Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Month: February 2012

Lifetime Fitness Indoor Tri – You Never Know…

Lifetime Fitness Indoor Tri:

Just goes to show you how big/prestigious a race is has nothing on my excitement level.  3M and Austin halfs, huge, well supported races with stars and amazing runners?  Sounds like a lovely training run with a few thousand of my bestest buddies.  49 people sign up to do a triathlon inside at a gym?  OMFG I AM SO EXCITED LET ME AT IT ROAR!!!! *bouncy bouncy bounce*

So, I suppose it’s less than fair.  I haven’t had an opportunity to really open up and RACE anything since November, when ye olde body was starting to fall apart.  I have loved training and racing with Zliten this winter, but while running someone else’s pace and Dance Party USA to amuse/annoy/torture them and providing motivational support was a very worthwhile endeavor for both of us, I felt like a puppy that just got let off the leash for the first time in months.  I felt all…

I haven’t trained a lot of speed.  In any of the 3 disciplines.  For running, I pretty much stopped speedwork once I decided to not do the marathon, and it had been a half-hearted attempt up until then.  I am a killer hill cyclist, but when I get to a certain cadence, my feet just get confused.  I’ve trained hills at least once a week all winter so evilbike doesn’t laugh at me next week when I start riding again, but I am no spin cycle speed demon.  Swimming is probably the worst – again, I’ve trained about once a week so I don’t lose my base of ~1 mile, but it’s certainly not at any pace that I’m really pushing myself.  So I was really going into this one, 7 days from ending my half marathon season, just seeing what I could do, and seeing if just mebbe I could place.

The week before I did very great race prep.  I did heavy weights twice and barre class, ran a few miles outside, swam once for about 25 mins, and spun for about 25 mins total.  The first attempt was, um, not so good.  My ladybits did not so much like the spin bike seats without padding.  I tried again Saturday with my nice sugoi padded bike shorts and was much more successful.  That day I also did a 10 min shakeout run with my new shoes.  My legs and lungs really just wanted to open up and I had to keep convincing myself today is not the day.

The day of we woke up around 7:30am.  We signed up for the latest wave possible (9:20), and it was NICE not to have to set the alarm for 4am.  We had a leisurely getting ready, and pulled up to this crazy mega gym about 30 mins early.  This was about the size of a MALL.  My gym would fit in it’s lobby.  It had a restaurant and a waterslide.  I am not even kidding.

So, we got our locker keys and I set up my “transition” and headed to the pool.  Zliten and I were sharing a swim lane, so I got my swim cap and got in and took a few practice laps to warm up.  It was really nice to be able to start a tri by watching the seconds count down, give each other a good luck kiss, and then take off swimming.

Let me interject with how this one worked, because it wasn’t a normal tri at all.  Besides the fact that it was indoor, it was scored differently.  You had 10 minutes to complete your swim, and they recorded your distance.  You then had 10 minutes to change and get to the cycle studio.  You had 30 minutes on a spin bike with a computer attached to track your distance.  Then, you had 5 minutes to get to the treadmills, and 20 minutes to go as far as you possibly could on the ‘mill.  Boom done!  Then, they take the distances and rank them.  There were 49 people participating, so the person that got the furthest swimming got a 49, and the person that went the least distance got a 1.  Same with the bike and the swim.  You add up those three number and you get a score and a ranking.  AGs were not the norm, just M/F and under/over 40.

My goal for the swim was 20 laps.  To do that, I would have to swim 100m every 2 minutes.  I made the first one, I fell a little behind on the second 2 minutes, and I realized while I wanted to give it a good hard effort, I didn’t want to kill myself in the water (even though on this tri, it actually counted as 1/3 of the score).  I also lost my swim cap which slowed me down a little during the process (while I was trying to keep it on, I pushed off less on the walls).  When the 10 minute whistle went off I had just touched for lap 18, so that would have to do it.  450m in 10 mins.

EDIT: Zliten thinks that it was an olympic sized swimming pool, which is 50m each way.  In which case I swam 900m in 10 mins.  I’m not sure if that’s even humanly possible.  I guess we’ll never know.

