Weekly Recap 4-22 to 4-28-13

This week culminated in my fifth half marathon, the Kings Mountain Half in Clover SC.  Besides that it was a pretty normal week.

Starting weight – 245.0
Monday – Walking – 45 minutes
Tuesday – Run – 3.5 miles
Wednesday – Bodyflow – 60 minutes
Thursday – Run – 2 miles
Friday – REST
Saturday – RACE – Half Marathon – 13.3 miles
Sunday – REST
Total mileage – 18.8 miles
Finishing weight – 242.0 (3 pounds lost)

Good loss this week, some (or all) of which may be water weight loss from the race on saturday, but I’ll take it. Hopefully this can continue.

Weekly Recap 4-15-13 to 4-21-13

Well, this has been an interesting week.  All the craziness in Boston focusing everything on runners and our sport, all of us gathering together to support those killed and wounded and celebrating when the men responsible are caught.  I ran my 5 miles on Tuesday in my yellow and blue Half Fanatics shirt to support the yellow and blue of the B.A.A.  Friday I got in a crummy treadmill run of only three miles, but today me and Laura knocked it out of the park with a nicely paced 10 mile run around Salem Lake.  I’m very happy with this run and it gives me a lot of confidence going into the Kings Mountain Half this weekend.

Starting weight – 245.0 (from 3-31-13)
Monday – Spin – 50  minutes
Tuesday – Run – 5 miles
Wednesday – Spin – 50 minutes
Thursday – REST
Friday – Run – 3 miles
Saturday – REST
Sunday – Run – 10 miles
Total mileage – 18 miles
Ending weight – 245.0 (unchanged)

My longest run by far since Disney also translates into my longest weekly mileage in quite a while.  The last four weeks have increased from 3.5, to 5, to 9 and then 18.

I’ve got to get “back on the wagon” so to speak with the healthy eating, now that I can exercise again.  I signed up for this weekends race to motivate me and get me back into that “training” mindset again.  Now I just need the nutrition portion of that to follow suit.  I haven’t logged a weight in 3 weeks, and weighing in today at exactly the same as I did three weeks ago, which is both good and bad. Not gaining, but not losing.  Need to work on this.

I have another Half on the radar as possible for May, which will help me stay in that training mode hopefully before the Grand Adventure (details to follow).

Weekly recap 3-25-13 to 3-31-13

Well, I’ve had an interesting week.  A lot of running related things but not a whole lot of running.  I hit the elliptical on Tuesday because of some soreness in my ankle after spin class on Monday, on Thursday I had the Dick Beardsley event, which I keep forgetting to blog about but I’ll get to it, I did manage to squeeze in 3.5 miles on Friday with a day off work, and then Saturday volunteered at two different races, the Lillie’s Friends 5K in the morning and then the Indoor Ultimate Runner in the afternoon which my friend Jennifer was volunteering at.

Starting Weight – 246.0
Monday – Spinning – 50 minutes
Tuesday – Elliptical – 60 minutes
Wednesday – Yoga – 60 minutes
Thursday – REST (Dick Beardsley Event)
Friday – Run – 3.5 miles
Saturday – REST (Race volunteering)
Sunday – Walking – 30 minutes
Total Mileage – 3.5 miles
Ending Weight – 245.0 (1 pound lost*)

The Y was closed today, so my weigh in was at home and not on the locker room scale like usual, so I’m going to take that with a slight grain of salt, but happy to be moving down again.  I hopped on the scale midweek last week and was at 248, so it’s likely more than a 1 pound loss, but I didn’t mark that down so it’s not “official”.  It’s also mostly water weight fluctuations the way I’ve been eating crappy lately.  Gotta get back on track.

Too fat to run?

This morning a friend at work approached me to ask my opinion on something that had happened to her the night before.  It appalled me so much I had to write about it, so you guys will get to hear my opinion as well.

She was at the gym running on the treadmill (run/walk interval training) and when she finished she was approached by a young woman who worked at the gym and the woman told her “You know you shouldn’t be running.” asking for clarification my co-worker asked “Is it because treadmills are bad for your knees? Should I be running outside instead?” to which the woman replied “No, you shouldn’t be running at all, you’re too fat to run.  You need to lose another 50 pounds before you should start running”.  Of course, this was devastating to my co-worker who has worked hard and has already lost 15 pounds, but this woman, no matter how “well intentioned” her advice was WAY off base on SO many levels.

First and foremost, she gave her “advice” in the most insulting way possible with absolutely NO tact.  If that was her opinion that’s fine, but she should have had a good reason for it, such as an injury concern or something of that nature.  Not just being “too big”.. that’s not enough of a reason.

Second, as someone who started running at 355 pounds I can say for a FACT that my co-worker is NOT too big to run, and as a matter of fact NO ONE is.  You don’t have to run far or run fast to be a “runner”.  And if you absolutely cannot run, you can WALK.  We all walk everyday, but walking for fitness is different than walking around a store or walking at work.  If you walk with purpose you will walk faster, walk longer and walk further.  You can increase your heartrate with just walking if it’s brisk enough.

Lastly, to lose weight you have to do aerobic exercises.  Exercises that will get your muscles exchanging CO2 and burning calories.  You have to increase your heartrate to pump all that blood to the muscles, and also your heart is one of the strongest muscles in your body and just getting IT pumping burns calories regardless of what you’re doing with your legs.  Running is one of the BEST cardio exercises.  It uses those big huge muscles in your legs which are a FURNACE for burning calories.  You can’t tell someone they need to lose weight to run.  NO, you need to run to lose wieght! It’s that simple.

Don’t let ANYONE (including your own inner voice) tell you that you are too big to do ANYTHING especially not exercise.  Otherwise you will never be able to make the change.  Run, walk, cycle, swim whatever works for YOU. DO IT.

Like the Nike ads say… JUST DO IT.

Weekly recap – 3-11-13 to 3-17-13

Had a successful 10K race this weekend, and a not so successful day on the scale today, but the scale result is not a surprise.

Starting weight – 242.0
Monday – Bodyflow – 60 minutes and Spinning – 60 minutes
Tuesday – Run – 3 miles
Wednesday – Elliptical – 60 minutes
Thursday – REST
Friday – REST
Saturday – Race – St Leo’s 10K – 6.25 miles
Sunday – Yoga – 60 minutes
Total Mileage – 9.25
Ending Weight – 246.0 (4 pound gain)

Between a work party Friday, spaghetti and beer dinner Friday night, post race foodage Saturday and then a track club party on Saturday night, everything within arms reach of me went into my face this weekend so not at all surprised to see a big gain.  Hopefully most of it is salt retention/water weight so it will come back off eventually.

 

Weekly Recap 3-4-13 to 3-10-13

Things went a little sideways this week, but ended on a pretty good note.  Had several late days at work with a sore knee and some nasty weather that cancelled my Tuesday and Thursday short runs, but I managed to knock out a good five miler in the gorgeous weather on Saturday which is my longest run since Disney.

I’ve got my 10K this weekend, which may very well be my last race of any distance for a while.  Things are totally up in the air for the spring and summer and I’m just literally taking things one week at a time.  Plus if my knee keeps acting up I may be out of action for a little while until it decides to behave or I have to go get something done to it.

Starting weight – 241.8
Monday – Bodyflow – 60 minutes and Spinning – 60 minutes
Tuesday – REST
Wednesday – Elliptical – 60 minutes
Thursday – REST
Friday – REST
Saturday – Run – 5 miles
Sunday – Yoga – 60 minutes
Total Mileage – 5 miles
Ending Weight – 242.0 (0.2 pound gain)

Very small gain this week which isnt too bad.. I’ve been yo-yoing up and down with the same couple of pounds back and forth for a while now so this is not a surprise.  I’ve gained a little over 4 pounds since Christmas, which is not that bad, but I’ve “shifted” (up or down) 17.2 pounds, so it’s been gain/lose/gain/lose/gain/lose… It’s pretty discouraging when one week you have a 3.4 pound gain and the following week only a 0.2 pound loss.

Weekly recap 2-25-13 to 3-3-13

I got back into running this week and decided to register for a race.  The St Leo’s 10K on March 16th.  Local race, not a bad fee, no travel and I ran it last year.  It was a difficult course, but the people put on a good show.  A pre-race spaghetti party the night before and then plenty of food and water and drinks after the race. A friend of mine from work may be running it as well, and my Maniac buddy Laura is thinking about it even though she’s signed up for the Color Run that same day.

Starting weight – 243.4
Monday – Spinning – 60 minutes
Tuesday – Run – 3 miles
Wednesday – Spinning – 50 minutes
Thursday – Run – 3 miles
Friday – REST
Saturday – Run – 4 miles
Sunday – Yoga – 60 minutes
Ending weight – 241.8 (1.4 pounds lost)
Total Mileage – 10 miles

Really surprised to see a loss this week.  My eating has been terrible lately and I know it has been but I still haven’t done anything about it.  The difference between the 60 minute spin and the 50 minute spin is more significant than you would think! May try the 60 minute class again tomorrow.

Weekly recap 2-18-13 to 2-24-13

Got in a good week of cross training this week as I stepped back from running a little bit.  I decided I needed a little break after backing out of the Pilot Mountain Payback.  I may get back to running this week to see how I feel.

Starting Weight – 243.4
Monday – Elliptical – 60 minutes
Tuesday – Elliptical – 60 minutes
Wednesday – BodyFlow – 60 minutes & Spinning – 50 minutes
Thursday – REST
Friday – Elliptical – 60 minutes
Saturday – Weightlifting – 45 minutes
Sunday – Yoga – 60 minutes
Total Mileage – 0
Ending Weight – 243.2 (0.2 pounds lost)

Well, a small loss, but not a gain… so I guess that’s good.  I seem to be stuck here at around 240.  Don’t know what I need to change up to get it moving again but I guess we’ll find out.

Weekly Recap 2-4-13 to 2-10-13

Well, this week got back to some semblance of normalcy.  I was even able to get in a decent long run today.  I managed 8.5 miles, which is by far my longest run since Disney.  I wasn’t turned away by pain or fatigue but rather a flooded greenway.  My goal had been 10.  I’d liked to have gotten more miles with my half coming up next weekend, but I’m not so worried now as I was and I think I can taper as normal rather than continue to try to push myself.  I’m still wary of my knee since I’m sure it could go out on me at anytime, but I’m cautiously optimistic.  This will be my last half marathon for a while, so if I can make it through this one I can calm down on the training for a while and maybe do a couple 5 and 10Ks and get back to running for fun.

Starting weight – 244.0
Monday – Elliptical – 60 minutes
Tuesday – Run – 4 miles
Wednesday – Spinning – 50 minutes
Thursday – REST
Friday – Run – 3 miles
Saturday – Elliptical – 60 minutes
Sunday – Run – 8.5 miles
Total Mileage – 15.5 miles
Ending weight – 240.0* (4 pounds lost)

*I weighed myself on my scale at home, rather than at the Y, switching scales can lead to some inconsistency and inaccuracy, but I’m not going to argue with it for now.  If I weigh at the Y next week I won’t be surprised to see if creep up to closer to 241 but it looked like it was dead on 240 so I’m going to go with it.

I added the elliptical to my workout routine while I was rehabbing my knee, and the first couple of times I did it over a year ago I hated it (just like my first spinning experience), now I don’t seem to have much problem doing it. I even cranked up the resistance and the incline a little higher the last time.

Up next the Pilot Mountain Payback Heavy Half.  14.5 miles of trail running in the snow (based on the current weather report). Fun!

Weekly Recap 1-14-13 to 1-20-13

Wow, what a couple of weeks it’s been.  Between Christmas, Lisa coming to visit me and then going to Disney to run the half marathon it’s been non-stop for almost a month.  Unfortunately it’s been a lot of non-stop eating, but that’s OK, I’m not going to beat myself up, I certainly don’t regret one bit of it.

Since I injured (re-injured?) my knee at Disney I’ve been taking it easy and resting, but I got back into things towards the end of the week.  I’m going to swap running with doing the elliptical for a little while and do some non-impact cross training so I don’t lose all my hard work but also don’t bash my knee to bits.  After a couple of weeks hopefully I can get back into it, since of course I have the Pilot Mountain Payback coming up in February!

Starting weight – 237.4 (12-24-12 last weigh in)
Monday – REST
Tuesday -REST
Wednesday – REST
Thursday – REST
Friday – Weight lifting – 30 minutes
Saturday – Elliptical – 48 minutes
Sunday – Yoga – 60 minutes
Total Mileage – Zero
Ending Weight – 242.2 (4.8 pound gain)

So I’ve gained almost 5 pounds since Christmas. I’m not surprised and honestly it could have been way worse.  I’m not too upset about it.  Just gotta get back into the groove of things.. I’ve been on “vacation” for 3 weeks now, so gotta get back to work.  Still under 250 and it’s not like I gained back up to 300 or anything, so I haven’t lost any of my hard work.  Just gotta get back into it.