Racewalking; food issues

Let's start with the good stuff: racewalking!

Loren got me this for my birthday :). I got it in the mail yesterday, and I love it :) :) :).

Tuesday I decided my legs were probably up to a hard workout. They were! No pain! Yay! I did an intense but brief workout, since I'm tapering for the 1/2 marathon on 3/21. Warm-up, 6x400m (0.25 mile) at 5k pace (about 2:14) and then cool-down. I was on the treadmill due to a fresh dump of the white stuff on our fair city; I figured the track would have some snow (it might not have; the roads were mostly clear). It was a great workout - my heart rate was actually pretty low on average for the intervals and speed. My ave HR was 147-152 for the intervals; max HR for each was 157-163. Pretty good. I think if my IT bands hold up, and if I have a good day, I might be looking at a new PR for my race.

This morning I was going to go to my weight training class, but forgot to set my alarm. I'm still not used to daylight savings time, so I woke up about 7 min after class started. Oops. And I didn't have much time before the kids woke up. Double oops. So I hopped on the very handy treadmill and put in an easy 4 miles. Sure enough, Calvin got up about 15 min into my 45 minute workout. I was glad I'd stayed home. I put on the SuperReaders (PBS) for him and he was ecstatic and so was I :). Michelle wandered in about 20 min later, and I was able to finish my 4 miles. Yay!

This afternoon I put in some impromptu miles. I needed to measure the last bit of the Jordan River trail that the TNT team is doing Saturday for their 20-miler, and it's not available online. So I drove the kids over there and pushed them in the stroller for the 1.25 miles out and back (total 2.5 miles; 4 km) that I needed to measure. The weather was gorgeous - pushing 50F (10C) and sunny, with a little wind. Nice. I did it in 30 min flat, pushing about 70 lb (32 kg) worth of kids, in a stroller with one flat tire (DH still needs to fix it!!!). Not bad :). 7.5 min/km is a great pace with that handicap, and my ave HR was only 134.

***

Food issues. Not so good. I feel like I've actually been doing pretty well overall with my eating, but every now and then I've gotten really out of control. Enough that I am up just a little more :(. I am up about 7-8 lb over my lowest weight (and where I want to be for racewalking!). It's been tough because my caloric needs really have decreased, for whatever reason. If I had been eating the way I'm eating now a couple years ago, I know I would have lost weight (yes, I have been tracking EVERY single point, even when I overdo it). But that just does not matter - what matters is that I need to adjust my intake to whatever my body's new requirement is, even if I do not like it.

I have a plan, and determination to make this better.

FIRST --- I have done some seriously hard training for all sorts of races: marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K, you name it. If I can do THAT, then I can lose this lousy 6 lb (this morning, I was 151, which is 6 lb over my lowest weight). It's hard, but not THAT hard. I just have to WANT it, and I really do. Renewed determination and a fresh look at things is the first step.

SECOND --- Eat MORE for breakfast & lunch & snack, and LESS dinner. My metabolism is revved in the morning and afternoon, and not so much at night. I think this will help me be less hungry, help me lose quicker, and help avoid overeating due to being too hungry.

THIRD --- Train hard and eat fewer of my activity points. Basically, only eat the ones from my long workouts (with the team on Saturdays); I will need them on those days.

FOURTH --- Don't let the screw-ups get me down, and keep on going.

FIFTH --- Assess again after a month and re-evaulate.