"FAT" is just one S away from "FAST"
A series of unfortunate events have lead to some dietary changes lately, which has regrettably begun to tip the scales... I suppose with a diet consisting primarily of cashews, meat and stirfry, I shouldn't exactly be surprised, but good golly, I am officially fat.
Heading into my second pre-base microcycle, I'm actually feeling like the running portion is under control. Injury prevention remains top of the priority list, and I'd like to shed a few pounds to head off any risk factors as I approach the next increase in training minutes. Add 10 extra pounds to lug around for 10% more minutes... the impact starts to add up, when you're dealing with an already erratic and temperamental system.
Tune in this week to see if our roly-poly heroine will be able to curb the snacking and make it to 4 hours of training time!
Sunday 12/09: 43:32 Monterrey to second bridge loop. Felt some motivational issues while cramming cashews and pastries into my mouth at the kitchen counter. Did not feel as fresh and rested as I was supposed to after the additional day away from core strengthening. R hip a tiny bit inflamed but not at the usual spot. Felt uneasy about that, but a lot of stretching and it was fine during the run. This run always makes me happy bc it is kind of a real loop instead of an out and back. 40 minutes feels more like a real run, felt good all the way through. Core strengthening at the gym afterwards. Felt irritable due to large number of people and lack of exercise ball. Cookies in the late PM. Doing my part to deserve J.R.'s pet name, Fatty McFat Fat. Not starting the week off right on the weight loss front.
Monday 12/10: Off. Lately the off day is coinciding with non-core strengthening day, so I've been doing literally nothing. Today's strategy is to make the opening of the cashew bag really small, so I have to squeeze them out one at a time. Maybe that will slow the rate of consumption.
In other news, got some bloodwork back that included cardiovascular metrics... both hemoglobin and hematocrit a lot lower than a year ago, putting me on the lower end of the range for females... and presumably these are like normal, non athlete females... ugh, so depressing. Kind of a disgruntling, hating the world sort of day.
Tuesday 12/11: 34:45, Monterrey to rock. The Arroyo claims its first casualty of the season... the misfortunes continue for the embattled L foot. Just as soon as the bruise from the bottle accident has healed, I've managed to sprain it pretty badly on that first little downhill to get onto the path by Monterrey. Had to stop for a few minutes to shake it out, really painful... but I think the angle of torsion spared most of the key ligaments, so its really mostly a stabilizer on the outer part of the heel that took the brunt of it. Rest of run was a bit shaky but pain free as long as I made a very concerted effort to keep the foot strikes straight. ARGHHH....
Decided that it is just too exhausting to hate the world... so I'm going to try to have a better attitude. Make every obstacle into an opportunity: Maybe being allergic to 95% of the delicious free holiday chocolates and baked goods is an opportunity for me to lose weight, instead of a cruel and unusual deprivation of even the most simple pleasures of life. Maybe my abyssmal physical state is an opportunity to work on core strengthening and mechanics and things I would otherwise be too distracted to put effort into, instead of a reminder of being a disappointing failure and how I may never race again.
Wednesday 12/12: 33:35, California to RB. Had to park far away, grouchy. Ankle feeling steadier than expected. Felt good for a post-core strengthening day. Mostly a good run, but the breathing system was not in sync with the running system. Must have been a bad air quality (as defined by concentration of tree particles) day, per the mysterious tightness in my throat/upper chest area that occurs occasionally and unpredictably.
Thursday 12/13: 46:22, Huntington to Virginia in the PM. So cold I thought I was going to die! First "real" run in so much that its a route I used to do in the pre-crippled days. Other than the cold, it was nice to be out somewhere different, resisted the urge to do the full route up Oak Knoll, probably a very wise move. Felt really weird to run on so much pavement. Feet felt ... unenthused about the change. Kinda realized by the end that my body was a little freaked out by the change in terrain, grass, pavement, inclines, curbs, etc. which was a bit of a reality check in terms of how far I've got to go... but I think I'm going to keep trying a few more of these road runs, since pavement is all that is available when I go home for the holidays.
Had a good core strengthening session at the gym afterwards. Was really enthused about these for the first time ever, namely because after my run, I was ice cold from head to toe, and I knew that the core exercises would warm me right up. Feeling a bit worried about running in Boston. It's really tough with the low intensity training--you get up to cruising speed, and if you're still cold, then that's just too bad.
Friday 12/14: 34:42, Monterrey to rock in the twilight hours before Peter's company holiday party. Sub-optimal amount of sleep, but mostly a good run. Many dogs out. Really wishing I hadn't sprained that ankle earlier this week. There's kind of a persistent soreness in the L ankle area, probably connected to that incident. Mostly feels better after stretching the extensors.
Saturday 12/15: 40:33, One trail perimeter lap around the RB with Talia and the Brain in the AM. Really excited to have company, was fun. Good change of pace from the usual Arroyo jogs, met a nice man who knows Jesse Bloom. Yummy breakfast at Whole Foods afterwards. An unseasonably warm morning, very nice and sunny. Didn't quite make it to 4 hours of training time, but I still think this was a solid week.
Target Training time: 3 hours 50 minutes, gotta take it easy on the damn sprained ankle.
Actual training: 3:53:29
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