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.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Back on the ball (once again)
The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur for me, with little time to stop and think, much less time to write and get my thoughts out of my head. That's been unfortunate, as without a release, a lot of thoughts were running around in the echo chamber that is my mind, and at times, I've lost real perspective on my situation.
A few things have changed this week, though, and I now see some relief to the pressures I've experienced for the last four months; some of which were caused by external factors (e.g. someone on my work team being transferred away from my team) and some caused by internal reactions to some good opportunities that presented themselves.
A big one of those opportunities faded slowly away, and I was reluctant to recognize facts until just now. I had my epiphany this week, and finally accepted that I need to move on, and that actually gave me a lot of strength, reducing my stress almost instantly when I finally admitted to my wife and myself that option was closed.
Not surprisingly, this amount of stress (and the nature of it) caused me to lose focus on other goals, and since I am an emotional eater (related to something I can control, even if not in a good way), I have not lost the weight I had hoped in the past few weeks. Bummer, really, but that's all. I'm not defeated, just set back a bit, and I can see progress on the road ahead.
It's also helping that it's almost Spring, and that the snow has started to melt. I can see the sides of roads and sidewalks again, which means I can run outside more often, which helps my psyche a lot. Biking season is just around the corner, I sense, and I can get out again to prepare for triathlon season, as I'd like to get in more than one this year. That and my 160-mile bike trip with the scouts will have me on the roads quite a bit this season.
So it's goodbye to this Winter, hello to Spring and Summer again. I haven't managed to build up my summer body in the winter, so you won't see me on the beaches without a shirt flexing my manly muscles, but then, no one has ever really wanted to see that. My goal - being reasonably overweight, but fit enough to keep up with my teenagers this year.
A few things have changed this week, though, and I now see some relief to the pressures I've experienced for the last four months; some of which were caused by external factors (e.g. someone on my work team being transferred away from my team) and some caused by internal reactions to some good opportunities that presented themselves.
A big one of those opportunities faded slowly away, and I was reluctant to recognize facts until just now. I had my epiphany this week, and finally accepted that I need to move on, and that actually gave me a lot of strength, reducing my stress almost instantly when I finally admitted to my wife and myself that option was closed.
Not surprisingly, this amount of stress (and the nature of it) caused me to lose focus on other goals, and since I am an emotional eater (related to something I can control, even if not in a good way), I have not lost the weight I had hoped in the past few weeks. Bummer, really, but that's all. I'm not defeated, just set back a bit, and I can see progress on the road ahead.
It's also helping that it's almost Spring, and that the snow has started to melt. I can see the sides of roads and sidewalks again, which means I can run outside more often, which helps my psyche a lot. Biking season is just around the corner, I sense, and I can get out again to prepare for triathlon season, as I'd like to get in more than one this year. That and my 160-mile bike trip with the scouts will have me on the roads quite a bit this season.
So it's goodbye to this Winter, hello to Spring and Summer again. I haven't managed to build up my summer body in the winter, so you won't see me on the beaches without a shirt flexing my manly muscles, but then, no one has ever really wanted to see that. My goal - being reasonably overweight, but fit enough to keep up with my teenagers this year.
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