let's just say I have a lot of catching up to do. With myself. My goal was to run 60 minutes today (inclusive of a 3 minute warm-up and 6 minute cool-down, which I achieved) - but only completed 5.34 miles in that time. Three years ago, a 6 mile run in 60 minutes was my average daily workout. I think I will definitely need to add a third run to my schedule.

200 days left.

Today's Exercise: 60 minute treadmill run @ Globo Gym - 5.34mi

Breakfast	Lunch	PWO	Dinner
N/A	Too much of everything at Golden Corral	N/A	Loaded potato skins

The Force can have a strong influence...

... On the weak-minded. Unfortunately, candy corn has an even stronger influence on this weak mind.

Perfect day to talk about roadblocks to achieving my goal of a sub 2:00:00 half marathon. Here are my top 3:

Is there a Droid for that?

The current state my blog is in annoys me. It's so... blah. I want it to look like this. Or this.

Posting it here in case I do make changes down the road so you can see its humble beginnings. Ooh, it's a blog within a blog. Reminds me of the movie Inception.

I've invested time and energy into quite a few blogs in my life, from providing Quickbooks advice to sharing the adorableness that is kitten rescue.

Should I continue with Blogger or go back to more familiar stomping grounds with Wordpress?

Goal Setting

I started running around 2007ish after years of slogging away on the elliptical machine, trying to get to an ideal body weight and failing miserably. Under the conventional wisdom of "calories in, calories out," I had reduced my food intake dramatically right after college. Weight certainly came off fairly quickly at first - but then when I plateaued at a BMI still considered overweight, I assumed my body had just adapted to doing the same thing over and over again (ignoring the fact that  - given the lack of adequate nutrition I was taking in - I'd often collapse after a workout into a pile of donuts.)

Running seemed to be the answer. I remember my first 'run' on the treadmill might have been 10 minutes long at about 5 miles per hour. I never thought a half marathon - or five for that matter - would be in my future.

You'd think after eight years of running, I'd be right up there with the rest of the running 'elite'; but if you read post 1, you know I'm up there with the running 'mediocre'.

November 2013 - this race was a blast and I do have a lot of positive memories from it - but the Wine and Dine half marathon has the honor of holding my worst record: 2:10:somethingsomething.

Why do I think I can suddenly reach my sub 2:00:00 half marathon goal?

Welcome to the Dark Side

Registration day.

I signed up for the inaugural runDisney Star Wars Dark Side challenge today. For those of you among the runDisney un-enlightened, this Challenge is a 10k race on Saturday, April 16, 2017 followed by a half marathon on Sunday, April 17.

Why would anybody subject themselves to 19.3 miles of running within a 24 hour period? Everyone has their reasons. Among mine: you get a swanky third medal for doing both races back-to-back.

I ran the inaugural Rebel Challenge at Disneyland earlier this year. I kind of love Star Wars. I'm also a Disney geek who likes to be among the first to own these cool medals.

And now I'm 204 days away from adding three more medals to my collection.