Hey guys! I am currently in between finals, and since I feel moderately prepared, I figured I’d give my brain a break and blog. (Hmm the fact blogging is a brain break probably doesn’t speak well of my writing…) Also, can you believe tonight is my last night sleeping in this dorm?? I miss my bed at home! It is wayyy more comfortable!

 

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(Recycled photos- sorry!)

Yesterday was my 5 mile training run. So naturally I chose the biggest hill imaginable for this run! It was…very unpleasant. To be fair it was super windy. Yeah, great idea Aurora, on the windiest day of the year, find the highest, most open space. It was also kind of a wake-up call. I had the whole run to think about running. One thing: I really need to train smarter. As in, stick to the training plan. Running 3 days in a row just does not work for me right now, especially when my 5 mile run was less than 24 hours after my previous run. My legs were shot on the first mile, before we even reached the giant hill. Also, I am kind of terrible with recovery. I nee to roll out more and get back to yoga. My legs are soo tight today, but I sent my roller home, and today is a rest day, so I’m not sure I want to go all the way to the gym just to use the foam roller…

Anyway, the other day, Beth raised a really good point- if I don’t focus on my running, my runs will not be very good, and I can’t put all my effort into them. That got me thinking-why aren’t my runs my priority? I haven’t fallen in love with running yet. Why? Because it is HARD. I think one of the biggest reasons I’ve avoided running is because it forces me to stare in the face of the fact that I have definitely lost fitness in the past few months. Running is where that loss is most apparent. By avoiding running, I am somehow avoiding this fact. Running right now is harder for me than it has been in a LONG time, and the fact that it isn’t as easy as I remember takes away from the pleasantness. So that revelation, mixed with the fact that my sister and her boyfriend smoked me on the run yesterday has made me really decide to dedicate myself to this. The problem is, it won’t get easier unless I do it more. So for running to be more enjoyable, I need to push through. The plan is to put more effort into my runs. I’m going to do some speedwork and hills on my shorter runs- the goal of my longer runs is just to get the mileage in my legs. Tomorrow I’m going to face the dreaded treadmill to get a faster paced 3 mile run in. What type of intervals do you guys do to work on speed? I may also add in some sprints- In the past, I was used to doing sprint-centered conditioning 2x a week for softball, which I am sure helped my running. 

Ok, now that that all is out of the way, on to the fun stuff! The advantage of running with someone with a car, is afterwards, you can go out to frozen yogurt. We went to Wildberry, which is BY FAR my favorite fro-yo place. I haven’t gone since I had mono, and I’ve been dreaming about it all quarter! Salted caramel pretzel=the best thing ever. That alone won me over. Image

I didn’t have my phone with me, but I really wanted to share this all with you guys, so I borrowed my sister’s. Right side is salted caramel pretzel, left is plain tart. OMG SOOO GOOD. 

My evening was spent in the library learning studying for Chem. Unfortunately, my brain was finished studying before I was. I tried to revive myself with some tea, but alas, I was done for the night. Image

I am kind of in love with this mug…

The tea was Strawberry Lemonade. The ingredients were all fruit and flower petals. Is it weird that I was wondering whether the leftover tea leaves would be good in oatmeal?

This morning I had a “final.” We played jeopardy…for 3 hours. The brought us breakfast from an awesome cafe, but I must say, jeopardy with dog toy squeakers as the buzzers is not the most conducive environment for studying for a Chem final! Talk about stressful…

Once it was over, I realized I only had 4 hours to completely master Organic Chemistry. Hah. So it was off to the library again, where I saw this guy:ImageImageThen it was on to lunch.ImageI ended up eating the insides out of the sandwich since I was having the other bread, and didn’t want a carb crash during my test. And as the title of this post says, I am slowing solving the mystery to this Mystery bread. I cam across something online the other day talking about how sunflower seeds undergo a reaction with baking soda (or was it powder?), causing them to turn green. So that explains that. I really took some time to think about the other ingredients today.

ImageHere’s what I’ve determined that this contains: raisins, sunflower seeds, carrots, coconut. And I have no problem solving this mystery one delicious piece of bread at a time. 🙂

Also, I’ve been trying to figure out what to fuel with for before my runs. In the past, I ate pb and banana on toast. However, nuts cause my skin to break out. And I’m not a big fan of working out on nuts- the fat in them kind of messes with my stomach. And I’m a little hesitant to have grains given my sometimes weird reactions to them (which I plan on getting tested about this summer). Any other suggestions? Also, my sister wants to eat sour gummy worms to fuel during the race. Would there be any problems with that?

I would love some long distance running advice!

14 comments on “Mental Block and Solving the Mystery

    1. Aurora

      Haha yes….

  1. Beth @ Mangoes and Miles

    Any kind of quick carbs (candy included!) would make good fuel, but definitely test it out before your race so you don’t have any surprises on race day! Same goes for your pre-race meal (aka, breakfast). Test out different combinations and different foods and find what works for you!

    As for running being hard, running is always hard for me. But that’s why I love it so much–after a run, I always feel like I accomplished something big. 🙂

    1. Aurora

      Running was always hard! It just didn’t used to be so hard to go so slow! Idk, it just felt different!

  2. NDBalances

    Salted pretzel caramel, yummy! I love the little things that universities do during finals, including doggies at the library 🙂 I’ve read other running blogs and one person eats a dried date as pre-running fuel – sounds like a little dense burst of simple carbs!

    1. Aurora

      Hmm thanks I’ll try that!

  3. emilysmilesformiles27

    I love fro-yo. That salted caramel pretzel looks perfect!! Running is hard. Personally, knowing that running today makes me faster tomorrow, and having little goals gets me through the hard runs. Like, I wanted to run a sub 30:00 5k, so all my runs were geared towards that goal. Also, I seem to have good runs after bad runs, so if I had a bad run today it means a good run tomorrow!

    1. emilysmilesformiles27

      I’m not good at running by any means, these are just the mental things I do to keep going! Haha (:

      1. Aurora

        Thank you! That’s definitely helpful!

    2. Aurora

      Ok, I’m planning on an awesome run tomorrow then!

  4. twineats

    Don’t be too hard on yourself! Running is such a mental game 🙂 focus on recovery and then ease yourself back into your running schedule–it will all work out!

    1. Aurora

      It definitely is! I guess I’m just used to expecting a bit more, but that’s what training is for! It will get better!

  5. thirdlifeby18

    I’ve always found distraction helpful. Some of my best runs are when I’m running through a mental playlist of random songs (I don’t run with headphones) or letting my imagination run wild. And if it’s a hard training run it helps me to visualize past or anticipated successes because it makes me feel strong and boosts confidence.

    And looking forward to something like fro-yo later doesn’t hurt either 🙂

    1. Aurora

      Those are great tips! I’ll try that!

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