Either my scale is broken, or my metabolism is. My scale says I've gained a ridiculous amount of weight in the past couple of weeks. As of this morning, that stupid thing claims I've gained something like 4 pounds in two weeks. Maybe more -- I forget. I'm up 9 pounds since the Marine Corps Marathon. I weighed as much this morning as I did 2.5 years ago when I started running. (And at this point, there's no hope for me in the Blogland Weight Challenge! Grr!)
I'm confused. I'm still running -- almost 38 miles this week (and 1500 yds of swimming!). I'm even eating better in the last week or so. In theory, I should have lost weight this week, since I'm back at work and drinking more water and not eating all the Christmas cookies and stuff.
I seriously thought about calling the doc for a physical. I'm going to wait one more week. If I gain more, I'll need some answers. It doesn't make sense.
On my run today, I was thinking about whether the fact that I'm not doing any true speedwork these days is the reason for this weight gain... Most of my runs last week were primarily slow. Then I ran 12 miles on Friday evening and kept them pretty slow (although it was dark and cold, so I did speed up a bit at times) and then decided to experiment with some LHR-type running this weekend. Saturday's 5.2 and today's 6 milers were run at an average of 10:15 and 10:29 pace to keep my HR under 143.
I know LHR training has proven to be productive for so many people, and I was really thinking I'd try it for the next couple months. Problem is, I'm fairly certain my speedwork is what helps me keep my weight in check. So now I'm trying to decide what's more important -- struggling through the difficult LHR training and keep gaining weight (or, at least, maintain my weight), OR start getting some speedwork back into my weekly running and try to drop some pounds.
Maybe all this weight gain is my body in winter hibernation mode. Seriously. I do feel like I gain a few pounds in the winter every year. Just not this much.
So far, I can still fit in my current clothes. Thank god, 'cause if this weight gain forced me to go clothes shopping, it would put me over the edge.
4 comments:
Doing speed work was what made me drop weight in the first place, so I fully expect to have to cut back on the eating now that I'm just doing easy runs and I really want to drop below a certain weight for the upcoming race season.
LHR training does not equal weight gain. Not sure where you are getting that idea. What you have been doing the past weeks/month may not have included speed work, but it wasn't LHR running (except the few times you tried it). I lost weight during it.
If you are going to try it, you should commit to at least 12 weeks of it in order to see benefits. I don't swim, so I don't know what to tell you on that - but you should figure out how to keep those swim workouts from being anaerobic if your going to do the LHR training. You won't get the full benefits of LHR training if you mix in anaerobic workouts and races. It requires alot of patience, but will bring good results if you stick with it.
Email me or go back through my blog if you want more info on it.
RFTL - it is helpful to know that you actually lost weight during LHR training. Thanks!
I know my weight gain has more to do with what I'm taking in and the level of exercise I'm putting out. I was/am nervous to cut out speedwork to commit to the LHR running, but I know I'd have to. It was very interesting to experiment with LHR the last few runs, that's for sure... My "slower" running was junk running -- done in a HR zone that wasn't really benefitting me.
Thanks, as always, for your input on that!
Now is a perfect time to cut out speedwork - since there aren't many races/reasons to be fast in the winter!
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