T1 was actually challenging – since you usually just rock a tri completely dripping and air dry, it was weird to have to wriggle wet body into dry clothes.  I got to the studio with about 90 seconds to spare and adjusted the bike and got my music ready and took off when they said GO!

The bike was my least favorite part.  I may have had a little swim cap snafu, but it was nothing on that stupid effing spin bike.  First of all, I realized I forgot my water.  They were nice enough to bring me one, but a screw cap water on the bike going as fast as possible didn’t work (but I was glad for it after).  Then, they counted down and told everyone to stop and me going as fast as possible, I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that the only people stopping were the folks in the PREVIOUS wave (duh).  That cost me at least 30 seconds, I had stopped and unstrapped my feet, d’oh!

So for the ride, I was trying to stay at 32 MPH.  That sounds impressive, but because the computer was calibrated for a normal bike, and the spin bike wheels are WAY smaller, it certainly wasn’t that far.  Partway through, I had a great song going and decided to try and push a little harder and build.  Sadly, when I hit 37 MPH my feet flew out and I almost broke my ankle!  I had started trying for 18 miles total.  Then 16.  I only got to 15.5 and was frankly a little pissed about it.  I thought I could do better.

Then, to add insult to the fact I wasn’t happy, I looked over at Zliten’s and it read TWENTY TWO POINT FREAKING TWO.  I have no idea how he pulled that off, but he’s certainly going to have to teach me…

I was sure I BOMBED the bike compared to my AG so I wanted to make it up on the run.  I figured perhaps being pissed off at the bike might help me stomp the treaddy a little harder.  My goal was at least 2.3, but I was thinking maybe I could tackle 2.5 if I really had it in me.  I started at 6.0 (10s), then went to 6.5 (about 9:15s), and then 7.0, and kept it steady around there (about 8:35s).  I tried to push it up closer to 7.5 and that was just more than I had in me that day, so I completed the first mile right around 9 minutes, and took it down to 6.0 to get my heart rate down a little, then ramped it back up to low 7s.  I can do just about anything for 5 minutes, so at 15 mins elapsed I started really going for it.  I ended at 8.5 (wicked fast) and with 2.33 miles complete (about an 8:35 overall pace).

I thought I might have had more in me, but I definitely felt the awesome/terrible 5k-wanna-hurl feeling so I used up most of my juice.

The funny thing is, I felt like I did pretty great in the run, I did fairly well in the swim, and sucked up the bike.  Results came in yesterday.  I placed FIRST by far in the bike in my AG, tied for 5th in the swim, and placed 6th on the run.  The points were overall, so I got 34/49 points for the swim, 34/49 points for the bike, and 32/49 for the run, for 100 total points, and SECOND in my Age Group out of 14 people!  Solidly second, the 1st place under 40 femme got 14 points more than me, and 3rd was 9 points under me.  For my gender I placed 4th out of 23 people, and overall I got 15/49.

I’m pretty excited for these results, and feel sort of sheepish about how grumpy I was about my bike (GAH I PLACED FIRST I SUCK WAH WAH).  It shows that even if I feel like I suck on the bike, I’m really a fairly balanced triathlete.  It shows that I will give Zliten NO QUARTER on the bike this year.  No slowing down on our long rides.  Do you hear this?  Significantly trouncing me has it’s consequences during future trainings… you think it’s all thumbs up now…

It also shows that if I can get through almost 2.5 miles at about an 8:30 pace after a hard swim and bike, I can suck it up and figure out how to run better 5ks this year.  Maybe I need to learn how to break it up better mentally in my head, but there is just a despair point during 5ks, right around mile 1.5-2 when it’s too far from the finish to push into pukeworthy territory, and far enough in to feel really fatigued.  If anyone has 5k pacing advice, I’d love to hear it.  What do you do with that sucky middle mile to keep yourself going?

Anyhoo, this was an awesome event!!  We would do them all the time if they were monthly, especially during tri off season!   We’re trying to talk our gym into hosting one!  BRING ON TRI SEASON!!!

You Never Know…

So, I can’t lie, I was feeling a little down late last week.

I may be making progress, but that stupid number on the scale being stupid is just… STUPID.

