Several people have mentioned this to me, so I had to look into it. Indeed, a 400-pound man ran the LA marathon.
Should I be insulted that when I say I'm marathon training people think of a 400-pound man?
Yes, I'm sure that everyone who has mentioned it to me is trying to be encouraging. "If a really, really fat guy can do it, you should have no trouble!" But that's kind of a dumb thing to say.
This isn't just any 400-pound man. He's a sumo wrestler. A really accomplished sumo wrestler. He works out by wrestling with trees, and while that doesn't put him at the same fitness level of even your less-than-average marathon runner it puts him leaps and bounds ahead of your average, inactive morbidly obese person (and I say that as somebody who's just now moving away from being an average, inactive morbidly obese person). Plus, this isn't even his first marathon. "Sumo wrestler runs second marathon and shaves two hours off his time" doesn't sound as amazing as "400 pound man runs marathon." None of the news stories touch on how much preparation he went through, but this is a guy who knows a little bit about training for an event (even if his usual training mostly means wrestling with trees), so I would imagine that he didn't just show up at the race expecting that his wrestling experience would carry him through. Especially not on his second go at it. He wasn't out to prove that you don't have to be fit to run a marathon. He was out to prove that he was fit enough, despite his weight, to complete the task. There's a big difference.
I totally give props to this guy for taking on the marathon. Twice. I don't even begrudge him the desire to get in the record books for doing it. At least he picked a marathon with an appropriate time limit (i.e. none). And if his story inspires others to get up off the couch and start moving, great!
But I hate to think that the message people are taking from this story is that marathons don't have to be about fitness. This story shouldn't suggest that it's possible for your average obese human with no history of serious physical activity to just get up one day and run a marathon. It shouldn't make people think that everyone who seriously prepares for a race and pays attention to the condition of their body are just making too big of a deal about it, since obviously some 400-pound guy did it. But I'm afraid that's how some people are reading it.
Sure, I'm not going to be ultra-fit by October. I'm not going to be skinny. I'm also not going to finish with anything close to what most marathoners would consider a good time, unless some kind of strange miracle occurs. But I will be as fit as I can be by then, as light as I can be by then, and finish with the best time I can manage. And if I decide to do another one after all this, I'll be even more fit for the next one. I don't want to be part of some movement to prove that unfit, fat people can run races, too. I want to prove that I don't have to be unfit and fat. The point isn't that I don't have to be like a "real" athlete to do the same athletic things, the point is to become a "real" athlete.
So, yeah, I don't really find it encouraging for people to point out to me that "some 400-pound guy just ran a marathon." Good for him. I'm sure he worked really hard.
About Me
- Jaye
- I'm an artist, convenience store general manager, Nine Inch Nails fan, and hopeless internet addict. And now I'm a marathoner! Blogged By Jaye is my general-purpose blog, and Fat to Finish Line is my running journal. Occasional foul language included on both sites.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Marathon Pre-Training, Week 7
Okay, so I figured out that my knee pain last week wasn't a result of running. It was the stupid jumping jacks our trainer had us do. Thankfully, it only took a couple of days of gentle treatment to get my knee back to normal, I've run on it (paying more attention to form, now) and had no problems since, and I'm going to completely avoid jumping jacks for the foreseeable future. Because (and I never thought in a million years I'd be even thinking this, but...) I really don't want to quit running.
This week's stats:
Which is why I had to get serious on my lovely training partner this week. Sure, our new weightlifting routine isn't as interesting as our old one was, and we really liked some of the old exercises more than we like the new routine, and sometimes everybody has a day or two when they just really don't feel like working out, but letting somebody else influence me to slack off isn't an option. It's one thing to skip a workout here and there, and having a workout partner means balancing each others' schedules and such, but I can't start letting myself be talked out of going to the gym when I have no other reason to skip or letting myself be convinced to cut workouts short when I'm not ready to stop yet. I don't want to be the only reason she goes to work out, and I shouldn't be made to feel guilty for not stopping when she wants to stop. I know this marathon thing is kind of extreme and I don't expect Kourt to keep up, but it certainly shouldn't be that hard for us to find a compromise.
