'Tis The Season

I know I’m not alone with the sentiment that the holidays are notorious for delicious (and overwhelmingly unhealthy) food habits—some stuffing here, a few gingerbread cookies there—and before I know it, not only have I totally derailed the healthy food and exercise habits I’ve built up, but I also guilt myself into defaulting to my go-to New Year’s Resolution of doing something healthier.

I decided to avoid that route by laying out a few guiding principles for myself this holiday season:

• Make the time to work out, even if it means a shorter routine than usual (along the lines of one of my older posts, “Better Than Nothing”)


• At meals, eat the nutritious food first so I’m more likely to fill up on that (I borrowed this one from Oprah). And don’t go to parties hungry.


• And lastly, The March Rule: Ask myself, “would I eat like this in March?” (For example, “Would I eat 2 slices of pecan pie followed by some chocolate chip cookies for dessert in March?”). If the answer would be “no” in March, chances are it should be “no” now, too. In other words, try to eat the way I usually do.

I can’t say these have been totally fool proof, but they have gotten me through the past few weeks of holiday party treats and other temptations without compromising any of the fun. And I’m happy to say that I can focus this year’s New Year’s Resolution on something else altogether…such as maintaining a more active blog, perhaps? ;-)

Happy Holidays, All!

Losing Track

I recently started running on Boston University’s indoor track on days that are too cold or wet to run outside, and while I will always prefer running outdoors, I am starting to develop a fondness for the track. However, I only realized this fondness once I found a way to overcome my initial frustration.
Ever since I trained for my first marathon last year, I’ve gotten fairly into calculating the distance I run. Treadmills obviously make this a no-brainer, and online mapping programs (like my beloved Map My Run) are also pretty straightforward. I assumed it would be just as simple on a track, where the “loop” provides a clear distance metric.


But on the relatively small track where 7 laps = 1 mile, I immediately found myself losing “track” (of course, pun intended), and within minutes my self-questioning of whether I was on my 2nd or 3rd lap compounded into uncertainty regarding whether I was on my 7th or 15th.

Feeling a bit frustrated with my apparent lack of preschool-level math skills, I decided I was better off disregarding distance altogether. To my pleasant surprise, I found myself able to completely relax and zone out—possibly more so than I have in a while: No pace-per-minute calculations, no street traffic to navigate, and best of all, no counting.

While I have no intentions of abandoning my distance tracking as a whole, I do think I’ll pursue a more Zen-like approach towards the track.