Dropping the last 20 - tracking and kicking sugar.

It's time to go into weight loss mode again. I really want to kick these last 20 pounds that are between me and healthy. I've been sitting at 45 lost long enough. I'm looking better, but I'm not looking good. More importantly, I can feel the difference in my running with the weight I've already lost. The potential to lose another 20+ pounds is like a gift of free speed. I'd be a fool to pass on that.

I am the queen of maintaining my weight. Throughout my weight loss journey, I've settled at numerous different weights. I stop tracking what I eat and let things slide a bit. I don't gain any back, but I don't keep losing either. That should serve me well when I get to a healthy point.

I feel like I'm at a solid place to make it happen. I've been very consistent with my training the last week and I'm feeling great physically. Feeling good about yourself is a great motivator. As well, for all that I believe exercise doesn't make you lose weight, it does keep me in the right mindset. It also helps when I'm training 9 times a week, because I always have to be aware of how my nutrition choices will affect my next workout.

There's two main strategies that I'll be employing here.

1. Tracking my food and controlling my portion sizes. For me, this is a key factor that defines the difference between weight loss and weight maintenance. When I no longer need to lose weight, perhaps I will be able to stop tracking most of the time. When I want to drop the pounds, it's vital.

2. Kicking the refined sugar and carbs.

I have a problem with sugar. I won't even try to deny it. Once I go without for a while, I can resist it, but when it's in my system, I want it, and I want more. Some people give into a craving and then they're good. If I give in to a sugar craving, it doesn't satisfy me; it simply makes me want more and more and more.

So, one week NO refined carbs. I've done this before, and it isn't easy. I have to plan really well so that I'm not grabbing food on the go. It means avoiding things like ketchup and most condiments. Fortunately, all the Easter deserts are gone now, and the kids finished their chocolate eggs yesterday (not that they got many; we keep the candy light for the kids.) My husband has left a chocolate Oh Henry egg in the fridge, but he'll take that with him to work tomorrow, right darlin'?

After that, I'll go easy on reading every label, but still no sweets. No chocolate, or rice krispie squares; no pastries or cookies. Fruit is good. Baked stuff, not so much.

Fortunately, I'm already set up for this. I make my own bread and it's whole grain. We only have whole wheat pasta in the house, brown rice, quinoa, etc...

I am currently 198 pounds. On my wedding day five and a half years ago, I weighed 190. When I get back there, I'll throw that wedding dress on and take some pictures.

A bike, a chariot and a big hill

Yesterday, I headed out on my bike again. This time it was Heidi, my hybrid, rather then Bella. As much as I enjoy riding Bella, I've decided that, in the interest of occasionally seeing my husband, some of my training needs to take place during the day while I'm with the kids.

Enter the chariot:
The combined weight of my kids is 75 pounds; the chariot is about 20. With some extra food, drinks and stuff in the back, I am easily pulling an extra 100 pounds behind me. Needless to say, I go a lot slower for the same amount of effort.

Now, I'm not new to pulling the chariot. I biked a fair bit last summer, and the vast majority of it was with the kids in the chariot. And between the two of them, they have only put on a couple of pounds since then, so the effort needed is around the same. The chariot isn't really that hard to pull. I just ride in a lower gear and go slower. There is one situation where the extra weight makes a huge difference though.

Hills.

There is one large hill along the pathways that I usually try to go down, but not up. There have been times I've had to go up it though, and last summer, I always did it the same way: I got off my bike and pushed.

There was simply no way I could ride up that hill. I'd start pedalling and shift all the way down, but even in the lowest gear, I'd reach a point (usually quite close to the bottom of the hill) where I just couldn't keep the pedals going around. When I started riding my bike to the pool, I discovered that I could ride up that hill without the trailer behind me. I did have to shift into the lowest gear though, and I didn't go faster then a walking speed.

Yesterday, I expected more of the same. In fact, I went down the hill knowing I'd probably have to back up. (There is still ice on the path by the river, and I wanted to see if the path would be blocked there. It was.) I wasn't avoiding the hill. I actually wanted to give it an effort and see if I could get up further then last summer. I figured it would be an extra workout to push it the rest of the way.

I started up as I always had. You can't build too much speed before the hill because it's already an upwards slope leading up to it with a turn right before. I'm not comfortable taking corners too quickly with the chariot behind me. I started to pedal.

