Me? Or just the biting Southerly that fought me on the way out and carried me home?
I'm not sure, but I did the first 4km of my long tempo run in 21:08 (8:26 pace) and the return trip was 19:28 (7:47 pace). My goal pace was 8:10 and I averaged 8:07, so I'm ok with that, but I wish a consistent effort would yield more consistent results!
I should be grateful. On the way over to the pool, the weather threatened to turn my run into a real adventure, as the freezing rain pelted straight out of Antarctica into my face. But by the time I got dressed (which took awhile, with frozen fingers and soaked legs) and headed out to run, it had passed, and I didn't get a drop while I was out there.
I am well over winter already... I'd forgotten how bleak it gets. Fortunately I'm a lot happier inside this year, which means I don't have the awful winter blues/depression I had last year (when I first started this blog). Yay!
So, I had an epiphany yesterday when I was running from pool to work (4.5 miles?) with my not particularly heavy backpack. One of those silly ones, where you knew it all along. I realised that the extra fat I'm carrying on my tummy, hips, arms, legs, butt (etc..) weighs more than that backpack. That backpack turns me from sleek and speedy to a real plodder. I realise that it's not just a weight thing, or even mostly a weight thing, that slows me down when I run avec backpack, but I also think I'll enjoy my next marathon a lot more if I'm not lugging round TEN extra pounds. Yup. As many pounds as I have toes.
Unfortunately, this epiphany hasn't quite kicked me into action yet. Yesterday was an all time low eating wise (I wish it was an all time low, but I suspect it was just a bad day). It started with the treat P bought back for me from Auckland- a boston creme dunkin donut (we don't have any good donuts in Welly). He forgot to give it to me until late (11ish) and I was running in and very space conscious, so I couldn't carry it. But I didn't want it to go stale, so I ate it. At 5:45am. I arrived at work to find butterfingers and jolly ranchers (we don't have those here...they came back from Seattle with a colleague). Couldn't resist a taste of ginger slice at lunch. Found myself undernourished and hungry by the time we got to dinner after a light lifting session and barely noticed myself ordering fries with my healthy chicken pita. Still hungry when we lined up for treats pre Harry Potter (woo!) and scarfed a hot fudge sundae and some popcorn. Yup. THAT bad. (bet you didn't think it possible).
When will I learn??!
Showing posts with label weight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight. Show all posts
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Has anyone seen this girl?
**warning- uber dooper negative post below. come back next week if you prefer sunny Kate
I'm sure I remember seeing her, but she feels really far away now.
Taking yesterday off wasn't quite enough to nip this in the bud, so have been off today as well. Off everything- off work, of my morning swim, off a planned date with my man. Just not off the couch.
The upshot of this is that I'm feeling slobbish and sluggish. I'm bored which means I'm eating heaps and badly. I'm tired which means I'm not exercising. And what can I do about it? It feels like the answer is "nothing." It's a frustrating cycle- the more I rest, the more lethargic I am. How much of the tiredness is sickness and how much is just plain, bog standard tiredness? How much is laziness? Why ME? Why cannot I not balance work with training? Neither my work weeks nor my training weeks have been that big. Everyone else is pulling down 14 hour weeks while juggling fulltime work and 2.4 kids. Plus what is the deal with the FOOD? Why is it that I can't just eat smart without counting? I don't want to count during m-thon training, but I don't want to be dragging 10 extra pounds around the lake in Rotorua. I badly need a kickstart, foodwise.
I tried to do a relaxed walk today, just to get some fresh air and hopefully pick up some energy, but even that was tough. I can't see speedwork tomorrow happening. Fortunately, I can still just barely keep my eye on the prize, as my long run is on Sunday (which means I have til Friday to do the speedwork).
Sorry for moaning. I hope the old Kate is back soon. I miss her!
I'm sure I remember seeing her, but she feels really far away now.
Taking yesterday off wasn't quite enough to nip this in the bud, so have been off today as well. Off everything- off work, of my morning swim, off a planned date with my man. Just not off the couch.
