Jogging My Memory

You may have noticed that my runs lately have not been as long as when I was training for the half marathon. Last weekend, my long run was 8.5 miles.

I decided to up the ante today.

I ate a Kashi TLC Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bar before doing my Whittle My Middle Challenge for the day.

Here’s the breakdown of my Whittle My Middle for the day:

• Plank with Straight Arms: 1:30 min
• Side Plank with Straight Arms:  1:00 min each side
• Bridge: 1:30 min
• Bridge with One Leg Up: 1:00 min per leg
• Plank with Bent Arms: 1:00 min

I can really feel myself getting stronger. I think the break was great, because it gave my abs time to heal. After the ab workout, I finally convinced myself to get out the door and to the trail.

I ended up running 10.25 miles in 1:34:23 (about a 9:15 min/mile average).

Running double digits again was definitely a mental game. Getting out the door this morning was by far the hardest part, and I had to tell myself I was only going to run 6 to get myself to my car. Part of the deterrence is the weather, it’s hard to want to leave my warm apartment to go run in the cold. I planned on running slower, but realized after the first mile that I was running an 8:45 mile and wasn’t hurting at all, so I decided not to take it slow. Once I had gone a few miles I decided that a 10 miler was a good choice for today. In the end it was totally worth it, because I reassured myself that I can run these long distances even when I’m not training for a long race. Sometimes you just need a little reassurance of your abilities.

When I got home after my run I showered and then made a quick lunch of exactly what I was craving: a Trader Joe’s Michette Roll with 2 wedges of Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese.

I also had a little sweet treat, some Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries.

The 10 miler really wore me out, and I didn’t want to work on homework in that state, so I popped in Sex and The City the Movie and relaxed for a little while.

At 4pm, I had a mini meal of 1 cup of Brûléed Mashed Sweet Potatoes. So tasty, the picture of which appears to have wandered off, hmm.

After the first watching of Sex and The City, I replayed it and got to work on my paper that is due tomorrow at 5pm. I took a break around 5 for another snack: a serving of Newman’s Own Organics Protein Pretzels.

I got a lot done on my paper, I just have the citations left to check over and a few small changes to make.

Dinner tonight was very yummy: 5 Trader Joe’s Thai Vegetable Gyoza with Trader Ming’s Gyoza Sauce and Steamed Broccoli with 365 Organic Peanut Sauce.

And an apple – gotta get those servings of fruit it!

I was so excited when I found these gyoza at TJ’s, because potstickers (the other name for gyoza) are by far my favorite Chinese food. I’ve been eating them since I was little – I used to always ask for them when we would order Chinese take-out — oh wait I still do, except that I rarely ever get Chinese take-out. Anyway, these potstickers are really good, and the TJ’s gyoza sauce is a perfect sauce for them!

Dessert was also very yummy and packed some protein in the form of .5 oz slivered almonds atop Soy Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream and 1.5 servings Newman’s Own Organics Chocolate Alphabet Cookies.

I’m heading for bed now, I think I’ll sleep pretty well after all that running and the knowledge that my paper is almost complete. Did I mention tomorrow is my second to last class of the semester…crazy and exciting! It feels like just yesterday I was starting my first day of law school – time has really flown by this semester!

Do you ever find that certain times in life go by more quickly than others?

Tags: apple, broccoli, Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries, double digits, Laughing Cow Light Swiss, running, Thai Vegetable Gyoza, Whittle My Middle Challenge