As expected, I very quickly ended up in my lowest gear. BUT, unexpectedly, I was able to keep pedaling. The slow down and stop I was waiting for just didn't happen. I continued up that hill at about the same pace I had been doing it the previous summer without the chariot. When I got to the top, I took a moment and a drink.

I'd done it! I figured I'd be able to eventually ride up that hill a bit faster without the chariot, but I honestly didn't think I'd ever be able to do it pulling 100 pounds. I may not have spent as much time on my bike as I should have over the winter, but those trainer hours haven't been wasted! I am a stronger cyclist then I was 6 months ago.

And, continuing to pull that chariot should count as more hill training. Bring it on!

Some extra strength training...

Yesterday, I headed out for a run. My inlaws were visiting, so I was able to leave the kids with them and head out in the middle of the afternoon.

It was beautiful. I wore a short sleeved short and pants, and truthfully, I was a bit over dressed. I was just cruising along. Sometimes I play a game with myself where I guess my pace before checking my garmin. Everytime I figured I was going slower, but I was holding a pace around 6:10/km. I am quite capable of running at that pace, but usually have to push myself to get it.

I was heading down a hill, debating the rest of my route, when I saw two girls in front of me. The older one was on a bike and the younger on a scooter. The little girl went down the hill, went sideways and completely wiped out. An older lady on the path looked at them, glanced at me and kept walking.

I kept running - as far as where the girls were. The younger girl was 6, and her knees were badly scratched up. The older one turned out to be the babysitter and was 13 - though based on her size, I would have guessed 9; She was tiny. We tried to get the little one to walk, but she just wouldn't. She simply screamed and said her knee hurt so much. Truthfully, I thought she was overdoing it a bit, but at the same time, I'm sure she was in a lot of pain.

Their parents were at work, and I didn't have my phone with me. Truthfully, even with my phone, I couldn't have done a thing, since there wasn't anyone to call. I asked her where their house was, and I inwardly groaned when she told me. About a kilometer (0.6mi) away. Not so far, until you're carrying a six year old girl...

And carry her I did. Up the hill and onto the sidewalks. I tried to distract her by asking about her Easter, but no go. She just kept crying. I'd guess she was 5-10 pounds heavier then Spud, so around 50 pounds. Let's just say, there is a reason Spud doesn't get carried long distances anymore!

My arms felt like jello and I put her down for a minute while we waited at a stop light. Then picked her back up. Finally we got to her house and I put her down. She had calmed down a bit in the last few minutes when told she could have a bandaid and popsicle. I asked the babysitter if she needed anymore help and she thanked me and said they'd be okay now.

While carrying her, I figured that it was the end of my run. I'd be tuckered out and just head home. I was still feeling pretty good though, so I started running again and got a few more kilometers in. In the end, I did a total of 7 km (4.3mi), plus 1 km of walking and strength training. My arms are still sore.

A rite of passage...

Yesterday, I took Bella out for her second time on the road. I decided I should have some photographic evidence of it, so I drafted my husband to come take a couple pictures. I rolled her onto the road and got onto her.

I've been doing pretty well with the clipless pedals. I know that everybody supposedly falls, but I can clip out pretty easily and pretty quickly. I avoided a fall on my first ride when I started tipping the wrong way by clipping out fast.

I told my husband that I wouldn't be falling for the sake of a picture, but he should take a few pictures while I rode off. I clipped in on one side, grinned at him as he made some smart alec comment...

...and promptly fell over.
I guess it had to happen.

The ride after that went well. I started on the pathways and quickly realized that it's not a good place for a road bike. I may not be fast compared to other road bikers, but I'm fast compared to all the pedestrians, casual cyclists and children that frequent the pathways. Plus, they just aren't predictable and don't follow any kind of rules. I rode on the roads through town after that. I think I'll head onto the highways soon. It'll be nice to avoid the constant starts and stops in town.


I'm loving the outdoor rides! I was starting to worry that I didn't like biking as much as I should, in order to do triathlons. I think I was just getting into a slump with the trainer rides. I feel the same way when I do too many runs at the track.

This week is full fledged Oly training now, so no more neglecting my bike. Not all of them will be outdoors on Bella. Some will be on Heidi (the hybrid) with the kids in the chariot. If need be, there will be some on the trainer too, but now that I've got the taste for outdoor riding, I'm going to do it as much as I can.

