week5-day1: 3mi. or trying to redeem myself as a blogger to my non existent audience

i have to admit that i haven't been as inspired as i thought i was going to be writing this blog. i think for one is because i have one reader (hola misho!) and that just feels weird. even when i think that i just want to do this so i'll have a good log of what i experience as i go through the training and then the marathon, most of the time is not enough to to keep me motivated. and last, i haven't had many profound or interesting thoughts during my runs lately or maybe i have but if you don't write about it soon after you pretty much forget or the meaning is lost.oh, and also the lack of images, i mean, how boring! blogs with no pictures are boooring.

before i forget: week 3 and week 4 of the training went great. by the end of week 3 (3mi-4mi-3mi-7mi) i had run a total of 48mi. since i started training. then week 4 was a bit wonky because i got back from nyc on monday, then tuesday we had a birthday to celebrate so i didn't start my week until wednesday. then i don't remember exactly what went down but i ended up skipping one of the short runs. but i think i did great with my long run (8mi.) i was fine up until mile 6, i had to struggle through mile 7, my legs felt so heavy and then i try to speed through mile 8. when i was done i felt great and energized! and so proud of myself!

the food has been kind of all over the place for the past week. of course there was my trip to nyc and i tried to get back in the plan as soon as i got back but the next day there was a birthday and ice cream cake to be had. for the next few days after that i was so hungry all the time. and here's my big epiphany of the day: the single most powerful thing that makes me fall off the wagon is when i go a few days being constantly hungry and running out of points! it's a horrible feeling! i feel miserable and deprived and it just feels like a horrible uphill battle with myself. when i went down from 24 points to 23 it took me months to get used to this. i kept on loosing and putting on the same two lbs. for weeks until my body (or i or both) got used to it. there are some days, specially the long run days, when i am constantly hungry and even if everything i eat is reasonably healthy, the points add up, you know? a 2pt banana here, a 1pt string cheese there... it adds up quickly! so i'm just coming out of one of such weekends but today is a new day and a new week and everything is back on track and i feel great!

i also started doing some weight training. not too much but hopefully enough to strengthen my body to help me carry my weight more efficiently during the marathon. my plan is to do it only after my short runs and only on those two days, if i can squeeze another session  during my day off that would be great, but at least get those 2 in. so today after my 3mi i went to do the weights. i'm not sure how i feel about it yet, i think i'm not pushing myself enough because i should be sore, right? i don't know. maybe i'll have a better perspective in a month or so.

tomorrow: 5 mi (but only after a romantic 'before summer break starts and we have one or the other kid 24-7 in the house and no time to be alone' date)