Timing is Everything

I'm enjoying a perfect storm of nutritional grownupitude. I recently finished Robb Wolf's hilarious and ridiculously informative The Paleo Solution, and today, Moxy-Boss and Dallas launched a new Whole30 clean-up. (Version 3.0, y'all! They've got the same awesome support system with lots of new info... plus a new program guide with tons of helpful detail that you can purchase for your very own. I've been eating dino-chow for more than a year now, and I learned a bunch of new stuff reading the "Success Guide." Get one immediately!)

Anyway... perfect storm... and after my wedding wine and cake debacle last weekend, I'm re-committed to a 30-day cleanup... let's call it  

October Clean-up II: The Reckoning

It's going to be challenging:

• Halloween candy is everywhere!
• Monday, November 1 is my half-birthday.*
• The first weekend in November is another (fabulous) wedding.
• I'm going on a Social Distortion mini-roadtrip.

But seriously, there is always a good excuse to cheat and always plenty of good reasons to eat clean.

Y'all know, I'm 100% in favor of select, high-quality, maximum-fun food indulgences, but damn it! I said I was doing a 30-day clean-up, and I'm going to do the whole 30 days. (Actually, I'm doing 32 days because I'm going straight on through to my [mostly] paleo Thanksgiving.)

As part of my re-commitment, I decided to make my run this morning about more than just the loop around the lake. Robb's talk about intervals in his book inspired me, I decided my body deserved better than my usual 3:00 on/:30 off pace.

In my noggin, I called it my "Shake It Up Run," and I ran at a pace that was slower than a sprint and faster than my usual "I'm just listening to music la-la-la around the lake la-la-la" pace. If my sprint  pace is "Holy sh*t! I'm being chased by a werewolf!" my pace today was more like being chased by my ego: fast enough to be uncomfortable but not "life depending on it" speed. As the running intervals got shorter, I tried to run faster. And I gave myself bonus points because one song into my run, my iPod battery ran out. My soundtrack was (a) the inane conversations of other runners and (b) my own labored breathing. [sigh]

Shake It Up Run
3:00 warmup run, easy pace + 1:00 walk with arm circles

4 rounds:
2:00 run + :30 rest
1:00 run + :30 rest
:30 run + 1:00 rest

bonus hill sprint for 1:30

1-mile walk

Now I'm off to the grocery store to overload the fridge with dino-chow ingredients. If you're a gambler, I recommend placing a bet on me because I will NOT be swayed from my path again, and I really, really, really REALLY want these boots.

October Cleanup II: The Reckoning.


*I generally don't make a fuss about birthdays, but I'm trying something new: celebrating my birthday AND my half birthday. In lieu of cake, Dave and I are marking 42-and-a-half with a dino-chow dinner that he's making! THAT is a nice gift.