Saturday, November 27, 2010

Ten Freakin' miles! Yippee

OK, this is an exageration, but how the wind felt to me
Today I felt like one BAMF'er out there.

I'm recovering from some weird flu like thing (chills, aches, swollen glands) that ruined Turkey day and holed me up yesterday, but feeling 85% back, figured I'd give the long run a go.

With slightly less energy, wind howling in my face, chilly conditions, an annoyingly runny nose the whole time (and horrors - no tissues), I stared down my long run day of ten miles and took it on.  Pace was 11:56 and just under 2 hours but I felt super victorious. The last time I ran ten miles was for my half in September and I had hit an awful wall right before ten miles, so I had that mental thing to get past too.

And I did it. I did it strong. It was the very first time in my entire life that I'd ever run for that kind of distance without walking at all, that accomplishment makes me feel really happy.

Oh there's a lot of mental cheerleading and stuff going on in my head. Many mantra's. They got me thru.

So that's pretty awesome.

And in slightly more annoying news - I gained FIVE pounds at WW this week?  WTF!? Even without the long run on Friday I ran 12 miles and cross trained twice. I didn't eat Thanksgiving (no dessert, no alcohol) thanks to the flu... I'm baffled. I eat clean and lean and it just doesn't add up.  I always have a lot of points at the end of the week, I don't eat anywhere close to all the points I accumulate from all the exercise (HELLO, today I earned an extra 16 points for the long run - that's almost a whole day of food!)

I'm not upset, just confused. OK and a little annoyed because I was so happy about 81.8 pounds and I'm going backwards. And of-course there's always this guy in the meeting, "Well, I'm totally shocked but I lost 2 pounds this week and I ate everything not nailed down..." Good for you buddy.

GRRR.

I'm hoping being sick and drinking a lot of salty broth yesterday to soothe the throat is what's tripping up the scale this week, we'll see. I can only keep on eating right, training and doing the right thing. I have to think the good will catch up.

My saving grace is, I feel good in my skin, I feel strong, I feel accomplished, I have the knowledge that I'm doing a million good things for me...  so while I'm slightly annoyed I do not let the scale ruin my day anymore.

XO

Jen

PS: After reading this post, my friend Jackie sent me this article about weight gain and exercise - I'm doing a lot more lately, so perhaps this is it? Make more sense and at very least, is very comforting! Thanks Jackie!  Gain Weight with exercise

10 comments:

Caroline said...

Good job on running your 10 miles! I have never ran a doublr digit yet....it is in my future though!!!

Unknown said...

Thanks Caroline - and you'll get there too :)

Anonymous said...

Woo-hoo, congrats on the 10-miler... and seriously, don't worry about the weight thing... it's probably within your natural fluctuation and some fluid retention... you'll be back to normal soon!

Sara said...

CONGRATULATIONS on 10 miles (and no walking!) - awesome accomplishment. I am so happy for you!! :) I agree with Lesley - since you've been sick your body is probably fluctuating/recovering/etc. and you will be back to normal soon. When I did WW (everything right) and GAINED, it always seemed to be because I was gearing up for an EVEN BIGGER LOSS the next week! Maybe you will too?! ;) Have a good week!

Jason said...

Nice job on the 10 miler and the best part is that you did it in those terrible conditions which means you can run in anything. There is nothing out there that can stop you. When things get tough just think about the 10 miler in the awful conditions with the illness.

I run in all weather b/c you never know what you are going to get on race day and it just amkes you mentally tougher.

As for the weight....unless you are weighing yourself at the exact same time of the day I would ignore it. Weight will fluctuate always but you knocked off 80+ lbs and that cannot be taken away from you.

You Rock!!!!!

Unknown said...

Many thanks Jason, Lesley and Sara for your comments - I really appreciate them.

I'm happy that I'm healthy, strong and running I will not beat up the body that has fueled this journey. I will love every blip on the scale and fluctuation in pounds - I will trust that with hard work and good eating, things will work out to where they should be.

I looked down at breakfast this morning and really did feel like an athlete, egg whites, left over steamed kale and left over (dry) baked sweet potato slices... that's a long way to come from pancakes and sausage. HA! ;)

financecupcake said...

Nice run! Don't the double-digit ones make you feel amazing?

I've done a lot of reading, and it sounds like with marathon training, most people actually gain some weight. You might want to shift your focus from weight to just exercising and eating well when you start training for the marathon.

Also, you probably should eat your points so you don't stall your metabolism. Lots of exercise and little food is a sure way to gain weight.

Keep it up, girlfriend!! I'm so excited to train 'with' you for our first marathons in spring 2011!!!!

Unknown said...

Woo hoo! Christina - me too :) and yes - those double digits make you feel like a rock star!

I have to try to start eating more. I think it's half my problem. I've been on WW for more than 3 years so I'm just used to thinking in terms of "eating" light. But at the end of the week when I've got 50 points banked from activity and they are not used - that's probably a hint.

I eat a lot of high fiber foods, tons of veggies, some fruits so I eat all the time just low point things... I'll have to experiment and then it's whatever. do the best I can.

Jason said...

I 'ran' over here as soon as the comment came across my email to tell you to slow down on the fiber with race day here....but then realized you aren't racing on Sunday you will be there in spirit. OK to continue to eat the fiber.

Unknown said...

LOL! Thanks Jason! ;) Soooooo excited about you guys running will be running is spirit!