Falling up

A quick update you'll already know if you follow my twitter, I weighed in this morning back at 136.4. So much water weight, so little time! Back on track and gunning HARD for 134. Won't check back till Thursday to see how much I killed it this week.

Yesterday was quite an interesting day for me. I woke up exhausted after arriving home from the trip after midnight. Got up and made breakfast and got Mr. Nut off to work, cleaned the kitchen and set off on a training run. I plan to run a 5K (short I know, but I'm working on speed with all my cross training) at the end of August and need to start increasing my run length/speed. I got out as soon as I could to avoid the blazing Texas heat and away I went, feeling fresh though exhausted because I was ready to be in a healthy routine again after the weekend. Feeling strong, I picked up the pace slowly, and then it happened....I hit a sidewalk seam and I fell. The worst part was there were other people on the trail so my glorious tumble had witnesses!

It was the kind of fall that happens in slow motion, with lots of time for me to think on the way down. Oh boy, this is going to hurt! It was just a small stumble but it threw everything out of whack and the fall was inevitable (a lot like life in general can throw at you!). Thank goodness I had enough time and physical ability to figure out I could lean and fall onto the grass beside the trail rather than eat the pavement. I skidded onto my side, got back up and brushed myself off, yelled to the other people on the trail I was OK, just clumsy, and kept running.

As I ran on, I thought about the lesson of falling down in life, about all the cheesy cliches-pick yourself up by your bootstraps, we fall so we can learn to pick ourselves back up, etc. I've ALWAYS loved cliches because though not the brightest literary works, they speak to some piece of truth that resonates through all of us. We all fall down, and just like my stumble, there are variables in each situation. Some things we cannot control. I could not stop the forces of physics from pulling me forward beyond my ability to stabilize myself, but I DID have control over where I was going to fall, and what to do once I landed. I could have submitted and gone down on the pavement, or stayed there on the grass upset at the situation, or given up and gone home. There will always be situations in life which throw us off. I lost a job. Some people lose a loved one, or fight a battle with cancer or some other horrendous illness. Some people find themselves in a divorce, or as a single parent. Even the victorious can have their abilities put into question, wrongly accused and hounded (such as Lance Armstrong's constant battle against ridiculous doping accusations). We cannot control these situations. But in each of these, there are variables that we are responsible for.

Frank Mir is a world champion MMA fighter. He was young, hungry and talented, and had at only 22 had a very bright career ahead of him. Then tragically, a motorcycle accident left him horribly injured and the doctors told him he may never walk again. So much out of his control, but he had his variables. He wasn't content to submit, so he did what he does best, he fought. This time he was fighting his own body, and he not only walked again, not only fought again, he became a world champion title winner. I like to see it as a big middle finger to that prognosis.

Lance Armstrong hadn't won a Tour de France yet when he was diagnosed with aggressive cancer in his testicles, lungs and brain, but he'd been fighting and attacking his life on a bike since he was about 13 years old. If you've ever read any of his books, you'll know he doesn't do well with the title "hero" and he's quick to offer that he's stubborn to a fault, and many call him a jerk. I find this even more inspiring that after a lifetime of battling a tough upbringing, beating advanced stage aggressive metastasized cancer and broken relationships he admits broke in part because he failed to make them a priority, he's even more awesome. Why is this? Because it means he isn't some god-like champion with heroic qualities the rest of us can never possess. He's an average guy with amazing physical abilities few can match that brought him to the top of his field, but what put him over the edge (and kept him alive) is not his body alone, it's that inside of those strong legs that recover so quickly and the heart that naturally delivers more blood than most average people is a normal guy who gets back up every time he gets knocked down. He's a guy who just keeps getting up, and that's something that all of us can do if we reach deep within our spirits, no matter what the struggle may be. You just need to keep getting up, and you win.

Monday's Diet:
Breakfast-1 egg, 1 piece low fat cheese, 2 double fiber wheat toast with smart balance and sugar free jam

Snack: protein shake with 1/2 banana and mootopia. 1 serving energy blocks during run.

Lunch: apple, 1/2 serving barilla plus, 1 serving chicken breast, mixed veggies, marinara sauce, 1 serving vanilla sugar free fat free pudding with mootopia

Snack: cottage cheese and yogurt

Dinner: turkey burger, zucchini baked with olive oil and bread crumbs, 1 serving ff/sf pudding with mootopia.

Monday's Workouts:
5.5 mile run with sprint drills

I intended to do 2 more workouts but found that I was still dehydrated from the trip and more so from the run. I was pretty run down with a bad headache and have learned not to push TOO hard after a trip (that's how I got the flu last time) so I made sure to get to bed on time and be ready to attack HARD tomorrow.

FINAL BREAKDOWN:
Calories Burned- 2267
Calories Consumed- 1832
Deficit- 435

Nutrient ratio: 45C/35P/20F

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update: Clear your head with a good spin cycle