Also, I went through what I can only equate to somewhat similar to Charlotte’s metabolic reactions.  I WANTED TO EAT EVERYTHING all week.  I was craving healthy food too so it was definitely hunger and my body craving nutrients, but I could not get full and I ate a meal that would normally fill me up and was like, seconds please!  And I mean that as in I could have eaten a whole ‘nother serving.

Also, the TIREDS.  I slept 10.5 hours on Thursday night and Friday night (and I have been getting my normal 8, so it’s nothing I’m making up for).  I wanted to do nothing but eat nutritious food and sleep.  So much sleep and laying down my back is stiff for no good reason.  I got over it in time to feel much better Saturday and awesome Sunday but still – so weird.  I did so little cardio last week it felt super weird to be so fucking HANGRY.  I guess it’s fairly normal after reading up on weight training/hunger on the interwebz so all I can do is make sure if I get all crazy like that again I just stuff my face with milk and broccoli and fish and stuff and get lots of sleep.

However, I’m glad my nutritionist inadvertently has helped my husband lose weight.  Seriously.  He’s down about ~7 lbs depending on the day from the first of the year and kinda lookin’ even hotter than normal, which is challenging because, I’m mean, look at this sexah beast.

It makes it all the more frustrating though that my body is not responding as well.

However, I just need to remember that:

a.  This is going to be a long, twisted, and frustrating process, and consistent weight training is producing SOME sort of results, which is better than, oh, anything I’ve tried in 8 months at least.

b. Even though I feel like I deserve it by putting in all this work that’s really not done anything, I’m not going to get to my goal weight/size/fitness level tomorrow.

c. No matter what, I need to earn my right to run with weight training.  I owe back taxes for really slacking on it for so many years.

Of course, I did NOT measure myself this week (I swear it’s on my to-do list), but I should really do that.  So I can see some progress.  At least for the last 3 days, I saw myself back in the 177’s again finally.  The clothes I’m wearing today, a month ago, I would have been a little wary about belly/back bulge but they look pretty darn good.

It’s the little things.  I need to get the measuring tape out so I have something tangible to see.  Advice on 5k pacing or keeping the hangries at bay welcome below!

Austin Half Marathon and A Ray of Light?

Austin Half Marathon:

I really should write these up sooner but I’ll give you the deets of what I remember.

For Zliten, this was an A race – meaning he tapered, rested, and did all the things a good boy should.

For me, this was like a C- race – basically playing support, coach, and having an awesome training run with my 20,000 best friends.  I went so far as to do a 1 hour weight workout the morning before the race, and did not taper in the slightest.

Zliten was pretty nervous.  I do have to admit, I had played up the hills A LOT.  It’s not an easy course.  It’s basically the opposite of 3M.

Because at 3M, the porta potties were right by the parking garage, which I assume was right by bag check, which was right by the start.  At Austin, we parked where we did 2 years ago, not realizing the start line was different.  Then, we walked a mile to find some porta potties.  Then, we walked a mile back because bag check was by the FINISH, not the start.  Then, we were hurrying to the start, and had another porta potty need, and there were NO POTTIES to be found at the start.  Luckily, we were able to sneak in a building and get our pee on before the cops kicked us out.   We arrived at the start line and found our corral (the very back) about 6 minutes before the gun went off.  Oddly enough, out of 20000 people, we met up with a coworker!

My gear had started with my normal addidas headband, a Nike Drifit shirt, a wicking tank under, Asics sleeves, cheapo gloves, compression shorts, cheapo BCG running pants, my CEP compression leg sleeves, my new Wigwam IM socks, and my new Asics Cumulus shoes.  It got warm real quick walking around, and ditched the undershirt and the gloves (hello Austin, check out my sports bra).

The gun went off and it took us 20 minutes to get cross the start.  I surmised that I’d have the sleeves down by mile 1 and at .95 it happened.  I don’t remember all that much about the early miles, it was a gorgeous morning and I was feeling pretty great.  Miles 1/2 were mixed, but 3-6 were straight uphill.  Even so, I actually remember hitting around mile 5 and thinking “Already?  I’m so not ready to be this close to done yet!” These were done, honestly, pace was all over the place, but splits were showing about 11 minute miles.

