Listening to My Body

Today I had a GOOD eating day and a BETTER running day!

I followed my menu with no treats today; Although I did eye the left over pizza at the office. But all I had to do was think about how hard and painful it was the last time I ran (two days ago).

I think my two days off did the trick. My legs were not swollen today and they felt really rested. I was ready to go. My gut told me that this time I was ready to run.

No body knows your body like you do. If you are just starting training or running or some new exercise, your biggest learning curve will be learing about your body and how and when to listen to it. This will be your biggest asset in sticking with your health plan. It also has ended up being the hardest thing to do in my plan.

I think this might just be a mind set. When I am working out everyday and get in to the groove, I want to keep the momentum. So, when my body starts to tell me to rest, I resist it. Then my body reminds me who is really knows best. It might be sore hamstrings, heavy legs, water retention(like earlier this week), or something as simple as feeling exhausted.

But this doesn't always mean that you need to rest. It might mean you need to stretch, ice, try a different exercise, check your form, or eat foods with less sodium. Everyone is different and there are soooo many variables to different people doing different workouts. I have to learn how I respond to my workouts and my meals. Everytime I alter something as minor as the time of day I work out, I might see a difference in my performance. I truely believe this is the same for every human.

Today's Workout:
I decided to drop back and repeat week 2 of Chi-Running. I needed to set a goal for myself today that I knew I could reach. After my last run, I needed a good workout and needed a psychological boost. I needed to feel the satisfaction of reaching my goal:

1 mile warm up walking at a moderate to fast pace with dogs.
Dropped off dogs.
3 min run, 1 min walk (repeated 8 times)

I covered a total of 3.5 miles and worked out for over 40 minutes (this includes warm up with dogs, walk/run, cool down, and stretching).

My favorite crutches this week:
Bananas
All Natural Apple Sauce
Hard boiled eggs (whites only - dont care for the yolk).