Rainbow Challenge and Bad weeks

HeY!

So the previous week was a TOUGH one!  I was sick, dealing with overtraining syndrome, and starting to deal with it by eating.  I wasn't eating junk food, but still eating probably more than I needed (which no matter how healthy of food it is overeating is overeating).  


I found a PERFECT article in Runner's World to describe how I was feeling.  It's called Undereating (or something like that).  It's about how undereating is becoming larger among long distance and cross country runners because there are studies that show lower weight = faster time.  What runners forget to see is that yes, a lower weight will make you faster, but if you're underweight or not eating properly you will hurt yourself and your training.  This section right here jumped out at me with HUGE letters and totally describes how I was feeling.  I have been training and running for 8 years (if you include high school cross country).  Even though I have been told that only 1% of Americans will ever complete a marathon I had become a part of the endurance racing world and met many people like me that I was feeling "average."  I am a marathoner and I LOVE that feeling of knowing I am part of a small percentage of people (slightly crazy) that will ever run 26.2 miles.  Unfortunately, after hanging out with runners (which I still love doing) I didn't think I was that extraordinary or different and endurance athletes don't like being average.  It's why we push our bodies to the extreme and run, bike, or swim so far.  We love knowing that few will attempt what we do everyday.  When I started thinking I was "average" or normal I wanted to push myself harder and further.  I was training 2 times a day, 6-7days a week, each time for at least an hour (now I see why I was so tired).  

"there's a part of them that's threatened to be average."

It's okay though I'm feeling better and back on track.  I learned it's okay and completely normal to have bad days, even bad weeks.  Days or weeks when we are unmotivated and feeling a little sorry for ourselves.  Instead of staying in that funk I decided to kick myself off the couch and get over it.  This quote helped me A LOT, "Fight it. Fight it hard. Pick ur butt up, get uncomfortable and go workout. Just do it. You'll feel better."  


So this inspired me to start writing one inspirational or motivational quote on my mirror each week to get me moving.  So here's this week's: 

"No workout will undo a bad food choice"

I think it's perfect for keeping me on track.  I know deep down that I am what I eat, but sometimes that's hard to see when I'm looking at my peanut butter container.  Now looking at this every day will remind me that no matter what workout I do or how hard I push myself, if I don't make the right food choices I'll undo everything.  I'll post them each week, so you can use it too if you want!

Okay, one challenge for me this week is to eat what I've cooked or put together.  I'm trying to eat more clean and eating clean is all about cooking and baking all your own food.  This is going to be toughest with my protein bars.  I love protein bars because they're so easy to just grab and keep in my purse or backpack as a mid-morning or afternoon snack.  Well, I want to kick those along with other items, but after seeing this little blurb in Oxygen Magazine it won't be so difficult...

Okay, so here's my BIG challenge for the week.  It's really to help me get more variety in my veggie and fruit choices.  I am doing a "rainbow" challenge.  Each day I will eat a food from the color of the day.  So here's how the week is going to look:

MONDAY: Red

- I ate red cherry tomatoes

TUESDAY: Orange

-I packed orange peppers and carrots

WEDNESDAY: Yellow

- I have yellow peppers, tomatoes, and spaghetti squash

THURSDAY: Green

- I have celery, green pepper, and arugula salad

FRIDAY: Blue

- I bought blueberries

SATURDAY:

- I bought purple grapes and raisins

SUNDAY: RAINBOW

- I am going to eat (or try to) one of each color on this day!!

I'll let you know how it goes!  Now I will leave you with some YUMMY pictures of clean foods I cooked on Sunday...

oatmeal muffins

stuffed pork tenderloin

clean pesto chicken pizza

chicken muffins, hummus, green pepper, and pre-workout PB ball

Pre-workout PB ball

Tales of a Carb Junkie and Overtrainer

Hey!  This is going to be a little shorter posting, but I think it is very important information I recently came upon.  These past couple of weeks I was feeling lathargic and unmotivated.  I was having trouble even eating the necessary calories each day.  Then last week I got a nasty cold that had taken residence in both my head, nose, throat, and lungs.  I decided this weekend to figure out what was going on, so I asked my trainer to help me out.  When we met last night, after she looked at my nutrition, workouts, and cardio she said I most likely had "overtraining syndrome." 

