Visualizing Success
©Stacy Sasnett
I ran 20 miles this past weekend! It is the longest I have ever run which concluded a week totaling 63 miles! Another all-time best! I love doing and accomplishing things I have never done before! I have quite the bucket list. And the best part about it is I consider the 20 miles a success, i.e, I didn’t get sick! My stomach felt a little fragile and I was worried about the near future; I stretched, I soaked, I visualized, I did breathing exercises and I meditated. I kept going, I distracted myself by decorating the house with Halloween fun and didn’t sit or lay down until my stomach felt solid, about 3 hours after I finished my run. I carefully tested my stomach with a couple bites of various recovery proteins and electrolytes every 20-30 minutes and found my body was receiving everything well! I have regained confidence that I can do this without ruining myself, I am super excited about race day!
© Stacy Sasnett
Now, all I have to do is figure out exactly why I didn’t get sick and consistently do the same thing. I finally started a food journal 6 days prior to writing this blog in hopes of using it as a tool to recreate what works and stop doing what doesn’t. Just happens to be the same day I started meeting a nutritionist, I find it painful and surprisingly embarrassing. I consider myself a good eater, I make good choices and yes, I have dark chocolate every day! However, there is something to be said for a selective memory and when it’s in black and white, it’s hard to argue what you may think and what actually is. In this short time, I have concluded there are many opportunities for me to improve my diet. I don’t need a nutritionist to tell me that, but I’m sure she will, it’s sort of her job to.
In the past six days I happily played in a golf tournament supporting Toby’s Dream Foundation, an organization that makes dreams come true for children with serious medical conditions and took my nine-year-old to her first Judo competition out of state = 11 hours in the car. These are relevant points because I have a certain amount of discipline in regards to food choices, but I fall prey to less than perfect selections at events such as these. Some in my control, some not… So my chin may not be held so high the next time I meet with the nutritionist, I will not/cannot defend every page in my food journal.
© Stacy Sasnett
Ironically, my awesomely fantastic 20-miler directly followed the two-day travel period that I felt my diet was dink. I had one small portion of greens in the 48 hour period, could that be it? Greens upset my stomach? No way. My nutritionist suggested I take a caffeine pill in lieu of coffee before my runs to see if it could be the acidity in the coffee ill affecting me. My beloved coffee, it’s like a hug first thing in the morning, I begrudgingly took the pill. I didn’t get sick at all this week, but I did have very uncomfortable GI issues and am not completely convinced that it’s the coffee.
I have five weeks left of the Hanson Marathon Method training program which roughly equals 245 miles; the one I’m really looking forward to is in two weeks, the last “long” run before race day, 20-22 miles. I feel great and am ready for every last step, that is after a nice long foot soak!
Thanks for following my marathon training journey. Only 5 weeks remain until the NYC Marathon 2016. Stay in the loop, connect with me on Instagram @StacySasnett
Read more about my #FITFAM at www.perrysasnett.com
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