And we shouldn't be giving in to each others' occasional need to cut things short or stay home when we each have our own legitimate reasons to do so often enough. Like Tuesday, when I learned what a bad idea it is to eat fried rice a few hours before a demanding session of intervals. Three fourths of the way through I became acutely afraid that if I kept adding water to and shaking up my stomach contents I'd end up depositing them all over the treadmill. So I stopped before the last interval and waited in the locker room until Kourt finished up. Stupidity happens. But it shouldn't happen all the time, and neither of us should be slacking for two.
Anyway, cold temps and early morning thunderstorms kept us off the trail Saturday morning, so we hit the treadmills at the gym for 90 minutes. I'm hoping this is the last snap of nasty cold weather this year. I'm not really ready for summer temperatures yet, but some consistent spring would be nice. Gotta love Missouri weather, right? Two weeks ago I got sunburned, two days later it snowed. Last week it was nice and sunny, this morning I had ice on my windshield. I suppose if I just made myself go out in the weather no matter what I'd be ready for anything Chicago has to dish out in October, but... meh. I'm okay with a little rain, but there's a limit.
This week's stats:
- 12.08 treadmill miles
- 0 outdoor miles
- 1 hours on the elliptical machine
- 3 weightlifting sessions
- 0 pounds lost
- 7 weeks
- 53.94 treadmill miles
- 20.83 outdoor miles
- 10 pounds lost (still @ 205)
Which is why I had to get serious on my lovely training partner this week. Sure, our new weightlifting routine isn't as interesting as our old one was, and we really liked some of the old exercises more than we like the new routine, and sometimes everybody has a day or two when they just really don't feel like working out, but letting somebody else influence me to slack off isn't an option. It's one thing to skip a workout here and there, and having a workout partner means balancing each others' schedules and such, but I can't start letting myself be talked out of going to the gym when I have no other reason to skip or letting myself be convinced to cut workouts short when I'm not ready to stop yet. I don't want to be the only reason she goes to work out, and I shouldn't be made to feel guilty for not stopping when she wants to stop. I know this marathon thing is kind of extreme and I don't expect Kourt to keep up, but it certainly shouldn't be that hard for us to find a compromise.
And we shouldn't be giving in to each others' occasional need to cut things short or stay home when we each have our own legitimate reasons to do so often enough. Like Tuesday, when I learned what a bad idea it is to eat fried rice a few hours before a demanding session of intervals. Three fourths of the way through I became acutely afraid that if I kept adding water to and shaking up my stomach contents I'd end up depositing them all over the treadmill. So I stopped before the last interval and waited in the locker room until Kourt finished up. Stupidity happens. But it shouldn't happen all the time, and neither of us should be slacking for two.
Anyway, cold temps and early morning thunderstorms kept us off the trail Saturday morning, so we hit the treadmills at the gym for 90 minutes. I'm hoping this is the last snap of nasty cold weather this year. I'm not really ready for summer temperatures yet, but some consistent spring would be nice. Gotta love Missouri weather, right? Two weeks ago I got sunburned, two days later it snowed. Last week it was nice and sunny, this morning I had ice on my windshield. I suppose if I just made myself go out in the weather no matter what I'd be ready for anything Chicago has to dish out in October, but... meh. I'm okay with a little rain, but there's a limit.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Progress is a cool thing.
I think we all have a tendency, sometimes, to forget what things were like at the beginning of a pursuit. If you don't remember the beginning, it's hard to see how far you've come.
I blindly started marathon training for the first time on July 7, 2009. I'd been doing 3-mile walks several times a week as an informal fitness program for several months already, so the beginning 3-4 mile distances didn't feel hard at all. But without a program to follow we usually walked at about 20 minutes/mile. So I started to push my speed and walk ahead of Kourt when we hit the trail, knowing I needed to work on my speed. We were looking at doing the Rock and Roll Marathon in New Orleans at that point, which I believe has a 7 1/2 hour time limit. I didn't want to be the loser who has to finish the marathon route on the sidewalk and cross a non-existent finish line while dodging cars and pedestrians. I needed to put in a LOT of work. Seriously, I was very worried about whether or not I could even make myself walk fast enough to cross the finish line while it was still there to cross. Frankly, I had no idea what I was doing at that point. But not knowing what I'm doing has never stopped me before, so off I went, armed with nothing but a new pair of shoes and a little chart outlining 6 months of training walks.
