Even though I didn’t complete No Sugar November, I liked the idea of having a focus for the month. So I’ve chosen two things to focus on in December, in addition to generally training for the Mississippi Blues Marathon.
First, I am starting a Tea Streak. This is not a thing. I made it up. I’m going to try to have at least one mug of (decaf) tea per day. The reasons are manifold:
- It is getting cold, and tea is warm
- Hydration is important
- Tea tastes good
- Certain teas help with bloating and contain allegedly good chemicals
- Sometimes at night I reach for a snack, when I think a mug of tea would accomplish the same objectives
- A mug of tea is comforting and luxurious
Second, I am taking the Vending Machine Challenge. Again, this is something I just made up. The principle is simple: I am going to pack myself enough food for the day. Too often recently, I’ve been getting super hungry at work with neither the time nor the motivation to venture out several blocks to find something to eat. So I take my dollar — feeling totally like a little kid going to the ice cream truck — and check out the vending machine options. I usually end up with animal crackers, Goldfish, or Ritz Bits Sandwiches. I don’t need these snacks in my life. Alternatively, I venture down to the nearby pizza place. It is not a gourmet, trendy pizza place. It is a pizza place that makes exceedingly mediocre pizza in questionable sanitary conditions. I don’t need this pizza in my life.
But I do need food! So I am going to pack appropriate lunches and dinners (who works 9-5? Not this lady) and plan my meals a bit better.
Today I had a hearty breakfast (eggs and kale) and some tea, and I packed a smoothie for lunch, an apple for a snack, and some roasted veggies (sweet potato and cauliflower with coconut oil and salt) for dinner.
Fingers crossed this is enough! And I might even get a second mug of tea later tonight! Wild!
Are there any other cool December challenges going on? I’d love to do another run streak sometime soon but I’ll wait until I am not in the last throes of a training cycle–does anyone suggest good run streaks/communities/challenge groups? I did a Runners World streak last time and thought it was fun to be able to use the hashtag with everyone else! Also, does anyone have tips or recipes for appropriate lunch/snack/dinner packing?
athlettuce 
I enjoy various types of teas…green tea with a shot of honey is my go to pre-run drink for afternoon or evening workouts (in the morning I still gotta have coffee). I’ve not really got into the run streak type events. I can see how they could be fun and being part of a larger community to keep each other motivated certainly has some positives. But, then to an extent, I could see it becoming a bit of a chore and going to the trouble of putting the gear on to go run a mile or two just to keep a streak going might get a bit tedious without really adding much to an already packed training schedule – but that’s just me. Now something like one race a month or a half-marathon a month for a year might be kinda fun but a longer term commitment I guess. Definitely down with the tea streak though, good luck 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks! I’m sensitive to caffeine so I drink mostly herbal teas, but I do love the flavor of green tea and that’s what I keep in my office. I did the run streak for 41 days, and I felt like that was the perfect amount. I didn’t get to a point where running was chore. That was probably aided by the fact that it only required 1 mile per day, so there was plenty of flexibility to do other things in addition to running.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: MSB Marathon Training T-Minus Four Weeks: You Gotta Be Bad, You Gotta Be Bold | athlettuce
Pingback: Year in Review: 2015 | athlettuce