What’s the Plan?

I never really planned to run a marathon, or a half marathon, or down the block. It was an accomplishment I had toyed with in my mind but with no tangible steps to achieve it. Just a fleeting thought.  It wasn’t until my friend, Betsy, asked me to run a half-marathon with her that this distant possibility became a reality.

Running a half marathon is like having your first child… right after your first child is born, people start asking you “when’s the next one coming?” Same with running. Cross that half marathon finish line and guaranteed you will be asked “So when’s the full?” Fast forward 5 months and here I am two weeks away from running my first full marathon.

Why am I telling you this? Because in order to be successful in anything you do, you need to have a plan.  Some people think planning takes away from living a spontaneous, exciting life. Being a planner can seem boring and mundane. But nothing is more exciting than realizing your dreams and goals…and to do that, you need a plan. And this applies to everything. Even if you are doing something you had never “planned” to do, once you’ve made the decision to do something, you need a plan.

As my training began for the full marathon, one of my friends from our running group sent me a “marathon training plan” by email. I glanced it over and was generally following the plan. However, a few Saturdays into my training, my plan called for 14 miles. But I only had time to run 10. I didn’t think much of it. During my run, a running friend asked me “What are you running today?” My response was “Well, my plan says 14, but I think I only have time to run 10.” He said, “Caroline, we have run many marathons and we have a rule. You plan your run and you run your plan.” My response was, “I understand Bob, but my husband has to see a client, what am I supposed to do? if I don’t have time, I don’t have time!” His response was, “Figure it out. But you have to run your plan.” He was serious. And if realized if I wanted to finish strong and run a good marathon, I needed to change the way I looked at my marathon training from that point forward.  That day I ran my 10 in the morning, went home so I could stay with the kids while my husband met with a client, and several hours later in the afternoon, I ran 4 miles to complete my plan. That was the last time that happened to me. Because from that moment, I did not only look at my training plan, but I planned my life according to that training plan. If I had something on Saturday morning that would prohibit me from running my full plan, then I would run on Friday or Sunday or I would start my run a lot earlier. I played with my schedule and tweaked it around. No one week was exactly the same. But I ran my plan.

Another reason people do not like to have a plan is because it can become frustrating when you plan, plan, plan and then regular life gets in the way and your plan falls apart. That is going to happen. A plan cannot be set in stone. You or your kids are going to get sick. You’re going to get a flat tire. You’re going to have to stay late at work one day. Something is going to come up. That’s ok! It’s going to keep things spontaneous and exciting. LOL. But when you’re armed with a plan you know what you’re supposed to do, which makes it easier to make it up, work around it, or rearrange your schedule.

When it comes to eating healthy a plan is a must. If you don’t plan your meals, you end up eating too much or too little. You spend too many hours without eating and then you’re famished and will eat whatever is available to you. And when you’re out and about it is extremely difficult to find healthy options on the go. So you plan. You take snacks in your purse or briefcase; you prepare food ahead of time; you take your lunch to work; and you reduce your exposure to the times you will make exceptions. This will make success so much easier to attain. When you have a plan, you have a sense of control. And you will have power over your own decisions.

Here are 3 tips when planning a healthy eating week:

  1. Work around your schedule. Do not plan and shop for 7 different healthy dinners if you can not cook 7 nights a week. Be realistic. How many nights in the week will you really be able to cook when you consider late nights at work, soccer practice, and any other events you may have. If you can commit to 3 meals, then only plan for 3 meals.
  2. Batch cook and eat leftovers. This ties directly to my first point. If you can only commit to cooking 3 nights a week, make those nights carry you through the other nights. Using a crockpot helps a lot. Also plan meals that will be easy to match to other meals. Example, if you’re making chicken, meatloaf, quinoa, beans, or soup…make a lot of it and the next day you can throw the chicken on a salad, puree the soup, add some fresh vegetables to your quinoa, etc.
  3. Shop consciously. When you’re eating healthy, you will eat a lot of perishable foods. There is nothing more frustrating than spending lots of money on fruits and vegetables and throwing them away because they’re spoiled. If you’re buying food for the week, you have to take this into consideration. If you’re shopping on Sunday and you’re planning to make asparagus on Friday, I would not suggest you buy the asparagus that Sunday. Its just too many days before you’re going to use it. You may have to take a trip to the store mid week. If you don’t like to do that, then leave Friday night meals for foods that hold up longer or that you can freeze. Cook and/or eat the perishable foods first.

Last week we planned for 3 meals. One of them was a ratatouille. Orlando did not want to make the ratatouille until later in the week and because it requires a lot of eggplant and tomatoes, we held off on buying the ingredients for that meal. Turns out that the other two meals we made had so much leftovers that we had enough food for the whole week without having to ever buy the ingredients for the ratatouille. We saved the money and the frustration of letting it go to waste.  One thing we’ve noticed is that its hard to eat vegetables left over. Some veggies don’t hold up well the next day and don’t reheat well. This week we made collard greens and are happy to report that collards hold up VERY WELL. We made a huge batch of it on Sunday and were able to eat them until Wednesday. That made life so much easier. The first night we had scallops, cauliflower mash and collards. The next day we mixed in the collards with quinoa and chili. The day after that we made chicken and had cauliflower and collards with chicken. The chili was delicious on a salad for my lunch one day that week and in a pita sandwich for the kids’ lunches. The meals were recycled and combined the whole week, which didn’t require us to do too much cooking. It was awesome.

Here is our collard greens recipe. Hope you enjoy them!

Ingredients

  • 2 LBS of Collard Greens
  • 2 medium onions diced
  • 5-6 garlic cloves chopped
  • 48 ounces chicken stock
  • 2 tsps salt and pepper or to taste
  • 2 pinches of red pepper flakes
  • olive oil

Directions:

Collards are big and reduce. We cooked it in two parts. Sauté the onions in olive oil until translucent. Then add garlic for about 30 seconds. Add 1 lb of collard greens. Stir around the collards with the onion and garlic mixture until the collards wilt and make room for more. Add some salt and pepper. Then you put in the second lb of collard greens and add a little more olive oil to coat. Stir in the entire mixture until its all well coated and mixed in together with the onions and garlic. Add the pinch of red pepper flakes and pour in the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 55 minutes or until greens are tender.

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