This was a tough, tough week. I'm not getting decent sleep, which is Major Problem #1. Jack has slept pretty horribly this week and we have had more stress to deal with in the house as well. Friday night was the worst - I don't think I slept longer than 2.5 hours at a stretch the whole night, between picking up Tom from band at 12:30 in the morning to Jack sleeping in his crib and spitting his pacifier out every hour or so...ugh. Or maybe is was earlier in the week where Jack cried until 11pm and I spent the night sleeping on the couch while trying to pacify him in the swing, outside, etc.
Not that this should be surprising, but when you have sick kids at home, a baby that isn't sleeping well, a kid that is grounded, major stressful kid-related decisions to make, a cross country meet and a band event back to back, trying to run 20 miles, a husband who is sleeping worse than you, and miserable heat and humidity, YOU TEND TO FEEL RUN DOWN! And boy did I feel run down. So much so that I took my first day off from exercise since July 2nd yesterday (Saturday). I was so tired from the night before and then being on the go from 5:45AM-2PM that I just sat on the couch watching football for the rest of the day. Plus it was storming.
BUT BUT BUT, I did get my 20 miles in. BUT I gained weight this week and I am not sure yet if this is a temporary hormonal issue or something else, but we shall see what happens this week. If I feel like keto isn't cutting it, I am happy to bump my carbs up to 50-100 and see what happens. I'll still be plenty fat-adapted at that range. Keto has to be working on all levels to make it worth it - mentally, physically, etc. While I certainly enjoy eating all the fat and dairy stuff, I can go back to high fat/low carb paleo, too. I just don't want to do keto paleo as it's way too hard without dairy fat.
This week I will probably stick with 20 miles again, since my body is struggling a bit with the mileage and I am in no hurry to bump it up and rush things. If I can get more sleep I hope I will absorb the training better and be able to move up in mileage next week.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
On Being Disillusioned
I've been listening to a lot of podcasts while I run lately and my new favorite is The Angriest Trainer podcast. While I totally love it and the content, it's also got me thinking about how I don't think I can ever go back to being a personal trainer or doing sports nutrition consults ever again. Why? Because when they cover listener questions, it's always, always the same thing that I faced when trying to get people to change the way they freaking eat. And it always will be. 95% of the people you coach/train won't accept that there are no tips/tricks/hacks/shortcuts to success with weight loss.
Food and what we eat is such a powerful issue that most people can never permanently re-frame how they interact with food. Our culture makes it impossible to be normal AND healthy and thin, and the 95% continually battle between a desire to lose weight and a desire to be healthy. A sense of entitlement and the "I deserve a treat" mentality is always battling "I want better for myself". Future vs. present, will-power vs. rationality.
When I new to teaching my Boot Camp class, I remember reading something along the lines of this: "bad personal trainers make their workouts too easy for their clients". I found myself doing that over time with my Boot Camp class as it was a small class and everyone had gotten to know each other so well. It's so hard to push someone to do a decent pushup or squat when they have been coming to your class for a year and just.don't.give.a.shit how good their squat or pushup is.
I will tell you - it was SO hard for me to accept that I was no more effective than the next guy because all my clients were just like most of the population - feeling the health benefits of exercise and being a bit stronger but not looking any different because the dietary changes weren't there (or weren't there consistently enough). And that failure was very dejecting. I wanted my clients to be successful but in the end MY definition of success was not theirs. They just wanted to hang out with their friends and work out. That's fine, but it wasn't what I envisioned for myself and for my desire to change people's lives.
My position now is that how I feel about food and fueling sports is very, very rarely mentioned in public or in my job as a coach. I would rather keep my thoughts to myself than tell a client what they need to do to lose weight and have them ignore it because it requires real and lasting change. I hope some day that will change and I can be more vocal but that will have to wait until I work through this disillusionment in some way.
Food and what we eat is such a powerful issue that most people can never permanently re-frame how they interact with food. Our culture makes it impossible to be normal AND healthy and thin, and the 95% continually battle between a desire to lose weight and a desire to be healthy. A sense of entitlement and the "I deserve a treat" mentality is always battling "I want better for myself". Future vs. present, will-power vs. rationality.
