TOWPATH TRILOGY - 10K

Source: towpathtrilogy.com

It's here. The 3rd and final race in the Towpath Trilogy. I've talked about it before, but this is a race series that I have been wanting to do since 2013. Back in 2012 when I was training for the Columbus Marathon I completed 2 of 3 of the Towpath races. I can't remember exactly why I didn't do the first one in April. It may have been because I didn't realize there was a trilogy or because I didn't want to do any of the distances offered. Whatever the reason was, after completing 2 out of 3 I decided I really wanted to tackle the Trilogy.

I won't rehash how things have gone from 2013 to now because you all know about that (and if you don't, you can look back through my old posts). And, as you already know, I started getting really serious about running again in January of this year. Come April I was able to complete the 5 miler in a time that I did not expect. This was an instant PR because I've never done a 5 mile race before. That was a nice way to start the year.

April - 5 miler

Fast forward to June and I decided to do the 10 miler instead of the 10k because 1) I wanted the medal and 2) I figured I could do it because I would have just finished a half marathon in May so I would already be trained for the 10 miler. When it was time for that race I was kind of wishing I signed up for the 10k instead. I finished the 10 miler even though it was way slower than when I did it in 2012.

June - 10 miler

Running plans changed for this year after the half marathon in May. The original plan was to perhaps train for another FULL marathon. My running partner wanted to do her first and I was wanting to do another one. The plans changed for a few reasons. One reason was because I decided I would not be ready to do a full marathon this year and that I wanted to work on getting better at lower distances before tackling a full marathon again. Then, Leslie became sidelined with an injury so things changed for both of us.

I started running with my mom once a week and we were doing 6 miles a lot of our runs. We have been slowly increasing our miles to train for a 15k in November. Anyway, I was starting to feel pretty confident about this 10k yesterday because my running has seemed to FINALLY be getting faster. I looked at my race report from back in 2012 and started thinking perhaps I could work for a PR.

In the end I did NOT PR; but I am not upset about that at all. My finishing time in 2012 was 1:17:51 which meant a 12:33 m/m pace. My finish time yesterday was 1:18:14....literally SECONDS away from getting that PR. My average pace for yesterday was 12:37 m/m. My average pace for the 5 miler in April was 12:44 m/m, which was a shock to me at the time. To increase the distance by 1.2 miles and increase my speed is great!

October - 10k....Trilogy COMPLETE!

What is also SO interesting to me is that back in 2012 I did a few things differently than I did yesterday that would lead me to believe I should have been lots slower yesterday than I was. In 2012 I blogged about how I ran the first 14 minutes without stopping. After that, I continued on with my 4/1 intervals and only walked extra when I went through the water stops. Yesterday I was doing 3/1 intervals which I kept the entire time and only walked extra through the water stops. I did NOT start by running 14 minutes without stopping. So less time running altogether and I still was within seconds of my previous time. I'm pretty happy with that. Also, I blogged about how in 2012 it was a pretty cold day. I feel I run better in the cooler weather (I think that's how I did so well in April). Yesterday was NOT cool. It wasn't terrible, but in the upper 60's and quite humid so that goes in to my feeling really good about my finish time as well.

That was my 4th race on the year and I am so excited still to feel like "I'm back". I feel like I have finally gotten back to where I was in 2012. I can't believe it took 5 whole years, but right now my weight is just about the same as it was in October 2012 and my running ability seems to be right on par with where it was in 2012. So now it is time to focus on improving even more.

I have at least one more race on the schedule for this year. We'll see if I add any more between now and December 31st.

Day 3 of 52

Days 1 and 2 were Monday and Tuesday this week and they were both relatively easy days.

These were easy days because I got so many extra calories from exercise that I didn't even really have to restrict my calories. I mean, Monday I ate 2,244 calories and my NET calories were still only 537. Tuesday I also ate over 2200 calories, but that day my net calories were up to 1,080. Remember; the goal is to stay at (or below) 1300 NET calories.

