Food=Energy

This past week I started a new training program/job. After 18 months of being completely unscheduled, I was thrown into 13 hour days. Talk about shell-shock!

It's not like I didn't plan and prepare for the schedule change. I took out my calendar and figured in when I would work out around my daily commitments. Everything seemed to be in place.... except for one important thing.

Food.

I woke up at 6 am every day this past week. However, I only made it out of my apartment for a workout once! That one time, I didn't hit snooze and I didn't eat breakfast, and I was out of energy 15 min into the run. The other 4 days, I hit snooze too many times and convinced myself I would workout when I returned home at 8 pm. Of course I didn't factor in that my last meal will have been at noon, and by 8 pm I would be starving and wouldn't have enough energy to run. So I ate as soon as I got home, and promptly fell asleep. Rinse repeat.

So what did I learn this week? It's imperative that I schedule meal times as well as workout times. Or else I end up like I did on Saturday. I showed up for the 8 mile training run with T2EA not ready to run 8 miles. By mile 3, I knew I was in trouble. By mile 6, my legs were yelling fatigue and I was out of energy. Everything seemed labored. I ate the energy chews I should have eaten 3 miles prior, but I was still ready to walk. But my running partner suggested we just walk more frequently and not stop running. What a great idea.... I should have thought of that.

It worked. I finished 8 miles, a tough 8 miles and vowed to do whatever it takes this week to schedule my meals, and get in those maintenance runs.