When I new to teaching my Boot Camp class, I remember reading something along the lines of this: "bad personal trainers make their workouts too easy for their clients". I found myself doing that over time with my Boot Camp class as it was a small class and everyone had gotten to know each other so well. It's so hard to push someone to do a decent pushup or squat when they have been coming to your class for a year and just.don't.give.a.shit how good their squat or pushup is.
I will tell you - it was SO hard for me to accept that I was no more effective than the next guy because all my clients were just like most of the population - feeling the health benefits of exercise and being a bit stronger but not looking any different because the dietary changes weren't there (or weren't there consistently enough). And that failure was very dejecting. I wanted my clients to be successful but in the end MY definition of success was not theirs. They just wanted to hang out with their friends and work out. That's fine, but it wasn't what I envisioned for myself and for my desire to change people's lives.
My position now is that how I feel about food and fueling sports is very, very rarely mentioned in public or in my job as a coach. I would rather keep my thoughts to myself than tell a client what they need to do to lose weight and have them ignore it because it requires real and lasting change. I hope some day that will change and I can be more vocal but that will have to wait until I work through this disillusionment in some way.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
My Keto Weight Loss 2012
I found my weight loss tracker from when I went ketogenic for the first time back in 2012. At the time my weight had creeped up to 148 pounds and my clothes weren't fitting. I found a lot of great resources on Reddit in r/keto, which is where I found this spreadsheet. Every day I logged my weight and my data from My Fitness Pal.
As you can see from the spreadsheet, I ended up losing 11.7 pounds in 81 days (11.5 weeks), a very reasonable 1 pound per week average loss. I did not exercise at all during that period and my weight at the end was perfect. All my clothes fit me very nicely and I felt great.
This time I am 10 pounds heavier at the start but I am also exercising (about 20 miles of very slow running a week right now, which is about 4 hours for me). I don't believe that exercise is a good way to lose weight, so I am not sure if this will help with the weight loss or hurt. I am running because I want to be in shape and I am "dieting" because I want to lose weight. The two may or may not work together - only time will tell. I am also still nursing but just barely. I would say I am about 90% formula, 10% breastmilk at this point.
I would love to be at my goal weight by the time I run the marathon, but I have 22 weeks and 25 pounds to go. Like I said, I have no idea what affect the exercise will have on the weight loss. It'll be fun to find out, though!
It is a blessing to be in the middle of a big goal. The finish line is over-rated. I much prefer being in the trenches and being challenged both mentally and physically in the pursuit of something.
Here is my old spreadsheet.
Here is the new one.
As you can see from the spreadsheet, I ended up losing 11.7 pounds in 81 days (11.5 weeks), a very reasonable 1 pound per week average loss. I did not exercise at all during that period and my weight at the end was perfect. All my clothes fit me very nicely and I felt great.
This time I am 10 pounds heavier at the start but I am also exercising (about 20 miles of very slow running a week right now, which is about 4 hours for me). I don't believe that exercise is a good way to lose weight, so I am not sure if this will help with the weight loss or hurt. I am running because I want to be in shape and I am "dieting" because I want to lose weight. The two may or may not work together - only time will tell. I am also still nursing but just barely. I would say I am about 90% formula, 10% breastmilk at this point.
I would love to be at my goal weight by the time I run the marathon, but I have 22 weeks and 25 pounds to go. Like I said, I have no idea what affect the exercise will have on the weight loss. It'll be fun to find out, though!
It is a blessing to be in the middle of a big goal. The finish line is over-rated. I much prefer being in the trenches and being challenged both mentally and physically in the pursuit of something.
Here is my old spreadsheet.
Here is the new one.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Stuff I Cooked This Week
I'm going to try making this a weekly post to keep track of the things I make for dinner, mostly. Sometimes I'll make an awesome new dish and forget about it. I have so many recipes stored in different places - bookmarks my computer, my All Recipes.com Recipe Box, a binder full of magazine recipes and old family favorites, cookbooks, pictures of recipes I take with my phone, etc. Maybe this way I can remind myself which ones I liked best.
