3 Things Thursday - LIKE YOU MEAN IT edition

1)  Eat like you mean it.... Yesterday I conducted a radical experiment.  I ate according to the USDA food Pyramid guidelines.  That meant I ate 1.5 c fruit, 2.5 c vegetables, 6 oz grains, 5 oz protein, 3 c milk (1 oz cheese = 1 c. milk), less than 5 tsp of added oils, and had a discretionary allowance of 195 calories to spare.  I used my discretionary calories on coffee cream and sherbert (which is fat free but not sugar or calorie free).  I also ate 1 extra serving of fruit.  And I was a little hungry at the end of the day... this could be because I worked out pretty hard yesterday.

2)  Swim like you mean it.... Yea, so.  I've got a sprained Fankle.  It actually feels pretty good for a sprain, and I am VERY optimistic about my return to the training plan.  In fact today it doesn't hurt when I flex or extend.  But, I'm banned from running, and I missed my 18 miler this week, and even if I could run, I certainly couldn't accomplish 18 w/o re-injuring it.  I needed to do something that would "equal" running 18 miles & I'm only allowed to swim.  Well, I'm sorry but NO WAY could I swim for just under 3 hours, which is a close average to what my 18 miler would take.  So I decided to swim somewhere between a Half Iron Man swim and a Full Iron Man swim.  By no means am I a fast swimmer.  I'm a competent swimmer, I have a good stroke, and I have a good endurance base.  I hit the pool for 1 hour exactly, and swam 3100 yards.  That's about 1.75 miles, give or take.  It was HARD.  My back and abs started to burn at 2700.  A guy beside me and I "raced" a 100 in the middle.  He only beat me by about 1/2 a second.  Of course, I'd already gone about 1200 at that point, and he'd done about 400.  Do I think he could have beat me by more if he'd REALLY wanted to?  Yea, but we still had a good time doing it and it broke up the monotony of my swim.  See above note about hunger at the end of the day.

3)  Be a RUNNER like you mean it....  does that mean, go out and run like, 80 miles in a week?  Does it mean knocking out a 7 minute mile on a tempo run?  No.  What does it mean?  I think being a runner like you mean it means:  run with heart, encourage your neighbors, celebrate your victories, learn from your mistakes, rest your injuries, respect your body, and above all else, do this because you LOVE IT.

A shout out to Heather at Momma Running Amok - she is running her First Marathon this weekend!
I'm so proud of you, Heather.  You're going to be great.  Picture yourself strong on the course, think of Will Ferrel if you get sad or disheartened (hey, it can happen), and above all else, just remember that it's always OK to shout at the spectators and ask for encouragement.  Be your OWN FAN CLUB and know that your OTHER FAN CLUB is sending you love from afar!  "There is no charge for awesomeness".  Believe it.