Adjusted Reality

Here are my leftover thoughts from the half…

What went right:

-Wearing the camelback.  I think from now on I get myself a real one, that has pockets and such, and train and race with it (maybe not for 5 or 10ks, but ya know).  It was so nice not to have to stop for water stations if I didn’t want to.

-Not restricting calories during training.  Eating tons of healthy food made me feel strong.  Eating other tons of not so healthy food probably didn’t do much good, but I’ll work on that next time.  I’m anticipating about a month at least to diet off what I gained or more, but as of right now, it was worth it.

-Racing smart and pulling back a bit at the end of the race.  While I’m not wrecked today, I still DEFINITELY have a cough since I went off the OTC meds, my legs are sore in completely different ways than normal after-run, and oddly enough I have a rash (?).  These are all signs that going for it might have meant a few days (or more) laid up in bed or worse.  And considering where my heart rate was at, it’s not as if I was pulling back all that much.

-Training the way I did.  On the 3 miles I was feeling good and the course was cooperating, I could definitely see the potential of a sub 2 hour half.  If it was my day.  And fo sho’ it wasn’t my day, but still.  Someday, perhaps.

What I would change:

-Being sick.  Obviously.  I need to remember that racing in February is a gamble.

-Different shoes.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED the shoes I had.  They were comfy, fast, and looked way less dorky than the norm.  However, they just didn’t hold up well in a long, tough road race.  I think I need more cushion.  I will be getting another pair when they die for short races and speedwork, but will be breaking in something new for long runs soon.  Yes, I will finally get out of the kiddie pool and finally get two pairs of running shoes.

-Hills.  I need to start doing hill work.  Even if it’s on the treadmill.  I say this every race, and then seem to forget about it.  Because I hate hills a lot.  Maybe I wouldn’t hate them if I conquered them…hmmm?  I could be that smug runner that sails by everyone, thinking how superior I was because I knew how to run hills better…

-Training outside more.  I think my tooties were a little pampered with all the treadmill work.  I also lucked out that we had good weather, if it was under 40 and icky I would have been screwed – I should have trained in crappy weather at least once.  I can suck it up to heat train just fine, but cold train?  Heebie jeebies.

So there.  Even today, I’m going to call the race a success with the hand that was dealt to me.  Maybe I’ll try another half next April, but that’s far away.

What’s Next:

The short version – for the next week – whatever I feel like.  After that, more structure.

Food:

This week, I’m going to a) clean up my eating in terms of quality and b) go back to tracking my food, but not until the end of the day or the next morning.  I’m not looking to cut portions just yet, but I’d like an idea of where I’m at.  Next week, I’ll get on the scale, start tracking for real, and set myself up with a plan to take off how much ever I am over 155.

Exercise:

The great thing about the focused running is – I’m not burnt out on it!  I’m actually looking forward to a run tomorrow!  I’m thinking a nice, easy 5k and some yoga.  Wednesday, maybe some arc trainer and lifting heavy stuff at the gym.  We shall see what else follows this week.  I’m not worried about it.  I just know that I’m looking forward to not taking a month off running, and also not having to do the same focused workouts each week.  Starting next week I am going to get back to a regular schedule of something, and by next weekend, I hope to do another long run.  Easy.  Whatever pace I want.

Races:

I think I want to do this for my birthday weekend in a few weeks.

Gonna do this with Zliten as a tune up for…

…doing THIS with Zliten.

Then, after a long time and training, I plan to be insane and do THIS.

Maybe I’ll throw some 5ks or 10ks or something else fun in there for good measure, but that’s the plans.

What’s up for you on the racing horizon, runners?  What’s your favorite length?  What else are you training for?  If you were my trainer, what would you tell me to try next since I don’t have any major training until August?

Since no one has submitted a question for me to answer – and by the way, if you want me to give my unfair and biased opinion on something, please comment below… or if you’re shy, you can email me at pinksparkly at yahoo.com –  I’m all about the 5 random things today.

1.  I can’t lie.  I’m getting a little bummed.  I still have a cough – it’s actually worse today.  My nose is a little stuffy (though it’s totally tolerable).  My throat is tickly from all the phlegm (I know, TMI and gross, but whatever).  My body is stiff.  I am totally not having the week before the race that I wanted.  I’m going to roll with it though.  In the next two days, as long as I can get rid of the cough, I’ll be happy.  I’ve run through allergies, and the nose dries up after a mile or two.  Sore throat just means that I need to DEFINITELY bring my camelback to stay hydrated.  I’m pretty sure this is the worst of the aches and as long as I yoga, rest, and maybe do a easy, easy run either tomorrow or Saturday.  Send me good, healing vibes please!

2.  That being said – my new main goal is a PR.  Something better than 2:16.  Sure, I’m going to start out at my intended pace, but I will self correct as needed.  While I keep having visions of seeing 1:56 as I come into the finish line (which doesn’t even make sense because it’s a big race and I won’t get across the line for at least a few minutes…) but I can be a realist.  Sub-2 hours was going to be an awesome challenge completely healthy, but it will be like climbing Mount Everest sick.  I’m up for the challenge though if my body can take it.