Stuff I Made This Week (and last week, too):
Pulled Pork with No Sugar BBQ Sauce. Andrew liked this a lot, kids ate it and liked it as well. I didn't like it as I was tasting it from the slow cooker but I think that's because I wanted it to taste like my favorite, sugar-filled pulled pork and BBQ sauce. When I ate in out of a bowl for dinner it grew on me and I ended up liking it for what it was.
Pasta with Meat Sauce. I actually didn't eat any of this but the kids did and Andrew likes it. After trying many different recipes for meat sauce (which I eat in a bowl on a bed of spinach), I have settled on this recipe as our favorite.
Bulletproof Ice Cream. No sugar, made with gobs of yummy fat from butter, eggs, and coconut oil. Sweetened with zylitol. I didn't like it very much but the texture was great and it allowed me to have something cold and chocolaty with blueberries and heavy cream on top. The kids liked it, Andrew didn't.
Paleo Chicken Fingers. I've made this twice in the last two weeks. It was a hit. A little too spicy the first time so I lowered the amount of cayenne the second time.
Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs. This was awesome. I made for Andrew and I on a night the kids weren't here. It was delicious and Alex enjoyed it as leftovers the next day.
Quiche with Coconut Flour Crust. I ended up eating most of this myself, which was fine with me. Served as my breakfast for a few days. It's kind of dry. There is no reason to make a crust other than just feeling like it. Usually I make crustless quiches.
Chicken Strips. Another hit with everyone. This one was fried instead of the other one above that was oven baked.
Skillet Burgers. I've never made burgers on the stove before and these turned out great.
Stuff I Made This Week (and last week, too):
Pulled Pork with No Sugar BBQ Sauce. Andrew liked this a lot, kids ate it and liked it as well. I didn't like it as I was tasting it from the slow cooker but I think that's because I wanted it to taste like my favorite, sugar-filled pulled pork and BBQ sauce. When I ate in out of a bowl for dinner it grew on me and I ended up liking it for what it was.
Pasta with Meat Sauce. I actually didn't eat any of this but the kids did and Andrew likes it. After trying many different recipes for meat sauce (which I eat in a bowl on a bed of spinach), I have settled on this recipe as our favorite.
Bulletproof Ice Cream. No sugar, made with gobs of yummy fat from butter, eggs, and coconut oil. Sweetened with zylitol. I didn't like it very much but the texture was great and it allowed me to have something cold and chocolaty with blueberries and heavy cream on top. The kids liked it, Andrew didn't.
Paleo Chicken Fingers. I've made this twice in the last two weeks. It was a hit. A little too spicy the first time so I lowered the amount of cayenne the second time.
Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs. This was awesome. I made for Andrew and I on a night the kids weren't here. It was delicious and Alex enjoyed it as leftovers the next day.
Quiche with Coconut Flour Crust. I ended up eating most of this myself, which was fine with me. Served as my breakfast for a few days. It's kind of dry. There is no reason to make a crust other than just feeling like it. Usually I make crustless quiches.
Chicken Strips. Another hit with everyone. This one was fried instead of the other one above that was oven baked.
Skillet Burgers. I've never made burgers on the stove before and these turned out great.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Training Week Recap #9
20.7 miles! Now what?
My goals last week were to run 20 miles and do the loop, both of which I accomplished. I feel good about hitting 20 miles and I am trying to hold onto that success instead of thinking about how slow I am. Sometimes I have a moment of weakness and wonder what the point of running 20 miles at a 12:15 pace is. It's not surprising that I would have moments where my faith in the process falters. It's a long process and my job is simply to persevere. The ultimate goal (which I realize I haven't really articulated to myself) is to run the marathon as a fat-adapted athlete at my pre-baby weight and at a decent pace. What a decent pace means is unclear right now. There is just no way for me to predict how I will adapt to the training and eating LCHF. But I guess I would rather be a slower runner and not have to eat sugar than a faster runner dependent on carbs and dealing with stomach issues and weight gain.
