Boring Sunday

Let’s just get this out of the way…

Monday: 6.79 miles @ 7.28 + 10 minutes on the elliptical + 4.10 miles @7:07
Tuesday: 8.82 miles @ 7:06
Wednesday: Field Day
Thursday: 8.88 miles @ 7:06
Friday: 9.23 miles @ 7:13
Saturday: 13.95 miles @ 7:00 (first four miles done at 6:43)
Sunday: 8.73 miles on the treadmill between 7:03 and 7:13 pace

Total: 56.40

I’m so close to breaking 60 miles. I haven’t done that in awhile. 

Hiya.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday.

My Sunday started off with the usual breakfast of fruit and cottage cheese.

I think I’m going to switch up my breakfast though for this week. Instead of cottage cheese I’m going to eat hard boiled eggs in hope to drop a few pounds. I don’t think I dropped any weight this week unfortunately. I weighed myself and the scale said I gained six pounds! That’s not even possible. I am back where I started then. It doesn’t make sense to me. 

I don’t know. I’m back to my old self anyway where I weigh myself too much and freak out over numbers. I want to be back at 115 at least. That’s good for my height of 5’3.

I know. I’m crazy, but it really irritates me. Again, I feel like I have no control over anything right now.

Anyway, the rest of my Sunday I worked out.

What’s new? It’s raining out so I went on the treadmill for an hour. Thank you, Miley Cyrus, for making my treadmill time fun. 

After that I lifted some weights and went on the elliptical.

All and all, it’s a lazy Sunday. I worked out, ate Chinese food, and watched Spongebob. It’s a rainy day, which reminds me of home.

Totally homesick right now.

I’ll leave you guys with some motivation…

Tags: exercise, health, healthy-living, miley cyrus

Crazy Runner Girl of VA

Happy Saturday!

I haven’t done much today besides run (duh), sleep, and eat (double duh). I am even eating Chinese food with lots of soy sauce as I write this. And what’s even better is that the barracks here have cable. I had no idea. Now I can watch the news and more importantly, Khloe and Lamar.

I’m actually watching Seinfeld. I’m by myself in the female lounge area so it’s okay for me to laugh out loud and take photos of myself.

By the way, I’ve been drinking diet coke a lot. I use to never drink soda, not even diet, but I have been craving the carbonation. I bet diet soda is bad for your running. Maybe that’s why I have been suffering on my runs lately. Any thoughts?

Anyway, after sleeping in this morning due to being out late, I went on a run with some random guy. My name is known here at the detachment. Everyone knows me as this crazy runner so he wanted to run with me so he can improve his three-mile time. We did four miles or so at a 6:43 pace. It was awesome. Then, on my own time, I ran another nine miles so I ran a total of 13.95 miles. Where’s the other .5? I don’t know. I was too dehydrated to continue.

All and all, this week was pretty good. Currently, my class is cooking larger portions of food and ‘serving’ it like we would in the mess hall. I have already been chief cook, which is great. You don’t cook anything and you just make sure everyone is on time with their cooking. Every day we cook breakfast then lunch/dinner. So far I have made bacon, eggs, omelets, ham, soup, cabbage, and vegetables. Yada yada yada. It’s rather awesome.

I ended my week by going out to Applebee’s. I got the lime shrimp, which is around 300 calories. Applebee’s has these weight watcher meals and they are lower than 550 calories. It’s funny because the meal is so small. No reason they are 300 calories. I got dessert there too. I got their chocolate chip cookie sundae and the waitress had to comment that I ate the whole thing. She made like three comments on how much I ate. I despise when people do that! Yeah, I ate a 1500 calorie dessert, but I’m pretty sure I run over 50 miles a week. Her tip went out the window. Yeah, mess with me.

After eating and being insulted for eating a lot, I went to the movies to see American Reunion.

It was hilarious. Of course the first American Pie is the best, but American Reunion was good.

Now moving on past my exciting life…

In my past two running related magazines, they have had interesting articles on some amazing athletes that I believe you should know about.