On one of my first walks I took the last mile as fast as my short, chubby legs would carry me, just to see how fast I could actually be if I gave it 110%. My hips didn't know what hit them. I felt like I was *this close* to having to run. And when I finally got to the three mile mark and slowed down for my dripping, panting, noodly-legged cooldown, my stopwatch said I'd done the mile in 16:04. I did the math in my head and realized that to finish the New Orleans marathon in around 7 hours I'd have to walk the whole thing that fast, and nearly threw in the towel right then. How was I ever going to do that? That was a sprint for me! And I only had seven months to get faster!
But I didn't throw in the towel. I kept walking if for no other reason than my excitement over how the numbers on my bathroom scale were responding to all this mileage.
Just 20 days after I started, I did my first 6 mile walk. It was hotter than I expected outside, and I underestimated my need for water -- rookie mistakes, right? After dragging my exhausted ass (and sadly empty water bottle) to the end of the walk I summoned the energy to drag myself up a hill to a little water fountain only to find that it wasn't even turned on. I managed to drive myself to the nearest convenience store and pour Gatorade and chocolate milk into myself before I gave up the will to live. I couldn't believe how hard that walk was. I was almost too sore to get out of my car when I got home, and it was worse the next day. I had a few (or lots of) moments where I doubted my ability to make it through. I couldn't imagine pushing myself through another 6-miler, let alone all those double-digit distances taunting me on my little training plan chart.
But still, I kept at it. I took my rest days and did my stretches and hit the trail with fresh legs that next week... and found that all of a sudden my shorter walks were easier and faster. I'd get to the end and double-take at my stopwatch, sure I must have accidentally paused the timer without realizing it. And a couple of weeks later when I took on another 6-mile walk I breezed through it like it was three. And from then on, no matter how sore and exhausted and completely whipped I felt after taking on a new distance challenge, I never doubted that the second time around would be easier.
I sometimes have to remind myself how completely awful that first 6-mile walk was and how quickly it got easier. I see 6 miles these days like I saw 2 miles back then: no sweat. And 16:04? Not anywhere close to a challenge. Yeah, my speed still needs some improvement. Scratch that. Significant improvement. My goal pace for the marathon is 13:45 (okay, runners, no laughing!) which means I still need to shave over a minute off my average mile time. But it's improving with each workout and it's likely that by the time I go to Chicago I'll be able to look back at this point in my training and laugh at what I now find extremely challenging.
And maybe, just maybe, someday I'll run across the finish line at some future marathon and be able to laugh about the days when I didn't think I'd ever be able to run even an whole mile without stopping.
But that's just getting ahead of myself.
I blindly started marathon training for the first time on July 7, 2009. I'd been doing 3-mile walks several times a week as an informal fitness program for several months already, so the beginning 3-4 mile distances didn't feel hard at all. But without a program to follow we usually walked at about 20 minutes/mile. So I started to push my speed and walk ahead of Kourt when we hit the trail, knowing I needed to work on my speed. We were looking at doing the Rock and Roll Marathon in New Orleans at that point, which I believe has a 7 1/2 hour time limit. I didn't want to be the loser who has to finish the marathon route on the sidewalk and cross a non-existent finish line while dodging cars and pedestrians. I needed to put in a LOT of work. Seriously, I was very worried about whether or not I could even make myself walk fast enough to cross the finish line while it was still there to cross. Frankly, I had no idea what I was doing at that point. But not knowing what I'm doing has never stopped me before, so off I went, armed with nothing but a new pair of shoes and a little chart outlining 6 months of training walks.
On one of my first walks I took the last mile as fast as my short, chubby legs would carry me, just to see how fast I could actually be if I gave it 110%. My hips didn't know what hit them. I felt like I was *this close* to having to run. And when I finally got to the three mile mark and slowed down for my dripping, panting, noodly-legged cooldown, my stopwatch said I'd done the mile in 16:04. I did the math in my head and realized that to finish the New Orleans marathon in around 7 hours I'd have to walk the whole thing that fast, and nearly threw in the towel right then. How was I ever going to do that? That was a sprint for me! And I only had seven months to get faster!
