guilt

Do you ever feel guilty about making people feel guilty about what they eat? It is not like you are trying to. Your food choices are about you. Not any one else. But sometimes, at home, I feel bad for not eating the junk because everyone else is and me not eating it makes them cognizant of their own bad food choices. Also, I feel guilty for going to the gym, only for an hour or so, because that is cutting into our quality time. Which is messed up.

I am only in town with the ‘rents for a few days, so I made my long run into a tempo run today, which took like an hour less time than the long run would have. It was a tough run. I barely slept at all last night and was dragging ass the whole time. I’ll do my long run when I am back in my hood. We have nicer running paths anyway. And it cuts back on the guilt.

officially training for my next half-marathon

In the spirit of not always focusing on how I fail at  not eating shitty foods (yeah that was like a quadruple negative), I am going to blog about my half-marathon training efforts fom time to time in addition to the standard angst / WW / my plateau shit.

Sunday I got out of bed bright and early and headed to the gym to put in 10 km on the treadmill (too cold for outside slash I didn’t wanna). This was my long run for the week. I finished it in an hour and one minute, which is pretty good for me. I got bored after about 40 minutes so I started doing pick-ups (running faster for like a minute, then going back to normal speed) from time to time. It felt amazing get back into training. (Even though I never stopped training, but this shit is official now. OFFICIAL.) And then today I did a 5 km tempo run (which, as I understand it, is a comfortably hard pace — a bit faster than your 10 km pace).

I have been looking into a “Three Day A Week” half-marathon training schedule. It’s really 3 days of running and 3 days of cross-training, but that title is less catchy. Basically, if I follow this training schedule, I will be doing interval training one day, a tempo run another day, and a long run. Then 3 sessions of cross-training (which will likely be spinning classes). And of course one day off.

I think this way of training is more well suited to me than your standard 4 or 5 runs a week training schedule because I love lots of sports that aren’t running, and, in the past, I have found that running 5 days a week really…dull. It totally kills my love of running to death. So, the basic idea with this training schedule is to run less, better. Get more bang out of your buck by training harder when you run, even though you run less. Also, personally I think cross-training is wicked-important. In my non-informed opinion, it balances out your muscle groups and ultimately makes you a better athlete.

what do half-marathons, spinning classes, rowing intervals, dragon boating and hot yoga have in common? and what the shit does this have to do with my weight loss journey?

There comes a point — 18 km into a half-marathon, 3/4 of the way through a spinning or hot yoga class, the last 250 metres of a dragon boat race, the sprinting part of your rowing interval session — when you want to quit. Your body is uncomfortable. Your brain is telling you to quit.

The thing is, you don’t need to quit.

Sissy.

You can power through — you just have to want to do it.

And then do it. You grit your teeth, focus, and hammer through.

And when you do — it feels GLORIOUS. Okay so maybe not at the time. It pretty much still feels uncomfortable. BUT pushing your muscles to the point of uncomfortable, working-out wise, is a good thing. And when it’s finally over you’re all like “yeah, I just did that, whatevs.” (Cause you are playing it cool, right?)

Okay, so I apply this to my feats of athleticism all the time. (Except when I stop going to the gym and instead read angsteful teen fiction and eat my feelings.) I have completed two half-marathons even! Yet, when it comes to not making poor food choices, I am on the losing team, and it’s preventing me from hammering through this plateau. So, do I just need to want it more? To suck it up and hammer through? Probably, eh?

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

One of my closest friends just joined WW. (Uber proud of you, dudette!) This has got me thinking about my health and weight – where I have been, where I am, where I am going. Her commitment to her health  inspired me to revisit this blog, and I got a bit of a kick out of re-reading my ups and downs.

It’s been months since my last post. A lot has happened. I just completed my second half-marathon (21.1km) on Sunday. According to this blog, I started running November 18, 2007. So, under a year later I hammered out two half-marathons. A year (ish) ago I found running 3 km difficult/nearly impossible. It’s kind of amazing to stand back and think of it that way.

During the summer I took up dragon boating, and eventually became the co-captain of a competitive team. At the last festival we blew our best time out of the water, and I met some friendly, athletic women along the way. One of whom is now my weight lifting buddy. (Just re-started a weight lifting regime a month ago, and am already seeing results.)

I’ve also removed my head from my ass school-wise, too. I am on track to finish my MA for April.

Weight gain was a symptom of some seriously low self esteem, self worth, and confidence. I feel like I am getting back to who I am, and that feels pretty spectacular (more on this in another post, this one is already a novella an I’m not done).

I’ve quit weight watchers. I figure I learned all I could from them, and have the support mechanisms I need to succeed. Interestingly, I weigh roughly the same as I did last time I blogged. Apparently, according to my BMI, 150 is the MAXIMUM I should weigh, and I am thusly 15 pounds overweight.

I have plateaued.