Around mile 6, from all that walking and standing, my back started getting a little stiff.  Thankfully, what goes up must come down, and we pounded out some really quick miles (in the 10s) to try to gain some ground before the killer hills to come.  The only complaint was my feet are still getting used to these shoes, and here it started to take it’s toll.  They are one step down in cushioning, so they’re lighter, they actually hold my feet snugger (which I like), but they seem to be stimulating me to use my arches in a different way so those muscles get sore on long runs.

I have to admit here, between the back/glute action, and the sore feets, I went from Party in the USA to just sort of getting it done.  I also decided to try a new race fueling strategy – no camelback, no gels, just gatorade.  I don’t know if I’d use it for an A race (I’m used to more caffeine on a race course), but it kept me going.  Gels and I are having a bit of a falling out, especially once I broke up with marathon training.  The big G was actually MUCH milder on my tummy than most gels, so it’s a strategerie in progress.  Next time, maybe I’ll try gatorade with some supplemental caffeine chompers (chocolate covered expresso beans? who knows…).

At mile 10.8, the marathoners split off.  I had spent a while wondering how I’d feel at that point, but with my glutes and my arches, I was nothing but happy.  I don’t doubt I will tackle a marathon someday, maybe even this year, but this was not that day and this is not that course.

Also around that mile, I realized we were in it for a significant PR for Zliten.  Over 3M.  I tried to keep us moving and knew that we had that hill at mile 12 that was a walker.  Of course, what’s the last couple miles of a half marathon course without a few wrenches thrown in – Zliten’s calf decided to cramp up.  We walked it out, ran when we could, and then the last 3/4 mile I tried to drag him as fast as I could to the finish.   When I ran with him, he’d slow down, but when I ran ahead a little, he kept up.  I totally understand, when I’m feeling rough in a race, I lock my eyes on someone ahead of me and try to “magnet” my way up there.  It wasn’t the delicious all out sprint of a finish I love, but we crossed strong at 2:28:57.  Less than 2 minutes more than #1, which was a completely downhill course.  I am so proud!

Half marathon #2 for Zliten and #7 for me in the books.  Now, it’s time to shift training focus.  I’m giving Zliten a month off organized training to do what he wants.  I’m also not following any sort of race training plan for the next month, but I do have other plans….

A Ray of Light?:

Perhaps all has NOT been for naught.  Perhaps I hadn’t quite tried all the keys for the lock yet.

The scale is still not cooperating at 178-ish.  However, I really and truly am seeing some progress in the last few weeks with my face:

New fave race tee btw. a) It is perfectly sized for me. b) It is not white or uggy grey. c) It looks like a flaccid penis.  I mean, what else do you want out of a shirt commemorating your marathon or half marathon?

Anyhoo, I snapped THIS one after the race:

It’s a little bit “myspace angle” but still, not the chipmunk cheeks I’ve been cursing.  While I don’t have any snappy pictures of it, my pants are also fitting better and there is much less pooch.

I really should have taken some measurements, and I should probably do that this week if that’s how my body is going to roll.  The body fat sensor thingee is also down but it seems so unreliable (like, whether I’ve chugged water or not is a much bigger factor, I doubt I’m changing 5% body fat in a matter of days).

So *something* is working.  And while I don’t think it’s really feasible for me to stay my weight and look and feel and operate on the race course the way I want to long term, it’s at least something.  Progress is progress.

So focus for next week is:

-Lifting and pushing and pulling lots of heavy things.  So far, 30 mins of weights, and 50 mins center barre class – I’d like to hit it one or two more times this week.
-Cardio, for a while, is second priority.  My race this weekend is an indoor super sprint tri which I can complete in my sleep, and I’ll go at it as hard as I can, but there is really no specific training I can do this week (besides reaquainting myself with the spin bikes and remembering they hurt my ladybits a lot without padding) to improve my performance.
-Maintaining a decent calorie deficit (500-1000) while eating good things.  Emphasizing protein as that’s what my body is craving (makes sense while upping the strength).
-Introducing a little more grain back into my life.  Considering 6 months without it didn’t do squat, I’m trying re-introducing sprouted grain bread for healthy sammiches.  This is pretty much the only diet modification that I feel like was a bust, to be honest, every other grain I used to eat, I’ve found a work around to keep it in my life in small amounts or don’t miss.

