Juneathon Day 2:On habits and eating

2011 Streak Day 153/365: Cycle - 13.71 miles, Time 54min 38sec, Weather - warm, with a grey haze

Squirrels playing with buckets

Part 1

Last night I after I had finished watching a dvd I made a cup of tea and some peanut butter on water biscuits. As I bit into a biscuit I enjoyed watching the way the peanut butter held the crumbling fragments together and I concentrated on finishing before the whole thing fell to pieces. It was far from elegant eating but I was enjoying my snack until I realised I should not have been having it at all.

Damn I thought - why do I keep doing this? Why do I graze without thinking, merely because I am a little peckish and something is easily available? How can I do it without thinking, do it before my will-power has even got its boots on?

Damn.

Juneathon is all very well and establishing the habit of exercise is an excellent objective. Being smart about training, so that each session has a focus and objective, is even better. But the thing that would make the most difference to my running times is to lose some weight but that is something I find difficult because it requires 24hr attention.

I need to remind myself to go to bed each night feeling slightly hungry but this is easy to forget as there are so many little habits about eating that bypass the conscious mind.

There is a wonderful quote from Dr Johnson about habit (there is always a wonderful quote from Dr Johnson on almost any subject)

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.

I think I will have to think about that the next time I reach for the jar of peanut butter.

Part 2

Today's exercise was a straightforward ride along a familiar route to the field of alpacas. Unfortunately the alpacas were too far away and would have looked like little furry balls in any photo. Instead I took a picture of some buckets, mainly because a couple of squirrels had been exploring them and I had been amused watching them scurrying about.

Reviewing Resolutions

Now is the time to look back at my objectives for the year to see if I have made any progress. If I am on target then I can feel pleasantly smug but if not there is still time to stiffen the sinews and try harder.

Damn! I have just looked at the list and found I have done virtually nothing. I might have kept running but for the others there are just the teeny tiniest signs of progress. This is not good, especially as I really wanted to find some reason to feel the warm glow of self satisfaction. Instead I will have to look for a hair shirt in the wardrobe and sign up for an evening class in self mortification.

So I have not entered any races nor have I lost weight – then plans need to be made. The sad thing is I am already too late for booking a place in a couple of marathons I fancied. Both the new Forest and Abingdon are full already. This just shows the difference between me and a properly organised runner. A proper runner will sit down at the beginning of the year, pick out a number of races and then schedule the year around them. Me I have a vague idea that I will do a marathon in the autumn and will only think of the actual race much later. It never occurs to me that other people get up early and put their towels on the sun loungers

Nevertheless there will be a marathon and the shorter distance races can be worked around it. However losing weight requires a bit more resolve as it is all about attitude of mind. The principle is very simple: control of portions so that I only eat a moderate sized plateful at each meal, with a piece of fruit being the only snack allowed between meals. Eating slowly is one of the keys and if I do that I am more likely to feel happy with a smaller plate.

I believe in a gradual approach and only want to tweak quantities not exclude any type of food. After all eating is a sensual pleasure which should be celebrated. As a consequence I am prepared to take a long time to lose a stone. All I want is eat slightly fewer calories than I use each day. Sounds easy but it is actually quite difficult to do when training because the temptation is always to eat for 10k when I having run only 5. Nevertheless it can be done and now is as good a time to start as any.