Run Down

I learned a lot about myself this week. I became run down from exercising and running too much, and I deprived my body of the rest and sleep it needs (hence the clever title). 

Last week, I worked out 6 days, and rewarded myself by putting aside money for a Garmin watch. This week, I set out to work out 6 days again, and as a result, wore out my body. 

My week looked something like this:
Monday: 30 mins cardio, light strength training
Tuesday: 40 mins running (speedwork on the treadmill)
Wednesday: 20 mins cardio, Total Body Conditioning Class at NYSC
Thursday: breaking point
Friday: 3 mile run
Saturday: 4.5 mile run

I tried to get up early on Thursday morning to run, and my body and mind screamed at me to take a rest. Although it is admirable to work out 6 days a week (Kelly Ripa reportedly works out everyday... thus explaining why she always looks flawless while sitting on an awkward stool on Regis and Kelly), I've been accustomed to 3-5 workouts per week for the past several years. 

Damn, girl!

It's no wonder I sent a shock to my system by suddenly increasing my workout regiment to 6 tough sessions (even during marathon training, I only ran 4 days per week...).

To sum up this week's lessons, I learned that:
-If I want to wake up early and run, I need to do it in the beginning of the week when my body feels more rested
-Strength training wears me out more than cardio
-I need at least 8 hours of sleep (I already knew this, but it's especially true when I'm working out a lot)

On a positive note, my last two runs have been awesome.

Cool car sighting on Friday's run!

Since I'm not on any sort of training schedule, I'm trying to enjoy my runs around Greenpoint without focusing on how fast or far I'm going. For the first time in awhile, I decided to let my body dictate how far to run.

Snowy, Saturday morning run!

I also decided that focusing on diet is just as important as exercise (even though Shape magazine has been telling me this for the past 2 years of my subscription, I've chosen to ignore it. My love for french fries outweighs all negative nutritional information). 

I keep hearing about how a lot of people are lactose-intolerant and don't even know it. Since I occasionally get really bad stomach aches, I wondered if I could be one of those people. So as an experiment, I'm eliminating almost all dairy from my diet for 2 weeks. 

My milk substitute - I vow never
to give up cereal. Especially not
Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Lastly, I realized that the key to keeping from running my body into the ground, is to reward it every once in a while. 

Cupcakes make me happy.

So here's to another week of getting fit, getting plenty of sleep, and being good to my body.