But I didn't throw in the towel. I kept walking if for no other reason than my excitement over how the numbers on my bathroom scale were responding to all this mileage.
Just 20 days after I started, I did my first 6 mile walk. It was hotter than I expected outside, and I underestimated my need for water -- rookie mistakes, right? After dragging my exhausted ass (and sadly empty water bottle) to the end of the walk I summoned the energy to drag myself up a hill to a little water fountain only to find that it wasn't even turned on. I managed to drive myself to the nearest convenience store and pour Gatorade and chocolate milk into myself before I gave up the will to live. I couldn't believe how hard that walk was. I was almost too sore to get out of my car when I got home, and it was worse the next day. I had a few (or lots of) moments where I doubted my ability to make it through. I couldn't imagine pushing myself through another 6-miler, let alone all those double-digit distances taunting me on my little training plan chart.
But still, I kept at it. I took my rest days and did my stretches and hit the trail with fresh legs that next week... and found that all of a sudden my shorter walks were easier and faster. I'd get to the end and double-take at my stopwatch, sure I must have accidentally paused the timer without realizing it. And a couple of weeks later when I took on another 6-mile walk I breezed through it like it was three. And from then on, no matter how sore and exhausted and completely whipped I felt after taking on a new distance challenge, I never doubted that the second time around would be easier.
I sometimes have to remind myself how completely awful that first 6-mile walk was and how quickly it got easier. I see 6 miles these days like I saw 2 miles back then: no sweat. And 16:04? Not anywhere close to a challenge. Yeah, my speed still needs some improvement. Scratch that. Significant improvement. My goal pace for the marathon is 13:45 (okay, runners, no laughing!) which means I still need to shave over a minute off my average mile time. But it's improving with each workout and it's likely that by the time I go to Chicago I'll be able to look back at this point in my training and laugh at what I now find extremely challenging.
And maybe, just maybe, someday I'll run across the finish line at some future marathon and be able to laugh about the days when I didn't think I'd ever be able to run even an whole mile without stopping.
But that's just getting ahead of myself.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Marathon Pre-Training, Week 6
At least my sunburn from last weekend healed quickly. I was up to the itchy phase by Monday, it was peeling by Tuesday, and gone completely by Thursday. I picked up some ultra mega sunblock for future use. Wasn't really fond of the red forehead look, and even less fond of the "my forehead is peeling off and running away from my face in flakes" look.
This week's stats:
Our trainer cut our strength training workout down significantly. Back to doing the whole routine in one night. Basically we're combining exercises to streamline the process, like doing lunges and shoulder presses simultaneously. I'm a little sad, actually. I kinda liked spending all that time lifting weights. But I am a fan of efficiency. And this gives us more time for cardio, so we'll go with it. Might actually give me time and motivation to take some more classes. I haven't been to yoga in weeks.
We did have him weigh us again, and he says we've made the best progress he's seen in a while. I'm guessing a lot of his clients aren't as hard core about working on their own as we are. Honestly, we work harder on our own than when we're meeting with him. Hell, with this marathon looming in the distance, I can't afford not to be a little hard core. Anyway, my body fat percentage has gone down 3.7 points, I've lost 12.6 pounds of body fat, and I've gained 2.4 pounds of lean body mass in 2 months. I say that's not too shabby. Even more amazingly (to me, at least) my waist-to-hip ratio plummeted to .76. It's hovered around .85 forever, even through the months it took to lose 56 pounds the last time. Hooray for strength training! It's giving me the nice, shapely ass I've always wanted!
Got some new gear this week, too: new sports bras to protect the girls from my forays into running (is it weird to hope my boobs will shrink before the marathon?) and weightlifting gloves because our trainer has us doing straight leg deadlifts and the textured bar hurts my dainty (lol) fingers.
This week's stats:
- 7.90 treadmill miles
- 3.31 outdoor miles
- 0.5 hours on the elliptical machine
- 4 weightlifting sessions
- 2 pounds lost
- 6 weeks
- 41.86 treadmill miles
- 20.83 outdoor miles
- 10 pounds lost (now @ 205)
Our trainer cut our strength training workout down significantly. Back to doing the whole routine in one night. Basically we're combining exercises to streamline the process, like doing lunges and shoulder presses simultaneously. I'm a little sad, actually. I kinda liked spending all that time lifting weights. But I am a fan of efficiency. And this gives us more time for cardio, so we'll go with it. Might actually give me time and motivation to take some more classes. I haven't been to yoga in weeks.
