websiteilliteratedon'tknowwhatthisbitis
Running Through China
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Race Pictures
  • Nutrition For Runners
  • Contact Me

Perfectly Imperfect

6/2/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
So, we all have good intentions. We set plans, we embark on new journeys and ventures, and we have goals that we aim to reach (and do reach!). But things don't always go according to our plan. We can't be 'on point' and 'winning' 100% of the time. Why? We're human and infallible and that is WAY OK... If you're eating healthily and keeping active MOST of the time, then the occasional debaucherous weekend or extra few drinks or eating something less that favourable (or at least that won't help your goal or running training) is not going to hurt in the long-run. It's all about balance and keeping things in perspective, and not being hard on yourself or beating yourself up over unplanned events or deviations from your ideal healthy eating plan. I am all about not being too strict or extreme, and really, we are here to experience life and enjoy ourselves too: so, why deprive yourself of new experiences, new foods etc... If you feel like it's not in keeping with your overall goal, and you dislike that sketchy hungover feeling the next day, then that's fine - just get back on track as soon as possible: you won't have ruined all your hard work and healthy lifestyle by one or two days off. Just aim to not make it a regular occurrence, or then it really will become the norm. We are creatures of habit after all.

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




0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    A 30-something's running and travelling experience around the world.

    Archives

    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All
    27th
    50km
    Abs
    Acting
    Active Recovery
    Afghan Hound
    Albert Einstein
    Amazeballs
    Angry
    Anhui
    Annie
    Anniversary
    ARD
    Australia
    Auto-pilot
    Autumn
    Awesome
    Bacon
    Badass
    Bali
    Barefoot Running
    Beautiful
    Beijing
    Ben Elton
    Besties
    Biryani
    Bliss
    Blog
    Blogger
    Blue Sky
    Boobs
    Books
    Bread
    Brighton
    Busy
    Calves
    Camelback
    Caravan
    Carbo Loading
    Carboloadingf2e058d5a9
    Cardio
    Caring
    Carpet
    China
    Chinese
    Chinglish
    Chocolate Milk
    Christmas
    Cleaning
    Close
    Coach
    Coffee
    Coincidence
    Cold
    Cooking
    Core
    Covert Mission
    Cross Training
    Cycling
    Dad
    Date
    Deepak Chopra
    Dehydrated
    Dough
    Driving
    Duck
    Excited
    Expectation
    Feeling Tired
    Flowers
    Flying
    Food Addiction
    Fresh Food
    Friday
    Fuel
    Full Moon
    Gangsta
    Garmin
    Genghis Khan
    GM
    Gods
    Gold-coast
    Goldilocks
    Goose
    Grass
    Grasslands
    Great Wall
    Green Tea
    Grief
    Grumpy
    Hair
    Halloween
    Hangover
    Hangry
    Hangzhou
    Hard
    Hasfit
    Hastings
    Hazara
    Health
    Healthy
    Henan
    Herbs
    Hohhot
    Holiday
    Hotel
    Huangshan
    Hui
    Hulunbeier
    Humid
    Hungry
    Hunter-valley
    Husband
    Ill
    Inner Mongolia
    Internet
    Jiangxi
    Jiuhuashan
    Kickboxing
    Knee Pain
    Lembongan Island
    Liebster-award
    Lijiashan
    Longmen Caves
    Long Run
    Lushan
    Mantra
    Marathon
    Mask
    Massage
    May-day
    Medical Exam
    Meh
    Memory
    Monday
    Mongolian
    Monsanto
    Mood
    Moon
    Morning
    Mother
    Motivation
    Motivational
    Mountains
    MTB
    Negative
    Nerves
    Newcastle
    New Job
    New-zealand
    Night
    Oatmeal
    Off The Beaten Track
    Oil
    Over Trainingffa29052b5
    Pain
    Past
    Pb
    Peanut Butter
    Photos
    Ping Pong
    Pingyao
    Playing
    Pollution
    Pool-running
    Porridge
    Positive
    Poyang-lake
    Procrastination
    Program
    Progress
    Pumped
    Pumpkin Pie
    Puppy
    Pussy
    Pyjamas
    Qingming
    Questions
    Quickie
    Rain
    Ready
    Recovery
    Red Belt
    Rest Day
    Riverside
    R-kelly
    Rob-schneider
    Rocky
    Runners-world
    Running Bracelet
    Running-group
    Running Movies
    Santos-bonacci
    Sav Blanc
    Scam
    Sex
    Shaanxi
    Shanghai
    Shanxi
    Shaolin Temple
    Shoes
    Sickness
    Singing
    Skittles
    Sleep
    Slow
    Smog
    Snickers
    Snow
    Solo
    Sore
    Speech
    Speed
    Speedwork
    Sports Bra
    Stationery
    Steps
    Stiff
    Strength
    Students
    Teaching English
    Temple
    Tempo
    Terracotta Warriors
    Text Message
    The Bund
    The Wall
    Threshold
    Time
    Tired
    Tofu
    Tongliao
    Track Workout
    Trailer
    Trail-race
    Training
    Triathlon
    Turkey
    Turmeric
    Twice
    Two
    Universe
    University
    Unsatisfied
    Vo2max
    Voice-over
    Water
    Weather
    Wedding
    Weekend
    West Lake
    White-horse-temple
    Whitney Houston
    Wine
    Worried
    WTF
    Xiamen Marathon
    Xian
    Xilinhot
    Yiwu
    Yoga
    Yungang Caves
    Zongzi

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.