Ultimately, I’d like to train for a full marathon. I have signed up for a 30 km race as litmus to see if 42.2 km is doable. Being overweight makes running harder on your body, and is bad for running economy. Have I mentioned I don’t feel overweight? I don’t. This whole BMI thing bugs me. Even though I don’t want to worry about the scale and about numbers, it is for sure in the back of my mind – especially when I step on the scale, or head out for a long run. I suspect it also bothers me because I am aware that I have stopped challenging myself to eat better (even though I continue to challenge myself as an athlete). I’ve accepted that this is the best I can do, when it isn’t, if I am honest with myself.

I don’t want to be a slave to the scale. But, at the same time, I think there is some wiggle room for me to do better food-wise. Inspired by my friend, I am going to start tracking again. I need to find the balance between obsessing and being cognisant of my weight. I am going to try harder to see if I have reached my potential, or maybe discover that I haven’t. Watching what I eat, and especially monitoring portion size, might just make me harder, better, faster, and stronger. Especially with all this running.

March Madness: Fartlek

I have added fartlek to my diet. Sure, it sounds like it has to do with flatulence, or possibly beano, but it’s actually a Swedish term meaning “speed play”. I am using fartlek to spice up my running routine (because I am surrounded by snow and am currently training on a treadmill which is booooooooorrrrrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnnnnngggg), which could make me ultimately run faster and may result in more fat burning than straight up distance running.

Fartlek is a fancy Sweedish way of saying interval training (although it does refer to a specific method of interval training). What the shit is interval training? Interval training is when you change up what you are doing for certain amounts of time, distance or other “intervals”. Running fast for 2 minutes then walking for 2 minutes, then running again is an example of something you might do if you are interval training.

Fartlek, as I understand it*, is different inasmuch as you don’t necessarily run for a set time, you let your body decide when it’s time to stop and go. People who are on Core will have practice with this sort of concept as they check-in with their hunger signals on a regular basis to discern when to stop and go food-wise.

The following italicized bit is from the second link provided below, and explains fartlek better than I…

Here’s how a typical fartlek session would work. After a steady warm-up, simply pick a landmark – for example a tree, lamp-post, or phone box – and run to it hard, then jog until you’ve recovered. Then pick another landmark, run hard to that, recover and so on.

There doesn’t need to be a set structure to the run. For your first quick burst you might choose a target that’s just 100m away and sprint to it flat out. Then for the next hard run you’ll see something 800m away and stride towards it at your 5K race pace.

It’s entirely up to you how hard or easy you make the session. Unlike track intervals, fartlek doesn’t require you to set a distance to run, or a time to recover. A watch isn’t necessary (although in the absence of landmarks you can use one to pick different times for your hard sections), as you listen to your body to determine your recoveries. After a hard spurt, jog until you’ve got your breath back, the lactic acid has drained from your legs, and your heart’s stopped thumping. Then go again.

So, how did my first fartlek session go? It went well! I wasn’t as bored as I can be when I do 5 k on the treadmill, worked up quite the sweat and feel all rejuvenated and relaxed right now (which could also be from the sauna I sat in for 20 minutes following fartlek).

What did I do? I did a slow warm-up run for ten minutes (warming up is integral to avoiding injury). Then, I ran hella-fast for 2ish minutes, followed by a normal pace run for 3-5 minutesish, walked for 1-3 minutesish, then started up with the fast running again. I did this set 4 times and then walked it out for like 10 minutesish. Yesterday I kinda fartleked, I ran fast 2 out of every 5 minutes for 5 k. Both runs were enjoyable, albeit challenging. I do this sort of stuff because my main WW goal isn’t a number, it’s about getting to a fitness level where I can do the things I love with my friends and family.

Fartlek doesn’t have to involve full-out running. It’s about knowing your body and challenging yourself in an healthy and intelligent fashion. So, if you try this set achievable goals for whatever level of runner you are, ensuring you challenge yourself a bit.

Anyways, the point: if you are experimenting with running fartlek is a good way to challenge yourself, burn fat and improve your speed!

*Note: I work in statistical analysis and have no training on how to run or train for distance running or any of that jazz – this is just my $0.02.

Links:

What is fartlek?

How do I fartlek?

day 4: pounding the pavement

Note: the following is probably only amazing to people who have met me, and have thus experienced the zeitgeist of scatterbrainedness that is me.

Do you ever surprise yourself by discovering something where you thought you left it – without like ransacking your entire 1 bedroom apartment and storage space just in case? I found my gym membership and lock within like 2 minutes of looking yesterday – how crazy is that?? (And remembered the combination! I have had literally 4 locks cut off my storage space because I never remember what the fuck the numbers are. In fact, it is unlocked right now, and it is possible someone has stolen my bike at this point. Little do they know that the breaks are broken. Twahaha.) Anyways, the point is I have started running again. I had forgotten how much I actually enjoy running… now I just have to find the right time of day for me to do up. Optimally, I should be running in the morning cause I can’t eat before I pound the pavement without getting incredibly nauseated, and I drag ass if I run after work. BUT, I heart sleeping-in to the max. So we’ll see what the deuce happens with this situation.