Anyway, I hit 20 miles this week and it's left me wondering what is next. I think it's time for me to change up the way I do my training. I'm running too many 3-4 mile runs to get to a weekly mileage goal and it's time to adjust to a more balanced approach. When I say balance I mean less mid-range runs and more of a mix of long, short, and medium. It's just very hard to do this when your long run is only 5.5 miles! I think it will become a viable option once I hit 7 or 8 miles and can do something like 8,
More thoughts on this past week:
Had a lot of evening runs this week and it was very stressful to try to sneak out the door at dinnertime. It's SO much better to run in the morning!
I accidentally wore my size large skirt for a 3 mile run and got severely chafed! It's so important to wear the right size. You wouldn't think a skirt that is too large would cause more problems than a too-small skirt but if it's too big the shorties underneath ride up.
I lost 1.5 pounds this week.
Next week's goals: 6 days of running as 1:2:3 ratio of long run (6), Medium runs (4) and short runs (2). That will get me another 20 mile week but in a healthier fashion.
My goals last week were to run 20 miles and do the loop, both of which I accomplished. I feel good about hitting 20 miles and I am trying to hold onto that success instead of thinking about how slow I am. Sometimes I have a moment of weakness and wonder what the point of running 20 miles at a 12:15 pace is. It's not surprising that I would have moments where my faith in the process falters. It's a long process and my job is simply to persevere. The ultimate goal (which I realize I haven't really articulated to myself) is to run the marathon as a fat-adapted athlete at my pre-baby weight and at a decent pace. What a decent pace means is unclear right now. There is just no way for me to predict how I will adapt to the training and eating LCHF. But I guess I would rather be a slower runner and not have to eat sugar than a faster runner dependent on carbs and dealing with stomach issues and weight gain.
Anyway, I hit 20 miles this week and it's left me wondering what is next. I think it's time for me to change up the way I do my training. I'm running too many 3-4 mile runs to get to a weekly mileage goal and it's time to adjust to a more balanced approach. When I say balance I mean less mid-range runs and more of a mix of long, short, and medium. It's just very hard to do this when your long run is only 5.5 miles! I think it will become a viable option once I hit 7 or 8 miles and can do something like 8,
More thoughts on this past week:
Had a lot of evening runs this week and it was very stressful to try to sneak out the door at dinnertime. It's SO much better to run in the morning!
I accidentally wore my size large skirt for a 3 mile run and got severely chafed! It's so important to wear the right size. You wouldn't think a skirt that is too large would cause more problems than a too-small skirt but if it's too big the shorties underneath ride up.
I lost 1.5 pounds this week.
Next week's goals: 6 days of running as 1:2:3 ratio of long run (6), Medium runs (4) and short runs (2). That will get me another 20 mile week but in a healthier fashion.
Friday, August 22, 2014
The Loop
I did the loop today. As I wrote about before, the shortest route we have to run from our house is a 5.2 mile loop (5.4 from the beginning of our driveway). I've been "looking forward to" the day when I would be ready to run the loop and this week I anticipated my long run would be 5.5 miles.
I have only run the loop once before and that was last year in June when I was a few days away from finding out I was pregnant. I ran the 5.2 in 54:52 (10:33 pace) and noted in my training log that I had to walk ONE hill and that it was a terrible run. Today I ran the loop and had to walk numerous times up numerous hills. My pace was 12:10 or so. So yeah....a lot slower. While I am happy to have hit this milestone, it is a little bit of a bummer how out of shape I am.
On the run today I had to ponder just how much slower it's taking me to get back into shape now than it did last Spring. I had some fitness in me a year ago since I was still teaching Boot Camp and riding with the group, plus I weighed 20 pounds less but I sure didn't feel like I was in shape at the time. However, when I decided to get back into shape by following a simple triathlon training program (which I began on June 20, 2013), I got back up to running the 11 mile Canal Loop at Land Between the Lakes within about 6 weeks! Not to mention the improvements I saw in cycling and swimming.
Now here I am 9 weeks into training again and happy to have run 5.5 miles at a 12:10 pace. Haha! I probably haven't been this out of shape in a decade but at least I am working my way out of this hole. Having a goal that means something and that requires a good amount of physical and mental energy is really a blessing. Life just isn't quite as interesting when you cross the finish line.