Overtraining syndrome is a side effect of, well training too much and not resting enough.  Some basic symptoms are: lose in motivation, lose in appetite, and irritability (sound familiar??).  I was overdoing and sending my body into over drive and my body was finally fed up with it.  My body was like a toddler that no longer wants to play along, sitting in the corner, crossing their arms, and saying, "NO."  So after much discussion we changed my training schedule: Mon: Swim, Tues: Spin AM Strength PM, Wed: Run, Thurs: Swim AM Strength PM, Fri: REST, Sat: Spin & Strength, Sun: REST

Okay, that seemed easy enough. It actually took a lot of pressure off me because I no longer felt the need to be lifting and doing cardio everyday, except Sunday.  Then, we moved onto nutrition (a word that sometimes makes me cringe and makes me nervous).  I had started reverting back to eating the same things all the time (meat, veggies, protein shakes), so my trainer said I need to add more "color" back into my nutrition (which I was doing good for a while).  I need to have more veggie diversity in my diet and less protein drinks.  So my goal is to eventually take out all the unprocessed foods, like protein drinks and protein bars (Clif are okay if I'm in a pinch for time) and replace them with more "meals," like chicken, tuna steaks, vegetables, fruit, peanut butter, etc.  Another thing I needed to add back: CARBS!  Not bad carbs, like processed buns or fried food, but good ones, like Ezekiel bread or oatmeal. 

Carbs have always been a "dirty" word in my vocabulary (I'm sure a lot more people think this way too).  They've been given a bad name by the media and fitness industries.  They have become known as the brown item that gives you that spare tire around your waist.  When I started training for marathons, about four years ago, I fell in love with carbs.  They are what fueled me to start my runs and helped me heal after my marathons.  It was a main staple in my marathon life- I had become a carb and cardio junkie.  Then when I decided to take time off of marathons after Chicago this year I didn't need all those carbs.  I started trying to slowly cut down on them (outside of vegetables).  I always found it very difficult and mentally almost harder than completing a marathon!  Then, a few weeks ago I tried to cut out any carb, besides ones that came from veggies and fruit and a few I'd allow myself to have every week (BAD IDEA).  This did NOT help combined with my overtraining.  I started becoming worndown, irritable, and didn't even want to get out of bed because I was so tired.  After, talking with my trainer I realized that I am not one of those girls that is going to be able to have some ripped six-pack AND I'm TOTALLY okay with that.  I cannot physically or emotionally survive on a low carb diet (anything under 100grams per day and I'm shot).  It doesn't mean that I'm not just as healthy or healthier than those people (I wonder if they completed 4 marathons and 2 half marathons while still in college with 2 part-time jobs?), I just don't have the all elusive six-pack (I have more of a four pack- which I love just as much). 

The last thing I learned last night from my trainer that sums up all this is: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.  The more we know the better off and stronger we become.  Previously, I had thought I only needed extra carbs from bread and oatmeal if I was training for a marathon and I only thought an overtraining injury could be physical, like a twisted ankle..but now I know better.

So what I am getting at is learn from my mistakes (because trust me before all this my trainer told me NOT to do these things, but I had to find them out on my own).

1. Take time OFF- watch the slippery slope
2. ADD color into your diet
3. Take out all the processed foods and protein drinks
4. Eat CARBS (good carbs)
5. Most importantly LOVE yourself- no matter what your body type, your body has done some awesome things

For more info about "overtraining syndrome": http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/overtraining.html
For more info about my trainer: http://kendallpersonalfitness.blogspot.com/