1) Bad eating. And with that, the "diet starts tomorrow/today/next week".
2) Missed workouts. Sometimes legit excuses, often not.
3) Being slow and therefore unmotivated. Not feeling like the athlete I was.
4) Injuries and pain.
Well folks, no more. In the past two weeks, something has just clicked. Two weeks ago, fresh off a red eye flight and probably delirious, I decided to give this whole "healthy eating/breaking bad habits" thing another go. I don't think I even took myself seriously, given how frequently I've told myself this time will be different. I thought about imposing harsh "no sugar" rules or doing a 30 day challenge or something, but went with simplicity. I logged back into myfitnesspal and started tracking. A few days later, I realized I was still on track, and surprised myself. A few days might not seem like a big deal, but I am coming from a really bad place where a streak of a few days without binging is something to celebrate. Then I hit a week. I was confused. What was different this time? Really, nothing, but something just seemed to click. I am now two weeks binge free. Some days I am over my alloted calories on the tracker, some days under. I am making healthy decisions at least 90% of the time, but not feeling paralyzed when a friend suggests getting frozen yogurt. I have not had even a temptation to binge. I feel like a new me. And, it is showing. My belly has shrunk down (I had one of those moments in a dressing room where I wanted to cry based on how I looked 7 months pregnant) and the scale is showing numbers I haven't seen in almost 2 years. Yes, I have a ways to go, but I really feel "healed."
Something has also clicked with my motivation. I've been hitting workouts, and looking forward to them. I almost skipped my swim yesterday, and ended up rocking it. I am not shying away from hard intervals. And since I'm eating healthy, I don't have the "ugh I ate too much" problem causing me to sit like a lazy bum instead of get out there. Best of all, the workouts have gone incredibly well. Last weekend I ran 11 miles- one of those magical runs where the miles tick off and you don't know where they went. I even surprised myself with some fast miles. This week I did a six mile run including 3x1 mile hard. Those three miles clocked in at 7:30-7:40 pace. Where did that come from? And I was enjoying it! I didn't do my old thing of "just skip the intervals." I pushed myself and loved seeing how my body responded. Today I did a 13-miler. My last run that long was the New Orleans Half Marathon in February, that I did in a disappointing 1:55. Today- 1:50, and not racing. I even did 4 miles at a sub 8:20 pace. LOVING IT! It hasn't just been running either. On Tuesday I put my bike back on the trainer and did an FTP test. Man, it was hard, but I did it, and found out my FTP is just where I left it at the end of the outseason last January. This turbo charged mode even applies to swimming. I did a 1k time trial yesterday and was two minutes faster than last year! I feel like I'm on fire and I'm thrilled. It has been so long since I felt this way, and now I remember why I love this sport!
And as for injuries, I'm feeling great. I feel tightness in my hip at first, but it stretches out by mile one, and then I feel no pain. Can you tell I'm feeling invincible?
I am 5 weeks away from the Indianapolis Half Marathon, and feel that a 1:45 is within reach. Then it is right into the Outseason Training Plan and then the craziness of a two Ironman season. I'm not sure what finally clicked, but I really couldn't be happier. I just want to go around screaming "I'M BACK!!" 2015- let's do it!
