Friday

Training Log
Rest day

Food Log
Breakfast: oatmeal with banana, peanut butter; water
Lunch: Thanksgiving lunch at work (items too numerous to name)
Snack: brownie
Dinner: "Turkey Combo" from Chilis: half turkey sandwich, with baked potato soup, chips and salsa, a few fries, iced tea, split a "molten lava cake" with Chad

I took a rest day this morning. I was supposed to run 3 miles, and I wanted to run 3 miles, but I felt it best to rest my legs, as they've been pretty sore the past few days. I have a 5k race in the morning that I am hoping to PR in, so I figured the extra rest might help. I'm planning to run 3 on Monday morning, my usual rest day for the week. I'm having to rearrange my schedule a little next week, due to Thanksgiving. I normally swim on Thursday mornings, but since the pool will be closed this Thursday, I'll move my swim to Tuesday, and my run to Thursday. I'm thinking (hoping) that being flexible with my schedule, especially during the couple of months of base training, will help me to avoid getting burnt out.

I also took a rest day because I had terrible heart burn Thursday evening and into this morning. I actually was kind of convinced that I was having a heart attack, like I was ready for someone to get the paddles, but Chad went and got me some heartburn medicine and I felt 100% better in 15 minutes or so. I might have been a little over dramatic at times during the episode...but it was scary! I didn't take the medicine until this morning, after I had been up for a few hours. So, when I woke up to run and still had chest pains/burning in my chest, I didn't think running alone in the dark would be the best idea. So, instead I stayed home and ate oatmeal with banana and drank a ton of water.

You would think after experiencing such bad heartburn I would be careful about what I ate to day, but no not really. I kind of went off the rails today with eating, but that's ok. At work, we had a staff lunch and everyone brought in Thanksgiving type food and desserts, and the cafeteria provided turkey, dressing, brocolli casserole, corn pudding, etc. I think there is a distinction between enjoying food and fellowship with friends and celebrating a moment or a holiday, and being gluttonous. Sometimes it can be a fine line, but I really do think it is ok sometimes to enjoy the types of food you really only get to eat during some parts of the year. Besides, that is pretty much why I run...so that I can eat what I enjoy and not beat myself up about this.

There are two reasons why I've been tracking my meals/food intake here. One, is for accountability. I would much rather write that I've eaten a 6in sub on wheat from Subway, than a double cheeseburger Mighty Kids meal from McDonald's. And, I've found my eating habits have really changed as a result. Secondly, I know that there is a correlation between nutritional intake and athletic performance. Some people defy the odds, like Ochocinco, but for the most part, serious athletes, especially those involved with endurance events like running, cycling, swimming and triathlon really are careful with what they eat. In no way am I a serious athlete, or will ever be one, but I want to be as healthy as I can. I also think it will be interesting to look back over my entire training log and be able to look at my training run times, and see how what I ate that day may have affected them. I'm hoping this will help me as I prepare for the few weeks leading up to the marathon.

So, today would not be a good example of what to eat before a race, but nonetheless I have a race tomorrow! It is a local "Turkey Strut" here in Nicholasville. The start is two miles from our house, so I'm going to run to the start as a warm up. Chad and Emma, and some of our friends are coming out to cheer me and my friend Chris (and maybe Kelly, if she's running) on during the race, so it should be a fun morning! I'll post race results and pictures (hopefully!) with tomorrow's post.