The upshot of this is that I'm feeling slobbish and sluggish. I'm bored which means I'm eating heaps and badly. I'm tired which means I'm not exercising. And what can I do about it? It feels like the answer is "nothing." It's a frustrating cycle- the more I rest, the more lethargic I am. How much of the tiredness is sickness and how much is just plain, bog standard tiredness? How much is laziness? Why ME? Why cannot I not balance work with training? Neither my work weeks nor my training weeks have been that big. Everyone else is pulling down 14 hour weeks while juggling fulltime work and 2.4 kids. Plus what is the deal with the FOOD? Why is it that I can't just eat smart without counting? I don't want to count during m-thon training, but I don't want to be dragging 10 extra pounds around the lake in Rotorua. I badly need a kickstart, foodwise.
I tried to do a relaxed walk today, just to get some fresh air and hopefully pick up some energy, but even that was tough. I can't see speedwork tomorrow happening. Fortunately, I can still just barely keep my eye on the prize, as my long run is on Sunday (which means I have til Friday to do the speedwork).
Sorry for moaning. I hope the old Kate is back soon. I miss her!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Eye on the prize
This week has gone downhill since Monday's fanTAStic run.
Tuesday I was travelling for work, so took a rest day. My meeting finished early and I had great ideas of wandering round town or switching to an early flight. Unfortunately, my feet, my high heels and my boss had other plans, and I ended up going to a late meeting and getting home at about 9:30pm.
Our 800s on Wednesday were a disaster- my goal pace was 3:38 (for a 7:15 pace), but using the Macmillan pace calculator, I was planning to aim for 3:24-3:33, and my splits were 3:36, 3:45 (headwind, but still!), 3:38 and 3:31. OK, it's not so bad, but I wasn't feeling it. I felt slow, uncomfortable. I was irritable, I snapped at P. Also, 4 * 800 is not a workout! I got home feeling fat, tired and grouchy.
I looked forward to going to Masters on Wednesday night, especially as I missed Sunday and will not be able to go this Sunday. I don't want to lose the habit already! However, I had work to catch up on, and new stuff coming from the day before, and I didn't finish work til 10. This is sometimes the norm, and I get used to it- but MAN it was a shock to the system to this new, balanced lifestyle, Kate!
To top it all off, P unexpectedly had to go away for TWO nights! I didn't even get to say goodbye properly :-(
So I missed another workout. Yuck. I had a swim with C planned this morning, but I slept in and was late. I grumbled away to myself "stupid work. stupid pool. stupid kate." It was much better when I got to the pool, but I wasn't really feeling it, and was relieved to get out and get coffee after about 1500m! Can you say SLACKER!?!
Tonight I can't work out, as I am doing 14 hilly miles starting at 4:45 tomorrow, and don't want to do those on tired legs. Also I have chores galore to catch up on.
But sometime during all this, I remembered that I have to keep my eye on the prize. Although in the triathlon world, I am a big slackbum, in the real, normal people world* I am someone with a tendency to overdo things. The prize at the moment is not building swimming endurance or improving my speed in the pool. It's not losing 10lb (though my goodness I need to lose some of that!) or looking good in jeans. It's not totalling up my workouts and seeing a number over 10, or even a number over 7. No- it's a marathon. My marathon. So who cares if I missed some workouts? I didn't miss my key runs, and I'm going to be well-rested for my big run tomorrow. Who cares if I've put on a bit of pudge? It'll go, but I know the best thing for me is to keep away from counting calories until after April 28- even if that is 10 weeks away! So although I still feel fat and slow and lazy, I have some perspective. Phew.
I got an email from C the other day saying "I'm so dreading my long run this weekend. I feel so much better and so much less nervous about them when I run with you." Hmm. How bad do I feel? I have 99% decided to run Rotorua for me, but this makes me feel awful. We have only run long together twice, and she decided to do the race before I did (waaay before), but still.