I have only run the loop once before and that was last year in June when I was a few days away from finding out I was pregnant. I ran the 5.2 in 54:52 (10:33 pace) and noted in my training log that I had to walk ONE hill and that it was a terrible run. Today I ran the loop and had to walk numerous times up numerous hills. My pace was 12:10 or so. So yeah....a lot slower. While I am happy to have hit this milestone, it is a little bit of a bummer how out of shape I am.
On the run today I had to ponder just how much slower it's taking me to get back into shape now than it did last Spring. I had some fitness in me a year ago since I was still teaching Boot Camp and riding with the group, plus I weighed 20 pounds less but I sure didn't feel like I was in shape at the time. However, when I decided to get back into shape by following a simple triathlon training program (which I began on June 20, 2013), I got back up to running the 11 mile Canal Loop at Land Between the Lakes within about 6 weeks! Not to mention the improvements I saw in cycling and swimming.
Now here I am 9 weeks into training again and happy to have run 5.5 miles at a 12:10 pace. Haha! I probably haven't been this out of shape in a decade but at least I am working my way out of this hole. Having a goal that means something and that requires a good amount of physical and mental energy is really a blessing. Life just isn't quite as interesting when you cross the finish line.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Because I Have To
I'm sitting here staring at a blank screen because one of my daily habit goals is to write every day. But I don't quite feel like using this blog as a diary and I don't have time to write anything useful since it's 5 minutes till bedtime and I still have to meditate (another daily habit goal. WHY do I wait until it's almost bedtime to do 3 out of my 4 daily goals??)
And now my Podium Leg cycle is over so it's really time for me to go. So...
Dear Diary,
I ran today at 1pm and it was SO hot. However, I ran sub 12 minute miles for 3 miles so even though I felt very sluggish I would like to see this as a sign that I am getting keto-adapted. I certainly felt like I was getting there yesterday - more energy, better mood, etc.
My poor kids had to run Cross Country practice from 3:20-5:00 so I shouldn't complain about the heat.
The End
And now my Podium Leg cycle is over so it's really time for me to go. So...
Dear Diary,
I ran today at 1pm and it was SO hot. However, I ran sub 12 minute miles for 3 miles so even though I felt very sluggish I would like to see this as a sign that I am getting keto-adapted. I certainly felt like I was getting there yesterday - more energy, better mood, etc.
My poor kids had to run Cross Country practice from 3:20-5:00 so I shouldn't complain about the heat.
The End
Monday, August 18, 2014
Training Week #8 Recap
Well, you already know that running was rough for me this week since I accidentally gave up caffeine Tuesday-Saturday while also keto-adapting. But it ended on a surprising good note. I felt much better on Saturday (even without caffeine) and had a decent run. I felt good on Sunday, too, which allowed me to get to 19 miles for the week!
I had a long run of 5 miles (longest run to date) on Tuesday. It was slow as heck but I got it done. My pace has shot up by about 1 minute per MILE now that I have to stick to strictly aerobic running (until I become much more fat adapted I will have to stay totally aerobic). I was starting to get runs in the 10:xx range and now I am back to 12:10-12:30. I know that if I stick with it those paces will keep dropping, so I'm not too preoccupied with the numbers.
Also, I weighed myself this week. I know I said I was going to wait a bit longer but I felt like it was needed to make sure I was getting my macro ratios correct. I was prepared to see about 165 on the scale and it was 160.4. That translates to about 20 pounds to go to where I was when I got pregnant and 25 to go to be where I like to be. I was happy that the scale didn't mess with my head much as that was my biggest concern. There has never been a doubt in my mind that I will lose all my pregnancy weight so there isn't anything to get emotional about - it's just a matter of time. In the past when I had to lose weight I would go through a long denial phase where I avoided the scale and tried to pretend I hadn't gained much weight and that feels a lot different emotionally than where I am now.
My goals this week:
Run 5-6 days
1 bike
Reach for 20 miles if it feels right
Try the loop if I am feeling good (wasn't able to do this last week)
I had a long run of 5 miles (longest run to date) on Tuesday. It was slow as heck but I got it done. My pace has shot up by about 1 minute per MILE now that I have to stick to strictly aerobic running (until I become much more fat adapted I will have to stay totally aerobic). I was starting to get runs in the 10:xx range and now I am back to 12:10-12:30. I know that if I stick with it those paces will keep dropping, so I'm not too preoccupied with the numbers.
