My Bank

Christie had an excellent post on Monday about "the bank". 

When it’s in the bank that means you can draw from it — FOREVER. When you face adversities in your workouts, running in the rain or the cold or the heat or the wind or you swim in cold water or maybe you didn’t get any sleep and you work out anyway or you forget to bring your socks to the gym or you work out on an empty stomach — whatever it is, environmental, physical, mental, whatever you face goes right into the bank. And you can draw on it forever.

Races and PRs are definitely bankable items for me.  I know I can run 13.1 miles.  I know that I can run 5K in around 32 minutes - even if my training times don't reflect that.

Thinking about the Disney Marathon and possibly a triathalon in May, I start to doubt myself.  Those are lofty goals, what if I don't have it in me.

Whenever I vocalize doubts that like a good friend reminds me - running my first 5K in less than 34 minutes was a lofty goal but I still did it.  Running a half marathon 6th months after my first 5K was a pretty big stretch but I did it.

My bank doesn't just extend to exercise.  "If I can bungee jump - I can zipline."  And I did.

I'm going to keep telling myself - "if I can zipline, I can learn to ski."  Tonight I'm headed to Ober for my very first ski lesson, several of my coworkers will be going - including my boss who has graciously offered beginners lessons. 

The question for the week was what have you banked this week to draw on in the future.  On the surface (besides my fun tonight) my week doesn't look like much.  A few weights sessions, a couple runs, a spin class & a swim aren't anything terrible out of the blue for me.  The hike I'm doing tomorrow (assuming I'm don't injure myself tonight) isn't all that noteworthy - I've been to Gregory's Bald before, although we are taking a different trail up.  Looks like I'm out on the hike since we've still got quite a bit of work to do around the house.  Suck.

But the habit I'm in of doing 7-10 workouts a week is definitely bankable material. 

Then again getting back into the habit of spin class and swimming has provided me some bankable material this week.

Not to mention my heart rate monitor - I was disappointed that it didn't have a timer or a calorie burn counter built in for me.  But I love keeping track of my heart rate to know how hard I'm pushing myself.  5.7 MPH on the treadmill might not be fast for you, but my heart rate is 180 so I know that I'm not phoning it in. 

And how bout that 3.6 pound loss this week?  As much as I fight and get frustrated with myself I need to remember this moment and never let myself quit.  Just keep pushing!

Last night I attended a group run with the friend that originally got me started running and her husband.  I always go into thinking what a fun social event it will be.  Like last night we got to test run a new pair of New Balance trainers.  Afterward we all headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings for some good eats and drinks.

What did I bank from the run itself?  That I'm not a fan of group runs.  I get the point - to have a running partner, see new scenery, and (if you're like me) challenge yourself to step up your pace.  The problem?  I don't know the area so my friend has to stick with me - only she runs a bazillion times faster than me.  (She's more of a 9/9:30 m/mi I'm a 11:30 kinda girl.) 

I'm not mentally tough enough to be wheezing and gasping for breath, then when I apologize hear "no problems, this is just an easy, social run."  Easy my @$$.  Last night we went out quicker than I'm use to (I'd guess around a 10 m/mi) and by mile 2 I was hurting.  Coming back was seriously slowed, and we ended up with just under a 12 minute mile pace.

I'll probably group run again, assuming that I don't catch a case of the "I suck"s.  Can a negative thing be banked?

Then again, we did go to Buffalo Wild Wings afterward, where I had a major victory.  I walked into the restaurant with only 460 calories left to consume.    For those who don't count calories, a typical dinner for me runs between 500-600 calories.  If I'm going out, I usually have to tweak it to give myself more.  The reason places like Applebee's advertises having 500 and under calorie meals?  For a restaurant they are rare.

So what did I do?  Sent a panicked email to April asking for help.  I wanted wings and beer.  Without some sort of game plan, I knew I would walk out having consumed 1,000+ calories of said items.  As usual, her plan was brilliant, and I walked out of there with 62 calories remaining for the day.

What'd I have?  A salad, no cheese no crutons, w/25 calorie dressing that I brought with me and 6 naked wings with medium sauce on the side.  Oh, and a beer.  Miller 64 to be exact.  It was perfect.  I went in, ate what I wanted (sort of) and walked out completely stuff without an ounce of guilty.

Let's face it, the breaded and fried wings may taste good as their going down, but they are totally not worth the guilt they bring later.

I can walk into a restaurant armed with healthy alternatives to my favorites and walk out with out the guilt.  That's totally banked!

What about you?  What have you banked this week?