Anyway- I can't wait for my run tomorrow. I have 2:15 to do my 14miles, but the route is quite hilly, so I could be cutting it quite fine!
*I saw a survey today where 56% of city dwellers in NZ claimed to workout 5 times or more a week! Uh.. Yeah right!! I know maybe ONE person outside the running/tri/cycling community who comes close. Maybe if walking 20 minutes to work counts, but still...
Tuesday I was travelling for work, so took a rest day. My meeting finished early and I had great ideas of wandering round town or switching to an early flight. Unfortunately, my feet, my high heels and my boss had other plans, and I ended up going to a late meeting and getting home at about 9:30pm.
Our 800s on Wednesday were a disaster- my goal pace was 3:38 (for a 7:15 pace), but using the Macmillan pace calculator, I was planning to aim for 3:24-3:33, and my splits were 3:36, 3:45 (headwind, but still!), 3:38 and 3:31. OK, it's not so bad, but I wasn't feeling it. I felt slow, uncomfortable. I was irritable, I snapped at P. Also, 4 * 800 is not a workout! I got home feeling fat, tired and grouchy.
I looked forward to going to Masters on Wednesday night, especially as I missed Sunday and will not be able to go this Sunday. I don't want to lose the habit already! However, I had work to catch up on, and new stuff coming from the day before, and I didn't finish work til 10. This is sometimes the norm, and I get used to it- but MAN it was a shock to the system to this new, balanced lifestyle, Kate!
To top it all off, P unexpectedly had to go away for TWO nights! I didn't even get to say goodbye properly :-(
So I missed another workout. Yuck. I had a swim with C planned this morning, but I slept in and was late. I grumbled away to myself "stupid work. stupid pool. stupid kate." It was much better when I got to the pool, but I wasn't really feeling it, and was relieved to get out and get coffee after about 1500m! Can you say SLACKER!?!
Tonight I can't work out, as I am doing 14 hilly miles starting at 4:45 tomorrow, and don't want to do those on tired legs. Also I have chores galore to catch up on.
But sometime during all this, I remembered that I have to keep my eye on the prize. Although in the triathlon world, I am a big slackbum, in the real, normal people world* I am someone with a tendency to overdo things. The prize at the moment is not building swimming endurance or improving my speed in the pool. It's not losing 10lb (though my goodness I need to lose some of that!) or looking good in jeans. It's not totalling up my workouts and seeing a number over 10, or even a number over 7. No- it's a marathon. My marathon. So who cares if I missed some workouts? I didn't miss my key runs, and I'm going to be well-rested for my big run tomorrow. Who cares if I've put on a bit of pudge? It'll go, but I know the best thing for me is to keep away from counting calories until after April 28- even if that is 10 weeks away! So although I still feel fat and slow and lazy, I have some perspective. Phew.
I got an email from C the other day saying "I'm so dreading my long run this weekend. I feel so much better and so much less nervous about them when I run with you." Hmm. How bad do I feel? I have 99% decided to run Rotorua for me, but this makes me feel awful. We have only run long together twice, and she decided to do the race before I did (waaay before), but still.
Anyway- I can't wait for my run tomorrow. I have 2:15 to do my 14miles, but the route is quite hilly, so I could be cutting it quite fine!
*I saw a survey today where 56% of city dwellers in NZ claimed to workout 5 times or more a week! Uh.. Yeah right!! I know maybe ONE person outside the running/tri/cycling community who comes close. Maybe if walking 20 minutes to work counts, but still...
Saturday, January 06, 2007
A break from reminiscing..
..to discuss all that training yada yada.
Today I began my Official Marathon Training. I spent the morning thinking about a training plan (I had done some thinking already but hadn't quite decided) and eventually decided on FIRST. On tap for today was a 9-miler, so I planned out a cool new route (which I accidentally navigated away from before I saved it), squeezed into my new Skins, added an ipod and headed out.