Also, I weighed myself this week. I know I said I was going to wait a bit longer but I felt like it was needed to make sure I was getting my macro ratios correct. I was prepared to see about 165 on the scale and it was 160.4. That translates to about 20 pounds to go to where I was when I got pregnant and 25 to go to be where I like to be. I was happy that the scale didn't mess with my head much as that was my biggest concern. There has never been a doubt in my mind that I will lose all my pregnancy weight so there isn't anything to get emotional about - it's just a matter of time. In the past when I had to lose weight I would go through a long denial phase where I avoided the scale and tried to pretend I hadn't gained much weight and that feels a lot different emotionally than where I am now.
My goals this week:
Run 5-6 days
1 bike
Reach for 20 miles if it feels right
Try the loop if I am feeling good (wasn't able to do this last week)
Sunday, August 17, 2014
My REALLY stupid mistake
Last time I wrote about how absolutely terrible I was feeling during the second week of keto adapting. I speculated that it was due to exercise and nursing a baby and that those factors were making it harder to adjust. Well. Guess what I discovered this morning? On Monday when I went to the grocery store I accidentally bought decaf coffee. Freaking DECAF COFFEE. And I drank that decaf for 5 days without suspecting anything was amiss. Almost my entire second week of keto adapting I was also in caffeine withdrawal. Doh!
As soon as I discovered this I headed straight to Starbucks and got a grande Americano with steamed heavy cream and now all is right with the world.
As soon as I discovered this I headed straight to Starbucks and got a grande Americano with steamed heavy cream and now all is right with the world.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Getting Keto Adapted...Again
I've done Keto before so I didn't think it would be tough to adapt again. The last time I did it, though, I wasn't exercising and I wasn't nursing a baby. Now I'm running about 15-20 miles per week and I am having the WORST TIME getting adapted. It's been 2 weeks and the last few days have been the worst. Some issues I am having:
I have napped every day except for one the last 2 weeks
I am achy and my runs have slowed by 1 to 1:30 per mile
I am crabby
I am constipated
So yeah, it's going just great. I am really working on making sure I drink enough water, drinking Nuun at least once a day or having chicken broth, eating tons of veggies, and just plain eating more food. I think the higher volume of food is making the most difference right now. I/m easily over 2000 calories per day now but I think I need it!
It's so hard to keep trying when I feel so terrible but I have to give this a fair shake. I may feel bad now but I really, really don't want to have to eat a bunch of sugar and sports nutrition to get through races and workouts. And that's why I am doing this. I want to be ale to run and not be a sugar addict. I see too many of my athletes struggle with weight, stomach issues, and the inconvenience of eating (and carrying) hundreds of calories per hour and I don't want to do it. I want to run without compromising my health.
Hopefully things will get better soon. For now I am surviving day to day and running 12:30 miles followed by a nap with the baby.
I have napped every day except for one the last 2 weeks
I am achy and my runs have slowed by 1 to 1:30 per mile
I am crabby
I am constipated
So yeah, it's going just great. I am really working on making sure I drink enough water, drinking Nuun at least once a day or having chicken broth, eating tons of veggies, and just plain eating more food. I think the higher volume of food is making the most difference right now. I/m easily over 2000 calories per day now but I think I need it!
It's so hard to keep trying when I feel so terrible but I have to give this a fair shake. I may feel bad now but I really, really don't want to have to eat a bunch of sugar and sports nutrition to get through races and workouts. And that's why I am doing this. I want to be ale to run and not be a sugar addict. I see too many of my athletes struggle with weight, stomach issues, and the inconvenience of eating (and carrying) hundreds of calories per hour and I don't want to do it. I want to run without compromising my health.
Hopefully things will get better soon. For now I am surviving day to day and running 12:30 miles followed by a nap with the baby.
Monday, August 11, 2014
Training Recap - Week #7
What a week! It was full of new challenges:
1. I bumped up my mileage. I had been at 15 miles for the past 2 weeks and went up to 18.5 this week.
2. I got new shoes and have accepted that my old shoes are no longer being made. I am now running alternate days in Newtons and my old Nikes that I have worn for a couple of years now and love.
