Inspiring words

I was reminded today of a quote that a friend once shared. It goes something like this:

Somewhere out there, another runner is training while you are not. He will beat you in your next race.

I know that's not exactly the quote, but it captures the essence.

I wasn't feeling great after work today -- seems like that's the norm these days -- and I was tired because I was wide awake at 3:30am and barely got back to sleep before having to leave for work. I met up with my sister and was able to grind out 5 miles outside in the cold, but fresh, air, but I didn't really enjoy much of it (the run, not the company). I had the thought that I'd get some laps done in the pool afterwards, but through most of mile 5 I was convincing myself that would be a bad idea because it was an almost certainty that I'd just sink to the bottom of the pool.

I went anyway. It wasn't so bad.

I did about 1000 yards and was thinking I'd wrap it up and get out of the pool. Then I noticed the guy in the lane next to me was still swimming. He started just before I did.

My friend's quote popped into my head... I imagined the guy in the next lane was a woman in my age group in my next triathlon.

I kept swimming.

It all caught up to me

-- all the sleepless nights and work frustrations and everything else that has felt out of whack lately -- and I crashed hard Friday night. I was asleep before 9:30pm. I did wake up a couple times in the night, but by the time I got out of bed Saturday morning, I was looking forward to my first real long run in a long time.

15 miles. It was a beautiful morning for a run -- about 40*, getting cooler as I ran, and sunny.

My legs were feeling it by the time I finished yesterday, but I got out for an easy 6.2 miles this morning and that helped to work out any leftover kinks.

Even though all the other stuff is still out of balance and a bit troubling, and it all caught up to me this weekend, at least my running worked.

They can't all be good...

8 miles this (later) afternoon that were harder, colder, suckier than I have had in a long time.


But it was 8 miles.
Outside.
After a long workday that started before 7am.
On feet that were really hurting.



So I still consider it something to be grateful for today.

layers

I ran my long run of the week yesterday morning at the shore. It was 10* with a -1* windchill at the start of my run.

I wore tights (thin), pants (thin), a tank, 2 long-sleeve (sort of thin) shirts, my fleece, a hat and gloves. More layers than I've worn since, probably, my first winter running a few years ago. My face felt chilled as I started, but that leveled out quickly. I was cursing the 2 shirts by mile 3 because the WNW wind was sort of blocked by houses as I was heading north, and I was too warm.

Then I made the turn around mile 4 and cooled off a little as I felt the wind come across my right side. Ahh. That's better. Shirt situation will be ok.

I ran by my house at about mile 6, grabbed a sip of water, and gave my dad my ballpark time I'd finish. My plan was to run about 12ish miles, and my dad would pick me up near my brother's house.

In the 30 seconds I was in the house, the wind, of course, decided to switch.

As I headed south out of the house and down the island, I now had the cold wind -- blowing about 10ish mph on average with higher gusts -- right in my face. Fantastic. I tried to tune it out and I focused on the crystal-blue, sparkly, calm ocean.

It turned out that the cold didn't really bother me. I made my way to the 12.5ish mile mark and saw my dad. Asked him if he'd mind if I finished out 13, and naturally he said, do it.

So, in all my layers, I finished my 13 miles -- and took note that at the end of my run, the temp was about 14* with an above zero windchill.

It was sunny, it was crisp, it was a little challenging, but it was a good run.

exhale...

Work's been doing everything it can to kick my ass. I'm working hard to not let that happen.

My weight's been pissing me off, but as of today, I'm feeling more centered about it, so I'm not gonna rant about it anymore.

The fact that I still don't know what race I want to focus on for the Spring is aggravating me. For now, I'm just gonna keep running and swimming (and maybe eventually I'll get back on the bike, too) until something hits me to focus my training on...

I got up before 4:30 am today to get to the gym and get a run in before work since I knew I'd be getting home from work late. As I was getting home around 5 o'clock, the sunset was taking shape. I grabbed my camera, walked out onto my porch, and soaked it all in -- the vibrant colors of the sky, the crisp freshness of the air, and the silence of the area around me...

...and I exhaled.

Confusion update

I always weigh myself in the morning. I weighed 2.5 pounds less this morning than I have the past several days.

That's a good thing, because it means I weigh the same today that I did last Monday.

But the weight fluctuation is weird.

Confusion.

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.