“At first an ordeal and then an accomplishment, the daily run becomes a staple, like bread, or wine, a fine marriage, or air. It is also a free pass to friendship.”
~ Benjamin Cheever, Strides

Monday, April 30, 2012

Rainier Training: Listening


Quick Look Weeks of April 23-April 29:
# of Workouts:  7
# of miles ran/walked/hiked/climbed:  13.8
Starting Weight: 220.8
Current Weight: 174.6 (Up 0.6 lbs from previous week)
Total Lost to date: 46.2 lbs!
Chest: 40" (No change)
Hips: 45"  (No change!)

Monday: Weighted TM walk (28lbs, 10% incline), 1.7 miles; ST with Adam
Tuesday: Ran 3.1 miles
Wednesday: ST with Adam
Thursday: Ran 3 miles, Avery in Bjorn for Costco trip
Friday: MOPS Yoga
Saturday: Ran 6 miles
Sunday: Bonus rest day
I think I was feeling the residual effects of racing the Scioto Miles 15K last Sunday.  I intentionally did not run on Monday to allow those muscles more recovery, but I think the weighted walk on an incline did as much damage.  

All week, my body was giving me little signals that it was tired.  I listened.  Taking it easier for one week will be much less detrimental to my Rainier training than pushing too hard and getting hurt.  
Try cat wrestling Mom, it's low impact
All week long, my scale-checks were high, so I fully expected to gain a couple pounds this week.  0.6 lbs gain?  I can live with that.  That's within statistical probability of being water weight and/or scale error.  I was really expecting to have a mental stumble when I finally had a week with a +sign in front of the weight difference rather than a minus.  The fact that I had not had one since I started weekly weigh-ins is probably a statistical anomaly.  (had not had one - how's that for great grammar?)

With another light week ahead of me, with lots of carbs, because it's race week, I decided to play with excel and make a graph to keep me feeling good about me.

Yes, this means that I am a bit of a nerd.  Yes, I still have a way to go before I'm where I want to be.  I like the overall trend for the past 7 months though!

A couple of people have asked how I'm doing it - so I am planning out a post that covers it.  Fair warning though - I'm not a fan of fad diets or 1200 calorie plans or anything that involves drastic unsustainable change.  Mostly, I've added up a lot of small changes and a lot of exercise.
Mommy wants to exercise again.  Looks like it's just you and me Cassie.
This week brings another change.  It's time for me to pay more attention to diet and actually hydrating properly.  What better time to TRACK my water intake than when I have a race on Saturday where the weather is expected to be 30 degrees warmer than my last month of training.  I downloaded a free iPhone app to try out that has a calorie tracker and a water tracker.  I'll let you know what I think after I've played with it for a few days.

Just now, the UPS gal delivered one of the baby gates I ordered to contain Avery. She commented on how much weight I'd lost.  When I said I still had 30 lbs to go, she asked "What are you aiming for a toothpick?"  LOL.  No, I'm just aiming for a more healthy weight than I was at before I got pregnant.  For my own self image...and because every pound I lose puts an estimated four pounds less strain on my knee when I run!  This makes me faster. 
Blah, blah, blah, Faster..... Do it!
How was your training week?

Do you use any iPhone apps in your training?

Anyone race this past weekend?

5 comments:

  1. I sometimes use Electric Miles to update Daily Mile and I like the SparkPeople app for tracking food and water. I should start doing that again. I don't think I drink enough water (is there such a thing as enough right now?). Also, Ginger defies Darwin. She has no self preservation instinct.

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  2. I'm glad you listened to your body! Our training suffered this week a little bit because we got sick but I figure we are in shape enough to allow our bodies to completely recover.

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  3. Wow- that chart really puts it into perspective how much progress you are making, awesome job! It's so important to take it easy when your body asks you to. I'm slowly learning that recovery is how your body gets stronger, and am trying to be smart, too.

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  4. You are definitely a model for paying attention to yourself! Love it!!! Happy training!!!

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  5. I'm glad you aren't letting that teeny gain get you down. You're downward trend is just amazing. I keep meaning to download a run tracking app since I'm Garminless but so far I haven't.

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