One athlete is…

Lauren Fleshmen, professional runner and behind the making of Picky Bars. Not only that, she’s from Oregon. Holla girl.

Taken from Running Times Magazine:

“Fleshman has chased athletic dreams from California to Ohio and back again. Success has defined every step of her career–Foot Locker runner-up in high school, three straight NCAA 5,000m championships, and a U.S. 5,000m title–but injury has often followed close behind.

She tries holding the Olympic goal at arm’s length, but she still views her future in terms of Olympiads: 2012 and, probably, 2016 frame the family she wants to start. She’s not holding off on other aspirations, though. I ask how she balances everything. “I don’t do it well all the time, to be honest. There’s time when I have to drop everything except for running just to reestablish that as the primary objective,” she says. “I disappear. I don’t know that that’s the healthiest way to do things, but that’s the only way I can do it sometimes.” She’s already planning to vanish for the final week of June. The day of the Olympic trials 5,000m final, Fleshman won’t wake up in her own bed. She’s moving out of the house, away from her businesses and her writing.”

I personally just love how down to earth Lauren seems. She reminds me a lot of myself actually, which may sound somewhat conceited. I’m one to just disappear and I get down in the dumps at times too. Running helps me deal with that. 

However, she is one to look for. She has her head on straight when it comes to running. That’s what I love about her. 

Well, I mention another amazing athlete tomorrow. As of now, I got some honorable eats. 

“You also need to look back, not just at the people who are running behind you but especially at those who don’t run and never will… those who run but don’t race…those who started training for a race but didn’t carry through…those who got to the starting line but didn’t in the finish line…those who once raced better than you but no longer run at all. You’re still here. Take pride in wherever you finish. Look at all the people you’ve outlasted.”
- Joe Henderson

Tags: exercise, health, healthy-living, restaurants, training

The Paleo Diet for Athletes

The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance

I first heard of the Paleo Diet through runner Dean Karnazes. I was always very interested by the diet, but I knew I couldn’t try it because it has meat as a main source of food.

For those of you not aware or familiar with the Paleo Diet, the Paleo Diet is essentially called the Caveman Diet. The Paleo Diet is supposed to be rather basic because there is no packaged food, processed food, or anything like that. You know the question what would Jesus do? Well, before you put that donut in your mouth you should ask yourself what would the cavemen do? They would go hunting for buffalo or whatever dinosaurs. I don’t know. I’m not a historian.

The Cavemen did not have all the food we have today. They literally worked for their food, burning calories nonstop. There was no dairy, grains, sugar, and all that other bullshit food we eat today. They simply ate lean meat, poultry, seafood, fruits, and vegetables. By eating these main foods, the body will have complete nourishment; especially for athletes.

If you didn’t notice, I didn’t mention anything about grains in the above paragraph.

As a runner though, aren’t carbs important?! What about that big pasta dinner before the marathon?

 This book says that you shouldn’t worry. You will get plenty of carbs through veggies and fruits. However, if you were to follow the Paleo Diet, you would need to watch your carb intake so you have enough fuel.

So, the Paleo Diet means no grains even oatmeal, buckwheat, and quinoa. It also requires no dairy. I don’t know about you, but dairy is highly essential in my life. No cottage cheese? No Greek yogurt? No way.

I did try following the Paleo Diet in my own way since I am vegetarian. I ate some dairy and barely any carbs besides rice. (Hello, Chinese food!)  I rarely eat processed foods in the first place so that was easy for me.

If you are interested in the Paleo Diet, fortunately, this book really helps you with the nutrition part of the Paleo Diet. It gives an understanding of what to eat, when to eat it, and why. It gives you information on eating eggs (because apparently those are okay in moderation) and caffeine.

I have no beef with the Paleo Diet or even the book The Paleo Diet for Athletes. It was well written, easy to understand, clear, and helpful.

