:::EPIPHANY:::

During my run this morning I had an epiphany...

My goal for this week was to eat only whole foods. I wasnt going to eat anything processed or that would not do SOMETHING for my body. I have been gearing up for this goal for the past few weeks by adding fiber, limiting caffeine, only eating whole grain instead of white flour, etc. I started Sunday and have been very successful. I also had VERY limited animal protein. In fact, outside of the flounder I had Sunday night, I have had no animal proteain. Only beans, soy, and nuts.

Yesterday I was rather grumpy and could not shake a slight headache all day long. I took yoga last night and felt MUCH better are some cleansing deep breaths and some much needed stretching. And today? Today I feel amazing. I woke up before my alarm (still getting 7.5 hours of sleep) and felt alert and rested. My body felt ready to take on the world, and my mind was incredibly sharp.

I was scheduled to do a 5 mile tempo run this morning (or an "easy hard run"). My tempo runs normally look like this....

1600 yards (1 mile) Warm Up 3.5-5.0 mph

800 yards (1/2 mile) Sprint 6.2 mph

400 yards (1/4 mile) Recover 5.5 mph

x4

1600 yards (1 mile) Cool Down 5.2 mph

These runs are supposed to push you just outside your comfort zone for a small period of time in order to increase speed and endurance. I started out doing this pace and it felt way too slow. My tempo run ended up looking like this...

1600 yards (1 mile) Warm up 5.2 mph

800 yards (1/2 mile) Sprint 6.5 mph

400 yards (1/4 mile) Recover 6.0 mph

1600 yards (1 mile) Cool down 5.2-5.5 mph

I couldn't believe it. It felt amazing and empowering and I wanted to hold on to that feeling forever. I truly believe I felt this way because of the slow revamp to my diet. I am definately going to continue eating only whole foods, nothing processed, limited animal protein, and no white flour for as long as I can.

I hope you all have a great day!!!