I love waking up early, sun rising and shining on my face (I keep my curtain open specifically so the East is wide open to allow those golden rays into my bedroom), breathing in the cool, crisp morning air, putting on my shoes and getting out the door. I was made for running in the morning. I can no longer sleep past 6:30 or 7am on the weekends because it is my habit to wake up early and run. Well, that and the sun on my face in the wee hours has less of a blinding effect as with open eyeballs while awake, and acts a natural alarm when lids are shut.
This morning, my running schedule slated seven miles. I chose to augment my Waterfront loop with a little extra mileage, and took off, up the hill… then down toward the river.
The weather was a perfect, cloudless 67 degrees, and absolutely gorgeous.
Marathon training is a funny thing. I am usually the last person to commit to anything much less Regular exercise, but throughout the last month (and almost another half) I have found that having a schedule really helps me to get every run in that I need to, and I feel … accomplished. Even if all I do for the day is get my run in and go to work, I am more satisfied each week than I have been for quite sometime.
Apparently there is something to this goal-setting idea, after all… When you move forward and DO!
One major change (besides some pretty tight muscles and a little pain in my hip that is a new sensation – nothing to worry about! I’ll keep stretching!) I am noticing is … I get hungry. More often. And … I’m guessing that is only going to become more prevalent as I continue to increase my mileage. I’ll find myself wanting to eat something at 10pm because my stomach is actually growling. Two months ago, I would have made myself brush my teeth and go to sleep. Now I find myself thinking…”There’s a good chance I really do need to eat something more… What can I eat…” and promptly start perusing the fridge. I have this whole running mileage/day routine down, but I’m not sure how to keep track and increase my caloric intake.
How do you stay on top of eating during marathon training? (This really seems like it should be an easy answer, but it’s proving more unexpected and challenging than I thought!)
What is your favorite daily/weekly practice that makes you feel happy, comfortable, sane, or productive?
Happy adventuring, my friends!
~Alaina