Two Other Things:

We tried the bacon shake from Jack In The Box…

I mean, if you can’t indulge after running a half marathon, when can you?  It was actually delish – tasted like breakfast in a shake (maple syrup, smoky flavor, mmmmm).  Full disclosure, we split one and some of it is still in our freezer.  It’s just a lot of sweets and while delish, it’s too much for us.

Usually, expos are a bunch of “meh”, get in, get out, get on with life.  However, most “expos” are just a room with numbers and a few booths.  I remembered the Austin one being huge two years ago, but to save on parking, Zliten dropped me off and circled the block a few times.  This time, we came by our favorite running store’s booth – TX Running Company – and they had a huge sale.

I have been playing around with the idea of getting some lightweight speed shoes, and for 50 bucks, I got Brooks Racers.  Zliten also picked up a pair of Brooks as well.  We got 5 dollar running socks, and he picked up some other gear.  We also picked up some lemon tea nuun and got a free bottle.  Score!

Have you tried the bacon shake (I’ve heard it’s actually vegetarian!)?  Hit up any awesome expos lately?  Pumped some iron?  Do tell…

Zug Zug – Splitting the Difference

I’ve had this window open for days and just haven’t had the motivation to write.  So here goes, this could be 50 words or 5000, but I’m giving an update tonight.  Prepare for rambles… while my blog posts lately have been just a little above Live Journal quality, this one may descend to the depths of “Dear Diary, I am a scatterbrain”.

I asked some of my artists to work extra hours this week to get a project done, so as a Producer, I have a conundrum.  It’s easy to say that if anyone stays, I should stay.  However, if I stayed when ANYONE stayed, I would rarely leave work and have a life, plus, by the time they’re working the extra hours, it’s actually my slow period and I’m really just moral support (there is NOTHING I can do to help these folks, I am no artist).  I’ve split the difference by asking my Associate Producer to come in a little early, and I’m staying a little late.  Instead of eating the crunch catered dinners, I run home and eat with Zliten, and head back to work for a bit.

It’s been nice to have the ability to have healthy dinners, but this means that ANY workouts have had to be in the morning.  And when I’m at work until 9ish, it’s not so easy to get up at dawn with anything but a scowl on my face.

So I’ve split the difference there too.  Monday, I did it with another epic bike/weights session.  Tuesday was v-day, so I actually was able to leave early (we did NOT make people crunch that day) and run outside after work.  My glute started to twinge a bit so I cut it short at 3 instead of the 5-6 I had planned, but right after work when it’s still light and cool enough is my FAVE running time.  Yesterday, I stayed up too late enjoying some v-day steak, lobster, baked potato, asparagus, wine, and vodka, so I took it as my rest day.  However, it sucks using up your rest day being a frikkin zombie and feeling all tired and hung over.

Today I had wanted to make up my swim/pilates I missed by doing a swim then group power, but I woke up at 6-something and scowled at the world, and figured I’d split the difference.  I went back to sleep and bagged the swim, but I got my ass out of bed for group power and DANG it was a great way to wake up.  So, I have a swim, a run, and some core work I want to get done (plus my race on Sun).  We’ll see if I can fit it all in.  It’s like a game of extreme tetris this week.  I’m accepting that I don’t have it in me to do 4 days of week for weights, so I’ll wait until 3 feels natural.

I am feeling a little down about the scale.  I haven’t been weighing this week and got on today – 180. 😛  I haven’t tried the body fat scale to see if that’s dropped, but seriously?  WTF.

Through some link surfing today I got onto Rachel Cosgrove’s site (pretty sure it was through m’lady Charlotte), and I think I may need to read her book for ideas, although I’m pretty sure the point that I’ve been able to surmise through her site is:

-Do lots of weights
-Make sure you fuel yourself with good food
-Make sure to have recovery food/drink with protein/carbs after your workout

At this point, I’ve gone through a lot of stages with this coming-on-3-years-plateau…

Stage 1: I get too hungry during race training and overeat.  I need to wait until off season to lose weight.  I will do this by cutting my calories really low (safe low, but low – 1200-1500), and doing shorter workouts. (this worked for very short periods and then made me miserable – both eating less and exercising less)

Stage 2: This sucks.  I want to race more.  I just need to make sure I train a lot and I’ll be able to outrun this weight. (not so much)

Stage 3: This sucks.  I’ll just be happy where I’m at for a while and keep training as long as it doesn’t affect me (then I gained enough for it to indeed effect me)

Stage 4: This super sucks.  I’ll just do short races this year.  I didn’t gain weight doing short races.  Also, let’s throw in a cleanse for good measure. (lost 5 lbs initially, then got it back plus some).