We did have him weigh us again, and he says we've made the best progress he's seen in a while. I'm guessing a lot of his clients aren't as hard core about working on their own as we are. Honestly, we work harder on our own than when we're meeting with him. Hell, with this marathon looming in the distance, I can't afford not to be a little hard core. Anyway, my body fat percentage has gone down 3.7 points, I've lost 12.6 pounds of body fat, and I've gained 2.4 pounds of lean body mass in 2 months. I say that's not too shabby. Even more amazingly (to me, at least) my waist-to-hip ratio plummeted to .76. It's hovered around .85 forever, even through the months it took to lose 56 pounds the last time. Hooray for strength training! It's giving me the nice, shapely ass I've always wanted!
Got some new gear this week, too: new sports bras to protect the girls from my forays into running (is it weird to hope my boobs will shrink before the marathon?) and weightlifting gloves because our trainer has us doing straight leg deadlifts and the textured bar hurts my dainty (lol) fingers.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Marathon Pre-Training, Week 5
This week's stats:
Also, I'm going to stop bitching about my rate of weight loss.
This week started out weird. Too many odd deviations from my normal work and meeting schedule, and the end result was that we didn't work out at all on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. The scale went down a pound on Monday and a pound on Tuesday, though, despite me eating my normal allotment of calories. And I expect to be down another pound tomorrow or Monday, judging from the way the scale teased me this morning. So, you know, not entirely disappointing.
When we went to work out on Wednesday night I was finally well rested and didn't have to be at work early the next morning, so we should have had plenty of time to get in a full workout. But Kourt's computer was giving her fits, so she wasn't exactly in the mood to stick around the gym after lifting weights. I insisted on doing a half hour of cardio, though, so since I knew I wasn't going to be spending a full hour on the treadmill I decided to take my intervals up a notch and actually crank it up to "brisk jog" speed (for me, at least). I ran one minute out of every five. I don't know why it surprised me to find that even after two months of serious strength training and long distance walking, a total of five minutes of jogging was still difficult. It's not that I get too out of breath, it's the jarring of the impact that my body isn't prepared for. My muscles aren't used to being stressed in that way. But I did it, and while it was uncomfortable it wasn't actually painful. I'm realizing that years of gym class where running was either a test or a punishment has set me up to have a bad attitude towards running in general, and that's not a good mindset.
So Friday we went back for a long cardio workout, and this time I ran for 90 seconds out of every 5 minutes for a full hour. For the last 15 minutes I was fighting to make myself go for the whole 90 seconds each time, but once again I did it without feeling like it might kill me. Granted, the second I stepped off the treadmill I knew I was going to be stiff and sore for a few days after, but not a bad sore. Even if I don't end up running much or any of the marathon itself, I definitely think it's time to get my body used to doing it.
This morning, then, I met up with my sister for a 2-hour walk on the trail. To solve my shoelace problem, my sister brought me a pair of Easy Laces. So far I'm digging them. And last weekend they were running a sale on Clif bars and such at the grocery store, so I picked up a couple of packages of Shot Bloks to try out. I remembered to bring those along. I forgot to think about sunscreen. Big thumbs up to the Shot Bloks. Yummy. Big thumb down to the lovely shade of red I'm currently sporting on my forehead. I look like the top of my head lost its will to live and stuck itself in the oven.
- 6.94 treadmill miles
- 6.67 outdoor miles
- 0 hours on the elliptical machine
- 2 weightlifting sessions
- 2 pounds lost
- 5 weeks
- 33.96 treadmill miles
- 17.52 outdoor miles
- 8 pounds lost
Also, I'm going to stop bitching about my rate of weight loss.
This week started out weird. Too many odd deviations from my normal work and meeting schedule, and the end result was that we didn't work out at all on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. The scale went down a pound on Monday and a pound on Tuesday, though, despite me eating my normal allotment of calories. And I expect to be down another pound tomorrow or Monday, judging from the way the scale teased me this morning. So, you know, not entirely disappointing.