3.  It has been so crappy weather-wise this week (for Austin at least).  It’s barely made it out of the 40s, and been cloudy and/or rainy most of the time.  The one day it was sunny it was soooo damn cold it didn’t really help.  We’re still rolling without central heat until the tax credit thing kicks in, so it’s always fun to get home from work and have the house be in the upper 50s.  I am STOKED that this weekend it looks like it’s going to give the rain a rest and the race should at least be in the 40s, and be up into the 60s.

4.  Work is still going good, I am happily challenged and busy!  I haven’t really done a video game or industry post – because, well frankly, I’ve been very occupied (happily) with things at work, and my head has been all running all the time outside of it (I mean, I do have a little race I kinda have been training for, and my body has kinda decided to go poop on me).  I have a few posts on the horizon, but they require brain power.  Not fueled-by-NyQuil power.  So next week, hopefully!

5.  Valentine’s Day is Sunday.  We are totally not v-day people, and considering it’s my race day, it’s a good thing.  We usually have a tradition where the night before, one of us cooks for each other, and the day of, the other one cooks for…uh…the other one (the NyQuil is beginning to kick in)?  This year, due to it being the craziest weekend evar, we are putting it off until next week.  Trying to decide what to request.  Last year, I got a delicious crab boil.  In the next few days we have plans to eat steak, lobster, and crab, so I need to get creative.

So, wish me luck and send healing thoughts my way.  I’ll post as soon as I have my wits about me after the race, but if you want to follow me on twitter (quixotique), I’ll definitely let you know sooner.  So – do you have any random questions you want me to answer?  What would you request if you could have someone cook you dinner and you could have anything you wanted?

Today, I’m not quite sure what’s wrong with me.  I am both ravenously hungry (like, hungrier than normal even for my increased appetite) and feeling kinda weak with a little scratchy throat.  I’m truly hoping it’s just a little bit of allergies but honestly?  It could be a cold.  Yeah, the week of my race.  I had nightmares of it being 20 and sleeting.  I had nightmares of injuring myself this week.  Illness?  Nary a thought.  I am invincible – right Happy Runner?

The plan for today is to a) eat as much healthy and nutritious food I can handle (I’m already into a carton of blackberries, an oikos yogurt, half a packet of kashi hot cereal, a turkey sandwich on sprouted grain bread, a bag full of raw veggies, and a handful of pistachios – and it’s just after lunch) b) skip my cross training workout – it was going to be mellow anyway and I don’t think it will hurt and c) pump myself full of water and tea and some emergen-c and d) rest rest rest – leave work at 5 as scheduled and veg on the couch and sleep way way way early.  Wish me luck that I’ll be back to my snappy self tomorrow.  Until then, a “Back to Reality” day.

This post originated in April 2009, and really helped wake me up to WHY I was working out and how to encourage it (races, goals, and deadlines, oh my!).

Although I will shout loudly at the mountaintops about how I was able to lose 80+ lbs using SparkPeople, a lot of the articles are sorta drivel.  The other features are great, don’t get me wrong.  Tracking what went into my mouth for the last year and a half has helped me become aware of what a normal human should eat and what foods work for me.  Logging exercise made me accountable when I didn’t want to pursue fitness for any other reason than losing the proverbial junk in my trunk.  Seems silly now that anyone would have to push me to workout, but times have changed.  Getting involved with the community provided me inspiration and an outlet when I used to blog over there.  However, the articles – meh.

That being said, since I’m on the site all the time tracking my foods and logging my awesome fitness minutes, I do catch some and once in a while they’ll really hit home.  A few weeks ago, I read this one.  If you don’t want to jump over there and read it all, I’ll give you the reader’s digest version…actually the article IS a summary so this is a summary of a summary.  How meta!

There are 5 different types of workout personalities: squares, rectangles, triangles, circles, and squigglies.

Squares are very rigid and like to have a plan and stick to it.  They are committed, but hit plateaus easily because they don’t change up their workouts.

Rectangles are like squares in they like a routine, but they are more flexible and also tend to be more social.  Since they’re more flexible they will resort to a Plan B (as in, planned to run outside today but it’s raining, so I’ll hit the treaddy at the gym), but if they workout alone, they aren’t likely to stick to it.

Triangles are competitive and very focused on improving and tracking that improvement.  They appreciate all sorts of improvement (even if the scale didn’t move, they’ll appreciate the new personal best on their mile time), but are likely to get frustrated without a higher purpose in mind.

Circles are the emotional, social people who couldn’t imagine working out alone.  Having gym time double as social time gets them there regularly, but they’re likely to spend more time chatting than working out.

Squigglies are the polar opposite of squares.  They abhor routine and value, above all things, fun.  They rarely see plateaus because they’re always changing it up, but are likely to get bored and drop out of a regular exercise program.