A new training plan and a fresh start

As my post half marathon recovery week comes to a close, I'm getting geared up to start my next training plan. My first couple training cycles were great. I rarely ever missed runs (all my previous training cycles have been run focused). This one, not so much. I fought the winter doldrums and got sick time and again. While pacing was a problem in my half, missed training was at least as big an issue. It seemed like I was always trying to do "make up" runs, but those make up runs pushed other runs right off the plan anyways.

Now, it's time to start fresh, and I'm feeling great about it. I'm up before the family and having a quiet breakfast. The sun is shining. The forecast is for 15 degrees today (59F). Nobody is currently sick in my house, and I'm optimistic that we'll stay mainly healthy.

I start my new training plan tomorrow, and I'm feeling great about it. It is the first triathlon focused training plan and I am so ready. I took Bella, my road bike outside for her first time on Friday and loved it. Running is meshing with me right now, and I'm just feeling the rhythm. I'm starting to really feel the water and feel "right" when I'm swimming.

Things are good.

Happy Easter everyone!

Three things Thursday

It's been a while since I've done a TTT! It's about time.

1. I've been taking it easy this week after the half marathon. Perhaps a little too easy. I need to get back into the routine of getting my regular workouts in. I've picked a plan to work towards my Olympic tri now, and it officially starts on Sunday!

2. Speaking of triathlons, it's only 6.5 weeks until I do my first one! That's less then two months, and I will have completed a triathlon!

3. I'm thinking I need to do another sugar detox. My diet hasn't been horrible, but it hasn't been great either. I know that losing a few more pounds will help me race faster, and be easier on my body. I've been maintaining at about 198 (staying in onederland at least), but it's time to knock it down to a healthy point.

Calgary Police half marathon 2011, race review

So, yesterday I finished my first half marathon. Hear that? I finished!

How did it go? Well, to put it simply, it was a mixed bag. Some good, some bad, some easy, some brutally difficult. (If you want the summary and results, feel free to skip to the end.)

I woke up bright and early. The race was at 8:00am, and I set my alarm for 5:30. That gave me time to eat breakfast and get everything together without having to rush.

When I looked out the window, this is what I saw:



One of the first things that I did was check the road report. I live outside the city where most nearby races are, so this means a 20 minute highway drive to get into it. Normally, not such a big deal.

Yesterday, the road report said the following:

"Highway alert: Cochrane RCMP are advising that due to very heavy snow and ice Highway 1 eastbound and westbound is treacherous and almost impassable. Travel is not recommended on Highway 1 from Cochrane to Calgary. Highway 1A from Cochrane to Calgary is also treacherous and travel is not recommended in this area either."

Now, having made the choice to live outside the city also means we sometimes choose to stay outside the city when the roads are bad. Almost any other plans would have been canceled with the roads in those conditions. But, this was my first half marathon, and I really wanted to do it.

Having said that, I didn't take the decision to go on the highway lightly. The highway report was had last been updated the night before, so it could have changed. The worst section is usually the hill that takes you out of town. There are points midway up and at the end of the hill where you can turn around. If the hill was okay, the highway probably would be too. I was driving our commuter car, which has snow tires, and I tossed a shovel and some kitty litter in the back (in case I got stuck somewhere).

This part of the story is pretty anti-climatic. The drive in was fairly easy. One lane of the highway had been plowed and sanded at some point. I kept my speed down, and aside from one moron who buzzed past me (in a no passing zone), everyone else on the road did too.

I got to the race with time to spare, walked around a bit, used the washroom. About 10 minutes before the race start, I decided to get out there and lined up. Apparently everybody decided the same thing at the same time. There was a huge press of people going out the doors, so it was very slow going. Finally, I was outside, but I still had to get around a little barrier to get to the start line. Everyone else needed to as well, so at least we were going in the right direction. There was a countdown and then the starting horn was blown. I was still nowhere near, but we were moving in the right direction at least.

The slow shuffle continued and finally we were at the start line. Everyone started running once they crossed the starting line, and we were off.

My plan going into this race had not been to go a certain speed or faster. It had been to go a certain speed or slower - at least for the first half of the race. I know when I start out too fast on long runs, I tend to crash towards the end. My goal was to hold a pace of about 7:00/km (11:15/mile). I never said I was fast! But, that is a pace that I know I can maintain long term.

The problem is, I didn't hold back on my pace. I kept checking my garmin, and seeing that I was going too fast. I kept reminding myself that I should slow down. Yet, it felt so easy. I felt like I could keep going forever at this pace, and it was somewhat downhill. I finished the first four km in 6:37, 6:48, 6:43, 6:52.