When we went to work out on Wednesday night I was finally well rested and didn't have to be at work early the next morning, so we should have had plenty of time to get in a full workout. But Kourt's computer was giving her fits, so she wasn't exactly in the mood to stick around the gym after lifting weights. I insisted on doing a half hour of cardio, though, so since I knew I wasn't going to be spending a full hour on the treadmill I decided to take my intervals up a notch and actually crank it up to "brisk jog" speed (for me, at least). I ran one minute out of every five. I don't know why it surprised me to find that even after two months of serious strength training and long distance walking, a total of five minutes of jogging was still difficult. It's not that I get too out of breath, it's the jarring of the impact that my body isn't prepared for. My muscles aren't used to being stressed in that way. But I did it, and while it was uncomfortable it wasn't actually painful. I'm realizing that years of gym class where running was either a test or a punishment has set me up to have a bad attitude towards running in general, and that's not a good mindset.
So Friday we went back for a long cardio workout, and this time I ran for 90 seconds out of every 5 minutes for a full hour. For the last 15 minutes I was fighting to make myself go for the whole 90 seconds each time, but once again I did it without feeling like it might kill me. Granted, the second I stepped off the treadmill I knew I was going to be stiff and sore for a few days after, but not a bad sore. Even if I don't end up running much or any of the marathon itself, I definitely think it's time to get my body used to doing it.
This morning, then, I met up with my sister for a 2-hour walk on the trail. To solve my shoelace problem, my sister brought me a pair of Easy Laces. So far I'm digging them. And last weekend they were running a sale on Clif bars and such at the grocery store, so I picked up a couple of packages of Shot Bloks to try out. I remembered to bring those along. I forgot to think about sunscreen. Big thumbs up to the Shot Bloks. Yummy. Big thumb down to the lovely shade of red I'm currently sporting on my forehead. I look like the top of my head lost its will to live and stuck itself in the oven.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Marathon Pre-Training, Week 4
Why the hell do manufacturers make shoelaces so freakin' long? Why? Grr!
Anyway, aside from relacing my shoes about twelve times and retying them that many times per workout, this week has shaped up as follows:
This week's stats:
It finally worked out schedule-wise for me to do a long walk with my sister this week, so we planned to meet up at the trailhead Saturday at 9:30am. I almost backed out and suggested we hit the treadmills at the gym when I saw that it was 30 degrees out, but I didn't want to be the one to wuss out first. So we went. It wasn't too bad. Slightly windy at the beginning, but I had my ears thoroughly covered (headband over them plus winter hat with ear flaps) so it wasn't bad as long as we kept moving. Oddly enough, I wasn't the one who had to stop midway and pee on the side of the trail. I guess one perk to going out in freezing weather is that there's better chance of getting a little solitude out there. Still, my goal is to avoid having to do that. In sunny weather I'm not thinking there would be opportunity to do so sans audience.
My main frustration right now is trying to find a balance between exercising to lose weight and exercising to pre-train. I'm trying to get as much cardio and speed benefit out of this pre-training time as I can without pushing myself too hard and burning myself out because I have doubts about my ability to build enough speed during the 18 weeks of actual training. Those doubts may be unfounded, but they're there, bouncing around in my head and being annoying. That's why I've been considering a walk/run approach instead of just walking, thinking that if I can make nice with this whole running thing (we've always kind of hated each other) I don't have to worry so much about that pesky time limit. On the other hand, I know from my past experience that dropping weight will go a long way on its own to improve my speed, but at the rate I'm losing weight now I can maybe expect to be down to around 170 pounds by race day. Granted it would be a leaner, stronger 170 pounds, and theoretically the stronger I am the easier time I'll have. But every extra pound I have to haul to the finish line also theoretically makes me a little slower, whether it's muscle or fat. I'd prefer to be down to around 150 by then. And it could be that the initial muscle gains that have been canceling out the fat loss on the scale are starting to level off and I just don't even need to worry about this. I'm willing to cut my diet back to where it was before Andrew convinced me to up it, but I don't want to cut back if it would impede my strengthening and speed progress. I just know if I'm going to focus on weight loss before the marathon I should do it now and not when I'm actually in training mode. I'll give it another week or two. I did lose a pound this week, despite having new strength exercises added to our routine. It's just that not seeing the kind of results on the scale that I'm used to seeing is a frustration.