It really hit me here that I was fully and completely a triangle.  It’s not just my body shape (inverted triangle, at least), it’s my workout type!  This inspired me to ditch April’s planned experiment, which while it sounded FUN, it also sounded like a chore since it was super varied.  I really like a routine.  I like to make a list and check it off.  I definitely have elements of square (in that I like routine) and rectangle (that I’m ok being flexible, if it’s raining the treaddy is fine, or if I’m exhausted and planned a hard workout I’ll switch it to another day and do something lighter), but I am true and true a triangle.  Even before I was working towards a race, I was working on improving my times, my distances, using heavier weights, doing more reps, and the like.

So this gave me the oomph to actually put this half marathon plan into place, I think I wrote out the spreadsheet the very same day.  It still scares me but more than anything I’m excited.  I’m also signed up for a 5k in 2 days and a 10k next weekend because I realized – I love races.  I got myself a stopwatch to time myself because it was one more stat I could track.  Now that the article validated for me what I already knew (I thrive on competition), I’m rocking out with my new wicking socks out and embracing it.

What type of workout personality are you?  How do you embrace it and make it work for you?  How do you get over your weaknesses?

I’ve always thought this little guy was kinda cute:

For those of you who haven’t seen this adorably annoying little guy before, he’s the latest weight watchers (anti?) mascot.  This is the little guy that follows you around, terrorizing you at every corner.  Apparently, WW is supposed to help you avoid the hungries, which I cannot attest to, as I never have followed the plan, but maybe I should start.

Holy fuck, I am a human garbage disposal lately.  The first month of half marathon training, I didn’t notice much of a difference.  It’s not like I was training all that much harder than normal.  Two short fast runs, and the difference was one longer run – but really?  No biggie.  The second month, I was a little hungrier, but mostly I just craved PROTEIN.  In my belly. Now now now.  I would actually snub my nose at carbs for more protein and fats.  This is NOT NORMAL for me – I like my meat as a condiment.  I was starting my day with a 30g protein bar, having a sandwich with 1/4 lb of meat on it, a handful of pistachios for a snack, and then having at least another 1/4 to 1/2 lb of meat with dinner.  I also developed the habit of sitting at my desk and mowing down veggies with reckless abandon.

This last month it has been out of control.  I am easily outeating Zliten most meals lately and getting to rival our friend P.  The one who we use his name as a verb meaning to assault the refrigerator.  I have to be extremely careful to keep myself on almost exclusively healthy food.  Month two, it was what I was craving.  It was the holidays so I had some, sure, but I wasn’t standing in front of the fridge shoveling shit into my mouth.  Now, if you put something in front of my face, chances are I will a) be hungry and b) eat it.  This has been dangerous – as we have houseguests/temp roomates who don’t cook quite as healthy as I do (which is fine, as 99.9% of the world doesn’t either) and have danger danger foods around like cupcakes and cinnamon toast crunch and potato chips.

That being said, I haven’t been under my “oh shit” weight of 155 for at least 2 months.  I’m closer to 156-158.  Or maybe worse.  I’m actually a little afraid to get on the scale this week.  I have lumps and bumps in places I probably shouldn’t.  But you know what?  I’m feeling strong when I run.  I don’t need to inhale sugar twice during a 12 mile run to make it.  I recover a lot quicker after longer, faster mileage.  My body doesn’t feel like it’s falling apart this week like I did last time – I feel strong.  I’m sure I can attribute some of this to the different training, but I am pretty sure it’s also the way I’ve been eating.  I kinda don’t want to get on the scale right now not just because I want to be in denial (ok, maybe just a little), but because I don’t want to be compelled to restrict calories.

For example – today’s eats.

Breakfast – 270 calorie protein bar

Lunch – 1.5 cups of leftover homemade chili, a gigantic salad with full fat jalapeno ranch dressing

Snacks – handful of pistachios, about 2 cups of raw veggies, a peach

Workout

More snacks – pretzels, melba toast and spreadable cheese, more veggies, rice cake (go to cupboard, shove food in face)

Dinner – 1/3 lb of pork roast, 1.5 cup of cauli-taters (half cauliflower, half mashed potatoes), 2 cups of asparagus, and 1 cup of broccoli

Dessert – 3 hershey kisses

It’s kind of disgusting.  I’m actually trying to be good or I’d continue to eat because I am not very full.  But I know I have a nice big amount of food for tomorrow at work (protien bar, greek yogurt, blackberries, a plum, a gigantic turkey sandwich on sprouted grain bread, more veggies, and a backup soup in case I chew through all that and want more).  I’m sure my boss who I share my office with thinks I am a) a rabbit b) a piggie c) slightly insane, but whatevs.

So, for now, I’ll continue to consume 2 lb bags of baby carrots at my desk in 3 servings, outeating all the boys, and running strong.  I’ll give myself this week, and next week for recovery.  Then, it’s on like donkey kong to try to get down to my maintenance weight.  But no hurry, I have the rest of my life, right?