The Real Bears and Soda

I saw this on A Black Girls' Guide to Weight Loss, and I wasn't sure what to expect.  My first thought was something like, "Oh look - it's a family of cartoon bears!" (Clearly, I'm a two year-old.)

That didn't last long...

From the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the creators of the film:

The Real Bears tells the story of a family of polar bears who, even in their distant Arctic environment, are not immune from sunny marketing messages from Big Soda. The whole family is consuming too much soda… and is experiencing everything from weight gain to tooth decay to problems in the bedroom. Only after recuperating from a terrifying visit to Doc Fox's chilly surgical suite does Pop Bear come to realize that soda has brought nothing but sadness to his family. In the film's stirring dénouement, he leads his family to reclaim their health—and their happiness.

Going for Speed: Weekly Round-Up (7)

This weekend, so far, has turned out to be exactly the kind of weekend that I’ve needed: two excellent runs, soccer on the Mall, fro-yo on the steps of the portrait gallery, time to catch up on my reading (I’m currently working my way through The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness and The Bee Eater), movie-watching, shopping success, and lots of sleep.

Glorious, restorative sleep.

I had a long talk with my dad last weekend about my training – how great it feels to run and to see my hard work pay off, but also how tired I’ve felt recently. I do make an effort to get at least seven hours of sleep every night, but sometimes that isn’t enough to keep me going at the office, during workouts, and during any attempts to be a social butterfly. 

I worried that I might be over training, but I feel very comfortable with my workouts.  After mulling over what could be going on, I decided that my body was just tired and needed a solid night of sleep.  So, last Sunday, I gave it a try. I felt incredibly lame, but I forced myself to go to bed at 10:30.  

The result: leaping (quite literally) out of bed at 6:20 the next morning for a workout.

I would love to say that I’m going to get eight hours of sleep every night, but I know that life happens and sometimes you have to settle for fewer hours of sleep than you’d like.  I will, though, promise to make an effort to take better care of myself during training and rest when I need to – even if it means sacrificing a workout every now and then.

Week 8’s training schedule:

Monday: Cycling, strength training, and extra stretching

Tuesday: 5 miles

Wednesday: 8 x 400 m at 5K Pace (8:57 per mile)

Thursday: 30-minute easy run

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 9 miles

Sunday: 3 miles at race pace

With about a month to go before the half-marathon and the Cherry Blossom 10-miler a weeks after, I’m starting to narrow my options for fall marathons.  I’m down to Hartford, Philadelphia, Newport (RI), or the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. Something inside me is hinting at picking two of the above – one half-marathon and one full.

Could it be time to check into Runner's Anonymous?

.....Absolutely not! 

On Mild Discomfort and Other Adventures

Week 11 has presented its share of challenges, but I am still in this.

This week's short runs were glorious. The crispness of fall is settling in, and I've actually needed to wear the cute little wind breaker that I picked up at Target a few weeks ago. Cooler temperatures mean great runs. On Wednesday, I ran from my place down to the Mall and back. No complaints there.

On Thursday, I followed the trails l to Georgetown and ran around the area for a bit before heading back to my apartment. I didn't stretch as thoroughly as I usually do. I'm not really sure why, but it doesn't have anything to do with the article that I posted about stretching a few days ago. I think I was just very excited. When I started to run downhill towards the trail, I started to feel discomfort in my right leg (around the lower end of the tibia). With each step, I felt it. I didn't really think about it and even thought that it was a great idea to push my limits a bit. When I got home, I felt the pain in my leg simply walking barefoot in my apartment. I iced it and went to bed. The minute that I stepped onto the floor the next morning, the pain was so much worse and I spent a while limping around my apartment. The choices were: 1. call the doctor and make the trip up or 2. suck it up and go to work. I chose two, and even walked the mile to the Rite Aid to pick up an ace bandages and athletic tape before heading into the office. During the day, the discomfort wore off but walking down flights of stairs was still a problem.

I made a decision to take the day off from training on Friday in hopes that things would be better for my long run on Saturday. I woke up, walked around a bit, felt some discomfort, but decided to take it slow and run anyway. Once I started to run, everything seemed okay okay. I ran 12 miles as slow as I possibly could without feeling like I was walking and made sure to stay on soft surfaces whenever I could. After the run, I felt okay. There was the usual feeling of exhaustion that comes after a long run, but it wasn't anything a warm bath and rest couldn't fix. When I woke up this morning for my last short run, I felt the pain again. More limping, applying ice, and deciding that running wouldn't be the best move. Instead, I tried the elliptical and strength training -- if only to feel like I was doing something other than sitting on the couch. It went pretty well, and I've tried my best to rest today. At the moment, everything feels okay but I'm still going to give myself some time to see what happens.

So, assuming that I wake up tomorrow and can move around my apartment without doing my best Charlie Bit My Figure impression, the schedule for this week looks like this:

Monday: Strength train/stationary bike
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: Off, mental preparations and pasta party for one
Saturday: 20 miles
Sunday: 3 miles

As of tomorrow, there will be 33 days between me and race day. Bring it!

Musings

Once again, I’ve found myself mega distracted. I’m not having another mini-life crisis or anything (honestly two within a period of a few weeks would be a problem). No, this time, I’m going to attribute my distractions to happiness – things to which to look forward, new adventures, excitement in the lives of close friends and family, and so many happy daydreams. Sometimes, there’s nothing quite like that dreamy, far-off look when you’re dreaming happy things. I’m in a good place right now – even with the GRE eight days away.

Mm…so many happy endorphins!

A few things while I’m thinking about tomorrow’s long run:

I can't decide if I want to run 8 or 10 miles tomorrow. Also, I kind of love that this decision is one that can be made. I remember when two miles was a struggle.

An e-mail from the Baltimore Running Festival’s organizers has pointed out that there are 70 days until the marathon. That still seems far away, but it’s nice to have some sort of perspective on exactly how much time that I have.

I'm starting to get really excited about the coming months. I know that Click proved that fast forwarding through life was a bad thing because you miss all of the moments that make life awesome, but is it autumn yet?

I need to take better care of myself during training. I’m doing an okay job, but I think I was much more strict about my diet and overall health at the beginning of this journey – lots of fruits and vegetables, taking my vitamins consistently, sleeping. SLEEPING. I definitely rode the struggle bus for most of the week because of the pseudo late nights. Factor in the running, and I’m leaving work an hour early to nap. So, I’ve decided to get adequate sleep to sustain training, a forty hour work-week, and a social life.