Four Weeks Down, 18 To Go

I have done the first four weeks of training and so far the Jerry Seinfeld method is working like a charm. Oh man, do I need my red 'X' every day! The only thing that could make this more appealing would be some little foil stars in a variety of colors! (Maybe next year). I've had to move things around a bit, so sometimes I don't get Tuesday's X until Thursday or Friday, but I am getting all of the workouts completed, with a total of 303.5 miles for those 28 days!

I felt really run down the third week - tired, sore, not sleeping well, my hamstring hurt, and I got sick. So I converted Monday and Tuesday of this week into bike and elliptical miles (using my patented formula of 1:1 for elliptcal miles and 1:3 for bike miles) so I could still get my X's but get some recovery, too. I like to think of it as flexible rigidity. ;) In fact, I have been tweaking the schedule so much, that Mac will ask me what I have been doing and my standard response is, "Staring at the wall." - he knows just what I mean.

But where I think I have really failed in my training is in the nutrition department. When I started this schedule, I started eating a lot more protein in my diet. Partly I thought I needed to and partly because that is what Mac's trainer has him doing, and Mac cooks almost all of our meals. But the second and third week I was just CRAVING sugar, and I don't mean a piece of fruit or a mini candy bar. I could have eaten a six pack of candy bars every night. I didn't, but I did consume a two pound bag of M&M's during those two weeks - yikes! Don't even ask me what this monster bag of chocolate crack was doing in my house.. sometimes you just have a weak moment on your trip to Costco. It was definitely a low point in my training. I felt crummy, was unsatisfied even when stuffed, and I gained 3 pounds despite running harder than ever (hmmm - I wonder if it was those M&M's??).

And then I just happened to be reading the January Race Center, and there was an article about metabolic typing. The idea is that different people have different nutritional needs based on their genetics and ancestry. I was my usual skeptical self. In fact, I think my first thought was "What a load of crap!" But then the inset box describing the signs of nutritional imbalance seemed to be describing me perfectly: craving sugary, fatty, or processed foods; wanting to eat more even when not hungry; changing sleep patterns; gaining weight. Well, maybe I'd have to give this metabolic typing crap a chance.

So I Googled the term and ended up taking a couple of free "tests" to determine my metabolic type is carbohydrate dominate, which according to the sites, I should be eating 60-70% carbs. The funny thing is that this is probably about what I was eating normally until I consciously changed my diet. So I am going back to bagels instead of scrambled eggs. And I have been passing on Mac's dinners of salad and salmon; instead I had salad with pasta, roasted squash (the last two from our garden!), craisins, some walnuts from our friend's house, and a bit of cheese. That is definitely the salad I would prefer and it has plenty of sweet stuff in it. After five days, it seems like I am having less cravings, so maybe there is something to this after all. I am still a bit skeptical, but it doesn't seem like it could be any worse than before. Hopefully, I can make it through the next four weeks without two pounds of M&M's!