Tomorrow marks one month into my no coffee, no dessert (including gum!), and no alcohol “clean eating detox.” Well, except for special occasions….that’s what I said in my original blog post right?
While I am happy to say that I have dramatically reduced my intake of dessert, coffee and alcohol, but due to a lot of special occasions – i.e. getting engaged – I’ve broken my own rules several times (except for gum, I actually haven’t had any!). To be honest, I feel like it would be really weird if I hadn’t broken the cleanse for such a momentous life event!
Despite several indulgences in the coffee, dessert (bread pudding & cake twice each), and alcohol departments, I still avoided these things WAY more than I had them. As a result, I really do feel better. My immediate post-meal cravings for dessert have significantly diminished, although still present at times, but I’ve had success in controlling them with fruit when necessary. At times, I honestly don’t even think about dessert anymore after a meal. This is a huge change for me.
I’ve been sleeping better, I’ve lost a few pounds (wasn’t trying to lose weight but apparently that coffee creamer and dessert was helping me maintain), and my running performance is improving drastically (that may just be due to my coach but diet could be a part). The times I have indulged, I sleep terribly and usually end up with a tummy ache (usually because both coffee and dessert typically have dairy which I don’t eat day to day).
This last week was the worst of the entire month since we had plans with friends or family every night to either celebrate our engagement, Mike’s Mom’s birthday or Mike’s birthday. I also purchased my wedding dress on Saturday and we all know that has to involve a champagne toast or two. Yes – I already have my dress (and you’ll have to wait until after the wedding to see photos)! We also have a date (September 28!), a venue, and our hotel room block reserved. Next steps are securing a caterer and a photographer as well as asking our bridal party and taking engagement photos. We have 6 months and 10 days to plan a wedding but the good news is that I’ve been to so many weddings in the last 2 years (14!) that I know what I want. I also LOVE planning so it’s actually very exciting for me. Stressful at times, yes, but also fun.
Training has been going absolutely great. I had three easy 4 mile runs this week to help recover from the half marathon last weekend , but on Friday I had a very successful tempo run (average pace 7:31 for intervals) and on Sunday I had a fabulous 17.5 mile run which included several tempo segments in the beginning and a longer (about 2 mile) tempo segment at the end. I averaged 7:32 for the short tempo portions and 7:37 for the two miles toward the end and my “easy” 90 minute portion felt great at a 8:30-8:45ish pace. I ended up completing 17.5 miles with an average pace of 8:30 min/miles. That is only 18 seconds/mile under my BQ marathon pace. It was definitely a confidence boosting run, especially given it was only 1 week post half marathon PR.
I’m ready to eat as clean as possible, train and sleep well and dominate that marathon on April 28! However, when there is a cause for celebration, I won’t be holding back.
Do you find a correlation between what you eat and your athletic performance?
This post is full of great news! Your training is going so well; I have no doubt you will qualify.
And, so great you have a dress, date, and venue! We got married on Sept. 27, and this year will be five years! I think September is a beautiful month to get married!
It seems like you found a great balance of training, nutrition and life. I am so impressed with your increases in speed. Fingers crossed for you for Eugene, there’s magic in track town!