I believe the following the Paleo Diet will help any athlete; however, I don’t believe that anyone needs to follow it to the bone. Eating no grains is insane. I think eating oats, some whole grains, barley, and quinoa is okay. Dairy is supportive to the body so why can’t we eat it? Who knows if the cavemen milked some cows. Then, don’t even get me started on peanuts. You can’t have peanuts or peanut butter with the Paleo Diet. Now that’s insane. I like my peanuts and my peanut butter straight from the jar after eating hot and spicy shrimp out of a greasy bag.

Due to those few rules that I do not appreciate, I followed the Paleo Diet with a 90% rule. I would (and still do sometimes) eat only fruit and vegetables with some type of protein on the side like cottage cheese. I’m a vegetarian so I didn’t see the harm in doing so.

I followed that routine for several weeks and felt the same as I do now, except now I feel a little worse so I am thinking of going back to my half ass Paleo Diet of barely any grains and just more protein. As of now I am trying to up my protein because my legs never feel re-freshed in between runs so I think that may be the case. Either that or I don’t eat enough.

Whatever the case may be, I recommend the Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel.  If you are looking for something new and something different from you oatmeal, Greek yogurt diet, try the Paleo Diet for a bit and tell me how you feel. 

Overall score: 7 out of 10

What type of ‘diet’ works for you?
Have you ever followed the Paleo Diet? What are your thoughts?  

Tags: food, health, nutrition, paleo diet for athletes

Funnel Cakes and Deep Fried Oreo’s

Hello!

I wish I could update daily, but it’s really difficult to fit in with four hours of liberty. During my time off after school, I work out, eat, call my mom, and get ready for the next day. I could easily update every day, but that would take away from my six hours of sleep.

My point is, I’m updating now so that is what truly matters, right? (:

My week went by fairly quick and it was actually a good week.

I finished up the baking section this week of my schooling. We baked chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls (so good), sweet potato pie, apple pie, cake, and much more sweets that would guarantee pack on a few pounds. All my products received an above average or an outstanding grade. With my written test, I got a 100%.

Now I’m onto more classes and Tuesday I cook again, but with larger quantities. I’m nervous because we have a small class, which means more work for us.

My week ended with a trip to Kings Dominion. It’s an amusement park in Virginia. I had a lot of fun! I went on every roller coaster about twice. Every roller coaster went upside down and after the second time through, my head was pounding. This didn’t help…

Yeah, it’s a funnel cake. But come on! How often do I eat funnel cakes? Like everyday. I also tried a deep fried Oreo. Oh my gosh. It was delicious, but that’s like  a once and a life time treat. Never again. 

Besides eating funnel cakes and redneck food, I eat a lot of Chinese food. I order Chinese food like every night.

I know. Who am I eating white rice?

I must say that I eat really well here. For breakfast, my meal usually consists of: melon, banana, an apple, some cottage cheese, and maybe raisins. 

For lunch I have a salad, lots of veggies, a pear, and cottage cheese.

Then for dinner it’s more of this:

The thing with Chinese food is that it fills me up quickly to the point where I’m like, “Oh boy, I’m stuffed.” I feel like I eat so much, but when I look back at my day, I barely have enough calories for breakfast and lunch. I still beat myself up after every meal no matter what I eat. I feel guilty with everything I eat. I don’t even understand.

I bought a scale too. I keep weighing myself. So far, I lost a pound this week versus the two I lost week so it’s a total of three pounds. I want to go back to my ‘normal’ weight, whatever I think that may be. However, I know that I won’t be happy with it. I back in that cycle of wanting perfection, yet I can’t have it. I cannot achieve it because perfection obviously doesn’t exist. I work my ass off to be ‘perfect’. I get frustrated when I cannot run or when I run slowly or I’m hurting. All my emotions here in Virginia are at an amplified level. I feel like I do not have control of my life whatsoever. 

I feel selfish, not in control, hopeless, and arrogant.

I’ll talk more about this later when I have my thoughts gathered. All I can say is for the several bloggers who challenged themselves by not working out for a week or so, good for you! That’s an accomplishment for someone who loves to exercise. Sounds silly, but in all honesty, it’s an accomplimsent.

