The State of Things

      8 Comments on The State of Things

 

IMG_4589

Ironically, after that post I made Friday night about running in the winter and how I’m such a hardcore badass about it, I got up on Saturday morning and was greeted by this:

IMG_4587

In case you can’t read the fine print, that says 0.4 degrees!!  Yes, that is air temperature, with the winds averaging about 10mph.  How fun does that sound? 😉 If you think I chickened out and went back to bed—you’re wrong!  Friday’s post was kind of a motivator in that I couldn’t spend 2000 words talking about what a rock star I am for running in any winter weather condition…and then promptly get up the next morning and wimp out. 😉 So, out on the road I went!

IMG_4588

At least I was greeted with a beautiful view, right? Of course, within a quarter mile, my legs were frozen and my fingers weren’t far behind.  I only had to run six miles, but six miles at 0 degrees feels a LOT longer!  The first three were the worst…the winds were coming from the southwest, and I was heading south for the first part and then directly southwest for the last half mile or so.  OMG, cold!!!  I had on two pairs of socks but my toes were still pretty numb for a while. My fingers would have been okay, thanks to Jamie’s great gloves, but I kept having to remove them to blow my nose, and it turns out they weren’t kidding about that wind chill warning. :/  I had dressed really well, knowing that the winds were going to make the cold air even worse, with two layers of socks and pants, plus the gloves, a face mask, a headband, and a warm hat.  It was still tough, though…those open fields just do nothing to block that wind!

I had planned to do a kind of circular route, but when I hit the three-mile point, going straight into the wind, I said screw it and just turned around to come back the way I came. 😛 At that point, I had the wind at my back for about half a mile, and it was heavenly!  Okay, not really heavenly, but better than before. 😉  I was able to remove my gloves at that point and blow my nose really well (Does everyone’s nose run like crazy in the cold? Or is it just me?!), and as I readjusted my facemask and head band, I discovered something shocking—my eyebrows were covered with ice!  A pretty thick layer, too.  I would have laughed and taken a picture if I wasn’t so damn cold. 😉  I scraped it all off, but even my eyelashes occasionally iced up as I continued to run.  What a bizarre experience!

By the time I got home, I was totally happy to be done!

IMG_4589-2

I forgot to mention that I bought a new Garmin with my Christmas money, and I loved that it immediately uploaded my run via my phone as soon as I was finished.

IMG_4591

Check out my pace—11:32!  That’s pretty darn good for me as an easy run, especially in that cold weather!  For me right now, an “easy run” is somewhere around a 12-minute mile (marathon pace is 11:04, and you’re supposed to make an easy run between 30-90 seconds slower than that).  But despite the fact that I could feasibly go as slow as 12:34 for a long run, for the most part, I prefer to keep it under twelve, mostly to overcome my mental block about 12-minute miles. (When you enter “running” in the activity calculator for Weight Watchers, it counts anything 12 minutes per mile and over as “walking.” Who came up with that cut-off?! I know a lot of 12-minute runners who would argue that point.)

Anyway, all in all, it was a good run for me. But definitely not one I’d like to repeat any time soon!  This morning’s run, by contrast, was done in 28 degree weather with an average wind speed of 2mph…in 3 inches of fresh snow that just kept coming! 😛  It’s amazing how awesome 28 degrees felt this morning. 😉 The snow, unfortunately, was a bigger challenge, just because it was very fresh and there hadn’t been many cars out yet to pack it down. But I did get a six-mile run in before going to work on a Monday!  (I no longer get to work from home on Mondays, so now I have yet another day to make the 40-mile drive.)

Splits011215

 

Ignore all the random splits. I’m still learning how to use my new watch, and I’m finding the lap button is in a rather inconvenient place, ha ha! I do like that it beeps, vibrates and displays my lap pace after each lap.

So, I haven’t talked about my weight since…forever ago? I honestly don’t even know.  The point is, things haven’t been very good, and I continue to be frustrated.  My weight this morning was down .8 from last week, but since last week’s weight was the highest I’ve been in close to 3 years (*sob*), seeing the slight loss wasn’t joy-inducing.

IMG_8906

That’s almost 11 pounds above where I was at this time last year.  Argh!!  I’m tracking every day and obviously exercising plenty, but something just isn’t working.  I increased my daily points to 29 back in mid-December, because I knew I was going to be running a lot with marathon training, and I figured a few extra points wouldn’t hurt.  However, despite the extra food, I’ve found that these last two weeks of heavy running hasn’t seemed to increase my appetite.  In fact, both weeks, I’ve used less than half of my APs.

Activity12-29 to1-4

 

Activity1-5 to1-11

 

I suppose someone will tell me I need to eat more to fuel my body, but even though I fully intended to do that this week…I just wasn’t hungry.  I don’t know…maybe all this cold weather running is messing with my metabolism.  I do plan to talk to my leader when I go in for my monthly weigh-in for January.  I could understand being a few pounds above goal with the added exercise and all the strength training I’ve been doing the last 18 months, but I really can’t see a way to justify being 11 pounds over goal when I have not been “off the wagon” at all. Have I been perfect? No, but I have been pretty close!

I was originally going to title post “Steph vs The Scale,” (because it does feel like a battle), but then I remembered that I already had a post with that title.  I searched for it and found it from two years ago this very week.  I re-read it yesterday and immediately wished I could go back in time and slap myself.  Why was I complaining about being 114?? 😛 Ah well…everything is relative. 😉

Hope you’re doing well in your journey so far this year—I’d love to hear about it!

Thanks for reading!

8 thoughts on “The State of Things

  1. lisa

    Maybe you’ve added a lot of muscle doing all of that. I recently had a bodpod test done. If you watch the biggest loser it’s the test they do on the contestants where they look lIke they are in an eģg. It tells you your body fat and lean mass. It’s a good assessment to see where you are muscle wise. At least if you did this now you’d have something to compare it to later. And I have a feeling if you had one from and year ago and one from today you’ve added muscle and that’s the gain you’re seeing. Just My cents 🙂 love your blog thank you for the running inspiration!

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      I have actually thought about doing one of these tests. I just need to figure out where to get one! Thank you for the support!

      Reply
  2. Kate

    Hey Steph! I’m so sorry to hear you’re battling the scale, and I had a quick thought. When you’re working out so hard core, your body is cranking out a lot of acid (in your muscles, blood, etc.). If you don’t flush it out, that acid can then cause a buildup that really confuses your cells when it comes to ditching other toxins and properly processing fats, etc. So, that being said, I was wondering if you’ve tried adding more greens and/or lemon? Simple things like adding water to your lemon, especially post-workout, and adding greens to every meal (even if it’s just a few sprigs of broccoli or a handful of spinach) help alkalize that acid and flush it out of your system. Green juices also help, as long as they aren’t packed with sugar (look for the ones that aren’t primarily fruit juice). May be worth a shot if you haven’t already tried it! Hang in there, lady – you’re still an amazing you + congrats on your awesome dedication to training! xo, Kate

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Thank you for the the kind words and the ideas. I won’t lie, the idea of lemon in my water (or water in my lemon, lol!) makes me go “ew,” but I do like the idea of having greens at every meal. Thank you for the idea! And thanks especially for the support!

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *