Straight to the numbers, which are … anti-climactic
Weight: 274.8
Weekly Gain / (Loss): 0 pounds
Total Gain / (Loss): (52.6 pounds)
Weekly Mileage: 23.58
Not totally surprising. Food was again the culprit this week, but then again food is nearly always the culprit. Though the goal of Weight Watchers tracking daily is working out, I don’t want to get too carried away with expectations. This week is one of the first “normal” weeks I will have had in a long time – no travel, no holidays, relatively low-key at work. So I have high hopes for this weigh-in next week.
The story this week was the running – set another total weekly mileage record, but I’m not that impressed with that. I’ll be setting those weekly for the next several weeks. The story this week was the race, which went well but not great, and the long run. The marathon is ten weeks from this past Saturday, so we’re ramping up for it in earnest – and this week was 15 miles.
Fortunately, I generally have access to some great running trails for these really long runs. They’re relatively flat and they remove all issues with traffic. However, last week it snowed here a rather lot, and while the roads get plowed those trails don’t. So I had to put together a road course for these 15 miles. And that introduces several things that I generally don’t have to deal with – quite a lot of elevation change, traffic, and, in this case, snow.
All of that added up to a brutal run. The half marathon split would have been a PR by about 5 minutes, so there is that, but in general I was toast near the end of this one. And I’ve been extra sore. This is the first time through all of this that legitimate doubt has crept in – I don’t doubt I can eke out the mileage, but I’m starting to get concerned about the 5 ½ hour time limit. The calculators say I should be fine, but after this … well, yikes.
This is not to say that I’m quitting, or am any less resolved. Oh, no – this is going to happen. Its just that an element of doubt has now been introduced. This next week is a recovery week in this calendar, so my long run is only 13 miles. That should help, and I’m just going to have to trust the training schedule. That’s all I can do.
Looking forward to a good weight-loss story next time!
A Constant State of Hunger 