Lessons Learned

This week we finished up the 6 Figures Challenge.  I met with my trainer, Evelyn, this morning for my final measurements.  I was terrified to find out my results.  I already knew from my scale and from how my pants were fitting, that the changes would be minimal  The Challenge was 16 weeks long and for the first 8 weeks I attempted to tighten up my diet, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it.  Finally, Mike put his foot down and told me that I needed to quit obsessing about food and just train for the marathon.  I was also worried that my body fat % would be up because I have been so stressed out lately and I tend to be a stress eater. So when she did the measurements this morning I was in total shock and awe that I actually lost 2% body fat. Seriously?!?!?!  The crazy thing is that it was all from my thighs! WHAT!!!!  Evelyn said that it was because I had been focusing on my running, but not nutrition.  I am so relieved that I dropped body fat, but I need to still lose quite a bit from my upper body.

So what lessons did I learn?

Lesson #1) Don't give up.  Even though I haven't been focusing on calorie depletion, I have still been making the best choices possible for my nutrition.  Everyday I made sure that I drink a gallon of water, eat 120 grams of protein, and at least 6 servings of fruits and vegetables, limit my starchy carbs and fats, and do weight bearing exercises at least 3 times a week.  Of course, I also run a ton.

Lesson #2) If I want to lose my mommy tummy I am going to have to quit indulging so much.  I say that with a bag of Dove Dark Chocolate calling to me from my pantry.  I have also been drinking too much pop.  Why can't I be addicted to carrot sticks?  Why do I salivate when I think about Dark chocolate and Diet Dr Pepper?

Lesson #3)  My husband and friends are sick of hearing me whine about eating too much, what I shouldn't eat,  my general obsession with food, how much I hate my mommy tummy, what I did for exercise, and what I want to do for exercise.

Lesson #4)  I shouldn't tell anyone that I have introduced to clean eating that I have been eating chocolate and drinking Diet Dr. Pepper because they will tell me that I need a clean eating intervention (and by they, I mean Sarah).   Which this just happened about 10 minutes ago and yes, I agree.  Consider this my intervention.  NO MORE POP!!!!  Note that I didn't mention anything about chocolate - baby steps (again).

A Marathon PR and Setting New Goals

Utah Valley Marathon Run Down

I finished the Utah Valley Marathon in 4:19:47, which shaves 2 minutes and 52 seconds off my personal record.  So why am I disappointed?  Because I wasn't able to meet my goal of 4 hours.  My strategy was to start out with the 4 hour pacer and run with this group until mile 16.  There were three hills up to this point, so I had decided that after these I would reevaluate how I felt and then either stick with the 4 hour group or speed up for the last 10 miles of gradual downhill.  Right from the start I felt off.  I had been sick for the 2 weeks prior to the marathon, so I am sure that was a contributing factor.  However, I decided to stick it out and stay with the 4 hour group.  I thought that maybe I just needed to warm up and it usually takes me about three miles to get into a rhythm.  The first hill was at mile 8 and fell about 100 yards behind the pacer during the climb.  I decided that I wasn't going to worry too much about it because she was pacing a little bit faster than a 9:09 min/mile pace.  But as time went on, and as I came to the next two hills, she got farther and farther ahead of me.  According to my Garmin watch, at the half marathon start, my time was 2:01:19. I figured that I could still make a 4:05 finish, since the hardest part of the marathon was behind me. I was still slowing considerably, and after mile 19 I was averaging a 9:24 minute mile (4:06 finish).

By mile twenty, I hit the wall like I had never hit it before. I could barely put one foot in front of the other.  I had a cramp in my calf and both of my hips were throbbing.  I was also in a mental fog.  It wasn't until after the race, that I realized that I was dehydrated.  It took me several hours to figure this out.  When Mike and I sat down to eat lunch, the waitress gave me the menu and as I looked at it, I realized that I could barely read the words and what I could read didn't make sense.  As Mike and I talked about it I realized that I usually have to urinate midway through my runs, but I wasn't able to go until several hours after the marathon.  Last night I read on Facebook the race organizer's apology for the lack of porta potties.  I had to chuckle a little because I hadn't even noticed.

I ended up walking the majority of the last 6.2 miles.  I cried when the 4:10 and 4:15 pacers passed me.  If I would have had a phone with me, I would have called Mike to come get me after mile 20 and it took me 12:10 to finish that one mile.  I averaged an 11:37 min/mile pace for those last 6.2 miles.  Now, as I reevaluate everything, I am so glad that I didn't quit the race.  I am actually just relieved that I was able to finish without needing medical attention.  And although I am glad that I was still able to PR, I am still disappointed in the choices that I made that affected my performance.  I should have taken more time at the aid stations.  I should have trained with Gatorade, so that I would have been prepared to drink it throughout the race.  I should have drank both water and Gatorade at each aid station.  I should have started hydrating better before the race.  I was up at 3 am and I should have started to drink water and Gatorade at that time, but I was tired and I didn't feel like drinking then.  I did take two 6 oz bottle of BCAA with me.  I drank those with gels every 2 miles and that helped me not to have any GI issues until after the race.  I guess that is something that I have figured out.

