[athousandwords]

credit: Old Door by Stefano Aneto
 

CHAPTER 3: AThousandWords Alights
(Chapter 1, Chapter 2)

 

I used to think that Doors were rare and mischievous. After all, finding an ephemeral passage between monotonous reality and the tingling prospect of adventure isn't something that happens everyday, right? A lifetime could pass by before the opportunity presents itself again.

I was wrong.

It turns out that Doors — like cars with one darkened headlight or a word you swear you've never read before — appear far more often after you've noticed them once. As if acknowledging their existence brings them bubbling to the surface. Once upon a time I saw a Door at a train station and walked away, fearing I would never see one again. Instead, the persistent openings pop up in the corner of my eye at every turn. A broad-slatted blue Door out of place in a stone wall; a fairy Door tucked away in the roots of an oak tree; an inconspicuous louvered Door when I stop at a red light.

 

"I liked that one," my son says idly one night, marching a chicken nugget through a trailing doorway of ketchup on his plate. "The green one we saw at the playground. I bet it had dinosaurs on the other side."

Across the table my daughter shrieks in delight and chomps down on her fork with a loud roar. I smile at her but my eyes dart to where my husband sits with a raised eyebrow. I shrug in return. It's a conversation that's been played out after bedtimes and in passing a hundred times with no real answer. We've been putting it off, but it feels insistent, inevitable. And if I'm honest, exciting.

"A dinosaur Door? Wouldn't you rather open a Spider-Man Door?" my husband teases and I start the lists in my head. What to pack - snacks? Probably. Diapers, for sure... And I wonder what the next door we find will be.

 

Spring is sprouting! And while currently we're still in grey chilly days (and I have a seasonal, non-covid head cold to go with it), I'm starting to look ahead to sunnier and more exciting days. Last challenge, I had a long weekend break with my husband, celebrated my 36th birthday, and ran my first ever half marathon! What started out as a longing for change manifested in a lot of adventure coming my way. In 2 weeks we're hosting my son's first real birthday party, then two days later driving to North Carolina to see my sister's new home, and during week 5 of the challenge I'm flying to Georgia to meet my coworkers for the first time at a developer's retreat.  I'm anxious and excited and ready for something new.

 

So this challenge will be flexible (there's a lot of travel days in there!) and hopefully fun. I'm looking forward to not spending my Saturdays doing long runs every week, but I still want to do something active. My next running goal is a sub-30 5k, so I'll be doing more interval runs. And I need to take a closer look at my diet because my cholesterol is up and honestly I've been letting a lot of unhealthy habits slip in because I was running enough to not care what I was eating.  In particular, I need to cut out the afternoon snacking because I've gotten reeaal comfortable eating cheetos and girl scout cookies at my desk...

 

Habit 1: Run 3x a week for at least 30 min

• Follow training plan for improving 5k times
• Ideally running Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday -- but can move around days if needed due to travel, daycare schedules, etc

 

Habit 2: Endurance Activity on weekends

• Options include: 5mi+ run, 10mi+ bike ride, 2 hour hike, or similar level of activity
• Include the family as much as possible!

 

Habit 3: Stop the Snack

• Follow IF 16/8 (usually 12pm - 8pm) for 6/7 days a week
• Coffee + creamer or water allowed outside this window (I can't give up my morning coffee!)
• No after-lunch snacking (eat enough to be sated at lunch)

 

Habit 4: Follow Meal Plan (Weeks 1,2,4*)

• Meal Plan for the week every Tuesday
• Cook from the meal plan 6/7 days a week
• * Weeks 3 and 5 are exempt for this goal, but make every attempt to meal plan and cook on the days I'm home

 

Bonus Points: Eat Well

• No more than 1 red meat dinner per week
• Eat 4+ servings of vegetables a day 
• Drink 8 cups of water a day

 

[Elastigirl]

Here to cheer you on!

 

[athousandwords]

Week 1: Thursday

 

 

Habit 1: Run 3x a week for at least 30 min

🟩🟩⬜

 

 

Habit 2: Endurance Activity on weekends

⬜

 

Habit 3: Stop the Snack

🟥🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜

 

Habit 4: Follow Meal Plan (Weeks 1,2,4*)

🟩🟥🟩⬜⬜⬜

 

I haven't meal planned yet this week, but we had meals scheduled from last week that we didn't make yet, so still using food from home! Except on Tuesday, when we ordered pizza. 🤷‍♀️ Other than that, I've been doing well at cutting back on the snacking and eating/serving more vegetables at dinner. I just need to get better about having more veg at lunch. I'm working from home so there's really no reason not to be able to have veggies mid-day.

 

On Tuesday, I dragged myself out for my first run in over a week. I've had a cold so I've been letting myself rest, but it was time to get back to it. I ran 3.5 miserable miles because it was freaking cold out and I was sluggish. But I went back out on Wednesday and ran intervals and felt really good about it! I'm working toward a sub-30 5k and I'm happy with these 1/2 mile times currently. Just got to build up to be able to run that consistently. 😅

 

Spoiler

 

[athousandwords]

Week 1 Summary

 

Habit 1: Run 3x a week for at least 30 min

🟩🟩⬜🟥

 

Habit 2: Endurance Activity on weekends

🟩

 

Habit 3: Stop the Snack

🟨🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟥

 

Habit 4: Follow Meal Plan (Weeks 1,2,4*)

🟩🟥🟩🟩🟨🟥🟩

 

I'm not sure that stoplight patten for meal planning makes sense to anyone, let alone me. But basically I didn't meal plan this week until Saturday, which is more for the upcoming week than last week. We had some groceries left from planned meals the previous week, so we did cook at home most of the week. And we pulled together some "what we have on hand" meals. We also went out to dinner Saturday night because the weather was nice and we were able to meet up with friends. So not a total failure of a week, but not exactly according to plan either.

 

I did go running this weekend, 6 miles, but I missed Friday's interval run because of some meetings that were scheduled at work during the time I normally run. I also extracted the training plan I was using into an actual calendar, which should make it easier to follow:

 

(Download from Google Drive if you want)

[athousandwords]

Week 2: Wednesday

 

Habit 1: Run 3x a week for at least 30 min

⬜🟩🟥⬜⬜

 

Habit 2: Endurance Activity on weekends

⬜⬜

 

Habit 3: Stop the Snack

⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜

 

Habit 4: Follow Meal Plan (Weeks 1,2,4*)

🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜

 

Pretty good week so far, except I had to miss my run this morning.  I'm interviewing new candidates at work and the extra meetings are throwing off my normal running time. Rest of the week isn't looking too good either... But we've been following the meal plan and I've been better at not snacking between lunch and dinner. 

[MezzotheLefty]

Late to the party as always... and a belated CONGRATULATIONS on the successful Half!!!  🎉

 

 

I'm chasing that sub 30 5k too; I love your training plan.  

 

Following along my friend.  

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Way to go following meal plan and avoiding snacks! Hope you can work in some balance between work and your runs despite the craziness of your schedule this week

[MezzotheLefty]

How are things going? Besides crazy busy. 😉 

[MezzotheLefty]

Checking in. ❤️ How are you?