I also have completed the 4th week of my run training program that included a long run of 5 miles yesterday morning. The temperatures have really started to drop over the past couple of weeks but I have managed to bundle up and stay running outside as I dread the thought of running long distances on a treadmill.
The one thing that started to get to me over the last week was always running in the dark. Most of my training runs occur before work, around 5 am, after supper, or after the girls go to bed. All of these times result in running in the pitch dark and for some reason that was starting to get to me. This week I managed to sneak a run in after work one day and during lunch another day. Running in the daylight did me some good.
Now for the not so good news. During my long run yesterday morning I managed to trip over a rise in the sidewalk and fall flat on my face. This is one of the major risks of running in the dark. For the most part I am okay. I scraped up my left knee and palms and have bruises on both knees, my left elbow and nose. Mostly I was impressed at how quickly I was able to pop back up and run the rest of the way home.
Lastly, the really bad news. You may recall a post back in July/August when I stated that I was going to shift my focus away from weight loss and just worry about training for my races. Well, with that decision, I made the mistake eliminating my twice a week weigh ins. As my racing season came to an end, my training tapered off and the idea was to shift focus back to weight loss (also mentioned in a previous post).
Even with a weight loss goal, I failed to start up regular weigh ins. Over the past couple of weeks it finally hit me that I had to be gaining weight, I could just feel it. Although I was fitting in what would be plenty of exercise for most people, I was no longer burning the 1,000 - 3,000 calories a day that I was during peek training season. At the same time, I didn't take the time to evaluate my nutrition program and decrease the number of calories that I was consuming daily.
I'm sure at this point you can guess where this is headed. Yesterday morning I stepped on the scale for the first time in months weighing in at 269 lbs, which is a little more then 30 lbs over my lightest weight back in August. One thing that I will qualify here is that I did put on a significant amount of muscle from August to early October that had me weighing in at 251 lbs. During that time I was actually trying to work on bulking up so the weight gain was expected. Sadly, I am painfully aware that the last 18 lbs was not muscle at all.
I consider myself a very intelligent person, but right now I feel like a complete idiot. I flat out screwed up and I am owning that. The good news for me is that I did decide to step on the scale yesterday to bring this issue to light. Knowing their is a problem is the first step to fixing it and I am well on my way to doing just that. I am already making alterations to my diet to account for burning fewer calories each week. I am also ramping up my training (this has been happening over the past couple of weeks anyways). My plan is to get back to what I was doing last December - March when I lost a significant amount of weight. Diversifying my workouts to include a variety of exercises and strength training and sticking to a schedule. Also, being more conscientious about what I am eating compared to the amount of calories that I am burning.
Another positive is that nothing else has changed. I still have huge goals for next year that I fully intend to accomplish. It isn't like I have been secretly skipping workouts or gorging on food. I have been maintaining a consist level of training and am loving nearly every minute of it. I made a mistake and lost my focus and in an instant, yesterday morning, I got my focus back. This journey is a roller coaster ride, and to this point I had only been experiencing the highs. Yesterday was a low but less then 48 hours later, I'm already working my way up the next hill.
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