Thursday, September 06, 2007

Schizophrenic

One day I'm up. I'm strong. I'm lean and mean. I order the salad. Then I pump some iron. If I take the kids swimming, I wear the bikini.

The next day, I'm not. I'm weak. I'm tired. I'm hungry. If I do manage to order the salad, I eat the bread with it. I just want to curl up on the couch with a strawberry milkshake. No bikini on these days...I'd rather think about being snowed in and wearing my jogging pants and oversized t-shirt around all day.

*sigh*

"The next day" is what gets me in trouble. How can I have these two totally opposite personalities? The next day has a snowball effect. I know this. And so last night I hit the gym, even though I didn't want to. I wanted to go home and put on comfy clothes and read a book. The whole time I was at the gym, I did not want to be there. It's easy to justify not going when you are already getting up in the middle of the night to do double digit runs before work. I have been slacking on my strength training, and I can tell. It is hard to do incline situps when you just really don't care what your abs look like at the moment. It's hard to do leg extensions and hamstring curls just because you know you'll be glad you did someday in the future. It is hard to turn down that milkshake, period, on days like these.

The past two times I have trained for a marathon, I have given in to "the next days" and forsaken my weight training and halfway decent diet. I made an attempt yesterday to not give in this time. And this morning when I got up to do my 5 mile recovery run and 1 mile swim, I was glad.

8 comments:

Lisa said...

You guys have been working "overtime" with training and your body is craving calcium if you want that milkshake. :)
I've recently found my fat free chocolate milk to be just as satisfying.
Great job on your training!

My Life said...

I am soooo glad to know that someone else out there has daily battles with the salad vs. milkshake....

Hang in there and take it all *one* day at a time!

Anonymous said...

And it's not just the women. I battle with up/down days of eating, energy level/self confidence/ and out put is no stranger here.

We're made of all these, so I encourage you to keep seeking insight about how to tap more often into the ab-crunching, strength-driven, bikini-wearing powerhouse you are.

You've inspired me to get back to my strength training. Thanks!

Benson said...

You're tougher now and so is your mind. Keep training both your body and mind. Like a teacher, listen and learn and get smarter.
You inspire and motivate many of us. keep it up.
I find that inconsistant sleep really screws with my mental toughness and has bad effects on my training quality.

Rice said...

Mine works in weeks.. a few good weeks one bad week.. but like they say, three steps forward two back.

Anonymous said...

I think we all have days like this. I have to make myself strength train too. I'm in the gym all day with clients and sometimes it's the last thing I want to do. The only reason I do it is for injury prevention. Good job staying focused on your goals. I know it's not easy :)

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

Hi Lana, not sure if you seen this video but sending it out to you TRI peeps :-) It was on one of my TRI buddies blog.
Triathlon Song Did you TRI Freaks see this video yet?!! It is GOOD :-) well good for you TRI Freaks-haha

Lance Notstrong said...

Do whatever works for you Lana. Personally when I was training for a marathon, I had to focus only on running. I did try and eat good though :-)