1. My running pace has gotten slower. I attribute this to a couple things. First, I've gained a little weight. While it's not a ton of weight, it doesn't make me feel that great and running feels harder. Second, I haven't been running outside that much at all and for some reason I get scared of running too fast on the treadmill. 6.0 is super fast for me and I never run that fast on the mill unless it's the top of an interval. I used to run about 5.7 at home, but since I've switched to the gym treadmills, I am not running at that speed. I'm more comfortable around 5.3-5.4. In the long run (ha ha, that's a pun intended) it's not a huge deal, but when you're talking about pace, a 10:30 mile sounds way better to most than a 11:00 mile. As a runner, I strive to be faster not slower!
2. While I don't want to slow my running pace, I do want to slow my eating pace. This is harder than you think! I am usually doing two things at once, while eating. Breakfast is about reading and eating, or talking to my son and eating, and then I have to go to work. Lunch is about surfing the Internet or blogging and eating, and then I want to get back to work. Dinner is about visiting with the family and eating, and I want to get done and get the dishes done, and move on with the evening. The idea of taking slower bites, savoring each mouthful, listening to my stomach is just completely foreign. I am a distracted eater and it's hard to focus just on the eating. I'm a multitasker. I like to kill two birds with one stone, per se. But I also recognize that this behavior leads to overeating because if you're just kind of mindlessly eating, and you've eaten way more than you should before you are even aware of it. But it's so hard to take the time to eat, just eat, when you're used to being busy busy busy and always in a hurry hurry hurry.
Do you multitask when you eat?
I'm very guilty of distracted eating. I've been trying to eat without distractions lately, to focus more on the meal and not checking my email or clearing out Google Reader, and it's helping, I think. Sitting and focusing on the food, the textures and flavors and all. Mindfully eating doesn't take very long - 10-15 minutes or so, I'd say - which is an investment of time with great returns on so many counts!
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