“You just have to collect some wins Diane”. I can hear Marathon Brian’s voice in my head. When I begin to doubt myself, that is always his advice. It’s great advice!! But I bet he wonders why I keep going to this weak, doubt-ing place. I kinda wonder that myself. Why do I? Exploring myself….is necessary! A great tool for doing this is … the bookstore!
I went to the bookstore with Peter and the girls on Sunday. We love the book store. It’s been a family outing for us which began way back when the girls were very little..and pop-up books were what we were into! HA! Long long ago. It would be an ordinary day in our house, and then, in an instant, Peter or I would call out…”Who wants to go to the bookstore”. Cheers, like music would fill the house, and two little girls would come bouncing down the stairs cheering Yayyyyy!!!! Quicker than you can say Sha-zaammm, they’d fish their sandals out of the shoe basket. A couple of strips of velcro later, and we were all piling into the truck…off to the book store. It’s Love, that’s what it is!!
This Sunday, well….everybody is a bit older, maybe we are a bit slower coming down the stairs, and the shoes are….more grown up, and more expensive…But the romance with the library is as strong as ever. Off we went. This Sunday, I was looking for a couple of specific books. I wanted one about Nutrition for the Marathoner, and I wanted something to help me with building my mental strength. The Nutrition book was easy enough to find. I wanted something,..not too scientific, ya catch me??? I am usually doing my personal reading early in the morning on the train, or later at night after a long day at work. Too scientific and, well, my droopy eyes will be closed and heading off to dream land before I learn about electrolytes, or any other kind of lytes.
Right away, the book I got taught me something. KEWL. My target dietary mix should be 50-60% carbs. CARBS? 15-20% protein. And no more than 30% fats. The Carbs bit stunned me. i mean I always knew carbs were good for runners, but I also thought protein would be higher. Besides…I am a Carb-avoider! I eat bread cautiously, because I LOVE it. I eat oatmeal occasionally. I eat brown rice and whole wheat pasta exclusively, BUT I’ve spent the past two years on WW, trying to reduce reduce reduce carbs. Making them the enemy! Only to find out, here in my new nutrition book, that carbs are the base of a Marathon Runner’s diet, and its unlikely that I can achieve the ability to stave off hunger without them! WOW. Who’D-a-thunk-It!
Protein, well protein is great! But isn’t as big a staple of the runner’s diet as I thought. Where Protein is critical is within 30 minutes after a sustained work out. When your body is recovering from a hard workout — it needs some protein to help start the muscle re-building process. This I knew from Marathon Brian. I took his advice and bought this Whey Protein Shake stuff from Whole Foods — so I can make shales when I’m back from my runs once I start clocking runs over 45-60 minutes regularly.
This is All Great Food for Thought, AND Food for Food! Gonna start putting this into practice this week.
The second book turned out to be two small books. The first one is called Good Morning — 101 Positive Sticky Notes to Start the Day. It’s a book full of short phrases to start your day — phrases that are packed with a powerful boost of positive energy. This little book is designed to keep my mind thinking positive, even in the face of tough days at work, and difficult mornings on the road. The first sticky was a Quote from YODA. LOL, yeah, YODA, the Jedi Master himself. Here it is:
“Try not. Do, or Do Not. There is no try.”
Sooo much packed into that little bit of truth. I personally believe, Trying is a necessary step in between Doubt and Doing….but you can’t live Trying. Trying is a thought, a little push Toward What You Want to Do. but, there’s not two ways around it….to get somewhere, you have to stop Trying, and just Do. YODA’s onto something there. Thinking of YODA, made me remember another of my favorite quotes from the Jedi himself.
“You must unlearn what you have learned.”
Ohhhh. So true. So much of this journey has been about my getting out of my own way, and letting go of things I thought I knew, and being willing to do new things for new reasons. Opening myself up to change. Changing my food, changing my habit, changing my thoughts, changing my words about myself. All of it has been critical to this journey. Learning AND Unlearning. Both are important.
The last little book is called Five Good Minutes in the Evening. These are 100 mindful practices to help me unwind from the day, and make the most of my night. (LOL< I didn’t make that up — it says it on the book! LOL) But it’s a great idea. I’ve long known that I need to unwind in the evening after a long day at work, and a longer commute home. I’ve used food to do this my whole life. So I’ve begun a practice of inserting meditation into my evenings, as a way to unwind without food. This little book is part of my new unwinding practice at night. I’m also doing Deepak Chopra’s 21 Day of Meditation Challenge. Meditation takes practice, that’s for sure. but I’m learning little by little. And I’m unlearning the habit of grabbing for food, for non-food hunger!
It’s all good.
Ciao for now…..Diane