You've heard the sayings: 'first you make the habit, then the habit makes you', 'practise makes perfect', and 'you are what you eat'?? All so appropriate here. What we do on a regular basis and what we choose to eat and drink, all form who we are, both inside and out. The more you practise something, or the more you exercise that particular neural pathway, the stronger the habit becomes. Eventually the brain will automate it as much as it can as this helps it to save energy for other tasks, and this is why habits are so hard to break - you can never actually get rid of any habit/neural pathway, but you can either tweak an existing one (and replace a potentially unhealthy current reward with a healthier option, thus keeping the habit loop a current one) or can build new habits/neural pathways and repeat them again and again until they become the new norm and favoured habits of the brain, eventually automating these new healthy ones too. It sounds boring, but achieving health and fitness basically comes down to repeating the same thing over and over, to get your results. The occasional slip-up or less healthy food/drink/weekend can be an anomaly but shouldn't be the norm, but nor should you throw in the towel and think it has to be all over just because of it.
This is why it's so important to have support and motivation when you've got a particular goal or aim in mind, and it's another reason I'm so excited to launch my challenge in 2 days' time! I will be both hosting the challenge and participating in it - nothing like a 30 day challenge to get back on track, and I am keen to have a bit of a health overhaul so that these party weekends don't become the norm for me (as they are on the verge of becoming - side effect of new friends in a new city and country I suppose). So, come June 1st, I will be well and truly jumping in with the other participants - not going to be extreme or deny anything, and will still be drinking the occasional beer or G&T, but I will be a lot more focused, and will plan my drinks beforehand if I am aiming to go out, amongst other things.... If you too want to join us, here's the link: http://lousweight.com.au/main/page_jump_into_june_challenge.html
Aand, the running part yes? Can't leave that out, lol... Not much to report I'm afraid! Just the usual few 12km runs and a longer 24km run on Saturday, along with interval and strength training and the usual cycling around. I am aiming for some speed training this week with a local running group, fingers crossed anyway, so watch this space.
And speaking of you being what you eat - sign up here to get some ideas for healthy snacks for runners: http://lousweight.us13.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=0a79193a9250d21160624d6f9&id=3c7b2ebad9