Stage 5: Started working with nutritionist.  Instantly FELT better while improving the quality of my food.  Gained 5 lbs.

Stage 6: Nutritionist has no idea why I’m not losing.  Cut grains to 1 per day.  No loss.

Stage 7: Nutritionist still has no idea why I’m not losing.  Going to calorie counting and getting super accurate estimates of what I’m burning so I can work on making sure I have a proper deficit.  No loss yet.

I’ve been wracking my brain as to what is the difference in between who I was back then and who I am now diet and exercise-wise.  The only two real major things I came up with is:

-I eat slightly more, but WAY WAY WAY WAY better quality food.
-I did weights religiously.  At least working over my whole body 2 times per week.

I’ve cycled now from “exercise is what will keep me fit” to “80% of weight loss is in the kitchen” to “weights are the key”.

While I’m not going to get to half ironman fitness with weights alone, I think I can accept that stealing some time away from the cardio for weights will not do bad things to me.

So, while I’m not going to drop the cardio, I am going to make the priority getting at least 3 days of weight training per week over anything else (at least 1 pilates/crunchtime class or core work, 1 heavy lifting/group power day, and 1 other strength day of my choosing).

Now, it’s time to go find my “thermometer jeans” and see where I’m at mid-April (8 weeks).  I’ll take pictures.  It will be humblingly fun…

Guess Who’s Back….

Geez what a crazy crazy CUH-RAY-ZEEE week.  At least Zliten sent me random flowers for no real good reason.

Work-wise, my assistant person is out so I’m doing two people’s jobs at a crucial part of the milestone so that’s always fun.  Tally of how many weeks I kept my mellow from my extended break…5.  This week I got my frantic back on.  Oh well, time to plan a vacation, right?

So, this is where I was supposed to be tapering for my OMG FIRST MARATHON and now, not so much.  Now, the focus is:

a) calorie deficit.

b) lifting heavy things

c) short and intense cardio

d) preparing for being an adult

So what have I done?

2364 burned

1389 eaten

975 deficit

(30 min eliptical + 30 mins crunchtime)

Tuesday:

2894 burned

1403 eaten

1491 deficit

(5.4 mile run – 55 mins)

Wednesday:

2627 burned

1777 eaten

850 deficit

(30 mins – 9 mile bike hills + 50 mins pilates)

Thursday:

2865 burned

1999 eaten

866 deficit

(4 mile run 43 mins)

Friday:

2460 burned

1414 eaten

1046 deficit

(30 mins weights)

Saturday:

3903 burned

2702 eaten

1201 deficit

(10 mile run, 2 hours)

Sunday:

2322 burned

1841 eaten

481 deficit

(rest day)

So, for all intents and purposes, I should be well on my way to losin’ it.  Not so much. I’m a lb up.  Sticking with it for a while but really, we’re stumped.  Even if the ratios are a bit off, I should be down a bit. /sigh.  My miraculous wondrous body.

My huge non scale victory is that I will do 4 strength sessions this week without dying.  2 mostly-core classes, and 2 arms-and-legs heavy lifting.  I’m sore in an awesome way.  I look forward to my guns and leg definition resurfacing.  Perhaps this is the missing link.  Really, fitness gods, I’ll do whatever you want… just direct me there, kthx.

Other than finding that my capacity for recovery is better than I though, it seems to be making me faster even on sore muscles.  Bonus.  I logged my best hills bike session in a long ass time and a really great couple of sub-10 min mile runs.  They are taking more effort than they should but I’ll work on that.