It's only day 3 and I'm already feeling slightly challenged today. My calorie burn is lower today so I have to keep my overall calories lower to get to that 1300. Of course it's all in my head because it's still more calories than I ever ate before when I was trying to lose weight.

I think part of my feeling challenged today has to do with anticipating tomorrow. Tomorrow is game 1 of the ALDS and I am lucky enough to be going to the game! I am SO excited about this I can't even tell you.

Going to the game means getting stadium food. I know it doesn't HAVE to mean that, but it means stadium food for dinner because there's no way I'm eating dinner before and then getting through an entire game with no food. No problem though. I've gone to several games lately and I've gotten pretty good at picking one thing and only having that for the duration of the game. I can plan my day around one big meal out and usually not have a problem. It just means I need to make sure I get up and run tomorrow because that will help with my added calories. The problem with tomorrow is that I have 2 higher calorie meals planned. This still doesn't have to derail my efforts though. I can plan accordingly. I can have a big breakfast and then a big dinner and not eat anything in between.

If I burn enough calories to eat 2200 total calories in a day that still leaves quite a bit of room for 2 big meals. And given how high my heart rate went at an Indians game earlier this year I can only imagine what it'll get to at a playoff game! LOL! Raised heart rate helps burn calories!

GO TRIBE!!!! 

52 Days......

52 Days.......seems easy enough, right?

Not 52 weeks. Not 52  years. 52 DAYS.

I have decided to embark on a new challenge. Back in February I was making new goals/challenges for myself each month. I did pretty well with that for a while and my weight was steadily dropping from February to May. My weight has not moved since May. That's not totally true. My weight has moved up, then down, then up, then back down.....you get the idea. It's been GREAT that I've been basically maintaining my weight; but I'm not at a point yet where maintaining my weight is a good thing.

I've posted a lot about trying to find the right mix to get the scale going back in the right direction. I still haven't found that right mix. I'm trying to do things I know worked in the past, but they aren't working now. Well; I'M not working them now. Tracking during the week and being more lenient on the weekends is fine if 1) I'm actually restricting my calories enough during the week and 2) am not going totally crazy during the weekend. In September when I was trying to do this again I was eating over 2,000 calories most days during the week (because I was still "in the green" in MFP) and then going totally crazy on the weekends.

Sigh.....

It was time for some more soul searching and for a decision to be made. It was then that I decided to challenge myself to 2 things for the next 52 days (from October 2nd to November 22nd):

1. NO WINE

2. Track and stay within MFP calories EVERY DAY. 

That's it. Two things that should be easy enough, right? But, of course, if they were that easy it wouldn't be such a damn struggle all the time. Staying within MFP calories amounts to keeping my calories at 1300 NET each day. This is actually not a hard thing to do MOST days. Most days I earn so many extra calories from activity that I can eat 2300 and still have calories remaining. The days that I don't exercise will be MUCH trickier to stay in my calorie range. 

Again I am not going to put pressure on myself as to where those calories come from. I do believe that if I track and keep my calories in the MFP range EVERY day for 52 days I WILL lose weight. Of course I just re-read my blog post from Feb 1st where I talked about how my calories were within my range most days in January but I still gained weight. So I am once again feeling uncertain about my goals and whether or not I need to just suck it up and restrict myself more. 

Looking at things from January more closely though I see that I had my NET calories set at 1660 instead of 1300 so that should make a difference right there. Regardless; tracking EVERY day and staying in MFP calorie range has got to do something positive. 

So 52 days. Today is day 2 and so far so good. I will weigh in each week to check my progress. I am going to make Thursdays my weigh in day since day 52 is a Wednesday so that means my "final" (for this challenge) weigh in will be on Thanksgiving Day. I have a goal in mind for that weigh in, but I don't think it is a realistic goal and frankly, as long as the scale goes lower than it was on May 1st I'll be content. I will pick a more realistic weight goal range for that weigh in when I weigh in on Thursday morning. 

I am also toying with the idea of blogging every day during this challenge to help keep me accountable and on track. So get ready for more posts!