Maaaaan, I feel like this weekend flew by. Don’t they always, though? I bet it felt even shorter for the kids heading back to school. Unless, of course, they are nerds like me and love the start of the school year. Ah, to be young and bill-less again.
Anywho, as some of you know from my social media accounts, my run on Saturday went over like a ton of bricks. I again couldn’t run very well due to my no sugar no carb nutrition experiment. I was so dead at the end of my slog that I was given an apple from my friend Eva and it was the greatest apple I have ever eaten in my whole entire life. Needless to say, I need carbs and sugar to run.
Yes, you can say I told you so if you are so inclined. But hey, at least I tried.
I was super happy to run a few miles with Jesica from Runladylike and am SO happy she now lives in my area. I hope to run with her lots and lots more. Fast friends are THE best to run with.
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| Check out that sunrise! |
I haven’t gone insane with the carbs and sugar, although I did eat the lunch provided to the volunteers on Saturday at the Special Olympics. I figured since I had a long run slated for Sunday, adding back in carbs could only help with that run. I’m trying to be very mindful of the carbs and sugar I do eat and not fall back into my “Oh, it’s 4 PM, time to hit the snack machine” routine again.
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| Tori, Steph, the S.O., and I got to be timers for the swim meet. |
After the swim meet the S.O. and I went to see my stepmom, then headed home to eat and get ready for our Sunday workouts. I was pretty pooped after sitting in the sun all day Saturday but I had some trouble falling asleep. Isn’t that the worst? I knew I had a 4:15 AM wake up alarm and I kept tossing and turning. A lot of that had to do with my thoughts on how my diet plan worked out.
To be completely honest, I was pretty bummed that I felt like I had to eat carbs and sugar again. It felt like failing. I know I said all along that I was going to see how it went, but I can’t help but feel a little sad that something I know that worked so well for me in the past is no longer viable. I guess I can look at it as the Beth from the past wasn’t a marathoner or triathlete like I am now.
On the plus side, I feel proud with how well I stuck to that plan. I made it five days with no sugar and no carbs. That is not easy, let me tell you. If anything, my trial and error process gives me answers to questions about what I truly need to fuel for runs. And it has helped me look at what I was allowing myself to eat far too often prior to cutting the carbs and sugar. Still looking at you Cheez-Its.
And guess what? My Sunday run was fantastic. (You already said I told you so once.)
I got in over nine miles at a faster pace than I’ve been able to run for most of the summer. This makes me VERY happy. I wasn’t hauling per se, but it really gets me excited for the cooler months ahead.
I finished out my weekend with a little beach with Keara and her adorable baby girl and then it was dinner with the S.O. and an early night’s sleep to prepare for master’s swim this morning.
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| Sandcastle making in action! |
Again, I appreciate all of the feedback on my nutrition changes and challenges. I’m still figuring out what works best for me. It’s really all we can do, right?
I hope you all had great weekends!
P.S. Check back tomorrow for a blog on how to train and get through that first marathon!
I always read but don't often comment…
But I always enjoy your refreshing honesty! You said it from the get-go (and I loved your 6 thousand disclaimers), but you need to try something for YOURSELF in order to decide what works for you and what doesn't. We all want to eat healthier and get into shape and its a bummer to know that something that worked so well for us before may not work for us now, but at least you tried! And marathoner and triathlete Beth I'm sure is already 100% healthier (okay, we all go for that vending machine or snack even though we know we shouldn't).
I'm looking forward to getting back to training once I pop out this baby and I'm totally excited to keep following you along since I'm pretty sure your blog is how I got the idea to run my first marathon 🙂
keep blogging! and trial and error is what life is all about, right?!
No "I told you so" over here 🙂 🙂
anytime you try something and it doesn't work you call it a learning experience and move on. Good call. And totally jealous you got to run with RunLadyLike! love her blog too.
I definitely think the no sugar thing can be beneficial even to runners but no carbs is hard because we really do need the fuel for endurance. I think carbs get a worse reputation than they deserve – as long as they are the high quality kind, then it's ok! 🙂 But I'm also totally the type to give things up completely just to see how it affects me so I totally get why you did it.
Keep on keeping on!
I am SO SO glad we get to run together whenever we want now! It is so fun being able to hang together! And we have all been there on runs like your Saturday. I've been eating plenty of carbs and I've felt dead more times than I care to remember the past few months. The heat and humidity is a huge part of it, and with as many calories as you're burning on a daily basis, you need that fuel. Don't look at it as failure, look at it as listening to your body and doing what it needs. If you still want to do the challenge, maybe you do no sugar (except for run-related fuel) or gluten/bread but eat healthy carbs like fruit, potatoes, brown rice, etc. as I always say, no one is overweight from eating too many bananas or sweet potatoes. Ha! It's a daily struggle and I feel like I 've been out of control too. We should keep talking about it and keeping ourselves accountable. xo