Summer Training Plans

It's 24 hours after the marathon, and at this point I am usually planning out the training for my next marathon. Not this time though.  I am signed up for the Pocatello Marathon in September, but I am planning on changing it to the half marathon.  I don't think that I am ready to train for another marathon at this point.  I think that one marathon a year is more than enough.  I still want to drive my pace down to the sub 9 min/mile zone or lower.  I have been reading Brian Mackenzie's book Power, Speed, Endurance, which is a crossfit approach to endurance events and I want to start focusing on his method for awhile.  Check it out at http://www.crossfitendurance.com/.  I'm excited to focus on power and speed.

There are so many other things that I want to do, in conjunction with running.  I definitely don't want to spend the summer running any more long runs.  I have two great bikes: a road and mountain bike, but I haven't even gotten on either one yet this summer.   I have already mentioned several times how much I love Monica's Tabata and Kettlebell classes (they are comparable to the crossfit classes I have attended) and I want to be able to go to them whenever I want. Just writing about these things that I enjoy, I am getting excited.  I just have to get past this next week.  Hal Higdon refers to the week after a marathon as week zero.  I plan on doing pilates, walking, stretching, and using my foam roller.  I also need to get some sleep.  I might get on my bike next week, but according to Hal, I shouldn't do anything new.  Since I haven't biked for over 9 months, I think that this activity would qualify as "new."  I might try going back to Kettlebell class on Friday, if I can walk properly by then.  I was walking in front of an old lady with a cane and hunched back yesterday, and Mike said that she was moving better than I was.

And Finally-Time to get back to CLEAN EATING

I also am going to get back to eating clean 90% of the time.  This past month I was probably eating clean

75-80%.  I ate out about two times a week and I ate treats nearly every day.  Although I have splurged more, I kept the meals that I made myself totally clean.  I think that this really helped me to keep my weight maintained.  I still want to lose 5% body fat.  Now that I'm not training for a marathon, I can focus on building muscle and losing fat.  I have been debating if I should go back to the Stripped Diet Plan, but I think that I am going to start with Cooler 2 for the summer and see where that gets me.  If I'm not where I want to be after the Pocatello Half Marathon, then I will reassess what I am doing at that point.

Your WOD, courtesy of me!

All right everyone- grab some comfortable workout clothes and a water bottle. 

You might want to add some BCAAs (we all know that I can be long winded 

so you will need the extra energy) because I'm about to 

WORK YOU OUT!!! 

This week I took my kids to Las Vegas to visit my sister and brother-in-law. This was the first vacation that I have gone on since I started clean eating that I didn't pack my own food. My sister keeps a lot of treats on hand, but overall she cooks nutritiously. I made some trail mix and protein balls for the car trip and I brought along fruits and veggies to munch on. It hasn't been a total free for all, but I will admit that I have indulged in my sister's chocolate chip cookies and Dove dark chocolates one too many times this week (Mike just read that part and now I'm in trouble for not bringing him any).  I really wish that I didn't love chocolate so much!

While in Las Vegas, my sister and I walked every morning, which was good exercise for me on this taper week. I also ran two four mile runs and did two low impact tabata workouts. I tried to make up my own tabata workout, based on what we do in Monica's class, but it was kind of a disaster.  I texted Monica and she emailed me an outline of one of her routines and that went much better.  I also had a Pilates outline and I did that one day this week.  Today I did my last "long run" of 9 miles.  I have had a nasty cough and congestion for the past week.  My lungs felt like they were on fire the entire run, however, when I got home I realized that I had done the run one minute faster per mile than the last time I ran it in March.  I don't know what's up with that.  I hope that I get over this cold/allergies before the marathon on Saturday.

Have you worked up a sweat yet?  If you need to burn a few more calories, read on:  

I have mentioned before my love for tabata and kettlebell classes.  I was instructed by Evelyn that I was not to do either one of these classes for the 2 weeks before the marathon.  She texted it to me in all caps, so I decided that I better adhere to her instructions (I will do the low impact version at home, though, because I have issues with obedience and working out).  What is Tabata, you are probably not wondering.  Well, since I am only concerned about you getting in a good workout, I will fill you in.  Tabata is a form of HIIT (high intensity interval training) in which you work at a level 10 for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds.  Repeat these intervals 8 times for a total of 4 minutes.  Burpees, mountain climbers, and running from a bear are all level 10 exercises.  Sometimes Monica will have us do a tabata that exhausts our muscles, such as push ups.  Most classes have 3 tabatas with about 10 minutes of less intensity intervals between.  These intervals include 40 seconds work: 20 seconds rest at a level 7, 30 seconds work: 15 seconds rest at a level 8, and 20 seconds work: 10 seconds rest at a level 9.  An example would be lunges (level 7), lunges with a kick (level 8), plyometric lunges (level 9).  These classes are fast moving and a lot of fun.

I hope that you enjoyed this work out.  You probably deserve a brownie, coke, and a bag of chips, but since I advocate clean eating, you might have to settle for some protein balls and an apple.