For now though, I’m going to spend the rest of the dwindling evening watching the Space Station 3D DVD with my Zliten for the third time this week.  He’s a huge space nut and continues to get worked up over it and it’s really cute.   Not in the “awwww” condescending way, but like seriously, I hope I’m this passionate about something in my life.
Zliten’s quote for folks reading this blog is: “If your dream is not to go to space, you need to dream harder.”  Check out his awesome new haircut!!  He says it makes him faster so we’re leaving it until after the Austin Half in a week and change.

And y’know, if your dreams don’t include getting to the moon, how on earth are you going to end up among the stars?
Brevity, I know.  Don’t worry.  I’m sure I’m blather on more next time. 🙂

3M and Bodybuggin’

Been a while, and I really don’t have much time to chat but I wanted to check in between the hustle and bustle.

First of all, the bodybug is fascinating.  I love being able to look down at my watch and see how many calories I’ve burnt already, how many steps I’ve taken, and how much activity I’ve had.

For example, the watch currently says 2223 calories burnt.  It’s 6pm.  I’m overachieving.

However, I’m not sure how much I believe it.  It seems like it’s overestimating my calorie burn.  I’ll believe it when I see progress like I should with what I’m doing… I’m on track to be about ~7000 calories deficit by the end of the week (and that means I should be 2 lbs down).  This week is hard to judge because it’s all crampy/bloaty happy fun time, but math dictates that I should be soon.  Because instead of losing weight since last week, I’m up 3 lbs.

As much as everyone cautions against daily weighing, I think its the right thing to do for me.  I fluctuate so wildly, it’s hard for me to see a trend unless I’m on top of it.

This is my life in numbers…

Saturday:
2108 burned
1313 eaten
(795 deficit)
Sitting on my arse, running errands

Sunday:
4292 burned
3078 eaten/drank
(1214 deficit – this was HARD to accomplish – I was shoving food in my face to get even here…)
Half marathon day (2:27 running), errands, drinking and merriment

Monday:
2364 burned
1389 eaten/drank
(975 deficit)
Work, mellow eliptical (25 mins), crunch time (30 mins)

Tuesday:
2894
1403 (/shrug, just didn’t feel like eating more)
(1491 deficit)
5.4 mile run (55 mins), work

Yesterday:
2627
1777
(850 deficit)
50 mins pilates, work, 30 min bike

Today so far:
2040 burned
~950 eaten
(1090 deficit) (I’ll be closer to 500-750 by EOD, workout’s done and I haven’t had dinner)
4 mile run (43 mins), work

Notes:

Unless I’m really either trying to a) earn more calories to eat more/increase my deficit or b) specifically use it as a recovery workout, there is no point in mellow cardio like the eliptical.  If possible, I might as well save my time and skip it and lift weights.

I burn more calories at work in the average hour than I do at pilates.  Rethinking that 50 mins in the morning as well, at least every week (it does hit a lot of muscles differently than I would throwing around dumbells).  I think I could get more done lifting for 30 mins and doing 30 mins of sprints.

Busting my arse on the bike for 30 mins burns less than an EZ run for me.  Like WAY less.  Sucks I still need to do it.  A lot.

I’m pretty sure my swims will burn next to nothing.  It might be best for me to limit swimming to just maintaining my fitness (1-30-45 min per week) until I’m deeper into tri season.  I can already swim the distance I need to swim for the half iron without feeling taxed, and while I wouldn’t mind some specific training to get faster at it closer to race day, I’ve got all the base swim endurance I’m concerned with right now.

So, we’ll see.  To give myself the best chance of success even if it isn’t accurate, I’m trying to get closer to 750-1000 deficit per day, which is still non-harmful if it’s not overestimating.  My guess is that it’s *fairly* accurate for living/breathing/moderate activity and overestimates vigorous aactivity (aka – 700 calories for my 4 mile run or 2500 calories for my half marathon), so on highly vigorous days I’ll make sure that my deficit is high.

Continuing with the good, as organic/home cooked as possible foods (as to not fill my calories with junk), and I completed January about 99% no sweet treats.  I’ve lapsed the last two days (a milky way mini and 4 jelly beans yesterday, a mini brownie and mini cookie today), but it’s time of the month and I’m gonna put the smackdown back down.  I found some fabulous 150 calorie a PINT vegan “ice cream” with all natural ingredients that I am loving, plus dates as a sweet treat, plus I found that fage + a squish of a fruit punch mios (water flavoring enhancer with artificial sweetener but whatevs) = tastes like trix yogurt.  Yummmmm…

Second of all – 3M.