3. I started eating high carb/low fat again so I am struggling with perceived exertion now that my carbs are hovering around 50g a day.
Details:
I had a long run of 4.5 mile early in the week and it, like most of my runs this week, was a challenge. Not only am I fat-adapting again but the weather was tough. This week will have some cooler days so I hope to get in my long run then.
ALSO, I hit 30 days of running today (Monday) and I am ending my streak now so I don't get attached to it. I think the 30 days of running was a great way for me to get back into running and exercising, but it's time to move on. After much thought it finally hit me today as completely obvious what my plan will be for the marathon and it's super-simple. I will be doing nothing but building an aerobic base. Why? Because this is only my first race back after many years of being out of the racing mindset. This is a starting point for me so I need to treat it as a beginning, not an end. When I am done with this marathon I want to have a strong aerobic base to move on to Phase 2, whatever I decide that should be. If I try to follow a marathon training plan that is too advanced, I might sideline myself. Plus I want to prove that I have the patience to do this right, with a long-term mindset of health, strength, and continual improvement.
What this means for me right now is that starting with my next run I have to slow down. No more moderate intensity for me and of course that is going to suck, but being a coach has given me the perspective to see what happens when you don't have the patience to do things right and when you drive and competitiveness work against you. I want to be a good example to my athletes. My plan is still developing but I think I will settle into 4-5 days per week of running and fill in the other days with cross-training. Not really interested in taking days off as that hasn't ever worked well for me. Hopefully I will have this more mapped out by next week.
Goals for this week:
don't run at least one day this week
try the loop - the shortest loop I can run from my house is 5.2 miles. I have been waiting 7 weeks to be able to NOT do an out and back run!
Decide on testing protocol to establish zones - heart rate or pace and when/where to test
Looking forward to another week!
1. I bumped up my mileage. I had been at 15 miles for the past 2 weeks and went up to 18.5 this week.
2. I got new shoes and have accepted that my old shoes are no longer being made. I am now running alternate days in Newtons and my old Nikes that I have worn for a couple of years now and love.
3. I started eating high carb/low fat again so I am struggling with perceived exertion now that my carbs are hovering around 50g a day.
Details:
I had a long run of 4.5 mile early in the week and it, like most of my runs this week, was a challenge. Not only am I fat-adapting again but the weather was tough. This week will have some cooler days so I hope to get in my long run then.
ALSO, I hit 30 days of running today (Monday) and I am ending my streak now so I don't get attached to it. I think the 30 days of running was a great way for me to get back into running and exercising, but it's time to move on. After much thought it finally hit me today as completely obvious what my plan will be for the marathon and it's super-simple. I will be doing nothing but building an aerobic base. Why? Because this is only my first race back after many years of being out of the racing mindset. This is a starting point for me so I need to treat it as a beginning, not an end. When I am done with this marathon I want to have a strong aerobic base to move on to Phase 2, whatever I decide that should be. If I try to follow a marathon training plan that is too advanced, I might sideline myself. Plus I want to prove that I have the patience to do this right, with a long-term mindset of health, strength, and continual improvement.
What this means for me right now is that starting with my next run I have to slow down. No more moderate intensity for me and of course that is going to suck, but being a coach has given me the perspective to see what happens when you don't have the patience to do things right and when you drive and competitiveness work against you. I want to be a good example to my athletes. My plan is still developing but I think I will settle into 4-5 days per week of running and fill in the other days with cross-training. Not really interested in taking days off as that hasn't ever worked well for me. Hopefully I will have this more mapped out by next week.
Goals for this week:
don't run at least one day this week
try the loop - the shortest loop I can run from my house is 5.2 miles. I have been waiting 7 weeks to be able to NOT do an out and back run!
Decide on testing protocol to establish zones - heart rate or pace and when/where to test
Looking forward to another week!
Monday, August 4, 2014
Training Recap Week 6
I have run 22 days in a row - at least one mile per day. Managed to keep the streak going through the weekend in Chattanooga during our training camp.
