As you know, I ran the Asheville Marathon this past Sunday: recap here. After the race, it was time to recovery but also to really dig in to my 30-day Composition ID body fat challenge, which started last Thursday (and it’s actually 28 days, not 30). Oh, and what about that whole “2016 miles in 2016” thing? This post provides an update on ALL of that, plus a surprise I got in the mail this week…
Race: Asheville Marathon
Location: Biltmore Estate, Asheville, in the hills of western North Carolina
Weight. We all know that weight is just a number… that in addition to not telling us anything about a person’s worth or talents or soul or beauty or likelihood of landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated, it also doesn’t tell us all that much about their health.
That’s me!
But I’ve been writing for a while about thinking about trying (notice how this sentence is worded…) to lose a little weight because doing so is likely to help me race faster — less weight to haul around, less energy needed. Of course I don’t want to lose my muscle in the process; I’d want the weight to come from fat. I’ve posed some ideas about how to execute this “plan,” but it’s all been sort of esoteric, with no concrete goals and, more importantly, no data. Until now! (I know this is exactly how I intro’d my last post; this is my new set-up for all my blogs. JK.)
This morning, I had my first DEXA body scan at Composition ID!
Training for the Mississippi Blues Marathon
At the beginning of each training cycle, I set out my plan for the workouts I hope to do each week. But I’ve never looked back after the fact to see what workouts I actually completed. Until now! (Since I’m in taper mode for the Asheville Marathon, I had a little time on my hands.)
View from Sunday’s long run
Did anyone do RnR New Orleans this weekend? I did that marathon a few years ago and it was pretty fun! Check out my recap here.
This week was do-or-die for me, given that my longest run in this training cycle was 11.4 miles until this week. Yikes!!!! I usually like to get to 17 or 18 miles, if not 20. Last week I stepped it up with three Orangetheory sessions and two longer runs, and this week I wanted to keep the momentum and finish this training cycle strong. Oh, and do a true long run. Here’s how I did…
Per my 2015 recap, I got married last year! And I’ve spent the past 10 days taking a mini break from life (and from serious training for the Asheville Marathon) so that I could take my belated honeymoon in Maui and Kauai, Hawaii! We did some great activities (fitness related and less so) and restaurants (healthy and unhealthy) so this post will outline some of our favorites, plus it will serve as a training recap for the past two weeks.
This was my last week before taking a little break for my honeymoon in Hawaii (!!!!!). I really wanted to get in a lot of core work while I was thawing out from the snow storm and while my legs were getting back into distance-shape. But I also was really hoping to (finally) get myself out for a long run, especially given my new goal…
Friends,
I’ve previously documented my struggle (mental and physical) to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The closest I got was 3:45:47, about 10 minutes slower than the Boston application cutoff (but more like 15 minutes from what I’d actually need to get in). I’m several years older and wiser… although unfortunately still in the same age bracket for BQ qualifying times. And in the intervening years, I backed off the pressure, refocused my goals (hello, 50 states!), gained some weight, lost some weight, explored new workouts, changed jobs, gotten married, bought a home, and ultimately ended up with my marathon times back in the same range as they were in 2011.
So naturally, my mind wanders back to the BQ. Am I finally ready to tackle this challenge? At 30 years old, healthy, and childless, is this potentially my last, best chance? Or would I just be setting myself up for frustration and disappointment, and worst of all, would I be taking the joy out of running? So I have a plan.
According to my training plan, I was supposed to be spending the first two weeks of Asheville Marathon training doing a ton of Orangetheory and running 10 and 15 mile long runs respectively. As I wrote last week, I really needed a second week of recovery after the Mississippi Blues Marathon. That trend continued this week, until Snowzilla hit and then my options were really limited. I cannot bring myself to get on a treadmill except during an Orangetheory class, so the idea of doing a long run indoors had about as much *traction* as my feet out on the ice. But I tried to make the most of the snowy weather!
Here’s my recap…
athlettuce 