Sunday, March 22, 2015

A bit of momentum - and a plan to keep it going

Another week has passed, and it was a week of progress for me at least.  This morning (Sunday) marked my longest run since January 3rd.  It was only about 12 miles, but looking back at my history, that's about a typical long run for March  (I just pulled all my data from DailyMile, and built an analytical spreadsheet to answer LOTS of questions about my own history)

This also marks my highest mileage week of the year (well, since January 3rd) despite a few early mornings which limits my ability to get miles in.  Even better, I got to run outside a few times this week, which means I'm working through the post-winter road dread.  I don't know about you, but I find that the first week or so of runs after a winter of treadmills really means a lot of discomfort, especially with the hills, as I am nowhere need disciplined enough with those.

Now that the snow is melting, I've got quite the year to look forward to.  I've go a few races planned, and I'm leading my Scouts on a 165-Mile bike tour around the San Juan islands off the coast of Washington.  We're only taking tents and the stuff we need, and we'll be hauling it all over those islands, so it'll be an interesting ride for scouts 13-17 years old (and also for the adults who are a bit older.

My first race will be a half-marathon next week, unless my chronic foot injury sidelines me tomorrow morning.  Another half marathon in May, then a triathlon (sprint distance) in June.  July brings that bike ride, and I'm sure I'll find something in August.

The two decisions i need to make are 1) will I run a full marathon or another 50K this year, and when, and 2) Do I want to commit to a year (starting in September) of running one half-marathon per month?  It sounds like a neat idea now (and food for my blog) but I'm not sure how much I really want to do it.  I think it would be fun, and I could convince some friends to do them with me, but more important, it would help me avoid the winter 'experience' with my weight.

For I've also learned a bit about my seasonal weight, and it's not pretty.  I seem to gain weight starting every November (after my last race of the year) and manage to lose it every Spring, but that type of 'yo-yo' isn't healthy for me.  This year, I'm committing to a Spring resolution not to need a new year's resolution about my weight.  Keeping myself in training all year.....maybe that's a goo plan for the year.

P.S.  This has been the worst Lent experience that I've had in years.  I gave up lots of things for my health, including cookies, donuts, diet soda and peanut butter.  So far, cookies and donuts are still out, but my soda habit has returned.  I'm going to need to restart that one now, using the start of Spring as my 'fresh start day'.  Oddly enough, chocolate candy has actually snuck INTO  my diet, so that's going to need to stop as well.  As of now, I'm at 197-198 pounds, so down only 4 pounds during Lent so far, versus my normal 8 pounds, so clearly, it's not working yet.

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