Variables

This past weekend I’ve really been thinking about the variables in life. We make so many choices each and every day that we are constantly encountering variables.

I know I’ve encountered a few variables in my life in which I would prefer changing. I’ve chosen poorly with my eyes wide open or the paths of variables were chosen for me because I didn’t want to open my eyes. Whatever the reasons may be, only I can be accountable for the choices made and the paths in which I traveled. At the same time, only I have the ability to look at the variables in front of me, make a choice and walk down those trails. Hopefully from here on out I’ll keep my eyes open and make the right choices. If I ever come to a variable in which I’m unsure what the right choice is, hopefully I’ll take the time to stop, think, search and ask for guidance so I can make the most appropriate guess for the circumstance.

Some choices probably don’t need too much thinking, maybe just a little common sense. Like the choice I’m kicking myself for right now. It’s probably not the best choice to eat an entire chocolate bar at 2:00 in the afternoon instead of the grapes sitting within reaching distance. Or the choice to put a little too much salt in your cinnamon rolls then pass them out to your friends, without tasting them to find out they should NOT be given out to people as gifts. Now I have to make the choice to send out apology letters to those unfortunate souls who ate one of those awful, good for nothin’ cinnamon rolls. Sigh… my life is full of unforgiving variables. I’m kidding! Those were just some choices that should have used a little more common sense instead of daydreaming.

So the culprit that got me thinking about variables and how they affect our lives, my Saturday run. If any of you read my post about last week’s run, you would know that it wasn’t a very pleasant experience. I was ready to throw in the towel, give up running forever, loose my entrance money for the marathon I’ve signed up for, become a couch potato and never look back. No, I’m totally kidding. While my legs didn’t like me and I was exhausted I never considered going quite as far as, as far as becoming… a couch potato! I did however think about what I was going to need to do differently the next week so I wouldn’t have a repeat of that painful experience.

Some variables I took into consideration to prepare for my next run were hydration, ibuprofen, better training during the week, ibuprofen, better food choices, and rest days, did I mention ibuprofen? Now make sure you aren’t taking anything I say as the bible. There are better, and probably much more effective ways to train but what I’ve been doing seems to work for me, so I keep doing it.

I started by adjusting and focusing a little more on my week day training. I lengthened my runs to about a four and a half mile distance. I did this twice, followed by a nice lengthy session of stretching. I also did one day of cross training, I had planned on two days but I’ve got to listen to my body and my body was saying ouch so I nixed the second day. I like to cross train on the elliptical machine at the gym. It gives me a good workout yet is gentle on the body, also followed by a good session of stretching. The other days were rest days. My body needs rest days. I don’t like wearing myself out then feeling like I don’t have the steam to keep going the next day. My rest days happened to fall on Monday, because I had a no brainer that day and forgot my gym bag and didn’t have time to go home, get it, work out, then be to my scheduled obligation on time, and Friday because my knee was hurting.

I also made sure I was drinking plenty of water and eating healthy during the week. A little ibuprofen was thrown in the mix as well. You can never have too much ibuprofen can you? Duh! Of course you can have too much ibuprofen. Maybe everyone should just stop reading now. I don’t want anybody going out and overdosing on ibuprofen because they thought I said it was ok. It’s not!
Ok, so Saturday was once again upon me. I was ready to go out and tackle my stupid, good for nothin’ long run. My first variable, do I really want to do this? NO! Oh man, that’s not a good variable to start the morning off with. I actually had to make the choice to go run or not. Ok, so I talked myself out of talking myself out of running. Did you follow that? Sometimes when I’m making excuses to not go run, I have to talk myself out of the excuses. I know, I’m pathetic and it brings up the question of “why do I do this?” And once again I have to say I DON’T KNOW!

Moving on to my second variable; breakfast; I decided not to eat quite as big a breakfast. I don’t like the feeling that all my breakfast is bouncing around in my stomach making me sick so I had one bowl of oatmeal and some water with ibuprofen, can’t forget the ibuprofen on such an important occasion. Those of you who just gasped at the thought of me not drinking milk with my breakfast, with any meal for that matter, rest assured this action wasn’t because I chose not to drink milk. It was because I chose not to go to the store at 12:30am Friday night to replenish my milk stock, one of those variables that affected me after making the decision.

Once I was out the door and moving in the appropriate direction I encountered a few more variables. The weather was a little overcast and chilly so I wasn’t getting overly warm. Actually my hands got a little cold at some points of the run. I altered my food consumption during the run. I don’t think I ate enough food on my painful run last week. Why? I don’t know. I usually always take a good supply of food with me. I know how important it is to keep your energy sources replenished so I can’t really understand why I was ill prepared last week. In any event this week I made sure I had my necessary calories and carbohydrates with me. You know the standard, well standard for me, granola bars, fruit snacks, energy jells, energy gummies (they’re like fruit snacks but their loaded with nutrients an athlete needs to keep from hitting a wall. They come in all kinds of forms. The ones I’ve used the most, out of accessibility not necessarily the best quality, are the Clif Shot Bloks. However my sister sent me a new brand for Christmas and that’s what I’ve been using this year. Their some Honey Bee, Buzz, Stingers something or other, I can’t remember the name of them at this exact moment.), and I also added some nutrient stuff to my water bottle. I made sure to drink my water on a regular basis. I did a few more walk and recover sessions during the run and I had a good attitude.

Remember last week when I said I wasn’t going to let my body win the battle. Well I was going to stick to that plan. So while I was running I kept telling myself I could do it. I rested when I needed to but I kept moving forward. Eventually I made it to the crossroads, the crossroads where I had to decide if I wanted to make an extra small loop and do my intended 20 miles or go straight and only do 18 miles. Well I was feeling pretty good. I wasn’t having any problems like I was the previous week. My legs were a little tired but I felt like I still had a good amount of energy in them, so I kept going. I made the turn and added those few extra miles.

I did however get a stomach ache on the last stretch home so I had to slow down a bit and take it pretty easy on the last mile but other than that, I did awesome. I ran my 20 mile loop and I made it home feeling better than I did from my agonizing 18 mile run the previous week. I was still pretty tired and I ended up taking a nap after my shower but my body wasn’t screaming at me. We didn’t have to battle anything out and neither one of us felt like giving in and quitting. I still am TIFFY TUFFY. Wahoo!!!!

The variables in which I faced this week lead me to a successful 20 mile run. Let’s hope I can continue to have more successful variables in the next four weeks.

That’s what I’m down to now, four weeks until race day. Let the countdown begin!