Shortly into the fifth km was where we started hitting some slightly steeper (and icy) downhills. This is when I saw the first person go down. He had a few people helping him, and then about 10 more people crowded around to see if he needed more help, completely clogging the pathway. Don't get me wrong, if someone needs help, you should give it to them, but if they already have help, there is a certain point where offering creates more problems then it solves. It's something that's even taught in first aid classes: disperse the crowd.

Shortly after, the second person down was me. Going down another hill, and my legs just went out from under me. I'm not even sure exactly how I fell, but I actually ended up on my hands and knees rather then my butt. The guy behind me almost tripped over me, and truthfully, I think he was more shaken up about it then I was. I did a quick self assessment and decided that I might be bruised, but I wasn't injured. At this point, I decided I needed to throw any time goals I still had out the window, and just concentrate on finishing the race in one piece.

Despite this, I still finished kilometers 6-8 too fast - below 7:00/km. It wasn't a conscious decision. More a case of: I felt comfortable running at this pace and didn't reel myself in.

While passing Heritage park, I saw somebody in cross country skis going the other direction. I think his method of travel was a lot more appropriate out there then running shoes. In some spots the snow was packed down by the earlier runners, but not evenly. In other spots, it was deep and loose, like sand. Then there were the icy sections, particularly on the downhills. This race course had a lot of up and down, so there were a lot of those sections. A big part of the course, there were essentially 2-3 tracks made, but they felt just a little too narrow to get a proper stride in.

Sometime after 10 km, I realized that I really had started out too fast. I was tiring, and I was only halfway done. I knew I had more in me, but it wasn't easy anymore, and I had slowed down.

It seemed like every time I turned a corner, there was another race volunteer warning us of a slippery section. It was work every hill we had to go up, and no benefits going down because of the ice.

Finally, we got to the big hill out of the weaselhead. More people were walking up this hill then not, and I followed suit. I figured if I ran it, I was going to need to walk afterwards to recover anyways. At this point, the most challenging part of the race was over, as we were pretty much back onto roads. Yet, there were still about 6km left to go.

I ran at a decent pace for km 16, but looking at my garmin stats, I can see that it pretty much fell apart after that. I started alternating with a walk/run. My legs just didn't want to move, and even when I was running, I couldn't keep the pace up. I knew I was so close. I knew there were only a few kms left, but I just couldn't seem to make my body move.

Despite this, I still managed some smiles. As much as I hurt, I knew I was finishing. I knew that it wouldn't be long until I had finished a half marathon.

Those last few kilometers were a fight. For every second I gained going too fast in the first eight, I probably lost 10 seconds in the last five.

Finally, I turned the corner and saw the finish line. I knew I didn't have much of a sprint left in me, so I kept trudging along at the slow run I was doing. Then I saw my kids and husband waiting for me. I hadn't known if they'd make it because of the roads, but seeing them there gave me the strength to push the speed and finish with a smile on my face.


After coming across the finish line, somebody handed me my medal and a bottle of water. I then made my way around to where my family was waiting for me. I didn't feel like I had any strength left. The medal was still wrapped up in plastic, so I told me husband to unwrap it and put it around my neck.

And with that, I completed a half marathon.

I think the facial expression in this picture is somewhere between joy and suffering...

My goals for this race were:

1. To finish with a smile on my face.

I nailed this one. I finished, and I smiled. :)

2. To pace well, finish strong, and enjoy the scenery.

We'll call this a learning experience. I didn't pace well. I didn't trust or follow my plan going in, and I paid for it. With shorter races, you can get away with poor pacing a little more. Not so much on the longer distances... I did enjoy the scenery though.

3. Not let the things out of my control get to me. (Such as icy pathways or congested areas).

I did pretty well with this. I pretty much accepted the poor conditions and rolled with it (or fell with it). I recognized it was difficult, but I didn't get bitter about it. I caught myself getting annoyed a couple times when people stopped to walk in groups, but I just carried on with my race and didn't worry about the seconds it cost me.

In the end, I completed the half in 2:40:08. (I let my garmin run for a couple minutes at the end by accident, but this was my actual chip time.)

I've always maintained that you learn more from the tough races and runs then the easy ones. This is a perfect example of that. Did I run the perfect race? No. Would I approach it differently next time? Yes. Am I glad that I did and will I do it again? Absolutely. (Preferably with less snow.)