Sugar-free living and running: Week 1.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! 

I'm back with an update on my first week of this sugar-free journey I'm on.

Running

My first week of running since going sugar free was tough. 

I lacked energy. I had very little pep in my step. My mileage was waaaay down -- to just 16.4 miles. 

Whoa.

And the miles were a struggle. Until yesterday, that is. My first 4 runs were bleh. In fact, my first run was aborted after a measly half mile because I felt so completely energy-less.

On Saturday, I ran 5 miles at a 9:30 pace. It was brutal. My effort level felt like I was running much faster -- I finished feeling more like I had run 8 miles at a 7:30 pace rather than what I'd actually run.

Honestly, it was a little depressing. 

I had to wonder: Is this new way of eating worth it? Will a sugar-free diet ever pay off? What if I never regain my energy for running? I love running, do I want to sacrifice that?

I kept wondering. And yesterday gave me hope.

Sure, it was cold. Sure, it was super windy. Sure, I was worried I'd struggle. But I headed out for 4 miles and they were the most uplifting miles I'd run in quite a while.

I felt good. No, not great, just good. And, at this point in my sugar-free journey, good is what I'm going for. 

The wind was brutal in my neighborhood, whipping me in the face for most of the run. But compared to my other runs last week, it felt effortless. 

This sugar-free thing might actually work.

I sure hope I didn't just jinx myself! 

Everything I've read and that people have told me (thanks for all the supportive comments, here and on Facebook!) has led me to believe that the beginning is tough and then your energy starts to come back after your body adjusts. I'm hoping that is what is happening to me. I still have one week left before half marathon training starts so if I can be adjusted by then, that would be awesome.

Eating

I also made a few changes to my eating yesterday, which I think helped. First, I ate avocado for lunch, about three hours before I ran. Second, I ate an orange (I'm allowed fresh fruit) about two hours before I ran. This combination of healthy fat and the fruit may have increased my energy. 

I'm going to keep playing around with my food combinations but, for now, I'm happy that yesterday's worked. I may just duplicate it today! 

So, what else have I noticed this week? A few things: 

Unsweetened almond milk rocks! 

Apples make a great dessert. 

Bacon is my friend. 

I'm sure I'll have a ton more to report as the days and weeks go on. Trial and error, you know. 

Feel free to leave me a comment with any of your own tips -- I always appreciate good advice!

Have a great week!

~ Felice

My 22-miler.

I'm not going to lie: This was a tough one. Tough.

Also, it was pretty flippin' awesome.

On Sunday, I ran 22 miles, all of them with Melissa, 19 of them also with Tami. We had an amazing run. Despite the humidity and the already warm temperature at 7:00 am, the first few miles flew by and it seemed like we hit the 5-mile mark in no time at all. Right around 5.7 miles into the run we passed a parking lot on the bike path where we were running and heard someone yell, "Felice!!!!" It was our friend, Amanda, who was just getting started on a run with another friend, Suzy. So, we took the opportunity for a quick bathroom break, said hi to Amanda and Suzy and headed back out to cover some more miles.

We turned around at 9 miles and that's when things turned a little sour for me. I had been feeling great the whole run but at that turn-around I started to get a cramp. At first, I thought it was just a little nothing-ish side stitch that would be gone in a half mile.

I was wrong.

That cramp kept me company for 11 miles. That's right: 11 miles.

I don't know why I got a cramp so I don't exactly know what I could do differently to avoid it next time. All I know is that it pretty much sucked to run with it. I tried all the tricks but they didn't work until, suddenly and for no apparent reason, it went away 20.1 miles into the run.

Phew!

The good thing about the cramp? I proved to myself that I can run through it. If you remember, I ran a half-marathon on January 1st with a cramp from mile 4 to 11 and I could not run through it. I guess I needed this run to show me how far I've come since the beginning of the year.

But that shouldn't be the focus of this post. The focus of this post is that Melissa, Tami and I ran strong. We chatted away on this run and the miles felt good. At mile 19, Tami left us and Melissa and I felt her absence over the final three miles. Tami is a great chatter and once she left us, I told Melissa I didn't have much chat left in me and she agreed that she didn't, either.

So we covered the remaining miles mostly in silence, although we both made the occasional exaggerated sigh. Those miles were hard and it took all I had to keep the pace and stay focused. In my head, I repeated pretty much every mantra I've ever used -- with an emphasis on, "Don't quit now."

We didn't quit. Far from it: Our last three miles were run in 9:26, 9:34 and 9:14. And overall? I think we ran well:

Longest run. Over and out.

Bring on the New Jersey Marathon. I'm ready!

Have a great week, everyone. And, Boston marathoners -- be careful out there and have a great race! I hope the weather forecast is wrong.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice

Harder and better.

Last week, I finished reading 50/50by Dean Karnazes. I'm so glad that I finally got around to reading it; I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yeah, I'm never going to anything similar to Dean's feats, but I was inspired by much of what he had to say. He wrote a lot about how running is his passion (it would have to be is you're going to run 50 marathons in 50 days!) and what that passion means to him and how it relates to the rest of his life.

Running is my passion, too. Yes, I have others, but the thing is, I love to run. Running can wipe me out, running can kick my butt, but I still love it.

Karnazes wrote about this "hard work" idea in the book and I wanted to share this passage because I thought it was so right-on:

Running teaches you that there's a difference between working hard and feeling bad. Consumer culture tries to teach us otherwise. How many television commercials talk about "making life easier"? If everything you knew about life came from TV, your goal would be to live the easiest, most comfortable and unchallenging life you possibly could. You would believe that the only good feelings are sensual pleasures such as the taste of a good soft drink and the fun of driving an expensive car and lying on the beach.

But it's just not true. Challenging and testing your mind and body, even to the point of exhaustion, failure, and breakdown, can feel as wonderful as anything else life has to offer. I suppose the enjoyment of hard work is more of an acquired taste than the taste for pleasure and fun, but once you've acquired it, you're blessed with more ways to feel good, and life is better. Harder and better.

-- Dean Karnazes, 50/50

When I enter a race, I know I am not going to win. The facts are the facts: I'll never run be a speedy 16-minute 5ker or sub-2:30 marathoner. Just not going to happen. But that doesn't mean I can't continue to enter races and challenge my body and my mind. I can train. I can run for fun. I can run tough workouts. I can work hard and enjoy every minute of it because running is my passion and working hard at your passion can be exhilarating.

Yes? No?

For me, it is a hearty, fist-in-the-air yes.

Run hard, everyone. Run happy!

~ Felice

PS: Don't forget to enter my Bondi Band giveaway over here. The giveaway ends tomorrow at midnight!