Calorie Burning Extravaganza

When it was time to leave Tunnicliffs Tavern last night after a wonderful meal, Tim and I could barely move our legs. We tried, but they wouldn't move. In fact, they actually screamed at us, "Don't move!" So we just sat, and sat, and sat some more.

This weekend, in an effort to tone our bodies for our beach vacation that is approaching quickly, we hopped on our bikes for a three hour, 40 mile bike ride down to Mount Vernon on Saturday. The trails took us along the Potomac, through Alexandria, and by the most spectacular views, gardens, and beach front houses. It was a great ride but towards the end we knew that we would be feeling it the next day. We could barely sit on our bike seats...we were very sore!

On Sunday morning I woke up when the streets of DC were still quiet and went on a 17 mile run. The first few miles were very hard. My legs were still upset with me for the bike ride the day before. But as they eased into stride my body felt great. I was starting to feel confident about the marathon that is approaching quickly as well (only a little over two months away). I must admit I am unsure if I can do it...if I can actually run across the finish line. The other day it hit me what a daunting task this was actually going to be. I soon found out from my training tips that this questioning is normal.

"The left side of our brain tries to hold us back. Inside the left hemisphere at the top of your head is the center of logic. The left brain solves math problems, organizes and nit-picks, and conducts the structured cognitive activities during your workday. One of the primary missions of the left brain is to steer you in the direction of pleasure and away from discomfort. Any form of stress or perceived stress will stimulate this negative center of logic to produce a stream of messages to "slow down!" or "quit!" or to question your sanity: "Why are you doing this?" Because we rely upon the left side for logical guidance, we listen to these messages. If we're weak or tired, we're very likely to give in to the messages and compromise our goal. Certainly we must always monitor the real dangers which could produce health problems (heat buildup, traffic, overfatigue) and take action when there is due cause. Most of the time, however, our left brain overreacts in warning us long before we are in real danger."

That same day, Tim hit the gym and ran more than he has ever run before. Needless to say our bodies were both very tired by Sunday evening. However, as we sat at Tunnicliffs, slowly putting the calories we lost back into our bodies, we felt great...tired, but healthy and great!