The route I planned was probably a bit hard for a first official "long" run. It took in some quite exposed places on a VERY windy day, and included a pretty steep uphill that's over a mile long. I was feeling pretty average and my HR showed it- my average was 162!! AND I only just made it home within 1:30 (10min/m average). I'm feeling a tad concerned about an April 28 marathon, but I've reminded myself that the point on training is to get BETTER so I'm hardly going to be ready now. Also, getting used to the "finishing is success" mindset- tough considering that my marathon training originally started when an unofficial BQ was a potentially achievable goal!
Later this afternoon I went for a very good 2000m swim. I evenly split my first 2 sets of 500m (10:30) and negatively split the last set of easy/medium/hard 50s (the first two were 1:03/58/55 and the last was 59/57/53!) I beat my old PB 25m time (hit 22 for the first time ever) and for the first time felt that I was keeping reasonably good form during speedwork. YAY
I am planning to swim every workout day (6 per week) for the next week, until I start back at work, as the Capital Classic is in exactly 3 weeks! Some of these will be sea swims, probably either 750 or 1500m, so they won't be particularly taxing, so I will be adding some strength work, running and maybe cycling too. I still have a sprint tri this month and possibly an Oly in Feb, so need to keep up with the biking. Plus, it's a great way to spend fabulous quality time with P (we are finally riding together well!) It is also hopefully a good way to get rid of the SIX extra pounds of FAT that have crept (ok, not so much "crept") on over the holiday/vacation period. That and a massive reduction in sugar and deep fried food. Repeat after me: "Chocolate is not a breakfast food." Overall I want to lose 10 lb, and have a racing weight of 129. Obviously, if I manage to put some muscle on, I will be comfortable with a higher weight (low 130s) but I definitely have a LOT of fat I need to lose (so don't look too closely at those bikini pics.. PLEASE.. except for the ones where my arms look nice and defined. Look at those.)
Today I began my Official Marathon Training. I spent the morning thinking about a training plan (I had done some thinking already but hadn't quite decided) and eventually decided on FIRST. On tap for today was a 9-miler, so I planned out a cool new route (which I accidentally navigated away from before I saved it), squeezed into my new Skins, added an ipod and headed out.
The route I planned was probably a bit hard for a first official "long" run. It took in some quite exposed places on a VERY windy day, and included a pretty steep uphill that's over a mile long. I was feeling pretty average and my HR showed it- my average was 162!! AND I only just made it home within 1:30 (10min/m average). I'm feeling a tad concerned about an April 28 marathon, but I've reminded myself that the point on training is to get BETTER so I'm hardly going to be ready now. Also, getting used to the "finishing is success" mindset- tough considering that my marathon training originally started when an unofficial BQ was a potentially achievable goal!
Later this afternoon I went for a very good 2000m swim. I evenly split my first 2 sets of 500m (10:30) and negatively split the last set of easy/medium/hard 50s (the first two were 1:03/58/55 and the last was 59/57/53!) I beat my old PB 25m time (hit 22 for the first time ever) and for the first time felt that I was keeping reasonably good form during speedwork. YAY
I am planning to swim every workout day (6 per week) for the next week, until I start back at work, as the Capital Classic is in exactly 3 weeks! Some of these will be sea swims, probably either 750 or 1500m, so they won't be particularly taxing, so I will be adding some strength work, running and maybe cycling too. I still have a sprint tri this month and possibly an Oly in Feb, so need to keep up with the biking. Plus, it's a great way to spend fabulous quality time with P (we are finally riding together well!) It is also hopefully a good way to get rid of the SIX extra pounds of FAT that have crept (ok, not so much "crept") on over the holiday/vacation period. That and a massive reduction in sugar and deep fried food. Repeat after me: "Chocolate is not a breakfast food." Overall I want to lose 10 lb, and have a racing weight of 129. Obviously, if I manage to put some muscle on, I will be comfortable with a higher weight (low 130s) but I definitely have a LOT of fat I need to lose (so don't look too closely at those bikini pics.. PLEASE.. except for the ones where my arms look nice and defined. Look at those.)
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