Tag: long run

Weigh In / Long Run 12-28

So, this week happened to include a major holiday.  A major holiday typically marked by things like big meals.  And candy.  So much candy.

Weight:  274.8

Weekly Gain / (Loss):  1.0 pounds

Total Gain / (Loss):  (52.6 pounds)

Weekly Mileage:  22.37

And, given the aforementioned major holiday, this was not a surprise.  Any gain is always a disappointment, but I’m not devastated here, because I somewhat expected it.  I am clearly on a plateau – I’ve been basically the same weight, plus or minus 2 or 3 pounds, since the end of July, so five months now.  That’s mostly a food phenomenon, and I know it.  BUT – we’re through the holidays now, which makes keeping the eating under control easier … and the mileage is getting ready to ramp up.  So I’m optimistic.

On a positive note, that was a new record for my weekly mileage.  I also set a record for longest ever run – 14 miles this morning.  Overall, I was very happy with the run – the half marathon split would have been a PR by nearly 15 minutes – but the last mile was a shuffle.  What that run did for me was demonstrate two things:  1.) how much stronger I am than I was, and 2.) how far I have to go.  After mile 14, the thought of going another 12 (point 2) seems … out of reach.  Gotta keep working.

The mileage officially starts ramping up now – barring injury or something crazy, I’ll be doing 30 mile weeks within a month.  Coupled with a re-doubled focus on food intake, and I’m thinking that I can get some momentum going on the weight loss – which will make those miles seem easier.

Incidentally – I’m not a New Year’s resolution kind of guy – but look for a goals-type post coming up.  A preview – regular blogging is a goal.

Onward!

Weigh In / Long Run 12-21

I’m not going to call this week good, but it also wasn’t bad.  Let’s just go with “not bad”.

Weight:  273.8

Weekly Gain / (Loss):  (0.4 pounds)

Total Gain / (Loss):  (53.6 pounds)

Weekly Mileage:  20.3

I’m going to start posting mileage now, too.  Part of the point of all of this is to generate a touch of accountability to the 5 of you that are regularly seeing this (also – hi!), and that should extend to the mileage as well.

This week involved work travel for me, which is always a very dangerous thing.  For whatever reason, leaving for a trip has always felt like “no rules” time for me, and I struggle to turn that off even for very short business trips.  Also, on these trips I’m not always in control of food selection, so that hurts, too.

And this week was Cincinnati, so … Skyline Chili, yes.  Montgomery Inn, yes.  (Pro-tip – when they come around and offer to put the bib on you, let them.)  Unobstructed access to chocolate in the meeting room, yes.  BUT – salad in the airport coming back, also yes.  Running my miles (even though I had to use a treadmill), yes.  And generally not screwing up too badly – yes.

So I lost a touch of weight this week, which was good.  This upcoming week, which of course includes Christmas, will also be challenging, but I’m not going to be too hard on myself.  One of the reasons that we do all of this is so that we can enjoy ourselves on Christmas.  And I intend to enjoy myself, and re-double efforts with food after the holiday.

12-mile run for the long run, and overall it felt very good.  I was in a good mental place for the distance, which helps – because after awhile that just becomes a mental exercise.   If you’ve done a swift burst of math, you’ll notice that this week I only ran 8 miles outside of my long run – and those would have been the treadmill sessions.  Thursday and Friday, when I was scheduled to do another 3 or 4 miles, just didn’t happen.  I’ve got to stop letting those fall through the cracks.

Mileage is ramping now – 14 miles scheduled for next weekend, 15 the weekend after that.  So it begins.

Weigh In / Long Run 12.7.13

I knew I was having a good week, but this is ridiculous – and teaches me a lesson.  First, as always, the numbers:

Weight:  276.6

One Week Gain / (Loss):  (6.4 pounds)

Total Gain / (Loss):  (50.8  pounds)

Holy crap.

As I wrote in last week’s weigh-in, I rededicated myself to tracking my Weight Watcher’s points this week – and I was able to do that.  Didn’t even use my “bonus” 49 weekly points.  But then I also hit the streets hard running again this week, too.  I did miss one little 2 mile run, on the cold and rainy Friday morning, but I’m not going to beat myself up about that.

This morning I officially got right back on the marathon training schedule and did my scheduled 10-miler.  This was only the third time I’ve gone at least this far – and the other two were the half-marathon and the long run in preparation for the half-marathon.  My run overall was strong-ish, especially considering that I’ve basically taken a month off.  There is no way I can expect to come back and run these miles fast – I just have to be prepared to ease into them.  And that, in general happened today.  I did not negative split this one like I have some of my long runs in the past, but my two strongest miles based on time (as well as perception as I was running) were mile 4 and mile 8.  So … I’ll absolutely take it.

So here’s what I’ve learned over the last couple of weeks:  be skeptical about the scale.  I just don’t think I lost over 6 legitimate pounds of fat this week.  This was about water retention primarily, with some timing thrown in.  Not that I hadn’t gained weight, just that if I can knock 6 pounds off all at once then it wasn’t exactly hard-to-reach fat, was it?

That also means that I really hadn’t gained 10 pounds over the last 4 weeks, either.  Yes, if I hadn’t taken the right steps, then that would have become permanent.  But if I just went by the scale, I’d have thought I was failing miserably and been tempted to give it up … at least until after the holidays.  Instead, I put my head back down and had an amazing week.  There is a lesson in that.  If only I could articulate it.

Next weekend is the 15K in Central Park, which I’m now much more optimistic about.  In the meantime – 6 pounds!  Yay!

Saturday Weigh In / Long Run

First – the line:

Weight:  273.4

Two Week Gain / (Loss):  (1.8 pounds)

Total Gain / (Loss):  (54 pounds)

Last week was a no-weigh-in week because of the travel for the race, and when you stack that on top of travel I was a bit concerned about this.  This week has been OK, though my mileage was a bit lower than planned (I think I got a bit aggressive with post-event recovery runs) and the food situation is only “meh”.

HOWEVER – that number went in the correct direction, which is fantastic.  I bought a dress shirt today with a neck a full inch smaller than I was wearing a few months ago … and it isn’t even that snug.  I’m legitimately too small for many of my clothes.  And the mileage is getting ready to slowly start ramping up.  So I feel optimistic going into the holidays.

Also – I have lost 54 pounds.  I was walking around with the equivalent of 4 or 5 fat babies strapped to my waist.  And they’re gone.  It’s a remarkable state of affairs.

My long run this morning was scheduled for an easy six miles.  Because I missed a day out of the schedule this week, I extended that a bit and did about 7 ¼.  Overall felt OK – not great, but OK.  No pain, just tired.

Travel again next weekend, but also a 5K next weekend, too.  So much going on.

%d bloggers like this: