Tapering, Carbo-Loading and the 11 Hour Work Day

This morning - for the third day in a row, I'll have you notice - I got up shortly after 4:00. I went out with the intention to run a nice, slow, easy mile. It's probably unnecessary, but I decided to do a little mini-taper before Saturday's organized run. This is the first time I ran without checking my Garmin every thirty seconds. I knew the route, and the running came SO easily that I just ran without constantly thinking about my speed, progress, or distance.

In the end, I ran 1.49 miles in 19:40, for an average pace of 13:11 min/mile. Perfect. Really! For a slow, easy run, I couldn't ask for more. For how easy it was, I seriously thought that when I looked at the data I'd find out I ran over 15 minute miles!

Since I'm tapering, I figured I should also do some Carbo-loading. (I know, I know, it's really only for athletes doing endurance events of over 90 minutes, but I'll pretend anyway.) So, after researching, I set a goal of having 70% of today's and tomorrow's calories come from carbs. I would also eat at, or around, maintenance.

Breakfast was perfect.

The end.

Oh, you're still here? Ahem. Well, then. Truth is, things are crazy. School starts on Monday and there are TONS of things to do before then. Breakfast was at 6:00, and I didn't eat again until 11:30 despite constant labor. All I could do was go through a drive-thru and eat on the way to the conference across town that I had to be at by 12:00. McD's it was. Famished, I ordered 2 cheeseburgers, large fries and a large diet coke. I ate (inhaled) one icky cheeseburger and a handful of fries. When I arrived, I left the rest in the bag on a trash can, hoping someone needy would find it.

The next time I ate? About 7:00. I worked eleven hours straight today. Don't even think about asking me to cook dinner. Chinese food it was. TOO MUCH Chinese food. I'll regret this tomorrow. What am I talking about? I regret it now! My calories actually are surprisingly OK. I'm only 300 calories above maintenance, which I can live with. The worst part: 40% of my calories today are from fat! Ucky!

If you listen closely, you might be able to hear my stomach churning unhappily as you read this.

Now, I'll end with a happy note. Here's the fortune cookie I got: "Your dreams are never silly; depend on them to guide you." Nice. New rule: From now on, I'm going to eat my fortune cookie first.