That, and these pesky shoelaces.
Anyway, aside from relacing my shoes about twelve times and retying them that many times per workout, this week has shaped up as follows:
This week's stats:
- 7.61 treadmill miles
- 5.14 outdoor miles
- 1.5 hours on the elliptical machine
- 4 weightlifting sessions
- 1 pounds lost
- 4 weeks
- 27.02 treadmill miles
- 10.85 outdoor miles
- 6 pounds lost
It finally worked out schedule-wise for me to do a long walk with my sister this week, so we planned to meet up at the trailhead Saturday at 9:30am. I almost backed out and suggested we hit the treadmills at the gym when I saw that it was 30 degrees out, but I didn't want to be the one to wuss out first. So we went. It wasn't too bad. Slightly windy at the beginning, but I had my ears thoroughly covered (headband over them plus winter hat with ear flaps) so it wasn't bad as long as we kept moving. Oddly enough, I wasn't the one who had to stop midway and pee on the side of the trail. I guess one perk to going out in freezing weather is that there's better chance of getting a little solitude out there. Still, my goal is to avoid having to do that. In sunny weather I'm not thinking there would be opportunity to do so sans audience.
My main frustration right now is trying to find a balance between exercising to lose weight and exercising to pre-train. I'm trying to get as much cardio and speed benefit out of this pre-training time as I can without pushing myself too hard and burning myself out because I have doubts about my ability to build enough speed during the 18 weeks of actual training. Those doubts may be unfounded, but they're there, bouncing around in my head and being annoying. That's why I've been considering a walk/run approach instead of just walking, thinking that if I can make nice with this whole running thing (we've always kind of hated each other) I don't have to worry so much about that pesky time limit. On the other hand, I know from my past experience that dropping weight will go a long way on its own to improve my speed, but at the rate I'm losing weight now I can maybe expect to be down to around 170 pounds by race day. Granted it would be a leaner, stronger 170 pounds, and theoretically the stronger I am the easier time I'll have. But every extra pound I have to haul to the finish line also theoretically makes me a little slower, whether it's muscle or fat. I'd prefer to be down to around 150 by then. And it could be that the initial muscle gains that have been canceling out the fat loss on the scale are starting to level off and I just don't even need to worry about this. I'm willing to cut my diet back to where it was before Andrew convinced me to up it, but I don't want to cut back if it would impede my strengthening and speed progress. I just know if I'm going to focus on weight loss before the marathon I should do it now and not when I'm actually in training mode. I'll give it another week or two. I did lose a pound this week, despite having new strength exercises added to our routine. It's just that not seeing the kind of results on the scale that I'm used to seeing is a frustration.
That, and these pesky shoelaces.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
My brain runs more than I do!
I spend way too much time googling for answers to random marathon-related questions on the internet. And when I'm not around the computer my brain spends way too much time thinking about the minutiae of this whole process. Like...
What if I have to pee on one of my long walks on this new trail and I'm nowhere near the one available restroom? There's too much brush along the sides of the trail (the parts I've seen so far, at least) to be able to go behind a tree.
Should I be using different shoelaces? Are there, like, special high-tech runner's shoelaces?
When I'm in Chicago for the marathon, should I even plan to leave the hotel the day before the race to do touristy-type things or should I just really stay in and totally rest? I don't want to put a damper on the vacation activities for everyone else.
Hat? Visor? Sunglasses? Sweatband?
How much faster than my goal race pace should I be able to do my faster runs/walks?
At what kind of distances should I start worrying about sports drinks or gels or whatnot since so far I haven't needed them up to about 10 miles?
What if the weather in Chicago that weekend does something weird and it's freakishly cold or hot? What if it rains?
Chicago is windy. Is that going to be a problem?
How often should I test my speed to see if I'm improving?
Is it possible to sleep too much the night before the race?
Is there a particular approach to doing intervals that works best?
Is there a particular type of panties that are best for distance running/walking? I mean, mine seem to be fine but are there special ones? And if so, are they worth investing in?
Etc, etc, etc...