Of course, I didn’t take part of that challenge. My week looked like this:

Monday: Two miles on the treadmill + 7.56 miles outside @ 7:05 + weights + elliptical
Tuesday: 8:69 miles @ 7:16 pace + elliptical
Wednesday: Field Day
Thursday: 8.69 miles @ 7:12 pace + elliptical
Friday: 9 miles @ 7:03 pace  + elliptical
Saturday: 9.12 miles @ 6:55 pace  + elliptical
Sunday: 10.65 miles @ 7:08  + weights

Total mileage: 55.71

I wish I could have gotten a longer run, but this morning my legs felt dead. I ran last night at six/seven PM and ran this morning at eleven. I don’t think that was enough time for my legs to refresh themselves. This week will be better.

I just keep telling myself to think positive and good things will happen.

What do you tell yourself to get through rough patches? 

“I was born to be a runner. I simply love to run. It’s almost like the faster I go, the easier it becomes.”
-Mary Decker Slaney

Easter + Ramblings

Happy Easter!

My Easter started off with a good breakfast. This is my normal breakfast…

I usually eat melon or cantaloupe with a banana, apple, and/or pear. I don’t eat all three. I eat a banana and an apple or something like that. The chow hall always has a lot of fruit so my breakfast is mostly fruit with cottage cheese. I cannot resist cottage cheese. It’s not like I get Greek yogurt here. Wahhh.

Then, I went on a run. I have to sneak off by myself to run since no one wants to run a billion miles with me. I did 10.54 miles @ a 6:58 pace. I wanted to do more miles, but my legs haven’t been feeling ‘fresh’. You know what I mean?

I followed the run with 24 minutes on the elliptical. My legs feel rather deadish.

Believe it or not, the barracks I am currently living in have a gym. I won’t lie to you. It’s a pretty average Joe gym. There are some weights that the dudes hog, two ellipticals (one is broken), a treadmill, and a stationary bike. I want to lift weights more; however, I’m too intimated. I don’t know why. I use to lift weights at my old gym all the time. Here, I’m intimated and embarrassed that I lift like 20 and 30 pounders while the guys lift 80’s.

Back to running…

On base we have The Battlefield. It’s actually a little tourist section with amazing running trails. Every time I run in the trails, I see deer and horses. It’s beautiful. It reminds me of home actually.

Well, this week I ran basically every day on my own time except for Wednesday. Wednesday’s here are considered ‘field day’ where we clean our rooms for an inspection. That means no liberty so I can’t run. Nonetheless, we do have PT every morning with our class. PT here is a joke. Yeah, it gets you moving, but we run for like twenty minutes at, like, a 12 minute mile pace. I swear I can walk it. PT here is for body maintenance, which is funny because a lot of people here are chunky. Not all, but there are quite a few. I blame the vending machines with donuts, Poptarts, and potato chips.

As I was saying, I ran basically every day this week. My stats look like this:

Monday: 8.39 miles @ 7:11 pace
Tuesday: 12 minute run (two miles at least) with a staff sergeant under a seven minute mile pace + weights + 50 minutes on the elliptical
Wednesday: PT run in the morning
Thursday: 8.51 miles @ 7:12 pace
Friday: 8.62 miles @ 7:04 pace
Saturday: 11.17 miles @ 7:10 pace
Sunday: 10.54 miles @ 6:58 pace

Total mileage: 49.23 miles

Of course that is not even close to what I want to be running!

Of course not everyone can be like Miley either…

I bet she’s better than Kara Goucher.

I kid, I kid.

Anyway, you can add a few miles that I run for PT in the morning with my class, but I can’t even count those because they are so darn slow.

As you see, I run like eight miles daily. Doing a bit over eight miles takes me an hour and that’s all I can do when I have a buddy running with me. It’s only fair to them. I know not everyone is a crazy runner like me. That’s why I am a weekend warrior with my eleven miles. Hah! I wish I was doing seventeen.

