Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

This is me, admitting that yesterday I did not do the 100 situps on the Pilates ball as I said I would. I planned to do them. I actually pulled the ball out and started to do them after writing yesterday's post. Turns out I'm still feeling the 100 I did the other day. There was no way I could do even one. I tried doing a form of squat on the ball that also stretched out my back, but that made my head woozy, so I just quit. The fact that it was 2am might have had something to do with that.

Technically that's 25 pilates ball squats for the goal, I guess. What I also did toward my marathon goal yesterday, but forgot to mention, was purchase a butt-ton of Clif bars. They have a seasonal one called Gingerbread which is simply amazing. Superman found them at his local grocery store,and I am thinking about scouring the internet and stockpiling as many as I can find.

I bought my current stash of Clif bars because gingerbread is a favorite, because they were on sale, and because I'm tweaking my long run fueling plan again. I've noticed I get hungry about mile 8, even when I'm fueling with Gu or cherry juice cocktail. I plan to try the Clif bars on anything over 10 miles (so basically all my longer runs from now on). I'm thinking I'll need to cut them into pieces, as opposed to biting off chunks. Pieces gives me a little more portion control. I might not even need the entire bar each run until I get into the really long, 18-20 milers. I'm not sure if I'll replace the liquid fuel entirely, or just supplement it with the Clif bars. I'm not sure if I'll stay with the Clif bars, or ultimately make my own granola/protein bar. I'm a little concerned I'll choke on the bars while running, which happened with a banana at my last race. What I am sure of is I cannot eat these for breakfast or treat them like 240 calorie cookies. They are just too yummy!

Technically, my marathon training plan had today as a rest day. I felt guilty about not running yesterday though, and again I'm trying to do something every day toward my goals. Today I decided a 3-miler wouldn't sabotage tomorrow's 10-miler. I dressed slightly better than Wednesday, and was comfortably warm throughout the run. My legs still felt heavy and tired, though in the end I ran an 11-minute-mile pace.

Discussion with Aunt Gertie today had my thinking about how my auto-immune condition (Graves disease and hyperthyroidism) affects the various things I'm currently fighting in my life. My thyroid condition is not stable, though I'm supposed to take medication daily to combat it. I do not take the medication daily - only when the symptoms flare up, which they have done a lot recently. This is not surprising as the immune system is affected by stress. I remembered today that my runs usually suck when my condition is active, which could explain why I've struggled so hard this last week. Aunt Gertie suggested some of the depression and tiredness could also be caused by my condition. She may be right. That doesn't change how I deal with them, but it gives me hope to think just taking my medication might help.