Our son will soon start to learn how to eat. Maybe I should do the same.
In a realistic(?) self assessment I have to say that I have a very hard time controlling my eating habits, in particular if there is free food available (and this, unfortunately, is usually junk food). Even if I am not hungry, or at least not really hungry, I would still eat another slice of pizza or a cookie and a brownie, it's free after all. Is it?
At home, I think, I am a bit better. I eat an apple before going for a run (7.5 to 10 miles if possible). After running, I stretch, drink water, and then I have breakfast: cereals with blueberries (if they were not too expensive) and plain yoghurt. Finishing with a European-style chocolate yoghurt, a cup of milk, and a piece of chocolate. Well, maybe not ideal for the body but good for the soul.
For lunch, I usually bring a lunchbox and I have dinner at home, usually with dessert. But if there is some free food anywhere, I usually eat it on top of everything. Hungry or not. Maybe these are just grad student habits? Or maybe even caveman habits?
I also managed to limit my caffein intake to one cup of espresso per day. Maybe another decaf somewhere. But if I happen to go to a coffee shop or to a bakery, that espresso is usually complemented with something sweet, a brownie, a chocolate brioche, or the like.
Even though I am running quite a lot, and also reasonably fast, if I reduce my mileage because of any reason, I almost immediately start gaining weight. I wanted to consistently weigh below 70 kilograms for quite a while but somehow I seem to be unable to achieve this goal, my wife even jokes about it... Maybe it is time for another attempt. Diets would not work, I think, a more long-tern solution is needed, like curing the grad-student-eat-all-the-free-food-you-can-get problem...
Running-wise, I am training less since our son was born in February but I still run almost everyday, and I also join Saturday's Fresh Pond races, I usually run the two laps (5 miles) in a bit more than 28 minutes, and today I went to Thursday's evening race (one lap, 2.5 miles), which I ran in 13:30, a bit below 3:30 pace (and I already did a 5 miles jog in the morning). The half marathon a few weeks ago went ok, I enjoyed it a lot and finished in 1:18:08 (if I remember correctly). Two more half marathons scheduled: Cape Ann Half on 8/5 and Greifenseelauf on 9/22. Probably another half on 11/4. I wonder whether I can be way below 70 for these...