Also stretched my long run to 4 miles. Had decent weather this week so I was able to front-load the week with higher miles so I could just worry about squeezing in one mile on the days I was working in Chattanooga.
Everything feels good. It's been 6 weeks since I started exercising again so I think it's time to slowly move into the next phase of training. By 8 weeks I anticipate being a more formal training schedule and will also be getting a new GPS watch and some new sneakers. I am still running in my 2 year old Nikes that aren't even running shoes - just a minimal every-day shoe I can buy for 55.00 at any shoe store. I am also going to be experimenting (again) with fat-adapted training so this week I will begin logging my food on My Fitness Pal to monitor carbohydrate intake.
One thing that happened this weekend that has lit a fire under me was seeing myself in full length mirrors all damn weekend. I don't have one in my house (best decision ever) but they are everywhere at the hotel (in front of each elevator and in the room as you exit the bathroom), so I saw myself all the time and I wasn't too thrilled with that. I didn't think I was as fat as I am. But at least now I know and can work a bit harder on the weight loss. I'm debating whether it would be in my best interest to get on the scale. It's been about 41 weeks since I stepped on a scale and I had planned to lose all my baby weight without the stress of seeing those numbers on the scale but now I am wondering if that is helping me be a bit lazy when I could be losing the weight faster if I was monitoring it closer. The debate goes from "you can't change what you don't measure" to "I am a crazy person and I know that weighing myself will cause stress and an unhealthy focus on weight loss". OK, I think I just talked myself into staying off the scale for awhile longer. It's not worth it. I'll just log my food instead and hope that is enough to see some noticeable change.
Lastly, Andrew and I started a habit calendar 3 weeks ago. We list 3-4 habits we want to encourage that week on a white board and mark it off as we do it. My three things have been run, strength, and meditate, all of which I wanted to do every day of the week. Andrew's were run, strength, meditate, and read but he is more moderate with his targets and aims for 3-5 days per week of each. We take a picture of the board at the end of each week and then erase it and start over. I really like sharing the board with Andrew as it encourages us both to work on our daily rituals and it's fun to mark stuff off every day.
Also stretched my long run to 4 miles. Had decent weather this week so I was able to front-load the week with higher miles so I could just worry about squeezing in one mile on the days I was working in Chattanooga.
Everything feels good. It's been 6 weeks since I started exercising again so I think it's time to slowly move into the next phase of training. By 8 weeks I anticipate being a more formal training schedule and will also be getting a new GPS watch and some new sneakers. I am still running in my 2 year old Nikes that aren't even running shoes - just a minimal every-day shoe I can buy for 55.00 at any shoe store. I am also going to be experimenting (again) with fat-adapted training so this week I will begin logging my food on My Fitness Pal to monitor carbohydrate intake.
One thing that happened this weekend that has lit a fire under me was seeing myself in full length mirrors all damn weekend. I don't have one in my house (best decision ever) but they are everywhere at the hotel (in front of each elevator and in the room as you exit the bathroom), so I saw myself all the time and I wasn't too thrilled with that. I didn't think I was as fat as I am. But at least now I know and can work a bit harder on the weight loss. I'm debating whether it would be in my best interest to get on the scale. It's been about 41 weeks since I stepped on a scale and I had planned to lose all my baby weight without the stress of seeing those numbers on the scale but now I am wondering if that is helping me be a bit lazy when I could be losing the weight faster if I was monitoring it closer. The debate goes from "you can't change what you don't measure" to "I am a crazy person and I know that weighing myself will cause stress and an unhealthy focus on weight loss". OK, I think I just talked myself into staying off the scale for awhile longer. It's not worth it. I'll just log my food instead and hope that is enough to see some noticeable change.
Lastly, Andrew and I started a habit calendar 3 weeks ago. We list 3-4 habits we want to encourage that week on a white board and mark it off as we do it. My three things have been run, strength, and meditate, all of which I wanted to do every day of the week. Andrew's were run, strength, meditate, and read but he is more moderate with his targets and aims for 3-5 days per week of each. We take a picture of the board at the end of each week and then erase it and start over. I really like sharing the board with Andrew as it encourages us both to work on our daily rituals and it's fun to mark stuff off every day.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)