I hope this week to ramp up the mileage even though on Saturday I will be at an amusement park all day. I’ll just run on the treadmill at 10 PM. I don’t care. I just want to run.

My running face

And I absolutely love my running shoes. My mom sent me these:

They are like six ounces or something. Whatever they are, they are incredible. They go great with my unshaven legs.

Well, I hope I have a better week of running. I have a few posts up my sleeve about what I’m eating, reading, ‘dieting’ and more running. Obviously.

Enjoy the rest of your Easter!

I got some honorable eats for you. I couldn’t forget…

“Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don’t let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself.”
-John Bingham

I’ll Stick Around

Hello, hello!

I know it’s been like another two months since I last talked to you guys. Let me fill you in…

So, I left for MCT (Marine Combat Training aka a Miserable Camping Trip) February 14^th in North Carolina and graduated March 3^rd. From there I went to Fort Lee, Virginia, which is where I am currently for my specific job. I am going to school for food services. I started my schooling about two weeks ago and I am cooking and baking so far. I am also class leader of my very small class of ten people.

All I know is that the last few weeks I have learned a lot about myself in the sense of what I want to do with the rest of my life and it obviously does not involve the Marine Corps. The military life is not for me at all and I know that now. Being here in Virginia depresses me. It’s not that I am home sick, but I hate not having freedom. You can’t even compare college to my life style right now. I can’t go for a run outside without a buddy and you think anyone wants to run with me? I am called crazy here because I love to work out. No other female works out like me and it shows. I am the fastest runner here.

Lately, I have been getting my male friends to run with me for an hour or so, which is great. Running relieves my stress, but I know I’m still not completely happy. I don’t like my body. I gained about ten pounds at MCT because all we ate were MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat). We didn’t work out at MCT. I barely ate, but the MRE’s are just processed crap. Anyway, I get to VA and I weigh myself. Yeah, if you didn’t know already, I stopped weighing myself a long time ago due to my eating disorder struggles. Now I find myself buying a scale, counting my calories, stressing about working out, and weighing myself. Granted I lost two pounds, but I am still not happy. I keep thinking, “I want to be skinny. I want to be 110.”

Like I said, I’m not home sick, but I would rather be home.

I would rather be in college. I want my freedom. I’ll have it fully once I am out of the Marine Corps in three and a half years.

I graduate from food services May 23^rd and from there, it looks like I might be going to Bridgeport, California. Apparently, that is the middle of nowhere.

I don’t want to sound like a Debbie Downer. However, I know myself and I know I’m not content. I do love cooking and baking. This week I have made cookies, raisin nut bars, muffins, and biscuits. I love it. I picked food services so after the Marines, I can have a few open doors with cooking or at a least nutrition. With all this extra cooking means extra food I have to sample. You guys all know my past to some degree. Eating more? Oh no. Christy does not do that. “I’m going to get fat. I’m going to gain weight. I need to run. I need to find a buddy to run with to check out.” My eating disorder is sitting in the back of my mind telling me to not eat, to only eat vegetables, and so forth. I find myself looking up diets and ways to change my eating. It’s ridiculous. If I was at home, in college, working a job, I would not have this problem.

Boo hoo to me, right? I don’t want to sound so whiny.

On the bright side, I have my laptop now and I can now read your blogs again. I can read the news too. You know how much I miss watching the news in the morning and reading the newspaper? Oh my gosh. I’m a nerd. I even downloaded some NPR. Nerd alert. Hello.

Well, I hope all of you are doing well. I’ll have another update tomorrow on running, food, and whatever else you guys want to know. Ask me questions! Tell me what you want to know about MCT or my MOS school.

Catch me up on life in general. I miss the real world. 

“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.” 
- Steve Prefontaine

I’m here!

Hello! I know I said I would be back in 29 days from MCT, but I still have not received mu laptop in the
mail from my mom. No blogging equals a disappointed Christy. However, I’ll b back in no time with updates. I miss you guys a lot and I hope you all are doing fantastic.

Talk to everyone soon!