I just don’t have that much to say about it (well, compared to my two part epic Kerrville Sprint Tri recap – and that race was even shorter than this one…), but here goes.

I loved the mostly-downhill course.  I loved that it ran through hoods I knew and loved.  It was c-c-c-old to start but I’m lovin my arm warmers and new super warm but not-too-hot running tights.  It started in the upper 30s and ended in the 50s, and my gear set up was:

-adidas wool wicking headband
-Kerrville Tri tech tee (short sleeve)
-ARC race crew tech long sleeve on top
-adidas arm warmers
-crappy cheap compression shorts
-mountain wear tights
-compression calf sleeves
-nike dri fit ankle socks
-my old Asics.  (I regretted this halfway through.  They are more busted than I thought)

I considered a jacket too – and I could have used it before we started running, but didn’t need it on the run.  I pulled down my sleeves around mile 2-3, and pushed my sleeves up and down the whole race depending on how the wind was hitting us.  I wore the shorts more because the tights tend to be lower cut on my waist than for heat, but it worked.

This one was all about Zliten.  While I probably dragged him a little faster than he wanted to go at times, I was running with him to motivate him on his first half.  While he kept protesting that he had set his sights on a 12 min/mile half when he got himself into this mess, I reminded him that he is a much better runner than he expected (than both of us did, actually), and we maintained around 11 minute miles the whole time (pretty much hit the splits even the first 3rd, exceeded in the middle, and slowed a bit at the end).

I told him that I would run his pace, but I also made it clear that we were going to race this race.  If he could chat with me, he was going too slow.  The dear he is, he couldn’t really talk but he made sure he said a breathy “thank you” to all the volunteers and police that were helping out with the race.  I did the same but since I was running fun-run pace, I was giving the horns, slapping hands, smiling, dance party karaoke USA with my tunez, and just having an awesome fun run (I’m sure the spectators thought I was nuckin’ futz at times but whatevs).

It was good practice in my “every race is not an A race” quest.  I didn’t taper, I weight trained twice last week, I ran/biked/swam like normal, and it was no big d.  And it was still fun.  It’s making me excited for a full on goal race where I can really open up and see what I can do, but being a little hungry is a good thing.

We finished in 2:27 (11:05 min/mile pace for 13.25 miles), and then drank champagne!  It was a glorious day!  Zliten definitely raced it because he was super dead that day, and took Mon/Tues to recover as well.  Huzzah for him!  He has earned the 13.1 sticker on our car! Next stop, 70.3…

I felt good enough the next day to do a mellow elliptical (wasn’t ready for normal sprint Mondays) and crunchtime class, and I definitely felt a little tired, but was good and recovered by Tues morn’s run.

Last Week’s Workouts:
Monday: 3.6 mile run – slow with .1 mile fast strides (37 mins)
Tuesday: 40 min bike hills (12.4 miles)
Wednesday: Pilates AM
Thursday: 5k run AM (29:43), half IM swim PM (1.2 miles in 43 mins)
Friday: off
Saturday: off
Sunday: 13.1 3M Race!

This Week’s Plan:
Monday: 25 min eliptical/30 mins crunchtime
Tuesday: 5.4 mile run outside (55 mins)
Wednesday: 59 mins pilatespilates, 30 min bike hills (9.05)
Thursday: 4 mile run outside w/Zliten (43 mins)
Friday: lifting heavy weights/off cardio
Saturday: 10 mile long slow run w/friends at Town Lake
Sunday: off

Still determining the plan.  On one hand, I should really start getting used to 2-a-days and 6 day weeks with baby workouts spread out more (like this week) I know I’m going to need for half IM training, on the other hand, I feel like I should enjoy my time now and not stress so much about getting in enough bike/swim training and concentrate on fast short runs and weights.

It’s all a lot to ponder.  For now, I’ll just do what I can without my inner child whining and my outer child (Zliten) whining. 🙂

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