Some of this stuff I find answers to fairly easily. A lot of the questions I've googled turn out to have a billion answers that basically boil down to "whatever works best for you," which is frustrating when I don't know what works best.
And frankly, the most frustrating thing about a lot of my questions is that googling them leads me to boards where elitist runners spout off about how anyone who can't flat out run an entire marathon isn't a real marathoner. I even came across one discussion where one runner said that walking a marathon took any preparation at all, which is absurd. If it were that easy to walk the marathon distance in the time allotted without training and without hurting oneself, everyone would be doing it. And I understand that there a lot more people undertaking marathons these days than there used to be, which lead some "serious" marathon runners to feel like everyone is doing it, but that's just not true. Nobody in their right mind would even think to attempt to do something like this with no preparation, especially faced with a 6 hour time limit. In fact, almost everyone I know is surprised that it's even possible to walk fast enough to do it, since 4-5mph is the point at which most people find it difficult to walk and feel forced into a jog or run. Learning to walk that fast isn't easy. Hell, there are days when I wonder if I'm going to be ready in time (although those days are usually soon followed by a day when I see significant progress and feel really positive about it).
And the thing is that I understand the point of view. It's the same thing that drives me to dog on scrapbookers who think that scrapbooking makes them an artist. But you know what? What other people do and call art doesn't have anything to do with what I do and call art, just like the fact that I will walk all or most of this marathon doesn't affect those who are able to run the whole thing. Is someone who can run all 26.2 miles a better runner than me? Yep. Does it matter in the end? Not to me, and it shouldn't matter to them, either.
What if I have to pee on one of my long walks on this new trail and I'm nowhere near the one available restroom? There's too much brush along the sides of the trail (the parts I've seen so far, at least) to be able to go behind a tree.
Should I be using different shoelaces? Are there, like, special high-tech runner's shoelaces?
When I'm in Chicago for the marathon, should I even plan to leave the hotel the day before the race to do touristy-type things or should I just really stay in and totally rest? I don't want to put a damper on the vacation activities for everyone else.
Hat? Visor? Sunglasses? Sweatband?
How much faster than my goal race pace should I be able to do my faster runs/walks?
At what kind of distances should I start worrying about sports drinks or gels or whatnot since so far I haven't needed them up to about 10 miles?
What if the weather in Chicago that weekend does something weird and it's freakishly cold or hot? What if it rains?
Chicago is windy. Is that going to be a problem?
How often should I test my speed to see if I'm improving?
Is it possible to sleep too much the night before the race?
Is there a particular approach to doing intervals that works best?
Is there a particular type of panties that are best for distance running/walking? I mean, mine seem to be fine but are there special ones? And if so, are they worth investing in?
Etc, etc, etc...
Some of this stuff I find answers to fairly easily. A lot of the questions I've googled turn out to have a billion answers that basically boil down to "whatever works best for you," which is frustrating when I don't know what works best.
And frankly, the most frustrating thing about a lot of my questions is that googling them leads me to boards where elitist runners spout off about how anyone who can't flat out run an entire marathon isn't a real marathoner. I even came across one discussion where one runner said that walking a marathon took any preparation at all, which is absurd. If it were that easy to walk the marathon distance in the time allotted without training and without hurting oneself, everyone would be doing it. And I understand that there a lot more people undertaking marathons these days than there used to be, which lead some "serious" marathon runners to feel like everyone is doing it, but that's just not true. Nobody in their right mind would even think to attempt to do something like this with no preparation, especially faced with a 6 hour time limit. In fact, almost everyone I know is surprised that it's even possible to walk fast enough to do it, since 4-5mph is the point at which most people find it difficult to walk and feel forced into a jog or run. Learning to walk that fast isn't easy. Hell, there are days when I wonder if I'm going to be ready in time (although those days are usually soon followed by a day when I see significant progress and feel really positive about it).
And the thing is that I understand the point of view. It's the same thing that drives me to dog on scrapbookers who think that scrapbooking makes them an artist. But you know what? What other people do and call art doesn't have anything to do with what I do and call art, just like the fact that I will walk all or most of this marathon doesn't affect those who are able to run the whole thing. Is someone who can run all 26.2 miles a better runner than me? Yep. Does it matter in the end? Not to me, and it shouldn't matter to them, either.
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