Proximity is Key

Until this morning, I never realized how fortunate I am to live in such close proximity to both my gym in Houston as well as my gym in Austin. I also never realized that the further I have to drive to get to the gym, the less motivated I am to actually go there. The reason I bring this up is because the gym that I usually go to in Austin is closed for renovations until this coming Monday, so I have had to go to other locations in Austin. Surprisingly, the next-closest location to my house is about eight miles away, which is a far cry from my usual one mile drive. I woke up this morning after a solid eight hours of sleep, thinking I could just get up and get my seven-mile run behind me early, but I was hungry and didn't want to eat breakfast much later than 9am, which would have happened by the time I got up, got a little something in my stomach, drove to the gym, ran seven miles, and drove home. Why didn't I want to eat breakfast later than 9am? I couldn't tell ya, I'm just weird like that!

Anyway, I got up and ate some of my almond butter granola before getting right to work on the three papers I have left this semester. The good news is that I have a solid rough draft of one of them done, and I should have a solid rough draft of another one done by the end of tonight. That's the plan, anyway. 

Once I started getting distracted by talking to my roommates, I knew it was time for me to get in my run. I had seven miles on the agenda today, and I was a little nervous about it because as we all know, I have been neglecting my long runs lately. Since the race is about five weeks out, I figured that it is in my best interest to start logging those miles. It was far too humid for me to even think about running outside, so I ran those seven miles on the treadmill. I actually finished it in exactly an hour thanks to this pretty tough workout:

It was tough, but it was also easier than I expected it to be. I wasn't dying (for the most part), and nothing hurts (yet). I actually saw this workout on Carrots 'n' Cake's page, but it went the other way - starting out slow and progressively getting faster. I knew that there was no way I would be willing to run 8.0mph at the end of my run, so I decided to reverse the order. That decision proved to be a good one for me, and it ended up being a really good run. 

After a quick shower, I fixed myself some of my dairy-free pizza and enjoyed that along with some grapes and one of my oatmeal-banana-almond butter bars. I also enjoyed a vegan coconut carob chip cookie made my one of my roommates for a cookie exchange. It was delicious and I am eager to try this recipe on my family. You couldn't even tell that it's vegan!

After lunch, Sarah and I headed to Barnes and Noble so we could get into that studying mindset. Sometimes all you need to be productive is getting out of your usual atmosphere. I am generally pretty productive when I am at my house, but it can also be a very distracting place. Barnes and Noble proved to be just what I needed because I edited one of my papers and got a solid start on the other one. The rest of my night is going to consist of more paper-writing, a little volleyball game-streaming, and hopefully a brain-fueling dinner.

See you tomorrow for Survey Sunday!