A Successful Week

This is me running a
sprint triathlon
in September 2010.

Well, this week went really well. I got my 5.5 miles in—1.5 miles on Tuesday, 2 miles on Friday, and 2 miles on Saturday. Friday was the most difficult run, since I ran at about 6,100 feet, which is killer! I also ran at about 2 minutes per mile faster than I did on the other days. The only way to get faster is to run faster, even if it's just once per week. At the end of each of my runs I would also sprint for a hundred yards or so.

Due to circumstances out of my control I had to run on the treadmill on Tuesday and Saturday. If any of you run on a treadmill I highly suggest hiding the distance on the display. Otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy by counting down the miles. It will feel eternal!! So anyway, I put a sock over the display and it really helped, although I would cheat and look more often than I should have.

Going off of sugar has been a lot less challenging than I thought it would be. I'm kind of an all or nothing guy, so as long as I'm off sugar 100% it's not that hard for me. Of course it's hard when people make cupcakes and its aroma permeates the house, but I've stayed strong. In fact, my dad forgot I'm off of sugar and brought me home some chocolate. Bless his heart. I resisted and said no. Proud of me?

Going off sugar also makes my runs a lot easier. Not that running is ever easy, but I know what it feels like to run when I'm actively eating sugar. It's not fun. In fact, when I was 16 I worked just outside of Moab, Utah taking participants on 17 mile bike rides every other day and taking them rock climbing the other days. I was in great shape to say the least. One night some buddies and I went into Moab to a diner. I splurged and drank probably 4 glasses of root beer. The next day on bike was so much harder than usual, even though I was in great shape. That was when the detrimental effect excess sugar has on the body became apparent very to me.